Garnet continued her way north through the fog. As she did so, she noticed just how many varieties of creatures there were. There was an enormous lizard with an extremely long neck chewing on the leaves of a tree.
Name: Riojas
Level: 58
Class: Lizard
Sub-Class: None
Stats: High Vitality
For the most part, there were no significantly higher level creatures. As far Garnet knew, she was the strongest thing around. However, it still did not mean that she could be reckless and just trample through everything in her path. There was always a chance that there was something much stronger and the chance that the creatures might all attack her together out of fear for their lives and without her summons, Garnet would get mobbed to death.
As she continued north, there was a shadow in the distance. It was tiny, but she could not make out what it was. There was no feeling of mana from it. As she approached it, the object got larger, and the fog got thinner. This was another one of the spots that somehow blocked the fog, meaning that it was important in some way.
The more she walked, the bigger the object became. It was very far off in the distance, yet she was able to see it for some reason. As she approached she began to make out the structure of it. It was definitely a large building of some kind, with some kind of tower next to it as well.
When Garnet finally reached it, the fog began to lighten and she could finally see it. It looked like a manor of some kind. It resembled an enormous house rather than a fortified castle. There was a torn banner draped on the sides of the manor. Most of the windows were broken and the color of the building began to fade. There were no signs of mana inside, but nonetheless, it was still something worth checking out. Unlike the other places though, the fog did not completely disappear, it was only thinner than the other places.
Taking a quick look around, Garnet did not see any sort of magic circle active or worn. There were no talismans protecting the manor. It was just there, standing tall in the middle of the fog with nothing inside of it. It was strange that the creatures in the surrounding area did not enter this place. "Teleportation Summoning Circle!"
Garnet's map was starting to fill with various landmarks of the Ancient Graveyard. First was cave, then the graveyard, then the strange barrier, followed by the tomb, and now a strange manor. The Ancient Graveyard was filled with many mysterious things.
Garnet pushed open the main entrance to the manor. CREAK. The old doors made a loud noise as they opened. If anything was here, they were bound to hear it. The manor was in ruins inside as well. At the entrance was a single table. The wood was large rotten. The tiles on the floor were broken and various weeds and plants had grown through the ground already. There were a pair of metal suits on the ground that had fallen down. The metal suits looked like they were still in good condition even though they were covered in dirt, grass, and all sorts of other debris. Behind them was stairs that led up, then split into two different directions on the second floor. It was likely that this place was abandoned.
"Hello?" Garnet shouted. There was no response. If someone was here, it would be too much of a coincidence. After all, she had no idea how big the Ancient Graveyard was. If there was other people here, they were very unlikely to run into each other since they could not even see each other in the distance. You would have to rely on sound or something else to track them.
Garnet started with the ground floor. There were many small rooms. The doors and corridors to most of them had fallen apart. They were not made of the same high quality materials as the manor itself. The granite pillars that were around for decoration were broken so badly that only the base remained. The rest of it lied as pieces all around the ground.
As Garnet made it to the next large room, the bookshelves were filled with books. She reached for one of them and took it out. The cover was already worn to the part where there were no letters in it. When she opened the book, the pages were already crumpled and fell onto the floor as scraps of paper. The words were so faded that it might as well just be a blank piece of paper. There was nothing of value here.
Garnet made her way through each room, hoping to find something that was useful. Everywhere she went in the house, everything was too old to be used. What remained of the curtains were already torn. The appeared to be the master bedroom was empty and so were the bathrooms. Whoever lived here moved out a long time ago and took everything with them.
CLANG. There was suddenly a loud metal noise. Garnet turned around to face where it was from. It was coming from the main hall. She quickly ran outside to see what was going on.
The two metal suits of armor on the ground were now standing up. Garnet could clearly see them now. They were a bright silver color composed of numerous smaller metal pieces. Each of them carried a large two handed sword.
