Infinityphoenix
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Chapter 53 (2 of 2) Lucy wants to throw a chair.
🕑 Added 2023-12-22 12:46:01 +0000 UTC[Message from User ############ ###########-#########: You will come alone to the Aethereal Palace on the 15th of next month and every second month thereafter. This is an order, not a request.]
[Communication Channel has closed]
Sitting at her desk in her study, Lucille stared at the blue message for a long time. A very long time. The late afternoon sun slowly filled the room as she gazed expressionlessly at the message.
Then her expression twitched and she buried her head in her hands.
Lucy wanted to throw a chair. Or maybe not a chair specifically. Just some item that would feel sufficiently satisfying to destroy. Something that would allow her to return to being a fully functioning person after having to deal with the message in front of her.
She slowly raised her head to glance at the message, somehow hoping her memory of the message's contents was wrong. It wasn’t wrong. The message was still there and still hadn’t changed. She dismissed the notification and groaned as she tilted her head back to look at the roof.
The System wants to see me dead, doesn’t it?
If this wasn’t a death sentence, she didn’t know what was. Meeting with the equivalent of the Demon Emperor’s incognito mode every second month? And the first month this would happen was February?
It was almost like he was disregarding the fact that she had to visit his main body in person during March and September as well, so in fact, there would be two periods in a year of three months that she would meet him multiple months in a row. Forget twice a year being something she had to fear, she would now be treading on eggshells eight out of twelve months in the year.
What was the entire purpose of giving her that communication Status Modifier if this was what he was going to make her do?!
Judging by how quickly he shut down the communication channel though, it seemed he didn’t plan on leaving her time to answer. That might explain the unusual lack of concrete restrictions in the System contract that she would’ve expected from someone as close to the System as he was. He may just want as little to do with her as possible. At least this meeting in a month meant she could discuss her original intentions for wanting to meet with him.
She rubbed her face, thinking of what to do, but eventually decided to focus on something else. She couldn’t do anything about the order, and she wasn’t about to try. Normally she didn’t like to procrastinate and leave her problems for later, but…
…her problem wasn’t solvable with her current means. Even if she had made plans to enter conflict with a destiny-distorting Hero who would have at least double if not more so stats than any other person of his Rank, she still knew that attempting to go against a higher race, a Paragon Anomaly, and a Realm Ruler, would lead to a fate possibly worse than death.
She only hoped he wouldn’t continue to be hostile when they would meet so regularly. Yes, it was the person who was the issue, and not the contract.
She didn’t want the timeline to be ruined or the realms to be destroyed any more than the System did, so if it thought one of her plans would be dangerous for the timeline, then she was happy to change it. She welcomed the information because she knew that she was incapable of fully understanding the ramifications of each butterfly effect she triggered. If she could mitigate the worst results by collaborating with the System, then she’d be accepting.
Even if the System contract was a heavy-handed way of going about it, the ‘System’ wasn’t exactly a living, human entity now, was it? They were never in a position to be equal in the first place.
She’d much rather collaborate with the System itself rather than go through the Authorizer now that she knew who he was. The System she knew about. She knew how the Association Limiter worked, and how its effects weren’t a result of memory manipulation but something similar to an info lock. But if the Archduke was angry enough to kill her, and didn’t, then…
She tapped her fingers on the desk as she thought deeply, an idea having struck her. Maybe if she could work out what restrictions the Authorizer was under, then she might be able to negotiate a new type of status quo with him…
They didn’t need to like each other. They only needed to be able to work with each other. Because she knew that once the Millennium Chapter was over, and he reached the 250-year mark, he’d ‘die’ or disappear and wouldn’t wake for the next few thousand years. She wasn’t quite sure what would happen to the Archduke clone skill - although she never heard of the Archduke dying or resigning in the past - but she assumed that all depended on whether the ‘Archduke’ was a soul clone or simply a second body…
She’d need to work this out, as well as determine what restrictions the Authorizer was under. The personality the Archduke was known for didn’t match up with what the Demon Emperor she met had, so it was possible that she wouldn’t be dealing with the personality that wanted to kill her all the time. On the other hand, that meant that maybe it was the soul clone and not the main body of the Demon Emperor that was under restrictions not to kill her…
But now she had continued to think about the meeting, even when she had told herself to stop, so it was time for her to fully move on to something else. She got up from her chair and headed to her room.
