Only Val could communicate with the dryads, and so naturally she managed the peace talks between these strange creatures and the exiled leaders. Peace talks, as it turned out, weren’t something that happened particularly quickly, so that left me, the rest of the Slayers, and the families and guards of the leaders kicking about a bit.
One of the soldiers was showing Lore and Arzak a new orcish card game, and though it was new only to the human, he seemed to be consistently winning it, much to the annoyance of everyone else. Still, it was hard to be annoyed at Lore, particularly with his goofy smile and sincere excitement at having the best hands. Corminar, meanwhile, was busy making another batch of potions, me having used the last of his mana vials to replenish after the fight.
I, meanwhile, occupied myself by wandering around the now quiet fort and reviewing my ability selection choices. It really hadn’t been long since my last Worldbending ability, I noted, though there’d been a fair few fights between then and now. Not to mention that Arnold Orellan had been of quite a high level, too. I supposed that at this rate, that +900% boost to experience points offered by the Legacy of Sispyhus artifact really would bring me back in line with my peers eventually. At least, it would if we kept getting into these sorts of scrapes.
Ability selection unlocked
Select an ability from the list below:
Option 1: Skinsmith III (Worldbending) — Toughen skin to act as natural armour. Strength of armour scales on [WIS]. Uses significantly less mana/second.
I knew deep down that I should pick a Skinsmith ability at some point, because I hadn’t invested all that much in Vitality, to increase the size of my health bar. But I already had my Warped Shield ability, which used mana to deflect any melee attacks—at least, low-level ones—and that meant the low investment in Vitality maybe didn’t matter. Besides, I was sure to get an upgraded version of it at some point, and I could only assume this would increase its ability beyond “low-level”.
With all this in mind, I was very much on the fence about picking this ability. I didn’t want to rule it out entirely, but I had other options to review first.
Option 2 Ash Husk II (Worldbending) — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 90% resistance to fire attacks.
It was another upgrade—I’d had a lot of these sorts of options lately, it felt like—but this was a very encouraging one. The ability to have 90% resistance to fire attacks would greatly increase my strength… when fighting users who specialised in fire magicks. There were a lot of these, admittedly, which did make this choice a compelling one, but I had to admit it was more niche—if more powerful—than just picking the Skinsmith ability.
I kept this option in the runnings, and opened up my third and final option.
Hidden condition met! Alternative ability choice unlocked.
Option 3: Pocket Worlds (Worldbending) [Requires: Any ‘storage’ Worldbending ability] — Replaces ‘Cloth Storage III’. Open and access pocket dimensions. Storage capacity of summoned pocket worlds scales with [INT] of creator.
There was a lot to take in here. I’d only just gained Cloth Storage III—I hadn’t even had a chance to use it yet, as we’d hardly been by any shops lately!—and already I had the opportunity to replace it. Normally, I would have ruled it out immediately; I wanted to at least test how an ability might work in the real world before I upgraded or evolved it. But in this case… I could see exactly how it would change. I would no longer be restricted to just Needlework supplies, which I would still want to include, but would be able to carry just about anything.
I could carry Alchemy supplies for Corminar, or I could have an array of knives, each suited for a particular type of enemy. Or I could store Lore’s sheep in there, if I ever decided to become a weird elven crime lord, like Elandor. The possibilities were endless.
And that was before I even interrogated the wording. “Open and access pocket dimensions” didn’t specify it had to be my pocket dimensions, did it? It was almost worded like I could access them in general.
The two health bar proxy abilities would have to wait to come around again; I knew exactly which one I wanted to pick.
Ability unlocked — Pocket Worlds
Pocket Worlds (Worldbending) — Open and access pocket dimensions. Storage capacity of summoned pocket worlds scales with [INT] of creator.
And then, of course, I did exactly the same thing anyone would do in the situation of just having unlocked the ‘Pocket Worlds’ ability—I tested it. I turned to find a weed at my side and decided it was probably as good a trial item as any. I ripped it from the ground and turned to find an empty patch in front of me in which to open my pocket world portal.
It came as naturally to me as opening any portal, and the portal itself even appeared largely the same. Though, there were two notable differences: the glow of the magicks of this portal were darker, and there was no partner to it. At least, not on this plane of existence. I resisted the urge to stick my head straight into the portal, and instead pushed the weed inside, letting as little of my arm go into the portal as possible. I released the weed, pulled my hand out, and allowed the portal to close. There were no system messages or anything—nothing, in fact, to let me know how much of my pocket world’s capacity the weed had used up. I supposed I would only find out that I was at capacity when I wasn’t able to push anything else inside.
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I gave the portal world another few moments before opening an access again, and I put my hand into to find the weed. My fingertips touched… nothing. My stomach churned; was I not going to be able to retrieve things I put in here again? Was this ability pointless without some way of summoning the stored items once more? Was I not going to be able to pull this weed from the—
As soon as I thought of the weed, it seemed to shoot to my hand within the portal. I closed my grip around it and pulled it out, and the weed was just as it had been going in. If what Elandor had said about his version of this ability was true, then no time had passed for the weed—there had been no chance for anything to happen to it.
