Saintess Summons Skeletons

The statue’s arms formed a circle, and one by one, the orbs lit up, showering the cavern in many shades of bright light.

As if it was nothing but dust, the light was sucked in and collapsed into a point in the center of the circle before expanding to form a smooth round hole through reality. Inside, there seemed to be some kind of room with small pedestals.

“I have to go in then? That’s some very strange space magic.”

A bit wary, Sofia flew through the hole, which closed behind her. I’m trapped inside?

The room wasn’t menacing. It was a round space like a cylinder; Sofia had landed in the center of seven small pedestals that reached her waist. They were all marked with the symbol of one of the orbs, and on five of them sat a small trinket, while on the other two were copies of the small gray stone that activated the ritual used to warp to the cavern layer.

“Not a final trick but a reward? Yes please. Thank you.”

Since two of the trinkets were replaced by the stones, and two people had finished this floor before her, it was obvious what the deal was. Exchange the stone for an item. The previous people took the ones from the mana pedestal and the spirit pedestal already.

Can I identify the items?

Of course not… And they give no explanation either.

Sofia still spent some time observing the bracer up close. It was a very fine piece of armor with intricate carvings on it. If she had to guess, it was probably elven in origin, but she had little experience with such things.

Mana and spiritual plane already taken… That’ll facilitate the choice because the temptation to pick a mana-related item would be great.

The Recessed item is… A sharp nailed mummified finger. Again, no.

Next was the item linked to the Margin. It was a pair of tiny spherical earrings made from glowing orange gems. Maybe these.

Last but not least was a small stone ring. At first glance, it looked weird and jagged, but looking closer, that was because it was made of seven small interlocking arms, just like the statue had used to teleport her here. Ring related to the Annihilator.

Crazy to see this in a trial made by the system. I remember the high-tier scribe said they didn’t know much about the Deep when Alith identified the [Mark of Aphenoreth] with the scroll. Either it was lying or…

Well, I could be thinking too much into it, it’s just a statue and a ring; anyone could have found them. Especially the admins, they had to have at least known that the Deep was a thing. Else how do we explain this floor?

Sofia grabbed the seven-armed ring and placed her gray stone on the pedestal instead. There was no need to spend hours thinking about the choice, who knew what the items did anyway? Given the choice to take something related to the Deep, how could she not take it? She only hoped that it would be usable. Maybe something related to space magic.

The moment her gray stone touched the pedestal, Sofia was seamlessly teleported to the waiting room. It was not the usual sight. This waiting room had no door with a five-minute countdown, instead, there was a round stairwell in the middle going up. There were windows all around from which sunlight shone in the night sky. That seems wrong… Sofia felt strangely light. She looked at where the scoreboard should be, only to find Sen tinkering with it, arm deep into the wall.

“Uh… Is everything alright?”

That jump-scarred Sen, whose arm popped out of the wall, bringing pieces of it along.

“Oh, you actually made it here. Ahah… Well, congratulations. That makes you the third person to reach the hundredth floor of the spire, no small achievement.”

“Thank you. Did something happen with the scoreboard?”

Sen had an ugly forced smile on his face like a kid found with his hand in the cookie jar.

“This, well… Uh. It’s… Been a while since anyone made it so far, you know, stuff broke. I hadn’t noticed it but since you managed to beat the old breeze, I had to come check if everything was in place. And yeah, this isn’t.”

“Can’t you just tell me what would be on there? You should know, right?”

“Oh, of course. I just hoped to have it repaired before you finished the maze but there goes that. You are currently ranked third. Me and someone else failed here, so if you win you will be first. In fact, depending on how well you perform you might end up first even if you fail, but good luck with that.”

“You failed here? Didn’t you previously say something like you hoped multiple of us would pass you? Was that some kind of sick joke?”

“Hey, an old man can dream. I would be genuinely happy if the others made it here too.”

“I see. Can I ask what you took from the maze?”

Sen smiled and grabbed the pendant hanging around his neck that was hidden under his toga until now. It was a flat white rectangle of marble. Like a blank playing card.

