The First Archmage

(Marty)

I'm too stunned to react to him. A Divine needing helping finding their Hero? From what knowledge is available here, a Hero is a Divine's Chosen, someone who has done a lot for them and proven them worthy of special powers.

Shouldn't a Divine be capable of locating their Hero at all times?

What do you do when a god is crying?

I've never even seen a god before! This one's crying! He's just a kid, too!

"Six months ago," he finally starts speaking again. "My Hero just disappeared on me. He entered this region of the world, this continent, and then vanished. He kept appearing and vanishing, and I wasn't really paying attention, then he just vanished for a couple of months! Then he reappeared, and before I could locate him and see what he was doing, he was gone again! I don't know how he can evade my sight, but none of the Divine can locate him! Even the System can't find him! Please help me find him, Martin! Please!"

"Wh-why me?" I stammer out.

"Everyone around here loves quests!" He continues to cry. "They even have that huge Quests Board to post them up on, and most people here are honorable for it! Even though you're new here, you went above and beyond without being asked, and still insisted on the agreed-upon reward! You had no ulterior motives or anything, and just wanted to help them out! You're like the perfect follower, if I had them! Gavin's my only follower, though! Everyone else who knows about me don't worship me, just Gavin, and I really miss his teasing and talks and his presence! Please find him for me!"

"Gavin?"

"My Hero!" He cries. "I picked him out all myself, even hijacked Ekre's offer to him to make the offer, 'cause I didn't want to have to make my own Offering Realm for him, since I've never had a Hero before! He means so much to me, and now he's found a way to evade my sight, and he won't talk to me, and I can't contact him or see his stats or anything! But he's still alive! I'd know if one of my Heroes was dead! Especially Gavin! He's gotta be in this region of the world somewhere! Please find him!"

"This… region of the world?"

"Yeah," he sniffles. "The world has eighteen regions, separated by magical barriers. The 'world' you know is just one of those regions. Gavin knows how to travel between them. No one's left this region, though, so he has to be here somewhere! I know he wanted to train with the Chain Monks! Please help me find him!"

"There's a Gavin-"

"It's not him!" He wails. "I already looked at him! My Gavin's hair is lighter in color, and that one's got all the wrong Classes and stats. My Gavin's hundreds more powerful than him! He'll live for thousands of years, and you'd sense him coming from miles away, he's so powerful! He bows to none, not even Divine, and can force Kings to do what he wants! Only Divine and beings that shouldn't even be in this realm can pose a threat to him, save for the Ultimate Ones!"

Ultimate Ones?

Dragons and the like? He's that powerful?

"But he's missing!" He wails again. "I can't find him anywhere! Please! Find my Hero, Martin! Please!"

Divine Quest Available!

Please find my Hero!

Requirements: Locate Gavin! Please!

Time Limit: None! Please do it, though!

Reward: Level 25 Human! Be my Hero! Please!

He really wants me to do this…

"What if I can't do it?"

"You have to!" He sobs. "I have to believe that you can find him! If you can't, then no one can! Please! He'll have to show himself! He won't be able to just meditate for long periods on his own! He doesn't have the patience for it! He'll have to show himself! Please find him!"

"I'm just a person," I say. "If you – the god who made him a Hero – can't locate him, what can I do?"

"I don't know!" He wails. "Please find him!"

"Can you even have two Heroes?" I ask.

"Yeah!" He sniffles. "As long as they're not the same person."

"As long as… what?" I ask. "How would you accidentally give it to the same person twice?"

"Formshift," he sniffles. "It's not a Skill humans can have without a Divine granting it. I think-I think Ultarna gave it to him, after he helped her out! He's in another form! He's changed his name and his looks and probably adjusted his stats for this form, to make him weaker! But please! I need help finding him! He's someone who can make anyone swear an oath, and his temper is righteous!"

"Um," I frown. "Then how do you know it's not me?"

He gives me a look that says 'it's quite obvious'.

"You're too calm!" He states. "Plus, your LIF is barely above average! Gavin has a tendency to do stuff that causes his LIF to reduce, so he'd never let himself be caught with LIF lower than five hundred!"

From this, one can conclude that Gavin is a human who somehow gained an impossible lifespan. Just what the hell is his Hero?

