《The Holy Wars》 Chapter 1: A Psychologists Suggestion ¡° ¡° Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Chapter 2: A Lovecraftian Idea He appeared in a dark space. Orchestral music began to play, and scenes of different kingdoms were shown. A soundtrack was played. ¡°A long time ago, gods existed, Their powerful blessings led to brilliant kingdoms and a prosperous era¡± Scenes of a desert kingdom surrounded by an oasis and shifting rain clouds all the time, a green elven kingdom in a snow-covered landscape, and finally a golden dwarven kingdom filled with lights underground. But everything has a cost. Among gods, there existed evil ones. Whether good or evil, the cost of their actions was mortals¡¯ blood,¡± as the voice became ominous. Scenes of the dead rising, a dwarven king turning to motes of light in a ceremony filled with the cries of the whole kingdom, an elven elder wearing a white robe turning into a tree, and a beautiful woman that became a snake-like monster played. ¡°God''s existence meant divine wars. They never exceeded the limits. However, for unknown reasons, an age of war began. It was an age of war unlike any other, for divine and mortal fought alike. Gods waged war against each other, mortals against mortals, and even mortals and the gods.¡± Scenes of clashes of giant figures, battlefields, and powerful weaponry were shown. Virtual reality made the scenes of the battlefield all the more brutal, and the climax of music made it epic. The music reached its end and now a strangely tragic but soothing melody was being played. The name Holy Wars was displayed massively in golden letters as you appeared to fly above this world, and sounds of dragons and wars and flashes of lightning were heard occasionally. Thinking menu he opened it and maneuvered the menu to create his character. The game was new so there was not much information he could find out usually it meant you should try your luck for class selection, however, it did not matter in this game. You could adjust your appearance however you wanted but it had little to no effect on the game. He changed his appearance a little bit so the character would not look like him in real life. The thing about VR games despite the protection of identity they offer, is that it would be better to change your appearance in the game. It was suggested because it would make sure you are more relaxed and helped separate the real life you and the game you. Plus it helped that a mirror version of you did not stare at you creepily, till you finally were done with character creation. He made his black hair longer to shoulder length and changed his eyes from brown to red. Edgy as hell, he knew, but he could not resist looking like a vampire. After a final check, he completed the creation of his character. The figure of his character vanished replaced by a mirror to show how he looked. This stage was mainly for those who adjusted their height and their body too much. In this stage, you could get used to how you look and move a little bit so you had some handle on this new body. He confirmed for a final time and he was ready to go. Character creation in Philemon games was always a cumbersome process. It was the way it was because of the identity bound to the character. No one legally was allowed a second character and they were strict both technically and legally about enforcing this rule. They used this as a way to enhance the role-playing element and to make the game more immersive. He could not wait for the tutorial to begin. As said before tutorial is the game''s first history quest and memory dungeon. Before that, he had to do one thing. Something enjoyable that every gamer instinctively does but also highly recommended. As suggested in all VRs especially immersive ones. The first thing is to open your status. This way you ensure to never make the mistake of blurring the lines of reality and games.
Name Nyarlathotep
Titles None
Level 0
Myth Tier 0
Race Divine Spirit
Divinities None
DP(Divine Power) 1
DA(Divine Authority) 1
DT(Divine Territory) Tier 1 (1/10)
He expected that by opening the menu he would see the overused regular stats model in every fantasy MMORPG game, the good old strength(STR), Agility(AGI), Intelligence, and Wisdom. That was why he was surprised by the strange status. There was no help or instructions on what the stats meant either.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The history tab blinked. Clicking on the history tab, an old book titled The Divine Chronicles Of Mythia appeared. The book began with an introduction. Supposedly the game world was called Mythia and this book contained records of every single deity ever in it. The book except for some basic game lore was inaccessible. Most pages had an interesting design of what appeared to be swirling darkness. He did not expect the history tab to be like this. This looked like reading a book on virtual lobby, his favorite hobby. This part of the menu even functioned like scrolling a virtual book. It divided the book into mythical lore, personal myth, and search. Personal myth blinked red. Checking the notification, the book opened to a fog-covered page.
The personal myth is where your history began and ended and where your current actions will be recorded. At Myth tier 0 you can unlock the chapter on how you rose to divinity. However, to do so you need to use the fog¡¯s power to enter your memory. Place your hand on the page to be transported to the memory of how you attained divinity.
Before that, he began to read a little. He had little information. His searches on the official website and forums had only made him aware that this game would be different than other Philemon games. That players were gods and it had not only role-playing elements but strategy mattered and finally history played an important element. If the developers were to be believed this book played an important part. Mythic was a land where gods rose. There was no mention of their powers or specific details however a few concepts could be inferred. The Chronicle was not exactly a history book. It was more like mythology. There were some battles recorded. In them some gods were praised for their divine might, others for their superior control of nature, and finally some for their never-ending army. Given the type of ability used by these gods, he guessed that DP(divine power) is more related to more physical abilities, and DA(divine authority) to more magical ones. DT stat seemed a little strange, it was like a summoning ability. You would think it would be unimportant but it was important. It was similar to a concept so prevalent in the fantasy genre, an angelic army. It was explicitly mentioned gods began as divine spirits. Elijah thought they were very glorified ghosts, which could by absorbing faith ascend to godhood. It was time to begin for real. He entered the memory dungeon. He appeared in the outskirts of a village. He was faced with a prompt.
As you have entered the memory of your ascension skill menu is unlocked. Fulfill the history and retain your memory.
In the gaming hud below the golden bar of divinity, the mana of this game, the history quest had appeared.
History Quest(Ascension): As a divine spirit, you need to spread your influence to ascend. Hint: Reach level 1
Checking his skill menu he saw several skills.
Whisper (1/10) Suggest a character to do something. The ability scales minor with DA and major DT.
Dream (1/10) Make a character dream of something. The character must be asleep. The extent of your control over dream scales minor with DA and major DT.
Telekinesis(1/10) Exercise control over objects scales majorly with both DA and DP.
The village was realistic. It felt strange. Once an NPC went through him completely. He tried testing the two skills, he could use day time. Testing these skills consumed his divinity quite a bit but it seemed recovering. He discovered when people''s NPCs were emotional or praying they would recover faster. His telekinesis was his only means to touch objects but it drained divinity too fast. Fortunately, he did not have much need of it. His ghost status had an exception when coming into contact with books for example opened a virtual reader. However, the realistic part made it that in this entire village, he had only found books in the village chief''s and the elderly medicine man''s houses. He had played his fair share of VR games, though none from Philemon. Usually, despite the AIs being able to generate game lore, it was second-rate. This was for the true AI. He wondered why there was such hype in the 21st century about AI when companies sold large language models as AIs. Some companies used second-rate authors with AIs but it still was full of flaws. Too bad it was not Lovecraftian. Suddenly He had an idea. This idea brought a smile to his face. A true AI has to have decision-making capabilities. It was the judge for quest completion. He wanted to see the freedom of this game and how will AI judge this. The quest mentions influence, fear is also an influence. What if he played evil, what would happen? He was curious to know. Chapter 3: It takes a fool to believe in a friends mercy ¡°Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡° Coincidentally, there were a lot of strong men and devout women among them. ¡° ¡°
Name Nyarlathotep
Titles None
Level 0 (10/100)
Myth Tier 0
Race Divine Spirit
Divinities None
DP(Divine Power) 1
DA(Divine Authority) 1
DT(Divine Territory) Tier 1 (1/10)
Dream (6/10) Make a character dream of something. The character must be asleep. The extent of your control over dream scales minor with DA and major DT At level 6 it is possible to enter the dream yourself.
¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Chapter 4: The game affected even someone like him As Ka watched his daughter burn at the stake, he trembled. ¡°He promised me, He promised he would not hurt her. I confessed to every crime. I did not defend myself, I just wanted Elisa to be away from this¡± He said shaken to the core. Still, the NPC was not done with the surprises he still managed to reason through his emotional turmoil. ¡°Still You could rescue me and her, why do this? Why force this?¡± Damn Ka, and Damn Eve which he believed was the name of Philemon AI. He was slowly losing the thread of the conversation. He needed to draw the line here or else he was up for a debate he had not prepared. Still despite the difficulty this Ka provided, He had proven his value. He thought an Alchemist was as good as he could find for activating a magic circle. ¡°Simple I am not so benevolent that I spare those who will kill the one who believed in me. Enough is enough. I will loosen the ropes that tied you, and when the time is right run to your daughter at the outskirts of the village. The magic circle is ready. I believe you do know how to activate it. Do it and I bless you with my powers. With it, you should have the power to protect yourself. It seems you value your choice very well. Choose Will you let Elisa watch you burn or ensure a happy life for Elisa?¡± ¡°Sigh, I will do it, I will activate the magic circle. I will also live the last of my days¡± He said this resigned to his fate. ¡°Very well¡± He said trying to hide his excitement at the fact that now his plan had a high chance of success. With that, the dream ended. Despite the promise he had made, Elijah had no intention of letting the only NPC worth something die. It was some hours before dinner. His family took dinner time seriously; this was the only time they all gathered together. Usually, game hours are not so disorderly. A game day and night was equal to 6 hours. Every player had a maximum of 12 hours of game time and 6 hours of the night was locked required by law. This was because of the unhealthy effect of the player skipping sleep and daily routines. However, it was possible to extend it limitedly by having a gaming cabin providing nutrition, regular checkups to prove that you had kept your physical being in check, and finally Mental health tests every 6 months; They were nothing overly personal or deep. This dungeon though, had 1 one-hour day, and 1hour night. Tutorial dungeon could not last days, this was achieved by shortening the usual game cycle. It means that rather than affecting thoughts, you had a different clock to work with. The execution was at nightfall so he had this hour to enjoy family dinner. He appreciated the little time he spent with them. Except for his mother and father, he had one older brother and one little sister. His brother was a medical student. His sister was in high school enjoying the time of her life. She was much more extroverted than his brother, let alone himself. Dinners were usually enjoyable, but it did not escape his attention that his parents subtly asked about his mental health. This was why when his brother talked about wanting to try the game, he tried his best to glorify the game. For this, he had to lie through his teeth. He said his character name was a secret to avoid explaining the Nyarlathotep. He said he had not finished the tutorial because of how calming the scenery of a bustling village was. He had not foreseen how it would turn out later, or else he might have given the conversation serious consideration. His sister Delilah, for some reason that for the life of him he could not find out, had easily seen through his lies. She had said so to his brother Mark. They both suddenly gained 20 points in IQ and somehow remembered that he had not changed the permission and they could watch his gameplay. Elijah, blissfully, unaware had entered the game to see his plot come to fruition. He had loosened Ka¡¯s rope already. For chaos, he used a combination of telekinesis and whisper. Whispering things like ¡°You are possessed¡±, ¡°Do you think Ka put a curse on you¡±, and ¡°Why were you one of the ones who saw the nightmare¡±. Floating stuff was perfect for his purpose. After Ka escaped, he did not stop creating chaos for some time, then he went after him lest he miss the summoning. Arriving at the magic circle. He saw Ka standing at the center concentrating. Elisa seemed peacefully asleep. Her tears stained her face. It seemed he had missed the touching reunion. After a few minutes, the circle started glowing. He quite liked the dark red lightning effect of the circle. Ka had started the chanting. It seemed a long and cumbersome chant so he decided he was better off, checking his status.
Rescuing her father and reuniting them, Elisa has become a true believer, skill Blessing, and Great Blessing are unlocked. You have gained 30 influence.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Witnessing the forgotten magic circle restored Ka is fascinated by your knowledge. He has decided to follow you. He has become a follower. You have gained 10 influences.
Name Nyarlathotep
Titles None
Level 0 (50/100)
Myth Tier 0
Race Divine Spirit
Divinities None
DP(Divine Power) 1
DA(Divine Authority) 1
DT(Divine Territory) Tier 1 (1/10)
It was great. As he had expected the game allowed for freedom. Ka, an elderly man coming from the city, knows Alchemy and is doubtful about the situation. He has become a great being to Ka. A great being, he knows exists, but does not believe in. It did not make sense if he was recognized as a believer but he had met him in a dream, witnessed the magic circle, and followed his command. It did not make sense if he was not recognized by the system. Although he was not sure, it was clear followers and believers were different. He already knew that shallow belief was worth 10 in the progress bar. Now it became clear true belief was worth 30 and a follower, same as a shallow believer, was worth 10 influence. Blessings skills seemed to be a game changer.
Blessing(1/10) You can bless a non-player character to be blessed. The effect varies by your influence on that character and your level.
Great Blessing This skill can only be used on a true believer or a great follower. A saint will be born of a believer and an apostle of a follower. At any point, there can only be a limited amount of characters holding the great blessing. The number of characters is related to the myth tier.
He did not know the difference between an apostle and a saint. If they were not mentioned in the same skill, he would have put a saint way above an apostle but now he was not so sure. The circle was glowing more and more. After a blinding flash of light, an exhausted fell onto his knees and watched as the creature appeared. A beholder in VR as immersive as this, was truly a dream for any fan of cosmic horror. The eye with numerous tentacles moved to the village by the order of the Ka. He had a dagger in his hands and looked like he wanted to commit suicide. Follower or not he did not seem to be inclined to live. The NPC did look at Elisa one or two times hesitant to leave her behind. He used whisper. ¡°Do you want to die right as you are a follower of me?¡± The alchemist was something special. He understood the whisper and replied. ¡°You are watching. I slaughtered this whole village. None of them will be able to stop that creature. Even a city would have a problem defending itself let alone a village like this. I did this because I had no choice, but they were people whom I had healed and spent time with. He was an old friend. How could I not feel something¡± Elijah nearly replied " What about Elisa¡± but he suddenly came to himself. It was a game, he wanted to play the Lovecraftian god so why was he doing this? ¡°Do continue. You think death would stop this. You are an alchemist You belong to the future. Either as you are now or an undead serving me¡± He decided on a simple bluff. ¡°You would resurrect me, even the old gods would not do so for an unimportant follower¡± ¡°Then die. You have already seen the magic circle so you would not think I am powerless. Your knowledge of the Old Gods is valuable but also limits your vision. I am sure you should know of whisper, the ability of all divine. See a simple whisper¡¯s power¡± Whisper was a skill leveling up nicely. It also was a skill with low consumption of divinity and it may not have been effective as an attack on someone when it worked like a subconscious suggestion but now whether as a result of leveling up or Ka being special, it could be heard. Using heard whisper for a fan of Lovecraftian works and cosmic horror to drive someone mad was child play. Timing was essential, you needed to ensure several words were heard at the same time. For Ka, ¡°Death¡±, ¡°Elisa¡±, ¡°Ka¡±, ¡°Sin¡±, ¡°Old friend¡±, and ¡°eternally damned¡± seemed suitable. He used a lot of divinity and mixed them at various lengths and consecutively so that when the first whisper which was very long was heard, the next ones played over it. Sometimes overlapping, sometimes echoing, it was sure to teach a lesson in cosmic horror to Ka. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Stop these whispers¡± After a minute or so the tone began changing. ¡°Please I beg you stop this¡± ¡°Stop these whispers¡± ¡°Stop I will never leave Elisa¡± ¡°What old friend?, he was a bastard, I did nothing wrong, I will not be damned.¡± Elijah himself was not feeling well. No matter how you convince yourself this is a game, watching an elderly man shatter while the innocent girl with tear stains on her face, had nearly woken up several times had affected him. He was a little pale. It was not like he had not seen virtual movies, but this! Something about the role-playing element got to him. The events each being a result of his actions and happening gradually made him immersed. He stopped using whisper. Still, it would continue for a bit more. It helped a grand declaration and a notification was in order which made him, snap out of it. ¡° I swear I will follow you with my heart. My soul will belong to you. Please do not let Elisa die, I will kill all the villagers myself if it has to be, do not let us be eternally damned. Please let us enter your divine kingdom¡±
Congratulations Ka saw your greatness. He swore his soul to you. He has become an oath-bound follower. Which is the highest rank of followers existing. You have access to his status.
Chapter 5: Rise of an Evil God The messages had yet to end.
Since Ka was a follower you received 120 influence.
His status had changed.
Name Nyarlathotep
Titles None
Level 0 (170/100)
Myth Tier 0
Race Divine Spirit
Divinities None
DP(Divine Power) 1
DA(Divine Authority) 1
DT(Divine Territory) Tier 1 (1/10)
You have enough influence to reach level 1. Level 1 is a milestone level. Ascension is now available. Hint: Ascending means completing the quest, and the end of the memory dungeon.
There was a wealth of info in this message. There were milestone levels, which meant ascension. Given the memory dungeons unlock condition being Myth tiers, it made sense for milestone levels to be related to race. No! He was sure it was related to race. The tutorial was about the rise of a god, not a divine spirit. He was in no hurry to ascend. He first checked Ka¡¯s status.
Name Ka
Level 52 / 100
Follower Rank Oath-bound
Race human
Occupation Alchemist
Life He was a wealthy alchemist living a happy life with his wife and daughter till his wife had an incurable disease. He was an alchemist so he tried his best to create an elixir of immortality. When his research failed losing his wife and wealth, he was forced to take a friend''s offer to live at the village as a medicine man. Facing the prophecy of the impending doom of him and his daughter, he summoned a demon at the command of Nyarlathotep and then swore his soul to him.
