Chapter 255 (Will likely go through a lot of chapters to edit my mistakes this week now that I've [at least temporarily] caught up with work, will update when I do) (Patreon)

Chapter 255

Pride, Greed, Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth.

Of all the original sins, Greed and Gluttony were at odds most.

For Greed wanted to claim all, and Gluttony wanted to consume all, and thus these two sins crossed paths time and time again - or so the saying went.  No one truly knows exactly what happened between these two in the early dawn of creation that elicited such a rift, but it is known that when followers of Greed cross paths with those of Gluttony, blood will follow.

As can be seen by the histories of the hells, written in the blood of the forefathers, in a time when Elysium had yet to be.

• A passage from the journal of Trasindir Ironclaw, Lord of the 5th Legion of Howl’s Forge, 7th Level of Hell.

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[26 billion current participants have been analyzed. The ranking categories are as follows: Apex Rank (Top 10), Paragon Rank (Top 1000), S Rank (Top 0.0001%), A Rank (Top 1%), B Rank (Top 15%), C Rank (Top 30%), D Rank (Top 50%), E Rank (Bottom 50%)]

[Current Top 10 Native Participants:

1. Riven Thane, Level 200 Pureblooded Vampire, Apex Rank, Warlock Devastator, Incarnation of Gluttony
2. Allie Thane, Level 162 Angel of Death, Apex Rank, Primary Class in Transitory state, Hero of Death
3. Judith Marcina, Level 181 Divine Human, Apex Rank, Angelic Fallcaller, Light’s Beacon
4. Aren Hrall, Level 169 Snow Giant, Apex Rank, Frostmange Berserker
5. Retesh Vorath, Level 200 Corpse Lord, Apex Rank, Elder Lich
6. Netithi Bluskish, Level 139 Naga, Apex Rank, Champion of the Kraken
7. Chitter Teh-Sneaker, Level 137 Ratman, Apex Rank, Dark-Blade Assassin, Poison Master, Sneaky Sneak Sneaker
8. Nithkik Brutishvase, Level 142 Dark Elf, Apex Rank, Depthdweller
9. Sinthil Tuk’tuk, Level 169 Lizardian, Apex Rank, Wind Storm
10. Thorman Bame, Level 158 Human, Apex Rank, Hammer of the Mountain]

Netithi Bluskish was an old Naga, with a dorsal fin down his head that was marked with holes and rips from his years of battle in the trenches of the sea against enemies of his now butchered tribe.  He had numerous scars covering his body where the scales were marred in criss-cross patterns all over, and one eye had been replaced by an enchanted prosthetic akin to a purple gem that stood out starkly against his otherwise blue scales.  His magnificent spear, handcrafted by people long dead and passed down through generations of his lost tribe, was made of a great sea-serpent’s bones, and had notches all along its shaft and spearhead - but the spirit residing in it was that of the dead serpent itself and lent a menacing aura to the weapon’s wielder.

Coiled up and meditating in a slouched position, Netithi blinked his eyelids open.  From underneath his silver hood with blue trimmings - inscribed with the sigil of Chubin, the Glass Kraken - his prosthetic scanned the area in front of him.

A small city burned lay flooded and in ruins, swirling vortexes of water carrying bodies of the dead and pieces of buildings above him in a river of his own power.  The screams of his victims had died out long ago, the strongest of their people had only been F-grade human warriors at a maximum level of 78; so they hadn’t lasted long.  How this was supposed to be a quest that was to test his skill was beyond him, he should be tested against bigger and greater things than this.  This was just mindless slaughter, and he wondered whether or not the other cultists were experiencing the same thing.

His mind drifted back to when he’d met the other cultists, and how he’d overheard a group of them and their combined quest to take on what was likely the biggest obstacle in this event.  He frowned at the idea that they’d been able to fight that crazed vampire, while he was stuck here instead.  He’d gained a handful of levels for finishing the quest, but oddly enough he hadn’t gotten any XP for massacring the populace - reminding him that killing these wouldn’t actually gain himself any XP in this strange event; while quests on the other hand - would.

