Divine Awakening

"You're a little jumpy," Bruja said.

"You came out of nowhere."

The little goddess’s clone displayed the same attitude as the original. Bruja put her hands on her hips. "How can I come out of nowhere when I'm everywhere?"

Ash didn't care to argue the semantics. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Somewhat. I believe the combination of your chakra magic and the template I gave you caused the local system to reactivate. The output referenced an activation key."

"Local system? What is that? Did you know this was going to happen?"

The little girl placed a hand over her mouth, and her eyes widened in mock surprise. "Me? Predict this situation? Honestly, what do you think I am? Some type of witch?"

Despite the little girl being the clone of a goddess, Ash’s Throat chakra confirmed the sarcasm of her reply.

Nomad's voice appeared in Ash's head. Do you know what's happening? Should we retreat?

"Are we safe?" Ash asked Bruja.

"Yes, for now."

Getting some information right now, Ash responded. I'll fill you in shortly, but we are safe at the moment.

"Can you please explain what's happening?" Ash asked Bruja.

"I can't know for sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say this dungeon has been dormant and running on autopilot. Your appearance, coupled with the templates, has activated the dungeon’s System, making things much easier for me and Persephone. I’m talking with the outer layer of the dungeon’s protocol as we speak. It's not very trusting, perhaps even less than me. It will take some time before I speak with the dungeon core itself."

"What are we supposed to do until then?"

"I’ve explained the situation to the dungeon, and it's activating its tutorial."

A pop-up filled Ash's vision.

"You're welcome," the Bruja said.

"Thanks, Bruja." Ash focused on Nomad. Our bracelets are communicating with the dungeon, and it's providing us some information. We should all go through it right now.

Roger that, Nomad replied. I'll let everyone know. Ping me once you have new information or are ready to move.

Sure thing.

Ash focused on the new pop-up:

Do you wish to view the tutorial?

Yes or No

Ash chose Yes, and a new pop-up appeared containing a list of details.

- Gain levels by surviving Underworld

- One spell point awarded per level gained. These points are redeemed for a new spell or to increase the power of an existing spell.

- At level 5 a dungeon Boon becomes available

- At level 10 Classes become available to access more powerful spells.

- At level 20 Subclasses become available

- At level 30 Specializations become available

- At level 40 Foci become available

- At level 50 Paths become available

- Spell point allocations can be reset every 10 levels beginning at level 10

- General loot drops immediately

- Currency awarded based on participation

- Currency redeemable at dungeon pylons for merchant goods and class-specific armor, weapons, and spells.

Ash read the list three times before dismissing the information. This all seemed crazy.

A new icon appeared at the bottom of his vision, and it expanded into a text log.

More Notifications appeared, mirrored in the new log.

Ding!

Congratulations Child of Enlightenment! You have reached level 1!

1 Spell Point Awarded.

1 Attribute Point Awarded.

Ping!

You have gained the following Title...

Title: Foolhardy

Quality: Uncommon

Requirement: Enter the Underworld.

Attribute Bonus: +1 All Attributes

Ping!

You have gained the following Title...

Title: Mark of Eiru

Quality: Legendary

Requirement: Bear the sigil of the Goddess Eiru

Attribute Bonus: +5% Wisdom, +5% Intelligence, +3% Awareness

Resistance Bonus: +5% Mental, +3% Spiritual

Effect (Passive): Activation of the Helping Hand quest line.

Effect (Passive): Suffer 5% additional damage from Dark, Death, and Chaos aligned creatures.

Effect (Passive): +5% additional damage to all physical attacks on Dark, Death, and Chaos aligned creatures.

Effect (Passive): Hostile Disposition to all Dark, Death, and Chaos alignments.

Effect (Passive): Unarmed attacks considered magical damage.

Ping!

You have gained the following Title...

Title: Chosen

Quality: Legendary

Requirement: Disciple of Pen

Requirement: Possess a feather of Quetzalcóatl

Attribute Bonus: +20% to Nimbleness

Effect (Passive): Activation of the Qhapaq quest line.

Effect (Passive): Dungeon Currency award +10% per level.

Effect (Triggered): Slowfall - once per day control speed of any fall for 1 second per level.

Ping!

You have gained the following Title...

Title: Legacy

Quality: Mythical

Requirement: Sinner’s Blood

Attribute Bonus: +20% Constitution, +20% Strength

Resistance Bonus: +20% Physical

Effect (Passive): Activation of the Brother’s Keeper quest line.

Effect (Passive): Suffer 50% additional damage from blunt weapons.

Effect (Passive): Restless Wanderer - after a number of hours equal to current level have passed in one location, the soil is cursed and no longer able to support growth. This effect is cumulative and does not reset. Affects a spherical area with a radius of 1,000 feet divided by level.

Effect (Passive): Penance - Once per day fatal damage is ignored.

Effect (Triggered): Sevenfold Curse - once per day reflect 7 times the damage taken for 7 seconds.