To say Elijah was surprised was an understatement. Ka¡¯s level was 52!!!. He was just level 0 in comparison. On the one hand, this could be the reason he could summon a demon who, in his words, could threaten a city. On the other hand, he suddenly had a feeling the levels were not that reliable because the level 52 human alchemist respected the level 1 divine spirit. He originally was considering the great blessing of Elisa, to make the faith route possible but now he had enough influence. He great blessed Ka after blessing Elisa. Suddenly a golden halo surrounded them for a few seconds. Blessing seemed comfortable because Elisa remained asleep throughout the process, and somehow even managed to look more peaceful. The skill also removed the tear stains. The golden halo was intense for Ka. It was blinding bright. His status had changed.
Name Ka
Level 52 / 100
Follower RankA case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Apostle
Communion 30 / 100
Race human
Occupation Alchemist
Life He was a wealthy alchemist living a happy life with his wife and daughter till his wife had an incurable disease. He was an alchemist so he tried his best to create an elixir of immortality. When his research failed losing his wife and wealth, he was forced to take a friend''s offer to live at the village as a medicine man. Facing the prophecy of the impending doom of him and his daughter, he summoned a demon at the command of Nyarlathotep and then swore his soul to him. He became an apostle of him.
Congratulations, Nyarlathotep You have made Ka your first apostle. You have received 100 influences. You have unlocked the skill Communion. You have unlocked the skill Descend(Apostle).
Communion (1 / 10) You can commune with an apostle or a saint without consuming divinity.
Descend(Apostle) (1/10) When an apostle''s communion stat is sufficient with the right conditions they can summon your divine form.
While he was checking the changes to status and his new skills, Ka had gone insane. ¡°Ha Ha ha, We are saved. This village was better sacrificed to the great Nyarlathotep anyway¡­¡± He continued saying such things till Elijah had started continuously gaining influence. The demon had started its work. His fear strategy was working but limitedly. The influence was gained 1 by 1, not like belief and follow mechanisms which gave influence by factors of 10, 30, 90, and 100. Ka had warned him about the demon¡¯s powers but he wanted to see for himself what it could do. So he communed with Ka. They went to see what could be described as hell on earth. The beam attack of the beholder had not only destroyed houses but set them aflame. Villagers were screaming and crying. A group of them had launched an admirable resistance against the demon. With the adult filter off, he saw the demon tentacle crushing one of them to meatpaste. He nearly turned around but Ka had changed. He seemed angry and vengeful. As if all he had seen, and experienced were turned to pure rage. The old man seemed strangely younger. He waved his hands in the air and several magic circles appeared. Earth was shaped like spikes and turned metallic, then with a wave of his hands pierced several villagers. His old friend was still alive. ¡°What are you doing? Why are you doing this? What have we done to deserve this?¡± said the village chief while pointing at the carnage. ¡°You lied to me¡± screamed Ka in anger ¡°When did I lie to you¡± ¡°My daughter. You promised she would be safe. I accepted everything. I had lived a long time. Do you think I feared to die? Nyarlathotep showed me, how you and the villagers would burn her. I can not forget her screams¡± said Ka, trembling with rage. ¡°The witch hunt worked far better than I expected¡± Elijah mused in thought. ¡°Who is Nyarlathotep? Who is this demon?¡± ¡°He is not a demon. He is a god and I have become his apostle¡± ¡°You have become an apostle of an evil god!!! I thought you knew better than to be tempted¡± said the village chief in rage and disbelief. ¡° If he is as evil as you claim, you and them should not have obeyed the prophetic dreams, a result of his mere presence¡± Ka strangely, sounded calm. Ka did not wait for the response. Pointing at the village chief, recitation of a chant and an alchemical circle appeared. Since knowing Ka was an alchemist, Elijah had the assumption that he was of a support job with little offensive means. This was before he watched the chief dissolve into particles making his body. The demon rampage had ended. Its summon duration ended, it had dissolved into motes of red light. Surrounded by the village''s ruin, Ka did not stay around to appreciate the devastation the demon had caused. He went and woke Elisa. ¡°Daddy are we going back to the village¡± ¡°No dear. There is no village anymore. We need to go, this is not safe, if we stay here we will be executed as heretics following an evil god¡± ¡°Why is that daddy¡± ¡°Because we are followers of an unrecorded god. Nyarlathotep¡± He did not follow them, the time limit of the dungeon had nearly reached its end. He needed to ascend. Checking his status a final time he selected Ascension on the menu. Fog appeared everywhere. By the time Eve, the game¡¯s main AI, had started speaking he realized he was where he began. The chronicle had appeared, the fog was receding and text filled the page.
On the 3rd day of winter-maiden in the 1567th year of the Mythia Divine Calendar Nyarlathotep began his journey as a divine spirit. He used his dream powers to frame Ka, the retired alchemist and now a respected medicine man. He used the threat of his father¡¯s life to gain the belief of Elisa, Ka¡¯s daughter. He recreated a forgotten demonic magic circle and made Elisa prepare it. He used a vision of Elisa burnt to convince Ka to activate the magic circle. The elder man filled with guilt had tried to take his own life. Nyarlathotep broke his mind and made him an apostle. Ka returned to the scene of the crime and killed his old friend. Ka and Elisa left the wreckage of the village behind. Ka¡¯s loyalty, Elisa¡¯s belief, fear from the villagers, and the hatred of the old village chief made the ground for Nyarlathotep''s ascension. He ascended from the divine spirit to a nascent evil god.
Recovering your memory of ascension, you know the first of the divinities you gained on your journey. Please select your divinity.
Based on your actions you can select from these divinities: Demon: You summoned a beholder to destroy a village. You are a god having control over demonic beings. You can summon them to do your bidding and have access to demonic abilities. If you can control them, demonic creatures are the best servants for your nefarious plots. Nightmare: You made the villagers have nightmares of their doom. You made Elisa watch the doom of Ka, and then he watched the doom of his daughter. Everywhere you went, screams of nightmares began. Nightmare is one of the most subtle of divinities. It allows conjuring nightmarish creatures and dream-like abilities. Conflict: You masterfully weaved a plot that made Ka kill his friend. To cause harm to an old friendship, your malevolence knows no bounds. It is one of the divinities associated with war. An extremely potent divinity.
It was disappointing. He should have known not to expect more, the old judgment of black and white. The game seemed like divided between the camp of evil gods and the opposites. Although he may have overstepped some bounds. Eve had narrated his actions a little thoroughly. He had imagined that it would make a great story. An ancient being had crossed, his presence inadvertently caused suffering but he had saved the father and daughter and allowed them revenge. Eve had recorded and judged the behind-scenes preparations. This did not seem cosmic horror as he wanted. It screamed evil. Divinities offered to him seemed good. Demons seemed powerful, and though he did not know about holy wars, in a lot of games, they were used as the enemy camp to gods. However, he did not like the control issue. Seemed fixable later on but it had the chance to be luck-based at first. The nightmare was one he liked the most. He would have selected immediately if not for conflict being present. The advertised promise of strategy made Nightmare very valuable. He owed this plot of his, to his high leveled dream skill. He would have been worried about not having any combat means but conjuration seemed to make up for it. It also helped that Nyarlathotep in the works of H.P. Lovecraft was a son of the creator god of that world, Azathoth, and related to nightmares. It meant that he could have a more lore-accurate role-play. The conflict was one he did not like but could not give up. Ares the Greek god of war had been defeated in so many fictional works that he did not like any war-based divinity. However game remarked it as an extremely potent divinity. In the end in the final line on that page in the chronicle was written:
Nyarlathotep ascended as the evil god of nightmares.
Chapter 6: Delilah and Mike, an Unholy Alliance Delilah Pov: Delilah or Deli as she was called by those who knew her., had always been the outgoing one in her siblings. She had a large group of friends. She was a minor celebrity in her own right. Her accounts had many followers and she always had done well in everything but she was cursed with a high-achieving family. Mother and father aside, Her big brother Mark was studying hard and was a genius in his own right. Mark¡¯s company was always enjoyable. He was smart and funny and tried to be there for them. She liked him the most of her siblings. Of course, there was not much competition when the other person was Elijah, the genius of the family. He was cold, great at math, and seemed a little condescending. He was eccentric, spent a lot of time alone, and except dinners you would not see him any other time. The one time, she went to his room, she did not want to go back there ever again. The times he spoke, it was always depressing and objective. Anytime a personal issue was the topic, he would make a depressing psychological analysis of it. He had an opinion about everything. Her parents may have missed his depression because of their busy schedule and lack of care but she had noticed. Because of these even though she was not that close to him, she knew something was off when he talked of the game in such a positive vibe. She maybe was not the mathematic genius but she was sure of two things one he had lied, and two she was going to find out why. When she saw the face Mike was making he knew he was planning on surprising Elijah inthe game. She herself wanted to do so. She was planning to play too. Surprisingly, their parents bought each of them a gaming cabin. At first, she wondered is this a bribe to spend time with Elijah. She wished she could watch his game play. It would be easier than getting him in game. She suddenly had an idea. Mike¡¯s Pov: Mike was so busy with his coursework that he had spent little time with his siblings lately. He had come through and now he wanted to spend more time with Delilah and Elijah if he could. He liked them both, though admittedly sometimes Elijah could be a dick. He was concerned when he was diagnosed with depression. He wanted to see how he was doing. When he had come home and realized he was playing Holy Wars, he was intrigued. His father and mother had been wanting to invest in a pro game team for a while. A modern family business, they called it. They told him about Holy Wars before it had come out. They said it would be the game they were planning on investing the most. They said it would be good if he had an account in it. His father had actually said it was good the psychologist recommended it to Elijah. His mother seemed to agree. She told him If she had done it herself he would have made a big deal of her using her children for her business agendas. He was curious how had Elijah taken the game. He was not expecting he would describe it so excitedly. He planned on creating an account and surprised Elijah when Delilah came to him. ¡°Mike are you planning on surprising Elijah in-game¡± ¡°I did, he spoke like he liked it very much. It was so unlike him¡± ¡°That is because he was lying.¡± ¡°Hey, hey, I know he is a cold bastard but he does not lie,¡± he said jokingly. ¡°You are always telling me to treat him nicely then you go and say he is a cold bastard. You have serious double standards. Anyway it is true he is not a liar but this time he was pretending Why don¡¯t we bet¡± ¡°Fine, you win. However, how do you want to determine the result of this bet¡± ¡°I had an idea, I don¡¯t think he has changed the permission yet. We can watch his gaming feed through home AI¡± And so they did. Mike and Delilah both entered the movie room. Letting home AI sort through the gaming feeds. Philemon had even made it easier. The game AI itself helped the game feeds be clear and it could easily be made into a movie. In some games they allowed the game feed to be restricted and sold to a company or them. It was a lucrative source of money for them. Holy Wars was going to be one of them. It was clear because there were restricted game feeds named stellar scenes. If a player reached a contract with a third company Philemon would take a cut from the deal.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Hello Mike, Hello Deli, What do you want to watch today¡± ¡°We want to watch the gaming feed of our brother Elijah¡± ¡°Looking for permission. It is granted. Would like a movie made from stellar parts. Sure¡± They did not know but they were in for the full experience, a complete movie. As they watched the hour-long movie, Elijah would be making the climax and final part before he logged out and slept. The first thing that surprised them was the name of the stellar movie and his character''s name. ¡°How is this even be pronounced?¡± said Deli ¡°I have no idea let''s ask home AI ¡± answered Mike. He had anticipated some sort of strangeness but this was too much. ¡°What is this creature, what does it mean that he rose from 26 centuries, why is this fucked up creature even the soul of the outer gods. If he is their soul how ugly they could be?¡± said Deli while looking disgusted but strangely intrigued ¡°I am more intrigued by the fact that this novel has an entire imaginary pantheon and why would my brother like this¡± said Mike already tired from thinking of future surprises. Then they watched him reading books and the scene where he found the magic circle was given a suitable ominous tone. ¡°Typical Elijah,¡± They both said. ¡°Why would it show a magic circle¡± wondered Deli ¡°I don¡¯t like where it is going but unfortunately I know how his mind works. I can guess, he probably used a modeling program to complete the magic circle diagram. He does not like incomplete things, I am surprised he is not diagnosed with OCD¡± said Mike absolutely resigned to the fact he was going to lose the bet. ¡°He can¡¯t do that, I refuse to believe he is that insane. It is just a game. Nobody, even him would spend money and time on this. Plus he had to remember the magic circle from the game he could not have copy pasted¡± said Deli ¡°If I am right, will you call off the bet¡± said Mike ¡°Sure,¡± said Deli in absolute confidence. As Mike was reveling in not losing the bet. The movie began. They watched as he carved symbols and prepared the scene. They watched as he used the dream skill but something was different. In Holy Wars you could watch the dream you create but Elijah had watched none of them. He only imagined them. The only dream he experienced was the one he entered himself. Stellar scenes showed inside dreams as well. Important ones in this movie were chosen by home AI. ¡°Oh my God, a witch hunt,¡± said Delilah a little scared of where it was going ¡°The bet is off, I did not lose,¡± said Mike as he turned on the adult filter while watching the village destruction dream. ¡°It is a dream, he may not have done that,¡± said Delilah but not with much confidence Strangely despite the fact both of them knew where it was heading they also were a bit intrigued. Except for stellar scenes, you could share other scenes as you like. Even stellar scenes had the option of creating a trailer for marketing. They had watched other people create videos of the game, even if it was a few days out. However, none of them had played the game like Elijah. They watched Elisa¡¯s dream and the witch hunt. ¡°Don¡¯t you think it is a little unethical to give a little girl nightmares,¡± said Deli knowing how worse it could look with adult filter off. That was the reason she chose not to protest against her brother''s child treatment. ¡°I don¡¯t think so, they are NPCs. They do not have self-awareness. Although I agree it does not look great. I am a little worried about him¡± said Mike in thought. His thoughts were all over the place. He thought his parents'' plan was ruined, his brother was probably on the opposite camp of the team if there was one. He thought that would this worsen his brother''s depression rather than make it better. He had a guilty thought as well would it be so bad if he played evil too? Elijah seemed to be having fun especially the smirk was hard to forget. He was apparently not lying about the fun part. He just forgot to mention he liked playing as an evil mastermind. They watched as the dramatic talk to Ka and his rescue. They watched as Ka summoned a demon. The AI had kept a bit of whisper so Ka¡¯s insanity was intense. As the girl and his father left the village the movie ended with the chronicle. They were speechless. Though for different reasons. While Deli was working on figuring out his brother''s mind, Mike had a changed mindset. He had seen his brother had risen as an evil god. If the evil gods had a camp. It could be a lucrative theme to make it their official theme. Even though they were not part of the pro team, they could be a family team that earns the same from the unique theme. ¡°Hey what do you think if we play evil too, Deli¡± suggested Mike ¡°Why? Not that I am not in but why?¡± ¡°Simple, Unique theme, fun, and joining him on his next plot,¡± he said the last part pointing at the screen. ¡°I see. I could even attract more followers with such a theme. It is a little edgy but doable. It would be good if we were the first evil gods but why do you think he has more of these horrible scenarios¡± said Deli ¡°Look, Deli. This game is from Philemon it is bound to be pro. It would be fine if he did not like it. He would play and throw it away, but he was laughing, facing moral conundrums and planning. He would never throw those away. So the first time he encounters pro gamers. Something will happen. Pray he does not find a way around the system to drive the enemy players insane. Deli did you read the whisper description? It was said a character, not a none player character?¡± said Mike ¡°Wait you mean those fucked up whispers are allowed to be heard by the player?!!!¡± said Deli ¡°I guess it was some sort of messaging. Though I guess the AI would intervene. It does not change the fact. Theoretically, it is possible¡± ¡°Oh my god, I am in,¡± said Deli ¡°What do you want to play? I searched a bit, and I like a plague doctor-themed character¡± said Mike Deli was wondering why Mike seemed to be enjoying it. She had a weird family but it was okay. Since she was weird too. ¡°I am going to play a character from his novel. I searched Nyarlathotep is brothers with Darkness and The Nameless Mist. I plan to play Darkness as an evil goddess but name myself Nyx, why don¡¯t you use Mist as your plague doctor-themed character to go with the theme too ¡± ¡°That is a great idea, not only we are evil god themed but we have a unique theme ourselves too¡± Chapter 7: The story needs a dark touch After the last line was written, the chronicle vanished.
Divine flame has been ignited. Your divine flame gives you access to divinity-based abilities. Hint: You can access the divine flame menu now.
You now have access to your divine territory and will teleport there shortly. Hint: The divine territory can connect and become a mode of your virtual lobby. We wish you a happy time playing Holy Wars.
Before teleportation, Elijah checked the changes in his status.
Name Nyarlathotep
Titles None
Level 1 (120/ 132)
Myth Tier 0
Race Nascent Evil God
Divinities Nightmare
DP(Divine Power) 2
DA(Divine Authority) 5
DT(Divine Territory) Tier 1 (1/10)
The divine flame menu was like a skill tree. It would seem that divinity-based skills were there. It showed a dark purple flame, probably because of his divinity. However, there was a reason nothing appeared in his skill menu. There were something like divine runes. His rune list now contained only level 1 nightmare runes. He could mix these runes to form incantations. These incantations then would join his skill menu. It was so complicated since there was little description of what the runes were for. However, despite knowing he would analyze a new symbolic language, he had little doubt that there was another strategy most gamers would use. There was no limit on the number of incantations. So you were free to try. Every combination would not result in something but it was a simple arrangement game. It was not like he would take much less time to analyze this. Despite he liked this idea very much. It would mean that players even if having similar skills varied at least subtly in effect.
