"Ugh..."
Sonaya opened her eyes but couldn't picture the things around with her blurry vision.
"What happened? Why am I here?"
She did recognize the hospital ceiling of Rainsleif. Averus, who was right in front of her, pointed at someone parallel to her bed.
"You're not alone."
The unconscious Capricorn was also lying on another bed. Since then, Averus told her everything that had happened.
Sonaya couldn't understand the conclusion.
"Averus, don't you think Goddess Irelia and Master Haymitch planned something else for this Tower other than amassing an army to kill monsters to maintain peace."
"I... do not know."
***
~ Somewhere within the Residential Area of Rainsleif ~
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Not expecting any visitors, the woman rushed to her door and opened it.
"Who's the—"
But she was stunned upon seeing her son, Spencer, standing up in front of their doorstep.
"Hi... mom."
"Are you still trying to learn the forbidden techniques?"
Spencer paused for a moment.
"Yes..."
His mother let of a noticeable sigh.
"I knew you would. I always warned you how it would kill you one day, just like what it did to your Uncle. You're father's no different. He's so obsessed about Caruso's death that he no longer cared for us. Those forbidden abilities were the root of all these. We should never try to become Paragons."
Spencer preserved his silence.
"Your father is not here. He's probably somewhere, desperately looking for clues about your Uncle's death again. I'm not proud of what you're doing, Spencer. But I'm happy you're alive... and safe... and healthy."
Her mother immediately slammed the door shut!
BANG!
Spencer spontaneously backed away. He quietly turned around with a sad face and began walking away.
CREAK!
But her mother opened the door once again with a green sword in her hand.
"M-Mom..."
"Yes, that's his sword since your father is never home anyway. I won't support you and your dangerous endeavors. No mother would support their child to their death. But since I can't stop you, just try to protect yourself, don't you think? Take the sword."
Spencer smiled as he received his father's sword.
***
In the real world, Kane was sitting on one of their chairs in the Chickenfighter donned in his VR set. The VR Visor was still on his forehead instead of his eyes, looking at a picture inside his wallet.
It was a High School Picture of Kane beside his friends such as Ethan Song and Joshua Lee.
"Joshua... who the fuck uses their friend's real name as their Game ID? You have no originality, dumbass. Ugh, anyway, did you know about an Overseer class? What does this do?"
He scratched his head as he talked to the slightly crumpled photo.
"I still can't believe I got a UNIQUE class. It was even higher than the Goblin Form's EPIC Alchemist Class."
He suddenly started giggling like an idiot.
"Hohohoho! One day I'll get a Legendary Class within a Legendary Class. HUEHUEHUEHUE!!"
He quickly began narrating the abilities he browsed a few hours ago.
[NEW Passive Skill – Thousand Eyes]
Being the Overseer grants you a vision that others cannot. Within a 50-meter radius, anything that moves will be tracked and shown in the Minimap. Any sentient being going out of the 50-meter radius will leave a scent that the Overseer can track and last for 100 seconds.
[NEW Passive Skill – Bulwark LVL 1]
Your HP will have an extended bar called Bulwark with an initial value of 10,000 Bulwarks. Its max value can be temporarily increased by 100% for 300 seconds per opponent defeated up to 1000% of its initial value. Bulwarks regenerate themselves if not damaged for the next 30 seconds.
You will regen 1% of your max HP as long as your Bulwark is intact. The person who cracked your Bulwark will have their HP, Mana, and Energy marked for you for the next 100 seconds.
Once per battle, Upon receiving fatal damage that would instantly kill you while Bulwark is uncracked, your Bulwark will absorb 100% of the damage, leaving your HP unharmed.
[Active Skill – Fly is now upgraded to Passive Skill - Winged Nemesis]
[NEW Passive Skill – Winged Nemesis]
War Hornets were Ancient Arcadian Species specializing in combat movement, increasing your gravitational control, allowing weaving and strafing in the air, and reducing fall damage by 50%. You can climb all kinds of walls 100% faster, increasing your movement speed by 25% upon reaching the top.
This body can fly freely for 5 seconds and is immune to low-grade to medium-grade poisons. However, flying for more than 5 seconds will slowly consume 5% of your current HP per second. The timer resets when you are on the ground.
Upon being attacked, your movement and attack speed increases by 25%, removing all slows applied to you before the attack. You will also be notified of your attacker's location.
[NEW Passive Skill – Bloodseeking Eyes]
Fractured Units inside the [Thousand Eyes] radius will be marked on the map, providing you a 5% movement and attack speed bonus per unit. Can be stacked up to 5 times.
