NOVEL NEXT 3.14: Shadows
Feeling rested and refreshed, Henry opened his eyes and took in the quiet night for a few seconds. Maurice was asleep, a few paces away at the other edge of the pool, clinging on to a still awake Rocky who was fiddling away with a handful of objects. Recollecting the memories from his Octominds, the items had been acquired either as gifts after he'd shown interest or through making a request to Maurice, who'd then taken matters in his own claws and bargained for said items.
Every time, he ended up overpaying. Willingly, not because he had been duped. Henry was looking forward to hearing the logic there and as he eyed the items, he recognized a couple. He saw a hammer, fishing hooks, a clothespin, and a myriad of other random bits and pieces that the kraken was meticulously and gingerly studying. Maurice must have been observing the curious kraken but at some point, the crab had clearly ended up dozing off.
At least he's keeping with his training, too, he thought as he reviewed the sparring and meditation sessions the crab had gone through, and with a deep breath, he sunk back within himself, the sounds of the oceanic waves fading away into the background. He would finish this fusion, take a short break, level up to B-rank, then upgrade the Aspects. He might have been able to upgrade them sooner, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that putting the Aspect through an upgrade right after an Aspect and skill fusions and a cornerstone change might be stressful on them, and having shared his thought with Arisia, she said he had to trust his gut and that she agreed. She had said that it could potentially weaken the cornerstone upgrades and it just wasn't worth rushing things. He just needed to be patient for a couple of days and then he could pull the trigger on the Aspect upgrades.
A moment later, Henry found himself in a world of flitting shadows, and without wasting any time, he got started. Activating both Ink Clones and Blood Clones, he began by channeling both instances to the skill nexus. He pictured the instances as the constructs that would have been generated by the skills, and so, two tiny krakens floated in his mind's eye. One made of shadows and ink, and a second made of blue blood. Both krakens swirled about, each trying to hog the mana that was flooding the nexus as the skills activated and a moment later, a flow of slick, airy, black and purple smoke filled the space, bringing both clones to a dazed standstill as the conceptual essence of Dancing Shadows filled their many limbs with vigor, making them seem realer.
Pushing more mana in, Henry turned his attention to the Aspect, scouting for the two skill roots and within a few short moments, he felt them, pulsing along with the two constructs.
Taking a short beat to collect himself, Henry wrapped his will around both skill-roots in his soul, and he pulled them together but immediately, he felt another will resist him, and he already knew where it was coming from; The connection both skills had to the Inkjet. The previous cornerstone of Misdirection.
Henry grit his beak and shoved the resistance aside. It might have been a challenge if he hadn't been sharpening his will for months by now. Between the life-and-death battles he'd been through ever-since he'd arrived in this world and after the impossibly demanding exercises Arisia had been putting him through, contending with the innate resilience of a skill was almost as hard freeing his arm from a stubborn, knotted piece of algae.
It was annoying at most.
Not even the spiritual pain was enough to stop him. Henry could have severed the connection away first, but he'd opted to do that after he fused both cloning skills. The connection would be weakened then, and the process would go easier. The cut would in turn weaken the hold Inkjet had on the Aspect itself, at which point he could implement the new skill that would result from the fusion of this duo and Blink.
Sometimes later, after a continuously maintaining the pressure, the two skill-roots finally made contact and their fusion began, and all the way into the spell nexus, blood and ink mingled as the two clones merged with one another in a swirling, pulsing ball of black, blue, and purple. Seconds turned to minutes. Minutes turned to… a sizable chunk of minutes. He didn't believe the process had managed to go for a full hour. And at some point, a new clone emerged out of the swirling ball. A new, black kraken with a pearlescent skin that shone with reflected purple, and somewhere in his mind, he sensed the notification come through, but Henry couldn't spare the attention. While the iron was still hot, he brought Blink into the fold, dragging the instance down into the skill nexus.
He visualized this one as two orbiting purple disks, and if you touched one, you'd be teleported to the other, and with another infusion of shadowy concepts, he began the process of resonating the two orbiting balls with the new shadow, making sure to chip at the grip Inkjet still had.
