My quest for souls, martial knowledge, and loot brought me to another coastal city. I swear this continent was going crazy. Masses of tourists, merchants, local bourgeoisie, and a few nobles were rushing to the ships to flee the continent before it fell in its entirety to either demons or war. Along with them went a lot of money as the few merchants that snatched the first shipments of weapons hurried to take their profits home before it was confiscated.
On Monday the King bought your weapons with gold from the treasury. On Tuesday, you were accused of being an enemy spy, and the gold was confiscated back into the treasury. Wednesday, the gold was used to hire soldiers and mercenaries, Thursday your army marched to war, Friday and Saturday they fought, on Sunday the King’s trusted men would loot the dead’s pouches to retrieve the coins, then literally lather, rinse the caked blood and grime, then repeat.
If they told me they were doing that to control the population I’d be more inclined to believe them rational. But not. Next Monday, another merchant had more weapons and armor, some of them second-hand. The Kingdom was a dozen thousand able hands poorer, but some grievance or insult was paid for in blood. By people who had nothing to do with the original slight.
It was inevitable that some idiot would try to go after my own church and clergy. One day, I heard desperate prayers from one such church near this coastal city.
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Rune Scriber (**) [ 327 / 360 ]. Select 1 Ability.
* Runic Spellcasting: Engrave runes in your spell circles, increasing spell efficiency by (P/5)%
Silkweaver (*) [ 427 / 461 ]. Select 1 Ability.
* Tensile Threads: (P/2)% stretchier and harder to snap.
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In the Ethereal world, I few about twenty times the speed of sound relative to the ground in the Material world toward the distress prayer I heard. I arrived to see the temple in a remote farming village besieged by soldiers. From what I heard, they wanted to loot the church and move on.
I bolstered my priests with Divinity. It granted them a major boost to all Attributes, especially Endurance, Mind, Magic, and Faith as it related to my Domains. They gained part of my insight into Force magic and barriers, erecting might shields to protect the church and the believers that took refuge inside from the attacking forces.
Minutes later, a sonic boom followed by random streaks of lightning coursing around the sky and landing on the church’s shield announced my arrival. The lightning bolts that struck the shield resonated with my own Divine power within and arced gently around the shield, reinforcing it and taking control of the spell from the weary priests. It formed a cage, another layer of angry protection around the church and flying the soldiers off the temple grounds at the same time they were thoroughly fried. Only the smallest ashes and embers remained behind as the dead bodies went to my item box and the souls were devoured by Pandora by my side.
Then it was Nenandil’s turn. While the fairy was more than happy to watch on the sidelines and just idle around when I had everything under control, this time she wanted to vent her own anger. The elder water fairy summoned giant jagged icicles that were more related to icebergs than the gentle ice stalactites forming from morning dew. They were sharp and ridiculously cold, well below minus two hundred in most temperature scales. They descended, trailing cold white clouds as the very moisture in the air lost kinetic energy to empower the water comets.
They crashed and finally revealed their flimsy inner structures. Nenandil’s icicle-bergs weren’t fully solid but just a collection of ice blades loosely attached to each other by thin strands of ice. Once it hit the ground, they shattered into millions of ice that flew in every which direction, skewering the soldiers and freezing their blood solid where ice met flesh.
I poured more Energy into a Force Wall spell, encasing the army just like I did with the Rogues. Eighty million points as the barrier trapped whoever thought to exercise the best part of valor and hightail it away from me.
Then I used a few of my Pixie Perks.
> * Sky-bond (rare): You draw power from the open sky. While under the sky canopy, you recover resources 50% faster.
> * Storm-bond (very rare): You draw power from storm clouds. While under storm clouds, your physical attacks deal 100% more damage and spells have 100% more range and effect.
> * Thundercaller (very rare): Whenever clouds dot the sky in your line of sight, you may call upon its power to bring down Elemental Thunder. Increase the effects of all Lightning and Weather magic related to thunder by 100%.
> * Stormcaller (very rare): Whenever you are under the open sky, you may call upon storm clouds to do your bidding. Increase the effects of all Weather magic related to rain or storms and its secondary effects by 100%
> * Stormbound (ultra-rare): When you cast a Lightning spell underneath a stormy sky in your Lightning Elemental Form, you only pay 20% of the spell’s Energy cost. Each Lightning strike originates from the sky, strikes your form, and then goes onto its intended target. Increase Accuracy, Damage, and Effects of Lightning magic by 100%.
> * Stormborn (ultra-rare): If you have enough room overhead, you can summon thunderclouds even underground.
> * Lightning-Infused Manastorm (Unique): Your Manastorm now takes upon the properties of Primal Lightning. Increase the effects and range by 100%.
> * Windspeaker (rare): You can project your voice through the winds, reaching great distances. Multiply the range you can be heard by a factor of 100 in a single direction, or 20 in all directions.
>
> Windspeaker worked with {Silent Voice} as it was not actually telepathy but a form of whispering. Infusing Primal Lightning in the Manastorm meant the latter now enjoyed the resistance-piercing abilities of the former.
