CHAPTER 355 – HIDDEN TITLES
One second he was surrounded by metal walls and the next he appeared in Everlyn’s system room. It hadn’t changed from when he was first allowed into it. Small things were different. The big windows were currently shadowed because it was dark outside and the fireplace was banked, leaving just glowing embers. The red leather couch, the dining table were the same as were the framed photos on the walls. Though he noted that the ones of her ex-husband all remained missing. He didn’t know what to think of that.
She cleared his throat, and he switched his attention guiltily to her. She was dressed in a long dressing gown that hid much more than it showed and highlighted her face.
Mentally, he was not completely with it, so his breath caught when he met her gaze. She was gorgeous, but he pushed that thought away. How attractive she was had never been in doubt. It was the other stuff that had killed their relationship.
Her face softened, and she took a step forward, raising a hand to place it on his cheek before she remembered where they were.
It was too much. He studied his toe nails and curled them into the thick rug. Feeling the softness and the pleasant heat from the fire.
“Tom, are you okay? What’s happened? You don’t have to stare at your feet.”
He shuddered as he recalled why he was in this room once more.
“I can see this is hard for you. Just talk. Tell me what you saw. It was a True Dream wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“You broke through the static barrier didn’t you.”
He said nothing. The silence and the fact he was here was conformation enough.
His toenails he decided needed a trim.
“What was it? The dragon? A trial spirit? A hidden sapient in this zone?” She snorted. “Or was it a big scary GOD?”
“What?” he gasped and looked wide eyed at her.
She flinched slightly and then examined him, searching for the truth. “Not the dragon or trial spirit. They wouldn’t have affected you this much.” She seemed to suddenly look worried. “Oh lord? What have you done?”
“It was my skill, not me.”
She went to put a finger on his lips and stopped just before making contact. “Shush. I don’t want to talk specifics.” Agitatedly, she glanced up at the roof. “It couldn’t be.”
Tom remembered DEUS words. “There is no need to talk in circles. We can talk frankly in here. The GODs can’t listen in.”
She laughed nervously. “And how certain of that knowledge are you?”
“Very. It was straight from DEUS’s mouth.”
“It was from what? Tom! This is not a joking matter.”
Another shudder went through him as his mind replayed DEUS’ annoyed tone, SUPREME’s growl and the yelling screaming of the other two. It was a very unfunny topic for him. “There’s no joke,” he told her flatly. “As it was described to me True Dreaming knocked and DEUS made a decision to let me in and she allowed me to witness a meeting of the GODs.”
She looked half at him like he was crazy and the rest like the floor was going to fall out. “Tom, there’s no need to exaggerate.” She had activated her diplomat skills. A property of the sharing of the system room meant he was aware of what she was doing, that she was measuring the truthfulness of his statements.
“Everything I’ve said is the truth. The dream did not force anything my presence was at DEUS’ mercy and she allowed me to see. Trust me, tt was terrifying on a level that someone who has never seen a GOD could ever understand, but if it wasn’t so serious it would almost be comical. Some of the other GODs were like children. Toddlers throwing a tantrum and FAMES was an absolute tool.”
“Tom!” she squealed. “You idiot. That’s the worst type of blasphemy.”
The world shifted, and he found himself back in reality. Everlyn was staring wide eyed at him. He could understand some of what she was thinking. She could read the truth of what he had said, but was also aware of the potential consequences. She pushed him away from her hurriedly and backed away like he was contagious, and from her perspective that could very well be the case. Her eyes searched the room, trying to spot the first signs of the coming retribution.
“Don’t say anything.” He warned.
Everlyn glanced at him briefly like he was an idiot while she bit her lower lip in stress. “That was dumb.”
The wador was on its feet and the Elder zoomed over to him.
“Blessed one, can you tell me what is happening?”
“No,” he said curtly with his eyes focused solely on Everlyn. She looked like she might be about to blow.
She checked the room once more. “I need to inspect outside.” She almost sprinted away.
“Blessed one, why is perceptive Everlyn so distressed. This is not her normal behaviour.”
He stood to follow her. “I can’t talk about it.”
The wador seemed like it wanted to ask something, but Tom deliberately refused to make eye contact with it. Instead, he followed his ex outside.
