Chapter 121 The Journey

2 Days Later, Goldtooth Fortress City, Demon Continent, 8th Floor of the Tower.

The past two days have gone by at an extremely fast pace, and Samiel has spent most of both of them practicing his spellcasting, focusing mainly on his Void Magic, pushing it all the way up to the Intermediate Level so that he should be able to cast the spells of the 4th Level Spells and 5th Level Spells with no difficulty.

In spite of the fact that Samiel had some theoretical foundation, which was technically flawless since he got the Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, he still needed some time to practice the spells, apart from just memorizing all of their theoretical basis.

Knowing the theory and practical aspects were two entirely different things altogether. During the time he was resting, he also occasionally practiced the Metamagic Skill, the Spell Fusion, as he was continuously pushing the proficiency in that one higher and higher.

He wanted to achieve the capability of using the Spell Fusion on the 3rd Level Spells as soon as possible, preferably on the 4th Level ones as well, because that would become one of his trump cards if he could do that.

Spell Fusion was one delicate matter, and Samiel was carefully using the Spell Fusion Metamagic Techniques because one single mistake, and he could easily maim himself or injure himself severely in other ways. Of course, with Architect this was greatly lowered, but still, rather be safe than sorry; unfortunately for him, his regeneration was not at the level where he could easily regenerate limbs and body parts.

Though Samiel now learned one of his favorite Spells, which was the 5th Level Spell, Conjure Minor Voidborn, which allowed him to summon an abomination from the Void. These Abominations have various strengths, but it typically depends on the amount of Mana used by the Caster.

In spite of the fact that Samiel was able to summon Silver-Tier Void Abominations most commonly, they usually could only stay within a radius of 100 meters from the summoner, if they traveled further, the summoner would lose control, and they would run berserk, attacking everything in sight, and soon they would return back to the Void.

Nevertheless, it was still very powerful, and when Samiel used it as an Eldritch Creature, he could conjure several Minor Voidborns at the same time; his record was around ten at the same time. This was a stunning result because just this sole spell boosted up Samiel's combat prowess to a whole new level.

Samiel decided to head to the bar that was located in the inn, so he could eat something. Since Yvraine was also in the city at that moment, probably participating in some sightseeing or trying to gather information about Goldtooth Fortress City, Samiel decided to go to the bar to have a drink.

As Samiel went to the bar in the inn, someone blocked his path; as he was descending from the stairs, he noticed that it was the Silver-Tier Orkish warrior, who he sensed to be the most dangerous person in the inn.

For Samiel, this was not surprising because Orks were battle-lust species that wanted to fight anyone whom they deemed to be strong enough to pose a challenge for them. When Samiel looked at the Orkish warrior, he noticed that the Ork didn't have outright malicious intent, but he had strong battle intent as he looked at Samiel.

"Outsider, I wanna fight you."

The Ork stated with very good Cosmos Common Language, something which was very rare for the Greenskins because they typically didn't bother learning other languages. They were not smart for that, but most commonly, they viewed the concept of learning and knowledge as something inferior to the concept of strength.

"Ork knowing to speak Cosmos Common... very intriguing indeed... you are not here for just a fight, are you?"

Samiel asked as he scanned the Orkish warrior from toe to tip; at the same time, he was subconsciously using the Level 4 Transcendental Ability to calculate the most suitable course of action if the situation delved into the fight and he was not that pleased with the results to truth to be told.

"Name is Dharzug, the Champion and Holy Apostle of almighty God Gork. I hav'er proposal for you, Holy Son of the Primordial Demiurge."

When the Ork said those words, Samiel was immediately alarmed, mostly due to several reasons, but he quickly calmed down considerably as he motioned the Dharzug to sit down on the near by table.

Dharzug was huge even by the Ork standards, around five meters tall, bulging with muscles everywhere. Contrary to average Orks, which had the skin of green or brown color, Dharzug's skin was gray in color. Around his whole body he had countless tribal crimson-colored tattoos, with a necklace made from the teeth of various creatures, which was probably some sort of trophy from the defeated foes.

"Are you here of your own volition, or is this some sort of scheme cooked up in cooperation with your God?"

Samiel squinted his eyes, awaiting the answer because that would be explained how this Ork knew about his identity. Being a Champion of God and Holy Apostle in one person meant that he was practically the will of the Gork on the material plane.

"I am the Will of the Green God."

Stated the Dharzug neutrally, to which Samiel nodded his head and awaited the proposal. While Ork society was rather primitive and simplistic from the point of view of countless factions and civilizations across the Cosmos and were even categorized as one of the Scourges of the Cosmos, they still had something that countless lacked.

A very strong sense of martial honor for some twisted reason. Ork Warriors, those who dedicated their lives to the martial way, adhered to a strict martial code of honor; they abhorred the schemes and lies as they viewed them as utter weakness.

So in a certain way, Samiel wasn't really fearing that the Ork Dharzug was scheming against him because, as the Ork Champion, that would be the most dishonorable thing he could do against his entire way of life.

"Then what does the Will of the Green God propose for the Will of the Void?"

If the Dharzug was the Will of the Green God Grok, who was the strongest God in the Orkoid Pantheon, then Samiel Zentaul was the literal Will of the Void, as he was the Holy Son and Holy Apostle of the Azathoth, the strongest Outer God in existence.

"To join the Journey."

