CC 11: Thunderplump ~ Thirteen!

His work was beginning to suffer. Joe knew it. He didn't know what he could do about it. Rituals that took him an hour to perform were dragging on for two, even three sometimes. The blueprint Daniella had given him for an elemental playground lay forgotten and untouched on his work table, a prime target for any Dwarf who wanted nothing to do with Elven technologies.

Conversely, he was making a great progress with his Ritualistic Forging, due to constantly taking out his frustrations by beating on aspects with hammers. Not even sure how much time had passed, Joe only snapped out of his ruminations as the athame he’d been working on completed and gave him a notification he hadn't seen before.

New item created! Congratulations! By pouring your intent into your work, you have created a brand new, unique twist on an item! As you have crafted this item without assistance or using a template, rewards are doubled. A template for the recreation of this item has been added to your storage device!

Class Experience (Ritualist and Reductionist) gained: 1,000

Ritualistic Forging (Journeyman II → Journeyman IV)

Quest updated: Student Reductionist II. Unique items created 2/5.

Athame of Rising Discontent. This ritual style dagger is perfect for the burgeoning War Ritualist intent on overthrowing a system of government. The longer they have been perceiving themselves as ‘put upon’ by those in a leadership position above them, the more precisely their rituals will be directed by this blade. Adds a +1% ‘shred’ buff to any war ritual that inflicts damage.

Shred: A debuff that makes wounds 50% more difficult to heal.

“Whoa, no, what?” Joe stared at the blade that was practically oozing malevolence and started shaking his head immediately. “Nope, not letting something like this out into the world with my name on it as its crafter. Field Array, an~nd it's gone.”

Letting out a deep sigh, Joe stored his ingot hammer away and started pondering the situation with a calmer frame of mind. Growmore, who wasn’t currently his tutor, but still worked in the workshop, looked him over as he sat down. “I was wondering when you were going to stop abusing that anvil. All better now?”

Almost calmly, Joe reiterated the situation for the Dwarf, who grunted in understanding as the issues were revealed. “Now I'm just not sure if I'm okay with starting over all over again. But… when I first came to this place, Eternium, I promised that I’d ascend all the worlds and win.”

“Win? What’re you going to win? Life?” The Dwarf rolled his eyes and stomped closer, then gave Joe a full-on punch to the gut. The human didn't even move, though the hairy attacker received a shadowy slap across the face for his troubles. “Look at you. You’re strong; didn't even flinch. You have power incongruent with your level and status. Are you going to tell me that isn't enough? Are you going to stagnate now? Let me warn you… a pickaxe paused never strikes gold.”

When the human remained silent, Growmore shook his head and pulled on his beard. “Well, Joe, here's a simple question for you. Are you planning on leaving and ripping away our defenses when you go? Just because you aren’t technically the owner of each building, does that mean you can’t forcibly move it?”

Blinking a few times, the human realized that he didn't know for sure. He pulled out his tablet, zooming in on the area, and finding that every building he’d created with a ritual was still marked with a bright dot. “No one’s revoked my access… okay, Jake did, but no one else.”

“Yeah, does anyone even have the ability to remove your mark from the buildings that they ‘own’?” Growmore snorted and tossed a hand in the air while he turned away. “You could walk away and take everything you’ve done for us with you. It's your right, certainly. But would you want to do that? Condemn the rest of us to whatever fate we have remaining here or force us to move after we’ve decided to survive here if at all possible?”

“No.” Joe whispered. “That's not who I am. Your lives are worth more to me than that.”

“I think you have your answer. Now stop being a complete downer and get out of the workshop so we can make some super cool swords.” Contrary to his gruff attitude, the Dwarf walked Joe out, even giving him a hearty pat on the back. “Get out there and impress me.”

“Yeah. Yeah! It's just stuff. I can literally always make more stuff, whenever I want, wherever I want!” Joe gulped down a few breaths of icy air, shaking his arms to try and pull himself out of his funk. The Dwarf closed the door behind him, and Joe marched away with a determined expression, headed straight for the shrine to Tatum. “If I don’t want to be forced to restart completely on whatever world opens after this, I know exactly what I need to do.”

