Chapter 1163 - Royal Decree

“I can’t outright tell you how to mend it, but I can say that you have all the materials required to make it happen. Now you just need the method. Parts of the skill’s Records were lost or locked away when it broke, but you have a direct connection that’ll allow you to replace them. Of course, the system won’t be as helpful as normal when you work on a skill, so you can definitely fuck yourself up even more if you don’t go about doing it right the first time around,”

the Malefic Viper said in his usual casual tone.

“Hey, it’s just a courtesy to at least reach out if I’m planning on stealing Records from you,”

Jake shrugged with a smile as he felt in a good mood, partly because it had been a bit since he last had a good talk with Villy.

Both of them had been busy with the Viper talking about exploring some hellhole of a World Wonder filled with mushrooms, and besides that, Villy still had things to do regarding his Order as he’d adopted a more hands-on approach after his return.

Even so, that day he had reached out after reading in the tome from the First Sage, as he had some thoughts he wanted to get out. It was evident that in order to fix his Palate of the Malefic Viper, he would have to draw on his connection as a Heretic-Chosen to fix the broken skill.

In some ways, it was a bit like repairing a game. He would need to get working Records to confirm that his approach to fixing the skill worked, and it sadly wasn’t as simple as just finding out what Jake was missing and replacing those parts. Perhaps someone as skilled as Villy could do that, but Jake certainly wasn’t able to.

So he would instead try to claim a copy of Records and try to replicate that to fix his own skill. However, even that would prove incredibly difficult, and he’d definitely need at least a little assistance from the skill to make things happen. In that sense, Jake was lucky that the system always strived towards stabilizing skills.

The only reason he could fuck it up in the first place was because he used his Bloodline to do so. That also meant he would need to use his Bloodline to fix it again... if it wasn’t for Villy, that is. He’d used a Transcendant skill to temporarily “fix” the skill, but what he’d actually done was just put it in a state of stasis with part of its functionality locked away.

When Jake finally made his attempt to fix it, the stasis would be released and the remains of his Primeval Origin Energy would be consumed to allow Jake the limited control he’d need during the reconstruction process: all once more made possible by the Viper’s Transcendent skill.

Granted, besides just being courteous, Jake had one more reason he’d decided to reach out that day.

“Is it really considered stealing when you have permission to break into someone’s house?”

Villy asked in an amused voice.

“Besides, I’m not gonna act like this isn’t a fun and novel experience for me. While I have certainly seen people break and fix their own skills before, never have I seen it with my own Legacy skill. Usually, people only break skills belonging solely to themselves, and the fix usually ends up resulting in a rarity downgrade.”

“I aim to impress with my unique flavor of absurdity,”

Jake joked.

“The word you’re looking for is stupidity. Then again, absurdity isn’t entirely inaccurate either, as you can be absurdly stupid at times,”

Jake’s divine Patron bullied him.

“Now you’re just being mean. Not saying you’re wrong, just mean,”

Jake muttered.

“Anyhow, back to Palate... I did consider a solution that included downgrading the skill, but if I did that, upgrading it again would be a whole lot harder, right? To the level of being downright impossible?”

“I wouldn’t call it impossible, or even improbable, in your case. You are ultimately still my Chosen, and while you wouldn’t be able to use the same upgrade Path as before, you certainly would still be able to find a way to upgrade it and then include the aspects you lost in the downgrade down the line,”

the Viper explained.

“In fact, I did consider a downgrade to be the most likely outcome of you fixing Palate. While it wouldn’t be ideal, it would be the safest solution and definitely the one where the system would provide the most assistance.”

“Yeah, I reached the same conclusion,”

Jake nodded.

“The process of downgrading will balance all the Records and at least fix everything in the perfect way that only the system can.”

“I sense a but coming.”

“However,”

Jake very deliberately stopped himself from using that word,

“I’m a greedy bastard who wouldn’t be happy seeing the skill downgraded. I’m also a little scared of what it would do to that Planetary Core full of Desolation I ate. But the biggest reason is definitely my greed, which is why I considered an alternative to downgrading the skill. One that keeps the same benefits a system-assisted downgrade would provide.”

“I want to bring attention to the fact that I used the past tense when I said I expected it to be the most likely outcome that you would end up downgrading the skill to fix it,”

Villy said, having definitely already realized what Jake was getting at.

“That was before you had your encounter with the First Sage and received his teachings on the matter. Now, I believe the most likely approach you’ll use to fix Palate is the exact opposite of a downgrade.”

“Great minds truly do think alike,”

Jake chuckled.

