“What I want is for you to become a vessel of mine.”

  The implication ?— at least if she understood what was saying ?— was chilling for Amber, after all, a vessel was that. A vessel. Something to be inhabited. She recoiled away from the Primordial Spirit as he simply sinisterly smiled at her.

  “What?”

  “You heard me, become my vessel, and great rewards will await you,” he said, as if explaining the obvious. “It’s not a permanent deal, I do not want to be human, nor do I exactly feel excited about becoming you. This is for something greater.”

  “To escape this tower, and attain your freedom?” Amber asked, frowning.

  He smiled, seemingly pleased with her cooperation. “Exactly, and to enact revenge on your friend as well. Of course, it cannot be done without your acceptance, so how about it?”

  Amber blinked and the spirit whispered into her ear, having teleported behind her.

  “Name your price. Strength, riches, knowledge. It all shall be granted. All I need is some of your time.”

  His voice still carried Essence.

  Even though he made it sound like an option it was clearly not. He was essentially demanding her to comply lest she wanted to suffer the consequences. It was… it was just like every situation she had been in since arriving in Vir.

  “So?” he prodded.

  Amber gritted her teeth.

  Every single time she met someone ridiculously strong they demanded things of her, because in Vir, strength ruled. Whether it was on her first meeting with Ax’thra, or even meeting Frei. But at the same time, she wasn’t the same person as back then, was she? She had undergone a Special Class Advancement, she had fundamentally changed. She was afraid right now, but she was also… angry.

  After all, the Primordial Spirit was still trying to coerce her, even though it was clear she wasn’t going to cooperate. And more importantly, could he even actually kill her? Was it even possible for him to do so? Ignoring whether Sid’fril had accounted for this or not, was it even good for him to kill her?

  Finally, Amber had her answer.

  “I don’t want any of that, nor will I be your vessel.” She glared at the spirit, her voice turning cold. “While I’ve been rather lenient in being rewarded, I hate handouts to power. Being a god, getting stronger, saving myself from my lifespan issues which aren’t even that big, they are all things I will do myself.”

  She faced the god.

  “There is nothing you can give me that will entice me to such a ridiculous offer. You’d have better luck being a demon and offering me a deal,” she spat.

  Amber waited for his reply, for his anger, but instead, all the spirit did was smile in a friendly manner. Whether it was amusement or not, she didn’t know. Instead, he spoke calmly and matter-of-factly.

  “You are rather brave, but remember, you are in my territory. For as long as you are here, you cannot do as you please.”

  Amber in return pointed out what she already guessed.

  “You cannot kill me.”

  “Oh, I won’t do anything to you. In fact, Sid’fril explicitly told me I cannot lay a finger on you without your consent, however for this I don’t need to do anything but disable that pesky journal you acquired.” He teleported as he began to walk away. “You will just remain in this tower until your friends come to rescue you, but who knows how long that’ll take.”

  So that’s his plan, she concluded.

  “If you change your mind, you can come seek me out. There are no more floors for you to explore, but feel free to teleport around the tower and look around.”

  With those words, he waved and disappeared, leaving her behind.

  There was no big confrontation, no anger, there was simply expectation. Expectation of her to fold to his demands due to not having any other option. That was his entire plan, he knew that without him Amber was… stranded. At least, for a while.

  Coupled with the fact that she’d either have to use levels, and Arkara’s Pendant to survive, or she’d die, it was quite the predicament. But at the same time, that didn’t necessarily anger her, after all. Even if she was bound to die soon, she still had a whole damn decade before that happened. What actually bothered her was something else, something that was a lot simpler.

  “He’s looking down on me,” she whispered.

  Not only had he left her alone, he had left her in the treasury. Was he really so sure there was no alternative for her to leave aside from Ishtar’s Journal or simply call for help? The Primordial Spirit truly thought he had won, evidently thinking she couldn’t make use of anything

  Which is why, she didn’t let it bother her for too long and instead got to work.

  Her eyes looked at the vast expanse that was the sea of artifacts, and while she could’ve taken the chance to also pocket any artifact, she chose to remain focused.

  Amber scoured the entirety of the room that went as far as the eye could see, using her skills to speed up the process. And while at first she was motivated, she quickly began to lose hope. After all, every single artifact present didn’t seem to help, and also…

  Most of them suck…

  She looked at the description before her and sighed.

  [??? ?— Book of Riddles ?— ???

  This book was penned by ??? the Primordial Spirit and is filled with knowledge. Holding this book increases your Wisdom and Intelligence by 5%. This book bear the enhancements of:

  Ability: Riddle Solver: For as long as you read the Book of Riddles every riddle in the world will be easier.

  Ability: Riddle Creator: For as long as you read the Book of Riddles the riddles you make will be world class.]

  A lot of the divine artifacts present felt like they were just there to fill up the space rather than do anything useful. And maybe that was their use. There was also the fact that she had yet to find a single artifact whose description she couldn’t see inside the tower, it was something that now thinking about was weird. After all, the Pendant of Arkara’s description was visible but the staff’s wasn’t.