Name: Adamantine Knight
Level: 70
Class: Warrior / Golem
Sub-Class: Guardian
Stats: High Vitality
The two Adamantine Knight suddenly turned to face Garnet. CLINK. Each footstep they took came with the sound of heavy metal. They began to approach with their swords drawn. By stepping into the master bedroom, she had triggered some sort of trap and defense mechanism that activated the knights. It was most likely a defense against potential assassins and they did not have the means to reprogram them when they abandoned the place, so the knights were abandoned as well. Once the Adamantine Knights saw Garnet, they began to run towards her.
"Fire Bolt!" Garnet destroyed the second set of stairs that led up to the second floor in order to limit their advance. This way, they would have to approach her from the stairs directly in front of her.
The first one approached Garnet with its sword high above its head, ready to swing downward.
"Incinerate!" Garnet fired a beam of fire towards it.
FWOOSH. The fire spread around its body. It was not a focused beam like it should have been. Its body was made to greatly reduce the effects of magic.
The Adamantine Knight slowed down, but continued to push through the flames towards Garnet ever so slowly. Garnet had to switch up her tactics. "Icicle Lance!"
The icicle flew towards the Adamantine Knight. CLING. It shattered as it push the Adamantine Knight backwards and onto the other. But, the Adamantine Knight suffered no damage from the attack. The Icicle Lance should have been able to pierce through its armor, but it did not. They had some kind of magic resistance.
Garnet let the Adamantine Knight recover and approach. When the Adamantine Knight was about to swing its sword, Garnet took a step forward and pushed her palm towards the Adamantine Knight's chest. "Lightning Fire Palm!"
BOOM. The explosion from the strike sent Garnet and the Adamantine Knight backwards. Garnet's own hand went numb and she realized that she took a small amount of damage from the blast. The Adamantine Knight was not cancelling out her magic. It was deflecting it.
With her sword in hand, Garnet switched to physical focused combat. The Adamantine Knights came at her again. This time, the Adamantine Knight prepared for a thrust attack.
"Horizontal Slash!" Garnet swung her sword towards the open side of the Adamantine Knight.
BUNG. As Garnet's sword hit the Adamantine Knight, she was still knocked back from the strike. Hitting the hard metal body of the Adamantine Knight caused vibrations to move throughout her sword as well. The Adamantine Knight again fell down. It was likely that the Adamantine Knight did not deflect just magic. It was likely that the armor deflected everything it hit.
Garnet wanted that power for herself. If her summons could make use of that metal, they would definitely be invincible. On top of their high toughness, they would be able to deflect incoming attacks as well.
CLANG. The two Adamantine Knights broke into pieces on the floor. Garnet realized something was wrong. After all, they were clearly not destroyed. They were doing something else.
The metal pieces on the floor began to shake. The sound of metal on metal scratching could be heard as most of the metal pieces recombined themselves into one.
Name: Adamantine Asura
Level: 70
Class: Warrior / Golem
Sub-Class: Guardian
Stats: High Strength, High Vitality
The two became a single knight with four arms. Each of the two arms on either side carried a two handed sword. Its body was reinforced with pieces from the other Adamantine Knight.
"Spiral!" Garnet swung her sword horizontally, aiming to strike the torso of the golem.
CLANG. Her sword collided with the Adamantine Asura's. Garnet was knocked back and the Adamantine Asura was thrown off balance. The ability of the Adamantine Knights to deflect damage neutralized the Spiral's ability to make use of momentum and not be stopped by objects it collided with.
The only way was for Garnet to beat down the Adamantine Asura until it stopped standing up. Her Mana Armor would give her the necessary protection as long as she could outlast it. The sword at her disposal was not sharp enough. It needed to become stronger through use.
"If not sword, then fan?" Garnet thought. She had never used the fan before, but she remembered when Akiza used it, the fan was powerful and amplified the power of the elements. There was a chance that it could enhance her magic.
Garnet first transformed. "Transformation: Temptress of the Night!" Then, she switched over to the fan.
