[You have selected the class: Spectral Weaver (Rare)]
[You have earned the skill: Affinity Savant (Rare)]
*[Skill: Guided Krisis Bolt (Uncommon) has changed to: Guided Spectral Bolt (Uncommon)]
*[Skill: Krisis Construct (Uncommon) has changed to: Spectral Construct (Rare)]
*Spectral Weaver class skills available*
*[Class: Spectral Weaver has reached level 11, stats earned, +4 free points]
It felt like electricity flooding his body, like he had just touched a power line, despite the fact that it didn't hurt. Power coursed through his veins, and he could feel and, god, hear his arm and leg popping and snapping back in place, and reforming into something more sturdy than before. He was not alone, however. The dagger of roiling gold was buzzing with power, like it was responding and growing along with Zane. The blade went from a calm, rippling pond and turned into a roaring ocean as the aura it gave off increased. As soon as the surge of power started, it stopped. Instead of the power seeping out of him, he contained the power, making him feel like he had been living his life before without an arm and a leg. Looking down, Zane saw his leg, which 10 seconds ago was a gross wound with a bone sticking out, now, it looked good as new. Zane stood up, put weight on his new leg, and jumped with joy to see the healing process was seamless.
"Well done Zane!" Marcus clapped, cheering along with him. "I take it you made the smart choice?"
Zane nodded emphatically, too excited to speak. He had so much to do, so many questions to ask, but first, he had a new skill to check out.
[You have earned the skill: Affinity Savant (Rare)]
Affinities are lifelong goals for some, guide the path for others, they just pave the road for you. Affinities are fuel for your journey, wood for the fire, may your path become long and full of affinities. You may study a great enough source of an affinity for a period of time, the better your understanding, the faster you gain the affinity. Affinities no longer factor into class or skill selection. You have no limit on the number of affinities you can gain.
Zane didn't know what to think of this skill. On one hand, he had no idea what affinities were, but he could guess. On the other, the skill seemed unique beyond most. The description was, for some reason, flavor text before the effect, unlike his other skills. It mentions affinities would become fuel instead of guides seemed to be really cool, but only one person in the room would know.
"I received a new skill." Zane said, looking over to Marcus.
"Oh, right. All new classes come with a skill or affinity right away that allows you understand what the class is capable of. For example, the mage upgrade class would likely have allowed you to pick from a set of affinities right away, and the Druid class would likely have given you a skill to allow you to speak with animals. What did this class give you?" Marcus explained, looking at Zane expectantly.
"It's called Affinity Savant, it allows me to study sources of affinities to learn them quicker, and I have no limit on affinities. What are affinities by the way?" Zane asked.
Marcus just stood there, wide eyed for what seemed like the 100th time that day. "You really are a lucky bastard, you know that?" Marcus said, shaking his head, hands covering his face.
Zane couldn't help but smile, he kind of enjoyed being the source of someone's envy for once. Zane laughed, "You didn't answer my question."
Marcus looked at Zane, shook his head and reluctantly responded. "Affinities are elements you can align yourself with to change and mold your path, as well as bolster your prowess in that element. Elemental affinities are common, like fire and earth. There are more complex affinities, like the core affinities, life, death, time, and space. Most people can only have at most two affinities, any more would warp their path beyond recognition, how does this skill remedy that?" Marcus looked, pleading for a downside to this skill.
"It, uh-" Zane hesitated, "-keeps my skills and classes from being decided by my affinities." Zane said, not sure if this was a good thing or not.
Marcus almost began to laugh, but a look of realization crossed his face, and his look of triumph fell. "That would normally be a monstrously big downside, however, I don't think you'll struggle with that fact. Some paths are defined by affinities, but others are done without them, this skill seems to put you in the second camp."
Zane wooped, beyond happy with his choice. He seemed to have a great future proofing skill.
"I still have a skill selection to make. I guess getting this dagger gave me enough experience to go up to 11."
"Of course you did," Marcus said, plopping back down into his armchair. "Come on then."
Zane selected the skill notification, and three appeared in front of him:
*Spectral Weaver class skills available*
[Spectral Scream (Uncommon)]
Conjure beads of Krisis and inhale them. Unleash a powerful Krisis imbued scream that knocks back enemies. (Cost: Varies) (Range: Short)
This seemed alright, just another way to be offensive, but the skill seemed to be short range. While it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a short range option, Zane could already conjure short range weapons in a pinch. Zane mentally passed it and looked onto the next one.
[Survivalist Compass (Common)]
Conjure a bead of Krisis that will quickly fly to the nearest source of water or food source, depending on your intent. (Cost: Extremely Low)
This one was interesting, the system seemed to be curtailing his experience in the woods as something to influence his skills. If nothing else, this proved that his actions could still influence his path, even if his affinities could not. However, this skill was underwhelming. While Zane didn't doubt that it would be useful every now and then, but not in every day usage, especially not helping his combat capabilities, which mattered the most, so he moved on.
