As soon as I truly thought about spending my Red Evo point, the OS mechanically chimed into my head. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the mechanical tone that it used to communicate.
[[Dream Stride]
-
Dream Strider
— The sleeping world is yours to travel.
-
Nightmare
— Become that which they fear.
-
Shore Walker
— The realm between wake and sleep calls to you.
[Ebonshroud]
-
Generative
— The world shall drown in flowing ebony.
-
Adaptive
— Ebony shifts to ivory, complexity becomes simplicity.
-
Viral
— Ebonplague spreads with every deadly caress.
[All-Speech]
-
Convincing
— Your voice rolls through heads, persuading whole worlds.
-
Mimicry
— Voices and sounds not your own echo from within.
-
Velvet
— They will stop. They will listen.]
[Nighteye looks on with keen interest. Which Trait are you going to evolve?]
Like that was even a true consideration. Of course I’d be going for Ebonshroud. It was my most comfortable, useful, and powerful Innate Trait. Not evolving it first would be stupid, to be honest.
I listened to the evolutions again, mentally making note of all nine options. Was that… it? Somehow I expected there to be some more variability. Not that it mattered. Aside from All-Speech, the other two Traits had incredibly intriguing evolutions.
And, from what I’d read online, there’d be more chances to evolve it once I went through the ranks. For now, I was on Red Feeble Evos. It supposedly went all the way to Violet S-class Evo Cores, though Evo Cores themselves became rarer and rarer with each rank up.
I though through Dream Stride’s evos first. They were interesting, though Nightmare and Shore Walker were really what caught my eye. Nightmare was probably some kind of greater dream manipulation, if I had to guess? One centered on fear. Shore Walker was up in the air entirely.
The Shore… Realm between waking and sleeping? I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure, but it was likely that weird realm that Nighteye and I woke up in about a week ago. The name was certainly in tune with that surreal space. There were a ton of shorelines on the dozens of islands out beyond the dark fog, separated by the black ocean.
I should do some more research on the Shore when I get the chance. Surely there was something about it in Bastion. Those OuroSec guys that requested me through Overseer Franz might know something. They were some kind of research institute, right? It wouldn't be a bad idea to go check them out.
[Nighteye motions to the Evo.]
Ah, right… How’d I get so distracted? I listened to the three options for Ebonshroud once more. Generative seemed nice. Maybe something to do with how fast my Ebonshroud regenerated? It wasn’t really a problem in the first place though. Ever since the OS chose me as a Warden, my capacity had grown by leaps and bounds. I was closing back in on my peak shape.
Adaptive was interesting. It hit right at a spot I’d been hesitating about recently. I didn't want to fully use Ebonshroud as neither Moon nor Nyx since it’d lock the Trait to that identity. If Adaptive let me change the look and feel of Ebonshroud, though? It’d definitely be the best option.
Finally, there was Viral… I’d literally never heard of Ebonplague. It gave me a really bad feeling though. Plagues… if I took that, wouldn’t I be no better than Inevitable Decay and Twisted Warp? And what if I couldn’t control it? It was just too dangerous without enough information.
Adaptive then, yep? It was definitely the best of the options.
[Code: EC-1-1]
A comforting warmth spread throughout my entire body. It started in my chest, expanding to flow through my blood and skin. No- not my body. It spread through the Ebonshroud hiding within me. Every single bit of it grew and grew in warmth, pushing back the cool chill of the rain.
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[Aylin Io
Innate Trait: [Dream Stride], [Adaptive Ebonshroud], [All-Speech]
Skills: [Etheric Reinforcement-7], [Brace-3], [Guard]
Boon: Nighteye - [Guiding Moonlight]
Bound: [Will Wire], [Thorn’s Defiance]]
I dredged up a glob of Ebonshroud, allowing the dark fluid to flow up through my skin. It turned into a simplistic dagger. Still looked the same? Ah- wait, Ivory, right? Similar to how I shifted the substance to mimic materials like steel and iron, the color slowly shifted from an abyssal black to a glossy white.
Was it Ivorshroud now? I manipulated the rest of my clothes too. From the deep black, my hoodie and jeans turned pure white without even needing to head back home and change. It would make keeping up with Nyx and Moon so much easier, if nothing else…
Ivorshroud though… yep, that might get confusing for me. For centuries it’d just been Ebonshroud. Should probably just stick with that. There wasn’t really a need for all sorts of fancy names in the first place. And if I wanted to be technical about it, I’d call it Adaptive Ebonshroud.
I toyed with the new form of Ebonshroud, making all sorts of white clothes, weapons, tools, and anything I could think of. There was a simple joy in just making stuff to make stuff. Usually I kept to barebones spartan designs due to ease of use. It took a second to make a basic dagger. An ornate one took way longer and needed more focus.
This time around, I took my time and made imitations of my old armor and weaponry from back before. The black gear had been ripped from me when I was originally sucked out of Serhymn. It was nice to see something familiar. I even added the bells that chimed lightly every time a piece swayed. They were a later addition after Creeping Silence
My armor… what were the chances I’d ever be able to find that stuff again? If I could, I wouldn’t have to drink Dew anymore to suppress myself. Speaking of, I could feel it starting to rise up from within. It was about time I drank some more of the golden liquid.
I stood up and fixed my hood to block the rain. White moonlight flowed from my arm down my fingers. It shifted into an ornate dagger with a divine style. I flicked it into the air. Abyssal blood haltingly flowed down my hand, crystallizing into an unnatural looking dagger. I flicked it up, juggling the two. More and more different styles joined, each more over the top then the last.
