Fate's Reversal: The Divines Return

Kaiden initially planned to take a short recuperative nap to recover, however, it turned into a full-blown night's rest. He wasn't awoken from his sublime rest until he experienced a distinct ring in his ear. It was the unmistakable sound of the notification alert.

*Ding!*

'System: You are receiving a video call from Gentle Whisper. This user has repeatedly called you, to be exact, there have been 48 calls in the last week. Will you be answering? [Y/N]?'

Stretching, Kaiden shifted his position and within his view was a peaceful sleeping beauty, which caused him to slightly smile. Intimately moving a lock of hair away from Latahhya's cheek, she nuzzled his hand as Kaiden sat up in bed.

"Hello?", answered Kaiden as a slightly disheveled Gentle Whisper appeared in the view.

"You...you...now you know how to answer your messages? Gosh, what the heck. I've been trying to get in touch with you to inquire about the Lifesty-...", amid her complaining Gentle Whisper briefly paused as she began scrutinizing Kaiden's surroundings and his current wear.

"Where are you? Are you in a hotel room? But the system said you've been online for the past few days. What the heck have you been doing?!", questioned Gentle Whisper grumpily as her cheek began to puff.

She was experiencing slightly jealous feelings as she couldn't understand why Kaiden would be in a hotel for such an extended period of time if he was online.

"Ah shush, I just got back, I wasn't here this whole time. I don't have a production profession class nor do I feel like handling ridiculously berserk monsters, so I stayed in a hotel room. Now, what was it about the Lifestyle players? Continue.", instructed Kaiden in a slightly authoritative tone.

Gentle Whisper was taken aback because unlike his usual playful self with her, he was exuding an aura more like a commander at this point. The gradual awakening of the Empyrean Commander was commencing and Gentle Whisper was experiencing his imposing presence.

"O-Oh...yes um, I have an extensive list of top quality Lifestyle players consisting of Alchemists, Apothecarists, Blacksmiths, Herbalists, Miners, etc. Additionally, they are all Intermediate and above. How should I go about recruiting?"

"Hmm, offer them a simple pay. Production classes will be paid 30% of the value of their products but we will provide the materials, eliminating their cost. As for gathering classes, we'll provide them two choices: We purchase at 80% of the market price of the materials and in addition give them priority to join the future union, or we enter a simple relationship and purchase items in bulk at 90% of the market price.", instructed Kaiden.

"Okay, any other profession I should look out for?", inquired Gentle Whisper as she fiddled with her fingers.

"Not at the moment, we can't sustain the other less essential Lifestyle workers. You're doing a good job. I appreciate your work. I'll reward you for taking your precious time.", nodded Kaiden as he pulled up the guild interface.

'Hmm, we're at 19,585/20,000 Guild Experience at the moment. I'll be able to level it up today.', inwardly thought Kaiden.

"Okay! Um...when can we dungeon again? I kind of miss the dungeon experiences. Hollow is so ridiculous... He and MagicsSlave can't be together. They are complete headaches.", grumbled Gentle Whisper.

"Haha, that's just how they are. I hope they don't change, such shamelessness is refreshing. I'll let you in on a little secret, an even worse one may be coming soon.", chuckled Kaiden as he hung the call.

Behind him, Latahhya was up, her gaze was slightly dazed as she rubbed her enchanting crimson eyes. She inched closer to Kaiden as he hung up the call, wondering what that little screen just was.

"You're up, good. It's time we begin leveling don't you think?", asked Kaiden and Latahhya docilely nodded. The events of last night were still fresh on her mind and while reveling in the experience, she was beginning to adore Kaiden further as the status of their bond described.

"Ok! I want to follow your path. I want to be a warrior also.", cutely demanded Latahhya as she gazed at Kaiden.

"Alright that's no problem, we'll let you follow either the Berserker or Lancer route. We'll address that when we get to it.

'Actually, after we were linked, I realized a new tab 'Combat Aide' opened but I never opened the menu to see the actual description. That's a blunder, I need to rectify that & know Latahhya's specifics.'

Waving his hand, Kaiden expanded the menu tab and confirmed Latahhya's statistics.

[Latahhya - Essence Linked Combat Aide] (NPC)

Level: 17 (Basic) | Race: Human

Health: 95,000/95,000 | Inner Energy: 2,000

Growth Rate: 150 (Spiritual)

Bloodline: Heavenly Tyrant Crimson Wolf

Attack: 1,500 | Defense: 2,000

Strength: 350 | Intelligence: 240 | Agility: 400 | Dexterity: 400

Spirit: 200 | Vitality: 600 | Endurance: 300 | Charisma: 800

Passive Skills:

[Charismatic Appeal]: As her Charisma stat rises, she becomes more enchanting enabling her to bewitch existences under her Level.

[Keen Presence]: Increases critical hit rate to 20%, Enhanced hearing, and eyesight.

[Primal Intuition]: Reaction speed increased in dangerous situations. It perceives dangers slightly before it approaches.

