Nothing could beat Langa's hangover like eating meat in the morning, although some pap would have been nice. He was relaxed since the tavern was half empty, as most people were still asleep after the festival the previous night or had already returned to their main Floors, including Di Etta.
“Hi Langa,” a familiar voice said.
Langa looked up, and his body immediately tensed. Pranav Chandra sat across from him with a lazy smile.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Langa asked.
“Is that any way to treat an old friend who came to visit you?” he asked, shaking his head in disappointment. “You're always so sour, Langa.”
“Shut up,” Langa said, clenching his fists. “The only thing I wanna hear from your mouth is Neo’s location.”
The smile disappeared from Pranav’s face, replaced by a flash of sorrow so intense that it made Langa uneasy. His heart lurched. “Where's my nephew, Pranav?”
Pranav sat up straight and closed his eyes. “Neo’s dead.”
Langa’s world stood still, and his heart sank in his chest. No, he refused to believe it. The few people around him gasped as his karma oozed out of him, the pressure he emitted making them tremble in fear.
“You’re lying! You’re fucking lying to me!” he shouted at Pranav.
This couldn't be happening. The last time he saw Neo, he'd been happy. He had just been released from prison and was having fun.
“Why would I lie to you about that?” Pranav asked, looking him in the eye. "If you don't believe me, I have someone who can..."
Langa's mind swam in sorrow and confusion, even as the tavern walls closed in on him. The world around him narrowed, boxing him in, and there was no escape from the darkness plaguing his mind.
"Get in the box, Langa!” Kgosi screamed at him in a distant memory, and he dug his nails into the table to keep himself grounded. He needed to get out of this box and free himself from this darkness suffocating him.
“Langa?” a calm voice said, reaching out to him in the darkness. “Can you hear me?"
“Khaya?” Langa choked out, the voice of someone he loved grounding him. He opened his eyes, and Pranav was sitting next to him now, wrist out, his comcer next to Langa’s ear.
“Hey, yeah, it's me. I'm sorry I couldn't come see you,” she said. "How are you? Are you doing okay?"
He grabbed Pranav’s wrist, desperate for answers. “Pranav said that Neo’s... he's...” He couldn't say it.
“I'm sorry, malume, but it's true,” she said quietly. “You know how Neo is. He and Pranav did something reckless and dangerous as usual, and this time it got Neo killed.”
Tears bubbled up in Langa's eyes. Neo'd always loved cheap thrills, and Pranav gave him more than his fair share. He couldn't handle dealing with this right now, so he pushed the pain away and shoved his grief into the depths of his mind.
"Where did you bury him?" Langa asked. Neo hadn't followed his mother's religion; he wasn't a believer in the ancestors either.
“We didn't," Pranav said, and Langa's eyes snapped open. Anger overcame his grief.
"I know we have different customs, but you need to lay him to rest so his soul can find peace. I won't let you deny him that. I will kill you first," he said, his lightning mana seeping out of his hand, shocking Pranav's wrist that he was holding.
"Calm down, malume, please; it's not like that," Khaya said. "Pranav has a quest, and I know you hate him, but if you listen to him, we may be able to-"
Langa suddenly froze. Now that he pushed his grief away, the absurdity of the situation struck him. “Khaya," he said quietly. "Why does Pranav have your mana signature? Where are you right now?”
She didn't respond.
“Khaya!” he snapped impatiently.
“Pranav and his...friends have been looking after me for a while. I promise you, Langa, I’m fine,” she said.
A ball settled in Langa’s throat, and he swallowed it down. “I've been a damn flashing beacon of light, letting you know where I was. I was sick with worry, trying to find you every day! And you chose to go to this fucking shithead who ruined Neo’s life instead of coming to me?"
“Hey!” Pranav protested. “I've taken good care of your niece while you were out chasing speed and fame as usual!"
“Shut up!” Langa said. “Answer me, Khaya.”
“I'm sorry, malume, but I came here because Neo sent for me. I stayed, even after what happened, because Pranav needs me to bring Neo back.”
Langa squashed the seed of hope that started to bloom in his chest. “The only way to bring back someone who's permanently dead is as a mindless undead. If you think I'm going to let you defile Neo like that, then you have another thing coming!”
