During the weeks after the fight on A’Atla, Serenity kept busy putting things back together. He was busy enough inside the tunnels that he wasn’t with the first group that reached the dungeon. He heard about the encounters with the snakes; they ran from the Lamia without engaging her. Serenity knew that a group could handle her, especially since almost everyone was high Tier One or low Tier Two at this point.
The first attempt at the Lamia came only a few days after the first expedition retreated. It was a success, but one with a lot of caveats. Everyone who got too close to her collapsed, weeping or shouting. She was actually taken care of by a pair of snipers that managed to stay out of her range. They’d been mostly useless against the ordinary snakes but were vital against the Lamia. Serenity liked that outcome; anything that taught people to value a lot of different skills (and Skills) working together was a good thing.
Serenity also heard that a portal node had developed outside the dungeon. That was a very pleasant surprise to everyone; it meant that anyone with the Etherium could travel elsewhere on Earth. With the dungeon right next to it as a possible Etherium source, even Serenity noticed the conversations about getting away from A’Atla.
Unfortunately, as Samantha complained to Serenity, it was still cheaper for her to ship things by sea or air than send them through a portal. She managed to get authorization for an assistant to come by portal, carrying a lot of the small stuff Samantha hadn’t managed to fit into a shipment, but that was only because she didn’t have to cover a round trip for the delivery-person.
Serenity found he didn’t have to personally check in with the dungeon; he knew what its status was, just like the one on Tzintkra. Fortunately, that meant he knew it was in good shape; despite its excessive size, it didn’t need to be fully cleared any time soon. The fairly regular snake removal and periodic Lamia death couldn’t keep up with what the dungeon needed but they were close.
For some reason, everyone was retreating after their first encounter with a rock elemental on the second floor, so Serenity went to check it out. What he found wasn’t very helpful: the monsters wouldn’t attack him unless he told them to; even then, they seemed to wait for his approval before each attack. There was no way he’d be able to help clear out the dungeon the way it needed to be cleared; he couldn’t even teach people how to handle it.
He did, however, figure out why people were running away from the rock elemental. It was nothing more than a single rock that picked itself up when someone got too close and flung itself at people. Without some way to see magic, there was no easy way to tell that it was a monster; if anything, it looked more like a magical trap that just kept attacking. Serenity handled the situation by quietly telling Liam what it was and how to deal with it; anything that would break the rock would kill the elemental.
Serenity put off taking his new Path for as long as he could. He was fairly confident that it would be based on him being the Incarnate of Death, so without even really thinking about it he simply kept delaying. The only other option he could come up with was abilities based on his new Asura shape; that was better but only by a little. It wasn’t until the day Rissa told him that she’d taken a new Path that he realized what he was doing: stalling so that he could avoid thinking about it.
He put it off for one more evening, but the next morning he knew what he had to do. He tried to select a new Path.
No Paths were available. That was something Serenity hadn’t seen in a very, very long time. He definitely hadn’t seen it since he came back through time.
Serenity was still staring at the screen in shock when the Voice spoke.
I have no Paths to offer you. There is no Path set aside for an Incarnate and any Path I can create is based on Death. I promised not to offer you those Paths.
Serenity had already worked himself up to looking at his Paths, so shouldn’t he at least see the options even if he didn’t want them? He started to say that but was interrupted by a chuckle from behind him.
“I’ll take it from here.” The voice belonged to a pale young woman with dark hair. She wore black makeup and a silver necklace; combined with the dark robe she wore, she looked like she was going for a Goth style. Serenity knew that wasn’t the case, because the moment he saw her, he knew that this was Death in the face she’d chosen for modern Earth. It seemed oddly appropriate for Death.
“Give him the Path, I’ll handle the abilities,” Death continued with a broad smile. “I can guess, but to be certain: what are you missing the most as Skills?”
The top two answers were easy and obvious. “Shields and range.” He could prepare spells in items ahead of time but only in limited quantities. Shields tended to get burned out; an item would be a great backup, but a Skill he could simply maintain would be better for normal use. For attacks, his Death Magebolt was great when he first got it but it simply wasn’t enough for the Tier of things he was running into now.
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Death nodded. She didn’t seem surprised. “That’s three, then. Add the one I want to and that leaves one for the Voice to fill in.” She paused, then continued. “What do you mean you don’t have anything? Fine, I’ll pick another.” There was an edge to her speech, but she didn’t seem entirely unhappy; perhaps a little annoyed but it was minor.
How did this happen? He was watching Death build a Path for him? Serenity shook his head; he couldn’t resist the question. “How can you … do this? Is this normal for Incarnates?”
