Alex sat in her bandit throne chair. Its fur covered surface had grown on her, and it was softer than the bed she had rarely slept in. Other than that, the Witch requested a meeting with her and here she was kneeling right in front of her.
Something about the Spirit Sign.
Raven had tried showing her own Spirit Sign to Alex, but that obviously did not work. The numbers were blurred.
Seeing a moving mosaic in real life obfuscating something from view was something she never expected to ever experience. Almost as if she's looking at something lewd that shouldn't be seen or worse.
There was also something she was curious about. Why did the Spirit Sign successfully install on Raven, but not her?
Raven's core was still flawed, and she hasn't created a true core yet which could be the reason, but that didn't make sense. The Spirit Sign module still showed up on her active module list, incidentally, the only good thing that came out of this Spirit Sign was not needing to convert Multifaceted energy to mana as it automatically converted 1:1 when she just wanted to use mana. Every other energy still needed a conversion function.
The stupid answer would be that the Spirit Sign couldn't handle anything above Late-Arcane, or it could be even lower. Since Raven was an Early-Arcane, she was still within the bounds of the module's measurement system.
That presented an opportunity to explore the system in all its inanity since Raven was within its bounds. Grey had told her that just being in the area while actively engaging in a fight would eventually earn them attribute points. The more important question was, how?
There were three options that could be tested:
- Being in the vicinity while a powerful being kills monsters rapidly.
- The host must be in a life or death scenario against all odds.
- Contributing to the kill of monsters through combative or supportive methods.
Uninstalling the module on her C-Suite would allow them to experience the reality of controlling their own energies. But if any of these three options were viable, it would be a shortcut, giving them power. Why waste a shortcut just to allow them to go through the traditional route? It was best to find out later whether uninstalling the module would delete all their progress. For now, the Path must stand, and a weak C-Suite was a detriment to the company.
If anything, and it harmed her most useful subordinate, Alex could simply break the module from Raven's core and forcefully uninstall it.
But first, what did the stats of an Early-Arcane look like? She needed a reference point on how this Spirit Sign calculated its prowess.
A simple test was in dire need.
"Have you tried taking a picture of it?" Alex asked.
"No," Raven said. "But--wait, what? How would that even... you can't be-" she stammered. "Let me try it. Status."
A blue status screen popped up in front of her. Pulling out her phone, she opened the camera app. One snap of the red button, and the deed was done. She rotated the phone to Alex.
On the phone, the Spirit Sign was in full view.
[Name: Witch Raven]
[Mana: 14,981/20,150]
[Attribute Points: 0]
[Tenacity: 1,241]
[Perception: 1,852]
[Dexterity: 985]
[Aura: 877]
[Mana Heart: 2,015]
[Mana Brain: 1,623]
[Total Prowess: 4,758.95]
Interestingly enough, Alex could see the whole status sign. But why?
"Hold up your phone to the camera while I'm looking at it, and take another picture," Alex said.
Doing as she was told, Raven scooted closer to Alex and took a picture of her Spirit Sign. This time, when they looked at the photo together, the result was different. Instead, what they both saw was a mosaic'd image on the phone.
An observer effect.
If the owner of the Spirit Sign was the only one looking, then the picture snapped at the time would be legible. If anyone else were to observe along with the owner of the Spirit Sign, then it would give a mosaic effect on the snap of the photo even though the image was legible on the camera app.
What did this mean?
Fuck if she knew. It was a meaningless quirk. But now, she got to see Raven's attributes, which lined up similarly to how she viewed her subordinate's strength. Raven was perceptive and had a lot of mana, but she also lacked physical attributes that would allow her to use aura as effectively as arcane level knights.
Alex calculated that it would take around 12 Ravens to reach her strength in terms of stage hierarchy. Even then, 12 Ravens would get obliterated by her. At her level, numeric advantage no longer mattered.
Observation done. Time to get to the real meat of today's meeting.
"Meet me at the flower fields by Aurora's house," Alex said, not waiting for a reply from Raven.
