-End of week 3 of November-
“-and the final winner of the Aurelian Commission’s Competition is… Lux Bramwell!”
The crowd gave a round of applause when they heard the silver-haired man’s announcement. The winner, a young man with brown hair, came and shook hands with the dark-haired girl first in line, and then the County representatives, beaming as he held a big picture frame containing an ornament with the Commission’s symbol. There were a few more congratulatory words and another speech to the audience before they could all leave the massive auditorium.
Lucille spoke up first, “Right. That’s all done now.”
“Except we still have to deal with the aftermath,” Artair said with a sigh.
“It’s easier compared to the work that we needed to do during the event,” she replied, as she, Artair, Viscountess Femidela, Vincent and Rosaline stepped into a large living room.
“I’ll go talk to Lux Bramwell then,” Vincent told them, as he received nods in return. “I have to discuss how we’ll implement his idea.”
“And I will see to ensuring no… extra influences have snuck past my purview these last two weeks.” Viscountess Femidela smirked then she waved goodbye, and left the room.
Artair and Rosaline also went their separate ways to do their jobs. Lucy grabbed her cane and headed towards a room she was going to use to meet several individuals.
I suppose it’s time for me to begin forming my own force.
…
A large room of the Gold Dome hall was filled with the chatter of people talking and discussing the reason why they were asked to be there. Twenty-three people turned to look when they heard the door of their room open and blinked in surprise when they saw it was a dark-haired girl with a mask, the Aurelian Commission Head, and not one of the other representatives. Lucy took out her pocket watch to check the time.
“I’m three minutes early, however…” She raised her head and looked around the room. “It seems all of you are here, so I may as well begin.”
She went to the front of the room and sat down on the chair there. She waved to the rest of them. “Take a seat.”
The people opposite her hesitantly did so, unsure as to why they were meeting with the Aurelian Commission Head herself. Lucy crossed one leg over the other and then gestured to them.
“Now, I assume all of you are wondering what will you be told that is so important that you had to sign a magical contract promising your silence on whatever you saw and heard within this room,” she began. She smiled. “That is because I will be giving you all an offer.”
She let them absorb her words for a while. When the crafters began exchanging hushed whispers, she decided to continue. Lucy held up one of her gloved hands, showing five fingers.
“If any of you come to work for me for five years, during this period I will support them with my resources as the Aurelian Commission Head, and use the Counties’ expertise to refine their final idea submitted in this competition until they are fit for commercial use. This refinement will be completed before the five-year period is over.”
Her audience fell silent and then began talking amongst themselves. She didn’t do anything and just stayed still, letting them discuss it. One man hesitantly raised his hand, so she pointed to him. “Question?”
“Are you offering this to only one person among us, or….”
Lucille shook her head. “No. If all of you accept, then I will support you all. These terms apply to all who accept my offer.”
The talking among them grew slightly louder, all of them surprised by the offer. She could hear them talking about the pros and cons of her offer with the people next to them. It sounded like most were willing to accept, but they hadn’t noticed one little detail she had mentioned at the very start. Another man raised his hand, making her point to him and nod.
“What about our current jobs?” he asked.
“As the County vassal business you all work in are part of the Commission,” she replied, “And my status as the Aurelian Commission Head is enough to order for your transferal with no breach of contract. Your workplaces will be compensated for the loss of a competent worker.”
When there were no more raised hands, she gestured to a Commission staff member in the corner of the room, who nodded and began handing out the details of the offer, which mentioned things such as wages and crafting allowance. Most immediately read the information on the pages, but one blonde-haired man didn’t pick it up and just raised his hand.
Lucille smirked and pointed to him. “Yes, Mr. O’Dearvy?”
Sameul blinked at the fact she knew his last name but coughed and gestured to the pages on his lap. “I have a question. Who will we be working under?”
The rest of the crafters fell silent and looked up as they realised his implication. Lucy propped her chin up with the armrest of the chair and gestured to them all with her hand. She spoke to them with a wide smile.