Despite DEUS’ assurances that the system room was safe from spying, and should allow him to avoid blasphemy penalties he was still worried enough to look up at the sky and platforms above. His quick check confirmed there was nothing out of the ordinary. Even if it wasn’t, he didn’t expect to be punished that badly. After all, he had not blasphemed against his GODDESS but one of the competitors which theoretically was a lower-level offense. Through, like many things with the GODs, there were no hard and fast rules.
A large part of him knew he shouldn’t have said what he did. But there had been a purpose to it. If he got away with that it would prove the space was secure and let him and Everlyn speak more frankly later.
With nothing obviously going wrong around him, he watched Everlyn who had already reached the edge of the platform and was walking alongside it and peering down every few metres.
After three agitated circuits, she came over to him. “That was dumb and stupid.”
“Yes, but at least we know it works…” And so now we can discuss the truly confidential stuff, he thought, but left that unspoken.
Her head almost gave herself whiplash she looked over her shoulder in astonishment. Then her eyes narrowed. “Clever, but too dangerous. Come on, let’s continue.”
When they went into the barracks so to speak, everyone was awake.
“Everlyn, Tom,” Michael said. “Is there any immediate threat to us?”
“No.” he answered straight away.
“Was there a true dream?”
She linked her hands with his and glanced at Michael. “There’s always a true dream. It was another of the static ones. But if you have to know the truth, we had a fight. Tom said things he shouldn’t have and I’ve forgiven him. We’re going to try to work through some of his issues now. Can you guard us.”
Knowing exactly what had happened, the careful wording of the denial was a piece of art. After getting agreement with Michael, she dragged him to their sleeping area. They both got comfortable like they used to and a moment later, he was sitting on the couch in front of the fire.
Next to him Everlyn started giggling. “Thank god they didn’t ask any more questions. Michael, the wador and three chosen were all using truth sensing abilities on me. As far as they were aware, not only was what I said true, but the fight was the only reason I stormed outside. You have got to love this diplomat package. But if they had asked another question, I would be in trouble… We were lucky Michael decided not to be pushy.” She shook her head. “On second thoughts, the lack of followup was probably deliberate on Michael’s part. Unfortunately, that means he’s going to quiz me later when our guests can’t hear us. Don’t worry about it. I’ll think of some way to manage him. Now to business. As the system room is safe,” she glared at him. “Something incidentally that we didn’t need to prove with as dangerously a method as we did.” She put on a fake dangerous smile. “We’re both adults here and can move on and focus on more important things. Do you want to chat?”
Tom nodded and for ten minutes the words flowed as he explored his feelings and the facts of what happened. Tears ran down his cheeks for large stretches of it, but he didn’t blame himself. DEUS had told him herself that mortals weren’t supposed to function in the presence of a GOD. His reactions were normal, better than expected, if anything.
“Anything else?” she asked sympathetically. She had been nothing but supportive the entire time as he broke down.
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“No. It’s just scary the GODs have seen everything I’ve ever done. I don’t think you can imagine what that feels like. Every private thought I’ve ever had revealed. Crushes, embarrassing flights of fantasy…” He shuddered.
“Well, the suffering is at least justified by what you learnt. Confirmation we don’t need a precognition blocker is massive. That’s worth at least eight million, probably more.”
“Why so much?”
“Well, Thor had five million in savings, Selena’s group a million. Michael has some ideas of stuff the inventor can craft easily, which should generate another one. Finally, we’ve extracted half a million from the wador already and think we can get another two. ”
“Another two?”
She grinned predatorily. “Absolutely. The key is going to be compartmentalising the knowledge. We can’t let the wador even sniff the idea that the precognition blocker is no longer needed. When they do the gravy train stops. So that has to be our focus. The information will be, need to know only. I’ll coordinate with Thor to make it happen.”
“I’m fine with that approach, but we have to ensure we don’t do anything to piss off the giant.”
She hesitated at that and then nodded. “That’s fine. We’ll get you to lie low for a few days and then confess up to the dream after we’ve extracted everything we need.”
“What happens if they demand everything back.”
She shrugged. “Tough cookies. It’ll be too late by then because we would have already consumed the spoils. Though we’ll make a show of giving the million back to the inventor… And if that’s not going to work I’m sure you’ll get a True Dream in the next couple of days to give advanced warning.”
“This will lead to the wador hating us.”
