Chapter 166: Forced Change
<span style="font-weight:400">“Drake! Drake!!! Dr..k.e…!!!?!?” Natto screamed out desperately at the lifeless body on the floor, struggling to shake him awake.
<span style="font-weight:400">Her voice was suddenly caught in the back of her throat as she felt an overwhelming presence in the room.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Rather rude, is it not? To ignore your benefactor.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Natto broke out into a cold sweat, her body shaking uncontrobly as she turned toward the voice.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It seems that the monkey has passed out from blood loss. Here.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Natto fully faced the being that spoke, her body shivering at every word as her hair and tail stood on end.
<span style="font-weight:400">In full view standing in front of her was a woman with porcin skin, in a wless white robe that draped over her perfectly. Its long sleeves reached the floor. Adorning her body were golden streaks of lightning reaching up her arms, exposed leg, and neck until it convened in a golden circle around her neck.
<span style="font-weight:400">Upon her headid two magnificent ivory-like antlers jutting out from her glistening silver hair.
<span style="font-weight:400">The eyes that looked back at Natto were a fierce golden hue, with slitted pupils of a predator. Her thin lips curved into a slight smile as a single fang protruded from her sealed rose-colored lips.
<span style="font-weight:400">Reaching out the woman held a clear vial with a golden choker. Red liquid filling it. A Health Potion.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Take it,” the woman said softly.
<span style="font-weight:400">Natto was forced into shock, her mind both stumbling over itself and going nk out of fear instantaneously.
<span style="font-weight:400">“W-what do you want… in return..?” Natto asked, struggling to force out the words.
<span style="font-weight:400">The woman’s smile broadened her fangs on full disy.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Why? Must I need something in return for helping a promising participant?” she mused.
<span style="font-weight:400">Natto looked down at Drake, his body turning cold under her hands as she ground her teeth with indecision.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Hurry now, the poor thing is going to perish soon if you do nothing. And you along with it.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Natto bit her lip and lunged for the potion, her fright disappearing as she snatched it from the woman’s hand.
<span style="font-weight:400">Immediately popping the cork she forced it down Drake’s throat and poured the rest onto his open stomach wound. His body mending instantly as both the color and warmth returned to his body.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Who are you…” Natto asked, turning again to the woman.
<span style="font-weight:400">The woman raised a brow and her smile disappeared as she waved her arm.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Your insolence is noted, <i><span style="font-weight:400">Assistant.</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Now sleep, I have much to discuss with my little toy.”
<hr>
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake’s body felt heavy. Worse than any other time he had been injured. His consciousness returning slowly, as his eyes struggled to pry open. But once he realized he was not dead, he shot upwards with a painful gasp.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Fuck!! Mother… God that hurts! Where is that fucking bug! I’ll kill it!” Drake growled as he winced, his hand nursing his stomach.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Now, now…” a soothing yet horrific voice cooed from behind him.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake suddenly felt the air chill, his breath and blood running icy cold. The presence of whatever else was in the room choking the life from him.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh. I forget sometimes how fragile F-Ranks are.”
<span style="font-weight:400">The choking presence soon receded and Drake’s breath returned to him.
<span style="font-weight:400">Coughing as he gripped at his throat and chest, blood came up in chunks with every heaved cough.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You are getting my floor dirty. At least your Assistant had the decency to not bleed all over it…”
<span style="font-weight:400">“My assistant..?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake suddenly remembered Natto, scanning the room quickly. His eyes finally found her in the corner of the white room leaning up against the wall, her eyes closed.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Natto!” Drake shouted trying to get up but copsed under the weight of his own body forcing him to crawl over on the floor.
<span style="font-weight:400">Finally able to reach her, he checked her breathing seeing her chest moving up and down normally.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">She’s asleep….</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">“What did you do to her” Drake growled finally turning to the voice, his eyes shing colors.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I put her to sleep. This is a private conversation. At least for now.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Looking at the owner of the voice Drake saw a woman like none he had ever seen in reality or fiction of any medium. It blew him away. Looking at her was blinding. As if looking at the sun.
<span style="font-weight:400">“The… sponsor…?” Drake mumbled his mouth agape.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Mir’phyra. It is incredible how you are so ill-informed,” she said softly.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake tried to identify her, his eyes turning blue.
<b>[W121nC@tn]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake clicked his tongue unable to identify anything.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">That means she’s got some sort of interference item..</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sit down,” Mir’phyramanded, sitting at a table, “I have much to tell you.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Wait. If I’m here, does that mean I died?” Drake asked, “And what about Bjorn?! The others. ire!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Quiet,” Mir’phyra growled, Drake’s mouth snapping shut.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra stood from her seat, the pressure returning as the air began to be squeezed from Drake’s lungs. Hiss hands reached for his throat as he struggled to breathe under the pressure, his body buckling as he slumped to the floor. Saliva dripped from his mouth as he started to asphyxiate.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I tire of your questions. This is a space created by me. Your tutorial is of no concern. Listen well and do as I say, you will return soon enough,” she smiled.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake wed at the floor doing his best to resist the pressure and speak.
