Mila
“So, I said get an offensive Law to round out a good trio, and you instead gain two opposing buff Laws and a healing Law.” Nana Xara was grinning from ear to ear, obviously quite happy. “You really don’t listen, do you?”
She then turned to Aalam, who was putting his pants back on now that he had legs again, and patted him warmly on the shoulder. “She’s rather impressive, isn’t she? Sure, she’s no you. But she’s on the road to becoming a true yin yang specialist, just like her ancestor.”
“I’m not sure.” Aalam finished pulling his pants up, but didn’t seem embarrassed. Instead, he seemed to be honestly considering Nana Xara’s questions. “What Laws did she gain?”
“Calm and Rage for water and fire. I know you already have those, but they are probably the least compatible with you as they are your only Laws not science related, so the two of you should be able to help each other.”
Nana Xara looked over at Mila and then back to Aalam, excitement on her face. “But for her life element Law she gained The Healer.”
“Oh.” Aalam also looked excited and Mila realized she might have accidentally done something quite impressive. “So, she’ll want to go for The Reaper for the death element. Do you have any way of getting her the Devil’s Contract skill?”
“Already done.” If she were any younger, Mila thought Nana Xara might have started jumping up and down. “I even have a Reaper’s Token she can use to upgrade her legacy artifact.”
“Awesome.” Aalam actually did start jumping up and down and Mila began to think it might be a bad idea to have the two of them in the same room, given this was what they were like when they hadn’t actually met each other before, but then Aalam abruptly stopped. “But how are you going to give it to her? That’s a legendary artifact and I don’t think she’s skilled enough to complete a quest worth one of those.”
“I’m going to be tricky.”
The Yin Yang Sage has offered you a quest as her apprentice.
Do the Impossible, and Some Other Stuff (G-Legendary)
Accomplish the following:
1. Using no artifacts, beat the Torment level Tournament of the Damned optional challenge with each match taking no more than a second while taking no damage
2. Using no artifacts, beat the Torment level Ghost Defense optional challenge in less than an hour while taking no damage
3. Using no artifacts, beat the Torment level Puzzle of the Twelve Elements optional challenge in less than three minutes with no mistakes
4. Using no artifacts, beat the Nightmare level Damage the Invincible Caged Monster optional challenge in less than one second and then continue the challenge and kill the monster in under seven hours
If you feel you cannot complete one or more of these tasks, you may subcontract this quest to another trial taker by prepaying the other trial taker with artifacts or resources worth as much as this quest’s rewards.
Rewards: One Reaper’s Token and one Rare primal stone of each of the twelve elements—Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Metal, Light, Dark, Life, Death, Space, and Time
Do you accept?
Yes/No
Mila had read up on optional challenges and she was pretty sure she couldn’t complete any of those tasks, while it sounded like each one was perfectly suited for Aalam and he’d be able to complete them easily. He’d also quickly gain skill efficiency by doing so, which was at least one of Nana Xara’s goals.
“I think an Orb of Devouring is probably worth almost as much as a Reaper’s Token, so, if you give that and all your lovely new fruit to Aalam as a prepayment, he could probably do the quest for you?” Nana Xara smiled at her and Mila decided to just go along with it, even though, from the way Nana Xara spoke, she was pretty sure she was lying about something, probably the value of the Orb of Devouring. From Aalam’s excitement about the Reaper’s Token, it sounded like it would be extremely useful for her, and, given she was Nana Xara’s apprentice not Aalam, she had a feeling she somehow wasn’t missing out by giving away her fruit.
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She handed Aalam the Epic bag of holding containing her half of the fruit and the black, abyss-like orb Nana Xara had obviously always intended for him to have. Then she shared the quest with him and he grew even more excited than before.
“Any chance I could get those primal stones?”
“Sure.” Nana Xara’s smile changed, this time to the type Mila associated with the woman abruptly sending robots to shoot at her. “Mila could use the monster core and hide of the Invincible Beast for her legacy artifact upgrade. So, I’m sure she’d be willing to trade.”
Aalam’s eyes grew wide and it looked to Mila like he was reading through something in the air, likely taking a closer look at the quest prompt. Then he turned to look at Nana Xara. “The requirements on the optional challenges, they’re the requirements for additional rewards from the challenges themselves?”
Nana Xara looked proud as she nodded. “The rewards will be useful for the artifact you’re planning on creating.” Then she looked shocked as Aalam raced toward her and wrapped her in a hug.
“Thank you, Ms. Sage.”
Aalam then proceeded to start taking his clothes off, right there in front of them, and Mila discovered there was another way she hadn’t yet thought of for him to get himself killed in the future. “Aalam! Why don’t you start eating all your fruits and send a puppet to bring you some non-artifact clothing from the auction house.”
