The Lucent Patch Bombs Langa made this time differed slightly from usual, and not just because he soaked his Lucent Patches in the light water first. Usually, he would make it so they ignited when mana was infused into them. Unfortunately, these submortals weren’t great at infusing mana except Lisinda and Obiefune, so he made the bombs specifically so that the two would infuse mana into them, but there would be a delay in detonation. Thanks to this, the infused bombs could be handled by others, and they could ignite them with fire and then throw them.
He did this because he decided he wanted the submortals to fight for their freedom. He was strong enough to take care of both the reaver camp and the reaver lord, but after everything they went through, participating in their liberation would be cathartic for the submortals.
Making plans was one of Langa’s least favourite things to do; he wasn’t like Synn and Liv. Thankfully, the plan for the day was quite simple. He and Pamanta would be the major participants. He discussed Pamanta’s role with him ahead of time and told him to stay with the submortals until Langa sent the signal to attack.
He still had 5 unused Skill Points, so he placed two of them in his Regeneration Skill and two in Flash Step. Since both were now at Beginner Level 10, he would need double the points to raise their levels to Intermediate Rank.
The first thing to do was to take down the entrance and force the boss to come out. Obviously, Langa was the only one who could fight against the reaver lord, so he had the barbarians spread out and hide behind the elevated snow-covered rocks close to the camp so that he could begin the ambush.
Langa decided he would start by using his divine skill; it was the most explosive thing and the best way to create chaos. He casually walked up to the entrance and infused mana into the magic circle on his chest. His Faith this time relied on him believing this was a way to show his power to give the people hope.
He’d already told them about Adtonifulmin, since he knew spreading his word would improve his Faith level and allow him to use his Divine Skill better. Now, it was time to show them his power and the power of the god he served.
He summoned one Lightning Lance, unstable as it was. He didn’t try to stabilise it and set it to home in on the camp cluster. Lightning burst out of the sky, and the ground shook when it struck the snow. Multiple reavers screeched as the lightning suddenly tore up their camp from the bottom up.
After a second of hesitation, all the able-bodied sub-mortals, including some children. It was hard to convince Langa that the children should take part in the battle as long as they were only going to be throwing the bombs from the safety of the quartree, creating pandemonium. Langa used most of the light water they’d collected to neutralise a small section of the reaver camp’s corrupted river. Then he and Pamanta, whose weapons were bathed in the light water, rushed in during that chaos and started wiping out as many of the reavers as they could.
It was nice not to immediately fall into mana exhaustion after using Lightning Lance. Langa tried his best to focus on minimally infusing a little mana into his Void Star, consuming no charges to augment his magic. It felt like the Star was begging him to bind himself to it. For him to make it his mana core, but that made his Brand steer, which was dangerous. He ignored its whispers, figuring that the more he got used to just infusing mana into it, the better he would get at it.
Pamanta was efficient at taking down the Tier 1 reavers with help from his Void Ruby. The two of them managed to destroy many reavers, wasting the light water to ensure the creatures didn’t rise again and to heal themselves whenever the ice-cold corruption became too much.
The light water from the bombs was destroying the corrupted river veil so that the darkness faded and it wasn’t night anymore inside the camp. The encroachment of light forced any reavers remaining alive to run and look for dark places to hide. Hiding made them group up so the barbarians could target them with the bombs much easier.
As if in response to the slaughter of the reavers, from the portal, the reaver lord emerged. Its skin was a sickly blue with patches of ice that clung to its body. Four tentacles writhed from its back, each tipped with ice claws.
Unless Langa defeated it, more reavers would come again and again through the portal. Langa held Tonare tightly, the overcast sky pissing him off. He could feel the eyes of the submortals watching from in front of the quartree and knew he had to show them something great.
He needed to stand fast, to open the door to show the submortals the path to peace, so it was time to take down the king.
Lasira (Reaver Lord)
Tier 1
Corruption: 84%
Most of the reavers in this world were at 15% maximum, which put them at lower Tier 1. This one was probably around level 14 or 15 in mortal terms, though Langa was just guessing. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that this was the strongest of all the reavers in this world. The Reaver advanced, its tentacles slicing through the blizzard of snow as it targeted Langa.
