Tower Apocalypse 4: A LitRPG Isekai Fantasy Adventure Series, page 7
CHAPTER 6: DIVINE RIGHT
I continued walking to the tower, my summons thudding behind me.
The trio was extremely loud, due to their sheer size and weight, and it’d only gotten worse after all of the upgrades I got them. Since they were living armors—essentially reanimated skeletons with fused-on metal grafts—the only way to upgrade was just to add on even more metal, which only made them unwieldier.
Not only that, all three of them were boasting loudly about how exciting and cool it was to have blessed the child. Just like before, even Tiamat joined in. In fact, she was probably the loudest of all, her booming behemoth voice shaking the trees.
We were headed on the main path to the tower, passing by Sonya’s territory, and I was certain that she and Allan and Blaine and all the rest of them could hear my summons.
Since they were in such a good mood, I didn’t really have the heart to de-summon them, though.
They might have been huge monstrous beasts, but they were basically the closest thing I had to kids, so it was hard not to have a soft spot for them.
Still, I couldn’t help but envy Allan and his djinn.
The two djinn—flame and wind both—were more the strong and silent type. Plus they didn’t weigh anything, and just silently flew behind him. They wouldn’t destroy the terrain flying around and they could even come out soon after being de-summoned or destroyed.
I glanced back at the chattering summons and smirked.
What I wouldn’t give for these lunkheads to learn from them…
Then my smirk became a full-out laugh since my own thoughts reminded me of my parents complaining when I was a kid, wondering why I couldn’t be like the “good kids” at my school.
“Master, what’s so funny?” Tiamat rumbled, seemingly confused by my sudden outburst.
I just shook my head. “Never mind. Don’t worry about it.”
Seemingly contented, the summons just kept chatting as we made our way to the tower, not talking to me as much as they usually did. That was fine too, as I wanted them to gain some more independence.
Not only that, I had my own problems to worry about.
The closer I got to the tower, the hotter the burning feeling in my chest became. It grew hotter and hotter, and soon my entire body was suffused with heat and strength.
I looked down at my arm and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
On the outside, my body looked totally fine, but inside, I felt so hot it was a wonder my skin wasn’t burning red. I had a feeling something would happen if I entered the tower, I just didn’t know what.
With every step I took, the heat grew further and further, and excitement surged through my body.
I eagerly checked my messages, hoping to see that Ben and Rhino were already waiting for me inside, but they were still busy, even though I’d taken some time to speak with the dwergar.
Normally, I wouldn’t mind, as I’d just contacted them in the morning without making plans ahead of time, but I couldn’t help but be annoyed. The psychic force drawing me to the tower was so great that I was of half a mind to just run in by myself, without my friends.
The tower itself was quite busy today, with lots of humans entering and exiting. The same went for the underground dungeon, which only the dwergar could enter. Although a lot of people had the day off today from formal group training, everyone wanted to grow stronger.
Since I was widely recognized, many people walked by, greeting me, but I just silently waved, gritting my teeth.
The longing was becoming unbearable, and I wanted to jump right in.
The only thing stopping me was the fear that these thoughts weren’t entirely my own.
The System had already twisted and manipulated my thoughts and body through minus karma, and while this felt a lot better, I knew that the Fragment was doing the same thing here.
I didn’t want to just go blindly blundering into another dangerous position.
With the Tower of Oblivion looming over me, I instead took a deep and steadying breath, clenching my hands into fists inside my pockets to calm myself down further.
“Master. Perhaps we should go inside,” Reiny said.
His usual boisterous voice was very earnest and solemn this time, and it was that more than anything else that jerked me out of my thoughts.
“Hm? So you feel it too?”
“Yes! And me!” Shai added, his voice halfway between a hiss and a screech. He was undulating wildly, which I already associated with extreme excitement.
Even Tiamat inched forward.
So it wasn’t just me.
Since the summons were tied to my body by a magical force, they probably also had the Fragment egging them on.
I forced myself to take yet another steadying breath. “Let’s calm down,” I said. “It’ll be easier to deal with this all when Ben and Rhino are here.”
“But master,” Tiamat said, her voice slow and majestic. “I think something good will happen when we enter the tower.”
“Like what?”
“Power…” Shai added. “Lots of power. For you, master. Not for us.”
Even though they were part of the world, I trusted my summons a whole lot more than I trusted the System.
“Alright then,” I said. “I guess I’ll just go in now, then come back out and wait for Ben and Rhino.”
The summons let out an excited cry—one loud enough that the other humans and dwergar in the area stared at them in surprise.
I stepped in through the door, and instead of opening, the usual portal menu appeared. Despite its fanciful design on the outside, you couldn’t actually just walk into the tower through the door. It was almost like an external space that existed solely to itself.
