Divine Apostasy Book 11 - Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Relief washed over Ruin, his tension draining away. "Thank you, Zylkin."

"Your path has been… unusual," Zylkin responded. "But the trials you’ve faced, the transformations you’ve undergone… they have forged you into something unique."

"Unique, but broken," Ruin countered, the weight of his unusable Harmony a constant reminder of his vulnerability. "I don’t know how to use my new shadow core, my soul is damaged, and the Destruction Realm is a mystery."

"How may I help?"

A million questions came to mind, but Ruin didn’t know where to start. "How about those five huge towers on that island?"

"You seek to harden your meridians?" Zylkin asked, his voice regaining some of its former strength.

"Is that what happens there? I need your guidance on where to begin. Eventually, I need to become human again, but if the gains from this body transfer, I want to achieve as much improvement as I can."

"Hardening one’s meridians is fraught with danger and time-consuming," Zylkin warned. "Each of the five towers is focused on a different meridian: fire, air, death, dark, and chaos. Each holds runes that, when etched into your meridians, will grant you the strength you seek."

Ruin's brow furrowed, and he frowned when Zylkin mentioned the process took a long time.

"How do I obtain these runes?" Ruin asked, his voice tinged with apprehension.

"The towers are much larger than they appear on the outside. They act more like a hub. Once inside, every level contains multiple doors, each linked to dimensional pockets."

"Dimensional pockets? Containing what?"

Zylkin shrugged. "Cities, dungeons, farms, orchards, training facilities—"

Ruin’s eyes widened, causing Zylkin to stop.

"What’s wrong?" Zylkin asked.

Ruin recalled casting the Harmonic spell Minor Prelude of Stillness, which had killed everything on the island, including many creatures in the five towers. "You said you had a family. Were they in one of those towers?"

"Yes, the Dark Tower, but not literally in the tower. The portal to our city is on the fifth floor, so it’s more accurate to say they are in a pocket dimension connected to the main tower."

"Are there citizens in the towers?"

"Unlikely. Most citizens only reenter the tower when required by their duties. They prefer to remain in the time dilation of the dimensional pocket. It reduces their temporal offset from the immense time dilation that surrounds this universe. The towers are guarded by creatures or beasts."

Ruin slumped in relief. He’d thought he might have killed Zylkin’s family. The time dilation surprised him, though. It seemed very common in the Outerverse. Ruin and Sift hadn’t been able to return to Miranda’s Divine Realm because the time dilation was so high they’d become unstuck from the main timeline if they stayed too long.

"You mentioned a temporal offset. Are there items that can decrease that?"

"Yes, elixirs, but they’re very expensive."

Ruin added this to the list of things he wanted to buy from the Destruction Realm store. He planned on breaking it down and discovering its secrets so he could reproduce it himself. His alchemy skills, being mostly mental, remained with him.

With the four Voidguard rings Varthon had given Ruin to protect his friends from the Destruction Realm damage and the time dilation the towers offered, he could help his friends reach deity status in a, relatively, shorter time. These elixirs would provide the final piece, allowing everyone to rid themselves of the accrued time burden.

"So, it sounds like I need to get into one of these towers and start collecting runes. Is there a best tower to start with?"

"As the exalted Emperor, you will, of course, be admitted into any of the towers. The dimensional pocket dungeons are accessible based on reputation with the tower. Did your Class provide you any reputation?"

"No, but I gained rep from my fight with Lalquinrial and the Aspects. Those Aspects were constructed from the murdered leaders of the Air, Fire, Dark, and Chaos Towers. I think killing the Aspects of War, Famine, Pestilence, and Drought—and allowing their essence to return to their respective towers—gave me reputation. How much do I need?"

Zylkin leaned back, his head tilted in thought. He absently rubbed the massive crab between two tentacle like protrusions.

While waiting for Zylkin, Ruin opened his Profile to see if it listed his reputation with each tower.

