I trusted Vella to lead the way. She had no trouble choosing the route on her own. It looked like she had gotten the same order from the Old Man as I did. Despite the incredible speed with which we were travelling, I let myself take my mind off the road. I just had to remember to hold on tight.

I had a few things to do. I could finally scroll through the logs with a clear conscience. I hadn’t done that for a very long time.

The message I began with wasn’t the most important one, but it was still pretty significant.

You have fallen under the effect of “Noriduel’s Aura.” You will receive 300 points of damage for every second spent within its range.

You have received 300 points of damage.

Remembering the fight, I realized that his Aura didn’t hurt me nor the Old Man while the three of us were fighting side by side, which was strange since Aerida’s Aura made both of us suffer. I thought that maybe Tael-Noriduel didn’t have an Aura, but it turned out that he did and that it even dealt the standard damage. However, thanks to the Small Avatar and its stat boost and bonuses, I didn’t feel any pain. And neither did the Old Man. The increased number of his Followers had positively affected his powers.

Taking my eyes off the logs, I glanced around. Vella was rushing along the empty road at full speed. A thick, deciduous forest was growing on both sides of the road. Everything seemed to be in order.

I resumed reading. Scrolling through the logs of the fight with the Mother, I felt like I was back on the streets of the desert city again; so strong was the memory of the fight.

When I got to the message about my victory, my lips stretched into a smile.

Level up!

Current level…

My level, of course, grew with each new line.

Due to the number of people that had died in the siege of Al-Harum, I wasn’t sure if using the word “lucky” would’ve been appropriate. But I really had gotten lucky. During the fight, I had used the Trident and the bonus strikes hit not only a small decayed beast, but also two of the Mothers, thus granting me twenty-five percent of XP for each. The reason for that was that the Old Man, Noriduel and Rugus had also attacked the same targets so the XP was equally divided between everyone. Though I was certain that their and my view of XP and its application were very different…

If the logs were correct, I had defeated one and a half level 500 monster, reached level 126 and maxed out my bond with my patron. I wondered if this pleased the Old Man. Was he glad? He couldn’t say that I was too weak and dodge my questions anymore.

For reaching level eighty I got plus fifty points to all stats; for level ninety I got plus sixty; for level hundred I got plus hundred; and then +125 and +150. I also received forty-eight stat points, half of which I spent on intelligence. The other half was spent on strength and vitality.

Level 126

Vitality: 959

Endurance: 753

Strength: 814

Agility: 860

Intelligence: 858

Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself! I liked the thought that even an ordinary strike of my trishula (without taking into account the enemy’s armor) would deal almost 900 points of damage.

Having 9,690 HP also pleased me.

And although I hadn’t spent my Everyday and Skill Points yet, of which I already had fifteen and thirty-one respectively, I already looked quite impressive. Despite that, I still felt a pang of fear. Horn was stronger and a higher level, but he still died. Small and weak decayed creatures were numerous and relentless. Their ability to merge into Warriors only gave us more trouble. I could easily defeat one of those in a one-on-one battle without the Wanderer or other powerful skills. Theoretically, of course. In reality, if I failed to dodge a couple of paralyzing Effects of the Decay, I’d be dead… Not to mention that it was practically impossible to meet a Warrior wandering on its own.

There were legions of the Decayed. There really were…

I frowned at the memory of the endless river of the creatures that hit us in Al-Harum. It would get only worse. I wished that we would unite Zurtarn as fast as possible. Whatever the Cradle of Gods was, it was our only chance of victory. Because no matter how strong you were, you couldn’t stand against a strong current on your own.

We passed by a cart, and moved to the side of the road at once. Vella didn’t pay attention to either the coachman or his thin horse. The horse neighed and its master looked up at the sky and started moving his lips.

I bent down to Vella’s ears. “Let’s go through the forest, honey,” I said. She woofed and rushed off the road into the underbrush, choosing a new route. It was safer this way. Who knew who the traveler’s God was? What if I attract their attention and they order their Followers to set up an ambush for me?

The forest wasn’t as nice as the road was. Branches kept smacking me in the face. Vella didn’t care about such inconveniences, and she continued running at full speed. I had never thought it possible to pick up such speed on such a rough terrain.

I bent low and almost hugged the dog’s back, deciding to trust her and her choices. I was sure that the Old Man would correct her route if he deemed it necessary. I also had other things to focus on.

“Upgrade Gloominess to level ten.”

Gloominess 10

Attention! Your personality is now in better harmony with your main “Element.” A new skill has been unlocked: “Clot of Darkness.”

Attention! You have reached the maximum level of “Gloominess.” One point of “Great Personality” has been generated. All your stats have been increased by 150.

Attention! Your personality is now in even better harmony with your main “Element.” A new skill has been unlocked: “Omnipresent Darkness.”

