Titles

She sat inside the sect archive room. It was situated deep beneath the palace, protected by warriors on constant guard. They even had a few formations, though, they weren’t enough for what was kept here. They were looking into getting more, more powerful ones. The ones that they currently had were just detection formations, which she knew weren’t powerful enough to prevent someone really high tiered from entering. The truth was that the archives best defense at the moment was its secrecy. There were only two archives in the sect, and only a small number of people knew about them, and all who did had given oaths, made contracts to keep them a secret.

One of them was here, in Consequence and the other in Wolf’s Grove. And it was where she had stored all of their sect’s secrets. Their Paths, their knowledge about focuses and titles. Every new one they gained, they recorded here, along with what they thought their requirements were. So that they could guide their people better. They had researchers going over everything, planning, thinking ahead, postulating about where it all could lead.

The Archives also held the main Paths of the sect, recorded on Path Stones. She had Kri record the Path that she had received from Ryun, not his current Path, but what he gave her of course. The main Path’s of the Sect were the Path of the Final End, the Path of the Unbreakable Wall, and the Path of the Path of the Venomous Strike. They also had a few secondary Path’s like the Path of the Spearman and the Path of the Sword. She had already granted a few people who were worthy the Path Stones for the main paths—aside from one. But in truth, it would be years before they had a distinct identity as a sect.

There were too many different Paths mixing together, and that was one of the problems that the Twilight Melody Sect faced. They weren’t really operating like a real sect, and she knew that they needed to. There was a reason as to why sects survived for so long, why they could stand against other factions even though they were outnumbered. They practiced their paths and specialized in them.

The Twilight Melody Sect was just a mix of too many different Paths, too many different Sects. They needed to change. And Anrosh had plans for it, things that she had worked on for years since Ryun left. Every warrior in the Sect was taught to fight with a spear and sword, even if their Paths weren’t combat ones. Based on their position in the sect, they were given information. Hints and guides to point them in the right direction for advancement. Trying to create some kind of sect identity, because they had none. The people that had been taken into the sect had come because of war, running from the core or from the undead. They stayed because they saw the sect, and probably Tali as someone who can protect them, and they knew that the sect belonged to a High Ranker. They had no real loyalty.

The younger generations, though, they were all brought up in one of the three main Paths. She had made the decision for the sect. With some advice from Tali, but it was her plan, her ideas. The people that had been the original sect, those who had come to Wolf’s Grove—the first ones that had joined Ryun—their children, those who took Paths for the first time, to them she had granted the Path of the Unbreakable Wall. The version that she had gotten, the epic rarity of the Path. Tali had assured her that the rarity was high enough to be powerful, but not high enough to fully brick their advancement if they weren’t talented. The idea was for most of them to take the Path of the Spearman or her Path of the Sword, and for those who showed exceptional talent or those who did a great service to the sect, to gain the pick of the other primary Paths.

She had opened the Shrine of the Absolute Cold for all of them, but she didn’t bar anyone from picking another Aspect. The Path was what mattered, it built a community, a sense of belonging. And with Tali teaching the children, most of the newer generations were doing very well.

The former members of the Black Viper and the Last Ember Sects were granted the Path of the Venomous Strike, Eerv’s Path—which they too had recorded at the epic rarity. The Aspect was again left as a personal choice, and some had picked interesting Essences which had given the Path unique effects.

The Path of the Final End is the only one that she hadn’t shared, even though she had the Path Stones for it, the version that Kri had at least. She didn’t know how Ryun would feel about it, and if she was being honest that Path wasn’t nearly as useful for the Sect as the others were. One was a Combat Path that could allow warriors to work together as teams, and the other was a defensive Path that had some utility outside of combat. The Path of the Final End was… it was just pure destruction. And she hadn’t found anyone who she thought was worthy of it yet.

She lacked something, something to bind the sect together, and she had… an idea about what that was. How to achieve it. She just wasn’t sure how to go about it. But she had been working on the solution for a while now, and she didn’t expect it to be that easy to solve.

She turned her attention to the man in front of her, the Archivist—Kiolu. He was a demasi, and had a Path that enhanced his mental faculties, along with a scholarly Class of some kind. He worked on storing and organizing all of the information that their sect possessed. It was the future of their sect. From here they would guide the sect’s growth.

Anrosh looked through her screens, found her new title, and then made it visible.

Sect Leader: Commanding

Demonstrate a commanding presence in your faction.

+25 to intelligence and strength, 10 000 Greater Essence

“Interesting, it isn’t specific to our sect,” Kiolu said. “Any ideas what the requirements are?”

“No,” Anrosh said. “I’ve done similar things to what I did today before, I didn’t get the title before.”

“It could be a hundred different things,” Tali chimed in from the side.

Anrosh turned and looked at the woman, then tilted her head in a questioning manner.

Tali waved her hand at the tomes on the shelves behind Kiolu. “It isn’t one thing that you did that gave you that, it could be that it had prerequisites such as other titles. Perhaps it even required you to spend a certain amount of time as a Sect Leader. Obviously doing commanding things is a part of it, but… I think that this title is one dependent on outside factors, a perception based title.”

Anrosh blinked. “A perception based title?”

