Chapter 84: Book 2: Stressful Choices

Chapter 84: Book 2: Stressful Choices

There's a certain amount of existential horror that comes with having your allies picked off right in front of you, with little you can do about it. In that sense, Ahkelios is right being able to shrug things off is an important skill for someone looping through time.

My thoughts flicker back to the moment every so often, but I'm doing a pretty decent job of not focusing on it, I think. Best to think about the next loop. Best to think about how to counter them.

More likely than not, that involves spending my Firmament credits.

We're wandering around the area just near the designated spawn point for the moment, Ahkelios so he can search for his moss and me so I have time to look over my status and think about how to spend my credits.

[ Status:

Name: Ethan

Strength Skills: Crystallized Strength (Rank C), Concentrated Power (Rank B), Amplification Gauntlet (Rank A)

Durability Skills: Tough Body (Rank E), Barrier (Rank D), Crystallized Barrier (Rank C), Hexfold Shield (Rank C), Second Wind (Rank B), Verdant Armor (Rank A)

Reflex Skills: Quicken Mind (Rank B), Inspect (Rank B), Compounded Mind (Rank B), Iron Mind (Rank A)

Speed Skills: Triplestep (Rank E), Accelerate (Rank C), Firestep (Rank C), Flashstep (Rank B), Intrinsic Lightning (Rank A), Lightning Rod (Rank A), Warpstep (Rank A)

Firmament Skills: Firmament Manipulation (Rank D), Temporal Fragment (Rank D), Color Drain (Rank C), Tetrachromacy (Rank C)

Inspirations:

The Mirror Twice Shattered (Firmament, Unique)

The All-Seeing Eye (Reflex, Rank A)

The Void (Strength, Rank Unknown)

The Accelerator (Speed, Rank A)

Open Dungeons:

The Empty City (Rank S)

Credit Distribution:

Strength: 268 (179 banked)

Durability: 487 (84 banked)

Reflex: 103 (360 banked)

Speed: 178 (273 banked)

Firmament: 120 (256 banked) ]

I grimace a little at how close Firmament is to the five hundred credit mark I've been hoping for. Thirteen points away. If I'd taken a few more hits, let myself be smacked around a few more times...

...Or maybe I shouldn't let the time loop turn me into a masochist.

Right now, the obvious thing to bank is Firmament. I don't have any other way to handle the Time Flies or any of the other dangers the deeper Fracture holds, if those flies are any indication. Firmament has always rewarded me with a skill based on what I've recently been through, so now's the best time to bank the credits. Wait too long, and I might get a skill in moss-picking instead.

[ Are you sure you wish to bank 120 Firmament credits? ]

"What exactly do you mean by dangerous?" I ask. "What does temporal stress look like? I've got a skill that will let me see it, and I'm not sure if I need to take it."

"I don't think you need to take it right now," Ahkelios says slowly, though he says it with far more hesitation than I would like. "You'll notice the signs of temporal stress once it starts happening. Things will be different that shouldn't be different. People will be missing."

I stare at Ahkelios. "Like the things that are happening right now?"

"No, no," Ahkelios says, and then he pauses. "Well... yes. But different. You'll see temporal... glitches? People rewinding or skipping ahead to their futures. Patches of dirt that are way, way older than everything around them. That kind of thing. The differences you've been experiencing are just because you're a really, really weird Trialgoer."

I groan. "I can't be that weird."

Ahkelios stares at me. "You've had more complications in two loops than I had across three hundred," he says plainly. "My memory isn't perfect, but I remember spending three hundred loops trying to get past one of the monsters guarding the exit. You're really weird, Ethan."

Of course I am. "I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"It is!" Ahkelios says cheerfully. "It means you might actually beat this Trial."

He's... got a point, there.

It doesn't sound like Temporal Sight is going to be useful for me for the foreseeable future. There might come a time where I'll need it to avoid areas of high temporal stress, or something, but from what Ahkelios has said nothing I've done so far should have stressed the loop enough that it's a pressing concern.

That leaves me with Timestrike and Sealsink. Timestrike will give me the ability to actually deal with the Time Flies, eliminating what's arguably one of the biggest dangers in the Fracture and allowing me access to Rotar without risking the entire loop assuming Rotar's stayed in the same location and hasn't strayed.

As a bonus, Timestrike will remain useful afterward. It's not like the Time Flies are going to be the only threat it'll be useful against.

Sealsink gives me the ability to deal with one of the Hestian Trialgoers. It won't do anything but that, unless I encounter other threats that apply some kind of Firmament seal, and while I don't discount that possibility I can't pick it just because of it.

It's just that Whisper is a big threat. Guard being under her command is just as much of one his ability to deal with Rank A monsters like they're just chump change is frightening. Tarin's role when they fought together was mostly as a distraction, pulling attention away from Guard with his sheer speed rather than directly contributing to damage.

"Timestrike or Sealsink," I mutter out loud, and Ahkelios, of course, perks up and looks over at me.

"A skill that lets you punch the future or a skill that lets you get past She-Who-Whispers?" he asks. I nod, and he continues, "why not get Timestrike? We have access to something that does what Sealsink does Miktik made one. We can just ask her for help."

...Well, he's got me there. Timestrike it is.

[ Timestrike (Rank A) obtained! ]

"Hopefully that's the right choice," I mutter. The rest of my skills already feel different Temporal Link makes my bond with Ahkelios stronger, Firmament Control allows me to manipulate the Firmament around me even more deftly and with greater force, which I hope will help me with imbuement...

I haven't tested Hueshift. But Firmament Sight being an upgrade to Tetrachromacy makes a surprising amount of sense, and while it's not the same as my ability to detect Firmament all around me, it does give me a whole new dimension to explore as far as Firmament goes.

"I'm ready!" Ahkelios announces. He's holding a handful of moss. I stare at him, wondering how he's balancing all of it between his arms it doesn't exactly look like a coherent pile of moss as much as him just grabbing random handfuls of plant matter and shoveling it into his arms.

"You need help carrying that?" I ask, amused.

His face brightens. "Can you help?"

I shrug. "Let's find out."

I have an idea. With Firmament Control and Temporal Link, I might be able to add a permanent modification to Ahkelios' Firmament form I just need to integrate whatever I craft out of Firmament into the Link. I call both of skills up in my mind, feeling for the bond between me and Ahkelios and feeling the shape of Firmament within.

And then, using Firmament Control, I begin to weave.

It's remarkably intuitive, presumably because I don't need to worry about actual sewing or stitching. All I need to do is force the Firmament into the shape of a satchel, and then nudge that shape into the link that binds me with Ahkelios.

The process is intuitive, like it's a natural function that I've only just discovered. There's... a lot I could potentially do with this, I think.

Ahkelios, with no access to my thoughts without me pushing them through the new link, just looks delighted, and begins shoveling his moss into the makeshift satchel I've provided him.