As the others gathered around, hugging each other, Tristan stood off to the side. He cast his [Healing Juice]--his arm had broken from the fall off the Devourer--and looked at what he got from the fight.

You have assisted in defeating the [Withering Roots Corrupted Devourer] and have successfully cleared the [Withering Roots Dungeon].

33% participation allocated. You have acquired 50x. [Devourer’s Carapace], 50x. [Devourer’s Membrane], 30x. [Devourer’s Mandible Fragments], 30x. [Devourer’s Blood], 50x. [Great Oak Sap], 15x. [Earth Source], 15x. [Dark Source], 1x. Devourer’s Soul, 1x. [Earth Ray Blueprint], 1x. [Slumbering Stalagmites Blueprint], 1x. [Devourer’s Shriek Blueprint], 1x. [Devourer’s Plate (Equipment)].

You have acquired 80x. [Adept Perkshards].

The amount of loot was frankly stunning. He’d felt it while hunting normal monsters in the forest, but it was clearly on another level as a reward from a boss. Even a boss I didn’t really participate in too much. 80 [Adept Perkshards] alone were enough to unlock a new Perk once he advanced ranks.

He quickly checked the [Blueprints] and the new equipment he’d gotten.

[Adept/Earth/Attack] — Earth Ray: Unleash a powerful ray of concentrated Earth energy. (CASTS: 1 | DURATION: 3 SECONDS | CONDITION: MUST CHARGE FOR TEN SECONDS BEFORE CASTING).

He’d seen the Devourer boss use that move in its second Form. It was quite powerful from what he saw, a finisher move as indicated by its one-cast limit, but he wasn’t going to use Earth offensively. He could sell it later on.

[Adept/Earth/Trap] — Slumbering Stalagmites: Create a Trap zone that lets loose an eruption of large spikes. (CASTS: 2 | DURATION: EXPIRES AFTER DORMANT FOR 2 MINUTES | CONDITION: TRIGGERS WHEN A TARGET STEPS ON THE TRAP ZONE).

This was more useful. He’d planned on using Earth for his Trap cards as another layer of support. Also, in order to rank up into Adept, he needed to forge a Trap card anyway.

[Adept/Dark/Support] — Devourer’s Shriek: Let loose a large cone of sound that [Stuns] targets. (CASTS: 2 | DURATION: 1.5 SECONDS).

Also useful. Cards that directly stunned targets as simply as this were rare. He’d forge that—or rather, have it forged—and use it in his deck.

[Adept/Equipment/Top] — Devourer’s Plate: A black-carapace top formed from the body of the Withering Roots Corrupted Devourer. Grants the Equipment Perk: {Flight}. (ARMOR: 120/120).

Tristan whistled. Now that was great equipment. He needed a new top anyways, as his [Earthen Shirt] had its Armor destroyed through the fight, and he didn’t feel like repairing an Apprentice equipment piece. Not when he was about to advance to Adept anyway.

He quickly checked on the new Perk.

[Adept/Air/Equipment Perk] — Flight: Grants the ability to fly.(CASTS: 1 | DURATION: 5 MINUTES | CONDITION: CAN ONLY BE USED ONCE EVERY 24 HOURS).

Tristan grinned at that. He could fly now? Not to mention the Perk didn’t have limited casts like his [Lancer’s Gauntlets]. The cooldown was hefty, but the Perk itself was incredible. So good in fact that he would keep it around even as he advanced past Adept, as there were ways to transfer Equipment Perks from one item to another.

A flurry of movement from the group made him blink away the message. He’d go over it all later.

He turned and saw the group had split. Duran and Genn had run towards Mosi, who laid slumped on the ground.

He pivoted the other way and saw Eila running, Varya and Marr close behind, towards a figure he hadn’t seen earlier; a body, laying against the wall near the entrance to the boss room.

My brother, we left him behind to die.

A sinking feeling in his stomach, Tristan went towards them.