The fan was quite strange. It was a folding fan, but instead of being wooden sticks connected by cloth, it was a metal folding fan made up of five metal blades. The point was sharp and if the fan was folded up, it could be used as a knife to stab someone with it. The fabric that connected the blades together was made of golden colored cloth, but it was not ordinary cloth. It was a little elastic yet very hard and cold to the touch. The cloth had some black spots that looked like flower petals on it.
"Here goes nothing," said Garnet as she raised her hand towards the target. "Fire Bolt!"
BOOM. The explosion shook the entire house. CRASH. The Adamantine Asura was sent crashing into the wall. BAM. It slammed against the wall before hitting the ground with a loud clang. The ground beneath them began to collapse from the impact of the blast. Luckily, Garnet had wings that were able to keep her floating in the air. The Adamantine Asura on the other hand, was not so lucky. It could not fly, so it fell another story.
The Adamantine Asura picked itself up as the rocks and dust from the blast fell out of its empty inner body. It was still alive and kicking, but there was a noticeable dent in its armor. This thing was made to be durable and hard to destroy. However, it was not very smart because it was an automated defense system. It looked up at Garnet, but could not reach her because she was flying and the Adamantine Asura could not fly. Its heavy weight also made it impossible to jump that high either. It just stared at Garnet following her with its eyes. The spear might have worked, but without any training or knowledge on how to use it, it was not a good idea.
It looked like for now, she could not destroy it. The body was just too tough. She just had to try one more blast. "Lightning Fire Bolt!"
BOOM. This explosion was much bigger than before. The blast sent Garnet flying back as well since it was used in an enclosed area. BAM. She smashed against the wall of the house, face first.
When the dust cleared, the Adamantine Asura was lying on the ground. Slowly but surely, it picked itself back up. There was a much larger and much more noticeable dent in its armor. It was still not enough power to outright destroy it. She needed something with piercing power, more than just her icicles in order to destroy the Adamantine Asura.
Garnet quickly flew away from the manor. As she reached the edge of the territory, the Adamantine Asura stopped following her. It collapsed on the ground and changed back into inanimate armor, waiting for the next person to trespass into its territory. She was lucky that it did not follow her around everywhere, otherwise it was going to be a problem. For now, she had to keep looking for that fog clearing where the city was. The only fog clearing she found was the actual graveyard. "Transform!"
Garnet reverted to her base form and continued to search for the city. TAP TAP TAP. There was the sound of footsteps, slowly approaching. It was likely the fight that she had with the Adamantine Asura drew attention from somewhere nearby.
A figure appeared before Garnet, heavily clad in bright silver armor.
Name: ???
Level: ???
Class: ???
Sub-Class: ???
Stats: ???
All of the person's stats and abilities were hidden, even their names. "Grey Ghosts?!?" Garnet shouted.
"Die monster!" shouted the figures in silver. He took two steps and leapt towards Garnet on this third with incredible speed.
Garnet drew her sword and swung as hard as she could. "Crescent Slash!"
CLANG. Garnet's sword smashed against the silver figure's pushing him aside. Compared to the Adamantine Asura, these were weaker. However, they were also speaking, meaning that there were people inside. "Wait, I'm looking for someone," said Garnet.
Two others clad in silver suddenly appeared and smacked him on the side of the head. "Of course there are," said the silver figure to the left. This one was likely a woman from the sound of her voice. "Don't forget that there are occasionally worlds that merge into this one, bringing in their survivors with them."
"Besides, she's just a little girl," said the third silver figure.
"May I ask who you're looking for?" asked the silver figure.
"A man by the name of Serph," Garnet replied. "I was told he was somewhere in this world."
The three of them paused for a while and began to speak to one another. "Serph?" thought the silver figure. "I don’t know any Serph. Do you?"
The others shook their head and both replied, "I don't."
"Maybe the Headmaster knows?" said the third silver figure.
"The Headmaster would know," said the silver figure. "Would he meet with her though?"
"There's no way without checking," said the female silver figure. "Let's ask him first."
"Alright, come with us," said the silver figure.