You can rejuvenate fractured allies, restoring 25% max HP and temporarily gaining 25% movement speed for 5 seconds for both of you. You are restrained while Rejuvenating, but you and your ally will turn invisible until the Rejuvenation is over.
You will be invisible once you are fractured, gaining 25% movement speed for the next 20 seconds until you attacked or used a skill/item.
[Active Skill – Pierce is now upgraded to Active Skill – Piercing Skies]
[NEW Active Skill – Piercing Skies]
Unleash 20 poison needles to the sky, raining terror on your opponents, dealing 300% of ATK. The needles will explode 3 seconds upon dropping, each dealing 300% of ATK.
HP Cost: 10% of current HP
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
[Honey Boost]
Consuming food or potions made with honey will yield 200% effectiveness.
[Honey Jar]
Craft a Honey Jar
Cooldown: 60 minutes
[Active Skill – Bite is now upgraded to Active Skill – Biting Lance]
[NEW Active Skill – Biting Lance]
Summons a Poison Lance that can be used for 100 seconds, dealing 200% of your ATK and slowing your target for 5 seconds. The damage is doubled if the Lance was thrown.
Upon throwing, you can activate Teleport, forcing your Lance to drop to the ground, teleporting you to where it landed. Only you and your equipment are eligible for the Teleport. You can only Teleport once per Lance, and only one Lance can exist at a time.
HP Cost: 10% of current HP
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
[NEW Active Skill – Eyes Above the Sky]
Summons countless invulnerable eyes in the sky that would form into a spherical translucent barrier that lasts for 30 seconds, blocking all incoming and outgoing attacks and projectiles. All allies inside the sphere will regen 1% of their max HP and 2% of their max mana per second.
Rejuvenating using the [Bloodseeking Eyes Active Skill] is 50% faster while in this Barrier.
HP Cost: 10% of current HP
Cooldown: 60 seconds.
[NEW Active Skill – Predatory Focus]
Scans a marked unit within your [Thousand Eyes Passive Skill]. It will show the targeted's current HP and Mana percentage. You can teleport behind your scanned target within 30 seconds. Successfully defeating the target within 30 seconds after teleporting will quickly max out your Bulwark.
HP Cost: 10% of current HP
Cooldown: 50 seconds.
[NEW Active Skill – Forsakened Wall]
Summons a wall that blocks 10,000 damage, reducing nearby opponents' stats and healing by 20%. This wall will look transparent for allied units, allowing them to phase projectiles through the wall, enhancing their damage by 50%.
HP Cost: 5% of current HP
Cooldown: 30 seconds.
[NEW Active Skill – Fleeting Javelin]
Unleash an Energized Javelin that could pass through walls, dealing 1000% of your normal attack. Each wall/obstacle that the Javelin would pass would reduce its final damage output by 10%.
HP Cost: 5% of current HP
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
[NEW ULTIMATE – World of the Overseer]
Awaken the Limitless Eyes dormant inside of you for 300 seconds. HP costs of your skills will be removed, stats will be DOUBLED, skill Cooldowns are reduced by half, and healing is twice as effective throughout this duration. Your Bulwark and HP will be restored to 100% upon activation.
Some of your skills will be upgraded throughout this duration:
• [Thousand Eyes]: Everyone in the 50-meter radius will now be detected regardless of whether they are moving or not. Lootable and interactable items can now be also marked by this skill.
• [Winged Nemesis]: You will regenerate HP and Bulwark despite combat, and you can't lose HP from flying.
• [Bloodseeking Eyes]: Rejuvenating an ally will immediately restore your HP and Bulwark back to 100%. Once turning invisible, your next attack or skill will deal additional 200% damage and 50% Lifesteal.
• [Predatory Focus]: Duration is increased to 300 seconds, allowing you to cast for multiple targets. Targets marked by this skill will have reduced armor and magic resistance.
Any buffs and skill upgrades from this ultimate will be removed once the [World of the Overseer] ends.
Cooldown: 24 hours
It was a literal Unique Form.
Unlike other forms, this one didn't have either mana or energy. Instead, it contained a massive Healthbar connected by something called Bulwark.
"Specializing in Combat Movement. Interesting..."
This form wholly matched Kane's preferences—Speed and Aggression. Unfortunately, this form was focused on long-range combat like his Dark Magician form and had very shitty STR stats.
"The only problem is that it's already LVL 40, and yet it only has 21,000 HP!'
In this form, one must really avoid close-range combats.
WHOOSH!
Kane finally heard a swishing sound from his headset. It was a sign that Aries finally arrived on the 98th Floor. Kane closed his wallet and tossed it back into his bag before rearranging his VR Visor back to his eyes.