“No, Jake, you’re just incredibly predictable in matters like this. Plus, I know the First Sage and the impact his teachings have on people. I would find it an insult to his Legacy if you were satisfied with anything less.”

“Fair enough, I guess,”

Jake chuckled, unable to disagree as he truly did feel like it would be a disservice to both himself and the First Sage if Jake accepted a downgrade to his skill.

As Villy had already alluded to, Jake no longer accepted downgrading Palate when fixing it, and neither would he merely repair it. Instead, Jake planned to directly upgrade Palate during the repair process, intending to ride the wave of Records he expected to be born from the process of fixing it and upgrading his Meditate skill.

It was definitely far riskier than simply trying to fix the skill or accepting a downgrade, but Jake had always been a sucker for taking risks.

“I do wonder, how close do you believe you are to pulling the trigger and going for the upgrade?”

Villy asked.

“Yeah, about that...”

Jake said.

“You see, I didn’t just reach out to be nice today, but because something happened. When studying today, I finished a chapter of the tome... only to discover there’s nothing more for me to read.”

“... what?”

the Viper asked with genuine exasperation.

“Do you mean to tell me you’ve already finished everything Master left to you, because if you do, I don’t believe you could have truly understood even-“

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“No, no, no, I’m not done with the tome,”

Jake quickly clarified as, for a brief moment, he felt real anger from the other side of the telepathic connection.

“I just can’t read more of it. The first page of the next chapter contains a seal of some sort, and I’m fairly confident the only way to break it is to fulfill some specific condition. Before you ask, no, no clue what the conditions are, but I would guess it’s either upgrading my Meditate skill to a high enough rarity or reaching B-grade. Perhaps both.”

“That... does sound like something Master would do,”

Villy instantly calmed down.

“Likely to make sure you don’t overreach and try to delve into concepts you aren’t ready to explore yet. Sometimes, too much information can be as dangerous as too little when you do not yet have the tools to properly use your knowledge.”

“My thoughts exactly,”

Jake nodded and smirked.

“See, great minds do think alike! Anyhow, that’s why I reached out to you. I still need to go over some sections again and form a proper plan for how I wanna go about things, but it won’t be that long.”

“Just take your time and walk in with full confidence born from being prepared enough,”

the Viper shared his words of wisdom.

“Speaking of confidence and being prepared enough... just a little heads-up. About a day ago, the gift for Artemis was fully consumed, and knowing how long a breakthrough usually takes, I would get myself ready.”

“Ready for what?”

Jake asked before realizing there were more important questions.

“Wait, she’s breaking through? To Godqueen? She did mention how that’s hard and how she’d been stuck for a while and was now progressing again, but I didn’t expect her to attempt a breakthrough already... knowing the time span gods usually work with, I assumed it would be like a million years or something silly like that...”

“In the same vein that you can get several levels from winning a single fight, brief events and encounters can also lead to massive progress and benefits for gods. Artemis recently experienced massive growth, in part born from the foundation she’s been building up over the last few eras.”

“I see,”

Jake nodded.

“And what did you mean I should get ready for?”

“Well, I see two scenarios,”

Villy said in a cheeky voice.

“Breaking through to Godqueen isn’t really that dangerous and rarely goes wrong, so she won’t be in danger or anything, but failure is certainly an option. In the scenario where she failed, she’ll definitely need some comforting, so get ready for that. As for if she succeeded... well, in that event, she’ll be in quite a good mood.”

“Ah,”

Jake nodded with a smile. While Villy did mention that there was a chance she failed, Jake got the feeling she would succeed. While Jake still wasn’t the best at measuring how powerful gods were, Artemis did feel powerful even for her level... or Circle... or whatever gods used. Moreover, Villy had handed her a gift to help her along further, and knowing the Viper, his pride wouldn’t allow the gift to be anything less than extraordinarily overpowered.

“Yeah, we’ll definitely need to celebrate when she succeeds.”

“Oh, definitely... hey, Jake, do you remember the feeling of evolving?”

Villy asked in a slightly teasing voice.

“Obviously,”

he answered, not entirely sure what the Viper was getting at.

“It feels damn nice, doesn’t it? To feel reborn and far more powerful than mere moments ago.”

“Yeah...”

Jake muttered, still a little confused.

“Now imagine if you haven’t evolved for a very long time. In fact, the longer there is between evolutions or huge instantaneous power growths, the better they feel,”

Villy said, definitely smirking on the other side of the telepathic connection.

“What Artemis may feel will be incomparable to anything you’ve experienced before, and I can promise you with absolute certainty, in the scenario of Artemis succeeding, she’ll feel divinely euphoric.”

