[Annie has successfully mixed the skills [Multiple Thrusts] and [Rapier Thrust] to create [Multiple Rapier Thrust]!]
"You can mix skills?!" George yelled when he got the message. He, Henry and Veronica were resting in the parlor since they had nothing to do. They had just finished eating lunch when the system spread the message.
"Oh, wow, Annie found a new feature." Henry said.
"That Annie right? I can't wait to meet her, she seems awesome." Veronica said.
"I would like to mix [Seismic Shock] with [Rock Bullet]!" George said excitedly.
[Ding! Skill combination not successful!]
"What? Why isn't it working?!" George yelled in anger.
"Well, it's obvious you can't just mix spells willy-nilly, they have to have the same characteristics or be compatible in some way, like how both the spells Annie mixed had 'thrust' in their names." Henry suggested.
"But I can throw the [Seismic Shock] just like I can shoot the [Rock Bullet], why can't I combine them?" George stubbornly asked.
Henry rolled his eyes, "Wouldn't the vibration destroy the [Rock bullet]?"
"Oh…"
Veronica chuckled as she checked her skills to see if there were some that could be mixed, but there wasn't. She had actually self-created a skill called [Ice Skates], she had the idea when she was practicing with [Ice Trails] in the small arena built in the city, they could use it for small practices but couldn't use it for tournaments yet until the Rune Mages could carve [Protection Rune] around it.
Veronica spent most of her time practicing there, they could leave the kingdom to find magic beasts to get exp points but that would mean leaving the Safe Zones, everyone thought that they should wait until they were all level ten before they could go. In their group only Veronica hadn't reached level ten and was still in level eight. Even though they didn't mind it, Veronica did. She pressured herself to get stronger not just to meet their level, but also for her revenge.
She had talked to everyone about it and they agreed to follow her to the Elven Forest when they get stronger. Veronica clenched her fist and ice grew around it, one day she would go to the Elven Forest and make them regret what they did to her.
George shivered as the room temperature dropped, "Veronica is doing it again." He whispered to Henry. They both looked at Veronica who was lost in her thoughts and was unconsciously releasing a cold aura.
"Hey, V, is everything okay?" Henry asked tentatively.
They both jumped when Veronica suddenly stood up, "I'm going to the arena to train!" She said and left the house.
"Let's follow her." Henry said.
"Alright." They both stood up, "Hey Henry, why didn't you try to mix any skills? You have more than anyone." George asked.
"It's precisely because I have more than everyone that I don't need to. Come on, let's hurry." Is what Henry said, but he was lying. Actually, when he tried to mix his skills he was told he couldn't because he didn't have a main element.
He didn't know why he lied, but that was a thought best kept for another day.
…
Pascal's life can be said to have had a complete turnabout. From a Prince to an exile, from an exile to an Overlord. What would have been someone's dream was a reality for him.
Pascal was in his bedroom laying on his soft bed. The room he had in the Overlord's Palace was less extravagant than the one he had in the Dragonstone palace, but it was much more advanced. The bed he was laying on was big enough for five people to lie on, he had a walk-in closet instead of a chest filled with clothes, and the rug under laid on the ground was soft and fluffy. All those things were great, but it was the technology that made his kingdom one of a kind.
Beside his bed, next to his door and in the bathroom, there were rune was carved. If he tapped the rune and applied just a little magic power, light would spill out from the transparent gems that were hanged on the ceiling. There was a rune on his doors that locked them, there was a rune that made water gush out of metal pipes in his bathroom and the toilet, there was even a rune that makes his room smell nice.
And he heard that all that wasn't a privilege, every house had it. At first it was hard for people to use them because they weren't followers yet and none of them had magical energy and they were too afraid to touch most things in fear of destroying them, but when they saw the street lights automatically switch on when the sun went down they couldn't help themselves and they all rushed to the palace hall to ask Pascal what it was.
This was when the Management book came in handy. Pascal told them all about the magi-tech that the God of Origins made for them, and that they were all reproducible if they had the knowledge – which was him basically asking them to dismantle them and find out how they worked. Unconsciously, they all praised the God of Origins, and after one week everyone in the city had become Followers. Since they were living in the Forsaken Lands they didn't really pray to any god, but since praying to the God of Origins gave them so many benefits, they all sincerely started praying to him. In fact, a group of them chose the Rune Mage class.
Like they always said, who didn't want a good life.
Pascal stretched in his silk clothes; it was almost time for him to meet up with Sarah. They both decided to build the Cathedral of Reaching today and as the Overlord he couldn't be late. He quickly changed into appropriate clothing and left the palace. When he was out in the open, he called Zahir with the mental link they both had. Soon, he saw a small golden figure soaring through the air coming closer to him. With a low roar Zahir fell into his arms.