With his speed and reflexes, Langa easily avoided a swipe from one of the tentacles. The force of the attack sent a mass of red snow and camp debris flying, and he countered with a thrust of his glaive aimed at the creature’s chest. The spear pierced through the ice coating its body, but the blow barely fazed the reaver lord.
Another tentacle lashed out, striking Langa across the side, nearly knocking him to the ground. Pain radiated through him, intensified by the corruption seeping into his skin as he threw a Lucent Patch Bomb at the creature. The fire and light forced it to rear back, and corrupted ice magic swirled around its tentacles. The blizzard intensified, and sharp icicles shot toward Langa.
“They were right. It’s not just a mindless reaver like the others,” Langa muttered to himself, diving to dodge the first few shards. He rolled to the side, feeling one graze his arm, the corrosive magic eating away at his skin.
He could feel the corrosive magic working its way through him, but now that Pamanta and the barbarians had used the light-water-infused bombs to destroy the corrupted barricade protecting the camp from the light oasis, he’d been strategically moving the fight towards the golden waterfall. Langa let the flowing water flow into his spear, allowing the magic to seep into it as mana. The glaive vibrated.
The reaver lord growled, staying as far away from the waterfall as possible now that the barricades around the camp were gone. Instead of chasing Langa and getting closer to the light oasis, it turned around and shot corrupted icicles at the quartree.
Even while Langa was fighting, Obiefune and the Namids kept throwing bombs into the rift, preventing any new reavers from coming through, so that was why the reaver lord targeted them.
Thankfully, Pamanta summoned a dark shadow barrier to stop the icicles before they hurt anyone.
Honestly, he could see the reaver’s core with Eye of Nahuke, so with his recovered mana, he could end the battle anytime with Lightning Lance. However, in the stories from back home, did the gods have to strike heretics and their people’s enemies with lightning to defeat them? No. They did it to prove a point. To show off their power. To incite fear and earn the people’s faith and respect.
Each blow he landed earned him a little more respect, and with each hit he dodged, he felt their fear growing stronger. The reaver lord was so slow that it was pathetic as Langa swerved around the attacks with his high reflexes.
Langa sped towards the reaver lord as it released more corrupting icicles in the blizzard and took on the defensive stance of his Legacy Skill. He spun Tonare around so fast that it made him dizzy, and the icicles broke apart.
The reaver lord roared in frustration, launching its tentacle at him. Langa Flash Stepped away instinctively, feeling the rush of air as the tentacle flew past him. He let the weight of the charge carry the reaver past him. Langa pivoted on his left foot using The Legacy’s Third Step, delivering a deep stab into one tentacle.
He infused mana into Tonare to activate the water he’d poured over it from the golden waterfall. Unlike usual, the pure light water seemed to move in reverse as the magic coursed through the weapon before dissipating as one rune on Tonare glowed gold in response to the infusion.
The tentacle split into two, wriggling violently as the golden water from the glaive covered the wound. Golden ice suddenly formed and began to spread out from the wound of the reaver.
Langa’s Faith this time was his desire to give these people hope. That even though the world had fallen, they could start over, the same way he had. He concentrated on his divine magic circle and summoned a Lightning Lance into his left hand, the power of Adtonifulmin fuelling him.
He thrust Tonare forward with the magical energy of the water, amplifying the impact as it struck the reaver squarely in the chest, burning through the core. Then he leapt around and drove the Lightning Lance deep into the creature’s back, lightning receding from the tip and coursing through the reaver lord’s body.
The submortals gasped, their eyes watching him as they witnessed his victory.
The creature was enveloped in multiple bursts of electricity; causing it to ignite. It shook violently, its remaining tentacle spasming as the magic overwhelmed it. Ice broke and fell away, revealing the corrupted body beneath it. The ground trembled as the reaver lord exploded into a bunch of corrupted ice shards, showering the area with body parts that fell like frozen rain.