As expected, level ten of Personality Skills was the maximum one. There probably weren’t many people in this world that had upgraded at least one Personality Skill to level ten. First of all, you had to be level hundred, which in itself was an achievement. Secondly, people often leveled a bit of everything. Of course, they’d chose one main skill and pay more attention to it than to others, but they wouldn’t spend every Personality point they got on it. And thirdly, you had to not only reach level hundred and spend points on only one stat, but it also had to suit your character. You had to use only the Element that suited your personality. Only in that case would you get the maximum benefit of a Personality Skill.

I wondered how many people got that strange Great Personality point.

Studying the interface and asking for info about the mysterious Great Personality, I felt just like I did during my first days here. Everything was unclear again, and there were riddles everywhere. I was level 126 and I still had more questions than answers.

I chuckled and decided to drop my senseless searching. When the time comes, I’ll know what to do with this mysterious gift. This had happened many times. I currently had more important things to focus on.

I got two new skills. Let’s see what the world has rewarded me with.

Clot of Darkness

Level 1

Active skill

Cost: 1,500 mana

Activation time: 4 seconds (cannot be interrupted, possible to activate while moving)

Cooldown: 2 minutes

Range: 50 feet

Concentrated power of “Darkness” deals 200-2,000 points of random damage to all living beings not loyal to the “Darkness” that are within the range of the skill. The skill has 10% chance to trigger either “Horror” or “Tranquility” status effect, depending on the target’s loyalty to “Darkness.”

Cost to unlock: 8 skill points

What a powerful skill… It reminded me of the single-use weapon Tiara had given me and which I hadn’t used in Al-Harum. And even though the skill was much weaker, it could be used every two minutes. What I liked the most about it was that I could activate it while moving.

I stared at the tutorial GIF with great interest. Okay, I get it... Gather a black ball of energy in the left hand... Throw it, and BOOM! While you waited for the skill to be ready, you could run, jump and fight. The most important thing was not to use other skills.

Unlock the “Clot of Darkness.” I realized at once that I could now do what I had seen in the GIF.

If that was a level eight reward what would I get for the maximum one?

Without wasting time, I opened the description of the next skill.

Omnipresent Darkness

Level 1

Passive/Active skill

Cost: 0/1,000 mana

Activation time: none/5 seconds (cannot be interrupted, possible to activate while moving)

Cooldown: 0/4 hours

Range: unknown

You are completely filled with your “Element.” There is a very slight chance that all the living beings around you will fall under the influence of the “Darkness.” Those who are already connected with your “Element” have a chance to get a random skill bonus — temporary or permanent. Those who are loyal to the “Darkness” but are not connected with it yet can be converted, even if they worship another patron. Those who are not loyal to the “Darkness” risk losing their connection with their “Element.”

Activating the skill on purpose and aiming it at a specific target:

If the target is connected to your “Element” it will get only a temporary bonus and skills; If the target is not connected to your “Element” but is loyal to it, the chance to convert it significantly increases; If the target is not loyal to the “Darkness,” there is a 10-75 % chance that it will lose its connection with its “Element,” temporarily or permanently.

Cost to unlock: 10 skill points

After reading the wall of text I was, to put it mildly, flabbergasted. The skill was definitely awesome, even if the percentage wasn’t all that high and that the active version had a four hour long cooldown and a very low success rate. This was all fine because it was precisely the Followers of the God of Darkness who usually gathered around me. I had practically no Followers of other Gods in my barony. I could give somebody a new skill just by walking around my backyard.

Though, I was far away from home now. I wasn’t even with my army…

Yeah, it was funny. At the beginning of my adventure, I picked both my main Element and Gloominess because they were suitable for a loner, but both the Darkness and my Personality Skills helped my friends a lot. It was only among those like me and other Followers of the God of Darkness that I could unlock my full potential. It was a bit ironic. I never wanted to be a leader… Yes, I had transferred most of my duties to Kazimir, the majordomos, Erg, and even to Kane, but that was what a real leader does.

Personally, I’d like to travel with Vella and fight small groups of enemies. The fight with the Tree Frogs, after which I found the source of energy, was the one I liked the most. It was a hard one, but the memory of us two against twelve enemies was one of my favorite ones now. We won, none of my friends died, and I didn’t have to look after anybody. Good times…

But things don’t always go the way you planned. Sometimes you wanted a million gold coins, but got a hundred of copper ones instead. You should think hard, come to the right conclusions, and adapt your strategy accordingly. And then you’d do something different and get two million coins instead of one. That still might not be what you wanted, but it’d hardly make you disappointed.

I took a deep breath. “Upgrade Leadership by two,” I commanded aloud for some reason.

Leadership: 2

There were no other messages. No wonder. Gloominess was level three when I got its first skill.

Did I do the right thing upgrading this Personality Skill? I wanted to believe so. And although I had done well without it before, and although sometimes (like today) I travelled only with Vella, I was a baron and a leader of the Followers of the God of Darkness. I believed that quality was more important than quantity. A leader didn’t always have to direct his subordinates. Ideally, people should be willing to fulfill your orders themselves. It sounded like a fairy tale, but what if upgrading my new Personality Skill would bring me a step closer to that?