Felix massaged the back of his neck as he leaned away from the System screen, sitting now on the deck of his ship. His Aspects were aching, strained in ways that made his core space feel more than a little shaky. It wasn’t so much that his physical form was exhausted, but the metaphysical piece of him that was Tempered. His Body, Mind, and Spirit felt raw, like he’d spent days standing before constant, hurricane force winds. Though the System had prompted him to display Skills that fell under more than one Aspect, it didn’t like actually populating that list. He’d had to prod it over and over again, restarting that cacophony he could hear through his Affinity.
Dissonance rattled through him with each shake up, the System bucking slightly against his requests before sending things he could only describe as probes back at him. Lancing thrusts of dissonant noise, stabbing at his Body, his Mind, and his Spirit. Sometimes singularly, sometimes all at once, but it was ceaseless. As if the System was warning Felix away from what he was doing.
Yet no glaring “warning” messages popped up before him. There were no glitching menus or alerts. As far as Felix could tell, this was a normal function of the System—and it would happen to anyone that tried to squeeze more information from the System than they were offered.
Regardless, it was finally done. His Skills were sorted.
“Show me my Single-Aspected Skills,” he commanded.
BODY - Chthonic Ascent (Adept)
Dodge (C), Level 83
Heavy Armor Mastery (C), Level 15
Armored Skin (R), Level 88
“Wow, that’s not a lot.” These were the standard displays, and had been the easiest to coax out of the System. This time, Felix had filtered it so that each Skill listed was only under a single Aspect. “Especially compared to the earlier list.”MIND - Fiendforged (Adept)
Alchemy (C), Level 72
Deception (C), Level 45
Negotiation (U), Level 50
Tracking (C), Level 44
Voracious Eye (E), Level 90
“A bit longer, but still way less than I expected. What about the next one?”
SPIRIT - Eldercrowned (Adept)
Cloudstep (R), Level 74
Green Shaping (R), level 84
Manaship Pilot (R), Level 37
Rime Shaping (R), Level 85
Shadow Whip (R), Level 68
Stone Shaping (R), Level 95
Sunken Ward (R), Level 70
Auroral Forge (E), Level 77
Ferric Shaping (E), Level 1
Arrow of Perdition (L), Level 52
Cardinal Flame (L), Level 94
Rain of Cataclysm (L), Level 76
“Okay, that’s more like it.” Felix considered the three blue screens open before him as he nudged the helm with his knee. “Spirit has a ton more singularly Aspected Skills than anything else. Is that because of their rarity?” He was seeing a pattern so far, with lower rarity Skills having less Aspects associated with them. But would that play out with his other lists?
“Show me my Dual-Aspected Skills.”
BODY/MIND
Blind Fighting (R), Level 78
Relentless Resolution (L), Level 95
MIND/SPIRIT
Exploration (U), Level 72
Manasight (U), Level 79
Meditation (U), Level 79
Invocation (R), Level 77
Bastion of Will (E), Level 99
Deep Mind (E), Level 80
Ephemeral Evocation (E), Level 25
Manifestation of the Coronach (E), Level 80
Multi-Cast (E), Level 83
Theurgist of the Rise (L), Level 92
SPIRIT/BODY
Illusory Double (R), Level 45
Mantle of the Infinite Revolution (E), Level 74
Labyrinthine Wing (E), Level 1
Hand of Calamity (L), Level 71
Last Cry Of The Chthonic Host (M), Level 5
Sovereign of Flesh (T), Level 95
His Body and Mind combination still had the least amount of Skills. They were an odd pairing, but the two Skills listed were obvious in hindsight. Blind Fighting was all about utilizing his physical self while mentally anticipating his opponents, while Relentless Resolution was like having his thoughts translated directly into action. Mind to Body.
Mind and Spirit was the largest list, containing almost exactly what Felix would have expected. Still, seeing Exploration there was a surprise. He would have figured that to be entirely of the Mind, but there seemed to be some extra element there. The Spirit of discovery, maybe.
The last was Spirit and Body, which featured an eclectic collection of Skills. Notable was Illusory Body, mostly for the fact that Felix would have sworn it was entirely of the Spirit, and Labyrinthine Wing, for the same reason. That he could extend his Perceptions into his Illusory Double made him think it would have been a Mind and Spirit Skill, but apparently not. The others made perfect sense, though, especially Sovereign of Flesh.
His guess that low rarity was in proportion with the number of Aspects was wrong. Clearly he had a number of Dual-Aspected Skills that were as low as Uncommon and as high as Transcendent, the highest rarity he’d discovered so far.
So what’s the connection? Is there one? There was one last category to check. “Show me my Tri-Aspected Skills.”
The window popped up, but it fought him. Pressure piled atop his Body, Mind, and Spirit like he was lifting something stupidly heavy—it was hard to think. Hard to breathe.
A noise like a thousand wind chimes sounded, and the pressure vanished.
