[Skills]

Relic Dematerialization (World Core Skill)

The user may break down any E-grade Relic. The Relic is destroyed and converted into the appropriate amount of Eidos.

Range: Touch

Cost: N/A

Eidos to Logos Conversion (World Core Skill)

The user may purify absorbed Eidos into Logos.

Conversion Rate: 10%

Range: Personal

Cost: N/A

Once again, Jack stared silently at the floating blue box in front of him. At this rate, he worried that he might develop a habit, so he got up and started pacing. The gears in his mind were turning, both in fear and excitement. This has to be the reason…

Jack finally understood why he was being pursued. Assuming the Relic grade and the conversion rate of the two Skills improved as the Blue Heart matured, he would become a font for Eidos and Logos. If a powerful corporation or a Celestial got ahold of him, they could raise the Blue Heart up while keeping him on a tight leash and milking his World Core for Eidos and Logos. Since there were devices that could convert internal Eidos into eidos stones, his captors could use him as a farm for eidust, leveling their agents, making money, and much more. Suddenly, Ciel’s offer made sense. The bastard’s exact words played in Jack’s mind as he relived the memory.

“Who knows, if you work with me. your future could be quite bright indeed. Yes, it may be a bit unpleasant at first, but you can’t get anywhere without a little suffering in my experience.”

Ciel had likely meant that the awakening and the initial period of maturation would be unpleasant; however, if Jack behaved, he might receive some measure of freedom. A Celestial would be far more likely to treat him leniently due to their practical invulnerability as opposed to most corporations which would, no doubt, keep a stranglehold on him in fear of their competitors interfering or his escape. After all, even if only the Blue Heart matured and he didn’t level a designation, he’d still be a force to be reckoned with because of his attributes alone. Jack massaged his temples as his head throbbed from the ongoing migraine. So, my best prospects are: be hunted endlessly or accept life as a well-behaved slave to a Celestial?

His eyes hardened and he clenched his fists. He had to think of a third option aside from dying. Although he refused to become the equivalent of livestock, he could only run for so long before he ran out of places to hide. If only corporations were after him, he might’ve had some hope of living in peace, but the involvement of Celestials made that impossible; their reach was simply too long. On the plus side, he would be safe as long as the Twilight King kept him around, assuming the world boss didn’t decide to kill him or something. Despite the circumstances, Jack felt like he could trust the undead king. However, he would only be safe for approximately two weeks at most provided his intuition was correct. He didn’t want to be in the Remnant Gate when the Twilight Key collapsed.

He sighed and shifted his attention back to the World Core Status. A quick glance at the of the Skills screen revealed nothing new, so he moved on to Traits. There was only one and, luckily, it only listed advantages.

World Core (Phase 1)

Advantages

-The World Core may access any rifts connected to its world.

-The World Core may create E-grade Relics.

-The World Core may initiate one (1) link.

-The World Core may initiate a Harmonic Convergence with one or more other World Core(s).

Jack smiled. Regardless of his past adversity or his current predicament, simply getting answers to questions he’d held for so long improved his mood. He finally knew why he could open Remnant Gates so easily. He also recognized that the Twilight King likely had the same ability which explained how the Remnant Gate had opened in the Spire Wasteland. Rather than opening by itself, the Twilight King must’ve opened it from the other side. He was considering the implications of the ability when his thoughts ground to a halt. He blinked at the first advantage for a few seconds reading it over once more.

The World Core may access any rift connected to its world… Jack looked down at the Blue Heart and felt his heart in his throat. In his experience, he had been able to access every rift he came across in the Broken Lands. Does that mean? No, no, that can’t be the case.

For several minutes, he parsed through every possible explanation he could come up with, but no matter what, he kept arriving at the same conclusion. The gravity of his predicament came crashing down on him as he watched the steady glow of the Blue Heart. Denial was his first response to the revelation. This can’t be Fracture’s World Core. Why would something like that be attached to me?

