You wouldn't think it, but it turns out that bottled Narrative importance is actually quite spicy.

Or no, wait, you would think that. That makes perfect sense when you think about it.

With a cough, I took a few quick breaths. Is the heat getting worse? My eyes were beginning to water when I realized I was being stupid and shut off my taste buds. I suddenly felt very full.

All in all, it was fairly unremarkable. For some reason, I was expecting mo—

A pulse went through my body, and something snapped in the world around me.

<She…

The voice spoke again, but carried almost no Authority and seemed to fade off into the distance. Whoever had been screaming in the background was abruptly cut off, as if someone had hit mute on them.

[Dense External Narratively Driven Eidos Detected] [Analyzing Composition] [Eidos Incompatible With Required Soul Repairs] [Finding Use…] [Routing Eidos to Patch Cascading System Error] [Early Catalyst Formation Unhandled] [Allowing Completion of Early Formation of Concept Lattice] [Winter Conceptual Attachment Repaired]

I didn't have time to think of the consequences of any of this, as the world around me had started to fall apart. Textures melded together and smeared across my vision.

Then I found myself back where I had come from before being thrown into that odd scene, mid-stride, twenty paces from the blob of a bird. It didn't seem very happy for some reason.

After taking a half stride to reorient myself, I put some extra oomph into my step. I was pretty sure I was going to beat it to death or something like that. The little interlude was somewhat distracting, to be honest.

As I ran forward, I noticed that the world seemed to be moving very slowly for some reason, either that or I was moving very quickly. I couldn't tell which, and I'm not sure if the difference was even all that meaningful. One of the bird's wings was coming up to respond to my aggression, and I could see the flow of Mana travelling through each feather it chose to fling my way.

It felt like there was a hurricane-force tailwind carrying me towards it in the form of the Zone itself. Before it had even brought its wing all the way up, I had reached it and swung my staff at it.

Upon contact, a rush of Cold Mana was ejected into its body, and I watched the right side of its body crackle and shatter in slow motion.

Unfortunately, it seems I wasn't lucky enough for that to be the end of it.

The next stage of the boss fight started with a bang, and what I perceived to be an instant later, I found myself slamming into a tree, then another, with the third finally arresting my momentum.

I felt what happened next before I saw it. My Domain had begun responding to the Node on my body being attacked when the land seemed to flip, and I lost my hold over it. It was as if the region I was in had just stopped existing from the perspective of the Domain. I might as well have been a million kilometres away for all the good the Node on my body would do.

Pulling myself out of a pile of splinters, I quickly put together what had happened. The bird had decided to stop being a bird and was now identifying as an eldritch abomination. Or at least I hoped it had given up its identity as a bird. It certainly no longer had a claim on being one.

In the centre of the clearing was a dark mass, more Mana than a living being, and the Mana it exuded felt gross just to look at. Kaede was right, calling this thing a curse.

That transformation had also affected the entire region. The sky above that had once been full of stars was now just black, and even with my enhanced vision, I couldn't see much further than where I had landed. I shivered at the thought of what would have happened had I just kept flying off into the dark.

I wasn't looking forward to dealing with this. The Mana was starting to form together into something, and whatever it was looked nasty.

Then there was a crack, and what looked like a silver laser pierced straight through the centre of the bulging mass. With a whine, it began to deflate and collapsed in on itself.

[I think I got it! That Skill upgrade you got is fucking amazing. You have to tell me how you managed to get us a new Catalyst while charging at a giant birb once we're done here.]

Oh, I could kiss Novi! Except for the fact she's me…

A flash of Winter flooded my circuits, and I forgot what I was just thinking about.

I was already growing accustomed to memory loss, so I didn't really mind. It was me throwing the memories out, and I had to trust myself, if no one else.

Mostly because that Oath forced me to trust myself, but that was besides the point.

"Yeah, I'll get on that in a moment. We got enough kills, right? I think I took down at least ten of those shadow things." I replied, finally taking a moment to look at the windows.

