[You have entered Realm of the Winter Deviless]
I hissed as the cold assaulted my skin, traveled within my body, and chilled my lungs. It was funny how foreign realms would affect me but not mine. The cold was biting but gave no frostbite to me at least. That's a win. I exhaled mist as I looked around frowning. In all directions as far as I could see stretched an infinite expanse of white and blue ice.
Above was the sky, a beautiful mixture of colors that would make an Aurora Borealis jealous. I was stuck in an ice desert this time. Ice hills and mountains far to the distance. A single red moon that contrasted the climate hung in the sky.
Hugging the cloak of the one tighter to myself I fought off the cold before quickly bringing up my notifications to go through it.
[You have Unlocked Dome Rune of Embers of the Flame]
[Finding Done runes will increase mastery of insights and as such proficiency by 10%]
[Mastery of Divine [Gold]fire increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Ira [Red] fire increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Pious [Blue] fire increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Pernicious[Green] fire increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Chaos[Purple] fire increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Baleful[Black] fire increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Lacuna[Violet] fire increased by 5%]
[Mastery of ∆•¶°• fire increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Frost fire increased by 5%]
[Mastery of Order [White] fire increased by 5%]
[You have increased proficiency of Divine[Gold] by 10%]
[Divine [Gold] Fire]
[+10% Comprehension]
[You have slain Lv9 Cripperpoc]
[+320exp]
[+12MVC]
[You have slain Lv4 Untera]
[+640exp]
[+MVC]
.
.
.
[You have slain Karmisha, Vassal of Shinoc]
[+2700exp]
[+850MVC]
[You have leveled up x5]
[YOU HAVE REACHED A MILESTONE]
[CREATING SUB-DIVINITY CORE PROCESS]
[GENERATING CHALLENGE]
[SCANNING LIST OF AVAILABLE INSIGHTS]
[CHALLENGE FOUND]
[You will be transported into the Realm of the Winter Deviless to complete your challenge]
[All experience gotten during this period will be stored till after challenge completion]
I'm very sure that the brain freeze which sent a numbing pain through my head had nothing to do with the present cold.
'Milestone. Level 35. sub-divinities' I grasped my forehead shaking my head.
'Alright, I just need information '. I nodded as I went through my notifications once more.
"Level 35 is a milestone. I complete a challenge to earn a sub-divinity. Which means not only the Alpha players get a set divinity." I blew a puff of air out.
"Alright, I can work with this. I just need to know the rules of this challenge. If anything goes and what doesn't."
The system was quick to respond. Something I loved about it was this, its ability to respond to queries as long as the answers were something it could give. Fortunately, it was.
[Choose an Insight]
A mental list of my insights blinked into view. From first to last just like it appeared in my template.
If I had to choose an Insight I wondered which it would be. A frown crossed my face. 'How to select? '
"The most powerful or the most useful.".
Mentally I had the system rearrange the list starting from the most powerful, both in comprehension and mastery speed.
[Divine Purity - (+ 18%)
Earthen Grace - (+ 17%) + (+ 2% sp)
Earthen Forge - (+13%)(+ 2% sp)
DOME RUNE - Embers of the Flame (+10%) - (Divine [Gold]fire +10% +15%) (Ira [Red] fire +5%) (Pious [Blue] fire +5%) (Pernicious[Green] fire +5%) (Chaos[Purple] fire +5%) (Baleful[Black] fire +5%) (Lacuna[Violet] fire +5%) (∆•¶°• fire +5%) (Frost fire +5%) (Order [White] fire +5%]
DOME RUNE - Source Eternal (+10%)- (Mellifleunce +10% +5%) (Eternal Frost +5%) ( Unbound Mists +5%)
Titan's Step]
Then I switched it up to most used and down to least used. Discounting the newer insights.
[Earthen Grace - (+ 17%) + (+ 2% sp)
Earthen Forge - (+13%)(+ 2% sp)
Divine Purity - (+ 18%)
DOME RUNE - Source Eternal (+10%)- (Mellifleunce +10% +5%) (Eternal Frost +5%) ( Unbound Mists +5%)
Titan's Step
DOME RUNE - Embers of the Flame (+10%) - (Divine [Gold]fire +10% +15%) (Ira [Red] fire +5%) (Pious [Blue] fire +5%) (Pernicious[Green] fire +5%) (Chaos[Purple] fire +5%) (Baleful[Black] fire +5%) (Lacuna[Violet] fire +5%) (∆•¶°• fire +5%) (Frost fire +5%]
I wasn't any bit closer to knowing which insight to choose. Plus would picking one lead to the others getting locked in this challenge?
