Mathew

In his short time since he was raided by Leternum, he'd grown to understand more nuanced distinctions of notifications. This message pressed that understanding to its limits.

The first thing he noticed was that there were essentially two messages overlapping. Around the console in his mind space, a red message from the Alpha spectrum carried streaks of gold with it. It brought feelings, an incredible frustration from a festering wound and binding chains. Mixed in was gratitude that The Carrion Knight could only comprehend was on a magnitude beyond his capacity to understand. Finally, a feeling of angry vitality not unlike vengeance.

It told his heart without words that he owned the Spire.

Through the console and into his vision, a structured notification without emotions came to his vision. It was rimmed in gold, a first for him, and took no effort to hold just like messages from his transition phase.

Welcome to the bottom rung on the ladder of the world that is me. You have adapted, and you have lived. Congratulations.

For being the fulcrum for my first choice in eons, you have my gratitude. Please send my regards to Amber. I have missed the presence of Freedom.

I chose you as my sponsored, and I will cede authority as you gain the power to wield it. No doorway will shut on your growth. Build upon your basic skills and abuse the benefits of my pre-system world. Remember, the New World is incompatible with Freedom. Grow, lead, conquer!

The message was followed by several others in a familiar style.

[New title awarded: Legacy Breaker - Awarded for vanquishing a Night Stalker in mortal combat

Gain power from breaking or damaging Legacies.]

[New title awarded: Crossing the Divide - Awarded for representing one Great Divide in Territory combat against another Great Divide faction

Gain a mutable Territory Mantle]

[New title awarded: Carrion Knight Progenitor - Awarded for transitioning from a Wandering Knight to an Established Knighthood

Benefits -

Class Construction skill unlocked

Territory Management menu unlocked

Automatic Essence Harvesting and tax management

This title was gained by sponsorship from, Leternum, a censured Authority. Gained through ignorance of the forbidden nature, this taboo title is hidden by Outerword Award: Accidental Occultism]

How much must I care about social matters? Leaning into his human side, The Carrion Knight sought answers. Mathew drew on more of the available willpower and cognition. With endless trust, The Carrion Knight let go.

Mathew reeled to process everything that had happened. By drawing on the Alpha spectrum, he'd tapped into something that was a part of him but also very much not. In Mathew's memories, he'd utilized his skills and abilities more naturally than he could remember. Far better than Mathew thought he could manage. Taking down the Night Stalker was something he would have said was beyond his capability.

But here he was inside the chest of the beast. For a moment, a powerful instinct rippled across him. To devour the flesh of the monster and reassemble the bones into a new form. Tied together with muscle tendons and webbing. To grow new muscles and nerves and become a Carrion Forerunner. Sharp claws on one arm and the beak on the other as a giant crab-like claw. More creativity spooled out options for a new body churned and bubbled to the surface of his thoughts.

Pressing those instincts away, Mathew began to struggle and force his way out of the Night Stalker. Claws ripping, he fought his way forward and up. Deflected off by bones, Mathew followed them until finding the fractured ribs from the impact of the weaponized boulder. Out of the gory womb, he broke into the open air.

Letting go of the Digestions magic in his lungs, he expelled the gray mist of his transition. It was the only air he could visualize vividly enough to create by a negative application of Digestion. Coughing and hacking, his heart hammered away as he took a breath of fresh air.

Screaming his victory into the sky, Mathew reveled in the moment.

Haha, we made it! Mathew's thoughts darkened. Did we?

Ramping up a Mental Attack intelectus, he felt around for minds in his area of influence.

Grant's mind laughed merrily. Worry radiated from Amber and Harper. Finally, Ben's mind flitted in and out of his detection. Healthy, just cloaked with more potent magic than he usually employed.

Everyone survived.

Relief mixed with the exultation of victory, and for the first time in too long, he had a win that didn't feel like getting beaten. Lifting his waist out of the Night Stalker's body with a sucking sound, Mathew scanned his horizons for landmarks. While he was insulated from impacts within the monster's body, Mathew did feel the motion. After he dropped his Mental Attack intelectus, he lost track of where they were.

Landmarks clarified his location then he realized that Harper and Amber were in the Hub. He could feel them with his skill. Sliding down the steaming flank of the Night Stalker, Mathew followed his skill to the Hub.

Ben's veil tore like gossamer threads, and he launched himself into Mathew. Returning the hug, he started laughing.

"We did it!" Ben screamed.

"Yeah, we did," Mathew said.

Ben pushed himself off of Mathew and coughed. "Bleh."

In short order, all the survivors gathered at the door to the Hub.

"Holy shit, Mat," Amber drawled. "What in God's green Earth happened to you?"

