Finally, the creature at his feet was brought down. Its Vitality was ridiculous, but fortunately, it didn't seem to possess any active skills. It might change if the Revenants improved their rituals or for Viscount-rank Abominations. Priam took a mont to imagine a Viscount Abomination with the nine lives of Nea and shuddered. Don't raise flags, you dumbass!
Coughing due to the stench, Priam plugged his nose. The Abomination's corpse was made of the bloody flesh of human cadavers. He had never slled anything so bad, and only his concentration during the fight prevented him from paying attention to the sll.
Priam quickly pocketed the core and consulted his attributes to ensure he hadn't triggered a fourth Tribulation. Sighing with relief, he froze the next mont. Out of the corner of his eye, he had spotted an anomaly. He hadn't deactivated [Aether Perception] and it was sending back a different image from his regular sight.
With a fluid gesture, Priam called his spear back into his hand and prepared to throw it. Twenty ters up the tunnel, between two light crystals embedded in the wall, laid an intruder. Priam's extraordinary Perception detected nothing out of the ordinary, but a gold-colored, humanoid-shaped mass of aether was visible. The golden color of the aether made Priam hesitate. Instinctively, he knew it was the color of humans.
"Who are you?" Priam chose to confront the unknown rather than play ignorant. After all, he had frozen when he spotted the intruder. The person's camouflage was sophisticated and betrayed a competent person. She had undoubtedly realized that he had noticed a problem.
For ten seconds, nothing moved. Priam waited. He asked "Who are you?" not "Who's there?". If the stranger wasn't stupid, he'd know Priam wasn't bluffing. Finally, after so thirty seconds of staring toward the aether mass, space blurred, and a silhouette appeared.
A masked woman in dark clothing slowly rose to her feet. Her short-cropped black hair and a panoply of weapons strapped to her belt scread assassin. She watched Priam without saying a word.
"Are you part of the Assassins' Guild?" finally asked Priam.
"You may consider so, but I'm not part of the Guild. I serve my master, King Protheus," replied the assassin.
Protheus... The na of the titanic benefactor of humanity. Arbiter of the quarrels between n and gods. Greek mythology told that he transmitted fire to humans and was punished for it. The na choice was aningful, and Priam was already analyzing it.
"... I'm Priam."
"I know you are. I've been following you since you arrived at the Do."
Priam's eyes widened. Surprise gave way to suspicion. If this was true, then this assassin's skills were extraordinary. Neither he nor Sphinx had been able to detect it. Priam's heartbeat quickened and he kept his spear at the ready. She'd never attacked him, but he was annoyed at having been followed for so long. When will the day co when I have no more nasty surprises? Not until I beca the eighth concept, I guess...
"Why?"
"By order of my master. An Achievent is rare, and only my King and his first knight can boast of having been graced with this honor. To my knowledge, you are the only human to have obtained two Achievents. My King is interested in a possible rival."
Priam greeted the news calmly. Maya had been able to defeat a Baron alone just hours after him. She'd just missed out on the Achievent. It was expected for other humans to have been able to perform actions extraordinary enough to earn an Achievent. After all, Priam knew very little about this new Universe and had certainly missed out on many opportunities.
That these humans refused to announce their feat was more surprising. Instinctively, Priam had allowed the Concepts to declare his victory to notify his family. Apparently, so were more timid. Or they've got a hidden agenda.
"A rival? I'm not looking to be a king," Priam replied. Freedom was hard enough to obtain without chaining oneself to subjects.
The assassin nodded. "That's what I told my King. I also conveyed that you were too freedom-loving to bend the knee. Nevertheless, I'm going to ask you. Do you agree to serve Protheus and help him unify humanity?"
In Priams opinion, this Protheus was shaping up to be another raving lunatic...
"I'm afraid I must decline. Nevertheless, you're competent, and if he gained an Achievent, he must be too. Perhaps we can join forces temporarily to wipe out the Revenants?" asked Priam. If each Abomination required two Baron cores and a few sacrifices, the Revenants possibly had hundreds of these monstrosities. Priam couldn't stop them all before they devastated a Do.
The assassin shook her head. "My King will destroy the Revenants in due ti."
"In due ti? Priam raised an eyebrow. They'll slaughter millions of humans if they release these creatures," Priam said, looking down at the carpet of flesh and blood at his feet.