"I get why you wouldn't want to trust him, but I promise that doing the ritual was Neo's choice. This isn't what Pranav expected to happen when he sacrificed him, but-" Khaya started, but Pranav yanked his wrist away from Langa and ended the call.
The world shook again as Langa's anger and disbelief threatened to overwhelm him. He grabbed Pranav's neck and squeezed, trying to steal all the air he could from him.
"You sacrificed my nephew?" he asked in a calm voice that contrasted his raging emotions.
"Listen...Neo's not permanently dead, so I.... can still bring him back whole,” Pranav said, trying to pull away Langa's hand.
Mana seeped from Pranav, making the blood in Langa’s hand burn up painfully, and red blisters started to appear on his hand. He did not let go.
“You may be able to manipulate Khaya into working for you, but don't try that shit with me,” Langa said. "What the hell happened? Why would you sacrifice Neo? He loved you!"
Langa squeezed so hard that Pranav's face turned purple, the lightning from Langa's hands numbing him.
"I'll tell you what happened, so stop choking me, dammit," Pranav gasped.
'I am in control.' Langa thought. He walked the path of lightning; he had to have a calm, cold mind and a blazing heart. Calm, cold mind. He took a deep breath and let go.
Pranav coughed and immediately started talking. "It was Neo's idea. You know how it is in this world, Langa; the more precious something is to you, the better the rewards you get if you sacrifice it to your deity," Pranav said. "He was already attempting a race change, so we figured we'd do the sacrificial ritual at the same time. We'd get some power, and then he'd respawn all fine and new."
How was it a sacrifice if they knew he would return to life? "You tried to trick a deity?" Langa asked.
"It wasn't a trick. It was a true sacrifice. The race change into a vampire was going to be the permanent end of Neo's human life. Something went wrong, though. The process of the sacrificial ritual killed Neo as expected, but when I found him at his respawn point, it was just his body, dead without his soul. I would have lost him forever if not for the Hallow Reapers. Discord collected his soul into an egg for me," Pranav explained. "The egg is a temporary vessel, and it feeds on Khaya's lifeblood to keep it alive.”
Back in Risa's Plateau, when Langa asked about his family, the Seer had said two were dead, two were in mortal peril, and one was Shrouded. According to Adtonifulmin Langa’s sister and Khaya were alive, and his mother was dead. Adtonifulmin hadn't responded when he asked about Neo. Was it because he was technically dead, but there was a chance to bring him back?
“Why do you need Khaya’s blood?” Langa asked. He hadn't even had time to ask her if she was eating well, keeping warm, or safe.
Pranav looked away. "The ritual requires the blood of Neo's immediate family to feed the soul vessel."
“Fine, let's say I believe you," Langa said, straightening up. "Give her to me. Take my blood instead of hers.”
“Blood magic is tricky. Your blood won't work. It has to be someone Neo is directly related to—his mother, father, or sibling. As his uncle, you're too distant,” he explained. “Look, I'm not going to hurt the girl. Even if I managed to bring him back, Neo would never forgive me if I failed to protect his sister.”
Langa did not like it one bit. He needed to get Khaya away from this man. He couldn't be trusted, and she wasn't safe with him.
“Why are you here, Pranav?”
“Well, I heard from a reliable source that you had a private meeting with the High Commissioner of the 1st Floor. I need you to use that connection to steal something for me,” Pranav said.
“Are you fucking insane? He’s level 25; if I try to steal from him, I'm dead,” Langa hissed in disbelief.
“Not from him. We need to steal a soul vessel called the Nimaredo from the Pharoah of the 3rd Floor. To enter his palace, you need a recommendation from the High Commissioner of the 1st Floor, and one of the War Chiefs of the 2nd Floor," Pranav said.
"Then why don't you do it? A manipulative bastard like you can probably easily worm his way into the High Commissioner's circle." Langa crossed his arms, glaring at him. Gods, what did Neo see in this bastard? "What, are the police in the Tower not as easy to bribe as the ones back home?"
"I'm not in good standing with the Federation Police. I’ll try my best to gain the favour of a War Chief but I won't be able to get a recommendation on this Floor and I don't trust anyone else but you with Neo's life," he sighed. "Right now, I’m busy trying to earn a guild token to register the Jahreela Saamp as a guild. A guild that will protect your niece, I might add."
"Unbelievable," Langa said, rubbing his temple. "I’ll do my own research to verify your claims."
