Saintess Summons Skeletons

Far from the explosion site, casually sitting in the grass, Erredis and Sofia continued their conversation.

“Holders, you ask? I’m not allowed to tell you,” Erredis answered one of Sofia’s questions, “You’ll learn about it when you get strong enough.”

“Alright… What about the watchers? Do you know anything?”

“I learned about that recently. The people who messed with your third trial, it looks like. The system issued a bounty, but personally that’s all I know. Nobody has much information it seems, even the insider within the system committed a Pestle special before leaking any information.”

“Blew up their own soul?”

“Hmmhmm. It is what I’ve heard, at least. Anything else?”

“I think that’s about all I was curious about right now… Let me think… Ah! Do you know about an elf named Eternal Mountain? Is that someone trustworthy?”

“Eternal Mountain? Did he contact you?”

“He sent me a letter with a very tempting offer. Speed confirmed it was really sent by him, but I’m not too sure what to think. It could be some kind of trap.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, sweetie, Eternal Mountain is… Elusive. He… He’s very much like me in a lot of aspects. Fought in that war, forges his own equipment, disappeared from the public eyes for a long time. But to call him someone trustworthy? I never met him in person, so it’s hard to tell.”

“Would Sun know more?”

“I doubt it. Sun might have a hobby of keeping track of her elves, but for an ascended, you saw firsthand what happens when they really try to hide.”

“Right… You know I thought there weren’t too many people at level 500 but it feels like I was mistaken. So many of them everywhere.”

Erredis laughed out loud, “That is a perspective only you can have on this planet. Including the divinities on our level of power, there are maybe… Fifty of us? Around that? That’s just a best guess, it’s hard to keep track of those who hide, those who end themselves, those who die after entering a place they shouldn’t have…”

“That’s still a lot! Look at what a level 300 can do! I’m surprised the planet is still in one piece!”

“The planet is not that brittle, sweetie. And nobody reaches that level of power without understanding what it implies. As for those who get big ideas… Well. You already know what happens to them.”

“That’s only mildly reassuring.”

“You can worry about the ascended politics when you get there,” Erredis said, looking at the sky, “I honestly wish I didn’t have to deal with it.”

“Well… I still have to consider Eternal Mountain’s offer.”

“Can I see the letter?”

“Sure. I wouldn’t show it to another dragon but I can show it to you.”

“Hmm?”

Sofia handed Erredis an envelope containing a folded piece of enchanted paper.

‘Greetings, Ser’Extra rulers

I am in urgent need of people capable of exploring the forbidden layer to locate and retrieve a certain item.

The team would consist of you both, the skeleton book and fairy, and the only person from my side able to enter the forbidden layer.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it’s taken without the author’s consent. Report it.

Payment is:

Many ancient relics, precious ores, and skeletons can be found in the forbidden layer, such as the dragon mentioned above. Relics and raw ore would be shared 50/50 with the person from my side while any skeletons found would be yours to keep. R𝐚ƝΟＢÈṡ

If you accept these terms, rip this letter in half and meet us at the foot of the Ur Ur Tree two weeks from that time.

Sincerely

Eternal Mountain’

After reading the letter, Erredis was silent for a few seconds.

“I get why you would find this very tempting… Do you understand how dangerous the forbidden layer is?”

“I have been told that it is bad, and that higher level people can’t even enter. That only makes me want to explore it more, honestly.”

“... I can come to the first meeting with you to make sure nothing bad happens. But I don’t have an emergency recall device to give you this time, once you step inside of there no spatial magic can get you far. You can forget about storage items or escaping through the Margin as well. And those are just the basics,” Erredis explained, handing back the letter to Sofia.

“Noted. Business as usual, pretty much,” Sofia said, ripping up the letter in two right as she picked it up.

“...”

“I guess now I need to research the Ur Ur Tree.”

“No need… I will take you there.”

“Thank you, grandma!”

With a new deadline ahead of her, Sofia finally felt a surge of motivation to be as active as lumianely possible. In two weeks, she wanted to finish handling as much of the city matters as possible, and to prepare plans for it so that it could continue to develop exactly how she wanted even if she left for a few months. In addition to that she had already contacted Cinthia and sent multiple letters through Speed to arrange her divine essence collection on an express schedule.

Taking a break from a spree of bone construction, she sat on top of the scaffolding surrounding the half-built temple of Sorrow, taking notes on a bone tablet.

She looked at the spot on the opposite side of the round central plaza of the temple district, where she was going to build Death and Sun’s temple next to each other, facing Love and Sorrow’s.

So, Leverle should arrive tomorrow with a team of Exidian builders and a head priest for the city. I can expect two to four more essences from Death depending on how many I can handle… Nice that I can go back to Death’s domain without needing to travel all the way to Exidia.

Then she looked down, at a half-done huge ritual circle carved directly into the black marble ground of the main hall of Sorrow’s temple.

Mother is apparently going to send me two more; Ihuarah said he would be done carving the circle in two days.

I can’t wait to visit our domain!

Next, she turned to the temple on the left of Sorrow’s, barely able to hear the faint breathing of the nightmarish invisible creature currently sleeping in the middle of the construction site.

Zoth said she liked how the temple is going and that she would tell Love to come give me one before I have to leave. I suppose Love will be the second God to visit the city in person.

After that, she looked to the empty plot on the other side of Sorrow’s temple.

Cinthia said Suffering was going to send someone right away with an essence, as long as I promise to build her temple right there. I’m not too sure how ‘sending someone with an essence’ is supposed to work, but I’ll take it. Also promised to kill me herself if I didn’t actually build said temple after taking the essence, which is fair, I guess… She even agreed that hers could wait until I was done with the current ones.

Suffering is surprisingly easy to negotiate with…

Hmmm, Alith said she’d come with me to kill Domination’s failed apostles whenever. I still want to go see where his map led one of those days, but it’s nice that I can secure the essence instead of having to return it.

So I’m getting an extra 8 to 10. Assuming I do get four from Death, I would have 29. Exactly one essence short of the next VPPV realm.

I didn’t end up meeting Water yet…

And Asty said Moon might agree to give one but that she would probably rip my spine out if I get hers and also get one from Water.

Thirty really is a bit of a ridiculous number to have. [Essence Resonator] would give me an extra 110% aura if I get there, just as ridiculous. That’s also an extra 33% physical stats in demon form. No best way to get a quick power boost before the forbidden layer.

Well, with Speed’s lot, that’s it for the temple district for now.

Next on the planning… Ah right, the interviews for the Odalite forge job should start soon. Hopefully grandma is already back.