Chapter 166: A change in power

I've never experienced power like this before. I absorbed 100% of the mana aura from the stone pedestal. I see Fenrir looking at me with calmness and wisdom. I wouldn't have been able to do this without him. I want to see the new health and mana I've got. I have several new notifications to go through, but first, I want to talk to Fenrir. "Thanks for the help. I would've died if you didn't jump in saving me. I wasn't nearly strong enough to fight that creature. Do you have any idea what that was?" He shakes his head no and walks over to me. He takes a look at the pedestal and sniffs the air. I don't know what he's doing. It must be an animal thing.

I look back to me, and he gives the best grin a giant wolf can. "I have to leave, Zern. I'll be in Overworld for who knows how long. The events that have transpired today will bring a shift to the world. Be careful with that power. You have much to learn when it comes to controlling divinity. You little elf girl is waking up to. She seems pretty mad. Not really a ladies man, are you?" I shrug my shoulders, and he chuckles. He looks towards the sky and leaps with great power. I watch him fade into the clouds, and I look around the area. This place is not somewhere I want to stay. I make my way towards the gate, and while walking, I check out my new health and mana.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.82]

[Exp: 1/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden),+3 more]

[Stats]

[Strength - 2095][Endurance - 2045][Dexterity - 2125][Speed - 2240][Focus - 14,660]

[Mana aura control: 5/100%]

[Health: 16,560,000,000/16,560,000,000][Mana: 146,600,000,000/146,600,000,000]

[Stat Points: 10][Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.9 325/900] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.9 225/900] [Slash Lvl.22 4600/13000] [Parry Lvl.3 80/300] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] 

This is the highest health and mana pool I have ever seen on a player. I have several more notifications, but I have to put those off. I'm at the gate now, and I can see a pissed-off Sally on the other side looking at me. "Why don't you come back on this side so we can talk." She talks with a sweet voice, but I can feel the malice behind her words. I grab the gate and easily move it since this place is no longer trying to kill me or keep me out. I walk up and stand in front of her. She balls up her fist and hits me as hard as she can. My health doesn't drop, and I hear a comical pop come from her hand. "I take it you succeeded..." She holds her hand, and she looks down in slight sadness.

I put my hand on her head in the act of comfort. "Now I'm strong enough to protect my friends and family. I want you to know that we are doing yours next. So go ahead and tell me where we have to go." She looks at me with both happiness and excitement. Our adventures together aren't over yet. "That place would have killed you, so I'm not going to apologize for leaving you out here. I am sorry that I knocked you out, though. It was the quickest solution." I don't like knocking people out in such ways. However, it was necessary. She nods her head in understanding and wraps me in a tight hug a second later. She cares too much for a guy like me.

I pack up the tent and kneel on the ground so she can get on my back. I launch off the ground with my wings, and we reach the clouds. "My mana aura is near the mountains of the giant race! It's about 7000 miles south from here!" One of the coldest places in the world. Figure that's where her mana aura quest is taking her. "Do you want to stop off at The Holy City before we go since you probably still have things to do in there?!" She reminds me of the quest that I have. I have got my mana aura, but the quest is still not complete. I still have to talk to The Secret Keeper of Titans back at the church in The Holy City.

[Chain Divine Mana Aura Quest]

[Description: Now that you have reached tier 1, you must undertake the real challenge. While many mana aura quests are the same, it's a known fact the rarer a class is, the harder the quests will be for that class.]

[Objective 1: Go to The Valley of Fallen Gods.][Completed]

[Objective 2: Fight the creature that is guarding your mana aura.][Completed]

[Objective 3: Return to The Holy City to speak to The Secret Keeper of Titans.]

[Difficulty: Divine]

[Rewards: Divine Mana Aura]

[Hidden]

[Hint: You will need a powerful ally to help you at the end of this Chain Quest, you will not be able to defeat the boss with your current strength.]

I still have possible rewards from this quest. It's at divine difficulty, so I haven't the slightest clue what it could be. I already got everything I need. I see multiple notifications filling my inbox, and all of them are about things that are coming and changing Gaia. As I read, I figure out I missed some announcements while I was in that cursed place. 

[World-wide Announcement Reminder: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael has succeeded in his task! All players will be returned to all their original continents in 12 hours! The system you have all come to love will undergo an update at this point! A new expansion will be arriving for the players! Everyone get ready for the transfer! When it happens, you'll only be taking what you have on you! Once players reach level 100 tier 2, you can use the teleporters to return to the player continents and continue exploring!]

I continue looking through the inbox, and I now realize the meaning of Fenrir's words.

[World-wide Announcement Reminder: The Old Gods are returning for war! All players and people of Gaia will be thrust into this battle of gods! Be prepared, everyone!]

My actions have caused even more chaos to come. The players returning half a day from now is good. I didn't think the system still had the power to do expansions. This one must be a player-triggered expansion. There were planned expansions in the old future. It was rare for player-induced expansions to occur. "We are stopping off at The Holy City to speak with The Secret Keeper of Titans! I don't want to spend any time there whatsoever! After we are done with that, we are handling your mana aura quest! I want you to prepare for chaos in about 16 hours from now. A large group of new people knows my true identity! When they tell the church for the rewards, our traveling will be much harder!" I might end up getting a hood myself. 

We are already flying full speed back south towards her destination. I'll have to listen for directions from her. I can't see her map. "Once we are finished in The Holy City, you'll have to tell me the exact direction we need to go! I know it's in the same southern direction we are going now, but it'll probably change once we get close!" I know she hears me, and that is good enough for me. Now I have a couple of other notifications that I need to check out. There are reputation boosts with the gods of light and church like usual. The church of the dark ones has also gotten another reputation decrease. I see a new reputation that has also lowered after my time in The Valley of Fallen God's.

-18,000 reputation with The Old Gods

[Explanation: The Old Gods are an unknown part of history. The information granted to the system has nothing on this. Beware of these beings.]

Whoever The Old Gods are, they are going to be an extreme problem. The war with the monsters is happening, and now there is another war even worse than this one coming right on top of it. The only upside is The Old Gods sound like they will kill monsters just as much as humanoids. "After the new people return, make sure you stick close to me! I'll have to get myself a hood to hide my face when we get to The Holy City! It'll be a hard road ahead of us! So if you don't want to continue, I completely understand!" She tries to cause some sort of physical harm, but it just ends up not working. I wonder how the people of Gaia will react once my identity is revealed. I bet there will be some sort of announcement.