Pax tossed the sand through the air to land on the stupid pillars that had almost killed both him and Zendri the last time they had been in this room. While the fall itself hadn't killed him, since the Trial protected from that, the Brushwolf that had happened to be sniffing around outside the Trial entrance when he got teleported outside almost ended him.

As the sand landed on the pillars that marked the path to the final platform in the distance, Pax turned back to look at Zendri with a bright smile. "See? I knew it wouldn't actually require faith in the gods. You should have more faith in me, Zen," he told her, backing up to try and gauge the distance between pillars and the speed he would need to reach in order to make it.

"We almost died," Zen signed back at him with a huff of annoyance. "And how many times did it take us to finally clear that first room of monster waves?"

"Hey, I know we got close to death, but we did okay considering you're a healer and I just stab things with a lot of tiny needles and hope they die before eating us," Pax shot back, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet a few times to warm himself up for this stupidly difficult jump sequence. He knew he couldn't stop on any of the pillars, otherwise he wouldn't have the momentum to reach the next one without some kind of ability or item to help boost him.

"You know I'm not going to be able to make this jump, right?" Zendri signed, her crimson eyes taking in the distance with trepidation. "You were able to help me with that one gauntlet with the platforms, but there's no way you can help me with this one."

"I know I can't help you like before, but I'll figure out something once I get to the other side and see what we have to work with."

"Why do you keep summarizing the things I say in here?" she signed with annoyance.

"Because you and I both know that the Speakers of the Herald Sect like to doctor the recordings in here. I've seen past Seasons where they totally butchered the Whisper Sign translations, and I was warned to only use those when absolutely necessary. It's much harder for them to try to manipulate the audio. Now, just wait here and keep looking like your beautifully regal self for the Sense Stones and watch me be a total badass," he replied with a cheeky smirk and then ran.

Putting all his strength into his legs, he launched himself from the very edge of the landing and timed the step onto the first pillar to launch himself further forward and left to the next pillar. His foot slipped on the edge of the final landing, but he was able to throw most of his body weight forward to land heavily atop it and immediately rolled himself further from the edge that would send him back to the beginning of the Trial of Aspects.

Taking a few moments to catch his breath, he merely lifted a hand with a thumbs up to let Zendri know he was okay, even though he didn't bother to try to see her reaction. At least he knew she wouldn't yell at him for it. While he could feel sympathy for her muteness and the events that had led to it, he was realistic enough to appreciate when it saved him from a tongue-lashing, even if it was well-deserved.

When he finally stood to see Zendri pacing on the other side, he smiled at her obvious concern and shouted back, "See? Total badass!"

"It's not 'badass' to fall on your ass, Idiot Whisper," she irately signed back.

Pax chuckled and turned to analyze the marble pedestal that was sitting in the center of this final platform. Setting his bracelet on the rune engraved on top of it, a sheet of light rose from the edge, encasing him in privacy as he was given an informational display.

Congratulations for completing the Trial of the Aspects! Place your hand upon the designated symbol below to claim your prize that will be custom-tailored to suit your style!

"Oh, nice," Pax said to himself, a habit he had developed over the years of hunting and working alone that helped keep him slightly more sane. "Custom-tailored is way better than that last one that had a specific list." As he placed his hand on the lower symbol, he said for the audience, "Come on, legendary!"

When he pulled out a tiny black mask meant to go over the bottom half of a person's face, he was met with a new message.

Congratulations on obtaining the Silence Aspect! Please step into the awaiting ritual diagram to absorb your latest prize, then press your bracelet to the pillar once more to go back the way you came.

"Well, at least that will be useful," he admitted. "And it'll complete my set." He walked over to the ritual circle and, with a steadying breath, activated the Absorption Ritual. The tiny mask in his hand seemed to grow as the magic poured into the Aspect, and it shot up to cover his own mouth, silencing him and sending an unwilling rush of panic through him before the Aspect melted into him, unlocking a piece of his soul and granting him two new abilities.

Then his body felt hot as white light filled his vision, and he could sense another Talent cultivating into something new. That wasn't the end, though, as he bent over and fell to his hands and knees from the pain that coursed through him as his body literally caught fire with the Flames of Ascension, and his body was refined and pushed into the Crystal Caste.

Once the fire died and he felt like he could breathe again, he sat back up and tried to collect himself. Pressing the Display rune on his bracelet and focusing on the new abilities from his Aspect and Talent first, he read the details he could sense, but appreciated reading.

Passive Ability: Silenced Whispers

Type: Utility (magical, covenant)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Targets afflicted with your Banes are additionally inflicted with [Silenced].

Silenced (bane, control, magical, covenant): You are unable to use abilities for a short duration and cannot speak.

Ability: Vow of Silence

Type: Familiar (ritual, summon, magical, covenant)

Cost: Severe mana and stamina.

Cooldown: 1 hour.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Summon a [Mask of Whispers] 😷 to serve as a Familiar.

Natural Talent: Sound of Silence

Cultivated from [Unknown Potential] due to unlocking the Silence Aspect.

You can negate any sounds you might produce. You do not need to speak verbal incantations aloud.

Pax wasn't entirely certain how he felt about gaining a Familiar. He had always worked alone for most things and had simply resigned himself to never unlocking a companion like that. Aside from the cost of summoning it should it die, he was worried some kind of creature would just slow him down, or he wouldn't be able to use them to their full potential by being forced to keep it merged all the time.

