Unbound

The days passed quickly while Felix did nothing but eat, sleep, and train.

Exhausted after that first intense day, Felix had slept for a solid ten hours. His Stamina and Health were fine, but something inside of him was strained by everything he had accomplished. Not to mention the constant assaults from the Maw. When he woke up the next morning, it was at it again, clawing at its cage and shouting obscenities. Still, he felt refreshed and excited to tackle his Skills and headed to the warehouse quickly.

After his successes in meditation, Felix managed to procure a single monster core as he passed one of the opened crates. Most of the adventurers were preoccupied with the Gauntlet, including Rory, while Cal was off somewhere else. At first he'd attempted to consume the core from a distance, but whatever "claimed" meant in the Skill description apparently didn't apply. Instead, he was forced to grip one of the cores before Ravenous Tithe would activate.

Ravenous Tithe is level 8!

He'd retreated to attempt meditation again, hoping no one had noticed his theft.

Attempting to train Physical Conditioning via monster cores, brought to light a limitation to his newly discovered capability. The monster core sat as a roiling cloud of colorful Mana, ranging between blue, green, and vibrant orange. Monster essence, he decided to call it. But when he tried to use the swimming memory again, he did not experience the same effect as before. Felix could still relive the experience, his memory being what it was, but the sensation of progress and exertion was absent.

What was the difference?

He had many memories of exerting himself physically, but few were a challenge for his current set of stats and abilities. Reliving those memories provided nothing, and in fact didn't even reduce the energy of the monster essence.

Well, the Skill is level 27 now, which is higher than the others and hopefully offers some faster gains. He'd have to push himself to his new limit to stretch Physical Conditioning further.

His Running and Swimming Skills had both hit Apprentice Tier already, so he switched focus. His plan was to combine several of his Physical Enhancement Skills with Acrobatics to recover as much as he could from the broken Skill. The Dwarf had indicated the amount and quality of Skills combined were factored into the rarity of the new synergy Skill, so that is what he concentrated on; Rory had said that most people combine one or two Skills in this manner, Felix was shooting for more.

He trained Free Climbing after that, though Felix worried his enhanced stats would make the Skill nearly obsolete. At first it did. When he used his impressive Strength to launch himself half-way up a wall, he didn't so much as gain a level in the Skill. It wasn't until he considered the Skill itself, what it was meant to teach, that he came upon a solution. He concentrated on climbing slowly, seeking out natural handholds instead of making his own or hurling himself around. It was dead simple with his Endurance and Strength to climb the warehouses around the area nearly indefinitely, but the agonizingly slow pace ended up taking him six hours of constant training. It gave results though.

Free Climbing is level 25!

Congratulations! You Have Reached Apprentice Tier with Free Climbing!

You Gain:

+5 STR

+5 PER

+5 END

A series of notes rang in his mind as the Skill Tiered. After having spent a few hours investigating his core, he knew it was an exact match for Free Climbing as it appeared via Fire Within. Now that he was paying attention, the notes vibrated something inside of him, sending relatively minute waves of energy across his body. The vibrations were coming from his core and radiating outward.

The System resonates with the Skill, which absorbs the upgrades from it and sends them outward into the Body, Mind, and Spirit. It was a guess, but Felix felt right about it. His unifying (and admittedly vague) theory on Harmony and vibrations was expanding by the hour as his Skills grew before his very eyes.

He didn't sleep that night. Relentless Charge was up next.

The Skill had become a staple of his combat style (if he were so generous as to call his method of fighting a 'style'), and he worried he might lose the burst of speed it afforded him in clutch moments. If he were being honest with himself, he wasn't entirely sure why he added it to the list, just that he had a...feeling. Something about the vibrations of Relentless Charge seemed to fit with pieces of Acrobatics and most especially Running. Almost like a puzzle, maybe.

Training Relentless Charge was simple enough, compared to Free Climbing. Felix merely activated it over and over again, flitting about the warehouse as fast as he could. This meant he dropped his Mana and Stamina quickly, but he was able to recover those resources abnormally fast. The worst part was the nausea that occurred after activating the Skill too many times, usually around twenty times in rapid succession. Felix had a take a breather whenever it triggered thereafter, steadying his head and inner ear.

