By now, the square was almost empty of players, and Jandri led Langa to one of the stalls in the transportation bay. They passed by a rank that had some strange carriages, with a lot of people milling about there. The stall that he was led to was quite large, and it resembled a kraal. In different stalls, each separated by a large metal barrier, were different types of animals. The one that Jandri led him to had all sorts of large bird creatures perched in nests. These were actual birds, not birdkin. Langa was no avian specialist, so he could not name many of the birds' species. She led him towards one of the nests, and there sat the largest falcon that Langa had ever seen. It was the size of two human males, with blue feathers, dark horizontal bars on its chest, and a dark head with thick sideburns. Its brown eyes watched Langa as it stood to full height, and Jandri gently patted its head.
"Isn't he a cutie? The other players went down by lucent carriage, but as our resident Ranker, you should go down to the Valley of Guardians in style, don't you think?" Jandri said with a broad grin.
"Sure, it should be fun!" Langa also grinned in excitement. He was a runner, after all, chasing speed was one of his favourite things to do. How fast would a giant falcon flying in the sky go? After his last accident speeding on a motorcycle, his sister had forbidden him from ever riding on one again, but he was sure that this was going to be a million times different.
"Just hold onto my waist, and don't fall," Jandri advised him. The falcon squatted down to allow them to climb onto the saddle on its back, and this was the strangest experience of Langa's life. He held on to Jandri's waist as instructed, and the falcon took off.
As Langa soared through the sky on the giant falcon's back, the cold mountain air pushed against his face, and if he had not been wearing a headband, his dreadlocks would have been flowing in the wind. The striking landscape beneath the series of mountains came into view as the falcon flew further down, and Langa realised that there was no flat land in this province. Was the whole world, the whole Floor, just a series of mountains and valleys? He had no answer to that, and decided to just enjoy the ride as he would have time to explore this whole place later. The falcon's wings were graceful against the wind, and Langa was in awe at the rush of speed. He could definitely get used to this. He wanted to ask Jandri where he could get his own falcon so that he could go joyriding as much as he wanted.
Right now, he felt almost at one with nature, and daringly, he let go of Jandri’s waist and raised his hands into the air. Nothing was tethering him to the falcon now, it wasn't like it had seatbelts. With his hands spread like this and his eyes closed, he could pretend that he was the one flying in the sky. He could feel the raging wind on his face as the falcon picked up even more speed, and the excitement made his heartbeat start to speed up until he could feel the pulse thudding against his neck. He opened his eyes, and the world seemed to slow down, allowing him to experience the beauty of the trees lining the mountainsides, the caves scattered along the bottom of the mountains and the cliffs at the edge of the mountains in slow motion. Truly, the Creator outdid herself when creating this place. Ah, his attribute was truly excellent, even for mundane things like appreciating the beauty of nature.
[The Kwara Orisha Clan goddess: Mother of The Nine Winds And Storms, is watching you with interest.]
[The Kwara Orisha Clan god: Progenitor of The Neverdying Spirits of Time, is wondering if he should offer you a challenge]
[Various deities of time would like to know more about your attribute]
[The Diverse Vodun Pantheon god: Xêbioso; Vodun of Thunder and Speed, shows some interest in you.]
Langa was forcefully brought back to normal time by his head throbbing in pain. It had only been a second or two, and his stamina had been drained rapidly. He still had no control over his attribute, and yet he already had all these gods watching him. They had broken his concentration, ending his connection to his attribute. He did not know how often they communicated like this, but if they did this in the middle of battle, then it could be a problem.
"Um, great deities, I appreciate you guys watching me, but... can you only communicate when you have something important to say? I mean no disrespect, but deities from my world were generally silent, and people were left to interpret their teachings however they wanted, so you guys communicating like this is overwhelming for me," he said. The wind swallowed his words, but they were deities, he was sure that they heard him. He'd asked them politely, so hopefully they would oblige.
