Chapter 128: Side Story – Neria 3: Newfound Strength

A sharp pain in her head jolted Neria awake. Before she could open her eyes, she could already see the System notification hang in front of her. Her mind, however, was not drawn to the words but the warmth coursing through her veins.

Her grasp on the arcane had never been strong. Now, though, she could feel the mana flowing through her, could sense the world around her through her vastly changed aura.

"What..." she mumbled to herself as she focused on the message in front of her eyes.

You have been awarded the [Ancestral Witness] title for surviving the [Trial of the Tortured Soul] and beholding the truth of its creation!

Your race has changed to [Golden Lycan] to meet the requirements of the [Ancestral Witness] title.

There were more messages for her — hundreds of them — all telling her that she had levelled up and her stats had been increased. Neria mentally flicked through them all, trying, and failing, to keep count as the notifications flew by her mind's eye. What the fuck…

When the last of the System's notifications materialised in front of her, Neria could not believe what she saw, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes despite knowing the acts were useless.

You have reached level 400. Class selections and evolutions have been postponed until the [Class Ban] has been lifted by the Creator.

Slowly, Neria lifted her arm, letting her eyes wander over the golden fur that now covered her. Her eyes had no trouble making out the tiny, individual hairs, and the way they each swayed slightly differently in the light breeze unnerved her and forced her to look away.

As the lingering drowsiness of sleep relaxed its clutches on her, the further changes in her body and mind became apparent. As she started to recall what had happened during the ritual, the speed at which she noticed every single novelty of her person increased.

Neria could recall the pain. The mana of a dead God had flowed through her body, washing away the impurities of her mortal flesh to reforge her as a warrior made in his image. Chellien… The name echoed in her mind, bringing forth the image of Aperio turning what was left of the God into a tool to be used by his followers.

"His last wish?" she asked herself, once again inspecting her new coat of fur. "Why would he wish for this?"

With a thought she opened her [Status], tearing her eyes from the drastically increased attributes after a moment of disbelief to focus on the title she had earned.

[Ancestral Witness]

You follow steps of the first Beastkin that survived the Trial of Chellien, the Tortured Soul. A part of the God's strength now resides within you; waiting for you to step on the path of Divinity. You have gazed upon the Creator both past and present, allowing you to witness the truth of the Trial's creation.

Neria closed the window, whipping her head around to face the door as she could feel a presence approaching. This is weird, she thought to herself before the door swung open and Kemeria stepped inside.

"Finally awake, huh?" she asked. "How are you feeling?"

"Weird," Neria replied after a moment. "If I look at something too long, I start to see impossibly small details. It's giving me a headache. I can also somehow tell where you are without looking… I don't even know how I know that."

Kemeria gave a short laugh at her words. "That's normal. Rapid advancement in levels and being knocked out for a week will do that. Just wait until you try to pick something up only to break it. Or just stand up."

Prompted by the woman's words, Neria sat up straight and swung her legs off of the bed she had been resting on. That she had been moved from the ritual chamber to her room had been relegated to the back of her mind as she had been presented with far more important things.

She felt lighter than before, each movement she made somehow easier to perform. Gently pushing herself off of the bed to stand on her legs resulted in her falling forwards, having used far too much strength. The stats weren't lying…

Luckily, strength was not the only thing that had been increased. With a preternatural grace that Neria knew she had never possessed, she twirled twirled once on one foot before firmly planting the other onto the ground.

"This is weird," she mumbled again. "How can I do this?"

"A helping hand from the System," Kemeria replied, a small smile gracing her features. "It wouldn't do if you became stronger only to break everything, including yourself."

"I suppose," Neria replied, looking down at herself and slowly poking her finger into her stomach. How can flesh become this hard? ...Am I even still flesh and blood?

"Calm down,” her mentor said with a little motherly laugh, ”you are still yourself. The ritual only grants you the means to ascend faster, it doesn't change who you are." The words of the older Guardsman calmed Neria a little, even if the change she had undergone was still a bit much for her to take. "What title did you get, anyway? Guardsman? Archivar? Or, perhaps, Rogue?"

"Witness," Neria replied absentmindedly, her hand slowly unsheathing her falchion. So light…

"What level?" Kemeria asked, the slightly higher pitch of her voice causing the newly-minted [Ancestral Witness] to sheathe her weapon and look at the woman.

"Four hundred, why?"

The woman remained quiet for a while, simply staring at Neria. "There haven't been many that received the Witness title; even less that also reached four hundred through the ritual."

"The System said I got it because I 'gazed upon the Creator both past and present, allowing you to witness the truth of the Trial's creation'," Neria said, reciting what the System had told her. "Which doesn't make sense to me. I have seen Aperio, yes, but that was the present. The only time I have seen her in the past was during the ritual, however." Which isn't really the past…

"You should talk to the Keeper again," Kemeria said. "We knew you had contact with the Creator before, but this seems outside expectations."

