The Fourth Secret: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Divine Apostasy Book 4) by A. Kay (best short books to read .TXT) 📕

hands to accept the stuffed centipede. Without a word, the woman opened her wings and with a powerful thrust shot into the ceiling, disappearing from sight. The pressure from the wings, even with his Gold Fortified body, made him stumble. The sound of snapping bones echoed from where the Elder’s sat.

Then the pressure vanished.

Ruwen almost dropped Scos when he looked at his hands. What had been a stuffed centipede before, now looked like an actual centipede. It had the sick green color of mucus and its black eyes seemed to bore into his brain. It had bile colored wings that were spread, giving it the shape of a cross. It took all his willpower to not fling it away.

A notification appeared and Ruwen opened it.

Tring!

You have been gifted…

Name: Sublime Centipede of Solace

Quality: Epic

Durability: Indestructible

Weight: 2.0 lbs.

Effect: 100% effective against nonfatal poisons.

Effect: 50% chance to cure fatal poison damage.

Effect: Mana bank. Capacity 5,000 Mana.

Restriction: Cures poison only when placed against the lips.

Restriction: Charging Mana bank requires rubbing the totem’s head.

Description: Bile colored infant centipede. Totem capable of channeling divine abilities. Gently clean with warm water, as scrubbing causes damage.

Not only had Blapy fixed the stuffed centipede Ruwen had earned on his first night in the Black Pyramid, but she had significantly upgraded it. She had enhanced its cure poison abilities, and it now acted as a Mana bank. That meant he could use more of his Architect Roles without tapping the Spirit in his Core and revealing his Aspect of the Scarecrow. She really had turned it into a divine totem.

Blapy had kept the scrubbing reference in the description. Ruwen had used his Scrub ability to clean the centipedes to death on his first night of fighting in the pyramid, something he felt like doing to Scos right now. A flying centipede made him shiver with horror.

And of course, Blapy had forced her affection for these disturbing creatures into the item restrictions. Ruwen dreaded how long he’d have to scratch Scos between the eyes while he fed it Mana.

Ruwen looked up from Scos to see the six Elders standing in front of him, their arms crossed on their chests.

“We accept your divine appointment, and submit to your leadership,” Elder Vachyl said.

Chapter 44

Hamma and Niall healed the broken bones the Elders had sustained when Blapy departed, and Elder Gabryel healed the burns on Elder Vachyl’s hands.

“Why are you always so reckless?” Gabryel asked Vachyl but continued to talk without waiting for a response. “It’s always the same with you. Would it kill you to add a few points to Wisdom. You need it for Eiru’s sake.”

Vachyl pressed his lips together and took the verbal abuse silently, probably his way of thanking the Priestess for restoring his fingers, which had burned off when holding Scos. Ruwen placed Scos in his Inventory and watched as Niall passed out robes to all the Elders.

A brown-skinned woman approached Ruwen, and he focused on her.

Name: Elder Yana

Class: Worker

Sub Class: Collector

Specialization: Gatherer

Class Rank: Adept

Yana held out her hand, the dark color of a Void Band around her wrist, and Ruwen grasped her forearm. “Well met, Elder Yana.”

“Well met, Ruwen. I know you said you have pressing business, but I wonder if you could answer a few urgent questions of mine?”

“I’ll do the best I can.”

“I think my map malfunctioned. The city is now ‘New’ and the date seems impossible.”

A man approached, tall and skinny, and Ruwen read his public details.

Name: Elder Odalys

Class: Mage

Sub Class: Binder

Specialization: Rune

Class Rank: Master

“What about our families?” Odalys asked.

Ruwen spoke loudly, so all the Elders could hear him. They likely had the same questions. “Something catastrophic happened here so long ago, we lost even the name of your city. The temple survived, but in a damaged state, and you’ve all been waiting for revival. Give me a moment.”

Lir, were all the children saved? Ruwen asked.

Yes. The only people excluded were Harvesters over the age of Ascension who had refused Ascendancy. Eiru’s decision to save the children comes at an immense cost. The more children you revive, the greater the effects on my abilities.

Why?

Young bodies grow and change far more than adults. Keeping their image updated in my storage will take the vast amount of my attention. It is why Ascension occurs at sixteen. Eiru accepted this cost, knowing it would make me vulnerable in the future.

So once we revive all the children, you can’t do much?

Just the basics. I will require help to protect the temple until these children are the normal age of Ascension.

That’s good to know, and we’ll protect you, Lir. It makes me happy that Uru saved them.

She told me some sacrifices even she could not justify.

“Your families still wait in the queue” Ruwen said. “Only the Harvesters died a true death.”

Odalys relaxed. “When can we revive our families?”

“That is one of the things I need your help in deciding,” Ruwen said.

“What is the current situation?” Vachyl asked. “Has the war raged through all these millennia?”

Ruwen shook his head. “It has been mostly peaceful for thousands of years. Only recently have we come under attack again. Unfortunately, an army is nearing this city, and—”

Ruwen held up a finger while he spoke to Lir. What happens to the people queued here if you’re destroyed?

They cease to exist.

You can’t transfer them all to one of your siblings?

No, my siblings lack the required storage.

Ruwen sighed. “If they destroy this temple, then all of us who are bound here die a true death. Including your queued families.”

“We can’t let that happen,” Odalys said.

“Have you scouted their forces?” a man asked.

Ruwen focused on the speaker. He was average height, with short brown hair, and a plain face. Almost immediately, Ruwen wanted to look away and forced himself to stay focused on the man. Finally, the man’s public information appeared.

Name: Elder Drivyd

Class: Observer

Sub Class: Scout

Specialization: Spy

Class Rank: Master

Ruwen forced himself to stay focused on Elder Drivyd, even though the Observer’s abilities made it difficult. The man probably had maxed out Fade, which made him hard