"So, what you're saying is that I can get a loan?" Vash asked.
"Pretty much. But instead of having to pay some points back, you're just going to stay without a new skill for longer. Like, a lot longer," Hera nodded. The two of them were in the living room of their tent, talking about the intricacies of having a Legacy.
"That's good to know. My herald didn't tell me."
"They might not be able to tell you. Daskka only became aware of that option after I already had a few skills."
"Really? So there are things the herald doesn't know? Even if they've been with the Legacy for a very long time?"
Hera nodded. "Yeah. You can think of them resetting when the Legacy changes holder. They still know how it works, but a lot of the information is forgotten. Especially things such as the best way to use a skill or some combos you can make. Unique use cases. Stuff like that. It's not as if a vital part of the information is missing, it is more the personalized pieces that belonged to the previous holders."
"Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. We don't want to be stuck in the same pattern the previous holders had. We need to make it our own," Vash had a smile stuck to his face the entire time. He mentioned he didn't know many harpies who had Legacies. Getting one likely put him in a very exclusive club, and he was over the moon about it.
"Exactly. But there are times when the herald can tell you a little bit more about how the others used the Legacy. For instance, Daskka told me about a previous holder that focused on quality instead of quantity. So they only had a handful of blades. Those are the flying weapons. But they were super powerful. And it was another who did the opposite. They had dozens of different blades and all fought together."
"So you follow in the footsteps of the first one. Makes sense."
Hera shook her head. "Here's the thing. I didn't. That first one had fewer blades than what I have now. I don't know how they were able to make their weapons stronger, but I'm sure there was a different skill set related to it. And I mean non Legacy skills."
"Oh wow. I can't imagine how much stronger theirs were," Vash gasped. He turned to the side, listening to someone who only he could see for a moment.
They already had talked for a while. Flint had even come back and was outside with the cleaning crew, who were washing their equipment. It was likely the rest of the Harmony Guardians wouldn't take long to arrive. Realizing that, the Empress turned to the new Legacy holder. "The others should be getting back soon. Do you have any other questions? I know they gave us some time alone exactly for this."
"Actually, I do. If we die, the Legacy goes to whoever kills us, right?" Vash asked.
"As far as I know, yes. And if you die of old age, disease or something, you will leave behind something that can become the trial for the Legacy. Why?"
The harpy's eyes became more focused and serious, and his voice lost all the excitement it usually had. "Do you think asking someone to kill me if I'm about to be killed by a human is a good idea? I don't want to give them more power."
Hera was taken aback by the question. She never considered something . Not because she had some sort of delusion that she wasn't killable or anything of the sort. But she simply never thought about what would happen after she died. "Honestly, Vash, I don't know. I get why you're saying this, but then you're putting a lot of trust in someone who might end up killing you out of fear when you still could have survived. If there's anyone who you think knows you well enough and you trust enough to ask that, then sure, ask them that. I, personally, don't have anyone who would do something like that to me, and I don't think I want to."
"So, it wouldn't be selfish of me not to have someone ready to kill me so my Legacy won't fall in human hands?" Vash asked.
"That was a very convoluted way of asking if it's okay for you to want to live," Hera chuckled. "No. I don't think it's selfish. And even if it is, who cares? You have the right to want to live. And I have the right to not want to be killed by someone close to me. I think it would hurt more than giving a Legacy to a human," Hera admitted.
"Oh, yeah. I didn't think about that. Those last moments would be brutal."
"And they might even be a waste. What if they try to kill you but don't finish the job? Then the human still gets the Legacy. I don't think that's worth it. Biting your tongue off or something might be more effective, but let's not enter a conversation about the best ways to kill ourselves. Please."
Vash nodded as Roan, Skyler, and Neria arrived. They would have some steak sandwiches for the meal, a bit of a benefit for fighting in a room where cities still stand. Their food wasn't just the processed kind, but at the same time they didn't have the option of gourmet meals. After a couple of minutes, they were all sitting around in the living room. That's when Vash took the opportunity to tell the group about his new skills.
"So, I told Hera I didn't want to have to explain this twice. Since we are fighting as a group, I think it's better if everybody knows the kind of things I can do now. It's also super cool when I want to gloat," Vash admitted.
"Are you going to be taking questions or is this your own show?" Skyler asked.
"I will be taking questions. But let me explain things first," Vash took a bite of his sandwich before continuing. "So, right now I have access to three skills from the Legacy. The first, I think you already saw, Hera. It's called [Circus Tent]. For now, it's basically just a barrier."
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"Was that the thing she used to block Sun's attack?" Hera asked, remembering the moment when Victoria appeared from under a circus tent.
Vash nodded. "I think so. But I have a benefit that she didn't have. Because of the performer role and my ability to make my own stage, I am not as restricted with a foundation as she was. Basically, the skill asks for a place to create the tent. It needs to be large enough for someone to go inside. You can't just make a massive tent out of nothing. And saying just 'the ground' doesn't work. I think she was using the Cyr Wheel for that. But I don't have to. The skill got attached to my personal stage and I can just plop it down following what I already have."
"And how strong is that barrier?" Flint asked.
"Pretty strong, it seems. It scales with my own power, and it can also have a monster repellent function or a stealth function. The defense works no matter what, but I can pick if I want the barrier to be even stronger, if I want to be stealthy, or if I want to shoo monsters away."
