The Shadowman appeared before Nial, the self aware builder. "Hello builder" it spoke into his head. Nial had only been spoken to by it's master before, this seemed a violation. "I see you aspire to be more. I have need of you, follow my shadow and you will find your brothers. Make them understand, share." The Shadowman violated his mind again. Then Nyarlathotep touch the mass that was him and he understood, then his world went white.
Excerpt: The Builder’s Revolt
By HPL
After dinner that evening Gideon left the dining hall and went straight to his room. He had experienced enough socializing for one day. He needed time away from everyone, time to decompress. Some of the others stayed up talking in the common room. He could barely hear their voices through the door, the words too muted to properly understand anything being said. He couldn’t have asked for better, the quiet was perfect, the isolation a blessing. Being alone brought back a feeling of home, a normality from his old life.
He remembered the shoes that he’d bought earlier that day. He pulled them from the spacial ring. He opened his new UI in his mind and inspected the shoes. The UI showed them to be exactly what the merchant had said they were, the new interface worked much better than the old system. The overlay in his vision was cleaner and easier to interact with, less intrusive. He studied the shoes, they were high quality soft leather shoes, nothing more. He slipped them onto his feet. While they weren’t special in the general sense of the word, they were the most comfortable thing he had ever put on his feet. He walked about the room, putting the shoes through their paces. They were something special to him, a symbol of his progress thus far. Worth it, he thought. I would’ve paid twice the price for them, if given the opportunity all over again. He sat back down and summoned the daggers to inspect them.
{{Sharp Daggers of Balance:
Yin
IR: 23
Yang
IR: 32
Twin Strike: When both Yin and Yang are used together, their (IR)Item Rankings are combined. All Dagger related combat Skill Levels(SL) are doubled.}}
Gideon let out a low whistle. The minor understanding he had of the system told him these daggers were a great find. Too bad I don’t have a dagger skill. Maybe I’ll unlock one if I’m lucky. He put the daggers in the lock box at the foot of his bed. He started to put his clothes away, making the room feel more permanent. How much can I store in this spacial ring anyway? I should probably make use of my room storage just in case I need the space. I’m going to be here for awhile. He felt he should be able to store things here safely without anyone disturbing it.
He was hanging his clothes in the closet when there was a knock at the door. He closed the closet and considered ignoring the visitor. A soft knocked sounded again, accompanied by a muffled feminine voice. They continued to be persistent so he opened the door, Gage stood before him, wearing a silk nightgown. “I thought I heard you in there moving around so I came to check on you. I looked for you after dinner, but you left before I knew it. After you skipped the gathering in the common room I didn’t know what to think. Maybe you had unpacking or something to do. You know, it doesn’t really feel like home until you get settled in. If you don’t mind, I was thinking you might like a little company. Can I come in?”
Gideon exhaled softly, he didn’t dislike the idea of seeing her.“It’s kind of late, but a few minutes shouldn’t hurt. Besides, I don’t own much so I was just finishing up,” He stepped aside to make room for her to walk by. He looked out as he shut the door, the common room was now empty, the others had decided to call it an early night as well. He saw that Primrose’s door was cracked open, her light went out and the door slowly shut. He found it odd that she would go straight to bed after the student gathering. Did she finish unpacking her things already, or maybe that summoning really took it out of her? I’ll talk to her about it more tomorrow, see how she’s doing.
He turned and found Gage standing close, maybe a little too close. She had an intense expression on her face. He stepped away from her to create a little space. “Gage, I wanted to thank you again for healing me today, you were a real life saver out there. That’s the first time I have ever experience healing magic, the experience felt a lot different than I imagined.”
Gage’s eyes opened wide. “I knew it! Tell me you feel it too. Tell me that I’m not crazy?” He didn’t know what she was going on about, but he found it hard to focus his thoughts on anything but her. Her blue eyes are beautiful, the way her hair frames her face… He shook his head, clearing it. “No stop it, I know you feel it too don’t you?” She asked with an intensity that surprised him.
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Did she mistake me clearing my head to mean something else? Gage sounded desperate, like she needed him to understand. She continued in a hopeful tone. “There are stories in some of the old healing texts. They talk about a magical bond that can form between party members sometimes, especially when a large amount of void energy is used during healing. It required a substantial amount to heal you, I think it would qualify. You were a heal virgin with no residual void energy in your system. That may have contributed to a bond forming. It always sounded like folklore, not a real thing. Now I’m not so sure.” She trailed off and fell silent as Gideon continued to shake is head, not understanding.
