BXBX NOVEL Chapter 60 The Prayer
One Hour Later, Citadel of the Zephystrand City.
"That fight with Estrid was good... I cannot wait to see how strong you will be later..."
Karliana said to Samiel as she was preparing to teleport out from the 2nd Floor. She was already itching to leave the Floor due to the Tower's suppression of her was getting more powerful with each passing day.
"How exactly is the Tower Suppression working? My High Elven host wasn't really best at explaining all things."
Stated Samiel, to which Karliana snorted slightly.
"Of course, he wouldn't with that stick in his ass."
Evidently, Karliana didn't very much like Lord Daragan, though he sometimes thought she didn't like anyone. Samiel would often mistake her for a feminist, but in the end, Karliana just didn't like people weaker than her? Or those more arrogant than her? Or those who were both more arrogant than her and were even weaker than her.
"Tower Suppression isn't really an absolute thing; the works behind it are relatively simple. As that pretty body told you, indeed, the Tower System has divided the Tower into several zones, with appropriate average Tiers for such Floors. Now, the Tower Suppression only applies to the Legendaries who enter the lower Floors, meaning under the 50th Floor. Above the 50th Floor, and mainly above the 60th Floor, the Legendaries roam freely, so there is not any kind of suppression."
She said while making a pause, letting Samiel absorb all information before she continued her explanation.
"One of the primary functions of the Tower is the cultivation of Class Bearers and Professionals for the Transcendental Factions, be it through cultivating strong and powerful Legendaries or even Transcendents. Now, the reason why the suppression isn't really about the damage to the Tower, but rather, it is a preventive measure, due to some Legendaries wreaking havoc and slaughtering a large number of mortals in the Tower for their own goals, which in turn, is spoiling one of the primary purposes of the Tower."
Indeed, suppose many Legendaries, especially those like Calamity Church or various Cultists or even those from the Hall of Kadath, went to the lower Floors. In that case, they could carry out various obscure sacrificial rituals without any problem.
That was due to the lack of opposition here. On the lower Floors, it was rare to come across someone on the Legendary Level, and aside from the first two Floors, one could count himself just unlucky to encounter the Legendary Level being.
"Then what about unsuppressed ones?"
He asked because, for example, Ork Boss Gurnish or all Ork Legendaries from the 1st Floor or others didn't seem suppressed by the Tower's System too much, or rather it seemed like there was no suppression on them at all.
"Indeed. Now aside from the Floor Ruler, there are many Legendaries on the lower Floors. Some of them are natives of these floors, born here, raised, and achieving Legendary status on the Floor. If they follow this path, they won't be suppressed because, in a certain sense, they are 'part' of the Floor. Now, those who came to the lower Floors, from the higher ones, could either use some very unique treasures to avoid the suppression or can make a deal with the Tower System, in which they would agree to some conditions, and they will avoid the suppression for a certain price."
Karliana explained to him, as Samiel understood the mechanisms behind the Tower's suppression of some Legendaries. Mortals mainly inhabited the lower Floors, so having the presence of Legendaries doing as they pleased would be detrimental to the growth of the population, sometimes even their fundamental survival.
"But in the end, there always ways to avoid it; all 13 Gates have their own methods on how the avoid the Tower's suppression in one way or another, be it indefinitely or for a limited time."
That was understandable; probably the only reason why Karliana wasn't using anything the avoid the Tower's suppression right here and now was because it was not necessary to do and would be just wasting the resources.
"So, I am leaving. Don't forget to take care of Estrid; as Holy Son, you are basically her superior, so she is your responsibility as long as you are on the same Floor. Also, properly study the booklet I gave you, and that is... Hall Master would explain the rest when he comes to meet you, and I am too lazy to do so."
Before Samiel could refute, she teleported out from the 3rd Floor. All Legendaries could freely travel the Tower, especially once someone climbed the Tower; he won't have barred entrance to any Floor that he previously visited, of course, under the premise he had means to travel there.
"Dammed woman."
He could just curse as he returned to his room to carry out his monthly prayer to Azathoth. Now he was left taking care of Estrid for the whole time; she and he were on the 3rd Floor, and he swore that he would repay it back, together with interest.
While Samiel didn't dislike the dragon girl, for his tastes, she was over-enthusiastic and smelled like problems, and he didn't want to be a babysitter, watching over her every step and taking care of her.
He could already see that all problems she would cause during their stay on the 3rd Floor, all people would come to him, and there was a high probability of her destroying things. And that would mean that he would need to pay remunerations.
If he was on another Floor, he wouldn't really care and just throw the name of Hall of Kadath, so everyone could piss off. However, unfortunately, he was on the Floor of the Nesser Dynasty, which was not really possible, or rather he didn't want to do so.
That was really not for him.
