The words hung there, and I had to read them three tis as I processed all the implications.
"Perry?" Tamrie called from below, breaking out of my contemplations. "Everything okay?"
"I… think so," I replied before telling her what I was seeing.
"Sounds like that fancy golem chamber, sure enough," Tamrie said, taking a step back to look up at . "Think it's gonna swap you?"
"Probably not… it says diagnostic," I replied, reading the ssage out loud for her one more ti, just to be sure.
"It's your beacon, right? Ever been records of beacons hurting their Magus?"
"No. But there aren't any records of whatever this is either. Not that I've read, anyway."
"Well, we know sure enough who'll have answers, if'n anyone does," Tamrie said.
"Keeper," we said together.
After a quick Dinsional Step down to her side, we moved inside to Keeper's chamber. Luckily I hadn't called on the being in the last couple days, so it was in its active state when we arrived.
"Greetings young omnivores," Keeper said as its head cracked away from the wall. "I hope you wish to lessen my debt. While delectable, the recent smorgasbord you provided has left sluggish."
"So of it, at least. What do you have on the beacons and ascension diagnostics?"
"Oh, a most ancient and rare request. It pains that answering such inquiries is one of my most sacred duties, so it shall not affect your debt, unless…" Keeper's head swung forward, a single leg reaching the floor before it halted in place. "Unless… Do you wish to sup upon the knowledge of how to build and repair such artifacts? For ten shards, I will provide all you will need."
"Well… I do now," I admitted. "But we can get to that after. What can you tell us about the ascension diagnostic? And what does it have to do with the beacons?"
"The beacons are a tool, to reward those on the path of ascension who uphold their oath to protect those without the gift," Keeper replied, running its tongue along its teeth as it let out a long low sigh. "Sadly, the beacons were sabotaged, their purpose twisted to new ends."
"Is that why it says Magus Protectus instead of Dominus? Has it been corrupted again sohow?"
"The beacons were once linked to Mount Aeternia. They were the hands, Mount Aeternia, the mind," Keeper said, flexing its hand. "The beacon has simply been restored to its true purpose. Your actions in the chamber below sated its long years of starvation, yet I suspect the process began when the last false Magus perished."
"Wait… false Magus? Do you an Balthum? What's the difference between and Balthum?" I asked.
At that, Tamrie snorted. "Other than choosing to lift your people up and protect 'em instead of using them for chow? Protectus, Perry. The na's the thing."
"Your companion has tasted the truth. The beacons and their oath are not so simple as many these days believe. They have lost much of their strength, to the point the beacon can no longer punish those who forsake its oath. However, withholding morsels is well within its power." Keeper's fist flexed once more. "Now, I have fed your curiosity. Allow to disgorge the debt, at least in part."
"Include a guide that explains everything about the original process and what's changed since," I said, nodding at the being.
"May you never hunger," Keeper said, creaking as it snapped back into place, leaving behind a frankly absurd number of books.
"Wow," Tamrie said as part of the pile shifted, sloughing down to land at her feet.
"That's… that's got to be at least a hundred books," I said, even before I started counting the tallest pile
"More than," Tamrie said, stepping to the side as she scanned the pile. "Ah, think I found the one you're gonna be keen on." She leaned forward, balancing on one of the stacks as she plucked out a thin green book. It'd been wedged between two of the tallest stacks, which each had at least ten thick tos. It was the only book with a bright color, and it had the words, 'Basics of Ascension Diagnostic and Protectus Beacons,' printed across the front in violet letters.
"Thanks," I said as she handed the book over. I imdiately scanned it with Review Scroll before flipping it open. Sure enough, it had everything I could possibly want to know about the 'basics' of the diagnostic.
It was… a lot.
"Hold on, I think I might actually want to Palace this," I said, pulling out my grimoire while moving to take a seat at the side of the room.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"You get on that, and I'll tackle this," Tamrie said, rolling up the sleeves of her dress, pulling out her notebook and then sorting the rest of the books into neat piles.
I nodded, already channeling mana into mory Palace. When I appeared in the garage, I paused, looking around. It felt like sothing had…
The bathroom door, which I'd been ignoring all this ti, had a glowing red border around the edges.
"Well… that's… just gonna ignore that for now," I muttered to myself as I went over to the toolbox and pulled out the green book. Retrieving the contents didn't even budge the thermoter.
With one last glance at the ominous bathroom door, I returned to the real world.
I hadn't been gone long, but it was enough that Tamrie had managed to sort a quarter of the books already.
"Wanna put a pause on that? I'm pretty sure the diagnostic is safe, but I'd rather have you there, just in case."
"Sure thing," Tamrie said, sorting the last couple books from the pile she'd been working on before straightening and brushing her hands on her dress. "Well, let's get on with it."
"Getting on," I replied, leading the way bay up to the beacon. A quick Dinsional Step and I laid my hand against it once more.