Guess I didn’t need to keep holding back anymore. Nyx had ebony, Moon would have ivory. It was a bit poetic. I wouldn’t have to worry about using Ebonshroud and exposing myself around other people as long as I stuck to that basic principle.
I should probably keep certain weapons restricted to certain identities too. Bows and daggers were definitely for Moon since I’d already showed them off. Swords were for Nyx. I’d have to try and keep track of all of it, but it shouldn’t be too hard.
Hmm… should I start going all out in rifts? What Kali said earlier stuck with me. I was a representation of Cernobog’s strength. I couldn’t very well appear as just a weak Feeble Warden, now could I? It was time to start collecting Skills, bound items, and hopefully more Evo shards.
Ether Physique was as good of a starting place as anywhere. Ysron Caves… it’d be closed now, but I could get in through Pursius. I’d been reading about Ether Physique online since giving it to Lucia, and there were quite a few things I wanted to test out when it came to the Skill. Especially before I helped her through more rifts.
I caught every dagger and let them sink back into my skin. This was… productive? Probably. I could start raiding rifts after seeing Pursius. I’d collected enough Nytes to make a dent in my debt. That, and I only had one bottle of Dew left.
I headed back for the way down.
— — —
“Nyax!” Pursius cheerfully called in common as soon as I entered his office in Tlacauli. He naturally shifted back to the Miix tongue. “Been sitting in the rain again? Your hair looks absolutely soaked.”
”…” I shrugged my shoulders. Not like I could get sick with common ailments anymore, so it didn’t really matter.
“Hold still.” I felt his telekinesis push at the side of my head lightly. In a mere moment, he wrung out the water in my hair. The globs of water drifted over to the far side of the room and then dropped into an umbrella holder.
“Thanks.” I brushed my now mostly dry hair back behind my ear and fixed my mask.
“You’ll get a cold staying like that.” Pursius sighed and shook his head like a disappointed parent. “Good to see you, though. Feels like it's been forever.”
“…” I nodded my head to the cat. It’d been a couple weeks at least. It was a bit weird since I was used to seeing him at least once a week for a long time there.
“You look good! Less… weighed down?” His tail flicked around. “So? Need a job?”
I flashed my SIGIL at him. “Pay.”
Pursius’s whiskers twitched. ”Ah, I was hoping you’d be here for work… got a job not too long ago. Called for you by name.”
We took care of the payment easily. I ended up giving him all but twenty-five thousand Nytes. It was as easy as transferring them from my white SIGIL to his silver one. Bastions SIGILs sure did make some things easy. Back in the day, I’d have to carry around a bag of gold even to just buy a snack. Now I could flash the complicated array of runes and it’d all be taken care of.
”Job?” I asked Pursius. I was planning on running some more rifts for Skills, but if a job came calling for me by name how could I refuse? It definitely roused my interest, if nothing else.
”Indeed. Looks like you’re starting to get a rep as an Anarch who knows how to get things done.” Pursius jumped off the desk onto my lap. He circled around a few times and then settled down, making himself comfy.
On the far side of the office, a cabinet popped open. A file flew up out of it and floated through the air to my waiting hands. I grabbed it and read through the file while idly stroking the Miix’s furry head.
It was a hit. Specifically, it was a request to attack Bombastic Bowman on the inaugural opening of his action figure collection tomorrow. They didn’t want me to kill the Warden, just embarrass him in front of all his fans. The payout was ten thousand Nytes. They’d even take care of transport and all of that.
”…?” I nodded to the file.
Pursius sighed and sat up, looking down onto it for a moment. “They tried to cover it up. My sources tell me it's one Miss Thariya. She’s supposedly an agent for Obelisk Corporation, but that doesn't mean much given Obelisk’s nature. Could be from anywhere.”
Miss Thariya? That rang a bell. Not a very loud one. No idea where I knew her from, but she definitely wasn’t a stranger. Nighteye, you have any ideas?
[Nighteye shakes her head. She’s only been watching you for so long though, so it could be someone from before.]
Hmm… As far as jobs went, it’d be pretty easy. Not even a true assassination, but embarrassing him? Shouldn’t even be a problem. This Bombastic Bowman, whoever he was, just recently promoted to D-rank. It’d be a fun fight if nothing else. I’d yet to fight a Warden who actually knew what they were doing.
”In.” I closed the file. It was immediately picked up by Pursius’s telekinesis and deposited back in the filing cabinet.
”I’ll set it up. Come here tomorrow morning, and they’ll be waiting for you.” Pursius nodded down to the booming bar below. “You should drop by more often.”
”…” I shook my head. Loud places just weren’t for me. I’d much rather stay home. Besides, I had a feeling I was about to be really busy between rifts and flushing out my Skills.
I ‘hung’ out with Pursius for a while longer. The cat fell asleep on my lap, trapping me in his office. It wasn’t until Francis walked in that I was freed and allowed to head home for the night. The entire way home, my mind kept drifting to the request.
Bombastic Bowman… he sounded familiar. I couldn’t quite place where though… whatever, it’d probably come to me later. He must’ve not been all that important if I couldn’t even remember where I knew him from.
[Nigheye takes this opportunity to flex her knowledge. The kids call guys like him side characters.]
Bad, Nighteye, bad! Did I need to get the spray bottle? How many times did I have to tell you to keep off the Grid? It’d do nothing except rot your brain, and you don’t have very much of that left… Besides, I already knew all the slang I needed.
[Nighteye’s ears pull back in irritation. She was just trying to help you achieve the true sigma mindset.]
I- I felt sick.