Gasping for air, he gulped in a breath. He cursed, and inwardly rejoiced. Where before a simple almost nanometer strand of celestial energy had flowed into his navel, now a fist-thick cord quivered and flowed, pumping invigorating and voluptuous ambient mana into him.
He instinctively knew that much of the mana was being wasted because it was still bouncing off the barrier around his soul core and fizzling back out into the air, but where before only drops had landed in a wound for hours, now a rivulet was his constant companion.
Thanks to Akkalon... Avan expelled his unintentionally withheld breath, and fell again into a deep but healing sleep.
2.7-Learning from scratch
"They really dared to do it! In my care!" Maxim clamored and threw a half-full glass of expensive brandy against the wall, much to the servant''s panicked discomfort. The splinters, quite unlike what the terrified servant had thought, sank deep into the wood-paneled wall with a clang and an explosion of glass, instead of shattering in all directions as one would normally expect.
What a monster, with that power! trembled the young man who had just delivered the message and the condition of one of the slaves in the healer''s quarters to the arena master.
The shattered glass rained down the wall in splinters and fine grains, emitting only a soft clink as the individual small pieces hit the floor.
Where the glass had sunk into the wall was a crater twenty centimeters deep, stopped only by the thickness of the stone wall behind the wood paneling.
Maxim turned around, furious, and glared at the messenger. "I want to know about the patient''s condition immediately! No matter what the leading healer has claimed! And no matter how! No one else, and only to me you report!" He spoke with controlled anger, and took a threatening step towards the young man, who was filled with fear and covered with sweat. "And let''s get this straight. I will hold YOU responsible for everything if my order is not carried out like this. And you have certainly heard what I do to traitors..." He let the threat hang in the air, while the shaky young man in front of him nodded hastily.
"Let''s go then! What are you waiting for. I want to be informed of any new condition or development immediately!" With these words, the messenger hurried quickly through the door, leaving a grating Arena Master in his office.
"That fool... Thinks he''s the only gold rank outside the royal palace. Not again, you damned crow." Whispering to no one in particular, he turned away from his desk as he gazed down over the bleachers to the interior of the colloseum as his aura burst forth.
Every guard in the hallway outside his office and within twenty yards suddenly felt a beastly pressure, a maid stumbled and could not get up under the pressure of the sudden mana eruption, and the window directly in front of the arena master himself showed a sudden crack and a tear traveled ominously slowly from the bottom center to the upper left side of the large window.
He clenched his right fist and looked down, still gritting his teeth, at his prominent forearm muscles and the waves of mana emanating from Maxim. "I must not fail... I have sworn my blood oath. And this bastard dares to put me in danger.... Just you wait, you fly... Your time will come too." he whispered, finally calming down, which brought a collective sigh of relief from all the guards and staff around him, while he himself let his gaze wander across the arena and over to the black tower.
And so the next days passed by for Avan.
Surprisingly, except for the slightly blushing young nurse, no one else came by to check on him. No one came to ask what had happened, and no one came to take him back to the other slave gladiators in his group. The loneliness, where as a child you thought it would be boredom, was in fact a welcome change to unravel your thoughts and finally devote more time and mental power to his dungeon skills.
He had the feeling that he was being left alone on purpose. Could it be some kind of guilt? the thought flashed past him. Apart from the young nurse, whose name he still did not know, no one else came to visit him. She had told him, blushing under his gaze, that he had been brought to the ward three days ago, and that the head healer at the time had treated him but found him hopeless.
According to the young woman, no one knew that he was still alive and had even largely recovered. But I don''t really believe that, when she always averts her eyes when it comes to this topic...
Satisfied nonetheless, and struggling with phantom pains throughout his lower body, mental scars and outbreaks of fear sweat, Avan focused once again on his inner self.
He had accomplished a remarkable feat in the last two days, and the fist-thick strand of mana had once again doubled in size, while it had finally confirmed his own theory that his own mana, like a leak in a dam, was gradually leaking more and more with use.
And unlike before, with hundreds of sweaty mental attempts, he had managed to make the ray no longer strike his innermost being, his soul core, but flow into his veins beforehand and mix with his blood. The blood, constantly and permanently strengthened by the constant influx of heavenly energy, flooded his entire body and within the first day had healed all the flesh wounds in his inner being. The broken bones and the thousands of splinters, however, were a much bigger problem.
Avan had noticed how much mana in his blood was being drained as it flowed down his legs, just to repair the smallest cracks in the dense mass of his bones. With all the individual bone splinters, and not just cracks, it had taken two whole more days to even get the splinters in the right position.
Another important detail that Avan noticed was the fact that the mana in his blood was still very diluted, releasing too much of the precious energy into every cell on the way from his heart to his legs. This resulted in an even more diluted accumulation of mana, which caused it to be so slow and sluggish.
If I can''t solve this somehow, it will be weeks before I can even walk again! And in addition then still muscle atrophy! Simply fuck. he cursed again inwardly, for the repeated time, because he just did not want to think of what he did wrong or could change.
He had tried to redirect the mana beam, but for some reason it seemed to use his inner soul core, the center of himself, as an anchor point. Avan still painfully remembered what had happened when he had compulsively tried to direct the beam directly at his legs.
The mana that had previously flowed through his veins had hit his legs, but the sudden absence of the supporting healing force around his core had brought back the pain of all the pain receptors with a tremendous jolt, and he had collapsed with a cry.
Only with a further effort of will he had directed the access of the mana again to the direction of his soul core and the pain had subsided again after a few minutes.
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Panting and breathing heavily, he had cursed and inwardly scolded, and since then had searched for another solution.
The mana MUST be directed to my innermost. But why? Because it is the origin? He continued to puzzle while staring at the ceiling with his eyes open and staring at the magic neon tube.
He blinked, trying to get rid of the afterglow on his lens, because he had been so stupid to stare directly into the light.
Sighing, Avan rubbed his eyelids and continued to think feverishly.
I do not understand it! Damn it! What don''t I see? Horn could use my mana forms like a natural talent. Just like that. He drew it directly from the environment, and didn''t have to flow it through himself as a catalyst. Why is there no other way? What am I doing wrong? And this damnable ray wants to point at my soul core, although I destroy the mana in all directions before it hits my inner self anyway...
Hmmm... Why does THAT actually work without problems? From the flood of the mana, to a fog in my inner...
Avan looked again with a blink at the ceiling, a realization lying on the tongue, which did not want to be opened simply in such a way.
He stared directly at the fluorescent tube one more time. Idiot! Why haven''t I tried that yet? A sudden flash of inspiration came to him as he was about to curse the glaring light on his lens again.
Light travels through the glass. Fog, I have pores. Why does it have to be a beam? Why does it have to have a solid form at all? Why not draw a FOG around me and into EVERY one of my pores? Is it really that simple? He adjusted his thought streams to the new goal and scolded himself for such a supposedly simple solution.
If it''s really that simple, I''ll eat my hat. And I thought about complicated ways all the time!
With newfound motivation, he set to work. Instead of drawing the mana to him in a river or the strand as usual and as before, since the little trickle of mana had appeared for the first time, he tried to crush the energy and draw it from all directions simultaneously to his inner soul core. Keeping the anchor focused on his innermost being, he concentrated on absorbing the mana not just from one direction, but equally in a mist around him.
Somewhat frustrated at first, as Avan couldn''t really grasp anything, the concept slipped out of his imaginary hands each time.
Until suddenly it clicked. And the beam dissipated into tiny, unrecognizable particles. He winced briefly, prepared for the pain to return in a moment, and crampedly counted down a few seconds.
After five seconds, nothing happened, and Avan breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly expelling his breath, he focused his gaze on his inner self. The core of his soul, still unreachable and surrounded by a barrier, hovered in his midst.
There, where the beam of Celestial Mana had previously been split in all directions shortly before hitting the barrier, he could no longer see anything clearly at first glance.
With a glance from further outside, however, Avan suddenly laughed.
Exactly as he had imagined, he was now surrounded by a golden and blue mist in his mind''s eye. This mist wafted in streaks and swirls, almost as if one had pulled an infinite number of small plugs in a bathtub, and small maelstroms of mana flowed by the thousands, even millions, into his pores.
He had, without knowing it exactly and only by feeling, provided each of his pores with a suction, which drew in the foggy mana evenly distributed everywhere.
Avan let his gaze wander down his body and noted with satisfaction that the cracks in the neatly arranged bone splinters were growing together many times faster than before.
But still not... enough. he mused inwardly, not yet completely satisfied and not ready to simply stop now.
"Akkalon''s touch could also be concentrated in one place.... namely with the phyical contact... But I myself could also direct the mana to certain wounds before. That must also work..." he whispered to himself, while his body felt refreshed and full of power and mana for the first time since he got the slave bracelet. "Concentration..."
He sent his will down in small tendrils to his slowly healing bone fractures, watching in fascination as the smallest cracks connected and welded back together with the mana as mortar. With another feeling, now more instinctive and with more certainty that he should trust it, he increased the mental and magical suction of his pores exactly at the places closest to all the bones and with the least density of tendons and muscles in the path between skin and bone.
Avan watched with excitement as the cracks grew together again many times faster, and not only that, but he got the feeling of making them denser, more concentrated, and at the same time much harder.
Avan opened his eyes and blinked as he noticed the telltale blue glow around his bed. Panicked, and once again more out of instinct, he destroyed the blue mana and let it dissipate, focused on using only his own filtered and celestial mana.
A relieved sigh escaped his dry throat, and, lost in thought but happy at his immense leap forward with healing, he reached for the glass of water on the small table beside his hospital bed.
Unnoticed and out of Avan''s sight, a frozen young nurse stood staring with fear at the just-dissipating blue mist, while inwardly she was in a frenzy because a slave with a mana-suppressing slave bracelet had just used mana.
She stepped carefully backward, and just before the exit from the healing room, turned around, cursing inwardly as she briefly bumped into the door frame.
Avan listened, not sure if he had just heard anything, and could do nothing but hope that no one had seen the telltale blue mist before he banished it.
