After roughly fifteen to twenty minutes, Cain was satisfied that he wouldn’t be visible to the gate guards unless he created a literal pillar of fire. Which, while enticing, was not his goal for the evening. He sat down in the middle of the dirt road, packed solid by extended use, and just relaxed for a moment. A pleasant chill caressed his skin, courtesy of the near-winter weather. Insects hummed and chirped more softly than they should have, already beginning to hide from the cold. The air was nearly still, with only the occasional errant breeze disturbing its calm. This was why Cain preferred winter to the other seasons. It was like watching the world fall asleep. Speaking of which, how is Magira doing…? Cain searched his mind for the telepathic link, careful not to be too… well, ‘noisy,’ as he checked up on Magira, lest he disturb her rest. Her thoughts seemed slow and soporific. Drowsy, but not asleep, it looked like. That was fine. There were still one or two things Cain could do while he waited. For example…

[ Slave Crest : “Magira” ]

Demihuman (Wolfish), SL: 17

( Rune : Attribute Sharing )

Allows transfer of attributes between entities which both bear this rune, or allows transfer between one entity with the rune and one without, provided there is a sufficiently strong link provided by other runes or enchantments. This rune is configured to share entity Cain Peyton’s attributes with entity Magira, transferring roughly one fifth of Cain Peyton’s body and mind attributes.

( Rune : Telepathy (Linked) )

Allows the entity which bears the rune to telepathically send messages directly to another entity’s mind. The effect can reveal some of the rune bearer’s thoughts to the recipient unless care is taken to prevent this. This rune is configured to act as a closed two-way link between the rune bearer and and one other entity, provided they possess a telepathy rune or a sufficiently strong link provided by other runes.

[ Tidbit Unlocked : Crests ]

Crests are complex rune structures which combine many different runes to create logical pathways and specific effects. Where a single rune would produce a single effect, a crest can use multiple runes to create a multitude of different situational effects.

[ Tidbit Unlocked : Runes ]

Runes are mana-conductive structures which serve to bind mana to a physical object or entity, and maintain it in a rigid form. This allows for usually temporary enchantments to take a more permanent form. Runes require the object or entity they are inscribed on to be naturally capable of storing mana, or must otherwise be inscribed onto a non-viable object or entity with a mana-conductive material.

Now there was some interesting information. Cain had suspected he’d be able to view something like this when he’d gotten a notification about Magira’s crest being bound to him, but he’d thought it would be things like her skills or attributes. Instead, he got descriptions of the runes she had inscribed, as well as two new tidbits on what runes and crests were. Given that he could just ask Magira about her skills if he needed to know, this was far more useful. The tidbit on runes told him that inscribing a rune required mana conductive material, meaning that disrupting or removing a slave crest would likely require some method of removing the ink. The tidbit on crests told him that they could essentially act as magic computers, and that there were likely many different varieties. A malicious grin threatened to creep onto Cain’s face. Every new piece of information was going to be another bullet for him to use.

Eventually, that is. He reminded himself that it would likely be a long while before he could openly take any action against slavery. With an internal sigh, Cain felt for his link to Magira once more, worried his sudden excitement might have bothered her. To his surprise, he found almost nothing. He wondered for a moment if the telepathy rune had failed or if something had happened to Magira when he felt a brief stir of activity. She was just sleeping. Which meant it was probably safe for him to start working on his attributes, though he’d start off slow just to be safe. He stirred his mana, bringing it forward to his fingertips. He raised them in front of his face. Burn. The ends of his fingers lit up like candles, thin strips of red flame flickering gently back and forth in front of his eyes. The expected pain came, but Cain found the stabbing sensation of his eyes readjusting to be arguably worse. That was odd. Fire was supposed to be pretty painful. He had burned his pointer finger on a lightbulb when he was seven once, and even just that had brought him to tears. Admittedly, seven-year-olds were usually easier to bring to tears than people in their late teens, but still. Cain was quite sure he hadn’t picked up a pain nullification skill of any kind from how badly his eyes were throbbing, too. He had a sudden thought, and recalled his ‘character sheet’ that had appeared when he accessed his skill level interface. There had been a skill there named “Burning Man,” right? He probably got that while he was throwing fire around in the Flutewood. Was there some way to see the description for that?

