The Legendary Fool

Clearing out the remaining Abyss Demons wasn’t as big of a challenge as Tom had expected.

Even a clearly exhausted Aleph was putting up an impressive fight. Although her strikes weren’t outright lethal, she cleverly used the sloping landscape to her advantage. Any Abyss Demon that wanted to reach her needed to ascend the shattered stone fortress, only to receive a nasty puncture wound the moment they crossed a certain threshold.

Her strikes weren’t intended to kill, merely dissuade the Abyss Demon from making its approach. A second would replace the first in its attempt and once again, Aleph would send it reeling back.

Tom noticed the frenzied rage in the Abyss Demon’s eyes as they threw themselves at Aleph, sorely lacking the organization and coordination they had displayed merely moments ago.

It seemed that the death of the Abyssal Lurker had greatly impacted the Abyss Demons, to the point where they were more inclined to blindly rush forward instead of using their Phantasmal Skills to their advantage and pelting Aleph with stones from afar. Before, when she had her armor, it wouldn’t have done much but in her current condition, Aleph was exposed and vulnerable to ranged attacks.

Come to think of it, the Abyss Demons weren’t supposed to be smart enough to build an entire fortress— at least, nothing in their missives had given him that impression. And the resultant discordance in their ranks after their deaths made Tom wonder if the Abyssal Lurker had a fourth skill— one that helped it effectively command his troops and perhaps, improved their Mental Stat?

Regardless, that didn’t change what Tom had to do.

Even without investing any of his free points, he wasn’t afraid of the remaining Abyss Demons.

With a few rushed steps, he stood at Aleph’s side and then swept past her. His blade searched for vulnerabilities— throat, eyes and wrists, before it found purchase. Tom moved swiftly and purposefully as he cut across an Abyss Demon’s wrist, sidestepping past it and slitting another’s throat.

Aleph wasn’t idling, taking advantage of Tom breaking through the Demon’s ranks by dealing fatal blows to the severely injured demons.

Tom wasn’t bothered in the slightest, knowing that the Abyss Demons would only offer him a fraction of experience they had before— the level differential was no longer impressive.

Besides, at this point he was sure that Aleph wanted the same thing as him— to end the fight.

And end it, he did— by driving his sword through the last Abyss Demon’s eye and out the other side of the skull.

A heavily panting Aleph leaned on her rapier to keep standing, while Tom was clearly winded as his legs and arms burned from the overexertion— the kind of burning that a healing potion couldn’t just disappear.

An uncomfortable silence blanketed the Theatre of Stone as Tom and Aleph looted their kills without exchanging any words. Both kept the other in the periphery of their visions, a blend of uncertainty and caution swirling in their gazes as they walked across the tapestry of blood and viscera they had painted.

“Who-,” Aleph began, but then seemed to catch herself. “No, just what are you?”

Tom winced.

He knew the question had been coming. In their relationship, Aleph had been operating under the assumption that she held the bulk of the secrets.

An assumption that had just been dashed— for Tom had entered the Theatre of Stone several tiers weaker than Aleph and now his presence had been instrumental in slaying a Level 18 boss— three levels above the missives they had received, even.

Tom knew that this was a hurdle he had to clear if he wished to cooperate with Aleph but he… didn’t quite know how.

“I can tell you who I’m not,” Tom began, his eyes cautiously trained on Aleph.

Taking her silence as a subtle nod, he continued, “I like to think that I am not a cruel person. I slay Phantasmal Beings without mercy, yes; in the same manner that a butcher slays beasts for his customers. I derive no satisfaction from the process of killing itself,” he sucked in a cold breath of air, finding it hard to speak the truth. “I have only ever killed one person before in my life, only to the end of protecting an innocent bystander.”

Aleph’s eyes rose at that revelation as Tom’s thoughts flashed back to the trial the bearded old man had thrust him into.

“And as for the source of my ....strength,” His tone put emphasis on the last word, his expression tensing. “You are trouble, Aleph. I know you are trouble,” Tom looked her dead in the eyes as he said those words, only finding curiosity and wariness in her gaze.

“But if you are trouble then I… may as well be the apocalypse,” Tom admitted and this time, Aleph visibly flinched at her words.

“Are you not worried?” Aleph asked, her expression overwhelmed and confused. “Worried that I would take interest in the source of your… power?”

Tom shrugged.

“You can probably still defeat me, but you can no longer kill me,” Tom admitted, his words spoken more like a statement than a threat.

Aleph raised her eyebrows at that statement, though she made no threatening movements.

“What is the source of your confidence?” She finally asked, though her tone lacked any biting edge.

Tom sighed again and then closed his eyes.

‘Invest sixteen free points into Physical and fourteen free points into Mental.’

Aleph instinctively found herself retreating as the threat her senses felt from Tom suddenly skyrocketed.

His muscles wriggled under his skin as they rapidly began to expand outwards before contracting inwards and then the process repeated itself, building a sheet of muscle that wasn’t there before with every cycle.

At the same time, his brain activity surged. His thoughts suddenly grew clearer. Focused. Memories of his past came flooding back in far greater detail than should have been possible, but a higher Mental Stat also gave him more control over his headspace— with but a thought, the echoes of his past were banished to the back of his mind.

But that wasn’t all.

Tom found that he had a lot more space to…think. In any battle, a bulk of moves and actions were either carried out instinctively or fueled by a healthy dose of adrenaline; perhaps both.

Now though, Tom felt like he could think in the in-between, as his sword moves to parry his opponent’s blade. To fight and surpass against the instinct to defend himself and instead do something completely unexpected— Tom thought himself capable of that, now.

Though that wasn’t why he had chosen to level the mental stat.