After rejecting thought in his head a few times, Jack sat down because he was beginning to feel dizzy. Despite his best efforts to deny it, all signs pointed to one potential truth— the Blue Heart was Fracture’s World Core. He placed his head in his hands while trying not to think about the ramifications of that truth. As if his ability to produce Eidos and Logos weren’t enough of a reason for powerful entities to pursue him. If he was right, what kind of power would the Blue Heart gain as it matured? His only hope of being wrong laid in the fact that Fracture wasn’t really a world in and of itself. Rather, it was a chaotic amalgamation of environments that connected with dying worlds for some reason. He let himself fall back onto the cool crystal floor and looked into the empty void above.

“I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or scream,” he mumbled. He briefly considered mixing it up and doing all three at the same time then decided against it. He doubted any of that would do his headache any good. He dismissed the Traits window by angrily swiping left to pull it out of his field of view as though he might somehow reject the Trait’s existence that way. Next, he glanced at the row claiming he had zero of one Links. With no idea what that meant, he ignored it for the moment and looked at the only other mystery in the World Core Status menu, the Relic Creation option. With high hopes, he opened it.

[Warning: Logos is required for Relic Creation and you have no available Logos. Relic Creation cannot be initiated at this time.]

So much for that. Jack thought sourly. He’d saved it for last because the ability to create Relics sounded amazing and only the designation selection excited him more; however, due to their inherent value, he had suspected they would bear a hefty cost. Unfortunately, by the looks of the warning, he would need to spend Logos to create Relics which meant he’d have to choose between the Blue Heart’s progression or the creation of Relics. Overall, he hypothesized that he would have to forgo the process initially in favor of progressing his World Core due to his need for power. He sighed for what seemed like the millionth time. It’s harder to stay motivated than I thought.

How could he maintain a good mood when the world was out to get him? How could he enjoy his blessings when he knew there was always going to be someone more powerful bent on ruining his happiness?

He suddenly wished Alindal were present. It would have been nice to have someone to talk to about all of the new information he had. His friend might even be able to offer some kind of insight or help him select his designation. Jack’s eyes lingered on the [Select a Designation] prompt.

Half a minute passed before Jack made his decision. He trusted Alindal with his life, but he had no such faith in Raina or Cordan. Cordan was a Relic Hunter guild employee which meant his first loyalty was to the guild. In other words, he would sell Jack out at the first opportunity since the guild would no doubt love to have someone like Jack under their thumb. As for Raina, Jack could tell by his brief interactions with her that the young woman was honest and well-intentioned, but she was also naïve and unpredictable. Even if she didn’t have ties to a Celestial to make him automatically distrust her, the scene of her jamming the point of her blade into the neck of the stunned Spireman would’ve given him pause. Normal people didn’t kill without hesitation as she did. He wouldn’t have thought twice about it if she’d been in Fracture half as long as he had, but she was a newbie. It wasn’t like she’d killed a monster either. The Spireman had been human by the look of him, yet she showed no sign of remorse or guilt over the life she’d taken. Of course, Jack wasn’t judging her for it given he had and would have done the same thing; nevertheless, her ruthlessness was a red flag in contrast with the kind-hearted impression she gave off. It occurred to him that she might have been from a warrior culture like Esthara given her impressive swordsmanship, but even if that was the case and his gut was wrong, it didn’t matter. Ultimately, Jack could never trust either of the two because of their affiliations, so he would bear the loneliness and make his decision in private. He activated the prompt.

Select a Designation

Warrior

Key Attributes: Might and Stamina

Warrior is a martial designation specializing in melee combat. Warriors utilize enhancing skills to push their bodies to extraordinary levels and increase the power of their attacks.

Assign Warrior Designation?

Y/N

Marksman

Key Attributes: Dexterity and Agility

Marksman is a martial designation specializing in ranged combat. Marksmen utilize long-ranged skills to disable and fell their enemies from afar.

Assign Marksman Designation?

Y/N

Wizard

Key Attributes: Intellect and Focus

Wizard is a magic designation specializing in spell casting. Wizards utilize a small pool of spells which can be augmented by metamagic skills.

Assign Wizard Designation?

