Zogarth
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Chapter 1047 - One Final Lesson
🕑 Added 2025-01-06 12:09:28 +0000 UTCText
It became clear rather swiftly that they still had time for the First Sage to give Jake a final opportunity, as he was only unconscious for about half a minute before his eyes opened once more. He raised his head slowly and met the eyes of the First Sage.
“Willingly knocking yourself out and remaining knocked out to better accommodate the influx of knowledge and Records is quite the novel strategy,” the First Sage spoke in his usual calm tone as his gaze hinted he was at least somewhat impressed.
“Yeah... seemed to be the best response,” Jake said with a nod, still not entirely clear-headed. He’d wanted to get as much knowledge out of the drop of blood as humanly possible, to the level of nearly harming his own soul. It had been pushed right to the limit before Jake had – as the First Sage said – allowed himself to be knocked out.
Once knocked out, the Records and knowledge he’d absorbed would have time to settle in his unconscious mind without Jake having to suffer through the experience. Jake had, for all intents and purposes, deterred absorbing some of the knowledge after absorbing it, getting him a more than satisfactory result as he’d just gained his very first mythical rarity Legacy skill from the Viper.
This upgrade did feel very weird, though. Normally, when Jake upgraded his Legacy skills, he had a plan for how he wanted to upgrade it, but this time around, he really didn’t. Sure, he had some thoughts before entering this vision about how he could potentially upgrade the skill in the future, and the connection it had to the First Sage had also strafed his mind, but nothing had been concrete.
That’s also why the influx of knowledge was so damn extreme this time around. The First Sage had simply unlocked the Records and knowledge already sealed within the drop of blood in Jake’s Soulspace and allowed him to freely bathe in it while absorbing as much as he could.
The result of this was a skill upgrade Jake would take quite a while to digest. Sagacity was innately a skill related to knowledge, so for Jake to get full benefits, he would have to spend way too long sitting and trying to find every little new thing he now suddenly knew...
... or more realistically, never do that and instead only realize how wise he now was when he used Identify and randomly got information he hadn’t expected to get.
Anyhow, Jake could still check out the updated description to see some of the actually tangible gains. The first thing he noticed was that despite becoming mythical, the skill still only gave 9 stats per level. Jake would lie if he said he hadn’t hoped for more, but then again, he knew there had to be some kind of limit to how many extra stats he could get.
Despite the First Sage sitting across from him seemingly proving the opposite, the system did tend to have a sense of wanting to maintain balance. Yeah, Jake should just be happy he got nine extra stats, as that was already quite overpowered.
The second benefit from the upgraded Sagacity Jake instantly saw was that he would now gain stat effectiveness bonuses even when crafting stuff he didn’t have a specific skill for. A pleasant surprise for sure, and one that would no doubt benefit Jake in ways he hadn’t even quite yet realized. It also meant that he was now more incentivized to broaden his scope of crafting a bit more.
Third was a benefit Jake hadn’t even thought about, but should really have considered: the ability to manipulate displayed Records of crafted items. Jake knew that Villy was able to change descriptions to fool people – such as the time he made a party of adventurers drink poison they thought were health potions – but he hadn’t known if that was related to his Legacy.
In retrospect, this really shouldn’t have come as a surprise. In the arts of poisoneering, being able to change descriptions and hide something’s toxic nature was pretty standard. Many were even offered skills to hide the poison as far back as F-grade, even if Jake had never seen a skill or an upgrade to a skill allowing him to do it.
This was likely because Jake wasn’t keen on hiding his poison. He instead focused on just making the most potent concoction possible for maximum damage, and rather than fool an opponent into drinking spiked tea, he would rather just throw the poisoned tea cup in someone’s face to get the fight started. In the simplest terms... hiding his poison was toxic just wasn’t really a part of Jake’s Path.
The upgraded Sagacity was far more than just hiding information on poisons, though. It allowed him to change the display information on all things he crafted, be they potions, poisons, or anything else. However, while the skill clearly stated Jake could freely modify and change the displayed information, he instinctively knew there were some limitations.
Not to say it was a lie; Jake could freely change the descriptions, just that the more he changed something, the easier it became to see through by others. If Jake wanted to change a health potion to display that it was actually a “potion of instant-godhood,” even an F-grade who’d just gotten the Identify skill would be able to see through his bullshit.
