Darling of Fate 2: A LitRPG Apocalypse Adventure, page 12
The next cluster of statues centered all around the mechanics of the Tower and the various Floors. And suddenly, I found all my dreams of shiny new armor shattered. How could I grab a simple set of armor—no matter how cool and powerful—when I had the secrets of the Tower right here in front of me? This was information I could disseminate to millions of humans, drastically increasing our chances of survival.
I stopped, a funny memory flashing in my mind suddenly. When I’d perused the Mantle options only a few days back in real-time, I distinctly recalled thinking that I wasn’t interested in being a force multiplier. That I’d look out for me, myself, and I—sorry, not sorry. Looking back, that felt like a different person’s thoughts, and I had to wonder for a moment if someone or something was performing some subtle manipulation of my personality. But I knew that wasn’t the case. Somehow, I’d experienced a mentality shift that I’d never anticipated. Was it standing over the corpses of Lacy, Byron, Jerome, and the others that had started that shift? Or had it come later, when I’d seen just how few of us humans remained across the different Tower Instances? Or maybe it was fighting Kneer and the Jree that had rekindled my bond with humanity?
That wasn’t to say I would completely ignore the Boons that personally benefited me. Some things hadn’t changed, and one of those things was that I was humanity’s best hope of seeing this Tower to the end. That, I felt completely confident about. It wasn’t just my Mantle, my redos, or my bond with Lex. It was that and more. I had a single-mindedness that very few people possessed. It’s what had propelled me to athletic supremacy at a young age. Pulled me to the top of the Trial to claim first place when people like Byron were stuck until the gravity normalized. My singular focus had its downsides, of course. My wasted redos before the Tower opened up was evidence of that. But I knew that when I channeled it properly, I was our best shot at keeping humanity from extinction or slavery.
Drawing my attention back, I noted the next few Boons on offer. There was a [Tower Primer, Floors 1 through 5] that was described as containing the details of the Floor mechanics. The next one was [Secrets of the Tower, Floors 1 through 3], which supposedly detailed all the secrets and Easter Eggs of the first three Floors. I imagined that would include things like secret passages and details on items like the [First Floor Skeleton Key]. The final Boon of this cluster was called [Life After the Tower, a Primer on Phase Two]. That one I dismissed right away—any thoughts of after the Tower were very, very distant.
I paused at the next statue, squinting in confusion. The character depicted was obscured, the statue cracked down the middle, pieces broken off, and lying about. I noted that no one prayed before this altar, and the foot traffic took a wide berth as they passed by.
Desecrated Altar
Patron: [REDACTED], Major Deity of Compulsion
Offered Boon: Mutated Ability
Compatibility: UNKNOWN
Reward: Selecting this Boon will result in one or more Mutated Abilities based on your Affinities and available Abilities. Mutated Abilities are often extremely powerful but always have an associated cost.
System Note: This Deity is an enemy of the Integrated Universe. Accepting this Boon will draw the Ire of all the Deities and Aspects of the Integrated Universe.
Now this was interesting. Not because I wanted the Boon—though I’ll admit idle curiosity. No, this was interesting because it was the first indication I’d seen that there were Powers outside the Integrated Universe. Which made me wonder if Fate and the other Deities represented by these statues were only a fraction of what existed on the outside. Was it a big fish in a small pond situation?
Moving to the next statue, I immediately grew excited.
Patron: Rexxis, Major Deity of the Spirit
Offered Boon: Unlock Spirit Stats
Compatibility: High
Reward: Unlock the capability to add Stat Points to Willpower, Enlightenment, and Charisma up to the cap of your current Stage. At your current Stage, the cap is 150 Stat Points.
Wow…
What would 150 Willpower mean for me? Or Enlightenment? I already possessed a high baseline Willpower and received bonus points from some of my traits and Affinities. But 150 was an order of magnitude higher than where I was right now. Pulling up the description of Enlightenment, I marveled at the implication.
