“Ha! You did visit a snake enclave! I thought you were kidding!”

Lucy turned to face the speaker, Scytale around her neck. She and her bond had arrived the day before and were taking a walk before lunch. With the return from the jungle being even more stressful than the trip into the jungle, they had both agreed to stop any discussion of plans until they had been properly rested. Currently covered in his ancestor’s illusion still and would be for the next month, Scytale had comfortably settled into his normal position of the past, as a rather heavy necklace.

Greeting them both was a tall man dressed in heavy steel armour, a blue crest on his chest plate. Darvis McGarrod lifted his visor to reveal his weathered face, peering at the new addition of Lucy’s with his brown eyes.

Lucille raised Scytale’s upper body for him to see. “My new bond.”

“Yes, it is I who she travelled all this way to find, for only I am worthy of such effort.”

Lucy gave the snake a flat stare as Darvis chuckled.

“Sure thing buddy. Although,” he said, giving Scytale a closer look, “I didn’t even think we had a serpent enclave here. Your colouration reminds me of a story the City Lord told me.”

Lucy and Scytale blinked in sync at the statement.

Darvis grinned at their reaction, before explaining, “When we first settled in this region, none of us could work out what to name our city. We traded information, trying to come up with some key characteristics of the area to pick a name from. Eventually, we turned to the City Lord for help, as his father first discovered the region.”

Darvis placed his armoured hands on his hips as he looked out towards the jungle. “He told us that his father had once suddenly met this giant black, mottled serpent with indigo eyes larger than himself. The serpent ignored him, no doubt due to his lack of threat, and the City Lord’s father had apparently seen it turn invisible before his eyes, blending in with the trees.”

He turned back to them with a shrug. “Unaware of what the real Supreme clan of the region was, we decided it was our best bet, and named the city after the story. We had almost given up, thinking it was a rulerless region.”

Lucy nodded. A rulerless region was always a sign of the region lacking enough resources to support a major enclave. There was only one exception, but it wasn’t a phenomenon that would occur again.

Darvis squinted his eyes as he looked at Scytale. “Do your folk get much bigger?”

Scytale let out a hissing laugh. “I didn’t inherit the size of my clan. My ancestor can wrap herself around this city twice when shrunken. We’re the Supreme clan of the region, yes.”

Darvis’s eyes widened when he heard Scytale’s description, and thoughtfully nodded with a hand on his bearded chin. Then it looked like he had a realisation, and he hastily dipped his head. “I uh… greet the Supreme clan of the region. May I ask for the honoured name of your bloodline?”

Scytale snorted. “We only use the old greetings because we don’t interact with the outside world much. We won’t take offence if you don’t use them, as long as you’re not trying to be disrespectful, which is obviously not what you were doing. My kin calls themselves the Truth-Seizing Serpent Clan, after our ability to create our own truths through illusions.”

It was customary to introduce the key feature of a beast’s bloodline when introducing their name to others, as it provided context without unduly giving away their abilities.

Darvis looked relieved but still a bit hesitant. Scytale noticed and flicked his tongue. “You want to ask how strong our enclave is, right?”

Darvis nodded.

“We are considered an Ancient clan, as our ancestor is over 20 chapters.”

Darvis sighed and ran a hand down his uncovered face. “That… makes things a bit difficult. No offence to you guys, of course, but Ancient clans are… finicky to deal with when determining their actual strength.”

Ancient clans held no position among their main race but had existed long enough to not be underestimated, so it was hard to rank them among other sub-races with their more honorary title.

Scytale nodded in understanding. “We aren’t vassals, have no vassals nor have allegiances outside our loyalty to the serpent races as a whole, however, if it helps as a comparison, the central serpent enclaves have been pressuring us to interact with them and the outside world more, which wouldn’t happen if our clan could be placed any lower than a mid-ranked noble clan.”

