Chapter Sixteen – Tyr II

Cheeky little brats! Sure, just go and harass the Frost Ogres and gain a bunch of Levels faster than you should! MOST ADULTS WITH YOUR INT CAN'T KILL FROST OGRES ALONE!

Brats!

At least the Third Tier will take them more than thirty Frost Ogres each to get through. Probably five Frost Giants, maybe six. I can't remember. For Frost Ogres… they'd probably need to kill forty each to reach Level 50. Something around there.

Jeez. They really are advancing well, to be able to just up and kill Frost Ogres.

And to think that Colt can already use Gravity Magic. That's incredible, and amazing, and I just know he's going to teach it to Tyler! Plus, they're going to teach each other their Magical Talents of Blood and Perception magics.

I feel myself getting excited at the idea of them getting even stronger, knowing each other's powers. Their magic has the same effect as their aura, becoming immensely powerful when combined.

Oooooooh!

This is so exciting!

And now, they're on their way to the Third Tier!

The Advancement Trial is probably too easy for them, especially since they have such powerful Classes to take on for their per-Level stats. I need to make it harder!

"Kirta!" I pop into his realm, then look around. "You're not here!"

I pop into Torgi's realm, startling them and the wolves, who he's trying to teach how to breathe fire without actually granting them the power, in the hopes that they can figure it out on their own.

"Oh, Kirta's here!"

"You seem excited by something," Kirta says.

"I am!" I say. "So the team that just went into a Divine Dungeon a few moments ago! They're awesome! It's two boys, Colt and Tyler, and-"

"Colt's the boy who doesn't bow to gods, right?" Torgi asks.

"Yeah!"

"He seems really cool," fire swirls around Torgi as he takes on his kid form, and shadows swirl around Kirta as he takes his on, too. "I love how he didn't give a damn that we were gods. He couldn't sense our Divine Power, could he?"

"Nope!"

"Thanks for finally confirming that," Kirta sighs. "Despite me asking you probably thirty times, Tyr."

"So what's up with them?" Aure appears in kid form.

"Hi, Aure!"

"Why'd you bring him from his world to here?" Aure asks. "It isn't normal for you to have an interest like that."

"You also gave Tyler the Paladin Quest," Kirta looks at me in annoyance. "I was so going to offer it to him, and then found myself unable to when I went to."

"He's gonna be my Paladin!" I nod. "Him and Colt!"

"Why'd you bring Colt here?" Aure asks again.

"His life on Earth wasn't that good," I shrug. "And he's Seb's grandson."

"Seb?" Aure asks. "That crazy Gravity Mage who-"

"Yup!"

"I knew he looked familiar!" Aure punches his fist. "I should've clobbered him then, for not bowing to me, and then thrown him back to Earth so Seb could-"

"If you so much as think," I threaten him. "About actually hurting Colt again, I will not forgive you ever, Aure."

Aure takes a step back.

"So what's your plan?" Kirta asks. "Watch him grow and have fun? He's growing at an incredible rate, him and Tyler."

"Yeah," I nod. "They're incredible kids. One day, maybe soon, the two of them will reach the status of Divine Beings."

"They'll become Divine?" Aure asks.

"And eventually," I nod. "They'll become Enlightened as well."

"They'll ascend past mortal limits," Aure looks shocked, like Fafae in a lightning storm. "They can amplify each other beyond ordinary mortal means, and you put them together?"

"Yup!"

"ARE YOU INSANE?"

"One day," I grin at him. "They'll be powerful enough to challenge me! And when they do, it'll be the most amazing battle I've ever had! I've never been able to use my full power against someone before, not even another god! Together, those two can exceed all of you, and be people I can use my full power against! It'll be so much fun!

"Anyway!" I shake my head. "I came here because they're in their Third Tier Advancement right now. I want it to be more challenging, because they're more powerful than most are at this stage of their powers, and could probably complete it alone! I need one of you to go run interference, and make it at least a little bit more difficult! But not impossible! It's supposed to be life-threatening, and possibly kill them, but if you make it to the point where it will kill them, I will use my full power to punish you! We're already making it more difficult than it should be!"

"Got it," Kirta stands and stretches. "I have the perfect idea."

"There are three stages to each Trial, right?" Aure asks, and I nod. "Why don't we each run interference on one of them? How close are they to finishing the first?"

"It's a maze again," I say. "They're currently running in near-circles, because they're flipping a coin, like they did last time. I don't think they've realized it yet. It'll probably be a few hours before they reach one of the doors."

"A maze?" Aure asks.

"Five exits," I nod. "One moves them on to the next Stage, two will send them back to the beginning of that stage, and the other two means instant-death. If they die that way, I won't take offense to what you did, but their LUK is high enough that they likely won't come across those doors."

"I'll take the first stage," Aure says.

"I'll take the second," K says.

