The moment I woke up, the first thing I did was check how my skills had progressed. More specifically, I was curious about my attributes. If I wanted to see the most memory skills, I would need from memory slots. Thankfully, I got lucky and there were a couple extra points that I gained as I increased my tier.
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Cassandra Ydorf - Level 1
Titles: Enduring Heart
Tier 2 - Formless Monk
Mind 16 - Body - 15
Memory - 12 Energy - 12/16 (3 Reserved)
Skills - 12/12
Energy Storage - Passive - 1 Energy
Memory Bank - Passive - 1 Energy
Nature's Favor - Passive - 1 Energy
Body Regeneration - Active - 1 Energy/ 10 minutes
Compression - Active - 1 Energy/ 8 uses
Firestarter - Active - 1 Energy
Elemental Imbuement - Active - 2 Energy/ 10 minutes
Wild Steps - Active - 1 Energy/ 10 minutes
Formless Series - Passive
Formless Change - Passive
Formless Lunge - Active - 2 Energy
Formless Swipe - Active - 1 Energy/ 5 uses
Mind of Possibility - Unavailable
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For some reason I still had {Sight of Dread} in my skills even though I never really used it. But I didn't need to get rid of it. Aside from the increase in Memory and Energy I also gained another upgrade. {Memory Bank} now can take up to seven skills, and it no longer needs to have a free slot to transfer a skill.
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Memory Bank - Passive - Fledgling
Reserved Cost: 1 Energy
A brain is a powerful tool, capable of storing vast amounts of information. With this skill, you can store up to 7 skills.
Storage/Retrieval time: 1 hour per tier of the skill.
When a skill is being replaced, it does not require an empty Memory slot for the process to be completed.
Current Stored skills 6/7
Stored Skills:
Quick Tier 1 Evolution
Formless Steps of Prey
Formless Glacier Step
Ice-Veined Strength
Formless Shell
Sight of Dread
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'System, did something change? Why does it no longer need an empty slot?'
[{Memory Bank} technically has eight slots. However, to facilitate user's utilization of the skill, System has changed one of those slots to be acting as an intermediate block. This means that if user exchanges a skill, this extra slot will be utilized as a temporary backup to store one skill while the other is replaced. This was allowed thanks to the tier 2 particles on user's body. That being said, the temporary slot is not big enough to handle a skill permanently. Otherwise System would have prioritized having an 8th slot in {Memory Bank} instead.]
'Thank you. And another thing. The {Elemental Imbuement}. Does the skill related to the element need to be on my Memory slots or can it be in {Memory Bank}?
[If user has an elemental-based skill on {Memory Bank}, user will be able to trigger the related element when using {Elemental Turning}.]
'Perfect,' I turned back to my companions, who also had woken up.
We had a quick conversation about our new classes. Astrid decided to stay on the same path that she was before. Focusing on a class that still required the Frosted Axe. But not just that. Thanks to our fight with the Witch, she also gained some strange skills related to carapaces and how to deal more damage to creatures. {Huskforged Armor} let her create a shell of sorts around her body when that could shed when she was hit to lower the damage. {Frosted Swarm} was the highest cost skill we ever saw needing 3 energy for a single swing. It let her attack someone and the ice would start crawling over the person as if it was countless tiny spiders climbing the target to freeze it over.
Michael, on the other hand, decided to take a different type of class, mostly because of one idea that a particularly unique skill gave him. {Silk-Slip Retrieval}. It basically allowed him to retrieve arrows after firing. Not as if the arrows were going to be spinning in the air or be quickly removed from the target and fly back to his quiver. But instead, strands of silk would be created around the arrow, and pieces of it would splinter off becoming legs, letting the projectile return almost as if it was a spider moving around.
Apparently, that was a skill that he gained thanks to the fact that we killed Riley's master. After all, she was the Witch of the Silken Fortress, someone capable of controlling not just spiders but the silk, which gave him the entire class that could utilize a similar type of skill.
