The ethereal world was depicted in several ways in fiction. A grayscale version of the real world. A blurry wavy copy of the real world. A world entirely different but with all the colors saturated to the maximum, making it look like a cartoon. A misty haze. Transparency. Twilight. Green falling characters. Swiss cheese textures. Color-inversion. All of them would get a "nice try" consolation prize and maybe an Oscar nomination for special effects. They were wrong, at least for this particular slice of the multiverse.
Despite the lack of light, I could see perfectly well. The ethereal world was exactly like the real one. But people could see without light. I felt submerged and had no trouble breathing or moving. But the medium was completely clear, allowing me to see the trench walls in exquisite detail. The trench was devoid of all and any life, though.
Was it due to this particular place, or was it the norm all along with the ethereal world?
More importantly, was it free real estate? Like, a whole world for me to use as I saw fit?
Questions, questions, questions. Too few answers.
"Hello, is there anyone out there?" I shouted. My voice carried out but caused no echo. Now that I noticed it, the ethereal world was quite quiet. "Nenandil, any ideas?"
The fairy materialized. "No. I was looking forward to seeing the ethereal world but I hoped for less strained conditions. That shark is bad news, Arista. Maybe mom or one of our godmothers knows something. You have to ask them."
I closed my eyes and focused on my {Summon Godmother} Perk. I got the feeling it would work but didn't go through. "I can call them," I said as I opened my eyes. "But better not bother them before exploring for a while."
Nenandil was scanning the surroundings, circling around me slowly. "Right," she said without looking at me. "Mom wouldn't mind paying a visit, you know. Those elder fairies usually laze around the whole day."
"I have someone else I want to call first. But yes, we can ask them. They aren't forced to answer my summons anyway. The year-long cooldown kinda sucks, though."
Nenandil sighed. "I think I got the gist of this place. Why we can see everywhere even without any visible light source. Look over there," she pointed at a spot above us.
I looked up and saw a hazy fish-like shape floating around. Huge. Like, modern container cargo ship big.
"Is that the Carcinodon?" I thought out loud.
"Yes, it is. Even the nature of his magic is affected by this malady of his. By the way, the teeth are all no good. Your {item box} freezes time, but once they are out, they'll spread the disease."
I huffed and uttered a non-gormandizing groan. "Great. We got a few thousand magical cancer teeth!" No wonder these things broke off the gums so easily. "I'm calling Wyxnos. This shit is his problem."
After a sigh, I collected my wits. I needed to be as polite as possible during this call.
> [Administrator Hotline]
>
>
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> CALL START.
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> Arista: Wyxnos, thanks for your time. We found one of the ancient System creatures, one with a debuff even more broken than mine {Amebiasis}.
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> Wyxnos: Princess Arista. Nice to meet you. What creature? Did you appraise it? Do you know its level?
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> A: Carcinodon, level 251.
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> W: Damn... Hold a second. System, query the creature's Status.
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> System: User ID #5. Carcinodon. Level 251 fish abomination. Total Attribute Points, 883. HP, 1,098,332,000. Unique Skills: Cancer, one of one. Titles: Champion of Nurha-Boenir.
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> A: Seriously? Champion of the God of Priapism? And is that a disease debuff like mine?
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> W: Yes, yes, and yes. Its id is five. That's why he managed to break the level cap. I'm thankful you weren't a murderous psychopath in your first incarnations.
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> A: You're welcome, I never wanted to break the System regardless of what some may think. Yes, the shark has enough health to tank any assailants until its debuff kills them. I doubt he had any problem getting a steady stream of Exp for millennia. It's an apex predator on steroids. Fix it, Wyxnos.
>
> W: I wanted to, but I can't. He's Nurha-Boenir's champion. I need his permission to do so.
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> A: Damn. Tell the God of Stiff Shafts to shove one and fix it. Aren't you the administrator? This shark is broken.
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> W: No can do. I'm sorry, I can't do anything about it on my own initiative. I'll bring it up to him when I eventually meet with him. I'm busy if you don't have anything else...
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> A: Ah, yes. Could you please get me mother Yznera? I'll owe you one.
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> W: Not a chance, I'm a God, not your errand boy. I'm hanging up.
