NOVEL WEB 234 & 235
Chapter 234 : Nox Arcana (1)
A world event. Anyone who ever played MMO style video games before had heard of them. And yet in a fantasy world filled with magic and monsters, everyone was absolutely abuzz with the addition of one such event. Why? The answer was simple. Nothing like this had ever happened before in the recorded history of Adventia.
Adventurers could acquire quests, create them and request assistance, or a plethora of other things. But never had the Systema itself updated and sent a quest to a single adventurer. Let alone every single adventurer across the world simultaneously.
Furthermore the dictionary entry served to reignite debates about the origins and nature of Adventia altogether. Were they living in a game-like simulation? Did such a thing as a God truly exist? And if so, why the distinction ‘God Of Balance’? Did this distinction mean there was more than one ‘God’? Perhaps a pantheon if you will? Many people immediately set about researching and learning more about the phenomena and the Mystic Tower chapel was no different.
Their training for the day was canceled, only to be reconvened the very next morning. Armed with new information, and a deviation from their original plans, both Oliver Pagnal and Vivian Lex addressed all of the members of Mystic Tower chapel at once.
“All of you may be wondering about the Systema update received yesterday. It seems this ‘update’ was received all around the world by every adventurer simultaneously. This means it’s not an isolated thing happening to just a few adventurers, in other words this is the first time the Systema has ever changed on its own. Regardless of what that implies, there is another matter I’d like to discuss with you all today.” Vivian Lex said as she made herself comfortable. One of the largest training rooms had been configured to resemble a space with dozens of seats, despite the woodland environment native to the training space.
“That ‘matter’ is a simple one. All chapel members are required to participate in the Nox-Aurora World Event.” Mutterings quickly began to echo around the space but Vivian hushed them with a single wave of her hand.
“There are various reasons for this, but the most simple to convey is that the best way to prepare for an uncertain future is unwavering confidence in your own strength. According to what I’ve heard, and been told -- this event is perfectly suited to help on this matter.”
Oliver nodded his head solemnly as Vivian spoke. It seemed, contrary to his confusion just yesterday, he was now fully on board.
“As far as how you can partake in the event, there are two requirements. These aren’t imposed by the system, but rather by myself. The first is that all of you present will be split into groups according to your level of strength. Rank first, level second as a measure of aptitude. This isn’t a measure of your battle aptitude, or skill set. This is based solely on the numbers. Once you are assigned to a group, you will move with them at all times if you attempt to challenge the Nox-Aurora event.
The second requirement is that you give it your all and attempt to clear the event. These are all I ask.” Vivian said.
As if the person had been holding their question for that precise moment, a young man blurted out his thoughts.
“Can you tell us more about the event? You obviously know something we don’t. Can you give us an edge, Doyenne?”
Even before the man finished his question others were ready to agree. If adventurers were anything, it was competitive and it seemed that the members of Mystic Tower were no exception to this rule.
“That is impossible for various reasons, but -- Oliver here will give you an idea of what you’ll be facing and how the world event works. Oliver?” Vivian said as she stepped to the side, allowing the Archmage elf to take front and center.
He reached into the fold of his cloak and produced an item, holding it up for all to see.
“This is a Nox Arcana.” He said, showcasing the item for all to see. The item was a jumbo tarot card, purplish with gold trim. The back seemed ornate, while the front showed the depiction of a golden eye.
“Once you opt into the world event, you’ll gain this item until the duration of the event has passed. You can use it anywhere, though to be fair you should only do so in places where it is safe to engage in battle.” Oliver further explained as he lifted the card above his head and pushed some of his mana into the item. The card began to emit a plethora of colors that seemed to shimmer and dance like an aurora borealis. Then, just three meters away from Oliver’s position, a black orb shimmered into existence. This orb was pitch black and incredibly still.
“The goal of this event is straightforward. Once you activate the Nox-Arcana, you have to defeat the enemy that stands before you.” Oliver said as he walked towards the black orb. As if the construct sensed his presence, the once still surface began to ripple. The orb then split into two, the second orb undulating as it grew in both size and mass.
Agni and several others gasped, nearly jumping to their feet, as they witnessed something both amazing and worrying. The black orb turned into a shape that was familiar , a haunting visage. A creature with grey, uniformly colored skin stood just over two meters (6 feet) tall. It’s forearms were misshapen, much larger than it’s muscular arms. It’s legs resembled the build of a wolf or cheetah’s. Easily humanoid in appearance, yet it’s head was misshapen -- almost oblong in shape and devoid of eyes, ears or a nose. Only a mouth, difficult to discern due to the smoothness of the creature’s skin, was visible.
