God Class, page 28
Rainier stood up, brushing off his glimmering robes as if to wipe away the scent of the tavern itself. He made his way to the doorway, not a soldier, guard, or even his trusted attendant in sight. It was just him, the emperor, completely unguarded.
And he had turned his back to her as if she were less harmful than a newborn fly.
As he opened the threshold of the doorway, the light that poured in was blinding. It had been far too bright to simply be the morning, the light flooded the room as if the sun been directly on the other side of the doorway. Her eyes were still not fully clear, but she could still tell that this was not merely the grace of daylight. Rainier stepped one foot into the light before looking back at her with a grin. The luminescence behind him almost shadowed his features entirely.
“Kill me… just fucking kill me…” She said, shaking her head. “I am done with the games between us. You have taken it all… You have won. Just end it. If you do not… I will never quench my thirst for revenge.”
From behind rows of white teeth, lips pulled tightly in a joyful expression, Rainier simply said, “No.”
Then, he was gone, and everything was dark and silent again. Fianna begged her body to cooperate as she got to her feet, arm dangling limp beside her as she dragged herself to the bar.
“Sam… Sam!” She coughed loudly, hoping the man had not fled entirely and was instead just hiding from the emperor. “You can come out now… He-”
Once she had approached the bar, she could clearly see over it, and her words caught in her throat. Behind the bar sat someone, a man by the looks of what remained, clutching a rifle in his hands with a horrified expression and wide mouth. He had been burned, but not by any kind of fire she had ever seen. It was as if he had been dried out, aged, like a dead tree left to bask in the sunlight too long. Even the rifle had been warped into a melted barrel and flaking wooden stock. Most of this person’s features had been tarnished beyond recognition, but inside she knew. And, without a moment’s hesitation, she screamed in bloodcurdling, painful rage.
“Continue,” Silas said aloud, startling Tulk beside him.
Silas could hear something else from his Helper as well, but it was unintelligible. A series of grinding noises, like two pieces of wood rubbing against each other or stones shattering. It was similar to how the Forest Guardian sounded when it had roared, only more complex and easier on the ears. He imagined that this may be what a more intelligent version of the creature would sound like, if that even existed at all. Once the strange sounds were gone there was a moment of silence, or of hesitation. Then, the Forest Guardian grunted something in return.
A column of light broke the clouds over their heads, and it sounded like a dozen crushing waterfalls smashing the earth all at once. Silas yelped, jumping backwards just as it crashed through the canopy over their heads and engulfed the Forest Guardian. The perfect circle of the column fit around it so that no edge of its charred, wooden flesh was visible through the cascading lights. Tulk had been quicker than Silas, rolling backwards and raising his weapons as soon as the sound had come from above them. Silas took notice of it, almost questioning how the old Goblin’s reflexes were still so keen, yet he was far to infatuated with the display before them to give it another second of his time.
Liquid radiant sunlight was the only description that came to Silas’s mind. It washed over the Guardian in an aura so thick that even the creature’s dark silhouette had almost entirely vanished. Overhead, birds fled from the power in all directions, while on the ground the light had turned into a rolling mist that passed by the harmlessly as it dissolved. In fact, harmless was not the right word for it. It had felt good.
[Buff added: Divine Fog. Effect: +1 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom, and +5 Luck for the next 4 hours]
Silas doubted this buff would matter, given that they were in the middle of nowhere and had hoped not to encounter any more hostile forces, at least for some time. But he was happy to finally have any positive buff at all. He had used logic to think that where debuffs exist there must also be buffs, it just made sense. Yet, this was a world that he had barely scratched the surface on, given that he had spent most of his time here underground, under-fed. The buff also seemed to give him a sense of calm clarity, and he watched with a pleased smile as the out-pour of light energy slowly dissipated back into the clouds as the column began to dissolve.
From the thin veil of light particles that remained, a new figure stood.
