Letting the Tower pass the information it had been wanting to was like popping a red hot and white, inflamed pimple on the face. A pressure valve, relieved, that made one want to groan with pleasure, even as something horrible came out. Of course, it was just a matter of swiping it away later and this time around, the Tower actually had something useful to say.
Alert! Increased Difficult Trial Test Taken
Alert! Original Clan Aspect (Guardianship) Found
Alert! Compatible Aspect of the Flame Phoenix Located!
Generating Reward Options...
"Do I even need your modlogs?" Arthur grumbled. It was a little bit of a silly complaint though, because the logs were giving him some interesting information. More so, when the options started coming down.
Reward Option #1
Increase Cultivation Technique Level
Reward Option #2
Improve Clan Guardianship Aspect
Reward Option #3
Enhance Flame Phoenix Seal
"Now you decide not to cakap-cakap as much?" Arthur grumbled at the Tower. He knew he could be heard, but at this point, he was done caring about the Hermit. He was safe enough for now, from being killed outright at least. In any case, he wasn't going to choose to talk to him, not more than he could.
Of course, complain as he might, the Tower wasn't giving him any additional information. Which was exasperating, since Arthur had no idea what improving or enhancing or even what kind of technique he would get would offer. Then again, that was part and parcel of dealing with the Tower. So much of it felt like stabbing rats in the dark with blindfolds on.
Some things were clear. Firstly, as much as he wanted a better cultivation technique for himself, a single star rating increase made little sense. He assumed it would be something like one level, though perhaps it might be more.
If it was two…
“Hun dan. Any hints of how much you can provide?” Arthur asked, not expecting an answer.
Good thing too, since he didn’t get one.
"Hurry up.... I want to got back to sleep."
"Not..." rutting with your sister. Arthur chose not to add the immediate answer. After all, the Hermit could still kill him if he really wanted to, it just would be penalized heavily. However, being dead, that kind of punishment was rather superflous to Arthur. And really, even he might be a little guilty for his predujice.
Even against a rat.
"... much help. Fine..." Arthur turned inwards, thinking it over.
First option was personal. You couldn't really pass on the techniques, beyond what you could write down. Depending on his level of mastery, and his ability to explain it, the resulting documentation might be pretty useless. On the other hand, as the others had pointed out again and again, him growing stronger meant the Clan was stronger.
On the other hand, the other two options would make him stronger, he was sure. A small nudge had the Tower display his Seal and Aspect again.
Aspect: Guardianship
- Minor increase in effectiveness of protective, healing and shielding cultivation techniques.
- Trivial increase in effectiveness of precision, speed and bonding cultivation techniques.
- Variable increase in cultivation and refinement speed dependent upon the number of Clan members within close proximity.
- Tower quest types have been expanded.
Sigil: The Flame Phoenix
Sigil Bonus (Clan Head): Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade IIIb)
Sigil Bonus (Clan): Cultivation Exercise – Accelerated Healing – Refined Energy (Grade Ib)
Reading them over, Arthur had to admit, he'd entirely forgotten about the variable increase in cultivation and refinement speed. The bonus rarely mattered until the latter part of his stay in a Tower floor, what with the need to recruit new members. It did make them pack together in their residences though, like... rats... but otherwise, made little difference to his day-to-day life.
On the other hand, he bet down on the first floor of the Tower, it was beginning to make a real difference. Eventually, he assumed they'd see a much larger percentage of their Clan members moving up the floor.
An overall increase to any one feature of their Aspect could be great, an overall boost of the Aspect itself was probably too much to ask for.
On the other hand, the Sigil... so far, it had only been leaning - heavily - into his healing technique. It was not the only thing the Sigil could do though. After all, the Flame Phoenix was not just healing, or rebirth, or imperial grandeur; and now, he was wondering if it was Chinese or Western because healing coudl be both and...
He was spinning out of it, too tired and battered to really keep his thoughts in line.
"Conga line, bonga fine. Got to wisely choose, otherwise I'll likely lose..."
If he increased his Sigil, even if it just boosted his healing ability; it might provide quite the boost for himself and everyone else. He relied on his ability to keep taking damage like a cut-rate Wolverine. or maybe, with his idiotic rhyming, Deadpool? He certainly was getting enough scars to the be the second...
"Maybe I need to be talking to an imaginary audience?" He giggled to himself, though it came out more as a pained wheeze. He ignored the look he was being given, understanding that it was kind of insane of him. "Doesn't matter... just..." He coughed, moved his hand away from his side, feeling how sticky it was. Hoping his breastplate wasn't entirely destroyed but not having much hope for it, not after nearly having his chest caved in.
"Just got to gamble a little." The Aspect had a more quiet influence, boosting his cultivation techniques. Everything from Bark Skin to his healing techniques had received a generous increase, and even Focused Strike got a minor increase. Having that get better was more variable, more likely to come up bad.
So, it really came down to personal power or for the Clan.
And after annoying the Hermit so much, Arthur had a feeling that any way the rat might have to make his life worse, the creature would take it. He could still feel the rat glaring at him, as he chanelled healing to make himself better.
"Option three. Enhance my Seal."
It was kind of gratifying to see the rat startle. He quite likely had no idea that Arthur was a Clan head after all. It wasn't as though he had a big sign above his head, and his Clan seal was hidden such that no one could see it. The sigil was just part of the seal and more ephemeral as well.
Arthur waited, and waited, and waited. There was silence from the Tower, no indication of a desirable push for more information, that it had a notification for him. All the while, he felt his body healing, patching things together in an inexorable grind to have everything fixed, even as slices across his face, flaps of flesh knitted together.
He wondered, a little, how badly scarred he was. Tower Climbers eventually lost most scars, but the eventually was doing a lot of weight lifting there. Some, the most damaged, the worse healed never went away, requiring a degree of cosmetic fixes. And, of course, loss of limbs - or tops of ears - were not coming back. Not without further effort.
Which was, partly, why he was pushing for the Seal too. He had made a promise after all.
Time slid on, and on, till he thought it might not come. That the Tower had forgotten or didn't hear him, as insane as that sounded.
Then, he felt it. A burning sensation where his Clan seal was located, his skin writhing under his flesh as the magical tattoo shifted and twisted. He would have cried out, but he was out of breath and concerns, not about pain anyway.
Too tired to do more than just sit there, grimacing every few seconds as he kept the healing magic away from the seal.
Waiting for it to die down, waiting for the notification. Curiosity killing him.