Need to revisit evolution path intentions for monster race changes

  Need more information on cultivation

  I need to get stronger

  He circled the last line about getting stronger. Even though he wasn’t in immediate danger anymore, the close call with the giant tiger would not have happened if he was further along in his cultivation journey. Of course, there were likely more powerful demon beasts than the tiger out there. Much more powerful.

  That was a sobering thought.

  Jake shook his head and made a to-do list:

  Get monster cores to get stronger

  Escape this hole

  Learn more about demon beasts (I know they make monster cores. How strong?)

  Find out where Alix is and meet her

  Get away from this mountain

  Figure out what Morrigan did to my saber

  Learn about my new hand

  Figure out the Eternal Struggle Reward System

  After a moment of hesitation, he made a third list, titled “Tools and ideas.” He frowned, made an arrow, and added, “strengths.”

  Tools, strengths, and ideas:

  Tool: Lots of time

  Tool: Everything in the storage ring

  Tool: Rishlay the crow

  Tool: Audiences with Morrigan (precious, don’t waste)

  Tool: (maybe) powerful sword, transformed by Morrigan

  Idea: Buy monster cores with money

  Idea: Learn a way to make money

  Idea: Find out what I have that has value

  Idea: Find a way to trade

  Idea: Buy cultivation information

  Strength: Food is not really a problem if I can find monster cores

  He gave all three lists one more critical look before nodding and deciding to take care of what he could in his little hidey-hole before setting out again. And to do that, he had a good idea of where to start.

  “Rishlay, are you there? Rishlay?”

  Jake watched the opening of his cave for flapping wings, but nothing happened for a while. He was actually beginning to wonder if the messenger had just left when a pair of small, glowing eyes materialized in the darkness, deeper in his cave. “Are you prepared to talk now so that I can deliver my information and be on my way?”

  The crow seemed...embarrassed, or maybe frustrated. Jake quirked a smile as he imagined the divine messenger being too nervous to come in the guarded entrance of the cave, instead choosing to sneak in. Of course, he could be imagining it too.

  “I think so,” replied Jake. “What can you tell me about the Eternal Struggle Reward System?”

  Chapter 2

  The crow fluffed its feathers. “Congratulations on not being destroyed earlier. The first part of my mission, warning you of danger, is now a success. As for your request…” Rishlay cocked his or her head at Jake and hopped from foot to foot. “How much do you know? Should I start from the beginning?”

  “Yes, please.” Jake decided to be polite, especially since the crow seemed to be trying to help. He had complicated feelings about Rishlay’s boss, though. The messenger was from Morrigan, and Jake hadn’t exactly figured out how he felt yet about being tricked. Still, “Don’t shoot the messenger” seemed an apt expression for the current situation.

  “Well then, I assume that you know some of these basics since you are contracted as a champion of the goddess, but I will skim through them just in case. Actually, how did you become a champion? Are you Legacy?"

  "I don't know what Legacy means. The Morrigan approached me and we made a deal."

  "Ah. You were scouted directly. That is rare. Yes, we will have an overview. Sometimes the divine can see things differently than others.”

  “That makes sense,” said Jake. "Before you start, can you tell me who and what you are, and maybe how we relate to each other, as employees of Morrigan, that is.”

  “Employees?” The crow sounded amused. “If you are asking about hierarchy, such a thing is not exactly relevant in this situation. You are a being who has been contracted as a champion of the goddess, something she does very seldom. I am a messenger, a spirit creature born from her power. In some ways, you can consider me an extension of the goddess with none of her authority. Her will is my will. I cannot rebel, for she is me, but also separate, and like my mother. You are far more important than I, but also less advanced.”

  Jake thought he might understand. “So I can give you commands, but only as it relates to your mission?”

  “Somewhat. I do not take any commands from champions, just requests for clarification or something that pertains to what I was sent for. This is a fussy bit of language, semantics, but such things are important sometimes. Ironically, how the clarification requests themselves are phrased or considered by the one I am interacting with is irrelevant."

  That explanation likely would have gone over Jake’s head if not for his mage training in his first life. He nodded and asked, "How many champions does Morrigan have right now?"

  "You are new, but in the future, you should take care about questions like that. Some might consider it very offensive."

  "Apologies."

  "What is done is done. I will answer. Including you, there are two."

  Jake thought about that for a moment. "In general, could it be assumed that gods with fewer champions invest more into them? Like time and resources?"

  "In general, yes. And there is also the Eternal Struggle Reward System, which is what I came here about. But first, I should give the overview I mentioned before.

  "The universe has many layers. Gods are powerful entities that can cross between realities, worlds, and dimensions at will. They all have their own world or reality too. It is tied to them. All gods also have metaphysical realms of authority that directly relate to their personality or nature. Gods can also share some of their power with subordinates. There are other beings in the universe that have one or more of these characteristics, but gods must have all four to be recognized as gods by other gods.

  "The gods do not all get along. Many of them hate each other. But direct conflict is rare. Instead, the gods wage war through reputation and trickery. Mainly through champions."

