After some investigations near the HQ cities, Jake’s party had split up. Ophelia, Fhesiah, Tanda and Ruby on Valora heading to the Wind Grand Temple, and now Jake, Bloodberri, and Sati flew towards the Fire Grand Temple.

Despite their amazing pace, it was a task that would take the better part of a day even if they went straight for it. The parties were largely chosen to balance them and for speaking with the temple, as Jake could call upon Bree and Avalara at any moment for reinforcements. Ophelia’s party could only wait for Jake to Reverse Summon himself to them.

They were faster now, but the world was larger. Despite the HQ’s being set up to enable for defending some of the larger cities and the Grand Temples originally, it was still a week or more on the standard mount.

The landscape Jake’s party flew over was largely mountainous and full of lava rivers and lakes. Drakes and wyverns were a common species on this world, and his party had found themselves forced to either fight and kill or to avoid them.

Large reptiles like dinosaurs could be seen as well, called land dragons. Numerous fauna that looked a lot like the hearth tree or similar existed, including many plants that clearly drew in fire or earth mana. Many plant stems and vines had a rocky, almost crystalline structure with fire running through them.

Avalara and Bree both didn’t have much capacity for flight due to their size and weight, so they were essentially left behind, waiting to be called. The two could create unique ways to fly, much like Bloodberri had in the past, but it was unfortunately not the speed they wanted to travel–the party was only able to move as fast as the slowest member.

Jake did give them something fun to do, however. The two were taking on Rifts and Monster Dens each time his party flew near them by using Call Summon and then flying away, as well as dumping some of his mana on Templates to aid them in the battle. They would grow quite the defensive jungle between battles for protection, just in case some enemy surprise came.

The Ravenwolf Clan had headed to investigate a few minor temples in nearby cities and villages, leading much of their tribe to the Rifts near Tempestia or Stonewatch first, as Jake had planned.

Jake’s family had stopped at a few shrines before making the trek to the Grand Temples but hadn’t learned anything useful that they didn’t already know. They gained more reports of missing clergy over the last several years, and at all the temples. As predicted, the earth temples really didn’t want to speak with them or allow them inside, but they did manage to confirm that their situation was similar.

They made their recordings and headed out, making sure to collect as much evidence as they could, both for themselves and the Sector Council.

They had learned this from their research, but they had some difficulty at the temples even obtaining this information. While some of it might have been thanks to the Obsidian Blades and their ilk souring the populace, Jake and his party’s nature as Champions and clergy actually soured their relationship with some of the temples.

However, Jake’s Presence alone had helped with the fire temple, specifically, and several of the priestesses actually begged Sati to become a priestess of fire.

It wasn’t only priests and priestesses, either. There were numerous reports across the cities about missing people of various kinds, reported to the temples.

Bloodberri snaked through the sky, flapping their three sets of wings as auril pulsed through them. They had even grown their crafted, mounted wings out further, enhancing their power to move more rapidly. Combined with their Featherfall runic magic reducing their weight, they were proud of the pace that they could now accomplish.

Jake and Sati could fly faster than her by a fair margin, but they once again considered their overall safety as they went. With three unsealed Champions and five Divine Descendants on the Alliance side present on this world, this meant that their enemy would definitely get significant advantages–perhaps, even an Enforcer could be present.

Their enemy could be laying a deadly ambush once more, but the game in the second Tier was going to be very different. They now had hundreds of allies casting a net throughout the world, and hiding powerful enemies was not exactly easy now that their allies were much more capable. Even if that weren’t the case, Ira remained on the lookout for danger, its search radius larger than ever now that it had reached the second Tier along with them.

In the first Tier, the creature was extremely far behind and ended up even more than half a Tier behind at one point. But now, after their long vacation and Jake building up his void energies that the creature feasted on, it had largely caught up.

And there was more. Jake wasn’t just dropping off Ava and Bree at each location to slay monsters. They were planting special array flags, which Jake had designed with Fhesiah.

He had learned by using Zhuge Liang’s array flags from their training room and created the multipurpose item. It was a sensor, a relay for their headsets, and also allowed Jake to attune them to the mana in the area and manipulate it.

