Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Nine - 189
"What do you mean, you're unavailable? Developing your Intent is paramount, Felix. You cannot afford to be lax with the Chant."
They were in Felix's tiny closet of a room. Well, Felix was in the room while Zara stood in the doorway and Pit loomed behind her like a horse-sized bouncer. She patted his beak before staring back at Felix. For his part, he gave her an apologetic shrug as he grabbed a set of linen clothes that had seen better days. These will do.
"I know. It's not that. I've got to clear up my Skills. My first meeting with the Maw led to several of my Skills being broken. I've fixed a lot of them, but I still have a few left."
Zara shook her head. "Avet's eyes, broken. How could that happen? There's no record of this--" She stopped mid-sentence, registering Felix's confused stare. "Nevermind. Are they your Mana Skills?"
"No. Most of them are Body Skills, weapon masteries and one Mind Skill." Felix flexed his hand, just imagining the jolts of pain whenever he used them.
"Body Skills?" Zara's tone was incredulous. "Why waste your time? You've proven yourself well capable without weapons of any kind. Your transformation Skill alone is terrifyingly effective. What need do you have for a sword?"
Felix opened his mouth, then closed it. "It's more than that. I feel...I feel like I'm in pieces, somehow. I need to be whole."
Felix looked up again to see Zara regarding him levelly, her bright blue eyes curious. While his Affinity could sense nothing that the Naiad didn't wish to give away, she seemed genuinely concerned. "I see. How has your core developed? I think that may have a lot to do with these feelings."
"What?"The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.
"Your core. You should be in the Actualization Stage at this point, yes?" Zara eyed him impatiently, before realization dawned. "You're Unbound. You have no idea. Night." Zara held up a hand and placed it near Felix's body. "May I inspect your core?"
"Uh, sure."
Zara's ochre palm touched Felix's tunic, right above his belly button, and he felt a gentle pulse of aquamarine power sweep through him. It was like getting blasted by those air conditioners above the doors of a convenience store; chilly but benign. Felix observed Zara's face instead, watching as her expression changed rapidly from pinched concentration to surprise.
"You've already condensed into the Ring Stage? And--you have strands forming?" Zara shook her head ruefully. "I had expected accelerated developments, but this..."
"What are you talking about? What's the Actualization Stage and Ring Stage? Is that--are they a Tier thing?" Felix asked.
"No, it's--damnation. I should have told you of this already, but you were so capable. I had assumed---regardless. The core," Zara stepped back and gestured. A ghostly image formed of her Intent appeared before them, a small glowing speck in a dark void. "All cores start the same. It is a mote of energy that sits in your center and radiates System energy throughout your Aspects. It is the interface between you and the System itself. This is the Mote Stage. When enough energy has passed through that speck of power, it will begin to branch through your flesh, forming channels for the System's energy to better travel within. This is the Vein Stage and is quite important. Typically this happens around level 15 to 20, as that's when most gain the requisite stats to jump start the process."
Felix thought back, thinking on his time in the Foglands around those levels. He recalled the burning sensation he'd continuously felt within him from the outset, whenever a Skill leveled or he'd earned more stat points. Was that his Mote Stage?
"Which stats?"
"Intelligence and Willpower are key, but Endurance and Vitality are also important to endure the process," Zara eyed him. "Most would need at least 15 in each to make the most of the Vein Stage. Do you recall this occurring?"
Felix thought back to the near death by hypothermia that had netted him his Fire Within Skill. It had all the earmarks of what she was talking about. The events then had edged out of his perfect thirty day recall, but he could remember well enough. "Yeah. My stats were in the twenties and thirties at that point."
"That--to be expected of an Unbound," Zara said. Her breathless interest in this conversation was a strange departure form her usual kind mystery. The image between them had become a body of pulsing veins, looping throughout the torso and spooling through each limb and even head. "Once your channels have formed they take a while to settle. Once they do, the use and expulsion of Mana vapor becomes far easier. At that point your core should have grown into its next stage, called the Visualization Stage. This is where you begin to conceptualize your power."
"Rory mentioned that to me," Felix nodded. "He said there were some who saw their cores as vaults in the earth, or a forest of trees, or whatever."
