Chương 32: The 1%

The tiny man raised an eyebrow, staring up at Shia.

"... A job offer? Are you serious?"

"Deadly," the elf grinned.

"My friend and I here are planning something of a heist… and we could certainly use someone with your expertise that knows the lay of the land within the citadel."

"You're from outside the citadel?" The stranger's eyes widened as they flicked between Shia's pointed teeth and her staff.

"Well I guess that explains why you'd be doing something as foolish as wandering the streets at night with something that valuable so loosely guarded. Any resident of Entais would definitely know better."

"Shia…" Vin started, looking at his companion with concern.

"Do you really think asking for his help is a good idea? I mean, he did literally just poison the two of us."

"While we could take a crack at the holy district on our own, I'd feel better having someone with his skill set with us," Shia admitted, gesturing to the collection of random junk all around them.

"I have a feeling my pouch isn't the first thing this guy has stolen."

"I prefer the term appropriate, thank you very much," the man said, shaking his head.

"But hold up. You're trying to break into the holy district? Are you both mad?"

"Why? What defenses do they have in place?" Shia asked, her eyes gleaming with hunger.

"They don't need many defenses when the entire place is crawling with divine classes," the stranger snorted.

"And let me tell you, divine classes are demoncrap. I swear, half of them have some method of seeing through any type of stealth, and the other half literally have their Gods whispering in their ears half the time. Sneaking past them is impossible."

"Hypothetically speaking, what if the entire district was empty?" Shia asked.

"No divine classes to speak of. Could it be done then?"

"So long as we're speaking hypothetically, can I have a tuxedo made of gold and a house made of cheese?" The stranger asked, rolling his eyes.

"But sure, in your fantasy scenario where not a single one of the thousands of divine class holders within the holy district are home, it would be possible. During lockdown all family members, aides, and anyone else staying in the holy district are relocated to temporary housing in the city proper, so at the very least you wouldn't have to worry about sneaking past any of them. You'd just have to find a way past one of their magic gates."

"Magic gate?" Vin asked, his attention now drawn like a moth to a flame any time he heard the m-word uttered.

"Yeah, each of the entrances to the holy district has some sort of fancy runic gate," the man shrugged.

"I'm no magic expert, but I heard it has some way of detecting if you have any divinity in you when you try to cross. Supposedly, unless you're being accompanied by someone who does, you can't even make it through the gate. Why do you want to break into there anyway?"

"To steal their divine artifacts," Alka said, floating up out of the floor next to Vin. Vin could sense Alka through their connection when he was trying, but he'd been a bit distracted. So when she suddenly appeared, Shia and him both jumped a little. But that was nothing compared to the stranger's reaction. Screaming at the top of his lungs, the small man turned white as a sheet, stumbling backwards and falling to the ground as Alka stared down at him curiously.

Breathing heavily, he raised a shaky finger, pointing it at the ghost.

"What the hell is that?!" He yelled." She, is Alka," Vin said, rubbing his brow.

"Alka, did you really have to scare him like that?"

"I mean, I thought it was funny," the ghost said with a toothy grin.

"Not my fault he's such a chicken."

"The two of you consort with the undead?" The stranger asked, his gaze flicking between the three of them.

"Such acts will bring ruin to you both!"

"Look, I don't really feel the need to take life advice from a professional thief," Shia said, rolling her eyes.

"Alka is a friend, and if you are against her existence so much, that's all the more reason for you to help us break into the holy district. We're trying to find a divine artifact capable of bringing her peace."

"Why an artifact?" The man asked, a bit of color finally returning to his face as he looked at them in confusion.

"Just ask one of the divine warriors to bless her when the lockdown is lifted." Shia and Vin glanced at each other for a moment, before Vin scratched his head.

"Yeah… about that…" The next hour was spent informing their new acquaintance of what was actually going on in the world. During their talk, Vin learned that the tiny man, whose name was Scule, was a petian; a race of people that seemed identical to humans, other than the fact that they were barely half a foot tall.

While the petian didn't seem to want to talk about his personal life much, Scule did inform them that he'd lived his entire life within the citadel, and even mentioned that he had taken the Rogue class when he finally grew old enough to gain access to the System. Apparently the citadel was a melting pot of cultures and races, and one of the largest bastions of divine might found on his entire world.

When Vin explained how the citadel had been ripped from its world and brought to Edregon, Scule simply shook his head in disbelief.

"I find it hard to believe the Gods would do something like that," he snorted, carefully combing Reginald's fur with a tiny brush. Despite all the large strangers surrounding him, the rat seemed content to lie there, clearly pleased at having his shiny coat maintained.

"Nearly my entire life was spent hearing how the density of monsters was growing year after year," Scule continued.

"Without the citadel's overwhelming strength, the rest of my world wouldn't last a week."

"Regardless, it's the truth," Vin shrugged.