A snap of her finger and she was 3000 meters in the air, flying. Looking for monsters around Hadstead mountains, she found a pack of 7 wolf-like-looking things that had luscious pure black fur, a giant lizard twice the size of a man, and a troll that had blue skin.
A blue outline appeared on all the monsters before being floated up into the air with Alex's telekinesis. She dragged them towards the bandit camp's flower field, down to an empty part that had just been harvested. On that empty field were both Grey and Aurora, along with Raven, with a cup of her cafe mocha.
Bitch better have paid for that.
Resource access: Ether(150). Resource Access: Matter(Water). Predefined_Function: Ice_Cage(ether). Target as pos: Position(at: [WOLVES, LIZARD, TROLL]). Construct(Ice_Cage, pos). Execute.
A cube cage trapped the wolves, lizard, and troll in their own cages before thudding down onto the empty field. Grey raised his sword against the monsters while Aurora's signature flared at the threat. Raven just yawned.
"Relax, we're having a test," Alex said. "Both of you, follow Witch Raven."
"Yes, my Lady," both Aurora and Grey said after bowing.
They walked over to Witch Raven, who stood in front of the pack of wolves.
For the purpose of not tainting the data, Alex would not interfere unless absolutely necessary. Raven would already be able to kill these low-level monsters by herself, but any interference might lead to a different result than the hypothesis they were testing.
The ice cage melted, flowing and splashing onto the ground while parting at where Raven stood. A blue outline instantly formed onto the pack of wolves, telekinesis not from Alex, but from Raven's own ether.
In an instant, her telekinesis ripped off the heads of each wolf at the same time. Dark red blood pooled at where the wolves laid. Both Aurora and Grey stood there, unaffected by what they just witnessed.
"Aurora, Grey, did you gain any attributes?" Alex asked.
"Yes, my Lady. I earned 8 attributes just now," Aurora said.
"I gained 3 attribute points," Grey said.
"And what was the prowess of those wolves?" Alex asked.
"The Night Howlers range around 70-80 prowess, my Lady."
"Is that a lot?"
"It is significant. Killing 7 howlers in a party of 7 at my prowess would usually not earn me an attribute point," Grey said.
"Ok, moving on. What is the prowess of that Lizard?"
"It's about 135 prowess. It's usually a harmless herbivore creature," Grey said.
"Good. Now you and Aurora kill it by yourselves."
"As you wish, my Lady," Aurora said, bowing.
"A-are you sure, Chief Product Officer?" Grey asked.
"Let us not waste time, Chief Operating Officer," Aurora said.
As the ice cage melted, the two began to fight the lizard in earnest. Aurora used the grass and roots from underground to bind the monster while Grey carefully defended and dismantled it with his ad hoc sword.
Raven walked up to Alex. "Why are they saying their titles like that?"
"Dunno. Maybe some cultural thing," Alex said.
After a gruelling effort of Grey narrowly avoiding death by lizard claw, he managed to dismember its leg. Aurora bound its 3 other legs for a split second, allowing Grey to finally decapitate the monster.
Alex clearly saw the difficulty to achieve that victory. Aurora had almost been swallowed by the lizard when it whipped its sticky tongue at her. If it were not for their team effort, they would've both died.
"Attribute gain?" Alex asked.
"14, my Lady," Aurora gasped for breath.
"2 for me," Grey said through his ragged breath.
"And what is the troll's prowess?" Alex asked.
"It's about the same as the lizard at 130, but much more aggressive."
"This time, Grey, you just put a scratch on the troll while Aurora, you do your grass thingy on its feet. Witch Raven will kill it after you do."
The third ice cage melted, and the troll suddenly lunged at Aurora before being grasped by Raven's telekinesis.
"Children, do your contributions," Raven said.
Grass grew around its feet and wrapped around its ankles while Grey slashed his sword at the troll. When the troll blocked with its metal bangles, the ad hoc sword cleaved through them, and its arm fell to the ground.
