Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Three - 253Felix left Zara behind as he prowled the line of the Rent. The Legion gave him lingering glances as the hustled back and forth, dragging severed wings and piles of salvaged feathers. Felix let his Sovereign of Flesh relax, dismissing the dark armor in favor of being slightly less recognizable, but he wasn't really paying attention to them.
Why now? A monster attack only hours after they decided to head after the Archon. Is it a coincidence? Or was Hector right?
Did they have a spy in their midst?
Felix spread his awareness outward, his Perception spreading to its limit. He could hear and feel and see so much, enough that without his powerful Journeyman Mind he'd have fallen to pieces from the sheer volume of information. Tempered twice over, Felix could at least sift through itlike tuning past radio stationsmoving across the white noise for anything that stood out. Blood and stink and frustrated grunts as monster flesh fought back against butcher blades. Mundanity, or as close to it as it came on the Continent where attacks like this could happen whenever.
But they didn't happen whenever. Right? Felix had heard the monster attacks were escalating ever since he had come to Haarwatch for the first time, and that before that they'd had a strange amount of beast activity in the Foglands. Then, after they'd defeated the Archon's forces, it had stopped. For a week, not so much as a peep. Now this. What's the connection?
"No, I need to speak to him, Akales!" someone shouted from Felix's left. Fenwick Cole, according to his Voracious Eye.
"You've no business that can't wait," Oskar Akales replied, another familiar face. "I must ask him about the allotment of these cores. Sir!"
Felix withheld a groan as he turned toward them. It was like dealing with unruly children, for all that both of the men were at least middle aged. Fenwick's hair was mostly gone, except around his ears where it gathered wildly.
"Don't you cut me off, Akales"
"GentlemenFirstsI apologize, but I think the Fiend has already told us where the cores are going," another voice cut in, and Felix was surprised to see another familiar face. Mervin Cors, the first person he'd met after returning from the Void. He'd gotten stronger, he could tell, and there was a confidence to his voice that Felix was surprised to hear. Mervin inclined his head to him. "I heard you speak to Captain Kovalt. We're to bring them all to city center and the Lady Haarwatch."
The two armored men stopped short of Felix's side and stared at Mervin. He could see as well as feel the consternation coming off them both. Fenwick glared at Mervin, then cleared his throat. "Sir, those cores could push our soldier's own power further if they were allowed to use them."
"Given to the Blades, you mean?" Oskar said. He laughed and clanked his hands together in a mocking clap. "Very good. Meanwhile, the Fists were the first into battle. If anyone deserves them, it is us."
"If I may, Firsts, there are several outstanding Quests for monster cores held by the Lady Haarwatch. There are so many cores here; all of our people could rise in levels in a short time." Mervin looked between the two of them. "Is that not a better use than clogging your divine given power with monster cores?"
Felix was impressed. The young farmboy had grown up. Last he'd seen him, Mervin had been wracked with nerves and no little fear.
"Mervin's right," Felix said, defusing the anger that was gathering on Fenwick's face. "Using monster cores to strengthen yourself is a shortcut that can hurt your growth. One or two are fine, but more than that and your core and channels will never amount to much." Or so I've been told. "You'll get more bang for your buck if you go to Haarwatch Manor and take the Quests."
"Bang for your?" Fenwick started, before shaking his head. "Very well. If that is the truth of it, then I'll not gainsay the Fiend."
The bald First of Blade stomped away, followed only a moment later by the First of Fist. At least Oskar gave him an apologetic look before returning to his soldiers.
"Apologies for intruding, Lord Fiend," Mervin said.
Felix put out a hand, stopping the kid from talking. "Man, no. Don't apologize. And don't call me that. Not like we're strangers, right?" His hand tilted, until it was held out in a handshake. "Mervin, right? Been a while."
Mervin tentatively took Felix's hand and they shook. "Oh ah, yes. It's been some time...Felix."
Felix smiled. "Yeah, there you go. I honestly can't stand the titles these guys keep throwing at me. Kind of exhausting, actually."
"I suppose I can see that," Mervin allowed, though his Spirit rippled with confusion.
"Don't worry about it. Glad to see you're doing well, though. Already..." Felix let his Eye linger over the kid. "Level 22 and in the early stages of Apprentice Tier. Good job."
