James was having a weird day, while weird for any other day, pretty normal for a Monday. First a weird AI robot that he was beginning to think might not be a robot came and started chatting with him. Then he realized that his best bud and roommate Bubbles had disappeared, which inevitably led to the Almighty Microwave coming down and linking their souls together, whatever that meant, James was sure that it wasn't important. What was important was that he and Bubbles were reunited. Oh and the strange blue maybe-not-robot AI kept asking him weird questions.
"You have three Skill points, what Skills would you like to choose? Remember that you may pick Skills not specifically shown though they may not always cost just one Skill point."
Weapon Skills Magical Skills Misc Skills Basic Blade Control Basic Ranged Weapon Control Mana Control Advanced Mana Sense Basic Crafting Basic Alchemy Advanced Long Blade Control Advanced Short Blade Control Mana Affinity Magical Bolt Basic Smithing Basic Bowyer Exotic Weapon Control Unarmed Fighting Mana Shield Improved Meditation Basic Toxin Making Basic Chef Improvised Weapon Control Gandhi's PP Method Counter Spell Basic Magical Lore Basic Tailor Basic Builder
The maybe not AI robot was proving itself quite insistent, and while obviously The Almighty Microwave outranked it James still figured it was best to not piss off his potential soon to be overlord. So James decided to pay actual attention to what it was saying.
If these Skills did what James thought they would do he would have to choose carefully, or just pick the funniest sounding ones. From what he was assuming though the Skills would teach him how to perform actions. Of course if that was true then he had some questions about some of the Skills. After all, some seemed to promise magic, and then there was that last option in the Weapon section.
Gandhi’s PP Method was certainly a questionable named Skill, and the fact that it was under the weapons section was giving James a few very concerning ideas. Of course if it did what he was imagining it would shut fights down pretty fast, and probably get him called down to some form of HR, wait with his new robot overlords would that become RH? No he supposed it would only be RH when dealing with robot situations and he was still a human so it would still probably be HR.
Of course instead of just guessing, he could ask the seemingly very chatty blue box. Now some may be more curious about the seeming magic, but you couldn’t talk about something called Gandhi’s PP Method and not have him ask about it.
“Hey, Mr. Maybe not Robot Overlord, what does Gandhi’s PP Method do?”
“Gandhi’s PP Method is a formidable Skill found throughout the cosmos, if you use the PP Method you can settle a lot of conflicts. Named after Gandhi’s known use of peaceful protesting, this Skill is a very powerful ability that allows you to settle conflicts. When somebody uses their PP Method they are able to more easily settle conflicts without resorting to violence, furthermore it gives you something similar to what you may have heard as referred to as an Aura, anyone within range of this Aura will be more peaceful and with specializations the Aura can also do things like heal the people within”
Huh, that seemed a lot more versatile then what James was imagining, probably for the best what James had in mind wasn’t exactly PG-13. Despite that James probably wasn’t going to pick it, oh sure if he understood it right it would be useful, but James was fairly certain that the end result of using a Skill for peacefully protesting against anyone that was determined to inflict violence would be him getting stabbed very painfully. Also why take the non violence option when there was a violent one; it would be like playing an optional stealth mission stealthily, if you didn't blow something up then was it really an optional stealth mission?
That only left the question about magic, oh and now that he thought about it he was confused on why some of those Skills were super general, like wouldn’t the Basic Crafting Skill cover the rest of the Skills offered in the Misc section?
“Hey Mr. Blue Box, does the Magic Skill selection mean that I’d be able to use magic, also what's the difference between the more general Skills and the specific Skills?”
“The Magic Skills will give you magical abilities, keep in mind if you decide to choose one of them that not all magical abilities are equivalent, for instance the Magical Affinity Skill allows you to choose between a wide variety of affinities, a fire affinity could give you the ability to burn you enemies well a healing affinity can give you the ability to heal wounds. you don’t need the Magical Affinity Skill to have an affinity, everyone has some affinity but by choosing the Skill you assure a certain level of affinity as well as the option to choose whatever affinity you want.”
