Splintered mind
That morning she awoke from her slumber once again, relieved at the noticeable absence of a certain stomach pain. Though it'd be nice if it wasn't replaced with a headache. She thought to herself with a sigh, before standing up and straightening her clothes, if they counted as that, she wasn't so sure of it.
She absent mindedly grabbed a slab of meat, and stuck her bone skewer through it, like she had done so many times before.
"That meat is poisonous is it not?" a smooth voice said in her mind, shock sending the drowsiness right out of her.
She quickly looked around her to look for the source of the voice, before she, to her horror, realised the voice came from her own head.
"Who the fuck are you, and why are you in my head?" she asked, [anger]'s strength coursing through her veins.
"I notice you did not answer my question child." It said in her head. "Nonetheless, I will give you the courtesy of knowing my own name, that being Nib'thulum, as to why I am in your head I do not know myself. If I am honest I was hoping you would know why" it continued in her head, much to her annoyance.
"I'm pretty sure I know even less than you do right now Nib'thulum, would you care to enlighten this child?" She sneered towards it.
A sigh echoed in her mind, which she didn't even know was possible she might add, before it spoke out again. "Is there any need for the attitude? I do not recall slighting you since our meeting." It told her, much to her anger.
"You don't remember slighting me? How about the part where you're literally in my damn head!" She yelled out, startling herself with how loud she had been, she hadn't noticed how angry she had gotten.
"I am not sure how-" it tried to continue.
"No" she cut the creature of, "you're telling me how in the hells you got into my mind, and how I get you out of there" she spat out, her anger still inflated by her skill.
"Those are questions I do have answers to" it started "Through some way unknown to me, you have obtained an ability unique to the Ghyst physique, or at least a derivative of it. Through this you have pulled my mind back from the void and places it within your own as a Splinter." It told her, more straightforward than she expected.
For now she let it continue, since it was being surprisingly cooperative. "As for removing me, I believe simply destroying the splinter will do, although I would recommend against that" It added casually, treating the subject of how to kill it like a mere triviality.
Okay I didn't expect it to be so forthcoming, especially about me essentially asking how to kill it. She thought to herself, before asking "I'll admit I didn't expect that, but why would you recommend against it, or tell me at all for that matter?" confusion bleeding through her voice.
"I pose no danger to you, as I am bound by the terms of your skill, and I believe I can be quite useful to you, as it would be difficult to produce a Splinter of my quality" It answered, before continuing to speak. "as for why I told you that is quite simple, a Splinter may not disobey an order from the Host"
She opened her mouth to angrily tell it to screw off, before realising it was sincere in it's words, it wasn't some kind of instinct or though, it just was. In the first place why was she this angry at it? She should have been angry, but not furious, Nib'thulum hadn't done anything to hurt her so, hells it had been helping her!
It didn't take her long to find the source of the problem: [anger]. Fuck she thought. I didn't think it affected me to this degree.
She put the problem away for later, deciding to deal with Nib'thulum first.
"Fine, what exactly can a splinter such as yourself do then?" she asked it, this time in a much more reasonable tone.
"A guest-Splinter is there to observe, guide and instruct for the most part, though if the guest-Splinter agrees it may also take tasks from origin and captive splinters." It replied, with a hint of relief to its voice. So it had been scared, I just didn't notice through the [anger]...
"You say guest-Splinter, that implies there are multiple kinds of splinters right?" I asked it
"That is correct, there are guest-Splinters, Splinters gifted to you. Captive-Splinters, which are splinters of fallen foes, often used to receive the burdens on mental skills, or used as mental shields. And origin-Splinters, Splinters created from your own mind, mirroring your own, but capable of branching off, often used to allow a Host the use of multiple skills or thought processes at once." It kindly explained, a faint trace of something like worship crossing it's voice, oddly enough. She decided she never noticed that part.
"Well frankly I'm new to using it and you seem to to be far more knowledgeable about it than me, what would you recommend I do with it?" She asked the creature politely, well, politely for her.
"I would request to see your skills and attributes first, before I can make any claims as to what would be most effective to work on." It told me apologetically.
Well I wasn't above granting a request like that, I doubted it'd bring any harm now. She thought to herself as she made her way over to her sigil, as she started explaining her skills one by one.
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After explaining her skills Nib'thulum decided to go into hibernation to think for a while, or 'Folded' as it insisted it was called. Without anything else to do she just started on processing a few Charger cores through her [primal alchemy] skills. It was a novel experience, not knowing what to do after all the desperation that had been the last few weeks.
She had settled well in her new environment, she had a steady supply of food, if not a little indiverse, magical water (which didn't even hurt her anymore!) enough strength to not worry about the local wildlife and enough beast cores to slowly grow stronger, she knew it was likely the best she would get were fairly large in her mind.
Yet she didn't feel comfortable with it, staying here felt... wrong to her. Yet wandering into other caverns was clearly a bad idea, her [beastly instincts] told her so, and the skill hadn't given her a reason to doubt it's judgement yet.