[ Skill : Burning Man (Middling) ]

The entity takes reduced damage from overexposure to fire and other sources of heat. While actively on fire, the entity recovers mana faster and consumes much less mana to create and manipulate fire. (2 SL)

Turns out, loudly wondering where the skill description was would do the trick. At least it explained why the pain was so much weaker than expected. He was fire-resistant. He wasn’t in as much pain as he’d expected to be because the fire just wasn’t injuring him as badly as it should be. It should probably be safe to do the rest of his hands, then. Cain resisted the urge to rub his eyes as he squinted at his hands, watching the red flames creep down to his wrists. The pain was still tolerable, but it was noticeably worsening. Oh, right. Cain wasn’t using any blood magic to heal himself yet, so the burns from the fire were being allowed to deepen unchecked. He should probably fix that. He focused on the crimson mana running through his blood with his mana sense. Heal. After a second, the pain of the fire began to back off again. It still prickled uncomfortably on his skin, but was presumably now restricted to surface burns once more. Cain just held his hands in front of his face there for a moment, using the light to look around at his surroundings. To his left and right, the packed dirt road stretched out several feet before meeting grass. At the edges, wild grassroots struggled to grow through the dense earth, only managing to sprout in sparse patches. Further back, a wall of grass stalks marked where the earth turned soft again. Ahead of Cain was just empty road, smoothly segueing into shadow. And his hands. They were still there.

Alright, something is off and I don’t like it.

Something was bothering him and he didn’t know what. His least favorite feeling. Did he feel like he was being watched? No… Was he a cartoon detective? Was it too quiet here? No. Was he just crazy? Yes, but unrelated. Cain twitched and had to stop himself from scratching his neck. His hands were on fire. Maybe that was the problem. Did the pain bother him? Well, no, it’s not that bad… What then, the fire itself? Surely he wasn’t getting so agitated because he was sitting in a way that was slightly uncomfortable. The fire…? Maybe the fire was the problem, then. Cain squinted at the crimson embers engulfing his hands. Sure enough, he didn’t like it. It was like in itch inside his brain. Not like the one from the cosmic entity attached to him, just the normal kind. The fire danced in front of his eyes, the same blood-red color as his mana… and Cain realized why he didn’t like it.

It’s too fucking edgy.

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[ Body Attribute Increased : Resilience ]

(Current Value: 6 -> 7)

Cain had increased an attribute he didn’t know he had while contemplating how to fix his little problem. Pulling up the description the same way he’d pulled up the description for Burning Man — conspicuously wondering where it was — revealed that it basically just made his skin harder. The use of the word “flesh” meant it might apply to all or most of his soft tissues, but he knew for a fact it affected his skin. The moment he got the notification, the pain lessened a little. Not a significant amount, but enough to notice. As for how he was going to prevent himself from becoming an edge lord… I’ll just have to take a gamble. Cain was pretty certain that the color his mana took on when he used his mana sight was tied to his aspects. He knew that a person’s aspects were determined by the spells they cast while their mana was still pure, and probably for a short window after. Roberts had been very helpful on that front, even if keeping up with the conversation was rather stressful. That meant that the color of his mana would likely change again when he gained the poison attribute he was planning to increase his constitution with. His mana had been orange and glowing when he’d only cast fire magic, right? And it turned red when he used blood magic…

Relying on video game stereotypes was a terrible idea that he’d sworn off, but it might just be helpful here. Poison is usually either purple or green when represented in games, and there are sometimes related effects such as ‘blight’ or ‘decay’ that tend to use pale green and black, respectively. That meant he was likely to get one of four colors from his poison attribute. Purple, either shade of green, or black. The eventuality of black would make his problem even worse than it already was. Pure black or black-and-red flames would be a nightmare. Green might make him look like a Christmas tree, but it wasn’t the worst fate out there. Purple had potential, but could also make the problem worse. So, his first hope would be for green, and his second would be purple. Otherwise he’d probably have to muddle in other aspects just to not look like a walking archetype. I don’t know why my mana’s aesthetic is such an important issue to me, but I’m determined to make it into something decent.

Cain took a deep breath and put out the fire.

As his world was plunged into darkness once more, he focused on his mana sight. His blood vessels were still highlighted in red. He almost started to get caught up in a tangent about how to best go about this next step, but managed to stop himself. He had done enough planning for now; doing more would just be procrastination. He took another deep breath and… this might kill me. He took another deep breath and actually did the thing this time. Poison. Nothing happened. That was strange. Cain didn’t feel any different either. Maybe he needed to make it stronger? He could try… concentrate. Ah, now he felt something. A sort of cold prickling feeling in his gut. His stomach was starting to turn a bit too. Probably time to start healing himself before—

[ Body Attribute Increased : Constitution ]

(Current Value: 6 -> 10)