"Not only that," he sniffles. "But your stats are waaaaaay too low! Gavin prefers to deal with issues by overwhelming them! Your lack of Skills and stats entirely make it impossible for you to be him in any form! That, and Gavin can't gain Experience right now, and you have! So you definitely can't be him!"

"He can't gain Experience?" I ask. "Why not?"

"It's part of an agreement he made with me!" He says. "So that he didn't have to worry about a time limit for his Blood Quest! But he still needs to take care of the demon before time's up, even though that's not part of it! He's only got, like, three years or so left before it breaks free! Please find him!"

He wants me to do something that's probably really, really impossible… and the best candidate for it, he's ruled out.

"Okay," I say. "On one condition."

"What is it?" He sniffles.

"I'm not made a Hero," I say. "It should be something really, really special. I know finding him means a lot to you, and will probably be a feat in and of itself, but he's probably got his reasons for hiding from you, and I wouldn't feel right for becoming a Hero by finding another Hero who is trying to hide from the same Divine that made me a Hero, who is his own Divine. If that makes sense. Plus, having only one Hero makes that Hero so much more special."

"Okay," he sniffles. "How about Champion or Paladin instead?"

"Champion or Paladin?"

"Yeah," he nods. "Well, they're the same thing. You're a Paladin if you're a Divine's Champion. Champion is sort of the same as Hero, but without the powerful buffs they get. Or in the case of a god with few followers like me, the… okay buff. As a Paladin, there would be a few Skills you'd have access to that weren't available elsewhere."

"If you really want to do that," I say. "I'm going to look for him, okay? I don't know how long it'll take, though. If I find him, I'll tell him how much you're missing him and want to talk with him again."

"Thanks," he sniffles, and the Quest changes to reflect the change in reward, only it doesn't reflect that Hero is changed – that disappears entirely. "I changed the Quest."

Class Acquired!

Paladin of Nies 1: A mighty being who has earned the blessing of Nies, the Origin of Quests and Oaths. +5 STR, CHA, CON, LIF each Level

Skill Granted!

Bestowment of Quest Bestowment: Grants the power to turn any Job Board, Quest Board, or Petition Site into an official place for Quests. Any Requests posted there will trigger an official Quest for anyone with Access to the System, even if the petitioner doesn't hold Access. They will still be notified through the System of the Acceptance.

Skill Granted!

Removal of Quest Bestowment: Grants the power to deactivate a Quest Board's official status.

As a Paladin, you will gain access to new Skills every fifth Level of the Class. This Class does not take up a Class Slot. This Class does not have multiple Tiers.

Title Earned!

Champion of Nies: One who has earned the title of the Champion of Nies, the Origin of Quests and Oaths

Skill Granted!

Appraisal 1: The power to Appraise people and monsters, allowing you to see some information about them

So I can acquire up to five more Skills from this Class.

"Thanks so much!" The Divine – Nies – says. "I'm going to go and get some sleep, now. This has been so much work for me, and I just wanna sleep. Prolly gonna sleep through the whole day. Bye."

He sniffles, hugging the tiger tighter, and the four of them walk down the street. Well, the three tigers do, with the child Divine resting atop it.

The barrier around me fades as he passes through it, and everyone looks at me.

"I think I'm returning to the Temple."

I turn and begin walking, making my way to the Temple. Word of the Divine's presence hasn't reached here yet, and I am able to locate a Monk without too much issue.

"Yes, applicant?" He asks.

"I have a question concerning the Divine, sir," I say. "Do you know where I could locate information on them?"

"The Divine?" He thinks for a moment. "They don't interact with us much, so there isn't much known about them. I probably know as much as anyone here, though the one teaching you and the other applicant still behind would know more. What were you wondering?"

"What's an Origin?"

"An Origin Divine?" He asks. "Now that's something I haven't heard in a long time. The Origins are the first Divine – the most powerful of them all. All I know of them stems from rumors, and Adrix would likely have the same answers."

"Rumors are welcome," I say.