I took a deep breath, staring at the portal, and then stuck my head in. I simply had to know.
Inside, it was like how I imagined it would be to be inside a large, fluffy cloud, if purple. Every way you looked, all you could see was the same purple glow as existed on the portals themselves, though it was bespeckled slightly in here with tiny dark dots, as though some other material was fighting to get in.
Well, now I knew, and it seemed pleasant enough. I pulled my head back out and allowed the portal world to close.
‘...What’re you doing?’ Val said, appearing in front of me at the other side of the portal.
‘New ability. Just testing it.’
The witch raised an eyebrow, apparently unable to stop a smirk from crossing her face.
‘You done with the dryads?’
Val nodded. ‘Yua is sipping tea with them as we speak.’
‘Ooh, tea?’
‘I wouldn’t. This isn’t normal tea, it’s nasty root stuff. Yua’s being polite when she says it’s nice, I reckon.’
I slumped my shoulders; I’d been in the mood for a nice cup of tea.
‘Turns out they have a lot in common, after all. I didn’t exactly have to do much.’ Val looked over at Yua, Cambelny and the forest spirits, and I followed her line of sight. The cups of tea in their hands were glowing green, and suddenly I didn’t have quite so much of a craving. ‘Yua and her lot want their cities back, and the dryads want their forests back. They have the same enemy, and want different things out of fighting them—there’s never been such a good groundwork for a diplomatic relationship.’
‘You know a lot about diplomatic relationships, then?’ I asked.
‘I read.’ Val shook her head. ‘Anyway, I came to get you. We’re all supposed to gather. Yua’s gonna speak to us all.’
I followed Val back to where the exiled leaders and the forest spirits had been talking, and found the rest of the team—as well as the soldiers and families—making their ways there too. I remained at the back of the milling crowd, leaning against a nearby wall, as Yua began to speak.
‘Thank you all for your patience,’ she started, pausing to sweep her eyes across the crowd, seeming to look at every single face. ‘We have discovered much in common with our new forest friends. So quick were we to fight that we did not realise that we shared an enemy. We have Equivalence to thank for reminding us of this.’ Yua nodded to Val, at my side.
Sometimes I forgot that Val’s full name was Equivalence. That really was a terrible name.
‘Still,’ the ex-Duchess of Lenktra continued, ‘we have much work ahead of us. Together with our dryad allies, we will take the battle to Amira’s soldiers, and their general in the region: the woman known as Niamh. It will be long, and it will be gruelling, and we have only a small number of soldiers in comparison to Amira’s own legion.
‘But we have something that she does not: loyalty that extends beyond coin. Her soldiers fight because they are paid, but the brave people of the Tundras will fight because it is their home. We will recruit where we can, and we will strike only where we can deal maximum damage to Amira’s empire. We will need to be smart with our strategy—that goes without saying—but I do believe one thing above all else: we will triumph.’
At this, a smattering of folk in the small crowd cheered, while others clapped. Though the reaction was quiet, I sensed that those who heard Yua’s speech were encouraged by it, that many of them too thought that winning wasn’t so impossible.
When the crowd dispersed, Yua locked eyes with Val, and came striding through the amassed audience to take my friend—”friend” didn’t feel like the right label for what we were now, but this wasn’t the right moment to work that out—by the hands.
‘In case I did not make it clear,’ the ex-duchess said. ‘I know now that I have misjudged witches. I will do better in future.’
Val met the woman’s gaze, and nodded—a gesture that Yua returned in kind. When the witch turned to me, she smiled an easy smile. ‘So, Styk, are you ready to go to war?’
"Styk"
Level 14 Bladespinner
Base Stats:
Vitality — 32
Intelligence — 140
Dexterity — 83
Strength — 67
Wisdom — 48
Charisma — 33
Skills:
Worldbending — Level 40
Knifework — Level 31
Stealth — Level 15
Needlework — Level 12
Identification — Level 10
Abilities:
Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].
Stab III — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 50%.
Execution II — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.
Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.
Mana-Fuelled — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.
Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.
Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.
Tamed Portals — Passive. Increased efficiency of portal magicks means that your portal glow is reduced by 50%, making them less likely to be detected by enemies.
Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.
Shrill Perimeter — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.
Warped Shield — Passive. If an enemy strikes you with a low-level melee weapon, Warp Shield automatically activates to open a portal that deflects this attack. You must not have any portals currently active. Uses mana on activation.
Pocket Worlds — Open and access pocket dimensions. Storage capacity of summoned pocket worlds scales with [INT] of creator.
Stealth Attack II — Passive. 80% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.
In Plain Sight — When activated, you have a heightened abilitiy to hide in plain sight, and are able to spot opportunities to break from combat at a higher rate. Scales on [WIS].
Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].
Cloth Armour — Craft a cloth armour of higher quality, dependent on materials, time and skill level.
Active Effects:
Legacy of Sisyphus:
XP gain increased by +900%