As I explained your highness, the Sanctuary is under new management. Mewtwo repeats himself, The Trio are now protecting this forest, instead of Eziakophael.
"Yeah, but... we need to reconfigure it. All the commandments are gone and we need to select new ones." I add with a sense of urgency.
Thou hast removed the work of thine predecessor? Why would thou do such thing? Princess asks, appalled.
"It was the only way for me and Mewtwo to inherit the ownership of the Sanctuary." I reply, "We need to go back there quickly."
Princess looks at us confused and somewhat horrified. How much hast thou killed to think thou can recover all these commandments?
Killed? What? OH! "No! Nonono, your highness-"
All of Aster's work is still present, we just need to reinstate the protections. There is no contribution needed. Mewtwo cuts me, he can sense Princess hostility growing once more.
The florges looks at us in distrust, but nods. Fine, let us depart then. If our protecting commandments are no longer present, then It hast been too long already. Let us reassure our charges first. She turns to the assemble crowd and gives a quick speech in pokespeak.
"What's she saying?" I whisper to Mewtwo.
"-Thank thee all for thine concerns. Tis still unsure what change will be brought by those two newcomers, but rest assured, thy Princess shall still protect all within our domain from arm. Now please disperse and return to thy daily occupations." Princess finishes her speech with a small bow.
Most of the assembled pokemons discuss among themselves for a minute before finally starting to disperse in small groups. Once they are gone, Princess signal us and we return to the altar. I whisper a thank you to Mewtwo for the translation on the way, the only sound that punctuate our traversing of the forest.
Only the Zoroark accompany us, I guess he must be some sort of protector or maybe advisor? Considering Princess's level and battling skill, I would guess advisor.
We finally reach the hollow trunk beyond which the Sanctuary's altar lie. Now that I have time to truly look at it, I realize it looks closer to a flattened icecream cone with a sphere on top both made of three rings of bricks. The flames are still within the orbiting rings, dancing among each others, but something I had not noticed before are the runes running upon every bricks. some are clearly the symbols of the Trio, the three eyes, the roman X, the strange minimalist wolf-cat front face, but there are others as well. Some bricks have circuits-like markings running on them, others have what I assume are the profiles of a gallade and a lucario face. There seems to also be a dog-like one... Wait! that's-
Why... Why are... Princess is at a loss for words before the Altar. I guess she did not look too much at it before taking us to the big tree? She turns to us, fury and sadness fight upon her pointy face. Why is there depictions of three of my companions?
We did not dream that vision... Mewtwo whispers.
"They have him... And you have two..." I complete Mewtwo's thoughs. I also notice empty circles on some bricks. Are they readying those for each of Aster's companions?
Thou will answer US! Princess screams into our mind. Vines start to creep toward us. Fury has won.
"Your highness, either the Trio is mocking your past, or preserving it. From what I have seen, I would be inclined to believe the latter. During Hound's funeral pyre, the both of us witnessed the Trio recovering a ghostly version of Hound." I answer solemnly. Talking about Hound still hurts, I guess Aster is not over it yet...
Princess stops. She looks back at the Altar, then at us, lingering on Mewtwo. She stays silent for a minute, before calming down. She looks back to the altar, a look of longing passing upon her face, before she shakes her head. She regains her regal composure and turns to us once more.
Let us get this over with. She states. What will the altar need to maintain the Sanctuary?
I blink. "Upkeep? Mewtwo did we see any mentions of upkeep anywhere?" I whisper to my friend. Princess stare drills into us both as she crosses her arms and float above us, just so she can look down on us.
He shakes his head and we both quickly open a tab we did not open in a long time: the tutorial tab. A quick look let us find the Sanctuary entries and we begin scouring through them as fast as we can. And finally we find it. There is... a cost... somewhat...
"Your highness... The cost is... what was the cost previously?"
Does thou not know? She sneers.
"Err... No. This is not a memory I have regained."
Does thou not have our savior's journal, revenant?
"I really need to read through it when I have the time." I guiltily answer.
Fine..., she is clearly disappointed in my handling of Aster's memories. The cost for this sanctuary is a million soul coins each years. Our savior had made sure we possessed a great reserve in case he would be gone for some time, but sadly... We are running low. We would have had to forfeit the protection in five years...
A million... coins... That seems absurd. How did Aster even manage to accumulate that many? I really need to read that journal at some point.
"Well... Good news then... the Sanctuary will ask for nothing of the sort... The 'cost'... is that... hrum..." I hesitate to say it... She is going to be so pissed.
You are now under the Trio jurisdiction. They will observe all within the confines of the Sanctuary and depending on what you do, they may bestow upon you 'blessings' or gifts. Those may or may not be helpful and will depend on which member bestow the gift and in what mood they are. No we do not know the range of the blessings of gifts. Mewtwo declares, and I prepare myself for the fury that is to come. There is no longer a cost to maintain this place, as the Trio themselves will maintain it for their own gain.
"Yeah... Sorry..." I wince.
Princess face remains neutral. A silence stretch for a minute. May they prove their goodwill toward my people? She asks, and the temperature drops with each words she speaks.
Both Mewtwo and I look at each other. How do we do that? Can we do that? Can they do that?
As if to answer our question, lightnings of many hues starts coursing along the altar. For a second I am certain I can discern letters among the arcs of electricity. They seem to form a sentence, but what I can see is barely intelligible.
'Bo_d _ne t_is on_, _ li_e h_r!' Is what I manage to make out.
Before anyone in the clearing can react, three embers jump from the flames within the altar. They are colored similarly to the flames. All rush toward Princess and even though she tries, all reach her. The dark red one, with blood red light coursing along its surface, impacts the back Princess right hand. The blue one, with cyan reflection, goes inside Princess elbow. The final one, bright orange with purple shadows, lands upon her shoulder. At each impacts, a mark is left. The three eyes of Chaos upon her hand, the roman X of Knowledge within her elbow, and the wolf-cat mark face of Hunt on her shoulder. Circles appear around each marks, and circuit race along her arm connecting them all. Once each circle is connected. Mewtwo and I both gasps. Upon Princess arm is the same tattoo Mewtwo and I have on our right arm.
And a second later, the tattoo fades, leaving the florges arm unblemished. Did... Did she just become a user?
A little screen pops in front of all three of us and I realize it is the main altar screen. The only difference from before is that there is now a third name on the user list: Entity_Florges:Princess.
Princess looks around in panic, wherever she looks, the screen follows. What is this? What is this? She cries out in panic.
"Calm down your highness, this is how we can configure the altar." I try to reassure her.
What happened? What did they do?
That's the question, uh? What did they do? Wait! "Hey, mister zoroark?" I call out to the zoroark.
The black vulpine pokemon is standing, alarmed at his leader's panic. He turns to me with a look of puzzlement and fear. He clearly want to know what just happened. "Can you see what is in front of everyone's face?" I ask him.
His look of puzzlement deepens and I can see he is about to question if I am mad. "Well that answer that question then." The zoroark lifts his arm, as if trying to say, 'what did that answer?'
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"Your highness, I believe the Trio has just given you a way into the system they made for Mewtwo and I." I declare.
Princess panic recede and she regains her composure. Ah, that does indeed resembles that little red screen thine companion summoned during thy comatose state. She cough, clearly trying to forget her bout of panic. How does one uses such contraption?
Simply touch it. Mewtwo then demonstrates, grabbing his own screen and pushing it aside. Princess follows suit, and grabs her own screen gently, almost afraid it might break. The zoroark simply look in astonishment and clear confusion. It must seem like we are grabbing air for him.
Alright, time to configure that Trio damned altar!
"Your highness, we have prepared a list of commandments, now named perks as you can see, that we believe will be needed." I start.
Most are similar to the ones the Sanctuary previously had, but we can expand greatly upon them. Mewtwo continues. He sit down on empty air, crossing his legs and floats closer to Princess.
Seeing as this might take longer than she expected, Princess summons a throne of vines and sits down as well, a sigh of contentment leaving her.
Seeing as things are settling down, the zoroark sits back down, pouting one paw against his face. He clearly feels left out. Maybe we should start with the vision perk?
Also, I would also like a seat... I grumble and stand on the other side of princess. With Mewtwo at her right and me at her left, we start to peruse our choices.
