Quest Academy: Silvers, page 64
Her gloating quickly turned to mortification, and Sal knew for a fact that she hadn’t foreseen that particular moment.
“Ah, Divinity! There’s the woman of the hour! Congratulations on your first place!” Quest beamed as he moved to shake her hand. His smile was warm and genuine as he turned and placed his palm on her back. When he disengaged his hand from her surprised grip, he pointed to an area across the bar, where a series of tables were stacked with equipment. “We can start now that you’re here!”
As Sal reached the top of the steps, his eyes went into overdrive at the sight of so much equipment and weaponry.
Quest caught his surprise and grinned. “Our staff brought back a lot of loot from a recent dungeon clearance, and we thought it best to reward our top students by letting them pick out an item of their choosing.”
There was a sparkle in his eye, and Sal realized that their prize was from the dungeon that the strike teams had cleared.
Quest raised a single finger. “One item per student, and we’ll be giving the first pick to Divinity, second to Erika…and so on.”
Some of the students were eyeing certain pieces of equipment, despite not having a clue about them. Sal smiled at seeing a group of guys standing around a black breastplate protectively, as though trying to guard it from Divinity’s sight.
Divinity looked over at Quest. “Can I consult with Sal before picking?”
The headmaster grinned and gestured to where Sal stood. “By all means! But I want to steal him away for a moment.”
Divinity’s smile grew wider, and Sal guessed that she knew what was coming next.
Quest moved over to Sal and pointed across the room to where an elderly man was watching him. “I’d like to introduce you to someone, Salvatore. You’ll be meeting them regularly in the next few weeks when they start teaching the Analysis module.”
Sal nodded as he approached the elderly man and extended his hand. “Salvatore Argento. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
With a wry grin, the Analysis professor shook Sal’s hand. “You can call me Beck. I couldn’t help but admire that incredible weave. Quest tells me that you Crafted it yourself? Mythcrafter?”
Sal faltered and realized that Beck was looking at his chest, rather than at his eyes. Sal suddenly remembered that Divinity mentioned something about the Analysis lecturer having an incredible ability. Before he activated his eyes for a look, he was thrown by Beck’s next comment.
“Could you replicate my ability, Mr. Argento?”
Chapter 86:
Analysis
Sal blinked in surprise as he heard the question. With a tentative look at Quest, Sal got a nod of approval from him. “Apologies, Mr. Beck. I usually need to understand the ability before I can replicate it, otherwise it might harm my body…I’ve already gotten an earful from my mother about creating the Mythcrafter one.”
Sal wanted more context from him and an explanation, but Beck shook his head with a smile. “Trust me. My ability doesn’t need explaining, and it won’t hurt you in the slightest. Give it a try and tell me what you see!”
At the urging of both Beck and Quest, Sal activated his eyes and saw an incredibly intricate weave within the lecturer. It was coiled around his eyes, which made Sal even more curious about it. Although it didn’t look incredibly powerful from first glance, the threads were quite thin, with many tight knots. Sal had to take his time in reconstructing the weave, and he triple-checked it for fear of screwing it up under their watchful gaze.
Beck, on the other hand, grinned from ear to ear. “Truly remarkable! I can see it changing!”
Sal’s eyes snapped up in surprise. Beck was able to see what he was doing with his threads? Curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to trust in the weave he constructed. With a surge of internal essence, Sal activated the unknown ability and saw a blinding light appear in front of his eyes. He clenched his eyelids shut for a moment, waiting for them to adjust when he heard Beck’s voice again.
“He even managed to get a higher proficiency than me! I can’t believe it!”
Sal wanted to ask what Beck was talking about, and when he opened his eyes to look at the lecturer, he was rendered speechless. A screen of information, more detailed than any Appraisal he’d ever conducted, appeared in front of him. There was so much data being thrown at him that it was impossible for him to keep up with it.
“What is…this power?”
Beck grinned as he looked over to Quest delightedly. “You’ve just replicated my Analysis ability. It’s similar to Appraisal, but rather than seeing everything about items, now, you can see everything about people! I can make this a little easier for you…” Beck pulled out his Q-Card and held it in front of Sal.
It was too far for Sal to make out the words, but the new ability locked onto the essence signature on the card. The data was still too much to comprehend, though, and Sal couldn’t make sense of all the words and numbers.
Quest pulled an object from his pocket and stood behind Sal for a moment.
Sal barely noticed as he tried to keep up with the waves of information being thrown at him from every direction. Suddenly, a tracker was placed over Sal’s right eye and the information began to condense and sort itself into understandable chunks.
