“I don’t think she’s coming.” Savas said for what must have been the tenth time. He was pacing about and occasionally looking out the single arrow slit Lucus had left unsealed in the room they had decided to fortify.
“She’s coming.” Arven and Lucus said at exactly the same time. They’d both gotten into the habit of automatically trying to assuage the orc’s fears.
Dawn just rolled her eyes and said, “Of course she’s coming. What else could she possibly do? Now sit down and relax.”
“She’s got all our supplies though!” Savas said, sounding a little panicked. “What if she doesn’t make it back? What if she just decides to wait it out while we starve?”
Arven stood and put a hand on Savas’ shoulder. “Pull yourself together man. We literally just had a meal, we’re not going to starve any time soon. Give her time, it can’t be easy to do what she’s doing right now. I would have said it was impossible for anyone else.”
Savas nodded reluctantly. “I know. I know. I just worry it’s impossible for her too.” He turned and went back to looking out the slit in the rock.
It had been a few hours since they’d split up from Tavi, but Lucus was no longer worried. The crazy goblin girl was clearly carefully making her way back to them. Her health hadn’t budged since near the beginning of the chaos, and while her mana and stamina had been fluctuating nearly the whole time, they’d never gotten so low as to indicate she might be in distress.
He guessed that she’d probably found somewhere to hide for a while and would join them soon. There didn’t seem to be any more burning worms falling from the sky now, and the winged ones they’d seen for a while seemed to have gone back to wherever they’d come from.
Suddenly Savas screamed and fell backwards. Instantly Lucus and Arven were both on their feet, weapons drawn. A face was pressed against the arrow slit, large red eyes peering in at them.
“Hey guys! There you are!” said Tavi as a pool of liquid darkness poured into the room. A moment later Tavi was standing inside the small room with them, grinning that insane grin of hers that Lucus knew so well. He had to look away as the sight of her stabbed him in the heart.
When everyone had calmed down and Tavi’s hair was thoroughly a mess from all the hugs, she caused even more commotion with her next announcement.
“Dawn, I need your help. I’ve got Dorian in my soul-space, but his body is badly injured and he’s technically dead. I think I might be able to fix that though since I have his spirit too. I’m just not sure about the whole soul thing and how that works. Can you heal up his body before I try and shove his spirit back in it? I think we’ll need to be quick about it just in case his soul is still attached.”
Everyone just stared at her. Dawn tried to say something a few times but couldn’t seem to get words out. Lucus was the first to get a coherent question out. “Tavi… are you saying you can resurrect Dorian? Or is this some sort of Necromancy?”
Tavi shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure it will even work. He might just die for real. It’s the only thing I could do for him though.”
Dawn collected herself with some effort. “Tavi, resurrection is the province of the gods, and extremely rare. I can’t imagine that this will work… but I can try if you wish. It will be difficult though, healing a body without a spirit is like painting with your eyes closed. Normally the other person’s spirit helps guide the healing. I’ll do my best, but it may not be enough.”
“That’s all I can ask,” she said. “Lucus, can you do chest compressions on him once he’s not bleeding out? Help his heart start beating again?”
Lucus nodded and stepped closer. “Where are you going to put him?”
“I’ve got his pack in here too, let me…” she trailed off as a pack similar to the one they all had appeared on the floor in front of them. Tavi grabbed the bedroll off the pack and unrolled it, then folded it into a more of a thick pillow. “I’ll put his head there. If this works, I don’t think he’d want to bleed all over his bedroll, but this should keep his head safe.”
They gathered around, either to watch or perform their respective duties. “Here goes. When he’s healed, I’m going to try and guide his spirit back with my shadows, just ignore them.”
Dorian’s body suddenly appeared in front of them, and immediately began leaking blood. His body was a ruin, and Dawn gasped in horror before laying hands on him and beginning to funnel massive amounts of healing into him. Wounds sealed and bones unbroke, but she left anything that didn’t look immediately fatal alone, triaging his wounds just as she would a living patient even as her mana rapidly depleted.
The moment Dorian seemed mostly intact Lucus began chest compressions. Dorian’s body coughed up some of the black river sludge, and Lucus decided he wouldn’t be attempting to breathe for the man.
Suddenly a film of darkness enveloped Dorian’s body, and Lucus almost stopped what he was doing, thinking it was some effect of the river on the man’s body. A glance at Tavi told him that this was her doing though, and so he kept up his work.
The shadows covering Dorian seemed to swirl about him, and Tavi grunted. “Don’t fight me you idiot, get back in there!”
Lucus wasn’t sure if this was working or not until quite suddenly Dorian’s hands reached up and grabbed his arms. Then the man let out a blood curdling scream.
***
When I took Dorian’s spirit out of my soul-space I was careful to push it towards his body, specifically his head, but I’d taken the precaution of covering his entire body in Hands of Night just in case. Dorian’s spirit was stronger than the Unraveller I’d released earlier, and I felt him latch onto my spirit, probably in abject confusion. I allowed him to do so but continued to gently push him into his own body. He didn’t seem to want to go.
