The messages had yet to end.
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Since Ka was a follower you received 120 influence.
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His status had changed.
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Name
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Nyarlathotep
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Titles
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None
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Level
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0 (170/100)
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Myth Tier
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0
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Race
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Divine Spirit
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Divinities
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None
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DP(Divine Power)
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1
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DA(Divine Authority)
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1
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DT(Divine Territory)
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Tier 1 (1/10)
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You have enough influence to reach level 1. Level 1 is a milestone level. Ascension is now available.
Hint: Ascending means completing the quest, and the end of the memory dungeon.
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There was a wealth of info in this message. There were milestone levels, which meant ascension. Given the memory dungeons unlock condition being Myth tiers, it made sense for milestone levels to be related to race. No! He was sure it was related to race. The tutorial was about the rise of a god, not a divine spirit.
He was in no hurry to ascend. He first checked Ka’s status.
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Name
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Ka
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Level
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52 / 100
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Follower Rank
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Oath-bound
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Race
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human
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Occupation
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Alchemist
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Life
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He was a wealthy alchemist living a happy life with his wife and daughter till his wife had an incurable disease. He was an alchemist so he tried his best to create an elixir of immortality. When his research failed losing his wife and wealth, he was forced to take a friend''s offer to live at the village as a medicine man. Facing the prophecy of the impending doom of him and his daughter, he summoned a demon at the command of Nyarlathotep and then swore his soul to him.
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To say Elijah was surprised was an understatement. Ka’s level was 52!!!. He was just level 0 in comparison. On the one hand, this could be the reason he could summon a demon who, in his words, could threaten a city. On the other hand, he suddenly had a feeling the levels were not that reliable because the level 52 human alchemist respected the level 1 divine spirit.
He originally was considering the great blessing of Elisa, to make the faith route possible but now he had enough influence. He great blessed Ka after blessing Elisa.
Suddenly a golden halo surrounded them for a few seconds. Blessing seemed comfortable because Elisa remained asleep throughout the process, and somehow even managed to look more peaceful. The skill also removed the tear stains.
The golden halo was intense for Ka. It was blinding bright. His status had changed.
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Name
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Ka
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Level
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52 / 100
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Follower RankA case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
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Apostle
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Communion
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30 / 100
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Race
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<td width="50%">
human
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Occupation
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Alchemist
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Life
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He was a wealthy alchemist living a happy life with his wife and daughter till his wife had an incurable disease. He was an alchemist so he tried his best to create an elixir of immortality. When his research failed losing his wife and wealth, he was forced to take a friend''s offer to live at the village as a medicine man. Facing the prophecy of the impending doom of him and his daughter, he summoned a demon at the command of Nyarlathotep and then swore his soul to him. He became an apostle of him.
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Congratulations, Nyarlathotep
You have made Ka your first apostle. You have received 100 influences.
You have unlocked the skill Communion.
You have unlocked the skill Descend(Apostle).
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Communion (1 / 10)
You can commune with an apostle or a saint without consuming divinity.
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Descend(Apostle) (1/10)
When an apostle''s communion stat is sufficient with the right conditions they can summon your divine form.
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While he was checking the changes to status and his new skills, Ka had gone insane.
“Ha Ha ha, We are saved. This village was better sacrificed to the great Nyarlathotep anyway…”
He continued saying such things till Elijah had started continuously gaining influence. The demon had started its work. His fear strategy was working but limitedly. The influence was gained 1 by 1, not like belief and follow mechanisms which gave influence by factors of 10, 30, 90, and 100.
Ka had warned him about the demon’s powers but he wanted to see for himself what it could do. So he communed with Ka. They went to see what could be described as hell on earth. The beam attack of the beholder had not only destroyed houses but set them aflame. Villagers were screaming and crying. A group of them had launched an admirable resistance against the demon.
With the adult filter off, he saw the demon tentacle crushing one of them to meatpaste. He nearly turned around but Ka had changed. He seemed angry and vengeful. As if all he had seen, and experienced were turned to pure rage. The old man seemed strangely younger. He waved his hands in the air and several magic circles appeared. Earth was shaped like spikes and turned metallic, then with a wave of his hands pierced several villagers. His old friend was still alive.
“What are you doing? Why are you doing this? What have we done to deserve this?” said the village chief while pointing at the carnage.
“You lied to me” screamed Ka in anger
“When did I lie to you”
“My daughter. You promised she would be safe. I accepted everything. I had lived a long time. Do you think I feared to die? Nyarlathotep showed me, how you and the villagers would burn her. I can not forget her screams” said Ka, trembling with rage.
