Archie glanced over at all the notifications he’d ignored till now.
*[Human Thrall Lv 56//Dark Bulwark Lv 65//Novice Carpenter Lv 15] has been slain – XP has been given. 20561 Tutorial Points given*
****[Human Thrall Lv 62//Curseguard Lv 68//Novice Smith Lv 25] has been slain – XP has been given. 22852 Tutorial Points given**[Demonic Human Lv 52//Dark Archer Lv 58//Tailor Lv 27] has been slain – XP has been given. 25471 Tutorial Points given*
****[Demonic Human Lv 59//Curse Weaver Lv 67//Novice Tailor Lv 13] has been slain – XP has been given. 28681 Tutorial Points given**[Cambion Lv 65//Alchemist of Lilith Lv 73] has forsaken the tutorial by your hand – 215801 Tutorial Points have been given*
Looking them over, he’d killed twenty people and gained a lot of Tutorial Points. He’d more than doubled the number of Tutorial Points he previously had, not counting Oliver’s Tutorial Points. Including Oliver’s Tutorial Points, he now had over a million Tutorial Points.
Speaking about Oliver, the message he’d received proved that Oliver did in fact survive, but seemed to have given up on the Tutorial. Archie wondered
Maybe. But from what he heard in passing, Lilith was supposed to be married to Lucifer…but then again, as Thalindra said before, records of gods and goddesses get muddled when integrating into a new universe over time.
As he made his way towards Michael’s vital spark, still within the hollowed hill. To his dismay, with his Vital Sight active, not a single person was alive within the cave, save for himself.
Reaching the wall that faced Michael’s direction and with the least amount of vital sparks around it, Archie cocked back his fist.
It made more sense as he thought back on it, considering what Oliver said to activate the ritual, ‘Plead of the Consort’. Oliver was considered as Lilith’s consort; he really wasn’t sure why. Oliver was an E-Grade, while she was a goddess, why would she want him as a spouse?
Funneling more mana and stamina into Adrenaline Rush
But then again, it wasn’t his business. Considering how Syllia acted when he was talking with and about Bralmir, people would say the same thing about him. How he did not deserve the blessing of the Forgefather.
He was just a fledgling in forging, where trillions of people were leagues better than him. The only reason why he gained Bralmir’s blessing was because of his daughter's request. But using that blessing he gained a friend, and with that, he gained a Profession that he was fond of, and even managed to regain skills he previously lost.
Activating Relentless Flurry
So, it really wasn’t any of his business about who she wanted as her consort. Same with other people not having any business about him and Bralmir. So, any notions of him being undeserving of being blessed didn’t matter to him, he was going to be a god, he was going to build cool shit and fight stronger people.
Walking out of the hill, Archie had a bemused, guilty expression as he looked at everyone who got blasted with dirt and rubble, glaring at him with their weapons aimed at him.
“Uh…Sorry,” Archie replied guiltily, slightly raising his hands in an apologetic matter. “I solved the Oliver problem.” Archie continued, trying to ease the annoyance in the eyes of the people he sullied.
The tense mood that surrounded them eased, but no one celebrated, everyone understood that they were still within enemy lines, and celebrations would have to wait until they reached camp.
Making his way towards Michael who was beside Sarah, who was casting a spell on one of the Dark Archers…something that he was confused about; the mages he killed were: Curse Weavers, Dark Adepts, Darkflame Casters, the other E-Grade versions of Warriors and Vanguards were similar in the sense where they varied in their evolution name.
But all the Archers he killed were called Dark Archers, Archie wondered before a thought came to him.
, Archie continued, remembering what James told him. Whenever people evolved there was a chance that the brainwashing came undone… Maybe the energies of the multiverse that flooded into them removed the effects of brainwashing for some people.
But that left him with another question; why would only a few people be cured of their brainwashing? From what he remembered from his conversations with Cyric when he was teaching him magic and Bralmir when he wanted to doze off while going through the F-Grade sections of the jungle.
When you evolve your race, your injuries are cured; scars, abnormalities, and many more… but they do come with limitations.
Such limitations include race changes; you cannot just change your race, you need rituals, artifacts, or anything that has the records to do so. Another is your bloodline, something Bralmir informed him about.
No matter what you do, change race, clone yourself, etc… it does not matter, your bloodline never leaves you unless you die. For it is intrinsically tied to you, and not even the system can take that away from you.
When asked about why anyone would try to get rid of their bloodline, Bralmir reminded him of how some bloodlines can be curses. He’d told him a story about a bloodline that used to exist long ago called the Wraithspirit Legacy.
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The wielders of the bloodline were able to phase through all aspects of matter, making them masters of combat, as all attacks could phase through them. But with every evolution, they would start to phase from a certain realm, permanently. Essentially turning them into a ghost in a metaphorical sense where no one can see them, nor are they able to interact with anyone. They would lose their physical forms entirely.
They could only watch from afar until their souls reached their Grades’ Racial, lifespan limit. Where they would officially die.
It was a sobering moment for Archie when he learned how…cursed a bloodline could be. It didn’t matter what rituals you’ve done or could do; you could not remove your bloodline from yourself.
As Archie stood next to Michael, Michael got up from his crouch and nodded to him. “Is Oliver dead? Your wording was…off to say the least.”
“A god intervened,” Archie replied, shaking his head. “But he’s been removed from the Tutorial at the very least.”
“A God?” Michael questioned. “Why would God care about a devil worshipper like him?”
“Not God with a capital G, there are more than one,” Archie informed him. “In the multiverse, once you surpass S-Grade you become a god. Think of them as super strong people who can live forever, but still can be killed.”
“I…Uh,” Michael replied, his brain trying to wrap around the concept of gods being real. He had long since abandoned the notion of God existing, after spending years in war-torn countries. “How do… How do you know about this?”
