The Curator
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Chapter 44: Forces Aligning
🕑 Added 2024-10-10 16:35:06 +0000 UTCSeraphina Marquess sat on her throne, reviewing the reports from last night. As expected, the man who owned the White Fortress had attacked one of his direct neighbors, and his camp would probably grow in power. There were even rumors that the man was blessed by a god, and that was where his strength came from. But she didn't need to worry. Here on the sea, he had no chance of fighting her.
Last week, they had gathered many slaves and even found that stubborn girl, Nerissa, who had set up an outpost in her empire after teleporting to the third stage. Seraphina had grown strong, but she wanted to make sure she got a class of high rarity when evolving to E grade. Therefore, she used the slaves to dive down to harvest pearls and corals. Those pearls were important for her body-tempering and could even improve her water affinity. Since last week, she had been using her body-tempering manual that helped her regenerate mana and allowed it to flow faster through her body.
She had, moreover, learned about aura control and was pretty good at it. Now she could feel the aura of others and gauge their strength. She could also amplify her aura to make herself stronger and even release some killing intent. In this last aspect, she needed more improvement.
<--
Grommash Bloodcleaver sat on his throne of bones. The night had gone well for him. He had united all orc clans under his rule. Grommash had killed two chieftains last night. No one could match his strength or brutality in combat. This was not only his doing but also that of his patron, Garlmok the Warbringer. This god was the strongest orc he had ever encountered, strong, smart, and brutal, which was everything Grommash admired in life. The epic blessing also helped him reach this position, giving him additional strength no orc could match.
Around his neck, he wore an iron chain adorned with orc teeth and some from the greatest beasts he had ever killed. Planning in secret was difficult for him because he enjoyed killing his enemies in front of observers. However, his patron had advised him to be cautious, so he followed his god's instructions. Now that he commanded all nearby orcs, though the vast tutorial area likely contained many more orcs. It wasn't worth traveling so far just to add weaklings to the horde.
It was time to kill some humans, but they needed to act strategically. An all-out attack would be unwise, especially on the three fortresses: gray, white, and blue near the ocean. Over the coming days, he would raid between camps, though he knew that eventually all humans would gather in the large fortresses. It seemed the humans were divided and even fought among themselves, as three of the smaller bases near the White Fortress were burned to the ground overnight.
The negative was that there were fewer humans to kill; the positive was that the survivors were stronger, making it more fun. Today, the system shop would arrive, and his god had already told him what he needed to tear down those big fortresses. The humans wouldn’t know what hit them.
<--
Thalion had fully recovered from last night’s activity and had already started eating the dark plants. He had many goals, one being to continue eating those plants. The good thing was that as long as he was the only one consuming the flora here, the small flowers and vines would fully regrow by the time he made a full circuit. His main concern was the quality, fearing that it might not be high enough. He might need an alchemist or a similar skill to enchant the plants for a better boost to his dark affinity.
One option was to check the system shop or visit one of the human bases and consult an alchemist. Additionally, he wanted to improve his swordsmanship. He enjoyed the precision, speed, and strength required for mastery. Another goal was to enhance his skills as an umbral predator. If the axe-wielding warrior from last night had shown even a little skill, Thalion might not have survived.
A third goal was smithing. With the skill he had acquired, he could forge weapons and armor and even enhance them with special properties, and he wanted to craft the perfect armor. He had many weapons and pieces of armor in his spatial ring from last night to practice on. Just because he had the skill didn’t mean he could instantly craft every weapon he wanted.
The final items on his list were two new forms, one for flying and one for swimming. After visiting the system shop, he planned to travel to the mountains in search of a powerful flying beast, possibly stopping by another fortress not under Steven’s control to get advice from alchemists or smiths. Another item he hoped to buy from the shop was a body-tempering scroll for both forms. He had first heard about it from the scroll bought on his first visit to the system shop. Those should allow him to upgrade his race in both forms.
He had plenty of goals but fortunately had earned enough credits last night to confidently expect useful items from the system shop. Another thought crossed his mind: since he was training with his mana blade, there might be a scroll on advanced spell use, which would be very valuable.
