The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4)

by A F Kay

  “We accept your divine appointment, and submit to your leadership,” Elder Vachyl said.

  Chapter 44

  Hamma and Niall healed the broken bones the Elders had sustained when Blapy departed, and Elder Gabryel healed the burns on Elder Vachyl’s hands.

  “Why are you always so reckless?” Gabryel asked Vachyl but continued to talk without waiting for a response. “It’s always the same with you. Would it kill you to add a few points to Wisdom. You need it for Eiru’s sake.”

  Vachyl pressed his lips together and took the verbal abuse silently, probably his way of thanking the Priestess for restoring his fingers, which had burned off when holding Scos. Ruwen placed Scos in his Inventory and watched as Niall passed out robes to all the Elders.

  A brown-skinned woman approached Ruwen, and he focused on her.

  Name: Elder Yana

  Class: Worker

  Sub Class: Collector

  Specialization: Gatherer

  Class Rank: Adept

  Yana held out her hand, the dark color of a Void Band around her wrist, and Ruwen grasped her forearm. “Well met, Elder Yana.”

  “Well met, Ruwen. I know you said you have pressing business, but I wonder if you could answer a few urgent questions of mine?”

  “I’ll do the best I can.”

  “I think my map malfunctioned. The city is now ‘New’ and the date seems impossible.”

  A man approached, tall and skinny, and Ruwen read his public details.

  Name: Elder Odalys

  Class: Mage

  Sub Class: Binder

  Specialization: Rune

  Class Rank: Master

  “What about our families?” Odalys asked.

  Ruwen spoke loudly, so all the Elders could hear him. They likely had the same questions. “Something catastrophic happened here so long ago, we lost even the name of your city. The temple survived, but in a damaged state, and you’ve all been waiting for revival. Give me a moment.”

  Lir, were all the children saved? Ruwen asked.

  Yes. The only people excluded were Harvesters over the age of Ascension who had refused Ascendancy. Eiru’s decision to save the children comes at an immense cost. The more children you revive, the greater the effects on my abilities.

  Why?

  Young bodies grow and change far more than adults. Keeping their image updated in my storage will take the vast amount of my attention. It is why Ascension occurs at sixteen. Eiru accepted this cost, knowing it would make me vulnerable in the future.

  So once we revive all the children, you can’t do much?

  Just the basics. I will require help to protect the temple until these children are the normal age of Ascension.

  That’s good to know, and we’ll protect you, Lir. It makes me happy that Uru saved them.

  She told me some sacrifices even she could not justify.

  “Your families still wait in the queue” Ruwen said. “Only the Harvesters died a true death.”

  Odalys relaxed. “When can we revive our families?”

  “That is one of the things I need your help in deciding,” Ruwen said.

  “What is the current situation?” Vachyl asked. “Has the war raged through all these millennia?”

  Ruwen shook his head. “It has been mostly peaceful for thousands of years. Only recently have we come under attack again. Unfortunately, an army is nearing this city, and—”

  Ruwen held up a finger while he spoke to Lir. What happens to the people queued here if you’re destroyed?

  They cease to exist.

  You can’t transfer them all to one of your siblings?

  No, my siblings lack the required storage.

  Ruwen sighed. “If they destroy this temple, then all of us who are bound here die a true death. Including your queued families.”

  “We can’t let that happen,” Odalys said.

  “Have you scouted their forces?” a man asked.

  Ruwen focused on the speaker. He was average height, with short brown hair, and a plain face. Almost immediately, Ruwen wanted to look away and forced himself to stay focused on the man. Finally, the man’s public information appeared.

  Name: Elder Drivyd

  Class: Observer

  Sub Class: Scout

  Specialization: Spy

  Class Rank: Master

  Ruwen forced himself to stay focused on Elder Drivyd, even though the Observer’s abilities made it difficult. The man probably had maxed out Fade, which made him hard to remember.

  Ruwen locked eyes with Drivyd to keep the Observer in his thoughts. “I sent the temple Guardians to scout—”

  “That was a foolish risk,” Elder Gabryel said. “Protecting the temple is their purpose.”

