Chapter 162

Riven sat in an underground room on a blood covered rocking chair, smoking a cigar, red eyes glinting in the darkness. His armor was cast to the side, having been discarded momentarily after not having felt the air on his bare skin in so long - and he looked almost ridiculous in just a pair of undergarments.

He didn’t care. Wearing those Chalgathi artifacts for so long had made him really appreciate the finer things in life - like being able to take clothes off.

This place was mostly devoid of light save for lanterns hung along the walls that cast dim shadows over the blood and corpses of the cultists he’d killed there, but that didn’t bother someone like him in the least. And in the hallway nearby, the sounds and screams of Fay torturing the man who’d kidnapped and abused her rang loud and clear - it was like music to his ears.

Riven had only checked on her once, watching as she’d cut off fingers one by one before making the cultist down a health potion - shattered glass and all. Giving her this opportunity was the least Riven could do after what she’d been through, and he felt like even this wasn’t enough.

But what else was there?

In front of him a swirling dark ball of mana collected energy, drawing in the shadows and the blood bit by bit from around the room in an almost phantasmal portrait. It was here that his Chalgathi Artifacts were now doing… something. He wasn’t entirely sure what just yet, and he hadn’t even seen the other two pieces he’d picked up before his own gluttony-tinted artifacts had begun to change them.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you without your artifacts on.” Luke stated absentmindedly, staring at him from where he too smoked a cigar that they’d looted off the dead. The old elf thrall had calmed down a lot since Riven’s massacre at Daskus, the City of Canyons, and was now back to his usual self.

Whether or not this was because of the thrall contract Riven could not tell, but he was glad for it.

Riven grinned over at the man, and then at Azmoth - who was rifling through the pile of loot they’d collected on a nearby bench near the cultist’s ritual circle. Riven was going to take a look at the loot himself eventually, but he needed to calm his nerves after all that’d happened. “How do you like the cigar, friend?”

Luke glanced over at him again, coughed, then grinned. Pulling a hand through his silver hair and tapping the ashes of his cigar on the chair arm, he gave Riven a nod. “It’s pretty good. Though I must admit, I’m used to smoking out of a pipe. Not this commoner stuff.”

“Cigars are sophisticated.”

“As sophisticated as a blind hag’s wrinkled old ass.”

The sound in the hallway ended with a high pitched squeal, a notification appeared concerning the death of another Chalgathi participant, and then it was followed by a long bout of silence. The door creaked open to reveal Fay. The blue-skinned succubus let out long exhales of breath, one after the other as she panted - and she trot over with exhaustion evident. Slapping the severed head of the man who’d abducted her on the floor next to Riven’s rocking chair, she wordlessly sat on his lap and curled up in a ball with her arms around Riven’s neck.

“I feel a little bit better now.” Fay whispered. Tears were dried against her skin, but she wasn’t shaking anymore and the hours of sleep before her torture session had done her a lot of good to calm her nerves. She was still missing her severed wings, but those could be regrown after spending some time in the nether realms. “I left your weapon back in the hall, it’s still lodged in his ass.”

Riven’s eyebrows raised, and he took another puff of cigar before putting it out and tossing the thing aside. Hugging Fay firmly, the two continued to rock back and forth on the curved arches of the chair. “Glad to hear it.”

Fay snorted a mellow laugh, but closed her eyes over time - just enjoying the comforting touch. “Thanks again for saving me.”

“You say that like you think I wouldn’t have come.”

She glanced up at him, black eyes staring into red for a time, before nestling back in and closing them once more. She let out a deep, content sigh. “Many warlocks wouldn’t. Some would, and I’m just glad you’re one of the good ones. You’re the best.”

“I know.”

He got a jab and an amused chuckle for the snark, but grinned all the same, and after sitting in silence to calm his nerves a little while longer he pulled up the notifications he’d recently received. It was a lot to take in.

[Quest Completed: Find Your Succubus Princess – You have found and saved Fay, and have rebound her as a minion. A map and notes concerning the location of a dao treasure relating to Sin has been deposited in your bag of holding. The Puzzle Box Cube Labyrinth from Daskus has also been placed within your storage space as a bonus prize due to your high performance with this quest - and your first attempt at the cube labyrinth has been reset.]

