Arc 3 -> Let's go!!

>> Apologies for the delay! Recap and synopsis below. Uploading today's chapter now!

>> What came before

Nar, a young worker/sinner, takes the Climb in order to reach the fabled outside and to earn forgiveness for the Original Sin. This is a crime committed by his long forgotten ancestors but which still stains the souls of their descendants, forcing them to a lifetime of indentured work in the darkness of the B-Nex in order to pay for their debts.

With him, Nar took a secret, his identity as an Unclean, a hated minority within his cubeplant, and his vow to one day return to save his dad, Bey. His dad, who is really his uncle, sacrificed his own chances at freedom in order to care for Nar when he was still a child and his parents died. However, Bey is dying from a disease called the Wasting, which comes about from overwork at the workers' aura machines. This means that Bey will only live another five years at max, unless Nar can return, take him to the O-Nex and bring him to healers within that time. 

In order to Climb, one needs a Climbing party. However, unable to fully trust a bunch of Clean (those who abuse and exploit the Unclean), and knowing that one day he will have to Climb back down on his own, Nar requested the Crystal/Someone, to give him a hybrid class of tank/DPS, so that he can fight on his own. This request was granted.

Still, a Climbing party is necessary to leave the cubeplant, and so Nar joined Kur, Gad, Jul, Cen, Mul, Tuk and Viy, and together, they embarked upon their journey.

The Climb proved to be a challenge of darkness, and of cruelty followed after cruelty in an unexplainable series of challenges, lack of information, and what could only be described as complete hatred and desire to kill all the Climbers from the part of the Crystal. Plus, rather than the promised magic and Blessed Aether of the Crystal, the party was forced to embrace their “sinful” aura, discovering in the process that the workers used it wrong (hence why it was so painful and deadly) and that aura was in fact quite powerful and painless to use.

They slayed and destroyed their way through hordes of killing machines, almost perished at the hands of the cannibals, and gained a new member, Rel, the alfin archer dying from the Yearning. Challenge after challenge, faltering and fallible, the party became more… They became family, Nar revealed his secret as an Unclean, and embraced the party and was embraced by them as well, and together, they made it to the very end, where the Ceremony of Final Atonement awaited them.

Here, as all came crashing down, Nar decided to stay back and help his new found family instead of escaping on his own. In doing so, he earned the right to attempt the journey to become an unknown class, a Champion, and the promise from an Unknown entity that if he became a full champion, he would earn the right to return for his dad, as well as to learn the truth of his class and Whoever it was that has been talking to him throughout his Climb (this is one of the rewrite changes!). 

And thus, Nar and the party made it outside… Only to find out that the O-Nex was no paradise. Forced to come to grips with their weakness, and not waiting to end their journey as playthings to the criminal element of the Nexus, they accept the invitation to join the Scimitar, an apprentice-ship designed to raise elite, mighty delvers.

Given the once off advanced skills that he was allowed to use, [Mantle of the Champion] and [Strike of the Champion], which gave him tremendous power, Nar understood that this class was the answer to his need to save his dad, and to keep his party safe in the cruel, XP obsessed and callous reality that they had found outside the B-Nex.

And so, Nar and the party learned about Creation, that there were multiple gods under the Crystal, and that even forgiven, they would forever be looked down as BNs. Nar earned the attention of the Master of Blades and Aura, and the first, in particular, began training him in order to lay down the foundations of Nar’s path, focusing on his swordsmanship, [Sword Aura] and [Aura Blade] skills. While no one aboard the ship seemed to know what a Champion is, it seems that the faculty have at least recognized the greatness in Nar’s potential, and are investing heavily in his future.

Thus, the party saw the marvels of the Labyrinth, and thrived through the 3 assessments imposed upon them by the Scimitar’s faculty in order to be deemed worthy of their teaching, And even through a corrupted dungeon, they did, and have thus been invited to remain aboard for a two year delve period of intense, insane learning, after which they should all emerge as mighty, elite delvers.

However, secrets are being whispered without Nar’s knowledge. Tsurmirel knows what a Champion is, and more than that, they seem to have designs of their own for Nar’s future… Nar’s rest and celebration time in the purple Haven was cut short when those plans were finally set in motion: Tys and the Master of Emotions manipulated events in order to awaken Nar’s [Presence], and to pull him away from an affinity they don’t want him to have. At all costs! By letting him know that he was forbidden to return back to the B-Nex for his dad, and through the use of some slight emotional manipulation, the MoE managed to pull him away from the god’s promise and, seemingly, from Nar’s dreaded affinity.

