Rakna analyzed the situation with scrunched eyebrows. First of all, his body. The chains that were binding him seemed to sap out his strength. He could hardly move and both his mana and internal energy were sealed. At least, for external applications. He could still use mana internally. Meaning that he could reinforce himself if he wanted to; despite it being a useless endeavor.
His soul power seemed to be immune to the chains’ power. However, he had tried to use Astral Projection only to find out he couldn’t leave the enclosure of this dungeon.
‘Perhaps ‘prison’ is the most accurate description…’ He thought and grunted. He then opened his status and squinted his eyes. ‘My attributes… they are all at 900… How? The prompt said my abilities had been temporarily fixed at their strongest state. Does this mean… it included Ascent of the Titan into it? Is that skill perpetually activated? Then there are my tails. They’re unlocked, but it seems the only change is the multiplicator of my transformation. It went from 62% to 75%. If it wasn’t for that, my attributes would be lower by a 100…’
Rakna paused and closed his eyes, reaching for the familiar feeling in his back. He tried to deploy his wings but they were stopped by the chains. Nevertheless, he managed to confirm the fact that he had grown his third pair of wings.
‘Same thing, huh? But I’m not demonized so there are exceptions. Is it only my Nirvana Skills that are affected? But it seems Enthymio’s layers aren’t fully unlocked either. Maybe it’s considered a skill of a different nature,’ he thought and clicked his tongue. ‘This is going nowhere. Fray, Ceres.’
“{Present,}” the storyteller responded.
[I am here, Rakna,] Ceres followed up. [But I apologize in advance. I’m afraid I will not be able to give you the answers you seek. It is against my protocols to explain the current situation.]
‘I see. So, the System must be intending to make this a learning experience. Not that I care. Fray, spit it out. You should at least know a bit of what’s going on.’
“{Yes and no. I similarly had to go through a Simulation for my Main Path Quest. Do you remember the ‘Scenario’ mentioned in the earlier System message?}”
‘Yes.’
“{Well, long story short, a Simulation is a pocket world made by the System. And this pocket world has a scenario of which you’ll be part of for your Quest. Think of it as a movie made exclusively for you to act as either a supporting or main character.}”
‘I see… so, essentially, you can tell me what this is but you can’t know what I should be doing or why I’m even locked up in here.’
“{I can only assume that it’s part of this Simulation’s Scenario. Perhaps the System deemed you far too strong to be given freedom from the start.}”
Rakna groaned. ‘How many of these Simulations will I have to do in the future?’
“{Regular Simulation Trials notwithstanding, this kind of Simulation is always meant to be a long one. It normally takes months, or even years to complete. They are called Scenes. Other than your Main Path Quest, Scenes are mandatory Trials to be able to leave the 100th Plateau, the 250th Plateau, the 500th, and the 750th Plateau. There is also the possibility of one being given to you for a Sub-Path; which you have yet to fully receive.}”
The werewolf sighed. His physical body at the moment was such that this simple action caused the dust in the prison to momentarily turn into a whirlwind. ‘By the way… if they deemed me too strong, as you say, why did they raise my abilities like this?’
“{I would infer that it’s because you will require it as part of the Scenario. They compromised by giving you a far stronger body within a far harder setting.}”
‘Makes sense… They better not make me start Scenes like this every time in the future,’ he complained to himself and started using Appraisal on everything around him.
◈
Archaic Chains of The Moon God
Chains forged by the Moon God with the help of the Sun God. They are said to have been used to restrain the God of Earth who descended into madness and became the Demon God.
It has the particularity of sealing the magic circuits of the beings it touches and it drains internal energy as fast as it regenerates. They cannot be broken by force and the only way to release its hold is by a drop of blood of a Moon God Descendant.
---
Moon Stone Wall
An underground wall built from a mineral rock that naturally forms on the moon. It has properties valued for making jails. It is resistant to magic, very durable, and it absorbs lunar energy to create a field capable of repelling spatial disturbances and even spiritual flows.
---
Lunar Dungeon
One of the many prison cells that were built during the time of Demon God’s rampage to lock up his strongest subordinates that were said to be immortal and unkillable. Many of them were creatures of moonlight that wanted to take over the Moon God. Thus, its primary materials were chosen with the intent to be resistant as well as absorb lunar energy that could potentially be used by the inmates.
