Amazon Apocalypse 5: Chapter 40

Sir Trellis turned to Sir Sandon with narrowed eyes. “Do I know you, stranger?”

Sandon’s face fell. The body he wore was not his own. It had belonged to a kid from Crownhill before that poor young man was slain by creatures from the void, leaving his body a hollow husk. Sir Sandon had already died by then, but his ghost stubbornly lingered on the mortal plane, so it was a perfect opportunity to stuff his soul in a rapidly dying body to help keep it warm.

“In another life, I knew you well. You were a squire when last we met. I was briefly among your trainers before I left to become a Knight Commander over one of the Goddess in Jade’s holy shrines. You knew me by Sir Sandon, a name I still bear with pride.”

“I know Sir Sandon. You are not him.” Sir Trellis’ hand went for his sword, but Reluna held up a finger and waggled it back and forth in warning. Sir Trellis kept his off-hand on his sheath, but pulled his other hand away from his hilt.

“I do not know how far you’ve ventured from your keep, but I’m certain you know the world is not as it once was. Monsters roam these lands, and we share this world with many new peoples, Lord Carter’s folk foremost among them.”

“Like your folk, you mean. You may claim you are Sir Sandon, but to me, you look as they do.” Sir Trellis nodded in our direction.

A pained expression crossed Sir Sandon’s face, and I figured it was my turn to do a little explaining.

“Don’t fault Sir Sandon for his face. I gave it to him after he died a noble death in battle. One of my other men fought bravely and was slain, but his body remained behind. As Sir Sandon was a soul without a body, and young Sam was a body without a soul, I thought the two a perfect match,” I explained.

Sir Trellis’ pupils dilated, and despite Reluna’s earlier warning, his hand went to his sword. “You claimed to have raised the dead? And denied Sir Sandon his rightful afterlife, if what you say is true?”

“Peace, young Trellis. Lord Carter and I can explain everything.” Sir Sandon waved Sir Trellis to calm himself.

Sir Trellis pulled his hand off his sword hilt again, though this time he did so more slowly.

“You were serving with Sir Barclay, were you not? I would recognize him. Bring him to me and have him vouch for your story, and I will believe you,” Sir Trellis said.

Another pained expression crossed Sir Sandon’s face. I'd killed Sir Barclay for consorting with the Chaos Serpent.

“Sir Sandon fell victim to the dark gods of this new world. It is a lengthy tale. I can not take you to him. But I can take you to the holy site I’ve guarded since before the integration. There are many foes in this world, and without Lord Carter’s help, our holy sites would have surely fallen. I tell you truly, he was chosen by the goddess. This I have seen with my own eyes.”

Face grim, Sir Sandon wrapped an arm around Sir Trellis, and it looked to me like Sir Sandon would handle things well enough on his own. I’d probably just get in the way. I’m sure the Goddess in Jade would agree that patience is a virtue, so I would exercise a little here.

***

Sir Sandon asked for my leave to transport Sir Trellis and his men through my territory to the Omikyr villages he and his kin called home and take them on a brief tour of Crownhill.

I quickly agreed, as this was likely the easiest way to get Sir Trellis on my side, which would get me access to the artifact I needed.

They left, leaving Reluna, Mimiko, and everyone else with me to clean up the rest of the golem shard, which was exactly what we set about doing. Though, much to Reluna’s disappointment, we wouldn’t be blowing up everything along the way.

Once I was sure things were running reasonably well, I took a break from the slow slog through enemy territory. My help could certainly have cleared the shard faster, but Reluna had been doing well enough, and with Mimiko to aid her, there wasn’t much danger.

It was finally time to use my class upgrade token. What would the System give me? And would it send me on a quest to a distant land again?

I fingered the token a few times, excused myself, and then activated it.

Would you like to upgrade your class, Sage of Forbidden Knowledge?

Doing so will trigger a class upgrade challenge commensurate to the power of the class you seek to upgrade to.

Do you accept this challenge?

I accepted the challenge, and the world faded away. It wasn’t quite like the item I used before, but that had been a Scholar-Class upgrade book, so maybe that had been a little more specific.

