Venill could feel the sweat on her back grow worse as she held a kneeling posture towards the fanatical religious leader of this faction called “The Golden Order”. He continued to sit on his throne tapping his fingers against the chair either lost in thought from her proposition or was just toying with her. It was hard to decide which.

  However, next to the man was what really made her hair stand on end. A giant white porcelain like chalice taller than she was floated just above the ground with a golden mist overflowing from the rim and gently falling down to caress the ground before dispersing.

  She hated being so close to the soul influencing properties of the mist but there was nothing that could be done. Thankfully it was still in its cup form which meant it was in a passive state. The Blessed Virtue of Temperance wasn’t exactly known for its loving nature but thankfully there appeared to be no hostility as of yet. Still she felt her soul struggle against the mist despite investing heavily into the soul stat and even having eaten some herbs that increased her soul's resistance to outside influences.

  “I do not see the value in such a thing. After all, I am chosen by the holy lord to bring about purity to this world. It is only a matter of time before this man you speak of comes to me. If he does not, then I am sure God will pass judgment on him for his transgression.”

  The man had finally spoken and she had absolutely no idea what the hell he was talking about. The gods were all killed when the system came to being according to historical records so she had to assume it was from some religion the locals had before the system.

  Before she could retaliate the Blessed Virtues chalice form suddenly shifted and morphed into a vaguely humanoid shape. Venill swallowed unsure of what was going to happen, however the humanoid shape had all round edges so she believed it wasn't about to attack. Instead it moved towards the man and leaned into his ear.

  He fell silent and slowly nodded along to what the entity was slaying and Venill held her breath and anticipation. Eventually the Blessed virtue moved away and slowly morphed back into a chalice as the man stood up from his throne.

  “What did you say your name was again?” he asked.

  “Venill you're excellency” she responded. None of this man's cult following ever used his name so she didn't know what it was. Instead opted to refer to him the same way the others had.

  “You said that it was a quest to meet with this man that made you aware of his existence. What manner of quest would this be?”

  Venill wanted to spit out a curse at that. She didn't want to mention that this was a quest for Revenge as it likely would not sit well with the Blessed Virtue before her, even if it was that of temperance.

  “I would rather not say Your Excellency. I used to be a tutorial guide or as some of your locals have called an “NPC”. Before I became one it was considered highly rude and disrespectful to ask those you were unfamiliar with to give out details of your system and quests.”

  The man before her looked like he was about to press her on the issue but a small hum from The Chalice made him stop. It was a good thing she banked on the Blessed Virtue not wanting to be disrespectful or rude to someone it believed it could convert into a believer.

  Of course she had no doubt in her mind that the entity likely would have had her killed or tortured for refusing to answer the question just now if she did not also possess the information on how to get to Quill quickly. Relying on the fact of the Blessed Virtues' need to convert strong people was really saving her hide here. No doubt the entity wanted to keep on her good side all while slowly pressuring her to convert to its virtue. It likely believed that she had a connection to Quill in some way and therefore could use her to get to him.

  This was all just speculation on her part of course. But from everything she had known about either of the churches and the various entities of the cursed sins and blessed virtues, she felt like she wouldn't be far off if at all.

  Eventually the man sighed and gestured for her to follow him. She was apprehensive but did so. As they walked through the compound, they passed multiple people, all locals. Every single one wore simple plain clothes that draped over their thin, even malnourished bodies. All had dark circles under their eyes likely from them “Abstaining” from even sleep. Yet they all went up to the faction leader smiling happily, completely unaware of their own frailty and spoke a few words to him which he responded in kind before doing some kind of weird gesture and talking about how they should visit one of the chalices to absorb more of its blessings. None of the man's followers said anything to her, seeming fully aware she wasn’t part of their group.

  Eventually they walked into a garden that was devoid of people. Much like the rest of the compound, it was fairly bare bones. Temperance wasn’t one to have people indulge in something as simple as a beautiful garden much less any kind of art or architecture. So this was pretty standard.

