Chapter 204 - Crowned

Sofia and her skeletons appeared back on floor 100. She was fully healed and now dressed in a white toga similar to Sen’s, with only her mana still empty. He dressed me up? Well, I’ll take that over the itchy cape… She looked around, most of her possessions were still on the ground everywhere, there had been more gold than needed in the sack she threw so there were also a lot of gold coins spread around. Victory was nowhere to be seen.

Sofia threw a look at Sen who gave a sign to wait, but also teleported all of Sofia’s stuff as well as her lost limbs back to her before he disappeared, leaving her standing in front of the junk pile.

“So I get my things back. Good, because if not… I don’t know, I can’t imagine Sen would leave me without my things especially since he knows my name.”

But I have no mana so I can’t store anything…

Sofia picked up her torn demonic arm, no longer covered in eyes, she grabbed her rings and glove back, and the Scepter came back by itself.

The Orichalcum is still all there, but in pieces. Well, that’s that for my possessions, I recovered the Saint set’s sash too, guess It fell off during the battle, the bracelet and headband should still be in the storage ring.

Sofia was trying to distract herself from the burning questions that only Sen or Victory could answer. For now she was alone atop the tower, so she tried not to think about them too much.

After a few minutes, both Sen and the tall Orc in burlap shorts appeared near the center of the platform, the Orc seemed very happy. Seriously, how did I win? The duo approached and Victory was first to talk.

“Rejoice, champion! I will give it to you, this Valiant Victory!” he said, nodding to himself.

“Thank you… But how did I win? Was the Sun ritual that effective? I did not expect much from it…”

It was Sen who stepped up to answer, “Let me explain, first what your ritual did, and then the objectives required to pass floor 100.”

He teleported Sofia’s pile of stuff to the side and a white table appeared in its place along with three chairs, after everyone sat down, he continued, “After you damaged the Incarnation of Victory enough, and because you stole his vessel’s divine essence, he was left with no choice but to use some of his godly powers to keep fighting. But, as you have seen, forcefully linking the Gods’ plane and the physical plane as he did is very dangerous and mana intensive. Your ritual did what you expected, by enhancing Victory’s mana regeneration, it dried out the mana of the arena faster than the spire could refill it. Like a flame without fuel, Victory’s new form burned out, and while I will not expand on details, it was good that you jumped off. If not you would have surely died in the process. To give you an idea, think Apostle mutation.”

“So there was more to come after the eyes?” Also I stole the essence?! When? Was it hidden in the sword or something?

Victory scratched his head, visibly uncomfortable.

“As I said, I’m not going to expand too much, do your own research,” Sen answered with a smirk. “Too much to go through right now already.”

“Tell me how I won, then, because it sure didn’t feel much like a victory. Did it have anything to do with the crown?”

“Indeed. See, the objective for this floor is as follows : ‘Achieve a state of mutual Valiant Victory.’ To get there, a few things need to happen. First of all, Victory must acknowledge you as a worthy opponent through battle. Then, you need to get and wear the crown. And lastly, you need to escape with it, and without using the emergency exit command from the trial. With all these conditions together, it allows for the perfect scenario where everybody wins.

Victory has won in battle because you fled in front of His overwhelming might. You have won the crown because you got away with it after winning it in a fair fight.

And to be clear, you wouldn’t have been able to escape without your ritual doing its thing. Victory’s half-Godly form was much more than the bit you saw sticking out from the top of the tower. But the chain reaction the ritual started paralyzed the entire entity.”

“The other eye covered limbs… I saw them while I was falling out. But, why not use them all to catch me at the top then?”

“Mana density constraints.”

Sofia almost asked why she couldn’t escape by flying up but remembered there was no mana above, instead she asked : ”Could I have teleported out some other way?”

“The Godly eyes prevent teleportation.”

“Oh…” Sofia then turned to Victory, “Do you need your essence back? I have no idea how that works exactly but I would like to keep it if possible.”

“Keep it. You need it to use the crown, it is now yours.” Victory assured with a neutral expression. Yet Scripture wants to kill me to take his back…

“Thank you, I will use it well.”

