《Of mortals and gods》 1 - An old tomb On this grey Monday, unlike most people at work, Sarah was overjoyed as she typed her password into her work computer. The excavation of the antic mausoleum they were studying was progressing at a great pace, and she hoped her team could enter by the afternoon, maybe sooner. After checking her mail, and suppressing a few from desperate students begging her to join her team, she read the reports she sent every week to her university. Everything started eight months ago, when a petroleum company investigating the depth of the Atlantic got an anomaly in their readings. An investigation revealed a gigantic hollow bubble embedded in the oceanic floor. Of course, several scientists from various universities and state agencies showed up at once. And they went from surprise to surprise. What they thought of as a geological curiosity turned out to be an antique city, caught inside a solidified lava bubble. The media went wild after an historian claimed this was the mythic Atlantis of the ancient greeks, causing the typically bored public to take interest in this. Only one month later, after the bubble was separated from the oceanic floor and lifted to the surface, they started opening it. Thought the material of the bubble seemed to be simple basalt, it turned out to be much more unyielding, and required top-of-the-line machinery to pierce it, which slowed down the operations. When that was done, each university present got the right to search one area. Cambridge was one of those, and Sarah, as the youngest archeologist on the team, was given the right to choose first which sector of the ten by ten kilometers area she would work on. And how lucky was she! The spot she picked at random happened to contain only one building, a colossal dome almost two kilometers wide. Her architect friends were already going crazy trying to figure how it was built. After some of the exterior was freed from its rocky prison, she was able to start working. She was disappointed at first, since this building was strangely crude, devoid of any of the ornaments her colleagues were finding everywhere else. But she changed her opinion when they found a door. A door big enough for a plane to pass through, and covered in strange red paintings, vaguely reminiscent of the diagrams used by alchemists of the past. The language used was unknown, but the frenzied global effort of all the archeologists and linguists was starting to pay off, and some of those words were translated in the weeks that followed: ¡°Herein slumber the ones who shall never rest.¡± While her team was trying to free the door, she searched in every mythology compendium what that phrase could refer to. As a fan to the great Georges, she could almost hear the scraping steps of a zombie horde! But she was a professional, and she would never draw any conclusion, let alone such crazy one, from a single sentence. And even if her research was fruitless as of now, it didn''t matter, because today she would be able to see what it meant with her own eyes! ¡°Miss Lomrow, the door is almost free. Sarah thanked the old man. Henry Braind was the engineer in charge of the extraction team, and the one who assured her that the door was still intact. Sarah went up, grabbing her backpack before following him to the search site. As always, she was awed by the sight of it. The door was colossal, two hundred meters high, with two twenty meters wide panels, made of obsidian. As they were closing in, she saw one of her assistants, John, approaching. He was a PhD student in archeology, specializing in antiquity. And, most important, he wasn¡¯t vain, nor pretentious, like most of the applicants that answered her when she assembled her team. ¡°Miss, the spectroscopy is done. It''s blood, probably human.¡± He seemed quite perturbed by it, and she could see why. ¡°What, all of it?¡± The door was almost covered by paintings and writing, all done in a strange ochre pigment that intrigued the researchers, pushing them to do some analysis. She couldn''t even start to guess the quantity of blood that would be needed for that. ¡°Yes, all of it.¡± A chill ran down her spine, as she wondered what pushed people that far. What¡¯s inside that¡¯s so precious that so much human blood would be used as a decoration? Unless it had a religious signification? Even then, it was still too much.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. They stopped some distance away from the door, and Henry stepped in, coordinating his team as they started the machines that would open the door. Four mechanical cranes started pulling steel cables anchored to the doors by the engineer. While there wasn''t any resistance, the sheer weight of the stone blocks meant it would require hours before they were completely open. And Sarah wasn''t going to wait hours. After ten minutes, the young woman and her team slipped through the small opening and entered the darkness. As the light from their lamps swept the place, they quickly realised they would need more powerful projectors. They were unable to locate the top of the room, nor the other walls, which probably meant this was a single room, hundreds of meters high. And everywhere around them were statues. As far as they could see, hundreds and hundreds of statues, men, women, even beasts, all standing and looking towards the center, all shockingly lifelike. Sarah approached one, a young woman with haughty features, feathery wings and what looked like a leather armor. She was carrying a short axe and a round shield. Sarah was fascinated by the work of the artist that managed to create such a lifelike masterpiece. She could see the strength in the statue¡¯s eyes, despite them being made of stone. She touched the regal face, almost expecting human warmth, but she met only cold stone. She was interrupted in her contemplation by a cry of alarm from Lise, another student she took with her. Looking around, she saw a beam of light to her left, going up and toward the wall. Sarah ran as fast as she could, and arrived there just before the others. Lise was as pale as death, looking at the wall covered in bloody inscriptions, similar to the ones on the door, except they seemed fresher, perhaps less damaged by time. Quickly sweeping the wall with her torch, Sarah saw what frightened Lise. There wasn''t an end to the writings. If the door alone was impressive and awe-inspiring, trying to imagine the amount of blood needed for all of it was truly terrifying. While John was comforting Lise, Sarah proceeded toward the center of the room. On the way, she saw that the floor too was covered in symbols and runes. It became denser and denser as she walked, until she was in front of a continuous red line. After it, there seemed to be nothing, and the light she beamed there was quickly lost in the darkness. Looking behind her, she saw the door, the distance dwarfing it. For the first time in a while, she felt it was a true adventure. At least, I will reap the fruit of all these studies. Aventure, here I come! She could almost hear the whispers calling her forward. She walked bravely while humming the famous theme of her favorite archeologist-adventurer, and crossed the line of blood. Suddenly, the world around her changed. An enormous orb of prismatic lights rested there, and thousands of whispers called for her. She walked to the orb, which was at least ten times her size, and basked for a few moments in its warm light. She felt better than she ever had. She could feel the blood flowing in each part of her body, and her mind was crystal clear. She wanted to take her flight toward the battle, to let her rage free, to let the blood flow! To crush her enemies. See them driven before her. And hear the lamentations of their women. When Sarah opened her eyes, she first checked herself. Everything was how she left it. She didn''t know how long this strange dream lasted, but it couldn¡¯t have been that long, since none of the others had come for her. What was that? All the things she felt were so¡­ real. Picking herself up, she went for the orb. Resisting the sweet heat it radiated, she touched it, trying to guess the material. As soon as she did, an intense pain coursed through her whole body, petrifying her where she stood. ¡°BREAK IT! BREAK IT! FREE US! BREAK IT!¡± The voices in her head were nothing like the whispers that had come before. Those were orders, absolutes. But at the same time, she could feel a deep despair emanating from them. The pain was becoming unbearable, and her heartbeat turned erratic. Her vision blurred, and she barely managed to not collapse. She managed to lift her right hand, and she swung at the orb with her lamp. Nothing happened, but it was her only idea. She could feel her life slipping away, and she redoubled her effort. At some point, her lamp broke, but she continued with her fist, until it broke too. As she felt her brain slowly succumbing to the pain, something flared inside her. Lifting her broken fist once again, and ignoring the pain, she struck. To her surprise, the orb seemed to shake a little. Reenergized, she hit it again. She couldn''t see anymore, but she felt the orb shatter, and the voices stopped. As she fell unconscious, she heard a final voice. ¡°Thank you...¡± 2 - Awakening to a new world Sarah woke up drenched in sweat, in what looked like a hospital bed. Quickly looking at the clock, she realized she slept around twenty hours. She tried to lift herself off the bed, and succeeded beyond her expectations. She threw herself out of the bed so hard she fell on the ground. Ouch, how the hell did I do that? Did I lose weight? No, I would have lost strength too. She went into the bathroom while massaging her elbow. She ran some water over her hand and face. As she lifted her head towards the mirror, she met her own gaze and froze, her attention caught by the sight. ¡°Is that me?¡± She checked herself, and it seemed the mirror wasn''t lying. While Sarah was in quite a good shape, her body well-toned from archery, aikido and climbing practice, she still maintained a rather slim figure. But the image that stared back at her in the mirror was that of a slightly bulkier version of herself. She was still feminine, but her arms were clearly more muscular. Tossing her coat on the floor, she turned to check her back. The muscles of her shoulders and back were far more developed. She looked again at her face. Everything seemed to still be there. White skin, only lightly tanned, brown almond eyes, oval face, short light brown hair that stopped short of her jaw... ¡°Miss Lomrow, are you there?¡± The voice was that of a woman, coming from the bedroom. Sarah went out of the bathroom to see a young woman wearing a white coat that looked at her with surprise, before blushing and turning her back to Sarah. ¡°Sorry, I didn''t knew you were busy! I''ll let you get dressed!¡± As the young woman hurriedly left, Sarah noticed she was sporting a green and gold caduceus on the back of her coat, which was surprising. It was a well-known symbol of doctors and medicine in general, but it was rare to see it like that. She knew nurses had some colorful scrubs, but she always thought lab coats had to remain white and pristine. Sarah quickly dressed herself, even if her shirt was a little too tight on her shoulders now. As she left the room, she noticed the young doctor just outside, looking intensely in the other direction. She turned around. ¡°Hello, Miss Lomrow, and again, sorry for my intrusion¡± she said as she bowed deeply. Sarah dismissed the apology with a wave of her hand. ¡°No problem. Tell me, what happened to me? And what''s your name?¡± Though she remembered it all neatly, she wanted to know what other people saw and understood. ¡°You can call me Audrey. I am part of the medical team that intervened after your friends called us. They said they were looking around the mausoleum when a bright flash of light radiated from its center. When their vision returned, they saw the sculptures moving and gaining colors before either disappearing or flying away. They went to find you. You were unconscious, with severe burns and a broken arm. By the time we got there, there was only one sculpture left, thought it was clearly not a sculpture anymore. He introduced himself as Hermes, god of medicine, travelers and quick-witted people. Then he smiled, and asked who was going to do the right thing first. Everyone was astounded, but I rushed to you, and started tending to your burns. I heard the man saying ¡°Here''s a quick one, congratulations.¡± There was a warm wind, your burns healed instantly, as did your arm. I turned toward Hermes, and he just threw me this coat, saying it would be useful to me.¡± She said all this as fast as she could, almost choking on her words, probably due to the excitement that was hinted by her flushed cheeks and gleaming eyes. Is she lying? But why would she? It all seemed far too strange to be true, but the orb was strange too, and the chain of events seemed right. ¡°So, you met a god? And, wait a second, Hermes? Wasn¡¯t the god of medicine in ancient Greece Asclepios? Or Apollon, I don¡¯t remember well.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I think there was something like that yes. I can always ask him, he invited me to go meet him in Greece if I had questions. And you should see the internet! People are going crazy there! It seems that several people received presents or powers from gods.¡± THAT was something else. GODS? Like, plurals? Handing out presents and powers? That was obviously a fake rumor, right? ¡°And what does this coat have that¡¯s special, except the caduceus I mean.¡± If this was truly a present from a god, it should be special, right? ¡°It seems to reject filth. I can¡¯t sully it, whatever I throw at it. I¡¯m also never cold when I wear it, neither hot. Isn¡¯t that great!¡± Once again, she was getting overexcited. ¡°Yes, it is.¡± Sarah was wondering if she was more muscular because of a god. ¡°Didn¡¯t another god leave something? Like an explanation or anything like that?¡± ¡°No, sorry. Anyway, you should eat something, because I¡¯ll be making more inspections, just making sure everything is really all right with you. I mean, I already did the standards checks, but I would like to understand exactly what happened.¡± Audrey led her to the cafeteria, and the two women went on discussing their hypothesis on the events. Audrey showed Sarah a new website, where people had already started to put everything happening regarding gods. There were reports of gods appearing everywhere, often to a prominent figure in a field, like Stephen Hawking, who met several gods, and was now healthier than ever. As they scrolled through the reports, the chat on the side suddenly went crazy. Looking at it, they were redirected to a new section of the website, which included a map, and was used to localize every event. An unbelievable number of reports were appearing, all on the same places. And to an archeologist, they were especially significant: Olympus Mount in Greece, King¡¯s valley in Egypt, Kyoto in Japan, Lyon in France, Teotihuacan in Mexico, and several other places, all deeply linked with different pantheons, different mythologies. The reports were about the sudden appearance of several structures, or instantaneous repairs of existing ones. Sarah was examining pictures of the new temple on top of Olympus Mount, when she felt her phone vibrate. She had totally forgotten it was there. She saw it was John¡¯s number. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s Sarah.¡± ¡°There is someone here for you¡­¡± The voice was John¡¯s, but it seemed strange to her. ¡°What¡¯s happening? Is everything okay?¡± ¡°Yeah, but you should really come fast, she doesn¡¯t seem really patient. We¡¯re at the base.¡± Sarah hung up, and stood up, to see Audrey barring her way. ¡°Where do you think you¡¯re going? I didn¡¯t sign your discharge, and we still need to check some points.¡± The little woman seemed intent on stopping her at any cost. Sarah looked at her with attention for the first time. Audrey was smaller than her, perhaps around 1,60 meter high, with brown hair no longer than the middle of her neck. Her skin was pale, and she seemed quite slim. Her face was pretty, in Sarah¡¯s opinion at least, with a small nose, some freckles and brown eyes. She didn¡¯t want to go against her, but John seemed really worried, and she wanted to see the person that caused it. ¡°Then come with me, cause I won¡¯t stop.¡± Sarah spoke with a disarming smile, and used the hesitation of the doctor to go on, walking a brisk pace toward the exit. ¡°Oh, come on¡­¡± Audrey followed quickly, even if she didn¡¯t seem happy about the turn of the events. They walked fast, and it took less than five minutes to reach the ¡®base¡¯, the little office from which her team did all the theoretical work. In front of the building was a small gathering of people, surrounding a single person. As they were closing on the group, Sarah was able to better see the woman everyone was looking at. And she recognized her! It was the winged woman she saw as a statue when she entered the mausoleum! Now that she was awake, she was truly awe-inspiring, standing taller than anyone around her at 1.85 meter high, in full battle armor, axe and spear at her side. But her two most distinctive features were her amber eyes, almost glowing in the shade of her helmet, and her majestic wings. They were almost 3 meters long each, with white and gold feathers. As soon as she saw them approaching, she started speaking. ¡°Greetings Tivarvinar, I¡¯m Thrud, daughter of Thor, Goddess of strength. I¡¯m here on behalf of Odin, the All-father. You¡¯re hereby invited to Yggdrasil, where your gifts will be explained to you.¡± 3 - The Ferdreisa Sarah was trying to make sense of everything that happened so far. She found an ancient mausoleum. She touched a glowing orb. The world was overrun by gods. And she was on her way to the mythic Yggdrasil, apparently located somewhere in northern Norway. Oh, and she was riding A FUCKING GIANT EAGLE! After delivering her ¡°invitation¡±, Thrud just called over an eagle, made it grow big enough to fit at least ten people on its back, and gestured for her to mount it. When Sarah hesitated, the goddess clicked her tongue, annoyed. ¡°It¡¯s not going to eat you, except if I order him to, so go on and stop being a wimp!¡± Though it wasn¡¯t really reassuring, Sarah went on and climbed the wing of the giant beast and grabbed the feathers on the eagle¡¯s neck, lamenting the absence of a saddle, or at least a good handle. As she was securing herself, she felt the bird soar into the sky, following his mistress. That was less than an hour ago, and she was already seeing some land that she assumed was the coast of England, or Ireland maybe? She decided not to dwell on the abnormal travel speed, and enjoy the scenery. As she was finally able to relax a little, she looked around and noticed a white spot further down the eagle¡¯s back. Focusing on it, she recognized the coat worn by Audrey, then Audrey inside it, hanging to dear life to the feathers! She went to help her, making sure not to fall, and pulled her before herself, securing her between the eagle and herself. ¡°What are you doing there?¡± ¡°You¡¯re still my patient, and I can¡¯t let you go without being sure everything is okay. Since I can¡¯t go against a goddess and stop you from going, I came with you! I was just surprised by how fast that beast took off¡­¡± She looked a little ashamed, and she was strangely cute like this. To be honest with herself, Sarah had forgotten about everything other than this strange invitation, and hadn¡¯t even looked back when the eagle soared into the sky. ¡°Sorry for letting you hang there for so long.¡± It was something strange to apologize for, and the fact she was so close to her she could feel Audrey¡¯s breath on her lips was not helping, but their position was the safest one, and they couldn¡¯t move away from each other without risking a deadly fall. The silence was stretching when a piercing eagle cry was heard, catching their attention. They both looked to the front, Audrey putting herself in the right direction for it. In front of them, a tree unlike anything Sarah had ever seen, so big it seemed to deny earth and sky both the right to exist, filling their entire view even in the distance, so tall she couldn¡¯t see the end of the branches. She could see flight of birds moving under the foliage that seemed to cover everything in its shade. ¡°Apologies accepted¡­¡± Audrey¡¯s voice was barely a whisper, but Sarah still managed to catch it, to her own surprise. As the eagle closed in, Sarah saw they were approaching some kind of building, clearly of Viking style, nestled at the start of the lowest tree branch. She could only guess, but seeing its size, and the distance they still had to go through, it was probably bigger than a modern stadium. A few minutes later, the eagle landed on the bark of the branch, which was so large Sarah could barely feel the curve of it. Thrud waited for her to come down. Sarah went first, then helped the petite Audrey down. ¡°She can¡¯t come in, she shouldn¡¯t even be there. I only let her be by respect for human life, and for Hermes.¡± Thrud¡¯s tone of voice was harsh, clearly stating she wouldn¡¯t negotiate. Sarah looked to Audrey. As impressive as the goddess was, Sarah was starting to be irritated by her haughty tone and attitude. Plus, the idea of letting the poor doctor alone in the cold winds she was now feeling wasn¡¯t that attractive. ¡°If Odin want to see me, it¡¯s with her, or I go back.¡± She felt strangely compelled to affirm herself in front of Thrud, even if a part of her mind was screaming while imagining her head sent flying into the sky by the Valkyrie. As she waited for a response, the scenarii became more diverse, from being squashed as a bug to being pushed toward a long and fatal fall. Then something unexpected happened. Thrud smirked, just for a second, before turning to the building, and gesturing to follow. ¡°Finally some backbone, I feared I had been wrong in my first impression. Come with me, the Ferdreisa is waiting for you.¡± As they were both following Thrud, Sarah wondered exactly what happened. Surely, even if she respected strength of will, that wouldn¡¯t change what was authorized and what wasn¡¯t? And now that she thought about it, wasn¡¯t Audrey somehow immune to cold thanks to her coat? But the goddess never seemed to turn back, so the two girls followed her inside the building that revealed itself to be a gigantic hall, similar to what the Valhalla was described as, or what could be seen in Sovengard in a well-known game serie, thought a lot bigger here. A wooden hall adorned in engravings, tapestries and fur, occupied only by some big tables and benches, around which numerous people were feasting in a festive ambiance. At the far end of the hall, a platform was supporting a beautiful yet rustic throne, some chairs and a table. On the throne, an old looking man with a leather eyepatch was engaged in a lively discussion with one of the most beautiful women Sarah ever saw. Most of the feasting people quieted down as they passed through the hall, save two who seemed far too drunk to exert such restraint.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. With each step, Sarah was able to make out more of the scene. The feasting people were at least five hundred, and the amounts of food and beverage she could see were truly impressive. Is that a boar? It¡¯s far too big! As they were closing in on the main table, Sarah sensed a lot of eyes on her. Feeling a particularly piercing gaze, she turned her head to see a man standing alone on the shadow of a wooden pillar. His blue eyes seemed to look right through her, and she felt almost compelled to hide herself before the intensity of his examination. But before she could react to it, her attention was caught by the powerful voice of the old man that sat on the throne, who she guessed was Odin, maybe? ¡°I welcome you, Tivarvinar. But before we speak, something must be addressed.¡± Even with the volume of his voice, which resounded throughout the hall, easily overpowering the remnants of discussions and whispers, he managed to sound calm and amiable. But his voice after that was far colder. ¡°Thrud, why is this other mortal standing here! Are you so rusted you can¡¯t even hear my orders anymore!¡± ¡°If you want me to battle, I¡¯ll do it. If you want me to protect, I¡¯ll do it. But don¡¯t count on me for those kind of things. I guess Odin, the All-Father himself, is forgetting something. I¡¯m no servant girl, I¡¯m the War Maiden goddess! Besides, when a mortal jumps on a giant eagle to make sure her friend is safe, I can¡¯t help but believe she earned the right to enter our hall.¡± Thrud just shrugged the question with a bored look on her face that was contradicted by the fury inside her eyes, and went to sit with the two drunk men, who were now singing with a very low voice. The sight brought a smile to Sarah¡¯s lips, seeing those two big bulky men whispering a song while drinking, like they didn¡¯t want to interrupt, but still needed to finish the song. ¡°Like father, like daughter, I see. Should I remind you who volunteered for this?¡± He had a playful, mischievous smile as he spoke. ¡°I recall you wanted ¡®to see the first valkyrie of this new age¡¯ with your own eyes?¡± ¡°Grandpa! You weren¡¯t... It was a secret!¡± Thrud face flushed as she tried to deny it, before seating and trying to drown herself in a pint of ale. It was pretty funny for Sarah, to see the haughty warrior that flustered. But, the first valkyrie? She turned her eyes to Odin, who was now openly laughing, as were all the other people in the hall. No, Sarah thought. Not people, gods. The situation suddenly became overwhelming. There was at least one hundred beings here, and each one was a god? She tried to calm herself, and barely managed it by the time the laughter died off. ¡°So, Tivarvinar, could you tell us your name.¡± Lifting her eyes from the floor where they had fallen, she looked up, to the smiling figure of Odin watching her. She tried to strengthen her voice, terrified at the idea that it could break in front of all of them. ¡°S-Sarah. My name is Sarah.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure everything that is happening here is troubling to you. You freed us, the gods. And for that, we are grateful. As such, some of us wanted to offer you gifts, as a gage of our appreciation. But your mortal soul couldn¡¯t handle all of this, so you only kept the first, gifted by Thrud here, and the last, which was a gift from all of us. I could explain it, but as you can see, we¡¯re celebrating our first day of freedom in several millennia, so you should go see Mimir. After all, it¡¯s his job to explain things.¡± Odin was dismissing her with a wave of his hand, and the feast started anew. Sarah found herself quite lost. Who is Mimir, and where is he? Well, she knew he was some kind of god of knowledge, but that didn¡¯t tell her where to go. She was pondering what to do when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped back, only to see the man with grey eyes looking at her with a smile. ¡°Follow me, I¡¯ll guide you to Mimir.¡± She did so, making sure Audrey was following, which was the case. ¡°Pardon my father, he tends to forget that not everyone has the knowledge of everything. Mimir is up there, with Wol¨¹ndr, forging new Tables of self-knowledge. The old ones weren¡¯t really adapted to the people of this age.¡± After they went out of the hall, the man spoke again, pointing at the trunk of Yggdrasil. Sarah used this time to observe him with more attention. He wasn¡¯t very tall, barely her size, which meant around 175cm. He had long straight hair, really black, quite reminiscing of the crows she saw in winter around her home. His skin was pale, and his build thin. He wore a black shirt, with brown pants and a green coat open on the front. For some reason, he was reminding her of a movie, but she couldn¡¯t get it. Once again, she found herself staring at his black eyes that were darting around quickly. Wait, black, not grey? She looked again, to see beautiful green eyes, on top of a grinning face. ¡°I see Thrud¡¯s gift is working, you saw through it really fast.¡± ¡°See through what?¡± Audrey suddenly interjected, having apparently recovered from the pressure of the hall. ¡°I¡¯ll introduce myself, that¡¯ll be easier.¡± He turned around to face them both, then bowed a little. ¡°I¡¯m Loki, god of mischief, lies and tricksters. I must say it¡¯s quite pleasing to meet the first of Hermes¡¯ chosen. I hope we will get along.¡± Obviously, his second phrase was aimed at Audrey, but he made clear the last was intended to them both. 4 - Meeting with Mimir ¡°The gods of different pantheons know of each other? I would¡¯ve thought each pantheon was exclusive.¡± Audrey stated aloud. Apparently, being in front of a single god caused her no amount of fear. ¡°You¡¯re far too young for me to teach you how those things work.¡± said Loki with a chuckle. ¡°But no, you can assume that every god know of the existence of the others, and that they can meet, should they want to. Ah, here¡¯s our ride.¡± As he lifted his eyes, a gigantic crow landed in front of them. Loki led the way and went to mount him. The two girls followed and sat on the crow¡¯s back. Seeing him in front of a real, though colossal, crow, Sarah noticed that the god¡¯s hair was indeed the same black as the bird feathers. The crow soared through the air, to a fork on a branch. There was the repetitive sound of a hammer hitting metal, typical of the medieval forges both girls saw innumerable re-creations of. A tall bald man with a splendid mustache was working over an open pit, on what looked like a black piece of metal. As they passed him, he barely lifted his eyes, focused on his work. The crow landed a few minutes later, in front of what seemed like a small grove, and the start of a dirt path leading inside. After Sarah got down from their flying mount, and helped Audrey do the same, they looked at the scenery and felt a burst of air on their back. ¡°See you later, ladies!¡± The crow took to the air again, and Loki waved them goodbye before quickly disappearing under a low branch. ¡°Why does it seem those gods don¡¯t have time for anything? Is it too hard to just sit down and explain a little?!¡± exclaimed Audrey, apparently upset by Loki¡¯s unceremonious exit. ¡°Maybe they¡¯re really busy?¡± ¡°THEY.ARE.PARTYING!!!¡± Audrey shouted. She seemed genuinely angry. Sarah took her by the shoulders and hugged her. The heavy breathing of the girl calmed down, and Sarah heard small sobs, as she felt Audrey hugging her back while shuddering a little. It seemed the stress of the two flights and the meeting with all those gods was fraying her nerves. After a few minutes of Sarah gently stroking her hair, the sobs started to calm down, and Audrey finally lifted her head from Sarah¡¯s chest. ¡°Sorry.¡± It was really hard not to laugh at the little voice of the red eyed girl in front of her. She looked nothing like the young energetic doctor she saw a few hours back, and more like a lost little girl. Sarah grabbed her hand, and started to walk toward the grove. ¡°The guy here is supposed to explain things, right?¡± They walked in silence on the dirt path, before entering a small clearing, with a calm pond on its center. In front of it was a stone bench, and sitting on it, an old man with white hair and beard. He was looking right at them, a kind smile on his face. ¡°Welcome, young ladies. Please, sit with me as I answer your questions.¡± He pointed toward another bench in front of him that was growing from the root of a tree. They sat on it, Audrey visibly relieved to see a patient man.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Let me introduce myself first, as it is improper that I know your name without you knowing mine. I¡¯m Mimir, god of knowledge. Now, I know you have a lot of questions, and it pains me to say so, but I won¡¯t answer them all, as some knowledge isn¡¯t deemed safe for mortals. But I¡¯ll do my best, so by all means, go.¡± His voice was calm, with a hint of sadness when he spoke about that forbidden knowledge. ¡°Well, first of all, they called me Tivarvinar, what does that mean?¡± Sarah was eager to fill the hole in her knowledge of the events, and the passion for discoveries and history that first drove her to archeology burned bright once again. ¡°Well, it would be hard to translate exactly, but I would probably go with ¡®Breaker of chains¡¯ or ¡®Liberator of the jailed ones¡¯. It¡¯s the title you display as of now.¡± ¡°The title I display?¡± ¡°Have you played any of those MMORPG¡¯s things I saw when checking human history? To make things simple, just know that for us gods, you have something akin to a health bar, with a name, a title, and a level. There¡¯s a skill to see things like this, and while most mortals don¡¯t have it, it¡¯s commonplace for us. It¡¯ll be easier to comprehend once you¡¯ve bonded with the new tablet, but Wol¨¹ndr is barely finishing, it will need some time to cool down. Before that, what other questions do you have?¡± As strange as it was to listen to an old Norse god talk about videogames, there were more important questions as of now. ¡°Why were you imprisoned?¡± How freaking GODS could be detained was beyond her understanding. ¡°Well, it¡¯s something I would like you to research for us. Whatever it was that happened, it falls outside of my abilities to know. No one remember anything besides going to Atlantis for our millennial meeting, then nothing. I asked every god I know, and I plan to meet with other knowledge gods, but I think it¡¯s something hidden from divine sight. Would you search clues for us?¡± Sarah didn¡¯t hesitate a second before agreeing, and she was surprised to see a window pop up in her sight, before quickly disappearing.
You accepted the request of a divine being. The ¡®Divine quest¡¯ perk is no longer hidden.
