Daniel Newwyn

Fabrisse Book 2 (Chapter 19)

Added 2025-08-21 07:09:10 +0000 UTC

They’d already managed to capture six more hares, and that wasn’t necessarily a good sign. Veliane could only maintain so many constructs, and the net of her light glyph had sagged with the weight of their extra prisoners.

Veliane said, “If these hares keep fighting inside here, the lattice could destabilize. We need to head back before they wriggle free.”

Sven grinned. “So basically, we’ve overachieved.”

“Overburdened,” Veliane corrected.

They turned back along the trail, but Fabrisse’s eyes snagged on something past the brush. A thin veil of white aether shrouded like mist between trunks, glowing where it touched bark and leaf. Beyond it, the forest seemed darker, denser, as though the light bent differently inside. A weathered wooden placard leaned against a crooked post, covered by moss around the edges.

He brushed it clean and squinted at the carved runes.

“Caution: Quillbacks Roam Beyond This Boundary.”

The words sent a prickle down his spine.

Liene came up beside him and read aloud, her tone oddly casual. “That part of the forest’s infested by Quillbacks. Their actual name’s longer, but people just call them that. Rodents, kind of porcupine-ish but with mineral spines instead of keratin.”

“Stone quills,” Fabrisse guessed.

“Exactly. They’re nastier than nibberhares, though,” Liene went on, moving her satchel higher on her shoulder. “They can launch their spines when they’re threatened. The aether concentrates in their stone tips, so it’s not simple to block with shields because it vibrates straight through. Get one lodged in your ribs, and you’re done moving for the day.”

Sven let out a low whistle. “Sounds like a fun fight.”

Veliane simply said, “Not today. We’re overloaded already.” And moved on.

Liene lingered, watching Fabrisse, who had also lingered. He hadn’t moved. His gaze was fixed past the mossed placard, through the curtain of white aether that rippled between the trunks.

“Fabrisse,” she urged gently, “we should go. The others are already—”

“Can we walk past that line?” he interrupted. His fingers tapped at the side of his satchel. “I need to confirm something.”

Do I trigger another quest if I walk into a new territory?

She stayed silent for a second then said, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.” Then she shouted toward the far side, “We’ll meet you at the forest edge! Don’t wait on us.”

The second Liene finished her sentence, Fabrisse walked past the cloak of aether.

Sure enough, another quest triggered:

[SIDEQUEST RECEIVED: Vermin Control: Quillback]

Objective: Capture or eliminate 5 quillbacks

Reward: + 300 EXP

1 STR
1 FOR
2 Stone Thaumaturgy Mastery Point

[Reminder: Vermin Control quests can only be completed once every 8 hours. Come back in 7 hours and 45 minutes to accept another quest.]

Why the limit, he wondered. Maybe the system didn’t want him to exploit it too much. Because he had found a way to better control his gains.

Mastery Points were only reliably given via quests, and quests had been unreliable. However, now he’d confirmed some quests were region-locked. If his guess were correct, the Quillback quest gave him Stone Thaumaturgy points because their features aligned the most closely to that element. The Nibberhare quest didn’t give any Master Point, however; possibly because they were too weak.

If he could find and target the creatures that gave him the most Air or Fire Thaumaturgy points, he’d improve his ability in these two elements by a lot; enough to possibly catch up to over a semester’s worth of spellcasting that he had lagged.

“So?” Liene peered at his face. “What did you find out?”

“You won’t believe this,” Fabrisse turned to her, grinning ear-to-ear. He told her about the possible life hack he’d just found.

Liene’s eyes widened, her lips parting in a delighted breath. “That’s brilliant! Fabrisse, that’s very smart.” She shoved her satchel higher and leaned on her toes, energy sparking in her posture. “If you’re looking for Fire-adjacent animals, you’ll need to trek up the inactive volcano to find Emberwhelps. They’re these little lizard-things, no bigger than your arm.” She traced a line in the air with both arms to draw the outline of the whelp. “They puff sparks when they’re threatened, but they’re the safest Fire creature in the region to farm—barely any power behind them, and they scatter the moment you hit back. People usually ignore them because they’re worth almost no experience, but for what you need?” She gave him a quick grin. “They’re perfect.”

These were potentially low-risk, high-return creatures. Fabrisse jumped physically, clutching his satchel close as his finger shook from joy.

Liene stared at him. “You want to trek up the volcano right now, don’t you . . .”

Fabrisse nodded rapidly, curls bouncing. “Yes. Yes. Right this evening. Do you want to come?”

“Okay. I’ll try to clear my schedule, but no promise.” She rubbed her belly. “Can we get back and grab some lunch now? I’m starved.”

“Yes—”

A notification jumped at him.

[Hostile Adversary Spotted: Quartz-Mutated Nibberhare]

His satchel strap dug into his shoulder as the notification burned across his vision. Slowly, he turned. At first glance, it was a hare, with long ears, twitching nose, and thick hind legs poised for spring. But its size was wrong. It stood nearly to his waist, bulkier than any nibberhare he’d seen penned in the campus yards. The fur along its flanks was patchy, peeled back in places where clusters of pale quartz jutted out like barnacles.

“That hare . . .” Liene murmured, unable to look away. “It has stones on it.”

His Spectral Appraisal returned results.

[Quartz-Mutated Nibberhare]

Type: Aberrant Vermin, Stone-Enhanced

FP: 48/48

Attributes:

STR (Strength): 8

DEX (Dexterity): 20

FOR (Fortitude): 19

INT (Intuition): 14

ARC (Inner Resonance): 2

EMO (Emotional Attunement): 3

SYN (Synaptic Clarity): 2