Hiding that a potion was actually a poison... now that was a lot simpler as both were liquids interacting with the health pool. Of course, Jake would have to do a lot more experimentation to truly grasp the full effects of changing Identify descriptions. He did have quite a few ideas, though... including how to maybe hide that any Grimoire he made was a bit too much on the heretical side.
Anyhow, the final change to the skill outside of everything just getting better was the “Knowledge further increases Records infused when crafting” sections. At first, this didn’t really read like much, but Jake instantly knew that out of everything... this was perhaps the most important aspect of the upgrade and what truly made it worthy of being considered a mythical rarity skill.
If Jake understood this aspect of the skill correctly, it was effectively an amplifier to every single thing Jake crafted. One that scaled with how familiar he became with a crafting process and a product – something that naturally already resulted in a better outcome. It would mean that Jake double-dipped in getting better at crafting stuff by getting an extra little bonus from Sagacity when doing everything. Now, the actual bonus could be utterly dogshit, but it was still the kind of effect that was just a pure passive bonus, and if Jake knew one thing, it was that passive bonuses tended to be pretty damn overpowered when stacked enough.
Having mentally gone over the most important aspects of the skill upgrade, Jake also felt his head be a lot clearer. He knew he still had a lot to explore, but for now, he didn’t want to waste the time he had remaining with the First Sage by experimenting. There would be plenty of time for that when not in a vision of Records from the past.
The First Sage also noticed that Jake seemed more clear-headed as he continued speaking.
“Integrating too much knowledge at once can also prove harmful, especially if you cannot digest it all properly,” the man spoke as he tapped a finger on the table. “Your soul got quite strained during that process... disappointingly so.”
Jake was about to say something as he stopped himself. “What do you mean?”
“That it’s weaker than I would have expected,” the First Sage shook his head. “More fragile than it should be... not to mention the fact a wound from a broken skill remains. While it isn’t actively harming you right now, the injury will become part of your soul for good if you don’t manage to fix it quick enough, leaving a permanent scar.”
Without thinking, Jake reached up and touched the small scar he still had on his neck from the fight with the Sword Saint during the Treasure Hunt, something the old man obviously noticed.
“Such a scar isn’t a problem. It’s more a reminder of your Path and an entirely self-imposed one. I don’t feel that it’s a scar left from regret, so it shouldn’t become anything that haunts and hurts your Records,” the First Sage shook his head.
Jake slowly nodded his head, already kind of aware but still happy for the confirmation. “What do you mean when you say my soul is weaker and more fragile than you expected? I know it’s wounded, but as you said, that shouldn’t be actively weakening it.”
If there was one thing that Jake tended to be pretty damn confident in, it was the power of his soul, which was why he found the First Sage’s words so confusing. Because of his soul, he had managed to tame Eternal Hunger and sealed a cursed creature more than capable of wiping out the entire solar system with ease within his Soulspace. Not to mention all the other stuff he had done.
Shit, even the drop of blood he’d just used to get his skill upgrade was proof of his soul’s power. He had defeated his own scaly version when he absorbed it and avoided getting overwhelmed by the Records of the Viper. Jake had even gone as far as to enter the Soulspace of someone else to help the Demon Prince. There, he had been so much more powerful than even a pinnacle genius similar to his own level... so how the hell was Jake’s soul weak when it was evidently far more powerful than even other peak figures of his own level?
“I can see that you’re skeptical about what I said,” the First Sage smiled. “Don’t get me wrong, your soul is incredibly powerful. It’s on another qualitative level compared to other C-grades your level, no doubt as a consequence of your Bloodline. I can even detect that you integrated some aspects of a cloned soul of yourself... a simulacrum created by the system, I expect. Not even going to ask about that one. My point is that you have a massive innate advantage, which is why I find it so disappointing.”
“Still not sure why that would be disappointing,” Jake said with pure confusion. “Sure, you can argue it isn’t earned, but not like I can do anything about it. I just used the advantages I had.”
