Stygon
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Chapter 149
🕑 Added 2025-07-09 16:44:54 +0000 UTCIt’d taken some time, but he eventually figured a way to shrink himself. He couldn’t exactly fill his organs with faith, but he could line them with it. During the time moving the faith around his body, he felt a perpetual low-level pain from the faith repeatedly cutting into him, then the wounds rehealing.
He lined the outside of his respiratory and gastrointestinal systems with a porous layer of faith, essentially creating thousands of tiny chokepoints for blood to go in and out of. Even for his improved mind, doing so took quite a while because he needed to manually reroute everything to work around the layer of faith.
Aside from that, he also lined one of his hands with faith, right underneath the top layer of skin. Just to see if it would yield any kind of benefit from blocking, attacking or something else. Specifically, it was the hand that Perumah was attached to in order to see if there was any difference in the blood that she received.
The last place he stored his faith, or attempted to, was with his Connection, lining it with small pieces very, very slowly.
When lining his organs with faith, it seemed to take on far more physical properties, cutting into his body. When he started using Connection as an anchor point though, the faith leaned more into its intangible properties, slipping his grasp continuously. It didn’t help that Connection was thinner than a capillary, thus making it more difficult for him to wield the faith dexterously enough.
Still, he tried. It would take a long time, but using Connection as an anchor seemed to take a lot of the strain off his body, bringing the faith closer to its natural state. So, starting at his Potential node, he worked his way down, slowly drawing faith away from everywhere else in his body to bring it into a more sustainable state.
With the rate he worked, it’d take weeks or months to complete the process though, so he’d have to work with his half-assed method until then.
With the ball of faith now spread out more evenly along his body, it was far more manageable, not pressing into any one organ too heavily, allowing him to slowly begin the process of shrinking, adjusting the shape of the faith all the way.
It was shocking how much faith Dei was able to store in himself when it wasn’t all centralized. He didn’t make it back down to his normal size, but at thirteen feet tall, he was more reasonable. Not a kaiju any longer, but still notable.
He wasn’t the only large species though, so he didn’t stand out too much. He saw one species that looked close to a lizard-kin, but they were all a few feet taller than him.
He still sat outside the city though, as he’d just finished shrinking himself as much as he was ever going to. It’d taken the rest of the day, so dusk was approaching now, but he was unconcerned.
Iten sat near him with his eyes closed, seemingly meditating. When Dei started to move, Iten also stood up.
“Your clothing and information arrived by the way,” he said, throwing a ring to Dei.
It was, of course, a storage ring. Until Dei’s Skill cleared up, he’d be borrowing this item temporarily. It couldn’t hold that much though, so all it had in it was a folded set of clothing, a folder of papers, and a small booklet.
It was some kind of jacket with the materials taking on the exact properties and look of his Praerel leather, covered in pale prehistoric-looking quills and all.
Pulling it out and looking at it, he realized he could probably identify it, as it looked like it was made of real leather.
[Everlasting Beastware of the Slaughterer - Historic
A piece of clothing made of monster leather specifically for a wandering Slaughterer who wished to never lose his decency in the heat of combat again. Enchanted with spatial pockets that hold extra material, this piece will adjust to the wearer's shape and size, no matter how large or small. Should the store of leather be fully exhausted, a self-repair enchantment will create more until the required amount is produced. Slowly attunes itself to the wearers will, adjusting to know when to cover a part of the wearers skin, and when to allow certain parts to remain free (such as shapeshifted tentacles not being covered, or claws not being sheathed)]
He nodded in appreciation. It was a good piece, especially if the Historic tag was anything to go by.
Quickly donning it, he shapeshifted back into his normal self, flashbanging Iten without warning for half a second when he was suddenly a naked man. After that half-second though, the beastware rapidly spread itself across his entire body.
Literally. From head to toe, he was encased in a coffin of leather.
Annoyed, he tore off the part of it covering his head. When it slowly grew back again, he tore that off too, and it stopped.
Next he freed his hands, wanted for them to grow back, then freed them again, repeating the process with his feet. He’d rather be barefoot than wear some massive onesie.
‘I see now why it’s enchanted to slowly attune itself to my will. It would be incredibly annoying if I had to tear it apart any time I wanted to escape my own clothing.’
Next, he went into the ring and pulled out the packet of information. It contained the list of locations to visit, and was enchanted to give him a sense of spatial coordinates that he could focus on with his Void affinity that would let him teleport to them.
Normally, these locations were reserved decades or centuries in advance with a massive line, but Dei was going to skip all of that with his divine permission.
