Chapter 220: Back Online

Chapter 220: Back Online

When her sight returned, Emma found herself back in the prison cell where the event began. She had been seamlessly returned to her true form, and even Sir Bearington was there to greet her, having remained active whilst her mind was busy elsewhere.

[Reboot successful!

System functionality restored.

Emma Knight

• Public Title: Practitioner

• Hidden Title: Auditor 

• Commendation: Order of the Empire, First Class

True Form: Level 17 Damned Apostle

• Anima: 500 

• EXP: 13,124/14,000

Abilities

• Summon Unholy Sword {Epitaph} 

  • Toxovolia: Epitaph can transform into a Bow, firing arrows of ambient anima.

  • No Pal of Mine: Capture the souls of the worthy, gaining a simulacrum of equal level to the User. Maximum 1 active per 10 levels, rounding up. 10 minute cooldown when defeated. Captured: The Leech King, Sir Bearington, Earthbound Immortal, Antipode, Duplicate, Monitor Lizard (In front of tent)

  • Flying Sword: Epitaph can change size, and fly up to 60 miles per hour.

• Oversoul: Instantly possess the body of a living target.

• Parallel Lives (Cooldown: 1 minute): Swap places with your active Summon.

• Angel of Extinction (Cooldown: 12 hours): Summon an Angel within line of sight. The Angel is invulnerable and departs after 12 seconds, killing anyone who saw it.

• Return (Cooldown: 24 Hours): Teleport Home. Cooldown resets when Home is in danger.

Traits

• Wolf, Ram and Heart (Toggle: OFF): Attacks are imbued with Death magic, significantly increasing damage and carrying a [Level]% chance of inflicting Instant Death.

• Ephemera (Toggle: OFF): Become intangible.

• Null Zone (Toggle: OFF): All incoming magic fails.

• One with Everything (Cooldown: 10 minutes): If Anima would be reduced to 0, stop at 1.

• Babble Fish: You are fluent in every language.

• Rorschach's Blot: Attempts to observe you remotely produce nonsensical images to those bearing ill-intent. You will be alerted when observation commences.

• Home Is Where the Hearth Is - EXP gains doubled for 1 hour after eating a home-cooked meal.

Half-Demon Homunculus: Level 10 Chandler Stored in Eden’s Echo when not in use.

• HP: 100

• MP: 100

• EXP: 2025/3000

Appearance 

• Red hair, green eyes, plain complexion.

Clothes

• Space Suit

Traits

• I’m a Candle: A modern understanding of non-magical candles.

• Everlasting: Your candles will last forever, barring external interference.

• Noncombustible: High resistance to heat and fire from all sources.

• Blood of the Enemy: Blood taken from those you slay may substitute for one reagent when making Candles. Candles made using this trait are Demonic.

• Breath Control: You can hold your breath for (Level)*2 minutes without losing focus.

Candle Attributes

• Black: Consumes nearby light, leaving impenetrable darkness.

• Hallowed: Repels beings of evil alignment or intent.

• Soothing: Emits a potent soporific that can put an elephant to sleep.

• Chaos: Emits a different negative effect each time it’s lit.

• Pathfinder: Creates a link between two candles. When both are lit, a portal is formed.

• Guardian: While lit, you are invulnerable within your own home.

• Toxic: This candle’s fumes are deadly.

Inventory - Eden's Echo A ring containing fifty cubic metres of storage space, capable of instant transfer. Living beings are held in stasis and slowly heal. All sapient creatures are less likely to attack the wearer. This item is invisible except to the wearer, who cannot wear other jewellery. Currently contains:

• Eternal Wind: No matter near or far, all are one. Light a candle with yourself for two ships in the night, build a bridge where none still stand.

• 24,899 Thrones

• Qilin Horn

• A Practical Guide to Entropy

• Portable Crafting Bench

• Blueprints - Menagerie

• Crystal Emporium Voucher (50% off)

Quests

It’s the Green You Need

• Bonus Objective: Form a summoning contract with the Hydra once it has enough heads.

• Bonus Reward: ???

Who Wants To Live Forever?

• Objective: Pay your respects at the Grave of Sectmaster Horizon.

• Objective: Discover who manipulated his Son to turn against the Empire.

• Bonus Objective: ???

• Reward: ???

• Bonus Reward: ???]

The System was happy to be back as well, flooding Emma’s field of view with a massive wall of text.

“Could you not?” Emma complained, giving it a cursory scan to ensure everything was in order, before promptly dismissing it, having found no changes except the 100 Thrones deducted for the entry fee.

[Status update on reboot disabled.]

“Welcome back contestants!” Felix declared, speaking through the mirror on the wall once more.

“I hope all of you had a good time, exploring the limits of mortality in a format unfamiliar to most of you. From a technical standpoint, the event was a great success, demonstrating the viability of our simulated arena and compatibility with all the orthodox branches of magic practised in Europe.”

Emma noted that Felix didn’t elaborate as to what those particular branches were, either because they were common knowledge or to preserve the privacy of the entrants.

“All that’s left is the final debrief before we bring tonight’s gathering to a close. As mentioned in the invitations, there’s no prize for this event except bragging rights, so there’s no need to stay if you aren’t interested. Simply take the portal behind you, and you’ll leave the premises with nobody the wiser.”

Emma glanced behind her, finding that a gateway had opened silently without warning, possibly as soon as Felix announced it. She had no intention of taking it, being the winner of the night, but it was nice to confirm that the choice was hers alone..

“The only exceptions are the two cheaters yet to receive their penalties, which you may be interested in seeing. The portals will be open for just five minutes, so leave now if you want to, because after that, everyone who remains will be brought together, and this time there will be no disguises.”

As before, there was little to do on Emma’s end except wait for the allotted time to expire; at least it was only a few minutes this time, rather than a slow countdown to midnight.

[Sir Bearington dismissed.]

The only change she made was to dismiss her summon, as he’d only been brought out to annoy Felix, so there was no reason to keep him in the cell any longer. Soon enough, the second transit took place, and the dreary prison cell disappeared. Unlike before, the transition wasn’t nearly so seamless, and Emma even felt a brief pang of nausea as her surroundings reformed.

[This is an actual teleport, rather than the beginning of another simulation.]

Emma emerged inside an unfamiliar structure, still indoors but boasting a very different atmosphere to her previous abode. The walls and ceilings were built entirely out of wood, exposed beams and supports holding the sloped rooftop in place without any attempts at beautification. The floor was simple dirt, broken up by long tables laden with a smorgasbord that reached for the skies, balancing precariously and nearly spilling over the edge in places. Basketfuls of bread, a dozen varieties of soft and hard cheese by the platter, and line caught fish, expertly skinned and nearly translucent in the dim light. The drinks were not nearly so diverse, and it was their uniformity that finally clued Emma in on the theme of the building.

“A mead hall?” Emma tilted her head, grabbing a hollow horn the size of her forearm, filled to the brim with strong mead spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.

She was tempted to switch to the homunculus and dig in, though ultimately she refrained for the time being; her armoured form could still drink, so that was what she did, drinking her fill as the rest of the contestants began to appear as well.