“You have done well. It looks like we did not make a mistake setting our sights on you after all.” Loki said.

Then what turned out to be one of the biggest trolls played on us on a Breadtalk-ish level was explained to us.

The first quest the 4 of us ever embarked on had been rigged right from the start. Loki posing as Elena at the Boar's Head to give us a special quest which was unattainable unless he gave it.

The forbidden forest usually had wolves, snakes, apes as monsters which made it an even more suitable place for the quest. Jörmungandr and Fenrir had complete control over their bethren so they could make them a bit stronger as well as adjust the difficulty of the quest such that it was a build up to the eventual castle fight. The castle was an abandoned castle in the forest which used to belong to a vampire lord but he moved out to some city called Morata or something.

As such, Fenrir asked one of his higher level alpha wolves, Renfir, to reside in the castle to temporarily take over custody of the castle and protect it, for their fight. Skeletal soldiers were all provided by Hel as she ruled the underworld and had way too many skeletal soldiers at her beck and call. Things were also starting to get a little crowded in the underworld according to her so she was happy to send a few thousand of them to the castle for them to get exterminated. She was also the one who gave Renfir the blood red aura skill, Unholy Rage. If any of those attacks had hit us head on.... Well the result would have been decided there and then. Jörmungandr was the other sunnavabitch who gave Renfir the regeneration buff because he was an Ouroboros. An Ouroboros was a type of creature which had affinity with cyclicality. Otherwise known as self-reflexivity or eternal return. The regeneration buff Jörmungandr gave Renfir was one that signified that. Unlimited self renewal unless we could deal with the buff.

As such, the whole story of how we had been playing into Loki's hands right from the start was explained to us. However of course we had questions of our own.

“Why did you give us such a quest?” I asked.

“We wanted to test your worth. Whether 4 new characters would be able to accomplish this quest which would be hard for 4 people even if they started off at level 100. You started at level 1. And you did it. This is all we wanted to know. This was the condition we gave ourselves. If you succeeded in this quest, we would give you the next quest which is a much bigger and harder quest. And of course all good things come in threes. My quest is also a trilogy. First is the trial which you all have passed already. The next quest will be the build up which is hard. Not in the battle way which you all have experienced but in many other aspects. The last one will of course be the climax. You will be guided of course and trust me you stand to gain a lot from this.”

“Jörmungandr, Fenrir and Hel each gave Renfir certain buffs for him to become stronger. Which buff did you give it?” asked Breadtalk.

“His ability to make rhymes.” Loki simply said.

Breadtalk had to excuse himself for a few minutes to laugh and when he came back, he could only kneel before Loki and say “No wonder you're a god. You will always be my master. It was the best buff anyone could give a monster.”

Like master like disciple indeed.

“So are we gonna get the second part of the quest?” Soup asked.

“Yes. You all deserved it. Quite well might I add. All of you had an indispensable part to play in the fight. Soup of course had to fight in the front lines versus a monster which could quite possibly knock him out in one hit. He needed unyielding courage and balls to do what he did. Jinx then had to act as a support, damage dealer and healer accordingly. He had to do so many jobs due to the versatile nature of his job and he flawlessly executed his role. He prioritised healing, defence and damage at the correct timings which need much insight. Beathoven of course had to remain alert of his positioning as he is a feeble bard but providing insane amount of support and of course with his new skill, Reunion, was what unlocked your comeback to victory. Without that skill you all would have been ripped to shreads once Renfir started becoming serious. Breadtalk of course was doing what he does best. A complete retard who then unlocked his true potential, wielding my kickass bazooka and doing truckloads of damage to Renfir which of course would be utter suicide without the divine shield discovered by Jinx. It was an epic display of teamwork which was of course entertaining to watch but must've been hell to be a part of.” Loki said.

“As such, you all deserve to know what is awaiting you all if you choose to accept my next quest for you. However, to understand the rationale for the quest, I will first have to explain to you my predicament. As you all know, I am Loki, god of tricksters and currently held captive. Me and the gods don't exactly share a hostile relationship because I help them in general but put them at one end of my pranks as well. Alas due to a prank went a bit too far, I accidentally killed a god named Baldr. The gods overreacted and decided to imprison me for life just cos I accidentally killed a bald god. Fuck those bitches. Oh well whats worse is they put a serpent over my head which drips poison on me without stopping. The only thing stopping that is my wife Sigyn who is here with me collecting the poison with a bowl but once the bowl becomes full, she has to empty it and in that split second, the venom drops onto my head and I yell and writhe around, causing earthquakes and thunder in the surrounding mountain ranges of Jötunheimr. I am sick of waiting for nothing and venom dripping on me.”

