Die. Respawn. Repeat.

I watch as Ahkelios paces back and forth, trying to decide what to roll first. Despite all his excitement, actually taking the first step and banking his credits is apparently something of a struggle for him.

For the fourth time in a row, he reaches out as if to select something, hesitates, then pulls his hand back again.

Can't blame him, I suppose. It's been a long time since he's had his connection to the Interface, and although he hasn't said it out loud, I can feel through our bond that he's worried. Worried that the Interface will reject him when he tries to roll for a skill. Worried it'll throw him some kind of curveball or twist. He's pretending it's just indecision, but there's a lot more to his hesitation than just that.

"How about Firmament to start?" I ask. It's more a gentle prod than anything else, meant to help nudge him into making a decision. Ahkelios folds his arms across his chest and frowns at the Interface screen like it might bite him.

"I don't know," he says. "I have almost enough Firmament credits to get an Inspiration if I wait a little more with just a few more credits."

"You'll need more than one Firmament skill anyway, and it won't take us that long to get you that 100 credits," I point out. "We'll need to fight a few more of those Remnants soon, and if we deal with the infestation of chimeras around the village you should have more than enough credits to get a good skill."

"That's a good point." Ahkelios continues to hesitate, though. "I just... what if..."

"Ahkelios," I say, and I make my voice a little gentler. "We aren't going to find out until you go for it. But we'll deal with whatever happens together, alright? No matter what the Interface tries."

Some invisible tension seems to bleed out of Ahkelios, then. He gives me a grateful, tentative smile. "There are still a lot of monsters we have to deal with," he says. "We're going to need everything we can get."

"Honestly, it's a miracle we haven't run into more," I say, frowning slightly. Given what I've heard about the Tears, Hestia should be nearly overrun with monsters. Remnants. Whatever I decide to call them. Monsters doesn't really feel right anymore. "I'm not sure why."

"I have collated a set of reports," He-Who-Guards offers helpfully. "If you wish to locate Trial-related monsters for investigation, it will not take us much time to find them. A quick analysis of the data suggests that they've been avoiding you, however."

"Avoiding?" I raise an eyebrow. "Isn't the point of them that they're supposed to attack me? Hinder the Trial and such?"

He-Who-Guards shrugs. "Perhaps your presence is so much of an anomaly that their approach to you is different," he suggests. "Or perhaps there is more to them than we know. I would not be surprised, considering what we saw of Ahkelios's Remnant."

"They still attack if you're within range," Ahkelios says. "I think... I have access to some of Zhir's memories. Until he took over the real Zhir's body, he had to stay away from you. Something about being forced to attack you if he's within range."

"Huh. Guess that explains a lot." I frown slightly. There are a set of monsters I tend to run into between the Cliffside Crows and the Great Cities, but now that I think about it, I've been seeing them less and less. Most of them aren't really worth mentioning, but... I wonder. "Thanks for putting that together, Guard. I might need to take a look at that data later. Figure out why they're giving us space."

It has to be connected with everything else somehow. With the Tears, with Hestia slowly falling apart. They have to know. They're products of the Tears, after all.

He-Who-Guards gives me a small nod, his fans whirring a little faster at the praise. Ahkelios, on the other hand, turns back to his Interface and begins talking out loud.

"Okay," he says. "You're probably right. I'll start with Firmament, and then work my way through the other four. Firmament won't trigger an Inspiration—it's just under the hundred credit mark—but I've got 127 Strength credits, so it might, depending on whether the Interface accounts for my previous Inspirations. It's not listed in my Interface, but..."

He frowns. "It also said welcome back. So I don't know if it'll trigger."

"Only one way to find out," I say once more. Ahkelios nods, and Interface screens begin popping up in front of him; he flicks through the mental commands, accepting the banking of his Firmament credits, then holds his breath as it rolls his skills.

"You said your Concept makes the Interface offer skills that are similar to it, right?" I ask.

"Yeah," Ahkelios says, his eyes glued to the Interface. "But we get options based on what we do, too. I'm not so sure I want to stick with the Sword anymore. In theory—"

[Select between:

Bladed Touch (Rank C)

Blade Infusion (Rank C)

Infused Blade (Rank C)]

I'm reasonably certain the noise Ahkelios makes is somewhere between outrage and disgust. I stifle a laugh—not because I find the situation funny, exactly, but because Ahkelios's expression borders on comical—and place a hand on his shoulder. "Next time?"

