The moonlight poured over the landscape of Listonia and landed on the rugged terrain of Kanegar Massif. Tucked away in the nooks of this rugged terrain stood a massive pyramid of white limestone and granite with a domed building on top. An immense amount of steps allowed one to traverse from the bottom of the pyramid to the top and one lonesome elven figure with a green bandana and simple clothes could be seen making this journey.

It has to have been at least an hour in the real world...what a pain...

Although Listonia Online did not have any stamina system, the mental strain of having to climb thousands of stairs would wear on most players and was one of the prime examples for why it was better to register the gates beforehand so you could have access to a location when it was needed.

This particular location was called The Sanctorium Archive and was a repository of knowledge that was mutually managed by all of the gods of Listonia. This included both the evil and good dieties, which made it a unique location in Listonia. In the lore and history of the world it was said that there was a great war that was waged in the past and the thing that sparked the war was divine knowledge falling into the mortal realm. It was said that at the end of the war, some sort of agreement was made that would prevent divine knowledge from being passed into the mortal realm.

As a compromise for that, since the mortals had no way to negotiate in those talks, it was agreed that a repository would be created that mortals would be able to access so that they would always be guaranteed the opportunity to access knowledge. The different churches began to manage the repository per their gods decree and all of the major churches set up a group that would be stationed at the repository. While they couldn't outright fight each other, that didn't mean there weren't conflicts of interest. Many people would find themselves in dire situations after accessing the repository and not placating to each Church. There is nothing in the decree that prevented someone from going after one who has already accessed the information they desired, as long as it wasn't on the grounds of the Sanctorium.

Fortunately for Gii, he knew which NPC's and quests to avoid in order to steer clear of the different politics. He had 2 reasons for coming to this location at this time, with one of them being to register the Gate that was here. The second reason was actually to start a quest. This wasn't any hidden quest or anything, in fact, it was a quest that was available to any player that made their way to this Sanctorium. After what seemed like an eternity, Gii could finally see the top of the stairs and he nearly cried with relief at the sight.

Bringing his thoughts back to the present, he forced himself up the final steps to the top of the temple. At the top he could see what could only be described as a giant circular domed cathedral made out of a white rock material. At regular spacing around the edges of the dome were doorways with each one showcasing a different symbol above it. Gii knew that each of these doorways represented a different church and that at the center of the dome was the repository of knowledge.

In order to enter the repository you would have to use one of these doorways and by entering it, the person would indicate they were more partial to that church. Whether that person actually felt that way or not was irrelevant as this was something that was tacitly agreed upon by the different churches. There were many players in his previous life who complained about making enemies with certain churches simply by choosing the wrong doorway. There were only a small number of doorways that could be used while remaining neutral, but this was information that was not made public for quite some time in his previous life.

Gii leisurely walked around while some of the priests that were caretakers of the Scantorium eyed him like vultures. Eventually he stopped in front of a doorway with the symbol of an hourglass and a gear as the background. This was the door representing Xelos, the god of knowledge and time who also happened to be the patron deity of the dwarves. As he strolled through the doorway, he could swear that he heard a tongue click from one of the priests that were eyeing him.

A dimly lit corridor stretched out before him and he could see passageways leading off of the main path he was walking down. There were small clusters of priests in tattered robes, poring over ancient tomes or engaged in debate with one another. All of them wore holy symbols of the god Xelos and only a few of them paid him any mind by giving him a nod as he walked by. A short time later, Gii entered into the main repository which was a massive multilayered library that had a circular design with a large hole in the middle which stretched downwards hundreds of meters.

On the dome ceiling above him, a live display of the starry night sky showed detailed depictions of the heavenly bodies. There were a couple of older priests of Xelos who were discussing together across the large gap on the other side of the room. One of them motioned at the ceiling and suddenly a portion of the night sky lit up with arcane runes before zooming in to a particular area. As he continued looking around there were many mystical things to be seen, including books flying around the shelves by themselves. There were even menacing looking tomes with sharp teeth that were chained to different areas and dripping with saliva.

