Tristan stood at attention. Behind him, Corona fidgeted nervously. The two of them stood in the keep’s reception hall, where the Duke sat in judgment. The day had been long and difficult for everyone, and the night had been worse.
The setting sun’s light filtered in through the hole in the roof where one of the falling stars had crashed through the previous night, killing and transforming one of the Duke’s personal guards. That man had become a soft-spoken beastkin of a type Tristan had never seen before. When questioned he claimed to be a tiger, an animal not known in Altria.
Tristan had done a lot of questioning since the previous night. He’d questioned captive Travelers, he’d questioned the Duke’s orders, and he’d questioned his own sanity. Most of all he found himself questioning the will of the gods.
Corona had been incredibly helpful. She had known how to speak to the other Travelers in a way that produced results and kept them calm. When it had become clear that the Travelers had no idea what was going on, and that they all believed themselves to be playing some sort of game, it had caused waves of disbelief and discontent to spread out through the ranks of guardsmen.
The Duke himself had needed to step in and forbid anyone from speaking of it. He’d then sequestered all the Travelers they had found except Corona within his keep. She alone remained free only because Tristan had made her his deputy and declared her exoneration by truth-speaking to the Lawpriests. The Duke had no authority to detain a lawfully appointed deputy of an Arbiter who had been cleared of all possible crimes.
The other Travelers had been angered to learn they were to be kept under house arrest, even if it was to be a luxurious affair at the Duke’s expense. They had expressed a nearly suicidal desire to “go adventuring” and “didn’t want to waste time with a stupid tutorial quest.”
They had been maintaining the fiction of this being a game until that point, as it had made the Travelers willing to frankly discuss just about anything, particularly with Corona. In many cases they spoke about Tristan and the others as if they weren’t in the room, referring to them as “NPCs” and acting like they couldn’t understand the Traveler’s words. Corona had told them to expect this, and explained what it meant, but few had believed her until they saw it in practice.
When it became more of a problem to maintain the deception than it was to reveal the truth, the Duke had ordered Corona to show the others the messages the gods had left for them in their menu system. Corona had located the message earlier while waiting for Tristan to finish his report to the Duke. She had already intuited the truth, but the messages left by the gods contained information that the Travelers found to be incontrovertible proof that they were not playing a game.
Tristan had gotten to watch a lot of grown men and women break down in tears and fits of impotent rage. After the initial reaction, the results were mixed. Some of the Travelers became downright giddy with excitement, others developed a lost expression and spent too much time staring at their hands as though answers could be found there. Some developed a grim stoicism, while others simply looked relieved.
The Travelers hadn’t been told the true reason for their confinement, though in all honesty it had very little to do with them. They hadn’t known they were killing others by coming to this world, and both the churches of Astraea and The Adversary agreed that they were not guilty of the death’s they had inadvertently caused. There was established case law on this point after all.
Acts of the gods could be legally charged against the willing servants of those gods who participated in any rituals or acts required by their god, but unwilling participants were held as blameless as the victims, for who could withstand the will of a god?
No, the reason the Travelers had been confined was because the Duke was rightly worried that their story would cause a riot. Finding out that the patron deity of your nobility and guardsmen had just caused the deaths of dozens of people–apparently completely at random–was not going to go over well, particularly if the process continued.
No one was sure if the rain of death had ended or if it had merely paused. They had thought it had ended a few times during the night only for more red streaks to light up the sky. When the Duke had angrily demanded that Corona tell him how many travelers would be coming, no one had actually expected her to have an answer.
Then Corona told them about her world, that it had billions of people in it, and that it was likely millions were in a position that they could play the game that somehow brought them to Astra.
Her announcement was met with uncertainty and fear. Some of those listening likely had no concept of what a billion even was as a measurement. Less than ten thousand people lived in Altria. It was a frontier city, but even the capital was only around fifty thousand.
What Corona was saying meant that it was possible for every man, woman, and child in Astra to be replaced by a Traveler. For once, the nobles of Altria felt some gratitude towards their goblin neighbors to the south, knowing that their far greater numbers must be making them statistically more likely to be chosen as a Traveler’s host.
Neither Tristan nor Corona had managed to get much sleep that night. When they had eventually been allowed to retire both had passed out without hardly a word to each other, taking a bunk each from some unknown guardsmen stationed in the keep. In the morning their work with the Travelers had continued as more were found and brought to the keep. They had interviewed each one, and then explained their new situation.
Eventually the Duke summoned them to an audience where he planned to break the news to the full nobility of Altria. That was where they found themselves now. Tristan at attention, Corona awkwardly trying not to draw attention to herself behind him and making herself all the more conspicuous in the process.
Everyone knew that Corona was a Traveler, that had been impossible to keep secret. That she was protected under the authority of Tristan’s office was also no secret. What was still a secret so far as Tristan knew was the exact nature of the process used to transform someone into a Traveler.
