Knives & Levels - Chapter 118

The world transformed into a complex blend of colors and strands of threads of Edicts, interweaving and mingling with one another. And it was everywhere, a stunning blend of color and energy that made Colt’s eyes ache and his soul strain even as he forced himself forward through his powers. His eyes were naturally drawn to his friends.

If he didn't know the name of what they had, he wouldn't be able to flag the complex Edicts around them… But he had identified it. With that faint azure trace of cold, Julia came with another thread of an Edict—a surging energy that spent itself with every pulse and hue it brought to the otherwise blue cold of her Edict.

Nate’s soul burned, with faint stars and a deep glowing white heat within it. Forge and Astral Fire—It was hard to see much in Nick, as if the world around him were reflected in fractal shapes. Sarah’s had a recursive effect; every time he glanced at her, he saw a pulse that only grew stronger in his presence with every look. Her Crescendo.

All of these were apparent to him… The rest of the world, though, was harder to decipher. For one, an odd complex string of Edicts radiated from the pool in the center of the statue room. The air itself had a hint of light blue that brought a sense of cold; faded, he supposed, since Julia’s barrier surrounded them. It was hard to tell what he felt and saw with so much around him. And at a glance, he could tell that it would take quite some practice to make this new skill a practical use.

Worse, his eyes started to ache. Not even a minute after using the ability. Colt pulled his soul away from his eyes, and the threads and colors vanished.

He took a deep gulp of air.

I’ll need training.

Still, even for just that much…

———

Edict Sight (Basic) has gained a level!

———

A basic level up, but a welcome one. Even if you weren’t good at something, you had to start somewhere with it. Still, the way he manipulated his soul to bring out the vision was interesting. The power coursing through him, though, when he felt his eyes run with the ability to see the Edicts themselves, was a welcome and warm sensation of wholeness.

Before, he’d felt a loose sensation of the Edicts. He could sense how they intermingled in the room, like he’d just seen. It was like… Feeling something underwater that kept at the edge of your fingertips—different Edicts had different sensations. As did people. The more his soul had increased, the more he’d been able to perceive.

This was a natural extension, even at the start of the Skill.

Colt rubbed at his eyes. And sat still for a while, probing at his achy soul. Then got to considering the tactical aspects of this new skill in a battle. The thought of why he picked it was still strong in his head, even after his first experience. If he knew what a different enemy was using, what kind of Edicts and powers they revolved around and were tossing around, he could apply his own or his friends to more effectively counter them.

Sure, his Inspector could often provide that information, but he suspected it would become more obscure at some point. After all, how did you know what some Edicts did at just a glance? This way, seeing it and getting a feel for it, as he felt its presence in his mind and resonance with his soul and eyes, Colt would hopefully receive a much more realistic interpretation of the dangers they were facing.

Outside of combat?

Well, he was hoping it might be able to rapidly advance his understanding of his own Edicts—or maybe even add more Edicts. Nike had mentioned a soft limit of three, but surely, he could do more with this and his investiture into Soul. 

Either way, as he settled back and considered the implications of the new skill and what it would mean for him in the future, he felt satisfied with his latest pick. Their overall level had been welcome and had invoked a useful expansion of his skill set and abilities. He felt a sense of joy, a sense of happiness that he and his friends would advance and grow.

His peace was disrupted ten minutes later when things started to go wrong.

Without warning, the whole room broke into a violent shake; he splayed out on the ground, a weapon going to his hand as he resisted the urge to stand, lest he fall over. Once it came to a stop, he stood.

“The hell was that?” Sarah asked. 

“Oh, that's not good, " the phantom said from his corner. Leo fell to the ground and covered his head.

“What do you mean?” Colt demanded a response, not ready for whatever fresh hell this was.

"Well, I think maybe the Dean had restraints on the Celestial seed… Now that he’s dead, the magic may have been interrupted, and things around the Academy are coming loose? Over the years, he kept whispering commands about ‘projects’ and ‘containment.’ Now that you guys went and killed the guy…” Leo trailed off and kept his hunched position, as if it were going to help a ghost if the ceiling above them caved in.

Colt looked up. There hadn’t been any shaking since the first, but those words were concerning.

He quickly summoned and flicked his quest Status… And saw an update. Rather, a stealth update, since there was nothing specific to the system, called his attention to it. But now, the time remaining for the quest had been lowered to a mere day—only one single day left when they should have had four to go and train and grind against these phantoms that remained in the halls. And now that had just been stripped from them.

The building shook again, and the phantom continued, "The ghosts aren't too happy. It seems that they are searching the halls for you, and now everything is going to shit. They have no organization, and there’s a collective fear that they can’t get things in hand again.”

There was no longer shaking after that. But Colt looked at the building itself, wondering how the solid stone would hold up against this… Event.

"Do you know where the celestial seed is?” Colt asked.

