Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Echo glared at Ruwen. “This isn’t some kind of excuse to babysit me, is it?”

“Not at all. I really do want to talk to Pine and Ash.”

This didn’t seem to convince Echo. “I’m fine you know. I don’t need you.”

“Seriously, this has nothing to do with you.”

Ruwen did his best to make that sound like the truth. He didn’t plan on following Echo around, but he also wanted to be nearby just in case.

Echo didn’t look like she believed Ruwen but she let the matter drop. “Are you ready now?”

“I want to make a quick stop at my alchemy camp.”

“Are you picking up your whole gang?”

Ruwen realized Echo didn’t know his friends were currently submerged in the cavern pool behind her. Unless Lalquinrial told her, she wouldn’t know about the Refinement and Fortification cocoons either. Should Ruwen tell her? Despite how she spoke, whenever it had counted, she’d supported him.

“I have access to a Destruction Realm store,” Ruwen said. “It had these time dilated cocoons that fix your pathways and help with body Fortification. Hamma, Sift, Lylan, and Shelly are in them now. So they won’t be joining us.”

“Shelly?”

Ruwen didn’t want to explain all the things Shelly could do. Better to just keep it simple for now. “She’s Sift’s turtle.”

“You guys are so weird.”

The answer had satisfied Echo and Ruwen could have kept the details to himself, but he didn’t. “Those cocoons turn anyone into an Axiom.”

Echo frowned at Ruwen.

“It’s true. Axioms aren’t a big deal in the Outerverse. Maybe talk to the Death Tower and see how he wants you to advance. I can help you get the cocoons you need if that’s what you want to do.”

“How do you know about the Death Tower? Does he talk to you too?”

“Not in my head, but he shows up sometimes.”

Echo sighed loudly. “Thank you for telling me that. I know you didn’t need to. My Death Aspect protects me here in the Destruction Realm, but I’m not sure I could wear that in one of these cocoons.”

“Oh, no,” Ruwen said and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What?”

“Sift,” Ruwen responded as if that explained everything.

“Sift, what?”

Ruwen focused on Echo. “Your comment reminded me. There’s this bird aspect that’s stuck to Sift and we never tried getting it removed. If he transitions into Divine in that cocoon and it works anything like the Scarecrow Aspect, the bird aspect will become a permanent part of him. Uru help me, if he comes out half bird I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Echo stared at Ruwen for ten seconds.

“What?” Ruwen finally asked.

“How can Hamma and Lylan tolerate you two?”

“That’s not fair lumping me in with Sift. He has a lot of issues.”

Echo shook her head and then held out her hand. “Let’s go.”

Ruwen gripped Echo’s hand. It was soft and cool. “What are you—”

The cavern twisted and when it untwisted Echo and Ruwen stood at the boundary of the Material Realm near his alchemy camp.

“How did you do that?” Ruwen asked.

Echo shrugged. “My Death Aspect is a lot stronger now. Especially here in the Destruction Realm. I can access the power of the Death Tower, and it touches everything here. Now hurry up.”

Ruwen let his questions drop. He would try and get details from Echo later. Transitioning between Destruction and Material Realms was trivial, and he stepped through the boundary. Echo followed him.

The sun warmed Ruwen’s skin, and a slight breeze ruffled his hair. The scent of exotic chemicals still remained and he wondered if Madda and Padda were still working. He wasn’t here to see them though, and didn’t want to get stuck in a long conversation.

This was the first time Ruwen stood in the Material Realm as a human since he’d followed the Muses into the Destruction Realm seventeen days ago. Notifications flooded his vision, and he willed them all into a summary.

“Give me a second to go through these System Notifications,” Ruwen told Echo.

Staff: 288 to 325

Effect: Increase damage by 163.0%

Sword: 199 to 500

Effect: Increase sword damage by 250%

Archery: 0 to 500

Effect: Increase projectile damage by 250%

Unarmed Combat: 1,164 to 1,250

Effect: Increase unarmed damage by 625.0%

Effect: Increase chance to deflect or dodge a blow by 625.0%

Bamboo Steps: 212 to 300

Effect: Increase Armor Class by 300

Effect: Increase Dodge by 300%

Viper Steps: 216 to 300

Effect: Increase Haste by 300%

Effect: Increase Critical Strike by 300%

Mental Combat: 47 to 100

Effect: Increase Mental Speed by 50%

Mental Defense: 191 to 300

Effect: Increase Mind Resistance by 150%

Mental Projection: 0 to 50

Effect: Increase Awareness by 50%

Multitasking: 88 to 95

Effect: Increase all Skills by 47.5%

Tactics: 40 to 55

Effect: Increase Wisdom by 27.5%

Strategy: 35 to 50

Effect: Increase Intelligence by 25%

Everything had advanced nicely and a new skill had appeared as well: Mental Projection. That must have resulted from the Mental Domain he’d created. Maybe the creation of Purgatory, the buffer between his inner mind and the outside world, contributed as well.

