Serenity didn’t answer the Voice. He didn’t really know what he’d done; he just knew that he’d felt like he was being pulled apart and made to be not himself and he hated it, so he’d fought back.

Now, he felt better. Of course, in this case, “better” meant that he felt like he was still a little drunk and the hangover hadn’t fully hit yet. The feeling of being a little drunk increased whenever he tried to move. There were echoes and loops in the connection that made it seem like he was moving each body four times.

Wait. Four. That meant something.

It took Serenity a moment to gather his thoughts enough to wonder if it was because he had four of his own body. Once he had that thought, He closed all of his eyes and wished he could close all of his ears; he needed as little distraction as possible while he concentrated and shifted each of his bodies into his Sovereign form. That form handled multiple inputs far better, after all.

The first form shifted and Serenity felt better. He was only repeating things three times now. Shifting his second form was easier and his third form easier still. That left him with one dragonling sprawled at the westernmost of the four pools he’d altered for the modified ritual.

His pause brought Serenity the time to realize that the echo effect had vanished. He was still feeling each one of the pieces of Lyka’s core, including the bodies that he suspected belonged to the “Legions”, but they no longer made him feel massively off-kilter and drunk. In fact, Serenity could feel something else about them. It’d been there all along, but he’d been unable to see it clearly.

Aeon’s core stood behind Serenity for every single one of the other pieces, supporting his vision. He hadn’t heard a word or felt an emotion from it, but it was the first thing he’d seen through and it was somehow there for all of the others, as if behind him. Serenity wondered if he could talk to it. If he could, there was one thing he wanted to ask. :Can you back off a bit? I can’t handle all of this at once.:

A moment later, all of the extra viewpoints faded. They were still there, but it was like looking at a row of monitors instead of looking out through multiple eyes at once; he could select which, if any, he wanted to see and hear from.

It was a huge improvement. Serenity took advantage of it to check in on his highest priority: Lykandeon. The damaged deity seemed to be asleep now, passed out on the couch in his personal chambers next to Aeon’s core.

The moment after his attention left that viewpoint, all of the others came into focus clearly for a moment then faded. It wasn’t nearly as intense as before; there was no chance of Serenity becoming lost in all of the viewpoints, but there was also no chance that he would miss it. It had to be deliberate, didn’t it?

Serenity hurried his Sovereign forms over to his dragonling form and turned his attention to Aeon’s Core. It wasn’t really even a presence; all he had to go on was the fact that that link was stronger than the others; he couldn’t quite dismiss it completely from his attention, even though nothing was happening. He could only think of one reason that the core would show him the bodies he’d temporarily controlled right after he looked in on Lykandeon. It wanted something.

The question was what.

Serenity didn’t think that what it wanted had anything to do with the controlled soldiers. Serenity couldn’t think of any way they would have hurt Aeon’s core, so if it cared about them, it would be because they’d been affected by greendust. It might consider them to belong to itself but it was clear that if it wanted to control them it could. That couldn’t be it.

Lykandeon, on the other hand, has clearly someone Lyka disliked. More than that, he lived on Aeon, next to Aeon’s core. That implied that either they trusted each other or Lykandeon had some form of control over Aeon’s core. Given Lykandeon’s approach to things, Serenity didn’t exactly want to bet on the trust option. “You want me to kill Lykandeon, don’t you? And you’re … what, offering me something in return?”

The other viewpoints became clearer again. Serenity could guess that that was a positive answer, and that it was showing him what it was offering, but he couldn’t be certain. It really was too bad that Aeon didn’t seem to be able to speak and seemed to be separate from Lyka, who could at least manage informative emotions. “If you do that again, I’m going to take it as you, you want me to kill Lykandeon and that you’re offering me something to do with all those viewpoints in return.”

The pause this time was long enough to make Serenity begin to wonder if he’d misunderstood before the other viewpoints cleared up. They were omnipresent for at least twice as long before Serenity decided he’d better say something more. “I’ve got it, yes, I agree. I’ll deal with Lykandeon.”