A look around had me thinking of choosing Embers of the flame to keep the cold at bay.
" No, don't choose for comfort" I hissed. While fire would be effective here not just for heat but because fire was the opposing element to this lair.
While fire was strong but there had been various movies, animes, and games where ice trumps fire. Plus mine was legit weak now and who knew what the netizens of this realm could conjure.
A beginner fire bender against a master or amateur ice bender in their territory. Not wise.
Which left either Earthen Grace or Divine Purity. I wasn't even lumping Source Eternal since I was just barely comprehending it and using an ability I shared with my enemy when it used it better was just stupid. Sure it was ice but who knew if he could control their waters too.
Earthen grace was seemingly no-no. One look around showed no earth or rock in sight for leagues.
Leaving that insight useless.
"Why can't I create earth just like I do with the others though?" shaking my head I just went to the one insight that was left.
[Divine Purity]
Divinity is pure, holy, and bright a true counter in some ways to the Primordial Chaos an energy having no match. Its effects are the complete opposite of the dark miasma of the Void.
This was not a battle insight. How was it supposed to aid me?
I had stalled in comprehending this insight even more since I started getting the other insights. Only been using it to heal injuries. The only times I had gotten comprehension upgrades were in the tower and a dungeon when I tried buffing my unknowns and myself a bit.
"This was what the devs expected. Swamping us with so many things that simply playing a game became harder and therefore left us weaker. Yet everything we do is part of the game and still interesting" I exhaled in exhaustion.
[Divine Purity Selected]
[Insights Locked]
I felt it. An immense suffocating weight pressed down on my chest. I gasped clutching at my armor as I tried to pry the thick material off like it was the cause of the suppression.
I sunk to my knees gasping hard as my breaths came in short.
"That's harsh"It was now I was realizing how much the insights had been affecting my body. Shutting my body I tried delving into my soul space. A sharp headache kicked me out of the place.
" No soul diving apparently " I groaned as my head pounded.
[CHALLENGE COMMENCED]
[PREP YOURSELF]
A shockwave spread out from my position in all directions. Like an echo, it spread once, twice, and thrice.
'Did the system just give out my location to the realm dwellers?'
Standing there with a huge buffet bell ringing over me was not a good idea. Turning I scanned my position. My gaze found a high cliff with a pointed tip. The best position to make a stand.
The dwellers of the icy tundra seemed to not support my getting there though. Cracks began running along the ice as I watched.
To my left heads smashed through the thick ice, some too weak and stopping while others shattered through the frozen ground. Claws attached to grotesque arms shot out digging into the ice.
"Time to move girl". Quickly I stumbled past the cracking ice while enduring the heaviness of my chest.
I watched as the creatures fiercely bashed and clawed at the ice to get free and get to me.
I walked and stopped groaning from the weight in my chest. I had to hurry though because the ice cracking got louder and more frenzied.
A little way out and the sound of ice shattering reached my ears. 'Shit!". Turning I spotted one of the things. Its skin was white in the blue atmosphere, tentacles growing from its spine. I sucked in a breath at the soulless green gaze like firefly lights locked in its eyes. I watched as one by one they pulled themselves itching to get to me. water dripping off their skin and freezing the moment it dropped off creating little ice drops that hit the ground.
It screamed like a human its maw separating all the way to its ears or where the ears should have been. The gaping maw revealed long fangs that would be the envy of dragons.
"Crappy realms, malevolent creatures. I'm loving this game..." I sassed. Turning I ignored the weight in my chest and willed a racial change.
My skin rippled, wings darting out, feathers stretched out of my skin and my face contorted into one with a beak. A stomp that cracked the ice beneath me sent me soaring as my wings flapped taking me to safety.
I was too slow.
The lash of whips through the air was a testament to it. The freezing tentacle wrapped around my ankle pulling me back. I almost panicked, scratch that, I panicked. With the pressure in my chest and the chill on my leg, I could barely focus.
My back struck the ice hard. The sound of bone crunching filled the ear before the pain came. My back arched as the pain flooded my brain and my lips parted to let loose the wail within me.
Second wing break in a day.
'Divine Purity' was an automatic stimuli response to pain I had grown in the game. I shivered as warmth flooded my body, and my will fought to focus and spread the divine energy through my wings.
