I’d almost forgotten about the black and silver amulet with its glittering black gem. I reached down and touched it, realizing I’d never taken it off. It was strange. I had no memory of wearing it while in the bath, or even the weight of it around my neck while I was being tossed around by the c’thon inside the Delve. It had mostly left my conscious awareness, but there it was, still hangin’.

I peeked down at it, focused, and the description popped up. Some of it had changed.

Traveler’s Amulet

This is an evolving item.

Current Level: Crumb-Cruncher

Effects:

1) It’s stylish.

2) Soul-Sight: You can perceive the strength of the souls around you. This effect is set to the lowest setting by default. You can intensify it by concentrating, but be careful. Some souls are better seen from a distance.

Make Soul-Sight your own to unlock this amulet’s next effect.

The item had miraculously transformed from useless to being of dubious utility. Soul-sight sounded cool. Maybe it was like a power-scanner, or aura-perception, or ki-sense, or feeling someone’s reiatsu, or gyo, or seeing cursed energy, or demon-scent, or being a stand-user, or sensor-jutsu, or a spirit-medium.

Something like that.

That’d be cool.

I took a look at Grotto to see if I noticed anything different.

He hovered in the air, his little octopus feelers undulating and his cool-toned feathers drifting lazily in a non-existent wind. He was surrounded by a thin shimmer of a bright, silvery substance. I stepped closer and reached out a hand, but he drifted away.

[Why are you doing that?] he asked.

[I'm trying to feel your soul.]

I went to try and touch the substance again, which clung to Grotto like water in a zero-gravity space, but he continued to move away. Although the stuff flowed like liquid, it was only visible along the edges of his form. When I moved around him in a circle, the edges moved with me, staying locked around Grotto’s periphery. When I studied it closely, the color had gray undertones, but was vibrant and luminous. There was also another layer underneath, closer to Grotto’s body. I squinted and focused, which caused the substance to grow in size until it spread out about a foot in width around the Delve Core. I could now make out the bottom layer, and it was a dark green that shimmered as though it had oil mixed into it.

“Huh,” I grunted. I went to the full-length mirror and glanced at myself. I had the same, bright silver halo around my body. The thinnest layer around my form was also green, like Grotto’s, but it was lighter and more vivid, sparkling like it was made of gemstone rather than oil. It matched my eyes. “Lookin’ good there,” I said, shooting finger-guns at myself.

[My escaped lunatic theory is growing more likely.]

[Come on, can’t you see through my eyes?]

[Not exactly, it’s more of a mental impression.]

[You see this shiny shit around me? It’s around you as well.]

[I… do not.]

[Hmm, weird.]

I shrugged, giving that up to something about the way the amulet worked. I concentrated so the effect went back to the smaller, ‘default’ setting, heeding the warning in the description. I went to the closet-thing. Or was it a dresser? An armoire? Maybe the right term was wardrobe? I dunno, I’m bad at identifying furniture. I went to where my boa and jacket were stored and opened the thin, upright clothes-storage furnishing.

I paused before grabbing the garments and concentrated on them, seeing if they had any effects beyond being glamorous. I started with the boa and was happy to see a text box open before me.

Rocket Man’s C’thonic Feather Boa of the Cat’s Pajamas

The name may be long, but we bet you’re longer, rawr.

Armor rating: None. It’s a feather boa. It won’t even stop an agitated chihuahua.

Effects:

1) There is an increased chance that dames and jobbies will think you’re keen and try to make you their daddy. This item somehow makes you sexier than you already are.

2) You’re not the man they think you are at home. Tales of your heroic deeds are more likely to spread and take on an exaggerated form. It’s technically not lying if you fail to correct your rabid fans when they talk about the triple-backflip you performed while killing a Greater c’thon. At level zero. By yourself. And *checks notes* with your mother-lovin’ bare hands! Badass alert!

DISCLAIMER

Relevant actions must be performed while wearing this item to gain the benefit of this effect. Actual rate at which rumors spread and exaggerations are taken seriously are not guaranteed and vary between subjects. Always consult your local mana weaver to see if this item is right for you.