While the nurse ran to the servant, who had told her to immediately call on her about any development with the slave, Avan himself had turned his gaze to other things.
He sat in his bed, feeling the nerves, muscles, tendons, bones, and everything else gradually growing back into place, while he was already thinking about the next thing.
When I am finally able to control the mana better... Can I then also use the mana forms again? His thoughts raced on to his dungeon skills. And can I also direct the mana outward to access my dungeon storage? He finished his thoughts, almost fidgeting and full of anticipation, for the first time in days.
Still feeling the pain phantom-like in his legs, he had locked the night of his torture away in the deepest corner of his subconscious, not daring to bring out the horrors for fear of what it would do to him mentally.
Happy to be rid of this physical residue and evidence of his repressed night, he set about plumbing the other dungeon abilities with his new knowledge and control over his mana.
2.8-Light on the horizon
Avan stared at the cold, damp gray ceiling and thought about the reaction of the other prisoners when he suddenly reappeared in the cell after more than a week.
The guards had handed him over without comment, and the steel door had slammed shut behind him while the others stared at him with different expressions on their faces.
Almost like the look the head healer had when he had examined my full recovery frantically and with wide eyes.
Avan shook his head inwardly. Apparently, all those bone chips were about as hard to heal as regrowing a chipped body part. Almost impossible, if the healer''s mutterings are to be believed.
The healer had examined him with equipment amazingly similar to that used by doctors on Earth and had simply whispered quietly to himself in disbelief.
A short time later, he was released by an astonished healer, while the nurse looked at him with a strange look, while he was led past the reception by two guards.
So he had been brought back to his previous cell with the other slaves, who had stared at him in different ways.
Lea had bombarded him with questions about where he had been and what he had been doing for so long, while she had come uncomfortably close to him and put her arm around his shoulder with friendship and frightening strength.
He had told everyone what had happened, except for Timo who, as usual, stared at him angrily from the back corner of the room, but had made it much less serious so as not to evade any more questions about his rapid and unnatural healing despite the mana lock.
Nick had been sitting in his alcove the whole time and had also reacted with surprise at first, but eventually stared in Avan''s direction with a small knowing and serious look, almost as if he suspected there was more to it.
And so Avan came to be back in the cell with the others, and lay lost in thought on his back, which also showed only a fine barely visible scar, as far as Avan had understood the healer correctly.
It was already evening, and the sun had apparently set. The nurse had fed him soup during the first days of his stay, when he had been delirious, and the food had been much fresher than what the slaves usually got. Thus, Avan had fortunately not missed any food and could simply enjoy his secret successes and go to sleep early to be fit for the normal training routine tomorrow.
So another evening passed, and except for the fact that the taskmaster Rielta had looked at him strangely when he suddenly rejoined the group, the next day went on as normal and the slaves were sent into training battles against each other.
And so, another week passed, fortunately without another incident with either the whip or the torturer, while Avan continued to practice his skills silently and secretly every free minute. He had, after the first incident in the hospital bed, the escaping mana cloud under control and could leave the wild blue mana completely out of it, while his own celestial mana seemed to be under his full control. Since Avan didn''t want any glow effect and visibility, his own mana also remained invisible, he had noticed. Once again the system of the world... My intention determines how my abilities materialize. his train of thought wandered to the amazing fact of how much control he actually seemed to have with sheer willpower.
Another week went by and Avan made significant progress under Rielta''s instruction, even though he still seemed to be performing rather averagely. Just more talent with magic, creativity, and my imagination, I guess... Except unarmed combat.
Weaponless combat was also practiced, but Avan had difficulties because he couldn''t focus on his mana, unlike the practice fight with Eve back then, so again he didn''t really do well.
These observations of the last few weeks ran through Avan''s mind as he stood in a semicircle with all the other slaves in front of the taskmaster this morning.
The only odd thing is... That a few people are missing, or am I mistaken? he remarked with a brief observation to the group. I could have sworn there are a handful of slaves missing...
"Listen up! It''s been four weeks now, and the preliminaries for the seasonal battles are coming up!" Rielta suddenly declared in a loud voice, and each of the slaves turned around tensely to listen. "The rookie training is over, and the games start next week! That means you no-goods will be used as fodder for the preliminary rounds!"
A murmur went through the slaves present as each realized exactly what this statement meant.
"IF any of you manage to survive the preliminary rounds ALIVE, you will compete with the other gladiators in a variety of fights. Should you no-goods really make it that far, then you will go up the dungeon The Black Ascent with all the other gladiators from this season and prove yourselves there!"
The tense mood had not diminished in any way so far, and Avan could read confusion, anxiety, fear, but also anger in the faces of many, while he himself was more excited now that he had taken the first step towards regaining his dungeon abilities.
"SILENCE!" Cracked the taskmaster''s whip on the floor, and the different voices immediately fell silent, while he looked at the loudest among those present in turn, calculating wickedly. "SHOULD any group or individual succeed in climbing the black tower to the highest level, he will be given freedom by the king himself!"
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The murmurings, which had just been negative, now quickly changed to more interest on the part of most, while the weakest among the slaves present still looked on with fear.
And so, during this week of announcement, the slaves present had been trained in group combat, and in the use of nets or other tools that could be used more against monsters than against bipedal opponents.
So another relatively equal week passed, only this time it was fought in groups against groups and against stationary wooden dolls, just as if you were fighting against a group of monsters.
Avan learned how to throw a net reasonably neatly, which had heavy metal balls around the edge and could catch or slow down opponents. He learned how to use a kind of pitchfork to pin monsters down on occasion, for example, pinning their necks to the ground.
Ranged weapons in the form of thrown spears were also practiced with targets, in which he did surprisingly well and much better than he could have imagined before, and he attributed it to his mathematical brain, which seemed to be able to calculate the trajectory relatively effortlessly by instinct, at least when the target was not too far away.
Avan also finally learned what game the other cellmates were playing with the black and white pieces, and was surprised when Nick showed him a variation of chess, only with different pieces and movements of the individual pieces. The old man had taught the other four, and now Avan had also taken turns playing a few rounds with the others in the evening, even if he didn''t immediately understand all the moves that were possible.
The game had no name, at least according to Nick, and the pieces consisted of a king, his queen, two advisors, four knights, and a militia, which made the game a hell of a lot like the chess game from Earth.
And so the week also passed, while the spectator stands were decorated more and more each day by servants, and garlands and flowers were placed in the private seating areas.
As the slaves had gradually learned, the preludes were run as a kind of entertainment for the poorer people and the slaves had to defend themselves against waves of various captured animals and monsters. A member of the royal family would open the games, but the king himself would not be present until the so-called ascent in the dungeon, the black tower.
The black tower apparently consisted of oversized levels inside, which were many times larger than the tower could be seen from the outside, as dungeons could probably create a kind of pocket dimension.
The Black Ascent, as the dungeon was called, consisted of ten levels with hordes of monsters, traps, bosses and more, while the nobler and wealthier inhabitants of Haipu could look inside in spectator stands on the outside around the tower, but no one could be seen from inside.
And so, on the day of the preludes, Avan and the others in the cellar were awakened by more and more loudly talking and shouting colloseum guests, who gradually arrived and could be heard loud and clear through the barred cellar windows.
Lea looked up eagerly, and winked at Avan as he looked around, watching with interest how the others were feeling. He himself was, surprisingly even to himself as he listened inside, very calm and somehow relatively emotionless. Hmmm...
Nick himself seemed to be in some kind of meditation again, when Avan observed his breathing like this. Whether he is or was also some monk? He thought about it, but didn''t want to bother the old man with his questions. Another thing that is different... Usually I always wanted to know everything...
Timo just looked angry again and stood with folded arms leaning against the back wall, while he stubbornly looked straight ahead.
The two dark-skinned men whispered to each other in a foreign language and showed no significant outward emotion, while the four board game players, on the other hand, wore much more concern on their faces, and one even fear.
Avan had not yet been able to get to know the others better, since they all seemed to keep to themselves.
As always, guards came down the stairs, but this time there were four of them, leading the procession of slaves, two in front and two behind, to the front of the bars, which were closed for the first time. The four guards lined up on the left and right of the aisle, while they were told to keep quiet and wait until it started.
Outside, loud shouts, screams and laughing visitors to the arena fights could be heard, and the air vibrated with tension and the impending bloodshed that was fuelling the crowds.
All this left Avan relatively cold, his mind still not the same since the torture, and he calmly went through his exercises with celestial mana, like a mantra. The mana, which had previously been attached to his soul core in a single strand, was now a constant vortex and mist, which Avan was remarkably able to control more and more precisely. He had concentrated on being able to manipulate and control the mana without much focus, and the mist now wafted here and there with a few thoughts. With a single silent command, he could condense the mist and focus it on a specific part of his body, or create different mist-like forms, which he had not yet been able to materialize like his Akkalons form before.
But Avan was happy with his progress, as it meant an immense leap for his regeneration and survival abilities, and he could partially affect non-living material with his mana by seeping the mist into an object. This allowed him to achieve a kind of telekinesis with smaller objects, or to instantly magically sharpen the dull blade of a wooden practice sword.
Suddenly, fanfares sounded from outside, and a loud person with an amplified voice called the crowd to quiet.
"Welcome! Welcome, people of Haipu! Once again this year, the king has spared no effort to bring in the strongest slaves for your entertainment and to train them to fight! For you, residents of Haipu, the royal house has spared no effort or expense! Therefore! Let us now welcome together the fighters of the preliminary round of this year''s seasonal fights!"
We were trained to fight, my ass! Avan thought sarcastically as the massive portcullis was slowly pulled up rattling with an invisible mechanism.
As if it hadn''t been loud enough before, the spectators in the stands now roared even louder and stomped on the stone floors of the galleries, while the groups of slaves were led one by one, flanked by four guards each, onto the sandy arena floor.
2.9-Birdseed
Avan and the others walked into the arena with cautious steps, shielding their eyes from the midday sun that shone brutally down from above. In contrast to the training sessions the weeks before, which started in the morning, the eyes of the slaves had to get used to the blazing merciless sun.
