Soul of the Warrior

Kefira watched the rise and fall of Reivyn’s chest as she sat next to him, holding his hand. He had been unconscious for several days after their Party had been forcibly expelled from the Dungeon after he had killed the Dragon.

None of them understood why they had been automatically teleported out of the Dungeon at first. They had all witnessed the domination of Reivyn over the Dragon. It had been a completely different experience than was typically seen when the Hero of the scenario wasn’t a person. Everyone had expected Reivyn to struggle against the Dragon, not completely decimate it.

There had been no indication from their end that there was anything wrong.

As soon as they were all teleported out of the Dungeon, though, it was immediately apparent that something was terribly wrong. Reivyn was teleported with the rest of them, but he was unresponsive, lying on the ground.

Kefira and the rest of the Party were preoccupied attempting to wake Reivyn and figure out what was wrong, so they weren’t aware of the mayhem that had encompassed the rest of the military surrounding the Dungeon. It wasn’t until they decided to transport Reivyn away from the Dungeon that they looked up and realized their experience wasn’t the only anomaly.

Every single other Party that had been inside the Dungeon when they had defeated the Dragon had simultaneously been expelled. The Dungeon portal had shifted from a welcoming bluish glow to an angry red, and nobody could enter. Everyone who approached the Dungeon simply walked through the portal as if it wasn’t there.

They had rushed Reivyn to the Imperial Palace and summoned the Imperial Physician. The wisened man had conducted all sorts of diagnostic procedures to try and figure out what the issue was, including Class Skills that defied mundane procedures that non-Classers were relegated to. No matter what procedure the physician performed, though, everything came back that Reivyn was perfectly fine.

They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him, and they couldn’t wake him. They had moved him to his parents’ house on the grounds and put him in his bed for comfort. There was nothing they could do but wait, and that’s what they did.

Kefira hardly left his side while he was bedridden, which obviously meant Serilla was nearby as well. Ameliyn was distraught, understandably, but she wasn’t one to panic. She also had the prior experience of losing her son for years, and the fact that he was right there in her house did a lot to assuage her fears. Refix was a frequent visitor, but he made a point to continue training each morning and dragged Kefira and Serilla along with him. The twins had decorated Reivyn’s bed with their unique style of art that supplied enhanced rest and healing for anyone sleeping in the bed, but there were no obvious improvements.

A slight pressure in Kefira’s hand brought her out of her musings and she immediately perked up and looked to Reivyn. Serilla noticed the movement from her spot sitting in the corner and approached to stand behind her.

“Reivyn?” Kefira asked, squeezing her own hand.

Reivyn’s hand squeezed a bit harder in response. Kefira’s heartbeat increased as hope filled her. She shared a glance with Serilla, her eyes wide with expectation. Serilla nodded and left the room to get Ameliyn and the other members of Reivyn’s family.

Reivyn shifted and sighed. His eyes fluttered before slowly opening. He stared at the ceiling for a moment before frowning.

“Huh. That’s weird,” he said.

“What’s weird?” Kefira asked. “What’s wrong?!”

“Oh, there it is,” Reivyn replied.

“What?! Where’s what?!” Kefira was on the verge of panicking. What was wrong with Reivyn?

He looked over and saw the worry on Kefira’s face. He smiled before answering.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you,” he said. “It was just that my Divine Sense was missing when I woke up, but after concentrating on the Skill it came back. It appears I’m now able to turn it on and off at will, something that would have been useful when I first acquired the Skill.”

“Whew, that’s all?” Kefira deflated as her body relaxed. She hadn’t even realized how tense she had been. “Nothing else? How are you feeling?”

“I feel great,” Reivyn answered. He looked around with a bit of confusion. “But, ugh, I’m guessing something’s up? How did we get here?”

“You’ve been unconscious for five days, ever since you killed the Dragon and we got kicked out of the Dungeon.”

“Woah! Back up. Dragon?! You said I killed a Dragon?!”

“You don’t remember?”

“Last thing I remember is looking at the portal to the Dungeon with the intention of stepping through. Then I had some crazy vision. Now I’m here.”

At that moment, the door burst open and Ameliyn rushed inside. She didn’t hesitate and immediately ran over and grasped Reivyn in a hug. Kefira wisely leaned away to let Reivyn’s mother have access to her baby boy.

Refix and the twins followed behind. Refix hung back for a moment as Kailey and Riley maneuvered around him to launch their own hug-dive from the other side of the bed.

“You have no idea how worried we were,” Ameliyn said, backing up from her tight hug.

“I’m sure I don’t,” Reivyn chuckled. “I didn’t even realize there was an issue until just now.”

Reivyn stretched and tossed the covers to the side. He was fully dressed in his normal clothing, the armor he wore to the Dungeon safely stored away with his other gear in his room. He glanced down at his clean clothes and back up at Kefira.

