5.30
“I’m so rich I don’t even need to find tax loopholes!” - Ethelinda Smith, the Merchant Goddess
Recovery wasn’t an easy thing.
We suffered many wounds, both external and internal. Whilst Fix-Up Fungus could easily heal external flesh wounds, internal stuff was harder on it. Tai and Utoqa suffered the most from this. It turned out Tai was fighting with multiple broken ribs whilst Utoqa had several internal organs ruptured by acid and was only spared by internal bleeding because the acid cauterized the wounds. Along with Noam who had lost most of his blood, all three of the melee fighters were stuck in bed.
“How the BLEEP did you ignore three broken ribs?” Noam asked as he bit into his meal.
“I just thought I was tired,” Tai honestly replied, “Fucking hurt like a bitch but I thought if I slept for a bit I would be fine.”
“BLEEPING hell you are stupid.”
“Hey fuck you.”
“Is that usage an insult or an invitation to mate?” Utoqa asked. The poor idiot probably meant the question genuinely as well.
“Insult,” Noam answered. “And holy BLEEP I know you don’t feel pain the same way us ‘softskins’ do Utoqa but how’d you fight with BLEEPING ruptured organs-” he paused, then shook his head, “Ok, BLEEP this, Corvian, why am I the only one who's still getting bleeped?”
Corvian, who had been silently attending to their wounds chuckled, “Well, you have the Blessing of Tilt on you of course!”
“But why me?” he protested. “Everyone else can BLEEPING swear as much as they BLEEPING want!”
“Well after what you said about Xavier and what he does to cats I very much believe you deserve this.”
“How long will this last?” he asked, a small bit of fear in his voice.
“Well forever obviously-”
Noam then kicked off his blankets, hopping out of his bed then making his way to the door, “I’m making a formal complaint!”
And he left the makeshift clinic we had set up, heading down and towards that empty orphanage.
“Should we stop him from accidentally blaspheming a god or something?” I asked.
Corvian shrugged, “Lady Tilt is more likely to just make his life slightly more miserable and accident-prone for a month or two, but not anything serious. You all did save this town and avenge those children.”
I shrugged then, if it was fine then just let it be. Noam will eventually just wear himself out.
What I was more focused on were the scales I saw above Noam’s head.
Scales where he was light against all his accomplishments. Scales, that for a brief moment, a silver bell seemed to brush against Noam’s side.
I learned three world-changing secrets. It seems like knowing the information was only half the reward.
Three days passed in just recovery.
During the whole time free, I went around the small town, helping wherever I could, offering healing and food and light. The whole time Greenie and Yellow had to guide me, for I was blind once more.
I passed by the orphanage once more on the second day, inside there was a stream of bleeps as Noam continued his ‘complaint’.
“He’s been going on for the past day,” Corvian muttered beside me. “Didn’t even rest for sleep.”
“He’ll tire himself out eventually,” I answered. I could still see it, Noam’s scales. The scales which determined all balance, the scales that said Noam was due a win.
“I’ve called a carpenter from outside, one day the house will be home to children again,” Corvian said, a light of determination in his eyes.
The orphanage was the epicenter of the Accumulation’s existence, only a single child survived of the almost thirty half-remembered ones. The one who was disguised as a doll within the mage’s tower.
“And what do you need?” I asked.
Corvian turned towards me, “You are an Oracle no longer?”
I shook my head, “No. Not an Oracle anymore.”
“Then what are you now?”
I looked up and saw it. My balance scales, as well as those of Corvian’s.
Both of us were light upon the scales.
“I’ve been wondering that as well, knowing what I know, I realized that if not Oracle, I would become something else.”
The classes I earned from being a Traveler were neutral, earned rightly and with time, effort and XP, so not considered upon the scales. It was everything else that weighed upon it.
I had in the end earned the right to two powers, Observe and Analyze, but at that final moment, I held four: Observe, Analyze, Predict and the information I knew, that if told would change the world.
When I threw away three, I still had the right to two powers.
One was the information I knew, of so many things within this world. Some that were better left forgotten.
And the other was an empty slot, a slot that was being filled slowly and gradually.
“Do you no longer find secrets?” Corvian asked and the world seemed to still.
Here there were a myriad of choices before me. An infinite number of ways to answer the question. The Crossroads of Paths, but I had long decided.
The things I know now should not be revealed to anyone.
“No,” I spoke. “You may say I Keep them instead.”
The scales above our heads seemed to come into focus, as I finally saw my own enter Balance.