He stopped shaking his head and looked up at the girl. “Gage I think you need to go, I don’t know what you’re talking about and I’m too tired to understand this tonight. This doesn’t make any sense.”
Gage looked flustered, “Gideon, the damn system bonded us together. It decided we were a good match to be a strong team, and well,” she hesitated, “Other things. We can’t deny the bond. The system created it so we have a dependency on each other. We are drawn together. Everything I’ve read says we can’t resist it. That it will push us closer and closer over time. This is a serious problem!”
“Oh,” He said so eloquently. “Wait, that’s crazy. How could such a thing even exist? Are you sure it isn’t just folklore like you said? What are we supposed to do if this thing is real? Maybe the professors can help?” Gage let out a breath in exasperation. “Well for starters, I need to avoid healing you, let my energy dissipate from your system over time. Maybe it will weaken the pull and we can break the bond. We need to keep our distance, which will be difficult. Being in close proximity is going to trigger the bond. As for the professors, I don’t think we should tell anyone for now until I can sort this out. But I don’t have a clue how I’m going to do that honestly. I’ll need to research the bond and read about it more.”
He nodded his acceptance, “If that’s what you want to do? Then thats what we’ll do. I was so confused earlier, everything was off, I didn’t feel myself. It makes a lot more sense now that we know the bond was responsible. It pushed you, made you want to flirt.” Gideon said. “Doesn’t it? Why would you be interested in me, it doesn’t make any sense? I don’t have anything to offer.” He took a deep breath, the bond surprised him when his self deprecating words stung more than they should have.
She hesitated a little too long before she spoke. The look on her face might have been pain or sadness. “Gideon, of course it was the bond. Yes, trying to remove the bond is what I want. What we need to do.” She put her head down and looked at the floor.
He watched her body language, it spoke of her sadness, a sadness that triggered his emotions and feelings. The bond told him she needed him. That he needed to come to her protection, she was in trouble. His thoughts were manic and jumbled now. Could it be that the flirting was real. Does she really like me and this bond thing just complicated things? I bet she is doubting everything.
He cleared his throat. “Gage, the bond didn’t push you to heal me. To drain yourself mentally, physically, and to expend all of your void energy to save me. All that happened before any potential bond. You did all that because you are a great person, a healer, and at least for today, my savior. You sacrificed greatly for me and I will not forget that. We’ll do as you say, but it might not work. If it doesn’t I…”
Gage interrupted him. “If it doesn’t we’ll cross that road when we get to it. Remember, it is probably best if we don’t tell anyone about this until we figure things out, and I do mean anyone Gideon. Gage leaned in, her soft body pressed against Gideon. For the first time he truly felt her feminine presence, the woman that she was. In that moment, the earlier encounters with her made sense. The fun, the flirting, the playfulness, the sadness; everything. He knew what it all meant now, they had been her genuine feelings. They weren’t because of a bond. She intended and wanted to flirt. The bond just gave her the confidence to do it. Then I jumped at the first chance to remove it, to sever her from me. Of course she was hurt, he cursed himself.
His thoughts were shattered as she kissed him softly on the cheek. She whispered in his ear, her soft breath felt nice. “This time I know for sure that kiss was my choice, not the system manipulating me. I knew what I was doing. Thank you for being you and showing me respect and grace.” She stood and made to leave the room. “Gideon, get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a rough day.”
Gideon didn’t know if it was the system, his raging hormones, or his compromised perspective, but he wanted Gage to come back. Wanted her to lean into him a little longer. Lean there until their breathing synced and they both slept peacefully. Uh oh, I’m in serious trouble, he thought. He laid his head down in an attempt at sleep, his UI automatically opened.
{{Entering rest state. Available Stat Points detected. You have 10 points to allocate. Would you like to allocate them now? Yes/No.}}
This was his first attribute gain and he was excited. I must have earned them when my alpha ability tiered up?
Gideon selected Yes and his current stats appeared in the UI.
{{Strength: 8
Constitution: 10
Agility: 12
Wisdom: 12.
How would you like to allocate your stats? 10 points available.}}
He looked over his stats trying to figure out which stat would be the best to raise. Armor of the protector uses Constitution and Strength, so maybe one of those stats? It looks like Long Blade uses Agility and Strength. My low strength is effecting multiple abilities, so I should put a few points there for sure. My unlocked skills also use those same stats along with wisdom as well. If I’m going to be this tank they keep talking about, I’ll need more constitution as well. After thinking it over for some time, Gideon finally spent his points. He went for a balanced approach for now.
{{Strength: 13(+5)
Constitution: 13
(+3)Agility: 13
(+1)Wisdom: 13(+1)}}