Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1345: Beast of the Land

~Oh, that one is easy. Lezzekai is the primordial beast of the land. He draws power from Urth herself, and his waking is a sign of great changes on Urth. Are you asking because he surfaced in Y-City?~ The god readily revealed the field bossʼs identity.

“Right, I was interested in whether he was the cause of Y-Cityʼs technology stopping to work. But when he is a sign of great change...is Lezzekai not the cause of the awakening for the “Slumbering Realm”, right ?” the blacksmith asked, a little confused.

He had heard about “primordial beasts” in various mythologies he came across when studying up on Olympians, but it was the first time it was connected to great change. The question of what caused only Y-City to be forced to develop their own magitech had always bugged him a little.

~Right, Lezzekaiʼs slow awakening is only one of the indicators, not the cause. But it was his presence that crippled the district of Ypselon. As you can see, the leakage of his power increases the speed of the resurfacing, changing many laws of nature that human technology relies on.~ NasʼKorn explained.

“One of the indicators? There wouldnʼt be any other indicators we should know about, right?” the blacksmith asked suspiciously. The way the god just said that somehow indicated there was more than one phenomenon appearing with the return of Urthʼs past.

~I mean, Lezzekai is only the beast of the land. Obviously, there are more primordial beasts, like Cobruna, the Cloud Huntress, and Tarbunus of the Depth. But even if they awake, you wonʼt see those guys,~ the ancient god named another two beasts on the level of Lezzekai without a care in the world.

“That sounded like a flag...” Seth mumbled, assured that he would see them at some point in the future. At least one of the things he was curious about was finally solved. The catastrophe of Ypselon, the loss of their technology, was caused by Lezzekaiʼs presence.

“Okay, enough about the horned bear. Iʼve been to Y-City not too long ago and came across a few peculiar creatures with intellect.” The blacksmith changed the topic and started talking about his experiences in Y-City.

He talked about his fight with Donnchadh, Strik Forebone, the fairy cobbler he met, as well as the other creatures and their weird court. Apart from the weird undead, he wanted to know more about these fairy courts Strik Forebone spoke of, and the Geass some of the souls he harvested held.

~Ho, so the power of oaths and taboos has also revived with the realm,~ NasʼKorn said, surprised.

“The power of oaths and taboos?” the bard asked, curious. The name itself didnʼt sound like anything good, but having seen a few, it was a very powerful way to circumvent the usual rules of the world by paying a price.

~That is essentially what a geass is, an oath or a taboo. Sometimes they can turn into a curse, too. There are various kinds of them, but in general, it is the obligation to do or not do something in exchange for great power. However, if you break the geass, the smallest price will be losing the power you gained,~ the whooly rhino gave a rough explanation.

Seth nodded along with what the god said. What NasʼKorn told him fit with his own observation. It worked similarly to a deal with a demon, except that the possible gains were on the level with someone who became a legend. A geass allowed a mortal to break the natural order. They paid a high price, but it was a lot easier than becoming a legend or a god.

~In the future, when the realm properly wakes up, even humans will be able to gain their own geass,~ NasʼKorn added, reminding Seth of the “special power” some world of the system kept from the time before the system god. A geass had to be Urthʼs original power, existing apart from magic and science.

“I understand. Can you tell me more about the creatures that are appearing with the Slumbering Realm and their organization?” After Seth understood what geass were, he tried to steer the conversation toward the other point he was talking about.

He wanted to know more about the creatures that were appearing, their natural geass and the way their society worked. Judging from Strikʼs words, they were not united as one people, but beings of various backgrounds came together in something they called courts.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

~ Only the beings that count themselves as the fair folk will sometimes convene in courts, if there is a sufficiently strong king or queen to unite and lead them. A court can be as few as a handful of members, or include a countryʼs worth of entourage. Depending on their inclinations, they are either light or dark courts.~

“Light and dark courts?” Seth asked. He couldnʼt quite remember whether the cobbler mentioned something like that or not.