Silence fell over the submortals. Langa stood amidst the debris, breathing heavily. He took a lightning mana potion as he waited for the cooldown to reset, then he summoned a final Lightning Lance and sent it flying into the dimensional portal behind him without looking, so that the light shone behind him, making him appear more radiant.
Langa heard the desperate, dying voice of the breath of the quartree calling out to him, begging for nourishment, and knew he needed to plant it inside the oasis. He pushed the quartree from the edge of the cliff, down the golden waterfall, and into the light oasis. The moment it made contact, a ripple of light spread through the ground, and the water rose until it swallowed both the tree and Langa whole.
The submortals cried out in unison.
Langa was about to panic because he was suddenly pulled into an oasis when he couldn’t swim, but the water did not choke him. In fact, it embraced him as he saw the beating heart of the tree. The water slowly disintegrated the tree, and the particles merged with the heart of the light oasis, leaving only a small, living seed.
“What?” Langa asked. “Is the tree gone? Is it going to be reborn?”
When the breath he’d communicated with before spoke this time, it was more vibrant and no longer struggling to breathe.
“I am a Life Seed. I contain this entire world’s Karma, and it is stored inside me. If you bind yourself to me, that karma will be yours,” it said.
There was something Langa disliked about that offer. “What happened to the tree?” he insisted.
“I am what remains of it. And I am the Core Orb of this world,” it explained. “I contain over a hundred thousand Karma, some of which you will gain should you consume me. I will also double your Vitality and improve your Life Resistance by a high margin. Bind yourself to me, Chosen.”
“What? Is this a test?” Langa asked.
While it was a pitiful amount for an entire world, 100 000 Karma was too good to be true. He’d failed to earn 10 000 before the battle with Funduvus. That much Karma would increase his existence and give him more Karma than the people in his batch and even from other batches. Not only that, but it would be an indispensable asset to his Voident Hunter Title. He would be able to induce 10 times more fear in voidents.
“You can scan me to prove I am not lying to you; the system will show you the truth,” the seed said. “I suppose, in a way, it is a test to see what kind of deity you will become. This is your First Step after all.”
Langa scanned the seed, just to be sure this was the Core Orb The Quartenity had Challenged him to obtain.
[Pseudo Life-Necktiari (World Core)
Item Rank: Pseudo-Divine (Life: The First God)
A fruit containing the condensation of an entire world’s karma. This fruit is a delicacy for constellations and a snack for gods.
Stored Karma: 100 000 Karma
Effects:
The Karma in the World Core Orb is the heart of any world and can be used to build a new world according to the limits of the Karma stored inside it.
If consumed, this world core gives various forms of life energy and karma equivalent to half the amount of karma stored inside it.]
It was a pseudo-divine artefact! That meant that it was higher than a Legendary item but lower than a Divine item. The effects were insane. Langa picked up the seed in his hands, feeling its pulse as the life inside it breathed.
“If I take this seed that is literally the beating heart of this world and consume it, what’s going to happen to the people of this world?” Langa asked.
“Nothing. You closed the portal, and you are an Enchanter, so if you create a forfend around the portal and link it to the light oasis, it will continue to protect them until your return for the Second Challenge,” the World Core said. “If you never return, it will be hard and trying, but they will have to find a way to rebuild their world in the corrupted snow and live normal lives until the day they die or until the behemoth strikes.”
Rebuild with what, exactly? The only building materials in this world were snow, rocks, and the remnants of the reaver camp. Perhaps the submortals would build igloos and live near the warmth of the light oasis, but Langa didn’t like that. It wasn’t so much that he cared about these people; he barely knew them...yet they had put their faith in him, so he couldn’t doom them to such a life. Not when he’d promised them freedom.
“Okay, I get that you can give me all those benefits, but I want you to give the world life,” he said. “Bring back the animals, the trees, and the grass. Take away the snow, and let them start afresh. Let them build the world from the ground up. Make it a sanctuary for the submortals who are still alive in this world or those who make it through the portal.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Are you sure that is what you want? How about you take half the seed and let the other half build a home for them? That is what most Players do,” the World Core said.
Langa sighed, annoyed. He made his Karma rise inside him, and poured it out as Karma Pressure, letting it feel the intense power of his existence, his impact on the world.
