Glorious: The Ascension

Marcelina began applying her buffs to herself and to Charles and Emma. As she did Ben charged forward while shouting back to the group orders, "All of you focus on keeping that undead boss busy! I can handle the necromancer! If I take him out it should die again. Try to keep it out of my way!" 

Casting Infuse Flame, Benedictus powered up his pistol and he fired 3 shots towards the necromancer. To his surprise all 3 shots were blocked as the creature put up a magical energy barrier. The force of the bullets impacting against the barrier seem to be enough to cause some pushback but the barrier did not crack or break. 

Seeing the bullets might not work he tried casting his Fireball at it. As you head out the destructive force of his Fireball was strong enough to start cracking the barrier which the spellcaster inside took note of. As you was approaching it getting almost two words the outer edge of the barrier, the necromancer cast another spell of its own. Suddenly skeletal hands started to sprout from the ground trying to reach up and grab Ben. 

He was swift enough to easily evade the grasp of the skeletal hands. He put some distance between himself and the necromancer. He realized this was not going to be easy. 

At the same time the others were doing their best to focus on fighting the undead boss monster. Charles dashed in and struck with his horns against the creatures 6 legs trying to break them to reduce its movement. Emma flew above it blasting her scolding hot pressurized water down upon it.

While Emma and Charles had its attention, Roksazza shattered a request at Marcelina, "Marcelina give me a boost! I need to get on to its head!" 

Marcelina prepared to toss Roksazza up into the air with her amplified might. It was actually surprisingly easy to do so with her current buffs. Roksazza felt like she only weighed as much as a beach ball.

She was able to land perfectly on its head. Although there was a problem as the weight of her body along with the force of gravity from her landing impacted the creatures head hard enough that it instinctively tried to shake her off. Thankfully she was skilled and swift enough to clutch onto the handle of her sword. This kept her from being thrown off initially, but she didn't mind going off of the creature's head if she could pull her sword free.

With some quick thinking Charles was able to get under it and head butt the bottom of its chin forcing its head to level out for a second. A second was all Roksazza needed as she was able to pull her sword free. As it came out of the creature skull, she jumped off of it and landed on her feet right next to Marcelina. 

Locking eyes with each other the two women gave a thankful nod and a knowing stare. They both been charged forward ready and eager to join in the fray. Roksazza now with her sword in hand activated one of her abilities that required a sword to use. 

Suddenly red light began to radiate from her sword and expand around it. The light began to solidify into the same shape of her blade but nearly three times as wide and five times as long. She had manifested an energy blade covering her actual sword made of red radiant light. This was her newest ability that she had gotten upon leveling up and defeating the specific boss monster she was now facing for a second time. It was called Ki Blade Aura: Giantslayer's Cleaver. 

Not only did it boost the damage of her sword strikes by an additional +400 after all of the other passive bonuses were added, but it also provided far greater reach with the increased size of the radiant energy surrounding the sword. The most important part was she could buff it further with an ability that she already had even before she came to this world. It was one of the few starting abilities that she had outside of her class, and she activated as she jumped up to strike the undead boss monster. 

Red flames and golden lightning began to burst fourth from her body and be channelled down to her sword and into her blade. She then watched as it began to swirl around the giant radiant aura now covering the sword. This was the power that she had trained all her life to learn how to use and control and ultimately earn her nickname with. This was a form of combat focused Ki abilities known as jutsu on Earth but her people call it, kor'rai. This specific technique that she was using in that moment was a one that she had practiced 10,000 times in and out of combat named, Volcanic Volt Infusion.

As all three energies mixed in that instant she struck the undead monster once more. The undead boss had tried to defend itself with its hard scales that once upon a time she struggled to be able to pierce. But it was of no use this time, as she severed two of its limbs in one strike. 

As the undead screeched in pain, it did not get to for long. Not even a few seconds after it lost two of its limbs, it was suddenly being rapidly sliced and pummeled from all sides by Marcelina and Charles who were moving around and striking it at such high speed that it look like two blurs dashing around the battlefield. Emma also was able to help as she used a new ability as well. 

She charged up the attack as she normally did for her scalding hot water breath that she uses very frequently. But this time her feathers began to glow blue and emanate smoke from them. As she blasted the geyser of pressurized boiling hot water from her mouth, she also unleashed from her wings magical beams of blue flames. With her help, the four of them working together were able to keep the boss monster from being able to aid the necromancer. 

It was perfect for Benedictus who was now focusing all of his attention on dealing with this necromancer. The creature was able to effectively have him fighting at a distance while having a strong defense that even he had a hard time breaking through. While the necromancer was effectively defending against him Benedictus was mentally strategizing how to take it out.

