Almost at once, the heavy pressure in the room faded away. I looked at my arm and saw a small bead of moisture drip down my skin.

I shook my head and waited.

"Well, now that the major concern is out of the way, here's a question we've always wanted answered. What's it like traveling through the spirit planes?"

"Mostly amazing. Some places are terrifying, others peaceful. Most of the guardians are frightening but generally interesting to talk to. Only had one major issue with the contracting of one of my familiars. I nearly died during that exchange," I answered.

"You know you're admitting to multiple summons. Be careful with that sort of information, especially in the district below," he warned.

"I know. But I already stated I trust you guys. It's a little late to be worried."

"Fair enough," he admitted.

He reset the board, and this time, he opened with a dark piece that slid across the tiles. I matched his moves until he switched a piece around. Just as quickly as the last game, another one of my marbles turned gray in an explosion of fire.

"Are you related to anyone here in the city? I've met most of the felkins, but admittedly, not all."

"No, actually," I answered. "I only know a single felkin, and that was pure coincidence. Waiting on a letter for confirmation, but I should be meeting the rest soon."

He moved a fire piece forward, and I tapped the board, enjoying watching the steam rise into the air, dousing the light inside his marble.

The pair didn't exaggerate their loss, not like before.

Nathan still looked disappointed, but it felt surface-level at best.

"I'm ready," he declared.

"Tell me honestly. What would you guys have done if I gave an answer you didn't like?"

His shoulders drooped. "Ah. I suppose that's fair."

I waited.

"Probably nothing. We'd have a sit-down with Teddy and the others to advise them to distance themselves or prepare for the future, but outside of that? Nothing. He's a big boy who can handle himself. If he didn't know of your status, he would after our question, and he can proceed from there." He took a breath and grinned. "And the question was something you suggested. We were honestly going to slip the question in and see how you reacted."

Logical and fair.

"Alright. Your turn."

He shifted a nature piece; I moved one of my dark marbles. The game continued for five more rounds until he tapped the board and launched one of his light pieces into mine.

"What did Brel find so interesting in you that he deemed it serious enough to send a letter? From how Teddy explained things, it sounds like he owes you an apology. That's a rare thing coming from him."

I tapped the board and comboed one of my nature marbles into the end zone. The piece went through the evolution process and grew vines along its side.

Exhaling slowly, I grinned at the large man. "I don't think I can comfortably answer that question. Even if I'm trusting you, it's something rather personal. And I've been told by many, including your son, not to share that particular tidbit about myself. If you want to ask another question, I'll answer."

He waved his hand dismissively. "That's fine. Looks like we're wrapping up anyway."

His finger tapped three times, and simultaneously, every marble he owned shifted one space. Instantly, four of my marbles disappeared while his pieces cornered two others.

I waited, but he shook his head.

I guess question time is over.

Using Anastasia's strategy, I continued to systematically demolish his pieces with the added reach of the evolved marble.

It came down to the wire, but he shifted a piece into a corner, ready to take out my nature piece. I switched it with one of my surviving water pieces to cancel it out.

From there, the game lasted another minute, with his final piece cornered in a three-way pinch.

Before I tapped the board to initiate the final move, I paused and hesitated.

"Is there something wrong?"

I tapped the table instead. "Did you throw the game?"

A boisterous laugh rumbled from his chest. "Oh, not at all. It's rather nice to see someone pick up the game so quickly."

"I see."

I tapped the board, and my nature marble knocked his wind marble off the board.

The piece bounced once, then settled on the ground with a rattle, its green light fading into slate. Looking up, I half expected the duo to burst into song and dance, but they merely smiled dazzlingly, their actions reserved.

Nathan turned to his wife. "Well, dear? Are you satisfied with the wager?"

"I think I am," she responded. Anastasia slid up behind her husband and wrapped her arms around his neck, continuing to smile my way. "It seems we owe you a reward."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

I held up a hand. "If I'm being honest, I still don't feel like I really deserve to win anything."

I felt the air become freezing cold and burning hot, which honestly felt pretty nice on my skin. However, when I looked over, Teddy's parents looked ready to charge me with their fists drawn.

"We could never slander our reputation! To taint it with an unfulfilled promise? Never!" Nathan growled.

Anastasia's skin began to glow from the inside creepily. "Cyrus, please. Do not insult us."

I blinked at them and watched Teddy bang his head against the table. "I think this is the most I've ever seen you so defeated. I guess parents embarrassing their kids is a universal thing."

Teddy groaned.

Meanwhile, his parents were back to normal, the flare-up of mana in the room now absent.

Instead of doing something crazy, Anastasia sat on Nathan's knee. "Well, how about this. I'm pretty sure I know just the skill for you. You said you trust us, want to put the gold where your mouth is?"

"If you'd rather we give you a list, that's perfectly fine, too. We don't mind," Nathan added.

I weighed my options. On one hand, I could have access to a whole list of potential skills. Knowing these two and the mountain of treasure they had, there had to be several I'd kill for.

On the other hand, all I did was win a board game. And I did say I trusted them.

I guess I can always sell or trade the skillstone if I don't think it'll be good.

