Mornn
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Chapter 575 - The bigger Glutton
🕑 Added 2024-11-23 17:00:11 +0000 UTCSofia and the Dragon disappeared from the void, and a lifeless skeleton holding a rotting bone book appeared in their place.
Commendable foolishness. The Lord said to the lifeless pile of bones. He waved a finger: Bookie was restored to his pristine original book form and Pareth’s dead mana heart surged with mana once again.
The skeletons disappeared.
I have not found an answer…
…
Sofia awoke gasping for air, she immediately recognized where she was: the small room under the lake staircase with the hole leading to the upper stratum. Pareth and Bookie were both sitting against the wall just like she was, sleeping.
Sleeping?
Have they ever slept?!
Sofia put her hand on the commander jacket and lightly shook Pareth’s shoulder. His eye sockets instantly lit up with holy light, and he looked around, seemingly confused.
“Don’t ask me, I don’t know either,” Sofia told him, turning around to wake up Bookie in a similar fashion, but it seemed the noise had roused him awake, and he stretched his bone limbs with a yawn.
“Sofia?” he asked, “How did-” he started, before stopping and jumping upright, he turned to face Sofia and pointed at her with an index finger, his jaw opened and closed, his finger trembling. Sofia could tell he was conflicted about what to say, but he certainly looked more than a bit mad.
Sofia sighed, but she was smiling. Before Bookie could react, she grabbed him and forced him into a big hug, pressing his skull against her chest. “Here, here…”
Bookie could shed no tears but he cried anyway, mumbling incoherent things about Sofia abandoning him and Pareth.
“I understand. I understand. You said the name too, didn’t you?”
How else would they have ended up like this?
“It’s alright, it’s all over now. I’m sorry for going without you. I won’t ever do it again, alright?” Sofia told Bookie while caressing his skull. She also looked at Pareth as she said that.
Bookie kept sobbing in Sofia’s arms, and Pareth just silently nodded, but he did so holding prolonged ‘eye’ contact with Sofia, in a way that was more intense than he normally ever did.
Sofia was embarrassed. She had to admit, in retrospect, that It was stupid to go without them. Even if she wanted to protect them, they would have tried to follow anyway, so being together would have likely been preferable.
That being said, she started to remember the details of what had happened to her, and it was perplexing, because, as far as she could tell, she had died.
A real death, for the first and normally final time, the type you don’t just wake up from thanks to some magic rune.
I didn’t dream all that up, did I?
Someone who had been really silent until now chose this opportunity to make his presence known.
[Congratulations. You have received a quest!]
Is this-?!
[Edrazeketh’s approval]
[Task : Prove your worth as a Marked-one]
[Option one : Exterminate the Phageid during their next attack.]
[Option two : Prime Gluttony before level 350.]
[Option three : Survive for one year straight while branded with a Lord’s simplified rune.]
[Option four : Deal with Emperor Evatoseptot or help negotiate a peace treaty with him.]
[Option five : Kill an ascended before Ascending.]
[Reward : Essence of Edrazeketh]
[Quest cannot be rejected]
[Quest Accepted!]
Ahah… Not a dream, then. Was I resurrected? A Marked one… Does that mean Shaily will have to do something like that as well? I should tell her…
These options though…
Exterminating the Phageid… Everyone including Richard, Sun and Grandma Erredis is worried about them, how could I possibly… If all the other tasks are as hard as this one…
I have no idea what Gluttony even is, but that might be the easiest option since I should be able to do it after the next filter.
Option three feels like a trap, no matter how I look at it, some crazy shit will happen the second I draw one of those simplified runes of my skin, will it not? I know Aphenoreth and Edrazeketh’s so I can try both… Maybe I’ll do that after leveling up.
Never heard of Evatoseptot, but this task might be doable… Depending on who exactly that is and what the peace treaty is about. Negotiations aren’t exactly my strong suit though.
And the last one is just killing a level 500 before reaching 500, isn’t that right? Yeah this one is just impossible I’m pretty sure. The gap between filters is becoming too big. The fortune dwarf was bad enough to fail his level 350 trial which means he probably wasn’t that strong for his level, and I still struggled with a one filter difference despite being the highest achiever ever for the previous two trials…
At this rate I won’t be able to beat even the weakest level 351 when I’m level 300.
It’s different if it’s a monster, but even then…
As Sofia’s thoughts stilled for a second, foreign images started flooding her mind.
