“My abilities feel incomplete,” Jason said. “Like a puzzle where I don’t have all the pieces.”

“There’s a scale,” Farrah said. “At one end of the scale is people whose abilities are individually strong. Those people don’t tend to feel what you’re feeling, because their powers might work together, but aren’t reliant on one another.”

“Those kinds of abilities are strong, but simple,” Rufus said. “Farrah’s abilities are like that.”

“Of course, simple doesn’t mean bad,” Farrah, said. “Straightforwards power is the usually most effective solution to a problem. It’s when you try to get complicated that things go wrong.”

“According to people with simple powers,” Gary said.

Farrah stuck her tongue out at Gary.

“At the other end of the scale,” Rufus continued, “are abilities that underwhelm in isolation, but used together become very dangerous. Affliction specialists tend to fall at that end of the scale, so expect your powers to feel awkward until you get the full set.”

“Doesn’t that dagger of yours poison people?” Gary said.

Jason’s dagger had been stored away along with the gear of his new companions. He had gotten it back at the same time Rufus reclaimed a pair of ostentatious blue boots. Despite the garish colour, he was demonstrably quite fond of them.

“You can rely on your dagger for an extra source of afflictions until you’ve awakened all your powers,” Gary said.

“Speaking of which,” Rufus said, “you have two more awakening stones to get through before we leave.”

Jason nodded, picking up the next stone. Unlike the awakening stones of the feast, his next awakening stone was higher rated.

Item: [Awakening Stone of Adventure] (unranked, rare)

An awakening stone filled with the spirit of adventure. (consumable, awakening stone).

Requirements: Unawakened essence ability.

Effect: Awakens an essence ability.

“With awakening stones,” Jason said, “you said rarity doesn’t make stones better, right?”

“No, just more specialised,” Farrah said. “And harder to find, obviously. All stones have some amount of focus, but there’s no telling exactly what they’ll give you. Those feast stones, for example, could have given you anything from mana-draining special attacks to conjuring food to summoning flesh-eating fish. People like to have some control, so stones with desirable specialties tend to be the most expensive.”

She patted Rufus on the knee.

“Although when you come from a big important family like Rufus here, they ship you high-rarity stones by the crate.”

“There are no guarantees when it comes to awakening powers, though,” Rufus said. “Not even with the rarest of stones. What kind of awakening stone is that one?” Rufus asked.

“Awakening stone of adventure,” Jason said.

“Really?” Farrah said, surprised.

“Those are highly sought-after,” Rufus said. “With a mid-rarity stone, it’s hard to pin down what it will give out, but it’s almost always a useful utility power.”