Above all else, Samantha’s top priority was to ensure she didn’t devolve into a shade. It’d been years since she was first disembodied and Theora had helped her, but she remembered the experience vividly. After that scenario had finished she’d taken the opportunity to ask Theora about what exactly had happened to her, but the woman didn’t have many answers. Still, the limited knowledge she did receive blazed at the forefront of her thoughts while she evaluated the situation.
First, it was possible to exist in a disembodied state without becoming a shade so long as she didn’t exhaust her existing stores of qi. Projections alone didn’t have traditional qi storage or regeneration processes like what was provided by the cultivation base. Soul cords acted as an open pathway to the dantian, allowing a projection to expend energy without consuming itself. When that cord was severed and the projection no longer had a continuous source of energy, over usage of qi was akin to starving.
Second, all life–even disembodied souls–required a small amount of qi to continue living. Whereas even mortals had a mostly inactive or malformed cultivation base to survive off of, projections only had the energy that made up their forms to consume. Even sitting doing nothing, the energy existing in her current form would be used up eventually because there was currently no good way to replenish it. The rifts by design were devoid of ambient qi, founts, and spiritual entities to discourage cultivators from hiding out inside of them to advance, which were what a disembodied soul like herself would normally feed upon. This was why Theora had sent Samantha energy in the form of a bird construct–so she could use its energy to sustain herself without going mad with qi starvation.
Now that she thought about it more deeply, the bird construct might be the cause of her exceptionally sturdy projection. The construct had been incredibly dense with energy, akin to biting into a rock. Though not to the same degree, her fight with Xiomavat proved her projection had become hardened like leather and more difficult to damage. Perhaps it had something to do with how qi was stored while in this form. Without a connection to her dantian, where did all of the qi she absorbed go? Logically, if using arts consumed energy directly from her projected form, maybe her projection itself now served as a sort of qi reservoir. If that was the case, since her projection occupied the same amount of space and hadn’t grown in size, then adding more energy into it would be like increasing its density. Along this same line of thought, expending the energy within her would serve to weaken the strength of her projection and make her more vulnerable again. She couldn’t be sure of anything right now and had even more questions popping up than before, but something about this explanation rang true to her. She’d need to look into it later.
As for her current condition, now that the initial panic had worn off she realized that she was in pretty good shape. Rather than the gnawing hunger which signaled she was becoming a shade, she felt contentedly full. The feeling was similar to when she’d first eaten the construct years ago, though she was uncertain if it was exactly the same as before or not. The sensation was difficult to describe, but it most reminded her of eating a large meal after being hungry and knowing she wouldn’t need to eat again for a long while. She had room for more food if she wanted, but she didn’t need to eat in order to avoid feeling hungry. Instinctually, she understood that this meant she was safe to continue fighting for a while longer–at least until that ‘fullness’ was depleted.
In that case…
Samantha looked back down to Xiomavat and the thousands of glowing strings flowing into him. The false sun spear continued to burn relentlessly, causing the divine beast to writhe in pain on the ground. Though barbed, the intense heat was causing the spear to start to burn through the flesh it snagged onto. It was possible that the spear would fall out of Xiomavat’s body soon, and he would likely take that opportunity to escape now that the ritual had been disrupted. If she could help it, she’d prefer for him to die here.
All the binding threads connected to Xiomavat at a single spot somewhere in the middle of his chest. She knew that techniques existed to break binding threads–the Braxand family had offered such a ‘service’ to her when they coveted Silas back on the first floor–but she had no idea how to do such a thing, nor if it would work on a thread from a divine beast. Even if it did, she wasn’t confident she could sever so many in a short period of time. So, her next best option was to stop or slow Xiomavat’s qi drain. At a glance she could tell that even using the qi from thousands of loyal cultivators to heal himself was not enough to completely outpace the damage he was taking from the burning weapon. A little ‘help’ from her would hasten his end.
Picking up the soul cord hanging down from her dantian with her right hand, she came up with an idea.
