Glorious: The Ascension

About 2 days had passed and nothing else major happened. In that time frame Benedictus had decided to build a proper place for Roksazza seeing as she was making it very clear she was sticking around for at least a little while. Everybody for the most part was just getting used to hearing Emma talk including Charles who was used to interacting with him before she was able to speak. 

On the morning of the 3rd day however things changed. From the other side of the river Ben heard a woman's voice calling out, "Hello! Is anyone over there?! We come in peace!" 

You looking in that direction after already having gotten up started to wake up the others, he saw a woman and the young boy. Both human and potentially friendly. He moved over with his hand on his pistol just in case they were a threat pretending to be friendly. 

"Yes! Show your hands! State your names and where are you from," he ordered loud enough for them to hear him over the sound of the river. 

The boy called out in excitement and surprise with a strong Slavic accent, "Claudette look it's him! It's the man who ended the war! That's Commander Benedictus!" 

"You're right..... Well isn't that something," She said she motioned for the boy to follow orders. 

Ben took note at the boys seemed like a fan of him, even though he didn't understand why anyone would want to be a fan of his. He asked cautiously, "You know me?! How?! Most people don't even recognize me!"

The boy shouted trying to jog Ben's memory, "You save my life! And my mom's! Back in the village! We were hostages! In northern Russia, remember?!" 

Thinking about it for just a little bit Ben did remember that mission where an entire village was being held hostage by the enemy forces. Looking at a young man a little bit more he recognized that the boy did look like one of the children he saved. He focused on the boy's face for a little bit and noticed that the kid had the same scars as the little boy he distinctly remembers from the night. 

Ben lowered his gun and told them, "Well I'll be..... I remember you kid! Both of you can cross! He take the bridge!" 

He used his earth magic to create a stone bridge across the river temporarily for them to walk across. Once they were on the other side of the river where he was he would make the bridge from and the pieces flow in the strong current of the river. He will then approach them getting a better look at both of them.

Taking a good look at the young boy he definitely recognized him now that he was closer. If nothing else he could recognize the scars on the boy's face. The deep scar over the boys left eyebrow, the shallow scar going across the left side of his forehead, and the two scars on the boys left cheek one of which was short and deep while the other was long and went from the boy's jawline almost to his nose. He remembered that those scars belong to the child he helped rescue that were being brutally beaten by enemy soldiers. 

Sure enough this kid did know him, and was one of the people he had saved once upon a time. However the boy had grown quite a lot since he last saw him. When they last met in person the kid only came up to just above his knees but now he was almost up to his shoulders and height. Not only that the boy had noticeably put on muscle. He was still rather lean and slim but bulky enough to be somewhat intimidating. His short blonde hair was slightly darker than what he remembered but it might just have been a little bit hazy from trying to recall a memory from nearly a decade ago.

The most striking thing was the boys bright blue eyes that still had that same look of hope and joy that he remembers the young kid having after they had successfully saved the day. The smile on the young man's face was actually something that genuinely put Ben at more ease. 

Given how the boy was dressed in fine white clothing made from high quality materials such as silk and satin accented with gold armor plating here and there with golden trimmed symbols on his clothing he assumed the kid must have some kind of healer class. The boy also held a spear in hand but it was not as fancy as the clothes that the young man wore. The most curious thing was the boy seem to have wings now. At first he thought that it was a part of the boy's outfit but then the wings began to flutter and move. Realizing that they were legitimately real he couldn't help but think the kid looked like an angel with those white feathered wings. All he was missing was a halo.

The woman that was with the young man stood out for several reasons. His senses definitely picked up that she had quite a bit of magical power as he could sense her mana even without fully using the power of his eyes. Her magic had a similar essence to necromancy which he was becoming more familiar with. 

Her skin was slightly more pale than most Caucasian people to a degree that it is noticeable but not so much that it is concerning. Her bright green eyes were definitely eye catching especially since they gave off a faint green glow that seemed to pulsate with mana but not in the same way that his eyes glow when he casts the spell. The glow was more subtle for her and barely noticeable in the daylight but bright enough that he still picked up on it. 

