“When a butterfly flutters its wings in one part of the world [System], it can eventually cause a hurricane in another.”

~Edward Norton Lorenz [corrected]

POV - Tad

This was a paradigm shift. Imbuing my Essence suddenly was of utmost importance. But I also had other pressing priorities. My decisions now would be critical. There was so much out there that I didn't understand, that I didn’t know, that I couldn’t control. I was feeling my way in the dark not knowing what may be just around the corner. I couldn’t even see the corner. Or the cliff. Or… or… There were just so many things I couldn’t see. And then there were the things I wouldn’t even think to look out for.

It would be so easy just to give up. To say ‘this is too hard.’ To do nothing, to accept that I was impotent and completely at the whims of fate. I was daunted by the immensity of the task, no, the tasks, that lay ahead.

In some ways I needed to shut down my imagination on all the ways that things would not work out in my favour. Imagination is great for envisioning possibilities and unlocking potential. It was not so good when it became so intimidating it was paralysing. I was having a spasm of dread. My imagination could feel Arkash the Poked hurtling towards me, filled with righteous indignation, ready to squash this upstart of a pest who usurped its honour.

I shut my imagination down.

This was easier said than done. It required a degree of dedication and deliberate concentration that did not come naturally to me.

It required me to fully focus on something else. Luckily there were plenty of else’s to consume my attention. I returned to [Advanced Meditation]. I circled the idea of using my Essence to break the Level Stat Limit.

How did I cycle my Essence out of my Core and into my Stats? Could I improve my Intelligence through [Basic Cultivation]? I set my intent to cycle my Essence up out of my Core and into my brain. I recapped what I knew and what I had intuited so far.

My Essence needed to be integrated with my Core. Embedded with my Specific Personal Information. My SPI. That was the acronym? It sort of resonated. But only slightly. On a very superficial level. My Spirit was more than just dry impersonal statistics even though they were my personal stats. Accepting this understanding would be short changing myself.

No, my Spirit was my innermost self. My self awareness. It was my perception. Not just of myself but also the lens through which I perceived the System around me. And it was my intuition. My ability to draw out understanding even without fully knowing everything. It was this feeling of rightness that had guided me so far. It was this instinctive resonatation that guided me now. I had discovered my own acronym. And it resonated strongly.

My Self Awareness. This was crucial. This was deep. Man know thyself. Socrates was onto something. My Perception. An outward focus. Yes, being able to perceive my situation. My ability to discern. A sensitivity and wider awareness of my surroundings. And my Intuition. This was a more inward focus. How everything impacted me and how I interpreted all this disparate and vaguely defined stimulus. Yes. I was willing to bet that SPI was the Stat that Nige thought was the most important. These three facets had been guiding me well this far. I would be wise to continue to concentrate on them.

I turned my meditations to consider Honour. To HON. Nige had given me an overview. But what was my interpretation? Were there some insights I could unlock? Was there an acronym for HON that resonated? It was about being true to oneself. It was key as it created a feedback loop into my Soul and if my actions weren’t aligned with my ethos then bad things would happen. On the other hand if they were aligned then my growth would build upon itself. It was critical that my hopes and dreams, my objectives, my wants and my needs all were aligned with my values. I reparsed what I had just cogitated. My hopes, my objectives, my needs. Was it that simple? They resonated. My Hopes were aspirational and encompassed the future. My Objectives were more immediate and definite, more defined. And my Needs; well those were more basic, fundamental and undeniable.

Another possibility for Objectives occurred to me. My Obsessions. That resonated too. I could see that I could easily get unbalanced and a reasonable objective quickly turn into an unhealthy obsession. And that would be super dangerous with that feedback loop and all. They all could be dangerous. My Hopes become Hatred. My Needs imbalance into Narcissism. Yes I could see Honour was a delicate fragile construct of my Soul that would need to be tended, cultivated, carefully.

This left CHA to consider. Charisma. My impact on others. I felt far less certain about Charisma. I had only had very limited interactions with others so far. I recalled my brief conversation with Cassette at the System Bank. She obviously had a high Charisma Stat. Dom? No, not so much. Other than those two I had really only spoken with Nige and I doubted he really counted. I spammed a few terms to see how they felt. Confidence. Character. Charm. Heart. Happiness, Helpfulness? Attitude, Attractiveness. Assurance. Approval. No definite words sprung out at me. Some had a slight reverb but it was more that I didn’t have enough confidence to be more invested. My Charisma was undefined. My character lacking. I would need to spend more time unlocking my insight. This was concerning.

Essence Cycling Complete

You have completely cycled your Imbued Essence through your Mind while exercising your Intelligence.

You may sacrifice [10] [Imbued Essence] to form one INT Stat point.

Would you like to permanently embed your Essence at this time?

YES NO

Huzzah! Success!

I reread the notification. It was less congratulatory than usual. But it confirmed that I could use Essence to increase my Stats. The proof would be in the pudding though. I would need to see whether it would work or not yet. And there was a cost. I had to sacrifice my initialised, Tad flavoured, Essence. The same Essence that I needed as a Reserve. I pulled up my Character Sheet and checked. I had increased my Reserved Essence to 37. Just over 10% of my total Essence.

My eyes widened. I had completely cycled my Imbued Essence. But that was just 10% of my total Essence. This was a loophole. An opportunity. While I was so low levelled with only a fraction of my Essence imbued, the amount of time needed to cycle it through one of my Stats was massively reduced. And I was also betting that as I went up Levels or Tiers the amount of Essence I would need to sacrifice would also go up. At ten Essence a time I could do this three times, nearly four before I used up all my Imbued Essence.

