“The Tenth Trial is a make – or – break point. If you can make it through, you won’t have a problem with the rest of the trials, so long as you maintain your growth. Now, I can’t stress this enough, you NEED to allow free entry into dungeons. Because if you gatekeep the points from there, it will cripple this nation and leave it easy pickings for everyone else. Because the Trials are just the beginning. This world is on a timer, and the real trials don’t come from the Tower.”
Excerpt from a presentation to the Senate Committee on the Tower
~~~
Charlie summoned Caster back and nodded. “Alright, once I’m topped off again, we’ll hit the boss.” She told her two summons.
Lantern sent an affirmative and started getting her armed and armored. Caster made a sharp gesture of respect and subservience. “Yes, Mistress!” He yelled out. “This one is ready and eager to serve!”
Charlie eyed him and the fresh scars on his body, then looked at Lantern. “What’s going on?”
Lantern carefully sent that the marks were . . . punishment from the head of their order. She should pay it no mind, and if he steps out of line again, he would be dealt with.
“I’d like to meet this guy . . .” Charlie mused.
“Reporting to the Mistress! The current head of the Order is Titled the ‘True Knight’!” Caster made the gesture of subservience again. “The skill to summon him starts at advanced, and will cost 3000 points along with 3 Full Advancement Stones!”
Charlie put on a blank face. “Okay, the Full Metal Jacket routine is already getting old. Tone it down, ok? I hate brown-nosers. They backstab the first chance they get.”
Caster flinched. “This one dares not!”
“Zip it! For Goddess’ sake, you’re gonna give me a headache.” She sighed and waited for her mana to fill to the top. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”
Charlie marched through the door into the Trial and froze before whirling on Caster. “You said one boss! One!” She pointed to the group of ten mobs halfway across the room. “What the Radiant Hells is that!?”
Caster whirled and juttered back and forth.
Charlie sighed and shook her head. “You can speak.”
“Mistress! There is one boss! He is sitting on the throne in front of the Trial Exit! The ten in front are his guardsmen, they are only half-step each!”
“That would have been useful to know before I entered the room!” She yelled, pointing at the group that was already rushing them.
“Mistress! Cast your Domain!” He pleaded. “They are no threat!”
“Fine!” Charlie activated the skill and blinked as a new sense awakened. Flooding out of her, up to the limit of the skill was an area that was hers. The light seemed to dim, colors washing out, and the air felt like the cool of Night with a cloudless sky that twinkled with dim light. She knew the exact position of each hobgoblin that stepped into her domain and that they were her enemies. They knew it too, and they hesitated, slowing as they approached. She also sensed her two summons next to her in a way separate from the summoning link, and their skills were deepened in strength, reinforcing their power.
“You can feel them. Take your Night Arrow, enhance it with all you have, and let fly at each of them.” Caster said encouragingly.
Instinctively she felt just how to do it and soon an array of Night Arrows, dark with the intent of violence and shrouded with her Night Attack appeared in front of her, one for each of the hobs within her domain. The mobs started to turn, some pushing others in front, but all it did was make that hob get hit twice. Those ones writhed in pain as their hp plummeted, but the rest weren’t left unscathed as Caster let loose with a blast of Night Conflagration that burst in the middle of the group and struck like a malevolent napalm of burning darkness. Belatedly Charlie realized she could spread the effect of her Night Attack bonus to him and the flames surged to consume all the hobs completely.
“I almost forgot I could cast that on others.” Charlie swallowed her disquiet over how the mobs screamed under Caster’s attack.
“Yes, most enhancements can be cast on others.” Caster told her. “Did . . . you not know?” He looked askance at Lantern.
Lantern gave a simple shrug in response. He had never needed to know for his duties.
“Hey, be nice.” Charlie chided him.
“Apologies! I meant no disrespect!” Caster blurted out quickly. “I . . . had thought it was common knowledge!”
“I told you, the Tower literally appeared a few days before I got sucked in.” Charlie sighed. “We don’t know anything about this crap.”
“Oh.” Caster’s orbits whirled in confusion. “I . . . misunderstood. I had thought you were only told of the Tower four days before your 15th year when you were Initialized.”
“. . . dude, I’m 22.” She told him. “You really think this-” She waved to her generous curves. “Is a 15 year old.”