Cain threw up. Beads of cold sweat began forming on his forehead as he shuddered violently. All at once, his insides started to burn as nausea relentlessly battered him. He haphazardly threw words and intentions at his mana, trying to find something that worked. Heal. Regenerate. Nothing. Antidote. Cure. Still nothing. Cain was now on all fours; even though he had been sitting down, the nausea was so severe that he had to use all four of his limbs to keep himself steady. Immunity. Purify. Nothing. His heart was beating faster than it was intended to go. Hopefully it wouldn’t cramp. Recover. Restore. Still nothing helped him. Why did I think this was a good idea? His vision was swimming, even though it was almost completely dark. Clean. Purge. His sense of balance was completely shot as well — it was all he could do not to fall flat. C’mon Cain, sober up. Antidote… medicine… purify… wait. Sober… clean. Detoxify! Detoxify right now you piece of shit! The poison was in his blood. Blood was filtered through the kidneys, which took all the toxic stuff out and sent it… mostly to the bladder, and a little somewhere else. He didn’t have his biology notes with him. Cain did his best to keep that imagery in mind as he chanted ‘detoxify!’ in his mana’s general direction. Not much happened at first. Then his mind cleared a little. Then a lot. He exhaled, relieved.

[ Body Attribute Increased : Constitution ]

(Current Value: 10 -> 17)

Cain had just enough time to reassure himself that was probably just the delayed notifications from the poison. Then his time was up, and he vomited again. He was still in a cold sweat, nauseous as a seasick sailor, and having really uncomfortable contractions in his gut. The only improvement was that he was no longer horribly disoriented. Now he was self-aware enough to fully experience every wet heave — and every dry one once his intestines were finally empty. He’d need something to eat once he got back. And his throat needed water yesterday. A vile smell filled his nose. Cain sat there in the middle of the road, on his hands and knees, panting heavily, regretting his life choices. I really hope this proves to be worth it. He still felt somehow wrong on the inside, like something wasn’t where it should be, and was squishing his other organs uncomfortably. It was an odd pressure against his throat that partially extended down through his gut. The back of his head was just beginning to itch again too, which made him think that might actually be something important. Just when he thought that… the notification didn’t come. Instead, several of his teeth fell out and he screamed louder than he thought he was capable of as new ones started trying to grow in. Then came the notifications.

[ Skill Manifested : Snakeblood (Progenitor, Lesser) ]

The entity’s immune system is extremely efficient at filtering toxic substances out of the blood. While some of this is discarded as waste, some of the toxic elements removed are redirected to the entity’s own venom gland, enhancing the potency of their venom. Allows the entity’s venom gland to begin reproducing organic toxins it is introduced to. If the entity has no venom gland, creates one which produces and secretes the toxic substance responsible for manifesting this skill as venom. Slightly increases the entity’s resistance to harmful effects of toxic substances. Effects scale with constitution. (2 SL)

[ Mixed Skill Manifested : Venom Gland (Lesser, I) ]

This skill is closer than most to an attribute in nature, and thus uses a mixed quantification. For each of the three typical skill grades,

Lesser, Middling, and Mighty, five ranks have been implemented. Venom Gland affects the efficiency and speed with which an entity’s venom gland can produce venom. Also affects venom purity and secretion speed. Can scale with constitution. (0 SL)

[ Notice ]

The entity has no natural weapons which can make use of their newly manifested venom gland. The entity’s body will be modified to provide a method of using the venom gland.

[ Mixed Skill Manifested : Fangs, Extendable (Lesser, I) ]

This skill is closer than most to an attribute in nature, and thus uses a mixed quantification. For each of the three typical skill grades, Lesser, Middling, and Mighty, five ranks have been implemented. Fangs, Extendable affects the level of speed and control the entity can extend and retract their fangs with. Also affects sharpness and durability. Can be used with a venom gland.

[ Tidbit Unlocked : (Progenitor) Classification ]

Entities which invent new skills, attributes, or mixed skills for me to classify have their inventions marked as (Progenitor). This distinguishes a skill, attribute, or mixed skill as the first of its kind to ever be manifested. To incentivize the creation of new skills, attributes, or mixed skills to be classified, items marked with (Progenitor) are given an increase in potency. (Progenitor) skills and mixed skills will provide doubled Skill Levels in the Skill Level Interface. Congratulations, and keep up the good work. Every new invention is another piece of reality neatly organized.

His teeth eventually stopped doing whatever the hell that was, and Cain stopped screaming. Stabbing pains still throbbed in his gums, like aftershocks of an earthquake, but it was no longer enough to elicit a reaction from him. His ears rang. Apparently he had rolled over onto his back while he was busy shrieking. He stared blankly up at the alien moon, just visible through a break in the cloud cover. His head buzzed as though it were filled with static. His heart still beat madly against his ribs as he breathed heavily. Distant noise could be felt trying to reach him, but his mind was in no condition to be receiving visitors. Just him and the static, thanks. Eventually though, Cain regained just enough focus to acknowledge the notifications looming over his consciousness. He settled on one of particular interest. Fangs, Extendable…

Cain raised a single spiteful finger to the moon.