TOWER OF OBLIVION – GATE PORTAL
CHOOSE TARGET FLOOR
LOBBY [#00]
MARKET [#000]
TUTORIAL [#001]
THE ROAD TO PRAHNA [#002]
PRAHNA [#003]
HUNTER OR HUNTED [#004]
THE BRIDGE TO SALVATION [#005]
PATH OF THE ASSAULT ARCHON, PART 1 [#006]
PATH OF THE ASSAULT ARCHON, PART 2 [#007]
PATH OF THE ASSAULT ARCHON, PART 3 [#008]
PATH OF THE ASSAULT ARCHON, PART 4 [#009]
THE WORLD OF LUPARIA [#010]
“Just the central lobby should be fine,” I muttered.
The tower was strange in that some instances, like the early Assault Archon paths, would change after you played through them. Other floors had just outright been updated, like the once incomplete fourth floor. I didn’t want to get stuck in a new quest and leave Ben and Rhino waiting.
I touched the Lobby floor, and the heat in my chest roared through my body, like fire jolting in a furnace.
It suffused every inch of me—from my toes up to my hair, and then my whole soul felt like it was burning.
Then the fire vanished.
I felt more powerful than before, though I didn’t understand exactly how.
A notification appeared.
NEW ??? RECEIVED
DIVINE RIGHT
Your Fragment of the Demigod has matured. You are further along the way to becoming a steward of Gaea.
REWARDS:A better understanding of Gaea
Access to one Divine Skill of your choice
NOTE:Other Demigods and the System cannot detect your Divine Right. The possessor of the Divine Right is immune to their control.
New ???, huh?
That was what I’d originally received with the Fragment of the Demigod too. It seemed like these features weren’t named by the System but were still part of Gaea’s world.
I supposed that made sense, since the Demigods were above the System.
However, this new “Divine Right” bonus was even more powerful than the Fragment. It’d given me access to a new Divine Skill, though I had no clue what that meant.
I pulled up my skills tab, hoping for a change, but nothing.
“Huh,” I muttered. “Well, it says I have to pick it…”
I closed my eyes, concentrating, thinking of activating a “Divine Skill.”
But once again, nothing happened, no matter how many times I thought of the words in my head. I frowned for a moment, thinking. Could it be that this Divine Skill wasn’t available through the System?
Seeing as this whole Demigod path was outside of her control—and the Demigods themselves were above her control—that seemed likely. But if that was the case, how could I learn this skill?
Since I’d entered a portal, my summons were gone, but I could still connect to them through our mental link. I decided to see if they had a better idea of what was going on.
To my shock, all of them sounded downright awe-struck.
“Wow…Powerful…” Shai’s worshipful voice echoed through my mind. Normally, he was a real smart-ass but now he was just in shock.
“Frightening…” That hushed voice shocked me even more. If I could scare Tiamat, what the hell was going on?
“Master…I’m glad to serve you…” That was all Reinhardt said.
Okay, so I’d clearly grown more powerful, but it wasn’t in my stats or listed skills.
“Alright guys, I get the idea,” I said, feeling a little confused. “But how do I access this power?”
“Huh? Access?”
“What do you mean, master?”
“You can’t use the skill we sensed?”
“No, I can’t,” I mentally replied. “Do you even know what the skill is, by the way?”
“No, it is beyond us,” Tiamat said.
“Powerful though…” Shai hissed, in the same worshipful tone as before.
“How powerful?” I asked.
“Very powerful…” Reinhardt replied.
Well, that wasn’t any good. Very powerful was a totally useless reply.
I had to make them talk more specifically, but by now I knew that really wasn’t my summons specialty. All of them, even Tiamat, took things very literally, and since they were of Gaea, there was a lot of information that they didn’t bother telling me even though it would have been super helpful.
“Okay. How’s this? This divine skill, does it matter more than stats?”
From playing various RPGs back home, I knew that an attack’s base damage was just as powerful as the character’s innate stats. For example, in a simple game like Pokémon, something like a Fire Blast did a lot more damage than a measly Ember.
“Well, you need stats to use the divine skill,” Tiamat said. “So I don’t understand your question.”
“Okay, obviously I knew that,” I replied, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.
It was hard, though, since my mental voice was really just my thoughts, and I wanted the damn kids to give me the information I wanted!
“Here’s a better way to phrase it. Let’s say I fought someone weak with a divine skill. Would I beat them?”
“Well, if they were level one, you would beat them. But you also have a lot of perks, buffs, and additional stats out of the typical range,” Tiamat replied. “If someone level forty-five—maybe even level fifty—fought a level one player who knew how to use a divine skill, it would be pretty close.”
Shit.
So this skill was worth something like forty or fifty levels.
The System wasn’t joking calling it divine, the only problem was that I didn’t know how to acquire it yet, so I decided to try a different tack.
“How do you guys gain skills, by the way?” My summons were beings linked to Gaea, so maybe their innate skill gain could give me some insight into how I gained divine skills.
“Well, once you unlock a skill for us, we can use it,” Reiny said.
“So the information is automatically transferred?” I asked.
“No. Not the information…our bodies could always use the skill. But we can’t use it until the System gives us permission.”
Now that was interesting…
Over time, I’d given my summons new skills, like reanimating dead opponents or creating a magical barrier around themselves. But according to them, the skills were ingrained in their body already, and it was more a matter of unlocking them.
“How do you humans gain skills, master?” Tiamat asked, her voice very curious.
