Chapter 395 - I will give it my all (Patreon)

Sset - You didn't join yesterday at the scheduled time.

Noname - I was in the middle of training. Will tell you all when we meet again.

Sset - Sure, as for us, we already located the Black Tower. It will take us a few days to get there.

Noname - Planning to go in already?

Sset - I will see. We need a bit more information. The twins are fine so far, but they have to endure a lot of bullshit. If possible, I will get them out.

Grumpy - Hello Noname, you doing fine?

Noname - Yes, it's going pretty well so far. 

Grumpy - Good! I examined that finger bone you left with me a bit more and got a few ideas. We can try it when you get back.

Noname - Sure. I have to go now.

Sset - See you tomorrow at the scheduled time.

Grumpy - Later!

I turn off the Beyond Community and just in case, check my quests. As before, there is only one side quest:

Side quest: Reach level 250

Reward: body upgrade

As for the floor quest, it’s the one for the 6th floor. There is no further mention of the master, training, or two weeks.

It really seems as if Ruler of Envy used the function of summoning a disciple here, combined it with the still running instance of my 5th floor, and twisted it. That seems to have caused him some backlash, so it looks like Rulers can’t mess with the tutorial too much.

I wonder how the Ruler of Greed would look at that.

The murderer from Easy difficulty, most likely desperate to escape his imprisonment and our plans to permanently kill him, accepted the first suspicious invitation, only to be used and have his status taken.

All of that puts off the question. Is the tutorial something some Ruler or multiple Rulers created, or is it something made by the system and Rulers can interfere just a bit? Maybe they can mess with the system itself as well? But that seems unlikely; in such a case, they would be able to mess with the tutorial more. They seem to still have to follow some rules.

Sensing a person stop in front of me, I pause my thoughts and look up. Lisandra stands there.

“You will talk with the Champion. She said she will share the last information I want at dinner with you.”

“Uh, what?”

“She took a liking to you, little pup, and wants to childishly mess with me that way. So just go, and we will leave soon afterwards. We wasted enough time here.”

There are no more words from her as she sits in the corner, once again working on that arm that is now noticeably smaller than before.

“Are you being courted by the Champion, little pup? Be careful what you drink; she might take advantage of you,” Myrra teases me immediately.

For some reason, it isn’t that funny. Niall is extremely powerful, and it should be easy for her to do whatever she wants, no one being able to stop her here. This palace could easily be a lawless hole if someone as powerful as her decided.

“She most likely just wants to spite Lissandra. You can imagine how she deals with her.”

“Whatever makes you feel safer, feral one. Well, it doesn’t have to be that bad. As far as human women go, she could be considered pretty, I think. You might even get some gift…”

I shoot a mana orb at Myrra, who returns it with shards of Aurora glass. I block with a small barrier and sigh. Not wanting to stretch it further, I just head outside.

“At least dress nicely…” I hear Myrra shout from behind me.

Outside of the apartment, the Frozen Reaper guy greets me. Unlike the other one, he doesn’t smile that much and just leads me through the runners after greeting me.

It takes 5 minutes, but we enter one of the big caves that has a beautiful green piece of forest with a pretty clearing. All over, crystals as tall as me poke through the ground, with soft blue and yellow lights trapped inside. Niall sits in the grass on a blanket, nomming on some snacks.

“Is this a date?” I ask as I plop down.

“Ha! You might be somewhat handsome, but I’m sorry to announce you are far from my type.”

“Sounds good.”

“That woman is extremely tiring. I’m trying to be nice, but even I have my limits, you know.”

“Wouldn’t it be easy for you to deal with her?” I can’t imagine Lissandra being strong enough to directly face the Champion, even though weakened. From what Niall showed me before, I guess she could use a third of her full Champion strength? Maybe a bit more if she decided to risk the backlash. She is weakened a lot, but still powerful enough to deal with most of the things thrown her way.

Lissandra could probably deal with her through some fuckery, but it wouldn’t be clean.

Niall lays on her back and looks at the ceiling, which is also full of crystals. “Probably yes, but that woman is sneaky. If I failed to kill her in one hit, she would pull some bullshit, and the longer fight would probably cost the lives of people here or maybe more attention from the Veil.”

“Makes sense,” I grab a snack from the plate nearby and move it closer to Niall.