Profile

Name: Ruin Val’dor

Race: Saraph

Age: 1 Day

Class: Destruction Emperor

Level: 1

Fortification Tier: Divine – Archangel (Peak)

Soul Level: 2

Soul Vault Count: 0

Shadow Core: Rank 6

Core Type: Special - Apocalypse

Core Vault: 0/5

Inventory: 27/20,000

Karmic Offset: 72

Harmonic Spell Points: 4

Destruction Needle (DeN): 112,399,455

Level Token: 1

Temporal Offset: 97 years 11 days

Pools

Health: 9,000

Spirit: 0

Destruction: 6,250,000,000

Physical Energy: 19,600

Soul Power: 0

Wing Resonance: 2,000

Mental Energy: 999,999

Physical Attributes

Constitution: 900

Strength: 1,020

Nimbleness: 1,020

Charisma: 720

Mental Attributes

Intelligence: 2,707

Wisdom: 946

Awareness: 945

Willpower: 999,999

Ratings

Armor Class: 6,107

Knowledge: 2,165

Critical Chance: 414%

Haste: 515%

Dodge: 1,349%

Persuasion: 326%

Resilience: 419%

Cleverness: 4,381%

Regeneration per Second

Health: 146

Physical Energy: 529

Soul: 0

Wing Resonance: 33

Mental Energy: 278

Resistances

Elemental: 421%

Poison: 421%

Acid: 421%

Mind: 3,600%

Order: 421%

Chaos: 417%

Disease: 421%

Light: 421%

Dark: 417%

Reputation

Dark Tower: 100,000

Air Tower: 100,000

Fire Tower: 100,000

Chaos Tower: 100,000

Death Tower: 1,000,000

Ruin noticed many items had disappeared from his Profile, and some of the labels had changed. Those items must only matter in Material Realm or only pertain to his human body. Missing were things like his Architect Role, Step ranks, Shattered Sun information, and Black Pyramid items. The karmic offset had transitioned to his new body, as had any skills related to his mind like Alchemy, Creativity, Multitasking, and Last Breath.

The new Temporal Offset Attribute had a value despite Ruin’s new body, which he guessed meant the concept of becoming unstuck from time was based on a mental process, not a physical one.

Willpower and Mental Energy still appeared to have maxed-out values, the System unable to accurately gauge them.

Wing Resonance had doubled, going from one thousand to two thousand, obviously related to his additional set of wings.

Ruin had one hundred thousand rep in four of the towers and a million with the Death Tower. He figured the higher value related to saving Echo in the Journeyman Step Trial. She’d made a blood oath to him, and since her Aspect of Death possessed the essence of the murdered leader of the Death Tower, it had seen him as a friend.

Resistance didn’t mean much anymore. Even if something like acid overpowered the natural Armor Class of an Archangel body and overcame the resistance percentage, Ruin could heal from fatal damage to a full Health bar in sixty seconds.

Zylkin had finished considering Reputation values and spoke, forcing Ruin to refocus on the Prime Warden.

"The towers are set up the same for the most part. There are multiple dungeons in each, but eight of those dungeons contain a final boss that rewards a rune associated with that tower. These are the runes you place on your meridian to harden it. In the Dark Tower, these rune dungeons require the most reputation to enter. The first rune dungeon will take ten thousand Reputation, and then each additional rune dungeon requires ten thousand more than the preceding one. So, you’d need eighty thousand Reputation minimum."

Ruin closed his eyes in relief. If he’d needed to stay here and farm reputation with all five towers, it would have likely taken years.

Zylkin misunderstood Ruin’s reaction and offered some advice. "Yes, it’s an overwhelming task. It takes decades to earn the required amounts. The Death Tower especially is difficult, as their dungeons are considered the most dangerous. There are quests that provide Reputation, and killing beasts in the dungeons provides some as well. Donating level tokens to a tower will also provide significant reputation. Killing a Citizen will decrease your reputation with their associated tower, so be careful who and how many people you kill. Reputation affects prices for everything, so always shop in the Tower you have the most Reputation with."

"Do you have time to take me to the Dark Tower and show me around?" Ruin asked.

Zylkin bowed as low as his sitting form allowed. "Of course, Exalted One."

"Please, just call me Ruin. Let’s go."