PftA Book 5 - Chapter 43 - Reaching the Pinnacle

The subtle pressure that settled on my mind let me know I’d reached my goal without ever needing to look at my status. Still, I pulled up the familiar screen to verify I’d finally reached my goal.

                ***

Name: Emie Momentia
Level: 100 (204771/204610)
Profession: (P) Enchanter
                          (S) Researcher
                          (T) Gardener
Affinities: Time, Space, Arcane

                ***
Health: 380/380
Stamina: 612/690
Mana: 949/1350

                ***
Attributes
Strength – 31
Agility – 40
Vitality – 38
Intelligence – 135
Wisdom – 85
Perception – 50

                ***
Spells*
Skills*

                ***

It wasn’t by much, but I’d officially earned enough experience to ascend, making me a true Pinnacle.

“Finally!” I exclaimed before teleporting to the closest portal. I wasn’t going to waste any more time lingering in the dungeon when I was finally free to leave.

Before going, I sent a quick message to the acquaintances I’d made over the decades, letting them know that I’d reached the Pinnacle and was leaving the dungeon.

I wasn’t particularly close with any of them, but I didn’t think it was right to leave without at least sending a message. As soon as the messages were sent, I chose to exit the dungeon and stepped through the swirling portal.

I barely allowed myself a moment to take in my surroundings before I teleported away.

I’d been gone for too long to just show up in anyone’s home, no matter how closely related we might be. Since I’d Marked a few of the most important people in my life before returning to the dungeon (with their permission, of course), it wasn’t hard to locate the person I wanted to see first.

I didn’t teleport directly to her location since I didn’t want to interrupt anything she might be doing. I wasn’t familiar enough with her new city to know where she was, but since it was the middle of the day, I assumed she was still at work.

Mom had taken a position as a senior Healer for one of the hospitals in Dallas. Though most of the countries of the world no longer existed – and those that did were more like vassal states to the nobles in charge – the names of cities had largely persisted.

I targeted the closest open space to Mom’s location, and found myself in a small park next to a large hospital. Based on the enchantments I sensed, it was clear that the structure had been built after the reintegration.

Most of the buildings nearby were the same, though I noticed a few older structures as well.  The majority of those appeared to line a historical district of some sort, which was protected by external formations instead of integrated enchantments.

“Could you let Healer Avery know that her daughter is here to see her?” I asked one of the clerks at the front desk.

The woman gave me a questioning look. She was probably wondering why I didn’t just send her a message if I was really her daughter.

“I’m trying to surprise her,” I added, answering the unspoken question.

I felt the identification spell and smiled. I’d altered the display since I was on a lower-tier world. Instead of providing false information, I just had a series of question marks show up instead.

Seeing it, the clerk’s face paled. “I’ll let her know right away!” the woman said before rushing away, leaving the desk unmanned.

I sighed. I certainly wouldn’t miss causing this kind of reaction when I ascended.

Of course, I could have probably avoided it by displaying false information instead, but that was neither here nor there.

“Emie!” Mom practically shouted when she came through the door a few minutes later. She rushed over and threw her arms around me. “You should have told me you were coming! I would have taken the day off!”

I was careful not to squeeze too hard since she was still only level thirty-four. I could only assume she had relied solely on her role as a Healer to gain experience instead of making a more active effort to level since I’d returned to the dungeon.

Still, she was making progress, and that was all I could really hope for.

“I told you I planned to leave the dungeon as soon as I could,” I said with a smile as I pulled away. “I was literally still in the dungeon ten minutes ago.”

After nearly two decades ‘standard time,’ Mom still looked pretty much the same as she had when I left. It was the result of both reaching Tier Four and the rejuvenation treatments I’d given her.

We could easily pass as sisters for any who could look past our dramatically different hair and eye colors.

“So, I’m the first person you came to see?” she asked, beaming. “That makes me feel pretty good! Come on back. You can give me a hand with some of the harder patients. I’m sure your healing has only gotten better over the years.”