She smirks, opens her mouth, and I throw it in.

“I could get used to that. I heard about some noblewomen having bare-chested pretty men feeding them grapes. What do you think?”

“Will you answer some of my questions if I do it?”

“No, I won’t. And stop asking that much. You are question after question. You will most likely live for hundreds of years, so enjoy the process of learning things and growing stronger. It will be lonely and boring once you get to the top.”

“I don’t know if I have such luxury, but I won’t bother you.”

“Good. Anyway, you are Pride, right? Yet you do not hesitate and would do what I asked before?”

I throw another piece of fruit into her mouth, “Yes, I would. It’s a low price to pay.”

“Weirdest fucking pride I ever met.”

"Thanks." Multiple questions come to my mind, but I hold them in and instead lay on the blanket.

It’s nice and cozy here, and after days of no sleep and nearly nonstop training, I allow myself to relax just for a tiny bit.

“You seem in a better mood than before,” I tell Niall.

“The method your companion gave me is amazing. I don’t remember the last time I saw something like that. She might be better than Tassian with his emblems. It’s to the point where it’s scary.”

“So it will help you with your heart?”

I feel a mana wave wash over us as Niall checks if anyone is around.

Only then does she continue, “If it continued like this until now, I would be dead in 5 years maybe, but with this method, I can get that thing out of my heart in a year or two and then heal fully. Once again, I will become a proper Champion.”

“It was that bad?”

“One hundred years, that’s how long I fought against it. It tires you out and changes you as a person. Dozens, hundreds of failed attempts, feeling powerless. All the self-doubt… But now there is hope, and I will give it my all. Just like you, little psychopath.”

I turn my head to the side. Niall is looking at the ceiling with a smile on her lips. It looks the most real out of any she has shown until now. As if the flame that was about to die off regained its former brilliance. It’s pretty.

“I see.”

“You seem like the type who can keep his mouth shut, but if you tell anyone else, I will pull your head off your neck.”

“Sounds like a reasonable thing to do to such a shameless traitor,” I note.

“I know, right?” she smiles, “Now take this mana stone. It contains the formation she wanted, and tell that creepy woman thank you from me.”

I take the mana stone. It’s small, and when I try to inspect it, I find it’s encrypted. Rude.

“I will pass it along and good luck with your heart.”

“Luck won’t have anything to do with it. I’m a Champion, am I not? It’s time to remind myself of that again.”

***

Back in the room, I pass the stone to Lissandra and head to the couch. Soon my training of kinetic energy will start, and I would rather be immobilized there than on the cold floor. I'm almost glad for that, as my social batteries are getting dangerously empty. I might need to close myself in a dark room for a few days and turn off all the notifications.

“It’s all here,” Lissandra says. The monster obviously decrypted the stone within seconds.

Well, Niall didn’t seem like the type to break these kinds of deals. Most of all, she seemed honestly happy but trying to hide it. 

“Give me your mana, little pup.”

“Sure,” I sigh and start sending it towards her.

Then I pause. Something’s not right.

“How much?”

“All of it, from your reservoir as well.”

I stop and cut off the stream, my mana seeping back into my body.

It becomes quiet.

Lissandra stands there in the middle of the room. Wearing her casual clothes, black dagger on her waist, but something feels off.

“Why?”

“So I can kill that Champion. Little kitten doesn’t have that much mana for me to do it cleanly.”

She takes a step towards me and reaches her hand.

“No,” I say.

Lissandra tilts her head, “Did you forget what she is, little pup? Just a fake. A shadow of a Champion that used to live millennia ago.”

“I know. She is fake just like you.”

She doesn't let it show, but I know it hit her. It must have.

“Not even close to being like me. Why do you react like this, I wonder.”

That makes me think for a moment before I answer, “If you asked me a few months ago, I would probably do it without hesitation.”

“That makes sense. So what changed?”

“One of the reasons I want to become strong is so that I can do whatever I want. To not be forced into anything. To not make any compromises I don’t want.”

“Such a childish reason and something impossible for you. You will never be that powerful.”

“Then I will die trying to reach that level.”

“I see.”