"Join me in welcoming the brave men and women of today''s battle!" Shouted the crier again, and Avan could finally make out the person. The person was standing on the balcony of one of the large private seating niches on the tribune, which were decorated with gold and red colors and flags. In contrast to the other niches to the left and right of it, which were also decorated with flags and the symbols of the noble houses, this tribune was gleaming gold and stood out powerfully. The tribune of the royal house, huh?
The man was a nondescript-looking human being, with short brown but slicked-back hair and a kind of megaphone in his hand to carry his voice to every corner of the arena. He stood directly on a ledge in front of the stands and waved his arms meaningfully as he pointed to the three groups of slaves.
Oh, only three groups? I was wondering how they divide up the fights...
To the left and right of Avan''s group, which had come from the southern part of the arena, were also open portcullises, from which a similar procession of slaves marched out, accompanied by guards.
The eastern group was the one with the large muscular man who, with his cronies, had molested the woman in their midst on the first days. Said woman, Avan noticed in confusion, was no longer present. Wasn''t there something...? he mused, suddenly clenching his teeth as a sharp pain emerged from the back of his brain. Argh... Fuck... he moaned, while holding his head with his right hand and swaying slightly. Timo, who was walking behind him on the right, just grunted disparagingly.
Something is wrong with me! What is it?
The pain throbbed violently in sync with his heartbeat. Slowly it dawned on him where he knew the woman from, and where he had last actually seen her. This is why this headache! You BASTARD! he cursed and gritted his teeth, but stood up straight again and continued walking, the first pain now over.
Avan''s head had pushed the repressed memories and experiences of his torture into a remote part of his mind, and noticing the missing woman he had seen when leaving the torture chamber had briefly brought those memories back as well, and with them the mental pain.
He blinked and briefly increased the pressure of his hand on his head, as if he could suppress the stabbing pain with an external pressure, and noticed that all three groups had gathered in the center of the arena, while the guards were already retreating.
"Are you all right?" Whispered a female voice from his left, and Avan only now noticed Lea, who was watching him slightly worriedly from his left, and to her right even Nick was looking at him. Oh great, it doesn''t look like a freak who suddenly has a seizure... He stated sarcastically inwardly.
"All good..." He whispered back with a sideways glance, and stood up straighter with a straight back as the throbbing slowly subsided.
"Today, for the first fight of the day, we invited some extra funny birds! These thirty slaves will open the games of the season against..." Shouted the man in the stands, making an acting pause to build up the tension extra, hold the breath of the spectators, and make some of the slaves present feel their hearts slip into their pants. "...CHOCS!" He finished his sentence, and the crowd went wild and stomped enthusiastically, while many even stood up and cheered loudly. Bloodhungry assholes!
"And to make the first fights more interesting, your king has decided to let the fighters fight WITHOUT weapons!" the man goaded the pack even further, which brought an even more deafening cheer from the spectators, and the ground shook slightly from all the stomping.
There were easily ten thousand people in the stands, and by now, less surprisingly for Avan, not a single non-human.
With the last statement, the bars on the opposite side of the arena, to the north, slowly rattled upward, and between all the angry mutterings of the slaves present and the euphoric outburst of the spectators, Avan stared solely into the black maw behind the bars.
He continued to stare straight ahead, and could gradually make out yellow dots of color that belonged to two meter tall creatures that were just making their way out of the darkness of the tunnel into the sun and heat of the sandy arena.
Do you want to make a fool of me? Avan thought to himself as he could now see the creatures in their entirety. "Fucking chocobos of death?" he whispered to himself, earning another confused sideways glance from Lea, who was still to his left.
The creatures that had just stepped into the sunlight sniffed the air cautiously and pawed at the sand with their clawed feet. To Avan''s great surprise, these wingless birds reminded him of chocobos from the well-known fantasy games from Earth.
At first glance, they looked like graceful oversized chickens, but they had yellow feathers all over their bodies and muscular thighs. Where Avan would have expected a harmless beak, however, it was anything but cute and harmless as the leader gave a shrill cry and craned its long neck.
Between the white beak, two rows of small and extremely sharp teeth showed above and below, and Avan gulped once noticeably at the sight. If the beast bites my arm, it will be gone in one go! Oh fuck!
The other slaves also looked noticeably paler and many had involuntarily taken a step back.
After his cry for freedom, the lead animal had finally noticed the assembled slaves, and together with his four other companions, it took a threatening step towards the slaves.
Several of the other slaves stiffened momentarily, and a larger man from the eastern group of slaves made his presence known. "Defend yourselves! Semicircle formation! Dodge when they come and try to get on their backs and restrict their movement!" He shouted out orders, and judging by the visible relief of most, an order, or at least a command, was exactly what everyone needed right now.
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Avan stood a little to the left of center, calculating what was happening and what he should do, while his cellmates also got up and fell in line.
Obvious: sharp claws, more than dangerous teeth aka beak. Getting on its back won''t be enough, neck seems to be more than mobile and can certainly attack someone sitting on its back. The only way would be to somehow immobilize the claws AND the head. With several clutches perhaps? Or turn the neck around? Oh fuck...
He sighed loudly as his observations flashed through his mind in a precious second and most of the other slaves were already stumbling over each other more badly than they could manage, waiting in a disorganized line for the running opponents. Only the commander himself stood, strangely enough, a little further to the right, as if he did not want to put himself in danger. What an asshole. Am I surprised?
Sighing once again and not having a master plan ready himself, Avan joined Lea, who was standing in the middle of the waiting and tense line to the left of Nick.
The Chocs raced up. When the five birds of prey collided, cries of pain rang out as none but one of the slaves managed to avoid the monsters, and several of the defenders were torn apart by razor-sharp beaks and several centimeter-long claws. As soon as the birds were in the crowd of defenders, the rest threw themselves on the birds like lemmings and jumped on their backs, trying to crush the necks of the two-meter tall birds or each tried to somehow restrict the movement of the animals. The smartest among them, one of the western group, had taken off his linen shirt and somehow, in the heat of battle, managed to put a blindfold on the left outer bird, causing the bird to rampage around in panic.
Avan himself fought with others against the second left bird and had first let others take the lead, even if he was briefly ashamed of it at first. But survival comes first... it shot him under adrenalin simply by the thoughts and he pushed also this feeling in one of the many mental drawers, in order not to have to concern himself with it now.
One of the four board game players from his cell had thrown himself on the back of the bird and tried to slow it down, when the beast, as Avan had suspected before, turned its head in one movement and pecked several times with its beak in the face of the screaming man, who tried in vain to protect his face with raised arms when he noticed his mistake.
As if waiting for the sign, Avan instinctively jumped forward and let some mana flow into his entire arms from shoulder to hand and jumped up the back of the head facing away from him, using his momentum right around to twist the neck even further.
Amid the shrieks of the man who had fallen off the back of the bird and a Lea holding the legs of the Choc, there was a sickening crack and Avan landed sideways on the bird, which collapsed beneath him.
Another short and frightened female scream rang out, and a short time later Nick and the others helped a Lea out from under the bird, which had been holding its feet in check. She grinned mischievously at Avan and shook her head in disbelief, but had an amused glint in her eye until her gaze wandered over the other fighters and she immediately became serious again.
Avan, briefly chuckling slightly at the situation and the rush of success with the adrenaline in his veins, also looked around.
Two other birds besides theirs were also motionless on the ground, while the lead bird and its limping friend had retreated a bit and were screaming at a distance of ten meters and seemed to be snarling at the remaining slaves a bit like cats.
Briefly catching his breath and while the first adrenaline hit Avan with a brief feeling of weakness, he analyzed the situation and what the state of affairs was on their side of the defenders. More than half seemed to be lying motionless or screaming on the ground with bleeding wounds, while friends or others tried to help them, and some also used their linen shirts as tourniquets to stop some bleeding. Avan could even make out three of the dead with bitten-off limbs, and one of the survivors was screaming like a spit with a stump left where his left arm used to be.
The other two birds had been killed with varying degrees of effectiveness, but apparently not by breaking their necks as Avan had luckily tried, but rather with many blows to the head.
He took a step toward Lea and Nick to whisper his observations to them. "I would therefore try to arrest the big bird. At least two keep their feet and claws still, and maybe someone quick and strong should try to catch the beak, squeeze, and we''ll wring its neck?"
Both nodded as they listened to his recounting, and Nick called over a grumbling Timo.
After a brief explanation and a short recalcitrant nod in Avan''s direction on his part, they mobilized the remaining ten people around them, while the man from earlier had gathered the other six around him on the right and was also nodding his way to their group.
So both groups approached the two remaining monster birds and they responded as hoped.
Lea and one of the dark-skinned men grabbed their feet together, while Timo, running in front, had distracted the leader bird and was just able to avoid the beak attacks.
The other slaves together pounced on the entrenched animal and with their combined strength it crashed sideways onto the sandy arena floor. As soon as it was on the ground, they all jumped on it and tried with all their strength to keep the bird on the ground, while Timo ran to the head and strangled it in a screw grip from behind, and then turned it around with a jerk.
The lead bird squealed shrilly and tried to fight its way free, throwing itself around with its muscular body, but Timo just grunted and his own muscles popped out with veins, while he would have done a professional wrestler credit as he held the animal''s head in a vice like this and then slowly twisted it around like an arm wrestle.
With an audible crack like the breaking of several dry twigs, the animal jerked once more, and then lay still.
Panting, Timo propped himself up from the vise and grinned triumphantly at the group, each of whom had fortunately made it without further injury, and some of the others congratulated him.
Avan, Lea and Nick just grinned and looked around at the other group, who were busy with the limping Choc.
How the hell did they do that??? Avan looked on in disbelief as the big guy, with his instructions from earlier, pounded on the bird''s head several times, even though it had already passed away. Of the six people, two were sitting on the ground bleeding, and three others were lying dead or unconscious on the ground with various wounds around their heads and necks.