Much like Fhesiah’s arrays she placed out to gather auril for the Heart of the World on Highlands, these could gather the mana they were attuned to to feed into a secondary tool–his mana font. With enough of them and placed in the right locations, it was as if they were making their own magical leylines.

In this case, quite a bit of fire and earth mana were present as they worked their way toward the Fire Grand Temple, and the mixture was only increasing to favor fire more heavily as they neared it.

Each flag planted in the correct locations would allow them to direct vast amounts of mana for massive spells, as well as gather intelligence that Valtor and Amara could review and act upon. The Ravenwolf Tribe was also planting these flags, creating a network that could even predict a Rift opening. They could have people ready to close it before it even spawned.

In a sense, this was the tool in Jake’s toolkit that he was most proud of that would change war for his guild. By increasing information, communication, and magical potential through the arrays, he could increase his people’s safety and the success of their Conquest. There was a companion item much like his mana font that fed from the arrays, which would allow smaller Battlegroups to punch far above their level or group size.

Then, Hearthtribe had nature druids, spriggons, and treants from the Elysian Glade, who could even speak to the nature of the world itself and gain intelligence this way once they arrived. While the world didn’t have green trees any longer because of the loss of the water mana of the world, it still had unique trees that lived off of fire, earth, and wind mana. And the Elysians should be able to converse with it.

The flight to the Fire and Wind temples was several hours long, and Bree and Avalara had already enjoyed closing numerous Rifts and Monster Dens on the way, and many array flags were planted.

Eventually, The Grand Fire Temple was in view, but still a great distance away. It was huge, and it had four tall, slender towers around it, their tops spewing a pillar of flames into the sky, like giant torches. The center temple reminded Jake of the Taj Mahal on Earth, only mostly red and black with a large, central flame rather than a bulbous spire and in the center-back of the vast building. It was absolutely massive, larger than a city all on its own.

Like all of the Grand Temples, they were set in, above, or beneath the giant craters. The creation lore of the world included the birth of the four moons from the world’s very crust, the four gods that ruled over the world.

[My questioning is complete, Jake. You can summon me any time so I can rejoin you.]

Jake used Call Summon, the girl immediately taking flight using her Qi. Her tail did have the almost kite-tail effect behind her, much like Bloodberri.

Berri grinned at that. “Hehe, hooray for more snake girls!”

Jake asked, “What did you find out, Nessa? I know Blood was feeding you a number of smart questions to ask.”

“Not a lot, unfortunately. These were all bad actors, and so, they will all be receiving the same punishment. Apparently, it’s pretty bad–because our questioning revealed several instances, and not just one. They had kidnapped and extorted people, aware and complicit of the behavior. And they were to deliver the extorted people and goods out in the wilderness, but they didn’t know to whom and for why.”

Blood added, “And they didn’t know who they were working for, so we cannot easily pin the blame on the leaders. We instead focused on what other crimes they’ve noticed in their guild, or heard about, to direct our questions and find wrongdoing. These were much more useful to us, but there is not anything that we can directly link to anything beyond human trafficking and assassination prior to the war.”

Jake asked, “Does that mean there will be more punished outside of the hundred we caught?”

Nessa sighed. “I doubt it, as that

would just be hearsay, as they learned of these crimes second-hand. We gave our report to the Sector Council, and they are currently reviewing the information provided. The intent to deliver them into the wilderness does reek of betrayal but might not be enough until it can be confirmed–the war over. They’ve been doing this piece for months since Conquest began, apparently.”

Tanda felt rather upset about this, but it was Ophelia who added over their bond, [This is rather frustrating. We have betrayers in our midst, and the law won’t act until the world is lost from their actions?]

Nessa replied, “It’s because the Contest cannot be disturbed. If the Council intervenes in that way, it may cost the Alliance a lot more than just the potential loss of a world, by granting Tartarus advantages. The best they can do is send their own investigation team, which may be able to get to the bottom of this.”

Blood noted, “And our enemy is aware of these teams, no doubt. Their plots likely include their potential presence–by the time they arrive, the deed will be done.”

That was a sobering thought.

Tanda asked, [What about those dark elves that suicided? Who were they communicating with?]

Nessa replied, “They didn’t know. Just that they were to follow the instructions of whoever was on the other side of their communication devices without question.”

