They were both giving him concerned looks, but neither of the Priests was trying to stop him from going in to verify if Karl’s trial really had made a new core for the temple. It certainly felt like it.
Nacht walked over in human form and nodded politely at the others as they watched the old man totter his way to the temple.
“Where’s he going?” The Ancient Dragon asked.
“I may have created a new core for the temple during my trial, and he wants to go try it.” Karl informed him with a wink.
The Dragon sighed. “And what might that core be? Please say you didn’t put a weapon at the core of a trial temple.”
“A skill book for the skill Randomize.”
“Is that skill usable by clerics?” The Dragon replied.
Karl shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It’s just a combination of Skill Master and Evolution, which are both training and advancement type skills. It’s not a skill that anyone can learn, but it’s a book that everyone should be able to use. At least everyone with an affinity for the System.”
Lord Nacht chuckled, and a cold aura of death magic surrounded him.
“I will pray to my goddess to send him back alive. That is the best we can hope for.”
Karl put his hands over his heart and faked his best wounded expression. “You make it sound like I did something sinister. I assure you, that skill is not intended to cause damage to anyone, it’s just for helping system users advance.” He pleaded.
The Black Dragon and the two remaining clerics all gave Karl identical knowing smiles. “That assumes you didn’t let a Nature Cleric use them. There is nothing that they can’t use improperly, and if that thing gives him the chance to evolve into a butterfly, I can’t guarantee that he won’t take it, even if it’s got a one-week lifespan.” The Archbishop replied.
He made a most excellent point. But more concerning, Karl’s Nature Priestess was still in there. Who knew what Lotus would do if the trial updated and let her pick random options.
Perhaps this was not as well thought through as Karl had believed. When it was a theoretical solution for a problem in a trial, there was no reason to think about real-world consequences.
He hadn’t expected his trial to have any effect on reality, and there was a chance that it still wouldn’t. But the faint trial energy was significantly stronger now than it had been when he entered.
Not long after the High Priest vanished into the trial, the first person exited the doors. That was when Karl knew that he was in trouble.
For the person who came back out was a small gnomish girl in a pretty green dress, and Karl didn’t know which of the Nature Clerics it was likely to be. The little girl was Royal Rank, which narrowed it down to Lotus and the old man. But then the girl took out a walking stick and took a few steps before stopping and staring up at everyone.
“I got short.” She announced in a squeaky voice, then froze and cast a spell that created a mirror out of water.
“What did you do to me?” The little girl shouted, running over to Karl and pounding on his legs before yelping in pain and holding her hand.
“Sorry, I’m quite sturdy. You should be careful of that until you grow up. You didn’t happen to say yes when it asked if you wanted to randomize, did you?” Karl asked.
Lord Nacht burst into silent laughter, doubled over and holding his sides in what was clearly magical silence. But the Red Dragon High Priest had a look on his face like a deer in the headlights. He was frozen, unable to believe what he was seeing.
“What do you mean, did I randomize? Of course, I did. I wanted the random skill. Now, what did you do to me?” The Cleric complained.
“Randomize doesn’t grant you a random skill. At least not always.” Karl began, then double-checked to ensure the gnome was still a Royal Rank Cleric.
Fortunately, that part hadn’t changed, and even in a new body, they were still a High Priest, no make that Priestess of the Nature God.
“Randomize randomly changes something about you if you don’t have a fully operational system interface, and presents you a random option if you do. At least, I think that’s how it works. I haven’t been brave enough to choose the random option on my own, though I have been given a few random rewards.” The gnome glared up at him. “And what am I supposed to do with this? I can’t even reach the counter anymore.”
Karl shrugged. “No offence, but when she gets back out, Royal High Priestess Lotus might be able to help you with that. She also struggles with counter heights. That is, of course, assuming that she didn’t turn herself into something strange.”
The next ones out were a few of the new acolytes, and with his system interface active, Karl could see that they were all now clerics and Common Rank. The transformed Nature Cleric gestured to them as they stood around, confused as to what they should be doing.
“Come over and make your report. Don’t dally.” freēwēbnovel.com
One of the boys laughed. “You talk just like the High Priest, but we’re real clerics now, we don’t take orders from a little girl.”
Light flashed, and the boy jumped as a [Smite] spell hit him on the backside.
“I am the High Priest. Now, what did you see in the trial. Don’t keep me waiting, I have better things to be doing.”
The Red Robed cleric made a ‘get on with it’ gesture, and the confused Acolytes began describing various trials where they had to accomplish a task and then got a reward. They were all quite normal, as were the rewards, which sounded a lot like the default skill for the different aspect gods.
Karl turned to Lord Nacht. “At least it sounds like nothing strange happened with the kids.”
Nacht winked at him. “It’s supposed to be a standardized test of their healing ability to prove that they’re up to entry standards. It was the same test for Common Grade acolytes for a century. Only the higher Ranks, who have chosen a god to devote themselves to, got individual trials.
I don’t see it in their information, but I suspect that they have already been sorted by patron deity, and they just don’t know it yet.”