The meeting had finally come to a close, leaving Rainer to watch the procession that was coming to speak with him.
Locklar and a Nature Elf led the group. Just like the Humans here had that single touch of magic, the Elves also had a strangeness amongst their already magical selves. There was their natural magicness and a small touch of something that seemed unnatural yet a deep part of them.
Both the lead Elf and Locklar blocked his [Appraisal]. Neither of the five looked offended by his attempt. The three behind the pair, however, did not, or perhaps could not block it. He started to believe given the system’s eventual alteration of Soul at the 3rd Tier that [Appraisal] was a skill of the Soul. Given his current path that was something to investigate.
[Male, Human, Sacred Warrior-Mage(3rd) lvl 1, Wildcaller(2nd) lvl 25, Nature Sage(2nd) lvl 25]
[Title: Master of Nature]
[Female, Nature Elf, Sacred Warrior-Mage(3rd) lvl 3, Sword Master(2nd) lvl 25, Space-Time Splitter(2nd) lvl 25)]
[Title: Magus of Space and Time]
[Male, Human, Sacred Warrior-Mage(3rd) lvl 1, Wildcaller(2nd) lvl 25, Nature Sage(2nd) lvl 24]
[Title: Master of Nature]
Rainer raised an eyebrow, quickly guessing what having a simple class like ‘Warrior’ would mean in the 3rd Tier, even with the addon ‘Mage’. They specifically chose something weak. A part of him noted that a weaker class likely gave a weaker boost to the Soul. But in this he realized the change might be more qualitative than quantitative given that it supposedly blocked any elements from altering it and becoming Touched.
He glanced over their Souls, noting the weakest among them was in fact only twice as strong as his current main Soul. Twice wasn’t a simple distance to cross at this point. Unless he got a skill as impossible and specific as [Soul Presence] again, his progress would be relatively slow for quite a while. But it was still reachable.
It was how the Soul seemed to function that interested Rainer the most. He couldn’t see it before on true Tier 3 experts, with Souls to match, but on these three he could. Every step they took was influenced by their Soul. It seemed to pulse with them ever so slightly. Even with something like walking, for which Rainer didn’t think a skill existed, their Souls were making them better at it. And not just better, but giving it a certain weight, a presence. Had he not noticed it, it might have affected his decisions.
It was here Rainer realized them walking over to him casually was not an accident. Their every step gave them a certain majesty, even the borderline-fake 3rd Tiers. Though there was likely nothing fake about their strength.
Rainer stood up, competitiveness filling him up along with slight ignidation. Locklar and that Elf beside him was one thing, but how could he let bargain-brand 3rd Tiers surpass him even in walking?
He marched towards them, trying to mimic the natural movement of their Soul with [Soul Presence]. He stumbled, failing almost immediately. Paying no mind the the strange looks he was gathering he stared deeper and deeper with [Arcane Revelation]. His pupils narrowed into a needle point and the Arcane around them became more focused as he stared at the 3rd Tier’s Souls and how they functioned.
It was then the Arcane Energy around his eyes morphed ever so slightly, the skill that had long been stagnant received a final boost from his [Archon] class bonus.
[Arcane Revelation has reached level 2]
[Experience Gained: XX]
He saw the difference between their Souls ever more clearly now. With a boost from [Soul Presence] he focused inwards. [Soul Manipulation] and [Soul Presence] shook the small Soul of his Avatar as he morphed and condensed it. All to match the way it affected every single movement of those in the 3rd Tier.
The Arcane and Void parts of his Soul resisted, but he was just an Avatar. He may have less fuel to work with, but [Soul Presence]’s actual strength wasn’t that much weaker. It was just a matter of far less fuel.
And it was exactly because he was an Avatar that the natural repulsion coming from his changed Soul wasn’t enough to resist the forceable compression and change. He grimaced in pain as it took him numerous tries to mimic what he saw ever more clearly with [Arcane Revelation]. But it was more than enough.
His Soul slightly changed and gradually began influencing his shaky steps as he moved to meet the procession. A group who had long since become lost in shock and stopped moving entirely.