He checked his inventory, where a variety of cores glittered. “Before I leave Jotunheim, I'm going to have an Artifact-rank natural aspect jar. If I have endless access to creating items or buildings of at least that tier, I’ll never be permanently poor in any world. Luxury, weapons, defenses, or bribes… I'll be able to rely on myself, no matter what the local currency is.”

Joe snorted as he thought back to what Jake had warned him about with Vanaheim using cheese as its trade goods, then froze in place as something Baumann had said suddenly clicked in his head. “Wait a second… did he call Jake a Sage? Was that literal? Or was it him exaggerating in order to get brownie points with… nope, not going to ask about it. Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

With a fresh attitude, he slapped his hand down on the altar and searched through the list of teleport locations for his destination. “Spooky underground crevasse. There you are.”

Having selected his destination, Joe blinked away in a flash of purple light. Ten thousand one hundred and seven miles away, the bald Ritualist reappeared, immediately collapsing to his knees and vomiting violently on the icy ground.

You have teleported through a contested area! The local Pantheon have extracted a toll on your travel and alerted their followers that you have arrived somewhere in their territory. Note: They cannot give any specifics. Only that you have arrived somewhere within one hundred miles of a shrine dedicated to them.

Mana remaining: 1/8,787.

After heaving for a few moments, barely remembering to take the opportunity to try and condense his mana further, Joe wiped his mouth and got back to his feet unsteadily. “That's new, and I really, really didn't like it.”

On the plus side, the fact that he hadn't been set upon in his weakened, practically helpless state, was a good indication that none of the ice wraiths had remained in the cave. Walking into the crevasse filled with otherwise abject darkness except in a single spot, Joe's stride didn’t slow, nor did he slip or stumble on anything in his way. In less than five seconds, he’d crossed the open space and was standing before the carved out entrance to an intentionally-designed area.

“Let's see what secrets you’re hiding in here.” He crossed the threshold of the cave and found himself absolutely unable to move. Joe couldn't blink, though he could still breathe, and after a moment of panic, he saw that his mana pool had stopped refilling. Struggling as hard as he could yielded no movement, so the Ritualist tried to remain calm as he waited for an explanation. Nearly half an hour passed before a screen appeared in front of him, but this one was clearly not generated by the system.

No, so far as he could tell, it was a flat screen television indistinguishable from Earth technology. A cursor appeared on the screen, and soon words began writing themselves out.

Calculating time spent. Internal clock damaged. Assessing mana storage. Calculating the passage of time based on deterioration of stasis fields. Calculations complete.

Greetings, noble adventurer! If you are reading this, several things are happening at once.

Firstly, you are caught in a stasis field, and your mana regeneration is being diverted to replenish the depleted enchantments of this vault.

Secondly, the defenses and communication array is coming online.

As soon as Joe read the final line, the ground behind him—actually an extended hatch—smoothly rose up and sealed him in the room. Then the text on the screen changed again, and Joe read as quickly as he could, the words vanishing as fast as he managed to comprehend them. For the first time since he’d walked into the area, Joe was glad he was unable to blink.

Congratulations! You are being granted a quest. Before we get to that, some background information for you. You have entered the Seed Vault of Spite, owned by the Magi Ascendant. Please note, if you are strong enough to resist the effects of the stasis field, this otherwise mandatory quest becomes a polite request.

If Joe could move, he would’ve snorted at that and rolled his eyes.

Based on the calculations of mana depletion, it has been approximately [10,000] years since the last time this vault has been recharged with non-chaotic mana. Thank you for your [temporary?] service of refreshing it.

Ten millennia ago, our frontier/vacation/safari/resort that was the world of Jotunheim was brutally assaulted by the children of the Great Serpent, led by the Jotunn and its progeny. At first, the primitive use of physical might against our magic was laughable, but at some point during the conflict, two of our Grandmasters were caught and swallowed by the Jotunn, allowing it to complete its ascension and become a Mythical World Boss.