“Ages ago a prophecy was made by a famous prophet. It became widely known across the whole continent. The name of that prophecy was Ragnarök. My powers as a god were unpredictable. Everyone knew that. No one doubted the prophecy because I was an enigma, an erratic, unexplainable fool. However I just like joking around in nature. I would never upset the whole balance of the gods realm to the extent where gods drop dead one after another. However after about 500 years of this sedentary lifestyle with my wife collecting venom and me stoning here, I don't have much of a choice. I would gladly wage a war on all my compatriots than be stuck here, forgotten by the gods. I know nothing good will come out of this. But one of the things I hate the most is boredom and staying like this for the rest of my life is not an option.”

“In order to fufill the prophecy and do something with this life of mine, I need the help of a few heroes. In Ragnarök, me and my children need to be set free in order to play very specific and important roles. However, our powers are extremely limited now as most of us are confined to our places we currently reside in and we cannot raise an army as we are conserving our powers. We already used a considerable amount in crafting this elaborate quest for you all to test your mettle. Thank god it has not come to waste. Now you know about Ragnarök and the plan. Now let me tell you more about your roles should you choose to participate in this event that will shake the very foundation of this world and the future it follows.”

“Fenrir my son is currently enclosed in a fetter called Gleipnir deep in the Northern lands. Gleipnir is made of 6 mythical ingredients, crafted by only the finest of dwarvern smiths. It is impossible for him to break free from Glepinir himself. You need to free him in the future first as the trigger for Ragnarök to happen. Fenrir will be the first step in what happens during the series of events."

“Jörmungandr is currently swimming in the waters which connect every single ocean and sea. The god Thor has been asked to safeguard Jörmungandr in particular, making sure he does not come out of the waters. In Ragnarök, Jörmungandr will rise from the ocean to the skies in order to wage war along with Fenrir. After rescuing Fenrir, you all need to make your way to assist Jörmungandr to come out from the waters before Thor can electrify and bash his head in with his almighty hammer and control of the skies.”

“Hel is now the caretaker of Niflheim and the underworld of the nine realms. Thus, Hel will not need to be rescued or anything like that and she will be the provider of our main army in the upcoming battle. She is given much freedom as she played a major part in trying to resurrect the god Baldr which I killed. She will be able to teleport into the battle to join us immediately so she is the least of my worries. So in order for Ragnarök to occur, you will need to free three gods in this exact order. Fenrir, Jörmungandr and finally, me.”

We could hardly believe our ears. We were listening to a plan to start a war on a divine scale. A war between gods. And we would be the ones pioneering the war. We had to be the spark to ignite a whole forest fire. Furthermore it was without a doubt that the quest difficulty would be at least an A class quest, maybe perhaps an S class quest. We wanted a legacy. Well, starting Ragnarök wouldn't just be any legacy. It would be history which changed RR forever.

“Well before all that can happen though, you all need to grow stronger. Much stronger than you already are. In order to free Fenrir, you will have to be strong enough to travel to the northern lands of Lyngvi and fight against the Æsir which were the personal army of the gods. I also don't expect you to fight 4 v 100000 or something. We will have our own army to fight this war and this is where the second stage of the quest comes into play.”

“After rescuing Fenrir you all have to get Jörmungandr out of the water as well and it might involve directly fighting with the god Thor. Even though you all might get assistance from Fenrir by then, fighting a god is no easy task I tell you. Just fighting a mere beast with two buffs from a god almost killed you all already so I no need to remind you how tough this will be.”

“Lastly, rescuing me will be the trickiest part of all but if you can pull that off, most of the fight would be won. No one knows the extent of my strength yet. Everyone knows the insane capabilities of Odin and Freya but I am at least as famous as them and no one has ever seen me fight seriously before. If you all can free me, I will be honoured to show you the extent of my strength.”

“I have made this quest objective and time based because I have come up with a timeline that takes into consideration time needed for preparation as well as strength recovery for us to be able to use our powers to both train you and recover enough to free ourselves and fight the moment you all come to free us. This is why this castle has been given to you.”