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There was a walkway that led out to the middle of the area, where a platform floated in the middle of the room above the central opening. There were spiral stairways leading off of this platform that went all the way down to the base of the library with branching paths to the different levels. On this platform there was a large desk, behind which sat a wizened looking old man who was actively scribbling on pieces of paper that were strewn about all across the desk. Just to the right of him was a small shrine to the god Xelos that was about 3-4ft tall and contained a small bowl at the base of it. To the left of him was a large Gate that Gii walked up to and registered before turning and walking over to the shrine.

Gii walked up to the shrine and pulled out Ð5 and placed it in the bowl. There was a flash and the money dissapeared, before Gii could do anything else, there was a notification window in front of him.

Dedication to Knowledge

To test your dedication and commitment to obtaining knowledge, Xelos asks that you offer tribute during your daily visits to the Sanctorium. Show the breadth of your knowledge by offering tribute from across the different locations in Listonia. The reward? A Divine Spark

Quest Reward: Divine Spark of the Seasons

Quest Failure: There is no way to fail this quest but it must be restarted from the beggining if a day of tribute is missed or if a tribute item is duplicated.

*NOTE*

Tribute must be something Xelos would accept

Accept?

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Obviously Gii accepted the quest as it was the main reason he had made his way out to this location. This quest rewarded the player with a Divine Spark upon its completion. Divine sparks were always some of the best rewards that players could get as all of them provided incredibly powerful buffs, but more importantly, they had no restrictions to use! Any player, even a brand new tier 1 player, could use a Divine Spark. The best part about Divine Sparks however, was that they were tradeable items! some of the rarer ones had been the reason behind massive player driven wars in his previous life. Obviously for something so strong and versatile it would not be easy to obtain. This one, while easier to obtain than most other Divine Sparks, was not really an exception.

To complete this quest it required the player to come offer different tribute every day for an entire year. This wasn't an entire year in-game, this was an entire year in real life. It was essentially like a daily quest that players would have to do and on top of that the tribute would have to be different each time. Gii knew that this particular Divine Spark would provide the character equiped with it +50 to a stat depending on what time of year it was. Admitedly this was on the weaker side as far as Divine Sparks go, but In the late game this small difference could be the deciding factor between high level players in PVP.

Having started the quest, Gii began heading back out of the door and making his way down the steps of the pyramid. There was definitely an altar to Crassius here but he only viewed it as a backup location if the other altars he was eying became inaccessible or too difficult for him. There were many high level priests located here and Crassius was one of the churches that would cause the player to unknowingly join a faction. Though in Gii's case it was more likely they would receive a divine missive telling them to kill him due to the curse he had recieved and his reputation with the church.

Making his way out of the domed Cathedral, Gii started the long arduous journey down the steps.

I could have teleported but unfortuately for me it's actually faster to just walk to my next destination from here.

If Gii were to teleport to the next closest Gate, he would have to backtrack the entire route here, so while it was tedious, it was actually more efficient to continue on his path here and head toward his next location of Kanegar lake.

***

Gii was now walking through a large open savannah which had massive pieces of spiked boulders pointing out of the ground. This was the transition area to the Kanegar plains that made up most of the northern part of the continent. It had taken a long time for him to make it here but it was still worth it considering he didn't have to walk all the way back from the previous Gate location.

As he was merrily making his was to his next destination, he suddenly heard rushed footsteps come up from behind him. He turned to look and was faced with 3 heavily armored paladins rushing out from behind one of the rocks. Behind them was a pale faced priest who was looking at Gii with a face bursting with divine fervor. He suddenly shouted while pointing at him

"You shall feel the divine wrath of Crassius you foul hethen! how dare you defile our church!"

They are already starting to send hit squads!?

Gii watched as the paladins rushed him with determination and the priest began chanting a divine spell from behind. Knowing he was no match for this group, Gii did the only thing he could and turned to flee in the opposite direction. Unfortunately the speed boost from his boots only worked outside of combat so he could only rely on his base speed. The paladins were wearing heavy plate armor, so while they were much higher level than him, his speed was about the same as theirs.

There's really not much hope is there...

This was one of the things Gii had been worried about when offending a major church, but he didnt think it would be something he would have to deal with until at least the third or fourth defiled altar.

They must have noticed me when I went to the Sanctorium, I got impatient...

As he was running away, the priest finished his spell and he could only watch hopelessly as the guided bollt of divine energy tracked him down like a homing missle. The bolt slammed into his back and a notification appeared in front of him.

[-60]

[You have died!]