Elysium's Multiverse

Chapter 311

Chapter 311

[You have chosen to end the boss fight. The Blood God has not been made aware of what transpired here, per the agreement with the deceased gods of the previous Blood Pantheon. You have obtained the following rewards:]

[Prize 1]

[Trishard Blood Pearl (C-Grade Blasphemous Blood Artifact): This relic has condensed the affinities from 3 of 5 paths the Sub-Pillar of Blood may take, and has non-permanently bound to you: Riven Thane, as its new wielder. This item is shielded from the Blood God’s farsight, detection, and scrying abilities - and will be viewed as a normal Blood artifact by all but the most powerful of his Blood Clergy, Blood Precursors, and the bearer of this item. This item holds long lost and buried secrets of the Blood Sub-Pillar, and is marked as an extremely taboo artifact by the current Blood God. Study and meditate on this item for further insights into powers now lost to all but the dead. +200% bonus to Dao insights regarding the Blood Sub-Pillar while meditating with this item in hand. Large amounts of Blood mana of any type may be stored inside this Trishard Blood Pearl, and it creates ambient Blood mana at a steady rate to either be used as stored mana or to be used to change environments. This item may be stored within your soul space at will. Must naturally be of 99% Blood Affinity or more to properly wield this item.

• Supercharged Blood: Take an additional 30 seconds of channeling a Blood skill through this item to create a supercharged variant. This skill is incredibly potent and overuse may damage your mana channels.

• Within this item, secrets concerning the Supreme Path of Red and Black Domination, the Supreme Path of Blazing Azure Creation (Taboo), and the Supreme Path of Gold and Silver Stairways (Taboo) are present but hidden. Unlocking these secrets to their fullest will add additional splitting pillar growths from your baseline Blood Sub-Pillar within your soul realm.]

[Prize 2]

[Blasphemous Enriched Blood Lake (Unique Guild Hall Add-On): A large portion of the Blueblood Precursor Clam’s realm has been cut off from the Abyssal Descent and has been molded into a hyperdense, energy-rich cultivation resource for you to use. This lake will appear as a normal blood lake to any clergy of the Blood God and may also provide an ample environment for growing exotic Blood-affinity plants and dao treasures. While meditating within or near the lake, the current Blood God will be blind to any taboo experimentations and objects, and abundant amounts of Blood energies will be available to your call. The Blueblood Precursor Clam, along with the leech swarms of the Abyssal Descent’s Floor 22, will reside within this lake and are disguised from being blasphemous creatures while they remain within or near the lake; and they will protect your guild hall with their lives should it come under attack.

• This add on feature will be available to you at all times through any guild hall you own until used.]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He rolled it around in his hands for a time, admiring the absolute godlike aura this item gave off. A C-grade artifact when he was only in the F-grade was akin to giving a stone-age tribe a military grade bazooka to bring along to their next scuffle between primitive tribes, and though he could likely get better items from The Blood Moon Requiem or The Church of Gluttony: would they be able to provide said items that he could actually use right now?

99.99999% of items like this one had strict use requirements that prevented relatively weak people like him in the F-grade from using immensely powerful artifacts. He knew not only because of his own limited experiences, or due to the shopping at various conclaves, but also because he’d discussed these ideas with Lillith. He’d very specifically asked Lillith for an SSS-grade weapon from the church to use with Gluttony’s upcoming second class before she’d been kidnapped by the system, but she’d said that it’d be impossible and was more likely to kill Riven upon trying to use it due to the severe gap in power; similar to how the ring had burned Riven back in Negrada’s hellscape dungeon when he’d first tried it on so early in Chalgathi’s trials. Be it level requirements, stat requirements, faction requirements, pillar requirements, race requirements, or a combination of those things - most higher grade items would have him out of the loop. But this C-grade one only had a 99% Blood Affinity requirement, which for most people would be a far harder obstacle to overcome. But not for him. And on top of that, the real treasure here was the knowledge it could pass onto him should he learn about the three paths purified somewhere within the depths of this swirling orb.