Her eyes were just as I catching as her hair which was a dark green color, but unlike what he initially thought her hair looked like it was naturally dark green instead of dyed that color. The roots of her hair seem to be the same color which made it odd since green of any kind is not a natural hair color for humans. He assumed that it might be some kind of change dealing with whatever magic she primarily uses. 

What was definitely of note was her outfit however. She wore dark purple robes that primarily looked to be made of satin with embroidered silk patterns along the seams accented with golden buttons. He noticed that her shoes were black boots with green laces. And somehow she has been able to maintain her dark black makeup for her eyes and lips. Everything about this woman screamed goth. It actually made him feel more comfortable around her since in his youth he himself was goth. 

He asked them to introduce themselves again this time much more polite and with his weapon away, "Could you both please introduce yourselves? I'd like to know better who I'm talking to."

The woman spoke first her voice playful but slightly deeper than most women but not terribly so, "I'm Claudette. This is John. Both of us made our way here after we saw the light in the sky a couple nights ago in this direction. We figured something important might have been going on, but we didn't think we'd come across people out here."

"We saw the smoke coming from your chimneys but thought that it might have just been the remnants of a camp that was abandoned. It's nice to see that there are actual people living out in the woods. We've been trying to find other people for a while now," John added with that noticeable excitement still in his voice. 

"I'm assuming the two of you have been traveling together for a while," Ben asked pretty much already understanding what their answer is going to be. 

John nodded while Claudette verbally answered, "Yep. About 2 weeks now. We met along the edge of the forest in the large meadows where the both of us seem to have originally been teleported at the start of these trials. We've been heading in this direction ever since trying to find civilization." 

John added, "Surviving on our own was kind of hard until we met each other. Especially considering we didn't start with anything. I got lucky and found the spear on one of the dead bodies of a ruined that I found shortly after arriving. Without it I think I'd be dead by now."

"Nonsense you can heal yourself just fine," Claudette tried to reassure him and help boost his morale. 

"You have the ability to heal? What is your class exactly," Ben questioned in genuine curiosity. 

John answered a little nervous not certain if his class would make him seem cool or lame in front of his hero, "Oh... me.... I'm a Warpriest. If my understanding is correct it is a legendary rank class." 

"And I'm a Fleshmaster. Sounds kind of gross, but I basically specialize in raising corpses as zombies and altering my own body like a shapeshifter. My status screen told me that it's a mythic rank class," Claudette answered in regards to her own info. 

"Class rank? I didn't know classes have ranks. Where did you guys get that information," Ben asked not entirely knowing what they were talking about. 

Claudette was actually surprised to hear that and questioned him, "Are you serious? What are you telling me you never click the colored icon beside your class on your status screen?" 

"No. I didn't think it was anything important," Ben answered truthfully. 

"Oh.... well damn....," she replied. 

John clarified for him, "If you click on the colored icon it'll tell you what your class is rank is and there's a little pop-up that explains the different class rankings that goes along with it." 

"Well I didn't know that. Let me see," Ben responded while making his status screen appear. 

The two of them glanced at his status screen and both caught sight of his level which was much higher than theirs. Both of them gasped in shock which took Ben by surprise and he looked at them concerned. He raised his eyebrow at them, "Everything okay?"

Claudette was the first to answer and she was genuinely surprised, "Why is your level so high already?" 

He answered not really sure how to talk about it and mostly just nonchalantly not really sure what to say inform them, "I guess it's because I've been doing a lot of hunting. I've cleared a dungeon and re-cleared another with my team. I've also completed a few quests..... There were a lot of animals I did take down. So it makes sense with how many I fought and defeated so far. Why what are your levels?"

John nervously said, "My level's only 9." 

