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

“I finally… finally will be able to fulfill my life goals. Thank you, Joe.” Before she could get all teary-eyed, Joe nodded stiffly and smiled.

“Congratulations, princess.” He put his hand on the altar and motioned for her to do the same. “Sorry, but this next part is gonna suck.”

“Success is its own reward, and even if it is not perfect, I am just happy to advance,” the newly-minted High Priestess stated boldly.

Would you like to capture this Grand Temple for Occultatum? Yes/ No.

“That’s great, Princess. Just remember that.” Joe accepted the prompt, and both winced as their bodies began leaking power.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The Princess Priestess had a surprisingly large pool of mana, which Joe realized was likely due to her lifestyle as a Noble since birth. Between political intrigue and her life's mission of becoming a priestess, she had likely focused all of her spare time on increasing her intelligence and wisdom.

Even still, the two of them alone did not have the power to convert the entire Grand Temple. As their power swirled out of them, other Dwarves stepped forward from the audience and lent their own energies. Soon, the entire structure had been converted. As an unexpected bonus, as soon as the temple was complete, the entire Pantheon that Joe had formed in the previous Zone became represented here.

One of the altars blazed with red fire, representing Tommulus, Greater Deity of Fire and Berserkers. One of the altars sprouted into a woman-shaped tree, as Spriggan, the Minor Deity of Nature and Fertility, took shape. Finally, an off-tune bugle blast heralded the arrival of Hansel, the Greater Deity of Bards, Teachers, and Political Assassins.

A stunned silence fell as hundreds of Dwarves saw the choices that were suddenly before them. All sounds had ceased, beyond Joe and Princess Embertank’s labored breathing.

“Wait a blasted minute… we wanted one, and four pop in! These deities are multiplying like cockroaches!” A typical Dwarven grumble eased the tension and made the group chuckle. Joe sat down and listened to the conversations around him as he skimmed through the notifications that had appeared.

You have earned a reward from the continuous quest: Reclamation of the lost.

Critical success! You have captured the only Grand Temple in the Dwarven territories, and your Pantheon currently has the majority of all Dwarven parishioners!

Buff applied: Faction Lead I. As you are the champion of the dominant faction in this Zone, you have been granted additional power to fulfill your duties! Total mana +1,000! This buff can increase in power. Please note that the current Zone is considered as two separate Zones until the war has been decided!

Joe groaned in pain as his body swelled up like an over-inflated balloon. For a long moment, it appeared as if he was having a body-wide allergic reaction. Then the new influx of mana found the proper channels within his body and seamlessly integrated. He glanced over at Princess Embertank—no, High Priestess Embertank—and knew that she was undergoing some changes as well. “Increased stats, or a direct addition to your power?”

“Stats.” She groaned as she held her head. “And so many quests! I’m also back to level one.”

“What? Why would that happen?” Joe scrambled to his feet just in case he needed to make a quick getaway. “I've never heard of that-”

“Oh, calm down. It was my choice.” She stood on shaky legs as she held her head. “It's not like I lost all of my stats or anything, but I had to give up all of my previous class skills and abilities in order to become the High Priestess. It's going to take a lot of work to become powerful again, but at least I am not really starting from zero. I've never heard of a level one person having over a hundred and fifty points in each of their characteristics.”

“That’s something, I suppose,” Joe carefully stated, still uncertain of what to do next.

“I also inherited the ‘Paying a Great Debt’ quest. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that we should be able to finish that quest off in about one-and-a-half to two weeks.” The High Priestess’ assertion made Joe freeze once more, and he hurriedly pulled up the quest.

Paying a Great Debt. By choosing to remain faithful to your chosen deity, you have agreed to take on their debt. Find a way to pay off 13,000,000 Divine Energy. Current DE generated: 1,536,750/13,000,000.

Altar: 11

Shrine: 22

Temple(small): 1

Temple(mid-sized): 3

Temple(grand): 2

Champion defeated: 3

Followers: 310

Joe confirmed that he had only gained roughly eleven percent of the total Divine Energy he needed, then looked at the Dwarf for an explanation. She waved around the room, and smiled brightly. “I have roughly a quarter of a million followers that will be joining this pantheon over the next few weeks. After they have all converted, since followers generate twenty-five DE per day, we are looking at six and a quarter million DE per day. Expect this quest to be completed likely earlier than I even mentioned.”

“So many…” Joe whispered in a shaky voice. “I had expected it to be years.”

“This will be me doing my duty, but you are always welcome to grant me bonuses for a job well done.” She winked at him, her charming disposition slightly offset by the glorious mustache she was sporting. “Now, if you don't mind, I have so very much work to do.”

Joe nodded and walked away as she began to open the altars for conversion. The Dwarves that had been waiting passed along information they found, and soon there were four lines for each altar. Unsurprisingly, the longest line was for Tatum, and the shortest was for the Spriggan. There were not many Dwarves that wanted to empower nature when their opponents were followers of Gaia. Before he left, he swung by the altar just to double-check that there wasn’t anything waiting for him.

Laying his hands on the altar, the Reductionist felt only a warm glow of happiness and acceptance. He had quite a