You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have gained:

Strength 17 -> 18

Constitution 22 -> 23

Agility 19 -> 20

Speed 23 -> 24

Aura** 100 (71 + 29 Mod.) -> 142 (86 + 56 Mod.)

??? 19 -> 20

Might 6 -> 7

Endurance 11 -> 12

Instinct 24 -> 25

Hearing 16 -> 17

Sight 15 -> 16

Smell 8 -> 9

Gains threshold exceeded!

Attribute points will be applied during sleep!

“Is it bad?” Jul asked him, when the silence stretched.

“I don’t know anymore… There’s some good stuff in there, but it's mostly just another big chunk of [Aura]. 42 points.”

“42?” Jul asked. “All at once?”

He willed away the notification.

“All at once. You didn’t get it?”

Jul shook her head. “I got 7 points of [Aura] and I thought that was a lot…”

She thought about it for a few steps. “Do you think that happened because you protected us with your aura?”

Nar shrugged.

“Maybe. And all the fighting. And that big thing back there as well… I used a lot of aura over the past few days. I guess I gained 15 points of it, and with the modifiers, that turned into 42.”

Jul frowned at him. “15 points are still a lot of points though. It doesn't seem right.”

“Hmmm,” Nar made, and left it at that.

What was the point in questioning it anymore?

The one thing he couldn’t quite ignore however, was the lack of stamina gains. He’d gotten used to the System shoving [Aura] down his throat by now, but after any major fight, he had always gained [Stamina]. In fact, though the memory of all his level ups were hazy, he couldn’t remember a time where he had leveled up more than once and had not gained at least one point in stamina.

And if I add that to how wrecked I felt after I emptied my external aura…

He didn’t want to give voice to it. It sounded ridiculous. But all the same, it also seemed logical.

He glanced at Jul, walking next to him with a concentrated look.

“Jul, can I ask you a question?”

“Go on.”

“Do you still use your stamina?”

She looked at him.

“What? Of course I use stamina! Why wouldn’t I?”

“Oh… yes. Yes, of course.”

“How else would I… Wait. Why are you asking that?”

Nar made a face. “I’m not sure… I don’t think I’m using as much as before. I was wondering if it was possible I was using my aura instead.”

Jul stopped and gaped at him.

“Is that… Is that true?”

Nar looked forward and found the whole party stopped, and staring at him. Cen had been the one asking the question.

“Are-Are you sure?” she asked again, her eyes very wide and brows almost climbing up her bald head.

Nar looked away, feeling the intensity of their stare. “No. I mean, no I’m not sure. I just noticed I haven’t been using it that much. I haven’t even worried about it, to be honest. Not since the auramancer class change.”

“Wow…” Tuk said. “That’s…”

“Crazy,” Mul finished. “What the fuck?”

“And?” Gad said. “Just spit it out.”

Nar groaned.

“Fine…I have a skill called [Aura Senses 2]. It boosts my senses attributes, and it also makes them use…” he sighed, already anticipating their reactions. “It makes them use aura instead of stamina.”

“Holy Crystal!” Tuk whispered.

“What does it say? Tell us the whole thing!” Cen asked, almost demanding it.

“[Aura Senses 2],” he said, reading the skill’s description out loud. “Drawing upon your senses, including [Instinct], automatically taps into your aura reserves. This empowers all your senses by a further n * n, where n is the level of this skill. Further, this skill is the first prerequisite towards the more… And then, it says no more information available”.

“That’s something,” Kur said, slowly. “Jul, do you have that too?”

Jul nodded. “I do, but it's at level 1, and I just have the empowers my senses part. Does that mean I’ll stop using stamina too?”

“I don’t know if I’m not using it!” Nar said. “I could be wrong! I probably am! But… My [Aura Attack] and [Aura Quickening] skills also don’t use stamina anymore. Just aura. So there’s that.”

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“Damn…” Tuk whispered.

“I don’t know, but maybe there’s something there,” Cen said, holding onto her chin as she frowned in concentration. “You were so exhausted when you emptied your external aura…”

“What’s that?” Gad asked.

“Oh… Yes. We never told you guys. So we…”

Cen quickly got them up to speed in the naming convention they had arrived at, to differentiate between the two types of aura, and on why they had reason to believe that the two auras were different.

“Uh…” Gad said, rubbing her chin. “I see.”

“It gets more and more complicated. But maybe it has to as he get closer to finding out the truth,” Kur said. “Come on, let's keep walking. We can talk as we walk.”

Cen approached Nar to walk by his side.

“As I was saying, you were so tired when you nearly drained your external aura. You were shaking and weak. Like you had no stamina left in you. But how are you feeling now?”