I thought for a moment, then shrugged.
“I guess the same way as you guys.”
Back when I was on Earth, nobody could generate flames for example the way Emma did, and while I knew how to do basic kendo from my training, there was no way I could fire off a [FORCE WAVE]. Yet once I bought the skill scroll and used it, all the information was automatically transferred to me on the spot.
I thought back to Parfanel’s dream.
In each “run” of Gaea that I saw, he learned different skills, forgetting his old ones with every rebirth in the pod. But no matter what skills he picked, his body could use them without a problem, whether he was a mage, a warrior, or an assassin.
“Maybe that’s what I need to do…” I speculated to myself. “Once I figure out how the skills work, then I can unlock this divine skill too…”
Unfortunately, I had no idea who could help me.
This Fragment of the Demigod situation—now the Divine Right situation, I supposed—was totally new. Not even Parfanel had gained this kind of power during his runs on Gaea.
But then I realized that there was somebody else who’d received a gift from the Demigods.
Verdunn.
I decided to pull up my village chat, contacting the only person I knew who’d be able to find Verdunn.
DEVIN CAIN: Hey Ren. I was wondering if you could track down Verdunn for me. I have something to ask him.
The reply came moments later.
REN TAKAHASHI: On it boss. I thought you might need him for business. I set up a link with Percy so we could track him down at any time.
DEVIN CAIN: Great thinking. I knew I could count on you.
A few moments later, the portal fizzled, sparkling.
Energy twisted together, and then Verdunn walked out, wearing a set of new gear.
His helmet looked just like a lion’s head. The metal was carefully beaten gold, and there was even a steel mane behind it. He was shirtless, revealing his muscular body, but he had a large turquoise amulet on his chest. The amulet’s large gem swirled, and in the cloudy mass, I could have sworn I saw animals twisting about—an elk, a bear, a snake, along with a few others.
Perhaps the amulet boosted his animal summoning abilities…
He topped off his outfit with the same red breeches from before, along with the wendigo-head belt. It was unusual to see someone wearing cosmetic items on the battlefield, but Verdunn could be vain and strong-headed, and it was clear that he loved the design.
“How are you, rival,” Verdunn said, smirking sardonically. “I heard you needed my help?”
“I’m doing fine,” I politely replied. “And you?”
“Not much, not much. Just climbing the tower and leaving you behind,” Verdunn boasted. “I just finished the twelfth floor. Wasn’t too hard. How far are you?”
“I haven’t gone back in yet,” I said. “I’ve been doing Archon training. That’s been taking up most of my time.” I shot him a curious look. “What about you? Have you been doing the training too?”
“Of course!” Verdunn replied, grinning from ear to ear. “The dwergar are excellent. They are willing to do whatever it takes to win, so I’ve taught mine to just back me up as I go in for a killing spree.”
“I’m surprised you get along with them,” I said. “Especially after how bored you were in the meetings.”
“Bah!” Verdunn laughed. “Fighting is very different from the meetings. If someone is brave and willing to risk themselves for the greater good, they are a staunch friend in my book.” Then he clenched his fist. “I don’t know who the next opponent is, or how strong they are. But we need to beat them. And once things settle down, I want a rematch too. Now that I know how strong you are I’m going all-out, no time for anything else or toying around.”
“Yes, I’m interested too,” I replied, nodding.
And it was true. I wasn’t just saying it to be polite.
Verdunn and I looked very different on the outside, and it was clear he was much more into fighting than I was.
I liked spending time with my villagers, building out my city, and relaxing with my friends. I wanted to spend as much time with Emma as possible. For Verdunn, he was just interested in fighting and training mostly, and even when he got drunk he just wanted to spar.
To put it simply, fighting was the end-all-be-all for Verdunn, whereas for me it was a means to an end, to protect the people I loved and cared about.
But despite the difference, that didn’t mean that I disliked fighting—far from it. I still had my kendo background, and besides, it was just exhilarating to put time and effort into something and get better at it. That was just human nature, I guessed.
“So, enough small talk,” Verdunn said. “What did you want to ask me about?”
“How did you become the Tank Archon?” I asked. “The position probably should have gone to Rhino or Ben, maybe Tang. I saw your name on the Assault Archon path.”
“Oh. That,” Verdunn said, smiling knowingly.
He put out a hand, and I sensed a subtle shift in force as he activated his inventory.
Moments later, a dull rock appeared in his hand. It was about three or four inches in circumference, and very flat. It looked like something you’d find at the bottom of some random stream, only it was stark white.
In addition, I could sense the remnants of great force inside the rock.
It was just an ordinary stone now, but at one point, it’d held great power, I was sure of it.
“What is this?” I asked.
“It’s a stone I found on the 5th floor after completing it. You know, after killing that freaky mole thing and entering the Demigod’s Throne. I didn’t know what it did until the System rebooted.”
“I see…” I muttered.
So Verdunn had found this rock in the same place where I found the Fragment. Since Parfanel had been caught helping us—helping me in particular—whoever was in charge of Gaea had punished both Parfanel and the System helping him.