◈
‘And I guess I’m one of them,’ Rakna said to himself as he read the last words. ‘Well, it is true that I am someone who can get stronger from lunar energy at least. So, that means I was part of the Demon God’s forces? No, I can’t be so sure… It’s possible that I’m completely unrelated to him and I was just thrown in here because it would be the perfect place to seal a werewolf.’
“{Which would mean that this Scenario might include you on a profound level. Perhaps you’re an old and powerful being that has been imprisoned here for their evils.}”
‘Ancient Sentinel of The Moon…’ Rakna thought. ‘That’s the title of the Quest. I wonder if that refers to me… Hmm, I won’t go much further like this. I guess it can’t be helped,’ he thought and he closed his eyes. Immediately after, grayish lines began to spread on the fur around his eyes.
“[Founding Intuition,]” he intoned and the web of soul circuits took over his entire torso right as he lifted his eyelids. Then, the world slowed down and Rakna’s mind began to overclock.
‘Activating Cross Sight. Counting focal points in the room… 126. Too faint. Incapable of reaching or damaging them. Incapable of entering dimension. Discarding Rift Shuttle and Enthymio as possible solutions. Activating Fabled Sight. Analyzing stone. Activating Appraisal. Age of the prison, 2 096 years. Rewinding images saved inside Eye of Symphony before blowing away the dust. Identifying traces of footprints outside the bars. Age; 49 years. Focusing Appraisal. Antecedent trace; aged 99 years. Pairs of visitors. 50-year gap. 146 days estimated until the next visit.’
Rakna blinked and grunted, almost being forced out of his state. Soul dust was already starting to escape his body. ‘Not enough. Continue. Assessing the release of demonization… Not enough to break out of the chains or destroy the wall. Wings of Collapse unusable. Storage rings are nowhere to be seen. Allegro missing. Sensing Sonata’s wavelength south; plot point? Tail Clone? Not capable of escaping the chains’ hold. Altering body composition via nano-bots? Non-viable; body composition is restrained by a spell. Chain effect? Or System plot point?’
‘Conclusion; escape impossible. Switching to last resorts; estimating the chances of survival from an overload of Eion Systems to rebuild a freed body… 0.0159%.’
“Hah…” The werewolf abruptly exhaled a red-blue smoke, followed by the rest of his grayish lines across his body. “12 seconds… a bit better than last time,” he said between breaths.
“{What’s the conclusion?}” Fray asked.
‘Impossible to break out,’ Rakna stated. ‘I found one way to do it but the probabilities are a bit too low, even for me. I have a guess but, Ceres, what happens if I die in the simulation?’
[You will simply cease to exist. Your real body is currently in a transitory dimension connected to this one. If you die here, your real body will also die, and you will not even be returned to the place where you got transferred from.]
‘Lovely. I guess the plan is to wait,’ Rakna sighed. ‘And the worst is that I have to wait 146 days for something to happen… I would have never known that without Founding Intuition…’
“{So… what are you going to do during nearly half a year?}”
‘Well, there’s literally a library inside my soul realm. But I can also train my soul and my abilities as a Firmament Monarch. Namely, Founding Intuition and Clairvoyance. I should be able to use the latter on these chains,’ he declared and channeled his soul power. He hadn’t used much to activate Founding Intuition since he only spent 12 seconds under its influence.
“Let’s see how this ability fares in comparison…” He uttered, his growl-like voice reverbing inside the prison dungeon. “[Clairvoyance,]” he chanted whilst wrapping the chains with his soul power, and the next thing he knew, he was sitting somewhere unrecognizable, still incapable of moving.
But he could see something. Or rather, two people. He had a rather narrow view of them, perhaps because he had yet to master Clairvoyance. But he still managed to make out that a pair of people were imbuing their power into a giant pool of molten ore. It was the size of a volcano and the two people, shadowed by Rakna’s lacking field of view, were hovering above it.
After a few seconds, something flew out of the volcano. It was an awe-inspiring chain that spanned for hundreds of meters. This was the creation of the Archaic Chains of The Moon God. Which meant that the pair of people were most likely the Moon and Sun God themselves.
Rakna blinked and the images changed. His eyes widened in shock when he saw himself, howling at the sky as he was besieged by an entire army. The werewolf was absorbing lunar energy and he wielded a red and azure Guandao that fit his size.
