“It be good you have the Sage Perk,” Zamadi said as the smoke swirled faster and faster around him. “It removes some restrictions on what I can and cannot give you.”

All of the smoke around The Baron coalesced and darkened into a thick, black smog before the mass surged into me. I choked on the smoke and my eyes were gushing out water as I tried to get a breath in. The shadows permeated every inch of my body. I felt like my whole being was imbued with black smoke. But then my body absorbed it. The discomfort was over as quickly as it began, and what followed was wonderful.

[Spirit Communion Level 7!]

[Spirit Communion Level 8!]

[Spirit Communion Level 9!]

[Spirit Communion Level 10!]

[+8 Spiritual Power]

Skill Evolution Available!

… Override…

Skill Evolution Obtained: Spirit Connection (epic)

Description: Allows the user to perceive spirits and establish connections through which intent, emotion and personal impressions may be shared. With mutual acceptance, these connections can deepen to reveal more of each participant’s nature. Higher levels improve the depth and stability of these exchanges. 

[Spirit Connection Level 10!]

Perk Obtained: Spiritual Presence]

Description: Exert the power of your will on spiritual beings.

[Special Achievement Obtained: A God's Favor!]

Holy crap!

It had been uncomfortable. But damn if it wasn’t a juicy boon. Or maybe Zamadi was being stingy, I didn’t know. I had never received a boon from a god. Well, except Mez, but he wasn’t exactly a god. I wondered if he knew anything about Zamadi.

“I be letting you have a look at your System in peace,” Zamadi said and chuckled.

“Did you just give me four levels just like that?

“That be a boon Old Bones Zamadi can grant.”

“That saves me weeks of training,” I said. “Thanks.”

Zamadi waved an impatient hand. “I couldn’t give you the Skill Evolution without it.”

I looked at the new Epic Skill and its Perk. The original version of the Skill gave me an ability to perceive the spirits and communicate with them. But this seemed to be a significant upgrade. Not only did it let me do all that, but I could now form a connection with a Spirit. Have a heart-to-heart conversation? 

“What does the new Skill do?”

Zamadi nodded sagely. “It be revealing to spirits what manner of person you are. They will catch a glimpse of our conversation here. And you will understand them if a connection is made. If both parties allow the connection to deepen, many things will be revealed.”

“Is this what Bombasar has? Did you give him this?”

Zamadi laughed for a long time. Openly and full-belliedly he laughed and the smoke swirled around him wildly, until he settled into chortles. “Ah, child. You be giving me belly-aches. No, Bombasar has nothing like this. I have given him nothing freely. He barters, I accept. There be no boons or friendships with him. He does my biddings, and I give him lordship over the lesser spirits of the sea and wind.”

Being able to stop the wind and make waves crash was the work of lesser spirits? I shuddered as I wondered what a primordial spirit like Zamadi could do.

Zamadi dragged on his pipe and continued. “Use my gift with my sister, Tiamat, so that she might recognize your connection with me.”

“Why didn’t you just give this power to Bombasar?”

Zamadi shook his head. “You will learn what manner of man this Pirate Prince be. I could not give him this and he could not use it.”

A comfortable silence fell between us after that, and I looked at my System notifications again. I now read my new Special Achievement description.

[Special Achievement Obtained: A God's Favor!]

Old Bones Zamadi has recognized you as a friend and has given you a gift. 

[Reward: Special Perk — Passage Between Spirit and Magic]

Description: Your cultivated body becomes a living threshold between mana and spiritual power and you may freely exchange between these two energies. Willing spirits may anchor themselves within your Arcane Body Art and draw upon your mana to manifest their abilities, using the exchange rate granted by this Perk. You may exchange your mana for spiritual power with spirits without them anchoring to your cultivation as well.

The effects of this Perk are increased as cultivation is advanced.

“Holy balls, what is this?!”

I somehow had linked Spiritcasting with my cultivation?

I had no idea how that worked, but that was so cool!

Zamadi leaned in closer, and I felt a faint wind brush against me. He must have used some way to inspect my System. “Oh yeah, makes sense you got that. Pretty powerful. Allows you to make an exchange between spiritual power and mana.”

“Spiritual power is what you use to interact mana and create magical effects, right?”

“Yes. You don’t have a Skill to see it.”

“I don’t have a Skill Slot, so I probably won’t get one.”

Zamadi waved a hand. “That is not needed for you. You can use mana well enough. But you do need a Spiritcasting Skill to deal with Tiamat, and this be the right one.”

I read the description again. Not only did it allow me to potentially wield spiritual energy, but it also allowed spirits to use my body as a conduit. It was like having two Skills baked into a single Perk.

“This is…” I muttered to myself. It was the craziest System reward I had gotten since unlocking my Mythic Skill. Was this because it was a Special Achievement? Gaining a god’s favor wasn’t as exclusive as being the literal first person in the history of the world to do something, but it was pretty damn exclusive. 

“What is the difference between spiritual and magical power?” I asked. “I can tell they’re different because of the way mana interacts with spirits, but I don’t understand it.”

Zamadi took a slow drag from his pipe. “Your Spellcrafting be giving mana a structure, like a language. Your cultivation transmutates mana into what you need it to do.”

This much was true, and it was eerie how much Zamadi knew. But then again, he was a god.

“But spiritual power be a force of will unto phenomena.”

“What does that mean?”

“The waves and the wind always exist. They are the primordial power of the world. The sun must shine, the leaves must bloom. A spirit can press their will on that phenomenon. And when they lean on it with their spiritual pressure, the natural effect is changed. That wind might become a storm or calm entirely.”

“Then what is the relationship of spirits to mana?”