…
Let’s try this again. Do you know what this is for?
Happiness.
What is it?
Strength. Power!
How do I use it?
Big Power!
Can you please put more effort into your description?
Power! Enemies! Kill!
…no, I know you can’t kill anybody with this.
Make Power! Then Kill!
This is hopeless. Alright, Ouroboros, you’ve heard what I’ve been trying to talk to Apophis about. Do you know how to use it?
Happiness. Confirmation.
Can you describe how to use it?
Together. Strong.
So I add it to something?
Happiness. Confirmation.
Does it strengthen you?
Confusion. Doubt.
Let’s assume not for now. Does it strengthen me?
Hesitance. Confirmation? Thought… doubt. Mistake.
Second guessing yourself? Maybe… Was my question too broad?
Thought. Confirmation.
Well, if it’s made from Influence… does it strengthen my skills?
Skill?
My abilities.
Ability?
…my abilities that don’t use my body.
Magic?
Not quite.
What was sent to Lucille by Ouroboros was a parcel of different concepts and complicated information that even with her multiple thought strands took some time for her to work out what exactly her spirit weapon was trying to say.
My… /Not-Magic/Half-Soul/Not-Body/Orbs/?
She supposed that was the best description for a skill made of Influence from something that didn’t exactly have any way of interacting with the world besides with her spiritual energy, skills, and physical blade.
That’s it. Can I add it to that?
Confirmation! …doubt. /Small-Orbs/Not-Big-Orbs/Not-Bigger-Orbs/Not-Biggest-Orb/
Lucy counted for a moment.
So… not my Origin Skill, not my primary skills, not my secondary skills… you haven’t seen what a tertiary skill looks like, so… skill shards. I can add this to skill shards?
/Small-Orbs/ Skill Shards?
Yes, the name the System chose for the /Small-Orbs/ is skill shard.
Add! Skill Shard!
Thank you, Ouroboros. Good girl.
Happiness.
Someone interjected.
Power! Attack!
…thank you for your contribution too, Apophis.
Pride!
Lucille sighed and lay back on her bed. She held up the strange glowing grey object the size of a pea that the Influence she gave Ouroboros had turned into.
[Entity Name: -null- | Type: Incomplete/Influence]
Desc: A piece of miscellaneous Influence. It was generated through unusual means, and the number of potential uses for this item is unknown. Concepts and information have been erased and so will have no outcome on the strength of a skill when added]
Nothing but its type and a description. Even the name was reduced to the placeholder. It seemed the leftover Influence from her skills had turned into a fascinating object.
I’d love to study it, but I can’t manipulate pure Influence at my Rank. It also says there is no conceptual information contained within this item, so I doubt there would be much I could discover about this.
In actual fact, Lucy probably could’ve discovered most of what she had been told by Ouroboros herself. However, she wanted to see how far the two souls had developed. She could say that she was pleased with their progress and while they liked to revert to concepts to pass their messages along, she had no issue with that and they would likely only change that habit when they started communicating with others.
They hadn’t expressed any desire to send spiritual messages to anyone outside of Lucy and Scytale just yet, however. And their messages to Scytale consisted of questions regarding whether they as ‘snake-swords’ like he was a ‘snake’ would get wings too. The answer to that was no.
On the surface, it seemed like Ouroboros was the smarter one, but both weapons had the same knowledge and intelligence. It was just that… as a demon, Apophis didn’t care about anything outside of his interests, nor was he afraid of consequences. Ouroboros had a more placid personality and was willing to help.
Lucy wondered what to do with the small item between her fingers as she held it up to the light.
Ouroboros. This was stored in your skill, so can you reabsorb it?
Test.