She tapped the control panel next to the door, and it immediately slid open.

“We don’t have a lot of healers with a Time affinity. Honestly, those we do have are mostly limited to healing simple injuries and illnesses by speeding natural recovery, since few reach the hospital quickly enough to take advantage of their restoration spells.”

She looked at me with a knowing expression. “I don’t imagine you suffer from the same problem anymore, being a Pinnacle and all.”

One of the people walking nearby stumbled when he heard Mom’s comment, but we both pretended not to notice.

“Of course, I doubt anyone here can compensate you properly for your efforts, but I’m sure you won’t mind volunteering a bit of your mana. I know I raised you properly,” she added with a pointed look.

“I don’t mind helping,” I said with a chuckle. “Maybe if I heal everyone, you’ll be able to take the rest of the day off?”

“I’m sure I can work something out. Let’s get you properly registered first. Even with how much the world has changed, it seems the need for paperwork remains the same.”

In truth, the paperwork barely took any time at all. Lisa filled out most of it, and all I really needed to do was add my mana signature. As a senior Healer, Mom was able to sign off on the volunteer authorization herself, and I was healing patients just a few minutes later.

It took about an hour to heal everyone in the hospital. It would have taken less, but I’d gotten waylaid talking to a group of children who’d been injured when a newly awakened youth had accidentally caused an earthquake while showing off his new spells to his friends.

The incident had happened at a park – one of those that doubled as recreational training facilities – and resulted in quite a few injuries.

None of the kids inside the wards were injured, but several children were outside the protective wards when the earthquake hit. Since the affected children were unawakened, there were a few pretty serious injuries.

One of the little girls had somehow recognized me, which had sparked a slew of questions that I didn’t feel right ignoring. I ended up spending about twenty minutes answering the kids’ questions and taking pictures with everyone before I was finally able to extricate myself.

I hadn’t bothered with a disguise when I entered the hospital since I figured, as a Pinnacle, I should be capable of handling pretty much anything that came my way. Most of my fellow Pinnacles had already ascended, after all, and I doubted those who remained were interested in bothering me in the short time I had before ascending.

Even if they did want to try, I wasn’t overly worried. I’d updated my talismans and protective artifacts to ensure I’d be safe, regardless. I’d even incorporated some intent-based triggers for those that I couldn’t sense any other way.

Though rare, I’d encountered more than one creature in the dungeon that could hide from my perception skills. They tended to be ambush predators, which meant I had to develop measures to counter such attacks.

Though not the same as feral, humanoid mobs, the artifacts would work just as well to protect me from people with nefarious intentions.

“Is that everyone?” I asked after healing the last patient.

My Arcane affinity had really helped to bridge the gap with my healing capabilities, especially when paired with my barely-used Medical Knowledge and other healing-related skills.

“Yes, that’s the last…”

Mom’s voice faltered as her eyes fell on an approaching Healer. I watched with interest as her expression shifted into something I didn’t expect to see.

‘Is she crushing on that Healer?’ I mused.

If so, I was all for it. As far as I was concerned, Mom had spent too much time alone. It was about time she moved on. In fact, just seeing the blatant interest in her eyes brought me a strange comfort.

I’d always hoped that she’d eventually find someone else. Even if it didn’t work out with this particular person, I was happy to see Mom’s spark hadn’t completely died.

“Hey, Avery! The boss is sending a bunch of us home early today. I guess some high-ranking Healer came through and healed everyone,” the man said with a friendly smile. “Someone mentioned it was a Pinnacle, but I’ve never heard of one of those coming to a little backwater like Earth. I’m not sure our planet could even handle someone that strong.”

Mom’s eyes darted to me before returning to the man. His perceptive eyes caught the movement, and he immediately extended his hand.

“Hi! I’m Jake Greyson – not a noble, just a follower of the old ways,” he said with a touch of humor.

“I’m Emie – Avery’s daughter,” I said, shaking his hand.

“Ah! The eldest daughter. The Trinity, if I recall correctly.”