Y/N

Rogue

Key Attributes: Dexterity and Agility

Rogue is a martial designation specializing in melee or ranged combat. Melee rogues utilize enhancing skills which make them elusive combatants and allow them to strike at vital areas. Ranged rogues utilize mid-range skills and high mobility to keep their enemies at bay.

Assign Rogue Designation?

Y/N

The more he saw of the menu; the more excited Jack became. The first designations were some of the most common, but amazingly, the list just kept going. He hunkered down in a cross-legged position again and began the monumental task of picking his first designation. He caught sight of several note-worthy options including Sorcerer.

Sorcerer

Key Attributes: Dexterity and Focus

Sorcerer is a magic designation specializing in spell casting. Sorcerers utilize rapid casting and offensive spells that channel the power of elemental energy to devastating effect.

Assign Sorcerer Designation?

Y/N

Invoker

Key Attributes: Willpower and Focus

Invoker is a magic designation specializing in summoning. Invokers utilize the true names of powerful entities to call them to their aid in times of need.

Assign Invoker Designation?

Y/N

Warblade

Key Attributes: Stamina and Focus

Warblade is a hybrid designation specializing in melee combat and spell casting. Warblades utilize enhancing skills to push their bodies to extraordinary levels and infuse their weapons with offensive spells to overpower their enemies.

Assign Warblade Designation?

Y/N

Although the elf disliked violence, Jack had had plenty of opportunities to see Alindal in action. His friend could potentially lay waste to an entire area if he cut loose and he was only D-rank. With that kind of offensive power, Jack could fend off numerous enemies en masse. In addition, thanks to the Blue Heart boosts and his high base Might and Stamina, he would be able to fend off any attackers who closed the distance. Invoker caught his attention because he had known an Invoker years ago. The designation was terrifying. Invokers only had two skills, Invoke and Commune. According to his old acquaintance, Commune allowed them to mentally communicate with otherworldly entities. If the Invoker managed to acquire the true name of an entity, he could then use Invoke to briefly summon them. It was risky though since many of the entities encountered with Commune weren’t friendly hence their need for high Willpower to protect their minds during uses of Commune. Nonetheless, Invokers weren’t limited in the number of true names they could obtain and the abilities of the entities they called varied wildly, so an Invoker was only limited by time, his mana pool, and his competence in interacting with the otherworldly entities. Lastly, Warblade sounded right up Jack’s alley since he was used to hand-to-hand combat already; not to mention the fact that it was a hybrid designation which would give him more options overall. He mentally filed away the options for later.

That’s a good point though. Maybe, I shouldn’t ignore martial designations since they’re more suited to my attributes and experience, Jack thought while rubbing his chin and scowling at the list. While scrolling through the designations, he’d specifically ignored any designations that boosted Resonance due to his Scion of the Logos trait, noncombat designations, as well as any non-mage designations since he wanted a mana pool so he could finally create sigils and put his accrued knowledge on sigilcrafting to good use without relying on Alindal all the time. All the same, it was absurd of him to completely disregard martial designations especially considering his combat experience. He’d seen people literally torn to shreds by high-level melee specialists and had witnessed mages die before they knew what happened at the hands of a ranged specialist. He continued to scowl like a child being forced to eat his vegetables as his mind came up with even more reasons to give serious consideration to martial designations. I suppose I’ll keep going and keep an eye out for any good ones while I’m at it.

Even with his bias, he caught sight of a couple of interesting options on the martial side pretty quickly while scrolling through the seemingly endless list.

Duelist

Key Attributes: Might and Agility

Duelist is a martial designation specializing in melee combat. Duelists utilize enhancing skills to become nearly untouchable on the battlefield and massively increase their attack power.

Assign Duelist Designation?

Y/N

Primalist

Key Attributes: Might and Stamina

Primalist is a martial designation specializing in melee combat and ranged combat. Primalists utilize enhancing skills to channel elemental power in their bodies damaging themselves while gaining extraordinary benefits.

Assign Primalist Designation?

Y/N

Avenger

Key Attributes: Might and Stamina

Avenger is a martial designation specializing in melee combat. Avengers utilize passive skills to sustain more damage and offensive skills to channel the damage they have taken to their enemies.