Without waiting for both to back off, the troll's head was ripped right off. Green blood spilled from its decapitated head and sprayed from its stump of a neck.
Again, both Aurora and Grey remained expressionless as they witnessed the death of the monster.
"Attribute gain this time?"
"12 attributes this time, my Lady."
"2 attributes again for me," Grey said.
"Ok, that's a wrap. You two go rest," Alex said.
Both Aurora and Grey bowed.
Alex snapped her fingers again, triggering the spatial anchor while taking Raven with her back to the throne room.
"So? What did you get?" Raven asked.
"All 3 work as a way to power level. The first option would be the best for lower prowess individuals like Aurora. Once they're a bit more experienced, the best method would be the third, where you'd let them contribute. Once at the endgame, you just make sure they don't die to the monsters. Let them kill by themselves," Alex said.
This would provide the most stat gain. Based on what they just observed, there were heavy penalties for passiveness. Adding a contribution mark would greatly increase their attribute gain, even if it was just a scratch, as shown by Aurora not even damaging the troll.
They could potentially use the 3rd option forever, but that would be a detriment to live combat experience. That's a more important factor when it comes to war. Just in case, of course.
A baby with a knife was still just a baby.
"Why wouldn't the natives of this world use this method then?" Raven asked.
"Congestion and greed," Alex said. "Dragus's highest level in the Royal Castle was a Mid-Harmonic, but definitely not their strongest. What about Pandor?"
"I met an Early-Mystic on the way here."
"The Spirit Sign is an offload processor, and every living thing is connected to it at the same time. The higher the prowess, the more complex the process on how a specific stat affects its host. Therefore, it'll have difficulty handling higher Awakened stages which is why it failed on me."
"That reminds me. My status did take a while to load at first, while the children's were instant."
"There were other children that got mixed up?"
"College students."
"Whatever," Alex said. "Greed would also prevent the powerful from giving power to those below. Keep the weak dependent."
"Makes sense..."
A weak C-Suite in the world of Aur (the secret fantastical society of Earth) would greatly bog down her company's production. In a world of swords and magic, that weakness would be more glaring.
The 'greed' angle of the natives of this world did not even register with Alex. Why keep them dependent when they could do even more work once they're stronger? If one of them got out of line, a head would roll, no questions asked. Though, she doubted that would be the case with their current... fanaticism.
"Get to work," Alex said.
"Aye, aye, Master," Raven saluted.
☕︎ ☼ ☕︎ ☽ ☕︎
Rand placed the box of supplies down at his feet. At the edges of the I-5 road (western path) of the Hadstead mountain range stood the Loomlight Grand Labyrinth's narrow entrance a couple of metres away from him.
The Lady ordered them on this expedition for 'power levelling' with the supervision of General Witch Raven.
Around him stood Aurora, Grey, Fraser, Elador, Yulka, and the newly crowned Head of Human Resources, Sanders. With them was the Witch named Raven, who was checking up on the supply boxes.
When Rand first met her, he was sure that she was a demon. A juggernaut possessing the prowess of 4,758. That's an unheard of number.
[Name: Rand Cloudlight]
[Class Type: Rare]
[Class Name: Storm Royal]
[Mana: 220/220]
[Attribute Points: 0]
[Tenacity: 87]
[Perception: 31]
[Dexterity: 96]
[Aura: 79]
[Mana Heart: 22]
[Mana Brain: 34]
[Total Prowess: 210.6]
Looking at his own Spirit Sign, it was a pitiful number compared to the general's and even the strongest warriors and mages. There was never a record of a human ever breaching a prowess of 1000. The highest recorded prowess was a hero named Lutris, the Archmage, at 988, and he died a century ago.
The strongest of the summoned heroes ever recorded only reached a prowess of 1300. Historical accounts said that they died valiantly to keep the corruption at bay. A noble sacrifice.