“But that’s all you did,” the First Sage said, shaking his head as he leaned back. “Originally, I wanted to end this exchange of Records here. However, after seeing what I just did, I have decided to give you an opportunity. Rather than explaining, I will show you my disappointment and make you understand.”
“How?” Jake asked, slightly unable to hide his excitement and not really at all offended anymore. In truth, getting a skill upgraded to Mythical already made it worth spending five charges of Path of the Heretic-Chosen... but Jake wasn’t going to say no to more.
“You have such confidence in the power of your soul. In your Soulspace. So that is where this lesson shall be taught. I will give you the opportunity to absorb some of my Records. You have experienced having a manifested soul image with your Soulspace before, correct?”
“Yeah, a few times, and I kind of have one in there right now,” Jake nodded as the shadowy version of himself representing Eternal Hunger was in there. “But... not gonna lie, not sure I’m keen in trying to absorb some of your Records directly. Not after seeing what happened to that Void Dweller.”
“That apprehension is part of the problem,” the First Sage sighed loudly, shaking his head. “No matter. Explaining will only waste whatever precious time we have left. So, tell me, do you wish to take this risk?”
“What exactly are the risks?” Jake asked, not entirely sure what the First Sage was going to do. Absorbing Records could risk one losing themselves and turning into something else than they were before, such as what had nearly happened to the Demon Prince, but Jake felt that wasn’t what the First Sage was getting at when he spoke of risks.
“Yes or no,” the First Sage simply said, looking Jake in the eyes.
Jake understood then that the “test” had already begun. He considered for a while before ultimately concluding that the First Sage shouldn’t want to harm Jake, at least not purposefully.
While he was filled with questions, there were a few things Jake was confident about. One of them was that the First Sage cared about Villy, and with that assumption, he shouldn’t want to hurt Villy’s friend, right?
It was evident Jake could still end up worse off... but ultimately, nothing ventured nothing gained. The First Sage was dangerous as fuck, no two ways about it, but that also made any benefits Jake could get from him all the more valuable.
“Yes,” Jake just said, having resolved himself.
“Very well,” the First Sage said as he held out a hand. One of the books flew out from a shelf and landed in his hand, and for a moment, it glowed with energy as the First Sage set it down on the table.
“This book shall be the vessel in which I infuse my Records. You will have a final choice to absorb it, or not once I’m done, but know that should you not, everything will end shortly. There also won’t be much time to absorb it, as when I’m done infusing it, the world created by my Records in this vision will begin to crumble,” the First Sage explained.
Jake nodded, the First Sage placing his palm on the book which didn’t even have a cover or a title. “Then let us not waste time no longer. Prepare yourself.”
With his palm on top of the book, the First Sage spoke some words Jake couldn’t hear as his entire body started to glow. He looked at Jake a final time before he began to slump over...
Dead.
Jake didn’t have time to process much. The instant the First Sage died, the entire world began to crumble around them, and Jake felt that the vision was indeed soon coming to an end.
Without any hesitation, he reached out and grabbed the book, furiously absorbing all the energy from it. A process that proved effortless, as the moment Jake took the book in his hands and actively willed to absorb it, the book began to glow as it blew up into glowing pages that spun around Jake and entered his body. Everything happened in mere moments, and from within his Soulspace, Jake felt something appear as he closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, he found himself standing on the gray ground of his Soulspace, a sky of arcane energy far above. Directly in front of him, spinning glowing pages had appeared. They whirled around before gathering in a single spot and forming the outline of a humanoid figure.
A second and a flash of light later, the First Sage stood in front of Jake within his Soulspace. The moment he did, Jake saw the shadowy version of himself wake up and look toward the two of them, with even the drop of blood from Villy having a reaction.
Jake looked at the man with wide eyes as a faint tinge of doubt entered his mind as he asked himself if he had perhaps fucked up allowing such an entity into his Soulspace.
“Let us begin the final lesson,” the First Sage spoke in his usual casual tone as he lifted a foot slightly off the ground. “First task...”
He slammed his foot into the ground within Jake’s Soulspace, and the moment he did, Jake felt as if the entire world had been compressed. The sky above drew closer as Jake’s field of vision narrowed, and he felt he was getting crushed within his own soul as the voice of the First Sage echoed from everywhere, yet nowhere.
“Survive.”
