Knives & Levels - Chapter 117

Julia's only job was ensuring everyone lived, which was a tall task to accomplish, given that so many things around them wanted the opposite. Phantoms crashed into them with a wave of spells. Every second was a blur of light and elements, filling the air with a hostile wave of death. Worse than that, as they retreated through the Academy, her Mana was rapidly bottoming out. It didn’t help that she’d been spending it to throw up barriers and let everyone recover.

The cold. She thought and thanked the heavens at her new Edict: Chill.

She let it expand in her water as it surged forward, drawing power from the natural environment and strengthening her ability Her water tanked more spells, barely keeping them alive. Without it, this retreat would’ve been impossible.

Her new edict, Chill, had been accompanied by another notification that she had scarcely had the time to look over. An offer for an icon, the Abominable Snowman. She'd not yet read over the details. She wanted to take the time before making such a life-altering decision. Luckily, the system seemed to acknowledge that she was still in the middle of a fight and couldn’t make such an important choice right now. It had dismissed it, telling her that she could check the details later in her status screen, which she fully intended to do once she had a second to think.

The next second was not that second, as a ball of fire tore through the hallway, searing the dark doors and consuming everything in a conflagration that reeked of brimstone. Her cold reinforced the water as the two met, searing against one another and filling the hallway with steam. In three seconds, her barrier was gone, having blocked an attack.

Julia was no fool, and threw up another, just in time to catch a bolt of electricity that had shot through the hall like a bullet.

She gritted her teeth.

Each drained her further, and she’d already put away all of her new points into intelligence, which increased her mana capacity. It still wasn’t enough.

“Now,” Nick said from her side, and she let the barrier drop.

Even though all they saw was a wall of steam, he shot three arrows out like a machine gun—and those split further, expanding and reflecting into twelve as they cut through the steam and into the phantoms beyond. Julia saw the twinkle of a blue barrier as some steam cleared, absorbing the damage. But likely not fast enough. Nick’s arrows felt stronger, whether it was his stats or leveling up his skill.

She looked ahead of them. Nate and Sarah were rushing down the hall with Colt’s limp body.

Go faster. She mentally commanded, wishing she had some kind of speed spell to give to them. Their only job was to put as much room between them and the enemies as possible while hers was to hold back the enemy.

Julia slammed the barrier back up a second later as more spells came and rebounded, and then she let her Chill Edict take over. It was so easy to use her Edict here—the air itself was pulled into her spell, enforcing it as the barrier appeared. The desire to slow her enemies’ attacks manifested itself in her magic… Along with it, something else clicked.

A notification appeared.

———

Your understanding of the Edict Chill has evolved. Chill (Minor) has become Chill (Lesser)

——She blinked as a flood of cold information ran through her; her next breath came out in a puff of white air. There had been no meditation for this. It had evolved along with using her mana—and now that she had it…

Her mind swam as she Surged another wall of water between her and the enemies. Arcane bolts crashed into it, but she ignored them, grasping at her magic and draining it, stealing away all of the energy. The flash froze into a barrier of ice infused with her Edict.

Nick cocked his head at her. “That was the fastest I’ve seen you do that?”

“I think I just got a world record for advancing an Edict, too,” Julia said, trying to make a joke, but instead did the same thing again. This time it was slower, even with both Edicts working with her… She dragged mana out of the deep abyss that was her core, forcing it to comply. With two barriers in place, and her breath still coming out in white puffs, she commanded full retreat. “Turn and run.”

She was almost out of mana—this couldn’t continue. The two of them dashed down the hallway, following behind Nate and Sarah—once they made it through two twists, she once more yanked at the last dregs of her mana. Where it once had been a small lake, it was now nothing more than a kiddie pool; every last drop went out, and she felt light-headed as another ice barrier appeared.

She yelled for the sake of Nate to hear, “That was the last one! We’d better find somewhere good to hide!”

Nate grunted with acknowledgment, and his pace pushed as he broke into a full sprint, taking them to the right and up a series of steps that nearly made Julia give up, turn around, and beg the Phantoms for death. The whole place was a dark maze, a vortex in an abyss of black that one would lose themselves in forever if they took a wrong step. And right now, they were taking all the wrong steps. Julia had no idea where she was or where they were going.

As she ran, she tried to stop her shaking hands as the reality of what had happened ran through her. Here they were, alive after assassinating two bosses, with a ghostly army at their backs.

