The Fool's Freedom

It took a moment, unlike other times when the System would either bring the change immediately or ask him to wait.

And the moment stretched. Alan could feel himself lose all [Monochrome Armor] was giving him and the panic that washed over him was almost suffocating. It was an instinctual reaction to losing something that had become a vital part of him.

Without it, he would be slow, reliant on his meager dexterity.

Without it, he would be alone.

In the next moment, everything was over and a new feeling washed over him, and he felt safe. A blanket of warm shadows and a lightness of body that made him feel like a feather drifting on the wind.

Congratulations! Trait: Monochrome Armor (Racial) and Trait: Unidentifiable (Epic) have combined.

Your title [Scion] has affected the process.

Your title [Inheritor] has affected the process.

Oh? That was good. That meant stronger or more unique effects. His legacy had already affected the advancement of [Last Glimpse] to [Will of the Dead] and while he couldn’t exactly determine how much stronger it had been than the first option, it was clear it held advantages despite the two being the same tier.

You have acquired a new Trait: Shepherd’s Shroud (Unique-Racial)

Shepherd’s Shroud (Unique-Racial)

You are the Shepherd of the Broken, the one who walks the darkness and the empty paths. Lead the remnants of the past unafraid of prying eyes.

You can manifest the Shroud at any time to gain a large boost to your will.

You resist most identification skills.

Your speed is permanently determined by your Mind attribute plus 50% of your Dexterity attribute.

The Shroud passively protects you at all times.

The Shroud may gain additional effects if utilized with other effects.

The Shroud reflects your will.

Damn, these rare things are all over the place. Does that mean no one else had ever had that particular skill, even among the shadowless? The class is (unique) too. Special at last, ha. Take that mom and dad.

The change was not large, but the wording of everything old had changed slightly, and a few things were new. He no longer had to put any effort into gaining the speed boost of [Monochrome Armor]. The boost to his Will was new, and not expressed in percentages. Did it not mean the attribute then? He felt it would’ve been specified.

A thought is all it took as the translucent wisps of whispering shadows around him shuddered and grew to wrap around him. It was like the clothing was made of living shadow. It wrapped around the head too, leaving nothing of him revealed to the world.

He could feel it now. The surroundings were his. It was as if his mind or even his very being had spread around him. A bubble of his own making in which he controlled life and death. It took no effort to force the wall near him to slowly start cracking.

He stopped quickly, afraid he would cause structural damage to the room or something. Digging himself out from underground would be a tough time.

I must look like an apparition now. A man made of shadows…

It took no effort to force the shroud to change and soon it was a cloak – not a regular one as making it look ‘normal’ seemed impossible. It looked pretty cool, although Alan wondered if it was not a bit much. Then again, what better excuse to be a bit edgy than a brutal magical apocalypse that changed the landscape and every living being?

The shroud dissipated and the shadows returned to slowly licking at his skin and exiting with his breath. They were thin enough that one could miss them, but they were there, and so were their whispers of comfort.

There were no remnants of any worry in Alan as the power that coursed through him was making him giddy with excitement.

And now… He hoped for some combat skills. His kit was all over the place and throwing shadow slashes was getting old. He was fast enough and it was a viable strategy, but he was also a mage and his physical stats would never be capable of reaching what he had felt during the dragons [Bestowment].

Most of the remaining skills he had were very conditional. His next priority would be to place a few curse marks, to have fuel for [Chains of the Dark Servants]. It was a great control skill, but it required him to give his apparitions a breath of life, which could only come by draining other beings.

[Sacrificial Attack] also depended on that, as he had no life force to sacrifice.

The descriptions of the skills available to him came easily to his mind, and he focused, happy to make another choice.

Dark Eye (Rare)

Few things can stop its sight, but it’s defenseless and even the weakest can crush it with a wave of a hand

Create a shadowy eye that can observe the world for you. The range of its movement is determined by your Mind attribute.

A great skill. However, if I can manage to advance my understanding of mana flow, I will be able to sense things either way.

A skill meant for scouting. It could be useful, but the two other skills blew it out of the water.

Void Step (Rare)

You have felt it before. The leap of a dragon that was one with the void, the ability to traverse space as if it didn’t exist. You are no dragon, but traces of one still echo in your blood.

Ignore distance and take a step that will let you bypass space.

The memory of covering immeasurable distances with a thought was still fresh in Alan’s mind. It was similar to the [Void Dragon’s Leap] skill, although he was sure it would be much weaker, at least at the start.

Still, such a movement skill would be invaluable. There was some worry that his speed made it redundant, but considering that he would quite likely fight things with attributes much higher than him, being able to teleport around would be a lifesaver.

Plus, his two curses all required him to be close to his target, either to place a mark or plunge them into the depths of their own consciousness, turning their own memories into torture devices. It was quite evil when he thought about it.

The last skill was of the highest grade, but somehow it sounded even worse than [Curse of Buried Shadows]

Purity of Void (Epic)

Purify the mind of the lost, banishing any negative effects they may suffer, and cleansing their thoughts of anything not useful to you.