“Because that’s how I want to live. That's my pride. Any wrong done to me, I will repay tenfold. Any wrong done to those I care about, I will repay a hundredfold. And if I feel like it, I won’t kill someone. I don’t care if it’s because I’m in a good mood, I don’t care if it’s because I slept well, or they showed me just a bit of goodwill.”

Congratulations, you have fulfilled the requirements to level up your subclass!

[Initiate of Pride] > [Adept of Pride]

You have now started to build your own pride, one unique to you with its own effects and bonuses.

You can now easier detect others with the same subclass as you and determine the stage of their subclass.

The effects of the previous stage are now strengthened.

You can now pick one skill that will be affected by your Pride the most!

I push these notifications away and face Lissandra.

The silver-haired woman smiles softly, “Congratulations on reaching the second stage of your subclass,” she says.

Without any movement from her, the effect of the Burden Enhancement Inscriptions activates, and I freeze on the spot.

Immediately I rush my mana to get rid of these inscriptions, but Lissandra already stands in front of me. The black dagger pierces through my skin, the tip of it just barely touching my heart. A disruptive effect floods my body, canceling all my efforts like it's nothing.

Instead, I flood my body with kinetic energy, and the fingers on my right hand move as I force myself to move.

“Impressive, little pup. You really do have a tiny bit of talent for kinetic energy, I must admit.” The mana she absorbed turns to her, and she quickly makes some changes to the inscriptions, and I find myself unable to move at all.

"I understand your Pride better now. It's the one that can make you very powerful, no, it's a Pride that requires you to be very powerful. It will support you, and make you even stronger, but the moment you fall, it will crumble together with you. The moment you give up, it will make your downfall truly terrible. It fits you well."

The black dagger continues to absorb my body’s mana, which is already thirty percent gone.

“If you do something, little kitten, it will end badly for you. I’m not going to hurt him.” Lissandra says that single sentence and Myrra stops mid-step. 

Seventy percent of my body’s mana is gone, and Lissandra returns my gaze easily.

"If I had you decide between Myrra and that Champion, I'm sure you would pick Myrra without any hesitation, little pup. It's just that you are that greedy, and that might be a reason why..." The rest of her words get censored.

Lissandra seems amused, noticing it as well.

Ninety percent.

And all of my mana is gone.

“I would like the one from the reservoir, but this should be enough.” She pulls out the dagger, but the inscriptions stay, and with them my inability to move.

No matter how much I try, or how much kinetic energy I use. Giving me a last glance, Lissandra exits the room.

A minute passes, and my finger twitches again.

Two minutes pass, and more fingers move.

Three minutes, and I twitch my leg.

A single powerful pulse of mana washes through the entire workshop. Just one, and then there is nothing. The lights flicker, and the air filtration starts shutting down. At the same time, the alarms start sounding, and screams of surprised people outside reach me

Both of my legs move, and I stand up only to immediately fall, my face buried into the cold floor. My kinetic energy is nearly gone, only slowly replaced by my now refilling mana.

The door opens again, and Lissandra enters the room. Her right arm is uselessly hanging along her body, broken, and twisted, blood dripping from it. Across her face, there is a deep wound, and one of her eyes is injured. And nothing else. Just a small bag she holds, and inside it a few items and remains of a heart.

“We are leaving. You will be going first.” Lissandra moves her hand and the inscriptions on me lose their effect, making me stumble.

Forcing myself to calm down, I look at her.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Control your emotions. It's too late to do anything now. 

I take a step toward Lissandra and then pass by her, opening the door.

A fire fills the hallway heading toward me, and I reach into my reservoir, absorbing the power of these flames until they weaken, revealing a man with an expression of wrath on his face. He doesn't control himself as the invisible heat fills the tunnel. There are no flames, yet the air flickers, and the walls turn red hot, melting like butter.

I activate the tiny anchor I left in the hallway the moment we came here, which is behind him. That anchor explodes with kinetic energy, wounding his back and making him stumble. Seizing his moment of distraction, I absorb all of the heat and then release it at once in a thin, laser-like stream.

He lifts his hands in front of his head and for a moment blocks the attack, dispersing it on his palms, but it's too concentrated, and it pierces through his hands and his head.

[You have defeated Solar Ascendant - lvl 276]

[Lvl 241 > Lvl 242]

Then, while the people run around confused and the alarms ring while the functions of the Workshop slowly die, we exit outside and head north.

***

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