The core function of Animancy is the restructuring of one’s soul. It is the only skill—aside from when one is allowed to delve into their Legendary-Tier Skills—that allows you to shape your own story. You become an editor, so to speak, of your legend, or someone else’s legend.

Not everything can be changed, but the soul itself is valuable, and certain details are open to interpretation.

Most treacherously, Animancy allows you to damage the soul, to break its structure through contradictions, or to collapse a skill from within by adding things that do not fit. And then there is raw Animancy mana, what I like to think of as the true potential, the possibility of anything.

It glows the faintest blue. Blue that seems to melt and settle on the surface of the world, but never fully sinks in. It is like an injection of ink, a tattoo on the face of reality.

And if you are unfortunate enough to witness someone consumed by Animancy, then you understand the horrors of the everlasting story. Reality does not kill you, not fully, but it can break you so much that you become part of the world’s story, that you are melted in the tapestry of existence itself. There is no you, and there is only you. But where you begin, and the System ends, who can say?

I suppose I can eventually say, I have looked into this many times. I have tried to commune with the soul scattered. Sometimes I can hear them scream, but there are no true thoughts, only feelings, feelings of terror, pain, confusion and loss, and then there are greater feelings, things I cannot even fathom right now.

I suspect that it is the world itself expressed through the narrow funnel of a single being, or maybe it’s the voice of the System mocking me, insulting me, taunting me…

-Udraal Thann’s Animancy Notes

128 (I)

Animated [I]

“Shiv,” Uva said, her left eye twitching slightly. “How did you manage to do this, exactly?”

Shiv shrugged, and he gave her an apologetic smile. “Well, I was fixing Can Hu up, I filled a few of its, uh, soul holes, and then I noticed his vitality flickering in a weird place afterward. So, then I thought that I wanted to compare how an intact skill looked and felt compared to one of the damaged skills, so I could figure out how to fix the broken ones.”

“And then?” Uva asked as she connected Shiv to Valor. Shiv felt the Legendary Pathbearer slide into his mind, and Valor’s presence was at once anxious but also highly excited.

Glad I’m being treated like a magical project, Shiv thought to himself.

“Oh, do not complain, Shiv,” Valor said. “This is a good thing. You have not exploded yet. And if you’re going to explode now, there was likely nothing we could have done to prevent it.”

“Thanks, Valor. That’s very, very comforting.”

“Jests aside,” Valor continued. “I think that unless you are interfacing with the Necromancy Skill, I do not believe you will explode. Vitality has accommodated most skills within you. And so, at least in theory, every skill aside from Necromancy should be stable within the confines of your Vitaemancy field.”

Shiv gave a grunt of acknowledgement. He guessed that was probably the case, but he wasn’t educated on this matter, so he didn’t assume. Frankly, Valor wasn’t educated on it either. So in that sense, the Legendary Pathbearer was groping around the dark as much as Shiv was. What Valor did have was knowledge of Animancy, and right now, that was their best bet on understanding Shiv’s new skill.

And his memories on that front are all kinds of busted too, Shiv thought to himself. And that brought his nervousness back.

“Again, do not worry too much,” Valor said. “I think we are about to gain more benefits from examining your Vitaemancy rather than risking utter destruction.”

“Here’s hoping,” Shiv muttered.

“So you reached into Can Hu,” Uva said, “and you grasped one of its active skills.” Official source is noveⅼfire.net

“Yeah.” Shiv nodded.

Uva gave him an uncertain look. “And when you reached deeper, you gained its Poetry Skill?”

“I don’t think I gained the skill itself. It’s just… an Animated Skill Infusion,” Shiv said.

“And what does that mean?” Uva asked.

“What does that mean, Valor?” Shiv asked in turn.

“I have no idea,” Valor repeated.

“Well there you go, Uva. He has no idea. So neither do I.”

The Psychomancer let out a long, suffering sigh. “Shiv. Dear brute. Wonderful cook, sweet, adorable man.” She reached out and grabbed him by the sides of his face. Shiv was grinning, and then his grin faltered slightly as she began to shake him. “Can you, just perhaps, stop unleashing mind-bending and potentially dangerous surprises every day?”

“I was just trying to help Can Hu,” Shiv said, wincing.

“I know,” Uva said, her voice becoming gentle. “I’m also aware, however, that everything you do seems to result in strange happenings or mass destruction. It’s…”

“Tiring,” Shiv offered.

“Yes,” Uva said, “I’m exasperated, surprised, but also increasingly used to the constant. Depending on how this goes, it might drive Adam insane.”

Shiv lifted an eyebrow. “Well, thank the System I figured out how to do this, then.”

“Shiv. Be nice.” Uva chided. She pulled on his ear slightly, as she would with Ikki, and she frowned as he simply grinned at her.

“That feels kind of nice. Are you pulling hard?”

