Luke enjoyed the taste of crispy chicken in his mouth. Or rather, it’d be more accurate to think of it as imitation chicken, as the taste was oh-so similar, but not exactly the same. Bright lanterns hung inside for light, and the entire place used carved treated wood as decor and furniture.
When he asked the blond waitress, who also originated from Earth, what the meat they used was, her answer was a domesticated beast called the ‘Palagium Bird.’ Sourced in the very mountains that occupied the ridge Sylen was situated in. Ranches were managed up there, much to Luke’s surprise.
The restaurant lacked any cola, but at least the fries were indistinguishable from the flavor he knew. The place consisted of fancy wooden booths, able to sit up to six. Luke took up one side and Iona the other.
Iona left Timber outside but ordered a few meals for him. She fetched her sigil stone from her spatial storage bag. Wondering what she needed it for, Luke thought to ask but assumed he’d find out as he sat nearby.
The Beastmaster brought the sigil stone to her mouth. A waved rune lit up on the enchanted spherical object. She said, “Annika, how are the measures going? Any progress?”
Iona nodded her head. Luke figured he’d hear Annika’s response, but that didn’t happen.
Does the sigil stone have a measure that prevents people from eavesdropping on the entire conversation? He thought.
Iona spoke again, “Yes, he’s here at the farworlder restaurant I gushed to you about every so often. If it’s ready, come by. We won’t be leaving anytime soon.” Iona tapped the top of the sigil stone, and the waved rune receded.
Does that mean this Annika woman is coming here? Should take this chance to see if this other weapon is like Xera or not. Luke decided.
Pushing aside the ‘chicken’ tender and fries meal, Luke sipped on some water before asking, “Anything else I can do to speed up getting the full picture of what happened to my dad?”
Iona shrugged, “It’s possible there’s another angle I’m not aware of, but I doubt you can go wrong using mine. You’re too weak to force any of the possible groups involved to divulge what you’d want to know.”
The Reaver let reality wash over him. He didn’t ask if Musai or another powerful Defier would directly help him because he knew the answer.
They wouldn’t.
In the end, Luke’s relationship with them was that they accepted his potential and would help shape him to greater heights. More personal issues like this one?
It’d be up to him.
“I’ll get started then, haven’t spent any of my skill points in ages. Feels like a good time to upgrade some abilities.”
Iona waved over the waiter to take another order, “Don’t mind me. I’ll sit here, look pretty, and eat this wonderful food you farworlders make. If you have a question, ask.”
Rather than answer back, Luke took action. He tapped a small plus sign to Roll of the Reaver first. Four skill points drained out of his stack of twenty-eight. The ability upgraded, but not nearly as much of a spike as Infusion experienced.
The roll remained capped at eight, but the lowest roll went up from one to two. Reading as stat-steals are converted to rolls between 2-8.
Must be one of those skills that start stronger but grow less from investment. Whatever, it’s still ridiculously powerful.
Moving on, Luke poured another four points, this time into Essence Bond. He prioritized bringing his usual skills up to tier 1 first, and then he’d deliberate if it’d be better to grow Siphon or Infusion.
The knock-up effect grew to three seconds, and an interesting tidbit was added at the end. Verbatim, the updated tooltip said, ‘Caster may now target themselves with the Fissure, affecting them at will if desired.’
Target myself at will? That’s far too vague; I’ll need to test this out later.
Luke made use of his more experienced guide in front of him, “Iona, one of my upgraded skills says I can use it on myself now. Whereas before, I couldn’t. It’s a hard knock-up effect; how would that even be useful?”
Iona used a napkin to wipe her face. She teased, “Call me the most beautiful woman in the lands first, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
“Don’t you have a bunch of suitors or something? They probably say similar words all the time. You don’t need me inflating your ego further,” Luke said, unperturbed.
Iona puffed out her cheeks, “No fun. Who needs a bunch of groveling men? None of them have potential or something I lack. Why would I care about them? Getting that expression of yours to crack is far more entertaining.”
“You saw it change plenty today, that not enough?”
She scoffed, “Being angry hardly counts, Luke. The only time you attempted to smile genuinely was when you talked about- ah, sorry.” She put down her utensils, “Point is, you are a very direct man, all flat expressions or anger, rarely anything in between, unless it’s with your companion. A shame, really. A practiced smile would have girls swooning over you. If not before, then certainly after the ritual got rid of the skin blemishes.”
“Fine, I’ll figure it out on my own.” Luke took her lecture as not wanting to answer.
“I was getting to it; let a woman talk.” Iona rolled her eyes.
Luke pressured Iona with a stare, not saying anything. But the intent was palpable: Get on with it.
“There’s almost always going to be a use for that sort of thing. Without knowing the ability’s details, I can’t give you a straight answer. But think about what it does to targets and how it could help you—more specifically, when it could.”