Stranger still, he’d seen some of his summoned elementals get killed while simultaneously giving the defenders XP and levels for doing so.  This meant that, if he was correct, only the individual cultists and non-cultists were stopped from actually growing levels by mindlessly killing things during this event.  Why that was, he wasn’t sure - but it was likely another initiative to complete quests if he had to guess.  Or perhaps it would stop other cultists from randomly massacring people and towns for no reason.

Regardless, his power did not lay in levels.  He was already halfway done cultivating his E-grade Soul-Lattice, and had been doing so for quite a while now.  He’d have no problem getting to Level 200 by just mindlessly killing things, but the lattice was another story entirely.

Because without it, one could not ascend to the next stage.  It was an absolute, a requirement, to pass into the next realm of cultivation.  And when you finally did get to the E-grade, merely killing things was not enough to level up.  If your lattice was not perfect, if it did not hold the potential to take you far, it would cripple you indefinitely as you climbed or attempted to climb your way to the top.

Chubin itself had told him this, after naming Netithi its champion.

Netithi cackled wickedly to himself, wondering if any of the other cultists in his group had taken the hint by his title.  It was pasted right there, in the open for everyone to see, on the world leader board next to his number 6 apex ranking.  He was destined for greatness, he was destined to set the glass kraken free, and together they would rise up past the ruins of this world into the cosmos as partnered souls.

The sky above him shuddered as his excitement caused the swirling vortex of water to move more quickly, with rivers coming and going in an ever-changing web of his water mana.

But that was not all he had.

Opening his palm, he willed a glass shard to form over his hand.  His unique pillar activated, forming the abnormal glass into a mirror in front of him - allowing him to stare right into the figure that stood behind him in a silent, trance-like state.

“Are you just going to stand there, stranger?” Netithi asked, his serpentine tongue hissing while he slowly rose to a towering height over the strange, alien figure twenty yards away, yanking the bone spear out of his rubble pile as he did.  “Or did you not come for a reason?”

In the shadows of an overturned stone building, casting the creature in darkness, a quick, sharp laugh rose out into the daylight.  Stepping out from the overhang, a pale-skinned man lacking ears or any facial features other than a circular, puckered mouth entered Netithi’s sight.  He only wore a ragged robe, but gave off a presence of power.

Netithi involuntarily shrank back in disgust while viewing the monster, and his eyes widened involuntarily as the creature grew to reach his height even at an elevated position.

Swarming leeches and worms roiled and churned in the pale man’s body, ripping and tearing at his skin to reform the pale man’s limbs one at a time.  Brittle fingers became slug-like tails, the clothes he wore ripped and fell off entirely, the feet and legs buckled under a new weight as the body bulged and groaned.

In the end, Netithi found himself staring at a monster three times his size - some kind of swarm beast, a demon made of slugs, worms, and leeches with two humanoid arms coming out of a blob-like mass.  Over a dozen, green, bloodshot eyes snapped open from within the grotesque creature’s body, directly over its circular maw that had three circular layers of spine-like teeth, and it gave Netithi another cackle when it’d finished morphing.

Then it began to speak.  “Netithi Bluskish, Level 139 Naga, Apex Rank, Champion of the Kraken.  How pretentious…”

The amusement in its deep, burbling voice caused Netithi’s mood to sour as its laugh rang higher.

“Tell me, slug-creature, hive mind, what it is you’re here for.”  Netithi stated slowly, causing his spear to light up with power as he failed to identify to creature’s identity whatsoever.  “What are you, and what have you come for?  You’ve been watching me for nearly an hour without making a move, and I am growing tired of waiting for your approach.”

“Slug creature?” The giant repeated, still amused.  “Hive mind is a more accurate statement than calling me a slug, but I will forgive your transgression just once.  Any more than that, and you will be… punished.”

The creature flared with dark black and deep purple light, crushing the aura Netithi set up for himself in an instant.

Netithi gasped as he felt his bones crunch under the ominous pressure, his vortex of water crashed downwards onto the ruins from overhead, and he fell to the ground heaving and vomiting blood.  Then the aura of the monster abruptly vanished, allowing the naga to lift his head once more and breathe through his gills again.

He came face to face with the smiling visage of the beast.

“I have been watching your progress, concerning your Soul Lattice.  Without any guidance, you have figured out what it is you need to ascend into the next grade… we are… impressed.”

We?