Jake asked, “What communication devices? Did we obtain one of them?”

Nessa sighed and shook her head. “Nope. It seems that as we were catching them, they destroyed them. It would have been nice to obtain those, but that’s a tough thing. I did get permission to capture one of these devices, though, so if we find one, we can learn more about it.”

Normally, the Framework would actually prevent them from stealing anything from another Framework Adventurer. Now that they had permission, this might help.

Jake sighed. “At least there was some progress, in that we can now take potential communication items. So… our enemy is adept at creating layers of deniability here. We have to determine their goals and catch them in the act if we want them to face punishment–and do it while fighting a war against the enemy.”

Nessa said, “We did get news on the plots front. It seems we were able to prove significant effort to weaken the temples and grand temples, and not just recently–for years.”

Jake frowned. “For years? We did learn something similar to that, but I thought this world was only Contested as of a few months ago. Don’t tell me they’re kidnapping people on every world, Contested or not?”

“It’s difficult to say. Several of the men had been here in the last few years to kidnap or kill certain priestesses and priests. Many live inside the temple, and it is heavily warded, but that didn’t stop them from attempting assassinations.”

During wartime, the Framework would not allow someone to kill a native unless in self-defense. However, when not at war, it was only heavily discouraged–a significant penalty of CP was charged for each, to where it wouldn’t be worth it. The reason for this was simple. People were a valuable resource as potential recruits, and the reputation of immortal Framework Adventurers going around slaying people was not one that The Alliance desired. The Obsidian Blades and their ilk operated mainly within the rules, paying their dues and not exceeding certain limits.

Jake couldn’t help but frown at this, though–a systematic dismantling or weakening of the temples important for maintaining the world’s energy balance had to count for something in terms of betrayal efforts.

“That sounds like a dead giveaway to me, the leaving people alone in the wilderness, tied up and vulnerable to monster attack. That’s not enough to get their entire guild in trouble?”

Nessa sighed, and shook her head. “It might not be enough still, but it was all included in our report. They were just individual hits, and they were given their own little stories on why they were doing it. It was only four out of the over a hundred who had even done one, but they had heard of others. This was enough to give us a good idea and begin our investigations, but we need more evidence.”

“So we were right to head to the grand temples. Was there any other kind of focus of theirs?”

Blood said, “It’s hard to say, these people were only involved near Firewake, so naturally they would only be involved with the Fire Grand Temple. They had heard of similar hits and kidnappings occurring at the others. We’ll have to let the rest of Hearthtribe and the Alliance know to look out for more on these other worlds.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Fhesiah added over their mental communication, [This is good information, but none of it answers an important question.]

“What question is that, Faye?”

[What did delaying questioning for three days grant them? If we had questioned them right away, what would be different? I’m not seeing it.]

It was a difficult question to answer, and those able to join in with mental communication were stumped. Jake had a few ideas, but most of them came up a little short in terms of a motive.

It was Bree that replied over their mental communication, [I wouldn’t want us to underestimate our opponents, but it could be that they simply trusted that their Divine children were going to win, and the three-day delay meant that we never would have questioned them at all. Barring that, it could just be a rather general delay in our investigations. The dungeon’s actions are hitting all three major cities near the temples at the same level, obscuring the truth of which one is the more dangerous or important threat.]

Blood replied, [That is true, and Jake’s first notion was to go to the Earth and Wind Grand Temples before Sati spoke up thanks to the dungeon events occurring. Maybe they all have something happening soon. Our time to find their plot is limited, and so is our manpower. It could be that by stalling us, it lowers our chances of discovering their plan. This could be all that they wanted. If they run out the clock enough, then we’ll have lost the game.]

As for Ophelia’s party, their speed was much faster. However, the temple was high in the sky, and difficult to approach due to the numerous floating islands and miscellaneous debris in the chaotic, turbulent space.

There were even Rifts in the sky, and so their party took the time to close the difficult to close Rifts on their way over. The wind elves of the world had been closing many of them, but it appeared they had fallen behind.

The HQ’s were designed to be relatively close enough to in order to protect the Grand Temples originally, but it wasn’t like they were in view. Aside from those that lived in the temples, no city or outside support was provided. It seemed the strange fire lizards were their primary modes of transportation, and there was barely a path that headed from Firewake to the Grand Temple.

