Chapter 269 - History of Cards

“What’s this from again?” asked Nate, removing a little of the tender meat from his teeth with his tongue. “Oxenaw,” answered Wulfgar, rubbi

“What’s this from again?” asked Nate, removing a little of the tender meat from his teeth with his tongue.

“Oxenaw,” answered Wulfgar, rubbing his tattooed head with his spare hand. “It’s so good that we made a deal with the Dungeon Spirit that manages the Dungeon to make sure it keeps a stock of them separate from the rest of the Dungeon. Don’t want the monsters wiping them out.”

“What does the Dungeon Spirit get out of it?” asked Kiri.

“We trade it some of the processed mana collected from each run.”

“It’s good,” Nate agreed, pulling another slice of the meat onto his plate and adding a little of the spiced gravy. “That’s one Dungeon. Seems to me you have at least a couple of hundred throughout the mountains.”

Nate took in the room as Wulfgar finished his mouthful of meat and prepared to answer. They were seated in what was ostensibly Wulfgar's office. It turned out the entire top floor was the Lord-Prefects home. A few expansive rooms, including a secondary vault, made up part of the floor. The rest was devoted to what Nate felt was essentially a pseudo-cultivation room. Wulfgar had been happy to show them a small corner of it. The room had mostly been filled with various trophies but Nate could feel how over time some of the items inside could become naturally formed Divine Artifacts. Though even at his lowest estimates he guessed it would be another couple of hundred years before that happened unless Wulfgar took them out and exposed them to locations with similar Concepts and a high amount of ambient mana.

Then there was the man’s office. Richly furnished with a dining area off to one side where they were now seated. The furnishings were mostly soft furs and hard but warm woods. A couple of fireplaces flickered with heat and light changing the ambience from distant and cold to warm and inviting. Much like Wulfgar himself, Nate decided.

“Aye, we do. They’re natural mana collectors after all. Having so many does slow down the rate that each recharges, but they also act as a natural mana sink, drawing in excess mana for a few hundred kilometres. So in the end, we win out on the quantity. Also means we have a bit more time to develop our people. Make sure they start with higher rarity Classes.”

“Epic?” asked Nate.

“Rare mostly. We have had a couple of Epics over the years, but I can’t directly interfere, as you’d know,” explained Wulfgar with a pointed stare. 

“Guild’s got rules. Gotta earn your stake… or your steak, get it?” guffawed Wulfgar.

The large man continued to chuckle, waving around a slab of meat on his fork while smiling at his own joke.

“Anyway, most of the Adventurers that go far enough that they could earn the kind of rewards needed to get their offspring an Epic Class don’t have kids. Too busy raiding the Dungeons themselves and potions to prevent pregnancies are pretty cheap. So, even if they’re rutting in them Dungeons they ain’t having children. Mind you, there have been a few. But of course, it ain’t enough to start with an Epic Class is it? Gotta then get the Achievements needed to evolve it up a tier. And again. And again. If it was easy to spit out ilk like ours I’d have stumbled onto it by now. Of course, there’s the other way.”

“Artifacts,” Nate agreed, intentionally leaving off the mention of Divine as he didn’t know who was listening.

“That’s right. Artifacts. Problem is, they basically never show up in Dungeons. Least none of the ones we have here has ever dropped one. Form in the wilds don’t they? And what in the wilds find them? Beasts! Pretty sure we’ve gotten a job or two to deal with beasts that got their hands on one of them. Bloody things are so dumb though they straight up eat them usually. Which means we got some raging overpowered beast and nothing to show for it.”

“But they do show up,” Nate countered, looking at the suit of dark-red scaled armour draped over a stand near the door with a large axe hanging next to it.

“Of course lad. But those ain’t artifacts because of a Dungeon or nothing else. They’re artifacts because I have been using them for over a hundred years and pumping my energy into them. They’re decent. Dunno how good though in the grand scheme of things. Course, there must be another way.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Kiri.

“Severen, the oldest of us, has at least three Artifacts of his own and unlike mine they don’t just channel my Skills better or make the metals harder and sharper.”

“Rings,” Nate added. “He has three rings. All of them Artifacts.”

“Good eye lad. Aye. I only know what two of them do. One detects Divine Energy. Lets him narrow down its location. The second lets him make portals. That’s how we arrived at you so quickly. No idea if he can use it endlessly or the thing needs to recharge. As for the third ring? No idea.”

