Born Trait: Keen Mind
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Health: 9340/9340
Stamina: 10283/10283
Mana: 6257/6257
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STR: 2220
PER: 1157
VIT: 1848
END: 1866
INT: 1596
WIL: 2383
AGL: 1091
DEX: 1220
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BODY
Resistances: The Song of Absolution (L), Level 82
Combat Skills: Dodge (C), Level 63; Heavy Armor Mastery (C), Level 1; Blind Fighting (R), Level 44; Corrosive Strike (R), Level 58; Wild Threnody (E), Level 59
Physical Enhancements: Armored Skin (R), Level 75; Unfettered Volition (E), Level 64
MIND
Mental Enhancements: Negotiation (C), Level 26; Deception (U), Level 28; Meditation (U), Level 63; Bastion of Will (E), Level 74; Deep Mind (E), Level 74; Manifestation of the Coronach (E), Level 63; Ravenous Tithe (E), Level 77
Information Skills: Alchemy (C), Level 32; Tracking (C), Level 30; Exploration (U), Level 52; Voracious Eye (E), Level 73; Aria of the Green Wilds (L), Level 81
SPIRIT
Spiritual Enhancements: Dual Casting (U), Level 50; Manasight (U), Level 63; Manaship Pilot (R), Level 1; Oathbinding (R), Level 35; Etheric Concordance (L), Level 74; Sovereign of Flesh (T), Level 74; Unite the Lost (T), Level 49; Fiendforge (Un), Level 1
Spells: Abyssal Skein (R), Level 49; Cloudstep (R), Level 35; Invocation (R), Level 42; Shadow Whip (R), Level 46; Stone Shaping (R), Level 68; Mantle of the Infinite Revolution (E), Level 49; Arrow of Perdition (L), Level 35; Cardinal Flame (L), Level 76; Rain of Cataclysm (L), Level 50; Theurgist of the Rise (L), Level 71; Adamant Discord (T), Level 79
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Unused Stat Points: 105
Harmonic Stats
RES: 677
INE: 2000
AFI: 1420
REI: 1773
EVA: 370
MIG: 500
ALA: 1575
FEL: 628
His resource pools had grown tremendously, as had his stats thanks to his new Race and Path. The Skill levels didn't reflect all of his gains, however, as his Bastion of Will was currently clamped tight around a handful that were primed to Tier up to Adept.
"Watch over me, please."
"Of course," Karys replied.
Clenching his jaw against the pain, Felix dove down into his core space. He plunged into a sea of darkness, yet one punctuated by points of brilliant light. His dual coresa rarity apparentlywere shaped like two rings made of liquid flame and lightning, stacked atop one another like a sandwich. The red-gold [Cardinal Beast Core] sat atop the blue-white [Thunderflame Core], each spinning in an opposing direction so that they ground against one another, each revolution producing arcs of potent, multi-colored energy.
Between them, where the hole of a ring would be, there was instead an abyss that was darker than the shadows that surrounded them all. It echoed with a hunger that had changed over the months, a willful desire to consume and grow, but one that listened in a way. It can be bargained with, at least. That's a lot better than the Maw.
Pushing through both cores and, somehow, through the abyss too was a branching shape that looked like a tree or veins, depending on your perspective. It was colored crimson-black and spread both upward and downward, weaving its way into the two Pillars that supported his cores. Strengthening them with its power. A Vein of Divinity, the System had called it.
Surrounding all of this was a field of lights that revolved around the center. Like stars, they shone brightly all on their own, convoluted patterns of light and vibration that represented each Skill Felix had learned. Since his defeat of the Archon, they had attained a heft that was not present before, as if the light and sound had gained mass. It was, according to Karys and his friend Harn, due to the addition of significance to his core space. A solidity of being that came with great power and time, a feature he had stolen outright from the Urges beneath the Temple.
And not the only thing he'd taken.
Above his cores and Skills, a stormy cloud of Essence boiled and flashed. It resembled nothing so much as those nebulas he'd see in colorized space photos, or sci-fi movies; a tempest of light and shadow, solar winds and crackling, cosmic energy. That, above all else, was what would help him Temper his Skills.
Below, another painful pulse of sound and pressure swept through him, originating from one of the closest Skills. His Bastion of Will, which resembled an orb of greens and blues while its pattern shifted and thrummed, barely containing the Skill it held back.
Felix stepped back into his body, awareness returning, and let himself stretch. Pit snorted once, before falling quiet again, and Felix was careful not to wake his Companion. The guy's day hadn't been any better than his own, and while his new, bigger form needed less sleep most of the time, eventually they all had to pay the piper. Pit could use a few more hours.
So could I, he thought, before banishing it. No time to sleep. Too much to do.
"If I do this, I'll be out for hours. What's tomorrow look like?" Felix asked.
"You have a delegation from the Henaari here to see you."
"Really? That was fast. Wyvora only left...six hours ago."
"Mhm. A'zek has remained closed-lipped on the issue, but I believe there are some internal politics at hand."
Felix rolled his eyes. Last thing he wanted to deal with was politics of the Henaari. "I'm sure they'll love that we imprisoned three of their Dawnguard."
Since Felix had saved them from the Mana well, Ifre and her underlings had been held in a stone-shaped chamber just inside the waterfall Temple, where his people could keep an eye on them. After they had found the wicked dagger in the Archon's chest, it had only taken his Voracious Eye and two seconds of thought to connect them to the Raven and Henaari. They'd attempted to take over his Temple, claim it for the Raven. He was half convinced they'd been told to kill him too. Ifre, however, wasn't talking.
"Well, that's a problem that can wait. Nothing else?" he asked. After his dream, Felix felt a sense of danger looming over him. A threat he'd forgotten. "Have we heard from Zara?"
"No, and I see no way for her to contact us in such a short amount of time. She was headed in the opposite direction the same time you left, yes?" Felix nodded. "If you had retained the Mark she had placed on you, then perhaps. But the Spirit Tree cleansed that and all the others too." Karys tiled his golden head. "You are stalling."
"I can't help but feel there's something we missed. Something important. Zara was securing Haarwatch from the Inquisition, and when I enacted the Mirk Enclosure it should have sealed off access to any Territories outside my...my own." Felix licked his lips and began pacing. He had felt the barrier lock into place, similar to the fog that had once given the Foglands their name, but more powerful by far. Whether that was because of the ancient Nymean array he'd used or because of his Authority, Felix had no idea; what he did know, was that it wasn't just a smoke screen. The Mirk Enclosure physically prevented people from entering his Territory. "It feels like something is watching me over my shoulder. Waiting for my defenses to drop."
"There are no threats, none that you or your team has not already defeated. Even your former enemies are recovering, and the Haarguard watch them night and day." Karys heaved a metallic-tinged sigh. "You are strained in Mind and Spirit. You need rest, true rest."
"Yeah, well I'll get rest when I'm dead, apparently," Felix said. He blew a short, powerful blast of hair through his nostrils. It was forceful enough that it kicked up dust in his chamber. "Fine. Then I'll begin. You will...still watch over me?"
"Of course." He didn't mention that Felix was repeating himself.
Felix took another deep breath, flaring Meditation and attempted to steady his thudding heart. He sat down, cross-legged on the floor, and dove into his core space once more.