Chapter 50 - The Trial of Ascension, Part I

Welcome to the Trial of Ascension. With this, you are able to upgrade your race to an advanced race. You may retain the features of your base race in addition to those of the advanced race you unlock. While there are many advanced races, the Trial you face will depend upon your base race, your play style to date, and the path you choose. Base Race: Incubus Due to your play style and base race, the following Paths are open to you: Path of the Mind: Strengthen your mental abilities, gaining more magic and influence. (Unlocks Greater Incubus) Path of the Warrior: Strengthen your physical abilities, granting you great combat prowess and resilience. (Unlocks Half-Demon) Path of Cruelty: Eschew the physical to draw power from tormenting your foes, even after death. (Unlocks Lesser Soulkeeper) Path of Power: The most dangerous of the paths, for those who seek power above all else, for good or ill. (Unlocks Hellspawned Drake)

I grinned to myself. The most dangerous path, huh? That was game talk for ‘high risk, high rewards’. I liked the sound of that, and being some kind of demonic dragon would give me a big boost in my quest to build Aria into something to talk about. The other three were cool, but looked pretty limited. That, and Hellspawned Drake sounded the most badass of the four.

“I choose the Path of Power.”

With that, the world shifted. The smoke-filled room faded away, leaving me in another room, which was reminiscent of one of those old RPGs where you had to jump around and solve problems to open the door. It looked like I was in a tomb of some sort. I really didn’t know enough about ancient cultures to identify it, except that I didn’t see any obvious markings, like a big Eye of Ra or Zeus on a throne or Thor’s hammer.

The Path of Power Those who wish for power must step through three challenges in order to walk this path. Step 1: Mind Escape the room.

Yeah, that’s what I figured. Wiping the blue screen away, I looked at the only door to the room. It was big, like twenty feet wide and forty feet high, and made out of stone. An Earth Mage would be through there in a second, but I wasn’t an Earth Mage. There was no way I was moving it with my abilities, which made sense, since these things were personalized.

I looked at the door, and saw that there were two great mechanisms that looked as though they would open the doors, but there were three great stone bars in the way. I didn’t see an obvious way to open them, however. No obvious switches or levers near the door, so I began looking around the room. If this was based off the old crypt raiding games, then there would be something I could use in the environment to free the doors. Hopefully without dying twenty times, since I’m pretty sure dying would make me fail the trial.

I decided that now would be a good time to have a second set of eyes, so I used a spell that I’d had for a long time, but never actually used until now. The ‘Summon Demon’ spell I’d gotten when I became a Warlock was something I’d never needed, since I always had my pets with me. Supposedly, it summoned a unique demon based on my level, role, and other such things. Not something I needed before. Now, however, I could use a hand. With that in mind, I completed the spell, and summoned my demon.

Green hellfire burst up in a summoning circle before me, forcing me to shield my eyes from the sudden glare. The wall of hellfire prevented me from seeing what was inside, but soon it burned down to a low circle, coming only a couple feet high. In the center was my demon.

Kylana Lesser Hellion Female Level 40 Fleshshaper (Transmuter) / Conjurer Titles: Corrupter, Sadist, Masochist, Scholar

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

In the middle of the circle of fire was a red skinned woman with black hair, and horns. She was clearly a demon of some sort, but didn’t look like one of the really powerful ones you always heard about. Maybe ‘Lesser Hellion’ was the equivalent of ‘Human’ in the hell planes? Anyways, she wasn’t a pinup model or anything, but she had some nice curves and a geeky, girl next door kind of charm, which was slightly ruined by the fact that she was completely naked, and sopping wet, clearly in the midst of taking a shower when she was summoned.

Her eyes caught mine, and she frowned, trying to hid herself with her hands. Had I actually summoned a prudish demon? Wow. “Great, I finally get summoned, and it is by some pervy incubus. Couldn’t you have at least fucking waited for me to be dressed?” She went on, muttering, “Why couldn’t I have gotten a sexy female elf, damnit!”

I chuckled, and said, “And how am I supposed to know what you’re up to, hmm? I’m a ‘pervy incubus’, not a god. And this was my first casting of the spell.”

The girl blushed as I said that, coming to the realization that I couldn’t know what she was doing the first time. “Fine, fine. Damnit, let me just…” She trailed off as she cast a spell, conjuring a jade-colored robe that went nicely with the color of her skin. She squinted, as though she were used to wearing glasses, and sighed. “That’s good enough without the books, I guess. Anyways, since you’ve summoned me, I guess you have some kind of problem? Where is this place, anyways?”

