Chương 38: We Made You - Eminem (4:29)

Z3ke (Original Poster) Hey everyone. I wanted to pop in and give you all an update before I more or less vanish for a couple days. I'm still with the caravan, traveling around, and it looks like I'll be with them for some time. Between skirting around the Valley of Echoes and now deliberately veering north to try and avoid a storm rolling in, our eta to The MIZ has grown unexpectedly. From the sound of it, the storm we're trying to avoid is pretty bad.

The caravan is detouring to do some trade with a few towns and then will swing back around and hit up The MIZ. Expect a couple extra days of travel. I've spent the last few days getting to know everyone that I'm traveling with. This caravan seems like a bunch of randoms that have been scooped up and pressed into something that functions kind of like a collective. The group is run by this rough-looking guy named Malcolm. He's an older dude who has the super power of having seen everything in the Deadlands. Twice.

He's kinda like Corva except, you know, not murderous. Officially, Malcolm is the leader of the caravan and whatever he says goes. But really it's his wife who is in charge. He's the muscle and she's the brain. She's the one who decides where the caravan goes, where it stops, and what it carries. There's a collection of weirdos in this caravan. A bunch of workers, some magic users, and a few people who are really just along for the ride.

They recently lost three of their security people and that's why Wren, Cole and I were able to join. It wasn't due to violence or betrayal or anything dramatic like that. The three guards just decided to split off at the last stop. Apparently their plan is to set up a protection business for caravans that make the runs between these three towns out in the Deadlands. From what Wren says, that kind of setup can be pretty lucrative for security personnel.

Maribel is the healer for the caravan and she looks after everyone's well-being. I introduced her in my last update. She was the one who was disappointed in my poor bandaging skills. Her and Cole do not get along with each other. At all. Maribel uses restoration magic, but she's completely self-taught. Never went to an academy and instead learned everything she knows from her family's caravan.

I was talking with her and she told me about how her parents ran a trade caravan through the Deadlands a couple years back, but that they retired and she never wanted to set up her own company so she just signed on with the best group she could find. All those years of working with her parents let her pick up a few things from wandering clerics and priests and other healers. That's how she knows so much about restoration magic and first aid. Cole hates that. Well… hate might be too strong of a word there.

It's more like it offends him on a philosophical level. He's very much of the opinion that if a mage didn't spend years studying at an academy, then they don't get to call themselves a proper magic user. A decent chunk of my day is spent listening to the two of them complain about each other. And before you all go jumping to conclusions and thinking that they're suddenly going to start dating and Cole is gonna join the caravan and they'll have a bunch of kids… nope. Not gonna happen.

They can barely stand being in the same car as each other. It's not sexual tension that is keeping them at each other's throat. It's just a regular, garden-variety mutual irritation. There's one other magic user who is traveling with us and he's… odd. He's the reason that we're heading north to try and dodge the storm chasing us. Yesterday, when the caravan stopped for lunch, he headed over to Malcolm and his wife and spoke with them for a couple minutes.

The next thing I knew the caravan was pointed north and we were back at it, trying to outrun a storm that the guy said was headed our way. I think that he can read the wind? Or the vibes or the weather? I honestly have no clue how it works. I tried talking to him about how he uses magic but it was like trying to talk with a hippie version of Cole. The guy kept talking about mana flow and the emotions of the mana and the "vibes" of the magic, and he kept adding a bunch of tangents about completely unrelated topics.

After talking with him for about an hour, I was no closer to understanding how his magic works. I do know that Malcolm and his wife trust him when it comes to weather, and that he's a pretty big boon to a caravan operating out in the Deadlands. This next part might come out a little weird. I'm not even sure if I fully understand what I'm trying to say yet.

I'm kinda treating this like a journal entry, so bear with my while I vomit a bunch of half-formed thoughts onto the page and hope that someone on the forum can help me make sense of all this later. I think I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that I'm stuck in this world. At least for now. For the past month(?) I've been in survival mode. I've been running around and getting in dangerous situations and been in way more fights here than I ever got into in my previous life.

It's all been incredibly stressful. I went from running from a gun-wielding lunatic, to running from the Eaters, to sprinting across the desert with no water, to landing in a city where I had no money and no clue where my next meal was coming from. Then I left that city and headed into the Deadlands with a group of people who, in the very short time I've known them, have been pretty decent and friendly. And then it was the echoes and the bone mountain and Corva turning murderous and trying to kill everyone.

