Jack’s World Core pulsed in rhythm with his heart as the essence from the Well of Souls flowed into him. The soul energy brushed gently against his blue core like a mother’s caress. Once the energy made contact with the World Core, a thin stream of the power trickled into it and Jack gasped. His entire body convulsed as his core attempted to process the power being fed to it. It was working. Jack could feel the flicker of something new building in his core; however, as Kafkë had predicted, the essence from the Well of Souls wasn’t completely compatible and his core failed to process some of it. Unfortunately for Jack, the World Core expelled the unused energy into his body which caused all kinds of havoc. Along with the convulsions, Jack experienced a bone-piercing cold unlike any other as the essence of the dead suffused with his blood. Pain echoed through his body, yet he held fast to Kafkë’s hand, resolved in his choice to move forward. His skin, both flesh and metal, paled and his veins went dark while blue blood leaked from his nostrils and ears. Despite the seeds of fear growing in his heart, he bore the pain until, finally, he felt something within his core burst.

Letting go of Kafkë, Jack collapsed flat onto the crystal floor beneath him. His World Core vibrated violently in his chest releasing a soft buzzing sound. His breath came in great heaving gasps. Waves of fatigue and nausea flooded his body and his skin itched like thousands of insects were crawling all over him. With his face pressed against the cool surface of the crystal platform, he saw Kafkë move to his side kneeling down so Jack could see the figure clearly.

“Well, it worked, but it looks like the World Core effects on your body are accelerating now that it’s awake. The changes must be pretty intense too since you’re experiencing the effects here even though I only brought your spirit to the Well,” Kafkë said, rubbing the back of its head and producing a harsh scratching sound in the process. “You should be fine if this is anything like what happened to the boss, but just in case, I’m going to head out so I can monitor your physical body.”

Jack tried and failed to respond, only succeeding in groaning angrily. He gritted his teeth when the attempt to speak nearly lost him the contents of his stomach. The vibrations from his core were so uncomfortable that Jack thought he might go mad from the sensation alone. In his frustration, he growled and slammed his metallic fist again the crystal floor. His sole reward for the effort was a sharp peal which made his head throb.

“Woah, hey now, the crystal didn’t do anything wrong.” The crystal figure pushed him onto his side. Although he had signed up for this, Jack glared at Kafkë. “I’ll be heading out now, chief. Don’t worry about getting out though, you can just leave whenever you want, the same way you controlled your movement while you were falling.”

With that said, Kafkë walked to the edge of the platform and vanished. In the time afterward, Jack attempted to reassure himself of his decision in between bouts of heaving. You are fine, Jack. Just set a pattern. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. I chose this. I chose this because I don’t want to be stuck anymore. I want things to change!

***

An indiscernible amount of time later, Jack’s suffering abated and he received a notification for his troubles. With a thought, he willed the notification to appear in front of him instead of in his mind. Like most others, he preferred the notifications to be purely mental since it was often faster and more discreet, but thanks to the migraine he’d developed after Kafkë’s departure, he decided he would command the messages to appear visually for the moment.

[Your new World Core has been activated!]

[Would you like to name your World Core now? Y/N]

[Warning: You must name your World Core before proceeding.]

Jack blinked wearily at the text. He didn’t have the energy to sit up so he remained on his side as he poked the “Y” in the notification box. He considered the name briefly but the decision came easily enough. After Ciel had dredged up his long-buried memories of Esthara, he couldn’t possibly think of another name aside from the name she had given it. He entered the name and several more notifications appeared before him.

[You have named your World Core (Blue Heart).]

[World Core Status]

Blue Heart

Maturation Level

1

Logos

0/10000

Links

0/1

[Abilities]

View Skills?

View Traits?

Initiate Relic Creation?

[Your Status has been updated.]

2 New Skills gained from the Blue Heart World Core…

2 previously hidden Traits from the Blue Heart World Core revealed …

1 Designation Selection Pending…

All Attribute increased by 3…

[Open Status?]

Jack’s mind went blank as he read the last notification. He scanned the text dozens of times in disbelief and a lump formed his throat. With trembling arms, he pushed himself upright, exhaustion aside, and continued to stare at the notification box floating a few inches in front of him. He shakily tapped the prompt to open his Status and laughed.

Name: Jack

Designation: [Select a Designation]

Ethos: 230

[Attributes]

Might

22

Stamina

23

Dexterity

8

Agility

11

Intellect

19

Willpower

15

Focus

11

Resonance

-

[Abilities]

View Skills?

View Traits?

View Relic Skills?

This can’t be real, he thought shaking his head from sheer incredulity. For some reason, the absence of the blasted text next to his Skill menu reminding him of his lack of Skills was the first thing he noticed. How many nights had he stared at that text feeling sorry for himself? He laughed again. Scanning upward, he traced his fingers against the rows listing his attributes observing each of the increases and chuckling at the new values for his Dexterity and Agility. No more bumbling about for me. Well, maybe a little bit.