The quality of his Soul in this temporary moment elevated. Though its fundamental strength faded. A small part of his mind noted that without [Arcane Invigoration] it might never truly recover on its own from this. It was just a step away from a sacrifice, or a wound by a particularly special Divinity; no matter what others said about that Divinity being lesser.
[Soul Manipulation has reached level 7]
[Experience gained: XX]
[Soul Manipulation has reached level 8]
[Experience gained: XX]
[Skill Gained: Soul Consolidation lvl 1/10]
[Title Gained: Soul Surpasser]
[Experience Gained: Deferred, Deferred]
While under [Soul Consolidation], the range he could use [Soul Presence] extended. No longer was it limited to just affecting his manipulation skills and the spell [Absolute Frost] directly. His steps carried weight, and he exuded a presence that seemed even stronger than the 3rd Tier walking towards him before.
But the strength of his Soul faded almost instantly and Rainer put a stop to the skill before his Avatar fell.
Not caring for the audience, he wiped away the bead of sweat on his forehead and gave out a grin. All the while ignoring the chill he felt if he had originally attempted such lunacy in his real body.
His Soul recovered quickly as he went forward to the meet Locklar, Arcane flowing through it. Even with the upcoming decision, Rainer’s mind instead swirled in the possibility of what he had just accomplished.
It had only been the in the slightest way, but his Avatar’s Soul had approached the quality of a 3rd Tier’s, something no amount of size or strength could do. It was a combination of circumstance, the fact he was an Avatar with a weaker Soul, that he could view such weak 3rd Tiers, and finally the boost from his [Archon] along with his own stubborn temper and pride, but it was an accomplishment nonetheless. It took only a moment to confirm that his main body could use the skill as well, despite the stronger rejection from the Arcane and Void parts of his Soul.
With the new range of possibilities, could he affect [Arcane Awakening] with [Soul Presence]? Just how high would his strength rise then if 100% became 150%? Even if he could just use [Soul Presence] on more than one thing at once, it would be a huge boon.
It was in this moment, looking at the still stunned faces of the 3rd Tiers in front of him, that he realized something else. Was it not the 3rd Tier Trial that was impossible, but the upgrade of the Soul from 2nd to 3rd for those that altered theirs? He grew nervous for only a moment. Even if he was right, so what? If the path of 3rd Tier was closed to him the conventional way, he would achieve all on his own. His mind quickly refocused on improving as much as possible for the 3rd Tier Trial.
“Are you alright, Magus Nvos?” Locklar asked, the first to get his wits about him. Becoming 3rd Tier had given anyone a slight expertise of the Soul, so they all realized what he had just done in the moment. It had also given them the knowledge that he had likely never interacted with a 3rd Tier before. Locklar may have had a thought or two of rescinding the upcoming generous offer and reconvening, but in the end, his disciples only survived the Dungeon because of this man and he had even saved them once more. He wouldn’t disgrace such a thing.
“I am but an Avatar,” Rainer added, enjoying the extra shock on their faces as they were reminded of that fact, “I guess a thank you is in order,” he said, specifically smiling and giving a slight nod to the weaker 3rd Tiers. They had the good grace to at least be embarrassed, given this impossible accomplishment came from a sneaky action of theirs.
“How could we take credit for such talent,” Locklar butted in, still not understanding just how this man could control his Soul in such a manner. He also had a bit of the same guilt.
“So, what did everyone decide?” Rainer asked.
“We have no issue giving you access to the full breadth of our library. We only ask you take all those below the 3rd tier to a safer world.”
Rainer raised an eyebrow. He would have done that for free, but he understood just how valuable world travel was during his short experience with the City of Wealth and the lagging invasion of those High Elves. More importantly, they were so slow in deciding and yet this conversation had no hoops to be jumped through… looks like his temper had produced something good for once.
“The 3rd Tiers don’t want to leave this place?”
Locklar’s eyes widened before he chuckled.
“We have but 7th Tier spells and a single, technically useless 8th. We are not so senile to expect such a thing.” The hidden message of how it may as well be impossible was clear.
“Well, let’s test it out,” Rainer said, extending his arm to Locklar.
The confused Soul Mage took his hand, and promptly avoided resisting as they vanished and teleported elsewhere on this plane. He felt such a test was pointless, but after what he just witnessed, figured it was worth at least humoring their new possible ally.