Assign Avenger Designation?

Y/N

They were all potentially useful to Jack in different ways. Duelist would grant him more attack power and his speed, one of his primary weakness, would be taken care of. He smiled as he imagined himself blitzing around the battlefield destroying his enemies with enhanced attacks. Primalist was interesting because it was rare for a designation to specialize in both melee and ranged combat. From what he’d seen, it was typically one of the other, so he was curious what the designation had to offer despite the whole self-harm aspect. On the note of harm, Avenger would fit his fighting style fairly well. Since the metallic parts of his body made him more resilient than the average humanoid, Jack tended to take damage willingly. After all, what danger did most mundane weapons pose to his metal half? Assuming the Blue Heart’s changes spread over the rest of his body, he could develop a truly terrifying fighting style without worrying about bodily harm.

He made a few more mental notes before moving on. A long time went by filled with Jack continuously scrolling through pages of designations. He tried to commit the ones he’d never heard of to memory. In a scrape, knowledge of an opponent’s designation was potentially the key to victory. He also noticed that the further he scrolled the less he recognized the designations and surmised the list was organized by rarity. As a result, he wondered if designations were rarer because they were more powerful or for some other reason. It certainly seemed to be the former at a glance, but he reminded himself that the Relic Hunter guild’s top hunter had two common designations. Eventually, he stopped to stare at a cluster of very interesting choices.

Sigilmaster

Key Attributes: Dexterity and Intellect

Sigilmaster is a magic designation specializing in summoning. Sigilmasters utilize living symbols of power which they can imbue into themselves, their allies, and their enemies for a variety of effects

Assign Sigilmaster Designation?

Y/N

Titan

Key Attributes: Might and Stamina

Titan is a martial designation specializing in survival. Titans utilize passive skills that increase their physical attributes, give them immunity to select forms of damage, and lower their chance of death due to critical injury.

Assign Titan Designation?

Y/N

Decimator

Key Attributes: Intellect and Focus

Decimator is a magic designation specializing in destruction. Decimators utilize offensive spells that harness the power of destruction to annihilate their foes.

Assign Decimator Designation?

Y/N

Lone Wanderer

Key Attributes: Stamina and Intellect

Lone Wanderer is a hybrid designation specializing in solo combat. Lone Wanderers utilize passive skills which grant massive bonuses to their attribute fighting alone and offensive skills and spells that strike hard and fast.

Assign Lone Wanderer Designation?

Y/N

Nullifier

Key Attributes: Stamina and Willpower

Nullifier is a martial designation specializing in melee combat. Nullifiers utilize passive skills which increase their resistance to spells and offensive skills that disable magic and martial skills for a short period of time.

Assign Nullifier Designation?

Y/N

Dammit, I can think of a dozen reasons to take any one of these! Jack groaned loudly at the creeping feel of choice paralysis. His eyes lingered on Sigilmaster the longest. His experience and knowledge over the years had created a bias to the designation. Like Invoker, he had seen it in action more than once at a high level and knew how amazing it could be. With his attribute bonuses from the Blue Heart’s maturation and the power of the Sigilmaster, he could empower himself to become a fighting machine, support his allies, and impair his enemies. He’d only be limited by the time it took him to trace the sigils and his mana pool.

The rest weren’t anything to scoff at either. Titan sounded utterly ridiculous. What did “lowering the chance of death due to critical injury” even mean? Jack imagined getting stabbed in the heart and laughing at his enemies as he continued to beat them to a pulp. Decimator sounded terrifying for no other reason than its text actually used the word “annihilate”. He doubted the class text was exaggeratory, so he could only shake his head at the implications. And then, there was Nullifier which tickled Jack’s vindictive side a bit too much. He wanted to choose the designation just so he could revisit some old enemies and show them how it felt to be unable to use Skills in a fight against someone who could. The only one he was lukewarm about was Lone Wander; mostly because he disliked the necessary loneliness. He would never say so but Jack valued Alindal’s companionship more than he did a powerful designation. More than that, his happiest moments had been while he was surrounded by friends, both on the battlefield and off.

