Earth Mother? Ore Father? How… His thoughts trailed off in shock. He could hardly believe his eyes. He touched the medallion around his neck, staring at the spot where the old woman had stood. I can’t handle all of this right now.

After a few seconds spent gaping at the messages, Jack swung his feet off the table and hastily made his way over to his equipment. Strangely, the weakness gripping his body had diminished significantly compared to earlier. He recalled the old woman’s comforting kiss on his forehead and shook his head. Dozens of questions bounced through his mind but he held them at bay. His situation didn’t allow for idle contemplation. With no idea when Bohum would return, he needed to move fast. He couldn’t go through whatever Bohum had done to him again; he just couldn’t. Even as he rapidly donned his equipment, his hands trembled and his eyes nervously strayed to the darkened crystal circle embedded in the ceiling. None of his equipment was missing thankfully; although, the damage Lilan had done to his shirt and protective vest meant they’d have to be replaced when possible.

As he slid on the Shadowtitan’s Fist, his thoughts lingered on Alindal. The sensation he’d felt from the Blue Heart made him believe that Alindal was alive, but any attempt to focus on his Link with Alindal yielded nothing. He barely kept his wits about him between his thoughts constantly diverted to Alindal’s well-being and the echoes of trauma from Bohum’s Illumination looking to surface.

He needed to know for sure if his best friend was alive or not. For all he knew, what he had felt could’ve been some kind of hallucination. Until he found a way to fix the Blue Heart or escaped, he would get an answer, of that he was certain. Mentally, he went over his immediate priorities going forward.

First, he had to secure a hiding spot. While he preferred to simply escape outright, he doubted any attempt he mounted would succeed. Not only could Bohum or any of his Justiciars immediately recaptured Jack, but he had seen a veritable horde of creatures flying through the air when Lilan brought him to the Eternal Light’s Bastion. Even if those were all D-rank creatures, Jack couldn’t hope to break through them on his own. After finding a place to hide, he needed to address the Blue Heart’s condition which was his best bet at getting any kind of answer on Alindal’s health. He recalled the message at the bottom of the Link menu stating that “Links cannot be severed once initialized.” My World Core Status still lists 1/1 for Links, but does that change if a linked creature dies or does it become a dead link spot? I really hope whatever that bastard did isn’t permanent.

He brushed his hand across the Blue Heart grimacing at the lack of luster from the World Core. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t find an answer to his questions standing around so he moved as his mind raced.

He carefully examined the nearest door for any odd inscriptions, traps, and a whole host of other problematic mechanisms that could trigger if he opened it. Finding nothing, Jack listened carefully with his ear against the door. His hearing was already on full blast since his concentration had been shattered since Lilan’s attack on the party. He heard nothing in the immediate area but something seemed off. He couldn’t hear anything outside of the room. He briefly wondered if his hearing had been damaged then dismissed the notion after remembering his interaction with the old woman, or goddess— he had no idea. Her off-key humming, breathing, and heartbeat had all registered as expected to his enhanced hearing.

It was possible that his current location was completely silent, yet his paranoia wasn’t satisfied with that conclusion. To be sure, he closed his eyes and pushed past his throbbing headache to activate one of the abilities that allowed him to act as a Tracer; his ability to sense Relics.

His awareness expanded outward further and further until it encompassed a mile in any direction. All at once, beacons of power alighted in his mind’s eye, a lot of them. The amount was overwhelming at first; he had never perceived so many Relics at once before. At most, he had sensed a couple dozen during one of his largest raid contracts. He recognized the signature emanating from most of the Relics. Lightbearer’s Lanterns— too many to count, but there were easily over a hundred in his Relic detection area. Other than the lanterns, he also detected two beacons much stronger than any he had ever felt. One of them was around his neck and the other several hundred feet below his position.

He focused his attention on the area directly around him. He counted seven Lightbearer’s Lanterns at various distances outside the door in front of him and three beyond the other door which meant two things. The room inhibited his hearing somehow and he would have to face at least three opponents no matter which door he took.