  However there was another chalice in the center of the garden distributing its mist. If she was right in her estimate, there were a total of seven Blessed Virtues of Temperance all around the compound. The number was disturbingly high. Both of the churches very rarely kept more than one, much less two of their prized entities on a single planet. And very rarely for a long amount of time. The fact that there was seven made her unsure if even this Quill would be capable of handling that many.

  “This should do.” the leader said with a calm air about, snapping her out of her thoughts.

  Venill half expected the man to attack for whatever reason but instead he sat down on the grass and gave off the sigh of relief. Seemingly glad to be away from his throne and back simplicity. “You know I started doing this whole thing before the system to make a lot of money, the people's adoration was a very nice bonus too. I've always been crafty and charismatic, use the right words and you get all sorts of people desperate for an answer of the great beyond or people just looking for some place to belong coming to you for answers. It barely takes much convincing until soon you have them eating out of your hand with absolute servitude and devotion.”

  He softly chuckled and continued “I never believed any of what I preached. But then the system happened and I met these angels.” He gestured to the Chalice behind him. “Suddenly I realized everything I had done and all that I did was disgusting and horrific.

  “But it was understandable and loving to me. It gave me a chance to repent and to live a better life. All I had to do was help it bring this world to the Blessed Church. It had told me just then during your plea for help and crossing the wilds towards this Quill will be instrumental in bringing about the change we need. This world is sick after all, and I shall lead it to its intended Glory.”

  Venill frowned deeply. It appeared the Blessed virtue already had its hooks deep within the man and had knocked his brain off its pedestal with more then a few screws loose. The poor bastard likely couldn't even conceive the idea that the Blessed virtue would quickly and easily sacrifice him the moment it thought doing so would further it's goals. That was one of the biggest issues with the Blessed Church. It didn't matter how many people it killed, worlds that were destroyed, innocence who suffered. So long as it was for the best of all then it was justified. and of course the Blessed Church decided what was best for all. Not that the Cursed Church was much better. Many would even argue it being worse.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  She chose not to say anything in regards to any of that though. He had already agreed to help and the virtue had completely converted him so even if she were to point it out he would likely smile and tell her that if he were to be sacrificed then he would do so gladly.

  “When do you think we can leave?” she spoke and the man thought for a second.

  “We will need to gather up every available person along with resources to make the march. If Quill holds this territory that is so important, then he shall freely gift it to all of us. If not then we shall turn out march into a crusade for the righteous cause. I have full faith that we shall succeed. The virtues are on our side.”

  Venill watched the man before turning away and leaving. She did what she needed to do and so she had no need to speak with him unless absolutely necessary. Now she just needed to find a way to sabotage these people and the virtue before they arrived at Quills territory. It would pain her to see a man who could potentially help her enact her revenge to fall to the virtues and their soul consuming presence before he could do anything for her.

  On a whim she decided to open up the system ranking to see if Quill had gained another level or two. He had stalled out for the past 6 months or so which made her worry that he was losing his momentum. However when she saw the number 57 next to his name she froze. She read it, then reread it again… “What the fuck?!? HOW????”

  Her words startled some nearby locals who looked at her shocked but she couldn’t care less. This was… How did he gain so many levels so quickly!! She was…

  She had to sit down. She was starting to wonder if she was even needed to sabotage these fanatics. What kind of man was he???

  * * * * * * * * * * * *

  Ssevinac tapped his claws anxiously as Rrepia and a dwarf named Gusriv placed their space stone within the makeshift teleporter and gave Ssevinac the go ahead. It had been 2 months since they had created the outpost and since then it seemed that Micheals forces were doubling if not tripling their efforts into finding them. No doubt the system had given some kind of quest to destroy the outpost since it was so close to the man's own territory. He was pretty sure it would only be another week or so before they were finally found out so they needed the teleporter to work in this round.