Jake... was pretty sure that was a good thing?

Artemis felt as if power, unlike anything she’d ever experienced before, flooded through her veins. Additionally, her Divine Realm had expanded and seemed far more stable than it had been only a single day ago. She glanced around her realm, which looked like a massive, endless mix between a jungle and a forest, before she turned around and left.

Appearing in the real world once more, two people were already waiting for her. They were the only ones who knew Artemis was attempting her breakthrough here and now, and both were all smiles when they saw her.

“Congratulations are in order,” Nature’s Attendant spoke as he went over and gave her a pat on the shoulder and a proud grandfatherly nod.

“Good job,”

Yggdrasil spoke, her words meaning a lot as the Mother Tree gave out compliments or praise very rarely.

“I see the breakthrough was a great success.”

“Yes,” Artemis said with a big smile as she flared her aura, which had grown significantly in both power and quality. “It went far better than I could have even imagined.”

“And the gift from Vilas?” Nature’s Attendant asked with a raised eyebrow. His curiosity didn’t surprise her in the slightest. Artemis was fully aware that one of the reasons why these two apex gods were so interested was because the Malefic One’s gift had been involved in the process, and they were very curious about its results.

“It, too, was far more than I had imagined... at least I think it was,” Artemis said with a sigh while still smiling. “I can’t truly remember. All I remember is a feeling of absolute control, confidence, and, I wanna almost say, omniscience. The only thing I can guarantee is that it was far more potent and effective than anything I’ve ever even heard of.”

“Hm,” Nature’s Attendant hummed. “I think caution is advised regarding disclosing anything related to your breakthrough and the effects of this gift.”

“I understand,” Artemis nodded, not even having to be told why keeping it behind closed doors was a good idea. Items of any kind capable of raising a god’s chance for a breakthrough were unbelievably valuable, and one of this level could cause wars. Keeping its existence a secret would only prove beneficial for a myriad of reasons, and should the Malefic One wish to publicize his true abilities, he could do so himself. Until then, the Pantheon of Life would gladly take advantage of uniquely possessing this knowledge.

“If I may,” Artemis spoke again. “Would it be alright if-“

“Go,”

Yggdrasil said, having predicted what Artemis was about to ask.

“His role in this matter also isn’t to be underestimated.”

“I know,” Artemis smiled as she bowed a final time before teleporting away in a hurry.

Nature’s Attendant and Yggdrasil were left behind as they gave each other knowing looks.

--

Jake had moved forward with his assumption that Artemis would succeed in her breakthrough and gone to clean up a bit. He’d even considered making a banner or something, but ultimately decided against it, as in the event where she somehow failed, that wouldn’t go over well.

Still, no matter what, cleaning himself up and making sure his clothes weren’t covered in remnants from alchemy experiments by changing into something more casual was the least he could do to look presentable. He’d even decided to order some good food and drinks for the two of them if a celebration was in order.

With everything ready, all that was left was to wait. Jake sat in the living room reading a book about bane poisons when he had a premonition that something was about to happen, primarily caused by him feeling a familiar gaze upon the palace, which tended to be a prelude to teleportation.

He closed the book and stored it away, and less than a second later, the familiar wood elf goddess appeared in the living room. Instantly, Jake knew that something was different. First of all, this wasn’t an avatar like the many times he’d seen her recently, but definitely her real body. Secondly, she felt stronger than Jake had ever seen her before, instantly making Jake smile.

“Congratulations.”

Artemis looked at him and smiled back. “This may sound hyperbolic, but I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short,” Jake said as he teasingly bowed. “Such is unbecoming of you, my queen.”

Artemis chuckled and walked over as she put a hand under his chin. “You may raise your gaze.”

Jake did as told while Artemis leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips, which he naturally reciprocated. Artemis didn’t hold anything back and dragged him into a hug, not letting Jake go as she pushed them to both fall onto the couch, Artemis on top of him.

Artemis pulled back and sat up as she looked down at him. Without saying anything, she placed a finger on his chest, making his shirt begin to disintegrate, much to Jake’s surprise, as he looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I thought we were taking things slo-“

“Jake,” Artemis said as her own clothes began to disappear. “I don’t believe this queen gave you permission to object.”

He just stared up at the goddess as he couldn’t stop smiling. “This lowly one apologizes for his insolence.”

“You’re forgiven,” Artemis said, pressing him down. “Assuming what happens next pleases this queen to her satisfaction.”

“This one shall do his utmost,” Jake answered as he gladly moved to fulfill the royal decree.