Tristan was one of a very few who had witnessed this process up close while a healer was attending the body. To his knowledge there had been no mention of soul gems with any of the other Travelers, and indeed he’d not seen one on Corona’s body when he’d first found her. It seemed that they were either consumed or concealed within the body when the transformation took effect.
This latter possibility was why Tristan had not yet mentioned the stones to anyone else, as he feared what might happen if the Travelers became known as a source of valuable materials such as soul gems. The last thing they needed to add to this tragedy was avarice.
Still, he couldn’t wait to be able to speak to Corona freely again to see if she had any idea what had happened to her gemstone, or if she even still had one. The secret wouldn’t hold forever, especially not if more Travelers kept appearing, and Tristan wanted to understand as much about it as possible beforehand to head off any potential atrocities.
Speaking of atrocities, the audience was almost over. Tristan directed his attention away from his own worries in time to hear a man–some distant relation of the Duke’s, Tristan thought–complain that guards had been commanded to assist the citizenry rather than search from some stolen property of his.
It was exactly the sort of banal evil Tristan had come to expect from such gatherings of the nobility, and it was one of many reasons Tristan had left his previous position in the royal guard. Not the main one of course, but it had made the decision easier.
Tristan suddenly found the Duke’s eyes upon him. “Arbiter Tristan,” the man addressed him. “Do you have anything new to report? Any new revelations of divine or dubious provenance?”
The Duke already knew nothing new had been learned in the time leading up to this meeting. This question was most likely designed to distract, to put the expectation of answers onto Tristan’s shoulders rather than any officer whom the Duke directly controlled. This would allow the Duke to deflect blame for any delays or lack of answers onto Tristan, who was an easy target due to his protection of Corona.
Tristan had been expecting this, but there was very little he could do about it. Fortunately, it would also affect him very little, if at all. He was already disliked by the nobility and mostly outside of their authority, so he had decided to allow himself to be used as a scapegoat.
Tristan hoped that by playing along he’d earn some goodwill with the Duke, which he might be able to leverage into protection for Corona and the other Travelers. Politics were depressing, but he knew how to play the game if he had to, and for the sake of the innocents under his protection he would dip his toes into politics once again. Plus, perhaps he could actually do some good here.
“Not yet, your grace. Thank you for placing your trust in me to resolve this matter. I have several leads to follow and will report my findings soon,” Tristan said.
He had inserted an implication that the Duke had placed him in charge of the investigation in his reply. If the Duke let it stand uncontested then Tristan would in fact be in charge of the investigation, and that would nicely accomplish the Duke’s goal of deflecting any blame onto Tristan.
Tristan had signaled his willingness to comply with this agenda but was requiring the Duke to give him actual authority to do the job properly. If he wanted to, the Duke could now walk back what Tristan had said by instructing him to report to one of the Duke’s subordinates, thereby placing that unfortunate soul in command of the investigation instead.
Tristan didn’t really care which path the Duke chose, and he suspected the other man knew it. Tristan had a reputation that had followed him from the capital, and it wasn’t just about his capabilities as a fighter.
While he had maintained a low profile since entering Altria, everyone in the room right now except for Corona knew that reputation and knew he could hold his own in a political fight as well as a physical one. They also likely knew he wasn’t a zealot, and was more tolerant than most Arbiters, who tended to see the world in stark black and white.
The Duke hesitated for only the briefest moment, then nodded. “I await your report. It only seems right that one of the gods own Chosen should lead an investigation into an act of the gods. Though our faith’s may differ you are the most qualified among us to discover the nature and extent of this event.”
He turned back to the assembled nobles and said, “I have no doubt this will turn out to be some machination of The Adversary, as is always the case, but facing The Adversary’s ordeals is one of the things the Arbiters excel at, so I trust that Arbiter Tristan will be able to mitigate the damage as much as possible.”
Tristan nodded in acknowledgement. The Duke’s counterplay had been to not only place Tristan fully in charge of the investigation, but also make him responsible for what might come afterwards. The Duke suspected that this was the prelude to one of The Adversary’s holy ordeals, and such a thing could end dynasties overnight. He had just very publicly declared that Tristan, and by extension the Church of Astraea, was responsible for countering whatever disaster The Adversary was currently planning.
Privately Tristan agreed with the Duke, this likely was part of some plot by The Adversary, but he couldn’t yet see where the thrust of the attack would come from. The Adversary’s purpose was not to inflict random and pointless deaths. While his ordeals often caused uncounted casualties, it was always because someone or some institution had failed to prevent them.
With The Adversary, there was always a way out, always a weak point being tested, and always a decision someone could have made differently. So far, none of this had the hallmarks of one of an ordeal, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t the precursor to what was to come.
It seemed that both he and the Duke were satisfied with the arrangement. The Arbiters would stand against The Adversary’s trial regardless, it was part of their purpose. Having been officially recognized would likely only help Tristan do what needed to be done. In some ways this abdication of responsibility by the Duke was cowardly, but in others it showed great wisdom. How the history books recorded it would likely depend on the outcome.