They arrived at the Fire Grand Temple, likely an entire hour before Ophelia’s party had arrived at theirs, thanks to their need to close the Rifts. The flying monsters spewed from the Rift were on average weaker than their grounded counterparts, and weren’t that difficult for Fhesiah, Ophelia, and Ruby to take down.

There was a transparent dome of golden Framework hexagons, demarcating the area where monsters or enemies of the Alliance could not enter. As they entered, there was a significant shift.

The mana felt wrong, to Jake. Certainly, it had become denser as they had gotten closer to the Grand Temple. But now, despite getting denser, it felt murky and difficult to move around as Jake probed it with his magical sensory.

Sati suddenly spoke up, “The land feels weak. Suffering, tainted.”

Jake sent Ira to learn more about their temple, now that they had neared. The creature phased into the void, its eyes and senses peering between dimensions. He got two feelings from the void wyrm, that were somewhat difficult to parse.

Hidden. Guarded.

As Jake looked at it with his Umbral Gaze, he saw essentially the same thing. Normally, he could easily get an x-ray-like view, but the walls were difficult for him to penetrate. He could only at best see that shapes were inside, their spirits having a special weight that couldn’t fully be obscured, as they touched the edges of the void.

These were what Ira perceived, and this was a lot of how the creature couldn’t really be snuck up on. Anything powerful enough would touch the void in more ways than one, across the different dimensions that most couldn’t even perceive.

It appeared the place was heavily warded. Ira continued to look and probe the wards, testing the massive building from all angles. Jake got the impression that Ira could peer or break inside rather easily, but Jake decided on at least waiting for seeing how their contact with them went first before they intruded. They would have to if left with no other recourse, but it was preferred for them to maintain positive relations, especially for the future.

There were some weak points in the wards. There were subtle differences between them, Ira noted, but the creature couldn’t offer any reasons as to why. Jake asked Nessa, “How did the assassins get in?”

“Within the temple, it is like a city inside. It is not exclusively clergy within, there are numerous families and their servants, though they are all worshipers or adherents of their beliefs of the Great Flame–the moon. Like those guards you see ahead.”

Two guards stood outside of the front gate, adorned in armor. They were very early in the second Tier, and not really threats to Jake and his party.

Nessa continued, “The assassins snuck in with a delivery of resources and visitors, joining the caravan. Perhaps, those weaknesses in the wards you’re detecting are where they escaped from. But those holes were likely plugged, and why they are mere weaknesses in their defensive enchantments.”

As his family neared the temple, they dismounted and proceeded on foot some distance away to allow them to not perceive this as an assault. His party definitely was imposing, with Bloodberri being rather large, towering over everyone, and the rest all having flames in their chests besides Nessa, who wasn’t a Hearthian yet. And of course, Sati, who was a living flame.

Three people exited out the giant gate, a man and two women. It seemed they had some means of monitoring the area. Nessa was of course watching them, and saw nothing strange about these people.

The male in the lead wore black and red robes, the same as the other two, but with a few threads of gold included. He was a red-skinned goblin or halfling person, his black hair pulled tight in a top knot with a small hat on it. He held an elaborate staff that was larger than himself, that looked to be a symbol of authority as well as a spell casting implement.

One of the women was a troll, but it was like her body was made of dark stone, with fiery mana running through it–like lava. The last was some form of sylph–a wind elf, but once again, she had fiery mana running through her, showing a powerful affinity for fire. Her body was slender and was only slightly taller than the goblin male, with diaphanous wings on her back.

“Who goes there, and for what purpose do you come to our temple?”

Jake knew it was best that him and Sati be the main spokespeople for dealing with these temples. She floated a bit behind him, with Bloodberri and Nessa standing a bit further back.

“I am Baron Jake Hart, Champion of Hestia. Those with me are those of my clan and guild, Hearthtribe. We’ve come to investigate the cause of the taint in this land, and the Obsidian Mercenaries and their wrongdoing.”

The troll woman’s voice was imperious, her brow arched as she spoke. “Why would you come here for these? We would never allow their ilk within our temple. It is not a place for war, but of worship. Only those pure of spirit and flame may enter.”