"I can't speak for why the Gods did what they did, but you're welcome to come see for yourself after we hit the holy district if you want. Shia and I will be leaving this fragment tomorrow. Personally, as long as you don't try to poison us again, I don't care if you want to join us."

"Maybe…" the Rogue said, shaking his head.

"I've lived my entire life within these walls. Only the strong were ever able to survive out there. When everyone lost their levels, I took it as a wakeup call. I'd planned to grow stronger this time; strong enough to finally venture outside of the walls and see what our divine warriors were really fighting for… but I figured the Gods had other plans when they halted my growth."

"Wait, what?" Shia asked, looking surprised.

"What do you mean they halted your growth?"

"Oh, haven't hit your first prestige yet huh?" The Rogue chuckled.

"Here's one more bit of knowledge for you then. The System doesn't work the same way it used to."

"What do you mean?" For the first time, Vin heard what sounded like fear in Shia's voice as she carefully eyed the petian.

"You can't just hit level 20 and prestige anymore," Scule said, shaking his head.

"It's not that easy. Apparently, you have to do something worthy of prestiging now. No idea what that means, but it's the only notification I've gotten. Despite hitting the required experience and everything I've tried, I've been stuck at level 19 for the past month now."

"But that's not how the System works," Shia frowned.

"Yeah, that's kinda what I meant when I said the System is different now," Scule said, rolling his eyes. Vin watched as Shia struggled to take in this new information. He wasn't entirely sure why, but the elf seemed especially distraught to learn the new System had some slight changes compared to the old. Alka looked surprised, but didn't really seem to care all that much. While thinking about what this new rule meant, Vin realized something. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform.

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"So wait, if you need to do something worthy of a Rogue class to prestige… wouldn't breaking into the holy district and stealing their divine artifacts count?" Scule stared at him wordlessly, his mouth open in shock. Finally, he broke out in loud, boisterous laughter.

"You're right!" He laughed, shaking his head.

"I never even considered it because I thought the act impossible, but if something like that isn't good enough for the System, I don't know what would be!" Wiping a tear from his eye, he grinned at them.

"Alright, whatever the plan is, count me in. Not sure if I'm agreeing to join you when you leave the citadel just yet, but I'll at least help you break into the holy district. So long as it really is empty of course."

"Alright, we have a Rogue, and an actual idea of what we're up against," Vin said, turning toward Shia. The elf still looked distracted by the revelation about the System, but she managed to snap out of it when everyone's eyes turned toward her. Vin wasn't sure when it had happened, but at some point, Shia had become the de facto leader of the heist.

"Right… Well, we probably only have another hour or two at most of night left. We should probably get moving."

"So… I take it that's the magic gate?" Vin stood before the entrance to the holy district with Shia on his right and Scule on his left, currently sitting atop Reginald. Alka had withdrawn back into his body so as not to make more of a scene than she already had. The three of them had skirted around the crowd of guards and heavily armed civilians currently searching for the ghost as they made their way to the entrance to the holy district. The gate that Scule had warned them about was anything but subtle.

Whoever had designed it either had the absolute worst taste in art, or clearly had wanted to make some sort of statement. Two beings, clearly supposed to be Gods based on the power seemingly radiating off them, stood on either side of the entrance, acting as the left and right sides of the gate. Between them were a human and a cat person.

The human appeared to be lying either unconscious or dead on the ground between their feet, acting as the bottom of the gate, while the cat person functioning as the top was currently held in a fearsome game of tug of war between the two gods as they pulled him taut; agony clear on his face. The air within the gate shimmered as though it were a mirage, completely blocking the view of what was going on inside the holy district.

"Jesus, I thought the divine classes were supposed to be good guys!" Vin exclaimed, staring at the tortured cat person's expression.

"Who gave you that idea?" Scule snorted.

"There are as many Gods as there are stars in the sky, and the divine classes often end up taking on traits of those they worship. Sure, you've got your Gods of love, peace, friendship, etcetera, etcetera. But you've also got your Gods of death, pain, war, and so on. There are a lot of different gates leading into the holy district, this one just happens to depict two of the harsher Gods."

"No wonder the gates aren't guarded," Shia said, looking around at the empty street.

"Nobody in their right mind would want to walk through something like this. Even if it wasn't magically warded."

"I don't know, I kinda like it," Alka said, drifting just her upper body out of Vin's back to peer more closely at the screaming cat-person statue. Scule jumped at her sudden appearance, but at least he was past the point of screaming whenever Alka decided to show her face now.

"The world is full of pain and suffering. Nothing wrong with depicting that a little for all the people living safely within these walls."

"A ray of sunshine, as always Alka," Vin sighed.

"Alright, who's up first?" Stepping forward, Shia waited for Vin to begin casting. The three of them had discussed the plan moving forward, and everything hung on whether or not Vin's newest spell would work the way he believed it would. Reaching out to tap Shia on the shoulder, Vin put together the runic structure for Concealment inside himself, blanketing the elf in his mana.

