Na: Isaac Thoma
Class: Incarnation of the Prothean Spirit
Species: Einherjar
Level: 100
XP: 54,771/1,010,000
Health Status: Healthy
Mana: 2,300/2,300
Stats
Fortitude
215
Perception
355
Strength
225
Agility
415
Magic Power
230
Magic Regeneration
390
Free Points: 0 Stat, 1 Skill
Aura
Aura of the Crimson Dawn (short range, combat, blood, regeneration)
Aura of the Desperate Seeker (long range, sensory, ntal, projection)
Aura of the Eternal Warrior (mid range, combat/ntal/sensory, armant)
Central Skills
Form of Horror XXIV
The Chosen Weapon XXVIII
I Am The Sword X
Grave of Swords XX
Armory of Ancient Tis XVII
Legacy of a True Warrior XII
Skills
Hundred Faces XXVII
Stealth XXIX
Power Strike XXX
Piercing Strike XXX
Sundering Strike XXX
Blades XXX
Sneak XXVII
Sweeping Strike XVII
Far Strike XXVII
Manifold Strike XXI
Hunter’s Gaze XXX
Phantom Step XIX
Unknown Fear XXVII
Bestial Regeneration XXVIII
Undying Focus XXIV
Tools of Terror XIX
Fleeting Presence XVII
Crippling Blow XVIII
Absolute Blade Mastery XVIII
Compounded Impact XVII
True Cut VIII
Legendary Blow XVII
Fully Geared XII
Knightly Leader XVI
Analyze Person IX
Continent Strider VIII
Burden of Power VI
Expert’s Insight V
General Skills
Gralloch XII
Alchemy XII
Death’s Embrace VIII
Bloodline of the Survivor (Empower Relatives)
Advanced Bureaucracy VI
Police Procedure V
Healing I
Quest Giver I
Omniglot (4 languages known)
Aspects
Aspect Skills
Arcane Poltergeist (3 stack)
Flight of the Poltergeist
Epheral Form
Haunting Pursuit
Greater Hydra (3 stack)
Hydra’s Regeneration
Redundant Organs
Ignore Injury
galodon (2 stack)
Shark’s Body
Wave Charge
Twilight Weaver (3 stack)
Lesser Illusion
Perception Interdiction
Warp Wave
Razor Apparition (3 stack)
Remote Wielding
Immortal Blades
Razor Trails
Lindwyrm (2 stack)
Lindwyrm’s Heart
Mont of Immortality
Least Demon Lord (2 stack)
Mont of Immortality
Grand Hellfla
Space Elental (2 stack)
Fixed Point
Space Affinity
Isaac grinned as he looked over his new Status. It was looking fine. Sure, it was lacking quite a few fourth Evolution [Skills] before it was perfect, but that would be fixed in ti.
And his new race was aweso, no doubt about it. Supernatural looks, the ability to predict conflicts and react ahead of ti, a free [Aura], and more besides.
But it wasn’t all perfect. It had co with a new sense, the power to sense who was a “true warrior”. And now, he wanted to fight them.
It wasn’t a need to fight anyone he t, though. It was more like … it was unfamiliar.
Like a spoiled kid from a rich family who’d never missed a al feeling hunger for the first ti. A new sensation, one he hadn’t built up any tolerance against. Sothing he hadn’t learned how to deal with.
Now, Isaac had had plenty of practice when it ca to self-control and nothing had or would go wrong, but it still wasn’t fun. Especially when he was walking through an area with the densest concentration of what his race considered “true warriors” outside of a military base.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of trouble. Isaac’s tendency to always show up at customs when he could had bitten him in the ass, this ti around. He still noticeably looked like himself, true, but there were clear differences from what he’d looked like before.
End result? Isaac had to go back to Germany, get his passport reissued with his new face in record ti, and only then go to Calot. Sure, he could have just snuck in the mont he was out of sight of the border, but if he got seen in England after the fuss he’d just caused, it was near guaranteed that soone would throw a hissy fit.
But now he was here, finally, and there were no more problems to deal with.
…. weeeeeeeell, there was still the trickster deity he’d have to wrangle straight answers out of. That wouldn’t be fun.
Isaac kept walking, his [Aura] whipping through the half-dieval, half-modern, all-magic town to take in all the changes and there were quite a few indeed. If he was reading this correctly, Arthur’s new mories were heavily influencing this place’s design.
He also figured out that his ability to sense “true warriors” worked through his [Aura]. There were fewer even here than one might have thought, as apparently, that definition didn’t apply to everyone who could fight well, but there were far more than anywhere else he’d sensed.
The man who looked like he should be an action movie protagonist wielding a comically large sword, ani-sized, in fact, wasn’t a warrior. Well trained, capable, and everything else a warrior needed to be, but not one in spirit.