The goblin man narrowed his eyes. “Yes, and you come to investigate the taint of this land? This place is the purest of all the land!”

Jake shook his head. “We have not come here to point fingers, only to aid your world in its time of need. We have evidence of an ongoing attack on your great temple, and we only wish to help.”

The goblin man spoke, “We do not need any help, and our place of worship is not tainted. Our security is tight, and there are no threats–” Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by ɴoᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt

Nessa spoke up, “That is a lie. You know this place is tainted, and you know that many of your members have been slain.”

“You accuse me? How dare–”

“I do not accuse or merely claim. I only speak Truth. I am a Divine Descendant of Tyr, and I know when the truth is spoken, and when it is not. You speak falsely, knowingly. What is that if not a lie?”

As Nessa spoke of the truth, the Divinity within her rose, her weight on reality pressing down on everyone witnessing her speech. It was an odd feeling, but it was one that even a non-Framework native would understand, and believe.

They had played with this a bit in their Refuge. To deny anything Nessa said with her spirituality pressing down on you felt wrong, your tongue finding itself unable to move to form the words.

The goblin man’s face went through several emotions all at once before he harrumphed, unable to retort.

The sylph woman replied, “Be that as it may, we do not discuss our situation with outsiders, especially those worshipers of false gods. We do not require your help, our issues are being handled by our people, and should be no concern of yours.”

“If I may?” Sati suddenly floated forward, a small smile on her face. “You said only those pure of spirit and flame may enter. May I enter?”

The troll woman looked shocked, as she used her magic to look Sati over. “You…just what are…who are you?”

Of course, Sati knew how interested they were in her, from the last fire temple they visited. Her body brightened, showing her golden flame as her whole body shifted to the flame it actually was.

“I am Sati, born of the flame. My body is fire, and my spirit is housed within. I serve no Divine, and I would like to see this temple.”

The red goblin man’s eye’s widened, and he looked Sati over up and down as he scanned her with his magical senses. “A living flame! Extraordinary. And so pure! I have never seen…”

The troll woman suddenly looked very interested, taking on a much less hostile tone. “Sati, you said? Did you know that you are blessed by the heavens, and would make an excellent priestess of the great flame?”

The sylph woman nodded. “Yes, I see. Sati would. You should consider joining us in the Grand Temple.”

Sati let the fires die down, shifting her body back to her usual form. She smiled, her teeth a brilliant white that contrasted her darker skin. “I would welcome your attempts at persuasion, should you allow me and my allies inside.”

“Now, wait a minute. You may enter, but these others cannot be allowed.”

Sati floated over to Jake, and gestured to his chest. “Can you not feel Baron Hart’s flame? Is the fire in his chest not pure, just as mine? It is different from mine, but if his is not, then mine is not. He serves a Divine, but his desires are merely to aid you. Have you truly never allowed a non worshiper inside? How did the assassins get in? I am not so sure that I would want to enter such a dangerous place alone. At least allow me one guard?”

“That…his flame is special, true, but I can also feel his false god just billowing off of him, off of all of you. They cannot be allowed inside our sacred halls.”

The troll woman said, “I suppose…one guard would be possible, for one such as yourself. But none here are fitting for this role.”

Jake thought of all the people that they had, and it was true they were all either a Champion of a Divine or a child of one, except for one.

Ruby. Or Yona, but she wasn’t too useful for that role.

“Very well. Then I’m afraid I have no other option but to leave. Farewell.”

Surprising Jake, Sati turned and started floating away, like the discussion was over. His family began to follow suit, walking, floating, or slithering away. He supposed if they didn’t allow them in, then they would likely need to perform more sneaky operations, which he was fine with.

This was for the safety of the entire world, perhaps more, and he wouldn’t allow mere beliefs or bureaucracy to get in the way. It wasn’t only the world itself that would be doomed, but others if they allowed it to fall by empowering Tartarus further.

Perhaps as Sati predicted, the goblin male spoke out before they could get too far. “Please wait, Sati. Perhaps we can make the exception for one, if you and the other can pass the Test of the Great Flame.”

The family stopped, and Sati turned with a small smile on her lips. “A test? How will we take it?”

