Gordeau watched Arthur use his Audacity Tempering skill for the second time. As he wasn’t an Audacity class himself, he didn’t know exactly how it worked, but he did know what it did. In the beginning, when Arthur first got the skill and spoke to Mira about it, he hadn’t known anything about it. Once he did some digging, he had a rough idea of what it was about, and it was terrifying.
It allowed anyone with an Audacity class to spend their stacks to empower anything that represented an extension of their power. From the description, such would be obvious, but wasn’t obvious was the pure scope of that skill. It could affect skills, weapons, armor, gear of any kind. It could affect titles, feats… hell, it could even affect stats if one spent enough. It went as far as affecting entirely other people with their own souls if the user and the System both agreed that they were an extension of the Audacity class’ own strength. There was no wonder why Audacity class users were so feared. If they had enough time, basically everything about them would be dialed up from a 10 to a 12. He suspected that he could even affect familiars, as untouchable as they usually were.
Which brought Gordeau to the current question he asked himself.
Should he tell him?
Arthur was, to Gordeau, a fool. He’d knowingly and willingly tried to sacrifice his life for a bunch of barely adult humans. He was the only one in their country, likely their entire planet, who had a chance to beat back The Quine Event. Hell, he’d even proven it just earlier that day! Even so, he’d tried to throw that away, for people who lacked the conviction to even fight back for their own lives. It was unacceptable.
For this reason, he wasn’t sure if he should tell him about the combination of items he currently had in his Vault.
Higher tier rewards in the System worked by a sort of “wishlist” function. The System would scan your mind for the things you wanted most, then give you items that would be the closest things to it. It only did this for exceptionally high tier rewards. Arthur had gotten the Soul Bind because it would help with what he wanted most at the time, and he’d gotten the Soul Restore for the same reason. It seemed that he was still thinking about what had happened in the Undersea Redoubt.
Gordeau had held off on telling him what was possible with that Soul Bind as at the time it was useless. Only now that he also had the Soul Restore could he do something about the items in his inventory. He just wasn’t sure if he would tell him out of pure spite.
He’d told him not to do what he did. Specifically instructed the dumb human not to risk his life, as what it represented was more important. What was so hard to understand about that? There was a fine line between altruism and stupidity, and that act had been far past the pale.
Gordeau watched the human gawk at the shield he’d just improved. He didn’t even realize how good an idea it’d been to do what he’d just did. Though Gordeau couldn’t see the description, he could tell it was made of Soul Silver, and Arthur was right in that Audacity was essentially its own special attribute. What Gordeau assumed he didn’t know was that attributes were tied to an individual’s soul. You couldn’t just pick whatever element you wanted to use; you had to be attuned to it naturally. Most higher tiered classes used attributes, as not harnessing a specific person’s elemental abilities was tantamount to leaving power on the table, untapped. This wasn’t to say every high tier class had attribute attuned elements, just… most of them.
Audacity was complicated even as an attribute, as it was closer to the soul than the others. It represented an individual’s will in a way no other attribute did. It merged directly with the user’s soul, which was why whenever something had been empowered through Audacity, it would lose that power up the moment it wasn’t connected to the user.
Audacity was an attribute closer to the soul than any other, and that shield was made of Soul Silver. It was a material specifically made to facilitate attribute-attuned power, which is why the gem in the middle of the shield worked so seamlessly with it. When Arthur had used Audacity Tempering on the item, it had been equivalent to adding gasoline to a raging fire. Soul Silver, combined with that gem, was fertile ground for Audacity Tempering. The cost on stacks to upgrade the shield must’ve been… tiny.
Gordeau wiped his mouth in thought. Not telling Arthur what he could currently do would be an act of pure spite and immaturity. He didn’t necessarily think he was better than that, but there was more to the equation. If he told him, it would result in a solid boost in his power, which would only help him achieve the terms of their contract. Many higher beings of the Macrocosm liked to create contracts that had no end goal, monopolizing the various young talents who didn’t know any better. Gordeau was not one such being. While he enjoyed riches and rewards, the priority was The Quine. If he could get rich from the Chronicles he made for Arthur, they could renegotiate terms later, after that was dealt with.
Another factor was something far simpler. If he didn’t tell Arthur about what he could do now, and he somehow found out… it was likely he’d never forgive him. He didn’t think it’d stop him from completing the contract, as it involved things he wanted to do as well. It would, however, ostracize the man. He would never work with him beyond what was necessary, effectively killing his monetization plans. Not only that, but if it went bad enough, he could even come out of the situation with a new enemy… a T.H.O.D. with an Audacity class enemy.
Gordeau picked up his tablet… and made the call.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Arthur got off the call with his benefactor, his eyes wide and unbelieving. When Gordeau contacted him, the first thing he did was tell him in explicit detail just how much he disagreed with Arthur’s choice during the Obelisk raid. The second thing he talked about though…
Arthur ran to the desk in the corner and swiped everything off of it, leaving it bare. Miscellaneous items fell to the floor with a minor racket. He took three items out of his Vault with such a hurry that he almost took several other things out by accident as well. He placed them all carefully on the desk, despite his previous hurry. He looked them over… the Soul Restore, the Soul Bind… and the bone piece from the abomination that Puffy became.
Abominations were normally dead bodies who became twisted, and were directly tied to The Quine. Arthur didn’t know anything else about that, as Gordeau told him he was forbidden to talk about it. He did say, however, that abominations born in newly created dungeons, like the Undersea Redoubt, were different.