After a few long moments of this I tried moving my consciousness over to where I felt his attached to me, much like I’d been doing when moving between Tavi’s body and my own soul gem. I could feel him there, and I hoped he could feel me too.
“Don’t fight me you idiot, get back in there!” I told him, trying to convey my meaning along with the words. Trying to show him the way.
I felt his recognition of me, and I felt him reach out in the direction I was indicating which wasn’t just a direction but also a feeling. A feeling of what it was to be Dorian. He knew that feeling better than I did, but I helped him with my memory of him, and my experience moving my soul around.
I held his metaphysical hand while he reached out into the void and found something else to latch onto. Then he was gone from my perception, and for a moment I thought I’d lost him to whatever comes after death.
Then the screaming started, and I grinned from ear to ear.
New Achievement! “The Song of Orpheus”
I completely turned off Embrace of Shadows for the first time in hours. Dawn’s little light immediately banished the shadows to the far corners of the room. Dorian blinked up at us, screams suddenly cut off as he realized it was Lucus pressing down on him, not the weight of wormlike monstrosities.
Then he turned very green, leaned forward, and threw up on the floor several times. I pulled out a water skin and held it out for him, while Lucus created a small hole in the floor for the mess to drain out of.
Instead of drinking, Dorian started nearly clawing at his chest and throat. “It’s inside me, I felt it go inside me!” His eyes were panicked, and I grabbed his hands to stop him.
“It’s fine, I got it out before we brought you back, it’s not inside you, it’s dead,” I told him. The words took a moment to register with him, but then he visibly calmed and accepted the waterskin from me, washing out his mouth before taking a real drink.
“How am I alive?” Dorian asked, eyes still filled with some horror but also dawning awe.
“A gods damned miracle as far as I can tell,” Arven said, looking at me. “He looks a little different, why is that?”
“No idea,” I told him. “Remember I didn’t even know if this would work.”
Dorian frowned and apparently opened his character sheet. He was in fact different looking ever since I’d dismissed my shadows. He was simultaneously darker and less colorful. His dark skin remained dark, but somehow had a slightly pale cast to it, and his eyes had deepened from a brilliant green to a dark green like a forest at night.
“I have a subspecies now?” Dorian said, confused. “I didn’t think humans got subspecies.”
Lucus chimed in. “We can, just not through skill evolutions. You either have to be born with one or get it through some sort of harrowing life experience. I was born a Scion, but I suspect yours is from what just happened to you. What did you get?”
“It’s called Returned.” His eyes flicked about. “I’ve also got some achievements… I… I got the Immortal title!”
“You might not want to bandy that one about,” I told him. “Read the fine print on it.”
I watched him do so, and saw the moment when it sunk in. “Oh. I see.”
Dorian ran a hand through his hair. “I also seem to have discovered a new class, Dirge. Some of my skills seem to be missing though… Wait, no, they are still in my unlocked list, but somehow lost progression.”
After some time, we were able to figure out that Dorian had lost a seemingly random quantity of progression points from various skills with no particular logic to it. I speculated that it might have something to do with the deterioration of his spirit while his body was separated from it, and Dawn seemed to think it was as good a guess as any.
Dorian was not particularly broken up about it, given all the things he’d gotten in return. As it turned out, his new subspecies made him count as undead, but not fully so. He had a number of new penalties he could pay off, and it looked like doing so would both help him feel more human and more fully take advantage of his undead nature if he so wished. Where undead were immune to things like poisons and diseases, Dorian was merely resistant for now.
Dorian’s new class was also truly new. I sat down with him to discuss the various founder benefits. He was waffling between the global announcement option and the guild membership option, as either would likely make him rich and famous the moment he got out of here. I felt like I had to at least pitch the idea of dedicating it to Valera since I was her champion and all, but I wasn’t expecting much.
“Hear me out. That class sounds kinda grim as is,” I told him. “If you dedicate it to Valera, I suspect she’ll change it to be more about journeys or change. She’s all about learning and growing, right? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life singing about depressing things?”
That gave him more pause than I was expecting. “You have a point there, but really, Valera? Why not Astraea or one of the others? Not Reign obviously, he’d just make it worse, but Althi is the god of cycles, and that includes the cycle of life and death. It would be fitting.”
I just shrugged. “I’m her champion apparently, and she’s done good by me. Without the skills she gave me you’d be super dead right now so it could be a way to say thanks to her. I doubt she’d mind if you dedicated it to Astraea either, but I imagine Astraea already has a musical order. I doubt Valera does. It could be a way to start something truly unique. You are immortal now; you should think of the long game.”
Dorian just looked at me. “Her champion you say? You know a week ago I would have told you Valera didn’t have a champion. She barely has a clergy.”
I winked at him. “A week ago, she didn’t have a champion. Dunno about the clergy thing, haven’t met any of them yet, but I’ll work on it.”
Dorian just leaned back against the wall. “After the last few hours, you have no idea just how terrifying a statement that is. I’ve never felt the need to dedicate myself to any particular god or goddess, but if a goblin thief can pull off what you have under her guidance, I suspect people have long underestimated the lady of the endless road.”
