Chapter 53

Secrets of the Stone

Sylas stared queerly at the empty air in front of him—well, it was empty to everyone else, to him, it was not. There was a window floating about, not unlike others he’d seen before, informing him of a quest. The quest itself notwithstanding, the reward for it was… beyond tempting.

You have discovered a new quest: A Kingdom’s Fate

Content: uncover the secret behind the Shadows and their goals.

Reward: any body and magical improvements will persist through 1 (first) death

Though he would have liked if he had a choice of which death he could persist the changes through, even this much was already game-changing. His greatest drawback, at the moment, was the fact that his body reset with each loop, meaning he could only do so much when it came to swordsmanship, the one skill that he could feasibly improve to greater lengths.

What the quest now demanded, however, was that he spend every loop until the quest’s done pushing his body to the limit and beyond. Since he couldn’t exactly know in which loop he’d finally get to learn the goals of the phantom in the mirror, and since there was over ninety-nine percent chance he’ll die each and every time in that room, he had that single month to break and build his body as much as possible so that it persists through to the next loop.

Sighing, he smiled bitterly—he'd now have to stop taking things in stride and actively work as much as possible. However, he liked the possibility; it was as though the 'system' heard his inside grumbling over his body and offered him an opportunity—sure, it was a one-time opportunity, but an opportunity nonetheless. This also meant that he'd have to mostly forgo learning anything more about the talismans and focus exclusively on his swordsmanship and harnessing magic, as even that would persist. Though the latter won't have nearly as much impact, it was still better than nothing.

He didn’t dilly-dally. Putting everything else at the back of his mind, he religiously devoted himself to training the sword and magic for the next month—until the day of the invasion arrived. Following the clash, he, once again, followed Dyn out and to the small hole in the ground, eventually squeezing a few extra motes of knowledge from him—such as the fact that the ‘Shadows’ had a base of operations down the southern road, beyond the forest. After that, he sent the young man off and, once more, faced the phantom in the wall.

“Who are you?” the voice cracked inside his mind.

“What’s the end goal here?” he tried going to the core of the issue immediately. “World domination? World destruction? You guys are trying to herald in something beyond evil, so I’m just trying to figure out what’s the point.”

“… ah, the fake messiah,” the phantom crackled. “Did you kill my servant?”

“No,” Sylas shook his head. “Now it’s your turn.”

“… end goal? Our end goal is beyond your tiny brain’s comprehension—”

“Try me.”

“You are lost, little lamb,” the phantom said. “Allow me to send you your merry way.”

You have died.

Save point ‘Ignorant Awakening’ has been initialized.

Ah, dammit, Sylas grumbled inwardly, having returned back to the forest, his body once again back to the same state. Sighing, he steeled his mind and went ahead with the same regime—breaking and building his body, training his magic, eventually winding up in the same hole in the ground, facing the same mirror and the same phantom within.

“Who are you?”

“Who are Van’ashi?” Sylas asked.

“… hoh? The fake messiah is aware of the word? Not one to be uttered lightly, little lamb,” the phantom crackled.

“Educate me, then,” Sylas forced a smile.

“… your ignorance is astounding. Unbound. It is impossible for you to comprehend.”

“Are they the peninsula’s predecessors? The empire who existed here before the Kingdoms?”

“Oh? Not as ignorant as he appears,” the phantom mocked. “Alas, still very, very, very, very wrong. Sinfully wrong, in fact. Van’ashi… who they are is irrelevant to what we want, o’ fake messiah. But they shall have their vengeance. Starting with you, for desecrating their name.”

You have died.

Save point ‘Ignorant Awakening’ has been initialized.

Sylas ground his teeth for a moment before taking a deep breath, calming himself down. Another month down the drain. No biggie, he reassured himself. It’s just a month. I’ve wasted plenty of months back on Earth. Like that February I spent crying like a bitch since Cass broke up with me. God, even remembering is making my soul cringe…

Another month of the routines—build and break the body, training the magic, occasionally get black-out drunk to have a proper night’s rest without waking up in the middle of it, inevitably leading to the invasion and his following of Dyn into the hole in the ground, facing the phantom in the mirror yet again.

“Who are you?” the phantom asked, as it always does. Let’s try a different approach.

“A messenger, if you will,” Sylas cracked a faint smile. “From the Revered and the Holy.”

“…” Ah, that got him? At least now I know the starting option…

“You seem interested,” Sylas said.