BODY/MIND/SPIRIT
Abyssal Skein (R), Level 77
Wild Threnody (E), Level 86
Aria of the Green Wilds (L), Level 88
Chthonic Tribute (L), Level 97
Etheric Concordance (L), Level 84
Skein of Fate (L), Level 68
The Song of Absolution (L), Level 94
Adamant Discord (T), Level 91
Unite the Lost (T), Level 51
Fiendforge (Un), Level 68
“Okay,” he said between heavy breaths. Pit was up and staring at him in concern, but Felix waved him off. “I’m okay. Can you steer for a second?”
“Of course.”
Felix laid back, fully spreading his six and a half foot frame onto the living wood. The blue screen hovered above his eyes, unable to be ignored.
Most of these are high rarity, but not all. Abyssal Skein for is the lowest at Rare. Adamant Discord and Unite the Lost are the highest rarity, not counting Fiendforge. That Skill was a Unique one, a rarity that was outside the normal ranking. Few people ever developed Unique Skills, but they varied in how powerful or even how useful they were. So rarity isn’t a deciding factor. Maybe it’s simply power.
Maybe. Or maybe reach? Pit suggested with one of his paws on the wheel.
Felix grunted. Reach?
Yeah, like. Pit hesitated, bobbing his bird-like head. Like how The Song of Absolution is all of your resistances put together and more. Or how Wild Threnody is all of your Mana Skills translated into physical combat. I’ve been reading more, and some of Zara’s books talked about ‘scope,’ which is just a fancy word for reach I think.
What’d the book say about it?
Pit warbled in his throat, trying to recall. Something about each Skill having an innate scope. Uh, the way the thing is thinging makes it do one thing versus another thing.
Felix snorted.
What? It makes a lot of sense to me. Pit lifted his head, pointing his beak into the air. I guess readers like me are just too smart.
You’re the smartest, Felix agreed as he sat up. I should read this book, though.
Pit trilled in joy. Yes! Reading is fun.It’s in my left saddlebag, near the Fang’s hilt.
Felix stood up—he was tall now, but certainly not tall enough to reach Pit’s haunches from the floor. Yet before he could shift his Blade of the Fang, sat so carefully in Pit’s barding and saddle, screams filled the too-silent air. “Jesus, what now?”
At the prow of the ship, right where Evie and the Claw had been sparring, a dozen shapes had detached from the black distance. Squirming, seven-foot-long serpents descended, their lengths covered in multiple wings, claws, and too many heads to count. They hissed, before falling on the soldiers.
Void beasts. His Eye flared. Hydragoras.
Felix took only a single step forward before stopping himself, much the same as the Void beasts. Chains of purple light seized over half of them, halting their advance as if they were suddenly turned to stone. The rest were hit by a flurry of slashing swords, brutal bashings, and lightning bolts. White fire rained down on the Claw members, breathed by several monster heads at once, but a Yttin with a large shield tanked the hit.
More Hydragora emerged into the blue-white radiance of his ship, their cries fierce and somehow desperate. Evie and the Claw met them without hesitation.
That Half-Orc Loquis hurled lightning around with abandon, his spells striking true every time before arcing across nearby enemies. Mervin was out there too, wielding a sword with impressive technique.
Huh. Is that Crane Form? Darius hadn’t bothered teaching him that one, but Felix had seen it used a few times.
Even Beef emerged from below decks, Hallow at his side in two of her three Bodies—Homunculus and Razorwing Matriarch. Chitinous spikes, crystalline darts, and the high pitched buzzing of deadly wings filled the air.
“Good,” Felix said, settling back on his heels. “They can handle that while I finish this up. Pit? Can you keep piloting the ship?”
“I got it.”
“Awesome. I’ll just be a few more minutes.”
Felix pulled up his Tri-Aspected Skills again. With another twinge of sonic masochism, he pruned the list, removing any Skills that he had Tempered with in the past. That left him with six options.
BODY/MIND/SPIRIT
Abyssal Skein (R), Level 77
Wild Threnody (E), Level 86
Aria of the Green Wilds (L), Level 88
Skein of Fate (L), Level 68
Unite the Lost (T), Level 51
Fiendforge (Un), Level 68
But which one is the best choice?
Abyssal Skein was powerful, focused on eliminating his presence in the world by suffusing himself with…something from the Void. It was his only real Void Skill, for whatever that was worth. Wild Threnody concerned itself with the Songs of War, which amounted to channeling his Mana Skills through his weapons—whether it was blade, bone, or fist—and had a certain amplifying effect to them. Aria of the Green Wilds was a strange one, opposite to Wild Threnody really in that the Green Wilds were a counterbalance to the Songs of War. In the past, Felix had found it mostly useful as an information gathering tool, allowing him to work with natural reagents in his Alchemical Lab that might have otherwise stymied him. It was definitely strong. He had a strong connection to the Atlantes Anima because of the Skill, and Felix couldn’t disregard the fact that he had a damn tree growing in the center of his core space. That was not a coincidence.