Dorian thumped his fist against the ground. “Pits! Very well, fame and fortune can wait a while yet. Let’s see what the Goddess of the Path holds in store for me.”
> Global System Alert
>
> New Divine Class Available
>
> Rejoice, followers of Valera! Your goddess now offers you the chance to become Loresingers! The Loresingers of Valera are charged with uncovering and recounting the legends of those who have fallen along the path, so that others might take up their journey. Seek out the clergy of Valera if you would like to become a Loresinger, and seek out a Loresinger if you would like to learn the lessons of fallen heroes of ages past.
I blinked and dismissed the alert. “I guess you got your global announcement after all.”
You have received 1x “Lesser Blessing of Valera”
I cocked my head looking at Dorian. “Why are you glowing?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” he told me.
Dawn called over from across the room. “It’s because you’re both blessed by the same deity, dears. Tavi’s been glowing for me since we first met since she’s also blessed by my god. You also likely both count as members of her clergy, being a chosen and a founder of a class dedicated to her.”
“Oh, so that’s what it looks like,” I said. The glow wasn’t bright or anything, I could look at Dorian easily, it was kind of like the depiction of a halo in some religious art I’d seen back on Earth. “So, what did you get? Anything cool?”
Dorian took a few minutes to read things over, eyebrows climbing as he did so. “These are amazing… I’ve definitely made the right choice. My primary skill allows me to examine the bodies of the fallen, or even their possessions in some cases, and learn things about their lives. That can include unlocking skills they knew in life. Another skill allows me to use any skill I have unlocked temporarily, ignoring prerequisites. I also have a skill that will let me turn any skill I have unlocked into a spellsong, allowing others to use that skill temporarily. That last one is a crafting skill and requires some preparation but affects my entire party.”
I gave Dorian my best shark grin. “Oh boy do I have some stuff for you.”
I spent the next several minutes teaching him a bunch of my own skills. I left out some, such as Devil in the Details and my Dual Nature skill that didn’t feel right to teach, and others I wasn’t sure I wanted being generally known or which didn’t feel like they’d be helpful for the way his class worked. However, I did teach him Unrestrained, as well as my Heroic Might skill - I thought those last two would make excellent tools for his arsenal.
In return Dorian taught me the skills he’d gotten allowing him to unlock old skills and temporarily use skills off his unlock list. I had no real interest in the party version of it - I had a horrible singing voice. More than that, there was a significant cost to using it and way too many prerequisites.
The base skill was called Compose Spellsong, and it was a conceptual crafting skill just like Soul Forge. Unlike Soul Forge though, it didn’t create real items, instead it created songs that anyone capable of using Spellsongs could make use of. Both of those skills belonged to the base Bard class, and most of Dorian’s abilities were actually various Spellsongs he had composed or learned.
The new skill Dorian had just unlocked was an evolution of Compose Spellsong called Compose Skillsong. It allowed him to create a spellsong out of any skill he had unlocked. Both composition skills required progression points to both create and learn a song, though it looked like creating a song would allow you to learn it for free at the same time.
This was interesting for a number of reasons, least of which was the notion that spells and spellsongs were essentially a type of craftable skill. They seemed to have some extra requirements on top of them beyond normal skills. Spellsongs required Dorian to actually perform them, and their effectiveness was based on how well he performed them.
This wasn’t going to be useful to me any time soon. Not only did I lack the skill required to use spellsongs, but Dorian also had several skills dedicated to improving his ability to use them. His Chanter class had been dedicated to using spellsongs without instrumental accompaniment, so even if I did pick that skill up, I’d be unable to effectively use it.
On the other hand, the personal version had no such limitations.
> Mythcaller
>
> Active Skill (Tier 5)
>
> Prerequisites: [ Valerian Loresinger (Level 1) ] or [ Chosen of the Gods (Valera) ]
>
> Rank: 0 / 3
>
> PP: 0 / 10
>
> Activation Cost: Stamina (High)
>
> Activation Type: Sustained
>
> Cooldown: 10 minutes
>
> Call forth the memories of ancient tales and reenact their greatest feats. When you activate this skill, choose any one skill you have unlocked. While you sustain this skill you may use the chosen skill as if you knew it at the rank of this skill (up to the chosen skill’s maximum rank).
>
> Skills of a higher tier than Mythcaller require twice their normal expenditure of resources to activate, maintain, sustain, or control. Any effects of the chosen skill are lost when you cease to sustain Mythcaller, though any costs incurred remain.
> Death Speaker
>
> Passive Skill (Tier 4)
>
> Prerequisites: Valerian Loresinger (Level 1)
>
> Rank: 0 / 6
>
> PP: 0 / 8
>
> Commune with memories of the fallen and remember their tales. When you successfully examine a dead creature, or an object closely related to them, you may experience a vision of their past that left a lasting impression on the very spirit of the world. In the process, you may learn various truths about them, including unlocking skills they knew in life with a tier less than or equal to the rank of this skill.