[Spectral Imbue (Rare)]
With affinities as your fuel, may your path burn bright. Imbue your attacks with any affinity you possess, changing the damage type to that affinity (Cost: Low). Additionally, you gain access to effect imbuements:
Force: Any attack imbued with Force will knock back enemies struck scaling with Body, but attacks will be more difficult to control. (Cost: High) (Range: Long)
Reckless: Any attack imbued with Reckless will cause the enemy to flail their arms wildly, difficulty to break free will scale with your Body. (Cost: High)
Upgrade this skill to gain more effect imbuements.
If Zane had never seen something leading him by the nose before, which he had, it would still have been egregiously obvious. This skill would be completely useless to most people outside of the effect imbuements, which looked incredible, but for him, this would be the most versatile skill available for a long time. Zane, who had not read this one out loud looked up to Marcus, who looked at him expectantly. Zane just shook his head, grin on his face, and picked Spectral Imbue. Zane conjured up a bolt, allowing the beads to do their cosmic dance for a moment, that was when Zane noticed something. When he had chosen his class, he had noticed that his Krisis Bolt and Construct skill had changed, both changing name with his class, inheriting the name "Spectral." When he looked at the bolt in his hand, he didn't see the same white beads floating in the air by their own power, this time, he saw a faint blue glow encompassing the beads, like fairy lights floating in a fishbowl. The glow was faint, but Zane could tell the light wasn't being emitted from the beads themselves, as they still glowed with the same starlight white, rather that the light was holding them.
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"What is it?" Marcus asked, "A new skill?"
"No," Zane replied, "one that changed after my class change, this glow wasn't here before."
"It looks like the basic Krisis Bolt, what is it called now?" Marcus asked, curious.
"Spectral Bolt, but the description is mostly the same it doesn't feel any different, maybe more stable?" Zane said, scratching his head. "Just wanted to test out the new skill."
Zane reached out to the new skill, attempting to imbue his newly changed skill with the force imbuement. Almost all at once, it felt like he had lost a pint of blood, as he had used more Krisis using this one skill than he had ever done before at once. The bolt in his hand changed, the beads now glowing a ethereal red, like the kind of light you would expect to see in Hell. The subtle blue glow now glowed a faint red, turning what felt light stability before into a slight pressure. Something that the skill had said popped out at him now, that imbuing his attacks with force would make them more difficult to control, and now he could see why. Marcus looked interested, leaning forward, assessing the bolt above his hand.
"It looks like you're taking a pure Krisis path, just slightly changing a basic attack and making it more versatile. I will say that pure Krisis Krisor's aren't particularly powerful, but they make difficult to predict opponents." Marcus said, still gazing into the red bolt.
"The skill allows me to imbue attacks with a couple imbuements. This one, force, and another, reckless."
"That seems alright, versatile, unpredictable." Marcus replied, nodding. "It is a little lackluster though, but you should come to expect that from early F grade skills, I'm sure you will find something be-"
"It also allows me to imbue attacks with any affinity I have, changing the damage type." Zane said, almost nonchalantly.
Zane attempted to look busy but couldn't help peeking at the clouded over face of Marcus, who threw his hands up in surrender.
"Of course it does. Gods, I have never met someone so egregiously lucky before. The Gods must have taken a special interest in you for you to have been so heaven touched." Marcus said, slumping back into his chair.
Zane perked up at that. "Gods?" Zane said, letting the bolt dissipate, noting only the Krisis from the bolt itself returned, not the imbuement. "Are you saying Gods are real here?"
Marcus almost looked at Zane like he had three heads, as if this was the most insane thing he had heard all day. Not the fact that he just appeared here coming from another world, that seemed normal, but the idea that Zane didn't think Gods were real was the most insane thing he had ever heard.
"Yes..." Marcus said, like he was speaking to a toddler. "The Gods are very real, do they not have Gods where you come from?" He asked, Zane thought he was going to start asking if his planet had air or food next.
"Well, that is a deep, philosophic conversation." Zane said, matching Marcus' demeaning tone. "There is no proof of Gods existing on my world, just that people believe they do without any physical evidence."
Marcus just stared, bewildered by the idea of a world going on without the existence of Gods.
"Soooo... how many Gods are there?" Zane asked, filling the awkward silence that had filled the room.
That seemed to snap Marcus out of it. "Uh, 24. The four True Gods and each of their fiveIcon Gods."
Zane looked at Marcus, expectantly. Marcus continued.
"The four True Gods are the, well, True Gods. They are the embodiments of reality that make our world work. They are Life, Death, Time, and Space. Their Icon Gods are the five most fundamental aspects of each of the core aspects of reality. For example, Destruction is an Icon of Death, and Nature is an Icon of Life."
Zane sat there, in thought, one thing in that standing out in particular. "These Gods, do they have names? Like real names?"
Marcus just cocked his head, as if Zane had asked if his head were upside down. Zane thought, relaying back to the impressions he had received just before arriving here. That whole sequence felt like a dream now, but one thing still stood out to him. One impression. Lia, Ren, Time, and Space. Time and Space were obvious now, names of two of the True Gods, but the others? It was like Lia and Ren were the true names of these deities, and he had somehow peeked behind the curtain.
