Brent Stinebaker
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II-6 Shell of Masteries (II)
🕑 Added 2024-11-01 09:16:43 +0000 UTCListen, Antediluvian rarity Skills are a fucking myth, okay? The only people who might get that are System hosts and chances are, that’s not you. And if that’s you, I’m going to give you some life-saving advice right now:
Stop chasing rarities.
Stop thinking in terms of Common is weaker than Rare is weaker than Elite is wearer than Master is weaker than Legendary is weaker than Mythical is weaker than Antediluvian.
If you have a good Title or Skill of a high rarity, great. But. However. Your goal for your Skills and Titles should always be toward the building of your tool kit. For most of you who don’t have your own Concept Cores and cultivate new powers based on experiences—meaning most everyone who got their Class from a System—pick the most directly beneficial option. Don’t just case the rarest Skills without looking at what they are. The sum of your actions generate what you can choose, but the sum of your actions is big goddamn mish-mash of different shit.
You might be a Pyromancer of some kind with a bit of cooking on the side, and wouldn’t you know it, you get a Legendary Barbecue Skill or some shit. Great. Very unique. Very powerful. For cooking. Dogshit useless for a soldier.
Remember: Build around your toolkit. And be sensible. A guy with a few Rare or Common Skills can still outfight some lucky asshole with a Legendary or Mythical Skill or two if you make the right choices. Their Skills will give them a lot more punch or flexibility, compared to you, but you can make it work. The creation of a small sun that bombs your enemies without you needing to split your focus is better than something like Fireball, but it’s not impossible to overcome.
But, uh, if you do run into someone with an Antediluvian-Skill… well, that’s where shit gets kind of weird and… harder to gauge. Mainly ‘cause you're probably fighting a host or a high level Classed with a Concept Core.
Best to run, then. They’re not going to be just launching some advanced fire at you in that case. They might be reshaping the very idea of what it means to burn.
-The Trespassers’ Compendium
II-6
Shell of Masteries (II)
What once was a cocoon shaped from Source crumbled into a tangible form. It rose from Wei—the source of its primordial yolk and the alloy from which it was born. But even as it stood, Wei still felt waves of pressure rippling from its shell, felt his own spirit stretched between two points in existence.
Wei himself was the root: the seed-heart from which this new Skill sprouted. But the Shell of Masteries was the full blossoming of his spirit, his potential and power unfettered.
At a glance, it resembled his Lesser Manifestation being a construct shaped from Source. But where the Lesser Manifestation was but a vague and bland mimicry of Wei’s general shape, the Shell of Masteries was carved from detail upon detail.
The first thing of significant note was its size. It towered over Wei much like Roggi did, but the edges of its body were blurred, as if smeared by a film of percolating haze. Hence, its full dimensions were a bit harder to gauge. What’s more, Wei felt that its size was variable—bound not to physical limits but the channeling of his Source. Even now, he could feel bits of his spirit burn away, consuming his System’s foundational resource to maintain its existence.
Then came the other characteristics. More than just an enlarged replica of Wei, the Shell of Masteries resembled a complex suit of armor and limbs. A brilliant white eye graced the core of its helmet, granting it a cyclopean visage that seemed to pierce through Wei. Its torso was stacked and studded by interlocking plates of ebony and ivory. Between their clefts hissed expended Source, and attached to the body were four limbs. The two-top limbs bore a familiar scythe—the Form of the Martial Harvester. The fingers that gripped the great, reaping instrument followed the color scheme of Wei’s foundations, the left white, the right dark.
The young master was surprised by just how harmonically attuned his newest Skill seemed to be with his first. They were of different Concept Cores, after all. But then again, they were Concept Cores unique to his System, and as such would have been shaped to work in tandem with each other to begin with.
Aside from the top two arms, however, were two more limbs. The lower right stood out from the others by being a length of armored muscle ending in black-tipped claws and white-studded knuckles. In the right was a limb composed by black chains connected to a dozen pale, floating spears.
The Shell’s legs had too many joints to be humanoid, and fascinatingly, their points also ended in the form of spears instead of feet. A set of rings were layered at their tip, releasing a constant thrust that kept the Skill afloat.