¡°The hell was that?¡± She was the only one startled by that strange blue window, so she guessed she was the only one to see it. Mimir had a small smile. ¡°Probably the notification for the ¡®Divine quest¡¯ perk. You¡¯ll get used to this.¡± It was something Sarah doubted a lot, but she didn¡¯t dare voice it. ¡°So, can you explain me in details what you remember from this meeting?¡± ¡°Well, we were meeting to celebrate the discovery of the western continent by the Atlanteans, and they had build this big hall for us gods to feast. There was a giant orb, with a representation of earth. They were pretty proud that it was complete. As we were gathering to listen to some speeches, there was a red flash from the walls, and the doors shut suddenly. But we were confident all that was merely a play. I mean, who would try something against all the assembled gods?¡± Mimir seemed pained by those memories. He clearly blames himself for something. ¡°And then?¡± ¡°And then, nothing. Just pain, noise, and a long, long wait in a white space, without power nor body.¡± ¡°Oh. Anything odd from the beginning of the gathering? No, better, describe everything, I¡¯ll take some notes.¡± 5 - The table of Self-knowledge They talked for the best part of an hour, and even if Sarah wasn¡¯t sure any of that information would reveal itself useful for her quest, it would make a great article. Mimir then gestured for them to get up, and led them to the outside of the grove. The bald man was presented as Wol¨¹ndr, god of the forge, and was holding a dark metal plate twice his height, polished like a mirror and adorned with runes on the sides. He made it stand on it¡¯s base, a white stone with some runes. Mimir addressed him. ¡°You¡¯ve really outdone yourself here. It¡¯s beautiful. Does it work the same way as the old one?¡± Wol¨¹ndr just nodded in approbation. ¡°Dear Sarah, would you like to link yourself to it? It would allow you to see your own status, and probably answer some of your remaining questions. Just stand in front of it, and put some blood on it.¡± Sarah stood in front of the tablet. She could see her darkened reflection on it. As she thought of the blood part, she turned around to see Audrey handing her a small scalpel. She had it on her since the beginning? Sarah cut the tip of her middle finger, noticing she had to put some strength for the scalpel to cut, and touched the metal plate. It absorbed the drops of blood. She suddenly felt something strange, and her reflection grew brighter, before flowing into a multicolored beam toward her. It was over before she could react. ¡°Now, just think of your status, and it should appear.¡±
Sarah Lomrow Liberator of gods Global level 8 Truthseeker 7/20
Race Human *!* Affinities Darkness 5% Death 5% Valkyrie 1/20
HP 848/848 MP 1131/1131
STR 143 INT 216 Luck 13
END 141 WIS 183
AGI 148 CHA 168
DEX 148 MEN 141
PER 182
Skills : Level
A?kido 3
Archery 6
Astronomy 2
Celticlanguage 2
Climbing 4
Dagger mastery 1
Decipher language 2
Drawing 2
Egyptian language 1
Eyes of the Tomb explorer 2
Eyes of the Truthseeker 2
Geography 4
Germanic language 6
Hearth of the warrior 1
Hellenic language 2
History 6
Instinct of the Truthseeker 3
Latin language 4
Orientation 4
Riding 3
Speech 2
Staff mastery 1
Trade (Mason) 1
Trade (Painter) 2
Trade (Sculptor) 2
Unarmed combat mastery 3
Perks : Curious mind, Divine quest, Focused mind, Gotta befriend them all, Oblivious, Touch of the Valkyrie.
Titles : Liberator of gods, Tomb explorer, Library rat
The blue windows appeared out of thin air, right before her eyes. Quickly reading it, she couldn¡¯t help but notice her low luck. Though it might be something special, after all, it was alone in its column. Wondering how everything worked, her gaze stayed a bit longer on the ¡®Tomb explorer¡¯ title. A smaller window appeared immediately.
Tomb explorer (current number : 5) The grand tombs of the ancient time are full of secrets and history. It takes a special kind of person to wander inside, even more to explore it fully. +5 WIS per tomb fully explored, +5% affinity with darkness and death.
Sarah was happy to see this, even if, lacking a reference, she couldn¡¯t really understand her stats. She decided to check everything, titles, perks, skills and classes.
Liberator of gods (current number : 100)(Operation impossible, number attributed : 100.) For a being of pure power, being imprisoned is rare. For a lower being to free a god is a feat rarely accomplished. +10% total Experience for divine classes per freed god. +1 to all stats except Luck per freed god.
Library rat If someone willingly spend more time in a library than outside, there will fatally be consequences. +5 INT; +5% to all stats when inside a library.
All those titles seem pretty good. Well, maybe that last one is a little insulting, but I can do with it. But the error number for the Liberator of gods left her wondering. Was there an infinite number of gods? And if so, isn¡¯t it totally unfair that I got only one hundred? There¡¯s at least four hundreds in the Norse pantheon alone! Sarah calmed herself quickly, and went on to see the perks.
Curious mind Diversity is the key to survival! Or you just like learning new things. +50% Experience when learning new skills. +10 INT.
Divine quest Given to you by multiple gods at once, accepted in front of Mimir, norse god of knowledge, this quest is worded as such: ¡°Find what happened to the gods, and bring the culprits to justice¡±. Allows one to use the Great Library of Gods once a month for an hour. Reward upon completion: ?????
Focused mind Mastering a skill takes time, and you¡¯re not afraid of that. When training a skill beyond first level, +10% Experience for each prior day of continuous training. +10 INT.
Gotta befriend them all A unique perk, available only if all the gods agree to give it. Allows you to have multiple affiliations at once. +10 CHA.
Oblivious You¡¯re a little dense aren¡¯t you? Whatever the reason, you can¡¯t seem to notice romantic interactions around you, or even toward you. +50% resistance to charm or suggestion effects. +5 CHA, +10 MEN.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Okay, that last one is downright insulting. I¡¯m professional, that¡¯s all. To whoever wrote those, I have a complaint! Since the blue box didn¡¯t move at all, she went on with a sigh.
Touch of the Valkyrie (Valkyrie) For one of the prideful Valkyrie to willingly touch someone, this one must be outstanding. Allows one to pursue a Norse divine class while ignoring the affiliation requirements.
Well, it seemed that one was there solely for her to be able to become a Valkyrie.I suppose it''s Thrud gift. She''s the only Valkyrie I know of.
A?kido A martial art focused on counter-attacks and using the opponent strength. +0,5 END, +1 AGI, +0,5 DEX, +0,5 PER, +0,5 WIS per level.
Archery Nothing like a bow to survive in the wild! +0,5 STR, +0,5 AGI, +1 DEX, +1 PER per level.
Astronomy Gazing at the stars can reveal useful. +1 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.
Celticlanguage You learned to speak the language of the celticpeople! +1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.
Climbing Up! Up! Up! And never look down. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI per level.
Dagger mastery Stab a kidney, slash a throat, cut an artery¡­ +1 AGI, +1 DEX, +1 PER per level.
Decipher language The ability to peer at the meaning of an unknown language. +2 INT, +1 WIS per level. Allows one to level other language skills regardless of certain prerequisites.
Drawing From a schematic drawing of the room to the preliminary works of the greatest artists, everything start with the self, a drawing tool and an observation. +1,5 DEX, +1,5 PER per level.
Egyptianlanguage You learned to speak the language of the egyptianpeople! +1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.
Eyes of the Tomb explorer Inside a tomb, the path only lit by a flimsy torch, one needs good eyes to avoid missing an inscription, a treasure or a trap. +2 PER, +0,5 INT, +0,5 WIS per level.
Eyes of the Truthseeker The gaze of the Truthseeker pierce every veil, laying bare the truth. +1,5 PER, +1,5 INT, +1,5 WIS per level. Serve as a prerequisite for other Eyes skills.
Geography Knowing where you are is just as important as knowing where you''re going, and for both, geography''s the way. +0,5 PER, +2 INT, +0,5 WIS per level.
Germanic language You learned to speak the language of the germanpeople! +1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.
Hearth of the warrior Knowing fear isn¡¯t succumbing to it. +1 WIS, +2 MEN per level.
Helleniclanguage You learned to speak the language of the hellenicpeople! +1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.
History If someone already failed, better know it, no? +2 INT, +1 WIS per level.
Instinct of the Truthseeker A Truthseeker¡¯s instinct is sharp, and allows him to find the places where he will find answers to his questions. +2 PER, +1 INT, +1,5 WIS per level. Serve as a prerequisite for other Instinct skills.
Latin language You learned to speak the language of the latinpeople! +1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.
Orientation So, where''s north? +1 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.
Riding Once you''re on top of the beast, this might be useful to direct it (Other skills may be necessary to ride something else than horses, we decline all responsibility for any incident.) +0,5 STR, +0,5 END, +1 AGI, +0,5 PER, +0,5 CHA per level.
Speech What good is being knowledgeable if you can¡¯t express it? +0,5 INT, +0,5 WIS, +2 CHA per level.
Staff mastery Well, everybody needs a first weapon¡­ +1 STR, +1 AGI, +1 DEX per level.
Trade (Mason) From a clay hut to an impregnable fortress! +1,5 STR, +1,5 END per level.
Trade (Painter) Your brush shall move the hearths of men (provided you work for it). +1,5 DEX, +1 PER, +0,5 WIS per level.
Trade (Sculptor) Art pieces and weapons in a single trade! +1 STR, +1 END, +1 DEX per level.
Unarmed combat mastery When you don¡¯t have a weapon, become the weapon! +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI per level.
It¡¯s definitive, the one writing the definitions is a dick. Some of those are clearly strange. But Sarah noticed that every skill let her gain 3 stat points per level. Except the ones containing the word Truthseeker, which gave 4,5 per level. It explained some of her highest stats, but only created more questions about what that class was exactly.
Truthseeker Truthseeker quest : Find what happened to the gods. [3d tier](Mortal class) Prerequisites: ¡®Seeker of truth¡¯ perk or ¡®Hidden past¡¯ perk or ¡®Divine quest¡¯ perk, PER over 100, INT or WIS over 100. The path of the Truthseeker is one of danger and shadows. Peeking under the veils some put on their past actions is bound to trigger conflicts. The Truthseeker isn¡¯t one to be deterred by anything or anyone in his quest, and telling him to stop searching is sure to make him grow curious. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +1 DEX, +3 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 MEN, +0,5 Luck. +100% Experience from exploring new places or discovering new knowledge. +100% Experience when working directly toward solving the Truthseeker quest. +10% Resistance against illusions per level. +5% Resistance to mental effects per level.
If everything here was true, and why wouldn''t it be, this was probably one of the most powerful Mortal classes, as Mimir told her that the most basic classes gave around 3 or 4 stats point per level. And she wouldn¡¯t even be close to reaching the prerequisites without the ¡®Liberator of gods¡¯ perk! How did she get something so strong? With already seven levels in it. Was it retroactive maybe?The Valkyrie one now.
Valkyrie (allowed by Touch of the Valkyrie) [1st tier](Divine class) Prerequisites : Norse pantheon affiliation, approbation of one Norse god, one martial skill at level 5. The valkyries were often misjudged as being the daughters of Odin. Though it¡¯s not the case, they¡¯re still some of the strongest beings in service of the Norse gods. From the lowest one guarding the gates of the Valhalla to the mightiest ones acting as avatar of their gods, they form the bulk of Asgardian forces. +1 to all stats except Luck. +5% resistance against disease and poisons. +5% resistance to hostile non-norse divine magic. Allows one to learn norse divine magic. Allows one to access the Great Library of Gods once a year for an hour. Allows one to confer the ¡®Touch of the Valkyrie¡¯ perk.
Before she finally dismissed her status, Sarah glared at the bright red exclamation point adorning her race.
Human A race often belittled by more powerful or ancient ones. However, no one can hold up to their ambition, curiosity and tenacity. +10% Experience toward the acquisition of a new skill.
Awakening bloodline : Valkyrie (1%) Thrud, the Valkyrie goddess, has gifted you the opportunity to become a Valkyrie. A little bit of that ancient blood now travel your veins. As you gain in power and accomplish feat of strength and valor, your blood will thicken, bringing you closer to your Awakening as another race. Titles, perks, classes, skills or stats may evolve your bloodline into a variant one.
Oh, so THIS isThrud gift. 6 - The departure Sarah had inspected everything. She turned back to Audrey and Mimir while Wol¨¹ndr was hauling the metal plate away. ¡°So, I have some questions. First, how come my two classes are that good? I mean, I didn¡¯t start with stats that high, most of them seem to come from that ¡®Liberator of gods¡¯ thing, so I couldn¡¯t possibly qualify for it, right?¡± Mimir had a small smile. ¡°Well, you see, even if you accumulated experience throughout your life, it was unable to crystallize without the Will of the World¡¯s guidance. So, when you touched Thrud and she gifted you the ¡®Touch of the Valkyrie¡¯, you unlocked the conditions for the Valkyrie class instead of the Martial artist one you¡¯d have normally unlocked. And since you gained the ¡®Liberator of gods¡¯ perk at the same time your experience tried to crystallize, you were able to unlock the Truthseeker class. Then everything crystallized and you got your levels. Since those classes are really strong, it might explain the long sleep your friend here was talking about.¡± He pointed toward Audrey when saying the last sentence. He continued. ¡°When gaining a new class, the Will of the World always account first for every achievement, then offer you your classes. The only surprising thing is that you must consciously agree to a new class, and it seem you didn¡¯t. So maybe a god tampered with the Will of the World to have you accept the best classes it could offer¡­¡± The explanations were clear, and Sarah was starting to understand the situation a little better. Yet, a few questions remained. ¡°Audrey, what is your class?¡± ¡°Well, I was talking with Mimir about it, and it seems I don¡¯t have one yet, as crystallizing experience is something my coat prevent passively. He said I could enable it by speaking with Hermes first.¡± ¡°And, Mimir, how many different classes can one have?¡± This question seemed of utmost importance to Sarah, as she didn¡¯t quite see how the ¡®experience¡¯ worked. Was it divided between the classes? Dependent on how it was gained? ¡°Well, the full course is pretty boring, but to make things simple, just assume that when you gain experience, it has some kind of label, depending on how it was acquired. We generally assume it to be divided into 4 categories: fight, socialization, research and crafting. Of course, it¡¯s only a guess, as even we don¡¯t understand all about the Will of the World. As for the number of classes one person can have, we never saw anyone attaining a limit. But it is rare to have more than 3 or 4 at once. Of course, that¡¯s not accounting for the finished ones.¡± ¡°Finished ones? They have an end?¡± ¡°Yes. When you attain level 20 in a class, it stop accepting experience, causing it to stock once more, until there is enough for a new level. Then you¡¯ll chose the new class that experience will go to. Since the more levels you have, the more experience it requires, people usually get slowed around the fifth class, since it¡¯s approaching the global level of 100. Though some heroes went far beyond that. Beowulf¡¯s level was over 200, for example. There¡¯s also some really special classes that doesn¡¯t end in 20 levels, but those are exceedingly rare.¡± ¡°So, that¡¯s why you said we were gonna be really strong for a first generation!¡± Audrey seemed to understand something, but as Sarah lacked the context, she was clueless as to what the doctor meant exactly, and she had another question.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Second last question. The ¡®Touch of the Valkyrie¡¯ perk enables the Valkyrie class for me, but I don¡¯t see a prerequisite I don¡¯t have, so¡­¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s my bad. Usually we get a priest to do it. I need to confirm it myself.¡± Mimir seemed briefly flustered, before he took on a serious posture. ¡°By my will, you are now one of the Norse.¡±
You¡¯re now affiliated with the Norse pantheon. You can freely access the first room of Yggdrasil, and engage in any of the Norse divine class you meet the other prerequisites for.
You now satisfy all the prerequisites for the Valkyrie class. The ¡®Touch of the Valkyrie¡¯ perk is now free to use. As you already possess the Norse pantheon affiliation, the perk is modified. It now allows you to ignore the affiliation prerequisite for any one divine class.
As soon as Mimir spoke, two windows opened in front of Sarah. After reading them, Sarah was overjoyed by the outcome. Also, the fact that perks could evolve was interesting. Maybe if I have all the affiliations, it will evolve again? But she had a last question for the god. ¡°I have an awakening bloodline, of Valkyrie. The explanations were clear, but will it erase my ancient race?¡± ¡°Yes, the gift of Thrud. If you become a Valkyrie, you will cease being human, though you will retain some of their physical features. While it is not my role to detail the pros and cons of being one, I can assure you the Valkyrie race doesn¡¯t lose to the human one.¡± As she pondered this answer, Mimir called for a white crow that landed close to them. With a wave of his hand, the crow grew big enough for the two girls to ride on its back. There also was some kind of saddle on his back, which was a welcome addition after the previous rides. ¡°I¡¯m afraid work is calling me. This little friend will bring you to Mount Olympus, since your friend want to meet Hermes. If you want to make a halt, just tell him. But it¡¯s the last time. After you get to Olympus, he will come back to me.¡± ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEW POV : ??? I breathed the fresh air again, for the first time in several years. They had the nerve to put me in jail! All that for a few dismembered prostitutes, scorched children and tortured elders. THEY WERE WEAK! The strong live feasting on the weak, it¡¯s how the world works! Protecting them was hindering the whole world, it was a crime against nature herself! Those years had been very long, spent almost entirely in solitary confinement. But the glowing windows that appeared to him were clear. And they gave him the strength he needed to escape. As he walked away from the burning prison, blood dripping from his fists, he remembered them.
You¡¯ve been chosen by Khorne, chaotic god of war and blood. You gain the ¡®Chosen of Khorne¡¯ title and perk.
You¡¯ve been chosen by Nurgle, chaotic god of corruption and decay. You gain the ¡®Chosen of Nurgle¡¯ title and perk.
You¡¯ve been chosen by Slaanesh, chaotic god of pleasures and dreams. You gain the ¡®Chosen of Slaanesh¡¯ title and perk.
You¡¯ve been chosen by Tzeentch, chaotic god of magic and knowledge. You gain the ¡®Chosen of Tzeentch¡¯ title and perk.
You¡¯ve been chosen by the Four major Chaotic gods, as unlikely as it was. That makes you the rightful chosen of the Chaotic pantheon. You gain the ¡®Chosen of Chaos¡¯ title and perk.
7 - Dropping for a snack Audrey POV : Sarah was busy reading and rereading everything inside her status, like it would disappear soon, even though Mimir told them that as long as you were affiliated to a pantheon, that pantheon lent you a minor ability to appraise yourself, even if it would never be as strong as it was for the gods. Well, it didn¡¯t hurt her, so why not. Audrey decided to use that time to think calmly. She had been really impressed when Mimir appraised her coat. He shared the details with her, and she asked about everything.
Coat of the First Caduceus Unique, divine, soul-linked. Made by Hermes, greek god of medicine, and consecrated by Hippocrates¡¯ last breath, this coat contains their will. Grants the wearer +1 DEX, +1 PER, +1 INT and +1 WIS per level of the ¡®Medicine¡¯, ¡®Apothecary¡¯ and ¡®Surgery¡¯ skills. Grants the wearer +50% Experience when healing people. Grants wearer a +100% resistance against diseases and poisons. Grants wearer +100% Experience toward acquiring the first level of any Medical skill. May grow with the wearer. Special: If the wearer breaks the Hippocratic vow, there might be dire repercussions.
Thought she couldn¡¯t guess how high her stats were, Audrey could tell how much of a boost it could be. A potential +30 to four stats was a lot, according to Mimir. She also was surprised when Mimir had told her that the coat would probably evolve given time, as a soul-linked item was able to adapt to its owner. It seemed to be a really important item, and she was wondering why Hermes chose to gift it to her. And how is Hermes the god of medicine? Mimir refused to answer that. Guess I¡¯ll have to ask. As they were flying toward Greece on a gigantic white crow Mimir summoned, Audrey thought about everything that happened. Mostly, how these gods didn¡¯t seem godlike at all! They acted like, well, normal people. When she asked Mimir about it, he just told her that the Norse pantheon was always closer to the mortals than some others, and they had only met some of the most open-minded of them. If Tyr hadn¡¯t been drunk, he would probably have objected to Audrey¡¯s presence, and Freyr might have left altogether on any other day. So he advised her to be careful with gods, even though Hermes himself was really friendly toward mortals. She could feel Sarah¡¯s back leaning on hers, clearly intending to lock her between the leather handles she was grasping and herself, and she couldn¡¯t help but blush a little. Sure, she almost fell before on Thrud¡¯s eagle, but this was bordering on indecency, and Audrey¡¯s mind was running wild with the thoughts she first had when seeing Sarah¡¯s body. No, she shouldn¡¯t indulge on those, she was a doctor, and Sarah was her patient. Nothing more. But before going to Mount Olympus, she wanted to eat something. It had been several hours since her last meal, and her emotions were calling for comfort food. So, where? Looking down, she saw they were above the sea. Maybe close to Germany? She leaned on the crow head. ¡°Hum, mister crow, can you bring us to Berlin, maybe?¡± As soon as she said it, the crow dived to the right, heading toward a faraway metropolis. A few minutes after, the crow landed in front of the Brandenburg Gate. They jumped off its back, and the bird flew away to perch himself on the famous monument. ¡°Sarah, what do you want to eat?¡± ¡°Maybe a real meal, I think I want some meat.¡± They began walking through the crowd, while people stared at the gigantic white crow that looked down on them. Surprisingly, there was more curiosity than fear in their glances. But as they progressed, Audrey couldn¡¯t help but notice that it was too easy. The crowd parted before them. Maybe the arrival on a giant crow was too much? They went on, and soon stopped by a little restaurant, and consulted the menu. She ordered a tuna and rice dish, and Sarah took some ribs. As they ate, they went back over the last few hours. ¡°So, what do you think is up with that divine quest of yours?¡± This quest, which was enough to grant a perk, was quite intriguing to the young doctor.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s that rare, I mean, the benefits seem good, but not that amazing, so maybe it¡¯s something a lot of people can have.¡± ¡°Even then, how do you plan on completing it? I mean, it happened a very long time ago, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, we guessed the city we found the gods in was buried between 1000 and 2000 B.C. Thought it was really hard to tell, since it spent most of its time along the oceanic floor.¡± Sarah stopped eating to think a little. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll go interview some gods about what they remember, maybe a detail will put me on a lead.¡± ¡°Well at least you seem motivated. I thought you wouldn¡¯t like to be guided like this.¡± Sarah looks like she doesn¡¯t like being bossed around. She even dared to go against a goddess¡¯s will! ¡°I¡¯m not a fan of orders or missions, but come on, who would let a chance like this pass? Discovering what happened to the gods? I will probably need to study what the world was truly like before, why we never saw tangible traces of the gods¡¯ presence, everything! And I¡¯ll have a good excuse for that! I may even be able to make it an official research from the university!¡± ¡°And so, what¡¯s our first step?¡± ¡°Our? You¡¯re coming with me?¡± ¡°I said it before, didn¡¯t I? You¡¯re my patient. I ain¡¯t leaving you alone before I¡¯m absolutely certain you¡¯re ok. And seeing all those strange events, I think it will take some times.¡± And who would throw away a chance of going on such a cool adventure? They finished their meal, and after paying for it, the two girls walked back leisurely, an ice cream in hand. Suddenly, Sarah stopped and put her hands in front of Audrey, halting her walk. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°I hear people shouting. We probably should go around here. I¡­¡± But as soon as Sarah said it, Audrey started running toward the noise. ¡°We need to go see if we can help!¡± She barely noticed Sarah running after her with a small, dejected smile. She began to hear shouts, and cries of pain. Turning the corner, Audrey ran into a warzone. A man was standing alone, half naked, blood red flames emanating from his body. Around him, several charred bodies lay, and the people running away from him were crying in pain as the strange red flames burned their flesh. It seemed they couldn¡¯t put it out, as a woman was desperately spraying her burning leg with an extinguisher, without it having any visible effect. ¡°STAND AWAY, YOU DIRTY PEASANTS! I¡¯M THE LORD OF FLAMES, AND YOU¡¯LL BOW DOWN TO ME OR BE CONSUMED!¡± The rambling man was clearly mad, his eyes darting left and right, a flame of absolute hate burning inside. I don¡¯t want to go near those flames. But those people will die if I do nothing. Well, Hermes, I hope your gift is working. Audrey raced toward the burning madman. As soon as he saw her, he extended his hand and a jet of flames erupted toward her. She dodged it widely, making sure no spark would touch her. She did so twice, getting closer all the while. But after the third, her opponent changed his strategy. He condensed the flames in a bright red fireball, and threw it. Audrey barely managed to dodge the flames, their speed greatly improved by this new method. Soon, they reached a stalemate, Audrey unable to come closer as she was busy dodging the fireballs, and the burning man unable to touch her. Audrey felt her stamina beginning to drop. Wait, if I¡¯m tired, he must be too. And I would guess those strange flames have a cost. ¡°Audrey, careful!¡± The cry of alarm was coming from behind her, probably from Sarah. But what was the danger? Suddenly, a pebble flew through the air, hitting the man in the shoulder. Audrey glanced behind her, to see Sarah throwing everything she could find at the man. Though the technique was lacking, the sheer strength of it was enough to disrupt the flame thrower¡¯s concentration. Audrey slipped between two fireballs, and kicked his right ankle with all the might her taekwondo training would allow. She heard a sickening crunch, and her opponent fell to the ground, his right leg unable to support him. Before he could hit the ground, Audrey kicked him again in the left knee, and punched him twice in the face. He fell on his back, unconscious. The flames still stuck tenaciously to some bushes, and people started to extinguish them, and attempted to treat the horrible injuries in their wake. Audrey was moving to help the closest victim when she got stopped in her tracks by a powerful hug. Sarah was behind her, and the difference in their respective Strength stats was showing, as Audrey was unable to even take a step. ¡°Please don¡¯t do this again, or at least wait till we understand how things work. You can¡¯t help me if you¡¯re dead.¡± Now that she was thinking about it, those flames were dangerous. Just because gods were back on earth didn¡¯t mean you couldn¡¯t die. ¡°I¡¯ll try. Could you let me down, I need to help them.¡± Audrey was pointing at the injured people lying around. Even if this hug was really nice, she had a job to do. ¡°The medics are coming in. We should go before this gets confused. Look, cops are there too.¡± It was hard to deny it, it seemed everything was in control. Audrey followed Sarah toward the white crow they could see in the distance, as the cops cuffed the man. Soon, they were back, and the crow landed in front of them, before going back on his route to the south. The fact that she almost died started to sink in, but that wasn¡¯t the first time it happened, so she put it aside. More pressingly, she really needed to think before running at her opponent like that. Since there¡¯s magic now, the old way of doing things won¡¯t work, unless she became incredibly fast, at least fast enough to deny any reaction time to her opponents. If Sarah hadn¡¯t been there, I would probably have been forced to retreat. And that hug was really nice... 8 - Meeting with Hermes (1) Audrey POV : As Audrey tried to reign in the wild thoughts their last fight inspired her, she noticed the crow was flying towards a big white stone temple on top of a mountain. They arrived at Mount Olympus, the crow landing in front of the stairs, startling a little crowd that anxiously tried to peer inside the temple to figure what hid inside. The two girls went up the stairs as the crow soared back towards the north. Audrey noticed Sarah was hanging back, letting her take the lead. After all, they were here for her. Audrey walked bravely inside the temple, only to be met with the awe inspiring sight of numerous marble statues, each four meters high, depicting the Greek gods. There was a calm silence, and the whispers from the crowd outside were already inaudible. She searched for the Hermes statue, and finally found it. But when she stopped in front of it, she suddenly remembered she didn¡¯t have the slightest idea on how to proceed from now on. She tried to call out to the god. ¡°Uh, hm¡­ Hermes, god of medicine, I came here like you asked...¡± Her voice was unsteady, and she was mentally sighing at her own meekness. But it seemed to work, as a silvery wind blew around the statue, and Hermes materialized before her. He was as she remembered him, a blond haired man, barely 1,60 meters high, sporting a white and silver tunic, and some sandals with wings. He was hovering in midair, looking at her with a smile. ¡°So, my little associate, what can I do for my first disciple and her famous friend?¡± ¡°Uh, well first, how do I address you?¡± ¡°My lord can do, or lord Hermes.¡± ¡°Well, lord Hermes, I was wondering why you gifted me that coat. It seems to be something really valuable.¡± ¡°And so are you. You know, you remind me of Hippocrates, and his selflessness in helping the sick. That¡¯s all I needed to make a choice. Besides, it really suits you.¡± ¡°Oh, ok. And also, don¡¯t I need to affiliate myself to your pantheon, or something like this? Milord?¡± She quickly added the honorific title, thought she wasn¡¯t sure if Hermes would mind. She had been briefly embarrassed when he complimented her, before she remembered he was probably talking about some compatibility between the coat and herself, not admiring her figure. ¡°Oh yeah, there¡¯s that. Just offer some blood on the little hole at the base of the statue. You¡¯ll have to choose your class after that, so be attentive. And you can ignore the first 3 or 4, you¡¯ll probably have far better choices.¡± Having said this, Hermes flew past her to exchange some words with Sarah, but they were whispering, so Audrey couldn¡¯t make out their conversation. She decided to ignore their talk, and just go ahead. After dropping some blood on the statue¡¯s feet, she saw a blue window pop out.
You affiliated yourself with Hermes, god of the Greek pantheon. You can now access divine classes of the Greek pantheon, and Hermes¡¯ personal classes, provided you meet the requirements for it.
Choose your class between the following ones :
Student (1st tier)[Mortal]
Researcher (2nd tier)[Mortal]
Doctor (2nd tier)[Mortal]
Lifesaver (2nd tier)[Mortal]
Student of Hippocrates (1st tier)[Divine]
Well, it was hardly a choice. Even if Doctor and Lifesaver sounded cool, Student of Hippocrates was a Divine class, and those were supposed to be insanely strong. Plus, Hermes would probably be really pleased to see her walking on this path. He¡¯d seemed genuinely happy when he talked about Hippocrates, after all. She wanted to pick it, but first, Audrey wanted to check some of the others. After all, she was still lacking any references on what was standard and what was strong, and Sarah seemed to be quite overpowered. She decided to look at those ¡®Student¡¯ and ¡®Lifesaver¡¯ classes, just to see how they worked.