“Listen, I walk the Path of Lightning. My lightning burns to protect those I care about, and that includes the people who have faith in me,” he said. "I said build a new home for them with the living tree as the centre so that the oasis never dries out. They have suffered enough already.”
“Karma Pressure? Against me?” The voice of the seed changed suddenly and became deeper, stronger, and more authoritative. “I see, little Visage. What kind of world do you want me to build? Design it. The world is your oyster, uh, but only within the limits of 100 000 karma,” it said.
“I’m not good at designing shit. Just make a world similar to Earth, where they can farm, hunt, and have safe zones to raise their children in peace,” he said. “Oh, I also want a shrine built to Lord Adtonifulmin.”
“You are a funny child. I can see why my little sister favours you, though why Father’s Visage Chose you is more interesting to me,” the seed said. “Very well, child. I shall rebuild this world in your image.”
Langa frowned. “Who am I talking to right now?”
“Life, of course,” it... no, he said.
“Is it normal for The Quartenity to be so involved in one Player’s life?” he asked.
“Most Players meet us during The Infinite Challenge, but a few, like you, are under our watch, and exceptional ones meet us even before integration. You are not that special,” Life said. His voice was feminine and playful. “Go on.”
[Please name your world.]
Langa didn’t need anything fancy, so he kept the world’s original name. “Namid.”
[Creating the world: Namid.
Please Wait]
[Congratulations! You have filled the submortals with enough lost Karma to Ascend from submortal to mortal. As the owner of this world, they will be remade in your image.]
[Congratulations! You have taken your First Step on the Path to Divinity!
+1 Step
+6350 Karma
+2250 EXP]
[Congratulations! Because of your choice, your Alignment has increased by +10]
“You made your choice, Langa Zulu. You may not reverse it now. Shall I tell you if it was a wise or foolish choice?” Life asked.
“What’s the point of telling me that if I can’t change it?” Langa asked.
“Very well. There is information I must give you now that you have obtained your First Step. 36% of all Players choose to consume their first World Core, 41% choose to consume half and give half back to the world, and the minority, 23%, choose to give back the entirety of the World Core,” Life’s voice said. “Those who make the same choice you did lose out on instant Karma rewards, but your foundation world prospers.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Infinite Challenge requires you to obtain 13 World Cores, but even if you do it perfectly, you only take the Challenge on Floors 1 and 10, 20, 30... to 100. The 101st Floor’s Challenge is different.”
“That means a Player can only obtain 11 World Cores, then,” Langa said, getting a sinking feeling in his heart. “That portal... does it lead to other Players’ worlds?”
Once again, Life laughed. “Chaos doubts your mental aptitude, but you can think. Yes, from the Third Challenge and above, you will be able to enter other worlds where Players at your Challenge level from other Towers are. What you do with those World Cores...and the people in the worlds is up to you.”
“How is that maintaining balance?” Langa asked. “I could just as easily use my World Cores to build my own universe and steal other people’s World Cores to consume!”
“Yes, precisely,” Life said. “But to get to that World Core, you must clear the corruption in the world first.”
Of course. Except for the Unrivalled, none of The Quartenity cared about mortals more than clearing corruption.
“Yes, sister spends too much time suppressing the mortals who use Chaos’ power to wield corruption when their contribution to the spread of corruption is minuscule at best compared to the behemoths’ raising of mortal worlds.”
Langa crossed his arms. “Maybe the voidents’ contribution is minuscule at best because The Unrivalled’s Guardians’ harsh war on them deters other mortals from voidentism.”
“Yes, your mental aptitude isn’t as low as initially assessed,” Life said in amusement.
Okay, that was the second time Life had basically said Langa wasn’t as dumb as he expected.
“Don’t worry; you will only struggle through the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Challenges alone. From the Sixth Challenge, you can bring a companion...someone who either failed one of the first Five Challenges or was unable to take them. Suppose they earn 13 World Cores of their own and, provided that you, the primary Challenger, complete the Infinite Challenge. In that case, your companion can Ascend to deityhood if they fulfil the other requirements. Of course, since they failed some of the Infinite Challenge, they can only ever be a constellation, never a god.”