Tristan and Corona filed out of the audience chamber with everyone else. A few of the gathered nobles tried to draw them into conversations, but Tristan pushed past them with excuses of needing to attend to his duties. Despite this, one man persisted, and Tristan recognized him as the sallow faced man who’d complained that guards weren’t searching for his stolen property.
“Arbiter! Wait, I have information relevant to your investigation,” the man said as Tristan pushed past him.
This brought Tristan up short, and he sighed. The odds that this fool had relevant information were vanishingly low, but Tristan couldn’t be seen brushing him off without hearing what he had to say. “Lord William…?” he asked, trying to remember the man’s name. “Come with me, I’ll need to record your statement.”
The three of them made their way to Tristan’s temporary office and quarters within the keep. Nominally this was part of the guard’s barracks, a simple room with four beds arranged in a bunk configuration. It was oddly similar to the prison cells he and Corona had found themselves in the previous night. That observation had been the only comment the Traveler had made to him before passing out on one of the beds.
Lord William looked increasingly uncomfortable being ushered into a barracks, but Tristan ignored him. The main difference between this room and the prison cells was the addition of a small desk meant for writing reports. Tristan sat at the desk and took out a sheet of rough paper.
He’d been somewhat surprised to find modern conveniences such as paper in what was little more than a frontier town, but Altria’s positioning was ideal for operating a water powered papermill. The quality of the paper was poor but serviceable, likely because guards' reports didn’t merit anything better.
“Now then, what is it you have to report?” Tristan asked, turning to half-face the other man.
“Yesterday two thieves stole a very valuable relic from me, a statuette of the goddess Valera infused with divine power. I believe what is currently happening is divine retribution for the theft,” he said.
Tristan groaned inwardly, but dutifully recorded the man’s words. “What makes you think this?” he asked.
“Simple, the very first of these red flashes destroyed the very building the thieves had climbed to make their escape. My guards initially thought that the thieves had somehow destroyed the building. One of them is known to be a Stone Scion and certainly could have, but then it kept happening and we heard about the red flashes. My guard Wernst reported having seen one right before the building collapsed.”
Tristan looked at the man with more interest now. This was obviously a coincidence but at least it did have something to do with what was happening. He’d need to find and speak to this Guardsman Wernst. “Did you or your men apprehend the Traveler?” he asked.
“No. If there was one, we never saw them. At first, I thought that one of the thieves must be the Traveler, but if I understand correctly that would be impossible as both thieves were known to my guardsmen and remain quite alive. I had them both sent to the prison on my warrant when they failed to return my property.”
Vaguely, Tristan remembered signing off on that warrant in the aftermath of his unfortunate truth speaking. “You know the thieves but were unable to recover your stolen relic? Surely you had taken protective measures if this object was so valuable.”
The sallow man’s face twisted into a grimace. “I had, but somehow they have failed. I had a tracking spell on the relic, and it led us right to their hideout, but somehow they managed to hide it in a way that neither mundane nor magical searches can find. At first, I suspected that a traveler's pack or similar item was involved, but I paid for it to be scried and the seer reported that no such item was being used to conceal it. It is very strange, and I believe it may be part of The Adversary’s conspiracy.”
Traveler’s packs could block some spells, but true divination could typically get around such limitations. The magic of such items was spacial rather than dimensional, they created extra space inside themselves, and that space was moved with the item generating it. It had several strange effects, including making the items seem weightless, as you weren’t actually moving the contents of the space, but rather the space itself.
Tracking spells tended to get confused by spacial distortions, so it was no surprise William had suspected one was being used. They were expensive, but it wasn’t unheard of for successful thieves to have access to one of the smaller types. On the other hand, divination magic of sufficient power could usually spy within such spaces, and if the effect was flexible enough it could find the entrance of the spacial distortion and trace it back to its origin.
Reluctantly Tristan concluded that he would need to look into this after all. It was unlikely to actually be related to what was happening, but there was enough of a chance that he’d need to check on it. Interviewing the guardsmen to confirm the noble’s story would be necessary at a minimum but would need to wait for later.
“Thank you for your report, it was very interesting,” he told the noble. “I will investigate this further and if I locate your stolen relic, I will have it returned to you once I have it checked to make sure no curse has been set upon it.”
The man surprised Tristan by reaching into his pocket and withdrawing a well-made watch. He handed it to Tristan and said, “This pocket watch has been enchanted with the Locate Property spell, keyed to the relic. If you are within twenty kilometers of the relic and activate the spell, the hour hand should point in the direction of the relic, while the minute hand indicates how close it is to you. The second hand will indicate elevation, with anything on the left of the dial being up and anything on the right of the dial being down.”
