Sofia’s first reflex was to identify the mana heart.

[Nascent mana heart of Aphenoreth]:

Rank : F tier

Imprint power until next rank : 0/50

Effects (on use) :

All stats -30% (-60%) (F rank base)

Wager bonus (Glimpse from beyond) : Unlocks new unique ranks past the maximum

Wager penalty (The consequences of your actions) : Cannot regain life

Time before setting : 9 months, 33 days, 8 hours

Oh… This is… Dangerous.

Just like this the unlife runes have become completely useless for the trial… The penalty is only for the trial, right?

Using the heart like this would actually lower all stats by 30%... Matches with what Kyle said. Unique ranks… If I don’t reach them then it’s like I had no bonus at all. But if I do reach them, it has the potential to be incredible. And I can’t forget about the bonus from the crown doubling all stats. Clearly it applies, since it doubled -30% to -60%...

Would it double the other effects Kyle mentioned? Probably not, right? Then to be efficient it’s best if all the imprints I take are just raw stats. Preferably mana.

But can I be picky like this?

Maybe I should just kill everything in sight and just rush to the unique ranks, imprint stats be damned.

Feels wasteful, though. But if the -30% stats evolves into the positive… Well, I’ll see how it goes… For now the plan will be to try to give the Health and extra effect imprints to Pareth while I’ll take Mana. I don’t really know about stamina. Pareth’s stamina never goes down since he’s a skeleton… But at the same time it does make him tougher.

Well, let’s check his heart too, negotiating with the Knowledge church to get the essence wasn’t really easy even if Richard and Grandma helped a lot, so it better be worth it…

Sofia switched to Pareth’s vision, without doing this she wouldn't be able to identify an item he was currently wearing. Sensing her presence, he looked down at his pendant.

Let’s see.

[Nascent mana heart of Knowledge]:

Wager bonus (Salvaged writs) : You can fully absorb monsters’ imprints even when their body or soul is too damaged

Wager penalty (Corrupted meanings) : You cannot see your heart’s details before it sets

That was unexpected. Hmm. New information here, if the kill isn’t clean then the imprint can’t be fully absorbed… There’s a chance that if I blast monsters with the explosive bolts there wouldn’t be any trace of an imprint left. But I guess thanks to this I still have the option, just that it will be Pareth who gets them all.

The penalty is a joke compared to mine… Especially since I can compare his heart to mine. I can just open a new system sheet, I already keep track of his status sheet so this is not a huge deal.

[Nascent mana heart of Knowledge]:

Rank : F tier

Imprint power until next rank : 0/50

Effects (on use) :

All stats -30% (F rank base)

Wager bonus (Salvaged writs) : You can fully absorb monsters’ imprints even when their body or soul is too damaged

Wager penalty (Corrupted meanings) : Forces Sofia to keep track of this shit by hand

Time before setting : Probably around 9 months, 33 days, 8 hours at the time of writing…

There we go…

Sofia returned to her own vision, Astelia and Michael both seemed busy analyzing their own hearts’ descriptions.

“Asty, Michael, I have some interesting findings here, want to share information?”

Astelia looked up, “I don’t mind but there isn’t much to learn from my mana heart…”

“I don’t need to see it, I could share mine but it’s a bit risky to let Michael know of my penalty. Just sharing information should be enough,” Sofia clarified.

“Hmm. That is fair. I’m not keen to share my penalty either, I do have some information I can share, but it is fairly basic,” Micheal chimed in.

“Honestly what I’ve found out is fairly basic too, but it’s better than nothing,” Sofia continued.

“Same here,” Astelia said.

“I’ll start,” Michael volunteered himself, “I get that you already trust each other so I’m taking a risk here, as the outsider, but I hope with this we can stay on good terms and not hinder each other during the trial, alright?”

Sofia and Astelia looked at each other, it was Astelia who answered, “Go ahead then, I’ll go next.”