He realized that the barrier protected the creature from attacks from all sides including beneath. He had learned that the hard way when he tried to use Geo Manipulation to bind it from below. He kept a moving around it striking with smaller spells just to keep its attention on defending while trying to think of what to use to get past its defenses. After thinking about it for long enough an idea popped up into his head. 

He suddenly dashed towards the creature which it was preparing for him to try that again. It was immediately getting ready to try and summon more spooky hands to try and grab him. However he suddenly cut off vision with his Geo Manipulation by forming a massive wall around it. Which line of sight on him now cut off temporarily he repositioned to a different side using the chaos of the battle going on between the undead monster and his allies to help mute the sound of his running footsteps. 

He then lept through the air even more so that even if it was tracking his footsteps before the sound of him suddenly stopping with throw it off as he propelled himself farther off of the ground. Suddenly he made multiple holes of various heights and sizes all throughout the walls to try and confuse the necromancer inside as to which one he could be trying to strike from. Meanwhile he was now on the left side of it and could clearly see it through the hole he made in front of him. 

While it was trying to figure out where he was in that moment, he fired off a quick but max powered fireball straight at it. Just like before it shattered the barrier, but also destroyed the stone wall he had made around it. As the barrier was destroyed he landed on the ground and rolled back onto his feet and quickly dashed forward while the smoke obscured the necromancer's vision. He knew it could probably hear him and hoped it was turning to look in his direction.

As he dashed through the smoke and made eye contact with the necromancer, he saw that it definitely heard him and was getting ready to strike him. The magical hands were coming up from the ground getting ready to grasp and impale Benedictus. Despite the danger of the situation Benedictus smiled as he stared into the creature's eyes imitating the Ghost Rider. In that moment he cast Punish Sin on the necromancer. 

Although the hands were able to grasp onto him and deal quite a bit of damage as they all touched him, he was able to inflict damage of his own as the creature suddenly stared into the abyss. The hands on him quickly dissipated and he was severely injured but not as bad as the two previous times he had almost died. He stood there with parts of his body looking like it had been withered, torn, scratched, burned, and bruised all at the same time. 

Suddenly blood began to flow from the necromancer's mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. The undead boss monster that was fighting in the background suddenly let out a roar before falling over despite the fact the others had not struck it with their next attack yet. The necromancer then fell backwards flat on the ground. 

Benedictus suddenly activated his Halo of Heaven and felt as his passive regeneration was kicking in. He slowly approached the creature, looked down at it watching as it breathed its last breath. The moment that it stopped breathing, he knew that it had died from the sheer amount of damage he could deal even with that single first level spell. 

They all got a notification stating that they had completed the secret quest, Stop the Elkuuba Chieftain. It also popped up saying that they had completed the hidden quest, Slay the Transformed Elkuuba Chieftain. For completing the first quest they all gained 500 XP. As the one who killed the Chieftain he was given an amulet called, Bone Tribe Shaman's Necklace. For completing the hidden quest they all got 800 XP and 300 godly gold. Both of the girls got a pair of bracers each that was the same. The bracers were called, Azure Death Scale Vambraces. He on the other hand was given the Bone Chieftain's Royal Ring. 

They each got another set of individual notifications about their level ups. Marcelina had gained just enough XP to reach level 12. Roksazza was now level 12 as well but was halfway to level 13. Benedictus on the other hand had just enough XP to reach level 13 proper. Both Emma and Charles were now at level 11. 

Benedictus now had 6 stat points and 9 skill points. Upon reaching level 12, he gained access to another ability point to get a new spell with. Level 13 on the other hand had given him a new class ability called, Arcanist's Binding. 

He immediately checked what the ability was and saw that Arcanist's Binding happened to be a one-time ritual that allowed himself to turn a single creature that he has gained the loyalty of as an animal companion into an empowered familiar. It essentially stated that upon selecting one creature that met the criteria it would not only become his familiar, but it would evolve based on his bloodline and the creatures natural magical affinity. Despite whatever evolutionary changes it may undergo and abilities gained from it there were certain effects that were a constant no matter what. The creature would gain an additional permanent +250 HP, +5 to AC, and it would gain two magical resistances of his choice that it did not already possess if it had any. 

Looking at it he realizes ability was perfect for giving Emma a massive upgrade. However it would have to definitely wait. For now his attention was on the dead chieftain. 

