Chapter 8: Diplomatic Tasks
Muar meditated within the Temple, consolidating the gains he’d made at Platinum. The Divine System had seen fit to reward him with an A-tier Estate Token in recognition of his deeds, though he hadn’t yet deployed it. Uriva had been generous to him, but he didn’t think it was going to be his home. Especially not with the traitors still alive and on the loose.
As he sat before the pylon, the System saw fit to speak to him. Sometimes divine guidance was subtle, hints and nudges and feelings, but other times it was more straightforward. Such as with the words that unrolled before his mind’s eye.
[The World Deity of Uriva has assigned you a Crusade!
With Cato’s influence loose on the frontier, it is imperative that the inner and core worlds are aware of his presence, and how to fight it. Rank up, make your way to the core worlds and identify any agents of Cato you might encounter on the way. Convey the threat of Cato’s presence to those who might listen. Ensure that the inner and core worlds have no moons or similar objects outside the System’s influence that Cato might infest.
This is an ongoing quest, and will have ongoing rewards.
In recognition of your efforts in combating Cato, you have been awarded a Feat of Glory.]
Muar’s tail swished, flexing with both satisfaction at the reward and anticipation that he had such a grand quest to follow. One that would surely lead him to further Feats of Glory over the coming years. Now that he was at Platinum, he could better appreciate all the factors that prevented people from rising all the way to Bismuth and beyond. At lower ranks, it was lack of skill and equipment — and cowardice. The rewards from delving dungeons and doing quests at or below the current rank were far inferior to those above, and those who wished to play it safe — or had no equipment to rely on – were forced into a long, hard grind.
Even with the benefits of the first, generous reward from the Grand Paladin, Muar would have had issues without all the experience he had acquired on his first climb to Gold. Those scions of the wealthy Clans who had incredible equipment and could quickly rise through the ranks would often find themselves too reliant on that equipment, and utterly baffled when at Peak Gold or Low Platinum their opponents were suddenly beyond them. Muar, though, knew how to apply himself properly.
Yet even those restrictions paled in comparison to the primary bottleneck of Bismuth and beyond — Feats of Glory. Only incredible tasks, grand quests, and the intervention of deities could award Feats of Glory, and while only one was required to ascend to Bismuth, he had heard the requirements became far more stringent after that. And all of that was aside from the fact that the sheer amount of essence required vastly increased with rank.