The Reaver took that with a grain of salt, but it at least revealed the correct line of thought to figure it out later. After muttering ‘thanks,’ he moved on to the other abilities.
Iona dug right back into her meal, giving Luke space.
He dumped another four points into Essence Bond this time. The changes were uneventful. With the duration going up one second, the stat-steal vulnerability effect spiked slightly, going from eighty percent to one hundred percent. Lastly, the main effect of weakening stats increased from seventeen percent to eighteen percent.
As he was about to move on to upgrading Essence Lance, a distinct set of footsteps entered the restaurant. They carried a unique cadence that was hard to describe and thus stole Luke’s attention. He looked up from the Interface screens when he realized the noise stopped beside his table.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
He saw a woman with brown hair, eyes, tanned skin, and sharp features. She wore tight-fitting white and blue cloth armor, which accentuated her buxom figure. The cloth around her wrists was folded back. A black spear with grey swirls, including the broad spearhead, was strapped to her back. Thin runes climbed up the shaft, slowly moving about in a pattern.
She greeted them both, “Hey there, Iona.” A bit of saliva dropped from her mouth, but she hurriedly wiped it away. “And you must be the Defier Luke I’ve been hearing so much about. Iona informed me on your predicament.”
Iona said, “Nice to see you, Annika, hard to catch you outside the tower or your research. You workaholic.” She winked afterward.
Was that saliva I saw for a moment? Does she enjoy the food here too? Luke wondered, and he received a surprising answer, although not directly.
Shivering in anticipation, Annika brought her face right up to Luke’s so fast he could hardly blink. Shuddering, she said, “I’d love to study you, a farworlder with a…” She clapped a hand over her mouth, “Caught myself there. Let’s say you’ve got plenty about you that interests me.” Another drop of saliva came out, and she covered it up quickly.
Luke realized what happened. It was me? This woman is salivating over me!? What in the…she’s not looking at me like a person, but instead, like, a rare species? Luke began to sweat internally.
She sat down, scooting right next to Luke, forgetting the meaning of personal space. Her hand sprang out, and Luke flinched, but she flicked Xera on her crystal. “Iona told me you talk when given the chance. Why stay silent now, Xera?”
“I’m trying to behave, for Luke’s sake. When the elf lady talked about the trouble I brought him, I started to feel guilty… and afraid to interrupt, and I don’t know when it’s right to talk. ”
Annika laughed, “Much too late for that now, Xera.” She pointed to her spear with her thumb, “This is Cedric, the spear-staff. Say hi, Cedric. I need brownie points to get some research time with Luke in the future!”
“Pleasure to meet you, Madam Xera. If I may assist you in adjusting your nature, Lady Annika would surely be happy to let me.” Cedric spoke politely.
Annika gushed, “I can’t wait to study. I mean, see how the two of you interact later. For now,” she fixated her eyes on Luke, brushing aside his hair, “I’ll definitely have to examine every inch of you, Lukey.”
Iona put both her hands over her eyes, she said, “I knew this would happen…Annika, keep your intellectual lust for unique things in check. Give Luke what you made to help him.”
The woman ran her eyes over Luke’s body and stared at his chest, exactly where the Spectral Heart was. She rummaged through her spatial bag, and then a carved metal black mask with grey marks running above and below the eye sockets came out, “I designed it with this color so you’re reminded of Cedric, and therefore, me! Anything for my Lukey.”
Luke felt his skin crawl. This lady had given him a pet name, and he hadn’t even spoken to her yet. Things fell into her pace so easily that he remained speechless.
She put her ear against his chest, “It beats so wonderfully, I won’t have to bug Aloysius anymore. That bulky barbarian won’t let me strap him down and take samples of his skin! How lamentable, but now I’ve got a new dependable newbie to learn about. His heart is racing higher right now; what a wonderful sound!”
“Enough. Lay off.” Luke demanded.
“What was that, Lukey? Give you more attention? You naughty boy, you.”
“Please get off of me.”
“Stay with you forever? You’re making me blush already, but if it’s you, and you’ll let me see how your class works…” She stared up at him. “Iona said you’ve got a unique bird companion too. Where is she?”
Iona got up, came around, and peeled Annika off Luke, the odd woman gave Iona sad puppy eyes, but she wasn’t having it, “Annika, give him the damn mask already and explain why he’s going to need it. You can try your games with him later.”
Annika sat down in a huff, and Iona remained standing, both hands on her hips, watching Annika closely. Tearing her eyes away with a ‘tsk,’ Annika said, “My new favorite test subject, you’ve had trouble hiding what you are, haven’t you?”
Luke wet his lips to speak, but Annika put a finger over his mouth, keeping her spotlight, “Of course you have! That’s why I took pity on you and made this all by myself, Lukey.”