“I have offered this to you all on one condition. You will be supported with resources from the Founder’s vault, have your plans refined, and your intellectual property will remain yours at the end of it, only if you work directly under me, Lucille Goldcroft.”
She continued as they gained slight frowns, “Not my aide, Vincent Evisenhardt. Not under any other member of the Commission, unless ordered to. No, you will be direct subordinates of the Aurelian Commission Head, and no one else. My orders always have to be your first priority.”
There was silence among them as they took in her words, frowns of deep contemplation on all of their faces. Lucy gestured to the exit. “If you don’t like the idea of being under the Aurelian Commission Head when they have questionable power of their own, then you may take your leave now, and we’ll forget this meeting ever occurred,” she told them. “But you won’t be able to speak about this offer or anything that happened in this room because of the magic contract in effect,” she added.
After a few seconds, two of the twenty-three people in the room got up and gave her a short bow. She nodded to them, and they left the room. She waved to the Commission staff member to come forward, and they did, with magical contracts and pens in hand.
“If there are any more questions, please ask them,” Lucy said.
Nobody raised their hands, so she tilted her head. “Nobody?” After she received no answer, she narrowed her eyes and smiled. “If so, then I will wait for you all to make your decisions. You have one hour, after which the offer will no longer be available. Please think carefully.”
With that, she leaned back in her seat and waited. Her audience began discussing things among themselves, wondering how much power she held if she was making an offer like this. After a few minutes, one person stood up and walked over to her.
“Here’s my signed contract,” Sameul said with a grin. “I don’t think I need to wait long to think about this one.”
She smirked, and took his contract, then signed it with her own pen. “I assume coming to a decision must be easier for you, considering the circumstances of our meeting. I’ve heard you’ve been talking to my Legendary crafter.”
“Yeah- wait.” His eyes went wide. “Legendary?”
“Not the first impression you got from him?” she replied wryly. She handed the contract back and gestured to it. “You are now one of my direct subordinates. As stated in the contract, you get a 10 rose crown signing bonus and will start work on the first day of next year. Enjoy your break, Mr. O’Dearvy.” She grinned. “You are now free to go.”
He blinked and then smiled. After a short dip of the head, he turned and left the room. Lucille looked back at the rest of the people in the room and gave them a wide smile.
“Now it’s your turn to make a decision.”
…
Twenty out of the original twenty-three agreed to be her subordinates. Now Lucy had completed one of the final few steps she needed to do before the next year, which was when things would become much busier for her. However, that was for then. With the competition over, she had returned to Headquarters for the day, with tomorrow being the day she would go to the Capital for the Forerunner’s Event. But first, she had a job to do.
She swung open the door of her living room, shut it behind her with a click, and then walked over to one of her couches. Seated there was an unusually shiny winged snake, his body slowly moving as he breathed. She squatted down next to him and… poked him.
“Scytale.”
He didn’t move. She gently tugged on one of his head feathers. “Scytale, get up.”
He still didn’t move. She sighed, and shifted closer so she could cup her hands around her mouth and talk into his ear, “Scytale, if you don’t get up now, I’m ditching you and going to the System Event all by myself so you won’t get to spy on the Hero.”
There was still no reaction, the magically induced sleep being very hard for him to escape. She stood up and placed her hands on her hips, considering what to do. Eventually, Lucy decided there was only one way she could wake him up. Summoning her most vivid memory of a magical sound blast to the forefront of her mind, she took the sensation… and drove it through their bond to be plunged straight into Scytale’s mind.
“GAH!”
The snake sprang up and shook his feather-crested head. “Ow, ow, ow, ow-” He glared at Lucy. “That hurt. Why did you have to wake me up like that?” Scytale shook his head again. “Urgh, my head’s still ringing.”
“I did try to wake you normally, I’ll have you know,” she replied with a raised eyebrow. “You were completely unresponsive. Be glad I didn’t use one of my even more painful memories.”
“Yeah, whatever. You just wanted to inflict suffering on me,” he grumbled. “So, is it time for the Event?”
“Not yet. That’s tomorrow,” she responded, taking a seat next to him. “There’s something I wanted to do first in case it became useful.”
