Standing in his ethercosm, Freddy stared at the dark blue part of his core, mesmerized. And afraid. There was a reason why he hadn't tested this affinity yet—because it felt dangerous. And not in a good way.
It gave him a sensation of both being unable to tear his eyes away from it and desperately wanting to look behind himself to ensure nothing was there. It was suffocating and anxiety-inducing, sort of like diving into the ocean and taking a look down into the darkness below, only to see squirming shadows closing in. His ethercosm, the center of his soul, was safe... but even that bit of common knowledge fell apart when facing the ominous affinity.
He gathered himself.
Floating through his ethercosm, he approached the shell that Leviathan was trapped within. The same deep blue color forged the runes that kept it contained, and, just like with Bloodshed, the cage was shaped nothing like any of his other ether shells.
It growled at him as he approached, and he had to force himself to calm down. It was trapped with no way of escaping. Probably. Still, he knew that there wasn't much reason to panic.
"Leviathan," he called. "Do you...? Do you know what that deep blue affinity is?"
"No," it said curtly, doing the bare minimum to answer his question.
That made him pause. It didn't know? Wasn't this supposed to be its affinity?
So he asked, "Isn't that your affinity?"
"No. My affinity is to water," it declared. "My nature might have helped twist it, but it is your soul that formed that thing. Now get out of my sight!" it demanded.
Twist it...
His mind flashed back to something Madame had told him once. Upon absorbing a unique, you will acquire the affinities it holds a connection to, and if you already have one of the affinities, it will evolve into a unique affinity.
His eyes traveled to the discolored blue in his stars. So, that was a unique affinity?
He left the ethercosm and breathed out slowly. Then he raised his hand. His essence poured through the layer of dark blue and converted into whatever affinity that was. But it couldn't leave his body. Well, that wasn't unexpected. To manipulate something with essence, he needed a target. And if this was a unique affinity that was created from water...
With a burst of will, he used Create Water and manifested a bucket-worth. With his essence control, he kept it afloat and then tried to imbue it with the other affinity. He felt like his manipulation would collapse for a moment, but surprisingly, he found it just as easy to manipulate water with this other affinity.
But something immediately changed once he did. Apparitions akin to morphing shadows flickered within, and he reflexively dropped the water. It splashed over his legs and the ground.
"Ow!" he screamed. "What the f—"
Something stung his legs. Not only that, but the futon seemed slightly torn after what he'd done.
Taking his pants off, he found several thin cuts, stings, and scrapes, as if he'd spawned a rabid cat and a nest of wasps directly into his pants. Thankfully, there was only minor bleeding. But that didn't stop him from feeling incredibly confused.
Creating just a tiny bit of water again, he imbued it with the strange affinity. Yet again, blurry, floating shapes manifested within. He carefully brought the water closer to the wall and pressed it against it.
What looked like numerous tiny stingers, claws, jaws, and other nasty appendages attached to phantasmal, ghoulish creatures crystallized and started attacking the wall. He observed it for a few moments, mesmerized, and then allowed the water to evaporate. The wall had thin, shallow cuts, bite marks, and cracks.
"What the hell is that?" he whispered.
He sank back into his ethercosm. Having used manipulation with a brand new affinity, he expected to see an entire backdrop of dark blue specks in his soul. There were many red ones already since he tested the blood affinity. Those were the seeds of ether shells, still unformed and attached to an idea, a singular, specific function that the affinity could perform.
But what welcomed him was something that he hadn't expected at all. Instead of a scattering of tiny, undeveloped specks, he saw two dark blue ether shells, already nearly fully formed, that shone as brightly as any he had seen. They were highly complex and intricate, with countless shifting runes along their surface.
There was no clue as to what those were, so he tried his luck by asking Leviathan.
It snarled at him with an evil sneer. "If those are the only two shells to have appeared," it proposed, "then that is all your affinity can do."
That was... He floated back to the two shells. That was it? Those two shells were the entire power set of a whole affinity!?
He left the ethercosm and grabbed his head in frustration. So... basically... they did... what exactly? With some more experimentation, he pushed the limits of his new affinity.
