Chapter 88: Vestige
[Level 2 effect, Vestige unlocked.]
[EGO: Little prince by the sea.]
[Little prince by the sea: Self-exiled from the rest of the world, he claims a quiet shore by the sea as his own tiny kingdom. Oh dearest little prince, when shall you return to that beautiful sea? Oh lonesome prince, when shall you drown in it?]
[Effects]
[Awakened EGO: Standard for all Users, backlash and costs of all skills reduced.]
[Princely cloak(Vestige): Delicate hands of a long-forgotten soul did clasp this garment on the shoulders of a once happy prince. It is a remnant of better times.]
[Unlocked at level 3.]
[Unlocked at level 4.]
[Unlocked at level 5.]
’What better times?’
Miles found himself gritting slightly at the message. The system had an odd way of telling jokes. Plus, it did nothing to explain the salt in the air, or the breeze he still felt on his face.
He focused on the only thing that changed.
A line of text soon appeared below it.
[Princely cloak(Vestige): Delicate hands of a long-forgotten soul did clasp this garment around the shoulders of a once happy prince. It is a remnant of better times.]
[Description: A black blanket capable of resizing itself to fit the user. Provides protection once worn. Can be summoned at will (Currently restricted due to lack of any level 2 skills).]
His frown deepened at the message. It only left him feeling more confused. He remembered seeing something of the sort draped over that cartoonish version of himself.
’What does protection even mean?’
It was vague enough to mean anything: physical, environmental, or even psychological protection. There was no way to test it either, given that the vestige was currently restricted.
’Why is everything restricted?’
Sure, Gaia did say that the system wasn’t perfect by any means, but he’d expected to at least gain access to something after reaching level 2. Now it was locked behind another upgrade.
Habitually, he ran a hand through his hair, only to feel little droplets of water clinging onto it.
These weird sensations were the only visible changes he could feel.
Even after navigating through the rest of the terminal, there was little change of note. He sighed before heading back; there was little point in wasting any more time there.
"Did it work?"
Grimm asked with a look of consideration, right as Miles settled back into his blanket.
"Yes."
"What changed?"
"What do you think? Do you notice anything different?"
The boy squinted, scanning him carefully before tilting his head.
"Did you do something with your hair?"
Miles shook his head.
"It’d be best if you see it for yourself."
Grimm fell silent for a moment, then shrugged before standing up and heading for the pylon as well. Finally leaving Miles to his thoughts.
With not much else to do, he began testing [Delusion] once again, looking for any changes. He summoned the room once more, and for the next few hours fell into a rhythm of trying new things out.
He conjured weapons, shifted the positions of items, moved the others around a bit, and even brought forth a watch similar to Ryan’s.
Though its innards and sense of time were messed up, due to him not having any actual knowledge on how watches worked.
By the time he was done, or more accurately once the pressure in his head began becoming unbearable, he could confidently conclude that his limits had improved.
Much to his disappointment, it wasn’t by much. There were certain things he still couldn’t do easily, like imagining all the small, delicate components of a watch moving in unison, or summoning Miss Rose.
In the end, it was still an improvement, so he had little to complain about.
At some point during his testing, Grimm returned from the pylon. Nothing rang particularly new or striking about him, and given the fact he didn’t offer anything, Miles chose not to push for answers.
It wasn’t long before an alarm on Ryan’s watch started beeping, finally signaling the end of their shift.
Grimm slipped his phone back into his bag, moving to wake the others up. Yet before he could, Ryan crawled groggily out of his blankets, woken by the sounds of his watch.
The boy blinked a few times before yawning as he glanced at his wrist. His eyes widened a fraction.
"You guys are up too, huh?"
Miles replied dryly.
"Yeah, you assigned us to watch, remember?"
Ryan paused, rubbed the final traces of sleep out of his eyes, before pushing himself to his feet.
"Right. Forgot about that."
He pushed himself off the ground, then slowly made his way to shake Mia awake. Miles went for Chloe, while Grimm headed for Sarah.
The commotion must’ve woken Brandon up, because he was seated upright when Miles turned to him.
With everyone roused, Ryan headed for the crates by the sides, coming back with an armful of unmarked tin cans. He was greeted with a collective groan from the group.
The boy shrugged uncaringly.
"If anyone has a better idea, go ahead, I’m all ears."
That shut them all up, and soon the room was filled with nothing but the sounds of spoons scraping against metal cans.
The silence didn’t last long.
Mia stared at the spoonful of goopy beans in her hand, then tilted her spoon a little, letting it slowly slide back down into the can.
She let out a deflated sigh.
"So... what’re we doing today?"
"Don’t... mm.... play with your food, Mia."
Ryan said between bites, fully committing his focus to downing the can. The girl rolled her eyes.
"You didn’t answer my question."
He swallowed the food in his mouth, then waved his spoon at her.
"I don’t know. Same as yesterday? Nothing has changed, even with that thing ambushing us yesterday. We still need points."
"So scouting?"
Chloe glanced at him.
"It’s more of hunting now, I suppose, but yes."
The boy nodded.
"We get to the fence and back, if we..."
He was interrupted by the sound of metal scratching metal. Pausing, he found the grey-eyed culprit mechanically scraping the bottom of his can.
Noticing the odd silence around him, Miles stopped chewing, only to find the attention of the entire room on him.
He raised a brow at the prickly stares.
"Mm... What?"