[Avardum: Day 031 | Location: Howling Plains | Marcus, Janel]
Marcus was familiar with many different churches, as he had sought guidance from gods and goddesses alike when his wife and child were taken from him. One thing that they all had in common, was gradure, and inspiration. So Marcus decided on a course of action.
1. Decide on Divine Inspiration
2. Plan Architecture
3. Plan Wardings and Protections
4. Materialize Resources
5. Aquire Needed Aditional Resources
6. Construct Primary Worship Hall
7. Construct Wardings and Protections
8. Enhance Everything with as much Artistic Ability as he could Bring to bear.
9. Consecrate the Temple
10. Connect to the Divine
Marcus was sure that there would be things that come up, but he was satisfied with his list, so he focused on the first item, Decide on Divine Inspiration. Marcus had realized as he came up with the list, he had not bothered to ask Elina about herself, or about what kind of Goddess she was.
For a moment, he was stumped until he remembered he had the High Priestess of Elina residing inside his Dungeon. Marcus shifted his attention to Janel and found her kneeling before the statue Marcus had given her. He watched her for several hours, waiting for her to do something, ideally pray out loud. What she did instead was sing. The hymn was simple, but it told much.
Oh, Elina, A star so fair
Goddess of Second chances, Evil beware.
In your grace, solace and light
Eternal honor guiding us, Banishing the Night.
Elina, hear our hymn, our song of honor,
We praise your name, our spirits grow fonder.
Goddess of Redemption, with your light you enhance,
Bestower of second chances, in your sacred dance.
Where we despair, and hope grows thin,
Your gentle touch rekindles flames within.
Trials, Tests, and Tribulations reveal mercy we find
A chance to rise, A chance to prosper, and leave the past behind.
Elina, hear our hymn, our song of honor,
We praise your name, our spirits grow fonder.
Goddess of Redemption, with your light you enhance,
Bestower of second chances, in your sacred dance.
From shattered dreams, you mold us anew,
Weak to strong, Bad to good, False to true.
In the tapestry, threads of life intertwine,
Tales of redemption, destinies aligned.
In halls of error, your forgiveness resounds,
A symphony of guidance, a beacon of hope rebounds.
Through every stumble, your light lifts us from on high,
A goddess of honor, a shining light in the vast azure sky.
Elina, hear our hymn, our song of honor,
We praise your name, our spirits grow fonder.
Goddess of Redemption, with your light you enhance,
Bestower of second chances, in your sacred dance.
Now we sing, our hearts unified in song,
melodies of redemption, pure and strong.
In your divine light, we find our way,
Goddess Elina, you we honor, and to you we pray.
Marcus was surprised, at the beauty of Janel's voice, and deeply thankful for the information that the hymn had provided. He quietly assured both Elina and Janel that the temple he would build would be worthy. Then, he turned his focus to the task at hand.
"Alright, Aurora, it seems like Redemption and Honor, maybe even spiritual growth and transformation, should be our themes," Marcus said, using his strangely perfect dungeon core memory to recall the hymn line by line.
"I would agree. And as to the incorporation of the atmospheric condenser..." She responded
"Yes, I had a thought on that. One of the things that I want to do for the temple is to incorporate a massive statue of Elina. Can you find a way to contain the Mana purifier within the statue, and have the main purification take place inside the base of the statue? That way, the temple will be a high mana density area. I will build the vast majority of the temple out of Manastone bricks, which I will charge with mana using
"That will certainly be unique. As to the Mana Purifyer. Yes, I will find a way to make your idea work, Marcus."
"Very well."
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[Avardum: Day 032 - 040 | Location: Howling Plains | Marcus, Janel]
Marcus had underestimated the amount of planning and materials that would go into a temple. And for the last eight days, he had done nothing but summon Manastone bricks, Revise Architectural plans, and imbue Manastone bricks and Dungeon Stone Bricks with mana. Aurora had also been strangely silent for many of these days. This had left Marcus with a lot of time to think. He had only come away from the time alone with more questions.
"Elina is a Goddess of second chances and honor, but the more interesting is the second chances." Marcus ran himself around the mental loop he had been following for a while now, "so maybe that is why she is a threat to The Agent and his boss. Could it be that this world is a check for something, or contains something? Is Elina a new goddess or an old goddess? Does she have a history with the Agent? What other things might be hiding in the past?"
Marcus had been running his mind ragged as he worked, desperately trying to draw a new connection. He was about to start again when Aurora broke her self-imposed silence.
"Marcus, I think I have a solution to the inclusion of the Mana purifier in the statue. But to do it, you will need to produce one continuous block of Manastone measuring more than three thousand times the size of your usual bricks. Can you do this?"
Marcus had never tried and assumed that the only limit he had was the mana cost of the raw materials. "I believe so. I might need to save some mana up for it, but I should be able to summon it in any size or shape."
"I you would begin saving for the needed mana, I think I can manage to begin the construction of the system using what you have already completed." Aurora said, "I will leave most artistic things to you, and focus on structural elements. When I get to a point where your help is required I will let you know."
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"Understood," Marcus said, stopping his production of bricks as he watched the bunker he had painstakingly crafted be pulled apart. Outside the conic Mana shield, He watched bricks begin to click into place, forming the outline of the temple walls.
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[Avardum: Day 041 - 043 | Location: Howling Plains | Marcus, Janel]
Marcus watched, and felt... bloated, as he had never had this much mana stored before. Due to his blessings, he had no mana limit, but it was definitely something that took some getting used to. At the moment, he had nearly three million mana saved up. The destruction of much of his previous structures, and the building of new walls composed of imbued Manastone had shot his mana production through the roof, and he expected it to increase by several orders of magnitude once the structure was finished.
