Chapter 161: Oath of the Origin (1/2)

Before Zhao Xu could recover from the legendary wizard's bizarre suicide, he almost sprained his back upon hearing the words echoing from the sky.

"Respected big brother, the rewards are being settled now. Hurry up and pick two prestige classes."

"Isn't this a bit too farcical?"

Zhao Xu was somewhat bewildered. By now, he was certainly not foolish enough to believe that was a real legendary wizard; it was merely a projection conjured by the stele's will. It was purely putting on a show for him before distributing the rewards. The execution was so crude that even an amateur like Zhao Xu found it hard to stomach.

"Not farcical at all, primarily because the aura of a powerhouse emanating from you, big brother, is simply too intense. It caused the legendary wizard summoned from history to feel so ashamed upon seeing you that he committed suicide on the spot. Ah, there's nothing to be done about it; talents with such heroic bearing as yours, big brother, simply cannot have their radiance concealed."

With that, the will in the void let out a sigh: "If not for my mighty power as Qiqi, this space itself wouldn't have been able to withstand your invincible pressure, big brother, and would have collapsed on the spot."

Zhao Xu curled his lip. The flattery had gone completely off the charts. At that moment, his legs felt a bit numb from standing, so he slightly raised his heel and shook it.

Instantly, the entire earth shook violently. Centered on Zhao Xu's heel, a massive shockwave surged upward from deep beneath the ground.

In the next moment, the previously calm lake ahead exploded as if depth charges had detonated within it. Water curtains rose toward the sky like tornadoes, transforming into a downpour of fine rain.

Immediately following that, the duck that had been swimming so leisurely was blasted directly into the air by the shockwave, then fell in an arc right in front of Zhao Xu, knocked completely unconscious. Further away, the continuous mountain ranges were split right down the middle by the sweep of the shockwave and then slowly sank downward.

The idyllic afternoon scenery instantly transformed into a cataclysmic wasteland of desolation.

Zhao Xu grinned and glanced down at his heel. If he were to do something like this in the real world, it wouldn't be a display of power, but rather a burden. He felt that the stele's will, which called itself Qiqi, was rather clumsy at buttering people up.

However, this stele could not be judged by conventional logic, so Zhao Xu simply changed his mindset and decided to communicate with the entity through another approach.

With that thought, Zhao Xu turned around, only to find that the stone stool behind him had vanished the moment he stood up. Just as he was about to turn his head back, the verdant grass directly beneath him bulged upward. Tree branches burst through the soil, instantly turning immensely thick; then the tree trunk twisted directly, flattening and straightening itself until it formed a natural wooden stool.

Zhao Xu nodded. As far as flattery went, the service standard was passable. He immediately sat upon the wooden stool, gazed up at the azure sky, and asked, "When did you gain consciousness?"

Doing this would help him figure out whether the Morin Stele he encountered back when he traveled through time to the ancient Dark Ages had consciousness, and even whether that mysterious projection back then was merely a way for the entity to tease him.

"Big brother, your question hits the nail right on the head. Unlike those cunning wizards who came into the trials before—who wanted to suck up to me yet didn't know where to start, and the few glib ones who were slippery enough to make me hate them—truly, the earnest and honest attitude of big brother here is the most unpretentious. I am so touched, boo-hoo-hoo." The voice in the void sounded increasingly like it was on the verge of tears as it spoke.

"Eh? May I have an answer to my question?" Zhao Xu realized the conversation was drifting off course without him noticing, and could not help pressing further.

"Oh, oh, as for that." The voice instantly returned to normal, as if the previous scene had simply been a jammed tape. "It's mainly because my grandpa Ernest happened to pass through the Forest of Miracles one day and saw that my bone structure was unusual, deciding that I could bring him eternal luck. Then he used a spell capable of awakening the intelligence of inanimate objects to stimulate me." The voice lacked its initial excitement, turning somewhat forlorn.

"The Forest of Miracles?" Zhao Xu immediately caught the name of the location.

"It's right beneath this floating city—Mystra. In that era, which you wizards call the Dark Ages, beneath Mystra was just a barren forest."

Zhao Xu suddenly understood. Antinoya had sent him traveling back a millennium into the Dark Ages, but in truth, his location had never left Mystra. As the place where the third goddess of magic attained divinity, it possessed extraordinary significance. And this stele, enlightened by the Archmage King Ernest, had likewise appeared right here in Mystra. Perhaps behind it all lay an even deeper secret.

"Did Emperor Ernest take you away afterward?" Zhao Xu continued to ask. This matter touched upon Ernest's hidden treasury and the heritage of the Yter Dynasty, and Zhao Xu was more than a little curious.

"Of course! Grandpa Ernest casually gave me the name Qiqi, and then shrunk me down through transmutation to carry me on his person."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu knew that at the exact moment he had traveled back in time, Ernest had not yet enlightened this stele; it was even uncertain whether Ernest had been born yet.

"Why are you called Qiqi, though?" Zhao Xu asked. Generally speaking, magical items and even artifacts had rather imposing names.

"Because he met me on July seventh. He said this day held great commemorative significance," the voice in the void replied forlornly.