From a very low viewpoint, she saw the distorted and blurry image of Edrazeketh standing up and slowly walking toward her.
What in the name of all that is sane…
In the corner of her field of view, she could see herself. Or rather, what was left of her, just an effigy of eternal light.
How can I see this?
Edrazeketh came and picked up a few things, including the one Sofia was currently seeing the point of view of, which is when she understood.
The Dagger? I’m seeing the dagger’s memories?!
Gluttony. Sofia heard the Lord say in the recording with an extremely distorted voice as he observed the ring. Nostalgic.
Is that my ring?!
Sofia got an urge to take off her dragon-scale armguard to check the ring right away, but she also couldn’t peel her eyes off from the blurry memories being superimposed on her vision.
This one is much favored. The annihilator continued.
It feels like I’m seeing something I really shouldn’t be allowed to.
Marked… Have the pickings begun?
The pickings… So Shaily being marked too… I REALLY need to share this with her. What are we being picked for?!!!
Sofia then watched Edrazeketh resurrect her and effortlessly restore all of her things.
… Is there anything a Lord cannot do?
Mr.Scribe tried to stop him from doing something but that was a lost cause…
A Scion?
HOLY SHIT, WHAT?!
IS THAT THE DRAGON ADMIN?
Take this quest, Scribe. There is much to do. The recording ended there.
Just as this was over, her system log opened by itself, showing her a few messages that added some context.
He was reading our memory… What is it that a Marked-one is marked for? I have to find out… Is that related to the last function of the mark that the system couldn’t decipher?
Sofia then exchanged a few words with Mr.Scribe, who expressed that this was all he knew, and that the dagger had sent this recording to him by itself and without any explanation as he was writing a script of what he remembered to show Sofia.
After that, she took her time to relay the entire situation to Pareth and Bookie.
…
“I want to see Gluttony!” was Bookie’s immediate reaction to the end of the story.
“Right, I want to see too,” Sofia agreed, starting to take off her armguard. She found the ring on her finger, where the ring of Zar normally was, it was now like a small loop of semi-solid mana more than anything else, it had a weak whit-ish blue glow, and felt just like a regular ring.
It changed from absorbing all that mana at once, it seems… Can we Identify that?
It took Mr.Scribe a few seconds to come with results.
[Gluttony] : A ring from the lost Epoch, given to mortals by the Annihilator.
Its purpose was to give mortals a way to get rid of the tainted remains of dead gods corrupting the land.
It had regressed to a weaker form due to a lack of use.
Must be primed to unlock advanced functions (0/ 5 divine remains absorbed).
Basic functions
Absorb the remains of dead gods.
Grants high resistance to the influence of tainted remains to the wearer and nearby allies.
Sometimes gives its wearer the location of tainted remains it yearns to devour.
Advanced function (Requires Priming)
Allows the wearer to freely travel to and from the divine realms.
For each divine remains contained within: Any damage you inflict on any target +10%
Restriction: Cannot be worn by gods.
“Are we going to try priming it?” Bookie asked after reading the description.
“Maybe? I was not even aware that dead gods left anything behind…”
At that moment, Sofia felt a mental pull from the ring. For the second time that day, foreign images flooded her mind. She was given a location, first from extremely far away in space, showing her the entire planet and its surroundings, then progressively getting closer image by image, ending on an image of a fallen statue blocking closed doors.
After committing the information to memory, Sofia looked at her options to complete Edrazeketh’s quest again. Priming the ring was something she was going to want to do anyway, considering the advanced functions, so she might as well do two things at once.
“Well then… After we level up… Let’s go hunt some dead gods.”
“Hunt dead gods!” Bookie repeated, throwing his hands up, “Ah, but Sofia, how do we level up? If the Dragon admin is back can’t he fix our levels?”
“Ahah, I think he’s probably a bit busy with other things, Life is probably on his back to try to save Anna already, we’re really not the priority. And honestly, at this point I might as well just use Mr.Scribe’s method. He worked very hard on it and it’s supposed to be better than regular leveling as well… He just needs to rework it a bit now that the ring no longer absorbs mana… Anyway, let’s get up those stairs, the others must be waiting for us. And… Let’s maybe not mention this whole thing to anyone for now, alright?”
Comments
Robinn57
We know Sofia by now. I can see her doing 3 of them already. 1,2, and 5. Option 3 maybe depending on what it involves. And if option 4 just requires fighting and beating someone up/killing if they deserve it. So like normal overachieve and do all?
kp8080
Pareth was probably just collateral damage.