  Ruwen didn’t get upset by the interruption. It made sense the Elder Priestess wanted to protect the temple. It probably had been foolish.

  “A risk I thought necessary,” Ruwen said. “With your help I can avoid foolish choices in the future.”

  Ruwen struggled to remember what he’d been doing before the interruption.

  You were talking to Elder Drivyd, Rami said, sensing Ruwen’s confusion.

  Who?

  The Observer Elder standing next to the Mage Odalys.

  It took Ruwen a second to find the Master Spy. Rami, can you help me keep track of Elder Drivyd. His Fade ability, and Uru knows what else, is making it hard for me to remember him.

  With your focus issues, it’s like hiding a marble from a baby.

  Hey!

  Rami laughed, and Elder Drivyd suddenly had six red balloons floating over his head and attached to his collar via strings. A pair of squirrels jumped from balloon to balloon playing tag. Ruwen watched the squirrels, interested in their game.

  Rami sighed, and the squirrels disappeared, leaving just the balloons.

  What happened to the squirrels? Ruwen asked.

  Some cures are as fatal as the disease.

  What does that mean?

  “Why do you keep pausing? Is there something wrong with you?” the last of the Elders asked.

  Ruwen faced the woman. Her skin looked tan, and she had wrapped the blanket around her body, which highlighted her curves. Their eyes locked, and her beauty shocked Ruwen. His head swam, and a debuff appeared.

  Enamored: -10 Intellect, -10 Wisdom, Brain Fog

  Interesting, Rami said. Those are the same stat debuffs as the Mental Whiplash we got from trying to probe Mom’s mind.

  The debuff immediately blinked and then disappeared.

  At least your feeble mind shook it off, Rami said. She’s a little old for you, don’t you think?

  When Rami had chosen the Codex of Perception, it had increased Ruwen’s Mind Resistance to one hundred fifty-two percent. The woman had powerful magic to overcome that kind of Resistance, even if briefly.

  When he’d carried her unconscious body to the revival room, he’d noticed she was attractive, but hadn’t been punched in the face with it like now. Which probably meant she had activated some abilities.

  Name: Elder Zahara

  Class: Merchant

  Sub Class: Transporter

  Specialization: Smuggler

  Class Rank: Adept

  Hamma cleared her throat and Ruwen pulled his eyes away from Elder Zahara.

  “To answer your question, Elder Zahara, there is a lot wrong with me. We will need to manage together.”

  Ruwen searched for the balloons and found Elder Drivyd, who had moved from his original location. “To finish answering your question, Elder Drivyd, I have only the most basic information about the invading army.”

  Elder Drivyd looked shocked that Ruwen had found him. “It is a start.”

  Ruwen nodded and gave the Elders the summary of what Lir had discovered. “There are around ten thousand visible troops two weeks south and east of here. The underground Temple Guardian detected anomalies but didn’t investigate because I didn’t want to risk it. There are also almost fifty small scout teams spre
ad from the Cultivator camp in the north, the Frigid Sea to the east, and deep into the Desolate Mountains to the west.”

  “Ten thousand barely constitutes an invasion,” Elder Vachyl said.

  “Which god is invading?” Elder Gabryel asked.

  Ruwen thought back to what Tremine had said when he’d arrived.

  “The ones nearest us are likely Naktos and Haffa,” Ruwen told the Priestess. “I’m unsure about the north, but I think there are at least two other gods involved there.”

  “Naktos is cautious,” Elder Drivyd said, his red balloons moving lazily above him. “He is likely hiding his strength.”

  Ruwen nodded. “No one expected resistance from the south. If the other gods are responsible for taking Deepwell and Stone Harbor, Naktos might only be here to catch those fleeing, secure the farmland, and chase of the Cultivators.”

  “Cultivators?” Elder Yana asked.

  Ruwen faced the Worker Elder. “They are Spirit users like Harvesters, but they harm nothing to collect it.”

