Sofias goal in seeking power had always been very straightforward. Skeletal ambitions aside, she wanted to be free.
Free, and strong enough to venture into Sovuln. To seek Sarias remains, on a dreaded floating island, in a probably long-destroyed slaver camp.
That was it.
She had no plans to slay Gods, make friends with the continents powerhouses, deal with alien invasions, or beco a mber of so unfathomable entity the system itself failed to understand.
All she wanted was freedom and closure.
Where had it all gone wrong?
She summoned the necromancy grimoire from her ring.
The old and crumbling book, missing most pages and now partially burned, was where this whole thing had started.
[Identify]
[ERROR]
[THIS ITEM HAS BEEN LOCKED BY ITS CREATOR AND CAN NOT BE IDENTIFIED]
What Sofia sighed in incomprehension.
Following that, Sofia heard the *Ding* announcing a new ssage again. Multiple tis. But nothing showed up.
A blank system window opened and closed. Followed by hundreds more.
Her status opened next, jumbled and broken, letters drifting out of the words, lines tilting, font changing. Sofia was powerless to do anything but watch in horror as the system was having a seizure. She had no control over any of it anymore. Soon, the troubles reached outside of the window, becoming a loud ringing in her ears, a piercing, incapacitating headache. And as abruptly as it had started, it all stopped.
A single, small window opened, and all it contained was: [Mark of the Deep].
One by one, new letters appeared between the word deep and the last bracket.
[Mark of the Deep. In an effort of self-preservation, restricted information will be divulged : Item creator : SCRIPTURE. Date of creation : 12.02.3207. Please proceed to imdiate destruction using angelic authority!]
After Sofia read the last word, the system window warped then disappeared, accompanied by an even worse headache that did not relent for a long while, even after Pareth force-fed Sofia a Healing potion she had arduously managed to get out of her storage ring.
Sweating buckets, on all fours on the jungle ground, among the weeds and the flying insects, Sofia did her best to calm down her breath as the pain finally receded. She couldnt access the system anymore, not a single window, not a single skill, nothing. She only felt her soul link to Pareth.
The Scribe. That was the scribe warning !
Are you okay, Mr. Scribe?!
*Ding*
That was it.
Ill take that as a yes
Her eyes fell on the grimoire, open on the ground.
I see.
Yes Yes! I get it now!
With this final piece of information, all the events that were previously disjointed in Sofia's mind were now painting a clear picture.
What was it? [Congratulations, you have been chosen as a new SAINT!], uh? At such a strange timing, completely breaking the system. This fucking This god has been toying with from the start!
Sofias hands tightly clutched the grass and soil under her.
The grimoire, the weird class, the soul parasite. All him.
But why?
The grimoire
Necromancy, undead, and rituals
The demon ritual!
If it was a ritual to beco a lich or summon a greater undead But no, it was a ritual, clearly inscribed on the back cover where I wouldn't miss it if I tried. A ritual to beco a Recessed Gods apostle.
And the perfect place for the ritual happened to be right under the Holy-See all along. What a coincidence!
Being a saint and an apostle at the sa ti Was that his goal from the beginning? All to push , his saint, to beco a demon?
What am I? A test subject? A toy you can use to try things out?
And then Instead of beneath the Church, I did the ritual in the trial, was this sothing he expected? Or did that ruin his plans?
It's only after this that the parasite started really acting out, Scripture tried to finish . But at that ti, [Domination] bypassed the intended effect of the blessing, robbing of my freedom. Ormoncleth the Regulator sensed it through the blessing. Maybe it was an ego thing, or maybe they actually care, the Deep Lords nad , maybe Im adopted as one of them? Either way, they felt the need to fix this loophole, adding [Domination] to the list of immunity.
But they noticed the parasite. And so they dealt with it too, also giving immunity to it. Scripture never thought Id get their support or blessing. Surely even he couldnt have predicted what skills Id make, or even that the system would allow to make my own spells.
