Unbound

A hammer fell and a bell tolled deep and wide. Felix felt his guts shake with the force of it, driving a soft, surprised "huh" from his lungs. The others reacted quite a bit differently. Evie buckled at the waist, her icy body splintering as chunks sloughed off an underlying framework of chains. Atar leaned heavily against a rough stone column, his left arm and shoulder blasting back into greasy soot. Neither made a sound, even as the impacts continued; both were too focused on maintaining their projections to do anything else.

"Harn!" Felix shouted, a little panic in his voice. "We're here!"

The hammering didn't stop, but it suddenly quietened, as if cotton had been shoved into all their ears. All around them were immense stone columns, roughly hewn from the flagstone flooring and extending high into crawling smoke and velvet shadow. Silver firelight flickered through, only partially lighting the forest of columns, so that it appeared they were in an endless cavern of the things. Harn appeared, hustling around the corner of a thick pillar, his projected Body moving smoothly and soundlessly in the vast chamber. For once, the man wasn't wearing a single piece of armor, but instead his skin itself was metallic, segmented around the arms and midsection, pitted and scratched but utterly solid seeming. Harn smiled, and even his teeth were metal, each one forged of a dark iron.

"Sorry about that, kids," he said as he tromped closer. "My core is a bit energized these past few days."

Slowly, Atar and Evie stood, the former sooner than the latter. Atar's arm had reformed, and though it looked thinner than previous, it was at least a proper bone color. He offered a helping hand to Evie, who's icy neck and face was only just reassembling into frosted planes of ice and metal.

"Thanks," she muttered. "Harn, you twit! You just about split my skull!"

Harn grunted, his smile wilting. "I said sorry. Sides, ain't your real Body anyway. And it looks like both of ya could use the practice at visualizing your projections. Be more like Felix, eh?"

Both Atar and Evie shot Felix a glare, but he only rolled his eyes and started walking. "When you agreed to show me your core space, you said you wanted me to see something specific, right?"

"Hrm." Harn held out a hand, guiding Felix down a path between more of the rugged pillars. "Come this way, all of you."

The cavern was silver-lit, yet the light remained warm despite its cool color. It was...there was a bloom in the air, as if the shadows couldn't quite gain purchase on anything. The edges of the pillars were soft, only sharpening on their darkest sides, and the light increased the closer they walked toward the center. The columns were in neat, orderly rows but the shadows kept moving. At first Felix thought that was because the silver flame, still unseen, was shifting about...but was quick to notice the pillars themselves were in motion.

"Cool, yeah?" Harn said with an iron grin. "C'mon closer! Haven't had a chance to show off since Evie was down here."

"What?" Felix glanced back at the frosted woman. "You've been in his core before? I thought that Skill was hard to learn?"

Evie shrugged, sending a flurry of ice down onto the ground. "I dunno. Old man just yanked me into his core once to show me how Visualization Stage actually works. But it was different then."

"Lotta changes since Haarwatch," Harn confirmed with a pleased grunt. "She has an internal Mana Skill called Beyond the Pale, helps with lots of things but mostly improving the Visualization and Actualization Stages."

"Oh, didn't know you had a Skill like that, Evie," Felix said.

"Got a lotta things. Folks don't ask me much, do they?" Evie raised an eyebrow at the three of them. "I'm quite impressive." Atar opened his dark jaws, but she shot him a glare. "Not a word."

Wisely, the mage closed his mouth again.

Felix ignored them. "Okay, so internal Mana control, that makes sense. But how could she have seen your core space?"

"That's more complicated, and expensive. Takes a little ritual to set up before hand and uses up a good portion of monster cores to fuel it." Harn led them closer, the rotating rings of columns now only feet away. "If I'd known you had the ability to do this, I'd have waited. Save some gold." Evie smacked the man, and he chuckled.

Huh. Neat. So maybe I can get Alister into Atar's core space if we adapt the ritual. Would that help him progress and recover? It was worth a try. "Harn, remind me to get the steps to this ritual from you later today. I have some use for it."

