The Horned One
THE GAME OF DIVINITY
CHAPTER 4 Training Montage and Discoveries
I woke up with a start to sound of hushed voices near me, so I opened my eyes trying to figure out into how much trouble I have gotten this time.
You have slept in a bed-like surface your HP and MP have been restored to 100%
From what I could see I was in a amphitheater type of structure, kinda like the Greek theaters of old, but smaller compared to them, made of slightly uneven stones that were covered mostly in moss and grass giving a very a-natural look. In every step of the theater there were plenty of trees that looked healthy and beautiful in shades of green, red and orange but the one that drew my attention the most was an absolutely massive Wisteria tree that sat in the middle. It had lavender flowers in full bloom and it almost looked like it came out of a fantasy movie.
I was startled out of my observations by a group of beautiful women (nymphs most likely considering their green skin color) headed by a lavender haired woman that looked in her late twenties. Probably the nymph of the massive tree and the head honcho most likely, I used observe immediately and what I saw surprised me.
Wisteria "Head-Elder of Artemis Grove"
Race: Nymph (Partial-Immortal)
Level:?
Info: Wisteria is the Head-Elder and Matriarch of the Missouri sacred grove of Artemis. Made partial immortal by the Goddess herself, she is responsible for the protection of the entire wild in her purview with the condition to never raise her hand against anything but those who try to destroy her grove. She is grateful for taking care of the idiotic harpy that had been giving so many problems to her little ones.
Immediately after reading this I understood why a powerful nymph like this (and the ? in her level proved that she is powerful enough to deal with that cannon fodder harpy) had not acted against her. The harpy didn't want to destroy the grove, she just declared it it's territory putting the admittedly scary nymph in a bind, well until I came along at least. But before I could ponder on this issue more the nymph started speaking to me.
"Hello little one, my name is Wisteria and I am the Matriarch of this Sacred Grove. Little Penny who I believe you met earlier found you passed out on the ground after your defeat of the harpy and brought you here." Said the head nymph pointing to the girl I met before that stupid pigeon tried to eat me.
"Thank you for your hospitality" I said to the matriarch "I hope it wasn't too much trouble?"
"Oh no trouble at all" exclaimed the woman" Quite the opposite in fact, you have dealt with a thorn that was at my side for quite some time now and we are all very grateful. Helping you was the least we could do."
With the pleasantries out of the way she explained to me that the Goddess Artemis and Demeter have been collaborating in protecting pockets of nature and assigning nymphs or her Hunters that for one reason or another don't want to gallivate around the country hunting monsters, through blessings to take care of them, covering them in big layers of mist to keep away the mortals. That's how the haunted forests rumors came about apparently. Fun fact, all nature Gods in all pantheons do similar things to protect the wild, it's a global thing apparently. She also thanked me profusely for dealing with the harpy, she has been harassing the young nymphs and she was one indiscretion away from calling Artemis to deal with her.
After that they escorted me to a cave. It had natural sunlight from a hole above and a (surprisingly) comfortable moss covered rock bed (I suspect magic shenanigans there). They told me that I was welcome to stay as long as I wanted as long as I respected the nature of the grove. I took them up on their offer of course, my fight with the harpy showed me how weak I truly I am. If a pathetic monster like that (harpies are dangerous because they hunt in flocks, individually they are pretty weak) could give me so much trouble then how can I expect to survive a Cyclops or a hellhound for that matter. I need to train and fast.
I will train my skills as much as I can, gain a weapon mastery skill and level the Warfyre, that thing is a power multiplier and also train my stats, vitality and dexterity mostly, strength there is no need and intelligence and wisdom is difficult to raise in the middle of the forest, I don't have books so there is no way to do it.
For making a excellent decision and recognizing your shortcomings +1 INT +1 WIS.
So that's what I did. I spent the next three months training rigorously and helping the nymphs with whatever menial labor they needed (gotta earn my keep). Running around the forest, climbing trees (to the annoyance of some nymphs), training with Warfyre (to the further annoyance of the nymphs), juggling rocks and other assorted calisthenics. Well not to toot my own horn but the results speak for themselves.
Status
Name: Alexandra Bellum
Race: Demigod
Gender: Female
Title: Street Rat
Level: 5 (200/1600)
HP: 240 HPReg= 10 % /h
MP: 555 MPReg= 5mp/min
STR: 45 (Physical strength, how much weight you can carry)
VIT : 20 (Your health points, gives you 7 hp per 5vit * level)
DEX: 23(27) (your speed of movement, accuracy)
INT: 8 (your ability to absorb and retain information as well as your Mana
6 mp per 5 in * level)
WIS: 10(14) (Mana regeneration +1 per 5 WIS)
CHA: 7 (overall attractiveness and persuasion)
LUC: 9 (Drop rate for items, money and games of chance)
Status: 20
Skills:
*Flames of War(Lv7): 140 dmg/sec cost: 24 mp/sec
Warfyre Imbuement (Lv5): Coat your weapons with the Flames of War and enhance their destructive capabilities. +22 dmg cost 4mp/sec.
