Legacy Hunter

'Checking the stuff about the Legacy might be a good way to spend time. But I'm honestly not sure if I'll be able to pay close attention to it. You know I'm tired, and I'm still worried about Blue,' Hera admitted, making sure to speak in Daskka's mind to not trouble anyone around them.

"I'm sorry, mum, but we have to talk about it today. If you don't come, then everything will just go automatically. You won't have any input in the skills and the things that you're going to get."

'Ok,' Hera held back a sigh. Considering everything that happened today, getting a few legacies seemed like the least important of it all. 'Let's start with the easy one, then. Let me check the title I got first.'

She glanced back and called her entire court in their weapon forms. She told all the blades to stay in front of her but away from the bed. Since all the skills would affect the Legacy, and by default her court, it was only fair that they gave their opinion on any decisions she was going to make.

With them all in the corner, making sure to stay away from the entrance of this part of the tent, Hera moved up her attributes and opened the new title she had gotten.

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Legacy Hunter - Title

The Legacy is a unique combination of skills that transcend the limits of the system. Those in possession of such power change on a fundamental level. Yet, they are still indistinguishable from a regular person. Only someone who possesses a Legacy and has the drive, or the greed, to track down several other Legacies to add to their own is able to recognize the change caused by such a set of skills. Once the difference is noticed, anyone who is considered a Legacy Hunter is able to recognize the presence of a Legacy. A truly skilled hunter is even able to understand the core functionality and purpose of a Legacy.

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The Empress read the description for her court, as she was going to do with every notification since they couldn't see them.

'So now you can recognize people who have Legacies?' Vulcan asked.

'It seems like it. I wasn't able to do that so far, but maybe it's just because there was a lot going on,' Hera replied.

'I am more interested in the last phrase. If you become able to understand the purpose of the Legacy, that could potentially help you make the court even more powerful,' Lurize added.

'That's true. I just really hate the description. I wasn't the one chasing after a Legacy out of greed,' Hera replied.

'But it was your drive to save others that put you on this path,' Nimbus said, turning to the Empress. Even while he was in his tonfa form, Hera could tell he was smiling while saying that.

'Well, at least that's simple. I just wonder how many Legacies someone would need to get for this title. What's next?' The Empress turned to Daskka.

"Next is what you got from the actual Legacies. For starters, an explanation. I can say for a fact that Morgan had three Legacies," the snake started.

'How is that possible?' Viper gasped.

Daskka gave the white dagger a blank stare. "I am about to explain that. Can you give me a moment?"

'Oh… sorry.'

"Anyway, his main Legacy was the tattoo one. It's called Inherited Tapestry, and according to Blade, it should be the one that belonged to the centaurs. I'll circle back to that soon, but let me just explain the rest first. He also had two more Legacies with him. I only learned about this now, but when one Legacy absorbs another, it takes a while for the process to be completed. During that time, you kind of have some remains of the previous Legacies still in you while they're being assimilated. You can think of it as if the Legacy was having lunch but got too full to finish up the meal, so it saved it for later. Everything that it already ate is now part of the Legacy, but the half sandwich it left behind is still its own sandwich, even if it belongs to the Legacy. Does that make sense?" Daskka turned to Hera.

'Yeah. There's a limit on how much the Legacy can absorb at once. Makes sense.'

"Exactly. So the two other Legacies he got, Azure Chain and Stormcloud, were still in the process of being assimilated. And because he took two at once, that was taking even longer to complete. From what I can tell, it is likely that he first got Azure Chain, and then Stormcloud was something much more recent, just because of the amount of skills still available from each Legacy. That's why both of them are considered partial Legacies. A good chunk of them was already on the floor, so there's nothing we can do to recover that."

Hera looked at Blue, who was sleeping on the bed by her side. 'And is there any way for us to give Stormcloud back?'

Daskka shook her head. "No. The Legacy has already been removed. We can either abandon all the skills, or assimilate them. Those are the only two options we have."

Hera nodded. 'Ok. You said that Azure Chain is the one with fewer skills being assimilated, right?'

"Right, and honestly, it's a shame. That Legacy seems to be a really good fit for us."

'What does it do?' Crimson asked.

"There are five skills still available from the Azure Chain Legacy. But basically, the idea is that it can create these metal chains and use them as weapons. Then the skills focus on making them attack, defend, trap people, or just move around. The keystone ability, and that's not an official term, it's just how I'm calling it since it's the most important skill for the Legacy, is called Chainforge. Basically, it's a version of mum's Venomous Arsenal, but for chains."

'That does sound like a good fit. Which skills can we add?' Forge asked.

