Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Four – 174

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Four – 174

Pinging before his eyes in a series of alerts, Felix stared at nine (NINE!) Essences that he'd never seen before.

[Essence of Sage]

[Essence of Hearthstone Flame]

[Essence of the Celeritous Trek]

[Essence of Diamond Eyes]

[Essence of Sainted Bones]

[Essence of the Dustbringer]

[Essence of the Severed World]

[Essence of Knighted Steel]

[Essence of Primal Fury] This chapter's initial release occurred on the n0vell--Bjjn site.

Voracious Eye!

Name: Essence of Sage

Type: Essence Mote

Lore: Essence Motes are rarely used treasures, harvested directly from prey and used to Temper one's Aspects. Used upon achievement of a Tier, they help to expel impurities and refine the vessel. This Essence is infused with the Spirit Essences of Sage.

Rarity: Uncommon

The others were the same, though the Aspect affected and Rarity all changed. Each notification glowed with power, informing Felix with a glance of their rarities. The first three were Uncommon Essences...and the rest were all Rare.

Did these come from the Ravager King? He'd eaten a Larval Ravager and taken a singular Essence from it back in the Domain, the Essence of the Primal Seed. But there are so many...

Beyond the notifications, Felix could see them swirling among his essence cloud, and watched as one disappeared into the abyss in his core. In a flash of incandescent light, it was consumed entirely. The blue box for [Essence of Knighted Steel], a Body Essence, flickered and vanished from before him.

No! I could've used that!

The clock was ticking.

Felix could feel something about them, a nebulous sort of sensation that he couldn't pin down. Each Essence was composed of lesser Features, things that made up the Essence in some way. When selected, the Feature transferred to one's Aspect; if he took an Inferno Essence from a draught, then his Spirit would have some feature of an Inferno. He had been told it was only a minor, barely noticeable effect in Apprentice Tier. Each Tier thereafter, however, it grew more and more apparent. This was his foundation, the structure upon which his true strength was building. He Tempered very well in Apprentice, and he had to continue that trend.

Flipping through them, Felix fumbled at them with his Affinity. All of them thrummed with the barely heard vibrations of the Grand Harmony, but one felt deeper than all the rest. More resonant, he supposed.

Rare Essence Detected During Formation!

[Essence of Diamond Eyes]

As it sank into him, the feel of it was so opposed to the Ravagers that Felix knew it wasn't from the King. Like a bolt of lightning from the clear blue sky, he knew. The others must have come from the cathedral's vault.

Thanks, Pathless. You're a peach.

Broken Path and Fatebreaker Titles Found! Journeyman Tier Bonus Added!

Calculating Effects...

Choose A Feature:

Jager - The Clearest, Finest State

Allotrope - The Multiplicity of States

Bort - A State of Accumulation

Focus Upon The Way Forward, Ascendant. Focus.

Shock hit him harder than the System energy that unspooled into his core and channels. Normally there were no explanations during this process, yet now he was getting advice? In all the hubbub, Felix had forgotten about the bonuses his two Titles gave him, so perhaps the description was from them.

But there was only one thing that had called him ascendant before. Vellus, the not-quite-dead goddess. Still, he didn't have time to ponder what it might mean, just to work with it as best he could.

Jager was immediately tempting. Clearest, most fine state? How could that be beat? It sounded strong and focused. A leap to the end.

Yet Allotrope was about having multiple states. Though Felix didn't know what that meant, it sounded like it would give him versatility. The how, of course was unknown. If nothing else, it felt like it might have complicated effects on his Temper.

Despite it's silly name, Bort was compelling as well. Accumulation. Gathering. The grind to the top. Jager offered a path to the top, at least that's what it suggested. But did he accept the Systems definition of perfect and choose Jager, or did he devise his own by building from the ground up? Or should he expand his options in some way with Allotrope?

He had seconds to choose, as always. The "bonuses" from his Titles were hardly better than no information at all...but he chose. Felix selected what he believed would result in true strength. He only hoped he wouldn't regret it.

The way forward...

Congratulations!