At that point, all of our inhibitors lost their efficiency against the entirety of the monsters, as they fell under the direct control of the Jotunn. Enormous clouds filled the sky, and a deadly cold began to emanate from the barbaric creature. We believe it gains additional power from being in an area that is utterly frigid and prepared this Vault deep within the bowels of the planet to one day retaliate and disrupt its goals.

Frankly, as the name suggests, this Vault was made practically out of pure spite. It is filled with seeds which will grow into a type of flora that can survive in only the harshest of winter conditions. The plants that will erupt from their fragile beginnings grow faster in bitter cold, radiating intense heat so long as the temperature is below—calculating for current language—[negative thirty degrees Fahrenheit]. Upon being slashed, smashed, pulped, or swallowed, new sprouts will form from at least 15 separate fibers and grow faster.

In the unlikely event that we lose the war against animals, these seeds will ensure that the world our enemy reigns over becomes inhospitable to them.

The fact that it will give you a fighting chance against them is irrelevant to us but certainly a boon to you. Do not plant them anywhere within a mile of where you intend to live.

Your task is to gain control of the seed bank and spread the seeds wherever the ground is frozen. In order to accomplish this task, you must swear a binding oath that you will plant these seeds in at least one frozen area on the planet Jotunheim.

Failure to swear this oath will result in the room becoming locked down, in which case, we appreciate your sacrifice and will use all of the mana generated by your body to empower the defenses and stasis fields until a proper candidate arrives. Control of your vocal cords and facial muscles will be returned to you as soon as the options are presented. Please choose one of the following.

1. Swear the binding oath. This will show your commitment to using this weapon, unlocking the vault, and releasing control over your Mana Regeneration.

Reward(s): access to the seed vault. A spatial seed pouch perfect for preserving seeds of extreme magical potency.

2. Refuse and attempt to disable the vault mechanism. Reward: see option three.

3. Remain in the vault and be drained until you have succumbed to starvation. Reward: our gratitude for your sacrifice and for recharging the degraded mana cells and enchantments.

Immediately after he had finished reading, Joe was able to move his head once more. He blinked furiously, spitting curses and trying to leverage his motion into releasing the rest of his body.

It appears you are attempting to select option two! Is this correct?

“No!” Joe relaxed and took a few deep breaths. “Whoever this Magi Ascendant is, they seem like a real piece of work. But, can't say I'm not impressed with all this. The Jotunn is my enemy as well, so… I choose option one? I swear to use the seeds on a frozen area of Jotunheim.”

Oath acknowledged! Binding via karmic thread.

Joe saw odd lines of light for a fraction of a second, then he gasped as it felt like he was poked in a dozen places by incredibly thin needles. Immediately, he was released from the force keeping him contained, and he stumbled forward.

A small treasure chest, completely out of place in such a futuristic setting, lifted out of the ground and opened its lid. Inside was a small bag, almost too small to fit his fingers into. The Ritualist grabbed the pouch, more than a little annoyed with the rigmarole of the situation, and opened it to reveal hundreds of thousands of seeds no larger than a fleck of dust.

Glaring at the screen, Joe walked toward the wall that had closed behind him, which opened up with a cheerful noise and a slight *hiss*. Keeping his eyes on the glowing rectangle, the Ritualist pulled out a pinch of the seeds and tossed them—without looking—out of the door.

Oath fulfilled!

At the same moment a proper system notification announced his follow-through, the same text appeared on the screen. Unfortunately, the information on the screen was quite concerning.

Oath fulfilled! Self-destruct sequence initiated! 3… 2…

“Abyss!” Joe hurled himself across the crevasse, barely getting his hands on the altar before the Vault behind him was hidden behind a hazy, wavy field of energy. The Ritualist was yanked viciously backward as it collapsed into something reminiscent of a black hole. Just as his hand slid almost completely off of the shrine, he chose a destination at random and teleported away.