Well if I’m going to fight, either way, I’d best know what I’m working with, He thought as he dropped his concentration on Relic detection. To alleviate his headache, he switched his notification mode to visual. He had access to two new Skills from the Fool and the Ore Father’s Token. He actually hesitated for a second before accepting the prompts to open his status and his Relic Skill window. When he saw the Relic Skill for the Ore Father’s Token, his heart nearly stopped.

Name: Jack

Designation: The Fool (D-3)

Available Eidos: 11665

Ethos: 460/460 (2.3/min.)

Mana: 400/400 (5.1/min.)

Vigor: 740/740 (4.2/min.)

[Attributes]

Might

23 (28)

Stamina

31 (46)

Dexterity

9 (13)

Agility

12

Intellect

27

Willpower

16 (34)

Focus

12 (13)

Resonance

-

[Abilities]

View Skills?

View Traits?

View Relic Skills?

[Relic Skills]

Call of the Shadowtitan (Shadowtitan’s Fist Skill)

The user may summon a Shadowtitan that remains until slain or dismissed. The Shadowtitan is capable of binding foes with its power over shadow. Only one Shadowtitan may be summoned at a time.

Range: 10 meters

Duration: N/A

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Charges: 0/3

Endure (Ore Father’s Token Skill)

The user may enter a state of invulnerability. While in this state, the user is immune to all forms of physical, mental, and spiritual harm.

Range: Personal

Duration: 10 seconds

Cooldown: N/A

Charges: 3/3

By the literal fucking gods, he thought, his eyes wide with utter disbelief. Invulnerability? For up to thirty seconds? His heart, which still had a weaker pulse than he would’ve liked, sped up as he considered the implications. He had expected something good from an S-rank Relic but complete invulnerability hadn’t been a consideration. Despite his absolutely awful situation, he smiled, his eyes drifting from his Relic Skills to his massively boosted Stamina and Willpower also noting the small bonuses to his Dexterity and Focus from his linked Trait. Once he was rid of the Eternal Light’s ailment, his Stamina would be on par with an ungeared B-rank defender and his Willpower wouldn’t be far behind. He fingered the cool metal surface of the medallion. If I had taken Titan, I might’ve actually been unkillable by the time I hit the leagues with this thing.

He suppressed a pang of momentary regret over his choice of designation. No point in regretting my choice. Let’s hope whatever Skill I got was worth it.

One swipe of the hand later, his Skills menu opened. He quickly navigated to his unassigned Wildcard Skills.

[Unassigned Wildcard Skills]

Soul Cradle (The Fool Skill)

The user may cradle the soul of a recently deceased creature within his body. When harboring at least one soul, the user may choose to Summon or Mantle a harbored soul.

Summon calls the soul forth as a phantom that aids the user to the best of their capabilities. Summoned souls remain until dismissed or destroyed. If destroyed, souls are permanently lost. The strength of the summoned soul is dependent on the rank of the user.

Mantle cloaks the user in the soul’s essence causing the user to be perceived as the mantled soul. Mantle does not grant the user any of the soul’s former capabilities or change the user’s physical traits or dimensions.

Souls: 0/2

Range: Touch

Summon Cost: 100 Mana

Summon Duration: 10 minutes

Mantle Cost: 30 Mana

Mantle Duration: 30 minutes

Assign Soul Cradle to a Wildcard Slot? Y/N

[Warning: You have no free Wildcard Slots available: You must remove one of your slotted Skills before assigning any more Skills.]

Well so much for mantling one of those bird creatures and flying away. Maybe I could summon a bird creature as a phantom and have it carry me… Hm, I’m betting not. If I recall correctly, phantoms aren’t corporeal, Jack mused as he read the Skill description. Despite the Skill not providing an easy means of escape from the floating bastion, he couldn’t question the usefulness of the Skill. He already had an idea of how he would use it. He also noticed he could store two souls and note about rank in the Summon description. Did this Skill automatically upgrade to reflect the fact that I’m D-rank or is this the base? Dammit, I wish the Logos came with a fucking help menu. I just had to pick the one designation that doesn’t follow the normal rules.

