Skill upgraded! Freeform Mana Casting (Unique)(Passive) -->

Hubris (Unique)(Passive) - The System honors your willful attempt to manipulate your resources without skill assistance, and has permanently removed all natural safeguards relating to mana, health, and stamina. Proceed at your own risk.

This skill serves as an upgrade to and replacement for Freeform Mana Casting.

[Human] - Evolutionary path altered.

[Mage] - Evolutionary path altered.

[Creature Handler] - Evolutionary path altered.

The description had not been altered much, only changing instances that previously referenced mana into referencing all resources, along with adding that her profession evolutionary path was altered. She had received Freeform before getting her profession, so it wasn’t really a surprise that on upgrading the skill it would also affect Creature Handler. On the surface, it was an upgrade, and exactly what she had been trying to do by literally injecting her own health points into her party members. If Cyn had had more time to think about consequences, she might have hesitated before acting, but in the situation there simply wasn’t time. She could only work with what she already had and knew, and that knowledge was based on the very limited set of skills provided.

What had indicated Cyn had probably fucked up was the new name of the skill. ‘Hubris’ did not bring good connotations, and instead the System was making it very clear she was in over her head. But what had been done could not be undone, at least not as far as she was aware.

And even if she could undo it, would she? Noting she had reached level eight in Mage, Cyn dismissed the notifications and closed her menu, focusing on the steady stream of red-tinged water flowing off of her. Basically every successful strategy she had used so far was based on Freeform Mana Casting, now Hubris. If she even could get rid of it, it would be like going back to square one with learning how to heal and fight. Cyn shuddered at the thought of being stuck with only Mana Ball to defend herself, and to her surprise suddenly found herself wrapped up in a bear hug.

Sam had apparently mistook Cyn’s shudder and, ignoring the fact she was still pretty sticky, had lifted her off the ground into a tight embrace. Luckily she did not need air as much as before the System, because the Warrior was squeezing her hard enough to prevent Cyn from taking a breath. Not that she was complaining. The hug was an unexpected comfort, and Cyn wiggled her arms enough to free them to hug Sam back.

“It’s gonna be alright. We’ll find Dana and Scott and get out of here just fine…” The Warrior’s baritone voice cracked, and he squeezed her tighter. Cyn was pretty sure his words were more to reassure Sam himself, rather than her, but there was no reason to dispute them. Despite how she felt after entering the second floor of the transitional dungeon, she now wanted to gather the party back together again. If only to make sure they were alright.

Feeling Sam on the verge of death, and being unable to reach him on the other side of the hedge to help, was far too reminiscent of Scott going down during the Illuminant Queen fight. It had sent her into a panic spiral, driven by a need to save the Warrior. Cyn felt like it was too soon for so many close calls so close together, and she partly blamed herself. Even taking into account the fact the System had forcibly separated them at the start of this floor, Cyn couldn’t help but feel as though if she was stronger, more practiced, more capable, her party would not be struggling like this. What she really needed to do was commit to the path that had been presented, stop hesitating to wonder if it was the right option, and test her limits more so she would not end up caught unprepared so often.

At least I can effectively remove my own health now, without getting physically hurt. That’ll make it easier to stomach taking advantage of my boots buff. Cyn gave the Warrior a final squeeze before wiggling out of his arms. Since it was visually clear where she had been in contact with him, she returned to trying to get as clean as possible. “I take it you haven’t seen anyone else then?”

Sam shook his head at her question, watching something behind her. The arena was at Cyn’s back, so she assumed it was just Hex. “No, this flat area is the only thing I have found. Other than some treasure chests. Have you guys found anything?”

Cyn assumed by treasure chests he meant the puzzle boxes. Unless the Warrior had found a way to detect the hidden ones from the earlier part of the labyrinth, they were probably the larger ones. She shrugged before responding, “Treasure, and a different trial we beat. Oh, and a door out we passed.”

Sam’s eyes widened, his voice becoming incredulous. “You found a way out, and didn’t take it?”

“No. We are going to find the center of the labyrinth. And hopefully the remaining three trials before someone else gets to them.” Cyn had felt Hex’s approach behind her once he got close, since the Rogue’s health was not full, so she was not startled to hear him answer Sam’s question. She was sort of pleased to find that she did not have to focus to determine the health of people around her, at least at close range. And as long as she did not focus on it, it was just another thing lingering in the back of her mind, joining the awareness of her own resources, her connection to Spam, and the contents of the Promising Ring of Holding.

Instead she got to be startled by his appearance when she turned around. Or rather, his lack of appearance since she could not see Hex around the massive Sanguine Lily he was carrying. While the Rogue put the flower on the ground nearby, Sam turned his questions to Hex. “Why? The sooner we finish this dungeon, the sooner we can return home.”

“You are free to try and find the exit we left behind, or take the next one we find if you are so eager to go home. The objectives made it pretty clear we do not have to continue on together and can take different exits from here. But I want the rewards for completing as much as possible.” The Rogue had made a pile of potions on the ground while speaking, Cyn presuming they were hers, and since there was more than she remembered leaving on the other side of the trial the pile probably also included the potions Spam had been spitting at the Warrior. The frog did not seem inclined to take them back, so she just stored all of it.

Sam did not immediately respond, staring between the two of them with arms crossed and a frown. Ignoring that, Hex started pulling the petals off the Sanguine Lily and making three neat piles of them. Since it was getting more and more difficult to fill her waterskin just to dump over herself, Cyn decided she would have to settle for how clean she currently was. It was time to check her trial reward. She tried to pull out the chest she had stored just a few minutes ago, only to find it felt…wrong. She had to mentally ‘pull’ harder than expected to get it out. Odd, but perhaps just a side effect of her low resources?

