Darkness filled the air, and an essence surrounded Langa. His eyes were closed, but that malevolent essence was digging into his very being, and all he wanted to do was push it away.
<
The essence pulled Langa violently. He tried to resist, but he soon discovered that he didn't have a body. It was an alarming feeling, because in this place, wherever he was, he only existed as karma. His karma was barely a speck of dust compared to the karma in the essence surrounding him.
The essence laughed derisively. <
[??? has offered you the divine skill: ???'s Corrupted Brand of Attribute Consumption
Accept: Y/N]
Langa wondered what the hell was happening as he was offered an unknown divine skill connected to his curse. What did this deity mean he could use it freely if he accepted the skill? Did that mean that he didn't have to break the curse, but could learn how to control it? What good could a curse that stole fortune from those he loved do for him? If he accepted this skill, would it stop the curse from unintentionally hurting his loved ones?
<
There was no way Langa could accept power from an unknown deity, so he tried to calm himself down. 'I am in control,' he told himself and pushed out as hard as he could with his karma pressure.
<
He gathered as much of his karma as he could and released it all, burning his will, his existence to attack this mighty being. Even though fear crept up into him as the deity’s karma pressure built up, Langa did what he did best whenever he was in a traumatic situation and pushed the fear away.
The being was angered by Langa’s audacity to karma pressure him and he felt the karma in that malevolent essence reaching a breaking point and if it was released on him, Langa knew he would be wiped from existence.
“Do you think I’m stupid? Who the fuck are you to offer me power? Are you Satan? Because you’re not getting my soul, buddy,” he said.
After hearing those words, the karma that had been about to attack Langa stilled and a low laugh resounded around him.
<
The pain came suddenly as if a million needles were prickling endlessly at his soul, burning, corrupting. He was feeling agony, his very being getting ripped apart. He couldn’t even scream because he had no body.
His soul shook, feeling lost and alone without a direction to go. As he thought that, a new essence surrounded Langa's entire being. A warm comforting blanket of essence enveloped him in its arms, protecting him from harm wrapped around him. It healed him and purified his soul.
"Master," Langa said in relief, remembering that he was not alone, there was someone who was always watching over him.
[The Lackadaisical Herald of The Lightning Storm has used his Sovereign Authority as your patron deity to reject the divine skill: ???'s Corrupted Brand of Attribute Consumption.]
<
<> Adtonifulmin said calmly. <
<
He couldn't see anything physically, but Langa felt Adtonifulmin's essence growing stronger as he absorbed more of the being's essence. In the end, Adtonifulmin's karma overpowered the entire domain, lashing out at everything except Langa.
<
<
"Lord Adtonifulmin, what's going on? Who is that?" he asked the essence of his master. “Did I just meet the devil?”
<
Complicated? Langa knew what the logical conclusion was, but it didn’t make sense. Was Adtonifulmin’s master a god of corruption? No was he the god of corruption? The Relgte of The Quartenity, stated that they were created to protect mortals from corruption, so did that mean The Creator didn't create corruption?
“Is your master ????” Langa asked, then frowned. “Is his Name ???? What the fuck?”
<
”What does that even-?” Langa started before he felt a prickling sensation in his karma.
<
That sounded terrifying. When Langa held the power in his hands, he felt invincible even through the pain, but he could have destroyed his entire body!
"How do I stop the corruption from destroying me?" he asked urgently.
<
*
Langa‘s mind was in disarray, trying to process what had happened after he overused the Brand and overworked his heart and nervous system. What the fuck was that?
Was Adtonifulmin’s master the one who cursed him? That made very little sense considering the legends from back home said that MaMlambo did it. He had never felt karma like that before, and it had been overwhelming. He shuddered, realising he had nearly been consumed.
If Adtonifulmin really was his bonded, didn't that mean in order to rid mortal worlds of corruption, then Adtonifulmin and everyone bound to him, including Langa would have to die?
No matter how hard he thought about it, he wasn’t going to get any answers lying here.
"Hey, are you awake?" someone asked. There was a warm hand on his forehead, checking his temperature. He opened his eyes to see a pretty woman looking down at him with worried eyes.
"If this were the sight I woke up to every morning, I wouldn't mind having any more bad dreams," he said, voice low.
Synn rolled her eyes at him. "If you feel well enough to flirt, then you're well enough to sit up."
Only when his head hit the ground did he realise that his head had been lying on Synn's lap and she had kicked him off. "Ouch," he moaned, sitting up.
His system interface was filled with notifications, but he ignored them for now. He also noticed that the number of constellations watching him had increased by over a hundred since he had used the Void Star. Fuck. That was not good.
Looking around, he realised he was inside a small tent with Synn. "What happened? Where are we?"
"The Guardians brought us to a small campsite close to The Valley of Guardians while you were out," she said.
"What? Why are we in tents instead of beds inside the valley?" he asked, thinking of his soft bed at Guardians Headquarters
She shrugged as he took off the blanket. His jumpsuit armour was tattered badly now. "I'm red, I can't go into a safe zone. Undkese refused to accept shelter from the Guardians and the children wanted to stay near him and the hero who saved them," she said.
Langa wondered why Undkese would refuse the Guardians' help. He looked around until he found Tonare next to him, still in its glave form. His heart felt at ease when he picked it up and shrank it, putting it back into its sheath.
Synn was watching him with an odd gaze. "How did you get that glaive?"
"It was my Calling," Langa said. “What happened to Sasani?”
Synn looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, I couldn’t arrest him, I'm not a Guardian. His body was gone by the time the Guardians reached us. I'm sure he will be respawning soon.”
”Fuck!” Langa cursed. So, the bastard was still free. Even if he hadn't fallen to the corruption, he wouldn't have been able to arrest him, since Sasani was an E-rank voident.
His skin itched and he looked down at his hands. He did not know why, but his arms felt more sensitive to everything that came into contact with his skin. His veins weren’t black anymore, at least. “Did the Guardians see...”
Synn shook her head. “Don’t worry. I covered for you. I wasn't sure what they would do if they saw you with a Void Gem and your veins covered in corruption. I insisted that it was from Sasani's awakening since he tried to kill you with the corruption, which is technically true."
"Really?" Langa asked sceptically. He returned to the subject at hand. "You're not going to report me for using unauthorised void magic?"
She snorted. "You saved both our lives. Besides, trust me, if you had used unauthorised void magic, the system would have labelled your alignment as black. Just because you can wield corruption doesn't make you a voident, you know. There are plenty of people born with an affinity for it, which is normal and within the balance of the multiverse. The issue is those who have to force the corruption upon themselves and others, upsetting the balance."
Langa nodded. "Okay, thanks for protecting me. Synn," he said hesitantly, feeling threads of karma from himself and Tonare connecting to something within the foxkin. "I'm sure I've met you somewhere. Who are you, really? Tonare responded to you too.”
Synn flinched. “It’s just like him to name his weapon after himself,” she said before sighing and shaking her head. "I wasn't going to tell anyone, but you, at least, deserve to know. Yes, we've met before."
"Where?"
"Remember the soul shard that you saved in Zamone, during the tutorial? If you hadn't saved it, it would have been consumed into the Void Star and died. Thanks to you, the soul shard survived and thanks to The Unrivalled's mercy, she was reincarnated as a player," she said with a faraway look.
If Langa's eyes could have bulged out of their sockets, now would have been the time. "You're The FireFox Queen? But how, you're a constellation and-" he paused, remembering what Adtonifulmin had told him about the life and death of constellations. If she lost all her karma, The FireFox Queen would have died, however, he saved her soul shard, so she survived. "But that means all your bonded mortals..."
She nodded grimly, her face falling. "I was still a new constellation, so I didn't have a lot of bonded mortals, I think..." she scratched her head. "I think I may have summoned all my other bonded to fight the divine war against the Void and corruption, but they didn't stand a chance. I don't like Chaos, but trust me when I say this, between Rampant Corruption and a Void Eruption, the Void Eruption is the much...much lesser evil. So, that's the story of our interconnected karma. You saved my life, so I saved yours. Please don't tell anyone."
It seemed she didn't want to talk about the people who died for her, and Langa respected that. "If you were reincarnated, you'd be what, three weeks old?"
She rolled her eyes. "No, I remember parts of my mortal life, not everything, but my mother, my friends, my love… I remember those people clearly. The first hundred or so years of my mortal life are in scattered memories in my head.“ There was a bitter note in her voice when she listed the people she cared about.
He couldn't imagine remembering a lifetime of love and loss and having to move past it.
