PreCursive

  I shivered in the freezing air of the cavern, edging closer to the rge fire we’d created. We’d found more than enough material in the cavern to light a bonfire, surprisingly. You would think that it would be too wet to light, but eerily it was almost bone dry. I ’t tell you how uling it had been to discover that the driftwood in this uer cavern was as desiccated as it was.

  Still, it made for excellent firewood. I held my hands out to the fire, warming my bones.

  My panions were arranged around the fire as well, rec after the brief fight we’d had with the aurian ambush. Mostly, they were either ing themselves off, or ing their bdes. Or in Bel’s case, standing around impatiently, waiting frey to give the word to pack up. I wao tell her to calm down, but I don’t think she’d take it very well. We were only intending to stick around for a few more minutes anyway. Still, that gave me enough time to solidate whatever gains I’d gotten from the battle.

  I pulled up my Status, using Hidden Amidst the Spheres.

  You have gained 6 levels!You are now level 51!You have 60 u Virtue points.Level 50 Css ability ied.Would you like to review your Status?Y/NMy eyebrows shot up. Six levels? Wow, I almost felt like thanking the aurians that had ambushed me. I’d even gotten my level fifty ability from fighting them.

  I mentally selected yes, causing another box to pop up.

  Level 50 Css ability (Thornbde Acolyte)Ringed Mind (Talent): Reanize your mind.Reanize your mind? What the hell did that meannnnnnn…..

  Suddenly, I aralyzed by a dht terrifyiion. I could barely describe the feeling, but it was almost like the metaphysical structure of my thoughts were ging iime. Not only that, but I could swear that I felt my brain morphing inside my skull.

  Slowly, my thought process ged, gaining what felt like…levels, each with their own speed and agility. There were three of them, which I guess were the ‘rings’ of the talent. The outerm of thought was the fastest, and the most simir to how my previous thought process had funed. It was faster than my mind had been previously, though. My thoughts in this ring moved with a speed and agility that was nearly friless, making es and observations at a speed that I’d never experienced. But it was as I moved downwards or, rather, further into the recesses of my mind that things became strange.

  The middle ring of my sciousness was simir to what my mind had been like before, but it also seemed to be representative of more thaer. Within it, I could feel my desires on a deeper level and almost trol them, propagating outward. For example, I could feel my desire to retract my hands from the fire in an almost tangible sense, as I’d frozen ih them too close to the fme. Eyes still frozen open, from within my middle thought ring, I…turned off that desire. Suddenly, it was as if I didn’t feel the unfortable heat of the fire on my hands anymore. Even if I intellectually khat I was in danger of burning my hands, I didn’t have the automatieed to do so. Hurriedly, I switched it ba, withdrawing my hands from the fme to lie trembling in my p.

  But it was the very ter of my new scioushat frightened me the most. It also possessed a thought process like the outer ring, but this…‘core’ was so much more. Instead of maniputing my mind and its reas like the middle one, I could manipute my body. It was like I was now directly overseeing the automatis of my physical self. They still funed without my input, but I could now…weigh a finger onto them. For instance, right now I was fug terrified out of my mind at the amount of trol I had over myself. From within my c, I could see how my body was being flooded with fear from the adrenalihat umping through my body and caressing my brain. With only a moment’s thought, I shut down the produ of adrenaline in my body from the fear that had been flooding me.

  Instantly, I could feel myself calm down. With the fear dying down, I curiously massaged annd in my brain, causing it to release another hormohat felt really fug good. Oh God, this was nice. I could feel myself not only calming down, but a rge smile stretg across the features of my outside body from the induced pleasure.

  I let my outer tws drift in a sense of artificial bliss, for a moment. Still, my core thought process retained enough presenind to realize this wasn’t the best time to be indulging in such a high.

  Later, though…

  I returo the task at hand, marveling at the sensation of having three separate streams of thought. It wasn’t like they were three different people, though. This wasn’t a ‘we’ situation. All three of them were still me. I just had more flexibility now, with two of the thought streams havira capabilities.

  For a moment, I thought I could sense something else from my core, but the sensation was fleeting. And holy, this wasn’t the best time for such experimentation. As fun and iing as this was, we still had things to do. I still had things to do.

  I focused bay status, aed the still waiting Yes prompt to view my Status. Once I did so, I allocated my Virtue points in a now familiar process.

  haniel Eugene HartTitlesUnbound LiberatorLevel51Age24 SolRaceHuman (Precursor)

  Affinity TerrestrialCssesThornbde Acolyte (Unon)Professioherial Meldih600/600Stamina100/100Vitality 6th10Spirit10Dexterity110Perception 60Intelligence160Wisdom160Free Points 0Options[Talent Page], [Skill Page], [Profession Page]Nieat numbers. Not that I could do anything with some of them, at this point. I was incredibly curious about what having my own Mana would be like. At this point, I was halfway there to level one hundred, and reag the first ‘threshold’.