"Then why do you call me big brother?" Zhao Xu finally cut to the chase. His eyes revealed a serious expression as he gazed into the boundless sky.

"Because I can tell who is capable of ruling this world."

The voice in the void now carried a hint of smugness. "Let me reintroduce myself—my other name is the Stone of Fate."

"I also possess a fragment of the God of Fate's divine spark, you know," the voice in the void said, growing increasingly pleased with itself.

Zhao Xu wore a look of utter confusion. Even though he was only initially dipping his toes into the wizarding world, having read a few books at least taught him that gods acquiring divine spark fragments would consolidate or even gain corresponding divine portfolios. Therefore, an embodied fragment of a divine spark was a classic case of an innocent man bearing a wall of gold that provokes theft. Logically speaking, shouldn't the one who ought to come and take away this fragment be the Goddess of Magic, Sylvena?

"Oh, oh, I almost forgot. Big brother, you are that little Sylvena's cleric. You must be wondering why she hasn't come to take my fragment, right?"

Zhao Xu felt that since the other party referred to the Goddess of Magic as "little Sylvena," he ought to do his part for his deity and declare war on the entity. Even if Zhao Xu could fall back on being a neutral or aligned cleric, he still had an obligation. However, the other party's words aroused such immense curiosity in him that he suppressed this thought.

"Because the divine spark fragments Sylvena possesses were actually cut from right here—it cost me dearly! If she hadn't sworn an oath upon the Fate of Faerûn to guarantee to protect me during the Time of Troubles, I wouldn't even bother with her."

At this point, the stele finally used the Goddess of Magic's proper name, though it could hardly be called respectful. However, hearing mention of something like the Time of Troubles made Zhao Xu realize that his curiosity was best left checked right here. Knowing too much about such apocalyptic information could easily bring misfortune to a small fry like him.

Zhao Xu shifted the topic and continued to ask, "Then what prestige class do you think suits me?"

Hearing a topic that tickled the void will's fancy, it immediately grew excited. "As for that... Oh, right! When you sat down just now, that little girl Antinoya burned a slip of paper for me. That ignorant brat Oz also burned a slip of paper for me. Let me see what's written on them."

Even though Zhao Xu was waiting to be arranged for, hearing the entity refer to Antinoya so disdainfully, alongside the name of Oz, the head of the Wizards' Association, he couldn't help asking, "Aren't you afraid of being smitten by them one day when you call them that?"

"Hmph, leaving aside the fact that Antinoya has never gotten any favors from me, back when that kid Oz was a level 5 little rookie, he cried tears upon tears to me complaining about how hard it was to be a wizard. It was only later, when I truly pitied him, that I told him the method to awaken the Leadership feat. That way, he awakened the feat at level 6 and has been sailing smoothly ever since," the voice in the void said with contempt.

Zhao Xu felt that he would do best to forget this conversation entirely; the awkward youth of these major figures was simply too embarrassing.

"Oh, respected big brother, the prestige classes they recommended for your arrangement are the 'Abjurant Champion' and the 'Mage of the Arcane Order.' Hmm, Oz can't accomplish much, but his eye for picking prestige classes isn't bad."

Zhao Xu narrowed his eyes. He had heard Antinoya mention the Mage of the Arcane Order; it was through the abilities of that class that she was able to cast spells like *Wish*—which normally demanded a heavy toll—without any material costs. It wasn't surprising that she arranged for him to take this route. As for the Abjurant Champion, he didn't have much of an impression of it, but it should certainly be powerful enough.

"Big brother, shortly I will first run a simulation for you so that you can experience the abilities of those two prestige classes in advance. Doing this will eliminate any thresholds for you to enter those classes. Later on, once you reach level 5, you just need to continue preparing according to the knowledge I'll instill in you now—though the skills will need to be prepared a bit earlier. Then, when fate blesses you and allows you to advance to level 6, you can directly transition into both prestige classes on the spot. It will be as natural as water flowing into a canal," the void's will explained diligently.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu understood; it was the exact same logic as when he previously acquired those spells in the ultimate scroll space. He nodded and said, "Shall we begin?"

"Mh, we need to go through a procedure first," the void entity, Qiqi, said awkwardly. "That is, big brother, as a dual-class character, you're normally only allowed one prestige class path. Arranging for you to take two prestige classes at once makes things a bit inconvenient."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu suddenly understood. In other words, he could only select a prestige class path for either his wizard or his archivist class, while the other path could only continue advancing in its base class.

"Is there a workaround, then?" Zhao Xu asked.

"Yes, yes, big brother. You just need to swear a major oath, and have the magic weave grant its consent. For example, some monks take a vow of poverty; doing so prevents them from acquiring assets forever, but simultaneously grants them extra abilities granted by the vow at every level," Qiqi explained.

"What kind of oath would that have to be?" Zhao Xu asked.

"You just have to swear an oath to 'defend magic until death do us part,'" the stele Qiqi stated briefly.

"I swear to defend magic until death do us part?" Zhao Xu repeated, feeling that the line sounded a bit overly dramatic.

[Adventurer Nanshu, your oath to "defend magic until death do us part" sworn before the magic weave has been established.]