Apparently, the bigger the blob of water he held up, the greater the attacks and the exponentially larger the essence consumption needed to infuse it. The huge maws, stringers, and claws were not something he wanted to test against the walls—or anything in this room. Not that there was much else there. So he washed the water out with ordinary water essence to make the spooky phantoms go away.
By 6 p.m. that day, he felt so goddamn exhausted and stressed that he was getting frighteningly close to running away into the woods.
"That's right..." he whispered. He had that milky pink alia root, didn't he?
Judging by what Spike had said, a single dose was roughly six thousand dollars. Should he just stop being a coward and sell it? What were the odds that this shit would be tracked?
Groaning in frustration, he left the room. After visiting the receptionist, he asked her for a cup of boiling water. She obliged, and he brought it back to his room.
He had already had a cup of this once. But he prepared it haphazardly—only cold water in a plastic bottle. This time, he wanted to have a dose properly. If it cost that much money, it'd better be good.
The first difference that he spotted was the color. While last time he prepared it, it looked vaguely green; now, it was a vibrant pink. And instead of smelling herbal, it had a sweet scent, like ripe fruit.
As soon as he took a sip, feeling the taste of warm milk, his eyes shot wide open. There was a vision of a stormy, downcast day. But the rain suddenly stopped, and a single ray of sunshine broke through.
Images of a comfortable bed, a warm soup, a motherly embrace, safety, and everything soothing he could think of flashed in his mind as if dragged up to the surface by merciful hands. Cold water definitely wasn't the correct way to prepare it. Perhaps it hadn't even done anything, and he had just been under the placebo effect.
Although it did taste milky, it was slightly bitter, which almost made it taste spoiled at first before he got used to it. It was possible that he had again prepared it somewhat incorrectly, but it was no worse than unsweetened instant coffee, even as it was.
All thoughts of gloom and doom were snapped away as if they hadn't even been there.
"Jesus Christ..." he groaned, feeling disappointed in himself.
It happened again.
Too many times did he get it into his head that he had to do something and then ignore all the reasons against it. Selling the prime he manifested, signing with Madame, fighting that guy from the gym, joining the Wastes arena; each and every single fucking time, he focused on the possible benefits of doing something while completely and utterly ignoring the consequences.
No more. None of that.
He couldn't enter a passage alone and unequipped. And he wouldn't.
After thinking that thought, it was as if a mountain slid off his back. He could finally breathe again. So what if he couldn't do it yet? He had been too eager to get started. As it stood, he was alive and well. Hell, he was basically immortal. His talent provided him with eternal youth. Just because he couldn't see a solution immediately, that didn't mean that one didn't exist.
There was no need to go play delver roulette and kill himself like a moron. Even if he had to live in the woods, be homeless, or move to a rural area where he could trim lawns or something while hiding his identity.
It wasn't even 7 p.m., yet all he wanted to do was sleep. So he did. He slept peacefully and dreamt of soft pastures and flowery fields. It was easy to tell why milky pink alia root was so popular among leaders dealing with a ton of stress.
Once he woke up, he felt well-rested and peaceful. He washed up, got dressed, and stepped out into the streets. There, he walked around, looking for inspiration. Walking past a bank, he noted that he needed to open an account again.
His steps halted.
He slowly turned, facing the building with thick glass panels in the front.
Then he walked inside.
***
Banks were quite strict with whom they gave money. It made sense, too; they had to ensure that whoever they provided with a loan could repay it.
A stray thought had crossed his mind. Two-star archs were generally considered to have their shit together. So, he entered the bank and made an account. Before he could even ask, the lady helping him open his account made him an offer.
Half an hour later, he walked outside. It would take a few days for the account to open, but once it did, he would be the proud borrower of 100,000 dollars. He had taken out a loan.
Two-star archs could get that much just like that; no need for credit scores or proof of employment or anything. Granted, that wasn't a particularly significant sum to a proper two-star, but it would be enough for him to get started.
After a few days of waiting, the day finally arrived. He received his card and bid the hotel goodbye, feeling like a new man as he stepped out into the streets.
"Well then," he said. "Time to go do some shopping."