Ability: [Mysterious Stranger]
Language adaptation.
Essence, awakening stone and skill-book absorption.
Immunity to identification and tracking effects.
“Infinite language. Is that why I can read everything?”
The ability seemed to give him the power to use skill books, along with whatever essences and awakening stones were. He looked at the book in his hand. According to its description it would give him knowledge. That meant it would alter his brain, but didn’t his ability to read weird languages mean it was already affected? Was it already affecting his decision making?
For the time being, Jason stowed the books in his inventory. He could always look at them later. There didn’t seem to be anything else he could make use of, so he decided to take stock. He found an undamaged chair and table, setting them up as far from the body as he could. There were a lot of tables for one room, although it was a large room.
After sitting down, he started pulling out the items he had picked up but not looked at yet, placing them all on the table. He began with the items he looted from the snake. Mercifully, the night-scale leather wasn’t as drippy as the snake had been after it was skinned.
Item: [Night-Scale Leather] (bronze rank, uncommon)
The skin of an umbral mountain snake. (crafting material, leather).
Effect: Crafting material for clothing, armour and accessories.
It was dark and matte, thick and cool to the touch. It was also surprisingly flexible. Like the snake, the leather was much longer than it was wide, coming out of his inventory rolled up like a traditional bolt of cloth and bound by a length of thick cord.
“Did I loot the string from the snake too? That’s weird.”
The snakeskin was listed as a crafting material, as was the dark quintessence, which turned out to be small black gems.
Item: [Dark Quintessence] (iron rank, common)
Manifested essence of darkness. (crafting material, essence).
Effect: Crafting material for items with darkness attributes.
They had the look of uncut gemstones, but the shine of polished onyx. They even came with a pouch to hold them.
“This is weird.”
The rest of the items he received as quest rewards, mostly from quests he completed by accidentally braining the snake with a chunk of masonry. He thought the night fang would be crafting material like others he had taken from monsters, but it turned out to be a scary-looking dagger. It came in a sheath made of the same night-scale leather, which was also used for the dagger’s grip. It was curved in the shape of a fang, and when drawn from the sheath, turned out to be made of bone. It had a wickedly sharp edge, tapering to a point.
Item: [Night Fang] (iron rank, epic)
A dagger made from the fang of an umbral mountain snake. The magic of the blade allows it to retain the power of the snake’s poison (weapon, knife).
Effect: Inflicts [Umbral Snake Venom].
Effect: Attacks ignore bronze rank damage reduction and poison resistance.
[Umbral Snake Venom] (damage-over-time, poison, stacking): Inflicts ongoing necrotic damage until poison is cleansed. Additional instances have a cumulative effect.
The knife even came with a belt of the same leather but there were no loops for it on Jason’s drawstring pants. He put it back into his inventory, along with the dark quintessence gems and the roll of snakeskin.
The remaining items were both quest rewards for exploring the well. The awakening stone of stars was a smooth, rounded stone about the size of a fist. There were tiny speckles in the stone that seemed to move as he stared at it, although the effect was slight enough that it may have been his imagination.
Item: [Awakening Stone of the Stars] (unranked, epic)
An awakening stone that unlocks the power of the stars. (consumable, awakening stone).
Requirements: Unawakened essence ability.
Effect: Awakens an essence ability.
You have 0 unawakened essence abilities.
You do not meet the requirements to use this item.
“Essence abilities,” Jason read. “Is that like magic powers? If I’m going to be dealing with cannibal wizards, I could use some magic powers.”
The last item was the dark essence. It was a cube about 15cm to a side, with a glossy sheen like polished jet. It seemed to be made of the same material as the dark quintessence, and given the names, he assumed they were related objects. He picked it up.
Item: [Dark Essence] (unranked, uncommon)
Manifested essence of darkness (consumable, essence).
Requirements: Less than 4 absorbed essences.
Effect: Imbues 1 awakened dark essence ability and 4 unawakened dark essence abilities.
You have absorbed 0/4 essences. Once absorbed, an essence cannot be relinquished or replaced.
You are able to absorb [Dark Essence]
Absorb Y/N?
“Are you what I need to get those magic powers?”
8
Dark Magic
Jason frowned at the description of the black cube in his hands.
“Dark essence abilities. Sounds a bit sinister. How does that work, exactly?”
Help: Essence Abilities
Essence abilities are personal supernatural abilities. They come in a variety of forms, including passive abilities, special attacks and spells.
Compared to time-consuming and preparation-intensive ritualised magic, most essence abilities can be used spontaneously.
“Wait, there’s been a help function this whole time? Can you help me get out of here without getting eaten by cannibals?”
You are able to absorb [Dark Essence]
Absorb Y/N?
“Oh, I see what's going on here. You want me to accept the dark powers you provided, after following your plan got me here in the first place. Making it seem like my only way out is to use the dark magic you conveniently provided. Classic seduction of evil routine. You could have at least been a little bit subtle. I think this is the point where you remind me how bad my situation is.”
Zone: Vane Manor (Subterranean Ritual Chamber).
“Is that snark? Do I have a snarky user interface? Also, I know where I am.”
He scowled.
“I have no idea where I am.”
He looked at the dark cube he was holding in his hands. Despite the slickly smooth surface it had no sheen, not reflecting the lamp light at all. If anything, it almost seemed to be absorbing the light.
“That’s only completely ominous.”
Jason picked up the lamp and panned it around the room. The magic circle, the covered body, the double doors leading into the inevitably perilous unknown. His whole reason for searching the room was to find any advantage before he went through those doors. His gaze drifted back to the cube.
“Why not?” he said. “What’s the point of going to magic land if you don’t get a few magic powers?”
He stood up, took a couple of deep breaths, then picked up the cube.
You are able to absorb [Dark Essence]
Absorb Y/N?
“What could possibly go wrong? Don't answer that, just absorb the essence.”
The cube suddenly turned sizzling-hot in his hand and he dropped it to the floor.
“What the…?”
Dark smoke started rising up off the cube and Jason backed away.
“It’s possible I made a bad decision here.”
The smoke coming off the cube was rising up in narrow streaks, like black streamers. They twisted in the air, heading in Jason’s direction. He backed away further, but was quickly moving out of the light shining from the lamp he had left on the table. The smoke followed him into the shadows where he could no longer see it.