At this, the phantom gave a small nod and hovered towards the door. "I do know. It's not a big secret, since anytime you go close to that place, your whole incorporeal form begins to break apart, stripped by the celestial energies rampaging down there. I think you need a whole host of spells to stop it, that’s how the dean and his professors went down to check on their ‘experiment,’" But he shrugged, "Knowing where it is and being able to do anything about it are two different things entirely. Do you think you guys are ready to deal with it?"

Colt looked around at his friends, who had barely survived a scuffle with two bosses in this dungeon. No, he did not think they were ready to deal with this, but it seemed that the system, or whatever this place was, had taken that option for him.

It was frustrating in a way, reminded him of when he was a child and things had gone wrong and he got blamed for it—things outside of his control, like when his friends had played baseball and one of them had batted a ball straight into a window. Someone had come out all pissed, accusing them of property damage and wanting to talk to their parents. And then Colt's mom got involved. After she gave the man a tongue-lashing, she took Colt away and told him that he should have lied or run away, abandoning his friends.

That had been the lesson she'd wanted to impress upon him: when things came your way that you deserved or didn't deserve, you should always only take the good things and run away from the bad things.

This was bad; there wasn't anywhere to run but directly at it. Not that he thought her lessons were at all good for his life.

Colt rolled his shoulders and looked at Julia. "Another eight hours," he said to her, and then looked at the phantom. "In eight hours, we'll go with you and track this thing down. We all have twenty-four left, according to the quest. We'll hunt down whatever phantoms we can for bonus levels. But if we only have a day left and that's what our quest is saying, we have a day left..." He looked at his friends to give a confirming glance.

He saw several shocked expressions and nodded as they looked into their quest log. He saw that the remaining time had been updated, which was wonderful. It wasn't just him going crazy but a confirmation from the system themselves that they were fucked.

Colt sighed at that, hoping against all hope that a part of him had wanted to believe that his own status was wrong and that he was just saying things. It was confirmation of the fact that it wasn't wrong—they were screwed.

"Eight hours of rest, and then we have to move. Can we get that, Julia?"

Julia nodded, and then the barrier around her solidified into ice. In this cold environment, it was even more natural than the water. And functioned even better at keeping the cold away.

How?

Colt’s eyes briefly flickered to his Edict sight to track what she’d done. Julia had woven the two of her Edicts together and brought out an interesting property to it. Periodically, the ice surged outward, capturing the chill in the air, then returning it to the ice. Making it stronger while at the same time lowering the ambient chill Edict in the air, which weakened them all. In an odd way, this constant input of Edict made the spell mostly self-sustaining.

Curious, Colt looked at his new Yeti knife. And saw it wasn’t that far away. Cold Edicts radiated outward but also inward. Stealing something from the air is a fascinating thing, too. It was the remains of the Yeti and still contained traces of its Edicts.

Could it be made into an even more effective weapon in the future?

Enough planning for now. You have eight hours.

Colt took a deep breath and settled onto the ground, closing his eyes.  He didn't feel much like sleeping after everything they'd been through, his heart still hammering with their new deadline. He didn't have much choice in the matter—refresh and then deal with the next problem.

It seemed that it had been more of an endurance test in this dungeon than anything else, but for better or worse, they were getting to the last chapter of the experience soon. He only hoped he would be ready for it.

With a focus on his breath as he lay there, he tried to lull his emotional mind to sleep. To ignore the occasional shakes around him from the Academy itself coming undone… And then… He was out.

###

He woke nearly eight hours on the dot. Thanks to some help, since Colt had a phantom yelling in his ear shortly after. It had been a struggle to get any sleep, with the entire place around him suddenly rocking and shaking in the midst of what he could only describe as an entire collapse of the Academy. The walls he woke up to were cracked, and sleeping under their dark surface had given him nightmares that the whole thing would fall and crash down upon him. But the dome of ice that Julia had surrounded them in made it a bit better, the couple of times he’d awoke.

“Ah, good, you’re up. Last one. Heavier sleeper than I thought you’d be.” Leo said.

"He's been without his coffee for a couple of days. I imagine he's running on empty," Julia said with a sigh—and then, to fix the issue, she shoved one into his hands.

Bless her. Colt thought, the cold cup in his hand, the only thing that kept him sane.

She gave him and the rest of their group a couple of minutes before stripping away their thin sheet of protection from the outside and once more dipping them into air that frosted Colt’s nose and left him feeling weak.

Still, the coffee in his hands was a magic potion that made him not even mind that much. He followed quietly, sipping at the gift from the gods as all of them trailed after Leo the ghost.

“What exactly is the Celestial Seed?” Sarah asked.

The phantom hummed. "I've been listening to the ethereal chatter for a while. Um, I don't think it's anything I can tell you guys about, in depth, due to our communication problem. Just know that it's—it's bad news. It's the start of something that would be otherwise powerful. Ending it here is good for the labyrinth."

