Chapter Eighty-Eight – Negotiations – Part Three

How about the size of a football field, with the dimensions of the goal posts as the height…

-UWO Specialist Novak-

It's been three weeks since I came back to earth. Three weeks that I desperately needed to decompress. It's near the end of January now, and in less than three months the gates will start spawning again. When they do, I'll be ready. They may have taken all of my Witherbrand class skills and given me less useful ones, but it doesn't matter. Once someone has seen the system bend, break even… they know it can again. No matter how many times they try to throttle me, I'll just keep swinging.

"So, why are we spending so much time doing this?" Tran asks, staring at the paperwork in front of him.

"He already told you it's important," Greymore grumbles, Tran's been wearing on his nerves. He actually pulled me aside a week ago asking if I was sure about having him on the team. I am is all I told him.

"But like why does it need to be so specific? Shouldn't you be grinding for levels or something instead of… whatever this is."

"This is worth more than a hundred levels if it works," I say.

"You can't tell me more than that?" Tran gripes.

"Nope, just trust me."

Barlow opens the door, a handful of jerseys in his arms, he holds them up, "They just came in."

"Good, good," I say straightening my stack of papers and standing, "This'll do," I turn to Greymore, "Let them know, it's time."

He nods, standing and cracking his neck, eyes narrowing.

***

Six hours later and we're on a flight to Europe. Not the private jet that I asked for, but still business class, so I can't really complain. Unfortunately, my conditions were downgraded quite a bit once they received my full debrief, some of them were completely removed as well. Being level seven and not having any of my god slaying skills or equipment immediately downgraded my perceived value. Maybe I should have gone to the World Hunter Association after all.

"I'm going to rack out," Greymore says, pulling down his hat after nodding to Gilroy.

"Roger, sir, I'll take first watch."

I'm sure he's happy to get out of the windowless facility they had us in. One of the conditions that the mysterious superior of Senator Alveria requested was that I needed to be subjected to a series of tests, mental and physical. I guess they were worried after I disclosed that my Marauder Goddess was the one my new class base skill was connected to. That and taking in the trauma of so many souls… yeah. Let's just say, I pray for dreamless sleep. It's not all bad though. My new skills are less invasive. Now, my connection to the spirits I carry is one that I initiate.

Sitting and looking out the window, I ruminate on everything I've learned. They may not have as much faith in me now, but that's fine.

Thinking about my exchanged skills, the Soul Whisp Class is pretty weird to be honest, and the class description left a lot to be desired.

[ Class – Soul Whisp ]

[ The Soul Whisp Class specializes in communing with souls. ]

Brand of Withering was a damage based skill, one that had a lot of potential. The skill I got in exchange… it's useful, but in a different way.

[ Skill: Soul Mark. ]

[ Usage: Allows the user to place a mark upon a soul. ]

[ Effect: Enables the user to track a soul. ]

[ Duration: Each mark lasts until released. ]

[ Cost: Mana. ]

[ Unique Passive: Allows the user to glimpse memories of marked souls. Passive improves with user level. ]

I've tested it out many times now, there doesn't seem to be a distance limit. Though we haven't been able to test it with a gate yet. The mana cost is almost zero when the marked target is next to me, it does increase the further they are away, but even on the other side of the world it's still manageable. It's pretty useful as far as tracking skills go, the people I've marked show up on my map interface as well. There doesn't appear to be a limit to the number of souls I can mark either. The more I mark though, the more I have to pay attention, otherwise the marks start disappearing.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The memory glimpses seem to be random, and they're just that, glimpses. It's not like a constant thing either, it's like a random roll in the background, and then I get a feeling, like if I want to see it I can, if I don't, I just ignore it until it disappears. The memories also aren't as visceral as they were when I collected Wither Charges. It's more like I'm an observer, instead of the person it's happening to, which I know I should be upset about, but I'm actually thankful. Carrying that much… it fucks you up.

Carry the torch.

The next skill is similar to Wither Guardian, but with one major drawback, the summoned souls can't physically attack anything. Nor does it seem like they can interact with the environment in any discernable way, besides being visually and audibly disruptive. Which is useful in its own way.

[ Skill: Soul Companion. ]

[ Usage: Allows the user to create Soul Companions. ]

[ Effect: Creates a Soul Companion pulled from the Well of Souls. ]

[ Duration: Each Companion lasts until mana is expended, or the user releases them. ]

[ Activation: Spoken. ]

[ Incantation: Come forth from beyond the veil… rise and become my Soul Companion. ]

[ Cost: Increases with each additional summon. ]

[ Cooldown: Souls may only be summoned once per day. ]

[ Unique Passive: Allows user to access and commune with individuals in their Well of Souls. ]

Even the incantation is almost exactly the same as Wither Guardian. When I asked Sage and Terra to explain what exactly the Well of Souls is, they wouldn't answer, apparently it's against some kind of rule or something stupid. So many damn rules.

