CHAPTER XI: CHANGING THE FAITH OF TWO PEOPLES
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TRIAL TIME 03:19
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THE VILE PLAINS
RUIN TEMPLE
DEENA JOY
Deena Joy had married into the prestigious Joy Elven family. They were one of the finest Classers clans in the Imperium and she and her family was glad to serve them. She wasn’t enamored with the nineteenth son of the matriarch, but at least he was top twenty. She knew of her husband’s wandering member, especially with the mermaids, but when he sired a half-breed only a few decades ago after centuries with her unable to give him one, she was understandably angry. Elves had a notoriously low birth rate. So it was not unheard of for families to go millennia without having their firstborn.
Alon to appease her handed over his phylactery the source of his power life and extra EXP to her as a plea for forgiveness for the anger of having a firstborn with another female.
That anger soon turned to joy when she had twins a year later, and they were born as nobles. But at the age of maturity, the Imperium stole her children from her and she was forced to raise the half bread as her own. Elves mature much slower than their other younger race counterparts, but the half-breed didn’t have that issue at all. As a matter of fact, he grew up fast and was more powerful than his peers even when he was much smaller than them.
In the GREAT GAME, size meant nothing, but to High Elves it was status. So they collar the boy if only to slow down his progress and control him. The Imperium had only been on the island continent for two millennia trying to establish a base. In that time they had conquered about sixty percent of the island, that wasn’t controlled by an ancient beast, and then the Mermaids started to fight back.
When the matriarch and her three husbands came to this planet their mission was to establish an outpost for the Imperium a multi-planet magic organization. But the rules of the game made it so they couldn’t start at the top. Nor did they want the powerhouses that ruled a planet the size of this one to take notice of them, they were not people the Imperium wanted to deal with without support. So they took over the island that was offered to them by the gods of the planet.
The Vile Plains was named after the first major battle between the Imperium and the Mermaids where the Matriarch’s main family devastated the ecosystem with max-tier magic, causing a chain reaction of corruption that has permeated the surroundings for eighteen hundred years. It had resulted in powerful corrupted beasts that fought in packs and attacked anyone on sight regardless of level.
Elves rarely regret much because of their long lives. They usually just move on, but the Matriarch had always regretted the environmental damage that was done to the plains not because of the corruption, but because of how hard it had been to find and kill off the remaining forces on the island.
The mermaids, while they were water creatures, their children must be born on land. With the vastness of the oceans, this island is their only safe place. Even with the Imperium threat, they had to still live here to protect their children. The last Mermaid Stronghold still stood tall. It is on an island in the middle of a bay on the other side of the vile plains. Over the last four hundred years the Elves have captured and enslaved the Mermaids and used them to tame the vile plains so that the Imperium can get to the final Mermaid Stronghold.
The Matriarch had lost two husbands to the Mermaid Stronghold so no one underestimated them and council. But that was until They had captured their monks on a pilgrimage a few decades ago. Apparently, they knew summoning magic that could bring people from other planets to theirs as defenders. This answered why they were so difficult to defeat. If the Imperium could do that they would have taken this part of the world a millennia ago. But after getting their own monk slaves to tier 5 they were ready to finally summon their own champion and finally end this farce of a war.
Deena had just left a platinum Dungeon and was suffering from Dungeon sickness when she got the assignment to guard the monks. As far as the monks knew they were summoning a savior for the mermaid slaves, but her husband was there to collar the champion. Her sickness affected her general skills more than her spells but not by much. Elves didn’t have professions as classers so they only had two paths of progression but with long lives, they all had a chance to ascend. “Once this damn war is over we can start making cultivators again.” She said out loud as she got another sharp pain. Dungeon sickness halted the player’s HP regen until their body became more aligned with the local mana. Depending on level that could be days or weeks. The mental strain also made it difficult to use active Skills and spells as well.
Why would they send her on a mission like this in this state? In a word hubris, Elves see themselves as superior to other races, and for the most part, they were, magically especially. Dungeon sickness while debilitating, was only so physical, she was also level 61 and magic-focused. The monks were only 50 and while they were the same tier as her they were not the same in any way. Plus with her husband in the temple, she would back him up with her pets.
That was when her husband’s phylactery started to heat up. Another reason why she was chosen was because Phylacteries had to be within a certain distance of the Inquisitor for it to work. She looked at the satchel with hers and her husband Phylactery and frowned. “What is going on in there Alon?” She asked as a pulse burst out of the satchel signaling his death. At the same time, she noticed her connection to her panthers was severed.
