Gi returned out of the portal, but he stumbled, his wounds too much and he dropped to one knee inside the dim cave that held the Dungeon portal. Two Faithful guards looked on unempathetically, but two otters stepped up and started busying themselves over him. Gi didn't know their names.
Power Task complete!
1 Heart Orb Rewarded. Current Heart Orbs: 2
The voices of the otters seemed to drone in a way that made them difficult to understand and Gi's eyes started to blur.
"Use [Bubble Cure] and get me stable. One of you go get Tiria."
He didn't understand their responses, but they must have understood his. One of them ran off, assumingely to get Tiria. The one that remained took off her robe and pressed it up against his left side. A glance down told him that blood was seeping through it.
He was starting to lose feeling in his left side which should have panicked him, but his Heart of Crossroads kept him steady. He slowly took deep breaths as he waited for Tiria to arrive. He wasn't sure how long he waited there, taking one breath in and one breath out while one of his clan tried to stop him from bleeding out, but eventually Tiria did arrive.
When she saw him, she shouted something, but then held her hands over him and bubble spread out to fully encompass him. The cool water felt pleasant against his wounds and then it popped. The bubble popping brought with it an enormous amount of pain lancing up his left. He fell over and had to brace himself with his right arm to stay upright even on his knees.
He looked up to Tiria to see her staring at him wide eyed. "Do it again."
With only a moment's hesitation, she used [Bubble Cure] over and over even after it had long since stopped helping. He finally placed a paw on her arm to stop her and stood on shaky legs. From his head fog, he must have had a concussion of some sort and one glance at his left side told him how close he'd really been.
From shoulder to hip, he was a mass of scabs and bruises as though he'd spent days recovering from the wounds. Pain still radiated from his body and he felt off, similar to when he had Soul Sickness, but not as acute. Fader had only given one really devastating blow, but even still he'd done all of this. His Beserker Skill wasn't anything to scoff at.
"Your arm...," Tiria said. It looked worse than even the rest of his left side. Blood and pus still dribbled out of it in various forms. It had been a long time since that arm had worked at all, but he couldn't even grip with that hand anymore. Gi grunted.
"It didn't work anyways. Did you complete the laws?"
Tiria blinked. "The what? Oh, yes, they're..." She pulled a sheet of paper out of her [Expanded Pocket] and held it in front of him.
1. All of your efforts should provide no detriment to the clan. Be that through betrayal or merely selfishness.
2. All clan members will provide dedicated effort to improving the clan as dictated by the leaders of the Halls.
3. All effort by a clan member shall be recognized with Contribution Points. These Contribution points will be usable on multiple of items and services detailed separately.
4. All efforts of the clan go to the glory of Danna as well as the clan itself.
It wasn't very detailed as far as laws went, but Gi appreciated the simplicity. The final point about Danna was not entirely unexpected and he didn't have the energy to deal with it right now. "It's good."
As soon as the words left his mouth, a notification popped up telling him that he'd completed the final task of the Individual Stage and he was enveloped in white. Like the many times before, only his consciousness had made it to that sea of endless white between stages.
Without a body, his injuries were non-existent and his mind felt even clearer. He could feel the essence of this place thrum with the expectation of a decision and it wasn't long before words began to appear.
Individual Stage has ended.
Primary Tasks completed.
No hidden tasks completed.
Four spheres popped into being in front of him. The first seemed to be made of a simple dull metal. If it wasn't for the impressions it was giving off, Gi would have thought it was simply a steel marble the size of a soccer ball.
Instead, it's very form was embedded with meaning, feeling more real than anything that he'd seen either before or since his own reincarnation. Like a slow rolling timpani, it gave off the impression of Strength, or rather, his own Strength was just a small portion of this Core and even it was but a small portion of some greater Truth.
Neutrality's Strength - You receive no special utility around your core, but your Strength will operate at three levels higher without affecting rank.
Gi nodded at the sudden words. He didn't need them to understand what he was looking at. The Core seemed to thrum meaning into his very Soul.
He recognized that this was where Fader had gotten his overwhelming Strength from. The humans must have possessed Cores while Monsters had a Domain. Perhaps if Gi hadn't managed to upgrade his [Fighting Style], Fader would be in this place choosing a Domain.
His eyes tore away from the unattuned core and moved to the next one in line.
The form of this one flickered between two states, sometimes it looked like a glass ball that shined in the sun. Other times, it looked to be a complex ball of yarn, but only if the yarn itself was made of thousands of beams of light.
This one too was embedded with meaning, but it felt even more concentrated as though it were Agility made manifest. Its flickering form danced, promising secrets of what it meant to truly be agile.
