Wild Era 2, Ch 27: Sarathian Plans

At that moment, Maro coughed as he tried to sit up, but there was no sound, only the shaking of his chest as his eyes opened. 

He tried to say something, his lips moving as he looked around, but nothing came out. 

When he realized it was the effect of the codex, he scowled, and then his attention jumped outward as he searched for an enemy.

He frowned and then cursed silently, but his expression was concerned as he pointed at Galin. Crackles of drying blood ran down his arm.

“He’ll be alright,” Kelin confirmed. “You too.” 

He took out another Soul’s Rest talisman and activated it. Then he stuck it on Maro’s arm. Flickers of golden flame surged out, burning away the decay as his skin started to look healthier.

The lich’s hall was silent and Maro calmed down. Then he realized there were a series of notifications waiting for him and his attention turned toward them.

Kelin spent a moment longer tending to everyone, including himself, but once he felt like the tide had turned in their favor, he checked his own notifications.

The voice of the Path filled his mind.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

You have Destroyed a True Remnant and slain the Lord of Shadowfall. 

Due to your efforts, the last vestige of the Lord of Shadowfall’s soul has dissipated and he will not return. 

As a result, the name of the Dungeon has changed. It will no longer be known as Shadowfall. 

Henceforth, its name will be Fallen Shadows. 

Regular undead will be used to populate it.

For eliminating a True Remnant, you have earned bonus rewards, along with those that belong naturally to this dungeon.

Kelin stopped the notifications.

The remnant was what he’d thought. 

As for what that meant, he could explore it after he checked the rewards. He glanced at the remains of the lich and then he turned his attention back to the Path.

Your completion rate for this True Remnant is 100%.

You have earned bonus experience for eliminating a True Remnant. 

You have earned bonus experience for completing the dungeon at lower than the average level.

You have gained 8 Levels.

Your Soul Bonded Elemental has also gained 8 Levels.

You are now Level 110. 

You gain 72 Intelligence, 24 Wisdom, 24 Aura, and have 48 free attribute points to assign.

That many attributes was the advantage of the First Evolution, and of even higher Evolutions.

The number of attributes per level were much more significant and strength ascended quickly.

He glanced at the free attribute points and then he threw them all into Aura, since it was still too weak. 

Wildfire would improve it eventually, but for now he kept running out of soul energy. 

The changes took his Intelligence to 809 and Aura to 421.

Then he let the Path continue.

This time, it was focused on the abilities he’d upgraded during the battle. Facing a Level 135 Elite had some advantages.

Your Innate Ability: Spell Disruption has gained a tier and reached Elite.

Your Soulfire Ability: Blaze has gained a tier and reached Elite.

The cost of this ability has been improved. It now requires five times the mana cost for 3.2 times increased mana density. 

That was an excellent reduction. It had been six times the cost for 3.2 times the mana density.

Your Innate Ability: Endless Flame has gained a tier and reached Epic.

The 40% improvement to the duration and cohesion of all spells granted by this Ability has advanced to 50%. You also gain an additional +5% to their power, for a total of 20%.

This ability applies to artifacts and talismans you create, as long as you imbue them with your energy.

That was due to the quick advancement that was imbued into Endless Flame.

As long as it was stressed, it would continue to advance until it reached Heroic on its own, thanks to the fragment of Law it held.

There were a couple of other tier notifications as well, starting with Analysis, which showed a small recovery of some of his old abilities.

Your Innate Ability: Analyze has gained a tier and reached Epic.

His previous understanding of the world and analyzing the Law of Decay in the enchantments had forced it to advance.

Then there was one for his favorite spell.

Your Spell: Soul Arrow has gained a tier and reached Epic.

He already had all the necessary understanding of that spell to push it to Heroic. Facing the lich had given it the necessary stimulus. 

Unfortunately, it was the only one of his offensive abilities that had improved. 

Soulfire Inferno had gained some progress, but it would still be a while before it could advance. The same went for Soulfire Bolt.

Unless he had another Epic upgrade to spend, he would have to work more on soulfire’s principles before those spells could reach a higher tier.

Now that he was at the First Evolution, he had the chance to use another rune or two from the Compendium of Soulfire Runes, which should help him to comprehend Soulfire better, but he would deal with that when he got back to town. 

It wasn’t something to rush.

Ignite and Blaze together had massively changed his current abilities, so the next one should at least build on them.

