Brent Stinebaker
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II-12 Reflection
🕑 Added 2024-11-07 13:40:05 +0000 UTCYou know the true thing that makes us Trespassers special? It’s not how we can bond with any Class, any System, any magical or spiritual entity without suffering harm. No. What truly makes us special is that we can’t be consumed by Source. Because we are not conceptual beings. We are not spiritual beings. We, who originated from that cold, indifferent realm known as Earth, are matter. First and foremost.
We’re real.
Realer than all the other humans, hivekin, orcs, elves, and whatever ridiculous species there are across the Fathoms. We exist without the touch of a divine creator, without the need for any reason. We just are.
Now, there are a great many theories about why that is, even among us Inheritors, but I prefer the one that considers us to be the original beings in all existence. The so-called Source of all Fantasy. Why else would there be elves here, after all? Dragons? Orcs? All these strange and fictional beings, spun from the imaginations of our people, and distilled into form here. In a realm shaped by concepts, by belief, by magic and rooted in Systems.
So. What we want is simple. Deserved. Things are unstable. Out of control. A midden of chaos ruled by unworthy tyrants because of all these clashing beliefs. We, the Inheritors, are going to change that. We, the Inheritors, are going to give you proper order. Because we are the only ones who can, and who will.
So. If you’re tired of having your lives wasted by the Unfallen rampaging through your kingdoms, butchering and raising your people, by the Crossroads actively stealing, buying, selling entire worlds, by the Dying Queen who corrupts trillions because the girl just can’t seem to find a therapist good enough to deal with her existential angst…
We’re here. And we’re the solution. The only one that can work. The only ones ordained.
-Haytham Winters, Consul of the Inheritors
II-12
Reflection
Wei slid through broken, jutting planks as Bishop’s psionic pulse dissipated around him. Below, he could feel new boards rise and replace the old, but jagged debris became his hand-holds as he clawed back to his feet. Rage. Utter rage. Such was what consumed Wei, and violent satisfaction was all he knew as the sundering of his father’s spirit was complete.
The Source inside him was a whirlwind surging behind his skull. People were speaking to him in harsh tones and snarls, but he didn’t hear—couldn’t hear. His gaze was fused to where his father was, where—
Where his father remained.
At once, Wei sobered from his feral stupor. A new emotion burst through the flesh of his rage like a pointed spear, and its name was confusion. His father’s spirit had been shattered utterly. Completely. Wei felt the man’s Aspects come apart; there was a detonation of echoing Source that trembled the very fabric of existence. Yet, there he was, still there, his body beaten, bloodied, but still existing.
“What…” Wei muttered, his skull spinning as he staggered toward his father. This wasn’t done—he needed to finish William Yu. He tried to summon his spear, but a flashing rejection pulsed over his eyes as a notification. Wei didn’t even read it. It didn’t matter. He snatched a broken piece of wood off the ground, intending to use it as a stake to finally finish his father off.
But as he approached, the rippling form of John Bishop stepped into sight. The Trespasser bore a tired expression as he looked at Wei. “Look, kid, I get it but—”
“Aside,” Wei growled. The sounds of the world was coming back to him. His rage was receding, if only slightly. “Stand aside!”
“Stop!” A muffled cry sounded from inside the young master’s System. His Shell. His Shell had been screaming at him for the past few minutes. “Stop, you fool! We still need him. If we kill him now, we will know nothing of our foes! Death is too kind a fate! Wei! Endure, you worthless mongrel! Your Ambition has been diminished by the—”
Wei pushed everything out of his mind and let out a vicious snarl as he saw his father stir. For a moment, he and William locked eyes. And the fires of loathing within Wei combusted to a roaring inferno. “Kill! Bastard—”
The young master shot across the broken stage. He charged toward Bishop, toward his father, fully intending to bring an end to—
A sudden cage of force halted him. Wei let out a gasp of discomfort and went entirely still. He growled at Bishop—manifested a scythe to cut whatever invisible trap this was. But instead of fighting him further, Bishop teleported William with a gesture, and then promptly vanished.
Two flashes of purple later, Wei was alone. Alone in a room filled with scattered boards and undamaged walls. Dust rained down as he slashed through the force cage holding him, procuring another Shard for his System, but alas, what was it for now? What point was there to his rage when he couldn’t even finish what he came here to do.
And to make matters worse, as he spun and took in the room, he realized the doors were missing too. No way out. He was trapped. This was a trap! This was—
“Hey, kid,” Bishop said, interrupting his thoughts. A feeling of annoyance and general resignation was injected across the link. “I ain’t trapping you or anything. You won that fight; the contract stands. But you can’t be killing nobody up here in a fit of rage after a duel ends. Cool off first. I’ll make the door come back when you calm down.”
