Crucible Aeternum: Ascending through Skill Trees

The Contractor did not descend immediately. He was a methodical man, especially when it came to things that involved unknown danger.

The commission said that this thing's danger level was undefined and that its nature was unknown. He could understand why that was the case just by looking at it. But more importantly, this thing seemed to have come from a meteorite judging by the crater and the broken pieces of burnt rocks within the crater.

This was unsettling because although meteorites were a common thing in ancient Corrin, the advent of Prisma seemed to have changed everything. No meteorite would appear without some kind of connection to Prisma. In fact, almost all recorded meteorites in the last millennium were Prisma.

It was understandable why he was wary of getting close to this thing. But the more he looked at it, the more he realised that this unidentified object could not be Prisma. After all, he was intimately familiar with what a Prisma Core, the material that comes from the Prisma meteorites that spreads Prisma, looks like.

Still, prudence was a virtue he strived to carve onto his very being. Still standing at the edge of the crater, he activated his suit's other functions. One was to analyse the level of radiation in the area, another was to identify the object. Although he did not have much expectations for the latter, he still wanted to try.

As expected, he was not able to match the object to anything in The Guild's database. There was also little to no radiation in the surroundings. In fact, it was suspiciously clean to the point that even Prismatic Radiation, that which stems from Prisma, seemed to have vanished within the immediate vicinity.

This was undoubtedly ridiculous considering the fact that the entirety of Vaulkeen's End was created by Prisma. How was it possible for there to be a singular tiny spot in it where Prismatic Radiation seemed to have disappeared?

The Contractor could only think of one possible cause for this, but it still did not make much sense to him. Seeing that there was not any obvious danger, he decided to descend the crater. He walked toward the object to examine it more closely and understand just how the hell he was going to retrieve it.

Like he had noticed earlier, the object was definitely moving, albeit slowly. It was the size of a baby's fist. Its shape was that of a seed that seemed to be peeling layers of itself off as some protrusions from below it continued to stretch little by little outward. Of course, all of these were strange because the thing was made of rock.

More accurately, it looked to be crystalline in nature with a faint light from deep within it creating a subtle glow of interchanging colours. One moment it was white, the next it was green. And then it was gold, and then blue and then pink.

If he did not know better, the Contractor would have definitely thought it was a Prisma Core. But he knew for a fact that this was not a Prisma Core. For one, Prisma Cores do not move. Or at least, no one has ever seen them move outside of spreading more Prisma in the surroundings.

The Contractor could not make heads or tails of the unidentified object. He sighed as he gave up trying to figure out what it was. Even if he was wary of the possible dangers it posed from making contact with it or even just being within its vicinity, that was what his suit was for. It was not just purely a combat suit as it was also an all-purpose survival suit.

He trusted in the efficacy of its design and decided to leave the studying of this object to the client. In any case, he expected to hear what it was when it came time for Valerian Emporium to auction it off. So he reached out his hand to lift the seed-like crystalline object and put it in a container, but the moment he touched it, something happened that caused him to panic.

The moment his finger barely made contact with its surface, the crystalline seed seemed to have turned into a liquid. It latched onto his finger and creeped up his hand to his arm. It tried finding a way in, but there were no gaps on his suit.

After his initial scare and seeing that the strange liquid seemed to have settled down to just clinging onto his entire left arm and shoulder, practically coating him in a strange liquid that glowed of a myriad colours, he sighed in relief. But he soon regretted having done so too early.

The strange liquid did not give up. When it realised that there were no openings with which to enter his suit, it began vaporizing. At first, he thought it was finally gone until he felt a particularly cold prickle from many different points across the length of his arm and shoulder. He instantly realised that the damn thing must have found a way to pass through even though it made no sense.

The cold sting grew in numbers as they soon spread toward his chest to his other arm and down his torso. Eventually, his entire body seemed to be drowning in needles as he felt the cold stinging pain all over, even inside his head.

At this point, the Contractor was overcome with horror and panic. He immediately opened up his suit to check his body. His helmet seemed to fold out before sliding into the rest of his suit, completely freeing his head without the need of actually taking off the helmet.

The other parts of his suit also soon followed, folding and sliding into layers of glassy black material that all converged into a vest covering his torso. He took the vest off and was just short of tearing his shirt underneath apart just to see what had happened to his body.

When he finally saw his skin underneath his shirt, he was stunned. While the rest of his body were the same as any human's, his chest was evidently not.

Right at the centre of his chest was a familiar rock shard embedded into it, glowing faintly with a myriad colours. This was familiar because he always had this thing. And unlike others who mutated into having animal traits or some minor rock protrusions in some parts of their bodies, the Contractor had a literal Prisma Core in his chest. That was how he knew that the object was not a Prisma Core in the first place.

What was different this time, however, was that his Prisma core seemed to have shrunk a tiny bit, about a few centimetres at most. However, as though to compensate that, there were now strange tattoos around it.

The tattoos seemed to be of the same material as the object he had touched. It was also faintly glowing with a myriad of colours almost synchronising with his Prisma Core. The patterns of the tattoos did not seem to be anything of significance as they mostly stretched out like veins toward the direction of his four limbs.

He was so shocked at seeing this that he seemed to have forgotten about the cold stinging pain that had by now dissipated. It was then that something else happened.

He heard it in his mind. He felt in the depths of his being like an intuitive and instinctive understanding. And he saw it in his vision as holographic displays similar to the one he had with his helmet on began appearing.

[Cor Ena – Vernal Bloom has been assimilated.]

[The Vernal Bloom has bound its existence to yours.]

[The Vernal Bloom is altering your existence to promote absolute growth.]

[Innate active traits detected: 1 (Photosensitivity)]

[Innate dormant traits detected: 2 (Heightened Regeneration | Prisma Core)]

[Dormant traits have been activated.]

The moment this latest notification appeared, the Contractor felt a sudden surge of pain coming from his chest as though his heart was beating so fast that it was about to burst. It was so excruciating that he could not even scream in pain and instead keeled over, gasping for breath.

It did not last long, however, as the Prisma Core on his chest began glowing brighter and brighter. It was not bright enough to match a torch, but at least it was not like a dim light like before. The Contractor felt a strange whirring in his chest as though an engine had come to life within him. The light of the Prisma Core seemed to follow the rhythm of his breathing, glowing brighter when he inhaled and dimming a little when he exhaled.

The Contractor did not have the mind to pay this little detail, however. He was just glad that the pain was gone. But it seems that the notifications were not done with him yet.

[Decide the trajectory of your growth.]

[Photosensitivity: You have lived in fear of light not knowing that it is your greatest ally. You have greater affinity with the light element.]

[Branch A | Photosynthesis: You no longer need to fear the light for it is your guardian and your keeper. Heal injuries and ailments through the continuous absorption of light. Cannot recover missing body parts nor resurrect from death.]

[Branch B | Photokinesis: You no longer need to fear the light for it is yours to command and wield. Manipulate light in the surroundings. Generate light to a lesser extent.]