There were two questions Vale didn’t ask, as it didn’t seem appropriate given the ti, nor was knowing the first his top priority.
’What happened to Lor? And his weapon?’
Had his body remained or been consud by the dungeon?
’Do I even want to know?’
What did knowing that tell him?
’Nothing useful at the mont.’
But it pointed toward a few harrowing truths.
Vale didn’t exactly know if there was a connection, but if the challengers were being drawn to his dungeon just like the Items...
’Then they are not copies.’
Not only that, it ant they were also defying the Pivotal Law.
Combine that with what Vale knew about Awilix...
’Dead and half.’
Lor was soone who died on Kaldora, but was untouched by the Scourge. Then, half of his soul was drawn here while the other half remained on Kaldora.
’But... Why? Who?’
Who was responsible for this phenonon? Why were the challengers’ souls being split in half to begin with, and how was that even happening?
’Is the mysterious voice the source of it all?’
Vale would spend so more ti pondering it, but the knowledge didn’t seem all that useful to his current predicant.
What he needed now was to understand his new strength.
Mainly, his Traits.
Vale summoned his status page.
♥︎♥︎♥︎
Na: [Valentin Laurent]
Title: [Fifth Advent of Lust]
♡♡♡
Dungeon Class: [Vice]
Dungeon Core Rank: [Ergent]
♡♡♡
Aspect: [Lust]
Class: [Vice]
Core Rank: [Ergent] - (0/700)
♡♡♡
Aether: [234]
Satisfaction: [45]
Traits: [Interdiate Shapeshifter] [Charm] [Fla of Lust] [World Without Witness] [Fatal Attraction]
♥︎♥︎♥︎
Vale grew a dim smile as he read ’Ergent.’
’First things first...’
He needed to understand what the hell transpired in the fight.
[World Without Witness] - [A projection of the world narrows, claiming reality for two. The mind of battle made absolute, contained within the flas of passion. What lies behind is severed, abandoned, forgotten. Forcibly collapse perception and consequence, isolating a chosen opponent within a narrowed fra of existence. All that exists is the confrontation. All that matters is the outco.
The world does not stop. It simply ceases to be relevant.
It is a declaration. A refusal to look back. A rejection of witness. A world reduced to a single truth:
There is only you and your enemy.
Everything else can wait.]
Vale took his ti reading over the lengthy description a few tis...
"Is that... what happened?"
’The world does not stop.’
Yet it looked very stopped when Vale was fighting with it activated; however, once the fight finished, the world didn’t exactly resu.
Vale and Lor were both brought back to the mont the Trait activated. Then, all the damage they received was reflected onto them. It was then and only then that Lor died.
’The mind of battle made absolute. Does that an it’s a battle in the mind?’
Vale combined that idea with the na of the Trait.
’Is my Trait recreating the landscape — a new world — and drawing my opponent there?’
Was their fight entirely in their minds?
Yet the damage was entirely real, but only after the fight finished. From what Vale knew so far, that was shaping up to be the truth. Vale really wanted to question how it made sense or how he was capable of such a stunt, but Traits and other abilities didn’t necessarily adhere to common sense and physics.
Using the laws he knew to try and understand sothing that inherently existed outside of them was aningless.
But if Vale’s rumination was right — which it most likely was; and if not right, very close — that ant...
"I’m happy. I’m so happy."
Vale’s fingers curled as he raised his fist from under the covers.
’A world without witness.’
That was the wish he made before he developed the Trait.
That did beg the issue of how he randomly developed the Trait, but Vale didn’t even know where to start there. Not even Salo and Mias knew. All they knew was one could develop a Trait when a defining mont happened in their life, and two, when they ascended.
There was sothing minor Vale did note, however.
When he’d gained [World Without Witness], the voice had detailed it to be ’developed,’ but [Fatal Attraction], which he got after becoming Ergent, was ’acquired.’
From that difference in diction, there was one thing that Vale felt he had discerned.
’One doesn’t develop a Trait in the mont. It’s a long, drawn out process. Their soul, whatever that really is, has a wish. A wish it nurtures. A wish it begs the world and Aether to respond to.’
Then...
’When a defining mont happens in line with that wish. It may co true. It may not.’
And since Vale had long been wishing to live for himself, to fight for himself. To not have to worry about others — only for what was in front of him. That earnest, soul-felt wish had developed into a truth.
’I developed a world of my own. A world free from burdens.’
Vale leaned back in his bed, a smile growing on his face. He’d still have to worry about his Champions, but when using the ability, he didn’t.
And that wasn’t the only reason he was happy.
Vale, calm and not in the heat of battle, had also learned a bit about how it activated after he read the description.
The Trait took a down paynt of Aether from him, then drew a designated opponent into the space surrounded by fire. Then, it ended when either Vale decided or one of the two died.
Finally, there was a cast ti of about ten seconds. A cast ti where he had to concentrate on the opponent deeply. aning, it was a little difficult to use in the heat of battle; Almost as if it was ant to be used with others around to distract as he manifested it.
’Still...’
The ability didn’t have to be used in battle — It wasn’t a world ’in battle’ without witness.
If Vale wished, he could use his ability to have secret conversations. It would be quite a costly one, Aether-wise, but it was a conversation none would overhear.
Vale thought back to what Mias told him about how oracles perceived the world through others’ senses, not what they thought. And if this world was in his mind...
’Maybe not even Sloth can see.’
This ability...
It could be his saving grace if he ever needed to plot against Sloth.
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