“The witch hunt worked far better than I expected” Elijah mused in thought.
“Who is Nyarlathotep? Who is this demon?”
“He is not a demon. He is a god and I have become his apostle”
“You have become an apostle of an evil god!!! I thought you knew better than to be tempted” said the village chief in rage and disbelief.
“ If he is as evil as you claim, you and them should not have obeyed the prophetic dreams, a result of his mere presence” Ka strangely, sounded calm.
Ka did not wait for the response. Pointing at the village chief, recitation of a chant and an alchemical circle appeared. Since knowing Ka was an alchemist, Elijah had the assumption that he was of a support job with little offensive means. This was before he watched the chief dissolve into particles making his body.
The demon rampage had ended. Its summon duration ended, it had dissolved into motes of red light. Surrounded by the village''s ruin, Ka did not stay around to appreciate the devastation the demon had caused. He went and woke Elisa.
“Daddy are we going back to the village”
“No dear. There is no village anymore. We need to go, this is not safe, if we stay here we will be executed as heretics following an evil god”
“Why is that daddy”
“Because we are followers of an unrecorded god. Nyarlathotep”
He did not follow them, the time limit of the dungeon had nearly reached its end. He needed to ascend.
Checking his status a final time he selected Ascension on the menu. Fog appeared everywhere. By the time Eve, the game’s main AI, had started speaking he realized he was where he began.
The chronicle had appeared, the fog was receding and text filled the page.
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On the 3<sup>rd</sup> day of winter-maiden in the 1567<sup>th</sup> year of the Mythia Divine Calendar
Nyarlathotep began his journey as a divine spirit. He used his dream powers to frame Ka, the retired alchemist and now a respected medicine man. He used the threat of his father’s life to gain the belief of Elisa, Ka’s daughter. He recreated a forgotten demonic magic circle and made Elisa prepare it. He used a vision of Elisa burnt to convince Ka to activate the magic circle. The elder man filled with guilt had tried to take his own life. Nyarlathotep broke his mind and made him an apostle. Ka returned to the scene of the crime and killed his old friend. Ka and Elisa left the wreckage of the village behind. Ka’s loyalty, Elisa’s belief, fear from the villagers, and the hatred of the old village chief made the ground for Nyarlathotep''s ascension.
He ascended from the divine spirit to a nascent evil god.
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Recovering your memory of ascension, you know the first of the divinities you gained on your journey. Please select your divinity.
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Based on your actions you can select from these divinities:
Demon: You summoned a beholder to destroy a village. You are a god having control over demonic beings. You can summon them to do your bidding and have access to demonic abilities. If you can control them, demonic creatures are the best servants for your nefarious plots.
Nightmare: You made the villagers have nightmares of their doom. You made Elisa watch the doom of Ka, and then he watched the doom of his daughter. Everywhere you went, screams of nightmares began. Nightmare is one of the most subtle of divinities. It allows conjuring nightmarish creatures and dream-like abilities.
Conflict: You masterfully weaved a plot that made Ka kill his friend. To cause harm to an old friendship, your malevolence knows no bounds. It is one of the divinities associated with war. An extremely potent divinity.
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It was disappointing. He should have known not to expect more, the old judgment of black and white. The game seemed like divided between the camp of evil gods and the opposites. Although he may have overstepped some bounds. Eve had narrated his actions a little thoroughly. He had imagined that it would make a great story. An ancient being had crossed, his presence inadvertently caused suffering but he had saved the father and daughter and allowed them revenge. Eve had recorded and judged the behind-scenes preparations. This did not seem cosmic horror as he wanted. It screamed evil.
Divinities offered to him seemed good. Demons seemed powerful, and though he did not know about holy wars, in a lot of games, they were used as the enemy camp to gods. However, he did not like the control issue. Seemed fixable later on but it had the chance to be luck-based at first.
The nightmare was one he liked the most. He would have selected immediately if not for conflict being present. The advertised promise of strategy made Nightmare very valuable. He owed this plot of his, to his high leveled dream skill. He would have been worried about not having any combat means but conjuration seemed to make up for it. It also helped that Nyarlathotep in the works of H.P. Lovecraft was a son of the creator god of that world, Azathoth, and related to nightmares. It meant that he could have a more lore-accurate role-play.
The conflict was one he did not like but could not give up. Ares the Greek god of war had been defeated in so many fictional works that he did not like any war-based divinity. However game remarked it as an extremely potent divinity.
In the end in the final line on that page in the chronicle was written:
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Nyarlathotep ascended as the evil god of nightmares.
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