The fields of ice seemed to mostly be filled with the ice foxes Rufi and I fought, a kind of ice bird or maybe a hawk that attacked in groups of two or three, and small ice spiders that were adept at camouflage. All the monsters seemed to be geared towards some element of sneaking or catching one off-guard, so I was very grateful to have both Rufi's keen senses, as well as my own undead stamina which kept me from needing real rest. I also evolved my Dark Vision skill into Spirit Sight after our fight with the foxes, which allowed me to sense the mana signatures of the monsters even if they were well-camouflaged with the scenery.
At last, after making our way through the snow scenery for what felt like a day or two, we came through a narrow valley between two ice cliffs to a crystal archway. Engraved at the top of the arch were the words "Gallery of Envy" in the language of Undeath. "I guess we're just about at the end of the floor, huh, Rufi?"
I looked at the bat-winged cat-like creature sitting happily on my shoulder and scritched underneath her chin. I walked under the archway, and felt myself pass through an invisible barrier. I figured this was probably a safe area like the Hall of Sloth on the previous level, but I didn't entirely let my guard down either given how prone the monsters of the area had been to stealth attacks. So I noticed right away when an immense magical presence appeared in my Spirit Sight right behind me.
"Hello," I heard a coy voice from where the presence had appeared.
"Gah!" I blurted out, spinning around to see a slender female figure made entirely out of ice. "Does every floor's guardian have to appear right behind me?"
"Oh?" The ice woman put her hands behind her back and peered into my face. "Did Greyor surprise you like this too?" Her lips curved into a smile. "How…cute."
"Hehe, yes… so, anyways…" I quickly backed up to reassert my personal space. "What is this place?" I looked around again at the large ice crystals that dotted the valley the "Gallery" was made up of, before freezing at the sight of one near me. Frozen in the ice was a woman with wizard's robe and a staff, a panicked expression on her face, her hands outstretched in terror. I shivered involuntarily.
"Ah, I see you've noticed our guests," The ice woman flitted to my side, again far too close for comfort. She didn't seem to walk, but instead drifted just above the surface of the snow. "Or perhaps I should say art pieces? Libraries? I never could decide on the right term."
"What are they…why are they here?" I asked shakily.
"Oh don't worry, they're all dead, at least in a spiritual sense." She said matter-of-factly as if that was my biggest concern. "Their bodies on the other hand…" she laughed gleefully. "I've been told you're not aware of how people generally learn skills?"
"Uh," I frowned. Exactly how was this related? "What do you mean?"
"Hm, let's see, the goddess said something like a 'system' sorts your skills and learns them for you, is that correct?"
"Uh, yeah, more or less, I guess." I scratched my head. I guess it was different for other people in this world, I had never really thought about it.
"For other people we gain the seed of skills through birth or bestowment or through the assimilation of the dispersed energy of the foes we've slain, but we remain unable to use the power inherent in the skill without proper knowledge and training. Without proper teaching and guidance most people's skills go completely untapped and unused. But even with proper training, it can take mortals years to understand and use their skills to their full potential. Which. is. why…"
She put a finger on my shoulder for every word. I turned away, immensely grateful I was in my undead form with muted sensations and emotions. "We keep this gallery here. All the knowledge and all the experience of the brave heroes who have attempted to raid our Lady's sacred realm or who have run afoul of her servants only to be dragged back here still living, rests in these crystals. All we have to do to extract the knowledge for promising new servants is pull a little copy from their memories and insert it into the proper domain of the soul. In some ways it might be quite similar to that system of yours." She licked her lips, peering at my forehead. "Oh, how I'd love to get my fingers on exactly how Draugner put that thing together but…" She coughed into her fist. "I have been told to restrain myself."
"So!" She wrapped both her hands around my skull before I could do anything to stop her. "Shall we begin?"
"Begin what? Wait! No, I—" I flailed trying to resist her, before my consciousness quickly faded into black, the sight of her greedy eyes close over my own, haunting me into the darkness.
I woke up on a bed of ice, Rufi was curled up against my shoulder and didn't stir much when I sat up to look around. I was in some kind of ice house, complete with bedrooms, a kitchen, even a toilet. When I reached the kitchen there were windows that opened out into Gallery of Envy and I could see the ice woman tending to one of the statues. Moira. For some reason I knew her name now, though I didn't remember her ever telling me it. Remember…Something felt slightly strange about my mind, like there were pieces of memory I didn't fully accept as my own. I tried to look back through it all, to see if I could find the inconsistencies, but I couldn't seem to recall anything that was out of the flow of Ray Gardner's life.
"Status," I called on a whim.
[Name: Pick one! ;)]
[Race: Night Skeleton]
[Sex: F] [Age: 17 (Current form: 1)]
[Lvl. 9]
[HP: 675/675] [MP: 450/450] [SP: 550/550]
[Skills: Dark Slash lvl. 7, Dark Vision lvl. 10, Spirit Sight lv. 2, Dark Magic lvl. 8, Improved Balance lvl. 8, Improved Reactions lvl. 9, Corrupting Touch lvl. 10, Corruption Magic lvl. 3, Evernight Touch lvl. 3, Evernight Well lvl. 1, Summon Weapon lvl. 3, Living Form lvl. 2, Read Memories lvl. 1]
[Titles: Undead, Blessed of Melphinoe, Dragon-Slayer, Infused Knowledge, Contracted Familiar: Rufi, Last System Backup: Night Skeleton lvl. 9]
A system backup? Why? What does that mean? I tried to expand it, but it didn't give me any more info. Ok, what about 'Infused Knowledge?' It was weird that these things were in my titles, but I suppose we were kind of outside of the kinds of uses the system was initially intended for, so there wasn't exactly anywhere else to put it.
[Infused Knowledge: I've infused you with knowledge of the four most common languages: Common (otherwise known as human), Elder (or Draconic), Afenaivren (Elvish), and Spirits Tongue. As well as some common knowledge about the world and current civilizations and cultures. Still not totally sure if this entry thing is working…Tell me 'Apples' when you wake up if you can see this!]
Hmmmm, I looked at Moira crossing back across the Gallery towards the house. This feels so convenient, and also so humiliatingly invasive…I closed my eyes with a sigh. "I can't believe she didn't even ask me first…"