Seeing that they moved away from more “Productive” things and into random discussion for the fun of it, Dei felt he was an awkward third wheel, and quietly slipped away.
He briefly considered going back with his mom, but something else called to him, and he knew he couldn’t ignore it forever- he had to acknowledge it, at the very least. To witness it, and relieve some pressure.
This time, he didn’t simply teleport to the memory, navigating his soul as most did. The room his body was in held the same fire-stone hearth that his childhood home did, so he crossed the bridge of resonance between those two thoughts to appear back in the house of the village he was born in.
He looked around the home, the one that held so few memories of but left a permanent mark on his psyche. The soft fur couch where he tested his spirits fluidity, the kitchen he remembered struggling to dexterously wield his utensils, the crib he first learned the danger of his empowered Racial traits.
He slipped through each memory, the last even containing an unexpected anchor- the list of his Racial abilities, ending in his Reaper Racial abilities which he’d not even known Ashvorn successfully assessed.
[Racial Bonuses:
Soul Echo (Greater)
Darkvision (Major)
Fluid Shape (Greater)
Phantom Claws (Greater)
Weakness to Echo (Major)
Resistance to Death (Greater)]
It was unsurprising and impressive. Reapers were like spirits just… more. As a result, all of his Racial Bonuses had jumped a rarity, most from Major to Greater, others from average to Major. He knew Greater was also the highest something could go, so there were no improvements to be made there. He was concerned about his weakness growing as well, but he was at least highly resistant to Death.
He was a sort of king spirit.
He was tempted to meander around his soul more to see what other little discoveries he could make, but his objective called- more screamed at him, so he left the cradle behind, walking out of the house and into the rest of the village. He remembered the first time he left the house and saw people walking around, naively thinking that there had to be around seven hundred people in the entire place. With his new experiences, he knew there were a few thousand, and he simply hadn’t considered that some people might be in their houses. He wondered how much of that was his own thoughtlessness, and how much was the natural tendency for babies to have no object permanence.
Arriving in front of Iora’s house he felt himself slip between moments, seeing it for the first time, being held by her and believing she was a friend of some kind. A gentle old lady.
Superimposed over that vision, he saw the stone wall of her house explode into a million fragments after his parents made their escape with him, Iora looking down on their family with cold eyes, ready and willing to kill him.
He anchored himself in a transition between the two times, Iora herself becoming undefined before fading away while the building became more solid.
He walked in, pushing the hide door aside and walking through her house to enter her torture room.
There, bound to a small chair, a red figure thrashed in place, screaming to be let free. This was why Wild Chains hadn’t made its iconic appearance in so long, so preoccupied it was with ensuring this thing didn’t get out until he was ready.
The childlike form that should’ve been in this memory was nowhere to be found, a cracked, faceless anger straining even his Skill.
He assessed it with Identify, not bringing Ashvorn’s construct into the mix as he didn’t want them to see this yet.
[True Grudge - 719,941 Rage]
This was the reason they couldn’t read into the contents of Cycle of Sealing, as by the time they were physically able to, he wanted to hide it from them.
[Cycle of Sealing:
120/140,000 Weighted Fragments (Physical objects)
716/140,000 Wrath
881/140,000 Kindness
39/140,000 Soul
271/140,000 Fortitude
98/140,000 Void
214/140,000 Love
282/140,000 Death
2,618/140,000 Personal
116,192/140,000 Rage]
[Cycle of Sealing: 121,431/140,000
He grimaced, Cycle of Sealing couldn’t compress the mana fast enough. Through a combination of how quickly it was producing mana and how said mana was fighting back, the curse was starting to overwhelm his Skill.
‘A true grudge,’ he sighed. Wrath was a combination of Rules and Rage, and in this specific moment, Iora had violated all five of his Rules at the same time.
- I will allow no harm to come to those under my care.
- Children must be protected.
- (Estimation): Greed-based Rule about protecting your own objects.
- I will stand for no betrayal.
- (Estimation): Never let an enemy roam free.
He didn’t know it at the time, but the moment was later updated with how she attacked his father and called Oura down on his mother, ending with both of them in agony. The grudge burned hot before, but that realization only exacerbated it.