She raised her white dagger and held the -null- Influence near the weapon.
Doubt. Negative.
But you were able to store it before.
Liquid.
Lucy made a face at the strange response. The weapon souls had been learning about the states of matter a few weeks ago, but…
Oh. This is ‘solid’, but it was ‘liquid’ in your skill?
Confirmation. Happiness.
So the ‘crystallisation’ of the Influence meant that now it had turned into a physical object, Ouroboros could no longer store it. She wondered how that worked when she could apparently add it to skill shards though, and skill shards were a facet of Ouroboros’s skill.
What if I try ‘adding’ it though?
Thought. Confusion.
So you don’t know. Well, I suppose we try it then.
She pulled up Ouroboros’s Rebirth from Death skill to see her skill shards.
[Skill: Rebirth From Death | Type: Influence/Spirit ]
Desc: In times past in an unknown world, the mythology of an ancient empire was spread to other continents and underwent a reformation. Now of another form, the deity represented the cyclic nature of life and death, and all within. A confluence with this mythology and spiritual energy has led to the bestowment of a ______’s resonance blessing upon this weapon, taking on the forces of Order’s pinnacle.
Abilities:
Cyclic Reforming – The strength of one becomes another’s.
- Gives the weapon the ability to obtain the spiritual energy of those killed by its soul twin. {Only active when used alongside Twin Souls: Chaos}
- Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute skills from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Collected Skill Shards: (5/10) Lesser Formicidae Skill Shard.
- Gives the weapon the ability to merge skill shards to form new tertiary or secondary skills. Limitations apply.
- Gives the weapon the ability to reconstitute stats from the energy of those slain by its soul twin and pass them to its User. Stat gain maximum: 50% of Rank Total.
Ordered Origin – Order became power.
- Gives the weapon the ability to shield its User from damage up to the total of its active ATK, MATK and SATK. Shield resets when its User receives unshielded damage the equivalent of what was negated.
- Gives the weapon the ability to absorb damage up to its active ATK using its User’s equivalent MP, while shield is active. Absorbed damage can be reflected partially or completely. Current absorbed damage: 20 ATK.
[ ]
She still had no idea what a Lesser Formicidae skill would do, but maybe with this new ‘-null-‘ Influence something might change. She held it to Ouroboros again.
Try ‘adding’ this for me.
She could feel Ouroboros’s mind thrum with concentration and the dagger gained its bright blue aura. Then notifications appeared as the already pea-sized glowing orb shrank in size.
[Gained Lesser Formicidae Skill Shard x1]
[Gained Lesser Formicidae Skill Shard x1]
[Gained Lesser Formicidae Skill Shard x1]
[Gained Lesser Formicidae Skill Shard x1]
[Gained Lesser Formicidae Skill Shard x1]
It disappeared into nothing, but on Ouroboros’s skill page, she now had ‘Collected Skills: Lesser Formicidae Skill’ as well.
Thank you for that, Ouroboros.
Happiness.
Lucille placed the dagger on the bed beside her and sat up. It seemed the leftover Influence could be used to replicate the Influence of a skill shard and reduce the amount of one type of monster she needed to slay. If there came a time when she killed a strong and unique monster, and wanted to gain its skill, then it would be best for her to save a lot of Influence in case she didn’t have the skill shards.
But now, she wanted to see what this ‘Lesser Formicidae’ skill could do.
Please transfer this ‘Orb’ Ouroboros.
The weapon eagerly did so, and a notification appeared. Then she raised an eyebrow.
[Gained Tertiary Skill: Lesser Formicidae Skill]
[Error: Incompatibility of Influence detected. Foreign Influence contains malignant concepts dangerous for User Lucille Goldcroft. Withdrawing sample Influence for System Records and substituting for compatible Influence…]
[Uncommon Tertiary Skill: Lesser Formicidae Skill has evolved to become Uncommon Tertiary Skill: Energy Field Detection]
…that seemed like a very strange ability to come from an ant, but Lucy was aware that mundane ants navigated using magnetic fields. She supposed the magical variant might have more advanced sensing capabilities.
