Tuesday, Challenge Four, Day 8
Have a clock. Mandatory group mock tournament mid October. Level five requirement. People that don’t qualify get expelled. Wouldn’t care but I’m curious about the license upgrade. If the one I have gives me access to the next tier, does a better license give me access to higher tiers? I think I can complete this challenge by then. Feels strange going back there after all this time.
Feels like visiting something stuck in the past. Like going to a museum.
Palette of cores grows. Calling it a palette because essence perception stays on all the time now. See the color of every essence type. Each core has its own color. Vitality emerald green. Strength dull grey. Variations of vitality shift between green and blue. Luminance changes. Saturation changes. Some are brighter. Some washed out.
Easiest to see with my greater cores—the ones I merged my titan’s core into. Brighter than the originals. More vibrant. They hold their color steady.
Harvested new animal cores from the latest delivery. Renewal core. Stasis core. Both vitality aligned. Both in the green-blue range.
More experiments with merge.
Merge isn’t additive.
White into green doesn’t create white with green mixed through it. No layering. No swirl. It becomes a green version of white. Same structure. Different expression.
That difference matters.
If merge created mixture, I could customize by repeated merges. Build toward something precise. Possibly combine all primary attribute cores into a single all-stat core.
But that isn’t how it works.
Merge agility into strength and it becomes fast strength. The more agility added, the stronger the speed aspect. Each merge reduces brightness slightly. Essence darkens a shade at a time.
So a core with every essence merged together would end up bad. Muddy color. Diminished vibrancy.
Titan cores have diminishing returns. Once a core stops brightening under titanic infusion, that’s it. No further improvement.
Combined Renewal (teal) with Regeneration (green). Produced a new core: Continuant. Sea green.
Will use it with the ravens.
No progress on the doctor. I’ve agreed to track him down to settle the matter once and for all. May need to hire someone.
Rem sat on a sun-warmed boulder, heat pressing through the stone into his legs. The sky stretched clear overhead. Wind moved steady across the slope, lifting the edge of his journal pages until he pinned them down with his thumb.
Higher up the rock, Rook shifted his claws against the stone and drew his beak through his wing feathers. Each pull left the plumage smooth and tight. When he turned, the sun caught blue in the black.
A younger raven skittered in short bursts, talons ticking against rock. She kept glancing at Rook, then at the journal, head snapping side to side.
“So more like this.” Rem turned the journal toward her, arm extended against the wind.
“Yes.”
She hopped closer and pecked the page twice.
“Hole. Here.”
Her beak tapped again.
“Square bottom. Round top.”
Rem pulled the journal back and studied the lines. The shape stirred something familiar. He flipped the page, braced it flat, and redrew it with slower strokes.
“How about now?”
He turned it around.
“Yes! Yes!”
Kex bounced in place, wings flicking.
“That. That one.”
He exhaled and rolled his shoulder.
“Thanks, Kex.”
Rook gave a short, cutting caw from above. Kex stiffened, then launched into the air. A few calls later another raven dropped down, landing in a sideways skid that sent grit sliding.
“I’m Rem. Who are you?”
The bird cocked his head. One eye fixed on him.
“Quill.”
A beat.
“I Quill.”
“And what did you see on the archway, Quill? Can you describe it?”
Rem flipped to a blank page and set the pencil ready.
“Draw.”
Quill leaned forward.
“Quill draw.”
Rem lowered the journal to the rock between them and held out the pencil. “All right.”
Quill gripped it in his beak. His neck dipped and jerked in tight, quick motions. The graphite scratched in short strokes. Rem leaned closer, turning his head to catch the angle of the lines.
Quill stopped. Nudged the pencil forward.
Rem took it and lifted the journal.
“A circle with an eye in it?”
“Yes. Yes.”
Sharp nod.
“That. See that.”
“Thanks, Quill.”
The two ravens called low to each other. Quill crouched and pushed off into the wind.
Rem sat back. The breeze ran across his face and tugged at his shirt. He had all eight symbols now.
On the last run he’d climbed the mountain above the cave. Fingers cramped on stone. Breath raw in his chest. From the peak he’d seen them—eight platforms spaced evenly around the lake. Too deliberate to be natural. Each one holding a central arch.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
He’d sent the ravens to scout.
They returned with this.
He flipped back through the journal, pages snapping, and listed them from the topmost right of the map.