I got a surprise with Mythcaller, as the alternative prerequisite for Chosen of the Gods didn’t show up for Dorian. When I looked at it on my unlock screen however, I found that I already qualified for it despite it coming from a different class.
I happily purchased it as a Trailblazer skill, suspecting that Valera had intended for me to end up with this one all along. This gave me a good stamina based sustain skill that didn’t rely on an external resource like Devour Essence did. I’d still need to use Devour to acquire new skills, but I wouldn’t need to keep a stock of spirits around to provide access to them.
That was particularly good, as I’d discovered a new use for spirits when reading my new book. I hadn’t finished reading it yet, but I’d already learned several very interesting things. The book was a first edition, literally handwritten by its author, none other than The Adversary himself.
I had known that Soul Forging was practiced by the gods - I’d gone through it myself. I hadn’t known that The Adversary was apparently one of its most accomplished practitioners and possibly even its inventor.
The book’s introduction laid out the fundamentals of Soul Forging, while its other chapters delved into individual topics. Calling it a skill book was a grave insult in my opinion, it was more like a comprehensive treatise on the subject that happened to teach you skills just from the knowledge it imparted. In fact, it had no actual skills listed in it, and appeared to have been written before the concept of skills even existed.
So far, I’d only picked up a single skill from reading it, but in the process, I’d learned that Soul Forge was not the first skill I should have picked up to be an effective crafter. Instead, I should have first learned how to refine spirits into a usable material to aid in my crafting efforts, something the book quickly corrected.
> Refine Spirit
>
> Active Skill (Tier 5)
>
> Prerequisites: Valerian (Any), Skill (Soul Forge)
>
> Source: Valerian
>
> Rank: 1 / 5
>
> PP: 0 / 10
>
> Activation Cost: Mana (Medium) & Stamina (Medium)
>
> Activation Type: Channeled (27 seconds)
>
> Cooldown: N/A
>
> You can take the raw stuff of the spirit and refine and purify it into a usable material. This skill refines 5 tier 1 spirits into a single tier 1 spirit crystal. Higher tier spirits count as an additional spirit per-tier of the spirit converted.
>
> You may also use this skill to refine 5 spirit crystals of the same tier into one spirit crystal of the next highest tier. Spirit crystals may be used instead of progression points when using Soul Forge, and higher tier spirit crystals may also increase the quality of the crafting.
>
> Ranks in this skill reduce the channeling time by three seconds each, and increase its mana and stamina efficiency.
>
> A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
There was a lot to unpack here. The main takeaway was that I now had a way to use Soul Forge without spending progression points, or at least less of them. However, there were some very interesting properties of this skill that I’d had to spend some time thinking about.
I’d gotten the discovery bonus for this skill, despite essentially reading a skill book for it. Shouldn’t that mean it couldn’t be a new discovery? It had also automatically assigned itself to my Valarian species skill list, without giving me any other choice. I had noticed that species skills seemed to work a bit differently than class skills, but this was the first time I’d gotten a species skill from an external source.
The book itself was agnostic on where one might acquire raw spirit to forge into spirit crystals but did note that it could be accomplished using demonology. Fortunately, I had a reliable way of accomplishing it myself. The Souleater title would allow me to farm for spirits simply by killing things.
I currently had well over two thousand spirits of Unmakers and Unravellers in my soul-space. As soon as I’d learned the Refine Spirit skill, I’d gotten to work starting to convert them into spirit crystals. It was not a quick process, mostly limited by my mana, but I’d managed to scrounge up a dozen crystals so far.
I returned my attention to Dorian after getting myself situated. The man was reviewing his new titles and achievements and occasionally talking excitedly with others. Arven, I noticed was actually smiling, a rare sight, even if he still managed to look worn out.
“Here, take this,” I told Dorian, holding out my hand.
Dorian took what I was offering and looked at it with some interest, but no sign of recognition. Dawn on the other hand had bug-eyes and stopped mid-sentence, interrupted by a fit of coughing. Lucus slapped her on the back trying to help, but nearly knocked her over instead.
“What’s this?” Dorian asked me. “It looks pretty.”
Dawn recovered enough to gasp out. “It’s a Crucible damned scarab token!”
She tore her eyes away from it long enough to look at me. “There are people that would flay you alive just to find out if you had more of those, and you’re just giving it to him?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I want him to head to the Exchange and buy some progression points.”
Dawn blinked at me several times. Dorian looked very uncertain. “Tavi, are you sure I should have this?” he asked nervously.
“Yeah, it’s fine, you won't have it long. Just activate it, select ‘The Fair Deal’ then find the Vial of Experience and buy it. When you have it, drink it immediately. Then come back via your main menu. Don’t walk out the front door, whatever you do,” I told him.
“What is a Vial of Experience?” Arven asked.
“It’s a consumable that gives you a hundred universal progression points,” I told him.
Arven did a double take on me. “It’s a what?”
Dawn seemed to recover from her shock. “That token is one of my god’s divine currency. It’s given only to those who please him or perform great services for them. Each one of them is worth a fortune.”