"And mine's only 10. We've been fighting like non-stop almost. How the hell are you already at level 13," Claudette asked in complete confusion. 

"Like I said those dungeons and quests really helped," Ben responded. 

He turned his attention back to his character sheet as Marcelina walked over with Charles hanging around her neck like a scarf playfully nuzzling his head under her chin. At the same time, Roksazza emerged only wearing her undergarments so she could begin her morning workout and yoga. Both women noticed the two new arrivals and came over to see what was going on. 

John hid behind Claudette when he saw Roksazza. He didn't know what she was but he knew she was some big scary alien lady for sure. Ben noticed this and he told them both, "Oh yeah..... These are my companions. That's Marcelina right there with her best buddy Charles. And that walking tank of a woman is Roksazza. They're all nice so don't let their appearance intimidate you." 

He was then caught off guard when Emma landed on his back and wrapped her arms and legs around his torso. She started looking his face and he started to pet her chin as Claudette reached for her dagger thinking he was being attacked. Ben held out of hand and calmed her, "No need to worry. This is Emma. She's my animal companion. She won't hurt anybody unless you try to hurt anyone here. I promise she's very sweet. Isn't that right Emma?" 

Emma shocked both of them as she spoke wild nuzzling her cheek against Ben's, "I is good girl." 

John actually peeked out surprise to see a talking animal, "She can talk?!" 

"Yeah it's a side effect of an ability that I have. When I made her my familiar it boosted a lot of her stats and abilities and she gained knowledge on how to speak English. Now she can talk like the rest of us," Ben said very nonchalantly a matter-of-factly while giving him a couple kisses on her snout. 

Claudette rightfully asked is very curious while pointing at Charles, "Can that one talked to?" 

Marcelina actually answered, "Nope. He's smart enough to understand and he can respond non-verbally with his body language and what not, but he doesn't have the ability to speak like us. Maybe one day I might unlock an ability that'll give him the power to speak. Then my cute boy will be able to gossip with mama." 

Charles enjoyed the compliment and gave her a couple kisses as he booped his snout against her cheek and licked her face a little too. The love and affection he showed was enough to make Marceline a giggle while petting his cute little head. 

While they were talking Ben looked at what his status screen said his class rank was. The color was white which indicated that it was the lowest rank possible, Normal. They're apparently were seven ranks in total: Normal, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythic, Transcendent, and Divine. The higher the ranking the more powerful the class. However it does directly state that this is not always true if one skill and intelligence in how to properly use their class is hired than others. 

He also read that it doesn't just apply to class this ranking also applies to traits, titles, and gear. Saying that he decided to look over some of his stuff once more just to see. Looking at his traits and flaws he saw that everything was normal rank except for Magical Genius and Battle-hardened. Battle-hardened had an rare rank while Magical Genius had an epic rank.

Looking over his titles he saw that Vinuu Slayer was a rare ranked title meanwhile the Honored One was of divine rank. For him the Honored One made sense to be of divine rank since he remembers the notification when he got it stating as much. Looking at all the gear he had gotten, he saw that everything he had earned so far was of rare rank. The only things that he had that were of higher rank were the materials from the Vinuu Queen and the scales of that undead Infant Azure Lynwyrm. Both of those items to be of Mythic rank.

"That's good to know," Ben said aloud talking to himself but everyone else heard him. 

Marceline asked thinking he was talking to them, "What's good to know?" 

"Oh sorry I was just going over the new information that these two gave me. I was checking the rarity of my class and other things," he clarified trying to make sure there wasn't a misunderstanding. 

"What's class rarity," Marcelina asked having no idea about it either. 

Claudette and John start explaining for them and showing them how to check it. As both Marcelina and Roksazza check their classes rarities they uncover some surprising information. Roksazza is extremely excited shouting, "My class is Transcendent rank! I knew it had to be awesome!"

"Lucky you, my class is only epic rank...," Marcelina said a little downcasted as her shoulders began to slump feeling inadequate. 

