Chapter 10

“Nobody outside of the clergy will know that you are the Originator,” Priest Zeth assured me when I spoke with him the following day.

“Okay. I just wanted to make sure, since a lot of what I was reading made it seem like I might have some problems if anyone found out.”

“Even if your status were to be discovered, I doubt anyone would cause you problems. At most, you’d be targeted by sycophants hoping to gain the favor of a potentially powerful Ascender.”

“You don’t think my former space affinity will be an issue?”

Priest Zeth tilted his head at the question before a look of understanding filled his gaze.

“Ah. Now that you bring it up, I can see your hesitation. Space Magi are highly sought by almost every state and territory. Having the ability to travel safely between cities is invaluable, so… yes, you might want to keep that part quiet if you wish to avoid attention. I still don’t believe it would be a real issue. At most, you might have recruiters or powerful families offering you riches in exchange for a contract of service.”

“Don’t Ascender Dungeons reflect the former affinities of their Originator?”

“They typically do, but not always to the degree that an Originator’s previous affinities could be easily determined. Keep in mind that your fellow Ascenders’ former affinities will also influence the skills offered by the dungeon.

“Yours were Space and Lightning?” he asked before pausing. “No, you have four core skills, and your record lists healing as a core skill. As an Ascender from Neohim, that means Space, Lightning, and Life or Nature?”

“Close,” I said with a small smile. “Space, Time, and Arcane.”

The Priest’s eyes grew wide. “Oh. Well. Arcane won’t be an issue since Dia doesn’t have a comparable aspect to Arcane. What our system labels as Arcane merely represents neutral essence. I doubt anyone would pick up on an increase in neutral skills. If you don’t mind me asking, where did Lightning Bolt come from, then?”

“Rho let me decide on my last skill. I’ve always loved lightning and ice. Since I could only choose one, I went with lightning. It seemed to fit my fighting style a little better than ice,” I explained. “I also hope to maybe recreate some of the technology from my homeworld. Maybe bring back some of the technology lost during the upheaval.”

The priest chuckled lightly at my comment. “While I won’t try to dissuade you, just know that Dia won’t allow certain technologies to propagate in this realm.”

“Why is that?”

With a sigh, the man said, “Certain technologies tend to make society complacent, and complacency does not lead to ascendance. Since our goddess wishes for as many of us to ascend as possible, allowing such technologies would be counterintuitive. It is also part of the reason why so much of the realm’s technology was lost when the demons appeared.”

“I figured it was something like that. It really doesn’t make sense otherwise, given the time that has passed.”

The news that I probably wouldn’t be able to introduce a lot of the advancements from my previous realm was a bit disappointing, but hopefully, Dia wouldn’t restrict me from making some things for personal use.

I already knew that anything involving transmutation wasn’t going to be an option since that was one field that Dia heavily limited. It was unfortunate since the MealMaker I’d designed in my previous realm worked off of transmutation, but there was little that I could do about it.

Not wanting to take up any more of the man’s time, I stood and thanked him for answering my questions.

“I don’t mind at all,” he said as he escorted me to the door. “If you have more questions, feel free to come find me. I generally spend every other morning helping in the medical facility outside of the dungeon entrance. Perhaps you’d be interested in spending some time there as well?”

“The clerk mentioned the healers were always looking for new apprentices, especially those with core healing skills,” I said.

“He was correct. While core skills are always preferred, we accept anyone with a healing skill. It’s a good way to get experience. I doubt you need it as an Ascender, but you are welcome, nonetheless.”

“Thank you. I’ll come by later. My healing skill was changed when I ascended, so it’s probably a good idea to get some experience with the new version.”

“I look forward to it,” Zeth said with a smile.

After swinging by the dining hall to exchange my dirty plate for a new plate full of lunch, I headed back to my room to continue my research.

I still hadn’t looked over the information the clerk had given me regarding my fellow Ascenders, so I decided to read through that as I ate the mediocre food.

It really wasn’t bad. I was just being a little snobbish.

“Two generalists, a tank/healer, a Water Magi, an Earth Magi, and a rogue,” I murmured. “I thought magis were supposed to be super rare?”

I set the paper aside and grabbed the information tablet, quickly verifying that magi were not quite as rare as I thought among Ascenders, but almost unheard of among the native population.

It made sense if most lower realms produced ascenders with a single affinity. It was only logical that someone who managed to rise through the tiers and ascend with a single affinity would know that affinity well enough for the goddess to grant them a manipulation skill.

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I had no idea how the natives would manage such a thing. I could only imagine that it was something that came closer to the end of their journey and involved merging several elemental skills.

Curiosity somewhat satisfied, I returned to the list.

The Earth Magi and Rogue were the couple that the clerk had mentioned. They’d probably be looking for a healer and a tank unless the Earth Magi used his earth magic to fill the latter role. Even if he did, the individual listed as a tank/healer would probably be a good fit.

I read over the information provided on the remaining Ascenders. Most didn’t provide much information aside from a few skills and their desired role in a party, but I found my eyes drawn to the one individual who’d indicated they were not interested in working with others.

I wasn’t going to try to join the solo delver if he wanted to work alone, but I figured it wouldn’t be a bad thing to at least meet the guy. He only listed an Archery skill, so the rest of his build was a bit of a mystery.

He almost had to have some kind of self-healing or enhanced regeneration if he planned to delve alone. Operating without such a skill would be foolish, and foolish people rarely survived long enough to ascend.