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> A: Tsc. You'll regret it, Wyxnos.
>
> CALL ENDED.
It ended with me on top despite the obvious jabs Wyxnos threw in the middle of his sentences. It didn't matter. Wyxnos gave me everything I wanted to know and more.
Regarding the Carcinodon, the almost nine hundred Attribute Points was troublesome. Assuming it had nothing in the Spiritual Attributes, little Magic, and too low Mental, we were looking at a critter with almost three hundred for each physical. Its Strength and Endurance, particularly, should be more than that. Sweet. But the true gem was knowing it had a disease debuff. Meaning I was immune to it.
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Now I just needed to catch the Carcinodon by its weakness. I quickly prepared a battle plan on how I would put my hands on it.
"Asshole!" Nenandil and I shouted at the same time.
"And now he knows where you are," The fairy pointed out.
"I doubt he knows I'm in the ethereal world," I rebutted.
"Hurry up, call my mom."
I shapeshifted into Silverstreak's form for convenience. The fairies were all relatively the same size, I didn't want to look like a giant. An excited and happy Nenandil latched to my side and kissed my cheek with a giggle as I activated my Perk.
> [Summon Godmothers]
They took almost the whole hour to appear, and only three of them showed up.
"Daughters!" Doris gushed as she hugged Nenandil then me.
Nephele the elder sylph cackled. "Ha! Foolish mortal summoned us to the ethereal realm! Now it shall be ours!"
Only to be slapped in the head by Lorelai the elder spriggan. "Don't be a fool. We can cross over anytime we want. Daughter, you look fine," she added smiling at me.
"Welcome, godmothers. I hope Queen Brenna and Daphne are in good health," I greeted them with a bow.
"Oh, don't you worry about those two!" Nephele laughed and floated next to me. Then she pinched my cheeks. "This place is just too inhospitable to both fire and trees."
I thought it would be inhospitable for air as well, given that we are a few miles under the surface. She caught my questioning gaze and answered as if she was reading my mind.
"There's no water that has no air in it," She said sagely. "Otherwise it wouldn't support life."
I allowed myself to blush slightly and nodded. Nephele laughed and flew off to see some of the creatures' shadows. We talked a bit about life, what we were doing, and the island.
"Now that is something Daphne would like to see," Doris said. "Since she didn't answer the summons, I think you should call her once you get back to your island. She'll bless the vegetation there for sure."
We then talked about the Carcinodon and Wyxnos' cowardice.
Lorelai frowned, "it must be dealt with. But it is twice your level. Will you be able to kill it?"
"Bit could keep it from surfacing and Bit is just a little stronger than me. Oh, Bit is a guardian urchin that lives at the edge of the trench. Yes, mother. I think I can kill it. I need to talk to Yznera, though. Do you have any means to contact her?"
Doris nodded, "We do, daughter. Among the invaders, Yznera is the only one that has earned our trust."
Fancy the fairies call the Gods 'invaders'. A topic for later, though.
The fairies hummed a song and in a matter of minutes, a fairy-sized avatar of Yznera appeared.
"Ladies, greetings. Thanks for summoning me," the Goddess of Nature said with a degree of familiarity like she just joined her neighborhood ladies club for the afternoon tea.
"Yznera, thanks for coming," I said.
"Of course, old soul," Yznera's eyes betrayed a very tired deity.
"Call me Arista. This time I'm with the mermaids under the watch of Leviathan and Kraken's heralds."
"Yes, those kids," she mused with a distant gaze. "they made up suddenly, no wonder you had a 'fin' in that matter."
I took the goddess' hand. "Hard to keep the vegetation alive on the surface, right?" I wouldn't dare mention the piss-poor job the oceanic deities were doing below the surface. She sighed and gave me a wry smile. "Could you ask Galbarar how long will it take for him to absorb the power of the second divine core I left with Wyxnos?"
Yznera snapped to attention with a start. "Say what?" She shouted. I felt a tremor in the earth.
Then I explained to her my deal with Wyxnos regarding the second divine core I obtained from Bundeus during our duel. The Goddess clenched her teeth and shook with rage. Vines started to grow from her leaf dress and crawl along her arms while her eyes became whirlpools brimming with rage. I felt a hand in my shoulder and allowed Doris to drag me away from her.