Ben informed her to try and lift her spirits up, "Still better than me. My class is only Normal rank." 

All of them stopped and stared at him in disbelief and in unison they all shouted, "WHATTTTT????!!!!"

"Yeah but hey it's more about how you make use of it," Ben said while shrugging thinking it was no big deal. Even if his rank was low he was still doing well for himself. 

He chose to turn his attention instead to focusing on something more important like eating, as his stomach started growling. He looked to everybody and he said, "Well.... Looks like I'm running behind on making breakfast so I'm going to go crack it out for everybody. If the two of you are hungry you can join us. So long as you behave yourselves so you can stay." 

John asked looking for reassurance with sparkling eyes, "Really? You let us stay?" 

"On one condition of course," Ben answered while coming to a stop, "You tell me who's the third person over there lying in the bushes?" 

Claudette realizes that he had somehow picked up on their other friend. She answered trying to explain the situation and ensure that there was no ill intent, "Her name is Azzora. She's an alien contestant. She would have joined us but she's not in the best shape. John healed her wounds but she exhausted herself so bad she's been asleep for the last 2 days saving us from a couple elite monsters. We left her in the bushes nearby because we didn't want you to think we were trying anything nefarious. We were going to tell you about her..... Looks like you already knew."

"Bring her over here. Let us take a look at her," Ben could feel his skills giving him guidance in what to do on this situation and his gut instinct told him that she was being honest. 

He reconstructed the bridge and let the two of them carry the alien woman over. Azzora was definitely alien for sure. The best way he could describe her was some kind of anthropomorphic fox woman with a whole bunch of extra crazy stuff going on. 

She had features like that of a human woman in overall build however her face was more like that of a a fox in certain ways. She had a slight extended snout with large Fox like ears. Her overall facial structure seem to be a perfect blend of a human's skeletal facial makeup and a fox's. It was natural perfectly genetically spliced and most likely took centuries of adaptation or more. The woman was definitely beautiful and the best way he could describe her overall body was voluptuous and curvy. She had a bit of muscle to her but it was nowhere near as defined or large as his or Roksazza's. Her curves however put all three of the other women there to shame as she had been bountifully blessed. 

It almost made been nervously blush as he had to check her heartbeat but to do so he had to move the woman's rather large breasts apart enough to get his ear on her sternum to hear for her heartbeat. Sure enough she was still breathing as he could feel her breath blowing on the top of his head as he heard her heart beating in her chest just fine. Has he pulled away he felt the woman's arms start to grab on to him as she seemed to be dreaming. 

Before he knew it all four of the woman's arms had grabbed on to him and pulled him in close while calling out a name in a language he didn't understand. Most likely of someone she was dreaming of. He felt the fluff of the pink fur around her neck and collarbone area on his forehead as his face was now stuck between her rather large pair of melons. 

The others had to help him gently removing the woman's 4 arms from around him. Once he was out of her grasp she rolled onto her side and her four rather large moth like wings fluttered as her three fluffy fox tails swished alongside it. She spoke more of her alien language and her tone and facial expressions in her currently slumbering State almost seem to indicate sadness, as if the moment he was let out of her grasp whoever she was thinking about in her dreams was also now gone.

Ben couldn't find anything wrong with her health wise but Marcelina had enough of what she just saw and decided to be a little bit of a jealous Janet. She took a cup and filled it up with the river water and splashed it on the face of Azzora. The shock of the cold river water on the woman's face shocked her awake as she snapped up not sure where she was or what was going on. She immediately flew up into the air and started summoning spheres of wind to get ready to attack. 

As her eyes to focused she saw John and Claudette now with several other people. She didn't know how she got there or what was going on. Then she heard John exclaim happy to see her up and awake again, "Azzora!!! You're finally awake!!!" 

She calmed down and deactivated whatever ability She was preparing to use. As she landed back on the ground she questioned speaking English herself after also having purchased a translation item from the Ascension Shop long ago, "John..... Where am I and what happened?" 