As the falcon descended the mountain, an intricate series of caves filled with lots of people could be seen on the mountainside. The string of mismatched caves resting against the mountainside created an atmosphere that added to the beauty of nature in this place. The falcon descended even lower, until the Valley of Guardians also came into view, below the mountains.
“We’re here,” Jandri said, as the falcon prepared to land.
They landed on some sort of barn, and a young man in Guardians uniform arrived to take the falcon away. Langa followed Jandri into the area known as the Valley of Guardians. Nestled between three large towering mountains, the dark valley was spread in the deep ground, with a series of cave dwellings embracing the rugged cliffs, looking almost like bird nests. Langa supposed that was what they were, since most of the inhabitants of this province were birdkin. The caves and simple homes were all over the valley, where it seemed that communities thrived amidst falling waterfalls and lush vegetation. The first thing that Langa did after landing was to bind his soul to the Valley of Guardians since it was a safe zone. If he died, he would respawn here.
It appeared that the Guardians had led the other new players down to this valley during the time that Langa had been talking to Alfsol, and, true to their word, they were helping the players to settle in and get used to this place, at least for the first seven days. The players were being ushered into small caves near the entrance to the valley. The other players whispered and pointed at Langa as Jandri led him past their caves. He could see that most players had been placed in threes or fours in a single cave, yet he was led past all those tiny caves. They were all envious that he was getting special treatment, but they really couldn't complain since they had failed to make the top ten.
Jandri finally stopped in front of one of the mountains. There was a large wooden gate that seemed to be sculpted straight into the bottom of the mountain. Once she stopped, she raised the hand with her comcer and tagged it against a small screen that was part of the gate, and it opened up.
"Welcome to the Guardians Guild's 1st Floor Headquarters," she said, proudly stepping in.
Langa whistled. She had a right to be proud of this place. It looked like someone had dug a whole village underneath the mountain, filled with streets made of strange white rock, and houses made of bricks. All the people that Langa could see going about their business were wearing the Guardians' uniform, and most stopped to bow, and greet Jandri as she passed them by. They glanced at Langa curiously, but they did not ask him anything. This seemed like a peaceful residential area, and people were busy with various activities like cleaning, closing up shops and stalls, and marching down the streets in their uniforms.
It seemed like the Guardians Guild treated its members very differently from new players because these brick houses were layered and bigger than the caves, yet there were even fewer people living here than on the outside. The wolfkin led him towards the central area of the village, to the largest building in the whole place. Most of the uniformed Guardians were marching towards that building. It looked like this was the guildhall, as Langa could see a massive training area outside of it, with people in there occupied with various training exercises. It was much bigger than the training rooms back in the tutorial.
Langa honestly could not believe that any of this was happening. It was weird to think that they were literally under a mountain, with no sun, but it was not dark in these rocky streets. There was a large, bright white crystal hanging on thin air in the centre of the village, and it seemed to provide the whole place with light. It looked like an artificial sun inside a mountain and it was not connected to anything and was suspended in the air. Langa was sure that some physicist somewhere would cry out in rage at this phenomenon. Colourless crystalline rocks that looked like they had fluid inside of them were also all over the streets, and Langa realised that whenever they passed them, he could breathe easier. This place was inside a mountain, so it should have been much harder to breathe.
They entered the guildhall, a large stone building, with an entrance hall inside that had various counters with people sitting there, working and attending to clients. As Jandri ushered him in, Langa noticed that right next to the entrance was a large board. The board was split into sections, with various Guardians looking at the section that listed a bunch of quests. The other section of the board displayed various faces of people with their names, associations, last known levels, and an amount of money listed below them, as well as the words: Wanted: Dead or Alive.
Wanted Posters? He knew that the Guardians were basically like the Tower police, or at least the military, so that must mean that all the people listed here were criminals who broke the laws of the Tower. He wondered what kind of punishment criminals were given in the Tower. Were there prisons that could hold people like Kindaro, who could control other people's minds?
"Nice headquarters. I guess it pays to be sponsored by the deity who owns the Tower," Langa said to Jandri.