“Fake messiah claims he carries words from the Holy—no, I am not interested. I am infuriated.”

“They shall return,” Sylas quickly said fearing he might be killed off immediately. “And have their vengeance upon those who Condemned them. I may not speak to the Gods as the Prince believes, but… I have heard His voice—those chains that bind him… they shall crumble and fall. And He shall return once more,” for the most part, in fact, Sylas was talking out of his ass—he had no clue whether the figure in the sky was even the one connected to the ‘Shadows’, nor if they revered him in any capacity, or even if those chains were binding him. However, he had to take one blind shot after another until inevitably hitting his target.

“… you… you have truly spoken to him. Why… why did he elect you? Haah,” though the voice lacked the reverence Sylas expected, it was still better than nothing. He was getting somewhere, at least, rather than just being told he was a moron and killed off. “Nevertheless… what do you want? He only sends messengers when he needs something.” Sylas paused, confused. By now, he was 99% certain that the figure he was talking about… was not the figure the phantom was envisioning. In fact, the two were likely not even remotely related. S-should… should I have mentioned a well? No, wait, who the fuck is he talking about? And, more importantly, what the fuck do I even say here?!

“…”

“Well? What is it?”

“He… He’s tasked me with, uh, inspecting your plan,” Sylas, once again, shot a completely blind shot and, since his luck seemed to have finally turned about, he hit something.

“Haah, he truly is paranoid with his artifacts,” the phantom sighed while Sylas stiffened his elation, happier than ever that he could bullshit a cow to believe it’s a sheep. “The plan has remained unchanged, even after the numerous times he’s already inquired. We’ve already gained enough influence in four of the surrounding Kingdoms—similarly, nine out of eleven Stones are in our possession. Acquiring the remaining two is just a matter of time. We have chanced in testing a Shard as he suggested, but as my servant whom you’ve likely killed is the one who has it, now it’s in your possession and you can do with it what you wish. Though, as I mentioned before, the Shard is barren—empty. The hollow legend that the Ancients stored their Treasures into the Shards is just that—a legend. No truth to it whatsoever.

“Beyond that, inform him that we have made quite a funny discovery—the very Prince that he’d sworn he had killed… is very much alive and breathing. Are you his assurance? Why did he keep the Prince alive? He should know that the boy is one of the few things that could completely disrupt our plans.”

“… he has his reasons,” Sylas, once again, tossed out a line, and luckily it seemed to be in line with what ‘he would have done’. Apparently.

“Of course,” the phantom scoffed. “If he’s after the String… tell him to stop. It’s a Soulful Bind. Ripping it out will kill the Prince and ruin the String. It was simply not his place to have it. The Heavens hardly ever grant us everything. Besides that, we have hit some delays on our end—because of you, specifically. Why did you stop the castle from falling? Did he have a change of heart?”

“No,” Sylas said. “My personal reasons. He agreed… reluctantly.”

“Will it interfere with our plans any further?”

“No,” Sylas said once again, having absolutely no idea what he was saying no to.

“Good. We shall move on to executing the next phase. I have already sent my Sons into Agunia. If the Old Writs are correct, the Well should open somewhere around this time. Upon confirmation, we will immediately move on to acquiring the remaining two stones and completing the Circle. As you’ve seen yourself, centuries of experimentation on a small scale have confirmed the Circle’s capabilities. The latest strike was also the last test—everything went without a hitch. We had absolute control over the general movement, just as the Hidden Records mentioned. If that is all?”

“… ah, yes,” Sylas replied instinctively. “G-good. Stick to the plan. The plan is good.”

“Right… you should return to the castle,” the phantom said. “My servant’s mental faculties are… questionable after the Transformation. He informed me of his plan to explode the castle, once more. Despite having said no, from his looks, it didn’t appear as though he’d back off. We shall keep in touch, I suppose.”

“…” the phantom was gone, as was Sylas’ brain. Once again, his head hurt. It hurt badly. So much information, some of which aligned with what he suspected, and some of which didn’t… Haah, I need to pen this down all once again…

Congratulations on completing the quest, ‘A Kingdom’s Fate’

Your reward: your current body and magical improvements will carry through your next death.

It only now dawned on Sylas that he, in fact, didn’t die—though he didn’t care for that, what he did care for was the fact that he could continue improving his body. Motivation rekindled, he decided he’d avoid death and dying for as long as possible to improve his body exclusively. Alright, putting the story aside for now… let’s get jacked, baby.