"Good. Now, shall we exchange mana signatures so we can communicate easily?” Pranav offered.
Reluctantly, Langa held out his wrist and exchanged signatures with him. He couldn't believe the nerve of this guy. First, he introduced Neo to a life of crime, then got him killed, and now he was using Khaya like a damn bloodbag? He even had the nerve to make demands of Langa!
As swiftly as he could, he pulled out Tonare in its short sword form and stabbed it deep into Pranav’s abdomen before he could even react.
“Argh!” he screamed, slumping back on the chair as red stained his black robes. "You damned-"
[You have attacked another player in a neutral zone. Create a PvP zone? Yes/No]
Langa ignored the prompt, leant in, and whispered in Pranav's ear. “That is for getting Neo killed. If anything happens to Khaya, the next strike is going in your throat,” he said, adding a bit of karma to his next words. "I will hunt you down and enjoy killing you over and over again until all your respawns are used up."
Pranav grimaced, and he detached himself from Langa's hold. A dark shadow wrapped around him as he stood up, groaning in pain. The blood from his wound gathered up in his hand, and he pressed it over his abdomen and then exhaled in relief, completely healed.
“Play the hero all you want, but don't forget whose screw-up it was that led Neo to meet me in the first place. If I didn't need you, you bhosdike, I'd kill you right here. I haven't forgotten that you're the one who got me locked up back on earth... and I don't forgive," Pranav said, eyes burning with fury.
"You're welcome to try," Langa sneered. "Piss off before I stab you again."
If looks could kill, the glare that Pranav levelled at him would have cut him in half. He pulled his cloak over himself and stalked out.
As soon as Pranav left, Langa activated the Distortion skill on his jerkin and went after him. Invisible, he followed the man into a dark alley where multiple dirty and unkempt NPCs lay huddled under tattered blankets. Dirt and piss filled the place, contrasting with the cleaned-up town centre where the festival had taken place just the previous night. Coraloa and a few other players were serving a queue of homeless NPCs some warm porridge. This place was crowded, and Pranav mixed in with the crowd, pushing through them.
With his Avatar title active, Langa was assaulted by the mixture of many new breaths, clouding his senses. He couldn't sense Pranav's breath, but he could see his cloak as he hurried through the crowd. Pranav rounded a corner, and he followed him. Instead of continuing to hurry away, however, the figure stood still, waiting for him in the middle of the alley.
"Stop following me. I can't let you have Khaya," Pranav said, his voice like a growl.
"Let me see her," Langa demanded.
"No! Neo needs her." Pranav leapt forward, and Langa instinctively raised Tonare and stabbed him while he sidestepped the attack. To his surprise, the glaive went through the body like it was water, and the cloak fell to the ground, soaked in blood.
"What the hell?" Langa asked, bewildered. There was no one under the cloak. All that remained was a large pool of blood. Had Pranav made the switch and slipped away when they were in the crowd?
Langa was frustrated, as he had no choice but to walk back to Sorrento Inn. He needed to calm down, so he returned to his table, but his appetite was gone. He checked the contacts on his comcer, wondering who to ask about soul vessels and rebirth. Ironically, the person with the most knowledge of death magic he knew was Fi Kindaro, but no matter how desperate he was, he wouldn't ask his enemy for help.
He had no idea what to do, so he welcomed the distraction of a new message on his comcer.
> @InsurgentLibertyHRC to @langelihle
>
> Morning, how's your chest? Did the poison kill you yet?
>
>
He snorted. He'd passed out in front of her. If she wanted to kill him, it wouldn't have been hard.
> @langelihle to @InsurgentLibertyHRC
>
> I'm doing better than ever, sorry.
>
> I had a great time last night. Thanks for the magic circle, but when can I see you again?
Looking around the tavern, Langa spotted someone else who could help him and walked over to him. "Is this seat taken?" he asked.
"No. Good morning, Langa. You look terrible," Vos Kindaro II said, as Langa sat across from him.
He was a follower of The Thousand Undead, so if anyone knew about souls and resurrections, it was him. He looked as elegant as ever, his long white hair neatly tied back.
"Did we even drink the same thing last night? How come you don't look like someone ran you over with a truck?" Langa asked.
A server brought Vos purblan bread and quail eggs along with tea. "I have no idea what that is, but my eldest brother always hated making public appearances, so I usually entertained the nobles in his stead since I was a child. I've learned to look perfect no matter what I'm feeling inside."