“You may be admitted to the outer sanctum, where our families and servants live. There, you would take the test, that determines if your spirit’s flame is compatible or not. If so…then we’ll talk.”

Jake knew this was likely the best they were going to get, and their second group was likely going to get turned down at the gates of the Wind Grand Temple soon, unless they were more permitting of outsiders in their floating temple. They had known it was going to be bad, but he didn’t think this difficult to even get in through the front door.

He asked, “When may we take this test?”

“Normally, we advise potential clergy to take a week to purify their spirits, but with Sati…perhaps this isn’t necessary. But it will take us some time to prepare the test, a few hours. You may enter for now, though the rest will need to wait outside.” The goblin focused on him, “And you…you may only enter if you dampen down that magic of yours.”

Jake shrugged, and condensed his Aura down to impact just himself and his wives through their Hearthian Bonds. He had fine enough Mana Control that he made it so that no leakage was coming from his body, including the spirituality that was often given off just from him merely existing as Hestia’s Champion.

It was one of the many things he’d practiced, and having his Umbral Gaze combined with Fhesiah’s understanding made it a lot easier to accomplish. Perhaps, they should have just started this way, but deception was not Jake’s first tool in his belt against most people. His wives could accomplish the same, but he knew this skill was not one that most mages would bother mastering to this level.

The three clergy of the Fire Temple were like giant torches and Jake a candle in comparison now, the mana leaking off them like smoke and flame.

“How’s that? May I enter now?”

The goblin hid his shock, but the sylph and the troll woman’s eyes widened. The man said, “I suppose it should do, should you be able to maintain it. You may enter with us as your escorts. Do not separate from us, do you understand? I would have your word, and should you go against it, understand that you will be punished for your violations.”

“We will follow your instruction and stay within your sight, or leave the temple altogether–unless we are attacked or discover a threat to the world itself. You have my word on that.”

Sati nodded. “You have my word on that as well.”

“I suppose…that will have to do. But no threats to the world should be discovered here.”

It seemed he actually believed that, based on Nessa’s thoughts. Jake walked and Sati floated, and he waved off to his wives left behind as they began to follow the three to the entrance.

[Lame. I bet it’s really stuffy and stupid in there, I don’t even wanna go.] Berri whined.

Nessa giggled. [So you say. But you want to go with Jake, don’t you?]

[Of course! I don’t like this. We know Faye-Faye and Lia will also be rejected, and it’s going to be boring out here. I hope it doesn’t take long.]

Nessa brought out a table and a chair, then Blood brought out a divan. Then some cards from her storage ring. [We can just play here for a bit, then. Even if the guards are looking at us strangely.]

Blood added, [It is what it is. We will play their games for now, but be ready to storm in. We know that if push comes to shove, their flames cannot harm us. They are too weak, and they do not understand that should we force entry, they would be unable to stop us. They may think their moon is a god, but they would learn that our Lord is just as much as one as it is.]

The gate opened, revealing a vast, multi-leveled area. There were in fact quite a few people moving about, and it was similar to a city, within. Several walkways like railed bridges stretched across above them, with sets of obsidian stairs to climb to different levels. Red mana flowed through the stone, with intricate patterns flowing in them.

As Jake walked inside the temple following the three clergy, the density of fire mana increased significantly. The abundance of mana was surprising, and the people within the temple while not as powerful as the clergy in front of them, they were all on average a lot stronger than what they saw in the cities. They were benefiting from the dense mana.

The sylph woman spoke, “What do you think, Sati? Isn’t the fire mana within special? I still remember when I first walked inside, I fell in love immediately. But it’s even better within the inner sanctum, should you become one of our clergy.”

Sati hummed. “Hm, it is nicer on the inside. Quite comfortable.”

When they went inside, Ira had joined Jake inside his Hearth, only to leave it again once they passed the wards. In a way, Jake was quite the Trojan horse. He could easily call upon all his wives, bringing them inside in an instant.

Rather quickly, Ira found several hidden, concerning areas, but they were just as heavily warded as the outside had been. Then, the inner sanctum deeper inside the vast temple was too, and so, they couldn’t really get that much of a better look inside.

This was going to be quite the pain to get to the bottom of, and time was an important commodity. They needed to hurry.