Netithi straightened himself, giving the large monster a healthy amount of respect after having crushed his own aura so easily.  Even his prosthetic, purple gem eye could not decipher what this creature was, and the feeling of inferiority was gradually creeping in while he stared at the numerous green eyes glaring down at him.

“Who is we?” Netithi asked, somewhat impatiently despite his grudging respect for the beast.

The monster blinked, then scoffed and reeled its head backwards.  It looked around, holding up its disgusting, crawling swarm that made up either arm.  “Who is we, he asks?  There was once a time that everyone knew who we were, who I was, where the heavens trembled upon our passage and the hells would sing our praise.  There was once a time where even some of the greatest civilizations of the multiverse would sacrifice their offspring once a year to satisfy my needs, or the needs of my master, and would shower us with the greatest of treasures that we so desperately desire… I am the equivalent of what Lillith is to Gluttony, but I serve another master.”

It leaned forward again, shifting position around his hill of rubble effortlessly despite its great size.  “Do you know of the Great Maw, little naga?  Do you know of the one called Lillith?  Do you know of the vampire scum that now sits atop this world’s power hierarchy, that even now will attempt to sabotage your own rise to the top?”

Netithi’s eyes narrowed, following the swarm beast as it circled him - turning his head from time to time to watch its transition.  “I do not know of Lillith, but The Great Maw and the vampire prince I know of.  The Reincarnation of Gluttony, Riven Thane, Prince of the Blood Moon Requiem is here as a non-cultist.  But he is a Chalgathi follower and will not contradict my path.”

“FOOL!” The creature roared, flaring with that strange black and dark purple energy that crashed down into Netithi once again, causing the very earth to rumble under the monster’s rage while Netithi gasped.  “OF COURSE IT CONTRADICTS YOUR PATH, YOU SMALL MINDED NEWT!”

The monster’s rage quickly subsided, and it took a deep sigh to calm itself as Netithi shuddered - wide eyed - while his struggled to regain his hold on reality again.

“I realize that you have the brain of a reptile, and that it may be quite small, and that you only have one - as opposed to my many thousands.”  The creature eventually said when Netithi shakily propped himself up on his spear.  “Regardless, you are able to think ahead.  Use that small brain of yours to tell me - what do you think will happen when the three apocalypse beast quests are finished?  Let us say that you complete Chubin’s trials, that you do all that you set out to do and unleash the glass kraken from its prison in the sea… Do you think that will be the end of your quest?”

Netithi did not answer, not even daring to, in case he was wrong and incurred the wrath of the monster again.  Even now he felt his internal organs were damaged, and it was painful to keep himself erect or even breathe.

“Let me answer for you then.” The monster stated flatly.  “It will not be the end, I have seen this scenario play out on many other worlds before in times long past, back before I was banished into the deepest realms of the Abyss.  The end of this quest leaves only one apocalypse beast at the pinnacle.  If the non-cultists win, they either acquire an item of power or are able to take the egg of a juvenile apocalypse beast to raise as their own.  If the cultists win their trials, they gain a fully grown beast and rampage across the planet, but there’s two important things that will happen when this comes to pass.  First, is that all non-cultists who obtain the item or the egg will be given a massive damage bonus perk that can put heavy afflictions on any living apocalypse beast they ever find.”

The creature raised two slug-like, writhing fingers.  “Second, is that in order to leave Panu, you will need to kill all other living apocalypse beasts that are fully grown, and that are claimed by another of the cults should it come to that scenario.  However, seeing that Riven is a likely contender for his own beast, he will likely gain the egg or the item - along with an affliction bonus towards your Glass Kraken when the time finally arrives.  He will be given a quest to slay it, and you will be put into direct contention with one another for the final prize.”

Netithi coughed, furrowing his brows, and scratched at some of the numerous scars across his scaled body.  “Why are you telling me this?”

The monster snarled.  “Because I want you to win, and you need the help.”

Netithi blinked, caught off guard, and he slowly tilted his head to re-evaluate this monster and his situation.  “You want me to… win?  Why?  Who are you and what stake do you have in this gamble?”

There was a pause, and the creature’s smile grew wider.

