57 Chapter 56
Chapter 56: First major choice.
(MC POV)
The increase in stats was an all round one. It seems having no class ristrictions made me an all rounder. This would be handy as I had no control over the actions of my party members, this meant I could only rely on myself for my survival.
With that realization I entered into the camp. Seeing many soldiers all going about doing one thing or another, I stole some of the soldiers rations. I began eating to fill my stomach ignoring the horrible taste.
While eating I thought of opening a restaurant in this world. One that would only cater to the wealthy. By over pricing and limiting the amount of customers. It would attract the nobles and allow me to legally rob them of their riches.
Keiser had told me that as this was the first playthrough, it wasn't a mere game, but instead the actual dragon age universe. This was the ultimate gift for completing the game, I would be handed the universe itself. The following playthroughs would be more game like. This was also the reason I had zero control over my companions. They weren't really just tools for me to use.
This made me realize that I had access to true dragons who are considered God's in this world. Everything was right there for me to grab. I started thinking of plans to subdue them. They are creatures with literally infinite potential. True dragons are immortal afterall. As long as one doesn't kill them, they would continue to grow bigger and stronger. Some consider them the race loved by the heavens as even in cultivation worlds they became stronger even if they spent their days napping.
All this was for later though, strength and resources were the first priority. Magic wasn't going to learn itself. I already had multiple thought partitions as well as the combined intellect of four of the greatest geniuses working on unraveling the mysteries of the Mystic art. The key to the resources was money.
This thought arose due to remembering the existence of the black emporium. They sell everything from legendary schematics, legendery weapons to rare materials, however, they were expensive to the extreme.
I was brought out of my thoughts by a male voice.
"Ah here they come." Said a man wearing long red and white chantry robes.
"You made it." Said Leliana who was currently besides the man. "Chancellor Rodric this is..."
"I know who he is." The man said cutting her off. "As Grand Chancellor of the Chantry, I hereby order you to take this criminal to Val Royeaux to face execution." he said condescendingly.
"Order me?! You're a glorified clerk! a bureaucrat!" Cassandra exclaimed.
"And you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly serves the chantry!" Chancellor Rodric shot back.
"We serve the most holy Chancellor!! As you well know." Leliana said.
"Justinia is dead!!" Rodric shouted, before he continued, "We must elect a replacement and obey her orders on the matter."
"Ah, so none of you are actually in charge here." I said with a grin.
The anger quickly returned to Rodric's face as he yelled, "You killed everyone who was in charge!!!"
I simply smiled in response to Rodric's angry scowl. After some time recomposed himself before speaking in a tired tone.
"Call a retreat Seeker, our position here is hopeless."
"We can stop this before it's too late." Said Cassandra.
"How? You won't survive long enough to reach the temple, even with all your soldiers." He said, his heavy tone perfectly portraying how dire the situation truly is.
"We must get to the temple, it's the quickest route." Cassandra insisted.
"But not the safest." Leliana said, "Our forces can charge as a distraction, while we go through the mountains." she suggested.
"We lost contact with an entire squad on that path, it's too risky." responded Cassandra.
"Listen to me. Abandon this now, before more lives are lost." pleaded the Chancellor.
Just then the breach let out another pulse and the mark on my hand flared to life. Feeling the pure magic, I once more distributed it throughout my entire body.
With all eyes on me Cassandra stepped closer. "How do you think we should proceed?" she asked.
"You're asking for my opinion now?" I asked, sounding more like stating a fact then asking a question.
"You're the one with the mark." Said Solas.
"And you're the one we need to keep alive. Since we cannot decide on our own?" Cassandra added.
I looked straight into the eyes of Leliana and smiled. Without breaking the eye contact, I answered, "Use the mountain path, work together, we all know what's at stake."
Her serious countance broke as she looked away, clearly flustered, causing my smile to widen. I was an elf and no normal one either, a race known for their appearance, and as this wasn't my real body, I didn't have the Hōgyoku created mask making my face look average. 'Might as well take advantage.' I thought.
She was brought out of her flustered state when Cassandra spoke to her, "Leliana, bring everyone left in the valley, Everyone." she said.
Noding Leliana quickly made her retreat.
'Isn't she the lover of the hero of ferelden?'
{No, the Hero was a Girl.}
'Intresting.'
As we made our way forward, Rodric spoke once more, "On your head be the consequences Seeker."
With that we made our way up the mountain. And soon came across a series of ladders and platforms leading into a cave on the side of the mountain. Cassandra explained that the tunnel was part of an old mining complex.
"So are you innocent?" Varric suddenly asked.
"I can't remember." I responded.
"That'll get you every time, you should have spun a story." The dwarf said.
"That's what you would have done." Cassandra said, the disdain in her voice clearly evident.
"It's more believable, and less lightly to result in premature execution." Varric said.
I couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Entering the cave we swiftly delt with two demons that were roaming around. Heading deeper the one could see a deep pit, this was probably the area that they mined. Although it was pretty deep, one could still see the bottom. Comparing it to my previous world experience with mines, one could conclude that they probably haven't scratched the surface of what was available. And from what I could tell, this was definitely a lerium mine.
Reaching a room I looted things I could sell for some cash and threw the shield I found to Cassandra. I knew the shield was a bit sturdier then the current one she had. Switching it out we continued. I had decided to come back in future and begin escavating the precious resource. I picked up more things along the way and as we were exiting the mine we found more demons.
After killing them and exiting the mines, we encountered dead bodies belonging to the scouts that had been on this path. As the number of bodies did not match up with the number of scouts sent, we concluded the others may yet live and so without further hesitation we sped forward.
Our guess was proven correct in a short period of time as we came across the rest of the scouts. They were however, in dire straights as they found themselves near a rift. They were in a fierce battle against the demons. Their wounds that seem to be increasing told me that they wouldn't be able to hold on for two long, the group charged forward to assist the scouts.
