novelraw Chapter 667 – Active-type Decrees
Chapter 667 – Active-type Decrees
Percy and his companions scrolled through the list of active-type Decrees first. It was by far the longest one, but they had skimmed through it a few times over the past few months, so they already had an idea of what was available. Still, it was a big decision, and Percy wanted to make sure that he was happy with his choice.
‘Leferketh’s Decree – Acquired by whispering your name in the ear of one of the Decree’s current owners and having them reciprocate with their own name. Can be activated to manifest and shoot house-sized meteors with Seventh Circle power. The Decree holds up to twenty-three charges that refresh once per Kijinian day. Note 1: The Decree can be acquired and used by anyone, but a minimum of Fifth Circle defences are recommended to prevent accidental self-harm. Note 2: Unauthorized sharing of this Decree is severely penalized by the alliance. Note 3: This Decree is engraved on its user’s eardrums and can be removed with assistance from Leferketh, though wait times for Decree removal usually exceed five Maradorian years. Note 4: A Kijinian day is equal to about two Maradorian days.’
‘Mano-Keeth’s Decree – Acquired by circumnavigating any moon of Rokatash on foot, without assistance or the use of magic. Can be activated ten times per Rokatashi month to expel enough corrosive mist to melt seven Violet beasts. Note 1: Participants are advised to circumnavigate Kremol, as it is the smallest available moon and does not contain any large bodies of water. Note 2: The acquisition process can take upwards of thirty Maradorian days even for a Blue running at full speed and with minimal breaks, so participants are advised to only choose this Decree after the conclusion of the tournament. Note 3: Temporary resistance to the corrosive mist is provided during the activation of the Decree, but users are strongly advised to escape the range of the spell within six standard minutes if they do not possess alternative means of protection. Note 4: This Decree is stored in its user’s bones and can easily be removed by any titan, including Mano-Keeth. Wait times for Decree removal can exceed half a Maradorian year if the user does not have a personal connection to a titan. Note 5: A Rokatashi month lasts seventeen Maradorian days.’
‘Honotuur’s Decree – Acquired by surviving a lethal wound from a special sacrificial blade. Can be activated thrice per Kaeshin year to produce and launch a town-sized metallic javelin in any direction. The projectile is powerful enough to pierce up to Ninth Circle defences. This Decree can be discarded at will. Note 1: Decree acquisition is handled by expert healers in Maradion. Participants are required to get their hearts stabbed by the sacrificial blade and bleed out for at least two standard minutes, but the healers will ensure their survival. Note 2: This Decree is engraved on the injured body part, which is typically the participant’s heart. However, a participant may request a customized acquisition process, including via mental or spectral injuries. Availability and wait times vary depending on the requested method.’
‘Mojylee’s Decree – Acquired by counting every star visible from the peak of Mount Leenai, on the eve of the Jef’theni Festival. A unique song will take root in the user’s soul. Singing it to completion unleashes large scale devastation on par with a Tenth Circle spell. Note 1: The roundtrip to Mount Leenai is estimated to take half a Maradorian day, so participants are advised to ensure that they have enough time before their next match. Failure to return in time will result in a loss. Note 2: The Jef’theni Festival coincides with the conclusion of the semi-finals during this year’s tournament. Participants are allowed to claim this Decree and reserve their spot at any time prior to that. Note 3: There is no limit to the number of times the Decree can be activated, but the songs are extremely long and typically require about two Maradorian days of nonstop singing.’
These were just a few of the most notable options, though the list went on for several pages and included dozens of Decrees. Over two-thirds contained some sort of offensive spell. The power of these bundled attacks ranged from the Seventh to the Tenth Circle. Percy hadn’t seen anything weaker than a White’s spell, though even the strongest attacks did not seem to exceed the limits of the Colour realm.
‘I suppose that packaging a god-level attack in a form that can be freely wielded and unleashed by a mortal is quite difficult,’ he reasoned.
‘Don’t you think these are a little weak compared to Metatron’s Decree?’ Kassorith asked.
It was true. Percy was willing to bet that instantly opening a portal to the other side of the universe would take a lot more power than whatever a Tenth Circle mage could produce, and Metatron’s Decree didn’t even have a limited number of charges or a preparation time.
‘Hmmm… Maybe the Vault itself does most of the heavy lifting. At the end of the day, it’s an artificial world – a colossal piece of magiscript. For all we know, the Decree only sends a signal with a person’s coordinates,’ Percy speculated.
Well, it couldn’t be entirely like that, since his Status would have probably said so. Perhaps, the Decree opened a small portal that the Vault then helped grow large enough for a person to pass through, or something along those lines. Percy was pretty sure that the two worked in tandem to accomplish that.
Either way, he had no choice but to discard many of these offensive Decrees out of hand simply because their method of acquisition or the body part they affected were inconvenient for him. However, he still studied everything carefully, wishing to expand his horizons.
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Some options, such as Leferketh’s Decree were extremely practical, as they could be fired several times and would recharge relatively often. Picking one of those would basically turn Percy into a Seventh Circle mage offensively, thus giving him the strength to bring down a White opponent like Machaon even before completing his artificial advancement.