The title didn't come with a yes or no pop-up and was automatically accepted and applied. Ash read through the titles again, horrified and confused.

Bruja had continued into the tunnel and currently studied the inscriptions that covered the walls, which looked like hieroglyphics to Ash.

"Did you see these titles?" Ash asked.

"Yeah. Had I known you were such a mess, I wouldn't have agreed to do this. What's Sinner’s Blood?"

"You're asking me? Isn't that what I have you for, to tell me what this stuff means?"

"Well, it doesn't sound good. The title’s quality is mythical, which means this dungeon is far more than it appears. It also doesn't seem to like you." The Bruja looked thoughtful. "That is a point in its favor."

"Christ on a candlestick, I'm barely in this dungeon, and it's already giving me plenty of reasons to hate it. Did you see the one where I kill all the plants around me? How am I going to go home now?"

"That was a doozy. It's cumulative too and doesn't reset, meaning every time you return to a place, the timer starts where it left off. Brutal."

"Are you kidding me right now? Are you gonna be helpful at all? How do I fix this? Please tell me the titles go away when I leave this cursed dungeon."

"The titles go away when you leave this cursed dungeon."

Ash's Throat chakra flared. "Did you just lie to me?"

Bruja turned away from the hieroglyphics and locked gazes with Ash. "I told you what you asked me to say."

"Jesus Mary and Joseph, I actually thought you might be helpful."

Bruja grinned at Ash. "There's a difference between what you want and what you need."

“That Legacy title has an effect called Penance that keeps me from dying. How can it do that?”

“A lot of ways. It could revive your body before your Soul escapes, or maybe capture your Soul and make you an identical body, or place a shield on you, or alter the damage you experience, maybe rewind the local timeline, or—”

Ash raised his hands, and interrupted Bruja. “Okay, I get it. That seems really powerful. Like god stuff.”

“Some of it is. I can’t wait to see which method gets used.”

The chat had exploded with conversation as everyone excitedly discussed spells, and Ash focused on that as a distraction from the little goddess getting under his skin.

A few mentioned the Foolhardy title in chat, and it appeared everyone had gotten that. If anyone had received additional titles, they didn't mention it.

The quest icon under Ash’s map showed a faint halo, and he knew the three quest lines his extra titles unlocked were now there.

From the conversations, it appeared the bands Persephone controlled didn’t yet display people’s attributes. Everyone decided to hold the attribute point in reserve until they had more information.

Ash had the same pop-up in his vision.

Do you wish to allocate your attribute point?

Yes or No

Ash chose No, and another pop-up immediately appeared.

Do you wish to allocate your spell point?

Yes or No

Ash chose Yes, and a large Notification appeared detailing his choices.

You have one available spell point. Spell points may be spent on new spells or added to existing spells to increase their power. All spell points can be reset every 10 levels starting at level 10. New spells will become available as you level.

Name: Frostbite

Description: Releases a chilling blast that numbs and slows an enemy’s movement.

Max Charges: 4

Recharge Rate: 15 minutes per charge

Damage: 6-12 cold damage

Range: 60 feet

Effect: Reduces target’s movement speed by 10% for 5 seconds.

Name: Minor Healing Touch

Description: Restores a small amount of health to a wounded ally.

Max Charges: 5

Recharge Rate: 5 minutes per charge

Range: Physical Contact

Effect: Heals 10% base health.

Name: Stone Skin

Description: Hardens the caster’s skin, temporarily increasing their defense.

Max Charges: 3

Recharge Rate: 20 minutes per charge

Effect: Increases Physical AC by 10 for 10 minutes.

Name: Piercing Projectile

Description: Enchants an arrow, bolt, or bullet to pierce through armor, dealing extra magical damage.

Max Charges: 10

Recharge Rate: 3 minutes per charge

Damage: +2 piercing damage

Effect: Ignores 2 points of target’s AC.

Name: Call of the Wild

Description: Summons a small animal companion to aid the caster temporarily.

Max Charges: 1

Recharge Rate: 60 minutes per charge

Effect: Summons a small creature to assist the caster for 30 minutes.

Name: Mirror Image

Description: Creates illusory duplicates of the caster, confusing enemies.

Max Charges: 3

Recharge Rate: 20 minutes per charge

Effect: Summons 2 illusory duplicates that last for 5 minutes or until damaged.

Name: Repair Minor Object

Description: Mends a small broken item such as a weapon or tool.

Max Charges: 10

Recharge Rate: 15 minutes per charge

Effect: Restores 5 Durability.

Name: Spirit Touch

Description: Conjures a ghostly skeletal hand to drain the life from a target.

Max Charges: 4

Recharge Rate: 15 minutes per charge

Range: 60 feet

Damage: 8-12 necrotic damage

Effect: Target cannot regenerate health for 30 seconds.

Ash stared at the list in disbelief. Although many would consider his chakra abilities magic, they overlooked the years of dedicated work invested to master such feats. This was completely different.

This was real magic.