  I was broken out of my life-ging moment by Grey standing up from the fire, drawing the attention of everyone around it. Grey picked up a nearby bucket that we had sged from among the debris, and tossed the seawater he’d filled it with earlier over the fme. Our warm respite from the freezing temperature of the cavern died with a hiss. I shivered in the cold, before dialing down my sensitivity to the cold with my middle mind.

  Ah, that was better.

  “We must press on,” Grey told us, tossing the bucket to the side carelessly. “We ’t dally too long, else we risk the sabotage crew being discovered.”

  “Finally!” Bel blurted out, throwing up her hands. “It’s like you ndlubbers ‘ave aken a dip beh the waves!”

  Grey rolled his eyes but didn’t respond. Instead, he rejured the orb ht silver light he’d extinguished earlier, a to hover in front of him. The rest of us cmbered to our feet, some with more reluce than others. Azarus in particur still looked miserable from the cold, and I didn’t bme him. He was not only smaller than everyone else, but he was full pte mail armor. The dwarf had frost crystallizing in his firey beard.

  When he saw that I seemingly had no issue with the cold anymore, my dwarven friend looked at me in disbelief. “H-how the hells are ya all right this m-mess?”

  I grinned back at him. “New skill,” I said, aware that I was still feeling the physical effects of the cold. The sensation was just muted in my case.

  Either way, Azarus just grumbled to himself, juring up his own fiery ball of light. Both to help light the way, and warm his gaued hands.

  We pressed on.

  ……………………………………..

  Grey led us to an opening in the rock wall of the entrance cavern. It wasn’t huge, only rge enough for one person to squeeze through at a time. Venix in particur had to shuffle his massive form through the gap ione sideways. But once we were through, the cavern widened. It led to a passage bigger than its entrance, frosted with ice.

  But the passage tained a grimmer sight.

  Corpses. Dozens of them.

  Only…

  All of them were webbed to the walls, as if by spiders.

  As one, roup stopped to stare at the unfortunate victims that we had found. Grey approached one of the unfortunates, gesturing for his light to hover hem.

  The body of the man webbed to the wall was dessicated to areme degree. His skin aper thin, and stretched over a lidless skull, staring into space with an expression that was somehow still horrified.

  Grey examihe corpse somberly for a moment, before turning back troup. “This…” He said gravely. “Is not the work of a aurian. Bel, you told us that you were attacked by a aurian Prime. You were able to firm that the Prime leading this herd was aurian?”

  Bel stared at the desiccated corpse on the wall in disbelief for a moment, before dragging her eyes to Grey. “Hells yes, I’m sure. I got a damn good Observe type skill, and could see the Prime right on its bleedin’ Status.”

  Grey frowned. “Then…what did this? aurians are not known to ally with other monsters in the wild. Monsters, in general, are not known to ally with each other. We’ve already firmed the presence of the auriah the isnd. Suddenly, there’s a sed of monsters down here as well?”

  “Could that mean,” Sylvia interjected, speaking slowly. “That there could be a sed Prime?”

  The group grew quiet and still at the possibility. I felt dread try to roll over me, but suppressed it with my new skill.

  Meanwhile, Grey was staring at his daughter in disbelief. “Impossible. Iuries of study, I’ve never heard of Prime’s allying with each other. Every case I’ve ever heard that involved a Prime meeting a Prime led to a battle over territory. There’s only so many resources in a given area for peting monster groups to fight over.”

  “But this isn’t a normal case,” I said quietly. “We already think that the Loyalists are trolling not only the aurian herd but their Prime.”

  My words caused Grey to narrow his eyes. He let out a frosty breath of frustration. “Damn.” He said.

  roup stood around in silence for a moment, before it was broken by the sound Venix uhing one of his bdes with a l. roup turo face him, only to see that he was looking around with an intense look on his ioid features. “Where,” He said lowly. “Is the healer?”

  I felt adrenaline race up my spine and spun in a quick circle. He was right.

  Aurum was missing.

  Without even needing to be asked, Azarus spun around and sprinted back to the gap leading to the entrance cavern, his fme bobbing in his hand. The dwarf slipped through the gap, and we heard his voice calling Aurum’s name. Moments ter, he emerged bato the passage we were in, with a grim look on his broad features. “Nothin’,” He said ominously. “He ain’t in there.”

  Grey held up his light and fred it brighter. I held up a hand to block out the light, while my eyes adjusted. When they did, I looked around with everyone else, trying to see any kind of clue as to his whereabouts.

  I found one.

  Walking swiftly to the side, I picked it up from where it y discarded oone floor of the passage. “Fuck,” I said finally, drawing the attention of the group. Turning back around, I showed it to them.

  It was Aurum’s staff.

  “Something,” I told my panions. “Snuck up on us while we were examining the corpse, and nabbed him. All without making a single sound.”