Chương 124: Arc 2 - Chapter 66

Fritz looked over his offerings with brow furrowed. Water dripped from his willow branches and he decided to take his contemplations to his pavilion. Out of the rain and under the silvery-grey wood he sat by the bright, moonsilver brazier, its eldritch flame still burning. The blue-green fire flickered and crackled, the hateful light glared and cast twisting shadows where it couldn't reach. He leaned back in his chair and thought about what he should do.

From his previous experience, he knew the Awards and Seed were granted after he chose his Trait and Evolution. Idly he wondered what would happen if he simply didn't choose and left instead. Would the Spire stop him or would it simply not grant him the golden Seed and Chest? He shook his head, that didn't matter, there was no way he could simply not pick his Powers, not when the energy burned so coldly in his chest. He considered then what he needed, what trials he would face outside.

He had a feeling it may be some time before he would climb the Rain Spire. It wouldn't be a sprint from one Spire to the other like they had done previously. Start with the Evolution, he told himself. That was the choice that would narrow the path ahead of him the least. He hadn't found as much use for Illusory Shadow in this Spire, though it had come in handy here and there.

Fritz considered why it hadn't been as useful as many of his other Abilities as he looked over the changes offered and summarised their benefits. Adhesive gloom would let the shadow stick to a foe or perhaps something they carried which he knew would make it more effective against a swift opponent, or in a running battle.

Long Night and Vast Dark made the illusory darkness last longer or cover more area, increasing it threefold, which just made it better at what it already did and not nearly as exciting as the first choice. Fritz suspected that it was both the cost and the static nature of Illusory Shadow that made it less flexible than he would like, and so it was that Adhesive gloom appealed most to him.

Even if it did add more cost than the other two choices, the power to cover a foe's face in sticking shadow for a whole nine seconds could be invaluable. That, and the fact that Vast Dark had appeared in his evolutions a second time meant he was likely to be offered either it or Long Night again. Now if suppress sound was a choice, like it had been the first time the Ability evolved, it might have been a harder decision to make, but he was confident in selecting Adhesive Gloom. He chose.

The freezing energy within his centre shifted, the bolts of power in the clouds flowed down and into his willow. The dark leaves on the shadowy branches took on an odd sheen, their edges seeming to grow small tendrils of clinging shade. It wasn't an aesthetically pleasing change, but it was one Fritz could live with, as he suspected that, with the growing of his shadow powers, there was likely worse to come.

It was time for his next choice, this one looking to be far more important, the last of his Traits and one that would likely shape the rest of his life as a Climber, and as a person. First was the offering of a Strain, the Merforlk Strain which would elevate him in the eyes of the nobility and grant him some other benefits such as being able to live underwater comfortably.

That's not to even mention the Activation of Essence of Water and Durability, which were useful Advanced attributes in their own right, especially Durability. There were even more advantages, Fritz knew from his lessons that a Strain wouldn't take up a Trait Channel which would leave him at two Traits out of three. The Merfolk Strain was powerful, it would let him gain another Trait sometime in the future, when he reached level thirty. If he reached level thirty. But there were the downsides.

A Strain could never be removed; only advanced, and he was unsure that this one was suited to him. Essence of Water, while a boon to any water mage, would be wasted on him and he could easily get by underwater with potions, greases or Treasures. Then there was the thing that caused him the most concern. At the bottom of the Influence clauses was the line "Influenced by Authority".

Those particular glyphs were strangely faded, translucent, and had a slight hum that gave him the impression that they were meant to be hidden. There it was, that word again, 'Authority'. It was mentioned in 'The Observations' as a passing concept, and he had thought it had contained some secret meaning then too. Here it was written in clear, grey-ish glyphs, not as an idea or a thought, but as a part of the magic of the Spires. Fritz didn't know what to make of it, not yet, but it raised a lot of questions.

What was Authority? Who held it? And what does it do? Fritz sighed, now wasn't the time to be dwelling on such things, he had to choose his Trait quickly, lest the others return from their Sanctums swifter than he and spot his Golden chest appearing. He turned his attention back to the present, and the next choice. Hand of Eldritch Flame.

Fritz felt many things upon seeing this offering, first was a deep annoyance, a flash of fury and a near-instant dismissal of the Trait, just like he had with its previous iteration of Eldritch Immolation. He glared at the eldritch fire. It danced in what he suspected might be malicious mockery, whispering wounding words in some unknowable tongue.

Of course, it would ruin one of his Trait choices, more and more he was beginning to regret bringing the flame into his Sanctum, even if it had saved him a lot of trouble when absorbing the aberrant seed. Again he sighed, there was no use getting angry at the thing, it was his prisoner and in its place he might just do the same to his gaoler. In fact, he knew he would, they were alike in that way. He searched the description and it gave him pause. It no longer burned his entire body or Sanctum, just his hand.

