Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Ruwen and Sivart spent the rest of the night discussing Ruwen’s various fights in the Infernal Realm. Once Overlord returned or Ruwen reunited with Rami, he would show the fights to Sivart instead of just describing them.

Even with just the descriptions, Sivart provided valuable advice on hundreds of alternatives. They discussed the hypothetical situations, and it reminded Ruwen of an advanced version of the strategy talks he’d had with Rami while studying his Steps in the Spirit Realm.

Ruwen left his mind and returned to the Master’s trial as the predawn light fought to overcome the horizon. Minimized notifications had appeared overnight, and he opened them, pausing on the last one of each type.

Shing!

You have advanced a skill!

Skill: Strategy

Level:35

Effect: Increase Intelligence by 17.5%.

Shing!

You have advanced a skill!

Skill: Tactics

Level:39

Effect: Increase Wisdom by 19.5%.

The battles Ruwen had fought recently hadn’t raised the Strategy or Tactics skills, but after discussing those battles with Sivart, he’d gained multiple levels in each. He wondered if the trick to leveling these skills required not only experience, but discussion and contemplation. Going forward, he would make time to do that with Sivart.

Ruwen had gained six levels in Strategy, which provided an additional three percent bonus to his Intelligence, and the three levels in Tactics increased his Wisdom by one and a half percent. The passive from Rami’s second Codex of Perception doubled all Ruwen’s mental skills, resulting in nine extra points in Intelligence and three in Wisdom. These skills leveled slowly, but with his new process, he hoped that would change.

The camp remained quiet, and Ruwen felt much better after his discussion with Sivart. Not knowing when the Founders planned on starting the second trial, and not wanting to waste time, he opened his Void Band and removed something he hadn’t used in far too long.

Ruwen ran his index finger around the edges of the Collector Novice Manual. The brown book had a nice hefty weight, and he fanned the pages. The manual contained meticulous drawings, many in color, and all with detailed descriptions.

Ruwen opened his map and enabled the Resource flag. A few scattered dots appeared on his display, and he strode toward the closest one, which lay on the canyon floor.

The way down had far too many paths. All of them went straight down and they covered the entire slope, which made little sense to Ruwen. Not a single path cut sideways or meandered at all. Another mystery, just like the small chests on the opposite hillside. They’d likely learn the answer to both in the next couple of hours.

As Ruwen moved deeper into the canyon, the darkness took hold again, and he altered his vision to compensate, keeping everything visible. Sift’s card reading had increased Ruwen’s worries about Hamma and Lylan and what trouble they’d found. Concern for them opened a floodgate, and anxiety about his parents, Tremine, Bliz, Big D, and the entire country swirled in his thoughts.

Big D’s problem with the crime lord in New Eiru would be trivial to handle as soon as he returned. Removing that threat should make calming the country easier and an agreement between the factions should form quickly. Hopefully, his parents and Tremine would be back and Bliz kept himself and his bar safe for a little longer.

Ruwen shook the thoughts away as they solved nothing and only caused apprehension. He reached the bottom of the canyon and stopped, although the path continued straight up the other side, ending at a small chest halfway to the top.

Walking along the bottom of the canyon, Ruwen almost missed the small cactus his map had marked. He kneeled and studied the small plant. The green stems looked like long fingers, and thin yellow spikes surrounded them like armor. He tried to find it in the Collector Novice Manual, but after a minute admitted defeat. This manual probably only highlighted items on Grave.

Ruwen spent two minutes reading how to harvest different types of cacti and found the process similar between them all. Setting the book on the ground, he used twenty Mana on Analyze.

Target: Limb Sticker

Type: Resource

Components: Organics, Minerals

Health: Piercing risk, hallucinogenic

Alchemy: Therapeutic, Pleasure, Poison

Uses: Wax, Water, Numbness Tonic, Potion of Colors, Nightfall Elixir

The little cactus had a lot of uses, and Ruwen guessed Fractal would love this for his plant garden. He cast Kindling for two Energy per second, and a blade of condensed air extended from his right hand.

Carefully, Ruwen grabbed one of the spikey fingers, and used his air blade to slice it off at the base. He had just learned that collecting the entire plant was unnecessary with cacti, and they would regrow from a partial piece. He opened his Void Band and dropped the cutting inside, accepting the tiny Energy penalty to keep it alive.

Ruwen dismissed the air blade, retrieved the book, and strode to the next dot on his map.

During the next hour, Ruwen harvested nine more Limb Stickers. The rocks in the canyon didn’t differ from the common ones on Grave, and he left them alone. He didn’t detect any mineral concentrations or elements, so he contented himself with collecting the cacti.

When the sun had climbed enough to brighten half the hillside, Ruwen heard and sensed the vibrations of the Adepts waking in the camp. He had already returned the book to Inventory and, dismissing the Kindling spell for the last time, headed up the hill toward camp.

Ruwen opened the notifications his gathering had generated.

Shing!

You have advanced a skill!

Skill: Herbalism

Level: 16

Effect: Increase harvest speed by 32%. Increase harvest yield by 16%.

Shing!

You have advanced a skill!

Skill: Prospecting

Level: 7

Effect: Increase chance of discovering plants, gems, ores, minerals, and other collectibles by 7%.

Shing!

You have advanced a skill!

Skill: Taxonomy

Level: 8

Effect: Increase identification of plants, gems, ores, minerals, and other collectibles by 8%.

It felt good to level these basic skills. Ruwen’s life had made finding time for such things hard to find. He decided to leave the Resource option selected for now since the low concentrations of valuable rocks, metals, and plants didn’t interfere with the map’s display.

Ruwen crested the hill and strode toward the tents. Tarot shot toward him like a miniature crossbow bolt, and dismissed the cards he rode like an air sled at the last moment, causing him to crash into Ruwen’s hair.

Ruwen held out his hand.

“What?” Tarot asked.

“You know what.”

Three seconds later, a white belt dropped into Ruwen’s hand, and he turned toward the heartbeat he recognized as Sift’s. Adepts bowed to him as he passed, and he returned each one, slowing his progress.

Pushing the tent flap aside, Ruwen found Sift still sleeping.

Ruwen lightly kicked the cot, but Sift’s snoring didn’t even pause. Ruwen shook his head and stepped forward, flicking Sift in the forehead. Sift sleepily waved his hand, as if brushing a fly away, and turned away from Ruwen.

While Ruwen couldn’t sleep anymore, Sift still managed it once in a while, and when he did, he slept like the dead. Ruwen mentally went through all the things he could drop on the sleeping Sift from his Void Band: oil, water, rocks, dirt, lake sludge, minor acid of dissolving, or maybe even Ink Lord Numarrow’s body.

The Uneven debuff appeared as the taste of maple syrup filled Ruwen’s mouth, and it gave him an idea.

“Pancakes,” Ruwen whispered.

Sift sat up quickly and had his feet on the ground before noticing Ruwen. Ruwen threw the white belt at Sift and he snatched it from the air.

“Your golem is a menace,” Sift said and rubbed his eyes. He grabbed his dimensional bag and dropped the belt into the top. “Is breakfast over? I’m hungry for pancakes.”