Sky
Well we know the previous Speed died, and it's likely the respawning does not perfectly recycle the essence in an ecologically friendly way. And it never said it couldn't be the remains of the same God multiple times so...could always splat the god again?
RageBone
How could Pareth say the name? Bookie, sure. But Pareth can't speak!
Pexezz
thanks for the chapter ! Poor dragon admin, he’s like that one Dev that just got back from a coma to find his whole project on fire x)
Phsteven
I was hoping that Sofia would wake up next to the dragon admin and that they would get to talk.
Daemion
You know the chaos you have to deal with when you come back to work after a two week vacation? The poor admin was gone for thousands of years. That backlog is going to be massive. Or, perhaps worse, the High Scribes took over his tasks and now he has to double check if they did everything correctly. Maybe they used some shady workarounds because they lacked his access and that broke other stuff... I don't know if he's going to thank Sofia for bringing him back. ^^
Kennyevilmonkey
Just imagining the backlog of work that he has waiting for him now. Guy got his ass kicked, sent to the shadow realm, and then gets back just to find years worth of work and admin requests waiting for him with part of the system staff rebeling as well. Bro is going to need LOTS of coffee x_X
Tejing
Well, none of those options for the quest sound very easy, but she'll have to see how hard it is to find the remains of dead gods to absorb. As she said, she'll be doing it anyway, so if she can do it before 350 and kill 2 birds with one stone, all the better. It's really interesting that the dagger "volunteered" the recording. That suggests it's at least somewhat aware, rather than just a database or tool. That ring... is not that great until primed, but after that, ooh boy. A flat 50% damage at priming, which can be increased without limit in theory? Awesome! Too bad she lost her counter to "too much mana", though. Corrections: under the lake staircase lake -> long (I'm guessing) the second I draw one of those simplified runes of my skin runes of -> runes on
Matt Grayson
She's going to do all the options, isn't she. After all, her real race is great unhinged luminescent bone calamity of the gods... The question is whether Scripture will count as the final dead god remnant or if she'll have completed the quest beforehand. The former would be a nice touch.
Wensber
Not to mention, he's probably going to be very cautious around the Deep. If he sees [Blessing of the Deep] he very well may just nope out of there and let Sofia do what she wants.
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter!
Mornn
In short... It's complicated ✧ദ്ദി( ˶^ᗜ^˶ )
Vettu
Yes, but did anything in particular happen to the essences during the short period where she was dead? Like, did Sun suddenly get her 5 essences back for a short moment, only for them to disappear immediately afterward, or did they not notice anything, as the annihilator's "revival" is so powerful that the essence's normal behavior around the death of their holder simply doesn't matter?
SDCard
Thanks for the chapter! An interesting quest. Shouldn't take much to get the admin to fix her level - their people are the one who broke it, and she's the one who helped them in the first place.
Cyclone001
This is going to cause a very awkward conversation with Shailey. She should probably ask Richard who this emperor person is and see if that is any less suicidal option than the others. I mean a full year without dying for Sofia is impossible.
Mornn
To be fair, the guy's probably gonna be a bit too busy to be able to afford looking at alerts for a while x)
Mornn
She still has them ;) The only thing that's been lost is the original ring of zar
Vettu
What happened to the essences Sofia has/had when she "died"? Did they return to their respective deities, or were they perhaps trapped in that void with them, only for the annihilator to forcefully give them back to her?
Kennyevilmonkey
You are now immune to the void and causality. Enjoy.
Ceasar Salas
Thanks for the chapter! All opportunities have a cost. Sofia can’t break the system as bad since now it’ll succeed in calling an admin
Kennyevilmonkey
Life better give her a reward for saving Dragon Admin, even she basically did it by accident...
E
I'm picturing a very awkward conversation between Sorrow and the other Rec/Gods due to the long lost admin coming out of her temple.
Daemion
Sofia lost one of her best defenses with the Ring of Zar, she now can no longer absorb vast amounts of mana. But she did meet the last of the four Lords, so maybe her passive skill updated and is giving her even better protection?
Mornn
the shroud was also gone when she died so it never had a chance to update
brennon Petersen
Tftc!
BOT
Did the shroud update to reflect her “death” or is it one of those “it never happened” so it’s unaffected? Thanks for the chapter
Custus
Thanks for the chapter!
