“And?” Hay’len asked when Dylan didn’t respond quick enough. They looked like they were ready to grab him by the arms and shake the answer out of him.
“Judging by that smile, he got something good,” Ni’ot said.
“Sorry.” Hay’len’s eyes dropped to their clasped hands in front of them. They took a half step back, struggling to rein in their curiosity. “I know you’ve already got a Destiny orb, arguably the best. But my personal favorite has always been Arcane.”
They gently swayed back and forth. “I’ve always wanted one of my own. The utility of Arcane abilities is usually top tier. You don’t have to…” They looked back up at him with hopeful eyes. “But I’d love to know what you get before we go.”
Dylan pursed his lips to the side, weighing his options. It wasn’t a combat ability; he knew to keep those to himself. And he was among friends. He shrugged, deciding he didn’t mind sharing it with them. But maybe there was something he could ask first.
“Does the System ever make mistakes?”
“What kind of mistake? Did you get a restricted influence? That’s not—”
Dylan waved off the notion of restricted abilities. He didn’t want them to get any ideas of reporting him, or worse, resetting him.
“No, no. Nothing like that.” He scratched at the tuft of beard on his chin. “I mean, does it ever glitch out when… counting?”
Dylan thought Meekan wanted to say something but was biting her tongue when Hay’len shook their head and said, “Not that I’ve ever read about. Why, did—”
Dylan cut them off again. “I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said quickly. Hay’len didn’t know, which was answer enough for him. He didn’t want to risk taking the conversation down a dangerous path.
“Anyway, it’s not a combat ability, so I don’t see the harm in sharing.” Dylan was relieved to see almost everyone more interested in his new ability than following up on his odd question. Meekan still had that set jaw that suggested she was holding back. Maybe he’d work up the nerve to talk to the insightful kitsune soon enough.
“Besides,” he continued. “It’s my knowledge to give away, right?” He smiled, looking at Nathan, who nodded. Dylan wanted his friend to know how much he appreciated the second chance and that he wouldn’t fail his next trial.
“What about passives? Are they ever designed to work together with your abilities?” Dylan asked on a hunch.
“Absolutely!” Hay’len said, nodding emphatically. “At the very least, your passive should synergize with your first unlocked ability for that orb.” They wrung their hands together, looking like an addict trying to score their next fix. “I don’t want to seem too eager, but honestly, I’m dying to know.” They took another half step forward and asked, “What, um… what did you get?”
When Dylan first met W’itney and Hay’len, he thought the twins shared little more than a birthday and an identical face. They each had their own style, their own mannerisms, and, at first, vastly different priorities.
But the more he got to know them, the more he realized they both had the same insatiable, incorrigible desire as each other—hoarding. Only each twin went about it in their own way. W’itney lusted for new experiences, while Hay’len thirsted for knowledge.
Dylan wondered if that was a draconi thing, or just a W’itney and Hay’len thing. But since he was living on a world called Mother of Dragons, he’d find out soon enough. The actual name was Xel’oria, as he’d found out when the twins showed him their League cards. But he’d keep calling it Mother of Dragons until his own League card stopped reading, “Dylan of Dirt.”
He indulged them. “My passive is called Detect Magic. Says I’ll get information when abilities are activated nearby. I’m not sure how it works exactly…”
They all had a different reaction to his passive.
“Wow,” Ni’ot said. Eury nodded at Ni’ot, echoing her impressed sentiment. Nathan blanched while Hay’len gasped and said, “That’s… such an incredible passive.” Gathering knowledge always excited them.
Meekan gave him a smile and seemed happy for him.
“Unbelievable…” W’itney muttered. “Another top-tier ability.”
Hay’len smacked W’itney’s arm with the back of their hand before turning to Dylan. “Don’t mind them. They’re still upset about failing the trial.”
“Sorry,” W’itney said, rubbing their arm. “But you’ve just helped me feel better about failing.”
Dylan squinted at them, confused. “I did?” he asked, feeling as if he was being set up, and then he wondered, ‘How long until they make it weird?’ He didn’t have to wait long.
“Yep, if we weren’t going to be lovers, then we’d have to be rivals. And there’s no way I’d want to live in the shadow of the next Lo’kai…”
Dylan had heard a lot about this Lo’kai person, and it only made him more curious. “I keep hearing about this guy. Who—”
“Sorry,” Hay’len said, interrupting him when they stepped between W’itney and Dylan. “But you were about to tell us about your new ability?” They put on a bashful smile, rubbing a thumb into their palm and waiting not-so-patiently.
‘The thirst is strong with this one…’ Dylan thought. But he couldn’t blame them for their curiosity, not when he was driven by his own, and especially not when he benefited from their obsession. Hay’len happily shared everything they knew about, well, everything. Dylan was really going to miss them.
“It’s called Tome of Knowledge. I hope it’s like the internet and I can use it to Google stuff.” Dylan noticed the vacant looks on most of their faces as they struggled with the translation of his last sentence.