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
"That can't be good for your mental health," Langa muttered. "Can I ask you something about souls?"
"Of course. What is it?" Vos asked, drinking his tea.
"Hypothetically, say a person attempted a race change and sacrificial ritual, died, and respawned without his soul. Is it possible to bring him back to life?" Langa asked.
The dark elf raised an eyebrow. "From which race to which one?"
"Human to vampire."
"Hmm. If someone collected or reaped his soul, I suppose it's not impossible. However, it depends on how the race change was done."
"What do you mean?"
"There are many ways to change your race, but the most important thing is that a deity needs to approve it. The safest method is to complete a Challenge and receive a complete race change token from your patron deity. That way, you can choose whether you want a full race change or a 25 to 75% race change; essentially, you'd be a bit like halfkin," Vos said. "Another method is to do a sacrificial ritual to ask for a deity's approval. For this, it depends on who initiated the ritual because only a Tier 3 or above can facilitate a race change. They would need to find somewhere to store your hypothetical friend's soul so it doesn't get corrupted."
Langa would have to read up on race change rituals and their effects later. "Would something called a Nimaredo work?"
Vos glanced at his side for a brief second, then looked up at him, his calm expression shaken. "Do you have one?"
"No," Langa said, his arms folded. "We are speaking purely hypothetically, of course."
"Of course," Vos said with a clipped smile. "There are many different types of soul vessels, and the one you mentioned is a part of a dangerous Legendary Artefact. It can be used to store a soul for an infinite amount of time, but it can also be used to enslave a living person by keeping their soul locked in the Nimaredo. No one who isn't well versed in soul magic should attempt to use it."
Great, so Pranav's plan could work; however, it might also keep Neo shackled to him. "Thank you for your help, Vos," he said. The frustration was like a noose choking Langa now, so when his comcer beeped, he hastily checked the message.
> @InsurgentLibertyHRC to @langelihle
>
> I'll be off the grid clearing the 21st Floor for a week or so. I'll let you know when I'm back.
>
> Besides, you should miss me a little, so you grow fonder, sweetheart.
>
>
Despite the worries plaguing him, Langa smiled.
"Langa," Vos said, snapping him out of it. "Even if you have a soul vessel and perform the many rituals needed to resurrect your hypothetical friend, there is one final thing that needs to be done. For any True Resurrection, you must give a life for a life. For maximum efficiency, it has to be the life of a blood relative directly linked to them."
Langa froze, his smile vanishing. Was that why Pranav wanted Khaya by his side? But Neo would never agree to his sister being used as a sacrifice to bring him back to life. Shit. He had to get the soul vessel first.
"Thanks for letting me know," he said, standing up.
"One more thing, before you leave," Vos said. "I'm guessing you didn't check your system notifications yet, but the third prince earned a Unique Achievement this morning. He's the first person from our batch to clear the 1st Floor."
"What? Fi Kindaro has Ascended?" Langa said and hastily sat back down, surprise and anger rising out of him. "How?"
Vos shrugged. "I'm guessing he earned 10 000 karma and cleared a level 10 unclaimed dungeon."
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock." Langa gave him an annoyed look, checking the Batch 4 Overall Leaderboard. Liv was still number 1 and Langa was still number 4, but Pranav had fallen to sixth place and Fi had joined a guild and was now in third place after Vos.
"He's joined the Soh Piquamu Guild. What's so special about them?" Langa asked.
"Our youngest brother is the master of the guild. Fi is in a hurry to get back home. He's probably manipulated Joh into letting his guild speedrun him through the Tower," Vos said, staring at his plate in thought. "I bet Mari is enraged."
Fi had mentioned that one of his brothers had already been Chosen long before their world was integrated into the Tower. If Fi wanted to reach the Third Storey first, then he didn't care about achievements, because if he was being carried, he wouldn't receive a lot of karma from the system.
"I bet he will probably slow down once he reaches the 31st Floor. That devious son of a bitch. Er, no offence," Langa added to Vos.
"None taken. We all have different mothers, and that word is not nearly enough to describe our father," Vos shrugged. "I am Ascending to the 2nd Floor today. I will tell you this in case I run into any complications. A bird informed me Fi's waiting for an artefact so he can do a divine ritual on the 2nd Floor. He has to wait until the last day of Huey Tozoztli, as it is the most auspicious. It ends on the 11th day of Earth. That means we have 10 days to catch him on the 2nd Floor."