Death chuckled. She seemed more cheerful after the question. “No, but there’s almost nothing normal about you. As for how I can do it, I helped build the Voice in the first place. They needed someone with the correct connections to reality. That meant me, Life, Potential, Soul, or, oddly enough, Cat. Of the five of us, I’m the least flighty.”
“Cat? Really?” Serenity liked Curio, but the idea of any cat, much less the Cat, being able to modify the Voice was vaguely terrifying.
Death winked. “Cat was a joke. She might have been able to handle it, but no one checked because they couldn’t find her. There were a few others, but the fact that I do touch everyone and everything and the fact that I’m patient both mattered. They came to me. It took quite a while for them to convince me. Why don’t you take a look at your new Path instead of asking silly questions?”
They weren’t silly. Serenity suspected that Death would include silly objections, too, if he said anything. She wasn’t treating this seriously. Yes, it was something he’d dealt with many times in the past, but it was always important; you had to choose a Path forward that gave you useful Skills and was also one you could complete.
A Path that taught you something you didn’t know was also helpful, but those became far less common towards the end of the Final Reaper’s life. It had felt like he was blazing a new Path instead of following someone else’s, but that meant that no one was there to give hints, not even the Voice.
Incarnate of Death -
Level 10 - Shield of Death - A modification of the standard Shield Skill, this Skill does not create a force bubble. Instead, it kills anything that tries to pass through it and should not, including momentum.
That was not what Serenity usually meant when he said anything could die. Death was offering to kill attacks? That was …
…
Actually, that wasn’t all that different from the normal shield Skill, was it? It created something from nothing; something insubstantial that could still stop solid objects. If it was done correctly, it didn’t get knocked back or transmit any force, either; it just stopped it. Killed it.
Serenity definitely wanted to see how Death set that one up. He could already see that it might not be that far from the normal Shield Skill that Serenity usually managed with his Arcane Affinity. If he added a Death component, it was usually a slow drain to attackers; this was something different. A different way of looking at things was useful.
Level 25 - Death Absorption - Death empowers the Incarnate of Death, whether that is Death-attuned mana or the loss of existence. Each empowerment is related to the Death that causes it. The ability replaces Eat Death and Adept Aspect Form.
The words were fuzzy and not well defined, but the Skills this one replaced gave Serenity a good idea what it did. If he read it correctly, it meant he would be effectively unlimited as long as there was enough death, even if he were the one to cause it. It might only work to enhance Death-based abilities or it might work on everything; Serenity couldn’t tell. Either way, it was likely to be situationally very powerful.
Level 50 - Death Magebolt - Throw a mass of Death-attuned magic at your enemy. May cause lingering effects. This ability replaces the Tutorial award of the same name.
Those were almost the same words as the Tutorial award; in fact, it was the effect he’d been getting from the Tutorial award even though it hadn’t said it. That probably meant it was a direct upgrade of the Skill with the changes he’d made to it included from the beginning this time. It was useful and exactly what he’d asked for, so there wasn’t much to say about it.
Level 75 - Shieldbreaker - All things die; that includes spells and Skills. This Skill is designed to end the most annoying of Skills: those that protect your enemies.
That looked like a Death-based counterspell Skill focused on shields. It was an interesting thing to get this early; so far, most dungeon monsters didn’t really have shields. That would come later. It said something about how often he’d been fighting people that a shield-breaking Skill sounded quite useful.
Serenity had once had some spells that could do the same thing. The Final Reaper had never picked up a Path that included it as a Skill, however. He’d always had ways to get around shields instead of having to go through them. Serenity was finding out that at lower Tiers, that wasn’t as much of an option.
It was especially not an option when he was caught by surprise. Surprised was something the Final Reaper really hadn’t been for a very long time; it took time to move a planet’s warriors to a new battlefield. Oh, there were assassination attempts as well, but very few of them got even close. That was why the armies were mobilized, after all; nothing else worked.
Level 100 - That is Not Dead Which Can Eternal Lie - Exhibit the Death that you are and break Eternity. This ability replaces Death Field.
Once again, Serenity could only guess at what a Skill actually did. One this obtuse meant that it should have some capabilities that weren’t obvious. Since it replaced Death Field, it was obvious that “exhibiting death” meant to release it through his aura; he could probably harm others with it like Death Field did, but how did that break Eternity?
Death winked again as Serenity turned to her. “You need to take it your own way and make it yours, but as with most Skills, you’ve shown you have the seeds of that one. I thought you’d prefer not to require a massive mana explosion to practice.”