Sinatro
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Chapter 89 (Bk 2). Interlude 1
🕑 Added 2025-05-27 16:00:09 +0000 UTCA/N: Because keeping a rigid story structure has been much harder than I thought. I'm trying to do a whole act of setup, and then another act for fun and games, and then the final act. Which this time should be explosive and cathartic and the whole deal.
Two months ago.
Nazerick Azeranth had been stuck in this hell for years. And she had been to the true hell once, so she had a valid reference point.
She might have been exaggerating on the years a bit. She was too weak to last year's in time dilation yet.
She sighed and prepared to head back into her secluded meditation. She still had hundreds of treasures to consume after all. She was stark naked, hidden in a warded cave in an S rank tier ten dungeon. One of the most precious resources in the multiverse, and that man had thrown it at her like it was nothing.
It was probably nothing to him. Riches were his domain after all. The guardian of wealth.
She spread the tattoos over her body like she'd been shown. She intoned the nonsensical chant he'd suggested. It was all bullshit, she knew. He did not have any profound love for cultivating a peaceful mind. He was just imitating those Dao enthusiasts.
Still, it needed to be done if she was going to make the most of her spirit core’s shift. She needed to get her trait in order. To mutate it. Yearning was all good, and greed or gluttony or lust even better, but for her he had seen another path.
Wealthy promise. The planned new trait for her. People yearned for wealth, had been his reasoning. She was perfect. The perfect disciple after his disappointing children.
She got ready to start the damn dance like movements. At least they were a true casting of body refinement. The spiritual component of her trait was difficult to work without a soul architect so they had decided to use a body refinement technique with spiritual nurturing natural treasures mixed in.
It was too slow. Nazerick doubted she'd be finished in time. After her dance, she lay panting on the floor. Her body spent, her spirit wrung out. There was still work to do. No rest except when she could not move anymore. Saving her future was worth this much effort.
She was just about to take the concept boosting fruit in today's crate when reality shook.
The next second, she was in a whole new place. Gentle hands caressed her exhausted body. There was a silk gown covering her body. She could feel the cloth rubbing on her skin where hands lifted her.
“I see you were telling the truth,” a gravelly voice spoke, boisterous and deep, yet somehow melodic.
She looked up. Her eyes met the golden orbs on the scaly face. The man was grinning, showing off a mouth full of canines.
“Unfortunately, it is almost the time you told me your clan will be departing. I have had someone keep an eye on them, and they appear to be preparing for war.”
Yes, Nazerick remembered. To capture the infinite castle from the Essence spawned characters that weren't truly alive.
“It is sad I will be unable to continue watching over your growth,” then the damn overgrown lizard smiled wider somehow. “I quite enjoyed your singing. You've come a long way.”
His teasing meant nothing to her. She couldn't seem to conjure up any feelings. This was her first plan. It had failed. She was months away from mastering her new trait. Months away at best. Her dreams were crushing down around her already, but there was a back up plan.
There was that one human. Choi Hansook, if she recalled correctly. He was fairly impressive at first. A curiously competent F grade human. Only, he had remained on the first floor of the tower for months.
They had thought he was scared. That he was nothing special, especially as he hadn't been on the list the spy had given them. But then he'd exploded up the tower a few weeks before Rafael Kingsley himself had appeared, and they'd finally realised why he had stayed on the first floors for a long time.
He had gained skills and treasures they didn't know were hidden right under them. And then he'd started to dominate them. He had had a promising future, but he had died when the true apocalypse that was Devila Vors appeared.
They had never learned how he'd used the tower. How he'd learned its secrets. He wasn't the only human who had assumed knowledge of the tower. Too bad the owners of the tower had changed, and so the ill prepared front runners had been culled, but not him.
Her back up plan was to follow him more closely. Steal his opportunities. She needed an immediate boost in power. Her experience was all well and good, but nothing would beat a good boost. And she had potentially crippled her biggest advantage for nothing, it seemed.
“Why are you looking all gloomy?” the man on his pedestal asked. “Ah, you must be exhausted. Feed her a relaxant, won't you?”
She took the potion gratefully, and it wasn't much longer before she was all better. She went to bow and express her thanks and beg her leave, but then the god's lazy smile disappeared as he whipped his head to the side.
“We don't have much time,” he said in a rush. “I can't let her see you. Here, have this.”
A ring materialised next to her. Nazerick was confused at first, but then she held it. She couldn't contain the gasp it elicited from her. Storage items were not a rarity. They were quite common.
