Cyril Sarnath
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Chapter 183
🕑 Added 2023-09-01 16:26:14 +0000 UTCKeynes and Kora had many questions on their minds but the guardian urged them to attend the meeting first. Apparently, there would be time for questions. He assured them they might even receive answers that would positively surprise them. Keynes wasn’t convinced but he understood that their timing wasn’t optimal and let the guardian lead them to the meeting.
Neither Keynes nor Kora expected to find a human village in the centre of the monster dominion.
Their surprise didn’t last long as the first two contenders were already waiting for them.
A green-haired, dark-skinned woman wearing quite a lot of rift items. Some of them were nicely matched, which indicated that she had more items than she could wear. This was rare. Most ascenders Keynes had met never wore more than a couple of mismatched rift items.
Moreover, her aura was quite well contained, meaning she knew how to cultivate essence. All of this combined with her being able to get here before Keynes and Kore warned them that she was dangerous.
The man gave them a different vibe looking more like a hermit with his old clothes and bush on his head and beard. He felt weaker than the woman, but something about him made Keynes uneasy as if the man watched him, even though he seemed to be meditating.
“The rest of the contenders will arrive shortly.”
The place of the meeting looked like a miniature version of an amphitheatre built out of wood with the podium in the middle. Keynes, Kora and their guardian took seats far from the others.
“Is there anything you can tell us about them?”Keynes asked.
“Not at this moment. You would have to earn favour of the Forest to buy information about the other contestants.”
“Favour of the Forest?”
“Yes,” the guardian said. “It’s the currency of the Inner Sanctuary.”
Before Keynes could ask him to explain the meaning of the favour another contender made his entrance. This one made Keynes’s hair stand on end.
A man wearing a jade colour tunic took his place opposite Keynes and Kora. It wasn’t his strength or appearance that got Keynes’s attention but a massive snake that obediently slithered next to him.
A beast tamer.
Not that beast tamers were rare but this wasn’t an animal. This was a rift monster. Unless, Keynes misunderstood the bond between the ascender and their pet.
The tamer noticed Keynes’s attention and a second later, the snake’s head turned toward Keynes and Kora. It was an eerie sight.
Keynes’s attention on the man and his bond didn’t last long as the next person entered the amphitheatre and instantly rubbed Keynes the wrong way.
He wore slick crafted armour with some additional rift jewellery. The man locked his eyes with Keynes, a spark of recognition crossed the newcomer’s eyes, alerting Keynes. Whoever he was, he knew Keynes.
After him came a man whose movements were strange. The way he observed everything around him was also telling but Keynes couldn’t pinpoint the source of his strange behaviour.
“It’s as if something controlled his movements,” Kora whispered, which unsurprisingly made the man frown. The distance between them was not large enough to muffle a whisper.
“Talent,” Keynes repeated after Alice, who had inspected the man.
The word made the man look up and narrow his eyes, giving Keynes and Kora piercing consideration, which made Keynes wonder if he didn’t make an enemy here.
A short time later, another person appeared. They wore a black featureless mask that was clearly an item of power and a coat made from fabric that seemed to consume light. He clearly had an armour hidden beneath it. Something about the person was off. Keynes couldn’t put a finger on it until he caught his mind wandering each time his attention lingered for too long on the masked person. Noticed that others seemed to ignore them as well. Was this an effect of Talent?
If so, Keynes and Kora would have to be very careful around this ascender.
Eventually the last two contenders appeared and Keynes was surprised to find the pair from the safe zone. They gave Keynes a side-long look but otherwise showed no recognition. Were they trying to deceive him or others?
Maybe both.
Keynes looked away as he sensed spiritual energy gathered in the middle of the amphitheatre. Trembling ensued as roots exploded out of the ground and morphed into a humanoid with long green hair that were a mix of thin roots, branches and moss. The grey skin had patches of bark but the eyes were like two stars submerged in a well.
The newcomer’s beard was long, reaching the ground, his attire pristine and made out of silky gold. Like other guardians, he held a staff crowned with a gem but this staff looked more elaborate and radiated more power. What Keynes found intriguing was that the spiritual energy seemed to be ‘tainted’ by nature.
Do you feel it? He asked Alice.
I do, she replied.
He elbowed Kora gently and quietly asked her the same question but she didn’t sense anything different about the newcomer’s spiritual energy. It could be that she was lower in a spiritual stage than Keynes or the Trait of Spirituality made a difference here. Kora’s spiritual companion didn’t feel the nature ‘taint’ either.
He and Alice scanned the faces of the gathered contenders, hoping to gain any insight into who managed to sense the ‘taint’ but no one betrayed any explicit emotions. The distance didn’t do Keynes favour as he couldn’t read aura’s of other ascenders from this far accurately. Especially, that some showed significant spiritual control.
The ‘arrival’ finalised and the newcomer exhaled, making the air around them more alive and vibrant. Little floating mots, twinkling like stars appeared, lazily moving about.
“In the name of the Father of the Forest, welcome to the dominion’s final challenge,” the newcomer said. “I’m Grand Druid and I’m here to explain the rules of the competition.”
Keynes didn’t like how enchanting and melodic the voice of the Grand Druid was. It threatened to suck him in even with all Keynes’s defences up. Since the fight with the guardian inside the dream tree, he was on edge. The previous dominion was anything like this one. A part of Keynes’s mind constantly searched for signs of deceptions. While there were some inconsistencies, nothing major popped up, which didn’t ease Keynes’s mind and made him consider absorbing [Psychic Mastery]. The passive skill should be able to enhance Keynes’s mental defences. Eventually, he decided against it. He was too close to maxing out his attributes to risk affecting the process.