Aries spoke to the unmoving Kane.
"Kid, how are you? You nearly died back there."
Kane's character finally raised his head.
"I died, though. But I wonder what the hell happened either.
Aries sat on the chair across Kane.
"Tell me about it. I'm also curious how did that happen. I've been playing for a long time, and yet it's my first time seeing something like this—turning into white light, but suddenly you're not dead."
"I literally died. Zero HP! And then there's a notice about some kind of Suspended Animation. It returned my HP back to 1."
"Suspended Animation... interesting. I never heard about that in my lifetime. Is that a Sparrowknight perk?"
Kane asked,
"So, what's the plan? Can I have access to the Tower's resources?"
Aries waved both his hands around the room.
"It is yours to explore this entire room."
"R-Room?! What the hell am I gonna do with this room alone?! You promised the Tower's entir—"
"Calm down, kid. As I've said, the Tower is floored from the lowest to the highest resources. This Floor, the 98th Floor, contains everything you can get from the lower floors. Since you're already here and on the 91st Floor last time, you unlocked both waypoints in the 98th and 91st Floors."
"W-What?! You mean I can come and go in these rooms at my will?! Did I just skip the whole 10 to 90 FLOORS?! A-Aren't they gonna complain about this?!"
Aries chuckled.
"Aha! Who the hell would complain about this? You just singlehandedly fought 3 Zodiac Mages alone, knocked 2, and nearly won. You're also the current number 1 student and a potential Zodiac Mage candidate. What more could we teach you? No one will bat an eye about this, not even Averus."
Kane subconsciously grinned upon realizing that he no longer had to grind his way up to the Tower.
"Alright. You kept your end of the deal. Now it's your turn. What's your plan, Aries?"
Aries hovered his hand over the table.
WHOOOONGG!
The table morphed and embossed a digital map of the Synderium Empire, emphasizing the Irelian Shrines once again.
"It's been a while since Rashina secretly took over the Capital, and yet the Irelian Shrines are still not under her command. This means her Authority is still incomplete despite capturing Morgana."
Kane knew about this.
Rashina needed 3 out of 6 Authorities. 5 Authorities were passed down to Synderium's children while the last Authority was in the hands of the Zodiac Mages.
Since Maelion Synderium allied with Rashina, then she only needed one more Authority to complete the Trinity.
However, since Skander Synderium was missing, her last option was to get it from Morgana or Leonordius Synderium. But Morgana already passed her Authority to Gemini, which Gemini passed to Jenny Lyrei.
But something still bothered Kane. Since she captured the Capital, she should've already caught Leonordius' Authority. But why were the Shrines still not under her control?
Kane spoke,
"Either Leonordius and Morgana refused to give up their Authority, or she hasn't really caught either of them. But what about Skander?"
"This is Top Secret information. Skander is not just missing. He's been dead ever since the first patches of this game."
"Wait, what?!"
"Skander joined hands with the Legendary Players Roxinnian 7 to save the World of Arcadia during its Open-Access release. He died during the Roxinnian Wars or the First Indarian War while they were trying to reach INDARIAN SKY FORTRESS."
Kane's eyebrows crooked as he doubted Aries' statements.
"H-How did you know all this? I knew you're old but wasn't that like 40 to 30 years ago?"
"Thanks for the compliment."
"C-Compliment?"
"I may look young, but I'm a Second Generation Player. I've been playing this game for almost 25 years. To add to that, Great Mage Haymitch is not really my master. In fact, he was my best friend a decade ago until we parted ways. He's also part of that Roxinnian 7."
Kane was surprised.
"Hmmm... I don't believe you. I can also say the real-life Haymitch is my Uncle."
"Well, I can't show you a photo of Haymitch and me in the real world since you wouldn't recognize us either. But I don't need to prove anything to you either. Just ask the elder NPCs in this Town, and they'll tell you how close we are."
Despite not fully believing Aries, Kane opened up a valid question.
"Since you're a Veteran player, did you ever hear of something about Transferring Consciousness in Arcadia?"
"Ah, that. It's fake news."
"F-Fake news?!"
"Many conspiracy theories popped up ever since the VR Capsule was introduced. It became an ethical issue as it connects the brain and consciousness to Arcadia. Many sued the game for humanitarian reasons, but no one has proved anything harmful regarding the use of VR Capsule."
Kane kept his blank face, but he wondered,
'Does this guy really believe that? What if his friend and a Roxiannian member Haymitch also got his consciousness trapped in this game?'
Kane just nodded in moderation that Aries continued.
"Back to the topic, here's another confidential information about Maelion. Contrary to the news that he joined hands with Rashina, Vicente said it wasn't true before he disappeared. He revealed Maelion had gone away to the other continent in the South. Rashina can never get his Authority."