The second Rule, of course, nearly blinded him at the moment. Though he was the child, it still applied. She went out of her way, chose to torture a child as her first option. She was not a good person, no matter how much good she’d done for the village.
Third, she’d taken him away from his life- from everything that was his. He was infuriated that he lost his family’s house, the gifts his family gave him, hell even his favorite spoon were all fed to the bonfire.
Her betrayal… it made his heart clench. He’d wanted to see her as a grandmotherly figure, a protector. He wanted to trust her, but all he’d gotten in return was scorn and pain. It hurt.
Worst of all was number five, to never let an enemy roam free. This one he could feel clawing its way forward, tearing at the veil obscuring it from his vision for now. He knew, instinctively, that Ashvorn’s estimation was not quite correct. He didn’t care if the enemy walked away, it was if they… walked away, unchanged. She’d hurt him and never suffered for it. Despite the fifth rule being his “Weakest” he knew, contextually, this was the spearhead for his grudge. It wasn’t number five because it was the least important, it was so the others could lock it down when it went berserk, so he wouldn’t hurt his friends and family in a blind rage if they stood between him and his target.
He needed to let Iora live, if only for a bit longer, because her assistance was required to save the Gem Dwellers and, by extension, those under his protection, many children, and the life he wanted to keep.
Rules one through three fought to wrestle the true grudge, to delay it, but they could only do so much as, ultimately, they agreed with the True Grudge. That’s why it was called that, because there was nothing truly standing in its way.
Wrath was composed of two affinities: Rules, and Rage. There were no more Rules binding this grudge, nothing more to limit it. Rules were utterly excised from the mana, leaving only Rage.
He couldn’t even burn through it with [Growing Rage], as it blinded him in a similar way to Lani’s curse but worse. Lani’s only had around three hundred thousand mana, and it was still Wrath.
This was more than double that, blindingly powerful, and hand-crafted to him. Lani’s curse was ill-fit to invade his mind, but this one was a suit tailored to perfection.
His soul’s durability didn’t mean he could put up a fight, it simply raised the grudge’s upper limit, its white fury growing inside him like a malignant tumor, parasitizing more and more of the resources within him.
Cycle of Sealing did its best to keep the grudge contained, just until the Raid was over, but it couldn’t stop the spread. His soul was slowly being retrofitted to serve as fuel, his thoughts gradually turning towards Iora more as time wore on.
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It was not so easy to tell his anger “No;” it was woven into him, into every fiber of his being. The Rules written on every surface of every memory spoke of that. Wrath was not some obscure power, it was Dei himself.
He ran his fingers through his hair, backing out of the memory and journeying upwards again. He’d acknowledged the curse, and he felt a measure of relief from doing so, but he knew this wasn’t going to last.
He estimated he had days before the curse started to stretch the bounds of Cycle of Sealing, but he suspected the Skill would begin pushing out all the other mana types first to keep it contained for even longer. This grudge was the number one priority to not be let out.
Seeing the red and pink chains extending from the ground, keeping the grudge locked away, Dei thought of his affinity and its effects- could it help him?
There wasn’t really a way to utilize the aspect that would help him improve if caught between two opposing sides, but that wasn’t the only trait it had. There was the other aspect too, the one which manifested from Cycle of Sealing, that let it weaken or lock things away.
If Dei had to guess, he was already seeing two potential Derivatives for his affinity, if he made it that high. The one that manifested as Cycle of Sealing, and the one responsible for self-improvement which he hadn’t successfully created a spell for yet.
Thinking about it he shook his head. ‘I can’t make a spell to seal the grudge away because I already have one. What would a second, weaker spell do?’
Cycle of Sealing was max level until his domain matured, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t grow stronger. The System itself said it was baffled at how well it held mana, despite always being at max capacity before.
The grudge would overwhelm the limits of his spell soon? So what! He’d never let his rage get the best of him on Earth, and could he really say that he was weaker than Earth? Would he say that the momentary respites granted to him by each level were the only reason he’d not flown off the rails and went on a killing spree?
He faced the worst violation of his Rules he’d ever experienced, potentially the worst he ever would, but dammit, if he could shock the System as a level zero, he could do it as a level three hundred and thirty five too!
Determination fueling his steps, he finally arrived at the topmost layer of his soul, the sensory layer, and began working through his rewards, mainly the System Mark that was filled with allocated potential for any who slew demons.
