Born Anew Arc End (Original chapter Chapter 92)
- [Shadow Maverick]: A Class that emphasizes the 'Jack of All Trades' nature of the basic [Rogue] Job Class whilst also adding a Magic Caster element to it to provide greater flexibility to it. It is a more advanced Job Class than a [Rogue] that provides several bonuses, including some rare spells.
Had Yliaster read my mind? This was exactly the kind of class I was looking for. Not only that, it was loaded into a Tutelary Scroll, bound with a golden ribbon. From what a helpful popup said, this kind of scroll was very rare and must have strained the capabilities of the Shrine for the Usurped Goddess to give it to me.
[Job Class Tutelary Scrolls] were so rare because they automatically allowed you to level up without needing to max out another Job Class first. So long as you fulfilled the basic criteria for the Class in the Scroll (it could be a book or even an object for Racial Class Changes), you could use it at once. In this case, the only requirements were that I had to be both a Shadow Elf of some description and be at least Level 15. Done and done.
Storing the scroll in my Item Box for the moment, I headed out of the Shrine, to have Karen land lightly on my shoulder as I stepped out of the door.
"So, did you have a good talk with your Goddess?" she asked.
"I got some things cleared up." I said vaguely. "She rewarded me for my efforts so far and told me that all I need to do is stop Myriad from destroying her last Shrines and Temple for a year before he gets the boot. A gold coin really doesn't get you far in a shine, does it?"
"I wouldn't know; I know so much about Shrines and Temples because a friend of mine in Alfheim became a Priestess for some goddess or other." Karen shrugged lightly. "Before I left, she used to bore me to death with all kinds of details about how temples and shrines worked. She used to be relaxed about things, but becoming a priestess made her such a stiff!"
"That isn't entirely uncommon with the clergy." I pointed out.
"Yeah, but it sucked." The fairy pouted cutely.
I chuckled and gently patted her on the head, making her protest petulantly that 'she was not a pet, dammit!'
"So are you all ready to leave?" I asked.
"Yep. Give the word and I'm gone." Karen said, still pouting at my head patting.
"Day after tomorrow at the gates, bright and early…ok, not-so bright, but still early, ack, you know what I mean." I said, stumbling over my words, making Karen giggle.
When I returned to the Drunken Goose (which I would be sad to leave. The place really was excellent value for money and was comfortable to live in) I immediately headed to my room and learned the [Shadow Maverick] Job Class. Just about the only downside was that my EXP progress bar to the next Job Class level was reset to zero, but that was fair.
[Congratulations!]
You are now a LV1 [Shadow Maverick]!
You have learned the following Skills and Spells:
- Skill: [Lock Picking I]
- Skill: [Pickpocket I]
- Skill: [Acrobatics I]
- Skill: [Agility Up I]
- Skill: [Dexterity Up I]
- Skill: [Backstab I]
- Skill: [Knife Throwing Mastery I]
- Skill: [Full Potential I]
- Skill: [Short Arms Mastery I]
- Skill: [Luck Up I]
- Skill: [Sleight of Hand I]
- Spell: [Shadow Weapons] (Tier 4)
- Spell: [Fear from the Shadows] (Tier 3)
- Spell: [Shadow Grasp] (Tier 4)
- Spell: [Shadow Steps] (Tier 4)
- Spell: [Shadow Body] (Tier 5)
The following Skills have been Levelled Up:
- Skill: [Dagger Mastery III] has become [Dagger Mastery IV]!
- Skill: [Shadow Aura IV] has become [Shadow Aura V]!
- Skill: [Blessing of Yliaster III] has become [Blessing of Yliaster IV]!
The process was very weird. It suddenly felt like my body was even lighter than before and I literally felt luckier. The connection I had to Yliaster was strong enough that I could feel it now as well, and the spells I now had were very cool.
