Chapter 38: Chapter 38

“Wrong!” Riven said cheerfully, trotting over and taking a seat a couple feet away with his legs crossed. “Worst-case scenario is you being dead. You got out, didn’t you?”

Jalel looked up to Riven and then suspiciously to Athela, but gradually he shook his head no and tried to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes again. “No. I am still here, damned to this dungeon until I am able to buy my way out by finding something of value. There are still many questions that I have for you…such as why you chose to leave all that treasure behind. We lost a fortune because you chose to save that spider instead of taking the bag last night.”

Treasure, huh? Jalel had been very nonspecific about what was in those two bags, but Riven’s anger spiked yet again at another negative comment about Athela.

His eyes darkened, and he took an aggressive step forward with a quickly souring mood that was not unnoticed by Jalel. Riven’s voice lowered threateningly, coming out as almost a growl. “You ungrateful little punk. I’ll only say this once, Jalel, so listen very carefully. I don’t know you, and I don’t know what you went through to get here. I don’t know anything about your situation where you have to buy your way out of this place. However, if you keep talking about Athela like that, I’ll give you something to really cry about. I’ll leave you crippled, alone, and I’ll take that bag for myself so I don’t have to hear you whine like a little bitch about it every five seconds. Or I’ll just let Athela eat you. Got it?”

Jalel’s face quickly paled, and he slowly nodded his head in acknowledgment of the very real threat.

Athela, on the other hand, seemed to brighten up with newfound admiration, staring at Riven through those widened ruby eyes just like she’d done last night when he’d saved her from becoming lurker food. “You’ll let me eat him?!”

[Optional Quest “Save the Prisoners” completed: You have saved two of two prisoners aside from Athela and have acquired half of potential rewards based on performance. You have gained two levels, a specialized dagger upgrade, and twenty-five Elysium Coins.]n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

[You have gained two levels, one for each victim saved. Congratulations! Be sure to visit your status page to apply points.]

A sack of coins abruptly fell onto the floor in front of him, much to everyone’s surprise, and he opened it to see twenty-five bronze coins with an insignia of a sunrise imprinted on the metal. Ah. Nice, the eight consecutive hours must have just passed…and these must be the Elysium coins that the system had just spoken of.

Then, seconds later, a popping sound occurred, and Riven saw his embalmer’s knife being drawn out of his belt and into the air toward a small constellation of crimson-colored moats of light. They shifted and swirled in the air between the room’s three occupants, changing angulation and orientation relative to the people but maintaining a rigid, strict formation until his knife entered a halo of red in the very center.

[Upgrade concerning your Rusted Embalmer’s Knife is now commencing. Upgrades are dependent on your current level, orientations, and needs. Please dismiss this prompt if you do not wish the upgrade to continue.]

Riven ignored the spider’s quip about eating Jalel again and merely stared, not daring to dismiss this new prompt as the constellation of lights in the middle of the room swirled and rapidly condensed. The sound of a chime rang out, soft and long, and with another flash of light, a new item emerged from the system’s enchantment.

It was a beautiful weapon, made primarily of gray and deep-blue steel. Faint trimmings of gold decorated various parts of the blade with intricate carvings, with red metal of some sort thrown in through the center of the blade and along the handle. Hesitantly, Riven reached out to grab the blade where it floated at eye level.

Immediately he felt a chilling sensation run up his arm. He felt a sense of dread enter him. He felt something beginning to bore and tear into his hand, little tendrils of wriggling…things…and he quickly dropped the dagger to let it clatter to the ground.

“Fuck!” he cursed and stepped away, with the other two doing the same. From there, he was able to make out little fleshy tendrils snaking themselves back into the red hilt of the blade and reforming around the shaft. “That’s actual flesh trying to worm itself into me!”

“So cool,” Athela stated promptly with an even tone, and Jalel gave the dagger a look of disgust.

“Typical of your kind to get a system gift like this,” Jalel muttered under his breath. “Warlocks… Ugh.”

Riven shot him a glare but ignored the slight and approached the dagger again while getting back onto his knees. He was able to identify it and make out the details of the blade more thoroughly now, and he poked it with his finger once while going over the system-given details.

[Sanguis Foedus (Totem, Sacrificial Dagger): 12 average damage on strike, high chance to apply Amplified Bleeding debuff on biological enemies when struck. Requires a 20% or higher Blood subpillar affinity to wield. This item has an abnormally high endurance and is hard to destroy.

• Totem Soul: Low-grade primal, Incomplete Fragment, 6 Willpower requirement.

• Flesh Bond: This totem binds to the wielder in a unique way, allowing you to manipulate it at a limited distance through a flesh bond. If the flesh bond is severed, it must be restored before undertaking further distal manipulation.

• Sacrifice: Use this dagger to sacrifice an enemy and mentally activate this ritual ability to create a portal back to Negrada at any distance. Creating a portal will take up to twenty-four hours.]