Iona had a vein pop from her forehead, “Annika, for the love of the world spirit, stop twisting things. The facts only, please. Or I’ll kick you out of here. You’re going to scare our newest member away.”
“Well, I might of had the tiniest bit of help from Tanniv and Eldacar, but this mask is my sign of devotion to you! Those stinky men were only around for the boring stuff.”
Annika shivered. Sensing the death stare coming from behind, she coughed, “Here, take it, put it on. That will be faster in this case.” She handed the black metal mask to Luke.
Luke took it slowly, trying to prevent Annika from performing any other shenanigans. He put the mask before his lap and inspected the tooltip, but nothing happened.
Annika saw her chance. She cupped Luke’s cheek and said, “You’ll have to put it on, silly. With what this mask was designed for, no one can inspect it—not even me! Isn’t it great?”
Putting his hand over her’s to get it off his face, Annika tried to keep it clamped on. Luke couldn’t get her hand to budge a millimeter.
Is this woman a tier three like Iona? No, of course she is. Because why wouldn’t she be? I’ll have to be careful around her. She looks like she wants to dissect me or worse. And this is the girl who has the weapon like Xera?
Luke became near exasperated, “Remove your hand off my face.”
“Is this where the frost comes in? Show me! I want to see everything, Lukey.”
The Reaver deflated in defeat. He was beaten; he couldn’t handle Annika. He sent a pleading glance over to Iona. The elf ran her hand through her hair a few times. Sighing, she wrenched Annika’s hand off Luke’s face.
“Annika, how is he going to put on the mask with your hand in the way? Let him breathe. He chose Runic Enchanter. You’ll have plenty of time with him in the future.” Iona lectured.
“Why would I need her for that?” Luke said.
“Annika here is Runewarden. If she didn’t have a profession before joining us, we would’ve made her a Runic Enchanter instead, for world spirit knows why she chose the scholar profession. She can be…touchy, but having her help at the start will greatly speed up your growth as a Runic Enchanter.”
Leaving the increasing amount of questions swirling in his head for later, Luke hurriedly slapped the mask on himself when given an opening. The mask cooled his face and adhered perfectly, molding itself as if it were liquid.
Half a second later, Luke’s aura changed, his clothes turned into a regal red and black cloth set. The jewelry he wore became plain silver, Wayfinder changed to a gray orb with a similar color chain. Xera became a shorter sword, her crystal gone, outer appearance dim, and all signs of runes hidden.
Luke subtly noticed his hair change. He brought a lock in front of his eye; it was white. His build modified, and Luke appeared to have lost ten pounds, a mix of muscle and fat. He tried to take the mask off, but it stubbornly stayed on.
“Give the mask time to recognize your essence signature, Lukey.” Annika traced a finger over the black metal mask, “Every aspect about you, including your skills, will give off an illusion. The effects will remain the same. When the mask adapts completely, you can take it on and off at will.”
Accepting that the chances of getting this woman to stop touching him were zero, Luke put his attention elsewhere, “What about Sooty? Will this affect her?”
Puffing up her chest in pride, Annika said, “Absolutely. She will end up appearing like an entirely different creature.” Annika fluttered her eyes, “Don’t you worry, I’ll see how every last thing about you changes. To be safe, we’ll have to strip you naked and check out-”
Iona dragged Annika out of the store and sat her next to Timber. She said, “You're in timeout. Timber, keep watch on her. She’s been teasing Luke too much.”
The thunder paw bear sat next to Annika and put a paw on her shoulder when she tried to move. The bear grunted lowly.
Observing a Defier be disciplined like a school kid made Luke chuckle at the nostalgic sight. Iona came back over, “Sorry about her. You’ll notice most of the Defiers are…odd in one way or another. Annika is just the most obvious about it.”
“You can’t be completely sane and be a Defier. Never would’ve guessed it would turn out how that woman is, though. I’m afraid to thank her for the mask. Who knows what she would do?” He tapped on the black metal, “It really is useful. I’ll have to think about how to best use it.”
“She’ll calm down around you somewhat. But, being what you are, well, you’re like a perfect match to her, a person who obsesses over unique situations. Your heart, companion, and class are working against you here. I don’t want to know how she’ll react when she figures out what Wayfinder is.”
Luke sighed, “Let me finish this meal in peace. Clearly, I won’t have as much when I go back to the Defier’s guild.”
Iona laughed, “You’re probably right. If it makes you feel better, only Annika is like that. Aloysius might also be interested in your heart, but that’s for another reason. Go ahead, eat.”
He brought the food to his face, and the black metal opened to reveal his mouth. “Perfect, that solves eating with this thing on.” Luke bit into the chicken once more, slowing down to saver each bite intentionally.
He had a disaster waiting for him outside, after all.