Tanya started with a crystal on her wrist beside Assistant. Bit by bit, the new ink went down. It reminded her of touching up tattoos, more about precision than being creative. This needed even more laser focus than a normal tattoo, because it wasn't faded enough to be as clear as to where the new ink she was putting down was, but also because she didn't want to lose the intention of it storing Vitality.

She kept her Overlay up the entire time. It made it clearer when her attention would shift because the gem would turn into a healing crystal or a casting focus, or one of a dozen other purposes. Crystals sure did feel like a versatile tattoo, something so easy to put your own meaning on. As that thought hit her, the Overlay changed it into a magic item detector.

Tanya pulled away. This wasn't working. Every couple of minutes, she'd lose the intention. Was the answer really just to think harder? That's when it hit her. Mnemonic Etching.

Tanya smiled. If the Vitality percentage was increased by the meaning of it being close to her, then maybe a memory attached to it would make it even deeper.

She thought of her mum's rows and rows of crystals, the way she would line them up to tell a young Tanya what each one was. She'd gift Tanya a new one for each situation: pink quartz for her first date, an amethyst during exam season, a sapphire when she was working out what college to go to. Tanya had always scoffed and rolled her eyes, but she still had every crystal her mum had ever given her in a shoebox in her bedroom.

By the time she finished the design, her eyes were wet with tears. She wanted to speak to her so badly, but 6 days wasn't a long time to prepare for the onslaught to The Estate, and she guessed Marcy had been recruited elsewhere for now. After this was over, she'd ask Marcy about progress and then, maybe soon, be able to talk to her mum and Tommy.

It hadn't been that important a tattoo to her when she'd gotten it, but now it felt revitalised, both in appearance and meaning.

Vitality: 2 / 30

Tanya winced at the new number. It was a very small tattoo to be 4 Vitality, but she'd remembered that Assistant was the same—going over existing tattoos used less Dexterity but more Vitality and Will. This would be her last tattoo for the day, but the real question was, did it work?

• • •

Name: Vitality Amethyst Wielder: Tanya Angelo Type: Tool Level: 1

Attributes Efficiency: 19 Absorption: 12 Resilience: 10

Abilities

Vital Wellspring Stores 3 surplus Vitality gathered during recovery periods. Though recovery speed remains unchanged, accumulated Vitality can be reinfused into Wielder's system to replenish drain within Vitality maximum.

Boons

Beloved Memory Increases Vitality storage and recovery time by 2.

• • •

Tanya slapped her knees with excitement. Not only had it worked, it had worked very well. The increasing storage and recovery time was fantastic.

Multipliers were just as useful here as in video games. A boost of 3 would have been great for right now, but through keeping the multiplier, it would keep making the same amount of difference as she levelled it. Ishita was on 15 now. If Tanya could get hers to that same amount, this Boon would give her the same amount she had already again.

A few notifications popped up.

• • •

Alert!

Through your efforts, you have increased the following Attributes:

Will +1

Concentration +1

• • •

Level Up!

You have leveled up Mnemonic Etching to Level 4

• • •

Level Up!

You have leveled up The Magic Touch to Level 7

• • •

They were nothing to shout home about, until Tanya noticed the Achievement.

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• • •

Achievement: Return on Creation

What others spend, you reinvest. You saw the loop where few else look—and in capitalising on the Ability to invest directly in future power, you will be paid back tenfold. Now the question is simply where to stop. Achievement Boon: Tattoos created purely to increase your future works will cost half the Attributes.

• • •

Tanya laughed aloud. So the System had liked that then. That half Attribute drain would make the next few days far easier. She might be able to finish making this sleeve into Summons and also square up some tattoos owed to people fighting. Giving tattoos to the members of the Estate would be impactful too, especially if she did it right. Tanya wondered if focusing on lower level or higher level people was better. On the one hand, a single tattoo to someone like Olena could make a huge difference to a fight, but then Tanya considered Marcy and the Life Changing Magic Achievement. That had likely helped Marcy level and grow far faster. It was just how quickly she could finish converting these Summons, and how sure she was that she could recreate Life Changing Magic.

She reread the Achievement.

Where to stop was an interesting one. Tanya hadn't thought about it that way, but she supposed the System was right. If Tanya wanted to, she could become covered in tattoos that only increased her own tattooing ability. They were the only tattoos that only she could utilise; basically, anything else could be used by someone else through Passing the Mark.