Even now, he could see occasional flickers of blue in the deeper core of the pearl whenever the blood circulated certain ways; though he didn’t see any signs of gold and silver. Not yet, anyway. Perhaps that would come later, or perhaps not. Perhaps it didn’t have anything to do with those colors and was merely a play on words. He was looking forward to finding out though, and was particularly curious about the single path that was not labeled as ‘Taboo’ by the Blood God: The Supreme Path of Red and Black Domination. Had he already started down this path with his more basic and likely far weaker Path of Red and Black? He was guessing yes, though a mental prod to Gluttony revealed no answers on the subject. Gluttony merely gave a mental shrug, and reminded Riven that his memories had been stripmined by Elysium as part of the pact to get out of his abyssal prison.

“It’s like a small piece of heaven…” Riven muttered, holding the pearl up against his chest.

The clam laughed, and lowered its appendage back into its shell before snapping its mouth shut - but it still projected its words through the bloody ocean without problem. “Heaven, you say? I never would have thought to see the day a reincarnation of Gluttony himself would claim such a thing. Hail, scion of the Great Maw, and welcome to the Abyssal Descent. You performed admirably, and it is an honor to have one such as you claim the pearl. With your backing, it is my hope that you can one day truly aspire to recreate the lost fragments of the Blood Sub-Pillar.”

“It is a matter of speech from my old world. Forgive me, Gluttony.” Riven’s body shuddered as the whispers of the pearl embraced him in body and soul, and it took a lot of effort to keep his eyes open with the lines of power drawing into him like fonts of bliss. Even now, his soul lattice was expanding rapidly and the long-standing cracks of his once shattered soul realm that’d been patched back together by Gluttony were now not only disappearing entirely - but were being reinforced.

“Tell me…” Riven whispered. “Specifically about the enriched lake… Why now? Why this?”

The clam rumbled, and the cavern shook underneath the vibrations it made. “Do you not wish to have it?”

“It is not that I do not wish it to be mine. Having your support at my beck and call near the place I call home would be suitable, certainly. The same could be said for the leeches. But it is strange… that a guild hall add-on would be what you chose to give, rather than something else.”

Riven’s eyes lifted, and he shakily put the pearl into his soul space, producing a sharp exhale when it entered his chest. He almost wanted to dig it out again right then and there, but the power it was radiating was just too distracting for him to think clearly while touching it. “Lillith was gathering rare plants for a garden at the guild hall, back on the second floor of the descent. It was as if she was expecting to not have access to them ever again.”

“Lillith of the Black Skies?” The clam asked.

“The one and only. She spoke in a way that hinted at an upcoming calamity.” Riven raised an eyebrow, but the clam did not reply. “Gluttony will not answer me in great detail either, as he says he is not entirely sure of the situation at large and does not want to feed me false pretenses. I feel like he’s lying.”

At this, Gluttony’s laugh echoed throughout the room - but otherwise the great sin did not say anything to nullify Riven’s thoughts.

When the clam did not reply, Riven continued with a frustrated edge tugging at the corners of his lips. “Jarntus Bemule, a human Earl of the Idorac Federation in Universe 10 and of a planet bordering my own ancestral home of House Wraithtide, came to me in one of the trading communes earlier in the descent as well. He spoke of how his leaders are pooling all their military might into one solar system in preparation for… something. Of which he is not sure. And my mother…”

Riven trailed off upon remembering his mother’s visionary message back on the first floor. “She too has hinted of something big to come. Guild halls have the ability to transition between locations, between worlds even, and I can’t help but feel like this gift of yours also correlates with all of these. A preparation for things to come. Am I wrong?”

There was a long pause.

“I believe Gluttony would be a better candidate to speak on such things, as I am but a mere guardian.” The clam eventually said. “But I can tell you what I have observed while being banished here in the Abyssal Descent for so long.”

Another pause, and Riven gestured for the clam to continue.

