Chapter 379 - Glorified kitchen appliance (Patreon)

The shields around Sofia disappeared, and the platform she was on fell toward the bottom of the crater while she was suspended in place by her ability to walk on air, and Pareth had to take refuge in her storage.

So this is how they deal with a rogue level 500.

Sofia felt that she had a bit of a dry throat.

Violated the pact?

Will they want the dagger back?

The archangel appeared in front of Sofia.

The Scribes have taken much liberty with your latest request.

Do not summon Connection again.

Proceed to the next trial.

The being disappeared after saying his piece.

A- I- Alright…

In the air, not far from Sofia, a blank mask reformed from seemingly nowhere, and Leverle’s full body followed quickly after, back to his regular form.

“You!” Leverle shouted at Sofia, “You need someone to teach you some common sense! You Dragon-spawn freak!”

Sofia did not know how to answer so she just said “Sorry”, and smiled. She felt that she understood Leverle well enough already to tell that he was not as mad as he was shaken by the general situation. And to be honest, she knew she deserved the scolding, even if she did not regret her actions in the slightest.

Beligenus appeared next to the two of them, he was back in his Exidian form. “We do not claim her. An agent of Chaos such as her is clearly one of yours, Doctor, have some decency.”

The Emperor and Tartaros also joined, with the Saint of Strength appearing right next to Sofia and nonchalantly putting a hand on her shoulder, “You old men must have shit for eyes, she is, of course, a Saint. If you do not claim her then we will. I have found her performance today admirably crazy.”

“Was it not you who pretended to have something else to do every time her name was even mentioned, Tartaros?” the Emperor chimed in. Sofia noticed that he had the first key sheathed at his waist; though it was hard to really concentrate on anything with how Tartaros was holding her.

“It was not me who sent my wife after her because I was too ‘busy’ to do it myself,” Tartaros struck back.

What is even going on right now?!

“If I may,” Sofia interrupted the quartet of quibbling old men, which actually prompted Tartaros to let her go, “What group I’m a part of is of little importance. There is only one thing you all need to know.” She took out the white dagger and twirled it in her hand, which she was very scared to fumble as she acted much more confident than she really was, but actually managed to make look decently good. “When I reach your level, you better hope to be on my side.”

“You shouldn’t so carelessly reveal your possessions…” Leverle sighed.

“I thought it would be better if you all knew that I got the thing. Don’t waste your time searching for it. I won’t lie, I am a bit nervous about one of you three trying to get it back,” Sofia told the three level 500, “but I also thought that if you were to want it badly enough, it would be better if you stole it now, rather than coming for my life in secret later. So, any takers? I cannot guarantee that it will be without repercussions, though. I have my own backers.”

Namely a Draconic grandmother and four very scary uncles.

“You will find me dead before you find me stealing from an employee,” Beligenus answered, shaking his head. “Moreover, despite the chaotic nature of your interventions today, the results speak for themselves. I can speak for everyone here and tell you that we will not be pursuing you for taking your share of the spoils.”

With a bit more time to process everything that had happened, another matter came to Sofia’s thoughts, “What about Lola? Is she alright? Are the people in the academy fine?”

This was actually one of Sofia’s biggest worries. If Lola had died because of her stunt in the academy, she would feel a lot worse about this whole situation.

It was Tartaros who answered, “We were sufficiently ready. Your disappearance was unexpected, much like the damage you inflicted on the big fish, and you getting the key out of his hands, obviously; but these were the only major deviations from our response plan. There are consequent material damages within the academy and capital, but no deaths. Everyone else has been safely evacuated, including Lola ElderPlain. The Doctor should know more about her case in particular?”

“She has suffered some minor soul damages. My priests should be taking care of her as we speak,” Leverle calmly answered.

“We need to take care of the aftermath,” the Emperor announced, “Doctor, take her to the bunker. Thank you for your contribution, Saintess.”

Leverle nodded, and a black gate appeared behind him, he waited for Sofia to step in.

“It was my pleasure,” Sofia told them before stepping into the gate.

Sofia appeared in an unknown closed room, Leverle next to her.

