Sofia internally rolled her eyes at the rhetorical question. “What do you think?”
“I mean… A divine item is on the line,” Cinthia said, “And your survival, if I’m being honest, the things down there are not going to pull any punches.”
“Yeah I noticed that already, but it’s fine, I don’t feel like it has been unfairly hard so far. I’ll follow your suggestions.”
“You won’t regret this,” Cinthia affirmed, “oh, also I finally got someone to answer that question you told me to ask them.”
“Already?!”
“Yes. Long story short, Suffering contacted the Demon King for you, and he said he would send you a letter, supposedly he knows. Well, Death also knows, I think, but he still doesn’t want to type actual words so…”
“Wish Clint could have just explained what he did, that would have made everything easier. And I really should have asked Death in person…” Sofia lamented, “I was just so distracted by… Everything else.”
“Not a huge deal, you’re the only one suffering from this anyway. And I think you getting acquainted with the headless one now is a good thing. He must have been curious about you considering how much of a mess you’ve been making with the Recessed,” Cinthia explained as she distractedly kept looking in the direction of her invisible chat window even though there were no messages because of the temporary private mode, it was just that strong of a habit.
“I suppose you’re right… You’re one to talk, though.”
“Well, I’m no Apostle, so it’s different. I have been actually thinking about it, you know, but I don’t think I want to take the risk…”
“Understandable,” Sofia empathized, “I know I only did the ritual because I had no other option. I don’t regret it now, but it could have ended badly. You shouldn’t feel pressured into doing it if you don’t absolutely want to.”
“Things are fine as they are, for now. But hey, I might get a racial evolution to a higher Orc at some point if I keep going, that would be nice, and a lot safer.”
“Higher Orc?” Sofia repeated.
“Like Saint Tartaros,” Cinthia explained, “You didn’t know about that?”
“No? I just kinda assumed he was some kind of magical race and that was about it.”
“Well, now you know, he’s a higher Orc, we can evolve into that, but it’s only for the elite of the elite of the elite. I have only ever seen three of them, including that guy.”
“Let’s hope you get there, then. Maybe we should get back to the Palace?”
“Right. I already said all I could about your route, aside from your upcoming fight alongside me, which I know basically nothing about except that they all wanted me to be in this one. But I can explain what we’re going through as helpers. Basically we have small test chambers, a bit like the second trial’s floors, actually, where we either get into a fight or some kind of question to solve. If we finish before you reach your next boss, you can summon us to help like you just did. Also when we entered we had the option to instead betray you and later get into a deathmatch for supposedly big rewards, so that’s what this dwarf guy did.”
Sofia nodded along, “The people who built this place were really crazy to take all these things into account.”
“You haven’t heard half of it, even. The fights you and we get are different depending on your level, and there are actually multiple trial grounds inside of the palace to accommodate for apostles of different strength. Say if you were to have discovered this place at level 400, there is a trial for that. Only one divine artifact, though. But the neat part is you can come back later to complete the others for different rewards if you want.”
“Definitely crazy… And what about you, though, are you getting something out of helping? I hope you do.”
“Only if you get the divine artifact. We get a small chest for each room we clear, so I have five now, but they need the artifact to be opened.”
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“So I could decide to keep you all from getting your rewards? That sucks. And if the artifact opens chests… Is it some kind of key?” Sofia guessed.
Cinthia stuck out her tongue in response. “I know the answer but I can’t say. From what I understand, though, it is strong. And not a weapon. Sorrow described it in the chat Herself. Ah, speaking of- there, no longer private mode. Welcome back everyone,” Cinthia said, waving and smiling at the wall, “we’re starting the boss soon, grab a snack and sit tight!”
“Back to work eh, well I’m ready, I do worry about you though, the enemies have been pretty violent so far,” Sofia told Cinthia with concern in her voice.
“No need to worry too much, I just got a very strong defensive ability actually. Got a few levels from the fight already,” Cinthia reassured her.
Sofia tried to Identify Cinthia, finding it not working.
“Oh, that’s new. Identify block?”
“That’s part of it, I got a new skill and fused a bunch with it, made a huuuuuuge locked passive skill! Let me just share it, here.”
Oh woah, putting her ten skill fusion tickets to good use.
[Lord VPN]: Being a public figure can be hard, you cannot hide from your audience, but at least, with a Lord’s VPN, you’ve got everything else covered.
Toggleable features, each cost 1 essence token per second.
Total cost per second discounted by 1 essence token per current viewer.
* Going dark - Cannot be Identified
* Untraceable - Cannot be located through the spiritual plane
* DDOS Block - Take progressively less damage when getting hit in quick succession
* Encrypted Data - Blurs your mana pathways and spellcasting arrays from outside view
* Download more RAM - Processing +20%
* Physical copy - Soul damage taken reduced by 20%
* Digital copy - Physical damage taken reduced by 20%
* Fast Reboot - If you lose consciousness in any way, forcibly regain it after one second
* BRO, I’M LAGGING! - Sometimes automatically get teleported away from harmful projectiles
* Factory settings - If you were to die from something other than old age, get sent back to the place where you were born instead, lose all essence tokens, and fully deactivate [LORD VPN] for the next 840 hours.
“That sure is one loaded skill… Honestly I’d almost be tempted to copy it with the skill capture thingy I got from Brighthall. Not sure how that would work without essence tokens or viewers, though,” Sofia commented, “But it is very reassuring that you have a resurrection skill now!”
“Right?! The viewers were excited too. Doesn’t immunize me from bad consequences in case of a failed ritual, though, if you wonder.”
“Not quite as potent as my unlife runes hmm. I would share the skill if it could be easily copied… Asty might take it with her skill capture actually, she’s undecided still.”
“It would not be a bad choice, I wonder if Zerei has used it already. Ah, the viewers seem to think that the token costs would just be converted to mana if you were to copy the skill, they say it would probably take up most of your remaining skill slots, also.”
“Not that I have many left… I don’t know what to do with the skill capture honestly. But yeah, not going to take your skill, too many redundant features with what I already have, would take slot space for nothing. Twenty percent damage reduction is twenty percent damage reduction, though, highly valuable.”
Cinthia bobbed her head while she listened to Sofia and read her chat, “Maybe just ask that crazy skeleton for a skill?” she suggested while not taking her eyes off of her invisible window.
“That‘s an idea. Maybe I’ll ask Erredis about it when we’re done here.”
“Alright, well. They’re getting impatient,” Cinthia said, pointing at the door, “let’s go!”
“Sure. I’ll be the frontline, just stay behind and do your thing!” Sofia enthusiastically ordered as she stretched in front of the door.
The two women entered the boss room.
They were faced with an alley about five meters wide, two giant library bookshelves stacked with countless books on both sides, extending up to about fifty meters away and ten meters up before it was engulfed by the palace’s magical darkness.
“A library?” Sofia said out loud, her voice echoing in the room, making it out to be much larger than what she could see.
“Not what I expected either,” Cinthia said from behind, as the door closed after her and disappeared, replaced by a seamless brick wall.
A cold wind blew over from the dark part of the room, it rattled the candles’ flames but extinguished none, and a rattling voice started speaking in pained breaths, “You who enter my abode, prove yourselves worthy of the code. Open your soul to curses dire, and the library’s rules acquire. Beyond the flames find me, and on your way you will be.”
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