SB: Chapter 198 – A Carefully Considered Choice (Patreon)

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

In the end practicality won out. “Does Compass of Desire respond to my thoughts?” I asked.

“It is a divination type skill. It is a bit difficult to use. But it will see you to what you want. But it can get confused the more complicated your desire. The simpler the desire, the better the skill works. It will allow you to get back to your home and find things that you wish to find. An incredibly powerful divination skill and one of the better ones. Is that your choice?”

It wasn’t the best choice. But it was a practical and useful choice. I could spend years with no way to get home and die of starvation. Becoming a lost soul in this part of the dungeon like Illian.

I could also ask that skill to lead me to where I could learn the other two skills. While the other two had no chance of teaching me the other offered skills. That was why I felt like it was the best pick out of the three. It helped me right away, while also offering long term benefits that were versatile.

“Yes, that is my choice. But before we leave this place, can you tell me about your people or this Great War?” I asked.

“It is not my place to say. Time has moved on. Some things are best left forgotten. But I can sense your curiosity. There once was a Great Evil. The Seraphim fought against it and its minions. We emerged victorious at great cost, including my life,” she said.

“My condolences,” I replied.

“It was my choice. A necessary choice. But now the last remnant of me is almost gone. The world that once was, no longer is. This continent carries the scars of the Great War from long ago and the minions of the Great Evil. Time changes all and it has been a long time. The living change, the dead do not.”

“What is at the bottom of the depths?” I asked the question everyone wanted to know.

“Dangerous knowledge. Knowledge that only those with strength deserve to possess. If you possess the strength, then you can go and find that knowledge. But knowing will do you no good without the strength to truly understand.”

“I am guessing you will say something similar to my other questions,” I said and Intrepid Spirit smiled at me.

“Indeed. Our time now comes to an end Young Justin. Before I give you the two skills, I will impart one last piece of advice. If you ever meet another Seraphim named Glorious Light, let him know that his poetry could use some work in its evocative imagery,” she said.

“I will remember that,” I replied while committing those words to memory.

“Then I wish you luck in your quest,” she said. I was about to thank her, but she was suddenly in front of me. Her hand shot out and dove into my head.

Everything spun.

I stumbled back from the corpse in front of me, back in the chamber under the tomb room. “Are you okay?” Lanner gasped out.

I didn’t answer as I felt two new skills settle onto my soul.

Tier 3: Compass Of Desire

Tier 7: Seraphim Quest(C)

The Compass Of Desire was weird. It was different from any other skill I had gotten. It felt more elusive, like oil on top of water. Constantly shifting, but still grouped together. How the Mana was used as part of the skill would take a long time to understand.

The curse skill Seraphim Quest was like a chain strapped to my heart. I knew that if I didn’t destroy the blade in front of me, I would die a horrible death with absolute certainty. A Tier 7 curse, there was no chance of ever breaking that. Not even in my wildest dreams.

And the person who had created it was already dead. The sheer power of the Seraphim was immense. I wouldn’t be ignoring the book my father had given me after this. I looked down at Intrepid Spirit’s corpse. Her hands had unclenched from the blade’s hilt.

Her corpse seemed lesser. The Mana that had covered her body was no longer present. I reached out for the longsword. I grabbed its sheath just below the hilt and lifted it. It was a struggle. The blade was insanely heavy even with my stats. I reached out with a second hand to help lift it up.

I lifted it off her corpse. I noted a tiny gold string made of Mana wrapped around the hilt and the sheath. Something to stop the blade from falling out or being casually drawn. I put a hand on the hilt and the blade didn’t budge.

The sheath was some kind of metal I had no clue about. The Mana coming from the blade was a large amount. The ground shook slightly and my Danger Sense began to rapidly increase.

“We need to leave, quickly,” I said. The cursed skill tugged me in one direction and my desire to leave the dungeon had my other new skill tug me in a different direction. As we exited the tunnel we had made, my Danger Sense was growing.

The tomb remained closed. That meant monsters were moving towards us and the tomb hadn’t opened up. The dungeon was annoyed at this sword. “Monsters from the tunnels,” I called out. Ozy was sealing up the tunnel’s hole that we had used.

While tempting to try and take Intrepid Spirit’s corpse and clothing, I didn’t dare. After what I had just experienced, the danger of offending another Seraphim was too great compared to whatever I might have gotten.

I tried to put the cursed longsword into my spatial pouch, but it didn’t go in. “Dammit,” I cursed and put it on the ground and drew my Reforged Beginner’s Blade. It felt a bit shabby with a Tier 7 weapon lying on the ground next to my feet.

