Inside the menu for Elemental infusion, the list of available skills to upgrade were listed like the last time he’d used it back at level twenty-five. Two of them he expected, the last was a pleasant surprise.

Skills available for Infusion: 3

Echoing Talon

Spiral Break

Second Wind

Again, each one of these skills would be amazing to infuse with an element. Sadly, he couldn’t look at the infusion options until a skill was selected. That would have at least given him some inspiration. All three skills were currently uncommon rarity and would likely be upgraded to rare in this process.

Leo decided to put it between Echoing Talon and Second Wind. He dropped Spiral Break after weighing it up vs Echoing Talon. The opportunity to evolve the skill he’d felt had fallen off a little couldn’t be passed up.

Second Wind was his newest class skill—not counting Signature—so upgrading it right away could be a little wasteful. Time to experiment with the skill could give him insights on how to upgrade it himself. The only reason he was considering it was due to his lack of healing. Something he also passed up inside of his Signature choice.

Ahh, this sucks. Leo inwardly groaned as he rubbed his head. I just need to pick one, it’s an upgrade either way.

“Fuck it,” he said under his breath.

Echoing Talon Infusion upgrades available

All three options appeared in sequence. Leo made sure to look through them all before making a decision.

Wind Infusion: Gale Talon (Rare)

Speed. Rhythm. Release. When motion finds the wind, distance ceases to matter.

Your chained kicks now carve compressed crescents of wind that travel forward in cutting arcs. Each consecutive strike sends a faster, wider blade, carrying the force of your technique beyond your physical reach.

Missing or being interrupted ends the chain and disperses the gathered airflow.

Each strike consumes greater stamina and mana than the last.

Scales with Strength and Agility

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Fire Infusion: Cinder Talon (Rare)

Speed. Rhythm. Escalation. Heat builds with commitment and punishes retreat.

Your chained kicks now ignite on contact, each strike feeding heat into the next. Consecutive hits intensify the burn, building searing pressure within the target.

Missing or being interrupted ends the chain and causes the built heat to dissipate harmlessly.
Each strike consumes greater stamina and mana than the last.

Scales with Strength and Agility

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Ice infusion: Rime Talon (Rare)

Speed. Rhythm. Control. Cold rewards precision and punishes imbalance.

Your chained kicks now leave creeping frost along the impact point, slowing movement and dulling reactions with each successive strike. The cold deepens with every clean hit.

Missing or being interrupted ends the chain and melts the accumulated frost.

Each strike consumes greater stamina and mana than the last.

Scales with Agility and Intelligence

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Leo took a deep, calming breath. Doing all of these skill selections after a day like today had his brain completely fried. This was the reason he hadn’t done so earlier in the dungeon when he’d received them. Only worse now. He rubbed his eyes, trying to blink away the tiredness.

The best thing to do was rule one out straight away, and Leo landed on Fire. Not because it was the worst of the three, but because of the purely destructive aspect. Now, that might sound crazy to other people, but Leo already had plenty of ways of causing destruction, more control and a ranged option that wasn’t magic, were much more appealing.

So with that option dropped, Leo weighed Ice and Wind. Ice would work insanely well with his Absolute Shatter, not to mention slow down anyone hit. The only downside he could see was that missing the chain of kicks was extremely punishing. Meanwhile the wind option was purely ranged, and missing part of the chain would just amount to less damage output.

In the end—and after a long time deciding—Leo picked the skill that would give him the most diversity in his toolkit.

Echoing Talon (Uncommon)

Upgraded to:

Gale Talon (Rare)

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief. All the decisions were made, at least until Ellie hit level 50. That was a headache for another day. Possibly tomorrow if things went sour when he visited Cain.

With the next day planned out, his eyes slowly shut, and soon, sleep took him. He prayed for no nightmares and was pleasantly awakened by Ellie licking his face when the sun arose. It was like he’d just blinked, but felt completely rested. He hadn’t even been awakened by the nightly assault of ants.

His mind was no longer reeling, body now loose and free. Ashley had left at some point, likely to have a meeting or something with Cece. She loved holding meetings after all.

Another lick. “I’m up! I’m up!” Leo said, laughing while his companion continued her assault.

“Alrighty Ells, first stop Lena!” Leo said, putting on a smile. He ran with Ellie under his arm like a sack of grain. She loved every second.

He moved quickly across the courtyard, passing people who were already starting today’s crafts and repairs. The sun had risen enough that he’d call it about 9 am. Nods of respect were given his way, others had waved their good mornings. Leo was surprised to get such welcoming responses, as before he’d been almost avoided entirely.

The monster they know is better than the one they don’t. He shook the thought before it could take root.

He quickly found his way to Lena. The tailor was already working hard, and Leo was immediately taken aback when he entered.

