"Hmm. I think that makes sense." Thoughtful snug.

Little smile. Cuddle.

The conversation lapses into a comfortable silence, and he snuggles them cozily until it's time for bed.

The next morning at breakfast, he confesses that he doesn't feel up for inseminating alraunes, and suggests they try out that fetch quest with the silk if they can't find anything better on the board. Before he checks the board, though, he scrolls through his skill list and notices something odd.

"Those spells the high priest used, they cost three skill points each? I don't think I've seen that before." Indeed, a quick scan doesn't turn up any others that cost more than one apiece, although he doesn't peruse the list closely enough to be confident he's not missing one somewhere.

"Oh right! Skills come in three tiers but because you're classless you don't have to wait until high level to unlock those. For normal classes reaching level five unlocks your class's 'starter' tier two skills and reaching level fifteen unlocks your 'starter' tier three skills. Tier twos take two skill points per purchase like it takes six total to get the sacred greater version and tier threes take three skill points per, nine total to get sacred greater."

"Interesting! So it could potentially benefit me a lot to start hanging around much higher-level adventurers and spying on their skills..."

"Might be worth it, if there's an opportunity," Coventina agrees. "That's still a lot of skill points you don't have yet, though."

"It's always possible I'll find something worth saving up for!"

"Yep."

Since there doesn't appear to be a better - wait.

Coventina points at a new quest. "They need someone to purify Lake Lowguy. 100,000 Lake. To purify a lake. Pun intended. But wow that's basically free money. You guys wanna picnic while I go for a swim?"

"Oh, that sounds like a lovely idea!"

Laurent's party can register that quest, then.

When they do, Luna has a warning for them, though: "It wasn't in the official write-up but I've heard some rumors that Lake Lowguy is home to an entire school of Mesmers. So don't let your guard down, alright?"

"And what are Mesmers? The name doesn't sound promising..."

"An ambush-type aquatic monster that possess some form of hypnotic power," Luna explains. "I'm sorry I'm not well-informed on the particulars in this case. I believe we have an Orb of Clarity I could rent out to you to protect you from the hypnosis, though! Would you like me to find it?"

"That sounds like a very useful precaution, thank you!"

Coventina collects the Orb. It's about the size of a ping-pong ball and hangs from a chain around her neck.

"Yeah. Thank you. Shall we?"

"Let's see what this lake is like!"

Walking east for a few hours brings them to: a lake.

It is a very ordinary seeming lake, ignoring how the water is murky and an unfortunate hue of gray.

There is one random shade tree on a small outcropping, and fields of short scrub grass surrounding. The shore of the lake is packed mud and water-smoothed rock. The presence of Mesmers is not immediately apparent.

"Well, if the rest of us stay back from the water, hopefully the hypnotic fish won't be able to reach us. And we should keep an eye on Coventina and potentially have Sky divert the Mesmers' attention if necessary. ...and if it looks like the hypnotic fish are luring anyone underwater, we all leave."

"I think that covers the obvious failure modes. Good plan."

She takes off the Orb of Clarity, casts Etheric Wardrobe, and puts it back on once she's nude.

Coventina walks down the bank and steps into the water until it is up to her knees.

"Purify."

The gray murk is displaced by a pulsing vwoom of pure, sparkling clear water in a circle around her, her magic traveling outward in a ripple. Another ripple follows, then another, pushing the circle of clean water further outward.

This is probably going to take a while.

"Being at a lake puts me in mind of fishing which puts me in mind of dinner," he says thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll make something with fish tonight. Although I don't want to risk trying to catch anything here in case of hypnotic interference."

"I'm sure it will be yummy," Sky says in agreement.

After their talk last night, she feels bold enough to take Laurent's hand and put it on top of her head, before letting go and going back to watching Coventina.

He makes a small sound of pleased surprise, moves a little closer to her, and starts happily petting her.

Headpats and petting are definitely things he should do to her at every opportunity as often as he likes.

Purr? Tail-wag-without-a-tail? Nonspecific moe noises? She doesn't know how to do any of that on command so she settles for giving Laurent a tiny blissful smile. (The sentiment comes across clearly. 21 Allure is 21 Allure.)

It's very cute. She should definitely remind Laurent to pet Sky any time he could be petting Sky without that getting in the way of anything. She herself just leans into him a little, brushing shoulders, as she watches Coventina.

"Hmm. Rate of expansion, osmosis of contaminants back into the clean area, time between castings..." She shakes her head. "Can't calculate the time frame without knowing how deep the lake is. Probably a few hours but not all day?"

"Hmm! Yes, that looks plausible." He has two hands; he can hold hands with Eelesia on one side and give Sky gentle headpets on the other. This seems like a correct use of resources. Also cozy. "So what else do you know about higher-tier skills? Any examples offhand? Are they generally worth the increased point cost?"

Handholding! How lewd. Very cozy.

"Usually! Spells in the higher tiers often have effects or means-of-effect that are fundamentally less limited in some important way that results in more grandeur which I know isn't very specific but one reasonable heuristic is in the cost and difficulty of performing the skill. Higher mana cost, harder or more complex to wield effectively, or anything along that theme. It makes sense, if skill points can be conceptualized as a fungible form of time-spent-practicing then skills that would require far more learning to, um, learn, require more skill points, right?"