"I'll trust you."

The room seemed several degrees brighter than before.

"Great!" Anastasia exclaimed, clapping her hands. She held out her left hand as her palms separated and presented a small, perfectly clear skillstone. "Here you go."

I reached out, accepted the skillstone, and raised it to the light. Judging from its shape and clarity, it was a higher-tier skill. As I spun it around, I saw prismatic specks flicker at just the right angle.

It heavily reminded me of the skillstone that transformed into Spirit Lord's Invocation. It was slightly different, with the flecks scattered in a different pattern, but everything else was nearly identical.

"What is it?"

"It's a non-specific affinity skillstone in the passive aura category. This one is a bit special compared to most passives. Most aura types have a more obvious effect, like a fire shroud absorbing or emitting heat," Nathan explained. "Spirit Presence relies more on your willpower than your mana to exert effects. How that develops tends to be up to the user, so you can't pinpoint something specific."

"So, like a blank slate of a skill? It's high quality, but is that really worth a limited skill slot? And can't most people use auras when they tier up anyway?"

"Hmm. You know? Teddy is the best person to answer this."

Teddy raised his head from the table and flung a sealed letter aside, adding to the scattered pile on the ground. "You learn to sense auras. Most people can conceal theirs, but even at the end of tier one, I started sensing when others began manifesting their own aura—unless they're like my parents, using enchanted gear to hide it. And among those with auras, those with a skill related to them are on completely different levels. The pressure you feel is called higher-tier suppression; it's a side effect of someone leaking their mana into their aura and applying it. Someone with a skill to boost that is almost always three times more effective. And they tend to have a lot more control over how they use it."

"I see."

I raised the stone and flicked my wrist, sending the crystal spinning upwards. As it came back down, I sent mana into my hand and caught the stone, crushing it in the same action.

The dust sank into my flesh and into my channels before traveling towards the center of my chest. I closed my eyes and willed myself into my soulspace.

Unlike the skill wisps tied to my familiars, the passive ones were much harder to spot unless I actively looked for them. They tended to hang around the outskirts of my soulspace, bobbing along where I didn't look.

A single wisp, one that emitted a sense of burning heat and warm light, rotated around my head before floating off.

Once the new wisp settled into my soul, I watched it join the background, floating away in a tiny shimmer of light that flickered between multiple colors with every passing second.

Back in the physical world, I willed my status sheet and the system notification to appear.

Ooh... nice.

STATUS

Name: Cyrus

Race: Reborn (Felkin)

Age: ??

Tier: 0

Active Skills:

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: Verdant Healer: (Áine )

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: Resplendent Inferno: (Zharia)

* (T:0 R:9) Racial Skill: Dimensional Storage: (Chomperz)

* (T:0 R:9) Spirit Lord's Invocation

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: The Dead Will Provide (Erebus)

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: Reflective Coat of the Mirror Beast (Magnus)

* (T:0 R:9) Summon Familiar: Storm King's Tempest (Sturmrorex)

Passive Skills:

* (T:0 R:9) Etherious Blood

* (T:0 R:9) Sovereign-Threaded Soul

* (T:0 R:9) Chaotic Resonance

* (T:0 R:0) Spirit's Lord's Echo

Perks:

Legacy of the Obsidian Crown

Scion of Calstrax

Demonic Blood

Child of Mana

Dread Guardian's Apology

Crystal Synthesis

Devourer of the Deep

Whisper of the Tempest

Spirit Lord's Echo

* Your will is that of a lord. Where you walk, the world shall remember.

I stared, then waited and closed the notification to try and bring it back up. When the text reappeared, I sighed and leaned back in my chair.

After a good minute of letting the annoyance settle, I was brought out of my breathing exercise by Teddy clearing his throat.

"Hey, Cyrus?" Teddy began. "You okay?"

I opened my eyes and saw his parents looking concerned. They no longer smiled.

"Ah, yeah, everything's fine. It's just I was hoping for the skill description to be... more useful. The Weave sure knows how to be inconsistent when it wants to."

The duo relaxed their expressions.

Nathan brightened up. "Generally, more open-ended skills tend to have vague explanations. Passives are the most common offenders."

Anastasia leaned in. "If you ask any high-tier adventurer, the super vague ones are the best. At least, that's the unofficial consensus."

"Well. Do you guys feel anything different?"

They both cocked their heads and leaned in. After Nathan's dad even sniffed me, I withheld another sigh and sat still.

"No, not really," they answered.

Frowning, I tried to feel around for the skill. With the skill description, I almost expected some kind of physical change or oddity, but maybe that wasn't the case this time.

"Hmm, Cyrus? Are the rest of your skills maxed out?"

"Oh? Uh, yeah actually."

"It may need some time to settle properly into your core. Your body could be acclimating, especially for things that affect something more conceptual like an aura."

"Honestly, I'm just surprised it didn't come with excruciating pain," I muttered.

I looked up and found the duo frowning again.

Teddy grabbed another letter and sealed it with some wax that he quickly heated up using some mana. "Cyrus. You know that's not normal, right?"