Lighttouched Agility - Your clan's touch into the realm of Light has ingrained itself into your soul. When moving in straight lines, you and your clan operate as though their Agility was five levels higher. In other circumstances, it acts as one higher.
Agility had been his first focus prior to Danna's blessing and after, Light Aether had been his primary means of attack ever since the Child Stage. This one touched at the core of his being. His choices and his Heart had brought this one to the forefront.
But it wasn't the last.
The next was an orb composed of water. Yet, somehow it shifted, taking on many forms without losing the true meaning of what it was as a Core. The more Gi watched it, the more he understood.
Streams of water flew around the orb, dancing playfully as it adopted new shapes and it reminded Gi of his Clan and his Race. This spoke of the unending Vitality of the Underbridge Clan that had survived the Dungeon to even exist. It had survived multiple battles and hunts and had grown in a chaotic place.
Waterborn Vitality - Your clan has been one with the water since their birth and now they accept it fully into their soul. You and your clan are naturally resistant to attacks, any glancing blows can have their force redirected as if you'd dodged the attack instead.
That ability too was strong and it resonated with him deeply. He turned his gaze to the last Core and his expression fell flat.
This orb was almost invisible, only a small light and shadow gave the impression of an sphere. The deeper truths of Wisdom and Divinity seemed to only exist as a whisper out of it and Gi grew frustrated at that tantalizing experience just out of reach.
"Wisdom is my main stat!" His voice did nothing but echo inside his own head, but he understood the true issue. His Soul had received a Seed of Divinity all the way back in the Child Stage. That seed had nestled into his Soul, but never grown.
Where his Quicksilver Body and Heart of Crossroads were strong, his Soul was weak. He'd never received a Unique Opportunity for it nor had it been cultivated. The gift that Danna had given him so long ago was empty.
He let the words of it wash over him.
Blessed Wisdom - As a Child, you received the blessing of a god and though its mark is small upon your Soul, it is present still. When you and your clan use a Divine attack to bypass defenses such as those based on Aether typing, your Wisdom is treated as one level higher than normal. This has no effect if there are no defenses to breach.
Mechanically, it was still a boon. If it was for just him, it might even be more useful than the Neutral Core of Strength, but this would affect his entire Clan. A single level and only when bypassing a defense? It was weak.
The Blessed Wisdom Core only reignited his anger at Danna, but he put it to the side. There was no point to it.
Instead, he focused on his choices.
Fundamentally, he knew he should choose either Lighttouched Agility or Waterborn Vitality. Those would be useful to every single member of his Clan and because they resonated with his Heart and Body respectively, they were stronger than the other options.
Both had a niche aspect to them. Waterborn Vitality would only be applicable for glancing blows, but that could very well be the difference between living and dying especially against stronger foes. The near-hits in the fight with Fader had been a terror in and of themselves.
For Lighttouched Agility, the "in a straight line" part was the vaguest, but the system had grown more helpful as he'd gained in rank and that was even moreso now. Functionally, it came down to the equivalent of two steps. It would work while swimming or flying, but it had to be able to roughly translate to two steps.
That meant other than it's passive, it wouldn't be the best for dodging but would excel for engaging, escaping, or even just general travel. The passive also meant it was at least partially helpful in all circumstances. That would be amazing for the Hunters as their Agility would be close to the cap.
Ultimately, what did he really need?
The Underbridge Clan was still small so what he needed was quality over quantity. Technically, both of these options could provide that. Lighttouched would allow them to cover a bigger area with a smaller force. Waterborn would ensure they took less damage over the course of a battle... maybe even enough to save their lives.
As that thought sank into him, he barely paused as he reached out and placed his hand on the orb made of water.
Unlike all the other changes that had happened to him, this one slipped in easily. The other Cores all disappeared and the Waterborn Vitality seemed to slot into a hole in himself that he didn't know he'd had. He felt... whole.
Gi still didn't have a body, but inside his metaphysical self, his new Core seemed to contain his Knot which itself was made of his Body, Heart, and Soul. An energy vein swam between his Body and Heart knots as a representation of his realized Blood. Somehow paradoxically, his Knot also supported the Core from the outside which it in turn was still getting contained by the Core itself.
Gi didn't have any more time to muse on the paradox as he snapped back to reality. Pain and exhaustion flooded back into his body, but luckily, he was already on one knee near the Dungeon portal. Tiria and the other two otters there barely recognized his return as they each had one hand to their chest and stared down at it as though they could actually see their new Core.
Notifications popped into Gi's view, distracting him from the all consuming ache of his body.
Clan Stage begun. Stage 5 of 9.
Goal: Complete the base task of Power.
Task: Power - Create or a conquer a City