When he said those words, Samiel felt like his entire world had stopped, as his mind tracked back to one of the last conversations he had with the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath on the 5th Floor of the Tower before he left.

***

After Samiel finished another wave of training, exhausted, he sat down in front of the meditating Hall Master Menuhyutt Faulhaber. He caught his breath after some time, because the Hall Master didn't know mercy during the training.

"Master, what is the real purpose of climbing the Tower floor by floor?"

Samiel asked the Hall Master one question that had been bugging him since the moment he stepped foot on the broader Cosmos, as the Hall Master looked at him intensively.

"The Journey, the real goal is to complete the Journey."

The Hall Master waved his hand and created a Bounded Field around them before he answered to prevent anyone from listening and so nothing could leave this place, as the information that was being told here was considered one of the greatest secrets of the Tower since immemorial.

"The Journey?"

Samiel wasn't really catching up, as the answer was pretty vague before the Hall Master proceeded to clarify. Fortunately, this wasn't the discussion where he would end it with nothing and leave Samiel only some clues and hints, with nothing else.

"The Journey is a term for the process of ascending the Tower from the 1st Floor straight to the 100th one and achieving Transcendence. Of course, to complete the Journey, one needs to climb the Tower through the Quests from the Tower's System or Transcendents; even taking them from the Floor ruler is rarely accounted for and only in rare cases. Of course, the people who started the Journey must start it at the Iron-Tier maximally. Upon the completion of the Journey, the greatest benefit is almost guaranteed success at the Transcendence because the Tower itself will help the person who completed the Journey in his Ascension process."

Each sentence was more overwhelming than the other.

"Information about The Journey is a closely guarded secret of a few powerful Transcendents, only the most powerful or knowledgeable of them are aware of it, and they typically give it to their Champions, Apostles or chosen ones, whom they wish to Ascend. While the rest of the powerful factions across the Cosmos are aware of the fact that climbing the Tower brings immense benefits to one's power, they are not aware of the full truth, at best only the first half."

The elderly man explained to Samiel, as he nodded his head while slowly digesting everything that the Hall Master of the Hall of Kadath stated to him. So that was the reason why someone like Yvraine was climbing the Tower with the Iron-Tier, when they first met, even if she herself didn't know why exactly she must do it.

***

"And the reason?"

Samiel questioned Dharzug carefully.

There were not many people who knew about the full extent of the Journey; from what Samiel observed, neither Yvraine was aware of it, at least to the full extent, even though she was already walking on that path.

Though she was set on it by her parents and other Holies of the Nesser Dynasty, from which some of them should probably be aware of it, as there were, apparently, some people with a very close connection with the Gods of the Seldarine Pantheon.

"Worthy ally of the great Dharzug the mighty God Gork said, together a lot of waaaggghhh we can unleash and a lot of carnage too."

Samiel listened to the more simplistic reasons of the Dharzug, not that it was anyhow surprising. Still, Samiel was relatively careful because of his nature to not trust anyone or anything too much, but in the end, he could still see some benefits of having such a strong ally as the Dharzug when climbing the Tower.

Not talking about the possibility of Dharzug once ascending as the Warboss, which was more than likely, considering his background and strength. Having an entire Ork Waaaggghhh on his side and using it as his sword to strike down his enemies without moving a finger sounded very appealing to him.

"I have no problem signing a Soul Geass Contract under the Akashic Records themselves."

When the Dharzug said those words, it calmed down Samiel considerably because this was technically insurance that this was not a ploy. Breaking the Soul Geass, signed directly under the Akashic Records, would require tremendous effort even for leaders of the Transcendental Factions.

And he knew that this was not something even the strongest Orkoid God Gork, could achieve on his own. From what Samiel knew, even his Patron God would need to invest a considerable effort to break the Soul Geass directly sanctioned by the Akashic Records.

"If you are willing that, then I suppose we could have some sort of cooperation."

Samiel then stated while he took out the Soul Geass as the Dharzug signed the Soul Geass and then Samiel prepared the thing and did exactly the same.

"Then allow me to ask one question, what is doing an Ork here on the 8th Floor, especially the one who doesn't belong to Clan?"

Samiel questioned his newfound ally carefully after noticing that the Ork Warrior Dharzug lacked any signs of Clan or Tribe, meaning he was indeed a rogue Ork who didn't belong to any Clan.

Such a thing was very rare.

"That is none of your concern Outsider; leave it at that I plan to create my own Clan."

Samiel nodded, not really awaiting that the Dharzug would even answer him; he could judge that it was the touchy subject or something to remain the secret. From what Samiel could tell, he was from the outside of the Tower, probably coming from one of the High Worlds that fell to the Orks and their Waaaggghhhs.

Tides of the greenskins were most commonly almost impossible to defend against. Not to mention that every Ork is a perfect killing machine incarnated; they live for nothing else than just combat, killing, slaughter and war.

"Now to the real topic, why are we here? You are also here completing the Mission from the Guild, right?"

Samiel asked as the Dharzug agreed with him.

"Then, when the final war starts, we will cooperate in the efforts against the Human Brotherhood."

To this, the Ork Warrior grinned, as humans were one of the Okr's favorite targets. They were weak, squishy and soft, basically, perfect things to slaughter en masse. Not to mention, some more savage ones would also eat them because their flesh was soft and surprisingly tasty for the Ork tastes.