"Pretty much all of them, with the exception of one called Azure Bind. That one is a trapping skill that requires chains or some sort of string to work. By itself, it couldn't fit with the Court of Blades," Daskka jerked her head up, trying and failing to spook Hera as a joke. "But I think the first one we should take is Chainforge, because depending on how that adds to the Legacy, we might be able to add the bind without any problems. Aside from it, the skills are Azure Motion, which helps move the chains; Chain Barrier, that makes the chains spiral around the target to form a barrier; and the attack skill called Chain Reaver. It kind of makes the chains behave a bit like a chainsaw. It makes the links bladed and able to cut through things. Again, those were not all the skills that the Legacy had, just the ones that are still in the partial version of the Legacy."

Hera nodded. 'I do believe we should start with the Chainforge skill then, since it might affect how the others work. But before we make any final decision, can we talk about everything else? Maybe there's something that is more helpful for us right now. Does everybody agree with that?' She turned to her blades, getting a confirmation from everyone.

"No problemo. Now, for Stormcloud, there are nine skills available. But most of them just don't fit. For instance, Lightning Rain can create a lightning storm in a specific area. Great skill, but it has nothing to do with the Court of Blades. Aqua Vortex is the same thing. A nice elemental attack, but not really helpful for us. Five of the skills the Legacy had all fit into that same category. Elemental attacks that sound great, but just wouldn't work with us. The other four, on the other hand, could work."

"First, Storm Eye. It basically creates an area that can buff allies. The ability to control the weather and make the area safer will probably be lost, but the buff will still be there. Electromagnetic Field can interact with the properties of metal. I can't really tell if it will turn into a buff for us or a disruption skill, but the Court of Blades can take it. Cloudform Manipulation and Tempest Summon go hand in hand. It will either become two skills that complement each other or one single skill. Basically, one lets you create cloud constructs that can store spells inside of them, and the other lets you shape those clouds the way you want. My guess is that Blue used this one to make her giant hands," Daskka continued.

'It's a bit strange that that skill works while the others don't. I mean, there are elemental fighting styles that could become part of the Legacy,' Pyro said.

'That's true. Look at Eira. Master Yu must have made her using martial arts,' Robin nodded.

'But the Court of Blades is not about fighting styles. Not even really about weapons,' Hera said, making her entire court stare at her in confusion.

'What do you mean by that?' Twiggy asked.

'That our Legacy is not about weapons. It's about mana constructs. Think about it. There's not a single fighting style-based skill in the Legacy. Sure, you can individually have skills that improve some attacks or that make it easier for you to fight, but the Legacy itself, all of its skills, are about creating and managing the court members. When you really think about it, there is only one skill that explicitly affects battles, and that's Battlebond. Even Army of One does not specify anything about actual battles,' Hera explained.

Daskka blinked. "Holy shit. I never realized that. But yeah, that makes complete sense. How long has it been since you noticed that? Why did you never talk to us about it?"

'Because I realized that… now?' Hera frowned. She wasn't really sure when she had realized that. As a matter of fact, this was something she thought for the first time right now. Yet, there was not a shred of doubt in her statement. She was absolutely sure about every single word related to the essence of her Legacy, almost as if something was confirming what she said.

Not wanting to dwell on that, at least not right now, the Empress just continued. 'We can talk about that later. For now, let's focus on the legacies. What about the last one? What did he have? Because it's the biggest one, right?'

Daskka nodded. "It is. The Legacy is called Inherited Tapestry, and it's all about tattoos. It's weird too, because there are a bunch of minor skills related to tattooing others and connecting tattoos and stuff like that. But the keystone skill only had value once you passed the Legacy to someone else. Basically, it lets you create a tattoo that will contain one of your skills. And the skill can be whatever, as long as that's what the tattoo is showing. Then the next Legacy holder will get that skill at the same power the previous one had. They could even improve that skill and pass the better version to the next holder along with the new skill that they themselves put into the Legacy."

'So it really is, well, was a Legacy that focused on the future?' Clay asked.

"Pretty much. It has fifteen of those tattoo skills, including one that seems to be from Blade, one from Frostbite, one from Morgan, and one from the Wendigo, and one from each of the legacies, Azure Chain and Storm Cloud. Then another eight minor skills that are related to tattooing in general."

'That is a lot,' Hera sighed. Even if it was an incredible upgrade, deciding all that was starting to sound like a lot of work. Not to mention, she wasn't really sure if she would like the idea of having something that came from a Wendigo. A part of her understood that those creatures were monsters like any other. Saying that she didn't want anything to do with them would be the same as saying that she didn't want a specific type of ore or the leather of a specific bear. It didn't really make sense, but at the same time, there was a strange feeling attached to it.

"It is. Do you want to stop?"

The Empress glanced to the side. Her water bottle was currently empty, and the distraction finally allowed her stomach to rumble. 'Let's take a small break. I'll go get something to drink and eat, then we continue. I want to know what skills that tattoo Legacy has.'