When I opened my eyes, I was in some kind of antic ruins, with stone pillars, burning torches (legit) and an assload of dust, what surprised me the most, however, was the skeleton of some kind of knight right next to me.
Level 15 Trial
Get out of the crypt to pass the test
What the fuck? Don't they have something else to do? I had one a week ago! Why in the world do you keep imposing trials on people?
The trial faced at level 15 will, should you succeed, let you unlock diverse functions such as:
- Teleportation to your Nexus ( The Nexus is a HUB for all natives of a designated planet)
-the trading system, You will be able to buy, sell and exchange various equipment, components.
After this trial, you will be considered as an active member of your planet.
Oh, ok. Easy right? I just have to escape the crypt and it's over. I cast Veil of Death on me, better safe than sorry. "Is that you Sir Fortesque?" No it's not me but I will not say it, this talking gargoyle head is probably some kind of overly powerful monster, he probably can kill me by talking. I was almost right when I said that, this thing's speech was so long and boring that I fell asleep and impaled myself on a sharp rock, I only lost 50 hp but damn, I wonder if these heads are just some caregivers NPC or the real enemies. The best thing is, at the end of his monologue, he discovered that I wasn't Fortesque and made some spiked gates fall in front of me, barring me from leaving this place, I will have to find another way to leave, Audrey must be worried.
The best solution I could come up with was reading what was inscribed on the walls, it took me hours before I learned to read this language, it's a strange mix of French and Polish, 51 Intelligence really do the trick. He apparently was the knight of a king, he fought against an evil sorcerer and managed to kill him but died after that. There is, however, a small issue, he fought against a sorcerer but he ha no marks on his bones, no burns, no black spots, nothing, the only thing of interest is a physical mark, probably inflicted by an arrow, given the dimensions.
You discovered the truth about the death of Sir Daniel Fortesque +5 wisdom
You gained the passive skill Investigation. This skill let you discover abnormal things such as secret rooms or passageways, at a higher level this skill will let you spot invisible opponents.
Oh, sweet, it's a good skill but I think it will be difficult to level it up, but aside from that, an arrow in the eye? Seriously? This epic tale about killing the sorcerer is a lie then? It's sad, I pity him, he died ridiculously and they put him in a crypt, was it because he was the knight of the king? WAIT, the gargoyle said "is it you sir Fortesque", does that mean that I have to resurrect him to leave the crypt? How can I do that? I mean I could give him negative energy but it would make him an undead, I can't resurrect a corpse yet...
Yep, undead it is, no better solution. I then channeled negative energy to the corpse until depletion of my mana, I used my hp to continue as I thought that it would cancel if I stopped to regen. I had only 110hp left when I finished, this guy needed 1000 energy, he must have been a great warrior (as great as a warrior can be when he is killed by an arrow in the eye). 30 minutes after my channeling finished, he started to move, he looked at me and it seemed he waited for my orders but when I was about to order him to go near the gargoyle head he talked
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Do this guy know he is dead or is he asking that because he doesn't where he is himself?
"I'm John and I resurrected you, I'm here because the evil sorcerer is back." He seems naïve so I will take advantage of that.
"He is right Sir Fortesque, the evil sorcerer Zarok is back and Gallowmere needs your help!" I should hate you for talking but it goes with my- Huh? Is he really back? Talk about luck.
"Are you sure about this, Information gargoyle?" He asked as he equipped himself with his sword and shield. "Yes Sir Fortesque, you need to get out of the crypt and go to his lair to vanquish him" Now this is what I'm talking about, the spiked gate is now open, I can leave- Seriously? zombies again? Aaaand he is talking again, giving swordsmanship counseling to Fortesque, this twat can't even wield a sword and he is giving advice to a knight. Nice. I went to the exit and was extremely surprised to see another gargoyle who told me that I must find a kind of rune to put in this big red hand on the wall to leave. I swear to god(s) I will kill them, I will not leave before destroying them, even better, Fortesque will kill them. As I was fomenting evil plans, Daniel came back with the rune, he places it on the hand and the door opened, everything was good but it talked again.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Daniel, kill them, kill the gargoyles!" Everyone looked at me and then Daniel threw knives on the gargoyle but it didn't do anything, I tried to cast Mana Bolt on them but nothing worked. I saw the gargoyle opening his mouth but I fleed before he could say anything, I couldn't stand it anymore, the mission is done so let me get the shit out of here. When I got out of the crypt, another message appeared saying that I succeeded, it asked if I wanted to leave now and I accepted. I fell unconscious again but I saw a popup before drifting off to darkness.
You succeeded the trial, calculating rewards...
