The Mesh was relentless. Arwin was still desperately trying to pull himself out of his stupor and think over the Mesh’s parting words to him when new sentences of gold traced through the air to replace the old ones. Your Class Specialization has evolved. Cursed Dwarven Smithing has changed to Forbidden Soulmancy. Arwin blinked, then wiped at his eyes as he squinted at the words. He supposed that it was pointless task to be surprised that the Mesh hadn’t just advanced his smithing — it had advanced the Cursed tag as well. Forbidden… that sounds a whole lot more intimidating than cursed. I wonder if the Mesh took me literally about being willing to let the Menagerie take on all the challenges they could if it meant they could grow strong enough to defend themselves. And what is Soulmancy? Clearly something to do with the Soul Guardians, right? I have to tell Lillia about this and figure out what it’ll let me do before the tournament rolls around. Olive needs her — More gold letters sliced through the air and Arwin’s thoughts alike. It didn’t seem that the Mesh planned to give him more than a brief moment to catch his breath between each announcement until it had finished telling him everything it wanted to. New Skill Choice Available. Protecting people was one thing. Transforming himself into the very armor he made was an entirely different one. It doubtlessly came with enormously powerful benefits and the ability to basically become an eternally adapting defense for his guild… but at the cost of his own body. A life lived as a metal chunk was not a real life. Taking this skill would mean giving up his ability to taste food. To hug his friends. To live. Arwin wasn’t so sure that he wanted to give up everything he had for some more power. Not when there were other options. And that led him to [Lifebreaker]. Arwin could see immediately why it was [Forbidden]. Even if he’d never heard of the classification before, the skill was literally a guarantee of death. When it connected, one of the two people involved in the blow was gone. Completely and utterly wiped out. It was a skill meant for a man who desired nothing but the ultimate revenge. Arwin was also pretty sure that the existence of this skill technically confirmed that there was in fact an afterlife of some sort — and that there was a way to remove people from accessing it. I know I myself have said that there’s no such thing as evil magic, just evil methods… but this is just evil. Who am I to determine who gets to enter the afterlife or whatever happens after that? What if people are completely shaped by their circumstances? Wouldn’t their soul still be technically pure and have a chance of becoming a good person later on? I don’t know. I won’t be the one to decide that, though. I’m not living solely for revenge. Thanks… but no thanks. Only one skill remained to look at. [Forbidden][Volcanic Soul](Passive) – Take the fire that burns the furnace of your soul and push it past the limits of what a mortal soul can handle. Should your will be strong enough, become tempered. Should you fail, your body and soul alike will be consumed. “Volcanic Soul,” Arwin murmured to himself. The skill almost didn’t fit in with the others. It was clearly adjacent to Soul Flame, but on an entirely different level. It had clearly earned the right to be a [Forbidden] skill by right of the threat that his soul could simply burn away to ash simply by selecting it. There was so little information as to what the skill would actually let him do. But, if it really was similar to [Soul Flame], then it was more than just a powerful option. It was a ridiculous one. Dwarven Smithing relied heavily on lava to purify and work with items. If he could fill that lava with the soul-empowered equivalent, he could already imagine just how significant of a boost to his crafting abilities that would provide. I could work with materials that were beyond me. I could produce things faster and connect to them better since the magma would be a portion of my own soul rather than just imbued with [Soul Flame]. And that was just for crafting. If [Volcanic Soul] let him control soul-empowered lava… well, there weren’t many things on a battlefield that were more terrifying than a literal wall of lava crashing down on somebody, not to mention soul-empowered lava. That wasn’t to say the ability was all positives. It was generic in description, so he had no clue as to the full extent of what it would cover. There was also the rather significant matter of actually having to survive getting it. Forbidden Skills didn’t seem like they were going to ever be easy. But Arwin hadn’t asked for easy. He’d asked the Mesh for a way to defend his people — and it had more than given it to him. He scanned over all the options that floated before him one last time. There was no point. He’d already come to his decision. Out of every single ability, there was one that fit in the goals he’d had with every ability choice since the very beginning. There was only one that made both his crafting and combat stronger. One that could create as well as destroy. “I’ve made my decision,” Arwin said, his hands tightening at his side. “I’m not going to die to an ability, Mesh. And I’m getting answers to all those questions you asked me on my own. Give me Volcanic Soul.” The golden words slipped away.