Everyone turned to look at me. I just shrugged. “I did mention he liked me, right? I got these from his bug bounty program.”
Dawn mouthed the words silently, trying to figure them out. “I don’t understand Tavi, what is this program you speak of?”
“Maybe you call it something else? It’s where you get rewarded for reporting flaws and exploits in System.”
Dawn thought for a moment and said, “Are you speaking of the Trial of the Gods?”
I shrugged. “Dunno, he called it his bug bounty program.”
Lucus nodded slowly. “I’ve heard of this. As a child I used to daydream about passing the trial. I never did, of course.”
Savas looked exasperated. “That’s great, but what is it? I feel like I’ve heard it mentioned before but I’ve never been very religious.”
Dawn clarified. “The Trial of the Gods is The Lord Adversary’s challenge laid down before the other gods, to prove the worth of their divine creations. Any mortal that finds a flaw in the Divine System or its creations is to be rewarded for their cleverness and honesty - rather than punished as might otherwise be the case - for how could the gods allow their divine tools to be imperfect? Much as he tests us mortals, The Lord Adversary asks that we test the gods in turn, that we might all achieve perfection through adversity.”
Dorian looked down at the scarab in his hand. “I know of the trial of course, but I’ve never heard of these tokens. They signify that one has passed the trial?”
Dawn shook her head. “It can be gained in other ways as well. There’s a chance I’ll be awarded one when I get out of here thanks to my service in summoning the agent of The Lord Adversary to this world. It depends a bit on how successful she is.”
“What did you discover that was worthy of being deemed a flaw in the System?” Arven asked me.
I dipped my ears noncommittally. “I can’t talk about all of it… one thing was loot boxes. If you got a loot box and had some sort of inventory system like I do, or apparently even just the ability to teleport objects, you could take all three items instead of just one.”
“I reported that one and System told me the logs showed it had been being abused for a long time, decades maybe, so now a bunch of people are in trouble for using an exploit without reporting it. That one got me this title too.” I swapped my titles around so that Quality Assurance Specialist was one of my primary titles.
Dawn’s eyes widened again. “Well, she’s definitely telling the truth. That title is recorded in my church's doctrine as one that can only be gained by passing the trial... Tavi, are you aware that title conveys upon you all the respect and authority of a member of our clergy at my own level? Display it anywhere that venerates The Lord Adversary and you will find aid and comfort, as well as more than a little fear.”
“That’s good to know, but not likely to be useful while we’re stuck in here,” I told her.
I turned to Dorian. “Go ahead and use that thing, you lost some of your progression points when we brought you back, and you have a whole new class to work with. I want you to get up to speed as quickly as possible. I mean for us to beat this dungeon and hopefully save some lives by doing so. I doubt everyone who’s in here right now has the supplies to make it until the reset even if they survived the start of the event.”
Dorian nodded and sucked in a breath, then he disappeared. He was gone for a few seconds, then reappeared looking somewhat frazzled. “That was fast.” Lucus said, surprised. On the other hand, I was very interested to learn that there was any time gap at all. I’d expected him to flicker at most. Crucible being outside the normal timeline was clearly not the full extent of what was going on here.
“There was a devil,” he said, looking between me and Dawn, somewhat shaken. “I spoke to a devil.”
“Rhel? Yeah, she’s cool. Did you get the vial?” I asked.
He nodded. “I drank it like you said. I have so many points to distribute now… Why didn't you warn me there would be a devil?” he asked plaintively.
Dawn looked back and forth between us, then made an “oh” face. “Dorian, did you fuck a succubus?”
That took me aback. Rhel was so disinterested in everything I did that it never would have even occurred to me as a possibility. I’d been assuming the whole succubus sex demon thing was a myth, but maybe she just wasn’t into girls.
Dorian hung his head in shame. “I just got my soul back, and now it’s gone!” he lamented.
Dawn rolled her eyes at him. “That is not how it works; you’ll be fine unless you were stupid enough to sign some sort of contract. My grandmother was a succubus, they don’t steal souls, they just tempt people into contracts. Even then it's only the field agents that do that.”
“Truly?” Dorian asked. “Thank the gods.” he collapsed back against a wall in relief.
“How did you even…” I trailed off. “You know what, never mind. I just realized I don’t actually want to know.”
The man was a bard, I should have expected it of him, particularly after a near death experience. “Just get your points assigned. I’m going to review some of the achievements and such I picked up while I was running around out there.”
“How is it that you and Dorian are getting so many achievements? Is it some benefit of being a follower of Valera?” Savas asked, curiously.
I just shrugged. “Not really, it's more about taking risks and doing things no one has before. Valera helps with that some, for sure, but if you want to get achievements and such you can’t really stick to established paths. Most of my achievements are for doing things that were either brand new, really risky, or really hard. Dorian obviously had to die before he got started on his path.”
He shook his head sadly. “I can’t afford to do that. I have a family.”
“Aren’t you trying to become a Gambler? Isn’t that all about risks?” Lucus asked him.