With a shake of his head, Avan only now registered the audience around him again, which he had unconsciously blanked out due to the first adrenaline rush, and was now loudly roaring and cheering, apparently satisfied with the performance and the bloodshed.
"What a fight! Out of thirty participants, these brave and courageous thirteen survived and emerged victorious from this first fight of the day!" Hollered the man in the stands now again, and the audience cheered again, while many of the thousands also clapped and whistled.
The slaves were led away again, and only now did Avan realize that one of the dark-skinned and one of the other board game players were also wounded, and were being taken away by healers, while someone else was examining a wound on Timo''s arm, and then waving him on after a simple bandage.
The guards at the bars were already waiting for them and escorted them back to their cell without comment, where soup, bread, and wooden jugs of heavily watered down ale were waiting for them.
2.10-First fight summary
The mood among the others was good, and Avan finally got to know the others better, even if he still didn''t get any names mentioned, as a kind of comradeship had arisen through the common fight, and only Timo held back again and seemed to be in the same grumpy mood as before.
The others did not want to tell their names, because they did not think it was necessary, and the two dark-skinned were on the one hand not to understand with a foreign language, and on the other hand with the healers, because both were wounded after the fight.
So all together enjoyed the food and the first time something other than water, while even the bread was not hard and crusty, apparently as a thank you for the successful show they had delivered in the ring.
The yelling from outside had still not subsided, and if Avan understood correctly, the other slaves were now fighting in different groups and sizes against different monsters as well.
Judging by the groans and cheers of the spectators, the other fights were no less bloody.
The only disturbance the eight inmates had that day was a visit from Rielta and two guards, who told them they had the day off and that he was glad to have trained at least a few properly.
Tomorrow they would continue, and the fights would take place in smaller groups, now that the competent and cunning ones were left, while the weak ones were culled. They would also be given proper weapons tomorrow, depending on what the game leaders decided, and it could come down to single combatants or a maximum of up to three people.
With these words and the short praise, the taskmaster had turned around again and had gone back in company of the two guards.
"What do you think will happen tomorrow? Maybe a typical fight against an alpha dire wolf?" Lea asked the group as Nick and Avan sat on the floor with her, while Timo went to his corner and the other three board players went to theirs.
Nick scratched his beard and looked thoughtful while he visibly pondered with a stare. Lea, meanwhile, looked at Avan, who just smiled back. "Who knows?" If this is like the Roman games? Then unfair fights, bloody, as much action as possible, as much suspense as possible to keep the spectators happy... "But probably with restrictions? For example, two fighters, but there is only one net and one spear? Or three fighters, one net, one sword, and one neck fork? In any case, so that the spectators don''t miss out. We are worth nothing, and this is all about entertainment..." Avan speculated, explaining his thoughts aloud to Lea, while briefly glancing at the thoughtful old man to his left. "And we should pray to all the gods, or whoever, that we don''t attract the negative attention of anyone who has power here... Otherwise, a fight will quickly become a farce, so that we have almost no chance to survive..." He explained emotionlessly and quietly his second train of thought, as he thought again of the dark organization, which had brought him here, and of the torturer, who had also acted under their instructions.
When the quiet and always cheerful fighter heard his thoughts, she became a little pale in the face. "You mean, like your involuntary visit and the week with the healers?" She almost whispered back, this time seriously and with a worried look, while she thoughtfully puckered her mouth and frowned. "Whatever you''ve done, someone''s already got it in for you, right?" The scales fell from Lea''s eyes and she looked at Avan with wide eyes.
He just nodded slowly up and down as he looked down at his hands in his lap, sitting cross-legged.
"Yes, Lea... I guess you could say that, huh?"
Before emotions could spill out, he locked them behind a mental wall and mentally put them in one of the many drawers as well, a problem for another day and a future Avan. With a sigh, he looked up and said goodbye without further ado, while a now also thoughtful and pitying Lea looked after him as he made his way to his alcove.
With a relieved groan that came from Avan''s closed lips, he plopped down on the stone and rubbed the stiff muscles of his neck and shoulder.
Don''t I even care that others died today? Hm... No, I guess not, huh? On earth, I would have puked, or frozen. Is it the influence of the god of death? With his test. Or the... one night?
With both hands propped up on the stone behind him, Avan looked up at the ceiling and thought about himself and his time on Eos and Aorus so far.
How Dave is doing at the moment... And my parents? My sister and my nephews? Whether my company still exists with the worldwide pandemic that has just broken out?
Lost in thought, he continued to stare at the ceiling, while he circulated his mana again with a short thought in between and condensed the celestial part around him.
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A sound of some footsteps on the cold stone woke him from his thoughts, and he looked down. Nick was slurping his way over to him at a slow pace.
Avan sat up straight and raised his right palm in a simple greeting, which earned him a slight smile from his counterpart.
"May I join you?" Came the question as the older man stood in front of him and smiled mildly at Avan with a slightly tilted questioning head.
"Sure." Avan slid to the side and made enough room to his left for another person to sit comfortably in the two-meter-long alkove.
Avan turned his head to the left and looked questioningly at Nick, who sat down next to him with a relieved sigh, but first leaned back slightly against the cold damp wall and looked up while folding his hands in his lap.
After a minute, during which Avan first looked confused, but then also leaned against the wall and looked at the ceiling, continuing his thoughts, Nick finally looked over to his right.
"You reacted well today, Avan. And at least made the only correct assumption, which turned out to be the most efficient. Thank you... I think if we had just hit it too, some of us would be dead now too." The older man spoke with a sad smile and looked at Avan grandfatherly, when he turned his head to him.
"And I think you''re doing well with whatever it is you''ve been doing alone here all this time. I felt a draft, and even though I''m not sure, I advise you to keep doing whatever it is you''re doing in your meditation. It seems to help you survive... And that''s the most important thing..." And with these words he grabbed Avan''s shoulder and squeezed lightly. "No matter what. Live. Don''t throw your life away. No matter what happens to the rest of us. I know you seem to have a good heart. That''s why I''m warning you especially, just as I warned Lea before you. Help others only if it does not put your own life in danger as well. This is a fight for life and death, Avan. Naivety and good faith will get you killed here faster than you can say A..."
Avan stared at him speechlessly, totally taken off guard by this sudden involvement. With a nod, he showed that he understood, and Nick continued.
"You know... I had a grandson your age, Avan. The emphasis is on had..." The old man whispered tiredly and sadly, while his gaze slid forward into space and stared into nothing. "He was naive and gullible too. Too kind, too friendly, and always wanted the best for his family... My daughter had lost her husband at an early age, when he was forcibly recruited into one of the many senseless wars and skirmishes, and had to take care of her son and daughter alone. They moved away from one of the larger settlements because she could no longer feed her family alone, and came to live with me in the country. I had a small farm where I had lived since the death of my wife. A stone wall almost two meters high all around, my own small beds and gardens, a cozy home... I had offered them to move to my place in the country. I could take care of them, and had never had any problems with bandits or other fellows, probably because I had never been worth it, and from my own time as a soldier I could make more trouble than it would have brought them anything..." Told Nick with his stare straight ahead, while he kneaded his hands in his lap.
"And so my little Elli, along with my two grandchildren, came to live with me in the country... And the kids grew up until Tom was ten, and his sister Ella was nine. We had lived unmolested for almost three years, tended the gardens, I had provided meat with my traps in the surrounding countryside, and we were doing well. Until... I returned one day, and two bandits thought it worth their while to pay a visit to my little Elli..." A sigh sounded from the older man''s throat.
"The bigger of the two had already started to attack Elli, when the small and much too brave Tom managed to get hold of my old soldier''s sword, and, sweating with fear, was able to hold it to the second bandit''s throat because of his size. The first bandit had let go of my daughter and told Tom that if he lowered the sword, he would leave her alone, and no one would be harmed.... That''s exactly what I had heard when I had just entered my property and was already running over. And what was my little Tom doing? He believed him... And just when I wanted to scream, and came running, he took the sword from the throat of the second bandit... And promptly got a dagger in his belly, which the second bandit had slowly taken out of his belt, while the first had distracted him."
"Even with my arrival, and my own dagger, I only made the situation worse, as both bandits panicked and my daughter and granddaughter also suffered stab wounds in the melee... I was able to kill both untrained bandits easily, but I was too late to save the rest of my family in this world... And I had lulled myself too much into security. And everyone else had paid for it."
With these words, Nick looked at Avan, and a single tear ran down the old man''s cheek at this memory, and he swallowed once.
Another squeeze of his hand on Avan''s shoulder followed. "Therefore, young man... Don''t make the same mistake as this old geezer here. Or like my grandson. Live, be wise. Don''t be lulled by empty promises or fall. I have a feeling you''ll make it. Be especially careful with this other guy today, who talked others into action but stood behind..." And before Avan could say anything in reply, Nick stood up and strolled over to his own sleeping alcove to lie down without another word.
Shit... was the only thought Avan could think as he leaned back on his hands and arms and stared at the ceiling.
He pondered the story, and knew that Nick was right. Even on Earth, he had always trusted everyone in good faith, no matter how many times he had been betrayed or taken advantage of. He was like that, and he always wanted to be like that, because everyone deserved his trust in Avan''s eyes.
Others thought according to the principle that a person has to earn the trust of others, as some companies do. But he himself saw it that way, that he basically gave one trust, and one had to lose it then.
Even if Avan always saw himself as a strategist and liked to think, philosophize and plan a lot, he had always given his trust to everyone again and again, without ifs and buts.
But I am sure, if someone would trick me, then I would be the realist and survivor in the first place... There''s a difference, Nick... Thank you...
2.11-Celestial Steel
Avan cast a sideways glance to the right, and looked at his smug and broadly grinning fighter, with whom he was to fight today''s match. This was the same man who had so ruthlessly led others in the fight against the Chocs, only to remain in the background and let them fight for him, and the same man even Nick had warned him about.
Seems to be a two-front war for me today... I can''t turn my back on him.
But if he dares to stab me in the back, I''ll feed him to our opponents without batting an eye.