Pascal had to summon his armor before he caught him, or he would have gotten seriously injured. Zahir was already 1 meter tall, and his golden scales felt like they were actually made out of gold. He didn't have any skills yet, the system showed that he would get them when he was level five.
[Name: Zahir
[Race: Dragon (Wyrmling Stage)
[Level: 3
[HP: 35/35]
[MP: 25/25]
[PRF: 0/100]
[EXP: 0/100]
[STATS: Strength (3), Agility (3), Perception (2), Intelligence (2)]
Pascal grunted as he tried to balance Zahir on his arms, "You really shouldn't do that anymore, you're a big boy now, you could break my bones with your weight alone." Pascal said, but truly he didn't mind carrying Zahir, and Zahir felt that through their link, so he didn't take him seriously.
"Come, let's go and meet Sarah." Pascal threw Zahir up, he flapped his wings and followed Pascal in the sky. As he walked some people along the way bowed to him, since he was basically their king now the respect shown to him was different from when he was just a baron. Pascal didn't mind their reverence, nor did he feel bashful towards it, he was once a prince after all.
His city couldn't be said to be thriving because the people were so little compared to the number of houses in the kingdom, the only reason why he even saw people was because most of them lived near the palace.
After a few minutes, he came to an open area where Sarah was waiting with a few people who came to watch the process of building the cathedral. By the clothes they wore he recognized that they were Rune Mages. Their clothes were all black but had little white runes drawn on the entirety of the body, the runes shine like stars when they use their powers. In the Northern Region there were actually mages who worked with runes to create Formations, so Pascal was probably the only one who wasn't surprised about when the Rune Mage option appeared in the system.
They all bowed when he came close and he nodded back at them, Sarah's bow wasn't as low as the others though. She was the High Priestess, after him she had the highest position in the city.
"You're here, finally." Sarah said.
"This is your job; I don't know why I have to be here with you."
"Says the ruler of the Overlord." Sarah rolled her eyes.
Pascal shrugged and stared at the golden blueprint in her hand, "So we're supposed to just drop this down, then run like hell?"
"It didn't literally say that but yes, we would need to back up after dropping it on the designated area."
Pascal clapped his hands, "Okay, let's do it – no Zahir, don't land on my shoulder!" He waved his hands at Zahir so he landed on a house nearby instead.
Sarah walked forward a bit and kept the blueprint in the middle of the open area, then everyone rapidly retreated. After a few seconds of nothing happening there was a bright light, the ground rumbled as a building was being constructed in front of them. As if time was speed up around the building it took only twenty seconds for it to be constructed.
The cathedral was all white, but it was much smaller than the temples that Pascal had seen in the Dragonstone kingdom.
"Hey, Sarah, why did you choose today to build it? You never told me what knowledge you got from the blueprint." Pascal asked.
Sarah breathed in deeply before speaking, "'When the High Priestess enters the Cathedral of Reaching for the first time she would be able communicate directly with the God of Origins' is the information I got." She looked at Pascal who was stunned by her words "That's why I didn't build it all this time, I was a little bit scared, you know?"
"Understandable!" Pascal said, "So you're going in now?"
"Yes. I don't know when I'll come out so you don't have to wait…"
"I'll wait." Pascal shook his head.
Sarah nodded at him, then walked to the cathedral. When she opened the cathedral door the inside was pitch black, she stood still for a moment before walking in. The door closed with behind a resounding bang.
…
When the door closed Sarah was standing in complete darkness, but she didn't panic. She reached into herself and found the connection between her and the cathedral. Then an altar appeared.
The altar had small lights glowing faintly around it, it was the only thing that had light in the dark space and, oddly enough, the light didn't reach anywhere else, like the whole building was covered in ink. She walked to the altar with firm steps, when she got there she kneeled down and said a prayer.
"In the name of the God of Origins, I pray for new hope!"
After she said that, a bright light appeared. The light was small like a star and it floated in front of her. Then the light exploded, and the chaos gave birth to countless lights with a myriad of colors. Sarah watched everything with wide eyes, the cathedral looked so small on the outside but the space inside was immeasurable. Sarah felt so small in comparison.
Suddenly, the galaxy of stars began trembling. A golden figure appeared from a void and floated in front of Sarah. The figure was thousands of meters tall and didn't have any feature except two glowing eyes. Sarah trembled when it appeared, but she knew that it was her god who had appeared so she shakily bowed on her knees.
"Sarah. My High Priestess. It's been a while!" Inyaki said.
"My Lord!" Sarah didn't raise her head, her body still trembled.