[Oh… Yeah, no, those didn't count as kills.]

What?!

I pulled up the Daily Quest notification, and she was right. Two out of ten kills.

Fuuuuuck, the shadows weren't even alive then? The bird should absolutely have counted as multiple kills.

We also had less than a minute left. I thought time was paused when I was away, but apparently it still ticked on. Was it paused out here then, or what?

"Fuck! Get over here! We're about to get screwed."

[We should have plenty of time to kill some villagers… Wait, why are we about to run out of time?]

"I don't have time to explain."

[We're speaking at the speed of thought. Not even one second has passed since I first sent a system alert to you.]

She also sent me the timestamps of her messages, each less than a tenth of a second apart.

I just replied with a feeling of exasperation, already running in the direction from which I saw the laser come. I ensured that my staff was already in my Inventory before I started moving.

Novi's doll body flew in front of me, and I dropped her into my Inventory with a tap. A moment later, I saw the insect also booking it in my direction and scooped it up as well. Just in time, as I felt the teleporter take effect.

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For a moment that seemed to drag on for longer than it should have, I found myself floating in the empty darkness of the Void again. Then I was standing in a poorly lit room.

In the room was a desk with what appeared to be a single playing card with something written on it. There was also a single metal door.

I ignored the room and went to check my notifications. I wanted to know what Novi was talking about when she mentioned a Skill upgrade.

[Second Catalyst Emerging] Name: [Conceptual Lattice] Strand: [Argent Bastion - Support] Tier: [II] Description: [You have begun the formation of your Conceptual Lattice during your First Ascension. Use of a Divine Skill allowed the usual restrictions on concept formation to be bypassed. Your first Strand, 'Argent Bastion', represents absolute control over the self through a never-ending Winter. It is the stillness of untouched snow, the unyielding gleam of silver as far as the eye can see. No beings who hold life within their lungs or heat within their hearts shall stand against the Bastion.] Effect: [New Strand Formation Greatly Eased, Control Over Self Increased Massively, Warm flesh will easily part under your touch, Nature Mana takes on qualities of the Argent Bastion.] Warning: [This Strand may allow User to overwrite their own memories. Use caution before proceeding.]

I stared at it.

I really wish I knew what the hell Catalysts even were.

Even without knowing, I could tell this was an insane upgrade. No wonder it completely broke my system when I first achieved it.

The only problem was that it wasn't very clear about what it actually did—ignoring the bit about warm flesh because just the thought of it made me gag. My control over self had improved, but what did that actually mean? Also, what were the qualities of the Argent Bastion?

I'd have to run some tests.

I started up a simulation when I received a message from my Core's System.

[Are you going to let me out?]

Oops, I had completely forgotten I was carrying Novi's bodies.

I dropped both of them out of my Inventory onto the floor.

"What's it like inside our Inventory?" I asked, curious about what the pocket space actually was. The Inventory was slot-based, and I hadn't found how large an object I could actually fit inside. It would be nice to know the exact limit.

I really needed to empty out some of the trash I had in there.

"It was like the bodies no longer existed. I couldn't connect with them at all. I don't know if that's because they were too far away for the relay or some other restriction," she replied, then went over to the table to look at the card.

I wasn't actually sure what that told me, or if I had done any tests on this before. Did Wit not improve memory? That felt like a problem.

I felt like I was about to do something before I let Novi out, but I couldn't remember what it was. Oh well, it couldn't be that important.

I opened up the next notification.

[Strand Driven Skill Evolution] Name: [Argent Flow] Source Skill: [Natural Enhancement] Tier: [Emblazoned - II - Growth] Description: [Your movements were never guided by instinct, but by absolute mechanical control. This control has been refined through Winter's stillness. Nature Mana flows through you like quicksilver. The Argent Bastion will not be impeded in whatever path it so chooses.] Effect: [Enhances speed and precision when activated, removes all excess motion. You, and anything you create, may carry far more Inertia. It is possible to halt your velocity at will.]