Deena was very confused. “How?” Her husband had never died before, he was tough and had many ways to save his life. Could they have been betrayed? She started to get angry. “My useless stepson must have turned on us.” It wasn’t a huge leap since the half-blood was... well a half-blood. She smirked maybe her cheating husband finally got what he deserved. But she wasn’t going to let anyone get away with killing an inquisitor on her watch. Protocol was to take the Phylactery away while the elf recovered in it but fuck that she had always wanted to kill that half-blood ever since they had taken her twins away, and now she had a golden opportunity to do so.
DEBUFF ADDED
So as you can imagine her shock of being crushed by the actions of the very bird she had tamed in a ruined temple while a level 10 human stood over her looking down on her as she screamed in pain. The human looked at her satchel and she felt fear for the first time in centuries. She had fucked up, both hers and her husband’s phylacteries were in it. She ordered her bird to grab the enemies quickly, and it complied. She was going to make it out of this alive once she got this pillar off of-
BOOM!
Her world went black. Then she saw words she had thought she would never see again.
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{YOU HAVE DIED!}
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TRIAL TIME 03:28
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THE VILE PLAINS
RUIN TEMPLE
CLYDE
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< ANALYZE >
{Name: Mountain Rukh(Beast)(Tamed)(Elite)
Level:65
HP:300,000
MP:750
DR:9,000
Highest Stat
Physical: Strength
Mental: Luck
Bane: Lightning magic
Weaknesses: Water magic.
Description: Rukh are creatures of myth on most celestial bodies, they are apex birds of prey that can grow in power over time as they stay in their environment. A rukh’s size is a good indicator of its relative strength. Unlike many birds who depend on speed and magic, a rukh is a strength-based bird, that isn’t to say they aren’t fast or don’t use magic, just not its main focus. Mountain rukh grew in size as they leveled and for every point in strength. These behemoths of the sky can move mountains hence their name. This Rukh is tamed by a high-tier tamer power, though the bond is not strong. Elite Rukh has a permanent boost to HP (times 10) and damage(times 2). At Level 60 they gain +200 STR & LUCK, +120 DEX & CON, 75 INT, and 25 CHA per level.
EFFECTS: Tamed}
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“Well, shit!” Clyde said as he looked up, a claw grabbed all of the monks and him by ripping up the ground they were standing on.
The talon alone was the size of the temple likely why it couldn’t distinguish between destroying the building and crushing its tamer. Or maybe that had something to do with the tamer’s bond being weaker than the pack of shadow panthers. The monks were panicking as they went further and further up. They were traveling faster and faster, but the Colonel wasn’t worried while he was pretty sure he couldn’t do dick to this beast its tamer on the other hand... he had some smoke for her. He picked up the rubble from the broken floor they were being carried on and looked at his map. It had been upgraded, he hadn’t read the original prompt in a long time so he let the prompt wash over him while he started a spell chant.
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< ABILITY UPDATED >
{ABILITY NAME: World map
LEVEL: MAX
DESCRIPTION: The ability to know where you are. With this ability Maxed out the Legacy will never be lost. Will have a natural Global Positioning System(GPS), with auto navigation to any location as long as it can be reached by the Legacy. This Ability can also overlay any known information on both mini-map and full map. Every team, and party member benefits from any shared information the Legacy offers. Quests will appear as question marks on the map and mini-map. Points of interest appear as big red Xs. While any place you haven’t been to maybe black out. Quest and major points of interest will still populate.
MAX Bonus: No limitations. Experiment for more uses.}
< UPGRADED TO >
{ABILITY NAME: Solar system map
LEVEL: MAX
DESCRIPTION: The ability to know where you and your targets are everywhere within a solar system. With this ability Maxed out, the Legacy will never be lost and can find anything he is looking for within a light year of the player. The Legacy will have a natural Solar Positioning System(SPS), with auto navigation to any location as long as it can be reached by the Legacy. This Ability can also overlay any known information on both mini map and full map. Every team, and party member benefits from any shared information the Legacy offers. Quests will appear as question marks on the map and mini-map. Targets and Points of interest appear as big red Xs. The legacy will gain a full map of any planet they are on as long as a powerful entity isn’t obscuring it. Quest and major points of interest will still populate these areas, however.