Observe(Lv10): Gain basic information about the target . the higher the level of the skill, the more information you gain, targets 30 levels higher than yours can hide from the skill. You can now see stats.
One surprising skill that I leveled up is
Mist Resistance(lv3): Because of your divine blood you have a natural resistance to the mist . Monsters of your level and bellow can't fool you with the mist .
Which is more than welcome really. It also prompted me to ask Wisteria if she could unlock my Mist control skill but apparently it is not safe for demigods to do that under the age of 10 so that was a bust.
I also gained a spear mastery skill, I used a primitive stick with a sharpened rock on top until I achieved it and after that i trained to gain the sword one.
Spear Mastery(Lv20): Your ability to use a spear in battle without poking your eye out. +30% dmg with and +15% attack speed when wielding spears.
Sword Mastery(Lv20): Your ability to use a sword without chopping your own hand. +30% dmg and 15% attack speed when wielding a sword.
I know what you will say, but Alex you awesome gal you have a perfectly good sword meant for killing monsters, what need do you have for a weapon you dont possess. And the answer is height. I am 6 and as a result fucking short. I need the range a spear gives in order to fight properly.
I also managed to give my mother a proper farewell. With the help of Wisteria who was horrified when I told her that I had my mother's body with me (I explained the pocket dimension as a divine gift) she immediately started preparation for a pyre.
And so, one day after her death I set my mother on the pyre covered in my white blanket in a pale imitation of a funeral peplos and even put the 2 drachmas on top of her eyes, hopefully easing her way to her final destination without procrastination from that dick Charon. Golden drachmas must count for something.
So here I am now three months after my introduction to the grove exploring the forest when I came upon a big ornate gate looking like it came right out of Rivendell, I was half expecting Elrond to come out a tell me that my excursion to Erebor is a futile endeavor ( I really liked the Hobbit sue me). But it was something else.
Astral Gate detected. Scanning. Please wait.
Green Natural dungeon discovered. WARNING: This dungeon will upgrade to Orange if you posses an aura of Nature or the Moon.
Natural Dungeons exist scattered everywhere on the world. They are created either by Divine will, magical mishap or other supernatural shenanigans. When cleared they always give some type of reward depending on their grade.
Dungeon grade is discerned through colors:
Green (Lv 15 and bellow) Common
Blue(15 - 30) Uncommon
Yellow(30-45) Rare
Orange (45-60) Heroic (ha see what I did there?)
Red (60 - 80) Legendary
Gold (80-100) Mythical
Black (Run motherfucker, RUN!) Divine
I was surprised. I tried for a whole day to unlock the instant dungeon skill until the game told me that it was too overpowered and was removed in the latest patch. I poute- I mean, I severely scowled for a moment but I got over it. I didn't expect for natural dungeons to exist but color me surprised. Thankfully it is only a Green one (and if I never find a black one it will be too soon) and I salivated at what type of goodies I could find there, the exp won't hurt either, and with this thought I heard the magical sound.
PING*
Rare Quest: Brave The Horned One's Challenge
Clear the 1 st floor
Clear the 2 nd floor
Clear the 3 rd floor
Clear the 4 th floor
Clear the 5 th floor
Optional: Solve the riddles
Rewards:
1500 xp, 100$, 2 drachmas, piece of uncommon equipment
2000 xp, 200$, 4 drachmas, piece of uncommon equipment
2500 xp, 300$, 6 drachmas, piece of uncommon equipment
3000 xp, 400$, 8 drachmas, piece of uncommon equipment
4000 xp, 800$, 10 drachmas, piece of uncommon equipment
?, ?, ?,? .
Failure :
Death / Possible dismemberment
YES/NO
I accepted the quest and went to find Wisteria to ask her about this Dungeon. Maybe she has more information about this so I won't be caught with my pants down. Knowledge is power after all.
For using your head and not leaping to the unknown unprepared +1 INT +1 WIS.
