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The old man wagged a bony finger at her, grinning. "Hello, indeed, my dear! I must say, the shrine does not get visitors as charming as you nearly often enough." His gaze trailed lazily over her, like a merchant appraising a particularly exquisite artifact. "If I were just a few centuries younger-"
And just like that, he was.
The wrinkles smoothed, his hunched form straightened, and in an instant, the leering old man was replaced by a strikingly handsome youth, his golden skin gleaming in the altar’s glow. His once-threadbare robes shifted into something that clung to his figure far too well, and his piercing amber eyes practically smoldered.
Lord of Sands: "Ahh, much better. Don't you think?" He stretched, his muscles flexing in a way that was obviously practiced. "I find that mortals tend to respond better when I’m in this form. And if you’re going to be my lovely new champion-"
Susie held up a hand, expression deadpan. “Yeah, I’m gonna stop you right there, Chief.”
The god blinked.
Susie: "I know what this is. You’re doing the whole ‘handsome, roguish god routine’ thinking I’ll swoon and agree to whatever nonsense deal you’re cooking up." She crossed her arms, unimpressed. “But I’m not some idiot fresh off the farm, buddy.”
The Lord of Sands arched a brow, clearly both surprised and delighted.
Lord of Sands: "Oh-ho! A sharp one. I do love a woman who knows the game." He leaned in, smirking. "But can you play it?"
Susie smirked right back. “Why don’t we find out?”
Jack, watching from a distance, nearly choked on his own laughter. Oh, this was going to be good.
The god snapped his fingers, conjuring a swirling hourglass in his palm, the sands inside glowing with an eerie, shifting light.
Lord of Sands: "Very well, my enchanting negotiator. Let us talk business."
And talk, they did.
For every flowery promise of power, Susie demanded specifics. For every vague ‘blessing,’ she insisted on clarity. For every wink and smirk, she used his vanity against him -twisting his charm into leverage.
At one point, he attempted a particularly dramatic proposal, tracing a golden line through the air.
Lord of Sands: "With my gift, you shall dance through the rivers of time, unbound by-"
Susie: "Yeah, yeah, poetic. Love it. But what’s the cooldown?"
The god paused mid-sentence, momentarily thrown. “…Cooldown?”
Susie: "I’m not getting saddled with some ‘once a year’ time magic. I need details. Limits. Recharge rates. You know, actual mechanics."
The young and virile Lord of Sands stared at her, looking like the Prince of Persia just had his favorite rug pulled.
Then he burst out laughing.
Lord of Sands: "You, my dear, are delightful." He snapped his fingers, shifting back into his old form for just a second before flickering back to his youthful self. "Fine. Let’s make this interesting."
And so, after several minutes of increasingly heated haggling, Susie walked away with one hell of a deal -far better than what the god had originally intended.
As the final terms solidified in golden script before her, the Lord of Sands gave one last roguish smile.
Lord of Sands: "You and I, little Maiden of the Sands -we are going to have so much fun."
Susie winked at him. “You wish.”
Then, without so much as a farewell, she turned and walked away -leaving the god standing there, grinning like a man who had just lost a wager, but had loved every second of it.
He turned his attention to Jack, who nodded -his mirth showing through in the smirk he wore like a badge of honor.
Lord of Sands: “I heard you were out of the game, Jack.”
Jack: “Things change.”
Lord of Sands: “That I know all too well.” He glanced at Susie who was frozen in place, having been temporarily isolated for an instant while he spoke with Jack. “She’s a willful one. Good head on her shoulders.” His gaze returned to Jack, who met his look with a raised eyebrow. “Have you finally found-” his tone was suggestive.
But Jack cut him off with a firm shake of his head.
Jack: “None of your business, Aion.” But Jack couldn’t help how his thoughts immediately drifted to a certain auburn haired biker. I wonder how she’s getting on.
