Skill Forge: Broken Extra Character

Chapter 226: Goddess Embrace

"A holy item huh?" Jett stared at the necklace.

He knew its value the moment he touched it. Holy items never showed up in places like this, yet he had received one from a stranger in a ruined village.

[Appraisal]

[(Necklace) Goddess Embrace]

"It even has a name of its own." He lowered his voice and read the details.

[-50% buff for all holy magic skills

-20% increase in mana usage

-10% increase in Aura usage

-50% debuff on dark attributes and demonic energy

-Converts Mana to clear any kind of disease depending on the severity. (Sealed)

-Converts Aura to counter any status Ailment depending on the severity (sealed)

-Converts ?????? to ?????? (Sealed)

[Resurrection] When conditions are met, once a month, can use Resurrection on the user. Consumes 10 levels. (0/4) Currently sealed. Resets after usage.]

"Sealed huh? Cheap basters. What's the point of you're going to seal almost everything." Jett let out a slow breath. "If Freya or Rey were to use this I couldn't imagine what kind of crazy scheme they'd pull ," he thought, "Seems like there still more options but I can't read it. How frustrating."

"That resurrection perk would be peak if it wasn't sealed." Gave a bitter smile, "This would fit her better. Maybe it could save her if I fail. I'll need to figure out how to unseal it and the conditions to use resurrection."

"What an unexpected gift." Jett gave a wild grin.

He rose from the ground and stepped onto the water. The surface held firm under his feet. He was not standing on water. He was standing on his Aura.

He had forced his Aura to compress until it packed into a solid mass under him. His Aura used to flow like a thin liquid. Now it pressed together into one body. The color sharpened and the shape stopped shifting. It felt stable and more real. With a form like this, his options with Aura would be limitless.

He did not create the method though. Asher would learn it much later, but Jett pushed ahead and figured it out first. He planned to share it once the trial ended to help the others improve.

He slipped the necklace over his head and moved forward.

*****

Cedric checked the list on his clipboard again while they waited for Jett on the open deck. He always had the thing with him where ever he went. A magic item with only one visible page but in reality, had an infinite number of pages that stored whatever he wrote or drew on them. All he had to do was pour in Aura and think of what he wanted to see and like magic, it would appear.

"Smoke bomb placement."

"Check."

"Magic circles?"

"Check."

"The vents?"

"Check."

"Looks like we covered everything. The bombs will sync to the main charge and trigger after it blows. The gas spreads in five minutes." Cedric rubbed his chin and spoke more to himself than anyone else.

Freya let out a long breath. "I already know. I'll use holy magic to suppress the Lyk poison Sheesh. We've been through this too many times maybe even a million."

"568 times." Cedric had drilled the plan into her until she could say it in her sleep. It irritated her. She felt like someone stuck a single track on loop and forced her to listen until the whole thing tattooed itself into her mind. Cedric had his reasons though. A single mistake turned them into accomplices in something ugly.

"You sure you remember?" Cedric asked again. "Why not say it one more time."

Freya glared at him. "You are messing with me, right?"

Finn and Marcella watched the exchange from a few steps away. Finn kept a straight face, but his eyes showed no amusement, he instead have a sigh as he watched them. Marcella on the other hand seemed like her mouth was moving.

'She's definitely eating again. What a glutton.' Finn hissed inwardly. They both had nothing to do but watch them.

Finn didn't smile, he just stood there with a blank face and a dull stare. He looked bored and out of things to do and that was the only reason he was watching Freya and Cedric go at it.

Marcella took a cookie from her emergency rations. She had stocked up after the last trial. Nothing scared her more than not being able to eat anything over a long period of time and days with no proper food taught her to prepare incase the trial tried to kidnap them for more than a day, and this time her guess had been right. To her that was the only actually trial she had a face.

"Want some?" she asked as she held out the cookie.

"Nah I'm goo... mmm." She pushed it into his mouth before he could finish.

The taste hit fast. The cookie broke apart with a soft crunch as the center melted against his tongue. A warm sweetness spread through his mouth and he kept chewing without even lifting his hands. His eyes opened wider with each bite.

'The hell?' he thought as he stared at Marcella. She watched him with a small grin.

'Did she make this? She spends all her time in that lab. What else does she do in there?'

The more he ate, the more ideas filled his head. A new spark of greed flickered in his eyes.

'If I sell these in bulk, the profit would be huge.'

"How many of these can you make in a day?" Finn asked with clear excitement.

"What are you talking about...? Munch... I didn't make these." Marcella gave a reply while focus was on what she was eating as she kept chewing.

'Right, I forgot who I was talking to.' Finn let out a slow sigh.

Marcella was strong, yes. She handled magic and alchemy with skill, but that was where her strengths ended. She ignored anything outside those two things. She failed at basic tasks, She failed at chores, She even failed at cooking. Every attempt she made in the kitchen ended in smoke or something close to poison. She relied on everyone else to survive her day. But somehow she didn't mind as long as she got to do what she does best.

'I would not be shocked if you told me Morrigan dressed you,' Finn muttered as he grabbed another cookie. 'She's probably the only one who would bake something this good. But she'd never let me sell them.'

They stood there in quiet for a moment. No one uttering a word.

Out of nowhere, Marcella spoke. "So you died for real a..."

"Shut up." Finn cut her off before she finished.

"Come on. Please. I need to know. For... research." Marcella leaned closer.

"No." Finn turned away. His voice dropped. "We are not talking about that. So just let it rest."

Marcella refused to stop. She always acted like the youngest among them. She lifted the cookies toward him again. Her eyes went wide, almost pleading.

"Just tell me. Here. You can have these if you tell me more."

"I see now, you we're trying to bribe me huh? I wondered why you willingly let go of your precious food, now I see why." Finn thought as he looked straight at Marcella. 'She's Crazy'

"I said no." Finn kept his face turned away. His cheeks burned bright.

"Heya guys, what are you doing?" Jett walked over with a light grin.

"Wahhhh." Marcella rushed into him and hugged him. She slipped behind him and hid herself. Her height made it easy for her to vanish behind his back.

Jett let out a tired breath as she clung to him. "What happened this time?"

Marcella sniffed to sell the act. "Finn is being mean again."

"Huh?" Finn stared at her in disbelief.

"Oh, is that so?" Jett pulled her into a small cuddle and patted her head while she stuck her tongue out at him. Then he turned to Finn with a lazy smile. "Shuu. Bad Finn."

Finn had no idea if they were serious or mocking him. He chose to walk off. "Weirdos."

****

They still had time before the plan started, so Jett checked the necklace again. He had no clue how to activate its sealed function. He lifted his free hand and played with a small amount of Aura.

The moment a thin layer formed above his palm, the necklace glowed.

'It is reacting?' Jett narrowed his eyes.

He glanced at the necklace, then at the Aura, then back at the necklace again. A sharp grin spread across his face, 'Oh hell yeah.'

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Thanks for reading

I guess it didn't take long to figure it out.

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