That was new information for Langa. He’d always assumed all constellations had the potential to Ascend to godhood, but evidently, that was not the case.
“Farewell, Visage of Adtonifulmin.”
The water reared up again, and Langa was thrown on top of the waterfall, looking down at the light oasis.
The seed emerged from the now-still water and began to absorb the golden water, soaking it in as the ground trembled slightly. The energy of life was awakening around it.
The seed sprouted, sending roots spiralling down into the water, and expanded through the red snow, and shot upward, growing into a slender trunk that thickened and produced gold and emerald leaves.
It was an amazing scene. The tree continued to grow, branches stretching wide and high, and the snow around them melted away, revealing golden earth.
As the tree matured, the sweet smell of blooming flowers and fresh vegetation was everywhere. From its roots, a network of rivers began to form, streams of clear water winding their way through the newly created earth. Grass sprang up around the base, colourful wildflowers blossomed in patches, and the golden water flowed around the roots, nourishing the life that erupted from the earth.
Fields of rich and fertile farmland spread out around them, and sounds of water flowing and birds singing filled the air.
The submortals erupted in joyous cheers, and Langa stood in the centre, and the ground trembled as the landscape transformed. The water from the light oasis seeped into the submortals, too, and their bodies changed from their corrupted forms. Their pale skin turned darker, their sharp teeth receded, and their bodies became human.
“Holy shit!” Langa gasped. He’d just spawned a whole new race of humans.
Obiefune watched Langa breathlessly as he stood illuminated by the golden water and the tree behind him. He looked at his new body with awe. Respect poured out of him as if this was what he was born to do.
A blinding flash of light later and the shrine Langa had requested formed around him.
The shrine’s walls were made of living trees, their veins glowing gold, with lightning bolts inscribed in them. The columns were shaped like strikes of lightning, their surfaces carved with depictions of storms and thunderbirds. At the heart of the shrine stood an altar of decaying golden grass, and Langa found himself directly in the centre of the altar, a place reserved for the god to receive offerings. The golden light of the waterfall framed him perfectly, casting a radiant glow around him.
The Namids stared in silence, their mouths agape. One by one, they dropped to their knees, bowing their heads in worship, to kneel before Langa. Obiefune and Lisinda were in front, and even the voident bowed his head.
“Don’t bow to me, especially while I’m in the shrine. It makes things awkward,” Langa said. “I don’t want to get charged with blasphemy against Lord Adtonifulmin.”
The light died down behind him, and he retracted his Karma Pressure, realising he’d still been releasing it. Well, he supposed as a Visage he was Adtonifulmin’s Face, so he could stand in his place. The Namids hesitated, glancing at one another. But the light behind him, the storm overhead, and the power in his voice made it difficult to see him as anything but a vessel of divinity.
“We aren’t bowing to him; we are showing our respect to you,” Obiefune said. “I’m sure your god is wise if he Chose you, but you saved us, not him.”
“Oh,” Langa said. Since he took his First Step, he could sense waves of faith from them, directed at him. If this was what deities saw every day, no wonder they were so conceited. Having this kind of authority was addictive. “Yeah, get up. This is your victory, too. You took back your world.”
They stood up and erupted into cheers as Langa looked around the shrine. Life had to be playing a joke on him because next to the arm-sized statue of Adtonifulmin on the altar in his thunderbird form, was a fist-sized statue of Langa, under which was written: Langa Zulu-The Blazing Blitzhunter, Visage of Adtonifulmin, The Lackadaisical Herald of The Lightning Storm. Favoured by Light, Embraced by Life, Desired by Darkness, Survivor of Death.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Obiefune whispered. “What are you, Langa Zulu?”
“This is all I wanted for us, and more, Obi. For our children to know a better life than struggling in corrupted snow against reavers.” Lisinda, standing beside him, smiled broadly, her eyes shining with tears of joy. “We fought for this. A new beginning. Langa has answered our prayers.”
The fully grown quartree stood as a symbol of hope, its roots deep in the magical waters that would sustain them. This was the centre of the world that would nourish the village for generations to come.