Smirking slightly, Avan took one last look at his fellow fighter and then looked forward again, where the spectators were once again exploding with cheers and the ground was vibrating once more.
This was the fourth fight of the day and it was already early afternoon. Lea and two of the board players had already been in a fight, but fortunately they had come through well, except for a few bruises and superficial wounds.
The announcer outside stirred up the crowd again, promising all sorts of bloodshed in the next fight, while speaking something about a family member of the royal house, the youngest prince, who would be watching today.
Today''s fights were a little different than they all expected at first, according to Lea''s accounts. The spectators had the chance to buy rotten fruits and vegetables from vendors at the entrance to the stands and could throw them at either the fighters or the monsters, which added another annoying and distracting factor to the fight.
Every fight today was fought in two teams, and there were different monsters of different difficulty levels to fight. For example, Lea had to fight with one of the other slaves against an alpha dire wolf, which had the size of a two-meter tall person could easily see in the eyes. The wolf had had such a dense fur that normal sword strokes could not penetrate it, and she had to work together with her fellow fighter on stab wounds, which was only the more difficult, because after each stab again immediately the claws and the fangs of the wolf had to dodge.
The two other inmates had told of a huge crocodile, while the other had described something like a gnoll.
The yelling from outside grew louder, and after another announcement, the gate slowly went up and was pulled upward by the hidden construction inside the ceiling until it hooked in and opened the passage to the arena interior.
Avan strode out onto the sand with the joyfully grinning fellow combatant, while the guards in the tunnel remained behind them.
In front, in the center of the arena, twenty meters away, were two wooden weapon stands with one spear and two forearm-length daggers on the other. Just as Avan was able to turn to his fellow fighter for a brief discussion about the weapons, he sprinted forward, leaving behind a teeth-grinding silver-haired man.
It was so clear, you asshole! He thought resignedly, fully aware of how naive he had been to have even tried with communication.
Without wanting to lag behind, he also sprinted off to the middle, so as not to lose any unnecessary time until their opponents would appear.
He grabbed the two daggers and received a brief angry look from the other man, who had grabbed the spear and was about to turn to the daggers as well.
Huh, you were going to grab both weapons, huh? What kind of scum are you? As if you could have fought alone... Avan glanced at the other dagger as he took a few steps back to the left to put some safety distance between himself and the incalculable risk of a danger of a man.
The announcer, meanwhile, had laughingly commented on ada''s duo and the competition for the weapons, and some of the spectators laughed out loud while three rotten tomatoes had already landed near the gun racks.
"And noooooow! Let''s give a warm welcome to our other guests of this fight! Captured from the elven forests to the east and shipped here especially for this occasion: A DRAGON LIZARD!" The man shouted loudly into his megaphone, and the spectators suddenly whispered quietly to each other, only to erupt loudly into roars and euphoria a second later. A dragon lizard, according to Avan''s knowledge, was on average a two meter tall and seven meter long komodo lizard with small stubby wings on its back, and depending on the element of the animal, could spit it out in one breath.
At the mention of their opponent, his fellow fighter visibly blanched and gulped as he turned to Avan and seemed to ponder something in his head.
Avan himself, meanwhile, had cautiously and slowly taken more steps backward, while deliberately not lifting his legs and rather sliding back to gain distance from the center and the opponents at the other end of the arena, where the portcullis was being raised.
Unlike his last fight, this monster came shooting out immediately and slithered snake-like across the sand, directly toward the man with the spear. Throwing all heed or planning to the wind, Avan''s fellow fighter first stumbled backward, then turned to run directly at Avan. Bastard! Avan grinned with a slight sneer and could not help but feel the negative feelings towards this man. Well, let''s see who will be the bait here.
Avan himself took up a fighting stance, which he had learned to some extent from his practice rounds with Rielta, and let the other fighter run past him like the pitiful scaredy-cat he was.
During the seconds that had passed, the Dragon Lizard had moved to the center of the arena and now hissed with a tongue almost a meter long in the direction of his two meatballs on two legs. The stubby wings on its back flapped with anticipation, and Avan was sure, looking at the spittle running down from the lizard''s mouth, that it had been deliberately left unfed for a few days to ensure a more intense fight.
The dragon lizard was a beast and one of the larger varieties. It measured easily over seven meters from snout to tail end and reached Avan''s chest height, while it was protected by masses of small green scales overlapping like a scale armor and even the underside was affected, leaving only the eyes, mouth and nose as weak points.
With this observation, Avan let out his bated breath and slowly moved sideways, step by step, always keeping an eye on the lizard in front of him and keeping the treacherous fighter behind him at bay.
The dragon lizard itself hissed its tongue in the air, switching its hungry but no less intelligent gaze back and forth between Avan and the person behind him to his right.
Avan had made a rough plan, and when the monster finally decided to charge its prey, it came running right at Avan, which he had already expected as he stood in front.
He backed up with inconspicuous steps as the distance between himself and the lizard quickly shrank, and just before the monster''s tongue, slightly split at the front, could have touched him, Avan jumped back and dove around to the right, much to the other man''s brief surprise. Avan slightly scraped his left shoulder against the other fighter''s back, knocking him briefly off balance as he took several large steps further away.
The lizard, meanwhile, had taken up the chase and was now facing a surprised spearman who was still trying to figure out what to do besides anchoring his spear lightly in the ground and hastily pointing the weapon at the charging lizard.
Avan himself took the opportunity to sprint around to the right as the dragon lizard slithered into the spear with force, and the fellow fighter hastily backed away as the entire weight of the great monster landed on the spearhead and spear shaft.
A brief burst and roar later, the cheap spear broke under the weight in a small explosion of wood splinters, and the lizard itself shrieked angrily as the iron tip managed to penetrate diagonally between the scales on its jaw, dripping greenish blood down its side.
The now weaponless fighter turned around in panic and ran towards the arena walls, while the now raging lizard ran after him, visibly hissing angrily that this creature on two legs had dared to hurt him and had made him bleed.
Avan, meanwhile, grinned with satisfaction at having turned the tables on the creature and used the distraction to his best advantage to get into what he hoped would be the creature''s blind spot and sneak up behind it at an angle. Unlike the Chocs, he didn''t plan for this beast to bend its neck so far backwards, and somehow tried to get to the eyes by sneaking up on it or getting to it over its back.
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Avan quietly ran up to the lizard from the right and was about to decide whether it would be wise to jump on its back or land a lucky shot directly into one of its eyes, when a cry snapped him out of his frantic thoughts.
The other man had run away and was skirting the outside wall of the arena for a short distance when he tripped over his feet because he had been hit by some rotten pieces of fruit that the spiteful spectators were throwing at the coward.
The outcry came promptly after, as he landed on the sand, arms waving in front, and quickly tried to get back up and stumble on in a panic. Unfortunately, the lizard had already caught up with his sheer body size and came so close sideways that its tongue darted forward and pulled the fleeing slave''s feet out from under him once again.
There, where the tongue touched the legs, it sizzled and fizzled, as a corrosive liquid ate its way through the man''s linen pants and not a second later attacked the skin underneath, causing him to cry out.
Oh, okay. Great. So this dragon lizard is an acid spitter. What fun! Avan muttered at the sight of the rising clouds of acid as the liquid ate into the other''s legs, and he was about to be eaten.
Even if he is an abysmal asshole... No one should die like that...
With these thoughts, Avan sprinted once more and ran along the left flank of the monster to land with a diving leap onto the side of the lizard''s head, frantically searching for the left eye while the monster''s tongue wrapped itself around the screaming slave on the ground and it smelled more and more like burnt pig.
There! shouted Avan inwardly with a triumph, and sank his left dagger with a satisfied feeling and a slurping sound in the lizard''s left eye, while dangling his right hand from the ruff. The eye burst under the sudden pressure of the internal arteries and the penetrating foreign object like a melon on the cobblestones.
The dragon lizard jerked its head upwards and cried out in deafening pain, throwing the now unconscious and nauseously injured slave through the air in the direction of the arena interior, flapping its head wildly.
"ROAR!" Sounded the furious deep and hateful cry with clear pain.
The monster threw itself sideways to the side and the entire massive body of the lizard slithered ninety degrees to the right, so that Avan had to jump backwards and was now a few meters in front of the angry head of the beast.
The right eye, as seen by Avan, was bleeding profusely with a green liquid, while the knife was still inside, and the other eye was staring with full malice at the biped who had dared to injure the lizard like that.
The dragon lizard suddenly lunged forward and opened its mouth wide enough to swallow a person with one bite, revealing a row of sharp teeth.
With barely time to think, Avan threw himself to the right into the sand and quickly rolled back to his feet, just barely escaping the monster''s maw. He blinked once, and suddenly something crashed into his right side and he found himself a meter above the ground in a wide flight over the sandy floor of the arena until he hit the ground with a crash and rolled over several times.
Immediately after the lizard snapped shut, its massive body was shaped to let the three-meter-long tail whip into Avan''s side like a whiplash.
With a groan and holding his right side with clenched teeth, Avan heaved himself to his feet and stared with trembling knees in the direction of the monster, which came running towards him again without interruption.
Sweat ran down his forehead, eyebrows and neck as he looked at the lizard bulldozer racing toward him not ten meters away.
Arghhh ! Avan hissed, sure that he had broken a few of his right ribs, while he was just glad to have softened some of the blow by rolling sideways.
His shoulders throbbed painfully, his arms and hands were slightly scraped, and blood was running down some parts of both his legs because the sand had rubbed off many layers of skin.
With concentration, he started the healing process and stopped the bleeding while holding his last dagger horizontally in front of him with his left hand and his right hand still supporting his right side.
Let''s give it a try...
In a split second, with the lizard only five meters away, Avan sent a blast of celestial mana into the iron dagger on his left, increasing the density, hardness, and sharpness of his weapon as much as he could. Just as he had practiced and observed in secret with the smallest stones in the cell. With his blood-covered knees slightly crouching, he prepared himself for the next collision.
This time he knew what might be coming, so he took another leap to the right and immediately braced himself for the onrushing tail.