“Then you might be the sole person who I can pass this to, Keeper of Secrets.” Corvian withdrew a deck from his robes, placing it into my hands.
“The Revenant King Deck,” I murmured.
“It gives a clue to how to revive him,” Corvian murmured, his voice hushed. “I can’t let it stay here, not while we need to recover.”
A secret that could change the world, one that was an invitation much like the eyes I once held.
“Couldn’t you just burn it?”
“Blasphemy,” he replied, then shrugged, “I mean I could, but Wundall would not like it. He would know it was necessary, but he wouldn’t like it.”
“So you throw it on an idiot like me,” I smirked.
“Hey watch the language,” he casually threw out, “I’m a Tilt worshiper as well.”
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“Worshiping two gods sounds like work.”
“It is,” he seemed to wince, “I’m just telling him the truth here, I’ve already doubled my workload here.”
I raised an eyebrow, “You enjoy that then.”
“Yeah,” Corvian sighed, then turned to leave. “Thank you for everything Dustin.”
“If I didn’t reach for power I didn’t earn I won’t be in this mess.”
“If you didn’t reach for power you wouldn’t have come here,” Corvian answered. “The Accumulation would’ve been here regardless of if you reached or not. Reaching simply put you on a collision course here.”
I was silent, I knew it was true, yet it didn’t diminish at all the fact that I fucked up. I was warned against taking both eyes, yet I still did, trying to circumvent a system thinking I was clever.
“I’m still the same idiot,” I murmured.
But now I understood the system just slightly better. Now I had the benefit of hindsight. Now I know what happens when you put your hand on the stove.
I know four world-shattering secrets, and I am now the Keeper of them. To ensure I know them but never allow them to spread. For that, I can sense them in the back of my mind.
A blank page and a compass.
A pair of scales measuring the balance of all things.
A serpent that consumed its own tail and starved as a mouth.
And finally, two cogs, one of solid brass grinding inexorably towards its goal, the other of a dozen makeshift materials constantly clashing against the other in fits and spurts.
A moment when the Historian stopped writing, to let Discovery find new, safer horizons. The nature of balance within this world, of how reaching for power was almost self-defeating, yet if you continued to rack up great accomplishments you will become something great. Effort does not go unrewarded here, no matter what.
While these two might be fine to spread, the last two were not. There was the wealth of worlds within the 7th Hell, but they were better left buried, don’t allow greed a chance to wake an eldritch horror on par with the One Order. The true nature of Osshiven’Kai and its conflict should not be revealed, else either begin to break this fragile balance and descend this world into chaos or order.
And I saw five other, weaker, but still flickering secrets behind them. The deck I received became a shattered crown of woe and made them six. I was missing something with them, lacking in the understanding of them in some way that made keeping them secret important, but I wasn’t able to yet Keep them.
But so long as I held these things secret, so long as I Kept them, I would gain abilities. Only one at a time now, and it would still be separated from my Traveler classes, meaning it would have Et Non-Discent. Yes, I could imagine it, if I still had Analyze, this is what the class would look like.
Keeper of Secrets:
Path: Keep
* Keeper of Secrets: You know several world-shattering revelations that, if revealed, may change the course of the world. While you hold them secret, you may put one in an active state to gain certain benefits. The less well known the knowledge, the greater its potential impact on the world and the deeper your own knowledge of it, the greater the benefit you have in Keeping it.
* Secrets:
* A Blank Page in History, the Next Voyage of Discovery: You become difficult to be remembered or perceived, others will not notice your presence without a high Stat check or you choosing to reveal yourself, though remains of your passing will stay. E.g. footprints, reflections, recordings, scents. Whilst this is active, you have True Sight.
* The Balance (Currently Active): You can see the Balance Scales of yourself and others.
* The World Eater of the 7th Hell: You may store consumables within your stomach that you may at any time digest. If this ability is deactivated or swapped out, all stored consumables will be digested.
* The One Order Fenkai and the Clockwork Chaos Osshiven’Kai: When things are Ordered: You are passively aware of the location of the sun and stars, the weather and the cardinal directions. When things are Chaotic: You randomly gain 2 T0 and 1 T1 spells. These spells cost no mana but can only be cast once each. Upon using all three, you gain another random set of 2 T0 and 1 T1 spells.
* Incomplete Secrets: More is required to qualify these secrets for Keeping.
* The Maker and Daughter’s Madness, The Creation of Indiri, True Magic, The First Fear’s Birth, The Origin of Demons, The Shattered Crown of the Revenant King
* Et Non-Discent: This class was not sourced from the system, thus it does not benefit from the system either.