“I . . . sometimes have trouble gauging biological beings’ forms.” He coughed uneasily.
Lantern gave a sharp tone to bring their attention to the boss, that had stood up and was now racing towards them, a furious expression on the heavily muscled hob as the great sword it wielded erupted in a painfully bright light.
“That’s a light element attack!” Charlie swallowed heavily. “I’m weak to light!”
“Bah, that’s still a foundational concept.” Caster said dismissively. “The boss never has merged concepts and energies, and I have never heard of one that has more than a Tier 2 Class. Your Bloodline is inherited from an Ascended. He is nothing to you.”
“He’s still . . .” Charlie sank all she could into an Arrow and let fly right at the hob as he crossed into her domain.
The boss swung at the arrow to knock it away, but there was a flash and shriek of conflicting energies and the boss was blown back, its sword snapped in half and the arrow lodged in its shoulder.
“Mistress, may I engage?” Caster asked politely. “Or do you wish to deal with him yourself?”
“You know what? Go nuts. You guys have been stuck in that place for how long? Sure, blow off some steam.” Charlie told him.
“Thank you, Mistress.” Caster’s orbitals whirled and shifted position, giving nothing but the impression of a concert pianist stretching his fingers.
The remaining fight was completely one sided as the combat spell slinging Archon dropped a conflagration in the boss’s face and started zipping one way or the other, randomly dropping Bolts, Missiles, Arrows, and another conflagration that reduced him to a fading wreck that left a skill stone fragment that Lantern quickly added to the shards the ‘guardsmen’ dropped.
“Well, that was something.” Charlie swallowed heavily.
“Ahh, I have so missed that. Thank you Mistress. I cannot wait for assisting in your next delve.” Caster sounded highly pleased. “Now, all that is left is to spend your points to return home.”
“Wait, WHAT!?” Charlie whipped to face him. “You mean this is it!? I’m done?” She gestured to her status screen and the timer. “What about the time?”
“With the first set of trials.” Caster clarified. “There are two more sets of 10 trials to go through.” He made the motion of encouragement. “You have until the timer runs down until you are called back here. There is a grace period until then for you to delve dungeons and strengthen yourself in preparation.”
“Wonderful!” Charlie glanced at the timer again. “Around three months to try to get past the national guard to get a crack at a few points.”
“Mistress . . .” Caster hesitated. “Are . . . dungeons not delved on your planet? How do you handle the overflows? Or waves when the dungeons fail?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “Fourth day grab, remember? It’s been almost 2 weeks since the Tower started. They probably have somebody going in the ones that have been found, but I don’t know yet.”
“I . . . see. The Holy Texts say the Goddess predated the Tower, and she had said so herself, but it had been a part of our world since before we had created writing. The Goddess was said to be a hunter of beasts to bring meat for the People, and her husband the one who chipped her weapons from stone, but that was thousands of years ago.” He shook back and forth. “I find it hard to imagine a world that did not have it.”
“Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. What now?” Charlie asked. “I’ve got 151 points in my pocket.”
“Now we Empower your energy concept.” Caster told her. “Mana is a fine starting energy, and quite common. Power crosses over with so many others it is easy to merge. We will go over your other stats and Template to see which four others are best to use.”
“Hold on.” Charlie backed up, raising her hands. “This isn’t going to be like when I upgraded my concept or got my Template, is it? Because bleeding from every single orifice doesn’t feel good!”
“Not at all!” Caster reassured her. “There will be hardly any discomfort, if any.”
“Lantern?” Charlie looked at her other summon.
Lantern gave the gesture of agreement and sent an image of 5 different colors braiding together to make a new, more vibrant shade.
“Alright . . . what are the benefits?” She turned back to Caster.
“As you can see through your status, your Mana only gets prime benefit from your Power stat, with some side stats giving a smaller bonus to skills. Power blending will give a Great benefit from a prime stat, with a stronger boost from side stats. We will, of course, attempt the 5 blend for maximum pre-class benefit.”
“And you’re sure it won’t hurt.” She pressed. “Because what happened with my Template? NOT A FAN.”
“Mistress . . .” Caster hesitated. “It is not . . . proper . . . to say, but . . .”
“Out with it.” She waved him on.