Down to business, huh? I could deal with that. Especially since her… assets were hidden away now, and not tempting me anymore. “Well, I’m in the middle of the Trial of Ascension. You know about it?” She nodded in the affirmative. “So I’ve got three tasks to do, and this is the first one. I figured an extra set of eyes would help in getting this door open, so we could move on to the other tasks.”

“Right. Before we go forward, I guess I should lay a few things out about how this spell works. You’ve summoned me, so I’m supposed to use my abilities as best I can to help you. But I’m no slave, and you can’t force me to do something against my will. And while the magic lets me recover if I’m ‘killed’ while I’m summoned, you won’t get to summon again for another twenty-four hours after that, and I’m pretty certain any demon will be pissed at you if you use them like fodder.”

I sensed she was holding back something, but I wasn’t quite sure what. “Are you sure that’s everything?” I was rewarded by a flicker of emotion on her red-tinted ‘librarian’ face. “What aren’t you telling me, hmm?”

Kylana sighed, and said, “That is with the basic spell. If you dismiss me, and cast the spell again, you’ll get a new summon, based on your needs at the time. If you want to keep calling me, then you’ll need to… mark me, as a Familiar. The Familiar bond has different effects, but can’t be forced on someone.”

Secret Quest! Taming the Librarian Kylana, one of the librarians who looks after the books in the library of the demonic city of Thuressos, has been summoned by you only this once. However, it may be possible to convince her to become your Familiar, granting both of you power in return for her service.
Rank	D
Success	Kylana agrees to perform the Familiar bond with you.
Failure	Kylana refuses the Familiar bond. You unsummon Kylana before she agrees to the bond.
Reward	Experience Kylana becomes your Familiar.

Interesting. So this Familiar thing was more like the contracted spirits idea you saw in some games and animes. The contractor got to call on the spirit, and the spirit got something in return from the contractor, but first you had to earn that contract, or something like that. Not really my favorite brand of anime, but I’d seen enough to pick up on themes. Still, those stories typically had multiple ways to get a bond. Some could be forced by overpowering the spirit, if you knew what you were doing. I had the feeling that Kyana was deliberately leaving things out, but for the moment I had other concerns. Nodding to her, I said, “I see. In that case, why don’t we work through these challenges, to start?”

When she nodded, I turned, and looked at the room again, starting with the floor. I noticed a few squares that were oddly out of place in the otherwise regular stone floor. Standing one of them revealed it to be a pressure plate that slid down when I put my weight on it. There was a grinding sound, and I looked to see one of the bars retract away from the doors, but the other two were still holding on. I stepped off the platform, and the bar slid back in place. I looked over the rest of the floor, and counted a total of three pressure plates in a triangle on this side of the room, and another over closer to the door.

I looked over to Kylana, and said, “Right, looks like the first part is a simple pressure plate system. We’ll need to find weights to keep all three plates down, which should free the door. This puzzle was meant to be solved, so there should be something we can push onto these plates.” From the look in her eye, the fact that I was actually thinking through the problem instead of being a muscleheaded idiot about it raised my stock with her a few points. But puzzles like this were a staple of games, and had been for ages.

So I wasn’t too surprised when I found a large rock that you could roll around the room with some work in one corner. Together with Kylana, we got it into one of the depressed plates, and it stayed put. One bar pulled back, two more to go. Simple crypt raiding here.

The other two boulders were a little more difficult to manage. One needed me to climb up onto a couple platforms to push it off, that wasn’t too bad, really, but the second one was in a little six-foot ditch off to the side. To get the boulder out of the ditch, I had to push it onto this old wooden freight elevator, and then use my weight on an old waterwheel that no longer had water running over it to turn the gears and lift it up. Finally, though, we had all three bars retracted. The doors, however, remained closed.

I sighed, and looked around again. Oh, yeah. Got to find another boulder, it seems. “Kylana, you see our missing rock anywhere?”

Kylana, who hadn’t been idle while I was doing the heavy work, nodded, and said, “It is up there, at the top of that statue. I think you need to get up there to release it.”

That brought a frown to my face. “Looks like a pretty complicated climb to get up there.” I paused, mapping the route in my mind. The only way I saw that would have a chance of working involved climbing up a series of ledges to another statue across the crypt from the one with the boulder, and then making a leap of faith to grab a rope and swing across to the other statue with another leap of faith, catch myself before falling to the ground, and climb up to a ledge behind the statue. With my stats, it should be possible, but I didn’t like it.

Looking over to Kylana, I said, “Your talents include conjuration, yes? Would you happen to have anything that would make getting up there easier?”