He was currently close to perfecting the third form of swordsmanship on the scroll. It wouldn’t be long until the system shop opened. Then, a message appeared on his quest screen.
Special Quest:
In three months, four catacombs will open across the fifth tutorial stage. Each catacomb contains a ritual pillar linked to the rebirth of Ankhet Sekhmara. Destroying a pillar will weaken him. Prepare for the challenge, as his power must be diminished before the final confrontation.
Ah, yes, he had completely forgotten about the special quest cooldown. But what was happening? Four catacombs and a final confrontation—all this sounded ominous, but he wouldn’t be deterred. He would become immortal, and no quest could stop him.
<--
Solarion sat on his throne, preparing for the coming war when he sensed something unusual. He didn’t know what it was, but an ancient presence had appeared. His foresight blurred when he tried to predict the tutorial’s outcome, which intrigued him. Unfortunately, he could no longer view the tutorial, as the system blocked the gods’ visions after the second week and erased the memories of any survivors observed. He could, however, ask his blessed ones, although communication between gods and their blessed was limited and was mainly used to provide guidance on their path or purchases in the system store.
Now, he reached out to those within the tutorials, asking if something unusual had occurred, and his eyes widened at their explanation. In one of the tutorials, a special quest had emerged related to the rebirth of Ankhet Sekhmara. Ankhet Sekhmara was one of Amun Ra’s core disciples. Amun Ra was one of the four great beings who ruled before the extinction. Almost nothing remained of their empires, with insights provided only occasionally by the system. Many believed Amun Ra to be the most powerful, as the ruins of his empire were the most formidable by far.
His disciples were known to attain immortality in late F-grade, an achievement unheard of since the extinction. Reaching this level required a divine rarity in class or race, a feat no one had managed in the current era. Of all his disciples, it had to be Ankhet Sekhmara, known by the system as a master of the soul, undead, and sand. To be titled “master” by the system was rare. He was the god of war and light, and that honor came right after receiving the title “master.”
Ankhet Sekhmara’s age was unknown, though it was believed Amun Ra’s direct disciples did not evolve for millions of years, only evolving when they reached perfection. This meant that if he appeared with his original strength, everyone in the tutorial would undoubtedly fall. Solarion decided he may need to invite the gods of the alliance to form plans for this tutorial, especially since Amun Ra’s direct disciples had earned another title: the killers of god's chosen.
Comments
Dave Kemp
I agree about the morals changing too quick. It's like you forgot you put anti hero in the tags and needed to throw it in there. Also a few comments about killing children, or leaving children to their death. That isn't anti hero behaviour. That's villain behaviour. I would rather see any anti hero part come out in how he treats neutrals and his enemies. Save the children!
Johannes Röhrl
It seems I uploaded the raw version of many chapters. I'm not sure how that happened, but I'm working on it. Thank you for the feedback. Otherwise, it would have taken me much longer to notice!
Nick
I’ve noticed that the overall quality has gone down recently, more spelling mistakes, repeated paragraphs and poorly worded sentences… it almost feels like a different writer is writing the story. Also I’ve noticed a lack of progression with numbers and stats for several chapters now, despite the main character seemingly growing stronger, as if the story is moving further away from a LitRPG. I’d suggest getting an editor to help with mistakes and make the story flow better like it did in the beginning. A typo or two is fine and nobody is perfect, but constantly having sentences that don’t flow properly and are full of spelling/grammar mistakes is quite jarring to the reader… I’ve also found that the main character has had a profound shift in his moral compass, and while this can happen, it seems far too sudden to have him become so callous, especially with his previous disdain for slavery. I can understand the culling of the captured slaves because it had to be done and there was no other way, but the shift he’s taken in more recent chapters seems far too extreme. I could easily see him becoming far darker and less empathetic, even to the point of becoming almost evil, but not as sudden, and not without a sort of ‘slippery slope’ of gradual choices, mistakes, and tragic events that lead him down that road. Going from being disgusted by slavery to “Why was it even wrong to enslave people if they were too weak?” in a handful of chapters is far too fast for such a drastic switch in his behavior.
