Chapter Twenty-five: Flavour Text and Skills

Ring of Celadhir Rank C Durability 12%

Faelord Celadhir was an oddity in life and a footnote in death. The son of a brownie king and a dryad, he was originally born a gille dubh. For a time, he was the defender of his father's woods but he tired of this and began to wander the wilds in search of adventure. His feats eventually numbered enough that he ascended to the rank of forest lord but soon afterwards, he disappeared.

It is unknown what befell Celadhir only that it was so terrible, his mother's tree cracked and his father's crown split. Today, these remain the only omens and evidence of his death with the exception of this ring; a concentration of his power, forged from his wooden heart.

Effects:

-Ability to use Faerie magic

-Ability to see through fae wards and illusions

-MAG: C

-WIS: C

-VIT: C

Brandr closed the screen and staring at the ring, he willed the skill to activate. [Insight!] The blue panel popped up again, carrying the exact same information as it did before, flavour text as Thorn had called it. The entire concept was strange to him.

Apparently, this world could provide information on items, objects and people if you had an insight or perceptive skill. This consisted of the target's name, rank and parameters or as Thorn termed it, its description and its flavour text which he had just learnt was adventurer speech for the history of the target.

The flavour text of this particular item hinted at a dark backstory. Adding that to what he was able to discover from his more traditional scans explained why the troll had even proved capable of wielding the item. This was no legacy item. From the start, it was created to allow others to wield the power of the faelord from whom it was made. However, being damaged, its powers went out of control mutating its wielder into an actual fae. only one thing escaped him. Assuming Celadhir was indeed killed in some terrible manner to manufacture of this ring, should not his despair and life curse drape the item? Unless, of course, it was purified in some fashion.

Regrettably, it appeared the rank of his insight skill was too low for the world will to tell him. Brandr continued to examine the artefact carefully. He would be the first to admit that he was unfamiliar with the crafting skills of this world but from what he could tell, The ring was not, in fact, purified during its making. Despite the preservation charms that had preserved it, he found traces of water damage. It was the same kind of water damage that shaped the pebbles at the bottom of streams.

'Running water!' he concluded. The ring was purified by running water. Taking into consideration the fact that Makas was once a river troll, the full picture became clearer. Primitive as the practice was, running water could indeed purify curses and the unclean. However, it would have taken a long time and given that the creatures of this world were not as longlived as those from his, he doubted that this was done intentionally. Whoever had the ring before Makas lost it and it ended up in a river. It was probably already damaged the continuous wear at bottom of the river did nothing to help. Eventually, Makas found it and it turned him into what he became.

Nevertheless, this was all just speculation. He could say nothing for sure. left with nothing to do till Thorn returned with his elder council, Brandr turned his thoughts to the topic of flavour text itself. Now that he knew he could summon the blue descriptive panels, he did so for everything he could find including the items he himself had created. The text was able to approximate what his creations were capable of but it left out information and even missed something important.

Take for instance his lightstones. Solar fires were yang flames. Lunar fires were yin flames. Yang could promote growth, true but without yin to temper it that growth would yield little or no fruit. It was not something that was commonly known but the fact that the text seemed capable of summing everything else and leaving this out was suspicious.

He intentionally ignored the bit about skill ranks. The item was something he created personally. Nothing about it should be hidden from him. Additionally, he began to notice an alarming trend. There was never any information about the mysteries or intricacies of any item. The fact information about the creator and the constituent materials were hidden he could understand. it was like those were the ones you were scanning. However, the fact that the mysteries were hidden seemed almost intentional.

This omission affected his trust in this world will slightly. Thus far, he had seen nothing to suggest that elements and laws did not work the same way here as they did in his world. Why then exclude them? But then a thought occurred to him. The fact that the omission was made was not necessarily because it did not exist.

Spinning on his heel, he examined his dungeon, its make and its inhabitants more closely. He spent a significant portion of time on his sprites. Once you considered that he shared these descriptive texts with these beings then the omission did not have to be malicious either. Even in his world matters of the mysteries and higher orders were only known to upper tier cultivators.

Was this information restricted in this world as well? Ordinarily, he would approve but now that he was on the other side, things were slightly different. Thankfully, he had millennia of personal experience and learning to draw upon but what of others? What of creatures like his sprites that probably walked the earth without any inkling of the greater mysteries?

It was a matter that he had not visited in a long time.

As someone who had fought and clawed his way to the top, he could not help but slightly resent the fact that some person or persons could keep to themselves the very things that could make his path easier from him. Yet, the pragmatic part of him approved somewhat. Power was not something to be handed out willy-nilly and like it or not, information was power. As for the more callous parts of his psyche. They were of one opinion. 'Get your own!' He had suffered for what he had now. If there were others who wanted the same, they should go suffer too. His path had never been easy and yet he had made it all the same. Fighting for every technique, resource, artefact and scrap of enlightenment.

Speaking of techniques, he needed to make sure he was well versed in all of them especially the ones he had by virtue of his new state. Already, he had nearly lost out because he had not known about his insight skill. Who knew what else he was missing out on? He might still be a cultivator but he was also a dungeon.

SKILLS

Ether-Mana Conversion Rank S Matter-Mana Conversion Rank S

Creation

Item Creation | Rank C Life Creation | Rank D Rank S

Terrain Management

Dungeon Perception | Rank A Rank A Insight Rank S [C]

Mana Manipulation

Fire Mana Manipulation | Rank D Rank A

 Creature Manipulation

Bestowal Item Bestowal | Rank D Skill Bestowal | Rank D Core Bestowal | Rank D Rank A