“Sure, but like, part of Gambler is helping you see how risky something is. I’m kind of terrible at that, so I thought I’d become a Gambler so I could avoid things that were too risky,” Savas told him.
“That’s actually kinda brilliant,” I told him. “When you get out of here, you should take that class and all the money we make in here, and immediately use it to become an investor. I bet it would work really well.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “What’s an investor?”
“Basically, you go to merchants and people offering services that want to grow their businesses. You tell them you’ll give them money to do that and fund their expansion, but in return you get a cut of their business profits from then on.”
I kept the explanation simple. “The idea is that you look for successful businesses that just need some money to get bigger, then make a low risk bet on their future success. You do that a bunch and maybe some fail, but most don’t, and it gives you and your family constant income for as long as the business is around.”
I could see wheels turning in Savas’ head as he processed what I’d told him. “You’re talking about patronage… kind of. Instead of favors and stuff though, it's just gold. Not that different from gambling, but you aren’t really betting against anyone.”
“Sounds a bit like money lending to me,” Lucus said.
“Similar concept, but usually less adversarial since the investor has an interest in the business doing well. You’re not looking to make a quick payday off someone who’s struggling, you’re trying to help someone who’s doing well do even better, and your returns are based on how well they do rather than some percentage of what you initially gave them.”
I wasn’t sure if bringing the concept of investment banking to this world was the best idea I’d ever had, but decided that it was probably just a matter of time anyway. If the locals didn’t pick up on it other Travelers would. I’d known people back on earth that played these kinds of games for no other reason than to dominate the in-game economy. If it wasn’t happening yet, it would soon.
I was now in a weird position of both being a Traveler and feeling like a native. It made me want to give the locals any help I could against what I knew was coming. Still, I didn’t want this place to become a second Earth. Framing this concept as more of a mutual support system than what it had become on Earth might help some. I decided to push a bit more on that just in case.
“If I were you, I’d avoid associating it with Reign at all costs. If you do that, people won’t be able to see it as anything other than money lending for personal power. They won’t trust your motives, and you’ll only be able to attract people who are desperate. If you manage to unlock a new class for it or can otherwise associate it with Astraea you should jump at that. Her reputation and goals should make it clear to everyone that you’re looking to help people realize their dreams while still making some gold for yourself and your family.”
I left him to think about that, pulling out my bedroll and laying it out in a corner of the room. I had no idea what time it was, but it felt like it was getting late. Either way I wanted somewhere to sit and think.
The idea of investing had been on my mind a lot lately. From the very beginning I’d been planning to build up a faction or guild of my own by using my ability to discover classes and skills to draw people to me. Then I’d thought that this was a game, and now my perspective had changed in more than one way. My feelings on the subject had become complicated, but the idea of recruiting and empowering loyal allies appealed to me even more now than it had before.
Not only were the stakes higher, but something in what had been Tavi’s personality resonated with the idea in a way I couldn’t fully understand yet. Even being aware of it didn’t help, it was fundamental to her, but at the same time she hadn’t even been aware of it and I lacked the context and experience to fully comprehend it. It wasn’t a compulsion, more like an instinct.
I hadn’t originally been planning to give Dorian a scarab, bringing the guy back to life surely was enough. However, when he’d chosen to dedicate his class to Valera he’d solidified himself in my mind as a long term ally. Even if we went our own way after we got out of here, we were effectively going to be on the same team from now on. Plus, I liked the guy, and not just because he was hot.
I opened up my notifications and reviewed my new achievements. The last of these I’d gotten while spider climbing my way to this guard post, but for no discernible reason.
> New Achievement!
>
> Yoink
>
> You have stolen a piece of equipment from an elite enemy in combat, while they were using it. That wasn’t very nice of you, was it?
>
> Rewards:
> 10pp (Shadow Thief)
> New Achievement!
>
> Firebug
>
> Whether it was for insurance fraud, revenge, or just good clean fun, you’ve engaged in the time-honored pastime of arson by burning down a building!
>
> Reward:
> Crime doesn’t pay.
> Fine, have a new title… Title Unlocked (“Arsonist”)
> New Achievement!
>
> The Song of Orpheus
>
> The sanctity of death and the cycle of life is one of the oldest natural laws, yet there have always been exceptions. Great acts, noble deeds, sacrifice, and clever trickery. Long have the gods honored these exceptions… but there is always a price.
>
> Strangely you seem to have discovered a brand-new way to cheat death: The technicality. Still, all the classics were new once, and the price has been paid. Hopefully it was worth it.
>
> Note: By tradition, this exception is honored only once for either party involved. Don’t make a habit of it… or else.
>
> Rewards:
> Title Unlocked (“Keeper of Souls”)
> +10pp (Universal)
> The gods have decided not to curse you and proclaim an anathema against you.
> New Achievement!
>
> Long Live the Revolution!
>
> Your love of arson has found a new calling: Political activism! You have burned down at least one third of a city, including at least one major government building. A little looting is to be expected as the ruling class is cast down, it’s all for the greater good after all!