Tristan’s eyebrows raised. That was a very precise tracking spell. He took the watch and activated the spell, only to see all the dials spin wildly as though confused about where to point. After a moment the effect ended and the watch resumed normal operation, accurately listing the current time of day.
“This is very impressive; it will certainly make it easier to investigate what might be blocking the spell. I’ll see it gets returned to you with the relic if we find it,” Tristan told the man, pocketing the watch.
The noble nodded grimly. “See to it you do. I have little faith in your church or goddess but I am recently from the capital myself and have heard your story. If even half of it is true, my cousin is right to entrust this task to you.” He turned, putting his hand on the door. “I have a house in the chapel district, but most days you may find me in my shop in the market square, it is simply called ‘Desire,’ bring the relic there if you find it.” Then he walked out the door without another word.
Corona let out a long breath as the door closed, as if she’d been holding it since the audience with the Duke began. “Finally, a moment of peace,” she said, sitting down on her bunk.
Tristan tapped his finger thoughtfully on the paper he’d used for notes. “Not a long one, but yes, we can take a moment to ourselves. I need to visit the cathedral where I found you, and I’d like to discuss some of what has happened over the past day, but I realize that you have spent much time working on my behalf and I very little on yours. Do you have any questions I can answer before we need to head out again?”
“I have more questions that you could answer in a day, let alone in the next few minutes. I do want to know though, what will become of the other Travelers? Will they be alright?” She asked.
“I intend that they will be, and plan to put all my considerable efforts towards that end. I cannot guarantee it, however. So far things are looking good for them, but I can foresee some paths that lead them down a dark road. With your help I hope to head those off before they can become an issue–and let me be clear, you have already helped immensely. If you ever wish to leave my service you have but to say it, and I’ll see that you are sent on your way with enough gold to make sure you have no issues establishing yourself.”
“I rather think that for the time being I’m better off working with you. I don’t fully understand what your position is, but it's obvious that not even the Duke really wants to mess with you. No… I think I’m safest hanging out with you for now.”
“As you wish, and for what it is worth I agree with your assessment, but it is important that you know you can leave at any time if you wish. You owe me nothing,” Tristan told her.
Corona bowed her head in acknowledgement. “I understand, and I appreciate it, but for now I’m sticking with you so just let me know how I can help.”
“The nature of the problem has changed, to a degree. Now that we know what is happening, we need to understand why, and if there is anything we can do to stop it. I’ll also need to give you some training so you can handle yourself should our investigation take any dangerous turns. The Duke believes that this event is a prelude to one of The Adversary’s ordeals, and I am inclined to think so as well. If that is the case then we need to discover what the true plot is and foil it, which will likely involve combat with one or more devils.”
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“Hold up, I heard you talking about this but who is The Adversary and what are his ordeals?” Corona asked.
“Ah, I’d thought you must know since you have met the gods… The Adversary is the god of Law, Evil, and Lies. I don’t know how it works in other worlds, but due to the influence of Valera in this world The Adversary mostly performs his core purpose by testing us with specially created challenges that are designed to break society. If we do well, we’ll be rewarded, but those who fail usually die.”
“Wait, you’re talking about the big devil dude. I barely even talked to him because he was so creepy.” She seemed to shudder at the memory. “So, he’s going to personally try and kill us all if we don’t stop him? How do we even do that? Also how does he get away with being both the god of evil and lies but also law? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Tristan sighed. They were about to get deep into theology, but Corona did need to know this. “It actually makes perfect sense if you look at it from the right angle, and that’s something the servants of The Adversary are quite good at. The Church of Astraea works quite closely with them in their capacity as advocates and lawmakers, and so I’m quite familiar with some of their practices.
“The Adversary claims that his entire portfolio, and his very reason for existing, is to help mortals advance. He nurtures evil so that we will have something to fight and grow stronger, and so that the heroes among us can reveal themselves; he tells us lies so that we may learn to find hidden truths and not accept easy answers; and he gives us a framework of laws so that we might face his challenges and grow as a society instead of just individually.”
Corona started to say something, but Tristan held up a hand to forestall her. “I know. These sound like justifications, and perhaps they are. There is no way to know for sure. Even the other gods claim not to understand The Adversary. He is older than nearly all of them, this is known to be true. He also claims to have once been a different god, one of justice and good. This claim on its own is nearly unbelievable as no other gods are believed to have ever changed their nature in such a way. I do not know if he actually values the things he claims, but I do know that generally his actions do seem to advance our societies. It is often a harsh and in no way just process, but if he has another motive, it has yet to be revealed.”
Corona let that sink in for a moment before responding. “That’s insane, but so is pretty much everything else about this place… If evil didn’t exist, we’d live in a paradise. There would be no need to grow stronger or be able to suss out lies because lies wouldn’t exist. Any dangers we face would be purely environmental, and people have shown they can beat the environment into submission if they want to without even needing magic.”
Tristan simply shrugged. “I’m not here to convince you of The Adversary’s merits. From my perspective he must be opposed, no matter what his reasons, and so I will stand against him.”