* Progress in this class does not rely on Traveler XP, but on your own proficiency.
* You may not invest levels in this class.
* This class and its progress will not be displayed on your Traveler character sheet.
And my complete character sheet would look something like this.
Name: Dustin
Racials: Magic Myconid Level 1
Classes: Fungalmancer Level 4, Keeper of Secrets Level 1
Body
Strength: 8
Agility: 7
Dexterity: 6
Constitution: 19
Stamina: 10
Vitality: 12
Mind
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 6
Soul
Will: 10
Psyche: 10
Perception: 10
Available SP: 6
Racials:
Manavision, Fungal Body, Sun Sickness, Mana Dependency, Pacifying Spores, Strong Innate Magic, Age-Type Heteromorph
Class Skills:
Fungalmancer:
Path: Symbiosis
* Grow Sporage (Visual)
* Grow Sporage (Proximity)
* Sporage Wisp Symbiosis
* Bracken Polypores
Keeper of Secrets:
Path: Keep
* Keeper of Secrets:
* Secrets:
* A Blank Page in History, the Next Voyage of Discovery
* The Balance (Currently Active)
* The World Eater of the 7th Hell
* The One Order Fenkai and the Clockwork Chaos Osshiven’Kai
* Incomplete Secrets
* Et Non-Discent
Magic Myconid Spells:
T0: Sneezing Spores, Acid Spit, Watching Eye
Fungalmancer Spells:
T0: Balm Spores, Light Spores, Shillelagh (1 Free)
T1: Mushroom Meal, Poison Spores, Euphoria Spray, (1 Free)
T2: Bark Skin, Fix-Up Fungus, Rot Spores, (1 Free)
T3: (2 Free)
Analyze was ultimately completely based on my own analytical ability. It freed up my mind and gave me passive information that I didn’t notice or wasn’t paying attention to, but it was still just something of myself that also had the capability to evolve to something more, allowing me to see the truth of people’s souls at its final moment. It was a passive information processing ability, which I can completely replicate in its base form by just paying some attention.
Observe was the greater loss, now that I can no longer see out of all those eyes, I lost a great deal of my information gathering ability.
But the two were divination type Paths, Paths that I had managed to bring to the point where I could Predict the future. And therein lay the problem, as Divination abilities, the challenges they drew were almost exclusively that of things like the Accumulation of White Lies: esoteric creatures that devoured- nay, challenged information.
Keep was what I decided on because the main danger of these secrets would be me telling someone. They were merely information, but each had the possibility of changing the world. Such power, such influence, I neutered it by swearing I would never tell, and so invalidated the greatest power secrets held. Allowing Keep to become a greater power in response. And I knew how dangerous this information was because I saw how much they weighed. Less than a paragraph of letters and words, if used correctly can shake the world.
To leave this knowledge secret was the limitation, the extreme variety of abilities I gained from them was the reward. Only one could be active at a time, and it would take a while to swap them out but those were also worthy limitations. I could make it swap abilities faster, or hold multiple at the same time, but I wouldn’t have as strong a selection like this.
Not to mention that the nature of a Clash meant only one could truly win and defeat the opponent. While that didn’t mean others can’t help, it meant that fate itself was conspiring against them. The Accumulation of White Lies can’t be hurt by physical means, the cultist of Osshiven’Kai had absurd regeneration and immortality, which invalidated a good two-thirds of my party.
So the fact Keep was taking on a more combative and active nature made it far more desirable, because it meant the next thing I would meet in a challenge could be hurt by physical means. It meant the next thing I faced to realign my Balance would be affected by Noam stabbing it or by Utoqa cutting it in half.
I still needed to be the one who ‘defeats’ it, else the fight is invalidated, but others can still help.
And if Noam or Utoqa entered a Clash, I knew I could help out, so long as they were the ones who ‘won’ in the end.
Not that it would happen anytime soon.
Utoqa was in balance, but Noam was due a boon. A boon on par with what I got or with Utoqa’s Survive.
Because even if reaching beyond your means led to challenge and tribulation, surpassing challenges always made you greater. Noam fought hundreds of players and chimera. He slew the chimerist in one on one combat. He tasted the sun itself and gained the respect of a Demon Chef. He won a Clash against a bard whose face was faded. He played a crucial role against the Accumulation of White Lies.
A single Path was the minimum I expected him to gain.
And I’m increasingly starting to suspect the source of this will come from the Goddess of Children, Tilt. For Fate was pushing him into an encounter with her.
I wished him luck in this endeavor.