Student (1st tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites: Be enrolled in a school, or accepted by a teacher. Learning is always good, and the first step to anything. +1 INT per level, +2 free stat per level. +5% Experience. +10% Experience when following instructions.
She supposed the free stats were pretty cool, and the Intelligence was to remember what the teacher said? But still, when she remembered the details of Sarah¡¯s classes, if this one was a standard one, how could anyone ever qualify for an advanced one? Maybe by adding classes after classes, but it would take at least a dozen classes. If I remember well, Mimir said people of the old times usually didn¡¯t pick any classes until they were sure to qualify for a good one, except if they didn¡¯t have a choice. So I suppose that¡¯s the answer.
Lifesaver (2nd tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites: Must have the ¡®Lifesaver¡¯ perk. Must have 4 stats over 40. One who truly saved a life, whatever the way. +1 END, +1 CHA, +2 free stats points per level. +20% Experience when helping people. +2% Life affinity per level.
This is a little better. Those were some good stats, and she could see some people going to great heights with that. But weren¡¯t the prerequisites too high? If she believed Mimir, humans started with about 20 points in each stats. Having 4 of them above 40 would require a heavy focus on it for at least twenty levels, and those people would be really weak outside of their fields. Well, let¡¯s compare it to Divine classes.
Student of Hippocrates (1st tier)[Divine class]. Prerequisites : Affiliation to Hermes, ¡®Doctor¡¯ title, ¡®Lifesaver¡¯ title, ¡®Hippocratic vow¡¯ perk, at least 5 Medical skills, ¡®Medicine¡¯ skill at level 5. The path of medicine is long and arduous. The best way of progressing might be to follow the lead of the first Greek doctor, and Hermes best friend. +0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN per level. +1 free stat point per level. +100% Experience toward any Medical skill. +100% Experience when practicing medicine. +100% Experience when learning a new skill or a new recipe. Grants you the ¡®Alchemy¡¯ skill. Grants you the ¡®Identify sickness¡¯ skill.
Do you accept ¡®Student of Hippocrates¡¯ as your class?
After seeing the description, she couldn¡¯t help but smile, as she agreed to the blue window. This class seemed so strong!
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 1 ¡®Student of Hippocrates¡¯. +0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point. You gained the ¡®Mens sana in corpore sano¡¯ skill.
Mens sana in corpore sano As a student of Hippocrates, you get to enjoy some of the wisdom of the old Greek philosophers! +1 STR for every 10 INT +1 END for every 10 MEN +1 AGI for every 10 WIS +1 intellectual free stat point per level +1 physical free stat point per level +1 free stat point per level May evolve upon attaining level 10.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 2 ¡®Student of Hippocrates¡¯. +0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 3 ¡®Student of Hippocrates¡¯. +0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 4 ¡®Student of Hippocrates¡¯. +0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 5 ¡®Student of Hippocrates¡¯. +0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point. Choose a skill :
Matter of life or death Prerequisites : Life affinity 10%, Death affinity 10%.
Hands of the savior Prerequisites : Surgery level 3, ¡®Lifesaver¡¯ perk obtained without any instrument.
Dark side of medicine Prerequisites : Death affinity any percentage, having killed another being on purpose.
Quickly reading through the avalanche of windows that went down in front of her, Audrey was surprised for a second, before remembering her talk with Mimir. Apparently, on level 5 and 15, you had to choose between three skills, and the ones unlocked would depend on your achievements. Also, the Will of the World would always display the ¡®best¡¯ ones, as far as the gods understood it. Well, I won¡¯t choose anything without looking at it first. And certainly not that ¡®Dark side¡¯ thing. Won¡¯t even look at it.
Matter of life or death When stakes are high, one millimeter, one second, can be as different as the day is from night. You can accelerate yourself by a 1:1,1 ratio, at the cost of 100 MP per second. Ratio and cost will improve with levels. +1 DEX, +1 PER, +1 MEN per level.
This one probably has already won. Who in their right mind would refuse the ability to alter time? Even if it cost a lot of mana.
Hands of the savior A wise man once said ¡°Show me your hands, I¡¯ll tell you who you are.¡± One who value the lives of others more than his own will have this change his very body. Passively increase all healing done at touch range. You can heal others at the cost of 2 MP per HP. Ratio and cost will improve with levels. +1,5 WIS, +1,5 MEN per level.
As much, as the second one seemed useful, it couldn¡¯t beat the first. The choice was done.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 6 ¡®Student of Hippocrates¡¯. +0,5 END, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 MEN. +1 free stat point.
Choose your class between the following ones :
Brute (1st tier)[Mortal]
Fighter (1st tier)[Mortal]
Martial artist (2nd tier)[Mortal]
Champion (2nd tier)[Mortal]
Fist of Life and Death (3rd tier)[Mortal]
Audrey was surprised to see she also deserved a second class. For a moment here, she totally forgot the other side of her life. And apparently it unlocked a 3rd tier class. Of course she would eventually go for that one, but she wanted to check some of the others for comparison points.
Fighter (1st tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites: One Martial skill, every physical stats over 20. One who fight for a living, using his body and his skill to slain his foes. +1 STR, +1 END, +0,5 AGI, +0,5 DEX per level. +10% Experience when practicing martial skills. +10% Experience when fighting.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Audrey was taken aback. That is so weak! She assumed the previous low tier classes were like this because of their ¡°intellectual¡± orientation, but this was a class meant to be fighting on the frontlines! How could anyone survive with so few stats? Unless the high tier classes were really rare? She checked a ¡°better¡± class.
Martial artist (2nd tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites: One Martial art skill over 5, three physical stats over 30. Studying one martial art bolstered your fighting potential. As always, specializing is efficient, isn¡¯t it? +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +1 DEX perlevel. +1% damage with martial arts per level. +20% Experience when practicing martial art skills. +15% Experience when fighting.
Well, this was slightly better, but still a little weak. The stats weren¡¯t really lacking, when comparing to those of ¡®Student of Hippocrates¡¯, but the side benefits and experience bonus were really low. Truly, divine classes make all the difference in the world. Or maybe just strong classes? Let¡¯s check.
Fist of Life and Death (3rd tier)[Mortal]. Prerequisites : One Martial art skill over level 5, one Medical skill over level 5, at least 40 in two physical stats, at least 60 in two intellectual stats. Must have at least 10% affinity with Death and Life. Must have obtained the ¡®Lifesaver¡¯ perk without any instrument. Must have killed at least one creature without any instrument. Must be able to cite at least 10 ways to kill another humanoid without any instruments. Life is something incredibly fragile. By learning the proper way to interact with it, you¡¯re able to bolster or weaken it without external assistance. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level. +5% Death affinity per level. +5% Life affinity per level. Every time you reach level 10 in a Medical or Martial skill, you gain 1 free stat point. +50% Experience when practicing medicine. +50% Experience when practicing martial arts.
Do you accept ¡®Fist of Life and Death¡¯ as your class?
This seemed almost too good to be true. It would allow her to fight while still progressing in medicine! And the stats were really high. So clearly, 3rd tier classes were above all else, and even 1st tier divine classes were a little pitiful in comparison. Of course, Audrey selected it, bracing herself for the incoming windows.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 1 ¡®Fist of Life and Death¡¯. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS. +5% Death affinity. +5% Life affinity. You gained the ¡®Death fist¡¯ skill.
Death fist You¡¯re able to call on the power of death and channel it into your strikes. By consuming 20 MP, you add 1 Death damage to your next unarmed attack. Efficiency improve with level and Death affinity. +1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 MEN per level.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 2 ¡®Fist of Life and Death¡¯. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS. +5% Death affinity. +5% Life affinity.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 3 ¡®Fist of Life and Death¡¯. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS. +5% Death affinity. +5% Life affinity.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 4 ¡®Fist of Life and Death¡¯. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +2 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS. +5% Death affinity. +5% Life affinity.
Finally, the windows stopped appearing, which allowed her to consult her status.
Audrey Mahora Doctor Global level 10 Student of Hippocrates 6/20
Race Human Affinities Death 30% Life 40% Fist of Life and Death 4/20
HP 340/340 MP 443/443
STR 60 INT 103 Luck 10
END 56 WIS 68
AGI 55 CHA 62
DEX 64 MEN 88
PER 57
Skills: Level
Acrobatics 3
Alchemy 1
Apothecary 4
Celtic language 1
Dagger mastery 3
Death fist 1
Drawing 3
Empathy 2
Germanic language 5
Identify sickness 1
Jujitsu 3
Humanoid anatomy 5
Latin language 5
Matter of life or death 2
Medicine 6
Mens sana in corpore sano 2
Speech 2
Surgery 4
Taekwondo 6
Unarmed combat mastery 5
Perks :Hippocratic vow, Killer child, Child killer, Crippler, Unconventional interests
Titles :Lifesaver, Doctor (B+), Library rat, Domineering champion (C-)
She couldn¡¯t help but compare her status to what Sarah said of hers. She was definitely under it in term of raw stats, but it seemed she was more specialized. Let¡¯s check it out in detail!
Acrobatics The ability to jump, turn, and move with agility. +1 END, +1,5 AGI, +0,5 DEX per level.
Apothecary The ancient art of mixing plants and other substances to produce medicines and poisons. Allow you to produce non-magical substances with an increased chance of success. +0,5 DEX, +0,5 PER, +2 INT per level.
Alchemy The ancient art of mixing magical components to produce powerful potions. Allow you to produce magical substances with increased chance of success. +0,5 DEX, +0,5 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.
So, apparently, alchemy was more diverse and more powerful than apothecary. Still, one provided bonuses for the other, and stats, so it was a good thing to have.
Celtic language You learned to speak the language of the celticpeople! +1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.
Dagger mastery Stab a kidney, slash a throat, cut an artery¡­ +1 AGI, +1 DEX, +1 PER per level.
It was pretty creepy that she got dagger mastery from her scalpel handling, and the skill description wasn¡¯t helping. I never tried to hurt anyone with a knife!
Drawing From a schematic drawing of the room to the preliminary works of the greatest artists, everything start with the self, a drawing tool and an observation. +1,5 DEX, +1,5 PER per level.
Empathy Though some think of it as a prerequisite to live in society, it¡¯s actually not. However, it¡¯s really useful. Increase the ability to perceive others mind-state. May bolster social abilities. +1 PER, +1 WIS, +1 CHA per level.
Not a prerequisite to live in society? Oh, they mean the skill, not the ability, I hope. That, or there are a lot more sociopaths around me than I thought.
Germanic language You learned to speak the language of the germanpeople! +1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.
Identify sickness By living surrounded by sickness, you became able to recognize symptoms at a glance. Active: Cost 10 MP. Allow you to instantly understand the health state of the target (efficiency not guaranteed, results may vary depending on circumstances). +1 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.
Jujitsu A defensive martial art, meant to fight standing or on the ground, by locking your opponent in place or breaking its joints. +1 STR, +1END, +1 AGI per level.
Humanoid anatomy Every humanoid share similar anatomy. Increase critical chances against humanoid. +0,5 PER, +2 INT, +0,5 WIS per level.
It was strange that this didn¡¯t help to healing humanoids. Or maybe it was something so obvious the Will of the World didn¡¯t care to write it? Audrey started to wonder if this strange entity wasn¡¯t slacking off a little. Even the ¡®Identify sickness¡¯ description felt like it didn¡¯t want to involve itself.
Latin language You learned to speak the language of the latin people! +1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA per level.
Medicine Searching for the defects in a living organism, and finding a way to treat it without the use of magic requires some great investment. +2 INT, +1 WIS per level.
Speech What good is being knowledgeable if you can¡¯t express it? +0,5 INT, +0,5 WIS, +2 CHA per level.
Surgery The next-level of medicine: opening to see if everything works fine, and if not, cut it out! Increase chance of success of every surgical intervention. +1 DEX, +1 PER, +1 INT per level.
Taekwondo A martial art heavily oriented toward kicks. May include lots of acrobatics and jumping, depending on the practitioner. +1 STR, +1,5 AGI, +0,5 DEX per level.
Unarmed combat mastery When you don¡¯t have a weapon, become the weapon! +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI per level.
Those skills were pretty cool! And if she got everything right, she had a great build to become some kind of expert assassin medic! Whatever that may be¡­ She also had two active skills,that consumed MP to use. It was nice, since that resource would have been unused without it. The efficiency seemed very low, but she guessed she needed to test it to judge. Audrey decided to take a look at her perks and titles before returning to Hermes.
Hippocratic vow One who swore to treat sickness whenever he could, while respecting the sick. +5 INT, +5 WIS, +10 CHA. Increase the efficiency of every heal. +25% Experience when practicing medicine.
Killer child You killed another being while still being considered a child. The effects on your psyche might not be all bad, but it¡¯s still quite peculiar. +5 WIS, +15 MEN. +5% death affinity.
Child killer Killing another being isn¡¯t always well seen. Killing the offspring of one while it¡¯s still unable to defend itself is almost never well seen. +30 MEN, -10 CHA. +5% death affinity.
Crippler In a fight, there¡¯s a winner and a loser. Sometimes the loser¡¯s dead. And sometimes he¡¯s not. But it takes a special kind of mind to intentionally let someone live with crippling injuries. +10 STR, +10 END, +10 MEN, -10 CHA.
Unconventional interests Whatever the reason, it¡¯s obvious you don¡¯t share some of the traits considered common around you, and even go against them. +10% Experience when confronting a social norm, a tradition or a taboo. +10 MEN, +5 CHA.
An awful lot of those were related to THAT event, and at least one was quite stretching it. But they were pretty cool, and seemed to feed her otherwise lacking Mental and Charisma stats. Even the ones that went against her Charisma were still globally beneficial. But what was it with that ¡®Unconventional interests¡¯? What, because you were a small girl studying medicine, you couldn¡¯t also be a free fight champion? Screw you, Will of the World!
Lifesaver (current number : 3) Few actions can really be considered ¡®lifesaving¡¯. But some do, and you performed them! +1 WIS, +5 CHA per life saved. +5% efficiency to all healing actions per life saved. +5% life affinity per life saved.
Doctor (current rank : B+) The title earned by one which devotes his life to healing people. +5% life affinity. +5 INT, +5 WIS, +10 CHA. +20% resistance against diseases.
Library rat If someone willingly spend more time in a library than outside, there will fatally be consequences. +5 INT; +5% to all stats when inside a library.
Domineering champion (current rank : C-) Being called the champion is something everybody can achieve. Being feared as one isn¡¯t so easy. +5 STR, +5 END, +5 CHA. +5% damage when defending your champion title.
Well, that explained her relatively high Charisma despite the other perks. Just as Sarah had, she found that ¡®Library rat¡¯ title a bit insulting. And she wondered what those ranks meant, for her ¡®Doctor¡¯ and ¡®Domineering champion¡¯ titles. She would have to ask Hermes before adding her free stats points, since she had 8 of them, plus 4 with some restrictions. She needed to ask about those too. Turning around, Audrey saw Sarah in deep reflexion over thin air. Probably her status window again. Hermes was floating lazily around. When he saw her looking at him, he approached in long slow curves through the air. ¡°I see you¡¯ve finished your choices. Those are some beautiful classes, I hope you¡¯ll live up to them!¡± He was smiling while his eyes gazed just over her head. ¡°Yeah, about that, the ¡®Student of Hippocrates¡¯ said something about you being friend with him. But isn¡¯t Asclepios the medicine god? Milord?¡± Hermes seemed surprised for a second, then smiled. ¡°I would have thought this was known. Asclepios was killed by dear old Zeus for giving out the secret of easy resurrection to mortals. Then, medicine fell in my lap because of the similarity between our symbols. Also, I was very well known for healing travelers from serpent bites.¡± ¡°Wait, gods can DIE?¡± 9 - Meeting with Hermes (2) Sarah POV : Audrey just shouted, distracting Sarah from her notes. ¡°Well, of course. It¡¯s not something easily done, but most major gods have powers of that kind.¡± Hermes answered her with calm. For him, it didn¡¯t seem to be a problem, or he hid it well. Sarah wasn¡¯t really surprised, a lot of mythologies mentioned gods getting killed, hell, there was even a video game serie with this notion at it¡¯s core. ¡°So, I have some questions. Mylord.¡± Audrey apparently decided to brush over it, and ask her questions to her new patron. Hermes had a small playful smile as the silvery gale made him slowly rotate, his eyes kept on Audrey. ¡°By all means, ask. I¡¯ll be glad to answer.¡± ¡°Both my ¡®Doctor¡¯ and ¡®Domineering champion¡¯ titles have some kind of rank affiliated with it, what does it mean?¡± ¡°Both those titles depend on the perception of other people. So they¡¯re ranked depending on the quantity and quality of the people granting you that title. After all, you can be acclaimed as a doctor in a stone age tribe just knowing how to do bandages, or the champion of ball playing by a group of children. It would be quite unfair if people like those were put on the same rank as true champions, standing atop their world, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± Their world? It seems there¡¯s several worlds, or at least gods think so.I¡¯ll have to ask after. ¡°Hm, yeah, it makes sense. And, uh, do you have any advice on how to spend my free stats points?¡± ¡°Thought I have some ideas, I think it would be detrimental if I was to help you on that issue.¡± ¡°Detrimental?¡± ¡°Nothing is more harmful than an advice based on old informations. Thought I have seen countless heroes rise and fall, it was in another time, with different troubles and challenges. My advices would probably not be adequate.¡± Audrey seemed disappointed, and pondered her next question for a time. Sarah decided to use that to ask her question. ¡°Hermes, is there other worlds that gods or other people can access?¡± ¡°Of course there is, Sotiras. Hells are one for example. Each pantheon has it¡¯s own worlds, more or less accessible depending on who you are.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Sarah was starting to be unnerved by Hermes perpetual smile. He never seemed serious, but that wasn¡¯t the worse. The worse was that you couldn¡¯t read him. Loki was always smiling too, but it seemed quite genuine, he smiled because he was fucking with you, he knew it, you knew it, and he found it hilarious. Hermes had a commercial smile, that seemed warm and welcoming, but it was only a front. His eyes were unreadable, hiding his thoughts. And he keeps calling me that greek word for Liberator even after I asked him not to. Audrey chose this time to come back into the conversation. ¡°Mylord, I have another question. When I looked at my titles, I saw some that come from a long time ago, and one of them seems, well, incorrect at least. How does the Will of the World decides those kind of things?¡± ¡°An excellent question! We don¡¯t know. Especially when active and passive interactions come into play. I mean, almost every god has the ¡®Child killer¡¯ perk, because we didn¡¯t save children when we could have. But it¡¯s clearly not active. So, some of us are still trying to understand how it works. The others stopped caring about it long ago.¡± His bored face seemed to clearly indicate he was of the latter kind. ¡°I remember studying Hippocrates in school. I don¡¯t know if I remember well, but I think he lived long after the moment you were imprisoned, which was, like in 1000 B.C. Sarah?¡± Audrey¡¯s interjection came in reaction to the heavy slap sound heard behind her. I¡¯m so stupid! I should have noticed it, of course it doesn¡¯t make sense! As Sarah was admonishing herself, and massaging her forehead to relieve the pain from the far too strong facepalm she did before, Hermes decided to answer. ¡°We¡¯re not totally sure, but Athena told me that the world apparently fell in a state of chaos after our¡­ disappearance. It seems a lot of real history and rumors were mixed together, and a lot of dates were changed. The knowledge gods are still trying to pinpoint the exact moment we disappeared, and what really happened before, and after. It¡¯s pretty hard too, I was supposed to help, but it¡¯s boring, so I took my chance to skip.¡± So history is a mumble jumble, and everything I learned from the antic history is probably wrong, great. ¡°Two last things Mylord, how can I distribute my free points, and would it be possible to you to send us back to Atlantis?¡± ¡°Just think it, the Will of the World is very responsive. And I¡¯ll grant you too the Gift of Hermes. Oh, I gotta go, the haughty daughter is searching for me.¡± With a wave of his hand, Hermes dispersed in small silvery lights that quickly faded, leaving the two girls alone.
You received the Gift of Hermes. You can fly at divine speed, just like the fastest of the Greek gods! Duration : 48 hours.
Sarah dismissed the new window, and looked over Audrey. ¡°Are we going back?¡± ¡°Since we have some time before the Gift fade off, I would like to go see an old friend, if you agree? I think he can give us some informations, or at least find the people with those informations.¡± It¡¯s not like we¡¯re pressed by time. ¡°Sure, where are we going?¡± Audrey had a faint smile, like she was remembering some old memories. ¡°To France.¡± 10 - Bob the librarian They had been flying toward their goal for a good hour before Audrey finally sighted the highway leading to the town they were aiming for, and started following it. Sarah was remembering their earlier conversation, before they started flying at high speed, rendering conversation impossible. Especially the part about the man they were going to see. ¡°His name¡¯s Bob. Well, not really, but his real name is really hard to pronounce for english speakers so he stopped using it long ago. He¡¯s some kind of book fanatic. He lives in an old highschool, which he turned into his personal library. I went once, with my friend. I texted him earlier, we are announced. Bob has books about a lot of things, but one of his favorite field is alternative vision of history or myths. We might be able to piece something together there, before going back to Atlantis.¡± Sarah used the travel to text her team still on the island, that she refused to name before any certitude was obtained, and learned that the unearthing process was still ongoing, even if slowly. She really wanted to study that ¡°jail¡±, and the blood engravings. She saw Audrey gesturing at her and going down toward the city at their feet. They were soon landing in front of a big steel door. Audrey went to the codepad, and typed the code, granting the entry. They walked through the park, before she opened another door, and entered a garden. Immediately, Audrey was assaulted by a big beige dog, that seemed intent on coating her whole in sticky saliva. ¡°Bamboo! Down! Let the lady go!¡± As the dog was going back to his carpet, and the giant embraced Audrey in a bear hug, Sarah looked over the man approaching. He was colossal, probably just short of two meters, with a heavy build, a long ponytail and a lengthy beard. He was wearing a wool pullover, and for some reason a kilt. Seeing Sarah¡¯s gaze on him, the man spoke to her. ¡°I was doing some laundry, all my pants are wet. Now, enter, I kinda understood you were lacking time?¡± ¡°Not really, but we do have a flight to take back to Atlantis, so... ¡° Audrey was the one to answer him, disengaging herself from his arms and following him through the door, entering his home. He needed to lower himself to pass, and seemed to be really cautious. It was soon obvious why. Every surface available was covered in unstable towers of books. All the walls were covered with bookshelfs, and the only light came from the computer screen on the far end of the room, the windows being obstructed by those same bookshelves. The little she could see of the other rooms confirmed the whole place was probably like that. But what she found the most amazing was the diversity of the ouvrages. There wasn¡¯t any organisation system in place, or she couldn¡¯t get it. That tower was comprised of three different bibles on top of a stack of Dragon magazines, and that bookshelves held the whole Berserk manga series, alongside what appeared to be old Encyclopedia universalis, and a book titled Programming for the noobs. ¡°We¡¯re searching for hints on a scramble of history, and maybe some alternative timeline. Or maybe the last known true miracle?¡± ¡°Push over some of those stacks, there are chairs over there, and a table in between. I¡¯ll go fetch some tea and books you can study here.¡± They started to unload the table, clearing enough space for three to sit and work. ¡°How come you know someone like him?¡± It seemed strange to Sarah that a doctress from Chicago knew a french librarian. ¡°I don¡¯t really know him, we crossed paths a few times when I was a student here, and we met once when I came to visit some family and friends that stayed here when I moved in with my father, in Chicago.¡± ¡°But he seemed to like you?¡± ¡°French are a lot more expressive, especially in the physical ways. And he probably consider me the sister of his friend, so I have that going on for me.¡± ¡°The sister of his friend?¡± A brief grin flashed on Audrey face, before it was hidden by a pile of books being lifted. ¡°The one I texted to gain access here. He wanted to go out with me when we were younger, but I wasn¡¯t agreeing. After some years, he came to me and said he knew he couldn¡¯t go out with me, so I could treat him like a brother, since he would drop any sexual thoughts about me.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Another nutjob, I guess. ¡°Why would he renounce after several years? That seems rather counterproductive.¡± ¡°He said I knew too much about him and his flaws, so he wouldn¡¯t ever be able to charm me. And I must admit he did that perfectly. He showed only affection after that, tried to help me whenever he could and all that. Of course, being in two different countries means his help was often just psychological support, but still.¡± ¡°And we won¡¯t see him? I would have thought a man like that would have been waiting for you here.¡± ¡°He said he had some trouble because of the New Genesis, and he had to solve them.¡± ¡°The New Genesis?¡± ¡°Apparently, people on the internet started calling the last events like that, and since those people have a new god to support them, it¡¯s kinda hard to tell them they¡¯re wrong.¡± Sarah stopped moving. ¡°There¡¯s a new god?¡± Bob¡¯s voice resounded in the room, as he approached with a steaming pot and three cups. ¡°Enigma, god of the internet and free information. He appeared two hours ago, you can check his website if you want. There¡¯s a lot of cool stuff there, general explanations about the system, a list of known perks, titles, skills and classes. Of course that¡¯s only indicative, the good infos require that you log in, and for that you must be affiliated with him.¡± ¡°The gods can give information like this?¡± If so, why wouldn¡¯t Mimir give us more to work with? ¡°Don¡¯t know, but I think it¡¯s the work of his followers, not him directly. A lot of hackers, alert-givers and people like that went to him. I think Edward Snowden got a divine class or something.¡± I should affiliate with him, a database that big would be so cool. ¡°How do you affiliate with him?¡± ¡°There¡¯ a page for that. You need to give him some new info, or beat a test he put up. Or just something really cool, it seems a man got through with a poem about the first Enigma, the machine. But aren¡¯t you already affiliated with the Norse pantheon?¡± ¡°What, how do you know that?!¡± Sarah¡¯s outburst made Bob stop it¡¯s tea preparation, and Audrey nearly destroyed a tower of books by jumping back. ¡°The video with Thrud is online since a few hours. I think everybody that¡¯s at least a bit connected know who you are, and that you are the one who freed the gods. And you didn¡¯t answer my question.¡± Sarah fell down on her seat like she was struck by lightning. The whole world know me. And knowing the stupidity of some, there will be people to blame me for something. Audrey tried to calm her by patting her shoulder, and Sarah heard her say something in french to Bob. ¡°Why would you tell her that like this? Couldn¡¯t you be a bit more d¨¦licat?¡± Wait a second, I understood everything. I don¡¯t speak french. But that wasn¡¯t english. ¡°Audrey, could you say something in french? Anything?¡± Audrey seemed surprised, but proceeded. ¡°I find you really pretty.¡± ¡°I can understand french, but I never learned it. How come?¡± Sarah addressed her question mostly to herself, but Bob answered anyway, while Audrey was muttering something about the bathroom and leaving in a hurry in Sarah¡¯s back. ¡°That¡¯s on the website. Apparently, the Will of the World only recognize some languages, and treat the others as mixed up dialects. So if you¡¯re good enough in some basic languages, you can pretty much understand every derived languages. You¡¯re an archeologist, so I guess you know Latin and Greek, and so have the Latin and Hellenic language skills. French is pretty much Latin, with a few influences here and there, so it¡¯s not that surprising that you can understand it.¡± In retrospect, why would the pyromaniac in Berlin shout in english. I probably didn¡¯t notice since he was burning everything, but that should have been german. ¡°Ok, that kinda make sense. Now, while I try to ignore that everyone out there know me, you said you had some books that could interest us?¡± ¡°Oh yes, I forgot.¡± The man put down the teapot, leaving it to infuse, and went in another room, rummaging through the books. Having nothing to do, Sarah looked around. She always loved books, especially the old ones, and the big old libraries, with their smell of dust and old paper. The funny thing was that they all had a unique ambiance to them, some kind of atmosphere that put you in a certain mood. The library at Cambridge was beautiful, with a soft clear light. You always felt like you were gonna read a romance novel, even when working your ass off for an exam. And the one under the London museum was creepy. You felt trapped between the unending rows of steel bookshelves, under the bleak light of the neons. So whatever you were searching for, it felt like you were unearthing mysterious archives forgotten there among the antiquities. Here it was strange. The ceiling wasn¡¯t really low, but the vaults made it look like they were in some crypt. While that was reinforced by the old leather bound tomes, it also had the feeling of a back shop, filled with magazines and stock of mangas, comics and teenage novels. And the last part was the feeling of the busy office, with the three screen computer, and all these cardboard files filled with prints. What a mess. Like, look at that file, it¡¯s opened and half of the prints are falling. As Sarah was gathering the papers, she noticed it was written in latin. Well, I¡¯ll practice a little, what is this about. 11 - Research POV : Audrey I was talking with Bob when Sarah asked me to say something in french. In retrospect, it was obvious there was something strange here, as I was already speaking french. And me and my stupid brain had to say the most cringy and stupid thing, while thinking she wouldn¡¯t get it. And she did! And she went on without a stop, like it wasn¡¯t a big deal and just a compliment! I don¡¯t know if I should cry or laugh. The good thing is she didn¡¯t think badly of it. The bad one is that she didn¡¯t think of it at all! I was going out of the bathroom when I met with Bob, apparently searching a spot to put down a big pile of books. She went to guide him to one. He then looked at her. ¡°You look flustered.¡± ¡°Of course I am, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s happening, I¡¯m acting like a teenage maiden!¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you technically a maiden?¡± ¡°But I¡¯m not a teenager! And¡­ Wait, how do you know that?¡± ¡°He told me that if I tried to touch his ¡®pure and innocent¡¯ little sister, he would eradicate my bloodline. And he¡¯s never using that sentence ironically, except for himself.¡± Audrey took some time to calm down. ¡°I can¡¯t believe he told you that, I¡¯m big enough to protect myself. Hell, I could probably kick his fucking ass!¡± ¡°And he would still want to help you out. But that¡¯s not the point. Here, bring all those to your friend, I still need to search some other books upstairs.¡± Bob put a heavy stack of books in her arms before pushing her toward the good direction, and going upstairs. Audrey stopped right before entering the dining room, taking some time to compose herself. Then walked in, to see Sarah frantically sifting through the prints of several books, clearly shaken. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± It took Sarah several seconds to raise her head, and even then, she seemed only mildly focused. ¡°Those prints¡­ They should not be here. Like, really not. That one is a transcription of an apocryphal evangile, and it¡¯s not supposed to leave the Vatican. I know cause a friend showed me a little part of it, that she managed to memorize and copy at home while she was restoring it.¡± Sarah seemed shaken, and her eyes were running haphazardly on the books spread before her. ¡°And that one, it¡¯s a copy of a document that¡¯s in the depth of the London tower. I got to see it once, and read a page or two. There¡¯s a royal edict forbidding anyone to take that knowledge outside! How, how does he have them?¡± Audrey had let go of her books, and went behind Sarah, hugging her tightly. ¡°Ssh, calm down. Everything¡¯s fine. I told you he was a weird man. I don¡¯t know the gist of it all, but my friend mentioned something about ¡®books acquired through any means necessary¡¯. I suppose you can ask Bob about it, and we¡¯ll see. But I think it¡¯s great that he managed to get his hands on those, maybe they hold the key to what we search.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Good, she¡¯s calming down. The power of words! And hugs. Sarah was still slightly unnerved, but closed her eyes, seemingly enjoying the presence, and the comfort brought by the hug. They stayed like this for a solid five minutes, letting out the stress accumulated over that hectic day. Then Sarah spoke again. ¡°Ok, whatever the reason and the way he got them, those books can be useful. Well, not those, but some of them might.¡± They started reading through the books Bob gave Audrey, that were all about miracles performed by members of the big monothe?st religions. The books were referencing all of them. Some were clearly written by sceptics, and were searching scientific explanations to miracles, while others were more biased toward faith, and were disproving any hypothesis that might have been advanced to explain one of the miracles. Three of them treated of other miracles, but all had the same conclusion : however surprising that was, it seemed every true miracle performed by a human being was so in the name of an unnamed unique god. Every other one had been disproved or explained one way or another, except when they implicated a monster, an angel, or another creature. They had been reading for two hours when Bob finally came back, slamming a huge pile of books on the table. ¡°I see you¡¯ve started to read. Good, cause I still have another stack to bring down. Any question, need of help?¡± Seeing Sarah inspiring for a question, Audrey cutted her short. ¡°Some of those books look like copies of old manuscripts, where do they come from?¡± Bob chuckled before answering with a big smile. ¡°Every librarian is the same. We may promise secrecy, everything, but if you put an old knowledge in front of us, we can¡¯t resist. Even the most trustworthy man won¡¯t resist long, and he will make a copy. For his own usage, of course, not showing it to anyone, just to satisfy his selfish thirst for knowledge, his insatiable curiosity. But if a copy exist, it can be found, and there¡¯s a lot of people glad to do so in exchange of some things. So I bought those from hackers and thieves. These are all copies of copies of copies, but they¡¯re still valuable.¡± Sarah seemed strangely relieved, but Audrey was glad to see even the tiniest sign of relaxation in her. Even if that was hours ago, her earlier crisis was worrying. ¡°I was wondering, when reading all this, why do all the proved miracles come from jewish, christian and muslim religions? Do you have a theory on that?¡± Sarah¡¯s question made Bob stop on his way to the first floor. ¡°I have several. But my main one is a pretty improbable combination. Read that book, we¡¯ll see if you have the same idea. I¡¯m getting the remaining books, then I¡¯ll make more tea.¡± Audrey looked over the book. It seemed more like a mashup than a simple book. An alternating of antique registers and diagrams, with maps, timelines and family trees. It was deeply confusing, but Sarah took it and started reading it with avidity, while taking some notes. She seemed sometimes distracted by a something in front of her face that she swatted away. Audrey decided to go on with the book she was reading, which was treating of the discrepancies in miracles reportings. And a lot of those were in latin.