Another benefit of this approach was that now, he wouldn't have to worry too much about losing particles when attacking something at a distance. Basically, as long as he activated the {Silk-Slip Retrieval} skill before firing the arrow, it would also come back with all the particles he would have gained from the attack. It was a very interesting approach. However, when he showed it, it felt very eerie. The arrow he was using in this case was the leg of a spider, and seeing that old leg shifting and bending on its own to drag itself across the floor back to the archer was nothing but nightmare material.
Riley also joined the conversation halfway and told us a bit about their class. As they had mentioned before, it was called the Silken Witch's Apprentice. A way to honor the memory of their master. And the skill were very focused on using silk, but in ways that I wasn't quite expecting. They could control threads in general. They could be from themselves using a different skill to create temporary ones, or loose strings, as long as the strands didn't have an owner. Apparently, the ones from the {Pelt of Frost} wouldn't count. But the ones left behind by the spiders were there for the taking. Which they spent part of the morning gathering.
Beyond that, they could also use those threads in various ways that had specific skills, and one particular skill that was called {Weave Crafting}. By drawing certain shapes and sigils with the silk, Riley could trigger various effects as long as they knew how to make the spell. And thanks to the journal left behind by her master, they already had a few things that they could do. For instance, creating a small bonfire for us. Or an area where sound was muffled. It was still going to take a very long time for her to be able to do anything more significant with that skill, but it was a nice first step.
The one issue they would be facing was related to Energy, as spending Energy to control the silk strands in order to create the spells was very expensive. Adding that the cost of activating any of the runes, and then to control the effect it stacked up fast. Currently, they could at most fire one spell at a time before needing to recharge. But it was already better than nothing.
After the conversation was done, Riley also turned to me and asked, "So, what's your next step?"
I turned to look at Michael, who nodded without me needing to say anything, confirming that our plans hadn't changed.
"We intend to go to the beach."
"The beach? Why?" Riley asked.
"I mean, I didn't get a chance to tell you my full story, but basically I'm just killing time until I can go back home. At least go back to my grandpa. Astrid here is following me along after I ended up in a situation where I had to give her the System, and Michael-"
The man interrupted me to introduce himself properly, "I'm a Hawaiian man who never went to the beach."
"Any chance you have room for one more person? I never saw the ocean either." Riley asked.
I turned to my companions.
"What do you think?"
But I paused and turned back to Riley.
"Just so you know, we have a rule in this group. We are free to do whatever we want with the System. You can pretty much do whatever you want. Including giving it to other people. But aside from that, any decisions we make are made in a group unless we are in a situation where someone needs to take charge," I added at the end, taking the advice Riley gave me a while back to heart.
"I'd appreciate just knowing that I have no problem with that, if you don't have a problem with me following you all around."
Michael walked around Riley, looking them up and down before asking, "I have one question for you. Are you a good cook? Because I'm not going to lie, we are kind of struggling in that part."
"Hey!" I protested.
"You don't know how to make soup, much less something decent," Michael huffed.
I grumbled and crossed my arms.
Riley chuckled and said, "Well, being Witch means I have to know what are herbs and what are not. I learned how to cook from my master. I do have a good handle on spices since they're kind of one of the same things, so I think I can take that job. And I can teach you all. That's also an option."
I turned to Astrid, waiting for my oldest companion's opinion. And she just nodded.
"Could be fun."
"I agree," I said with a smile. "Then Riley, welcome to the team."
They smiled but asked for some help and we followed them back to the room where the body of Riley's old master was. It wasn't just one of them, either. Both bodies were there, as the Witch's apprentice had placed them there together.
"So, I am going to ask you something kind of sensitive, and I do apologize for it. But I think you can understand where I'm coming from now that you have the System."
Riley glanced back at the room where I was looking at and asked, "Are you going to ask me what are you going to do with the bodies?"
I just nodded in response. "Pretty much. Do you have any intentions or ideas?"
"A part of me wants to just leave them there. But at the same time, I think my master would be very upset with me if I did that. So instead, I am thinking about my options. Burying them makes the most sense to me, but knowing what I know about the System and knowing what I know about everything my master taught me to do, I am considering... eating her," they paused and continued without looking in our direction, "I know how that sounds."
