Chapter 44: Varek’Voran
---
[Name: Kael Voss]
[Title: Cataloguer]
[Class: Void Sovereign]
[Class Perks: Void Absorption, Null Field, Sovereign Claim, Echo Strike]
[Skills: Eye Of Judgment (SSS)]
[Level: 26] [66%]
[Health: 11,306]
[Mana: 6,645]
•—Stats—•
[Strength: 371]
[Agility: 370]
[Endurance: 436]
[Intelligence: 443]
[Vitality: 387]
[Constitution: 365]
•—Stat Points: 275—•
•—TC Balance: 14,534,400—•
•—Talent: Infinite Reward Multiplier—•
---
[TITLE INFORMATION]
[Cataloguer]
A title granted to the keeper of hidden truths and catalogued wisdom.
Effects:
• Archive Mind — All memories, experiences, observations, and acquired information are automatically sorted into a perfect mental archive. Information can be recalled with flawless accuracy and near-instant retrieval.
• Accelerated Comprehension — Greatly increases learning speed, analytical ability, pattern recognition, and understanding of complex subjects, skills, languages, formations, and knowledge systems.
• Mental Bastion — Significantly strengthens mental fortitude and grants powerful resistance against mind-reading, illusions, psychic attacks, possession, and other forms of mental interference (this effect stacks with existing mental defenses).
• Forbidden Inquiry — By paying an appropriate personal price, the holder may seek knowledge beyond their current level of understanding. The greater the secret, the greater the cost demanded.
Warning: Certain truths possess inherent corruption. Seeking forbidden knowledge may result in mental damage, loss of sanity, unwanted attention from higher entities, or other unpredictable consequences.
---
Kael’s gaze locked onto the title information.
For several seconds he simply stood there.
Then a grin slowly spread across his face.
The grin widened until eventually he broke into loud laughter that echoed throughout the hallway.
"Ha!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
The tension that had been building ever since he entered the instance finally burst.
At this moment, Kael felt that every bit of it had been worth it.
This title alone was incredible.
His eyes returned to the screen.
The first effect boosted comprehension.
The second organized every memory and piece of knowledge into a perfectly indexed archive.
Just those two effects alone would be priceless to countless Awakeners.
Knowledge was power.
The faster one could learn, understand, and retain information, the greater their future growth would become.
Then there was the third effect.
Mental fortitude.
And not just ordinary mental fortitude.
It specifically strengthened resistance against telepathy, mind reading, psychic attacks, and mental intrusion.
Most importantly...
It stacked.
Kael already possessed Eye of Judgment.
Now this title was further reinforcing his mental defenses.
He honestly couldn’t even estimate how resilient his mind had become.
For all he knew, even the second contact of the Torpor of the Eternal Rest curse might no longer pose a serious threat.
The thought was tempting.
Very tempting.
Yet Kael immediately dismissed it.
Testing unknown curses with his own life wasn’t bravery.
It was stupidity.
There was no reason to gamble when caution cost nothing.
His gaze shifted toward the final effect.
Immediately his expression became complicated.
Pay a personal toll to unlock forbidden or higher-level knowledge.
The effect itself was absurd.
Perhaps even more absurd than the others.
There were countless questions Kael wanted answered.
Questions about Lyra.
Questions about his class.
Questions about the Tower.
Questions about the strange higher beings that seemed to exist beyond everything he currently understood.
Yet when his gaze moved to the warning beneath it, the excitement rapidly cooled.
Some truths carried curses.
Some truths attracted dangerous forces.
Immediately a memory surfaced.
That gaze.
The gaze that had descended upon him inside the library.
Even now, recalling it made chills run through his body.
He still remembered how helpless he had felt.
How insignificant.
Like an ant standing before a mountain.
No.
Even that comparison felt generous.
An ant could at least crawl away.
Before that existence, Kael had felt utterly powerless.
As though his life could be erased by a mere thought.
The fact that the title’s warning specifically mentioned attracting dangerous forces made him immediately decide against abusing the effect.
At least for now.
And then there was the toll.
Knowledge always carried a price.
Whether that price was memories, lifespan, sanity, or something else entirely, Kael had no intention of finding out recklessly.
Not when he was still this weak.
With his decision made, he closed the status screen.
His gaze settled on the seemingly endless hallway stretching before him.
This was probably the final stretch.
The last zone.
The place where the true boss of the instance awaited.
Steeling himself, Kael began walking.
The hallway was unnaturally long.
Each step echoed through the silent corridor.
Even so, he didn’t lower his guard.
After everything he had experienced inside this bizarre instance, he refused to believe something as simple as a hallway couldn’t try to kill him.
So he moved cautiously.
Several minutes passed before he finally arrived before a massive door.
Kael stopped.
Took a deep breath.
Then pushed.