With the plan to focus on the Law of Reincarnation, he needed some time to consider the best approach. 

That was the end of the tier ups, but there were still notifications waiting.

For completing this dungeon on the hardest run yet, you have earned the highest level of standard reward.

You have earned an Epic Ability upgrade. You may choose one Ability to advance by a single tier, to a maximum of Epic.

Make your choice now.

He chuckled at that, since he’d just been thinking about it. Then he debated where to use it.

Blaze would have been his first choice, but it was rarely a good idea to leap two tiers at once. He needed a bit of time for it to settle in and to study the changes.

After a moment of thought, he made his choice.

A massive pool of golden flames gathered around him as strands of power swept through his body, sinking in and fusing into his meridians and spirit.

As they did, he felt the ability improve.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

Your Signature Class Ability: Soulfire Sigil has gained a tier and reached Epic.

This sigil exerts a protective influence on the area within its radius. The mana cost of this ability has increased from 100 to 200. 

At the Epic tier, it provides 50% increased healing and recovery (health, stamina, mana, and soul) to the caster and allies, as well as 45% improvement to the duration and protection of Fire and Soul spells. The effect is reduced on those above the caster’s level.

When imbued into an object, it gains an additional 10% effectiveness or more, depending on the quality of the medium.

The duration has changed to 12 hours. When imbued into an object, the duration will be further increased, potentially lasting for 24 hours or longer.

The changes were a 15% improvement over Elite.

It was also the most beneficial option.

As a signature ability, it influenced the others and it was fully aligned with the Law of Soulfire. 

Using it would allow him to understand the Law better and then he could work on infusing its principles into the rest of his class abilities.

Plus, if it had been at Epic before, it would have lasted longer against the Law of Decay.

Then they wouldn’t have ended up half dead.

He was absurdly strong for his level, but that fight had made him realize his true flaw was in Law comprehension.

It shouldn’t have been an issue at the First Evolution, since even a fragment of Law was usually enough for overwhelming force, but he was facing enemies that were far more advanced than in his first life.

If he’d faced these opponents back then, he’d have been dead before he could achieve anything. 

There were tiers to things.

He’d been remarkable at his height, but his youth was relatively normal. This time around, he was a prodigy facing the strongest enemies he could find, ones he should have stayed far away from.

If he wanted to survive, he would have to advance quickly.

Fortunately, with challenge came reward. There were still notifications left.

By resisting the power of this remnant, you have earned an Ability that opposes its nature. You have gained the Innate Ability: Decay Resistance (Basic).

You have been imbued with an innate resistance to the forces of Decay, including some resistance to the related Laws of Plague and Disintegration.

This is an extremely rare resistance to gain, something that can only be achieved through intense exposure to the core Law and somehow surviving the experience.

It is close to a force that opposes entropy.

As the ability settled in, some of the pain and disruption from the rotting blood and other material in Kelin’s wounds faded away and his healing moved more quickly.

The same thing was happening to the others as he looked around, which meant they’d also benefited.

He had a feeling that the ability had wide-ranging implications, including on his constitution and lifespan, since aging was related to Decay, as were many other things, like memory.

It was a dangerous and pervasive Law, something very close to entropy and true annihilation.

It was definitely a rare reward, something that would help him in life and in his personal war against the Sovereign of Undeath.

That was the last reward from the regular completion of the dungeon, but there was one series of notifications left.

You have earned a bonus Reward for Destroying a True Remnant.

This reward is derived from the fading energy of the fragment that you destroyed. It comes in two parts.

First, you have earned an Attribute Upgrade.

You may choose one Attribute to advance by 50 points.

Second, you may choose one of the following Epic-tier rewards:

A Law Opportunity.

Epic Elemental Orb. 

Physique Upgrade.

Trait or Ability Upgrade.

Upgrades are limited to a single tier, with a maximum of Epic. 

Make your choices now.

Kelin’s heart jumped as he saw the rewards, especially the first one. 

The list was expansive, covering most things that someone could want, but a Law Opportunity was what he needed the most right now.

It was a chance to meditate on a Law and to infuse it into an ability, like he’d done with Endless Flame. 

It was also what he needed to move toward the Law of Reincarnation.

Since the Path had no familiarity with that Law, he’d have to do most of it on his own, but it could still support him, providing time and the best chance to achieve it.

He didn’t hesitate.

