Ander looked out upon the sea of golden threads, sending his will out upon the tides. He felt the threads resonate with his will until he was pulled toward one. This one looked no different than the others, like a beaded thread of golden pearls. But Ander felt the power that came from it. That was of no account however as Ander felt the quality of the thread and the power it held. He had tried five like this one, and had denied each. They had not been what he had been looking for.
But Ander smiled as he felt this one. It was powerful indeed. It carried all the right qualities he was looking for. He frowned however. The bead was distressingly close to the beginning, and larger than the rest. The individual represented by this thread had been five at the oldest, and this had been a major formative experience. Ander supposed that gaining a legendary skill was not something to be taken lightly, even in the best of times, but still.
Ander focused on the bead in question and dived inside.
. . .
Everything was off in a way Ander didn’t understand. The surroundings looked like they were done in pastels, everything blurring together. Only a few things were clear. Two people, a man and a woman, or rather mommy and daddy stood in front of Ander as he clung to mommy’s dress. Ander could also tell that he was clear, and he was not the right word. He was Maria, and she wore a conservative brown dress that came to an inch above the floor, with white sleeves that bore a small amount of pretty ruffles. The only colour that came from her ensemble was a pretty wildflower she had found on the dock before they had departed. It was a little wilty though as that had been a couple days ago.
It was nothing like the flowers of the pretty women on the higher decks. Maria looked longingly at one of the higher decks where women in bright pastel colours roamed back and forth, showing off like they were on a runway. Ander was disoriented by the memories, and it was hard to keep himself in the forefront. The way the people on the higher decks were moving was highly representational, surely. This girl’s memory, is that simply the memory of a four year old?
Without warning, the ground shuddered, and Ander was thrown from his feet, landing in a tangle of dress. He could hear the screams, oppressive and terrifying like a chorus of damned souls ready to drag you down with them. Ander was snatched off the ground into mommy’s arms, and he couldn’t resist but to grab on and bury his face in her neck. He supposed he had to give himself a break. He was a little girl after all. The three of them rushed toward the dinghies that were being let down one by one, but a dark shape broke the water and smashed several of them to bits. The same move broke the deck where Maria and her parents were standing, and they were thrown into the icy waters below.
Ander tried to swim, but Maria’s little body was too weak. He tried to hold his breath, but Maria’s little body was entirely untrained. It was not long that as the light from the surface faded away, saltwater filled Maria’s lungs. Ander thrashed wildly, trying to get to the surface, but darkness consumed him quickly after that.
Ander, or Maria woke in a place with an eerie glow. Bioluminescant plants swayed around them. They were completely soaked, and Maria was terrified. They stood on solid ground, a bubble of air around them, but they could not see the surface. They could not see mommy or daddy. A face, made entirely of water pressed in the side of the bubble. Ander and Maria screamed instinctively, and scrambled back away from the face.
“Calm, child. I do not wish to hurt you. It is I that drew the water from your lungs and placed this bubble around you. I am Selene. What is your name?” The voice had an odd musical tone to it that made it obvious it did not come from the face alone, but from all around.
“My name’s Maria.” They sniffled. “I want my daddy and my mommy.” They broke into even greater tears. Ander was both shocked and embarrassed by the predicament, but the emotions of the little girl were so overpowering he had no control.
“Be at peace. You will be safe here, and I will return you to your civilization as soon as I can.” Selene said.
“But what about mommy and daddy?” Maria wept. “I can’t go anywhere without them. Have you saved them?” Selene went quiet.
“I cannot save them. I could only save you because you came into my domain.”
“Do-main?”
“You came to my home, which was lucky. You caught a fortunate current to be brought so far from your ship.” Maria wept harder.
“P-please, you have to, have to save them!” Selene paused. Her features were alien, but Ander thought he could see pain and compassion cross her face.
“There may be a way, child, but it will change everything. You will not have the life you knew before.” Selene said with an air of solemnity.
“Will mommy and daddy be safe?” They asked.
“You will have the power to make it so, yes.” Selene replied.
“Yes please!” They cried, now begging on hands and knees.
“Very well.” And the sea crashed in.
Congratulations! You have gained Skill: Soul of the Deep
Skill: Soul of the Deep is level 1
Skill: Soul of the Deep
Level 1
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You have made a pact with a spirit of the deep seas, and now those seas run through your very soul. You gain water breathing. You can now withstand depths of over 20,000 feet. Depths withstood increases with skill level. The waves and currents come to your command and go where you will. Effect increases with skill level. The spirit with whom you made your pact is unusually strong, and this skill will act as though it is 20 levels higher for the purposes of calculating effect.
Ander and Maria rose through the sea at an astonishing pace before rocketing out of the surf and high above the water. He could see the ship, still floating if only barely. Dozens of people were floating around the ship, with dark shapes swimming beneath them. It was trivially easy to jet the people in the water back onto the deck. They rode their own jet of water back to the ship, landing gracefully beside the tangle of people. They ran to where mommy and daddy sat against a cabin, weeping in loss and fear. As they ran, they emptied the hull of water and commanded it not to come in even though the holes were so inviting. They then ordered the water to give the creature a good spanking, and it left in a hurry. Then they finally landed in mommy and daddy’s waiting arms.
