CHAPTER 43. BOOK 1 EPILOGUE

Amber slowly nodded at the Primordial Spirit’s words.

“However, I advise you to be careful, use my name, use Ax’thra’s name. The Cube of Stars is not meant to be in the possession of humans,” she warned.

Amber paused at that, and took the warning to heart. “And your name is?”

The spirit smiled deeply. “I’ll tell you that later.”

“How is this spirit like?” she asked. “Anything I should know?”

“They are eccentric, weird just like all of us, though I suppose, I think that’s not of much help is it?” The Primordial Spirit raised her brow-bone.

Amber shook her head at that. “It isn’t.”

“Well, it is a bit hard to tell you anything you should know… well…” She tilted her head. “He has an intense hatred for demons.”

An intense hatred for demons…? Amber repeated in her mind. She wasn’t sure how that could help her.

“Though, I wouldn’t worry too much, don’t fret too much, I’m sure he’ll take a liking to you. You are an interesting individual,” the spirit complimented with a smile.

“Right. I guess.”

At least I have a rough idea of what I want to do now… Amber closed her eyes. I want to grow much stronger.

The Primordial Spirit clapped her hands. “With all of that said, well done in climbing my tower Amber. You have been one of the fastest in history to do so, even causing it to lock you out of a floor due to your speed.”

Amber blinked. “So that wasn’t you?”

“No, I modified this tower so it can function on its own, everything it does, everything it shows you, is its own judgments, not mine,” the spirit explained. “However, I’m still in awe at your performance.”

“Thank you…?” Amber felt that the spirit was sincere, but she wasn’t particularly used to praise.

“So, now that you know, have learned, this knowledge, what will you do?”

“Leave the tower, and then I’m not sure.” Amber closed her eyes. “Maybe go to the desert, or maybe go see my friends, I haven’t seen them in a while.”

“You are leaving rather soon, I thought I was a better host.” The Primordial Spirit tilted her head.

Amber lightly scoffed. “I’ve been in this tower for eight months, I think it only makes sense, I’ve been in this tower for much longer than I’ve been in this world.”

“That is a fair judgment.” The spirit nodded at that. “I will accompany you.”

She paused. “Accompany me?”

The Primordial Spirit blinked. “In descending the tower, not in your adventures. I’m way too old for that.”

“Ah.” Amber nodded. “Yeah, I’d appreciate that.”

“Then it’s settled.” She smiled. “I’ll accompany you in your descent.”

“Thank you.”

Amber looked at the red Primordial Spirit; their encounter hadn’t been the best initially, but now after talking for some time she felt rather close. Like a friend. And well, while she wasn’t completely sure yet, she remembered the spirit’s words. “Ax’thra’s friend is my friend,” and to some extent, Amber could feel the meaning of those words.

Though that remained to be seen, but for now she enjoyed the company.

Amber stood up from the couch and started to walk towards the door, the Primordial Spirit followed right behind her as she exited the room.

“So, do you get visitors often?”

The Primordial Spirit pondered. “Aside from talking with the royal family every few decades, not really.”

Amber blinked. “Every few decades is not often.”

“Well, my tower isn’t exactly known to the public past rumors, past gossip, and most of the knights aren’t strong enough to make it to the one-hundredth floor,” the spirit said. “And those that make it don’t seem interesting enough to talk to.”

“And if I hadn’t carried the Cube of Stars would you have let me in?”

“What kind of question is that?” She chuckled. “Of course. There are a lot of things that are interesting about you.”

“Like what?”

“Everything.” The Spirit smiled.

She continued walking, the Primordial Spirit followed close behind her. Amber could remember the way back to the main room, but still stopped to admire the occasional painting or decoration.

“Do you like it, do you enjoy it?” the spirit asked.

“Everything is a bit over the top for me,” Amber replied.

“I see.”

Amber continued doing small talk with the spirit all the way to the main hall, where the throne rested. There was more gold in this place than what she had ever seen in her life, and yet she still felt welcomed⁠— or she felt welcomed now anyways.

“Do all Primordial Spirits have thrones at the top of their towers?”

“A good amount of them do, but most towers are abandoned, few Primordial Spirits are in Vir at any given time. Thankfully, the one you seek is still here.”

Amber nodded at that but couldn’t help but wonder.

“And can’t you help me instead?”

“Sadly, this is outside of my expertise, never tried to teach Essence to another being,” the spirit lamented.

Amber nodded at that. In the end, she was just curious, nothing else, nothing more. After that, she headed to the double doors, reaching them in no time and pushing them open. And then, she stepped into the entrance to the one-hundredth floor.

Even though she had been here just a few hours ago, she felt completely different now. Amber had been nervous back then, but now, she felt excited. There was a world full of opportunities out there.

