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Jake couldn’t lie… he was nervous. With every passing day, his nervousness grew, but the lack of knowledge of how the ceremony would work was honestly calming. It gave him the feeling that there weren’t that many expectations of him, and the only thing he had asked Villy was if he was expected to do a speech or something. For this, the Viper had luckily said no, that there would be no need for him to talk publicly during the big announcement part of the ceremony.

As for the exclusive after-party that would follow the ceremony… Villy said Jake would probably have to say something there. What this exclusive after-party was all about, he didn’t know, but he assumed this was where they would discuss the details of what to do with his ability to create True Royals and whatnot.

Ah, but one big thing did happen during these two weeks.

Meira returned three days after she left with Izil, her very own gold token in hand as she successfully passed the test and became an official member of the Order of the Malefic Viper. Izil had joined her when they returned, and the three of them had a small celebration where nothing of note really happened.

In retrospect, Meira joining really had just been a formality. There was no way she couldn’t pass, and the only reason she got a gold token was her limited scope of knowledge when it came to alchemy, as she ultimately hadn’t been taught for that long. Jake estimated she would get a black token within a few years max, though she still had a bit to go. She had got a pretty low-level version of the gold token, after all.

Jake did consider how close he was to a dark green token until he remembered it didn’t matter for shit. His current token was already a custom-made one by the Viper, and he didn’t doubt the snake god wanted to do some more special stuff with it after the ceremony. Maybe even give him some special Chosen token.

With a gold token, Meira had also earned her own residence but hadn’t even visited it once. Jake also hadn’t brought it up, as his promise of allowing her to stay was naturally in effect. This meant that nothing had really changed despite her joining. Their day-to-day was the same as before, and any discussions of what Meira planned on doing in the long term were shelved till after the ceremony.

Jake also made nice progress over these two weeks and managed to create his Sleeping Night Toxin and, in general, just stocked up on poisons and potions both. The plan he had agreed on with the Sword Saint, Sylphie, and the King was that they would head off to Nevermore pretty much right after the ceremony without returning to Earth.

While it wasn’t entirely unexpected, this did end up netting Jake one final level before it was Nevermore time.

*’DING!’ Profession: [Heretic-Chosen Alchemist of the Malefic Viper] has reached level 206 - Stat points allocated, +35 Free Points*

This was under the assumption the ceremony would not randomly give him levels, but he really hoped it wouldn’t. He already felt like level 204 in his race level was higher than he wanted it to be.

Packing up potions and poisons in his lab, he took a final count of how much he had before he prepared to head back to Earth. There were still twenty or so hours before the ceremony would begin, but he wanted to be back there with time to spare. It would also be nice to catch up with everyone before they were thrown into political turmoil while also discussing their approach to recruiting a fifth party member.

Jake needed to be the one to fetch them as teleporting to another universe was still considered incredibly difficult, and as far as Jake knew, no one Jake knew on Earth was capable of doing it anywhere close to as easily as him. At least not if they wanted it to be a two-way kind of thing. Hence why he would just bring them along.

Before he returned to Earth, Jake went to the lawn outside of the mansion to check up on one of the main characters of today’s event.

“How are things?” he asked as he walked over to Vesperia.

Vesperia was currently cradling a small hairy bee-like creature as she rocked it back and forth. She smiled and looked up at Jake as he arrived. “It is going well; I am making fast progress toward spawning a proper Bee Hive Queen.”

The bumblebee-like creature looked up at Jake with big cute eyes. He barely had time to regard it as Vesperia waved her hands, and the entire creature disappeared. “I can feel them, you know. The call of the other True Royals. They know I am here, and so do I know they have appeared within the territory controlled by the Order.”

“Looking forward to going home?” Jake smiled.

Vesperia looked at him for a while before sighing. “My feelings on the matter are complicated, but yes, a part of me certainly does look forward to returning to the Endless Empire. You joining me would be optimal, but I am fully aware that is not a possibility.”

Jake sat down on the grass in front of her. “You know, you could always come to visit.”

“That could prove… difficult.”

“Well, then I might just end up being the one visiting the Endless Empire,” Jake smiled at her. “If not, then don’t worry too much; I already talked to the Viper about giving you something so we can stay in contact.”

Vesperia looked surprised before giggling. “Funny, I had considered asking the other True Royals for something similar, though I assume they will want to gift you such an item either way so they can contact you, and you can contact them if you ever want to talk.”

“Great minds think alike,” Jake grinned.

The two of them stayed there a bit longer, just chatting. Vesperia was very independent, so even if Jake had wanted to talk to her during these last few weeks, she had been busy working on her own tasks or studying her Lineage knowledge.