She rolled her eyes and turned to look at him. "It's not like that. The Unrivalled One is the guild's patron deity, but she doesn't sponsor us. I mean, all members of the Guardians are Blessed by her, but we're not bound to her, she generally doesn't sponsor players, except for Guardian Knights of Order. Our guild master is The Unrivalled's only Avatar in this Tower. The rest of us are sponsored by other deities, we just also have The Unrivalled's Blessing."
Wow, their guild master had to be someone special to be chosen and sponsored by The Unrivalled. So, this meant that even if he decided to join the Guardians, he could still be bound to another deity while having the Blessing of The Unrivalled. That was something to note for later. He still didn't know what the difference between an Avatar and a Blessed One was. He silently followed Jandri up the stairs, through a corridor that seemed to be filled with several rooms where guests of the guild would reside, until she stopped in front of a door with a small screen in front of it. These strange opaque screens seemed to be everywhere on the 1st Floor, and Langa wondered what exactly they were.
"This will be your room. You can stay as long as you need to, provided that you help us out in the valleys," Jandri said. "Tag your comcer against the door's lucent tile, it'll recognise your mana signature whenever you have to come back in."
Langa did as she said, copying what she had done before and the door opened. Inside, there was a burrowed-in open-plan room with a large bed, and a wooden desk with one of those opaque ceramic screens, or lucent tiles as they were apparently called. Next to the bed was a colourless crystal, like those in the streets outside. There was also what looked like a fireplace, except instead of wood, there were large red rocks on there. The room was also lit up by a white fluid-filled crystal on the ceiling...er, if he could call the shiny rocky roof above the room a ceiling. There was also a bathroom, with a large hollow rock for a bathtub, and next to it were two of those fluid-filled crystalline rocks, one red, and one blue. The toilet was also a pit-like structure, with a toilet seat on top of it and a covering made of material that Langa had never seen before. The room was quite decent, especially because Langa had spent the past seven days sleeping on a mattress in a run-down town hall.
Jandri showed him a wooden cupboard in the bathroom that was filled with small crystalline stones of various colours that looked kind of like little diamonds or rhinestones. "I've seen a lot of those crystalline rocks of different colours and sizes around; what are they?" Langa asked her when she finished showing him around the room.
"Oh, right, I forgot that you are not from a natural world. The bigger ones that you see are enchanted lucent crystals, and they are enchanted to absorb, store, and process different types of mana disciplines, depending on which discipline they are attuned to. The white ones absorb light mana and emit it depending on what the enchantment on them says. The large white one that you saw outside is a rare lucent crystal that provides light to our entire valley. The red ones are attuned to fire mana, while the blue ones are attuned to water mana and the colourless ones air. The smaller ones are the common lucent stones, we use them to recharge the lucent crystals whenever they run out of mana. This room is already attuned to your mana signature, so you just have to infuse the lucent crystals with your mana for them to turn on," Jandri explained.
Langa nodded, thinking about why the hell they did not just use electricity like normal people. Wait, would lightning lucent crystals emit electricity then? He guessed it was much more convenient to use light lucent crystals than to use electricity for lighting in that case. "Alright, I got it, I must use the lucent stones to charge up the lucent crystals," Langa said.
He was surprisingly a bit excited to figure out how these crystals worked and what use beyond household items they had. It also answered an important question for him. His glaive's description stated that it could be recharged with rare lightning-lucent stones, so now he finally knew what those were. Although these were common, he would have to find the rare ones somehow. It would probably cost money, and he had no job, and only 11 silver coins in his inventory. He supposed that he could go out and hunt monsters to earn some coins, but he sincerely hoped that whatever offer the Guardians had for him was more exciting.
"Okay, I'll figure out the rest on my own," he said turning back to Jandri. "Moving on, you guys are giving me special treatment plus these nice digs, so what do you want from me?"
At this, Jandri raised her eyebrows, as if surprised. "What do you mean?"
