Saintess Summons Skeletons

So… A few hundred plant monsters for Alith, and I don’t know how many thousand spirits all with different names for Ihuarah. These three should be our dungeon bosses I think.

‘You have defeated [Bloomstalk Hydra - lv. 249]’

‘You have defeated [Ormoncleth’s Envoy - lv. ???]’

‘You have defeated [Knight of the mirror - lv. 249]’

Looks like Alith was fastest and I was second. I see Mr. Scribe just used my names for the Deep creatures. The parasites too.

‘You have defeated [Ormoncleth’s Parasite - lv. ???]’

‘You gained a level!’ * 10

[Remaining debt : 0]

‘You gained a level!’ * 15

‘You gained a level!’ * 10

[Remaining debt : 0]

‘You gained a level!’ * 11

Paid off the debt from the worms then got fifteen levels, ten more levels of debt from fighting the envoy, and eleven more level-ups after that, taking me right up to 249. And it looks like the Deep creatures didn’t count for any experience. No levels after the Envoy kill… Probably because the system couldn’t reach me. It doesn’t even show a level for the parasites.

What else… So many messages… Next in line would be those?

[Congratulations, you have reached the fourth filter. Be Cleansed; Be Reborn.]

[You will no longer gain experience]

[Please proceed to the trial site : Tower of rebirth, distance : 1946007073m]

Sofia had a moment of awe at the number. I can’t imagine how much that would have been all the way from the sun. Suddenly big distances are not as daunting.

I wouldn’t go back to the sun though… The weeks of travel in the void were really the worst.

Alright, so this is done, what else. Skills?

[New Active Skills are available!]

No specialization alteration this time. I’m only at 27% chance. I don’t have any active slots anymore but I could get rid of [Heal Undead] already, I’m alright with the spell version I have now, even if it still needs work.

Available Active Skills :

[Restore ] : Infuse the target with mana to [Saintess’ ] : Infuse your next physical attack with the [ madness] : your undead minions for a short time.

That is certainly something…

I can let them sit for now, combine the two new ones, or take [Restore madness].

Sofia looked up to see Erredis happily slicing carrots with a regular kitchen knife.

Should I bother her for advice? Might as well, right?

“Hum. Lady Erredis?”

Erredis turned her head back, “What ‘lady’? Are you trying to flirt?”

“Bu- What else should I call you?”

“I don’t know. Nobody calls me anything these days really. You did a good job of avoiding it until now too. Err, do whatever you want I guess. Why did you want my attention in the first place?”

“Remember how I said my skills work? I wondered if you wanted to give an opinion on my next choice.”

Erredis turned back to her carrots, “Sure just read me your skill parts.”

Sofia read her three available keywords to Erredis. She got an answer without much hesitation from the old dragon. “Just take [Saintess’ madness].”

“Any reason why?”

“Sounds funny. And if I were you, considering you have the rot and your explosives, I would try to keep [Restore ] for something like [Restore land] or anything even remotely close to that. Trust me, some way to repair the damages you do is quite valuable…”

“What if I just keep all the keywords for later?”

“And be down one skill in your next trial for no reason? If you want to stay on the fast way to level up, you want to go all out. Don’t hold anything back!” Erredis finished her sentence as she swung the sliced carrots straight into a steaming pot.

“It feels weird keeping [Restore ] for so long when it’s such a good keyword, it’s been there forever… But sure. It might give me something like a way to increase my or Pareth’s damage with physical attacks by the sound of it.”

“A good thing to have considering all the magical attacks you already have.”

“That is very true… Fine I’m taking it!”

I don’t really see what else I could ever end up doing with these keywords anyway.

Just to be sure she completely had the spell version of [Heal Undead] well memorized, Sofia used it a few times, illuminating the kitchen with flashing lights.

‘You have lost the active : ‘Heal Undead’

‘You have acquired the Active skill : ‘Saintess’ ’

‘You have acquired the Active skill : ‘ madness’

It does have a nice ring to it if you ignore the meaning of the words. I would be worried about taking a skill with this name if not for the blessing of the Deep. This should be alright. It looks like the name won’t change this time but Mr.Scribe still probably needs a bit to get the description right.

Speaking of skills, I got some appreciable level ups there too, especially with runeforged, which makes sense considering how much I used it.

‘[Spine of the Black Sun] reached level 201’

‘[Spine of the Black Sun] reached level 202’

‘[Spine of the Black Sun] reached level 203’

‘[Summon Blood] reached level 201’

‘[Summon Blood] reached level 202’

‘[Summon Blood] reached level 203’

‘[Summon Blood] reached level 204’

‘[Graveyard of the righteous] reached level 201’

‘[Runeforged Overlord] reached level 202’

…

‘[Runeforged Overlord] reached level 238’

‘[Fast reading] reached level 65’

‘[Fast reading] reached level 66’

‘[Fast reading] reached level 67’

‘[Fast reading] reached level 68’

‘[Fast reading] reached level 69’

‘[Way of the Fool] reached level 27’

‘[Way of the Fool] reached level 28’

‘[Way of the Fool] reached level 29’

‘[Sprint] reached level 45’

‘[Evasion] reached level 99’

‘[Evasion] reached level 100’

That sure was a good harvest. My stats climbed nicely too with the levels.