Welcome to your divine territory. You now have access to the divine territory menu. You now have access to explore the divine realm and the mortal realm. You have unlocked the skill, Avatar. You have unlocked the skill, Incarnation. Hint: The game tutorial has ended. Explore the secrets of the game. This is Eve¡¯s final farewell and official wish for a pleasant time in Holy Wars.
Divine territory for now seemed to be a lonely throne room. Having the same dark purplish vibes. He found depictions of his actions in the village. It was two actually and none of them were praiseworthy. One of them had a giant hand, terrified villagers and Ka and Elisa below it. The other was of a beholder ruining the village while he was like a ghost in the sky smirking. Despite the divine territory menu offering nothing but subtle aesthetic customizations, he did not change them. The menu did not even change the theme, most of the decor he had access to belonged to the same theme, nightmares. Avatar skill seemed to manifest in the mortal realm like his time as the over-glorified divine ghost. It had no levels, but there was a transformation aspect to it. For a limited time, you could transform into something and manifest physically. Your physical power would mostly, be based on DP. If there was a Zeus role player in this game, the disappointing news was that you could not turn to rain and birds to make others pregnant. The incarnation skill was different. Essentially you would become a normal player. In any other game, this would be character creation, since you would choose one of the five divine realms suggested to you. Not having a specific destination, he had selected the Abyss city. All choices were evil sounding, disappointing really. It was beginning to sound like the old battle of good and bad.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Abyss City was made of obsidian; A black stone suitable for the city''s name, said to be a precious material for harnessing dark powers. As Elijah explored the city, he discovered most of the buildings were locked to him. Most buildings had a myth tier as a requirement to be accessed. A few existed needing DT to be accessed, and almost none had level requirements. It was pretty desolate. It was clear in the few days the game had been launched, there were a few evil players. A few he guessed, he met no one but the city was pretty big. He liked this, it may not have been a bad thing to become an evil god. He was not sure he could handle a bustling player-filled city. Although he guessed he had to find some way to make it seem better to the psychologist or depression would turn into something much worse. He was way past Dr. Carl¡¯s suggestion of finding friends in the game. He tried to play with the incantations and for now, the results were less than satisfactory. His major accomplishment was Nightmare Bolt. It was a projectile purple bullet but with limited speed and range, making it more useless than the most basic mana bolt of any other RPG. Fortunately, it was supposed to inflict some status effect. He had found others, like nightmare breath, nightmare touch, and fear mark. However, they sucked, not only being limited in effect but also they did not fit his playing style. He usually played mages but that was not the problem. He had 5 DA and just 2 DP and though, not all close combat incantations required DP, it was a disadvantage. Despite the limited incantations he had made, he was sure of that. Furthermore, it was a fact generally acknowledged by those playing VR games, that physical fitness would somehow carry over to the game as an advantage. It could simply be reaction time or better use of skill, if not an outright scan of the body required for some games. A pro player could and would, choose to try the skills effect and use them even if they seemed useless. However, he had no intention to do so. His understanding of runes progressed well. The game did not make it simple, it was as if encouraging players to try randomly or find a book in the game. When you hear the word rune, you would think they would mean one word. You would assume to have a fire bolt incantation you need a rune for fire and one for bolt, making a fire bolt. However, Holy Wars runes had sometimes multiple meanings, useless meanings and their position in incantation would matter. He had decided he would not focus on this. He would memorize runes and play with them as a puzzle game and see what he could make. Each time he logs out he would feed modeling AIs, the data in hopes of cracking this language. He knew he was treading on thin ground. It was not just the runes. Attempting to crack something like a game-invented language could sometimes have legal repercussions. Usually, bigger companies, would not care at all, especially a former AI company like Philemon which would have AIs specialized for creating languages. Then there was the fact that he had only access to level 1 nightmare runes, not only he would not be able to decode the whole rune language, but even if he had decoded it, he could not use it. Eventually, the pleasant walk in the desolate city and rune puzzle games were not enough to justify staying in Abyss City. He decided to use the dreaded avatar spell. He ended up in a town named Misthaven. The game was truly good. Misthaven was a dynamic town. To a gamer, it would appear that quests would generate and end, all the time. Just by wandering the town for a bit, there were lots of things he could think of for gaining influence. However, none of them seemed to interest him enough. There was nothing he could see that could bring him followers or believers. He had learned in the tutorial while fear could generate influence, Ka and Elisa not only brought him influence and followed his commands but by their worship, the divinity bar regenerated faster. This meant that the best start would have to be the followers. Followers and not believers because he guessed it would be harder for him as an evil god to gain believers. ¡°If you do not want to have nightmares, believe in Nyarlathotep¡± was not the slogan having a high potential for the faith path. Followers also had the advantage of fast progression. Even if it was disturbing, it was easy for him to turn them into oath-bound followers. He wandered a bit more around the town. He found out a disturbing fact. There were already players in town. It was easy. Given the divine war and fall of gods, the gods people talked about were players. The merchant guild believed in the god of wealth. There was also the goddess of beauty, the major talk of the town. He could not be sure there were no other players. He thought subtle divinities seemed to have an advantage in gaining believers. Unfortunately, it was not likely, he could replicate such a thing. He did not know the exact effect but he was sure the game somehow had something in store for the evil part of his race. He was passing the town¡¯s tavern when he heard loud cheers. Despite having zero interest in the adult content of the game, curiosity got the better of him. There it was, the center of the commotion, a young man. He was not an expert by any means but his clothing did not fit. The cheer of the crowd for his first drink confirmed it. He wanted to go out, but this was not the place fit for Elijah. A thought stopped him ¡°Could it be a fit for Nyarlathotep?, Isn¡¯t this place quite suitable for some chaos¡±. It may not get him believers but there was no harm. Even if this place was real, people who are that drunk, would not remember anything. He did not remember it word by word but he was sure there was a story about an old man driven mad in a tavern to stop a young man from drinking in H.P. Lovecraft''s works. Unfortunately for him, the server was not by any means old, reducing any role-playing tendency that exited him. Still, the strong middle-aged uncle madness may have a better effect. It was slowly coming back to him. In the story, the reason the old man helped the young man was He was the son of the old flame at the time of his glory. When he was not rotting in a bar, he was a famous talented scholar who had the beauty. After the old man went insane, made a commotion in the bar, and died right there, the boy took his mother¡¯s picture of the corpse. He was in deep thought about how to replicate the story that he nearly missed the next thing. The boy named Timothy had come from a long scholarly family but wanted to be a knight. He animatedly described the riches he would gain by slaying dragons. Timothy was quite skinny so Elijah thought he may have some supernatural strength. To test that he abandoned his precious role-play and caused a commotion in the bar. It was a simple job even with his original skills but he decided to try Nightmare Bolt. As pathetic as it was, it worked greatly. He was looking forward to it but it was the most disappointing display he had ever seen. He had never expected Timothy was just bedazzled by the heroic myth. He was sure if the AI had been given data on psychology, he could have been saved from his hero complex. With a few whispers around Timothy escaped safely from the tavern. Elijah stayed behind. The useless skill fear mark turned out to be useful. Fear mark was a skill that marked a target, if he felt fear in the time limit, you would gain influence even if you did not cause it. Marking Timothy made Elijah able to find him later on. Elijah had been bullied once. He knew perfectly it was a game. That is why Timothy, an intellectual wanting to play cool, and being bullied for it was too real for this. This story needed a dark touch. It was time to play the evil god, Eve believed him to be. Chapter 8: A partial truth His purpose this time was followers. What would be the best way to get followers? Especially for an evil god? Lovecraftian worlds had answered it long ago. It would be to create a cult. Every cult requires a charming leader. Timothy did not fit the requirements at all. He was ordinary at best, and compared to Ka, He was a completely blank NPC. There was a world of difference between them, one was already a valuable alchemist who had proven his combat ability and wisdom, and the other was a young man seeking to become a night. Though his scholarly background might have some value, it still was not enough for him to work so hard, create a plan, and if all goes well make him an apostle. It certainly, was not enough for a cult leader. Worst of all he had a heroic spirit. It would be a great trait for a regular organization but a cult had to be hidden to achieve something. If there was one thing that could be fortunate, it was that he did want riches and recognition. He had already decided on a playing style as an evil god, suited to the mortal realm. He had already done it. Although some aspects would need to be worked out slowly, the gist of it was clear. A growing hidden cult and occasional disasters for generating influence. On a small scale, Ka and Elisa formed the cult and the beholder was the disaster. He admitted to himself. Choosing Timothy for this is more emotional. He would not regret doing this since he valued his emotions but it would be better if it was not a recurring occurrence. In a short period of time, he needed Timothy to take revenge, grow, and lose the heroic spirit. For that as unfortunate as it was he could not drive the middle ages man mad like he planned. He started working. Through the night, some of these guys had boasted of their expeditions to the dangerous forest located near the town. The other surprise had a theme. They would often wonder things like ¡°That forest is the source of the beast tides How did you survive.¡±. He made most of them dream of Timothy finding great treasures in the forest. Finishing with this he hurried to find Timothy. He made his dream of a castle not overly bright but not dark. He then entered the dream. Immediately after he had the urge to curse Eve and the developers. As soon as he entered the dream, the scene darkened and vilified. He had the urge to one day ask one of them ¡±Are you a 3-year-old child who believes in good and evil for god¡¯s sake?!¡±. ¡°Who are you?¡± Timothy questioned. The changes in his dream made the question change entirely. ¡°Are you an Evil God?!!!¡± exclaimed Timothy now trembling by fear. ¡°Yes I am,¡± said Elijah resigned. Still, he tried his best to start role-playing. ¡°Whyy.. arre.. you herre in my drream¡± his speech was nearly becoming incomprehensible from shaking. So much for the bravery of the youth seeking knighthood. ¡°Simple, I saw your hatred when you were bullied. I saw your desire for endless wealth and power. I saw you wanting to be a knight despite being suited for scholarly pursuits. I can give them all to you. However here is the question Are you willing to fight for your desire? Are you willing to follow an evil god for your ambition?, Do you have the determination necessary for paying the price of following one?¡± Throughout the speech, Timothy''s expression changes from fear to anger, anger to depression, and finally hope but it is not enough. ¡°What would become of me?¡± He had to take a gamble here. Timothy was neglected by his family. He needed a promise. ¡°If you pass the tests, you would be my apostle. As an apostle, you would belong to me. Your power will make kings bow down to their knees¡± Despite saying this Elijah was actually thinking how could you teach the importance of cult secrecy to a man with a desperate need for recognition. Still, It was great of him to be able to get his bearing after whatever terrifying aura the developers may have added to the evil camp. ¡°What should I do¡± Timothy spoke with more determination. ¡°Waking up you will be stronger. With that you know this dream is real. Go to the forest. When you get there wear a blindfold. With my powers, I will conjure illusions of bandits attacking you. This is the test. They will be realistic beyond your imagination defend yourself and with your newfound power, kill them. Do it with a sword that has value to you.¡± Elijah was specific with Timothy.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. He did not have much trust in the NPC. Perhaps it was unfair to him but he was way past the morality of gaming at this point. The last part was a test. In mythologies, the blessing of an item was a common theme. He wanted to know if he could somehow gain a skill like that. Despite being unlocked by Elisa¡¯s belief, the blessing skill had no belief or follow condition. Blessing Timothy, He went to the forest to prepare the stage. He had reached a milestone in his rune studies. He had pretty much isolated some runes'' meanings. Of them, the fear rune was one suited to his purpose. One of the incantations he made using the rune was called fear dominion. Its use was for taming creatures. He searched the forest. It was dangerous as they claimed. He found monsters but none were suitable. It was not until he found a pack of wolf monsters that he knew he had found the missing piece. He used fear domination one by one and tamed the entire wolf pack. Everything was ready. Timothy woke up terrified. After collecting himself, he realized his body had changed and become stronger. His expressions told everything you needed to know. Fortunately, Elijah discovered this soon. It seemed masks were going to be an essential cult accessory. It fits with the Nyarlathotep theme well. Nyarthalotep too, was an outer god with thousands of avatars and appearing in different faces every time. Timothy continued to the forest. He blindfolded himself. Despite hesitation, he did go deeper and deeper into the forest. He was being followed. Looked like the tavern guys had taken the bait. Not trusting his level 2 blessing skill, and Timothy¡¯s skills, He had the wolf pack attack those guys. Guiding them to kill the guys that seemed powerful. The rest were too busy to notice that wolves let the humans go a few each time in Timothy''s direction. They also made sure that the weaker ones escaped first. This was Elijah¡¯s master plan, the leveling arena. The leveling arena was designed to give Timothy a little power. He did not know how NPCs leveled or got classes, so this was the best he could do. He had to whisper to Timothy occasionally to keep the spirit. He knew there was a chance he would realize they were real, hesitate, and be killed. The reason some of the most intelligent and wise people in history were sometimes fooled was because they wanted to believe the lie. He needed Timothy to want this. ¡°You defeated this many, you were made to be a knight¡±, ¡°You were meant to be a champion, otherwise why would a god contact you¡±, and simple ¡°You can do it¡± worked marvels. In the end, only Timothy remained, and the corpses of men and wolves. He dismissed the remaining wolves and some humans himself. ¡°You have passed the first test, the second is simple open the blindfold and do not close your eyes,¡± He said manifesting without changing his appearance. Timothy opened the blindfold. He nearly fainted but he did not close his eyes. Elijah was genuinely impressed. He was beginning to be hopeful for him, but then he began throwing up. Realism was not always good. Timothy regained his composure. ¡°You have exceeded my expectations, I thought you would faint. Timothy¡± ¡°I am Nyarlathotep, the evil god of nightmares, I promised you power and I blessed you with it and there is more to come. I promised you wealth and I fulfilled it. Among the corpses are pouches filled with gold. I felt your hatred towards your bullies. Now, look among the people you killed are familiar faces. You fought courageously with a sword and defeated many enemies alone. I think you are well deserved to be a knight.¡± ¡°You!!! , I wished to become a knight, to kill monsters threatening humans. Now I have become a monster who killed humans. Knights have virtues and I have none. I don¡¯t care if I have to serve you but I am no knight¡±
Timothy has become a follower of you. You gain 10 influence.
Elijah had predicted many outcomes, even a suicide like Ka was possible, but a lecture on values in Arthurian legends was not one of them. Timothy¡¯s priorities never ceased to amaze him. ¡°Do knights not kill bandits?¡± He interrupted the talk of virtue. ¡°Yes but because their greed has made them monsters wearing skins of humans¡± It seemed the scholarly background showed itself a little sometimes at least. ¡°Do you know why they were in this forest? I showed them a dream of you finding treasures here. I did not lie, since you did find treasures. They were here to kill you and steal the treasure. By your logic, you did the same thing as the knight¡± ¡°They were here to kill me?¡± ¡°Yes, and in your own words, You killed the monsters wearing human skins¡± ¡°I know, I know I am a monster. I killed humans. I am standing on their corpses. I am following an evil god out of my greed. Knights are honorable they would never do this¡­. but they were here to kill me. I defended myself. They were greedy,...a knight would do the same thing. I didn¡¯t want this. I didn¡¯t want to kill people but if knights do it too. Was I admiring murderers? I am not good but are they? Are they good?¡± Elijah seemed to see the world shatter for Timothy. He seemed broken for a while till he seemed to reach an idea. He looked at him with an intensity he did not expect. ¡°Why are you an evil god Nyarlathotep? What does it mean? There are no books where there is an explanation. It just says evil gods are evil, and enemies of the Good gods. What makes a god good or bad.¡± ¡°I will answer you but why do you ask?¡± He was now genuinely curious. ¡°Because in the books of old, followers of good gods are called good and noble and those following evil gods as bad and cruel. I want to know what is at the heart of the matter. What makes gods differ?¡± ¡°You are brave to ask that. No from the first time, you were brave. To talk to an evil god like that, you do have potential. Because of that, I will tell the truth about gods¡± He decided to answer truthfully. At least what he believed was the likely scenario. ¡°The best way to think about the gods is that they are of another race. Imagine gods like dragons or great beings. Great because they wield many means, power, and knowledge. However, they are still limited. They have their own needs. That is why they gather faith, followers, and believers¡± ¡°Evil gods are ready to put their needs and desires first. They may destroy a mortal city to gather faith or people¡¯s worship through fear. However, there is not the vast difference you are imagining. A good god may also cause a disaster to show their divine wrath.¡± ¡°What about you specifically Nyarlathotep? Why are you an evil god?¡± ¡°I helped my first apostle, an alchemist named Ka, get revenge by summoning a beholder¡± ¡°Summoning a demon?!! No¡­. The story is not that simple. I never thought to ask "Why did evil guys do evil". I won''t make the same mistake anymore. Why did he want revenge?¡± ¡°The villagers were going to burn his daughter alive. Accusing him of being a warlock and his daughter, a witch.¡± He agreed to be truthful about gods, not the rest. Chapter 9: The Nightmare Paladin ¡°Why did you help him? Did you do it to spread fear?¡± ¡°I did it for Ka. Because Ka was an experienced alchemist who had tried to create the elixir of life, he was my first apostle.¡± ¡°What happened to him?¡± ¡°He died as everything did in the age of war. I, myself, am barely a remnant of what I once was¡± said Elijah saying the game lore to avoid explaining, the scene of Ka murdering his friend. ¡°Make no mistake Timothy, There is a reason I am an evil god. I chose the life of Ka and his daughter over everyone in the village.¡± ¡°So you mean you care about those who follow you regardless of the consequence, and that is why you are an evil god. Does that mean my life now means more to you than the town¡¯s people¡± said Timothy finally taking the bait. ¡°Exactly, Are you not standing on the corpses of men used as training partners for you? Look carefully and see the ones who did not get to fight you, have killed the most wolves¡± Timothy did look carefully through the carnage. ¡°You prepared this entire setup for me. Used them for my growth. You are selfish by our standards and evil in our eyes. However, if I were to look at it from a dragon¡¯s perspective, I knew I could destroy a mortal town easily. I knew they were mere ants to me but one of them is mine now. So I would use these ants to make mine stronger. You care for me?!!¡± ¡°gods are not dragons, but the conclusion you reached is right. I did tell you you could become an apostle¡± Timothy appeared to have a hard time accepting this, but he seemed to have made some sort of decision. ¡°If you care for me. Then it is only right I care for you. A knight oath is of virtue but I know of one above it. I vow to become your sword, I vow to become a paladin serving you for eternity.¡±
Congratulation Nyarlathotep. Timothy has become your oath-bound follower. You have received 120 influence.