The fire could spread, he knew that fact intimately, but maybe, just maybe it could be cast without harming him too badly. There were a few ways he could think of to lessen the effects: his new glove for one had some sort of property that protected against lightning, maybe it would work as well against the eerie fire? He doubted it, but it was worth considering. The more obvious defensive measure was his Umbral Phase, would his shift into shadow let him slip out of the flame's grasp?

Again it was unlikely, as the eldritch flame was also aligned to shadow as well as fire. The last and most appealing solution to the problem of being engulfed in terrible, twisting fire, was Quicksilver. It had eaten the flame before and held it perfectly, could he perhaps set his hand alight and have his blade immediately consume it? Saving himself from scorching his hand into charcoal.

"Maybe," he muttered. Too many maybes though, he thought. Unsure but not willing to spend too much thought on the Hand of Eldritch Flame, he concentrated on the last Trait offered: Venomous Fangs. This was another alteration to his body, though not quite as potent and pronounced as the Merfolk Strain. Or at least he hoped so, supposing the promised fangs would be able to be hidden.

The resistance to poison it created was interesting and he wondered if that applied to poisons he mixed rather than 'produced' in the granted glands. If so then if he dedicated himself to the raider's poisoner technique it might make a deadly combination. The benefits didn't stop there, it also activated Venomwell, likely some kind of poison Magical Attribute. A shame seeing as he had no poison-aligned Abilities. He wondered why he was even offered such a Trait but those clauses did explain it somewhat.

He had relied on using poison to take down many of his foes, including whittling down the raider with clearblood venom. His view of the Trait was that it was powerful, but unsuited to complement the Powers he already possessed. That, and he didn't really want to grow fangs, even if being able to bite his foes could be a surprising tactic, if risky. Too risky really, even for himself.

He was torn, none of the Traits offered appealed to him and his mind turned to the aberrant Seed, stuffed securely in one of Cal's packs. Could he risk it again? His Sanctum felt far better than it had after his use of the Hound's seed, but he could still feel some straining at the edges of this small world. Would it even work the same as that previous Seed? He suspected not, his intuition warned him that Lightning was not as compatible with his Sanctum as Shadow seemed to be.

What if his willow was struck and set alight? Fritz supposed that maybe he could feed the lightning to the eldritch flame as he had with those other unwanted energies. He glanced at the moonsilver brazier.

"How do you feel about eating lighting?" He asked it, not expecting a response. To his great surprise, it shuddered and shrank.

"Oh, really?" Fritz mused.

"That afraid of a little shock?" The flame burst back into a roiling and raging inferno, swinging a twisting tendril at him. Fritz pushed backwards, gracefully sliding away in his chair and easily foiling the attack, smirking the whole while. The fire rapidly receded to its confines, seething and softly shrieking. Outwardly Fritz stared on smugly, though inside he was disappointed at the flame's reaction. From the corner of his eye, he could see a shadowy branch sway and stoop as if it shared his dejection.

Which it did. It was him after all. Fritz eventually dismissed the idea of using the Seed. If it were for another Ability he might have risked it, but for something as powerful as a Trait, especially one he had no previous alignment to, be it lightning or simply 'eels'. He knew in his gut the risk was too great. The Trait gained might not even be a positive, or might have any other number of horrible consequences. Absently he wrung his hand, thinking of the agony the Hound's Seed had wrought on him.

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"No. No Seed," Fritz muttered into the rain.

"Not this time." Admitting that had narrowed his choices down to the three offered, so he went over them again. Merfolk was the most useful, in his opinion, but he felt a certain revulsion to changing his form, especially into one favoured by the true nobility. While he didn't find scales and gills off-putting as some did, in fact, most Merfolk ladies he'd seen were staggeringly beautiful, he felt that those alterations weren't what he wanted.

No, he didn't want that, no matter if growing gleaming scales would grant him and his family some prestige. What was some amount of favour in the royal courts if he didn't want to participate in their plotting and politics or even stay in Rain City anyway? Instead the transformation might actually bring him notoriety he, and by extension his family, couldn't afford. It was also 'Influenced by Authority'. An odd anger bubbled in his gut at those words, while Dusksong mocked in a merry tune.

Although it had also seemed disgusted, roiling and spitting when he considered the choice as a whole. Fritz didn't completely trust the shifting, shadowy magic, but here he had to agree with its repellent impressions. No, the Merfolk Strain wouldn't work. Not for him. The next was Hand of Eldritch Flame, it was powerful, he'd seen that terrible fire destroy a horde of hounds and force an Aberrant to retreat. But there was a risk he couldn't use the Trait without harming himself.