Michael was taken aback by that reaction, "You're really considering eating your master?"
But Riley nodded.
"Yes. My master always taught me that nature provided. And that we should make the most of the resources. Anytime we hunted something, we would eat all the meat, including the organs. The ones that we could at least. Use the bones to reinforce the house, make tools, and whatever we could from the hide, the teeth, and other parts. We would use absolutely everything without exception. Leaving her alone here feels like it's more of an offense to her than it would be to eat her. And like you mentioned earlier, Cass, if I eat my master, maybe I can get to tier two in one go."
"It's a big if," I added. "I have no clue how many levels eating the bodies will give you. It's possible there will be enough. It is possible that it won't be worth it. I want to make that perfectly clear before anyone starts to blame me for something awful."
Despite the amazing powers this System gave us, I could understand how terrible was the fact that we had this. This power that was maybe never meant to be in the hands of a human. Now we carried the responsibility just by having it in our hands. And to be stronger, we might need to do some things that would make us stop being humans altogether.
"Either way, I don't think I can eat her head. But aside from that, could you help me prepare everything?" Riley asked me specifically.
"I mean, cool. I can do my best, but I'm not really sure what you are asking," My eyes shifted to the bodies. I had never butchered a humanoid before. Or anything close to it.
"I'm just asking for your help to cut her open. It sounds grim, I know, but I want to honor her wishes. As strange as they might sound. And if I manage to get to tier two, which is the same level that all of you are at, that's all for the better."
We nodded in response, and Riley continued, "I would be okay if you also ate a little. Sorry, I understand that's what she wanted, but I can't handle eating her alone."
Astrid just shrugged and said, "Ok," signifying that she wouldn't mind eating with Riley.
And honestly, neither did I. Sure, it was a really weird concept, but at the same time, it felt very like the System. Besides, once you drink Eater's blood, eating someone else didn't seem like the weirdest thing I ever did.
And that's how we spent the rest of that day. I was using Astrid's axe to cut pieces of Wistra's old body. The one that was already half eaten, and showing them to Riley until they became manageable enough so that the Witch's Apprentice could feel comfortable eating. Then, they did just that by cooking it, following the cricket recipe that Wistra had mentioned before dying.
Removing the organs from a giant humanoid person was a unique experience. But it still proved that they were somewhat similar to us. Lungs, stomach, heart, liver. It was all there. Even though I was pretty positive that the anatomy of a bug should be vastly different.
By the end of the day, Riley had managed to eat about half of the old Wistra's body, and the new one was still there, being kept alive somehow. This also meant that Riley gained a few levels. From level one of tier 1, they had already bumped to level seven, which was wild thinking about how fast they were leveling up.
Thanks to their chosen class, they gained a lot of points into Energy and a couple extra into memory. In addition, they were also getting some skills from the tier 3 version of Wistra. Skills related to using spells, controlling silk even more than they could already do, and something else called {Memory Sharing}. Which allowed them to use one of the strands of memory created by the skill specifics to show a memory to others. It was very interesting, but we couldn't test it.
After all, none of us had a way of creating those strands of memory as it was a Lumerin exclusive skill.
It took another day for Riley to finish eating the old Wistra while we were just hanging out in that fortress and practicing with our new skills, and another 2 days for the newer body of Wistra to give enough particles to the Witch's Apprentice so that they could reach the peak of tier 1. And even then, they barely needed to do anything for their quest, as the amount of tier 3 particles they received was more than enough to compensate for anything their System might want.
Which meant that, just five days after Riley first got the System, they were now already at tier 2 with very little help from us. It was truly a gift given by their old master. A gift that she gave her life for. It was beautiful in a way, as long as you didn't look too hard at the meat being barbecued by the fire. The moment you did so, you would realize that this was really messed up and we were actually eating someone.
But still, Riley was able to reach that level which matched with ours and gained their tier 2 class. The Novice Silk Weaver. This would allow them to use magic much more easily than they did before. Which wasn't really a problem. After all, we could share most of our skills, and there were a few that I wanted to shuffle between us. And that was the last thing we were going to do before leaving the fortress.