Unfortunately, the birds that had nearly claimed their lives ended up being Grade 12 beasts, which explained their marginal intelligence. That meant Leo’s soul wasn’t actually strong enough to hold one of their gems just yet, and Taylor would have to give up both her gems in order to do so, which she wasn’t willing to do. The good news was that Grade 12 beast gems were exactly what they needed to further their cultivation, and they quickly fell into a fairly simple routine.
During the short, hour-long days of the desert plane, they would take refuge within their tent, staying out of the blistering sun as Leo cultivated the beast gems and slowly layered their thick power over his soul, cementing his twelfth layer one bit of power at a time. Using a beast gem an entire Grade above his own soul was tricky and required his focus, but he wasn’t worried. His willpower was strong enough that he could even utilize gems two Grades above his soul rank, which meant he had nothing to fear unless something surprised him.
During the equally short nights, they would pack up the tent and trek across the desert toward the rift they needed to go through, waiting for more of the birds to attack them before dispatching them with trained ease once they took the bait. Leo’s physical evolution enhanced his reaction time just as much as his speed, and he got rather good at timing his strikes just right to ensure his sword pierced through the birds’ hearts or sliced off their heads when they dove at him.
Taylor preferred to wound the wings and rip out the downed birds’ throats with her teeth, which was only mildly concerning to see happen again and again.
Other than the extreme fluctuation in temperatures, the rapid day and night cycle was easy enough to get used to. With the time it took the sun to both rise and set each cycle, it was only really completely overhead or completely gone for about forty minutes at a time. The fact that Leo was even able to tell that filled him with immense joy, as he hadn’t realized just how much he missed knowing exactly how much time was passing.
Of course, the birds didn’t end up being the sole magical beasts within this plane.
“I think I like the birds better!” Leo shouted, deflecting the jab of a large scorpion’s stinger with the flat of his blade before thrusting his sword through its tough carapace. The move took care of one of his opponents, but it resulted in a sharp pinch to the back of his calf as another scorpion that had been hidden within the sand emerged and stung him with its stinger. Thanks to his Poisonous skill, Leo wasn’t actually in any danger from their venom, but the stings still hurt something fierce.
“And this confirms it, Minor Tremorsense sucks!” Leo added, spinning his blade around and thrusting it back and down, piercing through his latest attacker. That was the eighth scorpion he’d killed in the last minute, and he was hoping there weren’t any more of them.
After spending the better part of a Nexus day hunting the birds and trekking across the desert, they must have stumbled upon a hidden nest of the scorpions, because one after another the magical beasts dug themselves out of the sand, trying their damndest to jab them with their stingers. Minor Tremorsense had quickly been overloaded from all the moving sand triggering the skill dozens of times every second.
“Swap it out,” Taylor suggested, already gnawing on one of the stingers she’d ripped clean from a scorpion’s body. From the looks of things, she’d made quick work of the seven that had attacked her, and she didn’t have so much as a mark on her. Granted, her unusual body was also apparently immune to poison, so she wouldn’t have been in any danger even if she had.
“Yeah… That’s probably for the best,” Leo decided, cracking one of the scorpions open and plucking out its gem after a brief search. The gem was a black and jagged, tipped with an almost neon green. In fact, it looked like a miniature version of their stingers, which gave him a pretty good idea of what skill it would contain.
I wasn’t exactly planning on making poison my chosen fighting style… But I guess I can always change it out later.
Setting up their tent once more before the night came to a close, Leo made himself comfortable and closed his eyes, gazing upon his soul.
Soul Rank: 12 (1 available)
Physical Evolution (Dash): Increased speed and reflexes
Beast Gem: Monstrous Centipede (6)
Skill: Minor Tremorsense
Beast Gem: Guck Toad (3)
Skill: Poisonous
Beast Gem: Tunnel Rat (2)
Skill: Darkvision
This latest battle had confirmed that the desert was no place for Minor Tremorsense, and Leo got to work extracting the gem from his core. He could simply break it into power and layer it over his soul, but the gem was useful enough that he decided he’d prefer to keep it safely tucked away within his currently empty gem box instead.
Now that his soul rank was 12, extracting a Grade 6 beast gem was a walk in the park, and Leo managed to pull it from his core and reform the gem outside of his body with little issue. Placing it within the open gem box, he tucked the box back into his pack before pressing the scorpion gem against his chest. Taylor had already confirmed that the gem was only Grade 6 or 7, which meant it would be the perfect replacement.
The sounds of Taylor tearing into one final bird that must have wanted to test its luck just before sunrise reached his ears, and he snorted as he sharpened his focus, drowning out the sounds as he looked inward. With his core hungrily reaching for a new skill to fill its sudden emptiness, he had to ensure he didn’t slip up and accidentally allow the gem to burst into raw power. Best case, he’d lose the skill entirely. Worst case, it could damage his own cultivation and put him back a bit.
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Still, the skill was far lower than his soul rank, which made it a fairly simple task.
Soul Rank: 12 (1 available)
Physical Evolution (Dash): Increased speed and reflexes
Beast Gem: Sand Scorpion (6)
Skill: Venomous Jab+
Beast Gem: Guck Toad (3)
Skill: Poisonous+
Beast Gem: Tunnel Rat (2)
Skill: Darkvision
And there it is… Leo sighed, exiting his meditation as he confirmed that he’d finally achieved something most gem holders didn’t manage until they reached a soul rank of at least 15, sometimes 20.
