The building began to shake more violently than it had before. Grant read the two new windows in his mind, they seemed urgent.
First Temple of the Harbinger has awakened.
Petitioners may challenge Temple rooms to gain fruitful gifts.
Offer sacrifices at the Temple Core to increase the challenge.
Temple will expand to find new petitioners if none challenge it.
Take up thy mantle Harbinger
First Temple of the Harbinger is at challenge level one. Petitioners may only congregate in groups of three or fewer at this level. Separating your group now.
Eyes appeared on the walls of the stairwell. They opened to stare at them. Swiveling around taking in everyone in the room.
Moments later massive tentacles emerged from the walls.
“Look out!” Grant had time to shout.
One of the tentacles grabbed him and slammed him into the wall. He felt himself being pulled into the wall. It felt like being swallowed in quicksand. The world went dark.
—
Grant’s head throbbed as he woke up. He lay there groggily for a moment before he remembered where he was and what was happening. Then he shot straight up. The Temple had awakened. He could still read the window in his head.
He looked around, there had been eight of them in the stair well. Well there had been six and then Isaac and Hannah had been coming down the stairs. If the limit was three there should be at least two other people here.
"Hello?" He called out.
Eric came running back into the room holding a finger up to his mouth, silently shushing Grant. He glared at Grant. Grant mouthed 'ok, sorry'. Eva walked into the room behind Eric. She was scowling at him.
"The Harbinger can speak at whatever volume he wishes!" She hissed at him.
"It's ok Eva, let's just all be quiet and calm." Grant whispered.
Grant looked around the room. it did not look like the hotel they had been in. It was more like a temple. The room they were standing in had two rows of marble columns running the length of it. they rose up to meet pointed arch ceilings in the gothic style.
There was a small altar at one end of the room. It was engraved with runes from a language Grant was fairly certain was not one that came from earth. The incense burning on the altar smelled acrid. Deeply red candles were topped with blue green flames.
Above the altar was a carving of an eye that stared out at the room. Grant stared back at it and he nearly jumped out of his skin as the eye swiveled to look directly at him. It was like the one in the stairwell that preceded him being grabbed. He let out a little scream before he could stop himself.
Eric glared at him again.
"Sorry," he whispered.
"Do not suffer this fool, the trials will come whether we tiptoe around them or not." Eva said, in a normal speaking voice.
Eric turned to glare at her now. Grant raised his hands to try and calm the two down.
"Ok, look, let's just all take a deep breath, then we can level you two up and get moving." Grant said.
They both spoke at once.
"if you think I'm going to do anything with these weird blue windows-" Eric said.
"Harbinger I haven't any essences with which to level-" Eva said.
They had both continued for a moment trying to speak over one another. In an ironic twist, they had both only stopped when it became clear that neither of them would yield.
Grant just sighed holding up his hands trying to make peace between the two. They both seemed like pretty strong flavors so he wasn’t too surprised they weren’t mixing well.
"Eva” he said, turning to her first. "I will give you all the essences you need."
Her look of surprise and joy lasted for only a moment. It was replaced by shame and guilt.
"I.. I couldn't possibly take-" She stammered.
"you can and you will." Grant said, cutting her off. "That goes for you too Eric."
Eric opened his mouth to protest but Grant kept going.
"Unless you don't want to do everything you can to save your sister" he said cocking his head to the side.
Eric glared at him but nodded. "Fine."
Grant had already started reading the other two windows that had been waiting for him.
Your Formation Sequence has advanced to the second level. You may begin converting essences to graft new sequences into your formation. New sequences must be grafted to one or more existing sequences. Grafted sequences shape each other as they advance.
Your Formation Sequence has advanced to the second level. Subsequent advances cost thrice as much as the level before. Sequences may be leveled individually but no other sequence may be advanced while you have a lower level sequence.
Grant considered what this meant. The growth of each individual power was an exponential affair, his three sequences had cost him nine total, three each. The next level would cost him twenty seven or nine each. That number would increase by a linear amount for each new power he added.
While it was a linear increase, it was of exponentially increasing amounts. Each power he added would slow him down immensely as he got up into the higher levels. With that in mind he began considering his options, talking it over with Eric and Eva.
---
Grant walked into the room. He was out in front with Eva and Eric trailing behind him.
They had decided he would be the tank. He had spent many hours playing video games not just with Ryan, but also with Eric and Olivia. Eric had always insisted on playing damage roles in rpgs, never the healer. So it was no surprise that that was where he had ended up.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
As they had examined options Eric had made a point to couch his desires in terms of how 'that would benefit the unit', or how 'that power would make him more effective at clearing threats for them'. Grant had agreed pretty readily, anything that got Eric more on board was a positive.
Thankfully Eva had wanted to go for a support role. That was good because it was what they needed.
She wasn't a healer, they could all heal pretty well on their own provided they had enough Flesh of the Beyond. She had instead taken powers that let her provide tactical benefits and set up the team for success. It had been working pretty well so far.
The room they were in was the size of a warehouse, maybe 200,000 square feet. it was of the same architecture as the room they had woken up in. The low points on the arched ceilings were twenty feet up.
There was no altar here but those same eyes dotted the walls and columns throughout. Grant was pretty sure those eyes were for the temple to see through. So far, there had been at least one in every room.
The materials seemed to change slightly room by room. Here the columns were made of basalt. wooden supports that spanned between the tops of the columns were a dark mahogany in color.
There were several hallways leading away from this room. They were lit by glowing green and blue stones. The glowing stones were of an organic shape, plantlike. This lead Grant to think they were grown rather than geologically formed.
The room they were in though had no glowing stones. Instead, it pulsed with red light. Overall the lighting situation in this room was very dim. The only one unaffected by this was Eva. She had already leveled up her Beyond sight before the Temple had awoken.