This one stood just over a foot taller than Silas and had a much more humanoid form than the Guardian had. Its build was slim, the structure closer to human than plant, although it had still been made up of bark, knotted roots, and intertwining ivy. The face had been sculpted to be smoother, softer, with eyes that glowed in a silky light resembling the column and a mouth that seemed to be as malleable as real flesh, all while retaining most of its wooden qualities. Tendrils of roots and vines dangled from its head, yet not as long and scrappy as before. This time they were shorter, pushed back and styled to resemble a full head of human hair. Even its hands and feet were normal, with the exception of the tips that tapered off like the ends of roots, and of course the tree-like features that made up every part of its body.
As Silas studied it, the creature turned its head, and its glowing eyes met him. His heart skipped a beat and hopped up to hide in his throat.
“Boy… what did you do…” Tulk grunted, teeth grinding together as he nervously clutched his weapons.
The Forest Guardian, or whatever it was now, took a step forward, and as its foot hit the ground residual pockets of the Divine fog plumed out like soft snow around it. It broke its eye contact with Silas to examine its hands and body, all while still moving forward. Its shimmering eyes looked from itself to the world around it, as if truly seeing it for the first time ever. The creature looked absolutely delighted.
Silas, still on his ass, scooted backwards and tried to slowly come up to his feet again. His body ached from their run out of the cavern, but he still planned to get up and book it if it came to blows with the creature. Tulk may have been able to hold the creature off, and perhaps Rae-
“Rae?” Silas turned and called out to the empty spot Rae had been standing.
Tulk raised a brow and turned behind as well. He audibly sighed and shook his head.
“Coward,” he said.
The Guardian was only ten feet away when Silas got to his feet, regrouping beside Tulk and preparing to bolt away. Then, to both of their shocks, it fell to one knee, placing a hand to its chest and another to the ground with its head in a bow. For a long beat there was only silence between the three of them.
Then, it spoke. It actually spoke. With a voice that was much smoother, if just a bit low and rocky, it addressed them.
“I, Argor, Guardian of the Forest, greet the Deity, and thank him for his gift.”
[Congratulations! You have completed the quest, The Gift That Keeps on Giving: Two. With great bravery, or by fleeing in terror and getting lucky, you have significantly slowed down the assault of the Charred Bone clan on the Empire and have defeated H’Alik the Arsonist. While doing so, you have also cleared the Charred Bone Cavern. Reward: 15,000 experience points, 5,000 multiplied by 3x for Universal Understanding. Notoriety +100, an additional +5 for each being that spreads the word of H’Alik’s defeat]
[Congratulations! You have gained a level. At level Thirteen you are awarded 7 stat points. 5 per level plus 2 for passive deity ability: Universal Understanding. You gain 2 ability points to distribute. 1 per level plus 1 for passive deity ability: Universal Understanding]
[Congratulations! You have completed a personal quest, A Gift Given: One. You have given your first of the Seven Gifts of Divinity. Remember, for every gift given there is one lost. Note, this is a personal quest and does not reward experience. Reward: All stats +1]
[Fate Alert Triggered: World Boss. Argor, Guardian of the Forest, has become a world boss. New title given, Argor, Lord of Elementals]
[Fate Alert Triggered: Underlings. Argor, Lord of Elementals and Guardian of the Forest, is now an Underling of Silas the Deity]
[Fate Alert Triggered: Worship. Silas the Deity is now recognized as a Seeker]
[Fate Alert Triggered: Notoriety. Silas the Deity is now Rumored]
[Congratulations! You have completed the secret quest, The Lord of Elementals. By offering Argor the Gift of the Wise, they may now utilize Minor Bestowment ability, Elemental Enhancement. This will now allow the creation of new elemental beings, or the promotion of current ones. Warning, this will have a great effect on the world at large. Reward: Title]
[Title acquired: The Elementalist. Note, title passives may stack. This title awards the following passive bonuses: +20% relationship bonus to all elementals. +10% magic defense. +5% chance to receive small gifts from elementals linked to Argor, Lord of Elementals]
The notifications were a tsunami of golden text in swirling lettering. Silas’s Helper read it off as if it were on auto-play with no function of stopping or silencing it. His senses were overwhelmed by the information, and he did not even have to bring up his Underling page to know that Argor would be there just as it said; he could almost sense it. He glanced to Tulk, who only stood scratching his head, and had momentarily forgotten that Tulk could not hear this like he could. It was a staggering amount of data that he would have to sift through at another time, because for right now he had a kneeling humanoid tree waiting on his response.
