Jacob grimaced as he pulled back on the hilt of his blade, the runes that adorned the soaked blade glowed with orange-yellow light—the blood-drenched corpse of the cultist fell before him; his final thrust having finished his foe, and a darned tough one at that. The cultist decided that he'd have to lose both of his mutated arms first… He turned and looked across the foreboding landscape before him. Houses alight along the edge of the docks and disfigured bodies of cult-worshippers lay strewn across the decks of wooden jetties, ones that the small ships his crew had come ashore in tied onto.
Most of the crew had survived the initial encounter with the cultists, but not all. Jacob was wracking his mind to work out how it had all descended into such chaos, or how an Empire outpost had become so overrun with the taint of Thyrox.
He glanced down at the arms of the cultist before him, arms covered with deep black feathers, like those of a harpy, but rather than being separated wings and arms, it was like they had been amalgamated into one; at the end of the arms were claw-like fingers wrapping around small blades. "Definitely corruption," he thought.
Why was it that anytime he followed the scent of that man it led to trouble. He thought those days had gone. "Blast it, Edward! Isn't it enough that you left us?!" Jacob cursed.
At least Pranat was ok, Jacob could hear the man yelling in the distance, most likely at him.
"Fuckin' stinkin' stupid bastard cock-suckin—" The voice yelled taking a small break as a clash of steel rang out in the air "—whore lovin', pig humpin' shit! I told 'im! I FUCKING TOLD HIM!"
Pranat had a way with words, and he found himself smile despite the chaos around him. Peace was never made to last; it fell to them to eradicate the threat on Yamthos. His nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath and grimaced, he could smell the toxins in the mana around them. They needed to resolve the situation here swiftly, the key would have to wait.
Jacob narrowed his eyes and looked at the port town in front of them. If the shoreline was anything to go by, they would have to fight through hundreds of cultists. His smile returned wider than before, "Not too old yet, I reckon…" he said as he burst forward with a pulse of mana.
[New Skill Acquired: Flames of Orus - Legendary - Tier 0, Level 1 - +5 Intelligence per level, +5 Perception per level - Draw upon not only the element of fire, but of the unique Mana of Orus, Conjurer of the Ethereal Flame, System Chosen]
Elias grinned as the power had finished eneveloping his spirit. This Orus guy, he was powerful, powerful enough to have his own type of Mana and not only that, he had multiple titles. Elias guessed this was like the title that the System had unofficially given him: Aspirant. Orus's was much cooler though. What was a System Chosen too? Did that mean the System didn't pit Orus against death-defying odds at every opportunity?
Elias sighed and shook his head, No, that meant he would definitely be pitted against death-defying odds at every opportunity.
There was so much to take in from the brief encounter with Orus, he had spoke of so many strange things that now plagued his mind. Other worlds? Other than Arwen's moon… that was just strange. Stages of progression? Elias had originally thought this meant Tiers, but that was wrong… if Orus had indeed not lied about his current level then it would make no sense. Generally, a Tier 2 had skills up to level forty and as such Elias guessed their overall level would be similar to that, but he couldn't be sure. There had been a number of times Elias had tried to 'scan' himself—to no avail. Every monster within the Dungeon had a level displayed when he scanned them so he thought maybe he could bypass his 'Not Applicable' status by examining himself. He was of course, wrong and knew that if it was that simple Orus would have just figured him out to be level zero… or whatever someone who hadn't fully awakened was.
It was concerning to think that Orus had commented on how unusual partial-awakenings were, Elias had originally thought them rare but for a being of such unbelievable power to have been momentarily shocked by his current predicament left him uneasy.
Then there was the man's age… he'd glossed over Orus's comments relating to time, so caught up in the moment, but now that he replayed the conversation over he knew he hadn't mistaken his words, Orus had said millennia… how was that possible? Sure Tier two's and above lived well beyond the normal life expectancy of a Tier One… but maybe a hundred or so more years… not thousands?
"Uthred never mentioned how strange the world was when you were touched by the System… Neither had Jacob… maybe this was all part of the great surprise? Awaken, almost die and then cry, lots," He slapped himself a couple of times.
The surprise encounter was one that he would not soon forget and it was one that left him, surprisingly, with some hope. If this Orus had managed to live for millennia, then maybe he might be able to avoid dying in the next few minutes.
Thinking of the inevitable death ahead of him, his stomach growled, he was getting hungry, and the drain of the disc had left him with less than half of his total mana left—a small expense for the magic that it produced, but he still had less than he wanted to, should he find the entrance to the trial itself.
