Chapter 442: Phoenix Nugget

This chapter is for last Sunday. The next one, for today. Enjoy!

“Disgusting,” the phoenix matriarch muttered.

“These notifications are exhausting,” her Riusling rival agreed.

“I am talking about his eating habits!”

“Ah.” Hastenash snorted. “You must be joking: fiery butt or not, you’re still a bird. And birds eat worms. Hardly better than eating mantises.”

The phoenix shot her rival a haughty look. “Worms? You mean wyrms, drake.”

The merchant cleared his throat to prevent another quarrel.

“You should broaden your mind,” Seuz said. “Before awakening my soul, I spent years sucking the flesh off the shells of my enemies. Pretty tasty.”

“You are a gastropod—”

“A kraken,” corrected the merchant. According to Thaal’s intel, Seuz had spent a fortune large enough to buy one-hundredth of the Sector in his quest to purify his high bloodline.

“—not a humanoid,” the phoenix queen finished. “His civilization is revolting. What’s next? Eating snails?”

Thaal looked away.

“Seriously?!”

“With a bit of butter and parsley, they’re delicious,” pointed Sweet Mama.

The phoenix opened her beak, then shut it again. The hierarchy among the Immortals had been fixed for too long to be challenged over table manners. The pastry chef sat near the top of the Sector, just under its absolute leader, the galaxy’s sole Primordial: Administrator Thaal.

“Are we really going to ignore that he just consumed the flesh of a sapient being?!” a faun burst out. The goat-horned woman shrank beneath the glares of the high Tiers but did not retreat. An achievement for a Tier 6. “Some laws allow me to kill him for that.”

“You’ll have to take a number,” Neitlan’h growled.

“Don’t listen to her,” Hastenash smiled. “Tumnas, right?”

Any Tier 7 had enough memory to know every mid-Tier’s name in the galaxy, and too much ego to admit paying attention to what they considered insects. Except when they wanted something. Dragon lust strikes again…

The drake gestured toward the arena. “Allow me to explain: these phantoms are not different from the previous creatures summoned by the Colosseum. They lack that marvelous spark that lets someone naturally manipulate aether and aspire to the Zenith… They lack an actual soul. Only under that condition do exceptional gladiators like myself agree to leave their mark here.” He winked, striking a pose. After a few seconds of self-celebration, he continued. “After all, no one wants to hear that one of their clones escaped a Colosseum. Think of them as tangible illusions animated by the System. With that in mind, did Priam really eat the limb of a sapient?”

He offered a smile the Tier 6 accepted. The charm of an Immortal was difficult to ignore, even when he was boorish.

“I… suppose not.”

The drake beamed as if he did not personally consume the hearts of his enemies to progress. Blinded by a high charisma, Tumnas ignored the hypocrisy.

“But then, I don’t understand how these phantoms can use the Concepts, Talents, and skills of their originals.”

“They can’t,” Hastenash revealed. “They’re just puppets, but the System is such a master puppeteer that we spectators can’t see the strings.”

Thaal pressed his lips together. Not entirely true. If you knew where to look, the fakery was obvious. For instance, the System imitated Patron gifts poorly. Priam’s phantom would only possess a watered-down copy of [He Who Eludes Death]. Emulating a Tier 9 power wasn’t trivial. Likewise, Thaal was certain [Tribulation Hunter] would be disabled. Properly used, the skill could steal Concept fragments. Since only a soul could use them, it created a paradox given the phantom’s nature.

“Anyway, no shaming someone for their diet,” Sweet Mama said cheerfully as Hastenash sat beside the faun.

Neitlan’h didn’t answer.

Neither did Thaal. Even though upgrading his race had broadened what he could digest, he always returned to the basics: luck. No spice tasted sweeter to him than a prey’s good fortune.

In the arena, Priam examined a medallion with disgust while dedicating a fraction of his attention to tracking the divinatory probes swarming around him.

Lvl Up: [Divination Interception] lvl 32

META (Affinity) +2

META (Perception) +1

“The Completion rewards don’t seem to please him,” Seuz remarked. “Yet a Colosseum Safety Token guarantees him a record-breaking run.”

Let me doubt.

An ejection seat that triggered a second before death was clearly a poor reward for Priam. Thaal could already see the young man grumbling as he handed the Token to a friend, unaware it was worth as much as a drop of phoenix blood. Not that it mattered. Priam always invested in his people’s safety.

Thaal expected the wave reward to please Priam more. As the Champion chewed on the mantis meat, his eyes scanned a list invisible to the masses. The Administrator was not among them.

