บท 677: Purified
Everyone rushed out to Sammy's therapy room. Alex was sleeping for several hours longer than everyone else, and Hera told them all what she saw happening with the assassin when she got back from the memory only to be told that all of them saw pieces of her pain. Apparently, after Hera passed out, Alex started screaming again, but none of them was strong enough to help her. In fact, no one even knew what to do to help. Having the curse purged out of them was something awful. Even Helena and Bonnie agreed that it felt worse than having their mana burned.
When they left the rest area, they found Alex not just sitting and doing well, but she looked even more well-rested than everyone else. She smiled at the group as soon as they arrived.
"Hey, everyone! How are you all doing?" the assassin waved.
The rest of the party glanced at each other, "We are ok. How about you? Getting rid of the curse sounded rough for you," Hera asked.
"Oh, yeah. It was rough, but I'm all better now. Thanks to one of the things I got out of this," Alex said with a big smile.
"And what is that?" Shane asked, a bit freaked out about how well their friend was doing. Every single one of them still felt some of the phantom pain left by the curse.
"Well… I got some quest rewards, a title, and something a bit extra," Alex said with a smile, but she stopped when she saw Adriel crossing the door, "Addy… I'm sorry. The curse got into my head, and I couldn't control it," she shook her head, "No that's not an excuse. I should've trusted you more, so the curse wouldn't even be able to mess with me like that."
Adriel stepped forward, "Are you really ok? I'm not going to blame you for what happened back there, but it's a bit hard to say I'm not weary of you right now."
"Man… that's kind of harsh," Blue said.
"She cut off my arm! I have the right to be cautious."
"Wait, what?" Blue turned to Hera, "You didn't say that!"
"Adriel didn't seem to want to go into the details of the fight, so I just respected his wishes," Hera shrugged and turned to Alex, "But really, are you ok?"
"Yeah, and sorry for attacking you too, Hera. It wasn't fair to call you names like that."
"Eh, it's fine," Hera waved her off; she understood better than most how the curse could influence them, "I know that you and Adriel will have to talk about this later. Maybe Sammy can help. But really. How are you doing this well?"
"Right. So, I got a few rewards from all of this. Three skills. Two of them are things I was trying to figure out while in the Vanguard, and another from a hidden quest. The ones I worked out myself are called Phantom Step, which lets me disappear when I dodge or parry and attack, and Tempest Dance. It's a way to move around and deal damage around me. One of the hunters was teaching me this move to deal a lot of damage while still moving, and that's where it came from, I think. The one I got from the quest is called Wind Walk, and it kind of lets me fly? I mean, it says I can walk on air currents, so I need some testing. Aside from that, I got a title and a level up," Alex started explaining.
"Yeah, we all got that title. Wardbearer, right?" Bonnie asked.
"What? You all got a title too? But that's not the one I got," Alex frowned.
"What's your title called?" Helena asked.
"Here," Alex pulled her tablet and brought her title to the screen.
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Luminary Aegis - Title
Born from a crucible of enduring suffering and long-term affliction, you have transcended the limits of mortal curses. Embracing the formidable mantle of the "Luminary Aegis," you stand as a bastion of unyielding fortitude and indomitable will. Having weathered the tempest of a prolonged curse, your very essence bears the scars of countless trials, forging an unshakable barrier against the malevolent forces that once held you captive. Your heightened awareness of magical energies allows you to instinctively detect and dismantle spells intended to manipulate or harm. Your very existence has become intertwined with the mastery of magic, rendering you nearly immune to its most insidious effects.
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"Ok, this is not what we got. Luminary Aegis?" Bonnie asked no one in particular.
"But it does sound like a better version of ours, doesn't it?" Shane asked.
"Not better, just different. Ours protect ourselves. This title seems to do more," Mylo added.
"How come?" Blue asked.
"It talks about Alex being a Bastion of defense. That word means something that affects many people. Or a part of the building. I don't think the second meaning would make sense," Mylo explained.
"Oh… yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Also, She did protect everyone from the curse on her own for a very long time. It would make sense for it to be different," Helena nodded.
"We can figure that out later, but there is one more reward, and this is the big one," Alex changed the subject, "I got a legacy."
"Really?" Hera asked. It was completely unexpected, but as she stopped to think for a moment, it was completely predictable. The curse came from a legacy, and purging it could mean the original legacy was now exposed.
"So, you got the weird blood legacy?" Adriel asked.
"Oddly, no. Mine is called 'Purification.' It's all about purging effects, apparently. The few skills I currently have let me remove buffs or debuffs and purge some conditions. Like dizziness or nausea," she looked to the side and waited for a moment, "Oh, ok. So those conditions have to be applied by something unnatural. Like a spell, poison, or something like that. If you get food poisoning or are sick because of pregnancy or something. It won't do anything."
"Hang on. You can purge buffs too? Like if I increase my defense with a spell, you can remove that?" Shane asked.
"Yeah. But they have to be like active things. I can't remove passive effects. The idea is that I make something 'pure' like, turn it to its pure form," Alex continued explaining.
