Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Nine – 329"My first order of business should be more reliable stairs, I think," Felix mused. Even abstaining from Adamant Discord, his own Strength, Dexterity, and Agility let him leap up through the holes in the Temple with relative ease. Vess was right behind him, landing with no less grace despite her lesser stats; no doubt due to her high level Grace and Born Trait that let her leap extraordinarily high.
"Personally, I like the express path," Vess said with a grin that dimpled her cheek. "Trudging up stairs, even at high speeds, grows tiresome."
"I'll keep that in mind," Felix said. He tapped his lips, thinking on the power at his fingertips. Questions boiled up and over in his Mind, too many to count. He focused on only a few while they ascended the levels toward the outside. Toward this...judgement, he was to perform.
Felix frowned. A'zek had gone on ahead, intending to inform the Farwalker of the "Autarch's approach." He had leaped upward at an impressive pace, but not fast enough that Felix's eyes couldn't track him. Yet he still vanished from his Perception, even that extra awareness his Authority afforded him. Likely a Blessing from the Raven. The Urge's power is better than my own by a long shot.
That fact made him a little uncomfortable. He had invoked the Raven during his fight against the Urges imprisoned in the Mana wellan action that had no doubt strengthened the Urge of Findings In The Dark but one that was necessary to weaken and dazzle the far more vile Urges he had faced. It had helped Felix beat the dangerous monstrosities, but the Raven's motives felt inscrutable. It loved shiny things, new things, old things that folks lost or buried, but what did it want with it all? Was there a plan to the avarice he'd glimpsed in those huge, black eyes?
"What is a Residential sequence?" Felix asked, pushing his Mind away from the issue. "The Dwelling Stone was imbued with it, according to its Lore." The terminology sounded like it was some sort of packaged code, waiting for use. But everything Felix knew about coding was from movies, which typically showed a person flailing on a keyboard while lights flashed on the screen. Small terms and words flitted by his Keen Mind, enough to convince him that he didn't have the understanding to properly convey what he meant, so he changed tack. "Is it like a...pre-built array in the crystal?"
"Of a sort, I" Karys said from Felix's waist. The sword puffed a heaving sigh of green-gold vapor. His Body was still below, investigating more of the array in the hopes that it might trigger old memories. "No details come to Mind, and I do not know if that is because I do not know them, or there are more holes in my memory. Suffice it to say, the Belais Crystal held a pattern that the System extrapolated into your Seat and Seal, and thus into your Stronghold."
"Mhm," Felix said. That much had been obvious. He'd grown used to the specific weirdness of the System and its vibrational underpinnings. Skills were patterns of sound and light, why not a whole Forge too? "So it's a Stronghold, then. Where are my big walls and towers?"
Vess laughed.
"I would suggest you continue to explore your Authority," Karys said.
"Do you mind sharing while we move?" Vess asked. She looked at him with a touch of hesitation, but ploughed on through her next sentence. "I would very much like to see how your Stronghold functions."
"I don't mind at all," Felix said as he brought up his new menus and flicked them in Vess' direction. A copy of what he was viewing rotating into her view, visible to his sight as well.
The Song of Stronghold
Stronghold Defensive Strength: 20%
Stronghold Offensive Strength: 5%
Chancellor: None Selected
Master of Glyph: None Selected
Master of Forge: None Selected
Master of Treasury: None Selected
Master of Alchemy: None Selected
Two other tabs lined the side, Map and Improvements, but before he could investigate them, a secondary box popped into view.
You Have Established A Stronghold!
Do You Wish To Name It At This Time?
Ugh, I'm bad at names, Felix groaned. No. The box vanished, but not for good he feared. What do I name a half broken Temple and some forest?
He moved on. Under Improvements were subsections for Fortifications, Living Spaces, Professional Spaces, Garden, and, surprisingly, Spirit Tree. When he selected it, he got a warning message.
Spirit Tree Is Still Attuning To Its Surroundings
Do Not Attempt To Harvest Until Attunement Is Complete.
