As the quintet approached the trenches, they were quickly stopped by what was clearly supposed to be some kind of guards. However, said guards were wearing mismatched outfits and didn't seem that coordinated. It made Celeste kind of nostalgic for the first time they had visited Marcusburg.

  The front guard seemed to be more moustache than man, and their helmets had no brim whatsoever, despite that being the imperial fashion... or rather, it had been hundreds of years ago. So maybe it wasn't quite that surprising.

  "Halt, travellers! Who goes there?" The words were spoken with a gruff, roughness that seemed to indicate that the group would get a thorough beating if they weren't willing to identify themselves.

  Riez was the first out of the caravan. Her torn, billowing cape fluttered behind her, despite her wearing a much more sleek leather outfit, more common for a rogue. She had asked for quite a few ridiculous things. A jester's outfit had been shut down, and Celeste wasn't even sure how she had been supposed to add "playing music" to a cape.

  "Gents! Sorry to interrupt your work," the intern started out, gesturing to the table with a couple of dice that were lying on the table with a couple Revals. It was nice to see that the coin named after the Emperor family was still being used, even in a section of the empire that had made a national sport out of killing the royal family's chosen administrators.

  "That is fine, but I need to know who you are and why you are here." The moustache on a man grumbled.

  Celeste cleared her throat. "We are a travelling band of adventurers out here to, you know, help with the fighting."

  The man gave Celeste a narrow look, and Riez gave a small groan. The girl had asked to be the one to talk, but Celeste really wanted to have some fun as well.

  "And what side are you looking to join?" The man asked, hand resting on a sword that Celeste identified as elven craftsmanship, and quite recent at that.

  "Depends... how much does each side pay?" Riez cut in, and the rapidly hardening features of the guard seemed to soften.

  "Ah, well, if you are just here for Revals, then I guess there is not much harm. The empire refuses to use adventurers anyway. They prefer to use their conscripts. Much cheaper." The guard said, and the young guard gave an audible laugh.

  "Only until those conscripts start thinking for themselves." The younger guard said with a smirk.

  "Ey, a shame that was a one-time thing, you knucklehead." The guards kept bantering back and forth, as Spif and Spaf were sneaking behind them to steal the Revals off their gametable.

  Celeste considered stepping in, but honestly, there was no reason for her to try and rein in the goblins. They would cause chaos wherever they went. At least that was until she saw Riez make a subtle hand signal to the pair of goblins to go back to the gametable, and also steal the dice that the pair of goblins had left behind.

  That little munchkin really was standing for the complete opposite of Celeste. While the goddess of death, life, time and construction was the Architect of Reality, Riez was doing everything in her power to sow chaos. If Celeste was the Architect, then Riez was the Anarchist.

  Celeste liked the ring of that. The Anarchist of Existence.

  Seeing that Riez had gotten her lackies to steal whatever wasn't bolted to the ground, while she herself was talking up the guards, and Celeste was lost in speculation, Jasmine cleared her throat.

  "Thank you fhor yoehr time. It has been amazeng, but I am sure dat we will have to 'ead out, at least fhor now. We will see you on de battlefields." She was clad in an elegant robe that indicated her to be of the Elemental school of magics, a fairly popular type of magic among adventurers. The bright staff that she was holding was purely cosmetic, but most adventuring mages had them, so it was only natural for her to wield one as well.

  They moved onward, trying to get out of the first great trench before they got caught stealing from the guards. They even left behind their card, not wanting to look like they were using the pair of goblins as horses.

  It took the guards an embarrassingly long time to figure out that they had been stolen from, and by the time they realised, the quintet was already long gone, carried away by Celeste's Journeying Domain.

  The Scribe of the gods looked at the Architect with a raised eyebrow. Celeste was clad in what would normally be considered a cleric's outfit. A hefty one-handed maul at her side, with metal bracers on both arms and legs, it seamlessly combined with the flowing blue robes, indicating Celeste to be a cleric of Kelllwan. She had even managed to inscribe all her weapons and armor with runes, which was only something that the mightiest Kelllwan clerics could boast. The only part missing was the holy symbol, which kept bursting into flames whenever Celeste tried to wear it. It didn't matter what god it belonged to. She simply couldn't wear it.

  "Are we sure leaveng de cart be'end was a good idea? We have no idea what we are lookeng fhor, and we will need to make camp at some point. My stamina is great, so I might not be feeleng it yet, but I know even gods need to rest." Jasmine said, wondering if Celeste was going to slow down at some point.

  The goddess blinked. "Oh... Is this the first time we have travelled together? I guess it is... well, I am the goddess of travels, and while I mostly focus on the journey after the afterlife, it also affects journeys on the material plane. As long as we travel, it counts as sleep, drinking, and eating... pretty neat, huh?" She gave an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle, making Jasmine giggle a little.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "Ay, tis indeed." She agreed.

  Riez nodded. "Absolutely! Not that I have travelled with her before, and honestly, it is kind of slow, but it is better than just collapsing on the floor. Besides, if I was going full speed, then I would probably hit one of those trenches and-" She paused, her eyes going wide.

  Text from image:

  New Skill Created!