Thanks to his improved stats, he was able to feel his mana slowly form a thin covering around Shia, fully covering her body and possessions and preventing any magical signatures from escaping his veil. Nodding, Shia took a deep breath before striding straight through the horrifying gate. Vin held his breath as she crossed the threshold and vanished from sight. After a terrifying few seconds, her hand reappeared, giving them a thumbs up. Their theory was right!

When Scule explained how the gates worked, requiring someone with a divine class to get through them, Shia had theorized they were enchanted with some sort of spell to look into a person's mana pool and search for a shard of divinity to determine if they were allowed to pass or not.

Vin's Concealment spell he'd picked up from Shia's master's house blocked magical leakage, meaning in theory it should be able to prevent the gate's magic from even recognizing any of them as people and allow them to pass through without issue, as though someone had tossed a rock through the gate. The only problem would be if the gates were also enchanted with some form of Sense Magic or other defensive measures, but they were banking on what Scule had said.

Why bother putting in so many defenses when the holy district was always crawling with all-seeing divine warriors anyway? It seemed like their risk had paid off, because rather than activating an alarm or being smited from the heavens, Shia was clearly still alive and kicking. Vin wasted no time casting Concealment three more times, making sure to even cover Reginald in his veil of magic. Once the party was past the gate, Scule took the lead.

"Your ghost friend needs to stay hidden inside you so long as we're in here," the Rogue said, frowning at Vin.

"Even if the divine classes are gone like you claim, there's a good chance they may have left traps behind or the like. I don't care if she wants to be obliterated, but I certainly don't want to be joining her." Seeing Vin's nod, Scule turned and led them into the holy district. Even more impressive than the citadel, whoever had constructed the inner district had clearly spared no expense.

The buildings were absolutely massive, some stretching entire city blocks and had clearly been built to house hundreds of people. There was some variation, but most of the buildings appeared to be built out of golden bricks that were literally glowing, casting enough light that Vin could easily see the road before them despite the late hour. They passed large gardens and beautiful sculptures, and took in sprawling fountains and shimmering mosaics as they walked.

Vin even thought he spotted a sculpture adjusting its posture when it thought none of them were looking, but he couldn't be sure.

"This place is amazing," Shia whispered, staring at a tree that had been expertly grown to look like a magnificent griffon. Somehow, the grower had even made it so the leaves created a powerful, bushy mane that was flowing despite the lack of wind.

"Amazing, yes," Scule said, practically drooling at the sheer number of golden bricks surrounding them.

"... but also empty. Looks like you guys might have been onto something after all." While smaller than the rest of the citadel, the holy district was still large enough that it took them some time to make it to the center. It certainly didn't help that their eyes were constantly pulled from one seemingly impossible sculpture to the next as they walked. By the time they reached the center of the holy district, laying their eyes on a massive colosseum, the sun was already stretching up in the sky.

"If there are any divine warriors left, that's where they'd be," Scule said, staring at the colosseum located in the center of the entire citadel. Each column holding up the colosseum seemed to be built from a different gleaming metal, and the morning sun reflecting off the differing colors made for a dazzling sight.

"I'd ask you to leave this to the Rogue, but I'm willing to bet you guys don't trust me enough for that yet, huh?"

"Got it in one," Shia said, grinning at the tiny man.

"We head in together. We're pretty confident we won't be running into any divine warriors, which means all we need to worry about is magic already put into place."

"Suit yourself," Scule shrugged.

"But if you giants trigger a trap with all your weight, don't come crying to me." The three of them approached the colosseum before stopping in their tracks as a shimmering wall of golden light suddenly sprung up out of nowhere. Similar to how the edges of the fragments worked, they hadn't been able to make out the transparent wall until they were standing right before it. The wall formed a massive, transparent bubble surrounding the entire colosseum.

"What the hell?" Vin said, peering curiously at the bubble as he strained his focus and magic attributes.

"I'm not getting any sort of magic reading off this."

"Me neither," Shia said, squinting at the near invisible barrier.

"And seeing as it clearly is magical, that means it has to be divine magic. My master showed me a few of his divine spells during training, and I couldn't pick up anything off of them either. Divine magic seems to play by different rules than regular magic."

"Well that's just great," Scule said, rolling his eyes.

"You geniuses were supposed to be in charge of the magic defenses. Got any other ideas?"

"I mean, there's the obvious," Vin shrugged. Quickly casting a fresh layer of Concealment over himself, he reached out, tentatively laying a hand on the bubble before anyone could stop him. Thankfully, rather than disintegrating, he was surprised to receive a message from the System. But unlike most of his notifications, this one had a golden background and seemed to be glowing. Warning. You are about to enter a Divine Sanctum.

While inside the Divine Sanctum, access to the System interface will be temporarily lost.

"Well then…" he said, reading over the golden notification a second time.

"... That might be a problem."