2/3
*
Deprived of its meal, the tree hungered for Concepts Archipelago, and also for the Hearthstone. Can’t give you that, buddy. Sorry.
Perched upon a branch, Priam watched the changes spreading through Log-a-rhythm while rolling four spheres of solid aether across his fingers. The trick required a level of dexterity well within human reach, but there was a catch: each ball contained an explosive rune. The goal was to supercharge them to the absolute maximum while keeping them stable. A single mistake would cost fingers. Priam needed stakes to find an exercise motivating.
A shadow lengthened in front of him before gaining a third dimension.
“Blueberry is organizing a feast for the second Reunion and your High Tribulation.”
“Any excuse to stuff his face,” Priam replied with a grin. “Other than eating and sleeping, I honestly wonder what interests him.”
“Sex?”
“I suppose he is a mammal. Maybe I should bring him a she-bear. Or several. Let him pick.”
“Oh, you know, there are males who get to choose between several females and still can’t make up their minds,” Jasmine said, folding her arms.
Priam cleared his throat. “I was taking inventory of the rewards available for the trials ahead. Want to see?”
“Nice subject change,” the Shadow mocked before sitting cross-legged across from him. “Show me what you’ve got.”
“From least valuable to most valuable…” The Juggernaut unpacked his treasures like a dragon displaying its hoard. The first resembled a pink spark. “A Genesis Gift! Can be converted into any Genesis-rarity item.”
“Handy. What else?”
“Three days of time stasis,” Priam continued, displaying the simple tattoo on the back of his right hand—a symbol resembling a pause icon. “Could be useful for surviving a massive explosion or waiting for a predator to get bored.”
“My money’s on the explosion,” Jasmine said. “Can you still activate the reward without the hand?”
“I hope so.”
“Hum. That was from your sixteenth Tribulation, right?”
Tribulations Fifteen, Sixteen, and Seventeen had formed a deadly but profitable triple Tribulation.
“Yep. Along with seventeen drops of Elixir of Eternity and a yes-or-no question restricted to Tier 0. Still haven’t figured out what to ask.” He shrugged. “Last but not least: Back in a Minute. It lets me rewind time by sixty seconds. I spent every reward from a triple Tribulation on this beauty.”
“...If I were a Tier 9, I’d want to tear the heads off everyone who used things like that. It must be incredibly annoying having to repeat a conversation ten times because some weakling keeps rewinding reality.”
Priam shrugged.
“Not my problem. Besides, I doubt they perceive time the way we do. Someone once told me some Eldritch beings exist in four dimensions. Past, present, future—it could be all the same to them. Though I guess that depends on whether we’re talking about a fourth spatial dimension or a temporal one…”
Jasmine raised an eyebrow.
“...Are you asking me?”
“That was rhetorical. By the way, these are for you,” he said, holding out ten pearlescent beads.
The Shadow identified them.
[Elixirs of Eternity - Crude - 10 years] - A concentrated draught of liquid lifespan, both physical and spiritual. Extracted and refined through a Wheel of Reincarnation. No karma attached.
Usage capped at ten drops per Tier, regardless of quality.
Ocular instillation recommended.
“Every woman loves receiving gifts, but I’m like twenty-one or twenty-two years old. Three of these drops and I’ll turn into a fetus,” she laughed. “Besides, I’ve got [Ageless], which doubles my lifespan. You should give them to your father or Louis.”
“They already have one each. That’s enough for now. It’d feel weird seeing my father looking younger than me.” He closed Jasmine's fingers around the pearls. “You can sell them or trade them. I just... wanted to give you something.”
“Oh…” Jasmine looked away. “Thanks. I mean... Woah, it’s hot out here.” She used her hand as a fan, trying to hide the blush. “Did you keep any for yourself?”
“Between the seventeen from my Tribulation, the five I stole from Aydan, and the twelve I’ve given away, I’ve still got ten left.”
“You should use them now. You’ve probably burned through at least a century overclocking your vitality, and I doubt your High Tribulation is going to improve that situation.”
“I hate eye drops.”
“Priam…”
“Alright.” Grumbling, he tilted his head back and placed a bead against his un-cursed eye. He winced as the glass transformed into liquid and seeped through his cornea. Then he shuddered as the substance spread throughout his body. Growing younger felt every bit as wonderful as aging felt horrifying.
Ten drops later, the Juggernaut was frowning.
“A problem?” Jasmine asked.
“I feel young.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“I mean, I feel too young. If I weren’t a Homo Elysian with Micro, I’d probably be breaking out with acne.” He paused. “Or growing an ugly beard.”
