Divine signature detected...

Unknown divine entity has made contact with player Dante A. Stone...

Identifying entity...

Entity has been identified as Anansi the spider...

Calculating threat assessment...

Entities level calculated to be 361...

Divine entity has manifested...

Entity has made contact with several players...

Entity level increased to be 362...

Anansi has been determined to be amassing followers from among newly uplifted beings...

Due to the nature of the entity, threat is determined to be low...

Entity has released manifestation…

Traces of Divine energy have been bestowed upon player Dante A. Stone...

Report issued to higher authority...

Order's received…

Begin monitoring of all detected entities of Divine nature...

Awaiting outcome of issued Divine quest...

-----------------------------

“Did anyone else scan the spider?” James asked as he looked to everyone else.

Everyone seemed to respond in the affirmative leaving Dante the odd man out.

Dante frowned as he spoke, "I didn't think about that. Kinda got lost in the moment. Too bad for me I guess."

"Well I was hoping you had managed to scan him because he resisted my skill. Guess we won't know if yours would have worked." James said.

Dante sighed as he thought of how many levels the skill would have gained for scanning a divine being. "Well let me get back to walking my roads then we can go head towards the middle of the dungeon and kill the boss for that quest. What do you guys want to do afterwards by the way?" Dante said.

Califa decided it was time to step in. "Let's just go back to town after this is over." She said while looking to everyone else for support, which she received.

"Fine by me. What do you think James?" Dante asked.

"I think it's a great idea. A hot shower and a nice bed sounds pretty good right now." He responded.

Dante nodded as it was decided. A moment later he returned his attention back to his roads and tried to decide which to walk as he returned to sitting beneath the tree.

Leaving out every option that was 100 points or more, it left him with several options. The Road of Light II, Road of Dungeon Exploration I, Road of Radiance I, Road of the Psion I, Road of Water III, Road of the Tireless I, Road of the Apprentice, Road of Blood II, and the Road of the Unyielding Will.

He immediately dropped the Road of the Psion I from the running. ‘Even if I invest all my Rp into this and then everything into INT, I probably won't be able to do shit to the boss of this place with it. So, that's out.' Dante thought.

'Road of Light II has a similar issue so i'll set that one aside for now. Road of Dungeon Exploration I seemed like it would be good here so keep that one. Road of Radiance I, that may give me a boost to my healing spells and health resources, maybe mana resources as well. So I'll hold onto that option. Road of Water III...Yeah I'll just set that one aside. Road of the Tireless I? Definitely in the running. Road of the Unyielding Will, similar issues to the psion road, so, pass. Blood II and Apprentice? Seeing as I have no idea what the apprentice one will do, I'll set it aside. That leaves the Road of Blood II.'

'Narrowed down to Road of Dungeon Exploration I, Road of Blood II, Road of Radiance I, Road of the Tireless I. Four roads but I can only complete two.' Dante pondered for a long moment on what could happen. What would be the best choice?'

'Dungeon exploration sounds good but I'm not certain what it would give me. It's not a gamble I'm willing to take at the moment so you're out. Road of Radiance I, It will probably improve my ability to heal others and boost my health resources so that's good. Road of Blood II just probably boosts my health and mana resources so that's good. Tireless? My stamina is falling behind my… mana. I may need to let mana slip back for a while till I get my health and stamina pools up. Then again I can convert between them so it's not too big a problem at the moment. Anyway, I need to try and help them.' Dante thought as he looked to everyone else.

In the end he decided upon the Road of Radiance I and the Road of Blood II.

50 points went into the Road of Radiance I.

You're my first child upon this new world. Through you my name has and will spread. +2 Luck, +3 Cha...

As your might grows, so too does my ability to aid you. +5 Spirit...

You spark and rekindle the fire of life so that the world may be all the better for it. +3 Wis, +2 Spirit...

I shall be with you for all of your many years. +3 Con, +2 End...

Our time is all but up it seems. May the blessings of Life be upon you Dante. +100 to all resource pools, +5 to all regens...

Congratulations! You have completed the Road of Radiance! +10% to caster level for the casting/use of healing spells/skills, and buff spells/skills...

As the messages came he heard Rosana's voice in his mind speaking those words, minus the stat stuff after each line. He felt warmth like his mother’s embrace. He felt something within him shift and change, building up, to what he didn’t know.