“I’ve been blessed by one,” Archie replied nonchalantly while deactivating his skills as it seemed as though the raid had ended judging by the number of enslaved people being rounded up in front of the healers and cured from their brainwashing.
The ones who were cured were currently vomiting their guts out and sobbing. Their memories catching up on what they’ve done.
It was sad really, they never wanted to do what they had, but they had no choice in the matter. He didn’t know what they were forced to do, but with what he saw in the hollowed hill and the cages around him… it wasn’t anything a quick visit to the psychiatrist could fix.
Hearing the screams behind him, he saw James and others beheading those who were still screaming about Oliver being their messiah.
“Those were the ones who were never brainwashed,” Omar replied from beside him, looking just as he normally did, minus an arm. “They get what they deserve, disgusting demon-worshiping demons. All of them deserve their deaths and more.”
“You alright there?” Archie asked a bit taken aback by the vitriol from Omar’s voice.
“Of course, the Tutorial is now clean of the demonic filth that stained it,” Omar smiled, a bit too unnervingly in Archie’s opinion. Then his expression changed suddenly, “Apologies, I forgot to properly introduce myself, I’ve been blessed by the Farlight, the Fourth Seat in the Celestial Choir. I greet thee, blessed of the Forgefather.”
“Hi, to you too,” Archie replied awkwardly. He didn’t know who Farlight was or what the Fourth Seat in the Celestial Choir meant, but seeing as how Omar wasn’t trying to capture and experiment on him, he was alright, if not a bit too fanatical. “So, what are you guys gonna do now?”
“Now that the demonic humans are being taken care of and Oliver is gone, I can go practice my light magic and ask more tips from Cyric before the Assistant Village disappears from the Tutorial.” Omar replied.
“But isn’t Cyric an undead?” Archie asked confused at Omar’s words. “With the whole light speech you gave earlier, I thought vamps would be an affront to the ‘Light’.”
“No, of course not,” Omar replied taken aback. “The undead have a good relationship with the Celestial Choir, the war between the Celestial Choir and the Undead Wake ended long ago.”
, Archie thought as he took in that piece of information. , typically the undead and the Light always wage war against each other in every piece of media he’d consumed. So, learning that the war between them had ended was nice.
“The issue with demons is the inherent sins they have,” Omar continued. “All demons have a major sin they represent, some even more. The sins are the issue of their race, they refuse to rein in their sins. They ruin the songs of others and many civilizations due to their sins.”
“I get how the Sin of Lust would be horrible, but not the others. Could you explain why?” Archie asked, why would the Sins of Pride and Sloth be bad? Was it bad to be Prideful? Or Lazy?
“Demons inherently spread their sins to others, and depending on the strength of the demon, the intensity of their sin on those around them,” Omar explained, his face steeled and his eyes slightly glossed over as though he was lost in a memory. Which made no sense to Archie as the only time they met demons was now.
“Their sins overtake the minds of others, and influence them in ways that they previously wouldn’t,” Omar continued. “Think of Evelyn being around a demon with the Sin of Envy. Everything you know about her would change, as she would be brainwashed against her will.”
“But you're painting a broad stroke on people you’ve never met,” Archie pointed out, they’d only been in the Tutorial for a bit over a month and a half. And the only full demon they’d met was Oliver. “How do you know all of them are like that? What if there are those who hold in their Sin? The only demon you’ve met is Oliver, maybe the rest of them are pretty chill people like the Assistants.”
Besides Primal Tyrannus was called the Primal Wrath of Dragons, and he was pretty sure Wrath was a part of the Seven Deadly Sins. And while he almost killed him with just a glance, he also gave him a boon. , Archie mused.
“…I understand that,” Omar replied, his tone somber. “When I accepted the blessing of Fourth Seat, he let me glimpse into his memories of demons…it was… it overwhelms me even now when I think about them.”
“But, as you said, I intend on seeing them with my own eyes to confirm whether they are evil or not.” Omar continued before he placed his hand on Archie’s shoulder before going to help the other members of their raid group with rounding up the last of the enslaved people. “The Fourth Seat challenged me to find a demon that isn’t.”
“That was something,” Michael said, breaking the awkward silence that Omar left behind. “Gods and all.”
“Yeah, took me for a loop when I learned about them,” Archie replied, before turning to face Michael and staring at him. “I tell you what I was told by my patron, Bralmir; ‘Don’t try to insult gods, unless you got god protection. Think of them as strong people, and just like people, when given power some are assholes.’”
Thankfully, he had received "god protection" from Bralmir and was told to stand his ground whenever someone tried to use their god’s influence against him. Bralmir had assured him that he would handle any issues that arose if a god attempted anything.
“Yeah…I’ll see what I can do about god protection… sometime in the future,” Michael muttered softly, lost in his own thoughts about how he was going to protect his son with all the chaos running amok in the multiverse.
“Anything else, you guys need?” Archie asked, seeing as how the raid was now over.
“…No, everything should be…done,” Michael replied, shaking himself from his thoughts and looking over at the last few people that remained within the ruined cult and the group of people waiting outside for his command.
“Thank you, for your help,” Michael said to Archie before a guilty look came across his face. “I’m sorry for acting like an ass earlier, but I needed to show that I needed to be taken seriously and that this was no joking matter.”
Archie waved him off, “I get it. No sweat off my back, I understood the severity of what was going on. So, no hard feelings from me.”
“You’re a good man,” Michael smiled, offering Archie a handshake, which he accepted. “Any plans you have now?”
“Gonna finish up a couple of projects and finish a few more dungeons,” Archie answered. “And you?”
“I’ve got to deal with the new additions to the camp and level up,” Michael chuckled.
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