"You seem like a decent person, so I guess Motyan was right about Tonare choosing you," she said.
Langa frowned. “Who?"
“Ginkga Motyan, a member of the Maluta Syndicate," she said, and seeing that he didn't seem to understand, she continued. "It's an information-gathering group. I went to them looking for information on my world’s Legacies, and they actually informed me about The Vonelle Heilliege guild having found the children I was looking for."
"Okay, so how did this Motyan person know about Tonare? Did he see it in my videos? How did he know that it's from your world?” Langa asked, still confused.
She blinked in surprise. “You don't know him? He knew you by name, so I thought you'd met before,” she said, then shrugged. “He probably has some Inner Sight-type skill.”
Langa didn't like that there were people who knew things about him that he hadn't even met yet. His last encounter with a Seer was the charlatan Tibuana, and she had been used as a vessel by a goddess to make a prophecy about him to spite Adtonifulmin. He didn't like diviners.
“Anyway, when I see that bastard, I will strangle him. It's his fault that the Accari Crows captured me,” Synn said bitterly. “Anyway, the point is, I don't feel 600 years old, I feel mortal. If anyone asks, I am 32 years old, okay?"
He couldn't help but tease her a little to ease the tension. "Well, I've always liked older women." A fireball formed in her hand, and her eyes narrowed. Langa raised his hands and said, "Hey, I'm only 27, you're 32, so you're older than me, right?"
The fireball disappeared. "Don't test me, human." Her voice was stern and carried a warning in it. Langa was reminded of how aggressive women could be about their age.
"Noted," Langa said. He dug into his belt, looking for the Void Star. "I know you gave this to me to save my life, but I don't think it's good for me." He frowned when he couldn't find it. “Did you take it back?”
"No. Stars bind to your mana core if they are compatible with you. Sorry, the Void Star is yours now. It won't come back to me," she said.
Langa didn't have a mana core, though. The moment he looked within himself, he felt the bright light of a star-shaped object right below his heart, next to the dark ball of the Brand. The darkness inside his curse steered, urging him to use the Void Star again. “How do I get rid of it?”
"You can't. If you get killed by a seraphim or constellation, unlikely as that is, they will take it from you. Please be careful not to use it for evil, or that karma will be added to me too. I already have enough negative alignment points," Synn warned him.
Langa tried to eject the Void Star from his heart, but he felt his stamina drain as the malevolent ball of darkness that was the Brand awoke, and wrapped around the star, refusing to let the Void Star go.
"Anyway, the Guardians Administrator said you should come and speak to her once you are awake." Synn pointed to a pile next to the blankets. "There are your bounty tiles. We were in the same party, so I was able to pick them up for you. I'll tell you, it was annoying digging through the mess of bodies, so I paid myself by taking some bounty tiles for my troubles. Do not ask to see them," she said, not looking ashamed in the least.
He'd sensed at about 25 voidents in that voi-den. Had she cheated him? Well, it didn't matter since she did most of the work destroying it anyway. It was a pity that they hadn't been able to arrest Sasani, so there was no bounty paid for him as he would be respawning somewhere else soon. Besides, he was sure most of the voidents trapped inside the voi-den had been finished off by the Guardians.
Langa decided to speak to Jandri later, for now, he wanted to clear his system notifications and check on the children. Since he and Synn were in a party, he only received divided experience.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
[Your Skill: Flash Step (A) has reached Beginner level 6]
[Your Skill: Regenerate (F) has reached Beginner level 5]
[Your Darkness resistance has increased by 0.5%]
[You have withstood the karma pressure of an ancient deity without being consumed
+1% Mental Resistance]
[Your party have killed/arrested (17) Tier 1 F-rank voidents. (10 level 12 voidents, 5 level 13 voidents and 2 level 15 voidents)
+2100 EXP
+1050 EXP
+600 EXP
+ 1140 karma
+ 617.5 karma
+ 285 karma
+17 Bounty Tiles]
[Your party has killed (1) Tier 1 E-rank voident
+340 EXP
+94 Bonus EXP
+32.3 Karma]
[For the individual breakdown of karma and experience, please check prior system notifications.]