“Still tired. But I haven’t slept though,” Nar said. “Could be I was just wrecked after that fight.”

“Go on, think about it. You sure this is just normal tired?” Cen insisted. “Is it your body, your mind or something else?”

“It’s… It’s everything. Hmmm.”

Both Cen and Jul waited while he thought about it.

“I am really tired,” he finally said. “If I could, I would like to sleep for a whole day. Maybe more. I can’t explain it. It’s like…”

He reached a hand for his chest, not realizing it.

“Like something is missing,” he whispered, almost to himself.

Cen nodded and considered her next words for a few steps.

“I… Well, we all have a lot of [Aura] now,” she said. “I currently have 78.”

“Wow, that’s also a lot,” Jul said.

“I suppose it is,” Cen said. “But what I’m trying to say is, as we gain more and more [Aura], there has to be a consequence of that. I mean, look at you Nar, your [Aura] dominates all of your attributes.”

“That’s one way to put it…”, he muttered.

“Yes. And, if I heard correctly, you now have 142 points of it. That’s a lot. It’s so much. It has to have an effect on you… And-and on your path, too.”

Nar didn’t know what to say to that.

“By not using stamina anymore?” Tuk asked, looking back at them. “That sounds a bit… Wild?”

Cen shrugged. “It’s just what I think.”

“So, this will happen to all of us?” Mul asked.

“Probably. We all have our first modifier in our [Aura]s. And… And some of us have decided that they want to keep using their aura. So, I… I guess we will find out.”

Nar looked down at the caster, trying to glimpse anything of her thoughts in her expression.

“I mean… It’s not bad, right?” Mul asked, staring directly at his sister. “I have more aura than stamina. That means I’ll be able to do more stuff, right?”

Cen nodded. “I guess…”

“Nar, how do you feel about that? You didn’t want aura, right?” Viy asked, with a sympathetic grimace.

Wow! That was direct! He thought, stunned. This new Viy is really going to take some getting used to.

“Uh… Honestly? I don’t even know anymore,” Nar said. “Back there, I fought that thing’s aether and I survived. My aura beat its magic. There’s no denying that if I had more aura with me… I would have destroyed it.”

He sighed and shook his head. “I can’t deny that aura is very, very strong. And that more and more, the idea of it being a curse, a punishment, feels… Wrong, somehow. Especially since it doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“It does feel quite nice, doesn’t it?” Tuk said.

“That’s what I’m thinking too,” Viy said. “And I… I have decided to take it too. It really does make me feel… Good.”

“Me too!” Tuk said, grinning. “I'm sticking with mine!”

“Me too,” Mul said. “I like that it's mine. I don’t want to rely on anyone else’s strength. Much less the fucking Crystal. It can take Its aether and shove it up Its…”

“Hey!” Tuk shouted. “No need to go that far!”

The attention fell on Cen now. She had been the one who had started that whole movement towards aura and away from aether and its promised magic. Twice her belief had been tested. First, by Tas’ lies. And now, by the discovery that magic was real, and therefore, obtainable.

“I… I was scared there, for a while, you know?” Cen said. “I thought I had made the right choice after… After Tas. But then, that electricity we found? It really made me question everything.”

She brought out her staff and held it slightly above her head. Three dots of light formed in the air above it, and they circled each other.

“This is actually a new skill that I gained with my class change. It’s called [Multi-Aura Projectile],” she revealed. “It allows me to shoot up to three aura projectiles, at three different targets. It has advantages and disadvantages over the normal [Aura Projectile], which means it's good for some situations and bad for others.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled just as deeply. “This tells me that there is potential in this path. That there’s more waiting for me. To be discovered and learned. There has to. Otherwise, why would the System go through all this trouble to create skills for aura and the class of auramancer caster? It just doesn’t fit that punishment idea anymore, like you said, Nar.”

Her eyes shone gray under the light of the three, slow moving spheres of aura.

“And I… I want to see what's ahead of me. Like Mul said, this energy, this power… It’s mine. I don’t need permission to use it. I don’t need prayer, or whatever it is that the Crystal will demand from me in order to grant me It's aether. My aura depends on me, and no one else. And I think that realizing that, too, is part of Climbing and being free.”

She looked around, her eyes stopping briefly over her brother, then finally coming to rest on Nar.

“True, I don’t know if magic is stronger or better,” she said, grimacing. “I don’t know which one you’ll need for your path and your goal. But I’m going to take my chances with my aura. After everything that we’ve seen. Everything that we’ve come to question and to prove wrong… I just don’t see any more reasons not too.”

Nar nodded, smiling. “And I think you won’t be disappointed. And soon enough, we will have all the answers we need. As for me… I think I’ll at least be keeping an open mind from now on.”