In actuality, the Beast Realm did not have a feudal system, but it was easier to rank them as such for the other realms to understand. Magical beasts did not technically ‘speak’ a language as such rather than send their vague thoughts and intent across, which the System translates for the other races. Those with bonds did not have their thoughts translated and they received their bonds intentions in full capacity when the skill was strong enough, but still had the words of other magical beasts translated.

Darvis looked happy at what Scytale had told him but was deep in thought. A minute later he looked up at them. “Do you think your clan would be open to some limited communication?” Then he paused. “…...actually, where is your clan? We haven’t found a single sign of your kin for over thirty years.”

“In the centre of the nightmare zone,” Scytale replied smugly. Darvis’s eyes widened and he looked at Lucy, the unanswered question of how she survived clear on his face. She shrugged.

“I’m too weak to be monster food.”

He didn’t look so happy at that answer but didn’t ask more. He turned back to Scytale who responded to the other question.

“My clan is neutral, but that doesn’t mean we’re hostile to others. We’re just hard to access. I can mark it on your mini-map if you want, and if you tell them Scytale sent you, then I’m sure they’d be happy to discuss stuff with you. As our clan is big, there’s no issue for human access, besides getting my clan’s help to climb over a few trees.”

“Hah. Tree climbing. Haven’t done that in a while,” Darvis chuckled. He accepted their suggestion about the mini-map, and they chatted for a bit longer before he bid them goodbye to continue with his duties as captain of the city guard. Lucy and Scytale went off to continue their walk.

‘What’s the bet Skulker will be the first to see them?’

Statistically low enough that it's improbable, so it’s obviously going to happen.

He snickered as they made their way back to their room at the inn.

…

Lucy got two chairs and dragged them to the silk-shaded balcony of her room. Placing a pillow on the other for Scytale to coil up on, she sat in the other and watched the traffic go by underneath in the sun of the early afternoon. She looked at Scytale.

I believe it’s time we finally discuss our situation.

Scytale shuffled his feathers lazily as he remained curled up on the pillow.

‘Thanks for being patient. I can tell how worked up you’ve been these last few weeks. It’s like your mind’s been on accelerated speed for the entire month.’

Lucille sighed.

Nearly. The issues with my Status have ruined all the original plans I’ve made. At least the general skeleton of my plan is something I don’t have to modify.

‘Imagine how you’d be struggling without your mental constructs.’

I’d rather not.

She turned her chair slightly so she could kick her legs up onto the balcony railing.

Anyway, my Status issues aren’t going to be resolved in the next few minutes, so I think discussing your memory loss is the more important thing right now.

‘Right, my memories. I’m… not sure memory loss is the best term for it though. Because it feels like I still know everything I used to, but there’s always something niggling at my mind that always slips out of my grasp.’

She glanced at her bond.

It’s clear to me that your personality hasn’t regressed, so your description of your symptoms is as I expected. Are you facing any other issues?

Scytale opened his golden eyes to look down at the streets below.

‘Well, my eidetic memory is gone for sure. And sometimes something triggers memories to come back. I usually get several because of my mental age, though.’

Lucy huffed a slight laugh. Scytale, of course you’ve lost your eidetic memory. You wouldn’t be able to forget anything in the first place if you still had it.

‘Oh… Well, I meant more in the sense that anything I remember doesn’t have the same clarity it used to.’

Then you must have soul degradation. But the fact your memories are only triggered by external influence…

Lucy stopped communicating mentally with Scytale for a moment, falling silent. Eventually, she leaned back in her seat with her eyes closed.

I’m going to need to inspect your soul.

Scytale’s eyes widened as he stared at her.

‘Please no.’

Scytale, this was always going to have to happen.

‘Yes, but…’

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

He hesitated, before flapping his wings with false bravado and outrage. ‘I don’t want to do it! The sensation of someone rifling through my soul sends shivers down my spine!’

Lucy sighed and sent the amphiptere a flat look. We would’ve needed to do this to ensure our memories match and we aren’t from different timelines. Stop overreacting.