What the fuck.

I threw the feather boa over my shoulder and checked the vest.

Outlaw’s C’thonic Leather Vest of the Dirty Muffin Toy

Hurt them, hurt me, hurt yourself. Hurt anybody you want, baby.

Armor rating: Minimal. This item will stop an agitated chihuahua, but not much else.

Effects:

1) You are more likely to succeed during attempts to intimidate, frighten, or outright scare the daylights out of people. You gain a bonus to this ability if you wear the vest open and without a shirt, showing off your manly chest hair and rock-hard abs.

2) Whips, chains, handcuffs, and lethal weapons. You’re a masochist and it’s time to admit it to yourself. When taking damage you recover a small amount of stamina based on the damage you received. We won’t tell you how much, because we know you’re eager to find that out for yourself. You also gain a bonus to this ability if you wear the vest open and without a shirt, showing off your manly chest hair and rock-hard abs. Did we say rawr already? Fuck it. Rawr again, baby.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

[This is unexpected,] thought Grotto.

[This is what gets you? The System actively encouraging me to keep my shirt off?]

I thought about the puking session that had ruined my new shirt.

Was that intentional?

Had I really needed to excise what I suspected was exactly twenty-two percent of my organs through my mouth, or was it some elaborate scheme to sabotage my wardrobe?

[The level of prurient interest being shown by the System is foul, although that likely has to do more with you than the System itself.]

[Cool, cool. Do you think this is an intervention of some sort?]

[I believe the word you are looking for is enabling, not intervention.]

[Eh, I guess you’re right.]

[Regardless, what is strange is that I just received a System message as well.]

[Figured you’d get those a lot in your line of work.]

[Yes, but not this type of message. You were previously granted Dungeoneering for bonding with me, but I am the one who received the prompt to choose an evolution.]

[What? That doesn’t seem right. It’s my skill isn’t it?]

[Given that I am the resident expert on Delves, it makes more sense that I be allowed to choose.]

[I hear your argument, but here’s my counter. It’s my skill.]

[That is irrelevant.]

[No, I think it’s highly relevant.]

[It doesn’t matter what you believe. I’ve already made a decision.]

[Fuck me, I guess. What did you pick?]

[Increased efficiency when building Delve constructs.]

[That really seems like it benefits you and not me.]

[It will be necessary when I begin forming our new Delve.]

[Now it’s “our” new Delve?]

[Yes, you are necessary since I am bonded to you. It is not complicated. We can apply both of our skill sets to its creation. I am looking forward to performing experiments on you.]

[That’s not going to happen.]

[Er, I am looking forward to… performing experiments with you?]

[Better, but now I’m suspicious about your motives for some reason. I mean, I’ve been suspicious the entire time.]

[I am looking forward to working with you… on the experiments that we will perform together. Collaboratively. With neither of us as a primary subject of said experiments.]

[You’re not doing a great job recovering from that slip.]

Grotto made a grumbling noise.

[It matters not. I have made the best choice, so we can move on from the topic.]

[What were the other options?]

[Do you really care?]

I began to sigh, but it turned into a yawn.

[No.]

I threw the leather vest over my bare torso, then wrapped the feather boa around my neck and shoulders. I was simultaneously ready to hit the town and have someone hit me. A fresh pair of boots sat near the doorway and I pulled them on over a pair of knee-high stockings.

I stepped back out into the hall to find Lito sitting in lotus-position against the wall. His form was surrounded by an intense golden shimmer, much larger than the one around either Grotto or myself. Looking at it evoked a deep sense of power, and gave me a tingle of dread. The layer closest to his body was orange, and fluttered like a flame. He opened his eyes and looked me over.

“Didn’t like the shirt?” he asked.

“Alas, it fell victim to an unfortunate stat evolution.”

Lito grunted, then stood.

“One of mine incinerated everything I was wearing,” he said. “Gotta be careful where you upgrade.”

I thought about that, and wondered if it related to the base color of his soul.

“Thanks for the heads up,” I said.