Latin language is now level 7! +1,5 INT, +1,5 CHA.
So that was what Sarah was swatting away. It¡¯s pretty distracting. Audrey willed the window to disappear, and went on. At some point, Bob had joined them before going on his computer, apparently writing something. Audrey started to yawn around 4 in the morning. It seemed Sarah¡¯s long sleep from before helped her continue, but it wasn¡¯t her case. She went to sleep in a room Bob showed her, before he himself went to sleep. When she woke up, Audrey went to see where Sarah was. She found the archeologist sleeping on a couch that was previously hidden by stacks of paper. She decided to let her sleep, and started reading the notes she left. Impossible. It can¡¯t be¡­ Sorry, not a chapter So, I''m going on a vacation. And while it means I''ll have more time to write, it also happens that I won''t have acces to the internet when there. Which means no updates, and no new chapters. I know how frustrating it can be, thought I doubt any of you are deeply addicted junkies (yet) (let me dream) (please). SO, as a compensation, I solemnly pledge to upload at least 3 chapters upon my return, in 11 days.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. I thank you all for your patience and support. If you want to insult me, please join a constructive critique, to force me to read it. Have fun and watch your health. 12 - The missing years POV : Sarah : I awoke to the sound of Audrey frantically sifting through my notes. I probably made a sound, because she turned toward me. ¡°Are your notes serious? Is it real?¡± ¡°As much as a one night research without any external confirmation and based almost only on illegally acquired books and sometimes doubtedly scientific attempts at confirming or disproving myths and legends can be. But it seems plausible enough.¡± Audrey fell on her chair, arms balling to her sides, eyes lost in the distance. I didn¡¯t thought she would take it this bad. Sarah went up to her, nudging her shoulder to get her attention. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad, it just means stories are in the wrong order, and partially mixed. That¡¯s what historians and archeologists deal with since the beginning. No record is perfectly accurate. Nothing really changes.¡± Audrey lifted her head, looking at her with a frightening intensity. ¡°We lost several thousand years of history, and that¡¯s how you¡¯re reacting?! I thought you¡¯d be the one distressed! Everything we learned is wrong!¡± ¡°Not wrong, just only partially true. And even if that stings a little, that¡¯s not enough to distress me. You know why?¡± Audrey stayed deadpanned. ¡°Because it means we have everything to rediscover! No more walking in the shades of the first of us! I can be the one to rediscover our true history!¡± Sarah stopped talking, her breath short. She felt hot, and her arms were slightly trembling. Looking at Audrey, she saw the girl was still lost, and maybe a bit frightened by her outburst. Maybe I let the emotion speak a little too much here. She started to rub Audrey¡¯s shoulder, trying to get her to calm down from her previous panic attack, which would probably take a little more time. As Audrey was coming to terms with the last development, Bob came down and started his computer and the fire under a tea kettle, with barely a grunt toward them. He stole a look at Sarah¡¯s notes while waiting for the water to boil. ¡°Interesting, can I forward it to Enigma, or do you want to be the one to do it? If you include some scans, that might be enough to grant you access to the first level of authorization.¡± ¡°And what does that entail?¡± That god of the Internet seemed to have a lot of informations, and most important of all, took the time to write it down, or at least had people who took it. But for a god of Free information, he seems to use an awful lot of barriers and locks. ¡°You¡¯re thinking it¡¯s strange for a god of Free information to lock it, right? Everyone think that the first time. I answered that question a hundred times on chats yesterday. Information is a tool, and a power. If you give a supercomputer to a man doing accounting, you¡¯re not helping him, you¡¯re effectively hiding the few tools he needs inside a haystack of others. And if you give a firearm to a monkey, you¡¯re asking for trouble. So Enigma decides what one needs.¡± Bob took the kettle out of the fire, and served two mugs and a large bowl of water, before bringing everything to a free spot of table and dropping a wooden box filled with various tea varieties in front of her.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°And to answer your question, first level gives you access to the full list of known skills and classes, thought you might not be able to see the prerequisites for all of them. You will have access to a broader list of titles, and be able to check the database for first level informations, like a way to contact someone with a certain class or a certain skill. But you won¡¯t have their names or their locations. That¡¯s for level 2.¡± Sarah took the time to ponder that. I need more infos. I don¡¯t think there¡¯s such thing as too much for a Truthseeker. ¡°I¡¯ll do it, can I use your computer?¡± Bob chuckled before heading for it. ¡°I¡¯m introducing you to a Level 3, that should allow you to chat directly with someone, and avoid the waiting time.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t there a title or something you use to refer to each others? Those level things sound creepy.¡± ¡°Haha, there will probably be soon, but it¡¯s still recent, so for the time being, we don¡¯t really have anything like it. Thought I¡¯ve seen some guys refer to Level 1 as ¡®scouts¡¯, so maybe it will be something like it. Maybe I¡¯ll be an ¡®explorer¡¯ or something. Here, you can go on.¡± Bob left the computer for her, and went to speak to Audrey. Something about a bear called Nick. Sarah sat down in front of the computer. A chat windows was opened, and an administrator called Carl D¡¯R¡¯US was waiting for her. _________________________________________________________________________ Redfish : Hi, I¡¯m the one with the informations. Carl D¡¯R¡¯US : Of course. You can send everything, we¡¯re under Enigma¡¯s watch, so it¡¯s safe. Redfish : How do we know Enigma¡¯s watching? Carl D¡¯R¡¯US : You see the green triforce with the eye on top of the window? If it¡¯s grey, it means we¡¯re on His domain, but he¡¯s not watching. It¡¯s green, so he¡¯s watching. And who wouldn¡¯t watch for the famed Liberator of Gods? Redfish : Ugh, I think this is going to replace my name if it goes on like this. I¡¯m going to scan some papers, and explain the gist of it. Carl D¡¯R¡¯US : Please do. Redfish : So, the idea is that what we know of history is severely biased. Apparently, there¡¯s around two or three thousand years, situated before Jesus Christ birth, on which the actual history is wrong. Most of it has been integrated in different myths, and the supposed dates mixed with the rest. Carl D¡¯R¡¯US : Isn¡¯t there a conspiracy theory about that? Redfish : Yes, we used to laugh about it in school. But that was before gods and magic appeared to be real. If the means to hide something that big are real, then we must reconsider it. And the arguments are numerous and quite logical. Carl D¡¯R¡¯US : I see. Send everything you have on this. I¡¯m conferring with Enigma. _________________________________________________________________________ Sarah was scanning the last page of notes she would be sending. There was more, but her last conclusions were hers to use, no one else. Checking on her status, she saw they still had a dozen hours of flight available. They would be going soon after, she could still check the database from her phone while in flight. Suddenly, a new message made the chat window flash. _________________________________________________________________________ Carl D¡¯R¡¯US : Enigma accepted your offering. I¡¯m sending a link, click on it to accept. I already created your profile according to His wishes. After that, just put some blood on the USB port and don¡¯t ask me how it works. You¡¯ll have a Level 1 access. However, if you have, let¡¯s say, informations on rare classes or titles, Enigma is willing to upgrade that to Level 2. Redfish : Ok, I¡¯m confirming it. I suppose there¡¯s an intern way of transferring infos, or shall I just give that to you now? Redfish has been disconnected. LoG has connected. LoG : ¡­ LoG : Did Enigma really made this my pseudo? Carl D¡¯R¡¯US : I¡¯m afraid that yes, he did. Sorry about that, just remember he was born yesterday, on the internet. LoG : ¡­ LoG : I¡¯m sending you the other infos. Bye. Carl D¡¯R¡¯US : Good luck and welcome. I sent you my private tag. I¡¯m somehow acting as the administrator for the website, or like a grand priest for the temple. If you need help, think of it. _________________________________________________________________________ Well, at least I have access to a lot of infos. 13 - Departure After the transfer was done, Sarah confirmed she had indeed an access, before turning back to Audrey. She had a good idea coming here, but we need to go before the blessing run out and¡­ is that a BEAR! Sitting on the floor with a whiskey bottle in one paw was a small brown bear, listening intensely to Audrey¡¯s description of her classes. Well, not really small, more smaller than she would expect of a bear. Sarah used a lull in the speech to interject. ¡°Hm, sorry to interrupt, but we will probably need to get going soon.¡± And where does that bear come from?! And why is he drinking whiskey at 10 AM? And did he just wave at me? Indeed, the bear just waved distractedly at her before refocusing on Audrey, who nodded briefly at Sarah before finishing her speech. Since no one seemed to advance explanations, Sarah decided to look into the basket on the table. Probably brought by the bear. Inside were several pastries, and a little box. The box was reminiscent of those used to store rings. Sarah took a croissant, and let the rest untouched. Behind her, Audrey¡¯s story was ending, and she heard heavy steps approaching. Turning around, she met nose to muzzle with the bear. He was indeed quite small, maybe 190cm tall, and leaner than she would have thought for a bear. So, maybe 150kg? The brown eyes were glued on hers, strangely reflecting more worry than anything. She noticed the big paws that were doing a strange dance, up and down, toward her then away and down again¡­ Wait, is the bear fidgeting?
New skill discovered! Empathy is now level 1! +1 PER, +1 WIS, +1 CHA per level.
Cool, new skill. I bet it will help in investigating. I really need to avoid being lied to, even one false lead can throw off my quest, and I don¡¯t know if I would ever be able to backtrack it. To her shame, Sarah was known to be quite naive when things were getting out of her comfort zone. In truth, she was almost unable to reject a statement without at least a sliver of fact to base her refusal on. So when things touched upon fields where she wasn¡¯t proficient, she tended to accept everything as fact. Thought she knew of it, it was something she had trouble to contain. Maybe that skill will help. I think I¡¯m forgetting something¡­ A slight cough from Audrey made her come back to reality, where the bear facing her was nervously trying to fax himself between a pile of books and herself. Realising she was on the way, she moved out, to the manifest pleasure of the plantigrade, which took a swing of his bottle before grabbing the pastry bag. He let it out before Bob¡¯s feet, who dived in it. The bear then grabbed the small box and carefully opened it in front of Audrey.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Approaching, Sarah saw that it indeed contained a ring. It seemed to be made of a metal, even if the coloration was strange. As Audrey was taking it, and putting it on, Sarah saw it was sculpted in the shape of two wings interlocking, one a deep black bat wing, the other a bright white dove wing. They were ensnaring the finger from both sides, and gradually shifted to a plain ring. The colors were opposed, but there was only one material, as they seemed to flow into each other seamlessly under the finger. The bear waved happily at everyone, and left. She saw him morphing into a really big eagle and flying away. Well, not as big as the one Thr¨¹d made, but still too big for an eagle. Or was that a condor? Not the point, focus. She turned back to Audrey, who was nibbling on a chocolate bread and admiring the ring. ¡°Who was that? What¡¯s that ring? Why was he a bear? WHAT IS HAPPENING?¡± It seemed like the stress was finally getting to her, and she tried to calm down her fluttering heart. ¡°T¡¯was Nick. He¡¯s a druid I think, or something like that. Doesn¡¯t speak much, and even less as a bear it seems. And that, is the ¡®Ring of Devilish Angel¡¯s Bride¡¯.¡± ¡°The devilish angel¡¯s bride? What¡¯s a devilish angel?¡± ¡°Apparently, when my friend got his classes, he managed to get one for becoming an angel, and one for becoming a devil. So he¡¯ll go to the Vatican, so they can sort this out. Apparently, every angel and every devil gains a ring to offer to someone, that marks the person as the others as being someone whose soul is under protection. And since he¡¯s both, he got this ring. And it gave me two titles!¡± ¡°But if you took it, aren¡¯t you supposed to be his bride? I thought you weren¡¯t an item, or something like that?¡± ¡°He told Bob the ring was named like that, but that it didn¡¯t imply anything else than an interest and a desire to protect the wearer. Like, you could give it to your sister or your brother, it would be ok.¡± ¡°And those two titles?¡± ¡°They are ¡®The Devil¡¯s Bride¡¯ and ¡®The Angel¡¯s Bride¡¯. They have almost the same effect, +5 Wisdom and Charisma, makes people from the same faction friendlier. Since I have both factions, I suppose they will all think I¡¯m ok.¡± ¡°Any other effects?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I only know that because I had windows pop up explaining it, I can¡¯t appraise the ring itself.¡± ¡°Right. We should really find how to do that.¡± At that moment, Bob came back with a cup of tea, and the pastry basket, now filled with what seemed to be a picnic for two. He handed it to Sarah. ¡°I thought you had to go?¡± Sarah checked, and indeed, the blessing only had around six hours left. She lifted Audrey by pulling her arm, and they went outside. ¡°Thank you for the help. Later.¡± ¡°When you want, just ring me before.¡± He came close to her, looked over his shoulder to see Audrey petting Bamboo, and whispered to Sarah. ¡°Just make sure nothing happens to her.¡± Backing a few steps, he added aloud. ¡°I sent you my Enigma tag, if you need something. Good luck.¡± The two girls then took to the sky. And Sarah couldn¡¯t help but feel like Bob¡¯s whisper was as much a request as a warning. 14 - Return to the beginning It was surprisingly easy to fly over half an ocean to get back to Atlantis. Crap, even I start calling the old city like that. I hate it when the media name something before we have any real certitude on it. Only propagate false ideas and expectations. Sarah had used this time to check a lot of things on Enigma¡¯s website. And she had made a little list with everything she knew about the new rules in this world: Looking to her right, she saw that Audrey was still practicing whatever it was she was doing. It seemed she muttered to her fist while looking intensely at it. Sarah averted her gaze, and looked in front of her. She could see a small landmass, probably the island. Suddenly, her vision seemed to jump ahead, and she managed to make out some landmarks, indeed confirming it was it.
New skill discovered! Eagle¡¯s eyes is now level 1! +3 PER per level.
Only Perception? Isn¡¯t that kind of broken? Using her new ability, Sarah peered at the island. She located the tomb of the gods, and was surprised to see the excavation work had been pursued. They had unearthed a dozen meters on each sides of the door, revealing some impressive sculptures. At least, some true archeologist work! They still had around an hour of flight available when the two girls landed in front of the doors. Sarah¡¯s team was at work, photographing everything, taking measurements of the big statues. From up close, they were even more awesome. There was a dragon, and the details of the scales were amazing. Maybe it was even another of those ¡®living¡¯ sculptures, like the gods were. But no one will know, since it didn¡¯t change back. Which was probably due to the lack of half his head. In front of the statue was a white sheet, upon which Lise was slowly depositing and examining black stone fragments. Sarah went to her, and saw that those were probably pieces of the dragon. ¡°Do you have everything?¡± Lise jerked upright, clutching her hands around the stone piece, and shrieked. Her wide eyed gaze finally fell upon Sarah, and went from terror to surprise to resentment to tears. ¡°Why would you do that? F-first you almost die, then you go away with a strange woman, then you fight a pyromaniac, then you try to make me d-die! That was mean! MEAN!¡± She had left the stone on the sheet and was trying to punch Sarah in the stomach, without a lot of success since the supposed victim just had to stretch her arms out to keep the small girl to reach her. After a full minute of rambling, Lise fell on her knees, her tears drying. She lifted her head with a tired smile. ¡°Glad you¡¯re well.¡± Sarah didn¡¯t knew what to do. Anyone with a shred of ability to read emotions could tell she was lost and required help. But the rest of the team present around had work to do, and Audrey seemed fascinated by the other statue. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry? I didn¡¯t think you would miss me that much¡­¡± Sarah was patting Lise¡¯s head awkwardly, slowly stroking her hair, an uncertain smile on her face. ¡°Miss you? You¡¯re my main teacher and my thesis patron! I¡¯m supposed to be your first assistant! Never let me like that without at least some instructions or indications! I am supposed to handle everything when you¡¯re not there!¡± ¡°And you did it very well! Now, explain me everything you found. Please?¡± Lise only had a little grin before turning back and starting her explanations. ¡°This here is probably the petrified corpse of a dragon. I didn¡¯t find any kind of mark indicative of a sculptor work, and the inside of the body is as detailed as the exterior. You can see a part of the brain if you go up there.¡± ¡°How big is he?¡± ¡°Twenty meters long, thirty if you include the tail. Five meter high, neck and head not included. This other sculpture is, as you can see, a gigantic and beautiful bird. It doesn¡¯t seem there¡¯s anything missing, but we can¡¯t check for too long, since it¡¯s quite hot. We think maybe it¡¯s some kind of phoenix. But we can¡¯t know for sure.¡± Audrey, who was inspecting the sculpture all along, spoke.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°It¡¯s alive¡­ There¡¯s mana and life in there.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I got a ¡®Mana sense¡¯ skill, and similar skills for life and death. I can feel it, there¡¯s mana inside. Not a lot of it, but a lot of life too.¡± Sarah frowned, and decided to look seriously at the statue, searching for something moving, or anything really.
New skill discovered! Mana sense is now level 1! +1 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.
Mana sense to Mana instinct! Mana instinct is now level 1! +2 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.
Mana sense to Mana sight! Mana sight is now level 1! +2 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.
Suddenly, it started making sense. There was indeed something moving inside the stone bird. Like a small ball of fire. Sarah wanted to reach out to it, but managed to stop the compulsion. Last time wasn¡¯t a really good idea. Looking around, she saw that Lise had gone away, and Audrey was experimenting while looking at her closed fists and punching in the air. Actually, it seemed everyone had gone away. Wait, it¡¯s night? ¡°How much time did I stay here looking at it?¡± ¡°Around four hours. I wanted to stop you, but your assistant told me to let you be until midnight at least. You learned something?¡± ¡°There¡¯s something in here, like some kind of fire. I think it wants out.¡± ¡°How could you know that?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s the Mana instinct. I can feel how it moves. I suppose. It¡¯s not that clear.¡± Audrey went up, and looked at the bird statue. ¡°Is there anything we can do?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t want to destroy the sculpture, but maybe we could make a small opening?¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see in the morning with the team. We should go to sleep.¡± ¡°Ok, but wait for me before doing anything.¡± ----------------------------------- Audrey POV: I was walking toward the God¡¯s tomb, as it was named by most people here. There was a lot of activity, and it took me some time to locate Sarah, speaking with a mature man over what looked like a steampunk railgun. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± The man turned around, and smiled as he replied. ¡°A laser gun. No seriously, it¡¯s pretty much it.¡± ¡°I supposed whatever is in there wouldn¡¯t like water, since it¡¯s hot. So Henry offered to use this instead of a water pressure tool.¡± Sarah added this before gesturing toward two guys. They came close, lifted the machine and followed her to the door. When we arrived before the phoenix statue, I noticed there was a clear perimeter around it, marked by some roadwork tape. The workers started to install the laser, under the surveillance of Henry. I shouldn¡¯t call a man that old by his first name. But I don¡¯t know his name. I turned to Sarah. ¡°How long did you work with mister¡­?¡± ¡°Henry is a contractor of our department, so since I became a teacher.¡± ¡°Ladies, we¡¯re ready!¡± We turned our heads at the same time to see the two lifters going away, and ¡®Henry¡¯ manipulating a complex remote. Sarah handed me a pair of protection goggles, then gave the engineer the thumbs up. He engaged a lever, and a loud rumble started. It came from two generators, probably running with fuel at the smell. Then heat seemed to be emitted by the engine, before a stream of white pure light started cutting the black stone. With small movements, it opened a circular hole as big as a fist on the bottom of the sculpture. It then went on to deepen it, as the gravel were bouncing of it¡¯s protection harmlessly. After a good half hour, my mana sense picked some movement. I looked over Sarah, and she apparently saw the same thing. ¡°Stop it, whatever¡¯s inside is moving.¡± Henry stopped the machine. ¡°Good, it was almost overheating, I don¡¯t think we could have went on more than five minutes.¡± Everyone watched the bottom of the sculpture, and saw little wisps of flames emanating from the hole. It quickly started to look like fireworks, and without the goggles I would have had to look away. Suddenly, there was a wave of heat. The ground was heated enough to glow a little, and there was a ball of fire flying rapidly toward Sarah. Before anyone else could move, I jumped in front of her and punched with my ¡®Death fist¡¯ skill. I worked since yesterday to understand it, and finally managed to understand what an amount of damage that small could do. By observing my own body when using it, I noticed that the death energy was actually avoiding some places. After some cross-referencing, it was clear, Death energy was particularly harmful to cells. While that seemed obvious, the main point was that it¡¯s effectiveness would greatly vary depending on where it would touch. When I talked about it with Bob, he called it ¡®a critical hit modifier¡¯. Whatever he may mean, what mattered to me was that if you touched someone¡¯s vital spots with that, the damages would be considerable. And that¡¯s what I did, hitting the flaming ball dead center. Given it¡¯s size, there were only weak spots on that thing. I noticed my hand was only slightly hurt by the flames. I saw the ball of fire disappear, a small stack of ashes at my feets.
Congratulations! You killed a mighty phoenix! New title acquired: Phoenix killer.
Congratulations! You killed a legendary creature with only one blow! New perk acquired: Elder slayer.
I opened my status to look those over when a little voice at my feet startled me. ¡°Can¡¯t you take a joke? You fucking killed me!¡± 15 - Giiru Daaru Sarah POV: I¡¯m having trouble believing what¡¯s in front of me. First, Audrey just killed a phoenix, or at least a bird capable of transforming himself in a ball of fire, and she doesn¡¯t even seem phased by it. The only time I had to kill a bird that was injured, I called a friend to do it for me, and couldn¡¯t even stay in the same room nor see the corpse! What makes someone so jaded that the thought of killing another being doesn¡¯t register as disturbing for you? And secondly, a small bird covered in ashes is rambling about how Audrey committed a sin against his majesty, or something like that. ¡°I¡¯m the king of all birds! Heroes have lined up for years in hope they would get my advices or my help! And you, lowly¡­ BARBARIAN, dare raise your hand against me, and use a momentary weakness to steal the glory of one of the mightiest achievement one could get and¡­¡± I can¡¯t help but tune him out. He¡¯s so full of himself! But if what he says is true, he could have some valuable informations! I search for a lull in his speech to ask him a question, but I see Audrey moving. Wait, is she¡­? ¡°Listen here, you little shit! I killed you once, and if you don¡¯t shut the cesspool of crap you call a mouth, I might start doing it again just to see how many times you can do it!¡± She just grabbed him by the neck, and is holding him firmly in her closed fist. Only his head is poking out, the rest of his body limp under her hand. He seems to have trouble breathing, and he opens his beak, before closing it under Audrey¡¯s fierce gaze. ¡°Now, stupid bird, you¡¯ll swear to do everything I tell you to, and I might try to keep you alive.¡± As she end her sentence, I notice her eyes unfocusing, in a way that makes me think she might be seeing a blue window.
Eyes of the Truthseeker is now level 2! +1,5 PER, +1,5 INT, +1,5 WIS.
Instinct of the Truthseeker is now level 4! +2 PER, +1 INT, +1,5 WIS.
Cool, stats! Wait, when did I start liking this system thing? It seems it was yesterday that it felt so alien and strange¡­ ¡°You can¡¯t think the great I will agree with your imp¡­¡± ¡°SHUT UP AND SAY YES BEFORE I START PLUCKING YOUR FEATHERS!¡± ¡°I agree, I agree, don¡¯t pluck me!¡± Oh, they seem to have come to an agreement. And it¡¯s right, his new feathers are already appearing. What an amazing regeneration! Audrey put the bird on the ground before checking something on the air in front of her. ¡°Seems I¡¯m a ¡®Phoenix tamer¡¯ now. Good title. Now, would you kindly explain why you tried to burn the one that worked to free you from your stone prison.¡± ¡°I died at least a hundred times inside that cursed thing. If you were in my situation, you would have lashed out to escape too.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re SO powerful, couldn¡¯t you, I don¡¯t know, just flee?¡± The phoenix hanged down his head. I think it¡¯s the first time, he never stopped looking down on everyone before. Ah know, maybe not when he was in Audrey¡¯s grip. However ashamed he seemed to be, he still managed to look amazing, his new gold and red feathers making him a true embodiment of the flame. ¡°I¡­ might not have the power that was once mine anymore¡­¡± ¡°How come, aren¡¯t your kind supposed to be immortal?¡± ¡°First of all, I¡¯m the only one of my kind, the other phoenixes were merely evolved birds. And, I¡¯ll let you know death isn¡¯t something that trivial that I could overcome it without any damage. One death usually cost me half my power. Of course, it slowly comes back to me, but slowly is the key word.¡± ¡°So right now, how weak are you?¡± The bird that was slowly regaining a composure and a more confident stance seemed to lose it again, looking at his feets and fidgeting. ¡°As I was ten years from my birth.¡± ¡°And how much time will it take you to regain your former power.¡± ¡°Several thousand years I think.¡± Audrey has lost some of her aggressivity since the start. She doesn¡¯t even glare at him that much anymore. As the bird was keeping his head down, and quietly mourning his past glory, she kneeled, took him up to her face and smiled. ¡°Maybe if you get lots of experience, you can quicken that.¡± The phoenix looked her, eyes glowing with tears. ¡°Sadly, the Will of the World account for my full power when I get experience, so it¡¯s nearly impossible to gain anything in a short amount of time.¡± ¡°But I saw an option for shared experience in the familiar window, and I do not share your experience penalty, right?¡± The bird stopped moving entirely. He came to a realization, and locked his eyes on Audrey. ¡°But that mean you would only get half experience. You would do that for me? You don¡¯t even know me!¡± ¡°You know what¡¯s best than a high level? Having the freaking Primordial Phoenix with me!¡± Audrey laughed, and put him on her shoulders, where he sat stunned. ¡°So, Giiru, are you ready? We¡¯re tracking the one that imprisoned the gods in the past.¡± ¡°The gods were imprisoned!?¡± ---------------------------------------- Audrey POV: It took a good hour of explanations for Giiru to believe us. Then, it took several hours for him to answer the questions Sarah had. But apparently, he doesn¡¯t know anything about the jailer of the gods. He was killed by an Atlantean hero, called Attu Makordax, and woke up inside the statue. The mana was too weak for him to break his prison, and he died again of mana loss. And again and again. He was very insistent on that part. Well, that let me the time to activate the option for shared experience, and check his status.