But F grade storage items never had this much space. F grades could only use equipment crafted by other F grades. For an F grade ring to have space of almost fifty square metres, a special, elite crafter must have been hired. And for that space to be filled to the brim was nothing short of divine. Or maybe guardian level?
“I…ah,” she couldn't come up with what to say. “What is this?”
“What?! What are you asking?” the god asked, outraged. “Did you think that training was over just because I won't be watching you anymore? Well think again. Obviously I won't force you into anything, but something tells me I don't need to. I am a shrewd businessman. I would rather hoard my wealth. When I do decide to invest in something, I decide after a lengthy period of consideration. I know what I saw in you, girl.”
Now Nazerick was completely floored. She just stood there, looking at the smug looking humanoid dragon.
“Oh, enough of that disbelief. I said you were my favourite student. Mostly because your voice improved over all these months of chanting,” the man doubled over laughing on his chair. It was only for a second though. “Now, I have put a storage skill modified with an inventory screen in the ring. Your soul is too tattered to learn it right this instant, and a merchant needs that much at least.”
Her eyes widened. Her words almost failed her. A storage device was one thing. A storage skill though. Those were as rare as someone having a quest system. But that wasn't what gobsmacked her.
“A merchant?” she asked.
“And not just any merchant. One of mine. Welcome to the cool kid's club, young one, I'm truly proud of you.”
“But…” she scrambled for something to say, anything. “What should I do with the upcoming guardian?”
The god lost his smile. His all round jovial attitude was a thing of the past. His gaze froze her. He was a predator. Sometimes she forgot that, with how he liked to make jokes about his hoard and all that.
“Listen to me very carefully, disciple,” he said, and she could only nod in response. “No matter what you do…”
She gulped, ready to take on the impossible task of fighting the nascent guardian. The power house. The champion of the multiverse. If her master said it, she would try her very best. She would have preferred otherwise, but it was unlikely they were going to be friendly anyway. Besides, she hated him. He had killed her in the future.
“Have fun and create a legendary hoard of treasure.”
She nodded in understanding. Then froze. Surely she had heard wrong. She went to ask a question but then the god waved a hand and she found herself in the ways once again, this time traveling much faster than when she'd had to sneak her way to one of his secret outposts.
She found herself at the new launching station on the planet her clan had been stationed at.
‘Ding’ You have received a blessing.
Mark of the Grandest golden hoard. (Common, growth) You qualify for a special mercantile profession. This blessing will grow when you perform acts that please your patron.
Grand achievement: You have earned the blessing of a guardian. Though he is mantleless now, the Essence remembers.
+1000 fate points, +5 int, +5 wisdom.
You have earned a new title: Favored by gods. Two guardians view you in a friendly light.
Effects: All fate points earned are multiplied by three.
You can change your main core skill.
Would you like to choose a profession over a class as your main core skill? Y/N?
Nazerick couldn't help it. She laughed. For once, she laughed at her master's absurdity.
“I will,” she promised. “I will create the biggest, most legendary hoard you've ever seen. Just watch.”
****
“Why did you send her away, Astrom? I wasn't going to eat her.”
“I'd rather she not get involved with you,” Astrom replied.
“Hmm, too bad. She already is, in a sense.”
Astrom glared at the woman, not bothering to respond.
“Fine. Be that way. I need something.”
“You always need something, woman. First, it was children. Children you've since left to their own devices. Now what do you need, a private universe to experiment on, per chance?”
Gweneth snorted. “I'm not about to become that reckless child, Astrom.”
“Just so you know, I'm not giving you a single penny. Your hair and make up were never my responsibility. I was just the donor. The third wheel.”
Gweneth once more felt the pang in her heart, but she shook her head and let that pain roll off her back. Soon. She would see her soon.
“I don't need much. Just a way to see into the boundary, even if only for a few moments.”
“Why do you… Ahhh. So this is why you left your seclusion?”
He hesitated a bit, but then he reluctantly spoke. “Truth be told, I was going to come find you after I was done with the girl. Should have known these ripples would reach you. You still got it.”
Gweneth smiled sadly. They had been close once. He still thought of her sometimes. That was enough for now.
He stared into space. She knew he was looking through his cosmic sized inventory. He probably had a multitude of ways to fulfill her request, but he had always given them his best. He had always been there for them. It was sad she couldn't return his feelings.
“Do you have a way to sneak something in. What I have are paired tools?”
Gweneth smiled. “That's perfect. That is exactly what I need.”
It was lucky she had decided to come here before her chance had disappeared.
