For the next few minutes, Tim fumbled around, figuring out how to open the interface to his soul bag. He finally got it when he thought, Soul Interface.

Soul Interface

Bag

Traits

Skills

Evolutions

Interchange

Commune

Tim chuckled again with the four categories. He focused his mind on the others, saving bag for last because he knew that was what he needed to do, but, at least, he wanted to have a brief understanding of the other parts. He touched on commune but quickly left that one as it was definitely not something that he wanted to think about right now.

Commune: Invoke the name of your patron, and you may ask three questions which will be answered truthfully with a yes or no answer.

Frequency: Once per 30 days

Requirements: 1st Gen Sojourner and level 16 or greater

Cost: Variable dependent upon patron and their mood

Skills: List of current and or skills available to be loaded into your current list.

Current-

1) Grand Master Swordsmanship

2) Heavy Armor Proficiency

3) Master Assess

4) Explosive Leap

5) Bow Mastery

6) Shield Adept

7) Night’s Eye Domination

8) LOCKED

Transferable Skills:

Advanced Dagger

Life Tap

Greater Stat Hex

Grand Master Swordsmanship

Heavy Armor Proficiency

Shield Adept

Bow Mastery

Master Assess

Explosive Leap

Night’s Eye Domination

Skill Evolutions: LOCKED

Skill Interchange: LOCKED

That certainly gave him a lot to think about it. Did it mean that it was possible to have more than seven or eight skills? It was too much to worry about now. Especially since he had limited time.

Traits: Powerful aspects that help shape the nature of the sojourner. These traits are granted by one of the patrons to sojourners either upon their arrival as a first gen or for accomplishing impressive feats that are pleasing to a patron.

Ephemeral - your nature is to be in a constant state of change. Permanency is denied you, but this can give you great power, for a price.

Unattained

Unattained

Unattained

So maybe there was a way for him to switch patrons. He didn’t know anything about the others, but Cal-Dakota seemed most interested in screwing around with him. Tim didn’t for one instant believe that Cal-Dakota was a God with a capital ‘G’, like an omnipotent being, but figured he was much more like one of the old-style Greek or Roman gods. That meant that he could be defied, but also he was probably more volatile. This was gonna have to be finessed.

Finally, Tim got to the section he needed. When he opened this slot, he was reminded about the inventory that he already had in there and realized what a fool he was. His bag already held a helm for him, and he hadn’t been using it. So, he immediately pulled it out of the first row and equipped it.

Standard Steel Helm

Weight: 4.0

Defense: +4

Requirement: Hardiness 12

Shaking off the feeling of stupidity for having gone into battle without the helm on, he focused on the last tab.

Bag

Settings:

Loading/Unloading Options:

1) Manual (default setting)

2) Verbal Command

3) Thought Command (locked- requirements not met)

Looting Options:

Set minimum level- Current: all

(common, uncommon, rare, epic, mythic, legendary)

Special Instructions: None

Tim input the same basic instruction about not taking dirty clothing and changed it to verbal commands. Otherwise, he didn’t change anything, as that was something for him to think about in more detail. It was interesting to note that there was gear beyond the rank of rare.

Then Tim closed the interface. He needed to get this done and rejoin the team before they got upset with him for being gone too long. In the end, he got a pair of notifications.

Victory - your team has defeated thirteen level one humans. XP: 0 Insufficient challenge.

Loot - your team has obtained:

Coin: Bits - 188, Copper - 43, Silver - 6, Gold - 1

Clothing: 13 pairs of serviceable boots

Armor: 12 sets of common leather armor (body slot), 1 set of uncommon chainmail (body slot)

The loot was inconsequential, but the knowledge he gained from finding out about the soul interface was priceless. It put his mind to racing about the possibilities. A part of him had felt like he had little room for growth since he was level nineteen out of twenty. This showed him that perspective had been very off. There were more options than he had been aware of. Now, he had to wonder about what else he didn’t know.

Once Tim had finished with the looting and an extra moment of speculation, he walked back to where the others were. He thought about using Explosive Leap rather than walking. It was actually a lot of fun to get to fly through the air like that. He just didn’t want to appear childish to these people. He needed a group like this so he could advance here.

When he reached the others, he looked at Reggie and said, “Got it all.”