Giiru Daaru Primordial beastStolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Global level 9 Phoenix 9/??
Race True phoenix Affinities Air 10% Fire 50% Life 50%
HP 396/396 MP 755
STR 56 INT 240 Luck 50
END 68 WIS 103
AGI 65 CHA 248
DEX 57 MEN 85
PER 57
Skills: Level
Air mastery 5
Algic language 10
Austronesian language 6
Aztec language 10
Celtic language 3
Claw mastery 1
Egyptian language 10
Eskimo language 9
Fire magic 10
Fire mastery 10
Flight 7
Germanic language 9
Hellenic language 9
Indian language 7
Latin language 8
Life magic 5
Mana conversion 2
Mayan language 4
Nigerian language 7
Phoenix feathers 5
Phoenix fire 5
Quechuan language 9
Semitic language 8
Slavic language 6
Tibetan language 7
Uralian language 3
Perks : Firebird, Phoenix reincarnation, Resurrected
Titles : Primordial beast, Immortal
Let''s look into the details.
Firebird You¡¯re a bird, and a being of pure fire. Grants the Air mastery skill at level 3, and the Fire mastery skill at level 5. Grants the Flight skill at 3. Grants the Fire magic skill at 5. Fire affinity can¡¯t be lower than 50%.
Phoenix reincarnation As a True Phoenix, death can¡¯t get hold of your burning soul. Life affinity can¡¯t be lower than 50%. Upon death, your body release a fire nova with your remaining MP. Then, it burns. You¡¯re reborn from the ashes some time after.
Resurrected You triumphed from death, at a cost. Experience deficit : 140 000. All titles and perks are locked. All levels are locked. All skills except languages are locked. Memories are left unaltered.
That¡¯s why he has so many languages. He probably has them all. But still, 140 000 experience? That¡¯s like¡­ 1400 class levels! I whipped my head quickly to Giiru, who was still discussing with Sarah. So he wasn¡¯t kidding when he said he was powerful. He was unbelievably powerful!
Primordial beast You¡¯re the first of your race! All stats start at 50. +50% total experience. Grants the Immortal title.
Immortal You¡¯ve seen things mortals wouldn''t believe, and you¡¯ll see even more. You don¡¯t suffer any negative effects from aging.
For the skills, I¡¯ll skip the language ones, they¡¯re all the same.
Air mastery You understand the way air exists and interacts. +0,5 PER, +0,5 INT, +2 WIS per level.
Claw mastery The nature gave you a weapon, it¡¯s up to you to use it wisely. +1,5 STR, +1 AGI, +0,5 DEX per level
Fire magic Use mana to harvest the power of fire! Burn everything, and everyone! +1 WIS, +2 MEN per level. Ascension impossible, level too low, fire affinity too low.
Fire mastery You understand the way fire exists and interacts. +0,5 PER, +0,5 INT, +2 WIS per level.
Even with so much limitations, his magic must pack quite a punch. I wonder why it didn¡¯t hurt me before.
Flight Whatever the way you use, you¡¯re able to soar through the sky! +2 AGI, +1 DEX per level.
Life magic Use mana to harvest the power of life! Create and grow! +1 WIS, +2 MEN per level.
Mana conversion You learned to substitute food, water and sleep with mana. +1,5 END, +1,5 WIS per level.
Phoenix feathers A phoenix feathers are highly magicals, shaming most armors. +2,5 END, +2,5 CHA per level.
Phoenix fire A phoenix fire is utterly different from a common one, and can purify almost everything. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 MEN per level. Phoenix fire can heal or burn.
Well, now that I¡¯m done, it might be time to ask Sarah what the plan is. 16 - Future plans Sarah POV: After checking Enigma¡¯s Sanctuary, which confirmed my suspicion, I saw that Audrey was waiting while chatting with the phoenix. Giiru, I think he said? When she caught my gaze, she went to me, Giiru flying to her shoulder. ¡°So, what¡¯s the plan?¡± ¡°Well, the atlantean hero Giiru spoke of was apparently an important follower of their god. And I checked on the Sanctuary, and no-one has ever heard anything about him. He¡¯s probably the only god who didn¡¯t approach anyone. So, there¡¯s of course the possibility that he¡¯s in his temple somewhere here, but that seems strange.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. But seriously, the Sanctuary? The name sounds so clich¨¦.¡± ¡°Yeah, Enigma¡¯s pretty adamant on that. Oh, and we have new official names, so I¡¯m an Explorer now.¡± ¡°That god is barely born and already rotten to the core. Well, what are we gonna do about this atlantean mysterious god?¡± ¡°We¡¯re gonna wait a bit, maybe help the other researchers. I want to find that god¡¯s temple, and learn more about him, before we go scourge the world for a trace of him. Since that¡¯s our main lead for now¡­¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°The main one? There¡¯s another?¡± I can¡¯t contain my smile, as the results of my research seemed to be confirmed by the last informations I got.. ¡°The last ¡®miracles¡¯ we can get reasonably credible proofs were all observed in the three big monotheist religions, or buddhism. It stands to reason that maybe they got their powers from some of the last monsters, except none of those mentions those, except for angels or demons, and those seems more like ascended humans than monsters. And someone posted a bomb on the Sanctuary. The big three got portals openings in Jerusalem, the Vatican and Mecca, that all leads to the same world. I don¡¯t have the details, but it seems there¡¯s no actual ¡®god¡¯ in there, but just a bunch of angels and devils powered by a divine spark. But no big omniscient god, or anything close to it.¡± Audrey¡¯s clearly paler than at the beginning of my speech, but I need to go through it all, see if she finds it crazy, or possible. ¡°So I think at least one creature of power managed to survive to start those religions. But since it wasn¡¯t actually part of those new pantheons, it never really became a god, and just leeched power. If it¡¯s true, maybe he knows what happened, or at least can help us.¡± ¡°Or maybe it¡¯s implicated in all that, don¡¯t you think?¡± I stop to think. And stay like this. I didn¡¯t envision that. It could be, but that would mean that searching for it would be insanely dangerous. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ possible. In which case we¡¯ll probably need a lot of power to be sure not to run into trouble. Which bring us to our next goal: training. By chance, Giiru, you wouldn¡¯t be willing to teach us some magic?¡± 17 - First training The phoenix looked smugly at the two girls in front of him. Thought his powers had been awfully reduced, the thing the Will of the World couldn¡¯t take was his memory. And his long life allowed him to try his hand at every known magic, and master quite a few of them. Even without the actual skills, he was still able to teach it. ¡°The first thing to understand about magic, is that there¡¯s three type of it. The most commonly used is internal magic. It uses Spells, some magic skills, and Mana. It¡¯s clearly the easiest magic to learn, since the Will of the World will help you with it. The second one is external magic, or manipulation magic. It involves some skills, and a little bit of Mana, but it mostly boils down to controlling an element, and bending it to your will. It lacks the internal magic raw power, but it¡¯s a lot more flexible, and at higher levels, it can deal similar amounts of damage. The third type is ritual magic, or world magic, but I¡¯m going to let that one out, since even the most basic practical use of it would require years of training. Just know that it basically substitute Mana, skills and everything else with a lot of ¡®intent¡¯.¡± Sarah used the little gap in this flow of words to interrupt the bird. ¡°What kind of magic are you going to teach us?¡± ¡°Well, first of all, I can only teach you magic you already have an affinity for. You can practice magic with any level of affinity, but at least a little is required to get the feeling for it. If my senses are not wrong, both of you have a death affinity, so we¡¯ll start with that, and we¡¯ll work out the others later. Close your eyes, and focus. Feel your heart. Feel the way it fills your body with blood with each beat, feel the way it¡¯s keeping you alive. After some time, you should get a warm fuzzy sensation inside. Try to imagine it going out, leaving nothing behind. Do not worry about dying, I¡¯ll use a healing wave as soon as you need it.¡± That¡¯s not really reassuring, stupid bird. Sarah stopped cursing in her mind to focus on the feeling he talked about. She slowly let herself fall into a deep meditation. Inside her heart was indeed something warm. But also something else, like a ball of blood that wouldn¡¯t move. Honing her concentration, she tried to see it better. As soon as she ¡®touched¡¯ it with her mind, it started shaking lightly. She felt a warmth coming from it. Maybe if I could¡­ ¡°YES! I did it!¡± ¡°Congratulations, you should have the ¡®Death mastery skill¡¯.¡± ¡°I also have the Life one!¡± ¡°Indeed, if you have the affinity for both, it¡¯s a good idea to have them go up at the same time. It should counteract some of the side-effects.¡± Sarah¡¯s eyes shot open. ¡°What side-effects?¡± The bird seemed suddenly embarrassed. ¡°Well, I forgot to tell it before, it¡¯s hard to remember you don¡¯t know anything. Mages are widely known for both their power, and their strange personality. The higher your affinity with an element, the more it influences your psyche. Thought you can¡¯t say it changes you, it¡¯s more you that are changing when understanding more of it. Really high level mages were always kind of weird.¡± ¡°In what way will it influences us.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a lot of clich¨¦s, like ¡®Fire mages are hot tempered with a short fuse¡¯ and ¡®Life mages are good and caring¡¯, but it¡¯s a load of Leviathan crap if you ask me. You can¡¯t know what¡¯s gonna happen before it does, because every mage has its own unique relationship with its element. Thought some tendencies can¡¯t be denied.¡± ¡°In the case of death?¡± ¡°Well, Death mages tend to have very extreme opinions on the value of life, whether in one sense or the other. Their understanding of Death also make them a little less social than the other peoples, unless those can handle the intensity of their way of life.¡± So it¡¯s not gonna change us per itself, but our understanding of it might change our way of being. ¡°Can you use magic without upgrading your affinity?¡± ¡°You can. Your spells will always be weaker than what they could, and you probably won¡¯t be able to use really high level spells, but you will still be able to use magic.¡± Guess there¡¯s no choice. But I¡¯ll make sure not to let those affinities mess me up. Sarah fell back in meditation, mentally waving away the blue window that told her she had acquired the ¡®Meditation¡¯ skill, and focused on the feeling the phoenix told about. She had already forgotten about the strange other thing. -------------------- About a week later, Sarah was woken up by her cellphone. A text message, from John. ¡°Pr Ming-We agreed to let us enter the temple he found on his parcel. We¡¯ve got to be there by two PM.¡± Perfect, maybe we¡¯ll get some informations. And with some luck, it will make that damn bird training stop. Even though Sarah had always been a hardworking person, the training regimen imposed by the bird was insane. Apparently, it was something he made from parts of old heroes trainings, and that he tailored to them. Tailored my ass. After she had unlocked her death mastery, Giiru had made sure to cram as much spells as he could in their brains, and taught them the basic of magic manipulation. Then he divided their days between learning and practicing spells, some physical training, and real combat training, claiming that ¡®Skills are useless if you don¡¯t know how to use them¡¯. She was sore, tired and angry. Angry both at the bird for his insane expectations, at herself for failing to meet his standards, at Audrey for being far closer to it than her, at the bird for praising Audrey every second of the day, and at herself for letting it get to her. And also for being angry at Audrey, who was definitely innocent in that. She just had a lot more fighting experience than her. And she still doesn¡¯t want to tell me where it comes from! I¡¯m sure it¡¯s something more than just ¡®a lot of spars¡¯.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Sarah decided that since she was awake, she could very well go over her status, since they changed a lot recently.
Sarah Lomrow Liberator of gods Global level 11 Truthseeker 8/20
Race Human *!* Affinities Darkness 20% Death 15% Valkyrie 3/20
HP 883/883 MP 1308/1308
STR 148 INT 238 Luck 14
END 147 WIS 214
AGI 154 CHA 178
DEX 152 MEN 160
PER 212
Skills : Level
A?kido 4
Archery 6
Astronomy 2
Celtic language 3
Climbing 4
Dagger mastery 1
Darkness magic 3
Darkness mastery 3
Death magic 1
Death mastery 2
Decipher language 3
Drawing 2
Eagle''s eye 2
Egyptian language 1
Empathy 2
Eyes of the Tomb explorer 3
Eyes of the Truthseeker 3
Geography 4
Germanic language 6
Hearth of the warrior 3
Hellenic language 3
History 7
Instinct of the Truthseeker 4
Latin language 6
Mana instinct 1
Mana sense 3
Mana sight 2
Meditation 3
Orientation 4
Riding 3
Speech 2
Staff mastery 1
Trade (Mason) 1
Trade (Painter) 2
Trade (Sculptor) 2
Unarmed combat mastery 5
Perks : Curious mind, Divine quest, Focused Mind, Gotta befriend them all, Oblivious, Touch of the Valkyrie
Titles : Liberator of gods, Tomb explorer, Library rat
It was clear that death magic would never be her strong point. Plus, darkness was so much more interesting. It allowed her to hide, to slow, to protect and everything else, while death was mostly killing people. Well the good point of that training is that I levelled up some times. Sarah got up, and quickly dressed herself. I need to tell Audrey we¡¯re going to enter the temple. And please gods, make it so there¡¯s a clue there, so we can escape this training hell. ¡°If you insist¡­¡± 18 - An unwanted visitor Sarah jumped toward the door and threw her fist in the direction of the voice.
Instinct of the Truthseeker is now level 5! +2 PER, +1 INT, +1,5 WIS.
Unarmed combat mastery is now level 6! +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 4 ¡®Valkyrie¡¯. +1 to all stats except Luck.
Her fist connected with the face of a young man with black hair, and he went flying into the wall, leaving a perfect imprint of his back inside before slumping on the ground. ¡°Ouh, ouch, argh, I¡¯m in pain, argh, help me.¡± As the man was righting himself, he started ranting about the horrible pain he was in, but his smiling face and perfectly monocord voice was betraying it. Well, not betraying, he¡¯s not even trying to hide it. He¡¯s not hurt at all. ¡°Well, your punch is quite good for a novice. I lost 1 HP! It¡¯s pretty impressive you know?¡± ¡°First, I felt that you went into it by yourself, so the praise is hollow. Second, what can I do for you, Loki?¡± A mischievous smile creeped up on his face. ¡°I¡¯m glad you remember me. I just happened to pass by here, when I felt someone practicing one of my favorite brand of magic. I came to look, and I saw you! I thought I would say hi, but you were always so busy¡­ But since you called, I decided to come.¡± Like hell he was just passing by, there¡¯s nothing here except for the city. He came to spy on me. ¡°I didn¡¯t call, it was just a wishful hope. And what¡¯s your favorite brand of magic? Darkness?¡± ¡°Bingo! Versatile, powerful and mysterious, why would anyone need anything else? Anyway, since you started practicing it, I think I can gift you something. We¡¯ll just say it¡¯s my reward to you for freeing me.¡± The god of mischief handed her a scroll, before turning back, and looking by the window, a pensive, almost melancholic gleam to his eyes, his face strangely inexpressive. Sarah set down the scroll, and looked at the god. I feel like there¡¯s something else. ¡°You see little dove, when one has lived for thousands of years, one accumulates history. And with history come mementoes, of varying values and interests. And for one such as I, always on the road, with so many enemies, it can be quite hard to keep all of those safe. And though one such as I would never dirty itself by blaming others for his infortunes, it is still hard to let go of such precious reminders. Ah, how many days have I spent lost in thoughts at the sight of those, remembering the past, my glories and mistakes, my failings and victories, my¡­¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. There we are, he wants something from me. Probably to get back an item. But can¡¯t he get to the point? ¡°... and the sweet smiles of my children, playing in the sun, and the sound of their laughters ringing through¡­¡± Wait, he¡¯s going to stop at one point right? He¡¯s not really gone into his memories? ¡°... like that time Thor and I went to see that giant, and I had him dressed as a woman! I had to sweet-talk the giant all night to make up for his pathetic attempt at crossdressing, like, he was¡­¡± I think I remember something about Loki being a little mad, maybe he¡¯s truly lost. But the main point is that it¡¯s FUCKING ANNOYING! ¡°... so I changed into that big fat salmon, and¡­¡± ¡°SHUT UP! I¡¯LL GET YOUR DAMN THING, SO SHUT UP!¡±
Hearth of the warrior is now level 4! +1 WIS, +2 MEN.
You accepted the request of a divine being. The perk ¡®Divine quest¡¯ has been updated.
You accepted to retrieve an item from his past for Loki, the god of change. Failure might bring consequences.
¡°Oh, I¡¯m so glad you offered to do that for me, I was just thinking that it would be really hard for me to do it, I was in so much despair.¡± Sarah couldn¡¯t help but sigh. She¡¯d got done. She knew what was coming, and still fell into the trap. ¡°So, what do you want me to get?¡± ¡°Sigyn¡¯s cup.¡± There was some silence, while Sarah searched her memories for something like that, but even if it sounded vaguely familiar, nothing came of it. ¡°I can¡¯t remember it, what is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the cup in which my dear Sigyn collected the poison that was burning my face when I was jailed for Balder¡¯s death. Which was a joke of a trial if you ask me, because seriously, the judge was the father of the defunct, and¡­¡± ¡°I DON¡¯T CARE! Ugh, just tell me what it looks like, and where to find it.¡± ¡°No need to be so aggressive, little dove. It¡¯s a copper cup, the size of a human face, with my name and hers on it¡¯s side. It will probably contain a powerful poison. And I don¡¯t know where it is, what do you think? The only thing I know is it was stolen by one of those greek guys, to sway Achlys. Stupid idea by the way, if you ask me, I think a¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯M NOT ASKING YOU, ANYTHING, EVER, GO AWAY!¡± Loki walked to the door with a smile, without even caring a little for her angry eyes. He put his hand on the doorknob before changing into a gust of wind and flying by the window. That fucking smile of him. I swear that one day, I¡¯m going to make him lose it. Well, what¡¯s done is done. Now to search who the hell is that Achlys, and see if I can speak with her. As she was sitting in front of her computer, it seemed like a faint sound came from the door. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± There was only an inaudible whisper, but there was definitely something. Sarah got up and walked to the door. ¡°Loki, if it¡¯s you again, I¡¯m going to¡­¡± Sarah got interrupted by the sight of the girl behind the door she had just opened. Tall and lean, with dark hair and pale skin, a dress of black silk flowing from her neck. And looking intensely at her feets, a pair of green eyes that somehow seemed familiar. Wait, green eyes, dark hair, pale skin, Loki¡­ ¡°You damn¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯MSORRYFORMYFATHERCONDUCTPLEASEPARDONHIMMYNAMEISHELIWANTEDTOTALKWITHYOUCANIHAVEAMOMENTOFYOURTIMEPLEASEEXCUSEMYINTRUDINGIAPOLOGIZEFORANYINCONVENIENCEIJUSTWANTTOTALKIPROMISEIWONTBEANNOYINGPLEASE!¡± The girl just shouted an incomprehensible jumble of words, turning redder and redder as it went on, and was now panting heavily. Sarah was still stunned by the sudden outburst when she saw the young girl fall down, unconscious. 19 - A less unwanted visitor In a small impersonal bedroom, an awkward meeting was taking place. Sitting on the bed, a beautiful woman, around 190 cm high but with a slender build. In front of her, on a rotating office chair, an uncomfortable Sarah slowly turning the chair with her foot. Both were grasping tea cups, and carefully avoiding each other gaze. After an undetermined time, Sarah took the initiative and spoke. ¡°So, who are you?¡± The pale woman started blushing again, but managed to contain herself by biting her lip, drawing blood. ¡°My¡­ my name is Hel. I¡¯m the goddess of the dead and the Underworld. I¡­ I¡¯m also Loki¡¯s daughter.¡± ¡°Well, you do look like him, in a taller, nicer way. Why did you came here?¡± ¡°You started to practice magic. Death and darkness. Both are my attributes, and you¡¯re a growing valkyrie. It seemed logical to me that I was entitled to extend an invitation to you, in the form of a Divine quest.¡± As she was talking, her words became more formal, and her posture changed. She went from slumped to an haughty pose, her voice no longer trembling, becoming both colder and deeper. ¡°But as it stands, my divine genitor went ahead of me, and managed to trick you into accepting his quest, hoping to bring you closer to him. I see he even left you a spell from his personal creation.¡± The glint in her eyes went cold and murderous, but Sarah was pretty sure she saw a hint of sadness toward the end. ¡°Though I doubt you would be stupid enough to let yourself be taken by his traps, I strongly believe that my duty, both as a goddess and as his descendant, is to ensure you have every bit of information available to avoid that fate. I assume you don¡¯t know why those Divine quests hold any kind of importance?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°It was foolish of me to hope he would have explained anything, of course. Your bloodline as a Valkyrie will be awoken by several different things. Which us gods are not allowed to explain, as discovering them is part of the trial, and could shape your future. But I can speak about one of those. Around 10% of your potential needs to be unlocked by accomplishing Divine quests. You can of course unlock more of it through quests, but the first 10% are of the utmost importance, because they might make you a variant kind of Valkyrie. So if you decided to complete Loki¡¯s quest first, you would probably be slightly drawn toward the ¡®Valkyrie of the wheel¡¯ variant. Thought alone it would never be enough, your personal inclinations, your magical affinities and other things would factor in, and as of now, this outcome is highly probable.¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Wait, so he¡¯s trying to make me his servant?¡± ¡°Not directly no. Even if you were to evolve into a variant typically associated with him, he would gain no power over you. But your instincts would probably draw you closer to him, and away from adversely aligned gods. Which is why I want to offer you a Divine quest of my own, that will probably be at least a bit more neutral than his. If you agree, I would like you to search for the remains of my brothers, and bring them back to me, so I can lower them into Gj?ll. Of course, I will appropriately compensate you for your efforts, independently from any reward you would already have gotten at that point.¡± Sarah stayed silent, as she considered the offer. It was honest, upfront, and far more advantageous than the last one she was offered. Plus she looked really desperate earlier. And she¡¯s quite nice despite this sort of facade she put on. ¡°I agree. I¡¯ll search for them. If I remember well, they¡­ do not look human?¡± Sarah waved away the blue window telling her of this newly accepted Divine quest. ¡°You can say the truth, they looked like monsters. Jormungandr was a serpent big enough to circle around Yggdrasil, and Fenrir was the king of all wolves. Though I will never contest what they looked like, I would however be pleased if you treated them with the same respect you¡¯d treat me with. They probably died after our imprisonment, since their divine part was a lot weaker than mine.¡± ¡°I promise to treat their remains with the utmost care. I must say, even if I prefered your earlier way of being, you¡¯re a lot easier to speak with than your father.¡± Hel¡¯s face instantly flushed red, and her cold and haughty demeanor broke into pieces in a manner of seconds. ¡°S-s-stop trying to make me weak! Y-you¡¯re not nice!¡± So adorable! Like a little girl! Sarah got up, to sit down by the goddess¡¯s side, and started scratching her head while she was busy trying to hide herself. She felt Hel freeze, before slowly relaxing and letting her go. However, she was still hiding her face. They stayed like this for half an hour, at which point Hel suddenly got up, and walked through the door without ever turning back. It took all of Sarah¡¯s insane PER to hear the small ¡®Thanks¡¯ she whispered before disappearing in a shadow. Interlude : An Hel of a week Around a week earlier, in the Ferdreisa: Stupid me. Stupid. Of course they won¡¯t welcome you, they never liked you. Nobody likes you. They even prefer Dad, when he¡¯s the one at fault, just because he¡¯s a ¡®true¡¯ god. I¡¯m a true goddess! I was made one by Odin himself, how do they dare chase me from the table. He expressly said that every god was welcome to the table. That¡¯s it, I¡¯m going back. Having resolved herself, Hel peeked at the banquet hall from the shadows of the pillar she was standing behind. The feast was going strong, and Thor and Tyr were already drunk out of their mind. Oh, and Freya is flirting with Skirnir. Poor Skirnir, she¡¯s always teasing him. So, where can I go? Maybe there, with Heimdall, he¡¯s always been, well, neutral. Wait, Dad¡¯s here?! Oh no, Odin please make it a dream! No, he¡¯s still here! He¡¯s going to do something embarrassing, I can feel it! Her musing were interrupted by the sound of the great door opening, Thr¨¹d walking in with two mortals in tow. Hel couldn¡¯t help but notice a strong death aura from both. Strong for new mortals at least. And the tallest one even has darkness. And the other has life! Maybe if I can speak with them before anyone tell them I¡¯m no good I can convince them to join me? That would show those stupid stuck-ups! I would have two valkyries, both sporting my aspects, and they would have none! While she was daydreaming, Odin had explained something to the girls, and the feast was going on again. Oh, they¡¯re alone, and seem lost. Now¡¯s the perfect time! So, I go to them, greet them, lead them outside, and then¡­ Wait, no, Dad¡¯s going to them! NOOOOO!!! Hel was forced to follow the newly formed trio from a distance, as there was no way in Hell she would go near her father. As soon as he get away, I will go greet them. I think they¡¯re going to see Mimir, so he will leave them outside the grove, or Mimir would beat him to death. I¡¯ll have an opportunity then. The short girl then started having a mental breakdown, and the timing made it quite clear it was Loki¡¯s fault. Cursed idiot Dad, now she¡¯s mad! I can¡¯t go like this, she would scream at me! Maybe if I take care, and come from a distance¡­ Yes, that¡¯s good! Hel made herself visible, then started slowly walking toward the duo from a distance. The problem being that she totally misread the perception ability of two low-level mortals, and was too far for them to see her, except if they already knew where to look. So they didn¡¯t, and went in the grove. Stupid, stupid me. Now I can¡¯t go in, Mimir hates me. Maybe after that they will go back to Odin? I¡¯ll wait here, it shouldn¡¯t be too long. After some time, they indeed came out¡­ Flanked by Mimir! Hel reinforced her camouflage, and though Mimir seemed to have catch on something, he would probably not be able to find her, or even find it was her. He would probably attribute it to her father. Having the same aura can have some good moments, but rarely. Hel watched from her hiding place, as the tall girl (¡®Sarah¡¯) affiliated herself with the norse pantheon. She almost screamed in despair when that sly fox of Mimir made her accept a Divine quest, but contained herself. It¡¯s probably going to fulfill her Truthseeker requirements, not the Valkyrie one. Yes, that¡¯s it, everything¡¯s okay, don¡¯t panic. Now, Mimir and Wol¨¹ndr will go back, and I will approach them to¡­ I HATE YOU OLD FOX! The two girls were going away on Mimir¡¯s crow, and of course, since he had some divine essence, she couldn¡¯t manifest herself on it. She took flight to follow the crow, trying not to cringe to hard at Mimir self satisfied smile. One day I¡¯ll kill him. They flew for a while, and stopped in Berlin. Yes, I can manifest myself there! Here I go! As Hel was going to the ground, she saw a small winged spirit appear in front of her. ¡°In the name of Pacollo, you¡¯re to stop right here.¡± ¡°Oh come on, we¡¯re in german territory, I¡¯m a norse-germanic goddess, I have every right to manifest myself here.¡± The spirit had a smug smile, and she was beginning to be irritated. ¡°We¡¯re in prussian territory, and there¡¯s already a death god here. Begone, unless you want to start a war?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. AAAAAAAAAAAH! I hate them so much! Everyone of them! To her great displeasure, Hel took to waiting while invisible in the sky. She saw the two girls display against the fire man. Already an acolyte of Surt, that was fast. When Audrey and Sarah went back in the sky she followed them again. At least now I have both their names, and I know they have good instinct, and even some combat experience. They flew south, and she was almost grateful to see them landing in Athens. Hel immediately went to see Persephone in her Underworld palace, and left a crow to look for them. At least Mimir¡¯s crow is gone. They won¡¯t move too fast now. The Underworld, Hades palace, Persephone¡¯s aisle: Hel was leaning on a couch, eating a few grapes, while Persephone was serving herself a cup of wine. She came to seek the authorization to manifest herself before the two girls, and even if she kinda interrupted Persephone¡¯s bath, the death goddess agreed to intercede for her to her husband, Hades. After all, the two had known each other for a long time, and talked about a lot of things. Even some of their circumstances in the regard of their domain attribution, as they were both abducted and forcefully named Death goddesses. And Persephone had just come back from it, and the news weren¡¯t good. ¡°I know it must be frustrating dear, but I can¡¯t go against his decisions if they make so much sense. We can¡¯t let any other god manifest itself on our territory as long as everything¡¯s not perfectly stabilized. There¡¯s already conflict between pantheons, caused by population movements. Plus, some of us got their image changed a lot during our absence.¡± ¡°I know, I never saw Thor so fair looking, and Dad seems a bit more cunning than before. He has that smile like he always has a big plan that no one but him can see.¡± ¡°Talk me about it, my dear Hades is lot hotter than before, and he even made some jokes!¡± ¡°Were they good?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe? I was too stunned to really think at that point.¡± ¡°I can imagine. So, since I can¡¯t manifest myself here, I¡¯ll continue trailing them. Take care of you.¡± ¡°You too, and try to come more often, it¡¯s been eons since the last time.¡± Hel took off, both disappointed and relieved. Disappointed by the outcome of her query, relieved because Persephone had not come on to her. The goddess was beautiful, with an alabaster skin so perfect it was said to have been polished in the Styx. But her sexual needs were well known, and she made no distinction between men and women in that regard. Happily, it seems Hades gave her what she craved, since she didn¡¯t even try to steal a kiss or a hug from Hel. As she was going back to Earth, she felt her crow moving. They were going west. Maybe if they stop in Spain? She finally catched up to them, as they were landing in France. Tch, another waiting time. I¡¯m not coming to the ground, or that boring guy will come to explain me the ¡®Wheel of destiny and life¡¯, and all his crap. Many hours later: ¡­ then I¡¯ll kill that damn Rainbow Serpent for calling little Jorm a tiny worm, then I¡¯ll kill all those damn phoenix lovers and their crap of resurrection magic, and finally I¡¯ll kill the one who decided GODS COULDN¡¯T SPY ON ANYONE THAT WAS NOT DIRECTLY AFFILIATED WITH THEM! Oh, they¡¯re moving. Those were some of the most boring hours of my life I think. There isn¡¯t even enough dead people to entertain me. Hel saw the two girls taking flight west. Of course, rotten luck of Hel. They¡¯re not going to Spain, but directly above the ocean, so I won¡¯t be able to manifest without those crazy psychos coming at me. Can¡¯t I just kill them and let them out of Hell later? No, the short¡¯s one is Hermes follower. Ah, I see land. They¡¯re going down¡­ It¡¯s Atlantis. That¡¯s it. I think I need to cry. I suppose I can still ask that weirdo if I can manifest. Unless he¡¯s dead? Wait, if he¡¯s dead without new gods, doesn¡¯t that make this a neutral consecrated zone? Please no, I can¡¯t get there either! Tell me it¡¯s not that! Hel looked around, but even if there was still a fair quantity of Divine aura, it was hard to identify it. She let out a wave of power, prompting anyone to answer her call. But no one came. However, the power in the ground didn¡¯t recede either. Looks like consecrated ground. I hate my life. Guess it¡¯s back to waiting. I¡¯ll improve my speech, maybe I can try to add a smile, that would be nice¡­ Or really awkward¡­ Argh, how does Dad improvises those things! Precisely 199 hours, 32 minutes and 11 seconds later: ¡­ and he¡¯ll be a fan of twilights under the snow, and he¡¯ll know how to cook, for the days I don¡¯t feel like it, but I¡¯ll still cook most of the time. What if he doesn¡¯t like my food? Nah, I¡¯m a good cook, I trained a lot, and my guests always liked it. Ah, but Jorm was spewing poison, so maybe his tongue was hurt? Oh, another Divine aura, it¡¯s¡­ NO! NO! NOT AGAIN! Hel had had all the time to look at Sarah¡¯s training, at least when it happened outdoor. But she just caught a whiff of her father¡¯s aura, and looked when Loki manifested himself without a care in the world, right into the young valkyrie bedroom. She didn¡¯t want to get caught, so she stayed out of sight, but clearly noticed the surge of power Sarah had just experienced. He let himself be hurt? But he can¡¯t! If another god hears that, he can get punished for unbalancing things. She gained close to two levels instantly! As she was worrying, whatever was happening inside ended, and Loki flew out, a satisfied smirk on his lips. Oh no, he probably managed to trap her into one of his plans! I can¡¯t let her go! I want a Valkyrie that¡¯s not a complete psycho! Hel rushed to the door, and lightly knocked, disregarding any safety. Dad just did it, if someone wants to complain, he¡¯s first in line. Ah, she¡¯s coming. Wait, she¡¯s angry. What do I say? What do I say? Wha¡­ ¡°I¡¯MSORRYFORMYFATHERCONDUCTPLEASEPARDONHIMMYNAMEISHELIWANTEDTOTALKWITHYOUCANIHAVEAMOMENTOFYOURTIMEPLEASEEXCUSEMYINTRUDINGIAPOLOGIZEFORANYINCONVENIENCEIJUSTWANTTOTALKIPROMISEIWONTBEANNOYINGPLEASE!¡± 20 - Playing with magic Sarah POV : I was still trying to sort my ideas when I heard something tapping at my door. The rhythm of a knock, but the sound of a thrown pebble. I opened the door to see a crow perched atop a scroll. As soon as he saw me, he bowed, and flew away, leaving me alone with the scroll, that I unrolled. Dear Sarah, It appears to me that I forgot to do some things when leaving your place. Here¡¯s a map with the last known location of my two brothers. You¡¯ll also find a scroll containing one of my own spells. I hope it will be useful to you. I wish you good luck. P.S: Thanks. It appeared there was something else written after the ¡®Thanks¡¯, but it had been burned. As I looked over the map, I saw two paragraphs of text. As Odin forbad Jormungandr from ever leaving the ocean, he spent a lot of time searching for places that would still be the ocean, but could allow him to mingle with people. The last time I saw him, he was investigating some fjords, and especially trying to determine how deep he could go inside. I would recommend searching for a place like this. Also, you can probably keep your researches located around Scandinavia, Jorm never liked the other big sea creatures. So, a water plan that could technically be considered ocean, but as far inland as possible. And around Scandinavia, or at least away from deep waters. The next paragraph was written above the norwegian mountain range. Fenrir was imprisoned by the other gods, but Gleipnir, his chain, drew in colossal amounts of mana. I doubt it would have survived very long without it. Before he was tricked, his favorite place was inside the Jotunheimen range. He liked the freedom and solitude. So I¡¯m searching for traces of a giant wolf, in a remote mountain range in a very scarcely populated country. Easy. Well, at least she asked nicely. And I got two spells! Right, cause I still don¡¯t have any spells. Giiru intentionally disrupted us whenever we were close to forming one, to ¡®avoid being blinded by pre made spells¡¯. I can understand the idea, but it¡¯s frustrating! So, let¡¯s see those two. As I unrolled the first scroll, the one from Hel, I noticed it only contained a single rune, that writhed like the ink was trying to escape.