He looked over to Marcelina who took a moment to look away from her screen to notice what he was about to ask for. Without hesitation she tossed him the dagger he had made for her without even needing to let him speak. He caught it with ease not even needing magic. While the two of them began looking over their character sheets some more he began butchering the chieftain. 

He went straight for its chest as he was certain that it had a core since it absorbed the core from the dead boss monster that it had risen temporarily. His intuition was correct, as the second he was able to get his chest open it definitely had a soul core. Not to mention he could tell that it was a 3-star one just by looking at it from size and appearance. Upon adding it to his inventory his guess was correct as it labeled it properly as a 3-star soul core.

By the time he was done both of the girls were already walking over to him with Emma and Charles following closely behind. Standing up he looked at them and asked, "You both want to do one last look around this room before we head out?" 

"Already did. There's a hidden door not that far from us a little to the left right there," Marcelina informed him pointing out where it was. 

Using the tried and true trick that he was now becoming more familiar with, he sensed for the door with his geo manipulation and upon finding out where it was he removed it by sinking it into the ground. What they saw could only be described as a treasure trove. In the hidden room was gold and lots of it. In the center of the room there was a great sword. 

The greatsword was a metallic dark blue metal that he had never seen before. It had a slightly darker coloration to it than the scales of the dead boss monster. The guard of the greatsword was of a similar style to that of the guard of a traditional Japanese katana however it was much farther out in overall width. The guard was about as wide as the standard guard for most European longswords. The guard itself also seemed to be a silver color with a beautiful design reminiscent of the dead boss that this trove most likely belong to. The blade itself had an overall shape very reminiscent of Zabuza's sword from Naruto with the giant hole in it as well. Meanwhile the handle seem to be of more traditional design to that of a Viking sword's handle. The pummel of the sword was a embedded sapphire. 

As they all looked at everything in the room, Roksazza pointed at the sword and reminded Benedictus of their agreement, "I would say that sword is probably much better than that bracelet." 

"I agree but you can have both," he said while taking off the bracelet that he had not attuned to yet and giving it to her while gesturing for her to claim the greatsword. 

Roksazza was confused by this. She didn't know why he was being so generous with the loot, "Why are you giving me both of them?"

"Technically this sword belongs to you because you're the one who originally cleared the dungeon. You just probably didn't get a chance to find it on your own cuz of how badly injured you were. So it's yours. Plus given those moves I saw you pulling off back there I think the bracelet will be more useful to you. It seems to fit your style just as much as it fits mine but it'll offer you better long-term use. So don't scoff at my generosity and take them. Consider it a sign that we are putting our trust in you not to try and stab us in the back later," he explained while being a little cheeky and sarcastic.

She was utterly flabbergasted and took a moment to actually figure out how to respond. Ultimately she just said, "Thank you. I won't forget your generosity especially after you both had already saved my life as well."

"There's no need for all of that. After all everyone here gained quite a bit from this excursion. The unexpected creatures that came here after you have dealt with this place provided a good source of both experience and real combat training. Plus there is the gear that we got from completing the two quests," Benedictus said trying to downplay his moment of generosity so he didn't let it go to his head. 

"We can talk about all that later. How about we focus on getting some of that gold," Marcelina suggested trying to refocus them on the treasure trove in front of them. 

"I'll let you two ladies take the sword and count up the gold. I trust you both to divide it up equally since we all now have access to the shop. Everybody did a good job so everybody deserves an equal cut of the coin. Well you both deal with this I'm going to go butcher that giant monster Roksazza killed a week ago. It's corpse still looks fresh enough to get some decent materials," Ben stated while making his way over to the corpse of the giant monster.

About an hour later all 5 of them had left the hidden dungeon and made their way back to the clearing where they knew they could use the hover car. Benedictus, Marcelina, and Roksazza each now had an extra 2,600 gold that they could use in the ascension shop. Roksazza now had a new greatsword that complimented her original fighting style of dual wielding colossal swords. Ben was able to harvest a couple dozen scales and fangs from the boss monster along with one of its horns.

While Benedictus was getting the hover car out and enlarged so they could ride in it back home, Marcelina was more focused on her character sheet as she was struggling to make a decision on her legendary path option. She wanted to pick something that she could be okay with while also making sure it could help her continue to be useful to the group. Despite the encouragement that Ben had often given her, she was very aware that she was the weakest of the group. Her abilities allowed for her to make up for that somewhat, however it did not change the fact that her class was primarily one of support.

Benedictus had realized that she was struggling to make a decision since she had been staring at her character sheet the entire time they were making their way from the hidden dungeon entrance back to this clearing. At first he didn't want to say anything but he could see that she was truly in need of help. Her face gave away that she was struggling on making a decision and that a lot of her more negative thoughts were probably clouding her judgment. 

