The dark-haired girl lay across an indigo couch, feet up and shoes kicked off. Lucille had her hands behind her head, her one visible eye closed. There were two daggers on the table beside her, one white and one black. The couch opposite her had a snoozing winged snake. Scytale blinked his eyes blearily as he eventually got up, and flapped his wings, waking up. Lucille opened her eyes at the noise and turned to look at the snake.
“Had a good nap?”
Instead of answering, Scytale opened his jaws to yawn loudly, showing off his fangs. Then he slithered off the couch and onto the short table.
“I hope you haven’t checked yet.”
Lucy rolled her eyes as she sat up, turning to face the table. “I have more patience than you. I was going over my experiences with Vincent Evisenhardt, checking if I had missed anything about his personality.”
The snake lowered his head, so his golden right eye was level with Ouroboros and Apophis in front of him.
“Think he would be good for the job?”
She nodded as she rubbed her left eye, then picked up Apophis, twirling him in her hands.
“His personality matches up with what I remember the few times I had met him, and with what I remember of his reputation. As long as I benefit the Commission with my actions, he will support me.”
Vincent Evisenhardt had essentially been the de facto leader of the Aurelian Commission in the ‘past’. He had led it into an era of power, guiding the Counties, and was the face of his generation of middle-level nobility. She remembered he had supported the next Emperor into power when the current one abdicated, breaking the neutrality rule of the Commission, but allowing him to gain an Honorary Marquis title, and the Faction had gained power almost greater than the 7 Eternal Duchies.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last when everyone found out about the destruction of the Inheritance Trials Event, as all the lesser nobles within the Commission got tempted away by Factions with more potential. A Faction that had lost its inheritance token was a Faction without a future. But Evisenhardt were still prosperous under his leadership when his oldest brother decided to pass him the Count title.
She eyed the snake dubiously. “Unless you’d like to take up the position?”
Scytale shrunk back and quickly slithered onto the couch next to her. “Y-You’ve already chosen after thinking deeply, let’s not change that now. Come on, it’s time to show me the Status page of the daggers.”
She scoffed at his eagerness to get out of work and focused her will on the dagger. A white-blue semi-translucent screen popped up in front of her, and she shared it with Scytale. Then they stopped talking as they focused on reading the page.
[Status: ]
Name: The Serpent’s Fang: Apophis (Lvl. 0)
Race: Demonic Weapon
Rarity: Forbidden - Epic (Evolvable)
MP: 100/100
Stats:
ATK: 300
MATK: 100
SATK: 100
CHP: 1
Skills:
* Burning Blood-Feud
* Twin Souls: Chaos
[ ]
“This is… weaker than I expected. Is he really a Forbidden weapon?” Scytale said, sounding slightly disappointed. She whacked him over the head as Apophis trembled slightly.
“Don’t be an idiot. He’s at Level 0, what are you expecting from him? We need to level him up too. Also, you’re a terrible reader. What do you see below his SATK?” she told him, frustrated.
Scytale narrowed his eyes as he read it. Then he opened them wide in disbelief. “He has Chaos Power?!”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, he does. He got a mental affliction debuff from it too. I’m sensing what seems to be ‘Despair’ from him.”
“Ooooh,” Scytale responded. Mental afflictions were great at reducing the motivation and morale of enemies. “That’s a nasty one. Is it better than ‘Dread’?”
“A tad. Despair makes them more willing to give up, while Dread makes them a slightly bit too nervous and paranoid, causing issues. Let’s see his first skill.”
[Skill: Burning Blood-Feud | Type: Influence/Demonic ]
Desc: In times past in an unknown world, an ancient empire worshipped a deity of the sun. In opposition to this deity was the serpent of darkness and Chaos who wished to devour this sun deity, as was its only desire. A confluence with this mythology and spiritual energy has led to the bestowment of a ______’s resonance blessing upon this weapon, taking on the forces of Chaos’s pinnacle.
Abilities:
Dark Devouring – The strength of one becomes another’s.
* Gives the weapon’s User the ability to gain the spiritual energy of those killed by this weapon. {When used alongside Twin Souls: Order, 3rd Activation, this ability is disabled.}
* Gives the weapon the ability to drain the energy of those within the aura of this weapon to replenish the energy of its User. Drain speed = 5% of User’s MP + User’s MP regen.