She opened her Status and selected the skill.
[Tertiary Skill: Energy Field Detection | Type: Perception/Monster ]
Rarity: Uncommon
Desc: Gained through the slaying of Lesser Formicidae, this enhances the User’s ability to detect the mundane energies around them.
Effects:
- +5% to energy and mana detection.
- Provides slight increase to the User’s ability to sense energy transformations in a small radius.
[ ]
It was very unique. It made her wonder though, if the skills given by Ouroboros would be somewhat like a gamble, where you didn’t know if the skill you gained would be useful or not. Still, this skill could evolve and become a secondary skill. She didn’t know for sure what impact these ‘monster’ type skills would have on her skillset in the long run, but skills were skills. She would take as many as could get because she knew she would need a lot.
That brought her to what else she wanted to do while in her room.
[Secondary Skill: Codex of Reminiscence | Type: Mental/Mana ]
Rarity: Epic
Desc: The mental abilities of a mage enable them to create mighty spells and study cryptic texts. Use this skill to turn the boon of the mind into… a boon of magic.
Ability:
Records of the Arcane – Knowledge is the ultimate power.
- Grants the User the ability to store information in this skill. Bonus INT stats and INT amplification are given based on the quality and quantity of information stored in the skill. Max information quantity increases each Rank. Current information storage: 0%/100%.
- Information can be switched out to attempt to gain better benefits every 24 hours. This cooldown is shared with Lost Lore.
Lost Lore – Forgotten memories resurfaced.
- Grants the User the ability to store memories in this skill. Bonus WIS and WIS amplification are given based on the importance and value of memories. Max memory slots increase by 3 per Rank. Current memory slots filled: 0/6.
- Memories can be switched out to attempt to gain better benefits every 24 hours. This cooldown is shared with Records of the Arcane.
[]
[Secondary Skill: Memory Transubstantiate | Type: Mental/Mana ]
Rarity: Epic
Desc: Some memories are lost in the annals of time and the mind, but the few still remembered may carry worth beyond just the mundane. Use this skill to transform your memories into something substantial, a new tool you may use in your quest for power.
Ability:
Transubstantiate – A birth and creation of a new power.
- Allows the User to consume Transubstantiate chances to turn a memory into a new skill. Rarity of the skill is dependent on importance and value of memory.
Skill Analysis – Wielder of influence.
- Grants the User an increased ability to mould and alter skills. This does not apply to Class skills.
[ ]
She needed to test what kind of information and memories would give her the greatest bonuses. Was it complicated, high-level knowledge, or were the memories supposed to be deep and impactful parts of her life?
Which memories would become the best skills? Was a ‘valuable’ memory something valuable according to her or the System?
As she was limited to a max amount of Transubstantiate chances, and didn’t want to waste any of them, she decided to test out the Codex of Reminiscence first. Deciding to put her knowledge of arcane mana into the skill, something she was decently proficient in but had never been her focus, she watched the information gauge slowly tick up to 5%/100%.
And it was really slow. It took ten minutes to earn a single percentage in maximum information. When she stopped she received some notifications.
[Granted +10 INT and +2% INT to User Lucille Goldcroft through Codex of Reminiscence]
With that additional bonus, she now had 35 stats in INT, and 1750 MP. She hummed as she considered what memory to place in the Codex of Reminiscence and settled on her first time flying at Rank-4.
[Granted +15 WIS and +3% WIS to User Lucille Goldcroft through Codex of Reminiscence]
That seemed to be quite an important memory, although she didn’t think it was one of the most valuable memories she had. But she now had a WIS of 28 and MP regeneration of 140 over five minutes. Once she gained over 100 WIS, her MP regen would be measured in single minutes.
It was now time for the last skill. Memory Transubstantiate. She thought for a long time about what memory she would use, and what could be helpful to her right now. There were some obvious ones, such as the memory of her first death, or even her last death, but…
Perhaps it would be fitting if her first use of the skill was based on the memories of when she cast her very first spell.