When the final message was seen he blinked only to find himself standing in a black place seemingly lit by an ever present and yet unseen source. Looking around Dante could find nothing. The ground beneath him was smooth as glass and black as night. For a moment he was concerned before he noticed one source of light. Looking down upon his hands he saw they were covered in light, no. They were light. From the darkness he felt a familiar feeling. A desire for something from him, something spoke. He smiled. He knew the answer for what he had already been told.

"May the blessings of Life be upon you!" he exclaimed as he spread forth his arms, like a preacher giving an impassioned sermon. No sooner had he finished did he feel the building energy reach its climax. Vibrant light of many colors poured forth from him. He watched the smooth black ground beneath his feet and for several feet around him give way to rich brown earth. The soil was soft beneath his bare feet.

'Bare feet?' He pondered for a moment before choosing to simply accept he didn't have anything to cover his feet here since there probably wasn't much he could do about it.

A moment passed but nothing further happened. He noticed that the eruption of light had stopped several feet from him. Both the soft soil and the light stopped at the same point several feet from him.

He reached up trying to touch the edge of the barrier only to find a small ash colored twig in his hand. There were several green leaves of varying sizes and the buds of what could be flowers. The twig was no longer than a #2 pencil and about the same size around.

Dante laughed, "I see where this is going." he said as he knelt down and dug a small hole for the ashen twig.

Holding out his hands he summoned the pool of sacrifice and poured a bit of its multicolored contents out onto the ground.

Greedily the soil swallowed the liquid and after a few seconds later multi colored grass began to grow up around the twig.

The process brought him joy and so he held the bowl aloft with telekinesis and then began scooping out small bits of the contents and sprinkling it across the ground.

Everywhere a drip touched grass grew up from and around that spot.

After a moment every inch of soil was covered by the grass.

Its reign upon this land only interrupted by that one small ashen twig.

Dante knelt once more cupping his hand beneath one of the twigs leaves. He felt something within himself connect to the plant. He felt fear, shock and uncertainty from this small twig.

Life Sense has leveled up! Lvl. 4...

He simply smiled as he began to sing a bit of one of his favorite songs, Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas. "Carry on my wayward son...There'll be peace when you are done...Lay your weary head to rest...Don't you cry no more..." Though he wasn't a very good singer he more let the emotions of the song drift off of him.

As he sang the emotions he felt from the small twig began to change. Its fear became hope. Its shock slowly faded like a breath finally exhaled. Last but not least its uncertainty became content, for it knew it was safe here. Dante brought down the bowl and poured a little more around the base of the twig to which it now responded.

The ground greedily drank the fluid and saw the small twig slowly, but perceivably growing.

Horticulture has leveled up! Lvl. 6...

Farming has leveled up! Lvl. 4...

Dante smiled at the notices as he dismissed the bowl, "Must have gotten 2 levels in farming from making all those seeds. Guess I missed that." He said before a new notice arrived.

The skills Life Sense, Farming, Horticulture, and Seed Creation wish to merge. Will you allow it?...

"What could this become I wonder?" Dante scrutinized the notice for a minute before deciding he wouldn't be losing too much if this didn't turn out well. 'I still won't be happy if I get something shitty.' He thought as he said, "Yes, I will allow it." He felt the process begin but a sudden lethargy washed over him.

He blinked and when he opened his eyes the world had changed around him. He stood as he found himself at the base of a small grassy hill upon which he could see a familiar tree. The sky was cloudy and beyond the tree he could see his tower of Babel reaching hundreds of feet up. "We're in my soul space? Nice." Dante said as he smiled and looked down upon the small growing sapling. Dante watched in awe as the beautiful multicolored grass began to slowly spread outward converting every blade of grass along the way.

He chuckled, "It's like watching grass grow in Minecraft just faster and less blocky." He took a few steps back and felt something strange beneath his feet. Looking down he saw that the grass surrounding him was slowly changing colors. Looking over to the colorful grass several feet away he wondered why it was changing beneath him.

Stepping back and stopping several times yielded the same results. "What the fuck is going on, and what happened those skills merging?" he questioned as he finally took notice of his mana bar. The familiar blue bar now was multicolored just like his own mana, but what puzzled him was that it seemed to have been radically depleted. It seemed as if there was only about 15% left though it would be back up to full in about 20 minutes.

Or so he thought.

