‘-about it.’ Tar finished saying as Cael stirred awake.
“What?” Cael whispered raspily, his throat dry.
He wasn’t sure what was going on. Everything ached, but it was more of an afterthought now.
Cael had definitely been healed at some point though. He would be dead otherwise. The memory of the Swarm beast’s sharp blades buried in his torso remained fresh in his mind. It was the last thing he really remembered.
‘Tar and I were debating the likelihood of you waking before something else happened.’ Oh. Ava. She had managed to patch up her soul faster than he had managed to wake up himself.
“What’s the verdict?” Ava’s voice was much less intrusive and alien now that it came from within his own soul. It felt familiar.
‘The verdict is that you’re still a bit out of it.’ Tar concluded.
“Why is that?” Cael coughed.
‘If you were fully aware, then you would have noticed that you were already awake.’ Ava pointed out.
“Do you know how long I was out?”
‘No.’
That sounded about right. Tar measured the world through Cael’s senses, so if Cael was in low-battery mode, then it made sense that everything would be uncertain. For instance, Cael was laying in the dark on a cold hard floor. Where that was, he couldn’t be sure.
Thankfully, when Cael reached for it, he found Mercy’s gifted flask remained attached to his belt. Even after everything that had happened in the dungeon, it was still there, no worse for wear aside from the dried blood caked on all his things.
‘Cael.’ Tar interrupted as Cael tried to figure out how to unlock the clasp without being able to see it.
“Yeah?” He thought there might have been a tiny clasp, but he wasn’t certain.
‘Check your System messages.’ Tar reminded him.
He nodded and gave up on the flask for the moment.
“System, please show me what has happened since I’ve been out.”
The Perpetual War Instance Dungeon has been completed.
Bonus objectives have been completed.
Level advancements have been issued as a reward.
“Does that mean what I hope it does?” The words ‘level advancements’ sounded promising.
‘It does.’ Ava confirmed.
Cael
General Information
Attributes
Classes
Gender
Male
VIT
3
PER
3
Fairy Tale
3
83%
Species
Changeling
STR
2
INT
7
Age
5 days
END
2
FOC
7
Health
30/30
DEX
2
LCK
0
Titles
Mana
70/70
AGI
2
Extraplanar Reincarnator
2
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
0%
Stamina
20/20
Free Attribute Points
30
Effects
Spellbound
“I forgot how I was supposed to distribute my stats.”
‘We already did the numbers for you. It’s ten for [Intelligence] and [Focus], three for [Vitality] and [Perception], then one for each of the rest.’
Cael allocated the points as Ava described and just stared.
Cael
General Information
Attributes
Age
5 days
VIT
6
PER
6
Health
60/60
STR
3
INT
17
Mana
170/170
END
3
FOC
17
Stamina
30/30
DEX
3
LCK
0
Effects
Spellbound
AGI
3
“The only round number on my attribute list is my [Luck].” Cael complained.
Not being a complete idiot, Cael was quickly able to understand what the elementals had wanted and summoned Tar, dropping his mana to 80/170 before his eyes.
Nothing visibly changed in the already dark room, but Cael was immediately swept up into a hug by the elemental.
He slumped slightly. Having Tar beside him again was immediately calming.
“Ava, would you prefer to be summoned or remain in the soulspace?”
‘As nice as all of this mud is, I prefer to exist in the material.’ She responded.
“Then I’ll summon you too as soon as I can.”
‘Don’t. Wait until your mana is completely full again so we are not left at a disadvantage.’
That made sense. It wouldn’t hurt to conserve his limited resources as much as he could. Cael would do his best to remember that going forward. Not that he currently had any other Skills he could use, but the thought was nice.
The flask tumbled off Cael’s hip with a heavy clank.
“Thank you, Tar.”
‘No problem.’
As Cael drank the juice left in the flask, Tar scanned and began to highlight the room they were in.
The coloring was a bit childish, but as Cael looked around the jail cell, he had to wonder.
“I thought you said you couldn’t see. How are you doing that?”
‘Well I am a shadow elemental and this is a dark room. I’m just subtracting the darkness from where it isn’t and guessing colors based on context clues.’ Tar flashed the cell’s thick metal bars at him, ‘For instance, I doubt these are neon pink or sea green.’ The bars shifted colors as Tar listed them as if to demonstrate just how absurd the idea was.
Cael chuckled at Tar’s antics when the bars turned into giant pencils and then long snakes that hung from the ceiling.