Focus. She thought, focusing on keeping her legs moving as they sprinted, following every twist and turn. Nate didn’t know the way more than any of them, but fell into a state of natural leadership. Whether it was Nate or Colt leading, she felt they could get through anything with one of them in charge.

The longer they ran, the safer she felt. There were no sounds of spells being slung behind them.

Thirty minutes after running, her body screamed to give up. Only then did Nate pause, open a door at the end of a long, dead-ended hall, and usher them in.

She took in a deep, greedy breath, as did Nick. His foot had recovered somewhat, but as she looked down at the wounded thing, she figured he must have thrown all his points into endurance or dexterity just to keep up and embrace the pain. The man collapsed to the ground, rocking in place; Julia turned to her environment after catching her breath.

If the first room they’d camped in had been a quaint little study that reminded her of her apartment… This was like an alien coming down and making a haunted house, a room filled with realistic sculptures. Rather terrifying sculptures, too. One of them had a face that was half-morphed into a bird, and didn't look like a very pleasant experience for the subject. Another was an obese man with three heads and eyes far too large for his face, another a lady missing her wings as they lay on the ground, and with an expression of pure pain. As Julia walked around the sculpture, it was clear they’d been chopped off.

They were all terrifyingly magnificent, sculptured in obsidian form. Each twisted face delivered a strong punch to her gut, making her look away.

Then, her attention was drawn to the middle of the room, where a pool of water was. It called to her, and she approached with hesitant steps. As she approached, something odd stood out. She couldn't see her reflection in it, and within the pool, she felt a strange edict that spoke of something they shouldn't touch.

"Stay away from this," Julia commanded. Her breath still forced as she spoke, but everyone heeded her warning about the weird pool of water.

Sarah stood by the door, arms crossed and with a scowl. Later, Julia knew she’d go over and console her friend. Her fists hadn’t had much use against the Phantoms compared to the wolves and rabbits, so she wanted to play lookout to be useful. Or, if Julia had to guess, that’s what was running through her mind over there as she scowled.

Later. Julia closed her eyes and focused. She dwelt within the room’s cold, letting it no longer sap her strength away, but to settle in her bones, reinforcing her. It was refreshing now. Instead of sapping and draining, she felt a reinvigorating adrenaline-like feeling, not too far from how one felt after throwing their bodies into an ice bath and getting back out. It sank into her bones as she crossed her legs and slowly ran her cold mana through her veins.

And then, she began to read through the offer for an icon.

###

Colt awoke, his heart hammering away, finding himself in a strange room that he had never seen before in the academy. There are many such rooms. The whole place seemed principled on a design philosophy best described as eccentric, obscured Academia. Meaning that there were long-winding tunnels that led to nowhere, some that led to secret rooms, and some doors that were small cubbies that led to big rooms or small little nooks with weird little shit like this crammed in it.

And this room was weird.

The statues around him were odd and disturbing, so he avoided them and instead focused on the feeling of air entering his lungs and the ache that was his soul. He rubbed his eyes and groaned. It felt like someone had driven a spike through his skull and pounded it with a hammer in his brain. His soul was raw, as if it had been flayed alive and then rolled in salt.

"I'm alive," Colt said slowly, "and we're two bosses down." His worries carried to his friends, but he saw little response.

When he got up, he saw why. All of them were focused on recovery, just as worn as he was. Nate nodded as he sat up, but kept his eyes down. A light water barrier had sprung up around them, holding back the cold far better than ever before.

She’d turned this room into a place of recovery, and Colt couldn’t be more grateful for the fact that he didn’t have to call upon his shredded soul to try to facilitate his own makeshift Cut barrier. 

His eyes eventually ran across Nick, who was crouched near an odd water in the middle of the room. His eyes locked within as strange Edicts swirled outward and interacted with his own threads. Colt winced as he retracted his spiritual senses and minded his own business. It was too painful to spy on what he was doing.

I’m alive. He repeated, and his insides warmed…

More than that…

He looked over to his notifications. At all of the levels… Skill upgrades—even his class was now pending an upgrade? Killing two bosses in one fell swoop was a recipe for advancement on an unprecedented scale. So he did what came naturally, and began to assign out his stat points.

Colt stared long at his status sheet, churning over ideas. I’ve just gotten a twenty percent boost to my physical stats from my Olympic Physique…Which means the higher base value I have on my stats, the better.