"Wait, so if he can't get both Skander and Maelion's Authority, that leaves her with 3 options. Morgana, Leonordius, and the Zodiac Mages' Authority."
Aries nodded. He hovered his hand above the table again, morphing the digital map to an image of Morgana, and another woman. Kane's eyes widened upon seeing her sister's holographic face.
"W-Wha—"
"That's Morgana and Gemini. Fortunately, Gemini used her powers to transfer Morgana's Authority to herself. That was her last report for us before she went into complete hiding."
Kane slightly gulped as Aries explained the situation.
'What the hell? I'm pretending I didn't know shit to keep that as a secret, but this guy already knew everything!'
Aries resumed,
"Morgana was eventually captured. But since she no longer had the Authority, Rashina had two final choices—to get Leonordius' Authority and the Authority that Rainsleif is protecting. They probably already have Leonordius' Authority. Soon, they will attack Rainsleif using the Synderium Army."
"Can they do that? Can they just attack a City that was supposed to be part of the 3 big pillars of the Synderium Empire?"
"You are correct, Sparrowknight. However, we're not dealing with someone here who has the Will of the Empire. Rashina is a daughter of a Mistress and a Warlord who Conquered lands for her father. She doesn't care about the people living on this as long as she would conquer the entire Empire."
"Is that so?"
"They even brought down the famed GM15 Guild, who was supposed to be Leonordius main Paragon forces. I heard their characters were mostly trapped in the dungeons of the Capital unless they would remake their characters. Right now, the remnants of the GM15 Guild are seeking Asylum in this Tower."
Kane gasped.
'Oh! Are Ryore and Xvin here?! Or were they part of the captured party?! Argh! I wanted to ask, but he'll know my connections with them!'
Aries continued,
"Actually, we can cheat this out. Gemini and I have the Authority. Since we're both Paragons, we can just log out or fast-travel very far away from the Synderium Empire and never come back. Rashina can never obtain our Authorities."
"W-Well... that sounds stupid. But it does make sense. Rashina can never get your Authorities. But why are you not gonna do that?"
"Because we just basically abandoned this region, but we never actually resolved the problem. Rashina stayed as its ruler, or worse, Arcanos would take over instead. We really need to restore the rightful ruler of the Empire—either to Morgana or Leonordius."
"So, what's the plan?"
"The plan is simple. You just need to find Gemini and Leonordius. This is a race to whoever will get the first Triple Authority. Right now, we can assume Rashina had her own and Leonordius' Authority. While we have the single Authority of Irelia that was passed down to the Zodiac Mages."
Aries weaved his hands in the air, summoning a bright pink orb right in front of him.
WHOOOOOSHH!
"W-What is this?!"
"This is the Authority. Whoever has this has the power to command the accumulated power inside the Irelian Shrines. And whoever has three of these has the full power of all the shrines. This Authority cannot be taken by force and can only be passed at will if they brought it out like this."
Kane's eyes widened.
'THIS! THIS IS IT!! THIS IS THE ANSWER I NEEDED!!'
Kane spoke,
"How do they transfer Authorities?"
"There are 3 ways I know of. The first one is through the Goddess Irelia, who can transfer any Authorities at will. The second one is the power of Gemini since Duality is their specialty. Come to think of it, there's a possibility that Gemini might've passed the Authority to another person."
Kane was flustered.
'Oh, no!'
To stop his curiosity, Kane blurted out,
"Oh! Then what's the 3rd one?!"
"The 3rd one... is the same standard procedure of how we elect new Zodiac Mages."
This was what Kane really needed to remove the Authority from Jenny Lyrei!
"And that is?"
"Uhhh... It's hard to explain. There are so many prerequisites needed that it will be better if I'll personally show it to you later when we already have the Authorities."
'DAMN YOU! I WAS ALREADY THERE!'
Kane didn't say any words, but his face was showing everything.
Aries asked,
"Ummm, why do you look mad? Did I say something wrong?"
"Nevermind. So, how can I find Morgana, Gemini, and Leonordius? We don't even know where they are!"
SHING!
Aries waved his hand again, morphing back the table to the holographic map of the Synderium Empire.
"Morgana's probably detained in the Capital or the Darkin Kingdom of the East. We're not sure, but we know they are either in those two locations. Instead of waiting for Rashina to attack this Kingdom to get the final Authority, we will attack her first."
"So, that's your plan? You'll engage in a war?"
