Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Four – 174Pinging before his eyes in a series of alerts, Felix stared at nine (NINE!) Essences that he'd never seen before.
[Essence of Sage]
[Essence of Hearthstone Flame]
[Essence of the Celeritous Trek]
[Essence of Diamond Eyes]
[Essence of Sainted Bones]
[Essence of the Dustbringer]
[Essence of the Severed World]
[Essence of Knighted Steel]
[Essence of Primal Fury]
Voracious Eye!
Name: Essence of Sage
Type: Essence Mote
Lore: Essence Motes are rarely used treasures, harvested directly from prey and used to Temper one's Aspects. Used upon achievement of a Tier, they help to expel impurities and refine the vessel. This Essence is infused with the Spirit Essences of Sage.
Rarity: Uncommon
The others were the same, though the Aspect affected and Rarity all changed. Each notification glowed with power, informing Felix with a glance of their rarities. The first three were Uncommon Essences...and the rest were all Rare.
Did these come from the Ravager King? He'd eaten a Larval Ravager and taken a singular Essence from it back in the Domain, the Essence of the Primal Seed. But there are so many...
Beyond the notifications, Felix could see them swirling among his essence cloud, and watched as one disappeared into the abyss in his core. In a flash of incandescent light, it was consumed entirely. The blue box for [Essence of Knighted Steel], a Body Essence, flickered and vanished from before him.
No! I could've used that!
The clock was ticking.
Felix could feel something about them, a nebulous sort of sensation that he couldn't pin down. Each Essence was composed of lesser Features, things that made up the Essence in some way. When selected, the Feature transferred to one's Aspect; if he took an Inferno Essence from a draught, then his Spirit would have some feature of an Inferno. He had been told it was only a minor, barely noticeable effect in Apprentice Tier. Each Tier thereafter, however, it grew more and more apparent. This was his foundation, the structure upon which his true strength was building. He Tempered very well in Apprentice, and he had to continue that trend.
Flipping through them, Felix fumbled at them with his Affinity. All of them thrummed with the barely heard vibrations of the Grand Harmony, but one felt deeper than all the rest. More resonant, he supposed.
Rare Essence Detected During Formation!
[Essence of Diamond Eyes]
As it sank into him, the feel of it was so opposed to the Ravagers that Felix knew it wasn't from the King. Like a bolt of lightning from the clear blue sky, he knew. The others must have come from the cathedral's vault.
Thanks, Pathless. You're a peach.
Broken Path and Fatebreaker Titles Found! Journeyman Tier Bonus Added!
Calculating Effects...
Choose A Feature:
Jager - The Clearest, Finest State
Allotrope - The Multiplicity of States
Bort - A State of Accumulation
Focus Upon The Way Forward, Ascendant. Focus.
Shock hit him harder than the System energy that unspooled into his core and channels. Normally there were no explanations during this process, yet now he was getting advice? In all the hubbub, Felix had forgotten about the bonuses his two Titles gave him, so perhaps the description was from them.
But there was only one thing that had called him ascendant before. Vellus, the not-quite-dead goddess. Still, he didn't have time to ponder what it might mean, just to work with it as best he could.
Jager was immediately tempting. Clearest, most fine state? How could that be beat? It sounded strong and focused. A leap to the end.
Yet Allotrope was about having multiple states. Though Felix didn't know what that meant, it sounded like it would give him versatility. The how, of course was unknown. If nothing else, it felt like it might have complicated effects on his Temper.
Despite it's silly name, Bort was compelling as well. Accumulation. Gathering. The grind to the top. Jager offered a path to the top, at least that's what it suggested. But did he accept the Systems definition of perfect and choose Jager, or did he devise his own by building from the ground up? Or should he expand his options in some way with Allotrope?
He had seconds to choose, as always. The "bonuses" from his Titles were hardly better than no information at all...but he chose. Felix selected what he believed would result in true strength. He only hoped he wouldn't regret it.
The way forward...
Congratulations!
You Have Absorbed The Essence Of [Bort]!
That...sounds super dumb.
Energy pulsed through him, crackling around his Fire Within Skill in a halo of electric fire. A not insignificant chunk of his stolen essence vanished into that halo, sucked up like a sponge. A ribbon of blue-gold light shot out from his core ring and connected to the Skill as it raged. Felix felt the tingling pull of power, almost distracting him from the next notification.
Etheric Concordance is level 62!
Congratulations! You Have Reached Journeyman Tier with Etheric Concordance!
You Gain:
+15% AFI
+15% REI
+15% EVA