Agni couldn’t help but recall the menacing creature they’d encountered in the red shard and her body shook involuntarily. She could feel a cold sweat grip her as Oliver continued his approach.
The humanoid creature stood stock still, but it was obvious to everyone who looked on -- it already set its sights upon Oliver Pagnal. In the next moment, purely in reaction to Oliver’s deliberate advance, the creature attacked.
Oliver Pagnal attempted to raise some sort of barrier, but there was no time. The creature easily landed a blow that knocked the elven man upwards, lifting his feet from the ground. Then, the onlookers watched as the creature hopped upwards using one foot and transitioned into a three-sixty roundhouse blow.
The force behind the attack was so severe that Oliver was pelted across the training space. His body bounced like a ragdoll, echoing the look of a skipping stone across a lake’s surface. When his momentum came to a rest it was evident that the man managed to decrease the damage, thanks to a faint glow of magic aura which surrounded his body.
They also noticed the bruise on his cheek, accompanied by a trickle of blood which dripped down from the corner of his lip. Oliver wiped at the corner of his mouth and rose to his feet. Since it’s initial attack the creature hadn’t moved an inch.
“This is an Arcana Daora.” Vivian Lex said suddenly.
“These creatures are something created by the system as a..training system of sorts. Once activated, they can only be deactivated in one of two ways. One, you manage to destroy the crystal on its body. In this case, this Daora’s crystal is here.” Vivian said as she walked over to the motionless creature and tapped at a pulsing purple crystal. The Daora didn’t react in any way, in fact it seemed oblivious to Vivian Lex’s presence altogether.
“The second method is for someone else to deactivate the Nox-Arcana. Like this.” Vivian then turned and walked over to the placid black orb, placing her palm atop it. After infusing some of her magic into the item, the black mass faded away, causing the Nox-Arcana to fall to the ground.
“Thank you Oliver.” Vivian Lex said, bowing to the Archmage. Oliver seemed agitated, though this feeling wasn’t directed towards his Doyenne. Still, he swallowed the bitter pill and nodded in her direction.
The entire spectacle caused Agni and several others to watch with bated breath. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her mind was racing, or perhaps it was more accurate to say her emotions were. She had no idea what to make of what she’d just seen, but one question clearly formed in her mind.
*You want us to fight something like that?*
Chapter 235 : Nox Arcana (2)
“I don’t want to spoil your fun with this event. After all, it’s the first known world event. What I will tell you is this -- you most likely won’t have to fight ‘that’ Daora.” Vivian Lex said, as if she could read the mood of the room.
“And that concludes the meeting. I look forward to your results.” She then said, clapping her hands together to focus everyone’s attention. As expected, the more rowdy people erupted into protest.
“There’s no fucking way! I’m not dying by that thing.”
“Did you see what happened to him? And I’m nowhere near his level!”
“Are you trying to kill us, Doyenne? I-I thought you loved us--”
The voices were varied and many, yet Vivian simply left the room without another word. Their reaction was to be expected, to a degree. After all, no adventurer would willingly battle a creature that they had no chance of defeating. In fact, this was one of the many teachings that had been drilled into them relentlessly the past few days.
So why would Vivian and Oliver suddenly throw them to the wolves? Agni grappled with this thought, yet at the same time she felt there was some unspoken reason for their directions.
Finally, after Oliver managed to calm everyone down, he added his own advice to the mix.
“You guys are really spoiled, you know that? Fine. We just wanted it to be a surprise, but… these Daora could be considered ‘scaling’ enemies. And that’s all I will say. So stop complaining.”
Scaling. Well, now it made more sense. At least Agni surmised that perhaps, depending on who activated the Nox-Arcana, the enemy’s strength might be different. It made sense the more she thought about it, especially considering the hellacious blow delivered to Oliver Pagnal -- and also how he managed to get up relatively easily.
“So what are you going to do?” A familiar voice asked from Agni’s left. She turned to find a particularly bubbly Gigi staring at her with a big smile.
“Well, it’s mandatory participation. Not that I would ever cross Vivi. Ha ha.” Agni responded.
“Vivi huh?” Gigi asked as she gently nudged Agni. She’d forgotten, that was a pet name only she was allowed to utter around the Doyenne.
“N-nothing. Ahem. Yes, I’m participating. And you?” Agni responded as her cheeks reddened. She hoped to change the subject, and the attack was super effective.
“Hee hee hee.” Gigi laughed, the nuance in her voice almost resembled that of someone gloating. She lifted her own Nox Arcana, proudly showing it to Agni.
“I can’t wait to try it out.” She then added. At least one of the members in the chapel was excited.
“So when are we going to be sorted into groups?” A male voice then asked. It was Bell Gates, the Spirit Mage and ‘friend’ to Gigi.