‘You’re not the one who’s getting someone rifling through their memories…’

Scytale.

‘Ugh, fine. Get it over with quickly.’

Lucille turned around to face Scytale. She sent her spiritual energy through the bond so she could begin searching his soul. It wasn’t difficult for someone with her mental processing capability, especially as Scytale had lost most of his soul stats, but navigating his strangely intense emotions and sensations, as well as avoiding spending too long focusing on the incomprehensible ancestral bloodline memories within his soul took some effort.

Usually, soul inspection was something only an extremely trusted relative or close friend would do, but they were both bound so tightly by Lucy that if Scytale wanted to, he could see her memories, and he could see hers. Perceiving the simple spiritual energy sea surrounding his ‘sphere of consciousness’, ‘mental power’ or ‘soul ocean’ as the Heavenly Realm liked to term it, was always an experience because she had arranged her soul into a mechanised system of thought strands and mental constructs, all moving and doing their job like a computer.

Compared to Lucille – whose soul looked like a matrix of foggy-white machinery that was always moving like it was some giant building-shaped mechanical construct – Scytale’s soul was completely bare and unprotected.

That was how a soul naturally appeared for those who didn’t use soul manipulation abilities. And Lucy’s soul was by no means normal when it was in its natural state either. Her soul had always tended to conform to shapes and structures of a more artificial design.

Scytale kept his memories inside his sphere of consciousness. All living beings kept their memories there, as memories were key parts of an individual’s personality. While her memories were carefully compartmented in a way similar to the mind palace technique, Scytale’s were sort of haphazardly strewn about. They drifted about in bubbles throughout his consciousness, with the older ones sinking to the bottom.

Some of those memories Lucy wouldn’t ever be able to access. Those were his ancestral memories and the key difference between the soul of a magical beast versus the other races. That, and his instinctual sensations she could feel through the bond.

Yes, this is definitely soul degradation. But there’s something else going on. I believe I know what it is, but let me check your memories just to be sure.

‘Please be quick….’

You know anyone else would be ten times slower than me. Stop whining.

It wasn’t unwarranted though. Having someone rifle through your soul and scan every moment of your life was not a pleasant sensation.

Just as I thought. Your memories are sealed. However… there’s no spiritual energy residue within your soul at all, which means only neutral spiritual energy was responsible for this and the soul degradation.

‘Huh? That’s a thing? But then the soul-tracking techniques of the Heavenly Realm would be defunct! Who could do this?!’

Not who. What. It’s the System’s doing. Both the soul degradation and the memory sealing.

‘That makes no sense. Memory sealing is supposed to protect the soul from degradation, yet you’re saying it both sealed and degraded it? Isn’t that just making its job harder?’

Lucille turned back to the balcony.

I believe this is a situation of two different Sub-Systems interacting. The Underworld Sub-System that’s responsible for sending souls to either the Resurrection Sub-System or back to the soul realm must’ve begun the soul deconstruction process but was interrupted somehow. And I think I know what interrupted it.

‘… so you’re saying you know what happened? That’s good enough for me. As long as it’s not going to continue, and my memories of the past timeline match up, then I’m okay.’

Lucy put her hands behind her head. When you can, put free stat points in MENT. The System will automatically repair your soul degradation when that happens.

'Sure thing, doc. A lecture a day keeps the destruction away.'

She rolled her eyes as Scytale flickered his tongue. They sat in silence for a while, enjoying the cooler temperature as tropical thunderclouds bordered the horizon, rolling towards the city. Eventually, Scytale shook himself and looked at Lucy.

‘So, shall we discuss your recent misfortunes of the new timeline instead of mine?’

Lucy wordlessly sent through the information about her Status, rewards, and the mask. Scytale stared at her.

‘Where do I submit my resignation of being your bond?’

She cocked an eyebrow at him. What, it’s not the fate-distorting Hero coming after me that has you scared but a single line suggesting the existence of some old demon?

