Chapter 153: Riva's Fate
However, he also did not wish to give away information regarding the type of improvement he had experienced and hence Sophia\'s question really put him in a difficult spot.
Keeping up with his act of being friendly, Rocky decided to tell her about the details that he knew she was bound to find out, however, decided to deliberately leave out the important bits that could reveal the degree of improvement he had experienced.
"My promotion test was weird….." Rocky said scratching his head, as he tried to act all natural and confused.
"It wasn\'t like the test that the university told us it would be, where our individual attributes were tested, but rather a test in a desolate land, that felt life threatening ish" Rocky continued, as Sophia listened to him in rapt attention.
"I think us Champion\'s Of Gods, are tested in a special realm where our promotion tests differ greatly from normal climbers.
The test I was given was to dip myself in a lake for 30 minutes where I was supposed to survive the icy cold, and to be honest I almost got hypothermia after a few minutes and was on the verge of losing my consciousness..." Rocky said, mixing the truth about the origin realm with some lies, as Sophia nodded her head in understanding.
\'So he went in the icy cold pool huh…. The \'A\' ranked promotion test. A rank below what brother Perseus suggested I take….\' Sophia thought, as she knew about the icy cold pool, which was supposedly the \'A\' ranked difficulty pool.
It wasn\'t an easy pool to pass by any means and greatly improved one\'s constitution and physique upon completion. However, the rewards were not as good as the S or higher ranked pools either.
"Oh, a special realm for us Champion\'s? My family did mention something like that …." Sophia said, trying to play dumb, however, Rocky, who could observe her black aura, knew instantly that she was not being truthful.
Nonetheless he ignored her deceit and warned her to the best of her abilities about the challenges that she might face when attempting the promotion challenge.
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( Meanwhile Riva )
Saliva mixed with blood dripped constantly from Riva\'s mouth, as her usually radiant and intelligent eyes seemed hollow.
Being given shot after shot of brain altering drugs and hallucinogens. She had now been subjected to months of mental and psychological torture as the Olympians tried to break her psyche and train her into becoming a perfect puppet.
Showing strong resistance to their schemes for months, Riva tried her best to cling on to her sanity, however, lately, undef effects of hallucinogens she no longer realized what was real and what wasn\'t anymore, as she finally began behaving like a lunatic.
Initially, the Olympians kidnapped her under the suspicion that she was the hidden Champion Of Gemini.
However, their frustration was boundless when they realized that she wasn\'t who they thought she was and that she had not been entrusted with Gemini\'s fragment of divinity.
For a lesser gods and Monarch\'s, a fragment of divinity was priceless, as having one allowed them to enter the Origin Realm, giving them an opportunity to hunt the strong monsters and attempt the fabled floor 90 promotion test, which was impossible to attempt by Monarch\'s not chosen by the tower.
For those individuals, who were deemed unworthy of promotion by the tower, stealing a fragment of divinity was the only way they could move forward and hence for Perseus and Sophia\'s father, Escanor, getting his hands on one such fragment was top priority.
He was the mastermind behind Riva\'s kidnapping and her subsequent detaining, however, while he could not extract a fragment of divinity from her, in her delirious state of mind, Riva began mumbling about a time and a world that differed completely from what Escanor knew about the universe, as at that moment he found out a truth about this universe that nobody apart from him knew.
Sigma, Omega, The universal queen, the perfect warrior, a time before the tower….. Riva mumbled tit-bits about such interesting yet vivid tales, that made Escanor realize that although she wasn\'t the asset he wanted, she was much more valuable than anything he could ever imagine.
By nature, Riva was an extremely strong willed individual.
She was the first choice for the Gemini gods to be made Champion and showed excellent mental fortitude, had high intelligence and a high degree of self esteem.
She showed no fear towards permanent amputation or physical pain, with the only thing she truly feared being the loss of her chastity.
Since the loss of her virginity was the only leverage that Escanor had over her, he never let anyone touch or rape Riva as once that leverage was gone and she lost her only fear, he would become unable to control her anymore, which would stop her from giving him the important information that she gave him daily to trade for her safety.
Up till now, the tales she narrated were vague and measured, however, as the dosage of her neuro-altering drugs increased and her control over mind finally started to loosen, she finally started to slip and give him tit-bits of information that could potentially harm Gemini.
"So Ravan has four wives huh? All of them being a different race….. it seems like the god of war is a trophy wife collector too. Makes you wonder if one of them is her soulmancer... but would he even choose a woman as the protector of his soul?" Escanor wondered, as he ran his fingers across Riva\'s face.
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/// A/N - This bonus chapter is sponsored by Patron Allcat_Gaming, please thank him in the comments for the same!
Also, I\'ve decided that for the month of May only, I shall be giving two bonus chapters instead of one for super gifts. So there will be a second bonus chapter for the same tonight. ///