"Not Earth so much, but the Night Stalker ate me," Mathew shrugged. "So I ate it back."

"Are you okay, Ben?" Harper asked. "That's a lot of blood."

"He-" Ben pointed at Mathew. "-needs a bath."

Mathew's chuckling cut off as he breathed dark purple smoke around his body. Having it eat away the blood and gore he was covered in. As the magic evaporated, he was confused. His pearl armor had stripes of rusty red blended into it.

"What is it?" Mathew asked.

"You look like a tiger," Amber said.

Grant interjected. "There is a mild resemblance."

"So," Harper wrung her hands. "Did it work?"

"Yeah, it did. Give me a minute to dig through it." Mathew said. "I just had to check and make sure everyone was okay."

Willing up the unlocked menu, Mathew felt it sustain itself on his motivation.

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[Territory management

Loyalties - Undecided

Reinforcement 0% (non-contested)

Essence income(daily):

Alpha spectrum conversion, 21

Visitors(4), 4 Essence, tax rate 95%, 1/3 for hosting

Citizens(0), 0

Essence expenses:

None

Class slots (0/2)]

"The menu is working," Mathew tried to share it, and the blue system power blocked the effort. "I can't share it. It is transforming Alpha energy. That is all we needed, right?"

He looked to Grant.

Grant smiled back. "Yes, I very much think so. Time will tell, but the problem always seemed to be that Territory without an Alpha would just keep building up power until it was worth assaulting. We still need to keep up a guard and defenses, but we shouldn't be luring Alphas. How about your mind? Anything odd with your thoughts or feelings?"

"Yeah," Mathew admitted. "But not as bad as it's been before. I used to feel rage. Like red vision, forget what I did until I calmed down kind of rage. This time it was calmer."

"I'm sure you have plenty of benefits to consolidate," Grant said. "Ben, would you join me in harvesting from that treasure trove?"

Nodding Ben joined Grant.

Grant was right. He had a lot of benefits to consolidate.

Pressing his mind deeper, he selected each part one at a time to fully understand his new potential.

[Loyalties - Undecided

Options:

Eastern Kingdom of Knights (Default/Current)

Sovereign

Hidden options:

Leternum]

Mathew cringed. There was too much he didn't know. This brought his memory right back to when he'd left the transition. Picking Carrion Soldier class despite knowing that they were destroyed in the past. At what point would the repercussions of these choices catch up to him?

Sure the new strength was immediate, but there was a truth in life Pa had taught him. The things you don't know can hurt you.

It happened when Amber vested him with Freedom. The full consequences were dangerous and unexpected.

This felt like the same thing. He didn't know any Eastern Kingdom of Knights. If the sicko bio-form Crispalid Knight he'd fought was any indication, they weren't worth the power they held.

Sovereign was the most tempting because he wanted to stand on his own. On the other hand, did the message he received from Leternum come with strings attached to the sponsorship. It didn't say anything outright, but that could very well be a test.

A fact of his interface resolved the indecision. He could change it freely. Whatever decision he made didn't have to be permanent.

Selecting Leternum new notifications popped up.

[New title awarded - Traitor

For breaking from the Eastern Kingdom of Knights, you are branded a traitor

This title is hidden by Outworld award: Accidental Occultism]

Taking a breath and thanking his transition for that award, Mathew watched the menu change.

[Essence income(daily):

Alpha spectrum conversion, 21

Visitors(0), 0

Citizens(4), 1 Essence, tax rate 5%(default)]

The math took a bit to figure out but comparing the two, he could see that the rest of his Hive- survivors, friends, Mathew reminded himself- also defaulted to being under the banner of the Eastern Kingdom.

Continuing down his menu, he found out exactly what he could pay for.

[Expenses:

Citizen level up

Amber level 3 -> 4, Cost 7 Essence

Benjamine 6 -> 7, Cost 63 Essence

Grant 6 -> 7, Cost 63 Essence

Harper 3 -> 4, Cost 7 Essence

Knight level up

Mathew 5 -> 6, Cost 8 Essence]

Class investment

See Class Construction skill]

This would be huge. Mathew almost stopped right there and gathered everyone for a meeting. Instead, he took his time to think things through on his own. It would be best if he gathered all the information so they could have one big meeting and then move on from there. Plus at some point in time he'd have to get used to making choices on his own. A leader as granted by the planet itself- that was his new role. If he didn't stop asking everyone all the time he'd never be a real leader. Same thing when he finally moved out of his family's house just on a bigger scale.

[Class slots (0/2)]

Mathew's intelectus translated that to mean he was currently limited to making two classes with his class construction skill. Time to pull that up. Mathew thought.