“This castle is called Éljúðnir castle to resemble the “Great Halls” Hel has in Niflheim. This will be your headquarters where you will raise an elite army comprising of wolves, undead, snakes as well as some of my followers which I have personally handpicked from the pool of followers I have all over the world. Most of them of course will be stronger than you are now but I don't choose based on levels or strength. I chose based on potential which you all have proved to have. Thus, the second quest will be this. You all have to build up Éljúðnir castle on your own, establish a working economy and army and turn this forbidden forest into a city. A kingdom. This will help you all grow in strength. The gods might suspect you all after maybe about a year or two after they see the huge growth in a certain town. However by then it will be too late. The four of us will give direct tutelage to the four of you in the meantime personally to train you all up to the next level as well. The basic requirements of the quest will be this. Transform Éljúðnir castle into a kingdom within the next 3 years and reach level 300 by then. This is not an easy task. To do one or the other in 3 years should be simple enough but to do both, this is what we require of you.”

Quest Received : Building up a Kingdom, Getting Stronger

Loki has explained to you the situation he is in. You all have to build up Éljúðnir castle into a kingdom and reach level 300 in 3 years time.

Pre-requisite : Finish the first quest Loki gave you.

Quest Difficulty : B

Rewards : ???

Will you accept?

Yes | No

“Guys? What do you think about this?”

“Are you kidding? 3 years in game time thats like three quarters of a year in real world time. 9 months and we become like RR celebrities. And by the end of this quest we'll be like what? Level 500? Say yes please.”

“I'm gonna be a level 500 bard who can't even kill a level 10 pig on his own. COME ON LETS GOOOOO.”

“All of us are raring to go,

All of us will be so pro.

All of us are going to own,

But first I need an ice cream cone.”

“EVEN RENFIR HAS SHUT UP CAN YOU SHUT UP TOO?”

Only Loki was busy laughing his ass off at that and what can we say? Like master, like disciple indeed.

“Alright Loki we've come to a decision. Yes. Count us in.”

“Splendid! Alright for now we will use our remaining strength to train you first since we have already materialized ourselves here. We have each already chosen one of you to tutelage because each of you has quite a clear teacher to be matched with you based on your styles to be honest and it is going to be extremely clear who is going to be paired with who. Of course I will take my disciple. Lets take this corner of the room. We shall begin our first training session as master and disciple.”

“Soup, you are with me.” Fenrir said in an extremely deep and commanding tone. Soup's face could literally be seen shining. It was no doubt he wanted to be tutored under the most famous and ferocious mythical wolf there will ever be. “We'll take this corner.”

“Beathoven, I have been watching attentively. You know if I had a class, it would be a bard as well. I play music in my humble abode in the Great Halls. I could teach you a thing or two about melodies. They are definitely music worth dying for.” Hel whispered in a soft yet high pitched soothing tone. I was wondering if the pun was intended when I realised my master was decided.

“So.. I guess you are going to be my master then. I said while following the immense head to the last corner of the room.”

“Indeed I am. Nice to meet you. All gods have the same skill as you, mana manipulation and it's going to be tougher and tougher on you because of your role in this party.” Jörmungandr said.

“I am generally a nice teacher but I'm afraid I won't have time to be nice and patient to you. Your element affinities are greatly lacking compared to the gods and without a doubt, I will need to drill the basics on how to level up your mana manipulation even faster with a few exercises. Firstly, I'm going to teach you my favourite type of magic, poison magic.”

I learnt from Jörmungandr that poison which isn't one of the 9 main elements of magic could be derived by combining darkness and water magic and optionally, earth magic as well. I learnt that there were various types of magic that could only be gotten when combined. Lava, Storm, Explosive, Sand, Immolation, the possibilities were endless by mixing the magic types. However, most gods still specialised in a few because elemental affinity is really important when learning the high level skills. Jörmungandr was a god specialising in poison so he let me experience his poison spells first hand. They were so godly that even when he casted a few of his lowest tier spells, they took about 200 HP per second off me. I couldn't even dispel the poison using my dispel skill until maybe my sixth or seventh try. If he cast his best poison spells on me I wouldn't be surprised if I just died without knowing what hit me.

He exposed me to such high purity darkness and water magic levels that both my water and darkness affinities went up by 5% in no time. He also taught me mana manipulation exercises that were mentally exhausting and draining. He made me cast a mini waterfall in my left hand using water magic and a dark whirpool in my right hand. It's essentially the same as writing chinese words with my left hand and english words in my right. At first I could barely even use the magic spells. After about 10 minutes I was able to hold the spells but in the wrong shapes. Only after 30 minutes was I able to hold both spells simultaneously in their respective shape. However, Jörmungandr told me to reverse the spin on the dark whirpool and slow down the waterfall speed and both spells immediately went haywire again.