“That was the mana plane’s item, I was the first to get there so I could have gone for anything. I thought this couldn’t be a wrong option. Remember how you were surprised that my body was entirely mana? That is part of what it does. The other person after me took the spirit plane’s Dragon Mask, though she wouldn’t share what it did. You took the ring, right?”

“Sure did. How can I know what it does?”

“Oh, you should be able to [Identify] it now… Hmm. I would love to stay here and talk more but I need to take care of new trial takers right now. Just take the stairs whenever you are ready, no time limit. This is the last floor, it is a unique opportunity, enjoy it, Sofia, and try not to die. I will be back to help you through your level up as per our previous deal. Good luck.”

With a smile and a wink, Sen was gone. He gave up on repairing the scoreboard.

Sofia’s first reflex was to walk up to one of the windows. She really felt much lighter than usual and it was weird to move around in that environment. She looked out to a black starry sky, and the sun was also in view, which she had a hard time making sense of.

“Am I so high up… That the sky disappeared?”

Looking down, she felt instant vertigo. This was not just high up, this was so high up that she could see the planet’s edges. So it’s really a ball… It’s different to see it in person. Mana and air should be extremely sparse here, but it feels normal. I guess the spire is handling that.

Sofia lost herself in observing the planet below. This already felt like an incredible reward. Most impressive were the other trial towers which she could see from there, similarly piercing the sky.

Content to have contemplated this sight enough, Sofia refocused on the trial.

Alright. First the ring, then the stairs.

[Ringed arms of Zar] : Found in the eponym maze by administrator |REDACTED|; this ring of unknown origins uses magic that the system cannot perfectly reproduce.

Really?! Redacted? This is a low blow, had me expecting some actual interesting information for a second. The rest isn’t much more useful either.

[Ringed arms of Zar] : Advanced analysis = 88888 Mana.

“Oh. Well, I have all the time I want so that isn’t an issue.”

After dispelling her runes, Sofia played around with the ring, waiting for her mana to regenerate to 88888. She didn’t dare to put the ring on before knowing what it did exactly, at least it looked like it would fit on her fingers. As soon as she could, she paid for the advanced analysis.

[Ringed arms of Zar] : Found in the eponym maze by administrator |REDACTED|; this ring of unknown origins uses magic that the system cannot perfectly reproduce. Carved to look like seven interlocking arms, it is made from the purest part of an Adamian core and infused with an unknown material. These properties make it nigh indestructible but also impossible to alter.

This ring has two states, offering different effects.

Manaless state: When this ring is devoid of mana, the wearer may activate [Collapse] at any time to make the ring instantly absorb all out-of-body mana in a large area.

Mana-fuelled state: As long as this ring holds mana (only obtainable through [Collapse]), it enhances the destructive power of the wearer’s offensive magic. The stored mana will be drained passively over time, and more will be used whenever offensive magic is enhanced.

‘May you bring all things to their destined end.’

At this rate the Angel bolts won’t lag behind the original for long… The [Collapse] is absurdly powerful too, that can counter pretty much any spell if timed properly. Not a bad pick, though the last line of the description is a bit scary; is that an usual thing with advanced analysis?

Sofia put the ring on a random finger over the glove she got from Aphenoreth. That was now her hand of the deep, if she held her skeleton book with it, it technically had items from three out of the four lords at once. Ridiculous. I only miss a bauble from Ormoncleth now for a full set…

With that handled, Sofia prepared for the last floor again. There was actual sunlight which made the sun ritual much stronger, so she did not have to wait too long for her mana.

Out of the book she summoned the three Templars and the High-priest, emptying all the fog. Then she got to full mana again, and recast two [False immortality] runes. That was a good way to cheat some extra mana as just the summons cost her eighty out of her ninety four thousand mana points.

Finally armed and armored, with her most powerful skeletons at the ready, Sofia looked up, and took her first step onto the spiral staircase.

“Show me the final test, System. This Saintomancer is ready.”

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