Chapter 101: Rewards

The last treasure looked almost disappointing compared to the formula and Mana-Skin Aegis, taking the form of a small bead no larger than the tip of Jaxir’s thumb. Pale silver light moved beneath its surface whenever he turned it, and when he scanned the thing, the description made his grin spread almost immediately.

―

Name: Sparkle Sensory Bead

Grade: Epic

Level: 10

[Inner Mapping]

Press the Sparkle Sensory Bead against the forehead to map the internal structure of the user’s body through Sparkle Mana.

The resulting map will identify physical structures, internal pathways, irregularities and the flow of Mana throughout the body.

―

"Oh, you’re perfect."

Jaxir rolled the bead between his fingers while thinking about the tempering method Luxy had promised him after he killed the three Village Heads. Her explanation had made it sound like he would need enough control to trace Mana through every contour and tiny structure of his body, which meant having an exact internal map would remove one of the hardest parts before he even started.

His first thought was that he needed to get back to Luxy as soon as possible, but Jaxir only made it halfway toward putting the bead away before stopping. He frowned, then slowly reached into his Inventory for the badge she’d given him.

"Wait. Why am I going anywhere?"

The Ultra Travelling Merchant Badge existed for exactly this sort of problem, and Luxy had already bound it to herself. He could call her from here instead of spending hours figuring out how to sneak back into a village he was technically banned from entering.

Jaxir almost activated it before another thought stopped him.

"Didn’t I finish something else too?"

He pulled up his Divine Quests, and the moment he focused on the one that had been sitting there since the first Village Head died, silver-blue light gathered across the screen.

―

[You have cleared Divine Quest "Heads of the Trifecta"]

Objective:

Slay the Village Heads governing Twinkle, Glimmer and Sparkle Villages.

Village Heads Defeated: 3/3

―

Rewards:

50 Divinity Points

Unlock the Second Stage of the Jester System

―

Jaxir blinked.

"Oh, right."

He’d been a little distracted by the whole flying-across-the-region-and-burning-a-boss-alive thing.

The familiar Jester screen unfolded in front of him, except this time the silver-blue symbols around its edges multiplied until they nearly covered the air. Tiny jester hats rotated between stranger glyphs, while one little figure that Jaxir could’ve sworn he’d seen before danced along the bottom with its hands waving over its head.

―

Jester: Jaxir Chance

Divinity Points: 50

Divinities:

Encore

Luck of the Draw

Roll of the Dice

Sleight of Hand

Second Stage Divinities:

Borrowed Trick (50)

Last Laugh (50)

House of Cards (50)

―

"Only one, huh?"

Jaxir focused on the first.

―

[Borrowed Trick (Divine Ability)]

[Observe an Ability and create an equivalent one-time-use Vestigem Card containing its effect.]

[Cards created through Borrowed Trick cannot be entered into a Template and cannot be replenished through Encore.]

Cool Down: 00:01:00:00

―

Jaxir’s brows rose.

That was good. Really good.

Being able to turn any Ability he saw into a Vestigem Card would give him access to things that normally had nothing to do with his Class, Path or Level. Even without Encore or the Template, copying the right Ability at the right moment could completely change a fight.

Then he opened the second.

―

[Last Laugh (Divine Ability)]

[Erase any Mark of Ire or hostile divine attachment of Ultra Grade or below that latches onto the user.]

[When battling a target receiving direct enhancement from a Divinity, nullify one divine enhancement affecting that target.]

Divine Enhancement Cool Down: 00:01:00:00

―

Jaxir stared at that one for considerably longer.

"Well, that’s convenient."

The third appeared next.

―

[House of Cards (Divine Ability)]

[Consume 10 identical Vestigem Cards and distill their circuit into a permanent personal Ability.]

[Abilities created through House of Cards may be used freely without consuming a Vestigem Card.]

―

Jaxir pursed his lips.

All three were excellent, which was irritating in its own way.

House of Cards sounded ridiculous until he thought about what he’d actually want to use it on. Twinkle Orbit was an obvious choice, since having that effect permanently would solve a frightening number of problems, but he had exactly one copy and had already burned Encore to restore it after using it against the Sparkle Village Head.

Getting nine more Epic copies wasn’t exactly something he could plan around.

Maybe that changed if he eventually learned how to create Vestigem Cards himself, but right now it made House of Cards far less useful than it looked. Mimicking Card effects with his own Mana worked, but the results were usually weaker, more expensive and only captured a small portion of what the original circuit actually accomplished.

Jaxir shifted his attention toward Borrowed Trick.

That one tempted him more, but then he remembered Sleight of Hand.

Jaxir scratched his cheek as the thought settled in. He already had one Divine Ability built around stealing something from other people, and despite how useful Sleight of Hand could theoretically be, he had barely touched it since unlocking it.

That was mostly his own fault. There was nothing stopping him from using it more, but adding another Ability that depended on other people’s tools felt less useful than solving a problem he already knew was coming.

His eyes returned to Last Laugh.

Gravity had already cursed him multiple times before, banned him from an entire province and empowered his followers just for fighting Jaxir. Now Jaxir had killed all three Village Heads connected to him, disrupted the Tutorial region and probably exposed enough of the villages’ old secrets to make the Minor God considerably more annoyed than before.

There was also the Natural Race to think about.

If Gravity lost enough control over the region, everything Luxy and Nick had warned him about could start surfacing at once. The last thing Jaxir needed was another upgraded Mark of Ire giving an angry god’s followers free strength while half the region tried to kill him.

"Fine, fine. I’ll make the smart choice."

He selected Last Laugh.

Silver-blue light immediately flashed through Jaxir’s eyes while the symbols surrounding the Jester System folded inward and disappeared into his body. Beneath his clothes, the outline of a laughing jester briefly appeared across his shoulder before fading again, unnoticed as Jaxir looked down at the badge already sitting in his other hand.

―

[Last Laugh has been awakened.]

[Divinity Points: 0]

―

"Now then."

Jaxir activated the Ultra Travelling Merchant Badge.

The air several meters ahead of him folded around a point of pale light before expanding outward, and Luxy’s small figure appeared inside the cave with enough suddenness that her eyes widened the moment she recognized who had called her.

Jaxir was already grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey there." His smile only grew when Luxy continued staring at him. "I have some things to ask you about."𝒻𝑟ℯℯ