Ten days. That was plenty of time, but Langa didn't know how to feel about Vos possibly getting to Fi before him. "Why are you telling me all this?” Langa asked. “Are you fine with me being the one to kill him?”
”No, you are my plan B. We can each take a respawn from him. Besides, revenge is only my secondary goal; all I want from Fi is Riman’s engagement mask,” he said. “He stole and kept the last remaining piece of her soulblood in there. If you kill him and it drops, I want you to bring it to me. Not Mari, me. If you don’t, I’m afraid I’ll have to hunt you down and kill you for it.”
At least Vos was honest. He didn't know who Riman was, and it was unnerving that Vos would reveal something that Langa could use against him in the future so easily, but that just meant he was confident in himself, which made Langa like him more.
“Fine. If you permakill Fi, I want you to release the soul of a boy he enslaved named Sato Makoto. If you choose to enslave Makoto’s soul too, then I’m afraid I’ll have to hunt you down and kill you for it,” Langa said and infused mana into his comcer then held out his hand. “Deal?”
Vos smiled and held out his hand too. “Deal,” he said, and the two of them exchanged mana signatures.
*
When he went up to his room, Langa found Synn lying on his bed. "Welcome home," she said, opening her eyes when he came in.
"What are you doing in my room?" he asked with raised eyebrows. "You know, for someone who's stingy with her stuff, you sure like to sink your paws into other people's belongings."
She rolled her eyes and sat up. "I came to return these," she said, handing over three regular mana potions. "I don't like owing people, even my friends."
He took them from her and frowned. "These are all common mana potions. I distinctly remember giving you one uncommon potion."
"Says the guy who's only alive because of my Void Star. Hey, check this out. Your master's Incarnation gave me this awesome weapon upgrade," she said, throwing a black, snakelike whip towards him.
Langa scanned the weapon and raised his eyebrows. "Wow, how come Lord Tarquinius didn't give me something this nice?" he asked.
[Musco's Corrosive Whip
Rank: Rare
Effects:
Decomposing Haemorrhage: Any being struck by the whip will bleed, and the wound will fester, causing 10% corrosive damage.
All skills channelled through the whip deal an extra 5% darkness damage.
Equipment Restrictions: Min Level 10, Darkness Affinity 10% or higher, MP: 500 or higher, Special Stat: WIS - 250 or higher.]
Adtonifulmin was a god of decay too, and Langa sometimes forgot that because he mainly used lightning and life.
"I think it's because Lord Tarquinius and I have history, though I'm not sure why he was so kind to me," Synn said, snatching the whip back. Langa saw her eyes glance over to Tonare again. Tonare had been bound to Tarquinius when he was mortal, and Langa had received his Calling inside Synn's shrine back in Zamone. He was curious about the relationship between Synn and Tonare, but she didn't look ready to share.
"I've put it off long enough," Synn said. "Take care of yourself. I'll see you when I see you."
Langa blinked as her meaning dawned on him. He sat down on the bed next to her. "You're leaving? Why?"
"Are you going to miss me?"
"Honestly, a little."
"I've been swamped with guild offers, but none of them is all that appealing to me—not more than spending time with my friends." She shrugged, her hands running through her hair. "If I keep moving, maybe I can find some poor people to save along the way and raise my alignment. I can't stay here with you, Cora, Undkese and everyone. I might want more, and that's dangerous for me."
Langa didn't understand. He hadn't had many friends in his life, and she was a bit special to him considering their karma bond. "What's wrong with wanting more?"
"I don't want to end up desiring to have everything again. I promised myself that I needed to find my world's Legacies and make sure they landed in the right hands. Maybe that way I'll find redemption for destroying that world, whatever redemption is," she sighed. "Maybe Master will finally look at me."
"Where are you going to go? Will you return to The Maluta Syndicate?"
"I have to. They have information on Zamone's Legacies, and they owe me," she said. "Then I'll go to the 2nd Floor as soon as I've cleared this one."
"You're not beginning The Infinite Challenge?" Langa asked in surprise.
"I couldn't even if I wanted to. I've already completed it before, and one awakened mortal soul can only enter that place once in the beginning," she said. "I can retry when I'm Tier 5 or a seraphim."
