EmEs_etherious
patreon
Chapter 158- The Path Less Travelled
🕑 Added 2024-06-11 22:59:01 +0000 UTCIris glared at the automaton before her. It had the marks of Cyrus’ craftsmanship all over it and she knew just how expensive they were to purchase. Lady Sleyca had forked over a fortune just to make a statement during their short meeting. As far as dick-measuring contests went, it was a decent way to show off her power. Or at least it would have been if Iris didn’t have two such constructs gathering dust in her storage ring, an expensive gift waiting for her to become strong enough to use them.
Lady Sleyca, of course, didn’t know that she knew, and so she presented the construct as a creation of her own, somehow looking smug even through the frozen stone expression. Can't say much about her taste, though, Iris mused. The woman had styled the construct after herself and Lady Sleyca was anything but ugly. Her conduct, however, certainly left a lot to be desired. The noble lady did everything she could to get under her skin, going so far as to make outrageous demands that she be negligent of her position, nay, her decency as fae to turn a blind eye to blatant corruption.
It took her a moment to realise that Sleyca was only trying to get her riled up, something Captain Arencia must have realised instantly judging by his disinterested look. He must have seen the same tactic repeated hundreds of times during negotiations. That still left the question of what exactly Lady Sleyca wanted to negotiate for. She knew little about the woman except for little bits of knowledge she’d picked up in snide comments during parties over the years.
Old nobility called her an upstart wretch who didn’t know her place. She’d stepped on a lot of toes to get to her position, and if rumours were to be believed, slept around a lot too. After parsing truth from falsehood, Iris was left with a picture of a determined young woman who went against the status quo, a middling fish yet to even leave her fish tank with no idea of the pond, never mind the vast oceans. Her effect on the wider universe was minimal, but she had a ruthless streak in her that told Iris that things would change one day. Either that or she’d find her way to an early grave.
“For your contributions in handling the Blood Beast threat, you’ve been granted two stat potions that have been increased to the 35 stat variant instead of the 25 you were supposed to receive. Ayesha will receive the last one.” Two vials of distilled primal ether were placed in her hands, a much watered-down elixir compared to some of the examples she’d seen in her father's vaults. Unfortunately, they had diminishing returns and Iris had filled her potential to full capacity already, which she was certain Lady Sleyca already knew of.
Whatever money she could sell them for was practically useless compared to the wealth she carried on her person and she’d already made sure Ayesha had maxed out her capacity too. I guess I could give them to Captain Arencia but that feels like a waste. She consulted her skills but they weren't telling her anything at all, which whilst strange, wasn't inexplicable. In the end, she decided to hoard them for now until a good use for them cropped up.
"The next reward I'm sure you'll find more interesting. Here I have a soulbound storage ring that integrates the natural defences of your soul shell to provide excellent goods protection. It's the safest thing you'll find on the market, a dungeon reward a spacial mage was lucky enough to work on. Its growth is capped at the C grade and we suspect you need a sufficiently large soul to break that limitation. This one's for you Iris," the construct said, passing a glittering silver ring to her. "Your contributions weren't so great, Ayesha, so you'll be receiving a standard spacial ring. Of course, it comes with the usual frozen-time effect, perfect for taking your favourite dishes with you on your journeys. "
Ayesha received her prize with grace, though Iris could tell she wasn't happy with it. Her friend had already possessed one and the item she'd just won was hardly an upgrade, boasting a whopping two metres of extra space. Practically nothing. Iris frowned. Lady Sleyca was giving them rewards that they didn't need or desire. Even the soulbound ring wasn't something she'd use. Storage space was extremely useful, yes, but she didn't want to waste one of her precious soulbound slots on a subpar item, especially when it was capped at C-tier. Whilst the items were certainly valuable enough to fulfil the requirements of the system quest rewards, Lady Sleyca was taking liberties to make them as useless as possible for them. Whatever game she was playing, Iris wasn't privy to it and she wondered what the ambitious woman sought to achieve. "Your final reward honestly breaks the rules a bit," the construct said dramatically. "The task accomplished isn't great enough to justify giving you this but let's just say a few strings were pulled." If the construct could change its facial expressions, Iris was sure it'd have a shit-eating grin on its face right now. The construct flourished its wooden hand and revealed three black tokens engraved with blood-gold letters of an unfamiliar script. Iris' eyes widened at the sight.
"I see our young mistress recognises them."
Iris could hear the smile in the voice. "These right here are tokens of entry into the hidden realm 'The Goldleaf Spire.' There are only 73,000 in existence and these three are amongst the last hundred that have yet to be claimed." The seer couldn't believe her eyes. This was... beyond crazy. She'd heard tales of the Goldleaf hidden realm, a place that opened every half-century for three months at a time. Gaining an entry token was a mark of honour, a means to completely change your fate from the mundane to the extraordinary.