[Shadow Weapons] let me create weapons out of shadows to use in close combat, so I could technically never truly be disarmed. [Fear from the Shadows] was a combination of Shadow Magic and Illusion Magic that caused the shadows around my target to strike fear into their heart, while [Shadow Grasp] both immobilised and caused Crush and Cold damage to the target. [Shadow Steps] let me create platforms of shadow in mid-air for me to run on, while [Shadow Body] temporarily turned my body into an intangible Shadow. I couldn't attack while under its effect, but it boosted my stealth skills by quite a bit and it required special magic spells or items in order to attack me in that state.
I also noticed the skills [Short Arms Mastery] and [Knife Throwing Mastery]. The latter was obvious as to its application, but the former less so. A 'short' weapon was anything the same size or smaller than a short sword, so daggers, short swords, short maces, blackjacks and the like…all of these were affected by the skill. It kinds felt like cheating to have [Dagger Mastery] and [Short Arms Mastery] at the same time, but if I was allowed to take the class, I can't see why anyone would object.
This meant I'd have to spend some money to buy some throwing daggers though; no point in having a skill and not having the right tools for the job. Ditto for lockpicks. That could come in very useful one day. Actually…I could probably get both from Regent's people.
I smiled grimly. I would survive in this new world, and no one, not a bunch of priests or even a god, was going to end my new life. I would show them that Taylor Hebert would not lie down and die.
Two Days Later
Entrance to the Bifröst, Niflheim
"That priest was too pleased with himself yesterday." Regent grumbled to me as we walked towards the large golden gate that facilitated travel between worlds. It was a short ten minute walk from the Temple of Týr and stood at least the height of the Statue of Liberty, as well as just as wide.
"I know. You've said that almost every hour since yesterday." I answered. Regent and I were walking at the front of a small group of his Regency. As I was taking Karen with me, only nine of his troops could come with us, and Regent had chosen the best to come with us before dissolving his gang and sending the rest to allies of his in the Outer gangs.
My equipment was basically unchanged from when I had set foot inside Hvergelmir, with the exception of my belt. Since my new Job Class was added, I now almost never wore the [Belt of Transient Twilight], unless it actually was twilight, instead wearing the newly-acquired [Belt and Bandolier of the Ardent Thief] instead. It both upped my Agility and Dexterity by a small amount and had sheaths on both the belt and bandolier for a grand total of sixteen throwing knives, all of which were [Steel Throwing Knives], cheap, disposable tools that were nevertheless effective at the task for which they were designed. It also held my lockpicks, which was doubly useful.
Regent had a high-collared cape and a fancier version of his mask compared to when I had met him, and he'd bought a brand-new scepter that could, a few times a day, act like his old one back on Earth Bet. In other words, it could fire a Lightning Magic spell, [Shock Burst], about four or five times a day. As that was a Tier 2 spell, it was pretty good amount.
Karen, who was hiding inside of my hood to keep warm, was dressed as warmly as she could, but little fairies were almost naturally opposed to clothes that were too form concealing, apparently, which made traveling in Niflheim very difficult for her, as she hated cold weather gear.
"How did you ever do quests and the like?" I had asked her when she informed me of this.
She had told me that she had only run Quests inside of Hvergelmir itself, which had involved quite a bit of fighting, much to my lack of surprise. The city was a fairly rowdy place, almost as bad as, and yet better than, Brockton Bay.
"I-It's f-f-f-freezing!" the fairy wailed in my ear.
"Bear with it. We'll be out of this place in the next few minutes." I consoled her.
That taken care of, I turned my mind to the matter of the package and letter that we had picked up yesterday. The package in question was about the size of a shoebox and was quite light. The letter was vellum and bore the sword and halo of Týr on the wax seal that kept it shut. I had no clue what either of them contained, but I had a bad feeling that I was not going to like the contents, whatever they were.
"So…what do we do now?" I asked as we arrived at the front of the Bifröst Gate.
"As we put ourselves into parties before we left the city, all you need to do is take out the passes." Karen said, wrapping my hair around her like a blanket as she did so. "The gates'll open and suck us in. We'll be in Midgard before you can count to ten."
"Is it likely to be day or night there at this point?" I asked.