"Really?" Langa asked. "So if I am a reincarnated soul, I can't take the Infinite Challenge?"
"No, you can. It depends on a few factors, like whether you remember taking the Infinite Challenge. Part of what makes it a Challenge is that you never know what the right choice is. The Quartenity will be watching you, so make good decisions," she said. “I don't remember much of my former life, but I know this. If you thought a bit more and stopped being impulsive, you'd make a decent deity."
He laughed at the jab. Was she really going to leave? Fuck, this was why he liked keeping his distance from people, because once he got attached, it was very hard for him to let people go.
He put an arm around her shoulders. "Don't go," he whispered.
She shook her head, looking uncertain. "I made a promise, Langa," she said, her head resting on his shoulder. "I've already broken too many promises to the people who believed in me."
"I'm not asking you to break it..." He paused, then blurted out without thinking. "Do you want to join our guild?"
"What?"
"Liv is starting a guild. You said you want to spend time with your friends, but you don't want it to distract you from your mission, right? If you join our guild, we'll help you find information on your world's Legacies. You can do both," he said. His words were flowing over each other. "I know you're the top Mage of our batch and you have hundreds of stronger and more established guilds asking you to join, but ours is going to take this Tower by storm. We have a vision and-"
"Yes," she said, cutting him off and turning to face him so abruptly that he dropped his arm from her.
"Seriously?" He stared at her. "Why?"
"My resolve is shaky at best. And, I think you and Liv'Kungsadu have potential, but you need someone to put a leash on you before you bark at stronger wolves in more powerful packs," she said, smiling. Her eyes again looked at Langa's glaive. "I also have a weakness for ambitious, reckless, idealistic men."
Her smile turned sad, and he clapped her shoulder. "You're mad if you think you can put a leash on either of us."
"Well, Langa, you and I have something in common. We both like a challenge," she said with a grin. "By the way, do you even have the authority to recruit me? Liv'Kungsadu doesn't like me, you know."
Langa was sure he could convince him. "I'm the deputy guildmaster. I have a voice."
Just then, there was a loud, urgent knock on the door. Langa wasn't expecting anyone, so he said, "Come in!"
Coraloa barged into the room, her skin greyer than normal, looking out of breath. "Langa, there you are. Let's go!"
"What's going on?" Langa asked her in confusion.
She took a deep breath and smiled brightly. "GM Merreddyd is in the Guardians' Guild territory. She wants to see both of us."
Synn raised her eyebrows. "Didn't she clear the 30th Floor like yesterday? Shouldn't she be resting?"
"She's a Guardian Knight. As long as there is injustice in the Tower, she can't rest." The awe in Coraloa's eyes was almost sickening. "Come on, Langa. AD Jandri said you have an entry token too."
"Okay, I'm coming," Langa said, removing the token from his Feathervault bag. He was curious about the famous Guardian Knight. "I better not find you in my room when I get back," he called to Synn as he left.
She laid back down on the bed with a whine. "But your bed is so comfortable. I think Liv'Kungsadu had my bed filled with bricks."
Coraloa led him to Sorrento Creek's teleportation wheel, but unfortunately, there was a bit of a queue with the last of the festival goers using the wheel to return to their homes or Floors.
He prayed to The Lackadaisical Herald to deliver him when Coraloa spent the entire time in the queue talking about how nervous she was to meet Merreddyd and how she hoped the Guardian Knight would like her. Finally, it was their turn, and the two of them placed their tokens in the slot of the teleportation wheel.
When it next opened, the Guardians' deputy guildmaster, Alfsol stood in front of the teleportation wheel. The sun elf had a weary look in his eye, but he smiled at them and extended his hand.
"You must be Coraloa. It's lovely to meet you," he said.
Coraloa bowed her head. "DP Alfsol...the honour is mine, sir."
"Lift your head, you'll outrank me soon enough," he said, shaking her hand.
"Oh, I could never presume to..." Coraloa said hastily.
Alfsol waved her off as his eyes turned to Langa. "Hi, Langa. I thought you were full of it when you said you'd improve our guild's reputation on the 1st Floor but you are making good progress."
"Hey," Langa said with a wave. "It's been a while."
"For you, maybe. For me, it's been months since I saw you. The final rift on the 29th Floor was brutal," he said wearily.