>
> Rewards:
> Title Unlocked (“Anarchist”)
> Title Unlocked (“Revolutionary”)
> +10pp (Universal)
It seemed that the gods weren’t going to let me get away with killing my own allies in order to resurrect them more than once. That was fine. It seemed like the sort of thing that I wouldn’t want to rely on anyway, and I could see plenty of reasons why making death final was a good idea generally. If I needed to do it again, I’d just have to accept the consequences.
It was also very amusing to me that this dungeon counted as a city. Too bad so much of it was made of stone, or I might be able to get credit for razing it. I constantly felt like my achievements were almost bipolar, giving backhanded compliments and questioning my motives, all while congratulating me and handing out rewards. Was writing these just how System amused himself in his spare time? I guess I could ask him, he owed me some information after all.
Now that I’d unlocked all the rewards, I looked at the titles to see if I’d gotten anything useful. I was hoping to have some to break down for more slots as I really wanted to keep Quality Assurance Specialist equipped now that I knew how useful it might be for finding loot.
> Arsonist
>
> Title (Tier 1)
>
> Amber is the color of your energy, and its temperature is roughly 1100 degrees Celsius. While this title is equipped you have a 10% bonus to fire resistance.
> Keeper of Souls
>
> Title (Tier 6)
>
> You have managed to guide a soul safely back from death to rejoin the world of the living, in defiance of gods and nature. Your brush with death has given you a new perspective on life. While this title is equipped you know the Spirit Sight skill at rank 1.
> Anarchist
>
> Title (Tier 4)
>
> You’ll burn it all down, but you’ll start from the top. You are the enemy of authority, and that includes anyone who thinks they can give you an order. While this title is equipped, you have 100% extra resistance against all compulsion effects. Additionally, if this title is equipped in a primary title slot you gain immunity from all compulsion effects.
>
> Special: This title cannot be equipped at the same time as Revolutionary.
> Revolutionary
>
> Title (Tier 4)
>
> People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people, and you aim to prove it. While this title is equipped you have a +50% bonus to all defenses against attacks and effects generated by a government or military official. Additionally, if you have this title equipped in a primary title slot, government and military officials have a -50% penalty applied to all their defenses against any attacks or effects you generate.
>
> Special: This title cannot be equipped at the same time as Anarchist.
Some of those were pretty interesting, but I was very curious to find out what Spirit Sight was first.
> Spirit Sight
>
> Active Skill (Tier 7)
>
> Prerequisites: Title (Keeper of Souls)
>
> Rank: 0 / 3
>
> PP: 0 / 14
>
> Activation Cost: Mana (Medium) & Stamina (Medium)
>
> Activation Type: Sustained
>
> Cooldown: N/A
>
> You can pierce the veil between the physical world and the world of spirits. At first rank you can see the spiritual representations of anything that possesses a spirit. At second rank you can see the conceptual connections between spirits. At third rank, you can not only see, but directly interact with spiritual and conceptual entities.
I went ahead and swapped in that title to give it a try. It was expensive as hell to use but sounded very interesting. I also found it interesting that not only did the title grant me a rank in the skill for free, but it also served as the prerequisite for learning the skill. That meant that if I wanted to, I should be able to learn it and then break the title.
I turned on the skill, then looked around at my friends, each of them was preparing a bedroll or otherwise getting ready to settle down for what passed for a night around here. Everyone was now glowing slightly, and I could see a ghostly image overlaid on top of them.
The first thing I noticed was Dorian. His spiritual representation looked tattered and torn, with ghostly wisps trailing off into nothingness. There were marks on his spirit that looked like bite marks, but even as I watched some of them began to heal over as bright new spirit-stuff replaced them.
I was seeing the damage the Unravellers and Unmakers had done to him, it seemed they had been eating his spirit as much as his flesh. That probably explained his loss of skills as much as his death. He was currently assigning progression points, which must somehow be strengthening and healing his spirit. I looked over at Arven next, wanting to compare his healthy spirit to Dorian’s, only to jump in surprise as I saw that Arven’s spirit was in no way healthy.
Arven’s spiritual representation was wrapped in chains and manacled hand and foot. The chains were black and looked wrong to my new senses, and the man himself looked haggard and drained. A black sword had been attached to the chains, and it was rammed through his back, the point sticking out of his chest.
I quickly scanned over the others looking for more oddities, but they were all normal looking. I noticed that Lucus' spirit seemed to flow effortlessly into the rock around him, but that made sense. Dawn was just Dawn, her spiritual image almost perfectly matching her physical one. Savas had a surprisingly strong spirit that looked like himself, but more confident and idealized.
Finally, it occurred to me to try and see what I looked like. I used my character sheet as a mirror once again. As it turned out, my spirit was the most bizarre of the lot of us. My forehead looked as though it should be giving off enough light to be blinding. My soul gem was either a container for massive spiritual power, or a source of it itself. Possibly both.