With more mana in his legs to strengthen muscles, tendons and bones, Avan leapt into the air as the back of the lizard almost reached him.
The spectators gasped in shock as the silver-haired slave in the arena suddenly leapt two meters into the air, tightening his legs as he let his dagger fly downward.
Disbelief murmured from the audience a second time as the man landed with a roll on the other side of the lizard and its tail, while a deep and green bleeding gash stretched across the surface of the lizard''s tail.
Avan, who had deliberately blocked out any external noise, did not notice much of this, but was rather surprised and pleased by the sharpness of his mana-enhanced dagger, which seemed to shimmer golden yellow in the sun.
Without stopping again to become a target, Avan hurriedly sprinted around the lizard, which was just turning around and looking for the two-legged creature.
And so a few minutes passed in the battle arena, during which Avan ran, sprinted, performed acrobatic jumps, and repeatedly inflicted small bleeding wounds on the beast, until, with another yelp and a few blisters on his part, he finally reached the second eye to slice it open with a clean blow.
Panting heavily and resting both hands on his knees, Avan watched the dragon lizard, breathing heavily, as it screamed shrilly and tossed its head back and forth while little trickles of blood continued to drip from each of the small wounds inflicted.
The monster had also become increasingly powerless by the minute, showing signs of weakness as the wounds became more numerous and it had less strength and breath to maneuver its massive body across the ground at the same speed as before.
A few more cautious minutes, during which Avan rarely came closer to the panicked, flailing, angry creature, he managed to make a deep cut in the muzzle, right in the nose.
More blood oozed from this wound than from all the others combined, and only thanks to the hysterical nature and blindness of the monster, Avan had managed to throw himself forward with a leap at the right moment to do a backward roll out of the beast''s reach right after the dagger swing.
And so, after more than half an hour of a battle of endurance between the two combatants, the lizard let out a final exhausted gasp and collapsed on the sand.
As if his hearing returned abruptly, Avan visibly flinched as a deafening explosion of excitement and cheers met him, while here and there even a few flowers made their way to his feet.
Following an intuition, and because it had been so long since he had last looked at something from nature, he picked up one of the delicate flowers, stem and all, and smelled at it with his eyes closed, which brought an enthusiastic shriek from one of the ladies in the stands, who had most likely thrown the flower.
Two healers rushed to look at the injuries of the two fighters, while two other orderlies rushed out with a stretcher to take the badly injured man to the infirmary.
The healer who examined Avan was briefly surprised by the few bruises and partially healed wounds, but only mumbled something quietly to himself and then took his leave.
Avan himself was brought back to the cellar vault by two guards, where he told half of his interested fellow inmates about the fight, and feasted on the dry fruit that his healer had pressed into his hands shortly before he hurried off mumbling.
And so ended another day of fighting for Avan.
In the office that overlooked the fighting area, a thoughtful looking Arena Master Maxim stood playing with a small pointed elongated object in his right hand.
"Celestial steel... That one day I would hold this in my hands?" He muttered, still aghast and unbelieving, as he looked down at the gleaming gilded dagger in his hand, which seemed to be in perfect condition, despite all the wounds it had inflicted on the dragon lizard.
"Incredible..."
2.12-The Black Ascent
The following days continued with more fights, and Avan had to fight in more groups of two and three against other monsters, but these fights were much easier and better with more competent fighters.
On the last day of the arena fights for the mob, as Rielta had told them, Avan had to fight one of the other survivors in single combat, and spectacularly defeated his opponent in a few minutes, as it had been one of the already wounded slaves.
And so the games ended for the normal spectators of the population of Haipu, and today the first day in The Black Ascent Dungeon tower was ahead of them. Avan was actually more nervous thinking about the days ahead, and the invisible nobles and rich spectators that they could not see from the inside, but they could be seen. The tower radiated something eerie, not only because of the black obsidian color, but also a kind of gloomy aura that gave Avan goose bumps.
As he was led across the sand and to the tower with the other slaves and a detachment of dozens of guards, he let his thoughts run free, pondering the negative feelings that seemed to connect him to the tower.
I have a really bad feeling... Unlike the only other dungeon I''ve entered so far, this tower gives off very dangerous vibes, almost as if this dungeon has an evil life of its own. Or something else in it that gives me the creeps... I should be on my guard.In general, I haven''t seen a single beast-kin yet, even though Haipu is known for tolerating only humans and enslaving everyone else as racist as they are. So where have all these non-human slaves gone? There is more going on here than meets the eye, definitely!
The guards led the twenty-three last surviving slaves through larger tunnels that stretched through the gigantic colloseum to reach a large outdoor area on the other side, where the black dungeon tower greeted them perilously, towering above them all into the sky.
"When you saw the dungeon, did you feel the same...? an odd feeling of approaching danger?" Avan whispered, his head still facing forward.
Lea walked to his left and Nick to his right, and both had understood his question without the trio drawing attention to themselves.
"I feel... Uncomfortable. But I don''t feel anything... But I think I know what you mean." Whispered the woman to his left, while Nick joined in from the right. "And since our mana is suppressed we can''t actually feel anything more specific, except a vague premonition like you described yourself..."
Avan nodded in thought and with his gaze still fixed on the tower they were all heading for, and a cold feeling was getting ready inside him. Something was bothering him, and it wouldn''t let go, no matter how hard he tried to shake it off.
The closer they got, the taller the tower grew, or at least that''s how it seemed to all of them as they stood at the base of the dungeon, looking up with their heads on their necks.
They had been briefed beforehand by Taskmaster Rielta on how the procedure would work, and were not surprised at the continued silent escort of the guards, except that some of the slaves were whispering to each other.
The entrance to the tower was a simple black archway, which measured ten meters from the highest point of the archway down to the ground, while a good ten people could walk through at the same time, side by side.
As soon as they were led inside, black obsidian steps were seen on both sides of the tower, leading up to the magical seating stands. In front of Avan and the other slaves, another twenty meters down inside the tower, a blue glowing portal wafted, leading to a prairie, the first level of the dungeon.
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Knowing what he knew now, Avan also finally realized that dungeons naturally used dimensional magic to make the levels and rooms inside many times larger than they appeared from the outside and would actually take up space.
The first level, therefore, according to the explanation and brief introduction they had all received, had a diameter of two kilometers, where it ended at an invisible wall. Air, temperature, weather and also the day and night cycle were represented and simulated in different ways on each of the levels.
He had already quietly agreed with Lea and Nick that they would go in together at any cost, and so all three held hands when it was their turn to enter.
The portal would place them all at different points on the level as they entered, and then it would be everyone against everyone against monsters. Player versus player versus environment, as I know it from some games... Avan sighed at the thought.
One by one, people disappeared into the portal with an audible pop, like a soap bubble bursting, and here and there some of the others had formed groups. One of these groups, not really to Avan''s surprise, consisted of the coward who seemed to be leading two people again and had made it out of the infirmary, though he still looked shaken.
Just as he and his two cronies entered the portal, the guy turned and looked around at the remaining people until his gaze locked on Avan. An expectant grin later, the group of three also disappeared into the dungeon.
"Well then, let''s go, shall we?" Avan said and marched to the portal as well, Lea and Nick in tow without comment.
Avan reached out and gently touched the portal first with his right palm, and it felt like an extremely high surface tension of water. With a sigh and due to the inevitability of the situation, he put his hand all the way through the surface and stepped into the portal holding Lea''s left hand.
He shuddered, and something lurked in the background that should not have been there. Avan felt a presence, something twisted, unnatural, that seemed to be watching him and his two friends, who were holding hands. The feeling was something entirely different from what he had felt even from the portals of the god of death, but it had a certain similarity that he could not deny. If there had not been this twisted feeling of this presence.
A few steps later, the three again stepped through a gauzy, almost liquid, membrane of the portal on the other side, stumbling briefly as they found themselves on the rough terrain of a prairie.
They were greeted by a slightly parched grassy landscape that had seen too much sun and too little water, with only a few hills and sparse trees providing cover far and wide. The grass had a yellowish color and reached Avan''s waist, while the trees also stood sparsely in the landscape and gave a sad impression. Above all this was a merciless sun, which burned down on them with high summer temperatures.
From the rules, the three slaves knew that from now on everything was allowed, and the only goal was to find the middle portal and pass through it to get to the second level, and so on. They landed in the outer area of each level and had to find their way around and figure out for themselves where the middle was.
Also, the slaves were only told what to expect on the first level, namely various aggressive herds consisting of buffaloes and, of course, the ugly goblin clans. At the latter, Avan''s face grimaced as he thought back to the smelly and disgusting beasts.
He took a few more steps onto the level and then turned to face his team, the portal nowhere in sight.
Each of them had been given a belt with a leathern water bottle, a fist-sized canvas sack with dried meat and berries, and an arm-length bronze sword.
"Now then, Nick, Lea. Shall we?" He grinned at them in turn, tilting his head as he smiled expectantly.
2.13-Dungeon prairie
Lea pointed ahead, to one of the few and far between trees. "I''d say we walk for now, using larger objects as anchor points to orient ourselves. That tree back there looks like a start, and then we''ll see. What do you think?"
"Sounds pausible, and I think that would be the best option." Nick gave his opinion in a somewhat grandfatherly tone, while Avan scratched his chin and looked at the surroundings.
"I have a feeling that the portals could be pointing to the center, so behind us in the back we have the end of the plane, while in front of us should somehow be the center. And that tree up ahead looks good, after all, we just have to start walking and see where we are relative to the center here." Avan agreed thoughtfully, and received a pair of nods of agreement from the other two, and they marched toward the tree a hundred meters away.
With steady steps but looking around cautiously, the three of them started walking towards the steppe tree. So far, Avan could not find another soul far and wide, which he did not find so hard to believe with only twenty-three surviving slaves, considering the sheer size of the first level alone.
The prairie had a diameter of two kilometers and was, according to the stories, set up in a circle.
A few minutes later, the trio reached the steppe tree, which towered a good fifty meters above them, majestically but with relatively few leaves.
