With the rank up from Tin to Iron, Aylie’s ability Astral Walker had allowed her to see into the Astral. This had manifested in a few different ways, from her being able to see when people were talking through mental communication, as well as seeing bonds between people and between people and their heirlooms. It hadn’t been particularly useful as of yet but with the rank up from Iron to Bronze, that changed.
Zalia tried again to talk mentally to Ember but once again, Aylie reached out with her hand as if catching something. Ember shook her head.
“Well, that’s… scary. Should we try bonds now?”
Ember looked concerned.
“Zalia, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Maybe not, but I think Aylie should understand what her abilities are capable of so that she can avoid doing anything dangerous or harmful to others.”
Ember didn’t look convinced.
“We won’t do it without your permission.”
Ember eventually nodded, so Zalia nodded to Aylie.
“Alright, just reach out and touch it if you can. Don’t pull on it or anything just yet.”
Aylie tentatively reached her hand out and poked at the air and Zalia felt a little vibration across her bond with Ember, like it was a suspended string someone had just plucked.
It was weird.
“I can feel… something.”
As Aylie reached out and touched it again, Zalia sent a pulse of thought down the bond. Aylie yanked her hand back like she’d been bit.
“Ow.”
Ember raised an eyebrow at Zalia and she just shrugged.
“Ow? What did it feel like?”
Aylie looked up at the sky for a little while.
“Like… pain but not in my body. Pain in my soul?”
Zalia nodded. She’d felt that kind of thing before, usually when using a passive ability too much. Holding back the Ascendant’s aura and sprinting for days using Mobility were the two that came immediately to mind.
“Right, so be careful of touching other people’s bonds. That kind of pain is weird, hard to measure. I don’t know if it’s dangerous or not. Ro would know.”
They played around with it a little more, finding that Aylie was able to read their emotions through the bonds. Kind of. She described it as trying to read someone’s emotions except it’s in another language. It soothed Zalia’s fears about the abilities a little, though she was sure that as Aylie ranked up more, it would become more of an issue.
While Aylie had ranked up a lot, Zalia also had a few things to look at as of recent times. Survivalist had reached Silver. That meant that six other abilities had also done so. In addition, Teaching and Flight had both reached Bronze as well.
Profile - Zalia Taori
Health - Excellent
Mana - Full
Stamina - Full
Class one - Hunter - Bronze 7
Linked attributes - Strength, Dexterity
Active skills
Kill Shot - Bronze 8
Hunter's Mark - Bronze 13
Fight or Flight - Bronze 14
Passive skills
Hunter's Sight - Bronze 7
Survivalist - Silver 1
Class two - Herbalist - Bronze 7
Linked attributes - Vitality, Resilience
Active skills
Flora Identification - Bronze 7
Preparation - Bronze 14
Druid’s Grove - Bronze 9
Passive skills
Harvester - Bronze 11
Herbal Magic - Bronze 18
Unity class - Druid - Bronze 10
Linked attributes - Wisdom, Intellect
Active skills
Nature’s Wrath - Bronze 11
Protection of the Wilds - Bronze 10
Passive skills
Healing Presence - Silver 1
General Passives
Heat Resistance - Silver 1
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Cold Resistance - Silver 1
Aura Observation - Bronze 16
Enhanced Vision - Bronze 18
Poison resistance - Iron 7
Mobility - Bronze 15
Stealth - Silver 1
Trapper - Silver 1
Teaching - Bronze 6
Flight - Bronze 9
Physical Resistance - Silver 1
Mental Resistance - Silver 1
Weapon proficiencies
Bow - Bronze 14
Sword - Bronze 12
Throwing Knives - Tin 17
Bonded Items
Druidic bow, Blessed by Starlight (Blessed Heirloom) - Deeply bonded Bronze rank.
Duskwraith Armour (Heirloom) - Bonded Iron rank.
Ethereal Vault Gauntlet (Heirloom) - Deeply bonded Bronze rank.
Passive 2 - Survivalist - passive - body enhancement
Tin - The body of a hunter shall not fail easily. Gain the heat resistance and cold resistance passive skills. They level alongside this ability. You are able to survive with less nutrition.
Iron - Gain the stealth and trapper passive skills. These also level alongside this ability. You require less sleep.
Bronze - Gain the Physical resistance and Mental resistance passive skills. They level alongside this ability. You are able to survive with less air.
Silver - Your aging slows. You do not require nutrition. You do not require sleep. You do not need to breathe.
The Silver rank abilities were… ridiculous. No food, water, sleep, air or anything, really. She didn’t need any of it. That also extended to Boreal who shared her Survivalist passive, something that Ember didn’t get despite having a similar bond. Zalia thought it had something to do with the fact that her and Boreal had started with a Beast bond, not an emotional one.
Heat Resistance - passive
Tin - You take reduced damage from high temperatures and heat-related magics.
Iron - You may manipulate fire and heat to a minor degree.