He didn’t seem to care overmuch about the title, which I was actually glad for. I didn’t like dealing with people who fawned all over me because I had a third affinity. In fact, I didn’t like dealing with people who fawned all over me for any reason.

That kind of attention was too uncomfortable. It also felt very fake – and I’d never been much for platitudes or sycophants.

“That’s me,” I said casually.

“I thought you were stuck in that famous dungeon until you reached the Pinnacle,” Jake said with a hint of concern. “Did you have to leave early or something?”

“No,” I shook my head. “I reached my goal. This will probably be my last visit before I ascend. I can already feel the realm encouraging me to leave.”

Jake gave Mom a look of sympathy before saying, “Oh, well… congratulations, I guess.”

“Thanks. It’s bittersweet. I’m looking forward to ascending and starting a new chapter in my life, maybe taking things a bit slower and living more instead of just pushing forward. But I’m also going to miss this realm and the people I’m leaving behind.”

I wrapped an arm around Mom as I spoke, giving her a light squeeze to make it clear that she was one of the people I’d miss.

“So… you have a thing for Jake, huh?” I said playfully as we left the building a few minutes later.

Mom glanced around nervously, checking to make sure nobody overheard what I said.

“Don’t worry,” I added. “I isolated us with a barrier. Nobody can hear us.”

It was a trick I’d learned when I’d taken Arcane Stealth apart and tried to understand each of its component parts. Isolating sound was an important part of true stealth, and I’d learned to recreate that without adding all the rest of it in.

I could do something similar with a regular Barrier by limiting soundwaves exiting the barrier, but it was easier and more mana efficient to use the new version instead.

“We’ve gone on a few dates,” Mom admitted. “It’s nothing serious.”

“Well, I’m glad to see you’re putting yourself out there again, even if you aren’t ready for anything serious yet,” I added playfully. “If that changes, just know that I support you. I want you to be happy, Mom.”

“Thanks. I want the same for you.”

Mom removed the old, low-tier pod I’d given her ages ago from her ring and expanded it into its vehicle form.

“Didn’t I give you a new version after I left the dungeon last time?” I asked.

Mom grimaced before looking away sheepishly. “I gave it to Ester as an awakening gift. This one is fine, anyway. It looks nice, and it’s not like I need anything stronger here on Earth.”

Ester was Amie’s oldest child. She’d turned fifteen a year and a half earlier. Raymond, her second-oldest, turned fifteen earlier in the year, but his awakening ceremony wasn’t scheduled for another few weeks if my calculations were correct.

Amie had mentioned it in one of her recent messages, but I hadn’t given it much thought aside from a vague hope that I might make it in time.

The younger two kids were eleven and twelve, respectively. As much as I hoped to be around when they awakened, I didn’t think it was likely.

“No worries. I’ll craft you a new one and make a bunch more to add to the trust as awakening gifts. I still want them to get an E3 amulet for safety’s sake, but a pod also makes sense. And it’s not like it’ll cost much for the materials since I plan to make them low-tier. Anything better would probably cause more harm than good.”

It was the reason I didn’t plan to give anyone my personal pod. Instead, I planned to set it up on a small slice of land that had been set aside for me next to the Time well.

While there were still years to go on the waiting period, the Epikairos Sect was able to accelerate its claim by promising that the one compound and its associated property would be sufficient to clear any claims by Epikairos disciples against the former sect’s holdings.

Since I was naturally included in that claim, the bureaucrats in charge were happy to agree to the concession.

Everything had been handled shortly after I returned to the dungeon, and Patriarch Fora had assured me that my request for a small plot of land would be honored.

I’d already explained my plan to leave the pods I’d used as living spaces for the next generation of Epikairos disciples, so he was happy with my minor request.

I had considered the possibility of leaving the pods to my family, but realized that even the Tier Nine pod would have brought more trouble than benefit since nobody in my family was strong enough to keep such a valuable resource.

The sect, on the other hand, could certainly protect such items.