Reward: Chaos favors the protagonist.
‘Triggering a High Tribulation requires will. Constructing an inner world, perseverance. Writing a Myth requires audacity. Reaching the Zenith, a reality-bending fate. After all, you must set your destiny against that of a universe.’
—She Who Weaves Fate.
All following options perform random selection from a Mythic pool.
This is a test of your luck.

• chaotic Pilgrimage Token
  Unusable before Tier 1; does not guarantee acquisition of a Mythic skill.

• chaotic Talent
  Warning: General Talent slots filled (7/7).
  Selecting this option will overwrite one of the following:
  ̶H̶e̶ ̶W̶h̶o̶ ̶E̶l̶u̶d̶e̶s̶ ̶D̶e̶a̶t̶h̶, Promesse, He Who Eludes Gods, ̶C̶h̶i̶m̶e̶r̶a̶, Concepts Archipelago, Physical&Oneiric Memory, Blessing of Viracocha.

• chaotic Item

• chaotic Mutation

• chaotic Servant

If he had an equal to wager with, Thaal would have bet on the item. His reasoning was simple: determined to explore the limits of Tier 0, Priam would ignore a pilgrimage with no immediate payoff. Good. Champions never lacked opportunities to explore Myths.

A Talent was more tempting on paper, especially since the Blessing of Viracocha was a pseudo-scam. Not that Priam couldn’t wring value out of it at the next Reunion… but accepting an unknown Talent was dangerous. One had already fried his brain during an upgrade. And general Talents were no light matter: inscribed at the boundary between soul and aetheric code, they rewrote the cultivator’s essence. The upside was universal influence, as they could enhance proficiency in any domain, even Supremacies. All that for a critical downside: you were not truly the same person afterward. A bad Talent, especially a Mythic one, could turn a pacifist into a genocider.

Eh, Priam would’ve abandoned the spear long ago if Promesse weren’t his bound weapon. 

Chaotic mutation was a coin flip the Champion would refuse after the recent evolution of Hecate’s New Moon. The Servant would also be ignored: the Juggernaut valued freedom too much to deny it to another, and valued self-sacrifice too little to waste a reward freeing a stranger.

Priam clicked on Item, and Thaal smiled before speeding up his speech until he could hold a conversation in a fraction of a second. For a certain Tier 0, the time could have been frozen.

“Priam selected Chaotic Item,” the Tier 8 announced before turning to the high Tiers. “Do you know what that means?”

They exchanged confused glances, and the Administrator smiled wider.

“It means the System is currently spinning a giant wheel to determine a Mythic reward for him. Oh.” He put a hand before his mouth. “Ding dong! The wheel just stopped on a nugget!”

“A nugget?” the drake asked. “What kind of bird could possibly be rare enough to—” He cut himself off before bursting into laughter.

Meanwhile, Neitlan’h reddened. “Thaal, you wouldn’t dare—”

As she sputtered with rage, the flames of her hair flared incandescent. The Primordial’s obsidian skin absorbed every photon.

“Remind you of the NDA you signed to spectate this run?” Thaal smiled, revealing pristine ivory teeth. “Oh, my dear, you thought you could patch your son’s oath without me noticing? All that just to prevent this poor shadow from explaining the mechanics of an attribute milestone? Such pettiness… Allow me to be petty in turn.”

This time, the faun was smart enough not to mention that the Queen had a soul.

*

[Phoenix Nugget - Tier 0 - Mythic] - A meat toughened by age and politics, but tenderized by recent beatings. Blended with sterile egg whites, rolled in crumbs shaved from a Parisian baguette, and fried in palm oil ignited by the flame of a supernova—this croquette is a true delicacy. Best enjoyed at the end of a drunken night; at three in the morning, it will hit the right spot.

Even artificially stripped of aether to lower its rank, Priam devoured the croquette with pleasure. If he ever discovered what he had just eaten, Thaal gave it fifty–fifty he would either scold him furiously…

or track down the Phoenix Queen to finish the meal.

Either way, the Administrator did not share the scruples of the lesser fauna. He opposed cannibalism, but he barred no species but his own from the menu, sapient or not. At high levels, most powerhouses fell into that category anyway, and many bloodlines advanced through the consumption of purer blood. Dragons were the most infamous example.

In the Primordial's opinion, if your principles prevented you from reaching the Zenith, then it was better to revise them.

Anyway, while this appetizer was mostly meat, it was fruitful.