  Ssevinac brought up his menu and moved to the outpost section category where he activated the teleport and was immediately given the system prompt asking him if he wanted to sync up this teleporter to any potential teleporters within the factions territory. The fact that he got the system prompt showed that the teleporter would work, at least for its intended purpose. Now he just had to place his faith in Quill that he had actually built his own teleporter as requested within these two months.

  He accepted yes to the system prompt and was absolutely delighted to see it sync up to another teleporter. This one was within Quills territory. He knew that human wouldn't let him down!

  “Everyone on to the teleporter!” He quickly ordered which earned relieved expressions through everyone's faces as they all started filing in onto the platform. They had made it as big as they could without potentially destabilizing the actual teleportation. Still it was going to be a tight fit for everyone involved.

  He waited for Rrepia to give the go ahead and then nodded towards Wwennep who lit the fuse to all the explosives they had put around the entire Outpost. Everyone agreed that they would rather destroy the outpost themselves then let Michael Anderson claim it or destroy it. Thus hopefully taking away his potential Quest reward if it stated that he or his faction needed to be the one to destroy the outpost

  Wwennep hopped on to the teleporter once the fuse was lit as the magic began to swell. Everyone had some nerves as they knew the teleporter itself was poorly made but Ssevianc had full faith in his apprentice and from what he had gathered from the stone dwarf Gusriv, he knew his stuff.

  In a flash their entire surroundings shifted which was then followed by a brief feeling of vertigo before it all disappeared. He hadn't expected that to work so well and judging by everyone's faces neither were they. Even if Quill had built a high-end F-grade local teleporter. It should have still taken them a few seconds to traverse the distance, not to mention that the teleportation sickness should have lasted at least a couple of minutes.

  It was there that Ssevinac realized where he was standing along with everyone else. It was a massive room filled with dozens of platforms that were all equally large. The one they were standing on though was in the center of the room and bigger than the rest, so big in fact that everyone could comfortable stand in the center. How the hell did the human build something so grand in such a short amount of time? it almost looked as if….

  Ssevinac shook his head, there was no way Quill had gotten a system made building. Those were beyond expensive and hard to even come across, much less get. Everyone else also seemed in shock with Apparoo, the wood elf leader, eventually speaking up.

  “This is a little more than what I was expecting. Even for someone ranked first on the leaderboard.”

  Ssevinac had to agree. He had been just as shocked as everyone else when he saw Quills level skyrocketed almost 2 months ago. He would need to thank Quill because of it though as any doubts the elves, dwarves, and humans had about following him were quickly washed away. If anything it made them all work harder to get the teleporter up and running so they could see Quill with their own eyes.

  Ssevinac took out his rat totem that was linked to the totem he had given Quill back at the tutorial. “Come on. He should be this way.”

  They all stepped out of the room and were greeted with a massive hall. He barely had time to register everything before the armored knight standing in the center spoke up “Greetings! I was told we would be expecting a citizen migration. I am to bring you all outside of the local teleporter building and inform Master Quill of your arrival. If you will please follow me”

  Ssevinac opened his mouth, too shocked to react. Was that a system territory knight??? Those things were only given via quest rewards, or if you were really lucky, bought from activating a system village ticket but…. His eyes traced over the building. It seemed everyone else was slowly coming to the conclusion that Ssevinac was. Quill had used and activated a Village ticket! A freaking village ticket! Just like that, their entire future was secure.

  Everyone quickly rushed out of the building and were greeted by a beautiful expansive field, a gentle breeze tickling across them before all of their eyes snapped towards the towering walls off in the distance.

  “If you will please wait one moment. Master Quill should be arriving soon.” the territory knight spoke. As if right on cue they heard a faint sound that quickly grew louder

  “shiiiiIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT!!!”

  BOOM!

  The human, riding on a glider, came down from the sky and crashed into the ground in an undignified manner as he flipped through the air multiple times before face planting into the dirt.

  “ That should have been a perfect landing! It's not my- would you stop laughing!!!” Quill screamed out at nothing before snapping his head towards everyone

  Ssevinac almost audible groan. He really hoped Quill's insanity ailment didn’t get worse during their time apart.