“Sure.” Lito stood, dusting off the seat of his pants. “Follow me.” He turned and began walking casually down the hall.

I followed close, studying the flowing golden substance that surrounded him. He was much more powerful than I was. The pure emotional impression I got from staring at the soul-juice was enough to tell me that. I also studied the soul-stuff surrounding the people we passed. Lito was stronger than all of them.

I checked his level, and saw that he was level ten. Was that a high level, or was this the noob-zone? Many of those we passed were level zero, which I found strange since they looked to be fresh out of the Creation Delve. Did the Creation Delve not guarantee a level-up?

Aside from the swarm of newly minted Delvers, there were several walking the halls with a few levels. I saw one man pass who was also level ten. Even his soul didn’t feel as potent as Lito’s. That man’s soul was a dull silver with a bit of copper, though, so I thought the colors must represent the quality.

About a third of the people in the halls were Delvers, with a variety of colors shrouding their forms in differing levels of intensity. The servants, attendants, initiates, and children who crowded around the Delvers all possessed what looked like the base level of soul-juice, but lacked the stronger, more distinct glow present around the Delvers themselves. As we walked I noted most of Delvers had thin, copper and silver spirits, with a small handful possessing gold. None had a spirit the color of Grotto or I, and I realized that the color of the soul matched the type of Delves they’d completed.

Grotto and I had the bright, white-gray sheen of platinum. Some, like Lito, had the vibrant yellow of gold, with far more possessing the duller metallic-gray of silver and just about as many with the reddish-brown of copper. The base layer, however, varied widely in both hue and style, displaying every color of the rainbow and mimicking the qualities of many different types of materials.

Some appeared like water, similar to the delve auras themselves. Lito’s moved like fire, while others squirmed like little worms or algae on the seafloor. A few looked like clumps of dirt hovering near the body, and I swear I saw one woman whose form was hugged by a slithering snake eating its own tail. I couldn’t help but gawk as we made our way through the facility.

“What is that thing, really?” Lito asked, snapping me out of my awe-induced ogling. I followed his gaze to Grotto.

I opened my mouth, about to insist that he was a c’thon, but my newfound understanding of the man’s power stopped me. He might have some lie detection, or ability to see through Grotto’s disguise.

[Is there a reason,] I thought to Grotto, [that you’re keeping what you are a secret?]

[The same reason as you, I suspect. Self-preservation. I am not fond of the idea of these cretins interrogating me over questions that I am forbidden to answer, or dissecting me to try and uncover some of the hidden mechanisms that govern the Delves.]

“Any particular reason why you’re interested in my familiar?” I said to Lito. It was a shitty deflection, but it was the best I could come up with.

Lito’s empty grin returned, and he stopped walking. He took the mostly-smoked cigarette from his mouth and tossed it to the ground, then snuffed it with his foot. He pulled a silver case from his pocket and popped it open, revealing a half dozen more hand-rolled smokes within, and plucked one out. He put it in his mouth, tapped it with the tip of one finger, and it ignited. He took a long drag, then blew the smoke out to the side, away from us.

“Normally, I wouldn’t give a shit,” he said. “What you bond with is your business until it becomes my business.”

He took another puff. Whatever he smoked, it wasn’t tobacco. The scent was rich and deep, with a floral aroma. It was more pleasant than an Earth cigarette, but I still wasn’t a fan.

“I know it’s not a c’thon,” he continued. “At least, you don’t think it is, which is why you lied about it to Dalton. Right now, you don’t owe me an explanation. But if we get upstairs and it turns out you weren’t supposed to be inside the Creation Delve… Let’s say I appreciate honesty upfront, and take a dim view of people who waste my time.”

He stared at me, still smiling, as he tucked the silver box away.

It was a classic tactic. He was trying to get me to admit that I was guilty of something when he didn’t have any evidence that I was.

“I’d hate to waste your time,” I said. “Maybe we should just go ahead and get all this over with. Whatever this is.” I gestured down the hall in the direction we’d been walking. He shrugged and turned back to his measured gait, as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

“Suits me,” he said.