  All in all, it was looking bleak but she didn’t give up.

  And eventually, after an indeterminate amount of time Amber found something she had found interesting, before finally deciding to take a break. She had to think about how to use the item she had found, it was bound to be useful in some way.

  She returned to her starting point and laid down on a couch she had found, and stared at the ceiling.

  “Hmm.” She twirled a golden bracelet on her hand. “This is a start, but what kind of start?”

  Using Appraisal on it, didn’t make it seem that special but Amber thought it had potential.

  [Relic Grade ?— Bracelet of Companionship ?— ???

  This bracelet was created by the Last Great Archmage Simon in an attempt to never lose what was precious to him again. His sentiments and the materials of the higher realm that have been used during the crafting has caused this to grace the realm of gods. Blessed by ??? the Primordial Spirit this bracelet has turned into a bonafide divine artifact. Wearing this bracelet allows you to teleport to its marked companion at any time.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Ability: Companion Mark: For as long as you are wearing this bracelet you can mark someone who you deeply trust in as a companion.

  Ability: Companion Bond: For as long as you are wearing this bracelet you can tell where your companion is at all times.]

  The reason for potential was simple: she trusted that the Primordial Spirit wouldn’t hurt her, in fact, she trusted that with her life. And knowing the System, knowing all her experiences, and now that she had Essence, she knew that that level of trust cleared the requirement to use the Bracelet of Companionship. After all, there were a bunch of loopholes to be found in the System, and this was one of them.

  Turns out all her messing around upon coming to this world had paid off slightly.

  “But now what?” Amber wandered.

  Finally her eyes wandered off to the pile of artifacts the Primordial Spirit had initially offered to her. All this time she had been searching through the room, but she hadn’t taken a look at any of the artifacts lying before her.

  She eyed the pile for a moment, and while she didn’t expect anything, Amber decided to muster up the energy to diligently take a look at the artifacts. The main things that caught her attention were the curses, a sword, and the potions, but even those things themselves didn’t seem useful for escaping.

  Finally, her eyes landed on the final object, and just as she was about to sigh, she had a realization.

  He wanted a vessel, no?

  Finally, she looked at everything around her. She thought over her situation hard, she thought of her few bargaining chips, the things she could do, and finally upon thinking long and hard, she came to a realization.

  She had struck gold.

  The answer to her problems was right before her, and all it took was a plan. First were the three curses he had offered her.

  [??? ?— Curse of Dissolution ?— ???]

  [??? ?— Curse of Fallen Stars ?— ???]

  [??? ?— Curse of Eternal Slumber ?— ???]

  Amber didn’t even care for their descriptions at this point, she just stored them into her ring. She wasn’t even going to learn them either, after all, she needed the concentrated versions for her plan. Instead, she moved on to the next important thing.

  The sword.

  [??? ?— Dragon Slayer Sword: Ar’kri ?— ???

  This sword was forged from the remains of a ??? at the hands of the best elven smiths in all of Vir, and has ascended to become a divine artifact. Wielding the sword grants a 20% increase in Strength. This sword bears the enchantments of:

  Unbreakable: Dragon Slayer Sword: Ar’kri cannot be broken by the limits of mortals.

  Big Game Hunter: Dragon Slayer Sword: Ar’kri grows progressively more powerful against stronger opponents, reaching twice its strength against opponents twice as strong as its wielder.

  Power Overload: Dragon Slayer Sword: Ar’kri can be overloaded with mana or primordial power to increase its power at the cost of its durability.

  Hungry Edge: The longer the Dragon Slayer Sword: Ar’kri is in combat the sharper it grows.

  Aura Edge: Dragon Slayer Sword: Ar’kri can be coated with mana or primordial energy to enhance its cutting power against armored opponents.]

  It was a great sword and by all means, something that Amber would’ve loved to make hers, but today it had a different use. She threw it into her storage ring, and the available potions got thrown as well.

  [??? ?— Potion of Immemorial Mana ?— ???]

  [??? ?— Potion of Everlasting Essence ?— ???]

  [??? ?— Potion of Titanic Strength ?— ???]

  [??? ?— Potion of Self-repair ?— ???]

  …

  She also just wordlessly threw the potions into her storage ring, and finally she was ready. In all honesty, Amber seriously didn’t think the Primordial Spirit was even monitoring her right now, and even if he was he probably wouldn’t really care for anything she was doing because he seemed so certain of his own victory. Even though his entire grand plan was to strand her for ten years.

  So without any care in the world, Amber turned to the final piece of her plan.

  It was an offer the god wouldn’t be able to refuse, that much was certain.

  She chuckled and then took out the ‘Omnipresent Baton of the Shattered Tower’ the teleportation rod she had received as a reward that allowed her to go anywhere in the tower. And now, as expected it had the option to go to the room where the Primordial Spirit resided.

  “So, let’s pay him a visit, shall we?” Amber smiled.

  * * *

  The Primordial Spirit of the Shattered Tower was happy.

  He was happier than he had ever been in a very long time, and that was because the present that had delivered itself at his doorstep had finally reached him. His carefully curated plan was finally coming to fruition, and that had no greater feeling than knowing that the payoff of his patience was finally being rewarded.

