Allevia gasped as she regained consciousness. The cold stone surrounding her was now void of any light. 'I didn't die?' She glanced around in confusion, but a sudden system notification appeared in her mind.
[You have absorbed the First Flame. New Authority has become available.]
[Please choose from the following options:]
[Goddess of the Hearth: Followers are less affected by cold environments. Open fires will allow followers to heal and remove fatigue faster.]
[Goddess of Lightning: The sky is your altar. Followers can now send their prayers to you by praying beneath the open sky. Followers believe in your might, becoming more aggressive in combat and fearing lightning storms as a display of your anger.]
[Goddess of the First Flame: Followers can now sense your presence from all sources of fire. Followers can send their prayers to you by praying to any source of fire. Fire brings increased warmth and healing to your followers. While also dealing increased damage to their enemies. (You gain access to different powers of the Fire element as you advance through the Tiers.)]
Allevia gasped as she read through the notification! 'Authorities! There's actually Authorities available! I won't be stuck at Tier 0 anymore!' She burst out into laughter as she reread the notification. 'Hmph! Does it think I'm stupid or something? It's obvious I should take the Goddess of the First Flame!'
She made her choice and waited for the effects to take place. She smiled as new divine spells appeared like Cleansing Flame and a few others that were marked with the (Hearth) prefix. This left her somewhat confused. 'But I didn't choose Hearth? Is it a bug?'
[Congratulations! Title changed to: Goddess of the First Flame]
[Congratulations! Authority of the First Flame and Divinity conditions met for advancement! You will now advance to Tier 1!]
'Wait!' Allevia's mind was thrown into a spin. She did not get the chance to fully comprehend what was going on. But the notifications kept flooding her vision as a golden cocoon wrapped around her. Her stats were being modified before her eyes as she glanced in confusion at them being reset to one first.
[Please select six of the following spells to complete the foundation of your Tier 1 Status:]
Allevia's eyes went wide as she scrolled through the spells that were made available. There was a mixture of them prefixed with (Hearth) and (Lightning) respectively. To her surprise, she could even choose to mix them. Taking some from each. 'It would be great if I could have all of them...' Allevia sighed as she made her choices.
[Elevation Complete...]
The golden cocoon shattered as sparks danced over Allevia's skin while there appeared to be miniature suns inside her eyes. As the phenomenon faded, Allevia took a deep breath. She felt more powerful than before, even if her stats had taken a hit. 'It's no surprise that Jor wanted to seize this. He probably had someone in mind to take control of it...'
Allevia hesitated as she thought about that. 'He's going to kill me when he finds out... I'll have to leave Valheim...' As Allevia peered into the dark, a sudden rumbling filled the room. A section of the wall crumbled to reveal a new passage. However, it was not empty.
An Elden hurried into the room only to freeze in shock. Its eyes focused on the empty plinth and the woman standing next to it.
"You! What have you done!" The Elden roared in its gravelly voice as it raised its shield and a two-handed hammer.
Allevia frowned at the sight. She could tell from the player's aura that he was a Tier 1 like her. But it seemed that he had not passed the halfway mark yet, otherwise she would have felt the pressure intended to warn her. 'This is a good chance to test my new powers...'
The open passageway allowed light into the room as the Elden charged towards her. Allevia smile as she activated Soothing Hearth, creating a 20m fiery aura around herself that suppressed the Elden's stats by 20%. The player appeared shocked when they felt the suppression kicking in, but it was too late to stop now.
However, Allevia was ready for him. She pointed her spear at the charging figure and launched her Lightning Bolt from its tip! The player was unprepared for such a move. With the suppression in effect, Allevia's Authority ranked higher than his own! He took a small chunk of damage, but the spell also caused a stunning effect. Making him unable to react to the sudden attack of Allevia.
She pounced forward and rapidly thrust her spear at the Elden's exposed side several times. A smile appeared on her face as the damage notifications popped up, revealing that this particular Elden already had a low-speed stat and her suppression just made it that much worse. 'I have to defeat him quickly to get out of here...'
As the Elden was released from the stun effect, the pair appeared to perform a complicated dance full of dodges, parries and feints as they tested each other's skill. Allevia made sure to keep Soothing Hearth in effect whenever it was due to run out. Preventing the Elden from recovering to his full strength.
Eventually, the Elden grew tired of those games and began to use his own divine spells. Spears of Earth appeared whenever Allevia tried to avoid one of his blows. Causing cuts and damage to finally appear. She sighed as she stared at the Elden in the eyes. He was wearing a savage smile on his rocky features, figuring that he had regained the upper hand.
However, Allevia let out a laugh as she activated Heart of the Hearth. Providing herself with constant healing every 5 seconds for the next 2 minutes! The Elden's expression turned ugly at that point. He could tell this battle had just become far more difficult than he expected it to be.
"Shall we continue? Or do you want to run away now?" Allevia asked with a sweet smile as she tilted her head to the side....