"It's just that-" Zane said, before he was cut off by that same pressure, like if he uttered the words about to come out of his mouth next, he would be smitten down by a cold, uncaring God, like he were about to break some holy doctrine. The same feeling he had when he was going to tell Marcus about the System, before he lied and said it was a skill. Was a God truly keeping him from spreading some information, which made Zane pale at the thought.
"It's just that what?" Marcus said.
Zane realized he had been silent for almost 30 seconds.
"It's just that on our world, the Gods have names. Zeus was the God of the sky, Poseidon of the sea, Ra of the Sun, so on, it just seems proper to me." Zane blurted out.
He wasn't sure if Marcus bought what he had said, but he seemed satisfied by the answer. Lia and Ren, were their names so important that some God was trying to keep him from sharing it. On one hand he was flattered to have the attention of a God. On the other hand, the attention of a God was a lot to handle, making Marcus' pressure he placed on him feel like a child playing with a toy sword compared to a master. Zane wanted to eagerly change the subject from this, afraid he might slip up.
"So..." Zane said, looking down in the object of roiling gold in his hand, holding it up. "What is this?"
Marcus gave him a quizzical look, but decided to drop it and answer Zane's question. Zane sighed internally, thankful that Marcus was kind enough to see he was uncomfortable.
"That, my boy, it a shard of fractured reality, this one attuned to the core aspect of reality, space. That belonged to my father, and after he died, I inherited it and was tasked to keep it safe. That was before someone decided to pull a cosmic accident and unbind me from a soulbound item." Marcus, said, giving Zane a accusing glare. "I would also like to keep doing my job, so if you could unbind from the item, I would be very appreciative."
"Uh, how do I do that?" Zane asked, feeling more and more like an idiot as time went on.
"Just focus on your connection to the item, and break it, that will allow someone else to bind it."
Zane looked down at the dagger, it was strangely beautiful, like the blade was a window into a strange dimension. His new connection to the blade made him feel overly attached to the item, making him reluctant to sever his connection.
"Maybe you can use your skill to do it if it's not working." Marcus said, patient, but stern.
Zane mentally slapped his forehead. He could not believe he hadn't inspected the item yet, focusing on the item, a screen popped up in front of him.
[Shard of Fractured Reality: Space, (Grade: Growth) (Legendary) (Soul Linked)]
F Grade: Blink
The Shard may be recalled from anywhere in the same dimension as you are to your hand. (Cost: None)
Within 50 feet, you may appear wherever the shard is, appearing with the shard in your hand. (Cost: Low)
E Grade: (Advance to Unlock)
Zane blinked, this item seemed incredible, but that goes without saying for a legendary item if video games taught him anything. Zane hefted the dagger up and threw it behind the couch, touching upon his connection to call the shard back to his hand. The feeling was unlike anything he had ever done before, yet it felt so familiar. He threw the shard back once more, this time, calling upon the other power. Teleporting was an experience. Zane thought nothing could ever disorient him like how his experience in the spectral had, but this was something else. He went from sitting down on the couch, knowing he was sitting, to standing up, holding the shard in his hand. The weird thing was that he felt as if he were always standing, like this was how his body had been for the past 10 minutes, not sitting down. The sheer shock from his body, feeling one way and his mind the other caused him to stagger, falling to his knees. Marcus stood up, stepping over to Zane and looking down upon him like a loving grandparent who just watched his grandson simultaneously ride his bike for the first time before running into a mailbox. He offered Zane a hand and he took it.
"That was absolutely bizarre." Zane said, still reeling from the experience.
"Teleporting isn't for everyone. It's no wonder it's so rare, the experience is unlike anything else. Did you find a way to break your connection?" Marcus asked, clearly caring, but still pointing Zane towards what was important.
Zane looked back over the screen displaying what the shard had said.
"Well, you had said that you were soulbound to it, is that what this means? Soul Linked?" Zane asked.
Marcus' kind grandfatherly look melted away like snow in spring, replacing it with a look of silent determination and abject horror. He ran his hands through his hair, and took a few steps back, taking deep breaths.
"Read me everything, word for word." Marcus said, no demanded.
Although the pressure Marcus had used earlier hadn't returned, the tension in the room was so thick he could cut it with a knife. Zane instinctually read the description, as if ordered by a drill sergeant. A pulse of that same pressure from before washed though Zane, causing him to shudder, like as if someone took a peek at his soul directly. Marcus' look softened, but didn't lose its seriousness.
"This is a big deal, Zane." Marcus said, voice even. "Being soulbound to an item is normal, it means that an item can only be used by you, and being disarmed will keep any enemy from using an item against you. Being soul linked is something else entirely. The same thing still stands, keeping others from using the shard, but now, your fates are tied. If you die, the shard is destroyed, if the shard breaks, you die. More importantly, you cannot unlink yourself from the item."
Zane's head reeled, feeling like he had just used the shard again.
"So," Zane said, "What do we do now?"
"Now, I need to tell you exactly why this shard is so important."