“22.” I call up to Aftermath as I dig my claws into the creature. It is like a wolf, but made of earth and grass. Too bad for them that 50 strength with mana claws is not a good combination for them. Shredding into these creatures is easy. Snowstorm seems to agree.

  “17.” Snowstorm calls as well. “This place is pretty good.”

  “And expensive.” Aftermath pointed out. The area around us is a large circular chamber nestled in the roots of the tree that constantly spawns these “grass wolves” for recruits to the church to kill and level. It would take only a week for us to get to level 50 and evolve if we have enough karma to level. However, the cost in both coins and mana crystals is immense. It only took 2 hours to get to this level, and it'll only take a few more to get the next few, but leveling will slow down. Every level is around 10% more difficult then the last one. For some reason the system really likes 10%. There's gotta be a profound reason for that, right? Right?

  “We still have the end goal of getting to Darkness and saving him. We can't forget that.” I point out as I cave a wolf's head in.

  “I am well aware.” Aftermath nods from above. He sits on a large floating platform, an unconscious Evelyn floating in his ribcage. “But if you were to reach tier 2 before going, you would be able to increase your speed to 150 to get there on your own without having to spend any coin. And in addition, you would be stronger and more capable to fight. I assume the strongest person there is only tier 3, so imagine if you were both tier 2, but with maximum stats. Also, if you have maximum stats when evolving you can increase the maximum for all stats by another 20 in the next evolution, meaning the limit will be in low tier 3 territory.”

  “I didn't know that.” Snowstorm said, pausing in his brutal assault and forming a thin ice barrier around

  himself.

  Ice shield

  The wolves are unable to penetrate it, giving him a moment's respite to speak with the resident god. “Why isn't that in any of the books I read?”

  “Because no being is able to contain ezzence within themselves until tier 2 at the very least without a soul core. A being having a soul core, essence, knowledge as to their essence type, as well as the drive to reach level 50 with maximum stats is not something ever seen before.”

  “So we are anomalies?” I frown.

  Second shadow

  My soul core flashes and darkness pours out of it. It hardens around my scales, repelling the dogs to let me focus on the conversation.

  “Very much so. And in every way. Your species hasn't been seen for billions of years. You have a soul core. You gained leveling capabilities prematurely. You can use essence. You are able to purchase skills and mutations, which is normally not possible. Your pathways are also completely clean.”

  “Pathways?” I ask, confused. I turn to snowstorm, but he seems confused as well.

  “Pathways allow you to absorb essence. Having an essence statistic means you have pathways. They are like a seperate system of blood vessels, but they channel essence, and instead of pumping through and out of your heart, they channel through and into your soul. The cleaner your pathways, the better you channel essence. To learn how to manipulate these pathways is what is known as divine magic, as essence is the magic of divinity.”

  “I always wondered how divine magic worked, but the books never gave me a definitive answer.”

  “It is a closely guarded secret by the gods. Usually, pathways are always within your body, dormant. A god's blessing grants access to pathways along with other benefits.”

  “Benefits like higher affinity to the god's affinity types, correct?” Snowstorm asks, swatting an unlucky wolf with his tail.

  “Correct. Those with mid tier blessings or higher usually get a skill out of it as well.”

  “What kind of skill?” I ask curiously.

  “It depends on what we choose. If I were to give a blessing, that would cost me essence, and I gain essence as well as experience when my blessed accomplishes things. It costs more essence the higher the blessing, and it costs more essence the more powerful the skill.”

  “So even gods have restrictions.” I comment.

  “Not all gods, but most, yes.” Aftermath nods in confirmation.

  “Not all gods?” Snowstorm repeats, interested.

  “The original 5 had the capability of reaching beyond all limits, to become infinitely powerful. However, the world simply can not hold something so powerful. We chose not to, for we didn't want to leave our home. Even as the strongest, we don’t view ourselves as inherently superior. everyone has a chance to reach the top. We simply started there. Maybe if we did reach for the top, things would have turned out better, but I don't regret the choice for a single second.”

  “That's surprisingly humble.” Snowstorm nods in approval.