He blinked away the beginnings of tears as he remembered he would never fight side by side with Esthara or many of his friends again. Even if he made it out of this Remnant Gate alive, he would be back on the run with Alindal. Because of his lifestyle, he simply couldn’t risk getting attached to people. Despite his usual demeanor, Jack longed to go back to the days when he was surrounded by people he cared for and who cared for him. He missed the infectious nature of Ruka’s laughter. He missed Mitani’s sarcasm and her playful insults towards her friends. He missed Johan’s comedic misunderstandings when he communicated with others. He missed Esthara’s warmth and the endearing nicknames she gave everyone. The list went on and on, yet he stopped himself from going any further. Trains of thought like that one had resulted in alcohol-fueled parties of self-petty and loathing too many times.

In order to keep his mind away from depression, he stood up and started jogging around the perimeter of the platform while scrolling through the list of designations. Thankfully, he didn’t have any trouble reading while on the move. A short time later, he stopped when he caught sight of a very strange designation.

The Fool

Key Attributes: Variable

The Fool is a hybrid designation with no specialization. The Fool is guaranteed nothing but has the world open to him. Instead of gaining skills from his levels, The Fool receives skills from the bonds he forms and the experiences he endures during his journey.

Assign The Fool Designation?

Y/N

What is this… He thought, confused. The designation was bizarre for several reasons. First and foremost, it lacked any specific key attributes. What the hell does “Variable” even mean in this context? Regrettably, he knew he couldn’t summon additional information on the designation; he had already tried and failed with the others. Secondly, the descriptive text for the designation deviated significantly from the established format in every other designation. The differences practically made the listing jump off the screen at Jack who had been reading designations for what felt like hours. However, its peculiarity didn’t distract Jack from the fact that it didn’t gain any Skills from leveling up which seemed counterintuitive at best. How could he determine which bonds and experiences would give him Skills? What kind of Skills would he receive and what if he received a bad Skill that he couldn’t use? He briefly considered adding the designation to the list of designations he might pick purely out of curiosity then shook his head scrolling down.

“Yeah right, that would be an awful idea,” he said, laughing. No sooner had the words left his lips than a vision flood his mind.

“Why did you call me?” said a figure of shadow and fog as it emerged from the gloom, He looked down on a shadowy figure with a mixture of excitement and impatience. He enthusiastically communicated his desires to the figure. It facepalmed and sighed looking up at him with an expression of annoyance despite its featureless face. “You want me to tell you a story? Again?”

He expressed his excitement, but the figure was reluctant.

“Why do you fascinate over stories like a mortal child?” it asked. His impatience grew so he pushed his friend on the matter. Finally, it conceded to his wishes. “Alright, alright. What’s gotten into you lately? You’ve been acting strange.”

He ignored the questions and expressed his excitement. He also wanted to know which story the figure would tell so he communicated his curiosity.

“Does the exact story really matter? You just want to hear it right?” it said sitting down in front of him like it always did at story time. It did matter. The figure should’ve known that. He expressed his annoyance at the implication in his friend’s words. “Okay, I get it. Calm down.” It rubbed the top of its head as it thought of what story to tell. “How about The Fool’s Journey? I heard it from a mortal on a world called Earth.”

He had never heard that particular story before, so he expressed his delight. With that, his friend began the story.

The vision faded into complete darkness then reemerged. The sensation reminded Jack of suddenly falling asleep and waking up again.

“You want me to do what?” the figure asked, dumbfounded. He communicated his idea to his friend again and eagerly awaited the reaction. The figure tilted its head at him and laughed. Waves of shadow and fog rolled of it along with the hearty laugh. He expressed his enjoyment. He liked when his friend laughed. For some reason, the figure was annoyed by his sentiment. “Don’t try to switch the subject. Your idea is awful.”

Shocked by its words, he expressed his sadness. The figure sighed heavily like a parent dealing with a particularly troublesome child.