Flying down to Xiomavat, she reached out to try and wrap the end of the cord around the thick bundle of binding threads. To her delight, the cord didn’t pass through as it did with physical objects, and she was able to tie everything together. She could feel an enormous amount of energy flowing through the binding threads and into Xiomavat, but she was unable to access all of it at once. She was only able to siphon a small fraction of the qi off into her own soul cord, but it was still a veritable tidal wave of power. The sensation of fullness throughout her projection was noticeably increasing–supporting her theory about qi storage in this form–although much more slowly than she would’ve expected given the sheer volume of qi she felt she was consuming.
A sudden movement from Xiomavat caught her eye, and it looked as if he was resuming his efforts to kick the spear free from the glowing hole in his abdomen. The tip of the spear jolted more violently with each kick, leading her to fear he’d soon succeed.
It’s not enough!
With the stolen energy fueling her projection and all but erasing any fear she may become a shade, she decided to truly go on the offensive. Putting 50 qi into [Telekinesis], she grabbed onto the deadly-hot spear and attempted to push it deeper into Xiomavat’s chest cavity. Slowly but surely, the spear burned a path through the leopard’s flesh and neared his heart. Xiomavat’s thrashing grew wilder and more frantic as organs were repeatedly destroyed and reformed. With more and more vital body parts needing healing, the damage quickly began outpacing Xiomavat’s recovery abilities.
Just a little further…
Steam and smoke flowed out of his mouth and nostrils as the heat reached his lungs, and he began convulsing. Without him kicking the spear away and slowing her progress, she pushed the weapon deeper. Before long, his struggles grew weaker and his cries became terribly pitiful. Then, a few moments later, his body gave one final shake before growing still. With his heart turned to ash, Xiomavat died.
With a great yank on her soul cord, she was pulled towards Feld at the speed of lightning. She immediately activated [Cloud Stand] to arrest her momentum and came to an abrupt stop. Disoriented and confused, she looked down and realized the problem instantly. Her soul cord was still tied to the vast web of binding threads, which she now had full access to. Hundreds were slipping free of the bundle by the second, however, so she reached forwards and grabbed hold of all of them with both hands as tightly as she could. The rate at which the threads slipped free–then disappeared–slowed, but didn’t stop completely.
Seeing an opportunity she couldn’t pass up, she focused intently on the energy still flowing through the binding threads and pulled. Like drinking from thousands of tiny straws at once, she started to empty the cultists of their qi. Power flooded her, and she caught hints of strong emotions and thoughts from all she drank from.
NO! Xiomavat! My–
Save me, please! I can’t–
This isn’t what I was promised… I–
–wish I could tell them I loved them–
Why?!
Each binding thread was like an elastic rope that had snapped. It sought to return to its source as quickly as possible, and she was the only thing getting in the way. More and more threads slipped free from her grasp, but she held on for as long as she could. She pushed back the onslaught of foreign thoughts and strained against the threads trying to pull on her. Similar to trying to restrain Xiomavat’s fleeing projection, the spiritual burden of holding the threads was taxing in every way, and the longer she tried to hold on, the heavier each thread became. After what felt like ages of struggling, the final thread slipped free from her grasp and her soul cord once again hung limply from her stomach.
Her head was reeling from the inflow of power, but she didn’t allow herself to become lost in the euphoria. With Xiomavat dead, the army would likely begin to retreat. The scenario could end any moment, and she needed to rejoin herself to her body. Envisioning the war room in her mind, she tried to warp space around herself to teleport directly there… but nothing happened. Figuring it was a quirk of no longer being connected to Silas at the moment, she changed tack and flew back at top speed.
The landscape blurred around her, and she was back to the war room in seconds. Her body was still slumped over on the Envisor, and she quickly tied the two ends of her soul cord together in a double fisherman’s knot. The first time she’d had to do this, she’d used a basic square knot because she didn’t know many others. That was probably why it had come loose during her fight. Since then, she’d done some research and found this to be one of the more reliable ways to tie two loose ends of rope together. Now it wouldn’t come undone unless she purposefully untied it–that was the hope, anyway.