The guardian nodded and then said, “So can you scout ahead for us with whatever skill this is that Armon said you have?”

Tim nodded as he answered, “Yeah, but just so you know, I’m still getting used to it.”

“Maybe this would be easier if you told your team what you can do,” Lacinia said from behind him. Even all dolled up as a servant to a rich young woman, she had still snuck up behind him.

He knew her point was valid, but he also didn’t want to share everything. “Look, I’ve been advised that talking about too much of my stuff is not a good idea. Like you probably don’t wanna hear about the voice that spoke to me when I got brought here. Or how that voice claimed to be Cal-Dakota.”

“I don’t care about your fever dreams. I care about what you can do. If we are going to be depending on you, then why won’t you tell us about your skills,” Lacinia said. Tim could see that she wasn’t gonna let it go. She was like a girl who he had dated. Once she got a hold of something, she wouldn’t let it go.

“And are you all going to show me yours if I show you mine?” Tim snapped back. He tried to make it sound playful but felt anger building up in him. He hadn’t asked for any of this.

Reggie stepped between the two of them. Then said, “Group interface. Show character sheet. Now, if you look at the character interface, you will see my sheet, skills, stats, gear, all of it. Check for yourself, and then if you want to stay with us, you can input yours. If you do, then Lacinia and Armon will do the same.”

Tim opened up the party interface. From there he clicked on Reggie’s icon. The character sheet opened, and he saw the guardian had been honest. All the man’s information was displayed for him to see. It was exactly what he had expected. The man had sword master and an armor skill along with a taunt and the movement skill he had displayed earlier—the one which had allowed him to charge into the enemy. But he also had a skill called Aura of Confidence that sounded more like a buff. Five skills in total.

“Okay, fair enough,” Tim said. “Group Interface. Show Character Sheet.”

The next moment his three teammates were staring off into space with their eyes glazed over. No doubt they were all looking at his sheet. After thirty seconds, Armon said, “Wow, that is a bizarre selection of skills.”

“Sword Grandmaster. That’s impressive,” Reggie said with a whistle.

“Why would you take Assess, how did you get it as a master level skill, and how do you have skills I’ve never even heard of?” Lacinia asked.

“I know nothing about this world, so it made sense to get a skill that lets me investigate everything. I picked Assess, but it upgraded automatically,” Tim said.

“Yeah, that makes sense. She is right, though. It is odd that you have skills none of us have ever heard of. That means they are more likely they’re unique skills. And skills don’t automatically upgrade anyway,” Armon said. Then another thought must have dawned on him “You know maybe that is what your trait means. Ephemeral means that things change, so maybe that means your skills change.”

Tim thought about it. “That could be. I keep saying, I know nothing about Iocusinte or how it works. Maybe more than my skills change. Maybe the trait is the reason that I went from crypt keeper to this,” he said as he ran his hands down his front.

“So, wait, you have a trait that changes your body?” Reggie asked.

Tim just shrugged. After all, he was only speculating.

“How do we know what else changes about you?” Lacinia asked.

Reggie looked at her. “Whaddaya mean?”

“I just mean if his body can change and his skills can change, then what is there to keep his personality, memories, or anything else from changing? What is to keep his skills from changing in the middle of a fight or any other time?” the assassin asked.

Tim was silent while Reggie started to protest, but Armon said, “No, I mean I don’t wanna promote her cynicism, but those are valid questions. The problem being that as a first gen who has been in Iocusinte less than a week, Tim likely doesn’t have any idea about any of that.”

“All I can say is that I will fight to finish this job, and I have your back. I hope you have mine. If I feel any changes coming on, then I will tell Armon,” Tim said.

The three of them looked at each other with the sort of silent communication that goes between people who have known each other for a long time. Tim couldn’t hope to follow it. Eventually, Reggie nodded. “Okay, you fought well. We will extend you this trust. Just keep us in the loop.”

The tension in Tim’s shoulders relaxed a bit. Then, trying to move on, he asked, “If we have already been attacked, is it likely they will attack again?”

Reggie frowned and said, “This attack likely wouldn’t have even been able to bring down their twenty house guards. So, I have to assume it was just a feint to draw us out. There is also the risk that there is someone out there who recognized us despite trying to blend in. So, we should expect the next attack to include some sojourners.”

Tim groaned but said, “Guess this is why it's an escort quest.”