Okay, leaving that alone then.
"Stronghold Defensive and Offensive Strength are both pretty low," Felix said. "I'm guessing that's based on the general...disarray, huh?"
"Precisely," Karys buzzed from the hooked sword. "It counts only the condition of the Stronghold itself, not the people that may or may not defend it. It does not, for instance, factor you into either calculation."
"If you build defensive structures and construct weaponry at your Forge, then those percentages should rise," Vess said. "My family's castle has quite a few such structures and is well defended against outside attack."
"Do you know how to make those things?" Felix asked.
"...Not as such, no," Vess admitted, a tad sheepishly. "My education was always on governance, diplomacy, and combat. The Path of the Ruler, Father calls it."
Path, eh? Felix thought. Interesting. "Well, I've got a few other tabs here under Stronghold. Improvements. Oh, cool. Yeah. Fortifications and Offensive Weaponry have their own sub sections." Felix shook his head. "This Authority thing gets really granular on some of this stuff, huh?"
"It can. Your Authority menus are definitely different than the ones I have seen, and that should only increase your options." Vess easily leaped to the next level, Felix following effortlessly. "Have you selected a Chancellor yet?"
"No, not really sure what that is," Felix admitted.
"A representative, to act in your absence. So you would want to choose someone that will stay here, generally speaking, and who you trust." Vess grimaced. "A challenging selection at the best of times."
They reached the top of the cliff, slipping through a rent in the roof of the Templea hole the Atlantes Anima had created when it grew, diverting an entire river and splitting the clifftop in two. The river had at first poured down into his Temple, but Felix had done a little Stone Shaping to divert it to the west, so that it cascaded down a separate part of the clifftop. It was a temporary solution, but at least his new home wasn't going to flood anytime soon. The dark brown trunk of his Spirit Tree stretched high above them, and in his Manasight it pulsed with every color of the rainbowand a few more besides. Leaves, far, far above them hung fat and green and glossy in the mid-morning sunlight. What little of it could penetrate the thick canopy, that is.
"And the other positions I see? Master of Glyphs and stuff?" Felix asked Vess and Karys, the two of them walking to the edge. "What's that about?"
"A Master of one of your Crafting Halls is responsible for the production within said Hall and lends their own level of mastery toward completed works. So it behooves a Forge to have a high ranking Smith as the Forgemaster, you see," Karys said.
"Alright, makes sense," Felix said. "Not exactly a going concern yet, though. I don't even have the place set up."
"Felix...do you truly wish to do this?"
Felix stopped, feet from the edge, and glanced back at Vess. She was looking up at the Spirit Tree, brows down, worry and wonder flitting across her Spirit. Felix clamped down his Affinity again, dulling his sense of her. "Do what?"
"The Authority. Establishing yourself as a power upon the Continent." Vess shifted her gaze, and Felix could only see worry in her dark brown eyes. "You have grown powerful, I cannot deny that. But this is beyond the physical strength of one person. When people find out...when the Hierocracy finds out"
"When Felix took the Authority upon himself, he was announced to all the world," Karys said. Felix felt a flash of icy dread in his gut.
"Why would it do that?" Vess asked, outraged.
"It is as it always was," Karys said, confused. "It may invite challenge, but"
"It will do more than that!" Vess ran her fingers through her hair. Strands already hung loose from the braids she had plaited earlier. "You took over a portion of the Hierocracy. They will not take that without challenging you...and that means war at yourourdoorstep."
There it was, the threat he'd been feeling. Still unformed, but looming over him like a dark cloud. Felix licked his lips and took a breath. "I enacted a defensive array in order to help Zara and stop the Inquisition from reaching out. Will that prevent everyone from coming into my Territory, Karys?"
"It will. How long depends on how fast they can muster the power sufficient to overcome its defenses. As it stands, your Mirk Enclosure has not been breached, though...thousands have tried." Karys was quiet a moment, almost as if he were reading something. The pause lingered.