Advent of Eternity - Chapter 56 (Patreon)

“Not things a smith typically has,” Cyll observed.

“We’re in guild territory,” Greb replied with a grim shrug. “Adapt or die. We aren’t in the pampered mainland here. Now, enough wasting time. Are you giving me the damn Boon or not?”

“You’ve quite proved yourself,” Knell said, handing him the Boon and the demon skull. “But I don’t find verifying your abilities a waste of time. This is not a small job I’m giving you.”

Greb grunted. “I know. What do you want me to make this do? If this is a demon, it might have some inclination already. It might try to force the Boon to do something specific and essentially craft itself.”

“If you can, something defensive,” Knell replied. “If the demon skull takes over, don’t fight it. Something that lives to fulfill a purpose should not be stopped. It will be stronger if it does what it wants to.”

“I agree,” Greb said, a grin stretching across his tanned face. “Wait here. Artificing doesn’t take long, and I think I know just what to do with this. You’re pirates, aren’t you?”

“Who said that?” Stix asked, casually putting her hand on the hilt of a dagger.

Greb laughed. “Don’t get knotted up, girl. Your friend is wearing a tricorn and looks like he took a dip in lava. You certainly aren’t guildies, and no bandit with half a brain would show up in this town. There weren’t many options left.”

“Why do you ask?” Knell asked. “I am not one for small talk, unless this somehow applies to the artificing job.”

“Oh, I was just talkin to myself,” Greb said with a grin. “I know just what to do with this. Make yourselves comfortable.”

He walked into the back of the store, disappearing through an arch. Knell and the others sat down along the wall.

“Now what?” Cyll asked.

“Keep an eye out,” Knell replied. “I’ll be meditating. No point wasting time.”

His eyes were closed and his attention cast inward before the others could say anything. Two hours flashed by. The sound of a hammer ringing against metal occasionally came out from the back room, but the smithy was mostly silent.

You have leveled up.

Knell’s eyes opened, a grin crossing his face. The gods were loathe to reward anything other than real combat or training with experience, but every small bit counted. It was easy to see their reluctance in the short, curt message as compared to the longer one that people got for winning fights. He checked his screen just in case.

Unfortunately, the level up hadn’t gained him any new Scion abilities and Epoch was still firmly stuck at the same level. It was clear that it wouldn’t be going anywhere if he didn’t fight, and if his opponents weren’t stronger than he was, it would take a ridiculously long time to get it to where he needed his strength to be.

“Done sleeping?” Cyll asked, yawning. “This is boring.”

“I was not sleeping,” Knell corrected. “I was meditating.”

“Same thing.”

“You can advance your Path while meditating, if you’ve had enough experiences recently to ponder over,” Knell said with a frown. “Although, I suppose you can’t advance your Path at all, can you?”

“Not in the slightest,” Cyll replied. “Bummer. I guess I’ll have to stick to sleeping and enjoying my off time like a normal person. Maybe Stix can join you and stare at some trees for inspiration.”

“Egh. I’d rather not,” Stix said with a grimace. “I tried it once because my elders said that meditation could help me increase the speed I leveled up. It’s horrible. It takes forever and is incredibly boring. You barely even get that much of a benefit from it. I don’t see the point.”

“Any benefit you can gain is one you should take,” Knell replied. “And our bodies need to rest. That’s why I usually meditate when others sleep.”

“Then when do you sleep?”

“If you can relax sufficiently, you can make your body undergo the same regenerative effects that sleep provides while meditating,” Knell said. “It took some years to learn, but I am now apt at it. I can’t go every day without sleeping, but I can go for quite some time.”

Stix shuddered. “No way. I like sleeping.”

She stood up, stretching like a cat before shaking her head and walking up to one of the walls to study the weapons.

“I haven’t seen a lot of these before. Are they all normal?”

“Pretty much,” Cyll said. “I’m not seeing anything too strange, even though its been a few hundred years. How sheltered is the Shadowdance tribe?”

“We aren’t sheltered,” Stix said defensively. She paused for a moment. “Well, maybe a little. Younglings aren’t allowed outside the tribe’s territory until we turn eighteen. That makes sure that, when we get to the outside world, we’ll be prepared to defend ourselves.”

“And yet you don’t know half of what any normal person would,” Cyll said.

“That’s not true! I’m just a little… uneducated on a few small points.”

“Like every interaction that isn’t stabbing someone,” Cyll drawled. “The only reason you get along with the Cap so well is that he’s so blunt that he doesn’t care.”

Knell closed his eyes again, returning to meditating while Cyll and Stix talked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Stix asked, crossing her arms. “I’m perfectly fine at other things.”

“Like flirting?” Cyll asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I remember what you were doing at Blackfoot Bay. That was hilarious, mind you. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone lose interest in a woman faster.”

Stix turned her nose up. “Well, I wasn’t interested in him anyway. I just needed information. And why would I need to be good at flirting? I don’t care about that kind of thing.”

“That was just an example. You’re – how would you say it – whiskey with those daggers of yours. But you’re an assassin.”

“I’m a Shadow Stalker.”

“And what happens when you get your Path to evolve?” Cyll asked, cocking an eyebrow. “You planning to double down on the tracking?”

“Well, no,” Stix admitted. “Tracking is useful, but that isn’t what I want to focus on. I plan to be a lot more than that.”

“Then there you have it. You’re planning to be an assassin,” Cyll said. “I’m no assassin, but I worked with ‘em before. And you aren’t one.”

“Are you just doing this to insult me? It isn’t going to work.”

“Bah,” Cyll spat. “You don’t get it. You’re part of the crew. As amusing as making fun of you is, I’ve also got a vested interested in making sure you don’t get yourself killed or place needless stress on the Cap.”

Stix pressed her lips together. “What, you think I need to practice my abilities more?”

“Yes, but not the ones you’re thinking,” Cyll said. “An assassin should be invisible.”

“I’ve got a stealth skill.”

“Barely,” Cyll scoffed. “And that’s not true invisibility. What happens when someone has a high level identification skill that reveals you? Poof, no more assassin. If all you are is your Path, then you are nothing.”