Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) by James Callum (reading tree .txt) 📕

Jacob nodded, feeling a little unsure. The item’s description - like most items in Lormar - held an echo of their history. By examining them he could find out information that was normally not possible to know.

“You may call me Fenris if you wish,” the Fire Oppa said, bowing forward a little on all four paws. “It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. But that is not all that I have to give to you.”

“I’m certainly not going to say no to anything else,” Jacob said with a chuckle. Though he had to admit, this had all the hallmarks of a buildup to a devastating boss fight.

Which, he supposed, it was. Getting better gear, reinforcing his parameters, getting special buffs, refilling his spells, and [Cinder Ampoules], was all indicative that he was about to need every last increase to his strength just to survive.

The Pyre’s flames shifted from red-orange to an intensely hot blue for a moment and then cooled. Fenris padded alongside the flames, shifting the ashes with his paws into little designs as he went. “Place your hand into the Pyre and think of another whose flames you have lit.”

Jacob did as he was instructed. He thought of the Steps of Penance Pyre and to his surprise, the flames shifted to show him a vision of that place. It was from the perspective of the Pyre itself but he could clearly see Brother Aker seated off to the side looking quite bored.

He could feel the connection between himself and that Pyre. The prompt that flashed across his vision only served to confirm his suspicion.

Travel to Steps of Penance Pyre?

A shake of his head was enough to disengage from the spell and he sat back down. The ability to move between Pyres was an incredibly powerful ability.

It changed everything about how he planned to fight the Burgon Beast. Already, a new plan was taking root.

Petting the Fire Oppa, Jacob smiled. “That is amazing, Fenris. Thank you. Is this all because I joined the Phoenix Covenant?”

“Partially,” he said, gently pressing his head a little harder into Jacob’s palm. Even petting Fenris felt different. Jacob could feel the connection he had to the Fire Oppa, it brought a perpetual smile to his face. “Igniting the Pyres as you have allowed me to offer the Covenant to you. And while it is true, only members of the Phoenix Covenant may travel between Pyres, I still would have offered the shield to you.”

“But everything else?”

“Yes, everything else was because you joined the Covenant. I would have thought you understood the importance and strengths of Covenants by now,” Fenris said, giving Jacob a knowing look.

After witnessing the lengths the Vile Covenant went to in order to exact their revenge, he certainly did.

What the Phoenix Covenant offered him was worlds beyond what the Vile Covenant did. And this Covenant I have no intention of betraying.

“If I’m going to be able to wield this shield, I’ll need to reinforce my Temper quite a bit,” Jacob said, his voice taking on a wheedling tone. “There anything you could do to help me with that?”

Fishing for a discount couldn’t hurt.

Fenris snorted twin jets of white-hot fire at Jacob’s palm. Despite the intensity of the flames, it only tickled. The Fire Oppa turned around and padded back to the Pyre. “Unfortunately, no. I am not running a business. These things have rules, Jacob. Just as I could not offer you a Covenant without you lighting six Pyres, I cannot give you a discount on reinforcing your parameters.”

“Ah well,” Jacob said, setting the shield to prop up against his helm. “It was worth a try.”

In order to equip the [Phoenix Tree Crest Shield], Jacob would need to balance out the extra 3 points of Guilt it carried over that of his [Kite Shield]. The easiest method was to reinforce TMP by 3 points. That way he could keep his [Mace] handy, which he still needed to reinforce and ascend.

Reinforcing TMP 3 points would halve his Souls down to 11,228. He might need to reinforce it a fourth time if, for some reason, it didn’t drop him down to tier 2 Guilt. Though it pained him to spend so many Souls at once, he knew it was the right thing to do.

Committing his Souls Jacob immediately felt lighter, free of the oppressive Guilt equipping the [Phoenix Tree Crest Shield] had imposed.

When Jacob put his helm back on and picked up the [Phoenix Tree Crest Shield], however, he noted that it didn’t seem to weigh him down any more than the [Kite Shield] did.

[Status]

 Jacob Windsor

Covenant: Phoenix

Race: Kemora - Fae-touched (Human/Fairy)

Level: 25

Health: 132

Stamina: 94

Anima: 0

Souls: 11,228

Required Souls: 4,271

Parameters

VIT: 4

AGI: 8

END: 7

TMP: 14

STR: 10

DEX: 10

INT: 8

FTH: 3

Curse: Fractured Sight

Curse Level: 1

Spell Gem: Heat Blade (3/3)

Spell Gem: Flame Blade (1/1)

Just to be sure he didn’t need to reinforce TMP again, Jacob got up and walked a tight circle around the Pyre. Camilla looked up at him curiously.

“Just checking something out,” Jacob said, answering her unasked question.

It wasn’t slowing him down more than the normal 10%, he was sure of it.

Rather than needing to reinforce TMP a fourth time, he could save 4,271 Souls for something else, like STR.

Even with the glut of Souls he recently acquired, it was ridiculously easy to blow through them all without a significant change in parameters. However, each parameter was quite potent.

Simply being able to wear the equipment he was while moving with only a slight penalty was a massive improvement over his life back on Earth.

Next, Jacob took out his [Mace] and the 9 [Dull Sparks] he needed to reinforce the already upgraded weapon to +10. “I need this upgraded to the maximum.”

The Fire Oppa looked at the weapon curiously but said nothing as he took both the [Dull Sparks] and the requisite Souls for each reinforcement. For the first 5 reinforcements, the cost was 500 Souls.

[Equipment Reinforcement]

Mace [Weapon] +1 -> Mace [Weapon] +5

Cost: 2,000 Souls

Physical Damage: 109 -> 171

Type: Blunt

Scaling: STR [B+] -> STR [A+]

Light Attack: