The Lone Wanderer

‘Or perhaps per core?’ he speculated with some hope in his eyes.

That said, this only happened once they fully absorbed the ring’s concept. Until then, they were free to take the ring off and switch to a different one.

‘Yeah… Let’s try getting the first one before worrying about that…’ he chuckled bitterly.

Beyond that, he still needed to have the correct affinity for each ring, which complicated matters once again. He was sure at least one of them should have a pure concept – given how common the affinity was – but that might not be relevant to him once the lotus bloomed.

Preferably, Percy wanted one related to the soul affinity, as that might have some positive effect on his bloodline. Still, he understood that beggars couldn’t be choosers. Who knew whether Svarog had even found a god with such a rare affinity to kill? Not to mention the difficulty in beating countless gods to such a treasure.

What surprised him the most, however, was a footnote at the very end of the book. Reading the message, Percy was quite certain Metatron had personally added it for him.

“Note: The Vault of Magic possesses four rings in total, with blessings related to the fire, earth, water and time affinities.”

At first, Percy wondered why the titan had revealed such a sensitive piece of information to somebody who might leak it outside. On further thought, he realized he was just being naïve. Ignoring the fact that he couldn’t even speak about his connection to the Vault freely in the first place, Metatron shouldn’t care too much if any outsider learnt of the rings. For all Percy knew, this might even be public knowledge already.

After all, everyone already wanted a piece of the artificial world, yet nobody seemed capable of pinning it down. Metatron had clearly done a great job evading the other factions, roaming the universe completely unobstructed.

‘Still, what exactly is his angle here?’

Part of it was probably to entice him into accepting his deal. The titan didn’t know what Percy’s second affinity was, but with three elemental rings at his disposal, his chances of hitting the nail on its head weren’t bad. And technically, he had succeeded too. While none of the four rings were suitable for Percy right now

, he was still working towards a lotus petal, so that might change a couple years down the line.

‘More importantly, I think he wants me to be aware of their existence, to keep an eye out for them.’

Countless gods might have failed to locate the missing rings, but Percy had already proven his clones could end up in places where others might deem impossible. He still had no idea why a space titan like Metatron seemed to have so much trouble invading other worlds – his portals appeared to suffer from some strange restriction – but Percy wasn’t affected by whatever the problem was.

‘Oh well… I shouldn’t worry about any of this right now…’

Either way, this was more of a long-term project. Whether it was the prospect of locating a lost ring, or negotiating with Metatron for the water one, Percy couldn’t do much about it at the moment. Shrugging, he returned to Gabe’s place to bid his friend farewell, deciding it was time to wrap his current trip to the Vault up. After all, he still had a couple new runes to process back home, as well as bring his main body up to speed on his interactions with Metatron.

“Would you rather meet me outside the building?” Percy asked via the system, willing to spare his friend’s room from another stinky visit.

“Yes! Please stay right there! I’ll be downstairs in 50 rits!” Gabe replied a little too eagerly.

Soon, the two met up just outside the entrance, as Percy updated his former host on his meeting with the titan. Suffice to say, Gabe’s jaw hit the floor upon hearing about it.

“Seriously? Nobody I know has ever met Metatron in person. In fact, I only even met my own father a couple of times.” he said.

“Given your second core, I imagine that will change sooner than you’d like.” Percy shrugged.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

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“So, what’s the plan?” Gabe asked again, his voice a little shakier.

“Well, since he’s trying to win me over, I imagine the situation will be stable for a while. Killing my friend wouldn’t be the most effective way to convince me that it’s safe to come here…” Percy explained.

“Still, how long will that last?”

“Who knows? The good news is that we’re dealing with a titan.”

“How exactly is that ‘the good news’?!” Gabe asked in incredulity.

“He’s lived for eons. If there’s one thing we don’t have to worry about, it’s his patience. As long as I keep giving him what he wants, he won’t do anything drastic.”

“And will you?”

“What choice do I have? Your situation aside, I want to tap into the Vault’s knowledge as much as he wants my bloodline. It’s just a question of who gains the most from this arrangement.”

“Percy… You’re playing a very dangerous game here…”

Percy didn’t say anything, though he nodded, his expression grim. Of course, he understood what a mess he’d gotten into. At the very least, he had no intention of ever showing Metatron anything related to Circulation. Even if he struggled to complete the challenges without it, he couldn’t risk giving the callous titan such a huge gift.

