As the party charged down the hall, mowing down any monsters that got in their way, they passed by a door that exuded magic. This caused them to stop in their tracks. Cautiously, Burning Bright opened the door. Inside, there was a lot of ornate design, paintings on the walls, a particularly well-designed mirror, among other decorations. Other than that, there was little more of importance than a single chest.

The party stepped forward, slightly suspicious, but Garett and Chrome detected no traps in the room at all. Upon releasing the catch, the lid flipped open to reveal a set of gems. They came in various colours, from red to purple, from gold to black. The gems rose into the air and hovered there for a moment. Then, one by one, the gems flew toward a member of the party at high speed.

The red gem embedded itself in Chrome's right eye. He immediately fell to the floor, rolling around in pain.

The light green gem struck Garett in the right eye, and he fell similarly.

The gold gem embedded in Burning Bright's neck, right around where his flame sac would be.

Emberglow got hit in the forehead by one gem that was a very light blue.

Winter got a darker green one applied to her right foreleg. This didn't hurt nearly as much as what war happening to the others, butit still hurt like a sucker!

Asterion got a light blue one embedded in his left arm, to much the same effect as Winter's.

Genevive got a dark green one affixed to her chest.

Io was hit in the gut by a dark red one.

Kendo and Imbi's gems transformed into hammer shapes, which affixed to their right forelegs.

Berry got a white one to her throat.

Peach got a cerulean blue one to her forehead.

The remaining gems fell back into the chest, which flipped shut.

New pathways were created within them, changing their systems somewhat.

Chrome, being the first hit, was the first to recover. When he got up, a notification window popped up.

Ability acquired: Truesight
When your left eye is closed and you focus on learning the truth behind something, this ability will activate. You will learn the mechanics of it, the quality, the strengths and weaknesses of it and so forth.

Garett recovered next.

Ability acquired: Counter-spy
The gem embedded in your eye will allow you to take on a camoflaged state, as well as allow you to automatically spot otherwise invisible objects and beings.

Emberglow and Genevive got up next, shaking their heads to clear them

Ability acquired: Nature's Wrath.
The gems in your shoulders allowyou to connect more deeply with natural elements and glean new knowledge from them, or even learn new spells thus.

Ability acquired: Beyond Divinity
The gem you've been bonded with will automatically apply a X2 multiplier to any divine spell you cast.

Asterion and Winter recovered from their stunned state next.

Ability acquired: Invisible Forge
The gem in your arm will grant you an extradimensional inventory, and allow you to use or summon any materials you have therein as if they're at a forge bench. [1]

Ability acquired: Off Season
The gem you've bonded with will increase your affinity with natural elements, and allow you to magically create temporary soldiers from that material.

Burning Bright and Io recovered after that.

Ability acquired: Elemental Breath
This should be self explanatory, but bears clarifying anyway. This ability will allow you to change your breath attack toa diffeerent elemental type, as long as you've absorbed its power previously. (2)

Ability acquired: Iron Body
This ability increases your endurance dramatically, applying a 50% soak to any incoming physical damage and a 20% soak to magical elements

Peach and Berry recovered simultaneously too.

Ability acquired: Enchanter's Experience
This ability will automatically tell you what qualities an ingredient has and what it will mix with to make what. This will also allow you to combine spells for a myriad of different spells.

Ability acquired:Super Naturals
This will automatically double the strength of any Druid spell you cast. Simple, really.

Kendo and Imbi recovered last, as their mark was a fair bit larger.

Ability acquired: Hammer Time!
This ability will allow you to summon an enchanted smith's hammer from the mark on your foreleg. While holding this hammer, you will be able to empower weapons with energy with every strike. This will improve the quality and durability of the finished product.

The party took a moment to marvel at their newfound abilities.

Silver said, "Whoa! It's like Hearth's Warming came early!"

"Totally worth the pain." Chrome agreed.

"We're definitely ready for whatever comes now!" Genevive put in eagerly.

"Still," Peach said, "I get the feeling that we aren't nearly there yet."

"Any progress is good progress." Asterion said. "I'll take this over nothing."

With that, the party left the room and moved on.

Author's Note

1: Think Ark: Survival Evolved.
2: Think Natsu Dragneel.