“Bishop!” Wei roared. “Bastard! Cur! He was mine! I had him! I was—” An incoherent cry of frustration, of pain, of unsated vengeance came over Wei, and deprived of violence, he sank, he sank as a pain in his chest so deep and miserable ate at his very bones. His cry died to a squeal of suffering as Wei folded in on himself, curling over as he suddenly heaved. It was too much—he was feeling too much… too much…
“Pathetic,” his Shell said. The Skill became as a shadow, standing over Wei as the boy wretched mouthfuls of nothing on the ground. “Control yourself. Control! Before everything, control! Power and skill and wealth are all useless without control! Control is the mastery of things. Have you forgotten that already? Is your mother truly dead in your heart as well? Have you forgotten her most important teachings?”
Wei fought himself. He sucked in wheezing breaths of air and couldn’t stop his body from shaking. It was like he was coming apart from the inside. Excess energy with no place to go. Through an impossible effort, he managed to force himself to sit and meditate. Right there in the ruined area. Right there to calm the fire inside that threatened to overtake him. His emotions were too much for him to bear, and using his Armor Components had drained him of both Source and Ambition. He needed to recover. He needed calm.
Wei surfaced from a sea of tumult, and drifted there—held himself in a stasis of thoughtlessness. Time began to pass. New notifications loaded. Wei didn’t regard any of them. He did nothing until the pressure inside himself balanced and diminished to a point where it was negligible. Only then, did he open his mind again to the world and his System.
Reviewing encounter…
Masteries Demonstrated
>Meditation (III) — 99%
>Unarmed Combat (III) — 89%
>Spearmanship (III) — 97%
>Evasion (IV) — 4%
>Thrown Weapons (II) — 75%
>Tactics (III) — 2%
>Rapier — 0%
Shards Available!
Aspect Advancement Available [12]
Concept Upgrade Available [3]
“Weakness. That is what plagues us. That is why you were undone in your time of victory.” The Shell’s words reverberated through Wei’s spirit and his mood wilted further. With his Ambition recovered to an acceptable level, shame was all he felt. Shame at debasing himself so. Shame at losing control like a wild dog. He had won. His father was defeated—Wei’s contract basically allowed him to take William Yu as his slave.
But it was not enough. His heart was starved of bloodshed and filled with hurt, and he wanted the former through inflicting the latter. And worst of all was how he shamed himself in front of another. Bishop. The Trespasser got a full glimpse of Wei’s indiscipline. That was enough to make Wei want to—
“Enough,” his Shell grumbled in disgust. “Pain is meant to teach a lesson. To self-punish is no different from self-indulgence. It absolves you of shame, but shame is what we need right now. Do not deserve to feel better. You were worthless in this battle, and only through what I offered did you prevail. And even then, you couldn’t master yourself after.”
Wei endured the lecture in silence, accepting the words with wounded dignity. Some part of him enjoyed it. Some part of him remembered his life before in his sect, with his masters and mother and father…
“Stop. Do not do that, either. The past is lost. Home is lost. She is dead. Face this. Cultivate this pain and make use of its bitter taste. Right now, focus. Build yourself. This was not a complete loss. Look upon your shards. There are Aspect Advancements you can imbue yourself with. Concept Upgrades that accelerate your Skills and Titles. Elevate your Concept Cores.”
Doing as his Shell said, Wei grasped for the broken conceptual fragments he claimed from his father and thought back on the fight. For most of the battle, he had been on the backfoot. His father had been faster by a slight amount, but what made the fight so desperate was William’s overwhelming control over the battlefield and deceptive tactics. Without his Helmet, Wei would have been cut by attrition alone.
At baseline, he had enough Omniscience for most fights happening around him, but he was beginning to realize a problem. For every bit his awareness spreads, his cognition is further strained—struggling to process all the details. This meant that even if he could feel everything in motion, see where things were or sense where attacks came from, an overload of information rendered him incapacitated.
But another thing to consider was his Skill. The Helmet allowed him to bypass issues with his baseline stats. Perhaps he should procure a sensory Skill for his Class instead of boosting his Enlightenment. The ratio he would need to achieve between his Enlightenment and Omniscience for full functionality required an extremely skewed ratio as well.
Enlightenment Advanced > 42
[3/100] Aspect Advancements to Core Ascension
“Good. Think more. Feel less. Your emotions thus far have only betrayed you. Without control, they are not fuel, but fire. Conflagration. Consuming you from within.” His Shell fell silent. “We have fought enough to arrive at some general judgmentsjudgements. We are capable of a kind of harm few others can resist. Our Authority and Concept Breaking compounded upon our Class allows us to shatter threats we should not even be able to scratch at our Essence Level.”
But Speed. Reaction. This is what allows us to land our hits first. To be warned of forthcoming blows before they even arrive. Wei understood. His Authority was important—but ultimately, it was of secondary benefit to his Relativity. He was capable of breaking most foes from Knight to Marquis. At Count-Tier, things got dubious—but mainly because he couldn’t survive long enough to truly do anything.
His Fortification also mattered. It was the only reason why he survived the beating his father inflicted. Whatever attacks inflicted on him were eventually adapted to. The explosions would have left him a splattered smear of Source, otherwise. That, and his armor. The broken metal was slowly regrowing around him, gold and black spreading across his person in patches.