After taking a breath. Amber began to walk down the stairs with the Primordial Spirit following right behind her.

* * *

The two engaged in small talk as they descended the tower. She had asked if there was a different way to descend the tower, but the spirit told her this was the usual way, which Amber just accepted.

All of the floors seemed to be empty except for the ninetieth floor which still contained an active crowd of monsters. However, all of the floors remained in a cleared state which was a relief for her.

While she wanted to get strong, she was done climbing the tower, and while she could push her limits in forcing herself doing something she didn’t like⁠— right now she was simply done with it at the moment. She had spent eight whole months fighting in the tower, and there was no point in self-torture if she didn’t enjoy it.

So all in all, she was glad and relieved.

She used the trek to reminisce, she reminisced about her time in the tower. The times she felt bored, the times she rested while idly wondering about what her friends were doing, and the occasional time where she thought about the knights. And now more than ever, she thought about the knights. How would it go once she exited the tower?

Well, that was something for her to worry about later, and she had also been told to use Terrel’s name so Amber wasn’t all that worried.

“By the way, where do all the monsters in the towers come from?”

“Oh, they are created by the tower using the great mana reserves, that is all.”

“So you can create levels out of thin air?” Amber asked. “And one of the monsters I fought seemed almost… sentient⁠— no, two of them.”

She thought about the Fireblessed Velstalker and the Cursed Goblin King, she didn’t have qualms about killing them oddly enough, but it was still odd to her.

“Perks of being a god.” She smiled. “As for them being sentient, well they are just made to be like the creatures they are imitating. So a Fire Velstalker with the same attributes and abilities as the one you fought may behave the exact same way in the wilderness, it’s not sentience as much as an imitation of it.”

“Huh…” Amber blinked at that. “Not what I expected.”

“What did you expect?”

“I don’t know.” Amber shook her head.

They were walking down a stairwell, and the Primordial Spirit’s light seemed to illuminate the entirety of it.

“So are all Primordial Spirits a different light color?”

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“Yeah, my color is unique to me just like Ax’thra’s blue is unique to him. Of course, there are Primordial Spirits with a similar color but a different shade,” she explained. “It’s what makes us unique.”

“Can you change that color?” Amber asked.

“Well, given I am a god, a timeless being, I can, but my natural color will remain this shade of crimson regardless of how I change it.” She shrugged. “You are the first being to ever ask me this, is it that interesting?”

“It was an idle thought.”

“Is that so? Well I suppose being curious, wondering about things, isn’t wrong.”

Amber nodded and continued going down the tower with the Primordial Spirit.

* * *

They passed familiar rooms, from remains of the knight encampments to places where Amber had slept. Eventually, they reached the room of the Fire Velstalker, in which she stopped for a few minutes.

Amber looked around at the charred surroundings, she could even see the entrance from where the knights had come⁠— it was a simple doorway that connected to a different room. However, she did not venture there, instead she just thought.

She looked at the dried corpse of the monster.

Thanks to you, I am so much stronger, you might be the hardest opponent I’ve had in my time in Vir. Amber closed her eyes. Thank you for being a true challenge.

After that, they continued on their way. Amber passed through many familiar floors, and the Primordial Spirit even complimented how she handled some of the floors, though the one that received the highest praise was none other than the puzzle room in the fourth floor. The one where she had spat into the pedestal to continue.

“Never have I seen someone spit into the pedestal.” The spirit laughed. “It seems I was outsmarted.”

The descent had taken several hours, if not close to a full day, but Amber felt the same as ever, and the Primordial Spirit didn’t really mind either. There were periods where they didn’t really talk whereas there were others where they talked for a long while.

Amber got to learn about the Primordial Spirit as a person, she learned that the spirit was fond of art and painting. She also learned that all almost all of the decorations on the one-hundredth floor had some sort of long and interesting history. In short, the Primordial Spirit was a collector.

On Amber’s side, she shared a lot of her escapades in Vir, some caused more of a reaction than others.

“Wait, so you kidnapped a girl from an arranged marriage and got away with it⁠— and there is a whole organization trying to use demons? That’s ridiculous!”

Somehow the Primordial Spirit found it all amusing. She didn’t seem all that shocked about Amber fighting in a dungeon for more than a day straight. According to her, it was only natural.

But all in all, Amber had a good time talking with the Primordial Spirit. She was a lot more down to earth than Ax’thra which Amber appreciated.

Eventually, they reached the first floor, where the decayed corpse of the Venomous Vencer rested. There was a shining doorway there, waiting for her. They approached it and stood before it.

“So I guess this is goodbye?”

“Not yet,” the spirit said extending her hand. “But my name is Val’leri,”

Amber nodded and shook Val’leri’s hand, if it wasn’t for the pause her name basically sounded like a rather human and relatively common name in her opinion.

