Foxmoor Fiction
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SSD 4.65 - Pacts, Languages, and Books
🕑 Added 2024-04-18 17:44:57 +0000 UTCThis chapter took a bit longer, as I had to go back an do a bunch of research. I had already made a list of the things that needed notifications, but I needed to make sure I caught everything.
Next chapter will be tomorrow or Monday. Writing notifications is difficult, AKA time consuming, not so much because of tone though that adds a tiny bit, but because I have to make sure my bonuses are all recorded and are also consistent. Plus, I need to make sure that I moderate the power gained and keep track of it.
“Anyone who thinks skills solve their problems, has never had a real problem. Anything that can be solved with the mere application of force or money is a mere obstacle. Real problems are the things that require us to work on ourselves, and the Gods didn’t make that so easy.”
- Ingati Hargani, from the preface to Mastering the True Skills: The Art of Managing What the System Doesn’t Codify.
==Caden==
The biggest problem, I decided, was that I didn’t think I had time for this.
The pounding sensations of the notifications was getting more intense, rather than less. Honestly, I had hoped they would at least hold steady.
Apparently the System doesn’t like it when we wait to open our mail.
Of course, simply letting the situation exist, letting the Adar be essentially slaves… well that wasn’t acceptable, ether
Of course, that was a false dichotomy.
Choosing to let the issue wait a bit longer, for a valid and urgent reason, was not the same as simply ignoring or condoning it.
Waiting was the prudent choice. Acting should only happen once I knew more about the situation anyway. And when I wasn’t likely to become nonfunctional due to the increasing pressure bordering into pain while in the middle of it.
No, the issue would simply have to wait.
“Zidaun, I’m going to deal with my notifications. They have been building up while I was unavailable. I’m not sure if any of them will deal with languages, or will cause me any issues.”
“Of course, Caden,” he replied, in the same subservient tone of voice. “Ah, at least one title should deal with the skill books, unless you have consumed multiple at that level before within a day?”
I shook my head.
“No, no I have not.”
And hadn’t that been a nasty surprise.
Zidaun had explained that too. How the high level ones were always fatal to make. That the loss of a skill of that level… was too ingrained.
I had done my best not to react.
I pictured an entire skill being ripped out of my soul.
I wonder if they just die from the shock?
Zidaun had explained how his teacher was getting old, how he had reached the stage where his skills would start to decline. That it was better that it not go to waste, when it could help me.
He had been so earnest, so sincere, that it almost hurt. Especially when I could see the grief buried beneath.
Either mind control or indoctrination… or both.
Part of me wanted it to be mind control, simply because that would be easier to deal with. Indoctrination meant it would be a long slow process of changing how they thought as a culture, or at least the part of the culture that ended up living in me.
Unfortunately, I suspected that both was a more accurate answer.
I sent Zidaun off, teleporting him back to join the others as they partied.
A few idiots, who had already had too much, tried to open the sealed gates to the dungeon, and I teleported them into the ice cold fountains.
Best to help train them out of their stupidity. Who the hell would try to enter a dungeon drunk?
I shook my head and set up a puzzle command. Trying to open the doors was an immediate teleport into a fountain.
Some idiots are probably going to make a game out of that.
I rolled my eyes at the thought.
Let them, it’s better than going into a dungeon drunk.
I felt some amusement that I could teleport the first few directly into the fountains like that.
Saving people from themselves is still a benevolent gesture, even if I am snarky about it.
I still needed to deal with the notifications.
There was still some excitement for them. Some anticipation at what I would gain, but it had been supplanted by the reality of the world I now inhabited. And by what came after…
… the corpses.
Well, let’s see if I can make this easier.
The System, for whatever other faults it might have, had personalized my messages, and tweaking aspects of what it showed.
I focused on my notifications. I wasn’t trying to open them, I was trying to break them apart, to give me time to deal with each piece on its own, and have the relevant information together. A flood of information would just sweep me away, and there was a greater chance that something would get lost.
The insistent pulse of the flashing notification shifted, gaining depth. Now it was a bright light, with a cascade of lights behind it, like looking down a tunnel of lights.
Okay, let’s begin.
Your pact has been fully completed, Titles have become fully active:
Greater degree of connection between souls of ‘Caden’ and ‘Exsan’ has altered titles to (Dual-Master)
Soul Bond (Dual-Master)
Your soul, and Exsan’s are permanently bound with Zidaun, who acts as your Agent. You and Exsan are the masters of the pact, and the Agent is bound to do your will. Your bonuses are reflection of the one you are bound to.
+1000 Ability Points
+When Agent is out of the dungeon, they act as a node for your capabilities, extending your ability to act (minimum 10 ft radius)
+Agent may only leave your dungeon with explicit permission
+You may bring Agent back to life instantly for a variable cost
-Death of Agent outside of natural dungeon aura increases recreation cost by 1000%
+(Adar Bonus): Agent is automatically recreated one year after death, provided you are currently alive
+(Adar Bonus): Agent is automatically recreated when dungeon is reborn.
+(Adar Bonus): Reduced time and cost to learn life, death, and times skills (5% discount)
+(Agent Bonus): Agent’s specialty in emulation of dungeon power allows the layering of both when acting in concert.
Additive Pact I (Dual-Master)
Adar which become connected to you, Exsan, or your bonded Agent will also be bonded to the others, and equally subject to your will. Subsidiary connections can be broken. No other Adar brought into this pact will become an Ancient. Sufficient connections will improve this title and its rewards.
