It was so tiny, compared to the [Aspect Stone of the Upstart], which had been around the size of a baseball. She thumbed the stone thoughtfully and glanced up at Roe again who took a step back and glanced around, looking for something. Simone turned her focus back on the stone as as a prompt appeared.

You meet the requirements to consume this [Aspect Stone of the Soul]

This Aspect Stone contains a clear view.

Requirements: [None] as per [Spark of the Outsider]

Would you like to consume this Aspect Stone and gain access to the Soul Aspect Tree?

Yes / No

“A clear view?” Simone muttered, “The hell does that mean?”

Roe glanced over her shoulder and frowned but continued gathering things from around the room. Candles and some bits of cloth to start, she was part way through setting them down when she glanced again at Simone. “You seem to be unfamiliar with Aspects despite having one, just a warning for you;” She set down another roll of cloth and spread it out on the floor. “Aspects can change you in a way, they amplify what is already there and draw out the best and worst parts of you. I have heard of good people who had dark inhibitions they kept buried their entire lives, or people who have lived difficult lives and suffered a great deal, acquiring the wrong aspect and becoming twisted.”

Simone looked up at her at that, her lips thinning. How would her past life as a career criminal influence it? How was her current aspect influencing her? Was it influencing her? She swallowed and looked back at the confirmation selection. Then paused and looked back up at Roe again. “What are you doing anyway?”

“I can still use some magic,” She said patiently, “Normally a simple ritual would be needed to activate the stone for you, but you already have an Aspect. You cannot activate successive stones on your own. So I am going to attempt to summon a patron being. Only an Aspect Being can activate a second or third, and so on.”

“Wait, you mean it’s not normal to just consume the stone and move on?” Simone asked.

Roe froze and whipped her head in Simone’s direction, “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I mean, I can just do it,” Simone said, “I guess?”

Roe set down the candles she was holding and crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes, “Prove it.”

Simone blinked, she looked down at the stone and then over at Kik who had found himself a spot to sit and was kicking its tiny legs up and down, barely paying attention to the interaction. Simone looked back at Roe and met her eyes, she wasn’t joking. “Right now?”

“You’re wasting time, that Tomb Guardian is going to find a way up here eventually and then we’re all dead,” She said sharply, “Either prove it or let me get back to what I’m doing.”

Simone licked her lips, “R-right,” She looked back down at the stone and the prompt, she swallowed hard. Ianna had mentioned that the process wasn’t exactly pleasant. Now there was the knowledge that these things could change you? But they needed power to get out of here and she needed something more than the piece of crap Aspect she had started with. She held her hand out and grit her teeth, “Yes.”

The stone cracked instantaneously, Roe let out a gasp as the crystalline object began to dissolve, the clouds inside roiling out into the air and starting to weave their way around Simone. Simone stepped back, looking at the flashes of lightning that were inches away from her skin. A spark jumped and carried through her body. It didn’t hurt as much as it felt like something deep inside of her was shaken by it. Another spark, then another, the clouds drew in closer as the stone completely dissolved in her palm. “Woah, woah!” Simone shouted, covering her face as the clouds pressed against her skin and began to sink into her flesh.

That was when the pain started. Blossoming at that deep place inside of her and spreading out through her body before surfacing in her bones, then her muscles, then her skin. She collapsed, landing on her knees. It felt like she was drowning and being burned alive at the same time. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t think, she fell onto her side and kicked once, coughing and heaving until finally it all passed as abruptly as it had come. She caught herself, coughing and trembling. “Fuck! Fuck fucking fuck! What the hell was that?” She swore, gritting her teeth as phantom shocks of pain rippled through her body.

A faint tone sounded in the back of her mind, alerting her to her new abilities.

You have awakened an Aspect: [Soul]

Your attributes have already awakened, choose an attribute as your focus for this Aspect.

You have awakened an indelible connection to the place of the soul, you gain the following abilities:

Soul Weaver [Soul]

Passive Enhancement

You are able to perceive and gather [Soul Motes]

You gain the [Soul Weaver] skill

You gain the [Mana Manipulation] skill

Strike the Soul [Soul]

Active Enhancement | 10MP

Your next attack deals pure magic damage, bypassing resistances. Creatures that do not possess the [Mana Manipulation] skill or spiritual resistances take increasing damage from this effect and have a chance to be stunned.

Defeating a creature with this ability has a chance of generating a large number of [Soul Motes]

“Focus?” She wheezed and kept reading as more notification alerts to start blasting into her head. Skills, Soul Motes? Then she read [Strike the Soul] and breathed a sigh of relief, she’d gained a power she could use in a fight. It cost mana though, which she didn’t have a lot of.

You have the following available Attributes to Focus.

Endurance

Willpower

Influence

Agility

Skill

The attribute you choose will grow more rapidly as you use it.

Willpower increased mana capacity, she’d go with that. “Willpower,” she muttered and the prompts moved on.

Error!

You have unlocked [Skills]!

Alert!

You have learned a new Skill, [Mana Manipulation]

Mana Manipulation is the basis for all magic in Orum.

The application of incantations, techniques, and will to mana manipulation is the process by which spells are cast.

Alert!

You have learned a new Skill, [Soul Weaving]

The Place of the Soul is the core of every being in Orum. You are capable of weaving the very fibers of life into form, using it to create various tools, weapons, and objects. You may also use this skill to enhance existing items and eventually manipulate souls.