Alan’s thoughts became turbulent waves as he took in the implications of it. An (Epic) skill with a single sentence for description was strange. However, the more he reread it the more worried he became.

Not useful to me…? It was vague enough to bring all sort of imagery to his mind and he shook his head. The skill could be used for good and the implication that it could heal the mind was huge, but it was not practical.

Cleansing thought not useful to him could mean many things. He didn’t want to create slaves out of people or monsters or destroy the minds of his enemies. It was just not him.

Either way, the promise of being able to move like the Void Dragon, ignoring space was impossible to him.

Congratulations! You have learned Void Step (Rare).

Without hesitance, Alan tried it out and found himself face-to-face with the opposite wall a moment later. He almost bashed his face in it before managing to find his balance.

The second time he paid more attention and for a brief part of the second he managed to sense the strange force at play as the skill came into effect. As if space was folding for him.

It felt good and didn’t cost much mana at all – negligible. There were about five or six seconds during which he couldn’t use the skill after each cast, but he was sure that would go down with practice and as he grew more comfortable and familiar with the concept of Emptiness.

Space and Emptiness, or Void, as he saw no reason to make a distinction between the two, for now, seemed to be quite closely related. Which made sense.

Excited about his prospects or where his new class and skills would lead him, Alan opened his status window and marveled at the changes.

INFORMATION:

Name:

Alan Morgan

Race:

Shadowless

Bloodline:

Void’s Shadow | Progress: 1.1%

Class:

Shepherd of the Broken (Unique)

Level:

Tier 2 - 100

Insight:

Flow; Emptiness

Titles:

First Pathfinder; Progenitor; Scion; Inheritor; Madcap; Slayer; Friend of the Spirit World; Enlightened; Mercenary(F)

ATTRIBUTES:

0

Strength

174 (OBOM + 154.2) +5 [15 base

Dexterity

189 (OBOM + 168.6) + 5 [15 base

Vitality

0

Will

668 (+154.2 from %) [514 base

Mind

708 (+140.5 from %) +5 [562 base

Magic

761 (R: EB +115) (+58.7 from %) [587 base

TRAITS:

One Mind, One Body; Empty Vitality; Shadowspeech; Broken One’s Will; Shadow Mind; Oathbound; Shepherd’s Shroud;

SKILLS:

Warlock’s Body Mastery; Synaptic Failure; Shadow Creation; Ritual: Enchanted Bones; Ritual: Infused Flesh; Mortal Peril; Curse: Stolen Life; Mana Zap; Sacrificial Attack; Will of the Dead; Chains of the Dark Servants; Curse of Buried Shadows; Void Step

BODY ENHANCEMENTS:

Shadow Space; Enchanted Skeleton;

His skill list was growing a bit longer and yet most of the skills were not good for his current needs. So far [Mana Zap], [Synaptic Failure], and the shadow slashes attached to [Shadow Creation], were his only means of direct attack, other than using the shadows infused with his will to break defenses.

[Sacrificial Attack] was useless right now.

He also had three uses of [Hateful Mist Cut] which he strongly suspected was an (Ancient) tier skill. Using it just for the sake of using it would be silly, as it was yet another opportunity for study.

He wondered if staying with Isind to advance another skill wouldn’t have been the smarter choice, but he had been anxious to go back and tier up. Plus, growing his skills on his own carried a huge advantage with it – it would allow him to understand each skill that came in the future better, and adapt them to his needs.

What Isind had done was brute force the advancement and it had ended great. Alan wouldn’t have been able to procure so many corpses on his own, especially such of a higher tier.

He wondered if that meant that every tier two had an (Ancient) skill, or if he was an exception due to all of his fortunate encounters and lucky breaks. It was possible.

No matter. His new attributes were a sight for sore eyes and what mattered right now. They would certainly play a huge part in advancing his weaker skills. The power he felt gushing in his body was intoxicating and better than anything Alan had experienced. If going up a tier each time would result in such a sense of fulfillment and freedom, he couldn’t wait for the next. It was addicting.

For a moment he thought of trying to reach for Enid in some way, but decided against that. Spirits were very tiring and he was in no mood for dealing with her games.

It took Alan mere seconds to ascend the way he had come. He briefly wondered if exploring the depths of the system-changed underground building was worth it, but that could also wait. Finding his way back wouldn’t be as difficult as back in the day, especially considering his current speed and senses.

Using [Void Step] was tricky and he ran into a few trees, managing to hit his nose quite hard the first time. His [Shepherd’s Shroud] didn’t seem to consider that an attack, so the shadows did little to lessen the impact. The trait was strange in that it functioned partly like a skill, but was apparently deeply ingrained in his being. He wondered where the exact difference lay… the passive effects?

His stumbling about led to another positive experience though, as it finally allowed him to see what his trait [Empty Vitality] actually meant by healing himself with mana. It took just a few drops to lessen the pain and remove whatever damage he had done to his nose.

With a grin and a free mind, Alan once again climbed a tree and tried to sense anything familiar. It was difficult, but running around a bit was bound to lead to results.

He knew he wasn’t that far from the World Temple, and the Sanctuary.

And all of those he had left behind.

It was so exciting.