Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Four – 324Felix took the steps six at a time, and thankfully the reinforced stone held. He'd found the stairs shortly before finding the chambers he'd spent the night in, deep in the sundered cliff. Access to them was warded, much as the stairs leading down into the Mana well had been, but that meant little to him. The sword at his side saw to that.
"The array is quiet," Karys was saying, his voice buzzing through that very same sword. "But that is where I believe you must go."
"That makes sense," Felix said, speeding up the long flights with only some of his massive Agility with his prize tucked beneath an arm. He could have move faster, but feared that pressing his Agility to its limit would break something or someone. As it was, the intricate lacework stone flashed past him in a blur, and a gust fairly howled behind him. "That array is...weird."
"It is just as I remember them, Felix," Karys said. "Perhaps it is not the array that is odd."
He couldn't agree. The array, which was at the center of his Temple, was entirely too helpful to be normal. When he'd accepted System Authority over the Territory of Nagast, it hadn't obfuscated or denied him information. Instead, it had been relatively transparent. Felix swept through empty room after empty room, chambers that were bare of any decoration or furniture that might have hinted at their prior use. He suspected the cliff, itself quite huge, was honeycombed with similar spaces that had once been part of the Temple. Now it was his. It was all very strange.
Twenty minutes prior, Felix had made use of his Champion of the Halcyon Title, reaping the rewards he had forgotten to claim in all the hubbub after the Archon's death.
Champion of the Halcyon (Epic)!
By fist and fury, you have defeated multiple enemies of the ancient Halcyon Empire, so thoroughly that not even their Essence remains to taint the Continent. For this, you are to be commended and rewarded.
+5 Levels To One Body Skill Of Your Choice (Below Adept)
+Evolution Of One Body Skill Of Your Choice (Below Adept)
As much as he had wished to see if there was a rarity above Transcendent, the Title wouldn't let him use the bonus on Sovereign of Flesh, as that would put it up and into Adept Tier. Which meant his choices were limited, but not necessarily worse. His Body, which was remarkable sturdy as it was, lagged behind the power of his Spirit and even Mind. Felix was planning to correct that, and focused on his next best choice.
Unfettered Volition is level 65!
...
Unfettered Volition is level 69!
The Title bonus had sunk into his core space, a strange feeling that Felix hadn't had the dubious pleasure of experiencing before. It slipped through the dark and right into his Unfettered Volition, setting it spinning wildly with a direct influx of colorless System energy.
Based On Your Experiences And Achievements, Unfettered Volition is Evolving!
Calculating...
The Skill swelled, its pattern of etched light rotating more and more rapidly. The song of it that Felix had grown quite used to, changed pitch and timbre, deepening and filling out in a way that sent tingles across his scalp. Power from his own core responded, sparking from his grinding rings and shooting straight at the Skill, soaking it in sound and light.
Unfettered Volition (Epic) Has Become Relentless Resolution (Legendary)!
Skill Has Retained Its Level!
Relentless Resolution (L), Level 69!
You have learned to harness the power of Dissonance and Harmony both. Now, above thought, you move those chords in a dance of your own reckoning. Consumed Mana and Stamina when activated. Speed is increased by a moderate amount per level. Consumption of mental strength is reduced a small amount per level.
The Skill roared, an unstoppable train barreling toward anything that opposed it. Felix felt snatches of its song, its pattern, take root in his Body and it made him want to run and dance. To move.
Instead he focused on his completed Quest, the rewards for which he'd put off during the chaos of the last day.
Quest Completed!
Home Sweet Home!
You have secured your ancestors' Temple from all threats, internal and external!
5 of 5 Threats Eliminated
Rewards:
+Title
+Stronghold
+1 Platinum Chest
First, the Title.
New Title!
Sheltered (Rare)!
You have established a Home upon the Continent! A 5% bonus to all regenerations while resting for at least two glasses within your Home, and will grow less hungry or thirsty while within the bounds of it. Title will increase proportionally with the strength of your Home.
That would've been useful about fifty levels and several mega monsters ago, Felix groused, though he couldn't have completed the Quest any faster. What did that last bit mean about the 'strength of your Home?'
His musings were cut short, however, by a sudden growl and chime. The sound shook his core space, sending ripples that almost threw Felix out of the place entirely.
What the hell?
Stretching up from between the double-stacked rings of his cores was a trunk half again as thick as those cores, textured as true bark but colored a crimson-black that shone wetly in the light of his core space. It was the Vein of Divinity, the one that had poked from the depths of his cores and abyss both. The piece of the divine that Felix had stolen from a goddess. And it was bigger than ever.
What is it doing?
The trunk extended both ways, above his cores and below. Underneath, it spread out into fine roots that tangled further with the Pillars he had been developing, a fine net that enmeshed the two extant Pillars in a way that he hoped strengthened them. Above the dual rings, the trunk extended for a goodly distance before branching out once more...directly into the clouds of Essence that hovered above his core space. Like a tree with cloud-like, nubula leaves and festooned with flashing, multicolored lights. Those bright lights were the Essence Motes and Memories he'd taken from various entities like Vvim and Karys, all of which were fixed in place by a portion of Felix's Will. He wasn't willing to part with any of them until he had to; luckily now his Will and core space was refined enough to allow him such luxuries. It would make Tempering very useful in the near future.
There were dozens of others, hanging like fruit on the new growth, but many were...rotten. Felix didn't much care how he knew that, only that it was true. Most were Memories taken from the Urges he'd consumed, and even letting his gaze roll across them filled him with revulsion and a distinct need to bathe.
Below him the abyssthe darkness at the center of his two spinning core ringsgnawed ineffectually at the crimson bark of the Vein of DivinityTree of Divinity now, he supposed. Its hunger was constant and frankly somewhat annoying, but Felix had promised it a meal of a monster in exchange for its good behavior. It felt like a monstrous, unseen pet...one he could not trust not to eat everything if it were let loose. If it even could be; Felix believed it to be the Hunger he had inherited from the Maw and had since conquered...but even a Primordial's Hunger was too strong to truly die.
The Memories were vile things he had no interest in seeing or experiencing, and it was almost a relief to hurl them down into the black. The abyss devoured them gleefully, though it had no face with which to emote. Felix just felt it in a way that wasn't dissimilar to his bond with Pit.
Shaking his head, Felix had emerged form his core space to find the tenku in question staring at him curiously.
"Hey bud, you sleep well?"
Pit warbled in the positive, but ended it with a questioning trill. The tenku could speak into his mind with words when he wanted to, but preferred to send flashes of sense-images to convey his meaning.
"I was Tempering myself, and taking care of some...undesirables," Felix said. Pit's large, golden eyes flicked to a portion of the room that was entirely empty. "What is it?"
An approach, he sent back.