Soon, Jake had to leave and go get the others. Vesperia wasn’t sure if she could come along, and Jake wasn’t gonna risk anything going wrong by trying to bring her. Besides, he would have everyone go to his mansions before the ceremony, so they could all meet her then.

Going back to his lab, Jake activated the teleportation array as he was swept through the void. The next time he opened his eyes, the familiar scenery of his underground laboratory back in Haven met him, and his sphere spread out.

He saw that the lodge above was already filled with people. Miranda, the Fallen King, Sylphie, and the Sword Saint were all there, which had been expected. However, he had not expected to see a few other familiar faces. His little brother, Caleb, was also there drinking tea and chatting, with Maria, the archer blessed by Gwyndyr, lounging in a chair, listening to them all talking.

It truly was a meeting of powerhouses. The only one missing was Carmen, but Jake understood that some weird shit was going on between Valhal and the Order behind the scenes.

Making his way up the tunnel, he briefly stopped by to check in on Rick and the small trolls. Poking his head in, he saw they were all in a big pile sleeping, making him not want to disturb their quality family time. He did see that Rick was pretty damn close to C-grade, though. Thus, Jake briefly used his privilege as World Leader to make sure Rick could stay in human lands even after evolving. Jake wasn’t sure if he would be thrown out, but better safe than sorry.

Using One Step his way up the tunnel and into his valley, he reached it in seconds as he also became aware of another person who had arrived. Sandy was floating in the air several kilometers above the lodge, seemingly just swimming ground through the air impatiently.

“Oh! Hey, you’re back!” Sandy yelled at him telepathically the moment they noticed him.

“Long time no see,” Jake responded to the Cosmic Genesis Worm. He also failed to hold himself back from using Identify.

[Juvenile Cosmic Genesis Worm – lvl 219]

“You’re not going to Nevermore?” Jake asked, seeing Sandy had gotten all the way to 219. He also noticed how he couldn’t see the Blessing despite trying to and obviously feeling it was there. Weird.

“Why would I? That place sucks! It’s all about fighting and thinking and stuff, with nothing good to eat. Yuck!” Sandy clearly disliked the idea. “Way better to just stay here and eat or go somewhere else to eat. Any place with good stuff to eat will do.”

“Fair, fair,” Jake answered. He wasn’t that surprised Sandy did not want to go considering what Nevermore was. It was a place focused primarily on combat and clearing trials, while Sandy was just a glutton that wanted to eat anything they came across.

“You ready for the big ceremony?” he followed up.

“Wait, I have to prepare anything?”

“I… don’t think so?”

“Then why would I not be ready?” Sandy scoffed. “Oh, also…. I was thinking…”

Jake smiled as he took out a large glowing rock and tossed it toward Sandy. It was sucked up instantly as Sandy quivered slightly. “Yummy! What was it?”

“A remnant of when I was experimenting with my arcane affinity,” Jake smiled. “I will head down and talk to the others now. Join us whenever you feel like it.”

He didn’t bother asking why Sandy wasn’t down there already. Trying to understand that worm was beyond both mortal and divine comprehension.

Sandy gave him another wiggle as Jake headed down. Halfway, a bird flew up and circled around him a few times.

“Glad to see you too,” Jake said as Sylphie ended up flying into his chest, where he cradled her like the little bird she was. A bird higher-leveled than himself but lower than Jake would have expected.

[Juvenile Sylphian Hawk – lvl 206 – Divine Blessing of Stormild]

Jake actually felt relieved she had not gone higher. It showed she had controlled herself and instead focused on improving her abilities over simply leveling up.

Landing on the ground outside of his lodge, he ascended the steps and entered.

“Finally, he arrives,” Jake heard the Fallen King first thing upon entering as everyone turned to him. Jake threw the Unique Lifeform a look. He hadn’t leveled that much either compared to what he could have.

[Fallen King – lvl 205]

“Well, sorry if you expected me earlier, I was busy creating miracles and shaking up the multiversal status-quo,” Jake said without feeling the least bit apologetic. He did a quick Identify around the room and got a feel for everyone present. First was the Sword Saint.

[Human – lvl 201 – Divine Blessing of Aeon Clok]

Level 201 made him the lowest of their group, but based on the man’s aura, Jake was certain his evolution had been quite something. Jake nearly wanted to challenge him to a duel there and then, but he held himself back and just gave the old man a nod.

Next was Maria, his fellow archer.

[Human – lvl 203 – Divine Blessing of Gwyndyr]

He also only gave her a nod, with her giving a quick greeting in response. They had an entire day to talk and could get to it after this.

Finally, he checked the final C-grade present: his little brother.

[Human – lvl 205 – Divine Blessing of Umbra]

“You surpassed me in level, you little shit,” Jake said immediately once he had Identified the Judge of the Court of Shadows.