‘Said demon is apparently some supremely ancient powerful monstrosity, still alive and you just earned an item that controls their own realm!’

Lucille smirked. We’ve faced worse.

Scytale hung his head in mock despair. ‘That doesn’t mean we need to face more.’ He shook his head and glanced at her. ‘The mask pretty much mentioned they’re pretending to be someone or something. Do you have any idea who this demon is?’

Lucy fell silent.

‘Wait…’ Scytale narrowed his eyes at her. ‘Do you?’

She remained silent.

‘Do you?’

… let’s change the subject.

‘Uh… okay…’

Lucy sighed and the conversation fell into a lull once more. That was until Scytale spoke up again.

‘Well, Lucy, what plans do you have in mind to deal with your Status issue?’

She hummed for a moment, thinking. I do have an…. unconventional plan in mind, but…

She looked up at the stormy sky, judging how much time they’d have before it rained.

I say we take a walk while we discuss it. It may be somewhat of a complicated topic.

…

They began their walk through the colourful silk-sheltered streets of the city, stopping to inspect any shops that seemed interesting. They didn’t buy anything, however, as Lucille was busy communicating with the winged snake on her shoulders.

Let’s discuss what my main issues currently are. The number one, major problem above all else is the fact I can’t assign my free stat points. That means I am barred from ever gaining stats through my levels.

Scytale bobbed his head in an approximation of a nod. ‘Yeah, even when you select your class, you won’t be able to assign your stat points. Stat distribution is all up to the User, after all.’

Lucy sent her agreeance through the bond as she bent to look at the brass magical items a crafter was selling at his booth.

As such, I’ll need to increase my strength through other methods. The System’s stat potions still work, so I can count on Event and stage rewards for those, but there’s no way I’ll be given enough to make up for all the levels I’ll earn. Nor would the System be willing to give me stat potions so I don’t need to level up.

‘So, I guess you’re saying you have a solution for this?’

Elixirs and stat-boosting foods such as purified monster meat can allow me to gain 25% of the rank total for each rank.

Scytale turned his head to eye her as she pulled away from the booth to continue walking.

‘Are you saying you want to max your bonus stats early instead of doing it over several years like most people? For a Rank-1 to do that, it’s going to take loads of money, Lucy.’

She smirked. Which is why I’m planning on joining a Faction.

Scytale stared at her. ‘Is this the Lucy I know? What happened to the mighty Archmage who avoided any contact with the Guilds, Sects, and Supreme Institutions to go exploring outer planes on her own? I thought you swore off any Faction business after you quit the Navy.’

Lucy rolled her eyes. I never swore off anything. But I avoided them to not get caught up in politics. She raised an eyebrow at her bond. Take a guess where I plan to go.

Scytale thought deeply. ‘Well, it’s probably going to be in the Mystical Realm considering it has the largest reach and best technology. The Empire of Eternity? But if we became nobles, we would be too busy with politics, fiefdom ruling and gathering resources, and it takes years to gain any kind of powerful title. All-Aeon Athenaeum is a decent choice, but your magic is unique, and they would ask too many questions about your application of atmospheric mana to be safe. They’re also too prideful. The Citadel of Fate….’

Scytale shook his head. ‘Paragon has too much power over it, and it’s risky if they notice anything wrong with our fortune and fate. And there is no way we could ever join Glory Pantheon with your terrible combat abilities.’

She flicked his forehead for the last statement but continued walking. I’m not going to one of the Supreme Institutions.

‘Huh? But only they’re rich enough- wait.’

Lucy smirked as Scytale realised what she meant.

‘Ohhhh… so that’s where you plan to go. But how will you make sure their money becomes yours?’

Well… Lucille reached into her dimensional bag and withdrew a small item. Shaped like a white credit card, printed on the front was a sky-blue key shape. When she tilted the card, the key icon shimmered, and Scytale could see that it slightly hovered above the white card like a hologram. It was the Inheritance Key. The item every User only received once from the Tutorial, and never again.