"Yes. We will attack the Capital, and it doesn't matter if we fail to find Leonordius or Morgana. Because our side goal is to rescue the GM15 Guild. Even if we would lose our forces, rescuing the GM15 Guild will give us the upper hand. While we're doing that, you're gonna go and infiltrate the Darkin Kingdom."
Kane was taken aback.
"What? Me? Myself? Alone?"
"Yes. Remember the Zodiac Mage traitor that I told you before?"
"What about it?"
"Originally, Sonaya and Capricorn were supposed to be in this meeting. But since you sent them both to the hospital, I am here alone, explaining things. But this makes things better. I am not saying that I suspect them of being the traitor, but who knows? It might be them."
Kane quickly replied,
"Well, it might be you."
"Yeah, that's right. You can keep on doubting me dumbass, I don't care! You're free to think that way."
'Hmph! He doesn't care. But he's obviously salty about it.'
"You will go to Darkin alone, or you can bring some friends. Regardless, our simultaneous attack will serve as confusion for their forces. Since only the two of us knows about this, I doubt the traitor will know our plans."
DING!
A notification appeared at Kane.
[Do you accept a Trade Offer from ARIES?]
"W-What is this?"
"I'm gonna give you the map of both the Capital and the Darkin Kingdom. This will update your Open World Map and your Minimap."
[YES]
[Trade Accepted]
[Your map is being updated]
Kane giggled once again.
'Holy shit! My map had just got completed with proper markings. Did I just receive the updated map of the empire despite only exploring 20% of it?!'
Aries spoke,
"You have to do this alone and don't tell me your plans. It was the only way for the spy not to know our plans. And all I can provide are these resources in this Tower and some maps. We lost everything because of that traitor. I don't even know who that is. I'm not gonna let that happen again."
"Is that about Irelia's death?"
"We did a lot of decoys that day. And yet they knew our every move. Those Hidden Forces cornered us like they knew every part of our plans."
Kane voiced,
"Who other people knew that Morgana's Authority was transferred to Gemini?"
"I see. Gemini transmitted the message to only two people. One is Vicente, the man she was supposed to meet, and me, the head of the Zodiac Mages. Then I shared it to Sonaya, Capricorn, and Averus since we're all here in the Capital. I get it. I also thought that much."
Kane asked another question.
"I might betray you. I can just go to Arcanos, and they can pay me a large sum of money for this."
Aries burst out laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHA!! An idiot like you are not gonna do that."
"W-What did you say?! This boomer!"
"You are a stupid guy who desperately protected NPCs. I watched you protect Spencer and even promise to a monster like Priscilla that you would save her. You're an idiot. But you're not a bad person."
"Is that a compliment? Why do I feel annoyed?"
"Now, I'm curious. Unlike Rashina's siblings, who spent their lives under the grace of their father, Rashina spent her childhood in WAR. She's currently the strongest Synderium alive. I wonder how you defeat her."
"Do you have any more questions?"
Kane paused for a moment.
"Did you know the person who formerly held the highest record in the Entrance Exam? That Player named Cain?"
"Ah, that guy. You reached the number 1 spot by tediously farming points through countless retakes of the rooms. But that guy cleared the rooms properly with incredible speed and accuracy. He reached the number 1 spot by swiftly clearing the entire maze."
Kane smiled brightly upon hearing Aries talking about Joshua.
"Oh! Have you met him?!"
"I did. He finished this entire Tower up to the 90th Floor, the final accessible Floor. From then on, Players can challenge the Zodiac Mages to earn their trust to be nominated as a Zodiac Mage candidate, replacing a retired Zodiac Mage. But that guy was peculiar."
"How so?"
"He challenged every Zodiac Mage for no reason. He had no intentions of becoming a Zodiac Mage. He just wanted some random 1v1 matches."
Kane was surprised upon hearing his words.
"Woah! So, did he win?!"
"He won against almost everyone except for Vicente and me. Despite nearly losing against Averus, he became overconfident, thinking he could defeat Vicente and me. However, he lost in a tight match against Vicente. And he disgracefully lost upon facing me. That guy... was no match against me."
Kane immediately cringed upon hearing him.
'Yeah, right. The internet is correct. This guy is a legit A-hole with stinky energy.'
***
- In some unknown place –
TAP. TAP. TAP.
In the dark depths of a certain dungeon, a woman with purple hair was walking through the flooded sections.
Her sword had multiple pointed designs, with purple insignias around it. Her clothes were majestic, braided, carefully weaved, forming like a dragonskin.
Her eyes were full of menace—eyes that were marking for a target to kill.
She slowly pulled out her sword as she was about to attack the wall in front of her.
Behind that wall was the heavily bloodied Presley, covering his own mouth as his life was at stake.
~ End of Chapter 103 ~