“Cracks… are forming along the outer perimeters of Elysium’s borders.” The clam began again. “Cracks in the very membrane of what Elysium is. It is just a guess, but I believe that the multiverse is breaking down. Why or how, I cannot say - but what will follow is likely anyone’s guess. The scope and outcome are vague, but such things do not happen without reason or without consequence; and binding a piece of this realm to your guild hall in the form of a lake is just a means to keep an eye on you while you fulfill the wishes of a pantheon long dead. A pantheon that I made a promise to, before being put here so long ago.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I see. It is unfortunate you do not know more, but I appreciate the insight nonetheless.” Riven gave a small bow of respect, noting the clam’s shell was already repairing itself at a rapid rate. “I have many questions about the Blood God, the fractured pieces of the Blood Sub-Pillar, and what this pearl actually is. What it all means, why it all happened the way it did, and why me. You said you would explain, and I wish to keep you to that promise. I intend to pursue this taboo path down the road of Blood, as it feels right… and it is what Gluttony wants. I require your insights.”

The clam let out another laugh. “I intend to answer all of that, vampire descendant. Though that will take time, and will likely require many weeks if not months to go over the full history of how and why such as you ask. For now, let us discuss the basics… we will have much more time later when you return to your guild hall and apply the lake to it. And if I am correct, after overhearing your words in your stay on Floor 22, I do believe it is in your best interest to proceed at a faster pace through the descent to make it back to your homeworld. The world quests of integrating planets always grow harder to subvert should you sit on them, and it would not be wise to let your enemies grow in strength while you dawdle here listening to an old clam and his stories for too long.”

***

[You have re-entered the pocket realm of Floor 22: Ocean of Wrath. You are designated Team Leader of team DEEZ NUTZ. Your objectives are simple: survive the monster attacks for at least 24 hours while traveling over or through the ocean of blood. Acquire gifts from the sacrificial altars, where opportunities to enhance your gifts will be presented to you should you decide to take them at the last altar, where contact may also be established with outside entities to help to further your goals at a price. You must touch all three altars from Floor 22 in order to proceed to Floor 23. The majority of identification information will continue to be unavailable until Floor 40.]

[You have touched 2 of 3 sacrificial altars, accepting 2 Blood Tokens to be used at the very last sacrificial altar without having taken the opportunity to sacrifice any of your party members. You have 2 mandatory hours left to spend on this floor.]

Riven emerged from the bloody pool as a thunderous roar of souls ripped out of the artifact and flooded towards the sky. They were all the souls that’d been trapped there in the blood ocean, in what Genua had called a Pool of Atonement. He was a bit agitated that he couldn’t take the S-grade artifact with him, but at the end of the day he probably wouldn’t qualify to use it anyways and didn’t really have a use for it either. So he’d requested the clam let the souls go, and watched as the tiny lights spiraled out towards the dark skies above before vanishing into the nothingness of the abyss.

Free at last.

“UMPH!” He nearly lost his breath when Athela’s body smashed into him with a bear hug, as the demoness violently sobbed and fell to her knees with tears rolling down her face.

“Riven!” She hiccuped and cried, burying her forehead against the abdominal armor of Messenger as he felt his rips about to pop. “R-Riven I was s-so worried!”

She coughed and trembled, and Riven knelt down to scoop her up in his arms while holding her tight.

“I’m fine.” Riven said with a smile, brushing his fingers through her hair to massage her scalp comfortingly as she clung to him like glue. “Everything’s fine. I’m sorry I scared you.”

Fay was almost equally upset, biting her nails and trembling on the sidelines - but her tears were those of relief; and she gave Athela a moment to hug him before coming over herself.

“You definitely scared us.” Fay said, leaning in and shakily embracing him. “But I had faith in you. When the notification for the boss battle came up, the letters were somewhat scrambled and we all freaked out. It said something about a clam? Like I said, the notification was blurred due to anti scrying wards. We tried breaking in numerous times but couldn’t do it.”