[Tyrant Wolf's Howl]: Attacks create a vibrational effect causing surrounding monsters in the 4x4 meter area to experience damage, 20% of attack damage.

[Innate Aggression]: Each kill increases Attack by 2% for 30 seconds. Stacks up to 50%.

Active Skills:

[Wolf's Maw]: Level 1/10. Summon an illusionary wolf's maw that deals 500% of Attack to the targets in a 10x10 meter area. Cooldown: 4 minutes.

[Homing Fang]: Level 1/10. Tracks and pierces the target in a vulnerable area. Deals 300% damage that ignores the target's defense. Cooldown: 2 minutes.

[Barrage of the Wolf Pack]: Level 1/10: Attacks the target with 10 slashes that each deal 75% of Attack. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

Reading her stats caused Kaiden's jaw to drop, and he stared at Latahhya in awe. Her stats were ridiculous, not to mention her growth rate was 150. For an NPC the growth rate translated to the number of stat points received per level up. Kaiden was appalled, Kairo had created a monster.

Not to mention, being Essence Linked brought 4 passive effects.

[Intertwined Spirit] (Passive) - Enables the character-based skills to be learned by both recipients who have been essence linked.

[Intimate Affection] (Passive) - Allows the recipients of the Essence Link to perceive the condition of each other. Whether emotional state, mortal danger.

[Universal Authority] (Passive) - The recipients of the Essence Link are aware of the location of each other, regardless of distance. Additionally, the master can summon the linked person to their location at any time.

[Essence Connection] (Passive) - Allows mental conversation between the master and servant, in addition to the transference of Energy. Additionally, bestows the servant with the status beyond an NPC, allowing them to revive at the sacrifice of a level.

Outside in Crescent Wake Town...

The town was currently active yet silent as in the residential area where Kaiden was now standing the crowd remained stunned. Currently, next to Kaiden's shoulder stood the beautiful Latahhya who's countenance reverted to its innate fierceness. Her eyebrows shapely and sharp with her lips slightly pursed.

As she deemed Kaiden to be her eternal mate, she currently clung to his left arm and Kaiden leisurely stood there, his expression very lax.

"WHAT THE HELL! This isn't fair! Do you see that NPC's figure? How the hell did this trash Lv.21 idiot manage to woo her? IMPOSSIBLE! The general public is even Lv.28 right now. F.U.C.K!"

The crowd turned raucous after the scream of an unknown person, however, Kaiden just smirked. As a result, Latahhya released a hostile oppressive force. This was Energy, not Mana, therefore, the degree of potency was far above what the masses understood. Within moments the town was stifled as a feeling of dread enveloped them.

Currently, only Kaiden's Level was exposed as he was indifferent toward the public knowing his level. At the moment, his level was removed from the leaderboard and the current top person was Lv.38.

"Let's go Latahhya, we've got things to do.", commanded Kaiden as he zoomed off in the direction of the town's exit, Latahhya following along at a similar speed. The crowd became increasingly dumbfounded. The speed this low-level pair just accelerated at was faster than their ability at this moment.

It was baffling, how could an Lv.20 have such a difference in Agility when compared with an Lv.30 player?

Inside the Lunar Spectre Grotto...

Kaiden and Latahhya slightly frowned as the leveling area was inhabited by more players than he thought, the murky cavelike interior also had the absence of adequate light, it was dimly lit. However, this posed no threat to the intensity of Kaiden and Latahhya's senses.

Accelerating further, the pair continued until they reached the deeper recesses of the Lunar Spectre Grotto where there were multiple types of ghoulish entities crawling and walking about.

Lv.30 [Murky Ghoul] (Normal)

Health: 72,000/72,000 (100%)

Lv.30 [Toxic Ghoul] (Elite)

Health: 108,000/108,000 (100%)

Lv. 31 [Wailing Spectre] (Elite)

Health: 124,000/124,000 (100%)

As levels progressed in the game, the values of health began insinuating either party play or the extensions of fights. Post level 30, the Health values began scaling exponentially.

Before engaging the monsters, Kaiden checked his status as he was curious about his current stats.

Name: Unsheathed (Human) *Adventurer

Lv.21 (0/755,000) [0%]

Class: Warrior | Profession: Ancient Spiritual Cultivator - Stage 1 (3,454,295/4,000,000) [86%]

Guild: Ethereal Conviction | Reputation: Baron (1,750/5,000)

Title(s): <Primary Title>[The Path You Tread Is Sacred] (Epic Rank) | <Secondary>[Combat Savant] (Epic Rank) | <Teritiary Title>[Momentous Pioneer] (Epic Rank)

HP: 6,880 (33 HP regen/sec)

Inner Energy: 1,860 (1,460 + 400) (4 per second)

Attack Power: 1,281 | Defense: 1,352 | Attack Speed: 4 | Movement Speed: 9 m/s

Critical Damage: 175% | Additional Damage: 25% | Abnormal Status Resistance: 30 (2%)

