B4 Chapter 421: Recap, pt. 2

Kaius grinned as he looked at the slack-jawed expressions on Bronwyn’s team’s faces. Even Arc, his features obscured by plated bone and his ever-stoic disposition, was visibly surprised and confused.

He supposed that was fair, considering he had withheld mention of Honours until they would have maximum impact. The revelation that he and Porkchop, completed legacies or not, had managed to defeat a Guardian unclassed was one thing — but gaining something new from the system was almost too much for his audience to bear.

Arc crossed his hands thoughtfully, “Mmh. Honours — this one would like to know of them too. They are the source of your great strength?”

“A significant part of it, both directly and indirectly.” Porkchop answered for him.

Dross, the crossbowman on Bronwyn’s team, tilted his head. “How so? What even are they?”

This time, it was Ro who answered. “Accolades. A system of rewards for feats that only the desperate and suicidal would pursue. Each one has a variable passive bonus — like a highly specific and non-levelling skill. If that wasn’t enough, they also give a flat bonus to your stats and a percentage multiplier.”

“Fuck,” Bronwyn said, sucking in a sharp breath between his teeth. “The two of you have been accruing them since you were unclassed? With scaling bonuses like that, you’d have to be tough as nails by now.”

Arc’s brow furrowed slightly, visible only as a slight tension between thick bone plating. “You said that it is an indirect influence on your strength? I assume that, much like all feats, they impact the quality of your classes. How many of them did you manage?”

“Nearly ten,” Kaius said. “One of which was a Grand Honour, larger than most. There are bonuses too — some for doing a feat solo, always for being the first in our realm to earn an Honour — that increase the rewards. We assume we were the first to discover unclassed Honours. Considering the risks, most people so weak in the Depths would never try, and most of ours were first bonuses. It was enough for the two of us to get heroic classes.”

Silence cut through the group until Rieker broke it with a full-throated chuckle.

“Oh, you should see the looks on your faces,” the Guildmaster said as Bronwyn, his team, and Arc looked at him questioningly: “I did tell you, didn’t I Bronwyn? Bloody little terrors. You haven’t even heard the half of it yet.”

Ro gave Kaius a knowing smile. “That’s not the only thing about Honours you learned down there, is it?”

He grinned. How could he forget becoming Observed? After all this time it felt almost like an afterthought compared to the wealth of Honours they’d gained.

Rieker too seemed to light up with glee. “Oh, that’s right. Let me re-introduce them — this is the first group of Observed in millennia.”

Yanira, the giantess vanguard, whistled, and Julis, their mage, went bug-eyed. “What? You’re telling me the source of the Observed’s strength was these Honours? But how? For there to have been so many, it must have been widespread knowledge. How could it all just disappear?”

Ianmus shook his head. “That’s what has me so curious — even as one myself. One thing we’ve learned from the phase change is that some Honours come with being the first to do something. In our case, we’ve received Honours relating to that for our Aspects. When the system first arrived, they must have been everywhere. First to gain a skill. First to merge one. First to form a dynasty. First to get a class. First to reach the second tier. There would have been too many, too widely spread. Everyone must have known. But then, just like the Observed themselves, they vanished. It seems impossible considering many of these Honours are repeatable.”

Kaius couldn’t help but agree. It was too odd — Honours were too conspicuous, and once known, too repeatable. Yes, they were difficult to achieve and rewarded only those who took risks. But in the early days of integration, the simple first bonuses would have spread far and wide. If word had gotten out, the incentive to pursue them early and quickly was too high.

He nodded. “It’s likely knowledge of them was suppressed at some point in the past.”

Arc grumbled, inclining his head. “This one assumes this is the knowledge you intend to spread more widely now?”

“It is. That, and additional details we have learned in our travels about the functioning of Aspects.”

Bronwyn shook his head. “Unbelievable. You really weren’t lying when you said they were terrifying.” He looked towards Rieker and Ro. “That means you already knew of these. How did the two of you meet them? Learn of these secrets?”

Ro smiled, waving him off. “I won’t jump ahead in the story. We’ll reach that point soon enough.”

Just like that, she had their attention again.

“Will you be all right sharing it?” Porkchop asked privately. “I’m happy to tell this part if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Kaius tapped his brother on the shoulder. “I’ll be all right.”

Even if it was painful to remember when he first learned of Father’s death, time had blunted the wound.

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“When Porkchop and I exited the Great Depths, we had just received our classes. Even with the additional stats from our Honours and our future potential, next to our rate of growth we were still weak in the grand scheme. Our first goal was to head to the village where I had people I knew, to see if they had heard of the bandits. Or seen any sign of my father. I knew if he had escaped, he would have gone there. Even crippled as he was, my father was strong. Unfortunately, they had not seen him. I was too late.”

Arc frowned, and Yanira’s face softened in sympathy, while Bronwyn and the rest of his team grimaced knowingly.

“It was there I learned Father and I had been in hiding because someone wanted our legacy. They crippled Father and shattered our holdings to get it. Perhaps not unsurprising, considering the value of a completed legacy. My father told the village elders before he passed that the tracker that found us was aligned with the Onyx. Faher left a warning: that I must grow strong. If I ever came into contact with them or searched after the killers of my dynasty, I would need that strength.”