The door to the room clicked open before Sophia had made it any further than standing up. She grinned; Dav stood in the doorway. That made it a perfect time to ask him the question that she’d asked Amy. “So, Dav, what did you get for your other free Ability?”

“You mean, other than Eldritch Splice?” Dav grinned at Sophia. She hadn’t realized he’d picked that for his free Ability, but it made sense; it was probably a Team Ability. “I found a Summon that wasn’t available on my regular list, Eldritch Fire Bud. It looks interesting, especially combined with one of the Eldritch Summoner Abilities I found, but I really won’t know until I try it out. What did you pick?”

“Nexus Knowledge,” Sophia admitted with a momentary flash of envy. She wasn’t sure which was worse, the fact that Dav found something that might be useful frequently while she had to live with something that was very specialized or the fact that he’d remembered while both Amy and Sophia had forgotten. She was sure her Ability would be good if she ever got to use it, but it chafed a little that she couldn’t even try it out.

“Amy and I are done; we’re about to head out to the practice yard to try out our new Abilities. Want to come with us?” Sophia kind of wanted to see what would be called a Fire Bud; the two terms didn’t seem to quite go together. Knowing what Dav’s Abilities generally looked like, it was certain to be interesting.

“I want to try out my weapon Ability again and see if the sword really is the reason it didn’t work. It shouldn’t take long; I’ll join you as soon as I’m done.” Dav drew a sword and set it on the table. There was nothing special about it; it was a very plain sword with a straight blade, a flat cross guard, leather wrapped around the hilt, and a spherical pommel with what looked like a small knob of metal at the far end of the sphere. Both the blade and the hilt were longer than Sophia would prefer for herself, but Dav was taller than she was; it was probably properly sized to be comfortable for him.

Sophia stopped where she was. Unless this was like his armor, it wouldn’t take long; there was no reason not to wait. He’d had the Ability for a while; it would be good for him to actually have a chance to use it.

Dav shivered in place, then a colored wave of his mana seemed to wash across the sword. It was the weirdest thing; Sophia felt it instead of seeing it, but it was still purple. It wrapped around the sword like oddly flexible fingers, then pushed into it. The sword shimmered and began to visibly change.

A pattern shimmered into view on the side of the blade near the hilt and both the crossguard and pommel turned golden. A braided purple cord extended from the pommel and turned into a tassel while the leather wrapping the hilt turned the same bright purple. An area on both the pommel and the crossguard seemed to bubble upwards, then open almost like an eye to reveal a glassy surface with a dark stripe in the middle surrounded by some sort of purple multicolored fluid that actually moved as Sophia watched it.

Eldritch Sword [https://i.imgur.com/3LzSuQN.png]

“I’d say that worked,” Amy stated. “Where did you get a growth weapon?”

“It’s not,” Dav answered. “It’s not even attuned, at least I don’t think it is. This is an Ability, but one that I can only have on one weapon at a time. I think. I’m not even sure it does anything directly; I think it’s necessary for some of the other Abilities I have to work correctly. That seems to be a theme now, with both this and the telepathy Ability having an Ability that doesn’t do much but is required for other Abilities.”

“Cornerstone Abilities can be like that,” Amy agreed. “It’s hard to know when you have one sometimes; that’s one of the big things the Registry’s lists are good for. Nightowl has a couple, one for each of the major attack types. They have very minor benefits but are necessary for the stronger Abilities.

“That sounds like Imbue Blade,” Sophia answered. “It was useful but minor, but it’s needed for a lot of other Abilities. The thing is, Dav’s do seem to be more limited; he really can’t do anything with them until he has the second Ability.” Maybe she shouldn’t envy the fact that he’d gotten a useful Ability after all. She didn’t have any Abilities that just took up slots that she couldn’t remove.

Sophia paused. She didn’t remember any Abilities that depended on Dav’s weapon Ability. “Does that mean you’re done, too?”

Dav nodded and shared his Status with Sophia. She wasn’t sure if he shared it with Amy or not, but she hoped not; Sophia still wasn’t sure what the problem with Hallows was, really, but it did clearly show that his Sphere was a Hallow. Amy was a friend, but Sophia didn’t know if that one word would change things or not and she wasn’t quite willing to risk it.

Dav Status [https://i.imgur.com/IY0FEYW.png]

Dav

Summons:

Unaffiliated Abilities:

Chaos-Warped Human

(Bastion of Health, 2, 2)

Innate Communication (Bonus, Free)

(Eye Image)

(Thorn Emitter, 2, 2)

(Mana Core Specialization: Eldritch, 2, 2)

Body: 10

(Eyes that See, 2, 2)

(Sword Forms, 2, 2)

Core: 4

(Eldritch Fire Bud, Bonus, Free)

(Extended Leap, 2, 2)

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(Eldritch Sheathe, 2, 2)

Shield: 20

(Eldritch Anchor, 2, 2)

Species Abilities:

(Eldritch Arrows, 2, 2)

(Bonded Armor, 2, 2)

Wisps: 13

(Mana Specialization Attunement, 2, 2)

Species Spells:

(Spell Reservoir, 2, 2)

Spheres

(Eldritch Empowerment, 2, 2)

(Eldritch Splice, Bonus, Free)

Eldritch Summoner (Hallow)

(Eldritch Overcharge, 2, 2)

(Eldritch Mental Diffusion, 2, 2)

Level: 2

(Spellwarp, 2, 2)

