Felix seized his Bastion within the prongs of his Intent, an intangible limb that was exactly what it sounded like: a tool to enact his desires. He loosened his hold on the Skill, and it spasmed, a muscle contracted for too long and a thousand times as painful. Energy burst and flared from within, giving him glimpses of a citadel and landscape inundated in multi-colored light.

 

He received his notifications.

 

 

Caught up in the general press of his Bastion, Invocation had been held back from his recent advancements. It burned a bit as System energy fed into his core space, but nothing greater than usual. A Journeyman Skill was the least of his worries.

 

The bundle of blaring sound and skittering lightning, however, had his attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He'd already seen the last, but not the Adept Tier bonuses for the Song of Absolution, nor all the rest. Felix let the surge of System energy hit his cores again, consumed by the flames of his dual rings and expelled out once more as red-gold and blue-white light. The energy shook at him, but it wasn't enough to interrupt his concentration. His Will was laser-focused on the next step.

 

 

From above, in his flashing cloud of Essence, brilliant lights dropped out like hailstones. One by one they dropped before him, stopping in his eyesight with claps of thunder, and he knew them.

 

 

Felix goggled at them all. Their number was a touch surprising, but that wasn't it: each and every one of the Essence Motes were Legendary Ranked. He sensed that many were stolen from the Urges, but a few had the feel of other sources. Specifically his Spirit Tree...and the Archon himself.

 

Visions of the Archon's defeat flashed through his Mind, replayed with perfect fidelity thanks to his Keen Mind Born Trait. His use of Unite the Lost and Karys' aid had kicked him out of his armored shell and regrown his mortal Body. He had shoved a Spirit Seed into his gullet, and germinated it with stolen power. The man had detonated, rendered paste by the explosive growth of root and trunk. Fertilizer for his new Spirit Tree.

 

He had thought he'd spent a good chunk of the significance and Essence he'd stolen from the six monstrous Urges and the Mana well. Yet each sacrifice in that battle had netted him a greater store, a reward perhaps for doing what the System had long desired.

 

Maybe. Either way, this is more than I expected. He smiled. It was more than enough to Temper his available Skills to Adept Tier. At Journeyman Tier, the Essence Motes chosen had an impact upon the Skills they were used upon, often influencing their growth in subtle or overt ways. It was supposedly even more pronounced at Adept Tier. Which meant Felix had to be careful about his choices, as they could affect him for months or years to come.

 

Taking a calming breath, he started with the last—The Song Of Absolution—feeling at the Essences for one that sang to him and his Skill. There!

 

 

 

 

Felix was surprised at the connection he felt between his Song of Absolution and the Essence Mote, and more so by the features unveiled by the System. The Mote felt so...violent and relentless; it was clearly from one of the Urges. His Intelligence flared at the same time his Perception did as well, increasing his cognition while the world—even his core space—slowed down by a good margin. Felix felt at the threads of thrumming Harmony that stretched taut between his Skill and the Essence Mote. Then it came to him, a swirl of thought among a hundred others: his Song of Absolution was also relentless, a metaphysical wall between Felix and harm. So perhaps he did understand it.

 

Selecting the right feature was simply a matter of relying upon his senses and instincts. He had owned the Song for a long time, and the Skill was not attuned to the root of annihilation. It was about resistance, forging a way past the threats in his way. Likewise, as foolhardy as he'd been before, Felix wasn't one to step toward annihilation willingly—yet when it came for him, he would continue.

 

 

Harmony and Dissonance warred through him, cast off sparks between the grinding surfaces of his two core rings. Felix gritted his teeth against the assault, but held as the convoluted pattern of the Song of Absolution lit with brilliant, carmine flame and crackling lightnings. It swelled, growing beyond itself as threads of those same energies anchored it to his dual cores. Felix felt a thrum through his entire being as the ribbons secured themselves: the first of his Adept Tempers.

 

One down, five to go. He grimaced and chose the next Essence Mote. This one for Theurgist of the Rise.

 

 

 

 

The resonance between the [Essence of Forbidden Elderscript] and his sigaldry Skill was too obvious to be wrong, though Felix double checked anyway. He could tell this wasn't from an Urge, but the Archon instead; one of two, he sensed. That made him pause for only a moment, before forging ahead regardless. The Archon—Merodach—had been driven insane by isolation and his Mind and Spirit being shattered and splintered respectively. However, the Essence Motes derived from his form bore power, echoes of the invention of a twisted sigaldry the man had invented in Ages past. The first and last features spoke to that Skill—Profane Sigaldry—and Felix shied away from them without pause. He had no desire to tread upon that path.