Aion chuckled and shrugged. “You’ve been a positive force for good, Jack. Some of us-”
Jack laughed. “If you’re going to say you care about me, or some other sappy bull – you can keep it. I’m just doing what I need to do. That’s it.”
Aion: “As you always have my boy.” He started to dissolve into a sand swept pile that was carried away by the winds. His voice was somewhat playful as it echoed back at Jack, who watched him disappear. “I look forward to seeing what you do next, Jack. Keep up the good work. You’re on my Fantasy Adventurer team.”
And with that cryptic, and decidedly confusing parting shot, the god was gone. And in his place was a small golden hourglass.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Susie still remained suspended in a pocket of time, so Jack sat down to wait.
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Several moments later.
As Susie returned to motion, proudly victorious, Jack shook his head in amusement.
“You just flirted your way into high-tier chronomancy, didn’t you?” He asked, already knowing the answer.
“Negotiated,” she corrected. Then she flashed a smug grin. “He didn’t know what hit him.”
System Notification: Class Path Selection Active
Class Path Unlocked: Maiden of the Sands
Path Options:
1. Time Weaver:
Manipulate the delicate threads of time, allowing you to rewind wounds to restore vitality or accelerate allies’ actions for decisive victories. Precision and control are your hallmarks, with abilities that link allies' timelines and redistribute harm to ensure survival in the heat of battle.
2. Desert Fury:
Unleash the primal force of the desert, creating temporal mirages and harnessing the sands to mend wounds and devastate foes. Through abilities like Oasis Bloom and Erosion’s Grace, you balance endurance and aggression, offering powerful bursts of healing amidst relentless, elemental assaults.
3. Chrono-Warden:
Stand as a timeless guardian, bending time to protect and heal. Encapsulate allies in temporal wards, revive them from critical injuries with Guardian’s Echo, or establish anchors in time to unleash restorative waves. Your abilities combine strategic defense with healing that ensures no ally is left behind.
System Note: "The sands of time are yours to command. Choose your path, and rewrite destiny with every step."
“Which do I choose?” She wondered aloud.
“What are your options?” Jack asked, genuinely curious.
She tried to explain, but Jack had a better idea.
“Do you mind if I-” and when she nodded, he invited her to his party.
The notification popped up and startled her enough she temporarily forgot about her frustration. A moment later their party was formed.
Jack: “Okay, now this should be easier. Just go ahead and share the message, and I can assist you.”
Susie: “Like this?” She asked and with a flash of intention she shared her options with him. The moment she did, the details expanded significantly.
Susie: “How?”
Jack: “Perks of being a Dungeon Master.” He said with his ever present smirk on his face.
Then together they read the more detailed descriptions of the path options.
Time Weaver
Abilities:
* Temporal Rewind: Reverse time on a single target, undoing injuries sustained within a set timeframe (e.g., 10 seconds). Effective for mid-combat corrections but cannot revive fallen allies.
* Weft and Warp: Weave temporal threads around allies, providing a slow, steady regeneration effect that mends wounds and reduces fatigue over time.
* Threaded Resonance: Link the timelines of party members, redistributing damage taken by one ally across others to mitigate concentrated harm.
Combat and Utility:
A Time Weaver is all about precision and finesse, excelling in managing chaos mid-fight. Their abilities allow surgical intervention to undo critical moments, turning near-losses into strategic recoveries. Beyond healing, the redistribution of damage provides unparalleled party-wide durability in prolonged skirmishes. Their powers require careful timing, making them a master of high-stakes situations where every second matters.
Desert Fury
Abilities:
* Oasis Bloom: Summon a temporal mirage of an oasis, briefly suspending the effects of exhaustion and dehydration while lightly healing allies within its radius.
* Erosion’s Grace: Drain temporal vitality from an enemy’s injuries, slowing their natural recovery and transferring that stolen energy to heal your allies.