An open hand.
A stick with a cross bar.
A dripping cup.
A face with no eyes.
An old scale.
A rising flame.
A treasure chest.
An eye inside a circle.
Rook dropped down beside him, claws scraping against stone. He leaned in, head tilted, studying the page.
“Done.”
“Yes. Done.” Rem traced the order with his finger, searching for pattern.
Rook shifted.
“Trade. Done.”
“Right.”
Rem snapped the journal closed. The sound cracked in the open air. He opened the locker window and reached through, cool air sliding over his wrist. He pulled out a gleaming sea-green core. It pulsed faintly in his palm. After a moment, he reached back and took two more.
He held them together, feeling their weight settle in his hand.
“This shouldn’t hurt. Might.”
Rook stepped closer. His beak tapped Rem’s knuckle once.
“More live.”
A pause.
“Rook want.”
Rem met his eye. “I can’t undo it. Once I change your species, no going back.”
“Know.”
Rook held still.
“More live.”
Rem drew in a breath and summoned his merge domain. The air tightened around Rook, faint pressure against Rem’s skin. He narrowed his focus, isolating the thread of essence that defined the bird.
He dropped the continuant cores into the domain.
Sea-green light flared and folded inward.
A sharp snap split the air. Rook gave a harsh squawk that cut off abruptly.
Silence.
Rem blinked and opened Inspect.
Raeven, Level 4.
Rook shook himself hard, feathers rustling. He spread his wings wide, testing the span, then hopped to a higher ridge of stone. He shifted weight from foot to foot, flexed his claws.
“Done?”
He ruffled his feathers again.
“You were a raven. Now you’re a raeven. That’s what the system says.”
Rook crouched. Pushed off. Wings beat strong against the bright sky. He didn’t look back.
Rem stayed seated on the warm stone, watching the black shape grow smaller against the clear blue.
Burning logs cracked in the stone fireplace, resin snapping sharp before settling into a steady glow. Heat rolled through the timber cabin and stayed there, caught by the packed earth layered thick along the outer walls. The air inside was dry and warm, carrying the scent of woodsmoke and cooked broth.
Rem sat at his table in shirtsleeves, boots kicked off near the door. A single candle burned beside his plate, flame steady. Firelight moved slow across the beams overhead and along the smooth grain of the tabletop worn satin by his hands.
In front of him: a deep bowl of ramen, steam lifting in thin ribbons. Slices of fish resting in the broth. A clean row of sushi. A wooden bowl filled to the rim with strawberries, washed and bright.
He reached for the ramen first. Lifted the bowl. Drank. Heat slid down his throat and spread through his chest. He set it back carefully, adjusted the chopsticks, chose a piece of sushi and dipped it into sauce without spilling a drop.
The ring’s window was large enough now he could really indulge. Shelves lined with stacked meals, sealed meats, crates of produce. The window was wide enough to pass whole trays through. Buy once. Duplicate. Store. Nothing inside shifted with time.
He had spent some time earlier with the window open, considering options. Fish or beef. Noodles or rice. Fresh fruit or something heavier. He’d taken his time.
He ate slowly now.
The cabin held quiet. Timber walls. Thick earth outside. Stone hearth at the center. The table solid under his forearms. The chair balanced without wobble. Every seam tight. Every joint fitted.
He leaned back and listened to the fire settle.
On the far side of the room the alpha direwolf rug lay spread wide before the hearth, brushed clean, fur dense and dark. His bed stood beyond it, layered with folded furs and blankets. Tools hung in ordered rows. Not clutter. Not scarcity. Just placement.
He wiped his fingers on a clean cloth and flipped open his journal. Steam from the ramen curled past the page.
Ravens doing fine. A few had died. Maybe age. Maybe restlessness. Hard to tell. Once he started paying berries for cores they brought him everything. Piles of them. Enough that he eventually had to tell them to stop.
Snow owl cores — Perception.
Raven cores — Intelligence.
Hummingbird cores — Hover. Not speed. Not agility. Hover.
Still not sure what to do with hover.
Vole cores — Proliferation. And there were many of those.
He turned a page. Next item on the list.
Body Foundation Pill. (Level 3)Used to refine bones and tendons.
The small container sat inside the locker, untouched. He would take it tomorrow. Adjust his personal timeflow first. Then test.