"Please don't treat me like a child, I'm not new to politics. I went to media training before I even turned fifteen, so I know when I'm being buttered up. There's no way that you're being this nice to me just because I'm a part of the top ten, or to motivate the other players. I even said that I'm not joining your guild just yet, and you're still giving me the VIP treatment. Hell, I even got your deputy guild master's personal contact information. You obviously want something from me. What is it?" he asked impatiently.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Langa would rather have things straightforward so that he knew what was expected of him before he decided to stay here. If he did not like whatever they wanted him to do, he would rather go and stay outside the village in the caves with the other players. He was in a new world, lost with no goals, ambitions or dreams. He needed to figure himself out, and what he wanted beyond finding his family and killing Fi Kindaro III.
There were a hundred different directions that he could go, and trying each and everything would bore him, he knew that much about himself. Once Langa got bored of something, he stopped trying his best, put in zero effort and allowed himself to stagnate. This was not his world, so he wanted to change and grow from that, but first, he needed to have something that stimulated him and excited him to the point of making him want to work hard. He hoped that the Guardians would point him in the right direction.
"Alright," Jandri laughed. "We do actually have an offer for you, and it will be beneficial to both you and our guild, according to what Khalifahri saw in your fate. Do you know what voidents are?"
Again with the fate stuff? Langa shook his head. "Just that nobody likes them."
The only thing he really knew was that Fi Kindaro wanted something called a Void Diamond because it would give him power. He was interested in what Jandri had to offer now.
"Well, you can look up the details later, but the gist of it is that they are those who disrupt order in the Tower. To stop the spread of corruption, a delicate balance has to be maintained between the principles of life, death, chaos and order. Voidents use unauthorised void magic in the Tower, by using mortal sacrifices, maestril sacrifices, amongst other terrible things, to create Void Gems that steal stamina, mana and karma from mortals. Somehow by making more sacrifices to feed the Void Gem until it reaches a higher rank, the voidents can harness the power of corruption. It's truly complicated, and what I said is an oversimplification. Basically, all you need to know is that they upset the balance in a way that breaks The Unrivalled's Tower laws," she explained.
Yeah, he would research more on that later. But her explanation triggered a question that he'd had from the very beginning and hadn't found an answer to. This was the reason why Earth had experienced a Void Eruption, and he wanted to know more about it. "What is corruption?"
Jandri shrugged. "I can't tell you everything because The Great Quartenity only allows those who take The Infinite Challenge to know the truth about corruption. It's a passive phenomenon that affects all creation, and it's not bad if it exists in balance with creation. The phenomenon has been studied for trillions of years across the multiverse, but no one seems to have an answer on how to stop it's rampant spread. Ever since I began the Infinite Challenge, I've learned what causes it, and all the measures taken by The Quartenity to prevent Rampant Corruption. All I can tell you is that it eats away at everything and can only be contained by the Void and the Tower. That's why there is a set amount of Void dungeons, maestril rifts, and fields that harness chaos in the Towers, to maintain that balance,” she paused. “I'm sure The Great Quartenity could vaporise and destroy all mortals who harness the power of corruption, but they give us free will. All playstyles are allowed, and mortals are free to sin, they'll just get punished for it. Trust me, the Roving Arcane Carcere is a terrible place to be imprisoned in."
That didn't make much sense to Langa, and he added it to the list of things that he needed to research. He wondered if those Void Gems were similar to his Void Star, did that make him a voident now? No, he hadn't sacrificed anything, the Void Star had been a reward for completing the hidden objective of the final tutorial quest.
"We got sidetracked. What I wanted to tell you about was the voidents." Jandri walked over to the lucent tile on the desk and tagged it with her comcer. "This lucent tile is connected to our database on the Dent. You can find it under Player and NPC offered quests."
A picture of a young male goblinkin appeared on the tile. His skin was dark green, with a large scar on his forehead, and he had a nasty look on his face.