The Passive and Talent were fantastic, though, and he looked forward to putting them to good use. He pressed the Display rune again, this time focusing on his new Class that he intuitively knew as a Vile Assassin.

Passive Ability: Kill Count

Type: Boon (magical, covenant)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: When you kill a target, you gain a small permanent increase to a random Attribute based on the power of the killed target's Attribute, and up to a max threshold based on your Caste level.

Ability: Overkill

Type: Execute (channel, elemental, corrosion)

Cost: Variable mana.

Cooldown: 1 minute.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Channel mana to conjure needles to impale a target enemy in melee range. Each needle injects a toxin that inflicts a small amount of Corrosion damage once the channeling ends. Damage is scaled based on the amount of health missing from the target.

He wasn't going to lie to himself; both of those slightly scared him. It made it very clear exactly what he was turning into… what he had already become to get to this point: an insatiable killer.

Running a trembling hand through his short and unkempt blonde hair, he took a few more deep breaths as he processed all the changes he had just undergone. He didn't linger long, however, and pushed himself back up to standing.

Pressing his bracelet on the pillar again to leave, he was relieved to see a bridge form to cross the space and almost laughed aloud when Zendri immediately started sprinting across it. While she wasn't nearly as used to being athletic as Pax was, he never thought of her as incapable of it. She might not have been specifically trained to push her body the way he had been, but she was quick and didn't hesitate even when uncertain.

A wave of exhaustion suddenly rolled through him as the soul exhaustion hit from his ascension, and he cheekily joked, "Glad you could make it because I'm planning to go back over and pass out now. We should be safe here, so grab your last Aspect and unlock your Class, and we'll discuss more when we're both conscious again."

She nodded then patted his shoulder as she moved to the pedestal, and Pax crossed the bridge to tuck himself in a far corner for some much-needed sleep. The last thoughts that floated through his mind were the memory of his little sister running with Jin towards the boss area and the uncertain faces of the group that had been with the pair. They were people that he had already read all about, learning way more about them while he had been shadowing Jin in the days before entering the tower.

Despite his better judgement, his mind lingered on the memory of hazel eyes watching him with curiosity in the darkness.

Zendri almost yelped at the pain of the ascension into Crystal Caste… almost. It had been more unexpected than truly painful, touching places within her very soul that she simply couldn't have prepared for. She didn't look at her display right away, though, wanting to get back to Pax's side where she felt safer, even in sleep.

While she could put on a brave face and would rather die than admit to any tremor of fear, she was simply terrified of being in the same tower that had claimed her father's life last Season. Sure, she had decided to join the rebellion, but she knew it was her own perceived weakness that had actually landed her here as a Champion.

She had known Pax for years now outside of the Tower, and he had become one of the few people she actually trusted in the entire city. He was brash and full of himself at times, but his laid-back style of confidence was more reassuring to her than Alaina's seriously delivered reassurance that she would be protected during this Season.

Zendri knew the rebellion only wanted her for her position among the Speakers, but Pax had never seemed to care about that, teasing her for it instead. The fact that she knew he wasn't interested in women at all also went a long way in making her feel comfortable snuggling up into his side as he passed out in the corner.

Once she felt less exposed with his arm wrapped around her shoulder, she pressed her bracelet to look over her four newest abilities.

Passive Ability: Thistle

Type: Boon (magical, blood, life)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Your attacks embed small thorns that subtly heal you over time.

Ability: Twining Vines

Type: Utility (magical, blood)

Cost: High mana.

Cooldown: None.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Select a target to entwine your health pool with until dismissed. Overhealing on you spills over to the entwined target to heal them instead.

Those first two belonged to her new Flower Aspect, while the next two belonged to her new Class: Sanguine Rose.

Passive Ability: Pleasure From Pain

Type: Utility (magical, blood, covenant)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Damage you deal to allies is converted into healing instead. Overhealing done to allies has a chance to generate a [Sanguine Rose Seed].

Sanguine Rose Seed (construct, elemental, magical, blood, plant): When consumed, restores a small amount of health. Will degrade after a day.

Ability: Briarpatch

Type: Zone (elemental, magical, blood, plant)

Cost: High mana.

Cooldown: 30 minutes.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Create a zone delineated by constructed briar walls. When enclosed, attacks done to the walls inflict [Splinter] and allies within the walls gain [Briar Critter].

Splinter (elemental, plant): Inflicts ongoing Plant damage for a long duration. Briar Critter (transfiguration, magical, blood): Take on the traits of a random critter to various effects based on your most advanced Attribute.

The Class hadn't been too much of a surprise, honestly, with her previous Aspects consisting of Dagger, Life, and Blood. Not to mention the Talent she had been born with that liked to make her garden-themed and destined for a healing path.

Natural Talent: Garden Friend

You have a higher affinity for garden-themed abilities. Plants and people under your care grow and mend faster with your tending. You can intuitively sense the needs of plants and people you come into contact with.

She let out a heavy sigh as she reread them and realized there would be much more pain in her future, but at least that was something she was familiar with.

When they would wake, she needed to be prepared for a fight she didn't feel ready for, since they needed to attempt getting past the Fighters and making it to the second floor and whatever challenges might await them there.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.