But Tys seems to have designs of her own for Nar, and she seems ready to fight Tsurmirel in order to ensure that Nar does not suffer the same fate as the Champion she once fought alongside…

>> What comes next

Reality has collapsed around Nar… If he cannot return for his dad, then what was the purpose of it all? Better than he stay behind to care for him and die in the cubeplant.

However, rather than wallow in his misery, he shifts his focus into continuing to gain power in order to ensure the happiness and the future of his party, who gave everything in order to support his hybrid class and his dream. No one in the party is willing to give up yet on Nar’s dad, but Nar understands that there are somethings that one cannot do, such as challenging the gods and the very Nexus itself in order to rescue his dad.

But there are changes coming his way, changes that promise to deliver him the power he needs to ensure that no one messes with his party ever again: Tys, Ascending One, is revealed to be a Named Few candidate on the cusp of rising to the ranks of the most powerful combatants in the Nexus, and she wants to take Nar as her disciple.

This is the way to power that Nar desperately needs, and Tys promises to deliver it… If Nar can withstand her training with his willpower and sanity intact. Nar has been warned about the demands and sacrifices to make his class work, and now, the time has come for the sacrifices to begin, as Tys’ training will be far more than just brutal… But if he manages to succeed, the rewards will be far greater than he ever dared to dream.

Meanwhile, the Scimitar heads to a cluster of easy dungeons, beginning a month of intense training in order for the parties to re-organize themselves around the new affinities, path corrections and skills that the apprentices have unlocked and gained during their assessments.

One month is not a long time, and the party must hurry to get their footing back, for Tsurmirel, impressed by the apprentices’ survival of the corrupted dungeon, has decided to accelerate their training, and to open their bank accounts in order to “reward” the apprentices of the Scimitar…

A four month survival delve awaits the parties of the Scimitar, as they are thrown into a savage jungle domain filled with ravenous and poisonous beasts. The Brightnight, a red category dungeon, bordering on purple, is a place of both beauty and danger unlike any Nar and the party have ever faced before, and in the perpetual night jungle, danger is lurking from every stream, bush and tree.

However, the greatest danger might not come from the jungle or the beasts themselves, but from those whom they extend a helping hand to…

Their time in the Brightnight will forever be carved into their memories, and their actions within its sweltering confines may very well come to shape their very futures. Besides, who knows what secrets lay dormant in the jungle? And is Nar truly ready to give up his dad? Maybe the MoE celebrated her success too early… 

Arc 3 of Path of the Last Champion, Brightnight, begins.

>><<

Hi everyone!

The break is over, and it’s time to get rolling again! And I hope you’re all excited to continue on our journey!

I wanted to try something a little different, so I wrote a bit of a recap, as well as a bit of synopsis for Arc 3. Hopefully, it’s enough to get you all excited, but it doesn't spoil too much!

As for the break, I managed to restore my backlog to a respectable degree, though something very important was happening in my life and it took a good chunk of my attention 😅. I also spent a good deal of time thinking about the direction I want Path of the Last Champion to go in, and many new threads, fixes and nudges, and others came to me during this time, and I’m really excited to write them down soon.

Since I didn’t get as far as I wanted, the second half of book 5 is still to be edited, so, if there are any breaking changes as I edit, I will let you all know as they come. Meanwhile, Book 1 has begun editing with the editors, and we have a potential artist to design the covers for the books!

Now, as for Arc 3, which comprises book 5 and 6… I really, really, really like Arc 3. It’s where we finally see Nar’s path begin to take proper shape and where a lot of very important stuff happens that also sets up what’s coming in the future.

It’s also where we start to move away from the “holiday”, Scimitar-centric story, and start shifting to the delve and more plot/mystery side of things for Arcs 3, 4 and 5 (which should bring us about halfway through the series).

I also wanted to shift the tone away from that peaceful academy life of Arc 2, and return a bit more to that grit, a bit dark, and sometimes even heavy feeling of the Climb going forward. Even though the first half of book 5 is still ship focused, we’re moving away from the learning and moving into the doing, and after the last two small lectures in the first half of Book 5, I don’t think we sit down for lectures again in the series.

Arc 3 also promises to be quite big. There is a lot of stuff happening, there is a lot of fighting coming, and there’s just an insane amount of stuff (no spoilers!) packed into this arc, and I really, really hope that you all enjoy it!

With that said, I need to hurry up and release today’s chapter, so let the journey continue! And thank you all so, so very much for all your support, help, advice and for being so awesome and amazing!

All the best,

Everhart 

PS: Discord, and other aspects are being looked into! Also, let me know if anything here didn’t make sense, as I’m rushing! 😅