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Cheaters Chest of Vitality (Epic) - Contains rewards for completing the Trial of Vitality within the Hungering Labyrinth, after cheating countermeasures were activated.

‎ Rewards are generated based on your performance within the Trial.

She had checked for a mimic before picking it up the first time, but had not caught the expanded Inspect information at first glance. How in the hell did I cheat? It’s not like we’ve been given a rulebook… She shouldn’t be so annoyed, since it appeared to have resulted in a higher quality reward chest, but since emotions didn’t always follow logic Cyn opened the chest with a huff. Rather than the assortment of items she expected, inside of the chest was only a single, unmarked book. While she tried to get her hands clean enough to pull out the book, Cyn noticed something odd. It was not super obvious when she was covered in blood, but once enough had been wiped away it was clear her fingers were now discolored.

Not in a natural way, either. From the tips to her first knuckle, Cyn’s skin was a pale blue. The color faded out completely to her natural tone around the second knuckle, but the change was still alarming. She obviously knew her mana veins were still damaged from the blockage and buildup, but Cyn had not expected such a clear physical indicator that something had gone wrong. The keratin of her nails looked fine, although only time would tell if new growth was affected. Hopefully this was just temporary, and the damage would heal on its own.

Looking around, her party was looking over their own rewards, each apparently having received a book from their chest. Not wanting to make a big deal out of the injury, Cyn picked up the book and looked it over without opening it. She observed the leather and bronze buckle that held it closed, but found no other distinguishing markings before using Inspect.

Tome of Soul Slip (Epic) - Contains knowledge of the skill [Soul Slip]. Can be used to teach [Soul Slip] to a single Awakened.

Soul Slip (Epic) - Your soul seeks company, allowing you to teleport to another soul nearby.

Attempting to pass through solid objects between the target soul and yours can instead cause this skill to backfire.

Short range teleport, limited by needing a target person it seems? The existence of the tome also served to show Cyn yet another way that skills could be gained outside of leveling up. Interestingly, the tome also wasn’t labeled as Soulbound. Not that she wanted to give it to anyone else, the skill seemed exceptionally useful, but presumably the possibility was there.

She quickly unbuckled the strap holding the tome closed, opening up to the first page. The page was empty, but Cyn instead felt a rush of warmth and a notification. As she focused on the notification to confirm it was her new skill gain, the tome crumbled to dust in her hands. The lack of confirmation prompts is seriously a problem. She had gained the new skill, as expected, and since its description had not changed on learning it Cyn was eager to try Soul Slip out.

Sam was still staring down at his tome, but Hex looked to have already learned his new skill. The Rogue had one hand held out in front of him, a small, silver flame burning steadily just above the skin of his palm. Very mage-like, and combined with the realization that her trial chest had contained what was arguably a more rogue-like movement ability it made Cyn chuckle. “Mind being a test dummy, Hex?”

While she was still low on resources, Cyn was pretty sure she would have enough mana for at least one test of Soul Slip. She backed up to put some more distance between the two of them while waiting for the Rogue to respond. He blinked a few times, seeming to put actual consideration into the question before asking slowly, “Is it going to hurt?”

Now a good twenty or so feet away, Cyn felt her lips curve into what probably looked like a manic grin, especially when you took into account she was dripping wet and absolutely covered in blood stains. “I have no idea.” She watched Hex’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second before she activated Soul Slip.

The bit was only funny because she was almost certain it wouldn’t hurt him, although with Hubris she could not be so sure about herself. Cyn felt the risk was worth it, especially since basically anything she did as a Mage would probably qualify as a risk. It would not surprise her to find that Hubris removed internal safeguards on skills. No use worrying about it too much since she had no intentions of giving up or stopping. Not to mention, there was a certain thrill to trying something new.

On activation of Soul Slip, Cyn felt her body move, similar to the feeling she had the few times the System moved her between locations. Her eyes however only registered the end result, which was the gray of the Rogue’s tunic as she smashed face first into Hex’s chest hard enough to break her nose and send them both toppling over. Not only did she now have a fresh stream of blood pouring over her, Cyn felt extremely disoriented. She felt almost detached from her body, or as if it was not quite in the right place.

Groaning, she awkwardly managed to roll off Hex but remained lying flat on her back on the stones as the Rogue began to howl with laughter beside her. “You’re a goddamn madwoman, you know that?”

His howl’s continued as Sam worriedly bent over her, but Cyn waved the Warrior off. “I’m fine, just a miscalculation.” Her voice sounded thick and strange, but that was not surprising considering her nose. It was already healing, the bleeding slowing down, and to avoid even more blood to wash off she spared some mana on making it heal faster with Restoration while she pondered the test.

What had gone wrong? The disorientation had passed quickly, but Cyn got the feeling that she had not arrived at the intended end point for her Soul Slip and that was why she felt disoriented. Hex had definitely been her intended target for the skill. Reading the skill description again, she was forced to consider what a soul was. Or rather, where one was. In this case, the where was more important. Soul Slip only mentioned her teleporting to another soul, and initially she had assumed that just meant she would appear close to the target. But if she was literally trying to reach the location of Hex’s soul, presumably inside of him somewhere like their resource pools, it would explain the collision. The disorientation probably came from her soul rubberbanding back into her body after going somewhere her physical form could not.

It was going to take a ton of practice and testing to see if Cyn could take control of the skill enough to be usable in any situation. Or maybe she could learn enough to use Hubris to mimic a better version.