  “Get back to grinding. You can both leave when you hit level 25.” Aftermath vanishes, leaving a startled Evelyn to wake up on a beach chair from god knows where(literally). Meanwhile, me and Snowstorm get back to mutilating dogs.

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  <{(0)}>

  A few hours later and we are both lying on our beds chilling. “Hey, Snowstorm?” I say, chewing on a sandwich that someone made for me. Living like this feels so nice, but also kind of uncomfortable. I feel coddled.

  “Yeah?” Snowstorm looks up from the tablet he has been scrolling on. Ever since gaining access to the internet again he has been all over it.

  “Why can’t we just fly there ourselves? We can fly at thousands of miles an hour.”

  “Simple.” Snowstorm says, setting the tablet down. I still don’t get how he can hold that thing. “Sure, you can fly at those speeds, but you can’t maintain it for hours. Plus, moving at speeds that your body isn't designed for requires extra stamina. You need the stamina to propel yourself forward at speeds normally not achievable. Your speed stat isn't just movement speed, its all speed. You also need high durability and strength for your speed to shine, which luckily you have. You also have high stamina. However, just because you have those doesn’t mean you are able to fly at 4000 miles per hour 24 hours a day for weeks. Even if you could, and even if nothing would go wrong, you would barely make it with only a day left, and you would probably die anyway. The fact that a literal god has dropped us a bone in this way to power level to level 50 is more than a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

  I can’t help but nod at that. I slump down into the ground of the very nice bed provided to me. We are currently resting in a chamber of 2 beds nestled in the canopy of the great tree. The room is comfortable, though it feels more like a hotel then an actual accommodation for permanent living. Wait, I’ve never been in a hotel before… Why do I know what it’s like?

  “Do you trust Aftermath?” Snowstorm's question jolts me out of my thoughts and I turn to him.

  “Why wouldn’t I?” I ask, confused.

  “He’s given us so much, yet he hasn’t asked for anything in return. Also the fact he was looking for us specifically… it feels off. He isn't telling us something. He has literally told us to our faces that he isn’t telling us something.”

  “I think he has a reason for it. He may be using us for something, but I think he is the only chance we have. I feel like we haven’t been focused enough on saving darkness.” Its at this moment that someone enters from the hole into our room. We both turn and see Evelyn entering, looking exhausted.

  “You look like someone hit you with a car.” I comment. Evelyn swats my nose with her hand.

  “I don’t have the stats you do… that arena it so exhausting…” She flops down beside me on the bed. That reminds me of something.

  “I have 32 stat points here that might be of use to you.” I say, grinning.

  {Would you like to transfer 32 stat points? Loss=10%}

  Immediately Evelyn perks up.

  “Thanks so much.” She says with a smile.

  “Not like I can use them. I recommend dumping them all into stamina for now.”

  “For once, I second that.” Snowstorm says with a nod. “You need energy to keep the grind up, and it will let your mind stay sharp the whole time.”

  Evelyn nods, and with another 29 points in stamina, stands and stretches.

  “Do you have a room of your own?” I ask, curious.

  “No, they told me to bunk with you guys.” She says with a shrug.

  “Seems a little harsh.”Snowstorm comments.

  “No, its fine.” She says with a smile. Her face is doing that thing where it goes redder again. I can’t remember why it does that… it’s called blushing, right? It’s what people do when they’re cold. At least I think that’s what it is…

  “Are you cold? Your face is red.” I ask her, looking at her with concern.

  “Hm? Oh, n-no, it's nothing.” She chuckles. “I just don’t have a sweater, that's all.” I nod. Makes sense. “Oh, by the way, do either of you know what you’ll evolve into?” She asks curiously, sitting down on my bed beside me.

  “I couldn’t find anything.” Snowstorm grumbles, resting his head on a pillow. “It’s damned frustrating is what it is. All this intelligence for what?”

  “Stop being such a baby about it.” I form a small ball of mana in my hand, then try forming a layer of illusion mana around it. Now… it doesn’t work. I had wanted to make it invisible when I would throw it, but I guess I’m not there yet. I will be soon, or at least I hope. I settle for just lobbing the ball of mana at Snowstorm. It thunks against a wall of mana.