“You look like shit. Was it difficult to defeat the 30th Floor Boss?” Langa asked.
Alfsol gave him a hollow laugh. “I crashed out after clearing the 29th Floor. GM Merreddyd cleared the 30th Floor alone.”
"Holy Zodiacs, isn't she just the pinnacle of diligence?" Coraloa marvelled.
"Sometimes I wish she would just stop," Alfsol sighed. "Coraloa, please step outside and come with me to the guild domain. There's something I wish to discuss with you while Langa meets GM Merreddyd."
"Of course," she said, and with another bow, she stepped out of the teleportation wheel.
Alfsol placed another token in the teleportation wheel's slot. "She's waiting for you up there. Don't freak out." He stepped into the darkness as the wheel closed.
When it opened again, Langa walked out and found himself standing high in the air on top of a fluffy, white cloud. The sky stretched out below him, but the sun was missing.
"Whoa," he said, marvelling at the sensation of walking on clouds.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Hello, Langa. I'm Saint Merreddyd,” a soft voice said.
Langa turned to see a pretty woman standing on the cloud behind him. She had bright, golden hair and pale, nearly translucent skin. She was a short angelkin, barely 1.3 metres tall, and her eyes were pure white with no pupils. She held a white cane and using it to feel her way as she walked towards him.
"You’re young," Langa muttered, staring at her. Whatever he expected coming here, it wasn't that the Guardian Knight, leader of the Guardians Guild and the only player directly bound to The Unrivalled in this Tower was a blind girl.
“Appearances can be deceiving,” Merreddyd said, and a sudden violent storm of karma tore into the clouds, engulfing everything and surrounding Langa, nearly choking him. The pressure wasn't trying to hurt him, but he couldn't help but be overwhelmed by it.
"Holy shit," he said when she let it go. She almost knocked him on his arse! She was strong as fuck.
"I was 17 years old when my world was integrated into this Tower nine years ago," she said. "Thanks to my attribute, ya, I have lived more lifetimes than you can imagine." Merreddyd yawned, and her shoulders sagged as she moved from cloud to cloud ahead of him.
“Are you alright? You look exhausted,” he said.
”I haven’t slept in 7 months planning how to not only catch up to Abcanthu Nocnitsa, but to overtake him,” she said wearily. “It didn't make The Guardians take The Hallow Reapers’ position as the second-place guild in the Tower, ya, but ever since Anarchist defeated Kerafonika, things have been so bleak for my guildmates. As their leader, I had to shine bright and pave the way for them.”
”Well, it worked,” Langa said reassuringly. “You should have seen how happy Aria and the other Guardians were when the news broke last night. They love you.”
“Really, ya?” She asked, looking up at him, and even though her eyes were blank, he could tell she was happy.
”Really. So you need to take care of yourself for them,” he told her gently. Perhaps it was because this powerful and fierce Guardian Knight reminded him of his life before integration, as someone with too much to bear on her young shoulders.
”I am tired,” she confessed with a heavy sigh.
"Well, relax and take it easy. Sometimes you gotta say fuck those responsibilities and take a little holiday for yourself," he said.
She laughed. "I wish."
She was surprisingly easy to talk to. He had this strange feeling inside his karma, as if he'd known Merreddyd for years. A strong essence in his instincts naturally wanted to protect her. At first, he didn't understand it, but later, he attributed it to Adtonifulmin's connection to The Unrivalled.
"Where are we going?" he asked. It wasn’t cold up here, and there was no wind.
"I want to show you something. Follow me,” Merreddyd said, her voice now lively. "By the way, I wanted to thank you for what you've done for Jandri, ya."
"Jandri? I haven't done anything,” Langa said, thinking of how he’d accused her of not doing enough in the Tower.
"I was up all night reading the latest Guardian reports. You must have done something because she has been deploying team after team to raid the Vonelle Heilliege Guild's outposts and territories," she said. "Jandri has been dissatisfied with her position for a long time. She single-mindedly chased after Amalgam, perhaps neglecting the voident problems of regular NPCs unintentionally. I ordered her to stop climbing the Tower and fix The Ground Storey first, but she deserves better than that. I hate it, but I keep having to ask her to sacrifice more than she already has.”
