3.12 Oasis

Tracking down Maddy took some effort, but not too much. Delta found her in the training hall, the third place she checked, the first two being her room, then the guild’s common area.

Fortunately, Maddy wasn’t out running errands, or, what would have been even more unfortunate, on a wayfaring expedition. Wayfarers were transient by nature, so there had been a good chance Maddy would’ve been gone. Delta didn’t know any other mages that had a chance of fitting into their team’s dynamic, so Delta considered it a blessing the illusionist hadn’t set off.

Besides accommodations, and serving as a place to throw together wayfaring parties, the training hall was the most useful—and widely used—facility in the sprawling guild structure. Testing one’s skills out in the wild was … a poor idea, to put it lightly, unless someone was seeking a fast path to a shallow grave. Delta had spent long hours here, honing her abilities. She knew her way around, even through the sections she used less frequently.

The mages had their own section of the training hall. ‘The Oasis’, people called it, and for understandable reasons—it was a place to rest, and a more crucial one for mages than anyone else. A physical fighter, like Delta, might be able to train herself into the ground, needing a stamina potion or two if she was pushing herself, but a mage? A mage could deplete their mana in a matter of minutes. So, a solution: the Oasis.

Or, rather, the obelisk at the center of the Oasis, the tall black pillar that pulsed out waves of energy, even to Delta’s poorly-tuned magical senses. The waves provided a mana regeneration effect, she knew, not that it affected her, considering her lack of mana. Most classes didn’t have mana. Mage-type or mage-aligned classes weren’t so rare they were a surprise to find, but still not common. One in ten? Maybe less.

Delta didn’t want to guess how expensive the artifact was. Sixteen feet tall—reaching up almost to the top of the vaulted, circular Oasis—and every square inch covered with intricate sigils, designed and hand-carved through a collaborative effort of mages and artificers, the object had to be the guild’s single most valuable investment.

Not all guilds had them. Only the biggest, or wealthiest, as found in a pseudo-capital city like Treyhull … not that the Fractures were organized enough to have ‘capitals’. Sure, there were clear territory lines, carving the known pocket-dimensions into Deepshunter or Strider territory, and less frequently Sovereign or other polities, but ‘countries’, or ‘provinces’? Not exactly.

But not cheap. That was the point. The tall black pillar cost more than Delta would make her entire life, even assuming a successful career. Enough to fix all Delta’s problems up in Haven, if she could pawn it, however silly a thought like that was.

Like usual, she didn’t let her thoughts linger on that topic … on Dad’s condition. Delta was doing what she could to scrape together funds, and stewing just put her in a bad mood. Rushing would get her killed, and then Dad would have no solution.

The Oasis’s obelisk had a centralized effect, not radiating much further than the circular room’s walls. Because of that, the training rooms—public or private—branched off the Oasis, making the mage’s section of the training facility easy to search.

Not that Delta searched it. The receptionist for the Oasis pointed Delta Maddy’s way. The mage section of the guild’s training facility required payment and sign-ins, costing a lot more to run than the fighter’s section by orders of magnitude. Being a mage in general was more inconvenient than being a fighter. More expensive, harder to find equipment, harder to find sparring partners and teachers. Things that were a difficulty for any wayfarer, but much more so for mages.

Delta didn’t interrupt Maddy, not right away. Most of the training rooms had glass windows, so before Delta walked in or grabbed her attention, she crossed her arms and observed the girl she’d shortly be offering to join their team … or barring that, at least paying to catch Zoey up to speed.

Mages were always fun to watch. Well, besides total amateurs … like Zoey, who had barely figured spellcasting out. Sure, Zoey’s class by itself made her a valuable teammate—most noticeably her rune-advancing skill—but her actual combat abilities, both physical and magical, were lacking. She could throw an ice-spike, but that was it. Not much flair to enjoy.

Maddy, though. Maddy was a mage through-and-through. She and Delta weren’t close friends, but they’d shared more than a few conversations, so they knew each other to some degree. Maddy came from a long, sprawling line of mages. Magework was in her blood.

Classes weren’t hereditary—or not strictly. It was possible for a mage to come from a long line of fighters, or the reverse. But lineage undoubtedly influenced a person’s class. Or maybe their upbringing, and not so much their bloodline. Being groomed by a family of mages simply made it more likely to get a similar class yourself.

But Maddy’s pedigree showed. She was fascinating to spectate. She might not be as flashy as, say, an elementalist, or another purely combat-oriented mage, but her skills were on plain display.

