Choices, choices, choices. Chloe actually paused for once, staring at the list of traits, because all of these new traits looked really good. Oh boy, I really gotta think this through.
She had seven trait points to spend, and that made things a lot harder than it should’ve been. On one hand, she could grab both the rare and epic traits together like a combo deal. But on the other hand, there were the legendary traits. Big, shiny, very tempting legendary traits that were so hard to choose from.
But yeah, at some point she actually had to stop staring and pick something. Chloe leaned forward slightly, eyes scanning the options again as she forced herself to think this through properly. The first real option was taking both Berserk Mode and Phantom Overdrive together, which wasn’t bad at all.
Berserk Mode was simple and solid, it just made her stronger, faster, more dangerous overall, which was nice, but the whole “losing control” part was far from ideal. She already did plenty of questionable things on her own, she didn’t need a skill making it worse.
That being said, Phantom Overdrive was actually really tempting. It made her Wraith Form way better, faster, stronger, more efficient, and she liked Wraith Form a lot, so that was a big plus. But the problem was that she couldn’t take it by itself, it was tied to Berserk Mode, and that just made the whole deal feel a little less appealing. Chloe frowned slightly, clearly annoyed that she couldn’t just pick the cool half and ignore the risky part, because that would’ve been perfect.
Anyway, after that, it was time to look at her other two choices, her two legendary choices to be exact. On one side, there was Stormborne Core, and she could already imagine exactly how that would go. More power, more speed, better control, probably turning her into some kind of unstoppable, super zappy chaos monster, and that sounded amazing. She could already picture herself tearing through everything like some kind of lightning god, and that was very, very tempting.
But then there was Eyes of Dominion. Chloe stared at that one a little longer.
The description wasn’t very detailed, which was a little annoying, but it mentioned Divine Push and Divine Pull, and those already sounded insanely cool. Just by the names, these abilities couldn’t possibly be boring, and even if she didn’t know exactly what they did yet, she could just tell they were going to be good.
The more she thought about them, the more something clicked, and Chloe’s eyes lit up as a very specific memory came rushing back. It reminded her of that one really popular movie character, Jake Airstrider, the guy with telekinesis powers and a glowing light sword who went around casually beating other sword users like it was nothing. Chloe could totally manifest a lightning sword or something if she wanted, and with the Eyes of Dominion she could get the second half of Jakes' power…
[Trait Purchased: Eyes of Dominion]
[Trait Points Remaining: 0]
Now, Chloe didn’t really feel that different after buying the trait, which was kind of weird. She stood there for a second, blinking like something was supposed to happen, but nothing did.
That felt a little suspicious. So obviously, she decided she needed to test it.
Chloe focused really hard, narrowing her eyes as she really tried her best to activate her super special eyes. She held that for a few seconds, completely still, trying to “feel” something happen, and when nothing did, she squinted harder and still got nothing. Okay, maybe I need to… try differently.
This time, Chloe lifted a hand and pointed at a random rock on the ground, locking her eyes onto it as she leaned forward slightly like she could move it with sheer willpower, which she kinda hoped to do to be honest. She stared at it, really stared, holding an intense focus that would’ve been pretty uncomfortable to watch if anyone else had been there.
Unfortunately, the rock didn’t move at all, not even a little, and Chloe’s eye twitched as she kept the pose a second too long. Really? Nothing at all?
After about half an hour of trying everything she could think of, staring harder, pointing from different angles, switching targets like maybe one rock would be more cooperative than another, Chloe still hadn’t gotten anything to happen. Eventually, she gave up and decided that it was time to move on.
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She figured that her Eyes of Dominion was probably one of those abilities that only showed up when it actually mattered, like in the middle of a fight or some dramatic moment, which was… kind of annoying, but also felt about right. It would’ve been nice if she had someone to ask, someone who could just explain how it worked instead of her guessing and poking rocks for half an hour, but that wasn’t really an option right now.
For now, though, it was time to leave. Chloe stretched her arms slightly before manifesting her wings again, the familiar weight settling across her back as she lifted off the ground. She had barely gotten a few feet into the air when something clicked in her head, and she paused mid-flight, hovering as she frowned slightly. Whoops, almost forgot something super important.