The goddess shouted and it rang across the whole ethereal realm. "GALBARAR! WYXNOS! I SUMMON YOU NOW!"
Nenandil took hold of my left arm, leaning her body against it. Lorelai and Nephele moved to stand in front of me, all signs of levity and mirth were gone from the sylph's face. Then they appeared.
To us fairy-sized fairies, the two gods might as well be giants. Wyxnos was in his impeccable Armani suit, while Galbarar was with his Roman tunic and sandals look, though the tunic had a blazing sun embroidered with gold thread along the chest and gold trim was everywhere along the edges of the tunic and on the leather straps of the sandals wrapped around his ankles and shins.
Yznera grew to their size and put a finger in Wyxnos' nose. "Wyxnos, did Bundeus yield a second divine core? Did the Old Soul hand it to you with the express wish you gave it to Galbarar? Are we fools to you? Here are we, struggling with all our might to keep this planet alive because that fool tapped into power he shouldn't and depleted the Sun and you go behind everyone's backs doing shady deals?"
I felt sparks flying between the trio of deities in all directions. Galbarar at first had a confused face but somehow Yznera conveyed the information to him and he stared hard at Wyxnos. To one called God of Truth and Justice, this kind of doublecross was unforgivable, I thought.
"Wyxnos, my friend," Galbarar spoke barely concealing his outrage. "Please explain it to us. What happened?"
The admin lowered his head for a moment and then rose it, adjusting his red necktie. "I had a debt to the Broodmother. I did what I must."
Both Yznera and Galbarar's gaze shifted to the direction of the scorched continent. My [Cartographer] Perks made it impossible to not know the direction of the major landmarks.
"I see what you intend to trigger. You are poised to fail, Wyxnos," Galbarar declared. He then turned around and looked at me. I felt warmth as if I was sunbathing. "And to you, friend. To selfishly relinquish such a priceless treasure not once but twice, is commendable. Even though the prize didn't reach my hands, the intent behind it was solid. I'll grant you a boon if you so wish."
I curtsied before the solar deity, "Galbarar, there's one thing I desire. A Perk, related to one of your domains. [Radiation Magic Affinity]."
The God's gaze shifted to the side and unfocused. "There is no such thing in the System. But we can create a new Perk entry, can't we, Wyxnos?"
It wasn't a question. Wyxnos nodded. I explained to them what radiation magic should do. Wyxnos' jaw slacked. Behind the duo of male Gods, Yznera's gaze became one of predatory mirth.
> Galbarar has bestowed you the Perk: Radiation Magic Affinity (unique): You require no chant or gestures to cast radiation spells. Increase effect by 50% and reduce cost by 50%. Creatures with fast regeneration or polyp-based powers of corruption, rapid growth and decay are vulnerable to radiation magic, taking double damage. Radiation damage cannot be regenerated, only healed through magic with half efficiency or naturally if at all.
I felt so spiteful I might've called myself the "Nithing Mage" [1].
I was biting my tongue to keep my composure. Galbarar nodded. "Is it to your liking, Old Soul?"
"Perfect, Galbarar. Many thanks. Remember I'm your anointed [Hero] should you require. Summon me, and I shall answer."
"I must go now. Much to do," the God of Justice, Truth and the Sun vanished without further ado.
Yznera stared at the handsome God. "Wyxnos, I am sure you too are busy administering the System. You are dismissed," she waved her hand. Wyxnos vanished. I could swear he snarled at the last moment but it was probably my imagination. "Old Soul, the elder fairies and I decided to bestow you a quest. I beseech you to accept it."
> Yznera and the Elder Fairies offer you the Quest:
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> Eliminate that Cancer
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> Slay the Carcinodon. Eliminate all sources of the [Cancer] debuff.
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> Rewards:
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> Two Unique neutral or Nature-related Perks.
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> Blessings from Yznera and the Five Elder Fairies.
I accepted it. Yznera and the fairies said their goodbyes and vanished. Time to do some killing.
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[1]: Love you, Nixia.
Nithing - Noun:
- 1) A coward, a dastard; a wretch.
- 2) A wicked person; also, one who has acted immorally or unlawfully.