After a few brief discussions, the three decided to continue walking in the same direction, as the sky looked the same everywhere and no wall or end of the plain could be seen anywhere, as the dungeon seemed to simulate infinite expanses, as could be seen in the sky that seemed to stretch for miles upwards.
Avan ran in the middle, while the female warrior in front of him ran with drawn weapon enthuisastically in front and Nick behind. The old man had shown considerable stamina for his age, and Avan had already noticed this in the weeks of training before, probably as a result of his soldiering past.
The group arrived at a small hill, and Lea abruptly knelt down and waved her hand to tell the other two to crouch down and come closer.
She pointed ahead to a small flat area where a herd of dungeon buffalo had gathered around a small pool and were drinking away, while a few of the larger specimens seemed to be nibbling on something or someone further ahead behind the pool.
"Okay, these are definitely not tame and herbivorous animals, guys. See the alpha and the other bulls back there? One of the slaves wasn''t so lucky, it seems." Lea pointed with an outstretched index finger first at the larger animal and then a bit beside it at the other large dungeon buffaloes, which seemed to be feeding on one of the other slaves.
Avan and the other two observed the situation and looked around.
The old man ran his twenty-centimeter beard under his chin and let his gaze wander over the small valley of the plain before them. "I...would suggest we go around the herd. There''s no point in messing with these animals and sooner or later we''d be overrun by the herd instinct. It doesn''t matter if we manage to get a few off to the side, the rest will quickly realize that something is wrong and overrun us. I know these animals from other dungeons, and I know that without a company of battle-hardened fighters, we can''t safely take on that many."
Avan nodded thoughtfully in agreement, having come to the same conclusion and unable to look at the horde before him without an oppressive feeling. Especially when he looked at the poor wretch, who had tried to do it on his own and apparently hadn''t even brought down a single one of the animals before he became their food.
He knew that with his newfound dungeon skills he had an immense chance of slaying his way through here, but the spectators outside in the stands would notice that immediately, since from outside you could probably see everything on the levels from a bird''s eye view and even zoom in, if he followed the explanation in his mind that they had all received.
Lea seemed to have a similar opinion, and jerked her head sideways to the left to signal that the three of them should go around the herd on the left side of the hill.
The group went back down the hill a bit, but stayed up high enough that they could take a quick step or two and glance down into the shallow valley to make sure the buffalo were still there and couldn''t suddenly surprise them.
So the three marched quietly and carefully along the slope, breathing a sigh of relief when they reached the other side without further incident, until they encountered the next problem and sighed collectively.
"Of course, what else people." Avan groaned, earning a soft chuckle from Lea who looked at him amused over her left shoulder, and even Nick puffed briefly in amusement at the comment.
Ahead of them, at the foot of the hill and a good three hundred meters away was the center of the plain, but as could not have been otherwise, the portal was on a stone pedestal in the middle of a small lake, surrounded by a fortified goblin camp.
And as if that wasn''t hard enough, the three of them could immediately make out about a hundred goblins, some of which manned the three meter high wooden pallisade, the lookout towers in between, and some of which scurried back and forth between rough tents in the camp.
Sneaking up on them would prove to be very difficult, since far and wide exactly one steppe tree stood to the left of them alone on the level and even this was still a hundred meters away from the pallisade.
After a short briefing, the trio ran crouched and taking every narrow bump for cover to the left over towards the tree.
They continued to run crouched and with the tree in front of them as a screen to the goblins towards the tree and reached it a short time later. This steppe tree was several meters larger than the first one they had seen, and the trunk itself had a circumference of almost ten meters, behind which they could comfortably hide from the goblin camp to plan their next steps.
Before they could plan anything at all, however, a slave vaguely known to Avan ran openly at them from diagonally behind them and, unlike the group, used no cover and waved his arms wildly.
"What the hell! Guys, behind us!" Avan had noticed the guy first and quickly tapped his two group members on the shoulder to alert them to the new problem, while he himself quickly became aware of what was happening and where this was headed.
Lea spotted the guy next and cursed loudly and obscenely, making even Avan wince at all the threats she was making. "Are you kidding me??? What is this fucking idiot doing! Everyone in the camp will see him, and he''s running right at us!"
"And that''s exactly the goal... That''s one of the two lackeys from the guy who took advantage of the others in our fight against the Chocs and sent them to their deaths to save his own ass and watch!" Avan explained, cursing, as the slave''s face became more clearly visible at a hundred meters away.
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Screams and noise could be heard from the goblin camp, and a glance around the tree confirmed the fears of all three. The goblins had also spotted the guy by now and a company of goblin soldiers marched out of one of the two gates to run in a relatively orderly fashion towards the slave and thus towards the tree, one of the much larger varieties in front, a hobgoblin.
As soon as the arm-waving slave saw this, he turned pale and spun around to run back the same way as fast as his feet could carry him.
"That was a diversion to lure some goblins out of camp, and at the same time to set a trap for us! That fucking bastard, when I get my hands on him I''m going to rip out all his arms and legs and shit down his fucking neck!" Lea yelled angrily and the three of them ran off as well, since it had become pointless to stay by the tree when the goblin horde was about to run past them.
Again screaming and loud war cries suddenly rang out from the goblin ranks behind them, as the running horde became aware of three more humans who suddenly ran out from behind the tree and were also running away.
The three sprinted hastily after the other slave and ran for their lives, the goblin company right on their heels.
The slave in front of them made a slight right turn and disappeared behind another small hill and a few minutes later the three sprinted over it, following the guy who ran behind the hill to the right, out of sight of the goblin company, which was still a hundred meters behind the group.
Slowly but surely, the slave in front of them was slowing down and running out of breath, which could be seen in his stumbling steps and the slower and slower pace he was setting.
"Keep running!" Avan shouted to his two friends and sprinted again a little faster, directly towards the man who had lured them into this trap.
As Avan yanked the guy to the ground with a leap, Lea and Nick ran past him, giving him only a knowing sideways glance as Avan bent the slave''s arms backward and pushed him face-first into the ground.
"You little son of a dog... Was this the plan of your glorious leader yes? To sacrifice you to lure us to our deaths?" He whispered somberly into the right ear of the futilely kicking guy below him. "Only he made one mistake, you know? Only one of the two things will happen. And that''s that you''re left here as a sacrifice!"
And with those words, Avan slammed his already lunged right fist sideways into the man''s temples, knocking him unconscious with a hammer blow.
"Well, that worked right away... Wonderful!" He remarked, much to his delight, as he had not been sure if it would work and had never tried it in his life and had only read or heard about it.
He quickly turned the unconscious man around so that he could be better seen by the approaching goblin horde, and continued to run after his friends. The whole thing took only a few seconds.
As he continued to run, he kept looking back and was pleased to see that the goblins did indeed stop short at the man and that he was quickly lost in the crowd of goblins, until shrill screams rang out, which Avan paid no further attention to and continued to run up the next hill, behind which Lea and Nick had just disappeared.
The three of them stopped just behind the hill and gasped for air, while the two of them gave him questioning looks and Avan just puffed and lifted his right arm and gave them a gloating, grinning thumbs-up.
Satisfied with the short break they had bought themselves, the three looked ahead of them at the wooden pallisade and realized what the man responsible for their misery was doing. Two figures were at the foot of the wooden wall and were just sneaking through the second entrance into the interior, taking advantage of the commotion that had arisen at the other gate and distracting the goblin guards.
"We should hurry and use the time as well!" Nick remarked this time, visibly struggling the most with the fact that he was no longer the youngest and his stamina the worst of the three.
The three sprinted as fast as they could across the hundred and fifty meter distance to the pallisade, each praying and hoping for themselves that the goblins would continue to be distracted long enough not to notice their approach, and that the goblin company behind them would take a little longer to not suddenly notice the three fleeing.
Panting and still out of breath, the three also arrived unscathed at the wooden pallisade and leaned briefly with their hands, panting and gasping for air, while they glanced nervously back at the entrance and checked to see if it was still unguarded.
Fortunately for them, it seemed to be, and they crept quietly, but still out of breath, into the interior of the camp.
What they found was not good at all and the three of them quickly threw themselves inside the camp to the right behind one of the outer tents to avoid the searching eyes of other goblins, who were beside themselves with rage looking for the murderers of their clan. At the feet of the goblins, directly at the edge of the small lake and not ten meters away from the stone pedestal with the portal on it, lay three dead goblins with slit throats and stomachs.
The group was more than aware of who was responsible for these dead goblins and cursed once again at the stones placed in their path.
Avan beckoned his two friends to follow him and crept along behind the tent. He had spotted another tent, which suited his short-term plan best, and crept behind the third tent, which was further toward the center of the camp.
With careful movements, he cut a slit in the sewn-together pieces of the tent at ground level and waved his hand again, telling them to follow him, and crawled on all fours, flattened on the ground, into the interior of the tent.
Inside, he quickly crawled to the right to make room for the other two and lay flat on the floor behind some crates. With a short gesture next to him, he symbolized Lea and Nick to do the same and the two looked around with interest and wide eyes inside the tent, while they also lay down next to him.
"How did you know?" Lea whispered the obvious question to the two and looked at Avan in surprise.
Avan grinned back fatuously. "I briefly saw some of the workers carrying goblins'' things into this tent, especially the things of the deceased goblins." He explained to the two. "And I thought it safest to hold out in the camp''s storeroom for now, until the initial commotion died down. Then we can see what happens next. And I think here it is still the safest in the entire camp and we are not immediately discovered. If we are, then the three of us can certainly take out one or two goblin workers silently without anyone else outside hopefully noticing too quickly. What do you think?"
The three of them consulted briefly and agreed to the idea of waiting a bit to have a chance to get to the portal undetected. Where they weren''t sure either was whether the goblins could follow them into the portal if they just ran off with the pack glued to their heels.
"And if we can''t get through, or they put more guards on the lake, then I''ll distract them." Avan ended the discussion and looked at the two of them without listening. He had a little plan in the back of his mind, which was gradually forming, and he knew that although his access to his mana had been cut off, he was still getting energy in the form of experience from the kills in the arena, which he had felt around through his dungeon mana.