"I'll do the third, then!" Torgi grins, fire swirling around him as his own excitement grows.

The three younger gods vanish, and I return to my realm, making my way back to the sealed chamber. In there, I watch the chessboard, which is focused on the mountain, several pieces moving around slowly.

The Frost Ogres have more than a hundred tribes scattered throughout, and their raiding party took out a full tribe. The Frost Giants are mobilizing, drawing their forces near to the caves, for the attack. The demons are spreading out to protect themselves better. The humans… are staying in their area, for now.

They kill off the Frost Ogres and demons and other monsters that make it into their territory, if they can, and chase off the ones they can't, along with the Frost Giants.

When they return from the mountain, Colt and Tyler will definitely be powerful enough in magic to win in the Tower of Magic. They could probably win in the Tower of Aura, despite not really training it anymore, too.

The Tower of War, the one for mundane combat…

Yeah, they'd win that one without a problem. They hit fast, hit hard, and with their current Class sets, and the fact that they'll likely hit the Fourth Tier while on the mountain, means that they'll be virtually unstoppable warriors.

Against humans, anyway. There are plenty of monsters they couldn't even compare to. The Frost Giants are one of the weaker forms of Giants.

There are a few that could actually pose threats to the boys.

Maybe for their next Advancement, I could use one of them, to make it a little bit harder?

Opening up my view of the Dungeon, I see them running down passages and kill monsters and disarming traps at a decent speed, without so much as looking twice at the passages they ignore.

When did they change strategies?

Wait – they're running right through Aure's illusions? How are they not even fooled by those?

I'll need to replay the Trial once they finish, to catch whatever it is I missed. I know they had a conversation before they started that, and it probably explains what they're doing.

They reach a pair of doors, and chat for a moment.

"I AM NOT LONELY!"

I have my toys! Plus, I can watch you all I want! And I know that you'll be returning, someday!

Unless you forget about me and your promise, or decide to ignore it, like the last guy. But so far, you seem like you'll keep to the promise, so I trust you!

I'm not lonely!

I really aren't!

Right?

Oh, I dwelled on that so much that I missed their entire rest period. Now, they're in the Second Stage, and Kirta seems to be having-OH, NO, HE DIDN'T!

Colt has balls of steel. Or maybe balls of diamonds? They're probably harder than diamond, actually… that gut level…

Maybe I should make that a Skill?

System Interface

Create Skills

Guts

Requirement: display immense level of moxie, such as telling a god to screw off

Features: diminish effects of magically-stimulated emotions, increases courage in bad situations

Should I make other additions to it?

Edit Features: diminish effects of magically-stimulated emotions, increases courage in bad situations, allows one to push through injuries better

I'll need to create the description at some point, but considering how many Skills still don't have descriptions, I can leave it for now.

Confirm New Skill

Creation: Complete!

There we go!

Imma make a Title, too.

Create Titles

Godly Guts

Requirement: Display immense moxie in a situation where doing so is definitely not a good idea

Description: You have proven your guts against insurmountable danger, and lived to tell the tale

How many Divine Points should that be worth? 1 or 2 DP doesn't feel right, for the difficulty of it, but it's not worth 5 DP. I hate this part of creating Titles. Even the Titles worth 1 DP aren't easy to obtain.

I'll make it worth 4 DP. It would take something like telling an angry god to screw off – to his face – to gain it, so it's definitely worth at least 3 DP, and I'm in a good mood.

Divine Points: 4

Confirm New Title

Creation: Complete!

There we go! Oh, they moved on. Why is Colt unconscious when they enter the next area? They sure beat that boss fast.

WHAT THE HELL IS TORGI DOING WITH THE NEXT STAGE? HE'S COMPLETELY CHANGED IT!

Then again, I can't blame him, with what Colt just called him. I'll keep that in mind next time to see Torgi. It's so funny.

I'm a bit upset that Colt and Tyler thought of that as a way of training perception, and I didn't. It's so simple and obvious! I was thinking in terms of what's on this world that I didn't even consider that!

I mean, sure, some of the methods used stuff from Earth, but still. Imma pout for a few minutes, until they enter the next Stage.

There they go!

Time to watch the final Stage!

I wonder if they'll survive. The combat-oriented stages get harder the further into the Trial they are, and the two of them definitely shouldn't have beaten the last Stage as fast as they did. This one… they might actually die.

If they do, I'll be really, really, really sad, but Torgi isn't violating the rules, and it's still within the standard difficulty set for a Second Advancement Trial. A Third Stage oriented towards combat is supposed to be completed with a full team of five, all of them at Level 50 of the Second Tier.

It was already going to be a combat, he just reduced the number of foes while keeping the same level of difficulty.

If they die, I'll have to find another way to have lots of fun, until someone else who could become my equal appears. Another duo like those two.

They don't happen often, though, so it could be a very long time. Things are probably going to get really, really boring.