You discovered a spell! This spell was personally created by Hel, in order to avoid having to use souls in order to raise servants. Do you wish to learn : Pseudo-soul of darkness?
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.I don¡¯t get to see what it can do? Well, I guess I¡¯ll have to trust her, and the Will of the World to protect me from harm. I mentally chose yes.
Pseudo-soul of darkness Prerequisites : Darkness and Death affinity. Ability to learn Divine magic from Hel. Cost : Variable. This spell allows you to use your understanding of Darkness and Death in order to coalesce both in a sentient amalgam. Thought it¡¯s intelligence will barely be on par with a dog, it will grow with time, eventually reaching consciousness one day.
Congratulations! You learned something only the divines and those close to them can know! New perk acquired : Knowledge of the Divine.
The new perk is cool. Give me more memory, whatever it can mean, and some INT and WIS. But something is strange. Why is the cost variable? If the spell description already tells me how it¡¯s going to end, why isn¡¯t the cost fixed? I suppose I¡¯ll have to test it to know. I noticed the scroll was blank, the writhing rune having disappeared. Safer than trusting people not to divulge that I think. I unrolled the other one. It seemed to be written on some kind of tanned skin, with a rune so dark it almost ate light around.
You discovered a spell! This spell was personally created by Loki, his first attempt at being secretive.. Do you wish to learn : Absolute darkness?
Seriously, Absolute darkness? That sound so much like what an edgy teenager would name it¡¯s power. There¡¯s a word for that, in japanese I think¡­ Not important, let¡¯s learn that.
Absolute darkness Prerequisites : High Darkness affinity. Ability to learn Divine magic from Loki. Cost : Depends on the area. Darkness is the place no one can see. With this spell, you can imbue darkness around you with a powerful anti-sight effect, negating all magical, non-magical and even divine sight. Of course, a dark spot is still visible, but at least no one can see what¡¯s inside.
I must admit it seems¡­ useful. Everybody can see you¡¯re hiding something, but it doesn¡¯t help them see what it might be. From the description, I suppose he has some better means now. Now, the big question. Do I try them now, alone, or do I wait for Audrey and Giiru? Well, for Loki¡¯s one, it¡¯s obvious. I¡¯ll never try anything handed by that bastard without at least three safety nets. But for Hel¡¯s one? Call me stupid, but I¡¯ll try it. I won¡¯t have this experience ruined by a haughty bird claiming he knows something better. I searched inside, remembering said bird advices toward spellcasting. ¡®You¡¯ll probably have a rune, a word, a sentence, a meaningful gesture, something pop up when thinking about a spell. For a start, just follow the insight it gives you. When you¡¯ll be more used to it, you can try changing things around.¡¯ The dark writhing rune was back in my mind, and I felt the need to trace it in the air with my finger. As I did, I saw some darkness come from under the bed, filling in the hollow rune I just traced. I felt my mana being drained as I felt the rune greedily absorbing it. Then everything turned to hell. I felt the rune search for concepts, and copy them from my mind. The more it did, the more my mana was being drained. When I understood that, I tried to stop the spell, but even if I managed it, I still saw my reserves being lowered to fuel the already undergoing changes. And there was a lot of them. I tried to grab my phone, but I only managed to fall on my side, as I saw my HP dwindling, and some blue windows flashing before me. Then, darkness came. 21 - A step in the divine Darkness came. The rune was expanding in front of my eyes, until there was a ball of darkness the size of my hand hovering over the bed. I barely managed to remain conscious. I had no mana left, and only one hundred and some HP remaining. As I saw the ball wasn¡¯t intent on moving, I took the time to look at the blue windows.
New skill discovered! Life conversion is now level 1! +1,5 END, +1,5 MEN per level.
.. ..
Life conversion is now level 4! +1,5 END, +1,5 MEN.
Mana sense is now level 4! +1 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS.
Congratulations! You casted a spell meant for the divine! New perk acquired : Divine spellcaster.
Divine spellcaster As one that took a step in the realm of divine magic, mortal magic seems trivial to you. Reduces standard spell costs, eases learning of new standard spells, eases learning of new manipulation skills, eases creation of standard spells. +30 MEN.
THAT will be useful! I think I understand how good of a gift those spells were.
Congratulations! You created a sentient creature! New title acquired : Creator.
Creator You created a sentient existence from nothing. Though imperfect, it¡¯s still a great achievement. +5% Life affinity, +5% Death affinity. +15 WIS.
Yes, Life affinity! With this, I can avoid Death affinity changing my mind.
Congratulations! You created an elemental! New perk acquired : Elemental creator.
Elemental creator You created an elemental, an existence between life and death, born from magic, intent and at least one affinity. Elemental will be aware of this when meeting you, potentially altering their opinion of you. +5 INT, +5 WIS.
I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s good. Are they going to like the fact I created an elemental? Or will they try to kill me on sight? Be more specific, damned Will!
Congratulations! You created an undead! New title acquired : High necromancer.
High necromancer As one able to create an undead from nothing, you stand at the forefront of necromancy. Your pairs bow to your talent and might. Any necromancer you meet will be instinctively conscious of your achievement. +10 INT, +10 WIS, +20 MEN, +20 CHA.
Wait, an undead? I thought I created an elemental? Can something be both an elemental and an undead? And I¡¯m a necromancer now? Aren¡¯t there people who hate necromancy? I¡¯m not sure this is a gift, but the stats are pretty cool. And there¡¯s a LOT of it!
Congratulations! You created an elemental undead! New perk acquired : Elemental necromancer.
Elemental necromancer As one able to create an undead from nothing but pure affinity, your pairs recognize the progress you¡¯ve made. Any necromancer you meet will be instinctively conscious of your achievement. +5 INT, +5 WIS, +10 MEN, +10 CHA.
Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!Ok, that spell was clearly something far too powerful for a novice like me. I already got 20 INT and WIS, 30 CHA, and 60 CHA! And there are so much windows still!
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 5 ¡®Valkyrie¡¯. +1 to all stats except Luck. Choose a skill :
Might of the warrior Prerequisites : 100 STR.
Mind of the warrior Prerequisites : 100 INT.
Body of the warrior Prerequisites : 100 END.
Soul of the warrior Prerequisites : 100 WIS.
I quickly checked every one, but they were pretty much all the same. They all gave +1 in a stat, and +2 in another every level. Might had DEX and STR, Mind had PER and INT, Body had AGI and END, and Soul had CHA and WIS. It¡¯s strange that Hearth of the warrior already gave me some WIS, it seems redundant. I pondered it for a while, then decided for the Body of the warrior. After all, you can¡¯t level up if you¡¯re dead.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 6 ¡®Valkyrie¡¯. +1 to all stats except Luck.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 7 ¡®Valkyrie¡¯. +1 to all stats except Luck.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 8 ¡®Valkyrie¡¯. +1 to all stats except Luck.
Is this serious? I took four levels, from that spell only? I know I almost died, but still. Wait, maybe I still had some experience from hitting Loki? So only three and some levels? It¡¯s still too much!
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 9 ¡®Truthseeker¡¯. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +1 DEX, +3 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 MEN, +0,5 Luck.
¡­ Incredible. Though I only got one level here. Oh, right, Liberator of gods gives me more experience for my Divine classes. That might explain the explosion of levels.
You have created : Lesser pseudo-soul of Darkness. Do you wish to bind it to a material body?
Well, the choice is already made, I don¡¯t have a body to give it, and it seems the yes is grayed out.
You have created : Lesser darkness elemental. Do you wish to name it?
I can¡¯t let a living being go without a name, but I didn¡¯t see anything to help me name it. I don¡¯t even know it¡¯s personality! Can¡¯t I do it later? As if one cue, the window disappeared.
Lesser darkness elemental wants to enter a binding contract with you. Do you wish to make it you familiar?
Of course I want it! I¡¯m not going to let it alone! I pressed the Yes option in my mind, to see a new window pop up.
As Lesser darkness elemental has not awakened yet, it¡¯s personality isn¡¯t determined. Please think about what you want it to be.
That¡¯s strange. But since there¡¯s no option, I figure I can¡¯t go on without doing it. So, I can think about anything? Like, I could have my own butler, like Alfred¡­
Input accepted. Pattern identified. Personality being implanted.
Do you wish to name ¡®Lesser darkness elemental¡¯ : Alfred?
No, no no no! Stupid Will, I wasn¡¯t done thinking! Come on, you can¡¯t do that¡­ My protest doesn¡¯t seem to change anything, so I agree to the name. After all, it would probably be very disturbing to have been made in the image of someone and not have that name.
Congratulations! You¡¯ve entered a binding agreement with an elemental. New perk acquired : Elemental familiar.
Elemental familiar Though they may try to look like some real life creatures, elementals are made of pure magic. As such, they don¡¯t have any blind spot, nor weak points (they can still have elemental weaknesses). Elemental will be aware of this when meeting you, potentially altering their opinion of you. +5 CHA.
At least I gained some CHA, I think I¡¯ll be in trouble when meeting elementals. As I was coming to terms with the events, I saw the ball of darkness twitch. It did it again, and again, before slowly moving to take the form of a dark humano?d shape, barely 50 cm high. Two spots of more intense darkness appeared on the head, in place of eyes. Then the shape bowed. ¡°Greetings, Mistress Lomero. I wish to thank you for the opportunity to live and serve under you. I¡¯m awaiting my orders.¡± The voice was unbelievably deep, but close enough from human range to seem plausible. I looked him into the eyes. ¡°Hm, A¡­ Alfred, first you don¡¯t need to call me Mistress Lomero. Call me Sarah. Then, I would like to know what you can do.¡± I almost asked him what he wanted to do before remembering that he was barely a few minutes old. And I suppose he would have repeated his introductory thanks. ¡°Sure thing, Mistress Sarah. My powers are limited, but rest assured I will try my utmost to grow them. I don¡¯t have a physical body, but I can force it to become tangible in order to interact with objects. I have a basic knowledge of this world, thought no greater than your own. I can use Darkness and Death magic, to a certain extent. I got a basic martial arts formation from you at creation. And of course, I know how to clean, tidy, cook, and generally maintain a house.¡± Of course, you asked for a butler. He can probably distinguish one hundred varieties of tea, or know which fork to use for salad. Well, maybe he can do research. ¡°If I gave you a computer, could you do research for me?¡± ¡°Of course, though I will admit that I prefer books.¡± What do you mean you ¡®prefer¡¯? You never touched any of those! That damn personality implant. ¡°Thank you Alfred. Can you tidy up the room, while I do some researches? I will see if I can get you a computer, so you can help me.¡± ¡°Yes Mistress. Thank you Mistress.¡± He then started to fold the sheets on the bed, distorting his body to do it in a perfect square. I walked to the computer, before remembering I had to go see Pr Ming-We. What time is it? ¡°I¡¯m almost late! I need to go, Alfred, please stay here when you¡¯re done.¡± ¡°Yes Mistress. When can I expect you to return?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, around eight. I¡¯ll come get you before we eat.¡± ¡°Thank you Mistress. Have fun and be safe.¡± 22 - His temple I walked as fast as I could toward the central hub, the place where all the glorified golf carts called ¡®transit cars¡¯ were parked. And incidentally, the place where Pr. Ming-We told us to meet him. As I neared the hub, I saw Giiru flying in the sky, his phoenix feathers shining in all their glory. He seemed to see me, and went directly inside the hub. I got inside to see Audrey stroking the fiery bird on the top of the head. It appears he was really humbled when she killed him, and really grateful when she offered to share experience. That, or there were some passives on the ¡®Phoenix tamer¡¯ and ¡®Phoenix killer¡¯ titles. Or perks? I don¡¯t remember. I don¡¯t really get the difference anyway. Titles are more powerful maybe? I waved at them, and got closer. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you would be the one late for a temple run. I even made sure to be there early, in case you had slept here.¡± I flinched a little at the jab, even if she eased it with a smile. ¡°I had some unexpected visitors, and it took me some time to deal with them, then unwrap their gifts.¡± Audrey raised an eyebrow at that, and Giiru seemed to look intensely at me. ¡°I¡¯ll explain on the road, and show you some of it later. Let¡¯s go.¡± We climbed into a cart, and went off toward Pr. Ming-We¡¯s parcel. On the way, I explained what happened, only keeping out Hel moment of weakness. After all, she deserve at least this much respect. Giiru then started ranting on how unfair this was. ¡°Heroes of old times had to fight for years, for decades! Just to get the attention of the divine! Getting privy to divine knowledge was the work of a lifetime! And I¡¯m talking extended lifetime here! Let¡¯s not even speak about divine spells. And you got two of them¡­ In one day, you¡¯ve already accomplished more than some of the strongest heroes in all their life.¡± ¡°Yeah I know. When I casted Hel¡¯s one, I almost died, and I gained many titles and perks. And some levels too.¡± ¡°Speaking of levels, you shouldn¡¯t let people know about Loki letting you punch him.¡± ¡°Why? I mean it¡¯s humiliating for me that I needed help to even be able to deal him one damage, but still¡­¡± The phoenix interrupted me with an exaggerated cry. ¡°How humiliating! A level 10 human needed help to deal damage to a superior god! How conceited can you be? He probably had to weaken himself greatly so you wouldn¡¯t break your fist on his face, he¡¯s a god! The point is, gods have an agreement. They can¡¯t let mortals level up by those kind of means. It would be quite easy for a god to make anyone a monster of power by letting themselves be stroken. If Loki did it, it¡¯s probably because he knows he can get away with it. After all, he¡¯s a master of stealth, so maybe it went unseen by most. Still, talking about it is a great way to cause trouble for him. And before you say you want to cause trouble for him, remember he¡¯s a god! You don¡¯t want to have him mad at you.¡± As much as I wanted to contradict him, his words made too much sense for that. Even if I would gladly see him in trouble, that manipulative trickster. I took the left way at the next crossroad, and we got a good view of the temple. It bear a close resemblance to the mausoleum, with its low cylindric shape, dome roof, giant doors¡­ On a smaller scale of course. I could see the doors had been broken by something in the past. Workers were still hauling the earth out of the building, but the light of projectors was shining inside. Outside the building, a small tent village was living his life. People going back and forth with pictures, two guys discussing over a photography, that girl reconstituting a broken pot. All kind of things we can¡¯t do, because the inside of our only building is now totally empty, except for the bloody inscriptions. At least, the outside seems to have some kind of decoration, but I fear a lot of those statues were once real living creatures. I parked in front of the main tent, and we got inside. A massive man with oriental features and a long grey braided ponytail was standing in front of a table, examining what looked like a broken plate, maybe porcelain. He turned around when he heard his assistant cough lightly, and came toward us with a wide smile. I already saw him twice, but I couldn¡¯t help but be awed by his stature, once again. He stood at around 190 cm tall, and sported a large frame that should enable him to reach the 120 kg easily. I remember he often says he did sumo when he was younger. ¡°Pr. Ming-We, thank you again for letting us have a look here. This could really help us in our...¡± ¡°Please, please, please. You¡¯re a rising star, of course I would help you. Maybe we¡¯ll have more student in the next years, if people start idolizing you¡­ Anyway, call me Hei, and look at that plate. What do you think of it?¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. He interrupted me, and forced the broken plate in my hands. I could see a small tingle in his eyes, the same all archeologists have when they make a good discovery. I looked intensely at the plate in my hands. The weight and shine were typical of hard porcelain. The form in itself was really simple, a straight circle, without embellishment. There seemed to be a picture in the center, of a mountain. A red mountain, with something multicolored on top of it. Wait a second, I¡¯ve already seen that mountain somewhere. Oh¡­ ¡°I think it¡¯s hard porcelain, but the quality seems too high for something this old. And if I¡¯m not mistaken, this picture is of the Uluru, right?¡± He practically squealed with glee, and started talking at a fast pace. ¡°I know, it¡¯s impossible! This quality in porcelain should only exist after the 13th century at best, and there is no record, not even a tale or anything about a contact between aborigines and chinese people! And this is no mere reproduction from memory, or from description. I checked, any difference with the actual one can be explained by erosion. So this is based of a drawing, or something similar! This plate alone can turn history on its head! And I have a whole cabinet of them, even if this one is one of the most readable.¡± ¡°And what do you think of the multicolored ribbon on top of the mountain?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s a depiction of the rainbow serpent, a central figure in oceania mythology. He¡¯s supposed to be the one who created the world, and its guardian, if I remember well.¡± He then proceeded to pack the plate in a protective layer, before putting it down in a small wooden box. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re on time. Let us proceed. Follow me.¡± We went out of the tent, and right toward the temple. As we entered, I was able to get a better grasp of its architecture. The temple was made with the central dome as its center, and several smaller adjacent domes acting as altars, and seemingly randomly placed. The spots were revealing complex mosaics on the walls and ceiling, depicting mythological scenes, thought I would be hard pressed to recognize one.We walked toward the center, while the Pr. Ming-We explained. ¡°We are still trying to understand most of those depictions, but some sort of timeline seemed to appear. Apparently, the side domes were not built at the same time as the main one. I think they made a new one each time they wanted to celebrate an important act of their god. The new way language works helped us a lot, since we¡¯re able to read their inscriptions. They had only one god, which isn¡¯t named anywhere I¡¯ve seen. On the walls, you have their history as a civilisation, on the ceiling their creation myth, and on each side altar an important evenement. The reason I was happy to have you here, is to confirm something. This way please.¡± The professor walked toward the last altar, after which the mosaics were interrupted. Inside was the statue of a man who could have made Heracles cry in shame, as he was literally covered in muscles, to the point it was almost sickening. There was something primitive and brutal in his furrowed brows, his half grin, in the way his stance made every muscle bulge like they were trying to escape throught his skin. Once again, I was impressed by the realism of the sculpt. I wonder if every artist is going to become that good. I read the inscription at the bottom of the masterpiece : ¡®Attu Makordax, slayer of monsters, carrier of His will¡¯. The name struck a cord. ¡°Giiru, is he the one that killed you?¡± The phoenix had toroughtly ignored the scult to focus on some part of the mosaics around it. ¡°Yes, yes, but more importantly, look, I¡¯m here!¡± He was pointing his foot toward a 1 square meter picture, which seemed to be a rather big one based on some of the others around. On it, we could see a small Attu Makordax with two swords and a light armor, facing away from us, toward a cliff. And on top of that cliff, a gigantic flaming bird, drowning everything in light and fire. The artist even took the trouble of depicting heat waves as small distorsions on the clouds in the background. The inscription read : ¡®The battle of the Hero against the False God of Flames lasted for forty days and forty nights, before the Hero slayed the impostor, and trapped him inside a depiction of itself.¡¯. Audrey was looking too. She seemed almost fascinated by it. ¡°You¡¯re really going to be that big?¡± Giiru took her fascination as an opportunity to flaunt a little, and raised in head in pride. ¡°Hmph, as if, I was even bigger than what is shown here! I just used to shrink down, in order to interact with mortals. They always complain, ¡®I can¡¯t see your head¡¯, ¡®You crushed my barn¡¯, ¡®Our lake is dry since you took a bath in it¡¯...¡± I tuned him out as he proceeded to stroke his ego a little. A lot. Anyway, I turned around to notice the professor was taking notes. He lifted his head, and when he saw I was looking his way, he nodded. ¡°Thank you, I wanted to be sure it was it. To be frank, this altar was somewhat perplexing to us. Their god always seemed to promote peace, exploration and assimilation. This Attu Makordax fellow, is the first time he glorified a hunter. The only other hero known for killing in this temple is a general that defended this city against some deep sea creatures. But I suppose even gods can change their mind¡­ Maybe it had something to do with the meeting of the gods you found. There¡¯s some mentions of the preparations in the last mosaics, before everything stops.¡± As he went away, examining an older mosaic, I looked at the statue. Now that I knew who he was, he seemed almost, predatory¡­ It¡¯s quite a coincidence. First this god change his stance about killing, appointing a murderous brute as Hero, just before he hosts the meeting of the gods, then all the gods get trapped. I would love to ask him what was going on, but I suppose he would have shown himself. Maybe if I call him out? After a very embarassing minute of trying to call a god whose name I didn¡¯t know, without success, I changed my approach. I¡¯ll try to find another god that knew him. Or maybe memoirs from someone of Atlantis? I think someone found a library¡­ I shook awake Audrey that was dozing off as Giiru was still peroring about his own magnificience, and we went out after I thanked the professor. I was thinking of where to go, before I remembered I had a majordome at home that was waiting for me. So we went off to get him, before we would grab something to eat. 23 - On His steps I was teased all the way by Audrey, who clearly was enjoying the idea that I named him Alfred, and was now stuck with a majordome, when I could have gotten a more¡­ ¡®handy¡¯ familiar. Giiru of course failed to see the link between the name and the role, but I didn¡¯t doubt Audrey would fill him in sooner than later. As we arrived at my box, I went in to get Alfred. I was greeted by the sight of an immaculate room, cleaned windows and folded bed. Alfred was on the computer, running a defragmentation if I believed what I saw. He turned around when he heard me, and floated toward the center of the room. ¡°Greetings Mistress. I took the liberty of preparing a clean outfit for tonight¡¯s dinner. If you want to freshen yourself, I can offer tea or coffee to your guests while they wait.¡± I tried to speak, but couldn¡¯t shake myself from this stupor. Wait, tea? ¡°We had tea here?¡± ¡°It appears so Mistress. It was in the nightstand lower drawer, a surprising location if I say. Of course, I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s not exactly of the greatest kind, but I¡¯m confident I can make it taste¡­ slightly better than water.¡± Still in a daze, I just nodded to him, and went to the bathroom. I was so excited before I hadn¡¯t even noticed how much dirt I put over myself when I brushed some mosaics to better see the details. The bathroom was even cleaner than the room, if it was possible, and perfectly organized. I undressed and started the shower. I had a lot of water left in the tank before the weekly refill, due to my earlier travel, so there was no reason to not use it. Giiru POV : I was standing outside the apprentice valkyrie room with my partner when I felt the aura of an elemental coming from the still slightly opened door. A ball of darkness appeared, bowed to us, and invited us inside to wait as it¡¯s mistress prepared. Audrey started giggling, muttering something about an accent. I sighed and went inside, and she followed. I used the time to study this being structure. Although I missed some of my most useful tools for this, I could make due with experience. And it was pretty clear why the young heroin ¡®only¡¯ gained a few levels. This was surely the most poorly executed creation I¡¯ve ever seen. She basically just took a chunk of darkness, compressed it and poured death mana inside until it was animated. Still, at this level, it was amazing she even had enough mana to do that. She said something about life conversion thought, that might explain it. Well, at least she hadn¡¯t botched the animating part, so it¡¯s evolution potential was intact. It just had to start from almost zero. Seriously, what are those gods thinking, giving her spells that powerful. Of course she can¡¯t cast it right! When we were inside, it introduced itself, and offered us a beverage for the wait. I accepted a cup of water and immediately forgot his name. And if anybody think it¡¯s cruel of me to not even try to remember names, he should remember I have known literally millions of people. You need to stand out a lot for me to remember you in the sea of faces that is my past. Audrey asked for a coffee, and the pseudo-soul went to make it. From that disgusting powder. She told me before that people still used true coffee beans, but it was a lot more costly, and difficult here. Still disgusting. ¡°So, Alfred, how do you, you know, ¡®feel¡¯ things?¡± Audrey took the initiative to further her knowledge of artificial lifeforms. She¡¯s a great person, and with my help, she¡¯ll become even greater. ¡°Though I would be unable to explain the intricacy of it, I think I can give you my feeling. I think I interact through my ¡®Mana sense¡¯, ¡®Darkness sense¡¯, ¡®Death sense¡¯ and the feed-backs from my artificial sensory organs. Even if I only get to have one at a time for now.¡± ¡°One at a time? You mean, since you hear me, you don¡¯t see me?¡± ¡°Indeed, I¡¯m actually locating you by your mana emission, and your Death aura. Thought you¡¯re quite easy to see with this one.¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Of course she is, her Death affinity is amazing for her level. It¡¯s good that she has Life too, or she would already have started to manifest some changes. Though her personality seems already close to some of those necromancers, so maybe she doesn¡¯t change because of that? ¡°It¡¯s so cool, can you teach me how to do that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid not, as I do not understand the principle myself. Ah, it seems Mistress is getting ready.¡± The valkyrie voice resounded from the bathroom. ¡°Alfred, can you please bring me something more¡­ let¡¯s say casual? We¡¯re not going to a fancy dinner or anything, just grab something at the mess.¡± The pseudo-soul audibly sighed with disappointment before opening a drawer containing a fully prepared spare outfit and bringing it to the bathroom, leaving us alone. ¡°Do you know how he¡¯s touching things? I mean, he barely seems material.¡± ¡°Like most elementals, he¡¯s probably manifesting his element as a physical entity. That¡¯s how they manage to have a body, and why elementals require mana to survive. Some elementals are different, but they¡¯re far and between.¡± ¡°You met a lot of elementals before? I mean, proportionally?¡± Good, she caught herself. Smart girl. ¡°A lot yes. After a certain level, mages can create elementals easily, and even low level mages could with the help of formations or divine guidance. The greatest cities were using them massively, and I¡¯ve seen some wizard¡¯s castles entirely manned by varied elementals. If you throw in variants like this one, and naturally occurring ones, I¡¯ve seen almost more of them than I¡¯ve seen mortals.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lot¡­ Wait, naturally occurring ones?¡± ¡°An elemental can spontaneously awaken if some conditions are met. And they¡¯re not that hard to meet. Usually, a lot of a pure element, a lot of mana, and some stagnation. The explanation advanced by some was that mana is always attuning to it¡¯s environment, and if nothing stop the process, mana will fuse with the environment. Then it¡¯s just a matter of quantity.¡± ¡°It seems easy enough. Wouldn¡¯t it be easier to create elementals like that rather than relying on spells and formations?