It was hard to process it all as she read it, making it more difficult was the presence she was suddenly aware of immediately above her. It was like someone suddenly turned on a radiator and she was right next to it. She tilted her head and looked up straight into the eyes of Roe who was kneeling next to her, inches away from her face. Heat blossomed under her skin and she cleared her throat, “You are… really close.”

“What did you do?” Roe demanded, “What are you?”

Simone swallowed and cleared her throat, scooting back a bit and pushing herself up into a sitting position, “I’m not from around here, miss ‘I don’t have a name for a stranger’.” Simone managed, leaning back a bit and letting out a breath. “God damn that hurt.”

Roe frowned but seemed to accept that answer in stride. She tilted her head, “You should instinctively know your new abilities,” She paused, “They might have been influenced by your existing Aspect, though. You said it was useless, what is it if you don’t mind my asking?”

Simone cleared her throat, “Yeah, I think I understand ‘em,” she said, resting her elbows on her knees, “I have the Aspect of the Upstart,” She said groggily, pulling up the one ability it had given her just to glare at it.

False Crown [Upstart]

Passive Enhancement

You possess a floating multiplier for your Attributes. At will, you may move your multiplier from one attribute to the other.

Your current multiplier is x2

She paused, “Huh?”

The multiplier had increased, why? Was it because she had two aspects now? She rubbed her face, that was the only thing that made sense. Nothing else had changed and she hadn’t gone through the process of leveling up yet. Holy shit, was it really not a bad ability after all? She ignored the very apprehensive look on Roe’s face and pulled up her attributes.

NAME: UNKNOWN

PLAYERID: SIMONEB

RACE: AZAR

SEX: FEMALE

AGE: 26

[LOCKED]

CURRENT LEVEL: 0 (0/300 EXP / Growth: 100%)

HP: 50/50 | MP: 50/50 | SP: 50/50

REPUTATION: N/A

ALIGNMENT: NEUTRAL

Physique:

12 (0%) [Upstart]

Endurance:

10 (0%)

Willpower:

10 (0%) [Soul] (20)

Influence:

12 (0%)

Agility:

10 (0%)

Skill:

10 (0%)

It hadn’t changed her MP at all! She wondered if it was because she hadn’t gained her first level yet. Still, she could see where Willpower had been doubled to twenty. She willed the multiplier over to Physique and the Willpower buff vanished, Physique jumping to twenty-four. She felt her muscles tense as the multiplier took hold. She licked her lips, moving it around a few times to the other attributes to get a feel for it. It was easy, she could do it on the fly. She was wondering if she could abuse this when Roe cleared her throat.

“I’ve never heard of Upstart, but it doesn’t give me good feelings. I may have made a mistake giving you that Aspect,” She said evenly.

Simone shrugged, “A little late for regrets,” She said, getting to her feet and brushing herself off. “Besides, adding that Aspect seems to have made Upstart a little less useless,” She said with a grin, extending her hand to help the girl up. Roe frowned at her hand and got to her feet on her own, crossing her arms. Simone shrugged and slipped her hands into her pockets, one hand brushing over the warcaster tucked away on her right side. She glanced over at the hole in the ground and listened for the Tomb Guardian’s movement.

“You sure you can disable that thing?” She asked. Roe raised an impatient eyebrow and Simone chuckled. “You better be right, I’m not looking forward to ending up dead,” She said and drew her weapon, once more ignoring the look on Roe’s face. This girl had a hard time keeping a poker-face, not very good for being some kind of nobility. She assumed she was nobility, anyway, seeing as she lived in a big house like this and had a steward. Then again, she had been locked up. Simone glanced Roe’s way but decided not to press the question, if she wasn’t going to give her proper name then she wasn’t going to tell Simone all that.

“Hey Kik!” Simone called over to the very bored looking creature.

“Kik is Kik!” It squawked, jumping in surprise and hiding something behind its back.

Simone rolled her eyes, “Might need your backup in a minute.”

Kik gawked at her, “What can Kik do?”

“Distract it,” Simone said, pointing at the hole.

“No way! Nuh uh!” Kik shook its head vigorously.

“Come on Kik! If we can take this thing out you’ll have free reign to loot this place without having to hide all the time,” She said, gesturing around herself.

Kik’s ears perked a little and Roe cleared her throat, “You’re talking about my home.”

“So it is your home,” Simone said, nodding to herself and casting a wry grin back at Roe, “Good to know.”

Roe’s shoulders stiffened and she looked away, “Do what you want, I hate this place anyway.”

Simone shrugged and glanced at Kik, “Hear that?”

Kik was already on its feet and pulling tools off its belt, a hammer and what looked like some kind of chisel or spike. It was grinning ear to ear and eyeing the hole greedily, “Kik wants to help now.”

Simone laughed and walked over to the hole as well, crouching down next to it with her warcaster in hand. She tilted her head, trying to see where the Tomb Guardian was standing. “Now where is that thing?” She murmured.

A crash behind them caused all three to spin on their heels, Simone almost stumbled and fell into the hole while Kik let out a cry of fright. On one side of the room the floor had been blown up and out, a single metallic hand stretching out through a new hole in the floor. It grabbed hold of the surface and pulled itself up, its glowing eyes casting about the room in a way that made her think of a certain movie featuring a killer robot from the future. She swallowed and took aim. Behind her, Kik started to scamper to the left.

“Kik doesn’t want to help anymore!”