Chapter 9-296: Of Creation and Mortals (1/2)
The sky washed silver in an instant, flashing clear to the horizon and beyond. The souls trapped within were pushed gently aside, and for a second, silver lightning flashed through the Shroud all around the globe. Countless millions of undead paused, and turned their heads to the sky, staring at the Light that was there, a brightness moving through the Shroud that did not belong, and told all who gazed upon it a new story.
The Light told the tale that the Shroud was not absolute. That the Shroud could be defied. That there were other Powers out there who could reach into the Shroud and let it know that it, too, was going to end. That its invincibility was a lie.
Some stared in yearning. Some quaked in fear. And others, in the darkest places, raged with hate.
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In Detroit, everyone but me was gaping despite themselves.
Caster Level of 72. Counterspell check of +88.
I tossed in Sudden Widen and Sudden Extend at the end, because why not?
The Shroud here was working at around 40 or 41. I crashed all its resistance to the magic, swept it aside, and did so for every level of the magic that I could reach, aided by all the power of the Ritual to extend it beyond just the cloud of the Haze to everything else that could be overcome, at least for a short time.
For 144 miles in radius, the Haze was forced back and away, and the full glory of the alien sky was viewable by tens of millions of people. It would last for 144 hours; six days, day and night, and there was not a damn thing the Shroud could do about it.
We had taken the power of the darkest night of the year, conversely when Silver Magic was at its darkness-defying strongest, and set the night on fire.
The people gawked at the blazing stars, at constellations never seen before, the plays of color that had not been there in the stories, and at nebulae and other whorls in the sky that were brighter and grander than reality could be.
A galaxy of magical stars, and all their wonder.
And as they all gawked and stared, I Sent a follow-up spell out there.
This was, of course, an opportunity for me to exploit, while the Shroud above was at its weakest, and reeling from the kind of magic it totally didn’t expect to see here.
The Spell was a Sending, Raised to Seven, and punching through the greatly-weakened Divinatory Ward aspect of the Shroud.
There were things I wanted to get out there and relate to the greater universe. Alerting the gods would do no good, nor any of their Divine servants, as the Shroud would wipe anything I said away even as they received it.
Nope, I was Sending this out to Aelryinth. A VII with the spiritual resonance of me being once a part of him? No problem for the spell finding him, wherever he was. If it wasn’t for the Shroud, I’d have contacted him two months ago!
First, I was letting the doofus know that the hunks of Karma he’d hacked off himself were all viable souls on their own, with independent identities and enough Karma to fast-Level. As I was the first, I didn’t have any awareness of the others, but he certainly would!
Second, I also informed him that some Entity was pulling a fast one, likely the same one that had made Pentara aware of Terra-Luna, and was likely planning something horrible for this Shrouded world.
Third, I informed him of the incredible news that Theurgic Levels could be stacked on top of a Primary Class, as long as Faux Levels exceeded the Primary Class, and also that Racial Levels allowed an easy way to break the Barriers of Six and Ten, given Karmic Accruals, i.e., the Double Helix Method.
Fourth, and very, very importantly, I informed him of the Paradigm for instituting the Human and other Racial Classes, and the Cultivation atmosphere that had made it possible to discern. It would totally revolutionize the civilian population of Terra-Luna.
Fifth, I told him Windgraf Mochtal was here and trapped under the Shroud. His Clan would want to know he was alive, at least.
Sixth, I noted I had just Discerned the dimensional coordinates of this place and would be erecting a Pyramid Beacon before the Shroud came down, so that contact could be made to this alternate Earth I was on and Terra-Luna.
Seventh, Traits were a thing! And this was how you took them! And Archmage and Hierophant Levels, and there was probably more high-Level shit that I hadn’t run into!
Eighth, it was possible for men to be affected by Amazon Pacts... and yes, they turned into Amazons when it happened, as Master Fred had proven. The Goddesses involved would simply need to agree...
Ninth, for some bloody strange reason there was a Sama Rantha and Briggs here who had their game templates but nothing else, tied to a custom version of the Hag Curse, and with it their own custom Legendary-class Racial Class...
Tenth, Duskstopped and DawnstoppedSpells at the same time were possible via Versatile Channeling on one person...
Eleventh, hoo-boy, I laid out the entire Magus Class, its Pool, the Pool Mastery, and the potential infinite mana loop of slaughter of Ghost-Eating Ki.
Twelfth, Craft Theurgy and using Alchemical Bombs to boost Combat Magic was totally possible, here’s how...
Thirteenth, basic Witch Arcane Bonded Rings served as spellbooks!
Fourteenth, Wishing for Hats of Difference under the Shroud was a fine workaround for allowing Outsiders to retain memories and apply their earned Karma instead of remaining stagnant!
Lastly, that I was bound to the Shroud as an Ur-Priest, what THAT could do, and would likely be sent to a new Shrouded world to start freeing that one from the Shroud when this one came down. If he could arrange for some help/company/communication somehow after that time, I would really appreciate it!
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Naturally even a Sending at VII couldn’t contain all that information properly, which meant I had enlisted the help of Gregori to compress it.
I was exceedingly, superhumanly smart, but I was still barred from technology because it was mostly useless to me and a waste of skill points, if I was reading the Shroud correctly.