The next thing in the packet was fairly simple, a list of what the different tiers meant, such as Common, Uncommon, etc.
The last thing in the ring was a small booklet, but he’d leave that in there for now.
Putting the files away again, he looked at Iten who suppressed a look of incredulity, likely from the whole indecency thing. “Hey, am I allowed in the city proper now?”
“Of course, just… don’t go flashing people please?”
Dei laughed, “Got it.”
Walking off the landing pad they’d directed him, he joined the throng of people moving in and out of the capital. The name of the city was simply called Gate, because apparently nobody could agree on a name during its founding.
Dei wanted to experience some genuine magical civilization and potentially relax for a moment before setting out to build his power even further.
*
He was waved through easily enough, and Iten guided him to a particular section of the city that seemed to be home to several of the larger Races so that he wouldn’t stand out as much and could actually enter the different shops.
On his way there, he was surprised to note a few which he even recognized, though he suppressed the urge to stare or flinch. He saw a few things which looked like elementals, and Iten told him were actually Embodiments, like Fendrascora, but in all different shapes.
The next things that took him wildly off guard were, terrifyingly, Arachnotaurs and Grovyns. He recognized these two from the memories of Aloran, as they were the two elite demon-kin that’d actually killed Aloran, as well as his four friends.
He did not stare though, they were simply people, and the demon-kin were facsimile copycats of the real things. Not the other way around.
The Grovyn was certainly one of the odder sapient races though, a tangle of vines in the middle walking around on extensions of that core, it didn’t even remotely resemble a person. He saw several of them though, as they were on the larger side and thus in the same part of the city he was in.
The people around him were varied, but not all were equally common. He saw a good twenty percent of the population in this section of the city were that same brand of giant lizard-kin he’d seen before, those that were a few feet taller than him. He didn’t want to Identify them out of courtesy and was soon going to ask Iten what they were, but he noticed he didn’t actually need to identify them. Many of them had very strong Presences, broadcasting large pieces of themselves. He got a response from Identify without ever even digging into their souls.
[Draconic-Descendent]
The broadcasted sections didn’t provide levels, descriptions, or anything of substance, but it didn’t really need to. Dei knew what this kind of Race likely was, and it seemed these people were confident that everyone else was too.
Sun-Spawn were those that followed in the footsteps of Dragons, similar to how Reapers were those following Leviathans. These, however, didn’t seem to actually take a step down the official path. They just had dragon ancestors, likely between a dragon and a mortal
It was odd how he saw so many of them, but he noticed not every giant reptile-person was a Draconic-Descendent that broadcasted their identity as some kind of reputation booster. Only around five percent or so were Draconic-Descendents, but that was still a massive portion of the population.
‘Perhaps not every Race of Primordial Children are the same? Maybe Dragons are very active among the mortal population… cause I’m not seeing any Leviathan-Descendents.’
He put it out of his mind for now. Everything looked fancy and magical, so he found a restaurant to sit down in and went in. The person who greeted him and guided him to his seat was some large half-snake gorgon looking person. Sitting down at one of the booths, he was seated in a section that had one side raised much higher than the other. It seemed to be specifically for when one of the larger races met with one of the smaller ones, so that the smaller race wouldn’t have to get a booster chair.
He let Iten order for them, as Dei didn’t know anything about the local cuisine. Iten was also going to pay for it all, as part of his deal to guide Dei, so Dei didn’t actually have to worry about the price.
“Just get us one of everything fit for mammalian, under-earth, or spiritual palettes. My business partner here is from out of town, and wants to see what it’s all like,” Iten said, trying to subtly inform the waitress that they were not dating. Dei almost laughed at the man's discomfort but kept quiet.
The waitress, a large blue angel-winged woman, looked curiously at Dei, who was about to shrug when Perumah whispered into his mind, so Dei also added “Get something for carnivorous plants as well, if there’s anything on the menu for that.”
“What species?” she asked, brow scrunched in confusion as she didn’t know who he was ordering for.
Dei held his hand palm-up, showing a near-flat nub and letting Perumah extend to her full length. “A Flesh Trap.”
The waitress shook her head, “Never heard of it, but I’ll tell the head chef and see what he says.”
When she walked away, Dei wasted no time pulling out the little booklet he’d bought before. He’d wanted to read it for a while, but he couldn’t just read it anywhere. This was no ordinary booklet, and he couldn’t treat it as such!
Looking at the cover he saw that it was simply brown and unadorned, supposedly to be as unassuming as possible. It was hardly nine pages long, and that was with the pages being very small.
Opening to the first page, he finally saw the title.