Name : Sofia Aphenoreth

Age : 21

Class : [Saintomancer]

Level : 249

Health : 20 980 / 20 980

Stamina : 21 047 / 21 047

Mana : 417 100 / 417 100

Main Specialization : [Eclipse Skeleton]

Alteration chance : 27%

Secondary Specialization : [Heat Death]

Active Skills (8 / 8)

[Spine of the Black Sun] - Level 203

[Summon Blood] - Level 204

[Maiden Banshee] - Level 249 (Lv.249)

[Graveyard of the righteous] - Level 201

[False immortality] - Level 3

[Skull Choir] - Level 201

[Reign over shadows]

[Saintess’ madness] - Level 1

Passive Skills (7 / 8)

[Blessing of the Deep] - (2/4)

[Vakariazrehafin of Sorrow]

[Exalted Exoskeleton]

[Venerable physique of the primeval void] - Doors of the Light forging realm

[Bone dominus] - Level 2

[Erredian Rot]

[Runeforged Overlord] - Level 238

Classless Skills (9 / 9)

[Fast reading] - Level 69

[Way of the Fool] - Level 29

[Sprint] - Level 45

[Identify] - Level 2

[Mana manipulation]

[Evasion] - Level 100

[Radiance] - Level 57

[Quintessential]

[One with Suffering]

Special Skills (1)

[The Book of Skeletons]

Summoned heroes (4 / 4)

Lv.249 Pareth (Holy Boneplate Mauleur Eclipse Skeleton) Lv.249 Alith (Alith) Lv.249 Book of Skeletons (Book) Lv.249 Ihuarah (Heartless Shade)

[Mark of Aphenoreth]

This never stops getting longer…

Sofia stood up, “I’m going outside to receive my quest reward, just in case I explode or something like that.”

“Do you hear yourself talk? Whatever, go on, the meal will be ready in about twenty minutes so don’t be late or I’m eating it all.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Finding a door out of the castle wasn’t too hard, after which Sofiia left the place completely and floated a bit further where she was only surrounded by moon rocks. Accepting the essences and upgrading VPPV shouldn’t be too destructive, in theory, but to be safe Sofia wanted to be in a place she wouldn’t regret destroying if something went wrong.

Annnnnd claim the rewards!

[Rewards delivered successfully!]

Yeah. I don’t feel any different.

[You earned a bonus reward from an unknown patron!]

Eh?

To Sofia’s complete surprise, a small ice blue box appeared on the ground a few meters away from her. What? Is that Midenicite? She walked up to the box and grabbed it. It was quite light. Is it empty?

Opening the box, which wasn’t locked, revealed a small iridescent ball with a slit opening, embedded in a perfectly sized slot carved directly into the thick bottom of the box.

From the Deep?! Is this made out of Parasite blood?

There was no explanatory note, but Sofia had a hunch her Scribe would know exactly what it was, just like it knew about Aphenoreth’s glove. She [Identifi]ed it.

[Regulator’s bauble] : This small jingle bell emits a soothing sound that your enemies cannot hear, legend says the happy memories of a lost pet lives inside. Cannot be damaged. Soul-bound. Can be permanently attached to a weapon, scabbard, clothing or armor piece.

Sofia’s heart fell a bit as she read the description, she grabbed the bell and shook it lightly. It’s serene ringing was light and muted like a distant melody playing in the wind. It filled Sofia with a warm sense of comfort. Like all her worries had vanished for just an instant.

Thanks… I will keep it preciously.

So you did hear me when I said I only needed a bauble from you to have a whole set…

This…

With a smile on her face, she brought the bell near her scepter, like a magnet, the bell popped out of Sofia’s hand and latched onto the shaft of the scepter, right under the midenicite catalyst. It was held there by two very thin red strings attached to it that seemed to disappear inside of the scepter’s grain.

She waved her staff a few times, her smile widening ever so slightly every time the bell rang. Alone on the moon, she closed her eyes, focused, and reopened them while bringing up her status again.

Back to the real world. It’s high time that you evolved, Venerable Physique of the Primeval Void!

[Venerable physique of the primeval void] - Doors of the Light forging realm :

The primeval void was born of the universe’s first shadow.

Shadow gathering realm :

A single hit cannot take away more than 99% of your maximum health.

You are 50% more resilient to explosions

You are able to see in extremely low light levels and to breathe light

You cannot be hurt by the cold and cannot be traced in the spirit realm

Shadows and light are two faces of a single coin.

Light forging realm :

Starting step : You no longer age.

First step : Your skin becomes tougher and opaque (0/1000%)

Second step : ???

Light forging realm unlocking requirement : possess ten divine essence or more.

Current divine essence (11) :

Scripture (1) Aphenoreth (1) Dread (1) Sorrow (1) Ormoncleth (1) Victory (1) Sun (5)

Light forging realm Breakthrough method : Split your mana into ten (11) equal parts, and dispose them inside your body in the following order:

One part to the heart

Two parts to the head

One part to each foot

One part to the head

One part to each hand

One part to the head

The remaining part(s) to this skill.

Sofia did not question anything and simply sat on the ground, following the instructions. Precise handling of her mana while inside her body was something that she could already do with relative ease. The only slightly troublesome part here was splitting the mana in precisely equal parts, which was much harder to do when one could not just look at the number the system gave.

The light forging began.