Before, when she slept, she was subconsciously aware of her surroundings. Now, she at least had a brief realm of solitude from the waking world. A respite of inky blackness, with nothing to focus on.
Or she would have, if nightmares didn't encroach on her sleep. The recurring image of seeing Marikand incinerate her home and her witch was stuck on repeat.
Or just the sight of the dagger driven deep into Risha’s chest.
I am going to kill you, Seeker. You and those who corrupt the institution, and for what you did to me personally.
She awoke early with that last thought. She winced at that awful image and looked out the window to get her mind off that caustic thought. It was not even dawn outside; when she looked out further, she saw hints of violet and indigo on the horizon, with leafy trees and the distant academy wall silhouetted against the dark sky.
She slithered over to the dresser and put on her uniform. The one from yesterday had a rather convenient self-repair mechanism, Syra kindly pointed out to them, though it was slow. This outfit would sit in her closet until it was fully repaired.
She appreciated the pragmatism of not having to continually replace uniforms, and saw the threads from the cut sleeve slowly mending. The blood stain had already faded and been sanitized away to nothing. In another day, she wouldn’t be able to tell it had been in combat before.
She glanced at the slumbering mouse, legs twitching gently under the blankets. Do I wake Juni, get a leg up on breakfast? I think I know what I want to do for my ability choices, based on our discussion.
Yeah, it was certainly time to wake up Juni. She grinned as she used her tail to tap at the sleeping mouse's shoulder. "Wakey wakey--"
Juni bolted upright at the gentlest touch, and she screamed at an ear-splitting level. Neska recoiled backward as the mouse extended an obsidian shard from her hand, teeth bared.
"I'm not such an easy meal–oh. It’s just you." Juni instantly went quiet as Neska nudged the spire of stone inches in front of her snout. "Oops. Sorry. Sometimes that happens if I get startled out of sleep."
"You are not a morning person, are you?" Neska asked casually. Inside, she felt the instant rush of adrenaline from the near miss, and her heart was racing.
"I love mornings! I don't like being woken by natural-born predators! Happened once, and led to nightmares on repeat," she retorted, speaking at a rapid rate. She then glanced around. "Why's it so early?"
"Couldn't sleep. Plus, classes start in an hour. I think." Neska pointed to the small clock on the wall. "We could go eat at the dining hall, do normal things. I like to meet people."
"I would love to meet people. Let me throw on some clothes, then we'll get going. Any idea what to expect for classes?"
"Anything but normal," Neska answered. "Make sure to pick a damage-resistant uniform."
A few minutes later, they were ready, except for the stubborn feathery strands on Neska’s scalp and neck that refused to be tamed. She tugged at them with a comb and let out a frustrated growl that was also partially a hiss. “These…feathers…are high…maintenance.” Each word was accented by a painful tug of the comb to smooth the strands over.
“It’s a very ‘you’ look,” Juni said with a soft laugh. “Though the look may only last as long as your next evolution. What a weird thing to think about, with our body constantly changing.”
“And classes aren’t any different?” Neska asked, hands on her flanks.
“I mean, sure, some classes cause some radical changes. But not as exaggerated as taking an entirely different form.” Juni shrugged. “Are we still going over this?”
Neska looked at the stack of books they’d skimmed through last night. She wondered if the small table could bear the weight of so many books indefinitely. “Yep. I’m about to lock in my choices.” She already had a plan for her next selections.
“Can we do this after breakfast?” Juni rubbed her eyes, sounding fatigued after reading well into the night. Neska’s small pout otherwise convinced the mouse…mostly. “Your plan is a little crazy. You want to deliberately poison yourself with a broad spectrum of alchemical ingredients?
"And various potion concoctions," Neska corrected.
"Self-poisoning!" Juni insisted, whiskers tensed. "Have you checked how poison-resistant you are?"
Vivi, are there any titles or hidden attributes to what I am resistant to?
It's in the utilities function. Have you not explored everything yet? Oh, wait, you haven't. Sorry. Perhaps I should have mentioned this one.
The interface flickered for a brief second, and a new screen showing a simplified image of herself appeared, along with a few other interesting bits of information on physical and magical resistance and vulnerabilities. Am I really that poison-resistant?
In broad terms, yes. You don't have a geomancy affiliation, but I believe your specific species is poison and toxin resistant up to, and including one Tier above your current Tier. So if the source came from a Tier Three, it would not affect you, in general, or have a severely reduced effect and duration. This also meant that the Tunnel Viper you defeated was near the edge of Tier three, or just over. I tend to think the former of those scenarios.