What I'm trying to say is that I haven't really had time to process anything that has happened to me. Everything since I got dropped into this world has demanded that I keep sprinting full speed ahead just to stay alive. There was no pause or a moment to sit down and try and unpack everything. It was always just run, hide, fight, flee, repeat. Now I'm on this caravan, sitting around with nothing to do but try and heal up and stare out at the Deadlands rolling past. The only thing around is miles of broken land.

All that's expected of me is to keep an eye out for anything dangerous that might try and attack the caravan, but there are plenty of people doing that. I've finally got some space to breathe and think things over. I've realized that I need to make some kind of peace with all that's happened to me. I don't understand this world. I don't know the lore or the canon or the history or anything. It's all so freakishly dangerous in ways that I don't quite understand.

I mean, the worse I had to deal with in Brooklyn were people doing the druggy lean. Here, I've got undead soldiers trying to slash me to ribbons. But I've realized that panicking nonstop isn't going to help me. So I've decided to try and focus on the good parts of this world instead of just the pants-shittingly terrifying ones. For starters, magic is real here. I mean, everyone grows up wishing magic was real, right? I can't throw fireballs and I can't lift things with my mind, but I've got a class now.

And you guys keep telling me that once my skills get past a certain point, things are going to get weird in a magical way. That's not something that was ever going to happen to me back in New York. Back home, right now, I'd be bouncing between the same two bodegas on my street. I'd be heading to work or maybe grabbing a drink at a bar and half-heartedly trying to make conversation with someone before heading home and doing it all again tomorrow. It would have been predictable and familiar.

Don't get me wrong, I still want all that. I still want to go home. That hasn't changed. But while I'm stuck here and I'm working towards that goal… I don't know. I'm just saying that something in me has eased off the panic button. I'm still scared about everything here, but it's a little bit quieter now. My fear is a little bit more manageable. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've calmed down a little. I'm not okay with being stuck in this world, but I'm more okay than I was.

I'm a little more open to the idea that there might be experiences here worth having, even if I never asked for any of this in the first place. So that's what's going on with me right now. I'm mostly just trying to recover and not get in anyone's way. My arm is technically all healed up, but at the same time it's pretty obviously still a mess. When I woke up this morning my arm was all sorts of stiff and sore and angry.

Marible spent about thirty minutes lecturing me over breakfast, telling me how I need to start sleeping on my back and not on my side or else my shoulder will never heal. I'm out of the cast, but every time I try to use my arm there's a deep, nagging pain that tells me to stop. I'd rather not test how far I can push myself right now, so instead I'm just going to take it easy. Because of that, I'm not really in the right headspace to keep up with the forum while I try to recover.

I'm going to go quiet for a few days. I'll still read the forum and check back in now and then, but I probably won't be responding much, if at all. That said, I'm leaving you all with homework. First, can someone explain why some of my skills don't have ranks next to them? When I open my skill list, there's a bunch of skills with rank 1 or 2 next to them, but all my class skills have nothing. They don't have any ranks or descriptions or anything like that. So what's up with that?

Second, can you all figure out what the hell the Persona skill is supposed to do? Performance and Instrument Mastery are both pretty self-explanatory. I'm not exactly thrilled that those are my class skills as I'd much rather have Fireball or Death Ray or something like that. But whatever. I'm stuck with what I've got, and I need to know what that Persona skill can do for me.

Some of you have asked about the Rockstar class and how I earned it, with a few of you questioning whether I secretly wanted to be a musician and that's why the system gave me this class. That's a big no. I never wanted to be a musician. I played the trumpet in the fifth grade band because everyone had to choose an instrument and that felt like the easiest one. But I never learned how to actually purse my lips to play the damn thing, and that's the skill you need for trumpet.

I also played the drums in eighth grade because band was one of the easiest electives, but I wasn't any good at it. I doubt that I can even keep time anymore. Sure, I like listening to music as much as the next guy, but I never thought of it as a career. We'd occasionally have a guy come into the bar and set up off to the side and play bad acoustic versions of songs that were popular twenty years ago. I never looked at the man and thought "I sure wish I could do his job."

I'm terrible at singing, I can't play a single note on the guitar, and I'm nervous about trying to grind Instrument Mastery because I know that I'm just going to fall flat on my face. So… yea, if you guys could figure all that out for me that would be great. I'll check back in after I've had some time to heal and the caravan is a bit closer to The MIZ. StoryLeech You're giving us homework? HA. Love it. MushroomCleric Sorry Zeke, but we don't really know anything concrete about the Persona skill.