Though he also conceded that maybe, with his Control, he could shape it in such a way as to keep himself mostly safe, or even pour it straight into Quicksilver's blade. With that in mind, the choice became far more appealing. The sheer destruction at his disposal could make him a true terror. Slyly, he listened to Dusksong, eavesdropping on his own magic. It held itself back as if not trying to make a sound, but he could hear jarring notes of spite and of a long held rivalry much-reviled.

An interesting occurrence, he had thought these powers might be more amenable to each other as strange and otherworldly as they were. That was neither here nor there, so Fritz moved on to the last Trait. Venomous Fangs had the least drawbacks, however, it also had the least potential power, well, unless he were to gain some venomous Abilities or become some kind of master poisoner.

The latter would likely involve learning some alchemy which could require months, perhaps years, of study and practice, not to mention the price of the various potent plants and magical materials he would need to go down such a path. Though, with the profit from the sale of the sirensilk maybe that wouldn't be such a concern. No, this one wasn't right for him either, he couldn't spend all that gold and time studying, and the bite just wasn't at all useful with his current style of fighting.

One he was loathe to abandon completely. So it was that he considered this Trait to be the least risk and the least reward. And most of all, he didn't feel strongly about this power or its potential. Even Dusksong seemed ambivalent to the offering, which wasn't a great sign.

He felt that he wanted to be excited for his Power, not begrudgingly bear it because the risk of taking what he really wanted was too great Stretching in his chair, Fritz went over each one last time, questioning their value and thinking on the two that Activated Attributes. Normally any Activation and allocation of Advanced Attributes would be a great boon, but he already had four. He was already struggling with their emotional effects and the burdensome bent of their prodding and poking.

Sure he could benefit from a bit of ostensibly free Durability, but what would adding something as obviously poisonous as Venomwell do to him? There was also the consideration of his Attribute Alignments, again, a point here and there for Durability may be fine, but he had no use for Essence of Water and there was the chance he would spread his Attributes too thin and be pulled in too many ways. With an intense frown of concentration, Fritz eventually, finally, came to a conclusion.

In the end, it came down to Hand of Eldritch Flame, not only because the Trait changed him the least and he had some feeling of closeness to the twisting energy, but because the last words in the rhyme called to him.

"Char the chains," he intoned softly, making his choice. Power rained down from the sky, the brazier before Fritz shuddered and the blue-green flame within burned bright, its crackling, cackling form growing in height and heat. Fritz's heart heaved, and his centre exuded incandescence, searing him. For a moment, he thought he'd made a terrible mistake, that his entire Sanctum would become a blue-green inferno.

The terrible fire threatened to leak over the silver edges of its moonsilver cage, but was beaten back as the metal gleamed and the patterns on it shifted in shining scintillation. The lines took on new, wilder forms, branching and bending, though sealing the flame all the same. Sinister smoke poured from the brazier, small embers of eldritch light carried in its tortuously, twisting plumes. A sudden cool gust bore the smoke away, taking with it the tiny motes of fire.

They flew on that breeze like a stream of glittering moths, soaring, sailing, into the swaying, shadowed boughs of his willow. In that breath of wind's cold wake, the pain faded and the eldritch flame ceased its flailing, falling back into its unpredictable, flickering dance. Although the smoke had cleared, the embers remained, sitting in the shade of the branches like cruel, beautiful stars set against the empty night. Twisted and twinkling, blue and green, all those hues, and those between.

For a second he was enchanted by the sight, and Dusksong halted its hidden hatred, accepting the new magic as it settled in Fritz's Sanctum. Now it sang a different melody, one of petulant tolerance. The flame didn't care one way or the other, it was beyond such things, it just needed to burn, and with the claiming of its power, it would get its wish. When the time came. Fritz found himself standing right before his willow.

He wondered when he had stood up and strode to it, but dismissed the thought, instead taking some more moments to admire the sight. He was interrupted when gold pulsed, both in the sky and the new golden sigil engraved upon his willow. Glyphs of that same lustre lit up in his mind and in front of his eyes while the sigil chimed out potent notes of proud praise.

Gold Climb Achieved Congratulations No Power conflicts detected. Awards Detected, Choices Pending.

Seed Selections Pending.

Gold Manifesting.

Spire Sigil Accepted. Mer Spire Awards Pending.

Bronze Award Activate or Reserve Swift Swim Move through the water, as you wish, swim through the seas, like a fish. Increases swimming speed to a minor degree. Alignment: Boon, Water. Cost: None. Duration: Passive. Refresh: None.

Silver Award Activate or Reserve Deep Water Acclimation Ignore the freezing, and heavy tide, search the seas and what they hide. Increases resistance to pressure and cold to a minor degree. Alignment: Boon, Body, Water. Cost: None. Duration: Passive. Refresh: None Gold Award Activate or Reserve Tenacious Heat Warmth will linger, as fire fades, holding hotly, as cold cascades. Any heat you produce is harder to suppress and dispel to a minor degree. Increases resistance to heat to a minor degree.