You Have Absorbed The Essence Of [Bort]!

That...sounds super dumb.

Energy pulsed through him, crackling around his Fire Within Skill in a halo of electric fire. A not insignificant chunk of his stolen essence vanished into that halo, sucked up like a sponge. A ribbon of blue-gold light shot out from his core ring and connected to the Skill as it raged. Felix felt the tingling pull of power, almost distracting him from the next notification.

Etheric Concordance is level 62!

Congratulations! You Have Reached Journeyman Tier with Etheric Concordance!

You Gain:

+15% AFI

+15% REI

+15% EVA

Felix gritted his teeth and let the Skill Tier up without Tempering it. He'd considered this, and it hurt to do it. But he felt like it was the right choice.

You Have Unlocked A New Feature!

Etheric Concordance (Legendary), Level 62!

You have deepened the connection between you and your Companion, forming a concordance that will have echoing consequences for you both. The grandest heights and crushing depths lie in store, though what shape the future holds is up to you both. All previous abilities of Companion Pact are retained.

Quiescent, to his knowledge, meant inert or passive. But rising above such a state was not worthless. Far from it, Felix's entire time in the Continent was being forced to rise above where he was, if for no other reason than he would die otherwise. He set that one aside.

The "Pull of Significance" felt like something, but Felix couldn't put a finger on it. What was "Significance"? Were they similar to the links and connections in sigaldry? He hadn't a clue.

The "Draw of Silence" and the word Veil suggested covert, sneaky stuff. That...really hadn't been his style so far, but he wasn't against the option.

What was the way forward then? How could he build a better Spirit with these?

Felix ground his teeth. As helpful as these new descriptions were, they didn't go out of their way to be informative. It was as if the world was intentionally being obtuse, blocking information from reaching people. Like how society seemed to be organized by secret factions and even simple things like standardized measurements of Strength or Vitality were not shared outside of them. It was enough to drive a dude insane.

Reign of Vellus was a staple of his fighting style, and it was linked somehow to Vellus herself. A literal goddess, dead or not. He had hoped that by choosing a Transcendent Essence that he could bring it up to snuff; it was excellent for mobility and crowd control, but the Skill was dangerous to everyone, even himself.

The Skill operated on generating kinetic blasts or implosions. If the Feature was to affect his Skill, he could focus on Surge, increasing it's power with a sudden rush? Or perhaps Veiled would quieten the ability somehow, let him cast it without all the lightning?

Gravity though...the pull of mass, of entire worlds. But it was also a profundity, a sense of magnitude and peril.

Yeah. Gravity it is.

Perhaps he didn't know the way forward, but he knew where he wished to go.

Congratulations!

You Have Absorbed The Essence Of [Gravity]!

Felix wasn't expecting much due to the Essence's quiet entrance, so he was nearly thrown onto his back as his core fire exploded with a cacophonous radiance. Leveraging himself back up from his elbows, Felix dipped his senses back below, utilizing his Fire Within. It was like a bomb had gone off.

Less a halo and more an aurora of crackling light surmounted his Reign of Vellus Skill. A ribbon of light, twice as thick as the others, was already wrapped firmly around his core ring, and the entire space sang with ethereal music. What's more, it was music that sounded nothing like the System and Grand Harmony. Nor did it sound like the discordant buzz of the Maw's old caterwauls. It felt...clean and pure, like a glacial stream. Like...What's that?

It was hard to notice at first, what with the light and sound and all, but as his Fire Within sharpened his focus he could make it out in the brightness. The convoluted pattern of his Skill had literally doubled in size.

Whoa.

Felix could feel the vibrancy that was soaking into the Skill, and though he had no idea what it might lead to, he was suddenly excited to find out.

3 of 3 Spirit Essences Formed!

Tempering Has Begun!

Grinning despite the rising pain, Felix let out a joyous "whoop!" as the light inundated his senses.

The screaming kept going.

Evie swung her chain too high, accidentally wrapping it around one of the newly erected posts. A half instant later, she felt a sharp edge against her neck.