***

Growing up, Eila had learned quickly when her brother was truly asleep or just pretending to be. When he was actually asleep, his mouth slumped open a little, his nostrils occasionally flaring. When he was pretending, his mouth would be shut tight, his breathing too regular, and if she stared at him long enough, his lips would slightly quirk.

Eila stared down at her brother now, numb, waiting for his lips to move. He sat slumped against the wall, head resting to the side, a large hole in his chest. His hands splayed out to the side, palms up. His eyes were open and staring at nothing.

His [Binder] laid beside him. It was said a person’s [Binder] was reflective of not only their deck build, but their personality.

Her brother’s was an almost black-blue, like the depths of the deep sea, with shafts of warm yellow light cutting through the darkness.

Why is your [Binder] so… depressing? Eila had joked to him once.

Nuh-uh, Aidas retorted. He’d stabbed a finger at the shafts of yellow. You see these? Warm. Bright. Lovely. I’m the ray of light that shines through the murkiest of depths. Ya idiot.

She heard the footsteps coming behind her. She heard the gasps, the cries. Felt the hand on her shoulder, saw Marr weeping and clutching Aidas to her body, Varya sobbing into the air.

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None of them registered. All she could feel was numbness. She knew he was dead, of course.

It was another thing to see it.

“I’m sorry,” a soft voice murmured beside her.

Her head turned to the side. Tristan was there, looking down at Aidas.

Her head turned back to her brother. Come on, she thought, looking at him. Move. Stand up. Push me and say you didn’t. Tell me to stop over-reacting. Call me names. Do something, please.

More footsteps came. Duran and Genn came into her field of vision, Genn holding Mosi’s body in his arms. He laid her down beside Aidas gently and bent his head, tears wetting the dirt beneath.

Wordlessly, Duran enveloped her into a hug. His hand clutched the back of her head, stroking it lightly. She shut her eyes, and only then in that warm embrace did she let herself break—sobbing, weeping, wailing.

***

Tristan let the others have their moment. He stood off, staring up at the large green crystal enveloped in iridescent veins that floated in the middle of the chamber. It seemed like the roots of the Great Oak fed off this thing, as they were wrapped tightly around it like a baby clutching its mother’s pinky.

The death of the Great Oak started here, he thought, raising his hand to touch it.

Suddenly, the crystal shone. A brilliant light poured forth from the crystal; he couldn’t tell if it was green or brown or both or neither of them.

Visions flooded through his mind: the earth blackening, trees decaying, the very ground itself swallowed whole by some unseen threat.

A voice thrummed through him, deep and ancient, creaking and groaning. Somehow, Tristan knew this was the voice of the Great Oak itself.

YOU WHO HAS REACHED TRANSCEDENCE… HEED MY WARNING. A GRAND THREAT DAWNS UPON THE HORIZON, AND ITS ROOTS SPREAD FAR. TO DEFEAT IT, YOU MUST ATTAIN THE STRENGTH ONLY DIVINITY CAN PROVIDE.

“What is the threat?” Tristan asked, spinning around. Behind him, he saw the others glance at him with confusion. Could they not hear this voice, this primordial force rattling their bones?

THE NINTH ELEMENT, THE ELEMENT OF CORRUPTION. IT SEEKS TO UNRAVEL EVERYTHING AND REMAKE IT IN ITS OWN IMAGE. YOU HAVE SAVED ME FROM THAT FATE. FOR THAT, I BLESS YOU.

A message appeared.

You have acquired [Transcedent/Earth/Unique Perk] — The Great Oak’s Blessing: Upon activation of this Perk, summon a map that detects the location and status of the Three Terrors: Dungeons, Rifts, and Dominions. (CASTS: N/A | CONDITION: THE MAP WILL ONLY REVEAL THE THREE TERRORS WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF YOUR CURRENT AREA.)

Tristan’s heart thudded when he read the effect, but he blinked it away for now. He could fanboy later, after he figured out what the hell was going on.