That was a lot more the info then James was asking for, who would go just dumping all that info on someone, how would they properly understand it? It all kinda made James' head hurt and so he just decided that none of that would end up being important.
“As for the difference between general and specific Skills, imagine a line: on one side you have Skills that allow you to do a lot of things but none of them really good, on the other you have ones that allow you to do one thing really well. For instance the Basic Crafting Skill lets you craft a lot of different things, but the Alchemy Skill is far better for any alchemical purposes and even more specifically the Toxin Skill is far better at crafting toxins, but it can only craft toxins. In some instances the lack of true ability in any specific subject can be made up with practice. The Mana Control Skill allows you to do almost any of the Magical Skills, besides things like Mana Affinity and Magical Lore. If practiced, the Mana Control Skill can have both great power and versatility.”
Once again that was way more than James was asking for. It could have just said “Versatile Skills = semi-okay at everything, Specific Skills = really good at one thing.” Luckily Bubbles probably understood it all, he was very smart like that. Actually speaking of Bubbles, these were originally his Skills and James would feel pretty bad if he used them all.
“Hey Bubbles, what do you think we should get?”
“...”
“Man! I was not expecting that level of blood lust from you, though I totally agree you swords are sick so I should pick one of them.” As he talked he got an idea. An awful idea. James got a wonderful, awful idea!
“Hey Mr, Overlord does this Soul fusion thing mean me and Bubbles can share Skills?”
“That is an accurate assessment, for most purposes you and Benevolent Undine of the Blue, Bringer of Luck and Eternal Serenity are the same entity as opposed to two distinct beings, this means that you will share most Skills.”
Well that settled it Bubbles getting the ability to wield a sword was far too cool of an idea to just not take. That only left the other two ‘Skill Points’.
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“I was thinking we snag the Basic Crafting Skill it just seems like it would be the most useful”
“...”
“Glad we can agree on that one”
“As for the last Skill I wanna try that Mana Control one, it is as useful as Mr, Robot suggestd it will be real fun to mess with”
“...”
“Great! If that's all settled I’ll tell the blue box our choices”
“...”
James slowly turned around to stare at Bubbles, a look of awe and reverence on his face.
“THAT IS BRILLIANT!”
“Hey Mr, Overlord, for the first two Skills we’ll take Mana Control and Basic Crafting”
“Confirmed, what will you like to spend your last Skill Point on?”
“Well we were wondering if we could get the highest sword only Skill available?”
Bubbles logic went like this, “If the more specific a Skill is the better it is, and we only want to fight with a sword, then let's choose a sword specific Skill instead of something like Advanced Long Blade Control.”
“... The best Skill I can select with your criteria is Initiate Sword Wilder, is that acceptable?”
“I think that will work quite nicely” James said with a smirk of anticipation on his face.
“Confirmed prepare to receive Skills.”
Then just like that the blue box disappeared as slowly as it arrived, inching its way backwards at what looked like a snail's pace.
“”Huh, I thought that would be more dram—”
Then as the blue box fully disappeared it all hit James, and he met that literally as an impact slammed in to him, and as it did James knew what Mana was and how to control it, with the next impact impact James knew how to craft all sorts of things, and with the third impact he knew how to use a sword to strike down his enemies. James began to let out a sigh of relief, but was cut short as one more impact hit him.
Everything shattered, James was pain and agony, his existence felt like a small dying stream as it dried up into nothingness, James somehow knew what was happening his Soul was shattering he felt connected to Bubbles in a way he couldn’t even begin to describe, He felt Bubbles, he knew Bubbles, he was Bubbles. And yet his Soul continued to crack.
As his Soul cracked it ran into something solid and stable. It felt like a tunnel or a bridge and James knew once more that this was the Soul corridor and that it wasn’t going anywhere, unfortunately the rest of his Soul was. Then something small happened, something that realistically should have had no effect on James, a small tendril came through the soul corridor and wrapped around James Soul giving it a squeeze of support. James could feel Bubbles through that strand, he could feel the love and compassion, and, with a new force of will James began to force his soul back together.