Skein of Fate and Unite the Lost were…problematic. One was a Skill evolution he’d earned after defying a goddess, and the other was tied to his Primordial Race and cost him an arm and a leg each time he used it. What would happen if he chose either one?
They were unpredictable choices, and all choices had consequences.
The last, Fiendforge, was a Unique Skill and had been essential in aiding his friends and allies’ development. His own, as well, though it was mostly only ever used as a sort of stabilizing agent. It would be a safe choice, he imagined, providing an extra layer of solidity to his foundations…but little power.
Abyssal Skein seems good, but I don’t really like the idea of putting more of the Void inside of my core space. Wild Threnody is all about offense. I mean, I can always use more combat power, but that doesn’t feel right. Felix stared at the blue window before him, tapping a finger to his lips. Is there something I’m missing?
The idea nagged at him that perhaps the right choice was a Skill he didn’t have yet. It was a tantalizing thought, but all it did now was return him to an earlier problem: even if he did learn a new Skill, whether stolen from a Memory or an evolution of a current one, how could he ensure it was Tri-Aspected?
Short answer was: he couldn’t.
Not yet, anyway.
Karys and the Farwalker had said to seek balance, and he wasn’t going to ignore that advice.
The ship gave a sudden, sickening lurch. Men and women cried out, several Claw members stumbling in their battle with the Void beasts. Felix closed the blue window before him and looked just in time to see a mountain looming in their path.
“Pit…!”
“I have it!” The tenku spun the wheel, pressing his huge body against it as if to shove the entire ship out of the way. The tactic would have been ridiculous if it weren’t for the huge amount of focus his Companion put into the move—Felix could practically hear his Intent and Willpower strain as the entire ship careened forward.
They banked hard, the midnight wings straining and the rudder-tail slapping hard against the charcoal stone. The ship jolted, twisted out of true as the deck tilted nearly ninety degrees, and people screamed.
Green Shaping!
Pieces of the Sailwhale burst outward, the living wood grown into flexible vines under Felix’s control. People had fallen overboard and they were too far away to reach with something like Shadow Whip…so he snagged them with the vines.
Pit cranked on the wheel again, his paws and beak moving furiously as his Willpower and Intent thrummed through the vessel’s frame. The ship leveled out, even as they fishtailed across the dark expanse.
Pit Has Gained A Skill!Manaship Pilot (R), Level 1!
Manaship Pilot is level 2!
…
Manaship Pilot is level 7!
Claw members rushed to the railing, several of them starting to haul on the vines as their fallen friends climbed back up. Felix turned to Pit. “You okay, dude?”
“Yeah!” Pit said, halfway between a trill and a screech. “Did you see how I dodged that mountain? I got a new Skill too!”
“I saw,” Felix said, giving him a distracted thumbs up. “Try to keep the Claw inside the ship though, please.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Why the heck were you headed toward a mountain?” Felix asked.
Pit looked guilty. “Something hit the hull. Something big. I didn’t see it, but I couldn’t keep this thing on track.”
Something big, Felix mused. The monsters, Void beasts all, were being driven back. Lightning sizzled among them, baking their dark hides and bursting the glowing Mana sacs beneath their numerous jaws. None of the Claw had fallen, least of all Evie, Beef, or Vess who had just joined the fray; but the Void beasts had taken a few bites from them.The ship lurched once again. People fell down, stumbling to their knees or worse, as the entire vessel was brought to a sudden halt.
“See?” Pit screeched. “I told you!”
Felix looked over the stern, and just over the flapping wooden fin of the Sailwhale were a series of thick, pustule-laden tentacles clinging hard to the ship’s hull. They emerged from the clouds near the mountain, and four sets of eyes burned with white light.
“Absolutely not,” he muttered, before throwing himself directly off the ship.
“Felix!”
He ignored Pit, letting gravity take him as he descended at speed. From below he could see more. The tentacles were far bigger than he had assumed, mottled like a Tenebril, and many, many more were questing up from beneath the clouds.
The creatures were hungry, he could feel that. It was like an echo of the black hole inside of him. Felix almost felt sorry for the creature, big and scary as it was; Void beasts followed their nature. They were scary and gross, but he doubted they were evil.
Still. We’re on a tight schedule.
Felix unveiled his Spirit for the second time that day…only this time he didn’t hold back.
A pressure descended upon the Dark Passage, and as it did the clouds, the mountain, and the darkness itself jolted. Spasmed. By Will alone, Felix arrested his fall just above the clouds, and he glared down into those eyes that were bigger than his entire body.
“Let go.”
The creature convulsed. Without a sound, it detached its tentacles and retreated. Even the mostly-dead swarm fled the upper decks, flying after their larger counterpart.
Felix watched for a few moments, Perception and Affinity flared…but none of them returned.
“Hmph.”
He flew back up to the ship.
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