Due to your actions, you gained the following skills:
- Animate dead tier III forbidden spell
You can animate a corpse to do your bidding, it will cost you 50 times the highest stat of the corpse in energy.
- Investigation
For finishing the trial, you gained a skill following your stats and allegiance and a graft due to your class
-Infuse chaos forbidden ritual
A ritual used by the cultist of Shub-Niggurath. This ritual will infuse a living organism with chaos energy, provoking random changes to the entity. This ritual is forbidden due to its unpredictable results.
far-spawn graft: chaos receptacle
You can sense and absorb chaos energy, this energy can be used to create various effects of improving an organism or empowering a spell, you cannot regen chaos energy, it must be found elsewhere.
It's a good thing that I was unconscious because the addition of a new organ is really painful.
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The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the face of Audrey, she was crying. She placed my head on her lap so when I raised it, she realized I was awake and hugged me "John! you are awake, I was so worried, you were unconscious for 30 minutes you know?" Only 30 minutes? I'm pretty sure I stayed in the crypt for a day or so, must be the legendary time-dilated training ground. "It's okay Audrey, I was sent to a crypt for a test but I'm here now." It sufficed to calm her, I then went to search for loot but my spell destroyed everything organic, I hate leather anyways. I told Audrey that I needed to check the Nexus for a moment as I did not think it was possible to bring her but when I teleported she was here too so, all the better I guess?
You are the second to unlock the access to the Nexus, you gain the following reward:
-2500 Np (Nexus points)
Nexus points are the currency used in the Nexus, you can spend them to buy weapons, spells, skills classes or dungeons entries.
2500 Np? Neet, I will be able to buy decent armor (finally) for me and Audrey but second? Who is the first then? It's not a big deal, he must have gained more points and The First title. We reached a mini-map of the place, a pop-up asked us where we wanted to go, there was the market district, the divertissement district and the housing district, I selected the market district and we were teleported to it.
It was empty, it's evident it would be empty as I am the second to unlock the access but still, there is no vendor or anything, is it automatized?
[What would you want to buy?] A robotic voice asked from behind, I turned back and saw a very human-like robot (it looks like the T-1000 from terminator) wearing a smoking when he finished talking, a menu appeared
-Weapons
-Armor
-Skills and spells
-Other
I selected armor and surfed through the various articles available, I bought standard enchantress clothes, in total, they give 10 Intelligence and 10 Charisma, 5 for the robes, 3 for the headset and 2 for the bracelets, it cost me only 450 points but Audrey couldn't equip a higher quality armor, she is only level 13 after all. I searched a good armor for me but apparently, Fleshwarpers can only wear specialized armor (wearing generic armor such as my shoulder pad is possible but with the grafts and body alterations, a full set is more trouble than anything.) I decided to buy two dungeons entries (it will teleport you to a random dungeon of your level and will transport you at the Nexus when you finish it) a spell and a graft, yes you can buy class-related "objects" in this shop.
tier II spell Icicle
You throw an icicle at the enemy, dealing frost and piercing damage (can slow the enemy)
This spell was much needed, only having Life and Negative energy spells is not the best, and I can further experiment, the best thing, however, was the graft
Far-spawn graft: Chaos generator
You can now produce Chaos energy by expanding Life energy (1000 for 1 Chaos energy)
You can sense Chaos energy much farther.
This graft is amazing, it synergizes perfectly with my Life Transfer skill, I don't know what a Far-spawn is but it's great.
A Far-spawn is the child between an Abomination from Outer Space and a Sapient race such as humans. They can also be created artificially by the Outer gods' faction, in which they serve as soldiers.
Oh, and what is the Outer gods' faction? I think Shub-Niggurath is one of them but...
The outer gods are cosmic horrors living between two planes of the universe, the most known are:
-Azathoth and Yog-shothoth, they are the two "rulers" of this faction
- Shub-Niggurath, the black goat of the woods and Hypnos, Lord of Sleep
-Nyarlathotep, the crawling chaos, the Herald, he is the only one ever saw in the Material Plane.
Note that there are probably other outer gods but they are not discovered yet.
The outer gods rule over the old ones (such as Hastur, Cthugha, and Cthulhu), they are at war with every other faction but especially with the elder gods, the only ones capable of standing against them (their leader being the Lady of Pain).
This faction is probably the one I will join, I already have Shub-Niggurath's blessing and a familiar who belongs to Hastur, I doubt I will be accepted in other factions.
After I finished shopping, Audrey and I decided to go back to the community hall. There was a lot of things to do, I will have to train my new skills and create chaos energy, I want to see what happen if I infuse some on a kobold.