He closed the journal and carried the strawberries to the rug. Lowered himself down with his back against the timber wall. Heat pressed along his shoulders. The fur beneath him gave slightly, soft and thick.
He ate the strawberries one at a time, listening to the quiet crackle of wood and the faint hum of the ring’s window.
Outside, wind moved somewhere beyond the earth walls. Inside, nothing shifted unless he chose to move it.
He stretched out fully on the rug, hands folded behind his head, firelight moving across the ceiling beams.
His stomach was full. The cabin warm. Tomorrow already arranged.
His mind raced ahead, turning over different combinations he might merge with the Body Foundation Pill. Could he refine his mind? Could he refine his muscles?
The fire snapped softly beside him.
New questions kept stacking.
Mid-October ahead.
Not enough time.
He shifted on the rug, heat steady at his back.
A hundred years.
He fell asleep smiling, thinking about what he could do with all eternity.
Challenge Four Delta
AttributesStrength: 11 → 17 (+6)
Agility: 13 → 19 (+6)
Vitality: 11 → 17 (+6)
Intelligence: 10 → 20 (+10)
Perception: 10 → 20 (+10)
Essence Control: 13 → 22 (+9)
Wisdom (Unlocked): 4
Pools
Energy: 146 → 280
Focus: 180 → 300
SkillsSwimming (Level 7)
Freediving (Level 5)
Wilderness Survival (Level 9)
Primitive Toolcraft (Level 4)
Primitive Construction (Level 8)
Ecology (Level 2)
Aquatic Biology (Level 2)
Arcane Reverse Engineering (Level 5)
Arcane Construction (Level 5)
Field Research (Level 8)
Writing (Level 5)
Arcane Attunement (Level 6)
Essence Perception (Level 10)
Mental Endurance (Level 8)
Emotional Regulation (Level 2)
Micro-Ecosystem Architect (Level 1)
Systems Insight (Level 1)
Tailoring (Level 5)
Hiking (Level 5)
Professions:
Homesteader (Apprentice)
Survivalist (Novice)
Wandwright (Apprentice)
Author (Novice)
Tailor (Novice)
Alchemy (Journeyman → Late Journeyman)
FormulaHealing Potion: 2 → 11 (+9)
Recovery Potion: 3 → 9 (+6)
Restoration Potion: 3 → 8 (+5)
Analgesic Salve (Level 12)
Clean Water Tablet (Level 12)
Stamina Tonic (Level 10)
Wound Poultice (Level 8)
Schematics
Illusion Pattern (Level 3)
Silence Pattern (Level 3)
Illumination Pattern (Level 3)
Ember Bolt Pattern (Level 3)
Twin Echo Pattern (Level 3)
Emberetching Pattern (Level 3)
Waterspout Pattern (Level 3)
Greater Mana Battery (Level 4 Component)
Greater Ranged Targeting Lattice (Level 4 Component)
Proximal Control Matrix (Level 4 Component)
Twin Echo Stabilizer (Level 4 Component)
Illusion Matrix Mk II (Level 4)
Silence Lattice (Level 4)
Waterspout Mk II (Level 4, Rare)
Wand of Nullveil (Level 4, Rare)
Wand of Everlight (Level 4, Rare)
Wand of Lattice Precision (Level 4, Rare)
Wand of Emberfilament (Level 4, Epic)
Titles Acquired:
The Hermit
Cabinwright
Firekeeper
Wandbreaker
Wandmender
Field Scribe
Solo Archivist
Seedbearer
No Stranger to Pain
Iron Will
Strategic Planner
Skillseeker
Summitwalker
Traits Acquired:
Self-determined
Tolerances Unlocked:
Burning: 6
Cold: 5
Notable Merges:
Elixir of the Zephyr, Greater
Permanent +2 to Agility.
Elixir of Kratos
Permanent +2 to Strength.
Elixir of Aion
Permanent +2 to Vitality.
Elixir of Theia
Elixir of Metis
Permanent +2 Intelligence.
Elixir of Aether
Permanent +2 Essence Control.
Cores (level 4):
Greater Vitality
Greater Agility
Greater Strength
Greater Perception
Greater Intelligence
Greater Essence Control
Greater Regeneration
Greater Renewal
Greater Stasis
Greater Umbral
Greater Duplication
Greater Corruption
Greater Continuant