He would love to just toss it into Soul. But it was basic math. As much as he had to put points into soul, every point put in dexterity or endurance was worth 1.2 points, essentially. He’d seen the difference dexterity made in coordinating himself with Edicts… But also right now, he felt drained and sapped from all of the fighting.

Biting the bullet, Colt did what he needed and spent twenty points straight into endurance. Immediately, he felt better. Still tired and worn, but more alive. They had a whole other boss to fight, and while recovery was possible with Julia, these things were far more able to soak up damage than he thought. The last four went into dexterity.

Next, he went to his status screen and then into the class screen beyond that.

———

Edict Carver (III) has advanced to Edict Carver (IV)

At this rank of Edict Carver, you've taken a large step along the route of this class. At the next rank, you will be presented with the ability to specialize further. You’ve seen the power of Edicts and learned the skills of balance, along with how to best use the Edicts at your disposal. They bend to you, and you’ve even sacrificed some of yourself for power.

Please see the details below:

Class Perks:

—

Advancements:

Soul Etched (Intermediate) has advanced to Soul Etched (Advanced)

Your Soul has tempered its pathway through it and into the world around you, further enhancing your ability to utilize Edicts and widening your understanding of even the most difficult concepts.

Increased Soul Capacity: 35%

Law Breaker (Basic) has advanced to Law Breaker (Intermediate)

You’ve clashed your Edicts against others quite often. This allows you even further ability to disrupt the threads connecting the soul to the universe on your own. Your Edicts are 10% more effective at contesting opposing Edicts of equal or lesser rank. 

—

Gained Perk:

Victor’s Persistence (Basic)

Granted by your association with your icon and perseverance in your soul, this is a manifestation of your Goddess’ blessing and will to survive, allowing a recovery from an otherwise fatal blow once per week. Granting you a heightened state for 10 seconds. During this time, you will receive healing, an additional 25% bonus for your attributes, and a 50% bonus for your Edicts’ strength and capacity. Use this time wisely, or face the consequences afterward.

———

Colt’s eyes bulged as he read over the new perk. With such limited requirements, it had a hell of a saving grace. In a world where things you didn’t expect could come at you out of nowhere, and take your life away in an instant… This was invaluable.

And without Nike, he wouldn’t have gotten it.

The goddess had been quiet lately, but he let out a small thanks in his heart to her, feeling much more secure that he had such an ability now tucked away in his pocket.

Granted, if he got into danger that would’ve killed him, ten seconds wasn’t a lot of time to get out of it, he’d either need to kill the thing which tried to kill him, or do his best to run as fast as he could and hope he would find a way to survive…

Colt moved on to the skills, his mind still reeling from the new perk and the implication that at the next level of Edict Carver, he’d be able to ‘specialize further.’

———

Possible Skills:

—

Skill: Edict Sight [Rare]

Have you ever wanted to see your Edicts? This skill allows visual perception of Edicts being actively used in the environment. The basic level provides a general sense of type and power.

—

Skill: Resonant Slash [Rare] 

By harmonizing your Soul with your weapon, your strikes have a lasting impact on the things they’ve cut. The wounds continue to vibrate and spread after initial contact, dealing an additional 10% damage over 3 seconds.

—

Skill: Reality Suppression [Uncommon] 

Your understanding of Edicts allows you to temporarily anchor a specific aspect of reality in place. Once per hour, you can stabilize an area up to 10 feet in diameter, reducing the ability for people to wield Edicts within this zone. Both enemies, yourself, and allies. Be careful with its placement.

———

He sighed in relief as he saw the Skill he was hoping for. Cautiously, he read over the other two options and went through their uses. Resonant Slash was an offensive skill that would pair nicely with cut… But it had a fault. It was something that was damaged over time. He’d much rather simply prepare himself to cut things and finish them in one blow… This had too many limitations.

He could see Reality Suppression’s use, even as an uncommon one, but it was too limited. Maybe the use case would expand as the Skill grew… But he knew in his heart what he wanted.

Edict Sight. His ability to comprehend Edicts had been his biggest strength; anything that enhanced his perception of it could only help. He might also be able to train fast, and advancing one’s class depended on leveling one’s core skills.

Colt took the skill.

———

You have gained Skill: Edict Sight [Rare] (Basic)

Edict Sight (Basic) - Level 1

———

With a smile, he looked over his friends and then tried to activate his new Skill.