Alignment: Boon, Body, Fire, Water. Cost: None. Duration: Passive Refresh: None Seed Stored Ability Choose One Word of Courage Lacerate Water Strike Poison Sense Quieted Steps Treasure Sense Deep Lungs Sound Resistance Venomous Conditioning Fritz only glanced over the Seed abilities, including the appearance of Abilities he hadn't seen before, far more interested in the Awards still hovering in his vision.

If Lauren was to be believed, which she was as she hadn't been wrong on anything so far, he could swap these out with his own Awards. He swiftly suspected that Activating them would switch them out and Reserving them would keep his current Awards in place.

He went through each, weighing them against their respective competitors, bronze against bronze and gold against gold. Already he could see that his current set were more valuable, but he would give this decision the due diligence it deserved. First were the Bronze Awards: Swift Swim against Night Vision. It was an easy win for the Sense award, even if his Perception was high he doubted he could see through darkness well enough yet to compensate for its loss.

Next were the Silver Awards: Deep Water Acclimation or Marbled Bones: Moonsilver. Again he favoured his previously awarded Award, its purifying nature had saved him more times than he could count and the resilience it lent to his, no longer delicate, frame was invaluable. Last were the Gold awards, this wasn't much of a choice either.

Tenacious Heat conferred some interesting comforts, likely keeping its user toasty warm even in the rain, but it just didn't compare to Reignbreaker's power to shrug off magic or mundane bindings. All in all the Awards weren't too impressive, but what was to be expected of a Rookie Spire. With a sigh, he reserved all three of the Awards. The glyphs gleamed and pulled themselves into separate orbs of bronze, silver and gold.

They darted towards his willow and sunk into the trunk, just where the Mer Spire's sigil was carved. Their energies slipped into the odd lines and strange circles, the light fading slowly until only bright, beaming gold remained. There was one last choice to make, his Golden Seed Ability. Although his Ability channels were full, he knew, mostly from Lauren's explanation and disparate memories, that Seeds could be used for Ascending, whatever that meant.

And if the kind of Ability stored in the Seed affected the outcome of the Ascension at all that meant he had to choose carefully. There was also the chance that evolving an Ability or Trait might subsume another Ability into it, leaving a newly cleared channel empty, which made the Seed still valuable to him. He could also just sell the Seed, though the thought was anathema considering all the trouble he personally went through to earn it. No matter how much gold and favour he could gain from such an action.

The sale of a Golden Seed with the right Ability might even be able to restore some small legitimacy to his House. He could return home with his sister and his brother. Fritz wiped his annoyingly aching eyes, as the warm, comfy fantasy flared then flitted away like the dream it was. He had enemies, both old and new, and they would need to fall before he could truly embrace that cosy life. Even then, would such an existence satisfy him?

Fritz realised he was being distracted by thoughts of a faraway future, so he returned his attention to the long list of Abilities not chosen. He was immediately drawn to Treasure Sense. There were other useful Abilities listed, Word of Courage and Sound Resistance were tempting for varying reasons. The former would be great for keeping his team determined while the latter would hopefully protect his ears from incidental damage and accidental deafening, as he had suffered on the siren floor.

Venomous conditioning also had a certain appeal, he might have taken it if he had chosen the Fangs Trait. If it was anything like Bert's conditioning, where the resistance increased with exposure, the synergy would eventually make him immune to the poisons he exposed himself to. The rest of the choices, however, were not exciting enough to examine too closely.

"No, I can't pass it up again," Fritz announced to no one. He chose Treasure Sense, and golden light pulsed from the sigil engraved on his willow, flooding forth in a great wave and washing over his entire Sanctum before dissipating. He felt a thud on his knees and knew the golden chest had appeared outside. A spike of nervousness stabbed into him and he quickly flew out from his centre. From where Fritz sat, behind a pillar, he looked around to see he wasn't the first to leave his Sanctum.

Bert was no longer sitting in front of him and there were voices echoing around the room. Fritz cursed inwardly and quickly stuffed his golden chest into his pack, hopefully before anyone noticed. With his chest hidden away, he stood and strode around the pillar, listening to the raucous ravings of Bert. It seemed the man had made his choices far swifter than most and was distracting those who were currently awake.

Fritz was grateful for his brother's quick thinking and captivating charisma as the team's attention was completely caught and they had none left to spare on other occurrences. Fritz approached, stopping before the edge of the fountain's basin where the others gathered.

"And this, here, is called a Dale Stone," Bert stated, holding out a quartz orb the size of his fist for all to see.

"And what, exactly, is a Dale Stone?" Lauren asked as she rose out of her Sanctum and the fountain's water, making her way to the edge with a golden chest in her arms.

"A good question," Fritz said, watching inquisitively.

"What have you got there?" Bert grinned.