He explained to me that the ability to keep two or more completely different and specific thoughts were extremely useful in mana manipulation. I could cast two entirely different spells instantly which could only be done with practice. I have casted many spells instantly before like my heals on the whole party simultaneously which felt awesome but it was possible only because it was the same spell. If I had to cast dispel on Soup, heal on Breadtalk and maybe swift steps on myself instantly, I knew there and then that none of the three spells would even be casted. This was what Jörmungandr was talking about. I could see how useful it was in a fight. I could cast all sorts of spell simultaneously and it might even combo well with certain spells. I could literally cast divine shield on the person getting attacked, cast attacking support buffs on the damage dealers, heal any injured person and deal damage to the monster all at the same time. However for now casting two spells at a time was already a challenge and I was getting a nosebleed. Three or four would have to wait for now.

Jörmungandr gave me one last training session before he needed to go because his power reserves was running out. Jörmungandr was an Ouroboros. As mentioned earlier before, an ouroboros represents cyclicality and it was an aspect which could be very useful in battle. Certain attributes linked to self-renewal were things such as the pheonix's ability to revive, regeneration in battles, it was equivalent to infinity and as such, there were a few things that resembled that in Jörmungandr's arsenal of weapons. His poisons would last forever until they were dispelled. Jörmungandr also had insane regeneration levels which would be very useful for me as my mana regeneration and mana pool ultimately defines my usefulness in battle. Also, his ability to shed skin and negate all negative debuffs was also another flawless example of how a self sustaining cycle helps maintain the integrity of his strength. Jörmungandr immediately decided to teach me a skill which helps my mana regeneration in order to raise my usefulness manifolds in battle.

New Skill : Ouroboros Seal

By focusing your mana onto the back of your right hand, a seal in the shape of a snake biting its own tail will be seen. The seal will store mana which you pump into it and keep it there like a storage permanently. Upon releasing the seal, the snake will unbind itself from the tail and the mana you have stored will be able to be put at your use at your command any way you want. You can also choose not to use all the mana you have stored up in the seal.

Mana Cost : None

It was a neat little skill. Instead of relying on Chaotic Melody to give me my much needed regeneration, this was a much better skill to rely on as I had ultimate control over it. I can't believe a skill like this existed and I should have thought of it earlier.

Jörmungandr was running out of time in his materialized form so he left me with a few basic instructions in order to become stronger.

Keep practicing splitting my mind into parts. The more parts I can split my mind into, the more effective my role will be in this party which is of utmost importance.

Always store mana into the seal whenever possible and if i get used to it, i would even be able to store mana into the seal in my sleep.

Start to experiment with the poison magic he had taught me because they were all high level spells which would raise the mana manipulation skill level faster and more efficiently. I also had to learn how to use poison spells since I have never used them before and did not know how to best use them.

After leaving me with these few tips, Jörmungandr bade farewell and told him it would be a while before the four of them came back to tutor them again as it required a substantial bit of strength every time they came to do so.

Hel, Fenrir and Loki also ended their sessions with the rest of the BOTs and we gathered back into the middle of the room.

“Okay so i leave this in your hands. I would recommend you to first start building a town surrounding this castle, then start the city going and make it self-sustaining. Then proceed to train the army along with yourselves so you all will become stronger as a whole. Each of us will leave a few elite troops behind to stay in the castle but the bulk of your forces will be my followers and any other adventurer that decides to join your city if they like it here. You won't be training the wolves snakes and undead soldiers as they can be summoned by us anytime and they won't be as efficient to level up compared to humans who learn and grow faster. The executives we leave behind are exceptions though as they are elite troops. I have already sent for an architect to come here from the Rosenheim Kingdom. He is the one who usually builds my churches so he is already the best of the best. Godspeed my friends.”

Loki and his children vanished from the room. However, Renfir was still left behind, there were 2 new skeletal mages that were left behind which looked alot stronger than the ones we've face before and a king cobra which was now beside Renfir. They must have been the troops that each of them left behind so they could help us as well as function as eyes and ears for them to monitor our progress.

“Well guys. You heard the man. We got a kingdom to build.” I said.

End of Chapter 15

P.S. Author's note : I'm sorry for the late update. I have been down with food poisoning and high fever for about the last 2 weeks which have been hell on earth for me. Also, I have tried to make this chapter by far the most plot enhancing one and exciting one before I need to take a 2 week hiatus as I will be very busy with work commitments and an overseas trip at the end of august till the middle of September. I hope this chapter will be enjoyable for all of you!