The weedy teen punching a bag under the man’s watchful gaze, on the other hand, burned with a bright, indomitable spirit. Isaac took a note of him and he’d show up for a little training as well. If the kid had the [System] unlocked, he might even teach him a few [Skills]. That kind of drive, that kind of inner strength, he might go far.
By the ti he reached the briefing room, Isaac was grinning ear to ear and he had a list of potential candidates as long as his arm and it was growing with every passing second. When it ca to training the right people, this would be invaluable, he realized.
His first thought when he’d gained the ability had been that he’d more easily be able to read his opponents, to figure out if they’d break if things didn’t go their way or if he was in for a rough slog. That was useful, sure, but the true power lay elsewhere, in training.
The mont Isaac entered the room, he froze. This room had been included in his sweeps and he’d seen both Arthur and Elena within, which matched what he was seeing now.
What he hadn’t seen, sohow missed then, and couldn’t even see through his [Aura] even now was the damn cat.
“Welco Einherjar, a little early, isn’t it?” the cat asked “Then again, I suppose Isaac Thoma is the ow-ster of subverting the expectations of the divine.”
Isaac sighed “Elena, about your deal with him, did you say anything about how his explanation needs to be understandable?”
She nodded.
“Puns can be misunderstood, so speak plainly,” Isaac said as he sat down.
Loki transford back into a human and flowed onto a chair as he did so, perching on its back in a way that should have made it topple over if the rules of physics had been in effect.
“Spoilsport.” He grumped as the world once again took on its oddly purple sheen and ti slowed to a stop.
“I feel like I might play so pranks later. I won’t promise anything because the situation might change, but I feel like there are certain people who’ll push too far soon enough.” Isaac said.
“Thanks.” Elena said, “Now can we get this over with?”
“He’s been that bad?” Isaac asked.
“You have no idea.” Arthur sighed “There was a condition in their deal where he can’t get too crazy with his pranks even if they’re in retaliation for sothing soone else did, but he’s been ‘taking revenge’ on people who tripped over him and Elena made the mistake of spraying him when he got on her nerves.”
“That would explain the altitude-triggered stink bomb on your private jet,” Isaac said.
“Don’t. You. Dare.” Loki hissed.
“I’ll sneak it on the plane of soone far more deserving,” Isaac told him just as Elena gave him a WTF are you talking about look.
“There’s a can of Surströmming on that plane. It’s a Swedish delicacy, fish that’s not been preserved in a way that prevents decomposition canned, and left to rot. By the ti it’s ‘ripe’, the can starts to bulge outwards and really shouldn’t be taken on planes because when the air pressure goes down, those cans tend to go ‘pop’ and afterward, you can basically toss the plane. Without high-power magic, you’ll never get the stench out.” Isaac explained.
“And why exactly do you know that?” Arthur asked.
“It’s a fun prank when you’re not on the receiving end.” Isaac shrugged.
“That stuff sounds vile,” Elena said.
“Eh, it’s not bad as long as you prepare it properly.” Isaac shrugged again, then looked pointedly at Loki “Though I think it’s about ti for you to spill your guts.”
Loki imdiately shifted back into a cat and started coughing.
“Explanations. Not. Hairballs.” Elena ground out.
Loki laughed and shifted back.
“I had to try, we all know that.”
When he got a trio of flat stares in response, he sighed, slid down into his chair, and began the explanation.
“In the beginning, there was magic. Mystical, wonderful magic, and within it, the gods lived. Then, humans ca along and we gave them magic, either by infusing them with it, or by teaching them to harness the natural magic.
“And for a ti, things went beautifully. Gods above, humans below, and both sides of the divine beings were in balance. The occasional cursed species ca into being, then they got their various weaknesses to prevent them from devouring all people, mystic healers were nerfed to prevent them from ushering in paradise, and so on, and so forth. Chaotic in details, but the big picture was calm. So far, so good.
“But humans are tricky little munchkins and started abusing the ever-loving shit out of magic. For good and ill and all that. Things got bad. Shit like murdering the followers of dark gods, poisoning wells with deadly curses in revenge, things got chaotic damn quickly and we started removing magic we didn’t like. Here’s the thing though, we can’t directly erase things created by the other side, otherwise, we’d just be stuck in an endless cycle of ‘Create! Remove!’.
“So everyone was ssing with how everyone else’s followers could use magic, making it unstable, or dangerous in other ways, and the fixes for that started to cause magic to mutate, until eventually, people started withdrawing their magic. And so, the world grew mundane. Monsters died out or were reduced to re shells of their forr selves, until eventually, we ended up with the modern world, with a few overzealous little teacher’s pets vacuuming up every last bit of magic in the world, leaving behind only stories and mories.”
Loki shrugged “It really isn’t all that complicated when properly explained, I guess.”
