Chapter 98
Kite Flying And Other Ways to Solve Quests
“You know, sometimes I wonder how you talk me into these situations.” Mallory states from over forty feet below. The rope that is tied to me, dangles down from my waist and goes all the way to the floor.
“Honestly, I am just as surprised that you have a soul bound endless rope that extends by applying more mana to it. If it hadn’t been for the endless rope, then I know for a fact we would have had to come up with a different way to do this.” I respond back, not looking down as I am currently in between doorway cleansing, or arterial cleansing of the great tree Yggdraspirit.
I am using my spell Spirit Drift to help fly up the ginormous vertical vascular tubes that extend throughout this floor of the great tree. With tubes this size, I am almost afraid to see what it would look like if water was here, but then I stop myself from that thought, especially from stating it out loud, as that would be the equivalent of asking to be nearly drowned for successfully completing this stage of our trials.
Shaking out my hands, I realize I am pushing myself pretty hard. While I have gotten better at cleansing these doorways, the entire process is draining. Still, I can’t help but be satisfied with our progress so far.
Hidden Quest Updated: Curing The Patient (28/30): You have healed the twenty-eighth valve of Yggdraspirit the sacred world tree of the elves and the orcs. By healing these clogged passageways, you can begin to breathe life back into the sacred tree. Go out and explore, find the other clogged passageways and fully heal Yggdraspirit. Rewards: Experience, Title, variable.
“Yeah, I got this rope from one of those rope climbing to heaven quests.” Mallory states.
“You mean where a snake charmer plays his song and gets a rope to seemingly fly up into heaven?” I ask.
“Yes, you are likely a little too high level for it now, but you could have likely easily passed it as a child. The idea is that without using any form of magic, you climb up the rope as far as it will go. But the higher up you go, the more of your own mana you waste doing it.” Mallory states with a sense of nostalgia.
As for me, I am free floating in the air, taking all of this in, with only one foot plastered to the lining of this vertical tube we are in. See this way of solving the quest set before us has also helped me to improve my Enchanting skills, as I made the rune and symbol for Grip, with just my mana, thanks to my Master Enchanting skill that lets me convert mana into the resources needed for my basic components. From there, I used Advanced Enchanting to come up with a freehand idea of what I wanted the rune to do, as this is the skill used to bypass the clunky need to have been taught the exact schematic you need to create a particular Enchantment. Then I used my basic Enchantment skill to apply the rune I created. I think I might have taken a few steps to this process, but honestly it is the game’s fault for trying to come up with a way for me to sell ten million points worth of experience.
All that said, my Grip enchantments were placed firmly on my two boots, my right glove, and my right and left elbows. That way should any portion of those items touch a wall I could easily cling to the wall without flying off into the air. If I did fly off, that is where the rope came in, as it was then Mallory’s job to take the rope and swing me into the wall. All it took was me slamming my face into the wall twice, for me to come up with the idea of Enchanting a solution. Since then, Mallory has gotten a lot more talkative, which is fine, as it means she is no longer laughing as getting to use me as a human flail.
Pausing for a moment, I try to understand what Mallory is stating. “How would that even work?” I asked.
“Simple, you feed in your mana into the rope, and slowly work your way up.” Mallory states.
“No, not that, I mean how would they decide you completed the quest, was there a height limit to how far up you had to climb? Or what?”
“Oh, that,” Mallory began, “you are quite observant, this is not actually an endless rope as it might seem. In fact, the rope can only go up to two hundred eighty-four feet and seven inches before I can no longer make it grow with floating rope. After that point, it will still produce rope, but that rope will start to weigh you down.”
Hearing that, I pause as I realize this is likely a lot easier with forty plus feet of floating rope under me, rather than however much weight would be added to me with my having to float, while carrying the actual weight of forty plus feet.
