Fame alert!
Your Fame has exceeded 17,000 points!
You have reached Fame level 5: Children are named after you.
Your relationship with the Dark Alliance has improved to: Friendship!
Your relationship with the Alliance of Light has deteriorated to: Hatred!
I had barely skimmed the messages and closed them, intending to reread them properly at my leisure, when yet another gong resounded in my ears.
Gong!
A unique position available: The First Priest of the Dark God.
Accept: Yes/No
Oh, great. Wasn't life just weird? Why did it like to break us, forcing us into the most uncomfortable positions? Me, a lone player, had to shoulder a clan. I had nothing to do with religion and now I was offered a unique priest's job. Should I decline? Then again, I couldn't predict the Fallen One and the Dragon's combined reactions to my act of social protest.
My internal interface cursor jumped from Yes to No and back, following my glance, and even pressed them a little without sinking them in properly, the way a gunman strokes the trigger squeezing it, then releasing it again, all the time keeping the bead on the target. Yes or No?
Chapter Eleven
I closed my eyelids to relieve the information overload. Then I got to thinking. A quick Wiki search had produced nothing: apparently, there could only be one First Priest whose post was currently occupied by a Light NPC. I hadn't found any further info on his rights and responsibilities, apart from the fact that he could appoint new priests, consecrate new temples to their respective patron gods, listen to an occasional plea and pass it on to the head of the Pantheon.
Now what would a high post like that have in store for me, then? Would it mean the forces of Light hunting down my precious hide? Having said that, sooner or later they were bound to find out the name of the person who'd restored the Temple. I had left quite a trail, starting from my unusual escort request and ending with Zena and her team who'd seen and heard their fair share and probably second-guessed a lot more. My relationship with the races of Light had apparently plummeted, too, reaching the levels of pure unadulterated hatred. I only had my mysterious quest reward, status: unknown, to thank for that. Actually, they should warn players about tricks like that. The only way back to the City of Light for me now was at the head of an army, ramming our way through the gates and razing the city walls to the ground. Considering that the ranks of my enemies and ill-wishers kept growing at a frightening speed, accepting the post sounded like a better alternative. For me, any gain of physical or political strength was the call of the day.
What else? Was the Fallen One going to burden me with nightly vigils, fasts and shaman dances around the altar? Why would he need to? He's a young god; he needed deeds and actions, not symbols and rituals. He could set you up with a quest or ask of you something you wouldn't be able to refuse. At least as far as gods went, he was all right. He wasn't a grabbing god, on the contrary: until now, he seemed to be the one who protected and nurtured us while he could have easily fixed us up with some vicious debuff you couldn't remove until you either prayed or paid your way out. No, AI 311 knew everything about motivation. I didn't think he was capable of any dirty tricks.
Now, the responsibilities overload could be a problem, sure. What was it Lena's mom had said? It was the retinue that made the king... Few kings were brilliant economists, generals or sociologists. They didn't need to be. As Comrade Stalin used to say, cadres are key. And for once he was right.
Responsibility, that's what scares us. All our lives we're trying to avoid it, wriggling our way out of school and college commitments, afraid of starting a family or business, unable to start a conversation with a girl or break an overeager bully's nose. Wasn't it time we stopped running?
Besides, the Fallen One had granted me one advance too many. And I had indeed promised him to help and restore the Pantheon. I gave my word to the Dragon, too. To quit now you had to be a thankless ingrate with no self-respect. Time to stand up for one's principles.
I opened my eyes, bit my lower lip and exhaled, pressing the button:
Yes.
Congratulations! You have been successfully promoted to a unique post: The First Priest.
Being the First Priest, you are entitled to additional skills granted to your position as well as those granted by the High God of your religion and from each of the Pantheon gods. Unlike the Fallen One's regular worshippers who are required to choose a particular patron god of the Dark, the First Priest has default access to all of the Pantheon's skills and blessings. The number of available skills depends on the First Priest's level which is always equal to that of the First Temple. Current leveclass="underline" 3.
New positional skills acquired:
Ordination. The First Priest has the authority to ordain any Dark worshipper. The maximum number of the world's priests cannot exceed the number of temples multiplied by 10. Current figures: 10/50
Excommunication. The First Priest has the authority to anathemize any Dark worshipper. Duration of excommunication: from 24 hrs. to eternity. Cooldown: 24 hrs.
Appeal to Gods. The First Priest has the authority to appeal directly to any of the Dark Gods who will always hear his plea even though he won't necessarily reply.
Outcast. The First Priest has the authority to proclaim any of AlterWorld inhabitants a Religious Outcast who will then become fair prey to all Dark worshippers, to the point where anyone who kills a Religious Outcast will receive a considerable amount of Faith points that are necessary for religious rank growth and choice of skills offered by their Patron God. The Mark of Outcast disappears after its bearer's death at the hands of a Dark follower. Cooldown: 24 hrs.
Blessing: a raid buff
Effect: +25 to all types of magic resistance, 10% to physical damage resistance
Duration: 12 hrs.
Ingredient: Spark of Dark Flame. Can be acquired by a lump sum donation of 5,000 gold to the Altar.
Congratulations! You've learned the spells:
Personal Portal to the First Temple
Cast time: 6 sec
Mana expenditure: 300
Group Portal to the First Temple
Cast time: 9 sec
Mana expenditure: 1100
Congratulations! You've learned the skills: