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The Lord Protector. Boundless Hydra. One of the most fearsome beasts in the entire multiverse, second to only the Malefic Viper within the Order of the Malefic Viper, as far as she knew.

Every other time she had met frightening existences, like that one time her Teacher brought her to buy herbs from a dragon god; she was always with someone and never the person in focus. Always just a tag-along. But this time, there was no Lord Thayne, no Teacher… not even Izil. Just herself and a god who had lived for nearly the entire lifespan of the multiverse.

Viridia, the Hall Master, had teleported her part of the way there, but on the final stretch to the domain of the Lord Protector, they had to walk. As they walked, Meira felt incredibly nervous and built up courage as she asked the Hall Master.

“Uhm… Mistress, I-“

“Call me Viridia,” the Hall Master smiled. “You should get used to not being so… meek. That simply won’t do.”

“Oh… okay,” Meira nodded, getting a disapproving look from the Hall Master. Still, Meira felt too curious not to ask. “If I may… why does the Lord Protector want to speak to me?”

“I do not know for sure, but I have my suspicions,” Viridia answered. “And if I am correct, I believe it is high time you drop those social-conduct lessons you are currently doing and for us to set up some proper conduct classes.”

Meira froze when she heard the mention of conduct classes. A shiver ran down her spine as she tried to control herself, but images flashed in her head of the “classes” she had when she first arrived at the Order. Clenching her fists, she continued walking as the Hall Master noticed her actions.

“You have reached the cap of D-grade for your profession, with your class soon to follow, correct?” she asked.

Meira just nodded.

“And the Grand Elder has discussed his plans of properly Blessing you soon, right? It is already known that you are his disciple… but from what I was told by the Verdant Witches, he is considering making you his Chosen,” Viridia said.

“I… maybe…” Meira said. She had to be honest; she wasn’t exactly sure what it meant to become the Chosen of someone like Duskleaf. The thought just seemed so foreign to her. Even now, it felt incredibly odd that many approached her, not just because of the people she knew but because they assumed she herself was also worth their time.

“In either case, but especially if that is true, you will have to adapt your demeanor to the situation, not only for yourself but the Grand Elder. You will be his representative, and your words will hold authority, so to speak confidently and assuredly is a must,” the Hall Master continued.

Meira nodded once more. It made sense…

“If such is the case, I would gladly help you in this process,” Viridia smiled. “And do know that my first free lesson is that people will want to form a relationship with you primarily for selfish reasons. Which is exactly what I am trying to do by offering you these lessons.”

“Yeah,” Meira nodded. “I know.”

That didn’t really surprise her. In her meetings with Izil and the others, that was an often-discussed topic, as they always had people approach them with ulterior motives.

The two of them kept walking for a good while, only exchanging a few words in a rather casual conversation. It was only when they reached the gateway leading into the domain of the Lord Protector that Viridia left, and Meira realized she had just casually been talking to the Hall Master of the Order of the Malefic Viper for nearly twenty minutes.

It felt odd.

But not as odd as what happened next.

One moment Meira was just standing in front of the gate, while in the very next, she found herself standing on a stone platform. Before she could even orient herself, a presence swept over her that made her want to kneel… but she resisted. As best as she could anyway. Her knees still felt a bit wobbly.

Luckily, the pressure decreased after a few seconds. Just as Meira was about to breathe out a sigh of relief, a massive form appeared, towering over her. She looked up with wide eyes as she saw what looked like the giant head of a snake staring down at her. Mixed with the danger and the black stone platform surrounded by nearly pure darkness as far as the eye could see…

Yes, this was definitely the most frightening thing she had ever experienced.

“Do you have any inklings why I asked to speak to you?” the giant Hydra asked Meira, the voice of the Lord Protector echoing through the entire world. “And why I wished to have this conversation within my divine realm?”

“I… I don’t,” Meira said, really unsure how she was supposed to act. Normally, one would kneel or something, but Teacher had told her that as his disciple, she shouldn’t kneel to anyone that isn’t the Malefic Viper, so…

“Then let me not delay needlessly. You are aware of secrets exclusive to the Malefic One and his Chosen, and I know Duskleaf has also shared much many would consider classified. While I am still uncertain if I agree with the actions of Master and Duskleaf when it comes to choosing Chosen like this, I am beginning to see the novelty. It is different than prior blessed I have had, in that there is less blind worship,” the god explained. “The mere fact that even you, someone that was merely a former slave of Master’s Chosen, don’t crumble before me does make the entire situation, how to phrase it, tolerable.”

“Are… am I here because of Teacher?” Meira asked. Did the Lord Protector have something against Teacher? Why would he need to speak to her like this?