“Who cares? They already want to kill us after we sniped one of them in the Jenny battle. Plus, it’s not like the contract we signed stops us from doing this and they can’t complain too much because if they’re making waves, it’ll be them who break the agreement. How amazing would it be if we robbed them blind and then the contract punishes them in addition to that. It does work like that doesn’t it?”
“It does.” He agreed. The vision Everlyn was putting forward was great. If there was a chance to rip off one of their direct competitors, he was taking it.
“Then we have two other things to talk about. First, you need to buy this and get in the habit of using it.” She put a book down on the couch next to her.
Tom picked it up and was not surprised to see that it contained a spell.
Spell: Scrying Ward – Tier 3 – Cost 32,000
A spell that prevents all forms of scrying and eavesdropping from individuals who are not part of the conversation or party.
Mana Cost: 200.
Duration: 32 minutes.
It was exactly what was needed to stop the GODs from observing them. With a thought, he purchased it.
“The last point is Clare.”
“Yes,” Tom perked up. “Can you organise it for me?”
Everlyn hesitated. “I can. But I was wondering if you would be willing to use an oracle question to confirm it.”
“Are you kidding? This doesn’t need double checking it was a direct instruction from DEUS.”
“Exactly. Obtained while you spied on the other GODs. Do you have any idea how sensitive that information is? I’m never going to reference GODs again. Not here, not to you, not to anyone. The knowledge dies tonight because the only way to keep a secret is to not tell a single person.”
“That’s fair, but what—”
“It’s more than fair,” she interrupted. “In fact, it’s not negotiable. We never mention the GODs again. When we confess the dream, you don’t give details, just state with absolute confidence that the situation has changed and the precognition blocker is no longer needed. Just say a dream of her made the changed circumstances clear. They’ll think dragon rather than GODDESS.”
“Because who could be dumb enough to think a rank forty could touch the divinity.”
“Exactly. That can explain the precognition blocker, but not the Clare problem. She is not one of our current leaders. Everyone knows that and worse, she’s emotionally unstable. I need a proper reason to install her as our leader. Hence the question.”
“You want me to waste a question purely so you can use it as coverage.”
Everlyn nodded her face expectant. “Tom, you know this is the only way. We can’t risk anything about the GODs getting out. I recognise that it seems frivolous, but this is absolutely required.”
He considered his wording carefully. She actually needed support for two decisions. The first was to sideline him and the second to install the murder as their boss. “Is it best that I’m removed from decision making and that Clare is installed as the leader.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Yes.” Dux’s smooth tone echoed around the room.
Everlyn sighed in relief. “It succeeded, but that was dangerous phrasing.”
“Best is a defined term in this context. It basically boils down to the average impact to number of ranking points generated.”
“I was referring to the two-part question.”
“Well, we needed two different topics covered.”
“Yes, it worked. Now I’ve got everything I need, and I’ll take over. Consider everything to be covered.” She told him. “Now your titles. Do you want me here when you review them.”
“No. I’ll probably cope better if I do it myself… but can you leave the invite open so I can come back if I have too.”
“Are you worried about them triggering a waking nightmare.”
“No, that’s going to happen. I’m worried I won’t be able to cope with them by myself.”
There was a blink, and he was standing in his own sparse, unadorned system room. Metal walls currently covered with text waited for him to view them. Most importantly, he could feel the invitation to go to Everlyn’s room still remaining open.
He took a deep breath, but wasn’t quite ready to review them yet. Instead, his eyes settled on the number on the wall. Thirteen questions were available. He wasn’t sure of the smartest questions to ask, but he intended to spend them all before the dragon. He guessed if Clare was in charge, it was no longer up to him.
That abstention of responsibility calmed him. It would be great at least for a while not to have the weight of humanity on his shoulders. It was probably the exhaustion speaking, and he knew himself well enough to know it wouldn’t last. Hopefully, once he got back to being him, they could settle on a routine where Clare made the larger strategic decisions in order to thwart the GODs and he helped lead the more immediate and unavoidable fights.
Prepared as he was ever going to be, he checked his first title.
Title: Mental Fortress: This title grants a trio of benefits. 1) Immunity to all verbally delivered mental attacks and attempts to influence. 2) Reflect all mind and soul attacks under tier 6 back against the caster with no drop of efficacy. 3) Resistance to all soul and mental manipulation improved by 300%.
* Awarded for: Surviving the direct words of an angry GOD and the indirect anger and frustration of three others.
* Mythical Title. Title is hidden from all but your patron GODDESS so no ranking points or experience may be awarded until this status is revoked.