Mervin flushed with pride. "It has been a...challenging time. Strength was the only option." His expression faltered for a half second. "Guild gone, Wall broken, city...but we're here. Ready to serve."
Felix's gaze caught on the patch sewn onto the kid's jerkin, a crude sword. He regarded Mervin in a different light. He'd clearly been through a lot, more than some in the city perhaps, and he'd come out the other side all the stronger. Tempered.
Was Zara right? Should he have left these monsters for the Legion to fight? Let survival of the fittest decide who was worthy of life and who wasn't?
"Sir, er, Felix?"
"Hm?"
"How can I get stronger?" Mervin asked nervously. He looked out at the battlefield, littered with dead monsters. "I am...I am not enough."
Felix huffed a breath from his nose, more in consideration than annoyance. It was exactly what he was thinking: how to keep them safe without continually putting himself between them and danger. Still, it wasn't exactly a straightforward question. Levels and and good, high rarity Skills were important, but so was a solid foundation and Tempering. But so much of what constituted strength on the Continent was a product of luck orhe blinkedinsider knowledge.
Of course! Felix thought on what everyone had taught him since his arrival, from Harn to Magda to Cal and Zara. And what he had learned himself.
"What're you good at?" he asked.
Mervin didn't hesitate. "My Perception is my highest stat, and I"
"No, not your stats," Felix said as he waved a hand. "You. Do you have something you're good at? Like a hobby?"
"Oh ah, hm," Mervin thought a moment. "I do enjoy whittling."
"Whittling." Felix scratched his jaw. "Okay, yeah. How do you think about your core?"
"Myit is a ball of light, pushing the divine gift of the Pathless through me to strengthen my flesh and mind and spirit."
Yeesh. Right, he's a Pathless guy. "Okay, so just a ball of light? Nothing else?"
"Should there be?" Mervin's earnest confusion confirmed a lot of what Felix had been told. People weren't given knowledge in this world. Not without strings attached. Felix frowned, remembering his earliest days, when his own core was nothing more than a spark of fire in his gut. That was also when his Perception picked up that all butcher work had stopped around them. He had become an island of calm as the Legionnaires listened closely.
Good. Listen up.
Felix cleared his throat and spoke just a touch louder. "Think of it like this: your core is a hunk of wood. Right now it's just sitting there, doing it's best as being what it is. Simple wood. You have to carve it down, shape it into the form that fits you." Here he stumbled, unable to articulate exactly how he'd figured his own core space out. "Your core space responds to what you believe it to be, sorta. Your channels are the same, linked to the process. So if you carve say"
"A plow?" Mervin provided.
Felix paused and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah a plow works, especially if it works for you. Maybe for someone else it's a bird, or a castle, or a giant wall with a hole in it," he said, gesturing around them. A few soldiers laughed before stifling it and pretending to work. Felix grinned at them. "Find out what makes you, you, and you'll find that strength follows."
At least, that was what worked for me, he thought. Yet he kept the sentiment to himself. Certainty from authority could work it's own kind of magic, he'd found, and the basics were solid. Tentatively, Felix felt those around him with his Affinity. It felt like a wave of refreshing water and the sound of early morning birdsong.
What he sensed with that Harmonic Stat wasn't always straightforward, like rage or fear or admiration, and sometimes it pushed its way through his other senses by way of explanation. A type of synesthesia, combining senses to suggest a greater whole, much how Manasight often worked. His Affinity sensed that the people around him were affected by his words, and the impression Felix got was that it was positive.
Hopefully it helps them grow. They'll need it if more hordes are coming.
"I see," Mervin was saying after staring at the ground a moment longer. "Begin with the core."
"Begin with the core. Yeah," Felix said with a smile. "From there it's just a matter of"
"Run!"
Felix's head snapped up, instantly taking in the explosive charge of an injured Razorstork. It had apparently been stunned but not dead, and a Legionnaire stumbled back with a skinning knife held out. The big bird hurled the Iron Ranks in all directions as its deadly bill struck through flesh and armor alike. The Legionnaire fell back with a cry and the Razorstork charged. Its eyes were vivid and maddened by pain and...fear. Felix felt a flash of its Spirit across his Affinity, a blade of light that scraped against his eyes and shuddered against his ears. Felix gasped.