[Wanted: Dead or Alive
Name: Grion Fidser
Designation: F-rank voident
Class: Seismic Shifter
Affiliation: Accari Crows
Last known level: 11
Bounty: 15 Silver]
"This goblinkin has taken over a level 5 to 9 hunting field in Theria's Hollow, about 100 kilometres from here, and he is holding that entire valley hostage with his gang. The NPCs in the safe zone that is surrounded by that hunting field can't leave Theria's Hollow; they can't eat or get any supplies without paying a toll to him. He has taken over the two dungeons in that area, as well as a small lucent stone mine. Even though he and his red NPCs can't go into the village as it is a safe zone, they still own the surrounding yellow zones around the village. Besides, he has a bunch of neutral associates working for him inside the village,” she informed him. “From the reports, it seems like he's forcing the villagers to mine for him or get sacrificed for his Void Gem. He is keeping the entire valley of Theria's Hollow isolated using an F-rank Void Pearl. We need you to capture him for us and record it.”
This was puzzling to Langa, he'd thought that they needed him for something that they could not do, but this was a pretty simple task. He frowned, were they testing him? "You're like the Tower police, aren't you? You're all at level 25 from what I saw when I tried to scan you, so I don't see how it would be an issue to capture one level 11 player and his goons. You don't need me for this. Is this some kind of test or something, because, let me tell you, I hate being manipulated?"
"No one is manipulating you. You're a high-ranking newbie, we would recruit you, no questions asked if you wanted. The problem is that the laws of the Tower prohibit mortals from fighting against someone ten or more levels, or in the higher levels, a Tier, below them. The lower-level mortal will be protected by an impenetrable shield, and the higher-level mortal will suffer up to like 300 or 400% backlash damage unless the lower-level mortal attacks first," Jandri explained.
She looked at him thoughtfully. “Most of our players are higher level, and when we come down to the first ten Floors, the system keeps our levels locked at 25, which is the maximum level for the Ground Storey. Unfortunately, in the Guardians, we don't have a lot of players below level 25, it is mostly NPCs, so the gangs in the lower Floors have wisened up, keeping themselves below level 15, making it hard for us to attack them. We can't exactly force our newer Guardians to stay below level 15, everyone wants to grow stronger."
Oh, that made sense, he supposed. This was probably why Alfsol wanted the new players to work hard and be motivated so that the Guardians could recruit them. It seemed that the rule had been created to protect lower-level players from being bullied by the higher levels, however, criminals were now abusing this part of the system. Langa was mildly interested. Would fighting voidents be more exciting than fighting monsters? "Okay, tell me more about this guy."
"Grion Fidser is an NPC, and he used to be a miner in Theria's Hollow. I don't know what happened or who got to him, but he joined the Accari Crows and started recruiting people into the gang, and they all rapidly started gaining levels. He and his subordinate even got into Tier 1," Jandri told him. "A couple of weeks ago, they erected a void veil over the village and the mine, and they made demands, threatening to attack any supply carriages that came into the valley, so we know the villagers are starving. The Accari Crows are selling lucent stones from the mine on the auction site, and according to our network, Fidser had a falling out with his guild master and struck it big a day ago. He found a C-Rank skill book, and he is trying to sell it on the Dent auction site without informing the Accari Crows leadership. The auction ends in two days, so we have to get him before then. When he gets the money, he might just run off because his bosses won't take his embezzlement well."
"Can I keep the skill, if I find it?" Langa asked.
"Sure, as long as it hasn't been sold yet. But I don't know what skill it is. Since they got it in the mine, it’s probably just a mining skill," she shrugged.
Langa understood now why the Guardians were treating him well. They needed him to catch this guy before he got his money and ran off somewhere else, and they were on a time crunch. "Okay, but what makes you think that I can defeat this guy? I'm only level 10. Isn't fighting mortals harder than fighting monsters? I've never fought against a mortal before."
"You can, you're in the top five of your batch, Langa, you're talented."
If someone had said that to him back on earth, Langa would have agreed. He'd known that he was talented, and he had proved it time and again on the track. But it was different here, he was no one, a newbie from a lost world, lacking in both information and training. "How do you know that I wasn't just lucky?" he asked her.