I have this. And with it, I can gain a title of nobility without needing to rule a fiefdom, as well as be the superior of a clan of Glory Pantheon.

‘Two for the price of one, huh? But won’t you be too busy managing it to level up then?’

She shrugged.

I’ll pretend to be a puppet leader while someone else gets to have the power.

Scytale nodded. ‘Okay, so… I guess you plan to use a ton of items and artifacts to make up for your lack of strength. But then, what class are you going to choose? It can’t be that you plan to be completely non-combatant?’

I’m not going to choose one.

Her bond blinked. Then blinked again. ‘…what?’

I said I’m not going to choose a class.

He stared silently at her, and Lucy felt amused when she saw the thoughts running through his head.

I’m not crazy. The only benefits a class could give me are primary skills and Aspects. I can’t even use my free stat points so what’s the use of getting a high rarity class? All it will do is turn the default five stat points per level up into more depending on my class rarity, so it’s essentially useless to me regarding my stats.

‘But what about the multiplier boosts from Aspects?!’

Lucy smirked and narrowed her eyes at her bond. Scytale, you know the best multiplier boosts never come from class Aspects. And you know I am perfectly capable of getting any Aspect I want.

Scytale fell silent for a moment. ‘…right. Your Authority. You’re able to access every Class, Aspect, Skill, and Title in the System.’

Ah, but only so long as the second layer of Status restrictions hasn’t activated. Unfortunately, that automatically activates when a User receives their first class and makes their Status unalterable.

Lucy grinned at him. But what if I never gain a class? Doesn’t that mean everything is always available?

The silvery amphiptere shook his head wryly. ‘I bet the System is regretting it sent you back to the past now. When did you find out about this ‘second layer restrictions’ thing?’

Just when I was searching through the System Repository’s miscellaneous knowledge. It wasn’t even considered classified information. Anyone who has naturally increased their Authority could find this under the ‘System Information’ category.

She smirked again. Of course, only an individual with extraordinarily high Authority who’s capable of accessing all Classes, Aspects, Skills, and Titles straight out of the Tutorial would ever be able to use this knowledge. For this to work though, we need to check I still have my Authority. So we need to use my Rare skill book.

Scytale nodded, understanding her plan. ‘But there’s just one more thing I’m curious about… how are you going to complete the inheritance trial? I thought nobody ever completed it.’

This Permanent Event was deconstructed following the reveal of the 7th realm. All unopened inheritances at that time were destroyed. I was there and watched the System remove it all. I was curious and so, using my Authority, saw the answer to several of the harder trials among the System jargon.

Scytale continued nodding along to her explanation… until he hesitated and narrowed his eyes at her.

‘Hold on.… you were conveniently there, just as the System was using the source code of reality, and you just 'happened’ to peek at what it was doing at the right time to see ‘this’ particular inheritance’s solution?’

……I may have had my perception field open at its maximum to find instances where the System was destroying other Events for study purposes. I thought the harder inheritances had something to them that made them different. I was wrong. It was just humanity’s stupidity failing to find the solutions.

‘Oh, this was when you had only just discovered your Authority. Didn’t you waste 50 years of your life researching the System during this period while I gained strength? Wait, it was closer to 70.’

Lucy’s expression went flat.

Shut up. Anyway, that’s my goal. In a week the decennial Permanent Event will open in the Wolvenheim Greenwood Region. As it’s a region belonging to one of the Wolf clan nobilities, it will be more advanced, and more extensive. That means there will be a branch of the Empire’s Distorted Depths Battalion in the city. I need your illusion magic to help me with a plan.

‘… what are you trying to do with them? There shouldn’t be a need for you to interact if you’re going ahead with this plan of yours.’

Be patient. Ever heard of this skill?

Lucille sent through her recollections of a certain skill she discovered at the Obelisks, showing Scytale the information. He tilted his head with interest.