“Now that sounds like a philosophy I can get behind,” she said. “So how do we stop him? That’s our job now right?”
Tristan allowed himself a small smile–not something he did very often these days. “Yes, it’s our job. Odds are good that The Adversary’s eyes aren’t even on this backwater city, people reported seeing red flashes in the sky all night and nearly all of them landed far away from here. Whatever is going on likely has nothing to do with here, but for now we have to treat it like we’re about to be the epicenter of a disaster. People who do not take The Adversary’s ordeals seriously do not live to experience a second one.”
Rising from his seat Tristan made his way to the door. “The first step is a visit to where I found you. The cathedral is in ruins, but I’d like to look around some more there. I also need to begin training you on how to use and grow your skills. If we end up in a fight with minions of The Adversary I can’t have you unable to hold your own.”
* * *
“Good job, now try and move the light around. You may feel a strain while doing so, that is your skill consuming spiritual energy in the form of effort. Modifying the effects of an ongoing skill nearly always consumes effort rather than stamina or mana.”
Tristan stood in the street outside Astraea’s cathedral where he had, on the previous day, killed a Traveler who had taken on the form of a Rock Troll. He’d felt quite guilty over that once he knew the Travelers weren’t hostile, but at the time it had looked like some sort of attack on both the cathedral and the city.
Thankfully Corona had found information from the System saying that any Traveler who died within an hour of arriving on-world would be revived elsewhere. Tristan hoped that the man he’d killed was having better luck in his new location. Perhaps he’d even gotten an achievement for it, being returned from death was nearly unheard of.
They were here now for three reasons. First was that this place had been hit by three separate Travelers, far more than any other single place in the city, and they had come within moments of each other. Tristan wanted to know why, and he wondered if Corona might be able to learn anything from seeing the place.
Second, Tristan had wanted to look for signs of the troll’s soul gem, if indeed it had one. The body had quite literally exploded so the stone might have fallen anywhere if it had even survived his attack. Finding anything was a long shot but he had very little to work with at the moment.
Finally, they had come here because the area was currently abandoned. Tristan had spoken with the new acting bishop that morning and requested that the area be kept clear of visitors and clergy alike until he had a chance to examine the place. This had a side effect of making it an excellent place for him to speak to Corona without as much risk of being overheard, and he could use the cathedral square for some training.
As soon as they’d arrived, Tristan had explained their real reason for coming here, enlisting Corona’s help in his search for the gemstone. She was somewhat predictably disturbed to learn that she might have an extremely valuable gem inside her somewhere, but they had not as yet been able to find any hint of a soul gem in the courtyard or ruins, so Tristan had begun training her by having her use some of her skills in the search.
Corona furrowed her brow as the ball of muti-hued light she’d created began to glide across the courtyard at a walking pace. It hovered at roughly chest level, and barely gave off enough light to create shadows. Suddenly her eyes went wide, and the ball winked out.
“I… I just leveled up?” She said, obviously confused.
Tristan just nodded. “That is the point of training. You should hold on to your progression points for the moment, your class doesn’t give enough for you to rank up your skills just yet so hold onto them until you get more levels,” he said.
“Wait, how did I just level up? I didn’t kill anything,” Corona asked. “I barely did anything.”
“Ah, I see why you are confused. You certainly can get levels by fighting, and indeed the more danger or risk involved the faster you’ll gain experience generally. You can also gain experience simply by using your skills, and if you do so under the tutelage of someone much higher level than you, or who has mastered a particular skill, then you will get bonus experience based on their imparted knowledge. Likewise many classes and species have conditions that grant bonus experience. All of these sources can stack.”
“So, you just telling me to move that light was enough to give me a full level? That’s crazy.”
“No, you using the skill and successfully manipulating it while I guided you was enough experience to grant you a level. Keep in mind that right now you have the level of a child and the mind of a grown woman, I suspect that even without my help you would level up very quickly.”
“Huh. I guess that’s going to be true of all of us Travelers, isn’t it?” She mused. “What level should I be right now anyway? If I’d grown up here I mean.”
“You can’t gain levels at all until you’re ten years old, and rates of progression vary wildly. You can’t actually select a class until you are fifteen. However, it is common for species levels to reflect your age if you aren’t doing anything in particular to advance them. Everyone gets a free species level every year starting on their tenth birthday simply for staying alive. For some species that’s the only reasonable way they have of gaining levels without significant danger.”
“No class levels until you’re older makes sense, but why no species levels until you’re ten?” Corona asked.
“It has to do with the tutorial period.” He told her, then elaborated when she looked confused.
“Everyone spends their first fifteen years of life in what is known as the tutorial, and during that time they are protected by the System itself. The tutorial has a number of effects, including normalizing the aging process for all sapient species during that time, so that all species are equally mature when they exit it,” Tristan explained.