“I have no doubts. Now, let me share the true spoils of victory, champion.”

The Orc violently pierced his chest with his right fist. Blood splashed out, stopped by an invisible screen Sen was likely the source of. Victory’s hand thrashed around inside his chest, as if he was searching for something, and finally, he took his hand out, the wound closing back almost instantly. He held his closed and bloodied fist over the table, and slowly opened it, nine gems pouring out of it and bouncing on the table.

The sight was a bit disturbing but Sofia had done worse to herself so she wasn’t one to speak now. She looked at the colorful gems but without [Identify] they were all just rocks full of mana.

Victory spoke up again. “These are the jewels left by this place’s creators. They entrusted them to me. As someone who has overcome the hidden challenge of the hundredth floor, you may now choose three of them to decorate your crown.”

Sofia took off the golden crown, looking at it closer, it did have three empty slots to fit in gems. I suppose it’s not for aesthetics. How do I choose though?

“Oh, right, you still have no mana.” Sen exclaimed as he saw Sofia examine the crown, “Let me [Identify] everything for you, ask me if you have any questions.”

[Saintomancer’s Golden crown of Victory] :

Gain a cumulative strength buff from your every Valiant Victories.

Upon losing against a Valiant Victory target, lose related bonus.

This is only active while you wear the crown.

Lesser Victories:

Siren Queen      +2%

Zhǎng Lú     +2%

Valiant Victories:

Ignatius Everbright     +5%

Mutated Evranarheimlein   +5%

Image of Orvod Maurya Ovohen  +5%

Glorious Victories:

Incarnation of Victory   +15%

Item level : 199.

Grade : Flawless.

Restriction : wearer must be Sofia Aphenoreth. Soulbound. System item.

“Valiant victories… What makes them count and what determines the category?”

Sen instantly answered as if he had been anticipating the question, “It’s all up to the grinning Orc over there, something about grandiose battles...”

“I see… What about it being a ‘System item’ then?”

“Your ownership of it and its continued existence is monitored and ensured by the system, simple as that. Also prevents identification and helps it stick to your head, among other things. It’s all positive to you. If you’re alright with the crown, let’s proceed with the jewels. Remember, you can only have three, no changing your mind later, so pick well. The amount of information I’m allowed to give for those is different, so you can ask questions but I do not promise I will answer.”

“Fine with me.”

What are they going to be, more things related to Victory?

The nine gemstones were all cut to the same shape and size, brimming with mana, they were obviously quite special, one of them in particular stood out to Sofia, it had the same red hues as her storage ring, [Rubedo’s Tail Biter].

Sen gave some more details before showing the gems’ details, “These are all passive effects, unless they pertain directly to skills, they will cost no mana to maintain, but you must wear the crown for them to be in effect. Also, and this is a detail to you, but like the relics from the 99th floor, the gems you pick are unique and won’t be offered again if someone else makes it here. The admins had estimated it would take five thousand years for the first person to have these, so you’re a bit early. Anyway…”

[Nigredo] : When worn on the Crown of Victory, provides the special skill [Spell Decay].

Grade : Legendary.

[Albedo] : When worn on the Crown of Victory, provides a random skill with an immunity effect.

Grade : Legendary.

[Citrinitas] : When worn on the Crown of Victory, provides three classless skill slots.

Grade : Legendary.

[Rubedo] : When worn on the Crown of Victory, provides 10% mana regeneration speed.

Grade : Legendary.

[Emerald Cypher] : When worn on the Crown of Victory, provides knowledge of all system-registered languages.

Grade : Legendary.

[Adamian Core] : When worn on the Crown of Victory, provides doubled health and health recovery.

Grade : Legendary.

[Diamond Prism] : When worn on the Crown of Victory, provides doubled filter upgrade stats.

Grade : Legendary.

[Chaos Stone] : When worn on the Crown of Victory, provides a random special skill of extreme power.

Grade : Legendary.

[Mithrium Glass] : When worn on the Crown of Victory, provides a temporary mana shield worth 33% of spent mana.

Grade : Legendary.

“This is going to be tough…”

“Be at ease, champion, there is no wrong choice.”