+250 Ability Points
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For connecting an additional 10 individuals you have improved the capacity of this title:
Additive Pact II (Dual-Master)
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For connecting an additional 100 individuals you have improved the capacity of this title:
Additive Pact III (Dual-Master)
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For connecting an additional 1000 individuals you have improved the capacity of this title:
Additive Pact IV (Dual-Master)
+2000 Ability Points
+You may locate anyone you are bound to
+When you perceive a large threat to yourself, Exsan, or the collective pact, you can borrow power from all your subsidiary pacts (Variable Effects)
+Each member of the pact reduces the cost or time to recreate your Agent by 0.0001% (Current 0.5835%)
I waited for a moment, seeing if more was coming…
Nothing happened. It looked like my plan to break up the notifications had worked. The pounding had diminished substantially, but I could feel that it was beginning to rapidly mount back up.
Looks like the system understood me all too well. It was giving me enough time to process, but not enough to actually induce any significant delay.
Stupid overly intelligent broken AI…
The thought was, perhaps, undercut by my grin.
The grin faded away as I looked at the notification more carefully.
The System wasn’t outright saying the Adar were slaves, but it was pretty clear about them being subject to my will. The secondary connections could be broken, potentially, which gave me some hope that there were appropriate limits.
Zidaun was stuck with me… forever. Or well, if I died and my soul was whisked away by GAIA… he was probably stuck with Exsan.
Fate worse than death? Yes, no? Answer the poll, we want to know!
I waved away the irreverent thought.
At least… I’ll never be alone.
For a moment I thought back to the isolation of my arrival. Tam had been there, but there was no communication, just me in a room trying not to go insane…
I was always going to have someone here, in this life. Two people, actually. Zidaun and Exsan.
Unfortunately, that just brought the problem of Zidaun into greater focus. I had to make sure I did right by him. Exsan would probably be perfectly happy to essentially treat him as a slave. Perhaps a valuable and cared for slave, especially with his newly gained capacity to feel more, but Exsan didn’t see a problem with being worshiped as a god.
If Exsan wanted to form a cult to worship him… honestly I didn’t care that much. As long as he didn’t treat them too badly.
As long as people had a choice… well that was it. As long as people had a choice.
If the Adar didn’t have a choice, then I wasn’t okay with their situation.
I sighed.
Not the time to deal with this. Next!
To complete the Pact, you have absorbed:
Skill Book: Adar Language
Potential Skill Level: 10
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You have earned new Titles!
Eyes Vs. Stomach.
You have begun absorbing two maximum level language books in less than a day. Just so you know, that is generally a bad idea… if you were made of flesh. Congratulations, as a dungeon you just got swept away and get better next time.
+500 AP
+No matter how many skill books you consume, at least one shard retains consciousness.
The Rich Eat the Poor I
Error… human but wrong species
Pre-established fix enabled
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A Modest Proposal I (First)
You have consumed the products of a fellow sapient humanoid’s life, made via their death. Perhaps, as a human that is now a dungeon, you don’t feel quite the same connection as you used to? Planning to farm the poor for their skills? It is amazing what people with part with for money, security, or protection, even up to their lives. There is always a feast if you are willing to pay the price.
(First) +1000 Ability Points
+200 Ability Points
+Gain more when absorbing skill books (+10%)
(First) +Always gain at least the first level of a skill when using a skill book
Polyglot II
You speak multiple languages as well as, or better, than native speakers.
+150 AP (50 + 100)
+You learn all languages faster and better (10% Bonus)
You have gained skills:
Merchant Tongue (Northern Hemisphere: West) IX
The standard and most common language on the northern part of the Western Continent. As is typical for merchant and trade tongues, it contains a mishmash of linguistic traits and words from a dozen mother tongues, some of which no longer exist.
Adar Language IX
The language of the highly secretive Adar. So secretive are they, that if a word is learned by the outside world, it is likely to change. Additional changes are made at each cataclysm. Even beyond that, the language uses cyphers, metaphor, and other linguistic tricks to obscure meaning.
Cryptography III
Most people learn this from careful study. You learned this simply through mastery of the Adar language. In the future, this skill will help you decode secrets.
For a moment, I was dizzy, but only a moment.
It was the last skill that had done it.
I had already done the hard parts by learning the two languages. The cryptography had simply added context. It had highlighted something I already knew, and codified it into knowledge that I could apply elsewhere.
I had already been listening to both the adventurers and Adar. It had been easy. Honestly, if I was paying attention, I couldn’t prevent myself from hearing them even if I wanted to.
My mind tried to focus on death again, but I just shoved it aside. I would deal with that in the future. I wasn’t avoiding it. It would be dealt with after all of this.
Hopefully I’ll never need to use those titles.
For now, I needed to continue.
The Adar language… was fascinating. Their shared history, beliefs, and culture was woven into it. Not just as background information, but rather as a way to deliberately obscure what they were talking about. You needed to know, not only what the words themselves meant, but also the context of the culture. Without both, it was impossible to decipher.
Interestingly, I had been given the meaning of all the phrases, but I didn’t know why they existed.
For example, if you wanted to talk about mortal danger, you could make any of a dozen references: the baths of Hebar, the winds of Camalac, and so on…
Yet, when I heard the language, my brain skipped over all of that, simply translating it into meaning.
Honestly, I wasn’t certain how much the individual Adar understood about their language, either. Still, I thought it might explain a bit about them as a society.
When your entire language is built on secrets, what does that do your thoughts?
Comments
Foxmoor Fiction
More likely to plant MtG, to be honest... but yes I did. Knew there was something wrong with that but my brain wasn't catching it.
DuskDeadman
Nah, we're about to get a Yu-Gi-Oh arc. The adar play exclusively plant decks.
Mike
Did you mean dual-master instead of duel-master?