Kylana smiled, looking fairly pleased that I’d actually considered asking her whether she could help, rather than making orders or just doing everything myself. I felt I’d already earned points in her book by working out the problem on my own instead of being a meathead, but this kindof cemented my view that she was looking to be a partner to whoever got her Familiar bond, not a servant or slave. She responded by producing a set of spectral stairs, and I grinned at her, running up them to the ledge behind the statue, the stairs disappearing behind me as I ran.

Once there, I noticed a small nook hidden from below. Inside it was a well-preserved chest. Reacting with my gamer’s instincts, I opened the chest, and was rewarded with a small sum of platinum coins, and several items.

Soulbinder, Grimoire of Ended Dreams
Type	Spellbook	Rank	Artifact
This leather-bound tome is written in the blood of sentients upon pages crafted from the skin of angels, penned in the language of the Abyss. To say that it is a wholly evil artifact containing some of the most vile and dire magics imaginable would be an understatement of biblical proportions. The book is both a grimoire and a treatise on Soul Magic. An ascended being who reads the book completely may learn the Soul Magic skill at Intermediate 1, as well as learning any spell from the book. An unascended being who reads the book completely has their soul ripped from their body and added to the book as a new page containing an original spell based upon their life. Any creature may use the book as a grimoire, using it to cast spells as though they had the Soul Magic skill at Advanced 10. The tome may be used in this way once per hour, but has a cumulative 5% chance of using the caster’s soul to create a new page of the book. This chance resets at dawn one week from the first casting. It is impossible to learn any of the spells in this book without reading it completely. Before a creature may read from the book, they must perform a binding ritual lasting one hour, offering their blood to the book. This serves to bind the book to the user’s soul. Aside from enabling the harsher consequences of the grimoire’s use, this ritual prevents any other creature from gaining the power of the grimoire unless they perform the ritual, breaking the previous binding. Attempting to read the book without performing the ritual results in a random attribute of the reader’s being permanently reduced to 0. Restricted: Level 40+ Restricted: Must be able to read Abyssal. After Ritual Bond: +20 INT, +20 WIS, +20 CHA +50% to Soul Magic while holding grimoire -50% to healing spells received while holding grimoire Gain Soulsight Perk Gain Soulreading Skill at Beginner 1 +1000 Infamy

Bonecarvin Devilwood Scepter
Type	Staff	Rank	Rare
Damage	60 – 90	Damage Type	Bludgeoning/Hellfire
Made from a type of tree found in the Lower Planes and inlaid with carved human bones, this staff possesses great power. Half the damage it deals is Hellfire damage, making it useful for those who have resistances to physical or fire-based attacks. A spellcaster’s weapon, it shows its true use when used as an aid in casting spells. Restricted: Must be (or have been) a member of the Hellion race. Restricted: Level 40+ +50 INT, +50 WIS, +50 CHA +100% to all magic cast by wielder. Enchanted: Mana Shield – May sacrifice MP instead of HP when injured.

Robes of Demonic Misery
Type	Robes	Rank	Rare
Creatures of the Lower Planes are often called upon to act as Familiars or servants of powerful spellcasters. These robes were created by a powerful wizard in order to help keep his favored servants alive when he hid behind them using them as a shield. The cowardly nature of the creator aside, the robes do provide a substantial degree of protection for the wearer. Restricted: Must be a bonded Familiar. Defense +300 CON +50 +40% to all Resistances Cursed: Truthsayer – The wearer of this robe may never lie to their Master.

Once again I silently praised my rather insane Luck score. I’m pretty sure no other Traveler has invested that much in Luck. Honestly, I had way too many points to play with when I reincarnated Torgan into Zayn, and it made me pick things I probably never would have looked at before. The benefits, though, were pretty good.

But I had other things to check on at the moment. Turning, I pushed the boulder over the side of the ledge it was on, and heard a loud crash as it fell to the floor below. Fortunately, I didn’t need Kyana to provide me with a new set of stairs, since there was a chain hanging down nearby. It was too far off the ground for me to have reached it when I was getting up here, but climbing down it would give me an easy drop of about fifteen feet. Not rolling out of bed, but not something to worry about if I was careful, even if I was in my RL body.

Back on the ground, I pushed the boulder over to the final pressure plate, and was rewarded with the grinding sound of the two stone doors swinging outward to open for me.

First step completed. Continue on to the next step.

With a smile, I turned, and looked at Kylana. “Now, why don’t we discuss how one marks a Familiar, hmm?”

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