<span style="font-weight:400">“S-sc-screw! Y-you!” he growled.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra’s smile broadened, “I love a toy that is a little rebellious. Worry not, I will train it out of you soon.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra snapped her fingers sitting down once more. The pressure in the room vanishing.
<span style="font-weight:400">Pushed to a fit of coughs once more Drake stood, refusing not to look the terrible woman in the eyes.
<span style="font-weight:400">“What do you want,” Drake coughed.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sit.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake reluctantly moved to the table and sat down.
<span style="font-weight:400">Finally having a moment he looked down at his attire. His robes were thrashed, a bloody hole going through them. Opening up his inventory he saw that the item armor was grayed out, indicating it was useless. His set bonus also gone.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Damn it..” he mumbled.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Enough of that. I will get straight to the point,” Mir’phyra said resting her arm in her hand, her elegantly long fingers resting on her cheek.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You have something you should not. I would appreciate it if you would relieve yourself of them.”
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Items... The Necromancer Stones?</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Drake thought.
<span style="font-weight:400">“No. Why should I?” Drake snapped, remembering how the sponsor threatened both him and Theodore.
<span style="font-weight:400">“This is not a discussion,” she sneered, the pressure of the room bubbling, “I will give you the only Legendary Stones provided in the Tutorial Shop for them. Free of charge.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra waved her hand six stones dropping on the table, each one a fiery crimson, the color of blood with flecks of orange as radiant as the sun appearing and moving within the ss stones.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake’s eyes widened.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Do you seek power…” Drake mumbled, “Why are they so important to you?” Drake asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It isn’t your business,” she sneered, her arms dropping to the table to push the stones forward, “Bring out the Necromancer Stones, <i><span style="font-weight:400">now.</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake paused for a moment unsure of what to do.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">She’s willing to give me six stones for the price of two? That doesn''t make sense.</i><span style="font-weight:400"> Drake thought looking down at the stones to identify them.
<b>[Sub-tree Stone: Asuran’s Warbook] [Legendary]</b>
<b>[Unlocks Asuran’s Warbook Sub-tree branch]</b>
<b>[Requirement: Have one or more empty Sub-trees. Have A Warrior Main ss-tree unlocked.]</b>
<b>[Skill Stone: War God] [Legendary]</b>
<b>[Unlocks a random skill from the War God tree.]</b>
<b>[Requirement: Open Skill Slot and have at least 1 Warrior-based Main Tree or Sub-tree Branch Unlocked.]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">“Asuran Stones? Not Dragon?” Drake asked curiously.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra bared her teeth in a snarl, the room chilling, and the oppressive auraing down more potent than before, mming Drake to the floor through the chair.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You think I would give a filthy monkey the ability to turn into one of the Grand Races?! You receive more than you deserve! And yet you still question it?! You will bring out those stones now or I will crush her like the worthless trash that she is.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Somehow Mir’phyra lifted Natto from the corner, never leaving her seat at her chair.
<span style="font-weight:400">“N-no!” Drake shouted from the floor, his head struggling to turn so that he could see her, “Fine!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake used his shawl to summon the box from his inventory, falling to the floor with a nk.
<span style="font-weight:400">The pressure remained as Natto was lowered to the floor, Mir’phyra getting up to pick up the box as it disappeared into what Drake could only assume was her inventory.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Good,” she said tersely moving to lift the Stones on the table.
<span style="font-weight:400">“N-now, l-let me go..” Drake growled trying to resist the pressure.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra smirked, pulling the Subtree Stone from the pile hovering in the air.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, but the fun is just beginning my pet. For all the things you took from me, you will pay me back handsomely. After all, you are a promising Dual ss as well…. y along with me and I promise you will have no trouble in the future. That is… until Ie to collect,” she snickered.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Fuck you,” Drake sneered from the floor.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Unfortunately, I was not asking. You seem to have not realized within your small monkey brain, that you have no choice in the matter. Thankfully for you, I will be turning you into another mud-brained pet. Asurans are a joy to watch...”
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra’s eyes glowed as the world constricted under her power, Drake being pushed to the floor as it cracked around him. Mir’phyra showed no sign of putting effort into doing so, putting on disy just howrge the gap in power between them was.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Try not to break my little pet,” sheughed, licking her thin lips with an elongated tongue.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra gripped the stone as it began to radiate in a red brilliance as she kneeled down, thrusting it into Drake’s back.
<b>[You have consumed, Subtree Stone: Asuran’s War Book [Legendary]</b>
<b>[You have unlocked the Secondary Subtree: Asuran’s War Book [F Rank]</b>
<b>[Passive effects have been applied]</b>
<b>[You have unlocked 5 new skill stone slots in Asuran’s War Book]</b>
<b>[Subtree Stone Potency has forced a change]</b>
<b>[Your Race will be changed in ordance with the stone]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake roared in pain, his body suddenly free from the pressure of Mir’phyra’s gaze. Instead gripped with unfathomable pain as he felt his body light on fire like never before. His ears drummed as he heard his heart race. The sound of snapping as his bones cracked and muscles tearing reverberated in his ear.