Enlightenment
Description: [Enlightenment] is one of the core stats of the Integrated Universe. It increases the individual’s understanding or natural inclination towards their chosen [Affinity], and their ability to manipulate it. Also improves the speed at which an [Affinity] can be improved, refined, and upgraded.
If I was reading that right, then boosting my Enlightenment would massively increase my ability to manipulate my Fate and Friction energy. As it stood now, I felt like my control was rudimentary—especially with my Fate energy. Supercharging that control would make fighting Kneer a cakewalk.
And I had to be honest, the final Spirit Stat, Charisma, was obviously one of my major weaknesses. Being able to shore that up to some decent baseline would do wonders if I were to take a more active role in humanity’s survival.
I put this Boon near the top of my list, right along with Fate’s Boon—which I hadn’t fully written off, despite the warning—and the [Tower Primer, Floors 1 through 5]. The next Boon was identical to the Jree Deity’s Body stat boost, but for Mind Stats—plus 50 to Intelligence, Mastery, and Perception. I could fucking drool just thinking about it. Not only was that 150 free points, it was actually closer to 200 free points, given my effectiveness increases.
The next one was a Stat boost that was even more overpowered than the other Stat bonuses. It offered a plus 5 percent increase to effectiveness—for every Stat! That wasn’t so amazing now, with none of my Stats in the triple digits yet. But once I achieved higher Stats, the percentage increase would quickly outpace the static plus 50 Body or Mind Stat Boons. But as it stood now, the Stat boosts, in general, were not very appealing.
Moving on, I realized I was almost back to where I started. The last set of four appeared to be specific Patron benefits, like Fate’s Boon. The first one I checked out was a Boon from the Aspect of Karma, which sounded pretty cool! But as I read the description, it appeared it wasn’t an option for me.
Patron: Aspect of Karma
Offered Boon: Unlock Karmic Sight
Compatibility: None
Reward: Unlock the ability to see the Karmic ties that bind all living things.
System Note: Due to your REDACTED Affinity, you are not eligible for this Boon.
Who knew what exactly that meant or if it had any tangible benefits? Still, kind of annoyed me that it wasn’t even an option.
Moving on, I came to a Patron that I recognized.
Patron: Major Faction — Keeper of Secrets
Offered Boon: Unlock [Divine Entreaty] ability
Compatibility: Low
Reward: Unlock the ability [Divine Entreaty]. This ability allows you to pose one question to this Patron for each Floor.
System Note: Quality of answers not guaranteed.
My curiosity was immediately piqued. The Keeper of Secrets was Frank’s Patron. They were also the entity responsible for steering me away from Fate’s Boon. It was interesting in that I could ask targeted questions, one per Floor. But that System Note hit on my exact concern. Who could say if the answers I got were any good?
There were only two left, and I eagerly moved to the next one.
Patron: Aspect of Time
Offered Boon: Unlock [Temporal Control] Ability
Compatibility: None
Reward: Unlock the ability to freeze Time for one minute. Cooldown one hour.
System Note: This Patron has decided to revoke your ability to select this Boon.
Seriously!? I laughed out loud when I read that System Note. If it was unclear what Kneer’s hidden Affinity was before, now it was crystal fucking clear.
I looked the statue in its face and declared out loud, “I’m gonna trash your boy—again.”
Now, was it smart to antagonize a Being that literally was named Time? No. But he started it by betting on the wrong horse and revoking my access to his Boon.
I waited to be struck down or for Time to stop while he came down and whooped my ass or anything. When no Tribulations came, I moved to the last statue. This was the one right next to Fate. It depicted a man wearing a cloak, his face faintly visible within his hood. When I examined the face closer, I saw a determined set to his lips, his eyes imparting a focus somehow through the statue.
But when I read the Boon being offered, my eyes went wide with shock. I immediately reached out with my mind and accepted the Boon.
Pain wracked my body, and I collapsed to the street, my vision going dark.