A strange thread of star-like power appeared from the sky and settled into his body, and then it hummed there, full of potential and might.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire. 

You may redeem this opportunity at a time of your choosing, but it must happen within the next seven days.

Kelin nodded at that. 

Since it was giving him a chance to prepare first, he would take advantage of it. 

Once he was back at the guild, he’d spend a few days meditating and preparing concepts to merge, and then he would activate that strand of power.

He’d have to decide whether or not to use the Soulfire Runes first, but with this in front of him, he was inclined to wait.

Perhaps he could create something interesting from the merger of the two.

With that, the important part of the rewards came to an end and there were only a few notes about guild credits and gold left.

You have earned treasure rewards for clearing this remnant.

You are awarded 270 gold coins in the local currency.

You are awarded an additional 200 gold coins as a bonus for the remnant’s High difficulty and mana density.

There were also the usual notifications that his badge had recorded his accomplishments and that he’d earned a total of 540 guild credits, which was four times the usual for a Level 135 boss.

Although that was only worth 540 silver, or 27 gold once it was converted, it was plenty for an adventurer to rest and recover for several months.

Guild healers were cheap and if it was a dungeon injury, they usually wouldn’t charge anything.

You just had to survive to get back.

He studied the humming thread of energy for a moment and then he put it out of his mind.

His wounds were starting to feel better and the others were still looking through their own notifications, so he dusted himself off and started to search the area.

Gaius gave him a hand to speed things up.

The first thing he did was gather the bodies of the five Sarathians and the core from the lich, which was worth a bit.

Gaius had scattered the undead party in pieces all across the hall and significant chunks were buried under rubble, but before long he extracted all of them and placed them in a pile near where everyone was resting.

Then he began to go through it.

Although there wasn’t any other loot from the lich, the Sarathian party covered the debt, and in a few moments, he had a small pile of spatial items resting in front of him, which he began to search through one by one.

When he finished, he frowned. 

The rings were more spartan than he would have expected. 

They didn’t even have any greater healing or mana potions, just intermediate ones, and their weapons were mediocre at best.

He supposed this type of equipment wasn’t that unusual for a relatively poor team.

Perhaps his standards were too high. 

Unfortunately, his hopes of finding any more information about their purpose here came to naught, since there wasn’t a single note inside the items or anything that could be easily traced back to a unique origin.

However, that was telling enough. 

No real adventuring team would be carrying such a sanitized set of gear. 

There were scattered maker marks from across Celadon, including Highmist and Cerith, but every single thing he saw could be found in half a dozen shops in any city within five hundred miles.

It was completely unidentifiable.

Even the first Sarathian assassin had kept a few points of interest in his gear, things he’d gathered here or there while on his mission, but there was nothing in these.

Other than the lack of identifying features, the items were similar to basic supply packs from an army. 

It suggested they’d come here directly, with no side trips. They’d known exactly what they wanted to do.

They’d also been dispatched from a powerful organization capable of hiding their tracks.

He wasn’t sure if they had planned to fight the lich or if it was an accident, but he was leaning toward the latter. 

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have died.

In conclusion, they were definitely up to something.

He shook his head as he divided the items into four equal parts. The contents were nothing special, but everything was still worth about 300 gold, so that was another 75 each.

The others were still busy, so he set an item near each of them and then he looked up at the sky.

Some people liked to imagine that the Path was inside the soul, which wasn’t exactly wrong, but he knew it was in the stars. 

To talk to it, he’d always had the habit of looking up and out.

Before meeting the Sovereign and his Evolution, the Path wouldn’t have answered him, but he had questions and he wanted answers, so it was time to test out his rank.

What is the history of this remnant? he asked silently, directing the thought to the Path. 

The answer came instantly, along with a heavy pressure that felt like the stars were weighing down on him. 

As durable as his bones were, it felt like they were creaking under the force. 

The Path was no simple thing to call upon.

This ruined city was collected from a battle during the Chaos War approximately 3,842 years ago, when the undead legions attempted to connect their galaxy to ours.

This city and many surrounding lands became a physical bridge, one which the Sovereign severed. 

It corresponded to his edict forbidding the entrance of Seventh Evolution enemies.

As this land was already present in our galaxy, he decided to keep it, and it was given to me to oversee. 

I preserved it for many years until the formation of dungeons, at which point I broke the ruins apart, assigned them appropriate levels, and filled them with training opportunities.

This city was one of the more troublesome to deal with. 

