Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6) Dakota Krout (sci fi books to read TXT) 📖

a wall protecting the inner portion. At the very center was the keep, a single building that was meant as the last refuge of the Dwarven nation, which was large enough to hold all of them, if the need arose.

The next ring down contained the noble quarters, including the Royal Palace and council chambers. After that was the Religious District, which had been empty for so long that it had been converted into parks and green space. Joe was on his way there now, but he had to pass through the Living District, where he was currently, as well as the Tradesman District. It was going to be a slow trip, since he needed to hoof it on foot.

Mounts were not really a thing, since most people could run as fast as horses after they had reached a certain level of strength and dexterity. Using animals or automations had just never really come up. No one was going to sacrifice their training time for comfort, not when their entire worldview revolved around war.

The roads within the city were delineated pretty clearly. ‘Messenger’, ‘high speed’, ‘jogging’, and finally the last one, the ‘walking’ lane, which Joe entered. Since there were very few restrictions on spatial devices in this Zone, he didn't need to watch out for carts, wagons, or any other vehicles. However, he did need to watch out for the Dwarves moving at ‘walking’ speed.

“Slow Bro!” A bearded Dwarf that Joe could barely see laughed at him.

Another zipped past him, shouting, “Bald Bro! Get in the children's lane if you can't keep up!”

Frankly, Joe had not even noticed the children's lane, but even now that he had, he wasn't about to let go of his dignity so easily. He started running, letting mana flow to his feet as he switched over to skipping. That was when things got weird.

The Dwarves that had been zipping past him just a moment ago seemed to pause as his speed reached theirs, and then Joe was flying past them. Seeing this as a challenge, the Dwarves abandoned the walking lane and began chasing after him, taking the jogging lane and sprinting as hard as they could. It appeared that the lanes were meant more as ‘top speed’ lanes, because most of the hairy people that were moving along the running lane were still going much faster than the sprinting Dwarves in the jogging lane.

“What is going on right now?” Joe was less concerned about the other people; instead his mind was entirely focused on analyzing what had changed. “There’s no reason I should be this fast. I’ve been actively adding my jump to everything since I first found out that I could. I'm skipping and supplying mana… but I've done this practically…! Is it… oh!”

That was when Joe remembered his massive increases in his physical characteristics. “Jump is modified by strength and dexterity! This is awesome!”

Seeing as he was nowhere near the fastest person on the road, he had no good frame of reference for how fast he was going. Still, Joe approached the Religious District far sooner than he had expected. He had planned to ask directions from there, but a solitary building was visible in the green space between the defensive walls. Just as he was debating getting off the road, he saw that there was an exit onto a street that had clearly been created recently. Jumping over the other lanes of traffic, he landed on the fresh cobblestone and sprinted toward the Grand Temple.

Before long, he approached the large crowd, but they parted when they sighted the expected bald Human coming toward them; Princess Embertank had prepared them well for his arrival. Joe slowed down and attempted to appear grand and serious for the occasion, but he couldn’t stop a huge grin from spreading his face. This was his ticket back into having a deity on his side again! The Princess was flushed, her mustache quivering with excitement and nervousness. She swallowed deeply, then curtsied lightly toward Joe. “Is everything ready?”

Joe checked his cooldown timer for Query, letting the last few seconds tick away before nodding. “Ready.”

“Then let’s go inside.” She led the way into the Grand Temple, the huge doors swinging open with a simple gesture from her. The crowd followed behind them, strangely silent, at least for Dwarves. There were only a half-dozen belching tournaments, three farting competitions, two fist fights, and one count of drunken warbling.

The inside of the temple was strangely plain. Huge marble columns supported the ceiling, and everything was accented by alternating black and white colorations. Joe raised an eyebrow and gestured at the surroundings, and the princess knew what he meant immediately. “This is the standard, basic template for a Grand Temple. We add nothing, simply providing the raw materials and space for whatever deity is going to control it.”

That made sense to him, so Joe questioned no further. They walked up to the blank slab of an altar together, and he turned to face the Princess. “Ready?”

“For literally my entire life,” she replied with a fire burning in her eyes.

“Okay then.” Joe took a deep breath and intentionally verbally activated Query. “Tatum, this Princess wants to be your High Priestess here. You in?”

Query successful! Tatum groans at your lack of proper ceremony, but has excitedly accepted.

New achievement: ‘You join me, I make you OP.’ You have converted your first follower on a new Zone, and they have become the High Priestess! Your reputation with Occultatum has increased by 1,000! New reputation Rank: Extended Family. You have gained 10,000 experience!

You have regained level 20! Cleric spell ‘Planar Shift’ is once more available for use!

“Abyss, I didn't even see that it had been blocked,” Joe muttered, quickly coming back to the present as the princess was coated in a column of darkness. It wore off a moment later, and she graced at him with a bright smile under her fluffy mustache. The only physical change that he could see was that her eye color