Now that the stat allocation process had been completed, Tom glanced over at Aleph as he leaned down to pick up one of the rocks the Abyss Demons had been throwing at them.

When the stone was resting in the palm of his hand, he clenched it without warning.

He had expected to shatter it, but even Tom was surprised when the stone was reduced to dust in his clenched fist, slowly slipping away from between the gaps in his grip.

“This,” he replied calmly.

And calmly was indeed the correct word to describe the manner in which Tom had come to his stat-allocation decision.

It had hinged upon his new card’s capabilities.

[Card Name: Lifeblood

Rank: Uncommon

Level: 1

Skill Upgrade Point(s): 0

Description:

Ability:

1. Augmentation, Level 1: The wielder can manipulate the blood within his body, allowing for the augmentation of the composition and flow of blood to allow for enhanced oxygen delivery, freely modulating heart rate and greatly reducing blood loss from open wounds.

Augmentation allows the wielder to move at preternatural speeds beyond the limitations of their body and stem blood loss from open wounds via vasoconstriction.

SP Cost is Variable.]

After testing his abilities a little more over the course of the next few awkward minutes, Tom made up his mind.

His [Lifeblood] card reduced the necessity of the Proprioception stat by quite a few degrees. Tom was tempted to hoard the points until the need arose, but ultimately he chose to to make his decision on the spot.

He was already hoarding [The Fool’s] skill upgrade points because they tended to offer little utility mid-combat and he was saving them for a very specific purpose. The reason why he didn’t want to ever hoard Free Points though, was simple— optimization was welcome in an ideal world, but Tom tended to keep running into enemies far more powerful than him.

It was a ridiculous notion to limit his own potential and impose a self-handicap when he didn’t know what lay out there, waiting for him, was a belligerent and misguided notion.

The Physical stat was important to level up because the [Lifeblood] card seemed to put an emphasis on increasing the heart rate and oxygen concentration in his blood to give him superhuman speed; which implied that it would put a strain on his heart.

Tom was sure that the damage wouldn’t be long-term, because cards were the one thing he had been able to trust since he stepped into Artezia, but still— making sure his physicality was up to snuff couldn’t hurt.

Mental, on the other hand, was equally important and the correlation there was rather easy to spot— [The Fool] needed that stat to be high or… atleast Tom did, if he wanted to successfully execute his ambitions.

‘Five in Physical, Five in Mental.’

Once again, the same process repeated itself.

Aleph didn’t inch backwards this time, though she wasn’t able to hide the astonishment flickering in her gaze.

“Are you done?” She finally inquired, her voice laced with unconcealed suspicion as the gears in her mind turned.

If Tom had to venture a guess, she was trying to puzzle out the secret behind his incredible powerup.

“I am,” Tom replied curtly, though his voice was devoid of any hostility. He still wanted to work with Aleph and respected her, but he couldn’t allow himself to exhibit weakness now that he had revealed a bit of his true capabilities.

“Are you a feat hunter? Do you have some sort of Rare item that increases the stats you gain from leveling up? Or perhaps a Rare Card? Or is this a bluff, an illusion card that seems to be in line with your name-changing abilities? It sure doesn’t feel like a low-level illusion, those aren’t supposed to be this lucid. A high-level illusion then? Possible, likely even, but… also unlikely since you have little to gain by fooling me,” Aleph rattled out the possibilities one after the next, watching Tom’s visage carefully for any fluctuations.

Tom stood there unmoved, his visage blank. He was able to maintain that expressionless face firstly because of his mental stat, which caught on to what Aleph was doing even before she finished and secondly ...well… because Tom largely had no idea what she was talking about.

“Although I can’t tell you that, I can tell you that I want to work with you. I want to help you, Aleph,” Tom began, as he voided the composure he got from his mental stat. His expression came across as earnest, genuine as he continued, “You helped me when I was alone, vulnerable and lost, Aleph. But that’s not the only reason why I want to help you accomplish your goals. I want to help you because….,” Tom took a deep breath before he completed the sentence. “...I consider you a friend.”

Aleph’s cautious gaze wavered at those words, her expression becoming conflicted.

“I knew that you had secrets of your own,” Aleph began, as she met his gaze. “You are entitled to your secrets as I am to mine but…,” She took a deep breath, “... if you are in as much trouble as you say you are, why should I not part ways with you after we complete this dungeon?”

Tom leaned on his mental stat, which had already seen the obvious question coming.

“Three reasons,” he replied, as he held aloft three fingers.

That caught Aleph’s attention.

“I didn’t want to lie to you about the potential trouble I could be in if my presence was widely known but as far as I know, very few people are even aware of my existence, let alone actively pursuing me,” Tom spoke with honesty, to the best of his knowledge.

If [The Fool] could well, fool the bearded old man that could travel across planets, even if search parties were dispatched for him they’d come looking for a [Rare] rarity card user and not an [Ephemeral] one.

“Secondly, I will be, or already am, instrumental to your odds of successfully accomplishing your objective. I am powerful now, Aleph and I owe you. The moment you took someone actively disguising their name, you were prepared for this eventuality. Just the way you are running from your unknown pursuers, I cannot make my presence widely known. You knew and you wanted me on your side anyway— that means that you have nowhere else to turn to.”

Aleph’s lower lip trembled a little as she averted her gaze.

Tom’s voice turned a shade gentler, “I don’t care who your enemies are, Aleph. I don’t care if it’s a prestigious Noble House or hell, even if it is the King. I’m on your side.”

Aleph’s eyes widened a little at his open disregard for the monarch of the Syrelore Kingdom, before she finally responded,

“And the third?”

“The third, well…,” A wide grin spread over Tom’s visage, as he teasingly massaged his chin in a thoughtful manner.

Aleph shot him a dirty look.

“I might just have a way to unlock your inheritance.”