Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Ruwen and Sift grabbed one of the empty medium-sized huts with two hammocks. Honestly, Ruwen would have rather just made a Shed for them, having become attached to the structures while isolated all those months. He resisted, not wanting to attract attention or break any rules. If the roof of their hut leaked, though, he would reevaluate.

Sift left to find the dining hut and check it for sweets. Ruwen laid down in his hammock and tried to relax. Casting the level fourteen Collector spell Sow Seed, which consumed ten Energy per second, he attempted to swing himself using the telepathic hand to push away from the hut’s wall. The current level of the spell only affected items weighing a pound or less, and it barely moved him. The simple failure made him miss his Spirit based spells even more.

Ruwen raised his left arm and dropped the Spirit Infused Baton of a Thousand Uses from his Void Band. He twirled the baton in his right hand, and then ran a finger over all the bulges and protrusions on its surface, some whose purpose he still didn’t know. Placing the end of the baton against the wall, he lightly pushed himself, until his hammock rocked gently.

The swaying motion and distant but still audible surf relaxed Ruwen. He expanded the minimized notifications he’d received on Savage Island and went through them, pausing on the maximum increase of each.

Gong!

You have increased your Knowledge!

Level: 155

Ruwen’s previous Knowledge level had reached one hundred fifty-one, so the understanding he’d gained here had added four more points.

The next ones contained skill increases, and he read “Shing! You have advanced a skill!” dozens of times.

Mining increased seven points to reach nine. It now increased extraction speed by eighteen percent, extraction yield by nine percent, and decreased gem and mineral damage by nine percent.

Prospecting had risen four to level fifteen, and increased Ruwen’s chance of discovering plants, gems, ores, minerals, and other collectibles by fifteen percent.

Taxonomy had inched up two, reaching thirteen, and improved Ruwen’s identification of plants, gems, ores, minerals, and other collectibles by thirteen percent.

Swimming through the lava had triggered an advancement of three in that skill to fifteen percent, raising Ruwen’s speed in the water to fifteen percent while decreasing the Energy cost by seven and a half percent.

Tumbling had risen to one hundred ninety-four, the two additional points bringing his fall damage reduction to ninety-seven percent.

Tactics had increased by one to level forty, which boosted Ruwen’s Wisdom by twenty percent.

Creativity climbed two, reaching nineteen, and increasing Ruwen’s Cleverness by nine and a half percent.

Ruwen’s intense planet saving use of Last Breath to give himself enough time to place the Infernal Crossing Ring’s explosion into his Inventory had increased the rare skill by eleven to one hundred seventy-nine. It now reduced pain by one hundred seventy-nine percent, increased mind Resistance by eighty-nine-point five percent, and thought speed by three hundred fifty-eight percent.

In reality, all the mental skills like Last Breath, Tactics, and Creativity had values double their notification’s numbers, as the passive from Rami’s second Codex of Evolution made them twice as effective.

During Ruwen’s search for crossing stones, he’d killed thirteen lava eels. They’d averaged level twenty-five, and he’d gained one hundred eighty-four thousand seven hundred experience from that. It didn’t look like he’d gotten experience for the Scourge Commander, and he wondered if the explosion he’d created didn’t count. He checked his log, and the answer reminded him of his very first kill, even if accidental, of the Naktos Mage assistant in the park on his Ascendancy Day.

You have killed a Scourge Commander, Warlord (Level 84)!

You have gained 178,300 experience! <Deferred>

< Scourge Commander, Warlord (Level 84) is a member of a War Party (1 of 25)>

Ky had explained the concept of “Deferred” experience was to keep from getting information your Perception level wouldn’t reveal to you. Since his Perception had reached one hundred ninety percent, he guessed the reason for the deferral wasn’t because of his Perception, but the fact the rest of the War Party resided on another world.

Ruwen checked his experience total.

Experience: 1,605,031/1,711,000

Level fifty-nine was only a little over a hundred thousand experience away. The experience from the eels had added up quickly, and Ruwen hoped their last trip to Savage Island would be close to the lava pools. He could power level himself into the sixties in less than a day.

