Kaius rolled the ring around in his hand, staring at the light that bounced off its polished exterior. Resizing.. It was a minor enchantment. Usually used so that artificers wouldn’t have to waste their precious time on measuring clients for non commissioned pieces.

He honestly had no idea how far the enchantment could be pushed. If it was artisan made he wouldn’t even try, but items from the Depths tended to be a little stronger, and a lot more weird than those made by people. Only the best enchanters would be able to scribe runes as dense and small as the ones that lined the ring, and they certainly wouldn’t put that much effort into a Common item.

His friend responded to his call, trotting over.

“Yes?”

“I think I might have found you some loot after all?” he said, holding up the shining ring with a grin.

Porkchop looked at him quizzically. “That thing? What am I supposed to do, tie it to my fur?”

“Just give your paw you dolt.” Kaius said, gesturing impatiently with his hand. Porkchop chuffed, putting one of his front paws on Kaius’s knee. It was massive, easily half the size of his torso. “Oof. You’re a heavy bastard, aren’t you?”

He got a throaty growl in response to his jibe. Laughing back at his friend, Kaius brought the ring closer to one of Porkchop’s thick claws. They were frightening things, as long as his hand and built like the curved tip of a pick.

The ring expanded. Growing in his hands until it would fit loosely around two of his fingers. Kaius grinned, happy that he was right, and slid it down Porkchop’s middle digit. It would be more out of the way there.

The ring shrunk, tightening to sit snug against the base of Porkchop’s digit. He yelped in surprise, the insignia of a closed fist flashing once.

Once he got over his initial shock, Porkchop held his paw up curiously, eying the artefact. “What does it do? I feel a little jittery.” He asked curiously.

“The jitters might be from some Strength, though I don't know the effect personally. It also does something else. Do you trust me?”

“Of course.” Porkchop responded without hesitation.

“Give me your paw again.”

Porkchop placed his paw back on Kaius’s lap. To his friend's credit, the furry lump only flinched a little when he drew his hunting knife. Bringing the edge of the blade to Porkchop’s pad, he dragged it across sharply. Porkchop let out a huff of surprise. The honed edge skittered across his friend's paw, leaving no sign of a mark in its wake.

Pulling his paw back, Porkchop stared at it with open fascination.

“I doubt the enchantment is strong enough to deal a heavy blow from an enchanted axe or anything, but I thought maybe you would get less cut up if you could smack away swords without worrying about being cut to ribbons. I’d bet it makes your paws hit way harder too.” Kaius explained, watching as his friend turned his paw back and forth.

“I think we should start looking for the next Champion,” Porkchop said. “It is very important we get more loot.”

Kaius let out a laugh from deep in his belly. “I knew I could get you to see it my way! I’ve just got a couple of things I want to do first. Checking those artefacts brought Appraise up to twenty, and I’d like to merge Identify and get my last skill before we go galavanting off.” With everything else already capped for his next legacy skill, Kaius had been growing impatient. The level of Appraise couldn't have come at a better time.

“Watch over me?” he asked.

Porkchop chuffed in acceptance, and Kaius closed his eyes - dropping into his soul space.

The glowing bonfire of his soul shone in his mental sight, revealing the skill shards that orbited it. He quickly spotted Appraise and Inspect. He doubted he would have any difficulty with the merge, even with the escalating mental strain with each successive legacy skill. The skills were supremely compatible, and there were only two.

He wove a rope of soul-fire, the strand coming away with ease. Connecting it to Inspect took moments. An encyclopaedia of sights washed through him. A catalogue of a thousand beasts, and a thousand classes. Similarities, simple categorisations. It wasn’t an indepth look, but even a short entry to a growing book of knowledge had value.

The choir of his legacy skills screamed for his attention, but before they could get their avaricious hooks in him, he was already moving.

He drew another thread of soul fire, sending it questing for Appraise. This skill was similar to its cousin, but avaricious. The merchant to the curious researcher before. Simple pottery through to the rarest of legendary blades. All were stripped back, quantified. Appraised.

A third thread connected the skills. They all but smashed into each other, so eager was their desire for union.

**Ding! Skill Merged! Identify obtained!**

Kaius opened his eyes with a smile, bringing up the description of his latest skill.

Identify:

Level 1

Rare

Even a little knowledge can make a world of difference in the right hands.

Skill that enables slight insight into all things that fall under the purview of the system. Higher rarities, levels, and power disparities are more difficult to Identify. Enchantments and skills can block this insight

Each level slightly increases the skills ability to overcome insight blocking effects.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Merged from: Inspect, Appraise

It was a simple merge, one that combined the effects of both skills with very little in the way of new capabilities. It was also amongst the few that were ‘only’ Rare, though in his mind that was a fair assessment. It was still very useful, and one he was glad to have. Tactical insight and an understanding of the effects of their gear was vital.

Now he had room for his last skill. Eagle Eye.

“All done?” Porkchop asked, clearly eager to get moving.

“Just a minute, big guy, just going to get this skill.” Kaius mumbled, training his eyes on one of the hanging lanterns that drifted aimlessly in the slight breeze. It was a far one, situated near where they had entered the cavern. Distant enough that it was barely a smudged glowing pinpoint of light to his eyes.

He grabbed hold of his Mana, going through the now familiar process of suffusing his eyes with the mystic resource. Stinging irritation brought tears to his eyes, in no way helped by his unblinking focus. He ignored the pain, it had been growing less intense with every infusion. His body growing used to the presence of mana in his flesh.