"The Origins," he says. "Are supposedly the first Divine, the source of the very fabric of existence. War, Love, Hope, Peace, Dreams, Plants, Animals, Land, Sky – all of them have an Origin, and that Origin is a Divine who came up with it. The only one whose name we know for guarantee is that of Nies, the Origin of Oaths and Quests. Supposedly, he once descended to us upon a magnificent beast, though the name has long since been forgotten to our people. In the form of a boy, he looked. Quiet and untalkative, but one cannot expect a Divine – especially one as ancient and powerful as the source of all Quests – to speak to mere mortals without good reason. What he did here has been forgotten, though it's also said that he never actually did anything, just wandered through here until another Divine showed up and took him away. As no one here worships a Divine, there was little reason for him to have been here in the first place. Why do you ask?"

"Oh," I say. "Uh… the Origin of Quests and Oaths, Nies, showed up while I was in town. He made a request of me while we were there, giving me a Divine Quest to find his Hero."

"Find his Hero?"

"Yes, sir," I nod. "Apparently, his Hero found a way to avoid his gaze six months ago, and has been doing so since then. Nies apparently misses him, and wants him found. He, uh, approached me personally to ask me to find him, though I got the sense that he felt his Hero would find his way to me at some point, for some weird reason."

He shrugs, and says he'll see if the library has anything else on Divine that I can look at, and I make my way to the dorm. A few of the others have returned by then, and are chatting. Those who managed to unlock Aura have their heads shaved already, leaving on Gavin and I with hair.

When I step into the room, they all look at me.

"They say," one of them says. "That the Divine that showed up in town talked to an applicant. Since Gavin's been in the temple all day, and the next session doesn't start for another month or so, we can assume that was you. Did a Divine really approach you?"

"Uh…" What was his name?

"Grant."

"Grant," I nod. "Yeah, he did. He wanted to issue me a Quest, though honestly, I've no clue how I'm supposed to complete it. His Hero – someone he's chosen to represent him, or something – has gone missing, and he can't locate him. Apparently, his Hero decided to hide from him, and figured out a way to do it, and the god really, really misses him. If a god can't do it, how am I supposed to?"

"Why did he pick you for that?" Grant asks.

"No clue," I lie down on my mat. "He just said that he thinks I'll eventually find him, or that he'll come to me, or something. I have no clue what's going on in his head, but he's a Divine, so it's not like I could be expected to understand it. Especially with how infrequently they interact with us."

"True," Grant says.

"I'm going to get some rest," I cover my yawn. "Gavin and I both acquired Meditation today, so we'll begin working towards Aura when our training resumes. We have the next two days free, and I'd like to do Quests while waiting."

They resume talking quietly, and I fall asleep. In the morning, when I go to make my way to town, I'm stopped by a Monk.

"Yes, sir?" I ask.

"Our knowledge on the Divine aren't too great," he says. "But do you know anything about what happened last night?"

"With Nies approaching me?" I ask.

"No," he shakes his head. "I mean about everyone gaining Access to the System."

"Every… everyone?" I try to maintain a normal volume. "Everyone has Access?"

"From what we can tell, yes," he nods. "The timing is highly coincidental."

Blargh. Ekre kicked me out of his realm. He didn't like a dozen tigers napping in his living room.

"Good morning, Nies."

Good morning, Marty, the Divine greets me. I wanted to sleep through today, too.

"Mind if I ask you a question?"

I'd probably enjoy it.

"Did you grant everyone Access during the night?"

Only a rare few beings possess that power. I can name four. One of which is a certain Rift Wolf that keeps interfering with things, one of which is a being that doesn't exist in this universe, one of which is the System itself, and one of which is my Hero, the only remaining being with Access who possesses the Wizard Class. Specifically, he has Archmage, the Fourth Tier of it. He can grant access to… since when did he decide to grant Access to the world? Oh. Huh. He only did it to your region of the world. I didn't even know that was possible. Guess with the world being segmented, and everyone considering their portion of it to be the whole world, since the magic makes you never go too far or just loop around, he was able to. That's confirmation that he's still around, though. The System would never do that, and nor would the other two. On second though, O might, just for shits and giggles. But so would Gavin, so it was probably him.

"Thank you, sir," I say, then apologize to the Monk. "Sorry, sir, Nies began talking to me. He said it was likely his Hero who did it. Because of that, it can be assumed he's in the area."

"His Hero can grant Access to everyone?"

"According to Nies," I nod.

"Very well, then," he nods. "Thank you, Applicant."

