Chapter 197
Making Bold Announcements
One thing I have to give the world is its ability to adapt. A few weeks ago it proved a misunderstanding of how martial powers were to be applied as witnessed in my martial showdown Jackie Khan who apparently had little control over Qi itself and thought that by pushing more Qi through their meridians they would be more powerful, or pose a challenge to me.
Since then, the level of control over Qi by the indigenous people of this world has increased by leaps and bounds, as evident by the steady rise in people’s cultivation levels the further up the tower we went. I of course, trying to make up for lost time bypassed the floors, knowing that explorers had already gotten to the floor two hundred and fifty bonus for reaching the floor first. Yeah, sad fate that awaits those who start a tower climb and then leave to visit their family, only to come back.
To make matters worse, I will likely be a part time climber while I try to keep my work life up and operational. Zero and I have worked out the process. During class time, Zero will be on my body sleeping for the two of us. That way when I am off and free to explore, Zero can be out and by my side as a valued companion.
This is good, as I think I might go mad if I was left to my own devices. At the very least I know that Mallory would likely say something snarky about needing to reign in my world-destroying tendencies by having a constant minder that I would listen to and respect the opinion of.
That was why, despite my being able to Teleport quickly up most of the floors, I decided to go the slow methodical way, of flying upwards with Zero. Well, the mostly slow, as I did end up having to carry Zero for most of it as my flight skills that I have been practicing are better than the skills he has. That or they are the same skills, it is just that my limit on my skills is a lot higher than the limiter on his skills, proving a disparity in speeds. A disparity that apparently requires me to cradle Zero to my chest like some baby kitten while we fly upwards. Not that I mind, but I do protest just to establish boundaries out of principle. I mean one second you are carrying you familiar in a cradle carry, the next thing you know you are wearing a crazy familiar hat that Zero can rest comfortably so you can knit and perform crafts with ease while having your familiar out and about.
And no, I did not think about asking Penelope to make me a cute little Zero sombrero that I could wear for these types of excursions. Especially not, after I realized that I already had a head covering that was part of my guild supplied soul bound uniform.
Also back in contention were the clear signs that the Blight was hard at work destroying the great tree Yggdraspirit.
The signs started out slowly, only first emerging on floor 206, but they were faint traces of specific veins and shafts that ran up the side of the great tree. I could have taken the time, stopped and worked away the few lingering vines of corruption that I saw, but they were just a symptom of the main problem. My assumption was proven correctly as we flew upwards and saw more poisoned veins of Blighted corruption that covered the trunk of the great tree, but still signs led further upwards.
“Do you see that?” Zero asked.
“Yeah the corruption appears to be starting much higher up. I think that if we find the source of the Blight, we will be able to purify that portion of the tree and then let the cleansing work its way outwards.” I reply.
As I state that, I receive a system message letting me know that my assumptions about the treatment of the great tree were correct.
Hidden Quest Found (Ongoing): The Blight of Yggdraspirit: You have found that there is a network of decaying vines that seek to leach power from the great tree Yggdraspirit. Find the source of the corruption and purify it at its source. Rewards: Experience, variable.
I had the distinct feeling that one of those variables could be a bloodline marker. I technically only needed two more markers to complete my needs for my Mythic Bloodline and to have it so I apparently become some odd amalgamation of a three eyed porcelain doll, a butterfly, and a night light. While I was secretly hoping for wings, I mean who doesn’t love to fly, and the constant reserve of holding over one third of my magic in limbo to fly weightlessly is a pain. I hope the wings are not insect wings, I really hope for that. I also realize that after getting my wings, I will likely be one of the first people to come up with a spell on how to shapeshift their body so they don’t appear to have wings. Though this is all conjecture on the idea that the world would give me something that I want.
I am so lost in my own thoughts that I am almost thrown for a loop when Zero responds with something other than noticing the corruption that is threatening to eat away at the great tree Yggdraspirit.
“No, I mean the factions of mages and cultivators. It is interesting to see how they are getting along so easily, down here.” Zero states.