‘In any case, it would be silly of me to back out now.’

The Divine Order was already after him back home, so it was a little too late to avoid interacting with gods altogether. Hell, if his situation on Remior went to shit, joining the Vault might be his only way out.

After leaving Gabe’s place, Percy then returned to the challenge cubes, hoping to earn himself his first couple of credits. Not that he expected to get very far with his current host, but the first wave might not be too difficult.

“Cube. Can you keep my translation device safe for me until the next time I visit the Vault? User ID: WANDERER.”

“Authorization granted. Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. Request approved. Place the device on the ground. It will be returned to you the next time you sign into the system.”

Percy exhaled in relief. At least, he wouldn’t have to burden Gabe with this too.

“After I hand it in, I won’t be able to speak, so I want you to let me into the cube and start the ‘gauntlet’ challenge, Orange level.”

While he knew he’d probably get his ass handed to him, he’d at least learn what the challenge involved so that he could better prepare for his next trip.

“Evaluating request…”

“Evaluation complete. User incapable of speaking detected. WARNING: Without the translation device, it will not be possible to terminate the challenge until its completion. Higher risk of death is imminent. Proceed anyway?”

“Sure.” he nodded.

He wasn’t planning to leave this place alive anyway.

“Choice confirmed. Please leave the device on the ground. Wave begins in 18 rits.” the system said, a square entrance opening on the cube’s wall.

Following the instructions, Percy walked to the centre of the room, the door closing behind him. Preparing himself, he counted about twenty or so seconds, his heart thrumming in anticipation as the system continued its now-illegible announcements in fixed intervals. The stakes aside, he couldn’t help but feel excited over the upcoming fight. The idea of testing himself against the golems sounded fun.

Soon, the familiar black tar began to roll down the cube’s walls, accumulating on the floor as the level of the viscous liquid rose. Luckily, the challenge didn’t throw as much of the substance this time as it had during Gabe’s attempt, stopping when it reached the base of the monkey’s neck.

Percy wasn’t paying that any attention, however, his eyes glued to the only other thing in the room besides himself. It was a construct slightly larger than he was, resembling a six-legged spider. It clung to one of the walls, its sharp legs digging into the grey metal.

‘So that’s what an elite Orange golem looks like…’

He didn’t get to stare at the construct for too long. Suddenly, the spider moved, swiftly crawling along the walls, unhindered by gravity or by the room’s corner. Its limbs made crisp sounds as they pierced tiny holes through the walls in its passing.

The golem continued its dash for a few seconds, only stopping once it was closer to Percy. Unwilling to give it an opening so early, the latter tried to put some distance between them, though the sludge made it difficult to do that.

Sadly for him, the spider showed no interest in waiting, lifting two of its limbs, pulling them back slightly as if to build some tension up.

And just when Percy was debating what his enemy was up to, the sharp legs sprung forth, detaching themselves from the construct’s body, spinning through the room like two boomerangs aimed at him.

Percy dove into the sludge clumsily, barely ducking before the blades cleaved his head right off. By the time he could toss the spider another glance, its limbs were back on its body, a second pair already preparing the next attack.

‘Shit, how do I get to it?’ he wondered, evading the new attack a little better than before.

Still, he had no means of attacking from a distance, nor could he walk up the smooth wall like the golem.

In the end, Percy was forced on the defensive, dodging attack after attack, only occasionally getting hit. This went on for about an hour, until he finally made a fatal mistake, getting his body sliced into three pieces.

Strictly speaking, he could have probably minimized the damage at the last second, but he’d decided against doing that. The attack would have immobilized him anyway, so he might as well make Metatron’s subsequent work a touch harder. Still, he resisted the urge of destroying the monkey’s soul too, having already decided to not provoke the titan too overtly.

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to get very far in these challenges with simple beasts. At least, not without showing any of my secrets.’

He grimaced. Without any ranged spells, he wouldn’t even manage to hit the golem, unless he came here as some kind of bird. And he doubted the combat challenges would be any easier for the other grades.

‘My best chance is to progress through the magiscript challenge…’ he realised as the ethereal cord pulled him out of the Vault.

Playing Metatron’s mind games promised to be a hell of a task, but Percy fully intended to rise to the challenge.