[You have completed Locked Quest #2
Voidents killed/arrested: 27/25
Your title: Fledgeling Voident Hunter has been upgraded to Beginner Voident Hunter]
[Beginner Voident Hunter
Title Rank: Uncommon
You induce and increase fear in mortals when inside the void veil of any Void Gems. You exude an ominous aura proportional to your karma pressure when battling against mortals designated as voidents. The greater your Total Karma, the more the target’s perception of you may be altered. Target movement and casting speed may be slowed.
Beginner: Only affects E-rank or lower voidents in the same Tier as you.]
[You have unlocked a new quest]
LOCKED QUEST #3
Quest Rank: Uncommon
Quest Objectives: Kill/Arrest 100 mortals designated as voidents in the Guardians Guild database Time Limit: None Quest Limitations:
Only available to neutral/positive alignment players who:
- Have killed a voident of higher level.
- Carry the Brand of corruption
- Have received the favour of The Unrivalled Tower Master
Progression: 27/100 Cautions: This is an evolving quest
Quest Rewards:
Title: Intermediate Voident Hunter
Failure Penalty:
N/A
Damn, all that work and he hadn't levelled up again. Checking his nine bounty tiles, he saw he would be able to earn about 150 silver from them. His biggest gains here were in experience and karma, but he still had not earned the 10 000 karma required to clear the 1st Floor.
"Did you replenish the karma you lost from the pseudovoid territory?" Langa asked Synn.
"Yeah, I earned extra karma for battling within a pseudovoid territory without a Blessing or a divine artefact protecting me, so that's nice," she said with a smile. "But, karma doesn't mean much to me."
He understood now that he knew she was the reincarnation of a constellation. She must have had millions of karma before she lost everything. "Alright, I'm going to go check on the kids," he said, standing up.
"Let's go together. I'm hungry, I can smell the food from here," she said.
Langa and Synn left their tent, and once outside, he saw that they were in a clearing next to a river. Their tent was surrounded by a large number of tents belonging to the Guardians.
Synn led him towards the largest tent in the middle of the clearing, and there he found a few people sitting by the fire. One of the goblinkin children was sitting on Aramaga's lap while Undkese and Aquila were engaged in conversation. Ormeth concentrated on a bowl of food before him.
“Hey, are you guys okay?” Langa asked when he reached the group.
Undkese stood up, “Blazing Blitzhunter! I'm glad you're awake. I was getting worried when Synn said you were still recovering.”
Langa cringed at the nickname, especially when he heard Synn snicker behind him. “Please just call me Langa. How are the children?” he asked.
“They're doing much better, thanks to you. Most of them are asleep now, from exhaustion,” Undkese said. “The older ones might still be awake, though. Do you want to see them?”
“Sure,” Langa said, and he walked up to the big tent and peered inside. The children were huddled together under two blankets as they lay fast asleep. There was no fear in their faces, only peace. He shuddered to think about what would have happened had he not saved them.
He didn't want to think about that, so he walked back to the others.
“The good thing is that they were asleep when we transported them here. The only trauma they'll have is being chased by voident as well as the effects of the pseudovoid territory,” Synn said.
“Yeah,” Langa nodded as the two of them sat down on a log in front of the fire. Aramaga put down the child on her lap, stood up, dished out two bowls of strange meaty soup for Synn and Langa and handed it to them.
“You guys didn't get hurt either, right?" Langa asked. "I'm sorry. I had only been planning to scout out Heilliege's Gorge. If I'd known we'd engage voidents, I wouldn't have brought you.”
“Don't be silly, we didn't fight any voidents. All we did was hold off some members of the Vonelle Heilliege Guild until the Guardians arrived. It was a good PVP experience for us,” Aquila told him.
“Yeah, don't feel bad,” Aramaga added. “We got to protect children thanks to you.”
"If you say so." Langa was hungry, so he devoured the meaty soup. Turning back to Undkese, he said, “This place is a neutral zone. You should have allowed the children to go into the Valley of Guardians since that's a safe zone.”
Undkese’s face darkened. “I will not put their lives in the hands of the Guardians. I know they helped us this time, but do you know how many more lives were lost because of their incompetence? Most of our people on this Floor are NPCs, they only have one life and can't fight against the voidents even if they wanted to.”
Langa paused eating, remembering that the reputation of the Guardians was not good on this Floor. Undkese was right, though, they were not doing enough. While they followed due process and whatnot, neutral guilds like Vonelle Heilliege were harbouring voidents right under their noses. He needed to talk to Jandri.