As they became abominations earlier than they were supposed to, their souls were still connected to their bodies. Stuck in the carnival of horror that was their own twisted bodies, the soul of whomever this happened to would have their souls trapped. It was a horrible thing, but in this one instance, it became an opportunity.
Puffy’s soul was still connected to the body they inhabited. So, they were still connected to this bone piece.
Arthur gulped, then picked up the Soul Restore. Taking the bone piece in his other hand, he very, very carefully… began dripping it onto the bone piece. Each drop of the hyper blue substance clung to the bone piece before sinking into it. Gradually but painfully slowly, Arthur tipped the bottle over the bone piece more and more until a steady trickle was achieved. Not a single drop was lost; the Soul Restore sinking into the bone as quickly as it fell onto it. Eventually, all of it was gone, and the bone was glowing with a soft, white light. Tossing away the bottle, Arthur grabbed the Soul Bind.
Gordeau had said that the Soul Restore would rebuild Puffy’s soul, but since the rest of Puffy’s body was gone, it would only inhabit this one piece. That would be, if he didn’t also have the Soul Bind.
Again, he very carefully opened the bottle. With his best imitation of a surgeon’s steady hand, he lowered the bone into the bottle of Soul Bind. When it touched the liquid, it slowly sunk to the bottom of the bottle, as though the liquid were thick. Arthur put the bottle on the desk, waiting for something to happen. This was as far as Gordeau’s instruction went, so all he could do was sit around and wait.
It wasn’t long before the Soul Bind’s purple liquid was absorbed by the bone piece as well, and when it was all gone, Arthur took the piece out of the jar. With bated breath, he held it in his palm, unsure of what to do. The bone began to feel hot, and before Arthur could react, a spectral entity popped out.
It was an enlarged pufferfish.
“Puffy!” Arthur exclaimed, putting his arms around the ghostly pufferfish. they looked just like before, only… bigger. It let out a cheerful chirp as Arthur embraced it, its spectral nature not hindering him. One weight of many lifted from Arthur’s chest as he swung around the enlarged pufferfish, eye’s misted over at the return of his first friend.
Puffy the Pufferfish
Affinity level: MAX
Type: Bound Familiar
Abilities:
- [Puffy Pow]: Puffy puffs up and strikes an enemy with a spiked tackle. Can ricochet between multiple enemies. Enemies successfully struck by [Puffy Pow] accrue [Puffy’s Poison] for each time they are struck. Low cooldown.
- [Bad Breath]: Puffy spits out a cloud of smoke, obscuring the area and inflicting [Puffy’s Poison] to any enemies within the cloud every seven seconds.
- [Spike Pop]: Puffy pushes their spines out with force, shooting spines all around them in a burst. Enemies struck by the spines are inflicted with [Puffy’s Poison].
*[Puffy’s Poison]: Causes damage over time. Slows the enemy and causes difficulty breathing. More stacks causes mounting damage, and after a certain amount, causes complete paralysis.
Affinity Skill:
[Perforating Palisade]: Puffy trusts you with their life. Puffy is absorbed into your spirit, becoming one with your very will. Your armor gains enhanced damage reduction. Your shield gains enhanced damage reduction. Both your shield and armor gain spines that excrete [Puffy’s Poison]. Able to use Puffy’s [Spike Pop].
*[Perforating Palisade] is a limited buff skill. It lasts for one-hundred and eighty seconds. Certain conditions can enhance or decrease the time.
“What do you waaaant?!”
The entire party was gathered in the living room the next morning. Arthur seemed to have a livelier spring in his step since last night, which Aurora had been glad to see. When he’d asked where Ema was, she’d been forced to go wake her up, which was practically asking for a black eye. Thankfully, she’d dodged her wild kick this time, but she was still exceedingly cranky.
“Thanks for coming.” Arthur said, a gentle smile on his face. Ema was glad to see he was doing better, but was still debating whether she should flip him on the table. As the instigator for her early rising, he could truly only be pure evil-
Arthur took light brown boots from his Vault, then put them on the table.
[Boots of Grand Passion] (Exceptional): Boots made by a cobbler who adored their craft. After passing away, these boots were given to the person closest to them. As the years went on, they passed through hand after hand, but not even time could dull the love sown into its creation.
Charm Capacity: High
- [Armored Shoes]: Grants slight damage reduction.
- [Passion]: Grants a slight boost to all support-type skills.
- [Fleet of Foot]: Grants +10 DEX.
“I want you to have these,” he said. “They would fit you best. Take them.”
The Passion effect would be useful for Arthur, yes, but they’d be game-changing for Ema. Many of Arthur’s skills were support based, and even had a boost to them that would synergize well with Passion, but all of Ema’s skills were support related or adjacent. Not only that, but she would actually get a real use out of the Fleet of Foot effect. The Boots of Grand Passion were perfect for her.
She looked at the boots for a long time, reading the effects as her eyes became wider and wider. Eventually, she looked up, disbelief filling her wide eyes.
“Are… are you sure? Something this valuable…”
“Yes, I’m sure. Look at it, it was practically made for you. Besides, you’re the team healer. Doesn’t that automatically make you the most valuable?”
She frowned. “Don’t say that! That isn’t fair!” Ignoring the other’s laughs, she picked up the boots gingerly, equipping them right away. Arthur smiled warmly, watching her walk about in them, when Puffy materialized next to him with a chirp. Everyone but Arthur screamed.