“Yes. While this was not something I imagined doing, it’s better to just get it out of the way now to avoid annoyance in the future,” the Lord Protector’s voice echoed as a second head rose from the depths below.

“Duskleaf is the sole disciple of the Malefic One for a reason,” the second head said. “He was not the only disciple the Malefic One ever had, but the only one who remains. The only one Master allows to stay. Allows to assist him in his own personal projects.”

Meira nodded, listening to his words. She knew that Teacher was brilliant, and she understood the gravity of him helping the Malefic Viper. For someone to be of actual assistance in any kind of project, their skills had to at least somewhat match that of the one they assist, which meant that the Malefic One recognized Duskleaf as an equal peer, at least in some aspects of alchemy. She knew that Teacher didn’t really do toxins that much, but in so many other areas, he was nearly unparalleled.

“It seems you understand that somewhat, but do you truly know who Duskleaf is? What he is?”

“What about Teacher?” Meira asked, curious and confused, forgetting herself for a moment.

“His secrets are not mine to share, but consider this. While it is true most multiversal forces avoided the Order during the Malefic One’s absence due to my presence, I would not be enough to keep away some pinnacle factions. Sure, some still feared the Viper was around and would appear if the existence of the Order was threatened… but most of the older factions knew that the Order was never something Master cared overly much about,” the Lord Protector said. “Knew it was something he could always just rebuild if he truly wanted it back.”

Meira was deep in thought as she considered his words. But something didn’t fit. She was about to speak when a third Hydra head emerged on her left, making her jump a bit.

“Duskleaf is… weak,” the Lord Protector’s new head said, making Meira confused by the next words spoken by the central head. “And one of the most fearsome figures in the entire multiverse.”

The Lord Protector noticed her confused expression and briefly elaborated. “Gods are not simple, and Duskleaf much less so. You may believe him a pacifist alchemist… would you still wish to be his official disciple if that is but one part of him?”

“Yes,” Meira answered, not having to really think about it.

“Even if it means carrying with you burdens and secrets for the rest of your existence, even should you somehow attain immortality? Secrets you may never be able to disclose to anyone, not even the Chosen of the Malefic One?” the Lord Protector asked in an intimidating voice.

“If that is what Teacher wants, yes,” Meira nodded once more without hesitation.

“Very well,” the Boundless Hydra said. “Then fully embrace your new role and Path. And know that should you stray or break the vow you made today, I shall carry out my duty as the Lord Protector and end your existence.”

Meira shivered as she was teleported out of the realm and back to the long underground hallway outside.

Definitely frightening, Meira shuddered as she looked down the hallway, unsure where to even go…

“You’re getting sentimental, little Snappy,” the voice of the Malefic Viper echoed through the realm of the Boundless Hydra just as the elf girl disappeared. “Watching out for Duskleaf like that.”

“Master!” the Lord Protector said happily. “Yes, perhaps I am getting a bit needlessly emotional, but this is the first time Duskleaf has taken on an official disciple, and I do not wish to see him negatively impacted.”

“And that’s all?” the Viper said, a bit amused.

“There have been many changes recently, and more are coming. Yip of Yore, your Chosen, and his ability to manipulate Origins, rumors of the Dao Sect recently making moves, several gods that haven’t been active for a long time suddenly stirring to life once more… something is coming.”

“Something is always coming,” the Viper said in a cheerful tone. “But yes, more things do seem to be changing recently. Records are converging, and all the big players are aware. Let us look forward to it, eh?”

The Lord Protector nodded. Changes were neither good nor bad on a fundamental level. However, they did represent opportunity and risk, as well as the chance to get something new.

And to the Malefic Viper and his insatiable Path, new was nearly always good, as it was simply more to consume and integrate with his infinite Path.

Months passed after her frightening meeting with the Lord Protector as Meira toiled away, leveling her class through a variety of means. She would have never thought that something like a C-grade Perfect Evolution would ever be possible for her, but her Teacher had made it clear that if she wanted to become his official disciple, she at least had to have a Perfect Evolution.

Leveling her class wasn’t easy, and she did many things she had never tried before, including dungeons. As a healer, Meira had a pretty easy time finding a group, even without factoring in the fact she was a student of Duskleaf. Even if she admittedly sucked at fighting, she still managed to get through all the dungeons she did, partly because her party members were far stronger than she was.

However, most of her levels came not from healing people. No, it came from something else entirely. Healing was a school of magic that included many concepts and affinities. Light and life affinity were the two most famous ones for healing, but nature affinity was also a very popular one.

Teacher helped Meira toward healing another form of life than usual. Rather than mend wounds, she would instead focus on truly helping people heal themselves through an odd healing concept Meira had not really encountered before.

Rather than healing, it was more accurate to call it nurturing.