Chaotic Origin – Corrosion became Chaos, and Chaos became power.
* Gives the weapon the ability to form an aura of demonic energy along its blade.
* Gives the weapon Chaos Power. Point of Chaos Power increases with each evolution. Current Debuff Affixes: Despair.
[ ]
“Oh, that’s neat. He’s going to get more Chaos Power each evolution. It seems your naming worked, considering the description. And- wait, what’s with you?”
Lucy was holding her chin, her eyebrows raised. “Seems I had it wrong. He doesn’t give half the devoured spiritual energy to his user. He passes it all to Ouroboros, but only when the third ability of her second skill is activated. Spirit weapons don’t usually absorb anything but the residual spiritual energy of their owners, so that’s interesting. I wonder what she does with it.”
“Lucille Goldcroft, getting something wrong?! No…. it can’t be!”
She whacked him on the head. “Item identification isn’t my specialty. I had to do it without the aid of the System, by sensing their vague energy structures through our bond, so it wasn’t very accurate when I identified their basic abilities.”
“I thought you did plenty of item identification back ‘then’ though.”
She sighed. “I had made a bunch of specialised equipment for it, so I didn’t waste a primary skill slot. I miss my old base.”
Scytale flapped his white-gold wings. “It is what it is. What’s the next skill?”
She narrowed her eyes at the screen just before she pressed on the skill. “I have a feeling this name is a sign of the System dumping annoying things on our lap again.”
[Skill: Twin Souls: Chaos | Type: Soul/Link ]
Desc: Two souls were locked together in abandoned space, with opposed natures for millennia. Where others may have destroyed each other, these two souls became as close as siblings and as linked as those by blood. They understood the Supreme Cycle of Chaos and Order, embracing their similarities and differences as one.
Abilities:
Supreme Cycle of Chaos and Order – Two comprehended the incomprehensible.
* Gives the weapon the ability to sense and have a telepathic bond with its soul twin at all times.
* Gives the weapon and its User the ability to be immune to the forces of Chaos or Order. No demonic or spiritual mental influences will affect it or its User.
* Gives the weapon the ability to transfer spiritual energy to its soul twin. {Activated when used alongside Twin Souls: Order, 3rd}
Gargantuan Serpentine Mimicry – The body and jaws of a serpent
* Gives the weapon the ability of independent movement.
* Gives the weapon the ability to extend infinitely, as long as the User has the energy to support it.
* Gives the weapon the ability to extend in width, as long as the User has the energy to support it. Ratio: 1/8 weapon’s length.
Domain of Chaos and Order – Ordered Chaos
* Gives the weapon this skill when within 1km of Soul Twin: Order
* Gives the weapon an x5 multiplicative stat effect when this skill is active. ATK, MATK and SATK x5.
* Gives the weapon an x5 multiplicative ability effect when this skill is active. Energy requirements and cooldown ÷5. Skill effectiveness x5.
* Gives the weapon the ability to receive the spiritual energy of those slain by its soul twin. Supreme Cycle of Chaos and Order applies.
[ ]
“Seems to show what you explained about the weapons before. So, why are you feeling iffy about the skill name?”
She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “You know how the System likes to add extra Events or form natural treasures related to the theme of the current chapter? Those items give benefits to those who compete in the Millennium Chapter. If we don’t have people coming after us to kill us for the daggers, we’ll be hounded by people pressuring us to sell or trade them.”
“You mean YOU will. I’ll be fine.” He said smugly.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Then, should I accept offers from some who wish me to break off our bond so they could bond you instead? How much do you think you’ll go for? I think a bond with a hybrid could go for several hundred crystal tokens if they’re special.”
He looked to the side shiftily. “Er, no, no, I’m quite fine here.”
She went back to analysing Apophis’s skill. “These weapons are really built around being used as a pair. I doubt anyone could use them effectively otherwise. Look, it says he can receive the energy from those slain by Ouroboros.”
“But it says the first ability of Twin Souls: Chaos also applies, which means it will be transferred to Ouroboros anyway, even if he could gain the energy.”