"I see serpents on the far sides of those columns." She said.
They weren't truly serpents, Grant thought Eva called them that because it sounded more biblical. In truth they were more like oversized leeches. Grant really didn't like them. They're bodies swelled and shrank as they moved, it looked very unnatural and unsettling.
Not for the first time Grant took a moment to worry about the other groups. Without him and Eva, they might not have any idea how to level up. Not only that but as far as he knew Eva was the only one who could see in the dark.
He tried to put the image of Olivia being snacked on by a giant leech out of his mind. He was unsuccessful.
"How many?" Grant asked.
"I see six," She replied flatly.
"Over there?" Eric asked, pointing with his tentacle.
Grant had removed and replaced his tentacles. Eva had actually done the removal, biting through them. As she removed the first one she held it tight to her back. It stuck onto her.
He had been pleased to learn he could share this powerful tool, however disturbing it looked in practice. Eva had grown a bit woozy after the trantacle had been ‘equipped’,m so he had asked Eric if he wanted the second one. He had not agreed at first but had thought better of it after a moment.
Eva nodded, confirming Eric’s intended target.
Eric used his new power, Writhing Storm.
Writhing Storm II
Increased Focus.
Skill: Channel the energy of the beyond into a writhing storm of potent energy. Storm attacks enemies within range.
Skill: Manipulate the storm as though it were a solid object.
A whisper of the Beyond may still the seas
Vapor crackling with electricity began to coalesce into an orb. The energy gathered in the middle resembling an eye. Thin spiraling tendrils began to emerge from the center of the sphere. Their intensity and speed continued to grow as Eric channeled the spell.
At its first level that was all he would have been able to do. The second level gave him the ability to pick it up and throw it like it was a ball.
As much as Grant had been happy to get Eric on board with leveling up and getting stronger, he was still kind of pissed that Eric had gotten such a cool power. Grant consoled himself with the knowledge that it was going to be very easy to mock him for being such an edgelord later.
He smiled thinking about all of the jokes Olivia would have about when they found her later. He tried to shut out the little voice that said ‘if they found her later’.
Eric wrapped his tentacle around the sphere of vapor and energy and whipped it in the direction of the leeches. Electricity arced out as it flew striking six targets in turn. Kill windows popped up. Grant ignored them. He was still looking around warily. In a room this big, he would expect something much bigger.
He didn't have to wait long.
A giant purple leech slithered into the room. It poured out through an opening on the opposite side. It was twice Grant’s height and nearly forty feet long. Its body was thick and bloated, covered in undulating spikes.
Its massive head turned towards them. Its mouth opened to reveal row upon row of encircling teeth. It let out a roar, Grant felt it vibrating his bones. He was awash in the smell of the creature's breath too. It smelled metallic like blood and ozone mixed together.
Grant ran forward and at the same time reached out with his new ability, Dominate Mind.
Dominate Mind II
Increased Focus.
Skill: Control another mind. (A resonant mind link is required).
Passive: Gain leverage in mental struggles.
In submission there is peace
The creature was strong. It was no more intelligent than the mundane creature it resembled, yet still, it’s mind was like iron. If it was smarter it probably could have controlled Grant, even with the added leverage he gained from his leveled ability.
He could not truly control it like he could the lesser things they had fought. He could nudge it off course though. The distance between them closed. He felt the creature preparing to snap at him. He gripped its mind and forced it to overshoot.
As the bloated purple mass of flesh swung forward it went wide slamming into one of the columns. Grant heard teeth breaking against the stone. He did not slow in his approach. He slammed his tentacles straight into the side of the creature and whipped them out sideways tearing two huge gashes into the creature.
Ripping Tentacle of the Void
Item - Grafted Appendage
Attacks made with Ripping Tentacle of the Void break down matter at an elementary level. Emitted energy and particles propagate the reaction. Effect has sharp diminishing returns as the ability chains.
The creature began to recover from its misfired lunge. Eva had not been idle though. Chains made of blood shot up from the Leech’s blood that had gushed out onto the floor. It tried to lunge at Grant again but the chains held it fast.
Chains of the Bloody Sinner
Increased Focus.
Skill: Form chains from blood and graft them onto a creature holding it in place.
Passive: Chains made from an ally's blood will damage enemies while they remain connected.
All sinners, repent in Its name!
It strained against them thrashing on the floor. Grant continued diving his tentacles in and ripping them out. The creature's efforts grew more and more subdued. It had been an easy fight after all.
Eric had conserved his energy after killing the leeches. Every time any of them used their powers it used up some amount of Flesh of the Beyond. For Eric, this was doubly true. His flashy, cheap, edgelord powers had a high cost.
They were trying to save up as much as they could in preparation for harder times to come. As such Eric really only got into the fight against ambushing attackers. Grant and Eva’s tactics against larger foes were effective and more efficient.
The kill notification came in.
Leech Lord has died.
You and Eva have each received:
* (13) Flesh of the Beyond
* (1) Consuming Essence
* (1) Writhing Essence
* (1) Flesh Essence
* (1) Exsanguination Essence (Uncommon)
You have received your first uncommon essences. When used to advance your sequence uncommon essences are worth (9) normal essences.
Grant read the window again. Essentially this would allow him to take any sequence to level three. He had only added the one new sequence, grafting it onto Resonant Mind. He had taken that to the second level and then stopped there.
Eva and Eric had both gotten up to four sequences at the second level and stopped as well. It seemed like it was definitely enough for now.
Grant explained the window to Eric, who had not gotten one. He nodded considering.
“You know, I think it would be best if you gave that one to me. A single target exsanguination spell would really round out my powers." Eric said, nodding thoughtfully.
Grant nodded. “Yeah maybe…”
Then he carried on walking.