Chapter 77 - How to evolve the Scarf of the Void?
It had been a few days since that dreadful night when Luke had confronted his past, the memories he desperately wanted to keep buried. The morning after that lonely night, he woke up with his typical humor, and his two journey companions understood that his humor was just a way of escaping.
During those days wandering through the forest, Alice had awakened her Emitter Aspect and was trying to learn to control it. Luke cursed himself internally for not having an Aspect to use his prana in other ways. Having the Dissident Segment, he could only use prana to activate his ability and hoped to awaken either a Transmitter, Emitter, or Summoner Aspect. He didn't prefer any particular one; he just wanted to use his prana in battle since he could only become intangible.
Good thing I have the scarf, or I'd be completely useless.
A skeleton emerged from the forest. It prepared to attack its victim, but before it could take another step, an arrow struck its skull, killing it instantly.
"Great job, Anna," praised Alice.
"The older ones are supposed to protect the little girl, but why do I feel like I'm the one being protected?" commented Luke.
"I'm not a defenseless little girl," Anna retorted.
The trio collected the prana crystals left behind by the squad of dead skeletons. They had been letting Anna handle the distant skeletons to prevent them from getting close and avoid other dangers. Anna was doing well; no threats of that level got near.
In the past few days, walking through the forest along the mountain's edge near the sea, they practiced some combat strategies. Anna's job was to deal with distant threats. Luke even gave her some arrows he had picked up on the beach, but the girl had a full quiver from the days she spent with Alice luring skeletons to the big bonfire and taking their ammo.
If a threat couldn't be contained by Anna's arrows, it was up to Luke and Alice to handle it. Anna could assist by shooting at the skeletons' armored legs to try to trip them or break their legs if they weren't protected.
If too many skeletons gathered, Luke, with his hammer and scarf, was perfect for handling hordes. While the scarf pushed, knocked down, and even punched, Luke killed with his hammer. Anna assisted or took on the larger skeleton leaders with better equipment.
Luke stared at his ethereal screen for a moment; the Void Form was somehow locked. He didn't know how to use it, and it only displayed its name next to 'Puppet Master,' with no description. Luke felt a bit frustrated but decided to let it go.
It's ironic that the description of the Void Form is empty. Nothing explains how to use it or what it does… as if it somehow doesn't exist.
Learning some things about history from Anna, he discovered that the Oblique World is not in a single period like Earth. He found out that this place was strange; you could go to a region like the Haunted City of Greed, which seemed to be the equivalent of a distorted medieval era, but at the same time stumble upon another simpler or more advanced city. She explained a bit about what she knew about Campaign Maps and that maybe the civilizations originated from them. According to her, when a Campaign Map is corrupted, it begins to fragment and break, taking parts of it to the Oblique World. This was a major event in this world that was responsible for creating many new areas, such as: dungeons, labyrinths, abandoned cities, and even some floating islands that no one has fully explored yet.
Anna also taught him that this world was so vast they still hadn't been able to measure its size. It didn't help that technology was prevented from working because of the prana in the Oblique World. But it was possible to try to imitate some simpler things from Earth using prana crystals as fuel.
There were many questions he wanted to ask, but that meant revealing some things he didn't want to. Luke understood that Alice knew more information about this world, but just as he feared revealing some things about himself, she also feared revealing things about herself.
Alice had managed to show me the status screen of her Inner God's Fragment. I didn't know it was possible to see the status screen of the fragment. That means I might be able to do something.
The only thing his screen showed was the name of the fragment he had called 'Scarf of the Void' and the description of what it does, but when Luke saw Alice's Inner God's fragment, he could see everything, including the enchantments on that fragment.
Walking through the forest, he occasionally tried to do the same thing Alice did with the sword. Luke tried to manipulate the scarf to activate the status screen, but nothing worked. He tried asking the scarf if it could reveal itself to him, but the scarf said it wouldn't.
He sighed and walked alongside them. Luke didn't want to reveal he had an Inner God's fragment and needed to try his ideas whenever he went to the 'bathroom' or took a bath. Messing with the scarf and seeing nothing happen, he preferred to leave it alone and focus on his other problem.
I need to learn how to access the status screen of the Scarf of the Void and also understand how to use the Void Form.
Curious about what the Void Form might be like, he would occasionally glance at the status screen, hoping something had changed, but nothing ever did.
Other information on the status screen would unlock on its own as Luke obtained more knowledge or learned to control his prana better. That's how the 'Familiar' option appeared after he swam inside the Veil in the sand crater.
So there are more mysteries to uncover on my ethereal screen, but I need to fulfill certain conditions or 'Requirements' to unlock them. What else could be hidden? I have to figure out something that grants me access to what I want.
There's only one thing I'm interested in at the moment. If what I read in the description of Alice's Inner God's fragment is correct, it might be possible to evolve my Scarf of the Void. I need to find out how to make it stronger, and something tells me the secret lies in accessing its status screen.
Alice told me she couldn't use the sword's powers beyond those that were already unlocked since the Inner God's fragment didn't recognize her as its owner. This means I can potentially add more powers to the scarf.
"Smoke?" Anna asked.
Luke looked up and saw it too.