He then started preparing things he needed to carry out his monthly prayer to his God.
In truth, Samiel wasn't praying very often, and he constantly varied about his Patron God. He was always pretty paranoid and would never trust even his own shadows, which stemmed from his own trust issues.
But in the end, there was a simple answer to all of his questions. He was just an insignificant mortal, while Azathoth was one of the most powerful Transcendents in the Cosmos, and entities like him didn't really need to scheme against him.
Thus, Samiel prayed only once a month... it was enough for him; he was too lazy and not that his Patron God cared. He never even considered himself as a believer, geniue one though, he was like Divine Mercenary, a person who did what he did for benefits, not from the conviction.
Outer Gods were fundamentally different from the standard Gods because they didn't really need the Faith of their worshippers to exist; they were a bit similar to Daemons and Devils because they preferred souls.
Samiel drew a ritual circle on the ground with his own blood as he knelt on the ground to carry out the monthly prayer to his God. He didn't know if he really believed in God or not, and in truth, it didn't even matter.
"The Great Dreamer, the Primordial Demiurge,
He who represents the Chaos of the All Things,
He who gives the Creation the meaning of All Things,
He who brings the Dream to every living being,
And sows the seeds of the Chaos and Madness from the Deep,
The messages we see from the Dreams,
The voices we hear from the Darkness,
The visions we see from the Abyss,
All of them lead only to the Nuclear Chaos.
In the Chaos and Dust we turn,
As the Madness and Slaughter we bring,
And all of them will burn,
Under the laughter and joys of the Elder Ones,
From the coldness of the Void,
And outsideness of the Dream,
He comes,
And we, as his servants,
Are welcoming him,
As we always should.
And in his name,
We spread Madness,
We spread Slaughter,
We spread Pain,
We spread Chaos,
And all of this,
to the Dream we returns."
When he finished the prayer, he felt the gaze of his God on his person as it slowly lifted and disappeared somewhere else. Every time he prayed, Azathoth manifested a bit of his Will from his Dream in reality, and it always sent shivers through his spine.
Every single time.
But there was something which was new, something really relaxing, which was after prayer; it was an indescribable feeling of satisfaction that he received after reach prayer.
"The goal of life... this is the only time when I don't feel lost."
He muttered as he finished his prayer. Samiel Zentaur didn't really have any goal in his life; aside from getting stronger; he didn't have anything in his life; it was like an emptiness that was devouring him with every second.
There was one question in his life, which remained no matter how hard he thought about it... "and what will be then?".
Something he didn't have an answer for.
[You have received the blessings of the Outer God.]
The reason why Samiel kept praying each month was to mainly receive the Blessings from the Outer God Azathoth, which gave him a significant boost to his strength. All of these blessings were limited on time, and he needed to carry out ceremonies to prolong their duration.
This Blessing from Azathoth usually allowed him to Dream and increased his affinity for Void, protected him better when he was studying the Void Magic, and basically functioned like a mark for other Transcendents to fuck off.
Samiel often jokingly called it a "high-class slave mark", but not that he cared if it made him a servant or even slave to his God. In this world, those without Transcendent backing will die one way or another, and at least Samiel didn't have any restrictions placed on him like Gods usually did with their followers.
Azathoth didn't talk to him very often when he prayed, and even during the prayer, he was chanting something that he patched up together; usually, followers of the Outer Gods didn't really pray per se.
Worshipping of the Outer Gods normally consisted of living sacrifices and various obscure rituals filled with the torture of innocent people and similar things. He couldn't always carry out the ritual, or sometimes he was lazy to do so, and thus it was time to pray.
"Now that we have received the strengthened Blessing, it is time to delve deeper into the study of the Void Magic."
He had one year before the duel between Yvraine and Estrid would take place, and before that, he wanted to complete the Unique Mission from the Tower's System, meaning hunting and killing the Ruler-type Magical Beast.
On the other hand, he was also tempted to increase his Level because he got tons of Mana Crystals, but he decided against such an act. Samiel was becoming aware that due to his certain advantages, with each Level, his power increased significantly.
But the problem was that his skills and mastery over them were starting to lag. If he continued such practice, he would soon become one of those video game bosses with enormous Mana, HP, and raw power, but the skill of a total newbie.
Thus he decided it would be more prudent for him to use the time to catch up to his masteries. He was aware that he had neglected his Magic studies a lot lately in favor of close combat training, so he decided to use that one year for that.
In truth, if he could, he would have stayed here for at least a few decades because he really liked the enviroment on the 3rd Floor, it was very tranquil, and even though Samiel liked to destroy things, he liked it here.
Certainly, the fact that he had everything free in the Citadel played a major role in his decision-making. Living on someone else account was the best thing because he had everything he wished for and didn't really need to pay a single coin for that.