As long as no one came through the portal.
Disappointingly, but not unexpectedly, there was no treasure chest with armour, weapons, or accessories specifically tailored for him since this wasn’t a dungeon or a Gate. Instead, the Infinite Challenge awarded a lot more karma than regular quests or Gates. That was to be expected, Langa supposed, seeing as it was a test for those who may become deities in the future.
The most valuable things Langa had obtained were the light water weapons that the last Chosen had made before he turned. Besides, now was not the time to be thinking about the rewards; it was time to completely shut down the portal and make it so the reavers wouldn’t be able to come through.
The portal was a small tear in reality, and when Langa reached it, it lit up a burning red.
[Would you like to return to the 1773rd Deiwos Tower or Ascend to a Higher Plane of Corruption?]
“Can I see what’s on the higher plane?” Langa asked.
[Error! You cannot enter the Void Portal to a Higher Plane of Corruption!
Minimum Entry Requirements for Players:
-Step 1 of The Infinite Challenge must be completed
- Must have Cleared The 10th Floor of any Tower.
-Must be Level 20 or Higher]
Langa stepped away immediately. If it required Level 20, then he wanted no part in it. He still had PTSD from Funduvus.
Instead, he had the submortals gather some light water and bring it to him. Even though he knew the likelihood of him taking more than 13 years to return here was low, he wasn’t going to take chances with the submortals’ lives. He drew a square around the rift, letting the water flow through it. Then he had them dig a trench that led to the light oasis so the forfends would never run out of light. He drew each symbol of The Quartenity, going in order of their creation, Life, Death, Chaos, and Order.
The square flared gold, and Langa felt karma pouring from the quartree toward the portal as the lines became straighter and the symbols better defined.
[Congratulations! You have copied a Divine Enchantment!
Your Skill: Lucent Enchanting (C) has reached Intermediate Level 1]
Holy Shit! His skill had jumped from Beginner Level 8 to Intermediate just with one Enchantment! He hadn’t been expecting that, but he was grateful all the same, wondering if he would be able to directly enchant Lucent crystals now. He really wished he could take the light water with him, but it didn’t even enter his inventory when he tried to put a flask of it inside.
Once everyone was occupied with surveying their surroundings, Langa started looking around as well, picking up the bones of the reavers and their corrupted cores, because he might use them for making his auink since he levelled Lucent Enchanting to Intermediate Rank. Even if he couldn’t do that, he was sure the guild could use them as crafting ingredients.
The Guild Treasury was currently empty, so it would be good to put unique items like these in there. Maybe it would entice some crafters: it was important to have fighters, of course, but crafters were excellent for a guild’s growth.
*
For a moment, Langa stood still and watched the sub... no, the people buzzing around, admiring their natural environment. The children had never seen flowers before, and he was sure Lisinda and Obiefune hadn’t known anything other than snow either. Langa didn’t think even old Arthia had seen natural land and greenery. She seemed content, though, sitting under the tree, right next to the altar.
Langa went around picking as many herbs as he could from around. The most interesting ones were the ones next to the quartree. There were five different types of them growing around it in groups of life, death, chaos, and order. He bent down and scanned every one of them.
The first type was a group of flowers with shiny petals and silver stems, emitting warmth.
[Namidian Stem Petal
Uncommon
Effects: Can be applied as a salve on wounds or used as a crafting ingredient.
Herbology or related skills are required to see the rest of the effects]
The second type of herb was a dark purple flower with velvety petals.
[Namidian Hibiscus
Common
Effects: Emits a blinding light when infused with mana. May be used as a crafting ingredient]
Next, he picked up a twisted blue root with black thorns along its surface.
[Namidian Thornroot
Common
Effects: If crushed raw and applied to a weapon, the root deals minor necrotic damage.
Herbology or related skill is required to see the rest of the effects]
There was also a plant with long black stalks with bell-shaped flowers on them.
[Namidian Foxglove
Common
Effects: Spores can cover an area in darkness for a moment. Herbology or a related skill is required to see the rest of the effects]
The last was a small, green mushroom with a smooth, black cap on top of it.
