Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 52

Chapter 52

With every step, Ruin's enthusiasm to join his friends waned. Sift's description of the needle experiments flashed through Ruin's thoughts, and he decided seeing them could wait.

The Void Wyrm Varthon and Deryssa had made it sound like fixing a spiritual network was no different than seeing a mechanic.

Despite having twelve connected meridians, his pathways were narrow, inflamed, and scarred. His Dark and Chaos Meridians had been attached thanks to Io’s Creation essence. That same essence fled to his Body Meridian when his human body dissolved. So, his current connections to the Dark and Chaos Meridians was very weak.

Ruin had plenty of Refinement work to do, which probably required a lot of needles.

Ruin dropped through a nearby shadow and entered the Destruction Realm. Since this was such a common activity, there had to be a better method than the one Sift was currently suffering.

Opening the mobile merchant, Ruin searched for the word "refinement" that Deryssa had used. Ruin was familiar with the Refinement form used to extract singular essences from Spirit. In the Outerverse, refinement referenced optimizing one's spiritual network.

To Ruin's relief, multiple options appeared, and they seemed similar to the Fortification cocoon he’d seen earlier. He studied the details.

Name: Refinement Cocoon (Stage 5)

Type: Enchanted Structure (Small)

Uses: 1

Capacity: 1

Duration: 10 days

Relative Duration: 1 year

Description: An oblong structure engraved with intricate sigils. Once activated, the cocoon renders the user unconscious, and using environmental energy, Refines their spiritual network. Efficiency and results are highly dependent on ambient energy quality and quantity.

Cost: 10,000,000 DeN

The enchanted device looked almost identical to the Fortification one, which unfortunately meant a ten-million-destruction-needle cost.

Ruin needed money. Since discovering that he could convert his Spirit into Terium coins, money had never been an issue or a concern for him. Now, though, his Destruction body had eagerly destroyed all the Spirit in his body. If he wanted money, he would need to do it the old-fashioned way.

Preparing to summon Vex, Ruin remembered he’d left the steed with Zylkin’s crab mount. So much had happened that it felt like weeks had passed, but he’d only been here a couple of days.

Ruin hoped Vex wouldn't be upset that he’d kind of forgotten about the steed.

Even more concerning, Ruin had entered dungeons, left the Destruction Realm, and even left the planet—all without summoning Vex back first. He had no idea what effect that would have on the creature.

"Vex, if you're not too busy, I could use your help."

A distant pulling sensation tugged at Ruin’s mind. He staggered forward as whatever existed on the other side yanked viciously on the connection. He felt like a fisherman who’d just accidentally hooked a hydra.

Ruin considered severing the connection to stop what felt like someone trying to pull his brain out of his head. Because of the timing, the creature on the other side of the connection was almost certainly Vex, so he left it alone.

Three seconds later, Ruin smelled rotting fish and seaweed. It stank like the bad section of the wharf in Stone Harbor—only, a thousand times worse.

Ruin covered his nose as Vex appeared and the painful connection snapped.

Seaweed covered Vex, giving the steed a sickly color and making his muscled form appear shaggy—or maybe moldy.

Ruin kept a hand over his nose, then added the other one over his mouth so he wouldn't inhale any of the stench. “Hey, buddy. It looks like you were having fun with your crab friend.”

Vex bared his teeth and snapped at Ruin, who barely dodged the attack. The steed came away with a section of Ruin's sleeve.

"Why so angry? I came as soon as I could."

Vex narrowed his eyes and growled before spitting out Ruin's sleeve.

Ruin held out his hands as if trying to calm a wild beast, which was exactly what he was doing.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I got really distracted and kind of forgot I left you with that crab. But listen, I have an idea on how to get rid of all that rage.”

Vex flashed his teeth again and stepped closer to Ruin.

“No, not on me. I need to make a lot of money, which means I need to kill a lot of stuff. Like, a lot. I know you were exploring for a while and was hoping you found some areas with densely packed beasts.”

In an act of goodwill, Ruin cast the destruction version of Scrub on Vex. The seaweed and, more importantly, the smell disappeared.

