Without lifting any of the items from the Chest, Felix activated his identifying Skill.

 

 

 

 

 

Felix furrowed his brow. "A crown of Authority, a scepter that controls water, and an orb that...controls fish?"

 

"Hm," Vess hummed beside him. "Those are quite useful, considering our new situation."

 

"New situation?" Felix asked. Lightning flashed outside the shuttered windows, and gut-shaking thunder was right on its heels. "Right. The sea's worth of Mana crystals."

 

Vess nodded. "An ocean sprang up from the empty desert, flooding it entirely from the mountains to the lowest levels of Ahkestria. We...I am sorry, Felix, but we assumed you were the cause."

 

The metal of the Platinum Chest screeched as it deformed beneath his grip. Felix grunted and pulled his hands away, leaving crumpled impressions of his fingers. "Fucking Pathless. I started it, but the Coward pushed it outward in an attempt to drown me."

 

"Coward?" Vess asked.

 

"Yeah," Felix spat. His Mind returned to that dark space, the blasted terrain at the edge of things where the moons loomed close. He recalled their words—what they called the god of the Hierocracy—like they were etched into his skin, separate from his Born Trait. Felix doubted he'd ever forget them. "Remnant. Coward. Trackless. The guy has a lot of names. At least I'm not the only one who hates him. The gods aren't too impressed with him either."

 

"Coward fits him," Vess agreed. "You have...spoken to the gods again? That makes it the fourth time now? I doubt few outside the Hierophant could boast of so many interactions with the Divine. And even then, I doubt it; the Pathless is notoriously close-mouthed."

 

"I'd like my life a lot more if the gods kept their noses out of my business," Felix said.

 

"The Pathless I understand," Vess said. "Worship of the Pathless is enforced among the nobility of the Hierocracy. My family has even commissioned a number of cathedrals to that worthless religion, and been forced to keep our devotion to Siva a secret. I cannot imagine a goddess as benevolent as the Lady of Luck and Peace to be as vile as Vellus has proven herself to be."

 

"Siva." Felix could still see a silver moon in his Mind, still hear a calm voice warn him away. Of the others, and the deadly threat of Noctis and her unbridled rage. He took a small breath, and wiped his hands on his jacket. "She...I'm not a big fan of any of them, if I'm being honest."

 

Vess opened her mouth before hesitating, shut it, and nodded. "Considering your experiences, I can understand that, I suppose."

 

"Hm," he said, as noncommittally as possible. The last thing Felix was interested was debating religion, so he reached down into the Chest and snagged all three items. He had the juggle the Orb a bit, but his high Dexterity meant that was child's play. In moments, the Chest disappeared with a sudden inward pop...and a tiny trumpet blared in Felix's ears.

 

"That the hell...?" he said, before his eyes were assaulted by a huge, ornate notification. The thing was blue as all the rest, but the edges were bordered in gold and looked almost carved out of metal. Tiny waves marched around the edges of the notification, while figures in tiny boats moved through it all.

 

 

 

 

That's interesting, he thought a bit sourly. System gave me the Quest after the fact, but in order to get anything out of it, I have to deprive the Yttin of their fair share? "No, that's horeshit. No."

 

 

Felix shook off the faint rush of System energy and met Vess' gaze. “What just happened?” she asked. He explained, and Vess’ expression tightened. “You could have stolen it from others? That is reprehensible.”

 

“I thought so, too,” Felix said. “As much as I’d love the experience, that feels—“

 

“Felix?”

 

He bent over, suddenly wracked with an incredible pain. Sparks danced at the edges of his vision as the song within his cores rose to a terrifying crescendo. Pressure built, enough that it felt like his teeth and eyes would rip themselves out, and then it twisted and sank. Felix gasped.

 

 

 

A symphony of sound course through Felix’s veins and rand loud in his ears. Harmony was chased by the quiet insistence of Dissonance, just below the surface. But it wasn't experience that flashed across his notifications, nor Essence gifted by the System, but instead a heaviness settled into his core space. It sank into the crimson-black expanse of his Divine Tree, into the spinning rings of his dual cores, and into the darkness that surrounded all of his Skills. Another ragged gasp was squeezed from Felix's lungs, as everything inside of him seemed to collapse and expand at the same time. Light crushed and bloomed and fires roared along with discordant harmony, driven along a razor's edge until—

 

 

Felix fell to his knees like a puppet with his strings cut, and he panted fast and shallow as the sensation of crushing pressure receded.

 

"Felix! What is this?" Pit asked, his voice higher with worry.

 

"Felix what happened? Are you alright?" Vess was there, kneeling beside him. She pressed her cool hand against his forehead and hiss in sudden pain. "Your skin is burning!"

 

He could feel it, the heat coursing through his Body, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Not like the pressure had been. "I'm...I'm fine, I think. Just gimme a second and I'll explain." Without another word, he threw himself inward, into his core space.

 

There, nestled within a vast expanse of darkness, were the collection of his Skills and cores. His Skills were humming globes of light and sound that revolved ever so slowly around his cores, like planets around two suns. Two cores, [Thunderflame Core] and his [Cardinal Beast Core] spun in opposition at the center of what appeared to be a blazing solar system. The cores were shaped as rings, stacked atop one another with their hollow middles lined up, and made of a slow, gelatinous flame—one blue-white and the other red-gold, respectively. As they spun, they ground into one another, releasing waves of discordant sound into the otherwise melodic harmony of his humming Skills.

 

From the center of those ring-shaped cores, there was an unstable abyss, darker than the void around them and pulsing with a distinct Need. A Hunger. One that, for the moment, seemed satiated.