“On that note, I was wondering if you would be willing to help us once again, Blitzhunter. The Guardians are keeping this matter quiet for now, but we need to find the children’s families and take them home as soon as possible. If we can take them to Tishiba's Peak, I know my father will assist them,” Undkese said. “We could use your help for protection along the way, both you and Synn.”
“Tishiba’s Peak? That's the capital, right? How are we going to get there?” Langa asked thoughtfully.
“The Lucent bus that we used to transport the children should still be intact. The Vonelle Heilliege Guild had enchanted it with cloaking to keep us safe from most lower-level monsters,” Synn answered. “And Undkese, of course, I'll help, this is partly my fault too.”
A Tearful Homecoming
Quest Rank: D
Mercenaries have kidnapped children intending to sell them to a group of voidents as sacrifices. Thankfully, you were able to save them from that fate. Deliver the children safely to the Magistrate of Tishiba’s Peak to be sent home.
Quest Objectives:
Protect the kidnapped goblinkin children from harm (13/13)
Deliver the children alive to the Magistrate of Tishiba's Peak.
Time Limit: 7 days Optional Quest Objective: N/A Quest Limitations: N/A Cautions: N/A Quest Rewards:
50 silver
??? EXP
?? Karma per child
??? Renown
Failure Penalties: Loss of Renown in 1st Floor
“The capital, huh? I was just thinking about how much I needed a break. Alright, I think I'll take the time to relax and beat up on some monsters while sending the kids home,” Langa said. He no longer needed to save money to use the teleportation wheel to meet Liv in the capital.
[You have accepted the quest: A Tearful Homecoming]
Yeah, he would save the children, go drink with his friend and make Adtonifulmin proud by winning the Celestial Clash exhibition match while earning the karma he needed to clear the 1st Floor. The past day had been too intense for his liking.
But first, he needed to talk to Jandri.
*
“Oh. Langa, you're finally awake,” Jandri said when Langa found her outside one of the tents, sitting by the fire.
“Can we talk in private?” he asked and she led him towards the nearby river.
“Thank you for what you did. Without you, we might not have been able to deal such a blow to Sasani-Zine or the Accari Crows. I know you couldn't arrest him because his Void Emerald was of a higher rank than your Deiform Artefacts at your level, but you did well. He'll respawn very pissed off on the 5th Floor,“ Jandri started. "Thanks to you, we got some information on another voi-den close to the capital from interrogating some of the voidents we captured, so Coraloa has gone to raid it."
Langa was not looking for praise right now. He was still unhappy that Sasani was still free. "All that work, and the bastard gets to terrorise people even more."
"It happens. Listen, do you mind not posting the video of the fight today?" Jandri asked. "It's still a few hours before Sasani-Zine respawns, and I need Coraloa to have the element of surprise when she goes to raid the other voi-den. Also, GM Merreddyd wants to announce our stand on neutral guilds conspiring with voident guilds as soon as she clears the 29th Floor."
"No problem," Langa said with a shrug. "I don't think I can post this video, anyway."
Jandri tilted her head to the side, and Langa looked away because he had no intention of telling the Guardians' Ground Storey Administrator that he had used a Void Gem. "You used your Brand to defeat him, didn't you?" she asked.
"Technically, that was also true, so Langa nodded.
"Okay, well, you can just cut out the parts you don't want people to see and send it to me. "A lot of people have skills that they don't want to be made public. If anything, it will rouse people's interest even more in you," she told him. "Just be careful when you’re using your Brand because it can be harmful to you if you misuse it.”
Langa turned to look at her. “You know I’m from a lost world, right? I didn’t even know what the Brand was until a week ago. I couldn’t even use it, it was just a curse that took fortune from people I cared about,” he said. “I didn’t even know it was possible to control it.”
“Well, it's good that you didn't know what it was. In some worlds, the Branded are slaughtered to prevent misfortune befalling the world,” she said, sighing.
“Why? Can you tell me exactly what the Brand is?” he asked, looking at the river.
“I would love to, Langa, I don’t have one, so I don't know. I've heard that the corruption slips in randomly in unsuspecting mortals or that it's the reminder of an ancient god who ceased to exist hundreds of thousands of years ago,” she said wearily. “I do know that some of the Branded end up relying on it too much.”