“It’s also nearly impossible to hurt someone who is still in the tutorial, but in return their ability to gain levels or other forms of progression other than knowledge is extremely limited. It’s used as a time to teach skills and classes safely, and it’s commonly thought that it is enforced to prevent children from hurting themselves or others.”
“That makes a surprising amount of sense. So, I should have at least 37 levels in Ethereal… Wait, no. This body is obviously younger than my original one.” She looked at Tristan, questioning. “Is there any way to tell how old I am?”
She hadn’t previously mentioned that her age had changed in the process of reincarnating in this world, but now that he knew she was older than she looked Tristan felt he better understood some of her mannerisms.
“Certain examination skills can reveal your age. I had one cast on you yesterday while we were in the prison, but if Wizard Toury’s skill revealed it he didn’t mention it. If I had to guess, you appear to be in your twenties, but early or late is difficult to tell given the stress you have been under and our general lack of time to rest or freshen up.”
She quirked a smile at him. “That was a very diplomatic way of saying I look like a trainwreck.”
Tristan simply nodded in acknowledgment. “Let's continue with your training, you do have a lot of catching up to do. Do you know if your species gets bonus experience for anything? If so, we can try and trigger that bonus to help you catch up there as well. Species levels are generally much harder to get than class levels unless you trigger their bonuses.”
Corona thought for a moment. “I think it said I’d get bonus experience for using lots of mana… Where do you see that?”
Tristan walked her through the process of looking up her species description, and indeed her memory had proved accurate. Ethereals got bonus experience for using skills that consumed large amounts of mana. That excited Corona, as Ethereals also specialized in having large mana pools, and she had a way to circumvent their normal weakness of not having any natural mana regeneration. Unfortunately, Tristan had to let her down.
“Sadly, this will likely not have a large impact in the long term. Bonus experience is always awarded based on doing things your class or species is intended for. I’ve read about Ethereals, and they are native to an island where ambient mana is thick in the air due to a natural leyline. You are expected to be able to make use of your large mana pool, but normally it would be refilled via the ambient magic of the Ethereal homeland. The size of a bonus is usually dependent on how easy it is to achieve, so this will likely only provide small boosts. That said, it is ideal for your circumstances as it will help you level up your species as we work on your class.”
Several complex expressions crossed Corona’s face as a bemused Tristan looked on, trying to parse them. Disappointment was clear, but it was followed by confusion and disbelief, then what looked like nausea. “Right, I keep forgetting. You guys have real gods here. I guess intelligent design is actually a thing.”
It was Tristan’s turn to look confused, and she correctly interpreted the source of his confusion. “On my world we didn’t have gods… Or well, maybe we did. It sure didn’t feel like it though. Our mythology said they existed, but very few people still believed it since all the evidence pointed to them being fictional. Just stories made up for our ancestors to explain things we didn’t understand. Some of those fictional gods are in your pantheon now though, so maybe they just left a long time ago. I find myself thinking about your gods like they aren’t really gods, just super powerful people, but if they’ve made entire species I’m not sure what else they could reasonably be called.”
“I can’t claim to fully understand, but if it makes you feel better, many of the species here on Astra were not made directly by the gods. Many were transported from other worlds, others have evolved here. Goblins are an excellent example of this, they are a favorite species of both Nystral and Althi, and both gods brought Goblinoid species from other worlds in the beginning. They have since interbred and evolved new species in large numbers, making Goblins one of the most populous yet diverse species on Astra,” he told her, thinking again of the veritable rain of fire they’d seen in the southern sky the previous night.
“So, the gods didn’t make the people that live here?” she asked.
“Not for the most part, no. Creating a species requires a large investment of influence, so most gods simply reuse ones they made in the past or have found favorable. For example, The Adversary created Devils long ago, and simply brings them with him from world to world. Humans like me are typically brought in to establish a baseline, and because we are remarkably compatible with other species. There are a lot of half or quarter humans out there, and that sort of thing can create entirely new species eventually.”
“You spoke about my species experience bonus like it was intentionally made for the situation natives of my species would have though, and you said they were designed to reward doing what your species was intended to do. Who gets to decide that if not the gods?” she asked, somewhat frustrated.
Tristan paused, trying to understand where she was coming from. “Ah, I think I understand. In this case, the answer is the Divine System. It is not a god, but it is intelligent and much of its purpose is making sure things are logically consistent. However, that’s only a part of it. The rest of the answer is that we get to decide it.
“Specifically, someone in the past, probably a human, found the island your species is native to. While they were there, they most likely unlocked a species evolution due to the high magic environment and chose to become the first of the Ethereals. They were likely given more than one option as well, generated by the Divine System based on their deeds and inclinations. It was they who ultimately decided what it means to be an Ethereal, but the System would have filled out the details on their behalf.”