Ahkelios huffs. "Even when I want to change..."

"You were mostly using your Sword Concept in that fight with Phylus," I point out. "So this particular set of rolls is probably still going to be sword-related."

The mantis-scirix hybrid lets out a sigh. "Yeah, I know," he says. "I was just hoping I'd get to pick something different. What even is the difference between Infused Blade and Blade Infusion?"

"You can use my Inspect to check," I say. I could do it for him, but we might as well get used to using one another's skills. Ahkelios blinks, as though only just remembering he can do that, and then reviews the skills again.

"Okay," he says. "So, Blade Infusion lets me turn anything into a sword. And Infused Blade lets me infuse a sword with the properties of anything. That makes sense."

"And Bladed Touch?" I ask.

"It turns me into a sword," Ahkelios says, somehow perfectly mimicking the dry tone I sometimes adopt. "I can already do that. Don't need it."

"I don't know," I say. I take a step back and look Ahkelios up and down. "I could use a weapon. I usually just punch things."

Ahkelios levels a look at me. "Ethan. I'm not letting you swing me around like a sword."

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Not even if I say please?"

"No!" Ahkelios tries his best to look offended, but isn't quite able to stop the grin that's tugging at the corner of his mouth. After a moment, he gives up. "I blame the new body," he grumbles.

"Didn't you say you like the new body?"

"I do, but I still blame it." Ahkelios sticks his tongue out at me, and I let out a snort of laughter. It looks ridiculous, the tongue sticking out between his mandibles.

In the end, though, he ends up picking Blade Infusion. We're generally in agreement there: the nature of the time loop means Ahkelios isn't always going to have a sword with him. Infused Blade is fundamentally more limited than Blade Infusion in that sense—as much as the skill might have wider applications, it's essentially a useless skill if he doesn't have a sword on hand.

That Ahkelios himself might count as a sword is moot, unfortunately. Inspect tells us in no uncertain terms that the skill doesn't work that way, and even if it did, altering your own biology to include the properties of other things is... not the smartest idea. Time loop allowing unlimited respawns aside.

So that's one skill settled. Next is a test. I break off a piece of the log I'm sitting on and concentrate on the skill Ahkelios just obtained. It's different from using one of my own skills—the skill construct is contained within Ahkelios, not within me—so there's a sort of... delay when it comes to using it. Firmament has to flow down the link to Ahkelios, then back toward me.

That delay is largely negligible, though. I watch as the twig in my hand takes on a metallic sheen, and when I swing it down against the dirt, it cuts a deep furrow into the soil.

"Well, that's good to know," I say. I grin at Ahkelios. "Means we have twice the skill options."

"We can look for skill synergies!" Ahkelios says excitedly.

Guard hums in thought. "Are you able to use the same skill at the same time?" he asks after a moment. Ahkelios and I blink and look at one another.

"Good question," Ahkelios says. "Ethan, you ready? Three, two, one..."

We both trigger Blade Infusion—

It turns out the answer to Guard's question is a resounding "no." It's not even a partial no—trying to use the same skill at the same time results in blinding pain that cuts across us both. It feels a little like the entirety of the skill construct is being stretched thin and torn apart, and we both get to feel the feedback from it.

"Ow," Ahkelios says. He's lying face-first on the dirt, and it takes me a second to gain my bearings enough to help him off the ground; Guard is watching both of us in a mixture of concern and amusement.

"Did you know that was going to happen?" I ask. Guard shakes his head.

"I did not," he says. "Although I suppose I did calculate that it was a possibility. It did not seem likely enough to be worth mentioning" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Could've warned us still," I mutter, rubbing my head. It still feels like it's throbbing.

"I apologize," Guard says. He means it, too. "I truly didn't think it would happen. You have shared skills in the past; my assumption was if there was backlash, you would have encountered it before."

I wave off the apology. "No, it's alright, you had no real reason to expect it to hurt us." What he's saying does strike me as odd, though. I cast my mind back—I can't quite remember if Ahkelios and I have used the same skill at the same time before. "Maybe Ahkelios's last upgrade changed things," I suggest. "Even if it worked before, maybe it doesn't work now."

"Or we can only use your skills at the same time," Ahkelios mumbles. He still sounds a little woozy. I give him a sympathetic look, patting him on the back.

"Want to try again, then?" I ask.

"Not... now." Ahkelios sounds horrified by the idea. "Maybe later. Once I've, you know. recovered. And have a few more skills. Maybe a skill that cures nausea."