"The time is the same across all Nine Realms, so it'll be midday." Regent said, checking a pocket watch he fished out of his Item Box. "If you have a way of saving your eyesight, then do it."
Nodding, I raised one hand palm up and said, "[Create Item]!"
In a flash of magic, the shadows congregated in my hand and left a pair of black sunglasses. They were unenchanted by anything but the magic that bound the shadows that made them up and some hardening spells to prevent them from being smashed by being dropped. Because of this, they counted as a cosmetic item, which was pretty damn cool.
"Top Gun sunglasses?" Regent asked skeptically.
"They're called aviator sunglasses." I corrected him with a huff. "Let's get this over with."
Forming up into our separate parties, Regent and I both took out our [World Pass] bracelets. The rainbow-coloured jewel at the center of them flashed and, with a mighty groan, the enormous doors leading into the Bifröst creaked open outwards.
A golden glow surrounded each of our parties and then we were suddenly dragged into the Bifröst. It was like being sucked through a giant straw, except none of us were tumbling around like idiots. Apparently the light we were surrounded in kept us stable. Good to know.
Hastily slipping on my sunglasses, I braced myself to arrive in Midgard. The next instant, we were out of the other side and the gates slammed shut behind us. The sun was blazing down, making me very glad that I had my sunglasses on. Even with them on, I flinched at the brightness.
"Whoa." Regent said appreciatively. I followed his gaze and gasped myself.
The Bifröst Gate was set at the top of a large flight of stairs carved into the side of a mountain. At the bottom of the stairway was a largish town surrounded by a curtain wall.
"That's the town of Gatekeeper." Karen said as she flew out of my hood after untangling herself from my hair. "Ah, it's been so long since I was in the light!"
"Isn't it pretty…small?" I asked. Compared to Hvergelmir, it was positively tiny.
"It's about the average for a large town in Midgard." The fairy informed me. "Don't judge places here by the standard set by Hvergelmir; that place holds almost the entire population of Niflheim inside it, so it has to be that size."
Hvergelmir was about the same size as New York City itself, with the enormous Curtain Walls (yes, they were so damn large that they needed to be capitalized) adding a third of a kilometer to the size of the city in addition to that.
"Welp, beats a bunch of mud huts." Regent said philosophically. "Let's jam."
"That again?" I rolled my eyes. I still followed him. "So, how far away is the Holy City? That's where the Central Temple for Týr is, isn't it?"
"Yep. In Midgard, the Temple of Týr is in the Holy City." The fairy nodded as she fluttered alongside me. "Out of all Nine Realms, it is the only one which has the temple away from the Bifröst Gate. I think it's mostly to give people who acquire a [World Pass] something to do to pass the time before they leave Midgard."
"You mean it's a month to travel to the Holy City?" I grumbled. "We're gonna have to buy a horse and wagon or something. No way am I walking that far."
"Agreed." Regent said fervently. "We'll have to scout the market first. That'll take at least a couple of days. Hey, midget, you know a good inn in this place?"
"I'm Karen, not a midget!" the fairy yelled at him. "And yes, there's one that should be free right about now. This time of year is the quiet travelling season. Most people prefer to come and go at the end of autumn rather than the end of spring."
"Why?" Regent asked.
"No clue. That's just the way it is, it seems." Karen shrugged. "A lot of them are gods from Asgard and Vanaheimr and their entourages. They have free passes to spend one year out of every three here in Midgard, which they spend doing almost whatever they want before going back to their home Realm at the end of the year."
"The gods sure have it easy here." I shook my head. "Are we likely to run into any?"
"If a god or goddess is physically present in the same Realm as you are, you can feel them up to ten miles away." Karen said. "It's a very recognizable and unmistakable sensation, so there's no confusing it with something else. The stronger the god, the further you can feel them and the more oppressive the feeling is. The stronger gods from other Realms never deign to descend to Midgard though; I think the last time Odin was here was a millennia or so ago."
Well at least the strong ones stayed where they were supposed to be.
