Liam's gaze stopped at the centre of the pile of evidence. Two letters were lying there, quite conspicuously. Liam picked them up and skimmed through them. These letters were exchanged between Tem and Ivreya. The earliest was from more than half a year ago. Ivreya informed Tem that she was about to be drafted for the War against the Void and asked Tem do help her avoid it, to which he agreed.
Liam didn't know if he used bribery or connections but apparently Tem helped Ivreya dodge the draft. There was a big gap between the first and the second letter. Liam pondered for a moment and realized that Tem and Ivreya had no need to use letters all the time as they could usually meet in person.
In the second letter Tem reminded Ivreya of her promise. He wanted her to bring the saintess before him, even threatening to reveal her secret, which he apparently knew about.
Afterwards there were no more letters. But this was enough. The pieces of the puzzle slowly came together in Liam's mind.
Four years ago, Tem was in a relationship with Cecily. The witch awoke his lust for torture. Or perhaps he already had it earlier, it didn't matter much. Afterwards, Tem became more and more twisted. One girl was not enough for him, and he constantly sought new victims. It was unclear if he first discovered Ivreya's secret or if they first started to work together. Anyways, the priestess found vulnerable girls and brought them to Tem.
However, one day a bit more than half a year ago Tem met a 'saintess' and became infatuated with her according to Cecily, losing interest in other girls. As for her identity, Liam could only think of the Saintess of Light, who resided in Svebrial and might possibly have a lose connection with Ivreya.
At first it might not have mattered much to Ivreya that Tem lost interest in others, but then the War on the Void came around. Ivreya needed a favour from Tem. The latter used this favour to pressure Ivreya into delivering the saintess to him. However, how could it be that easy? Ivreya didn't have that kind of strength and influence. Eventually Tem pushed her too far and Ivreya cursed him to death.
Using the 'Curse of the Debtor' made sense as well. Ivreya owed Tem a huge favour. It was more than enough to take Tem's life, even though the young noble had items to protect himself. As for why she would tell Liam the name of the curse? It might have been to buy time. Because of her explanation Liam could have wasted a lot of time chasing after the other plutarchs, granting Ivreya a chance to destroy evidence and escape.
Liam wore a satisfied smile after connecting all the pieces. He was confident that he solved the case. He left the temple, followed by the two girls. Outside, the people from the caravan were waking up one by one. Liam handed the girls over to them and mounted Reen to return to Talor.
A few minutes later he met with Kave van Deeran and Cross inside the estate, informing them of the investigation. He didn't narrate the entire story, only telling Kave that it was the priestess who killed his son and that he could find her in the old temple.
Kave accepted everything with an indifferent expression, but Cross was quite shocked having never expected Priestess Ivreya to practice dark arts.
Liam didn't care too much for what the two NPCs were thinking as his attention was on his journal. Only after the quest updated could he be entirely certain that he found the right culprit. He held his breath in anticipation until a notification finally arrived. A smile formed on his lips. Liam bade the two men farewell and travelled back to Duabalis City.
After hurrying up Winged Mountain, Liam arrived at the small training arena. He quickly arrived in front of the grim-looking Reychnalyn, who was still overseeing the training of other nephilim.
"Sir, I have fulfilled your request."
"Have you?"
Reychnalyn looked at Liam, a brief surprise flashing through his eyes. He remained silent for a moment, perhaps somehow confirming Liam's words, before nodding lightly.
"Not bad. You were quite fast. At least you didn't besmirch the reputation of nephilim."
Liam was outwardly smiling but inwardly cursing. He waited quietly for Reychnalyn to continue.
"Ok, I know what you want. You have passed my test so I will hold my word. Here, let me teach you the pride of us nephilim. The Chaotic Tempest class!"
At those words Reychnalyn proudly stuck out his chest. Everyone stopped what they were doing, looking over with anticipation and longing. Reychnalyn slowly rose his finger and pointed at Liam. An orb of holy and dark magic formed before him. It slowly floated through the air, approaching Liam's forehead. The veteran didn't dodge, welcoming the orb as it suddenly accelerated and disappeared into his mind.