“So it’s true then,” Kiri growled, her eyes narrowing. “You three have hunted down and killed every other Lesser Divine to rise on Galle.”

Wulfgar held his hands up placatingly, “I only participated once lass and I wouldn’t have even done that if the bitch they found weren’t a Necromancer that had been sacrificing cities to fuel her rise. She needed putting down plain and simple. Lost a few good Gems to her before she made the jump and I could step in and get the job done. But Severen and Jemima? Aye, they been preying on those who could rise for hundreds of years. Nearly did for me as well when I made the leap.”

Kiri grunted her acceptance and Nate stepped into the gap, “They’re older than you then?”

“Aye. Severen’s at least five-hundred years old, far as I can tell. Jemima’s a bit younger. Four-hundred-and-forty or something. Lose track over time.”

“How’d you survive then?” asked Kiri.

“I survived for the same reason that Jemima did before me. Too hard to kill and I got combat-oriented Classes. Severen’s a calculating bastard, but the man follows a Ruler-type Path. Pretty sure his Primary Class is in Administration. He was an advisor to some Emperor. Sneaky bastard had the man assassinated and took over. He’s good with people and management but he’s not the greatest of combatants. I know his Secondary though is a Beastmaster-type Class. Uses snakes. It’s why he didn’t kill Jemima when she rose. She’s more like what I hear you are, Nate. Hybrid-crafter. Alchemy specifically, and specialised in poisons, which makes her pretty much fucking immune to them.” 

Wulfgar paused to down a mouthful of mead before continuing.

“So, as I hear it, and keep in mind I been putting this together from histories and accounts, but Severen rises up. His empire starts expanding. I think he takes down a Lesser Divine beast within the first twenty years of his rule. Another forty years and he encounters Jemima. Like him, she took control of an empire. Smaller one but you get the idea. They actually went to war with each other for a couple of decades before they came to some sort of agreement. Over the next hundred and fifty years they killed at least one Lesser Divine. I think it’s closer to three though. Hard to tell since somewhere in that time is when Severen got his Artifact for creating portals. They came for me at my own Ascension. Failed, of course. I ain’t easy to kill. Especially not by those employing poison. But it were close. In the end, they forced me to agree to a System Contract. That I would help them, or at the very least, not interfere as they went after Lesser Divines. Nothing in the contract to prevent us from fighting again though. Pretty sure they just wanted to get strong enough to end me.

“But, I had an idea! Now I got two Lesser Divines with their own empires on my ass. Empires that would march for my mountains and wipe out my people. I ain’t never been a leader. Even now I would say I ain’t cut out for it. Make a good figurehead though. And I was rich. Bloody, filthy, stinking rich. So, what do I do? These fuckers are killing anyone who can rise and the fact is while I could take either of them alone, I can’t take them together and I can’t face either one of them with their empires at their backs. And believe me when I say those two assholes would happily sacrifice their own people to wear me down. You as well, now. So, anyway, what I need is more people. More Lesser Divines. Enough to turn the tides right? And within the bounds of our System Contract. So, I add a clause. My children would be exempt from the agreement. Course, I ain’t got no children and can’t have any. But that weren’t how I phrased it. I phrased it as ‘Those of my blood’. That’s where my Skill comes into it. Blood not of my Blood. Was meant to help me empower my allies. Took a while but I stretched it with a little Divine Energy to include others, right?”

“Right,” agreed Nate.

“Exactly! But I ain’t a leader and I can’t manage shit. The only reason I was rich is because I was basically wandering the wilds finding every Dungeon I could and looting it dry. Plenty of beasties as well. I have all these Orbs, all these materials, all this mana, but no support network. So, I start hiring. Administrators were first. Having a stable of warriors and mages to fight the good fight is all well and good, but it’s easier to herd Oxenaw than it is to herd people. Her name was Marina. She was my first wife. Dead some two-hundred and fifty years now. Real fire lizard. Seven Heavens the mouth on her would make them stuckup angels blush blood red. Was her idea to put all the structure around it. To turn it into a business. Adventurers for hire. Used my capital to get it started and it grew from there. Slowly sending out its tendrils till we have Headquarters in most of the explored world. Some smaller than others but you get the idea. 