That was the plan anyway if it was possible; this was moving up the timeline as much as anything else. If he could get to Lykandeon quickly, moving up the timeline was the correct choice anyway. Dealing with him while he was weakened would be easier than any other time.

Serenity’s other bodies reached him and he shifted to a better array for war: his chimera form, armor, and the sword. Three wasn’t that bad now, especially since the armor and hilt didn’t have that many senses. He could manage them without hurting his progress, and he wasn’t confident his ax would be enough against Lykandeon. It was only Tier Five, after all. His cloak would hide his wings as long as he was careful; this way he wouldn’t need to shift just outside Lykandeon’s door.

The Voice had said he Evolved, and it sounded like it was more than once. Had the other notification been a new Path? Had he somehow completed two Paths without realizing it to allow himself to Evolve twice? Serenity pulled up his Status.

No, he hadn’t. He was still on the Magitech Abomination Path. It’d made significant progress, but it wasn’t done.

Serenity’s eyes skipped to the Core History section. Incarnate of Death wasn’t a surprise, but he was pretty sure the Tier Seven was actually the Voice yelling at him rather than an issue with his Core. The Tier five was Dungeon Deity? What the hell? He wasn’t a god. That didn’t make any sense.

Serenity’s thoughts spun for a moment. All he could think was that well, he was a dungeon, technically, wasn’t he? Maybe that and the holy mana he’d essentially stolen from Lykandeon somehow qualified him? How did that even work?

He hoped it wouldn’t end up giving him more responsibilities. He’d never wanted to be a Planetary Lord, but it seemed like he was stuck with it for now, whether he called it Friend or not. Otherwise, he’d already be home with his wife and daughter.

Serenity conveniently ignored the fact that he’d signed himself up for the task and that he planned to head to Asihanya next to help out Honoria and find out what had driven Raz away from his home. Remembering just how much of a busybody he liked to be wouldn’t have helped his complaining.

Serenity flipped to the Abilities section. Nothing new there other than the two Magitech Abomination Path abilities he’d gained from his levels. Come to think of it, he was already using Skill Integration, wasn’t he? That and the help Aide gave him with managing things for the modified ritual were probably why his Path leveled so quickly.

He needed to do a complete review of his Status.

The biggest real surprise in the General section was the Voice’s message next to Ev. Serenity grinned and chuckled; if the gold mana was the holy mana that had pushed him into some sort of divinity, the green mana must have been what pushed his Core up four Tiers. Some of the energy must have been redirected to Ev. More than some, a lot, or the Voice’s message wouldn’t be so annoyed. Serenity wondered if the section would even stay on his Status.

Perhaps the green mana was really essence? Serenity had thought that essence was what worked on a Core. Or the combination of mana and essence, anyway. Serenity was pretty sure that going up in his Core without a matching Path must cause issues; he couldn’t do it the other way at all, but the one time he’d completed a Core Tier before the matching Path, the Voice had warned him of something called Core Sickness.

Serenity never really found out what that was, but it didn’t sound good.

Serenity took another look at his Core History. He didn’t like the (Not Selected) note next to the Tier. Voice? Can I select that Tier Eight now?

[There are no options available. I do not know why. There should be options available, you haven’t lost any of your previous qualifications]

The Voice sounded worried, but if there was nothing to do about it now, there was no reason to stress about it. Serenity knew he probably would, but that didn’t make it any more productive.

Don’t worry about it, then. I’m sure we’ll figure it out in time. Maybe I’ll even figure out how to repeat what I did for Tier Seven.

[You don’t know what you did?]

Serenity shrugged. I got angry at everything trying to make me not-me and sort of … yelled at the universe? That’s all I can think of. I don’t really think it’s repeatable without the inciting factors.

Serenity paused and frowned. Maybe I should talk to Russ about it. He has a Core and he doesn’t have Paths, but he doesn’t Evolve like a monster.

[I will look at him]

Serenity smiled. It was always nice when people volunteered to make your life easier. He didn’t really expect the Voice to learn much, but it would be nice if it did.

