Everything after that passed in a daze. Knight Persha took charge, nearly single-handedly wiping out the small gang hideout on the other side of the lift. For the most part, the Blood Scythes only had numbers going for them. They were a relatively small gang with knives and bats as their best weapons. To no one's surprise, the Knight easily won the lee.
I stayed back with Dev to watch over the survivors of the sacrificial ritual as we waited for reinforcents. An entire contingent of Knights were on the way, ready to wipe the gang off the face of the city. And to try and apprehend the Circle followers still present, though I doubted they'd have much luck with that. No chance they haven't already escaped.
Once everyone arrived, the five of us were relieved of our duties and allowed to go and rest. After writing a quick report, of course. My hands practically flew over the keyboard of my deck as I wrote out my report. Of course, the report was carefully curated to avoid revealing too much, such as Corvid being with .
Thankfully, the Inquisitor had been good with the cliff notes version of a report the last ti, so it wasn't that hard to finish and print. I headed to the Inquisitor’s office, papers in hand, and knocked on the door. A mont later, a voice called through the thick wood. “Co in!”
I entered the office to see the Inquisitor alone, seemingly just as drained as I felt. He flopped back into his chair, sprawling out haphazardly with his feet kicked up on the desk. Babysitting the commander was probably quite exhausting. “Sir. My report.”
”Right, right… hand it here.” The Inquisitor said without even leaning forward to take it. I had to reach across the desk to hand it to him. He glanced over the papers before throwing them onto the desk. “How wash Dev?”
“Umm… excessive?” I shrugged. “Might need to see a psychiatrist.”
”He already hash… sheven of them. Shix of them were driven quite inshane by his ramblings…” The Inquisitor sighed deeply. "Shotis it's better to not know what lurks beneath the city."
Damn, seven psychiatrists? That’s like, almost impressive. Dev was on a whole other level. “He did fine enough though.”
”Always doesh. Now then, what do you think? About the Circle?” The Inquisitor finally sat up to take his job seriously- wait- no, he was just sitting up to grab his flask. Surprise surprise.
“They’re cooking up sothing big. Human sacrifice like that doesn’t bode well.” Especially considering the Aetherial nature I was still unsure about. She Who Grows, for one. Outside of the eidolons and sprites, I hadn’t even known there were other entities.
Ligh drank down about half of his flask before tossing it back into a drawer and flopping back. “Indeed. The commander and I shtumbled acrossh a small armory. Hope and Joshua found a dozen more. They’re gearing up for shothing big…”
Arming up wasn’t much of a surprise. This was Aythryn City after all. Still, a dozen armories was… well, as the Inquisitor said, they’re gearing up for sothing big. Hope and Josua sure were getting a lot more done than Dev and I had.
I thought back through the map to see if there was anything else I hadn’t noticed yet. As per usual, I couldn’t think of anything. Regardless sothing big was going down. I could feel all the clues at the back of my mind, and yet they just wouldn’t connect. Couldn’t connect. I felt like I was missing just one clue that could tie it all together.
“Sir, if I could have a few days to check up on so of my sources, I might be able to find sothing.” It was a ploy to get ti off more than anything. Ti to take care of so stuff, try and ask the eidolons about Mother and all she entailed, and check a few things that stuck out as odd in recent mory.
The Inquisitor waved hand. “Fine. Need any of the other Squiresh?”
”Might spook my sources.” Not that I actually had sources I wanted to check. "But maybe for a few things."
“Five daysh. Then I need you back.” His cold tone brokered no argunt. Not that I was complaining. Five days should be more than enough.
We talked a bit more about the specifics of Dev and I’s case, though it was mostly just surface questions from the Inquisitor about the gigantic crows fighting, the nature of the enemies we fought, and the Circle’s sprawling connections in the city.
I returned to my apartnt, feeling entirely drained.
「Tracking - 7>8」
「Intimidation - 3>4」
「Explosive - 1>2」
Nice. Two new Perks to choose from. That’ll take at most four days if I spend both of them, leaving about a day to get everything I need to get done wrapped up. Not enough ti… Hmm…
I’ll spend Tracking’s Perk Point first, then if it's a learned one, I’ll get right onto the other stuff I need to do after waking up. If it's not, then I‘ll look at Intimidation, leaving three days to get through everything. Should be enough.
Before all that though, Corvid? You there, buddy?
I waited a few monts until I felt an Aetherial ripple. Only, it was weak. Extrely weak. Corvid flopped through, landing on my hand weakly. “ow."
I spared a laugh at his attempts to cheer up as I checked on the little guy. He- he was in a bad shape. Several bone-deep cuts all over his body, lost feathers, and one of his wings was bent awkwardly. Bleeding had stopped though. A red, ruby-like substance covered his injuries in what looked like a protective shell. Crow’s handiwork if I had to guess.
He nuzzled into my hand, seeming drifting off to sleep. I carefully set the sleeping bird on my bed. At least he was alive, though… Too bad he doesn’t have sothing like Quick Healing. That’s one of my main worries checked off at least. He probably wouldn't be in any shape to aningfully help, unfortunately.