Realizing that, I pull my leg in gently, and soon attach my free-floating right foot to the wall. Then it is just a matter of doing Calisthenics and a sit up to get into an upright position. Then from there I can begin to climb up the walls all elbows and toes.
“Oh, that is no fun.” Mallory states, a slightly pouting tone to her words.
Sigh.
I think I already know what she is going to say, but for some reason feel obliged to humor her anyways.
“What is no fun?” I ask.
“The fact that you didn’t need me to whip slash you into the wall.” Mallory states.
“Has anyone told you, you are a bit of a sadist?” I ask, as I make my way over to the second to last wall.
“I am a Valkyrie. My job is to find people who have fought and died in battle and see if they fought hard enough to be revitalized in the wellspring of rebirth.” She states.
Hearing her words, I mentally pause as I wonder if that would be enough to get people like myself, those who have built up merits and flaws, and most importantly skills, to allow them to be reborn with that prior knowledge in their starting bodies?
I am thinking about that, when my right hand touches the twenty-ninth corrupted door of this floor, and realize that my question will have to wait, as I need to focus on destroying the Blight that is sealing this door shut.
Again, while the disease is semi-sentient, it does follow the same set patterns, implying that it at most has a rudimentary form of intelligence. Not enough to form a vendetta, or stronger ways of surviving, which is honestly good. Despite how tedious this whole process of cleansing each and every ventricle is becoming, I have to say the lack of adaptability on part of the Blight is very welcome. This means that this whole cleansing process should be easily doable, so long as we keep focusing on the easy wins like this.
The minute I am done, and the last remnant of Blight comes out and tries desperately to strike at me, I am already prepared to strike it down with my now patented Quick Casting and Legendary Trick Shot infused burst. Also, now that we are high up in the sky, I don’t even force the tendril to be bound to my arm anymore, preferring to let it fall to the ground. That way I could fire my Legendary Trick Shot past the entity, then with a quick snap of my left hand grab the free falling entity into a massive magical net and then burn it away far from my body.
Whoosh!
The still brightly burning ashes fall freely from the burning spell net I created.
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“You know, as many times as I’ve seen that, I don’t think it will be nearly as impressive with my actual vision as it is viewing that from your enhanced senses.” Mallory states.
She is of course referring to the fact that the only way she can see in here at all is that we have been maintaining a permanent mental link through my Telepathy, so that I could share my Angel’s Sight with her.
“I think I can safely say, that I would not be anywhere near as good with magic, if it was not for this unique way to view the world.” I admit.
It was a lot for me to admit this, as it was quite clear that if Mallory truly wanted to, she could share this information with the rest of the world. While I was fairly certain stories of my unique sight had already spread far and wide, the exact details of the Merit I purchased are likely varying in their level of details. Again, there was only one person who I knew for a fact had this Merit from my time watching the game, and they only possessed the first Tier of this, while I had the fifth tier of it. I also made that a mental note to see if I could somehow enhance that portion of the Merit, taking it from just being five of five to six of six, or maybe even higher.
“What level of the merit did you say that you have?” Mallory asked.
“I didn’t,” I state, and after a moment I realize she is using her probing tone. The octave of her voice is slightly higher, meaning she is trying to get information from me. Something that my heightened senses catch easily.
“You sure? I could have sworn you did, but you know how my mind is, always forgetting things.” Mallory asks.
I pause before responding, “you know you are really bad at lying.”
“What?”
“Just say it, what are you trying to do with this knowledge anyways, it is not like you can get this?” Just as I say that, my mind reels at the possibility. “Wait, are you talking about this to someone else?”
“Maybe.” Mallory states in a way that implies the answer is an emphatic yes, especially with the way she sashays her hips around while responding.
“Your granddaughter?” I ask.
“Yes.” Mallory states, and now I can hear the truth in her words.
“Why didn’t you just say so.” I state, as I remember her stating she could still talk to her family on the outside due to her connections. “I have the merit at tier five.”