Serenity returned to looking over his Status. His Affinities and Concepts had increased a good bit, especially Magitech, but that was probably to be expected. The more intriguing thing was that his Arcane and Essence Aspects had both improved. Managing the ritual had somehow brought him closer to both, which told Serenity that his guess about the green mana actually containing essence as well was likely correct.

He should have looked for it at the time, but it hadn’t occurred to him. That was dumb; he’d been checking spells and runes for their Essence effects for a while now. Why hadn’t he thought to check for it during the ritual? Sure, it was big and it was a lot of work, but he could have checked to see if any of the ritual setup was actually more for runes than mana. He hadn’t noticed anything during his analysis, but he’d never thought to look, either, and he knew that many spells that handled mana actually handled essence in a sort of second-hand way. He should have checked and then confirmed his findings while it was running!

Serenity grumbled at himself for the oversight. It was the kind of thing he knew he had to expect; learning new tricks in an area where you thought you knew everything always led to either forgetting the new stuff or over-relying on it; he’d made both mistakes in the past and was certain he would in the future.

Nothing else on his Status looked overly surprising, so he snapped it closed and moved onto the next step. :Ita? Hurry back to our rooms. We need to make plans quickly.:

General

 

 

Magic

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Affinities
Energy: 45%	Liquid: 6%	Liminal: 90%
Magitech: 68%	Mind: 41%	Nihility: 50%
Plasma: 56%	Solar: 25%	Solid: 17%
SpaceTime: 73%	Vapor: 16%
Concepts
Arcane: 89%	Energy: 54%	Essence: 56%
Liminal: 39%	Magitech: 72%	Mind: 18%
Nihility: 36%	Plasma: 26%	SpaceTime: 58%
Topology: 13%
Aspects
Arcane (Mana): Adept Art (Vital)	Essence: Adept Skill (Vital)	SpaceTime: Nascent
Incarnate of Death

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Resistances

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Chemical: 137	Cold: 303	Curse: 265
Darkness: 177	Debasement: 13	Death: Immune
Heat: 533	Life: 417	Light: 298
Mind: 278	Pain: 641	Poison (Neurotoxin): 486
Pleasure: 32	Shock: 334	Sleep: 57
Space: 250	Time: 1000	Unknown

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Heritages

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Chimeric

Pure (Innate)

Essence Dragon (Primary)

Asura

Child of Time, Unbound

Dhampir, Essence/Mana

Draugr, Sage

Elemental, Essence

Elemental, Mana

Godling

Human, Earth

Lich, Paramount (Primary)

