Delve

	Total	Base	Modifier
Health	880	880	0 100%
H.Regen	350/day	350/day	0/day 100%
Stamina	200	200	0 100%
S.Regen	400/day	400/day	0/day 100%
Mana	7115	7115	0 100%
M.Regen	2.71/s	0.253/s	-0.15/s 1130.0%

</div>
</center>
<p style="font-variant: normal; line-height: 100%"> </p>
<center>
<div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto">

Movement Speed	10
Perception	20

</div>
</center>
<p style="font-variant: normal; line-height: 100%"> </p>
<p align="left" style="line-height: 100%"><strong>Resistances</strong></p>
<p style="font-variant: normal; line-height: 100%"> </p>
<center>
<div style="max-width: 100%; overflow:auto">

Heat	Cold	Light	Dark
1 0%	1 0%	1 0%	1 0%
Force	Arcane	Mental	Chemical
1 0%	1 0%	1 0%	1 0%

</div>
</center>
<p style="font-variant: normal; line-height: 100%"> </p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Right, so I've got 880 max health now. I'm currently at 400 and getting 350 a day. Good, good. As for Stamina, 200 max, currently at 130 and getting 400 a day. Works for me. Mana…what the heck? How am I full? I mean, I saw the bar, but I didn't realize…damn. I'm really not awake yet. But why though? Mana Manipulation is still running to charge the armor, so why…

He blinked.

Wait a second here. My mana regen's way higher than it should be too. The mana siphon must have gotten weaker. Oh, come to think of it, what happened to—AH!

Rain jumped as the Majistraal barrier dialog appeared front and center the moment he thought about it.

Oh hey. There it is. I didn't even realize it was missing. Derp. I'm on fire today.

Humm, the integrity is 'Fair' and the siphon is still active, but it's way weaker…around 50% instead of 90%. That's a huge relief. Anyway, I'm at full mana, which means it must have stepped itself down pretty soon after I fell asleep. Oh well, might as well charge it up now. Hum, now that the barrier isn't really low, maybe—

He blinked as the dialog vanished. Ah, there it goes. Nice. The Majistraal must have set it up that way, only forcing it to be displayed when the city was in imminent danger of barrier failure. He put it out of his mind and shifted his focus to his inventory screen. His armor was completely discharged, the Dark Regeneration rune having greedily slurped up the trickle of mana that he'd been feeding it while he slept.

He started with the ring, charging it back up to full. It wouldn't do to have it run out on him. He switched back to the armor and started pumping mana into it, but stopped when he realized that the Dark Regeneration Rune had reactivated. He'd wrapped himself up completely in his cloak before going to bed. The fact that the rune had activated meant that he was still fully covered, or that the sun had failed to rise. If he wanted the other enchantments to hold their charge, he'd have to un-cocoon himself first. He only had a few more minutes to wait until 8:00 anyway.

When his clock ticked over, he immediately canceled Winter, opening his eyes and fighting free of his cloak before sitting up. To his immense relief, he was still surrounded by the Watch and not locked away in some dungeon or something. Around him, people were stirring, comically swiping in the air at dialogs and muttering phrases like 'dismiss', and 'acknowledge'. He smiled. Hands-free control is so nice. Clarity for the win.

Around two hours later, Rain was just finishing up his breakfast. He was still in the stronghold's mess hall, which was in the Watch-only section. The sentinels wanted to speak with him once they were done organizing the officers for the morning patrols, so he'd reluctantly agreed to stick around. The basic porridge that was on offer wasn't nearly as bad as it sounded, but the freshly baked bread put it to shame. He'd eaten a whole loaf on his own with copious slathers of butter and was now working on the remains of a second. It was warm, flaky, and delicious. Better yet, it came with breakfast beer, which was not only culturally acceptable, but encouraged—in moderation, of course. There was also some oddly-spiced sausage, but it hadn't been to his liking.

He'd picked a table with a bunch of the Watch's recruits, those wearing wooden badges instead of bronze. They'd been friendly enough, and he'd taken the opportunity to learn a bit more about the Watch itself.

The recruits were called 'prospects', and they were all unawakened. The Watch wasn't like the Guild; you couldn't just pay a fee to join up. Prospects only became officers when they were awakened. To become a prospect, you had to start as a 'ward'. Apparently, the Watch would pay impoverished families a small stipend if they sent one of their children to them for training. They also took in orphans and the like, housing and training them for free. It was less 'school' and more 'boot camp'. It was martial education with a side of mild indoctrination. Wards weren't allowed to leave the Watch's strongholds. Prospects were, though rarely and not without supervision. Rain reserved his opinion on the merits of this system. The group of them that he was talking to seemed normal enough, and a free education was nothing to scoff at, restricted as it was.

There weren't any wards in this stronghold; they were housed in one that wasn't open to the public, situated near the southern wall of the city. Once the wards turned sixteen, the most promising were added to the pool of prospects, while the rest were released to seek their own fate. The prospects themselves served as aides, cleaners, porters, and the like. Their training also continued, with the ten highest-rated in the city put in a lottery for awakening. That was done semi-regularly, basically whenever an essence monster was spotted in the Fells.

The prospects hadn't been able to tell him much about the lair itself. The officers were secretive about details. Rain did learn that blues tended to spawn in there every month or so, and were typically lower than level ten. He had been pretty disappointed to hear this, as he was hoping to somehow convince Citizen Sadanis to allow him in the lair. He wanted to raise his cap, but a level 10 blue wouldn't do it. It looked like he was just as stuck as the prospects were. Their barrier was political, his was literal. It went without saying that the prospects weren't very happy about the Citizen's order barring them from the lair.