“By the way, who changed and bathed me? I noticed I’m not exactly dressed for Dungeon Delving, here.”

Kefira looked away. She could feel her face turning red.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, boy,” Refix cut in. “I took care of that.”

He doesn’t need to know I’m the one who first brought it up and that his father needed to step in before I put my foot in my mouth in front of his mother, Kefira thought. Reivyn seemed to read her mind, or at least pick up on her mood, as he gave her a knowing look with a slight smirk. She could feel the heat in her face deepen. She was sure her face was turning scarlet.

“Anyway,” Reivyn said, swinging his feet over the side to stand up, “I believe Kefira said something about a Dragon? Care to fill me in on what I’ve missed?”

—

It was a fascinating story. Reivyn had absolutely no recollection of any of the events told to him by Kefira and Refix, but he had a vivid imagination. After waking up, Reivyn had been famished. The whole family had decided to simply have an early dinner as they explained things to Reivyn.

He had spent time just talking with his family and Kefira after the meal. He could tell they were still a bit worried about him, but even he couldn’t find anything wrong with his condition. Eventually, the night came and he excused himself. He promised Kefira he would see her first thing in the morning for their daily training session with Refix.

Now I can finally check out these incessant System Notifications, he thought. That blinking light has been calling to me ever since I woke up, but there hasn’t been an appropriate time to check until now. It’s not like I could have said, “I know you’re all worried for me, but I really just have to chase you away for now so I can read some Notifications.” I’m sure that would have gone over well with mother.

Reivyn willed the Notifications to his focus.

Divine Mana detected.

Compatible Class detected.

Divine Spark detected.

Divine Skills detected.

Divine Mana redirected.

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Divine Sense fully activated.

Perfect Domain fully activated.

WARNING! WARNING!

System has detected Mortal Body channeling Divine Mana without a proper Class buffer.

WARNING! WARNING!

System has detected a Mortal Mind channeling Divine Mana without a proper Class buffer.

WARNING! WARNING!

Information overload has destroyed the Mortal Mind.

Calculating…

Responsibility deemed to be held by the System.

Searching for a solution.

Protocols are in place.

Soul strength is acceptable.

Mind has been protected and retained up until entry of current Subspace.

All other information has been wiped clean and repaired.

WARNING! WARNING!

Mortal Body is breaking down on a fundamental level.

Meridians have been totally destroyed.

Leftover Divine Mana will destroy the Mortal Body totally within seven seconds.

Calculating…

Responsibility deemed to be held by the System.

Searching for a solution.

Protocols are in place.

The Divine Spark is used as an anchor.

Soul strength is acceptable.

The Mortal Body shall be reformed with the aid of the Divine Mana and Divine Spark.

Divine Meridians have been regrown.

Insufficient Divine Mana to reform a Divine Body.

Searching for a solution.

Protocols are in place.

Mortal Body will be reformed with minor reinforcement.

Leftover Divine Mana absorbed into Divine Spark.

Helpful Hint: Minor reinforcement with Divine Mana only protects the Mortal Body from being destroyed by uncontrolled internal Divine Mana. It does not come with any Stat bonuses.

Achievement!

Divine Spark has been upgraded to Divine Kernel.

Helpful Hint: Divine Kernel grants +3 Free Stat Points per Level. It is retroactive.

Achievement!

Divine Meridians have been formed.

Can now safely channel Divine Mana.

Divine Skill Divine Sense has been fully activated for the first time.

Minor Mastery has been achieved.

Minor Ability has been granted.

Can now turn on/off Skill at will.

Divine Skill Perfect Domain has been fully activated for the first time.

Minor Mastery has been achieved.

Minor Ability has been granted.

Active actions now possible while incapacitated in addition to minor automatic reflexes.

Achievement!

World Boss Defeated!

Title Granted: Dragon Slayer

Error.

Dungeon Entities do not count.

Title Revoked: Dragon Slayer

Error.

Spark of Providence detected.

Searching for a solution.

Protocols are in place.

Title Granted: Dragon Fighter

Achievement!

Attained a System recognized Title!

All Stats +50

Epic Feat!

Attained a System recognized Title before reaching Tier 6!

All Stats +50

Title: Dragon Fighter!

Sense the presence of any True Dragons within range.

Inherently understand the fighting style and weakness of any True Dragon engaged in combat.

System Alert!

Divine Mana and Spark of Providence from the Subspace have been absorbed.

Dungeon is shutting down to recover.

Recovery period: 765:23:59:59.00

Source of Divine Mana not detected.

Scenario will be adjusted to compensate.

All entities within this Subspace and all of its instances shall be expelled.

System Alert!

Spark of Providence has initiated a vision.

Divine Feat!

You have directly stretched across Time and affected the Distant Past.

Source of Divine Mana not detected.

Divine Reward temporarily withheld.