‘That is probably one of the few skills I could say are actually overpowered. For me, it doesn’t hold much practical value, but for anyone who needs to be in two places at once with separate identities, this skill is perfect, besides the additional resource costs. I’d almost envy you if it wasn’t obvious why you want this as your first main skill. You’re going to be near him aren’t you.’

He gave her a look of pity, but she just returned his look with a wicked grin.

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

…

It was finally time for them to head to the Obelisk. Clicking her tongue when she noticed the now darker clouds, she let Scytale slither up her arm and coil around her neck, before heading off down the city streets before the rain could catch them. It was times like these that she wished the concept of public transport made it to the Tower before encountering Earth. It was a small comfort that, if her plan worked, she could implement it, along with several other features of a modernised society.

Barely making it before the rain started falling, she stepped through the angular archway of the giant smooth glossy black pillar. It had long been a point of contention among the Tower realms on why the System chose to place intimidating black structures of great height throughout the realms, rather than following through with its theme of white-blue colouration. Lucy thought it was because the System wanted to keep the polished angular spikes true to the concept of Earth’s ‘obelisk’ while seeming futuristic in style, as all System creations are wont to do. The object was large at the base while steadily decreasing in size as it grew taller. It was square-shaped at the base, with four sides, and when it reached a certain point at the top, the edges bent inwards to form a point.

They always remained taller than the highest building in the city. Several egotistical rulers of the past sought to test this, and so, to their eternal frustration and humiliation, and everyone else’s amusement, they found the Obelisk was still a good height taller than their building, no matter how high they built.

Inside the Obelisk was unknown. That was because as soon as you stepped through, you went unconscious, and then found yourself inside a semi-translucent white box placed some distance above the Obelisk, a scene of the realm you were in playing about below. It wasn’t necessarily a scene of the city you were in. Sometimes it was different regions, and sometimes it was scenes of places in the far distant past. Lucy likened it to a 3D screensaver.

They were often sped up in time, showing the construction of entire kingdoms in a span of half an hour. Time was completely stopped for those inside the Obelisk, and as soon as they went out, they would find that no time had elapsed. Some of the cultivators of the Heavenly Realm tried to abuse this by using it for ‘entering seclusion’ but found that they could move no energy. You could use no skills there, and if you didn’t have a bond, you couldn’t bring in anyone else.

It was inside this cube that you could access several more features of the System. One was class, Aspect and sometimes skill selection, and the Directory was found here for people after the Tutorial. Obelisk teleportation had a normal limit of once a month for Users, to prevent frequent army mobilisation or similar. If you were part of a Faction, you could find out any Faction updates here, or see the Announcements for your current realm when they weren’t System announcements. It was essentially a very limited form of internet for Users. For pre-System inhabitants, they could also do their Tutorial here when they turned 16. You could also complete the stages here, depending on how they functioned in that realm. Sometimes to complete a stage you had to go to multiple Obelisks.

Lucille was able to summon an armchair, in a fashion like that of the mirror in the white space, when in this room. If a User learns to manipulate their Status and System functions with spiritual energy, they gain ‘Authority’ to access more features. These features are pretty useless for the general population, but for things like viewing the ‘System jargon’ as it was called, the System hid nothing if only you knew how to look for it. She condensed threads of white spiritual energy, and several blue semi-translucent screens popped up. Imbuing a bit of will into the screens with her threads, the screens solidified until they were no longer semi-translucent. Scytale sat on her lap as she searched through a couple to find the ones she wanted.

“Status first?” she asked the now once again silver amphiptere, the System hiding none when they were in the Obelisk space. With no other ears to eavesdrop, she was comfortable with verbal communication.

“Yes please.”

A flick of a thread and a screen was brought to the forefront. She enlarged it for them to read the white font. Pressing a button, a notification popped up.

[Detected Magical Beast bond with User Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft’s soul. Initiate Status? Yes/No]

Tapping [Yes], a new screen popped up.