Hearing that, I feel a slight tingle in my ears, almost as if Zero is cluing me in on some type of foresight that all but screams of a thinly veiled hidden questline. At least that is the odd sensation I get from holding Zero this closely and thinking back I could almost feel a slight surge of energy that entered into Zero’s body moments before he began talking. It was low and subtle, but still something that seemed to resonate with me, through our shared connection.
“Oh, no I did not notice that.” I reply, almost wanting to give a wink back, but then realize I might be a bit too obvious if I do that. Heck, even my reply now has me cringing with how blatantly out of character I was being.
Pausing, I realized that if I could feel these quest impulses then I might be able to uncover more interesting story lines to unlock which of course would show off more of the world’s hidden depths, and hopefully open up more quests. Oh, I wonder if I can unlock a Quest Finding skill, or better yet a Skill Finding Quest skill. The first would focus on finding quests, the second would help highlight quests that identified quests with skills specifically. Oh, that would be amazing.
I am so lost in this thought process that I almost miss the transition between floors 207 and 208. Here two things are apparent, first the Blight infused vines are so dense that it is clearly causing some of the mages and warriors to keep separated from one another.
This separation was only more pronounced on floor 209, where Blighted veins eroded deep segments of Yggdraspirit, causing many places to be roped off and quarantined from one another. Then finally we made it to floor 210, when it appeared we were supposed to stop and actually investigate the area. I knew this for a fact, as I could feel a slight jolt enter Zero, while still cradle carrying him. Then a moment later he spoke, and simultaneously opened up a new hidden quest line.
“Look at that over there, it appears to be a tournament of some kind. I wonder what it is for?” Zero asks and points off in the distance.
Off in the distance was a stand that held an official decree, and was guarded by someone who was clearly a powerful mage and a powerful cultivator. While both the mage and cultivator seemed to be angry at having to be close to each other, they still seemed to keep a semblance of professionalism by not doing anything overtly hostile.
The task was simple, I was supposed to go with Zero and get close enough to the sign to read it and likely spark a quest. Fortunately for me, I cheated as my Blind Eidetic Speed Reading skill kicked in and let me read the sign upon being made aware of it. Actually, I had already read the sign on the way up, a twenty-kilometer sight radius does help in being able to read things at a distance. It wasn’t until Zero made the comment that sparked the actual quest chain.
New Food Redemption Contest of Champions. Rather than starting a war for resources, the town elders of floor 210 have come up with a fair and equitable way to divvy up resources in a best of sixty-four competition pitting the thirty-two best mages against the thirty-two best cultivators.
Etcetera, etcetera.
Faction participation slots available: Mage slot 32 of 32 available. Cultivator slot 32 of 32 available.
For additional information on slot availability more information on the competition available at the Stalwart Inn, located directly across from the sign in post.
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Yes, at the bottom of the sheet were two magically imbued pull tags that would likely link my personal information to the faction and side that I pulled from for the challenge.
Below that showed a listing of sixty-two names that had already been filled out and added to the different slots. With two blank slots available, one for each faction would likely have a final random person for the opposite faction appear and grab the last tab at the last minute. That or maybe it was done like that so I could try to win both brackets and then have to fight myself like I do for my morning practice sessions? That was a possibility, but it was something that I had no interest in. In fact, I had no interest whatsoever in getting close to the tournament site at all, except for the fact that I could see in back towards the dressing room areas was what clearly appeared to be the source of the Blight.
Now, thanks to Zero’s assistance the quest lit up in my mind letting me know that this quest was here, and my own insights that this opportunity was likely linked to my already discovered ongoing tower quest, I received a system message letting me know exactly what was expected of me.
Hidden Questline Found (Ongoing): Battle for Resources: You have stumbled across a tournament of desperation held between the mages and cultivators of Yggdraspirit. In order to survive, each faction will put forth their thirty-two best warriors to compete in a competition of blood, sweat, and tears. Each winner will receive enough food for their family for a week per bracket won. With a maximum allowance of one month’s worth of rations going to the winner. Each loser will gain food for their family for a day. With the grand prize winner winning not only a month’s worth of rations, but gaining access to the sacred pools of power and insight. Rewards: Experience, faction reputation, variable.