"Still can't make up your mind yet," he asked her. 

She let out the long sigh, "Nope. I want to make a decision that I think will work going forward, but I also don't want to pick something that will not help me keep up with the rest of you. I've already ruled out several options but I'm trying to decide between these last three that still seem promising." 

"Let me take a look. This kind of stuff was my hobby back when it was just actual video games. Some of that insight may help with finding something that fits perfect with what you have in mind," he requested politely. 

"Sure. I think I could use an expert's help in that case," she agreed expanding her character she for him to better read everything.

The three options that she had singled out were called: the Blood Moon Beastmaster, the Hivelord, and the Clawknight. 

The Blood Moon Beastmaster seemed to be a path that would allow her to control creatures like lesser vampires, werewolves, and chimeras. In exchange for having control over much stronger creatures she would take a reduction in the number of creatures she would game far less supportive abilities than some of the other subclass options. It also provided that if she had three of any specific type of these unique creatures that she would be given the possibility to bind with she herself could gain a lot of their positive abilities and benefits and none of their negative ones. 

The Hivelord was a legendary path all about bugs. It's specifically restricted to only being able to bind with bug type creatures going forward and any creatures that she was already bound with would undergo a metamorphosis to take on certain bug like qualities. However all of the bugs that were bound to her she would be able to control as an extension of her own mind and consciousness acting as one entity with many bodies. She would essentially have her own hive mind. It also guaranteed that she could bind with any insect toy creature even against that creature's will. It was a good option but definitely didn't fit her. 

The Clawknight was probably the one that she was most likely thinking of taking given what he saw. It definitely fit more of her overall aesthetic. It essentially restricted her to only being able to bind with mammal type beasts in a similar fashion to how the hivelord restricted her to only insects type creatures. However in exchange she would be able to take on pseudo transformations that essentially made her a hybrid of herself and one of the creatures she was bound to. It virtually would have no support abilities whatsoever and would make her more of a frontline combatant with most of its versatility coming from the types of mammals that she would bind with and gain a pseudo transformation alongside. 

He was going to suggest the Clawknight since it fit her, but then one of the ones she had disregarded caught his eye. He briefly looked at some of the words in its description and saw something just for a moment that caught his attention. He focused back on it before he gave his initial suggestion and decided to read the entire description of what it was and what it provided. It was called, the Ascendant Evolutionary.

The Ascendant Evolutionary was a path that drastically reduced the amount of creatures you could bind with to a tiny number, but you gained absolute control over them and they must obey any order that you give whether verbally spoken or mentally commanded. Not only does it give you absolute control over a creature that you are bound to but it apparently allows for a bound creature to adapt and evolve based off of devouring parts of other creatures in large enough quantity. This can apparently either give new abilities or adaptations that permanently change the creature. The choice of whether or not the bound creature gains an ability or an adaptation is solely left up to the owner to decide. 

He realized that it definitely went against Marcelina's entire current skill set and fighting style, but something about the wording resonated with him. He started to realize that something about this was calling for him to suggest it. Thinking about it a little bit he realized this might be the impact of his skills. Just like how his stats increase so do his skills and he has pretty good insight. Maybe this was calling for him to suggested based off of what his insight is telling him would probably be the correct choice. 

Thinking about it just for a moment he ultimately decided to trust that feeling and pointed to it telling her, "This one. I think my passive insight is telling me that this is what you should take if you want to truly keep up with us. I know mentally you've been beating yourself up about what you can and can't do. I think that's why this one is calling out to me a little bit more than the rest. Something about it just feels like the right choice." 

She looked at it and then back at him. She was clearly uncertain about whether or not to trust him so she asked, "Are you sure? Do you really think this one will be the best choice?" 

"Yeah. Like I said I have this gut feeling that this is the one you need to pick. I feel like my instincts are calling out to it," he reaffirmed. 

She thought it over for just a little bit. Ultimately she chose to trust him. If he felt like that was the right choice it most likely would be. She had faith that he wouldn't lead her astray. She confirmed with the system that she had chosen the Ascendant Evolutionary legendary path.

After confirming and making sure that she was certain of her decision she was given her new subclass. She received her first three abilities from her subclass. 

The first one was called, Focused Adaptive Training. It essentially told her that she could never take more than 5 creatures that she could bind with. If she ever wanted to bind with a creature after reaching her maximum she would have to relinquish her connection with one of the other creatures and take a permanent stat reduction. In exchange both her and all of the creatures that she would be bound with would gain an increase in HP by +250, EP by +400, and stats by +10 to all stats. It also stated that she could bind with any creature no matter the type.