……….
“Are you sure it’s that simple?”
The retired adventurer opposite her shrugged. “Sure. As long as you have a clear idea of what the spell is supposed to do, as well as know the shape of the rune, then anyone can generate an element with a rune.” He leaned forward to throw another stick onto the campfire between them. “It’s only the real talents that can string multiple together to create a low-ranked spell. If you can do that, you might want to consider becoming a mage.”
She couldn’t deny that the possibility of using magic fascinated her. It was something well-known about on Earth, but it was only in pop culture, and even Otherworld type ability users on Earth didn’t have such a standardised and wide-spread method of abilities. She was always interested in the newest technology on Earth, and this ‘magic’ was a brand new technology she had never seen.
She had yet to meet someone who knew much about spiritual energy, but if her Origin Skill would help her learn magic too…
“Do you know any runes?”
The adventurer blinked. “Me? I mean, maybe if I put my mind to it, but if it’s runes you’re interested in…”
She watched curiously as he placed his arm into a white hole that had appeared in thin air.
He withdrew an old, weather-beaten book and held it out to her. “Here. A standard manual is given when you join the Adventurer’s Guild. Mine’s out of date and I haven’t touched it for the last ten years so you might as well take it. It has a few emergency spells and runes written inside for those who have a bit of talent for casting.”
She quickly flipped to the section and studied the book, fully absorbed in its contents.
The retired adventurer she had been working for poked the fire with a stick. “Don’t feel too bad if you don’t get it right the first time. Even the best mages have spent hours before managing to cast their first ru-”
The warm glow of light stopped the words in his mouth. He stared at the small flame hovering above her palm, fuelled by the single glowing rune below it.
“Well girl, colour me surprised. You might have the makings of a genius mage after all.”
She didn’t respond and looked down at the book. It was unnervingly simple. The runes were letters and words, the specific syntax and keywords used. The frames were the blocks of code. The spell was the program.
Her Origin Skill allowed her to easily replicate all the runes of the spell, and the mana-circle appeared, slowly rotating above her palm. The adventurer’s eyes widened.
She recalled a line of her Origin Skill. If it was the power of the mind that made magic work… then did magic only exist because people thought it did?
“Do you have any more material I could read?”
The mouth of the retired adventurer opened and closed. He rubbed his chin as he stared at her, and then shook his head wryly. “You know what girl, I take back my words. You’re no genius mage. You’re a future Archmage in the making. If you don’t take a mage class then it will be a crime against the realms itself. I’ll take you over to the city’s library and let you have a look.”
Magic had stoked her curiosity. Now she was curious as to why the Mystical Realm seemed to have ‘magic’, and the other realms had concepts from Earth too…
……….
Lucille opened her eyes and smiled when she saw her new skill.
It seems I chose well.
[Secondary Skill: Prodigious Archmage’s First Steps | Type: Magic/Runic]
Rarity: Epic
Desc: A skill borne from the memories of Lucille Goldcroft’s first steps along the path of magic. It contains the emotions and experiences of an Archmage early in their magic career.
Abilities:
Self-Taught Spellcraft Initiate – A wielder of magic’s might.
- Reduces the cast time of the User’s elemental spells by 25%
- Increases stability of the User’s runes by 50% when attempting to cast newly created magic.
- Low-ranked spells cost 30% less MP than before.
Observer of Beasts and Monsters
- Enhances the ability of the User to analyse the conceptual information of bloodline magic in magical beasts and monsters. User gains a small chance of partially comprehending the conceptual information of bloodline spells when this ability is used.
- Increases the ability of the User to bestow conceptual information on spells they cast. The spell runes will be automatically altered, enabling the creation of more unique spells.
[]
____________________________________________________________________________
“…and you can tick that one off the list now. Send it to the craftsmen zone to be sent through to the Blue Song March on the 37th Minor Kingdom’s plane.”
The employee of the Commission bowed, a clipboard held in his arms. “As you wish, Sir Evisenhardt.”