Rainer frowned as he looked at the expansive forest. He performed the longest Void-walk he could manage moments later and frowned even deeper. It seemed traveling through the Void wasn’t immune to the issues of the 3rd Tier. Though he couldn’t be sure if it was leaving the normal world that was the problem, or the actual travel through the Void.
However, [Void-walking] was far, far more affected than [Void-Traveling]. In fact, the effect on [Void-Traveling] was almost nonexistent. But 5 points of Mana with his current talent to travel such a short distance with [Void-walking] was absurd. And [Void-Traveling] was far lesser when it came to world travel, bordering on impossible and limited to certain distances without those enchanted gates. Even then, would the gates be affected by a 3rd Tiers Soul if not the skill itself?
“After what happened earlier, I had begun to hope a bit. It seems I was too naive,” Locklar mumbled, with Rainer unsure if he was supposed to hear that.
“Wait a few moments,” Rainer said and then had his true self come here. He felt it was worth the risk if he could get 3rd Tiers even partially on his side.
Locklar knew he should have expected it, but when another Rainer appeared out of nowhere the strength of what should be the main body’s Soul still shocked him deeply. He was far too old for so many surprises.
“I’m sure your disciples told you how I protected them?”
“You wish for me to enter that strange space?”
“Yes.”
Locklar stared at him for a considerable amount of time. That was a big risk. But he was old and the idea of being able to leave this hellish place was too appealing. And if he couldn’t trust Rainer with this, how could he trust him to take his people somewhere safe? Their defenses and ability to hide got weaker with every day. How many more years could they live like this… which was why they asked in the first place. And for all that the portal to the City of Wealth was free to those below the 3rd Tier, living there wasn’t exactly a free option.
They decided to trust him in the first place because of what happened in the Dungeon. This was just an extension of that.
“Take me in.”
Rainer placed him into [Living Storage] before his body shuddered and [Eldritch Flight] nearly failed him. It seemed having such a powerful Soul in [Living Storage] pushed the limit of the ability. He had been expecting that, but not to such a degree. It was good Locklar was the strongest of the five though.
He let out a long breath, recovering himself, before [Void-walking] a short distance away. The sheer joy radiating off him made the conclusion obvious. He broke the rule accepted by so many empires and beings far stronger than him. Even if he needed the Dungeon’s help in the form of a reward, it was still his spell in the end that let him cross worlds.
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A few minutes later, his real body had already returned back to the Dungeon, using up most of his resources over the quick double trip. Locklar had been left behind, with the goal of using a weaker Soul for the first world-crossing journey just in case.
The underground city was currently preparing all its inhabitants to leave. The spells he asked for had already been delivered to the room his Avatar had here. Once they learned he might be able to transport 3rd Tiers without issue, they were willing to bend over backwards to accommodate him.
He was quite sure one of the 3rd Tiers offered his granddaughter to him accidentally in his excitement. Though that may have been a cultural misunderstanding.
He didn’t think the five 3rd Tier experts were enough to win the war in Alvra, nor did he think they would risk their lives to help him. But it was enough that he likely no longer had to worry about Augost finding them and attacking the Mana-filled world. Assuming of course he didn’t have other strong Divinites for support. That was where he planned on taking them in any case.
Their interest in having a new world to stay in likely won over any thoughts of betraying him for benefits, so he wasn’t really worried in that regard. Besides, the possible danger of a sudden discovery and attack by Augost won out over the fear of betrayal. At least for now. But if even a Divinity like the one who made the City of Wealth struggled to move 3rd Tiers, assuming he could at all, then how could someone like Augost offer them anything while they were stuck on a systemless world?
“Ah, I’ve been meaning to tell you,” Locklar said, having teleported over to his Avatar as he was heading back to the room.
“Tell me what?”
“Why some of the spells might be impossible for you to learn.”
Rainer took that as a challenge but of course listened closely nonetheless.
“We aren’t sure why, but our two races had always been a bit special. Born with a natural connection to world, able to bend its laws as our strength grew naturally. Of course, it was to a minor degree, but when added to magic that minor degree could have greater effect.”
