Morkth Ruin, 5 Day Walk from Kebury
The search for the 3rd Death Knight remains fruitless. Always the same problems, missing body parts, weak, his achievements are not worthy of Utia's gift. Only being able to receive signs from my Patronus 4 times a month, only makes the search more difficult.
On the other hand, my troops managed to destroy 2 nests of those damn cockroaches. This will give me some leeway. I need more power. 100 years and I've only achieved half of my goals. At least, time is no longer my enemy. My troops do not need resources to maintain themselves, they do not need to train and they do not have the morale to lose, they wait eternally for my will.
Dralneh, my 1st Death Knight, enters my study room, through the door, which the eternal humidity of the swamp took away, a long time ago.
He wears armor made from the magically treated chitin of the strongest mantis warriors. His sword was made from a mantis scythe and enchanted by me with spells of preservation, hardness, sharpening and acid.
The two spheres of red fire, which are your eyes, stare at me.
“Master, your alliance proposal has been rejected again.” He says in his characteristic husky, ghostly Death Knight voice.
I cross my cadaverous hands, resting on the stone top of the table in front of me and rest my forehead against them. For the fourth time, this stupid death witch, refuses me. She doesn't see that we have the same goal, we both worship the same Goddess, both may death reign in this valley and beyond. She refused every gift I sent; gold, jewelry, slaves, even magical items she refused. What does this witch want?
#$%¨&$#@ @#$¨&*()(*&¨%$$%&*(
It appears in front of me.
So, something I haven't felt in over 200 years.
Pain...like...hot iron on raw flesh.
It was quick, but I felt it, it lasted less than 1 second.
Dralneh is in an attack stance with his sword drawn and his head searching for something.
“Dralneh, did you feel it?”
“Yesss, master. I don’t remember what that is, I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s something I didn’t like feeling.”
“Prepare the ritual room.” I get up from the chair and arrange my study materials in the office, then head to the room where I perform the divination spells.
When I arrive Dralneh has already packed up and is leaving.
I take the incense and precious stones from a shelf. I light the incense and break the stones in an iron mortar, I start to recite the Commune magic, then I ask the 1st question.
“Does anyone know about my plans?”
"NO"
2nd
“The blue thing, was it an attack?”
"NO"
3rd
“Was it magic?”
"NO"
4th
“Was it an act of the Gods?”
"NO"
5th
“Some extraplanar entity?”
“!@#$%”
The magic is undone before it ends, the connection with my Patronus, Iz' gak, demon of Death, is undone and a whiplash of energy throws me into the wall. The magic reeks of anger, very normal for a demon, but it also has fear. Interesting.
I get up and clean up the things that were thrown everywhere. I start another spell, cast Contact Other Plane and say my prayers to Utia. 1st question.
“Is the blue thing the work of a God?”
"NO"
2nd
“Is the blue thing the work of a mortal?”
"PERHAPS"
3rd
“Is this mortal close?”
"YES"
4th
“Is he from the snake people?”
"NO"
5th
“Is he undead?”
"PERHAPS"
6th
“Is he in the direction, North?”
"NO"
7th
“Is he in the direction, South?”
"NODE"
The magic ends.
Something deadly caused effects that reverberated even in the celestial spheres, capable of affecting the undead, but not divine or arcane. Nothing happened, no special eclipse, no comet ripped through the skies, today was a day like any other, no portents happened.
I get up and collect the items back into their niches, on the shelves in the stone walls of the ruin.
I head back to my study room thinking about what happened and the things I have to plan in the face of such strange events.
I have to organize two expeditions, one to the west and one to the east. To the west are the mountains that surround the valley, home to the bee people and the fire giants, neither capable of causing such a commotion. To the east are the cursed mantis and my sworn enemies are the serpent people. Maybe.
So a “screen” appears in front of me?
World Quest The Hunt for the True Core
The threat:
An anomalous entity, known only as the True Core, has emerged from the depths of the Valley of Shadows, coming from the beyond-verse, distorting reality and corrupting everything in its path. Its hunger is infinite and nothing will satisfy it, the True Core will consume living beings, dead beings, deities, objects, everything. There is no way to escape your debauchery and not even death brings the possibility of escape.
The mission:
The only hope lies in finding and destroying the True Core.
The journey:
• Phase 1: The Quest: Adventurers must travel throughout the world, collecting clues about the location of the True Core. This journey will take them to dangerous places, such as:
◦ Cursed forests
◦ Haunted ruins
◦ Ancestral temples
◦ Lost and wild continents
33% GOAL ACHIEVED
• Phase 2: The Purification: Adventurers must find and purify the corrupted. Each corrupted person requires a ritual combat to be purified:
◦ Combat: Face the corrupted who fanatically protect the True Core. Disintegrate is mandatory in the body of the corrupted.