He chuckled. “I won’t worry about having to use my aura, at least. That would be… That would be very stupid, wouldn’t it?”

She nodded and patted his leg.

“I think so too, Nar,” Cen said. “Who knows, maybe having all this aura will end up being a good thing, eh?”

“Yeah,” he said, honestly. “Maybe it will.”

“I’m taking aura too…” said a weak, raspy voice.

“Rel?” Kur asked, twisting his neck to look at her. “Are you okay?”

“Not really…”

They stopped walking and gathered around, while Kur and Tuk lowered the injured alfin to the floor.

“How are you?” Tuk asked her.

“At the end,” she said. “Oh, don’t look like that, Tuk. It’s not your fault…”

Tuk held her hand, unable to keep the sorrow from his face as his eyes glistened in the yellow light of their path.

“Where’s Nar?” Rel asked.

“I’m here.”

The party shifted, letting him through, and he knelt beside her.

“Hi,” she said, smiling weakly.

“Hey there,” Nar said, unsure of what to say.

Rel coughed into her other hand, and rubbed her lips. Nar didn’t miss the red that she wiped away.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said.

“I am. Thanks to you,” he told her. “But Rel, what was that that red arrow?”

Rel smiled weakly. “It's my new path, the Way of the Penitent Sinner.”

“Is that a class?” Kur asked.

“It’s a path. I’m still an archer.”

“It was so strong,” Cen said.

“It really was. It almost brought down the whole corridor,” Viy said.

“My Crystal… Viy is talking to me,” Rel said, surprise blossoming across her countenance. “Am I dreaming?”

“I… No. You’re not,” Viy said, smiling down at her. “I’m better now. Nice to meet you, I’m Viy.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” Rel said, her tone still one of wondered bewilderment

“Rel. What happened back there?” Nar asked, bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand.

Rel returned her eyes to him. “You were dying. For me. Useless, disgusting me. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Oh, Rel…” he whispered, passing a hand over her hair. “You’re none of those things. And if I had more aura…”

She tapped him weakly on the chin.

“It was not your fault, Nar. And yes… I am. This class change is what I deserve for what I did. There had to be consequences. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise,” she whispered, after wiping her lips again. “But the Crystal heard me. At least I think it was the Crystal… It talked to me. It really did.”

“It did?” Nar whispered, floored by the revelation.

“Yeah. And it gave me a choice. A new class and a path of pain and sacrifice. But also path to forgiveness, and to pay back for everything I’ve done,” she said, her tone dreamy, and a light smile adorning her red stained lips. “And that was my new skill. A special skill. I can only use it for good deeds and…”

She blinked and stopped talking.

“And?” Nar asked, gently.

“And… And it's really strong. It deals damage equal to my entire [Aura] multiplied by a third of my HP,” she revealed.

“Crystal’s Mercy!” Mul breathed. “You don’t mean… It can’t be!”

“Yes. The cost is a third of my HP…”

Nar gripped her shoulder. “Rel! Why did you do that?”

“It’s okay…”

“No! It’s not okay!” Tuk said. “That’s horrifying!”

“We can change it,” Kur said. “Don’t worry. I’m sure there will be more opportunities to change your class again!”

Rel shook her head slowly, from side to side.

“It can’t be changed… Ever.”

Nar covered his face with both hands.

“Oh my…”

He couldn’t even say it! He couldn’t even bring himself to say the word! What good was there in saying Its name? In calling out to It? This was all Its fault and decision.

“Oh, Rel,” Cen said, stroking her hair.

“I couldn’t let you die, Nar,” the archer said. “Not after everything you’ve done for me. For all of us. You need to save your dad.”

Nar could feel the tears fighting to break free. He could feel the emotions and memories becoming agitated, jostling to escape. To explode.

“Rel…” he whispered. “Oh, Rel…”

She patted his leg. “Don’t worry. I… I will die soon anyways. At least this way I got to repay you guys.”

Nar grabbed her hand. “No! You’re not dying! I’m not going to let that happen! You hear me? I’m not going to let that happen!”

He looked up to his party.

Kur nodded at him.

“We can make it,” Kur said. “We will make it!”

“You don’t know that,” Rel said. “You’ll only tire yourselves. Risk your lives for nothing…”

“We’ll get you out!” Gad said. “Whatever it takes!”

“Come on, get her on my back on back,” Kur said. “From now on, we’re running! We’re running all the way to those damned Gates!”

Nar scanned the darkness in front of him. The yellow path continued until it disappeared. They had no way of knowing how far they were, or if anything else still stood in their way. However, it didn’t matter. He would not let Rel die.