Zarek landed heavily on the ground, but there was an odd reverberating impact when he did. There wasn't any of the give one would expect from soil, but it didn't have the same sound absorption as concrete either.
When his vision cleared, he realized why that was.
Crystal. Mirror? Glass of some sort?
He stood on this odd ground, Priya on his back, looking at countless reflections of himself and the girl resting her chin on his shoulder.
Luckily, this wasn't a Tear that tried to separate them, so they were still together. But it wasn't very obvious which direction to go in either.
It almost felt like they were lost to time and space, trapped in a dimensional rift where it hardly mattered what direction you looked in, you would find yourself staring at practically the same image in return.
'… Interesting.'
Zarek had heard more about this Godsfall Tear than he had the blood wolf one. This was a maze-type Tear where the goal was to get out. The irony of that was that the blood wolf Tear was also technically a maze as well. But in this case, there were no blood wolves to consider.
Even so, this Tear was very dangerous… that was because not only was it a maze type, but it was also an artificial type. That is to say, if you didn't make it out, there was no land to live off here. You couldn't just be perpetually stuck…
If you couldn't figure it out, you would slowly starve to death.
Zarek was pretty confident in himself. But right now… he felt like someone was finally smiling down at him.
Note:
[Definitely not me]
Zarek ignored the system notification. The annoying thing always had something to say.
Jiade had done quite a lot of planning. Zarek still wasn't sure if the Variable Mutant was related to him or not, but what he did know was that the Angel gang leader couldn't have possibly expected that his actions would hand Zarek exactly what he wanted on a silver platter.
Without an upgraded Scouting Skill, Zarek would likely have to go forward by trial and error, slowly teasing out the secrets of this realm while he and Priya rationed the food and water they had.
Now, however…
Zarek took a step and suddenly accelerated forward.
A small shriek came from Priya, but she kept her mouth closed tight so it mostly died in her throat.
The problem wasn't Zarek's speed. It was the fact he was barreling right toward a reflection of them.
Priya had no idea just how hard these crystals were, but she knew that no matter how soft they were in comparison to other gems, they were certainly harder than human skulls.
She did her best to bite her lip and trust Zarek, but it felt really hard to do that when he was about to kill them—!
They passed right through the crystal as though it wasn't there at all.
Zarek grinned. "Close your eyes, Pri. We're going for a ride."
Priya didn't need to be told twice. Her arms tightened around Zarek's neck, and she closed her eyes tight. Even if she knew Zarek was right, the feeling of running toward death was far too strong.
…
Zarek dashed through the crystal maze. It hardly looked like much of a maze at all, quite frankly. It was more like they were stuck in a kaleidoscope, constantly watching as their own images were refracted, twisted, bent, and reflected back at them.
But all the while, Zarek never stopped a single time. In fact, as his body loosened up and his lingering injuries began to warm up as well, he was moving faster and faster.
And then he suddenly skidded to a stop, his steel-toe boots almost losing their grip entirely.
'Sneaky little…'
Zarek almost ran right by it even with his C Class Scouting Skill; it was no wonder this Tear was such a nightmare. He had been moving with the assumption that he would eventually run into an obvious foyer, or maybe a dead end, or gate of some sort that would lead him to the goal.
But no.
It was right here, in some random location that looked identical to the rest of it all.
Priya peeked an eye open when she felt them stop, only to look around in confusion. It was just like everywhere else.
"Can you sense it?" Zarek asked.
"Hm?"
"This Tear would be quite easy for you to complete as well if you were more familiar with your Talent. I'd say in about three months or so, you could have as easy a time as me. If you really feel the energy here, telling the difference between what's fake and what isn't becomes easy. If you can grasp that principle, extending it out further from yourself is a matter of time.
"In about six months, you could probably clear this Tear without moving an inch, just by making the reward come to you."
Priya blinked, trying to feel out what Zarek was talking about. But she found that the further her senses got from her, the more difficult it was to decipher real from fake.
However, she was already growing steadier.
Zarek nodded. "Practice that whenever you can."
After saying this, Zarek reached a hand forward toward another piece of crystal, only for his hand to slip right through.
—
[Accept Talent {Harmonic Recall}?]
[Yes][No]
—
[Yes]
—
Name: [Zarek Ashford]
Role: [N/A]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: FFF] <A>
>[Dexterity: F+] <B>
>[Intelligence: FF] <C->
>[Endurance: FF] <B+>
>[Charisma: FFF] <C>
Talents:
>[Temp Duplicate: F-] <B->
[Abilities: Mirror]
[The world's matter can be mirrored by you, but you are not God. Their connections are lacking and their structures are weak. Replicating weight and size if very much possible, but if you think this will be enough to match durability, you will be sorely mistaken]
>[Harmonic Recall: F-] <B+>
[Abilities: Echo]
[The echoes of the past speak to you. Replay the previous state of an item, see through its history and what it has been through. Only functions on inorganic materials, and the Recall time is limited by Godsfall and Godsfall inference]
>[Empty]
Skills:
>[C Class Scouting: C+] <C+>
Notes:
[Whoopdie doo. Another worthless ability. I really don't know where this is going to get you. Maybe it would have some use if you could use it to see where your girlfriend's mouth has been, but it can't even do that]