Rank 1: Bastard
Passive abilities:
Child of Darkness (0/3): increases the power of dark magic spells and rituals by 10%.
HIDDEN (rank 2 required)
Active abilities:
Demonic Might (0/5): increases your Strength by 20 (1 minute/1 hour)
HIDDEN (rank 2 required)
HIDDEN (rank 3 required)
HIDDEN (rank 4 required)
Combat form:
Crowned (0/3): first combat form. Increases all attributes by 10. Increases all resistances by 40%. Your presence instills Dread in adjacent enemies (10 minutes/24 hours)
HIDDEN (rank 5 required)
Archetypes were a pretty weird thing. Several hundreds of them were known, the list posted on the official forums, even if incomplete, as players of Sphere tended to conceal any information that might give someone an advantage. The requirements for obtaining common, uncommon, and many rare archetypes had long since been discovered with hundreds of guides written about them, but new details kept coming up. As for the epic ones, they were few and far between. It was theorized that the procedural generator designed them for each specific character, analyzing lots of parameters we had no idea about. AlexOrder, the only runemaster in the Watchers, had once mentioned that nobody succeeded in following his path, gaining the same attributes, skills, quests, reputation titles, and plot triggers as him.
So I was a Demon Prince. My powers probably depended on the bloodline I got... I had a feeling that Olaf had gotten consort’s blood, while I drank Daine’s. No matter how unfair the split, life always arranged everything back to order, especially if you nudged it along.
Basically, I got a promising passive ability and a combat form that was far from the pinnacle of its power. Where would I get so many attribute points? I wasn’t even finished with developing the Proxy abilities...
However, one didn’t refuse epic archetypes. The only thing I would lose was the uncommon Warrior archetype I had received back in my first month in the game, thanks to the Liberty instructions. It couldn’t even hold a candle against the abilities of the Demon Prince. I was well aware that the true hero was hanging on my sword belt. Without the flaming blade, I was an ordinary player who could never hope to obtain Supreme Demon Blood. Hird’s alchemist had been right to be surprised. But if the system allowed me to get my pick from the wheel of fortune, I had to use it.
Of course, experience told me that a lucky streak often resulted in a big-time misfortune, but I had no time to chew on that thought, as angled lines of a pentagram suddenly flashed right beneath my feet.
You are summoned by Mara, the Mistress of the Wandering Succubate!
I was immediately pulled into the newly appeared star and spat out onto hard rocks. It felt like collapsing through the beams to the floor below. However, the system announced that I was in another world.
You are entering the world of Infernis
Class: E (Scorching)
Location: Netherworlds
Size: Medium
So despite my warnings, the demoness had decided to use the Consort’s Tiara and make good on her threat to summon me into the Netherworlds. She had the worst timing!
Anger swelled inside me, and I slowly stood up from the floor and looked around. The summoning had brought me to a large room that looked like a copy of a medieval painting. Obsidian walls, baroque scarlet furniture, drapery, gilded decorations... Thick candles, black and red, lit up the alcoves, emanating a sweet intoxicating scent. Sculptures and carvings adorning the walls depicted humans and demons coming together in passion. Through the arched windows, I could see a large open balcony and impenetrable red fog outside, adding a tinge of dark blood to everything around.
Mara was sitting half-naked in an elegant chair, her legs crossed. The new Mistress of the Succubate had her gaze fixated on me. She had chosen a human form, a pretty young girl. What a beauty! Feisty blue eyes, waves of raven-black hair falling to her waist... I couldn’t help but glance at her nude skin, barely concealed by a translucent gauze fabric. A yellow-green snake coiled around one of the demoness’ arms, its head buried in her hair.
“I warned you,” I said softly, my hand on Aelmaris’ grip.
“I know, I know!” Mara replied in a mocking tone, pleased by the effect her looks had on me. “But don’t forget that you’re my consort! I can sense you. Well, congratulations — now you’re a part of the ruling bloodline, too!”
She stood up and gracefully circled me, shamelessly examining me.
“Remove your sword,” she said, smiling provocatively. “You won’t need it today.”
In truth, it was good that she had summoned me. Speak of the devil, pretty much. We had a decisive battle ahead of us and could use the Succubate’s help, but I couldn’t activate another Grand Summoning until a month after the previous one. I had to negotiate, and the Demon Prince archetype was bound to help me.
“What do you want from me?” I asked. “I doubt you summoned me here just to chat!”
“Darling, it’s not about a conversation. If you’d like, we can eschew words,” Mara purred, casually running her hand against my chest, her huge blue-grey eyes staring right at me.
“Sorry, honey, but I don’t find you arousing,” I retorted, sneering just like she was. “What’s the purpose of these tricks? I’ve seen your true appearance!”
“As if I’m offering you to bed my combat form,” the Mistress of the Succubate snorted. The snake coiling around her arm raised its head and hissed at me, inflating its hood.
“It’s an interesting idea, of course, but you’d never survive that,” she continued, stepping back. “However, you’re right. Let’s get to the point. The Succubate needs your help!”
She walked forward, gesturing for me