“The Twelve Fragments of Three.”
Along with a list of places to visit and what the different rarity tiers meant, Dei had asked for any information he could get on the different Skills of the Primordial Children. He was almost positive he was getting close to becoming a Reaper, and he had a feeling it would draw others from the paths to him as well. He might as well learn more about them preemptively.
The response he’d gotten was a resounding no. The Primordial Children did not like having their abilities broadcasted to the world, and apparently Aloran had done him a favor by telling him the other three Leviathan Skills when he’d still only had Connection.
Still, they promised to check in with the Primordial Children’s churches to see if Dei could get permission, and he supposed they had. Likely because of the events of earlier that day, when the four descended upon him.
There was no table of contents, nor was there any author listed. There weren’t even any chapter headers, it just jumped right in.
“Each Primordial Child is born with a Skill called their Right, as it is their birthright passed down to them by their ancestors. Each birthright of the Primordial Children can be earned by mortal races, however they can only be learned in fragments, and The Right of The Mother cannot be learned. Each right has four fragments to it, meaning that there are twelve total fragments once we exclude The Mother from the four races of Primordial Children.
The most well known race of Primordial Children are the Dragons, as they are the owners of the Physical Realm, where the majority of Gods ascend due to its roots in recurring causality inflating its population heavily over the other Realms. The Right of the Dragon is fragmented into: Incinerate, Pressure, Power, and Authority. The Skills Pressure and Authority share no connection to their affinity counterparts of the same name.
Incinerate is the front of the Right of the Dragon, it is what everyone calls Dragonfire, and holds an unquenchable hunger to consume all. Any fire fuelled with Incinerate will burn all, including intangible concepts such as space and time. Anything destroyed by Incinerate is no more. Incinerate does not need to be attached to fire though, nor does it have to destroy. It has been used by healers before to excise diseases, or even to create things by excising the idea of nothing. It can make Null mana by burning away all affinity within something, and even an unregisterable mana type called [ ] mana by the System when a person's rights are burned away as well. Incinerate is the only known way to create [ ] mana. Incinerate can be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Dragons.
Pressure involves exerting force upon something, be it spiritual or literal. It is the guiding hand of Right of the Dragon, allowing them to physically control all the concepts that Pressure touches, even changing it depending on where and how one exerts pressure. There have been cases of Pressure users changing their own affinities by pushing them upwards or downwards upon the affinity tree. They are capable of pushing their Skills further, creating EXP from nothing, or launching impossibly powerful attacks using Pressure alone. Pressure can be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Dragons.
Power is the base of Right of the Dragon. It has little to do with strength, and most to do with powering the rest of the Right as an energy source. It involves producing a near infinite energy that has adverse effects on most life, and interacts strangely with all other energy sources. Power cannot be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Dragons.
Authority involves their commandment of the Physical Realm, and is what roots them here rather, letting them exist without being forced into the Divine Realm. Authority cannot be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of dragons.
Titans are the shapers of all magic, though the most elusive of the four. They rarely appear, and frequently leave no mark upon the world at all. What they do in their free time is widely debated, though those who have met them before claim they are utterly insane, and cannot be reasoned with. Most mortals should avoid meeting them. Right of the Titan is fragmented into: Grand, Confluence, Shape, and Deny.
Grand involves embellishment and immense improvement upon something in unfathomable ways. It is their eccentrism manifest, it is the insanity imbued into everything they do. Grand is perfection, and only by seeking perfection can it become real. Grand turns dreams and effort into actualization. Grand users frequently use their Skill on themselves, and become more than they were before. Grand users tend to become kings and queens, as their efforts to perfect the world and impose their will upon everything turns them into tyrants, though not always malicious. Grand can be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Titans.
Confluence is the merging of ideas. It is to fuse one with another in a union that is more complicated than the sum of its parts, simply by nature of the effort required for it to function on even the most basic of levels. Confluence users may merge affinities and Skills into something else, leaving the bounds of the System behind as a trail of incomprehension follows them. Confluence users often slowly evolve into a singularity of themselves, merging every aspect of their being to become the most of themself they will ever be. Confluence can be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Titans.
Shape is to bend the nature of mana to one's will. It is to extract the latent affinity of MP and give that chance of all a definition of your own design. It imposes a false life upon reality, and is the most complex of all fragments. Shape cannot be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Titans.
Deny is the very act of their refusal to be defined. It is a step above the Madness affinity, allowing Titans the ability to refuse the nature of the world, as well as the nature of themselves. Deny cannot be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Titans.
