“Let me be the first to congratulate you, High King Harik.” Exile grinned as he gazed at the other gods wearing ugly expressions.
The matter had been easy to settle after his threats to kill the Oracles imprisoned by the dwarves and the threat of their army helping Harik. Those gods could only accept to name Harik as the High King under those circumstances. Of course, they could always plot something for further down the line when they had more power.
[Quest Completed: The Man Who Would Be King (Part 3)]
[Description: All hail High King Harik Eraldsen. Ruler of Skardia!]
[Rewards: +50 Stat Points, Inhabitants of Skardia will be more likely to worship you and/or your Pantheon.]
“You know what has to be done,” Exile said as he focused his gaze on Harik. “Make sure it happens.”
Exile was referring to placing defensive cities around the entirety of Skardia’s coast. “The trades with the dwarves will see a boom across Skardia as we prepare for the next war: Exile thought as Harik nodded. As he saw that matter was over, he eagerly cancelled his avatar spell.
‘I need to decide where to place these stats. Exile mused as he headed for his room in the longhouse. ‘Five levels is quite the jump. It’ll help to solidify my power among the other Pantheons! He sat at his desk as he considered his options.
‘I should increase my Authority. With learning the Domain technique from Paul, it’ll become my major stat. But, how many points should I put in it?’ Exile frowned as he thought about it. ‘I’ll use twenty points for now!
[You have received +20 Authority]
?
[Congratulations! More than 210 points of Divinity detected!]
[You will now go through qualitative changes…]
Exile’s eyes went wide as he recognised the notification! ‘It’s the same as when I became Tier 1!’ He chuckled as he made a mental note to tell the others the threshold to hit level sixteen was where they would ascend to the next tier.
[Elevating existence… Race changed to: True Royal Deity (Human)]
[Congratulations! You have reached Tier 2! Analysing stats for potential paths. Suitable paths detected. Please select your divine path…]
[Path of the Warrior]
[Path of the Tyrant]
[Path of Truth]
Exile frowned as he read his options. ‘What’s this all about?’ All he remembered was that Tier 2 was supposed to turn him into a National God. Otherwise known as a True God. “This should be different from my Authority… I think.
When his gaze landed on each option he felt like the true meaning behind them seeped into his mind. He could not explain it with words but he felt like it would be difficult to gain spells with the Path of the Warrior. ‘Are these options going to force me to specialise? I feel like the Path of the Tyrant will send me down the path of a dark god!
Exile frowned as he studied those options again. “The Path of Truth has a vague feeling to it. I feel like it makes me aware of deeper mechanics in the game! It was a strange feeling to Exile. However, he did not like how the other options made him feel. ‘I bet there are more paths than these. If I had to guess my Endurance has triggered the warrior option. How I handled the wars probably triggered tyrant. And I guess my Authority has triggered truth. Or maybe it was the first flame?’
He wanted to understand it as much as possible to advise his Pantheon members when they reached that stage. That was the drawback of being ahead of his competitors. He had no information to go on when making his decision. ‘I can only choose for now and hope it doesn’t impact me too much.
[You have chosen the Path of Truth…]
[Generating new Authorities…]
[Please choose your Secondary Authority…]
[God of Runes: Learn to speak and write Runes of Power. Runes hold the true words to describe everything in existence. Which allows you to wield their true power when used to create spells, runestones, and divine magic.]
[God of Magic: Learn to wield the power of magic. Will allow you to use other elements at half the power of your Authority. Sorcerors and witches will appear more frequently among your followers.] [God of Wisdom: Learn to see the truth of things even if they are unclear. Others will be unable to trick you while your Authority will prevent you from revealing meaningful information to enemies.]
[God of Knowledge: Gain deep knowledge of many things in both the Divine and Mortal Realms. Followers will be able to learn new skills and trades much quicker.]
Exile’s eyes went wide as he studied the list. ‘It seems like they’re all from the same branch going from strongest to weakest. Exile mused as he glanced over the options again. ‘Since I’m the first Skardian god to reach this level, then God of Runes should be the most powerful Authority from this branch.