Apparently this dungeon was created by the Celtic God of Beasts and the Wild Cernnunos also known as The Horned One . The story goes that in the last Inter - Pantheon powwow the Gods had (or whatever they call it) Cernnunos insulted the Moon Goddess Hunters calling them and I quote: 'A bunch of jumped up little chits that wouldn't know hunting if it bit them on the ass'. As you can imagine Artemis didn't really appreciate his opinion and they were one wrong breath away from a bloodbath, "you know, the usual" said the scarily powerful nymph with a shrug and Zeus and Dagda (one of the celtic leaders) decided to solve the problem with a challenge. Cernnunos will create a challenge and Artemis will choose three of her Hunters to brave it. The challenge apparently was a bitch and a half to defeat and at the end Artemis lost. Her hunters injured and pride wounded, Zeus sent his stewing daughter back home to prevent further problems. Cernunos said that the challenge will remain until someone defeats it and if they succeed they will rewarded with three gifts and the grove will gain his personal blessing as well. Zeus didn't find anything wrong with this so he accepted and that was that. So it remains to this day 200 years later and no matter how many times they try the hunters can't defeat the dungeon.
I deadpanned at that, trust the God to cheat while not cheating (I mean seriously 3 difficulty upgrades to nature and moon followers!? WTF man). The surprising thing is the enemy that I have to defeat. Wait for it…. GOBLINS, fucking goblins, apparently they are lower Fae of the Autumnal Court that Cernunnos has good relations with and so he put them as enemies. I can only imagine what kind of hell it must have been in the Orange difficulty, probably scores of Harry Potter goblins (you know super-forged armors and halberds viciously attacking from everywhere), thankfully mine is only common grade so I will have to look forward to the loincloth, wooden pike wielding variety (I hope).
After many reassurances that I would be okay and if I couldn't do it I'll leave immediately I went to the Astral Gate.
You stand before an Astral Gate, do you wish to enter? YES/NO
Yes, I do.
WARNING: if you enter the gate you can't leave without divine intervention unless you complete the challenge, are you sure? YES/NO
I have already come here there is no going back now. Let's go,YES.
And into the gate I went.
Full Status
Name: Alexandra Bellum
Race: Demigod
Gender: Female
Title: Street Rat
Level: 5 (200/1600)
HP: 240 HPReg= 10 % /h
MP: 555 MPReg= 6mp/min
STR: 45 (Physical strength, how much weight you can carry)
VIT : 20 (Your health points, gives you 7 hp per 5vit * level)
DEX: 23(27) (your speed of movement, accuracy)
INT: 9 (your ability to absorb and retain information as well as your Mana
6 mp per 5 in * level)
WIS: 11(15) (Mana regeneration +1 per 5 WIS)
CHA: 7 (overall attractiveness and persuasion)
LUC: 9 (Drop rate for items, money and games of chance)
Status: 20
Skills:
Ancient Greek Mastery (lvMAX): Your ability to comprehend Ancient Greek, It needs a a certain amount of practice to come into your skill, unfortunately any other language will be hard to learn even the one you grow up in, say welcome to dyslexia
Mist Control (Locked) : Your ability to use the Mist, you need a practitioner to unlock your skill or being a child of Hecate which is naturally unlocked
*Flames of War(Lv7): 140 dmg/sec cost: 24 mp/sec
Warfyre Imbuement (Lv5): Coat your weapons with the Flames of War and enhance their destructive capabilities. +22 dmg cost 4mp/sec.
Observe(Lv10): Gain basic information about the target . the higher the level of the skill, the more information you gain, targets 30 levels higher than yours can hide from the skill. You can now see stats.
Mist Resistance(lv3): Because of your divine blood you have a natural resistance to the mist . Monsters of your level and bellow can't fool you with the mist .
Spear Mastery(Lv20): Your ability to use a spear in battle without poking your eye out. +30% dmg with and +15% attack speed when wielding spears.
Sword Mastery(Lv20): Your ability to use a sword without chopping your own hand. +30% dmg and 15% attack speed when wielding a sword.
*Riding skill(lv1): Your ability to ride a mount either a vehicle or living creature (bycycle)
Backstab MAX : When you stab an enemy from behind there is a 40% chance of doing triple damage and 12% chance of cripple hit.
Perks
Battle Reflexes: When in battle and life threatening situations you will not freeze, your mind and body will work faster .Makes you a natural combatant.
Godly Scent: Your godly blood makes you emit a natural aura that can be identified by all of the supernatural. It grows with age and power levels. Say hello to monsters everywhere that want to make you a chew toy.
Weapon Of War: When you hold a weapon in your hands you instinctively know how to use it (lv10) but to retain the knowledge of it if you change weapon you must level it to level 20 . All weapons can be used by you .
Rage Booster: Rage gives you strength, either your own or of others. In a 10 meters radius everyone that feels rage gives +1 STR including yourself.
Mortal Combat: +10 to all physical stats when in battle to the death
*Flames of War: You have the ability to use the Flames of War. This type of fire magic is incapable of anything but destruction .These flames are impossible to be used in forging cooking or even to give warmth in a cold night. The only thing they bring is death.
*Supreme Commander: When you lead in battle all allies gain +10 to all physical stats in a 400 meter radius
~ ChildeOfWar