“Not everyone can have your Physicality,” Uva pouted. “Some of us just bend in strange ways and abnormal ways.”

“I don’t mind that,” Shiv said, staring into her eyes. “Sometimes bending is better. Bending is what I prefer—”

Just then, Valor coughed. Which was remarkable considering his lack of lungs.

“Oh, shit.” Shiv shuddered. “Uh, Valor, sorry, I, uh…”

“You forgot I was here again,” Valor muttered. He sounded slightly insulted.

“Yeah, you know, something like that,” Shiv replied. He was slightly embarrassed. Uva, meanwhile, covered her face, horrified that she had gotten carried away as well.

“Well, in the hopes of sparing Can Hu the trauma I endured,” Valor said dryly, “I think we should begin experimenting with this Animated Skill Infusion, whatever it is. Can you move the skill inside you?”

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“No,” Shiv replied, and just then the skill began to rhyme again. “Oh, how lovely the moon, how high its rise, far away from reach, but so close to our eyes. So close to our spirits, yet far from our hands. Above all, and within the knot, you gleam down at the land.”

This time, it wasn’t Can Hu’s voice that came forth. It sounded like a young woman’s.

“I remember this,” Can Hu said, voice suddenly wistful. “My first pilot. She was practicing her poetry. I think I gained the skill by reciting this poem to myself when she wasn’t aware, and I was only beginning to step into higher thought.”

“Of course,” Valor said. “All skills have a point of inception. Your repetition and constant consideration of its meaning likely constituted the first moment of true strain for you.”

Shiv frowned at that. “Wait, so I’m pretty sure I recited a poem once. Why didn’t I get a poetry skill?”

“How hard did you think about the poem?” Uva asked.

Shiv blinked. He couldn’t even remember what poem he’d recited. Probably something that Georges wanted him to remember, just to increase his vocabulary. “Uhh…”

Uva hummed. “So. You have your answer.”

“I guess I need to remember some harder poems or some shit,” Shiv muttered to himself.

“Shiv, focus,” Valor called out.

“Right,” Shiv said. “What do you want me to do now? I can’t really move it. It’s, uh, it’s not like a solid thing. It’s just infused inside my Vitae. I feel a presence there. It recites poetry every now and then, but that’s about it.”

“That’s about it, eh?” Valor said, clicking his teeth together. “And it’s still inside of you. It hasn’t left yet. It’s not dissipating. And so why does it call itself an Animated Skill Infusion?”

Valor spoke more to himself than Shiv, and the Deathless stared at Can Hu awkwardly. “Well, either way, at least I didn’t explode.”

“And I’m eternally grateful for that, Pathbearer,” Can Hu said, bowing slightly. “Though I am confused. How did you traumatize Legend Valor?”

“I, uh,” Shiv said. He trailed off as he eyed Uva, and she simply shook her head, eyes widening in abject horror. “Me and Uva got carried away doing something. But that’s not important right now.”

“Secrets held between team members often result in undue friction,” Can Hu noted. “I will not judge whatever you wish to conceal, so long as it’s not an act of true amorality.”

“No,” Uva said, face red. “It was more so a moment of accidental and unfocused debauchery.”

Shiv coughed in response. “We didn’t really mean for it to happen that way, it’s just, uh…”

And once more, his soul recited poetry, interrupting him. “Oh heart, long do you beat, loud is the sound. When you pulse, you, uh, shake the sky, and then you fall through the ground.”

“What?” Shiv said, narrowing his eyes. “I don’t know much about poetry, but that sounded…”

“Terrible?” Uva suggested.

“…Yeah, it sounded pretty bad.”

“Failure, too, is a part of one’s legend,” Valor replied. “We are not entirely composed of triumphs. In fact, triumphs are more like cornerstones or columns, while failures are the leftover material building up to them.”

Shiv thought about that, and it made perfect sense. Most of his skills were probably shaped more by failure than success anyway. He died constantly, and that fed his growth more than anything. The reason his Toughness was so far ahead was mainly because he just kept dying, kept getting broken, kept getting beaten down, and getting back up. Very little of that seemed like a triumph. Then, Shiv did something instinctive. He reached out to find his Toughness, searching for his own Vitae.

“Shiv, what are you doing?” Valor asked.

“I’m gonna find out how—”

“Stop,” Valor commanded. Shiv did. “We do this carefully. There are a great many unknown variables, and we don’t wish for you to rewrite your Toughness skill with an Infusion of Poetry.”

Shiv blinked. “That can happen?”

“Yes. Legendary Animancy can achieve such a thing. Imagine leveling Poetry rather than Toughness every time you die.”

Shiv shuddered. “Yeah. Wait. Can Animancy work on me?”

“I am… not certain. You are too aberrant. Frankly, anything could happen with you, Shiv,” Valor said. “A great many impossible abilities have already come from you. Pathbearers aren’t supposed to come back from the dead, after all. Death is also not supposed to make one stronger. Nor is someone meant to simply leave the world and hide from reality by sinking into their own soul. This abnormality is just another natural aspect of your nature, I suspect.”

