Die. Respawn. Repeat.

548 credits. I better get a good skill out of this.

[ Are you sure you wish to bank 548 Durability credits? ]

[ 548 Durability credits banked! Rolling for results... ]

[ Select between:

Impact Reflection (Rank A)

Phaseslip (Rank A)

Imbued Resilience (Rank A)

Chromatic Resistance (Rank A) ]

[ You have unlocked an Inspiration. Bonus will commence once skill selection has taken place. ]

Impact Reflection is pretty self-explanatory, and Inspect doesn't tell me anything different from what I assumed from the name alone. It's a durability skill that allows me to reflect kinetic energy proportional to the amount of Firmament I put into the skill. It's a true reflection, too; the impact is fully absorbed and then expelled in the direction I choose.

A simple skill. A good one, too. But while Whisper is dangerous, it's not her punches I'm worried about.

Phaseslip, on the other hand, is a movement and durability skill rolled into one. Inspect tells me it makes me intangible and thus renders physical blows ineffective, which is an amazing skill that has the exact same problem Impact Reflection does. Physical blows aren't what I need to be guarding against — not at the moment, anyway.

That said... The skill does give me pause, though not because I think it'll help me endure more hits.

"Phaseslip," I mutter out loud. "You heard of that skill before, Ahkelios?"

"What?" Ahkelios perks up on my shoulder, then shakes his head. "No."

"Shame." I stare at the skill contemplatively for another moment more. I haven't forgotten what I've been told about where the Integrators are — they live in a section of reality that overlaps every world they've conquered. The impression I'm getting from the skill through Inspect tells me that Phaseslip does something similar. It pushes me into another layer of reality, making ordinary physical attacks slip straight through.

The only question is whether I can modify it enough to pay the Integrators a visit.

Imbued Resilience and Chromatic Resistance are both passives of a sort. The first apparently allows me to imbue durability skills into objects with a kind of auric effect — the person holding on to the stone gains the benefit of the durability skill. It's different from directly imbuing armor with durability skills, which makes the armor itself stronger, but not the user.

Chromatic Resistance is pretty self-explanatory. It's related to all the recent experimentation with the color of Firmament and offers me partial resistance against additional effects that come from Firmament color.

I dismiss that one right off the bat. It's not useless, exactly, but none of the opponents I've faced so far make extensive use of Firmament color. There might be one in the future, but there's no point preparing for an enemy I'm not sure whether I'll face when I already have one right in front of me.

So... Phaseslip seems like the option to go for.

For the first time, I find myself wishing the Inspiration would happen before the skill selection. At least then I'd have the ability to ask Gheraa about it.

[ Phaseslip (Rank A) obtained! ]

[ Inspiration commencing. ]

I'm almost getting used to the way the world freezes around me now. There's still a feeling of disorientation as everything just stops; even breathing doesn't really work in this space. It's more mental than physical, I suppose. I doubt it's an actual time freeze.

"Ethan!" Gheraa greets. This time he's leaning against the doorway to Virin's hut, and he's... wearing a hat, for some reason. I eye him for a moment, wondering if he's actually taking this seriously, or if I've just been wrong about him needing help.

"Hello," I say.

"You've been holding on to your Durability points for a long time," Gheraa comments. "It's almost like you want to get beaten up."

"More like I'd prefer not getting hit to enduring a hit," I say wryly. I examine him a little more closely — the golden Firmament that runs through his skin looks... a little dimmer than before. It's more noticeable because Inspiration-space strips the world of color. Gheraa is the only thing that pops out, and today he pops out a little less.

The question is if he's figured out a way to communicate to me what I need to know.

"Did you enjoy your skill options this time?" Gheraa asks me brightly. He conjures an object out of thin air, golden Firmament looping into a traditional Earth microphone. I stare at it, bemused.

"They were... interesting," I say.

"Good, good," Gheraa says. He leans in to stage-whisper. "We Integrators can technically help choose the skills you get, you know. It's a bit costly, especially for you, but it helps keeps things more interesting."

I'm careful not to react to his words. What he's telling me is a clear hint — and now I'm more certain than ever that Phaseslip was the right choice. Considering the likelihood that we're being watched, I don't want to let on that I've figured it out.

"So that's why my skill options always suck."

"Now, now, that's not fair to me." Gheraa gives me a severe frown. For a moment, I think he looks actually hurt — not that I can afford to tell him I don't mean it. I've had a pretty good spread of skills, all things considered, except for all the overlap in functionality when it comes to Speed skills. I really don't need Triplestep, Firestep, Flashstep and Warpstep.

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Why are they all -step skills, anyway?

"I suppose it isn't," I agree, careful to keep my tone neutral. It's as close to an apology as I want to get. "Is there any way for me to consolidate my skills, at least? The list is getting a bit ridiculous."

"You'll have to find out! Maybe there's an Inspiration that'll help you." Gheraa grins at me. "The All-Seeing Eye helped you, didn't it?"

"You shoved it into my eye."

"And it worked!"

"For a certain definition of work," I say, sighing. He's not wrong. "But it doesn't pare down my skill list, it just gives me extra skills."

"Why would you want less skills?" Gheraa gives me a baffled look.

"Because I don't want to get stuck in decision paralysis when I have three pages worth of skills to choose from, and so far I haven't gotten a memory skill to help me remember everything I can do?" The words come out a little more sarcastic than I intend. "Besides, a lot of them are redundant."

"They have different advantages and disadvantages," Gheraa says dismissively. "But if you really want to know, there's a feature you can unlock that will do something similar. I can't tell you how to unlock it, though."

Huh. That's the most candid he's ever been with me about an Interface feature.

"Alright," I say. "What about the new Inspirations I have to choose from, then?"