Venerated pointed it out earlier that the Rockstar class was cut content. Whatever framework was built for the class never made it into the final product of Shards. The few scraps that we do have are vague at best. We can make some educated guesses, but that's all they'll be: guesses. Persona is probably a bard related skill like the other two class skills you picked up. Performance levels when you perform. Instrument Mastery levels when you play an instrument. All that is easy enough to understand.

Person is probably a people skill of some kind. Maybe it's similar to persuasion or it deals with crowd presence or an influence of some kind. My best guess is that it will only work when you're around other people. Once you get back to The MIZ, you should find a public space with a bunch of people and just interact with everyone. Do some experiments and jot down what happens. Talk to people, grandstand, argue. Things like that. If we can figure out what levels Persona, we can go from there. SpicyShoyu HAAAAA.

The collective wisdom of this forum can be distilled down to just go poke it with a stick and see what happens. Zeke is so unbelievably screwed. PuffPuffKeep Yea… nope. I'm out. I was already on the fence with this fic, but killing Corva off is where I tap out. He is literally the reason that I fell in love with the Fracture games in the first place. I'm not interested in watching Zeke dismantle one of my favorite NPCs just for the sake of "subverting expectations."

I'll check back in a few months and see if this fic course corrects, but for now I'm done. AshenRook Samesies. I'm not sitting around offering build advice to a guy who just iced one of the most important characters in the entire setting. At this point it feels like Zeke is just daring people to stick around and keep reading. I'd rather bow out now than hate-read every update. Reyiris Corva is probably not dead. Shootingblnks Oh, Rey. That's the grief talking. I've got a pamphlet somewhere if you want it.

It'll help guide you through all the stages that you're no doubt feeling. Right now, you're in the denial stage.

"What if it was a fake-out?"

"What if he comes back?"

"What if he's not really dead?" Nope. He's dead. Zeke killed him. Then he killed him again. It sucks, but pretending otherwise doesn't help the healing process. MushroomCleric Man, this thread is giving me deja vu. Do you remember how ugly things got during the House of Seasons arc? People were bitching and moaning and complaining that Zeke went through the House without killing the Blooming Witch. I'll admit that I was one of those people. Everyone and their mothers were furious that Zeke was breaking the lore.

They were writing essays about how he was bending canon and ruining the games. People were rage-quitting left and right. Then what happened? This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. We found out that there was an optional non-violent path through the House that unlocked dimensional storage for your character. Zeke was uncovering something that the rest of us had missed. So what if this is that again?

Zeke pisses us off, someone on the forum starts poking around about Corva, and we find out that Zeke just dropped more lore that he discovered but he's making us work for it first. 10161066 I'm actually with Rey on this. Yes, Corva was killed by Wren. That part's undeniable. But then what happened? He came back using Pell's body and immediately tried to kill everyone again. Cole burned him to a crisp and then when they looted the body they found all those ankhs.

If Corva can jump bodies by anchoring himself to people through those ankhs, why would Zeke be the only one he prepared? If I had a get-out-of-death-free system like that, I'd be handing those things out like candy. UnhelpfullyHelpful | I'd be handing those things out like candy. | You're thinking too small. I'd turn it into a business. Hand-carved "good-luck" charms. Five bucks a pop. Wear it close to the skin and see your problems melt away. Very authentic. Very spiritual. I get paid AND I'm immortal.

Capitalism, baby. CradleOfMirth Selling people the privilege of being your future meat puppet is some next-level villain shit. 10161066 Devious but smart. Think about it. Would Corva really head into the Deadlands without a backup anchor somewhere safe? If I was him, I'd absolutely have planted an ankh on some random shopkeeper back in The MIZ. It's insurance when you're headed out into danger.

Zeke might have been the preferred option for a new body - dimensional storage, proximity, and usefulness - but once he was killed twice and couldn't get to Zeke, he could have just jumped to a different target. anonymous_S Wouldn't a way to confirm this be to play Frontiers and be under Corva's mentorship and DON'T take a class for a while and see? TwoGirlsOneCuphead Yea, basically. Do a classless run. Let Corva do whatever he's going to do. Don't interfere, just observe.

If Corva behaves differently when the PC has no class, that would be huge. MapHackJunkie Ughhh… I hate how good an idea that is because it's also a nightmare to prove. In basically every Fracture-verse game you're shoved into a class almost immediately. Even speedrunners grab something just to survive. Staying classless is a pretty shit way to play any of the games. There is one exception to that though, and it would be the perfect game to test Corva's whole animancy schtick. Syndicate's Wake.