  "Morrigan pretty much already told me all of that," said Jake.

  "Good. Did she give more detail?"

  "Some more, yes."

  "Even better. Knowing about gods and the Eternal Struggle, you can probably imagine the implications. How powerful gods with more resources could have a huge advantage if left unchecked. The Eternal Struggle Reward System was created long ago to address this. With this system in place, hard coded into reality, even champions representing the weakest gods could become incredibly powerful through luck and merit. In fact, several champions have even been able to attain divinity after incredible struggle and sacrifice.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, but it’s rare.”

  “Hmm.” Jake had already looked into the Reward System briefly, so all of this was making sense pretty quickly. It definitely explained why some gods, like Morrigan, seemed to be personally scouting for talent. “How does the system actually work? I have renown points. What are those?”

  "Renown points are awarded by the system for deeds that carry some sort of significant weight in whatever world or realm you perform them in. It can be tied to fame too. Becoming a champion on its own usually awards one point. Deeds have more or less weight depending on what you did and what level the world is on too."

  Jake frowned. “So it’s rigged? If renown points are some sort of currency, can’t the gods just award their own champions?"

  The crow vigorously shook its head. "No. The system was created as its own, impartial entity. It is incorruptible, and to even attempt to rig the system is taboo. The gods take this very seriously. If the system is fair, they have no reason to war again and destroy reality. Nobody wants that. And if anyone were to tamper with the system, the gods would work together to destroy them. Mortals worship the gods, but the gods...revere...the system.”

  "So I can buy things with my renown points?"

  "Yes, but there is an element of gambling. The rules are simple once you understand them. To use your renown points, you must declare how many of them you are bidding. Then, for each challenge point bid, your result will be one of three values: 1 point, -1 point, or nothing. Then the number of points you bid is added to your result. So if you bid three points, you have possible results three plus three, or three minus three. Or put another way, bidding three points gives you a result range of zero to six."

  "And we can use the points from the results to buy stuff?"

  "Yes. But you cannot save points between purchases. Every bid and purchase is separate."

  "This sort of sounds like a challenge room, with tiers of rewards."

  The crow hopped, somehow displaying annoyance. "The Faceted are scavengers that have created a bastardized version of the system for their own use. I do not understand why the gods allow them to infect worlds that have newly joined the Eternal Struggle."

  Jake shrugged. “If that’s the case, isn’t it obvious? That way, new recruits can be easier to find and would-be heroes can get ahead of the pack before even becoming a hero or a champion. So why the gods allow it makes sense. Sure, the Faceted might be moving in on their turf, but they’re also assisting them to find new champions. But what do the Faceted get out of it?"

  "Hmm. Perhaps you are correct. Morrigan has never shared her thoughts with me about it.” The crow fluffed its feathers. “As for the motivation of the Faceted, it is sustenance. The Faceted race is dedicated to achieving ascendence and divinity by utilizing the pain and desperation of lower existences. They use the ‘challenge rooms’ as entertainment too. It will take them an incredibly long time to achieve their goals with their methods, but it is theoretically possible. They are effectively immortal…and patient."

  "Well, that's a mindfuck." Jake thought for a while. "So bidding a high number of points has the potential for a big payout, but you could lose everything too."

  "Yes."

  "Hmmm." Jake could guess that how most champions used their points would probably be highly dependent on their personalities. The system truly did seem like gambling. “What about gods of luck or chance? Would their champions have a huge advantage? Even if the gods don’t rig giving out points, the results sound like a roll of dice. Couldn’t they interfere?”

  “Not at all.” The crow lifted one foot. “The gods regard chance, true random potential, as sacred. It is one reason the system itself is protected. Most other aspects of reality can be tampered with or influenced by the divine, but the system is exempt.”

  Jake grinned. “So it’s like a super fucked-up high stakes game of Monopoly. Gods can make deals, but you have to play by the rules, and nobody can move pieces on the board when someone isn’t looking or all the players have a fist fight.”

  “I do not understand your example.”

  Jake waved. “That’s fine.”

  “Good. In that case, my mission is complete.” The crow hesitated before adding, “It is not part of my mission to say this, but it is within the rules, and I have interpreted the will of the goddess to add something.”

  “Go ahead.” Jake cocked his head, but one horn hit the rocky tunnel he was lying in and he readjusted himself. Having horns could be a pain in the ass sometimes.

  “Some champions are tempted to save all of their points to try for bigger rewards in the future. This strategy is viable, but not recommended for new champions. Right now, you are very vulnerable. My personal suggestion is to use all of the tools at your disposal, at least until you are more familiar with this new world.”

  Jake nodded slowly. “Thank you for the advice.”

  “You are welcome. Now goodbye, Jacob Mazzariello. I hope we meet again.” When it left, the crow didn’t fly out of the cave; it just faded from view until it wasn’t much more than a shadow. Soon, Jake was left all alone again except for the giant predator that was likely waiting outside of his hidey hole.