Finally, there was a tendril-thin lattice forming six wings that extended out its back. They pulsed with force, and time itself seemed to flow slower when passing through the wings’ gaps. There was also a pitch-black chain coiled around its waist. When the Shell moved, it left afterimages of itself imprinted upon the world, like a droplet of ink staining the purity of existence’s waters.
Asaru lifted their hammer and let out a wheezing groan. Below him, the host and his newly forged Skill stood together and apart form each other at once. They faced each other, the boy looking upon the icon hidden within his spirit.
“Be you my spirit?” Wei breathed.
“Be you my root?” the Shell of Masteries replied.
Where Wei’s breath was one of wonder and awe, the Shell’s voice trembled with naked disappointment. Further more, it sounded a bit too much like his father—like William Yu. Deeper by a bit, perhaps, but the stench of their relation still soured the moment slightly for Wei.
A new System notification appeared before his eyes.
Updating Mastery Nodes > Armor Nodes…
Combining Masteries…
Mastery Nodes [0/20]
Mastery Components [6]
“Where once your Masteries might have existed as but exaggerations of your achieved feats further boosted by means of your Aspects, now they will truly transcend the material and grant you a power above all others.” Asaru gestured toward the Shell of Masteries. “Every Mastery you achieve will join with your Shell, another extension of its armor. Another boost to your capabilities. Gaze upon its pieces. Learn what it means to be more than yourself.”
And as Wei focused on the makeup of his armor again. Textual descriptions expanded before his vision as he studied specific components. True to Asaru’s words, his various Masteries had been reforged into specific and visible parts for the Shell.
Shell of Masteries - [Equipped Mastery Components]
Head
>Helm of Invasive Sight (Common) - Allows the Shell to see invisible entities and also invade the perspectives of weaker entities.
Body
>Chassis of the Self-Devouring Ruminator (Rare) - Consumes Source and (Ambition) to amplify the Shell’s other Aspects. Rumination sets (Fortification) to 0 and leaves the Shell vulnerable but allows the Shell to regain Source.
Arms
>Chainspear Arms (Common) - Allows the Shell to forge, project, and direct 3 Source-forged spears connected to a set of chains.
>Gauntlet of the Breaker (Common) - Unarmed strikes delivered this gauntlet amplifies the user’s (Authority) by 10%.
Legs
>Spearstriders (Common) - Grants the Shell to perform [Echo Dashes] based on their (Relativity).
Wings
>Proximal Aegis (Epic) - Allows the Shell to consume Source and flare their Proximal Aegis across the distance of their (Omniscience). Limits the maximum speed within their Aegis to the user’s maximum speed.
As Wei examined each piece of his Shell, the excitement grew like a crackling flame. Though a few of his Masteries had been helpful, a few fell by the wayside during more intense fights, and most paled before the sheer potency possessed by his Path of the Martial Harvester. But this Antediluvean Skill had reforged them. Turned the Mastery nodes into Mastery Components—spirited-crafted pieces of potency attached to his Shell.
“This isn’t like having just one Skill,” Wei breathed. “This is one in many. And I can create more? Create more Components for my Shell?”
“Indeed,” Asaru said. “All you need is to display greater heights of Mastery or discover new paths of development. Strain and novel experiences will allow you to create new pieces or further upgrade your existence Components. These Components will have their own rarities as well. Not all Mastery Components can coexist, however, and each Component added will further tax your Source consumption based on quantity and rarity.”
“Remarkable,” Wei said, smiling up at his Shell. He reached up to touch his Shell, and after a moment’s reluctance, it extended its own hand—the Chainspear arm—and reciprocated Wei. “You are small. And fragile. Depressingly so.”
Wei blinked at his Shell’s peculiar statement, but his mood was buffeted by a new surprise. The Shell’s finger overlapped with him, and he let out a gasp as the Skill shot forward and superimposed itself over him. At once, he felt a sensation of complete alignment, with his mind, body, and spirit fully conjoined. Right then, there was no difference between him and the Shell, no distance or separation.