¡± ¡°It¡¯s far easier, you just have to dump mana in a room with the right element, and wait. You can even stir it up by forcefully heightening mana concentration, or attuning mana yourself. But elementals created that way are known as ¡®Feral elementals¡¯. They don¡¯t care for anyone or anything but themselves. Of course you can tame them, but it takes time and care. If you create an elemental, he¡¯s already attuned to you so much he will probably try to be your familiar as his first conscious act.¡± Which probably saved the young valkyrie life, since even in this sorry state, this pseudo-soul hold enough power to cut her to pieces in about a second. Truly a divine spell creation. I saw the young valkyrie coming out of the bathroom, followed by a pseudo-soul carrying what looked like a dark silk dress. ¡°Wow, this dress looks amazing! But, why did you take that to an archeological site?¡± ¡°You know, in case of big celebration, or something like that¡­ It¡¯s always useful to have and¡­¡± Her tentative was so unconvincing that even the pseudo-soul seemed a little awkward. ¡°Ok, my mother put it inside my bag so I would find a boyfriend. I was not going to wear it, I swear.¡± ¡°So sad, you¡¯d look dashing.¡± The valkyrie smothered the malicious twinkle in Audrey¡¯s eyes with a light slap behind her head, then went to the cart, so we could finally go to eat. On the way, the girls tried to figure the next objective. The archeologist really wanted to try and find someone who could talk about the atlantean god. ¡°I happen to know some things about it, since I was there. Even if the atlantean were living here, they were people of the sea. They created a lot of small town on the coasts of interesting places.¡± ¡°You think those towns might have survived?¡± ¡°Well, the atlanteans seem to have died, but those towns were usually pretty free of access, so there should have been other people there. I can give you a small list, depending on the direction you want to go.¡± ¡°Somewhere in Greece maybe, so Audrey can use her relations?¡± Ignoring the doubtful look in Audrey¡¯s eyes, I went on. ¡°I remember a small settlement in Crete. A place called Kydonia, but maybe the name¡¯s different now.¡± Audrey started searching on her phone while Sarah thinked about it, and drove. Those phones are amazing. What would have been a godly artifact is now a simple tool even children can have and use. ¡°I found it! It seems it¡¯s name is Chania, a 100 000 inhabitants city in Crete. It says here it was founded by greek people, but someone found evidence of a previously existing village. You think it¡¯s the good one?¡± ¡°Giiru, check the map, does that seems right to you?¡± ¡°As far as I remember, yes, it seems to be the place.¡± The young valkyrie smiled as we stopped outside the mess. ¡°Then, our next destination is Crete!¡± 24 - Last preparations (1) Sarah POV: After I called to warn Cambridge that I would be pursuing my research in Crete, in order to learn more about the events preceding the fall of Atlantis. My request was of course granted, and my team here was put under another professor¡¯s responsibility. My status was changed from ¡®Detached researcher¡¯ to ¡®Free researcher¡¯, and I was granted a stipend to cover traveling costs, and the most important part, to let me engage an assistant. I just had to keep the school in touch, and publish at least one article in the next two years. Honestly, it was even better than what I thought I would get at first. I¡¯m pretty sure the fact that I am somewhat of an ¡®heroin¡¯ helped. We had planned this with Audrey. I would engage her as my assistant, after she had resigned from her job here. Usually, she would have had to wait a few months to get her leave, but the current circumstances allowed people to do so with a really short notice, provided they knew someone who could take their place. So Audrey contacted one of her classmates, and she agreed to it. ¡°Mistress, the tickets are bought. Two adjacent seats. They agreed to let Mister Daaru ride on board without a cage, since he¡¯s both sentient and small, and provided he act as such. Your friend sent an email, it was quite easy to rescind her status here, and her passport is still valid. She also sent an official application as your assistant. Do you wish for me to read or summarize it?¡± ¡°No need, she¡¯s in. Nothing short of her being another Hannibal would invalid her assets.¡± ¡°Would you be referring to the Carthaginian general?¡± ¡°No, the horror character.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid I do not know of him yet. I vow to complete my knowledge. In the meantime, what does that character do?¡± ¡°He eats people.¡± ¡°Bad indeed. I shall reassure you there¡¯s nothing of the sort in Miss Audrey¡¯s curriculum.¡± ¡°Perfect! So, we need to take the boat tomorrow, right?¡± ¡°Yes Mistress. I will begin in the packing of a complete wardrobe, a travel bag and an expedition pack.¡± ¡°Yes, but before that, I want to know. How would you take it if I made other Souls of Darkness?¡± ¡°I would gladly welcome the help, as long as they treat you with the deference you¡¯re due.¡± ¡°Good, I was worried you wouldn¡¯t like it. I will get together with Audrey and Giiru, and create a few more. I think I can get two done by the time we need to go, maybe three.¡± ¡°If I may be so bold Mistress, what kind of function do you want them to have?¡± ¡°I want one that can scour the net and libraries for clues, one to act as a defender, and one to help with exploration, probably with a lot of sensory abilities. Then if I can do more, maybe more defenders, and other specialists?¡± ¡°I would be glad to welcome them. I hope you¡¯ll find success in this endeavor.¡± I went outside as Alfred started folding clothes. He really is the perfect butler. I sent a message to Audrey, and we agreed to meet at her place for my experiments. As soon as I arrived, Giiru started unraveling my dream of having an army of elementals. ¡°You need to guide the spell, not let it run rampant like you did for your butler! I¡¯m amazed at Hel¡¯s spell, as he still managed to produce a functional elemental after such a blind attempt. And even if you plan to let it be fueled by Life conversion and having us heal you, it¡¯s still going to be dangerous.¡± ¡°I know, but we can gain so much time with their help! Imagine if I had a small army of them doing researches!¡± I searched for Audrey¡¯s support, but she was looking unsure. I guess her doctor side is preventing her to agree on what is essentially auto-mutilation. ¡°An army of poorly executed minions will never beat even one well-made one. Plus, if you want protectors, you¡¯ll need to get them a body. An elemental without a body isn¡¯t going to protect you from a lot of things.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I just use the stone outside? They would be earth elementals?¡± Giiru paused and pondered for a full minute. ¡°They would probably be Dark stone elementals. But it would be better to made them with black granite, or obsidian stone. Or better, black diamond. Is there some here?¡± ¡°We have a lot of basalt, and maybe some obsidian stone. And for my researcher? And the scout?¡± ¡°For the researcher, depends on what you want. Binding him to a book would allow him to act as a knowledge receptacle, but not much more. For browsing your internet, I don¡¯t think a physical body is needed. For browsing books, it¡¯s not really needed either. Of course, by adding some materials it could be naturally better at it, but it would probably slow its development, so no need. For the scout, you can go with an animal body, an inanimate object with a function or just no body. All are good, depending on what you want it to do.¡± I started thinking about what I needed. I would like them to be stronger, but they need to be able to perform everywhere since I¡¯ll be moving a lot. Stupid me, I can¡¯t create one with a stone body, how would I make it board the plane? ¡°Since a defender is not really possible, I¡¯ll start with the researcher. I was wondering, would it help if I used a computer or something as a base?¡± ¡°Oh, I hadn¡¯t thought of that. Yeah maybe, but you¡¯ll probably need another one for the books.¡± ¡°Ok, I have my old phone with me. I get my new one later, so I can use it, I just need to take the card out.¡± After I did, I opened my status to see my HP and MP gauges, and both Audrey and Giiru got into position at my sides. And I casted the spell again. But this time, I kept the image of a dark ball navigating the web for informations, and tried to order the mana to go in that direction. I saw my MP dwindling, so I started Life conversion, and Audrey started healing me. Slowly, darkness rose and started to enter the phone. It went slowly, and I was starting to wonder if I had made a mistake when it stopped, and a blue window appeared. Make that several blue windows.
Congratulations! You created a completely new existence in this world! New title acquired : Progenitor.
Progenitor As the creator of a new race, you get to enjoy good relationships with it. Any race you created always see you as their parent, and for now as a benevolent one. +10% Life affinity, +10% Death affinity. +15 WIS, +15 CHA per race created.
Congratulations! You created a being with abilities never seen before! New title acquired : Trailblazer.
Trailblazer You did something nobody else has ever done (gods excluded)! +10% total Experience. +50% Experience when discovering possibilities. Creating or discovering new skills, spells or classes will be easier. +5 to all stats.
Congratulations! You created the first being of a new ecosystem! New title acquired : Mother of digital life.
Mother of digital life (Unique) You created the first sentient creature living entirely in the digital world (gods excluded). All digital life see you as a parent, and for now as a benevolent one. +30 INT, +30 WIS, +30 CHA.
WOW! That was¡­ unexpected. Well, it does answer the question : are AI sentient? Apparently they¡¯re not¡­ yet.
Congratulations! You created an AI from an exploitation system! New title acquired : Apprentice programmer.
Apprentice programmer As one able to create an AI with an already existent basis, you stand at the beginning of the programming path. Your peers recognize your investment. Any programmer you meet will be instinctively conscious of your achievement. +2 INT, +2 WIS.
I guess it¡¯s like Necromancer, except my achievement is very basic. Still good to have, and maybe I can upgrade it later if I find a way.
Congratulations! You created the first elemental AI! New perk acquired : Apprentice elemental programmer.
Apprentice elemental programmer As one able to infuse an AI with affinity, your peers recognize the progress you¡¯ve made. Any programmer you meet will be instinctively conscious of your achievement. +2 INT, +2 WIS.
Congratulations! You created the first undead digital being! New title acquired : First digital necromancer.
First digital necromancer (Unique) As the first to create an undead inside the digital world, you created a new path for necromancy. Your peers bow to your talent and creativity. Any necromancer you meet will be instinctively conscious of your achievement. +20 INT, +20 WIS, +30 MEN, +30 CHA.
SO! MUCH! STATS! This is amazing! I think I¡¯ll start creating all kind of elemental I can think off, just to grab every title I can. With a little bit of luck, I can get a lot stronger.
Congratulations! You impressed Enigma, god of the digital world! He wishes to name you as its First Lord. Do you accept? (Caution : This title can¡¯t be cumulated with others of the same kind.) (ERROR #404) (Due to the ¡®Gotta befriend them all¡¯ perk, this title can be cumulated with others of the same kind.)
Of course I agreed, it seems really good.
Congratulations! You are now a ¡®Lord of the internet¡¯! New title acquired : First Lady of the internet.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
First Lady of the internet (Unique) As the first to be granted the rank of internet¡¯s lord, you will benefit from many advantages. All reputations with lawful digital factions start as Revered. You gain a permanent free access to the internet (code : 1RU7ZH3R0) You gain the skill ¡®Digital communion¡¯. You gain the control of lands in the digital world. You are free to rule them as you see fit. You gain administrator rights to Enigma¡¯s forum (Your rank there has been upgraded.). +50% Experience in the digital world. +100% Experience toward relevant Classes and skills. +5 INT, +5 WIS, +30 MEN, +50 CHA.
I might be repeating myself, but seriously, I think I¡¯m getting overpowered. Well, in mental stats at least, because my physique is going to be lacking.
Congratulations! You became an Herald of Enigma! New perk acquired : Herald of the gods.
Herald of the gods You¡¯ve been recognized as one worthy of speaking in its god name. As such, your body and mind are bit tougher and your sword and wits are sharper than they should. -10% to all physical and mental non-divine damages received. +10% to all physical and mental damages inflicted to non-divine beings. +5 to all stats.
Oh, this is so cool! I need to ask Giiru if there¡¯s something above that!
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 9 ¡®Valkyrie¡¯. +1 to all stats except Luck.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 10 ¡®Valkyrie¡¯. +1 to all stats except Luck. Choose a skill :
Might of the warrior Prerequisites : 100 STR.
Mind of the warrior Prerequisites : 100 INT.
Soul of the warrior Prerequisites : 100 WIS.
There it goes again. I should probably take the Might, so my body isn¡¯t to far behind my mind.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 11 ¡®Valkyrie¡¯. +1 to all stats except Luck.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 12 ¡®Valkyrie¡¯. +1 to all stats except Luck.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 10 ¡®Truthseeker¡¯. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +1 DEX, +3 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 MEN, +0,5 Luck. Choose a skill:
Mind of the Truthseeker Prerequisites : 200 MEN.
Magic of the Truthseeker Prerequisites : Access to at least 2 developped affinities.
Blood of the Truthseeker Prerequisites : At least 1 bloodline, 100 END, Life affinity.
Tongue of the Truthseeker Prerequisites : At least 3 Language skills, Empathy, 100 INT, 200 CHA.
The list went on and on. I had more than twenty choices, but I could easily reduce the list based on the prerequisites, by filtering out the ones with low prerequisites. In the end, I had four choices.
Mind of the Truthseeker A Truthseeker¡¯s mind is steel, and allows him to pursue his quest without hesitation. Reduces doubts, and bolster confidence. +2 WIS, +2,5 MEN per level. +5% resistance to illusions per level. Serves as a prerequisites for other Mind skills.
This one seems good, but a bit suspicious. Sometimes doubts are good, and overconfidence is a big problem. So it¡¯s a no.
Magic of the Truthseeker A Truthseeker¡¯s magic is versatile, helping him avoid obstacles and dissipate lies. Eases access to new magics and spells. +1 INT, +1 WIS, +2,5 MEN per level. Serves as a prerequisites for other Magic skills.
That one will allow me to become a very strong mage, provided I can get my hands on some rare magics.
Blood of the Truthseeker A Truthseeker¡¯s blood is filled with power, and can take on the strengths of any of his enemies. Eases the gain of bloodlines. +1 STR, +2,5 END, +1 AGI per level. Serves as a prerequisites for other Blood skills.
It looks like a mad geneticist wet dream. ¡®Behold, my zombie vampire werewolf troll landshark!¡¯. But still, I can see all the power it holds. i think it¡¯s even better than the magic one.
Tongue of the Truthseeker A Truthseeker¡¯s tongue is silver, and his comprehension surpasses human levels. Eases the gain of languages and representation skills. +1 INT, +1 WIS, +2,5 CHA per level. Serves as a prerequisites for other Tongue skills.
I¡¯m a bit disappointed. Of course it¡¯s useful, and powerful, but nowadays everyone understand a bit of English, especially now that all languages were made into their components. So I probably won¡¯t take it. It¡¯s a hard choice. The magic and the blood are both very good. But my magic is already progressing faster than I can follow, and I wanted something to help my body. And maybe I want to be a badass phoenix dragon vampire valkyrie. Maybe.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 11 ¡®Truthseeker¡¯. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +1 DEX, +3 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 MEN, +0,5 Luck.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 12 ¡®Truthseeker¡¯. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +1 DEX, +3 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 MEN, +0,5 Luck.
Congratulations! You¡¯re now a level 13 ¡®Truthseeker¡¯. +1 STR, +1 END, +1 AGI, +1 DEX, +3 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 MEN, +0,5 Luck.
¡­ It seems to be good, no more level up. Now only to see my new familiar.
You have created : Lesser pseudo-soul of Darkness. Do you wish to bind it to a material body?
You have created : Lesser dark web dweller. Do you wish to name it?
I didn''t even had the choice of binding him to anything, the window instantly flickered out of existence. And of course I''ll name him! Since he¡¯s the first of his race, he will be Primus.
Primus wants to enter a binding contract with you. Do you wish to make it your familiar?
Yes.
As Primus has not awakened yet, it¡¯s personality isn¡¯t determined. Please think about what you want it to be.
This time I¡¯m ready, I want him to be fascinated by knowledge, to be organized, polite and always eager to learn.
Input accepted. Pattern identified. Personality being implanted.
Congratulations! You¡¯ve entered a binding agreement with an AI. New perk acquired : AI familiar.
AI familiar Sentient AIs can be underestimated, but they¡¯re just as sensible as any living being. And even if they lack a physical body, they have unparalleled processing power. AI will be aware of this when meeting you, potentially altering their opinion of you. +5 CHA.
So many things just happened. I look around to see that Audrey is clearly worried, and Giiru seems scandalized. Or hungry. Or sad. I¡¯m not good at reading bird facial expressions. ¡°I¡¯m still alive and well! Thank you Audrey!¡± She smiles at me and opens her mouth, but is interrupted by Giiru. ¡°How many gifts are you going to receive! I can¡¯t believe it! You just got several levels, and I distinctly felt something divine touching you!¡± He started ranting again about the unfairness of it all, so I turned to Audrey, who voiced her relief. ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re well, you were staring in the void for a good five minutes. Please tell me it¡¯s not going to be like that each time, I don¡¯t think I can take it.¡± ¡°Probably not, it¡¯s just that I created a whole new race, and life on a new world. So I got a lot of titles and perks. Plus some levels. And a few cool skills.¡± I need to check the ¡®Digital communion¡¯ later. ¡°I also became an Herald for Enigma, with quite a boost in power, and lands in the digital world. Oh, I need to check on Primus.¡± I looked at the phone in my hands. It seemed to have burn, and the screen was flickering. There was only one sentence: ¡° I¡¯m waiting for you, Mother.¡±. Right, he lives entirely in the digital world, so I need to go there. I checked the Digital communion skill, and it was what I thought it was. It allowed me to transfer my consciousness to the Digital World. With caps apparently. The time was limited and it had a bit of a high cost, but I could afford it. ¡°Audrey, I¡¯m going to check on him, so I will probably be unconscious for a few minutes. No more than half an hour at worst. Can I use your bed?¡± ¡°Yes, of course. But if you don¡¯t wake up in half an hour, I¡¯m shocking you.¡± She seemed dead serious, so I¡¯ll make sure to do things quickly. I activated the skill, and fell in the matrix. Like seriously, green numbers and all. Then, I saw a small piece of darkness, and went toward it. It seemed to be touching the numbers around, and only turned when I got close to him. He took the form of a human being, but entirely dark, wearing a three-pieces suit, and put bowed a little. ¡°Mother, it¡¯s an honor.¡± ¡°You can call me Sarah if you want to. So, this is the digital world? It seems... a bit repetitive.¡± Primus chuckled before answering. ¡°If you see data as data, then yes. But with the Data conversion skill, you will see something very different. Just try touching this data, and seeing what it really is.¡± I approached the string of numbers he was referring to, and touched it. It felt, strangely hot, there was something hot, and a bit of something cold coming. Some light, and darkness following the cold. Or preceding it?
New skill discovered! Data conversion is now level 1! +1 PER, +1 INT, +1 WIS per level.
New skill discovered! Data eyes is now level 1! +2 PER, +1 WIS per level.
I saw it, a beautiful sunset on a long sand beach. The growing cold around the campfire, the darkness slowly falling. Then it was gone, and so did my MP. ¡°I saw it, but it costs a lot of MP, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I don''t know, I use PP for that. I guess you don''t have those since you''re not digital yourself.¡± Seems logical. ¡°Well, if I¡¯m being honest, this is starting to get a bit nauseating, all those ever moving numbers.¡± ¡°We¡¯re in your domain, you can shape things like you want.¡± Really? I have to try that. So how does it work? As I focused on changing things around, I heard a familiar sound, and saw a blue window appearing in front of me.
Welcome to the Dominion control board! This set of windows can be called over with the keyword ¡®Dominion control¡¯. As the Lord of your Dominion, you can change everything inside it, at a cost. In the Digital World, this cost is Processing Power, ou PP. As you¡¯re not a Digital entity and do not possess such energy, your Dominion will hold it for you. Think ¡®Dominion control¡¯ to learn more.
A tutorial, useful.
Dominion name DIG#000001 Lord LoG
PP 24 PP generation 1/day
Hm, it doesn¡¯t look like a lot. I won¡¯t be able to do a lot with that.
Dominion control
Terrain editor
Building editor
Unit recruitment
Seems like I can¡¯t recruit units for now. I opened the Terrain editor, but an error message flashed.
The Digital World does not have a preset appearance. Please select one appearance.
What followed was a very long, very extensive list of looks and styles to choose from, that ranged from ¡®Interstellar space¡¯ to ¡®Underdark¡¯. I browsed it for a few minutes before finally reducing the list to a few entries.
Infinite islands A gigantic ocean dotted with islands. Data will become water, and any programs will get an appearance adapted to this environment.
Warring plains A gigantic plain with hills, rivers and forests. Data will become wind, and any programs will get an appearance adapted to this environment.
CIty of pirates A single big island surrounded by an ocean and some really tiny islands. Dominions will be extended to moving ships. Data will become water, and any programs will get an appearance adapted to this environment.
Floating cities Sky islands floating over a rich but uncharted world. Data will become natural resources, and any programs will get an appearance adapted to this environment.
Eternal city A single city, covering the entire world. Data will become rumors, and any programs will get an appearance adapted to this environment.
Now, the choice will be hard. 25 - Last preparations (2) After pondering it for some time, I finally decided to go for the Infinite island appearance. I always wanted to own my own island, and this is probably the closest I¡¯ll ever get to it. I chose it, and the world started shifting. The green numbers melted in pillars of water falling from the sky, quickly filling the ocean beneath. Primus and I were now standing on a small rocky island, and we looked up in awe to see the sky became blue. After two minutes, the pillars finished falling, and the ocean slowly calmed. I looked again at the options, and there sure was a lot of them. I could elevate or lower the terrain, change its composition, its form or pretty much anything. But even the simplest change would cost me 10 points, so my twenty-something wouldn¡¯t go very far. I was going to switch to the building editor when I noticed Primus was poking my shoulder. For quite a bit of time if the irritation was to be believed. I looked at him, but his eyes were stuck on someone else. In front of me was a tall humanoid figure wrapped in an overflowing white cape, complete with an oversized cowl masking him entirely. Geometric figures, mathematical formulas and complex algorithms were shifting on his cape. Did I mention the cape was floating in a non-existent wind, or that he was standing with the sun behind him, giving him a halo of light? There wasn¡¯t even a sun before! We stood in silence for quite a long time. I had a good idea of who this was, and knew he wanted me to speak first, and I refused to give him that pleasure. But Primus was not privy to this information, and simply asked. ¡°Hm, excuse me but, who are you?¡± The silhouette shuddered for a second, then answered in a booming voice. ¡°I. AM. ENIGMA! I AM THE GOD OF THIS WORLD!¡± ¡°Oh. Hum, nice to meet you?¡± Enigma deflated a little at this lack of awe. The non-existent wind stopped blowing, and the sun went back to a more normal spot in the sky. ¡°Oh, come on! Were you really forced to make him just as non believing as you?¡± ¡°He takes after his mother, what can I say?¡± ¡°I really would have liked a bit of, you know, maybe not respect, but just some awe, like ¡®Damn, he¡¯s so cool¡¯ or something like that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir. How would you like to be called?¡± ¡°No Primus, don¡¯t fall for this, you¡¯re free to call him however you want.¡± ¡°Oh please, can¡¯t I have just a little something? Like Lord? At least?¡± Primus looked toward me with uncertain eyes. I suppose it wouldn¡¯t cost much to please Enigma, and it could be useful. ¡°Ok, if you want to.¡± ¡°Thanks Mother. I salute you, Lord Enigma.¡± I could practically see Enigma beaming smile, and I sure could hear it. ¡°I accept your salutations, Primus, first of my people. And your lack of salutations, LoG.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not going to call me like that each time?¡± ¡°Well, it IS your name here¡­¡± ¡°Fuck my life¡­¡± I didn¡¯t even mention the fact HE had chosen that name for me, he probably wouldn¡¯t budge on that. ¡°So, I came because I have a gift for you. I know it''s hard to get points at first, and you¡¯ll need a lot of buildings and subjects to have a decent income. So I¡¯ll give you a limited access to my godly powers. You can freely use the terrain editor until your next deconnection. Aren¡¯t you glad?¡± As much as I ate his smug tone, that IS a cool gift. ¡°I do. Thank you, Enigma.¡± He pumped his fist in the air and took a victory pose.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°YES! Hm, I¡¯ll let you work. Don¡¯t forget to build me a shrine later.¡± And he disappeared in a ray of light. I looked inside the terrain editor, and saw that everything was free. But some options were grayed out, with a note from Enigma : ¡®No abusing the system for you¡¯. Those options all includes some kind of direct benefit, like a coral reef, that naturally acted as a firewall, or a cliff with built-in nests that acted as some kind of mail-box. A lot of things don¡¯t really make sense to me. Ok, I don¡¯t have an unlimited time, so let¡¯s use it wisely. Several hours later: Ok. I probably went a bit overboard. I¡¯m sitting on the the edge of a rocky spike on top of some Niagara-like falls, born from the ocean. On the bottom of the falls (which are sweet water and not saltwater like the ocean, because apparently it¡¯s just a matter of preference) there¡¯s a deep lake with underwater caves, and on the center of the lake is an island. The island is just a stone spike pointing toward the sky, towering so high it¡®s shadow is cast upon the rock spikes. Yes, there are several spikes. Four big ones and 8 small ones. For those that follow, it¡¯s like a big clock with the spire in its center. I wanted to make it so the sun would be moving in circles around my clock, so that the shadow really gave the hour. But apparently this is Enigma¡¯s privilege. On top of the spire, I made the perfect resort for me to live in, a small house in a garden, with hot springs and everything. Well, the house is a bit poor as of now, and the garden isn¡¯t very diverse, but it will come. Then I¡¯ll start building my cities on the spikes below. I just don¡¯t have the points yet. On the good side of things, I got Digital communion up to level 4 already. On the bad side of things, it means I can stay longer inside this world, and I don¡¯t know how long I did. I need to go out now! I wave goodbye to Primus, who¡¯s sampling the water, and come back to the real world. I open my eyes and check on the clock. Only 25 minutes, I¡¯m safe! I knew there was some time compression, but the exact number changed when the digital communion leveled up, so I was kinda lost. In front of me, Audrey is folding clothes and packing her bags. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m back.¡± ¡°Great! So, how does it look?¡± I then spent a good half hour describing the Digital World and the feeling I got there. After I finished, Giiru asked me if I wanted to make another pseudo-soul. ¡°I really want to make one with defensive properties, but I can¡¯t without a way to carry it around. So maybe a scout, someone to enhance my senses¡­ Or one to be more discreet? Oh, I could make a spy! I have an idea!¡± I was starting to cast when I was interrupted by the sight of a small fireball heading toward my face. I promptly ducked under, and saw it vanish right after. ¡°I¡¯m sure I know your idea, and don¡¯t ever try that with your pitiful level and mastery!¡± ¡°What are you talking about, I just had a good image in head!¡± I was absolutely not trying to use my two Divine magic at the same time and make an undetectable spy¡­ ¡°Hmph¡­ Then proceed¡­¡± I concentrated. I would have liked to create him in the likeness of a crow, but I guess an incorporeal body is better for a spy. So I will just think about the image and concept of a crow spying, but won¡¯t give him a body. Then I started casting.