“And you needed me awake for it?” She nodded, so he tilted his head curiously. “What is it then?”
She reached into her dimensional pouch to take out a mug and the brass jug. “I wanted to go to the Library to find out more about your ‘Sympathetic aura effect’.” She began pouring herself some coffee.
“Ooooh. Yeah, that. We didn’t really focus on it at the time, did we.” Scytale nodded. He stretched out his wings to get rid of the sleepiness in his body.
“Well, that was because I don’t know what it’s supposed to do,” she stated, taking a sip of her drink.
He paused and turned to stare at her. “Wait… you don’t know what it does?”
Lucy shrugged. “Obviously I know what an aura effect does. It’s another type of affix and applies to mana only. But while I’ve heard of the Sympathetic aura effect, its actual effects are unclear to me. However,” she continued, “I do know that it’s one of the effects those who focus on CHAR are more likely to get.”
“That explains why it’s a Sanctity Caladrius bloodline ability,” Scytale said. “Actually, let me bring up the skill page to see. I still don’t have eidetic memory yet.”
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[Sub-skill: Glorified in Bygone | Type: Bloodline/Elemental ]
Desc: As brilliant beacons of light, the many winged Sanctity Caladrius have often been guardians and idols of worship for the lesser, mortal masses. Descendants of one of the few peaceable primals, the Light Bringer, they have protected and purified many areas where abominable creatures roamed, allowing the races to hold deep respect for these beings, with some placing them on a pedestal as more than mere beast.
Abilities:
Neophyte Light Bringer – Child of the purest light
* Gives User advanced Light Affinity. All light element spells have up to 75% increased efficiency and effectiveness. Element ratio: 75%
Golden Pillar of Peace – Everywhere you spread your wings shall see your light.
* Gives the User Lesser light manipulation.
* Gives the User the spells: Sanctification Zone, Rays of Purity, Force of Power (light), Brilliant Beacon
* Gives the User the Sympathetic aura effect. Applied to all light spells.
Emergent Glory – What was, shall return in time, and the praise of mortals will be with them once more.
* Gives the User a buff depending on the quantity of onlookers. Current onlooker count: 1/50. 50 = +50% skill effectiveness.
* Gives the User mana regeneration +1/1m for every onlooker.
* Gives the User a temporary mana cap of +1000 for every 100 onlookers.
[ ]
“Right. It’s applied to all my light-element bloodline spells, so it’s a passive effect I can’t turn off. But can’t you guess what it does from the name?” the snake asked. “You’re more familiar with the System’s naming conventions than me, so you must have some idea.”
Lucy shook her head. “Not this time. I don’t know what it does because as it’s an aura effect, it’s not mental.” She gestured to the screen. “If this was a spiritual energy affix, in a way similar to how Apophis’s Despair mental affliction is a demonic power affix, then I could guess. But when it comes to mana… I’m not sure. It must work differently than just generating ‘sympathy’ in those you cast your spells on.”
“Huh. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go check it out!” he exclaimed, flapping his wings.
Lucille just sighed. “Scytale. At least let me send you my memories of the last few weeks first.”
He sheepishly pulled back his wings. “Uh… yeah. Let’s do that first.”
…
After she had shown him her memories of her time at the Commission and as Adrianna, they got up and began making their way through the corridors to find Lucy’s study. She had something she needed to do there before they went to the Library.
“What are you going to do about him though?” Scytale asked her, continuing a conversation they were in the middle of having. “You met him a whole three months earlier.”
“There is nothing to be ‘done’,” she replied, turning a corner. “The only difference is that I don’t have a reason to be so cold towards him this time around. I’ll just avoid making a few mistakes I did last time.”
“…Lucy, are you happy you got to see him again?”
She paused slightly, glanced at her bond near her feet, and then continued walking again. “Yes.” Then she frowned. “But… this means I’ll have to keep the Hero firmly in check, otherwise… it won’t end well. Again.” She sighed.
“Take care of the things you can do in the present, and forget the rest, Lucy. Maybe we won’t even meet the Hero tomorrow, and we can just have a nice day out,” he replied.