She told them, but they didn’t believe it. It didn’t matter. They were back together, and they made port the next day. It was said it was a miracle, but it wasn’t. It was just her friend Selene being awesome, just like Selene was.
. . .
Ander withdrew from the memory. That was a trip and a half. He felt along the string of beads to get a sense of what happened to the girl. He was pleased to find that she became someone important, married happily to someone important, and then died a happy old woman surrounded by family. After some of the other visions he wondered if anyone ended up happy. Ander withdrew from the voidspace and went back to his own body. He got up out of bed finally and hobbled to the main room where Karsish was studying.
“Good you are awake. I am going to have to ask you to leave food and the cooking stuff out when you decide to pass out. It has been nearly an entire day since I have eaten anything.” Karsish glared at Ander who rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
“Oh yeah, sorry about that. Long day and all.” Ander immediately started to rectify his mistake, setting out the kitchen and setting to work cooking the spider boss.
“Ander,” Karsish asked. “Were your eyes always blue grey?”
“What?” Ander asked in confusion. “My eyes are brown.”
“If you say so.” Karsish replied, with obvious doubt in his voice. “You might want to check a mirror some time soon.” Ander immediately summoned a standing mirror and stared at his own eyes. Karsish was right. His eyes had been brown with a bit of green back on earth, but now his eyes had a vivid blue ring around which was a tempestuous grey. Moreover, Ander thought he could see the occasional flash of gold in his eyes.
“I could have sworn that your eyes were nearly colourless just yesterday. It was one of your more off putting qualities. Quite noticeable to have someone greet you with pinprick eyes. You look better now.” Ander stared at his reflection more. Colourless before, blue and grey now. Were his legendary skills affecting his eye colour? What was he thinking, of course they were affecting his eye colour. He couldn’t argue with the result however. His eyes had always been kinda boring before, but this change was at least interesting.
Ander went back to cooking, troubled. He knew he was taking risks getting another legendary skill, but it was affecting things far beyond what he had expected. That troubled him. Of course it was too late for second thoughts. Stupid impulsive man child. All he could do now was make the best of the situation he had put himself in.
Ander finished the meal and he and Karsish devoured it. Ander had to go back to make more, finding himself quite hungry as well. After they were both full and lounging on the couches, Ander summoned the relay node to his hand. Windows exploded into existence around him, startling Karsish as he saw them as well.
Congratulations on defeating the dungeon!
Would you like to claim this System Relay Node?
Yes / No
Ander immediately chose yes.
Congratulations dungeon master Ander!
What would you like to do?
(Note; Admin Level 1 permissions detected. Increasing access level.)
* Establish Domain
* Establish Dungeon
* View class change options
* View or change Node settings
Ander stared at the options, but struggled to make heads or tails of them. He looked up to see Karsish staring at the relay node.
“You have a System Relay Node!”
“Yes.”
“But how?!”
“I went into the ruins and got it.”
“Ander!” Karsish groaned. “Those things are not worth a million points for no good reason. They can allow a lord to establish a domain, which gives greater control of their area. Or it can allow them to establish a dungeon, which is a great way to level troops. You are holding one of the most valuable items that can come out of a ruin.”
“Then why don’t they send higher level people to go down and get them?” Ander asked.
“Because only people ready for their class change can feel them, and if there are people around them that are at a much higher level, their aura blocks out the signal.” Karsish explained. “They are difficult to find, and even more difficult to conquer. Magic could do it easy with the right divination spell. Without that the only ones left in the world are guarded far too fiercely.”
“Really,” Ander said. “The boss was hard, but it had some glaring weaknesses. The right skill made quick work of it.”
“And what skill was that?” Karsish asked.
“Cloudstep.” Karsish stared at Ander.
“Cloudstep. I thought your memory skill was better than mine, but here you are acting like you know nothing. Cloudstep is the tier three evolution of Quickstep. I have no clue how you have it. A level 50 or 60 might have it. It takes years to perfect.”
“Cloudstep was my first class skill.” Karsish was taking a very convenient drink which he immediately spewed across the room.
“What! Class skill! That means Epic, no, you said first class skill. Legendary class.” Karsish stared at Ander.
“I do not know all that is required, but it seems you need a legendary skill at least. My class options were based on the skills I had taken.”
“Good to know.” Karsish said faintly as he fell back against the back of the couch. “What kind of monster are you?”
“The deal with my skill, Minds of the Void, is that I see every history. You see the history of one man in our family tree. It makes mine more powerful, but it also changes how we go about using our abilities. You have probably scoured the old man's entire life by now. Whereas I have far too much stuff to see to ever look at it all. Worse, I have to search for what I want to know and I simply don’t know what to ask. My advantage is that I have access to every legendary ability ever held in my family history.” Ander smirked. “It is a pretty big advantage. But surprisingly bad for information gathering.