"Raise your head Sarah, you weren't like this when we first met!"
Sarah slowly raised her head; her face was filled with tears as she tried to stable her breathing.
"My Lord, I–I– "
"Say what you want!"
Sarah broke down crying after she heard those words, "Thank you." She whispered, "Thank you for all you did for me. Thank you for giving me the power to save and protect my family. Thank you."
Then she bowed again, "My life is yours to do as you please with."
'Whoa, whoa, whoa!' Inyaki thought. His human emotions that he kept felt that her giving him total control of her life was too much, but his god mind didn't see anything wrong with her statement.
"You're welcome, Sarah. But don't forget that everything you accomplished up till now was due to your own strength!"
"Thank you." She bowed, then she asked, "My lord, what is the Cathedral of Reaching for exactly? Do you have something you want us to do?"
"If there is an important quest the system would issue it." Inyaki said, "The Cathedral of Reaching is an equipment for the High Priestess. In here, it's possible for you to see visions of either great fortune or great catastrophe. But know that the future isn't set in stone, so the vision would change according to the actions you take."
Sarah breathed in awe. She couldn't believe that an entire building could be classified as an equipment.
"Silly girl, an equipment can come in all shapes and sizes!" Inyaki said as if he could read her mind – which he could. Sarah blushed at his words, he wanted to pat her head but he knew she would pop like a bubble if he did that.
Inyaki shrunk his projection into human-size and floated in front of Sarah, "Goodbye for now, Sarah. But before I go, I just want you to tell you again; everything you have accomplished and are going to accomplish is due to your strength. I can give you the power and the tools but none of it would matter if you don't put in the work. I can't be there for everything in your life but know that I'll be watching over you. Until next time, my High Priestess!"
Then everything vanished. Sarah stood still for a few seconds before bowing again. She stood up and was about to leave when she noticed a change on the altar, there were two palms completely drawn with runes on it that weren't there before. She kept her palms over it and injected her energy into it, it felt warm for a few seconds, then the dark space lit up in an explosion of color.
There were things happening all around her, sometimes she sees the future, then the past, even the present, the vison was constantly changing. Some places were day and some where night, she saw a castle painted fully white, she saw herself eating dinner with her family, she saw herself crying when her village got destroyed.
'No! I need to concentrate! Show me the future!'
She immediately felt her energy being sapped at a very fast pace, the visons all around her vanished into one. In the vision, she saw an ocean of skeletons, then she saw Henry using the Space Element do grind skeletons to dust, then she saw Morgana screaming in a sea of flames. She saw Annie brutally murder a whole building full of people, she saw Henry crying and jumping into a void. She saw Henry die. She saw everyone die.
'Who did this?!' She thought, and the vision changed again. She saw a robed figure, but she couldn't see their face because everything about them was hazy, like looking though a green-tinted mirror.
Then her mp finished and everything went black.
…
Pascal was still waiting outside, five minutes had past and all the others that came before had left, leaving only him. He was looking at Zahir fly when he heard the door open.
"Finally," He said and turned to the cathedral, and he almost had a heart attack when he saw Sarah.
She was basically crawling out of the cathedral; she was sweating and trembling.
"Sarah!" Pascal rushed forward. She tilted when he got close but he fortunately caught her before she fell, "What happened? You were fine when you went in…"
"Don't worry, my energy was just depleted." She whispered wearily.
Pascal felt a little bit better after hearing that, "What the hell did you do in there?"
"Pascal I – I saw a vision," She trembled as if recalling something horrible, "Everyone is going to die."
She kept repeating those words as she slumped on his chest, Pascal could only crouch there in confusion.
…
"What the hell?" Inyaki said as he watched Sarah, "Should I not have given her future vision? Yeah maybe I shouldn't."
Visons were a delicate thing, even he couldn't see the future clearly. After all, no god is omnipotent, nor omniscient or omnipresent either. Its just that the visons he'd see would be different, if you could even call them visions at all. Because the future constantly changes what Inyaki would see when he gazes into the future would be different scenarios happening all at once.
"Whatever, what's done is done. I still got some work to do. I only gave her the extremely watered-down version of what I could do anyways…"
He had finished a project and was working on another one, but it was particularly hard to accomplish. It wasn't that he didn't have enough energy, he just couldn't shape his Faith Power into it. It was very frustrating.
While he was working his 'brain' to see what he could do about it he heard a chuckle. The chuckle wasn't very loud but it shook his entire realm.
He looked somewhere and 'furrowed his brow'. Something wanted to come into his domain. Even though he could just ignore it an intent was sent, the intent said he was invading something of theirs. He had a feeling about what they said, so he let them it.
"Come in, Goddess of Mysteries."