“See, it’s like it never happened,” Ruin said. “Also, you’ll be happy to know that our connection survives outside a realm and even across different planets.”

Vex snapped at Ruin again.

“I said I’m sorry. It was careless, but at least we know now. Plus, doesn’t that mean you could leave the realm or even the planet?”

That gave Vex pause, and the steed tilted its head in thought.

“How long has it been since you’ve been on a proper killing spree? We can even go back to whatever lake you were in and kill fish.”

That earned Ruin another growl. How could a horse growl?

“All right, no fish.”

Ruin inched closer until he was within arm's length of Vex again. He gently patted the steed’s muscled neck.

“I wasn’t screwing around the last day. In fact, I learned some pretty mind-blowing stuff. Since my knowledge hasn’t increased, I’m guessing that’s somehow tied to the Material Realm or maybe my human body. Regardless, my point is it’s made me look at the world differently. Specifically, things I never dreamed possible now seem likely.”

Vex gave a half-hearted growl.

“Fine, fine, I’m getting to it. Your description says you were made from an air elemental. Obviously, you transformed when I did, and now you’re a Saraph war mount. By the way, it also says war mounts are fiercely loyal to their owners.”

Vex tried stomping on Ruin’s feet, forcing him to dance around to avoid getting them crushed.

“You’re the worst war mount I’ve ever had.”

This seemed to make Vex happy, and the attack stopped.

“Despite your obvious anger issues and terrible personality, it’s clear that you’ve evolved into something more than you started as. It reminds me a little of what happened to Fractal.”

Vex turned his head toward Ruin, and the large eye locked with Ruin’s gaze. Ruin could see the intelligence—and maybe appreciation—that Vex possessed.

“Anyway, it appears that Sift will soon be a god, and once I figure a few things out, I think I might be able to make Fractal a god as well. That means it won’t be long, and you’ll never win another race against them.”

Vex took a step back and hung his head.

Ruin stepped closer and gently rubbed Vex’s neck. “I didn’t tell you that to be mean or depress you. Creatures in the Destruction Realm, regardless of their sapience, have the basic spiritual network of Meridians, which allows them to Fortify into the Divine tier. It’s not clear to me what you were or even how you’ve changed. What I do know is that I sense what you are now, and I think I can help you evolve further. I’ll do my best to make you into a Divine steed so that you can keep humbling Sift.”

Vex pushed his nose into Ruin’s chest. Ruin smiled and scratched the steed’s cheeks.

“Now, let’s go find an area to grind.”

Thirty minutes later, they had traveled deep into what Ruin considered a desert. Vex hovered in the air, and Ruin searched the dunes for creatures but didn't see anything. Maybe Vex had misunderstood him.

Vex teleported to the top of a dune, his hooves sinking into the sand. In a blink, the steed had teleported back into the air.

Down below, the sand exploded as creatures erupted from the surrounding dunes.

Ruin's stomach sank. He leaned forward to look into Vex’s left eye. “Did you do this on purpose?”

Vex whinnied, reared back, and pawed the air with his front legs—obviously happy.

“You are the worst war mount ever,” Ruin said before letting himself fall.

As Ruin hurtled toward the ground, he increased his core velocity to five thousand and sent a quick message to Overlord, Uruziel, and Sivart that it was go time.

Identify gave Ruin the details of the disgusting creatures he rapidly approached.

Name: Sandpede Liquifier

Description: A segmented millipede with a flattened body covered in venomous hair which blends perfectly with the desert sand. In combat, its hair stiffens into a thorny armor which can be launched at enemies and causes paralysis on contact. Lacking eyes or a mouth, it hunts by sensing vibrations and chemical signals in the air. After capturing its prey, it wraps its flexible body around the victim like a constrictor. Thousands of legs exude a corrosive acid, converting its prey into a liquefied paste, which is absorbed through its fleshy stomach.

Estimated Power: Tier 3 Level 1

Strengths: Ambush Tactics, Segmented Regeneration, Venomous, Subsurface Mobility

Weaknesses: Surface Mobility, Water, Fire