It was a totem, of all things, with a pretty decent upgrade in damage. His embalming knife had only had an average damage of three…while this one was at twelve a strike? This was…pleasantly surprising. It wasn’t anywhere near the damage that claymore wielded by the first ghoul he’d fought could dish out, but logically that was to be expected. The claymore had also required a massive Strength stat that Riven simply didn’t have.

The big thing that was unique about this item was the sacrificial portal. He’d be able to travel back here whenever he left, and although he didn’t necessarily want to stay now, he could see a lot of different reasons why he’d want to come back in the future. Be it an escape of sorts, a way to explore the multiverse, collecting loot, or grinding levels whenever he got stronger. It wouldn’t be a bad thing, certainly.

Recalling what he’d learned of totems from his previous tutorial step one, and from the obvious reminder on Willpower requirements in the item description itself, he quickly realized he’d have to bind this thing to himself to use it properly. He reached out and touched the dagger again, this time not withdrawing his hand when fleshy tendrils started snaking off the hilt to meet his fingers. He winced slightly when they began digging into his skin, but soon the tendrils and his own body meshed together as one—and he felt the presence of the soul shard register when he accepted ownership of the item.

[Sanguis Foedus has been registered as your totem.]

A firm, tight cord of muscular flesh whipped the dagger up into the air—extending from his limb as the weapon snaked around his torso. Then it withdrew, slicing through the air in a cyclone of motion before smacking hilt first into Riven’s outstretched palm.

Curiously, he came back with his arm and flung the dagger in a spinning arc through the air. Threads of flesh followed it all the way to the opposite side of the room, where it smacked against the stone wall. Riven’s eyes dropped in disappointment when no lasting damage was seen in the thick stone, but what exactly had he been expecting, anyways?

“Huh. Well, at least it’s an upgrade.”

Riven blinked, finishing his admiration of the new weapon and sheathing it in his belt. He took a moment to apply more points toward his Intelligence, Willpower, and Sturdiness, too, with the level gains he’d achieved. Afterward, he turned to Jalel with an annoyed scowl while he placed the coin pouch in his backpack like nothing interesting had just happened. “Concerning what you said earlier, I have some questions for you, too.”

Jalel frowned right back, settling into a more comfortable position against the wall with his arms over his knees and leaning his head back to stare at the mage and his minion. “Go ahead and ask them, Warlock.”

Jalel tried to keep the disgust out of his voice as he said the word warlock, but he only partially succeeded. Riven could hear the underlying animosity.

“Why do you dislike warlocks so much?”

Jalel raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Riven tried to keep his cool and took in a long, drawn-out breath. Putting his hands on his temple to rub his forehead, he tried again. “Why is it that warlocks have a bad reputation? I’m assuming they do, based on your not-so-subtle hints.”

Jalel’s face lifted in surprise, and he put his arms around his knees with a curious glint to his eyes. “You…you’re asking me why your kind is hated by the rest of civilization?”

“Is that how it is?”

“That’s definitely how it is,” Jalel confirmed. He lifted up a hand as if to pose a question, thought better of it, and asked something else. “Some countries or cities across the core worlds even outlaw warlocks entirely, though not all. I’m sure you’ll eventually figure it out if you survive long enough. Is this your first time in hell?”

Riven laughed loudly, feeling Athela’s weight shift as the spider’s cold legs skittered off his back. Lifting up his arms to either side and motioning out the window, he gave Jalel a flat look. “Does it look like I’m a native to hell? I already told you that my world is being integrated. Use some context clues.”

“I wouldn’t know. Warlocks tend to do things like involve themselves with hell’s inhabitants.”

Riven face-palmed.

Jalel, on the other hand, kept going. “You’re from the last wave of integration. You’re going through the tutorials right now, that’s what you said, isn’t it? That means your world is integrating.”

Riven gave the other man an incredulous stare and threw up his hands. Was this guy stupid? Or was Jalel doing this just to annoy him? “Yes. That is literally what I just said.”

Jalel snorted, then nodded in confirmation of his own question. “Well, as I said earlier, I can’t tell you too much about it, but there are some things that I can tell you. The integration is the merging of worlds from outside the multiverse. Every couple decades Elysium has a new integration of planets that join the systems of Elysium—a multitude of universes that it has underneath its own umbrella of control. It takes them from outer realms and stitches them into the realms of this multiverse, an ever-expanding and almost endless system of worlds. As to why you warlocks are hated…there’s a very long history to that. Warlocks have been accountable for numerous atrocities throughout the millennia and care little for the people they harm in pursuit of greater power. The Unholy pillar in general is looked down upon by the other, more civilized sects of society.”

The following silence was tangible, and only the sound of a far-off scream of panic broke the silence.

It caused Riven to turn and look out the balcony window onto the ruined city of flames and blood mists, but that scream could have been from anywhere…so it was only a minor distraction before Riven turned his attention back to the other man. “Tell me more of what you can, please. I’d really like to know as much as possible. Surely there is more you can say without angering the system.”