"Precisely. Rory should know a bit about this, as it is key to an effective combatant. Once you've visualized your core, its form becomes affixed and rarely changes, but it allows you to benefit more rapidly from the influx of energies." This time the image changed to show a core that looked like a swirling ball of ocean water, except more...ephemeral than actual liquid. More energy poured in from the sides before being siphoned back out. "From there one must accumulate power from the ambient Mana all around them, pulling it into their core and expelling it from their channels. This is usually done passively thanks to Mana regeneration, so the more you use your Mana the faster you can cultivate this power. After that comes the Actualization Stage, where the visualization of your core becomes more concrete and nearly real. Someone at this stage should be able to mentally delve into their core and experience it as if they had physically entered the space." Zara let out an exasperated breath. "This is where I would have guessed you were, based on what you've told me of your capabilities. But you're a whole stage ahead."
With another gesture, the image once again changed. Now the water had vanished, instead forming into a replication of Felix's own core. It was a ring of thick, liquid-like fire that spun in the center of two dozen revolving Skills.
"Pit helped me," Felix admitted, meeting eyes with his Companion. Pit let out an excited chirrup. "When we fought the Ravager King he helped me spin my core to manage the influx of monster Essence and Mana. After that I lost half my Mana pool and then this all happened." He pointed at the ghostly image.
Zara pointed to the ring of blue-white flames, crackling with lightning. "The Ring Stage, where your power condenses into a more potent form, will typically reduce your available Mana pool. But what you lose in available Mana you gain in might as each Mana Skill now carries an extra boost. You've noticed that, yes?"
Felix nodded. He certainly had noticed his Skills were hitting harder than before.
"This is concerning, however. That you have broken Skills at this stage," Zara shifted the image of Felix's core, an impressive snapshot she'd somehow taken with whatever ability she'd used. It focused on a half dozen Skills that shone with fitful lights. "The Ring Stage of your core will plexity in combining Skills. The further along your advancement moves, the more set in stone your existence becomes. The greatest of us, those that are Grandmasters and beyond, they are immutable and nearly ageless. But gaining new Skills? Altering their old ones? Nearly impossible."
"Nearly, though," Felix said, jumping on the word. "And I'm nowhere near that level."
"No, you're not. But you are advancing rapidly, and in ways that confound me. The Ring stage should not be reached until you're an Adept and have enough Mana and significance to force the transformation."
"Significance?"
"A consequence of power. The more you attain, the more...weight you have in the three Realms."
"So the Ravager King helped me, then," Felix said, feeling a surge of grim satisfaction. "And I imagine the Larval Ravager and Queen Ravager didn't hurt."
"No, they certainly did not. Your manner of acquiring power is something I haven't seen before, but strength does not come without a cost. Beware of how you proceed, Felix. The path ahead of you is wild and untested." With that, Zara spun on her heel and left his room.
He sat there a while, thinking on things. Ultimately, however, he had already made up his mind. Zara's advice was well meant, but Felix couldn't wait any longer. Now was the time. He was done messing around with broken Skills.
The next day, Felix was back in that warded room, again.
"Hopefully ye don't burn the walls down this time, eh?" Rory said, slapping the walls that still bore faint char marks. "What're you plannin' to do about monster cores? We're right short of them at the moment."
"Don't worry, just chalk the ritual. I've got the rest covered," Felix assured the man, while within his core a stormy nebula of writhing, iridescent smoke raged. In preparation for this, and despite Zara's protests, Felix had gone hunting. Over forty Revenants had died before he'd felt he had enough to work with, and even then Felix killed another dozen. Just to be safe.
It felt like pushing lead through a hose. Felix's Body felt heavy, his Mind dulled, and his Spirit dimmed beneath the onslaught of savage energies. System power hit his core in wave after wave of illumination, cascading from all of his ignited Skills, while the Essence of fifty Revenants was siphoned into those congealing flames. Discordant, atonal humming gave a cruel counterpoint to the symphonic majesty of the System, and the Skill bucked beneath Felix's Will.