Congratulations, Incarnation of the Prothean Spirit, for uncovering a secret of the world!
You have helped in the efforts to uncover the secrets of the Earth’s magic.
For uncovering a secret of such magnitude, you have gained 500,000 XP (20,000,000*0.025 reduction for only being a supporter in this endeavor)
“Holy crap.” Isaac yelped as the [System] window showed up, losing his composure for the first ti in a long while.
Firstly, he could now gain XP from scientific endeavors. He’d already expected that from the [Class] description, but it was an entirely different thing to see it confird.
Secondly, that information had been worth twenty million XP. An insane amount by any asure, enough for over ten Levels even after the fourth Evolution.
Thirdly … yikes. He’d gotten a ninety-seven-point-seven-five percent haircut on that, reduced to “just” half a Level’s worth of XP with the rest being lost to the ether. Seeing that much wasted was painful on a visceral level. He’d have to experint if there were other tricks to gain XP, to see if there was a way to abuse his other tiline knowledge to farm XP. But that was an issue for after all this.
“That doesn’t explain why Isaac and Arthur didn’t inherit any magical mories.” Elena said, “So, finish the explanation.”
“It’s really not all that complicated.” Loki shrugged “The Heir [Classes] are based on the mory fragnts left behind by impactful people. Those got scrubbed of magic as well.”
“That explains nothing.” Isaac said “I thought the deal was to give an answer we can understand. So, where’s the context?”
Loki rolled his eyes before answering. Too much dry academia, too little fun. Too bad, buster. You made a deal and everyone knew he kept his promises.
“Reincarnation isn’t really a thing. You’re born, you live, you die, you go to an afterlife, end of story. But I’m sure you’ve heard all those stories about people rembering things from other lives, things they couldn’t have known any other way. What happens is people leaving behind parts of their mories for others to pick up and certain impactful or influential people are sotis asked to do the sa by gods, so sowhere down the line, their wisdom can change the world, for the better or worse.” Loki explained.
“Or, you know, there are situations where there aren’t any mories, because they didn’t exist in a way humans could interpret or even because the person you’re inheriting from is fictitious, so the mories are created based on the public perception. Of course, those mories aren’t going to involve magic.”
“Fictional people?” Arthur asked.
“Sherlock Hols is apparently possible, but I never t soone who holds the [Class].” Isaac said, “I think the real question now is if there’s any chance the [System] will just go away if we beat it, or if they change it enough.”
“Nah, you’re stuck with that thing. It’s too big a change and they couldn’t walk it back even if they wanted it to. They can barely make small changes like the Events, they locked themselves out of anything bigger unless everyone, and I do an everyone agrees with the change and that ain’t never gonna happen. I could have told them that was going to happen, but no one listens to ol’ Loki.”
Loki cackled as he bounded onto the table “Anyway, I’ll be holding you to your word about moving the fish, Isaac. I also know you didn’t an to trick into giving you all that XP so I’m not mad at you over that, but this just ans that the next ti will be a lot more expensive. I expect chaos and destruction, riots in the streets. Or, you know, a prank video that gets millions of clicks on YouTube. Toodles!”
With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke that stank of rotten fish. Yeah, that tracked.
Congratulations, Incarnation of the Prothean Spirit, for uncovering a secret of the world!
You have helped in the efforts to uncover the secrets of the Earth’s souls.
For uncovering a secret of such magnitude, you have gained 500,000 XP (0.5*1,000,000 reduction for only being a supporter in this endeavor)
“And there’s Level 101.” Isaac grinned “So apparently I get XP for making scientific discoveries now.
“There is an Aspect combination that allows for space travel which used the Cosmic Leviathan, Void Dragon, and the Lord of Ti and Space.”
Nothing.
“Okay, that didn’t work. The gods Janus and Hers are the most likely to help humans directly.”
Nothing.
Isaac then proceeded to list a dozen big secrets he hadn’t spilled yet in this tiline but the only [System] ssage he got was a disappointing clarification.
No XP is gained for reiterating knowledge held before the Class Incarnation of the Prothean Spirit was gained.
Seems like the [System] itself was now fed up with him.
He sighed heavily and passed that knowledge along to the others.
“One more thing,” Isaac announced in a formal voice, got to his feet, and gave an exaggerated courtly bow.
“I, Isaac Thoma, Incarnation of the Prothean Spirit, hereby formally request to join the Round Table of Calot.”
Arthur rose from the table and replied in the sa manner “Welco to the Round Table of Calot, Isaac Thoma.”
Would you like to join Arthur Wells’ Skill [My Round Table]?
This organization’s stated goal is to save the World, and its past actions and stated future plans show a strong adherence to this founding principle.
Your task would be to support this cause.
In addition, this Skill will create a spectral copy of you which carries with it so of your Skills.
