Runeblade

Shoving his notification to the side of his view, Kaius stared at the phial of shimming liquid and struggled to grapple with the proof that hung right in front of him.

Legendary?! He'd heard whispers of such things — artefacts of immense power from times of old. The sort of thing that cities warred over, that the truly strong of Vaastivar would leave their hidden abodes to desperately seize from their competitors. Things of myth, one and all — the Hyperial Blade, Dusk of Death, Persistence.

Not one of them had been less than a third tier artefact — a historical relic from the times of the old Observed, when chaos ran rampant and men were strong.

And now one sat in his lap, a first tier reagent no less — it ran against everything he knew. The wyvern bone being Epic had been understandable: dragons were not constrained by mortal sensibilities and limitations. Yet to best even the blood of dragons…what sort of creature could do that?

Could the System acknowledge their title as a living world? A leviathan beyond all others, surely.

His imagination filled with the sight of great beasts, formless shapes of scale and shell that drifted through an ocean. A moving island, hosting a whole ecology of lesser creatures on its back. It was the only thing that made sense — a god, granting life to those that made their home amongst it.

Yet the power it must have possessed for its vital ichor to grant such potency!

Xenanra's fanged grin pulled him away from his thoughts. Kaius lay his hand on his blade's hilt, feeling the yank of its need against his soul bond.

"A fine reward, is it not?"

The ascendant's smile grew sly. "Draconic essence is potent, sure — but it's generic strength. Zabriel will make for a much more…fitting baptism for a newborn. There is an irony in that, I think — for a world so widely known for its death dealing to bring life, even in the broadest and most removed sense."

Kaius blinked, still struggling to formulate his words. He got caught — stuck on her phrasing. Like the system, Ascendant Xenanra had called Zabriel a world. But he must be mistaken, how could unliving dirt and water be anything more than sand? And how could a self contained realm live?

The mortal realms were self contained — earth, sky and water. Where would such a being go? How would it direct its will onto things beyond itself? How could anything so large and so disparate ever live?

It simply didn't fit — sat outside of his comprehension like the magnitude of VOS.

Xenanra laughed, a cutting sound of joy that broke the silence of the obsidian room like a knife.

"Oh, it is nice to be amongst the young again." She shook her head, her pure white eyes twinkling. "Your utterly lacking understanding of cosmology aside, yes. You hold the essence of a world. That phial might only be the slimmest and most diluted drop taken before Zabriel's ultimate ascension, but it is from a being that lives only to slice and cut and tear its way across the multiverse. A purity of life that is quite aligned to the blade, I think — like I said, a grand baptism for a newborn."

Kaius's eyes drifted down, settling on the roiling fluid that looked desperate to escape its glass prison. A million questions burbled in his mind, but before he could ask, Xenanra switched her attention to his companions.

He tuned in — his final material for A Father's Gift wasn't going anywhere, and if he got something like that, it stood to reason that his companions were rewarded similarly.

Neither Kenva nor Ianmus had noticed her attention, turning over their own glass bottles with looks of awe on their faces. Their bottles were larger than his own — larger even than the standard square tonic bottles the system liked to use in its rewards.

Holding about a pint of fluid, their tear-drop bottles were filled to the brim — Kenva's a midnight blue that seemed to drink in the light, while Ianmus's was a shining gold that swirled in a constant never-ending current.

Xenanra didn't seem inclined to wait for their attention.

"Nice traits, those." She gave the pair a satisfied nod as they looked up.

Kaius blinked. Traits? The Ascendant winked at him, before turning back to Kenva.

"Almost as strong as what those two knuckleheads earned." She inclined her head towards him, switching to Porkchop shortly after. "Which is just about the limit of a first tier trait."

"Stormsoul is a fitting one for a ranger and scout, I think. A bonus to both Dexterity and Constitution is nice, but it is the favour of the wind that will help you most. It's by no means a certainty — but you'll find the wind change in your favour more often than it should, and your shots and movements will be less impacted when it does not."

Kaius blinked — rotten roots, they were racial traits. That was fantastic! Even if it was a shame that they had only received them at the end of the tier, it was still a growth of their stats that would compound with their Honours.

