Greetings, Alchemy here.
I would like to start off by saying the story isn't dead!
The story is currently being revised here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/45414/welcome-to-the-upward-bound-system-v2
Just paste that into your browser and you'll be at the revision for this story.
Some of the changes made include, improvements to the system, improvements to the story, chapters are longer now. They are about 5k words or more on average.
For those of you who didn't like how "OP" Dante was getting so fast or how he didn't use his skills as much as he could, I have heard you and taken these things into account.
Those of you who have read this far and been reading the authors notes at the top and bottom of the chapters wil remember I said the story would be doing somethign with timetravel.
That's getting dropped. If you want to know how that was going to turn out I will gladly give you the authors notes.
But before I do please consider checking out the new version of the story. Its the same people you loved and story just with some tweaks and changes for consistancy. Also, we have a dicord I would be grateful if you would join and give some feed back on the story. Here's the link: https://discord.gg/8vf4Nkcky6
This old version will remain up until after the new version catches up and exceeds the original in popularity.
Without further ado, the chapter that never came to be, The shadow king. A very similar idea will be present in the new version but with a different back story, you'll know it when you see it.
It's your choice if you want to read the authors notes.
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Dante dreams of darkness that hungers. Small paragraph.
Dante assumes the dream is a result of the vampire and pays it no mind.
they go into the Shadow of death dungeon. It is cold and dark. There is grim on the stone walls. the first thing they meet adter a little walking is a slime.
after beating it he sees its core is still intact. Dante thinks for a moment and smile grows across his face. He buys a 20 gallon jar with mithral strap handles with a beautiful red wood handle. he opens the jar and then uses telekenisis to gather a bit of the slime back to its core. He lifts the ball of slime and places it into the jar and uses create seeds to make sunflower seeds and tosses them in with the slime.
He plans to try taming the slime, to use the awaken spell on it, and to use it as weight training for his telekenisis while its growing in the jar.
Dante wants to try gaining a stealth skill. So he tells his party to tell him to watch him. He turns inward but resists going into his soul space. Instead he tries to pull back his presense from the world. He thoughts begin to drift as something begins to seep into his mind. 'I want to be hidden from those who would seek me harm.'
Another line here.
'I want to disappear from this world and leave only darkness in my place!' Dante finds himself screaming in his mind though no sooner than he has done it that he realizes something is wrong. He obtains a stealth skill, but his efforts seem to have been manipulated.
You have earned the skill supress presence
Skill has evolved to become, erase presense
Skill has evolved into, Become Shadow
You have obtained the affinity Darkness
Congratulations! You have obtained both Light and Darkness affinities...
The Road of Yin has opened to you...
The Road of Yang has opened to you...
You have obtained the affinity Shadow...
Dante tried to deactive the skill but only partially succeded. His body partly revealed itself as he screamed in pain. His party rushed to his side as a battle began for his soul.
Something beat against the other side of the doorway there in Dante's mind and it frieghtened him.
Burning Heart has leveled up!
The light coalesed trying to hold back what wanted in but was rapidly losing ground. This golden door protected by divine light began to crack and break. The light faultered as the door shattered and Darkness poured forth.
Rosana speaks to Nathan and tells him to press his smaller core to Dante's chest otherwise they will all die.
He does so.
Dante's skills are left tainted by the darkness.
Reorder so the boss fight is at the end of the dungeon. All the shadow seeps from the walls as the final boss claps and congradulates them on making it this far.
Now you will become my temporary vessel until he arrives.
The shadow boss wants to use Dante's body to get close to the vampire that way ancient dark powers can pour their servant, the shadow boss, into the ancient vampires body.
He will come like a moth to the flame. Fluttering towards his doom unaware of his impending death. I will bath this world in darkness for my master's and when my armies are amassed, I shall march them forth upon world after world. Until every world is bathed in darkness.