Chapter 13
[Master of Physics]
Thoughts filtered in one at a time. The first thing that came through was the pain wracking my chest. No, not my chest—inside my chest. My cores, I realized. Something was transforming within my soul, altering the flavor and consistency of the energy inside me. Creating something new, something… powerful.
The next thought that materialized was the realization that cold metal encircled my wrists. Without looking, I realized they were manacles. Instinctively, I reduced the friction between my wrists and the metal, but nothing happened. Resisting the urge to pull at the cuffs, I forced in a calming breath and ordered my thoughts.
What had just happened? What did I remember last?
Suddenly, it hit me, and I opened my eyes.
Staring back at me were a series of notifications that rocked me.
Class Upgrade in progress…
Calculating best adjacent Affinity…
…
Adjacency found—
Master of Physics (Divine)
Attributes: Agility, Strength, Enlightenment
Type: Magical, Physical
Affinities: Mass, Friction
Tier: 1
Your supreme control of your body has unlocked your connection to the underlying physics of this plane.
Passive:
(New) [Structural Integrity] Rank 1:
Increasing your personal mass will result in a proportional strengthening of your skin, connective tissue, muscle fibers, and bones. This effect can only occur while [Mass Control] is active. Note: Decreasing your mass has an inverse effect.
[Climber’s Intuition] Rank 2:
You instinctively recognize the System-optimized route to any visible location within 1000 feet. Also applies to non-visible locations that have already been visited.
Active:
(New) [Mass Control] Rank 1:
Manipulate the mass of objects within the surrounding area. The possible variance in mass, level of control, and duration are directly correlated to your Affinity level. The radius of control is dependent upon the Rank of this ability.
Current Radius: 1 foot
Control Level: Nascent Affinity — Low
[Friction Control] Rank 1
Your innate understanding of your Affinity has resulted in an Evolved Ability. Combining [Sticky Fingers] and [Lubed Up] has resulted in this Ability. This Ability enables awareness and control over the friction within the surrounding area. The level of control is dependent upon your Affinity level. The radius of control is dependent upon the Rank of the Evolved Ability.
Current Radius: 3 feet.
Control Level: Nascent Affinity — Peak
You are now a level 1 [Master of Physics]!
You have received the Touched by the Heavens trait for acquiring a Divine-grade Class.
A new Class with a Divine rarity? I recalled selecting the Boon without a second thought, then collapsing. For a moment, I struggled to understand why I had picked it so quickly, but then my mind started firing, and I remembered the specifics of the Boon:
Patron: Aspect of Conflict
Offered Boon: Class Upgrade
Compatibility: Very High
Reward: Upgrade your Primary Class to the next rarity (Divine). Gain access to a third Affinity that is compatible with your current Primary Affinity.
System Note: This Boon will form a more powerful foundation.
It was that System Note that had sold me. In my mind, the connection between this Aspect, the System Note, and the message smuggled to me through Frank were all connected. Some Higher Power was directly in opposition to Fate and was feeding me information to guide me towards this Boon. After what Hiko and Lex had told me about Fate, along with my own personal experiences, I was convinced that anyone opposing Fate was a better option.
Plus, this Boon seemed disgustingly overpowered.
My control over Friction had already unlocked so many interesting applications, and my mind was already imagining ways to utilize this new class in similar ways. With fine enough control over my mass, I could make myself light as a feather or as heavy as an elephant. Climbing would be just as easy—if not more so—and I could replicate my frictionless skiing method from earlier by alternating my mass. I could even fly! The possibilities made me giddy. I wanted to explore the new power residing in my soul right now!
But my excitement was tempered as movement crossed my vision. Dismissing the notifications in front of me, my eyes locked onto Astrid, her two eyes boring into me while her third eye remained closed.
“Welcome back, little one.” Her eyes were wide, her lips slightly parted, giving me the impression of a psych patient off their meds. “We were worried you wouldn’t recover. Your energy is fluctuating dangerously.”