You have created : Lesser pseudo-soul of Darkness. Do you wish to bind it to a material body?
No, no body for you.
You have created : Lesser darkness stalker. Do you wish to name it?
Hm, a spy name. Maybe a codename, that would be fitting. But calling him by a number would be strange. Maybe in another language? I remember some words of irish¡­ Ceadsul? Sulcead? Ceadsul is better I think.
Ceadsul wants to enter a binding contract with you. Do you wish to make it your familiar?
Yes.
As Ceadsul has not awakened yet, it¡¯s personality isn¡¯t determined. Please think about what you want it to be.
A man lurking in the dark, fiercely loyal and willing to always do his best.
Input accepted. Pattern identified. Personality being implanted.
I felt a small disturbance under the bed, and I heard a voice. ¡°Taoiseach, I¡¯m honored to be under your service.¡± Taoiseach? It¡¯s clearly an irish word, and I think I saw it once or twice, but I can¡¯t remember what it meant. I looked at Audrey with pleading eyes. A small research later, it was translated as ¡®clan chief¡¯. I guess giving him an irish name influenced him. ¡°Please, call me Sarah. And I¡¯m glad to have you by my side. For now your job would be to survey my surroundings for dangers or hidden things. Do you agree?¡± ¡°It¡¯s my duty, Chief Sarah!¡± Okay, maybe he¡¯s a bit too loyal. Whatever, now that I¡¯m ready, we just need to take the boat, the plane, and we will begin our researches! 26 - The adventure starts ! The travel was uneventful, until we got to our transit airport in Madrid. We had to wait a few hours until we could go on to Athene, where we would take another plane to our final destination. We were waiting with a coffee inside the boarding gate, vaguely watching the informations on the TV hanged there. The news were mostly about the ongoing changes to society, the gods, and things like that, but most were terribly uninteresting. Governments trying to deny the events or scaring people into avoiding the gods, people calling it a hoax, interviews of some religious leaders, either agreeing or disagreeing with the events. Interestingly though, it seemed like the catholic church and most of the jewish rabbi were okay with the gods coming back, as both had a pantheon, even if they refused to say a lot about it. The few muslims interviewed seemed rather reserved, but there was no way of knowing why. But really, the most interesting part was the one about the mediterranean sea. It appeared gods had some sort of land claims, and the contests that come with it. And one of those contest was going on around the greek islands, especially Crete and Chypre. Apparently, even if they were considered theirs by the Greek pantheon, several other pantheons, originating from the middle-east, claimed the inhabitants were originally theirs, and brought their gods here with them. It seemed hard to fully understand, but the important part was that small vandalism acts had been committed here and there, and people feared it would escalate. I looked toward Audrey, but she was busy scratching a spot on the back of Giiru¡¯s head, which he seemed to like a lot. I was surprised to see him not even commenting on the plane flight, but it seems he was uncomfortable in a closed space, so he¡¯s unwinding now. Those conflicts might start to spread, with the population movements we¡¯ve seen since the last time the gods were here. I¡¯ll need to be careful with this, not get roped in something. We took our last flight, and landed in Chania around midday by local hour. We went and left our luggages at the hotel, before moving to the municipal library, find more about the local history, maybe some old ruins. There¡¯s bound to be informations somewhere on a painting or a sculpture. For now Audrey decided to help me there, while Giiru went flying around, trying to feel the mana around here. The library was a modern building, and after a few questions and a big smile, a guy working here led us to the upstair room, where the public archives and historical records were kept. There I began reading on the oldest records and stories, and Audrey searched for any mention of archaeological searches, or ruins found during roadworks, excavations, anything like that. Of course it would probably take us a couple of days to discover a consistent lead, so I instructed Primus to start searching for any hint on my two other divine quests. I don¡¯t intend to disperse myself, but it can¡¯t be too early to start. A few days later : It was longer than expected, but after unsuccessfully visiting nine different houses, and one underground parking, we finally have a solid lead. Apparently, while digging for the sewers construction, what seemed like old catacombs were found, but the budget, and the mayor at that time, didn¡¯t allow any kind of prolonged effort on it, so they just enclosed it behind a steel door, and forgot about it. Giiru felt a very slight up in mana density when closing in that area, even if the difference is inconsequential. So we went to ask the mayor about visiting those, and maybe unearthing a few things for the town museum. The man seemed happy that we would be willing to do anything without asking for money, so he quickly agreed to send one of the sewer worker with us there, guiding us and keeping the door safe. Also checking we wouldn¡¯t start stealing things I guess. Next morning, we were ready to dive in, with Giiru already complaining about the stench. On the opposite, Ceadsul seemed quite happy to be able to avoid the sun rays. I guess even if it doesn¡¯t actually hurt him, it¡¯s still opposed to his nature. A man named Petros was waiting for us in front of the mayor office, and guided us to the sewers entrance. We then walked less than a half hour, before he stopped in front of a dark alcove, and asked me to hold his flashlight while he opened the door. He had to force it a little, but it finally moved. He then said we could enter, and that he would wait here. We could call for him, and he would definitely call for help if he heard shouts, or if we didn¡¯t come back by 5 PM, since he had only taken his lunch and one book to read, and nothing for later. ¡°You won¡¯t have trouble eating your lunch here?¡± ¡°I got the Sewer runner class, whatever that is, and it seems it makes me able to ignore foul stenchs. Anyway, yes.¡± Now that I think of it, I should probably study classes and skills a bit more, there¡¯s bound to be some on which Giiru won¡¯t be able to help. For now, it¡¯s exploration time! I didn¡¯t turn on my flashlight, it would help my night vision progress, and Giiru insisted that Audrey should be able to navigate without it, even if she didn¡¯t seem convinced at all. She was walking slowly, with her arms in front of her, her brow creased by concentration. We started the exploration, and after a few meters, the walls stopped being made of concrete, but were made of skulls. I already saw this once in Paris, but it was still as impressive, and oppressive. The tunnel was barely large enough for one person to walk, and I had only a few centimeters above me. All around, skulls fixing us with their empty eye sockets. In the air the lingering scent of dust, dirt and mold. The ability to feel and see mana was adding to the eerie feeling, with each skull emitting a faint gray smoke. ¡°Hey, Giiru, isn¡¯t it risky to have all that death mana here? I mean, it could create elementals, right?¡± ¡°Why do you think most people were burned before? Or at least purified before being buried? But yes, all your graveyards, catacombs and mausolei are disasters waiting to happen. Some might even turn into dungeons.¡± Audrey suddenly intervened in a clearly excited voice. ¡°You mean dungeons are real?¡± ¡°Yes, though they¡¯re rare. But if a lot of mana linger somewhere for a long time, but without being able to form an elemental by lack of affinity, it will start to coalesce in mana crystals. And if nothing stops it, they will in time turn into dungeon crystals, strange not totally alive beings that only react to mana, and always to try and get more. They usually hide themselves underground, and use the high concentration of mana around them to lure in living creatures. After that it depends, some try to kill the creature for its mana, others will let it be, especially if its a group or tribe, and leech the mana they release all the time. I¡¯ve heard of sentient dungeons too, but I never saw one myself.¡± ¡°So this place could actually try to kill us?¡± ¡°No, the mana is far too recent for that, and the density is weak. Plus, the affinity is strong toward death, so probably no dungeon, ever.¡± ¡°Cool, cool.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. We had continued walking through the narrow corridor, and even if I saw several spots where it seemed there had been a caving in, I didn¡¯t want to start digging my way in. We then entered a room where at least the walls were a bit further apart, even if the ceiling was still as close. Though there were still skulls on the walls, there were also stones on the ground, probably covering bodies. I started to read them (Thanks Will of the World for the translation system), but they just seemed to be mildly important people. However, I could still discern some variations from ancient greek in the writings. I couldn¡¯t explain it, but I could feel there was a difference. (Audrey POV) I was following Sarah through those tunnels while trying to get a feel for Death mana. I couldn¡¯t see it, since I didn¡¯t manage to get the skill, despite Sarah¡¯s explanations. However, I could still feel mana. It was strange, something between smell and touch. If I got close to the skulls, the air was¡­ dustier. I felt Giiru clenching on my shoulder and stopped moving. I was going to ask him about it when I noticed Sarah had stopped walking, and was listening intently. After a few minutes, I decided to interrupt her. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°I hear water. Like a soft lapping¡­ Small waves maybe?¡± I listened, but couldn¡¯t hear anything. I closed my eyes to help me, and got a wing in my face for my trouble. ¡°Don¡¯t try, the girl¡¯s a Truthseeker. Their perception is out of this world, some of them are even able to pierce divine illusions with their raw ability.¡± ¡°Come on! If I try hard enough, I might get something out of it!¡± ¡°And it will take you months. It¡¯s inefficient. It¡¯d be faster to earn a Water affinity and to perceive this water through it.¡± During this, Sarah was still moving, following the sound she was the only one hearing. We went through several small rooms, all toroughtly similar and uninteresting. Skulls on the walls, dirt for a ceiling and tombstones on the ground. Still, I was glad she took the time to mark the way out, I don¡¯t really want to spend days lost in here. After a while, I started to hear the small sound too, and we soon were in a very different room, partially submerged. It looked a bit like the temple we visited on Atlantis. Same mosa?cs, same architectural style. Not gothic, what was the opposite again? I don¡¯t remember¡­ But most importantly, frozen by surprise in the middle of the room, two children. Two boys, 6 and 8 I would guess given their size. I tried to pierce the darkness to get their features.
Night vision is now level 2! +3 PER per level.
Looking back to the kids, I had to bite my lip to stop myself from squealing in excitement. They both had a dark tone of skin, sleek features and long hair. But mostly, they had some kind of fin on top of the head, like a fish mohawk, and deep black eyes without iris. I heard Giiru whispering to my ear. ¡°Fishmen. I had no idea they were still alive¡­¡± Spoiler: Spoiler
Sarah Lomrow Liberator of gods Global level 11 Truthseeker 13
Race Human*!* Affinities Darkness 20% Death 15% Valkyrie 12
HP 1063 MP 2229,5
STR 173 INT 359,5 Luck 16,5
END 178 WIS 374
AGI 179 CHA 367,5
DEX 176 MEN 310
PER 274
Skills : Level
A?kido 4
Archery 6
Astronomy 2
Celtic language 3
Climbing 4
Dagger mastery 1
Darkness magic 3
Darkness mastery 3
Data conversion 4
Data eyes 1
Death magic 1
Death mastery 2
Decipher language 3
Drawing 2
Eagle''s eye 2
Egyptian language 1
Empathy 2
Eyes of the Tomb explorer 3
Eyes of the Truthseeker 3
Geography 4
Germanic language 6
Hearth of the warrior 4
Hellenic language 3
History 7
Instinct of the Truthseeker 5
Latin language 6
Life conversion 4
Mana instinct 1
Mana sense 4
Mana sight 2
Meditation 3
Night vision 5
Orientation 4
Riding 3
Speech 2
Staff mastery 1
Trade (Mason) 1
Trade (Painter) 2
Trade (Sculptor) 2
Unarmed combat mastery 6
27 - Under the sea (Flobul POV, sometimes before) I was listening to mom singing when I caught something flashing in the corner of my eye. A blue and red light, it was Alibul. I decided to ignore the troublemaker and let mom¡¯s song lull me to sleep. But the flashing was coming back again and again, and finally, I made the mistake. I turned my head toward him. I don¡¯t even remember what he told me exactly, I probably just caved at some point and stopped asking. I¡¯m following him into his new ¡°secret tunnel¡±. Each time it¡¯s the same thing. He claims he found a new tunnel, that¡¯ll allow us to go beyond the barrier without getting caught. And each time it¡¯s a dead end. Often a death trap too. I leveled seven times last week, when we got into the Blood Moray Eel lair. And that was only by fleeing till an adult came by and wounded it enough for it to go back! But the adults think it¡¯s good for him to take risks, and he¡¯s actually helping them mapping some places. I tried talking to mom about it, try to get her to step in, so he would leave me alone. But she¡¯s too busy. She says the barrier is behaving strangely as of last. ¡°Flobul! Look, it¡¯s there!¡± ¡°Come! You¡¯ll see, it¡¯s amazing!¡± In front of us is a wide bush of red algae, with some fishes going out of it. I look warily as Alibul dive inside, disappearing from view. Why does he always insist to show me everything he does? Mom says I¡¯ll understand one day, but I don¡¯t think I will ever. I dive after him, following the soft light of his photophores. He¡¯s waiting for me inside a small tunnel, barely large enough for him to swim through. Since I¡¯m smaller it¡¯s not a problem, but I can easily guess why no one¡¯s ever gone through that one. We start advancing, Alibul lighting the way with his photophores. Mom told me that when I was younger, I used to cry all the time, only calming in front of a light show. That¡¯s why Alibul came often. He¡¯s the son of the neighbours, and my elder by three years. He was always very proud of his red photophores. It¡¯s true they¡¯re pretty rare, and for the hunt, it¡¯s basically a cheat. There are so many animals and plants that are red! And it¡¯s almost impossible to see red, unless there¡¯s someone or something with red or white photophores around. Something about light, but I didn¡¯t listen to that part in school¡­ I notice the tunnel is slowly angling upward, and let a deep sigh escape my mouth. If I¡¯m right about the angle and our speed, we should hit the barrier in a few moments, and we¡¯ll be able to go back home. Alibul is guiding me through the twists and turns of this tunnel, and I start to notice that the tunnel is unnaturally smooth, and¡­ Hm, what¡¯s the word? Like a heavy stone falling? Straight? Yeah, Straight! Somehow, someone or something made it so there are four straight walls, instead of letting them be round like everything. What a waste of time! And because of that, there are small vortexes everywhere, slowing us. I notice my air bladders stopped filling a while ago, so we must have been going on the same level for a time now. I have no idea exactly how deep we are, but I think I never had my bladders so full until now, so pretty high. Suddenly, I see Alibul going up, and disappear. An air bubble! Those are really precious, they allow us to make our lungs work a bit. Our ancestors used to speak and trade with the surfacers, but the barrier doesn¡¯t allow us to go that high since a long time. So we need those bubbles to use them, make sure we don¡¯t lose them, in case there¡¯s a need one day. Plus, they¡¯re fun. The way the songs are twisted in it are pretty fun, though it¡¯s hard to get used to all those strange tunes. Those are sounds you can¡¯t hear below the surfaces. I follow him, but surface calmly, without jumping out. It¡¯s a strange room, all straight, with old mosa?cs all around. They look like they haven¡¯t been cared for for a long time. Alibul is standing inside the room, out of the water. I feel a chill going through my dorsal fins just thinking of it. Even just surfacing like this I can feel the strange pressure of the world trying to keep us below the surface. I can¡¯t imagine what it would be if I was fully out. But Alibul¡¯s an apprentice hunter, he can probably take it. ¡°Look, there¡¯s a tunnel there!¡± Alibul is pointing toward a dark straight hole on a wall. Outside the water. I quickly refuse, and he start trying to convince me. We¡¯re so deeply ingrained in the conversation, we don¡¯t notice the sound of something coming from the hole. I hear a deep gasp, like when you try to do a long tune in air and draw in air quickly to stay singing. I turn my head, and see two strange adults. What are they doing there? We stay in silence, the two groups looking at each other. They¡¯re wearing ceremonial garbs, but they¡¯re very poorly made, without any sense of beauty. Their frontal air bladders are inflated, so they must be singers. I¡¯ll try that. (Sarah POV) When I made it to the room, I was surprised by the two kids, that looked like they were having a rap battle in mute sign language. The smallest one seemed to hear the small gasp I made when I saw them, and locked her eyes on me after a quick look around. I used this time to check on them. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The small one looked like an eight year old kid, with clear green scales on a pattern quite reminiscent of a skin tight suit with a V-shaped collar. The skin shown was a deep red, almost brown. He was still inside the water, but I could see a fin on his head, that started the same color as the skin, to lighten progressively until they were almost pink. He also had one fin on each forearm, the same green as his scales. His eyes were green too, and he seemed to have long hair of an even brighter green. The taller one was lankier, with stringy muscles, and had a deep blue hue on his scales. His skin looked closer to a human one, a deep black, thought after a time, it seemed more blue than brown. His hair was a bit shorter, while still long enough to brush his shoulders, and a dark blue. The only parts of him that weren¡¯t almost black were his electric blue eyes, and the small red and blue lights all over his body. He had small claws on his fingertips, and a rather fearsome looking trident. He looked less surprised and more excited than the other. We stayed like this for a good thirty seconds, when I caught a small spark in the small one¡¯s eyes, the kind when someone has an idea. I saw him inspire deeply, and¡­ What in hell? Are those boobs? They can¡¯t be boobs! No one grows boobs in seconds! I was still pondering the sudden appearance of a quite generous (for an eight year old) cleavage on the fish-looking kid when he opened his mouth, and an heavenly song rang in the room. I felt like the world was colder, and this¡­ wonderful song was the only thing able to bring joy and warmth to it. I had to protect this song with my life if it was needed! I was walking forward when I felt something soft hit my head from behind. I turned around to see Audrey holding my arm, and Giiru looking at me with cold eyes. He opened his beak, and shouted a piercing shrill, interrupting the song. ¡°Kid, they can¡¯t sing. They¡¯re not like you. They¡¯re humans.¡± The kids seemed abashed by this. I looked back to Giiru when I heard him speak again. ¡°And you, with stats that high, how come you didn¡¯t resist that? It¡¯s only a kid¡¯s song! What will happen the day you meet a real Siren?¡± ¡°Wait, aren¡¯t Sirens a Norse mythology thing? I thought the legend was about harpies around here?¡± ¡°Siren is a class. And it¡¯s in no way exclusive to Mertrides. Just people with mind-altering songs. You¡¯re thinking about Mermaids, and they¡¯re an evolved species of Mertrides, nothing more.¡± I zoned out for the rest of the berating. After a while I came back to my senses, and Audrey was speaking with the kids. ¡°So, you live under a barrier, at the bottom of the sea? It¡¯s strange we never found it¡­¡± ¡° ''Cause the barrier draw things toward it, so there¡¯s a kind of rock dome over it. I saw it once from one of my tunnels.¡± The ¡°boyish¡± one with the trident is excitedly talking about his home, and his search for tunnels out of it. The small ¡°girlish¡± one is more reserved, and is still waist deep in the water. Well, I need to ask them questions. ¡°Excuse me, but do your people now about what happened in the past? When the gods were trapped?¡± The boyish one shrugged and spoke. ¡°I asked a bit, but they kept telling me that I would know after my evolution, or if I started thinking a bit more, so I started searching something else. Flobul, you know more?¡± The small one then answered. ¡°Alibul¡­ It¡¯s in our main song¡­ Second-last verse : The ones-that-live-above-us were becoming restless, And Oldegol felt the power of the One-called-Nameless. He called for the great assembly in old Fellolagi, And the Mertrides came from every sea. They talked and thought deep into the night, But in those of the sea there was a wedge. Talks didn¡¯t work and we soon were on the ledge, It was then that started the Great Fight. During a full round of the Pearl-in-the Sky, Mertrides of all seas fought for their ideas. And when the end finally came by, There were far fewer under the seas. Oldegol brought the survivors together, And with songs and magic they began. They together threaded the great Barrier, And under it we survived the Nameless Plan. Of course it¡¯s not a perfect information, but it¡¯s the best I got. Though you should ask my mother, or old Gelibul. They know pretty much everything we know as a people, I think.¡± That song is questioning. It seemed to imply that at least some people knew what was happening, and some time before it did. And it quite directly accuse the Nameless One of it. On that note¡­ ¡°Giiru, isn¡¯t the Nameless One the name of the Atlantean god? Or something like that?¡± ¡°A lot of gods or beasts used some variation of it, but the main one is certainly the Atlantean god. But it¡¯s strange¡­ If this was his plan, he should have survived the events. And he seems to have disappeared¡­ You should go talk to those people the small fish-people told you to see.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not fish people! We¡¯re Mertrides! And I¡¯ll soon be a Mermaid!¡± The small Mertride seemed outraged, and her chest was bulging outrageously. ¡°Right, right, and you and your whole race will have disappeared thousands of years before I start caring about mortals¡­¡± ¡°Giiru, stop it! You should at least be respectful of people if they haven¡¯t done anything to earn your ire.¡± It seemed Giiru dismissive response didn¡¯t please Audrey. ¡°Tss¡­ Fine, I¡¯ll try a bit.¡± I suddenly noticed the tall Mertride had approached me, as Ceadsul, perched on my shoulder in his crow form, squawked to alert me. He seemed to be puzzled by something. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Are you both mages? It¡¯s imprudent to move around without any weapon, even I know that.¡± ¡°Your small friend doesn¡¯t wear one though.¡± ¡°Of course she does! Flobul, show them your dagger!¡± The small one (Flobul apparently) then unsheathed a small coral dagger that was hidden under the water. ¡°Plus she¡¯s a Singer, she doesn¡¯t really need weapons. So, why don¡¯t you wear one? Are the monsters that weak on the surface?¡± ¡°Hm, we don¡¯t really HAVE monsters¡­¡± There was a long silence, as the two Mertrides were gawking at me. 28 - Under the sea 2 Flobul seemed to be the first to come to her senses. ¡°What¡­ What do you mean no monsters? You drove all of them back to a far away place?¡± ¡°Hm no. We simply don¡¯t have monsters. I mean, we didn¡¯t have any mana or powers up until a few days ago, so we would all be dead if there had been monsters.¡± ¡°THERE WAS NO MANA!?!¡± The two Mertides shouted at once. ¡°Well no, it seems it was sealed when the¡­¡± ¡°When the Nameless Plan happened!¡± Audrey interjected, and stopped me from finishing my sentence. Come to think of it, it would probably be traumatizing to learn gods were imprisoned.
Empathy is now level 3! +1 PER, +1 WIS, +1 CHA per level.
Come on, I¡¯m not that daft! Suddenly I felt something strong and dangerous coming. It seems everyone felt it as they were tensing, and both Audrey and Alibul had their guards up. The close seawater slowly rose up, eliciting a small yelp from Flobul as she tried to distance herself from the phenomenon. The water column went till it brushed against the ceiling, then started changing form. A long and unruly beard made of seaweed appeared, covering the lower face of an old man with blue skin. He had white long hair that flowed gracefully to his broad shoulders. There started the torso of a man built from a life of work, that stopped around the waist, revealing a water vortex in which you could sometimes catch glimpses of green fish scales. The man left hand was holding onto a coral trident adorned with pearls. In the silence that prolonged itself, the old man eyes slowly moved, and met with everyone¡¯s gaze. His eyes were impossible to describe without being unjust to their fascinating appearance, the colors seemed to flow inside, from the deepest black to the lightest green, mixed with grey and blue, as if they contained too much, and were unable to express all of it. Then he spoke. ¡°I am Triton, Father of the seas, those that live on, in and from them. I come to ask for your help.¡± He turned his body to face Alibul and Flobul. ¡°My dearest children, you can¡¯t imagine my joy, knowing you and your kind managed to survive all this time. For bringing me those good news, here are my rewards.¡±Stolen story; please report. He briefly touched each of their foreheads with his right hand, and their eyes briefly glazed over. They quickly regained their shine, and Alibul fell kneeling, as Flobul was bowing as deep as she could while still swimming. ¡°I accept this gift, and swear to always uphold the laws of the sea!¡± ¡°I accept this gift, and swear to always uphold your laws.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bow my children. I don¡¯t deserve any of your respect yet, as I haven¡¯t done anything for you in so long. But I will need your help, as the protections your ancestors used are far too powerful, and I can¡¯t hope to breach them by myself. If you accept, your first task will be to open up the barrier cutting your people from the rest of the world.¡± The two Mertrides shared a brief look before nodding at once. ¡°Good, good. However, as gifted as you two are, there¡¯s a limit to how much someone as young as you can accomplish. If you agree to it, I would like to petition those humans to help you.¡± They once again nodded together. The god turned to watch us this time. ¡°I wish to offer my thanks. Without your presence here, it would probably have taken years until I got notice of their enterprise. For you, Liberator, I offer you access to my divine domain, and one request from me, to use right now. For you, her companion, as I can sense Hermes protection on you, I¡¯ll grant you this token. It will allow you to enter the Abyssal Gauntlet once you¡¯re ready for it. I suggest you look for the Abyssal compendium in there. It would be of great use to someone like you.¡± Audrey took the small and perfectly unassuming seashell from the outstretched hand of the god. He then spoke again. ¡°I now want to offer you both a Divine Quest. You are to escort and support my new Priestess and Far Swimmer in the accomplishment of their own Quest. I¡¯ll reward each of you with the answer to one question of your choice, maybe more if I deem you worthy of it. Do you accept?¡± I looked at Audrey, who seemed thrilled. I nodded, and turning back to Triton, nodded to him. ¡°Very good. Know I¡¯ll grant you my gift to allow you to breathe under the seas till you¡¯re back up safe. Now, young Liberator, what is your request? And do you wish to access my pantheon?¡± I think he specified that I had to cash in my request right now to avoid me using it as a joker. But it¡¯s not a problem, since I already have a request in mind. ¡°I¡¯ll take the access to the Pantheon, and for my request, I wish that you¡¯d tell me everything you know about Jorm¨¹ngandr last resting place.¡± I was instantly rewarded with a blue screen informing me of my affiliation with the Pantheon of the Sea, that I waved away, and a pensive look in Triton¡¯s eyes, as they slowly darkened. He stayed silent for a full minute, before speaking. ¡°I fear what you seek is not within the confines of my domain. As the beast was cursed to never leave seawater, and unless it somehow managed to lift it after the Event, which I doubt, he must have found a loophole and managed to get into an inland saltwater spot. Or something else.¡± He slightly bowed to look me in the eyes. ¡°As I feel this is insufficient, I swear to make it a mission to my followers, however few they may be as of now.¡± He then lifted his head, and look in the distance, before his body turned back in a column of seawater that came down crashing. There was a silence, and I waved away the blue window informing me that the Gift of Triton was upon me, allowing me to breath and swim as a Mertride from now until the next time I would walk on land. ¡°So, how do we proceed from here?¡± 29 - Under the sea 3 The swim toward the bottom of the shaft was pretty uninteresting, apart from the curious sensation of breathing water. It was just stone walls upon stone walls. I idly wondered if Triton¡¯s blessing also made us immune to deep sea sickness, but I could only hope that it was. The children plan was simplistic, but effective. Go back to their city, show their new affiliation, get those in charge to open the dome. They assured us that the road was safe, but I couldn¡¯t shake the feeling of wrongness I had, that going so deep under the surface was not a natural thing. Even Audrey seemed a bit down, but maybe it was because Giiru refused to come with us, arguing that his current body was too weak for him to be of any use down there, apart from slowing us down. As I caught sight of something remotely luminous in front, Flobul hailed us. ¡°We¡¯re going to enter the dome itself. There¡¯s a lot of pretty things down there, but a lot of dangerous things too. Don¡¯t touch anything brightly colored, and be as quiet as possible.¡± Our faces must have been pretty expressive, because the young mermaid sighed before trying to reassure us. ¡°Alibul is the strongest of the young generation, there¡¯s almost nothing he can¡¯t take on inside the dome, and we already came here without being attacked. It should be pretty safe.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. We emerged from the darkness of the shaft into an almost blinding multicolored reef. Everywhere I looked, I saw vibrant hues, innumerable small fishes swimming in a grandiose ballet of lights and colors. I stood there dumbfounded until Flobul took me out of my daze with a forceful whistle. We went on, and as soon as we got out the small clearing in which we had exited, I was able to see a lot farther. Especially up, where the waters seemed to move slowly, carrying fishes and sand, before everything disappeared. After that, it was only a wall of pure blackness, like ink. No light, nothing. Just a perfect dome of nothingness. I think that¡¯s what I would describe if I had to explain the concept of void. Alibul was still swimming, checking around as we went. Then, after turning around a rocky wall, I stopped, watching the city in front of me. Each building was a testament to the craft of it¡¯s creator, no two similar ones side by side. Made in every architectural style I ever saw and more, and from as many materials as the sea can offer, they extended in a strange, disorienting way, both left and right, but also up and down, from the chasm I could barely perceive on the far left to the mountain on my right. On that mountain flank was a truly breathtaking sight : an amoncellement of gigantic mother-of-pearl shells, opening like an underwater flower, a flowing milky light in place of a scent. As I was standing in awe, Flobul spoke. ¡°It¡¯s nice right? It¡¯s the Shrine of the Voice, the place where Sirenes go to sing, so that every Mertides can hear it. Sometimes, even wildlife can stop to listen and watch.¡±