Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Six – 326I'm sorry, what? Felix stared at the notification before him. Joined my what now?
Congratulations, Autarch!
You Have Vanquished A Threat!
The Risi (Frost Giants) Have Joined Your Fledgling Nation!
+25% To All Positive Relations With Giantfolk!
See Your Control Node For Further Options!
Oh, you bet your ass I'll be seeing my Control Node. He swiped the notification closed and clenched his jaw. He wasn't sure how much he trusted the Frost Giants' Oath, but he felt out of his depth. Felix scowled at the Witch as she lifted her head from prostration. She flinched, ever so slightly.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"My name has been cast aside. I am a Witch of the Rock, born among the swirling winds of the Hoarfrost and given unto the cold upon my seventh year, I"
Voracious Eye!
Name: Kimaris, Witch of the Rock
Type: Giantfolk
Level: 45
...
Felix waved away the rest of the information, not needing it. "Kimaris, then."
The Witch flinched again, this time far more noticeably. "How do you know that name?"
He ignored her. "Kimaris, what are you plans now? Will you return home?"
The Witch visibly gathered herself, rising to her knees and making her just as tall as Felix. "We...can no longer return to the Hoarfrost. When the High Chieftain was selected, we cut ties with our land in the hopes of forming a new home here. Thatit did not turn out as we were promised. The Mother...lied to us." There was some whispering among the prostrated giants, but Kimaris' glare silenced them. "I would ask you for sanctuary, Autarch. For my people."
Felix kept his face carefully blank. "Let me think on it. For now, you can stay at the southern edge of the encampment. Please move your people in that direction."
"As you wish," Kimaris said before returning to her full height. All around the giants did the same, most of them taller than the houses he'd Shaped. Without another word, the Frost Giants left.
Once they'd left earshot, Felix breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"That was entirely unexpected," Vess said. She walked up to his side and stared after the giants, many of whom were easily visible as they began to set up their own sort of camp.
"Yeah. I didn't expect them to swear an Oath and then stick around," Felix said.
"Not that. You." Vess poked him in the shoulder before giving his clothes a once over. "What are you wearing?"
"Oh, I got a cool new magic outfit." Felix let himself be distracted, focusing on his Garment again. A tiny, barely noticeable piece of Mana fled his channels and the shirt and pants became a pale green tunic and dark blue cloth pants. The tunic was wrapped around his torso, set with an asymmetrical collar that Felix had seen once or twice around Haarwatch. "See?"
"Fascinating," said a light voice, and Atar pushed between Harn and Vess to grab the hem of his newly fashioned tunic. His own battlerobes were dirty and singed, and it looked like he'd tried his best to scrub blood from the hardened fabrics across the chest. "It's all controlled with your Mana Manipulation?"
Felix grinned at the mage. "Basically. There's arrays on the threads that respond to my Intent, apparently. Because I'm certainly not envisioning this whole outfit top to bottom."
"What...what Skill did you use?" Kylar asked. The swordsman had sidled closer and was watching the giants in the distance. "To parry those huge axes."
"Oh. I didn't use any," Felix said.
"I-I'm sorry, what?" Kylar stuttered. Shock played over all of their Spirits and Felix dimmed his awareness of them all. It felt like cheating, reading his allies' emotions.
"That was Strength alone?" Harn said with a bright look in his eye.
"Strength and Endurance. Tanked a lot of Stamina to take a hit like that," he said before pivoting the conversation. "Did everyone rest up?"
"Not much else to do," Kylar groused, but Vyne shoved him.
"Everyone's healing, or on the path," Vyne said. "Davum's still got a gash across his chest, but whatever was in that poultice the Henaari gave him has been helping."
Felix nodded, happy to hear it, but that same unease gnawed at him.
His people had nearly died fighting the hordes of the Archon. When Felix and his Spirit Tree had stopped the fighting and cured the Frost Giants, it had driven off the various monsters that the Archon had bound to his will. The area wasn't safe around them, not with Prismatic Wretches and Ghostfire Simians and other things creeping about, but none had approached since that night.
Felix was pretty sure it had something to do with the Atlantes Anima.
Vess pulled him aside. "Do you trust these Giants? They are Oathbound, but I cannot help but be skeptical of their allegiance."
"I'm not about to blindly trust someone that tried to kill memultiple times now. Maybe the Oathbinding is in good faith, or maybe they can work around it like I can." Felix took a kelaar fruit Nevia offered him in passing. "Thanks. The problem with being an exception is that you see all the weird, contradictory shit the System gets up to."
Vess nodded slowly, concern flickering through her dark gaze as she surveyed the stone houses and retreating Giantfolk. "It feels like the ground turned to sand underneath us. Oathbinding is the tried and true method of governance. My father uses it to enact trade agreements, to extract the truth in civil judgements, even as an oath of service for his military." Vess licked her lips and gave Felix a lopsided grin, cheek dimpling. "I'm only consoled by the fact that your Tyrant of Choice Title was hard earned. I doubt many could achieve the same."
"Yeah, I'm all sorts of special," Felix said distractedly. Vess and Harn were frowning at him. "What?"
"How'd you get so strong, kid?" Harn asked. His helmet was off, displaying the man's wide, crooked nose and scarred face. "You played with those giants like they were Tier I beasts."
"What happened in the Temple?" Vess asked in a softer voice. "You never said, after..."
True, Felix hadn't said much about what occurred in the Temple. Instead he'd emerged from the ruins to help his friends and scare off the monsters that still lingered in confusion. Patching each other up and erecting the few houses with Stone Shaping to keep them out of the rain had been as active as he'd felt capable of being considering the roiling pain that had been consuming his core space. One thing after another had kept him from advancing to Adept, and then he'd retired to sleep off the exhaustion that was still dogging at his heels. Felix tried to smile in a disarming fashion, but knew it was more of a grimace.
"It got dicey. But I advanced, and I forged my Path," Felix said. Harn sucked a breath while Vess' eyes widened.
"Siva's Grace, Felix. Your Path added so much? I have never seen you move as you did against the giants. It was over almost before it began."
"A Path," Harn said as he shook his head. "You keep surprisin' me, kid. Next you'll tell me you're Master Tier now."
"Not yet," Felix said with a grin. Harn clapped him on the back, hard, but Felix didn't budge. The man grunted, impressed.
"Wait wait, what's has your Intelligence and Willpower reached?" Atar asked. He licked his lips, nervously. "Your Mana?"
Felix just grinned and jerked his thumb back at the giants. "We should keep an eye on them for now. Pit? You mind watching them for a bit?" His Companion warbled an affirmative and trotted off. Felix sighed. "According to the System they're allies. More than that, maybe."