A panicked thought occurred to me, and I feared she might be able to see my cores—especially my Fate core. But she had mentioned energy, not cores. I forced my expression neutral, glancing down at the manacles pinning my arms to the chair I was in. She noticed my glance and gave me a deranged smile.
“A simple precaution, fret not, my bird.”
I nodded along, shaking the manacles gently.
“Well, all good now. Would you mind?”
She ignored me, turning around to pace the room. Her posture was hunched forward, her eyes manically searching the ground like she was looking for something desperately. While she paced, I looked around.
The room was small, windowless, made of stacked stone bricks that wept with condensation. It reminded me of the underground tunnels that led to the Kaori, except obviously repurposed as a dungeon. Other than the chair bolted to the floor, there was another set of chains embedded in the far wall. To my right, a wooden table stood with a series of tools lying exposed. Chisels, hammers, saws, and various other instruments of dubious craftsman value.
Something told me they weren’t used to build furniture—the blood stains, maybe?
As much as I’d love to tick off a little light torture from my bucket list, I wasn’t really feeling the whole BDSM dungeon vibe. Reaching into the new energy swirling in my core, I examined it, trying to get a feel for it like I had done with my Friction and Fate energy. It hadn’t been that long ago that I’d first discovered my two cores and experienced what my Friction energy felt like. So I remembered clearly that sensation as I examined it. It had brought to mind forces colliding, control, and the struggle of two surfaces coming together.
My Mass energy, in contrast, was nearly static. But more than that, the actual sense I got from the energy was one of density. Whereas the Friction energy was constantly moving, colliding with itself inside my soul, this new energy was nearly motionless—almost stagnant. When I concentrated on pushing it into motion, expressing it outside of my soul, there was an inherent resistance, an inertia that I had to overcome with force of will. I instinctively realized it wasn’t simply the nature of the energy but rather my lack of control—the Affinity was at the Low Tier, while my Friction Affinity was at the Peak.
The energy was swirling in my soul now, and I prepared to push it out into my body, increase my mass enough to rip away my chains, and crush Astrid all in one motion. But as soon as the energy left my soul, blinding red light erupted from my manacles, the outlines of complicated runes visibly chiseled into the metal. The energy I had been trying to utilize was absorbed into the runes, stolen from my mental grip.
Astrid looked over, an evil smile forming on her twisted face.
“It’s not often one is able to express their Affinity on the First Floor. But I had a suspicion about you, little one. Our species is very rarely the first to the Hold.” She ambled over, her fingernail trailing the glowing runes on the manacles. “Hunger runes crafted from Starsteel. Even I could not overcome the energy threshold of these chains.”
Oh, fuck… was I about to be tortured? For what?
“What do you want with me?” I asked, my mind racing to think of a way out. Would I have to pop a redo after all I’d been through? Could I even trigger my Fate ability with the manacles on!? The only thing I had left was my Inventory. As Astrid spoke, I started sifting through it.
She leaned in, her face inches from mine, her wild eyes trailing over my mouth, my body, my hair—never sticking to one place.
“Want? Why, for you to join us, of course. You may possess the trait of the Champions, but you arrived at the Hold with equal Order and Chaos. Conscripting you would prove a potent first blow against those Order zealots!”
A new presence awoke in my mind suddenly—Red waking from some deep sleep imposed by the backlash of my Class Upgrade. The sentient cape panicked when it realized our situation, but I sent it calming vibes and implored it to start brainstorming escape plans.
“Conscription? Sounds less than voluntary. Is that anyway to recruit people?”
Her eyes tracked above my head, casting about like she was looking for something behind me. God, she was fucking batshit, wasn’t she? That didn’t bode well for my chances of avoiding a torture session. But she was close now—within reach. Red sent me a questioning probe.
Not yet, I sent back.
“I’ve been doing this for centuries, little one. Experience has taught me that compliance is increased under certain”—she cast a glance over at the not-carpentry tools—“conditions.”