Even if she did go there, what was there to do anyways. She didn't have a goal, let alone plans, and the ones she did have she finished already. Well, not the naming part I guess. But naming herself just felt wrong to her in some inexplicable way. It felt similar to [beastly instincts] but not quite the same.
She needed to do something but she didn't know what! It was driving her insane if she was being honest with herself. The only thing remotely close to a goal was meeting her fellow humans, if she was still human anyways. But she didn't even know it was possible, lest which way to go for that.
With a groan she laid back on the stone floor that had been her home for the last few weeks. "Damned gods, what do I even do from here?" She said to nobody in particular, still not rid of her habit of speaking out loud.
Unfortunately she was alone no longer, not truly.
"I see you have been troubling yourself why I have been in Folding, child?" My head companion said.
"Are you sure you didn't come out just to taunt me, Nib'thulum? You came out with some pretty convenient timing" she jokingly said... well half joking.
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"I have no desire to taunt you, nor could I act one it should I wish to, for it is forbidden by the Terms. Not that any of it matters since all my senses are compromised when in Folding, as I told you before child." it said in slight confusion of her half joke.
"Nevermind, what's with the whole 'child' thing anyways? It's kind of condescending you know?" as soon as she said it she realised, it probably didn't know, it already showed a lack of social abilities anyways.
"I do not know" I knew it. "It is simply the correct designation, since you have not gone through the Bestowal yet, and indicated by your lack of a name. No offense was meant" It said, with a bit of guilt, much to her surprise, she decided to not press it further on that.
"Now shall we get into the matter you tasked upon me?" it said impatiently, not waiting for her reply before continuing.
"I have examined your construct in detail, which admittedly was more troublesome than I'd like to admit. But I have several theories on how to strengthen your abilities, usage you have not considered yet and most importantly: hypotheses to test." Nib'thulum said in a stern but patient voice, politely waiting for her to collect her thoughts. Still kind of creepy how he does that. She thought to herself, before continuing to listen.
"I shall put it bluntly, your very foundation is unstable, and what little is built upon it is already suffering for it" she raised her eyebrow at the statement. "I do not mean this as an insult, but simply that if we neglect your foundations your future progress will slow down far faster, and eventually into stagnation. I barely dare ask, but what do you know of foundational skills?" it continued.
"Admittedly I haven't heard of them before, but not counting the construct I don't exactly have a lot of chances to get information." she honestly replied.
"We shall need to rectify that then, else it will harm you in the long run. To put it simply, foundational skills are a specific kind of skill, although most mana constructs fail to label them, that serves as the core of a cluster of skills. These kinds of skills often trigger a wide range of harmonies with other skills, adapting them to themselves, granting you a singular powerful ability, instead of a bag of lesser ones." Nib'thulum explained.
"I have a few of those I think, [anger], [primal alchemist] and [poisonous breath] right?" she tried, they were the only ones with enhancement skills after all.
"Close, [poisonous breath] is your singular foundational skill at this moment, serving as the foundation of poison mana skills. Meanwhile [anger] may become a foundational skill should it undergo the right evolutions, likely serving as one for arcane or primal mana, preferably the latter as primal mana skills are difficult to obtain. Although making a berserker class skill your foundation is extremely dangerous, as it can easily break your mind without your notice." Warning taken, gods [anger] was enough of a hassle as is, I really don't want it to be an even larger issue. She noted.
"What about [primal alchemist] then?" She asked.
"Generally crafting class skills cannot serve as a foundational skill, as it can only synergise with other crafting skills, which would defeat the purpose of a foundational skill as long as you do not intend to be a crafter." It explained to her.
"How many foundational skills would I need then? Going off your tone one isn't enough" she asked.
"Ideally we would have one for each mana type, but that doesn't seem feasible in the short term. I believe four foundational skills may be sufficient, at the bare minimum." Nib'Thulum swiftly answered before continuing it's slightly condescending lecture. "But before that, since you reported having trouble using your sole foundational skill, I believe it to be wise to teach you the ways of [Splintermind] first" It said.
"Huh, why? I don't see how those two are related" she said. "Did I not explain that this very morning? You may designate skills for your origin-Splinter to use, allowing it to focus on wielding [poisonous breath] and it's enhancement skills for you, so you can have your concentration on the battle itself." It explained with a bit of disappointment in its voice.
"I guess that would work yeah, how does the whole [splintermind] thing work anyways? I never understood that much"
In her mind Nib'thulum conjured an image similar to those her construct made, despite the matching content the feel of it was different.