Comments
JJB4345_80_815
Thank you Zogarth! Friendly possible edit: Quote: Jake nodded, the First Sage placing his palm on the book which didn’t even have a cover or a title. “Then let us no waste time no longer. Prepare yourself.” [/Quote] no waste time no longer ==> not waste time any longer
Rachel Clements
TYFTC!
Trumangolorian
TYFTC, time for Jake to get some private tutoring by the first sage.
Chase Burton
Tftc!
Chloe
Love it. Tyftc
Stuart McCabe
TFTC "deterred absorbing some of the knowledge after absorbing it," should be deferred and maybe change the first "absorbing" to "assimilating" since the sentence is kind of confused as is
Frédéric Cantin
Tyftc
Corvid
First test: Parry this you filthy casual
Nathan's Gambit
And the biggest question of all is what will he do to fuck if up and make Villy laugh at him?
Ty Cooper
Make it so he can dominate the soul flame. If not a supreme quality soul flame mught give him some trouble
Ty Cooper
I think he already figured Jake out and spoke his disappointment to kick his bloodline into gear. Insulting him and his abilities to trigger a reaction he needed.
Timothy Reichert
Just considered this but I can’t wait till Villy sees Jake after this and gets surprised. Also the First sage being happy/ disappointed about Jake having to knock himself out suggests that there was a better way. A way that’s I think is about to be beat into him.
AsuraFalling
Zog has a cliff fetish.
Aaditya Ravindran
I hadn't realized how comforting a new chapter would be. Welcome back! Hope Zogarth and his fans had a great few holidays.
Rezkin
Yeah
kingofshibainu
Somehow the sage is 'alive' in the records of the system. Like a ghost in the system. This lesson is connected to his origin, which looks to have something to do with the soul and it's relationship to... Everything, particularly records. What will Jake learn? How to weaponize his soul? Recover from the doubt he's having/learn confidence? Will this lesson manifest as a skill? What impact, if any, will this have on his future soul flame?
Danny Bagley
Because Jake had a super strong soul from the getgo, he hasn't worked on strengthening it, which is the disappointment the sage has.
Azayrian105
I think the skill might heal soon… maybe we will get a refreshed palate.
Outa_Harms_Way .
It seems like Zogarth loves cliffhangers so much that he just names the chapters by what happens next time🤣, TFTC!
Beemoss
Tftc and welcome back
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
brjenness
sorry. didn't realize I was singing out loud .
Nathan's Gambit
Welcome back everyone
Ty Cooper
Rereading it, it is a lesson. He felt the hesitation that bothered Jake after messing up his skill. The confidence was waning and the FS is setting him straight and gain some in the process.
Obsidian Falcon
My hypothesis is that the first sage is seeing the growing disappointment that Jake has had in himself since he overconfidently tried to force an upgrade for pallet. That resulting in him damaging his own soul and then losing the falling king. This test is to push Jake, his soul, and his bloodline to push out any doubt that currently dwells in him. Pushing him to the horizon (intended)
Rewdan
That’s what I’m thinking too, it’s about to get serious. Jake learns better by doing and this is a lesson that is going to push Jake to a new level
C0bra$
Thank u for the story
Clint
Yep. Plus all the talk about whether sim-Jake could end up replacing real Jake was plenty of advanced warning that such a thing is possible. So it’s definitely fair game. Could be FS’s plan to survive long-term without having to create a trillion years of perfect memories?? Or it could just be another really OP upgrade for Jake.
John
Happy New Year everyone! Good to be back reading.
11037
First Villy, then the Void dweller, and now Jake. It seems dying and then trolling people afterward is the First Sage's signature move.
Endern
I guess it's time for some soul training. Maybe even upgrading Anomalous Soul of the Heretic-Chosen.
Greyson Wallace
fire chapter bro
ABTelford
Woohoo! I’m looking forward to the lesson in humility Jake’s gonna get tomorrow!
Arkenian
"Jake had, for all intents and purposes, deterred absorbing" should be deferred with f
joel southard
Nice thank you for the chapter.
itsdlow
Typo: “Then let us no waste time no longer. Prepare yourself.” - remove 1st no TFTC
Jose Reyna
TFTC!!!!