“I want you to win because, if you kill the vampire, Gluttony will have to reset and find a new bonded companion for his reincarnation.  He’ll have to start over with a chosen one that will no doubt be far, far less valuable and less compatible than this freak he’s been able to claim by a massive stroke of luck.  Gluttony cannot be allowed to maintain a reincarnated bond of this magnitude.  I want Riven Thane dead, so that Gluttony’s rise back to power is hampered by a lesser creature he must fuse to.  You see, Gluttony and my master go very far back.  The original sins as well as the commandments are now heavily dependent on whatever or whoever they can bind to in their new ascent into the infinite beyond.”  The creature lowered its head in a mocking bow, swinging both fleshy, wiggling arms out to the sides as it did.  “May I present myself… I am The Gambler, but you can just call me Gambler.  I am a servant of the Original Sin of Greed, and I have come here to help you kill Gluttony, to help you kill the one you will come to know as Lillith, and to make you the number 1 power on this planet so that we may see it burn along with all of Gluttony’s legions.  If you do as I say, if you allow me to augment your body and participate in our plan as a willing servant, the Church of Greed will be more than happy to assist you in your rise far past this world in the cosmos beyond.”

A hesitant small smile crossed Netithi’s lips, and as the creature rose to its full height - the old naga’s smile widened.  “I do not know what the Church of Greed is, and I know little of the original sins.  But if what you say is true, if you actually can help me become number 1 in this world, I will need proof that you are able to help me forge this path.  Think of it as a show of faith so that I believe the words you speak.”

The monster’s green eyes brightened, and it lifted a hand to hover over the naga as if to bless him.  “More will be given to you in time, after you burn through quests here for power leveling.  But I suppose I can part with a small gift now, a core of sin and the power of Greed, to show you what potential you’ll truly have if you choose to follow our path.”

There was a ticking noise that echoed across the land, and the sky split apart overhead in a dark aura of sin energy.  The naga screamed as his body ruptured from numerous scars plastered across his body - giving off a sickly dark light, the monster laughed, and black-purple energy erupted from inside Netithi’s soul aperture as a new black core began to build itself inside.

***

[Riven’s Quest #1 of The Altars of Despair and Hope has been completed.  Outpost #84 has been saved, the enemy cultists have all been killed, and the monster wave has been eradicated without losing a single resident of the town.  This quest has been completed 1 hour early as well, adding bonus Event Points.  Congratulations!  You have been granted XP.  All XP has been funneled to your minions, due to your grade cap hindering you from leveling further until you reach enlightenment and enter the E-grade.  You have gained  +39 Event Points.  Quest #2 will be dispensed tomorrow.]

Versions of that same notification had appeared in front of everyone in Outpost #84 at the same exact moment Azmoth had killed the last of the flying serpents, with Athela giving Riven a confirmatory message via their telepathy link.  The instant that’d happened, the entire town had their own system messages ping his location while he was taking a drink back at the pub he’d originally visited with Nora, and he’d been mobbed with people thanking him, yelling out his name, and offering to buy him booze while sighs of relief were in abundance.  Word had already spread about his minions, and watch parties had seen the far off explosions of battle in the forest miles off, and with their hoods labeling Nora and Riven as non-cultists it didn’t take much to piece together that they were part of this integration quest even before the mass notification.

“OUT!  OUT!  EVERYONE OUT!”   Warden Zuk, the odd wizard-gnome leader of this outpost, had his town guards shove and push people out of the rowdy pub into the streets to celebrate elsewhere at Riven’s request.  “My god!  I could barely hear myself think in here with all those ruffians!  Good riddance!”

Gragle, who’d been dragged here by the warden himself at Riven’s request, fidgeted nervously while looking between the vampire sipping ale and the asian woman who was repeatedly sighing at the extra points she’d missed by not assassinating a single one of the enemy cultists - nor had she finished off the monster swarm leader.

“Don’t look so glum!”  Riven cackled, shoving another glass across the bar to take a fifth mug from the bartender who’d warmed up to him a lot more since their first encounter; especially after the notification had lit up the town.  “You could have killed that flying tomb cobra if you’d wanted to for the 30 point bonus!  You just chose not to.”

Nora gave him a flat look.  “Did you see the thousands of swarming electrical lizards around it?  There was zero chance I was heading into that rat’s nest, I’m far more fragile than either of those two monsters you sent in to clean up shop.”