~Obviously, this classification is from an outsiderʼs perspective, but courts are rarely a heterogeneous mix. Folks with a warm and friendly temper donʼt mix with the selfish and cruel. As the latter were prone to cause trouble and even commit atrocities, they were called dark courts.~

“That means those categorizations would be the same for us, right?” the blacksmith asked with a raised eyebrow. If the people of the past called them dark courts because they made trouble at best and caused serious problems at worst, then that made sense for the people of the present, too.

~Hmm, I guess so. I just wanted to mention that it purely describes their alignment. Sometimes the members of the dark court will seem very bright and colorful until you recognize their dark intentions, and those with good intentions won’t always look very friendly.~ The god cautioned him not to be deceived by their looks.

“Hmm, thanks for the reminder,” Seth said honestly. At first, he obviously thought that he was not one of those people who judged others by their looks, however, he had to admit that his reactions had changed since the introduction of magic to his world.

Quite often, evil practices and dark magic tended to have an impact on the creatures and people using them, making “Judging a book by its cover” a valid approach at the first meeting. If Nas’Korn had not warned him, he might have treated these “fair folk” like mobs, instead of people.

Because it was clear, often the prettiest people had the darkest intentions. They only used their beautiful façade to lure others in. This reminded him of the glow people from the fog. Were they also a court? He asked the god.

~No. A court is made up of a diverse cast of different creatures that are born from the land. Although the Tuatha De have been here since ancient times, they are not native to Urth.

“Born from the land?” Seth asked. Another thing he learned after the introduction of magic was to pay close attention to the way people chose their words. Nas’korn had said natives, or those born on Urth, by creatures born from the land.

~ Hmm, yes, I guess this would be the biggest difference between the things you knew and the changes about to come…~ the god mumbled.

“What do you mean?”

~Hmm, how to explain it? Ah, right, humans and normal animals propagate by mating, right? Although the creatures born from Urth can do that too, their origin are unique beings that gain a corporeal shape due to various factors.~

“So… they just come into existence?” Seth summed up the wordy explanation, but he was still trying to wrap his head around this concept. In the system, even magical beasts followed the natural order. They grew up, mated, had offspring, so on and so forth. The only thing he had heard of that was similar, were undead.

Natural undead could form from the vestiges of the living and the dead. Corpses may be reanimated, or the soul splinters left by death would evolve into ghosts. This was a talk he had heard of during his first time working with Tano’Mol.

But the undead were undead. The beings he met were clearly alive with living bodies and unique souls. This god was telling him that these creatures were simply popped into existence by the “Slumbering Realm”, because conditions were met?

~The matter is a little more complex, but yes. They spawn…just like in those video games you people used to play in the past. The concept of respawn is not entirely owned by the Dungeon God. Before Urth began to slumber, creatures simply came into being, just like gods.~ The god emphasized the last word.

Right, there was another case. Gods were also often a concept that took physical shape and grew from faith. Not always did they start off as individuals who became deities and attained godhood. Was this maybe the reason a geass was able to bend the rules of the world, similar to the power of a god or a legend? In that case, it would make sense that a geass, something originating or granted by the world, would have the same possibility.

It was one thing for mobs to appear with this kind of perk. But if as Nas’Korn said, people would be able to gain a geass in the future, in addition to the already granted skills of the system… just how chaotic would Urth become once the realm completely awakened?

~Don’t worry too much. ~ The god suddenly said. ~Just because people will be able to gain a geass, doesn’t mean everyone will get one, or that they can choose what they get. Unlike skills you can train, traits you can gain, or affinities you are born with, a geass is granted by the realm. Power and price depend on your destiny. It’s also why I mentioned that it can be a curse. ~

The gods explanation soothed his worry about the ensuing chaos, but now he was afraid to have a shitty geass forced onto him…

~Welp, that’s a risk I can’t help you with.~