“Nice to meet you Val’leri.”

The Primordial Spirit smiled. “Nice to meet you too, Amber.”

And then, a moment later, Val’leri flicked her fingers and Amber felt a shift. It was in her armor and the center of balance subtly changed.

“Consider it a gift, a present, from me,” Val’leri said.

Amber blinked and looked down only to see her armor basically restored to like new. Gone were all the monster hides that made it, and back was the old design which she liked. The Armor of Frenzy was back to its full splendor, in all its elegant and fancy glory. Though… it also felt slightly different.

“You noticed, you realized?” the spirit asked, smiling. “I upgraded it to Superb Quality and Enchanted Grade, it now has the effect of feeling lighter to the wearer, there is also something extra.”

Amber was surprised. “You didn’t need to.”

“Nonsense, I’ll always show appreciation to my friends, and there is also the fact, the truth, that your armor was unsightly, so I couldn’t let you leave like that.”

She was stunned, but nodded. “Thank you, Val’leri.”

The spirit smiled and then⁠— hit her back. Amber stumbled forward into the light and⁠—

She found herself outside of the tower, standing on the steps to the main entrance. Immediately some of the people of the camp turned to look at her with weirdness while others got up to warn their supervisors.

Amber was stunned for a moment but quickly began to descend the steps.

So, no proper goodbye? She felt a bit bothered at that, but⁠—

And a red light came from behind. Amber immediately turned only to see Val’leri standing at the entrance waving at her with a smile.

“Goodbye, see you, best of luck in your travels friend!”

Amber immediately smiled and waved back.

“Goodbye, Val, don’t miss me too much.”

The spirit snorted. “I won’t.”

She chuckled at that, and then turned around only to see the entire camp looking in their direction.

That’s going to be a problem⁠—

“The Primordial Spirit is real!”

“A spirit⁠— goddess, please have mercy on me!”

“I can’t believe my eyes, did she just say goodbye to that woman?!”

And the camp collectively lost their minds.

* * *

More than eight months had passed since she had said goodbye to her savior and the person that inspired her to become an adventurer, and while she occasionally missed her, she knew she had to grow stronger. All to surpass her.

All to surpass Amber.

She had once been a shy girl, one who didn’t dare to break the arranged marriage that her parents forced onto her, but it all changed once she was saved. Her worldview was immediately expanded and she realized everything she could potentially be capable of if she just tried hard enough.

She wasn’t a scared girl anymore, she wasn’t shy anymore, she wasn’t a noble girl that had to be protected anymore.

She was an⁠—

“[Silverburst],” Velda called.

A gray orb streaked through the cave, and a moment later it exploded⁠— a deluge of white ghastly flames engulfed the surroundings, and then shrieks echoed. Harrowing ones as shadows fell to the ground, burning to the white flames.

And then, the notifications came.

[You have defeated a [Ghastly Apparition. Lvl. 53.]

[You have defeated a [Ghastly Apparition. Lvl. 55].]

[You have defeated a [Ghastly Apparition. Lvl. 58].]

…

She got six of them with that attack, but there were more remaining, the question was… where and how many? Velda didn’t have any kind of skill to detect presences past whether there were enemies remaining or not. Her vision darted around the darkness, looking for discrepancies in the surroundings but she couldn’t quite see anything.

Where were they⁠—

And an orange flame struck behind her. A shriek echoed and Velda backed off seeing the creature burning, and then a moment later.

“I told you to be more careful, and yet you still ignore me,” Liz, her sister, sighed from behind. “You’ve grown so much stronger and you behave like a novice adventurer.”

Velda wasn’t a noble girl of the Starkell house anymore, she was an adventurer.

She snorted. “I’m trying to gain a detection skill, so of course, I’ll go out of my way to do so. Just like Amber.”

“You aren’t Amber.” Liz shook her head. “Even though you’ve grown really strong, you may still get killed because of this one day.”

Velda looked down at herself.

She had gained over forty levels in eight months, and she was proud of herself. While it wasn’t the breakneck speed that Amber had, she was still pretty happy with her progress. Of course, at first she was a lot more reckless but after almost dying numerous times, but now she felt like she had reined that side of her in check.

Liz thought otherwise.

“I’m going to surpass Amber,” Velda snorted.

“I’ll surpass Amber first if you keep needing my help.”

Velda paused at that, Liz wasn’t wrong.

[Mage. Lvl. 75]

While they were only twenty levels in eight months, Velda was well aware that her sister would keep on leveling until she trusted that Velda didn’t need protection. And finally, she relented, her shoulders sagging.

“Anyway, let’s return back to Laria.” Liz turned and began to walk. “We’ve been out here for days now.”

Velda nodded, following after her sister. “Do you think Amber returned yet?”