Vampire, Daywalker

Potential, Sovereign

Wraith, Nightmare

Other Known Heritages

Azata, Lightning

Curse Witch

Healing Light

Hexen

Heavens’ Fire

Jiang-Shi

Knight of Blood

Malevolent Spark

Mote of Decay

Mote of Stasis

Mummy

Remnant Wisp of Life

Revenant, Star

Sea Lion, Earth

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Abilities

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Monster Biology
Eyeless Sight	Colorless vision that does not require light; no visual effect
Vital Sight	Shows the primary animating Affinity, usually Life, for creatures. Makes the eyes glow with blue-white fire
Blossoms’ Sleep	Can induce sleep on self with a defined wakeup time
Runic Shielding Tattoos	Resists one attack of any sort. Does not require preactivation if the attack will kill or disable. Fully drains current MP to establish, drains SP to maintain, ends when hit. MP drained determines strength of blow that can be resisted, will fail if strength is exceeded but may reduce the power of the attack even if it fails. Effect is better with automatic activation
Crystal Seed Remote Link	Allows Serenity to access the World Core features as though he were at a Node, even when he isn’t on a ley line. Functionality may be limited inside dungeons.
Dhampir’s Default	When a Dhampir is casually examined, he or she appears to be a normal member of the living population.
Down to the River	When you physically envelop a being with a soul, you may choose to send their soul to the River of Souls. The soulless body will remain if applicable. Success rate depends on Ambit. When you do this, you will gain some of their knowledge but not personality. Decreased chance of success in any form other than Sovereign of Potential.
Link Core	While touching an Essence Core, you can attempt to create a Sovereign Link. Enhanced by Ambit.
Multiform	You may assume the shape of any Form you know. All Forms reflect yourself and all Forms are reflected in some manner in your Chimera Form. Detailed control of Forms increases with familiarity. Any Forms above the minimum require a continual maintenance cost of both Mana and Essence. Minimum number of Forms: 2. Maximum number of Forms: 4. Forms may be repeated. Forms passively return to their normal condition. Current known forms: Chimera, Wyrmling Essence Dragon, Sovereign of Potential (Kernel), Human(?), Crystal Hilt, Armor, Sterath(?), Greater Demon of Righteous Retribution
Rift of Potential	You can manifest a small rift between your location and the Origin Point.
Path Abilities
Loot Core	Teleports a monster core from touched monster body to the user. Usable on any dead monster with a core. Costs mana
Resilience of the Dead	Slightly increased resistance to certain status alterations
Eat Death	Absorb Death energy found within the Death Eater’s aura. Absorption based on Affinity. Intensity of absorption can be varied but the ability cannot be completely disabled. Absorbed Death energy may be used as if it were Death mana. Dissipates with time. Ability damaged
Basic Analyze	Analyze a being for basic information. The being may be animal, Pathed, or monster. Other beings may be analyzed if they have any appropriate features. Items may not be analyzed
Intermediate Unarmed Combat (Claw Variant)	Losing your weapons is not a disaster when you have weapons attached to your hands. Your expertise with claws is nearly nonexistent, but your general training with unarmed combat is transferable
Adept Aspect Form	Instead of infusing an Affinity into your weapon, infuse your Aspect into yourself. Limited time, consumes both stamina and mana, induces unconsciousness when the Form lapses
Basic Sense Raw Magic	Detect background, non-attuned energy. This sense is always active
Linked Sight	You may share your vision and vision-based abilities with your Seer or anyone whom you share a similar Link with. They may also share their vision and vision-based abilities with you. Consumes Stamina per vision or vision-based ability shared in either direction. Vision ability costs are paid by the user instead of the originator of the ability, if applicable
Moment of Prescience	Know a moment ahead of time when something will kill or disable you or someone you wish to protect. Activation is automatic. Cannot be activated more than once a minute. Consumes stamina in inverse proportion to the threat
Time’s Eye	Your eyes see the motions of Time as it stretches and changes. The hidden is easier to see and the false easier to see through. Consumes Stamina (Note: the Stamina cost is low enough that it can be maintained for hours at a time, though that will significantly reduce Serenity’s available Stamina for other uses)
Unbound	Time does not quite have the same hold on you as it does on others, and Fate does not rule you. You can slip between the lines of the future and past or even blur them if you have the desire and the strength. That which will be has no power over you, and you can break the strands of Destiny for others if you dare. This ability is always active and has always applied to you
Basic Identify	Identify an object to gain basic information on it, such as its name, basic properties, materials, and/or minor enchantments
Scale Hardening	Use Essence or Mana to reinforce your scales, making them harder to damage and more protective. Costs Stamina to maintain
Wait for an Opening	Study an opponent’s actions in combat to gain an intuitive understanding of the right time to strike
Second Wind	Convert some of a more filled resource pool (Mana, Stamina, or Essence) into an empty one. Consumes some of the converted resource
Stand Tall	Whether you are the last wall between your loved ones and your enemies or you simply love to fight, your ability to take a beating is exceptional. Blood loss, bruises, injuries, and even broken bones will not stop you. You can fight at the full effectiveness your body is capable of despite your injuries