"Be careful with that. Anyone who gets into the whole 'Let's purify the impurity' rabbit hole usually ends up being a lunatic," Blue crossed her arms.
"Oh yeah. I'm well aware of that. I need to be very careful when talking about this with others. But you guys know me, so I can just explain things in a more straightforward way."
"Either way, it might be good to have a conversation about this. In fact, I was hoping to be able to talk with all of you, individually and as a group, about what happened inside the Vanguard. It was a traumatic experience, even if the end result was positive," Sammy added.
"Do we have to start now? I wanted some time to relax before dealing with all that," Bonnie asked the turtle.
"Of course. You can stay here for as long as you want. The rooms in the back also are private, meaning that no sound can get out of it once the door is locked. Oh, but just to warn you. I can still read your vitals when you are there and when you are inside this entire place if I'm being honest. So if anyone is in trouble, I can go in to help," Sammy explained.
They continued their conversation for a while, asking about Alex's legacy and making some small tests to see how it worked. Hera took advantage of that situation and went inside one of the rooms in the rest area. Sammy had asked her to call the guide of the room as soon as she could, and she wanted to get on that. The guide helped them a lot, and she wanted to thank them for everything. She locked the door and used her soundproof bubble, just in case, before saying, "I call the guide of the Thirmal Waters. As an explorer, I have proven that my motives are pure."
A small portal made out of steam appeared on the side of the bed, and swimming through the air, a white swan came out. It had a long neck but a soft green beak, and the part that looked like black makeup was a soft pink. The swan did a couple of laps around the bed before stopping in front of Hera.
"Hera Kingsley. It is a pleasure to meet you," the swan used its wings to make a very graceful bow, "I am Siege. The guide for this room."
"Siege?" Hera asked.
"Yes. I know my name does not exactly match my appearance or my behavior. Alas, this is the name I was given, and one I am very proud of."
"Oh, yeah. Of course. I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything bad by it. It was just, like you said, surprising."
"Don't worry. I take no offense. Besides, you have done us an immense favor by dealing with that horrendous curse."
"Don't mention it. We had to deal with it too. I'm the one who has to thank you all for the help. We wouldn't be able to get this done if it wasn't for you all."
Siege nodded, "It was a team effort. I must say. Still, such efforts must be rewarded, and I was allowed to give you said reward."
Hera chuckled, "More rewards? You guys are spoiling me. You really don't have to, but I won't say no."
With a smile, Siege continued, "Yes. We do. The service you have provided us is something no one has been able to do so far. And we already gave some of our input in the rewards your friends would get."
"I was thinking that Helena's was a bit too specific."
"Indeed. And some of the benefits will not show themselves right away. But it's likely that you have gotten the metaphorical short end of the stick."
"Why is that?"
"We were watching your efforts through Kirouhebi, and we've seen how you used the Royal Quest a number of times. Not to mention all of the help that your blades provide during everything. But it was discussed amongst us that the effort put in by your court wouldn't be here when you came back. Meaning that, for the effects of your gift skill, you did nothing but sleep during the past week."
Hera frowned, she didn't even consider that, "Daskka. Are they right? The royal quest didn't count?"
Daskka appeared out of the necklace and greeted Siege before turning to Hera, "Yeah, mum. It sucks, but that's how it goes."
"And that's why we wanted to give you something extra. One of the gits is to your entire group, actually, but the other is more personal for you," Siege explained.
"Thank you. But I can't help but feel like you are giving me too much credit. Like, I understand that you all needed someone to take care of this, but at the same time, we had to deal with it, too," Hera scratched the back of her head.
"I don't understand how that is of any relevance. Even if it's something you had to do yourself, did you not help us fix this issue? How does the fact that you also benefited from it remove the worth of your assistance?"
Hera stopped for a moment but realized that she didn't have an answer for them, "I… I don't know."
"That's because it doesn't. Do not sell yourself short. You deserve this addition to your private room."
"Addition to my private room?" Hera asked.
"Correct. Starting now, when you enter your private room, you can choose to enter the workshop instead. A place where you will have access to basic facilities for crafting and changing your relic. The tools and necessary equipment, like an actual forge, will be available to you. You cannot take the tools away or take any pictures of them. Those tools will always be their most basic versions, without any special skills or abilities that might come with more specialized ones. But you are free to bring what you need from outside. You can enter your room and then pick this new option on the door, which will let you leave the room and wait outside in the corridor while the actual room changes. You will have the option to change the layout of the workshop to better fit your needs. For instance, the version where you can work in your relic would be different from a forge for weapons. You will be able to edit that the same way you can edit your private room. Oh, and while you cannot bring any other person with you when accessing the workshop. You can still have us, the guides, with you inside there. I will also say that this won't be something that only you will be able to do. There are ways for other explorers to receive their own version of this benefit. So feel free to tell others about this. Shane will also have their own version of it, but we added something a bit more personal amongst the initial presets."
Hera stopped, looking at Siege with a surprised expression, "That is amazing. Thank you so much."
"There is no need to mention it. You deserve this. Also, the second reward would be something more simple. Directions for you and your friends to go back home."
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