[Evil Slayer
Have slain: 1000x92 fodder, 5x18 elite demon-kin, 1x1 525 demon-kin Redeemable for EXP. Redeem for the equivalent of 87x slain level 500 entities?]
‘Yes.’
[Class Leveled Up: Slaughterer of the Sundered Realm (Level 35) -> (Level 58)]
[Stats Gained: +92 Physical, +23 Spiritual, +23 Magical]
[ERROR! Maximum potential for Spiritual reached, 7 stat overflow, options provided: Burn stats towards increasing potential, redistribute to other stats at a loss during conversion, or bank stats until potential is increased?]
His eyebrow twitched as his momentum was abruptly halted, but he’d expected something like this. He was more shocked that it hadn’t happened earlier, when his stats hit level five hundred. He looked over the issues now.
[Current Maximum Potential: Seventh Evolution]
[Stats:
Physical: 490
Mental: 339
Spiritual: 700 + (7)
Magical: 217]
Seventh evolution, when the shell of something was completed seven times. All organisms in the world had a maximum potential, and Dei’s was at around level seven hundred after he transformed into a Reaper, a process which raised his significantly.
The most efficient thing to do would increase his Maximum Potential somehow, but that was easier said than done. Sacrifices would have to be made.
He knew most had their limits set at the fifth evolution, but could raise it by becoming followers of Primordial Children, Progenitors, or imbuing themselves with a domain. He’d already chosen the Primordial Child path, but if he completed his domain as well, would that raise his potential?
He had to do so anyway to complete Cycle of Sealing…
Nodding to himself, he decided it was time to prune a few things on his Status, starting with the Marks.
[Marks: Void Walker, Soulspeak, Beyond Understanding, No Rulers Above All, Bearing the Burden, Slayer of Giants IV, Cruelty of the Slaughter (II), Dammit, Slaughterer, Untethered, Risky Business, Golden Voice and Silver Tongue, Supreme Inquisitor of (Eternal Refuge), Pioneer, Awake, Dreameater, Lunar Terror, Eclipse of Blood, Observer of Chaos, Forge of War, Champion’s Traveler, Gratitude of the Void, Glimpsed The Work, Atlas, Devourer, Star Seared, Extraterrestrial, Dragonslayer, Macbeth, The Champion’s Devil, Cold Embrace, Reaper, Rebirth, Terror’s Coffin, Cradle of Life]
He already had two in mind to destroy: Devourer, and Terror’s Coffin. While Devourer was good, it was mainly a blessing for Gluttony users and, while he couldn’t be sure he’d never become one, he found it unlikely, no matter what the System’s Class and Perumah thought about his tendency to accidentally absorb worlds.
Terror’s Coffin was a borderline curse. It made it harder to advance the Madness affinity and Drew Titans towards him- an undoubtedly terrible thing.
When he first decided to consume the two marks, he wasn’t exactly sure which to put them into. [Void Walker] his very first, was a genuine contender, as he’d used the ability to punch intangible enemies more times than he could count, but that was always a temporary patch. No, he had a better idea in the form of [Forge of War]
It was a Mark, and the representation of his Domain. If he empowered Forge of War, he may very well complete his Domain and, just maybe, could he raise his Potential.
He brought the description of Forge of War
[Forge of War
- Access to the ??? affinity
- ?
- ?
Mark granted by Personal Domain. Further maturation must be achieved for true assessment to be made]
Not surprising. Ashvorn could only read deeper into Marks when it made Contracts with the affinity to read into them, so Dei would know more about this mark than Ashvorn.
Going by instinct, Dei tried to imagine what its boons would be, feeling it out in his soul. The screen did not update, but Dei imagined what it would say if it had.
[Forge of War
- Access to the Forge of War affinity
- Heavy resistance to faith-based attacks. Perhaps 30%? 35%?
- When strictly in context of the Forge of War affinity, capable of manipulating or utilizing social/faith energy]
‘Interesting…’
His first thought was that his resistance to faith-based attacks may serve as an indicator for how close he was to completing his domain, as if he ever reached 100%, he would become immune to a Gods direct manipulation upon him, but that would take time to measure.
His second was that he actually was able to manipulate faith on his own, but more than that, was how faith shared context with social energy.