Like blocking a part of the Void from the rest of it…
Rainer thought, recalling that group spell. That explained his issues in learning. It also explained that weird small touch of magic they all had.
“That shouldn’t be a problem, now that I have that information.” He had heard the term natural laws a few times from Talvara and figured he should get a better explanation.
“I expected as much,” Locklar said with a difficult grin, somewhere between relieved and envious.
“Any guesses as to why?” Rainer asked curiously.
Locklar shrugged. “Anywhere between being descended from a God or Human experimentation, to just the mixing that has occured between us over countless generations. Even if children end up being more Human often than not when we are together with Elves.”
“Divinities can have children?” Rainer said, slightly alarmed.
“Not as far as I am aware of. As I said, we are utterly clueless to our origins nor have we ever been in contact with any Divinity other than the followers of the City of Wealth.”
He could partially guess why, but he figured he’d ask.
“Any reason you didn’t all relocate there, given you were willing to stay behind in any case?”
“Permanent accommodation in the City of Wealth isn’t cheap, nor are any of the freely travelable worlds any better than this one right here. And many among us are Elves after all…”
Rainer grimaced.
“I should have expected even one as multi-talented as you would have such issues given your appearance,” Locklar guessed.
“It was a disappointing experience. But not an unexpected one.”
“I should go help make ready,” Locklar said, before bidding goodbye, leaving Rainer’s Avatar alone.
Rainer excitedly went to go memorize all the spells offered. Though he was a bit surprised how quickly they trusted him in return. He could very well be teleporting them into a trap.
Was his Charisma acting up again? he thought jokingly. Inwardly he was quite sure they were desperate to leave this place rather than charmed by him.
----------------------------------------
Entering [Sleep Learning] that night, Rainer knew exactly what he would be testing first. Without making any Avatars, he went off on his own.
[Arcane Awakening] covered his body as it quickly surged to 100%. He focused inwards, using [Soul Consolidation], increasing the quality of his Soul even as it was gradually weakened in return. It was good that type of damage was covered by [Arcane Invigoration].
With this new change, he focused on [Soul Presence], diving into his [Arcane Awakening]. The flow of Arcane shuddered but Rainer quickly found his attempt rebuffed. It was such a solid failure that Rainer knew his current power or ability wasn’t anywhere near enough.
A similar attempt with [Void Suppression], however, proved successful. But it didn’t increase the power of the skill but rather let him keep more of his strength without losing any of his hiding ability. Though he had to test if the latter was truly the case with another’s help. Talvara would be the best choice for that.
Making Avatars and sending them off to focus on different things, Rainer headed over to Art with his main body. He wondered if [Soul Consolidation] and [Soul Presence] might help with the merging. He had a feeling if he truly wanted to change Draconically, his Soul couldn’t be excluded in any case.
----------------------------------------
Later that night in [Sleep Learning] Rainer was a bit surprised as Kara joined him and Art to test Draconic transformation. Her help had been invaluable, especially with her Demonic side to see how the Draconic blood fought and tried to consume it. It eventually won out, mostly due to Art’s tampering rather than purely on its own merit, but it was useful nonetheless.
“Back again?” he asked.
Kara just nodded in response.
She had come here at first to just help him. Truly a difficult thing, Rainer realized. Not everyone could deal with pain in here as he could. He only fully realized his ‘abilities’ when he invited such a wide variety of people in here.
She had stayed past what he needed to train her Aura. So what was the goal now? As if reading his thoughts, she added on her reasoning.
“How many monsters are related to Dragons in some way?”
“A lot?” Rainer asked, before quickly understanding it. He was a bit worried, but generally had no real apprehension to becoming a father. “But there aren’t really that many dragons, or any, no?”
They could be hiding in the Forbidden Lands, and wasn’t that a frightening thought? He should check for information about them in the City of Wealth later. After the Dungeon closed and they had time to interrogate the captive, he’d be visiting there again in any case to speak with the Divinity again and speak over conditions.
“Do I look like a Dragon?” Kara asked.
“Y-”
“Me and Luna just might go on a vacation, alone, depending on your answer,” she interrupted.
“No,” he answered even if he was mostly sure she was joking.