The last skill that got changed, I half expected it to be empty like Requiem of the Forsaken was, but it wasn't. Also, it's kind of busted. Which was surprising, considering that Ulana and Sera seemed to be upset about it. There hasn't been a chance to use it yet, as there are some prerequisites for it. Ones that I've been working on in my free time. Even the class name was priceless, I guess Mythren was too lazy to give it a proper name, or maybe that was his attempt at humor, I don't know. Anyway, it's the most detailed skill I've ever heard of. Guess he was worried I might exploit it.

[ Ultimate Error Class Skill: Well of Souls ]

[ Usage: Allows the user to use a single skill from any individual in their Well of Souls. User must have a basic understanding of said skill in order to use said skill. The less the user understands the skill, the more the skill shall cost. Class Ultimate skills cannot be used. Skills from classes that have been removed due to being unbalanced cannot be used. Skills which the user previously owned but have been removed during a Respec On Death process cannot be used. Skills that will result in exploits of the system cannot be used. Skills that grant permanent boons may not be used. Skills that have passives will be removed after duration of skill has been elapsed. User may only use one skill per day. User may not influence relative time to exploit this. The skill used may be used during that time period as many times as the user wishes, so long as it adheres to the previous scope, and so long as the skill's own cooldown allows it. ]

[ Effect: Uses a target's skill. ]

[ Duration: 24 hours from first usage. ]

[ Cooldown: Skill used will be put on a 30 day cooldown. No other borrowed skills may be used during the 24 hour duration period. ]

[ Activation: Spoken. ]

[ Incantation: Carry the torch. ]

[ Cost: Equivalent Exchange of Mana based on action resulting from usage. Mana must come directly from user, cannot be taken from an outside force such as a mana stone or soul tethering, or any other source that would not be considered derived from the user directly. ]

[ Unique Passive: Allows user to access the Synergy room in the Nexus. ]

I'm not sure why Mythren is allowing this, but if I had to guess, it's because he hopes I'll accidentally use a skill that requires too much mana and kill myself. It definitely can happen. That's also why I'm waiting to use it for mana based skills, I want to study the skills first, and check out their synergy.

Unfortunately, I still don't have access to my Nexus. According to Terra, I won't until Abyss is done being recalibrated, who knows how long that will take. In the meantime, I'm doing what I can to give myself every possible advantage for phase two.

A figure is walking on the plane's wing with their hands outstretched, her stark white hair is blowing in the wind, even though she's not actually here. She's been quiet for most of the three weeks. Checking in on me every so often before getting bored. We made a deal, one that I intend to see through, mostly. The finer details of the end result might not be what she expects though.

Her glowing crimson eyes look up at me, her voice fills my mind.

It's almost time for your Respec quest, Marauder…

"And?"

Aren't you excited?

I yawn and close the plane's window shade. Too bad I can't put a Soul Mark on her, it would be interesting to see where she goes when she's not here.

The Respec quest is not a surprise to me, as part of the agreement to limit Sera aka Red from fucking with me, Mythren has locked me out from getting impromptu Respec quests, and even gave me a timer that I can check when the next dose of bullshit is coming. He also told me that I'd be getting three per year. One from Red, one from Ulana, and for some reason, one from him. His rationale was that it would be improper for me to be given the initial Respec tokens I was owed. He said he couldn't figure out where they went, and he's not allowed to poof them into existence. Thus, he decided that he would be giving me one per year. Meaning I could potentially earn three a year.

Not holding my breath that he can keep those two crazy goddesses in check.

I glance over at Greymore, like most soldiers, he can sleep just about anywhere with ease. He's a really good dude, once you get past his brooding personality. I feel bad though, he's given a lot to be here. When my perceived value dropped, they told me I'd be getting a Major instead of a Colonel for the task force. Basically, they gave him the choice, keep his rank and move on, or get demoted to fill the slot. He chose the demotion to stay with the task force. Most of his officers and senior enlisted also got demoted in order to stay on. None of them complained, they all just said… Hooah.

Fortunately, being undervalued has perks. Less oversight. Also, Fisban is again my official handler, Troller moved on to a more important project. Guess she's fit enough for babysitting duty.

The UWO does not expect much from the task force. Essentially our mandate is to grind for levels and learn as much about the forces that be. Fisban said that essentially they are looking elsewhere for an alternative for a UWO hero. My lack of levels, lack of Respec tokens and constant knack for getting fucked by the system labeled me as… meh.

That's fine though, I like it like this. Gives me the autonomy to make moves they wouldn't understand, moves that if they knew the destination, I think they'd try to stop me.

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