“Firstly, let me reiterate the three fundamental rules of the Inner Sanctuary,” the Grand Druid said, while circling around, his eyes touching every single contender. When his glance fell on Keynes, there was a mili-second pause as if surprised, then he moved until he completed the turn. “No violence. Unless clearly stated by a challenge, you are not to attack other contenders or inhabitants of the Inner Sanctuary.
“No destruction. It also includes forceful picking of plants and fruits.
“No leaving until the competition is over.”
Despite knowing the rules already, the last rule ruffled everyone’s feathers. A whisper of discontent passed throughout the amphitheatre.
“What are the consequences of breaking the rules?”asked the tamer, drawing the attention of the Grand Druid. Keynes watched, carefully searching for any clues in the tone of the druid.
“Forfeit of all earned rewards and an exile from the Inner Sanctuary.” The Grand Druid sounded thoughtful.
The man in the slick crafted armour which had seemed to recognise Keynes earlier interjected, “Isn’t an exile the same as leaving?”
“An exiled contender would be hunted by the Father’s personal elite squad of apex predator Level 5s with capability to catch, main and kill any ascender up to Level 10.”
“Impossible,” the same man grunted.
Keynes’s initial reaction was to agree with the man, even though Keynes disliked him. But then he considered what he had seen so far. The fight with the guardian had been an opener for Keynes and not only because of the absurd difficulty but the fact that Keynes’s defences didn’t react. Could the dominion trap them all inside another dream tree? Their bodies would be defenceless… So while an exile instead of entrapment in the dream tree or even death inside the Inner Sanctuary?
There had to be a reason… wait, unless this is a lie, a sort of test to find out who will be foolish to take advantage of the host. Even Lem Solaris explicitly said I only should reach the centre of the dominion. She never mentioned killing the boss.
But this raised more questions—as usual—if killing the sub-boss was impossible, how were they supposed to complete this dominion and move on to the third one. This inconsistency was becoming a glaring alarm in his mind.
“You are free to try,” the Grand Druid interrupted Keynes’s musings. “However, you may change your mind about breaking rules when you learn about the rewards.”
“Rewards…” the man muttered as if tasting the word. “That would be nice. Yes. I’d love to know why I shouldn’t just kill the sub-boss and be done with the whole competition.”
The atmosphere tensed up, ascenders shifted, undoubtedly readying up for a confrontation.
Surprisingly, neither the Grand Druid nor guardians reacted or showed offence.
“Fair enough,” the Grand Druid replied after a moment of tense silence. “I uploaded the information to your interface.”
Eighth-Tenth Placement
- A choice of a growth item with nature affinity
- A choice a single rare skill
- Some personal insight from the Father of the Forest and training for 1 month
- An assortment of raw materials and seeds
- Dominion points: 8th: 3k, 9th: 2k, 10th: 1k
Everyone fell quiet, going over the rewards. Considering that they had already received a Trait of Nature, a seed of a Dream Tree and 10 essence stones with nature affinity, the rewards for the last places weren’t that bad.
Fifth-Seventh Placement
- A choice of a growth item with nature affinity
- A choice a single rare skill
- Some personal insight from the Father of the Forest and training for 3 months.
- An assortment of raw materials and seeds
- Dominion points: 5th: 7k, 6th: 5k, 7th: 4k
- 1 x Level 5 rift with nature and growth affinity (runic; variable)
The first two rewards were the same. At least on the surface level. The third reward was tripled in length. The fourth one was seemingly the same as well but Keynes suspected that the quality and choice would be greater. Then there were more dominion points, which was always welcome, though he stopped paying attention to them a while ago. To reap rewards from the dominion ranking, one needed to be at least in the top 100, which Keynes wasn’t. Even with the influx of points for getting into the Inner Sanctuary, the time dilation did the damage, giving those outside the Inner Sanctuary time to catch up. And of course another Level 5 rift. This one of runic rarity and growth affinity. Not nature but growth. Interesting. I wonder what’s the difference…
Second-Fourth Placement
- A choice of a growth item with nature affinity with placement priority
- A choice a single rare skill with placement priority
- Bountiful Sphere (increases crop and nutritious values of food). The orb must be charged with mana (different combinations of mana possible to influence crop).
- Some personal insight from the Father of the Forest and training for 6 months.
- An assortment of raw materials and seeds
- Dominion points: 2nd: 50k, 3rd: 25k, 4th: 10k
- 2 x Level 5 rifts with nature and growth affinity (runic; variable)
Okay, the rewards for the 2nd-4th looked enticing enough to convince Keynes to play by the rules. Keynes badly wanted to put his hands on the Bountiful Sphere. It sounds like a perfect thing to have on a spaceship.
But it was time for the star of the show…
Rewards for Winning
- Growth item crafted by the Father of the Forest and tailored for the winner
- Tailored skill with nature affinity
- Rod of Sanctuary (dimensional/growth item). It creates a small forest, which from outside is only 10 x 10 metres but inside it can expand endlessly.
- Bountiful Sphere (increases crop and nutritious values of food). The orb must be charged with mana (different combinations of mana possible to influence crop).
- Personal insight from the Father of the Forest (together with training in the dream state for a year while outside only 1 day passes).
- An assortment of raw materials and seeds
- Orb of Dominion
- Dominion points: 100k
- A Level 6 rift with nature and growth affinities (Mythical; Variable).
Fuck me…