“If your vision was indeed true and I’m not saying it wasn’t.” He quickly added. “Then your . . . heritage . . . harbored a great deal of Corruption in your bloodline beyond the challenge of merging Light and Dark concepts together. It is rare for a Template to allow an Initiate to survive. Most such Bloodlines burn away the flesh and soul when activated without the proper Template to keep it in check.” He sighed. “In the few times such mixing happened in our world, they were from a lower Tier merging, weaker bloodlines, and they were carefully prepped with Templates that would let them choose a proper path. And it goes without saying that any signs of Corruption was carefully cleansed through purification of the body and meditative exercises for the soul.” He sighed again. “And even with years of preparation most did not survive.”
“Well, that explains why I got stuck like this.” Charlie frowned. “There weren’t really any choices for Templates for me. In fact, it had to ‘expand parameters’ twice to give me a choice of two.”
“That is unheard of. I have never read of such in all the records I studied. What two choices did you have?” Caster asked.
“This one.” Charlie gestured to herself. “And the other said something about Beacon of Corrupted Light or similar.”
“It is very, very good you did not choose that one.” Caster said quietly. “Only a few times has a corrupted Template been chosen. Those that do . . .” He shuddered. “They had power greater than they should, but the cost . . . Corruption is poison to themselves and the world around them. It is to go against the very fabric of Creation. All who corrupt become twisted, and evil.”
Charlie was quiet for a minute, feeling a deep chill. “How do you get Templates, anyway?” She asked.
“Oh, the Tower scans the memories and knowledge of the Initiate. Most are ‘archetypes’ of a type of job, such as swordsman, or blacksmith, or one of the dirt-grubbers.” Caster told her. “Sometimes due to aptitude or bloodlines, a particular story hero can be chosen and the Tower creates a Template to match as best it can. That can be useful as it may give a new skill that hasn’t been documented yet, but sometimes it can lock you into a path you do not want. Seldom are two Templates exactly the same, as even two swordsmen could have different starting points due to the beliefs of the Initiate.” He looked intrigued. “How did you survive with as strong a bloodline and . . .” He coughed. “Other bloodline?”
“Well, the character was from a really, really, REALLY shitty story about the child of a Goddess of Light and Demon of Darkness. So . . . I guess that’s the closest it could find that I knew about for a Goddess of Darkness and Fallen Angel of Light.” Charlie sighed.
“I see. Well, let’s move to the rest area to finish and send you home.” Caster told her.
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“Sure.” Charlie opened the reward box and pulled out a shimmering potion that looked like a lava lamp of rainbows. “Huh. Potion of Energy Condensing.”
“That is the perfect thing for a 5-fold energy mix!” Caster said excitedly.
Charlie and Lantern exchanged looks. “This damn place.” She shook her head.
“What, what is it?” Caster asked. Lantern floated over and filled him in about the Dark Power potion re-drop. “I see. Well, philosophers have debated the . . .”
“Yeah, I already figured out this place loves to mess with people.” Charlie interrupted. “Do the math on my points, please, to make sure I have enough.” She ordered.
“Yes, Mistress.” Caster made the movement of obedience.
~~~
“And you are absolutely sure.” Charlie repeated yet again.
“Yes, Mistress. By combining these 5 energies your stat bonuses for all applicable skills, especially your Core and Actives will skyrocket. And it won’t hurt.” Caster added. “These energies were carefully selected from the enhanced stats given from your Template and the one most vital to your future power.”
“Alright . . .” Charlie muttered, not completely convinced as she put her hand on the obelisk and began. She purchased the Core modifications (40), mana power additions (24), Mana storage additions (24), Energy gather additions (36), and topping off with the 5 energies of Synergy special skill (20) for a total of 144 points spent, leaving 7. “Here goes . . .”
The young Celestial sat cross-legged on the floor, concentrating on the 5 types of energy her core was now creating and filling her energy reserves. Currently the most prevalent was Mana, linked to her Power stat. As she focused on it, she felt the chaotic, roiling energy ready to burst out into the world, shaping it how she desired.
Next was Glamour, linked to Beauty. This energy felt like a shiny, sparkling rainbow that promised that all that glitters was gold. Seeing is believing, and believing something was real made it so.
Third was Aura, empowered by Charisma. As it filled her reserves it seemed to push out to fill more space than it really had, desiring to color the world around with her power.