Another swell of matched powers hit him, again, and again. Each time the evolving Skill was nearly rattled from Felix's grasp. Each time he nearly lost it all, as if it was refusing to fuse together.
"The further along your advancement moves, the more set in stone your existence becomes." Zara's words echoed through his Mind as he held on. "Significance....A consequence of power. The more you attain, the more...weight you have in the three Realms."
Reign of Vellus!
The Skill responded instantly, hurtling from the far side of his core to besiege the stitched Skills with blue lightning. Kinetic force pressed them together, leveraging his Willpower from another angle. More importantly was the Tempered Feature effecting Reign of Vellus.
Gravity - The Pull of Significance
With every ounce of his Mana and Will, Felix held his resisting Skill together, even as his Essence slowly ran dry.
C'mon! You joined so easily! Fuse! Evolve!
A great distance away, Felix heard the sound of a single raindrop falling into a pool.
From nowhere, an irresistible fury welled up in his core, a film of blinding red that flash-soaked his entire core. His emotions, so carefully bottled up, overturned like a can of gasoline, igniting the fires all around him into an uncontrolled inferno. System power swept through him unchecked, and his nebula of Essence unspooled wildly into his core.
The Wild Song faded, the red only thickened, and all Felix could hear was screaming before his senses were inundated with sanguine radiance.
Felix woke on his own bed, fully nude, with a giant tenku on his chest.
"Ouuuufff, Pit!" He croaked. "Get off!"
With a confused warble, Pit shifted his immense weight to the side, which had the unfortunately consequence of tilting his straw-filled mattress. Felix's face mushed right back into the chimera, this time getting a mouthful of feathers.
"Pthaw pthaw!" Felix spat out a unique mix of fur and down, and pushed himself up. "What the heck?"
Sick. Hurt. I am helping. Pit's sending was infused with such a surety and warmth that Felix felt his anger melt away. You were angry. Mad. After ritual.
Felix only remembered snatches since he had chosen to evolve his Skills. Flashes of light and impressions of sound that didn't really make sense. He'd gotten so used to his perfect recall that it was disorienting. "What happened?"
Pit's grasp of language was increasing rapidly, but many things were beyond him. Instead, the tenku sent a series of sense images that showed Felix bursting from the small room in a fit of rage. He'd staggered around the warehouse, smashing through a set of water barrels and shoving...shoving Rory into a wall before Pit had tackled him to the ground. The images were hazier after that, but it was clear he'd been taken to his room.
I did all that? It had felt like watching a stranger with his face. Why? I don't--I don't remember doing that. Is Rory...I didn't hurt him did I?
No. Images of the Dwarf back on his feet flitted through their bond. You were angry. Hurt. Sick.
That anger again. It had never affected him this much before, though. Was this because of the draught? Felix remembered a surge of fury clearly at the end of his ritual.
"The ritual!"
Felix hastily brought up his notifications...and sighed in relief.
"It worked."
New Skill!
Wild Threnody, Epic, Level 35!
You have embraced the Untamed Chords, and the Songs of War have come to call. Mana, the lifeblood of all, is yours to command even unto death; any weapon you hold, whether it is an axe or your fist, can be imbued with the Mana of your core. Scope of imbuement increases moderately per level, mastery of chosen weapons increases moderately per level, Mana cost decreases slightly per level.
Untamed Chords? Songs of War? Felix frowned. He'd lost ten levels of his Unarmed Mastery, but gained ten with everything else. All things considered, it was a rousing success. More importantly...
Formation:
Body: Seed of the Unchained Mountain (Apprentice)
Mind: Godeater (Apprentice)
Spirit: Rising Sovereign (Journeyman)
My Body is unchanged since the last time. Felix slide around the bulk of his Companion, clambering to his feet. The draught worked. It had somehow left his Body alone despite the fact that Unarmed Mastery technically no longer existed. How, though?
He had questions, and he wasn't gonna sit on them anymore. I could have hurt someone because of that potion. Aenea has some explaining to do.
Felix had barely grabbed his clothes before a violent, painful gurgle ripped through his midsection. Swallowing, he reconsidered his options. He'd have time for Aenea in a little bit.
*GURGLE*
Maybe longer.