"Humanity never blooms as well as it does under pressure. Sensing that Priam was about to get angry, she added.
Do you know the statistics of civilizations captured by Concepts? Half disappear in less than ten years. Only ten percent survive more than a century."
The assassin's eyes were filled with terrifying conviction as she continued. "Millions will die, and billions will survive. Humanity must win."
Priam gritted his teeth. Of course, everyone thought they knew better. But when an opinion condemned or saved millions of humans, one had to think carefully about one's choices. Priam had thought about it, and apparently, so had Protheus.
"Then I think we have nothing more to say to each other. I'm not a shield or a leader. I'm a Spear. And I have no master," Priam announced.
The assassin remained silent, then disappeared. This ti [Aether Perception] perceived a thin thread of aether that evaporated directly into the tunnel.
Lvl Up: [Aether Perception] lvl 8
TA (PERC) 3
She was gone. As Priam relaxed his vigilance, the assassin's voice echoed through the tunnel.
"Anatole is on his way to defeat an Earl. His Abominations are still too weak. He will not succeed and return to create an Abomination of Earl rank. To do this, he needs two Earl or Do Lord cores..."
Sphinx! Priam trusted his friend. She was powerful. Yet he'd had a bad feeling ever since his arrival in Viracocha, and the stranger's words crystallized it. Sothing nasty is up...
Priam concentrated again. He didn't have much ti left. First and foremost, he decided to keep [Aether Perception] permanently activated. It was unthinkable for him to be so blind again. Moreover, the next assassins would certainly be protected against his skill if it remained low level.
Before returning to the Revenants' headquarters, he observed his rewards. It was essential to know oneself in order to triumph.
Title received
[Fighter of the Depths - Bronze] - The Depths, the deserts between worlds, are a little-known place. Strange creatures reign there. So harmless, others frightening. You've attracted the attention of one of them and succeeded in slaying it. However, this artificial creature would have been too weak to survive the Depths...
As you look at the Depths, they look at you.
STR 10%
[Depths Resistance - Epic] - The environnt of the Depths is terrible. Theyre located between worlds, and there, the aether has beco polluted. It is still usable, but its properties beco corrosive and mutagenic. Initial symptoms are a decline in the physical and ntal attributes. Rapidly, skills stop working, then death follows. So adapt but are forever changed. Creatures from the Depths spread this aether. Stop them before they pollute your world.
Your body, mind, and soul gain a mory power: wounds will heal faster as long as corruption remains low. Your soul crystallizes further and gains a protective mbrane.
Even humanity doesn't pollute as much as the Deep.
CONST 2 (error delayed).
VIT 2
WILL 5
Killing strong opponents was a lucrative business. When you survive...
After failing to identify it, Priam tucked so sort of obsidian fragnt into his pocket. The [Abomination Essence] must have been too high-level.
He had acquired a title, an epic skill, a hundred points of Potential, an [Abomination Essence] and an Abomination Core. In an aether-poor environnt, an average man could train for a year without achieving this accomplishnt. The Concepts wanted to see exceptional performances and rewarded them accordingly.
The thought gave Priam pause. Anatole and the Revenants were accumulating power by sacrificing people. Of course, it didn't belong to them, and no one had said this Universe had to be fair. However, if Anatole was so successful in his endeavors, Priam knew that others would be tempted to use cowardly techniques to gain power and influence...
Easy gains could attract people, and that frightened Priam. Why risk your life, fighting monsters, if you could build obedient, overpowered golems by sacrificing a few human lives?
Priam was under no illusions: only personal power would count in the high Tiers. But in the anti, how many lives would be sacrificed by fools?
Shaking his head, he headed up the tunnel. He had a vault to find.
Status: (Average value for a Homo sapiens male before integration: PHY 10 / N 10 / TA 0)
PHYSICAL:
Strength 143 ( 3)
Constitution 197
Agility 150
Vitality 215
Perception 284 ( 5)
NTAL:
Vivacity 168
Dexterity 155
mory 39
Willpower 193
Charisma 138 ( 3)
TA:
ta-affinity 122 ( 3)
ta-focus 86
ta-endurance 61
ta-perception 26 ( 3)
ta-chance 114
Potential: 862 ( 7)
Tier 0
[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRID.
[Tribulation]: Tribulations are coming.
Ti: 22 hours 46 minutes 27 seconds.
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