She turned around and angled back down toward the scorpion’s body, scanning the area until she spotted it. Just above where the boss had fallen, a sun-shaped disc hovered quietly in the air, glowing faintly as it spun in place like it had been waiting for her. Chloe grabbed it and then slipped it into Cloaky.
With that taken care of, Chloe lifted into the air again and scanned the area. There was only a whole lot of sand everywhere she looked, and things just looked mostly the same at first, but something new caught her attention eventually, something that definitely hadn’t been there before. Right in the middle of the sand sat a very big hole.
Chloe slowed as she hovered above it, tilting her head slightly as she looked down into the opening. She was almost completely sure that hadn’t been there before, which made it suspicious, but in her experience, suspicious things in dungeons usually meant progress, so that probably made it the right way to go. Without overthinking it, Chloe dove straight in.
The moment she dropped through the opening, sand rushed past her as the bright desert light above faded. It didn’t feel like a normal fall, and for a moment, everything went distant and quiet. Then it all suddenly stopped.
Chloe dropped onto solid ground as the sand above her sealed shut almost instantly. She let her wings fade soon after, the magic disappearing as she stretched slightly and began walking forward, taking a moment to adjust to the sudden shift in environment. Once she got her bearings, she continued down the path, and it didn’t take long before a familiar stone gate came into view.
As expected, there were two carved slots set into the center of the gate, one like a sun and the other like a moon. Chloe slowed as she approached, her gaze lingering on the carvings for a moment before she reached into Cloaky and pulled out both pieces, the sun disc from the scorpion and the moon piece from the masked monkey and weighed them briefly in her hands.
She glanced between the two slots like she was double-checking, then gave a small shrug and pressed each piece into its matching place, the metal fitting in with a soft, satisfying click. This should be it.
Soon, the stone gates suddenly rumbled to life. The stone shifted with a deep, grinding sound that echoed through the chamber, dust shaking loose and drifting down as the ancient mechanism finally awakened. The massive gate began to split apart down the middle, revealing a long staircase beyond it that descended into darkness. Well, here goes nothing.
Chloe hesitated for half a second, then stepped forward anyway, because of course she did, and began her descent. The staircase seemed to stretch on longer than it should have, and by the time she finally reached the bottom, the space around her felt closed in and quiet in a way that made everything feel just a little more tense.
Chloe stepped off the final stair and into the second floor, her boots landing softly against stone as she looked around. This part of the dungeon felt a lot cleaner compared to the first floor.
The place still looked super old, but there was no overgrowth creeping along the ground or climbing the pillars. Instead, brightly lit torches lined the walls at even intervals.
Chloe tilted her head slightly, squinting at one as she walked forward, her eyes narrowing in mild suspicion as the flame burned steadily without smoke or any sign of fuel. There was no wind, no movement, nothing that should’ve kept them going, and yet they burned anyway. Eh, probably just the usual dungeon magic doing its thing.
Losing interest in the torches, Chloe turned away and began exploring the rest of the area. The space opened up the further she went, with large stone pillars rising from the ground to support a high ceiling.
And right there, between two of those pillars, she saw that someone was already there. Chloe stopped instantly as her eyes locked onto the figure standing ahead, wearing a dark cloak that hid their shape completely. They stood still and silent, like they had been waiting, and something about that alone sent a quiet tension through her.
As Chloe stared, eventually, realization hit her all at once. This was the same person she had seen through the scorpion’s eyes, the one who had taken it down before her.
“Hey! Who are you?” Chloe called out, her voice echoing across the room as it bounced off the walls.
The figure didn’t answer. Instead, they slowly lifted a hand and reached for their hood, the movement calm and unhurried in a way that somehow made everything feel more tense, like the moment was being stretched on purpose. The fabric shifted as they pulled it back, revealing their face little by little, and Chloe found herself staring.
Now, looking back at Chloe was a woman with black hair tied in a loose bun. And a familiar pair of black glasses, sat just right on her face.
Chloe almost couldn't believe what she was seeing, but she could never forget that face. “Oh my gosh… Z? Is that really you?”
The woman smiled at that. “Hey, Chloe, funny seeing you here.”
There were probably a lot of normal ways Chloe could’ve responded to that, something calm, something reasonable, something that didn’t immediately jump to chaos. But yeah, no, that wasn’t happening.
“Z!” Chloe shouted, throwing a hand up in an exaggerated wave before she suddenly dashed towards Z at full speed.