 

That's rare, he thought. And concerning. Maybe. His Hunger had experienced some issues during the last few days, resulting in one of his most useful Skills being rendered worthless. Felix had thought it had recovered during his Tempering, but perhaps he'd been wrong. I'll worry about that later.

 

While the abyss of his Hunger dwelled within his hollow cores, there was another piece that rose from it's immeasurable depths: a crimson-black growth that stretched upward on a stalk an eighth as thick as the abyss itself. This growth continued, reaching high above his little solar system until it branched into a thousand tendrils, much like a winter-nude tree. It quivered as he watched, thrumming with its own unique song.

 

The Tree is empty, damn. My Essence has run out completely, he noted. Normally wisps of multi-colored light would collect in the Tree's branches, hanging from them like shimmering, abstract leaves. Sometimes he'd even have Essence Motes or Memories cradled in the boughs. Now it was utterly bare. Which means...

 

He moved downward, willing his projected form lower at blinding speeds. Skills and his cores flashed by as he sank below them, down to where his thick, trunk-like Pillars supported his entire core space.

 

 

The Pillars were woven of Essence, Mana, and significance. He had none of the first, and plenty of the second. The last was more of a metaphysical supply, but one which Felix could tell he also had in spades. The whole of his core space was so much more than it had been just days before, as if it were truly real. He could feel the heat and buzzing rhythm of his Skills above, taste the strange, burning air, and as he drifted closer to his two Pillars, Felix could feel the slow and steady vibrations of his foundation. All of that was a result of increased significance, which was like a weightiness or density imbued into the heart of his being. The greater your potency, the greater your significance, and as far as Felix knew it helped fuel the upper stages of power.

 

As he understood it, a person that intended to advance beyond Master Tier needed to weave all nine Pillars at the base of their core space. It would act as your foundation for advancement through Master Tier and into Grandmaster Tier...though he knew little beyond that. Those that advised him—Zara and Karys mostly—kept things from him due to the strange nature of advancement. To know too much was far, far worse than knowing nothing at all. Expectation, he'd been told, shapes reality.

 

Well, I was expecting to have enough Essence to weave the rest of my Pillars here and now, he grumbled to himself. Should be easy. I've got the rest, I just need another Primordial to eat. His Hunger rumbled, pulled slightly from its oddly sedate rest. Oh that caught your attention, did it? It rumbled again. We'll eat later. Go back to sleep.

 

And wonder of wonders, it did just that.

 

Huh. With a minor flex of his Mind, Felix rose back into his physical Body and stood up. Vess and Pit both looked at him expectantly. "I guess I got a reward anyway, just not the one the Quest was originally offering."

 

"Truly?" Vess said, tilting her head in concern. She bit the inside of her cheek, which pressed a dimple deeply into the other one. "And that caused you to fall to the floor?"

 

"It gave me, and I'm estimating here, a butt load of significance," Felix said, letting a wry smile curl his lip. Vess closed her eyes and shook her head, but her worry turned to faint amusement. "So much that it kickstarted something else. Another step in advancement, maybe." He wet his lips and looked at the warded door. "I need to talk to Zara. Karys too."

 

"Good idea," Pit said, around a mouthful of Scepter. "What about these?"

 

"Oh yeah, probably shouldn't leave those on the ground, huh?" Felix said, gathering the Scepter, Orb, and Crown in his hands. Uncertain what to do with them, he rolled his eyes as he remembered he had magic clothing on. Expending a tiny portion of Mana and Intent, Felix commanded his Garment to form a large pouch at his side. It grew from his belt, leather unrolling and stitching before his eyes, until it was a sizable pouch that could hold the Orb and Crown easily. The Scepter he tucked into his belt.

 

"Ah, here, your weaponry as well," Vess said, gesturing. From where they leaned against a settee, three blades were cradled in a net of air Mana and levitated to his side. All three were remarkable different from each other. The first was his Blade of the Fang, a massive greatsword formed from the tooth of a pseudo-Primordial and consisted of a grip and the naked edge. No crossguard. It was detailed with numerous lines, dots, and other designs that weren't sigils, even though it was clearly enchanted. Interestingly, it didn't seem nearly as big as it had before. It was still eight feet long though, and he strapped it to his back with some effort, aided greatly by his Garment. It formed a heavy baldric across his shoulders and back for the weapon to hook right into. The second was his Inheritor's Will, a khopesh-like blade made of magical Crescian Bronze and imbued with all sorts of magical effects. It slotted into a specialized sheath that, again, his Garment formed in seconds. The last, however, was new.

 

"What is this?" he asked. Voracious Eye!

 

 

"Right..." he said, trailing off as the memory of the Grandmaster's defeat rose again. He'd claimed the huge blade from the Tomb, and it had shrunk before turning into a thin spike that had pinned the bastard to the wall. Felix grinned and hefted the weapon, which had become a eight inch dagger. "Glad to have you aboard."

 

Very faintly, the Riposte quivered in his hand. Felix's eyebrows raised, and he swiftly stowed it next to his pouch. A new sheath slipped over it easily. "Thank you, Vess. Before I check with Zara, I should look into the others too. Will you come with me? Us?" he amended quickly after a glance at Pit.

 

"It would be my pleasure," she said, her throaty laugh rising up again. "Come. Let us see the healers first, just to be sure. Your Minotaur friend was there, last I saw."

 

"Beef? Perfect." Felix offered his arm and the heiress of Pax'Vrell took it with a smile.