There were even those like Honotuur’s or Mojylee’s Decree that exceeded the strength of a normal demigod. Choosing one of them would make Percy unmatched in the Colour realm – at least on Remior – though the most powerful among these Decrees came with severe limitations.
Many could only be used a few times per year, or had absurd activation requirements, such as singing for two days straight. They wouldn’t be impossible to use, but they would require careful planning.
‘Pretty tempting, aren’t they?’ Micky asked.
Percy let out a mental sigh. He’d be lying if he said they weren’t. He’d wasted an unreasonable amount of time over the past decade or so, worrying about the situation with House Asclepius. He’d worked tirelessly to complete his artificial advancement so that he would be able to protect himself and his family should the disgraced patriarch choose to attack. Percy had even been forced to rush his preparations to enter the void tournament because of that problem.
Now, all of that could be solved with a single decision. Whether he selected a Decree that would unleash a barrage of Seventh Circle spells or one that would allow him to charge and launch a Ninth Circle attack, he would be able to squash Machaon like a bug.
‘I really hate saying this, but let’s not do that,’ he told the others.
Machaon was currently a major threat, but he was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Percy didn’t want to waste such a valuable reward on him.
These spells might seem powerful right now, but their strength was fixed and wouldn’t grow alongside Percy. Firing a barrage of Seventh Circle meteors would help him greatly while he was still a Yellow or Green, but would become useless once he reached White or Clear and could fire even more powerful attacks on his own.
‘We shouldn’t just think about our personal strength. Something like Leferketh’s Decree could easily elevate an entire faction,’ Micky pointed out.
Percy mentally nodded. That Decree could be spread extremely easily to the whole population of a planet. The Void Hand had laws against doing that, but Percy wouldn’t need to care about those after returning home.
The benefits of giving everyone – from the lowest Red to the patriarch of a Great House – the power to unleash Seventh Circle spells couldn’t be overstated. Activating the Decree would be suicidal for the weaker mages, but an army of thousands of such soldiers could still unleash devastation upon a rival faction. After all, enough demigods could threaten even a god, and White was only a single grade below Clear.
‘Well… we’d outgrow that pretty soon too,’ Percy replied after considering his friend’s words for a couple of minutes.
Leaving aside the morality of creating an army of suicide soldiers, this was the type of advantage that would only tip the scales in a war between lesser springs. Greater springs probably had several ways to defend themselves from such attacks. Furthermore, they possessed more active-type Decrees for their mortals to choose from, so they had to pay more attention to what they filled their limited slots with.
Having made his mind up, Percy moved on to other active-type Decrees that he found more interesting.
‘Sapatap’s Decree – Acquired by getting tapped on the forehead with Sapatap’s sceptre. Can be activated once every ten thousand breaths to restore one’s body to perfect health. This Decree can be discarded at will. Note 1: This Decree does not restore a person’s lifespan or reverse the effects of aging. Note 2: The effect scales with a mortal’s grade, but its potency steeply declines once the user enters the Concept realm. Note 3: Users are strongly advised to practice shallow and frequent breathing so that they can activate the Decree more often. Note 4: This Decree takes root in one’s flesh.’
‘Borothei’s Decree – Acquired by praying at all seventeen shrines of Borothei on Maradion Prime. Can be activated up to eight times per Maradorian day to teleport a short distance. Note 1: This Decree cannot be manually discarded without a titan’s assistance, but will automatically remove itself if the user attempts to acquire a fourth active-type Decree that they do not have a slot for. Note 2: This Decree takes root in the user’s mind.’
Percy definitely found these utility options more useful than the offensive ones, partly because they did things that he wouldn’t be able to replicate with raw power, and partly because their effects would still be somewhat usable in the Concept realm.
Then again, Sapatap’s Decree was unlikely to follow Percy back to Remior, and he already had healing somewhat covered through his spiritual blood and his ability to drink lots of healing potions a grade higher than his own. Perhaps, the Decree would be the superior option while he was still a mortal, but that would probably change once he forged his internal world.
Borothei’s Decree, on the other hand…
‘Would you look at that? It’s actually from this planet. It even comes with a self-discard safety feature and is likely to follow us back home,’ Percy mused.
The fact that it could only handle short-range teleportation and only for a handful of times per day supported his previous guesses about Metatron’s Decree, but it would still be a powerful ability for anybody without a space affinity.
‘I don’t know. Didn’t Metatron say that every god is capable of opening short-range portals? Ishkuria is admittedly a rather powerful titaness, yet she was able to easily snatch us from across Tanarill without a space affinity,’ Micky pointed out.
‘Right,’ Percy conceded with a mental nod. This one would also make for a suboptimal long-term choice then.
Sighing, he resumed browsing through the list, eliminating one Decree after another with his companions’ help. The trio paid close attention to every detail about their potential choices, from their effects and limitations, to their methods of acquisition or removal, weighing all of it for the final decision.
After several rounds of back and forth, Percy found something that he felt quite happy with. It wasn’t the flashiest option, but it was a rather unique one, and would synergize extremely well with his bloodline.