Since Alim had already triggered the clear reward for himself, he quickly selected the Aspect he wanted from the display with a mental command. He already knew exactly which magic type would help him the most. It was only slightly disappointing that Divine types weren't being offered.

The drawer on the side of the pedestal popped open once he had finished his selection and he glanced inside. A small stone engraved with the rune for "Arcane" was sitting there waiting for him to claim it. He glanced around but there was no awaiting ritual which meant he'd need to perform it himself. Luckily, he already had some practice with that and still had some salt left to pay for it.

Quickly picking it up, he gestured for Liraz to come up and go next since she was the only other one without her hands full of Wayfarer. He left her to it, trusting her competency despite her size that made her appear younger than she actually was.

Instead, he focused on knocking out their rituals though he would make sure that he himself would go last. He didn't want to pass out with rituals still needing to be done. Using a finger, he quickly drew out the ritual diagram with his [Mind of the Magister] Talent.

Liraz was already waiting for him once he finished and he smiled at her as he asked, "What did you go with?"

"Covenant," she signed back, holding up a pair of interlocked gold rings for a moment. "It goes best with my sticky slimes."

He nodded along. "Makes sense. Bonding things together like that Glue Aspect of yours."

She grinned back at him and stepped into the ritual diagram. A few minutes later, as the Flames of Ascension died out and the glow from a Talent cultivation ceased, she stood back up as a new Crystal Caster. Her hair was a few inches longer, but she surprisingly didn't seem any taller like Jin had appeared to be after her Ascension. Liraz happily took a few steps forward and showed off her new abilities to him.

Passive Ability: Coven of the Slime Witch

Type: Aura (ritual, magical, covenant)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Form a coven of allies. Members of your coven within your aura can be unaffected by your slime and gain a [Slime Companion]. Each coven member increases the effects of your Construct and Covenant abilities.

Slime Companion (construct, elemental, corrosion, water): Retaliates against attackers by launching small spurts of sticky slime that reduce enemies Corrosion and Water resistance.

Ability: Just a Box

Type: Familiar (ritual, summon, magical, covenant)

Cost: Severe mana.

Cooldown: 1 hour.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Summon a [Terror Mimic] 📦 to serve as a familiar.

Passive Ability: Witch Regalia

Type: Utility (construct, elemental, corrosion, water)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Construct a [Slime Witch's Hat] and [Orb of Slime Control].

Slime Witch's Hat (construct, elemental, corrosion, water): Increases your Mind and grows as you expend mana. Your Magic increases with the size of the hat. Orb of Slime Control (construct, elemental, corrosion, water): The wielder may expend low mana per second to telepathically control patches of their slime in a small area at long range. Spells cast using this orb as a medium have increased effect.

Ability: Basima's Slime Curse

Type: Spell (elemental, magical, covenant, water)

Cost: Moderate mana.

Cooldown: 1 minute.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Target slips. Inflicts [Clumsy Slimed] and [Klutz Slimed].

Clumsy Slimed (bane, control, elemental, magical, covenant, water): You randomly slip and stumble for a short duration. Klutz Slimed (bane, control, elemental, magical, covenant, water): Things randomly slip out of your grasp for a short duration.

Alim felt his heart clench at the name of the last ability. It was exceedingly rare for the displays to name an ability after a person. It would require that named person to have left a very strong and lasting impression upon the person. He half wondered if the fact that Liraz was still carrying Basima's corpse within her dimensional storage had something to do with it, or if Bas had just been that amazing… he could believe it was the latter.

He finally managed to sign, "These are amazing, Liraz. Bas would be so excited to know an ability carried her name. I'm glad you recognized how great she was… but maybe wait a bit to show Jin? She's still…"

Alim glanced over to where Jin was still leaning against Karam as Hadia took her turn at the pillar. The mask of indifference was gone for the moment and he could clearly see how strained and exhausted the woman appeared. They hadn't really had time to mourn Basima properly aside from the hour after her death when Jin cried to the sky before isolating herself. He doubted she had finished truly processing the loss yet.

"She's still grieving," he finished signing. Gesturing toward one of the alcoves set into the wall behind him, he added, "Why don't you go ahead and get your Familiar's ritual materials and buy anything you think you might need for the next floor."

"You still need a ritual book, right?" she signed back, tilting her head in question.

"Yes, but I'll be spending my points on that so don't worry about me. It looks like your Regalia will cover some gear for you, but maybe grab some boots or gloves or something. We have no idea what the next floor will have in store for us."