As it was, the Temple was a shell of Manastone, with a Dungeon Stone tile roof. The front door faced south, and away from the micro-cano. Though there was a small door that allowed access to it and a Dungeon stone tube, let the micro-cano provide heat for the building. From the main entrance, the main walkway of the Temple stretched nearly two hundred feet from the door to the proposed place of the altar, and statue. Past that, there was another thirty feet of space from the back of the statue to the northmost wall. From east to west, the temple measured roughly seventy-five feet across. Inside the temple was currently a skeleton of a building with window spaces that cried out for stained glass, and floors that begged for pews.
"Marcus, it is time, please fill the space I described with Manastone as dense as possible. I will hollow out the base and let you craft the statue. Then I will do what I must to the statue to ensure that it performs as needed." Auroar said, letting him know what she needed.
"Very well," Marcus said and dumped every dram of Mana he had available into creating a dense block of Manastone that would let him carve an image of Elina with arms spread wide in a welcoming gesture. This posture would allow the hidden pipes to go through the elbows of the statue to the spire of the temple, which would eventually reach one hundred and fifty feet into the air.
Something clicked inside Marcus, and the Manastone appeared, a massive stone that looked like it would destroy the building if it should fall over. To prevent that, Marcus quickly placed a mesh of Dungeon stone just under the surface of the Manastone in the base of the statue that tied it to the floor. Then he and Auroar went to work. The
After nearly forty-eight hours of constant work from Marcus and Aurora working in concert with each other, the statue was complete and depicted Elina welcoming worshipers into her arms.
"Wow," Janel said, emerging from the dungeon, having spent many of the past days in payer. "This is amazing!"
Marcus was excited to hear what Janel thought as she was Elina's high priestess.
"I can almost feel the Goddess here with us." Janel said, "I must sanctify this ground..."
She nearly muttered the line to herself, before falling to her knees. Marcus watched Mana begin to be changed through Janel into the ground. Marcus also got a notice.
[https://bluebox.akmedrah.com/VV_Notification-021.png]
Marcus spent the next hour, doing exactly that. His massively improved mana purification abilities and the natural high density of mana he and Auroar had designed into the building, letting them pour tens of thousands of mana into Janel to do her work, on top of the million or so mana that Marcus forcibly saturated into the building.
Finally, he received another notice.
[https://bluebox.akmedrah.com/VV_Notification-022.png]
Marcus saw Janel fall into silent prayer and followed suit.
"Goddess Elina, hear your servant...
Yeah, sorry, I can't do it, Elina. It says pray to sanctify, but I am unsure of how I need to do that."
Marcus said this in his proverbial head and suddenly felt some kind of an opposition. It felt almost akin to how the mana was pulled away by Nullmana. Marcus could also feel a small tug from an energy he immediately recognized as Elina's. Whatever was going on, someone or something did not want Elina conversing with her worshipers.
"Well fuck that," Marcus said, wishing he still had teeth to grit. He gathered up his thoughts and then focused on slamming messages into the strange barrier in such a way that he was sure the one who sustained the barrier was not having a good day.
Curently, Marcus was singing bawdy spacer songs in a horrible Irish accent as he slammed his mental force into the wall to keep tempo with the song.
An hour later, he was still at it. Marcus had given up on trying to entertain himself and was simply counting. He would say which number of attack it was, then slam the mental image of that number into the barrier. "four hundred thirty-seven."
THUD
"Four hundred thirty-eight."
THUD
"Four hundred thirty-nine."
Thrack
Marcus froze. The barrier was broken, and whoever had tried to stop him had failed. The notification that came through told him he was correct.
[https://bluebox.akmedrah.com/VV_Notification-023.png]
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[Avardum: Day 043 - 044 | Location: Howling Plains | Marcus, Janel]
Marcus watched as Janel collapsed to the floor. Fine, other than she had not stopped to eat or rest, simply wanting the task at hand to be done. He watched over her as she slept, and when she woke, he felt the excitement that rolled off of her.
"It really is sanctified," Janel said, not daring to believe what she knew to be true. "Goddess, I hope this works."
Janel closed her eyes, clasping her hands at her waist, and prayed to her goddess.
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[Avardum: Day 044 | Location: Divine Realm | Elina, Janel]
Janel didn't dare open her eyes until the familiar voice of her Goddess spoke.
"Janel, it is good to see you. I am sorry it has taken so long to get you some help." Elina said, smiling at her High Priestess.
Janel dropped to her knees, "Elina, my Goddess, please forgive me for this intrusion, but I have some concerns that only you can answer."
"There is nothing to forgive. You are my High Priestess. If anything, I should be apologizing for making you work in this fucked up world." Elina shrugged, and two couches facing each other appeared, "Please sit, ask me what you will, and I will do my best to answer your questions."
Janel nodded and rose to sit on one of the couches across from her Goddess. "Well, to cut to the chase, what is the deal with the Divine Dungeon Core, Marcus Terno?"
"Ah, Marcus," Elina said with a smile, "That is a story that is longer than I care to discuss. Suffice it to say that he is a warrior of incredible renown from a place far outside your understanding. He volunteered to become a Dungeon Core to help me. Respect him and treat him well, please."
"Of course, my Goddess." Janel said, bowing, "Now my next question is, how do you feel about the use of the dungeon materials in the building of your temple?"
Elina smiled and began the age-old game of twenty questions that mortals played with Gods.