Fourth, Refinement, embodied Grace. This energy was flawlessly elegant, every movement purposeful, perfect, and just as it should be.
The last was Dominice, strengthened by Will. It collected from the core and sought control of her storage space. It said I WILL and none shall deny.
Charlie’s core spun faster and faster, pulling in greater and greater energy from around her to convert into the five energies . . . energies that started to jostle and push against each other, fighting for control of her storage space. She looked up to Lantern and nodded, requesting the potion and the Servant complied, popping the cork and presenting the potion for his Mistress to down.
The moment the potion hit her system, the actions of the energies changed, the edges and differences between them starting to blur as they began to overlap. Following careful directions given by Caster, Charlie ‘grabbed’ the largest concentration of all five flavors and started sending it cycling through her energy channels. As the mix traveled it began pulling the rest along and a central thread formed that held Mana as a core and the other four feeding into the new energy that thrummed with a stronger Tier of strength. Cycle after cycle Charlie pulled the energy along, moving around and around through the channels and back into her Core, changing the core from producing the 5 different energies to the single new energy. Soon, instead of forcing the energy along it began moving on its own, pulling the last shreds of the basic energies into itself as the core fully converted to the new production. The new energy was Power, charged with her Will, Grace, Charisma and Beauty to form Mystic Dominice.
Just as she thought she was done, her Concept of Night started to bleed out and into her new energy, coloring everything into the cloudless Night, speeding her core up and starting the cycle yet again. Once more the energy went round and round, crashing back into her core and into her Body, Soul and Blood. Charlie’s eyes opened wide as the whites darkened into a field of midnight stars and she passed out, overwhelmed by the force of her bloodline.
“A full resonance!” Caster whispered, awed. “Oh, I was seared by the Light to think she could be less than worthy!”
Lantern sighed as he made his Mistress comfortable. Worthy or not, the only thing that mattered was she was his Lady of the Night, and his Mistress. And the one he would Serve.
###
Charlie dreamed of a winter night as a child. He had left his home on a crisp winter Solstice just to escape the constant contempt from Sir for a while. He walked down the street to the local park and sat on a swing, shivering in a threadbare coat. He looked up at the sky, the moon new and hidden and the stars twinkling overhead. A sudden silence fell and the Night seemed to surround him with peace and warm comfort. Here in the Eternal and Infinite Night all was Sacred. And it loved him.
###
Tower day 14
Charlie opened her eyes as she woke back up, the normal midnight blue-black iris in white returned. Her core turned slowly, resting from the exertion but ready to leap into action if needed. “Well.” She sat up, feeling more herself than she had in a long time. “Let’s go home.” She told the two Archons. “Time to make my mark on the world.” She brushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear, revealing half an inch of black creeping up from her scalp to replace the silver-blond.
Lantern and Caster made the motion of deep respect. “As you will, Mistress.”
~~~
Charlie post Trial 10
Charles Fitzgerald
Point Value: 954
Core Concept: Lesser Night, T3 – Night and subconcept skills multiplier +.3
Energy Type: Mystic Dominice – Prime stat Power, Sub Grace, Charisma, Beauty, Will
Template: Gloria Crimson Bloodwine Angelique (modified)
Race: Celestial Descendant – T 5, 2 more skill slots, Boost to Divinity
Bloodline: Essence of Night – T 4, +.4 to Night element skill multi, countered by Day and associated concepts
Trait: Battle Joy – T 4, 30% increased damage, Euphoria in battle
Equipment: Basic Leather Armor [+10 def, +10 hp], Basic Amulet of Intelligence [+1 Int], Basic Earrings of Will [Will +1], Basic Empowered Pugilist Gloves [+10 Fist Dmg, +1 Pwr], Basic Quickstep Boots [Dex +1], Basic Circlet of Mind [+1 Wisdom]
Caster post Trial 10
Caster
Point value: 477
Core Concept: Night, T 1 – +.1 to Night skill multiplier
Energy Type: Greater Mana – Prime Stat Power, sub Int, Control
Template: Caster
Race: Caster Night Archon – T 4, 40% Boost to Spell damage
Bloodline: Night T 1 - +.1 to Night skill multiplier
Trait: Intensity of Night – T3, +.3 Boost to Active Night skills, 30% more Light damage
