Chapter 5-144: A Question of the Heavens (1/2)

Sama rolled her eyes, tugged up her shirt, and displayed the set of Marks spaced evenly around her killer waist and abs. Nymphs, succubi queens, and sirines got together and made a Rantha Hag, indeed... No, no, all the boys weren’t suddenly looking in this direction and imagining putting their hands on that...

She transferred the Intellect Mark to her palm, held it out to me. I turned my shoulder, and she slapped it on.

There was a catalytic popping of eldritch energy, and whatever pure energy was used to empower what had formerly been a Demonic Boost was infused into the Tat there.

Eight days to power up to the first tier, assuming I earned some Karma to feed it... and then it started glowing a soft white and grey.

I turned a critical eye on it as the incoming energy shifted, and the nature of it.

Sama noticed the oddity as well. “That’s not empowering correctly. Not Slotless and Typeless?” she asked calmly.

“Still Slotless.” I flicked up Detect Magic, and examined the nature of the energy that was fading, but still present. “Sacred bonus... it’s stealing energy from my Shroudborn Ur-link and investing it as Divine energy...”

“Well, that should save you some time, then.” Down to five days, probably. And my Favored by Faith would proc off it, too...

The original Succubi bonus was Profane, anti-Sacred, so this wasn’t totally unexpected.

I dug out five more golden plates with symbols familiar to her on them, and she just laughed softly as she saw them. She took them and pressed them to the Marks around her hips, and they glittered softly as they actualized.

“How’d you get a Mark to stick on The Mick?” I had to ask. No way a basic Tat-Mark of hers could stick on a Powered.

“Carved it into his nasal cavity.” She opened her mouth, and golden light glittered at the end of her tongue. That damn thing could extend to six feet long, and punch right though someone’s head, according to her Stat block. “Longest kiss he’s ever had,” she winked at me.

“Given how old he is, that’s something!” I bopped knuckles with her, and we shared a grin. “I’m probably going to get him to swear to me at some time. That cool with you?”

She just waved her hand. “I can’t use the Allegiance system, so knock yourself out. Powered should be with Powered, in the end.”

It was true, and Primos and Forsaken were best led by their own... and Sources drove the world as Powered manipulated (destroyed?) things. Working together, we became a nigh-irresistible force. In competition, we self-destructed...

“So, what was Sama’s relationship to the Aelryinth you came from?” Sama asked archly.

“Basically, she and Briggs headed up his Forsaken military forces, and she used her Marks to train a lot of people in skills they needed to survive in a magical world. Most people considered her the most dangerous woman on the planet,” I informed her calmly.

She sort of frowned. “She was your Vassal?” she exclaimed. “To Aelryinth? The Ringlord who couldn’t make another Ring?”

I just smirked at her slightly. “You’re not remembering things properly. What was the biggest thing contributing to Sama Rantha becoming The Tip of the Spear?”

“I was the toughest damn bitch in the game!” she answered firmly.

“Because?...” I prodded.

She opened her mouth, shut it, and thought about the reply. “Because I found the secret to getting a Vajra.” I made a ‘go on’ gesture. “And I got Sustained...” she trailed off.

“And who was the first person in the game to become Sustained?” I went on.

She pursed her lips in sudden shock. “Oh, shit...” Her eyes got really wide after a moment. “There’s no damn way he quit the game as a Nine after that long...”

“No, he was an unranked Ten,” I admitted.

“Fuuuuck. I don’t wanna ask. I don’t. Shit! How Deep?...”

“M.”

“M,” she repeated, staring at me blankly. “And then magic came, and he was suddenly a Rank M Deep Ten in real life from mundania...”

“Pretty much.”

“So... how the Hells was he only a Fifteen?” she demanded. “That Deep... nobody could possibly have rivalled him!”

“He had to share the Karma of saving the world with a hundred thousand other people.”

Her mouth opened, closed again. “Well, then, that would sure take a bit longer to get somewhere, wouldn’t it?” she asked rhetorically, blinking a few times.

“And they did such a good job, the major threats to the population were all gone, and the new ones coming in were best handled by lower Levels also eager for the Karma. Gaining Levels came from basically Quest Awards. Plus, when you’re feeding that many Classes, well, it’s the exact opposite of Ironskulling.”