Claudette answered for him, "You've been asleep for 2 days. We made our way to where that light came from and we found this group living out here by the river. One of them went ahead and woke you up. If I knew splashing water in your face would have done the trick I would have did it yesterday morning and saved myself some time carrying you. You know you're heavy as fuck right?"

"Don't hate that most of my weight comes from my curves. At least mine are natural," Azzora snapped back a little catty with what been now recognized as a more watered down New Jersey accent. 

"You trying to save my curves aren't natural? Look here I might not have been born a girl, but I'm still a better looking woman than you," Claudette fired back putting a little pizzazz on it by rubbing her hands along her nice curves. 

"Wait your trans," Marcelina asked genuinely shocked as she also believed Claudette was a natural born woman like her. 

"Oh yeah.... I forgot to mention that.... Yep sorry. I used to be a boy when I was younger, but I transitioned shortly before the war. My parents kind of forced it on me... I don't really like talking about it," Claudette responded a bit nervous and definitely uncomfortable talking about her past. 

The other is kind of picked up on it and chose to leave that conversation where it was and move past it. Ben looked at her and he said to all of them as his stomach growled again, "Ok! Now that everybody is awake and we have a better idea of who each other is I'm going to go fix breakfast. If you're all hungry I suggest you say so now." 

All of them kind of stopped what they were doing and everyone definitely agreed that food was important at the moment. Most of them hadn't eaten yet and putting some food in their bellies would be definitely a good way to start off their days. Ben just gave a nod and went to go cook breakfast for everyone. 

A few hours later after everyone had already eaten, everyone had mostly caught each other up on what both groups had been doing since they arrived. Claudette and her group learned about the things that Ben was doing with his group and how all of them had met. In return they shared stories about how all of them had met as well. From the sounds of it everyone had initially been teleported either directly inside of the forest or around it and over time have slowly met one another and chose to stick together for survival sake. It appears that everyone was in agreement that survival was the main priority and trusting each other was a necessity if they wanted to live and not die from either the wildlife or starvation.

As they got to know each other they also learned more about Azzora. Apparently she was the highest level member of her group as well as the highest level individual of her species. She was currently level 12 and it was almost entirely due to being the primary one fighting the wild animals in their group. She also had gotten a unique title and blessing for being the first of her people to reach level 10. The title that she had gotten was, Heir of the Archfey, and her blessing was called, Nature's Voice. 

Both of which seem to fit perfect for her since her class was Archdruid and it was of the Mythic rank. Apparently her powers allowed her to tap into the same energy that John called upon which was the power of miracles. Both of them seem to use spiritual energy which was called Vani. Overall she mostly used Earth and Wind-based miracles since she was already capable of doing so back on her homeworld where she served as a princess who was also the future head of their religion as well as their country. 

When her group found out that Ben and Roksazza for the first of their races to reach level 10 and also got unique titles and blessings they saw it as a miracle in itself. Almost as if fate was bringing them together or dumb luck. However their entire group was stunned when they saw what Ben's title was. John celebrated as he essentially took the title as confirmation that his personal hero was basically like the main character of one of his favorite cartoons in real life. Claudette and Azzora however found it quite frightening. Especially with how the description of the title made it seem like destiny itself proclaimed him to be the strongest there will ever be.

Now after they had gone to know each other more they talk things out and agreed to team up together to improve their chances of survival as well as to just be able to live in this world without needing to worry. Ben and Azzora decided to go off and discuss improvements for the current base since both of them had powers that would allow for them to upgrade it further. At the same time Ben was planning to make them temporary lodging until he could make actual homes for them. 

By the time nightfall had came the group had a temporary home to stay in and they were all gathered around the bonfire for dinner to discuss all of their current inventory and finances. They wanted to come up with a plan of how to move forward from here. Azzora remarked, "Currently it would seem that with all of our money combined we have a collective total of 12,505 godly gold. We could use that money to get 2 five-star items from the Ascension Shop or a bunch of lower level items. Plus you all have those materials and that ticket for a craftsman which if we combine with some of our materials might be able to create a pretty high quality item or two." 