She hummed, spinning Apophis above her palm with her spiritual energy. “I suppose it completes a cycle in some way. So, this weapon has an energy drain function, a multiplicative domain ability, and uses demonic energy and Chaos Power. He starts with very low starting stats for an Epic weapon though, being a sentient weapon that needs levelling up. I suppose being able to ignore magical and spiritual defence, even if limited to only 100 points to begin with, is a good trade-off. Let’s see Ouroboros’s Status.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
[Status: ]
Name: The Serpent’s Form: Ouroboros (Lvl. 0)
Race: Spirit Weapon
Rarity: Wonder - Epic (Evolvable)
MP: 100/1000
Stats:
ATK: 300
MATK: 100
SATK: 100
Skills:
* Rebirth From Death
* Twin Souls: Order
[ ]
She nodded after she read the screen. “Yep, she became a Wonder. I suppose her uniqueness isn’t shown because they have an entire skill based on sharing abilities. No Heroic Power, so you’re not going to be replaced anytime soon.” She patted his head in mock reassurance and he tried to nip her fingers.
“I wonder what this Rebirth From Death thing is. Sounds like a type of Citadel resurrection skill.” He said after he stopped trying to attack her.
“I hope not. I’m still unaware of what would happen to me if I died with my messed up soul ports. Let’s not test that.” She replied, clicking on the skill.
They both stared in mild shock when they read it.
[Skill: Rebirth From Death | Type: Influence/Spirit ]
Desc: In times past in an unknown world, the mythology of an ancient empire was spread to other continents and underwent a reformation. Now of another form, the deity represented the cyclic nature of life and death, and all within. A confluence with this mythology and spiritual energy has led to the bestowment of a ______’s resonance blessing upon this weapon, taking on the forces of Order’s pinnacle.
Abilities:
Cyclic Reforming – The strength of one becomes another’s.
* Gives the weapon the ability to obtain the spiritual energy received by its soul twin. {Activated when used alongside Twin Souls: Chaos}
* Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute skills from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Collected Skill Shards:
* Gives the weapon the ability to merge skill shards to form new tertiary or secondary skills. Limitations apply.
* Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute stats from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Stat gain maximum: 50% of Rank Total.
Ordered Origin – Order became power.
* Gives the weapon the ability to shield its User from damage up to the total of its added active ATK, MATK and SATK. Shield resets when its User receives unshielded damage the equivalent of what was negated.
* Gives the weapon the ability to absorb damage up to its active ATK using its User’s equivalent MP, while shield is active. Absorbed damage can be reflected partially or completely. Current absorbed damage:
[ ]
Lucy whistled as her bond sat a bit higher in his little tower of coils. He glared at the screen.
“Don’t you think Ouroboros is playing favourites too much?”
Lucy grinned smugly and crossed her arms. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“Don’t give me that,” he replied crossly.
She shook her head wryly in amusement. “Well, it’s obvious something is going on here. But it’s not as overpowered as you think. This skill would be completely ineffective if Apophis wasn’t bonded to me as well. It’s only his skills that are responsible for gaining spiritual energy from what is killed, and only his Twin Souls: Chaos, 3rd Activation ability allows me to gain spiritual energy from what Ouroboros kills too. Not a single ability of her first Activation would work if they weren’t close enough for their soul link.”
He grumbled. “Yeah, but you get stats and skills from what you kill. That’s unfair. Sooo unfair.”
She looked at him in mild frustration. “Really. While it may give me stats, they’re not bonus stats. I can only gain half of the maximum for my rank. Even if I ate every natural treasure within the realms, I could only gain another 25% of the Rank Total on top of that due to the System’s imposed limits. If a normal User gained it on top of their normal level-up class stats, it wouldn’t shoot them over the top of the maximum. It could only make sure that they reach the absolute total possible for each of their Ranks, allowing them to catch up to higher rarity class Users.”
She frowned at the screen slightly. “If I get all my stats from just Ouroboros’s skill, natural treasures, and the normal stat potions gained each rank up, I would still be 20% weaker than the peak Users for my rank. 10% weaker than the average Users for my rank. I need to do something about that.”
Scytale narrowed his eyes, thinking hard to make sure she wasn’t tricking him. Then he begrudgingly nodded. “Okay, so not as overpowered as I thought. You still get skills though.”
She rolled her eyes. “Leave me alone. Didn’t we decide on me not using Apophis when killing users? That would reduce my skill gain drastically when only using one weapon. Plus, do you think I’m going to slaughter thousands to get skills?”