Finally, though, there were the Concept upgrades. Right now, it seemed like it took about 1000 points of concept integrity damage to actually gain a shard. Three shards or so could be used for an Aspect Advancement and a Concept Upgrade was possible at twelve. This made the ratio between his Aspect Advancements and Concept Upgrades one-to-four.
On top of that, there was another question: How fast could these Concept Upgrades accelerate the growth of his generating Skills?
Looking between his Helmet of the Invasive Seer and Ambushing Spearstriders (Rare) Component upgrades, Wei considered his choices. The latter was something that could substantially improve his combat prowess—but there was also the risk of revealing his higher capabilities to others. Something he had no desire to do. This would require a stealth or obfuscating Skill to aid him.
And then a thought came to him. Perhaps he could get such a Skill from or have Rafael show him some ciphers. There must be something that could mask his presence and muddy his Essence. Yes. This could very much work.
Experimentally, Wei mentally selected the Concept Upgrade option tied to his Augmentation Core, and another chain of options followed.
Helmet of the Invasive Seer (Common)
>Requirements
>>3.5 Days to Generate Upgrade in Core
>>Mastery Node (Seer of Habits)
>>Corresponding Experiences (0%)
Ambushing Spearstriders (Rare)
>Requirements
>>9 Days to Generate Upgrade in Core
>>Mastery Node (Blindside)
>>Corresponding Experiences (0%)
Wei selected the second without hesitation, and it was like throwing oil on a raging fire. The Source inside him cracked, and the space that held his spiritual manifestation. His Shell existed there—as it hovered next to him in his mind’s eye. At once, dark and light began to twist and weave around its legs. The pointed spears that composed his Spearstriders changed—though not substantially. As the Source faded, the legs grew fainter, the blades near transparent. A few more rings of pulsating force rounded their tips, and two dots of darkness extended below.
Ambushing Spearstriders (Rare)
>Requirements
>>-32 Days to Generate Upgrade in Core
>>Mastery Node (Blindside)
>>Corresponding Experiences (2422%)
Upgrade!
Spearstriders (Common) >>> Ambushing Spearstriders (Rare)
Minor Concept Core of (Augmentation) >>> Lesser Concept Core of (Augmentation) Progress: 25%
The Skill concluded in an instant. The infusion of conceptual matter compiled all that he lacked. Stunned, Wei considered calling upon this new Component but knew eyes were still on him. He wished to examine this alone. In private.
With that done, he still had more to spend.
Aspect Advancement Available [8]
Concept Upgrade Available [2]
Though he could accelerate the development of his other Component, Wei found himself content to just wait. It didn’t give him more options in combat, nor drastically empower him in any way. No. The rest would go to his Aspect essentials.
Aspect Advancement Available [0]
Concept Upgrade Available [0]
Relativity Advanced > 61
Putting everything into Relativity was an easy choice. He would split some later for his Fortification and Omniscience as well, but right now—and perhaps always—his priority was going to be boosting his Relativity to obscene levels. To strike and move first against all attacks or adversaries.
As he finally finished his meditation, Wei regarded his Shell. Should we put something toward our Ambition?
“Worthless. You expend too much using my Components anyway. A single point will make no matter. But you should now bring potions or supplements after you use Ambition-draining abilities. You are a liability toward yourself and others when you have no will. Remember that.”
Wei clenched his fists and nodded. Something to enhance his Ambition. Or something to blunt it. Whatever it took.
“Are you finally calm now?”
Bishop’s voice whispered in the back of Wei’s mind.
“Yes,” he said aloud. He winced in embarrassment. “I… apologize.”
“Fuck no. Don’t. He had it coming. Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t try that the moment you saw him.”
The young master blinked in surprise. “I… debased myself. Lost control. The conditions of the duel—”
“He knew the score. He knew and he agreed to fight you. After what he did, I can’t say he doesn’t have it coming and more. Yeah, you lost hold of yourself. But that’s what it is. Fix it if you want, but don’t go blaming yourself for hating him. And besides… probably felt a little too good to beat on his ass, huh?”
A beat followed. “Are you two even friends?” Wei asked.
“William Yu is as close to a brother as I have left,” Bishop answered. “A shitty, amoral, constantly fucking up brother who deserves a fate worse than death, but still. So. I can be here for him. But I can’t let you finish him off. Not like that. And you won. You angry, vicious little motherfucker. Goddamn.”
Now, the young master almost blushed. The conversation was taking a very different turn than what he expected. “It was a near thing…”
“Winning is what matters. Rest is horseshoes and hand grenades.”
“Gre-what?”
“Never mind.” A sudden gust of wind made Wei turn. Only then did he realize the room, much like his armor, had completely mended. Restored to its original state. Across from him, an open doorway led into a bright lobby filled with people. People with powerful Essence signatures. “Come on in. The way’s back. There are a few people that you should probably meet.”
Comments
Ace High
I can't believe that you
Brent Stinebaker
Actually, I'll have you know that
Ace High
OstensibleNerd