Shadow's Sleep Arc
Dante is knocked out and a dungeon forms beneath Dante's tower of Babel. The shadows began to lift from the dungeon walls as shadow after shadow passes into Dante. The reasons this is happening is because Dante is very strong. Dante has the robe of everlasting life. They want to make Dante into a boat for them to escape the dungeon.
Nathan puts his smaller dungeon core to Dante's chest causing the core to pass into Dante. Rosana asked him to do this to save Dante he readily accepted.
Most of the darkness is confined to that dungeon and Dante cannot wake until he slays a good bit of the monsters there. they can't leave the dungeon. The Dungeon is filled with shadows.
Dante cannot wake untill he slays the darkness within him.
Dante appears under the same tree as last time and there is Virgil to express his concern
Dante tells Virgil to stay by the tree and in what he thought to be a meaningless gesture of resistance he told him to protect this tree to his last breath.
Dante runs a dungeon with several floors and then does the boss fight on the final floor. He loses. the boss destroys his soul and takes his body.
Small scene where Rosana tells the vampire that she needs his help. That Dante has been slain. Shouldn't he have
The normal tutorial zone and the dungeon begin to shake as the system begins to flip with warning messages.
Small scene with a figure cloaked in night beating against the outside of the tutorial zone. All that can be seen is burning crimson eyes.
The ancient vampire is trying to break in to get to Dante.
The boss begins to convert Dante's soulspace into his own.
Dante's body begins to move and stand. Everyone is happy at first then they are horrified when they realize that isn't Dante.
Dante drifts through the darkness, as if through a dreamless sleep. His eyes are closed and suddenly he feels a hand reach out for him. He opens his eyes only to find the void staring back at him. Dante begins to close his eyes once more, "So tired..."
"Don't you dare close your eyes!" the void screamed at him.
The Darkness coalesed into a humanoid shape, an all too familiar one.
The Abyss weeps. At first the tears are oil, but as it weeps the tears begin to change. They begin to glow gold as the black figures eyes too began to become gold. Then its body began to become white and shining. "Hear me my son! I will not accept this one!"
Somewhere far beyond this place, a being of light smiled.
The golden tears wash down Dante's face as he begins to wake up. Dante realizes some of what is happening as he asks the crying figure, "What are you? Who are you?"
I am beyond divinty. I am the Void.
The figure turned its head as if it had heard something and then it smiled.
The figure looked into Dante and in his eyes he saw reluctance.
The desire to fight but the knowledge that he had moved beyond any being capability to help.
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"I cannot directly aid you...But!" the coid spoke as a smile grew upon its otherwise smooth face.
"I can enable you to help yourself."
The void releases dante and he feels sleep ethralling his mind.
He fought desperately against that feeling.
He knew that to give in would mean peace
but he also knew that to give in would mean he would never see his family or friends again
All Dante could do in that moment was sing a song to focus his mind against the sleep that was trying to retake him.
This in the hope that his futile resistance will net him something.
"Carry on my Wayward Son...There'll be peace when you are done...Lay your weary head to rest...Don't you cry no more..."
As sleep consumed him all that filled his ears was the pounding of his own heart.
Badum...Badum
Badum...Badum
"Sing me a song?
a golden light graced Dante's closed eyes and with great struggle he opened his eyes once more
There before him was a small object about the size of an avacodo seed.
Its surface was fairly smooth and it appeared like a normal Avacodo seed, save the glowing golden aura eminating from it.
Will you sing a song for me? Father always sang to mother." Again it asked in the voice of a little girl.
Dante slowly smiled as he raised his heavy arms to cups the...seed. "I will sing you a song every day until the end of time."
The seed seemed to grow brighter at Dante's words.
Who am I? What am I supposed to be?
Dante had no answers for the small thing so with all of what little strength he could muster he drew the seed closer to his chest and gently rubbed it with his fingers.
As he did so images flashed through his mind.
He saw himself.
Standing in this black place upon a bed of roots. Behind him stood a tree whose height extended far out of sight.
He saw its roots too streched far down into the blackness, such that their ends couldn't be seen.