"Luck is also a talent," Jandri said. "You don't have to worry. It's not like we are using you. We'll pay you the bounty, and if you fight well, the deities watching you will be impressed, allowing you to gain a good sponsor maybe. Many guilds look at the videos on the Dent when they want to recruit new players. If you record yourself, we will upload your recording onto the Dent for you, so you can capitalise on saving Theria's Hollow to raise your worth. We can make you look like a hero, Langa."
He was admittedly tempted. The thought of joining one of the top guilds and living a leisurely life in the Tower while being supported by them while he lazed around doing whatever he wanted was appealing. He would probably have to go and hunt some voidents now and then, but he felt like if he was skilled, he would be able to do whatever he wanted in his free time and look for his family. However, he did not know if he wanted to go back to a life of being in the public eye, it just brought too much bullshit to his peaceful life. Being a hero sounded like too much pressure, with people piling expectations on him. He just wanted to live freely, doing what he wanted without living for anyone else. He had already given too much of his life to living for his family.
"I'm not interested in being a hero."
"Then we can make you look like a villain if that's what you want. There are plenty of guilds that like those types of players. The Guardians don't care if you break the Floor's laws, as long as you don't become a voident or break the Tower's laws, you can be a villain, even a red player, and still freelance for us," she told him with a shrug. “I mean Black Fist Na’koma is an unstable and out-of-control killer but I’d be a fool to deny that he's the best damn voident hunter outside of the Guardians.”
"I just want to find my family. Can't you guys just post on the forums and search for them?" This was all that he cared about right now.
But Jandri shook her head.
"Listen, the Dent isn't regulated by The Unrivalled like the system is. It's a network, a mass of endless mana signatures. You can only directly contact people privately on their comcers if you've both exchanged mana signatures, so that is safe. But on the forums, anyone can be anyone. It's too risky. You can get a decent Seer to try and divine their location. Our best Seer is currently stuck on the 6th Floor, so we can't help you there. Voidents hate our guild, and if they found out we were posting looking for your family, they would hunt them, just to spite us. If you, a verified top ten player, broadcast that you are looking for your family, you'd just be inviting vultures into your camp too. There are plenty of people with mind-reading and mind-control powers, they can pretend to be your family and tell you details that only your family will know. They'll scam you out of coins and karma," Jandri explained. "Any enemies you make could use certain skills to find your family, in order to get to you, thus, you searching for them publicly would put them in danger."
Damn it, it was almost exactly what Lady Mira had told him. He understood what she was saying, but, "I don't have any enemies." Except for Kindaro perhaps.
"It doesn't matter, even the smallest conflict can have dire consequences," she continued. "Mercenaries, adventurers, shamuses, hunters and many other classes may find your family and hold them hostage to get to you. Don't get me started on voidents. You don't need to provoke those types of people, Langa, just by being strong, being in the top ten—your very existence—is a provocation to some of them."
What the hell kind of world was this? Langa wanted to swear.
"In fact, it's all the more reason to work with us. If you hunt voidents, and we post your exploits on the Dent, your karma and reputation will increase. If you're good, word about you will spread on this, and every other Floor, and your family will know about you. Then, if you become famous on the Dent, they will be able to find you or find a way to reach you. Your account will be verified, so they will know that it is not a scam."
That was not something that Langa had considered. He had thought that his hopes of finding his family were dashed when Mira told him what a bad idea it was to post about searching for them on the forums. But, since his account was verified, they could be able to find him instead.
"Okay, I'll go after this Fidser guy, but only after I've done my own research into the voidents and stuff. However, I need a contract, or whatever is equivalent in this world," Langa said, coming to a decision. While he did not love the attention, he did not hate it either. If people thought that he was strong, then they were less likely to bother him. Plus he needed money, and part of him wanted to test his strength. "In return, you must help me search for my family."
"We'll give you a freelance contract once you produce results. If you need equipment, information and any other help, let me know, and I'll have it prepared for you," she told him.
But Langa shook his head. "I appreciate the special treatment, really I do. But if I accept equipment and items from you guys without working or earning them, that will reduce the karma I earn right? So, I'll let you know if I need something, but this much help is enough."