And then I would need to replenish my Essence. I remembered that Error message. I couldn’t cycle Unaspected Essence directly into myself. But that had been before I had formed my Core.

Hmmmm. I had unlocked Mana Sight but I hadn’t slotted it. Could I use [Observe] again? I tried. Yes there were currents of Essence all through the air. Most were outside my little redoubt but there were a few darker eddies swirling inside. I focused on the closest and tried to draw it in.

ERROR!

Your Essence is already at capacity.

You can not cycle unaspected unaffiliated Essence into a full vessel.

Oh. Okay. That makes sense. I pulled up the previous notification and assented. I felt a frisson within me as my Core spun faster and injected a tendril of Essence into my Mind. This was quite different from cycling my Essence. My mind expanded, or rather it quickened. What a remarkable feeling. This was self improvement indeed. Now the moment of truth. Was I forming a Base Stat point or a Bonus Stat point?

INT:

9.99

Level Stat Cap

9

Base Stats

9*

Bonus Stats

0

Cumulative Stats

9

Gear Stats

0

Applied Modifiers

0.99

Exempt Stats

0.99

Fantastic! I had added it to my Base Stat. I had broken the overall Level Cap. This was excellent. This was proof of concept. I had a strategy. I could repeat this two more times in pretty quick succession seeing my Imbued Essence was so low. Then I had my six free Stat points to allocate. This was a game changer. I was going to…

…be very careful in announcing anything. I was not going to tempt fate a third time. No siree!

Instead I refocused on the swirl of free Essence. I activated [Basic Cultivation] and concentrated on drawing it in. Uggghhh. Unaspected Essence was quite different to my own Tad flavoured stuff. It was raw and didn’t have the same tameness, the same eagerness that my own Essence did. This was not nearly as pleasant as dealing with my own friskiness. No, this was more of a battle than a play. I gritted my teeth and cycled it though my Core again and again. Eliminate not accumulate. But I needed to accumulate this Essence to add it to my Soul. To make it mine. I needed to align it with my Soul. Epiphany. I needed to eliminate those edges which were not of me. That did not resonate with me and slowly, incrementally, bring it into full alignment with my own natural Essence. Once this was done I could then imbue it and press on.

I would persevere.

I would conqu...

I would shut up already.

POV - Ivy

Ummmm…. Hhhhmmmmm. Yes. This was soooo much more better. I luxuriated.

This was what having a minion was supposed to be like. And I liked it. Dom was an absolute darling.

So what if I had to do the heavy lifting. He could hold my purse. And he could speak. Oh, just being able to communicate was transcendent. And he said such pretty things too. With those beautiful blue eyes of his.

At least one good thing had happened in coming all this way. Two if you count getting rid of Sledgrick. I still couldn’t believe Chase had lumbered me with him.

I languidly turned to address my lovely minion when a notification drew my attention. It was one I couldn’t afford to ignore. No. Doing so would be most unwise.

SENDER: [The Azure Potentate]

Dearest Iveighsee,

I was so pleased to hear of your decision to join the family firm and commend your diligence in completing your first task. It was indeed of a very particular interest of mine and I am so pleased that you, as a direct family member, were able to venture forth to assuage my concerns. Indeed it may well be nothing but having such dedication is most pleasing. I commend you.

While I know this is not our standard procedure I am most interested in hearing how you got on and would like you to report to me directly. Please bypass the normal channels and write me directly. I will sort out any irregularities.

I am particularly interested in the nature and appearance of those making enquiries at the Library. Were you able to approach the inquirer or inquirers? If not, were you able to obtain a useful description as to their appearance and demeanour?

I am most anxious, and I share this with you as a close family member in confidence. Do not pass this on or share this with anyone.

The nature of the inquiry leads me to believe that either my son has finally arrived in the System or someone who has had him concealed up until now has finally shown their hand. I feel we are very close to being reunited.

Do not fail me Iveighsee. You are my only hope.

With all my love

CeeCee Tait

I froze. Great Great Grandma was frightening even when I was reading a letter half the System away. Her only hope? Well, that felt ominous. And unintentionally cliché. I hadn’t realised that She was directly involved at all from the initial instructions to apprehend some spies. In fact they had been quite clear. Apprehend. Not approach. That was quite a different word. And now She made direct reference to Her son. The missing Scion. She had remained convinced he was still alive. Even after all this time. And with Her Stats and Skills there was no one to gainsay Her. And if Her Obsession was anything to do with the encounter that had just played out the other day I was in deep waters.

I completed my turn.

And froze again.

Wasn’t Her son's name Nigel? Oh no. This was bad. Dom’s name was Nigel. I was still unclear why he wanted to be called Dom. Had I been intimate with… no it didn’t bear thinking about. I [inspected] Dom. Without any of my normal appreciation. Hah.. I sagged in relief. His last name was Thomson. Not Tait.

And I frowned. If Dom wasn’t the missing Scion, and he couldn’t be, what about his companion? The Level 1. What was his name? I was drawing a blank.

“Dom, darling…”

Sage of Hope Level ????

Fate fluttered its wings.

The Sage's [Greater Meditation] paused as the whisper of an Accolade brushed across her lower mind.

Ahhhhhh…. A catalyst of opportunity, of renewal, of hope. Somewhere, somehow, something had changed.

The ponderous being turned with infinite grace and patience to identify this harbinger of hope.

It was time that she awaken.