Garnet followed the three as they stayed just in front of her to guide her. They were moving very slowly, being careful to avoid all the creatures. "What's with the armor?' Garnet asked.
"The armor protects us from the fog and allows us to see through it," the silver figure replied.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"I see," said Garnet. "That would explain how you were able to find me."
"You give off an enormous amount of mana," said the third silver figure. "It would be hard not to spot you once someone is close enough."
The silver figures were able to find Garnet because she was using mana. When fighting, she was expending a lot more, so they were able to track her down. They were now leading Garnet towards an area she had not been to before to the northwest. The fog suddenly became extra thick. It was like the sealed off area within the fog that she had encountered before. It was likely this was like that barrier.
"Grab onto my hand," said the silver figure.
Garnet reached out and grabbed his hand. The figure slowly pulled Garnet forward. "Don't force your way in, walk in very slowly," said the silver figure.
The silver figure walked in very slowly. His body began to slip through the barrier as the barrier shaped itself like the silver figure, wrapping itself around him like goo as he passed through. His hand slowly pulled Garnet forward at a slow pace. She had to be very gentle in order to pass through. Push too hard and you would not be able to get through. Try to force your way halfway through and you might get stuck. It was a very interesting method of defense.
Garnet followed his movements as closely as possible. As she got closer to the barrier, she closed her eyes. As she started to pass through the barrier, she felt a strange tingling sensation. PLOP. When Garnet fully passed through it, she opened her eyes.
In front of her was a small city crudely constructed entirely out of wood and stone. There were no tall buildings. The highest was only two stories tall. Up above, there was a tiny opening in the barrier that somehow allowed sunlight to seep through the fog. "What is this place?" Garnet asked.
"Welcome to Sanctuary," said the silver figure as he began to remove his helmet. He had short black hair and was fairly young, probably under twenty. There was a few bits of facial hair that stuck out, probably because he had not shaved in a few days.
Name: Adrian
Level: 51
Class: Spirit Warrior
Sub-Class: Swordsman
Stats: High Vitality
Garnet could see his stats once he removed his helmet. It was likely that the armor prevented them from being detected, which was why she could not see his stats before.
The other two silver figures passed through the barrier and removed their helmets as well.
Name: Nina
Level: 50
Class: Spirit Warrior
Sub-Class: Swordsman
Stats: High Vitality
Nina had short brown hair. Her cheeks were a little puffy and was also very young. She had a small mole under her right eye.
Name: Santo
Level: 50
Class: Spirit Warrior
Sub-Class: Advanced Swordsman
Stats: High Vitality
Santo had tan colored skin. He was a lot taller than the other two. Like the others, he too was young and had green eyes.
"This way," said Adrian as he pointed off into the distance.
The three in silver armor surrounded Garnet and kept a close eye on her. They were suspicious of her and if she tried anything, they would probably try to kill her.
As they walked through the city, Garnet took a look around. There were houses and businesses like any other city. They were making things out of the creatures that were found in the fog outside. "What is this place anyways?" Garnet asked again.
"Like I said, this is Sanctuary," said Adrian.
"But what is Sanctuary?" Garnet asked. "Knowing the name of it or what the purpose of it is does not tell me anything."
"This place was the only safe haven during the Dark Age," Nina replied.
Garnet never heard about the Dark Age before. "What is the Dark Age?" she asked.
"You don't know of the Dark Age?" said Adrian who was surprised by Garnet's reaction.
"Well, it has been at least a few hundred years," said Santo. "The only one who lived that long is probably the Headmaster."
"The Dark Age was a time of great disaster," Adrian explained. "A powerful undead entity from another world absorbed the remnants of a high ranking Demon, transforming it into a creature the world had never seen or encountered before. The strongest Immortals in the world tried to fight it, but failed as it could absorb the strength of other dead creatures to restore itself. In a last attempt to preserve the remaining worlds, they sealed off many worlds from the entity that only a chosen few can get around."
"Is that seal, the dome that protects this place?" Garnet asked.
"No," Santo replied. "When there is a hole in the seal, that part of the world turns black, making it easier for horrific creatures to get through."