Lvl Up: [Ciphered Record] lvl 17
MEM +6
META (Affinity) +6
META (Authority) +15

Bloodlines:

• Phoenix: 10% (+4%) (Second atavism reached. You receive the ichor of the phoenix.)

• Dragon: 5%

Lvl Up: [Fount of pseudo-Ichor] lvl 2,...,22
VIT +180

With the amplification from his Titles, the total approached four hundred points of raw Vitality. The synergy between a high bloodline and the ideal skill hit so hard Priam spent several minutes recovering from the burst of life force. Like the Ship of Theseus, each of his cells had been replaced by a new one overflowing with vigor. His micro-scars vanished, and [Chimera], finally able to silence the dragon by opposing it with a supercharged phoenix, left the Juggernaut ready for the next fight.

The timer hit zero, and the Immortals leaned forward.

*

Vague 91

Esmeralda examined the diadem in her right hand. The artifact was truly impressive, crafted with care, then upgraded by generations of talented mages with bottomless pockets. The resulting geas was powerful. Even without a wielder, the commands injected into her still held strong.

Do not attempt to remove the geas.
Do not antagonize a Transcendent.
Secure an alliance between Aelbes and the Empyreans.
Make a good marriage.

On the last point, she had no timer… but not infinite time either. If she didn’t get rid of the geas soon…

Maybe he would accept a fake marriage? The young woman blushed. Before thinking about that, I should ask him for a real interview! Right now I can’t even define what we are to each other. But if it’s obvious to him, he’ll think I’m an idiot. Damn. Maybe I should talk to Jasmine first—

A disturbance in the aether made her raise her head toward her new opponent. His lower body was a sand serpent; his upper half, a demon.

[Spoiler]
[Phantom of Émir - Tier 0 - Prince - Hybrid Jinn] - Purveyor of miracles.
Offspring of a powerful jinn and a noble dragon. Orphan.
A rogue as vicious as he is charismatic; buy a finger from him and lose your arm.

“The fatigue haunts you—” the enemy intoned.

Despite her owl bloodline, Esmée yawned. Builds centered around charisma could be dangerous, but they usually needed a medium. For the jinn, it was his tongue. The princess first blocked her eardrums, to little effect, then pulled out her grimoire.

[Prophecy]. Today, Emir will lisp, she wrote.

“The wearinezz zzeepsz into your body, until—until…”

And that’s how you ruin an orator in one move.

The exhaustion retreated, and Esméralda straightened. Fixing the enemy with a cool stare, she unleashed malediction after malediction without hesitation. Unlike Sna’s cursecraft, she couldn’t curse opponents directly, but she could jinx them. Better: she could find the exact domino to tip and create cascading, devastating effects. The classic butterfly effect.

Emir lunged at her… only to stumble. Rolling to his feet, he collapsed again as a cramp seized him. Gritting his teeth, the jinn attempted to seize the ambient aether, but Esmée’s meta-authority shut down each attempt. After a short but intense mind duel, and as a last resort, the boss used his Concept to summon a sand golem.

“[Weight of Knowledge], [Book Mastery],” breathed the princess.

The shadow of an immense book crushed the golem, then followed the thread back to slap its master’s mind. From there, the jinxes stacked.

Within seconds, Émir was as weak as a child. Nodding to herself, Esmée began weaving aether. Dozens of tiny runes bloomed, forming adaptive, cylindrical rituals where the slightest rotation of a sigil revealed a new capacity in the structure. In twelve seconds, a mind-blowing formation cocooned the enemy. From the outside, the thousands of runic threads looked like a spider’s trap.

Esmeralda allowed herself a smile as her work came alive. She had been refining this design for years. Electrical, magnetic, sound, light, even spiritual signals were blocked both ways. Same for movement. Aether siphons drained the victim’s magical reserve while controlled bloodletting ensured he possessed no endurance. Down there in her cocoon, the target had zero chance of escape unless he wielded the power of a Transcendent… or possessed the Juggernaut’s ridiculous adaptability.

I wonder how he’s doing. Knowing him, he probably ruptured his own eardrums before rushing this enemy to beat him senseless. The tongue can’t always win against the blade.

Smiling faintly, Esmée placed the diadem on Émir’s head. The jinn struggled, in vain. 

“Sorry. I don’t want to inflict this on anyone… but at the end of the day, you’re a fake, and I need data.” She apologized before forcing a geas on her captive to study it.

Esmeralda had tasted freedom. Now she wanted more.

*

direct link to chap 443

*

Tumnas - T6 - Faun