Gheraa brightens. "Glad you asked!" he proclaims, instantly bringing a cane out from behind his back. I'm pretty sure both his hands were empty only a second before, but this sort of behavior is nothing new for him.

...In an abstract sort of way, I realize I've sort of missed it. When I'm in the middle of getting an Inspiration, I don't have to worry about most of the intricacies of the loops. Or about time still moving forward. About people on Earth still dying. Gheraa is irreverent in a way that's frustrating, but knowing that he might be on my side takes away a lot of that sting. I can view his actions through a lens of him putting on a show for an audience while still trying to help, and I can appreciate good showmanship.

Anyway. Gheraa twirls the cane in his hand once, striking the ground with the tip; there's a small reverberation in the air that rings with Firmament. Four dirt pillars burst out of the ground, each one holding a different Inspiration.

"I feel like you could have just shown me those Inspirations normally," I say.

"That wouldn't be as fun." Gheraa smirks at me.

I roll my eyes. "This is all of them, right?"

"Yes. I wouldn't pull the same trick twice. That would hardly be interesting." If he had a nose to wrinkle, I imagine he'd be doing that right about now. As it is, he just shoots me a mildly disgusted look, like the idea of repeating a trick offended him.

I choose not to mention the fact that he repeats tricks all the time. Like the thing with the microphone.

Instead, I cast my gaze to the pillars and the Inspirations sitting atop them. They're almost disappointingly simple. From left to right, I see a shield, a suit of armor, a statue, and a rose. There's no reaction from the Void or Accelerator Inspirations, which are the closest things I have to sentient Inspirations, so I'm not getting any help there.

Inspect.

Their names are as simple as their forms. The Unbroken Shield. Adaptive Armor. Eternal Form. Aspect of Regrowth.

The Unbroken Shield is an Inspiration that flat-out upgrades whatever defensive skill I use it on, making them much harder to break in a way that scales with the amount of Firmament I pour into it. It's a little like what I can already do with Firmament Control, but hyperefficient in the sense that it amplifies the effect of the Firmament I'm putting into the skill.

Adaptive Armor just allows me to wrap any defensive skill around my body like a suit of armor. It gives me extra mobility without having to sacrifice concentration to move my barriers around, but it's also the least interesting of the Inspirations. I already have Verdant Armor; I don't need this.

Eternal Form is a little more interesting. It allows me to imbue myself with my durability skills. Skills like Tough Body are already applied to my body, but I could, for instance, give my skin the strength and properties of my Hexfold Shield — though the idea of my skin shattering like glass should something pierce the shield makes me wince. Rigidity isn't always a good defense.

Aspect of Regrowth is simple, but useful: it allows my skills to regenerate themselves. I sense this one doesn't even have to be limited to durability skills, meaning I could use it on Ahkelios and give him the ability to regenerate if he ever gets hurt — not that that's been a problem so far. Or I could give it to the temporal clones I can create with Temporal Link, and a single hit won't be enough to destroy them anymore.

Well, the second one is a theory. I'm not actually sure you can heal back from a paradox.

"Wow, you have no questions about any of these," Gheraa comments. He peers at me as if suspicious, but the look in his eyes suggests that he's trying to hint at something. I frown — it doesn't look like he's trying to indicate I should pick one Inspiration over any of the others.

"Sorry," I say out loud. I wonder if I'm not actually supposed to be able to tell what these Inspirations do with Inspect. "Just got distracted. By the, uh, presentation."

Gheraa grins broadly, practically preening. "I did pretty good, didn't I?"

Well, they're pseudo-magical items floating on top of dirt pillars, so in all honesty... no. But I decide not to say that out loud.

"So, can you tell me what any of these do?" I ask. "The statue looks pretty interesting."

"Ah, yes! The Eternal Form," Gheraa says. He flicks his wrist, pulling the Inspiration into his hand. "Nothing very eternal about it, I'm afraid. You imbue yourself with your skills. You can already do something like that, can't you?"

There's a note of forced casualness in his tone. "Uh, maybe?" I say. I can do basic physical reinforcement with Firmament Control, but I don't think that's what he's talking about... although now that I think about it, I could try to combine that physical reinforcement with a skill.

Huh.

"I'll get back to you on that," I say. "What about the shield?"

The rest of the meeting goes pretty much in this way, with Gheraa explaining to me what Inspect already tells me about the Inspirations, though in much less detail than Inspect does. Once or twice, I catch him lying just slightly about the function of an Inspiration. I don't call him out on it.

My choice is pretty clear, anyway. As far as versatility goes, Aspect of Regrowth is the way to go. Even if I disregard everything else it can do, I can apply it to Tough Body and basically heal myself, which is a skill I'm lacking so far.

Gheraa seems to approve of the choice, too. "Just so you know, this is going to hurt," he tells me cheerfully. I blink. It's a rose. How can it possibly—

The sensation of roots growing through my body abruptly cuts through my thoughts with a searing flash of pain. It lasts only for a split second, though I swear I taste blood in my mouth for that split second. I catch Gheraa giving me a sympathetic look before it's covered up by his signature careless cheer.

"Well, see you next time!" he says—

—and the world resumes around me. I double over, my body briefly seized by a sensation of crawling before I get myself under control again. Ahkelios stares at me, concerned.

"...Don't worry about it," I say. I have no idea what he'll do if I tell him I have a plant-based Inspiration. That's a problem for future-Ethan to worry about.

For now, I reflect back on the experience. Gheraa told me he'd prepare and that he'd be ready next time, but he hasn't given me much more in this conversation except to imply that he'd intentionally given me a skill.

Come to think of it, I wonder if he's behind the early Temporal Echo rolls, too. But more importantly, if I'm right about Phaseslip...

I take a deep breath, activate the skill, and feel the world twist sideways.

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