After that, we spent the majority of the day scouting out the town and finding an Inn, the Open Gate. It was actually just as good as the Drunken Goose, although the name was slightly better.
At the end of the day, I paid for a room for both myself and Karen, while Regent looked after his troops. Lying back on the bed, I glanced over at the small hammock that had Karen snoring away like nobody's business. Cute.
I rubbed at my head as something nagged at me. My mind may have been headed by Yliaster, but my memories, especially those of the Golden Morning, were hazy and incomplete. It didn't help that Yliaster had clearly snuck some terminology and knowledge into my mind while she was healing it, which muddied the waters further. The mind was resilient, however, and I had been putting pieces together, slowly but surely, for weeks now.
Still, something was up. My memories were still cloudy after my Final Trigger, to my lack of surprise. I doubted that I'd ever be able to fully restore those ones. Still, the time up to three months before that was painfully slow at being restored. Some memories were crystal clear, others were so-so and others were as clear as a shattered pane of glass. The memory that was bothering me was one of the last ones. It had something to do with an oil rig, I think.
"Ngh!" A twinge of pain lanced through my head as I tried to remember. OK, so my own mind was saying that it was a no-go for the moment. Great.
"Dammit." I muttered before turning over and trying to get to sleep. It took quite some time to happen.
Three Days Later
Planes of the Gate, Midgard
"Well, at least it's a covered wagon." I said philosophically as I eyed the trundling form of our wagon as it trundled along. It was a modestly large one, able to fit three people in it at a time in addition to our provisions. Water wasn't an issue as two of Regent's men had water magic.
For the rest of us, we all had horses. Including the two that drew the wagon, we had nine horses. Buying them had gouged out Regent's savings…or it would have if I hadn't stepped in to share the burden of the cost. Then there was the feed, tack and the rest of the stuff that horses needed. When we reached a town further down the line, we'd have to do a quest or two to rebuild our finances.
"Why can't I drive the wagon?" Regent whined. He had no skill at horseback riding. Well, neither did I.
"Because you get bored and tease the horses, boss." A female human said with an exasperated expression on her face. "Don't you remember that job we did not long after you formed the Regency when you smacked the getaway cart's horse on the flank and sent it stampeding down the street?"
"…shut up." Regent pouted.
I laughed. "Looks like your gang knows you pretty well."
"You shush too."
We continued down the packed-earth dirt road that meandered away from Gatekeeper for about five minutes before a circular wall of flame-like shadows erupted around us, trapping us in place.
"What the hell?!" I shouted. I could sense the power of those 'flames'; they were either directly from the Plane of Shadows or they were made by a Shadow mage of some description. This could only mean one thing…a minion of Myriad had appeared.
"I am the Chosen of Myriad." A deep echoing male voice boomed from the shadows ahead of us. A skeletal face gradually swam into focus as the man advanced into visibility. "You, Shadow Mage…do you serve Lord Myriad or Yliaster!"
The voice was familiar…too familiar. I cried out in pain and clutched my head as my memories shifted and the battle of the Rig now swum back into complete clarity…including the list of casualties I had seen afterwards.
"B-Brian…?!" I choked out in disbelief, tears falling down my cheeks as I gazed at the masked form of someone whose death I had completely forgotten until now. "Grue? I-Is that you?"
That startled him. "How-?!"
"Holy shit, it is him." Regent laughed. "Long time no see. Bled on any white couches lately? I liked that damn couch, you know."
Grue did a double take. "Regent?! Holy…you were reincarnated too?!"
"Yep. Guess who this here is?" my ex (and current, I suppose) teammate nodded to me. "The dork herself!"
"Dork…?" Grue trailed off before he actually staggered back. "N-No way…Taylor?!"
And I'll end it there. To be continued in another arc if I feel like it. ^_^
As to whether I'll make another Asylum, I'll write up to chapter 200, and then start a new one at that point. If I manage to write that many. Then again, the empirical evidence of the current Asylum's chapter numbers indicates the possibility is high.