“Alright, here’s what I learned, there seems to be something significant happening with the passing of day and night, I don’t know what exactly, but my bonus clearly hints at there being something. Like maybe night being highly more dangerous or something like that.”

“Good to know, we’ll need to be careful with that then, that could prevent an early accident. Perhaps it has to do with needing shelter during the night or something like that?” Sofia guessed, “Thank you for sharing.”

“Thank you. My turn now,” Astelia said, “What I got is that if your heart is damaged but not destroyed, you might still lose imprints. So we really cannot allow them to be damaged, we have to protect them at all costs. Also, if you haven’t tried yet, the mana hearts can’t be stored in spatial items.”

That was to be expected… Won’t make protecting them easy. With Pareth we need to protect two hearts, and me, since I cannot heal.

Not being able to heal isn’t that bad beyond the runes being unusable… I just have to not get hit.

Really easy…

“Alright, that leaves only me and Pareth. From my heart I learned not much, just that there is a maximum rank you can reach, which isn’t really anything new. Pareth’s was a bit more interesting, apparently if you damage a monster’s soul or body too much while killing them, you won’t be able to fully absorb the imprint, so we have to be mindful of that.”

“Basically if the prey is ruined, so is the loot. This is really just like trophy hunting…” Michael said from his seat. “Really good to know, even if I suppose we would have all found that out quite fast. Thank you both for sharing.”

“It’s only natural,” Sofia answered, “we have much better chances if we don’t hinder each other. Cooperation is a bit far fetched, but the planet should be more than large enough for us four to all get what we want.”

“You’re not going together?” Michael noted.

Astelia shook her head, “No, she’s going with Pareth, but I will go alone. I have a feeling that cooperation isn’t as good as it seems, especially when we each have to deal with our own wager’s special traits.”

The shuttle started rumbling.

“I get that. Feels a bit like a prisoner’s dilemma, this whole situation…” Michael commented, “Anyway, it seems we’re about to go, we better brace for the launch.”

From all around them, Kyle’s voice resounded, slightly distorted, “Liftoff in ten, nine…”

The lower the count went, the faster and louder was the shuttle’s rumbling, as if it were about to explode.

“-, zero, have fun guys.”

With the end of Kyle’s countdown, the walls of the shuttle became clear like glass, giving everyone a view of the outside of the shuttle, which was currently enveloped by what could only be described as a violent lightning storm inside the tower. The electricity all around them exploded with a deafening boom and the four trial takers were pressed into their seats like flattened overripe fruits.

By the time they understood what had just happened, they were already in space, the clear glass-like walls of the shuttle giving a perfect view of the great void and its millions of stars. The seats opened up as soon as the flight was stable allowing them to move and stand up if they wanted to.

“Shit, everyone alright?” Michael asked, “That was worse than I thought it was gonna be.”

“I’m fine,” Sofia and Astelia both answered.

“Relieved to hear that,” Michael continued as he stood up, he walked up to the walls and stared outside, speechless. Astelia and Pareth soon did the same.

Only Sofia spent a few more seconds in her seat, just basking in the moment, and really intrigued by the shuttle’s propulsion method. I know the Angel’s bolt magic pattern when I see them. It was clearly similar in some way.

Oh right, time to take out the dagger. Gotta have that title active. I just hope that the flames from the effect won’t damage the imprints or I’m going to need to change title.

I could use [Master Thief] for stealth, depending on the situation I guess, else [The Impervious] is actually really really good with my penalty.

[The Impervious]: Lost your head and survived.

Effect: Hits that would deal less than 5% of your maximum health do not damage you.

I wouldn’t have to worry about losing a few health points here and there as long as I avoid the big hits. I can leave [THE GLORIOUS] up for now but I’ll keep this one ready in case I need it.

Sofia stood up to join the others in looking outside.

Can’t see the planet… Hard to say how fast we might be going.

Absent-mindedly, she looked at the sun and the stars.

It’s not as magical anymore when you’ve spent weeks alone floating in there.

Still beautiful.

But also a bit dreadful.

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