  “Pacifists are useless,” Elder Vachyl said.

  “For battle, possibly,” Ruwen said. “But they could help with protection. I have met with their leaders and offered them a place near our city. In addition, there’s a dungeon portal two miles north of the city. I will update everyone’s maps with the area under the dungeon’s control.”

  “You surround us with pacifists and deadly creatures,” Elder Vachyl said. “You are worse than stupid, you are self-destructive. You will cancel those agreements immediately.”

  Ruwen dropped into a level three meditation long enough for it to pull the anger away. “I am certainly destructive, maybe even, as you said, self-destructive.” He looked around at each of them. “But I know this, in the future, without allies, we will fail.” Ruwen used one of the Bamboo Step phrases Sift used. “Mountains aren’t made from a single stone.”

  “He’s right, Vachyl,” Gabryel said.

  “Of course you’d agree,” Vachyl said. “You’re both cowards, dismissing the surrounding realities. How did that work out for us Gabryel? We can only trust our own people and must strike the enemy before they’ve prepared.”

  Vachyl’s aggressiveness reminded Ruwen of the Viper Step philosophy, and he wondered if the old Fighter had been exposed to some Viper training.

  Ruwen’s fellow Worker, Yana, waved her hand through the air. “You lack balance, Vachyl. You’re a sword that only knows how to stab.”

  Vachyl sneered. “Don’t lecture me on—”

  Ruwen quit listening. He realized leading this city would be nothing like directing his friends. Sift was overly aggressive, and Hamma wanted to minimize danger. Lylan took a practical and more tactical view, willing to take risks if they had merit. He tended to overthink if given too much time, be excessively destructive when cornered, and too willing to put himself in the most danger. But, the four of them almost always agreed on things.

  These six would be different. There would be no consensus here. He would need to listen to everyone and then decide. Unfortunately, he would need to lead for the first time.

  Ruwen reviewed the two quests Uru had given him when he’d returned from the Spirit Realm.

  Foundations (Part 1)

  Assemble a City Council and decide on the first three buildings to rebuild.

  Reward: 50,000 experience

  And the second one.

  The Southern Front (Part 1)

  Assemble a War Council and decide on the composition of the first 1,000 warriors.

  Reward: 50,000 experience

  Ruwen had expected easy experience from these two quests. How hard could these decisions be? He looked at the six Elders, all pointing and arguing with each other, and knew it would be terribly difficult. He used Ringleader to form a group with Hamma, and a moment later her portrait appeared on the right side of his vision.

  Using Chat, Ruwen mentally spoke to Hamma. After our initial decisions here, I’m going to break them into two teams, and let each focus on their preferred approach. I’d like you to manage the team focusing on the city. Will you do that?

  Sure, Hamma replied.

  Thanks. Eventually we’ll need to join the two back together and work on strategy. But right now, some tactical wins will do us all some good.

  I’ll follow your lead.

  Rami, do you agree with this?

  Very short term, yes.

  Okay, thanks.

  Lir, how many rooms are available in the temple?

  There are sixty-two thousand—

  Stop, I meant how many rooms are there where people can sleep in something like private quarters. Approximate numbers, please. Actually, just tell me how many people can sleep in beds without resorting to large open spaces or non-bedrooms.

  Approximately six thousand.

  Thank you.

  Ruwen raised his voice. “You are all now New Eiru District Representatives. Your purpose is to guide and advise my decisions. After we make some initial choices, I’m breaking you into two subgroups.” Ruwen pointed at the Fighter, Observer, and Worker Elders. “Vachyl, Drivyd, and Yana you comprise the War Council, along with me.” Ruwen pointed at the Order, Merchant, and Mage Elders. “Gabryel, Zahara, and Odalys, you are the City Council, and will work with Hamma. I will likely add members to this group and your subgroups in the future. For now, this is it.”

  The Elders remained silent, and Ruwen took that as agreement. “We need better information on our enemies, and we need to fortify the city while preparing for all the people we need to revive.”