"I'll have Pit take ferry it to ya."

"Appreciated."

They came to the first of the moving columns, which were all installed on a wide, circular platform. It was around twenty feet wide, with each column taking up the majority of that width, and had double the space between each pillar on the platform. It wasn't always moving, but it shifted to their left as they watched, the empty space ahead of them now filled by a rough-hewn column.

Harn reached out and patted its side. "Pretty proud of myself for finalizing all this. Took some thinkin' but it's comin' together."

"It's really cool," Felix admitted. Each time they heard the (now muted) sound of a struck bell, the columns moved once placement to the left. Clockwise, Felix realized. It's like a giant clock.

Now that they were in the central portion of the core space, Felix could see a vaulted ceiling supported by well-formed arches and a series of open balconies ringing the upper level. Tall, slitted windows opened up into a cool daylight, but their light did not penetrate the darkness of the lower level, only serving to highlight the stark difference. Instead, all of the light at their level was produced by the gargantuan hammer and anvil at the very center of all things.

"Are those made of crystal?" Atar asked.

"Yeah. Nagast and Ahkestria have influenced me more than I realized," Harn said with an indulgent grin. "Used to be simple steel."

Easily the size of a two story building, the hammer came down atop a far larger anvil with the sound of an incomprehensibly vast bell, and silver radiance flared and shot outward in all directions. Both hammer and anvil were made of opalescent crystal, multi-faceted and multi-hued yet immaculately constructed. With each hit, the hammer dropped onto a ring of liquid silver Mana that flowed around and across both tools. liquid Mana would splash, chunks sent outward in flashes of silver light before becoming reabsorbed by the flowing ring...but Felix also spotted the anvil itself morphing in strange ways. A sort of depression kept forming and changing between hammer blows, a cavity of strange, esoteric shapes. "What is that?" he asked.

Harn grinned so wide that Felix swore he could see iron molars. "My drop hammer forge. Turns out smithin' is useful in many ways. Leastwise for me."

As they watched, the hammer rose up and from within that flare of silver flame Felix spotted a semi-solid shape flung outward into the core space. It wasn't a sigil or glyph but appeared similar, and it hurtled into the ring of columns as they boomed into a new position. That was when he first noticed the panoply of weapons and armor that littered the space. There was probably three hundred feet between them and the anvil, but the esoteric shape zipped between pillars and splashed into a pair of huge axes fit for a giant. Mana burned across them once before fading just a touch.

"So many weapons," Atar said. "What are they?"

"Skills. Each one a Skill or at least part of one," Harn said.

"Part of one?" Felix could see hammers, axes, swords, staves, shields of various styles, and armor of all makes. They varied in complexity and size, much as all Skill representations he'd seen, but his Perception picked out incredibly minute designs worked into every one of them. "How can you have Skills in parts?"

Harn shrugged. "How do you breathe? I just do."

"That's...fair. I guess no one ever said a core space had to make sense on a physical level," Felix said at last. "I suppose it's all just symbolic representation. It works so long that it works for you."

"You got it," Harn agreed. "My armaments have always been my Skills, they've just gotten a bit more complex since I advanced."

"I was about to mention that," Atar said. He was leaning over a stave formed of gold and glittering rubies. "These are incredible, Harn."

"Well, thank you, Sparky. That one is part of my Parry Skill, believe it or not."

Atar's eye fires flickered. "But it is a stave made of gold and gemstones. Why would you ever want to parry with something like that?"

"Weapons are tools, even the fancy ones. Tools are meant to be used."

Felix kept his eyes moving, flicking from place to place as the hammer and anvil kept working. The columns shifted over and over, the pattern of their clock-like movements growing more complicated the further in they went. Each movement brought new armaments—new Skills—nearer to the core while others shifted further back. It was complex and strange but no stranger than any of the others. It reminded him of Alisters the most, though there was a definite sense of low-tech about Harn's core. More brawn and sweat, less cerebral conceptualizations.

