psychometery

Which meant I was fresh out of reasons not to do this. Shifting my hold on the hammer, I took a deep, unnecessary breath and felt something click into place.

Psychometry (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00%
A skill given to those with the ability to feel the impressions left on objects by the Aura of living beings and draw information from them. By piecing together thousands of different markings on an object, entire scenes may be reconstructed, potentially long after the event itself occurred. Powerful scenes may leave stronger impressions, but the user’s ability to piece together faint traces, as well as to draw information from them, increases with both WIS and skill level.
Base time: 1 week.

The images came over me in a rush, flashing across my mind as if thrown into it by a storm. I felt something tense in me and reached out, prepared to either stop the storm or pick something to focus on, but I drew back at the last second and let things play out. It was at once a rapid process and a drawn out one, with scenes slowing down and then skipping ahead—or perhaps backwards, in this case—seemingly at random. Most of it was of labs and cleansings, of heat and careful washings and more, but I barely paid those attention and the process seemed to pick up on my impatience because it hastened accordingly until it reached the image I…I wasn’t certain if ‘want’ was the word or ‘need,’ but the image I had to see.

For a moment, I saw my father’s face again. For a moment, I heard his voice again. I stood beside him again as he fought and I watched him die again. Then I went back further to see everything that led up to it, though the images became harder and harder to focus on.

Then the moment passed and I drew back, closing my eyes once more and keeping my expression blank.

A skill has been created through a special action! By drawing on the experience of a fallen master, the skill ‘Hammer Mastery’ was created!

A skill has been created through a special action! By drawing on the experience of a fallen master, the skill ‘Thunder Hammer Technique’ was created!

“Jaune,” Bianca said again, as if only a moment had passed—which I confirmed was the case with a glance out the back of my neck, checking the clock on the wall. Even as I did, though, the majority of my attention remained on Bianca and the concern on her face. “Are you okay?”

I took a moment longer to organize my thoughts and review the new experience. I’d relieved the battle against Conquest—or at least, the part outside of my father’s mind or soul—but from the perspective of my father’s weapon. It had been an odd way to experience the battle, composed as much of motions as images, but it was still enough to fill in some blanks. Even though the edges were blurred as I went further back, I’d felt the traces of Aura come together at my will and recreate the battle, even filling in a few parts I’d been absent for and left me feeling reassured that it was over, that Conquest hadn’t pulled anything while I was preoccupied.