Andrew Casey
We missed you! Welcome back from your holiday break, Z!
Alejandro Piña
Oh, this is the stuff… I’ve been craving for a fix this past 2 weeks TFTC and happy new year.
Matthias
Tftc
SinCinnamon
Jake should definitely make a grimoire for Adam. His nephew could become the Heretic-Chosen of Umbra.
Blackbriar
Great way to return from winter break. Thanks!
Seamus Harley
Possibly, I always felt the system was a transcendence of some super god like the Holy land
ForgotPants
Maybe even birthing the system itself?
Austin Barton
We are back baby
JJB4345_80_815
Yes, thank you for the chappy Zogarth!
Benjamin Mukasa
Anybody else hear eye of the tiger? This is great but can't wait for the next big bad
Seamus Harley
I feel as though the first sage will eventually turn out to be some entity that was responsible for all the primordials
Klown Keidra
I don't think he is trying to heal Jake's soul, but show him how strong his soul truely could be if he utilized it, or his bloodline's affects on it, to the fullest.
Seamus Harley
That is a fantastic theory, he was haunted by his bloodline, no more bloodline so he may as well come back to life.
Bruce Sheplan
I hadnt thought of it that way but it makes the most sense
Ty Cooper
I do not see the FS being that selfish. He had Villy kill him because he knew he had to die for him to ascend or any of the primordial maybe. Also the FS obviously had one step to a redonkulous levelor something similar. Who knows he could upgrade something like that also.
Ty Cooper
Right, all the questions
Trevor Mergen
Thanks!
Davey876
I'm getting vibes that it wouldn't be a good thing for Jake if the first sage is in his soul space. The first sage could overwhelm Jake with records the same as his stomach skill did.
Davey876
Maybe it wasn't to heal Jake's soul but heal his own. Is he trying to come back to life now that villy has his bloodline that means he doesn't? It's definitely the transcendent skill. Good catch on that one
SetherAedekae
Welcome back, and thanks for the chapter
Ty Cooper
I thought the FS was disappointed because his soul was injured that the Sage was disappointed
Daniel Hamilton
Time for has sold be forged in the crucible. Let’s do this.
Ty Cooper
So did the first Sage plant a piece of himself into Jake's soul to then use his SURVIVE Transcendent to heal Jake's soul? The same survive he did vs the void dweller.
Dalton Service
He literally told us that he enjoys doing that... 😔
P enyuk
starting a new year off with only the strongest cliches, eh?
BumAssBumAss
First Sage could be implying that because of Jake's danger sense, he doesn't push his soul past it's limits and grow it even further. Jake is eventually come to a wall and it'll be very tall. All geniuses do. First sage is introducing this early which could help Jake get past a wall he will encounter in the future.
Tommy
Soul enhancement time! IMO His soul is big but flimsy. Time to crank up the durability on this thing TFTC
Beezy
Yeah skill is a good word there. especially when we consider the one soul skill he has is basically just him slamming his soul against someone else’s and praying his is harder
Justus Saucedo
I think so. From how it read, he was disappointed in how little skill Jake had in using his soul even more so since it's such a strong part of Jake
KenTX325
I like it. A big plot change is a good thing when in a long story like this.
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
Rewdan
Thanks Zogarth I’m looking forward to Jake’s training session tomorrow
Bruce Sheplan
So, is jake going to get another resident to his soulspace? Sim-Sage? not gonna lie it’s gonna be kind of cool for Villy to be able to visit his friend and Jake’s soul space Also I wonder if the FS is aware of jakes ‘jake juice’ maybe that will play into what happens next…
Andromeda Adams
Dang! Come on Jake! Tyftc!
James Faulkner
Seems like Jake’s been skating by when it comes to his soul, time for a training montage!
Christopher Robin Sævre
Jakes gonna Get rolled
Xander Cadence
What a banger!!
Beezy
is his disappointment because Jake hasn’t actively developed / harnessed his soul? he’s always just treated it as a passive boost and only really has one skill that uses that? maybe he wants him to be more like the King, who could actively wield his soul
Lawrence Dillon
Its alive!