She raised an eyebrow at the skill description when she reread it. “Actually, it says ‘skill shards’. I’m assuming this means I must collect multiple of the same kind of tertiary and secondary skills before recombining them into something new.”
She tapped her fingers on her left arm. “I guess it reduces secondary or even primary skills into a more basic form because it doesn’t say I can form any primary skills using the ability, so it’s a bit like choosing a side class, where the forgone main skill deconstructs into secondary skills. It probably also means that it is very unlikely I’ll get complete skills through this.” She frowned in thought. “I’ll need to either make them into entirely new ones or gather enough shards to reconstitute the original. This will take much longer than gaining a whole skill when used. I’ll take the creative freedom over that as a trade-off, however.”
Scytale nodded, not so upset at the ability now. He nodded to the second ability. “What’s your opinion on the defensive ability?”
She thought for a second. “I believe it’s decent. I’ve seen better, but there’s one interesting detail in this.” She leaned forward slightly to point to a sentence. “It says negated. That usually means I won’t gain any damage, no matter what, regardless of debuffs, MATK and SATK. The shield reset function is a bit strange, but it has probably been defined like that to work in conjunction with the damage reflection ability, which I presume must automatically reset the shield when the damage is reflected.”
Scytale flickered his tongue. “It’s a nice skill. Apophis is definitely the more offense-based weapon though. But I have a question…. does it say what you must gain spiritual energy from?”
She paused and reread the description. “No... it doesn’t. Huh.”
They turned to each other and spoke in sync. “Monsters.”
Scytale looked at her, blinking his golden eyes. “I’ve never heard of a skill being capable of gaining skills from monsters. Is that… dangerous? It sounds like something that should belong to a Heretic item.”
She considered it. “Monsters have decaying souls, so their spiritual energy is very weak. It’s why tamers can increase their normally terrible intelligence and prevent them from attacking humans, by giving them their residual spiritual energy to stabilise their collapsing souls through a bond. It’s only monster essence that is dangerous and that is why their parts need to be purified before being used. Only the werewolves gained a monster bloodline and maintained their sapience… but that was a pure fluke and every single other person to try copy them has failed ever since. Even he doesn’t count.” She leaned back, looking at the roof while she considered the idea further.
“Apophis could’ve almost been a Heretic weapon. It even says, ‘Corruption became Chaos, and Chaos became power’ in one of his ability’s descriptions, referencing his past, while Ouroboros’s is just ‘Order became power’. But… I think it’ll be fine. Monsters do have abilities. They wouldn’t be such an annoyance otherwise. They get their mana to form some sort of structure even amidst the ugly miasma of their monster essence, so I suppose I could cast their skills too.”
She looked at the two daggers on the table after placing Apophis down next to Ouroboros. “I was actually planning on getting a primary skill that would allow me to form Proto-skills as my adaptive skill, so I could be a good all-rounder. This is much better as it removes my enormously large need for skill books to properly tier up my main skills without a class.”
Scytale suddenly reared up, baring his fangs. “So, you do admit there was favouritism in how Ouroboros defined her skills! I witnessed you say it!”
She sent him a flat look. “Sure, I admit it. Yay for you. Let’s just see whether Ouroboros’s Twin Souls: Order is any different from Apophis’s skill.”
They turned to read the new white-blue sheet.
[Skill: Twin Souls: Order | Type: Soul/Link ]
Desc: Two souls were locked together in abandoned space, with diametrically opposed natures for millennia. Where others may have destroyed each other, these two souls became as close as those linked by blood. They understood the Supreme Cycle of Chaos and Order, embracing their similarities and differences as one.
Abilities:
Supreme Cycle of Chaos and Order – Two comprehended the incomprehensible.
* Gives the weapon the ability to sense and have a telepathic bond with its soul twin at all times.
* Gives the weapon and its User the ability to be immune to the forces of Chaos or Order. No demonic or spiritual mental influences will affect it or its User.
* Gives the weapon the ability to transfer spiritual energy to its soul twin. {Activated when used alongside Twin Souls: Chaos, 3rd}
Gargantuan Serpentine Mimicry – The body and jaws of a serpent
* Gives the weapon the ability of independent movement.
* Gives the weapon the ability to extend infinitely, as long as the User has energy to support it.
* Gives the weapon the ability to extend in width, as long as the User has energy to support it. Ratio: 1/8 weapon’s length.