Liraz nodded and made her way over to one of the terminals, leaving Alim to refocus on drawing out the next ritual for Hadia. She made it over to him before he finished and signed to him, "You went with Arcane, didn't you?"

He nodded, grinning up at her without stopping his work.

"I debated for a bit. Thought about Covenant or Song to maybe get some Boons for the group."

Alim paused, then asked the obvious question. "So, what did you go with instead and why?"

"Earth," she replied, lifting up the plain stone in her hand for him to see for a moment. "I'm hoping it'll help reinforce my strikes or body so I can better survive up close."

"Well, hopefully Rabbit isn't pissed at you, too," he replied as he finished the diagram.

She rolled her eyes at him as she walked into place. "You could just say 'good luck,' you know."

He just smiled and activated the ritual for her. His grin grew wider when he noticed the flames sputter out and the glow of a Talent cultivation shine from within her.

Hadia said something to the ground, but he couldn't catch it and signed, "What was that?"

"That hurt more than I expected," she signed back. A rare smile broke across her scarred face as she asked, "Want to see what I got?"

"Of course. Then hurry and go get your stuff from the terminals before you pass out."

Passive Ability: From the Earth

Type: Perception (elemental, earth)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Can sense the material makeup of objects within your aura.

Ability: Stoneborn

Type: Spell (summon, elemental, earth)

Cost: High mana.

Cooldown: 1 hour.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Summon a [Terram] 🐏 to assist you.

Passive Ability: Encumber

Type: Aura (magical, covenant)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Enemies within the aura have decreased physical resistances and armor weighs more.

Ability: Entomb

Type: Execute (elemental, earth)

Cost: High mana.

Cooldown: 1 minute.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Enchants a weapon so that its next attack deals additional Earth and physical damage on impact. Damage is scaled based on the amount of armor worn and health missing from the target.

Natural Talent: Earth Attunement

Cultivated from [Unknown Potential] due to unlocking the Earth Aspect.

Increased resistance to negative Earth effects. Earth abilities have an increased effect.

Natural Talent: Anti-Armor

Cultivated from [Classy] due to unlocking the Armor Breaker Class.

Greatly increased Fortitude when not wearing armor. Your aura increases the Fortitude of allies within it, the bonus decreasing with the amount of armor they wear.

"Oh nice, you got both Talents too," he replied in surprise. He hadn't realized she was waiting on more too after not cultivating some earlier.

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"I'm more excited about the Execute. That'll be huge!" she signed, then rubbed at her forehead. "I'm going to go lay down, though, I think. I'll do the shopping when I wake up later."

He nodded and turned back to do the next ritual for Karam. The larger man was currently helping set Jin down in one of the alcoves as they spoke to one another; however, he couldn't make out their lips from this distance and angle.

It didn't take much longer for Karam to come to him and step in the ritual circle.

"What did you decide on?" Alim asked.

This time he could make out the words Kar spoke while speaking as clearly as possible. "I picked Life to help with the healing, obviously. Then Miss Jin let me pick Light as her choice and gave it to me." He lifted his large hand that was able to hold both Aspects within it. One looked like a pale green seed while the other looked like a softly glowing ball of light.

"That's perfect," Alim replied with a grin. "You're lucky I knew the ritual to do two at once. I had to look it up for a Whisper friend of mine last year."

"Anyone I know?"

He shook his head. "Doubtful. He died shortly after."

"What happened?" Kar asked. Then he flushed before quickly adding, "Unless you don't want to talk about it. I didn't mean to pry into bad memories."

Alim just shrugged. "I was never given an answer and transferred into the Service Sect later that year. Anyways, enough about that. Let's turn you into a Crystal Caster."

Karam grinned. "Did you ever even dream of us becoming Casters someday? I never thought it would be possible for someone like me."

"I did when I was really little and watched the past Champions on the Network. It was only when I got a bit older and realized the Whispers didn't want to keep me that I realized my chances were non-existent," he admitted.

"Apparently, not completely impossible," Kar pointed out, then nodded toward the ritual diagram below him.

"Apparently not," he agreed and activated the ritual for his best friend.

Alim moved to catch him as soon as the Aspects finished being absorbed, realizing his friend was about to fall hard onto the marble as the Flames of Ascension threw off the large man's balance. His eyes widened in surprise as he watched the flames burn away at the flesh and sculpt more of Karam's body than any of the others had experienced so far.