"I see why you said the Skill upgrade was good," I said. It felt like a direct upgrade from [Natural Enhancement].

"I know, right! It also seems incredibly abusable," she replied.

It took me a moment to see what she was talking about. The Skill didn't specify what you'd halt your velocity in relation to. Wow, if this was what I could expect from Second Ascension Skills, I couldn't wait to get there.

Booting up a simulation, I created a duplicate of myself, standing on a flat plane, and an object floating a foot off the ground, travelling at constant velocity.

Then, I activated [Argent Flow] to try to halt my velocity in relation to the moving object. It didn't work.

I tried again, but while in motion, it didn't work. Finally, while standing on an object moving across the flat plane, it worked. But that was effectively useless because it meant I was just attaching my velocity to something I was standing on.

"We don't have much time to mess around here, by the way. You might want to finish up with the notifications instead of playing around with the new Skill," Novi said, snapping me out of focus.

I closed the simulation and stared at her blankly.

"Now you're just doing it to fuck with me, but seriously, hurry," she urged.

"Fine, ruin my fun," I replied and opened the next one.

[Killed The Forgotten Thread Emblazoned III-45]

I WHAT?! Did the Zone seriously help me that much? I should not have been able to survive that, oh gods.

Don't solo a Zone boss in the future without some kind of effect that trumps everything it can do, got it.

I almost shivered at the thought that I very nearly died, but my body didn't seem to respond properly. Instead, I went deathly still. I assumed that the Argent Bastion aspect caused the change, so I wasn't that worried.

I was going to get so many levels.

Class Level (Neophyte Conduit) Increased +?? (47) Error: Soul unable to handle load increase due to size of Achievement and damage sustained. Converting into Title.

Or not. Yeah, that made sense. I didn't know why I expected anything different.

[Title Obtained] Name: [Plot Armour] Tier: [Emblazoned] Description: [You used the force of a Narrative to kill a being you had no right to even stand before. This has left an imprint on your soul, and you now carry that force with you into the future. Fate itself has decided to side with you.] Effect: [When success is nearly impossible or survival a statistical joke, improbable fortune may occasionally bend situations towards the best possible outcome for you. Certain things may nullify this effect.]

Oh, wow, this could be a lot of fun.

"No, don't even think about it!" Novi yelled from the other side of the room.

I pouted at her, "Why would you immediately assume I was going to throw myself into unsurvivable situations. That's slander and defamation."

"Were you thinking about literally anything else?" she asked, looking me straight in the eye.

"Well, no. But that's besides the point."

Novi sighed, "Look at this, then let's leave. The others are probably waiting for us."

She flicked the card at me, embedding it in my eye.

"You could have caught that easily," she grumbled.

"I did catch it, didn't I?" I replied with a smile while pulling the card out of my shell.

It wasn't made of metal, but it seemed to be incredibly sturdy anyway. I couldn't even bend it slightly with one hand, and I should be able to bend steel easily.

The back of the card had what appeared to be a list of rules.

The game begins in five minutes or once everyone has left their rooms, whichever happens first.

The game will be played in cycles of day and night.

Each day lasts ten minutes, not including the vote.

Night ends three minutes after everyone has entered their room.

If you have not entered your room and closed the door within one minute of the vote ending, you will be fed to our volunteer.

You may not perform any action except return to your room at night.

At the end of every day, a vote will be held to determine who will be executed.

The vote will last five minutes.

Each player has a Role, and each Role has personal rules and an objective.

The game will end when either everyone who is still alive has completed their objective or only one person remains.

It sounded something like Mafia, I guess?

On the front of the card was a picture of a grey-skinned man kneeling with his eyes closed and his hands on his lap. He also had pointed ears. I couldn't remember for the life of me if all the grey people I'd seen had pointed ears or if it was just this one.

When I saw what my Role was, I couldn't help but snort in laughter.

Someone had to have planned this. There was no way it was assigned to me randomly.

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