  All he had to do was wait. Wait like he had been doing all this time, but unlike before, he was gaining something great.

  Freedom.

  The woman, Amber, had no choice but to comply after all. She had made her own funeral, both by exploring this tower and using almost all of her lifespan in the process. Doing that had made his job quite simple, allowing her to give her two choices; give him what he wants or ruin herself by using that divine artifact to attain more lifespan.

  Due to the distorted passage of time in his tower, he was more than certain she’d run out of patience before her rescue came. And by then, he would reap his rewards.

  Of course, he hadn’t lied to her, his request wasn’t permanent, and he wasn’t someone to just kill people for the fun of it. Plus, there was also the fact that Sid’fril’s contract was quite annoying, he couldn’t even lie to the girl. All he could do was resort to trickery, which he had. Unfortunately it didn’t work.

  “But in the end, it doesn’t matter that I failed…” He grinned. “After all, I just have to wait.”

  And on cue with his words, the girl he had been waiting for appeared, and unexpectedly, she was smiling.

  “So, you finally managed to see the positives of my offer?” he asked, not letting his happiness show.

  “Nope, I’ve come to offer you a deal instead,” she said, evidently confident in herself.

  The Primordial Spirit raised his brow, it simply didn’t make sense. Why did this human think she had any leverage? Was she stupid enough to say she was going to get Sid’fril to kill him or something if he didn’t accept?

  Well, it’s certainly amusing, he added in his mind.

  “And what is this deal that you speak of?”

  “It’s simple really,” she gestured as she summoned an object. “Instead of using me as a vessel, how about you use this?”

  She gestured at the egg next to her, and for a moment, he was stunned. It was the hydra egg that he had offered her. He stared at its pale lime surface for a moment, before finally, he burst out laughing. It was ridiculous, utterly and completely ridiculous.

  “Befriending me, isn’t going to change my mind!” he said, still laughing. “But good attempt.”

  Amber blinked. “Oh, it wasn’t a joke. I’m serious, use the hydra as your vessel and leave me alone, that’s my offer. Are you sure you want to refuse?”

  Hearing that, the Primordial Spirit paused. Was she mocking him? Was this some kind of joke? A sick joke? For a moment, he felt anger that such a puny being dared look down on him, but he quickly composed himself. That’s right, she was probably desperate, this was an attempt in desperation. There was no need to get angry at the helpless human, after all, when someone’s life is at stake it’s only natural of them to act irrationally.

  He smiled. “I’m not interested, come back when you’re ready to strike our deal.”

  “Is that so?”

  She tilted her head and sighed, almost as if it was an acted performance. A fake displeasure that he was able to sense.

  “That’s a shame, I was hoping I wouldn’t need to do this.”

  Following her words, a golden bracelet appeared on her wrist. It was something he recognized. It was the Bracelet of Companionship, but what would she even do with that?

  “From now on, I consider you my companion.” She pointed as the bracelet shone. “You can still change your mind.”

  The Primordial Spirit was now officially more confused than ever. “Why would I change my mind?”

  “Well…” she began. “I guess it doesn’t hurt to explain it.”

  With those words, a gigantic orange sword appeared. It resembled a misshapen and sharpened fang, and it was coated in flames right now. Of course, he also recognized the Dragon Slayer Sword, but the god wasn’t really following what she was doing, not at all.

  Had this human gone insane?

  That was the only logical explanation, first the bracelet, and then the sword. There was nothing to achieve with those objects. But she didn’t stop there, not at all. The next thing she did was pour a potion all over the sword.

  “You can’t hurt me at all, but you didn’t consider that a problem. After all, you planned on abusing the fact that I don’t have much time to your advantage,” she continued.

  The Primordial Spirit of the Shattered Tower blinked as she took out the bottles of curses he had offered her.

  “But you were wrong, and now, you’ll pay the price for underestimating me.”

  “What?—”

  And she splashed the three bottles of curses on him as they did nothing more than tickle. He hadn’t even flinched, but what happened next took him aback.

  “The fact that you cannot harm me is nothing short of a blessing,” she smiled dangerously.

  And following her words she chugged all the potions she had found, attaining what was essentially endless mana and Essence, and it didn’t stop there as her strength sharply rose and so did her speed. Then she used her cursed skills, her strength soaring once more. She injected mana and Essence into the Dragon Slayer Sword and she put the output of God’s Physique to the max as she began to glow.

  Finally, as she raised the glowing Dragon Slayer Sword the Primordial Spirit realized what was about to happen.

  “So brace yourself, mighty god, I want to see how long you can handle me going all out with your own artifacts.” She grinned. “I can’t wait to see who lasts longer.”

  For the first time since he was sealed he paled.

  “Stop?—”

  But it was too late.

  The Cursed Berserker hit him with all her strength, breaking the chamber apart.

  Reincarnation of the Death God

  NOTE: Also let me know if i missed an important detail in world building.

  P.S: Next chapter will be in a week or two, or... there might be another surprise chapter, who knows!