Chapter 45: Niamh (Patreon)

The walls stayed tall and solid, allowing Elliot to work his way back out with minimal fuss. By the end another three greliks had to die, and his core was close enough to the fifth step it was practically pulsing, but there had been no more surprises. It was a measure of how this world had changed him that the process of sneaking out of a warren full of monsters could be almost calming.

Once out, he kept his pace relaxed on the way back to the pickup spot. It was still late afternoon, and the broadback wouldn’t be returning till evening. Moss and wet earth squished under his boots, the smell of pine and something floral on the breeze. Hiking with the platter was annoying, and it was never safe to fully relax in the Gerrwood, but neither fact was enough to stop Elliot from enjoying himself. He’d conquered the warren, survived an unanticipated catastrophe, and followed Breka’s plan as precisely as she could have wished.

Broadbacks were too large to land through heavy tree cover, so the meeting site was exposed. That worked for him, as he was fairly confident anything strong enough to be a threat was more likely to get the jump on him in the thick of the woods than vice versa, so an open rocky ledge was probably his best chance at a level playing field.

When he arrived, he set down both the pack at his waist and the one slung over his shoulder, untying the makeshift harness that held the platter. Then he threw his hands up in the air and reached as high as he could, stretching. Done.

Ten minutes later he was sitting on a flat rock and sketching the valley below, the mirrorsteel warren not quite as blindingly bright now the sun had passed its apex. It was no Tular, but the wispy clouds, dense tree cover, and blue-green river were vivid enough when set against the shine of the warren that he wanted a picture to remember it by. He’d picked up a tiny watercolor kit from one of the peddlers in the central district, something that had elicited a very loud sigh when Hadrian watched it enter his delving kit. Sorting through the papers in his pack had made Elliot extraordinarily grateful for the strength of its waterproofing, far better than he would have had on Earth. He grabbed a hunk of sourdough stuffed with sharp yellow cheese from where it sat next to him on the rock, and took a slow bite.

By the time the broadback arrived, he was feeling practically placid. Maybe he’d come back and build a house here someday, when he was strong enough that predators would have to walk in fear of him rather than the other way around. Glancing down at the warren, his mind returned briefly to his fight in the water, and he shivered. Then again, maybe not.

It was a straight shot back to Tular, and he hurried to the inn. Breka, for once, was already waiting.

“How’s the sigil? Any change?” she asked as soon as he stepped through the door. Instead of her normal armchair, she was sitting at the small desk in the corner, the only nod to her love of upholstery the two pillows squished between her and the otherwise spartan wood chair. Her expression was calm enough, but there was tension in her shoulders.

“N—“ his throat clenched, and he let out a harsh sigh. “Well I guess that’s not for you to know.”

She stood slowly, straightening her back with a grunt. “I take it from the large wooden thing lashed to your back that you were successful?”

“You tell me. I can’t get anything meaningful from this thing. It’s some kind of serving platter with a function I don’t know the nature of, for a holiday I’ve never heard of, practiced somewhere I don’t know the location of. But here’s hoping it's worth a lot of gold.”

Breka reached out to take the wooden rectangle as he slipped it off his back, hefting it so the glowstone above illuminated the carvings. “Hmm. Not what I expected.” She traced a few of the symbols with one hand. “But anything old and enchanted is fairly valuable, even if just for the chance to resell it to an academic. Let’s say three gold for it.”

“Great,” he replied. “Also, your warren tried to kill me again.”

Her eyes snapped to his, widening. “What? It was interfered with?”

“Not like last time. The walls all disappeared, though, and I had to fight the entire contents of the place at once. That can’t be normal, right?”

“Oh,” she said, visibly calming. “Good.”

“Good?” His brows lowered. “Don’t tell me that’s supposed to happen?”

“No,” she said, waving a hand. “It’s not normal. But it’s not inexplicable. That warren has some phase shifting, with the routes changing around, and there’s always the chance for a spike of ambient ethera to intensify the normal mechanisms of a warren. I didn’t feel anything strong enough to cause that, so it’s still strange, but I doubt it has anything to do with our enemies, and that’s what’s important right now.”

“I think me being almost killed by something crazy is also important, but whatever,” he muttered. There had been something that happened right before the shift, but he couldn’t remember what. The chaos that came after had wiped whatever it was from his mind. Ah well. If Breka thought it was fine, it was probably fine.