She huffed a slight laugh. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”
“Oh! Hey, Lucy- woah, that is one shiny snake. I was not expecting that when I heard you had a serpent bond.”
Lucy and Scytale turned around to see a blond ponytailed man there, holding a stack of paper in his arms, and looking stunned as he saw the silvery snake on the ground. Jacques and Caius had begun working at Headquarters two weeks ago.
Scytale flapped his wings. “I know a green scaly thing is what stereotypically comes to mind when someone thinks of a ‘snake’,” he snarked, “But don’t generalise us so much. We can be pretty too.”
Jacques smirked. “My apologies then, O bond of the Faction Head,” he said with a slight bow. It seemed he approved of the snake’s character.
Scytale took the sarcasm in stride and spread his wings proudly. “As long as you understand the high status I hold,” he replied with grandeur.
“High status being on the floor, like a lowly crawling insect,” Lucy stated dryly.
Her bond looked down at himself and then turned to her. “Lucy, can you lift m-”
“Not happening.”
Scytale slumped as Jacques looked between the two with amusement. “Can’t you just fly?”
Lucy and Scytale stared at Jacques for a few seconds, making him confused. “What? What did I say?”
“I’m getting déjà vu,” Scytale muttered.
Lucy just sighed and continued walking to go to her study. “My bond here will be able to fly when he reaches advanced rank. But not at his current bloodline strength.”
Jacques and Scytale followed her as they made their way there. “Was there any particular reason you called out to me earlier besides noticing my bond?” Lucille asked the man.
“Hm? Oh, yeah.” He held up the documents he held in his arms. “I was just going to say I’ve got the updates on how the preparation for the first organisational changes are going in the Counties. Ravimoux is nearly finished and will be done by the end of the year. Chavaret is the next quickest, then Evisenhardt, with Alichanteu taking the most amount of time.”
“That’s to be expected with the mess that County is in. And that second heir of theirs…” she muttered with a scowl. She shook her head as she opened the door of her study. “I’ll do something about them after the banquet.”
Inside her study, Caius looked up from the armchair Vincent usually sat in. “Oh, Lucille. I was just waiting here because Vincent’s out,” he replied. He stood up from the chair.
“That’s fine,” she replied. “I’m here because I want you to give Vincent a message for me when he comes back from the 17th floor. Tell him Scytale and I went to the Library for a while, in case he’s wondering where I am.”
“Sure,” Caius said with a nod. He gave her a curious look. “Not going to tell him yourself?”
“He’s currently dealing with the man known as Gordon Merst,” she stated flatly. “I’m not getting involved. Only one of us needs to be sacrificed for that job.”
Jacques and Caius gained strange expressions when she said that.
“Note to self: don’t bother Vincent for a while…” Jacques muttered.
“Er… right. No going to find Vincent.” Caius coughed. He held out a white envelope with a sky-blue seal to her. “Anyway, the reply from the 7th Eternal Duchy came.”
She blinked and then took the envelope. She went over to her desk to find a paper knife, and unsealed it, reading the letter. She nodded after a moment. “It seems the Archduke has accepted my request for a meeting at the banquet. That’s good. Although it will be an entirely private meeting, so Vincent can’t come.”
“Archduke Stolas Eterial?” Jacques asked with surprise.
“The Empire only has one Archduke,” she replied wryly. “I’ll inform the Duchy we received their acceptance later.” Then she looked down at the ground next to the couch and frowned. “Also, Scytale. Stop trying to trip Caius over.”
“Tsk.”
Caius flinched he heard the sound of a young boy in his head and looked down to see a white-gold winged silver snake reluctantly removing a long silvery tail from next to his foot.
“He hadn’t noticed me,” Scytale muttered with annoyance.
“And so your decision to alert him to your presence was to attempt to make him have an accident,” she said with narrowed eyes.
“It worked with Annaliese. And that was because you were all ignoring me!” he exclaimed, rearing up.
Lucy just rolled her eyes as she left the study, the snake following along. Jacques turned to Caius with confusion.
“Who’s Annaliese?”