A snarl had my tightly screwed eyes snapping open. To my left and right chasing after my pulled body were two of the things. Unlike the first though both spotted only one tentacle or none at all.
I snarled. Pain brings anger. The kind of anger you get from stubbing a toe. I saw things as nuisances. On a normal day without my locked insights and the feeling of suppression taking my focus, I was pretty certain I could take down these things without a scratch. My reaction and rage were swift.
The first sent a tentacle to grasp and pull me back to it. The frozen limb entered my grasp as I caught it and let it wrap around my right elbow. The creature was quick to tug me towards it.
My wings were almost healed at this point. Pushing the divinity I split it up and made some flow to my legs, bracing my heels on the ice.
The ground cracked and traction slowed me down while also giving me a foothold to work with. The last painful snap of bone setting announced my fixed wings and I pushed my weight up.
Simultaneously I tugged harshly on the tentacle. A hiss of pain accompanied a whine as the thing flew to me.
Divine purity flooded my left arm, golden veins streaking up to my fist which lit up like a fluorescent bulb. The eyes of the thing widened as its head met my left fist.
Skull exploded raining light blue cold blood on my face.
Daemon Fist to the rescue.
The scene interestingly had the others reevaluating my danger ratings as they paused to access me. Intelligent creatures.
I didn't mind though, it would be better since they feel pain more with a sentient mind. My wings sank back in.
I wouldn't be needing it.
My fist tightened as I grasped the tentacles still wrapped around my ankle leisurely. Instead of tugging though I did something different.
I flooded it with divine energy. It was at the end of the day while not a Devi, still a nether being. And if divines could be corrupted then why couldn't the netherlings be purified?
Its wails answered my question.
"Alright. No running." I watched as the creature sizzled from the inside out and melted into nothing but water.
"Okay, so the result is not a holy creature but a dead creature. Right". I nodded in glee. I watched the beasts all prowl around me watching as more surfaced. There were those racing from far to join the party. As I watched I contemplated. With the other insights locked, I was weak.
'But divine purity helps to use divinity in healing and buffing. The buffing is done by flooding my cells with divinity.'
"Let's try this out." I shut my eyes willing the divinity to flood my organs. Every inch of my body, down to even the last microscopic cell.
The beasts around were unsure of how to proceed even as more broke out of the ice. To the far distance, more and more netherlings of different species and races ran over to the position I stood at.
My body felt hot, not fire got but energy hot. My golden hair swelled with divine light. Veins of golden light stretched over my skin as I pumped in more and more energy into myself.
My cells filled with energy and held. My skin, organs, and bones were filled with energy and strengthened exponentially. I continued flooding myself with more of the divinity as I pondered what I could do with an excessive amount. In most games buffs were limited due to the host being unable to bear the energy of light.
Here, I was the goddess. What would be different?
There was so much energy that I turned into a bright golden star in the center of a blue frozen realm surrounded by monsters of the ice.
My eyes shot open. Each of my eyes was a golden star that surprisingly outshone my body making the creatures all shiver. My aura spread subconsciously staggering and suppressing everything within range.
Notifications rang in my head even as I found myself floating off the ground. Something I could only do in my universe.
My expression was cold, and my eyes burned with the teeming golden light. My body hovering a foot of the now melted ice. The water beneath sizzled with heat as it boiled from my divine energy. I stopped pumping the energy into my cells and instead let it flow up straight to my eyes.
'Oh, I'm doing this?' I powdered it heatedly.
The veins that streaked around my face were inconspicuous due to how bright I glowed.
"Wonder if it works'. I was seeing nothing but red.
The veins thickened as they reached the sides of my skull, each wrapping around in different avenues to run past my face and into my eyes.
My already bright eyes dimmed like a distant star losing light.
The realm shuddered.
Its dwellers roared in defiance.
My aura lessened then tapered off releasing them from their oppression. The horde of winter monsters didn't delay, seizing the opportunity every one of them charged at me their drools leaking from their maw, their hunger burning in their eye sockets hiding their fear.
My head was in the clouds. My mind was hazy. All I knew was anger and all I saw were blurred images beyond a red film.
The frozen ground was cracked from the stampede of forces. At the center, I hovered one goddess against a storm of bloodthirsty winter fiends.
A command rippled through the wind, my lips barely moving.
"DIE".
Two beams of compressed divine energy shot out of my eyes and aimed straight for the hordes.