And just like that he lost the weapon that was ant to kill . And now he wants to clean up his ss, right? Im the thing that needs to be cleaned up. The test subject has overstayed its welco.
Finally, when I felt the mana link from the sinner priest and wondered if I was going against an angel, I got suddenly disconnected from the system to protect from corruption. As if by virtue of saying that, the system had discovered a problem. Exactly like the ti I complained about my broken skill description and that was what led to the system noticing it and giving the scribe
Killing would be important enough to Scripture that he would ss with the whole System to do it? He even ambushed with so many Templars and Paladins when the Churchs resources were already stretched so thin by Sovuln and the war. Not counting their lack of a proper Saint.
He wants dead. The last hurdle to my freedom. He was the reason I was locked in the Church in the first place, and as such, the target of the Deeps quest, that I must finish myself
And now Now the scribe sacrificed himself, directly giving restricted information to make understand all that.
I
Bravo, bravo
The dead body of the Templar stood in front of Sofia, giving slow claps, Orator again... The Lord had a peculiar, smooth, and suave way of speaking that showed no matter which mouth he used.
What a remarkable speech! Incredible! A true testant to your brilliance. Poor boorish Inquisitor does not deserve you. You must be the first human to be graced by my presence three tis without fading, this alone speaks volus, the Orator declared in the Templars voice, gesticulating grandly to emphasize his words. "Found the answers by yourself, have you not? Is it not much more thrilling?
The templars body fell limply to the ground. Next, it was Sofias mouth which opened by itself, once again.
Now, pardon the intrusion, let help your little friend, they are essential to make proper use of my gift, for now. It cannot be allowed to hold you back.
Sofia could only watch as her hand raised to her temples and her finger flicked her head multiple tis. She felt her consciousness waver and co back after every tap.
[Scribe Only mode is now operational again!]
The Lords voice next ca from a bird Sofia couldnt see, high up in the jungle canopy, each of his words echoed through the mountain.
Much, much better. Oh, I understand this must be a lot for your weak human mind. No matter, I have much to do, work well toward your freedom, youngling. I shall not show up again.
Silence reclaid the thick jungle for a few seconds. Just as Sofia was about to move on, the Templars mouth opened again, still on the ground this ti, not bothering to stand up.
Oh! One last detail, resent not Sorrow, you called and she answered. Such a cute kid well deserves her own bit of freedom. Farewell, First Saint of the Deep. Forget not your own road, what the Lords giveth they shant take away.
...
Mr. Scribe, are you really repaired?
Her status page opened by itself then disappeared.
Good. Thank you so much, Orator.
First Saint of the Deep Better than Saintess of Scripture honestly. Though thats still not what I had been aiming for. But I do have their blessing instead of Scriptures even if to the System Im still Scriptures saint.
Will I lose my VIP saint privileges if Scripture dies? How does that work? Will I stop getting the first half of the skills that co from him? I can only deal with it when it cos. I favor planning but adapting is also a way to do things
She stored the dead Templar again. Pareth had been motionless this whole ti.
Grab the book and go in the ring.
Sofias first task now was to do what the Scribe had judged worthy of its sacrifice to tell her. Dispose of the grimoire.
There was nothing in there she didnt already know anyway, she looked at the book much less fondly than she had used to now, knowing its origin, but it didnt detract her from her skeletal ambitions. Her fascination with necromancy and skeletons may have partly sprouted from the grimoires presence but ultimately it was her choice to like it. And she couldnt dream of a better traveling companion than Pareth.
Flying over the jungle, Sofia sought the empty crater of an inactive volcano.
She tossed the book into the craters center and raised both hands as she hovered high over it. There you go, Scripture. You were the one to give the chance to make these dumb skills. Now watch as they co to strip you of everything you have like you tried to rob of my freedom and my life.
Once more, two long javelins of blue plasma ford in her hands.
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