She snapped upright in her seat as her heart started beating again. As if welcoming her back to the land of the living, a blinding light poured into the room from the window and caused everyone present to squint. Another wave of false suns had just been launched towards the Spire.
“General, you’re back!” Donovan exclaimed.
“Stop the launches at once! Xiomavat is dead.” Samantha commanded, rubbing at her eyes. She glanced with concern out the window as she spoke, grimacing at the sight of freshly started fires all throughout the city. Some notifications were awaiting her attention, but she didn’t read them apart from scanning to check if they were related to the scenario ending. None were, so she brushed them all off to the side for right now.
“Silas?” she sent tentatively, feeling for the connection to her bond once more.
“You did it! I knew you could,” he cheered.
“We did it,” she kindly corrected. She wanted to speak with him more, but the advisors were all talking over each other trying to get her attention now.
Ignoring the many questions everyone was asking her, she spoke over them and gave out her next orders. “The war isn’t over yet! We still have work to do. The spiritual backlash from the death of Xiomavat will have crippled every connected cultist. We need to wipe them out before they get a chance to regroup. Have all units switch to offensive maneuvers. Do not stop at running them out of our lands–kill them whenever possible. There’s also still a group of powerful Silvers wreaking havoc, and fires everywhere. Call upon the entire city–we need to control the blaze immediately before it spreads too far.”
All four advisors snapped to attention and bowed in unison. “Yes, General!”
Satisfied with their responses, Samantha stood and grabbed ahold of her spear which was leaning on a wall nearby.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“...General?” Brienne questioned.
“You have your orders. As for me, I’m going to do my part in driving the cultists from Weyran.”
----------------------------------------
It took three full days before the last fires were extinguished and the final Silver cultist fell dead. With their cultivation bases crippled, they were little better than Coppers in combat and were forced to try and hide throughout the city. With everyone working together–and morale improving markedly with Xiomavat’s death and her appearing in person to lead the cleanup efforts–it wasn’t hard to finish things up. And, according to reports from Feld, things were wrapping up similarly smoothly there.
Thousands of cultists apparently dropped dead along with Xiomavat–likely due to being too low of a rank to withstand the spiritual backlash. Shocked and demoralized, the enemy army tried to scatter almost immediately but to no avail. They were too weakened to get far, and her own army advanced to cut down all those who tried to escape back along the road. Those who tested their luck in the swamps were hunted down by her mercenaries or died to the traps laid beneath the murky waters. Completely decimated, she wouldn’t be surprised if less than a third of the cultists made it out of this war alive.
“General, we need to discuss something urgently with you. For your ears only, so you need to be here in person,” Brienne’s voice sounded out from Samantha’s hip.
Reaching down to grab the communication artifact from where it was tied on her robe sash, Samantha held it up to her mouth. “Alright, I’m on my way now.”
Signaling Silas, he dove down from overhead and landed gently across her shoulders. Giving him a scratch behind the ears, she jogged towards the castle and finally took the time to look through the various notifications that she had pushed to the back of her mind.
The oldest notifications were related to attribute increases she’d gotten while training alongside her troops. Being stuck at the same rank for years had taught her not to obsess over every increase, so she hadn’t bothered to tally anything up until now. Besides, four months of training had only given her a few small increases here and there due to being at about 80% of her approximate max values already. All in all she’d gained +1 Strength, +1 Agility, and +1 Endurance during her time here.
Attributes:
Aptitude (Approximate Max Value):
Strength: 22 => 23
Average (27)
Agility: 41 => 42
Extraordinary (50)
Endurance: 33 => 34
High (40)
Resilience: 23
Average (29)
Next, were messages related to her fight with Xiomavat. There were notifications for the various effects his special ability [Gaze of the Abyss] had inflicted on her–namely fear, despair, and apathy–as well as a notification for when she overcame his influence.
What was most interesting to her, however, was the one she’d received just a few hours ago.
Hidden Scenario Quest: Overwhelming Victory [COMPLETED]
On top of saving the Spire from destruction, you have completely decimated Xiomavat’s forces and slain the divine beast himself. An achievement worth celebrating, an appropriate reward has been prepared. Answer the upcoming summons from your advisors to learn more.