(Eldritch Aura, 2, 2)

(Eye Image)

(Warp Space, 2, 2)

(Empty, 2, 2)

Attunements:

(Light and Dark, 2, 2)

Contraceptive Amulet, 3

(Eldritch Projection, 2, 2)

Eldritch Summoner Abilities:

(Quickstep, 2, 2)

(Eldritch Reinforcement, 2, 2)

Eldritch Armor, 7 (Growth)

(Eldritch Aurora, 2, 2)

(Eldritch Weapon Alteration, 2, 2)

Level: 2

(Eldritch Weapon, 2, 2)

(Empower Summon, 2, 2)

Perfect Fit: Dav

(Unbreakable Summon, 2, 2)

Rapid Assembly

(Embody Summon, 2, 2)

Self-Repair

“Eldritch Sheathe and Eldritch Weapon are the Abilities that need me to have a weapon that’s mine,” Dav added before Sophia could ask. “An Attuned weapon will work for Eldritch Weapon but Eldritch Sheathe isn’t as clear. I think it might require the Alteration Ability.”

Sophia nodded as she hunted the Abilities down. They weren’t where she expected them, since one was a Summon and the other was a Spell, but she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. Eyes that See was a Summon Ability that altered Dav’s vision; an Ability that “summoned” something around a weapon and called it a sheathe didn’t seem out of place.

Now that all of them were finished and too low on Wisps to change anything, the three friends packed up the remaining paperwork and returned it to Aymini before they headed out to the practice area. This time, instead of separating, they stayed together. Since they were going to test Abilities like Dav’s new Fire Bud summon, they headed to the section of the practice area covered in sand.

Amy didn’t have much new to show off; all she really had to show was her new owl shape. She refused to show her weasel shape, but she was happy to show off her owl shape. She was definitely an owl, but she wasn’t the barn owl Sophia expected; instead, she was predominantly white with a striped sort of pattern and a strong face outline that looked almost like a mask.

Owl Amy [https://i.imgur.com/v3ajXYa.jpeg]

The first time Amy tried to fly, she fell instead. It was obvious what she’d spend the training session doing while Dav and Sophia checked out their new Abilities: Amy was going to have to learn how to fly. Sophia suppressed her spike of envy and reminded herself that she now had a flight Ability as well. She hoped she didn’t look as silly as Amy did.

The second time Amy fell, Dav silently summoned a Healing Beacon. It was odd, even for Dav’s beacons, since it looked almost like several different plastics melted around each other as it rose from the sand. It almost looked like it should have been something, but Sophia couldn’t imagine what black material surrounding a clear cylinder holding a frozen bubbling waterfall of green might mean.

Sandy Beacon [https://i.imgur.com/mBinIJH.jpeg]

Sophia and Dav walked a little ways away from Amy’s practice area and started to share their Abilities. Many of them were very straightforward, so they tried them a few times and moved on. They traded Ability information back and forth, starting with Sophia’s Eldritch Empowerment. She found that she had very limited control over it; the first time she tried it, it swept up sand from around her and covered her in a surprisingly solid sandy defense that didn’t impede her movement at all. When she dismissed the spell, the sand simply collapsed to the ground, leaving Sophia to dig her feet out of the small mound.

Dav’s Sword Forms was an advanced version of a basic swordsmanship Ability; it was more to help Dav practice and learn when there was no one who could directly train him than for its combat utility. Extended Leap, on the other hand, was almost exclusively a combat ability; it would let Dav jump a little higher or a little farther than he otherwise could. It got a fair bit of use as Dav worked out exactly what it let him do. It was especially nice because unlike a spell, it was always active.

Sophia’s Root Grab made roots grow from the sand and attempt to capture Dav. She only managed to grab one leg, but that was enough for them both to decide that the spell was useful; even with his high Body, he couldn’t easily pull free once the roots grabbed him.

Dav’s Eldritch Aura was invisible but Sophia could feel it and she was pretty sure it wasn’t just her Aural Mana Sense. It didn’t bother her, but it distinctly reminded her of the Origin. She had no doubt that it would be unpleasant at best for others, even Amy.

Sophia’s Offensive Illusion Field turned the entire area into a desert to Dav’s senses. She dropped it almost immediately when he froze in place and started to shiver. He didn’t explain his reaction and she didn’t ask; she just made sure to hug him until he relaxed and told herself she’d never use that particular spell on Dav again.

Dav tried Empower Summon on the healing beacon, but there was no way to know what the effect was; they weren’t hurt. Amy would have to tell them if it helped later. All Dav could tell Sophia was that it took all of his concentration; there was no way he could fight while maintaining the Ability. Unbreakable Summon was similar; whether or not the summon was actually unbreakable, it took Dav out of the fight. That was how two Abilities were described in the Registry’s records, so it was only a little disappointing to know that while they were key Abilities for most summoners, Dav would probably use them rarely.

Sophia skipped down to Summon Echo next. Since it was her only summoning spell, she wanted to try it both with and without Eldritch Overcharge. She wasn’t sure what to expect; there were so many options. Her best guess was that she’d get something that she had to control, but she wasn’t entirely certain.

The gardener-mage hadn’t done much while the creature Sophia assumed was her echo was fighting, but she had cast Root Grab, hadn’t she? On top of that, Amy’s guess was that the gardener-mage was a Professional and probably didn’t have many combative Abilities. Sophia hoped the echo would be able to act independently; it would make things a lot easier.