Garnet started thinking. A whole part of the world would turn black and horrific creatures would get through. Garnet realized it. It was the Invasion. The Invasion was a product of the seal around the world breaking. There was permanent damage when the black star remained in the sky because the seal was unable to repair itself. It might not be the same, but there was a connection. But, that did not explain how other worlds were facing the Invasion.
"What happened to the undead entity?" Garnet asked. "Was it defeated?"
"No," said Nina. "It was sealed off from accessing all the worlds."
"Then it is not a problem?" said Garnet who was trying to remain optimistic.
"The barrier for each world will break one day," said Adrian. "It's not a matter of if, but when, assuming it survives that long. But once the barrier is broken, the entity will be able to return in full force."
"How come the Immortals were not able to stop it?" Garnet asked as they continued walking.
"There was no way devised to defeat another Immortal," said Nina. "They never thought they would have to fight one of their own."
"So, they created the barriers in order to buy time to create something that could defeat an Immortal," said Santo. "This was based on the different incarnations of a Hero."
The term Hero came up. They were referring to the Hero System that Garnet was using. "I thought there was only one Hero?" said Garnet. She needed to know more.
"There are countless Heroes," said Adrian. "Each one is based off of a different power in order to try to harness something that could defeat the entity."
"The ones that we know of for sure are called the Mana Beast, the Avatar, the Elementalist, and the Conduit," said Nina.
Zedd believed in only one Hero. These people believed in multiple. It was sort of like an argument about which gods to believe in. If this was indeed true, then Garnet was not as special as she had believed. There are others out there who can deal with the Invasions as well, which is why the Invasions have not taken a successful foothold despite having occurred on a regular basis for many years already despite not having a proper Hero present for some of them. There were others out there capable of leading the charge and defeating the powerful Guides. She needed more information to confirm this though. But, it would make sense why Akiza referred to Zedd as the leader of the Hero Worshipping Cult when Zedd said he did not trust Akiza.
"Can you tell me about each of them?" Garnet asked.
Adrian began to explain, "The Mana Beast is one that feeds off of the mana of the dead. As it devours more of the dead, it becomes stronger. Funny enough, this is supposedly what the powerful entity does as well, so it was more like an experiment to try to replicate its powers. The Avatar is born with spirits sealed inside of them and they are able to nurture them and help them grow in order to become stronger. The Elementalist can shape any element they wish as long as they can mentally picture it in their mind, even if it did not exist before. The knowledge acquired by each Elementalist is passed down to the next person who then inherits the knowledge of all their predecessors. Lastly, the Conduit is someone who can use all the different types of energies in the world, such as chi, mana, and aura to augment their physical abilities far beyond the physical limit without consequence. However, they are unable to shape those types of energies for some reason."
There was a lot of information, but the Mana Beast did sound like Garnet's powers. She had the power to absorb things to become stronger. Killing things did indeed grant her experience that helps her become stronger.
The city here still had a lot of people even though it was supposed to be small. There were probably a few hundred people judging from the size of the houses. It was more like a large village, maybe a small town at best. The people greeted Adrian, Nina, and Santo as they passed by.
The group slowly made their way towards the center of town. Instead of a large building of some kind, it looked like a very simple log cabin. Adrian approached the door.
KNOCK KNOCK. "Come in," said the voice of a woman inside.
Adrian slowly opened the door. "Headmaster, we investigated the source of mana and found this girl," said Adrian. "She says she's looking for someone by the name of Serph."
The woman stepped out of the other room. She had middle length black hair. She wore a gold hair ornament that kept her hair tied up. She wore a white cloak over rugged brown and green clothes. Unlike the others, the woman had no armor, yet Garnet could not feel her presence at all. It was like she was not even there. However, she gave off a familiar presence like Akiza did.
Name: Himiko
Level: ???
Class: ???
Sub-Class: ???
Stats: ???
Himiko stared at Garnet. "Who was it that sent you?" she asked Garnet.
"Akiza," said Garnet.