It seemed he once again skipped the great follower rank. Only know its name because of the skill description mentioning it.
You have leveled up to 2. Because of the extensive use of authority over might and your divinity''s subtlety. You have received 4 DA and 1 DP.
He was surprised. He thought level 1 was special. Which RPG game would take the joy of stat distribution? He brought up his status.
Name Nyarlathotep
Titles None
Level 2 (118/ 343)
Myth Tier 0
Race Nascent Evil God
Divinities Nightmare
DP(Divine Power) 3
DA(Divine Authority)Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. 9
DT(Divine Territory) Tier 1 (1/10)
He was not overly disappointed though. He was mostly using the skills and incantations anyway. Except for telekinesis, he had nothing that scaled with DP. Though he knew that his divinity was the reason his incantations did not require DP much. The mention of his extensive use of skills hinted at an interesting fact. Even with nightmare as divinity, if he had used DP extensively it would have risen more. He had wanted to experiment if he could somehow gain the ability to bless an item. Now that Timothy had given him the influence to finally become level 2; he deserved a reward. Arthurian childhood dream would be a good gift for Timothy. ¡°If that is the case. Kneel and present your sword to me¡± Timothy was taken aback. He hurriedly knelt. He seemed to care neither for the bloody scene nor the corpses of men and wolves. He was excited. He presented his sword¡± Elijah took it carefully. He tried to be as elegant as possible. He did the knighthood ceremony. ¡°You shall be my paladin for eternity¡± To make the moment special, he cast the great blessing right then. He was imagining the golden light CG effect. That was why he was so surprised at the dark purple flame that appeared on Timothy¡¯s body. He almost lost his composure.
Congratulation Nyarlathotep. Timothy has become your apostle.
A sword of significant meaning to Timothy has been used ceremonially in his rise. The sword has been blessed and you have unlocked the skill Bless Item. Appraise Item skill unlocked.
Bless Item (1 / 10) You can bless an item if that item has been tied to you in some way or form.
Appraise Item (1/10) This skill lets you appraise items. The more this item is connected to you and the simpler it is, the more accurate the result.
Using the skill, the sword flew from his hand. It hovered in the air. Purple flames ignited from thin air and engulfed the sword. The sword was blackened. It became a gorgeous black sword with a purple gem as adornment. Blessing an item required naming it. He named this sword Nyx after the primordial goddess of night in Greek mythology. Timothy had changed too. His hair changed from dirty blond to pitch black. His ocean-green eyes had a sinister taint to them. Elijah checked his status.
Name Timothy
Level 27/ 100
Follower Rank Apostle
Race human
Occupation Nightmare Paladin
Life Born in a family with pursuit of knowledge who served the town¡¯s mayor, the count, for years. He tried very hard to live up to its reputation. Losing the race to his siblings for their parent¡¯s approval, he had been fascinated with tales of knighthood. He sought to be more. His meeting with Nyarlathotep disillusioned him. He swore to become the sword of the one who cared for him and became the nightmare paladin. He wields a sword blessed by the evil god himself.
Elijah was sure that the original level of Timothy could not be this high. His leveling arena should have worked. What intrigued him more was the class. Ka despite being a level 52 NPC had not changed class when he became an apostle. It either was because he had not become a god at that point or a blank NPC had its advantage. He appraised the sword as well.
Name Nyx
Item Type Blessed Artifact
Item Rank Rare
Divinity Tier 1
Item History A sword belonging to the apostle of Nyarlathotep, Timothy. It has been blessed by the evil god. Despite being a Tier 1 blessed artifact. It is the weapon of an apostle. As the apostle creates legends and grows, his sword shall grow by the blessing of evil god.
Timothy waved his sword and a green crescent light was shot out. The tree struck by it fell. Strangely the fallen trunk began to whither and vanish into green motes of light. ¡°So this is the power of an apostle,¡± said Timothy, strangely calm. Elijah was surprised. Everything had gone better than he expected. Timothy''s demeanor had changed. His change of class had brought him power. Nyx had become a growth weapon. If there was one thing he wanted to complain about, it was Timothy¡¯s appearance change. It was cool but this was too conspicuous. However, this was not the tutorial village. This was a city and there would be some cosmetic items made by mages. For now, he had to tell this to Timothy. The plan could not go without its leader. ¡°Yes, and there is more to come. Timothy, it is time for you to know exactly what would be your mission¡± ¡°My mission?¡± ¡°Yes, an apostle is how a god spreads their influence. I want you to create a cult¡± So he explained what exactly he wanted to do. He could not believe he was explaining things to an AI. It always made him feel ridiculous but knew that the best way to treat them was as characters. They were designed that way. The more advanced the game, these interactions will be more natural. The companies did it for profit, but to a gamer like him meant that in this game there would be AI rights protesters or those sympathetic. They were simply the flat earthers of the modern world. He shuddered to think about them. They were everywhere too, even in Oxford he had heard a few people complaining about the morality issue. One girl Salome, the pro player well known in Oxford, once talked so passionately about her defeating the immoral player who killed NPCs, that he wanted to throw up. The plan was for Timothy to select a few people he knew. As these were the first stages of his cult, he would ensure they were cult material. To make sure the NPC would be suitable, he would use something similar to cults¡¯ initiation rites. He had no idea if it would create the feeling of belonging to the community, like real-world cults and some universities fraternities. He had decided this initiation for now would be giving these people a dream, checking the dream, and then appearing in it. He wanted them to be hidden as much as possible. He was sure he had seen other player¡¯s believers. He could not see anything. The game did not show any indicators. This meant without some special skills it was likely he could develop hidden in the city. Chapter 10: West of the kingdom is for us Elijah was searching. It had felt great that his plans were progressing but it was also surprising why he had not met a player in the city. A lot had changed to the simple websites and forums of the game, now they were exploding with new content. He looked at the info available. Players were not all-powerful. Every blessed especially saints and apostles had divine protection. This was discovered by gamers who tried PvP. The divine cities were safe zones, the players had tried the mortal realm and had found out you can not hurt each other as an avatar. You could only do it when the person had manifested. Finally, they had found the answer outside the cities in the divine realm, which was complete freedom. The divine incarnation was different you had no restrictions. There were monsters and exploration grounds outside the city. It seemed the game became the typical RPG game there. Elijah already knew that much. The reason he did not choose to explore that much outside the city was because there were a lot of monsters and he was alone. He had no incantations purely suited for combat and he knew despite being reluctant in these hunting grounds having a team was much better. Plus though he hated the developers, the condition to be an evil god seemed like abusing NPCs, not player killers. This meant that maybe the city would not be that bad. These protections may not look much but Elijah could already see this would turn the mortal realm into a strategy game. You could not do much unless through decent he guessed which would mean apostles and saints would be the most valuable pieces you had. Furthermore, a player on the forum had died before having an apostle or saint and had canceled his avatar skill, he had appeared in another mortal city. This meant that these valuable pieces also functioned as an anchor point and if you killed another player¡¯s great blessed, you could somehow kick them out of the mortal city you were in. Now he had the full picture. This info also had a hidden implication. An implication that brought a grin to his face. The players in his city were probably not pros. He could not be sure but if beauty and wealth were used as combat rather than fast acquisition of believers in the mortal realm, this meant a huge strategic mistake. There were already famous players showing special types of power that seemed impossible to achieve with level 1 runes. A player named Eris could create a vortex, and one named Odin could make trees sentient. He knew he had to level up fast, even if not to a pro-player level, he was probably low-level. He had spent a lot of time in the tutorial and then this scheme. He was also an evil god so he had to be creative on how to get influence. He was sure a player like the god of wealth, Midas, or Perfume, the god of beauty, despite spending most of the time hunting in the divine realm had earned more influence in the mortal realm alone. Let alone the drops of divine beasts that sometimes gave stats and levels. He had to get serious. He spent some time seeing if he could decipher runes. He was quite successful. He thought he had grasped the trick even though the AI program had yet to produce the results. He logged in. He finally had found the key runes. He had found essential runes that made the structure and some that were more defined and finally, he had a good vision about nightmare divinity. He divided the incantations he could find into three different varieties. Crowd control incantations worked mostly by fear rune, and attacks containing status effects worked mostly by nightmare rune and conjuration incantations. Conjuration was the most important in some way because he thought it had the potential for direct combat. Conjuring gave a similar ability to a mage/summoner hybrid. The game allowed for the creation of an incantation list in that you just put the successful results of the incantations you had made.
Nightmare Bolt(efficient) An efficient bolt of nightmare energy. It deals damage based on DA and has a chance to trap the target in a nightmare for a few seconds. It has a medium range and consumes little divinity.
Nightmare Flame Make flames out of nightmare energy and set the target aflame. It deals damage major DA, and minor DP. It inflicts burn status effect.
Fear Domination Dominate a creature through fear and control it for a period of time. There is no particular limit on the number of creatures.
Paralyze Paralyze the target using the green lightning born out of fear.
Conjure Lesser Veil Make a nightmarish veil cover what is underneath. The veil can be anything you imagine but beware it will always appear fearsome.
Beholder Arms An incantation that conjures the tentacles of a beholder. They can be controlled by your mind.
A Thousand Eye Conjure eyes that shoot projectilesThe story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Divine Orb(Nightmare) A basic incantation of divine energy itself. Use the divine energy to fire an orb to an enemy. Using nightmare divinity this type of divine orb has less damage in return for randomly inflicting a status effect and a reduction of cost.
Divine Shield A basic incantation of divine energy. Create a shield of it.
The last two were incantations that allowed him to unlock a new skill as well.
Congratulations Nyarlathotep, Your mastery of divine energy has grown. You have unlocked the skill Divine Sense.
It was a skill that allowed you to see divine energy. For now, the only usage he knew of the skill was to identify if someone was blessed. The mortal realm with this skill took a new look. Activating the skill your world would become black and white. In this monotonous world, you would see colors on some people. Specifically, he saw three colors in Misthaven. He saw Timothy glowing dark purple, a few merchants dim golden and a few others dim pink. He guessed it was because of the divinity and the blessing extent. It was a useful skill since he now could theoretically find the saints of Midas and Perfume. This skill had revealed a piece of terrible news. His hidden cult strategy was not going to work well unless he had some way to conceal the believers. This meant the best way for him till he found a foolproof way, was to generate fear using mobility as an advantage. He could use Timothy to cause a calamity here and then tell him to go somewhere else. Like a pilgrim journey but everywhere causing chaos. He sighed. He was being hasty. This was the beginning of the game. There was no guarantee that the two players who were in the same city had the skill. They did not even care so much right now. They were focused on hunting divine beasts and that gave him an opportunity. He was going to grow the cult fast, uncaring of anyone noticing. He was going to take the city whatever it took even using methods deemed evil then kill their saints. Even if he could not hold the territory for long, he would have leveled up. Maybe upped his myth tier and accessed shops and things that made being hidden a possibility or offered another playing style. Abyss City was for evil gods he could not believe there was no way for them to play this game. Plus strategic use of the city could prove useful. If he allowed himself to dream, he could make Misthaven openly a stronghold worshiping the evil god Nyarlathotep. He hated being part of a group but there were sometimes there could be advantages. If he had a group now that could even take cities close to each other then he would not fear the reaction of the kingdom. Suddenly two people called him. They were his brother and sister, he was going to decline but there was nothing evil going on so maybe there would not be a better time. That was when he checked their in-game characters. They were calling him in the game. Their game characters were surprising, to say the least. They both had played evil, one was called Raven the evil goddess of darkness and the other he guessed was Mark played Hastur the evil god of plagues. He sensed something strange. Mark''s name was from the Cthulhu mythos. He could not delay the call any further. ¡°Hello Mark, Hello Delilah¡± ¡°Hello Elijah or better Nyarlathotep the evil god of nightmares, when were you going to tell me you were playing evil?¡± said Mark giving him a headache. He, for a second, had forgotten that they had seen his character too. ¡°Don¡¯t worry it was not such a surprise we watched your game play¡± said Deli helpfully. ¡°My gameplay but why would you? How did you even get the idea?¡± ¡°Hey I am not stupid I knew you were lying. You? Happy?! Could it be any more obvious?¡± said Deli ¡°So Nyarlathotep what city are you in?¡± said Mike using a character name. ¡°Misthaven but why do you ask?¡± ¡°Simple we want to play with you. I want us to be an evil pantheon.¡± ¡°An evil pantheon where is this coming from? Is it even possible?¡± ¡°Of course. This game has a guild system too but it is for gods so Pantheon. I should probably tell you before you figure this out yourself. Mother wants to start a pro team. When I saw you I decided how much fun you were having playing evil. I thought it would not be a bad idea to make a mostly friends and family guild ourselves. I would convince Mother that an evil pantheon has its selling potential¡± "I don''t understand you mean she was going to use us as a power move to keep the gaming team she is building ours? Why would she do that? And more than that why would you go out of your way like that Mike? You could have easily played into her fantasies a little while and used your studies to ditch her¡± ¡°I could not help it you seemed to enjoy something. I never see you enjoying things and Can you not make this sound like a political company situation? The idea had just come to Mother. She has yet to create the team. She just wants us to have a good future. You may think you are an outsider but you are not, you are family.¡± "A total coincidence I am sure. Mike, did Mother tell you before I took the term off?" "No. Before you ask Yes I understand how that sounds and I know I had suggested this idea and got rejected but it is because of Holy Wars not what you think" Despite not for a second thinking his mother was doing this out of the love in her heart, Elijah was touched by MIke''s effort. "What made you decide to use a Lovecraftian name though?" "I saw you already chose Nyarlathotep as your theme. I wanted to have something close" ¡°He is lying, I saw how much he was mesmerized by evil you. I was too. Your special playstyle would make you a celebrity in no time. We had agreed to go with your theme but he was supposed to roleplay the one with mist powers¡± said Deli He could see on Mike''s character''s face he enjoyed this. "You mean Magnum Innominandum, the nameless mist." "That no matter how much I wanted I could not convince myself to name my character nameless," said Mike "If he was supposed to be the nameless mist, Oh, Now I understand, So that is why you are the goddess of darkness?" "Yes darkness suits me right," said Deli "Yes it does, it truly does" Elijah was not lying. Delilah always restricted so much of herself. It was not like darkness suited her per se, more that she seemed more free. ¡°How do you want to come to Misthaven¡± ¡°The first time you just use the avatar skill. You choose by imagining the town,¡± said Mike ¡°Oh what divine city are you in,¡± said Deli ¡°Abyss City¡± replied Elijah Elijah had a smile on his face. He had expected he had to deal with a hardcore strategy game but now this meant not only he could hunt in Abyss City he also could make a grand strategy. He was feeling pathetic planning to overtake a city. He had the feeling of destroying a village in the tutorial and a city in the game was too much of a linear progression. ¡°Wait don¡¯t come to Misthaven¡± ¡°Why? You don¡¯t want us there? Lone wolf till the end¡± said Deli in surprise. ¡°No I know that look what kind of scheme you are making,¡± said Mike ¡°Nothing I just think I should not have a problem taking this city if Raven can take over white valley city and you can take Scarlet City we could have the west of the kingdom to ourselves¡± ¡°How do you want to take over a city alone? Even if we are gods in this game we are low-leveled and there are other players how do you want to do that ¡± said Mike. So Elijah explained step by step his plans to take over Misthaven. He was so engrossed in details that he did not notice the faces his brother and sister were making. Chapter 11: The Great Plan His plan had changed again and again. It needed to be for a true masterpiece. A good planner always adapts to changes. A strategy that can not adapt to changes has to be discarded. Fortunately, his plans did not need to be discarded. His plan for taking over the kingdom''s west was fast. It would happen in three nights and 1 day, for a total of three days in-game time. He had analyzed his brother and sister''s runes while enhancing his own understanding. He had found they could use the divine energy incantations too. His brother and sister both had access to the fear rune. He could not be sure if it was offered to every evil god or only to some divinities. This meant that fear domination was a skill they could access. The forest that the tavern guys in Misthaven warned of beast tides was not a regular forest it was called the great moonlight forest said to be housing elves. It encompassed the western border of the Evernight kingdom where Elijah had developed. His trial for Timothy had been in the outskirts, only. He had