Milo stared at the Carmen's Masterpiece attribute. His eyes shining with greed he never knew he possessed.
He then checked the description
Attribute Description: [Forced into the safety of his workshop, Carmen began to work on three masterpieces that would help him survive a time of doom. However he never finished the last item, and he died disappointed that his love for crafting could never be properly fulfilled, and that his final creations may be his worst]
Milo wondered what exactly the Spell meant by a time of doom... had it been when the very Gods themselves were dying? Maybe, however Milo simply didn't know, or frankly care, about the time of doom. However, he was highly interested in the two other items that Carmen had created. They seemed to be highly compatible with his aspect, and that was something that would be rare to come across naturally.
Milo then noticed a new set of runes below the Attribute Description
Attribute Traits: [Fluid] [Self Repair] [Engaged] [Disengaged] [Bound]
'Traits? That's new'
For some reason, Milo already knew what the attribute traits did. It seemed there was two states his attribute could take. That of the armor that Milo had found it in, and the other was a dormant state that could be used outside of combat. Fluid meant this armor could take on multiple designs, Milo would have to test that limit. Self Repair was explanatory, and Bound, meant that it was tied to his soul.
Milo looked down at himself, and he was now wrapped in a grey nanite bodysuit. Milo willed it to take on the form of a T-shirt and pants, and sure enough the long sleeves retracted up to his elbows. He even had pockets now. No longer would he have to rely on a pesky rucksack to carry everything.
Milo looked around the workshop. Trying to find any other items that stood out. Shifting through a bunch of useless tools, he found a sheathed blade. Picking it up, he examined it for a little while, then the Spell whispered into his ear.
[You have received a Memory: Prototype]
Milo once again dove into the runes that described his memories, and he hurriedly checked the Prototype
Memory: [Prototype]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Description: [Carmen had built three masterpieces in order to survive a time of doom, this was the weakest of his three creations, and it is incomplete]
Milo summoned the blade, and instead of weapon appearing in his hand, a sheathed blade was at his hip, hung on by a newly fashioned hip holster. Milo unsheathed the blade, and what he saw slightly amazed him.
The blade itself was a straight single edge sword. About sixty centimeters in length, and it hummed with a soft energy from within. Milo felt that the sword could vibrate, effectively turning the thing into a chainsaw on a very small scale, however it needed to fulfill some type of requirement to use that ability. Milo sheathed the blade, it was somewhat inconvenient that the blade was summoned on a sheath rather than directly into his hands, but perhaps that was for the better. Memories took precious seconds to fully form, and those were seconds that could cost a life in battle, unsheathing it would be faster. It also looked cool Milo had to admit.
Milo continued to search the workshop to find the third item, however it was not there. Milo let out a soft sigh, and looked over at Eva.
"I got everything I needed, lets go"
Eva pushed herself off the wall she was leaning. Milo unsummoned Coil and began to walk back to where they had began this rather short yet eventful journey. Eva stepped outside the temple, and so did Milo. The familiar void that was the night of the Forgotten Shore was back in full view, Milo was only faintly able to see as he had summoned the Engaged mode of Carmen's Masterpiece, even the Masterpiece had trouble piercing through the starless void of this weird sea.
Milo turned around one last time to look at the temple, as he did though, he saw the temple shimmer and it was suddenly surrounded by countless golden strings that seemed to pull the temple apart, then it disappeared from view. Like it never existed in the first place.
Milo looked at Eva, and Eva looked at Milo.
'Weird... but the least of our concerns'
Milo could see through the filtered vision of his visor the mound that Coil had attacked Milo and Eva on. Instead of being in front of though, they were several kilometers behind it. Milo and Eva would have to once again brave the labyrinth of Coral to reach their destination of the human castle that Cassie had mentioned. He would even have to go through the tree again. Maybe with better knowledge about it he could resist its thrall?