He saw himself raise his hands and as if blown by unknown wind, small lights began to drop from above.
'Seeds?
He saw himself cup a single seed as the rest scattered into the darkness.
Somewhere in the distance he could hear himself singing that same tune.
Carry on my Wayward Son...
You will find me again
There'll be peace when you are done
Though I will not know you
Lay your weary head to rest
Dante stands upon the edge of the bed of twisted roots overlooking the void and drops the seed into the darkness
Don't you cry no more
Remeber...Yggdrasil the tree that brings worlds together
Badum...Badum
And the tree's of Light from the Lord of the rings...
Badum...Badum
Dante had his answer and so he leaned back his head and weapt while holding the small seed to his chest, "You are Yggdrasil. The tree of light and life. The tree that brings worlds together. You are a testitimate to the powers of light and life and by their mingling, Radiance and healing.
Back upon the world Dante's body halted it's eyes burning gold, "In order for a tree to reach up to Heaven, its roots must reach down to hell."
Dante appeared at the last place left of his soulspace. the last place left uncorrupted. A grassy hill with a single tree upon it.
Virgil stood before the tree trying to hold back the darkness but he fought a loosing battle.
Virgil is about to give up to let the darkness win, but then he feels that connection that had snapped now reconnect.
Dante appeared behind him and thanked him for his great service.
Dante holds a small ball of light within his palm. A seed.
Dante pressed the seed to the ashen tree as Virgil's strength gave out.
Virgil, Dante and the tree were consumed by the darkness.
"I win!...What? NO!"
The seed begins to transform the tree, converting the tree into something far greater.
Dante remembered few things in that moment.
The tree of life, Yggdrasil the world tree, and something to drive back the darkness.
For that he remebered something beautiful, a bit of lore from the Lord of the Rings. The gold and silver tree's of Valinor.
The green leaves of the tree began to glow with golden light, then silver, then every color of the rainbow
You have obtained the Very rare Passive skill, The shining leaves of Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil begans to grow
Its roots began to reach "down and down into the deep who knows what we'll find beneath."
The once brown roots growing blacked by the darkness but not corrupted by it as the light still found its way through.
You have obtained the Very rare Passive skill, Yggdrasil's Gold speckled Black roots
Skill Iron skin has evolved to become the Ironwood flesh of Yggdrasil
Badamp!
Dante felt his heart pounding in his chest.
Getting ideas Dante starts trying to make some skills.
Taking a leaf from Yggdrasil Dante and holding it in his hand thinking about photosynthesis.
A skill called photosynthetic skin,
draconic wings where the skin is replaced with leaf like material.
Wings of the forest dragon.
Charisma has become Draconic presence.
Yggdrasil grows. Its light beats back the darkness reclaiming what was lost.
Golden roots spreading across the ground of the soulspace pulsing with life.
Dante plucks a blade of grass from the ground and mutters a prayer to Rosana
The blade of grass began to grow and change its shape.
He held in his hand a sword made of grass
"thank you adventure time. Alright asshole you stole my shit and i will fucking kill you to GET...IT...BACK!
You cannot win I already slayed you once. Now I possess all of your skills. You have no hope of
Hope? That's where your wrong.
Dante lifted his hand and pointed into the distance. Towards a smoldering forest
MY Heart BURNS with hope.
He could see for but a moment a flame flickered across the blackened forest.
You cannot possess my heart for it opposes your very nature. For what is within my heart is no mere flame. It is not destuction, IT IS LIGHT!
All at once the embers of the smoldering forest caught light and became an inferno of blue flames.
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A door to the plane of fire opens in the forest and the flame gains a life all its own.
(We're going to be playing with D&D cosmology bitches! Hell yeah!)
It is a fire elemetal now
It wants to destroy everything.
Burn everything untill...
No
It wants to drive away the dark
It wanted to Light the darkness
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The shadow turned as the inferno began to move
The raging inferno rose rapidly until it nearly touched the domed sky. Before it came crashing down in a wave of blue flames that swept across the space in all directions erasing the darkness.