Corva dies at the end of one of the raids in that game and there's no way to stop it. It's the only game where his arc completely closes off. If there is any version of Corva where weird classless interactions would matter, it would be that one. Dood died at the end of a raid off-screen. But the problem is two fold. First, I don't think anyone ever tried to do that raid classless, because why would you? And second, we can't really replay Syndicates, can we?

If the devs wanted to hide the mechanic where Corva could only jump to a classless character, that'd be the way to do it. Put it in Syndicate's where nobody would think to activate the mechanic. PatchNoteLarry Too bad Syndicate's is dead dead. You pointed it out yourself. The servers are all offline and have been for years. There's no official support for it anymore. Unless someone recorded a full classless run back in the day, we're never going to know the answer to it. PixelBaron Okay, but hear me out.

People recorded everything. If there's any chance that someone did a classless run of Syndicate's, there's got to be a forum post about it. Or there's a half-forgotten Let's Play on Youtube. Or there's some channel where someone was recording in 240p and it'll give us some clues. If Zeke is pointing at Corva and saying that something weird is going on here, this is exactly the kind of digging that we should be doing. OldManKiyote And just like that, we're back to where we started.

Half the forum is furious and ready to quit reading the fic. The other half is digging through decades-old archives looking for clues. Say what you will about this story, but Zeke's got us all invested. VoidWyrm69 I'm less angry about the Corva and more interested in the Rockstar class he got. The whole thing feels… unplanned. A lot of us thought that he was laying the groundwork for an Archaeologist or Historian-type class. The signs were everywhere.

Ruins, expeditions, puzzles, lore dives, Cole monologuing about the Three-Crown Crisis, Corva teaching him how to run an expedition. There was a clear throughline there. Then out of nowhere he gets the Rockstar class. I'm not saying the class is bad on principle. I'm just saying that it feels like the setup in the story didn't match the payoff. LuckyKp Same. I was expecting an unexpected class, but Rockstar was still surprising haha. It doesn't seem to vibe with any of his actions so far. StoryLeech I don't know.

Zeke's first class offer was Bartender, back when he was on the train. That's a social class too. If Venerated is right and Rockstar is just a bigger, badder version of bard, then it fits the same niche that Zeke filled when he came into this world. It's a social class that is all about interactions and presence. Sure, he didn't exactly get the class that we all thought he would. And he didn't get his class by fighting monsters or exploring ruins.

But I don't think that the Rockstar class is as much a deviation as everyone is making it out to be. He was obviously not going to be doing a lot of combat, no matter what all the combat goblins on here are trying to push him to. So he had to have his character get a utility or support class. I think it fits him and the story that he's trying to tell. OldRailSwitch I don't think people are angry at the class. It was the way it was revealed. We all understood why he was offered the Bartender class.

He was a bartender. He told us that at the beginning of the story. It's obvious that it would be the first class offered to him when he gets isekai'd into this world. What's weird is the Rockstar class being offered. It feels off. It's like he had a plan for how he wanted his OC to grow, but he didn't lay enough track to get him there. I'm still enjoying the fic and I'm not like the others who are complaining and threatening to leave.

I'm especially interested if he's going to drop more House of the Seasons-tier lore. But yet. The class reveal could have been foreshadowed better. JimothyTheBarber You guys keep forgetting what Corva told him back before they entered the Valley of Echoes. They were all hanging around the campfire and Corva explained how he got his Drifter class, and he straight-up told Zeke that there were two ways to get a class.

Option one is to do what you've always done until the system notices you and rewards you with a class. That's how it works for most people. That's how Corva became a Drifter. Option two was through storybook nonsense. I think Corva said something along the lines of the heroes in those adventure novels always getting their classes thrown at them after big moments, and that fate puts a finger on the scale. Bartender was Zeke's option one. Rockstar is clearly Zeke's option two. NullSigil (PRIMARY) Hmm, yes.

The "storybook nonsense" clause. I love it. Zeke tossed that in specifically to explain moments like this. He hit a big, dramatic, emotionally charged breaking point where the system stopped caring about logic and previous actions, and instead started to focus on narrative weight. I LOVE IT. He declared himself a Rockstar in a dramatic moment of defiance, staring death in the face and screaming his rage at the universe. That's storybook nonsense. Chef's kiss. JimothyTheBarber I…

I genuinely can't tell if you're mocking the story or praising it. NullSigil (PRIMARY) The written word is a fragile medium. SeasonalWitnessing Say what you will, everyone's frustration with the class makes sense. We all thought that Zeke would pick up an Archaeologist class because he was training us for that outcome. He spent time digging through a bunch of old stuff, solving puzzles, and even grabbed a skill that felt like a foundation for that class path.