Helpful Hint: You might think this is a paradox, but the events of the past always had your interference. You just hadn’t done it, yet.

New Affinity Unlocked!

Tier 4

Ancient (1)

Reivyn sat stunned for a long while after reading through the Notifications.

That… is a lot of Notifications, he thought. That would explain why I can’t remember anything about the Dungeon. Apparently activating a Divine Skill without a Divine Body or Mind is not a good idea. I’m guessing the proper Class buffer would be a Divine Class granted by a Divine Being.

Reivyn didn’t fully understand what the System meant about not detecting a source of Divine Mana. It made sense that the Mortal Realms wouldn’t have Divine Mana like the Divine Realm, but the wording of the System hinted that there should be a source of Divine Mana even in the Mortal Realm.

A memory of the Realm seen from outside with a broken golden cord flashed through Reivyn’s mind.

Maybe I’ll figure it out one day, but that’s for the future. It’s not that big of a deal to try and solve the mystery right now. I’m nowhere strong enough for it to be a priority any time soon.

I can let Kefira and the others know about the reason for the Dungeon shutting down, too, and the timer of 765 days. It’s going to take nearly a year and a half for the Dungeon to recover from whatever it is that actually happened in there with me. Whoops. At least I didn’t disable the Dungeon permanently.

Reivyn laid down to rest for the evening after getting over his shock. He switched his Divine Sense Skill off. The world around him went metaphorically silent.

Ahh, peace, he thought. This will make falling asleep so much easier now.

He closed his eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep. Despite having been unconscious for most of a week, his mind was still tired, and sleep came easily.

—

The Masked Man strode through the doors into the inner sanctum. The man he was searching for was calmly seated as he channeled the energy of a crystal. A pile of unused gems sat next to him on one side and the dust of shattered crystals was swept into another pile on his other side.

The Masked Man made it a habit of routinely observing the elaborate Tapestry of Fate that was being woven with the Threads he manipulated. For some time now, the most important Thread to his grand scheme had been shifting about erratically. Plans had to be altered, and thus he had to seek out an old acquaintance.

I still can’t figure out what that kid is up to, he thought. There was an introduction to several unexpected, unaccounted for Threads that have fundamentally altered his trajectory. For the most part, nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things, but there are certain eventualities that must be prevented at all cost.

The Masked Man’s entrance to the inner sanctum didn’t go unnoticed. The seated man’s eyes opened, and a look of annoyance flashed across his features before he recognized the Masked Man.

“Benefactor!” Tenrik exclaimed. His look of annoyance was quickly replaced with happiness.

“No need to get up,” The Masked Man waved his hand as Tenrik made to stand up upon his entrance. “I see that you’re making good progress on expelling the foreign Mana.”

“Yes, Benefactor,” Tenrik slightly bowed his head. “The Abyssal Mana you granted me helped me achieve my ambitions in my early years, but it is now nothing more than an anchor around my neck. If I ever hope to Ascend, I need to remove the Mana without harming my foundation. I owe you once more for imparting the technique to me.”

“Think nothing of it,” The Masked Man once again waved his hand in dismissal. “Though, speaking of expelling the Abyssal Mana from your system, I have news. It’s not necessarily bad, but you will have to put a hold on your efforts temporarily.”

“Oh? Do you require something of me?”

“Just so,” The Masked Man nodded. “One of my… proteges, has gone above and beyond what I had planned for him. He has managed to access certain Powers ahead of schedule, and that has prevented me from shielding his presence from creatures that would devour him and take all that he has accumulated for themselves.

“Even as we speak, one of these creatures is making its way from the center of the continent toward him. I need you to contact some of the Sects you’re on friendly terms with and intercept this creature. You don’t have to kill it, but you do have to at least delay it or drive it back to its nest.”

Tenrik frowned at the information.

“You say I need to team up with more than one Cultivator, and even with their assistance, we don’t need to kill it? Give it to me straight. How strong is this creature?”

The Masked Man stood silent for several seconds.

“Tier 8,” he answered.

Tenrik inhaled sharply. He was powerful, powerful enough to be on par with the old monsters of the local Sects, but even he wouldn’t casually interfere with a Tier 8 monster.

“Like I said, you only have to delay it or drive it back,” The Masked Man said. “According to my calculations, as long as you don’t put the creature into mortal fear of its life, this endeavor should be perfectly safe. You might not gain anything out of it, directly, but it is necessary.”

“Consider it done,” Tenrik easily replied. “By the way, in all the years I’ve known you and all the times we’ve interacted, this is the first time you’ve ever mentioned another one of your beneficiaries to me. Who is this person, and what’s so special about them?”

The Masked Man smirked behind his mask. Tenrik couldn’t see it, but he could hear the amusement in the other man’s voice.

“If you really want to know, just ask your daughter,” he said. “I’m pretty sure she’s with him, in a manner of speaking, right now.”

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