MAX Bonus: No limitations. Experiment for more uses.}
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The monks looked over to the crazy level 10 player and finally found their voice. “Who are you?” The terrified Peck Joy asked as the howling wind whipped through his hair.
The Legacy couldn’t answer because this chant was taking all of his concentration.
“Hey! What are you doing?” A second monk asked in a panic, Clyde couldn’t figure out who said what as the wind was loud as the rukh continued to rise faster beating its football field size wings.
They were at least three miles up by now, Clyde’s map ability confirmed that. The air was still breathable so he wasn’t worried... yet but the next part was going to be epic or epic fail. As his daddy used to say “Fail big, it is the only way to know that failure isn’t the end of the world, and every now and then, you may succeed massively. A few massive successes will make up for every failure you ever had.” So Clyde continued chanting. Full incantations were rarely used on low-tier spells, but this one was special he had known it the second he had chosen it.
As the last seconds of the spell incantation finished he yelled the only words anyone could understand to activate the spell. His passive spell activated.
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{CLASS G-SPELL NAME: Lesser Increased Accuracy(Passive)
SKILL LEVEL: Novice 1
SPELL EFFECT: Whenever a player uses any ranged weapon they get a 2% bonus to dexterity per level of skill.
STUDENT EFFECT: Any throwable is considered a ranged weapon.
NOVICE EFFECT: Minute Penetration increase per level of Spell.}
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“GRAND METEORITE STRIKE!” The words that would end up changing the faith of two people today.
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{CLASS G-SPELL NAME: Grand Meteorite strike (Active)
SPELL LEVEL: Novice 0
SKILL EFFECT: The Legacy can spend mana to propel any solid turning it into a flaming projectile.
Damage: Base damage 100 per level of the spell/Variable + I & burn damage. Cost: 40 mana. Cast time: 10 seconds. Cool down: 40 seconds. Requirements: Any throwable, and chant.
STUDENT EFFECT: The higher the Legacy the more damage the meteorite does.
NOVICE EFFECT: Choose between a single target for more penetration or an Area of effect damage for more burn.}
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He had mentally chosen the AOE option since he wasn’t confident in hitting the Phylacteries if he didn’t. But it was the student effect that really stole the day. Showing that the grand prefix wasn’t just for show.
As a rain of flaming rocks began to fall each of them grew in size. The Rukh had not even paid the monks, and legacy any attention until the meteorites got about a mile from it. At that point it felt the power of the attack and let go of the broken piece of rock that they were being transported on, much to the chagrin of the monks who panicked even more.
Clyde didn’t pay them any mind he just watched as his spell started to get ever more powerful.
The rukh’s number one mission was to protect its tamer so when it sense the power of the attack being sent at its trapped tamer it tucked its wings and dove after the rocks of fire. But it soon realized that it was not going to catch them. It started to prepare a rock manipulation spell as it started to pick up more speed. It had taken twenty-five seconds to grab the temple and monks fly up and now flying down but that meant nothing to a beast that could travel as fast as a rukh it flapped its wing once and practically teleported closer to the meteorites. It tried to manipulate it but to its surprise, the damn rocks were the size of a single-family house now. Which meant it was closer to a mana construct than rock.
That was when the bird realized it was barreling to the ground too fast to slow down. It spread its wings to save itself self-preservation finally taking over its tamed mind. It began to slow down only to be hit by a massive meteorite in its left wing, but instead of burning it, it froze the wing and three more shards broke it apart. The rukh fell uncontrollably just as a loud...
BOOM!
...destroyed the ruined temple and the surrounding area for miles. The rukh then fell into the blazing inferno, and even through all of the other sounds the crunch of the large bird hitting the ground was heard.
Peck and the rest of the monks had a bird’s eye view of the carnage. The piece of temple they were standing on was falling, but they could see that half of the island was on fire. The entire vile plains was a fiery crater, and they were about to join it soon. They all smiled grimly. At least they had dealt a great blow to the Imperium with their actions. Peck turned to the level 10 player. “What are you?” He said under his breath.
Not expecting an answer, he was surprised when he got one. “I am your savior Peck Joy. The one that will conquer this land, and make things right. I am going to make a whole new world, even if I have to destroy this one first.” Clyde said with great conviction. As they fell to the fiery inferno below.