A hidden realm belonging to a fallen empire, it contained secrets of Ether lost to time. The only reason it hadn't been completely plundered, was because of the level 250 restriction in place, a barrier that no one had been able to get past. Iris couldn't help but wonder if her father was the one pulling strings in the background. After all, it was this very hidden realm that had first thrust him into stardom over a millennium ago. Now she too was being offered the same chance, only she was far stronger than her father had been at the time.
It would be difficult, extremely so. She'd have to contend with geniuses at level 249, on the very cusp of level 250, heirs to great families and grand legacies alike; people just like herself. Nothing prevented you from levelling beyond that within the Goldleaf Spires, a known tactic for the extremely wealthy. A dozen bodyguards or lesser family members protecting their golden child made the challenge significantly less dangerous. There was no way for them to hit the level 240s in time for the hidden realm, especially trapped on a tier one planet as she was currently, and she didn't want to rush to her class upgrade milestone either way. Most important, however, was the need for a third member for their group of two.
Lady Sleyca was no fool. She suspected they'd had a third party assist them in killing the Ascended Bloodbeast. She didn't believe for a single moment that Iris, for all her prodigious talent, was responsible for dealing over 80% of the damage done to the monster. Neither did Iris for that matter. Someone or something had definitely helped her. Even the world seemed to agree, with a sudden powerful gust of wind blowing in agreement. Now if only she could remember who it was. There'd be a price to pay for these gifts she'd gained today, and she'd much prefer it if there was a strong ally at her back rather than whatever cloak-and-dagger bullshit Lady Sleyca seemed to enjoy engaging in.
Notifications burst across Arthur's vision in letters of the darkest black he'd ever seen as opposed to the usual system blue. They passed by so fast he struggled to read them even with his enhanced mind. It listed all the cores he'd consumed and any milestones he'd achieved with his stats. His titles too were listed, as well as every source of ether he'd used to gain his levels, from the first cat he'd killed to the most recent Bloodbeast.
The energy gathered within him reached a boiling point, so hot it felt like his flesh would melt off his bones. His heart beat like a drum, pumping blood and something metaphysical through his body. A portion of the energy within him left, mixing with the gathered mass of ambient ether. It took Arthur a second to realise what was going on. Reminiscent of the Hydra and the Ascended Bloodbeast, a cocoon was forming around him. The refinement originated from his monstrous side, so it only made sense that the procedure would follow the evolution processes of apex beasts. Unlike the creatures he'd faced though, Arthur's shell was a rose gold that looked positively regal.
The moment the shell had fully formed around him, Arthur lost all control of his body. Some form of magic held him suspended at the centre of the cocoon, with no part of his body touching the shell. A thick viscous liquid was rapidly released from his pores, quickly filling the refinement orb to full capacity. By now, the sensations coursing through his body were so chaotic and powerful, it felt like he was tearing apart at the seams. When it grew to the point he was genuinely fearing for his life, the sensations abruptly disappeared, almost as if they were a figment of his imagination.
One moment he was in the cocoon, floating in limbo and the next, he was somewhere else, in a cavern covered by a dense fog. He was but-naked, but he couldn't feel anything, no heat, nor cold, no sensation of the dampness of the fog against his skin. It took him a second to realise why that was. Wherever here was, Arthur hadn't truly been transported. He was merely an apparition, his body almost ghost-like, where the ends of his limbs became hazy and undefined. Oh yeah, and he was floating. There was no system text to greet him, no direction manual to explain what was going on. Arthur scoffed. This was a monstrous refinement. Why would it contain something so civilised as writing?
Arthur could feel what was required of him on an instinctive level. To the left, where the fog was faintest, lay the path of moderation, the safest tempering he could go through. It would give him a stable kind of strength, an increase to all the powers that made him who he was. He could almost picture who he'd become if he went down that route, a grizzled warrior, veteran of many battles. Someone the people looked up to with both respect and distrust, a Wild Man. It would make him strong, incredibly so and the allure of safety tempted him for the briefest of instances.
The middle led nowhere, it was an unstructured refinement that took equally from everything he’d consumed, as much from the weak rat king as it did the lord of the skies, the flame dragon. Arthur turned away from it instantly. Going down that route would only lead to mediocrity and he felt a visceral disgust towards the man he could picture at the end of it. The right path, however, called to him in a way few things ever had. Where the left side offered him strength and respect, the right offered power and terror. It was strength an order of magnitude greater than anything he'd seen before, almost tyrannical in nature.
He could picture his future self, a wolf in sheep's clothing, a true predator that stood at the apex of all creatures, a hunter of apocalypses, the bringer of the final sleep. It was delicious. That path came with a danger of its own, he could tell that its benefits wouldn’t be as immediate as the stable path, nor as accessible to use, especially in the earlier stages.
It was hardly a decision at all. His monstrous half hanged for the dangerous road like nothing he’d encountered before, and for once, his rational mind was in agreement. It just felt right, like a perfectly fitting glove. Arthur made his decision and began to move forward.
Refinement Selected…