This city dates from a mere 30 years after the Chaos War began? Kelin asked with a frown. That puts it as one of the most ancient relics.

Yes, the Path confirmed, although it is far from the most powerful. Barely any presence of Law was left after the Sovereign’s destruction of the original.

Only a few traces remained, such as what you encountered.

Kelin shook his head at that, since it had almost been enough to kill them.

What about the Lord of Shadowfall? he asked. How did he survive until now?

The former Lord of Shadowfall perished in the original battle, but he hid his phylactery well. 

It is a problem with liches. 

The power of the Sovereign of Undeath obscures some things from my sight, especially when the undead are present in a high number.

That was one of them.

I was aware that the phylactery still existed, which is why I created this True Remnant and suppressed the lich’s level and Law. 

It provided a training opportunity, one which could give rise to a powerful warrior or team.

Kelin grimaced at that, but he couldn’t disagree.

From the Path’s point of view, everything had been dealt with in accordance with its higher purpose, which was strengthening the galaxy.

Why did the lich and its phylactery appear now? he asked.

The Lord of Shadowfall ensured that his phylactery would only appear when certain conditions were met, including the chance for him to rise again.

The arrival of the earlier team and then your presence triggered those conditions, although I cannot see exactly what they were. 

Undeath’s power continues to veil some of the events.

Have others encountered the Lord of Shadowfall before? Kelin asked. Or was this the first time?

He has appeared seven times, the Path replied. Unfortunately, each encounter resulted in a complete destruction of those who faced him. 

What were the Sarathians trying to do here? 

Undeath has obscured the details, the Path replied, which means it heavily involves the undead and his interests, but for the specifics, you will have to draw your own conclusions.

However, you might be interested to know that the number of undead dungeons in Sarathia has tripled in the past ten years. 

I suspect the events are connected.

Can you tell me anything about these Sarathians who died? he asked. Why were they here and who sent them?

Their presence was hidden from my sight until you encountered them, the Path replied. That indicates high-tier involvement with the undead.

Their origins in Sarathia are available for you to peruse, if you wish, but that is all I can offer.

With that, a complex and advanced deluge of information that was similar to the results of an Analysis poured into his mind, showing the origin, birth, and now death of each of the Sarathians.

Unfortunately, there were no details of their training, only a list of times when they had leveled and a few of the abilities they’d gained.

The most useful was a list of their primary classes before they had died.

Bone Mage. Level 132.

Archer of Decay. Level 127.

Rotblade Warrior. Level 129.

Silent Thief. Level 128.

Plague Healer. Level 130.

Kelin’s eyes widened at the list. 

It was almost exactly the same as their classes after they’d turned undead. Only the Plague Healer had changed into a Necrotic Priest.

It wasn’t impossible for an adventurer to have a class focused on a negative element, but for them all to have one, rather than a more standard element like Fire or Water?

That staggered belief.

What’s the average percentage of human classes in the galaxy with negative elements? he asked to confirm.

Roughly fourteen percent, the Path replied immediately.

And in Celadon and Sarathia?

Fifteen percent in Celadon and nineteen percent in Sarathia.

Has the percentage increased in the past ten years, along with the number of undead dungeons?

Affirmative, the Path replied. Twenty years ago, it was at the human average of fourteen percent, as was Celadon. 

The magnitude of that change was significant and the Path paused for a moment as it seemed to assess things.

Your line of reasoning is valid. 

Until now, I did not notice the connection, which implies interference. I still cannot see it directly, but the increase in undead dungeons and in negative classes walks hand in hand.

For the sake of Lareth and the human domain, I ask you to investigate.

A gleaming notification appeared in Kelin’s mind.

New Quest Issued: Investigate the Rise of Undead Dungeons and Negative Classes in Sarathia.

Potential Rewards: Experience, Wealth, Common to Epic-grade Items, Alliance Credit, and Elite to Heroic-tier Ability Rewards.

At the same time, he saw the energy of the Path settle on the others, and he felt the same quest being shared with them.

It was enough to startle them away from reading their notifications and they looked around in shock.

“I’ll explain in a moment,” Kelin said as he stood up. He bowed his head to the grey sky and the stars that were hidden beyond. 

The pressure of the Path’s aura faded away and when he looked up again, his eyes were bright. 

If there were anything else the Path could tell him, it would have. He would have to find the rest on his own.

But now he knew where to start looking.