I could also see what had once been Tavi’s spirit. It looked like her, though it also looked as though it had been shattered and put back together, the cracks now filled with that same blinding light from my brow. Similar to Lucus, my spirit seemed to leak into the air around me, and I realized that this was my Hands of Night skill, projecting my spirit into the shadows around me.
Experimentally I turned back on Embrace of Shadows and watched as my spiritual representation blurred into the mass of shadow-stuff I called to me. Even once I’d gathered it around me again into a cloak, the edges were still indistinct. All except the soul stone, which was still visible in the haze, a bright star in the blackest night.
I would need to remember this. If I encountered an enemy with the ability to see my spirit, I might not be able to hide from them. Not currently at least. There was always a chance that I could only see this because I could see through my own shadows, but I had no way to be sure.
My own spirit was interesting, but Arven’s had me worried. We had all spread out around the edges of the room, and so I walked over to Arven’s corner and sat down next to him. “Tavi?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
“I just got an ability that lets me see people’s spirits. Are you aware your spirit is wrapped in chains and impaled on a sword through your back?” I asked him, bluntly.
He raised an eyebrow at me. “So that’s what it looks like? No, I wasn’t aware, but I did know I was cursed. There’s nothing to be done about it, but it’s not killing me.”
“What is it doing to you?” I asked him, looking closely at one of his shackles. I tried touching it, but my finger passed right through and poked his wrist.
“It limits me in various ways. My effective level is capped at 60, and my stats have been cut in half. I can’t use more than rank 3 in any skill, and I can’t use any skill with a tier above 3. I can’t learn any new skills or acquire progression points. It’s frustrating but I’ve learned to live with it.” He sighed.
“Would you mind if I poked at it a bit?”
“Suit yourself, if you can get it off me, I’d love to have it gone. I doubt you’ll be able to do anything though. It was placed on me by the Duke’s court wizard, and he’s quite strong.”
Using Embrace of Shadows to give myself plenty of spiritual mass to work with, I just started feeling out the curse with Hands of Night. The thing I was immediately curious about was if I could pick the locks on the shackles. After some poking around I realized that, despite the appearance of having locks, they weren’t actually functional.
That said, it gave me some ideas.
“Hey Dorian, have you made any of those spellsongs yet?” I called over to him.
He shook his head. “Art takes time and inspiration. I haven’t decided what to make yet, I was considering going big with that Heroic Might skill of yours first.”
“Do me a favor, make one for Unrestrained first. I think it might help Arven here with an issue he's having. If you need inspiration, that skill’s how I got you out of the river earlier. They couldn’t hold me, so I was able to just walk in and back out. Oh, and also, I stole that skill from a god.”
Dorian grinned at me. “Of course! I’m happy to indulge a patron of my arts.” Then he gave me a seated semi-mocking bow.
I bobbed my ears at him sarcastically, then pushed myself back to my feet. “I can’t help you right now.” I told Arven. “Let's try again when Dorian finishes that song. In the meantime, start doing a mental exercise for me. I want you to think of your curse as a restraint. Imagine the chains and shackles like I described them. Feel yourself being held back by it and keep that image in your head as much as possible. The more you can internalize it the better.”
“That won’t be difficult,” Arven told me. Then he turned to everyone else. “Let’s get some rest. If you don’t have something to do, go to sleep now. Watches are probably unnecessary with how tightly Lucus sealed this place up, but with the event ongoing I don’t know what to expect, so we’ll do them anyway. Dorian, you're on first watch since I know you have work to keep you busy. We’ll go clockwise from there.”
I turned Spirit Sight back off and put my titles back like they were. I decided to get access to Scan via Mythcaller for the time being and equipped my Immortal title instead. I wasn’t willing to ditch any of my current titles except possibly Arsonist, but I wanted to keep that one for a while due to the huge burning sword in my inventory.
Before I settled in for the night, I drained my mana making spirit crystals, then had one last look at my stats.
> Founder Tavi / Infinity, The Adventurer
>
> Level 43 Shadow Thief (Immortal, Rule Breaker, Souleater)
>
> Species: Goblin (Level 14) / Valerian (Level 9)
>
> Class: Shadow Thief (Level 7) / Trailblazer (Level 7)
>
> Inactive Classes: Thief (Level 6)
>
> Resources
>
> Health: 100 / 100
>
> Mana: 1 / 94 (6% Reserved)
>
> Stamina: 22 / 75 (25% Reserved)
>
> Defenses
>
> Armor: 15
>
> Resistance: 18
>
> Dodge: 29
>
> Attributes
>
> Strength: 23
>
> Agility: 19
>
> Dexterity: 19
>
> Fortitude: 12
>
> Toughness: 12
>
> Intelligence: 15
>
> Wisdom: 15
>
> Charisma: 12
>
> Willpower: 26
>
> Perception: 18
>
> Luck: 15
>
> Progression Points
>
> Universal: 100
>
> Valerian: 29
>
> Goblin: 0
>
> Trailblazer: 4
>
> Shadow Thief: 22
>
> Thief: 0
I was going to look into spending some of those points during my watch, but for now I’d had a long day, and it was time to rest.