Domain of Chaos and Order – Ordered Chaos
* Gives the weapon this skill when within 1km of Soul Twin: Chaos
* Gives the weapon a x5 multiplicative stat effect when this skill is active. ATK, MATK and SATK x5.
* Gives the weapon a x5 multiplicative ability effect when this skill is active. Energy requirements and cooldown ÷5. Skill effectiveness x5.
* Gives the weapons the ability to switch places with their soul twins.
[ ]
“Oh, they can switch places. That’s new. And it seems, looking at both this and Rebirth from Death, that Ouroboros can receive the energy of those slain by Apophis. So Ouroboros transfers the energy of those killed by Apophis to Apophis, while Apophis gains the energy of those killed by Ouroboros, as well as the energy of those killed by himself sent by Ouroboros, and then sends all of it back to her, completing the cycle.”
Scytale stared intently at one of the descriptions. “I didn’t pay much attention to this ability in Apophis’s skill sheet, but look at this. It says you’ll be immune to the mental abilities of the forces of Chaos and Order.”
He turned to look at her. “Does this mean, you can waltz into the middle of the Infernal Duke’s Stronghold, and just, be unaffected by all the clan’s bloodline abilities? No affliction from Wrath, Lust, Avarice, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, or Pride? Like, could you render their abilities completely nullified, and walk out unharmed?”
Lucille opened her mouth to refute the idea, but then paused, considering it with a strange expression on her face. She eventually shook her head. “Unfortunately, the Infernal Demon clan’s abilities don’t only affect the soul. They can have other effects, such as the flame effect of all their abilities, that would do me damage. Although, I would definitely render at least half of their bloodline abilities null.”
The Demon Realm had four Duke bloodlines below the bloodline of any reigning Demon Emperor. These bloodlines gave their members the category of Archdemon, and their bloodline patriarchs ascended to the position of Duke when they reached sufficient strength. The Infernal Demons used their signature Flames of Sin bloodline magic to rule over hundreds of thousands of vassal demon clans.
Scytale nodded in slight disappointment. “Guess it would be too good to be true.”
They went silent as they stopped discussing the daggers, Lucy slotting them back into their sheaths at her waist. She eventually spoke up, having something to ask her bond.
“So, what are your plans for your class? You’ll need to be a bit careful in avoiding what you were like in the past, because while nobody knew we used to be bonded, the Hero,” she said, spitting out the title like it was a poisonous object, “Will want to either persuade you to his side or kill you if he discovers you are the ‘Truth-Seizing World-Ender’ from the past.”
The silvery snake bobbed in an approximation of a nod. “Yeah. I have an idea, but it will depend on something. Do you know of any technique that can merge Heroic Armaments into a singular item?”
Lucille tilted her head in surprise at the question. She leaned back in thought. “Not Heroic Armaments per se, but a Sect from the Heavenly Realm has a technique that enables someone to merge their ‘sword souls’, their Heroic Weapon equivalent.” she said, moving her fingers in the ‘quote’ action.
“I’m sure I could alter it, so it works with Armaments if we get our hands on it. It’s not a highly valuable technique, so it shouldn’t be too hard to trade for the rights to it.”
Scytale bobbed, happy with that answer. “That’s great. I can go ahead with my plan now.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And what plan requires something like this?”
Scytale flicked his tongue and settled into a more comfortable position. “So. My hybridisation means I gain mana regen and a higher MP cap the more people who are watching me. This means I should build my classes around this fact, using my charm to attract attention. But I’ll essentially be drawing tons of aggro that way, right?”
She nodded, crossing her arms. “Ah. I can see where you’re going with this.”
“Yep. I need to have good defence. Me being a target on the battlefield will mean I need to have the ability to survive the onslaught of attacks as I become stronger from their attention. I expect myself to be acting solo in the future due to my bloodline, so. What do you think about me becoming a self-buffer and healer using my light affinity?” He looked up, waiting for her answer. She was the most informed about the System and its skills that he was aware of and had the best processing ability to consider all his options.
Lucy leaned back with her eyes closed, thinking deeply. Her soul was currently rifling through its extensive memories of all the skills she had found, and the mechanisms of how the light affinity interacts with magic in general. Scytale had to temporarily stop the flow of information coming through her end of the bond as it was incredibly overwhelming with the accelerated speed and multiple thoughts.