Exile did not hesitate to make his choice as a broad grin spread on his face. ‘It’s interesting that Runes and Magic are under different classifications. That’s probably the Skardian and Dwarven parts interfering with the NPCs’ beliefs.
[Title Gained: God of Runes]
[Aura of the Gods now affects everyone below Tier 2]
[Undergoing Base Stat modification…]
[Congratulations! You have reached… Level 1!]
[All Base stats reset to 1]
[Race: True Royal Deity detected…]
[Royal: +4 to All Stats… Human: +5 to All Stats… Dwarf: +10 Strength, +10 Endurance]
[Element: Lightning detected…]
[+10 Speed, +10 Authority]
[Secondary Authority: Runes detected…]
[+20 Authority]
[Divine Talents:]
[Create Runestone: Create a disposable runestone that holds the Power of your Authority]
[Create Rune: Create a rune that holds a personal meaning. Can be inscribed on a runestone after creation.]
[Knowledge of Runes: Understand the meaning behind the True Language. Each rune contains the true meaning of its word.]
A wave of power exploded from Exile once the notifications stopped. The players outside of the longhouse felt his imposing aura and shivered. Moments later, they let out broad grins. They did not know what had happened, but they suspected that Exile had done something incredible again.
“This is the part I hate… Exile sighed as his power had dropped again due to his tier ascension. ‘But I wonder what the limits of this new power is. It has to be incredible if I can figure out how to use it. Exile frowned as he tried to focus on the small changes he sensed in his mind.
Suddenly, images of numerous runes and what they meant flashed in his mind. He did his best to hold on, but a splitting headache made him stop! ‘I guess I’ll have to focus on a specific rune I’m looking for: Exile hummed as he tried to understand his new power. ‘This is going to take some time…
Meanwhile, Clay glared at a group of creatures attempting to attack the players he was busy helping to level up. “This isn’t good. These guys won’t be able to handle this: Clay decided to sound the retreat. His group was made up of new recruits for the Pantheon, but he intended to raise their levels before letting them join.
They were the special cases with interesting Authorities or a better mindset than the players who had applied but were stronger than them. He had taken a risk in choosing them for their potential over those who could give an immediate power boost to the Pantheon. His sword flashed through the air as he severed the arm of the nearest creature. Screams echoed throughout the forest beyond the walls of Valheim. ‘They’ve spread out. Those screams should be from groups from other Pantheons. It won’t be long til they reach Valheim!’
Clay cursed, he had thought Exile’s warning would give them more time before they had to worry about the assault. But it seemed the game did not want to give them a breather! ‘We’re just back and a new disaster strikes right away! I have to tell Exile so we can come up with something!”
He knew Exile had not had the chance to speak with the other leaders yet. But that was now more important than anything. After all, only the rebel faction had fought the boss. The other Pantheons may just think of those creatures as new mobs. However, Clay knew the disaster that would follow them.
They had witnessed two Tier 1 players being killed effortlessly by that boss, and he did not want to think about what would happen if it reached the city. ‘Exile and Noslin were just newly ascended Tier I’s then. It should be different now. And with Mikari on our side, if we’re quick enough we should be able to slow them down at least!’
Clay roared as he swung his sword again to cut down another three of those creatures as the new players screamed at him to run. He shook his head and roared at them to get back to Valheim and warn anyone in the fields. He intended to stay behind and slow them down for as long as possible!
Those players wore reluctant expressions as they watched Clay rush between the creatures flooding out of the forest. Eventually, their fear got the better of them as they sprinted away from that clearing. Clay’s chest heaved to catch his breath before he activated his spell. 𝒃𝙚𝙤𝙫𝒆𝒍．𝙘𝒐𝙢
‘Eternal Blade!’
A shimmering silver sword rose formed from the ground before he activated the same spell three more times. Clay checked to make sure nobody would witness that event as he controlled the four swords to circle his body. “This is the closest I can come for now to copying Paul…