Meira’s healing relied on the light affinity before she began changing her Path. Her aim slowly changed from simply healing other people to being able to mend and nurture other kinds of life, even those without a soul.

As her Teacher explained it, the system was rather rigid when it dictated classes were for combat and professions for non-combat, but there were ways to make both work together. The Legacy of the Malefic Viper and the entire Alchemist of the Malefic Viper Path was a testament to that. As Teacher’s Master, it was natural that Duskleaf had taken inspiration and also come up with some ideas himself for how one could circumvent these restrictions, and the Path Meira was now walking was one of them.

Plants and all kinds of natural treasures were in a constant struggle for energy and survival. They were in an endless battle to ascend and become more powerful, walking their own Paths. True, this was not a fight against a monster but the world itself, but there was conceptual overlap, which had made Duskleaf believe there was an opening.

Healers could already level just by healing the injured, even when they did not get injured in combat. That was how Meira had initially leveled her class, after all. She had healed people who got hurt in the mines back with her clan and helped relieve those who suffered. That had earned her experience, so why couldn’t she do something similar by helping plants?

The system was strict but also accommodating. Something like the Augur class was proof of this, and Meira hoped to do something similar. To have both, with a class that was not truly combat-reliant but one she could level without having to step into a battlefield. The skills would still work for combat, but it would not be their sole function.

Soon enough, Meira reached her level cap, and she stood before the first evolution in her life that she was truly looking forward to.

Right before her evolution, Duskleaf sat her down and had three things prepared. One of them was an odd bottle, another was a marble of some kind, while the third was something he could only give himself directly:

His True Blessing.

Sitting at the final moment, Meira did get nervous again, and she had to ask if Duskleaf was sure, but he waved her off.

“We already talked about this. Now let’s do the proper preparations,” Duskleaf said as he pointed out the items, starting with the bottle.

“Usually, you elves can only evolve to high elves if you attain a Perfect Evolution in both D and C-grade while fulfilling all Records requirements, but seeing as you didn’t have sufficient Records previously, I brewed this instead,” Duskleaf said in a casual tone.

Meira’s eyes opened wide as she saw the bottle. She tried to Identify it but failed entirely.

“Next up is this,” he said, holding up the marble. “It is the core of a rather special star that I collected a while back. I have partly sealed it to make it safe for your current level of power, and It should suit your Path nicely going forward. Integrating it into your Internal Garden right before evolution should do nicely.”

Meira once more nodded. Her Internal Garden was a Legacy skill of Duskleaf himself. It allowed one to have a greenhouse within their soul to store treasures and energy, and based on what he said, it was partly derived from Palate of the Malefic Viper, but rather than consuming, it was created for nurturing.

At the urging of Duskleaf, she integrated the core and, right before evolving, drank the contents of the bottle. In the very final moments, before she accepted the prompt, Duskleaf smiled and took her hand. She felt a warm rush go into her body, as she knew he had just gotten her True Blessing.

Entering the evolution itself, things went better than expected. At least, Meira thought it did. Many of her old skills had already changed over the last few years, away from their slave origin, but her class and profession remained the same. Both had made it clear that even if she had been freed, she had still been a slave. Now, the word was entirely shed from her status menu.

Status

Name: Meira Dawnleaf

Race: [High Elf (C) – 200]

Class: [Dawnstar Saintess – 200]

Profession: [Principal Disciple of Duskleaf – 200]

Reading her status, the very first thing she saw was naturally her name. Meira never had a last name. She had always just been known as Meira. This wasn’t really due to her being a slave but due to her clan’s old customs, where it was only when one became D-grade that they became worthy of using the clan name.

Duskleaf had insisted that she needed a last name as not having one would just complicate things, and since she didn’t have one and had no interest in taking up her family’s, he just made one up for her. One that fused her Path and the name of her teacher while also communicating this was a new beginning for her. A new dawn, so to speak.

Her class was one that combined her light affinity with the power of life, while her profession was self-explanatory. She had even managed to successfully become a High Elf, something she never thought possible.

However, the one thing that stuck out the most was another new addition to her status menu.

Blessing: [True Blessing of the Shattered Dusk Emperor (Blessing - True)]

“Uhm… Teacher, in the Blessing section, it says-“

“Ignore that,” Duskleaf waved her off in a stern voice. “I should have known it would go with that considering it is a True Blessing. No, scratch what I said, do more than ignore it. Consciously put it at the back of your mind, and don’t even speak it out loud. You know there is power in words, and some things are best left unspoken.”

Meira looked at Teacher and his unusually strict demeanor before nodding. “Okay.”

His serious expression fell away as he smiled. “Now, let’s go test your new skills. Have you ever made an artificial sun? Jake never got around to doing it, so you should at least beat him to it.”