And, that was the final thing Elias had been mulling over from their conversation, Orus had warned him to be careful… that the Dungeon wasn't acting as designed… He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, he thought that it could be linked to his Tier Zero and the Dungeon adapting to him slightly, but he also thought that it was unlikely, based on the concern Orus had shown in his last words.
"Hunger first… System shit later…" Elias groaned as he succumbed to his stomachs endling groaning, he decided that it was inevitable that he would eat the flora from the jungle, he had also reasoned that if the flora absorbed his Essence, eating the flora would likely flood him with it… Was that a good thing? No. Definitely not. But he already had claws for feet. It wasn't as though he'd grow wings. Would he?
In the end, he did not spout wings from his back, and each bite of the juicy stems of thick plants only provided him with a disappointing equilibrium of Essence, it drained as he chewed and spat it back out within him, one bite had managed to increase his Essence by one, it was a particularly tough mouthful that made him gag as he swallowed. At this point, one essence felt like a drop in the ocean.
The plants also applied a similar regeneration effect as that of the moss, but it was not as powerful. Maybe it was due to the corruption of essence, or maybe the moss was just better? Regardless the stems of the tall plants were at least edible in comparison to the putrid taste of moss, the texture was easier to palate as well.
He was perched at the edge of the clearing and spent the next few hours thinking over his encounter, his next steps forwards and his inability to wear boots… he had started to miss boots.
In that time he also decided that to run over his stats as a whole, it had felt like he had improved a lot, despite the lack of fighting.
[Name: Elias Grey
Race: Human, Male
Age: 17
Disabled Functionality: N/A
Disabled Functionality: N/A
Life Points: 215 / 215
Mana Points: 142 / 152
Essence: 731 / 15
Strength: 23
Endurance: 38
Vitality: 38
Willpower: 75
Intelligence: 39
Perception: 30
Agility: 23
Luck: 55
Available Attributes for distribution: 0
Titles:
Brave Antagonist,
Potential Prodigy,
Survivor,
Seedling,
Aberration Slayer,
Skilled,
Dungeon Delver
Innate Abilities: 1 / 1
Corrupted Core - Unique - Tier 0, Level 3
Skills: 5 / 5
Mana Manipulation - Basic - Tier 0, Level 7
Mana Barrier - Basic - Tier 0, Level 9
Scan - Basic - Tier 0, Level 5
Enhancement - Spirit - Tier 0, Level 6
Flames of Orus - Tier 0, Level 1]
Looking over his stats, he grinned, his greatly enhanced Life Force, Mana and Attributes filled him with a sense of achievement. He knew he could take at least two Urstok on now with ease. Did he want to? No, they were horrific and it would hurt like hell, but he knew that he could. He also knew that an Aberration from Haven's Point would stand almost no chance against him in single combat now, even if he was still Tier zero, it was a thought that filled him with both pride and sorrow, He was getting stronger, just as he had vowed, but it was too little too late.
He shook his head, regardless of any of that, that winged Aberration would have still obliterated him in seconds—Just how strong was Jacob, to have stood up against that thing?
The more that Elias learned of those under the power of the System, the more he realised just how much of an empowerment the System was, it wasn't a small percentage increase above an unawakened, it was a multiplier that could be a hundred times or more. No wonder people wanted to be Adventurers, but he also knew that not all innate abilities were made equal, and that not everyone had a mentor that would split their skills to bestow it upon them, "Thanks, Uthred… I think…"
After a small while more passed he stood and focussed on the centre of the clearing, the draw he'd felt from outside the jungle and as he had moved throughout the natural paths had drawn him here, to this clearing. And, it wasn't Orus that he'd been drawn to, he felt it still.
He moved to the centre of the clearing.
Upon reaching the point, dead centre in the middle he looked around, and he felt his chest throb with an urge, and not a good one. He wanted to devour something, to touch something—but what? He couldn't see anything other than the stupid rocky emptiness and the red-thorned jungle that surrounded him.
"Come on…" Elias said as he scratched his claws against the rocky ground—it was strangely comforting, he felt a difference of texture as one of his claws ground over the floor, and he looked down. There was a rune.
"That is exactly the kind of ominous-looking crap we're looking for!" he said as he knew, he'd found the next piece of the puzzle.
With little to no hesitation, he touched it? Why? Well, at this point, why not?