It wasn't Merreddyd or Jandri's fault that the NPCs turned to voidentism out of desperation. “I think you're too hard on yourself. You’re both doing your best.”
“Perhaps. You and the other freelance bounty hunters help us tremendously. If there is anything I can do to thank you for preventing two disasters on the 1st Floor and helping save all those children, please let me know," she said sincerely.
"That's not why I did it," Langa said with a shrug. "You can spar with me if you're up for it."
"Absolutely not. I don't know how to hold back, ya? I'd kill you and then suffer massive backlash," she said.
That just made him want to fight her even more, but he decided to ask for something else. Liv and his popularity could only go so far in getting people to pay attention to their guild. "Alright. If you really want to help, perhaps you could give us an endorsement. Liv and I are starting a guild, and a recommendation from The Guardian Knight would go a long way in helping us solidify our position in this Tower,” he said.
She looked up at him. It was strange since she couldn’t see, but he could feel her karma focused on him. "You're asking me to go out on a limb for your guild, ya? I don't know what you stand for."
"Our guild will pick up the Guardians' slack. The Unrivalled's rules don't require you to hunt red players, so we'll take care of that on top of saving those oppressed by voidents," Langa said confidently.
Interest flickered on Merreddyd's face. "So a whole guild of people like Unbound Jareeksha?" she muttered. "Building a roving guild territory costs a lot of gold and karma, ya? Oh, wait, it's free if you're the first in your batch to establish a guild. Is that your plan?"
"Yes, totally," Langa said with a nod.
"But how will you manage to hunt voidents as non-Guardians?" she asked. All Guardians had a Blessing from The Unrivalled that protected them from pseudovoid territories and allowed them to destroy Void Gems and Deiform Amulets to capture and arrest voidents.
"Well, if you give us Deiform Amulets and Rings like the ones I have-"
"Absolutely not," Merreddyd said sharply, her karma pressure rising again.
"Why not?" Langa asked. He was curious why he seemed to be the only person with those artefacts when they weren't as restricting as The Unrivalled's Blessing and would go a long way towards attracting more players to work for the Guardians.
"I know what you're thinking, and when I first became a Guardian Knight, I also thought Master wasn't selecting enough people for her Blessing. I was quick to test, assess, and select strong individuals and offer them Deiform Artefacts after signing a system contract," she said. "But I got burnt, Langa. Instead of using my precious Artefacts to hunt voidents, they used them to command voidents instead." Her karma radiated both pain and anger. "They started their own gangs, staying neutral while controlling the voidents by threatening them with the Deiform Artefacts. Eight years later, and I'm still dealing with the repercussions from then. So, no. I no longer choose. If anyone wants to hunt voidents without suffering the penalties of their void territories, then they should just do The Unrivalled's Blessing Quest like the Guardians do. Let her choose; she knows best."
Langa hadn't even considered the possibility that Deiform Artefacts could be abused like that. "Wait...you chose me, though. Why?"
She sighed. "I was desperate, so I used my attribute... I told myself I'd choose just one person, and I bribed your Floor Overlord to send me someone she felt aligned with the Guardians, someone in the top ten. Remember I sent Khalifhari to check your fate first, ya?" she said. "Besides, you're weak. If you go rogue, it's easy to destroy you."
"That's fair," he agreed.
"Alright. I'm climbing to the 31st Floor in 3 days," she said. "On that day, I will make my State of The Tower Address, to all players and NPCs in this Tower. I want to see a fully Inscribed Guild Charter notarised by the system listing your policies so I know what you stand for before I make my decision."
”Thank you,” Langa said, hoping Liv had all these documents ready.
”Good, because we're here,” she said. There was a flutter of wings as Mereddydd lifted off the clouds, took to the sky, and hovered in front of him, short white wings on her back.
A building materialised in front of them behind large, white, pearly gates. There were four symbols weaved into an infinity sign posted on the gate: a flower, a bone, a black ball of darkness, and a bright, shining light, the logo of The Quartenity. The building was a long tower that seemed to be made entirely of white crystals, with the symbol of The Quartenity upon every surface. From the gate, there was a long pavement with streets of gold, yet there was no sun or moon. The gardens surrounding the tower were vibrant with white flowers.
”Where are we?” he asked.
”Jandri said you wanted to see The Carciere," she gestured to the building. "This is the prison where all arrested voidents from the Deiwos Tower are locked up."