  “Cheater.” I grumble.

  “You guys make no sense to me.” Evelyn says with a sigh.

  “We act like most siblings I think.” I say with a shrug. My shrug almost knocks her off the bed, but she stabilizes herself and frowns at me.

  “I’ve not met many siblings my age, or anywhere near that actually. Usually I trained with people far older than myself.”

  “What did you train in, besides terrorizing children with mobile firearms?” Snowstorm asks with a smirk. This time he doesn't make a barrier in time, and a mana ball smacks him in the eye.

  After he stops yelping and makes an ice pack for himself, evelyn continues.

  “Well, mostly acrobatics, but also some basic fighting too. Though, my fighting style mainly leverages being able to take blows to deal heavier blows back, but that is only when fighting other humanoids. When fighting non-humanoids, I use agile movements and almost assassin-like techniques.”

  “Assassin. Cool.” I say with a nod.

  “Cool indeed.” Snowstorm says, still holding a chunk of magic ice over his eye. Evelyn fidgets in her spot, clearly enjoying the praise, but trying(badly) to be humble about it.

  “Well, I also took archery as hobby…” She says nervously.

  “Oh, thats interesting.” Snowstorm perks up. “I recommend leaning on that more than militaristic weapons. You can leverage your stats more with more medieval weapons then others. For example, even with a compound bow, which leverages higher technology, would have far more potential for power scaling with your level than, say, a railgun.” Evelyn nods sheepishly.

  “I know… it was only seen as a hobby, though, and using hot weapons like guns was seen s the norm, and my parents encouraged that more. Plus, usage of cold weaponry is frowned upon in Camica.”

  “Thats fair.” Snowstorm nods.

  “Tell you what, how about we ask Aftermath to hook you up with a bow?” I offer. “We can even get you working on mana bowmanship theory and application. Wouldn’t it be cool to make exploding arrows out of mana?” Evelyn chuckles at the idea and smiles up at me.

  “That… would be nice. Thanks Abhor.” She says sincerely.

  “Do you really think its a good idea to ask the literal god of destruction for favors?” Snowstorm says flatly.

  “Sure, what can go wrong?”

  <{(0)}>

  “Yeah, sure.” Says the literal god of destruction. I had to leave Evelyn and Snowstorm in our room to go ask Aftermath, since Evelyn passes out whenever she gets close to Aftermath for some reason. I left Snowstorm with her since I didn’t want to leave her alone.

  “It’s not a bad idea to train up individuals who might end up being useful to you. If you ever reach tier 4 or absorb sufficient divine energy at tier 3, you could even make her your paladin.”

  “My paladin?” I ask curiously. “Why would I do that?”

  “You know the benefits it gives both sides. I’m currently only 50 levels away from tier 5, though those levels may take thousands of years.” Aftermath tells me. “It’ll help you bypass karma bottlenecks, and it'll help her obtain a new path. Perhaps she might become a darkness archetype.”

  “That would be cool.” I say with a nod, flopping down onto a big pillow in the corner. It’s an aftermath sized pillow. To me it's a bean bag chair. Damn, I love bean bag chairs.

  I turn to see a familiar elf entering the room along with that variant dragon she was with.

  “Oh, hey Miria.” I say with a wave. I notice that the variant dragon has a pouch around her neck. She reaches in and pulls out a sleek metal bow carved with runes.

  “As lord Aftermath ordered.” The dragoness says, holding the bow out to me. I take it in my claws, looking over the little thing. It looks like the perfect size for Evelyn.

  “This is great! Thanks a lot!” I smile to the variant dragon who nods stoically, though her lips curl upwards a bit. Miria and the dragon both nod and turn to go.

  “No, no, stay, stay!” I insist with a grin. Aftermath, seeming to sense my playful mood, nods.

  “Yes, I would like you both to stay a while. Have some tea with us.” Both of them pale considerably. Oh, this is gonna be so fun.