“Luna would ne-” The Fairy, who was currently with them, tried to interrupt only to be muffled by Kara. She would never be that petty either, but now wasn’t the time.
“She might have a point,” Art added in, suddenly interested.
“That Luna would ne-” Rainer started.
“That Rainer becoming partially Draconic might deal with the fertility issues?” Kara filled in, biting her lip not to laugh and failing at the effort.
“It’s good Rainer believes in Luna.”
“I can not imagine a greater creature of Mana than that little, almost pure Dragon by your side,” Art said, “Yet given the number of monsters on this planet and within that Fae Realm with Draconic heritage, it would imply they lack the issue us two-legged things face with fertility and Affinity. At least when breeding outside of their pure race.“
“Don’t say two-legged like it’s a temporary affiliation,” Rainer shivered. He could deal with growing a few scales but he didn’t want to suddenly have a compulsion to walk on all fours.
“All things are temporary.”
“Don’t bring out existential philosophy to argue stupid points either.”
“You ask too much of me, my grandson. So I will ask of you instead to bring me a great-grandson.”
“Sure,” Kara and Luna agreed in sync.
“I think you are a missing a few greats,” Rainer argued, wondering when Luna became interested in having children, or if she was just messing with him. How would a Fae child appear from him in any case? He knew cross-breeding was possible so long as they had Mana, but it had the same issue as with Demons. Though… would his changed self win out over the Fae race?
“Don’t sass me. Or I’ll produce a great-uncle of yours that’s far younger than you.”
“I’m sorry. Please don’t,” Rainer said jokingly, not wanting to see what other threat he’d come up with. Like he’d actually be bothered by having another family member even if it came from his weirdly young looking great-something-grandfather.
“That’s what I thought.”
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A few days later, with the Dungeon closing in a few hours, both Rainer’s main body along with his 3rd Avatar were scouring the place with abandon. If it had even a touch of magic he took it. Even if it was a whole tree. A few times he had to leave to replant some of the large things he took within his territory on Neutral City. Working with the [Nature’s Walkers] had been a huge boon in that.
Only a few hours of the Dungeon’s timer were left as both Rainer and his Avatar looked at the powerful guard. The black-feathered Griffon was sleeping near a massive hole. If monsters he fought in the past had a strength that was like the 3rd Tier, this one was truly in it.
[Male, Chimera, Griffon Emperor of Darkness lvl 7]
And what a difference it made in strength. Even just its sleeping breath carried with it a strange power of Soul and expelled Aura from the constantly regenerating furnace it had. He had to wonder if that tainted breath might kill him. Why was there such a power within the Dungeon? And what did it have to do with it sleeping?
He would just Void-walk in there, but it was blocked by an artificial Dungeon defense. Being able to skip ahead and reach in there would likely be the equivalent of teleporting to another while they were in their Trial. This was a challenge that asked for a very specific skill set. He didn’t think something as easy as distracting the Griffon, especially in a scenario where the distracter might have extra lives, would work.
Understanding that the Dungeon probably wouldn’t have a challenge that was uncompletable, Rainer’s main body sunk into a [Void Suppression] after hiding his enchanted items in his Spatial Storage, removing half of his Arcane-Weaved circles. He had lives left and his full strength of Soul and bonuses of enchanted items he was carrying might be needed in case there were challenges deeper in. It was good the Dungeon still had a rule of protecting and reviving your items if you died with a life.
His body morphed, growing thinner and taller as [Void Suppression] covered him. He took steps slowly forward, but the moment he seemed to enter a certain range, the Griffon perked up and instantly lunged towards him. He fell backwards as the Griffon landed in the place he had just been in.
As if it couldn’t see him beyond that intangible boundary, the monster quickly returned to its original spot.
After a few seconds, Rainer let out a long breath. It looked like the current [Void Suppression] wasn’t enough. Just what sort of expert of stealth was this challenge meant for? Or had his guess about it been wrong?
After recovering from [Void Suppression], he repeated the same action a few times, quickly determining the limit of the Griffon’s range. It was clearly limited by the Dungeon rather than itself. He doubted he could freely attack it outside the range and wasn’t willing to trade one of his lives to find out until the very end.
