Chapter 135: Consume
I pick up the Fragment.
It’s exactly like the one from the Gatekeeper. Colder, though. More unstable. The energy bleeding off it has a jagged rhythm—pulses that don’t line up with each other, like two heartbeats in the same chest trying to keep different tempos.
[Echo Fragment — Corrupted]
[Activate Rescue? Y / N]
I hold my breath for three seconds.
Yes.
[DENIED]
What—Yes.
[DENIED]
Yes. Yes. YES!
[DENIED]
[DENIED]
[DENIED]
Shit...
[FIREWALL ACTIVATED]
[DENIED]
"I didn’t say anything, you stupid system." I snarl out loud before I catch it.
"See? I told you." Lola shakes her head, deeply disappointed. "Uncle’s gone loopy. Don’t touch anything, people."
I force myself to stop. Close my eyes. Exhale. My head has too many things in it right now and the lines between them are starting to blur.
What’s done is done.
I slide the Fragment into my inventory. Out of sight. I’ll come back to it.
I turn back to the loot pile.
[1 Shard and 50 Scales.]
Basic currency for a Rank B kill. Nothing exciting.
The next drop makes me stop.
[Reef Lifesaving Plates]
[Rank: C — Reef]
[Type: Armor Vest]
[Durability: 550 / 550]
[Absorbs 15% of impact, slashing, and piercing damage.]
[Passive: Rebound Wave — 20% chance the attacker suffers a rebound from the collision.]
[Hidden Passive: By accumulating rebound power, the user can redirect the force of the rebound to the attacker.]
This is perfect for Oliver.
I walk over.
"Hey, big guy. Got something for you. Reef item. Hidden passive that’s completely broken. You handling this?"
"Thanks, boss... ahhrg... What... what is it?"
"Armor vest. Twenty percent chance of bouncing an attack back at whoever hit you. That part you’ll see. The hidden part is that you can store that rebound energy and feed it into Motorhead as extra force."
I skip the appraisal for him. Oliver doesn’t need a reading to use it—he needs me to tell him what it does, and then he’ll figure out how to make it work.
I hand him the vest. He takes it one-handed, his other arm still pinned to his side by the herbs Rhayne wrapped over his ribs.
Back to the pile. Nothing else worth pocketing. Low-grade materials, generic drops.
I leave them.
The Fragment in my inventory keeps knocking. Faint. Cold. Tapping against the inside of my skull like it wants my attention.
Another captured soul wearing monster skin?
But this Turtarex—I saw it come out of the tower. This tower made it.
I shake the thought loose. No point chewing on it without more data.
Five minutes later, Oliver pushes himself up. Slow and groaning. One hand on the cracked pillar stub for leverage. He makes it upright on the third try.
Functional. Functional is enough.
"You good to move?"
"Yeah, boss. I really want out of this place."
"We all do, Oliver."
"The pot’s annoying, but I’d like to see him," Lola mutters.
"I just want to eat," Rhayne says. Quiet. The tone lands closer to a confession than a comment.
Rhayne asking for anything, in words, in front of everyone, is new.
"Soon. Train’s behind that door." I point at the massive gate standing behind the altar. "Top off your OXI before we go through. Everything past this point is new. Assume surprise."
[OXI: 2,499 / 2,500]
I choke on my own air.
Cough. Cough.
"You okay?" Rhayne’s gloved hand touches my elbow.
"Yeah. I’m fine. I just..." I stare at the number. "...ranked up. How is that possible?"
"I got nineteen percent experience," Rhayne offers.
"Eight." Lola. Bored.
"Same—nineteen, boss."
"Give me a second."
I dig into the notifications I stacked up and ignored.
[You have completed the Trial of the Chosen.]
[You have encountered a U-Leviathan.]
[Reward: 25% Rank Advancement.]
[CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE EVOLVED TO RANK-D]
Name: Dryden Sands
Rank: D (Coral) — ★★★☆☆☆
Class: Drifter — Order [SSS]
Class Type: Unique
[OXI: 2,498 / 2,500]
[ATTRIBUTES]
Strength: C (1★) [Horizon Set]
Agility: C (1★) [Horizon Set]
Vitality: C (1★) [Horizon Set]
Spirit: C (1★) [Horizon Set]
Wisdom: B (3★) [Retained from Memory]
[Reward: 3 Shards.]
What the hell is this.
Did she actually give me experience, or is this Chaos Theory cashing in another of its unpredictable blessings? I don’t like it either way. Thirstfall takes back everything that comes easy. Nothing this size has ever arrived without a receipt attached.
"Well?" Rhayne tilts her head, waiting.
"Yeah... I’m a Coral Rank now."
"Congratulations!" She lights up. Actually lights up, in that small contained way she does.
Oliver pats me on the back with his good hand, and winces because even that hurt.
"Now Uncle doesn’t have to anymore..." Lola pouts at the floor.
"Have to what?"
"Keep rubbing the pearl in his pocket."
I look down at her.
She isn’t looking at me. She’s looking at my pocket. And her face says "I noticed, and I know what it means, and I’m telling you I know."
I let a small smile through. Don’t say anything.
Lola doesn’t miss much.
The Reentry Pearl has been a cold weight against my thigh since we walked out of Lost Ark. My hand finds it without being told to. It’s been doing that for days. She saw it. She read it. She understood that the Pearl was the exit I couldn’t open yet.
I have the rank now. I could use it.
But we have a train. And Chronia picked signal 255 for a reason I don’t fully understand and trust more than I trust anything this system has told me since I got here.
The Pearl goes back to being a second life kept in a pocket.
I move on before Lola can press any harder on that bruise.
What holds my attention now is the class.
[LEGACY]Aion Codex (Seal 1/7 Unlocked)
[CLASS SKILLS]
> Memory of Lightwaves (Active/Passive)
Trace (Passive): Allows the user to see "Echoes" of recent events or paths left by the deceased.
Rescue (Active): Extract the fading memory and remaining Essence from an Echo’s Fragments.
Link (Passive): Detects and recognizes the true soul of an item, revealing hidden statuses. Requires assimilation.
Consume (Unlocked): Rank D (Coral). By consuming an Echo Fragment, you do not extract its memories and essence—you acquire its experience and may be offered a contract.
Overmemory (Locked): Requires Rank C (Reef).
Offered a contract.
The word sits there.
Rescue is a read-only operation. Consume is something else. Consume doesn’t give me what was in the Fragment—it makes something out of it. And apparently, sometimes, that something has a voice that wants to negotiate.
I pull the corrupted Fragment out of the inventory.
It settles into my palm and the cold radiating off it is worse than the first time. Sharper. More deliberate, if something without a mind can be deliberate.
I look at it. Then at the squad in front of me.
Oliver half-slumped against his own knees, the new vest on him. Rhayne’s eyes on me, flat and patient, already reading whatever’s about to happen. Lola holding Lullaby’s case in both hands, chin tilted up at me.
None of them understand what I’m about to do. All of them know I’m about to do something.
[Activate Consume? Y / N]
Yes.
[FAILED]
[Two attempts remaining.]