“Tier five?” She asks, then after a moment she questions, “you mean you spent five Merit points on it?”
At that, I pause, then realize the confusion. “Oh, no. I know what you are likely asking. The answer is no. Each Tier costs five Merit points. So, I ended up spending twenty-five total Merit points on Angel’s Sight.”
“I know it is expensive, especially with the fact that it costs you your eyesight for free, but that is worth it, in my opinion.” I state, then add, “but I guess it would be a little late if I suddenly regretted my decision now.”
“Uh-huh.” Mallory said, clearly distracted. At this I was certain she was directly communicating with her granddaughter from the real world.
Realizing she was distracted; I began climbing my way up the vertical tower we are in and made my way to the thirtieth and last door. This is the biggest door, and the one holding back a wave of water, or some type of fluid. It was only because of my Angel’s Sight that I was able to fully take in the puzzle behind this floor and realize what we were meant to do. Yes, we needed to clear out every sealed ventricle that was so large that each appeared to be a doorway to us, but the reason only made sense when you saw every doorway as a ventricle. See trees need water, and for whatever reason these sealed ventricles were making it so vital mana infused water could not be filtered throughout the lower level of this tree.
In a way, I felt that this spiritual water that seemed to be designed to generate from the core of the tree, was similar to my Spirit Sustenance spell, where the tree uses part of their own mana to make enough nutrients to live. Which is a great cheat, unless your meridians are being clogged with the Blight, making it so that your one true way of feeding yourself is null and void and also hurting you.
Sadly, it took me quite a few doors before I realized the whole point of this was so that we could allow Yggdraspirit to feed itself. Though I haven’t shared this idea with Mallory just yet.
The reason why is I imagine what will come next to be exceedingly hilarious. See Mallory is standing on what is effectively a flat round disk that has long grooves dug into the sides, while still making it so it has a solid enough base to avoid getting thrown off course. This means that when the flowing water comes down, Mallory will be drenched, and eventually the pad she is on will be lifted up and used to get to the next level of this tree. I would almost feel bad for this, as I imagine Mallory looking like a particularly drenched cat, while I float around in the air. In fact, I might have proceeded to tell her about what would happen next, had it not been for her enthusiasm for using me as a human flail so often.
Also, I was pretty sure that this floor, or maybe this grouping of floors was not meant to be completed by a murder hobo, the reason for that assumption was made apparent by this last door, the final one needed to successfully clear the zone and the overall quest of this place, as this last door was inaccessible by any means found, other than climbing up these vertical shafts and exploring them. Unless someone could see the entire layout of this zone like I could, most people would be completely lost, especially with people like Mallory, who could not see in the complete and absolute darkness that surrounded them.
“You sure you have tier five?” Mallory asks, right as I finish climbing my way up to the last door, one that is easily three times the size of the other doors that have been cleared so far.
“Yes, very much so.” I state, even going so far as to share my merit details with her, just so I can finally focus on this last door. Probably a bad idea, but I need to focus on this last and final door. Knowing this game world, there will likely be some extra trick, or I might have to capture three Blighted tendrils.
Angel's Sight (5/5) (25): A mysterious blessing that allows the user to see the world in a 360-degree view. Allows user to see through illusions, can see magical enchantments and effects all around the individual. Instantly able to identify monsters, even those hidden via stealth or supernatural means. Range of sight equal rating times Perception. Requirements: user must take the flaw Blind. (Only available at character creation)
“Huh!” Mallory states, looking up at the message that while being right next to me, is able to be viewed by her directly, particularly since I just share the message details with her mind. “Okay.”
With that, I begin to focus on cleansing this last and final door.
Yes, it is three times larger, but there seems to be some aid coming from the mana-infused water itself, as this door is ridiculously easy to clear. Well ridiculously easy for its size. Seeing as how large it is, I still think there is a trap, or trick to this, but no, this door despite my misgivings is the same level of difficulty in clearing as all of the other doors were.