[Registered Ensouled Magus Protectus Detected. Initiate Ascension Diagnostic?]
"Yes," I said. As soon as the word left my mouth, the beacon flashed, moving through hundreds of colors in less than a second. Sothing I sohow registered, despite the speed.
[Diagnostic Complete. Display diagnostic summary?]
Once more, I squeezed out the word, "Yes."
[Diagnostic summary of Magus Protector Perth of Althon.]
Diagnostic Category - Current Tier - Ascendancy Status
Body - Tier 1 - None
Mind - Tier 1 - Refinent
Soul - Tier 2 - 5-Slot Ensoulnt, Repository Reincarnation
I looked over the results. None of it was out of line with what I'd expected after downloading the little green book. Each of the categories really was just that, a category. I could click on each and see a thorough breakdown of everything.
When I clicked Refinent, I finally found out what Conflict’s trials were doing to us. There was a myriad of effects, most of which were currently just in the ‘preliminary’ stages. As I completed more of its tests, I’d be able to take things in faster, rember things better, and strangely enough, feel pain with more… clarity?
Not sure why that was considered a positive, but it was clearly listed under benefits. There seed to be conflicting focuses on how to specialize the mind, which I suspected had sothing to do with the paths Conflict had ntioned.
Moving slightly further down the diagnostic, I took a look at my soul. My affinities were all listed under 5-Slot Ensoulnt, which ant it'd at least be a bit easier to check on them.
Soul: Tier 2 (Astral)
Progress: 3/5 Second Order Impressions, 8 Point Foundational Structure, 78% Astral Form.
Affinities: 40 Worlds, 46 Nature, 49 Storm, 52 Arcane, 17 Fire, 18 Water, 42 Earth, Air 31.
Not only that, also tucked away in the corner under Ensoulnt, was the estimated success rate of ascending to Pegasus with my current Astral Form. It sat at a asly eleven percent. Which I thought was pretty good, considering I hadn't even unlocked my fourth slot yet. Sothing the Diagnostic confird I was getting pretty close to.
Honestly, it was only when I drilled deeper that the Diagnostic beca useful. Such as the fact it revealed that there were thods to enhance myself other than Ensoulnt. Or the fact that Ensoulnt was an actual structured mana-body. The booklet's term for an artificial structure that had been grafted onto a soul.
There was, as it turned out, another way to get a mana-body. A person could inherit one from their parents. Perth's soul had inherited one from both his father and mother. Yet it hadn't been perfect, because they'd been different. They'd interfered with each other but using the ambient mana they'd slowly integrated until Perth awoke to his magic. I'd almost broken the mana-body again when I'd jamd as much mana through as possible afterward.
My attention moved towards the one unexpected part of the Diagnostic. The word repository. Keeper hadn't included anything about a repository or reincarnation in his little booklet. What did a repository even have to do with reincarnation?
More importantly, did I want to find out?
Didn't matter.
Chuckling to myself to ward off my nerves, I tapped on the floating text, moving to the next level. Instead of the pages of detail I'd found when clicking on most of the other top level headers, all the diagnostic displayed was a single line.
[Soul stolen from the Final Rest Repository then forcefully reincarnated into a new body, whereupon it successfully wrested control from the forr occupant's soul before absorbing it to repair and strengthen itself.]
Damn. I really had eaten Perth.
The heck was the repository though? Hadn’t I co from Earth?
Unable to prompt the diagnostic for more details on the Repository other than a reminder of its location, I shifted my attention to what having a stronger soul ant for . If I was understanding Keeper's information about mana-bodies correctly, having a stronger soul ant it'd likely helped keep my mana-body intact as I forced my way through mage-soul. In fact, the extra strength would probably continue helping all the way up until I ascended to Hydra-soul. And Hydra-soul was, according to what I’d just learned from Keeper combined with everything Perth had been taught, when an ensouled would normally start the ensoulnt process for their body.
And Djinn was when I'd start ssing with my mind. Except I’d gotten a head start on that because of Conflict’s trials. What I’d learned so far didn’t make it clear if that was going to be a good thing or not. Either way…
Scary stuff.
Was pretty sure Calbern had already started his physical Ascension. Kinda wanted to be able to use the Diagnostic on him, see what it'd say. Would it call his enhancent a Path of Kinya? Maybe a Knight Exemplar?
Or would it have so other na for it?
"What's it telling ya?" Tamrie called out, reminding that I wasn't up here alone.
"A lot," I said, before describing so of the top level stuff. There was way too much to yell the whole thing to her. Besides which, as close as she’d beco, not all of it was safe for her to know.
Still, I made sure to flick through everything at least once. If I spent so ti formatting it into a book in mory Palace, I could use Second Quill to print it off the important parts later.
My thoughts drifted towards all the other material Keeper had given . It had said that it would give everything I'd need to repair and build my own Beacons.
Including the Ascension Diagnostic.
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