Jasmine grabbed his jaw and turned his head from side to side.
“A beard would suit you.”
“A beard is like a cape. Not practical in a fight. Your opponent can grab it.”
“They can grab your hair too.”
“There are limits to the sacrifices I’m willing to make.”
A smile tugged at Jasmine’s lips before she held out a Token.
“Since we’re talking about gifts... Here. For you.”
Priam raised an eyebrow as he recognized the item.
“A Steal Token? Which option?”
“Skill.”
“I debated between that and Bloodline for a long time,” the Juggernaut admitted. Then he frowned. “Pretty sure you never cleared wave ninety-five.”
Otherwise, her Phantom would not have been guarding wave ninety-three.
“I completed mission ninety-five in the Hideout before my Tier-up.”
“Ah.”
The Hideout and Colosseum shared reward pools, hence why Priam had never bothered completing infiltration, theft, or assassination missions. With [Phantom] and Mist, he could have gone quite far, but without additional rewards waiting at the finish line, he had better uses for his time.
On the other hand, Jasmine moved through the Hideout like a fish through water. For an assassin, progressing there was often easier than surviving equivalent challenges in the Colosseum.
“Where’d you stop?”
“Mission ninety-nine,” winked the Shadow. “I did better than you in the Colosseum.”
“Damn girl.” Smiling, Priam folded Jasmine’s fingers back around the Token. “Keep it.”
“For real?”
“Yep.”
“Hum. Kazuki told me about Luc’s pill. Doesn’t sound like you to refuse gifts.”
“My Juggernaut Crown lets me glimpse the fate of certain people, and Luc’s destiny is tied to mine.” He shrugged. “I barely know him, so I’d rather not weave extra karma with him until I’m sure I’m not shooting myself in the foot.”
“Fair enough. What about me?”
“Your strength is my strength.”
“Oh?” Jasmine tilted her head. “And since when did you become so good at talking to women?”
“Since my Charisma passed one thousand,” winked Priam.
Jasmine burst out laughing.
“Alright. Any other preparations before the big leap?”
“Just one.” He dismissed the aether marbles. “I’m going to recast a skill. Can you watch my back?”
“What exactly am I supposed to do if something goes wrong?”
“Drive a dagger through my brain and trigger HWED.”
With that, Priam called upon the System.
Trees of Merit
[Ace - Legendary] - Tier 3: Evolved Candidate: Choose one of your primitive attributes and evolve it. ACQUIRED
[Ace - Legendary] - Tier 4: Mutated Candidate: Choose a part of your body and let one of your Concepts or Affinities metamorphose it. NEW
3 Unused Merit Points.
Only one ideal prerequisite still separated him from unlocking [Ideal Aether Manipulation]: an evolved Meta Endurance.
Ace evolution ongoing…
As if the floodgates of his Potential had burst open, Priam felt a superior power alter his soul and his meridians with surgical precision. Then his draconic heart pulsed. The aether infused within his ichor boiled. [Chimera] growled.
Spontaneous mutation detected.
The Merit shifted targets, and before he could do anything to stop it, the Champion felt a spiritual frame manifest inside his draconic heart. A structure that didn't just pulse aether into his meridians, but produced it.
Meta Endurance evolution complete: Pseudo-Aether Heart.
Bloodlines:
Dragon: 9% (+1% via Draconic Imitation)
“Priam, are you alright?!”
Jasmine’s worried voice dragged him back to reality, and Priam heard himself grunt. Looking down, he saw his left hand clutching his right pectoral as though he had just survived a heart attack.
“I—I’m fine.”
Taking a deep breath, he noticed a notification from his addon.
[Aether capacity doubled, from 2 679 to 5 358 energy units.
Your aether production no longer relies solely on your soul filtering ambient aether.Your Pseudo-Aether Heart now generates its own energy.]
“I can generate my own aether,” he told his Shadow. “Useful if I ever end up somewhere with little ambient energy.”
“Like certain Tribulations… Or outer space.”
Priam smiled. The evolution also allowed him to supply far more energy to his most demanding abilities. Practically speaking, the maximum output of both [Kinetic Sovereignty] and his Breath had doubled.
Assuming his pathways could survive the strain. [Golden Adaptive Meridians] was only epic quality, and he no longer had any free slots for another legendary skill.
“Alright. Let’s not spend all day on this,” Priam muttered, opening a new tab.
Potential - Skill Creation
Do you wish to delete [Aether Manipulation - Epic] lvl 57?