Clint
Tftc. “deterred absorbing… absorbing” — I think you mean deferred. And maybe a different word for one of the absorbs? FS is scary — is he going to have an ongoing presence in Jake’s soul after the vision is over? Or just for a short training montage? Can’t wait to see how much more Jake could be doing with his OP soul and soul space.
Borbino the great
I think this is going to force his bloodline to evolve it’s definitely going to eat some of the sages records and maybe gain some of the sages bloodline? I know that thing has other freaky stuff besides just a great memory that could be good
Kt-x
Oooh! I've been waiting for this! 😁 Thanks for the chapter!
Zogarth
Fix
Justin Moen
Ahh!!! We back baby!! Fresh high for all addicts!
Ben Maes
No no, I definitely was.
SmokeJam
Well the skill description nerds will definitely have a wet spot in their pants after this chapter.
Victor Desantiago
Holy crap this gives me flashbacks to “Drunken Master “ when Jackie Chan meets the old man
SilverSentry
"..can also prove harmful, especially if you cannot digest it all properly,” the man spoke as he tabbed a finger on the table." Tapped on the table. Thanks for the chapter.
A. B. Edwards
Finally Jake is back. Now I wonder what the Sage will show us, of course more Trancedant Skills. But compressing the soul, guess he will up the density to some insane degree or something.
Zachar Holma
Tftc, and happy new year!
Eiv
Welcome back. TFTC!!!
Joseph Dizdar
I can’t wait. It's like the melee training with Sim Jake all over again, but training with Soul stuff. Like his melee skills, which relied heavily on his innate instincts, but he didn't have any actual skill involved in his strikes. His soul has always just been strong, but he hasn't actually trained or tried to use it skillfully. He just always used brute force to power through.
Loststar7
Welcome back. Hope you had a great holiday season and I’m sure we’re all looking forward to continuing this madness together. TFTC.
Sailesh Kumar Kumar
TFTC
Daniel Brian
Hell yeah! I was afraid for a moment that he was going to try to take over Jakes body...
Ravert
Zogarth I'm telling you do not think about leave us with this cliffhanger. Or we going to make riot. Tftc
DestroyrBuck
Tabbed has also been used for tapping in the past especially when related to books
NSaaby
Happy newyear
Boffadeez
LETS FUCKING GOOO
Markus Mannik
Tftc
Cory Sauls
Hope you had a great break and kicked ass in PoE2. That game is too much of a time suck for me. Thanks for the chapter! Happy New Year!
Arieh Sochaczevski
Thanks for the chapter! Welcome back.
David W. Baijense
Awesome sauce.
Blaq Jesus
Just finished and still more questions, but great chapter nonetheless
Grant Anderson
Let's go!!!
Lizy Flore
This arc is wild I’m gonna cry when it’s over. I want more FS materials 😭
Staudi
Tyftc Zog! Good to have you back!
Alexander C Hyde
“Integrating too much knowledge at once can also prove harmful, especially if you cannot digest it all properly,” the man spoke as he (tapped)tabbed a finger on the table. “Your soul got quite strained during that process... disappointingly so.”
Christopher Lee
There is no way he leaves us with a massive cliff hanger over Christmas break only to come back and leave us with another massive cliffhanger..... That's just cruel
Furd
Happy new year, and welcome back everyone! Hope you spent your holidays as excited for this as I did 😹
Straat Junon
Old man goes hard. Damn
Ritsu
Now that I think of it, with Villy's blood, Eternal Hunger, even the aura clash with Valdemar, Jake never really struggled when it comes to soul strength, right? Even with the Palate debacle, that was more a Records loss than a soul one. Now that the First Sage is giving him this lesson, he's gonna push his soul quality to an even more bonkers level.
Quark Eiweis
TFTC, Happy new year everyone and zog
Paulo Furlaneto
Tftc
Connor
Thanks for the chaoter
Rose angel
HYPEEEEE
Hayden Leech
Eeeeee!!
TyranT-Rex
Welcome back, we definitely weren't waiting around like addicts.
solomon pagan
Welcome back
Drana :D
Thanks in advance I need to know the reward
Lizy Flore
We are sooo BACK! Love and many thanks ❤️
Jelani Willock
WELCOME BACK
BumAssBumAss
Thanks for the chapter and welcome back.
