Jack immediately waved the tunic around setting loose another cloud of dust. He was prepared this time though and avoided another coughing fit. The dust settled and wasting no more time, he slipped the tunic on then opened his Status.

Name: Jack

Designation: Logos Cultivator 1/5 (Advanced, Utility)

Designation: #?#?#? [SEALED]

Ethos: 345/440

Logos: 250/340

[Attributes]

Might: 20

Agility: 10

Vitality: 25 (27)

Focus: 8

Intellect: 10

Willpower: 27

Resonance: 31 (34)

[Talents]

Scion of the Logos (Advanced), Logos Core Bearer

[Skills]

Origin Wielder (S), Core-Assisted Eidos Refinement (E), Logos Manipulation (F)

As soon as he saw his Attributes, he frowned. Shouldn’t my Agility be eleven with the tunic’s bonus?

He opened the description of the Shadowtitan Knight Tunic once more combing over the description. He noticed that the attribute bonus and effect sections were faded. It was the mental equivalent of seeing text grayed out on a screen. He focused on the faded sections which unsurprisingly, caused a notification to appear.

What? His expression worsened for a few seconds before he remembered the description of the Resonance attribute. To confirm, he brought said information up.

Resonance measures synchronicity with The Logos. This attribute increases Ethos, the potency of Pathos, the utilization of Relics, both quality and quantity.

“Right,” he mumbled. If he really wanted to, he could gain fifty-one Resonance after the next level-up with the bonus from Core-Assisted Eidos Refinement and his percentage increase from Scion of the Logos.

The question was: was it worth doing over increasing Might? Aside from one point in Agility from the Relic, he would gain one additional use of the energy conduit effect on his Broken Shadowsteel Blade-Conduit and increase his Logos regeneration to five per minute. Meanwhile, five points in Might would increase his body’s toughness and his striking power.

While he mulled over the issue, Jack decided to do a sweep of the area. The decision was moot unless he could level up after refining Eidos and he couldn’t do that until he had a secure area to refine. The room with no shadows where he found the tunic would work, but he needed to ensure there weren’t any more enemies in the area before using it.

The trek through the halls took nearly half an hour. He swept through the section by the stairs carefully before backtracking through the rift. From there, he went down the hall that he had originally appeared in and trekked into the unexplored area.

He wandered through three different narrow passages branching off from the main corridor. Two of these passages led to abandoned rooms, one of which looked like some sort of kitchen. Sadly, aside from the rusted-through remains of an oven, a large cauldron, and a small table, nothing remained in these rooms but the dust of what once was. In the third passage, he found another set of whipshade stalkers at a dead-end.

These creatures were sleeping. He realized this when one of them responded as he drew close to the end of the dark passage. His foot brushed the smooth, scaled skin of the resting stalker’s head and it jumped up like a startled animal. The attack that followed was best described as pitiful, lacking in grace and speed. He finished it in a single stroke of his shadowsteel blade. Only after collecting the eidos crystal, did he notice the second laying on the floor in the corner only a couple of meters away. The sight was shocking to Jack.

Up until now, he viewed these creatures as something less than alive despite how they bled. Their behavior almost felt automatic and unnatural like they were compelled to attack him no matter how contradictory that prospect became for their continued survival. However, there was a whipshade stalker curled up in the shadows with its eye closed. He didn’t like the implication posed by this scene, so he nudged the creature with his toe.

As expected, it shot upward. It laid its eye on Jack and immediately, its body language became hostile. A sharp jerk of its arm sent the whip-arm snapping forward toward his face.

These things like going for the head, he mused as he diverted the tip of the whip-arm with a flick of his wrist. Hmm, maybe it's some kind of instinct that they developed when fighting whatever race of humanoids lived in this world.

The whipshade stalker managed to nick his arm once before he drove his sword through its eye. He deposited the Eidos from its crystal then made his way back to the shadowless room. It took another ten minutes for him to move all of the decrepit furniture out into the hallway, especially the wardrobe in which he found the tunic. The tall cabinet lacked any decent handholds so he was stuck relying on the friction between his fingers and the etched wood.

With that handled, he glanced about the room one last time. There were no shadows in the room except for his own. Satisfied, he sat down in the corner of the room activated the first prompt. Of the five stalkers and two warriors that he’d killed since reaching level one, two of the stalkers had only been level one, so he didn’t get the increased purity for their eidos crystals. He wasn’t exactly sure what the purity did, but he figured the bonus would increase his level faster.

Thankfully, the process wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as last time. He followed the skill’s unspoken directive by moving the wisps of unrefined Eidos from the area above his navel through his body with the assistance of his Logos Core. The pathways created by his first use of the skill widened with each pass of Eidos. Three complete cycles later, he heard a ding.

Ding!

He took a break for a few minutes and listened for any activity outside of his resting area before continuing. Three more cycles passed without issue. On the seventh, sweat began to bead along his brow and the wisps became harder to manipulate. He took deeper breaths, each exhale serving as a push to force the wisps further along the cycle. His Logos Core even started vibrating as though it too felt the exertion.

Finally, he powered through the last stretch and the wisp reached the end of the cycle. He laughed. Although his muscles trembled and his headache ached, a euphoric rush of power filled his body banishing the minor discomfort. He turned his attention to the notification.

Ding!

He hadn’t expected to gain two-level, but he was pleased that he had. Aside from the power, it meant he wouldn’t have to choose between survivability and making full use of his Shadowtitan Knight Tunic. Moreover, he would receive a new skill that he had started to wonder about while patrolling the halls for enemies. He opened the skill selection menu. His eyes flitted through the options counting a total of five skills. He wasn’t sure if that was a lot, but he hoped they were good.