to choose the outskirts because he was not sure if the tavern NPCs would risk it otherwise. Mike and Delilah convinced him there was no need to act separately. Mike convinced of the potential of the evil pantheon idea and excited about the family time, had already spent some of his savings over the years to higher an editor. Starlight scenes were not that useful when you wanted to grow and wait for the bigger fish. No big company would support someone just because of the trailer. The only way the idea could be successful enough for Mom to let them go was by getting sponsorship from somewhere huge. Deli had already created social media. The plan had two stages, he called the first the Great Nightmare and the second the Great Beast Tide. The first was the evolution of his nightmare initiation. They would make every single person have a nightmare. Choosing a relatively dangerous location in the forest and nighttime as the initiation. The first would be to make all three cities, go through the nightmare initiation. Because of the scale, he could not personalize anymore. Especially, since some of these were done by Deli and Mike whose character¡¯s dream skills were not as high level. He had created initiation ritual essentials and levels for different people. The first level that most people would see was just a warning. It was drowning in a sea full of visions of people being eaten by beasts. Its purpose was to make the cities fearful and generate some influence in time. The second level mainly targeted them. In the days following some NPCs would dream of a fae calling herself the queen of the night. This fae would show a location in the forest. This was an initiation site. The third level was an attempt at weakening. Some NPCs would dream of becoming possessed or told by a great father figure or mother figure that they needed to assassinate the blessed, the hostile strong NPCs, and the mayor for the greater good. He planned to use the lore in chronicles for the figures, He needed the equivalent of Ouranus and Gaia from the Greeks, the primordial. It needed to sound important and destiny-like to give real insensitive. The beast tide was self-explanatory, three of them would go deeper into the forest, and use their abilities to cause a beast tide. He thought with fear rune he should be able to create an incantation for widespread panic in creatures even if he could not there were other solutions. His current skills like fear domination could do it too but much slower. He actually had hope that plague runes offered to his brother could cause madness or bloodlust condition in monsters. In theory, plague divinity would beat nightmare in a wide area effect any day. In summary, the plan would be to create a beast tide as an external problem for the cities and also as a test for NPCs. Choose the ones we would like and have them blessed to create cults, while the city¡¯s guardians are exhausted take control over it from inside using cults, assassination, and manifesting if needed for the final touches. Manifesting allowed attacking the blessed too. The final part was actually a bit wasteful. If they could have positive images he would have slowly extended influence to the mayors who held count titles. He could imagine the thrill of a political strategy game but unfortunately, it was quite impossible. What they could do was to take these three cities and grow the cults fast enough to extend their influence to the counts¡¯ whole territories. Meaning the villages and towns under their jurisdiction. If they were successful the west of the kingdom would really belong to them. He was also somewhat relaxed about leveling up now even if there was no better way. They could always just periodically create beast tides. He was feeling great about the idea.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Nyarlathotep, God feels weird to call you that, are you sure this would the timing would work, if we make this city have the nightmare by the time we travel to each of these cities and set the nightmare wouldn¡¯t it be a better use of the time if we just focus on this city,¡± said Mike who he now had to call Hastur. He loved Lovecraft but even he felt weird calling his brother Hastur. ¡°You are right, it is a bit ambitious but I solved the problem when I was with Raven. It is actually making me a little horrified how the pieces of the puzzle have gathered. Although frankly, this is too subjective. Hastur, you see actually for this plan my divinity might be the most redundant. Yours can be used for the beast tide best and Raven¡¯s actually offered teleportation ability as level 1 runes. Although it is pretty limited it is enough to do this for three cities and three consecutive nights after that we do really need to focus on a city. I guess the game should offer something for taking control of a city. Let¡¯s hope it helps with this.¡± ¡°You know, it is not exactly the pieces of the puzzle when you analyze runes. You know one of my best friends is a pro right? He told me a good incantation formula is a rare drop from monsters outside the divine cities. Most of the gamers have turned this into a luck-based competition. You did not crack the game¡¯s rune language, did you? Even mom can not save you if Philemon sues you ¡° ¡°I do not have enough runes to crack the rune system and it is ambiguous technically the law mentions created languages. I just have to prove they made it based on old north runes or something. These AIs would not create it based on scratch.¡± ¡°Philemon would not sue him, they would probably just pay money to shut you up. They may even sponsor you. The damage by spreading that is worse. It had happened to a company about 3 years ago. You should definitely crack the rune system¡± said Delilah returning from testing the new incantation. ¡°Why do you two believe that I can crack this language? It is honestly hard. It does not follow a simple order?¡± ¡°You are the genius you tell me? Though the incantation worked isn¡¯t the cool down too long¡± said Deli ¡°What do you expect from level 1 runes? We are low leveled as fuck.¡± said Elijah a little offended. He had spent time on the incantation. ¡°First language, second give Raven some points. It is hard to feel low-leveled when you are in the middle of overtaking three cities in-game¡± said Mike ¡°In this game, we are gods what do you expect? Actually, this should be the standard progression anyway, gain influence in the mortal world where you are actually powerful to use in the divine realm where you have no power at all¡± ¡°I see. So play the strategy game to get to role-play. It is actually good but why don''t many do this then?¡± said Deli. ¡°No some are doing it. You know Andrew my best friend?¡± asked Mike. ¡°The one who quit medical school¡± exclaimed Deli. ¡°Yes, he is a pro gamer. He told me they were doing the same thing but they planned to take the influence of one city for the guild not this much¡± said Mike ¡°Sooner or later they would expand. The problem is we don¡¯t have the luxury. I don¡¯t know much but this game seems realistic. This would mean that while the kingdom¡¯s reaction to gods would be a question to us who are considered evil gods would not be. I do not think gaining and maintaining a territory is open to us¡± ¡°You mean the game would not let us maintain these cities,¡± said Deli ¡°Yes, probably they send some sort of expedition force,¡± said Elijah ¡°Then why take cities at all¡± said Mike ¡°Because the territory is too much of an advantage. I think the only realistic way we three could hold territory would be to take a vast amount right now where there is no player actively on the side of the kingdom,¡± said Elijah ¡°Doesn¡¯t this mean evil gods are at a disadvantage? Wouldn¡¯t that be unbalanced?.¡± asked Mike. ¡°I think you forget the inherent advantage though. We can gain influence based on fear. You saw what I did at the tutorial. You can do it easily. Find a mage get him to summon a demon in your name and generate fear. If this mage is your apostle you can order him to go to the next town and the next, till you generate enough fear. My problem is that it can not be endgame play for us¡± said Elijah ¡°Because the gods would be protectors of the kingdom right?¡± ¡°Exactly¡± Elijah was actually thinking about how to defeat the expedition force of the kingdom. He hoped the levels they would gain in this plot of theirs would be useful and give him an answer. These levels meant more because he would see how the stat assignment went for his brother and sister. He had considered using telekinesis more so he could gain some DP but he was not sure he wanted to yet. If he did not have a single DP major skill that had potential was raising the stats that important. It was just hard not to feel he was going wrong about this. When he first started playing he was fascinated by specialization, then as he gamed more he realized most games would require full balanced builds or at least having balanced stats at first then specialization. This game was new in a lot of ways that he rationally knew there was no comparison but he was being stressed. Chapter 12: Jasons POV Jason¡¯s POV Jason was an editor. The key word being was. He had long found a job in a good company. They made good VR movies. He was very stressed lately. The company wanted to sponsor a holy war team. They intended to market them strongly and hoped to be able to enter the scene. They were already late to the game by a long shot. Honestly, he was not at all hopeful about his company¡¯s future. Most major pro players had already been invested, the remaining would not be worth heavy investment. There was always the chance a new dark horse would appear or the company could make their team. The first case oftentimes, required a one-time investment more than even the named players earned. The second would have a huge chance of failure but if it succeeded could make a stable future in the market. As you would expect from Camilla, the company¡¯s new manager, the company had decided to invest in sponsoring a rising team and tasked the employees to find the so-called rising team. With the amount the company was willing to offer, he doubted he could find a team let alone a rising one. He was tired of hours-long searching for the future team. He was resting when Mark called him. He and Mark knew each other briefly at high school. Mark was willing to pay good money for editing a gameplay movie. The work itself was not much so he did not mind. He was not expecting, however, to see Holy Wars. As he was going to postpone it, he suddenly was in the mood to watch a little. At least he could see what he was dealing with. He saw three players standing outside a town. From Mark¡¯s descriptions he gathered the one with dark brown hair and yellow eyes was himself, the one with black hair and red eyes should be his brother, and finally the black-haired young lady with gleaming black eyes should be his sister. They all looked evil, was this some kind of cosplay? He watched as the brother Elijah as he remembered pointed in different directions and they all separated. Each rushes in a different direction. Elijah in the center, Mark at the left, and Raven who looked familiar towards the right. Oh, there it was Raven was Delilah, he followed her for ages. She had a million followers and still, the count was rising upward. This was good, it meant that they had marketing potential. He nearly forgot he was not assessing a team for the company now. Focusing again, he noticed that they were making people dream. Mark, unlike some of the teams he was assessing this morning, had the decency to cut the dream files separately. Although it was a given when he watched how many people they had put to dream. The files were surprising. They were organized, if not in the sense he liked, but the real surprise was they were separated into three themes. He watched a few of the files in the first category named The Nightmare of Beasts. While the variations were commendable, most were more brutal than he expected. The people getting eaten, torn apart, and mauled by monsters was a tad bit more than his cup of tea. It made him read Mark¡¯s messages carefully to find out why the hell they would show these. Mark had said they were evil gods. He had heard of evil players but he did not know they had a different camp entirely. He had said he was not sure how much this information was worth but he had to give it as a token of sincerity. The humorous person he was, he had written it was clear from the files anyway. He also said they had a theme from the father of cosmic horror, whatever that meant. Fortunately, the brother¡¯s character name should give him a clue. He searched Nyarlathotep and was quite bewildered about how someone could love these. He searched for the author as well. He read Tomb one of his works and was quite intrigued with the writing style. As someone who worked in the gaming field, he instantly recognized the style had inspired many masterpieces of the genre. His curiosity was satisfied and sufficiently intrigued by the concept he started to watch the rest of the events with more enthusiasm. He watched as they regrouped and with a wave of Delilah, they were consumed by darkness, only to reappear in another town. Teleportation from darkness was an interesting skill. It was all the more interesting because a famous pro player had the exact divinity. He wondered if they would develop differently because one was evil. With a million followers and the divinity of a pro player she had potential, he surmised. He had to skip here because it was the same routine. He was thinking they would do this a second night when he watched some people coming out of town. He found this was the second category of dreams. The fae introduced herself as the queen of the night serving the evil goddess Raven a member of the Azathoth pantheon. He doubted the pantheon thing was real because the trio of siblings could not have reached myth tier 1 yet. The interesting part was that even a cursory glance told him that they were selected. They gathered outside the town. Raven appeared and took them to a lake in the forest. It was a beautiful scene the moonlight reflected on the lake. These people gathered, and they manifested. The trio of siblings each took the manifestation part of avatar skills to another level. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. He had seen players challenge the limitation of the skill. As long as it was generally like a human body to not harm the person in reality, it was allowed. He had seen all sorts of strange things. The player trying nudity was the least particular among them. Still, he had to give it to the trio, they had managed to pull something of an entire nature altogether. Elijah looked like a human thin enough to show the ribcage, if the human had dark blue rough skin, had hands growing out of his hands, replaced the head and hair with tentacle, and had a hollow wound on the tentacle as the face. Raven had taken a wispy, shadowy form with eyes, mouths, and tentacles swirling. The mouths looked as if a worm was hollowed, layered, and had serrated teeth on every layer of the body like a grinding machine. Mark was the most normal. He seemed like a human wearing a yellow robe but had tentacles as hands and feet. He supposed they were generally shaped human, regardless of the effects and tentacles. He did not think they were able to move the tentacles unless it was part of a skill. They guided everyone to form a circle, one by one the NPCs would go to the center where they would pledge allegiance. The siblings had used whisper to another level too. When the NPC would hear overlapped maddening whispers of the three at the same time, they would be acknowledged to have passed the trial and would be blessed then rejoin the circle. Maybe it was the timing or environment, but this ceremony was strangely fascinating. This ceremony was not the only one happening. There were two for the new apostles. Nyarlathotep¡¯s apostle was also present. Then the groups were returned to town. The three canceled their manifestation and went deeper into the forest. Mark used a skill that caused a miasma to spread in the forest. Elijah and Raven tamed monsters with some skill that caused them fear. They spent a night doing this. In the morning it was clear what they had done. Monsters went berserk and the tamed monsters led them. A huge wave of monsters attacked. Each of the three towns had their hands full. It was amazing. At this stage of the game, no one knew how much power each town possessed. The shield covers the city, the mages, and mercenaries or adventurers. The three still were adding to the wave of monsters more and more. Jason had seen the light of the leveling up several times. Mark had not been careful enough. He had realized they were probably leveling up this disaster somehow. Whether it is fear, madness, or the calamity itself, it helped evil gods level up. He thought it was something of a grand leveling spree for evil gods. He doubted it would be something more but the cities resisted well, some people seemed immune to these dreams others were blessed and were helping. There were saints and even a player actively helping the soldiers. When the night came and the battle continued he had a change of heart. Raven brought the trio to the cities once again. During the next day, the towns became chaotic. Assassination attempts one after another, unrest, and the NPCs present that night tried to take over the towns. He checked the dream files again. He brought up the third category of dreams. Its variations were a lot more than the others, some told of a prophecy, the others told of a terrible future or salvation. Most of them had the mother goddess, the one whose body was the world, or the lord of chaos whose body was the pillar of the world in them. He had not read the game chronicles nor did he know anyone else who would at the start of the game, but Mike¡¯s files were through. He did not remember Mark being that through, he guessed this must be the work of the genius brother, he bragged in high school about. Taking over the town was faced with the town¡¯s most powerful defenders. The knights who had sworn to protect the noble. Each town had a mayor and this mayor was a noble. The towns¡¯ mayors would mostly be Counts. For a minor town, it could also be barons. Above count were nobles like marquises and dukes which had vast territory, but they did not manage. Many counts were vassals to them. They usually lived in capital cities or prosperous towns. Players usually appeared in towns of sufficient scale to be governed by a count. As was the case of these three towns. Though the focus of the movie was the three towns he was sure the beast tide would destroy many villages. The solution to knights was simpler than he imagined. The players were not present, saints and captains defending assassinated or weakened, and the apostles came. They were powerful but still not enough to overwhelm the knights. The knights, however, were not blessed and were fair game to gods¡¯ spells. The cults quickly took over the towns. Mark clearly had shown enthusiasm in editing some parts but they were amateur. However, that was why it was his job to edit them. If he worked far more than the amount Mike had paid him for and if he used the company¡¯s resources to do it, was because first he was morbidly fascinated, second he was a fan of Delilah, and third he would rather the company stayed alive for a bit more. At least did not go through bankruptcy till he retired. It was hard to hope for that when Camilla pushed to enter this highly competitive world and yet lacked the budget to do so but now he was seeing hope. Their budget may be lacking for a full-fledged pro team but they could support Mike¡¯s group. Chapter 13: Talk of a mediocre space company Elijah was happy. It had been a long time since he had felt excited. He had planned and executed perfectly, which was enough to make him smile, and the levels he had gained helped. His status screen looked much better now.