“It doesn’t fit the established formula and you know it,” it said trying to reason with him. He ignored his friend because he was sad. “Fine, stop with the melancholy nonsense. I’ll do it, but I’m telling you it’ll never get assigned.” It walked forward and placed a hand on him. The power inside his body awakened moving at his friend’s behest. While it worked, the figure asked, “What gave you this idea anyway?”

He communicated the answer.

“One of my stories?” The figure sounded surprised for some reason. “Which one?”

Jack blinked as the vision faded. He was silent for a moment before his thoughts finally settled. Was that a memory of mine?

The vision floated within easy reach below his surface thoughts like any other recent memory. It was both familiar and foreign as though he were remembering another life. The figure in the memory was undoubtedly the World Keeper. Even considering the obscured features and vague figure, Jack could never forget W’s voice after the number of times he’d relived his meeting with the mysterious figure. Why had he been floating in the darkness with the World Keeper? He stared at the crystal obelisks hanging over the void and mulled over the vision. What was his connection with W? Why had he felt so big in the memory? He’d felt massive like one of the skyscrapers in Elysium. While he questioned the vision, his eyes were drawn back to the designation list where The Fool sat in the center of the page.

Didn’t I scroll away from this? Despite himself, he reached out and clicked the “Y” below the designation. When a second prompt popped up asking if he was sure, he nearly disregarded the memory. He paced back and forth for minutes telling himself why he shouldn’t select a random designation when there were other much safer and smarter options available. The damn text even said he was “guaranteed nothing”. He came up with dozens of reasons not to select The Fool. For every reason, he recalled the feeling of his excitement to tell the World Keeper about his idea in the dream. Had that really been him? Finally, after a great deal of doubt, he pressed the confirmation.

[Congratulations! You have been assigned The Fool designation!]

He had barely had a moment to regret his decision when the Blue Heart emanated a pulse of giddy happiness, completely shocking him. Before he could recover, four objects appeared in front of him along with another notification.

[Tools of the Fool]

The Fool’s journey is an uncertain venture filled with danger and excitement. Before you set off on your adventure, select a tool to guide your path.

The Chalice

Key Attributes: Willpower and Resonance

The Pentacle

Key Attributes: Dexterity and Focus

The Sword

Key Attributes: Might and Agility

The Scepter

Key Attribute: Stamina and Intellect

For a moment, Jack wondered what cosmic force had decided that his life would be filled with surprises and cursed it to eternity. Representations of the four objects floated in front of him and he understood intuitively that he need only reach out for one to make his selection. He instantly ruled out the Chalice because of its undesirable attribute bonuses. Next, he disqualified the Sword although it was tempting— Might and Agility would definitely prove useful. It was a tie between The Pentacle and The Scepter since both Focus and Intellect would increase the size of his mana pool. It didn’t take long to decide. With his right hand, Jack reached out and took The Scepter.

[Your Status has been updated.]

1 New Designation added…

1 New Skill Gained…

Mana and Vigor pools added…

[Open Status?]

Excitedly, Jack opened his Skill menu and pulled up the information on his new Skill.

[Skills]

Wildcard Slots (The Fool Skill)

The user will gain access to many different skills during his journey. He may fill these slots with those skills.

Slotted Skills: 0/1

Unassigned Skills: 0

Range: Variable

Cost: Variable

Relic Dematerialization (World Core Skill)

The user may break down any E-grade Relic. The Relic is destroyed and converted into the appropriate amount of Eidos.

Range: Touch

Cost: N/A

Eidos to Logos Conversion (World Core Skill)

The user may purify absorbed Eidos into Logos.

Conversion Rate: 10%

Range: Personal

Cost: N/A

Looking at the Skill menu then at his Status, Jack laughed harder than he had in years at the absurdity of his choice and the content hum coming from the Blue Heart.

Name: Jack

Designation: The Fool

Ethos: 230

Mana: 300

Vigor: 450

[Attributes]

Might

22

Stamina

23

Dexterity

8

Agility

11

Intellect

19

Willpower

15

Focus

11

Resonance

-

[Abilities]

View Skills?

View Traits?

View Relic Skills?