Grimoires

Altair opened his eyes with a deep exhale, shaking the drowsiness from his mind and body. He had lost track of how long he had spent on the mat, a common occurrence for Ascenders when they meditate, and for some reason there was no clock in the gym. Looking around, he was the Nephelae, had left already, and that Zeze and Nezra were also absent. Getting up, he stretched his limbs and left the hall.

Outside, the sun was dancing above the horizon, but there was still a bit of sunlight left. Looking around, Altair saw a large number of people walking, chatting and laughing together. Feeling a twinge of loneliness, he shook the feeling away instantly with a scoff. Being alone had never bothered him before, and he refused to let it do so now, especially out of nowhere like this. 'While having a mortal's perspective is quite handy sometimes, it also comes with severe negative side effects, such as these useless emotions. Actually, I seem to be experienced the negative side of Humanity more than the positives...?'

Thinking about it, Altair suddenly felt that he had been scammed, and that the Human package he was promised wasn't what he got. 'Hey System, what's that about!'

[Upon the death of Host's Avatar in the Main Universe, the System was forced to reincarnate them here. To do so however, several matters had to be conceded. Firstly, the majority of what was salvaged was actually the Avatar Host was inhabiting at the time, and not Host's real body. Because of this, Host's soul was transferred with some Humanity already imbedded in it: the negative emotions Host experienced during their captivity.]

'Wait, so how the Hell did my main body end up being destroyed too if it was safely tucked away in the Plane of Infinity?!'

[System is not sure, Host. From what the other Denizens reported, Host's body shattered into countless fragments and then vanished from the Plane of Infinity. We believe the Infinite Universe used some sort of convergence to pull Host's body to itself, feeding upon it and sprouting. The exact means behind this eludes us to this day however.]

Altair cursed himself for not asking this sooner. When he had learned his main body was destroyed in the beginning, he had just naturally excepted it and moved on without questioning how it was destroyed. Even if his Core was sucked into the Infinite Universe, his body should have been fine: at worst it would be catatonic. 'Wait a fucking second...System, did you fuck with my mind to make me avoid asking those questions!'

[...The System may have directed Host's thought progress at that moment in time.]

Altair clenched his fists so hard he heard a crack, and the Mana around him began to churn violently. Serval people looked over at him in confusion, forcing him to reign in his temper. "You and I are going to have a long talk later" he spoke through gritted teeth. 

[Such information wouldn't have been helpful at the time, since the System didn't even have a conclusive answer. Besides, Host was incredibly fragile at the time, and it was questionable whether their soul could withstand the information. Knowledge is power, and power comes at a price. Host should be familiar with such a mantra.]

'It's one of Ingrid's quotes. But Euphrosyne had something similar: Curiosity is the number one cause of death for explorers. But would such information really cause me that much harm?'

[Host nearly perished in Fellise due to establishing a mental connection to Infinity. If they had established the connection any sooner, which would have occurred had they continued to ask questions, they would have certainly died. The measure was taken for Host's own protection.]

The System's logical and concise argument shut Altair up, as he found nothing to refute it with. Looking back, he had indeed been toeing the line, but that didn't change the fact he had been manipulated. Swearing the System would gets its' comeuppance in the future, he started walking while digesting the other information given to him. It made senses in a way, why he had adapted so smoothly to suddenly possessing Humanity, aside from the initial existential threat he faced in the womb. If the core of his soul was drawn from his past Avatar, then he would indeed has a disposition towards gloominess and negativity. His time spent as a prisoner on that cube had been far from pleasant, even if it was miniscule in his collective lifespan. At least he could take pleasure in the fact he destroyed the majority of their species using the Singularity Point. 'Ah, but I wonder if Captain Silver is also here? I did promise to meet him on the other side, heh.'

Daydreaming of enacting sweet, sweet revenge on the unfortunate soul, Altair let his body carry itself in a random direction. After several minutes, he stopped before an archway, with rows of shop[s and stalls behind it. Looking up, he read a plaque plastered on the arch: "Market."

Intrigued, Altair stepped through the archway and began to look around. While smaller than the city's shopping area, the market was still quite big and seemed to sell all manner of things. He saw clothes, various gadgets, books, makeup and perfumes, alchemy ingredients and artwork for sale. Altair could smell a bakery somewhere too, though a butcher seemed to be absent. He remembered Jace had described the campus as a self-sustaining hub, and it seemed he hadn't been exaggerating with that statement. Making his way around, Altair's attention was captured by two shops in particular: one selling potions, and another selling Grimoires. 

He stopped in front of the latter, glancing over the book titles on display. Grimoires were a mix between an Artefact and a Technique, being a limited-use of the former. You can use Grimoires to cast pre-recorded Spells and Skills but most vanish after a single use, with the max being five uses before needing to be recharged. You needed to right Affinity to use the Spells, but any Spell can be recorded: even conceptual ones belonging to higher Brackets. This made Grimoires highly valuable, worth their weight in gold and then some. The method to create them was a closely guarded secret, almost entirely monopolised by Ingrid and Consus. Only so many Grimoires were created each year, so most of them in circulation were old hand-me-downs passed through generation to generation. From what he had heard, the Atrazark Family only possessed five or six of them, which was not a lot at all considering the size of the Family. 

Looking down at the pouch of pocket money hanging from his waist, Altair hesitated for a second before walking into the shop