Even the falling Blight is nothing to catch, as I easily grab it while falling.
Hidden Quest Completed: Curing The Patient (30/30): You have successfully healed the thirtieth and final valve of Yggdraspirit the sacred world tree of the elves and the orcs. By healing the clogged passageways, and saving the most important passageway for last, you have made it so Yggrdaspirit can begin nurturing itself back to full health. Rewards: Experience, Title, Tower Floor Jump Point.
Experience Gained: 5,000 / 5,000
Ding.
Level up.
Your Master Shapeshifting class has risen to level 106.
Title Gained: Luminescence Luminescence: You have managed to make the world a brighter place. Any zone you go into will be treated as completely bright to you and your allies.
Tower Floor Jump Point Created: You and Mallory are the first to find the Spirit Tower jump point within Yggdraspirit. You can use this to go up as many floors as you wish, up to one hundred floors in total, the size of the great Yggdraspirit.
How far would you like to go? 1 to 100?
“One hundred.” I shouted out instantly, then I regretted it almost immediately, as I realized I might have made the wrong choice. See I at first thought I would go to floor one hundred, but that did not appear to be the wording of the prompt. I was so focused with getting to floor 100, the floor where I would get my master’s degree from that I failed to take into account that I was already on floor seventy-five of this tower and that, a hundred floors from there, would put me squarely at floor one hundred and seventy-five. I know, math is tough for all of us, especially overly tired former mathematicians turned magic enthusiasts.
RUMMBBLLLEEE!!
What happened next was sort of to be expected, well I had been prepared for this to happen, but nowhere near as much as it did. See, I expected the doors to open up and for the flood gates to spew forth mana infused water everywhere. Again, I thought it would be exceptionally funny for the water to go pouring down like a giant waterfall onto Mallory, soaking her like a cat.
What I failed to account for was the fact that with me choosing to go to floor one hundred, or to effectively jump ahead a hundred floors all in one go. The water level released from the doorway would have to be full blast, as the little pad Mallory was on, would need to rise up to the very top of Yggdraspirit. This meant that the force of the water spraying forth from the open door was enough to first blast me and slam me into the far wall. Fortunately, I was used to such impacts as Mallory had done the same exact thing to me no less than a dozen times since we started this little quest.
Then just as one would expect, the water being added to me, weighed me down, and eventually was too much for my Spirit Drift to overcome, causing me to be slammed downward.
“What in the…” was all Mallory got out, before she made quick gargling sounds as flooding magical water filled her mouth. The sight and sounds were almost comical, if not for the fact that I too was being slammed downward, as my body was caught in a torrent of water.
Just when I feared the worst, that I would crash into the ground at full force, and then be pinned while the water level slowly rose around us, I found that I was saved by a soft squishy Mallory.
“Oof!”
We both let out gasps of pain as I crashed down into her, just as she managed to fight through the initial wave of force and regain her footing. As one would expect, Mallory and I both then crashed to the ground. From there we both looked like wet and drowning cats as we climbed over top of each other.
We fought to rise up, and fortunately my swimming along with a bit of Telekinesis, made it so Mallory and our platform were directly in the center of the ventricle, while the water rose upwards. We were doing fine, until we got to the main door that held all the mana infused water, at which point as would be expected, we were once again slammed into the far wall.
Then finally, we somehow both survived long enough to get past the flooding tunnel system and slowly made our way up to the next segment of the great tree Yggdraspirit. I used the time while traveling ever upward to first heal our wounds, then to finally relax once it looked like we were finally done being drowned by the magical waters.
“What happened?” Mallory finally asked.
“I think, I might have miscalculated something.” Was my only response as my weary and waterlogged body lay on the ground. I was beyond exhausted at this point, and all I could do was curl up into a ball, ignore all the system messages that were racing past my mind and finally allow myself to relax, as my mind spun off into nothingness.