Eury was the first to give up and just ask, “What did the description say, exactly?”
Dylan tried again, this time with less paraphrasing. “I can summon a book that only I can read, and it’ll contain accumulated knowledge. I’m pretty sure that’s what it said.” He frowned, thinking out loud again. “Are we sure there’s no way to look up our existing abilities on a status screen or something?”
Hay’len gestured through the gates. You couldn’t see the League of Adventurers’ Hall from here, but even Dylan knew what they were pointing at.
“I know they’ve got scanners at the League,” they said. “It can detect what orbs you have, but I don’t think it can detect what abilities you’ve got.”
Dylan already knew that, and that was the last thing he wanted—anyone else knowing he had a restricted orb. He still needed to figure out a way to cheat or bypass the scan, but that was a problem for Future Dylan.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
“Your ability sounds like it may be a guide, and those are excellent to have; knowledge equating to power and all…” Excitement filled their voice, almost masking their jealousy entirely.
“I don’t want to be pushy, but this is probably my—our—last visit to Nightshade. And I know you’ve already stated it’s ciphered to your mind, but…” They glanced down at him with pleading, pale blue eyes. Would’ve been adorable had they not been almost two heads taller than him, and a dragon.
Hay’len took a tentative step closer and whispered, “May I see it? Would you take it out for me? Just once? Please…?”
“Uh…” Dylan narrowed his eyes at Hay’len, hoping they were still talking about the tome. “Sure.”
He summoned the book as if he’d done it a thousand times. It materialized in his open hand, much lighter than he expected. It weighed almost nothing.
The shape and size reminded him of something. It felt familiar; he just couldn’t remember what. Like it was on the tip of his tongue.
‘Dad’s old encyclopedias?’ he wondered. That wasn’t it, not exactly, but it was close enough.
“There’s got to be over a thousand pages in this thing,” Dylan said as he turned the book on its side and slowly opened it. The first page was blank.
“Fancy,” he said. “It’s even got a flyleaf.” He dragged over the next page, but it was blank too.
Hay’len, practically breathing down Dylan’s neck, hovered over his shoulder as they stared at the blank book, and whispered, “What’s it say?”
Dylan turned to the next blank page. Then to another and another, flipping faster as the empty pages flew by.
“There… all blank.”
Dylan shut the book with a snap. Then he opened it, trying again, but it remained empty. Gripping the tome by the spine, he tried to shake it out to see if anything came loose, but nothing slipped out.
Ni’ot stood with her well-defined arms crossed over her chest. Her focused face resembled the others as they all mentally worked on the puzzle. “Try asking it a question,” she said.
“Good idea, maybe it’s like Google,” Dylan said. Meekan let out a chuckle as if she understood the reference.
Dylan held up the closed tome in front of him and said, “Siri, what’s the meaning of life?”
“You named your tome, Siri?” Eury asked.
“God, I hope not. Pretty sure that’s trademarked. No, it’s just a habit I got from my phone.” Dylan turned the tome on its side and opened it again. It didn’t take him long to flip through the empty pages before he gave up.
Nathan frowned and asked, “Why did you ask that question?”
Dylan shut the book again. “It’s a litmus test,” he said. “If I’d gotten anything other than forty-two for an answer, I’d know the information was, at best, Wikipedia quality.”
Meekan had to turn away, but Dylan watched her shoulders as she failed to stifle her chuckling.
Hay’len placed a knuckle under their chin as they thought and then said, “I hypothesize that your passive actually records the abilities you witness into the tome for reference later, and that’s easy enough to check.”
The bashful draconi motioned toward the book. “Dylan, put the tome away.” Then they turned to the other unranked adventurers and asked, “Do any of you have an ability you wouldn’t mind us knowing about?”
Dylan dismissed the book by just thinking he no longer needed it, and was relieved to see Nathan’s color had returned as the prismatic elf spoke up.
“I’ve got a mending ability,” Nathan said. “And I’ve already used it on him before. Also, I think it’d be helpful if Dylan better understood how my mending abilities worked. Wouldn’t want a repeat of the Status Gummies.”
Dylan winced as he remembered. He’d confused Nathan’s Status Gummies for something like candy or Tums, thinking he could eat a handful at once. The bile rising in his throat reminded him he couldn’t.
Nathan turned to Hay’len and asked, “So I just…?”
Hay’len shrugged. “Use it. I’m interested to see if anything happens while the tome is put away. Does your mending ability have a cooldown? Could you use it right away if nothing happens?”
Nathan shook his head. “No cooldown,” he said, reaching out to Dylan. He hesitated just a moment before casting Metabolize.
‘That’s new,’ Dylan thought, able to detect the ability Nathan had just used. He couldn’t tell what it did, just the name and that it activated. A new message popped up in the corner of Dylan’s vision.
[Arcane orb]: New record created.
