Having expected some level of pyrotechnics already, I wasn’t disappointed when cracks and fissures formed along the massive block, all of them emitting the same eerie purple glow I’d come to associate with mental mana. As the cracks spread with an accompanying frightening din, I couldn’t help but worry that I’d been given some sort of egg instead of a weapon. Thankfully, as the outer shell at last broke away to reveal the item within, my fears proved to be unfounded.
Examining the treasure now revealed to me, I couldn’t help but be awed. The plain, rectangular block had utterly transformed into… another block.
This seems kind of lame, honestly.
Admittedly, the new block was a tad more exciting, jagged purple lines running across its surface, matching the cracks that had formed before. On top of that, it exuded a true and utter darkness, so black that even my boon-granted darkvision couldn’t fully pierce it.
Still, though, it was just a block.
Um. On? Activate? Go-go weapon?
Either spurred on by my activation phrases or incensed by my earlier judgements, the weapon reacted. The outer shell of the weapon, having crumbled off and fallen to the ground, suddenly pulled itself together, the flakes fusing into a thin cylinder which attached itself to the main weapon. As they met, a flash of purple temporarily blinded me. When at last I cleared my eyes, the weapon before me was changed.
Not too drastically, in the end. The center of the previously uniform block was now cinched inwards, the sides flaring out. One side was simple and flat while the other tapered down into a point. Bevels and subtler detail work now adorned both the handle and the head, turning the plain weapon into something far more regal and noteworthy.
Weapon construction completed. You have been granted: Stygian Warhammer.
Without even using God’s Eye, a description filled my mind.
Stygian Warhammer
A weapon of overwhelming strength, forged from an alloy of rare and powerful metals and filled with the essence of a Legendary skill. This weapon is soulbound to its wielder and may display additional powers as their Stygian Citadel gains new features. Built to grow alongside its wielder, this weapon’s weight automatically scales with the user’s Strength.
Current Effects:
Grants 1.2x Mental Resistance while wielded.
On hit, deals additional mental and dark damage, scaling with the wielder’s Mental Magic and Dark Magic levels.
All dark and mental enhancements applied to this weapon are doubly effective.
After reading through the description, I had to admit that the effects were good. Really good, even. A far cry from anything else I had at my disposal. With such an undeniable boon, I wanted to be ecstatic. To feel like jumping for joy.
In the end, though, I could only feel doubly bitter. First at the price I’d paid for it, and second for the conditions of its growth.
Fat chance that I’ll be leveling my Stygian Citadel anytime soon. What was supposed to be my incredible Legendary skill was now a mental wasteland, barely held together at all.
Perhaps it was the additional Mental Resistance, but for the first time in a while, I felt an actual desire. Faint though it was, I had a want.
And what I wanted was to hit something.
I glanced down at my new weapon.
Would be wrong not to even try it out, right?
An image of Verin stiffly sleeping on the dirt filled my mind, and I turned my gaze to the far-off mountains, looming in the distance.
She probably wouldn’t mind if I got us some feathers, would she?
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What by all rights should have been a boring trip to the mountains quickly proved to be anything but. Before I’d even reached the first hint of rock, I’d had two unexpected revelations.
The first, in hindsight, should have been more obvious. Slightly more clear-headed than I’d been before entering the forest, I’d opted to summon up my armor well before I reached the mountain. The moment I started passing mana into it, I noticed that my head felt just a touch less weighed down. It was something I’d noticed while fighting the panther, too, but at the time, I’d dismissed it.
Double checking my finding, I dismissed my armor and summoned it back a few times until I was fully certain its presence was affecting my thoughts. It took me a second of running through all my skills to understand why, but once I did, it was fairly straightforward.
Status Resistance. It was a recent class skill acquisition, the magical counterpart to my Enhanced Physical Hardiness. While I had my armor on, my non-physical resistances were heightened, and any non-physical statuses had their effects reduced. Coupled with the extra resistance from my new hammer, I felt markedly less dead than I had only a day prior.
Was I suddenly roaring to attend a ball or even to hang out with my friends more? Unfortunately, no. If I had to do something big, like build another cabin, though, I was fairly sure that the energy required had gone from “herculean” to simply “bothersomely large.” If I could help it, I’d have to keep my armor permanently summoned from now on.
The second revelation was a good deal larger, if slightly more ridiculous. Curious to see the difference in my mental state without my hammer and also having little desire to lug it all the way to the mountains if I didn’t have to, I dismissed it. That should have been a simple action, but my class had other ideas on the matter.
Hidden class quest completed: Soulbind a weapon of Uncommon or higher Rarity.
+1000xp
+1 class point
Hidden class quest completed: Soulbind a weapon of Rare or higher Rarity.
+5000xp
+2 class points
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Hidden class quest completed: Soulbind a weapon of Epic or higher Rarity.
+10000xp
+3 class points
Instantly, my experience shot upwards, placing me well over half of the way to level 15 despite only hitting 14 about a week prior. It was a ludicrous amount of both experience and class points for something as simple as dismissing my weapon, but I supposed it fit the spirit of my class. More than that, it didn’t look like a repeatable quest, so it was just a one time bonus.
A shame I hadn’t had an Epic weapon back when I’d first gained the class. Back then, that sort of experience would have been enough to grant me multiple levels at once.
Along with the two points I’d gained from learning Spatial Magic, the new class points were a reminder for me to visit my class space.
Soon. This first, though.
At last, I’d reached the foot of the mountain, a quick swap through my Arcane Vision variants already pointing out a few gryphons in the distance. Making no effort to hide myself, I hefted my warhammer upwards, the weight feeling perfect in my hands.