  Trench Digging

  Effect: Determines how skilled a person is at digging trenches. Each level in this skill equates to 1 meter of digging per hour, meaning that at level 25, the owner of this skill will be able to dig 25 meters of trench in an hour. At level 25, this gains an additional benefit of also reinforcing the trench. At level 50, the trench will automatically get watch turrets every 25 meters. At level 75, the trench can be dug in two directions at the same time. At level 100, the trench will be magically warded.

  Celeste blinked as the notification about a new skill appeared. It was a local pop-up. Something that Jasper had been cooking up, and it would only show to people in the same region.

  "WHAT THE ACTUAL SH-" Celeste was cut off by a smug Jasmine.

  "Language"

  The Architect of Reality narrowed her eyes, looking at her now sworn nemesis, The Anarchist of Existence. "YOU MADE A BUILDING SKILL?!? I AM THE ONE WHO BUILDS! I AM THE ONE WHO MAKES BUILDING SKILLS!"

  Riez stuck out her tongue. "Too slow!"

  Celeste knew that Riez had just committed Energy for the entire day to make skill, and yet she couldn't help but feel like her co-goddess might as well have committed that Energy to slapping her in the face.

  "AND THAT IS SUCH A HYPER SPECIFIC SKILL! You know, someone will find a way to break this! They will realise that you can speed it up, or just dig under enemy fortifications, or something stupid like that." Celeste berrated.

  Riez just smirked.

  Text from image:

  New Skill Frame!

  War Engineer

  Requirement: Level 60 Trench Digging, Level 30 Bow/Gun skill, Level 30 Sword skill, Level 50 Arcane Lore

  Effect: You get the full layout of any trench you enter, and are able to set up boots in zones for any trench that you have dug. The strength of this boost is determined by your Bow/Gun skill for any ranged attacks. Sword skill for any melee attacks, and Arcane Lore for any spell-based attacks.

  Celeste was stunned. Riez had this absolutely pleased look on her face as she had just spent two Worship on creating a new Skill Frame.

  "I AM GOING TO CHOKE YOU!"

  Riez quickly dodged the attack from Celeste as the normally calm and collected former teacher formulated the best idea to beat the snot out of someone who wasn't old enough to drink.

  Jasmine gave the two a look. "Are dere any av you who wanna tell me what is goeng on?"

  Riez had this incredibly self-satisfied look on her face that Jasmine could only interpret as bad news. "Yeah, someone isn't the architect she would like people to think. At least, she wasn't the first one to make a skill for digging, nor a skill frame."

  "I am not, she is making dumb skills that will be featured in some dumb series like: 'I was reincarnated into another world, and the only skill I have is digging, so I dug the biggest trench in the world and earned my father's respect.' and it will get five thousand regular readers or something like that," Celeste complained.

  "I gotta ask... what are skills? It sounds like somet'eng you are actually createng and not just somet'eng people learn" Jasmine prodded, moving in between the two gods fighting among each other, if nothing else, then to keep them moving forward.

  "Yeah, it is something new we are trying. We want to make this world ready for... the Age of Champions. It is a long way away, thousands of years, at least, but we hope that someday, the world will have champions appear, and they need to learn skills in a more effective way." Celeste explained, honestly considering using some of her remaining Energy to kill Riez before the Anarchist could do more damage to her precious building skills.

  They talked for a bit about the concept, all while making good time and speed across the land. Each step felt light and easy thanks to Celeste's amazing Domain. As they had walked through most of the night, Celeste decided that it was unlikely that they would meet anyone looking for a fight. So she decided to use one of her Energy for the day, before the sun would rise.

  Text from image:

  New Skill Created!

  Mimicry

  Effect: This skill is for those who want to mimic sounds. Each level gives the person one additional sound they can mimic. At level 25, the user can mimic animal noises to the point of duplicating specific species of animal sounds. At level 50, the user can duplicate humans they have heard, but can only duplicate sentences that they have heard their target say. Each person counts for a specific sound. At level 75, the user can unlearn a sound to learn a new one. This process takes 20 minutes. At level 100, there is no longer a limit on the number of sounds that the user can mimic at once, nor remember. Furthermore, they can mimic even sentences that have not been spoken by another person they have heard.

  Riez got a deeply outraged look on her face, clearly taken aback by the audacity of Celeste, using her own tricks against her.

  "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Riez howled.

  "YoU cAn'T dO tHaT!" Celeste mocked. "Wow, look at me, I am already a grandmaster at the skill."

  Spif and Spaf were laughing so hard that one of them puked up some grass they had been eating while walking.

  Riez was stunned, absolutely stopped dead in her tracks. She wasn't sure if she was going to laugh or start a fight. However, from the way the corner of her mouth twitched, she was clearly doing her best to try and keep a roaring laughter back.

  Jasmine was the one to interrupt them. "Shorry to be de killer av yoehr buzz, but it looks like we have mhore company up a'ead." Pointing towards the horizon, Celeste and Riez saw that she was right.

  A group of five people, clad in dark robes, wearing a silver sigil on their chests, was approaching. Celeste instantly recognised the symbol. The spiral with four corners. It looked like they had found their first Morwen worshippers.