The first we propose, she heartily agrees. 'Full Entry Control', this perks allow users to deny entrance into the Sanctuary to anyone they want. It also allows for the banishment of current residents. Anyone trying to force their entries will find themselves lost in an endless forest, hunted until they either manage to escape outside or they are caught. What happened to caught individual is left vague, but if escaping out is a stated possibility, I can hazard a guess as to what happens to those that get caught. Princess approves as this is merely an extension to her already existing security system.
The next one, she also agrees rapidly, especially after seeing her aide's reaction. 'Shared Vision', the perk is cheap, and seeing the 'cost' of leaving within a Trio owned Sanctuary, it might prove vital to the residents. Now everyone can see the screens related to the altar. But only these screens. The moment it is activated, the zoroark jumps up. He points at us all, mouth agape at what just appeared before us. A quick word from Princess has him settle down, and she even invites him to help her in her choices.
A couple of protective ones are quickly agreed upon. 'Guardian Angels', 'Resident Protection' and 'Resident Form' are all quickly added. The first one will trigger the appearance of protective entities if users or residents are harmed by non residents, the second will cover residents with a shield able to stop even a class five punch, whatever that means. Finally, the last perk allows for users to mark those within the Sanctuary as residents, allowing them to benefit from the perks within the Sanctuary. They will all have access to a screen that will depict their current status and possible blessings or gifts they may receive.
Then princess proposes one we had overlooked at the time. 'Space Folding', this would allow the Sanctuary to be unreachable in most circumstances, but with 'Full Entry Control', that restriction is no longer valid. After some consideration, we all agree and the perk is added. Princess calls for a flying pokemon, and a staravia appears. She instructs the bird to leave and experiment with the new protection. After a couple minutes, the bird returns and gives his report. From what Mewtwo translates, it appears the Sanctuary is still visible beyond its limit, but any non-resident the flying pokemon tried to guide ended up on the over side of the Sanctuary. We did receive a couple of notifications about entries authorizations.
So it works, but as we wait, a couple more notification appear, more pokemons are trying to come into the Sanctuary and we need to approve of their entries. The same happens to animals, insects and monsters. There is even one for a human. This might turn into a hassle and a massive burden soon...
We ignore the notifications for now, and look back into the perks. One that I propose, which is not really to help the Sanctuary protect its citizen but more of quality of life improvement in managing the Sanctuary is 'Perk State Control'. From the description, it allows greater control over every perks that can be added or have been added. It is expensive, but if it works as I hope, it could lessen the need for constant supervision. Princess agrees and we install it. Immediately, little cogwheels appear next to every perks. I click on the one next to 'Full Entry Control', and pump my fist in satisfaction, we can create filters. We immediately whitelist any entities recognized as pokemons, as well as animals and insects. Almost all notifications for entries disappear. Leaving us with only a couple for humans. We fully blacklist monsters for now.
Those seeking entry shall still have to brave the gauntlet of mist. Tis important to judge who we let within our domain.
I agree, there could be a risk of spies from the League... it pains me to think of such a possibility.
'Perk State Control' also allows to turn on and off certain perks, like 'Space Folding'. With that realization, Mewtwo and I both propose the next perks: 'Time Dilatation' and 'Time Isolation'. Our reasonning is simple here. Our biggest problem to our growth are the raids. Every seventh day from the day we arrived, we will have to face impossible odds against absurd opponents. We are not growing fast enough, we both know it. Seeing the reborn Hans Senah already able to contend with me even though he has been here less time than me has reinforced my opinion. We need time. There is a perk to protect one from raids, but it only postpones the them, and once we would leave the Sanctuary, we would have to face every raids we were protected from at once. Even if we spent a year preparing, we would be completely eradicated due to the nightmare difficulty Eziakophael decided to subject us to.
'Time Dilatation' would allow us to stretch time within the confines of the Sanctuary, a day outside would become a week, or a month, or even more possibly. The moment we found this perk, we realized we needed it badly. 'Time Isolation' is more of a failsafe, Mewtwo suspects Eziakophael could still send raids once a week has passed for us, even with time dilatation, but what if we isolate ourselves from outside time? Hopefully it will make Eziakophael unable to reach us, as a week would not have passed for us outside the Sanctuary.
Princess is displeased at our choice, it would mean a lot of the residents would age faster than their peers outside, and the gap might turn into a greater problem later on. She also points at the fact that this might stretch daytime endlessly. It would mess with the environnement. She also asks about what will happen to rivers and water sources. With the time difference, water will take forever to cross the boundary, and at the exit, it will be days of water every seconds. We... had not though that deep about it...