"Don't get distracted, Aren," Callie hissed. She pulled the dagger back and sheathed it in one blindingly fast motion. "Distractions get you dead. Or smash your pelvis. Again."

Evie grimaced and rubbed her neck, though the blade hadn't even scratched her. She still hadn't fully recovered from having her pelvis nearly pulped by that Bishop of Hunger, but copious healing spells from Portia and a few choice potions had brought her to the cusp of recovery in a few short hours. Still, Callie wasn't an Adept in Short Blades Mastery for nothing, and Evie never had a real chance against her. "How can you not be distracted? Felix's been in there hollerin' his head off for twenty minutes!"

She shuddered. Hitting Apprentice Tier had been painful and gross, not to mention she had to Temper her Body twice. But still, she hadn't made noises like that.

Callie only looked toward the other end of the warehouse, where the sound wards were trying and failing to keep the Unbound's screams sealed. Evie had seen her ask Vivienne to look at it, since Rory wasn't back yet, but the Bronze Rank couldn't see what was wrong with it. Or, to put it in her own words: "I see where the sound is escaping, but there's nothing wrong with the warding array. He's just...bypassing it, somehow."

Callie turned from the warded room to Zara, who was tracing a series of aquamarine sigils into the ground. She had created a complex, clearly arcane pattern of glowy lines, but Evie couldn't make heads or tails of them. When she'd asked, Zara had said something about "seeker nets" and "material filters" that made Evie's brain want to take a nap even now.

Zara's fingers didn't stop in their efforts, nor did she look up. She simply seemed to sense their gazes and said, "He'll be fine."

Evie let out a controlled breath. She wasn't entirely sure why she felt anxious. Felix certainly had fought weirder and stronger odds than a few ranked up Skills, right?

"Or he won't," Zara continued. "This is his struggle alone."

Evie closed her eyes in annoyance. Damn mysterious chorister. She still found it hard to fully trust a priest of Avet, no matter how helpful she had been. He was the god of change, after all. For good or ill.

"Can't you at least fix the ward?" Callie asked her again. She'd asked her before, when Atar had checked, but the Naiad had been as busy then as she was now. Again, Zara didn't stop.

"No," she made a weird little flourish, and a spark of blue-green light flitted into the air. It dissipated in seconds. "He's using a Transcendent ranked Essence. It'll only degrade the ward again. We can wait until he's finished."

"Wait, hold on," Evie said, at the same time Callie sputtered out a few choice curses.

"BurningTranscendent? Where'd he get that?"

"Perhaps it was something he ate," Zara said, and she smiled.

A grin for nightmares, Evie shuddered. Looks like a shark.

Felix's screams had changed in texture, but still they came, and Evie took a few calming breaths to focus. The breaths caught and stuck in her throat a moment before Evie forced it out. Was that what Journeyman Tier felt like? Would it feel that way for her, too?

A jab to her shoulder nearly sent her stumbling, and Callie clucked her tongue. "Your stance has gotten sloppy. We start again. Recall your chain and get out your side dagger."

Evie stifled the groan that wanted to escape from her throat and did as she was asked. Short Weapon Mastery was one of her worst Skills, and Callie knew it. Somehow, she felt Felix had gotten the easier task.

Felix wasn't sure when he stopped screaming, but he found himself lying on the cool stone floor of the warehouse, staring blankly at the warped and blackened ceiling. He blinked, and it felt like sand had crusted over his eyes.

"Ugh, gross," he rasped. A notification was blinking before him, and it took two tries to make his eyes focus on it.

Congratulations!

You Have Tempered Your Spirit!

You Have Formed: the Rising Sovereign Spirit

+20 WIL

+20 INT

+10 RES

+30 INE

+30 ALA

Hot damn, Felix gasped as System power flooded his veins. It felt far more powerful and somehow smoother than ever before, flowing into his core and then out into his channels in a single, lightning quick moment. It was glorious, a fine recompense for the pain of Tempering in the first place. The sensation faded after several minutes, and Felix took a long moment to catch his breath.

Then he dove back in.

There were a few more notifications to get through, and he didn't have all day.

Get to work.