When she made it to the shelf, Win immediately healed Reid's wounds, then let Lycra prattle on about the storage ring's capabilities for minutes. More was discussed, in detail, about being able to stack similar items like rations and waters into a single slot - but that the moles were too large to store without cutting them up. She didn't interrupt him until she let out a pained cry minutes later - right as Reid felt a pinprick on his ethereal self.

"Ow, fuck! Reid! Are you serious?"

Reid couldn't hold back a smile. "You tried to use your shiny new skill on me, didn't you?"

Win held a frown. "And it should've worked, even with the suppression collar. Reid - you are G grade. How in all the cosmos are you able to aggressively resist identify? That isn't even supposed to be possible at your level."

"Resistance to all active skills - it works on just about everything. Lessens stuff that's really powerful, I guess."

Win took a deep breath and set her voice into a calm tone. "Resistance to all active skills. Well. Thank you for defeating all the moles and completing this challenge - and for carrying us forward to the rewards. With the moles gone, we can go back to mining in peace." She put a hand on her forehead and sighed. "But Reid - don't tell anyone that you have a storage ring, or 'resistance to all skills'. Don't tell them you somehow took down an F grade creature in two blows, and - really..." She rubbed her eyebrow. "You're entirely too fantastical. Play it safe, and do not share anything about yourself with anyone. Hell, you already shared too much with me. Hold all details about yourself and what you can do tight to your chest."

Reid let the words sink in for a moment. Win was now the third person - Reid wasn't sure if Nyx was technically a person, but it felt rude not to count her - that advocated for him to keep himself as secret as possible. But there were some things he simply couldn't hide.

"What about my osteomancy? I have to use my armor and Requiem when I fight."

Win tilted her head in thought. "Osteomancy is well known. Your level of crafting is certainly above average, though." She thought for a moment. "Your mace is bound, correct? I can't identify it, so I don't know whether you need to hide its details."

"Yep - Bound, you already saw me summon it with the recall trait, and it has growth and self repair. It's Legendary and F rank. Do I need to hide any of that?"

Win shook a hand. "Technically no, but you shouldn't share it if you don't have to. Others may covet your mace even as a bound weapon. It is exceedingly rare to create a legendary item, even for master crafters. Three traits is a somewhat common, if hard achievement. Having four in one weapon has happened, so there's a precedent. Traits vary, but I have heard of all of those save for Recall." She looked up at the ceiling of the cave. "There are similar known traits that involve recreating a weapon, though - so using that near other people should be fine. The F rank portion is not unheard of either - many who get close to the peak of one grade can then craft into the next with enough time, focus, and energy. It's why smiths can be so dangerous and powerful, and also why those employed by strong powers are rarely let out of their forges." Her gaze settled back on him, full of concern. "Someone powerful learns what you made, and they might just try to kidnap you to force you to forge until you craft another one."

Reid was too curious to stop himself from asking the obvious question. "So, theoretically, if I already made a second Legendary F rank weapon, and I did both of them at level 12....?"

Win looked Reid up and down. Her nose twitched and crinkled, then she shook her head.

"Then you would absolutely want to keep such an outlandish, impossible thing to yourself."

#

The three of them followed their conversation with food, water, and rest. Despite the removal of fatigue from Win's skill, they were all well overdue for some actual sleep. Reid was tempted to work on himself and get the extra points he could now make in Power and Control - but refrained. Win still didn't know he was able to raise points on his own - though she would probably find out eventually. He wasn't worried about revealing another secret to her - but was concerned about Nyx's warning. If he really needed to focus on the lower point stats, pushing himself to raise power and constitution instead could be detrimental. He just wished he could ask Nyx questions about... everything.

He awoke again while Lycra and Win were both still sound asleep, but felt well rested. With nothing better to do, Reid started checking out the trash heaps on the main cavern floor.

When the voice came, it was... substantial. Like it was sound pulled out from the dark, husky and wise and just a bit sweet.