  “Alright, do I escape first or roll the dice?” he wondered out loud. The raven’s warning rang in his memory and he sighed. Although being wedged in a crack like a hiding mouse was not very comfortable, the same reasons that had led him to make lists earlier still applied. Solving this problem now might prevent new ones in the future.

  And as Tigger the Monster Tiger outside had demonstrated, Jake wasn’t better than food in this part of the Murim world.

  With a thought, Jake opened the Eternal Struggle reward system again.

  Chapter 3

  Getting back into the reward menus didn’t take Jake very long. Now that he had a better understanding of how the system worked, using his renown points didn’t seem too difficult. However, he got a surprise when he mentally chose to view the rewards themselves. Instead of a list of items like he’d been envisioning, there were...boxes.

  The boxes were listed numerically. There were one-point, two-point, all the way up to five-point boxes. And he noticed another field next to them where he could add more points. Jake softly read out loud, “Standard boxes offer three choices of its tier. Every point added will offer one more choice, and a higher chance for higher rarity rewards.” He made a face. “Rishlay didn’t say anything about this. These are loot boxes. Figures.”

  He stared at the rewards for a moment, noticing that the one-to five-point boxes did not adhere to the normal gaming conventions on Earth. Instead, they seemed to follow the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, green, blue, purple. “So one-point boxes are red, but if I really wanted a rare reward of the one-point tier, I could pump tons more points into that box.” He understood the concept.

  After a shrug, Jake spent 1 Renown point on one single-point, red reward box. The screen of his Eternal Struggle Reward System flickered before a new little box in the corner made a pattern that Jake didn’t recognize. Next, a new prompt flickered:

  Result found. Please choose three keywords for your rewards.

  Jake almost chuckled. The Faceted really were copycats. And because Jake was familiar with “keywords” from the challenge rooms, he could reason that the system would accept phrases, or even sentences for a keyword.

  What was interesting was how he could choose what type of rewards he would receive after the random roll for rarity and such was already done. Of course, he had no idea what the symbols the system was showing—likely reflecting his result—meant. But in time, if he could figure it out, maybe he could change what type of rewards he wanted based on how good of loot he figured he would receive.

  It was like a game within a game.

  Jake mentally filled in, “Information, sight, identification.” He was thinking about the sword in his inventory that the Morrigan had changed. Maybe he could cross off one problem from his list. Either way, he’d only spent one point, so it seemed like as good of an experiment as any.

  The screen flashed again, and a roman numeral displayed a “1.” “Oh, good roll,” said Jake. Whatever symbols he’d seen before had likely meant “+1” or something. Then the screen flashed again and there were three potential rewards in his mind’s eye. The view was similar to looking at rewards in a challenge room, so it only took him a short time to figure out what he was looking at.

  From what Jake could see, the three rewards seemed pretty good. They included:

  Infrared Eyesight, plus — The ability to activate infrared vision. Ability to see the invisible. Useful to see certain types of magical energy, mystic patterns, and pierce the hidden.

  Divine Identification — Upon activation, offers information about Divine-touched people or items, relics, and artifacts. Success is based upon ability and potential resistance. Higher proficiency reveals more information.

  Mental Almanac — Once activated, provides basic information about most tangible objects or events that can be encountered. This includes information of organic life, names of sentient beings, and identification of some magical or other supernatural spells, effects, or phenomena.

  All three options were actually excellent. The rarity of Infrared Eyesight was at Orange, so tier 2. Mental Almanac was also tier 2. Divine Identification was Red, so tier 1, the lowest rarity. Jake was torn and seriously considered all three, but eventually settled on Divine Identification since it was what he’d been hoping for in the first place.

  Not for the first time, he was glad for his mage training and his study of Faceted challenge rooms in his first life. The keywords seemed to work the same for the Eternal Struggle Reward System as they did in challenge rooms. It seemed that the Faceted had really mimicked the original closely.

  Once Jake chose his reward, the screen disappeared and a warmth appeared in his head, starting at his temples. A moment later, he knew that he had the skill and how to activate it. “Wow,” he muttered. “This feels like cheating.”

  He drew his saber out of his inventory, the one that Morrigan had said she was going to modify. As he did so, he realized why his new ability had been such a low rarity. How often would an average person—or even a champion—encounter divine items? Probably not much.

  The saber didn’t look any different than it had before. He put it on his waist where his sword normally would ride. It felt like the right thing to do. The hilt felt right in his hand.

  The area was kind of cramped, so Jake actually thought better about drawing the saber. Instead, he decided to use the reward system again and get some more utility out of the way. Jake scrolled the menu but flinched back with a curse as a giant paw suddenly slammed into the tunnel almost right in front of his face. It seemed the tiger had gotten tired of waiting.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed old claw marks underneath the new ones.

  With a curse, Jake wondered if the tiger had trapped prey in this hole before. Probably. Maybe whatever the tiger had hunted before was big enough it hadn’t had to wait like this before. As the otherworldly rock began to crumble under the flexing claws, Jake realized he’d misunderstood something.