The second ability was named, Absolute Control. It was the ability that allowed her to give an order or command to a creature that she was bound to and as long as it was possible for them to achieve even in the tiniest percentage of possibility they would try to fulfill it. Even if that meant that the fulfillment of the order required for the system to partially take control of their bodies and minds to achieve it to a minor degree. With this ability no creature that was bound with her could disobey her order. However when she gave an order she specifically needed to keep this ability in mind for it to register as an absolute order, otherwise the effect of the ability would not apply. 

The last ability was called, Adaptive Evolution. It essentially stated that a bound creature would need to eat the equivalent of 1/4th worth of a creature to be given an option of a new adaptation or evolution. Once they had eaten the required amount a notice would be presented for her to select whether or not she wanted her bound creature to receive a new permanent ability or a permanent physical evolutionary change. Abilities for much weaker but they did not alter the creature's body. Physical alterations were permanent changes based off of the type of creature that was devoured that varied in level of strength, but they could be quite powerful depending on the creatures devoured. Once in evolution option was presented and chosen after eating a specific type of creature no further options would be presented if that same creature was eaten again. 

Looking at all of it, Ben stared at the information and his minds slowly peace together why he felt so drawn to making her pick this. Marcelina felt that the abilities were kind of okay because she saw that the changes to her overall stats and energy and health were immediate changes that made her and Charles much more efficient. However she did not share the sudden excitement that Ben was experiencing as he started celebrating. He was jumping for joy and shouting in excitement and she couldn't understand why. 

"Are you okay," Roksazza asked kind of confused by his sudden jubilation. 

"Yeah I'm with her on this one. What's with all the excitement," Marcelina asked unsure about why he was suddenly so elated. 

Benedictus realizing how odd it was stopped for a second and he cleared his throat before explaining, "I read between the lines. Looking over the information I realized that if you take it at face value a lot of your abilities were great. But if you look beyond what lies on the surface of the words there is a hidden synergy. Try to bind with yourself right now." 

Hearing his last sentence threw both women for a loop. They were confused and oddly curious by the suggestion. Marcelina herself had not even thought of that being a possibility. She was about to ask why he even would suggest something like that. At that moment though she looked back at her abilities and gave them a read for herself once more with what he suggested in mind. 

After looking over the information again she realized why he came to that conclusion. Focused Adaptive Training and very clearly stated that she could bind with any creature. That would mean that she could bind with a person, and if she could do that it also meant she could potentially bind with herself. Which meant that the other two abilities would work on her. Meaning that she could give mental orders to herself in combat and the system would partially assist her would making sure it could be accomplished. Not only that if she were to carve up some of the creatures that they were hunting and cook and eat them she could also gain new abilities and potential changes to her overall body that would permanently increase what she could do. 

When the realization hit her she couldn't help but feel a little bit excited. If this worked then she could potentially not only keep up with the others but stand side by side with them as an equal. 

She immediately attempted to use her Binding Ritual on herself. She took the point of her dagger and pricked her finger offering her blood once more to initiate the binding. When asked to select a creature to bind with she selected herself. To her surprise the system accepted and since she was binding with herself there was no need to try and gain the consent and willingness of the creature since it was her. Which meant that the binding was automatically successful and she got a notification stating that she had bound herself to herself and she could apply all of the benefits and abilities that she could use on other bound creatures on her self as well. 

When she saw that the idea worked she stood in shock and awe. Marcelina did not expect it to work, even if she trusted Ben, part of her felt like something would prevent it. But he was right. She succeeded with his idea and now it was truly possible to be able to walk side by side with them as an equal. 

Suddenly she couldn't help but to laugh. All that envy that was building up in the back of her mind was starting to dissipate. Replaced by tears of joy as she bellowed chuckles of genuine excitement. Now she felt like she wouldn't be a burden. 

"Hey what's with all the tears. There's no need to do all the crying. It worked didn't it," Ben wondered a little bit confused why she was suddenly tearing up while laughing. 

He didn't get a verbal response as she instead just gave him a big hug. He didn't know how to react to the suddenness of everything. Eventually though he hugged back happy that she felt grateful for his assistance. 

Allowing them to hug each other for a moment, Roksazza watched from the sidelines before clapping her hands to get their attention, "This is sweet. I think it's actually quite cute. But we should go back to base now. I'm starting to get hungry and I think a nice hot meal would be a perfect way to end the day."