“So, now I got my army building. Course, I gotta pay em so I keep myself busy. Whole point of the Guild is to help give rise to another Lesser Divine that I can work with. Someone with the right priorities and not an asshole, you know? Recriprocity is satisfied because I want it and I am bloody well paying for it. Now, normally those two don’t bother to grab me when they want help murdering a newly risen Lesser Divine. Don’t want to share the spoils do they? And the Guild’s not produced a Lesser Divine despite all my trying. The Gems of the Guild get targeted from time to time. I chalk it up to Severen but how the bastard’s getting around the System Contract I don’t know.

“Then, half a year or so ago, those two bastards appear out of nowhere on my doorstep. Stepping out of Severen’s fancy portal. They say they need me. That not one but two Lesser Divines are rising, and rising together. They need a third to help take them down. What they really mean is, they ain’t confident they can manage it on their own. I went with them, as you know. Wanted to see if it was worth my time. Not because I was looking to kill some newly risen Lesser Divines, but because it might’ve been another Necromancer. Would you believe my surprise when I see your Guild badges? And on a couple of kids no less! Finally, my dreams have come true and I can put those sneaky bastards down for good. Then you two fuckers disappear for half a year!”

Wulfgar frowned at them for the first time, “It don’t take that long to get used to the Divine Energy and a six-month fuckfest is totally unnecessary! And I know you been gone because that Guildmaster Assling or whatever her name is has been submitting the reports like she was asked, though I reckon she dragged her feet letting me know you were back. What the hells you been doing?”

Kiri snorted in derision.

“None of your business old man. We’re here now, like you asked and we’ll help you deal with these assholes,” she paused. “For a price.”

Wulfgar ran a hand over his tattooed bald head and grunted, “Suppose that’s fair. Not like I started an order of paladins or warriors for good or something. Adventurers get paid. What do you want?”

“Severen’s rings,” answered Nate immediately. 

He didn’t care too much about the portal ring, though it would be useful for traversing Galle in the future without spending ridiculous amounts of mana. This wasn’t a Wild Realm after all. No, his main interest was in the ring that could somehow detect Divine Energy from so far away. Something like that might be useful in the Heartlands.

“Alright, I can agree to that. Anything else?”

“You mentioned their Empires… how’s that going to work when we attack them and what’s your plan for what comes after?” asked Nate.

“Their elites will likely mobilise to assist them. They know the risks of course, but Severen and Jemima will use their people to wear us down. I can mobilise some of the Guild’s Gems to deal with them, assuming we can get them there in time. Could take months though. I ain’t got a portal network into either of their Empires. They keep the Guild out. Don’t trust me, see?”

“I can get whoever is coming to the battlefield. And we don’t have months. If we’re doing this, it needs to happen in the next two weeks,” replied Nate.

“Why the rush?” asked Wulfgar, leaning back and crossing his heavily-muscled arms.

Kiri frowned for a moment then answered anyway, “We have another engagement. We’ll be offworld for over a year.”

“Off-world? I knew it was possible but ain’t ever seen it pulled off. Wouldn’t mind seeing some of that for myself… assuming we can deal with Severen and Jemima first.”

Nate shrugged, “I can consider it but you might want to wait till we return before you go off gallivanting again. If we’re gone and Jemima and Severen are dead, that would make you the only Lesser Divine left on Galle. If another Necromancer or something similar rises up while we’re all gone there might be no one who can stop them. Not that they can act directly, but indirectly seems to work just fine. A Lesser Divine Summoner or Spirit Binder would be just as bad. Who knows how much destruction they could cause.”

“Alright, I get it kid. I’ve waited a few centuries. What’s another year or two? Alright, so if we’re all gonna work together, it’s time we put our cards on the table. I am level two-hundred-and-twenty-three, Primary Class is Unrelenting Bloodborne Executioner. Secondary and Tertiary Classes focus on self-enhancement and self-regeneration. Perfect Embodiment. What about you two? You rose quickly but I did get that you’ve been spending time with some other Platinums? Must be around level one-twenty, yeah? And a Runecrafter and Dagger Dancer right?”

Nate glanced at Kiri who gave him a shrug before pasting a devil may care smile across her face.

“Level ninety Conceptual Runic Artist,” stated Nate in a matter-of-fact tone.

Wulfgar’s eye twitched and Nate sensed the shake of the man’s arm.

“.....WHAT!?!?! You’re a second evolution Divine that’s a fucking artist?!?!” roared the Lord-Prefect of the Adventurer’s Guild !