Liz’s pursed her lips. “I don’t know, maybe she made a discovery in regards to the Arcane Council and went to investigate.”

“Well, I’m sure no matter where she is, she is safe,” Velda said, confidently.

The fire mage sighed. “I think she will survive, but I hope she returns soon.”

Velda nodded. “Me too. I want to see her again.”

And in response, Liz nodded as they left the dungeon.

* * *

Far to the outskirts of the Kingdom of Cytel, a gathering began. The sky overhead was thundering, and heavy rain pelted the gathered figures on a circular roof. There were a dozen robed people, all with their hands extended towards a head-sized triangle at the top of a pillar. The fixture was pulsating with blue inscriptions repeatedly as the people muttered chantings in a language that was supposed to be lost.

The language of the gods.

It was a sacred ritual, one that hadn’t been performed in many millennia, but soon it would come to light once again. Soon it would be used, except what had once been a ritual to call for help, was going to be used for something else. It was going to be used for scientific research, to advance humanity, to open the doors to something that had been kept from the masses.

The secret to godhood.

The twelve figures continued to chant as their arms trembled and as their voice grew hoarse. Meanwhile six other figures waited at standby, clearly ready for what it was about to happen. They were on guard, it would happen at any moment.

The fixture continued to shine, it gradually got brighter as the six figures got tenser and tenser. And when it reached the peak brightness⁠— there was a flash as the twelve gathered people were blasted away.

Two of the six people jumped into the light, one with their fists and one with a sword that was longer than his body. However, they effortlessly passed through it, not hitting anything. A moment later the lighting cleared.

Then, a hooded figure teleported, he strode in a hurry with a limp, and immediately headed towards one of the fallen twelve people. He grabbed him by the neck and screamed.

“What happened?! I thought you stole the artifact! Where is the Primordial Spirit?!”

His voice pierced through the heavy rain, and echoed well into the distance. Even though they were at the top of a Primordial Spirit tower, his voice echoed all the way to the ground.

“I-I did, M-Master D-Dargon, I stole the artifact!” the man replied in a hurry. “I took it from the royal vault!”

“Then what is the issue?!” Dargon screamed. “Why is it not⁠—”

“I believe it requires some other kind of energy as well,” one of the six figures said. A mage. “I could sense it felt incomplete.”

At that, there was some silence as Dargon gritted his teeth, but a moment later the man in his hand hurriedly spoke.

“T-The cube⁠— there was a cube we stole!” he said. “I-It was right next to the beacon, that must be the key⁠— we all felt that it had a strange energy, that something wasn’t right with it!”

Dargon slightly calmed. “And where is it?” he asked in a whisper.

“Ranir had it…” The man gulped a moment later. “He failed to escape and died.”

“And why didn’t you save him, or retrieve it?” he asked, his voice low.

“I-It was too r-risky, we had to prioritize the safety of the beacon,” the man sputtered. “A-At least the royal family doesn’t have it!”

“Then who the fuck has it?!” Dargon screamed.

“I-I don’t know, I-I just know it’s not in possession of the royal family anymore!”

Dargon threw the man to the ground, making him hit the ground with a loud crack.

“Find me that cube along with your partner from whoever has it!”

Then, he took a step forward, bellowing.

“AND BRING IT TO ME!”

* * *

Meanwhile, deep below capital city of the kingdom, a different gathering took place. In this one, there was no summoning, no one was drained of their mana, instead it was a meeting.

At a wooden round table with candles, more than twenty people sat. They all wore red robes that obscured their features, however everyone had a vague idea of each other’s identities. Nobles, city lords, powerful adventurers, and they were all there with a single goal. Upheaval.

Even though it was a circular table, one seat stood out in particular. Its chair was carved with engravings and almost resembled a throne given its backrest was taller than all others, drawing natural attention to it.

And the figure sitting on it was none other than⁠…

“Oracle, our preparations are complete,” the group said, it was a cacophony of voices, but they resounded almost at the same time…

Oracle nodded, leaning back. His hand looked aged, but the hood didn’t let anyone see his face.

“It seems we are ready for upheaval,” he said, interlocking his fingers. “While it is to my understanding that one of our noble houses failed and even lost their heir, it is no matter.”

One of the figures flinched at that but no one looked or said anything.

“Our plans have been meddled with by Amber, a Cursed Berseker, a rarely seen class. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she hasn’t been seen in more than half a year, which means no Cursebearer for us to capture and summon a demon with, and no Cursebearer to meddle with our plans,” Oracle said simply.

The gathering nodded at that as he continued.

“But now, none of that matters. Now our plan will be set in motion⁠. And it all begins with atoning for our repeated failures, the step of taking revenge on those that have gotten in the way of our plans.”

And his following words boomed across the room.

“It begins with destroying this city; the Capital City of Cytel.”