"Hello, Reid."

The piece of wood Reid was using to root through the trash pile fell out of his hand. The shock lasted for another few seconds before he responded.

"...Nyx?"

"Yes! Oh my - that's the first time someone else has said my real name in so long. Thank you. I wanted to let you have your rest, and the talk with your friends, but I've been awake since your whole massive list of achievements rolled in. You're a real powerhouse, you know. Just incredible stuff. Now, I know it would be more polite to spend time on introductions, but you read the note - so you know I have critical information I need to share, now, in case something goes wrong."

The 'voice' in his head from Nyx was in the same sort of 'place' that the shackle had been, but it was... less grating. Every word from Nyx felt like a fountain of knowledge where he couldn't see over the side. And there was so much he wanted to know.

"Uhhh - nice to meet you, I think? I have so many questions. About Sara and Susan, mostly. But also what's going on with my cancer. And how you revived me. And what you are - if... if that's an alright question. And how you're related to the shackle. And how-"

"Fewer questions at once, please. I'm still getting used to my new existence here. I already know you want me to start with Sara and Susan. I love your love for them. Sara is definitely okay - and I know that because she told you. Or, well, us. And that's also how I know Susan is alright, or at least she was the last time Sara wrote about her."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Reid was practically jumping. "How? When? What did she write? Can I read it?"

"How is your daughter is damn smart, just like you always thought she was. And she did it for a while. But let's table you reading those for now - woah, hang on, please let me finish."

Reid had bristled and grown angry at not getting to see Sara's writing, but he'd only been thinking about impatiently interrupting - he hadn't even done it yet. The shackle had read his thoughts, and it was one of the most intrusive things about that entire relationship.

"We will get you all set up for that once the big ticket stuff is done. Back to things I need to tell you. I have... limitations, and part of that is how much I can directly share with you, and the ways I do that - like this talking. I am - or was - a person like you. Now I'm a... soul creature, I guess. It's an odd thing. I was also the shackle - or, rather, I was part of it that the shackle itself was programmed not to recognize or allow to grow. Think of the shackle like a computer virus. Oh! Or cordyceps. It was programmed to take over an insect and make it do stuff, and I was the actual insect that was supposed to be in control, but wasn't."

"That's... surprisingly easy to follow. It gives me more questions, but okay. Could... could you tell me about yourself? I'd like to know who it is that's in my head."

"You having questions is fine. I'm giving you oversimplified explanations. So, here's another one. I used to be a scholar, a researcher, and a visionary - but almost everything else about me would reference things you don't have context for. We can have time for answers and full talks eventually. Just know that I have enemies the same way you do. You don't want to alert the Collective to your existence, or mine. The same way you don't want Blasdej to know you're alive. That Lycra really is a smart little oyster. I think you would've looked good in a wig. Anyway, back on topic. There's a lot that happened within you that allowed the revival to work - what I can say for now is that I reworked your pathways and energy pool, which has made you more powerful with mana, as you know - and then I had to... intrinsically connect myself to you so the system would recognize you as being alive before you actually were, then I used the energy to get you back - like jumpstarting a car battery."

Her speech came at an odd tempo. Sometimes she barely paused between sentences - sometimes there was a full second between words, like she was carefully considering the perfect vocabulary to use. "And thank you again, for that. I really don't know how to react to being... revived. But what does intrinsically connected mean?"

"Future talk. For now, just know it lets me talk to the system on your behalf - and now that I've done it, I know of a few tricks I can perform in the future. Get to a beacon, any beacon, and I can act as a mediator or arbitrator for you and your friends, to review and change their contracts to give them more of their points back. Heck, as long as you're still in G grade I bet I could get you into a tutorial. I could even send Lycra with you. Win is a no go on tutorials, though - too powerful. I have to say, she is a sly girl. I like her more than I anticipated. Expected her to be a bit more priss, you know?"