"Fair enough, you can never have enough karma, even deities fight divine wars for the smallest amount of karma. Rest for today. I'll have one of our lower-level guild members act as a guide for you from tomorrow." She pulled out three items from her inventory. One was a small clear crystal bracelet, the other a plain black amulet, and the third a plain black ring. "This doesn't count as extra help because these are necessary items when hunting voidents. Bind this crystal bracelet to your comcer. It's a vicomcer, it allows you to take videos and record yourself. These next two items are only to be used when you are carrying out your duties for us. This is a Deiform Amulet, you can use it to weaken and seal the voident's skills, and the Deiform Ring will help you dispel the effects of the Void Pearls. Just remember that at your level, these artefacts will only protect you against Void Pearls, not higher Void Gems."
He took the items from her, and she smiled at him and then left. He looked at the three items and then examined them.
[Standard Issue Vicomcer
A basic video recording device used in the tower. Must be bound to a comcer for activation.
Records up to 13 hours of footage at a time. Can only store 13 videos at a time.]
[Guardian's Deiform Amulet
Artefact Rank: Divine (The Unrivalled Tower Master)
Effects: Will drain both MP and Stamina when clasped onto a target's wrist.
-Marks the target with a soul brand that seals all active, passive and divine skills that a target holds. All branded targets, alive or dead, are teleported to The Roving Arcane Carcere for trial.
-Upon use, the amulet replicates, and a new one is retained by the user.
(Please note: This Divine Artefact can only be used by those Blessed by The Unrivalled Tower Master, or those authorised to do so by a Guardian Knight of Order. This Divine Artefact can only be used on those designated as voidents in the system.)
Currently effective against: F-Rank voidents only. This item only works on a voident whose movement has been incapacitated in some way. This can be due to an unconscious state, death or status effects that cause immobility like freeze or stun.]
[Guardian's Deiform Ring
Artefact Rank: Divine (The Unrivalled Tower Master)
Effects: Dispels unauthorised void magic when infused with enough mana, and protects the user from unauthorised void magic. The rank of void magic dispelled is dependent on the user's darkness resistance and MP.
-Casts a charge that drains karma from all Void Gems. The rank of Void Gems drained scales with the user's level. Currently effective against Void Pearls only.
(Please note: This Divine Artefact can only be used by those Blessed by The Unrivalled Tower Master, or those authorised to do so by a Guardian Knight of Order.)
Charges: 5/5]
Langa read the descriptions of the two artefacts and paused. He was not Blessed by The Unrivalled, so did that mean that he had been authorised to use these two items by the Guardian Knight? From the way everyone in the square had been awed, this Guardian Knight had to be powerful. He would ask Jandri about their guild master when he had time. For now, he lay down on the bed, wondering if working with the Guardians was the right choice to make. If his sister were here, she would probably shout at him for just going along with this. It was how he had lived his whole life, going with the flow, and he had been told many times that he lacked initiative. Langa never understood what the big deal was. He much preferred sitting back and letting others lead, so that he could be free, idly doing whatever he wanted without having to carry people's expectations.
He did not mind being used as a pawn to make the Guardians look good, as long as he earned money and gained enough karma to maintain his ranking. He could guess that it was an issue for the Guardians that they were failing to deal with low-level voidents, and if they could publish proof on the Dent that they had someone working with them who could take care of these voidents, it would probably raise people's confidence in them. He was no stranger to being in the spotlight, he'd been on sports shows, and he had done a few endorsement deals for energy drinks and trainer lines. Khaya always said that if he were not an athlete, he could have made a career just from modelling, but he did not care about that because he preferred to sit on the sidelines.
Besides, it was not like he was joining the Guardians, he was also using them to find his family and become stronger by fighting voidents, so that he could get his footing in this world. Voidents, huh? That was what Fi Kindaro III said he wanted to become in order to obtain power. If Langa wanted to stand against him, he needed to learn how these types of people fought, so that when he finally faced the bastard, he would have the upper hand.