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Neria nodded slowly, very carefully setting herself down on her bed as she began to actually think about the words the System had given her. Is she watching me? Because I look like someone she knew? She would not put it past Aperio to do such a thing, the Creator seemingly very close to her distant ancestor. At least, if I go by her initial reaction.

"What level did you think I would reach?"

"Two fifty, perhaps three hundred," Kemeria replied. "The ritual grants a lot of power, but what you got is definitely outside the norm. Getting used to your new strength should not take much longer, however. Like you said, you know how to use your new abilities."

"Did you go through this as well?" Neria asked, a thought bringing up her [Status] again. "I had always assumed you only get to be a Guardsman if you are already at a high level; that I would spend the next months or even years training to catch up. Not this."

She wanted to say that only a God could do something like this, but in a way, that was the case. Just that Chellien is dead. That fact just served to illustrate how much stronger a God truly was; even the remains of one able to catapult her to the upper echelons of power in a single push. It just hurts a whole lot.

"Of course I did," Kemeria replied. "But I went in at just above level four hundred; the ritual sent me past five hundred where I have been stuck ever since. The monsters I need to kill to advance further are not as common here."

As she thought about the ritual, something else came to mind. The searing pain, so intense that she expected to die at any moment. "Did someone ever die during the ritual?"

Kemeria shook her head in reply. "No. The worst that happened was a mana burn that took a week of healing to fix. The trial is more a test of spirit than anything else. It judges you and decides if you are worthy to be part of the order. I wasn't lying when I said it's not dangerous."

"The pain was still not something I had ever thought I would have to endure," Neria said. "I felt like I was dying, I think that counts as dangerous."

"Pain is temporary and it alone won't kill you," Kemeria replied with a shrug. "There are far worse things out there."

Neria's mind wandered back to the supposed Demon near the Eternal Forest, the one she had heard about just before she met Aperio. The beings were rare and dangerous, sometimes causing entire cities to be evacuated if a group of them roamed near it. The [Ancestral Guardsmen] had already defended Foderys against a number of attacks from the things.

Nobody knew what they wanted — or if they could even think — as they did not talk and the Gods were unwilling — or unable? — to provide answers.. Neria herself had not spared them too much thought. To her, Demons had just been another dangerous beast she should avoid if she could. Won't get to avoid them anymore now...

"Does the title we receive dictate what we do?" Neria asked, not quite sure if her [Ancestral Witness] would qualify her for the guard duty she had originally sought to do.

"Well," Kemeria began, "yes and no. Usually the title you receive from the ritual is already in line with what you wanted to do. Most people who would want to fight become a Guardsmen and those more inclined towards the academic side of things become Archivists."

She paused briefly, tapping her chin as she stared at nothing in particular. "The last time an Archivist wanted to fight, he was allowed to do so. His title even changed after a few years, almost as if Chellien is still watching."

"Any idea what I might be told to do?" Neria asked as she cautiously made her way to the door, trying to be mindful of her own strength. "Or is it something the Keeper will make up on the spot?"

The more experienced Guardsmen shrugged again in reply. "I don't know, but I'd assume you will be sent out to search for the Creator. That you got a special title because you met her also speaks for that."

"But the only reason she met me was because I look like Moria. ...Not even my mother, but some ancient ancestor."

"You should know that our ancestors live on through us," Kemeria said, stepping beside her charge and putting her hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps the Creator saw her old friend in you."

"She almost crushed me," Neria mumbled, remembering the overbearing embrace the creator had wrapped her in. "Must've missed her pretty dearly."

The sound of laughter coming from her mentor caused Neria to turn her head and look at the woman. While the movement might have been simple in the past, now it caused her vision to swim as she moved far faster than she had anticipated.

"What's so funny?" Neria asked after she caught her bearings again.

"You got a hug from the Creator? I think that should also give you a title!"

A small smile crept onto Neria's lips at Kemeria's reply. There was something about the upbeat attitude of her mentor that was infectious — a quality she very much appreciated at the moment. An onlooker might have mistaken their conversation for nothing more than happy banter with a friend, if they didn't manage to spot the bit of moisture beginning to pool under Neria's eyes.

She might have wanted to join the [Ancestral Guard] to perform a duty she thought worthy, but also to, perhaps, uncover what happened to her mother. Neria had not been as close to her as she would have liked when Moria had disappeared, their last conversation on a sour note as she had not wanted her mother to go on yet another journey right after she had returned.

That Neria had been right in her warning did little to soothe her every time she thought about the conversation. The fact that her mother had disappeared at all weighed on her mind much more than the truth of her words at the time. Years gone and I am still no closer…

"Everything okay?" Kemeria asked, stepping in front of Neria and lifting her head. "That was just a joke, I did not think it would offend anyone."

"You did nothing wrong," the newly risen [Ancestral Witness] replied with a slight shake of her head. "I just remembered something I'd rather not." With those words, Neria stepped past her mentor and opened the door, only damaging the bronze doorknob slightly with her newfound strength. "Just bad memories."

GamingWolf

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