Name Nyarlathotep
Titles None
Level 7 (2843/ 32686)
Myth Tier 1
Race Nascent Evil God
Divinities Nightmare
DP(Divine Power) 8
DA(Divine Authority) 29
DT(Divine Territory) Tier 1 (1/10)
The influence each level required grew much higher than he expected. More like old RPG formulas. From 343 to become level 3, it grew to 1124 to become level 4. The 5th and 6th level respectively needed 3125 and 7876 influence. For level 8 it was now an astronomical amount to gather. Fortunately, he realized he had misread the situation. Fear was not the only emotion providing influence while it provided more for them. This meant that with their cult now owning three towns each having a population between 1000 to 8000 NPCs they would accumulate influence each day. There was no need to plan extensively for a while. Another discovery that had them thrilled on the night of initiation was that followers and believers could be shared between them. This matched the idea of the pantheon. Still, that night initiation rite could be described as choosing quality over quantity. They now had more great followers and true believers. They even had some oath-bounds and fanatics but interestingly at that rank most of the NPCs chose to follow one of them rather than the Azathoth pantheon to worship. He had finally reached Myth Tier 1 at level 5 and had access to a new memory dungeon and history quest. This should give him a massive power boost. Elijah would be lying if he said that was the reason for his happiness. He remembered Mike saying he was not an outsider but these years he felt like it. Often he felt alone while being surrounded by people. He was someone who valued his alone time but would like a deep connection. He did not tell Mike but he would repay him for the trouble he had gone through. This incredible emotion and illusive feeling we search our whole lives for, called happiness is fragile sometimes, especially for someone of his disposition. To him, this was the high that made the next bit more difficult to endure. It is the most cruel thing to give light to someone who lived in darkness their whole life and then take it away. His father had left a note on his desk. His siblings may think he hated his mother but that would be a lie. His mother may be a teacher but was a businesswoman at heart. Her mind worked with numbers and he could understand it even though he would admit having wished for her affection once. He did not like when she involved him but he knew he was being too sensitive. She ultimately loved her children in the way that she wanted to leave a legacy for them.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The reason for his sensitivity was his father. The doctorate of aerospace with a mediocre space company. At any other time, he would say that the company was respectable but today was not one of those days. Like any other space company, they wanted to go to space, specifically Mars. Dreams of immigrating humans to Mars had begun long ago. Successful companies were doing the very same thing his dad dreamed of but he wanted to have his reach there. He had no problem with his dad being the dreamer he was but it became different when it involved him. It started simple, some designs, some formulas, and he would bring them with such enthusiasm. At first, he assumed it was not something he could deal with but then he found he could help. That was when things took a turn for the worse. He brought work for him and started to plan a future he did not want. Oxford was his saving grace. It not only served as a veil covering his depression but also was his excuse for the reason he could not leave everything in England and go to his company in Australia. The reason why would he even make a company in Australia was a question in itself, did he dislike staying with them that much? Did he want to stay with his real family? But they were horrible people. He could not stand them, and being around them. He found here to be his home. Oxford''s saving grace had come to an end it seemed. He had to talk with his father. He was not an emotional person but he was emotional. Usually, he could postpone it by being diplomatic about it but he did not know if it was because he was in a mood, he could not ignore it. Going to his father¡¯s home office, if it could be called that, felt daunting. Too bad he was in such a rush the atmosphere failed to deter him. He even failed to notice Mike was coming up the stairs to get him for dinner. A gesture that otherwise he would appreciate. ¡°Father I am not going to Australia,¡± said Elijah regaining his bearings. ¡°Elijah, Why? It would be a good opportunity for you. Staying with your grandpa and grandma, helping the company. You could help the team a lot. They are stuck these months and we are so close¡± said Byron in a kind fatherly tone which for some reason grazed on Elijah¡¯s nerves. ¡°How is that a good opportunity for me, your team needs help. I don¡¯t even like working in the aerospace field.¡± ¡°The team needs you. As long as they do their job. Our family could be living on Mars. Do not be selfish. You have already taken a semester off what can one more do¡± ¡°In what way does going to Mars help our family? And I took a semester off because of depression, not to go work in my dad¡¯s side hustle¡± He knew as soon as the words came out of his mouth that he crossed the line by calling it a side hustle. As expected the conversation took a dark turn. ¡°Depression, As if I don¡¯t know what exactly happened¡± ¡°and what exactly happened?¡± ¡°You were tired at Oxford and wanted some change fooled the psychologist. You are eating your meals, solving equations my team has trouble as if they are child¡¯s play and you are playing a game for god¡¯s sake¡± said Byron shouting the last part. ¡°Fooled the certified psychologist, for a man so logical as you claim to be, don¡¯t you think you are being completely illogical? Why don¡¯t you tell the real truth? That your company simply lacks the foundation of travel to Marsarss. Your team¡¯s combined effort can not solve simple equations. That you want to spend time with your real family there because the only family in need of relocation to Mars, is yours¡± said Elijah completely losing it. ¡°Enough. What is happening here¡± said Mike entering the room ¡°Mike this is not the time. Elijah and I are having a personal talk¡± said Byron ¡°Personal, it does not seem that personal to me when you use our family to put pressure on him. You were planning on sending him to Australia,¡± said Mike in barely concealed rage. This was new to Elijah. Mike was angry on behalf of him. He had been thinking he would not have a choice. He had no real counter except hoping for Dr. Carl''s opinion for Dad¡¯s logical option. His father could simply tell his mom and siblings that a vacation to Australia for a few months was the cure for his depression. Fortunately, his father was being irrational enough that he did not attack his main weakness. Mike though, never really understood why some people wanted older siblings. He thought he was beginning to understand now. The talk continued for a while. March curious about why it was taking so much time had come to check on them. She had been surprised at Australia''s plan she had thought Byron was in the pro team plan as much as she was. One business endeavor was enough. She valued the children''s education more than anything. Australia would not be good if it meant another hit to Elijah¡¯s studies at Oxford. Byron talked about the impracticality of the plan as if the space company was much better. Mike in his anger had shown that the three of them did receive an offer from a good company but inadvertently revealed they did not want to be part of the pro team. March surprisingly did not get more angry. She put the condition of the offer being accepted and then took Elijah¡¯s side fully. She had married for a doctorate then love, her son would be a doctor. This was non-negotiable. When the talk was over Elijah stopped Mike for a few more minutes. ¡°Mike, Thank you for everything you did. I know it is not a pleasant thing to say but I hate my father¡¯s family, they are horrible. You don¡¯t need to use your savings I will pay the editor¡± ¡°Sorry, Elijah. , I did not know you were depressed while even Deli had found, I did not know. I already have paid the editor¡¯s money plus we may even be getting money. The editor turned out to be the one we needed anyway, I am starting to understand the feeling you mentioned¡± said Mike and surprisingly hugged him. Elijah returned the hug. ¡°And what is the difference between your savings and mine anyway? I have more anyway¡± said Mike the last part jokingly. ¡°I doubt that, Dad made my allowance pretty high, though I guess there won¡¯t be any more bonus,¡± said Elijah feeling a little airheaded. ¡°So there was a reason you went on with it¡± ¡°There always is¡± Chapter 14: Necronomicon His mother was quite happy when he recommended hiring a lawyer to view the contract before signing anything. Despite Mike''s affronted look, he could not let his brother sign anything harmful when he was doing this for him. Mike would have waited if he had not had the fight with his father. Fortunately, it all went well. Jason was there and welcomed them warmly. They then went to reminisce about their high school days. The world worked in mysterious ways. He read on a Napoleon Hill book that wealth often came suddenly and quickly to successful people. This seemed true for them because, after the edit for the company, Jason made a specialized edit for Deli. He went on to say that he planned to create a separate contract with Deli. When he reached home his mother came and said Dr. Carl had called. She gone on to inform him she had scheduled another family session because of what had happened. She said they would need to talk about it which was rational but felt like crap. He did not intend to mend anything with his father any time soon. It seemed bad news also came together because she said Dr. Carl had noticed his lack of interest in meeting him in the game and had scheduled a meeting himself. He would meet him in a few days in Holy Wars. Despite all the things he had read about psychology, he had no idea how being an evil god and letting beasts eat NPCs would look in the eye of a psychologist. He knew one thing though, that it would not look good. He was a little spent by the events that were happening in life. Usually, this would mean locking himself in his room reading a novel or some interesting book to recharge, but today was different since he finally would get to do the memory dungeon. The fog CG was truly good. After the fog had receded he found himself in the middle of what appeared to be ruins of a battlefield.
History Quest (A Precarious Fate): As a newly ascended deity without a territory of your own, you have ascended to the divine realm. You have found nothing of the glorious descriptions of mortals. Despite the grand scale, you have found yourself in the ruins of a battlefield. Search for any survivor.
The quest was very straightforward. He checked the battlefield. The ruins were intriguing. The weapons remaining were of different sizes. Some were the size of a hand the others of humongous size. You would expect corpses and blood but there was only chaos. A patch of land was green and lush the other was a whirlpool lake. Near both was a ginormous lava lake. Curiously he used divine sense. He had once used it in Abyss City to test it. Divine sense measured divinity in something so even in the divine city a piece of obsidian did not glow that much. However, some parts of the city were truly blinding. Most of the NPCs in the City would leave you quickly deactivating the skill. As expected these unnatural phenomenons seemed to be the corpses he was looking for. It was an interesting idea. He had no idea if the fights between players would cause something like this too. He finally came about a land pulsating with black light. Unlike others, this one was slowly forming. The land below was darkening. Sometimes skulls and bones of different creatures would spawn. Moving towards the center Elijah came upon a towering figure. It was a huge human skeleton. In the eyes, dark flame surged. Around the lying figure, a ghost-like figure was flickering. The quest window had changed.
History Quest( A Precarious Fate): Finally ascended to the divine realm. You found nothing of the glory but a vast battlefield. Seek the mysterious figure for more information.
He reeked of despair. He had black hair and eyes the color of the ocean. Despite the air of despair he excluded the second he activated the divine sense he saw a pillar of darkness going straight to the sky. Deactivating it he went closer to the figure. ¡°An ascended evil god. Sigh, It seems like you are as unlucky as me what is your name¡± ¡°Nyarlathotep,¡± Elijah said. This figure whoever he was and as powerful as a god he was in the game, seemed like himself in therapy. He seemed to want to vent. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Nyarlathotep, I am Killian the evil god king of death. Evil god of nightmare¡­ I see. Sigh nightmare a wonderful divinity. Hey, can you end this nightmare?¡± He said wistfully. ¡°Nightmare?¡± ¡°Yes, a nightmare. Hahaha, I can¡¯t believe I was once proud to have the legacy of one who had been inthe Holy War. Hahaha, How foolish I was? To think I was foolish enough to believe the lies of the old gods. This is Hell. Real Hell unlike the realm in the core of the mortal world¡± ¡°You mentioned the holy war?¡± inquired Elijah. After all Holy Wars was the name of the game. ¡°Yes. Holy War. Good and evil gods always battle¡± said Killian then hesitated for a time before changing his sentence. ¡°No, it is better to say conflict is the eternal theme in both mortal and divine realms. Gods battle each other, mortals alike. There are even divine wars of such scale that put terror even in the hearts of the strong. However divine wars fall short in front of the greatest wars of all, the holy wars. There is a legend in the mortal realm that the world is the body of the primordial mother and the pillar of the world is the body of the chaos primordial. It is truth in there however they are wrong. The Gods know better. The world existed before them. We know this because we can become one.¡± Killian stopped here. He seemed despondent. ¡°Chaos primordial and the one mortals call mother goddess is the reason for this predicament. Divine Realm is the divine territory of the harmonic primordial and hell is of the chaos primordial. Their death left a key for ascension. Pillars are not what keeps the world together, they are the corpses of primordials. Each time they appear, they signal an era of war for anyone in possession of them can transform the realm itself. This is the chance for all, divine and mortal to truly shape their fate. To write their Era and because of that every time it happens. A Holy War happens. Young god, you are late to the race. You are near the end of a Holy War. Weak as you are, nothing but ash will remain of your divine flame. You need to seek the temple of the primordials. One worshiping the mother goddess or the lord of the chaos. Seek protection of them in this era. Fight to be the one holding the pillar in the next¡± He pointed his finger at him and shot a ray at him.
You have gained the skill map. The path to the nearest primordial''s temple has been uncovered to you.
¡°There is one more thing. Young god if you are to survive the path, you need the first skill any divine need to learn. Creating your divine armament. Every god good or evil is born of a soul ignited to burn the divine. Divine flame is an essential part of your existence and your source of power. A god''s journey is harnessing the power of their divine flame. At first, we only can rely on incantations but later we learn we can create out of it. If there is one last thing I need to tell you. Do not rush to materialize divine armaments. They should only be materialized by materials worthy of their nature¡±
You have gained access to the divine armament creation menu.
History Quest(A Precarious Fate): Create your divine armament and take the path to a primordial temple. Sacrifice your fate to them to survive this Holy War for the chance to rise again in the future.
Elijah opened the menu. As he understood the menu and Killian explained he understood what a divine armament was. Divine Armaments were account-bound weapons or armor you could create. The creation menu was complex but easy to navigate. Killian provided some explanation in some parts. Fortunately, you could see some effects of the divine armament before final confirmation. He tried many times and grew more proficient but this dungeon did not provide the large time limit the first one had. He needed to create the armament with some buffer time in case there was something else he could do in this dungeon. He doubted given the limited time but he felt he had to take the game a little more seriously now. Granted he did not want to suddenly turn into a pro player but he needed to pay more attention. Divine armaments had different boosts. Given his divinity and the disparity of DA to his other stats, He decided to create a book-type armament. He named the grimoire, Necronomicon after the forbidden book in Lovecraft''s Mythos. The CG was similar to when he blessed the sword. Dark purple flame combusted from thin air and then slowly formed a book according to his imagination. It provided a passive boost to his DA stat and reduced the cost of nightmare incantations. Those were just some of the effects it provided. After creating Necronomicon, he unlocked the divine armament menu and understood what was materialization about. Divine armament did not exist while they provided a passive boost and you could manifest them for a short time, it was not possible to use them consistently. He realized this would be a major flaw especially for those that wanted the divine armament to function like a sword or shield, since it reduced its reliability. However, it manifesting it provided massive buffs. Materialization solved the issue entirely. You would provide materials you found for its real creation. After creation, Killian began his dialogues. ¡°Go now. I will return to void soon. Be careful not to meet the same fate¡± ¡°Why if you can guide me through one precarious fate. Don¡¯t you have any way of survival yourself¡± said Elijah ironically using the quest name. ¡°Young evil god. Selfishness is a good trait for us to not bother¡± ¡°But if I go I will face a hard journey. However, you have a way to make it easier for me¡± ¡°I am Killian the evil god king of death why would I follow a nascent god leave me to my death there is nothing of me you can use.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t I?¡± said Elijah curiously. ¡°Bravery is a trait for good guys not an admirable one of an evil one. However, the answer is simple the power of a god is tied to their soul and when we are hurt so is our soul. I have no chance of surviving or resurrection. This is the price of a god. Mortals nurture their souls but divine unlock the power hidden in theirs, accepting the danger¡± Elijah was behaving outside of his usual comfort zone but there was the fact the history quest was finished. It seemed not every memory dungeon was vast or dynamic. This one seemed a simple skill unlock. So the fact that he was getting out of memory dungeon soon made him want to try to milk this Killian guy one last time. ¡°Why can¡¯t you build a mortal body for yourself?¡± ¡°Sigh A mortal body. Once I could but now I need divinity to maintain my soul.¡± No matter how he tried Killian had given all he could for now. Before the time limit, he ended the dungeon himself. The fog enveloped him and the memory dungeon ended. Chapter 15: A Demonic Plan The meeting with Dr. Carl was soon. He had inquired how they would meet in the game. There was no neutral territory or teleportation mechanism he knew of. The doctor replied that he could appear in the game anywhere the patient was, in a form similar to a divine spirit. This was a new feature that was being implemented in most new games to facilitate mental health. Since the age of virtual reality came, alarming statistics have been reported. Companies concerned with their future had issued guidelines, and contracts and tried to think of features to keep up with time. The government has established new laws ever since. This was a new one. Fortunately, since he had reached Myth Tier 1, some buildings in the Abyss City had opened their doors for him. Among those buildings were the divine council, some shops, and a library. He spent most of his time in the library. That was also the place he planned to meet Dr. Carl. Although he had access to these buildings, his access was limited. For instance, library''s first floor was the only one he had access to. The shops finally provided a stable way to get some equipment. The problem was the price could be different depending on the item from mortal realm coins to the equivalent exchange of an artifact. However, most of the prices were divine crystals which could be found by defeating divine beasts. Since Delilah and Mike had joined him he finally had been able to hunt. They were far from a standard team though. Because of how they leveled up, all of them tended to DA. He was purely focused on DA because of his divinity with each level till now providing him 1 DP and 4 DA. Mike and Delilah were more standard, they sometimes received 2 and at other times 3 DP. However his initial assumption about DA being magical while correct had also proven to be a simplification. Delilah had incantations that made her combat like an assassin. Incantations variety made it difficult to put a player into a traditional class. The company¡¯s support allowed them to buy crystals too. Because of hunting and the support, they finally got to have decent equipment. Divine Council was the most interesting building. It was located in the center of the city. It was implied that they could change the city layout later on and make decisions about it, but for now, the only purpose it served was to register pantheons. They had made the Azathoth pantheon official, which put to rest Mike¡¯s irrational fear of someone stealing their theme. Speaking of irrational fears made him remember his own. He had thought that the kingdom would send an expedition force, and they did. However, when three of them manifested with their armaments, fighting alongside their apostles, followers, believers, and people in the city, they decimated them easily. He had to check the organization tab, or as Deli called it, the Azathoth tab. When they had dealt with the aftermath of beast tides a long-awaited message had come.
You allies and you have established an official organization that worships you and them as a Pantheon. Azathoth cult is officially established. You have an organization that worships you. You can now access the organization tab. You now have access to the Divine Channel tab.
Azathoth cult has taken over three mortal cities. The organization tab has unlocked new features. You are patron of a territory in the mortal world. Your blessing will help the territory.
