Interlude - Rewards

Interlude - Rewards

Interlude - Rewards

Naha looked at her chest. The lock on it had a symbol of a constantly shapeshifting hand holding a dagger made out of shadows. She didnt know if it meant something more than what it was. Was that how the Framework saw her? A shadowy dagger and a shifting hand? It was part of the truth anyway. She opened the chest and then went through the items inside, a reward for a feat that they had achieved. She didnt feel elated or happy, not relieved or grateful. She glanced at Zach, saw him opening his own chest. He was changed. She had hoped that it was just that the aftereffects of whatever mind attack Hastur exposed them to. That it would go away, but He remembered everything, and what he had told her

She and the others didnt remember anything about it, like a dream that had already been forgotten. She had a few feelings, still left over, but nothing else. For her, there was no time in between passing through the Ethereal portal and waking up trapped. Zach had lived through it all, he remembered thousands of years, so long that he had forgotten his past. He had forgotten her and everything that they had been trying to do.

She she didnt know what to do with him, how to approach him. It hurt to see him look at her and not know her. Yet after all that time, after all that he had forgotten, he still remembered her name. That had to mean something at least.

She set those thoughts aside for a moment. They were in a peculiar situation, they couldnt contact anyone in the Empire or the Settled Territories, which was strange. And Anashi had told them that she is unable to open a way into the Ethereal Realm for some reason.

The others were taking a moment to go through their own loot, hoping that time will change something before all of them had to make a decision. She did the same thing and picked up a rack filled with potions and looked at them.New n0vel chapters are published on

Eternal Elixir Shadows

Drinking this elixir will boost the effectiveness of Shadow Aspect by 100x for 1 hour.

Eternal Elixir of Pure Willpower

Drinking this elixir will replenish your willpower to full and increase its effectiveness by 100x for 1 hour.

Eternal Draught of Attunement Upgrade

Drinking the draught will improve the attunement of your choice to the tier equal to the Eternal tier nine Class Evolution choice.

Eternal potions. She had never seen one before. They were beyond rare. Worth more than she could even imagine. That Attunement upgrade one could buy her whatever she wished. Her and Zachs dream, or perhaps just hers now. She was afraid to talk to him, to learn more. She was afraid that the Zach she knew was gone, and that he would never return again. She knew that she shouldnt, but she just couldnt bring herself to do it.

She shook her head again, focusing on the items.

Ring of True Shapeshifter Identity

+1500 to Intelligence

+1000 to Vitality

+1000 to Endurance

The Ring of True Shapeshifter Identity will fully change your screens to those of your form in such a way that nothing will be able to see through the deception. You will also gain access to three of the forms abilities/techniques/skills (Highest tier focus) while in that form.

With this one thing, she had just gained a way for her shapeshifting forms to be perfect. There were many things that she could do on her own, change a shape, imitate their mannerisms and speech patterns, but she couldnt replicate someone elses powers. Now, she will be able to use at least some of their power, to truly sell the lie. The ring was a shapeshifters dream. She slid it on her finger, then looked into the chest again.

Piece of Night

Powerful potions, two that were single use, trump cards really. And they lasted for one hour, enough that she could do Retaking her sect would not be impossible with even one of those elixirs. The last one was incredible too, an Elixir that would improve one of her attunements. Both of her attunements were incredibly important for her build, being able to improve them would be Though, perhaps she should wait, she did plan on leveling her Class, evolving it further, she could improve some of her future attunements. She would need to think about it.

She wondered what Erdania had gained, she didnt have a Class, so that meant that she was probably granted something different.

She turned her eyes back to the chest and pulled out two orbs.

Shrine of Sanguine Silver

Using this item will create a Sanguine Silver Shrine at any location. The shrine will generate tier nine Sanguine Silver and it will be accessible only to the user and anyone that they deem acceptable to enter.

Will-shaped Cultivation Core

This is a fully functional Cultivation Core. When used, the size of the core will be copied from the users core. Using will, it can be filled with any type of Essence which it will then turn into Qi of the equivalent tier as the Essence put into it. The user can draw Qi from it when holding it, in the same manner that a Cultivator can draw from their own Core, and then use the Qi for their techniques. Can only be used by Cultivators.

The shrine was something that she had been looking for a while. Her sect had a source of it, but she didnt have one of her own. Without her Sect she had no access to the Essence she needed. Though, she hadnt really cycled in a long time. But she did think that she could figure out how to move to the next Realm, Ryuns ideas had pointed her in the right direction, at least she felt that way.

But the second item was far more interesting. It literally gave her a second core, it would double her Qi reserves. Allow her to create twice the amount of objects. Put together, the two orbs were instantly two of her most valuable possessions. She placed them in her storage and then continued looking.

Next, she pulled out a small ring.

Ring of the Mind Forger

+3500 to Intelligence

The Ring of the Mind Forger increases the efficiency of all your mind creation-based powers by 100%. While worn, your overall speed is increased by 80%, and your resource costs are reduced by 50%. Constructs your create have +80% to their durability and their offensive and defensive power is increased by 50%. Once per week, you can create a mind construct free of all costs.

A perfect item for her. She hadnt doubted that it would be. The Frameworks rewards for this feat were incredible. And she hadnt even had the chance to look through her notifications yet, and there were a lot of them. She had glanced at her Class, and knew that she could evolve it. The Evolution was obviously a direct reward for their feat. It was calledGlorious Projection Mindsmithand was a Relic Class. She hadnt ever heard about a Class that had Glorious in the name, the direct evolution of her Class was Grand Projection Mindsmith. She suspected that it was special version. She would need to try and find information, if there is any, about such Classes before evolving it.

She placed the ring on her finger, which left only one item in the chest. She had left it for last on purpose, it was a blank face mask. It didnt feel like the other items did, and she had a suspicion as to what it was.

Slowly, almost tentatively, she reached out to it.

Awakened Mask Shard of All Sorrow

An awakened object. She had searched for a long time, and had never been able to find one that fit her, that she felt comfortable with. She knew that the Framework rewarded them only rarely, but that always they were shaped to fit the one that they were given to, at least at the time they received them.

This was an awakened object that would fit her. And yet she hesitated in taking it up, in bonding it. The name was what frightened her. After all this time, after all that she had been through, was Sorrow all that she was? She wasnt sure if she wanted to know the answer to that.

She picked it up, but didnt do anything with it, she simply stored it in her ring. This wasnt the time for it. She looked around, saw that the others had finished going through their own rewards, and she could almost feel the looming conversation coming. The thing that they had ignored since they defeated the Dome Leader, the wrongness of the situation they were in, the fact that no one was answering their callsSelia had tried to call Sigmund, but he didnt answer either. They had taken a few moments to heal and rest, distracted themselves with their rewards, but now was the time for reality to reassert itself. She stood up and walked up to the slowly gathering circle.

She did not look forward to the conversation.