Caius watched Scytale leave with mild bemusement. “I think he’s referring to the Citadel’s new Prophetess.”
“Huh- no, wait.” Jacques stared at Caius. “Did her bond just say he intentionally tripped over the Citadel’s Prophetess of Fate?”
…
The lift descended to the basement of Headquarters, and Lucy stepped out, with a sneaky serpent on her shoulders, who had finally managed to get her to put him there. In front of them was a massive hall filled with bookcases reaching the room’s roof. Occasionally in places, glowing books lifted themselves off of book trolleys to be reordered by the mana-circle automatically cast on them, and inserted into the bookshelves. The flutter of paper and whir of magic was the only sound heard in the room.
“So… are you going to expand your perception field to find the information you need? It might give you a headache as you are now though,” Scytale asked.
She smirked. “No. There’s an easier way. Could I please have some help, Ashale’viaf?” she called out to the empty room.
There was silence for a few seconds before a cloud of semi-translucent pink petals appeared in front of them. The form of the white and pink-haired rose spirit cloaked in white robes with gold trimming coalesced. Ashale’viaf had an expression that looked like he had eaten something sour as he glanced at Scytale and then turned to her.
“What do you need help with, Faction Head?” he asked wearily.
Scytale stared wide-eyed at the spirit. “Why are you here?”
Ashale’viaf’s expression twitched as he looked back at the snake. “Because I’m the librarian.” Then he sighed. “As a spirit, I can manifest my incarnation in more than one place at a time.”
Lucy’s bond narrowed his eyes. “Yes, but that can only happen if you’re powerful enough to form two or more incarnations. Which means if you’re capable of doing this in the Mystical Realm, you’d have to be a nearly fully-manifested spirit, who’s close to making the material realms their home.”
The rose spirit’s expression stiffened, clearly not expecting Scytale to know that much about spirits. Scytale looked between him and Lucille’s widening smirk. “What are you not telling me?”
Lucy tapped her bond on the head. “Let’s forget about this for now,” she said, to Ashale’viaf’s visible relief. “I came to the Library to find out more about aura effects,” she said to the spirit. “If there’s anything on the ‘Sympathetic’ effect specifically, I’d like to read it, but if not, then a book that briefly lists aura effects and their purposes would be fine.”
He nodded and gestured with a hand. “Please follow me then.”
She did, and with Scytale on her shoulder, they spent a few minutes navigating the many bookshelves, placed in alphabetical order of Imperial Common. He finally came to a stop before one of the bookshelves with a ladder leaning against it, and with a gesture of his finger, one of the books lifted itself off the shelf. It fell into his hand, where he turned around and passed it to her.
“There is no book specifically on the ‘Sympathetic’ effect currently in the Headquarters’ collection, however Copan Earlwight’s Encyclopedia of Affixes contains information on the aura effect you are looking for. This is the 7th volume,” he explained, “Which is the most up-to-date version.”
“Thank you,” she replied with a nod, taking the book from him.
“If that is all then I will take my leave,” he said, giving her a short bow, but not before narrowing his eyes at Scytale, who just flickered his tongue in return.
She sat down on the last step of the bookshelf ladder as Ashale’viaf disappeared in a cloud of petals once more. Scytale sidled up to her as she flipped open the book.
“Don’t you already know what’s in it? It’s inside your perception field,” he said to her.
She raised her eyes from it to give the snake next to her a flat look. “I’m opening it so you can read it.”
“Ohhhh…”
She went back to flipping through the pages until she found the section she was looking for. She tilted the book to let her bond read the page.
Aura Effect 98: Sympathetic
This aura effect is an ability commonly given by the System to Users with high CHAR or charm-type bloodlines and paths of progression. The Sympathetic aura effect is sometimes mistaken for the Empathetic aura effect, but it is important to know that there are differences between them. As an aura effect, this ability does not mentally instil ‘sympathy’ in those affected by the User’s aura, but instead enables the User’s mana to be predisposed to forming small mana links and mana bonds with the mana of the people around them. These bonds are unnoticeable unless viewed on an extremely small scale, but allow the User to absorb and send information through them, while also transferring mana. The transferred mana has different effects depending on the affinity of the User.
