Zero Potential: Chapter 16 (Patreon)

Chapter 16

Terra emerged from a realm of blinding light.

For a moment she looked around shocked and scared as to what was happening around her. She was lost, or at least that was the thought she had at first. Then the details of what happened began sifting through her.

“I forgot?” Terra mumbled to herself, trying to add words to what she was now feeling. No, forgot wasn’t the correct word. There was a choice she had been given, and she chose to forget, at least that is what the message before her said.

Forgotten destiny noted.

Candidate may return when they feel they are ready to continue.

Dungeon floor activated on floor 110. Remaining floors to go ???

That was all that told Terra she had accomplished something. That message and a pouch containing five arcane power crystals in her hand. Why would she need so many? How did she get so many? These questions and more formed in her mind.

Mentally she checked the status of her linked items, her eye was at 99%, while her staff was at 98% power. That showed that she had used the two soul bound items, but on what?

According to the dungeon, she had been given an option, and she chose not to proceed, which apparently meant willingly having her mind cleared of the recent events.

Terra remembered going past floor 100, she had been given an option to do so, and chose to go further, to test herself. Yet, what did she find that made her turn her back on going deeper?

Also, how powerful were the dungeons that they could apparently rewrite her own mind.

Focus.

Calming herself, Terra tried to see if she could force the memories to return to her. As she did, she could feel a distinct block of all memories. It was clear from a probing of her mind that the memories weren’t gone but blocked. No sealed, her memories were sealed behind a barrier. A barrier that Terra sort of remembered asking for. Even though she had asked for her memoires to be sealed, something that she felt directly involved the pouch of five arcane power cores in her hand, she wondered what could make her agree to seal away her own memories. For she had to have been complicit, not only did the dungeon’s departing message to her state as much, but she knew that memory alterations were never this clean if one resisted.

Reaching her hand into the pouch, she moved the arcane power cores away to see if there might be something else at the bottom of the bag, a note, or something. Right now, she was a hair’s breath away from completely panicking. The only thing keeping her calm right now was that she could still feel the mental changes that she had gone through.

Take for instance, she could feel the fact that she did not want the information that was hidden within her mind. Something that she saw, something that she had experienced within the dungeon scared her down to her very core. Still, Terra couldn’t help but wonder if there was a note or something that she left behind as an extra insurance policy.

Clatter.

The crystalline arcane power cores rattled as she pushed her hand through the bag. As she touched one of the crystals, a message popped up in her head.

Arcane power source identified. Would you like to use the arcane power source to unlock your memories and fulfill your destiny? Arcane power sources required 5. Current progress towards unlocking your memories 0 / 5.

Shock.

Seeing the message, the number of arcane power sources suddenly made sense. She had a treasure trove of power at her hands. With her two linked soul bound items, Terra knew she could easily conquer kingdoms. Yet, she had chosen to keep her memories sealed. But with the power sources present, did that mean that the dungeon wanted her to have her memories? If so, then why?

Shaking.

Her hands were shaking at the thought that she held memories that were so frightening, that she wanted to have her own memories sealed. Then, it would appear that the dungeon sealed her memories, while also giving her a way to unlock her memories.

Pausing, Terra wondered what she had seen down there? What information had been shown to her, and worse, what information remained to be claimed.

Terra knew herself and knew that she was by no means timid. She had after all spent the past few hundred years of her past lives taking on the being of ultimate evil and dying multiple times, only to be reset. This begged the question, if she was willing to fight the being of ultimate evil without flinching, then what was it that she saw that gave her pause for concern.

Crinkle.

As her hands shook from the thought of wanting her own memories to be suppressed, she heard the slight crumpling of paper at the bottom of her bag. Hearing that, a moment of exhilaration filled her, as she would finally get some answers.

Terra knew herself well. She knew that if she was in the same place, she would need to leave a note for reassurance. While it was unclear what exactly happened, the art of leaving a note on parchment was simple magic for Terra at this point, as the spell Scribe Simple Note was one, she had learned early on. It was a spell that let her create a parchment of paper that could contain up to a few dozen or so words.

Fiddling around with the bag, she instantly felt tension in her body release as she felt the crumpled form of paper brushing against her fingers.

Phew.

Terra exhaled in relief, as she pulled the paper out of the pouch. Then felt the blood immediately run out of her face as she saw the message. On the paper were seven words. Words that would forever change Terra’s life.

Don’t unlock your memories,

Leave Belaton now.

Not just the academy, but the entire kingdom. That was what Terra had told herself to do.

Using a quick Divination spell on the parchment showed Terra that she had in fact been the one to create this message, using the exact spell she had thought she would use.

So many questions began culminating in her mind.

Looking around, Terra found herself on the south side of the dungeon, one that was exactly opposite the known entrance. This made sense as she had likely taken the quick dungeon exit that always disappeared after completing the last portion of the dungeon.

Mentally, she went over everything she could do. She thought about going back to her room, but other than books she had already memorized long ago, there was nothing.

Pausing, Terra read the message once, then twice, committing the words to memory, and trying to see if there was a hidden message somewhere on the parchment. Something that she might have missed, but there was nothing else. Just the two tasks that were given to her, by herself.

There of course was an implied third task, one that she did almost immediately. She cast Unweave on the parchment, and nodded in acceptance when the entire page went up in a burst of ambient magic. Terra waited long enough to watch the particles of magic dissolve slowly into the air.