She wielded a long staff of white wood, bulbous and knotted at the top. A large, circular glyph floated in front of its outstretched length, thick white lines imprinted onto the air, humming with energy. Three rings. Delta was hardly an expert with magic, but she knew the number of rings indicated the potency of a spell. Shorthand was, ‘a third-circle spell’, where ‘circle’ was a close equivalent for spell strength. It lined up fairly close to advancements. A third-advancement mage could usually only cast up to a third-circle spell.

From the glyph, a stream of white darts flew in a steady hailstorm, slamming into the far wall, being eaten by the magic-absorbing apparatus inlaid there … another reason the mage hall was so much more expensive to maintain. It took a lot of specialized equipment to keep the structure from crumbling, or magic going stray.

The darts weren’t physically damaging, as Zoey’s ice shards were. Rather, something ten times more annoying … they were mentally damaging. They inflicted confusion, growing more intense by each successive impact. Maddy had some control over the types of delusions that would spring up, but only if she wanted to.

Most of the time, Maddy had told her, letting the spell ‘figure itself out’ was the best course of action. Why waste the mental overhead? By Maddy’s furrowed brow, and focused expression, getting a steady stream of the confusion-bolts required enough of her attention. And this was a controlled environment, somewhere Maddy didn’t need to worry over an opponent’s attacks, and defending herself … much less a real fight, where the threat of death or injury loomed.

Delta had sparred with Maddy a few times. She was hands down one of the most aggravating combatants Delta had fought. Fighting Maddy—or any competent illusionist, she assumed—wasn’t a matter of keen reflexes and effective strategy, or even dodging and deflecting their spells.

It was … Delta didn’t even know. Not letting her brain get scooped out by Maddy’s mind-warping powerset. Fighting against Maddy was, to be completely honest, a bit unnerving. Her whole class revolved around warping perceptions and destabilizing the minds of her opponent … however sweet and bubbly she was personality-wise, her skills were kind of fucked up. Delta would rather fight anyone else. A person’s mind was supposed to be a sanctum. Inviolable. Having it turned to mush—even temporarily—was unsettling.

As for Maddy. She was dressed in long, flowing gray robes, which clung surprisingly tight to her curves—some equipment drop she’d found in a recent delve. Before the gray robes, it’d been white ones. Delta thought the previous had looked better … though she appreciated the gray ones for the snug fit. But aesthetics hardly mattered when it came to equipment. Maddy, as most competent delvers, cared more about function than flair.

Maddy’s most distinguishing trait was her bright blue hair, though it was covered by her wide, droopy hat, with only bits of the neon showing. Dyed hair wasn’t uncommon down in the Fractures, but it wasn’t especially normal, either. Enough to stick out in a crowd, if only briefly. Apparently the bright hair was something her entire family did, even the older members in her family. The idea of a withered grandma with bright pink hair amused Delta. She’d like to meet Maddy’s family, someday.

Maddy looked younger than she was. She had soft cheeks and bright eyes, and her exuberant attitude didn’t lend itself toward an image of maturity, either. Maddy had been down in the Fractures for more than a year, now—so, nineteen—and was third advancement, approaching fourth. Which was a great pace, though not as incredible as Blondie’s. Probably the same pace Delta could’ve expected. Thing was, ‘pace’ in sheer time since entering the Fractures was a weird metric to go by. If you threw yourself at shards twenty-four-seven, then yeah, you’d advance pretty quick. But that’d get most people killed.

It took training—more and more—as you advanced your runes, learning the intricacies to your class … or finding useful teammates, or whatever else. Throwing yourself into the fray with no breaks had an obvious result, most of the time. That was what these training halls were for. Learning your class’s perplexing abilities in a safe environment, rather than in the middle of a hostile shard that was doing its best to kill you.

Plus, besides the most eager wayfarers, people wanted to take a load off between shards, or at least every few shards. Delta was more motivated than most, but even she didn’t set a pace like Rosalie. Her blonde teammate had a certain madness reserved for families who did this for a living … who lived and breathed advancement. Old bloods. Generational wayfarers. Delta would like to … you know, live life, here and there.

The last bit of Delta’s appraisal was the least appropriate. After the events of the past two days, how couldn’t Delta’s mind be wandering more perverted than usual? Not that Delta hadn’t checked out Maddy before. Just, she did so with a little more interest, this time.