“You survived, didn’t you?” she said, handing over the coins. “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

Elliot felt a familiar warm rush of energy. The soft light of the beacon washed over his core as he turned his attention inwards. Then he tensed. “Breka, there’s no shard. Why is there no shard?”

The old merchant frowned. “What? That’s not right. Check your abilities, is there anything there?”

Refocusing, he assessed the four solid bands wrapped around his core, immediately noticing a change. “There’s something going on with [Detailed Appraisal]. It’s, um, glowing? But like in an inner-world kind of way. You know.”

“Look closer,” Breka said, her mouth twisting. “That sounds like a full skill upgrade, but it shouldn’t be possible until you’ve achieved the next circle.”

Elliot let his mind settle on the skill, and tried to press on it the same way he pulled the options up for a new shard. Information flooded his mind. “It’s an upgrade. I have four options, two brown, one black, and one—” he frowned. “One without a color.”

“They should all have a color. Full upgrades change the skill completely, although they stay on the same path. Not like the minor upgrades which increase only breadth or depth. They’re not seen until you’ve climbed at least one circle from when you received the skill. At least, they shouldn’t be seen within the same circle. But your sight has continuously surprised me, so why not once more. Read out the options, and save the one without a color for last.”

The first option swam into focus in his mind. “There’s one called [Dealer’s Eye]. It seems like a hard pivot to people instead of goods. It’s brown.” [Detailed Appraisal]’s definition flickered to the forefront of his mind: the ability to assess the origin, story, and value of a minor existence. [Dealer’s Eye], in contrast, would let him gather information about a person’s history and characteristics. “I don’t like that I’d lose so much flexibility, but I guess I can see the value of being able to inspect people.”

“It’s not worth it,” Breka said dismissively. “That’s a true merchant’s skill, designed for interpersonal interaction. There wouldn’t be much combat utility, and it wouldn’t work on beasts at all. I have every intention of pushing you further on the path of appraisal, but that isn’t the way. What’s next?”

He shifted. “[Advanced Appraisal]. Brown. It reads the same as [Detailed Appraisal]. Is that just a stronger version?”

“Yes, the next iteration. Fine, but not for you. I’m confident you’ve earned better.”

“Gotcha,” Elliot replied, feeling the sting of nervousness. Two options down, both underwhelming. Not a great start to something that was supposed to be a rare and impressive upgrade. “The black is [Combative Appraisal].” His spirits lifted. “Oh, interesting. It seems like it’s more about people, but this one seems better than [Dealer’s Eye].” The description promised an ability to read people’s intentions and desires, while to a lesser degree retaining the ability to assess the origin of objects. The sense he got was that it would limit his ability to get detailed information about non-living things, but it was flexible and effective for people, and could be used with beasts.

“Fascinating,” Breka said, eyebrows raising slightly. “I didn’t think that would be an option for you yet, maybe ever. Our program had been more effective than I thought. That would be an excellent upgrade. What’s the uncolored option?”

Elliot turned his focus to the last skill, and hesitated. “It says [Eye of Niamh]. The description is…actually I think it’s missing. That’s weird.”

“What do you mean missing?”

“I can’t feel anything. Usually the information just, I don’t know, pops into my head. Here I’m getting nothing.”

“Focus, boy. The lack of color is strange, but there’s always a description.”

He frowned, trying to think. “I really don’t sense anything, but I’ll give it a shot.” The ability hung in his inner world, suspended with the other three behind his core. Turning his attention to any of the others immediately pulled their rough description to the front of his mind, but when he fixed his attention on [Eye of Niamh] there was nothing but the name.

How was he supposed to make it show the description? It was either there, or it wasn’t. This wasn’t like using [Detailed Appraisal] where he just had to push harder to get more details. The Beacon gave him whatever it gave him. 

Actually—had he ever tried to pull more information from the descriptions in his own mind? Was that so crazy? He’d been able to use the vortex to pull information from his manifested bargain with the greliks back in the warren. It accelerated the pull of information when applied to either [Detailed Appraisal] or an appropriate enchantment, but presumably the way he just knew things was magic too. Why shouldn’t it work for that as well?