Corona looked poleaxed by this for a long moment, then started laughing. When she’d recovered, she apologized to him. “I’m sorry… I was getting all worked up over the idea that some god or another was telling whole species to act in specific ways, and I guess maybe that does happen, but it’s not the whole story is it? We’re not locked in to what we’re born as in this world are we? We can change who and what we are if we work towards it.”
Tristan nodded. “Nothing to apologize for, when we have more time I’d like to hear more about your world so I can better understand where you are coming from on things like this. I’d probably do a better job of explaining if I had more context.”
“I’d love to. It’ll be a long story and not a happy one, but I agree you need to hear it. Both so we don’t misunderstand each other and so you can understand where the other Travelers are coming from,” she said. “For now, let's get back to the training. What’s next?”
“I’d like you to hit me with that attack skill of yours,” he told her.
The skill she’d been using to create the ball of light was called “Strands of Light” and allowed her to create and shape objects out of pure energy in the form of light. Its ranks simply allowed her greater control over the details of the object, including color and shape. As far as Tristan could tell it had no direct offensive or defensive capability and couldn’t even be used as a true illusion since it very obviously gave off light. The only thing he could think of to do with it from a combat perspective was to blind attackers.
Her primary attack skill was called “Pierce the Night” and would shoot a beam of burning power at an enemy. It was unusual only in that it was a maintained ability, costing additional mana every second it was active. Very few direct attacks were maintained, and Tristan thought it was perfect for leveling up both her class and species.
“What? Won't that hurt you?” she asked. “I know I’m only level three but it’s still an attack, right?”
“It will probably feel a little unpleasant, but it won't harm me,” Tristan explained. “There are four factors that go into how powerful an attack is. Tier, ranks, stats, and total level. Your Pierce the Night skill is tier 3, which is quite good for a first level skill, but you haven’t put any ranks in it yet, and your stats are nothing special. Most importantly though, your total level is so much lower than mine that you have basically no hope of being able to harm me with anything short of a divine tier skill.”
This was another reason Tristan regretted his actions in this square the previous day. When he’d attacked the Rock Troll he’d not known that the Traveler was likely only level 2 at the time. He’d assumed that any assault on the cathedral must be the work of powerful opponents, and the Rock Troll’s large natural strength and toughness would have made it a threatening opponent had it been anywhere near his level.
He had decided to strike quickly to defend civilians rather than verify that the troll had actually been a threat, and that had been a mistake. He’d also hit the poor man with enough force that it had probably killed him several hundred times over. The attack had registered as ascendant damage, meaning that Tristan had overpowered the man’s spirit to such a degree that his defenses have effectively been zeroed out.
“What’s a divine skill?” Corona asked, pointing a finger at him and activating her skill. A beam of light shot from her finger and slammed into Tristan’s breastplate. After a moment the breastplate began to glow red where the light struck it, and Tristan interposed his hand between it and the light, seeming to almost catch it in his hand. He read over his combat log as he did so and nodded to himself in satisfaction.
“A divine skill is any skill with a tier of 10 or higher. The skill tiers are broken down into groupings, with tiers 1 through 5 being the mortal skills, and 6 through 9 being the heroic skills. Tier 5 skills are considered to be the pinnacle of mortal achievement. You can gain up to that tier of skill without any unusual or external influences, while the heroic skills are usually not unlockable without some special requirement, such as a particular achievement or favor of a god,” he explained.
As he spoke, Tristan examined the light striking his hand, and watched as Corona strained to keep it going. Before he’d managed to finish his explanation she cut off the beam and went down on one knee, breathing hard and looking dizzy. He allowed her to rest while he finished his explanation.
“Anything tier 10 and above touches on the divine. Avatars of gods apparently throw around divine skills like we’d use mortal ones, but for a mortal to possess one is a rare thing. It does happen, but such people are typically legendary heroes or people that have undergone some truly unique experience. The relationship between the power of a skill and its tier is complex, and not all skills at the same tier have the same power level, but what is always true is that a higher tier skill means more investment of spiritual energy.”
Tristan held out a hand to help Corona up and she took it gratefully, rising to her feet unsteadily and using his arm to steady herself.
“That really burns through my mana, but my combat log says you took zero damage from it. Is that just because of our level difference?” she asked, once she’d recovered her breath.
“Largely, yes. Do you remember our lesson on spiritual energy last night?” He asked.
She nodded. “Right, the stuff behind Stamina and Mana, also Effort you said. Basically how strong you are.
“Yes, but it’s more than that. All our skills, pools, and attributes are just abstractions of the interplay between our body and spirit. Let's say that right now you dropped ten progression points into Strength. You would get stronger, but how? You won't gain any muscle mass from doing so, or not much at least, so how does it increase your strength?”
“I know you’re going to tell me it’s because it does something to my spirit, but I don’t understand how that works,” she told him.