“Good point.” Aalam, now only wearing his boxers, a necklace, and a single fingerless glove, sat down and started bringing out fruit to eat, the puppet previously in the corner of the room leaving to go carry out his telepathic orders. Meanwhile, Nana Xara was looking at Mila and trying to suppress laughter.
“A couple things, Mr. Alvaro,” Nana Xara finally said almost a minute later. “I’ve noticed you’re missing six Laws from your set of 36. I would suggest gravity, kinetic energy, antimatter, and multi-dimensional geometry for your final earth, wind, metal, and space Law Eggs, if you would want my advice. And, for your last life and death element Law Eggs, you can come find Mila and me in the amphitheater’s Training Room 0003 if you’d like the Law Eggs of Bonds and Severing. I have a training method which should help you awaken to them in just a few hours at most after you master and merge your skills.”
“Ooh. Those are good suggestions. Thanks,” Aalam said with his mouth full and Nana Xara had to try hard again to not laugh.
“Also, try not to allow any of your Law Eggs to advance to high grade until you’ve advanced all of them to middle grade first. I think you know why.”
Aalam nodded and then Nana Xara turned to leave. “Come on, Mila. While Aalam is doing the hard parts, you’ll need to train to keep up.”
Mila followed and, after they went through the teleportation in the nearby room to get to the amphitheater, she asked, “Am I accidentally kind of following in your footsteps? You seem more cheerful than normal.”
“No. Not really.” Nana Xara started leading her toward the nearby elevators, but she still seemed in a really good mood. “I actually wasn’t as impressive as you when it came to Law Eggs when I went through my tutorial, and what Law Eggs I did have were all offensive.
“Yes, you’ve exceeded my expectations, but, if I’m being honest, my current level of cheer has more to do with your boyfriend than you.” She walked into an elevator and Mila joined her, pressing the button for the bottommost floor. “And not just because I got to see him mostly naked.”
She smiled suggestively but then continued. “You have to understand, there are two parts to my title, Yin Yang and Sage. And they represent two lines of classes, the Heavenly Cycle Mage line and the Sage line.
“Until I was A rank, my class at each rank was of the Sage line and it was only when I became A rank and unlocked the ability to choose another class that I took a class of the Heavenly Cycle Mage line, Yin Yang Archmage, for which I was actually far more suited. Had I followed that path from the beginning, I would have been a god ages ago. And that is also the path Diana is naturally suited for, which is why I took her as my first apprentice.
“You lean toward a very different path, one I’m also quite suited to teach even though it wasn’t the path I followed, but your boyfriend, I’ve realized, is aiming for the path of a Sage, and that makes me happy.
“I gave him so much information, everything I know about paths to power, and he decided to follow in my footsteps.” Nana Xara frowned slightly as the elevator stopped and they got out. “Albeit with rather drastic, and somewhat insane, modifications.”
They walked over to the entrance to room 0003 and entered.
“What’s special about The Healer and The Reaper Laws?” Mila asked, bracing herself to start getting attacked.
“Two things.” As expected, Nana Xara raised her hand and many, many robots, over 60, started attacking, and Mila realized she was in for a round of survival training, not one where she’d be able to win. “First, both are what are known as divine role Laws. Almost every culture that has made up their own gods has a god of healing and a god of the dead, and the Laws of The Healer and The Reaper represent those roles.
“Unlike most Laws, divine role Laws have an aspect to them called resonance. When you perform actions in line with the role it becomes easier to understand the component Laws that make up that role.
“In practice, it’s like the saying ‘Fake it until you make it’. If you fake the role, resonance feeds you knowledge, and then you naturally get better at the role. Acting ability is actually more important for divine role Laws than actual talent and that makes them perfect for you.”
Mila didn’t know whether to be proud or offended, but, as she continued to weave between the robots, she quickly decided she should probably be both.
“Divine role Laws are also very flexible,” Nana Xara continued. “So they are highly practical.”
She waved her right hand and the number of hovering robots attacking Mila doubled, forcing her to rely on her skills and Laws even more.
“The other important part of those Laws is that they open up several lines of classes which wouldn’t otherwise be available, ones which will actually allow you to keep up with Aalam if that is what you want.”
Mila used Weapon Enhancement to enhance Legacy of the Weaponsmaster in double pistol mode and went out in a blaze of glory, channeling her Law Egg of Rage to move faster, and attacking wildly while giving up defense. She fell quickly, use of Material Strengthening on her dress not enough to protect her, but she did manage to take out almost a dozen of the flying robots.
“What do you mean if it is what I want?”