Aerion walked around me as I got in and out of my suit, refusing to believe her own eyes.
“How?” she asked. “What even is your Blessing, to allow such a bizarre power?”
I shrugged. “You’ve got access to all of my stats. I don’t know any more than you.”
Sure, I’d picked this Blessing to be versatile, but even I was surprised by the wealth of powers available to me. From my inventory to armor sets, it felt like there were no limits to what my Blessing might be able to do in the future. That was one area I was sure I outmatched the other Champions. While Richard and Eskil might outstrip me in any one dimension—without an optimized suit, anyway—they would never match the wealth of different abilities I had.
“How many more levels until you think you can Initialize Aurora and my pendant?” Aerion asked when she’d finally had her fill of ogling my suit.
“Probably just one more, though I’d only be able to do one of those, for now” I said, running the numbers in my head. “I gain 40 points of Essence per level now, thanks to my rank up. Of course, you take up some of that since Initializing you costs a fixed percentage of my pool, but I think I’ll have enough at the next level. Especially if I deinitialize or destroy some of my [Common] clothing. Won’t have much overhead… But it should be enough.”
“Except, you don’t know how long the rock will occupy your Essence Pool,” Aerion said. She pursed her lips and crossed her arms, giving me a death stare that I knew from experience was just her concentrating intensely. “What if it takes years?”
“That is a risk,” I admitted. “A big one. Would definitely be less risky to keep my reserve and Initialize whatever new gear we get from Sinclair’s armory. That would give me a second set of armor to fight in, though its stats would be all over the place until I turned it into an [Armor Set].”
Aerion looked into my eyes, and I thought I saw a flash of something there for an instant. Guilt, maybe. Or fear?
“You are truly alright with me making this decision?” she asked. “This is your power. You don’t owe it to me to bless my weapon.”
“It’s my power, sure, but the way I see it, upleveling you helps the whole party. Which keeps me safe. Trust me, my reasons are selfish. Just a matter of which route to take.”
“What of the rock,” Aerion said, eyeing the grapefruit sized stone I’d placed on the table. “Do you feel this gamble will be worth it?”
I stared at the stone for a long moment. “Honest opinion?”
“Yes. Always.”
“I think there’s a good chance it will be. Now, I know what you think of Order and his capabilities, but I’ve had this feeling for a while, now. Call it a hunch. That none of this is coincidence.”
“All of what?” Aerion asked, looking immediately suspicious.
“Us entering that dungeon where we did. Us happening to find Rocky in that serpent’s core. And more… My Blessing. I’ve been thinking of my first conversation with Cosmo, back when he first summoned me, and I can’t help but feel like my choice of Blessing was guided, somehow.”
“He told you to pick it?” Aerion asked.
“No, not exactly,” I said, feeling a little less confident. “Pretty much the opposite, actually. He didn’t ever suggest I should. But that’s what an amateur would do. Master manipulators get you to do things thinking it was your choice to begin with. Trust me, politicians back on my planet had that down to an art form.”
“So, you admit he manipulated you,” Aerion said with a smug expression.
I shrugged. “Could be, yeah. But that’s not the point. People manipulate each other all the time. Parents manipulate their kids to work hard so they can succeed in life. Would you hold that against them?”
“I suppose not…” Aerion said, brows furrowed in conflict.
“Exactly. What matters is why. To what end?”
“And? What is the God of Order’s grand purpose?” Aerion asked, her words dripping with sarcasm.
I deflated. “That, I don’t know yet. But I have a hunch Cosmo really is trying to end the cycle of Cataclysms forever… And that hunch tells me that Rocky is the key to unraveling more of the puzzle.”
“Perhaps,” Aerion replied. “Or perhaps your theory is all wrong, and all of this is mere coincidence.”
“We’ve had this conversation before, Aerion, and yes. I freely admit I could be wrong. I’m not usually wrong about my instincts, but no one’s perfect. Least of all me.”
Aerion agonized for another moment before the creases on her forehead melted away, and she met my eyes. “I’ve decided. We’ll Initialize the rock.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Really?” I said, thoroughly taken aback.
“I don’t trust Order,” Aerion said. “But I do trust you, Greg. And I respect your judgment. If you believe this is for the best, then I agree.”
“That’s… Thanks, Aerion,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “I appreciate that.”
Aerion coughed lightly. “So, shall we Initialize this rock? Or do you wish to dawdle all day?”
I took a breath and put my armored hand on the slightly-cool stone.
