98 - Level 15 [Cherno]

A/N: Minor edit to the end of the chapter.
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It was as she read the book, the Xaugeth Encyclopedia Vol. 1, Edition of 5201, that she realized that Ronin had to have been one of the Herculeans which were listed as one of the civilized races of Xaugeth. Great big beetle-men, they were, who molted repeatedly as part of their life cycle, growing stronger and smarter with each molt, while each subsequent molt grew more difficult. Some of them chose to metamorphose into pseudo-adult grubs, called Eternity Larvae for their comparatively extreme longevity, while the beetles were Shieldbacks. The tome went on to detail that Eternity Larvae were subject to the same molting cycles as Shieldbacks, though theirs were far easier and only conferred growth in intelligence while the Herculean remained as an Eternity Larva.

“Some sources claim that at any time, an Eternity Larva may choose to initiate a metamorphosis into a Shieldback, while others claim that it must be initiated by consuming a special kind of jelly. It is possible that this differs between tribes, as the Herculean tribes are as varied as the species of their animal cousins. Once an Eternity Larva metamorphoses, rather than becoming a juvenile Shieldback, it emerges at an advanced stage. There is a clear correlation between the number of molts an Eternity Larva has gone through and the Shieldback it becomes, though the ratio is not known, and once again, it likely varies tribe to tribe. Eternity Larvae frequently remain as such for many years, and some simply live out their extremely lengthy lives without ever metamorphosing, acting as the scholars of the Herculean kingdom. A number of mighty Shieldbacks have come from Eternity Larvae, most notable among them the great unifier of the Herculean tribes, the Thousand-year Sapphire Monarch. As his name suggests, this Herculean remained an Eternity Larva for a thousand years, emerging as the Thousand-year Ruby Monarch. He went on to unify the Herculean tribes before molting into his current form, in which he has remained for the past century.”

The tome went on to describe various known stages of Herculean development. They were consistent in general appearance within their tribes, starting at dark earthy colours, moving into greens, then yellows, oranges, and reds. In the same way, the body shape changed and the size of a Shieldback’s horns, mandibles, and other such extremities grew. Patterns and specific colours seemed to differ greatly between tribes. From the descriptions, Ronin was… Effectively a juvenile, having only recently metamorphosed from a larva.

“It is known that Shieldbacks possess intelligence comparable to human adolescents from before their metamorphosis, but they do not develop the ability to speak until anywhere between the third and fifth molt. They commonly learn sign language to compensate.”

A tug at her mind’s edge, pointing inward. After the third or perhaps fourth tug, she gave in and looked at her menu… Only to find substantial changes.

[NAME: Brunhilde Krahe]

[ARCHETYPE: Cherno Caster Lvl. 15]

[TITLE: Blackhand]

[RACE: Human]

[SEX: Female]

[AGE: 43/0]

[MIGHT: E1]

[CONTROL: D2]

[ATHLETICISM: E3]

[DURABILITY: E2]

[THAUMIC THROUGHPUT: D3+E3]

[ENTROPY TOLERANCE: D2+D1]

[ENTROPY DISSIPATION: E1+F2]

[BOONS]

[FLESHGRAFTS]

[EIDOLON VAULTS]

[THAUMATURGIES]

[STORAGE]

[OTHER]

Before she could get a good look at her attributes, she already felt that same tugging sensation trying to bring her attention to her Boons

[SNARE-SIGN OF BLACKEST PITCH]

[Tags:]

Eidolon Vault

Outer God’s Touch

[Details:]

The holder gains two Lesser Eidolon Vaults and an empty True Eidolon Vault.

A raised eyebrow and a faint smirk were the only reactions the boon elicited from her; Krahe wasn’t familiar enough with this side of the Seven Spokes System to evaluate the Boon’s true value, but having seen the effects of common Eidolon Vault applications, she was perfectly happy with it even if she just ended up adding Red Reapers to her arsenal. The growth of her actual attributes, though, was an indisputable benefit. She could feel that a fair bit of it was thanks to the Liminal Coil, but only a fraction.

It wasn’t long before Casus returned from wherever he had gone, laying out a whole array of various Mamon Couplers across the coffee table, including the non-functional coupler with the cracked core from before. He began polishing them.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Good, good. Seems I jumped to archetype level fifteen and got a new boon since I first got out of Jas’raba.”

“What level were you then?”

“Five.”

Casus continued meticulously checking over his collection, furrowing his brow as he mentally went over recent events.

“...An outlier, but not absurd progression for a late starter. Considering the Butchershop and Slaughterhouse 9, it’s to be expected. What is the boon?”

Many would have said that he was downplaying, that her growth was absurdly fast, but Casus himself spoke from the perspective of an outlier, a man fully expected to eventually become a powerful graft-saint. The very idea of being able to tame the Silberblut Coupler had been considered absurd before he set himself to the task. Favonia, his not-quite-sister, had gained a name for becoming strong at a similarly breakneck pace, and much like Krahe, she too had applied her own memory of her past life to that end. Within his frame of reference, Krahe’s archetype level progress was par for the course, and he thought nothing of it. No, it was everything else about her that stood out. If anything, her rapid progress in archetype leveling felt like a foregone conclusion, a mere side effect of this woman applying her own pre-existing skill set to the Seven Spokes System.

“The holder gains two Lesser Eidolon Vaults and one empty True Eidolon Vault. Not sure why it only specifies that for the True Vault,” she said. Even now, she continued reading her book, and altogether remained in a relaxed state.

“Two Lesser Vaults and one True Vault… One would expect a boon of this sort from a specialized Occultist or a Shamanist, but it is nonetheless well within plausible bounds. Misunderstand me not, this Boon is certainly valuable… But you still have to actually fill those vaults before you can make any use of them, and find some means to harness the spirits besides, which I cannot help you with.”