So when the class reveal didn't align with all that theorizing, people are understandably going to feel a little whiplash. CrushDaddyXx Everyone's arguing about labels and I'm over here thinking about outcomes. Rockstar is going to be a badass class, you all just don't see it yet. I've got a plan for when I'm primary. Still working it out. If you all want to help, start tossing out ideas for what Zeke can do once he's back at The MIZ. Things like shopping for armor and weapons. Nothing huge. I'm still cooking. LET.

HIM. COOK. JimothyTheBarber You can't "let him cook" yourself. That's not how that works. NullSigil (PRIMARY) LET HIM COOK! CrushDaddyXx Thanks Null. Solidarity. AnywayHere'sWonderwall The best thing for him is to get some armor. But what kind of armor would a Rockstar use? Shootingblnks shrugs Leather jacket and jeans? Zekes Can we rewind a bit and ask an important question: what the actual fuck is happening in the Glens?

The Eaters clearly don't need physical sustenance, they effectively feed on the essence of a soul. But then, just how much weight does it give a being that has consumed so much of it? I think the Barter Drain was the dev's warning to the people to ignore the Glens as unimportant at their own peril. They certainly considered it relevant to insert it into games more than once while keeping its mechanics intact. If that's not a warning sign, I don't know what is.

Z3ke (Original Poster) Yea, jumping in real quick because I just found my tablet. Accidentally left it in one of the cars like an idiot and came back to all of this. I only read Crush's reply and I've got some things to say. First, I'm not heading back out to the Glens. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, then lost the t-shirt while running screaming from the nightmares that were chasing me. I have no intention of ever revisiting the Glens ever again. Hard no from me.

Second, Crush, just setting expectations now so that you can't say that I'm blindsiding you later. I'm not going to go combat heavy when I get back to The MIZ. I know that's what you're really hoping for in this story, but I'm not signing up for anything that gets me killed. I'm still trying to heal from the last fight I got in, and I'm not interested in running into another one. Consider whatever you are going to suggest as pre-vetoed. Alright, I'm going back to healing and ignoring you all again.

ShivSays Oh Zeke… that's what we call foreshadowing. Don't you know that you're going to HAVE to revisit the Glens now? Something is definitely going to drag you kicking and screaming back there. BrokenKing42 Ooof, Zeke. I'm one of the people who complained when the first half of your fic was just you going around moping about getting stuck in the world. Now that you're actually fighting and throwing hands, you've got my attention. Don't lose it just by huddling down in The MIZ, afraid of your own shadow.

You've come a long way from the guy who was whining about fighting bandits. But you still got a ways to go. Head out there and punch some more faces. It's what people want in fanfics. HonoredBibliophile I'm happy that Zeke is a normal guy, and it's completely fair to be angry at what happened and freak out about killing a couple guys. It would be unsettling if he reacted differently, and unfair to expect him to just get used to all this. Unfortunately, if he doesn't start reacting differently, he's going to die.

No hyperbole and no exaggeration, he will die soon unless he starts accepting Fracture-verse norms. It's cruel and unfair to expect him to just change like that, but the entire universe he's in is unfair and cruel. He's already adapting well, and just needs more experience. Ch3micalBurst93 Since Zeke is asking for some ideas and Crush is allegedly "cooking," I'm going to throw out what I think the next arc should be for Zeke. The Janus Storm. Think about it.

Dood heads out into that massive roaming storm out in the Deadlands and tries his luck at it? That would make for great content. CinderAtlas Oooo. Seconding this. That's one of the few spots in the Deadlands that might be REALLY useful for Zeke. I remember farming the thing back in Syndicate's and it gave you big spikes to your skills. It's dangerous, sure, but it's more of a structured danger and less of a nightmarish danger like what Zeke got with the Valley of Echoes.

Plus, the old man is at the center of the Janus Storm. I think the devs were going to tie him into a future update for Syndicate's but just never got around to it before everything went poof. I'd be interested to see where Zeke takes the story with him in it. MothInAmber I kind of like it. Zeke did say he didn't want to go very combat heavy for the next couple chapters, and the Janus Storm isn't really about combat. It more rewards endurance and adaptability.