These links seem to occur as a form of enabling the connected to gain a common understanding with someone, the bonds enhancing comprehension. This characteristic is why the Sympathetic aura effect is often confused with the Empathetic aura effect. However, the linkage of mana in the case of the Sympathetic aura effect is universal, and not dependent on shared affinities like the Empathetic aura effect. This is because the mana linkage is completed using non-elemental mana as an intermediary. This is also the reason why the connection benefits of the six essential elements* are non-dependent on elemental effects, as seen below:
Affinity:
Earth – Temporarily increases the interruption resistance of the mana of those connected for the duration of the connection. Increases the interruption resistance of the User in turn if the connector has stronger interruption resistance.
Fire – Briefly increases the power of the mana of the connector. Casting spells or using mana-dependent skills while in this state will consume the link. Power increase and cooldown before new link forms are dependent on WIS of the User.
Water – Increases the attraction of elemental mana to the connected and the User when using elemental abilities, enabling potential activation of the ability amplification phenomenon. Attraction level scales with the number of connected.
Wind – Increases the mana flow speed of the connected and User, dependent on the number of connected. Enables quicker activation of skills and abilities.
Light – Shares mana, regenerating the connected’s mana. This uses the User’s mana to do so, transferring mana out of their own mana pool to fill the mana pools of the connected. Transfer speed is dependent on mana regen.
Dark – Drains the mana of the connected to refill the User’s. Drain speed is dependent on mana pool size, or INT.
*The aura effects of mid-level and high-level elements are not documented in this book.
These affinity effects can only be activated intentionally, and the User can specify which connection to activate these effects on. It should be said that as it is ‘universal’, the User’s mana automatically pseudo-bonds with all sentient beings' mana. It takes time and practice to prevent the link from occurring and to disintegrate these links but likewise means others are unable to readily sense the connection.
It took Scytale a while to read it and absorb the information. After a while, he raised his head to look at Lucy.
“Okay, so… this does what exactly? I can share mana with people, that’s neat… if I knew enough people to make this ability worth it!”
She smirked. “You regenerate mana dependent on how many people look at you. In summary, Scytale…” She gave him a wide grin. “You’ve become my battery.”
He glared at her. “You use atmospheric mana.”
She shook her head. “Ah, but I still need to use my own mana and spiritual energy with Apophis and Ouroboros. So, in actuality, you’re their battery too.”
“But I physically can’t be!” he exclaimed, spreading his wings. “I fight with my Primal Descendant skill. I’ll end up being over 30 metres long once I reach advanced rank and activate it if I reach Skulker’s size again. I can’t fight alongside you like that!”
Lucille just shrugged. “I don’t know what to say to you, Scytale. In essence,” she gestured to the book, “this is completely useless to you.”
The winged snake looked between her and the book, then sagged. “Useless ability, clogging up space on my Status for no reason,” he grumbled sourly. “I already have so much on there when I’m not even Rank-1 yet.”
“That’s the case for every high-rarity beast though,” Lucy replied, shutting the book. “As a Hybrid with the Primal Descendant skill, you have it even worse. You have a whole two more subskills in your Origin Skill than nearly everyone else besides other beasts with primal descendancy. But Scytale, remember your light-element spell list?”
“Sanctification Zone, Rays of Purity, Force of Power, and Brilliant Beacon, right?” he said to her nod. “What about it?”
“Only Force of Power is an attack spell,” she stated, extending her spiritual energy to lift the book back into its spot on the bookshelf.
He hesitated. “Wait… what do the others do?”
“Sanctification Zone is a spell that temporarily converts the elemental mana in your vicinity to light element mana,” she explained, standing up and beginning to head towards the Library’s exit. “Rays of Purity is a weak healing spell that can be cast on multiple people at once. As for Brilliant Beacon…” she grinned. “You become glowy.”
“…glowy?” he repeated.
Lucy nodded. “Yep. Glowy.” She raised her hands up. “You let off a tall pillar of light. It does nothing else.”