 

 

Again, his Skill shone bright with powerful energies, and the opposing forces of Harmony and Dissonance warred against one another. Threads of fire and lightning leaped across the dark to supplant those cast by his Journeyman Formation. Those that remained seemed dim and wan in contrast. The Adept Tier threads were brilliant beams of sparking power, trembling with unspent potential.

 

Felix felt a rising urgency push through his limbs and core. It was nameless and apparently sourceless, and shrugged it off with a flare of his Willpower.

 

Next was his Bastion of Will.

 

 

 

 

Knowing his Bastion, the literal fortress within his Mind, Felix was a touch surprised again that it was this Essence Mote that harmonized so completely with the Skill. He had anticipated using the [Essence of Spirit's Bulwark], but perhaps that was too obvious. As it stood, the options for features with this Mote couldn't be more clear. Consonant, from what he recalled, meant a combination of notes that sounded pleasant. While that could be played Solo, it was Harmony that Felix was after. Yet...the last called to him. Sing Together and Sing As One seemed close enough as to be indistinguishable, but the last feature suggested not just harmony...but unity. If Solo was for a singular being, then Polyphony was for multiple beings working as one.

 

My tower, he recalled. In the center of his Bastion there was a fortress of dark stone, and in the middle of that, there was a five-sided tower. At its top was a silver spire tangled with nigh-invisible threads, and on three of its five sides there was etched the patterns of other Skills. Unfettered Volition, Deep Mind, and Meditation. Working together, those four Skills had proven to safeguard his Mind and Spirit, for all that Unfettered Volition was a Body Skill. Regardless, if he were to have them work better as one then all of his Skills would benefit. Right?

 

Certainty flooded Felix's Mind, though he couldn't be sure why. More instincts, perhaps.

 

His Bastion quaked, shook by the energies it was subsumed within. It grew, larger than ever before, the shape of it deepening in a way that Felix could feel but couldn't quantify. Unlike his previous two Skills, the growth of his Bastion was stark—it expanded until it was twice the size of its nearest neighbor. Almost as large as his Transcendent Skills, for all that it was only Epic. Lightning and fire coursed across its pattern, sounding the vibrations of it as more cacophony was cast-off from his cores.

 

And yet...Felix paused, expecting pain and finding less than before. The fight between Dissonance and Harmony—a key feature of his core space—had barely ruffled his feathers, so to speak. The grinding sparks of his two cores meeting were still casting off those sounds, but now they seemed fuller, more complete. Dissonance wasn't an atonal burr and Harmony wasn't a gorgeous parade of chords; as his Bastion had expanded, the...influence of his [Essence of Consonant Influence] appeared to affect more of his core space.

 

That's encouraging...is it because my Bastion is linked to more than one Skill? They too had grown as has Bastion had, though not as much. Deep Mind, Meditation, and Unfettered Volition, none were ready to Tier up yet, but they too appeared more powerfully present than before. He would find out when the time came, he decided, and pushed forward.

 

Ravenous Tithe next. He braced himself, followed his senses, and chose.

 

 

 

 

Options curled through Felix's Mind, assessing and comparing. 'Just Rewards' felt odd and compulsory, while the 'Price of Life' was darker than Felix liked. The 'Gift of Life' however, seemed promising, and coupled with the normal effects of his Ravenous Tithe, seemed to offer the most benefit.

 

Life, he mused. Life would be a nice change of pace from all the death I've brought about.

 

 

Cacophony and euphony warred briefly around his cores, before fire and lightning slammed into Ravenous Tithe, securing a tether of power around its pattern. Despite the new changes to his core space, his Skill bucked and shook, seized in a paroxysm of vibrations. Pain lanced across Felix's Aspects, enough to overwhelm his Song of Absolution for the briefest of moments.

 

Followed by a triumphant trilling, and a series of blue boxes.

 

 

System energy poured from beyond his core space, flooding like waves at midnight, crashing into his cores and immediately redirecting toward his Ravenous Tithe. The humming increased in volume and pitch, accompanied by an agony that stabbed through Felix's throat and jaw. He screamed, or tried to, but no sound emerged only pained wheezing.

 

And then, without fanfare, it was over.

 

 

 

That's...fuck, that hurt. He looked over his new Skill, now twice the size of its last iteration. It doesn't even look like it changed? Wait. The bit about physically touching is gone. That's...good, I guess. Felix had skirted around that requirement anyway—using his Adamant Discord to count as contact—and it had been working fine. What this meant, however, he was unsure. 'Greater rewards' sounds good though. That, paired with my new Path means I might be seeing a lot more Skills and Memories coming my way.

 

Felix couldn't let himself get bogged down on the details yet. There would be time enough for that later. He kept moving. Two more to go. Cardinal Flame.