  They all stared at Ruwen, so he plowed forward. “We need to decide the first buildings to rebuild and what Classes we need to do it. Those decisions are affected by how many people we need to scout the enemy and provide some rudimentary protection for New Eiru.”

  “That is acceptable,” Vachyl said with a hint of approval.

  Gabryel pointed at Yana. “We aren’t all as fortunate as, Yana. According to the map, my dimensional bag is nearby, and I’d like to fetch it. I have spare equipment there and I’d prefer to wear something other than an Ascension robe as we get to work.”

  “Finally, something we can agree on,” Vachyl said.

  Ruwen smiled. It was a small victory, but he’d take it.

  Chapter 45

  Halfway between the city gates and the lake, Elder Yana demonstrated how the Void Band, used with Dig, removed vast amounts of soil. Ruwen studied her technique as she strode back and forth. He had used Dig in the fight with the Bone Sculptor but had used a lot of Energy throwing the soil. Yana used Dig to loosen the soil and then her Void Band to scoop it up as she walked. It was an incredibly satisfying process to watch.

  The first Dimensional Bags appeared thirty feet down. They collected them for the owners, who would eventually be revived. It took less than an hour to find three of the Elders’ bags. The remaining two were under the lake and Ruwen volunteered to fetch those.

  Ruwen grouped with the two Elders long enough for them to mark their bags on his map. Using a combination of Glow, Fresh Air, and Dig, he sank to the lake bottom and used Elder Yana’s technique to excavate. He turned on Survey and Stone Echo, interested in the lake's depth. He could only see five hundred feet however, and the lake continued to slope downward at the edge of his display.

  Surprisingly, Stone Echo didn’t pick up the locations of the Dimensional Bags. Ruwen wondered if this was on purpose, to help protect the location of such valuable items, or maybe because they were dimensional objects. He wondered if a higher level of Stone Echo might reveal even these objects.

  Every time Ruwen reached twenty dimensional bags or belts, he took them to the beach to see if any of them were the Elders. He found over a hundred before locating the Elders’ bags. All these dimensional items were a reminder of how many people died here, and it made him sad. He needed to defend this city successfully so these people could safely reclaim their lives.

  Ruwen took the opportunity to store seven hundred
thousand gallons of lake water, and a hundred thousand cubic feet of mud from the lake bottom. Eventually he wanted to be prepared for anything.

  They returned to the temple, and the Elders changed out of the robes Niall had found them and into their own gear. The entire process of reviving them and reclaiming their gear had taken almost two hours. But now, Ruwen, Hamma, Niall, and the six Elders sat at the table in the dining room.

  Elder Zahara, like all good Merchants ready to discuss business, had a feast in her Inventory. She had provided food for everyone, and Ruwen stared at the ten-thousand-year-old loaf of warm bread and bowl of steaming stew. Some things still astonished him, and knowing this meal had sat in the Black Pyramid for that long just added to his amazement.

  The Elders ate quietly and Ruwen gave them a few minutes to enjoy their meal before starting. “We need information on the enemy. That data will inform the rest of our decisions.”

  Gabryel now wore a white Order robe. “Naktos and Haffa you said.”

  Ruwen nodded.

  Drivyd spoke, the red balloons Rami had marked him with still hovered over the Observer’s head in Ruwen’s vision. “Naktos surprises me. Our intelligence determined him a low threat. Either he’s changed or we are dreadfully weak for him to come to the surface and participate in an invasion. Haffa, while vastly more aggressive than Naktos, rarely leaves the ocean. I find it interesting the two gods who shun the surface, are attacking us.”

  Ruwen nodded at Drivyd. “You’re right, Uru did appear incredibly weak.” With so much at stake, Ruwen decided to share as much as he could, including the Root Class. Secrets had purpose, but they also acted as traps, hamstringing the ability to make informed decisions. “Uru had lost four Champions in a row and her plans had isolated her from the other gods.”

  Odalys leaned forward, the Mage’s fingers each adorned with a ring. “Has the world changed so much that Champions are common knowledge? Are they not still hunted to permanent death.”