[Namidian Mushroom
Rare
A mushroom that grows by absorbing death and darkness lucents.
Effects: Can be used to make a tasty soup.
Herbology or a related skill is required to see the rest of the effects.
Even without a Herblore skill, Langa knew that this had to be poison. Years of living in a village had taught him to never eat strange mushrooms.
He took one of each since Liv was specialising in Herbology. Maybe he could tell the effects and grow even more of them in the guild domain. He didn’t want to take too many because they needed to keep the ecosystem here alive.
For every herb he took, he also took a part of the soil it grew in, because he didn’t know if I’d be able to recreate that kind of environment in the Tower. The last thing he took was a massive branch from the quartree. It was a pity it didn’t have any fruit yet, so he could get seeds and replant the tree, but he hoped the branch would be useful in the Tower. He could sell them and make money for the guild.
His biggest gains in the Infinite Challenge weren’t in equipment but in his karma and the fact that he received a Step. He also learnt a bit about how to use his Void Star. He only cared about one function, and that was the ability to trap someone within his void territory as he was extremely interested in using that against Fi Kindaro so that it wouldn’t matter how many respawns he had, Langa could just permanently kill him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there yet.
He watched the people come to life, bustling and excited as they began plans to build the first house. They had been living inside the barren quartree for so long that they didn’t even remember what a normal house looked like. That was okay, though; this was their world now, after all, and they could build their shelters however they pleased.
He placed a hand on his necklace, Isigexo Segazi, knowing it would lead him to Fi Kindaro. It was time to go. He had done enough for these people.
They were at the stage of a magical stone age. Hopefully, Life had made some mining veins so they could find and learn how to use metal and advance. Pamanta would be instrumental in their advancement, but even if they didn’t, they were much better off than they were when he first got here.
He didn’t know how much Adtonifulmin’s altar could help them, but he figured it would give them something to believe in when times got hard, and it would serve as a reminder of him, too.
Langa had done everything he could for them, so he called a meeting of three people, Obiefune, Lisinda, and Pamanta, in front of the quartree. He’d taken everything of value that he could without compromising this place.
“Thank you for putting your faith in me and for letting me help you. I know it wasn’t easy with how much you’ve been burnt before. I’m happy you decided to take a chance on me,” Langa said.
“I’m sorry it took so long for me to accept you,” Obiefune said, but Langa waved the apology off.
“You need that caution. This is your world now. When people come out of that portal, you have the right to choose; you may say no if there is someone you do not want coming in,” he said. “I want you to build a society that suits all of you. This is what you wanted for so long, and it will be up to you to save this world. Pamanta, I need you to patrol the area around the portal as often as possible.”
Wherever there was creation, there was corruption. Even though he cleared the corruption for now, things lived and died. There would be order and chaos as the world grew, and as long as those elements existed, corruption would always exist. Unchecked, corruption would continue to rise and rise, but as long as the world core remained protected from corruption, there was nothing to fear. He needed Pamanta to snuff out any form of corruption, and clear it on top of teaching the Namids how to use magic and protect themselves in case Langa never returned.
“You know the deal. If you want a recommendation, keep this place clean,” he said. “Train them to fight. Just because there is peace now doesn’t mean you should just neglect that.”
“Your wish is my command, Chosen,” Pamanta said apathetically.
Yeah, he had to listen to him, so he knew he would do it. He continued addressing the others. “Obiefune and Lisinda, I leave you two in charge of this world. Grow your world. Make it habitable for other people and protect it until I return. Learn how to protect yourself for the next time the portal opens, and you have to learn how to use the magic of the quartree,” he told them.
“When will you be coming back?” Lisinda asked.
“Once I’ve cleared the 10th Floor. It could be in a few months or years. So until then, be safe, okay? If you pray, I may not hear you, but if possible, I know Master will assist you wherever he can,” he said.
As the Namids bade him goodbye, Langa was happy with his choice. This was his world now. It was small and had fewer than fifty citizens, but he knew it would be the foundation of his path to deityhood.
Langa waved and jumped into the portal to return to the Tower.
EQUIPMENT
How was the Infinite Challenge Arc?
