B3 Chapter 377: Fog, pt. 8

Kaius narrowed his eyes at Porkchop, running a mental tally of how long his challenge had taken him. Time had gotten away from him in the flow of the fight — it was easy for it to slip by when your mind ran fast enough for seconds to stretch several times over, and a battle moved so quick that a heartbeat’s delay could mean death.

Still, he couldn’t have taken that long — he’d still had a quarter of his stamina by the end. He was pacing himself, but still, it couldn’t have been more than a few hours.

“How long have you been waiting?”

Porkchop chuffed, giving him a smug smile.

“Two hours, or there abouts — took me less than half of one to seal the win.”

Kaius rolled his eyes at the teasing jab — though it was annoying to be bested to thoroughly.

“It’s not a competition.”

“Ahh, but you’re still annoyed — therefore, I have won.”

“Bastard.” he said, leaning forwards to punch Porkchop lightly in the shoulder.

It was good that Porkchop’s Animus had come so easily to him — that both of theirs had, really. Their experiences before going their separate ways must have pushed them right up to the edge, and their challenges had given them just the right push to move on.

In all honesty, he was glad he didn’t care much about taking longer. For a while, he’d been worried that his aspect would be focused on achieving victory — on seizing the win. His previous pillars had suggested that it was at least a possibility.

Thankfully, he knew it wasn’t — even without having gone through ignition. The warmth of its fire shone true, and he knew that it was much more about challenging himself and enjoying the process of pushing himself to his limits.

“So, how was it to get an aspect about being a blockhead who enjoys being beaten up like some sort of depraved weirdo?”

He gave Porkchop a sharp look of shock. What? How’d he guess that? And more importantly, rude!

“For one, I don’t like getting beaten on! I just like being challenged. For two, how the hells did you know that? I only just figured it out like fifteen minutes ago!”

Porkchop chortled at his expression.

“Please, it was a safe guess. Do you know how many people I’ve met who’re inclined to smile when they get stabbed? One — you.”

Kaius coughed, scratching behind his ear. When you put it like that, perhaps it wasn’t such a big jump. Though, he supposed that those simple truths were sometimes the most obvious to those outside looking in.

In that vein, he wondered what Porkchop had gotten. His brother loved a fight as much as he did, nor did he shy away from effort and struggle — but he didn’t exactly crave the latter in the same way Kaius did.

He frowned.

“Excitement? No, that feels a little wrong. Something close to that.”

“Curiosity.”

Kaius nodded contemplatively. It checked out. Porkchop was always eager to jump into something new. I mean, he was literally the first of his people to cross the Wildguard mountains in gods’ knew how long — before he’d even unlocked his class equivalent, at that. Even the little things, like how Porkchop lit up whenever he cooked a new dish, or the ease with which he’d thrown himself into Deadacre — an utterly foreign urban environment.

“Well, I guess we did it. All three Aspects in a little more than a year, though I’m not sure how objective that last bit is — time has been …odd in here.”

“We did, though I wonder what will happen when we ignite our Animus. Do you think we’ll get another Honour?”

“Well, considering we were already amongst the first to ignite, and we have the advantage of a Crucible, I’d be surprised if we didn’t. That said, if there have been others who’ve challenged a place like this, we might be out of luck if they’ve already finished it. We can still hope, though — and who knows, if there is an Honour, it might be different from the first.”

Porkchop bobbed his head. “True — besides, even if we miss out on an information packet, Xenanra might be able to share more about Aspect Refinement. Or maybe there’s other crucibles deeper down that relate to it?”

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“I suppose we’ll have to find out,” Kaius replied, grinning.

Through their bond, Kaius knew that they were both ready and eager to ignite their final pillar.

He turned his attention inwards, to the nascent flame that flickered above his soul. Three carved spires, each topped with a burning sconce. Two burned with truth, while the last waited to awaken.

Reaching for it, he felt the system’s question flicker into view.

**Ding! Pillar of Self Discovered, Animus Ignited. Would you like to initiate Aspect Formation?**