Tali hesitated for a bit, looking as if she wasn’t sure if she wanted to answer the question. Then finally she seemed to come at a decision. “I guess that you earned another sliver of knowledge,” she waved at Kiolu. “Get another tome and be ready to write.” The archivist hurried and did as she instructed.

Once he was ready, Tali started speaking. “There are many different types of titles, most are personal achievements or accomplishments. But that is not everything. You know about Ideals, those can be both personal achievements and perception based. How you perceive yourself or how others perceive you, depending on which pull is stronger. Faction titles can be both too, usually rewards for tasks accomplished, or the perception of others in your faction. But there are titles that are…” Her eyes got that faraway look to them, as if she was remembering something that happened long ago. “There are titles that come in the moments that are… in a single word—grand. A unique title, which can change everything. When the Framework acknowledges you and grants you a title that grants you power, a perk, like an Ideal but more focused. Something tied to that moment. Moments when such titles are granted are always… well, grand.”

“What kind of titles are they?” Anrosh asked.

Tali met her eyes. “I’ve seen it only twice before, and the first time was when we just arrived to the Infinite Realm. It happened to a man who was a Classer, a builder. I don’t think that anyone that arrived after us, even the Second and the Third Iterations, has any idea just how brutal those times were. Legends were born every day, and legends died. We learned so much, and we lost that knowledge when the people that discovered it died. This man… Fayien, that was his name, yes. Fayien was tasked with building our first outposts, first beacons of safety in a world that wanted to kill us. And so he built us walls, and defenses, and then a monster swarm arrived. It was the first time we had seen one like this, and we huddle behind his walls, trying to survive. It wasn’t enough. Fayien was repairing the walls as fast as the monsters tore them down, but we knew that he wouldn’t hold on for long. We fed him Essence, had him level and evolve his Class, we had three healers on him at all times, taking away his pain and fatigue. He was the highest leveled builder we had, the only one capable of doing what we needed in order to survive, other builders helped, but none were as powerful as he was. He reached level one hundred and sixty during that battle,” Tali chuckled. “One hundred and sixty, tier three Class. Can you imagine that? Back then he was one of the most powerful of us.”

She shook her head with a smile on her face. “We survived for days, grew more powerful with Essence that we earned. But in the end, the swarm was greater. It shattered our defenses, and not even Fayien could repair them in time. And then it happened. It was… as if the Framework acknowledged his work, his blood and tears and effort. And it granted him a title—The Architect of Last Bastion. And with that title came a perk; For a Day, Fortress Unbroken.”

Anrosh tried to imagine that time so long ago. She had seen two monster swarms, fought against them, and barely survived herself. But she struggled to imagine what it was like for them, just arrived from their homeworlds, knowing so little about the world they had been sent to.

“What did it do?” Kiolu asked, the piece of paper in front of him almost fully filled with writing.

“He used it,” Tali said. “And our hastily built defenses turned into a fortress that stretched across the hill. A white bastion of unmarred stone, with towers and walls that reached for the sky. With the weapons that destroyed the swarm.”

“Weapons?” Anrosh asked.

Tali nodded. “Glowing pillars made out of glass that sent shockwaves, that burst the attacking monsters from inside out. It was… quite a sight.”

“That… that perk, it sounds as powerful as an Ideal,” Anrosh commented.

Tali nodded. “He could only use it once every eight months, and the fortress lasted only for a day before it crumbled,” she told her. “And yes, it was exactly like an Ideal, only… It came from that one moment when he struggled to create something. A moment of great strife, of effort, of need. A grand moment. Ideal perks were something that is more of a reflection of your being. These… grand titles, they are shaped by moments of their creation, feats in a way.”

She grew silent then.

“What happened to him?” Anrosh asked, but she already suspected. She had never heard about this man.

Tali’s face filled with sadness. “He died, as many others had in the beginning. We who survived… we weren’t all the strongest, the best of us even. We were just the lucky ones.”

Anrosh nodded, that was one of realities of this world. Power did not mean that you could always survive.

“Anyway,” Tali cleared her throat. “If I am to guess, your new title is one based on others perception on you. Requirements are probably tied to you gaining the respect of powerful individuals, or them knowing that you hold power.”

Kiolu nodded and switched to another piece of paper, writing everything down.

“You never gained such a title?” He asked.

“No,” Anatalien answered. “I never had a moment quite like that one. My path in life was… I never had any reason to doubt my rise to power, my advancement. It made me… complacent in a way. It wasn’t until I was ambushed that I realized just how much more I could get from this world. The Framework is cruel, but it does reward people.”

Anrosh nodded her head. Anrosh had often wondered if she would ever be able to gain an Ideal. She had felt like it wasn’t at all as easy as Ryun had made it seem. It was apparent though, that there was a lot that they didn’t know. Anrosh studied Tali and wondered just how much more she knew, how much more was she keeping a secret. Waiting for them to prove themselves worthy of more knowledge.

A part of Anrosh wished she would just tell them everything, but another was glad that she wanted them to grow on their own, at least a little bit. She did not want a sect that was complacent, that thought itself greater than others just because they knew more. They would earn their place, and they would reach it on their own. If she managed to forge the bonds of the sect. Make Twilight Melody Sect into a name that was known across the world. That was her goal, her wish. And she wouldn’t stop until she made it truth.