But another sensation seized him. The sudden plummeting of his Source became a building fatigue within Wei’s spirit, and he let out an involuntary groan.
“Alas, it takes much to maintain a spiritual eidolon—far more than someone at your current stage should be capable. It is only because of the imbalance caused that this Skill could be achieved. And it is only thanks to this Skill that your System will remain whole instead of collapsing.
The remainder of Wei’s System notification loaded in an instant, but the young master found himself fixated on one detail: his rapidly diminishing Source.
System Updating…
Refining Source
>>>Source Refined: [600/600] Lumens
Source Core Ascended > Lv. 30
>[0/100] Aspect Advancements to Core Ascension
>>[0/30] Core Ascensions to [Gate] 3 System Ascension
>>>Source: [600/600] Lumens
Wei’s mind did a double take at his new Core Ascension requirements. One hundred Aspects? One hundred? He struggled enough getting to ten each time—he expected twenty or—
His memory jolted. He remembered the first thing he unlocked for this gate—Conceptual Modularity.
[Conceptual Modularity]: The Aspects and Concepts you break can be integrated in to your System. The specific Aspect and Concepts of an entity will now grant you Concept Shards. Shards can be assembled to Advance your Aspects or create/level your Concept Cores.
Was this why the requirements were so high? If he understood that right, that meant he could all but farm Aspect and Concept improvements from that which he broke. Which… if done right could see his System improved at a rapid rate.
The task did not seem so daunting anymore; now, Wei was just excited to discover what it took to compose a whole Concept Shard.
Authority — 67
Relativity — 53
Enlightenment — 40
Omniscience — 41
Fortification — 41
Ambition — [Incalculable]
Source: [488/600]
Masteries Demonstrated
>Meditation (III) — 55%
>Unarmed Combat (III) — 43%
>Spearmanship (III) — 56%
>Evasion (III) — 1%
>Thrown Weapons (II) — 55%
>Tactics (II) — 99%
>Rapier — 0%
Sourcery Advancements [2] Available!
Select [10]
Source Propagation > — Allows the host to channel Source out from their body and unravel the stability of the physical matter around them. The more Source is sacrificed, the more the world unravels.
Liminal Bridge > Liminal Tunnel [Requires 25 Sourcery Advancements (Currently at 20)
Source Propagation
Once more, Wei’s total Source had doubled from the 300 Source he reached at System Level 30. However, in the scant few seconds he spent merged with his Shell, he had already lost over 100 Lumens. The consumption rate was ridiculous, and still the Skill drained him dry to sustain himself.
“Pathetic,” Wei’s Shell intoned. The ire was directed at Wei himself, filled with disgust about his lacking spirit and feeble body.
“What?” Wei said, surprise and offense intermingling. But what was he offended by? He was practically talking to himself here, considering the Shell was just an idealized materialization of his spirit.
“This cannot be all we are,” the Shell continued. “You know this. You cannot accept this. I will not accept this. It is not enough. It will never be enough. We will always want. Always. This is the curse of mastery: for the price of dominance is eternal hunger for perfect, and eternal torment from never reaching that peak.”
The Shell’s words silenced Wei. They came from a place of deep uncomfort nested inside his heart—existed even while he was but a mundane cultivator training desperately to become the future leader of his sect. Nothing he did was enough. Not enough to earn the open praise of his mother; not enough to save her from death; not enough even now.
With a grunt of effort, Wei stepped free from his Shell, and his Source ceased its freefall. He quickly realized why this was. When they were conjoined, his Shell was burning Source to materialize over him in reality. Right now, it existed within him, resting in his spirit and mind, waiting to rise.
It functioned a bit like his Source Catalyst in a sense. Not surprising, considering Augmentation formed the foundations of its creation.
“You still have two Concept Cores to condense. Once you do, your System will be in final alignment, and the Equilibrium will be revealed to you.”
“Equilibrium?” Wei and his Shell asked at once. They both eyed each other before looking back to the Antediluvian.
Asaru let out a soft hiss as another swath of their body turned to dust and decay. Little more than a fourth of the dragon remained now. So much had dissolved in the time it took Wei to look away.