The silver-haired man instructing him looked down at his own clipboard. “Now, the next item that will be sold is a mana crystal statue paid to the Founder’s Vault five hundred years ago… has Sir Alichanteu faced any problems on the auction stage?”
“No sir. Sir Alichanteu has been fine.” The servant snuck a look at Vincent’s face and pushed a bit further. “The other nobles seem to have taken to him. It seems they believe he’s quite capable.”
Vincent waved the man off dismissively, fully able to see the royal blue badge with a symbol of three coins on the man’s chest. “Please do as I asked.”
“…yes sir.”
Once the staff member was gone, Vincent rubbed his neck and twisted it to relieve his tiredness. He frowned as he walked down one of the corridors of the auction house, flipping through the pages to check how much more was on the list.
“Lucy wasn’t joking when she said there was a lot, was she…” he muttered. He heard footsteps approaching and sighed as he held the clipboard. He fixed a polite smile on his face as the nobility down the corridor came up to him.
“Sir Evisenhardt! I’m glad to have run into you,” a Baron Vincent identified as belonging to the Aeternus plane said. “I would just like to say that this auction has been wonderful! I never expected such antiques to be stored within the Founder’s Vault!”
Vincent shifted his glasses as he nodded with a calm smile. “I’m glad you’ve enjoyed it, Baron Serford. I believe we were all surprised when we gained access to the Vault’s contents.”
The man with greying hair laughed. “Well, I’m sure your excellent persuasion caused the Commission Head to allow you entry.”
Lucille had never taken him inside the Vault, because she had only rapidly clicked on the Faction Settings of the Vault and dumped all the objects in the rooms of the fortieth floor for him and the Commission staff to deal with. But the Baron didn’t need to know that.
“If you’ll excuse me, Baron Serford, I must continue to check on the staff and their tasks,” Vincent said politely but with firmness.
“Ah…” The man hesitated, looking disappointed, but nodded and stepped aside to let Vincent pass. “Yes, of course, Sir Evisenhardt. Do take care.”
Vincent nodded and walked past with quick steps, hoping to look busy enough that no other nobility would approach him. He rounded a corner and internally groaned as he came face to face with another noble.
The blonde-haired man blinked and gave him a bow. “Sir Evisenhardt. I had been looking for you. I am Vetas Lightwick, a high-ranking healer of the Citadel.”
Vincent paused and took in the white and gold clothes of the man. “I didn’t realise the Citadel of Fate had sent a representative to participate in the auction. I would’ve made arrangements to meet with you sooner, Sir Lightwick.”
The man smiled and shook his head. “That won’t be necessary Sir Evisenhardt. I arrived only to deliver a letter.”
His response made Vincent confused. “A letter?”
Vetas Lightwick withdrew an envelope of white parchment with a gold seal on the front. “Please, take this.”
With a slight frown, Vincent accepted it. He turned it over on his palm. “But…”
“I have completed my duty, so I must bid you farewell now, Sir Evisenhardt,” Vetas said with another bow. “Please excuse me.”
“Oh… as you wish…” Vincent watched the man leave with confusion, and then looked down at the letter in his hand. He tucked his clipboard under one arm and leaned his back against a wall as he opened it.
Once he read the contents, he gained a broad grin. Chuckling, he placed the letter in his suit pocket and then carried on walking.
It seemed he needed to write a letter once he got back to the Commission. He couldn’t do it yet, but he already had in mind the first few sentences of what he would write.
It was something like…
I have received your reply, Annaliese.
I would like to say on behalf of the Aurelian Commission and the Commission Head that we would greatly welcome your stay, and I am perfectly willing to help you in your endeavours to enjoy your time at the Aurelian Commission’s Headquarters during the first week of February…
Comments
Cassia Taylor
It basically stores them. She can still remember them at any time, and the memories haven’t degraded, but she can’t use the same memory in the skill again, for instance. Not that she’d want to
Aria
Does her ability actually consume the memories she's using, or just duplicate them? Because consuming memories for power sounds a bit crazy and something you'd have to be super careful with.