The room was glowing. Lena’s hands worked quickly on a large ethereal loom, spinning threads through the ghostly creation. Threads wove together in the air as mana coated the material, coming together into a piece of cloth that was added to another section, and then knitted together.

“Wow,” Leo said, entirely awestruck.

“Ah!” Lena gasped, losing focus and causing the loom to dissipate. “You scared me!”

Ellie ran up and dove into her arms, demanding head scratches. Lena caught her with an oomph.

“Oof, you’re getting bigger. Heavier too,” Lena said, nuzzling the dragon. “Still hecking adorable though.”

“Sorry about that,” Leo said. “That was amazing though, when did you learn something like that?”

She smiled warmly. “From my evolution…” She leaned in conspiratorily, whispering. “I even got acknowledged by a god!”

“What?” Leo asked loudly, “A god?”

“Shh!” Lena shushed him. “I’ve not told many people about it. Folks are already on edge because of the whole Cain thing, plus after you…” She gave him a sorry look. “I-I don't want people looking at me like they did you after the whole god reveal.”

Leo laughed. “No worries, I’ll keep your secret.” He leaned in conspiratorily. “Which god was it?”

Her eyes got all excited. “She’s called the Fate-bound Seamstress, she’s only spoken to me once but it was quite cryptic. Also hurt my head a lot, which is why I’m guessing she hasn’t spoken to me since.”

Leo wracked his brain for a moment, trying to figure out where he’d heard the name before. It dawned on him as his mouth dropped open, eyes wide. “She’s a Primarch!”

“I remember you saying something about them after the whole—” She pointed at his eyes.

“They are like the gods of gods—top of the multiverse kind of level or something,” Leo said, still impressed.

“Woah. That’s crazy right?” Lena took a moment. “She didn’t say anything of the sort. All she told me after giving me the blessing was to stay on my path and she would be watching my fate.”

Leo tacked onto a word in there. “Blessing?”

“Mhm.” She nodded. “The system said being ‘acknowledged’ is the lowest level of blessing. I can revoke it at any time but there’s no reason to, all it does right now is improve my crafting.”

So gods could give blessings. This was news to him. Iskarion hadn’t mentioned anything of the sort, nor had he offered one to Leo. Perhaps he couldn’t.

“So this blessing lets her talk to you? What else?” Leo asked.

“I think she can see me, or at least she seemed to know what I was up to, plus the increased chance to create something of a higher rarity if it’s an item made for someone I’m ‘linked to.’” Lena explained.

“Sounds like an all around bonus to me then.” Leo smiled. “I actually came here because I could use some new trousers.”

Lena looked him up and down. “Your clothes right now are just like one piece though, are you planning on going topless?” She raised an eyebrow.

Leo laughed, shaking his head. “I got an armour piece that just covers my top half. Let’s just say that putting it on through the ring made things a little…breezy.”

Lena’s gaze dropped, and then burst out laughing, holding her stomach. “No way!”

“Yep. Right in front of Cain too.” That made her laugh even harder, so much so he could see tears in her eyes. He was laughing too but not as hard, more to salvage his dignity a little.

When things calmed down again, Lena said, “I’ve got a few things you could use, but they are pretty basic. I’m kinda short on rarer crafting materials. Especially E-grade Essence Crystals.”

Leo smirked. “How about a trade then, and yes, it’ll be one sided.”

She shrugged, figuring she was getting stiffed. “Sure, these work?”

A pair of trousers appeared in her hands. They looked to be made of leather—the same colour as antlings were. Nothing about them really stood out, but upon inspecting them it was quite the opposite.

Immaculate leather britches (Uncommon)

These leather britches have been crafted with basic materials, but the skill of the crafter has elevated them to their peak. Enchanted with water affinity mana to reduce the likelihood of enemies gaining friction.

Enchantments:

Water Repellency: Lowers chances of enemies gaining purchase when grabbing the clothing

+10 Toughness, +5 Vitality, +2 Wisdom

Self Repair

Requirements: Level 30+ in any Class or Profession

“Okay, so I don’t think this deal is going to be as one sided as I thought…” Leo said. “These are insane.”

“Not really, just the best I could do with what I had.” She was holding in a smile but Leo didn’t know why.

“Alright. Well, here’s my offer.” Leo placed down all the Essence Crystals he’d collected over the Tower and Dungeon.

Lena’s eyes goggled upon seeing them all fill up the table nearby. “If you need credits to buy more materials, I can add some of those too.”

“No, no that’s too much for these. You can just have them,” Lena insisted.

“Nah, take em. I have literally no use for them right now. Was going to give 'em all to Hector or Cece to do stuff, but figured you’ll use them best if you’re making this level of armour with just scraps.”

She drank in the praise, smiling. “Thank you. Let’s do it then.”

“Awesome.” Leo took the trousers and placed them in his ring, ready to equip them.

“Sorry about this,” Lena said, stifling a laugh.

Leo shook his head, then willed the new leg armour to equip, also doing the chest armour at the same time so that he wouldn’t be topless.

Lena started laughing immediately, but stopped on seeing his chest piece. “That looks awesome!” Then she winced. “I’m even more sorry now.”

“Sorry about wha–” Leo looked down and saw that the item he believed was trousers, was instead only down to just below his knees. So he looked like he was wearing the most glorious chest armour that pulsed along with his heartbeat, and a pair of trousers that looked far too short for him.

“Oh man,” Leo said, rolling his eyes. “Ash is gonna buckle when she sees me.”

Lena hadn’t said anything and was peering at his armour with such intent it was a bit unsettling. He waved his hand to bring her attention back.

“Sorry, I've never seen anything like it. Did you get it from the dungeon?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “It’s where the good stuff seems to be. Want to inspect it for a bit? I’m not leaving for at least a little bit.”

Her eyes lit up. “Please!”

Leo took the chestpiece off, leaving him topless. Lena quickly took the item and started using some tools and skills on it. Leo recognised the eyepiece she used, taken from the workshop he found when the inner city revealed. He let her work while he played with Ellie.

It lasted until Ashley walked in on a topless Leo, and Lena, holding his shedded clothes with a dopey expression on her face.

“What are you guys doing?” she questioned.

Leo looked up, smiling. “Hey Ash, Lena gave me some new leg armour to go along with my new chest piece. I was just letting her inspect it. Is it time to leave?”

“Yep, Cecelia told me to fetch you.”

“Alrighty. Sorry Lena, I’m gonna need that armour back.”

She looked up from the item. “Hm? Oh, sure. Can I look at it again later?”

“Of course,” Leo said, taking the item from Lena. It vanished, appearing on his torso within moments. “Thanks again, see you later.”

“Be safe!” She called after them.

As the pair walked Ashley smirked. “You look great.”

“Shut up. It was all she had.”

“Let’s hope the monsters don’t go after your shins.”

Leo just rolled his eyes.

They quickly found the others who were all waiting to leave, just before the wall that had been hastily reconstructed after yesterday’s assault.

“Hey, sorry to keep you all waiting,” Leo said, jogging over.

“Woah, nice armour kid, get it from the dungeon?” Bjorn complimented.

“Sure did, you might get something similar, depending on how well you do.”

“Speaking of,” Cecelia began, “I was hoping to get some more information about the layout and progression of the dungeon.”

“No worries, we can walk and talk. I want to get to Cain before he gets antsy and goes murdering.”

Concerned looks were shared among those gathered. Leo just walked away, taking lead into the city. His attempt at a joke fell rather flat. He probably should have mentioned it was one.

The distance passed quickly with little fanfare, a few antlings here and there. On the first set, he asked if he could test his new skill. No one minded, of course. They were interested in seeing his skill. Leo got to work.

He wouldn’t be trying his Severance, that would be saved for a good moment when he got full stacks of Elemental Momentum, or Elementum for short. Gale Talon was the skill he was itching to unleash.

The first set of antlings were just idly passing through the city after about thirty minutes of walking. Leo decided to start with just a normal kick.

A gust of wind felt like it was carrying his leg forward, wind mana rushing down his calf. The air parted for the mana as a small blade of wind was sent flying at an unsuspecting antling.

The front two legs of the poor target were sliced off with only the sound of rushing wind. It screeched in pain, alerting its allies. Leo kicked it up a notch with a full roundhouse kick. A much larger blade spanning the length of his kick surged into being, firing out with immense speed that sliced a pair of charging antlings in two.

The third was raring to go, so it was time to go big. Leo jumped, front flipping into an axe kick that slammed into the ground below him. A towering blade of wind, slightly larger than he was, tore up the ground as it sliced without resistance.

The remaining antling tried to dodge, but was cleaved in two. The wind kept going and left a gouge in the building behind it.

God damn, that was awesome.

“Level fifty gave you a real boon,” Cecelia commented, a little envious in her tone. “Some kind of ranged attack?”

“Just an upgrade to an existing skill,” Leo said. “Takes a bit of resources, but man, that was something to experience.”

“Can I try blocking it?!” Gordon asked, sparkles in his eyes.

Leo just smiled. “Maybe once you clear the dungeon, you don't want to have to regrow limbs on the way there.”

“Let’s keep moving. The quicker the better,” Cecelia said, ending the discussion on his new skill.

The experience and Store Credits were negligible, not granting himself or Ellie a level up. The dragon was itching for a battle and he could feel she was desperate to hit that precipice of level 50.

“You’ll get your chance soon, Ells. There’s a whole nother dungeon to clear.”

Eagerness filled the bond between them, the path to power being an endless and fulfilling one.

They just had to deal with some trouble first.