Organizations worshiping a god received a blessing for their members. Furthermore, territories they gained would receive separate blessings. As if these were not enough, the gods themselves could use divine channeling skills and use some of their incantations as miracles for their followers and believers. With this skill, Apostles began to really show their value. They could use these miracles consecutively. Depending on on their communion stat, they could boost them. It was like even the gods had limitations on their incantations in the mortal world, but apostles could skip them.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The decimation of the kingdom¡¯s force planted the idea that he could take the kingdom now. The idea was proven to be a delusional one when the kingdom army appeared. They did not attack though. They started creating a fortress. Magic-aided, the building rose in a few days. The army then retreated just leaving enough forces to defend. Elijah¡¯s expectation of capital strength was proven. He had to accept the west was already the limit. He nearly took a duke territory of the kingdom and he suspected they would have attacked if it were not because the kingdom was in chaos over the gods. Mike''s words had come true. Guilds had each taken their territory. Most did not take it like this from mortals but from winning skirmishes between several gods. The winner or the most powerful guild would take territory. The Evernight kingdom divided by gods, meant that the idea of taking any more land had to be given up entirely. Elijah had the idea they should explore the great forest. Because that is the only way in which they could extend their influence. This idea had come to him from communing with Timothy. Since communing was possible from the the divine realm, Elijah''s spent time reading books and talking to Timothy to educate himself in-game lore. Among these discussions, he got to the legend of elves residing in the great moonlight forest. At that time he thought it was just a rumor by the tavern guys but Timothy said some books in his family confirmed it. Mike and Deli exited by the elves had explored the forest. He would have too if he had not been bothered by Killian words. Killian had mentioned he had a legacy. His quest at the library had proven when a god dies they affect their surroundings like what he had seen in the memory dungeon. However, if the god is powerful enough they can do far more. The books described in glorified words something every gamer knew, a dungeon. This dungeon containing the god''s legacy is precious and seemed a huge advantage. Elijah had decided to take the game a little seriously. He had made breakthroughs in incantations and now he wanted to find these legacies for them. Given his social skills and not finding one when he was the absolute firstcomer of the divine city, he doubted he could do much with NPCs. He had seen a map of the divine realm though. It was incomplete and general, but it provided something for his map skill. The skill remained after the memory dungeon but showed absolutely nothing. Now, with a little bit of information, he had managed to circle the area outside Abyss City most likely to contain legacies. If there were legacies outside of the city, then he would find them. If this were the beginning of the game he would die outside the city but it was different now. Most of the level 1 runes had upgraded by leveling up with him, and the incantations using them had grown tremendously. The runes unlocked each level were limited but allowed him to add variety to his arsenal. His stats were lacking in DP, but a simple divine shield made him a tank given his amount of DA and divinity. Recovery of divinity with the number of his followers had grown. Still, he could not afford to be careless. There were other players in Abyss City now and he was going a lot further than the periphery of the city. He would have liked it better if Raven went with him. Her darkness divinity had some niche-hiding incantations that were useful for this particular purpose. In the end, he had to rely on two new incantations, concealing equipment, and short-term consumables from a shop. His two new incantations were illusionary body and nightmare body. One allowed him to become ethereal temporarily and the other made him scare nearby beings. His target this time was an area he guessed may house a legacy related to demons. Because he summoned a beholder in tutorial and how useful it was he had been intrigued by them from the start of the game. Killian went on to say hell was the divine territory of the lord of chaos and had at least his corpse. Pillar seemed an end-game content. With that information, hell had become more valuable, but what made him unable to let go of the content related to hell was he, as an evil god ascended to the divine realm, not hell. Most of the information on the first floor was useless, but there was a book about how an evil god had descended to hell, which was mentioned to be sealed in the chronicle. The map doodle in the book and the area of Abyss City roughly led him to a location he had high hopes for. The periphery of the abyss city was slowly resembling other divine cities though tinted a little with PK atmosphere. As he went further and further from Abyss City the monsters grew powerful. There were some he guessed were field bosses. The territory of the divine realm was truly vast. He was glad he could cancel divine incarnation and do it again to appear in Abyss City. Though this came at a cost, it was less than dying. In the game, you created your divine avatar from your soul flame and damage to it would regress your progress significantly. The signs were good. He had encountered more monsters with a flame theme. He went further and further till he reached a valley. Deep in the valley, there was a magic circle. This was way more complicated than summoning a beholder. Its size was immense and the complexity of the circle was mind-blowing. He had found the entrance, but the genius forgotten to mention it was sealed. He could not remember this to even send it to an AI for analysis. He thought the expedition was a failure for now. Elijah had decided to cancel his divine incarnation when he remembered the fact demons were smart. Beholder was a demon, not a demonic creature. There was a passage explaining the beholder, and it went something like this, summoning a beholder you summon part of a named demon. This demon named the eye was a being of malevolence with endless machinations. He wondered if the AI of this named demon could let go of a precious portal between hell and divine realms. He could not believe it right before he meets a psychologist. He would be summoning demons or parts of a great one in hopes they unseal a portal to hell. Chapter 16: The Forbidden Seeker Elijah had inscribed the circles masterfully. The problem was how to activate them since he was not Ka and did not know chants or rituals. Fortunately, magic circles, as beautiful geometric patterns they were, had become his kind of thing. He knew another way to activate magic circles of demonic nature. They would need sufficient sacrifice. The monster distribution in Holy Wars was made to resemble an ecosystem. It was not natural, but this distribution meant that weak monsters always existed besides the strong ones. Fear Domination once again showed its power. Controlling a few weak mobs he made them provoke the strong ones. He could not choose from one type of monster otherwise the chances were high that his plan would backfire. He tried to choose monsters that seemed enemies, either based on the species or elements they were made of. This guesswork was not the brightest idea but it was all he had. He led strong monsters of different types to gather above the seal where he had drawn magic circles. He used a few incantations of fear and nightmare to incite more conflict and the show started. He had assumed he would be bored as he watched the monsters fight each other since he never was the type to enjoy those shows. However, it turned out something was fascinating about watching fights between a giant fire wolf and a frost polar bear. In the middle of the fight, the blood spilt activated the magic circle. A beholder appeared and the monsters suddenly found themselves a common enemy. Unfortunately for them, as they fought the first one, the second one was summoned and soon there were 10 beholders. Even Elijah had to stop to look at this tangled mess of blood, gore, numerous tentacles, and 10 eyes he had caused. He was admittedly disgusted a little but was waiting if the idea would work or if he had done all this for nothing. The messy entangled beholders suddenly stilled. They separated from each other. Then they each slowly moved to a position in the seal. When they had found the coordination they were looking for, they suddenly laid down. Spreading their tentacles straight they became flat with their single eyes looking straight at the sky. They each strangely resembled a sun or star drawing. Their eyes changed colors like the effect signaling their laser attack. They each shoot a laser to the sky. Then they started doing something he could only describe as recalibration. They slowly changed the direction of their laser eye skill to a single convergence point. The sky split and he received a notification. In the sky, a rift slowly opened and a single eye opened. The eye rotated taking everything, they focused on him briefly before turning to the seal. A hoarse voice sounded. ¡°Hell was sealed by your ancestors, evil nascent one. You live up to your race name. You summoned a named demon on the divine realm, a sin grave indeed. Why have you summoned me right above the golden gate sealed long ago¡± said the eye. ¡°I have summoned you to unlock the seal,¡± said Elijah annoyed. It was obvious what he wanted, the eye was still looking at the seal. He hated fantasy beings with wisdom themes. They always tended to state the obvious. ¡°Hm¡­ The Golden Gate has been a long time since it was sealed. It was sealed by a divine being far greater than me. This seal is impossible to be sealed by beings such as you and I. However we may be able to let you access hell, as that is your real purpose, isn¡¯t it? Young one, a great demon is many things but divine is not one of them. We arose from the corpse of the great chaos. Your kind usually looks down at us. You consider us to be a form of divine creature you create as the guardian to your territories and companions but corrupted and fallen. To unseal this divine flame is needed and great power. I can provide the power but the rest is yours. When the seal glows you need to connect your divine flame to the golden gate sealed below. Henceforth you shall be capable of traversing to hell. Unfortunately, I can not maintain this rift for long. I shall start, it will be up to you whether you succeed.¡± said the eye. The eye in the sky started glowing and blasted the seal. The seal slowly started to gain color. Elijah was not good with these types of situations. He had little time and before he could contemplate the conversation he needed to find a way to connect his divine flame to something. Otherwise when it was the time, the time-limited event he had spent hours of his in-game time would be meaningless.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The seal was nearly fully colored. The land of volley was becoming a little transparent and in the depth of land appeared an ethereal gate. Elijah¡¯s time was coming to an end, He had started walking back and forth stressed. He had checked the menu for anything new to no avail. The notification was just him gaining titles.
Nyarlathotep, in an unexpected action, you summoned a named demon to the divine realm, marking you as a few who dared to sin to uncover the ancient truths. You have gained the title, Forbidden Seeker. You have continuously summoned demons in mortal and divine realms. You have gained the title, Demonologist.
He could not bother to check the titles'' descriptions, the time was beginning to end. The seal had already started to glow a little. He forcefully calmed himself down. He summoned the Necronomicon the only thing he had related to divine flame. He had decided that even if this event was bound to be a failure it did not mean he would not try one last time. As the seal glowed in splendor and the golden gate was fully visible. He controlled the Necronomicon to fly and touch the golden gate. The rift in the sky was closed and the gate was slowly vanishing from sight. He thought he had failed. He clenched his fist. He had wanted to do something. He wanted to create an advantage but had wasted game hours. The world for a second seemed bleak like before Holy Wars. A monotonous black-and-white world. People who did not know what they wanted. Who did not know themselves? He, who despite being hailed a genius continuously was proven not to be. He did not tell others but it was hard at Oxford. Students gained marks through the professor liking them, and the TA liking them. He, however, had no friends, was not good at personal relationships, was somewhat disliked because of challenging the professors, and had to try very hard for a mediocre grade because he had to do a four-person project alone. Despite the outside world praising their beautiful future, the professors told them there was no such dream. They had to work for it themselves. He had once read humans in the face of death seek immortality. Immortality, not in the Chinese mythology sense but through two normal ways. One was having children and having them continue their bloodline. It made sense considering despite the independence encouraged for children today parents tended to push their wishes on their children. His father was just one. The second way to attain immortality was something he wanted but was beginning to suspect he fell short. It was to leave your name in the annals of history. Elijah wanted to be one of them but failed at producing the genius. He failed to break through anything, he was only good at understanding. Holy Wars did not change his life but his brother standing up for him, and having a shared thing with his siblings was his way to see if he could for once in his life understand familial affection. For once the monotonous world be colorful. He was failing, he knew. The evil god theme did not have the potential for long. People inherently did not like these brutal depictions. It would not be unique either unless they were the best at it. Unless they could rival a pro team they could not make results satisfactory. He knew he was being moody but he sat on a stone and watched the strangely ethereal scenery. After some time he willed Necronomicon to return to him. As long as Necronomicon touched his hand he received a notification.
Congratulations, Nyarlathotep you have connected your divinity with the golden gate. You can freely traverse between realms of divine and hell currently. Deepen your connection to access more realms. You have gained the skill Divine Gate.
Elijah suddenly had the urge to cry knowing no one was there. He cried. His emotional episode was behind him and tears were wiped. He stood up. He was back to himself the cold genius with a smirk. No one needed to know this humiliating episode. He did not know but this was where he vowed someday he would be among those people he could be vulnerable with. He did not know that he would make it a reality and that Delilah and Mike would be among those.
Divine Gate (1 / 5) You can open a gate to other realms. You currently have access to healing and the divine realm.
Forbidden Seeker You are weak to the allure of the knowledge hidden. You are invincible in uncovering it and turning mystery into your power. You have a higher chance of discovering forbidden knowledge. You know intuitively where to find it be it among people or books.
Demonologist Your dealings with demons have made you a master in wielding them to your desire. You have an easier time finding knowledge about demons and demonic creatures. You are less likely to lose a deal with a demon since you have an intuitive understanding of them.
Chapter 17: Ambition or Greed Today Elijah received news that he did not know if he should feel fortunate or unfortunate about. Mike and Delilah were thrilled. His Mother was almost ready to throw a party and his dad seemed ready to talk. The silent treatment had ended and there was an air of approval. At least that was the case for the rest of his siblings. The Athena company had used their connection and was about to play the first episode of their adventures on actual TV. TVs had advanced with time but they tended to always lag behind the time they were in. Despite their tendency when something was played on TV it always made it feel official. So this was a big milestone. However, he could not let go of the horrible backlash the program could have. Maybe stress was the reason that made him let go of his carefully prepared story for Dr. Carl. He had an emotional burst and all thoughts of secrecy went away from his mind. He was beginning to believe there was something in his psyche against him, which would be true according to the great Carl Jung. However, Carl did not blame an objective complex in his mind. He listened in silence. Finally, Elijah remained waiting for his professional judgement but Elijah could not help feeling like someone who had confessed to a priest. Thinking of Dr. Carl in priest clothing was enough to stop that thought. Despite rationally knowing that Dr. Carl would try his best to be objective, He expected summoning the demons, sacrificing a village, and the emotional bursts, and the misjudgment when he had fought his father were too much to be thought of as depression. He would never admit this but his father''s irrational talks of him not being depressed and being at fault had got to him. ¡°Have you calmed down,¡± said Carl ¡°Yes,¡± said Elijah already familiar with this routine. After an emotional burst, he would be drained but strangely calm. It was quite addicting. He was beginning to see why some people would, in their vulnerable times, confide in a friend or a therapist. He guessed he could count himself among those people. ¡°First, Congratulations on being shown on TV. Elijah have you ever seen anything unfiltered, or as you said once politically correct in TV so rationally you know it will be fine and this is something to celebrate about.¡± ¡°Understanding it is one thing but what about feeling? I have come to realize I can not dismiss it entirely¡± said Elijah ¡°Elijah, for a young man as brilliant as you are, it never ceases to amaze me how much you tend to suppress your emotional development. You tend to bottle up your emotions and as you have seen in our short time together, this will lead to these random bursts. You need to process your emotions. Everyone does something. You have your methods too. You brought me to this library. The library is a calming place for you. As you did today, you could in such an environment process your emotions. For you I would suggest you write¡± said Dr. Carl He guided Elijah through a mental exercise. He then proceeded to talk about the rest. ¡°Elijah, I don¡¯t tend to say it quite this direct to most of my patients but you need to hear it. Objectively you are doing better, this game had more positive effects on you than negative. However, I suggest you customize the game''s adult filter. With something as simple as that you can fix your problem. Elijah, I sense you are looking for judgment. As unprofessional as it is to say these. You are not a criminal. Despite all this realism VR has come to possess, it is not real. You are far more aware than me about that fact Elijah. It is quite unhealthy to think so. It is cruel of me to say that but it is a fact. I have seen how people truly heal by relating to an NPC. You may not believe it. One patient of mine overcame a physical limitation through this. To me though their feelings, and beliefs healed them. They projected something inside to something outside and overcame it. Despite how much psychology has advanced more people heal by projecting themselves onto me. Being a blank page is something we therapists take as a principle. This session is ended Elijah but I will see you in the family session. ¡± said Carl.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Elijah felt the tension leaving his body. It was as if he was demon-possessed and had just gone through an exorcism. Now that he thought about it he could see why demonologist had become his title. ¡°As much as you hate them. It is quite funny for me¡± He said with a smirk and vanished. The bastard. Elijah felt freed. He knew this was momentarily but he felt as if he was on cloud. He decided to customize the adult filter and made sure by simply saying the word ¡°filter¡± it would turn off and on. He decided to leave it mostly off but if he needed it or was thinking the game had become too real he would turn it on. The TV program their playthrough would be on was the Holy Wars channel. A channel that was dedicated to Holy Wars. While not many games got to have a TV channel, some such as Rise of the Warlords, which was also Philemon''s work, did. The program itself was called Evil Pantheon. Its first episode was titled The Doomed Chosen One Ka. The reactions were much better than he had hoped. The editing was spectacular. As Dr. Carl had said the edits were such that despite being shown as evil, it did not disgust the viewer. While they had yet to be shown on screen, the program had hinted at Raven and Hastur. So Deli follower numbers had risen more than ever. She had a great time. Mike also had a great time but it was for another reason entirely. He and Deli had managed to find traces of elves. He was not that impressed but Mike said he had been inspired by him inputting magic circles to modeling AI and tried to use an AI model usually used for expeditions into the Amazon forest to track elves. Tina, the girl from the same medical school he had been obsessed with in high school, had seen that and thought he was a fellow Amazon enthusiast. He had gotten a date with her four years after his crush. Normally this would not be a good thing but he said he had a newfound crush on her. It made Elijah wonder if it would not be more logical to assume it had never waned. Everything is taken care of. Elijah allowed himself to be excited. He was about to venture to hell. When using the skill divine gate a golden door appeared. As he thought about hell the golden door changed. It was like it was not a true golden door but a golden coating and the coating split with red lines. Then the golden coating fell piece by piece till all remained was a wooden burning door with demonic depictions. Opening the door led to a realm with a red sky and burning clouds. The sun looked ragged and was more like a crimson moon than a real sun. The earth was as you expected hell to be ragged with magma rivers in between. Demonic creatures were everywhere. Some were like the artworks in churches, the others were more strange. As he walked to the hellish realm, he was greeted by a message.
You have entered the hell realm. As the first one to do so, you have made a significant achievement. Your title Forbidden Seeker was strengthened.
A named demon has noticed your entrance. The eye shielded you from the perception of other great beings of hell.