I had half expected the System to throw me back into Vayly Vaust’s personal chambers again and have me fix its hardware and finish that data transfer I wasn’t able to complete. But here in Crownhill I was under the influence of a different System node. And more importantly, a different Administrator.

“Alright, Mister Death Defier. Something’s fishy about you...” said a familiar voice.

My memories of being dead had faded, but they weren’t gone completely, and this was someone I remembered pretty well. This was Lyra, the Reaper, and the administrator of my local shard.

She appeared in front of me in a cloud of black smoke. A black cloak hung around her shoulders, though her hood was down, revealing her refined elven features and pointed ears.

Lyra was a soul who had died who knew how long ago. Ever since then, she’d been helping the local System node function in ways it was no longer capable of doing on its own.

“We meet again, Lyra. I don’t think I’m dead, though. Does this mean my class upgrade challenge will involve you?” I asked.

Lyra frowned, cheeks puffing up adorably.

“You’re a suspicious fellow these days. Not only have you bypassed the Death Curse that was supposed to teach you a lesson for cheating, you are now marked for significant favoritism.” Lyra rummaged around in her cloak and produced a scroll, which she read from. “Carter Smith, designated a class ten individual with high potential, signaled out for both additional challenges and rewards. Please avoid killing by accident.”

“You mean to say the System thinks I’m special?” I asked with a smile.

“Some System does. The local node doesn’t think too well anymore, which is what I’m here for. And I think this looks awfully strange. You know how rare it is to get the ‘Please avoid killing by accident’ stamp on your records? It’s practically unheard of! A-Grades can go centuries without earning that kind of favor. And you’ve been integrated for what? A year?”

“Longer now, I think,” I replied. It was hard to tell with all the time dilation I’d been through. It had actually been twice that or more in terms of experiences.

“Hmm... very suspicious,” Lyra said.

I was uncertain how much communication there was between different System nodes. The one in Ladwick who I was collaborating with was different from the one here, but I had assumed there was some level of communication between them.

But perhaps not. Or perhaps the System I was working with had chosen not to share anything. I wasn’t sure which.

“Are you actually paid to care?” I asked hopefully.

Lyra’s expression fell for a moment. “No... but that doesn’t matter! I’m a hard-working elf, eager to earn my reincarnation as a rich layabout!”

I chuckled. I could respect Lyra’s attitude, even if it was inconvenient. If I couldn’t bribe her, maybe I could at least divert her attention.

“So, I was brought here for a class test. Did you have something in mind? Something you might need a Sage of Forbidden Knowledge for?” I asked.

Lyra snapped her fingers and tapped the side of her head. “That’s right! I’m supposed to send you to clean up some void beasts on a nearby shard. The System just wanted me to double-check your data. You raised some flags as a potential error, and the local node’s AI doesn’t do error checking so well anymore. Off you go!”

The dream-like word Lyra had met me in faded, though the mist had never truly gone away. I suspected Lyra had intercepted me mid-teleport.

As I thought of Lyra, my mind went to the biological components of the System infrastructure I’d seen while making repairs on the System node near Ladwick. Was Lyra’s true body one of those biological subcomponents, chopped up and glued to some circuit board to replace a missing component modern Architects didn’t know how to replace? Perhaps the ancient long-dead elf wasn’t as dead as she thought she was.

It made me feel bad for her. Once I figured out the secrets of life, death, and the universe, I’d have to see if I could do something to help her. I suspected most people didn't have administrators as fair or hard working as she was, and perhaps that was part of why Crownhill lived while so many others didn't.

I reappeared in surprisingly familiar territory. Next to me stood a sign with a big golden ‘M’ overhead. Across the street was somewhere that sold tacos. Clearly, this part of whatever shard I was on had been part of Earth before the integration.

I looked around and saw a few boarded windows, but no sign of human activity. Worse, a few front doors had been kicked in. There had been survivors here at one point, but whether they’d fled or been eaten was guesswork on my end.