It was a drastic shift in his physique as the flesh hardened into large, taut muscles from the Strength and Agility reaching Crystal Caste levels. For a brief moment, Alim wondered if Karam's missing limb would suddenly grow out from him, having seen the Flames of Ascension do that before to injured Champions that lost one to a monster.

As the seconds ticked on, though, no new limb appeared. Like Hadia's scars, Karam's lack of arm must have been so deeply ingrained in his soul that Ascension alone wouldn't change him.

Passive Ability: Lifesense

Type: Perception (magical, life)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: You can sense the status effects and remaining health pools of nearby allies.

Ability: Breath of Life

Type: Spell (elemental, magical, life, wind)

Cost: High mana.

Cooldown: 1 hour.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Breathe upon a target to restore an extreme amount of health, mana, and stamina.

Passive Ability: Lantern of Hope

Type: Utility (construct, magical, light)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Construct a floating lantern that grants nearby allies increased regeneration and maximum pool of health and mana.

Ability: Light Among Darkness

Type: Boon (magical, light)

Cost: Moderate mana.

Cooldown: None.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Grant an ally night vision and increased resistance to negative Light and Dark effects for a long duration.

Passive Ability: Meditation Candle

Type: Utility (construct, magical, life, light)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: Construct a candle that provides light and healing to nearby allies. The effects of meditation are increased while within the light.

Ability: Incense of Inspiration

Type: Spell (zone, magical, life, light)

Cost: High mana.

Cooldown: 30 minutes.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Create a zone delineated by fragrant candles. Allies within the zone have increased Mind and Magic and reduced cooldown of abilities cast within it.

Natural Talent: Dawn Attunement

Cultivated from [Unknown Potential] due to unlocking the Life and Light Aspect.

Increased resistance to negative Life and Light effects. Life and Light abilities have an increased effect.

Natural Talent: Candlelit Vigil

Cultivated from [Classy] due to unlocking the Luminous Aromancer Class.

Instead of sleeping, you become rested from meditating. While meditating, you are more aware of your surroundings than normal. While in candlelight, your Life and Light abilities have increased effects.

Alim felt speechless after reading the abilities, impressed with how well they complemented one another and knew it was just more proof of the synergistic effects that could come from doing multiple Aspects at once.

"This is incredible, Kar," he signed after a few moments.

"I'm so happy it's all helpful for everyone instead of just making up for my own disadvantages," Karam admitted with a shy smile. "I was really worried about that."

"I don't think I've ever heard you complain about your arm before, now that I think about it."

Karam gave him a knowing smile and pointed out, "Like how you've never complained about not being able to hear my voice?"

"That's a fair point," he admitted. "I'll admit I've wondered, but I can't even imagine what it's like to experience a sense I've never had before. Similar to our auras. I couldn't imagine the feeling without actually experiencing it first. It's difficult for me to miss something I've never had."

"Exactly," Kar agreed. "While I might need to do things differently… I think most of my frustration has come from other people's reaction to my lack of arm and the assumptions they'll make about me. I'm sure you can understand."

He nodded, and softly smiled when Karam yawned. "Why don't you go get some rest as well? I'll just finish mine up real quick."

"Sure. Jin wanted to talk to you when you were done though," he replied before covering his mouth as another yawn overtook him. With a wave farewell, Karam made his way over to one of the alcoves next to Jin to lay down.

Alim turned back to the open space and drew out one last Absorption Ritual for himself. Picking his Aspect back up from where he had set it nearby, he stepped into the center and took a deep steadying breath. After his talk with Karam, he was feeling on the fence about whether he wanted to gain the ability to hear or not.

Those moments when he felt a step behind the others or unable to keep up with their excited chatter flashed before his mind. Moments where he felt out of place and isolated from everyone around him. He didn't have any deaf friends around his age anymore, the last being the same Whisper he had just mentioned to Karam. The last year had been exceptionally lonely even with Karam trying to help him feel welcome among the Servants.

Then Jin crashed into his life and everything changed. He had someone to sign with again and usually made a conscious effort to include him in the conversations. She had helped him teach the others to sign and they had slowly been shifting to doing that more often than not. It had been a reminder that it wasn't his lack of hearing that made him feel lonely, but the lack of people willing to learn to communicate with him.

He took another deep breath, and activated the ritual. Pain coursed through him after a few moments that took him to his knees as the white flames washed over him.

Passive Ability: Arcane Insight

Type: Perception (magical, arcane)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: You can visually perceive the flow of magic.

He blinked rapidly, trying to not feel blinded and overwhelmed by the colorful magic running through the floor and walls all around him.