‘Oh, I hear someone coming.’
“It’s unfair that you can use my ears better than I can.”
‘We can all use them the same, you are just easily distracted.’ Ava informed him.
“Why are the lights out over here?” Complained a man’s voice from outside the cartoon jail cell.
“Sorry, I must have forgotten to refill the cores at some point.”
Tar pushed a small cold object into his hand, and Cael pocketed it after a moment of inspecting it. It appeared to be a coin under Tar's scrutiny.
The room lit up a moment later and Tar let his painting fade away to reveal that the bars were, in fact, a dazzling shade of sea green.
‘Go figure.’ Tar remarked drily.
“And just who were you talking to?” A large bear in a suit popped into view on the other side of the bars.
“My best friend. I’ve known him for four days.” Cael answered easily. Honesty had been the best policy up to this point, so he saw no reason to stop now. It wasn’t like Tar was supposed to be a secret anyway.
“No communication skills have been used. There was however a boost in shadow magic affinity. Perhaps an ability to see in the dark.” Stated the other figure, a lady with no nose, but a single large eyeball that took up all of the space above her mouth. Her hair and lips were both a deep shade of purple, and a pair of silver antlers poked out the top of her head. They both wore the blue and silver uniforms of Mereo, so he figured he was being arrested by the school itself for some reason or another.
‘The System has her listed as a spector.’ Tar supplied helpfully.
The spector seemed to be reading from a sleek metal board, which Cael confirmed was magic with a quick activation of [Mana Sight].
“He just used [Mana Sight].” She told the bear.
“Put that down and just use your eye.” The bear snorted. “A boost in shadow affinity? He has an elemental in his shadow. It was a familiar contract skill.”
The one-eyed girl glanced up at Cael. He shrugged and Tar hopped onto his shoulder in cat form, nearly knocking Cael over with the unexpected weight.
“Tar, did you get heavier?” He looked at the cat inquisitively, “And larger?”
‘I did.’ Cael reached up to scratch Tar’s ears and paused.
“Oh. Why didn’t you tell me I looked different?” Cael’s hand was white and visibly jointed like that of a mannequin.
‘Because I didn’t notice. If anything, I should be relying on you for visual cues. I don’t even have eyes.’ Tar inclined his head snootily at him.
“We dispelled your borrowed form.” The bear reported.
“Why?”
“It is frowned upon to take the forms of others without consent.” The spector reported.
“Consent won't be possible,” Cael complained.
“Why? Did you kill him?” The bear’s fur coat puffed. Cael had a feeling he shouldn’t tell him how adorable that made him look. Also, he’d just been accused of murder again.
“No. He’s me, and I doubt you’ll accept my own consent here.” Cael frowned.
“Don’t lie to me. That’s impossible.” The bear snarled.
“I don’t actually remember the last time I lied.”
‘Rocaren in the forest.’ Tar offered.
Cael looked at the cat in exasperation. “Nevermind. It was five days ago.” He corrected himself.
Cael offered Ava access to his memories because he hadn’t had the chance up to this point. In the back of his mind, he could feel her accept it and begin to delve into his admittedly limited experiences.
“[Lie Detection] isn’t picking up on anything.” The spector asserted.
“His [Lie] skill could be at a higher level than your [Lie Detection]. He is a changeling. Lying is what they do.”
She handed her metal board to the bear, but he just waved her off. “That’s just a prototype. For all you know, a high leveled [Lie] skill can trick its sensors.”
“Then we can just ask him to [Lie] for us right now.” She reasoned, giving Cael an exasperated look. At least she seemed to believe him.
“My week has been wonderful. How was yours?” He deadpanned.
“Lie.” She declared before shooting him an amused glance and answering. “And my week has been pretty good, but I have a lot of work I need to get back to.” The last bit seemed to be directed toward the bear.
“That’s nice and all, but he didn’t use his [Lie] skill.”
“I don’t have it.” Cael offered the bear a blank stare in its place.
“You-” The bear didn’t get to finish whatever he was going to say.
“I’m getting sick of this. Either get a representative from the Church of Vera, or move on to why we’re actually here.” The spector cut him off. Cael could respect that. He was also getting sick of this line of questioning.
“I will bring a representative of Vera.” The bear declared.
“Alright, then stop wasting everyone's time and go get one. I'll see what I can do with him in the meantime.” She gestured to Cael with her tablet.