Tentatively, Elliot focused on [Eye of Niamh] again. There was still nothing, just the name. He tried to imagine it as one of the images in the Tome of Eyes, a glowing form conjured for training [Detailed Appraisal], nothing special. If he could just activate the inspection skill…

But there was nothing to target. At the end of the day, it was a concept in his brain. The definition of ‘minor existence’ for the purposes of his skill was flexible, but this was a bridge too far.

He shook his shoulders out vigorously. This was stupid. Why would one of his four abilities have no information at all? It turned it into a wasted spot. There was no way to justify taking something completely blind. 

Was there anything he was missing? Breka had never led him wrong before, and she was clearly powerful and experienced enough to know what she was talking about. What could possibly be making him unable to understand his own skill offering?

Looking inward again, he let his mind’s eye rest on [Eye of Niamh]. Poking at it with his attention, he tried to spin the vortex the way he would if [Detailed Appraisal] was actively working.

There was a sharp twisting of perspective, like someone had tossed him through the air. Spinning the vortex had done something, although it was nothing like the effect it normally had. The sensation was stranger, and more confused, but the best he could describe it was that spinning the vortex spun the skill itself, like [Eye of Niamh] was directly connected to the back of his skull. He tried again, but with a stronger pull.

Then, with no warning at all, the skill snapped into place, and the band that was [Detailed Appraisal] began to shimmer and pulse in its track around his core. His eyes shot open. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” Breka's face was right in front of his, her eyes boring into him. “What do you mean? What’s happened?”

[Eye of Niamh] was merging with [Detailed Appraisal], and the other three potential abilities were fading into the soft light of the beacon. He tried to pry at it with his focus, visualizing the abilities splitting away from each other again, trying to fix the fading alternatives in place before they vanished. Nothing worked, and as the last of the other abilities disappeared [Eye of Niamh] fully overwrote his appraisal skill.

“The last skill, [Eye of Niamh], auto-selected when I tried to use the vortex,” he said, voice faint. “I still don’t know what it does.”

Breka leaned back, rubbing her forehead gently with one finger. “Auto-selected?”

“Yes. It’s done, I’m pretty sure. Hopefully it doesn’t ruin your plan.” His eyes flicked up. “Right? That wouldn’t ruin the plan?”

“Nothing’s ruined,” she replied. “Just…give me a moment to think.”

Elliot took a deep breath. Don’t panic. Everything’s fine. Getting a random skill with no description shouldn’t throw off her incredibly specific and detailed plan for your development, no way. Just a tiny little bump in the road. Damn it.

The sunlight coming through the small window had started to fade with the passing evening; a solitary yellow glowstone above providing more and more of the illumination. It was like a halogen bulb, making everything sharper.

“This could be an advantage,” Breka finally said, bringing her hands together in front of her face and tapping her index fingers. “I think, all things being equal, unprecedented developments are good for a project like this. I would have preferred a bit more control, and I don’t know exactly where this is going to go, but a skill I’ve never heard of is inherently interesting, and a skill with no description is strange enough to hopefully hold some value. Even if this iteration ends up being underwhelming, it could be a stepping stone for the future. Now, explain to me exactly what you meant by auto-select.”

He tried to order his thoughts. “I was hoping to get more details, any details, and nothing was working. So, I tried to spin the vortex, like I was using [Detailed Appraisal] on something challenging. It started to move, which has never happened before without me being in the middle of using a skill or enchantment, but before any information could arrive it did something to the [Eye of Niamh] skill.”

“Did something? Be clear, boy.”

“It was like it was tangled up with it,” Elliot replied haltingly. It was annoyingly unclear in his own mind. “Pulling on the vortex activated the skill, somehow, and that made me choose it. [Detailed Appraisal] started fading away almost immediately, and it was already blending itself in.”

“Interesting.” Breka turned and strode to the corner, where she began to root around in one of their storage trunks. “Attempting to activate an ability will select it, that’s true for both new abilities and upgrades. What I don’t understand is why the Beacon read your action as an attempt to activate the new skill, and not [Detailed Appraisal], or one of the other new skills for that matter.”

“It didn’t feel like I was trying to activate it at all.”

“Well,” she replied, standing back up with a small pouch in hand. “All will become clear in time. We’ll see what Hypatia makes of it, next time she’s free. For now, let’s experiment.”