Instead he stepped in while in full strength, and now within this barrier, he was no longer blocked from [Void-walking]. Moving as if it was teleported, the great beast of darkness appeared right on top of him, mirroring his Void-walks.
Rainer pushed himself to the limit, narrowly avoiding being corroded to nothing by several attacks of the Griffon. Were it not for his newly gained passive to increase the speed of his casting, he likely would have been caught by the first attack.
He used [Arcane Awakening: Surge] and then [Soul Consolidation] but didn’t use [Soul Presence]. It was to his pleasant surprise his casting speed slightly increased beyond just what surge gave, likely bolstering the still unfindable passive skill on his Soul.
Gaining distance, he quickly entered the hole the Griffon was guarding, noting that once he got close enough he couldn’t Void-walk directly in. With a final push of [Eldritch Flight] and Arcanium Step he dashed inside, narrowly avoiding an impossibly fast smog of darkness that likely would have killed him despite any defense.
The Griffon stared down the hole as Rainer flew ever deeper into it. As if uninterested, it went back to where it was sleeping and closed its eyes. Seeing this through his Avatar, Rainer could finally let out a sigh of relief.
However, his face fell as he suddenly understood something. Since he had given up the stealth route, why didn’t he use his Avatar as a distraction?
Chuckling at himself, he continued onwards, heading ever deeper towards some strange destination, noting he still couldn’t Void-walk.
His Avatar left the Dungeon soon after, receiving a non-urgent message from Elelaria. Given he might need his full resource pool for this challenge, he was fine with his Avatar leaving the Dungeon ahead of time. It wouldn’t be much use here as time wound down; all that was left were next-to-impossible challenges just like this one.
----------------------------------------
Normally, Rainer would be happy to find out a warning sent through his Soul Mark wasn’t an urgent issue. But that only made him realize it would be something troublesome. Especially if it came from Elelaria, who essentially ran both the temporarily relocated Enchanter’s Guild and partially the group of Mages in the Mana-filled world.
The group of Mages still respected Frederick as their leader, but given that he treated Elelaria as an equal it wasn’t hard to accept her authority while the powerful Magus was elsewhere. That she had the world-traveler’s support certainly didn’t hurt. Especially with the large power boost the mages who had been affected by the system received.
But above it all, there were very few interested in leadership. While they would be happy to accept the privileges of it, few Magi, except those who had abandoned improvement, wanted the responsibilities. Given that all of any real power had been initialized by the system, that was no longer a closed path. While they couldn’t level while at the Mana-filled world, many of the stronger had taken their turns at Alvra and had at least access to one class store. They now sought to reach level 10 with any Skill close enough.
And of course, those approaching their end, looked forward to what should be easy 2nd Class Trials for them.
Elelaria had explained all this to him as he spoke with her. At the end of the conversation she sighed and sat down.
“And, what did you need me here for?” Rainer asked. He planned on having his Avatar stay here for a bit and check things out. He was particularly interested in the Ashen Dwarves and how they were doing. Not to mention if they could use the ambient Mana for their special talents.
“For all I wanted this, there really isn’t much left for me here, given the lack of any outside forces of any sort that you wouldn’t just crush with brute force. In my current role, anyone could replace me. Or no one could replace me, and things wouldn’t change in their current state. And I really wish they would.”
She was currently running a Guild that basically existed in a vacuum, so Rainer understood what she meant. Not to mention most had enough respect for him as either an [Archon] or world traveller, or his grandfather that Elelaria had very few interpersonal issues to deal with. That would change over time but their strength had enough impact in the current moment.
“Well, I’ll look for someone to replace you here,” especially given the coming guests, maybe he should find them a different world, “In any case, I had been hoping you’d be willing to relocate. Looks like things work out in the end.”
“For you,” she added with an eye roll, though she didn’t hide her interest in whatever he was talking about.
“So you aren’t actually interested then.”
Elelaria quickly grabbed his arm as he turned to leave.
“I’m sorry, tell me everything,” she quickly said.
Rainer chuckled as he realized just how bored she must have been here.
Her previously dismissive attitude quickly turned to interest as he described the City of Wealth and his plans of building a base there.
What place could be more perfect for someone like her?