Are you are willing to accept these conditions, to strive towards this shared goal?
Y/N
Without hesitating, Isaac clicked on “Yes”.
“So, who else already joined?” Isaac asked.
Instead of answering, Arthur created a [System] window in front of him.
Round Table of Calot
mber
Assigned Shade
Arthur Wells
none
Elena Hightower
Arthur Wells
Steff Cooke
none
Adam Bailey
none
Robin Pearson
none
Seon Yoo-jin
none
Franz Habicht
none
Isaac Thoma
none
[Empty Slot]
[Empty Slot]
[Empty Slot]
[Empty Slot]
[Empty Slot]
Thirteen slots, over half of which were filled.
Thirteen people to fight a nihilistic cult, to overco human nature, and beat back Armageddon.
Isaac recognized the nas Robin Pearson and Steff Cooke as belonging to other mbers of Calot, though he hadn’t had any substantial conversations with either of them.
The rest, anwhile, were the people who’d been in the Starhail with him. Even Yoo-jin had joined in.
“We were waiting on you to pass out most of the shades.” Arthur explained, “Whose power would you like to borrow once every few days?”
Isaac had thought about it a few tis. Habicht’s investigative powers would co in useful in a wide array of situations, but Isaac could cover much of what they did with [Analyze Person], his senses, and common sense.
Bailey’s physical modification would have been useful as well, but the borrowed [Skills] were too limited to be of true use.
And so on. There were many capabilities that would help, but what he decided on was a powerset that covered his combat weaknesses.
You have gained the Shade of Seon Yoo-jin, “The Shield of Seoul”
You gain 20 in his highest Stat (Fortitude), 15 in his second highest Stat (Strength) and 10 in his third highest Stat (Magic Power).
You have chosen to borrow the following Skill(s):
Glacial Fortress (one week cooldown)
The power was rather simple, yet also absurdly powerful.
[Glacial Fortress] conjured a mass of spikes and defensive ramparts a hundred ters across and between fifty and two hundred tall, depending on what the situation called for, the whole thing forged from almost indestructible ice which clocked in at almost negative one-hundred-and-fifty degrees centigrade. The cold wouldn’t hurt the caster’s allies, of course.
It could be shaped however the user wanted during its creation and altered for a couple of minutes afterward, though the longer the fortification had been in place, the harder the change was.
The whole thing was perfect for protecting a large group of allies in case of a sudden overwhelming AOE attack or trapping a large monster within.
It was also not sothing anyone would ever expect Isaac to pull out, it simply didn’t match his [Class], nor was it available through any Aspects. In other words, it was the ultimate ace up his sleeve.
And if anyone found out about it, well, he could always switch to another shade. Anyone who went after a mber of the Round Table would not only have to plan for that person but also every [Skill] held by every other mber.
Isaac’s own shade would be passed around between the various mbers of the Round Table as it held his training [Skills], wherever it was the most useful.
There was also Bailey’s powerful healing that could be summoned at the drop of a hat.
Unfortunately, switching shades without being right next to Arthur was … tricky, to say the least. It took an hour to switch out shades and five minutes to send out shades that weren’t bound to anyone to soone who didn’t currently have one assigned either. And they needed constant communication to arrange everything, which would hopefully be included in a future [Skill] upgrade.
But even the basic [My Round Table] was powerful as hell. Arthur could wield the unassigned shades as his own personal army, vastly increasing his own power. And the flexibility it gave to its other mbers was invaluable.
“So that’s that.” Arthur said, “Formalities done, answers wrung out of the prankster god, and we’ve formally agreed to work together.”
He sighed, seed to struggle with his self-control for several long monts … and exploded.
“CanwepleasetalkabouttheutterinsanityLokijusttoldus!”
“Magic was real, humans ssed with it until the gods had to delete it and there’s an afterlife.” Isaac shrugged “Not sothing we can change, not sothing we can influence, all we can do is deal. End of story.”
“How can you be so calm!” Arthur exclaid.
“I’ve dealt with terrible crap and horrible revelations before.” Isaac shrugged again.
“People can ss with magic to the point where even the gods grew nervous.” Elena said, addressing no one “Loki didn’t outright say it, but I’m not the only one who heard, right?”
Isaac grinned viciously as he answered “I didn’t hear it, but you might be right. There might be a way to pay them back for everything!”
What followed were a few hours of spitballing just what the gods might have been worried about, specifically, until Isaac hurriedly got up and said he’d be back in a few hours.
“Where are you going?” Arthur asked.
“I’ve got a can of Surströmming I promised a god I’d relocate. And my off-the-books minion just located the perfect target for that.” Isaac said with a bone-chilling smile, flickered, and vanished, streaking away in the direction of Heathrow.
Reviews
All reviews (0)