The Song of Absolution is level 82!
Adept Tier!
You Gain:
+50 EVA
+50 FEL
+...
He'd already seen the last, but not the Adept Tier bonuses for the Song of Absolution, nor all the rest. Felix let the surge of System energy hit his cores again, consumed by the flames of his dual rings and expelled out once more as red-gold and blue-white light. The energy shook at him, but it wasn't enough to interrupt his concentration. His Will was laser-focused on the next step.
Multiple Essence Sources Detected During Formation!
Choose An Essence Mote!
From above, in his flashing cloud of Essence, brilliant lights dropped out like hailstones. One by one they dropped before him, stopping in his eyesight with claps of thunder, and he knew them.
[Essence of Iterated Annihilation]
[Essence of Corrosion's Touch]
[Essence of Glorious Bounty]
[Essence of the Sheltering Hand]
[Essence of Consonant Influence]
[Essence of Malediction]
[Essence of the Forbidden Elderscript]
[Essence of the Relinquished Heart]
[Essence of Spirit's Bulwark]
[Essence of Earthen Panoply]
Felix goggled at them all. Their number was a touch surprising, but that wasn't it: each and every one of the Essence Motes were Legendary Ranked. He sensed that many were stolen from the Urges, but a few had the feel of other sources. Specifically his Spirit Tree...and the Archon himself.
Visions of the Archon's defeat flashed through his Mind, replayed with perfect fidelity thanks to his Keen Mind Born Trait. His use of Unite the Lost and Karys' aid had kicked him out of his armored shell and regrown his mortal Body. He had shoved a Spirit Seed into his gullet, and germinated it with stolen power. The man had detonated, rendered paste by the explosive growth of root and trunk. Fertilizer for his new Spirit Tree.
He had thought he'd spent a good chunk of the significance and Essence he'd stolen from the six monstrous Urges and the Mana well. Yet each sacrifice in that battle had netted him a greater store, a reward perhaps for doing what the System had long desired.
Maybe. Either way, this is more than I expected. He smiled. It was more than enough to Temper his available Skills to Adept Tier. At Journeyman Tier, the Essence Motes chosen had an impact upon the Skills they were used upon, often influencing their growth in subtle or overt ways. It was supposedly even more pronounced at Adept Tier. Which meant Felix had to be careful about his choices, as they could affect him for months or years to come.
Taking a calming breath, he started with the lastThe Song Of Absolutionfeeling at the Essences for one that sang to him and his Skill. There!
Legendary Essence Detected During Formation!
[Essence of Iterated Annihilation]
Broken Path and Fatebreaker Titles Found!
Adept Tier Bonus Added!
Calculating Effects...
Choose A Feature:
Persevere - Persist Beyond
Extirpate - The Root Of It
Advance - Step Toward It
Felix was surprised at the connection he felt between his Song of Absolution and the Essence Mote, and more so by the features unveiled by the System. The Mote felt so...violent and relentless; it was clearly from one of the Urges. His Intelligence flared at the same time his Perception did as well, increasing his cognition while the worldeven his core spaceslowed down by a good margin. Felix felt at the threads of thrumming Harmony that stretched taut between his Skill and the Essence Mote. Then it came to him, a swirl of thought among a hundred others: his Song of Absolution was also relentless, a metaphysical wall between Felix and harm. So perhaps he did understand it.
Selecting the right feature was simply a matter of relying upon his senses and instincts. He had owned the Song for a long time, and the Skill was not attuned to the root of annihilation. It was about resistance, forging a way past the threats in his way. Likewise, as foolhardy as he'd been before, Felix wasn't one to step toward annihilation willinglyyet when it came for him, he would continue.
Congratulations!
You Have Absorbed The Essence Of [Persevere]!
Harmony and Dissonance warred through him, cast off sparks between the grinding surfaces of his two core rings. Felix gritted his teeth against the assault, but held as the convoluted pattern of the Song of Absolution lit with brilliant, carmine flame and crackling lightnings. It swelled, growing beyond itself as threads of those same energies anchored it to his dual cores. Felix felt a thrum through his entire being as the ribbons secured themselves: the first of his Adept Tempers.
One down, five to go. He grimaced and chose the next Essence Mote. This one for Theurgist of the Rise.
Legendary Essence Detected During Formation!
[Essence of Forbidden Elderscript]
Broken Path and Fatebreaker Titles Found!
Adept Tier Bonus Added!
Calculating Effects...
Choose A Feature:
Proscribe - Ineffable Cipher
Atavistic - Untold Precursor
Calligraphy - Illicit Beauty
The resonance between the [Essence of Forbidden Elderscript] and his sigaldry Skill was too obvious to be wrong, though Felix double checked anyway. He could tell this wasn't from an Urge, but the Archon instead; one of two, he sensed. That made him pause for only a moment, before forging ahead regardless. The ArchonMerodachhad been driven insane by isolation and his Mind and Spirit being shattered and splintered respectively. However, the Essence Motes derived from his form bore power, echoes of the invention of a twisted sigaldry the man had invented in Ages past. The first and last features spoke to that SkillProfane Sigaldryand Felix shied away from them without pause. He had no desire to tread upon that path.