[Trance]

Grade: D

The Logos Cultivator may enter a meditative state which grants heightened regeneration. However, while within this state, the Logos Cultivator will have dampened senses and reduced mobility.

While using Trance, Logos and Ethos regeneration are increased by 50%.

The selection started strong. Trance wasn’t a flashy skill, but Jack already worked out earlier how important recovering one’s Ethos was. He suspected any skills that increased Ethos regeneration or restored Ethos ranked among the most desirable. Its grade supported his conclusion assuming the rating went from F to A with S possibly being beyond A. He couldn’t say for sure, but he felt confident. With that in mind, he was already leaning toward the skill, but he saw one issue with it.

The skill didn’t add to his immediate power. Although he must be somewhere within Fracture, his surroundings were hostile and he had no idea how to find any civilization. He didn’t even want to dwell on the error that occurred upon his entry. Technically, he’d been transferred to the “closest stable point within Fracture”— whatever that meant.

Who knew how far the transfer had placed him from wherever he was supposed to go?

He shook his head putting the thoughts to the side. Skills now, worry later.

Although Logos Cultivator focused on utility and growth, he held out hope that one of these skills would be useful in combat.

[Path of a Thousand Lives]

Grade: E

“Onward, always”: The Logos Cultivator takes the first step toward realizing an intimate Truth. By delving into the mysteries of his past, he might find the path to his future.

Activate this skill to trigger a vision of past lives. These visions might hold vital information, trivial knowledge, or nothing at all. This skill may potentially grant supplementary benefits depending on the Logos Cultivator’s comprehension of certain visions.

Cooldown: Varied

Path of a Thousand Lives stood out as unique but didn’t strike Jack as particularly useful. If he understood the skill correctly, it was the equivalent of gambling. Even worse, he would be gambling without even knowing whether the odds were in his favor. The skill mentioned supplementary benefits being granted based on comprehension, so Jack felt that he would be better off waiting until he could increase his Focus and Intellect to pick it up— assuming he would have the choice later. There was also the matter of its cooldown. None of his skills so far had cooldowns which he understood as a period between each use.

And who knew what varied meant? Was there a range to the variance? Could the cooldown be one second? Could it be a hundred years? He had no way of knowing since focusing on the cooldown section offered no answers.

His gut assured him that the skill would be beneficial, but the vague assurance wasn’t clear if it would be worth picking now.

He moved on.

[Mantra of One]

Grade: B

By chanting the mantra of the first Transcendent cultivator, the Logos Cultivator significantly increases his control of energy and the efficacy of the Core-Assisted Eidos Refinement skill.

The description was short, yet for Jack, it said far more than he could process at that moment.

Transcendent? The word stirred something deep inside of him. His mind descended into a chaotic pitch of broken memories and confusion. He lost his equilibrium collapsing onto the floor. Dust coated his cheek and filled his nostrils. His brow furrowed and he gritted his teeth, unconsciously trying to regain control.

A few breaths later, the episode passed. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position while using his other hand to massage away a lingering headache.

One? I... I think I know who that is but… I can’t… remember. His thoughts moved like molasses making him shake his head as though he could free them from the mire with the motion.

At that moment, he hated his past. He hated the past lives that he’d lived and forgotten. This feeling… It was terrible. To know something was important and dear to his heart, but be unable to grasp the truth of the matter. For several minutes, he sat there clutching his head wondering how many more times something like this would happen until he finally found answers.

“If I ever do find answers…,” he grumbled. He sighed and directed his attention back to the skills feeling a little more drained than a moment ago.

As for the skill itself, it was good and naturally synergized with his need to refine Eidos as well as his Logos Manipulation skill. He hadn’t used the latter yet, but he felt it would become very relevant eventually especially once he gained more ways of utilizing his Logos pool. And then, there was its grade to consider. Following his earlier assumption, B-grade would make this his highest-rated skill aside from Origin Wielder.

“Still… it doesn’t add any immediate combat power. I’ll keep it in mind though,” he mumbled to himself. At the moment, the skill was at the top of his list since it would at least improve his ability to refine Eidos.

[Visualization of the Throne]

Grade: ?

The Logos Cultivator has touched upon a memory beyond mortal comprehension. Countless Truths and Paths lay within this memory. He need only comprehend them.

Visualization of the Throne grants the opportunity to glimpse at the countless Truths and Paths within reality and beyond. In addition, this visualization places incredible stress on the mind resulting in attribute growth in Focus, Intellect, Willpower, and Resonance.

Jack reread the skill twice. He remembered the vision of the silhouette and the golden throne when he attempted to pierce the obscuration with the description of his Logos pool. The text had something to do with the creator of the Logos. His brief and painful glimpse meant far more than he originally thought since it must’ve resulted in this skill. This also confirmed his suspicion that skills presented by this system were determined by his actions as well as his designation.

As for the first effect, he vaguely understood the importance of Truths and Paths. However, this sense of priority derived from the fragmented memories that lingered in his mind from the gray void, he knew that much. He didn’t truly understand the need or nature of Truths or Paths.

At least the skill will give me a chance at comprehension if I pick it, he thought.

Then, there was the attribute growth. He wasn’t sure how quickly the visualization would increase those attributes and sadly, he didn’t think they would be affected by his Scion of the Logos passive since this was a skill granted by his designation. Still, though, it offered a lot of possibilities assuming it wasn’t too slow.

These skills keep getting better, he thought as he chuckled and futilely wiped at the dust on the side of his face. Let’s see what the last one is like.