Mewtwo is the one to get us out of most problems with messing with time: 'Time Correction'. Literally, the answer to our problem. The perk is obscenely expensive and would eat almost half of the budget we had prepared, but it would allow both time messing perks to work without any backlash. Princess asks for us to look through more perks before we take any of those three.
We agree, reluctantly, and continue.
We add more perks, some we had though of, others at Princess request. 'Fostered Growth', allowing for faster gains of strength for all residents. 'Altar Growth', to upgrade the Sanctuary further with the right materials. 'Fertile Land' is next, securing food sources, and 'Endless Wells' goes with it, negating any risks of drought for the entire Sanctuary.
We scour through the list for a couple more hours, until we Princess is satisfied. Only one more perk is added, 'Meteorological Control'. It needed all of the meteorological protection perks to unlock, but it was still within budget... Barely. Now Princess can decide what weather she wants for any days. And with 'Perk State Control', she can adjust the likelihood of meteorological events. She has left it to follow the season likelihood for now, although she did boost sunny days a bit.
With that, half of the Sanctuary points have been used.
"Your highness, we still wish for the time perks to be added." I declare. All three would leave us with less than a third of the Sanctuary points. "We need it."
Thou art under our protection, thou should not fear these pitiful raids. We shall defend thee.
"Your highness, I do not doubt your strength, not after witnessing and experiencing it first hand. But we will be facing greater and greater challenges. We had to contend with a praetor for our first raid! We faced a dimensional hunter and its hounds for our second! Again, it will only get worse!" I plead.
You saw how hurt I was. You even healed me. We barely survived each times. A week is too short for us to gain any substantial strength. We need more time! Mewtwo joins me.
Princess sigh, pinching the space between her eyes. Tis true that such raids are unbelievable... the zoroark whispers something to her. Princess sighs, That is true my aide, we have ressources now. Still, there will be the matter of the day/night cycle.
"'Time Correction' should take care of that." I answer instantly.
Yet we know not if that is the case.
Worst case, we simply leave the perks deactivated. Mewtwo says.
Then we would have made a worthless purchase. Tis quite the investment thou both wish to make. T'would be a shame for such an investment to turn to nothing.
"We have done nothing but take risks to survive to this point, your highness. In any cases, we have little left to add to the Sanctuary as it is now."
In the end, thou can both outvote me. Fine, take thy perks and be done with it. Let us hope they will not be only lines upon this screen.
We install all three. For a second, the sky flickers to black and white and light vanishes. Then it returns, at first, it seems nothing has changed. Yet when we look at the sky, we cannot help but feel a sense of stillness in the clouds and floating islands above us. I quickly look at the options for all three perks.
'Time Dilatation' has little, just a few sliders to adjust how much time is dilated. Worryingly, we can fine tune from micro-seconds to years independently. We do not touch any of the independents settings, only using the general time slider, making time ten times slower within the Sanctuary. A day outside is now ten inside.
'Time Isolation' surprises us by being the one with the internal day/night cycle option. It is a simple on/off option. We activate it, and all look up as the sky flicker once more. Gone are the islands and previously present clouds. A new sky greet us. It is the same blue as before, but the clouds are different, and moving. We are truly isolated from the outside now. I frown as new options have been added with activating the internal day/night cycle. We can still chose to have a view of the outside sky... Princess gets curious and activates the option. the islands return, along with the frozen clouds, visible beyond the new projected clouds. We stare at the sky for a solid minute or two, before looking at the final perk.
'Time Correction' has no options. There is not even a cogwheel next to it. I guess it just works to correct the inconsistances from 'Time Dilatation' and 'Time Isolation'.
An achievement pops up before Mewtwo and I, and we both cheer.
Achievement got: Tricked God
You madman and madmon! You've done it! You have escaped the time constraint of the raids!
Eziakophael has rules about when and how often he can send raids, breaking those rules will break his little universe.
Do mind the time though.
Reward: Calendar and Clock displays unlocked
We have done it! We have gained time. We both hug each over in joy. A tension that had held us both lifts, and we both cry in happiness. Princess looks on, a look of fondness passing upon her face.