The door slowly creaked open.
Immediately a freezing wind burst through the gap.
The force slammed into him like an invisible wall.
Even beneath the protection of the Spectre X armor, Kael felt the chill sink into his bones.
Fortunately, the wind only lasted for a few moments before fading.
Once it settled, he stepped through.
His eyes narrowed.
A throne room.
A massive one.
The chamber stretched far into darkness, its distant corners hidden from sight.
Towering pillars lined both sides of the room.
Ancient banners hung from the walls.
Everything felt ancient.
Forgotten.
Yet beneath the silence lurked something else.
Power.
A pressure so immense it seemed woven into the very atmosphere itself.
At the far end of the chamber stood a colossal throne.
Magnificent yet menacing.
Ornate carvings covered every surface.
The throne pulsed with a strange lazy energy.
An energy that somehow felt dormant and overwhelmingly powerful at the same time.
Then Kael saw it.
His eyes brightened.
Resting atop the throne was a dim grey orb roughly the size of a man’s fist.
A core.
The instance core.
It emitted a slow pulse that resonated throughout the chamber.
A smile appeared on Kael’s face.
So this really was the final zone.
Destroy the core.
Clear the instance.
Simple.
At least in theory.
Because Kael didn’t move.
Not even a step.
Every instinct in his body warned him that something was wrong.
Far too wrong.
No final zone would leave the core unguarded.
There was always a protector.
Always.
Yet no matter how carefully he scanned the room, he couldn’t detect anything.
And somehow that only made him more uneasy.
His opponent wasn’t absent.
It was hidden.
Without hesitation Kael opened his status.
He immediately invested one hundred and fifty-seven stat points into Intelligence.
His Intelligence shot upward.
443 → 600
A wave of clarity washed over him.
His senses expanded dramatically.
Then he invested the remainder into Agility.
370 → 488
His body felt lighter.
Faster.
Sharper.
The moment he finished allocating his points, danger exploded through his senses.
Kael’s head snapped toward a shadowed corner.
Something was moving.
"Fuck."
He immediately threw himself sideways.
A dark blur shot through the space where he had been standing less than a second earlier.
The speed was terrifying.
Had he not increased his Agility moments ago, he doubted he would have avoided it.
Then a voice echoed throughout the throne room.
Cold, ancient and arrogant.
It seemed to come from every direction at once.
"Stupid mortal. You dare disturb this great one’s recovery? Kneel immediately and beg forgiveness. Perhaps then I shall spare your insignificant life."
Kael furrowed his brows.
His enhanced senses focused intensely.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
He managed to identify the source.
Near the throne.
A towering figure concealed beneath layers of writhing darkness.
Even now he could barely make out its outline.
Without hesitation a throwing spear appeared in his hand.
Kael hurled it.
The weapon shot forward like a missile.
The darkness reacted immediately.
Shadow condensed.
Forming a barrier.
The spear smashed straight through it.
The shadow wall exploded apart.
And for the first time, Kael saw what lay beneath.
A skeleton.
At least it resembled one.
Humanoid.
Yet distinctly inhuman.
Two dark glowing orbs burned within its eye sockets.
The spear continued toward its target.
Before it could connect, countless shadow tendrils erupted from the floor.
They wrapped around the weapon and stopped it midair.
The skeletal creature turned toward him.
Its expression didn’t change.
It couldn’t.
But surprise was evident in its voice.
"Impossible. How did you detect me? My stealth is unparalleled."
Kael snorted. "Guess it wasn’t unparalleled enough."
The skeleton trembled.
Clearly offended.
"You insolent mortal! You dare mock this great one? My shadows shall consume you whole!"
"You can try," Kael responded.
Outwardly, he remained calm.
Internally?
He was panicking.
Because Eye of Judgment had already revealed the creature’s information.
---
[Varek’Voran]
A once powerful entity one step away from becoming a Transcendent. Following a failed ascension, it paid a terrible price to preserve its existence. During its decline, it discovered the forgotten Castle of Bael’thun and has remained here while recovering its strength.
Level: Quasi-Transcendent (Severely Weakened)
Abilities: (Unable to View)
---
Kael stared at the information.
His mouth felt dry.
A being one step away from becoming a Transcendent.
He didn’t even know exactly what a Transcendent was.
But he knew one thing.
It was far beyond him.
Panic settled in.
Why?
Why of all instances did he have to stumble into one containing a monster like this?
What kind of terrible luck was that?
Yet amidst the growing panic, Kael spotted a small ray of hope.
A silver lining.
The information specifically stated one thing.
Severely Weakened.
Those two words were the only reason he wasn’t turning around and trying to find another exit.
A weakened quasi-transcendent was still terrifying.
But a weakened enemy could bleed.
A weakened enemy could lose.
And most importantly...
A weakened enemy could be killed.
