Ubel ch1.2

Maybe they were on to something else; why were they safe from a mist elemental attack. It might have also been the difference in knowledge. Cathedral Sabbath had one of the foremost libraries on the monsters of the world. Most of the stories I heard were recordings from priests of the deaths of their charges. We were less worshippers of flocks of the religion and more test subjects. For all I knew, they attracted the mist elementals through some means.

Rumors aside, I wasn't going to expose myself to them. I'm sure the priest would be by my home soon to see the results of Amanda's sickness.

I made my way to my secret spot and fished for a book out of the hole in the tree. My village was dead; it would stand until someone came by and then left to report the casualties. It's how things worked here.

"How now," I jumped and turned to see a grey-skinned girl, rather buxom, dressed in the finest clothes I'd ever seen. She wore all black like she was a wealthy noble lady professional crier after her husband had an accident. A small, curved sword on her back looked like it was expensive. Everything the woman wore seemed to be the height of some noble's fashion. "Thy eyes perceive Black Rei the justice of the wronged and savior of the forsaken."

I've heard of her kind. Impossibly powerful immortals that request jobs from people. The world itself is said to put gold in their pockets, and they get stronger from killing monsters. A few generations ago, they were everywhere, and monsters weren't such a problem. It is why our generation was called the worst because there were hardly any of them left. We were the generation not worth saving.

"Did you just arrive? My sister could have used some help half an hour ago, and the town is depopulated." I said.

"Methinks the overworld has seen better days since my compatriots forsook their vows for greater lands to plunder and colonize. With no adventure seeker to clear the dungeons, monsters continue to spawn uncontrollably, and raid bosses don't cull themselves." Don't use common sense with adventurers; that was the mantra I repeated in my head. "Well, since thou art the only one left and I'm not a priestess or a part of the villainous monster faction this run, I have no need to do any Sabbath quests. Pardon harsh turns of phrase but this was a waste of time. I desired a pleasantly gay adventure in the land of Ubel, one last hurrah before the system shuts the doors to this domain." The woman said.

I watched her touch the air and narrowed my eyes. Adventurers were the ones who slew monsters. "Could you train me to be an adventurer?" I asked.

She paused as I saw a glimmer of something appear.

"Tis a quest never seen in our recorded histories. Mentor class, I shall drink deep of this fount of wisdom. Methinks once mentor is mastered my primary class of dark paladin will be without equal. I could double up on buffs if only this game was going to be around a little longer." She bit her lip. "Tis fate mayhap that my last hurrah would step upon such a revelation. Accept the quest," She said.

"My name is Black Rei. I'm a vampire day walker dark paladin prestiged with subclasses in Political Assassin, Doom Bringer, Sun Eater, and as of now, mentor. Mentor was not a class dreamt within this dream of our most learned scholars. I'm lvl9999 and ranked 666 in PVP." She walked around me, staring, poking her fangs out on occasion to show off. Then she clapped her hands. "Methinks I know just what you need. Thou cannot turn back the clock and transmigrate thy self into the body of a newborn. My dear, I fear for thy only true life seek not the immortality of we who shall leave thou destitute. Mayhap we need to focus on ways to make thou effective at striking while sustaining thy life. What need thou in the race of man when there art other option?" Black Rei asked.

I had no idea what most of what she was talking about meant. Knowing there was no way to gain an adventurer's immortality was a fact of life. At any time, I could die. This adventurer could kill me like many of her kind chose to do in this worst generation. She had told me herself that these were the end times when adventurers lost interest in our fading world.

"Why bother if everything is about to stop existing?" I asked.

"Thou art not everything. I seek to make permanence this discovery for all time. Methinks bragging rights are reward enough for sharing my knowledge with thee. We have a few days, so about a season game time; I can probably get thou to a brag-worthy level by then."

She started placing items in front of me.

"These art microscopic machines made to transmute flesh. They'll make thou a machine person, but in exchange, thou would need an item called an MN drive to use magic. Methinks the last android village was wrecked by mecha Nil' Tron, so maybe not that one unless thou desire a physical build. Nothing wrong with that, but let's not choose the first option. Do thy eyes perceive this little squid?" I nodded. "It goes up thy nose to replace brain matter slowly and transforms thy body into that of an illithid. Tis thy death, but a squid with all your memories takes thy place. Basically, no change on my end. Thou art not much a talker."

"I don't want to try anything that will replace me. Why can't I remain human?" I asked.

"Humans art boring variety is the spice of life. If I'm going to mentor thee, then thou better bring the heat." In other words, if I refused her, she would abandon me and find someone else. She placed a ball with a black flame on the ground. "I forgot this one. Fire vampire from one of the raid bosses a few expansions ago; it should be just about ready to respawn. That will be fun." Black Rei said.

It's as I thought; all adventurers were insane.

She held a glass container in her hand with glowing blood within. "Tis elder blood, it will unlock eldritch classes and change thy race over time. Options art important; specialization is the ultimate goal. There were some H scenes with some monsters with these that were freaky. But it will give thou a weakness for order. Watch out for Angels, Valkyrie, Geometrons, Devils, and Elemental lords. Methinks this one is a keeper." Black Rei said.

I heard of angels and understood how the servants of YWH would be considered of order. The church of Messengers was well known for leaving towns to die and closing their doors to the starving masses. It was just like the people on top to continue pissing on me.

Black Rei placed a black feather in front of me. "Tis a feather tainted black by the blood of a thousand angels. Take it, and thou will become fallen with all the benefits and negatives the race entails. This halo will turn thou into an angel with almost no weaknesses except chaos and darkness. I think this horn will make you an Oni. It's like the nanites except for Oni and opens up a lot of physical classes. I wouldn't recommend it. Ogres have slow stat gains outside of class levels. I'm not even sure thou can level up or gain access to the system. I'm not sure how any of this will work without the system. I guess we'll play it by ear."

The idiom didn't escape me, but it did confuse me. How do you play music by ear? Did she mean we would make it up as we went along? That seemed to be on point to the madness of adventurers.