Plus, he couldn't help but pause on something else Xenanra had said — that the traits were good for a first tier trait. It certainly sounded like the ascendant was implying there would be a way to acquire better, stronger ones as they progressed. Or, if they were lucky, to improve the ones they already had.

His heart thumped, a thrill of excitement coursing through him. He certainly hoped that was the case. Greater Beastblooded had been phenomenal for his growth — and the bonus stats it granted him were only a small part of that. Beyond the changes his bond skill had wrought, the trait itself had physically remoulded him — changed his physiology to be more directly infused with the magic that granted the meles their durability and strength, and, perhaps, even a little of their longevity.

If he could push that further…

He looked over, staring at the golden bottle that Ianmus clutched almost desperately to his chest — curious about what trait the mage had earned.

Luckily for him, Xenanra switched to the mage a heartbeat later.

"As for you — with how focused your class is, and will likely remain, on Intelligence, I think two additional Willpower will do you much good. Extra mana regeneration is one thing, but the additional control it will give you over your mana will be priceless — especially with regard to the changes Corporus has wrought on you. Outside of stats: while Harvest-touched isn't the most clear in its wording, it will make your control of solar, nature, and light affinities. Considering solar sits in the middle of the other two, I wouldn't be surprised if you touched on them eventually."

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Ianmus nodded in satisfaction, grinning wildly. Kaius could understand that — with his freeform style of casting, anything that improved his control would have outsized effects.

Kaius looked to the last member of his group. Porkchop had gotten something odd — a small brick of a waxy white substance inside of a larger vial that caught the light with a pearlescent sheen.

"Need me to identify it?" Kaius asked, seeing his brother look at the object with simple confusion.

"No — she already did it for me, though I don't know how she managed to give me the notification. It's weird though — I'm hoping she'll explain more."

She'd passed on the notification? Kaius hadn't even realised that was possible — though it did seem well within the bounds of a god's power. Kaius looked to the ascendant expectantly, who was looking at the brick with a satisfied smile.

"That was not a reward I was expecting to see, though it is perhaps the most valuable of the lot — if you take your circumstances into account at least." She readjusted on her divan, leaning onto the slanted back of the daybed. "I know Soulsoap isn't the most riveting name, but it will help you. For all that greater beasts have strong bodies, insights do not come easy. A quirk of the soul — it is why beasts who follow the path do so slowly. Your Enlightened Mind and bond have helped you close the gap…for now. Still, if you want to maintain the progress you have achieved up until this point, a blessing of clarity so early in your development will do much to assist you."

Kaius looked back at Porkchop sharply, his surprise mirroring his brother's. He'd never heard of such a limitation — hells, he struggled to even believe it. Greater beasts were always considered the blessed children of creation, with their long lives, powerful bodies, and potent classes.

Yet, he hadn't forgotten the bonuses that Porkchop had received from their bond. The boost to insight had seemed minor at the time, but if it was patching an insufficiency in much the same way his own worked on his body? Well, it made sense.

"Did you know of this?" Kaius asked.

"No — though how would my people have discovered it? It sounds like it might primarily be of importance for aspects, and we're among the first to earn those. Although… some of my elders take a long time to work on their skills before tier ups — I don't really know how long the higher races take to do that, but maybe it's part of it?"

Kaius bit his tongue — even if the Soulsoap would help to fix the issue, learning his brother suffered such a disadvantage was a bitter pill to swallow. Still, he supposed it made it all the more impressive that Porkchop had been one of the first five to found an aspect, and had kept pace with the rest of them just fine.

Another hungry tug from his blade jostled him from his ruminating — drawing him back into the moment. He grinned, smiling at his team. A single sour note could be forgotten, especially when it came paired with a solution.

"Well, what are you waiting for? I wouldn't recommend undergoing this trial before you use your rewards, and I'm not going to get any of your attention if I force you to listen to my explanation of your trials before you use them."

It was the only prompting he needed.

Kaius ripped his blade from his sheath, laying it flat across his lap.

He'd long been waiting for this moment, but for it to have come so suddenly had left him at a loss. All throughout their delve, Kaius had never felt the limitations of his A Father's Gift more keenly. Feeling his blade chip and crack against the manticore had struck at the very heart of him. It had almost felt like it was his soul that was under attack.