Bronze - You are able to channel heat from the environment to minorly boost yourself or allies
Silver - Your ability to manipulate fire and heat is increased. Additionally, you may alter your form to take on a fiery visage.
Cold Resistance - passive
Tin - You take reduced damage from low temperatures and cold-related magics.
Iron - You may manipulate ice and snow to a minor degree.
Bronze - You are able to channel cold from the environment to minorly heal yourself or allies
Silver - Your ability to manipulate ice and snow is increased. Additionally, you may alter your form to take on a frozen visage.
Physical Resistance - passive
Tin - You receive reduced damage and effects from physical attacks and physical-related magics
Iron - You may manipulate earth and stone to a minor degree
Bronze - You become harder to move by force
Silver - Your ability to manipulate earth and stone is increased. You may alter your form to take on a stony visage.
Heat Resistance, Cold Resistance and Physical Resistance all had very similar upgrades. Each of them increased how well she could manipulate the elements, as well as allowing her to take on their form a little bit. She was a little scared about trying them out initially but enjoyed it once she tried.
The heat visage made her flicker with flames and made her body a little bit more… malleable. It wasn’t exactly useful because she could already walk through most things with the ability her armour granted her, but it was still fun.
The cold visage did exactly the opposite. It made her look kind of like Boreal. She had icy shards grow off her shoulders and back and her body became tough like ice.
The stony visage she hated. It made her skin crack in a way that reminded her of the obsidian demon, as well as making her body tough as the cold visage did. She stayed far away from that one after she’d used it the first time.
Stealth - passive
Tin - Normal vision and sight-based skills and abilities have a harder time seeing you.
Iron - Other senses are also inhibited and you blend with your surroundings.
Bronze - When still, you become invisible to the eye, only becoming visible again when you move. Certain perception types can see through this.
Silver - You may now remain invisible when moving. This invisibility is more resistant to alternative types of perception.
Trapper - passive
Tin - Your traps are magically hidden from sight.
Iron - Your traps are magically enhanced.
Bronze - You are able to magically fabricate basic traps you have been able to make before in an instant without materials. You are limited in how often this ability may be used.
Silver - The strength of all traps are significantly increased. Additionally, you may create up to ten traps that remain permanently. These will also rearm themselves soon after being triggered.
Both Stealth and Trapper passives had interesting and useful upgrades. She had already scared Ember multiple times with her invisibility, though she still hadn’t managed to sneak up on Boreal. Her and her vibration vision were just too damn perceptive.
She had also already laid those ten traps around Nature’s Reclaim, knowing that they wouldn’t trigger on any of her friends or family.
Mental Resistance - passive
Tin - You receive reduced damage and effects from mental attacks and mind-related magics
Iron - You may perform minor telekinetic feats
Bronze - You may mentally communicate with creatures capable of understanding language
Silver - The power of your telekinesis is increased. You are able to create invisible surfaces only you can touch with this ability.
The final ability ranked up by Survivalist, Mental Resistance, allowed her to push off pretty much anywhere she wanted. If she stumbled, which she never did anymore anyway, she could just catch the air. She could even walk into the sky on invisible footholds, making that part of Mobility useless.
Teaching - passive
Tin - you gain a better understanding of what methods of teaching will work with certain people, scaling with the level and rank of this ability.
Iron - when teaching someone, they have an easier time grasping concepts that you explain, scaling with the level and rank of this ability. You are also able to convey simple concepts even when there is a language barrier.
Bronze - Attempting to teach someone about something you aren’t fully educated in will give you insights into the subject, allowing you to learn even as you teach others.
The Teaching passive had helped her a lot in trying to figure out Aylie’s powers, as strange and hard to grasp as they were.
Flight - passive
Tin - Your manoeuvrability is increased and your air resistance is reduced while in flight. This scales based on the rank and level of this passive.
Iron - Your ability to perceive your surroundings while flying becomes exceptional. You can spot distant details and potential threats with remarkable clarity, allowing you to anticipate and counteract aerial assaults effectively as well as see threats on the ground.
Bronze - All flight-based abilities are easier and cheaper to maintain. This effect increases based on how many allies you also give flight to.
Her final rank up over the past months was Flight, a very nice addition that she wished she’d had earlier when they were travelling all across Endaria.
Both Ember and Boreal had also ranked up an ability or two each, Zalia only having so many rank-ups as Survivalist pulled six other passives along with it.
Not needing to sleep had been weird the past few weeks. While she didn’t have to, she still could do so if she wanted. Falling asleep in Ember’s lap had been a conscious choice, something she was able to do whenever she wanted now for some reason. Sleep was now a switch she could flick on and off, rather than a life necessity.
Recently, Zalia had been feeling more and more comfortable where she was. Thoughts of getting revenge on the Astar had faded far into the back of her mind, even more so thoughts of reclaiming Cormaine. Without constant danger, pain or people dragging her into conflicts, she was getting more and more happy to just sit around with her family all day.