The Last Primal

Chapter 554 - 554 - A New Quest

[Note: Memories of the Draconic Skink Zark have been successfully assimilated with the host.]

[The following skills have been granted: Staff Mastery (Level 1), Speechcraft (Level 1)]

[Due to missing prerequisite, the below skill could not be added: Dark Magic (Level 1)]

[The passive effect Ancient One's Chosen Heir (Level -) has been granted.]

[Ancient One's Chosen Heir: Accepted as the brood and heir to the Ancient One, the last guardian of the world of <Error: $ß!%?>. His ever-present gaze is focused on the host, every action will be judged. Only if proven worthy will the heir be granted their just boons. In case the heir fails to meet the expectations, judgment will be cast upon him.]

[New Main Quest: Tipping the Scales (Part 1)

Difficulty: C-A

Objective: -Meet with the Ancient One 

  -Bring the girl, Tolliah to meet with you 

Optional:  -Make sure that Tolliah the girl becomes subordinated to you through the system. Banish the Traitorous Guardian's influence.

Rewards: Ascendance, ????, Experience, Draconic Skink Free Evolution

Failure Conditions: -Tolliah becoming hostile

                              -Failure to protect Tolliah from being captured by the High Priest Zuruk

Penalty: ?????, Marked as the Herald of Doom, Actively hunted by all the underworld's tribes]

[200 XP has been granted, due to successful assimilation.]

[Mastery Progress: Draconic Skink - Clean - Tier 1+ - 25% - New Milestone Reached! - 50 XP has been granted!]

As slowly he returned from the land of dreams, Aiden was met with a long list of notifications sent by the system. His eyes gradually turned wider and wider as he processed all the updates, he have earned so incredibly much. 

Though after the slightly refreshing break, the system has once again forced a Main Quest upon him, after seeing its contents he wasn't too disturbed. He already made plans to meet with the owner of this constant overbearing presence, the true mastermind hiding behind the scenes and using these small, innocent people as tools for his continued amusement. Yet, when he understood the wretched fate this arrogant entity has cast upon that poor, innocent girl, and the grave injustice he has served for her since then, Aiden's anger began to rise, his rage began to boil.

Sadly, the fact that he still couldn't gain any skills related to casting spells, did not even surprise him anymore. Though he was bothered by it, he already understood that he needed the missing affinity first. Without it, he was just incapable of absorbing any related abilities. Yet, so far he never found a way to get the [Magic Proficiency] skill, nor did the system grant him any quest related to it.

Although the message about the mastery progress was something he hadn't seen for a long time, the note that shocked Aiden the most was the weird passive effect he had suddenly gained, the [Ancient One's Chosen Heir]. It actually confirmed the feeling he had ever since arriving in this strange, dark world. He was being watched, and by someone truly powerful at that.

Without allowing him to have a say in the matter he was thrown into the midst of all the events, Aiden was selected as this 'Chosen Heir', giving him the chance to be the inheritor of whoever this entity truly was. Yet, from the wording of the quest, which was also most likely related to everything so far, it seemed that the story behind how that great war Aiden learned from the absolved memories had more to it than he first thought. 

This Ancient One was marked as the 'Traitorous Guardian', which was quite telling. 

'Just what sort of battle has happened, that ended up with 3 out of the 4 guardians turning up dead, the entire landscape being scorched beyond redemption and the life being almost completely wiped out?' Aiden pondered as he sat up from the nest he used as bedding. 

He had no idea how much time could have passed, nor about how long he spent in the Underworld. Being underground, his usual indicator, the sunlight, and the sky was not something he could take a look at after all.

Regardless, after assimilating the memories of the ill-fated archbishop, Aiden was feeling refreshed. The dwindling reserves of yesterday were now almost completely restored, he was close to his peak performance once again.

'There's no point wasting my time cooped up in this room… I should probably explore my surroundings a bit…' He thought, pushing himself up from the ground. After spending a few minutes stretching out and refreshing his limbs accordingly, Aiden reached for the stone 'door' which was basically a big sturdy rock placed in front. 

With his constant scanning, he confirmed that the small girl was inside her room just opposite of his, still sleeping soundly. Guards were stationed outside of the long hall, way out of reach, thus making him alone.

'I guess it should be fine then…' He muttered, stepping forward and reaching out with his right hand. As he placed it atop the surface of the rock, Aiden simply pushed on it, causing a loud rumble to echo in the hall and the heavy rock that was usually maintained by multiple guards to be pushed to the side.

Pushing away from the large, heavy barrier that would have taken at least four guards to handle normally, Aiden walked out of his chamber with a much calmer expression than yesterday. 

His attention turned towards the room opposite of his, where the small girl, Tolliah was still soundly asleep. From the scans of the system, her rest was undisturbed, her state of mind was serene.

'Heh…' Aiden couldn't help himself as he watched the small tooltip of the little girl. 'She must have been worried about his father…' 

Thinking about the archbishop's actions, Aiden's expression soured. 

'Still… I don't get it. Why did he want to kill me? Going far into enemy lines acting as if he was following the High Priest's orders, just to get me, an unknown captive from the top removed completely? What was the point?' 

Aiden couldn't understand his actions. Why was he so adamant about getting him removed? What did he want to do? Was it all just to spite the High Priest and the Ancient One behind him? 

'No… That's way too petty and shallow for someone like him.' He shook his head. Unfortunately, that part of the memories was never revealed, the light was not shed over this mystery. The last days of archbishop Zark were not available for some unknown reason.

'There had to be something… But what?' He lamented, not expecting an answer. 

Shaking his head, Aiden turned to the side, gazing towards the inner, unexplored sections of this humble sanctum of the rebel skinks. 

He had a feeling that some of the answers he was looking for would be found hiding behind this dark curtain.

---

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