Elemental Resistance: 25 | Defense Ignore: 20%

<Attributes> -

Strength: 460 (246 + 122 + 92) | Vitality: 199 (119 + 40 + 40)

Intelligence: 188 (110 + 40 + 38) | Dexterity: 309 (160 + 87 + 62)

Agility: 346 (184 + 93 + 69) | Spirit: 188 (110 + 40 + 38)

Endurance: 236 (119 + 70 + 47) | *Luck: 139 (71 + 40 + 28)

<Constitution> -

[8 Divine Gates Celestial Body] -

1st Gate: [Gate of Physical Exaltation] (Early Stage) - Strength +100, Attack Power +20%

'Hmph, this will pose no threat, I also have my trusty Latahhya by my side.'

Dashing forth gripping Angurvadal, Kaiden activated Sword Wind as he used Sword Wave - Dispersion. The damage was ungodly.

-2,547 [-637], -3,056 [-764], -3,566 [-891], -4,075 [-1,019], -4,585 [-1,146]

Just from the damage increase of Sword Wind and his Combat Savant title, his damage was augmented to values that defied the boundaries of his level.

Latahhya followed up wielding the Starfire Blade which Kaiden lent to her as she used Wolf's Maw, a huge illusionary crimson wolf appeared and bit down, all the monsters in the vicinity suffered at least 9,000 damage.

Following up Kaiden began brandishing his blade unloading his skills, within moments he honed in on a singular 'Wailing Spectre', he launched the monster with an upward slash.

The soaring momentum astounded Kaiden as he now understood what the system meant by the weight of his attacks furthered increased. Jubilant, Kaiden jumped soaring into the air, deep indents left in the area he jumped from.

Engaged in an aerial battle, Kaiden trusted his sword, dealing around 1,000 damage each swing. He chopped downwardly as he shifted his body horizontally and executed a basic version of 'Revolving Phantom'.

As a result, the 'Wailing Wraith's translucent body slammed into the ground below and Kaiden executed Homing Pierce from nearly 15 meters above. The ensuing shockwave was thunderous as his sword impaled the 'Wailing Wraith'.

Approximately 500 feet away...

An Lv.34 Apprentice Swordsman gawked and the ensuing situation.

"W-what kind of movements are those!?! I can't see the damage but the way these 2 battle are ridiculous. I must ask this person where he learned such skills. Also, based on their skill if I secretly record and upload this situation. I'll most likely be hunted." determined the swordsman.

He began running towards them.

Back in Kaiden's point of view...

"Hun...there's someone in the distance closing in on us, they're about 450 feet away from us at this moment.", said Latahhya as she fiercely slashed the Starfire Blade, her technique was shabby but her damage was on par with Kaiden.

"Mm!", Kaiden nodded as he was aware of Latahhya's sharp senses. By the time the swordsman approached, Kaiden had slain his 'Wailing Wraith'.

'System: Over-level Kill. Level difference: 10. 500+20+5% experience bonus applied. Lv.31 Wailing Wraith (Elite) slain. 9,812 Experience obtained.'

'System: 981 Experience absorbed by Angurvadal and Profession.'

"HI! My name is Practice and I wanted to know where you learned those sword skills sir." the random swordsman Practice confronted Kaiden.

"Hello, my name is Unsheathed and why do you ask?" leisurely answer Kaiden as he examined the person. Judging by his build and facial features Kaiden determined he couldn't be over his own age. The guy had navy hair, cerulean eyes as well as a slim build with an average height of 1.75m.

"!!, Unsheathed? It's you! I haven't heard your name since the 2nd day of the game announcement. I admire your talent and because I wish to be better honestly.", voiced Practice as he gave a self-deprecating smile.

'Ah, he's one of those who treat themselves harshly and want to be better. The self-deprecating, doubtful type.'

"You're Lv.34 and doubting yourself, you're well above the average. But if that's how you feel, if you're unaffiliated to a guild, join mine. I can mentor you.", offered Kaiden.

"Awesome!! Yes, I will definitely join, I wanted to but by the time I applied the guild was already full.", exclaimed Practice.

Asking to his stat, Kaiden examined them and nodded when he saw he focused on Strength, Agility then Dexterity, he also noticed his gear synergized very well. Overall, Kaiden realized the potential of this one.

'He'll be just as good as Hollow and the rest, so let's vet him early and give him an initial headstart.'

Sending Practice a Destiny Sealing Contract, he was utterly shocked and stared at Kaiden, inquiring about future plans. To which Kaiden provided vague informative answers. Satisfied, Practice now acquired himself a new idol as Kaiden sent the recording of the multiples fights he had when he created the Tempest Style.

"I'll send you a guild invite when space opens. For now, continue training.", instructed Kaiden.

Resuming his experience grinding session with Latahhya, within 5 hours Kaiden amassed enough experience to level up 4 times and reach Lv.25. As for Latahhya, she reached Lv.20.

It was time to begin their subclass advancement.