Initialize [Rocky the 423rd]? Initialization Cost: 33% Essence (Temporary). Essence consumption will be temporary and will transfer to the Champion’s summoner over time. Summoner: The God of Order (Hey Greg it’s me Cosmo! Teehee! Also, no worries. All of your oh-so-precious Essence will be refunded. Source: Trust me br—Maximum personal note characters reached. In the future, please fit your messages within the allotted length.)
“Alright. Here goes nothing…”
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I didn’t have quite enough Essence, so I ripped apart my [Common] Woven Fabric Trousers, netting me 3 Essence points, and a loss of 2 points to Vigor and 2 to Grace. The bang for the buck with [Common] items was truly terrible. I’d replace it with something far better as soon as we had a chance to hit the local shops.
Name: Rocky the 423rd
It’s a rock! But can it be more than a rock? Stay tuned to find out!
Classification: Champion of Order
Age: 42,344 years
Essence Cost: 122
Abilities: Unknown
Status: Active (Incubating)
Stats:
Vigor: Unknown
Order: Unknown
Wisdom: Unknown
Passion: Unknown
Grace: Unknown
Cunning: Unknown
Dominion: Unknown
Time Until Essence Reclamation: 2,591,990 seconds.
As was usual when it came to anything Cosmo-related, my reaction was one of total bafflement.
I shared the screen with Aerion before she could ask, and then she, too, joined me in being confused.
“How am I supposed to know how long that is?” Aerion asked, counting silently on her fingers. It was adorable. She had no chance in hell of figuring it out that way.
“Let me fix that,” I said, mentally willing the units to be not stupid.
29 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, 10 seconds.
“Much better,” Aerion said, looking visibly relieved. “Yet, I am no less confused.”
“I admit, I don’t know what I was expecting,” I said, scratching my head.
“I suppose the stats changed?” Aerion said, deflating. “I apologize, Greg. I made a stupid decision. I should have known nothing related to the God of Order would do us any good.”
“Well, hold onto your horses,” I said, causing Aerion to squint. “I wouldn’t write this off just yet. There’s one hint in here as to where this will all end up. You see it?”
Aerion re-read the message, and her eyes widened. “The Status…”
“Uh, huh. Incubating. Tell me, what sorts of things incubate?”
“Eggs,” Aerion said, suddenly looking at the rock in a new light. “Greg… Does this mean what I think it means?”
“Sure looks like it, wouldn’t you say?”
Like a blooming sunflower, Aerion glowed, happiness filling her face. “We have to take care of it!”
“Well, that’s a given,” I said.
“Do we have to keep it warm? We don’t even know what type of egg it is! This is bad, Greg! What if the poor thing dies?”
“Hey!” I said, grasping Aerion’s shoulders. “Whatever the hell this is, it’s clearly no normal egg. You think it would’ve survived 40,000 years if it were that fragile? I say we just keep an eye on it. Doubt there’s anything else we need to do, or the System Message would tell us. Or at least hint at it.”
“What do you think it is?” Aerion asked, wrapping her arms around Rocky and placing an ear on the cold stone.
“Hell if I know,” I said. “Knowing Cosmo… Probably a chicken. Or something equally ridiculous. I’m just glad I get to reclaim my Essence in a month. That’s not too terribly bad. If I’m understanding this right, it should decay over that time, progressively freeing up more of my pool.”
Aerion… hadn’t heard me, and was instead giving me a pouting death glare. “Promise me we’ll keep it, regardless of what it is!”
I sighed. “Sure. But if it does end up being a chicken or something dangerous we can’t control, we may not be able to travel with it.”
Aerion mulled over my words for a moment before replying. “Acceptable,” she said.
I smiled. “Well, I suppose we have something to look forward to, now.”
Which was good, because the dang thing left me with only a single point of free Essence. My buffer wailed in anguish.
----------------------------------------
After ripping apart my [Common] Woven sweater, I managed to reclaim another 3 points, at the cost of two points to Grace and Cunning. Not to mention the boatload of Grace I had to improve. Almost 50 points of it. The net loss was minimal, and I’d rather equip the highest rarity items I could get my hands on.
Which, between the gold I’d earned and my upcoming vault raid, was quite a lot. [Common] items had no place in my arsenal anymore. Not unless they possessed a truly unique ability.
Not to mention I felt so much cooler now without the sweater. I’d gotten used to sweating all the time, and in the ice dungeon, my layers had served me well, but here? It was hell.
After that, my [Common] Stainless Steel Gauntlets I never used anymore were the next on the chopping block, but I’d need a forge to melt those down. A hot one, at that.
“If only you had more Essence,” Aerion said. “You could do what you did last time, and try to Initialize [Epic] gear until you succeeded.”
I flashed her a smile. “About that… I’ve got a better idea.”