Leviathans are the keepers of life. They bring prosperity to places they go, but prosperity and good are not inherently related. They are the final apex predator at the top of the natural food chain, and they know this well. Despite their bestial nature, they are easily the most peaceful of all Primordial Children, as they believe it is their duty as the top life form to protect all beneath them. Dragons are outside the cycle of life, Titans are beyond the bounds of reality, and The Mother is antithetical to peace. Leviathans, on the other hand, carry the chaos of natural ecosystems upon their backs, giving them the nickname The Worlds that Walk. Myth states that a Leviathan is considered juvenile until it forms a working ecosystem upon its back. Right of the Leviathan is fragmented into: Connection, Knowledge, Alter, and Command.
Connection is, not by coincidence, the glue that holds the Right together. Leviathans are firm believers that every life in the world can be connected with every other. Not in the same way that karmic magic does, but in a far more literal sense. Connection is not subtle, it is the spider's web that captures their intended prey. Connection is the rope tying a boat to the pier, the wire around a neck, and the sutures of surgery. It has a visible and literal effect, though what shape that takes is more varied than the myriad life of the multiverse itself. It has been used to draw continents together, whip souls, and cradle life. Connection can be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Leviathans.
Knowledge is a fractal of understanding. It grants the user an unparalleled talent when involved with anything Life or Death derivative, augmenting someone's abilities unnaturally. It grants its user an absolute understanding of everything within the Leviathan’s domain- past, present, and future. Some liken it to a Foresight ability when used in the correct context, but that is an insult to all the Knowledge grants. Though it does not have immediate or visible effects, users of Knowledge find themselves improved in every way, rising above their oblivious counterparts. It removes in-born talent as a factor, turning the user into a prodigy of their own abilities. It has been used to invade the souls of Spirit Emperors without being obliterated, phantomize souls, and rediscover forbidden or lost techniques hidden within abandoned soul shells. Knowledge can be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Leviathans
Alter is the fluid manipulation within the Leviathan’s domain, which shares a heavy overlap with Creation. It is a firm yet gentle touch upon everything, and users of it have stated it contains a sacred air to it. It feels greater than any being should touch, and the Leviathans themselves avoid using it whenever possible out of a sense of duty. If there is any true relic left behind by the Primordial, it is this very fragment. Alter cannot be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Leviathans.
Command is a manifestation of the Leviathan’s ownership of life. It is their key to the prison gate, and their ability to demand anything and everything of all. Command is more than just a Skill for Leviathans, it is their very birthright. It is the kingdom that has belonged to them for simply being themselves. Command cannot be learned by someone who is not already upon the path of Leviathans.
Not much is known about The Mother’s right, but some information can be extrapolated. It is theorized that each fragment is inspired by the roles of the other four children in the divine ecosystem the Primordial Children navigate, so we may be able to predict the Skills of her Interface.
The first ‘type’ of fragment is the Everything fragment. It is generalistic, and applies to any and all situations. For Dragons it is Incinerate, for Titans it is Grand, and for Leviathans it is Connection. The Everything fragment is believed to stem from the Leviathan’s mastery over all creation.
The second type of fragment is the Unnaturalist fragment. Its very nature is to deny the biological limit of existence. For Dragons it is Pressure, for Titans it is Confluence, and for Leviathans it is Knowledge. The Unnaturalist fragment is believed to stem from The Mother and her loathing of the natural order.
The third type of fragment is the Basis fragment. It is the defining piece in the Right of whichever Child holds it, the part which the Child is known for to the wider world through its myriad and undeniable effects. For Dragons it is power, for Titans it is Shape, and for Leviathans it is Alter. The Basis fragment is believed to stem from the Titans and their deep connection to the hidden laws governing the multiverse.
The fourth and final type of fragment is the Dominion fragment. It is the Primordial Child’s will made manifest, imposed upon others. For Dragons it is Authority, for Titans it is Deny, and for Leviathans it is Command. The Dominion fragment is believed to stem from the Dragons and their governance over the Physical Realm, which holds the majority of life within it.
Using this pattern, we can predict that the Right of The Mother has an Everything fragment, something that will apply in all scenarios, an Unnaturalist fragment that assists her in refusing the natural order, a Basis fragment as the defining piece that she is known for, and a Dominion fragment which grants her the total right upon all that fall within her Realm.”
After that, it just… ends. No conclusion. The author simply stops writing.
Dei leans back in his chair, thinking over everything he’s just learned.
Comments
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Edit suggestion: wanted for them -> waited for them everyone else was too. -> everyone else knew too.
Erebus Dread
Man, it must get crazy if you get a titan follower mad at you. Or a Titan.