66% GOAL ACHIEVED
• Phase 3: The Conquest: Adventurers finally find the True Core, but the final battle will be arduous. The entity manifests itself in its complete form, a grotesque and powerful creature, capable of manipulating life and death around it. Capable of assuming any form and controlling an endless number of corrupted creatures; living, dead and constructs. Victory will depend on the unity, strategy and strength of the adventurers.
100% GOAL ACHIEVED
Rewards:
• Defeat the True Core: Save the world from corruption and restore balance. PURGE and INTEGRATION INTO THE SYSTEM.
• Legendary Treasures: Obtain powerful artifacts and magical items such as weapons, armor, and healing items.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
• Recognition: Be recognized as a hero/herald and receive honors and rewards for your actions directly from the Gods.
Challenges:
• The True Core: The entity is adaptable and powerful, capable of changing its tactics and strengthening itself and learning over time, in its repertoire, magic that not even Gods can do on the material plane.
• Corruption: the True Core can corrupt adventurers, neither the purest and holiest, nor the vilest demon is immune to being dominated and controlled.
• Loneliness: The journey is lonely and dangerous, and adventurers may feel isolated and demoralized, but remember *&¨$#42@ will be guiding them.
Conclusions:
The journey to destroy the True Core is an epic challenge, one that will require courage, intelligence, and unity. The final battle will be a test of strength and determination, victory will depend on the adventurers' ability to overcome the challenges and work together to save the fabric of reality.
Prerequisite: Minimum level 15
Alignment: any
Class: any
Race: any
Accept: y/n
Timeout: ????
»»»???«««
I look at the floating image in front of me and slowly continue towards my office, without taking my eyes off the image in front of me. I go in, I take out a piece of parchment and I start to copy what is written. After considering benefits and risks.
"NO". I say.
The screen disappears.
I immediately feel the connection with my Patron being cut and a God Curse falls on me. Just like my connection with my servants.
Right from the corridor comes the laughter that portends that they are the “war cry” of the Death Knights.
Dralneh appears in the doorway wielding his sword, crackling with necrotic power and dripping acid across the stone floor, his body is surrounded by a shield of flames, he opens his mouth grotesquely and a ball of fire is thrown, my office turns into a sea of flames. Everything is incinerated, I watch as all my plans, books and some very precious tomes go up in flames. The magic passes through me but does not affect me. In personal combat and in a small, closed room, I don't have the lowest chance of winning 2 Death Knight, yes 2, I hear the heavy footsteps of Briven's armor, coming down the hall, running.
If I managed to destroy at least one of them, it will be less work in the future.
Without magic, betrayed by my Goddess and my Patron. An interesting twist.
Sitting and not getting up from the chair where I was until all this happened. I point my Ring Of The Ram and spend 3 charges, for Dralneh.
“RAM”
A ram's head of pure energy hits Dralneh in the chest and he flies through the threshold and hits the opposite wall, falling to the ground, his armor is all dented and splinters of his bones fly everywhere.
He gets up.
“RAM” + 3 charges.
Again he is thrown and falls.
Briven arrives in the corridor.
“RAM” +3 charges.
He joins his brother, a mess of bones and metal, on the floor.
“RAM”+3 charges.
Dralneh is destroyed, shards of his armor explode and his bones turn to dust. So much work, it took 50 years for me to find it. What a waste. Briven gets up.
“RAM”+3 charges.
The charges have run out.
He is thrown and again into the opposite wall. The ring crumbles into dust. It was interesting.
Briven gets up and jumps into the room laughing. His sword comes down and tears my clothes and cuts my bones, his first blow goes down through the collarbone to the middle of my torso, the second blow finishes the job, a 1/3 of my torso, along with my left arm, falls to the ground.
What does Prerequisite: Minimum level 15 mean?
Briven now, standing on the stone table, brings his sword down on my seated body, the room is a sea of fire and smoke. Finally, with 2 more sword strikes, my torso is separated from my legs and spins to the ground. How unworthy.
What does Alignment: any mean?
Briven gets down from the table and starts massacring my bones, which are scattered everywhere.
“magic that not even Gods can do on the material plane.” Who would be crazy to accept this “quest”.
What is quest?
10 days and I will go after this so-called True Core, we have common enemies now.
And I see the sword descending into what remains of my skull.
V.1 Subchapter – ADM 42
Finally, after Eons, as an assistant, I was appointed system administrator, and I took over sector 42. It's not a position that most people like or stay in for long. 42 is the integration sector, where the system's seeds are collected, analyzed, harvested, processed and incorporated. This is where most people go to other sectors. Integration usually causes a lot of deaths until the system stabilizes, many souls to be processed, the mana is out of control and until it settles in the meridians, it's a lot of work. Unlike positions 22-6, which are the stabilized universes, where the mana flows like a mighty but calm river, easy work.