He turns and walks away, and I walk down to the Jobs Board. There are only a handful of others at it, all Monks save one, an Adventurer in his forties. I saw him here yesterday, when I was looking at the two Quests.

Since everyone in the world… since everyone in this region of the world has Access, now, then making the Jobs Board an official Quest Board might be a good idea. Help some people out a little.

Placing a hand on the Quest Board, I focus on the power I have now.

"I declare you an Official Quest Board," I say, my voice filled with a power that feels similar to Nies's yesterday.

The Jobs Board glows with a crimson light, which fades after a few seconds, but otherwise remains the same…

Mostly.

In my vision, it's now labeled Quest Board, and has a faint crimson aura around it. In addition, every petition on the board has a sort of look to it that tells me its relative difficulty for me. I don't know how I know it's the relative difficulty for me, just that it is.

When I select a Quest and state that I accept it, a notice appears in my vision, telling me the reward to be obtained, the requirements for it, and that the petitioner has been notified.

I select two more Quests – all three of them require gathering ingredients on the mountain, which I can obtain easily with my current Skill set. Then, I make my way onto the mountain to begin gathering the items for alchemists.

After turning in the first set, I'm handed the reward, and a message appears in my vision.

Quest Completed!

+1 Human Experience!

+1 Paladin Experience!

Is that normal, or no?

When I turn in the other two Quests, I receive the same message, telling me it's normal. The question is if it's exclusive to me, because of my status as Nies's Champion, or if everyone who completes a Quest through the System receives Experience for it.

Listening in on conversations around me and to the Novices at the Temple when I turn in for the night, I determine that no one else earns Experience through completing Quests. That means the extra reward is a bonus to me exclusively.

As I'm falling asleep, a message appears in my vision, and from the murmurs of the Novices in the room, they all received the same message.

System Message to All With Access:

Specialty Classes (Classes that do not take up a Class Slot) will be separated from other Classes from now on

Previous Experience Distribution: Performing actions relating to any Class can earn Experience. If it does, Experience was split between all Classes, with the majority of it going to your Primary Class.

From now on, it goes solely to the Class or Classes that allowed the Experience to be gained, using the same distribution as before.

This will be a nerf in some areas, and a boost in others.

"Nies?" I ask hesitantly.

Yes?

"Do you know about what just happened?"

Yeah – the System hit all of us with it, too. He broadcasted it to everyone who had Access to the System, as well as all Divine, so that we were aware of the change.

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

Not really. The System decided that, since my Hero is being such a bully to me, he's going to do this. It's not like Gavin's even capable of earning Experience right now, but he abused a massive bonus he has to Experience in Dungeons to basically grind out his Classes to insane heights. He's got multiple Tier IV Classes. At least it doesn't affect his friends… that would really suck.

"His friends?"

They're utilizing something in another region called 'Grind Arenas'. You kill monsters in 'waves', which is where set amounts of set monsters come out, with brief rests – or not – between them. In the Grind Arenas, there are rests. Once you finish a wave, you gain Experience based on how well you did – the easier the wave was for you, the less Experience you'll gain. Faking a struggle doesn't work. It distributes it the normal way, so earlier Levels will just flood the first Primary Class for more powerful people. They actually got a revamp about nine or so months ago. Gavin'd probably be a little irritated, if he found out about it.

Anyway, it ignores whether or not you're doing stuff that would boost the Classes to gain that Experience. Someone who has Alchemy and Blacksmithing as their Classes would still gain Experience if they shot up the monsters with arrows. So his team won't be affected by this. I'm hoping he tries going to them, to see how they are handling this, just so I can tackle him in a hug and tell him he needs to stop being a meanie.

Anyway, he sighs. This is a lot of talking for me. Bye.

He stops talking, and I settle back into my mat, then realize that every other trainee in the room is focused on me. I open my eyes and look at them.

"Can I help you?"

"Did he tell you why that happened?"

"Apparently," I say. "The System didn't like his Hero abusing the fact that he could gain a bunch of Experience using magic for Classes that didn't involve it. It's been coming for more than a year, though. The System was probably making sure it had everything adjusted properly before actually implementing the change."

After that, they let me get to sleep. I know they have more questions, but having a Divine's chosen around is new to everyone here, and so they want to avoid upsetting the Divine by not letting its chosen sleep.