บท 169: The Tome of Summons

Another year passed by and Styx's incursion into the Maple Dragon Kingdom only grew in scope. City after city fell to him while the citizens also eventually switched their loyalty upon having their livelihoods improved in a state of prosperity.

The demons also pressed deeper into the kingdom, ransacking cities and corrupting the land and air with the miasma from their blood arts. The taken over lands gradually became more and more inhospitable to humans and many other exotic races whilst being more comfortable for demons to set up nests and their own ecosystems.

Of Styx's wives, now widely known and feared as the Whores of the Abyss with no little relation to Princess Zoerina, they had all reached the middle of the Third Step as their leveling progress greatly slowed down.

It was unfortunate in Styx's opinion, but only Therina and Beatrice managed to undergo a second evolution during the class up procedure.

Therina's race had done a complete leap in base as she changed from a Lithic Naiad into something ominously called a Reverie Nightmare, whilst her class had become Reverie Smith, something apparently exclusive to her current race.

At first glance, this appeared to be a production class, which wasn't entirely wrong. Rather than utilizing the dreamland of people around her to create semi immortal nightmare beasts, she could now construct her own by channelling the endless energies filling the dream realm.

Her appearance had also changed once again, not so much that she didn't look like herself, but that she clearly did not look elven despite the long pointed ears and beautified features. Her two tails had become substantiated, rather than their previous wispy counterparts, and were no longer required to manipulate dream energies or materialise gates to and from the dream realm.

She did grow two horns from her head though, protruding from under her hair and curving back in an almost demon like appearance. Her body had lost more than half its weight, not because she no longer needed it or she became frailer, but that she existed in both the physical plane and dream realm at the same time.

She had more control over people in the dream realm and could not only implant suggestions into them, but almost completely brainwash unsuspecting and unguarded victims. Of course, she would have to find them in the dream realm first, which was exponentially harder the further away from her they were. She could also manufacture entire dream scapes, creating dreams of both bliss for Styx, and terror for his enemies.

Beatrice had been a Dark Phenelf and had an enormous vitality that made her into an almost immortal tank. No matter the damage she took, she could instantly heal from it.

Her evolution also took her further away from her elven heritage, turning her into a Phoenix Core, whilst her class was something called a Dungeon Maiden. It was her overwhelming attachment that drew her closer to Styx both physically and spiritually, similar to how Styx could occupy Aura's body and use it like his own.

Beatrice's actual form was no longer physical, but that of a spirit or soul. It was also ironically weak for something with Phoenix in its name. That spirit then resided within Styx's core, whilst her physical body remained outside as a projection of herself. Even if her overwhelming vitality was broken through and the body was completely destroyed, she could simply recreate it.

Unlike Styx, it could freely travel the world as well. Any experience she received was shared with Styx, even to the point she could channel all of the experience to him.

Unfortunately for her though, with her very existence now more or less handed over to Styx, it appeared like her evolutionary path had reached its end.

Nothing was set in stone, however.

This universe contained infinite possibilities.

~~~~~

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"Your highness, Redcliff Metropolis is under heavy siege and won't be able to last, we need to send troops immediately!" One of the inner kingdom nobles, a close ally with the Lord of Redcliff, petitioned the king under an emergency hearing.

King Wallanther XII's heart had hardened over the past year as he became accustomed to loss.

This was by no means a sign of weakness or resignation, but adapting to the changing times and allowing him to calmly work on countermeasures.

"Do not worry, Duke Pouyer, we are already working on counterattacking both the rogue dungeon lord and the demons."

"Y-your highness, I implore, we need action immediately, or I fear the worst."

The king scrunched his brow in annoyance as the duke's failing to understand his intentions and brazenly continuing to essentially beg for military aid.

Thankfully his mood was salvaged by his daughter storming into the throne room in high spirits. Just seeing the giant smile spread across her beautiful face made his mind feel all the lighter.

"Duke Pouyer, you are dismissed," The king stated and had the duke escorted out of the throne room before smiling brightly at his daughter. "Zoe, you have been locking yourself inside the royal library for so long we feared you would never leave."

"Father! You must look at what I found, this will solve all our problems!"

Going along with his daughter's actions, Wallanther XII accepted a book from his daughter that appeared far too dirty to be housed in the royal library.

It was a seemingly ancient tome bound in an unknown leather. It almost felt like goatskin to the king's touch, but also seemingly not. Despite its age, it was completely free of dust due to his daughter meticulously cleaning it without damaging the tome.

Opening up the tome, he discovered the entire contents of the book were dedicated towards a hero summoning ceremony.

"Hero summoning? Yes, there are various forms of that to my knowledge, dear daughter. I know you like heroes, but I don't think this will solve our frontline wars."

"No, keep reading, father. I already know that, but this is not some normal hero summoning."

"Very well, we will keep going."

As the king skimmed further and further into the book, he understood himself understanding less and less. He was barely a quarter of the way through the book before he learned he could no longer understand the contents, they were that esoteric and complex.

"This seems to be more so than a normal hero summoning, Zoe, but we can't fully understand it. Would you like us to pass it on to the royal mages and their associations?"

"I have been researching it, father. I don't know why, but it just all made sense when I researched each part."

"Then explain it to this humble father and king."

Wallanther XII smiled helplessly as his daughter broke into an excited and near incoherent ramble. Nonetheless, he still managed to understand what she explained.

"On the surface, the hero summoning is just like any other, but constructed below is where it is truly special. It coordinated with the rules of the world itself to choose and imbue these heroes with the power of fate. Their classes would have uncapped potential, and they can even grow above <Lv. 99> without ascending, become gods amongst men!"

Zoerina became more and more fervent the more she talked, causing the king to stop her from going any further. In any case, if what she said was true, it could indeed change the face of the war. At the same time, it also posed a large risk if these heroes were to go to another country or otherwise turn their blades on the Maple Dragon Kingdom.

"Leave it with us, Zoe. We will convene all the royal mages and army commanders to investigate. I assume such a ceremony will take a lot of resources.

What he didn't understand was how a book with such incredible knowledge inside the royal library had somehow never existed before now. He couldn't put his finger on it, but his intuition told him there was more to this than meets the eye.

Later that day, the royal mages and countless accomplished magic researchers convened in an impromptu meeting held by the king and leading army commanders.

The first topic was the hero summoning ritual, particularly the cost of the ceremony and how to ensure the heroes remained on their side. Copies of the mysterious tome were created and handed out to the various mage associations alongside the royal mages to study and decipher. If his daughter could decode how the ceremony worked, he had even more confidence in his kingdom's forces.

After that there was the current situation of the front against the demons as well as the dungeon encroachment. The dungeon was bordering on the inner kingdom cities, disrupting both land and air routes, not to mention a loss of territory and population.

Research in safer monster production procedures via dungeon breeding were coming into fruition, and many inner region lords and ladies had been bolstering their forces through this method. The doping of soldiers was also successful, able to create a stable supply of Second Step soldiers as strong as those of the Third Step, even if they were no longer able to level up.

~~~~~

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"There are no heroes in war, only numbers. One Fourth Step makes no change, but a million Second Step become an unstoppable tidal wave."

- Royal 3rd Infantry Commander Ptolm