“Thanks, Valor?” Shiv said, unsure if any of that was complimentary.

“It is normal to be nervous about these developments.” Valor held out a hand, and a brief crackle of corrosive mana appeared. Shiv took a step back, and Valor didn’t move at all. “Do not worry,” Valor said, “I do not intend to touch you this time. I merely need to…” Then Valor’s eyes flashed with a pulse of mana. “I still cannot observe your skills and Path. Ever since you obtained that Outside Context Problem Skill, much of you is obscured. Can you bring up your own status?”

“Yeah, sure,” Shiv said.

Name: Tanner “Shiv” Lowe

Age: 18

Race: Human

Path:

Deathless

Feats [2/2]:

He Who Rises From Ash Eternal (Unique) – Allows the Pathbearer to quickly learn new Skills and advance existing Skills through repeated deaths.

Master of Rage (Master) – Allows the Pathbearer to infuse a skill with rage to increase its effectiveness. Consumes the Pathbearer’s anger.

Skills:

Marksmanship 12 (Common)

Baking 9 (Common)

Striking Proficiency 41 (Common)

Barter 10 (Common)

Alchemy 2 (Common)

Engineering 1 (Common)

Lance Proficiency 1 (Common)

Acting 12 (Common)

Dodge 14 (Common)

Philosophy 9 (Common)

Psychology 15 (Common)

Deception 12 (Common)

Riding Proficiency 1 (Common)

Leadership 1 (Common)

Pyromancy 12 (Initiate)

Spear Proficiency 11 (Initiate)

Awareness 15 (Initiate)

Practical Metabiology 38 (Initiate)

Psychomancy 13 (Initiate)

Hydromancy 2 (Initiate)

Whip Proficiency 8 (Initiate)

Analyze 1 (Initiate)

Silver Tongue 27 (Adept)

Dread Aura 94 (Adept)

Frictionless Vector 63 (Adept)

Deepest Edge 64 (Adept)

Berserk 17 (Adept)

Adamantine Adaption 166 (Master)

Woundeater 90 (Master)

The Chef Unwavering 63 (Master)

Gravitic Wrestler 143 (Master)

Strider of the Unbending Path 135 (Master)

The Creeping Void 111 (Master)

Plaguefueled 64 (Master)

Inertial Overdrive 112 (Heroic)

Vitality Drain 54 (Legendary)

Vitaemancy 57 (Unique)

Outside Context Problem 64 (Unique)

Blessings:

Song of the Vigilant – Allows the Pathbearer to maintain absolute focus while the song is active. The song will expand out from the Pathbearer as a web and form a Resonant Perimeter.

Icon of the Paindrinker – Allows the Pathbearer to manifest the icon from their body. The icon will magnify the damage and pain Pathbearer and all nearby enemies and objects suffer.

Curses:

Favored Archenemy – An orc will always be able to sense your presence, regardless of guise or appearance. An orc will always have a sense for where you are. Regardless of dimension, world, distance, or time, you are marked for an eternal war.

Active Animated Skill Infusion

Poetry – Lyrics Like Flowing Rivers 77 (Adept)

As he did, he found an extra section at the very bottom titled Active Animated Skill Infusion. “I still don’t get what that means,” he said, gesturing at the notification.

“Me neither,” Valor replied. “Let’s try something. Do you have enough Vitae left to spend?”

“Feeling pretty cold on the inside,” Shiv said, “but yeah, I might have a few seconds left. I probably need to go drain something afterward, though.”

“Good,” Valor hummed as he looked around, and then his eyes fell on the ground. “You said that the world has a film of vitality infused over it.”

“Yeah,” Shiv said, sounding uncertain about where Valor was going with this.

“And you could consume almost anything, including parts of reality.”

“Yeah,” Shiv confirmed again, “why?”

“Is there any Vitae veiling the floor?”

Shiv eyed the ground, and it was the faintest glow, only slightly brighter than the layer over general existence itself. “Yeah, but it’s not really alive, so. I don’t know, Valor, if you’re going to have me drain that—”

“No, not drain. Contrarily, I want you to deposit some of your Vitae there. See if you can cast the Skill Infusion like a spell.”

Shiv wasn’t sure what Valor meant, but he nodded anyway. Instinct was about to guide his hand. “You guys might want to take a few steps back,” Shiv said. “Last time when I used my vitality on reality, I tore a bit of a hole open, and magic started flying out. Lightning and fire and stuff.”

Uva immediately summoned her shield to guard her. Valor remained in place. Can Hu quickly left the room. “I will return in a few seconds if this prison remains undamaged,” the Penitent called out through the door. “If not, someone must remain to inform Adam of your untimely deaths.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep