Chapter 221: Penalty [BONUS]

[ ? QUEST FAILURE ? ]

[ THE WALL AND THE UNSEEN ]

[ The Wall has fallen. ]

Encrid read the words once.

He had known. Of course he had known. He had heard the Wall go down from twenty-five miles away, a long, deep groan of granite giving up after two hundred years. He had watched the blue lights go out along it one by one from the top of Harlow’s Hill.

But knowing it and reading it were different things.

The system had not used many words. It never did, for the things that mattered.

’The Wall has fallen.’

He waited.

The window did not close. After a moment, more lines appeared beneath it.

[ Failure Penalty Applied. ]

[ -2% Narrative Relevance ]

[ Narrative Relevance: 3.26% → 1.26% ]

[ Appraisal: Sealed for 30 days. ]

Encrid stared at the third line.

One point two six.

For a moment, he forgot about the pain in his chest.

He remembered the first day. The cold stone of the Duke’s study beneath his knees. A number floating in the air in front of him-zero point zero four-and the warning beneath it.

’If Narrative Relevance reaches 0%, catastrophic consequences will befall the Host.’

It had taken him almost two years to climb from that number to three. He had built a school and a guild and secured a seat on a council. He had fed sixty children, buried thousands of men, and held a bridge alone.

And with a single window, the system had taken two-thirds of it away.

’One point two six.’

It was not zero.

But it was much closer than it had been since the first month.

He forced himself to breathe slowly. Panicking would not change the number, and he could not afford to waste what little strength he had left on something he could not control.

Then he looked at the other line.

Appraisal was sealed.

That explained why it had not worked on the old man.

The silver lining was that the punishment was temporary. Thirty days was a long time, but it was not forever.

He had used Appraisal almost every waking hour for nearly two years. He had used it to find Rael, to identify sick men before they knew they were sick, to examine unfamiliar objects, and to read people whose words could not be trusted.

For thirty days, he would have to do all of that with only his eyes and judgment.

’Fine.’

He had done it before. In another life, in another body, he had learned to read people without any system at all.

He could manage thirty days.

He set the problem aside, the way he set aside every question he could not yet answer.

The window faded.

Another one appeared in its place.

[ ? ? ? The Slumbering Elder Has Been Slain ? ? ? ]

[ Narrative Relevance: Calculation Complete. ]

[ Narrative Relevance: 1.26% → 3.76% ]

Encrid let out a breath he had not realized he was holding.

The Slumbering Elder.

He had seen this window once already, at the end of the bridge, in the final seconds before the temporary tokens expired. He had not read it then. Something dangerous had been walking out of the horde toward him, and he had more immediate concerns than the system’s notifications.

But now that he was looking at it, Encrid felt both relieved and annoyed.

Relieved because it was two and a half percent.

It brought him back to where he had been before the failure, with a little extra to spare.

Annoyed because it did not feel like a reward. It felt like a man returning money he had just stolen from your pocket and expecting you to thank him for his honesty.

Still, he would take it.

Three point seven six percent was considerably better than one point two six.

He would complain about the system when he was in a better position to do so.

Another notification appeared before the previous one could fade.

[ Title Acquired: THE ONE WHO SLEW THE ELDER ]

[ A title bestowed upon the one who slew the Slumbering Elder, a roamer that endured for ages and evolved beyond the limits of its kind. ]

[ Effects: ]

[ ? Elder’s Recognition: Your existence will be recognized by certain ancient beings who have lived long enough. ]

[ ? Slayer’s Authority: Your attacks carry increased effectiveness against beings whose existence exceeds the natural limits of their species. The effect grows stronger against targets that have lived for an exceptionally long time. ]

[ ? Deathless Resolve: When facing an existence of a higher order, your resistance to fear, intimidation, and suppression is increased. ]

Encrid stared at the notification for a moment before letting his gaze drift away.

He had killed the Elder.

The fact should have meant something to him. The system had given him a title for it, after all. Yet when he thought about the enormous creature with its single remaining tusk, he felt no pride in the achievement.

Only exhaustion.

He remembered the Elder crouching at the edge of the chasm, its massive body gathering itself before the jump. He remembered the weight of it coming down toward the Span, the tremendous force that would have shattered the bridge and carried thousands of people to their deaths.

And he remembered the seventh form.

The Space Sword.

He had barely understood what he was doing when he swung. The technique had not struck the Elder’s flesh or pierced its hide. It had cut the space in which the creature existed, and the result had been so absolute that the Elder’s enormous body had continued forward even after its head had been severed.

He had killed something that made the whole wall fall back.

To be honest, he didn’t know how to feel about it.

Encrid did not know he could have killed the Elder with the help of his tokens - if he knew - he would have used them at the Wall itself.

Then again, there was no guarantee that he could stop the Elder, he might have been able to kill it, but if it had breached the Wall by then, all of it would have been for nothing.

The conflicting thoughts were making it harder for him to think, so he kept the matter of the Wall aside and concentrated on the title itself.

It described the Slumbering Elder as an ancient Roamer that survived for ages and evolved into an existence far beyond the limits of its kind.

Encrid had known the Elder was different from the moment he learned of it. The creature was not simply a large Roamer. It had survived long enough to become something that ordinary Roamers could never hope to be. Its body had grown enormous, its strength had reached a level that made conventional defenses almost meaningless, and its very existence had become a threat to the Wall.

Encrid could also not claim the kill on his own. After all, it had taken the efforts of several powerful people to weaken it enough for him to deliver the final blow.

Ulrich Vance had taken its left tusk. Garrick Dane had damaged its foreleg. Rael had destroyed its right eye, and Iolan Vire had burned away the last of its sight.

Without them, Encrid would never have reached that final moment.

The title belonged to him, but the victory had never been his alone.

He wondered whether the system understood that distinction.

Then he returned his attention to the effects.

The first one was the most concerning.

Elder’s Recognition.

Certain ancient beings would recognize him as the one who had slain the Elder. The description did not explain who those beings were or what kind of relationship they had with the Slumbering Elder. It did not even say whether they would recognize the achievement as something worthy of respect.

They might admire him.

They might despise him for killing one of their own.

Or they might simply consider him an interesting anomaly.

Encrid had no way of knowing, and with Appraisal sealed, he could not even begin to investigate the matter properly.

The second effect was easier to understand. His attacks would become more effective against beings that had evolved beyond the natural limits of their species, particularly those that had lived for an exceptionally long time.

That sounded useful.

It also sounded rather specific.

The Elder had been an extreme example of what time and evolution could produce in a Roamer. If other creatures like it existed, the title might prove valuable. However, Encrid had no intention of seeking them out to test the effect.

He had enough trouble surviving ordinary days.

The final effect was perhaps the most practical.

Deathless Resolve.

Greater resistance to fear, intimidation, and suppression when facing beings of a higher order would not make him immune to their power, but it could help him maintain his judgment when confronted by something overwhelmingly stronger than himself.

He remembered the pressure he had felt when the Elder had gathered itself to jump. He had not been paralyzed by fear, but he had understood the difference between his own strength and the creature’s. Had he hesitated for even a moment too long, the Span would have fallen.

A little more resistance in such situations could save his life.

’Not bad.’

It was a useful title, though hardly one he could appreciate while lying half-conscious with a ruined body.

Encrid tried to close the notification and settle back, but before he could do so, another notification appeared.

[ Familiar Seal - Binding Result ]

? ? ?