“Now.” Oliver’s voice echoed over the clamour.
“Everyone be quiet. As usual the Doyenne stirred the pot, then left me with the handle.” The Archmage added.
“I didn’t finish explaining the rest. The World Event lasts for almost two months. There will be plenty of time for you to experiment with that, the important part is that you do participate.”
“Now, as for our trip to the dungeon -- it’s still on. And we’re leaving in thirty minutes. Now, gather around.” Oliver ordered.
“What? W-why didn’t you tell us? I could have gone to buy some potions!” Another person shouted.
“Because life isn’t that pretty and you won’t always have time to prepare. If you stay ready, you won’t have to get ready. Now use your time wisely. Everyone gather around, I want everyone who is rank three here. Second rankers over here. First rankers--” Oliver continued directing the eighty some members of Mystic Tower, breaking them up into groups according to their ranks. He then broke the groups down even further, sorting each group into several smaller ones.
“The people you are with are your new party members for the next two months. This will not change, so don’t complain to me and don’t ask. The parties are, for the most part, balanced as much as possible. For whatever you lack, you and your party members will need to make it work.”
“This is, once again, part of being an adventurer. Things happen and they don’t always go to plan. In fact, they rarely ever do. So it will be up to you to overcome when things go awry. Failure to do so could be the last failure you ever commit.” Oliver said as he addressed the newly formed groups.
“Now, before we head out -- everyone who has not opted into the Nox-Aurora event, do it now!” Indeed, interspersed amongst the groups, there were a few people who had not triggered the world event yet. Agni happened to be one of them.
[You’ve decided to participate in the Nox-Aurora World Event.
[New Dictionary Entry unlocked : The God Of Mercy.
[Item Acquired : Nox-Arcana {The Fool}
[New Event Added : ‘A Dance With Darkness’. Please read the Event description for more information on how the event works.
[Seeds Of Mercy : 0
Though the plethora of alerts were immensely interesting Agni would have to look over them a bit later. Oliver was eager to get the show on the road.
“Okay, now follow me. We’re headed to the lobby. It will be faster to warp with such a large group for today, but in the future you’ll be responsible for making your own way to the dungeon. It’s a part of your--”
“Training.” A unison of weary voices chimed in, apparently tired of hearing this catch phrase from the Archmage.
“Ha. Smart asses. Fine, let’s go.”
One by one the groups headed into the warp sigil, a grand circle of a magical rune. It’s primary use was to facilitate group warping. It was a tool that was normally restricted in use. This was due to the amount of mana required to activate the tool. Repeated and unmanaged usage would drain the chapel’s mana pool. This ‘pool’ could be thought of as ‘mp’ for the entire chapel, amassed through countless miniscule contributions of mana from chapel members. This pool was responsible for powering chapel blessings, based on rank , chapel abilities and services like the warp sigil as well.
For the most part, benefits of a chapel favored contract members of the chapel, those who committed to service under condition. Despite this, any and everyone who joined a chapel usually benefited from it’s graces. This was one such time.
Of the nearly eighty members of Mystic Tower, there were approximately fifteen parties. Within these parties there were approximately four to seven members at maximum. The people comprising Agni’s current party were all rank one or lower, with Merri Magstrani, the minotauress rating the highest at level 67 amongst the rank zero adventurers. Normally Merri would be accompanied by Ariadna, her best friend. But since Ariadna was considered mid-level rank one, she had been sent to another group.
Katrin Voss, the Scribe class adventurer came in second with a level of 55. The lowest level members were Suina and Kara, two of the newest additions to Mystic Tower at 29 and 35 respectively. The remaining members consisted of Agni (at level 45), Shula (at level 33) and one other face Agni hadn’t seen for quite some time.
The tall young man named Sypha Armstrong, the rank one Lightweaver who accompanied Agni and the others during their slime excursion. His level was just over a hundred, sitting at 112. His bronzed skin and piercing blue eyes were as much a sign of his good looks as his platinum blond locks of hair. As it happened Katrin seemed to have a special ‘appreciation’ for Sypha, despite the fact that Agni often found the man’s eyes fixed upon her. She dismissed it as her succubus nature drawing his attention. That and it was finally time for their group to step into the warp sigil.
“Once you’re teleported, quickly step aside so that we can send the next group through. Don’t dally and don’t wander off too far.” Oliver repeated this phrase on auto pilot for each group, so much so that Agni doubted whether he even noticed their approach.
The group of six quickly entered, one of the last groups to do so. After a familiar yet still strange sensation of being pulled and pushed at the same time, the view that greeted Agni and the others was enough to make them pause in wonder.