With that ominous message, they began to crawl through the halls themselves. His friends asked more questions about the Academy, but Colt focused on the journey after finishing his coffee: namely, finding Phantoms to kill.

Colt took what he could, the free experience when they found it, which actually came in surprising abundance. The Academy was now swarming with phantoms dispersed into easily conquerable numbers. It seemed like they were struggling and using their magic to hold the place together—activating magical bindings and expending themselves that when Colt and his group came across them, made them relatively easy prey to take down with their new levels and advanced Edicts from the fighting.

Most fights went like this: Colt would spot it, direct Nick to begin shooting at it, and then, as it tried to fight them, it would be summarily disarmed by Julia using her magic against it to restrain it. Now laced with Edicts of chill and surge, her water manifested a remarkable ability to pin and subdue the phantoms. From there, it was pretty simple—they would let Sarah get in some punches. Both so she could still get experience, but also because she seemed determined as if she were onto something, which Colt was eager to let her explore.

Ultimately, it usually amounted to either him or Nate finishing off the creatures. Nate was still the most effective by far at killing these things. The raw power used in his flame appeared to be a perfect force, and as he gathered levels and grasped his edict even better throughout the battles, it was easy. So it wasn't a surprise then that as they descended deeper and deeper into the dark academy, Colt saw an advancement of a couple of levels.

———

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have 6 Stat points to spend. You have gained 2 points of Dexterity and 2 points of Soul.

———

Colt spent his points diligently, putting away five into Soul, which raised the stat to a pleasing 250. He added the rest of his points—the single extra point- to Endurance. Although the eight hours hadn't healed him, he felt much more apt to take on the challenges before him.

The air became more ambient red by the hour. When he went to bed, it had none of the taint of the outside light. Somehow, though, it invaded the Academy itself, penetrating the dark walls and making everything have a haunted quality. By the hour, it became more noticeable.

Leo, for the most part, hurried them along, letting them take their time to attack, fight against the phantoms, and slowly make their way down below. Rapidly, they navigated the twisting turns of the academy itself. They kept going in a consistent direction and moving around through the hallways, trying to get lower.

It kept continuing a surprising amount.

"How far down does this thing go?" Colt said, asking Leo.

"All the way down to the bottom of the iceberg," Leo said, shaking his head. "That is where the celestial seed is, I believe, from everything that they said and the magic around the place. Although we're going to hit a point where I can't take you any further because, well, the magic would tear me apart and send me into true death."

It didn't take long from that point for them to reach that destination since the majority of their trip began to condense down—less sprawling hallways and confusing layouts, more going further down deeper. The rooms he did see in this portion of the academy looked less like a gothic study dream and more sinister. Not just because of the red light, but also because it was evident that horrible things had happened here.

He saw manacles. He saw cages. He saw even the bone of a skeleton at one point strewn out on a table with a dagger near its heart, like someone had performed a human sacrifice. And he got the sense that this Academy probably wasn't the greatest place in the world. The fact that they had housed what appeared to be some eldritch evil deep within their depths had already kind of hinted at that, but as they got closer to that ancient danger, it became obvious they'd gone far beyond.

When they reached the last descent, it became obvious.

A large ice staircase descended downward—the walls and floors here were carved out of the glacier’s ice. The cold emanating from this place was unlike anything on the surface. It was as if they had found a living, beating heart of chill. Each second, he felt it pulse. When he used his eyes, he could see the very air itself resonate as if something was living down there and exhaling every few seconds, and with that breath came the strength of a strong Cold edict.

It wasn't exactly the Chill edict that Julia used since it felt and looked different, but it was obvious to them that this was the place that contained what they were looking for. And it was here at the top of these stairs that the walls began to take on a crimson glow and appear like they were headed to a tunnel into hell, that Leo bowed and said, "This is it. If everything I remember is true, this should take you down the rest of the way, and then you'll be at your Celestial Seed."

There wasn’t a response, only a bunch of stares going his way.

He looked at them all, his face quivering, the ghost looking sad for a moment, and then said, "Be really careful. This thing is the way they talk about it is—"

Nate just looked at him and nodded. "We're going to do our mission, we're going to take care of this thing, and then we're all going to get out of this alive.”

“Mostly alive," Julia said and then laughed a little bit, much to Leo's rolling eyes and Nick’s snort. A short second of levity before they entered what would be a horrifying pit for most of them. For Colt, he just felt a burning curiosity.

Below came the strongest Edict he’d felt yet, aside from his Cut. Just what was it, and how would this fight go? A part of him was beyond eager to get to take a peek.

As one, they turned away from the phantom who appeared to be in a slightly better mood, hoping his odds were better as they turned to face whatever ancient evil lurked down below.

Colt took a deep breath and braced himself as he began to take the next step down, descending the stairways leading into a crimson glow with the feeling of an ice goddess herself breathing down their necks. What a wonderful way to end this dungeon—or maybe their lives, if they made a mistake.