Even outside my newfound urge to fight, I knew there was no escaping this place stuck at level 14. For all that some of their worried rambling about the local monsters had confused me, I could still understand that Cal and Verin were right about that fact. And my recent luck aside, I couldn’t expect to bridge that level gap through class quests alone.
Step by step, I ascended the mountain.
When the first gryphon spotted me, it let out a shrill cry. In a rapid dive, it approached, and at once, the fight began.
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CRACK.
The rocky exterior of the stone gryphon gave way to a brutal overhead blow, darkness seeping into the wound even as the beast reeled from the mental damage. It cried out, but rather than flee, it only intensified its single-minded assault. As sharp as its talons were, however, they proved far inferior to the warhammer.
Damage blocked!
A set of thin scrape lines appeared on my breastplate, the gryphon’s attack no more harmful than a child with a stick of chalk. A second gryphon swooped down from behind, bowling into me as its front talons went for my neck and its back talons scratched at my shins. While the creature weighed far more than the panthers I’d fought, it had just as much luck. Layering Friction Feet and Heavy Step atop one another, I was immovable.
Or at least that was what I’d thought. A moment later, I felt the beast vault off of me before a third repeated its same failed attack. Except, instead of attempting to topple me over, it had the exact opposite idea entirely.
I managed to get off one more attack, driving my hammer directly into the wound I’d already made on the first gryphon. It practically caved inwards, and even as I received the experience notification for it, I found myself traveling up, up, and away.
Enhancing my armor and weapons with earth mana, my weight skyrocketed even as I compounded the effect with a few casts of Encumber. Incredibly, while the gryphon lurched and wobbled, it managed to remain aloft. Then again, given its own rocky nature, it was already used to hauling around masses of stone.
It at last reached a height that would no doubt leave a standard person a thin paste on the ground if they fell. Almost triumphantly, it dropped me.
Now, I was no expert when it came to gryphon facial expressions, but as I channeled air mana into my soles, I liked to imagine that its resulting open-beaked mug was full of equal parts affront and disbelief. Both were short-lived, however, as I paired the skill with a use of Jet Step, launching me towards my feathered foe.
Given my position, my lack of stable footing made my blow far weaker than normal, pushing me away from the beast more than it dealt damage. Still, aimed right for where its wing met its body, it did the job. With a loud crunch of stone and bone, the gryphon began to spiral downwards.
I followed close behind, and once I was firmly on the ground once more, the fight continued.
This is better than the panthers, I reflected. Less chasing. Less thinking.
Against my better judgment, I paid less attention to my senses, forcefully tamping down my heightened Perception. Comfortable in the knowledge that my defenses were solid, I sank into a sort of trance as my body continued to fight almost on autopilot. Some of my earlier bitterness melted away under the rhythmic cracks and crunches of battle until I returned to my standard, default emptiness.
Good. This is… therapeutic, I think? That thought alone would probably be enough to get my license revoked back on Earth, but I really was feeling more collected than I had in a while. Perhaps it was the constant motion. Exercise was supposed to be mentally healthy, right?
Not knowing the next time I’d feel quite this “with-it,” I tried to force my brain to self-reflect a little. As much as I hadn’t wanted to before, with the added Mental Resistance of my hammer and armor, I was feeling a tad more up to the task this time.
Cool. Healthy thoughts. What does a healthy person think about? Probably a bad question for an ex-therapist, but then again, I’d quit for a reason. And besides, that felt like several lifetimes ago by now. Myself? My future? That seems kind of right, right?
I smashed into the back leg of a nearby gryphon as I tried to build myself some sort of list for the future.
Okay. So easy things first.
1. I should really check out my class space and spend those new points.
2. Maybe take a few days to make some basic supplies? Feel like we could use a big pot, even if I have to make it out of stone. Furniture and beds too. Showers or tubs would be a plus, although at 25 Charisma, none of us are getting dirty in the same way we would otherwise.
That took care of the quicker things. The next blow also took care of the last of the gryphons, forcing me to go hunting for the next bunch. Thankfully, I didn’t take long to find another group.
What about slightly longer term items?
3. Definitely should be using more spatial mana. It’s not going to level up on its own.
4. Maybe go out with Verin and Cal once in a while to level up together? It would be a lot of effort, but the other two hadn’t been able to scratch a single gryphon on their own. Some teamwork was inevitable if they were going to gain more experience. It was odd that they were so helpless against something as easy to kill as the gryphons, but if that’s what they said, I’d take their word for it.
5. Class trials. I’d stagnated on class growth a while ago fearing that the often traumatic experiences within might prove too much for my Trauma Suppression. I had, of course, been more right than I’d known. Thinking about the trials now, though, I just felt… nothing. Who cared if I died a few times? Most of the time, it didn’t even hurt. I’d needed to bury all of those deaths away before, but now I could tell that they would simply slide off of my mind, finding no purchase.
That feels like enough healthy thinking for a while, right? I let the various strands of my thoughts return to their previous dormancy, even as I tuned back in to the world around me. Dozens of stony corpses were scattered all around.
Look at that. Maybe I actually can deal with my emotions in a healthy way. Maybe I’d even tell Cal and Verin about this, if nothing else but to make them feel better about my mental state. They’d be proud, I thought.
If perhaps subconsciously or simply by happenstance, I’d ended up leading myself directly back towards the cave the three of us had appeared in. It felt like a solid spot to relax in for a bit, and given my recent progress on being responsible and healthy, I figured I might as well take things one step further, too.
For the first time since the grand magus had healed me, I let the gray fog of my class space surround me before depositing me in the familiar arsenal that housed my various class skills.
I did a cursory run-through of the three rooms just to verify that nothing had changed.
It was a rather decent shock, then, when something had.
“Huh. That’s new.” After even a brief scan of the newly appeared skill, I was sure.
I wanted it.