I spent a while drawing in my notebook before buying a bunch of silver filants for my SITCH printer. It was really about ti I got to creating bullets with Aether Imbuent. I felt it against Corvin, the fallen Greater Sprite, but my firepower was a little weak. Really, it was only a matter of ti until I ran into sothing my low-tier weapons couldn’t kill.
I went ahead and worked on everything I’d need for Aether Imbuent, designing it all up for the SITCH to print once the filant arrived. There was a surprising amount of detail and equipnt I’d need, though thankfully I rembered exactly what I’d need.
Once I was done with that, I joined Corvid in bed and allowed myself to fall into the pavilion. I arrived before Tracking’s shelf, looking over the various Perks. I already had a loose idea of what I wanted from the last ti, Panther’s Sight, but I went ahead and looked over everything just in case.
Nothing too crazy stood out. Panther’s Sight still seed one of the best. And it seed to follow the sa format that Fox’s Paw had.
「Panther’s Sight - See with the majesty and prowess of Panther.」
I grabbed the scroll and moved over to the easel, trying to dredge up what I rembered about Panther. This was my second eidolon Perk—the first being Fox’s Paw—so I was understandably a little hesitant about grabbing it. Fox’s Paw had been an experience to learn.
Panther was… I think Panther was the one that gave that kill quest oh so long ago? Maybe? I haven’t really interacted with him all that much. I got the feeling he was more interested in the hunting side of the world, so he probably really would’ve liked the last owner of the interface. Thanatos or whatever his na was.
I threw the scroll onto the easel. It unraveled to reveal a magnificent panther sprawled out on a tree. The panther’s eyes seed to glow with intelligence masked by a feral glee as they stared into . For a mont, I felt intimidated by the harsh glare-
And then I was back in bed. For a split second, nothing changed. Then a burnished sensation spread across my flesh eye and a phantom burning sensation spread across my chro one.
In an instant, the pain multiplied hundreds of tis as if my eye was being pricked by thousands of microneedles, rebuilding and adjusting the anatomy. I held back my screams, clenching at my sheets as I tried my best not to wake Corvid up throughout the whole process. By the ti the pain faded, I collapsed back, covered in sweat with my eye still throbbing.
I closed my eyes tightly. I could figure out what all changed in the morning. For now? Rest.
— — —
Corvid had already gone back once I returned, not that I could fault the little guy. Being in the Aether was probably better for his recovery if I had to guess.
I took a shower and looked in the mirror early in the morning, pausing as I looked at my flesh eye. It had changed. It looked a little less human. Without looking closely, it wouldn’t be imdiately noticeable, but my pupil had changed to a vertical. It still looked human at first glance, but it was definitely a vertical slit.
Felt extrely weird as I got used to my new eye. As I played with the lights, I realized my eye adjusted much quicker to the shifting lights. My vision definitely improved. I’d have to test it, but getting flashbanged probably wouldn’t be as devastating.
I also lost the urge to blink almost entirely. It was still there, but it wasn’t as consuming as it had been. And when I did I had a third eyelid sweep across my eye horizontally.
Then there were the color changes. My grey eye had shifted slightly, taking on a near-glowing amber hue around my pupil. It was a bit intimidating to look at in an uncanny sort of way. At a glance, soone could tell there was sothing uncanny about the eye, but wouldn’t be able to put their finger on it.
Of course, I doubt it was just that much. There were probably features I had yet to figure out, but I could look for those later. As of now, I had five days left. It was about ti I started getting on so stuff.
Once I got done playing with my eye, I headed out on my bike, picking up my order of silver filant on my way. My first stop? The speakeasy. I really wanted to start working on so Aether Imbued bullets. It would be a long, tedious process to get everything set up, but I’d feel much better with so bonus firepower in my mag.
I turned the SITCH on as I ported over my designs. The first thing I’d need was a Crystalized Elent, and to get that I needed a few particular silver pieces. As I waited for all that to finish printing, I started making the reloading bench I’d set to print from before I left to et up with the Crusade.
The design was simple and easy, sothing I’d started going for more and more recently. The simpler the base design was, the easier it would be to make modifications at a later date if I needed to. No idea what modifications I’d make to the bench, but it was nice to have options.
Everything still wasn’t ready, so I spent so ti gathering the materials I’d need. There were an unfortunate number of them. For starters, I needed the Aetheria crystals from Corvid. They weren’t a hard requirent, but mixing a bit of Aetheria in with the Crystalized Elents would cause a stronger reaction.
Once I had everything rounded up, I returned to the speakeasy to get started on the whole process. I pulled the silver plate from the printer, carefully inspecting the runes for faults. The guide from Aether Imbuent had been very, very clear about how explosive things could get if even just one of the runes was slightly off.
It all looked good to go. I brought it over to my new reloading bench, set it down, and took a deep breath. I went ahead and activated Cold-Blooded, using the Perk to boost my focus and stability as I carefully went about making my newest toys. Hopefully, nothing will blow up.
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