“It works by changing your spiritual body. Energy flows through your spirit, and progression points change how it flows. If you add strength, the energy will flow from your spirit and into your muscles in a way that increases their raw power. If you add Intelligence, that same energy will be directed to your mind. Adding a skill teaches your spirit a new way to channel energy, producing the effect the skill describes. We shape our spirits like clay on the wheel, and progression points are the tools we use to do it, but even they are an abstraction of what is really happening. Just something the Divine System allows us to use instead of refining our spirits manually.”
Corona nodded slowly. “I think I get it, but why does that make you basically invincible to me.”
“Because everything is relative. Having 10 Strength at level 1 is not the same as having 10 Strength at level 100, or even level 10. You can’t hurt me because our level difference is such that we’re not even on the same scale. Everything about me, including my health and defenses, is scaled to my spiritual power. The same is true of you. Spiritual power can be imbued in objects as well, and if that happens, they too will be able to resist lower leveled effects. That’s also why higher tier skills tend to be more effective, they are literally more spiritually dense than lower tiered skills because you spend more progression points to rank them up.”
“Huh,” Corona said. “So, if I get into a fight with someone higher level than me, bust out the higher tiered skills if I want to have a chance of winning. That reminds me, what level are you anyway?”
Tristan smiled ruefully. “If you get into a fight with someone that much higher level than you, run away if you can and use high tiered skills if you can’t. Unless the level gap is extreme your lower tier skills should still have some effect, but it will be reduced more than higher tier skills would be.”
“I notice you didn’t answer my second question,” Corona said, raising an eyebrow.
“I don’t like to say it out loud, just in case an enemy is listening. The more information they have about my stats the more likely someone will pull off a successful assassination. Suffice it to say that I am over 100 levels higher than you are now, and if you ever see combat logs indicating no damage, or someone does ascendant damage to you, it probably means the same thing.”
“Do you have assassins after you regularly? Is this something I need to worry about?” Corona said, eyes going wide.
“It’s not common, but it happens. It’s one reason we aren’t in a party right now. You’d be able to see my level, as well as get a feel for the size of my health and resource pools. I don’t personally mind if you know those things, but if you did someone might get it in their head to kidnap you and force the answers out of you, so until I’m not worried about that happening no grouping up for us. That’s fine though as we shouldn’t need to group unless we go into a dungeon, and I don’t see us doing that any time soon.”
Corona frowned. “Fuck, maybe sticking with you wasn’t the safest option after all.”
“No, it almost certainly was,” Tristan told her. “There’s a reason none of the assassins have managed to kill me, after all.”
“Well, it’s 99 levels now, for what it’s worth,” she told him, and when he seemed confused she clarified. “I leveled up again while I was blasting you, so you’re only 99 levels ahead now as far as I know.”
He shook his head, amused. “Let's just say I’m not worried about you being able to damage me any time soon.” Then he reached down and grabbed a pebble, tossing it to her. “Use your Phase Shift skill and convert that into spiritual energy.”
She hesitated, no doubt remembering the unpleasant sensation she’d experienced the previous night. “You know that skill I unlocked has something to do with handling excess spiritual energy, maybe I should buy it before I do this…”
“Humor me and try this first, we’ll take a look at that later, but I suspect your results will be different this time.”
She shrugged, then converted the pebble to spiritual energy in a flash of light. As before her skin lit up as the veins of light running through it flared, but this time there was no shockwave of escaping power. Corona frowned and looked at Tristan for an explanation.
“Last time you were at full Health, Mana, and Stamina, and you hadn’t expended any Effort. You were essentially already at capacity. Likewise, you now have more spiritual energy capacity than you did before.”
“I see… I do feel a lot better, energized even, but that didn’t refill my Mana and my Stamina is nearly drained again.”
He nodded. “That’s about what I expected. Your Stamina will recover on its own, but your species has no natural Mana regeneration. I suspect this takes the form of a Penalty, correct?”
Corona nodded. “It’s a negative one hundred percent modifier, reduced by ten percent each rank. Tier 5 too, seems pretty nasty.”
Tristan winced. That was a harsh penalty. “Fortunately, one of the things Effort can do is reduce the effects of a penalty, it works the same as with skills, providing temporary ranks–or in the case of Penalties taking them away. You could use Effort to directly activate your skills, but doing so is highly inefficient, so instead you are going to spend your Effort suppressing your penalty to mana regeneration and let both your Mana and Stamina recover naturally.
“Surmounting a penalty is an excellent way to gain species experience, so this will help you level up as well. Every time your Mana is full, you’ll use it to blast me with that beam skill until you are empty again, and then we’ll repeat the process. Once you have enough species progression points, you are going to start paying off that penalty.”
Corona’s eyebrows raised. “That’s pretty clever, I’ll be leveling up on both sides of the equation, both while training and resting.”
Tristan shook his head. “Oh, you won't be resting. Effort isn’t called that for no reason. I suspect you’ll find that the easy part is the part you just did. At least you won't have any trouble getting to sleep tonight.”
“Fantastic…” Corona said, taking a seat on a fallen stone block. “Well, I guess I did ask for this.”