* Endless Dunes: Create a swirling sandstorm that heals allies in its area while forming protective barriers against enemy attacks, leveraging the desert’s resilience and hostility.
Combat and Utility:
A Desert Fury thrives on aggression and resourcefulness, blending offensive and healing capabilities seamlessly. Their abilities provide burst healing while disrupting enemy recovery and creating environmental advantages. The swirling sands not only mend wounds but also obscure vision and hinder enemy mobility, making them a versatile battlefield controller.
Chrono-Warden
Abilities:
* Temporal Ward: Encapsulate an ally in a protective bubble where time slows for incoming damage, reducing its severity while gradually restoring health over time.
* Guardian’s Echo: Rewind an ally’s condition to the moment just before a critical injury, bringing them back from the brink of defeat. This ability has a high energy cost and limited uses per dungeon run.
* Timekeeper’s Bastion: Anchor a point in time, periodically releasing waves of restorative energy that heal all allies within range based on the time elapsed since placement.
Combat and Utility:
A Chrono-Warden shines in defensive and support roles, creating opportunities for allies to recover while minimizing threats. Their ability to rewind and anchor time ensures sustained care, preventing catastrophic losses during prolonged battles. By reducing damage, reviving at key moments, and reinforcing the party’s endurance, they become an indispensable protector in any dungeon-diving scenario.
“Which would you choose?” She asked, turning from the shrine to look at Jack.
He gave her a frank stare as he considered.
“I’m of two minds. As a tactician and if I was building a raiding guild, I would have you choose the Chrono-Warden. It would limit you to almost always needing a partner for progression, but it would also ensure that you always had an invite to any group. Dedicated healer types are rare. And it’s not without its own offensive trees. Eventually.” And there are a distinct lack of people who are of calibre to close these dungeons, he thought. He hoped that changed sooner rather than later.
Jack had no interest in hording the information for himself, but he had learned the hard way that trusting "Authorities" and heads of state was the surest way to end up disappeared. Or dead.
He chided himself for the pessimistic thinking, and once again vowed to stay in the present, and not to carry his past from the Otherworld into the now. He remembered an old saying his mentor, Raya the Blessed, had said "Don't let the toxins of the past taint the beauty of the future. Now is a present, so enjoy it." He smiled at the memory of her voice. She was a crazy one, but she had proven time and again why Lord Arlington had trusted her above all others.
Returning his attention to the present, he watched Susie's indicators, and didn’t see much in the form of wavering one way or the other in her demeanor.
“But, if it came to having to occasionally go it alone -if I were you I’d choose the Desert Fury. It combines damage and healing well, and immediately allows for combat effectiveness in dangerous situations.”
She thought that over for several moments before shaking her head.
“Thanks, but you didn’t actually answer my question, not really,” she said.
“You’re right. Those are what I would choose if I were you,” he smiled at her insistence, and carried on, “but if it were me, I would go with option number one. It requires the most skill, is the hardest to master, but it also offers the greatest potential for advancement -if you can pull it off.”
“How do you figure?” She asked, challenging his assumptions. “It doesn’t look that powerful to me.”
“Yeah, and that’s the thing,” he said as he shrugged again. “It’s not the obvious that you should be paying attention to, it’s the flavor text. Reread the Combat and Utility descriptions of each, and tell me what you see.” He waited as she looked them over once more, trying to decipher the riddle he had presented. He glanced at the timer that had appeared, the small golden hourglass slowly counting down the seconds.
He coughed softly, interrupting her study of the descriptions. “I’d hurry if I were you, or it won’t matter anyway because you’ll lose the opportunity.” He pointed at the timer and saw her eyes go wide.
“It’s the only one that mentions mastery. The rest say things like, indispensable, and versatile. But mastery, that’s the key,” she looked with intensity at Jack, studying his face for confirmation of her summations.
But Jack didn’t offer any further hints. He simple waited for her to choose for herself.
And now that she had more information to go on, Susie was able to make her choice.