This world literally made their own version of the starving games, and wished to put starving families against each other to provide resources for each family. This was despicable, and something that would likely be fixed had the Blighted portions of Yggdraspirit been healed correctly.
That was why, I decided to go with plan C to fix these broken scenarios that led to heartache. To do this though, I decided that I would need to gather some information first.
That was why, I decided to first stop by the Stalwart Inn for more information. Especially as the owners appeared to be high level adventurers. How did I know they were high level? Simple, they were both living. In fact, they were the only two living people on this entire floor, well other than myself of course. Even Zero was a spirit dragon, so showed up differently to my senses.
Odd though, a few months ago, I would have been unable to, or at least unwilling to recognize the difference between living and dead people, particularly here in the spirit realm. Yet, after months of cohabitation with both humans and spirits alike at home, I noticed the differences easily.
Also, it was nice to realize that I did consider my place at the Midnight Hunters to be home. I don’t know when that distinction was made within my mind, but I definitely considered this to be a weekend event, similar to rock climbing or hiking, while my home would be where my daughter and best friend were. Odd how you realize more about yourself once you remove all external stimuli and are forced to focus on what is truly important to you.
“You okay?” Zero asks, pulling me out of my reverie. Which is good, as I have apparently just been floating in place here for a while.
“Ye, yeah.” I state, then say “let’s go check out the Inn and see what additional details we can gain from them.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” Zero agrees, and like that we head over to ask questions.
***
(Five Minutes Later)
“Well, that was a bad idea.” I state.
“Yeah, maybe you should avoid trying to freak people out by inventing new customizable spells right there on the spot that the recipients thereof could not cast.” Zero states.
“Hey, that was a very simple Tier II spell that only required Life and Spirit magic affinities, very simple to cast and control.”
“Right, and did either of those two look like they could cast Life and Spirit magic?” Zero retorts.
“No,” I admit, then remembering the fact that my bloodline could awaken the magical potency of those two by two Tiers crossed my mind. “Though, I could.”
“You could what?”
“I could get them to the point where they could cast the spell.” I admit, trying to save myself.
“You could? Is that it? Why don’t you just go around awakening the magical potential in everyone and then create functional Tier II spells that everyone could cast.”
Pausing for a moment, I think about his words. Yes, he is being sarcastic and snarky, but what if I did that. Could I create a Tier II spell that could eliminate the Blight? I wonder. Then I realized that I can’t as that would need to be a minimum of Tier VII to cast. Or at least it would need to be that high for someone to cast by themselves, but if there was an army of minions all casting the same spell over a small area, could that work? And if so, then how far down would I need to break the spell, maybe have overlapping harmonies, a part A and a Part B. No, I would need at least three, no make that four different individual Tier II spells working in harmony to begin to break apart the Blight.
“I could do it.” I state, feeling something tingle and come to life inside of me, as I realize that I could do it. I could break down a complex Tier VII spell into its base components that multiple casters all working together could link together to form an equivalent effect.
“Oh, shit, what have I done?” Zero asked, a note of serious concern etched on his face as I noticed his dead eyes come to life and focus on me.
I was about to say nothing, when I once again felt the slight tingle of moisture on my lips indicating that I had been thinking with my tongue out, again. I really need to work on that, as it is annoying and leaves my lips covered in mana glitter for a few moments until my body is finally able to recycle the condensed mana crystals on my lips into Qi. Not wanting to add even more to the idea that I concentrate with my tongue out, I begin telling my thoughts in a stream of consciousness fashion, trying to flesh out the idea as much as possible while the inspiration is still burning brightly within my mind.
“I think I figured it out, why my bloodline was so broken. Advancing everyone by two Tiers of magical potential was impractical, unless it was meant to get us to work in harmony together. For me to find beneficial spells that are so small and innocuous that anyone could cast them. That have multiple parts of harmony all working together to form one magnificent effect that would synergize the work and effort of the four who worked together to begin the process.” I state, then focusing my mind, I come up with the four harmonious parts needed for a group of four casters working together to cure the Blight.