I wonder what it could be…?
Arriving at the war room, she was welcomed inside as usual and seated at the Envisor. “So, what is it?” she asked. “A final report?”
“In a way… yes,” Roland answered slowly. “In short, now that the scenario is coming to an end, we four have been made fully aware of the situation. Congratulations are in order, ascendant.”
Samantha’s eyes widened, and she was temporarily at a loss for words. She hadn’t expected all of her advisors to be ‘awakened’ as Tobias was during the Extermination scenario–at least not before the quest was officially finished.
Not missing a beat, Natalie chimed in next. “You’ve done something truly impressive, and such feats are deserving of recognition. We’re here to tell you what to expect, as well as give you some information that would otherwise be restricted.”
Samantha couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. Finally, all of her hard work was going to pay off. She was also looking forward to getting some straight answers, for once.
Donovan laughed. “I can see there are many questions you want to ask, but I’m sorry to say things might not be that simple. We’ve been given specific knowledge of the rift and the Rift Mark to pass on. No more, no less.”
Samantha was about to be disheartened by the answer… until she heard him say ‘Rift Mark’. If this was anything like the Vortex Mark she’d received from completing a hidden quest on the first floor, it could have a big impact on her advancement.
Brienne spoke up. “Let’s start with the basics. As you’ve been told by your representative, the World Spires serve as humanity’s refuge and training grounds in the war against the Divine Beasts. The rifts are an extension of this mission, and are crafted for the betterment of you ascendants who seek to contribute to the war efforts. There is much for you to learn in a short time if you wish to be more than fodder, and these scenarios seek both to teach you the skills you need, and to assess where you might be most effectively placed once you finally ascend.”
Roland took over the explanation. “Now, onto some more specific information. This ‘General’ scenario always appears for ascendants when the rift qi reserves near zero, but since you have completed at least three other scenarios prior to this one you have fulfilled a hidden condition. You will be given a Rift Mark and upon exiting the rift, it will be permanently closed behind you.”
“What is this Rift Mark, exactly?” Samantha asked.
“It will serve as a small spatial storage for you. Its capacity increases by 1 foot cubed per floor–meaning you’ll start with a 2x2x2 ‘cube’ here on the second floor. The shape of the space is flexible, so longer objects can be placed into storage so long as it’s thin enough. Time flows very slowly within this storage as well, so the items you place within it will be preserved for longer–even in the case of intangibles like temperature,” Roland continued.
“Could I use it in a core skill, like with my Vortex Mark?”
Brienne answered this time. “That’s beyond our knowledge.”
Samantha nodded understandingly. “Well, this is a great reward for everything all the same! Thank you. I’ll be sure to make good use of it.”
Natalie laughed. “Oh no, you’ve got it all wrong. The Rift Mark is unrelated to your performance during this quest. For that, you get something else. Though Xiomavat was a simulated Divine Beast, you still defeated the equivalent of a Rank 15 spirit beast. Special rift shop content has been made purchasable, and any equipment bought before you leave this rift can be upgraded to be using Rank 15 materials. You’ll also get a boost to the points you’ll be awarded for the completion of this scenario. Speaking of which…”
Rift Quest: General [COMPLETED]
Starting point balance: 3,317,418
Spires Remaining: 1 x 2.0 bonus
Divine Beasts Slain: 1 x1.5 bonus
First Time Delve Bonus: x 2.0 bonus
War Duration: < 6 Months
Primary Tactics: Psychological Warfare, Guerilla Warfare, Razed Earth, Entrenched Defense
Kingdom Morale: Above Average
Kingdom Finances: Acceptable
Collateral Damage: Acceptable
Army Losses: Minimal
Enemy Army Losses: Substantial
Overall grade: AA
Total: 19,904,508 points
Seeing the ridiculous number of points on the quest pop up took Samantha’s breath away, but Natalie didn’t seem to notice.
“In case you’re curious, the baseline judgment for this evaluation compares your performance to what happened in reality. This simulation is closely modeled after a Divine Beast war that happened outside of the World Spire.”