"That sounds like it'd be a Firmament skill," I say. "You've blown that opportunity, I'm afraid."

The conversation reminds me of what Kauku last told me—he said I have all the pieces I need to work out the secret of the Interface's skill categories. I'm still not sure what he meant by that, but I start running through everything I've encountered so far. Maybe there was something I learned in the Empty City that was relevant? Or something about Virin's imbuement stones...

"I'm gonna roll Strength next," Ahkelios declares. "I've got enough for a Rank B skill, at least. And an Inspiration if it triggers one."

"Maybe it'll bring us in to see Kauku," I mutter. "I've got some questions for him."

I have more Inspirations of my own to trigger even if it doesn't. The Generator Form hasn't really given me any trouble—hopefully this means that I can get a few more Inspirations without having to worry about losing control like I did when I first obtained the Knight.

I'm waiting for it to wake before I do any of that, though. All the delicate Firmament Control needed for Tarin's surgery has exhausted the Inspiration; I doubt it's in any condition to take on a new Form at the moment, let alone deal with any side effects that might come with it. I haven't observed any with the Generator, but I've learned not to assume anything when it comes to Firmament and the Interface.

"Maybe," Ahkelios says. "Honestly, I'd like to meet him. He sounds interesting."

"He certainly does," Guard says. He looks a little put out again, but he's doing his best to put it aside; aside from that barest of slips, his tone is carefully neutral. "But be cautious. There is much we do not yet know. That warning you received..."

I grimace. "I know," I say. "I've been thinking about that too. I don't know what to make of it."

"We will need to be prepared," Guard says. "From what you've told me, what we are now is not enough. The data suggests that if this Kauku becomes a threat, we would not be able to defeat him. Not even if we were to ally with all ten of Hestia's Trialgoers."

Now that's a sobering thing for him to say. I'm silent for a long moment as I process this. He's not wrong. From what I've seen of Kauku and from the desperation in the message I sent myself...

"I need to figure out the next phase shift," I say out loud. It's the only way to even approach the kind of power I'll need to deal with Kauku if he goes rogue.

"Yes," Guard says gravely. "Whisper did not tell me much. But the fourth shift... it is known to be difficult. Dangerous. Moreso than the others. Most cannot push past the third layer and into the fourth; there is a barrier, of sorts, that must be overcome. A bottleneck."

"Of course there is." I sigh. It's not like I expected it to be easy, but it would've been nice. Thinking back to it, though, the sheer force of Firmament I felt behind that Paradox Warning...

I don't think I was at the third-layer when I sent it.

For now, though, all I have are guesses. I turn to Ahkelios. "We'll figure out the phase shift later," I say. "Roll those dice and let's see if we get to meet Kauku again."

Ahkelios nods. He triggers the skill roll, makes a selection—a B-rank skill named Slice and Dice, which he says he's used before—and then there's a long pause.

A new Interface window pops up in front of him, and we both frown as we read it.

[Choose your Inspiration:

Sharpen

Cut

Grow]

"I guess I just... pick from a list," Ahkelios says, looking a little annoyed. "That's anticlimactic."

"You're telling me," I say dryly.

Guess I'll have to use one of my other banked Inspirations after all, if I want to speak to Kauku.

We'll see if that's necessary.

Rhoran wafted about listlessly as the storm of Firmament raged somewhere above him. He was hiding within the Seed again—what else could he do? The Dungeon's reconfiguration would destroy him if he were anywhere else.

No. All he could do was watch and wait. He'd made all the changes he needed to make; he needed to trust that those changes would be sufficient to make Ethan fail.

The Abstraction hadn't been the only bet he'd made against the human, after all. He'd made all sorts of little changes. Made the Elders a little more paranoid, nudged them to evacuate the City a little earlier... From what he'd seen, this Ethan was something of a bleeding heart. Always rescuing others when he didn't need to.

So what would he do, if the whole city was in need of help? Try to complete the Stage?

Because there was no way to complete the Stage without a few sacrifices and deaths, Rhoran was sure of that. And even if Ethan did somehow find a way...

Well, there was still what was coming at the end of it all. Rhoran grinned to himself—very much an unnecessary grin, and if he'd still been with the Integrators it'd probably be frowned upon to enjoy the downfall of a civilization quite this much. He hadn't even needed to make many changes.

Ethan still didn't understand the point of a Ritual.

But he would.