Skill synergy.
Many skills were associated with certain elemental classifications, most of which were pretty obvious just from the name. Because all skills were nestled within the soul, skills that were similar to one another could actually strengthen each other. The effect wasn’t anything too noticeable at lower soul ranks, but as the soul got stronger and stronger, and the skills increased in power and Grade, skill synergy became truly important. It was why so many of the more powerful gem holders were known for a particular fighting style, such as his fathers love of fire or his mother’s ice techniques. They stacked skills of similar attributes, increasing the power of all of their skills and making them truly devastating fighters.
Like any child who dreamed of one day becoming a gem holder, Leo had spent plenty of afternoons thinking about what style he’d focus on once he became a powerful gem holder. Perhaps lightning, allowing him to fry magical beasts from afar with powerful, devastating blasts. Or metal, turning his entire body indestructible and bashing his way through entire swarms.
Never in a million years had he thought he’d ever have a skill synergy for poison.
It’s not like I’m locked in on this, he reminded himself yet again. And it’s only natural. Poison-based skills are fairly common at lower Grades. I bet it’s probably one of the first synergies most gem holders end up stumbling into.
“You okay?” Taylor asked, poking her head into the tent as she wiped the fresh blood off her mouth. “You look sad.”
“Not sad. Just… lamenting something.”
“Oh, of course,” Taylor nodded, fully entering the tent and punching his arm none too gently.
“What was that for?!” Leo demanded, before catching the familiar look of irritation on her face. “Oh, right. Sorry. Lamenting is like you’re mourning something. Basically being really sad about it, I guess.”
“So you are sad,” Taylor pointed out, poking his cheek none too gently with a finger. “Using fancy words doesn’t hide the fact.”
“You’re right,” Leo chuckled, already feeling better as he swatted Taylor’s finger away from his face. “Sorry. I just achieved my first skill synergy, between the Venomous Jab skill of that scorpion and the Poisonous skill I got from the Planar Lord agent back in your plane. So each skill will be a little stronger now, thanks to the other.”
“...You are sad because you are stronger?” Taylor asked, tilting her head as she furrowed her brow. “...Why?”
“To be fair, the strength improvement won’t be too noticeable, since each skill is a fairly low Grade. But that’s not why I’m sad. I guess when I think of skill synergy, I think of my parents. They both went to pretty extreme lengths to ensure they had a solid handful of skills that synergized with one another. And that’s no easy feat, it actually gets harder to pull such skills successfully into one’s core with each additional synergy. That's why not everyone can do it. It even requires certain skills to be baked into one’s soul permanently via the various evolutions, so a lot has to be invested.”
“So you reached skill synergy, and that made you miss your parents,” Taylor summed up. “You’re allowed to be sad. You don’t need to lie about it.”
“So you get sad sometimes?” Leo asked.
“Harder to get sad when you can’t remember what you should be sad about,” Taylor said after a moment. “I was sad back in town. These days, I’m usually just frustrated."
“That makes sense. It’s just hard sometimes, you know? It’s gotten easier with every passing day, but losing my father, my friends, my whole world… It’s a lot.”
Taylor seemed to hesitate for a moment in response to his open honesty, narrowing her eyes as she looked at him. After a few seconds, she raised her hand… and patted him on the head. Like one would a family pet. Leo could only look at her in confusion as she continued patting him.
“...What are you doing?”
“Comforting you?” she asked more than answered, frowning as she began patting his head harder. “Not sure why… think we had… a dog? Maybe? I used to do this when he was sad.” After a few more seconds of patting, Taylor surprised him by suddenly giving him a warm, genuine smile that didn’t look as though she was threatening to tear his jugular out with her teeth. She seemed to look past him for a moment, staring at something only she could see. “Blitz. His name was Blitz, because he ran fast. It’s all so hazy, but I remember trying to cheer up Blitz when he was sad.”
“That’s great you’re slowly getting some of your memories back,” Leo smiled, trying not to laugh at how robotically Taylor continued patting his head. At this point, it felt more like she was repeatedly smacking the top of his head over and over again, but it seemed to be helping her far more than it was helping him. He had to admit, the human contact was nice after all this time, and he was surprised to find he didn’t really feel all that sad anymore.
Finally, Taylor seemed to snap back to reality, laying her hand comfortingly on his head for a few seconds before pulling it back. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, pulling her legs under her and making herself more comfortable as she took a seat beside him. “There are no more monsters to fight right now anyway. Want to tell me about your plane?”
“You don’t mind? I wouldn’t want to bore you or anything.”
“I can’t remember my own plane,” Taylor shrugged. “I like hearing about others. And I’m curious what your life was like before you lost your plane. Before you became like me.”
“Huh…” Leo said, looking at Taylor in a new light. “I guess we are both the only survivors from our own planes, aren’t we? My mother is still out there, but she wasn’t born in that plane like I was. And she wasn’t there when it collapsed.”
“People with no birth plane,” Taylor nodded, and the two of them shared a moment of mutual understanding before she continued. “So? What do you miss?”
“A lot,” Leo admitted, laughing to himself as he remembered how his father had been in the middle of burning his big birthday dinner before everything changed. “So, you know how you like my cooking, right? Well, let’s just say that’s not something I got from my parents.”
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