Yet for all the details in the armor, anvil, and hammer, the cavern and pillars remained rough and almost poorly designed. They were little more than natural formations in a ill-lit cavern too vast to spot any significant details, save for right above the core itself. Was that because of their Link? Had the Primordial eroded parts of his core space? Felix asked Harn that directly, but was surprised at his answer.

The man laughed.

"No no, that Link of yours has done me good," he said. "It's what boosted the changed size and design of my hammer and anvil. When I crossed over into Adept, finally, I used what was left to reinforce the essential pieces you see all around. Finer detail, sharper edges, polished surfaces. I feel twice as strong as before you did your thing below the sands."

"Did your Skills change?" Felix asked. "Everyone else's did."

"Oh aye. That they did. Want to see them?" Harn didn't even wait for acknowledgement, just swiping his Skill notifications toward the three of them.

Raze (Rare) Has Evolved Into Wrath Of The Twin Fangs (Legendary)!

Level Is Retained!

Wrath Of The Twin Fangs (Legendary), Level 80!

The memory of violence has stolen into your Aspects, of jaws the size of mountains crashing upon hapless prey and obliterating all that they were. Mana imbues your slashing weapons with destructive might. Cost decreases slightly with Skill level, damage and penetration increases moderately with Skill level, and attack speed increases moderately with Skill level.

Brawler's Physique (Common), Unarmed Mastery (Common), Block (Common), Parry (Common), And Resistances (Acid, Fire, Cold, and Pain) Have Combined And Evolved Into Forgesteel Skin (Legendary)!

Level Is Retained!

Forgesteel Skin (Epic), Level 76!

As Smith you have forged armor and as a warrior you have worn it, but the wild fury of Primordial potency has shown you a new truth. You are the bulwark, the armor itself. Steel and flesh are one. Reduces all incoming damage by a moderate amount per Skill level, Stamina consumption reduced by slight amount per Skill level, weight is increased by a moderate amount per Skill level.

Heavy Armor Mastery (Common), Armorsmithing (Common), Weaponsmithing (Common), And Mana Folding (Rare) Have Combined And Evolved Into Panoply Of the Halcyon Defender (Legendary)!

Level Is Retained!

Panoply Of The Halcyon Champion (Legendary), Level 77!

Metal has bent to your hammer and arm, but now all that you forge will bend your Will and Intent. Weapons and armor all but spring from the font of creativity at your hands, Mana imbued in every inch of material worked. Increases rate of crafting higher rarity weapons and armor per Skill level, moderately increases amount of Mana that can be folded into a crafted armament per Skill level, reduces rate of failure slightly per Skill level.

Descent Of The Barbarian (Rare) Has Evolved Into Colossus Of The Everflame (Mythic)!

Level Is Retained!

Colossus Of The Everflame (Mythic), Level 81!

Your rage knows no bounds, and Strength flows in its wake. Silver flame sparks within your soul, flowing through your axes and enhancing the savage brutality of all your attacks, bypassing standard Fire Resistance. Speed and damage increases greatly per Skill level, heat and damage of silver flame increases moderately per Skill level. Restricted to axes only.

"Yyero's rotten ass! Mythic rarity. That a step above Legendary, even." Evie clucked her tongue at Harn's smug smile. "Been holding back on us, huh?"

"Just waitin' for a good reveal."

"The rest are all Legendary too," Atar noted. "Though they're a bit too...stabby, for my tastes. Quite good, regardless."

"A crafting Skill as well. You're right. The Link did right by you," Felix said. "Is that because you have a greater handle on your core space?"

"Yes." Harn's answer was firm and without question. "All that Essence was purposeless. I could feel it when it flooded in. I knew that if I left it hanging around, it'd find something to burrow into. Guide it, though...Even i'm still surprised at how good it shook out."

"I heard you were in a trance for a whole day during your Tempering," Felix said. "Because of all this?"