[splintermind] (inherited) (mind 41/58) (power 33)
[Splintermind] is a skill inherited from the Ghyst, allowing them to separate their mind into multiple mind constructs, allowing for great mental flexibility. Due to its inherited nature the skill cannot level up. Mind capacity has a base of fifty, which rises by two for every point of wisdom you possess, mind governs the capacity of a Splinter, and the amount you can have up at once. Power has a base of thirty, and rises by one for each point of intelligence you possess, power governs the amount of thinking power designated to a Splinter. Stability indicates how fully grown a Splinter is, a lower stability causes a penalty to Power, as long as enough mind is available a Splinter will stabilize over time. Resonance is how much the Splinter is allowed to bleed into others, resonance may be adjusted from 25 to 75 percent at will.
Each splinter has its own designation, Host is the original, and can command the other Splinters. origin-Splinter is a splinter made from the Host, these may take control of skills at the request of the Host or receive tasks such as managing bodily functions. A guest-Splinter is a Splinter received from another [splintermind] user, they may take up a role as an observer or guide. A captive-Splinter is a mind captured and enslaved by the user to take the brunt of mental effects.
* Host: designation Host - mind 24 - power 25 - resonance 75% - stability 100%
* Nib'thulum: designation guest-Splinter - mind 17 - power 8 - resonance 25% - stability 47%
That's a lot more than I got before... She thought inwardly, slightly regretting not putting more points into wisdom and intelligence.
"I took the liberty of feeding your construct some additional information about the skill, otherwise I would have to explain most of this myself." Nib'Thulum said as if it read my thoughts. Not that I'd be surprised if it actually could.
"Can I ask why your stability is so low? You don't feel all that unstable to me" She pointed out, a bit confused by the detail.
"It is like because I was recently created as a Splinter, new Splinters are usually highly unstable. The fact you hadn't noticed is simple because I have more experiences being in an unstable Splinterstate." Well that sounds reasonable to me, its the expert here, not me..
"Now for the main problem, how do I create a new Splinter, and how do I reassign my Splinter statistics?" She eagerly asked, feeling excited to learn her newest skill.
"Close your eyes and look through your [beastly instinct]'s mana sense, can you find your arcane mana on your own?" It asked, genuinely curious.
"Not yet, I feel 4 strands, I already know which is earth and poison, but arcane and nature I'm not sure of" She answered.
"Describe the remaining strands to me, what do they feel like?" It asked in a soothing voice, and she obliged. "One of the strands is soft and wavy, while the other feels straight but malleable." I told her.
"Guide the latter strand towards your brain, once in proximity you should sense a gap the strand fits in" And like it said, she did feel the gap, which she carefully guided the strand into, and felt it wrapping around something, something cold and alien.
"Now focus your mana sense onto [splintermind], the skill your arcane mana is attached to, by doing it you should feel something you can manipulate." It said, waiting for me to feel something, which after a few minutes she did, it was a faint feeling, but she did feel them. Three gates to be specific. The first one tasted like Nib'Thulum, She suspected she might be able to adjust it's statistics that way, the second one tasted like herself ironically, considering she didn't actually know how she tasted. And the last one had no taste, it felt like a blank slate. Having examined them in detail , she spoke back up. "I feel three gates, one for me, one for you, and one that is blank."
"Gates huh, intriguing. But I digress, try to exert your will onto the gates, fully open the blank one, and after that open your own gate for about a third." it said, and she followed it's instructions to a T, and lo and behold, a golden essence flew from my own gate towards the empty gate. Normally she might have felt panicked at letting her own essence escape, but it felt natural, and so exactly a third of the contents trickled out into the blank gate.
"It's done, what now?" She asked her teacher, though she felt weird calling him that. "Close both gates, once done so touch your own gate, when doing so you should feel a bundle of energies close to each other, rapidly moving around, grab 5 of those and put them on top of the new gate"
She closed the gates by an exertion of her will, put her hand on her own gate and willed five glowing orbs away from the gate, before pushing them into the new gate, giving it a similar glow to the others, yet more dull, and colorless. "What's next" she called out to Nib'thulum.
"Now you must guide the mana wrapped around the [splintermind] skill into the newly created gate" A simple enough task. She thought she had plenty of experience with it after all, especially after the poison debacle, thinking about it still made her break out in a cold sweat.
She pushed the thought away, and guided the mana inside, and as soon as she did she felt her senses fade away, but it didn't feel concerning, and her instincts kept her alive so far so she wasn't inclined to deny them.
She felt the new existence being born in her mind, it, no, she needed a name, she knew it in even the deepest of her bones, but what?
Vit'nas. Nib'thulum replied in her mind, it's voice more real than ever before, almost tangible.
It means she of poison in the Ghyst tongue. It's voice added with a serene tone.
"Henceforth you shall be known as Vit'nas, she of poison, first of my Splinters." She told the formless gate in her mind.
All her senses flowed back into being, she was sitting in her resting place, feeling utterly drained, nor did she feel whole, but in the back of her mind was something that made her feel safe, and as she slipped into unconsciousness she was certain she heard her own voice.
"Goodnight, my faithful companion"
[skill [inner body experience] unlocked]