He struggled against his opponents, roaring beams of star energy that had enough power to blow up mountains. But he was eventually restrained by a spell that gave enough time for one of the commanders of the army to tie him up with the Chains. The werewolf cried out in agony and fury as the chain began to destroy his insides as a side effect of suppressing his power.
The scene changed again and this time, Rakna saw several people hammer the chains into the wall of the Lunar Dungeon and then leave an unconscious werewolf behind. When they locked the prison on the way out, Rakna returned to his body and nearly fainted as more soul dust came out of his body.
His eyes flickered red a few times before he calmed down. The emotions of his supposed past-self seemed to have bled through. It had given him actual memories. He took a deep breath and watched as the soul circuits on his fur and flesh slowly receded; healed by the nanomachines.
‘Crap… I used much more soul power for this one…’ He mumbled. ‘But I didn’t notice it. Does it mean that when using Clairvoyance, I have no way to tell how low I am on soul power?’ He thought and scowled. ‘That could be dangerous if I’m not careful. Just for those few images, half of my soul power was burnt. And since ‘combusted’ soul power recovers far slower, it’ll take at least ten days for that amount to return…’
“{What did you see in the end though?}” Fray inquired curiously.
‘Nothing I hadn’t already reasoned. I saw those Gods make the chains. Then I saw myself fight against an army before they imprisoned me. What I noticed though is that the chains used on me looked a lot older than when they were created. That probably means I don’t have anything to do with the Demon God at least. But I can’t help but think…’
“{That this Scenario has something to do with that exact same Demon God?}”
‘Just a hunch,’ Rakna responded and relaxed his body, making the chains clatter. ‘Now, we wait. If I’m not wrong, the people that visit this place must be descendants of the Moon God. Since they are the only ones who can free me and I’m sure the System wouldn’t leave me without a way to even get out of here.’
“{A sound theory.}”
‘Until then, I’ll use Clairvoyance to get a perfect grasp of ‘my’ past,’ the werewolf sighed and closed his eyes. “For now… [Soul Breath],” he intoned and fell into deep meditation.
Rakna analyzed the situation with scrunched eyebrows. First of all, his body. The chains that were binding him seemed to sap out his strength. He could hardly move and both his mana and internal energy were sealed. At least, for external applications. He could still use mana internally. Meaning that he could reinforce himself if he wanted to; despite it being a useless endeavor.
His soul power seemed to be immune to the chains’ power. However, he had tried to use Astral Projection only to find out he couldn’t leave the enclosure of this dungeon.
‘Perhaps ‘prison’ is the most accurate description…’ He thought and grunted. He then opened his status and squinted his eyes. ‘My attributes… they are all at 900… How? The prompt said my abilities had been temporarily fixed at their strongest state. Does this mean… it included Ascent of the Titan into it? Is that skill perpetually activated? Then there are my tails. They’re unlocked, but it seems the only change is the multiplicator of my transformation. It went from 62% to 75%. If it wasn’t for that, my attributes would be lower by a 100…’
Rakna paused and closed his eyes, reaching for the familiar feeling in his back. He tried to deploy his wings but they were stopped by the chains. Nevertheless, he managed to confirm the fact that he had grown his third pair of wings.
‘Same thing, huh? But I’m not demonized so there are exceptions. Is it only my Nirvana Skills that are affected? But it seems Enthymio’s layers aren’t fully unlocked either. Maybe it’s considered a skill of a different nature,’ he thought and clicked his tongue. ‘This is going nowhere. Fray, Ceres.’
“{Present,}” the storyteller responded.
[I am here, Rakna,] Ceres followed up. [But I apologize in advance. I’m afraid I will not be able to give you the answers you seek. It is against my protocols to explain the current situation.]
‘I see. So, the System must be intending to make this a learning experience. Not that I care. Fray, spit it out. You should at least know a bit of what’s going on.’
“{Yes and no. I similarly had to go through a Simulation for my Main Path Quest. Do you remember the ‘Scenario’ mentioned in the earlier System message?}”
‘Yes.’
“{Well, long story short, a Simulation is a pocket world made by the System. And this pocket world has a scenario of which you’ll be part of for your Quest. Think of it as a movie made exclusively for you to act as either a supporting or main character.}”
‘I see… so, essentially, you can tell me what this is but you can’t know what I should be doing or why I’m even locked up in here.’