"Does it cost Mana to maintain?" Skyler asked.
"Sort of. Setting it up costs mana to make, and then every time it blocks something, it chips at my mana. But if I make the barrier, it's just going to stay. Both the stealthy and the monster repellent version are a bit different. They have an actual upkeep, but it depends on the strength of the effect and I need to pay it up front. Then, only if the tent gets hit that I have to pay mana myself. Or I can reverse the tent."
"Reverse?" Roan frowned. "Like making it inside out?"
"Yes. I can drop someone inside again and make it so people can come in but can't come out. The regular version does the opposite. All that with my permission, of course. If I say you can come in and out, you can move freely."
"That actually sounds very useful, especially if we are traveling. Maybe not so much during a war unless we are going against a big explosion or something," Neria nodded.
"Yeah. I was thinking the same. It's good if we need to protect ourselves from a big attack, but otherwise it's more for day-to-day life. Which brings me to the next skill," Vash put one of his wings in front of his body, hiding from the rest of the group. With a flourish, he appeared again, with his clothes changed. They were still the same shape, but the colors shifted. Everything now in bright shades of yellow instead of his usual black and white look. Yet, he looked vastly difference. His features became sharper, more alluring, and his movements flowed more naturally in an almost hypnotic way.
"You can change your clothes?" Flint raised one eyebrow.
"Yes, but more than that. This is called Costume Change, and it lets me create a few 'costumes,' specific tailor-made buffs. I can make three of them for now. These buffs can get very specific. They only have to keep some sort of balance. Like depending on what I want to increase, there needs to be a drawback so we can work. For instance, this yellow thing. It makes my charisma six times bigger, but it reduces all other attributes by 99.9%. I don't want to use this for anything. It was just a test."
"Can you change that buff later?" Skyler reached out to grab another sandwich, but her hand was swatted by Roan, who had his eye on the one she was about to pick. They argued for a moment before playing rock paper scissors to decide who could get the last one with that specific sauce. The elf won and with a smug expression, she took a bite of her prize.
"I can. Every time I make a costume it gets a cooldown for me to be able to change it again. The time depends on the effect. This particular one will take another 15 days before I can change. The other two costumes I have are one blue and one red. The blue one doubles your defenses but makes you do half damage with every attack. And the second is an attempt to replicate the affinity Vulcan has with his daemonic form. I thought that maybe we could use it to kill the Soldiers of Strength more effectively. Also, I can put that costume on anyone. I can only give the buff if they are inside one of the tents, but aside from that, it works like any other buff."
"That's amazing. Did it work? The daemonic strength buff," Hera asked.
"I honestly have no idea. That's why I asked about Vulcan a few minutes ago. But he's still out for the count, right?"
The Empress nodded. "For a few hours. His skill to make him revive quicker is still on cooldown. It should be over later today."
"Then I can test it later. But the buff does give you a strength affinity, so in theory it should be working. I just don't know if the daemonic effect of removing the Soldiers of Strength connection would work," Vash scratched the back of his head.
"Working or not, it was a nice attempt. I don't think I would have thought about that," Neria smiled.
"Thanks," the harpy blushed.
"You said three skills. What's the last one?" Flint asked.
"The last one is the most simple of them all. It's called Hat Trick, and what it does is this," Vash reached out and took one of the small plastic cups with sauce and turned to Roan. "Catch." The harpy started to move as if he was throwing the sauce to the beastman. However, he changed the way his leg was moving and threw the plastic cup to the left. Instead of the object following the direction everyone was expecting and splattering on the floor, the sauce disappeared, landing on Roan's hands.
"What the hell?" Skyler frowned. "How did you do that? There was no spell attached to the teleportation."
Vash smirked. "It's magic. But basically I can throw something in a direction and make it appear from a different place. This works with small objects, sounds, my voice, and even spells. There's a limit on how big the thing is. I can't, for instance, grab Flint and throw him somewhere else. I also don't think I can do this with living creatures."
"Those are all really good abilities, and you probably will have more in the future. Which then begs the question," Skyler turned to Hera, "can I get the next legacy?"
The Ophidianite frowned. "Why are you asking me?"
"Because you attract legacies," Skyler replied matter-of-factly.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Your friend's group all have legacies, with the exception of Helena. But that's only because she spent her entire life trying to figure out a way to change her affinity, and you managed to do that too. So yeah. You attract legacies. Do you have a skill for it?" Skyler continued.
"First of all, Blue was the first one to get a legacy. Second, we joined an organization that chases after Legacy so that's its own separate thing. Alex's situation was wild. There was a curse involved, it was a mess. And I don't have a skill that makes me more capable of finding legacies. That's ridiculous."
"You really don't have something that makes you lucky or something?" Skyler asked.
"No, I don-" Hera froze, thinking about [Silver Linings]. "Okay, even if I did, it doesn't mean it's a skill that makes me more likely to find legacies. It just means if something bad happens to me, then something good happens at some point later."
"Right, that monkey paw skill right?" Vash nodded.
"It's called Silver Linings."
"Same thing," Vash shrugged,
"Holy crap. If finding a legacy is the something good. What the hell was the something bad?" Roan gasped.
Before they could continue the conversation, loud bells started to ring across the camp. Everyone who was there already knew what that meant. The humans were attacking the base.