She took a drink, choking on the strong taste of the alcohol and ignoring the little gnome wizard who plopped in a seat beside her.

Riven grinned. “Yeah you can just go ahead and say it, my summons are pretty awesome.  Speaking of which…”

A portal lit up in the middle of the rowdy bar, though it was far less rowdy than it’d been before Warden Zuk had kicked out half the pub, and all eyes turned to the shimmering blue-purple portal as Fay stepped out of it.  She looked amazing, getting a lot of hoots and murmurs from the crowd as they ogled her beautiful figure, but many of them were hushed by their comrades or slapped by their partners when they realized whose contracted familiar she was.

The gorgeous succubus wore an unusually exquisite gold-trimmed black dress that came down to her shins, but it hugged her breasts and hips.  It also split down the middle in a way that allowed her to walk without tripping - with her slender black tail coiling on the floor behind her and wings outspread.  Her ponytail was done up in golden decorative pins and she wore large golden hoop earrings that dangled from her bowed head as she took a knee and prostrated herself before Riven on the floor.

“Master, I… I…” She almost stuttered and choked on her words, trembling slightly as Riven raised an eyebrow her way.  “”I greet the great maw’s reincarnation!”

Riven finished sipping on a drink, pulled the shaking succubus up gently by one arm, and stood up.  Smiling kindly down into her black, wide eyes - he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers before resting his head against her small horns.  “Stop that, and come have a drink with me.  Nothing has changed between us.  Ok?  Also, you look absolutely stunning.”

He gave her a wink, and he saw just a tiny bit of the tension in her face melt away.  Just a tiny bit.

The last time she’d seen him was when Deepnest had exploded, and she’d been flung into the nether realm.  Obviously in the last 24 hours a lot had transpired, to the point that she’d now presented to him while undergoing some kind of panic attack, and based on what Athela had told him about Gluttony - he could guess as to why.

She began to protest, but Riven put a finger up to her lips as Gluttony’s third eye opened on his forehead.  Seeing the eye caused her to immediately shut up and go rigid, and she began to focus on the unholy scripts of ancient tattoos that littered Riven’s body now that Messenger wasn’t being worn.  He wore a sleeveless, basic shirt, and some basic pants, emphasizing his toned body as he led her to a seat and pulled the chair out for her.

“Nothing has changed.” Riven softly repeated, pushing her chair in and chuckling at the way she furiously blushed at his lightest touch.  “Put your wings away so I can sit next to you, and we can talk.”

Without being told twice, Fay retracted her wings and her tail back into her body, staring at the bar in front of her as Riven gestured for another mug of alcohol.

“Ale, beer, or harder stuff?” The bartender asked, trying hard not to stare at the beautiful woman who’d so recently joined them.  His gaze turned to Riven instead, outwardly forcing himself to remain locked on the man instead of the beauty beside the vampire.  “What do you think, Mr. Scary?”

Riven smiled at the nickname.  “Mr. Scary?  I like it.  Let’s go with the harder stuff, I think my girlfriend here is going to need it.”

Fay blushed even more furiously as the title of girlfriend, and she put two hands over her face as he began to laugh.

The middle-aged man wearing an apron behind the counter raised his eyebrows with a confused smile.  “I’d thought the other demoness was your lover.  The one with night-black skin.”

“Athela?  She is.  I’m dating both of them.  Or more accurately, we three are dating each other - Athela, Myself, and Fay here.”

“You’re dating both of them!?”  The bartender sputtered a laugh, rolled his eyes, and took out a bottle of some kind of rum-like substance that he poured into a tall glass.  He passed it to Fay, who wordlessly took it.  “Some people have all the luck.  Count me jealous, vampire.  But considering you and yours somehow saved our town from a monster swarm, likely avoiding many deaths, I’ll try to ignore that side of myself for the night.  What about the blood priestess?  Are you dating her too?”

“No, I’m not.”

“And this fine lass here?” The bartender asked, winking at Nora who was still actively sighing to Riven’s right.

“I’m afraid not.  She’s into girls, apparently.”