Jandri was wrong. The god hadn't ceased to exist, he was just asleep or something. Langa was sure it was the god who'd tried to make a deal with him. “What did Khalifari see of my fate that first day after the tutorial?” he asked what he'd been wondering since that day.
“I probably shouldn't tell you, but she saw that you’re destined to do great things. Whether those things are good or bad, we don't know. It's up to you,” she said. “For now, go get some sleep."
Langa didn't move. he still had a lot to get off his chest about the Guardians. "Is it possible for me to see what kind of prison the voidents are locked up in?" he asked.
"Really? That place gives me the creeps. The Carciere is a terrible place for voidents," she said. "But if you really want to see it, you need permission from GM Merreddyd. She wanted to meet with you, so as soon as she's cleared the 29th Floor, she'll probably summon you to the Guardians' Roving Guildhall."
"You have another guildhall?" he asked.
"Hmm?" Jandri looked at him in confusion. "Of course we do, every guild has a roving domain that is not bound to any Floor that all our players and NPCs from all Floors can access from anywhere."
Now that he thought about it, it was dumb for him to think the guildhall in the Valley of Guardians was the only one they had.
"I'll arrange the meeting for you, and then who knows, maybe she can convince you to join us," Jandri said with a shrug.
“That will never happen, I'm not interested in joining the Guardians," Langa said, turning to face her, his face fierce. "You guys are not doing enough.”
“I’m sorry?” she asked in surprise.
“You heard me; you guys aren't doing enough. How the hell was there a voi-den at Heilliege’s Gorge? That place was supposedly a neutral zone, and you didn't even know about them harbouring voidents?” he asked, fist clenched.
Jandri frowned. “Don’t you dare say that! You have no idea what the Guardians are doing to maintain order in this Tower.”
“Order? Children are being sacrificed right under your nose, and you expect me not to care? What are your leaders doing?” Langa asked. “They are busy trying to maintain your reputation by clearing the 29th Floor so you can catch up to the Hallow Reapers and the Menika Shin Guild. That’s what you care about while voidents are trafficking children?”
Jandri's face soured, and she glared at him. “You have been in this Tower for barely two weeks, and suddenly you know everything? First of all, you have no idea what's happening on the higher Floors. Trafficking children? At least down here, they just kill them. You have no idea how much torturous corruption people endure just for their karma to be syphoned and their lives sacrificed to create one mere key for a Void Opus," she said, her eyes heated. "How many children were killed in this voi-den? 50, a hundred? Last week I was on the 8th Floor because Amalgam sacrificed a whole fucking town, Langa. All those souls were lost. I took a team of 10 level 17 to 25 Guardians to face off against his voi-den!" Jandri shouted, her voice raised.
"You know why I didn’t take more people? Because we need a presence on every fucking Floor even in this Ground Storey. Because 80% of our recruits are NPCs who can't climb the Tower. Ten of us faced off against 37 Tier 2 voidents, and only 6 of us made it back alive. We captured 24 and the rest escaped, including Amalgam," she said fists clenched. "Khalifhari couldn’t send me any backup from the First Storey because The subordinates of the Shadowmancer Pirates are running wild in that Storey too. Guardians die, Langa. Most players have 2 respawns per Floor if they are lucky, but everyone knows that for a Guardian even 10 respawns isn’t enough. We don’t have the numbers, Langa. We’re doing the fucking best we can!”
She grabbed his shoulders, her claws digging into his skin. "Things were good for a while after Merreddyd captured Khamani Chillo, the former leader of The Pathfinders and put an end to their tyranny on the Second Storey, but the remnants merged with the Shadowmancer Pirates and now it's a big mess up there. Every single Guardian is waiting for her to pull off another miracle and show us a way forward, but... she is just one person in the end."
Langa stepped back. Maybe he shouldn't have let his anger at seeing children suffer cloud his judgment. He made assumptions about how the Guardians worked without knowing the whole truth. The Guardians weren't at fault, The Unrivalled was. “Why doesn’t The Unrivalled just Bless more people?”