[You have grown from level 83 to level 112 after massacring an entire city’s inhabitants. XP intake has been drastically reduced for all enemies below level 75 after reaching level 100. From here on out, anyone who is not at least three fourths your own level will have significantly less XP gains for killing them - exponentially scaling the lower their levels go.]

[System Notice: You have ascended tiers and have climbed out of the Paragon rank. Elysium has assessed your level of power, and you are now ranked as an Apex ranker on this world’s power ladder. You are currently listed at spot #5 on the power ladder. This shift of power on the world stage is noted by Elysium, and video footage of your climb to the peak has been uploaded to the world forums along the main page for anyone to view. With this increase in rank will come better opportunities for you in the future provided by the system as Panu’s integration continues. Congratulations! The ranking categories are as follows: Apex Rank (Top 10), Paragon Rank (Top 1000), S Rank (Top 0.0001%), A Rank (Top 1%), B Rank (Top 15%), C Rank (Top 30%), D Rank (Top 50%), E Rank (Bottom 50%)]

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

[You have reached the level 100 marker. Congratulations! You're now able to upgrade you class. Please select from the following options: Warlock Summoner, or Warlock Devastator. Please click this notification for more information or visit your status page.]

[You have acquired a Sin Class as a secondary class slot, which may only be filled by sin-based classes. You have acquired a second and unique class: Harbinger of Gluttony. Your Core of Original Sin - Gluttony, has been created successfully. Bonuses: ??? Please click this notification or select your soul’s Sin Core for more information.]

[You, Riven Thane, have acquired 7 of 5 set pieces for Chalgathi’s Inheritance. Redistribution has commenced: Extra pieces have been redistributed to other newly appointed Chalgathi’s-chosen who do not have pieces. You now have 5 of 5 set pieces, are the 3rd person to acquire all 5 set pieces for Chalgathi’s inheritance, and the 1st non-cultist to do so. Only 2 full sets remain to be claimed. Please wait for further World Quest updates until after your Chalgathi Armor Set has completely oriented itself to your chosen aspect: Gluttony. Your ability to ping Chalgathi artifacts has been permanently removed.]

[Riven Thane’s Status Page:

* Level 112

* Pillar Orientations:] Unholy Foundation, Blood Specialty: Profane Cyclone (Tier 1 of The Path of Red and Black), Infernal, Shadow (Subserviently linked to Blood Specialty Pillar), Sin Core (Gluttony)

* Core of Original Sin - Gluttony:] Allows access to Sin (Gluttony). Allows access to a secondary Sin Class. (Sin Class - Harbinger of Gluttony, Currently Under Construction) Bonuses: ???

* Traits:] Race: Pureblooded Vampire (Extreme Darkness Regeneration)(Sunlight Decay)(Extreme Weakness to Silver weapons, Sun pillar, and Light pillar attacks), Primary Class: Warlock Adept, Sin Class: Harbinger of Gluttony, Adrenaline Junky (Blood)(+15% to Agility), Accomplishment Title: Bloodthirsty 1 (+5% increased blood mana from corpses, +1% dmg for blood magic)

* Abilities:] Blessing of the Crow (Unholy), Wretched Snare (Unholy), Silvertongue (Unholy), Bloody Razors (Blood), Crimson Ice (Blood), Blood Lance (Blood)(Tier 2), Blood Nova (Blood)(Tier 3), Hell’s Armor (Infernal), Blaze of Profane Glory (Infernal)(Tier 3)Riftwalk (Shadow), Gluttonous Sacrifice (Sin)

* Stats:] 149 Strength, 366 Sturdiness, 888 Intelligence, 466 Agility, 10 Luck, -584 Charisma, 256 Vampiric Perception, 267 Willpower, 9 Faith

* Free Stat Points: 203

* Minions:] Athela, Level 60 Arshakai [0 Willpower Requirement, Currently INACTIVE with lingering soul shard]. Azmoth, Level 73 Hellscape Brutalisk (Infernal Crusader Initiate) [58 Willpower Requirement]. Fay, Level 39 Succubus [29 Willpower Required]. Luke Blissfallen, Level 15 High Elf Thrall (Stormrazor Battle Priest)(Warning: 72% soul decay detected)[10 Willpower Requirement]

* Equipped Items:] Jackal (894 dmg, 305% mana regen, 8% stamina regen, shadow and blood dmg +36% with 10% decreased ability cost, Black Lightning, Gluttony’s Riptide, Jackal’s Lunge), Undergarments, Witch’s Ring of Grand Casting (+26 Intelligence), Negrada’s Modified Bag of Holding]

His weapon Jackal appeared from out of the hallway, having taken canine form. Trotting over to sit beside Riven’s chair, the eerie, shadowy dog laid down next to him and accepted some ear-scratches while Riven reviewed the system logs.

