Chapter 58: Rewards

Chapter 58: Rewards

Welcome to the emergency safehouse n18.

You have been displaced due to an unforeseen event or safety breach.

We ask of you to kindly respect the secrecy of this places existence and location, and that you leave the premises within a year.

In the event of a successful trial, the rewards shall be autonomously awarded as intended by the operating manager, which might take up to a few hours.

We wish you a peaceful stay and offer our sincere apology for the inconvenience.

This was both unnerving and reassuring. They were safe, but that meant the towers werent?

Come to think of it, the island near the towers had been destroyed before we got there. If the thing that did it were to return We might have just escaped something really bad. Could be that Alith's theory that someone wanted to stop people from leveling up was true. But who could possibly do anything to the Archangel? The simple Angel was already capable of so much destruction... Then the Gods?

In Sofia's opinion the Gods had to be weaker than the system. After all, they did little beside choosing Saints. While the system monitored every sentient being on the planet. Even Dragons had to use the system. Kuli had hinted so, although she refused to say anything more about Dragons.

The things in the house were untouched, so Alith was probably still in her trial. Sofia wouldnt mess with her until she woke up by herself, instead she inspected everything in the house. She did find what little was left of hers and Aliths stuff in a chest, buried in warm sand; not much had survived the shipwreck.

This feels a bit unreal... Then again, if the Archangel can create a copy of the past to throw people in there, it's not too far fetched that he could teleport us here and change our clothes...

She tried her best to forget the idea. And organized all they had left.

There were unusable remains of Alith's padded gambeson and plate armor. The fireproof salamander vest had also survived somehow. The sand pendant was obviously there, as the culprit for burying everything in sand. Going by the quantity of sand... We've been here at least two weeks. It still contained three gold coins, all that was left after gambling on the pirate ship. Which I should have taken back actually, that last hit on Alith had to have counted as a killing blow... Well I ruined their ship though, and killed a few of them by accident... Not exactly in a position to ask for a refund.

The other magic items all looked good as new, be it both items from the Saint set, the lost city and the slow fall ring or Alith's weapons. If mithril coated weapons even count as magic items. She identified them again before going back to exploring the house. For whatever reason their name had changed, though the description was the same. Sofia thought nothing of it.

[Mithril coated kamas] : A pair of mithril coated weapons, reminiscent of an herbalist's sickles. Item level : 0. Grade : Precious.

The kitchens pantry was packed full of fresh food, including vegetables, eggs and cured meat. Some firewood was stacked in neat rows near the red brick fireplace. She found a bow and fishing rods near the entrance. The outside of the house featured a tiny outhouse, a vegetable garden about as large as the cottage itself, and a hand pump for water. She was barefoot and the ground was cold, so she quickly pumped some water in a bucket that sat near the door and got back inside.

I think I deserve a good meal and a bath, she mumbled, carrying the heavy bucket of water to the kitchen.

Sofia was very busy sleeping in her bath when a system notification woke her up.

Am I rewards now?

[ERROR]

Hey I dont have the strength to be surprised anymore. Whats it this time?

[Foreign data breach detected]

[Vakariazrehafin of Sorrow] : Welcome back, my dear daughter. (This will replace [Avatar of death])[Vakariazrehafin of Sorrow] : Sorrow the Recessed has recognized your value. However, one cannot be reborn as an Apostle without a proper ritual, as such, you have been offered a middle ground. Vakariazrehafin is granted authority as an honorary Apostle. Vakariazrehafin is granted advanced mana perception. When Vakariazrehafins mana hits 0, she may choose to temporarily assume the physical form of a Daughter of Sorrow, lasting for five minutes, mana will remain at zero for this duration and the following thirty minutes. Ten levels of debt will be incurred each time and no experience will be gained from kills that occur as a result of this skill's use.

Besides that, [Avatar of death] can evolve but I need to be around dying people. Hmm I hate to waste two good keywords like that but the sorrow skill is just better right now. And Im honestly scared of how many souls [Avatar of death] will start asking for after I unlock a few functions if it already starts at 100

Not to mention the creepy message that came with the thing. It's for sure a God messing with the system, isn't it? All I wanted was skeletons...

You have acquired the passive : Vakariazrehafin of Sorrow

You have lost the passive : Avatar of death

And if both this and the Deep things are Gods, I'm sorry but then Gods all have a terrible naming sense. From a human perspective at least... Actually the Angels have weird names too... Maybe it's the system that's the culprit.

The world changed under the effect of the skill. Her nascent capacity to feel mana evolved into what it had been meant to become. She could now see and feel the ambient mana all around her, a thin white mist that permeated all things. She could also stop focusing on it and she wouldnt notice it anymore.

Guess I'm half a demon now. I really don't look the part.

Sofia stepped out of the bath, still dripping wet, and walked up to Aliths bed.

So this is how the trials work?

Aliths head was encased in a bubble of mana, which was itself linked to the ceiling by a thick mana thread. Sofia followed the thread outside, it went straight through the thatched roof and up in the sky at a low angle. It was hard to say what it led to. Maybe the tower? She wished she could fly to investigate this but alas this wasnt an option even with her new skill.

I cant wait to transform again My vision feels so narrow, now.

She was already missing her demon body.

She had been preparing to go to bed when the next slew of system messages arrived.

[Congratulations, you have triumphed over the second filter!]

[You may now gain experience up to level 199]

[Additional rewards will be delivered after the level up, detail is as follows]

[Completion reward : Level up * 1]

[Additional task reward : Clothing set (Aurelias serene scenery) * 1]

[Completed hidden tasks : Successfully use wild magic, Cheat death, Defeat a sentient three filters up in singular battle, Survive a certain death encounter]

[Additional hidden tasks rewards : Skill specialization point (Active) * 1, Class Skill level up point (upgrades a Class Skill to lv.100) * 3]

[Please lie down in a secure environment to proceed with your level up.]

Finally! Give it to me already, I've never been this impatient my whole life.