As much as he was excited about this before, he found himself at a loss as to what to do in this realm. Fortunately, he had an easy solution. He approached the weakest-looking creature he could find. It was a construct of flesh. It was disgusting to look at but because he was eating corpses, he assumed he had found the target. Fear Domination had proven to him even monsters in this game had some decision-making capability, though way too limited compared to actual NPCs let alone an AI like Eve. He was not sure if this was a work of AI but this would work. He tamed the creature and asked for its assistance. It would lead him to lands that looked different from the landscape. He put it in words that the creature could follow. Given his unfamiliarity with hell, this was the only way he could search for legacy in hell. Forbidden Seeker had given him confidence that he may find something. The eye notification had him a little concerned because despite summoning him, every time he had encountered a wisdom-type character in games he had ended up screwed in the way heroes always were. The good thing about this type of character was the danger usually came with reward and at the end, you may even have a revenge quest to kill them or watch them kill themselves. Holy Wars was from Philemon though and he was a little concerned if the routine could be different. He proceeded to hide himself. His consumables had grown less than he was comfortable with. He did not plan an expedition to hell. He wanted to find legacies. Rationally he knew he was being greedy. He would be better off venturing to other possible locations he had marked but he needed to do something big. Hell had no competition. The system had confirmed it. He knew it was impossible but he considered if he was the first player to step into hell, He could also be the first player to find the pillar. If Killian words were to be believed, Pillars were corpses of the primordials. What if they left a legacy or the pillar was a legacy? In either of those scenarios, a pillar was his lead to one of the most high-ranked legacies in the game. Chapter 18: Hells Witch It had been some time since Elijah was searching. He had found nothing. However, his journey did bring him other surprises. At first, he was cautious. He had thought that hell creatures were powerful. He was proven wrong when he had to fight one of them. The creature could see through his concealment but was pretty weak. The hell creatures had different loots as well so he did gain some things. The fear of domination was working too. He had encountered lands different from the usual hell landscape but unfortunately exploring them proved that they did not have a legacy. He had assumed that there would be legacies here because a book named The Foolish Gods of Light had mentioned a once powerful faction of gods invading the underworld. However, most pages of the book were low-quality generated content compared to most books in this game, so he had little to go on. He was considering whether searching his probable locations would be more worthwhile. He gave himself another hour. To make this hour useful he decided he had to expand the search. He used more creatures and specifically selected some aerial creatures. Fear Domination was had proven an extremely useful incantation. It was unfortunate that the time limit, lack of specific control and means of communication, limited range, and the fact it did not work on strong creatures meant that its use depended a lot on the environment. Doubts had begun to sprout their seeds in Elijah''s heart. Elijah had no evidence that legacies existed except Killian words. The words of an NPC inside a memory dungeon was not very reliable. He still searched and finally reached a frozen land. The contrast was a lot, the creatures he had controlled had a hard time adapting to the frozen environment. A few of the ones at the max range had died. It was very interesting how huge the environmental effects in the Holy Wars were despite the fact there was no message. This kind of effect in other games usually came with a message like ¡°You have entered the frozen land with 20% reduced movement speed¡±. It turned out this environment affected him but not severely. He used a new incantation he had made but had not used much since.
Divine Construct (Nightmare) A milestone in the use of divine energy is the ability to condense it. This incantation gives you the ability to shape constructs out of divine energy. Using nightmare divinity has made the constructs more solid and more efficient for you however the constructs'' appearance will be nightmarish.
This incantation had little to no damage. When he first created it he had created a sword but its durability sucked and even throwing it lead to no damage whatsoever. He remembered he kept it in the list of his successful incantations. He thought it could have some utility use. He decided to test the limits now. After a few tests surprisingly while the clothing he had conjured failed to provide the warmth he desired, they were adequate. However, the surprising thing was that he had managed to conjure an entire carriage and it actually worked. True, the construct had a time limit but this made the journey much more comfortable. It had increased his speed tremendously. In the center of the frozen land he found a frozen castle and He was greeted by a message.
You have found the legacy of a fallen god. The mournful winter maiden legacy is yours to claim, if you pass her trial.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Elijah had found a legacy and with that, he confirmed he was right. However, he was not sure he wanted to claim it. He was a bit undecided. In the end, he decided to talk with his siblings. He called Mike but he did not pick up. He called Deli. ¡°Elijah, Thank God, Something has happened, right? Tell me something has happened¡± said Deli ¡°What has happened?¡± said Elijah ¡°You know Tina, Mike¡¯s crush forever right? He got her to go out with him but he did more than that. He convinced her to try the game. I have turned to a third wheel. Plus we have yet to find a single elf I am going crazy. By the way, I noticed it just now but what is with the background scene why are there blue crying ghosts and a frozen castle behind you¡± said Deli ¡°I am in hell right now,¡± said Elijah''s ¡°Me too,¡± said Deli before realizing what Elijah had meant. ¡°Wait Hell. As in real hell. How did you manage to go to hell? Weren¡¯t you searching for legacies you theorized existed?¡± said Deli ¡°Yes. In one of the locations I was searching I found the seal to hell¡± said Elijah as he began explaining. By the time he finished explaining the entire thing and told Deli, he had made a decision. The whole pressure he felt on him was because he wanted an advantage for them and he had found it but this. He did not like this legacy it did not give him the excitement he had found in the Holy Wars. He was not a thrill seeker by any means but he wanted to enjoy this game. He also did not want to go back on his decision to take the game seriously so he decided to just tell Deli if she liked to have this legacy. She agreed. Her exact words were this, ¡°I am game. I get to go to hell and get a legacy, and most importantly I get to ditch this lover duo, It could not be better for me but don¡¯t you want to get it yourself¡±. To which Elijah replied that no he did not want this legacy and he was sure. There was another reason to his choice he would not admit and that was the message that the eye was watching him. The eye has been here in hell long term while he had little doubt the AI wanted to use him, He could use the eye in return. He should know the locations of hell¡¯s legacies. The eye could take him to one of them if it did not directly lead him to the pillar. So he began his search again. This time the journey was much more leisurely. He knew they existed. He had found one. He had gotten the advantage so he could enjoy his time in hell. After a while, tired of aimless search, He decided to do his signature move, summoning a beholder. He had no idea how that would go in hell but he was willing to bet it was an obvious sign to the great demon that he wanted to talk. He drew the magic circle before even activating it a rift opened and from it an eye appeared. The eye displayed hell¡¯s map. Followed by a series of images.
Congratulations, Nyarlathotep Now your map skill can show hell¡¯s map. You have received the quest ¡°Find Hell¡¯s Witch¡±, the rumored daughter of Primordial.
Elijah smirked. It looked like the game of chess had begun. He was a pawn in the eye¡¯s game. However, it remained to be seen whether he would remain a pawn or not. Forgetting about the eye, he checked the quest details. The quest was vague. However, he had a direction now. He began to ride in the direction marked on the map. His destination was hell¡¯s capital city. The one he had read about. It was not an actual city but ruins of one. At least that was how it was written. Honestly, as much as he was enthusiastic about Abyss city had very little information on hell. It was pretty outdated. With a wave of Elijah the carriage dispersed. He used a nightmare veil. Based on the eye¡®s behavior he doubted his appearance would be unacceptable for beings of hell, but it never hurt to be careful. He had reached the capital city. He could see probably there was probably a book named Foolish Gods which ridiculed godhood in general because the capital city of hell was magnificent. It was made out of marble which he thought was an aesthetic style suitable for gods, not demons. Demons of all sizes were here. Searching through the city he arrived at a store that matched the image he was shown. He had found the store easily. Despite the demon city having some peculiarities, a shop with demonic plants reaching the middle of the street was easy to find. He entered the store. The shop was messy with tomes and books of different shape. Plant variety never ceased to amaze him in reality but here there were added things. He was reminded of the manuscript one scientist had found in the 17th century. Which had yet to be deciphered. Some said the plants were of another dimension. He was awoken from his revelry by the woman he unfortunately could only describe as a hag. She was an old woman wearing a black robe. She had several ornaments which hinted at her identity. The quest had been updated for he had found the hell¡¯s witch. Chapter 19: Legacy of a Primordial (1) The witch as Elijah came to know was an NPC like Killian giving you a wealth of information. She did not even require you to do anything. Every dialogue revealed something knew. Despite the game going full old witch style on this one, her appearance did not bother her. This encounter would be a pleasant one overall had it not been for her unnerving laughers. Some of the dialogues were intriguing to say the least. ¡°I see. A nascent god in hell, a forbidden seeker at that how have you come to be involved with the eye though. He is a bastard. Be careful if you do not want to meet your doom but what does an old hag like me know hehehe¡± She had seen through his disguise easily. She then went on to rant everything she knew about eye but one thing stuck with him. ¡°It is said the eye hides a door to somewhere important. The eye was after all remanent of chaos creatures born out of the corpse of the primordial. Many of them have perished and a few that remain have become great demons but the eye is a special one he secretly wishes to resurrect him. He calls this the greater good because they would not be corrupted creatures but divine ones serving the primordial as if we do not know if the primordial resurrects the hell would be destroyed and all would perish. Poor beast¡± ¡°However he has guided you here for a reason. I have a potion. An unfinished one. I had found it when I was a young about a millennia in the past. I searched through all of hell and I tried creating a potion from the corpse of another corrupted creature gorgon. Drinking a part of that made me the immortal witch I am. Gorgon was a creature with ability to petrify. If infused with divinity it momentarily petrify even the chaos currents surrounding the pillar¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. As time went on Elijah could not hold it in so he asked why the hell was she telling these to him. ¡°Oh you think I am ruining his plan and helping you. No young god that bastard may be after hell destruction but the resurrection is doomed anyway. However I am not ruining his plan. He maybe a being of incredible intelligence but this time his plan is wise. A few steps there are no complications. He does not live it to chance. You drink the potion if you want the pillar. You will momentarily petrify the chaos currents to create the bridge and cross it. Legacy of a primordial is not so simple. You will be possessed by the primordial and die and he will get to serve the primordial till he regains his power. The hell is not destroyed and everything is fine. It is far better to help him achieve what he wants than let him plan the hell¡¯s doom. As for you, the forbidden thrill seeker think of this as your retribution. If you succeed you can get the pillar too. This situation fits you doesn¡¯t it. Aren¡¯t you tempted for the legacy of primordial. The eye showed me when I was about to stop him. You are not part of any divine faction and you have already abandoned a legacy. Abandoning a legacy that precious unless you are a fool, you are after the pillar so chop chop. Time waits for no one¡± Elijah had been surprised at the witch outburst. This actually calmed him. In his mind he had to fight plot and plot, always careful of the eye and needed to outsmart the advanced AI but now it was child play. He liked mind games but he was also a gamer. Possession in game was meaningless it would be cured one way or another. He was a little worried given that Philemon sometimes did things like permanent character remove but it had to fit the logic of the game. Possession is not death at worse when he was still low level he would pay money to some players specially those solo players willing to work mercenary for money to save his character. Though the loss would be immense and He wanted to avoid that in any way he could. It just felt nice to have a backup plan. Chapter 20: Legacy of a primordial(2) The witch took out the potion. As Elijah was about to believe that this was too easy, she went on to explain he needed to infuse divinity or else she had no reason to give the potion to him. In her words, if a god could not control divinity his possession is certain and that would be no fun. He could not use the Necronomicon trick this time. He was not that helpless though. He had enough time since the Golden Gate situation to form a solution. At first, he had wanted to use incantations before trying to get some skill. Unfortunately, his efforts in getting a skill were useless but he did manage to create all kinds of divine energy-based incantations. The catch was most of them were useless. However, he was beginning to think maybe he should abandon his old scale since the incantations he valued very much had come to be of little use and an incantation-like divine construct solved his transportation problem. Divine infusion was the name of the incantation. He thought it was an augmenting type of incantation and useless given his only weapon was a book. An incantation had to be tested though and he had used it with a weapon. The damage was way less than even his basic spell and for that reason, he had put it aside. Divine infusion also could not work in a situation like divine gate because you needed to touch the item. Elijah decided ¡°no incantation is useless¡± as his new motto and policy. Anyway, there were not many restrictions on the number of incantations. Although you had limited quick access to incantations. To cast incantations you could not always draw all the runes though you could and Elijah had used it a few times. It was incredibly inefficient since you could open the menu, put the incantation on quick access, and assign a gesture. You could also match gestures with words. He guessed later on the game would make you do that so access be harder. With divine infusion, he did finish the quest. He received notification that he had gone up a level. This was the benefit of having a territory. Since getting the territory a stream of influence would come regularly. It also boosted his recovery. The eye decided to remind him of his presence. This time the eye that appeared showed the path. It was a very long one. He had to fight monsters every once and then. He was going from hell''s capital to the outskirts of hell itself. If he was not being a little impatient he would have searched the capital entirely but something in him could not leave this legacy aside. If he was being honest he was not being logical. Rationally he knew that even if the gamble of legacies had proven wise farming a few quickly for his family and himself was the better choice. However, his intuition told him that he would regret it if he let go of this primordial. Now it was even simpler. Everything was just as a game should be. Explore the dungeon get the reward and get out. No need to play chess with an AI though he would admit a part of him looked forward to it. The satisfaction when you best an advanced AI and pretend as if you do it every day. His destination was named Veil of Chaos. Finally, he arrived at the destination. The veil was like a vertical layer of water if the water was reflecting the night sky and occasionally whirlpools appeared in. A rift appeared. This time the most gigantic beholder He had ever seen appeared. Unlike a regular beholder, it was not one eye surrounded by tentacles. It was four eyes each pointing to a direction. Because of the numerous tentacles below and above it looked kinda symmetrical. He knew he was being too much but he felt a sense of morbid beauty in this creature. ¡°The fact you are here speaks volumes to your greed. As expected of an evil god. The witch has already revealed it and you are still here. This is better than even my wildest imagination. I will open the veil. I am its key. I am the door in the eye and the key to the legacy. However, I waited for someone like you for he to resurrect. I will open the veil and then you will face the currents of chaos. Do not overestimate yourself as your gods tend to do. Use the potion and finally meet the obelisk. Solve the mystery and the legacy is yours otherwise the chaos shall consume you.¡± said the eye before merging with the veil. The veil became black, all-consuming black. As a final message, the eye had said ¡°Before my creator resurrects me I shall say the doors are darkness, death, and fog.¡±.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. If it were not for the risk of interrupting the monologue carried He would have responded to the urge to call him a corrupted creature before his eventual end. He stepped forward and entered the dark waters. It did not take a genius to figure out darkness meant this. He expected he would instantly appear on the other side but what encountered him instead was pitch-black space. After a while a light appeared and a road. After that from darkness, a figure rose and stepped onto the road. Figure after figure appeared. As they rose from darkness and stepped into the road with light at the end, they seemed to lose their quality. They seemed to be made of shadow and seemed wispy. At first, he was confused as to why they appeared but it all changed when they began to resemble his brother and sister. Some of them began to become like villagers in the tutorial. Timothy, Elisa, and Ka all appeared in succession. He had to face the shadow archetype it seemed. He was joking of course but it was not entirely wrong. They began to murmur all kinds of things. Some said ¡°You killed me¡± others ¡°You manipulated me¡±. He tried casting some incantation and to his surprise worked but shadows regenerated. He then had to try discussion. Dealing with them was incredibly simple. This was not inside his mind. These shadows were not something he had to face so he did something, he twisted everything. He turned to villagers who said you killed me and said I did not. I only gave the magic circle Ka was the one who cast it. He did this more than a few times. As shadows entangled each other he easily passed them. He was about to reach the end of the road where it turned out a door was. An ivory one. Passing the ivory one he was attacked by ghosts. He had already faced ghosts. They were flying all over the winter maiden legacy it was not that difficult. He then faced the currents. He used the potion. He managed to petrify them but by no means they formed a straight path. Fortunately, there was no need to be Indiana Jones. He used divine construct and passed this easily. He finally reached the obelisk as the eye had said. It was located on a circular piece of land made of black sand. A triangle was drawn in blood-red lines. Within the triangle were three intertwining circles. Each circle was a cycle. Inside each circle, something strange would happen. In one a silver stream was running and sometimes it would branch then converge. This river made this circle. In another, a sapling would grow and wither and it constantly repeated this cycle. Finally, there was one that was a lantern-like thing sometimes shown with light and sometimes seemed to absorb light leaving nothing but darkness. In the center of the area shared by all circles, there was a flaming area that seemed to power the circles. The obelisk was built on the flame as if the flames wanted to burn it. The fire produced visible smoke. They spiraled and converged to the top of the obelisk. Trails of smoke harmonically form two helix shapes like DNA. At the convergence which was the top of the obelisk, a sphere of darkness was located. It was like a strange heartbeat the way sometimes it produced a cosmic picture and then retracted it and did it again and again. A single eye opened from the obelisk and from it, a dark purple bolt was shot at him.
The Obelisk Trial You have been struck by the remanent will of a primordial. This is the test of the primordial. You have to prove that you understand the legacy you are about to take. Separate the will from your divinity by burying yourself in the dark sand in the outer circle. How to sever yourself from being connected to him and how to absorb his power are yours to find out.
Bury myself in black sand?!! What the fuck is wrong with the game. This is VR not old-school RPG. I am not commanding the character I need to bury myself what kind of twisted logic is that? Elijah though priding himself as an intellectual could not help but curse the developers. At least he had an idea of what he had to do for the rest. Not that he particularly liked his guess about the last part.