The advancements to Free Climbing and some of Relentless Charge consumed the entirety of the first monster core. Part of what was unbalancing him was the sudden, empty ache within his gut as his evolved hunger growled for sustenance. It wasn't as...wild as it used to be, but Felix still felt leery feeding that urge. He still did, however, as his bloodline progression still had not moved a single percentage point. He was safe with this method, and he could advance faster than ever before.

Reality, unfortunately, doused his good mood.

When the first core dissipated, Felix was quick to snag another from the bountiful supply. Yet Ravenous Tithe would not work, only producing an unpleasant hollow ache, as if he were trying to suck up clay through a straw. Giving it some time, Felix came to the understanding that he was only able to consume a single target per day, irrespective of its size or complexity.

How could a tiny monster core compare to an entire person like the Half-Ogre? Felix was annoyed at the limitation, but it tracked; while now he was using the essence to power-level his Skills, before it would take him entire days to digest a whole being's energy. Felix could only hope the wait between uses would reduce as it leveled up.

Eventually, simple repetition stopped working as he was warned it would, but by then he had turned to sparring with Harn once again. The Guilder known as Onslaught still did not wear his signature armor, but he was tough as ever. Moreso, in fact, as Felix was focusing on utilizing Relentless Charge as his only method of defense and offense. Defense was of prime concern as he dashed out of the way of Harn's axes.

As hadn't consumed another core, the training took a long time, well into late morning of his third day. By the end of it, Felix was drenched in sweat and his muscles were feeling twitchy and weak from over-exertion. As before, he was keeping up with Stamina but something else was being drained during all of this training. He'd slowed a lot by that point, often to take long breaks to recover his spent Health. Harn wasn't exactly pulling his punches, though thankfully he defended more often than attacked. The few times he had struck out at Felix, it had been with the haft of his axe and it felt like a sledgehammer into his bones. The attack had even managed to up his Armored Skin by a level, though Pain Resistance didn't budge.

Physical Conditioning is level 31!

Armored Skin is level 43!

Relentless Charge is level 25!

Congratulations! You Have Reached Apprentice Tier with Relentless Charge!

You Gain:

+5 VIT

+5 WIL

+5 END

The gains weren't his alone, however. Pit had decided that sitting around and sleeping were boring, and started challenging himself as well. While Felix struggled through his Skills, Pit had fought against Evie and Harn, who appreciated the durability of the growing tenku. His improved intellect and further control over his hot-headed emotions did much to advance his combat abilities, and there were a few times the chimera had them on the backfoot.

Pit's Cry is level 25!

Congratulations! Pit's Cry Has Reached Apprentice Tier!

Your Companion Gains:

+10 INE

+10 ALA

+10 INT

Pit's Wingblade is level 21!

Pit's Frost Spear is level 20!

Pit's Poisonfire is level 14!

Etheric Concordance is level 28!

Pit was growing well, though not as fast as his Companion. Felix had considered feeding the chimera one of the monster cores, but he couldn't find a way to steal any more of them, not without using Ravenous Tithe. Pit had been capable of devouring cores in the past, so it stood to reason he'd be able to benefit from these as well. Admittedly, those were elemental or chimeric cores, but Felix didn't know if it mattered.

Rory clearly had plans for the cores, though the sheer amount of them suggested the training of a small army. After some careful inquiries, Felix found out that monster cores were used by scripters, alchemists, even some other crafts like wainwrights and blacksmiths. What that meant, of course, was that Felix was stealing a hot commodity, likely worth a lot of gold. He vowed to keep his consumption hidden as best he could, though not only for that reason. Last thing he wanted was for someone to discover his Ravenous Tithe Skill and somehow recognize its origins; it would, at best, lead to awkward questions.

As he sat at near one of several water barrels and doused himself with a ladle of it, Felix checked the sun overhead. It was around noon, so that meant he had only a few hours before the meeting with Caerwin at dusk. Felix had hoped to have sundered and combined Acrobatics before that time, but his cheat hadn't been as groundbreaking as he had hoped.