Silas gulped, suffocating his fear and anxiety while concentrating on getting his mind to push away his storm of notifications. Once his mind was clear and he could focus, he looked to Argor.
“Uh… Argor, yes. You are very welcome, glad to help,” he said through shaking lips, looking back to Tulk who only offered him a shrug. “And thank you for your help in the cavern. I… I didn’t realize you weren’t hostile to us until I used my Consecrated Grounds ability.”
“What? The cracks and lights?” Tulk said, moving forward and putting his weapons away as Argor stood back up. “How something like that tell you what the Guardian was thinking?”
Silas shook his head. “It didn’t. It’s hard to explain without you seeing it but… well, it had a side effect that it would heal anyone who was not hostile to us. When Argor stepped on the ground, it began healing it so it must not have harbored ill-intent or something like that. I don’t know, it’s a guess.”
Argor stepped forward, a smooth yet lumbering stride with its long legs clearing the space between them in no time at all. It towered over them, wood grains and knots covering the surface of its body with large plates of bark strategically covering its chest, shoulders, back and nether region. Despite the loss compared to its previous size, it still was a terrifying visage to behold. As it stood it crossed its arms, then raised a hand to its chin as if pondering on deeper thoughts.
“Strange…” It said in its low groan. “I have memories of what I was, centuries of them. Yet, my intentions were on a primitive level as if I had moved and acted purely on instinct. I am not sure my prior form would tell foe from friend if you were not the fauna or flora of the forests, and yet… In these memories, I do not see you as a foe. Even on our first encounter I saw you as more of a curiosity, I suppose. Interesting… I have so many thoughts running through my mind, so much understanding…”
“Curiosity!” Burbles gargled. It approached Argor swiftly, each of its clicking legs rushing over the tall grass and forest debris, its beefy claws raised high.
Argor looked down on it, the hand of roots still resting on its chin, and it smiled at the small crab.
“Your kind I recognize, young crustacean of the marshlands,” it said in a soft fondness. It lowered itself, putting out a hand and allowing the spore-strider to climb aboard like a docked ship. It stood back up, raising Burbles to its face and examining the crab thoroughly. “You are still a ways from your own growth, but I believe you will be quite the asset to this burgeoning Deity.” There was a pause, the crab bubbling something unintelligible while Argor nodded along. “Yes, we all will grow with time, I suppose.”
“You… You can understand it?” Silas asked, raising his hand up to take the crab from Argor. Burbles climbed from the wooden hand onto Silas’s fleshy one, then worked its way up his arm to rest on his shoulder like a massive growth.
Argor smiled at Silas just as it had for Burbles.
“Oh, I believe there are many amazing things I can do, Deity. Just as there are amazing things you can do. But first, we should leave this place,” Argor looked from one side to another. “The green ones are momentarily defeated, but they are not out of the battle just yet.”
[You have unlocked a quest, Where the Heart Is: One. Freedom is nice and all, but the forest is no place for a growing Deity. Find a town, city, or village with a human occupancy of over 75% and establish a residence within its boundaries. This may be a permanent residence, a temporary rental, or a shelter built by hand; however, it must be recognized as your home by the community. Reward: 6,000 experience points, 2,000 multiplied by 3x for Universal Understanding. Notoriety +20. Unlocks the Housing System.]