When people knew about a person, supposedly that person would “Grow” an Achievement/Mark based on how well known they were, and this took time. Did this mean that people were, in a way, praying to the person, and that’s why it took so long? For enough faith to solidify in their soul, guided naturally by the people’s belief?
Taking hold of his affinity, he set a piece of his mind to sweep through his soul and search for any trace of manipulatable mystery energy while he continued the process of consuming his Marks.
With more context for his affinity, Dei chose [Devourer] and requested Ashvorn’s help to repurpose it.
After a moment of nothing happening, he felt Ashvorn section off a piece of their mind to keep up the conversation with Perumah, while the rest set about disassembling the Mark.
The moment the process began, though, Dei felt an odd warmth spread through him, and watched as a… grand existence stamped the sensory layer of his soul, adding another Mark upon him that was quickly covered up with memories of the present, slowly sinking deeper into him and integrating into him.
He split his mind again, quickly looking over the Mark while the rest of him watched Ashvorn work.
[Mark Gained: True Glutton
You have somehow managed to devour a blessing of Gluttony; the affinity is irritated at your rejection of its gift, but nods approvingly of your actions nonetheless.
- Efficiency of consuming anything upon your status is increased by 50%
Consumption of this mark will result in no further approval, and exclusively serve to anger Gluttony]
He chuckled nervously, as angering the affinities hadn’t even occurred to him. He was happy Gluttony was a good sport about it though… Better even, Gluttony had added this Mark at the beginning of the process, meaning he received its benefits and Ashvorn’s work on [Devourer] became even better.
He watched Ashvorn break down the Mark as far as it dared to do, energy lost in each iteration as the Mark became more indistinct each time. By the time it finished, he could reliably say Ashvorn held something he’d describe as “Nondescript Mark Energy Number 1,” which it promptly sent into [Forge of War].
Looking over the new stats, he wasn’t sure how to feel.
[Forge of War
- Access to the Forge of War affinity
- 37% resistance to faith-based attacks.
- When strictly in context of the Forge of War affinity, capable of manipulating or utilizing social/faith energy]
Now that he had a better frame of reference, he could easily pinpoint how much resistance he had to faith, and noted how it’d barely jumped at all. True, it could say he barely gained anything… but, that seemed to lend credence to his theory that it was a progress bar for his domain, which meant that was very significant progress.
Seeing [Devourerer] drop from his Interface, he locked on to [Terror’s Coffin].
This one, he wasn’t afraid of angering anyone over, as it was more a “Natural” Mark than one granted to him. His participation in Okrin’s sealing naturally held significance.
When Ashvorn broke this one down, he was proven correct when it gave a certain flavor to it. He was learning to differentiate things, and if he had to choose several descriptors, he would say this one felt like… “A natural Mark, hints of a Titanic presence, hints of an incomplete domain- his own- a touch of Champion, and some Madness.”
The Titanic, Champion, and Madness aspects of it were destroyed, but this one was actually much more detailed in its blurred form- it was kept as a natural mark, and his domain was still within it, both traits it shared with the Forge of War Mark.
Despite being a bit “Weaker” as a Mark, its conversion rate was significantly higher.
[Forge of War
- Access to the Forge of War affinity
- 40% resistance to faith-based attacks.
- When strictly in context of the Forge of War affinity, capable of manipulating or utilizing social/faith energy]
He really hoped that when it hit 100% he’d be complete. Still… how much more could he do? He’d already done a lot of impressive stuff, yet it was only at 40%?
More testing had to be done and perhaps questioning of Alora, but a new issue caught his attention.
The mind he’d split off to search for faith energy actually did come into contact with a few things it would consider relevant, places around his soul where faith built; it pinpointed some trickling in from the outer universe, the elves within him- though weaker, as he suspected- and the dwarves, but it brought his eyes towards one in particular, as there was a gargantuan ball of social energy building towards the start of his journey.
It should’ve given him a Mark long ago, but his soul had rejected the title granted to him. Instead of forming a Mark, the energy had continued to build for years.
Brow scrunching, he did his best to parse through the esoteric energy he could barely see, and immediately doubted his own findings as… it couldn’t be right, could it?
This Mark contained the fear of all Gem Dwellers.