203 points to spend eh? And his passive XP sharing concerning the minion contracts had given both Azmoth and Luke some extra levels. That was nice, but it was far from everything. He also had to select a new class upgrade, had to check out the second class he’d received from Gluttony, had to deposit the puzzle box back in Brightsville and eventually needed to finish it, had to sift through the cultist loot, had to wait for his Chalgathi artifacts to finish modifying so he could continue on with the world quest, had to check out the map concerning the dao treasure relating to sin, and needed to see just what the system had posted on the world forums concerning his actions. Hopefully Elysium hadn’t painted him in too bad of a light, but anyone that’d seen what he’d done would no doubt think him a monster. It was going to be a rough ride from here on out concerning social interactions, because everyone he met would likely be afraid of an apocalyptic, city-destroying rampage should he visit. And that was only if they didn't outright run or try to kill him on the spot, should they ever think they had a chance.

His eyes lingered on Athela’s notification. She was considered a ‘lingering soul shard’, and would need to be brought back somehow… He didn’t know how just yet but he’d figure it out. That was a certainty, and a priority. He needed his sassy spider back ASAP.

“Jesus this is a lot of stuff.” Riven rubbed at his temple with one free hand while his other rubbed Fay’s back. “Alright, I’ll just start at the top. Here goes nothing…”

Trying to get things done fast, he started with his status page. He slammed 50 points into Strength, 25 points into Willpower, 25 Points into Sturdiness, and 103 points into Intelligence.

On to the next topic: Classes.

He pulled up his new class, the one supplied by Gluttony.

* Harbinger of Gluttony (Sin Class Title) - The Harbinger of Gluttony is the most basic sin class specific to the original sin of Gluttony and creates a secondary self-regulating soul clone to fight alongside you. Successfully landing any offensive attack with your soul clone will cause soul-damage to your opponent, decreasing all mana, stamina, divinity and health regeneration until the enemy soul has healed. +2 sturdiness, +9 Free Points per level.

Riven blinked. Soul clone? Self regulating?

What did that even mean?

He looked around, patted himself down and internally willed whatever ‘soul clone’ was there to come on out. Nothing happened. He looked at his inner soul aperture next, and although he did see that his core was fully formed with a runic sigil concerning his ‘Gluttonous Sacrifice’ miracle - he didn’t find any change about a ‘soul clone.’

Odd.

Well he was probably going to find out eventually, so until it showed itself he’d just move on. He was more than happy enough with the vast increase in free points to use, so he wasn’t complaining one bit.

Closing it out and examining the next set of information after clicking his primary class options, he grinned in satisfaction at the list. This was where things got spicy… as either option was a good one.

[Level 100 Class Upgrade Options:

* Warlock Summoner: The Warlock Summoner is a direct upgrade from the class Warlock Adept , and even further emphasizes demonic minions. Your stat points all get a minor increase per level up, and you gain an additional 4 demonic minion slots that can be unlocked at combat levels 110, 120, 135 and 150. Class Trait: All demonic minions acquire a 5% bonus to all stats. Bonus structure for Staves, Cloth Armor, Willpower, and Intelligence included.

* Warlock Devastator: The Warlock Devastator is a direct upgrade from the class Warlock Adept, but branches more into close combat than it does as a pure-mage role. Gain an additional 1 demonic minion slot. Significant increase compared to last class concerning Strength and Sturdiness stats per level. Class trait: All physical strikes are naturally imbued with bonus unholy damage equal to 1% of your current total mana pool, not costing any actual mana, with the most passive damage being done at full mana capacity. Bonus structure for Heavy Armor, Two Handed Weapons, Intelligence, and any Body Enhancement spells.]