The shadow turned back to Dante his expression a mix of anger and mild fear.
"It doesn't matter! I simply need to destroy..." The shadow paused for a moment before smiling.
"No...I just have to corrupt that tree of light. All I have to do is rob you of your means of return. Maybe even claim it for myself!
The blue flames raced toward them only for the shadow to raise a wall of darkness against it.
I shall slay you before that flame burns through my wall." The shadow said as its eyes flicked to the great tree infront of him for a moment.
"Virgil?
Yes Dante?
What happens when that flame gets here?
I suspect it would fail to slay the shadow, however Given my observation of the tree behind us. I suspect that it would take in the flame and once that happned he would find it very difficult to destory.
And the black wall?
I suspect it will block you from accessing any skills on the otherside even after he looses control of them.
Shit...
There is a loud sound coming from behind the black wall.
burning heart has leveled up!
Pool of sacrifice has leveled up!
What the fuck? Dante questioned
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No sooner did the tsunami of flame reach the multicolored pond that was the pool of sacrifice did the pond catch light. Flames erupted skyward as if the pond were a rocket engine. Its contents burning away only to be immediately replenished. The flame reviled in its meal, the flames erupting from the pond growing tall enough to touch the domed sky.
When all had been convered, when all had been cleansed by the flame. The flame began to bend itself.
The pillar of flames that touched the sky began to bend.
Slowly the eruption of flames was pointed towards the black wall.
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Dante turned for a moment back to face the tree and spoke
OH great Yggrasil...
Lend me your strength...
The roots of Yggdrasil began growing rapidly, reaching to and then past the black wall.
Several skills evolve to become more in line with Yggdrasil
that door in the back of his mind opens and a geyser of crimson light pours forth.
A new spell/skill fills his mind
This is how you win...
The right of blood
the skill requires an amount of blood equal to one life.
Effect hallow the ground.
As dante fights the boss he gives up defense the pain is excruciating
as the boss slashes his astral form the body refects the damage
his friends and family try to heal him but their spells all fail
blood pours forth from his body spreading out and forming strange symbols and shapes on the ground.
Dante is slain again.
Before the shadow can sunder his soul again he vanishes, as does the entire soul space.
The shadow is shunted back into the real world, he is furrious.
Dantes body is gone are is all his items
shadow reaches forth to try for another vesel, If I can't have that one I shall simply take another
his feet catch blue flames
Respawning
Dante appears in the room with the dungeon core
This dungeon core however is glowing and multicolored
He felt his ladies presense and heard her speak
This shall be my chuch until something a little more suitible can be found. Now...
I'm going to fucking kill him!
He felt Rosana smile and wave her hand
The stone double doors on his left opened and out there he saw the shadow wreathed in blue flames
He runs up behind the boss and rams his greatsword of sacrifice through its back and out its chest.
Thats how I win you arrogant fuck!!!
You have slain the boss you have leveled up! x4(?)
The shadow claps and laughs as its body is consumed by the flames. not even ash remained at its end.
Rosana give him two choices. Make the remanents of the shadow left in his body work for him or...
Datne realizes where she's going with this. "NO! Fuck that! I ain't going through that shit again! I'll make it work for me because i will not go through that shit again!
Dante starts devising things to do with the reminants of shadow within him.
Make some skills probably
Pick up a weapon to slowly clean it from him maybe.
Dante makes a new blade of sacrifice, he pours in the shadow. all that he was forced to experience at the shadows hands
skill created, Shadows blade of Woe
error
recalculating
skill incomplete, description unavailable
Woe? Like weal and woe from DND? Dante smiles as he pulls the dagger of light made by yggdrasil
Lights blade of Weal
skill pair has been created!
Add more skills about Yggdrasil where possible. A tree of life that heals all that it touches, Let Yggdrasil sing the song of the trees.
Dante is immune to the song of genisis as the song is consumed by Yggdrasil.
He is also immune due to his ladies divine protection