The monsters were almost upon us from the tunnels. I had been prepared for something like this. In case the tomb opened and the surrounding area flooded with Mana. I hadn’t been expecting it was all from the sword, which I now had to destroy.

I activated the traps. The tunnels filled with fire and the screams of the monsters as they were incinerated. The battle had been won, but we needed to get to the higher layers as quickly as possible; otherwise, we would be overrun eventually by the monsters.

“What happened in there?” Lanner asked as the traps ended and the monsters had all been wiped out. “You touched the woman and then stumbled back.”

“Instantly?” I asked in surprise and then confirmed with my Temporal Sense. He was right.

“Yes,” Lanner said.

I explained what had occurred. I left out the fact that I had been given the choice of a skill. That would just create resentment and drama. Instead, I indicated I had been forced to take up this quest and had been cursed to complete it.

I felt a bit bad about lying, but I knew if I said I got a super rare and amazing skill there would be jealousy. While it was my right as the team leader, I knew how this kind of thing would go. When someone got something that others didn’t have, it would build resentment. We couldn’t afford that at the moment.

Completing this quest quickly was the priority. I felt Compass of Desire shift in the same direction as Seraphim Quest. Like a gentle tug pointing in a certain direction. Thinking of the nearest exit passage and how I wanted to leave quickly shifted the Compass of Desire.

I thought of the Eldarin continent and home. The Compass of Desire was much slower to adjust and seemed to move aimlessly for a while before finally settling on a direction. It was clear more complicated desires were more difficult to pinpoint.

Focusing on the nearest natural treasure caused the skill to just spin about without a clear direction. That was annoying, but not surprising, since the dungeon was constantly changing. The skill didn’t lock the dungeon in place, but guided me. I had no idea how it would get me back to the Eldarin continent, but the fact that it could was a huge relief.

I hadn’t picked a bad skill, and Intrepid Spirit hadn’t lied to me. Also, the skill was only level 1. As it improved, it might be able to pick up on more difficult requests more quickly.

My mind went back to the new choice I had. Leaving the dungeon quickly would get me to the surface, but not in a location near this forge and machine I needed to find. While the direction through the dungeon was the quickest route to the nearest passage that was closest to the forge on the surface.

I needed a passage to the surface that no one was near. This forge was probably an important location and there was a strong possibility there would be a demon somewhere nearby.

While moving on the surface would make the sword a beacon, at least I could leave it behind somewhere and check the situation first. I couldn’t leave the sword in the dungeon and return to it.

I would be fine as long as the sword wasn’t drawn from its sheath. That was the trigger for the curse skill on me. Hiding it away in some hole was the best option while I took my time locating this forge.

Heck, I could hide the sword and then come back for it later on. While Seraphim Intrepid Spirit had made the quest seem urgent, I wasn’t overly concerned. As long as I buried it on the surface and used runic circles to contain the Mana, it would be fine.

I could come back a decade from now without issue. The exit from the dungeon I had created seemed like the best option. I could hide the sword in the mountains away from the entrance to the dungeon that was in the White Waste.

Then I could take Lanner to the Eldarin continent and wouldn’t be responsible for him anymore. While I liked the gnome, it would be nice to move at my own pace without having to worry about him.

And destroying the sword would be incredibly difficult. It was like a beacon of Mana. Anyone sensitive to Mana would be able to spot it. That meant demons would be attracted to it for sure, just like all these monsters.

I picked up the cursed longsword. It was heavy, very heavy. I was definitely going to gain a stat point or two in strength from just carrying it about. Even if I couldn’t use it as a blade, I could swing it like a club and crush weaker monsters with it.

“This way,” I said, and we began to move towards a tunnel. The blade was only triggering monsters from nearby chambers, not two chambers like the war mech had. That was a small mercy. If it triggered that many monsters, this would become much more difficult.

I set the cursed longsword down to the side in the tunnel the moment my Danger Sense began to grow. I pulled out my blade and began preparing for the wave of monsters to charge at us.

“Get ready for a large wave of monsters,” I said as I completed the runic circle. The monsters reached the entrance of the tunnel. Flames shot forward, helped by Ozy. The monsters were burnt to a crisp.

That used up half my Mana. I needed to rest a bit before we continued. While I wanted to hurry to the surface to hide the cursed longsword, rushing would only invite trouble. I couldn’t afford to get overwhelmed and had to take things chamber by chamber.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter