You Know This

A warm light touched his skin.

Jarvis gasped and awoke. With a panicked expression he checked his surroundings. A calm only overcoming him upon seeing Bo and To. With a sigh he let go of the tension that grasped at him. He felt his body convulse, the damage he sustained bringing him to reality. It was painful, but he lacked the care to focus on it.

With a thud his head gently bounced off the tree. Not bothering to keep himself upright he let himself go lax. To nudged his cheek with her beak. The two legendary birds stared at him. Beady eyes holding unfathomable depth. They were expecting, waiting.

A warm light entered his skin.

"I'm not a fighter.", he spoke to no one in particular.

Blinking at his words the birds continued to stare. Jarvis struggled to meet their eyes, "I just want to explore the world. Is all this violence necessary?"

Once again his words weren't meant for anyone in particular.

"I'm always putting you all in danger for my own selfish reasons."

Jarvis closed his eyes. Unwilling to face the world he complained, "I don't know why you remain. It would all be better for you to live on your own."

A frown formed on his face. He always had a faint feeling The Book of Life was more than a 'tool'. After all he could feel the life force it emitted. Yet this was the most it had ever spoke.

As if dropping from the sky The Book of Life landed on the ground in front of Jarvis. Its pages flipped slowly through his tames.

Seeth, the horned snake. Staff, the electric deer with a curved antler. Mantid, the rock and metal eating creature. The Quintuplet Man-Eaters, Levy, Larry, Leny, Lily, Ludy. Donk, the bongo gorilla. The Four Sages, Whitelash, Guarton, Extreok, Neorvil. Go, the kart beetle. Bo and To, the Sun and Moon birds. The Tree Golem, still recovering its size. Ruyi, the multi-tailed Kitsune. Kiro, the troublesome Tanuki.

The World Carrying Tortoise, a faint outline on one of the pages. Like a drawing not fully erased.

"I can notice it too.", Loni whispered into his ear.

She never appeared, rather it was the tattoo the voice spoke from.

Jarvis' jaw turned to knots. His teeth nearly started to creak from how hard he was clenching his jaw. The stares of Bo and To bore through him. Expectant and waiting.

A warm light touched his soul.

A pained voice leaked through his lips, "I will be selfish in the future too. Will you all remain despite all that? Even if you may never live again?"

Kiro and Ruyi's voice spoke to him. A rare occurrence where they agreed, "Of course."

A similar feeling could be felt. An agreement of all the Tames. None objected.

Touching The Book of Life Jarvis steeled his will, "Then, I will make my decision.

The sound of glass cracking could be heard.

<You're approaching the realm of Third Stage!>

Jarvis could feel it, a gaze indescribable looked at every fiber of his being. It felt crushing. Like he was being squished under a great weight.

Yet he was not alone in this matter. His experiences, his Titles, his Tames, they all pushed back. Memories pushed forward. His life pushed forward. Everything refused to be crushed.

The glass sound progressed further.

<??? demands the World to stop being foolish>

<. . .>

Crrck-

Jarvis stood up, a particular feeling was emitted from him. If to be explained with a word, an ample one would be 'refined'.

The sound of glass shattered. The Book of Life flew to Jarvis' hand, it too changed in look. From its simplistic and primitive book style, it now held a look worthy of its name. A dark wood replaced the rough looking covers. Thick green vines created a design and bound its spine. The vines grew at a visible pace and formed runes at the center. These were surrounded by more vines to create a simplistic label outline.

The ascension to Third Stage. This was beyond the ascension to both First and Second Stage. If anything the First and Second Stage was merely the entryway of what 'Stages' were. Upon reaching Third Stage, the features and benefits vastly outweigh everything before.

However in an equal exchange, your journey up Stages mattered incredibly. The greater your strength and Prominence, the more beneficial the Third Stage became. What the benefits were exactly varied person to person. But what every Third Stage obtained was an 'Epithet'.

Names and common Titles could be shared, but an Epithet could not. Much like a unique Title they defined your existence. This was only granted to those of Third Stage. This Epithet would overtake your name and Titles, and would tie to your very existence.

Jarvis struggled to understand everything. The amount of information being provided to him was ridiculous. Yet it continued.

<|Dancer Between Flame| greets you>

<The bonuses are as follows:

- The Book of Life ascends to a new level!

- Limitations placed upon you have been further removed!

- Your Stats have drastically increased!

- Your Titles have merged with your Epithet! (They can be viewed in The Framework)

- Some Tames enter Third Stage!

- Some Tames reenter Third Stage!

- Your 'Prominence' becomes more known!

- Access to The Framework!

- A position as 'candidate'

- Several Skills have become available to you

- A Unique Skill is being born to you

- The Scaling of your Stats drastically change>

The power flowing through Jarvis' veins was incredible. He felt like he could take on Akiol and Wrock at the same time. It was intoxicating. Yet he knew he couldn't be fooled. There was always higher peaks, this was not the end.

Jarvis looked towards the village, "Let's not keep them waiting any longer."

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