And I also agree that it would be interesting to see what Zeke makes of the old man. K1LLPR1EST No. Why send him into the storm? That would be so boring. Instead, he needs more excitement in the fic to earn back the audience he lost with the whole Corva thing. I know that Zeke said he's not ever heading back to the Glens and the Eaters, and I respect the decision, but let me pitch an idea. Zeke heads back to the Glens and deals with the Eaters. It would make such a great arc. The Eaters are Zeke's original trauma.

They're the monsters that broke him first and the things that taught him that the Fracture-verse isn't fair or safe. They're such a great possible villain, but all we got from them was a creepy scene in a church and then a chase through the words and the story just moved on. We learned almost nothing about them. We don't know what they are, why they exist, or what they're doing out in the Glens.

Now that Zeke has a class and some weapons and a little bit more understanding of this world, why wouldn't he go back and confront that? DataDatum Narratively, that would be an interesting arc. He doesn't even need to go and confront the Eaters. He could just go and do some investigation of the surrounding area. OOO, what if sound hurts the Eaters? Zeke wiped out those echoes through his voice powers.

If he can figure out how to manifest that skill at will, he could probably wipe out the Eaters AND get a better understanding of who and what they are. ShivSays Watch the next arc be both. He heads into the Janus Storm to earn himself some confidence and skills and unlock more of his magic. Then, when he's a little bit stronger and more geared out, something pulls him back towards the Glens. You don't introduce the Eaters into a fanfic and never circle back to them. SoftLocked Everyone take a breath.

We're doing that thing where we zoom the camera all the way out and talk about endgame stuff. That's fun, to think about where Zeke should take the story, but that's also the job of the PRIMARY. Right now, the primary is Null and he'll be passing it off to Crush (god help us all) once Zeke gets back to The MIZ. Zeke is going to limp back into the city with a half-baked class he doesn't understand, zero defensive gear, and no idea what to do.

Let's focus on the small things he needs to do in the city before we start arguing about the bigger things that the primary would suggest for him. Small picture practical stuff. TinyTRexArms First thing he should do is get some armor. He's been running around in his El Pedro's shirt for ages, and that thing that burned off him. Zeke, if you're reading this later there are some stores you want to check out. Grey Nine Outfitters - these guys have a lot of used gear.

It's not flashy, but it's cheap and it'll protect you. Sable Row - this place has a bunch of leather armor with buffs to charisma-like skills. Some of their coats give minor Presence modifiers, which might play nice with your Rockstar skills. StreetlightOracle Also food and lodging. You can head back to Patch and chat with him, he might like that you got a class. But you probably don't want to spend all your money at the Roaring Drake. Find a cheap place that has just four walls and a roof.

OR you can head to the Cinderwalk because that part of The MIZ has a bunch of musicians and bards and bartenders hanging out there. It might help you with your Presence and Persona stuff. Maybe they know what the Persona skill does. ChairmanMeow Hey Zeke, does this look familiar? <solaris. stone. jpeg> You talked about getting some loot out in the Valley of Echoes. There was the compass, the gauntlet, and that stone that Cole didn't recognize. MushroomCleric OH SHIT.

That's a Solaris Vaultstone Hey Zeke, if that's what you all found in the Valley, that's a good item. It's kinda like a magic battery. Somewhat. It stores a bunch of energy that you feed into it and then stabilizes that energy without letting it decay. Over time, it can grow more efficient at holding larger and larger charges. In weapon form that means you could dump a bunch of energy into it, let it sit, and then release it later as a focused output. Think of it kinda like a.. wind-up punch. Or something similar.

Try and get Cole to part with it as payment. Call it "hazard compensation" or "please don't tell anyone that I hired an immortal body-snatcher hush payment." If you can get that and socket it into a weapon frame or something, that would be awesome. The longer you carry it, the more it charges passively. A weapon that grows in power as long as you don't spam it is exactly the kind of thing that would synergize well with a non-combat class. SoftLocked See. This is exactly what we should be talking about. Armor.

Shelter. Gear. Tools. Zeke doesn't need answers to the universe right now. He doesn't need us complaining about not liking the class he chose for his OC. He needs a shirt that isn't burnt to a crisp and a weird glowing rock that turns stored energy into something dangerous. Let Crush handle the big picture when Zeke gets back to The MIZ. Right now, let's just spitball ideas on what would best help Zeke.