---
Milo sat on the stone platform of the statue that Sunny had once resided on. The sun was setting, casting a pale orange in the sky. Eva was tending to the strips of scavenger meat that was cooking over the dim fire the two had made.
Milo looked over at Eva, a questioning look on his face.
"I wonder what Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie are up to"
"I'm surprised that they haven't looked for us yet. Especially Nephis, if that girl is anything like me she would've stopped at nothing to find us"
"I wonder what there Awakened abilities are. Sunny surprised me, he's much stronger than I originally thought" Milo smiled at the thought of the pale outskirts rat.
Eva stared into the fire for a moment "I wonder what our Awakened abilities will be"
From a gap in Eva's armor, a miniscule doll carved out of pieces of scavenger chitin hopped out, and nodded. This was Eva's aspect ability in action, however, it was currently very underwhelming.
Eva could create life, in turn she sacrificed a portion of her soul shards. The amount was not small by any means, this tiny doll that could do nothing more than be moral support or complete miniscule tasks such as grabbing small outs of seaweed had cost Eva three of her soul shards.
It wasn't all that bad though, if anything she created was destroyed beyond repair or healing, it would return the soul shards to her body. This meant, that if she really needed to, she sacrifice nearly all of her soul shards and create a fresh, new body to throw at a creature, giving her time to heal. If the creation dealt with the problem, then all was well. If the creation died in the process, Eva would simply gain back all her soul shards.
Milo pet the little doll, which wholly snuggled up against Milo's finger. The doll seemed to be kind of indifferent to Eva, however it did love Milo. Milo had no idea why this was, and Eva didn't seem to know either. He did notice that whenever the doll gave him affection, Eva seemed to turn away with slightly red ears. Just like she was doing right now, was she jealous? Milo loved the fact she was jealous, it was kind of adorable to see her like this. Her own creation preferred her friend over herself
The doll reluctantly moved back to Eva's side, and she wasted no time pocketing the thing once again.
Milo let out a little chuckle, and grabbed a perfectly cooked piece of meat, his iron logic told him this was perfection itself. He took a good bite out of it, it tasted like monster meat should, absolutely terrible. Even so, he took yet another bite.
'Life is good'
Milo did worry for his two little siblings and his parents. How worried sick they must be that their dear child has been nearly gone for four months now. The castle was yet another month of travel away.
---
Milo approached the Soul Devouring Tree, his head felt like it was being split apart and pried into. He looked over at Eva to see if she was suffering a similar effect, only to be alone in his suffering. If Eva noticed his confused gaze, and casually stated
"I'm immune to all mind attacks"
Milo stared at her a little dumbfounded
"Y-you're what? That's so unfair!"
Eva shook her head and a grim expression rested on her face
"It was honestly kind of terrible, it was horrifying to see the people I came to so dearly love, especially you, with foggy eyes and a corrupted mind. I was scared I wouldn't get you guys back"
Milo pondered on the thought, and it did sound horrifying. He imagined his parents, his little siblings, Eva, Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie. All of them under some terrible thrall that only he would be immune to.
"That does sound horrifying, if I haven't done so already, I'm truly sorr-"
Eva pressed a finger to Milo's mouth, and Milo didn't make a move to resist. Frankly, his mind was already struggling to resist the thrall of the Soul Devouring Tree. She could do what she like so long as it didn't hurt his brain any further
"If you should be apologizing for anything, it should be for you being oblivious. Now think about what you've done" A soft and shy grin was on her beautiful face, and Milo slightly blushed
Milo thought back to what Eva had just told him
'So dearly love, especially you...'
Milo's face burned much brighter, and he instinctively summoned the Engaged mode of Carmen's Masterpiece to hide his face under the angular visor. What he didn't know, was that the usual blue slits of indifference that only acted as a way to see that someone alive was under the armor had a new addition. Bright pink pixels shined under the blue slits that just seemed slightly wider.
'My head hurts... damn you Eva'
It seemed the Soul Devouring Tree was not the only insidious being trying to win over his mind and heart.