Everything was normal in SEED 336-THX-1135, I left it on automatic and went to have a coffee, then my paige cheered, I really like my paige, they have personality and charm, better than cell phones, or collar PINs and certainly more discreet than the old Will-o'-the-wisp. The automated system opened a ticket. I turned off the paige, finished my coffee, a very good thing coming from the harvest world 79566-JJK-0007, most of our travelers come from there, they call the travelers, Isekai.
I go back to my sector and open the ticket.
“Hmmmm” The automated system couldn't handle the problem and threw it into containment. I open containment and analyze the problem. It seems that the seed was still young and the traveler had chosen to be reborn as a dungeon core, he was supposed to have gone to a mature system. There is no such option for dungeon cores yet, in seeds during the integration process. Ahhhh that explains it, this traveler had been in the collection for a while already, he had made very specific requests, which, incredible as it may seem, this seed had all these requirements.
- It had to be the 1st isekai
- Be a dungeon core
- Not a cultivation world
- Not Xianxia
- No progression
- Be a cloak and dagger fantasy
- Have magic
- D20 system
How demanding.
But even so, he shouldn't have gone.
Haaammm, what do you mean the locks were removed, he has ADM access!!! This is going to be a real pain when they find out who did this.
Ok, first of all we have to remove him from the seed and do a registry cleanup.
I'm going to create a system Cleanup Quest.
Ok.
Now just in case.
Adm 42 opens the auction screen where travelers are selected by their respective sectors. He's on the screen and practically all of them can't be used by their sector. Only one couple remains who have no restrictions. They've been up for auction since 1979, reference date of the harvest world 79566-JJK-0007. What year is the harvest world 79566-JJK-0007? 2024.
Almost half a century of mortal time
I open their file.
Kawada Shinji and Maeda Shinji.
Japanese.
Twin brothers.
14 years old.
High school students.
Killed in a bus accident that fell off a cliff, drunk driver.
Virgins.
They are not good at anything.
They are not good-looking.
They are not part of any club.
They have never kissed on the mouth.
No demands.
Very Vanilla.
If you only have a hammer, every problem becomes a nail.
I reserve the 2 for sector 42.
Let's go to the reincarnation room:
The wind howled, whipping the trees that surrounded the old cemetery. The moon, a silvery and icy disk, cast long and distorted shadows over the tombstones, creating a sinister and ghostly scene. It was in this place, where the darkness seemed to hold on tighter, that two high school students, Kawada and Maeda, met.
Kawada, a tall and thin boy with a restless look, observed the fog that accumulated around them, while Maeda, his female version, held an old leather-bound book. It was this book, found in an old antique shop, that she had been reading on the school bus.
Suddenly, the air became dense and cold, and a blue-green glow began to form in the center of the cemetery. The mist stirred, revealing a tall, slender figure with red eyes that shone brightly. The entity, with a voice that seemed to echo from a distant place, spoke:
“You have been called.”
Kawada and Maeda looked at each other, fear written all over their faces.
“Who are you?” Kawada asked, his voice trembling.
“Oh, I’m sorry!" Says the tall, slender figure with red eyes and with a gesture the scene changes, they are now in an all-white environment, a sofa appears out of nowhere and hits the back of their knees, making them fall sitting down, the sofa is very soft and smells like “vacation”.
“Forget what you saw before, it was from the previous administration.” The figure has also changed, now it is grandpa wearing a simple white cotton kimono.
“I am the Guardian, and this is the portal to another world. You have been chosen for a mission.”
The entity extended his hand, and a portal of light opened before them, revealing a starry sky and an unknown landscape.
“What should we do?” Maeda asked, fear giving way to curiosity.
“You will protect this world, and we will protect you.”
“We?” Kawada asks.
“Yes, I will send people to help you in your mission.”
Kawada and Maeda ask at the same time.
“Why us?”
“Where are we?”
“Did we die?”
“Dad and Mom?”
“Are you God?”
The Guardian extends a hand upward.
“Why us? Because you are special.”
“Where are we? In the afterlife.”
“Did we die? Unfortunately, yes.”
“Dad and Mom? They are fine, as far as people who lost both their children at the same time and in a tragic way and no, you can't get in touch with them.”
“Are you God? No, and I'm not the devil either.”
Maeda starts to cry and Kawada hugs her.
From inside her kimono she takes out 2 tablets and gives them to the brothers.
They look at the Guardian and the tablet in a dazed way.
The Guardian touches his finger to the forehead of the 2 and transfers knowledge of the device and how to use it.
“On these tablets are all the options you can choose in your next life, analyze them calmly and discuss them among yourselves. Don't worry about time, food, drink or anything like that, but I will send tea and cookies so you can have some comfort. When you finish your choices I will come back.” I leave the room.
Ok, backup plan ready.
Now we just have to wait and see if the quest will work.