Raven wore an all black dress and could transform into a flock of ravens. Her smile sent shivers down anyone who dared look her in the eyes. She seemed to call everyone children as if she were the adult in the room, and only demons could live for hundreds of years.
"I know what you're thinking, Director of Security, Rand," Aurora said. "However, might I remind you, Witch Raven hails from the same realm as the Lady."
"I understand, Chief Product Officer, Aurora. However, it is difficult to accept such a being in our ranks."
"Sir Rand," Aurora said sternly. "You need not accept Witch Raven, but accept the words of the Lady. She is a general of Her army from the Divine Realm, hence we are below the witch in Her ranks. We must show our devotion through ways we can, or would you rather act upon those thoughts of heresy?"
"Aurora's right, Rand," Grey said. "The Lady finally tested our own capabilities this morning. We were given a chance to show her our valour in battle. We cannot soil this chance to prove our worth to her general."
"The Lady is always right," Sanders, the newcomer, said. "She knows our own limits fully and won't send us to a meaningless death in a Labyrinth."
"We are handing our lives to a woman we've never met before," Rand said. "It is quite unusual. Fighting and leading are two different things. Though, if it's the Lady's wishes, then I must submit."
"When has the Lady ever been incorrect, or do you believe the Lady has made a wrong call on who shall lead this dungeon run?" Aurora asked. "Speak your words carefully, Sir Rand."
Clearly, they were right. The Lady wouldn't have chosen General Witch Raven to lead them through the Grand Labyrinth if she had no experience leading. Rand sighed. "I apologize, Chief Product Officer. It seems my faith has waned through this trial we must pass. The Grand Labyrinth is full of many dangers that people of prowess lower than 100 dare not challenge."
"The Lady sees all the truths of this world, Rand," Grey said. "Solidify your faith and let her pave our Path."
Aurora smiled. "You are forgiven, Director of Security Rand. We will all push through this trial in one piece."
"Why am I and Elador even here?" Fraser asked. "We have to get back to managing the production..."
"Fraser, look at you, you're all bones no muscle," Yulka said. "This is your chance to grow some of those muscles so you can carry your own barrels."
"But I'm not blue collar personnel, I shouldn't even be carrying barrels according to OSHA scriptures."
"Pfft," Yulka waved her hand dismissively. "You just have to carry with proper form. Lift with your legs, back straight, and you'll be lifting in no time."
"Enough," Aurora said. "General Witch Raven will be 'power levelling' us, Fraser. If the production must be delayed because of this, then the Lady has already accounted for it."
"But I don't think both of us are combatants. We'd rather just coop up in our own production suites and not see the light of day," Fraser said.
"Hush now, Fraser. You are within the Lady's all seeing plan," Aurora said. "For that to happen, you must be power levelled if she has deemed it necessary."
"But-"
"Silence, Fraser. Her ears listen. Do not incur her wrath upon your disbelief," Rand said. "I have made peace with my qualms and will push through this trial, and so should you. For the Lady."
"Ok..." Fraser said.
"All well and said... Director of Security Rand." Elador coughed.
There was one thing left in Rand's mind after the conversation. If the General was at 4,758 prowess and the Spirit Sign was able to assign her that measurement, then how strong was the Lady herself?
Impossibly strong, so much so that the Spirit Sign gave up and assigned her an arbitrary number.
"Children, are we done conversing?" Witch Raven walked up to them, the supplies floating just behind her in single file.
"Yes, General Witch Raven!" Sir Rand saluted. "All members accounted for and ready for battle!"
"Good, but I did hear someone say they wanted to leave. Who was it?" she asked.
The Witch's smile grew wide and predatory causing shivers to roll down Rand's spine.
"No one wants to answer?" General Witch Raven asked. Her mana flared around her body, causing pressure to weigh down everyone. The lower prowess ones, such as Aurora, Fraser, Elador, and Sanders, were all forced to kneel down in front of her.
"I'm sorry, General Witch Raven. It was me!" Fraser forced himself to shout through the weight.