"How is she doing?" Himiko asked.
"She seems well," said Garnet. "She got a little frustrated with one of my friends, but other than that, she seemed well. She doesn't say a lot though."
"That's good news," said Himiko. "She was never a friendly person. If you tried to talk to her too much, she would probably yell at you."
"Who are you?" Garnet asked.
"That depends on who you ask," said Himiko. "To them, I am simply the Headmaster. But, I am also the one who protects this town."
Himiko turned to the other three. "Do you know who she is?"
All three of them shook their heads. "This is the Mana Beast," said Himiko. "We finally found one of the other Heroes."
There were suddenly smiles on their faces, almost if they were ready to celebrate. However, they held themselves back in the presence of Himiko.
"So can you help me find Serph?" Garnet asked.
"I'm afraid he's not here," said Himiko. "We went off on a journey to other worlds in order to try to build up an army that can resist the forces of the Lich King."
"I encountered some Archlich that were defeated with enough strength," said Garnet.
"They are nothing compared to the Lich King," Himiko replied. "The Lich King is one that has acquired the power of chi and mana as well as a demonic physiology in order to make itself stronger. It is not so simple to defeat."
"Do you know why Akiza sent me here then?" Garnet asked. "I thought I was going to find a Divine Spirit God or something."
Himiko shook her head. "The Divine Spirit Gods we have collected are for the Elementalist," said Himiko. "Your power requires you to hunt powerful creatures does it not?"
"Yes," said Garnet. "How did you know this?"
"When the Immortal Council first came up with plans to create a stronger warrior, we tried everything," Himiko explained. "However, we eventually ran into one problem, limited resources. When everyone is competing for the same resources to become stronger, it is nearly impossible to have them work together. So, the Immortal Council devised ways to make multiple Heroes. We knew from history that there existed one that relied on inheriting the knowledge of items and another was able to nurture spirits within their body. So, we avoided those two and began to seek alternatives."
"Am I one of those?" Garnet asked.
"Yes, the Mana Beast relies on defeating creatures and absorbing them," Himiko repeated. "Which is why, these three will guide you to the creatures you have to defeat."
"But how will this help me?" Garnet asked.
"The Lich King, like other Immortals, have acquired a type of energy known as Divine Energy," Himiko explained. "In order to defeat it, you must acquire some of that energy as well because only Divine Energy can defeat Divine Energy. These creatures possess trace amounts of Divine Energy and will provide you with unique transformations if you can defeat them. Because the amount of Divine Energy they have is low, you should theoretically be able to defeat them."
Quest Update: Divine Beast (I)
Find and persuade the Divine Beasts in the Ancient Graveyard to help you.
Reward: New Skills, Experience
"And if I cannot?" Garnet asked.
"Then you will have to train first," said Himiko. "The creatures that you have to defeat are no laughing matter. They are extremely powerful."
There were specific creatures here that could empower Garnet. "Can you help me?" Garnet asked.
Himiko shook her head. "The most I can do is send a few people to guide you and make sure you don't die," said Himiko. "In order to acquire the full power of the Divine Beast, you have to slay it yourself."
This brought up the crystal that Garnet took. It was likely meant to be for someone else. She took the Crystal Core out and gave it to Himiko. "I think this is meant for someone else," said Garnet as she handed it over.
"You are correct," Himiko confirmed. "This crystal is meant for the Conduit. I will return it to its proper place until the Conduit appears to collect it."
Garnet was somewhat relieved to know that she was not the only person who was tasked with saving the world. But with this, she also learned that there was a bigger threat out there. The Guides were prone to infighting, but they did have rules and a hierarchy developed by something much stronger. Now is the next stage of her development, she had to defeat the Divine Beasts. But just when she thought she had answers, there were now even more questions than ever before.
"I have many more questions," Garnet added.
"In due time," said Himiko. "But I need to see how strong you are. If you cannot even bring down a sealed Divine Beast, then you are not ready to even face a middle tier Guide much less a high level one."
Spoiler :
No status change