**Ding! General Skill Available! Would you like to learn: Eagle Eye (Rare)?**

With a snap the hanging lantern suddenly focused in his sight. Still just as far, still just as small, but he could see every ripple in the strange fibrous membrane that acted as windows to the lanterns glowing interior. As the vine swayed gently in the breeze Kaius watched liquid slosh inside the bubble, roiling and flashing in the movement.

A headache started to set in.

Kaius groaned, attention flicking to Porkchop when his friend made a questioning rumble. He could see every hair in excruciating detail. See the very texture of the follicles. There was no magnification, the increased detail added to all of his field of view. Accuity sharpened to a deadly point. One that felt like it was being rammed into his brain by a particularly pissed off blacksmith.

He snapped his eyes shut, grumbling.

“Did you break yourself again?” Porkchop asked, amused.

“Yeah.” Kaius said, rubbing his temples in an attempt to encourage his headache to go away. “It’s Sense Mana all over again. I’m gonna try something.”

Kaius opened his eyes, careful to keep his gaze trained on his knee. He could see the bloody weave of his pants better than if he used a jeweller's lens. Thinking back to the memories of his final confrontation with the Grimclaw, he tried to remember how he’d first gotten his grips on Sense Mana. He could always turn the skill off, but it was blatantly obvious to him that seeing in higher detail at a greater distance was way too valuable to not at least make an attempt.

It had felt like choking out a fire, that first time. Reaching out with his mind, Kaius grabbed a firm hold of the skills' influence, throttling it. His newly enhanced sight lessened, becoming more manageable. He increased his pressure until he no longer felt like throwing up. He nodded in satisfaction, throwing Porkchop a smile.

The boost was still significant, but he planned to grow used to its full effects as soon as he could.

He pulled up the notification that was blaring in the corner of his mind.

Eagle Eye:

Level 1

Rare

Clear, focused, and unyielding. Every detail is laid bare beneath the sweeping of your sight.

Skill that enhances visual acuity and range.

Each level moderately increases visual processing capacity.

Each level slightly increases range and detail of sight.

Kaius let out a sigh of relief, at the very least the burden would lessen as he increased the skills level.

“Alright, I’m all done. Wanna go for a walk and see where all the exits are?”

“Yes!” Porkchop said, tapping the ground rhythmically with his feet. “Maybe we will find more loot!”

Kaius laughed. “Maybe. Though this place is a lot smaller than the blue grove, so don't be disappointed if there is just the one Champion.”

He jumped to his feet, walking with Porkchop towards the tree line at the edge of the clearing.

…

In the end, despite scouring the glade from top to bottom, they weren’t able to find another champion. Plenty of howlers to tussle with, another convenient spring, and half a dozen exits, but no more Champions.

The howlers themselves quickly grew to be an annoyance. Despite their potent regeneration, they were no true threat. Yet they didn’t have the decency to fall quickly to their blades. More than content to exhaust them with a steady stream of rabid attacks.

Quickly deciding to move on, Kaius and Porkchop pushed through another tunnel. Days passed as they wandered through jagged corridors of solid stone. Even with Low Light Vision Kaius found the darkness oppressive. Seeing in monochrome for so long gave everything a strange washed out quality to it, and he missed the simple vibrancy that colour brought to light. His unease was only worsened by the focus the tunnels demanded of him.

Filled with traps and ambush predators, Kaius had to stay constantly alert. Sometimes, over an hour would go by without an encounter. Others, he was forced to disarm three traps in a row while a half rotten undead hauled itself out of a shallow grave and attempted to ambush him from behind. In that case, Porkchop had more than proved his worth as a rear guard. A single swipe with his newly enhanced paws had crushed the creature's head.

Thankfully, the long passages of dark were broken up every couple of hours by smaller caverns. It was a twisted respite, one that they were forced to wrest from the grip of hungry beasts and restless dead.

Eventually though, something changed.

They’d left the last cavern about an hour ago, having made camp there the night before. It had been a good rest spot. The only inhabitants were a couple of rams and a single undead sheppard. An unusually low number of enemies, but the cavern itself had been small. Barely forty paces from edge to edge. A single tree stood proud in the centre, glowing with a familiar blue that had made Kaius think of the glade where he had spent his first months in the depths.

The sheppard had been disposed of quickly, and they had had a fantastic meal of roast mutton. There’d even been enough to restock their stores of jerky, even with Porkchop’s impressive appetite.

Now though, they were back on foot, traversing more shadowed tunnels torn through with twisted roots. They turned a corner. The passage abruptly changed. Gone were the roots and raw natural cave walls.

In their place was a tunnel that had been hacked through stone. Forcefully and brutal, whatever had created the passage had left carved scars etched into the walls. Haphazard logs were propped up as supports. Some were simple rough hewn logs, branches barely even trimmed. Others looked like the supports of more civilised folk, but ancient. Splintered and bowed.

The line that delineated the two styles was stark. Almost razor thin, and perfectly straight. As if some god had hacked too different tunnels in half and transported them here to be pasted together with deific magic.

“Stop.” Kaius called at once.

“What do you think it is? Haven't seen anything like that in…. Well ever.” Porkchop asked.

“No idea. But let's be careful. So far ‘different’ may as well mean ‘dangerous’” Kaius replied with a low voice, calmly pulling his sword free from his sheath. He crept forwards.

“Agreed.” Porkchop said, following close behind.

Despite their tension, nothing happened as they approached the sudden change in the tunnels. Peering further, Kaius could see nothing that would warrant halting their approach.

“Last chance. Want to go back and try a different tunnel?” Kaius asked, checking Porkchop for his response.

“No way. ‘Different’ is also interesting. I’m sick of these tunnels.” Porkchop replied, urging him on.

Kaius nodded. He stepped over the threshold.

**Biome Entered: The Great Warren**