“It’s not a perfect solution, but this device has a part of my skill essence in it. I normally use it when I’ve overworked my ability, so maybe it’ll help you adjust to Beck’s power.”
Sal was rooted to the spot as he stared at Beck in wonder. He couldn’t believe that this was actually a real skill.
Name
Beck Syme
Alias
Specs
Profession
Quest Academy Lecturer: Analysis
Class
Support
Rank (Hero)
Guild Association: 2,139th
Ability
Analysis (Rating: Advanced) (Category: Psionics)
Essence
Essence Control - 100%
Essence Refinement - 53%
Essence Calibration - 97%
Reputation
Quest Academy: Esteemed
Guild Association: Esteemed
Hunter Bureau: Well-Regarded
Threat Level
[Unknown]
Wealth
Confidential
System Notes
Confidential
Quest laughed at the stupefied expression on Sal’s face as he pointed at the tracker. “It’s not great quality, but it suits my day-to-day administrative needs. I’m sure you’d be able to harness much more of Beck’s ability with an upgraded device.”
Beck cleared his throat and waved his hand with a smile. “Excuse me, we’re not here to teach shortcuts! He can learn how to control it in my class, without the constraints or context of your System ability! Isn’t that right, Salvatore?”
Quest laughed and patted Sal on the shoulder. “You can keep that tracker for a while and test it out.”
Beck pretended to grumble, but the wide smile was still on his face while he looked at Sal. “What are you seeing right now?”
Sal read out all the information that was being presented to him, which seemed to disappoint Beck in some way.
With a shake of his head, he turned back to Quest and pointed at the tracker. “That’s holding him back…he should be able to see a full rundown of my capabilities. Analysis can work on physical and emotional behaviors. You’re not receiving any information on my combat prowess? It’s not analyzing my speech or movement at all?”
When Sal shook his head and confirmed that he couldn’t see anything, Beck reached for the tracker on his head, but Quest intercepted him. “He’s only had it on for two minutes, and we’re already holding him back from our other guests. We can have a sit-down with Salvatore later in the week and see if he’d like to learn how to use the ability. Sound good?”
Beck chuckled as he brought his hand away from the tracker. “Fine…we can wait until later.” With a wink in Sal’s direction, the lecturer raised a single finger in front of him. “Just promise you’ll give it a fair chance, okay? It’s intimidating at first, but once you learn how to use it…you’ll be unstoppable!”
Sal managed to stammer out a few words of thanks as his mind reeled with the constant barrage of stat boxes. With a gesture from Quest that he could rejoin Divinity, Sal did just that. He tried to close his left eye to only see the information coming in through the tracker, but it was really disorienting.
Divinity gave him an odd look as she saw the tracker clipped on one side of his face, but she didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she pointed at the table. “I think that headpiece is probably the best fit for me. While you were talking to the headmaster, I decided to have a peek into the future to see what would be the best choice.”
Sal nodded as he turned to look at the arsenal of weaponry and equipment laid out on the table. He didn’t want to keep everyone waiting on them, so he activated his Appraisal ability out of reflex. When the Mythcrafter ability activated alongside Analysis, Sal was dumbfounded to see a completely different type of Appraisal window pop up. The black crown was adorned with jagged spikes, some of which had been snapped off at some point. It looked like more of a tiara that had been charred to pieces after being stripped of anything valuable.
Sal stared at it as prompt after prompt appeared in front of his eye. Unlike the blueprints in Mythcrafter that allowed him to see how things could be evolved and improved, the Analysis ability was breaking down each component and adding more context of why they were important. Attributes and traits were possible to generate based on the materials and crafting method.
Name
Shattered Crown
Origin
Portal Artifact
Age
[Unknown]
Current Grade
Rare (Lower)
Restored Grade
Epic (Upper)
Potential Grade
Legendary (Upper)
Dimensions
4 inches tall | 22.5 inches circumference
Materials
Shattered Lord Crystal: Certain chance to create Psionic and Influence type abilities. (Restoration Possible)
Hellfire Titanium: Premium material. Increases Quality and Grade of equipment. (Reforge Possible)
Remnant Essence: Slight increase in Essence Control for Psionic and Influence type users. (Reforge Impossible)
Runes
Broken Amplification Rune: Slight increase in Essence Control.
Broken Self-Replenishment Rune: Slight increase in Essence Absorption.
Attributes
Control: When wearing the crown, the user will have a higher base proficiency with their essence ability.