“{I can only assume that it’s part of this Simulation’s Scenario. Perhaps the System deemed you far too strong to be given freedom from the start.}”
Rakna groaned. ‘How many of these Simulations will I have to do in the future?’
“{Regular Simulation Trials notwithstanding, this kind of Simulation is always meant to be a long one. It normally takes months, or even years to complete. They are called Scenes. Other than your Main Path Quest, Scenes are mandatory Trials to be able to leave the 100th Plateau, the 250th Plateau, the 500th, and the 750th Plateau. There is also the possibility of one being given to you for a Sub-Path; which you have yet to fully receive.}”
The werewolf sighed. His physical body at the moment was such that this simple action caused the dust in the prison to momentarily turn into a whirlwind. ‘By the way… if they deemed me too strong, as you say, why did they raise my abilities like this?’
“{I would infer that it’s because you will require it as part of the Scenario. They compromised by giving you a far stronger body within a far harder setting.}”
‘Makes sense… They better not make me start Scenes like this every time in the future,’ he complained to himself and started using Appraisal on everything around him.
◈
Archaic Chains of The Moon God
Chains forged by the Moon God with the help of the Sun God. They are said to have been used to restrain the God of Earth who descended into madness and became the Demon God.
It has the particularity of sealing the magic circuits of the beings it touches and it drains internal energy as fast as it regenerates. They cannot be broken by force and the only way to release its hold is by a drop of blood of a Moon God Descendant.
---
Moon Stone Wall
An underground wall built from a mineral rock that naturally forms on the moon. It has properties valued for making jails. It is resistant to magic, very durable, and it absorbs lunar energy to create a field capable of repelling spatial disturbances and even spiritual flows.
---
Lunar Dungeon
One of the many prison cells that were built during the time of Demon God’s rampage to lock up his strongest subordinates that were said to be immortal and unkillable. Many of them were creatures of moonlight that wanted to take over the Moon God. Thus, its primary materials were chosen with the intent to be resistant as well as absorb lunar energy that could potentially be used by the inmates.
◈
‘And I guess I’m one of them,’ Rakna said to himself as he read the last words. ‘Well, it is true that I am someone who can get stronger from lunar energy at least. So, that means I was part of the Demon God’s forces? No, I can’t be so sure… It’s possible that I’m completely unrelated to him and I was just thrown in here because it would be the perfect place to seal a werewolf.’
“{Which would mean that this Scenario might include you on a profound level. Perhaps you’re an old and powerful being that has been imprisoned here for their evils.}”
‘Ancient Sentinel of The Moon…’ Rakna thought. ‘That’s the title of the Quest. I wonder if that refers to me… Hmm, I won’t go much further like this. I guess it can’t be helped,’ he thought and he closed his eyes. Immediately after, grayish lines began to spread on the fur around his eyes.
“[Founding Intuition,]” he intoned and the web of soul circuits took over his entire torso right as he lifted his eyelids. Then, the world slowed down and Rakna’s mind began to overclock.
‘Activating Cross Sight. Counting focal points in the room… 126. Too faint. Incapable of reaching or damaging them. Incapable of entering dimension. Discarding Rift Shuttle and Enthymio as possible solutions. Activating Fabled Sight. Analyzing stone. Activating Appraisal. Age of the prison, 2 096 years. Rewinding images saved inside Eye of Symphony before blowing away the dust. Identifying traces of footprints outside the bars. Age; 49 years. Focusing Appraisal. Antecedent trace; aged 99 years. Pairs of visitors. 50-year gap. 146 days estimated until the next visit.’
Rakna blinked and grunted, almost being forced out of his state. Soul dust was already starting to escape his body. ‘Not enough. Continue. Assessing the release of demonization… Not enough to break out of the chains or destroy the wall. Wings of Collapse unusable. Storage rings are nowhere to be seen. Allegro missing. Sensing Sonata’s wavelength south; plot point? Tail Clone? Not capable of escaping the chains’ hold. Altering body composition via nano-bots? Non-viable; body composition is restrained by a spell. Chain effect? Or System plot point?’