He had raised his related Skills, all of them were now at Apprentice Tier. That was a feat that would have blown him away back in the Foglands, but which now had him feeling he was racing against time. And losing. Felix wasn't sure if the foreboding came from the Maw's increasing interruptions or something else, but it felt like an axe was above his neck, ready to drop.

As soon as he had his breath back, he sought out Rory. The Dwarf trainer was sitting at one of the long trestle tables and eating a hash of meat, leeks, and tubers with gusto. It smelled delicious, but Felix still had the strange essence of a monster in him. Disturbingly, actual food didn't seem all that important at that point.

"Ah, Felix, welcome," Rory slapped the table and offered him a tired smile. The Dwarf was wet with sweat and stains covered his studded jerkin. "Takin' a break from your mad dash?"

Felix sat down at the table, trying not to let his still-wobbly muscles drop him. The bench creaked beneath him, as usual. "Something like that. I think I'm ready to sunder and combine one of my broken Skills."

"Excellent!" Rory's eyes lit up, and he grinned through a mess of egg in his mustache. "Just know, lad. Once we begin, there is no stopping this. Are ye sure?"

Felix nodded and Rory shoveled the rest of his food into his mouth with impressive speed.

Once again, he was taken to the warded room, only this time it had been emptied of all furniture.

Stay outside, Pit, he sent to his Companion. I'm not sure how this is gonna go down, but it won't be pleasant.

The tenku sent a surge of protective anger and concern, along with a series of images and senses all bundled together. No.

Felix grinned and shooed the chimera away. After rubbing against him like a big cat, the illusory Dire Hound padded toward the door and settled down outside of it.

Moments later, Harn appeared with the wardstones, handing them to Rory to let the Dwarf set it all up. At Felix's questioning gaze, Harn shrugged.

"Better if the one doing the ritual sets up the wards. Keeps the Mana aligned properly, I'm told." The warrior peered at Felix's eyes and stuck out his hand. "Good luck, kid."

Felix gripped his hand firmly, and smiled nervously. "Just a little pain, right? I've been through worse."

Harn just grunted, amused. Cal raised her thin eyebrow and smirked. "You've got balls, Felix. This combining business seems..."

"Ill-advised and dangerous?" Felix offered.

"Yeah, that."

Felix shrugged, hoping to affect a suave disregard. "Why change the script now?"

"Cal, everyone, I need ye out of here. This is delicate, and you're all a distraction."

Cal and Harn nodded with a final look at Felix, but Evie pushed back. "Why? What exactly are you doing, Rory?"

"Helping, lass. Best way I can," Rory said.

It was clear Evie didn't like it, but she let Harn guide her out of the room. Before she left, he made eye contact with Felix and clenched her fist with a nervous smile; it was the local equivalent of the thumbs up. Felix smiled back, genuinely warmed by the concern. Before Cal exited, however, Rory got her attention.

"Make sure ye get everyone away from this room," he warned. "It's going to get very loud, very soon."

Felix was instructed to strip down and sit in the center of the room. He did so, not even feeling self-conscious about being naked in front of a stranger. He was too nervous. Felix's stomach was roiling and his tongue was dry, moving around his teeth like a mummified husk. He folded himself up and sat on the cold stone floor.

Rory took some time, setting the lumpy monster cores in a spiral centered on Felix. Then, with a small piece of chalk, made a series of markings between and around the cores. Felix watched, his interested tempered by the ceaseless flutter in his chest, resonating with Pit's own worries just outside the chamber.

"Right. Ye've pushed your Skills up to Apprentice Tier and your broken Skill was already there. The next step is to break open the affected Skill and use these monster cores," Rory gestured to the five strings of cores that spiraled out from Felix's body. There were exactly three dozen, each with sigils chalked out next to and around them. Lines connected each row of cores, forming a funnel leading directly to him. "Due to all the trade restrictions, I don't have an alchemical daught for the sundering, but I'm told you have exceptional Willpower. It'll be up to ye to pull open your Acrobatics Skill without breaking it completely. Ye think ye can do it?"

Felix nodded.

"Do ye need me to go over it again?" Rory had given him a rundown of the combining process before during one of his recovery breaks, and the Dwarf's words were crisp in his mind. Felix shook his head and tried to breath slowly. "Alright. Pray to whatever gods ye believe in, lad.

"We start now."

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