Chapter 3 - Divine Apostasy Book 4

Chapter 3

Instead of emerging from the portal into the crystal forest, Blapy had brought Ruwen to the temple entrance. Hamma, Sift, and Lylan were still sitting at the entrance, and Blapy said her goodbyes. Sift’s Black Pyramid mark had turned from black to dark blue, marking him one of Blapy’s favorites, and he spent the next five minutes talking about all his favorite foods, which were mostly different kinds of pastries. Ruwen wondered if Sift would eat as much now that he’d created a Core.

No one wanted to sleep deep inside the temple, so Hamma showed them some small rooms off the main large one they’d first entered. Ruwen felt restless and convinced everyone he would take the first watch. He slowly walked around the temple as the temple Guardians lapped him, the sound of their passing both comforting and unpleasant.

Ruwen had Whiskers scouting further outside the city, and Lir, the temple’s sentient caretaker, had also sent some of the temple Guardians out as well. In reality, he was pretty redundant as a guard, but it made them all feel better. Plus, he needed to figure out his new Class, and he thought better when he moved.

The death in the temple earlier that day had been necessary to get the Architect Role, but it had come at the cost of losing twelve Attribute points. The eighteen levels he’d advanced his Root Class had given him thirty-six extra Attribute points, and it appeared he could move those points into other Attributes if he wanted. 

A new value had appeared on his Profile to keep track of them: Redistribution Points. In addition, all the ability and spell points he’d placed in the Observer branch had been refunded to him.

Ruwen studied his Profile as he wondered what to do.

General

Name: Ruwen Starfield

Race: Human

Age: 16

Role: Architect

Class: Worker

Sub Class: Not Yet Chosen

Hidden Class: Not Yet Chosen

Hidden Sub Class: Not Yet Chosen

Level: 19

Class Rank: Initiate

Cultivation Stage: 40

Cultivation Rank: Acolyte

Deaths: 3

Deity: Goddess Uru

Experience: 189,165/190,000

Inventory: 82/1,000

Realm Count: 2

Wealth: 1g 10s 50c

Marks

Black Pyramid

Bamboo Viper Clan

Dungeon Master (Shattered Sun)

Marks’ Details

Bamboo Level: 84

Bamboo Rank: Adept

Viper Level: 84

Viper Rank: Adept

Black Pyramid Level: 1

Black Pyramid Rank: Novice

Black Pyramid Cipher Level: 1

Black Pyramid Dungeon Level (Completed): 6

Black Pyramid Librarian Rank: Ink Warden

Black Pyramid Tokens: 26

Shattered Sun Dungeon Tier: 38

Shattered Sun Dungeon State: Fair

Shattered Sun Keeper Fractal State: Very Good

Available Points

Unassigned Ability: 16

Unassigned Spell: 38

Refunded Ability: 6

Refunded Spell: 5

Attribute Redistribution: 36

Pools

Health: 548/548

Mana: 375/375

Energy: 928/928

Spirit: 31,296,528,470

Attributes

Strength: 33

Stamina: 47

Dexterity: 46

Intelligence: 34

Wisdom: 22

Charisma: 20

Ratings

Knowledge: 48

Armor Class: 404

Max Encumbrance: 743 lbs.

Critical Chance: 90%

Power Strike: 7%

Haste: 93%

Dodge: 143%

Persuasion: 15%

Resilience: 34%

Endurance: 8%

Cleverness: 52%

Perception: 58%

Resistances

Elemental Resistance: 36%

Poison Resistance: 36%

Acid Resistance: 36%

Mind Resistance: 75%

Order Resistance: 36%

Chaos Resistance: 32%

Disease Resistance: 36% 

Light Resistance: 36%

Dark Resistance: 32%

Regeneration

Health Regeneration per second: 2.22

Mana Regeneration per second: 2.05

Energy Regeneration per second: 37.39

Everything had taken a small decrease from the twelve lost Attributes, but his Dodge and Persuasion had both dropped twenty percent. The result of losing his Observer abilities Evade and Persuade. Hopefully, his new Class would have ways to increase them. 

He felt sad at the lost Observer abilities and skills but reminded himself he could get them back if he figured out the essence recipe to recreate the effect. Maybe not tomorrow, but someday, he would benefit from those abilities again.