Tanya wasn't sure what she thought about that. If she kept Assistant, she would consider it. What did she really have? A sword she wasn't very good at wielding, and a lot of crowd control. Would she accept having to rely on others for protection in all circumstances?

Back before this she'd usually straddled the line more with versatility in games. It had been most fun for her to be a character who could heal or do other support abilities, but also defend themselves alone. Now it was real life, and she realised that the most powerful people around her often only focused on one niche. Mrs Eceer was her closest example, but Olena was a less obvious example. Technically, both of them both crafted something and also utilised it, but maybe going that one step further could set her apart. Or maybe it would kill her.

Deciding to leave those musings for another day, Tanya settled down to rest. None of the tattoos on this arm struck her as specifically useful items to have, so she'd convert this arm and see where she was at.

Tomorrow would be a long day, but Tanya fell asleep smiling.

• • •

Tanya expected her Vitality to be the thing that gave out first the next day. She was wrong.

Mid morning, Mrs Eceer had come to 'check she was alive' or so she said.

Tanya had been in the middle of an incredibly gripping memory of the griffen tattoo she'd got in memory of an old friend's D&D character. That person hadn't been in her life in a long time, and she was filled with so many bittersweet memories that she simply babbled something incoherent to Mrs Eceer about a new strategy and thanked her for the food.

With each tattoo, her Vitality went down, and then up again.

Her Will, however, was trickling further and further. She'd underestimated how exhausting it would be to relive these memories. It appeared that not only was Will increased due to them going over existing designs, but even more so by the demanding nature of reliving often very core moments of her upbringing in excruciating detail.

3 tattoos in, Tanya changed tack, deciding to add a Will-focused tattoo every couple of Vitality. She had to be more selective with these ones to have the same impact. Lots of her tattoos were impactful to who she was, but few of them represented the strength of Will.

Tanya ended up deciding on 4 different tattoos that would be left for Will Wellsprings, or as the Ability called them, 'Wilful Wellsprings.' The first was a cobweb on her elbow that had really fucking hurt. The second couple were both tattoos she'd gotten to make promises of change to herself. The sun and moon on her hands had made the best Will tattoo, however, not because of their meaning themselves, but because they were the tattoos she'd had to fight hardest for. A couple of tattoo artists had refused to do them for her; it was hard to convince people, as a 19-year-old, that you genuinely did know what you were doing and didn't have to worry about hiding them for an office job.

Even her tattooed friends had tried to talk her out of it, but she'd scribbled this design on her hands back in high school, so she had a long time to be sure.

Almost every tattoo had the same Interface entry with the same Boon; it was just whether it was for Will or Vitality.

She filled the entire day that way, summoning Assistant when she got a cramp in her hands. Assistant being there all the time would be preferable, but her Vitality was a precious resource. Once this was over, she was hopeful she could find some way of giving Assistant a way of absorbing Vitality itself, or at least better its Absorption so she could think less about it.

By the time Tanya flopped into bed, barely able to keep her eyes open, she had 13 wellsprings, 4 Will and 8 Vitality. There were other tattoos on her sleeve, but those were all of the low-hanging fruit. Beyond this point, the tattoos didn't have strong enough memories to get a boon.

A rush of Notifications came through as she ended the suppression at the end of the day.

• • •

Alert!

Through your efforts, you have increased the following Attributes:

Will +3

Concentration +1

Dexterity +2

Vitality +2

• • •

Level Up!

You have leveled up Mnemonic Etching to Level 5

• • •

Level Up!

You have leveled up Mnemonic Etching to Level 6

Mnemonic Etching has received a Minor Ability Boon.

Mnemonic Etching

Level 3

You, your tattoos, and those being tattooed can store a single memory within a tattoo. When activated or during creation, it imprints that memory onto both the Wielder's and your mind—whether it's a tactical lesson, an emotional moment, or even a warning from the past.

This can be utilised during creation or modification to shape the tattoo itself. You have influence over the kind of boon it gives through how you channel the memory into the design.

• • •

Mrs Eceer poked her head round the door for the third time that day. "You look like you've been hit by a truck," she said.

"The thing they don't tell ya about these Attributes," Tanya said, her voice slurring slightly from exhaustion. "When you go far enough beyond what you're used to, you still feel shit even though you can do it."

Mrs Eceer raised an eyebrow. "You're only just realising this now. Perhaps you should apply yourself better."

Tanya groaned and threw her pillow at the door. She very quickly regretted it…

But not enough to move and get it back.

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