"Anyway, I can help your friends, the same way I helped you - the redirecting points that would've put you into F grade - and I managed to influence the award to get you darkvision, because I knew you wanted it. Influenced, not instructed. I can't tell it exactly what to give you."

Reid knew there was a big discrepancy between the normal contracts that gave out 3 points per level and the 5 he was getting shoved into control. If Lycra was losing out on 2 points per level, he'd be down 50 stat points by the time he hit F grade. Nyx was offering to give Lycra those 50 points, plus more. He had no idea how many points that could unlock for Win. If Nyx could remove those barriers, Reid could help his friends grow stronger. They could all get powerful enough to not have to worry about outside forces.

"Well, that all sounds pretty freaking great. Especially influencing what skills I get. And Sara had a good contract, but nobody else at Sanctuary did. If you can make sure Lycra and Win's are as good as they can be, I'd be really grateful. More than I am already, I guess. That would turn out phenomenally well."

"Exactly. Now, cancer. I'm sorry but blunt is the best way to communicate this. You still have it, Reid. It is... part of you, at your core. And it isn't going away, but it also isn't growing. You don't have the background for me to explain it all properly, but... maybe a treadmill? Oh, more like going the wrong way on a people-mover at an airport. So, your cancer is still there, it just hasn't 'caught up' to you, so to speak. As long as you keep progressing faster than the people mover, you'll stay ahead of things and it won't catch up to you and you won't have to worry about it. But if you stay stagnant for too long, you'll start to go backwards, and eventually it becomes a problem again. You'll know you really need to hustle and progress if you start feeling the headaches and nausea again."

His heart dropped. "Can I get rid of it?"

"That's a good question. Not now, at least. It's as much a part of you as your beating heart, which itself is really... complicated. I'm sorry I don't have better news or more I can explain. I know how much all of that hurts you, and that you were hoping for miracles. Maybe eventually we can cure it, but not now."

Reid sat with his thoughts for a moment. It wasn't exactly new information, but it gave him an idea of what it would take for the cancer to actually hurt him again. But it was confirmation that it was there, waiting in the wings, just ready to screw up his life. He hated it, hanging over him like a guillotine. Hadn't he already suffered enough? What if he didn't advance fast enough now? What would happen if he wasn't quick enough to make it back to Sara and Susan? What if he just couldn't fight hard enough?

"Okay Reid, none of that. I can't read your mind, per se, but I can feel how you're feeling a bit."

Reid bristled. The shackle's mind reading was incredibly invasive.

"Hey, I tried to keep out of mind reading territory entirely, but couldn't avoid some of it. I'm a big believer in autonomy and privacy and alone time. But that negativity you feel isn't going to help you. I know you're strong as shit and you're driven, so you are going to make it through this."

She let the words hang in the air.

"Now, warnings are done, basic questions are done. I have a proposition for you on what we do next, while I have energy. You let me teach you how to build up your dump stats - and why that's important, and then you'll be able to grow yourself up until you can progress into F safely. I can also help your friends get stronger with the same sort of instruction - but to do that effectively, you need to tell them I exist. Lycra will probably be fine following instruction without that knowledge, but Win would be harder to convince."

Reid blanched. Introducing the shackle or telling others about it had not gone great. And Win probably already thought he was crazy.

"I think I have ways to convince both of them, but I'll need you to do the talking for me." Silence stretched for a moment, and her voice came back warmer and empathetic. "And if you're not up for it, that's okay, too. I've had decades to prepare what to say to you when I finally woke up - but I know this is all new and a bit crazy for you to deal with. I'd let you have more time to accommodate if we could afford it."

Reid ground his teeth. This was exactly what he wanted. Instruction on improving himself. Ways to help his friends. It was barely a choice. He didn't just want to do whatever it took to help himself, Lycra, and Win - he needed to. "You swear you can help both all of us, with contracts, and with other things?"

"I can, and I will."

Reid took a deep breath through his nose, and marched back towards the shelf.

"Then let's get this over with."