Samantha tore her focus away from the message and looked at Natalie. “This really happened?”
“Yes, but I’m sad to say the history is…” Natalie paused. “You did much better than they did.”
Brienne cut in. “Let’s not sugarcoat things, it was a complete loss and millions died. Xiomavat still prowls the land as we speak. However, don’t let this victory make you arrogant. The methods you used here–while clever–wouldn’t work on a true Divine Beast. Xiomavat is not known as the god of Shadow for nothing. His darkness could easily consume all of your false suns without so much as a flicker of light peeking through. If you enter a rift on a higher floor, you’ll get a much better idea of what Divine Beasts really can do.”
“This is a good time to mention that you can only receive a Rift Mark once,” Donovan added. “Feel free to enter other rifts, tackle the scenarios, and earn points for the rift shop, of course… but the rewards you’ll possibly receive at the end will differ.”
In all honesty, Samantha felt like she’d spent enough time inside a rift to last her a lifetime already. She was keen to get back outside and stay there, though she didn’t say so out loud to avoid appearing ungrateful. The opportunities provided by the rift were valuable, after all, and she’d be gaining a lot with the amount of points she’d just earned.
“Is this the end, then?” Samantha asked quietly. Despite her eagerness to finally be done with it all, the familiar feeling of bittersweet parting still stung. It felt wrong to be excited–no matter how minorly–to leave these people behind forever.
All four of her advisors bowed their heads in response, and a rift opened atop the Envisor between them all.
Not wanting to overthink it or give in to melancholy, Samantha stood and returned the bow. “Thank you all for everything. I won’t forget you.”
The last thing she heard before stepping through the rift with Silas was a chorus of voices wishing her luck.
----------------------------------------
Samantha stepped out onto the cloudy island, as she had many times before. Her belongings had appeared next to her feet, neatly expelled by the scenario when she exited the space.
Silas hopped down off of her shoulders and onto the soft ground, then let out a long yawn while he stretched. “So, what now?”
Bending down to pick up her pack, a sharp, painful burning around her stomach brought her to her knees. She clutched at the spot and grit her teeth, but thankfully the feeling was quick to vanish. Opening her robes to see what had happened, a new, glowing blue mark around her navel had appeared.
That must be the Rift Mark.
She felt an intrinsic connection to the mark, and it felt as natural as breathing to utilize its power. Willing a small tear in space to open in front of her, she took a small bauble from her bag, dropped it inside, and closed it. Holding her hand out and willing the storage open above it, she visualized the bauble and it dropped into her waiting palm.
“Oooh. I want to try!” Silas said excitedly, looking up into the warped rip in the air with curiosity.
“I didn’t ask if I could put live things in here… but you’re within the size limit and if you do die then I can revive you. It should be fine, but are you sure you want to go inside?”
Silas nodded enthusiastically, “Definitely!”
Samantha opened the space and Silas jumped in with no hesitation. She waited a few seconds, then reopened the space off to her left side. Silas leapt out and landed a bit unsteadily–as if he weren’t quite ready for the ground to appear under him–before looking around in confusion.
“It didn’t work? Wait, why am I over here?”
“It must’ve just been too fast from your perspective to notice due to the time difference. But, it definitely worked!”
Silas let out a happy gasp. “Can you put me in here when you’re doing boring things? Like cultivation! Sitting around for days is horrible. Should I go in right now?” He sounded a little too excited to be placed for an indeterminate amount of time in a void, in her opinion.
“Woah there,” Samantha said a little nervously. “We don’t know if there’s even air in there. What if you suffocate or starve or something?”
Silas gave her a mental shrug, “Bring me out occasionally, then! I know you’ll figure out what’s safe.”
She patted him affectionately on the head, and he leaned into her touch. “Alright, but I want to take care of some other things before we experiment with that.”
She looked to the tall, jade pillar which served as an access point to the rift shop. Thinking of all the points she now possessed, she rubbed her hands together greedily and grinned widely. “It’s time to do some shopping.”