Essence Sight	You can already sense Essence with your Aura. Sight adds precision and distance to your detection capability. This may be enabled or disabled at will. A visual effect may be present
Physical Storage	You can store spells inside your own body to be evoked later. Stored spells may be evoked only by you and may be triggered at any time. All variable effects must be determined prior to casting. Stored spells will degrade with time and use of mana or essence in the area the spell is stored.
Spell Conversion	You can convert the power of any spell you can Evoke into a ranged mana or essence strike. The power of the strike depends on the stored spell power.
Store Spell	You may temporarily store spells in items to be evoked later. The item must be strong enough to hold the spell, and synergy with the spell will slow spell degradation. Stored spells will degrade with time and nearby mana or essence use. Storage of spells can damage items used.
Designate Evocation Conditions	You may designate conditions on when a stored spell can be evoked. You can bypass any conditions you set, but you cannot bypass conditions set by other Evokers. This allows you to set conditions that will allow non-Evokers to Evoke stored spells, but spells Evoked by the untrained will be significantly degraded during the evocation.
Entwined Magic	You can mix Mana and Essence magic freely, to achieve effects not possible with Mana or Essence alone. Passive.
Gaze of the Origin	When you choose, you can infuse your gaze with the power of your connection to the Origin. Effects vary. Power depends on Ambit.
Aura of Magic	When you choose, you can reveal your Mana and Essence pools with your aura. Passively increases the maximum size and regeneration of your Mana and Essence. Increases the regeneration of others’ mana and essence at a slight cost to your regeneration rate. Easily sensed. Power depends on size and regeneration rate of mana and essence pools.
Mold Magic	You can alter magic that has been given a steady form. Passive.
Potential of the Rift	Your Rift to the Origin will allow you to move items or creatures to the Origin and retrieve them later. Items or creatures stored in the Origin will be exposed to it. You may travel to the Origin using the Rift.
Rift Control	You may control the Potential that leaks from your Rift to the Origin as long as it is within your aura, including increasing or decreasing the amount that leaks.
Call on the Origin	The Origin is just that: the beginning of all things. Bring something temporarily into the real world, limited only by your imagination and power. Variable Cost.
Revivify	Potential can become warped in many ways. Restore something to its original Potential. Quality of repair affected by the level of understanding of what the repair requires, the amount of damage being repaired, the time since the damage occurred, and the Time Affinity, Concept, and Aspect of the user.
Realize Potential	Use Potential drawn through the Rift to temporarily gain something from your Heritage. Variable Cost.
Death Magebolt	Throw a mass of Death-attuned magic at your enemy.
Magesight	Advanced Sight Skill that combines Mana Sight, Basic Sense Raw Mana, Essence Sight, and Vital Sight into a single improved Skill. Passively view all forms of magic. Observe how they affect each other and can transform from one to another. When used actively, additional details can be observed such as Affinities and faint traces of spell residue.
Fireball	Place a ball of Plasma where you want it within your sight range. Maximum expansion size varies with mana used.
Cone of Lightning	Emit Energy starting from your hands in a cone shape. Spread in height and width may be controlled by hand position; maximum length depends on mana used and height and width selected.
Spot Nullification	Use Nihility to destroy what you can see. Roughly shapeable. Potentially explosive.
Death Field	As Death’s Incarnate, you radiate Death through your aura. You may choose creatures to include or exclude at any time. Toggleable, Easily Detectable.
Synaesthesia	You have gained many new senses that do not quite fit the ones you are accustomed to. You must choose: do you represent them as another form of a familiar sense or do you learn to meet them on their own terms?
Subconscious Synchronization	You have been growing closer and closer to Aide. Allow Aide to take over for your autonomic functions, consuming a fraction of its processing power to free the space for additional cyberware and expansions for Aide.
Skill Integration	Senses require attention; so do many Skills. Attention is a limited resource for most, but you have the ability to use the next best thing: processing power. Figure out how to integrate your Skills with either your own additional processing or hand them over to Aide.
Quickrune	As an Evoker, you can store a spell to be cast later. As a creature of Magitech and (former) Runemaster, you can now build a rune of your own flesh to be triggered when needed.

Magitech Abomination

Level 100 - Abominable Absorption - One of your basic abilities is the absorption of technology, changing it to fit within your body. As a magitech abomination, you may absorb magic or technologic items, altering your body to fit its new needs.

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Lillene

World cores don’t generally understand the limitations of other beings. It can see through all of that at once, why can’t Serenity?

Also, unlike Lyka, Aeon has never had the chance to talk to anyone other than Lykandeon and Lyka Itself. Lykandeon never wanted to talk, he just wanted Aeon to obey, and Lyka didn’t generally have much to say. Aeon’s still trying to figure out this whole “communication” thing.