“How embarrassing for you,” Caleb gave him a genuine smile. “I wish I could say I had been working hard, but the truth is that I struggle to hold myself back from progressing further. Ah, to suffer from success.”

“Your punchability is increasing with every passing second,” Jake said as he walked over.

“Considering your low level, is that even a threat?” Caleb grinned wider than before.

Jake just shook his head and pulled the little bastard into a hug before he could react.

“Couldn’t dodge that,” Jake said.

“Or maybe I allowed you the honor of landing the first attack,” his brother said, returning the hug. “Good to see you again. The others back home also told me to say hi from them.”

Jake nodded as he pulled away. “Thank them for me next time you head back to Skyggen.”

“That will be a while,” Caleb shook his head. “I am heading to the Order now for your little ceremony, but afterward, I am off to a larger facility run by the Court of Shadows before I, too, will go to Nevermore.”

“I thought you would go with those two assassin pals of yours… what were they called again?”

“Nadia and Matteo, and they are already way ahead of me,” Caleb waved him off. “They left nearly a month ago, right after evolving to do training at this facility. I only stayed back on Earth because of your ceremony.”

“Sorry?” Jake scratched his head.

“You should be,” Caleb teased him.

“Now, while I am all for this happy family reunion, perhaps we should actually address why we are here?” the Fallen King interrupted them.

“Probably should,” Jake nodded in acknowledgment. He looked around the lodge and smiled. “Thanks for coming, everyone.”

He then turned his attention to Maria. “I must admit, I didn’t know you would be here? No offense.”

“None taken,” she said. “I did tell you I would probably go to Haven at some point, didn’t I? Well, here I am.”

“Sad to no longer be working with the Holy Church?” Jake asked, only semi-teasing.

“Fuck no, they were a nightmare,” Maria laughed. “So many bullshit rules and more than half of my party were bloody fanatics with only that Bertram guy not being insane. The moment that other Chosen arrived and began to stir shit up, the Church wanted me to remain with them and fight the Risen, but luckily the Crimson Flame knows how to make contracts, so I managed to bail before shit got bad.”

“What did you do instead?”

Maria just smirked. “What else would I do than go hunt? I have quite the skills to pass long distances, so I headed to another continent and leveled up, only stopping once I evolved and made my way back here. Then I got word of this entire ceremony from my Patron and was tasked with asking if I could attend.”

“Something I already approved,” Miranda added.

“No complaints from me,” Jake shrugged.

“I would complain, but this entire ordeal got my Blessing upgraded to Divine, so I won’t,” Maria said, leaning back in her chair.

Jake nodded as he looked at Miranda. “Should we get started?”

“Just a bit; we are waiting for one more person. I already called him once I noticed your arrival, and he should be here shortly,” Miranda answered.

“Who?” Jake asked, but just then, a figure entered his sphere. It took him a bit to recognize who it was, and the person practically sprinted into the valley, so when Jake turned his head and looked out the open door, he was already close.

Jake saw the familiar man as his eyes opened wide.

“This lowly one greets the honored Chosen of the Malefic Viper,” the sculptor named Felix kneeled and pressed his head to the ground just below the steps leading into the lodge. His eyes burned with fanaticism as he looked up and stared at Jake, but he also failed to hold back his enthusiasm when he glanced at Sylphie and the Sword Saint.

Interestingly enough, he didn’t spare Maria, Sandy, or even Caleb a single glance despite them all also having Divine Blessings from incredibly powerful gods. Truly just a fanatic from the Primordial Church. Jake felt the guy wasn’t particularly strong, but still threw him an Identify, and…

[Human – lvl 242 – Divine Blessing of the Eternal Servant]

What the actual fuck?

His level was far beyond anything Jake could have expected, yet he felt bloody weak. Miranda was still level 199, yet Jake felt she could beat the guy in a fight if they fought. As for why he was here…

“It has indeed been a while,” Jake nodded. Last he heard, the guy had been working on some secret sculpture and had been so obsessed that Miranda needed to hire others to make statues for the temple.

“Why is he here?” Jake sent Miranda telepathically as he kept an outward smile toward Felix.

“Because he will also join the ceremony… and apparently, he has quite the present for you,” Miranda said. “I asked the Verdant Witches, and they said to let him come.”

Jake wanted to sigh but held himself back as he just smiled at the sculptor, wondering what kind of gift the guy could have. Well, considering Felix was a sculptor, it would probably be a sculpture, right? Jake remembered the guy wanted him to help design one dedicated to the Viper, but they never actually got around to that, did they?

I did make some random constructs with fun ideas, but… nah, that would be dumb.

No fucking way he had actually made one of those, right?