[Fate Alert Triggered: Dungeon Established – The Charred Bone Caverns]
[Dungeon System added to interface. Dungeons may now be discovered. The Charred Bone Caverns are currently inactive. The Charred Bone Caverns will reactivate when the Dungeon Boss reclaims it]
OceanofPDF.com
Fourteen
It's About The Journey
The four moved through the forest at a slower pace than they would have preferred. Rain had slowly settled in, beating on the canopy of leaves over them then dropping in uneven patterns of heavy, glossy beads to the forest floor. As it stormed, the terrain went from the flat dirt and detritus to a pit of slick mud, and the temperature dropped like an asteroid, leaving both Tulk and Silas ill-prepared for such a hike. Worse than that, the tree line was nowhere to be found. Just endless columns of bark and tangled roots in the wet, shadowed woods.
Argor had insisted they were going the right direction. The Forest Guardian, having centuries of knowledge about the wooded areas of Galleon, had urged them that this was the way to go. While not the closest human civilization, this one would be their best bet by Argor’s estimations. Unfortunately, it was more than double the distance of the closest one which had already measured to be a nearly full day journey. At the rate they were moving, Silas thought they’d be lucky to even break the tree line by morning.
Tulk remained silent for most of it, eagerly glaring to either side of him as if expecting an ambush. The Goblin trainer moved swiftly at first, but the terrain had not been ideal the longer the storm held up and before long he was slipping on every leaf and tripping over every root. His pride kept him going for a little while longer, then he gave in and walked beside Silas, who was going at a much slower pace.
Argor, on the other hand, moved as if it were walking a marathon. Not a single slip, no tripping, and even when it encountered large patches of deep mud it still walked completely unencumbered. It was as if the forest was a part of its body, like it knew every part of it like it were another appendage. Silas guessed this must be true with all elementals, going off of his years of gaming. A stone elemental would not be very good at stone elemental-ing if it stumbled over every rocky ravine, for example.
While Argor was eager to converse, having not spoken to anyone for its entire existence, Silas’s thoughts were rattled and fuzzy. Combing through his notifications had taken most of his focus at first, but then there were the lingering questions of where he actually was, game or dream, and why it all felt so real. The pain had all been real, the textures and smells, the cold child settling on his skin with every drop of rain. Surely no game could be this detailed, and these sensations had practically washed away the idea of dreams altogether. Was it…?
No, he thought to himself. This couldn’t be any after life, not with what he had seen.
So, he told himself that he would have to stick with one line of thinking and stay with it. Either this was a dream, some kind of elaborate game system, or it was a real world he had been brought to. Right or wrong, he would decide which he believed and live this new life according to that principle. This freed him up to ponder another question, which he could do aloud.
“What do you think happened to Rae?” Silas asked.
Tulk sucked the back of his teeth, then shoved his hands in the pockets of his hide trousers in an attempt to cover up how much he was shivering.
“The rat ran off at the first sign of a skirmish. Heard his footsteps behind us, thought at he was taking cover. When we first started moving, Tulk followed his tracks for a way, but they broke off a while back. Seems like he was headed for that closer town the Guardian mentioned but can’t be sure with that one.”
Silas nodded along with this logic. “Seems risky though, doesn’t it? Running through the woods alone like that?”
Tulk shrugged. “Do not think the rat is the type to think things through. To him, the Guardian represented immediate danger, and the empty forest was only possible danger. Besides, for all of the moons he lived in our den, he never shut his mouth about how he had to meet with someone soon. Would not say who, said it would compromise their mission too much.”
Silas couldn’t help but laugh at that. He waved it off quickly and sighed. “Yeah, mission. Okay. Was it gathering more mushrooms for some old man, or binding more books? From what little I could get out of the guy it seemed like he hopped from one town to the next doing odd jobs for quick cash.”
“Do not let it fool you,” Tulk answered abruptly, wearing no smile in return. “The human did not say much of it, but he had seen battle and loss. It was in his eyes. Whether he held a sword or only felt the blade of one, something had happened in his past. Tulk knows turmoil when Tulk sees it.”