I also have a small vulnerability to cold. That tracks. Neska let out a soft sigh. "As long as we're not trying anything too dangerous, I should be fine. dosage and dilution matters, along with metabolic rates."
One other interesting aspect of her resistances: She could withstand mental influences up to two Tiers higher than her current Tier. That felt utterly immense--and might explain why the corruption attempts were failing. Yet, Soul Resistance didn't display as a known resistance. Odd.
Juni threw up her paws in resignation. "I'll have a healer on standby then, I guess, for your more dangerous ideas dealing with alchemical poisons."
“Poison is a strong word. But if the alchemical specialization I plan to take works how I think it works…it could make me a mobile alchemical source. You said it yourself, it could be absurdly broken.”
“Yes. And remarkably dangerous. But I guess that’s never stopped us before,” Juni added a second later. Neska had considered every aspect of her options. Of which, some were solid, some were high-risk, high-reward, and one was reliably solid.
Her next tier needed to focus on alchemy. With her body still fragile from low Vitality attribute points and, at best, modest Endurance, some options were not optimized. She had attribute points to cover some of it, but, for a ritual build, she needed far more Intelligence and Soul, plus Agility. Of those, only Intelligence was at 30 at the moment.
She knew without a doubt that [Mobile Ritual] had immense benefits for both teammates and wearing down foes, but it left her as a fragile support and disabler heavily reliant on evasion.
What she needed was a more durable evolution or more attribute points to take hits, or greater evasion and magical protections she didn’t have yet. Ritual work was a long-term project anyway, so she could lay the groundwork for research with essence point buys. [Barrier Ward] might be a selection in the near future, too. It was a basic ability, and would work when her evasions didn’t, for that particular ritual build.
[Ritual infusion] was still a tempting path of dark ideas she didn’t want to tangle with. Maybe if it came in a non-lethal variant, she’d consider it…or she could use it on hostile monsters only. The thought disturbed her only slightly less.
She could picture it now–tying down a monster, bound and helpless, sprawled beneath a runic circle. She murmured in concentration, emotionless as she sheared down through its beating heart with her athame, the power of its soul coursing through her. The spasms giving way to slow twitches, then–
She blinked. Dear gods, I hope that’s just my imagination, and not the ghosts of my dead human self.
“Galwein to Neska, are you there?” Juni waved a paw in front of her snout.
“Lost in thought, sorry.” She continued to evaluate the proofs in her build plan internally, writing a few notes intermittently, and explained them in shorthand to Juni.
Alchemy was available and effective immediately, with less preparation work and less reliance on others. It carried immediate benefits to herself and others nearby. It benefited from her high Intelligence and Soul, plus modestly high Perception. Alchemy could cover shortfalls in attributes or abilities she was lacking until she could make effective use of her ritual work.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
And she knew she'd need it someday. Rituals were a probable cause of the fall of Arivol. They would likely be required to undo it if she had to hazard a guess.
Juni folded her paws together. “So, you're gonna, what? You want to test various alchemical mixtures on yourself with your [Venom Imbuement], and find out which ones won't kill you?”
“I think I’ll start with some beneficial alchemical products.” She flipped open to a page under basic formulas that even she and Juni could produce. She pointed to one of them. “Like, for instance, a recovery potion.”
“For stamina. Okay…” Juni frowned as she examined her notes. “But there is one slight problem.”
“Which is?”
“Does it replace your venom, or does it stack on top of the venom effects?” Juni asked, looking anxious. “If it’s the former, that’s great. If it’s the latter, it’s not a good tradeoff.”
“If it is the latter,” Neska said with a wave of her hand, before pointing at a monster in her basic compendium manual, “then that limits it to monsters only. Even then, it would still be useful in modifying my venom to have other effects that can bypass certain defenses.”
“But, suppose you didn't have an alchemical kit,” Juni challenged. “What then?”
“I have a blinding effect. But only when I spit?” She wrinkled her snout. Juni looked unimpressed. “Okay, I have two other choices for my evolutions. I am sure there are more, but these are the ones currently showing up.”
And they were a weird pairing, to put it mildly.
[Acidic Venom]: Add an acidic component to your venom, weakening various materials or degrading others completely. This may also include creatures with supernaturally durable carapaces or other protective features. Corrosion strength increases with Vitality.