He had braced for a visceral reaction, but it never came. Yes, he was aware of why he had earnt this and could remember how even DEUS’ frustration, which he had known to be an act had made him shutdown by itself. He deliberately suppressed the memory of what the nearby fury of the other GODs had done to him. Without her continuous healing, his soul would have been flayed away to nothing. In many ways the rewards for those moments were not enough and, in another way, for a few hours of work they were astronomically great.
Tom did his best to forget how it was earnt and focused on the benefits. That at least made him a little excited. He now hard countered anyone with bard type skills and unless he ran into one of the native powerhouses, he was also effectively immune to any spells or skills that directly attacked the mind or his soul. There would not be many people or monsters throwing around tier six or above abilities.
Then Tom reconsidered. Maybe he was not thinking about the benefit correctly. Forget the advantage over people it was that reflect ability against monsters, which was arguably the best part of the title. There would be beasts out there that he could destroy just by the passive ability it granted. Walk into their territory and stand there as they killed themselves with their own soul attacks. Most of them would be too stupid to realise the ploy. They would keep hitting him until they themselves died not grasping the perfect reflective nature of his defences. Creatures whose ranks were hundreds more than his own but relied on mental or soul attacks would be hard countered. Tom could see himself finding an appropriate wilderness area and absolutely raking in the experience as he defeated foes that he shouldn’t be able to get near because of this title.
Even that third benefit of a three hundred percent increase in resistance to soul and mental manipulation was extraordinary. He had never heard of a title granting that rich of a bonus, but then again the only other mythical title he had seen was the one that allowed Everlyn to conjure the magical bow, and they all knew how powerful that was.
If this was all he got, he would have been ecstatic, but there were more and his attention switched to the next in line.
Title: Known Heretic: The regard of GODs is a heavy burden especially when you are aware of it and it must be balanced by a positive. All who know you will be affected by a passive influence. Those stronger than you will think more highly of you and will be reluctant to act against your interests. Those weaker will perceive you to have more strength than you actually have and treat you accordingly.
* Awarded for: Being aware that you are known by name and reputation by all eight GODs.
* Legendary Title. Title is hidden from all but your patron GODDESS so no ranking points or experience may be awarded until this status is revoked.
After the previous title, this one was almost disappointing. The benefit it gifted was so vague he was not sure whether it would help him. He could even see cases when possessing it was a negative. What happened if there was someone slightly weaker than him who was determined to eliminate him, anyway. Then if that extra perceived strength was only a small percentage boost Tom could foresee incidents where it wouldn’t deter them from attacking but rather cause them to assign extra forces.
Instead of being underestimated before being ambushed he would be met with crushing power.
It was the type of title that could easily backfire, though he suspected on balance it would be a net positive. He got a feeling that the reward was supposed to offset the weight of having the gods know his name. When the GODs gave these kinds of rewards as a rule they were beneficial even if on face value it appeared they wouldn’t be.
He checked the next title.
Title: Discerning Vision: Your ability to find and pierce illusions and notice deliberately obscured details has been improved by 500% when using your own eyes.
* Awarded for: Observing a fundamental force through the eyes of a GODDESS.
* Legendary Title. Title is hidden from all but your patron GODDESS so no ranking points or experience may be awarded until this status is revoked.
It was a simple title, but a powerful one. He would need to discuss with Everlyn what the best passive skills were to make the most of the ability. There was no way this would let him become a scout because there were numerous other abilities that were required to take that role, but it would be incredibly useful if they explored a trial filled with traps.
Finally, there was one last title to look at. It had a glow and presence to it that had made him delay until now.
Title: True Breaking Vision: The skill True Dreaming will be boosted act as if it is 2 tiers and 4 levels higher than its stated level when it is resisted by blocking abilities stronger than tier 4.
* Awarded for: Breaching the council chambers of the GODs.
* Mythical / Unique. Title is hidden from all but your patron GODDESS so no ranking points or experience may be awarded until this status is revoked.
Tom read and re-read and tried to understand what it meant. It seemed to say that if the target resisted him like all high-level opponents would, then true dreaming would more than triple in strength.
He licked his lips while his brain assessed the reward.
It was potentially very, very good.
But what did that benefit actually mean in real terms? Then he realised that he could probably find out. “Please show what True Dreaming looks like when this title is active.”