Ability: Mana Sear

Type: Spell (channel, magical, arcane)

Cost: Low mana per second.

Cooldown: None.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Channel a beam of magic at a target to inflict a large amount of pain to their mana channels, slowly reducing their maximum mana.

Passive Ability: Runed Protector

Type: Transfiguration (magical, arcane)

Current Caste: Crystal 1

Crystal Effect: You gain runes of protection upon your skin, increasing your base Fortitude and Magic. Spells that deal damage against you restore a portion of your mana.

Alim could feel the pinpricks running across his skin. Glancing down at his hands, shimmery tattoos of runes about the size of a Mana Bit appeared. They started at his pointer finger and formed spiraling lines around his palm, then wrist, then trailing up his arms like rope.

Ability: Aegis of the Magister

Type: Utility (construct, magical, arcane)

Cost: Moderate mana.

Cooldown: None.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Conjure an arcane shield and armor, increasing your physical and Magical resistances.

Natural Talent: Oath Attunement

Cultivated from [Unknown Potential] due to unlocking the Shield Aspect.

Cultivated from [Covenant Attunement] due to unlocking the Arcane Aspect.

Increased resistance to negative Arcane and Covenant effects. Arcane and Covenant abilities have an increased effect.

Natural Talent: Beaten But Never Broken

Cultivated from [Classy] due to unlocking the Rune Shield Class.

You have greatly increased pain tolerance. Your bones have been inscribed with protective runes, making them harder to break. Blunt damage dealt to you grants an instance of [Resilience]. Resilience (boon, magical, arcane, stacking): Slightly increases resistance to physical bludgeoning damage.

He was surprised that his Attunement had gone through a second cultivation, but he was grateful for it nonetheless. More surprising than that, however, was the second Talent he had cultivated, making it crystal clear to him that those daily beatings had affected him more than he had let himself believe.

In fact, now that he looked over his entire powerset so far, it made it quite obvious that his soul wanted to protect him from further harm, and hopefully, protect others from a similar fate. The only outlier seemed to be the [Mana Sear] ability, and he idly wondered if that was reflective of those quiet bitter moments he'd spend in his home trying to tend to the bruises and cuts he had suffered that day. Was he really so bitter that he had wished that pain upon his abuser?

A wave of exhaustion washed over him and he almost collapsed on the floor right where he had done the ritual. Shaking his head in an attempt to chase away the fatigue, he forced himself to stand and move over to Jin.

Jin watched Alim carefully as he approached, leaning her elbows on her knees as she sat in a lotus position and tried her best not to fall asleep yet. Karam already steadily snoring in the alcove beside her didn't make that an easier task.

"What did you want to talk about?" Alim signed as he sat down beside her, looking just as tired as she felt.

"Just wanted to ask you about your thoughts on what everyone unlocked," she signed back.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "That couldn't wait until after sleeping?"

"I guess I also just wanted to make sure nothing went wrong…" she admitted but trailed off as she looked at him cautiously. Making up her mind, she added, "I also wasn't sure if ascending would let you hear or not and wasn't sure how you would react one way or another. I wanted to be here for you if it didn't turn out the way you were hoping it would."

His smile looked genuine as he replied, "I still can't hear, but I'm okay with that." He paused, glancing over at Karam before shaking his head in amusement and adding, "Like Kar, I'm happy with the abilities I gained instead."

"I'm glad."

"You should get some sleep. We'll have plenty of time to discuss more tomorrow. We'll need to come up with a tentative plan."

Jin nodded in understanding and was about to lay down when Alim added, "I wanted to thank you for everything you've done so far, Jin. All of us owe you our lives. When the gods gave up on us before we even entered the tower, you never have. I don't think I know the words to explain just how much that means for someone like me."

"Someone like you?"

He shrugged. "I'm just a Servant. One that the world keeps claiming is broken and needs fixing, but you've never treated any of us like that. You've always included and accommodated us, even when nobody else would, gods included. They have the power to perform miracles through their Disciples, and yet so many of us are left to suffer."

Jin thought about that for a long moment. It echoed some of her thoughts when she had first entered this tower weeks ago. Finally, she confided, "I don't think I ever mentioned before that I'm a nihilist. I'm not sure if it's fortunate or not that I think I still am even after meeting actual gods."

"I'm not sure what that word means, but what does that have to do with the gods?"

"Right now, it means they're going to wish this Servant never fell from the sky."

End of Book 1 of Jaded: Servant

Jin will return in Book 2 of Jaded: Nihilist

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