“I be growing old and weary until you done with questions, child!” Zamadi laughed. “I be saying this and not more: Lungs need air, heart needs blood. Just so when the world breathes, mana is needed.”

An entirely unsatisfactory explanation! Zamadi must have seen that on my face, for he laughed again. Then he flicked a finger at me. “I’ve enjoyed this child. But now it is time to go. Find Tiamat and free her. May we meet again.”

Baron Zamadi’s image faded, and the unnatural darkness around us gave. I welcomed the natural light of the evening sky and its moon and the ocean breeze and scent of salt felt good after the thick, dark smokes of the old primordial spirit.

“Well?” Bombasar asked.

“He was gone for only a moment,” Jalani said. “Probably got rejected.”

Only a moment? It had felt like a long conversation, spanning hours. 

“Time be different in the spirit realm,” Bombasar said. “Did you learn something?”

I nodded. “The Baron gave me tools to deal with the Leviathan.”

Bombasar grinned and nodded. “This be what I wanted to hear.”

“Peh,” Jalani said and glared at me. “What could you do that we cannot?”

I reached out with my new Skill and saw that there was a spirit tethered to Jalani’s staff of shrunken heads. It wasn’t doing anything particular, but it kept a sphere of wind around Jalani. Maybe to keep out the insects and the wind. A little spiritual cantrip for comfort.

The spirit noticed me watching. It was a lesser wind spirit and it asked me what I wanted in a pulse of emotion.

I sent a pulse of my own and asked for a connection. It immediately accepted and I saw a playful young girl within that spirit, who was bored of serving the serious old man. 

“What are you looking at?” Jalani asked me impatiently. “And why are you grinning?”

I sent another pulse to the spirit and invited it to play. It was hesitant at first, but I sent a pulse. Within this pulse was my conversation with Zamadi, as well as my intentions and my will through my new Perk, Spiritual Presence. This last part wasn’t so I could overpower the little wind spirit, but so I could tell her I was formidable, and would not let her suffer consequences for a little prank.

She accepted willingly and we shared a simultaneous pulse that mingled in the middle. It was almost the same emotion: a conspiratorial malice, which made us giggle like the children we were.

I tried my hand at my new Perk, Passage Between Spirit and Magic. The spirit was weak, and was under Jalani’s service. It couldn’t do what I wanted it to with her own power. So I supplied her.

I watched with my Mana Sight, as I poured string of purified mana into the spirit. It circled and danced around him like a snake of glittering energy. It send me a pulse of astonishment and asked if this was all hers. I said yes, and she drank it in. I couldn’t quite understand what happened next. She drank the mana and it vanished. Then she sent a pulse of some other kind of energy to me. I didn’t understand it, but I felt a clear connection to the wind sphere around the Witch Doctor. I flicked a finger and could feel the wind shift around Jalani.

“Huh?” he muttered under his breath and frowned.

So the little wind spirit had given me access to spiritual power to control the wind. I thanked her for the gift, and she seemed to blush. I was about to play a prank on Jalani, before I changed my mind. I smiled to myself, and sent the spiritual power back to the little spirit. She sent a pulse of questioning, and I told her to enjoy herself.

She sent a pulse of the wildest, childlike grin I have ever seen, and then she dove into the wind sphere and mixed with it. 

She drove the gentle evening breeze towards Jalani. She broke the wind sphere around him, and made it swirl wildly like a whirlwind. Then she drew the wind down to his robes, lifting them up, and billowing them over his head.

“What in the?!”

The green robes tangled over his head, and another gust of wind made him trip and fall. Bombasar looked at me and started laughing boisterously. 

“You be making bargains with Jalani’s spirits under his nose?”

“No bargains,” I said. “Just… shared interest.”

Bombasar looked at me curiously and frowned, as if not understanding what I said. But soon the easy smile was back on his face. “So what will we be doing next, mon?”

“Well I have one poltergeist to deal with,” I said and gave Bombasar a flat look. He didn’t even have the decency to flinch. He just gave me a dark smile. “And then I’ll practice. I will tell you when I’m ready for the Leviathan.”

Jalani untangled himself from his robes. He was looking at me with open fury. The wind sphere was around him again, and I sent a pulse of winking at the little wind spirit. She blew a kiss through the pulse and told me she would be happy to play again.

“What the— this— what?!” Jalani was spluttering and straightening his robes, and then he asked. “How did you do that?!”

“Zamadi taught me.”

“Taught you? Why? How? What did you tell him? You don’t know any rituals to obtain service from him!”

“You don’t get it, Jalani,” Bombasar said and placed a condescending hand on the Witch Doctor’s shoulder. “It be not rituals and rules. It be barter.”

I wasn’t going to say anything. The more I knew that Bombasar didn’t, the better. I liked him well enough and he had taught me well, but the man was a creature of opportunity, and it would be good to remember that.

“This be good, mon,” the Pirate Prince said. “Bombasar be pleased you be trading with Zamadi. You get strong now. And together we will command the winds and the sea and trap the Leviathan! What kind of solution did the Old Bones be giving you?”

“He knows the spirit inside Leviathan,” I said. “So he gave me a peace offering to deliver to the Leviathan.”

Bombasar frowned. “Hm. I be wondering, why Old Bones didn’t give me this, then.”

“He said the Leviathan simply doesn’t like you,” I said quickly, then added flatly. “Impossible, I know.”

There was that dark cold flash in Bombasar’s eyes, before he laughed again and lifted me on his shoulders. “Hahah, very well. Cheeky sorcerer. Who is Bombasar to question the Baron. Either way, this be a happy day! You will train, and then come talk to me, when you have grown into your new power.”