Yes.
Recast : 1 710 POTHard delete : 5 130 POT
POT -1 710
Priam gritted his teeth as the System operated on his soul. He could have sworn a hot iron was being pressed beneath his skull. The pain, as intense as it was brief, faded away as the soul-bound rune detached itself and dissolved into pure energy. A bundle of aether, experience, and Potential that was just waiting for a direction to redeploy.
Prerequisites met:
Domain II
Meta(Affinity)(evolved) > 1 000.
Meta(Focus)(evolved) > 1 000.
Meta(Endurance)(evolved) > 1 000.
Advanced mastery of Aether.
As a Token had previously revealed, primordial skills only included a set of ideal prerequisites. Having spent nearly six months gathering them, Priam couldn’t help but smile. His mentor had not been the only one to claim that obtaining both aether skills at ideal quality was nearly impossible. Neither the nepo babies, nor the young masters of Immortal clans, nor the prodigies of the Hope Sector had been able to gather them. Keltan’h was living proof of that.
Yet Vertex had done it. Hastenash had done it. Time to join that exclusive club.
You have gained an ideal skill.
The bundle of aether flashed before branding itself onto the third layer of his soul with overwhelming force. Priam caught a brief glimpse of a rune more elegant, purer, and more complex than any of the others—legendary skills included—before confusion struck.
A flood of prompts and information assailed the Juggernaut, and he collapsed. The skill was resonating with his mind, and the synchronization with his Domain and his attributes was disorienting. It felt as if a hundred arms and a thousand legs had just been attached to him; his brain struggled to comprehend this new limb. [Ideal Aether Manipulation] allowed one to shape the world, and this capacity was not meant for everyone. The mastery threshold was dreadfully high.
So was the power.
Within his Domain, the aether stood as motionless as an army awaiting a general’s orders. Ready to build. Ready to destroy. With a thought, Priam shaped the fluid into a spear. A second thought condensed it into solid matter. A third inscribed thermal conversion runes across its surface. A fourth fired.
One kilometer away, a mushroom cloud of flame blossomed above the forest.
Priam couldn’t help but burst out laughing at how absurdly easy it had been to create a missile. The aether responded thanks to his meta-affinity, moved thanks to his meta-focus, and was dominated by his Domain… or generated by his meta-endurance. To test his new heart, Priam synchronized his add-on with the skill. His system downloaded the three-dimensional template of a rose, and a crystal flower grew in his palm. He handed it to Jasmine.
“It’s as if I was born with this skill.”
“Really?” Jasmine examined the rose. “I don’t see much difference from before.”
“Come.”
Opening a passage through Log-a-rhythm, Priam crossed Oasis and headed toward its border. There, a dome powerful enough to stop an Elysium Prince separated the enclave from the rest of the Wandering Islands. Closing his eyes, the Juggernaut focused on his sphere of authority. [Ideal Aether Perception] analyzed the barrier’s frequency. [Ideal Aether Manipulation] coated his hand in a layer of aether vibrating at precisely the same frequency.
Without triggering so much as a warning signal, Priam pushed his arm through the shield.
“Now that is cool,” Jasmine acknowledged before grimacing. “And deeply concerning.”
Priam sighed and finally read the description of his new skill.
[Ideal Aether Manipulation - Epic] - Level 57 - Aether is the fundamental building block of matter. The liquid flowing through the River of Time. The thread of karma. The vector of forces. The idea behind Concepts. The page upon which Myths are written. The mortar of the void.This skill is a first step toward editing reality. You were a pawn. Here is your chance to become a player.META (Affinity) +3META (Focus) +3META (Endurance) +3
New Title!
[Liked by the Aether - Genesis] - Aether perception and aether manipulation; two legs upon which to walk toward the Zenith.One way or another, your soul possesses the power to truly see and wield the primordial fluid. A privilege reserved for supreme beasts and a handful of chosen beings.This Title is adapted by the System, yet bestowed by the aether itself.Allows the user to increase the difficulty of one (1) High Tribulation in exchange for an epiphany regarding their Path.
No Merit Tree associated; this Title does not depend on a Myth.
Warning: Any attempt to permanently alter the laws or fundamental constants of the Concepts Universe by a non-Royal will result in revocation of user rights.
“Oh.”
“What do you mean, oh?” Jasmine asked.
“The combination of two primordial skills is more terrifying than I expected.”
“Terrifying as in powerful?”
“Terrifying as in I may have disabled the parental controls on the computer running the universe.”
*