He actually began to wonder if all of the Fool’s Skills would share the same level of versatility as the two that he had gotten so far. He hoped so. The thought left him excited for his first martial Skill assuming he ever got one from the strange designation. I need to go have a life-changing experience with some kind of super-soldier assuming I don’t die within the next couple weeks. That should get me a nice martial skill.

He chuckled softly at his grim reality. At the very least. He had a method of moving forward. He walked over to the door on the other side of the room checking it for traps and the like. Thankfully, Pope Bohum appeared to be secure enough in his center of power to forego such measures. Certain that the door was hazard-free, he double-checked the position of the nearby lightweavers. Like his first check, he sensed three in the direction past the door that he had just checked, one of whom paced directly beyond the door itself.

Before enacting his plan, Jack made to allocate his remaining Eidos into The Fool— extra attributes wouldn’t hurt. However, he stopped as a powerful gut feeling came over him. He opened his World Core Status and locked onto the three question marks. His stomach turned as he recalled the Illumination process. His hand wandered to the Blue Heart again. He dismissed his Status after a moment of contemplation. I don’t know what those question marks mean but if I want to fix the Blue Heart, I’ll probably need Logos which means I should save my Eidos until I know what to do.

His decision made. Jack moved forward with his plan. Using his Relic detection, he waited until he felt the lantern’s signature move away from the door. Then, he pushed open the door and dodged back into the room, drawing his club at the same time. Sound washed into the room from the open doorway confirming his suspicion about the room’s soundproof nature. He heard rapidly approaching footsteps and saw a cone of light break through dim interior of the room from the doorway. He took a deep breath, flattening himself against the shadowy wall to the left of the open door and holding his breath.

Just before the lightweaver stepped into the doorway, Jack activated Magician’s Manipulation. Focusing on element of light, he narrowed path of the light emitted from the lightweaver’s lantern so it wouldn’t hit him while simultaneously gathering the nearby shadows over his body. The lightweaver entered his room walking right past Jack. It was a woman. Her eyes focused on the crystal table where he’d been restrained and she rushed forward. Once she was past him, Jack acted.

In one smooth motion that he had more practice with than he’d like to admit, Jack dash behind the woman and brought his club down on the back of her skull. She must’ve heard him because she died in the midst of turning in his direction, his club smashing into the side of her head instead of the back. As the corpse began to fall, he stopped it with his clubbing arm and used his free hand to pluck the lantern from her grasp. Ignoring the message that popped up about the Lightbearer’s Lantern, he carefully lowered the corpse to the ground then stepped away to shut the door in case any of the other nearby lightweavers wandered too close. While shutting the door, he got a glimpse at the long stone hallway beyond that branched into a T-intersection at the end. He closed the door and deactivated Magician’s Manipulation.

A slight pang of guilt hit home when his gaze settled on the dead woman, but he pushed it away. Although he could’ve saved her by destroying her lantern and freeing her soul, he was in no position to start up a train of powerless tagalongs in the middle of an S-rank enemy’s fortress and he doubted they would live long if he left them to fend for themselves. That said, at the end of the day, he would choose his own survival over most people any day. Sure, there were exceptions, but even cold-hearted killers occasionally made exceptions.

A few hand motions later, he assigned Soul Cradle to his only available Wildcard Slot. I had better get more slots when I hit C-rank.

He sat the Lightbearer's Lantern on the ground next to the dead lightweaver. He wanted his disguise to be as convincing as possible so he planned on carrying the lantern with him instead of scraping it for Eidos. Fortunately, its regen debuff was minor enough for him to ignore it.

Touching a finger to the woman’s wrist, he activated Soul Cradle. The sensation that followed was strange. Soft blue light emanated from the body. It slowly began flowing into Jack’s finger which sent goosebumps dancing along his body. He couldn’t call the feeling pleasant; however, it did feel very natural despite being a supernatural ability born of the Logos. Once the process was complete, he used Mantle on his new soul.