[Quackery]: Your venom changes composition and can now heal others or degrade toxins. This does not apply to yourself. The venom, however, can only be applied through your fangs. Healing speed increases with Intelligence.
They may feel a little pinch...
Vivi, are you shading your description of these abilities? Neska found it very odd how strange some of these descriptions were at times.
Maybe?
Neska let out a hissing chuckle. She had to hand it to her; Vivi certainly had a voice of her own.
Juni tapped a paw impatiently. “Well?”
“Okay, here goes.” She explained the two venom choices.
Juni stared at her, then slowly tugged at her oversized ears. “Why on Galwein are your evolutions and powers so damn weird?” She couldn't suppress a giggle at the end. “Why did the interface not call it ‘love bites’ or something that makes sense?”
“Is that it, Juni? Do you need love bites?” Neska flexed her fangs gently while grinning.
The mouse sputtered for several seconds. “Y-you are so…unbelievably… weird!” She declared, stumbling on her words a couple of times. “I will not be volunteering for testing that one, thanks.”
“Noted. I will need to find someone else to give love bites to test on.”
“Yes, eternally grateful. I totally will not be envious of them.” Before this, Neska had never heard the mouse squeak in a low, menacing tone, but there was a first time for everything. “So that's it? Are you committed to this plan? Honestly, minus the scenario where you could poison yourself by accident, it's solid. and leans into both sets of powers," Juni added with an energetic nod.
“Yep. Locking in my choices,” Neska affirmed with a proud bow.
I'll try to warn you if you're about to imbibe something that could kill you, provided you have any knowledge of it.
[Venom Infusion] selected.
[Venom Bolt] selected.
[ Love Bites] selected.
Oh, for crying out loud, Vivi! Neska would object verbally to this unsolicited ability name change, but her fangs and the glands tucked up above them started to itch uncomfortably. In addition, her tail and claws also bore a strong, tingling numbness as her body slowly accommodated the evolutionary and witch power upgrades.
Sorry. Juni's right, it's a great name.
Neska swore she heard a mental giggle nearby. She curled and uncurled her claws gently before letting out a calming breath. “Those evolutions always feel so weird when they first appear.”
“I went and upgraded my [tremor sense], speaking of which,” Juni added. “I can feel vibrations and don't need my ears to sense them anymore, and it has increased my range to sense them. I'll probably need to attune to it a bit, so I don't get overwhelmed by sensory overload.”
“For what, exactly?”
“So I don't get scarfed up by hungry snakes twice in a lifetime.” Juni wrinkled her snout. “You only picked up two abilities, plus your specialization. What are you doing with the third?”
“Saving it. There’s a witch power at Tier two that is…interesting, but takes two Essence Points,” she explained. It might be a bad synergy. But so far, all the weird choices seemed to be subtly powerful.
So, why wouldn’t a familiar be any different?
Witch Familiar (Magical, Summon) - Gain a mana-based familiar, in the form of a small Tier 1 creature or animal. This creature’s Intelligence is 5 + (Total Intelligence/2), and can respond to your commands and perform simple tasks.
Juni’s brow twitched as Neska detailed it. “That is not like the Witch base class.” She went to one of the textbooks of class powers, and jabbed a claw at the page. “Animal only, and it has to be mundane. You can make a monster familiar?”
“Yep.”
“Why?!”
“Because I need to add to my collection of weird friends.”
Juni, once again, got flustered. “Are we a menagerie to you? Wait, I’m a weird friend?”
“You are a studyholic.” Neska gently booped her on the nose with a soft smile. Juni scowled in response. "It’ssss true,” she said slyly.
“I like my academics. It kept Jurik and me alive, more than once.” Juni glanced at her, then squinted at her. “Are you going to make me into your familiar?”
“No. I am pretty sure that it doesn’t work that way.”
“Would you if you could?” Juni pressed.
“I think that would be above my threshold for weirdness.”
“That’s not a no.”
Neska shied away. “I-it would be unethical. And a subversss-ive influence on our friendship.”
The mouse leaned in closer, examining her expression for some hint of betrayal of her intention. Then she started smiling evilly, with pointy teeth prominent. "I think you like giving things big cuddles, and then this is an intentional power grab to have a cuddle on demand.”
Niska let out a soft sigh. "I’m not that needy. I mean, I need some affection, because we've all been through a lot of stuff. It's good to have someone huggable nearby in tough times.”
Juni pouted softly. "I think you're trying to replace me as a cuddle source and a companion.”
Neska let out a contented hissing sigh. “Juni, you will always be my first friend since my Awakening. That will always matter to me greatly.”