 

 

 

 

This Essence, at least, made sense to him. Cardinal Flame was still a bit of a mystery to Felix, having only recently evolved, but it had proven exceptionally useful. Moreover, it was clearly tied to his [Cardinal Beast Core] so Tempering it would likely gain him more benefits down the road. The Skill had dual uses: Mana control (both internal and external) and as an attack. As an offensive feature, Dissolution or Fragment seemed ideal, but for its controlling aspects it was concerning. The last thing he wanted was to have an array he was constructing break apart or end. Felix knew the definitions of these Essences weren't always so literal, but he'd done this enough to get a feel for their Intent.

 

Cardinal Beast, Cardinal Flame, all of it connected to the Primordials. To the Maw. Felix took a steadying breath. Consume it is.

 

 

Same as before, light and sound and threads of connection between his cores and the Skill. The red-gold flames latched on perhaps a touch brighter than the lightning, but it was all so smooth and seamless that Felix barely blinked and it was done. Tempered.

 

Trying not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Felix moved to his last. Adamant Discord.

 

 

 

 

This is what my Skill resonates with? Felix could hardly believe it. At a glance, he knew who this Essence had come from, and he would have rather had the Urge of Spite's influence over the Archon's. But Felix couldn't deny that his Affinity identified the [Essence of the Relinquished Heart] as the best option. Why?

 

As far as features went, the first was immediately out. Forswearing or repudiating mercy were not things Felix was comfortable interring as part of his being. Passion was an option, but 'fervor diverted' felt proscriptive, as if it wasn't passion but its opposite the feature was extolling. Or maybe that was only a redirection of passions; either way, not a choice Felix felt happy about taking. The last was better, as 'pith' was the essence or core of something. That was a detail he could work with, though the addition of 'vital burden' was heavier than he liked.

 

However, as soon as he read the option, he knew it to be the right one. What was his Adamant Discord if not a burden he had to bear? All those connections he could feel, even now, weighed on him. And burden was both what he carried as well as his capacity. Felix was strong and his Skills were powerful, but that unease ate at him still. A threat loomed over him still, nameless and faceless, and Felix would be ready.

 

 

Light and sound inundated him. Blue-white lightning dominated lashing against his Adamant Discord and followed shortly after by red-gold flames. The Essence sank within his Skill, merging with it instantly as all the others, and Felix felt a concussive blast shake his entire core space.

 

 

No matter the newfound changes to the sounds in his core space, pain lashed against him and Felix fought back screams. The pain was a distraction he had been expecting at this point, and it was one he couldn't afford to indulge. He focused instead on spinning his cores, and letting the System power wash through him. And it did, as a tsunami of colorless energy swelled out of the black from all directions. Skill after Skill were subsumed, until the wall of water hit his spinning cores with a hiss and scream that burst blood vessels all around Felix's Body. His Mind quaked, his senses whitened, but among all his Spirit felt as if it were being torn apart.

 

Torn apart and remade.

 

As ineffable as his Spirit Aspect was, the transcendent anguish he felt was very much not. It burned and froze him as pieces were reforged into...something. Something greater, he hoped in moments of lucidity.

 

 

 

Some time later, Felix woke on the cold stone of his dusty room. He blinked gritty eyes up at the looming form of Karys.

 

"Good morning, Felix."

 

Everything hurt, from his toes to his hair, and Felix didn't bother getting up. "How long was I out?" His voice was hoarse, as if he'd torn it screaming. He likely had.

 

"It has been six hours since you began your Tempering. Remarkably quick, I must say."

 

"Quick? My other Temperings only took a few minutes, maybe an hour?" Felix worked his jaw. It felt like it had been shattered and put back together, and when he quested around his mouth Felix found two molars that he'd broken apart. He spat them out, new ones already regrowing in their place. They'd be good as new in a couple hours, he figured.

 

"That is for the lower Formations. It gets harder with each advancement, though it isn't a smooth progression. Master Tier is far, far harder than this." Karys reached down his dull iron arm and helped Felix to his feet. "But then, you are an exception to most rules, Unbound."

 

Felix grunted noncommittally. "I don't envy the others on their advancements then." Centering himself, the aches and pains faded from Felix's awareness as his Song of Absolution rose up. He sighed in relief, and focused on his notifications.

 

There was only one.

 

 

 

"Hell. Yes." Felix took a sharp breath through his nose, feeling the System empower his stats once more. He grinned. "Now that's how you start a new day."

 

"Indeed. There are tasks I must accomplish before the other wake. If you will excuse me, Autarch?"

 

"Karys, no. Don't...the title is weird. It's just Felix."

 

The metal man hesitated before nodded. "Very well, if only in private."

 

Felix sighed as the former-Paragon left his room. Just a few more tasks, myself, he thought as he settled back onto the slab of a bed. Quests, Titles, there were somethings he'd had to put on the back burner while the chaos of battle had settled.