Chương 47: The New and the Familiar [2/2]

A lot had changed. New and consolidating titles, this new psionic Attunement that seemed to have been swallowed by her Primordial Psion trait, much like the 'Alignment' essence that would've made up an Alignment Affinity. Okay, so apparently she'd demonstrated soul abilities? She queried the Guide. [You have successfully modified a soul construct, stabilised and reconstructed a dissipating soul, and achieved Attunement before Tier 1.] Apparently that was enough for her to receive stats at Soul Milestones.

Scarlet shook her head and queried again. [Major Soul Milestones are measured through qualitative advancements including crossing the minimum Stat threshold and progressing in Tier.] Well that was kind of vague. Did that mean when all her actual stats reached a minimum of 10 for Tier 0, or 25 in Tier 1? So, she'd automatically gain +1 to both her Stats and her Potential Stats every time she advanced a Tier +2 if she managed to cross the minimum threshold prior to advancement?

Did this mean she should at least try for Stat Saturation in each Tier? The time commitment would be monstrous considering it was exponentially more difficult to go from something like 50 to 51 in a Stat vs 10 to 11. At least according to some of the information she prised out of the Historian. Considering she'd already managed to raise all her stats to at least ten during her forcible stat increases in the Pool, she wondered if she'd receive another +1 when she reached full stat saturation.

Was it even possible to go beyond 25 in Tier 0? Was it safe? Physical development was meant to be gradual. Limits were limits for a reason. All she needed to do was remember her time in the Pool. Forcibly pushing her physical development had been accompanied by bleeding from every orifice, blinding headaches, and agonising muscle pain she'd somehow ignored during their flight from the Pools.

She didn't doubt pushing her other stats like that would result in similar unpleasantness, and potential damage she had no clue how to even quantify. Then again, Soulsmith was just one example of how pushing past one's perceived limits might pay off. The Trait was recognised both due to her achieving Attunement and for managing Maus's reconstitution and transformation. Then there was Maus himself. Her little buddy was a Familiar now.

He'd undergone so many changes, and not all of them cosmetic, she thought as she pulled up his stat sheet. Name: Maus Species: Spatial Mouse Classification: Familiar Bonded: Scarlet Bourne Level: 9 Tier: 0 Titles: First Bonded: First individual post-integration to form a System-recognized bond. Increased growth rate. Increased potential. First Familiar: First individual post-integration to become a System Recognised Familiar. +1 to All stats. Increased growth potential.

Traits: Familiar: You are a Familiar bonded to Scarlet Bourne. Your growth and capacity are inextricably linked to your bond. Your soul develops in tandem All FS converted into accelerated development and reduced developmental strain on the bond. Familiar Revival: If the Familiar dies, their form dissipates and reforms within the bonded partner's soul space. They will be available for physical reconstitution after cooldown. (Current Cooldown: 3 days).

Bonded partner can expend their own growth potential or soul essence to speed up the cooldown (FS). This Trait has growth potential. Soul Affinity: You are now more attuned to soul resonance and soul phenomena. You are able to more easily influence soul structures and soul phenomena. This trait has growth potential.

Stats: Strength: 8 -> 9 Dexterity: 9 -> 10 Vitality: 7 -> 8 Perception: 9 -> 10 Intelligence: 8 -> 9 Willpower: 6 -> 7 Mana: 10 -> 11 Skills: Blink (T2) Echo (T2): Passive | Active: Resonant feedback and attack. This Skill has Growth Potential. Passive: Perceive the natural echoes produced by nearby spatial, temporal, and spiritual phenomena. Heightened awareness of the surrounding environment. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Effective Range: 5 meters Active: Emit a resonant pulse. Designated targets suffer Spatial Disruption and may additionally suffer Soul Disruption. Effects vary according to the relative strength of the target(s). Cooldown: 15 minutes Entities possessing sufficient power, or those with Spatio-Temporal or Soul-related sensitivities may detect the Skill and are less susceptible (or immune) to its effects. Resonant Bite (T1): Active. A close-range attack.

Damage inflicted is moderately increased against non-vital areas. Damage inflicted is significantly increased against vital areas. Successful attacks have a chance to inflict Spatial Disruption. Successful attacks have a chance to inflict Soul Disruption. This Skill has Growth Potential. Scarlet had believed Maus becoming a Familiar would be the most shocking change to his stat sheet, instead it was the fact that he no longer had any FS or SPL. It appeared the nature of the bond changed his development.