<span style="font-weight:400">He screamed in agony his body contorting in pain as he scrambled on the floor, gripping and wing at anything he could.
<span style="font-weight:400">The pain felt like itsted days to Drake, pools of sweat and ck excrement covering the floor.
<span style="font-weight:400">Until it finally stopped.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake was barely conscious, his breath shallow and ragged.
<b>[Congrattions. Your race has changed from Human [F-Rank] to Asuran [F-Rank]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake saw the outline of what he could only think of was Mir’phyra in his blurred vision as new notifications flooded his vision.
<b>[Your race has interacted with Primary Skilltree Elementist [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Secondary Primary Skilltree Shield Miller [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Secondary Skilltree Internal Mastery[F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Secondary Skilltree Soul Mastery[F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Secondary Skilltree Weapon Mastery [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Magic Sight [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Heretical Mind [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Multiplicative[F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Elemental Endowment [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Elemental Conflux [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Warrior’s Stamina [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Guardian’s Reprieve [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Aura of Command [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Martial Strike [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Ruler’s Consitution [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Of the Apex[F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Weak Point [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Tempered in mes [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Tyrannical Aura [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Tyrant’s Indomability [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Mana Maniption [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Atrophy of the Mind [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Cower[F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Sound Body and Mind [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Purity of the Soul [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Hoarder[F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Fully Loaded [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Weapon of Choice [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Adrenaline Acuity [F-Rank]</b>
<b>[Your race has interacted with Skill Magic Exposure [F-Rank]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, this is going to be most fun!” Mir’phyra snickered.
<span style="font-weight:400">Raising her hand she gripped the remaining five stones. They began glowing in a simr light before she thrusted her hand once again into Drake, forcing the stones on him.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake writhed in agony, twisting and screaming in pain on the floor as he tore and ripped at his body, begging for the pain to end.
<b>[You have consumed, Skill Stone: War God [Legendary]</b>
<b>[You have learned Skill: War God’s Battle Right [F Rank]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake roared once more, his voice bing hoarse.
<b>[You have consumed, Skill Stone: War God [Legendary]</b>
<b>[You have learned Skill: Asuran’s Constitution [F Rank]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Screaming Drake’s voice became ethereal, echoing in the room as Mir’phyra looked down in joyful curiosity.
<b>[You have consumed, Skill Stone: War God [Legendary]</b>
<b>[You have learned Skill: Asuran’s Punishment [F Rank]</b>
<b>[You have consumed, Skill Stone: War God [Legendary]</b>
<b>[You have learned Skill: Line in the Sand [F Rank]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake howled in pain, the ground shaking around him, as he mmed his fists into the ground as he turned overshing out in an attempt to lessen the pain in any way.
<b>[You have consumed, Skill Stone: War God [Legendary]</b>
<b>[You have learned Skill: War God’s Battle Fervor [F Rank]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">Thest of the skills settled within Drake, as he drooled on the floor his every breath pushing steam from his loosened mask.
<span style="font-weight:400">Finally, it was over. And Drake could feel his body’s heat slowly reduce, but his anger spilled over.
<span style="font-weight:400">He surged forward his hands reaching for Mir’phyra’s neck in an attempt for retribution of the forced change.
<span style="font-weight:400">Drake howled and shouted as he wed at her, only to be held back at arm''s length. Mir’phyra’s face suddenly scowling and uninterested.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Did I break him…? Pity.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra was ying with Drake like a newborn, despite his race and skills changing and blooming into something iparable to before as a now Primordial Race. But it meant nothing in the face of the Dragon Matriarch.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I look forward to how well you will increase my returns mud pup. You are now that world’s problem.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra snapped her fingers and Drake disappeared from the room along with Natto.
<hr>
<span style="font-weight:400">“That was entertaining.” the chittering of bones said from behind Mir’phyra.
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra didn’t turn, knowing who it was. She sighed in disappointment more than offense.
<span style="font-weight:400">“How did you know?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I have my ways. Everyone owes the God of Death a favor or two… or twelve…”
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra scoffed turning to face the voice.
<span style="font-weight:400">In front of her was a hideous creature. Beggars clothing draped over bones, a crown adorning its head. The only High Lich in existence.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Vandelu. What lovely clothing you are wearing today…” she scoffed.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, this old thing..? I had to move in a hurry, no time to change Mir’phyra,” Vandelu teased, “The stones,” he demanded, reaching out with bony fingers, each one covered in numerous jeweled rings.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Do not y this game, we both know who will win.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“They are property of the Dragon Race. Why should I release them to your wretched ilk?” she sneered her lip raising and revealing her teeth.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You wouldn’t want to go to war over this would you, <i><span style="font-weight:400">old friend</i><span style="font-weight:400">?” Vandelu mused, “After all I have done for you. And your <i><span style="font-weight:400">son?</i><span style="font-weight:400">”
<span style="font-weight:400">Mir’phyra flinched, her anger vanishing as she clicked her tongue, a box dropping to the floor and snapping open.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Take them, you snake. We are even-handed after this.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Vandelu moved to the box, picking up the two stones as he looked at them in the air.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes. But of course. And as you say… This is going to be most fun….”