Suddenly Liam sunk into darkness. It was a similar sensation players felt when entering Crunaboul for the first time. C's voice rang through the seemingly endless night:
"Congratulations, player Bleary Mirage, for acquiring the advanced class Chaotic Tempest!"
Brilliant firelights lit up and heroic music played. Scenes appeared on after another of nephilim displaying the [Chaotic Tempest] class in battle. Liam smiled involuntarily as he confirmed that the class was the same as in his past life.
After a short while the scenes disappeared and were replaced by Liam's updated status panel.
>>> <<<
Name: Bleary Mirage
Level: 59
Race: Original Nephilim
Class: Chaotic Tempest
Primary Attributes:
STR: 1
INT: 179
AGI: 70
HP: 20912/20912
Mana: 3023/3023
(show more)
>>> <<<
And not only the status panel, all of Liam's skills were also updated to match the [Chaotic Tempest] class. In the future his playstyle wouldn't change drastically but it would revolve around applying Holy Marks and Dark Marks, as well as holy damage and dark damage.
With his new passive he would produce different effects whenever he triggered the Holy and Dark Marks from now on. There were five options:
1. Any number of Holy Marks were triggered, dealing damage and boosting Liam's INT for a few seconds.
2. Any number of Dark Marks were triggered, reducing enemy resistances.
3. An even number of Holy and Dark Marks were triggered, producing no effect.
4. More Holy Marks than Dark Marks were triggered, dealing damage in a small area at the cost of a certain amount of HP.
5. More Dark Marks than Holy Marks were triggered, reducing resistances in a small area at the cost of a certain amount of stance.
With such a passive [Chaotic Tempest] was quite a versatile class, requiring a certain level of control in order to always achieve the desired effect. Of course, not only his passive had been updated, but his skills as well. Take for example the updated version of [Brutal Strike]:
[Dark Strike (rank 2)
Cost: 150 Mana
Effect: Gather all your strength for a devastating strike. Deal 40% (PDMG) as dark damage and stun the target for a maximum of 3,6 seconds. Apply one Dark Mark if Chaotic Tempest is active. Trigger all Marks.
Cooldown: 55 seconds]
From now on all of Liam's skills would lean towards holy or dark damage, applying or triggering the respective marks. However, not only have Liam's skills been updated. [Holy Wave] has been dismissed, replaced by two new skills, which were both dive attacks dealing holy and dark damage respectively.
All in all, the class was exactly what Liam expected it to be, leaving him quite satisfied. Only the number of skills felt somewhat lacking as the monsters grew increasingly powerful. Including his ultimate skill [Chaotic Tempest] Liam now had eight skills. He decided to keep an eye out for one or two more suitable skills in the future.
After Liam looked through the class, he had a thought, and the status panel disappeared. His vision returned. Liam stared at Reychnalyn before him, unable to hide his excited grin. Suddenly he noticed something else. His hand touched some comfortable cloth which hung from his back. Liam opened his character panel. An illusionary image of his character together with all the worn equipment appeared in front of him.
To Liam's surprise there were two obvious changes. On one hand he was now wearing a black cape, a piece of cosmetic equipment which didn't affect his stats. And on the other hand, his formerly black and white hair had now entirely turned a light grey.
Liam turned left and right, scrutinizing his new appearance. Although it was quite handsome, Liam didn't hesitate to put the cape away. Many players loved to wear capes but Liam was not used to it, considering it too impractical in a fight.
"Satisfied?", came Reychnalyn's rough voice.
"Of course."
"I hope you don't disgrace the nephilim and the Chaotic Tempest class henceforth!"
[Quest: Class Change: Chaotic Tempest; Completed!]
[Receive 7000EXP]
[Receive 5 Gold]
[Receive Class: Chaotic Tempest]
[A legendary class, revered by the original nephilim, has been passed on to you. Can you do its great name justice? Only time will tell.]