The pressure dissipated immediately. Her heels clicked on the brick road of I-5. As she knelt, she used her finger to pull up his chin, and their eyes met.
"Child, do I need to tell you of my history with the Master?"
"No, General. I understand."
"Do you truly?"
Fraser didn't respond. His eyes darted to Rand, who only looked away.
Sorry, Fraser. There was nothing I could do.
Raven smiled softly. "The Master grows impatient at times when she constantly needs to protect those that are supposed to uphold her empire. Do you truly wish to remain weak and become a burden to Her?"
"No... General... I wish to be useful," Fraser said.
"Do you believe Her kindness has no limits?"
"I don't want to live off of another's kindness, let alone the Lady's..."
"Good answer," General Raven said. She stood up and looked down at each of them. "I've seen many that would kill to be in the same spot as you now. You've been granted such a privilege, yet all of you still do not know the value of being her C-Suite."
"General Raven," Aurora slowly pushed herself up. Her legs shook and shoulders trembled, yet her eyes showed no weakness. "I wish to hear the true value of our positions. Please."
"Very well, child," General Raven said. "If you live through this trial, then I'll personally tell you. Deal?"
"Thank you, General," Aurora said.
"But know this, all of you. This trial's purpose is for you to become more useful to the Lady. After we're done here, all of you will become peerless under this sky."
"Does that include you?" Rand asked.
Sharpness from those eyes shot at Rand. "I'm not from this sky, am I?"
"R-right..."
"Now move." General Raven shouted. "Rand first and the rest of you follow. We'll clear this shit hole asap so I can get back to my 9 to 5."
☕︎ ☼ ☕︎ ☽ ☕︎
Loomlight Grand Labyrinth, 6th Sub Floor, 2 days after entry.
Rand followed as General Witch Raven continued walking through the halls of the Labyrinth. The others followed as well, huddled together as all of them tried to keep up with the General.
To the Divine General, it was as if she was having a casual walk.
Rand's eyes could not believe what he had witnessed in just two days of entry. Other parties would take their time getting accustomed to the atmosphere of the Labyrinth. Most would scout out for traps and disarm them. Experienced parties would avoid hordes and use trusted maps to crawl through the maze to get to the next sub floor.
Yet General Witch Raven did none of that.
She had no map and would walk straight into traps without fear. The traps would crumple up like paper being thrown into the garbage. She led them through multiple hordes, seemingly knowing where each one was. Every time they met a horde, green or red blood would rain within the walls of the dungeon.
Glancing at Aurora and Fraser, their breaths had been ragged the whole time, gasping for air just to keep up with her 'casual walk'. Aurora's eyes were the most frightening. Her smile became more deranged as she watched the calamity yawn as hordes of abominations jumped at her, all to just become feed for their attributes.
"Chief Product Officer, how many attributes have you gained so far?" Rand asked.
"152, however, it's slowing down as we grow in prowess," Lady Aurora said.
The amount of attributes gained in under two days was unheard of. Rand felt his lips turn up, though he didn't mean to. Was it not obvious this was the Lady's power? Once they start climbing up to floor 35, Rand would start gaining attribute points to increase his own prowess.
A rain of blood came down the halls of the Labyrinth once again. A horde of kobolds met their fate with a single snap of the General's finger.
A single chuckle came out of him. He caught himself before he started laughing even more.
This was simply the Lady's generosity, Her grace given to them. The power he sought was almost there, to avenge his fallen queen. Rand did not expect Her words to give him the head of Dragus King would come so soon.
"Heh," Rand said, laughing. "For the Lady's Grace..."
"For the Lady's Path," Aurora laughed with him.
"For the Goddess of Might!" Yulka shouted laughing along with them.
General Witch Raven led them through multiple corners and dead ends before proceeding to continue down to the next floor. It was odd that she knew exactly where the exit was, yet what did it matter?
This demon, monster, or divine being was on their side. Even the General herself was but a pawn in the Lady's all-seeing plan.
May the Goddess of Justice smile upon this unworthy land.