The notifications taken care of, Ruwen considered how to proceed with the trials. He already knew the answers and had, in fact, perfected them. The three hidden patterns these trials revealed related to the force of your Steps, breathing, and timing. Already knowing what he needed to find should make locating each trial easy. He and Sift could be finished by lunch tomorrow.

What about the other Adepts? Especially Rung Four. They had come here, risking the trials when barely ready, to gain the rank of Master. They intended to take their new rank and train others back home, giving them the skills to push back the invading demon horde.

If Ruwen finished these trials and left Rung Four here on their own, it might take them months or even years to gain the insight they needed to proceed. This long thoughtful process worked for the Bamboo Viper Clan Founders, and he already knew how they felt about rushing knowledge. With no intervention, however, the demons would likely have already won by the time Rung Four finished.

Then, assuming one member of Rung Four told the others what they’d discovered, they would travel as a group to Savage Island and face the danger there without the help of Ruwen or Sift.

The longer Ruwen thought about it, the more certain he became. He couldn’t in good conscious leave them here to fend for themselves.

Sift returned, excitedly talking about the desserts here, and Ruwen listened until Sift finally paused.

Ruwen stopped rocking himself and spun the baton through the fingers of his right hand. “I want to tell Rung Four what the three trial questions are, and how to begin finding answers.”

“Okay,” Sift responded immediately.

Ruwen sat up and moved his feet off the hammock. “You aren’t going to argue?”

“Why? You did it for me.”

“You’re different. Don’t you want to know why I want this for them?”

Sift pinched his chin. “How much thought have you put into that decision?”

“A lot.”

“How shocking. And you’ve thought of consequences and counterarguments and rationalized your justifications?”

Ruwen titled his head. “Your vocabulary is getting better.”

Sift waved a hand. “No, I heard Lylan use that phrase. It sounded smart.”

“She said that about me?”

“Do you overthink and rationalize your justifications?”

Ruwen considered that. He did always convince himself what he did was the right thing. “I guess.”

“Well then, does it matter if she meant you?”

“I guess not.”

“Telling others the hidden stuff will probably upset the old people.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, too,” Ruwen said, tapping the baton against his free hand. “They haven’t said anything to us about our training, the hidden forms, or the really hidden one. We just keep plodding along here.”

Sift shrugged. “Like I said, they’re old, and old people forget stuff. Except Fluffy. That guy’s memory is as sharp as a knife.”

“Ugh, he wants me to do more cleaning. I’d kind of hoped he’d have forgotten after all this time.”

Sift’s eyes grew wide. “All what time? How long have you owed him something?”

It was Ruwen’s turn to shrug. “I cleaned some valuable gear in the vault, and he seemed really excited about it. He wanted me to come back as soon as I could to do some more.”

“How long ago?”

“Around the time we went on that camping trip with Big D.”

Sift pinched the bridge of his nose. “True god help you.”

“What?”

“I guarantee you the Black Pyramid’s Quartermaster has thought of you multiple times a day for the past, what, with the Spirit Realm adventure and your trip across the Universe, must almost be two years.”

Ruwen swallowed hard. “That’s a lot of thinking about me.”

Sift slowly nodded his head.

Ruwen waved a hand. “Stop distracting me. What were we talking about?”

“Jelly rolls?”

Ruwen refocused his thoughts, and a moment later, he remembered. “No, we were talking about how no one has yelled at me yet.” He winced and raised a hand. “Let me restate that. The Founders haven’t yelled at me yet.”

“Who cares?” Sift responded. “You should spend more time thinking about sweet rolls and less about the amount of trouble you’re in.”

“That seems irresponsible.”

“Has thinking about the trouble ever stopped it from finding you?”

“No.”

Sift stood, walked over, and placed a hand on Ruwen’s shoulder. “Then rest assured your trouble is still coming, whether you’re thinking about it or not.”

“Thanks?”

“No problem. Now let’s go stand in the ocean until the ceremony.”

Ruwen stood. Once in a great while, something valuable came out of Sift’s mouth, and standing in the ocean was one of them.