The three remaining levels of Ruwen’s Shadow Step grand mastery had centered on interpreting shadows and moving in and out of the Shadow Realm. His experience as a Saraph had given him a deep understanding of the Destruction Realm and the shadows it commanded.

Shing!

You have advanced a skill!

Skill: Shadow Step Mastery

Level: 162 to 300

Effect: Spiritual Damage increased by 3,000%.

Ding!

Congratulations, Shadow Grandmaster!

Your rank has advanced to ten!

Like a shadow, you are silent and dark.

Ruwen took a deep breath. He’d now reached rank ten in all three Step forms: Bamboo, Viper, and Shadow. A Grandmaster in each.

Gong!

You have increased your Knowledge!

Level: 2,165 to 8,600

Knowledge - seized by intelligence, tempered by wisdom, balanced between peril and power - illuminates greatness.

Your Cleverness has increased from 4,382% to 17,252%

This massive increase in Knowledge didn’t surprise Ruwen when he considered the incredible things he’d learned about the Outerverse, how the Destruction Realm functioned, the politics and events of the past, Meridians, the linkages between the Creation, Material, and Destruction Realms, and so much more. His head hurt just thinking about everything that had happened to him these past few weeks.

Ruwen glanced through his Profile. With everything that had happened to him since his Ascendancy Day, the display had become complicated. It also didn’t know how to handle some of his details. He skipped all the items relating to his Dungeon Master responsibilities for the Shattered Sun, the Black Pyramid, his Step Clan, and his alchemy profession. That still left a lot.

General Profile - Original Form

Name: Ruwen Starfield

Race: Human

Age: 17

Class Specialization: Composer

Level: Unknown

Fortification Tier: Divine – Demigod (Peak)

Core Type: Edgeless Dimensional

Architect Role Level: 2

Soul Level: 4

Soul Vault Count: 0

Inventory: 210 of 1,000

Karmic Offset: 52

Harmonic Faction Path: Conductor

Harmonic Spell Points: 4

Temporal Offset: 100 years 5 minutes

General Profile - Second Evolution

Name: Ruin Val’dor

Race: Saraph

Age: 10 days

Class: Destruction Emperor

Specialization: Avatar of Cycles

Level: 95

Core Type: Special – Apocalypse

Shadow Core: Rank 6

Apocalypse Core Vault: 0/5

Meridian Cores: 5 Kernel, 7 Seed

Inventory: 5,160/20,000

Destruction Needle (DeN): 638,100

Level Token: 96

Blood Arrays Open: 5 of 8

Blood Nodes Open: 25 of 64

Positive Karmic Threads: 8,697

Pools

Health: 12,000

Physical Energy: 26,133

Soul Power: 100,000

Wing Resonance: 4,000

Mental Energy: > 999,999

Spirit: 450,500,000,000

Destruction: > 1,000,000,000,000

Physical Attributes

Constitution: 1,200

Strength: 1,360

Nimbleness: 1,360

Charisma: 960

Mental Attributes

Intelligence: 4,257

Wisdom: 1,390

Awareness: 27,863

Willpower: > 999,999

Ratings

Armor Class: 10,379

Critical Chance: 580%

Haste: 715%

Dodge: 1,638%

Persuasion: 994%

Resilience: 568%

Cleverness: 17,252%

Perception: 1,323%

Regeneration per Second

Health: 197

Physical Energy: 716

Soul: 4,746

Wing Resonance: 67

Mental Energy: > 10,000

Meridian

Cymatics: 5 of 96

All the Resistances showed five hundred seventy percent except for Mind, which was four thousand six hundred eighty percent, but it had a question mark next to it. In fact, anything related to his mind like Willpower or Mental Energy only showed estimates. His mental strength had grown to such an extent the System couldn’t accurately quantify it.

Ruwen knew that Soul power didn’t progress in a straight line as it leveled. Now he could confirm that it was exponential. A normal level one Soul had a pool of one hundred energy and took a while to regenerate. His was one hundred thousand and regenerated at over four thousand seven hundred a second.

A quick calculation estimated that if the Zealot had a level seven soul, then it would have a pool of one hundred million and might regenerate at over two point seven million per second. That was behind comprehension for Ruwen. It made him even more certain that the Zealot had survived the Crossing Ring explosion Lalquinrial had triggered.

Ruwen closed all his displays and then turned to Echo. “Okay, I just need to talk to someone quick and then I’m done here. I’ll be right back.”

Then Ruwen teleported away.