He blinked, and the message was gone, only there for a moment. He felt disappointed at first. The message was too fast, but then he thought back to the other System messages and how much more distracting they were when they blocked his vision. Also, constantly popping up messages might get him reset in a fight. A quick notification was the best option.
“That’s weird,” he said.
“What’s weird?” Hay’len took a half step back, looking him up and down. “What happened?”
“Not sure how to describe it. But I could sense when you used Metabolize just now; like I just knew it. Then I got a quick notification saying a new record got created.”
“Can you tell what the ability does?” Hay’len asked, still scrutinizing him like a science project.
“No, just the name.”
“Well, ability names reflect what they do. So, it’s not nothing. Check the tome, see if anything’s changed.”
Dylan held out his hand and summoned his Tome of Knowledge. He opened it to a blank page and frowned. But turning to the next page earned him another message.
[Arcane orb]: New record created.
After the notification quickly faded, Dylan noticed there were actual words on the page that read:
Two new records.
· Metabolize
· Tome of Knowledge
“Still looks blank to me,” Ni’ot said, peering over his other shoulder. He could feel the heat radiating off her.
“It’s ciphered to his mind,” Hay’len pointed out. “Remember? We won’t be able to see anything.”
“Right.” Ni’ot nodded, stepping back to give them a bit of space.
Dylan grinned. “It says there are two new records. Metabolize and Tome of Knowledge.” His grin turned into a frown as he looked up. “Why didn’t the book add a record to itself when I summoned it the first time?”
Dylan felt the heat as Ni’ot stepped closer again. “Some abilities are like that. My Demon Core’s duration doesn’t start until I fire it up. If I just summon it, it’ll sit there until I’m ready to use it.”
“Maybe the Tome of Knowledge entry can tell you more,” Eury suggested.
Dylan placed his fingers at the bottom corner of the page to turn it, thinking about the Tome of Knowledge record. Suddenly, the pages began turning on their own as it flipped through half of the book in just a couple of seconds. It stopped on a page that read:
Ability: Tome of Knowledge
Influenced: Arcane, Scribe
Type: Guide, Summon
Cooldown: None
Mana: Free
Targets: Any
Summary: Summon a book only you can read. Contains accumulated knowledge.
Common: Catalogues manifested, activated or triggered abilities with System-level information.
Dylan skimmed most of the page, mumbling until he got to the Common description. He read that part out loud.
“Wait.” Eury held up a hand. “Your ability gives you System-level information?”
“Apparently.” Dylan glanced up from the tome. “Why? Is that bad?” The amount of collective concern on all their faces worried him.
W’itney bent down to grab a couple of their duffel bags by the straps, hoisting them over their shoulder. “Yep, glad I failed. No way I could keep up with you.”
“What does System level information mean?” Dylan asked. He looked each of them in the eye as he turned to face them. “Someone tell me what System level information is. Please?”
Hay’len stepped forward to shut the tome on a very concerned Dylan. “You’re going to want to either make a deal with the League to trade information for contracts, or make sure they never find out you’ve got this ability.” Their cryptic advice hadn’t helped with his growing anxiety.
“Goddamnit… Why? Is it restricted?”
“Worse…” Hay’len said, walking away, back toward their packed personal effects.
“Wait… There’s something worse than restricted?” Dylan asked, an octave higher than usual. He quickly dismissed the book. But no one answered him as W’itney and Hay’len hurried to gather up their belongings and head home.
“Come on, guys. Seriously, what’s worse than restricted?”
“Unique,” Hay’len said before they put down their bags to give him one last hug goodbye. “We live in town if you ever want to stop by.”
Dylan gave them a hug, his mind still stuck on whatever was worse than restricted.
“You know,” Eury said, as she released Hay’len from a hug. “I’ve got contacts at most of the local guilds, Wanderly, Arclight, Fateful, even Ebonscale. I’d be happy to put in a good word.”
“Thanks,” W’itney said, hugging Eury next. “But it’s okay. Not sure if adventuring life is for me.” They held Eury at arm’s length before letting go. “Thought there’d be more booze and sex and a lot less… kaiju.” Then they turned away, sauntering up to Dylan with open arms.
Unable to resist a free hug, he squeezed the outgoing draconi tightly. W’itney held on for a touch too long, and whispered in his ear, “You and Eury are my ship.” Then they pinched his ass and planted a kiss on his cheek. “But if that doesn’t work out… I’m still down to be your lover.”
“Stop being creepy, W’itney.” Dylan took a step back, wiping off the kiss with the palm of his hand.
“Never…” they whispered with a sly wink.
They all waved to the twins as they made their trek through the gate and back into Dartmouth.
Ni’ot spoke up as she waved, “I was going to wait until after you used the Arcane orb, but after seeing the ability you got, I’m not even sure the things I can do with my tail would be enough to top something like that.”
She sighed, turning to Nathan. “You win, this time…” And with that, Ni’ot was off, back to the forge to work on her craft.