His fellow diners had eventually been called away to their duties, leaving Rain to claim the rest of the bread. He finished off the last piece just as Sentinel Lamida walked into the room. She made her way over to him, accompanied by an officer that he recognized. It was Melka, or Mel as she'd asked him to call her, one of the first members of the Watch that he'd properly met. She'd been there when he'd come to fumigate their barracks. He'd last seen her when she let him into the city the morning before the DKE made their move.

Lamida spoke as he got to his feet. "Rain. I'm told you know Officer Melka. Is that true?"

"Yeah. Hi Mel. How's it going?" Rain said, giving her a friendly wave.

"I'm fine," Melka said neutrally, nodding to him. "You?" She was wearing a pair of daggers at her waist, belted over her leather armor. Lamida was in her red robe, as always. It looked like they were planning on leaving the stronghold, as most of the officers didn't walk around armed in the mess hall.

"Pretty good, I suppose," he said. "I might have eaten a bit too much bread."

Melka smiled slightly. "It is pretty good, I'll give you that." Her face returned to a neutral expression as Lamida gestured for him to come.

"Follow me. Phoss wants to talk to you," she said.

Rain nodded, picking up his helmet and slipping it onto his head. He closed the visor as he stepped out of the mess hall, searching for the ornery spear-wielding sentinel. He spotted him and a few officers by the arch that led to the public area. Lamida led the way, Rain and Melka following. Lamida's expression was cool and unreadable as always, but Melka looked a bit off. She'd been pretty easy going in their interactions before, but her face right now was serious. She was touching her throat with one hand, a distant expression on her face. She dropped her hand to her side when she saw him watching.

What's going on there?

"Ah, Night Cleaner, there you are," Phoss said as they approached. He was also armed, carrying his spear at his side.

Rain frowned. "Sentinel Phoss," he greeted him. That damn nickname better not catch on.

"This way," Phoss said, turning to walk toward the front gate. "As agreed, you're free to go. To be clear, we expect you to be back here tonight to use that spell again. We're not done, even though the siphon's effect has decreased. Am I right that your spell gives you more mana back than it costs? There's nothing stopping you from using it again?"

"Yeah," Rain said, hustling to keep up with the rapid pace Phoss was setting. "I can use it as much as I want. By the way, remember what I told you that I was worried about last night? Did anyone get sick from the overmana?"

"A few," Phoss said. "Some said they couldn't sleep with the feeling of the cold, and a few others were behaving oddly this morning. I don't know that you could call it soulstrain. It was like they couldn't concentrate, but there was no pain. We've got the worst of them confined for observation, but it looks like they are recovering.

Oh shit. That sounds like what happened to me when I got carried away before. I guess Winter can cause soulstrain after all.

"Don't worry about it," Lamida said at his silence. "We agreed to the risk. You did warn us that it might happen. As long as there is no lasting harm, there will be no issue."

"Sorry," Rain said, looking at her. "I didn't think it would be that bad. I've used it on others before and they didn't have any problems."

"It seems to have hit warriors the hardest," Phoss said. "I was unaffected, but some are weaker than others."

"Any idea why it bothered them, but not you?" Rain asked.

Phoss turned to face him as they reached the gate. "Something something Clarity, something something magic," he said, wiggling his fingers. Rain smiled, but Lamida looked annoyed. Phoss laughed at her expression and continued. "Ask a scholar. It might just have been a coincidence. There weren't that many, and your dull friend Kebbel was fine, so it probably doesn't have anything to do with stats at all."

"Kettel," Rain said, correcting him. Dull was slang for unawakened, and while it wasn't exactly polite, it wasn't typically meant as an insult. He wasn't about to make an issue of it.

"Whatever," Phoss said, waving his hand. "In any event, it should be fine for you to use that spell out in the city. I've got my officers spreading the word about what it feels like so you don't cause a panic. That cleaning spell of yours too, in case anyone's been living under a rock."

"Oh, thanks," Rain said. That's…considerate. I wasn't expecting that from Phoss. He's being…nice?

"There is a condition," Lamida said, holding up her hand. "We're assigning an officer to stay with you at all times in case there are any incidents. For today, that is Officer Melka."

"Oh," Rain said, glancing at Melka, then back to Lamida. "Um…"

"Not negotiable," Lamida said. "Though if you would prefer someone other than Officer Melka…"

"No, that's not it," Rain said. "It's fine. I just…don't want to waste anyone's time."

Lamida snorted, staring at Rain. "Lie."

"I'm not lying, just—"

"I'll be blunt," Phoss interrupted him. "She's your babysitter. We don't trust you to stay out of trouble, and you're too important to risk leaving unattended. I wanted to send a whole patrol with you, but Lamida disagreed. Anything you need from the Watch, just ask Officer Melka. She is your liaison, as well as your keeper. Make sure to check with her before you decide to do anything stupid."

"Phoss," Lamida said, glaring at him, but he ignored her. Melka's expression was unreadable.

"Get going," Phoss said. "Lamida and I have places to be and you're making us late." He turned to Melka. "Officer Melka, remember what I told you."

"Yes, sir," Melka said, nodding in deference. With that, Phoss turned on his heel and strode away, Lamida following.

Rain sighed and looked at Melka, then offered her his gauntlet to shake. "Well, looks like we're stuck together."

She took his hand, shaking it curtly. "Don't worry. You'll barely know I'm there." She sighed deeply as she released his hand. "Let's go."

"Hey, um. Are you okay?" Rain asked, cautiously. "You seem a bit…"

"I'm fine," she said, rubbing at her neck again. "Sorry. It's been a long few days."