As time went by, the fusion progressed. It wasn't as fast as the first one. Henry found himself wheedling the two skills much more than he had to with the others, but, bit by bit, the two began to resonate. Helped with the image and the strong desire he had for them, more and more of the two orbs that represented Blink leeched onto the clone, making the purple shades of the latter shine brighter.
Stolen story; please report.
He felt it, though. The fusion will not be perfect. But it will be good enough. And after a while, he sensed it when the two skills refused to merge any further. An equilibrium had been reached, and now was the time to start cleaning up.
Engrossed in his task, Henry focused on the new skill he had, on both its representation in the skill nexus and its roots, and with a sharp blade of pure will, he began cutting. First, it was the connection that still lingered between the new resulting skill and Inkjet, and as he began severing the two, a sense of wrongness stole over him, reminding him of that time a while back when the System had established the Aspects in his soul. Remotely, he could feel the tangy test of blood in his beak, but he didn't let up until he felt the cord snap.
His immersion still didn't break. Next, he felt at the remains of Blink that hadn't been able to merge. He considered severing that as well, but then, the vision he had of the new cornerstone could still benefit from a connection to what used to be Blink, so he let it, which led now to the final task. And potentially, the easiest: Push Inkjet and its roots away, and let the new skill take control of the Aspect of Dancing Shadows.
Henry was almost done.
***
When Henry opened his eyes once more, it was late afternoon and through his Octominds, he got a quick recap of what had gone on while he was meditating. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Maurice worked with Arisia on some of his skills before he sparred with Fabian and Ash, and Rocky was learning to read, just so he could get through some crafting manuals. As for Thalis, it was in a surprisingly frenzied state. Decorations were being hung, lanterns lit up, and food was being prepared for the celebration.
Henry actually felt excited to join and see what they were up to. Sure, he was tired, but he was finally done, and he needed a well deserved break and a drink. With a flick, he pulled up the description of the new Aspect. Instinctively, he knew what the skill would be like, but he still took the time to read the updated description.
Dancing Shadows of the Trickster (C) - Level 10
Trickster's Shadow
Create a clone formed of ink and lifeblood that follows your commands and can be controlled remotely via yourself or through your Octominds. You may perceive through its senses, use skills through it, and every clone can be used as a relay to extend your range of influence. A connection to a clone can be weakened, but it cannot be fully severed so long as both parties are within the same plane of existence. You can teleport with any Trickster's Shadow you can perceive taking its place while it takes yours. The further the shadow is, the longer and the costlier the teleportation will be.
Blink (C) - Level 10:
Teleport to a close location you can see.
Riptide Rush (D) - Level 10:
Summon a powerful current to propel yourself forward at immense speed.
Inkjet (C) - Level 10:
You can shoot powerful jets of ink to confuse, blind, and hide. Your ink can take on properties of recently ingested materials, with up to two properties remembered permanently. Your ink naturally disorients, and with an added mana cost, you can infuse the ink to create sensory deprivation effect for more effective concealment or misdirection.
Henry read through the updated cornerstone, and let out a sigh of relief, which quickly turned to a chuckle.
He'd gotten what he'd been going for. Sure, it seems like a couple of things had been weakened, and the possibility of turning an object into a Recall Anchor was gone, but now he could just teleport to a clone. He'd have to test things out to learn about the cost and timing, but he liked this a lot better. As the Aspect would grow in strength, this new cornerstone might allow him to extend his reach far, far more than any other skill. How many clones could he field? How far could he send them out?
As Henry created a human shell to go up and join the celebrations, he began planning. He had plenty to test, and figure out, but first of all, he had to post some new sentries as already, he could feel all of his previous clones deteriorating, the skill that had created them having changed.
"But I'm done," he mumbled, staring up at the sun and the second planet floating above. He raised both hands in the air, then took in a deep inhale of fresh air before he dropped both arms looked around.
"I need a drink. Or make that drinks."