"In part, yeah. The Mind strain alone was enough to lay me out for hours after, but luckily I had a forge to hand." His grin returned. "Always easier working out a problem with some heat and the right tools. Haven't had the chance to stretch my new Skills out, though. That Sworn was the nearest thing to a real opponent, and I was stuck fightin' his damn copies," Harn growled. Evie laughed, a touch triumphantly, and he gave her the sour look of an annoyed uncle. "The cavern and pillars though...that's how I want it."

"You...want it to be undefined? I thought greater power was found through specificity and detail?" Felix furrowed his brow. It went against everything he'd heard up until then.

"Sure. Solid details are what pushes you up the ladder, but too much and you're stuck, right?"

"Stuck. What do you mean?" Atar asked.

Harn ran his gaze over all three of them. "Right. You're all advanced enough to think on this and actually have it be of use. Fluid visualization." All of them stared at him blankly, and Harn sighed. "By keepin' parts of your core space vague, you leave room for yourself to expand and evolve. Grow."

"But...I thought advancing was concerned with forming a strong, unyielding foundation and building each step in the same way. Are you saying that approach is entirely wrong?"

"Ain't wrong, Felix, so much as it's just...it's limited." Harn's bright silver tongue ran over dark iron teeth in contemplation. "Think of it like fightin'. You don't just stand there and let a man wallop on ya, right? No, you move, bend, and dodge. You create space around yourself, claim it as yours, but it's open for the movements you might have to make."

"That...that makes a lotta sense," Evie said. "Way more than Zara's drivel about singing clouds or whatever."

"The Grand Harmony aren't singing clouds, Evie. And you know it's not drivel," Atar said in a lecturing tone. "If you paid better attention it would all make sense to you."

"Eh, I know what I know. Anyway I'm better at the whole Affinity thing than you." She smiled, and ice crackled across her cheeks. "Ooh, mad about that huh? I know, cuz I can hear it."

"Anyway," Felix said, interrupting them. "How'd you figure this out, Harn? And why can we know now? Zara has been insistent on not telling us things for fear of 'exerting undue influence' on the process."

"It's something Magda came across. She held to it pretty rigorously, though she didn't get to advance much further than low Journeyman Tier." He grasped Evie's shoulder and squeezed, but her icy face remained remarkably impassive. "Her core space was defensive, of course, but she maintained that blank spaces within it were meant to evolve once she achieved higher rarity Skill evolutions."

"She couldn't possibly have been planning for that," Atar said, disbelief thick on his tongue. Felix blinked. Huh. He grew a tongue at some point. "Despite what Felix's experience displays, it is a rare thing indeed for a Skill to combine and evolve so effortlessly. She would have had to work for years to make such a thing happen."

"And she had been. Couple of her favorite Skills were almost there, she just needed a bounty of monster cores to make it happen. Which...which we didn't get til after. It's a real shame she never finished. Woulda been a sight to see." Harn sighed, and a soft, chill breeze rolled through the too-warmth confines of his core space. "Zara though...she ain't a bad broad, all things told, but I trust her order only a little more than a snake. At least a snake's honest. You always know when they're about to strike."

"I don't like Isla," Evie said.

"You—" Atar shook his skull. "For once we agree. She seems more the snake than Zara. The Naiad has fought by our side for months, at least."

"I'm not a fan of the woman either, but she's an ally for now," Felix said. "All we can do is move forward. I want all of you to focus on improving your core spaces and training your new Skills. Chances are we're returning to a war. Best if we had five new Adepts ready to meet whatever challenges come to call."

"Six, if we can get Alister over the hump," Atar pointed out.

"Seven if you count whatever Pit did. Does Evolution count?" Evie asked. "Oh and that Beef boy. He's like two warriors wrapped up in a fur suit."

"Right right. We've got options. But I don't want to leave anything to chance." Felix watched them all, meeting their eyes one by one. "Take the rest of the day. Training starts at dawn."

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