Item from He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon
Magical artifacts that unlock latent essence abilities — the keys to an essence user's full potential, each one granting a specific power based on the stone's nature.
When an essence user bonds an essence, only one ability awakens automatically. The remaining four abilities per essence require Awakening Stones to unlock. Each stone grants a specific type of ability — the Awakening Stone of the Reaper grants death-related powers, the Awakening Stone of the Champion grants heroic abilities, and so on. This creates an economy and a power system simultaneously: awakening stones are valuable, rare at higher tiers, and determine the specific shape of an adventurer's power set. The difference between two adventurers with identical essences can come down entirely to which awakening stones they used.
Crystalline stones that vary in size and color based on their type. Each stone contains the concentrated magical potential needed to awaken a specific ability within a bonded essence. They glow with internal light when near a compatible user.
Also known as: Awakening Stones, Stones