“I was not worried.” Genua promptly stated.

Kara on the other hand was slightly shocked, pale eyes wide while staring at him. Despite everything she’d seen and now knew, she was still adapting to the idea of what and who Riven was. “You… Solo’d a hidden event boss monster by yourself? In the Abyssal Descent?”

Azmoth gave a grunt and aggressively nodded, flaming wings flaring out to either side while he crossed his arms. “Not worried. Riven too overpowered. Agree with Genua.”

Prince Rantali let out an amused huff when he side-eyed Azmoth and pushed a golden gauntleted hand through his bloodied blonde hair. “Just what happened inside that thing?! And why are there souls flying out? Did you get any prizes for defeating the boss monster in there?”

Riven hesitated. He knew that the description of the pearl said it would hide the fact it was a taboo, blasphemous item from most other people - but nothing in the multiverse was infallible. For now, at least until they passed this floor after contacting what would probably be The Blood Moon Requiem at the last sacrificial altar, he would keep the pearl hidden. He didn’t need any S-grade monsters like his great grandmother looking at it up close with some kind of item detection ability that’d pierce the veil. If he did talk about the pearl, he’d make sure he didn’t tell Rantali - another vampire and child of the Blood God - that the item was indeed blasphemous. For the same reason he didn’t want to reveal anything about the information that clam had given Riven regarding The Supreme Path of Blazing Azure Creation, which is the strain the clam was most affiliated with. The descriptions had been temporarily vague, but the gist of it was that if he managed to explore different great paths down the Blood Sub-Pillar - he’d be able to unlock different aspects of what blood could do. Not much to go off of, but Riven would have a lot of time to talk things out when meditating on the pearl and when the clam was acting as a guard dog to his guild hall.

“That’s a bit complicated. How about we finish this floor first?” Riven replied.

Prince Rantali nodded, and gave Riven a small bow. “That is fine if you don’t want to say, but unfortunately I am not sure that we can proceed together past this point. It depends on the floor, but if we can - then certainly I will accompany you! It would be an honor.”

Deferring to Riven, Prince Rantali stepped aside and gestured towards the obsidian sacrificial altar at the other end of the platform they stood on.

Riven ruffled Athela’s hair, slapped Fay’s backside, fistbumped Azmoth and gave Genua a warm smile while beginning to walk forward. None of the others said much, including Retesh and Kara, but rather they too inclined their heads with respect as Riven used Jackal like a walking stick to cross the bloodied stone.

The staff clicked along the floor as the rest fell into line, and wordlessly Riven used his open left palm to produce the blood tokens they’d gathered from the orcs he’d eaten and the azag hive warriors the orcs had killed just before that. The red crimson coins shimmered in the air in front of him, and he collected them one by one.

The altar itself was just like all the others: a large slab of obsidian stone with dried blood covering it; although this one had the naked dead body of another participant pinned to the stone with a large spear jutting from the man’s chest. Bones of the dead were scattered all around its base, and Riven’s feet crunched over the piles until he came to the altar’s front. Ripping the spear out of the dead man on top and unceremoniously pushing the body off the altar’s flat surface with the head of his staff, he flung the spear aside and slapped the blood tokens down.

[31 Blood Tokens Received by the last sacrificial altar. The Abyssal Descent will pay 57 Blood Tokens for Prince Rantali’s sacrifice, 49 Blood Tokens for Kara’s sacrifice-]

Riven swiped the notification away. “I decline to sacrifice anyone. And no, no one else will be coming forward to speak for the party.”

[Each Blood Token is a valuable bargaining chip. Before making your decision on whether or not to sacrifice anyone, review the list of-]

“I said no. There will be no sacrifices.”