“You say I need the strength of Divinity to defeat this… Corruption,” Tristan said. “But where are the gods themselves? They exist in this world, do they not?”

THE GODS ARE LONG DEAD, YOUNG SEED. MY SIBLINGS AND I REMAIN, THE LAST VESTIGES OF THEIR POWER. BUT WE ARE UNDER THREAT FROM CORRUPTION. SAVE THEM. SAVE US. WE WILL GRANT YOU AND THE OTHER TRANSCEDENTS OUR BLESSINGS TO GUIDE YOU TOWARDS DIVINITY.

The Great Oak thought Tristan was still Transcendent. Is that why he was able to receive this new Perk?

“Lad?” said Genn, startling Tristan. He spun around, wide-eyed, and the older man took a step back. “You all right?”

I MUST NOW SLEEP. REGENERATE FROM THE DAMAGE CORRUPTION HAS WROUGHT. SEEK OUT MY SIBLINGS ON THE CONTINENT. SAVE THEM FROM THEIR FATE, AS YOU HAVE DONE FOR ME, AND RISE TOWARDS DIVINITY.

The voice faded. The sudden silence of the chamber was deafening after the force behind the Great Oak’s voice.

“I’m, I’m fine,” Tristan stammered, as the others approached, Duran holding Mosi, Varya holding Aidas.

Confusion soared within him; he had absolutely no idea what was going on, but that new Perk was intriguing. From the way the tree spoke, it seems like there are more ways to get more of these Perks. I don’t know what this Corruption business is about, but whatever gets me closer to Divine, I’ll take.

He needed to think more on it, get more information. For now, he apologized for his outburst to the others, saying he thought he heard something. He could tell by the way they frowned at him that they didn’t believe him; he didn’t really care.

Tristan had a plan now. First, he needed to get that [Perk Reset Card] from the Elemental Cup. His current build was fine for now, but in order to reach the top he needed his old build back.

Once he had that, he needed to work on actually rebuilding his deck. That would take time; his over-reliance on the built-in item finder in the game had made him less than knowledgeable now that he was in the real world. While farming the [Blueprints] and item requirements would be easy due to his [New Game Plus] status, actually discovering which mobs dropped which [Blueprints] would be a struggle. Not to mention the item requirements. He could buy some of them, but the higher rank cards would likely not be as simple as that.

That paired with his next problem: finding a skilled enough forger to recruit. There was no way he was going to be forging these cards himself, especially since he was struggling with the Apprentice cards already.

Once that was all settled, he needed to work on clearing more of these so-called Three Terrors. If they each gave strange, unique Perks like {The Great Oak’s Blessing}, that was a no-brainer.

Wait. There were three more on this island. He focused, finding a strange new muscle within him, and he flexed it.

A map appeared in front of him, a map of Solossi. All of the area was grayed out, except for the four Dungeons, which flared like bonfires in the night. He focused on the next to him in Fire Fields, the Dungeon [Cinder Falls].

Cinder Falls—Apprentice-Adept Rank Dungeon. Not cleared. Regeneration time: N/A. Dungeon Break risk: Moderate. Unique Perk: N/A.

He repeated through the other Dungeons and found that none of them were able to give him more Unique Perks. Curious, he focused on [Withering Roots].

Withering Roots—Apprentice-Adept Rank Dungeon. Cleared. Regeneration time: 40 days. Dungeon Break risk: N/A. Unique Perk: Acquired.

The Dungeon would regenerate in 40 days? That was a month in this world. He remembered Duran saying how this Dungeon regenerated three years too quickly this time around.

He closed the message, something else worrying him about what the tree had said: We will grant you and the other Transcedents our blessings… If the other Transcendents could also get these Perks, then he was in trouble. They were already stronger than him by far. Not to mention if those Dungeons, Rifts, and Dominions were already cleared by other parties, he doubted he’d be able to get those Perks.

He needed to speed up rapidly. Because once he had everything under his belt, Divinity was his.

It was only a matter of time.