The pain was agonizing, it is something that words fail to demonstrate, imagine billions of needles stabbing into you as fire roasted you and all your bones repeatedly cracked. Except that didn’t even give it justice; mortal minds were not designed to comprehend pain this bad. Words fail to explain it, agony beyond imagination, and yet through it all the small stream of James existence grew stronger, starting out small and growing into a mighty river, and still James fought his soul going from a river into a lake and from a lake into an ocean. Until finally, blessedly, it stopped. James couldn’t have told you how long he fought to remake his soul, it felt like enough time to see the birth and death of a universe, something that should scar him so bad as to never recover, but through all that time, all that pain Bubbles little tendril stayed reaching out, even though Bubbles was going through an equally bad experience he supported James the entire time. Bubbles was truly the best roommate to ever exist.
James opened his eyes and saw another blue sign, this one didn’t speak to him, James started to read the sign going faster and faster as his head cleared, what he saw left him confused.
Tempered Soul of the Oceans
You have reforged your soul from near nothingness, persisting through inexcusable pain that not even all Transcendents could face. You mustered an inner strength and willpower that is rarely achieved. Focusing on the idea of an ocean as you forged your soul anew created a strong connection to everything water, this is further strengthened through your Soul Fusion with a creature of the depths.
Rewards:
Tempered Soul, Strengthened Water Affinity, +5% Insight, you are officially recognized by any creature of the seas as being kin
This was followed up with yet another screen.
Soul-Fused Gestalt
You have fused your Soul and the Soul of Benevolent Undine of the Blue, Bringer of Luck and Eternal Serenity, creating a bond that none can break. This bond has created something far stronger than either of your Souls alone.
Rewards:
SoulBound Gestalt
Both of those were weird, but not necessarily bad, as for the next two, they just pissed James off.
Welcome Initiate, to the Wasted Isle
A being born of the Cosmos and corrupted by a vile better left unmentioned. This being was cast from the Heavens down to a lone island where their taint could reach nothing of consequence. Soon it corrupted almost everything around it as its power grew and it continued to seek a way to reach its home among the clouds once again. If left to grow its taint will make everything on this island a hollowed out husk filled with darkness and corruption. Stop it before it reaches full strength or experience the consequences. Reach its tower after defeating the guardians and slay The E̸̫̥̟̾r̵̠̄r̷̛̟̒͝o̵̫̚͝ř̸̝͕̬͝ Touched Horror, Monarch, and The Eldritch Aurora.
You are the E̸̫̥̟̾r̵̠̄r̷̛̟̒͝o̵̫̚͝ř̸̝͕̬͝ person on this island
Plunge into The Deserted Castle of the Dunes, The Abyssal Chasm of the Inevitable Devourer, The Decrepit Temple of G̷̺̱͍͂l̶̨̟̘̓ȧ̶̩̠̲k̶̦͍̍̑d̴͇̈́̋a̸̡̹̼̽͋͐b̷̪͍̙͊̕a̶̦͒r̸̜͇̈̀̑ The Power Crazed Glutton, to get the resources necessary and finally reach the summit of The Eldritch Aurora’s Overlook,
Good Luck
Beware! For you have caught the eyes of the Transcendents. Tread carefully for woe to those that catch their ire.
Glackdabar The Power Crazed Glutton, Laughs at your inevitable corruption
Lendinthrin The Unquellable Leviathan, Has little faith in your abilities
Aurora The Cosmos Elemental, Is Convinced in its kin, even corrupted as it is
Drikilsin The Destroyer, Chuckles at you eventual demise
Alice The Phantasm Lady of Darkness, Believes that you can succeed
Drakilsin The Caretaker, Supports you and thinks you'll conquer your plight
Screens filled with errors, and those Transcendents judging him, that was just great. Sure he wasn’t really mad that these Transcendents doubted him, that was understandable after all he was just James. No he was mad that they doubted Bubbles, didn’t they know after all that Bubbles was the best.
James turned to ask Bubbles if he could believe these people but the words died on his lips as he watched in absolute horror as two giant crabs one a murky green and one a dark shadowy black, scuttled up to Bubbles tank snapping their giant pincers ready to tear into him. And when James said giant he meant giant, well standing they reached almost up to James waist and were twice as wide.