Riven swiped it away a second time. He saw all of his party members also decline their own messages when Elysium tried to bribe them too, and he could almost hear Kara’s sigh of nervous relief when she saw that he’d maintained his stance on not killing her. Despite the dark elf’s offer to sacrifice herself for such a situation previously, he’d known that she still wanted to live. More than anything, he suspected that she’d given him the self proclaimed ultimatum of sacrificing her to make up her debt - or choosing to have her on for a life debt where she’d work to repay it indefinitely - as a way to have an in and stay with him after this event dive. He chuckled at the idea, because it was a poorly disguised ticket to a better life for her in more ways than one - but he wasn’t about to tell her that he’d seen through the obvious ruse because at the end of the day it was harmless to him and his team. If anything, Athela would seriously enjoy it.

He still seriously doubted she’d be a good asset in terms of fighting power, but he wouldn’t mind hiring her on as a guild manager or something like that. She didn’t seem to enjoy the pursuit of power or fighting at all, so he had a heavy guess that she’d latch onto the idea like a moth to flame - but that was all a discussion for another day.

[The Abyssal Descent acknowledges your choice, no further Blood Tokens will be dispensed. You have touched 3 of 3 sacrificial altars. You have 2 mandatory hours left to spend on this floor.]

[No prior gifts have been given at other altars due to lack of sacrifices. Do you wish to apply these new gifts and upgrades to yourself, or spread the benefits over your entire team?]

[Entire team has been selected. 31 Blood Tokens have been absorbed by the sacrificial altar. Converting Blood Tokens now for gifts and enhancements.]

Without warning Riven’s spatial sack flashed, and the jade halberd he’d bought on floor 2 was brought out by the system. He’d barely looked at the thing since getting it, but Gluttony had wanted it for whenever the second class was created - so that was that. All around him, other members of the group had items of their own start to flash out of spatial bags - or they were simply torn off the bodies of the wearers for inspection by Elysium. Athela’s black tiara, Azmoth’s shengari shields, Prince Rantali’s breastplate, Kara’s quiver, and Retesh’s tattered old cloak joined my halberd alongside my halberd. Each of the items began to glisten and shimmer as the obsidian altar reached out with crimson threads from its base to touch the items simultaneously. Small and large alterations along the various items took place in their own distinct ways, and a few new items appeared in front of the vampiric knights Prince Rantali had brought along. Fay and Genua had new items built from thin air as particles condensed to take shape in front of them.

It took a few minutes, but at the end of it - Riven was pleased with the results. Each of them had bonuses that weren’t anything to scoff at.

Fay received a simple but effective bone wand with a single unholy rune at the base that amplified curse magic and nullified the cost such magics took on her in the form of pain or HP. The green affliction fireballs Fay was taught to use by the succubus Lavini during their training on Floor 1 was often disregarded due to the significant pain these flames caused Fay - but using the wand to cast them would help solve this problem.

[Bone Wand of Curse Reduction: Channel curse magics through this wand to amplify their effectiveness and power by 10%. Pain, debuffs, and other curse costs caused by casting curse magic is reduced by 66%. Cast time while using this wand is also reduced by 18%. This weapon requires a combat level of 200 and an Unholy Affinity of 46% to use.]

Fay was outwardly excited, and turned to repeatedly slap Riven’s shoulder like a dog itching a scratch. “Wow! Riven this is just what I’ve been wanting! Items that can reduce curse costs are like, super rare!”

WACK-WACK-WACK-WACK-WACK

“Ok! Ok, just stop hitting me!” Riven laughed, shoving her off of him and pushing the new item into her hands.

Genua received prayer beads of all things. They were colored red and black, just like the ornamental headdress and form fitting priestess outfit she had on, and they hung in a loop from her fingers as she studied the sigils carved into each one.

[Prayer Beads of the Red Dawn’s Chant: While holding these prayer beads, you may chant the mantra engraved onto these beads repeatedly in order to increase the efficacy of any miracle you intend to cast. The longer you chant, the more potent your miracle becomes up to a 50% increase in power and efficacy. +180 Faith. This charm requires a combat level of 200 and a Blood Affinity of 59% to use.]

It was nice to see some good new items for the team, but the upgraded items were only now finishing their transitions.