Roe’s answer for Simone was less than ideal, the chick was far more interested in catching up with the blasted machine in their shared language. They talked for a while and in that time Simone had the opportunity to catch her breath, dislodge Kik from her torso, and go over her notifications. There were still moments as she sat there, waving her hands wildly at the air, that she wondered if she looked like a crazy person to the others. More prevalent in her thoughts was the fact that she hadn’t slept once since she arrived in this place.

You have defeated: Royal Tomb Guardian

Some experience has been lost due to the manner in which the creature was defeated. Experience gained has been scaled to your current level. As the creature was subdued rather than destroyed an adjustment has been made to your experience rewards. You will be compensated with an item reward instead.

You have gained: 525 EXP!

You have acquired [Aspect Shards] x3

You have acquired [Soul Motes] x6

A locked notification hinted that she had enough experience already to hit level two. She’d have to take a nap if she was going to get to that. Instead she weaved her way through the brief pile of combat log notifications and made was gifted with a blessed silence from the notification tone in the back of her head. She turned her attention to her skills menu, reading over the skills she’d acquired. It was a little odd that it described her getting skills as an error, though. Was it not normal to get skills? She scratched her chin and browsed the features of [Mana Manipulation].

According to the description, the skill reduced her mana costs by a small amount. It could also be used for other things but she would have to figure them out. Strangely it felt like she recalled that she would have to meditate in order to strengthen the skill. She cursed, was this thing putting memories into her head now too? She rubbed her eyes and set the thought of meditation aside for now. More interesting was the [Soul Weaver] skill. She selected it and instead of just the description an entire menu appeared.

Soul Weaving

Level 0 - 0%

Soul Motes x25

Aspect Core (Random) x1

None currently forming.

1x Aspect Shard

Basic Spiritual Thread

None currently forming.

2x Soul Motes

Blank Soul Weave Pattern

None currently forming.

3x Basic Spiritual Weave

Simple Weave of the Upstart

None currently forming.

1x Blank Soul Weave Pattern

5% Maximum Health/Mana

Simple Weave of the Soul

None currently forming.

1x Blank Soul Weave Pattern

5% Maximum Health/Mana

Hold the phone, she could disassemble her aspect shards? Weren’t they valuable as heck? How valuable was a Soul Mote? Or an ‘Aspect Core’ for that matter. What the hell did any of these items do? She started hitting names with her finger. [Basic Spiritual Thread] and [Blank Soul Weave Pattern] were crafting ingredients. [Aspect Core] didn’t have a description probably because “random” meant there wasn’t a specific item named. Lame. She selected [Simple Weave of the Upstart].

[Simple Weave of the Upstart] - An empowered embellishment that holds the raw ambition of the upstart. This item has a variety of effects based on whether or not it is consumed or applied to an object as an enchantment.

Consumed: Will apply a temporary 1.2% bonus to a random attribute. This effect does not stack. Enchantment: While carrying this item, creatures with sensitivity to the Aspects will be more aware of you.

Well that was kind of… useless. Man she was just starting to have a tiny bit of hope for her Upstart aspect with that multiplier and now it was sucking again. She scratched her head, was this one of those powersets or skill trees that got way better later on? She hoped so.

[Simple Weave of the Soul] - An empowered embellishment that holds an unshaking connection to the soul. This item has a variety of effects based on whether or not it is consumed or applied to an object as an enchantment.

Consumed: For the next 30 seconds your current location is considered your respawn point. Enchantment: This weapon now deals pure magical damage. Each shot consumes a charge. Charges: 25/25

Well hell yeah, that was more like it. That would save on burning mana in the future and make her far more capable in a fight. She drew out her warcaster and set it aside, instinctively crossing her legs beneath herself as she drew out her item bag. She had six motes to work with so she had enough to make one [Simple Weave of the Soul]. She started working, selecting [Basic Spiritual Weave] and then hitting [Form]. A pair of tiny off-gray motes of light rose up out of her bag and began orbiting one another, drawing closer and closer together. She tried starting up a second set but nothing happened. One at a time it was, then.

It took about thirty seconds for each thread to form, the motes drawing together until they pressed into one another and stretched out into literal bundles of shimmering thread. They fell into her hands one at a time. At some point during the process Kik came over to watch, silently observing the process despite the burning questions in its eyes. Simone pulled the menu back up and started up the process for a [Blank Soul Weave Pattern]. The bundles of thread unraveled and began to twine together forming what looked more and more like a fabric as time went on. Five minutes later they had formed into a simple square sheet of silvery cloth.

“One more step,” Simone said, winking at an ever excited Kik. She glanced up at Roe who had started to peer over every now and then only to look away when they made eye contact. She smirked and pulled up the menu one more time, holding the sheet out on her palm and selecting [Simple Weave of the Soul]. A sudden, sharp pain lanced through her arm and she felt a faint euphoria rush over her as the item drained her health and mana. “Ouch! Friggin hurt,” she grumbled.

She was rewarded, though, with a piece of glowing cloth another five minutes later. The ethereal almost transparent glow of the cloth made it seem ghostly in a way. It flowed over her fingers like water. “This would make a good shirt,” She said thoughtfully before grabbing her weapon and hesitating, “How do I…”

Please place the [Simple Weave of the Soul] on the target object in order to enchant it.

She rolled her eyes, “Thank you, oddly attentive system messages.”

She waited for a ‘no problem’ from the system and was relieved when it didn’t organically respond to her wisecrack. She released the cloth and let it drift down onto the warcaster. There was a faint glow and the cloth dissolved, its color suffusing into the surface of the weapon, the glow fading slowly until the weapon was once again inert. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands. No notification instructing her how to use it which probably meant that it would consume charges immediately without a command or anything. That was fair.

She reached over and patted Kik’s head before getting to her feet and stretching.

“Are you going to test it?” Kik asked, “Kik wants to see.”

“It’ll be as noisy as ever,” Simone pointed out.

“Kik will plug Kik’s ears this time,” Kik said.

Simone glanced over at the quietly talking pair of princess and programmed death machine. “Hey ‘princess’!” She shouted, putting a little mocking emphasis on the title. Roe glanced over and frowned but didn’t offer her a quip in response. “I’m gonna test something out, it’s going to be noisy. Might wanna cover your ears,” Simone called, holding up the warcaster. The girl tensed and scowled at Simone before turning away and covering her ears, leaning a bit towards the machine man while Simone picked a target in the room away from anything living. She selected an inexpensive looking bauble on a desk and aimed.

“Alright lets see if this works,” She breathed, pulling the trigger.

There was a loud crack as the weapon went off, a bit of floor beneath her feet dematerialized and a violet bolt of light erupted from the barrel, hurtling toward her target. She glanced quickly at her Mana. Far in a way less had been consumed this time than when she’d been fighting shiny boy. She clicked her tongue and grinned, holding the weapon aloft, “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

“Are you done blowing up my childhood home?” Roe called out to her.

“Are you done having private time with the thing that’s been trying to kill me all day?” Simone shot back.

Roe groaned, “Fine! You of all people deserve an explanation, come over and sit and we’ll talk. Then we should leave, it may not be wise to stay here very long.”

Simone glanced at Kik who shrugged before turning back to Roe, “Gonna have to explain that too, princess. I don’t like surprises and we’re still a bit too early on for that whole trusting thing.”

Roe stiffened but eventually nodded, “That’s… fair. Very well, I’ll tell you everything I know.”