“To receive her Blessing, you have to complete the Blessing quest and then sign a system contract that you won’t use it against non-voidents or corrupted creatures. Sure, the Blessings give us a few bonuses, like protection from losing karma and the Chaotic Mind debuff, and making it easier for us to clear corruption, but one direct attack of pure corruption from a higher rank awakened voident and we’re dead. Most of us aren't Branded like you, GM Merreddyd and DP Alfsol," she explained. "There is very little personal gain to being a Guardian. If anything, we have more rules because unfortunately, if we break the rules, we lose the Blessings. To be honest, no one wants to waste one of their limited 3 Title/Blessings slots per Tier on something of little benefit to them. Most players don't want to be bound like that."
"And the Tier 3 players can't intervene in the Ground Storey Floors' main quests," Langa said, realising the main problem. Floor Overlords could extend high-level players' times on the lower Floors, but at the end of the day, they couldn't interfere much on Floors which they had already cleared.
"Exactly." She shook her head. ”Do you think that I don't want to climb the Tower? Do you think I like always having to put out some fire on the 6th to the 10th floor? Do you think I like chasing down Amalgam and his Crows over and over again? That I like having my level locked at 25?" Jandri asked, looking up into the sky in frustration. "DP Alfsol and I are from the same batch and yet he's mid-Tier 3 and on the 29th Floor, GM Merreddyd is from the batch after me, but she's in early Tier 3 and on the 29th floor. Khalifhari is from the batch after me, and she's just about to enter Tier 3 and is on the 20th Floor. I also want to climb past the 15th Floor and break through to Tier 3 but I can't leave the Ground Storey. There's no one left on this Storey strong enough to raise the flag of the Guardians but me."
Jandri closed her eyes. "I had high hopes that maybe Aria or Baneiline would take over for me, but the 6th Floor fucked them, so I have to sacrifice my own growth to protect the people of the first 10 Floors. Right now, I pray that Coraloa is the salvation I need," she said. "Because right now, I am the only thing keeping this Storey free from voident domination, so don't you dare tell me I'm not doing enough. I'm doing too much, I'm doing the fucking best I can with the resources at my disposal." Tears ran down her cheeks as frustration came over her.
Langa could feel her anger, bitterness, and helplessness and felt bad for her. He had been speaking from an emotional place, not knowing how bad the situation was and what she was going through to fix it. “I'm sorry, I didn't realise how bad things are.”
She shook her head. “Don't be. Your anger is justified. Housci taunted us by casually revealing Sasani's location, knowing that we couldn't raid Heilliege's Gorge with just the words of a voident as proof. We don't have the numbers, so we need the strong on our side, those who refuse to die no matter what, like Unbound Jareeksha. That's why DP Alfsol came down here himself for you. We need people like you. GM Merreddyd and DP Alfsol are not clearing the 29th Floor because they have nothing better to do. We have to maintain our guild ranking so that big guilds like The Hallow Reapers and Shadowmancers don't get cocky and start breaking the rules. We must stand strong to keep the voidents down,” she said.
Jandri looked into the distance. From here, they could see the child sitting on Aramaga's lap, playing with Synn and Undkese. “I don't care if the children despise us or if the leaders of the first few Floors berate us and claim we are a useless force. I will continue to protect them the best way I know how," she said. “I don't know why you kept hunting the voidents before, but you've seen what they are truly capable of now. You wanted a sales pitch to join us, there it is. Join The Guardians, Langa. Help us make a difference.”
“No,” Langa said, his mind made up. He saw her face fall in disappointment so he hastily continued. “Look, you guys have to follow the rules and order, but the voidents don't. I'll continue hunting them, but not as a Guardian. I know you guys want the same thing as me, but The Unrivalled's morality chains you down. Her definition of order and mine aren't the same."
"So you will continue helping us?"
"I'm not doing this for the Guardians, I just don't like people who infringe on other people's freedom. I'll continue to freely hunt voidents on my own terms and at my own pace," he said. "If there is one thing I know without a doubt about my master, it is that he does as he pleases, consequences be damned and well, I am a child after his own heart.”
[The Deiwos Clan god: The Lackadaisical Herald of The Lightning Storm, is watching you proudly.]
"I'm still finding my path, but I promise you that I won't let a single voident get away with hurting innocent children. I don't need to tie myself to The Unrivalled's Blessing and follow her rules for engaging with voidents. Due process be damned, I will slaughter any voident foolish enough to cross my path," Langa said venomously. “And the voidents will learn to fear the Blazing Blitzhunter.”