But that didn’t help him now. He needed to fight a war, and while Rami had taught him strategy and tactics when not teaching him Bamboo and Viper Steps in the Spirit Realm, it wouldn’t be enough.

And if you were going to fight a war, one Class made sense to check out first. One Ruwen had never even contemplated before his Ascendancy, even though both his parents had chosen it.

Rami? Do you have any books on the Fighter Class?

I just got some. Lir transferred the entire library to me. And crack my shell, his collection is incredible.

Ruwen smiled at the obvious happiness in Rami’s voice, and something occurred to him that he’d never considered. When you say library, do you mean the city’s library?

Yes, Lir kept a copy of every book so it could be reproduced in case of, well, whatever happened here.

This shocked Ruwen, but then he realized it was no different than what Rami did. Rami had vast amounts of books in her memory, too. Does he have an ability like yours?

Nobody’s like me, Rami teased.

Ruwen laughed. That’s true.

No, Lir just thinks ahead. All new books are brought to the temple where Lir store’s an image of every page. It’s much slower than my method, but it preserves the knowledge.

Can I see these books too?

You mean without entering one of my mental constructs?

Yes. Like could you put them all in my memory?

I could, but you’d never be able to find anything, and it might destroy your brain.

Ruwen forced down his disappointment and thought of something else. Could you add something to my interface that would let me ask questions even when you’re busy? Maybe it could use your indexes and then let me see the books?

Hmmm, that’s an interesting idea, like a personal librarian. Rami remained quiet for a few minutes, and Ruwen continued his march around the temple.

The person cutout that allowed Ruwen to access his Inventory in the bottom right of his vision pulsed yellow. A book had appeared in the cutout’s hand, and Ruwen focused on it.

Two empty bookshelves appeared. The first one had ten shelves and looked like one from the library in Blapy. The second bookshelf was much shorter and only had three shelves. It looked like the bookshelf he stored his favorite books on, in his room at the library in Deepwell.

Rami finally spoke. Because this needs to work without my attention, it is very basic. So, when you ask for something, only use the most relevant words. Use language like ‘and’ and ‘or’ to help reduce the number of books that match your search.

What are the two bookshelves for?

The tall one keeps your last ten searches, a shelf for each one. You can remove books you like and place them on your personal bookshelf. Those will stay there until you put them back on the big bookshelf.

Wow, this is… Ruwen had run out of words to describe Rami.

I know. Rami said. Sometimes I even surprise myself.

Ruwen focused on the top shelf of the tall bookcase and made his first request. Fighter Class.

The shelf immediately filled, and a number hovered on the right side: 59,258.

What does the number mean? Ruwen asked Rami.

That’s how many books matched your request.

Ruwen grabbed a book from the shelf and read the title, Interior Design for the Clueless Crafter. He focused on Rami again. This doesn’t even have my keywords.

Sorry, that’s my fault. You can specify the title, description, author, or text. If you don’t, it looks in all of them. So your words must be in the text somewhere.

That is really powerful. But I can see how you can get lost in all this. How do I clear this request?

Just move your hand from right to left across the shelf, and they’ll disappear. You can also focus on a filled shelf and give it more keywords to narrow your request.

Ruwen cleared the shelf and focused on it again. Description. Fighter Class. Over a thousand books came back. Ruwen stared at the filled shelf and gave it another keyword. Description. Uru. This narrowed it down to under three hundred books. Description. Spells or abilities. The count dropped to ninety-eight. Description. Build or Path. Seventeen books remained, and Ruwen smiled.

Pulling out a book Ruwen read the title, Preparing for Glory, a Point-by-Point Path for Greatness. That seemed more promising than interior design.

Thank you again, Rami. Maybe with this, I won’t need to bug you all the time.

That never crossed my mind. Rami said and laughed.

Ruwen smiled. It was hard not to constantly bother Rami as the Bookwyrm always had answers to his questions. He looked through each of the books and transferred five to his personal bookshelf.

Opening the first book with mental hands, he lowered it until the pages only covered the bottom half of his vision. Then he continued to pace around the temple while reading, hoping that the Fighter Class had a build that would help him.