>
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I set the church as the {Eye of the Manastorm} and sent another huge chunk of my Energy pool into the storm clouds gathering above. Like an hourglass made of ionized air, a cone of lightning came from all sides of the clouds above toward me, then spread out over the battlefield, arcing around the metallic items carried by the attacking army, melting weapons and armor into slag and cooking the men and women inside their own protective gear. Soldier, officer, support personnel, even the janitor, none was spared.
But this time I kept the souls around me as I went to finish the high-leveled officers who resisted the onslaught for a few minutes longer than their subordinates. I waited for the ground to dissipate the accumulated electrical charge and willed the thunderclouds to disperse, making way to a stark blue sky and a shining sun.
Finally, I regrew the vegetation around the temple grounds, making it look like an oasis of greenery amidst an ocean of ashes and vitrified ground. Only then I dropped the barriers.
Materializing the legion of dead soldiers around me, I made my statement to the winds, boosting my vocal volume with magic. It reached hundreds of kilometers. “Hear me and take heed of my warning, people of the Scorched Continent. While your misbegotten Gods may have abandoned you, the Matriarch still protects her flock. Strike one of my priests or my believers if you wish to bring doom to your country. I forbid any Kingdom from conscripting a person wearing my Holy Symbol. I forbid any of my priests to take part in wars, though they may use their discretion to help wounded soldiers away from the battlefield or shelter refugees. To any King foolish enough to disrespect my mandate, know that your crown, castle, and skull will become part of my collection.”
I infused my words with a {Royal Order}. That allowed me to filter the thousands upon thousands of messages I got to count how many Royals my voice had reached. I grinned as the query returned several dozen kingdoms.
Down on the pristine emerald grass of the temple, the refugees and priests groveled and worshiped the Matriarch. I flew down to meet them.
“Great Matriarch! The Goddess’ Right Hand, Lady Nenandil. We are forever thankful for your assistance in our time of need,” the head wolf-kin [Priest] clamored.
I got a wall of text telling me everyone present had gained a ton of Faith, including unlocking the Attribute for the commoners. I also noticed that many of them were still wounded.
“I heard your prayers and came. You deserve a rest from this struggle. Here,” I made my will manifest and the red torii gate opened before them. “Enter one of my many gardens, those that desire a moment of respite. Carry the wounded with you.”
They crossed over into the meadow my {Sanctuary Gates} led to. Followed by the throng of ghosts, Nenandil and I flew in after the last of them and I spent a lot of my Energy healing them. Once everyone was as hale as the day they were born, I raised a mighty tree and sought refuge in its crown with Nenandil. And the ghosts.
“Those of you that were drafted into this stupid war against your will, step forward,” I commanded the specters. “You will be given a Choice (capital C). Worship me, pledge your souls to me and you shall be reborn and join the living in the meadow below. Refuse my offer and no harm shall come to you. You’ll just move on to the afterlife.”
As the support personnel, [Farmers], [Artisans], and other foot soldiers chose either option, I sent them on their way. Next, I dealt with the regular career troops and officers.
“You willingly attacked my temple. I care not for what stupid fanaticism drove you to do so. Your Kings and Queens will soon taste my wrath. Those that, with an open heart, swear eternal service to me will become silk golems under my command and spend eternity atoning for your crimes. Those that do not will become fodder to strengthen my believers.”
The rank-and-file succumbed to the scare tactics and accepted to become one with the holy cloth and inhabit lesser bodies made of living silk. I didn’t waste time or gemstones making them the finest enchanted bodies I could like I did to [Archmage] Marlowe and [King] Vanagon of Saegalla, although the latter was happily living his second life in the flesh. These foot soldiers would become servants or guards, forever watching over my properties or keeping them clean. Should they give outstanding service over centuries, I would review their standing and maybe grant them a new life. But that was in the far future.
The others, the noble knights and high-ranked officials would serve me in another capacity. They had levels and were worth a lot of Exp, especially for the people resting in the meadow below.
As I introduced the new converts and silk servants to the flock and saw them accepted with open arms just for my endorsement, I created a hidden stone chamber underneath the roots of the grass. I ordained several new [Priests] among the refugees who had gained the highest Faith scores. A [Priest] eventually paid back its initial investment in Divinity and those that started with Faith unlocked and several points in the Attribute were AAA stocks.
With all pieces in place, I teleported to the chamber and assigned everyone above as my Exp share group before I started the murder-feast. Like I’d done several times before, the nobles and officers were painlessly killed and brought back to life, losing levels but granting a boatload of Exp to the people above. When I returned to the meadow, the priests I’d recently ordained were above level 100.
I saw that several of the refugees branched into new Paths inspired in my domains. A lot of [Paladins], [Guardians], [Scholars], and [Architects] had appeared along with other more common Classes. With their help, we revitalized the fields around the church and walled them off.
The next day, I was off to collect a few more crowns for my collection.