Despite wearing long robes, they were tight-clinging, showing off Maddy’s body. She didn’t have much up top. Or, anything at all, really. She didn’t have a boyish figure besides that, with wide hips and a butt that, while hidden by the robes, Delta had appreciated on several occasions. She had a cute face, too, though pinched in concentration, and blasting out dangerous magic in a flurry, the aura of ‘wide-eyed and innocent’ was lost, somewhat. Still, cute.

Delta hadn’t hooked up with her, but that’d been more out of professional preservation than a lack of interest. Better to not roll around in bed with potential teammates. Could lead to unfortunate complications.

Which was ironic, she was entirely aware. But Zoey’s class obviously prevented Delta from holding to that precautionary measure. And, the shards they delved. Sex was part-and-parcel for wayfaring with Zoey. Which Delta still was somewhat concerned by—sex could lead to messy emotions, and messy emotions broke teams apart all the time.

Delta’d mostly determined not to fall for Zoey. Unfortunately, she was finding out she liked the tall, dark-haired girl with such a bizarre class and background. And … from what she’d seen, she really knew how to handle that equipment between her legs. Delta’d only been with Zoey while in Zoey’s body, but either way, she could get used to rolling around with her. What would it be like, without the body-swap shenanigans? With Zoey wielding her own equipment?

She chased those thoughts away.

Eventually, the energy sagged out of Maddy’s shoulders, and her staff drooped. The spell broke. Then, as if Maddy had felt Delta’s attention crawling over her, she turned and faced the window, frowning.

Maddy blinked, then a grin split her face. It was impossible for Delta not to return it. Maddy’s bubbly attitude was infectious.

“Delta!”

The response was muffled through the glass, but Delta waved. She walked to the training room’s door and opened it; Maddy met her there.

“You’re back!” Maddy said. “How’d it go?”

There was a sheen of sweat on Maddy’s forehead. She’d really been going at it, pushing herself to her limit. Spells weren’t exhausting in the same way as physical effort, but it worked up a sweat, for whatever reason. And whether physical or not, intense spellcasting took a lot out of a person. Something a mana-potion only half-fixed.

“Got all my arms and legs, still,” Delta said. “So, pretty good, all things considered.”

“Find anything useful?”

Delta paused. Loot was always on the forefront of a wayfarer’s mind, at least in terms of a ‘good delve’. Maybe someone like Blondie disrespected what a good set of gear could accomplish, or sufficient funds for supplies, but most people weren’t snobbish elitists … and blinded by their ego.

Maybe that was too harsh of a way to put it. But Blondie’s insistence that armor and weapons didn’t matter was a bit bizarre to Delta. Of course they did. Rosalie just had a chip on her shoulder, and needed to come off as better than everyone else. Maybe reasonable, considering her upbringing … not that Delta knew the specifics. But she could guess. And, reasonable or not, it was annoying. Even if not for the stat boosts, and defense and offense potential, a good haul was useful for money. Not something everyone in the world could be totally unconcerned with.

But Maddy’s question. Good haul? Uh, yeah, kind of. Not in the traditional sense. Did a mirror that let her swap bodies count as a ‘good haul’? Delta was ecstatic about it, because getting to pilot Zoey’s body a second time was something she was looking forward to, but she didn’t think it was the most useful combat equipment.

Not a ‘good haul’ like Maddy meant.

“Eh, a few things,” Delta said, which was honest; some of the items they’d earned had combat uses. “Pretty good, for a half-day delve. Nothing crazy.” Some shards could take full days or—rarely—weeks to work through. The one from yesterday had been short. “I’m surprised you haven’t set off. Was half expecting you to be gone.”

“Maybe soon,” Maybe said cheerfully. “Have something in the works.” She leaned against her staff and smiled up at Delta. “I’m not being lazy, it’s just hard to find a good team.”

“You’ve got something in the works?”

Maddy hesitated, confused by Delta’s reaction. She’d expected Delta to be happy for her, but instead, Delta had replied with a frown. Because it messed with Delta’s plans, if Maddy had a potential team setting up.

“Yeah?” Maddy said. “Why? That’s bad?”

“Mm,” Delta said. “Yeah, maybe. I was hoping we could talk business.”

“Business! I thought you didn’t want to team up?”

Delta preferred smaller teams in general; groups of two or three. She and Maddy hadn’t teamed, despite being casual friends, because their roles overlapped—at least when it came to small parties. The standard trio was tank, damage, healer, or some closely-related variation of such. So the cards had never fallen in a way she and Maddy could adventure together. They’d been sparring—and sometimes drinking—partners.

“Well,” Delta said. “It’s complicated. You got a moment?”

“Sure. Have to recharge, anyway. To the Oasis!”