“You are…”
“I am dead,” Asaru said, plainly. “What you see is but a recording of my final moments. Even my spirit remembers the nature of my death, and so you will behold my final indignity—Creator of Systems and Gods bound for dust all the same. And maybe that will be your fate too, someday. Or perhaps you will deny eternity’s will and uphold a rule that transcends limits. Whatever might follow, it is up to you now. You and my final System.”
Asaru looked to his pyramid—the vault hidden within Earth and let out a chortle. “And our time is at an end. I knew you so briefly, and you know me not at all. A shame. I would have enjoyed seeing what the youthful create, what you might decide. But I am tired enough.”
“Great dragon, please, I do not mean to interrupt but—”
“You have Conceptual Modularity now.” Asaru’s words were a statement.
“I… yes?”
“Good. Break something. And study the pieces. Put them together. Use them to build your… Aspects… Concepts. You cannot create. That is not your gift. But you can piece what has already been made… you can take that which is broken for your own… use this. Use this against your siblings should they stray, and know the architecture that is existence… if you…”
Asaru sagged. Not only was the dragon withering away, they were dimming as well. It was like all the power and vitality was shriveling out from them, and Wei struggled to bear the sight. The idea of something so powerful, something capable of crafting stars and deciding fate, was to greet a hopeless end shook him.
“It is well. Our stories are all different. And the same goes for our fates. Yours has yet to conclude, and whoever you choose to be, know that… know that…” The dragon paused. “There are some things worse than non-existence. Understand this. There are some immortalities that I would never wish you or any other being to suffer. Guard the vault. Spare them… a misguided fate… Of this, I can only…”
But Asaru’s words came no more, as parts of their face began to crumble inwards as well. The remaining length of the once-grand creature coiled as if nothing more than a common worm exposed to the sun and soon for death. But rather than folding in on themselves, Asaru straightened their body and rose. Rose high into the expanse of the Fathoms, the canvas they helped make. Rose into the dark as decay finally claimed its final due.
The dragon, once greater than stars and worlds alike, peeled away into nothing upon nothing, and the sentimentality within that visual statement was not lost upon Wei. And neither was the coldness of fear that gripped him.
“Even in the end, did they choose to mark realms with their own meaning. Such is a victory in of itself, though not one we can desire.” Wei turned as his Shell spoke. Around them, the darkness and light collapsed, receding like tidal waves returning from the horizon to a common source.
“I—”
“They have said their due. We have been entrusted with a final will and gifted greater power. But it is our blessing to decide what we wish to do. The Creator is gone. Only we and the other Systems remain. We. You, my miserable origin, and me, your shackled idealization.” The Shell sighed, radiating disappointment as the liminal space that held them broke apart. “But I suppose I will fashion something out of you yet. We do have a world to conquer, after all, and a vault to claim.”
Then everything was darkness, then white, then the room in the Third Rib once more. Wei blinked as he found himself laying against the cool wooden floorboards at the base of his bed. The sheer whirlwind of events he just experienced left him feeling unbalanced. Did all that happen or was he—
Before Wei could check his System, a sharp point of pain pierced his leg and sent him scrambling up to his feet with a yelp. The young master turned and summoned his Broken Crescent. He surged in the direction of the attack with a thrust.
Only to have his strike contemptuously parried aside by three monochromatic spears attached to jiggling chains. A flash of motion exploded across Wei’s vision. Two pitch-black claws ended an inch before his eyes. He found himself staring down his Shell’s armored gauntlet. “How unprepared you are. How you enjoy spending your time blinking and gawking like a fish.”
The young master’s jaw dropped as he almost sputtered, bereft of a proper response.
“Just like that. Close your mouth, fool.”
Then, the Shell backhanded him across the face. Wei’s head snapped back—though his Source didn’t drop at all. Still, a sting of pain flashed across his cheek as he almost toppled over his body. “What—damn—why are you—” His final words left as a pitched shriek of purest agony as his Shell snaked two Sourcespears down to the floor before driving them up through Wei’s groin.
Comments
Jeremy Russell
That escalated quickly 0.o
LtDan
This might be a humbling experience for Wei