I rummaged around in my things and pulled out Sharky’s summoning circle. There was no reason to for me to take away his fun when he’d get far more enjoyment out of gobbling down everything in sight than I would.

“Go eat all the void creatures,” I told Sharky.

“Nom nom.” And just like that, he was off.

I spent about half an hour going through a nearby mechanic’s shop and department store. Good loot like this was hard to come by back home. Everything worth scooping had been taken long ago in both Crownhill and San Antonio. Somebody had already gone through and swiped all the compact and light tools, but I had enough bags of holding that weight didn’t matter.

I took a few car lifts, since those would be helpful in keeping my Doomblade armor upright while I assembled it. The damn thing was getting too heavy to stand when it wasn’t spatially folded in on itself. I also went through the department store’s electronics section and swiped every computer on display. Few other people had figured out how valuable computational engines of this quality were out in the broader Arcadia Multiverse. They were an item so rare I’d hardly ever seen them for sale, and only low-quality ones at that. Besides that, I took some basic construction supplies. Governess always needed more hammers, nails, and handsaws.

Sharky completed the quest for me before I was even done, and just like that I was headed home, quest completed. Compared to my last one, this had been short and easy. I’d been half-certain there’d be an elaborate puzzle to solve. Perhaps the locals had taken to summoning void monsters to survive the apocalypse, and there was some grand battle between the remaining survivors and void cultists. Not that Sharky would care about that one way or another. He’d just eat everything I told him he was allowed to.

Class upgrade challenge completed!

You will now be returned to your previous location to select an upgraded class.

“Hold on Sharky, I think you have some black robe caught in your teeth,” I said as I yanked the robe in question out of Sharky’s maw. It was mostly shredded and stained with blood, but I could still make out the magical symbols plastered along its side like some sort of cultist's garb.

“Amateurish...” I muttered at the poor handiwork. Then we were off.

When I rematerialized, I sat and reviewed the next System prompt that appeared before me. It looked like I had some choices this time, which was a nice benefit of using a generic token instead of the book I’d used before.

You may choose one of the following class upgrades:

Void Archivist (Legendary)

Shift your class for greater focus on accumulating knowledge of the void and its denizens, increasing the capabilities of your summons and allowing you to identify and bind more to your cause.

Abyssal Herald (Legendary)

Gain the ability to freely traverse the void. Your aura will begin transforming your surroundings into void space, empowering you and weakening most other magic users. If you spend long enough or are powerful enough, you can eventually transform entire worlds into void worlds. All your abilities now inflict corrupting marks on all their targets.

Warning: This class is restricted and will be met with hostility throughout most of the Arcadia Multiverse.

Prophet of Forbidden Knowledge (Legendary)

Continue on your current path as a seeker of forbidden knowledge. Uncover secrets once thought lost, and secrets that are now forbidden. This class enhances the effects of Mania, the potency of rare and forbidden titles, and something else yet unknown to any living soul.

I pondered the three upgrades for a moment. Void Archivist might help Sharky. It could also help me find more of him. But could the world really handle more than one Sharky? I wasn’t sure.

I flipped to Abyssal Herald, which I was immediately skeptical about. The class would get me into instant trouble with many factions, and I imagined the Dragon Lodge was among them. The class wasn’t anywhere near powerful enough to be worth severing my ties there. Not to mention that it might corrupt Crownhill and destroy the world. I liked Crownhill as it was and had no desire to see it ruined.

So that just left Prophet of Forbidden Knowledge, which was essentially just a direct upgrade to my current class. Mania was pretty helpful, of that I had no doubt. It was the main ability that allowed me to punch so high above my weight class. And I had one particular title that seemed very rare and forbidden. The Chaos Dragon title. Though I wasn’t sure I’d ever use it, I liked having it in my back pocket.

A few of my other titles might also qualify as rare and forbidden. Death Defier struck me as that sort of thing, too, which would be an immediate boost. I didn’t pay much attention to the bit of mystery at the end there, since a class built around forbidden knowledge would naturally have a poor description.

That settled, I selected Prophet of Forbidden Knowledge and evolved my class once again.