“So… my light-element bloodline is pretty much useless right now?” he asked, following after her.
“It’s not like your illusion bloodline spells do much either though,” she replied, stepping into the lift, Scytale entering just after.
“Yeah, but seeing through lies, going invisible, camouflaging myself and having a spell that makes people gloss over any mistakes I make while invisible is at least better than being a walking light show!”
She stopped reaching for a button on the lift to give Scytale an odd look. “Scytale… may I remind you that you don’t have a human form right now, so any metaphors like that sound extremely strange when taking your current appearance into account.”
He stared at her, then looked down at himself. “This stupid body,” he muttered. “I’m not leaving human form for at least a week when I finally get it.”
The lift began to rise as Lucy turned to him. “How’s your progress with your bloodline?”
“It’s going fine,” he replied. “I can tell I need over a month more, but probably not a month and a half. I’m guessing I’ll reach it within the first two weeks of January.”
“Good that everything’s all on track then,” she said.
“So what are we going to do now?” Scytale asked.
She got out her pocket watch and checked the time. “Now I think might be the time to check out the Founder’s vault.”
“Any particular reason?”
Lucy pointed to her dimensional pouch. “The first reason is that I have yet to get around to emptying all the Inheritance Trial’s items out of here to look at what we received. I haven’t needed to yet.” Then she sighed. “And the second reason… is to retrieve a particular object I discovered when I first searched the records. It’s unlikely I’ll be able to use it for what I want, but I want to have it on me just in case.”
Scytale flapped his wings, and Lucy lifted her up onto her shoulders again. “I guess I’ll wait until we’re up there to see what item you’re talking about. But how do we enter it exactly?”
Lucille stepped off the lift as the doors opened. “We need to go to the vault’s room first. As a dimensional System artifact, it doesn’t take up any physical space in the main realm, so it’s kept on our floor. All I need to do is use my pocket watch to access it.”
She made her way through the corridors of the fortieth floor until they came before a small side hallway. Entering it, a large pair of white double doors stood before them, set into the end of the hallway. Lucy brought out her pocket watch and opened up its Item Sheet.
[Inheritance Token – Type: Pocket Watch, Magic Item ]
Name: Token of the Aurelian Commission’s Founder
Rarity: Ancient
MP: 10,000/10,000
Desc:
This pocket watch has been designated as the Aurelian Commission’s succession item by the Founder of the Aurelian Commission, Crawforde Lockhart. Crafted by a master crafter, it functions as both a clock and a locator for members of the four founding Counties of the Commission: Evisenhardt, Chavaret, Ravimoux and Alichanteu.
Abilities:
Four Founding Counties – Used by the Aurelian Commission Head to locate members of the Counties.
* Gives the four symbolic gemstones of the Commission’s four Counties the ability to locate the closest member of each of the Counties. Consumes mana passively and must be recharged once a month.
Commission Head’s Compass – Special ability of the Aurelian Commission’s succession item.
* Gives the yellow gemstone the ability to locate what the Commission Head desires to find. Requires varying mana costs dependent on location, distance, rarity, and type of target.
Total Faction Authority – Faction Authority of the Aurelian Commission.
* Grants Total Faction Authority of the Aurelian Commission to the User soulbound to this token.
[ ]
“Huh… this is really lacklustre. Isn’t what’s written on here the exact same stuff Ashale’viaf told you?” Scytale asked.
Lucille nodded. “Exactly. Which is why I didn’t bother showing this to you beforehand.” She placed a hand on the doors and pulled on her soulbond with the item. “Activate Total Faction Authority to open the Founder’s vault,” she said.
[User Lucille Goldcroft has used their Total Faction Authority of the Aurelian Commission Head to access the Founder’s Vault.]
The doors in front of them lit up with a white-blue glow as the notification sounded. They swung inward, revealing what looked to be a blank white wall.
“So… uh… do we just step through? Into the seeming nothingness beyond?” Lucy’s bond asked hesitantly.
Lucy smirked. “Yep.” And with that, she stepped forward through the white wall, and then the doors shut behind them.