Then spinning about on her heel, she stuffed her bag of arcane power crystals under her uniform and then immediately began running away. Mentally she went over the hundreds of escape plans she had come up with over her lifetimes. At first they were meant for her to escape when training got too tough, but then later on she was encouraged to do this by her professors who wanted her to have an escape plan, in case the being of ultimate evil came to the campus to try to take her out personally.

While she had never needed to use these escape plans in her past life, she knew they would prove to be invaluable this time. While it seemed that the world was desperate to finally change in this lifetime, there were a few things that would not change. Hunting trails, abandoned lodgings, and ancient ruins to name a few places that Terra knew about that could be used in case of an emergency.

Also, as she ran, she knew there would need to be false trails and protections woven. There would also need to be a time when she would change her uniform to be able to blend in better, as she would stand out like a sore thumb if she wore her academy uniform in the southern empires. But all of that was secondary, right now her main goal was to get out without being noticed. Given that she hadn’t heard alarms or aerial riders being set loose, she knew she had time.

Anti Divination Ward

Anti Scent Ward

Light Step Ward

Terra fused mana into different parts of her uniform, there was a trade off with her wards. The more wards and runes she inscribed to her uniform, the brighter she would glow to anyone using mage sight. Terra figured that the first line of defense would of course be the fast runners, and that any mages added to the search would be later on, after initial tracking attempts were exhausted. Terra planned to use this time to get as far away as possible.

With her immediate escape plans enacted and her body on autopilot as she ran through the southern woods of the campus at lightning speed, she could only have one thought.

What exactly did I see in there?

With that thought, Terra instinctively reached up to touch the pouch with five arcane power cores that rested snuggly against her chest. A treasure trove of power. With those cores alone, she figured she could keep her two soul bound and linked items functioning for the rest of her life. Still, she had given herself a warning, and she knew that she wouldn’t agree to something as devastating as memory sealing without good reason.

As she ran, she felt her Burning Eye of the Tiger coming to life, highlighting different paw prints and trails used by animals of the forest. Seeing the path, she decided to follow the path suggested by her eyes, as they began taking her to hidden trails she had never experienced before in her lifetimes, particularly the farther she went, the more she found her eye giving her suggestions that seemed odd, but intuitive at the same time.

Skreech!

By the time she had reached what she assumed to be the southern boundary of the Academy, she heard the war cry of the aerial search units being called out. They were far away, but their piercing cries would carry over the lands of the dense forest.

Seeing how far away they were from her, Terra nodded.

“Good. I still have time.”

Then with that, Terra began running even faster.

***

Deep underground, a group of ten teachers and guards sat at the entrance to the fifty-first floor of the dungeon.

For over an hour, the ten sat there watching the counter go higher and higher as they watched the progress of the lone student who had somehow managed to find the secret entrance to the fifty-first floor of the dungeon.

Number of participants: 1 / 10.

Number of floors cleared: 110.

There was a long pause, as everyone saw the number of floors suddenly stop increasing. There the lone participant evidently stayed for close to an hour. Then finally the troupe of ten saw an unexpected message appear before them.

Dungeon now clear.

Next Group ready to enter Survival Mode?

Seeing the message, the ten guards and professors paused.

“She hasn’t come out?”

“Aye, she is likely dead.”

“But we must be certain.”

“She went to floor 110 on Survival Mode, what exactly do you expect her status to be?”

“Still, we should check. The ten of us could at least try to get down to floor 100 at least. I mean, if a single individual could do this, then surely the ten of us could as well?” Professor Ulthman asked, his youthful vigor making it clear that he truly wished to enter the dungeon, and that looking for the student would be secondary to his cause.

Hearing the professor speak, the guard captain Rolth looked at Ulthman, then at the four other magical professors with him, noting that they even had a healer in Regan present.

“Aye, I believe it would be a shame if we didn’t at least try to find the poor girl.” Guard Captain Rolth added.

“What? You can’t be serious, that dungeon is set to Survival Mode.” Healer Regan said.

“Yes, and as we saw, a singular girl managed to make those floors on her own. It would be a shame if we left her there to die, without ever knowing what happened to her, wouldn’t it?” Guard Captain Rolth asked.

With that, there was clear hesitation on the part of Regan, but urged on by the other guards and professors, Regan eventually found her voice drowned out. Then realizing that the she would be encouraging her fellow colleagues to die if she didn’t go, she too eventually succumbed to peer pressure and entered the second part of the dungeon, surrounded by her fellow colleagues and friends.

***

Far away, on an island mostly forgotten by the world, seven figures stared intently at an orb that was filled with smoke. Smoke that constantly shifted between light grey to dense black and back to gray.

Then in one moment, when the smoke was at its darkest, they saw a golden yellow eye open from the smoke and stared back at every one of the seven divine Seers.

Shock.

The youngest of those gathered felt fear grip her chest, as an icy chill washed its way down her spine.

“He has returned.” The eldest Seer said in alarm, before collapsing from having stared deeply into the all seeing eye that appeared before them.

“She’s fainted.” Another seer called out, instantly pulling the youngest Seer out of her cocoon of fear that threatened to engulf her.

There was a panic as everyone went to the eldest Seer, trying to protect her, but it was already too late. The shock of seeing that eye, that intense power was too much, and she collapsed dead on the spot.

Turning back, the youngest Seer half expected to see the eye still staring creepily at them, but instead the eye and the dark smoke that housed the eye were gone, leaving behind only a faint trail of gray smoke, with a tiny black dot of corruption at the center. Seeing the changes to the orb, the youngest Seer could only have one thought come to her.

“What does that mean?”