“Where is this?” she asked.

“This is a secret location. In case of an emergency, the Emperor will teleport all of his citizens to safety in this place. As he has done today. You were meant to be sent here too,” he explained, putting on his usual white robes to hide his demonic body.

“But I wasn’t. So you knew you might be teleported to me at some point, didn’t you?”

“Truthfully, yes. I did not, however, expect that it would be within a level 500’s safe-room, with the charm being triggered by two level 499 golems.”

“It looked like you held out well, though. Thank you for actually coming, you really saved my life.”

“I was paid to do it,” Leverle waved her off, “Not paid enough, but paid.”

“Paid in stones, right? Can I know what they are?”

“In short? Dead people. I cannot tell you much more. You shall learn by yourself, at some point.”

Dead people? Are they actually trading with skeletons? Stones… Maybe it’s only high-level dead people, then? And I would learn by myself when I get to that level and kill someone? Some kind of skill-less naturally produced mana pearls? I’ll just ask Erredis… I wonder what she will have to say about this whole Hugo thing.

Exiled to the eye of creation…

What even is that?

Leverle was about to lead Sofia out of the room, when she voiced that question and he stopped to answer.

“The center-point of all things. It is a dreaded place where space grows at a pace faster than anyone can travel. Simply speaking, it is a natural prison that one may enter but none can ever leave.”

Space… Grows? I’m not completely sure I understand how that’s supposed to work… “Is teleportation not an option?”

“No. There are no options. The rules which make reality what it is resulted in this anomaly. To leave it would require infringing on these rules. By definition, this cannot happen.”

Oh. So this man really is stuck out there forever? That’s kind of sad… I mean, he did try to kill me, thrice, and he did use Lola for his own goals, but still. I wouldn’t wish this upon anyone. Not even scripture. I would kill him though. As I will scripture.

Actually, I changed my mind. Can Scripture be exiled to the eye of creation?

“Does people getting exiled happen often?” Sofia asked.

“Often? No. But this was not the first time. And it won’t be the last. That said, I will be going. This room is relatively safe, so I recommend you bind your soul to the key before coming out. I would trust the old ones’ words, but there are still other powerful and greedy people in the Empire. If the First key was enough to lure Hugo out, you should understand the worth of that thing you stole.”

“Ah, right, before you go, one last question, these keys, are they meant to open something?”

“The Admins only know for sure,” Leverle answered as he left the room.

“Thank you again, Leverle!” Sofia thanked him as he closed the door.

Sofia brought out the white dagger. It was quite short and thin, the blade about the length of her hand from the wrist to the tip of her middle finger was leaf-shaped, and there was no real separation between the blade and the hilt. The surface was smooth and shiny but not like metal, Sofia knew it wasn’t made of bone but she felt it looked a bit like polished bones. The two edges looked sharp, they cut through Sofia’s tough skin without any resistance.

Good thing I don’t bleed anymore.

The only non-white parts of the dagger were the inlaid lines of very muted softly glowing red metal that changed to a golden or light purple color depending on the angle Sofia looked at it.

“Alright. Technically Hugo isn’t dead. But I should be able to claim the dagger, right?”

[This item must be primed with your mana before being identified. Required mana: 6666666.]

That’s it? Just six million? I can do that in four hours!

Hmm. I kind of want to check up on everyone else and let them know I’m safe, though. Can you go do that for me, Pareth?

The skeleton appeared, looking much smaller and weaker than usual. He gave Sofia a nod and left the room.

We’re going to get you something better. I’m sure TLDR can help us there.

“To the dagger then. Let’s see what kind of help snatching that actually provided to the capture.”

“Aaaaaand done! Your turn, Sir Scribe.”

[The third Key] : This divine dagger is the third Key, once worn as a decorative piece by Admin |REDACTED|, it is made from one of their essences.

Grants access to the scrapped sub-systems: Titles(lvl1), Sub-classes(lvl250), Principality(lvl450). Facilitates mana control.

Must be held or worn for ‘Titles’ and ‘Principality’ to be in effect.

Item level : -500.

Grade : Test.

Restriction : Cannot own other daggers.