Then he felt a bit of rain hit his head. He looked up and finally acknowledged the dark grey clouds hanging low. Then another drop hit him, and another. Several seconds passed and it was raining. However, it wasn't water. As he looked down upon his hands he saw that what was raining down was the same multicolored fluid he found in his pool of sacrifice.

The water's of life grace the earth...

Pool of Sacrifice has leveled up! Lvl. 8...

He looked up once more as it dawned on him. "So that's where all that mana went." He said as a particularly large drop hit him in the right eye. The rain was beginning to really pick up now. In fact it seemed that the amount of and force from the rain seemed to be growing by the second.

He rubbed his eye. Curious he summoned his bowl once more only to find it empty, and though the rain pounded down upon him, the bowl would not fill. Dante turned to the tree on the hill but before he stepped any farther from the small sapling he turned back and spoke with authority, "I believe in you. Be strong and you will weather this storm." Again he felt a connection between him and this small sapling. He felt that there was much more to this rain than was immediately obvious.

After allowing his eyes to linger upon the sapling for a moment he moved to take cover from the rain beneath the tree on the hill. Dante turned back to see every blade of grass was multicolored now. He looked to the left, the right and on the opposite side of the tree but the story was the same no matter where he looked. All that grass had changed colors.

The rain continued to pour harder and harder until his mana bottomed out at which point the rain lightened but did not stop. He didn't understand what was going on. "Why is my own mana raining down? What happened to those skills that were merging." Dante said as a bit of panic began to worm its way into his heart.

For a moment he considered trying to leave and let the pieces fall where they may, "Then again that isn't my style. I don't want to leave until this is done."

Congratulations! Burning Heart has leveled up! Lvl. 16...

Error...

Divine influence detected!...

Congratulations! You have gained a level in the Druid class!...

Your Domains are Life and Blood!...

You have gained access to druid spells…

The Road of Druidcraft opens to you...

Congratulations! Due to outside influence you have met the requirements for these skills to merge…

Divine influence detected!...

The skills Life Sense, Farming, Horticulture, and Seed Creation have merged to become the Rare, semi active skill, Rains of Life Lvl. 1...

Congratulations! Due to an over abundance of resources, merging of skills has completed successfully.

The rank of the resulting skill has been raised to Very Rare!...

Rains of Life- Create a cloud that rains the water of life. These rains are sourced from your own resource pools. Consumes 100 Health, Mana, and Stamina every minute. Amount spent may exceed the base value but may not be less.

All creatures and plants touched by the rains receive a portion of the skill’s running cost added to their own resource pools every minute so long as they remain in the rain. Once the rains end or the effected creature leavs the area of effect the effect remains on said creatures fading over a number of minutes equal to skill level.

Plants may undergo permanent changes. Effect may exceed creatures maximum for each resource by caster level x 10 points. Area of effect increases with skill level. Portions of effect may become permanent to affected creatures after prolonged exposure. Severe temporary increases to creature resource pools may result in negative side effects. Likelihood of these events occurring increases with skill and caster level.

Dante felt as that beautiful door opened once more and light poured thought. Dozens of new spells filled his mind. He had only gained access to some of the level 1 and 2 druid spells but he could buy some more of them later.

--------------------------

Dante closed his eyes and took a breath, when he opened them again he was once more beneath the tree with the rest of the legion. However some things had changed. One there was a cloud hanging over the tree and raining gently. Two, the grass had become multicolored just like the grass in his soul space. Three, everyone was either looking at him or up to the strange gray cloud and its colorful rain that was hovering above the tree.

"New skill?" James asked with a raised eyebrow and an amused tone.

"Yeah that was certainly an interesting experience. It's a skill that siphons off my Health, Mana, and Stamina to create the "Water's of Life". Dante said, making quotes with his fingers for that last bit.

"Sounds interesting, what does it do? Heal things or something like that? How much does it cost per minute?" James asked

"100 Health, Mana, and Stamina per minute." After giving them the description of the skill and a bit of discussion everyone was either looking at him, the cloud/rain, or the grass.

"I like what it does to the grass." James said with a smile.

"Yeah. Me too." Dante said with a smile of his own.

He decided to cut the skill to let his mana pool regenerate. "Fuck that was a lot of Experience. Some points to help get my mana regeneration up sounds like it may be a good idea.” Dante thought as he put the 50 points needed into the Road of Blood II.