…..I currently know of 23,765,987 light element skills and spells applicable to Scytale. Half of those require access to the Citadel of Fate’s archives to completely form the pathway, so I’ll leave those out for now. I can get rid of most of that half now, leaving a few thousand, as they have better-quality versions. Some 24 are mana-arts from the Glory Pantheon’s few light element clans. Those could be good subskills to formulate the armament ability. I’ll need to cut out the physical practice part of it, considering he’s a magical beast, not human. 212 healing skills can be cast by him, but only 113 can be used on the caster. Considering he’s going to have high MP regen but a lower MP cap, I need to focus on the ones that require channelling rather than a brief infusion of mana. That cuts it down to… 57. Only 13 of the best spells are under advanced rank spellcraft, which don’t require a mage’s runic model or a wizard’s heart circles to cast, so I can teach him those. 149 of the better defence-boosting skills require a link with Escalon for Thaumaturgy, which is not happening, so I’ll exclude them. 38 under advanced rank can be utilised, but there’s some crossover, so I’ll only leave the ones that cover the most weaknesses….
Lucy blinked as she opened her eyes and looked at the patiently waiting winged snake.
“How does your illusion affinity come into play?” She asked. Scytale flapped his wings in eagerness.
“I plan on using the mimicry aspect of illusion magic to copy the higher strength buffs of the other elements which will grant me an effectiveness of 75% with my current mana manipulation abilities. I thought they would be good to add to my attack arsenal, so I’m not just pure light element.”
Lucy considered this while her fingers fiddled with her fringe. She leaned forward to gaze at the table before them. The ability of illusion magic to mimic other magic wasn’t unknown. It was what illusion magic was famous for, actually. But hardly anybody used it that way because it was too difficult and considered a high-level technique. That was because it required the user to have a complete understanding of how the normal elements functioned so they could perfectly replicate the elemental mana in the form of illusion mana.
But that would mean studying the original element you were copying, which would also mean having the element to analyse, so why would you use illusion magic that way when you could just use the actual element in the first place? Most used the ability of illusion magic to form tricks of the eyes and senses or clones, distracting the opponent, than to cast lower quality versions of other elemental abilities.
Lucy used illusion magic for an altogether different purpose though. She turned to her bond.
“Is that to reduce the elemental resistance of your opponents, and increase your own? I’ll see what buffs and protections I can find. So, what’s the Heroic merging technique for?”
Scytale coiled himself up. “As a magic beast, I’m going to be using my body for fighting. Considering humanoid weapons are terrible for that form, I thought about armour. However, that would be individual pieces, not great for a serpentine body, and I’m not sure how to find a Heroic mana-art that cultivates full body armour.”
Lucille nodded. There would be weak points in between multiple armour pieces. For Glory Pantheon’s Mythos or Champions, it wasn’t an issue, as they typically made multiple different types of armour and weapons to suit the battle. Being able to switch to different armours was important for them, and not viable when you wear full body armour.
“So, a Heroic Armament merging technique that will give you a full-body set of armour as long as you merge new Heroic Power points into your original armament. I’m guessing you’ll go for incredibly high defences?”
“Yep. I want to have armour that is almost purely for defensive purposes, so I can attract attention without worry. And because it will be for my beast form, I intend to mask the fact I use Heroic Power so it appears like a scale transformation bloodline ability like some beasts can use, such as the Rockhide Spinebeasts.”
Lucy nodded again. “That sounds like a good plan. Make sure when you form your armour it has a realistic scale texture.”
She leaned back, their conversation falling into a lull. She looked around the room. “I don’t think we had anything more on the agenda today, so I should probably go back to sorting out the records for the vault. I’ll begin considering what skills to help you gain.” She shook her head in mild irritation. “I can understand why they wouldn’t assign someone to do so considering nobody can access the wealth within, but it makes it an incredible annoyance for me.” She sighed.
Scytale nodded. “Not going to tell me about the pocket watch?”
“No,” she responded. “I checked, but the item sheet doesn’t have anything interesting. And when I activated the Faction Authority, all it brought up was several hundred screens of settings and options. At least I managed to find out that I have the ability to halt all the Counties’ income flow with the click of a button.” She grinned evilly.
Scytale gave a hissing laugh. “Oh, that sounds like a good threat. Now to see how they'll react to that information.”