The bartender’s eyebrows rose, then gestured to Fay who was sipping on her drink - implying a couple things about Nora, Fay, and most likely Athela with a series of hand gestures most men would certainly be able to make out.

Riven smirked and shook his head, but didn’t reply as the festivities inside and outside began to climb to new heights with cheers and laughter all around.  Instead, as his succubus companion began to sip on her drink to calm her nerves, he leaned in and kissed Fay on the cheek before calling out to Gragle a few seats down.  “So my short stout friend, I was hoping we could chat about those things you called ‘Graphics’ earlier today.”

The scarred gnome coughed halfway through taking a swig, then set his mug down to glare up at the smirking vampire with an irritated huff.  The silence was telling, but eventually the gnome mustered the courage to reply with a little bit of help from the alcohol he’d been taking.  “You seem good natured enough now that I have some booze in me, but are you really related to Gluttony somehow?”

The vampire prince blinked.  Had he been too drunk to notice Fay's comments on the great maw?  Apparently so.

“Nope.”

“What about being a prince of the requiem?”

“Nuh uh.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Riven lied with a raised eyebrow.  “All that talk was just us being stupid and fucking around with you natives.”

Gragle eyed him skeptically, then slowly nodded.  “Fine, fine.  You’d be a really scary fucker if that multiverse-wide system notification was about you, but I’d think Gluttony would choose someone of a higher level if he had to reincarnate so I suppose that makes sense you’d be lyin.  I just wouldn’t want to wake up being eaten alive tomorrow night, ya know?”

Gluttony’s amusement rose inside, and Riven had to beat back a grin of his own.  “Yes, yes.  Of course.  Who’d want that?  Now, are you going to talk to me about these so called ‘Graphics’ you know of or not?  That was really unique magic you had there, and I was hoping to implement it in my own totems.”

“You make totems?” The gnome abruptly asked, suddenly becoming interested in the conversation as he turned his entire body to stare around Fay’s timid figure between the two men.  “Seriously?  You?”

Riven held out his tattooed arms to either side with a shrug.  “What?!  Didn’t I mention that earlier?  You were probably just scared too shitless to hear me right, sorry about my teasing and lies.  Is that so unbelievable?”

“Yes it is.  Do you have any recent works?”

Riven smiled, then nodded.  Reaching into his spatial sack, he drew out  the prized possession he’d been working on since visiting Hakim’s place a little while back.  It’d finally absorbed the minor sigil of Black Lightning, and had evolved from ‘Partially Constructed’ into a fully blown totem.  His previous totems also couldn’t level up, and it was very interesting to see that this one could.  He’d had the option to negate this effect in favor of having a static damage output when creating the totem, and that would have increased the power it had significantly in the beginning - but it would have stagnated its growth in turn.

So he’d allowed the soul to grow and gain levels, starting out at a weaker point rather than stretching the soul out and limiting its potential for the future.

[Totem of Bloodforged Rift Sparks: The Path of Red and Black has been imbued into this totem, along with three different ability sigils, allowing to to create combination abilities from the following: Black Lightning, Rift, and Crimson Ice.  Due to having a high grade soul imbued into this totem, it is able to move around autonomously and will follow your will to fight or defend.  Elite Tier, Level 1 totem.  Requirements:  90 Willpower, Blood Sub-Pillar, Shadow Sub-Pillar.  Bound to Riven Thane.]

It was the ‘Icosahedron’ he’d shown Genua in the forest.  It was a 20-sided die with dimensions of 1 by 1 by 1 feet each way.  Having crafted it from metal while using his magic to slice into the steel plates on the outer skeleton, he’d reinforced the insides with crimson ice, with red and black runic sigils on each of the 20 sides of the almost spherical shape.

Gragle’s eyes widened with interest, and he hesitantly put forth a hand - before asking if he could see it.  “It’s a beautiful piece.  These enchantments are very high quality, even if the materials could do better.  May I?”

“You absolutely may.” Riven replied, enjoying the eager look the gnome was giving his creation while picking up the totem with one hand and setting it gently in the smaller hands of the other man.  “Just don’t blow it up.  I have high hopes for that totem and it's the first real one I’ve ever completed now that I have the death sub-pillar.  So it’s kind of special to me, and I was hoping that it could potentially get an upgrade if you have any thoughts on what might work.”