Not only were his growth and existence now more intrinsically linked to her own, but she was essentially 'carrying' the burden of his development. The more robust her own soul, the more capacity it had, and the stronger Maus could become. What fascinated her even more was the bit about expending 'soul essence' or 'growth potential' to revive him more quickly.

If she wasn't mistaken, she could either strip away some of her own potential, essentially shrink her own current capacity, chip away at her soul and feed that to the bond. For a less agonising and horrific option she had a feeling she could also funnel Free Stats into the bond to bring him back more quickly. All these changes due to this new classification. Familiar.

[Familiar: A soul-bound lifeform whose growth is intrinsically linked to your own and whose existence is anchored to another through a stable Familiar Bond.] [Familiar Bond: A soul structure connecting two independent beings where the Familiar's soul is inextricably linked to and reliant upon the soul of another. The bond acts as a conduit for communication, instinct, emotion, and the exchange of compatible energies. Damage to the bond may affect either partner. As both partners develop, the bond may evolve.] While she'd instinctively known her bond with Maus had something to do with the soul, the same couldn't be said for her psionic Affinity, now Attunement. She just wished she knew more. This whole Affinity, Attunement, Embodiment thing she'd been hearing about seemed like one of the most important aspects of growth, yet the information was guarded so jealously. As though hearing her thoughts, Scarlet opened the Rewards window to see the following: [Your Effort has been recognised!] [Early Attunement: Due to an anomalous constitution, a unique combination of ability and willpower, and an improbable confluence of events, you have not only manipulated complex soul structures using your Affinity, but have turned that Affinity into an Attunement before Tier 1.] [You have received System rewards] [View Contents] [Retrieve Contents] [View Contents] [You have been rewarded: sSC: 10 Knowledge Tome: Affinity and Me Skill book: Energy Manipulation] Scarlet wanted to smile but managed to hold herself back. She was beginning to suspect the System tailored its rewards to the individual. It was clearly paying attention to her actions, everyone's actions, and adjusting accordingly.

That or there was some sort of automated monitoring process happening in the background, measuring actions, calculating achievements and distributing rewards based on some elaborate protocol. Why was the System rewarding development? It was tacit encouragement to progress, and not just in combat. It did her little good to speculate past that, or try to guess the motives of such an entity. Looking back at the rewards, she decided she didn't want to use the Skillbook.

If she wasn't mistaken, she'd be able to earn the Skill herself, given time and effort, and probably a little bit of external pressure. Perhaps from whatever horrors surely awaited her in the 'Sunken Land'. She didn't want to gain the skill 'artificially'. She wasn't sure exactly what the drawback were, but better none, than some. She was also betting the Skillbook would sell for a good price. She could sell it to the Historian, but Tareth had soured her to that faction, or at least that Subsection of it.

Besides, this would be an excellent excuse to try make contact with some of the other factions while she was here. Figure out just how much a regular credit was worth, let alone a Superior System one. Gather new information, crossreference it with what she'd been told by the Historian, hopefully try out some of her softer Skills and skills. Investigation was her bread and butter afterall. The Tome, however, she would use. She didn't want to remove it from whatever dimension System rewards were stored in.

While Inspect might give her more information about the object, and the info-layer perhaps a unique perspective on the function of Tomes themselves, she didn't want to expose the book at all if she could help it, nor expose her gains. She had a theory about the Historian, and why someone so powerful was willing to help her to the point of ignoring a faction-wide detainment order and, in doing so, tacitly endorsing her destruction of a natural treasure.

If she was correct, this Affinity and Me might give her the information she needed. Scarlet was therefore delighted to discover that Tomes didn't need to be 'retrieved' as physical objects in order to be used. Her intention to consume the Tome was immediately recognised by the System and facilitated by the Interface. A cascade of information flooded into her mind, and she wondered briefly if this was how computers felt during a download or transfer of data.

Once the deluge was over, Scarlet allowed herself to smile.

'Boss, happy?' Maus asked, paddling closer toward her in the bathing pool.

'Yeah, buddy,' she replied. She was pretty sure she'd just found her leverage. Library or no, she'd get her answers.