‘Conclusion; escape impossible. Switching to last resorts; estimating the chances of survival from an overload of Eion Systems to rebuild a freed body… 0.0159%.’
“Hah…” The werewolf abruptly exhaled a red-blue smoke, followed by the rest of his grayish lines across his body. “12 seconds… a bit better than last time,” he said between breaths.
“{What’s the conclusion?}” Fray asked.
‘Impossible to break out,’ Rakna stated. ‘I found one way to do it but the probabilities are a bit too low, even for me. I have a guess but, Ceres, what happens if I die in the simulation?’
[You will simply cease to exist. Your real body is currently in a transitory dimension connected to this one. If you die here, your real body will also die, and you will not even be returned to the place where you got transferred from.]
‘Lovely. I guess the plan is to wait,’ Rakna sighed. ‘And the worst is that I have to wait 146 days for something to happen… I would have never known that without Founding Intuition…’
“{So… what are you going to do during nearly half a year?}”
‘Well, there’s literally a library inside my soul realm. But I can also train my soul and my abilities as a Firmament Monarch. Namely, Founding Intuition and Clairvoyance. I should be able to use the latter on these chains,’ he declared and channeled his soul power. He hadn’t used much to activate Founding Intuition since he only spent 12 seconds under its influence.
“Let’s see how this ability fares in comparison…” He uttered, his growl-like voice reverbing inside the prison dungeon. “[Clairvoyance,]” he chanted whilst wrapping the chains with his soul power, and the next thing he knew, he was sitting somewhere unrecognizable, still incapable of moving.
But he could see something. Or rather, two people. He had a rather narrow view of them, perhaps because he had yet to master Clairvoyance. But he still managed to make out that a pair of people were imbuing their power into a giant pool of molten ore. It was the size of a volcano and the two people, shadowed by Rakna’s lacking field of view, were hovering above it.
After a few seconds, something flew out of the volcano. It was an awe-inspiring chain that spanned for hundreds of meters. This was the creation of the Archaic Chains of The Moon God. Which meant that the pair of people were most likely the Moon and Sun God themselves.
Rakna blinked and the images changed. His eyes widened in shock when he saw himself, howling at the sky as he was besieged by an entire army. The werewolf was absorbing lunar energy and he wielded a red and azure Guandao that fit his size.
He struggled against his opponents, roaring beams of star energy that had enough power to blow up mountains. But he was eventually restrained by a spell that gave enough time for one of the commanders of the army to tie him up with the Chains. The werewolf cried out in agony and fury as the chain began to destroy his insides as a side effect of suppressing his power.
The scene changed again and this time, Rakna saw several people hammer the chains into the wall of the Lunar Dungeon and then leave an unconscious werewolf behind. When they locked the prison on the way out, Rakna returned to his body and nearly fainted as more soul dust came out of his body.
His eyes flickered red a few times before he calmed down. The emotions of his supposed past-self seemed to have bled through. It had given him actual memories. He took a deep breath and watched as the soul circuits on his fur and flesh slowly receded; healed by the nanomachines.
‘Crap… I used much more soul power for this one…’ He mumbled. ‘But I didn’t notice it. Does it mean that when using Clairvoyance, I have no way to tell how low I am on soul power?’ He thought and scowled. ‘That could be dangerous if I’m not careful. Just for those few images, half of my soul power was burnt. And since ‘combusted’ soul power recovers far slower, it’ll take at least ten days for that amount to return…’
“{What did you see in the end though?}” Fray inquired curiously.
‘Nothing I hadn’t already reasoned. I saw those Gods make the chains. Then I saw myself fight against an army before they imprisoned me. What I noticed though is that the chains used on me looked a lot older than when they were created. That probably means I don’t have anything to do with the Demon God at least. But I can’t help but think…’
“{That this Scenario has something to do with that exact same Demon God?}”
‘Just a hunch,’ Rakna responded and relaxed his body, making the chains clatter. ‘Now, we wait. If I’m not wrong, the people that visit this place must be descendants of the Moon God. Since they are the only ones who can free me and I’m sure the System wouldn’t leave me without a way to even get out of here.’
“{A sound theory.}”
‘Until then, I’ll use Clairvoyance to get a perfect grasp of ‘my’ past,’ the werewolf sighed and closed his eyes. “For now… [Soul Breath],” he intoned and fell into deep meditation.