His blade was his link to his past, to Father. Beyond anything else, it had been with him since the very beginning, a constant companion — right from the moment he'd first unlocked his Skills, and Father had gifted it to him.

Its recent weakness had cut at him like a physical wound, bled him as well as any knife. A consequence of his own failings — a testament to his limitations of ability, no matter how illogical the feeling might have been.

Of course he'd hoped that they would find something in their delve. It had been a desperate wish. Even with their current layer, besting the Wyvern Bone had felt impossible.

Yet here it was. The essence of a living world — the blood of what had become a god!

He had no clue what form the material would impose on his blade, or what its following awakening would do, but it was going to happen here. He would see now.

Feeling Porkchop's mind go dark and indistinct, Kaius looked up and found his teammates lying prone on the dark obsidian floor.

Xenanra waved him off. "I'm just saving them from a little discomfort — focus on your own growth."

Giving the Ascendant a nod, he returned to his blade — lovingly running his hand across its length. It had changed much since he'd first received it — a smoky crystal fuller and edge from the Spent Forgeheart, interspersed with veins of dusky red and a gemmed pommel from the Elder Blood.

A final change, and then he would know.

Snatching up the Waters of Zabriel, Kaius uncorked the vial with a pop — only to hiss as a wisp of cutting essence split the skin of his thumb.

"Is this truly born from a world?" Kaius whispered, unable to help himself as he pulled his thumb back and smeared blood on the glass.

"It is. Exactly what its description says, even. A thin sample of Zabriel's oceans in its moments of ascension. A living world that embodied the blade."

Kaius frowned, still struggling to grapple with what the ascendant was talking about. It had to be a metaphor in some way, surely.

Xenandra just smiled, nodding to the sword in his lap that nigh-screamed for his attention — and the reagent he held in his hand.

Taking a final breath, Kaius poured the water over his blade.

A thin stream of liquid ran down the fuller, moving like oil. For a moment it pooled, before the sword unleashed hunger.

**Ding! Material appropriate for A Father's Gift detected! Facilitate absorption?**

Kaius accepted the notification without hesitation.

The shimmering fluid vanished, sinking into his sword faster than he could track. Glassy clarity spread like wildfire from the point of contact, like he was watching ink spread through water in reverse. It left his fuller and edge so translucent he could barely see them: the only sign of their presence, a faint warping in the air — creating the illusion that his blade was nothing more than the thin band of metal that ran between fuller and edge.

When the process was finished, the changes continued. Once-red crystal veins transmuted to liquid silver— tributaries that pulsed hypnotically as metallic fluid pumped in time with an unseen heart.

It was a crooning drum he could feel — a signal of visceral satisfaction that his blade sang loudly through their bond. It was his beat.

Kaius started — sitting up straight as he watched silver blood course through nigh invisible crystal in time with his heart, racing in unity with his rising excitement. An immortalisation of their union.

**Ding! Growth Weapon - A Father's Gift has absorbed Waters of Zabriel! All materials acquired, advancement will commence shortly!**

Marvelling at the changes to his weapon, Kaius all but dove for Truesight — eager to see the changes to its description before more were wrought.

A Father's Gift:

Common - Tier I

Forged in the dying days of Unterstern. Quenched in the fading light of prosperity. The final work of a master. Birthright of the last Scion.

A two-handed longsword, forged from meteoric iron, orichalum, and Deep Essence, this sword hides a sliver of morphic Craexia crystal in its hilt. If the right conditions are met, this shard of potential may bloom. The complex network of a binding ritual is hidden under its hilt wrap.

Tier I:

A core of crystal formed from a Spent Forgeheart now threads the blade, honing its edge even further.

Veins of Elder Blood have quenched the sword from within, the essence of ancient battlefields stoking its regeneration and thickening the veil of blood that hides its truth.

Waters of Zabriel, an ocean droplet from a severing world a moment from apotheosis, has suffused the blade utterly — refining all that it means to live and cut.

Artisan-wrought Artefact

Growth Item:

Advancement pending!

Bound & Linked

Longsword

Honed IV, Self Repair II, Durability II, Bloodline Veil VII