Untouchable: Attempts by others to remove the crown will cause Repel to activate.
Abilities
Siphon | Vital Thrust | Jagged | Cleave
Power Source
External Essence
Absorption Rate
35% Passive | 65% Active
Evolution
No
Quality
Terrible: Missing key components for functionality.
Condition
13%: Missing key components for functionality.
Value
Est. $68,000.00 – $92,000.00
“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a demon!” Divinity’s voice could be heard at his shoulder, which caused Sal to jump. The prompts disappeared as he lost hold of the Analysis ability for a moment. When he turned to her, he saw a gentle smile on her face.
Name
Divinity Khan
Alias
[Unknown]
Profession
Student
Class
Controller
Rank (Student)
First-Years - 1st
Ability
Divination (Rating: Intermediate) (Category: Psionics)
Essence
Essence Control - 12%
Essence Refinement - 42%
Essence Calibration - 82%
Reputation
Quest Academy: Known
Guild Association: Known
Hunter Bureau: Known
Threat Level
[Unknown]
Wealth
Confidential
System Notes
Confidential
Before Sal could lift the tracker from his eyes, the ability snapped back into place and showed him all of Divinity’s stats. It finally gave him context in comparison to Beck’s profile, and he was curious about how they were calculated. He wanted more time to think about everything, but the sounds of grumbling students caught his attention.
With another glance at the black tiara, Sal nodded. “It’s an amplification tool for Psionic ability types. It’s perfect for either yourself or…” Sal paused as he looked at Divinity. “Are you just taking this so Erika can’t have it?”
Divinity burst out laughing and waved her hand in front of her like he was being ridiculous. “Of course not. That would be incredibly petty of me. Wouldn’t it?” Her smile told a different story, and Sal shrugged as he looked at the other options while talking to her.
“It’s Rare grade at the moment and will need a bit of work, but I think it’ll suit you.”
Divinity didn’t need anything more than that, and carefully picked up the black crown.
“Erika, whenever you’re ready!” Quest called out from one side of the room.
The #2 Rank turned around from her conversation and moved over to the table to where the crown had been. She stared at the empty space in confusion before looking back to where Divinity was standing with the crown. Erika looked absolutely lost. It was a strange thing to see the most confident in the entire year looking so uncertain.
Sal decided to put her out of her misery and moved up beside her.
Erika took a step back and looked at Sal warily, but he raised his hand to point at the different pieces of equipment.
“There are four pieces of equipment that have minor buffs for Psionic users. That bracelet over there, the necklace beside the breastplate, and the two rings over there and there.” Sal looked back to Erika’s shocked face and smiled. “If you want something even better than that black crown, go to the workshop and ask for Myth. He’s able to Craft Epic and Legendary equipment for the right price.”
Erika didn’t so much as blink. When he was done talking to her, she nodded and moved away from him, picking up the necklace on her way.
Divinity joined Sal with a frown. “But you’ll make my crown better than whatever hers is, right?”
Sal winked. “Of course…as long as you’re prepared to pay full price.”
Quest looked at Sal and gestured for him to take the next piece from the tables. After so many Appraisals for the Reavers Guild, Sal was underwhelmed with what he saw in front of him. Rare seemed to be the top quality on the table and none of the designs interested him in the slightest. Maybe it was arrogance, but Sal knew he could make better objects than anything on the table. It was such a bizarre confidence, and Sal smiled at how far he had come in such a short space of time.
After a few moments of glancing through each piece of equipment, his eyes landed on a large chunk of rock that he recognized immediately. It was a large shard of the dungeon heart that had been destroyed. His Analysis ability was going haywire, and the tracker couldn’t tell him anything about it. Sal remembered how Joshua described his tracker going crazy when they saw the Epic-grade gloves on Sal’s hands.
Sal looked at the rock carefully, but the Mythcrafter ability needed some kind of blueprint or basis to activate. Did it mean that the dungeon heart was of a higher level than the equipment could handle? Sal didn’t hesitate. Even if it turned out to be a dud, he needed to investigate it back in the workshop.
“I’d like to select this one!” Sal pointed at the large shard with a grin.
Quest nodded and called for the fourth person to choose their prize.
As the procession continued, and students picked items from the tables, Quest explained to all of them the importance of guiding their teams and representing their cohorts. It went on for a while before the students, now excited with their new gear, started to actively chat to one another. Sal’s head couldn’t take it anymore with the Analysis ability, so he purposefully shut it off and removed the tracker.