Juni nodded proudly, and she let out a soft chuckle. “Aw, I’m glad you feel that way. Now onto more serious questions, are you really sure you want to spend two points on an ability that we have no idea how useful it could be? I mean, look here. For normal Witch classes, familiars don’t do much. And it's...wait, it's only one point buy for a Witch?”
“My class kit is strange, Juni. I am willing to bet gold that it will have unusual properties. Especially for two essence points.”
Neska shook her head while she finished putting on a backpack that fitted nicely over her shoulders. It was a strange sensation of carrying weight on her back, and yet, it felt like a familiar motion for her. Like she'd done this before, which led her to the notion that perhaps she had been a student at one point, and in more than just the vocational school that most young people attend across the continent.
Juni shrugged and then slung her own bag and hopped up on a small step stool to open the door latch. “Well, it's your decision, but if you pick a snake as a familiar, I might be a little freaked out. Please pick something easy, like a cat, or a little white rabbit, or maybe even one of those little funky scrunch face things that is like a dog, but it's got a special name, and they have a high-pitched, throaty call and big bushy tails.”
"We call it a fox,” Neska said drolly. “Technically, they're a canine, but they're on a whole different branch of animals. If we go now, we have time for breakfast before class.”
“And I’m the studyholic?” Juni asked, her nose twitching. “Seriously, you must have a familiar in mind. How do you even pick one, if it’s mana-based?”
Neska shrugged. “Add it to our list of mysteries to solve.”
“Whatever you do, don’t pick something that could–” Juni stopped mid-sentence. “Hey. Uh…if you pick a monster as a familiar…can it evolve?”
Neska stared at her blankly. “Uh…maybe?”
“Neska? Dear? I think this goes without saying, but your class and powers might be absurdly broken, and absolutely save that point," Juni declared rapidly. "Let’s go eat first, and contemplate a terrible idea for evolving an eldritch nightmare horror as a familiar later.”
Their trip to the mess hall this morning was speedier than before, spurred by the fact that they did not want to be late for the first class of the day, and at this early hour, few were up yet. Which meant Neska got all the fish and eggs she could want, and they could take their time.
Neska took the opportunity to glance at her books and study more about Arivol, and the former King Lachmir, while taking her time with eggs, and trying out fish in rice and seaweed wrappers. While chewing was possible with softer foods, swallowing them whole still felt like second nature.
Now well fed, they were able to beat the rush of students who were waiting just outside Gurigea's classroom for general studies and were seated several minutes before the class started. Neska was grateful that the seats accommodated her slightly larger form, and it was quite comfortable to coil into the nearly bowl-shaped seat.
She saw a wave out of the corner of her vision and saw the strange armadillo student she had met on their first day there. "Tycus, are you in this class as well?”
“Yep, I am. I only started classes a few months ago, so this is all still relatively new to me. Plus, it doesn't help that most of my memories about anything related to the Varadur, were the ones to get wiped, between now and when I awoke.” He looked quite delighted as the leathery plates on his face flexed lightly.
He leaned in a little bit closer. “How much do you know, by the way?”
She straightened her posture and let herself be a little taller. “I have some knowledge. Both practical and also from some reading, too.”
The door opened, and Professor Gurigea leaped into the room. Not walked in, not dashed in, leaped in, and landed with the quietest of landings at her desk, having spun a full hundred and eighty degrees in mid-air.
The class’s low rumblings and idle chatter ceased instantly, and Neska took that as her cue to pay attention. A bit dramatic with the entry, don’t you think, Vivi?
I have no opinion on that. But the technique requires a considerable skill ranking, if I were to infer her leap as an ability of her monster baseline.
So, dramatic and flashy, then. She could have just walked in. Neska felt a twinge of amusement, listening to her internal companion.
She could have, yes. Best pay attention now.
The professor opened her satchel and pulled out her notebook. “Alright, we’ve had a few new arrivals over the past month. I know it’s not on the roster for topics, but I’d like to start with a history lesson, and a question to all of you. The reason I bring this up is I know some of you have heard rumors of massing Varadur on the northern border.”
A knowing glance at her and Juni was followed by what they already knew. “Some Varadur have already been breaching the frontier, and were previously dispatched. But I want to start this class with a question of why we’re here, why we’re fighting, with a deeper look at understanding why all of us are here, myself included.” The professor took a measured breath before continuing with a quick scrawl on her display board.
“What caused the fall of Arivol?”
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