As the imp vanished in a small bubble of light a new notification screen appeared in front of Kenshiro. The light illuminated the room for a short moment, like turning on a lamp before quickly turning it off, shadows scurrying in every direction. Kenshiro winced as the flash of light stole what little night vision he had gained since waking up in the damp room. Then before his face, in the same glowing green with white lettering appeared a new screen.
+10 EXP
- 1 EXP (Conduit of Souls)
Select a skill to consume:
Skill: Flameproof
Attribute: CON
Type: Infernal/Ability - Passive
Requirements: None
Description: Gain the resistance of Hel’s fire. 50% resistance to Fire infused mana and Fire in general
Skill: Diresight
Attribute: WIL
Type: Infernal/Ability - Passive
Requirements: none
Description: See in magical or normal darkness as in normal light. Fire light gives additional range of vision.
“So this Skill Eater allows me to take the abilities of the imps that had cores. Interesting.” Kenshiro said aloud as he looked at the choices in front of him. “So the real question comes down to, which of these two skills is going to help me the most, the ability to see in the dark, or be resistant to fire?”
While the obvious choice seemed to be the Fire Resistance, or Flameproof. The idea that these creatures used a sight ability made him wonder. If this was the only room with light, he didn’t know how long he would be in darkness. Not only that, but to Kenshiro the descriptions left a lot of unknowns. He knew nothing about the nature of Infernal Magic, or what Aspects meant. Given these skills were in front of his face, he had to make a choice.
In the end, Kenshiro decided to go with the simplest of the two abilities, the one he felt he could understand the best. Kenshiro selected Flameproof, touching the small burn on his side.
“At the end of the day, I need to stay alive,” he thought.
Plus, Kenshiro knew first hand what it meant to get burned, like really burned, it was his natural inclination to resist fire.
As he accepted the skill, a silver light briefly swirled around him. Like a short gust of gray wind. The moment it passed he felt different. Not a bad different, but not a good different either. It was like drinking a glass of water not knowing you’re dehydrated. It felt good, but the sensation was more surprising than the first glowing change. Kenshiro liked the feeling. He felt more… solid? Incombustible? Like, his skin was tougher or something.
Looking at his hands, he didn’t see any indication the skill worked. Yet, he felt it. Something had changed. Hell, many things had changed. An hour ago he had a headache and woke up in a room filled with imps.
Kenshiro moved to the other imp with the beast core and selected the imp.
+10 EXP
- 1 EXP (Conduit of Souls)
Select a skill to consume:
Skill: Flameproof*
Attribute: CON
Type: Infernal/Ability - Passive
Requirements: None
Description: Gain the resistance of Hel’s fire. 50% resistance to Fire infused mana and Fire in general
Skill: Diresight
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Attribute: WIL
Type: Infernal/Ability - Passive
Requirements: none
Description: See in magical or normal darkness as in normal light. Fire light gives additional range of vision.
*You already have the ability ‘Flameproof’ selecting it will result in conversion to EXP.
“Seems like this one is chosen for me.” Kenshiro selected the Diresight before the same silver swirling light moved around him.
As the swirling dissipated, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, then continued to adjust. The corners no longer held any secrets as the room brightened.
Kenshiro looked around the room. It was no longer just an ill-lit storage room of barrels and bad smells. Instead it had transformed to an ill-lit storage room of barrels, bad smells, garden hoes, rakes, and fire pokers. It was a room of tools.
Kenshiro picked through the tools in the corners of the room. The tools consisted of mostly gardening tools along with a couple other basic rudimentary tools to maintain a property. There were dusters and brooms, as well as small hammers and saws.
Kenshiro picked up a fire poker, grasping the sturdy handle and swinging it a couple of times to test its weight. It was a solid piece of iron, it felt much like he imagined a cheap sword would feel if he had every held one. Swinging it again, this time up and down, he felt the air part a little bit making a ‘woosh’ sound before cracking into the stone floor, causing the mints in his pockets to shake.
Kenshiro nearly froze. He had been here for how long and hadn’t checked his pockets?!
Kenshiro dug his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and jeans and was instantly disappointed. He had with him a completely fried and broken phone, his wallet, and a nearly full pack of pickled plum Mintia Mints… (pickled plum flavored)
Kenshiro shoved everything back in his pocket after trying to make the phone work for much longer than necessary. More annoyed than he was five minutes ago, Kenshiro rooted around a little more.
~~~
Tara floated in the void feeling empty. Her lake of life energy now a small pool, the hole in her lake draining steadily. The class was too much. It took almost everything that she had and pulled it away. Stripping her of power. Tearing it away from her. Now she was left with nothing.
It wouldn’t be long now. Soon her small pool of energy would drain and she would fade away.
She had failed.
The investment had been done correctly, but Tara didn’t know just how much it would require of her. In her panic, seeing her energy, her life-force, being eroded she tried to limit what was happening. She grasped and reached out to save what little she could, but it was too late.
She had indeed made something amazing. A skill that would help him adapt, teach him all about the world, and even turned Yoki’s Identify into something truly amazing.
Her panic had done nothing for her. The only thing it had done was limit the amount she could interact with the system she had created. She could offer a single quest, update a single quest, and each was limited to 300 characters.
“Oh Ken, I’m sorry. I overdid it.” She said into the void. A single tear rolled down her cheek.
If she hadn’t invested so much maybe she could point something out during an Identify, but not now. Now she was on a timeline. A very short, very limited timeline.
She was so tired. Her eyes were heavy. The void threatened to swallow her whole.
The system would work for Ken for the next little while. But if he didn’t complete the quest, and the quest didn’t deliver her enough life energy she would fade away.
No. She would become a wraith. A force of pure destruction. A natural disaster.
All that was left was to wait.
Tara felt a trickle of life energy return to her. Two drops. Two drops would not staunch the bleeding.
It wouldn’t be too long now. A day, maybe 12 hours? She watched as the level of her power fell.
She watched, despondent as the full make up of the Lesser Infernal Imps entered her knowledge. As they did so, their two drops of essence She learned everything about them. While Ken had absorbed their skills, she gained the knowledge of their aspects and their makeup.
She turned her head back to Ken. To her one believer. Her single bet. He was rooting around a room looking at brooms. His face was determined. He had figured out the ability so quickly. I bet he is scared though.
Waking up in an unknown place with nobody around.
She felt bad how she had worded the initial quest. The tutorial. “Save your wife…” she said to the nothing all around her. She had manipulated him. Knew he would do anything to save her.
Despite her failure she smiled to herself. She loved him. He was going to do everything he could. But he didn’t know that he was on an unbeatable timeline.
She felt so weak. While she had been here before she still felt terrible. She floated, idling between eternal life and death. Her energy fading...
She wanted to rest. Everything was just so much. Too much. She just wanted to sleep. Let go of everything and just sleep.
She pushed the tiredness away.
It was interesting. The powers that Kenshiro had picked up, the Flameproof in particular, had made her smile. She watched him, His eyes glowing with energy, piercing the darkness, his skin now interwoven with infernal fire.
“At least one of us overcame fire in the end.”
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