[Class Construction

Classes, none

Templates:

Carrion Soldier]

Playing with Carrion Soldier as a class, its base form was a copy of what he was awarded within the tutorial. He could make adjustments to it. Some adjustments were simply upgrades, while others required a trade. For example, he could change out Living Skeleton Weapon with Living Skeleton Armaments at no cost. But trying to add a different skill like Mental Support or raise the given skill level caused the attribute multiplier to drop.

The system balanced the generation of classes. While Mathew could make more potent classes by adding an upgraded skill type, he couldn't forcefully make a new class with unlimited benefits. That was a frustrating comfort. As convenient as it would be to have access to cheats, knowing that no one else could cheat (probably) was a good trade.

Resetting his approach, Mathew tried seeing what custom class creations would look like. He had access to every skill that any of the others had. It was even credited. The skill knew who had what skill and would show him. There was no privacy. Had this happened to whoever runs the Eastern Knighthood? The rest of the template allowed Mathew to shift points between bonus skill levels, stat progression and the number of stats.

This is what the message from Leternum meant. Grow, lead, and conquer.

Even though they numbered five right now, he understood that he held keys to becoming a faction. Something that was restricted.

Mathew had never thought of himself as a big thinker, but he began to understand more of what the wider world looked like. No privacy, no control over taxation, anyone trying to rise to his position would go crazy from failing ascension. This was the exclusive club of old money and power brokers. He'd seen it with his parents and their business enough to recognize what gatekeeping looked like.

Anyone trying to grow into that space was considered a weed to be removed and restricted. Now Mathew was that weed.

With that encouraging realization, he found out what it took to actually gift a class. Essence was the only requirement. Less when the person was more compatible. A gifted class would have a level limit based on how much Essence he spent. The minimum was five levels, and the maximum could be upgraded after gifting.

Immediately he thought of Amber. She'd lost her hand, and his power would let someone generate bone and muscle.

Selecting Carrion Soldier, he changed out Living Skeleton Weapon for Living Skeleton Armament. Willing his mind one layer further, he tried making the Carrion Flesh perk a default feature. He met resistance in this effort.

Resistance meant it could be done! Throwing more of his will into it, he felt an entity of mind form. This intelectus was indistinct and animalistic, but it wanted part of him to do what he asked. Is that part of the pre-system Leternum?

Surrendering to his own construct of will, Mathew felt it rip beams of light out of his Health. Clay and bone stained lights flowed from Mathew into his Territory through the Alpha spectrum and past the console in his mindscape.

In return, his demand that Carrion Flesh be a default addition to the skill stuck.

Tracking Amber down within the Hub, he found her sitting by her workbench looking at her Glock.

"Hey, how's it going?" Mathew asked.

"It's alright," Amber had a half-smile. "I'm down to my last bullet. Not a lot I can offer, I'm afraid. And don't cha get started thinking your support can fix this. When you made me feel all put together last night, I had a clear perspective. The truth is what it is."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually," Mathew said.

Willing the class offer to her, Mathew waited.

"What is all this about?" Amber scowled. "Don't go spending on me when it's better spent on others! I don't want your pity hand out!"

Patience and understanding from his beast side pulled his temper back. I just want to help.

"It isn't pity," Mathew thought fast. "It's loyalty. You are trustworthy where Ben and Grant aren't. To be frank, you're brave where Harper isn't. This offer is because you've earned it."

Mathew felt the drain from inside of his Health when she accepted. The same shining light that the wild intelectus took was drained away for her to get a second class. This time Mathew found out what it was specifically.

[Carrion Knight 59% -> 4% to level 5*]

Level progress was Essence. To give her a class took from his own generated power. Worry that he'd turned her into a Hybrid ran through his mind. Only now did he think of the possibility.

Scan.

[Amber - Lucky

Otherworld human

Class: Freedom Zealot level 3

Sub-class: Carrion Soldier

No active quests]

Relief flooded through him.

"What does it feel like," Mathew asked.

"Just a bit stronger," Amber said. "It doesn't compound off my new stats. It seems to make me stronger based on my original stats. And-" She covered her mouth. "Oh, this is why."

"Give me some Reserves," Amber said. "Like a few hundred."

Mathew laid his gauntlet on her bare shoulder and started to funnel reserves over.

Tears fell slowly as she lifted her wounded stump and a new wrist and hand materialized. It was ugly. Bone and exposed sickly grey muscles. But she smiled all the same.

Tapping her fingertips on his armored chest, she noted. "Can't feel nothin'. Is this what it's like for you."

Mathew nodded. His voice was tight. "Mostly."

"Then I accept this hand with pride," Amber picked up a hammer from her work bench. "Well, no more excuses, I guess. Time to get to work."