New Harmonious Magic Spell Created: Curing the Blight A [Tier II]: A fraction spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used in harmony with spell components B, C, and D to help Cure the Blight from an infected individual. New Harmonious Magic Spell Created: Curing the Blight B [Tier II]: A fraction spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used in harmony with spell components A, C, and D to help Cure the Blight from an infected individual. New Harmonious Magic Spell Created: Curing the Blight C [Tier II]: A fraction spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used in harmony with spell components A, B, and D to help Cure the Blight from an infected individual. New Harmonious Magic Spell Created: Curing the Blight D [Tier II]: A fraction spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that can be used in harmony with spell components A, B, and C to help Cure the Blight from an infected individual.
New Skill Gained: Harmonious Magical Spell Creation has reached level 1. Harmonious Magical Spell Creation is a Personality X2, Sociability X3, Attractiveness, Perception X2, Intelligence X3, and Willpower X3 based skill.
That was the first time I found a magical skill related to spell creation that helped advance my Social Attributes, though I guess in a way it made sense to include them as the entire premise for the Skill was to create spells that could only work by working in harmony with others. Upon this realization, I understood that I had been looking at my bloodline as a curse as opposed to a mixed blessing. Yes, by awakening everyone by two Tiers in magical abilities I was opening up a potential can of worms. I had failed to realize that if done correctly, this could be a very beautiful process that would bring people together to help cure their friends and family of the Blight. As soon as I had the idea, I began coming up with other patterns for how to break down the Cleansing Rain spell into smaller parts that groups or even a family of farmers could use and cast to protect their fields and help bring in bountiful harvests.
I was on the brink of something big and wonderful, and that was precisely when the system cut in letting me know that I had reached some type of hidden questline.
Hidden Quest Completed: Founding a New Magical Category (Harmonious Magic): You have founded a brand new form of magic that can revolutionize the world. While this is just the first step in your discovery, you are onto something that can and will change the world. Rewards: Experience, Skill, Title: Credit for a new form of Magic, variable.
Experience Gained: 250,000 / 125,000 / 125,000
Ding.
Level up.
Akashic Qi Master has increased by seven levels to level 249.
Ethereal Simulacrums Master has increased by four levels to level 287.
Ethereal Healer has increased by seven levels to level 381.
New skill gained, already awarded.
Title Gained: Magical Marvel: When it comes to understanding the true depths of magic you are considered a master. Anyone with a magical affinity of any kind will look at you with a minimum of a Neutral reputation.
Honestly, that wasn’t too bad. The title would be hard to explain to anyone who constantly inspected me for changes, but it did mean that at least when dealing with magically affiliated indigenous people of this world, I would not be directly attacked. Always a good thing to have and something that might be more important if this world keeps focusing on the split between mages and cultivators as it has been for the last ten or so floors.
Yes, this was a nice quest that did give me a good deal of recognition. Honestly had I know that discovering and creating new forms of magic was so lucrative, I would have done so a long time ago. At least that was my thought process until I saw the next message.
World Announcement: Congratulations to Cassiopeia Spiritlight for singlehandedly discovering and inventing a new form of magic.
There was a pregnant pause as I tried to see if anyone else got that message.
“Um, what did you just do?” Zero asks, a note of question to his voice.
Then I realize that if even my familiar got that message, then others likely got the same message. Though this was nighttime, which meant that hopefully Mallory and Gwen both would be asleep, and might have missed the World Announcement. At least that was my hope until, I felt the warning message I had set up with all of my Simulacrum.
Tug, tug, pull.
I didn’t even have enough time to say, “oh shnikes,” before I was sucked away from Zero and pulled back to my home to see a very angry Mallory standing over my meditative form. I am about to open my mouth to say I can explain, but Mallory cuts me off with a question that lets me know she is either aware of what I have been doing, or is likely onto a relatively good hunch as to what I was doing.
“And just where have you been?” Mallory asks, her arms crossed as she stares at me. This is when I go into full on recovery mode.
“So, I can explain…”