Matthew took the hand, Parker had a strong grip. They locked eyes—his stormy grey gaze searching Matthew's detached blue stare.
The iron brazier blazed overhead, their golden light throwing long shadows that danced like silent witnesses to the day's battered champions.
They were beside the fountain, Matthew's eyes wandered over the black crystal form of the six handed goddess, the altar was a dark masterpiece with a morbid life-like quality.
He ran his eyes over the group, it was Stella's group or rather Parker's. There was Adelina and Kirk from last time as well as the boys that helped set up the pulley and some other girls who didn't leave the temple.
Matthew endured a lot of curious looks from them. He found Gareth walking to him a second later, Holly and Mable not far behind.
His face twisted slightly at Mable's pallor and the burn on her right arm. Mable, sensing his gaze, smiled.
"I'm alright."
Her voice was weak and lacked the vibrant enthusiasm she had when they first met. He smiled sadly.
"I'm so sorry for everything that has happened."
"Hey don't worry about it, you saved her and you put your life on the line to destroy that thing." Gareth added, trying to console him.
Mable nodded, stretching out a hand to hold."You hurt me to help, you almost seemed to have had it worse than me."
He opened his mouth to tell her he was sorry for using her, but in the end he simply smiled bitterly.
"I've felt over these last few hours what it means to have your autonomy violated. How do you feel?"
Mable turned away, dark eyes drifting to her feet. She struggled with the words for a while, then Matthew's hand clasped her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, take your time, and if you ever need a cripple to relate to i'll be here."
She smiled as a little light returned to her eyes. Matthew turned to Parker, who was beaming at him.
Parker shook his head approvingly, "What you guys did is unbelievable. The whole story sounds like a fairytale. Soul stealing monsters, creatures that steal faces and plants that destroy minds. A quest for the ages."
"I think you've flattered them enough, don't you think?" a deep, steady voice muttered. It was a tall dark skinned boy with short twists and deep black eyes.
He adjusted a unzipped a racing bomber, a leather jacket with bold patches and bright sponsor logos. He was covered in dust, beside him was a bag full of sharp horns.
"Don't mind Jamie, he's a hater." Parker said, ignoring Jamie flipping him off. "I do want to ask some questions. I've heard about the skills and armaments your entire team got from killing the maw."
Matthew knew the secret was out, but he still shot Gareth a scolding look, who flinched and apologised.
Matthew pulled up his status screen, "What choices for skills did you get?"
Gareth coughed, "Um… yeah, I got Blood curse which allows me to erode a target's spirit after getting their blood, Soul shield which well… shields my soul and War blood which lets me heal faster as i kill enemies. I picked Blood curse, I really wanted the others though…"
The others got similar choices, Mable got a unique one called soul tear which allowed her to deal soul damage.
Other unique, but fair rank skills included: Physical damage reduction, Spirit thread and Great strike.
Matthew clicked his tongue at such a useful variety, he could only choose one and yet wanted three.
He sighed and opened his status, he first received an armament.
Name: Lovely doll
Rank -- Rare
Description: Who feared the return of Ariel more? Who dreaded the fall of the Acrian empire more? Who devoted themselves more to power and survival?
When she hung herself, her lovely doll was left to watch. It was used as a simulacrum for her soul.
The birth of an immortal monster that terrorized the land.
This doll can hold spirits and allow their rudimentary consciousness to interact with the physical world.
Using two mana you can store your spirit in the doll and use it to remotely perform actions.
For one mana the simulacrum will turn invisible and intangible for three seconds. Increases focus and mana potency.
He summoned the doll, it was a small girlish doll in a white dress. It was soft cotton, it's glossy black hair and pale blue eyes were striking.
It was completely fake, yet it had a human-like quality he couldn't explain.
Jamìe raised an eye, chuckling. "They gave you a children's doll?"
Stella had a grim look. "It looks weird, kind of creepy."
He dismissed it, then moved on. He had only summoned it to see how it looked, if it was like Old Cat, whose name differed from its form.
He dismissed the description and another prompt from the system appeared..
Congratulations you have received a Trait.
Wandering spirit: You can now divide your spirit to perform different tasks.
The corners of his lips rose as he understood the utility of the armament, He dismissed the prompt and moved on to the next one.
He almost raised an eyebrow, but managed to control himself.
You have received a legacy skill draw
The cards appeared shuffling themselves quickly, three cards rose from them.
They all depicted a woman in flowing blue robes and a triangular hat that covered most of her face. Revealing only red smiling lips and a strange tattoo over them.
One card had the woman blocking a titanic blow from a giant monster with her bare hands, another was the woman bloodied and surrounded by corpses, while the third card was the woman driving a stake into her heart, smiling maliciously.
Name: Physical damage reduction
Rank: Fair
Description: Reduce the damage of attacks by fifty percent by using stamina, Ranging from ten to fifty stamina maximum.
Name: War blood
Rank: Fair
Description: Killing enemies allows you to regenerate from injuries, the more killed the greater the speed of repair.
Activate this skill using two mana.
Name: Death curse
Rank: Rare
Description: Sacrifice fifty percent of your health and mana to take fifty percent of your opponents health while in contact with them.
Matthew tightened his jaw with each new skill option, he could see uses for all of them.
There was also the possibility of never getting these skills again.
Can't I just have all of them? Of course, i don't have enough mana to use it all.
The rare was of course the most enticing option, but the spell didn't look like something used to win a fight.
Could it be used to end a fight? Yes, Will there be any winner? Probably not.
It was especially useful against tankier opponents who had way more health than you, if you had teammates then it would assure victory.
Matthew, however, did not want to consistently work with anyone or really be around people if he didn't want to be.
So it was damage reduction or healing.
He raised his hand over the cards and picked the one he believed would carry him forward.