"Yes. I think for now the main focus should be on updating our maps since they do sell maps in the store. But it costs 5,000 gold just to get a map of the entire forest," Claudette added. 

"Sounds like a purchase that would pay itself off in the long run if we have a better understanding of the layout of the forest we're in," Roksazza agreed. 

"I think we all know that it is worth the money so we should guarantee that as a purchase and then that would leave us with a little over 7,500 combined gold to work with. 500 of which I believe we should focus on getting more food as well as more supplies to grow in my little farm so we won't have to always worry about purchasing food. Outside of that maybe we could see what else the shop has currently that might be useful," Ben chimed in and suggested.

Azzora took a note of that and started going through the Ascension Shop alongside Marcelina has both of them scanned it for items that they thought would be useful for everyone both individually and as a group. Azzora looked for small items that the group could definitely benefit from like more clothes more tools and other important personal necessities especially for the women here as she assumed many of them had some of the same biological traits like her people. Meanwhile Marcelina primarily focused on big important things that might be beneficial and she came across something that she thought the group could definitely use. 

"I found a ticket in the shop that will teleport whoever uses it to an animal shop pocket dimension where people can buy different animals, including livestock. We could use it to get a couple chickens and cows. Maybe even a few pigs. That'll solve our food problem a lot better while we wait for an expansion on the farm. Plus Azzora is great with animals just like I am so we could take turns taking care of them," Marcelina inform them and suggested. 

"I'm not going to lie having fresh milk and eggs sounds really good right about now," John chimed in reminiscing about home. 

Azzora wasn't certain about it and noted, "I've never heard of any of those creatures." 

"The food we are eating right now is called fried chicken. It is an earth creature and as you can tell, it is delicious. The food we had this morning, the yellow fluffy bits that you ate, are chicken eggs scrambled. Trust me these humans know what they're talking about when it comes to food," Roksazza reassured her and clarified a little. 

"Good to know. Maybe while they're there in that case they could get some animals from either of our homeworlds, that we know could fulfill some of the same roles," Azzora threw out as a suggestion.

"I don't see a problem with that. If you tell us what they look like and what they're called we can definitely check and make sure that they are sold there," Marcelina agreed. 

Ben nodded along, "I'm guessing that means that the rest of our money is going towards getting some animals so we can have more food. We'll see how much it all costs and whatever is left over we can make a couple more purchases or just save for a rainy day." 

They were all in agreement and they went ahead and started purchasing some of the things that they were in desperate need of. They purchased a map which they used to update all of their status screens map tabs so they could finally get a full map of the entire forest. After that they purchased two tickets to the animal store for relatively cheap. Everything else was just small essentials like hygiene products and tools as well as seeds for fruits and vegetables to grow on the farm. By the time they were done with all of their purchases they had 6,000 gold left. 

"Now to decide who's going to be doing all the buying for the livestock," Claudette said putting it out there so everybody could make a decision. 

They almost all unanimously looked at Ben. He was kind of confused since he wasn't the animal expert, "Why is everybody looking at me for? We have two animal experts here and neither one of them is me." 

"No but you have the best skills and stats out of everyone here. Plus your insight is much higher than the rest of ours, so you can probably tell if they try and scam you better than we could," Claudette blankly stated. 

"Ah fuck it. Fine I'll do it in the morning. I guess we're saving the second ticket in case we need to go and get some more later," he replied understanding but not entirely liking the idea of just being chosen for those reasons alone.

Marcelina nodded, "Yep. Let's just hope that the animals are reasonably priced when you go tomorrow. We could definitely use them around here."

"Alright now that we have all that annoying stuff out of the way.... Let's have some fun," Roksazza said as she started drinking whiskey.