Lastly, he saw the prompt next to his Designation slot and stared silently in contemplation at it. After being without a designation for years and yearning to have one for just as long, Jack’s first reaction to the prompt was confusion. Its intent was clear. He was being given the ability to choose a designation, but that wasn’t how designations worked. Designations were assigned by the Logos, not chosen at one’s leisure. Even in the cases of those who obtained additional designations, the designation obtained was decided based on the nature of the hidden objective or the source of the Logos Fragment used. A choice was an unimaginable blessing even if he was limited to a selection of common designations like Warrior. He made to press the prompt but hesitated when a bit of uncertainty crept into his thoughts. He didn’t know if he could stop the selection once he initiated it, so he decided to look at his Skills and Traits first. Starting from the bottom, he opened the Traits menu.

Traits

Scion of the Logos (Augmented Humanoid)

Blue Heart’s Bonded

He frowned at the text before him. The previous notification had claimed these were “previously hidden” which probably meant they had always been present but he was now able to see them. He willed the menu to show additional information on each trait.

Scion of the Logos (Augmented Humanoid)

Advantages

-The Scion is automatically treated as fulfilling any Resonance requirements related to Relics

-The Scion receives 150% bonus Eidos from applicable sources

Disadvantages

-The Scion does not have Resonance attribute; as a result, he does not receive the attribute’s inherent bonus to Ethos or Pathos and any attribute bonus to Resonance has no effect.

Blue Heart’s Bonded

Advantages

-The bonded creature receives a bonus to all of his attributes when the Blue Heart’s maturation level increases

-The bonded creature may use and benefits from the Blue Heart’s available functions and Skills

Disadvantages

-Any damage sustained by the Blue Heart is sustained by the bonded creature

-The bonded creature is more susceptible to the effects of ambient Logos than none bonded creatures

Well, I guess that explains my Resonance situation. Jack shifted his position so that he was sitting cross-legged and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. He skimmed over the text a few more times just to make sure he had the effects memorized. Overall, he couldn’t deny the advantages of the traits were incredible. He’d had suspected something akin to the Scion of the Logos’s first advantage especially after he discovered that Kafkë was an Artifact. The ability to use any Relic he wanted was, quite frankly, an insane benefit on its own and the second advantage was almost as ridiculous. To a greater extent than the first, he’d known about the second advantage for a while. He and Alindal had experimented with eidos stones in the past in an attempt to figure out the mystery of his missing Resonance and he’d discovered that he received well over double the Eidos Alindal did from identical eidos stones. Despite that, seeing the hard number before his eyes shocked him. The drawback to the trait was completely negligible compared to its perks. He ran his metal hand through his hair. Why was this hidden?

Based on the text stating “Augmented Humanoid”, Jack understood that the [Scion of the Logos] was his biological trait. In addition to a designation, everyone received two traits, one related to their species and race plus another tailored to the individual, upon arrival to Fracture. Jack had seemingly been denied both, but, evidently, his traits had been hidden as opposed to nonexistent. He didn’t know why either trait had been hidden considering that both had been in effect since the beginning. He glad to be able to see them but still…

He stopped himself from mulling over the mystery by turning his thoughts to the second trait, Blue Heart’s Bonded. Like Scion of the Logos, the implications of the trait were astounding. He’d already received a bonus to all of his attributes because of the Blue Heart reaching the first level of maturation. He noted the bonus was +3 which matched the typical amount given by an E-rank Relic to a single attribute. The Twilight Key’s maturation level came to mind; it had been six. Since the Remnant Gate had Ruptured to S-rank, Jack assumed the levels in maturation correlated with the ranks which meant there were six or, potentially, seven levels of maturation in total. For the time being, Jack assumed six due to his distrust in the speculative rumors that there was being a rank above S even though, to his knowledge, no one had ever reached it and there had, thankfully, never been a Remnant Gate above S-rank. Assuming the bonuses from the World Core followed the curve of average Relic attribute bonuses as it matured, he basically had the near equivalent of a second designation. No, it’s even better. Designations only ever give bonuses to two attributes… This has got to be a dream or something.

Sadly, Jack couldn’t shake his ever-present paranoia. He considered the disadvantages of the Blue Heart’s Bonded for a good while. “The effects of ambient Logos” meant nothing to him and damage to the Blue Heart applying to him was obvious since the World Core was literally a part of his body. Still, he wondered if the Celestials had methods of destroying World Cores or affecting the ambient Logos. They were the original denizens of Fracture after all, so if anyone knew of a method, it would be them. What if he had only opened himself up to an entirely new realm of danger? He also had his suspicions about the fact that his World Core needed Logos, not Eidos to mature. Jack had heard of some Artifacts using Logos as a power source but the machines necessary to manipulate Logos in any way were insanely expensive and only the most powerful corporations and organizations had access to them. He had no idea how he would go about obtaining Logos especially given his lack of backing. He was essentially a loner with no resources to speak of on top of being pursued by some of the most dangerous people in all of Fracture. And just like that, he fell into one of his brooding moods.

It wasn’t until he looked up at the [Select a Designation] prompt that he got to his feet and made his way to the edge of the platform. Taking a deep breath, he screamed into the empty void as loudly as he could. He did it again and again until he ran out of breath. Then, he sat back down in his previous spot.

Dammit, Jack, get your shit together; it’s no time to mope because life is hard. I can pick my own designation and I’ve got so many amazing benefits! This is my chance to change the shitty hand I’ve had to play for so long. I can’t let myself get caught up in old habits. Jack psyched himself up before taking a deep steadying breath. Fortunately, he had a quiet place to think and a bit of time. He needed to go through everything he could and make the best decision possible for him. Ok, up next, Skills!