So a few more kills to create a distraction for Lea and Nick was also in his own interest, especially with the small but subtle plan he was working out step by step and taking more shape.
And so the three of them waited behind the stacked crates and goods of the goblin camp, while outside the goblin party had returned and a small commotion had broken out, a few thumps could be heard and many goblin feet were scurrying around.
2.14-Hunter becomes hunted
The goblin slid to the ground and a long trail of blood stretched across the floor, which soon formed a small pool of blood. Others in the same tent didn''t even notice and continued to snore, oblivious to the danger just a few meters away. A shadow continued to scurry on silent soles and a hand jerked forward, holding the mouth of the next sleeping creature, and before it could wake up a golden shining dagger slid down through the jaw from the bottom deep into the brain and immediately and silently blew out the next life.
A short sigh of relief might have caught the attention of someone alert, but all the other goblins continued to sleep while the creeping shadow picked off one by one.
So it went on, and the first hour after midnight in the goblin camp, over eighty of the worker goblins died silently and without the waking other goblins noticing.
In the second hour after that, the shadow crept further, and it went to the barracks and the soldiers sleeping in it. In the front room of the wooden hut, two guards sat at a table and played some sort of game with an odd nine-sided and deformed dice, while an annoyed grunt or a delighted giggle sounded from one of them every time the dice fell.
The shadow crept on, and after waiting and watching for a few minutes, a shiny piece of metal flew across the room and landed with a soft clang on the wall to the right. Both goblin guards jerked awake for a moment and you could see their ears perk up. "You heard?" One asked the other and received a nod. Both turned around and looked at the silver coin on the floor near the wall. The goblin on the right stood up first and walked over with careful steps, but with visible greed for the shiny silver metal, and picked up the silver coin, beaming with joy. "Hah! Mine treasure! Only my, you nothing get." And spun around to spitefully show the coin to his colleague. Just as he turned around, however, he gasped abruptly as his colleague stared up at the ceiling with a blank stare and open eyes as he hung limply in the wooden chair. Forgetting the coin in his left hand, the goblin was about to open his mouth and sound the alarm when a cold piece of metal touched his throat, eliciting no more than a bubbling sound. He looked around to his right in panic and with his last ounce of strength and saw his killer standing in the doorway to the sleeping quarters of the other goblin guards, grinning contentedly, a gleaming golden dagger in his right hand from which the goblin''s own blood was dripping onto the wooden floor.
The last thing the gurgling goblin saw was the human turn and slink off toward the sleeping goblins, while the dying goblin''s silver coin slipped from his hand, hit the floor with a soft bling, and rolled away.
The shadow did the same here, and twenty minutes and twenty dead goblins later, it climbed out of the left window through which it had entered the barracks.
In these two hours, the goblin camp had lost over a hundred goblins, and almost the only ones alive among them were those on patrol and on guard at the palisade, where the great green hobgoblin was also located, watching with expectation everything outside the camp.
"Good, this should also help all the other slaves who are still alive and need to get through the portal... Maybe we need more people on the higher levels. So let''s go, the air is in, let''s go!" Avan spoke to Lea and Nick, while the first of them looked at him in surprise, as he stepped back into the camp tent with a bleeding iron dagger in his hand and waved at them.
The trio swam the few meters over to the stone pedestal and pulled themselves up out of the water, holding hands to quickly step through the portal before someone noticed all the dead goblins and the remaining goblin guards sounded the alarm to hunt them down.
All three blinked as they stepped out the other side, and each of them couldn''t help but stand open-mouthed at the sight, their jaws suddenly loose, gawking at the new plane before them.
The sky had a purple glowing star-shaped sun on the horizon, bathing the entire plane in unnatural purple light. In contrast to the previous plane, the sight here in front of the group was alien and unnatural, but at the same time somehow ethereal. As far as one could see, a mushroom forest stretched out in front of and around them, with mushrooms the size of their hips and other mushrooms reaching more than ten meters into the sky. On the mushroom stalks, in turn, were various other types of mushrooms. Each of the mushrooms had different colors, shapes and everything that Avan knew of mushrooms on earth was present here in the craziest colors and shapes. A real mushroom forest surrounded the group of three, while everything was bathed in an unnatural purple light.
"Holy shit. What the abyss is that?" First came a whisper from Lea, who had been the first to step through the portal and had been the quickest to process the impression. "A crazy mushroom forest. I don''t believe it."
Avan and Nick also nodded silently, and after a few seconds there was an audible click as Avan suddenly closed his open mouth again. "That''s definitely what I call a surprise."
Before it went on, and also what had been discussed before, the three of them had another short talk, and they went forward, in which direction, according to Avan''s theory, the center had to be again.
None of them had any further information from now on and everything was new. The location of the portal was unknown, and the best clue was again to find the center of the level, even if no one knew how big this level was.
But what Lea, Nick and Avan had agreed on beforehand in the tent was clear and all three agreed. If they found the traitor with his last paint, they would kill him without hesitation.
A few minutes after the group entered the mushroom forest, an eye as large as Avan''s body opened on another part of the plane and stared sleepily in the direction of the three newcomers. After a few seconds of observation, the creature puffed once and steam came out of its mouth in small waves that wafted across the ground, and it rested its head and closed its eyes again.
Avan, who along with his companions was oblivious, had meanwhile had a flash of inspiration when he saw all the smaller and medium-sized mushrooms around him, among which his group was meandering.
After a brief explanation and two nods, he climbed onto the first of the smallest mushrooms and used it as a stepping stone to climb onto the larger ones, and on and on until, after hopping back and forth, he landed on the largest of the mushrooms with his feet and was able to view the entire plane spread out in front of him. Avan was now on top of the forest, and thus on top of the ten meter tall mushrooms at his feet, jumping and running while his friends continued at the bottom of the mushroom forest, and he always kept an eye on them as he looked around more closely.
"If I''m reading the distortion behind us accurately and correctly, then maybe the level is twice as big as the previous one, huh?" He speculated aloud to himself, while he jumped with careful steps over the mushrooms to not lose his grip on the slightly slippery mushroom heads.
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So far, no other creature, whether monster, animal or other slaves, had crossed their path, and with a quick glance at his two friends on the ground below, Avan continued to look around attentively. Suddenly he squinted both eyes and shielded them against the odd light from the sky, and stared further to the right into the plain, where there was a small misshapen hill, which was only a few hundred meters away from the possible center.
He wanted to share the new discovery with his comrades, but knew how stupid it would be to shout down now, and pondered silently what it could be, while he caught up again and a short time later found himself again above the heads of his team.
"Cesta, I swear I saw something flash back there for a second! Something reflected that damn purple light over us!" Tried the slave to make clear to his leader, while he looked at him skeptically and let his gaze wander in the direction the man was pointing.
"I don''t see anything, man. Did you have any hallucinations or eat any plants here? Or did you have a taste of any of these mushrooms?" Came the gruff reply, as Cesta could see nothing of the sort, except that odd hill in the distance, which gave him strange and dangerous vibes.
He had moved together with his last follower towards the center and they were now lying in wait together on one of the higher mushrooms eight meters away from the bode. On Cesta''s belt were two daggers and two swords, while he held another dagger in his right hand and waited patiently for the next unwary slaves who would hopefully cross his path sooner or later. He had already killed several on the previous level and also here in the vicinity and appropriated their things, in order to have better and better chances of survival and to be the best equipped of all. Meanwhile, his follower had only his own sword in his hand and various bags of dry food hung from his hip, while a homemade linen bag on his back contained the water skins that they had taken from the other dead slaves.
"I think you are dreaming. Now hush, I hear some again!" He hissed to the man at his side and squinted his eyes to look intently in the direction of the sound.
In front of him was a small clearing with slightly purple grass swaying back and forth in a light breeze, which was about the middle of the plain if he had correctly calculated the distance they had covered so far.
On the other side of the clearing, two familiar figures emerged, looking around cautiously, and just as they looked up, Cesta hastily scurried back to avoid being seen, while he also jerked his companion back by the shoulder. "Damn it! I hope they didn''t see us..." He hissed sourly and waited a few seconds before he dared to look over the edge of the mushroom again.
He had chosen one of the larger mushrooms, but not the largest in the area, so as not to be seen by others who might also have had the idea of walking across the forest instead of staying on the ground.
An older man and a well-built and muscular woman, swords drawn, stepped into the small five meter clearing and looked around tensely and cautiously.
"Hmm... I know those two, don''t I? But where did the bastard by their side go?" he whispered more to himself, earning a questioning sideways glance from his follower next to him, which he ignored as usual, not feeling like justifying himself.
Cesta turned his head to the right and stared urgently at his companion. "You wait here and keep a lookout! I''ll climb up and surprise them from behind. Watch out, since that one guy is missing and could be anywhere else if he''s not already dead."
Without waiting for any objections, he slid back a bit and crouched down, then climbed up onto the higher mushrooms and pulled himself up. His follower looked at him in confusion, but then eagerly started to keep his eyes open and took a quick glance at the two people whispering to each other, who now seemed to be discussing with each other in the clearing.
Cesta, meanwhile, scurried up the mushroom trees around the clearing and approached the direction from which the two had come, nervously looking around for the silver-haired guy he had on his mental death list. The guy who had dared to make a mockery of him.
"Maybe he is dead and my little plan of minimal sacrifice worked? Can I believe that? Was he really that easy to eliminate?" He muttered to himself as he made his way down the clearing out of sight of the two.
With a thud, he landed on the earthy ground among the mushrooms and crept forward to scout out the best possible angle from which he could surprise them.
Just as he was about to look around the last mushroom tree and keep an eye out for the two, he saw them disappear into the forest directly on the other side, right under the mushroom where his team mate was hidden.
"Damn it! What are they up to? Has he been seen?" With silent curses about the incompetence of his people on his lips, he ran without wasting time around to the left the same way he had taken before, but this time on the ground.
He crept around the last mushroom and breathed an audible sigh of relief when he saw his comrade''s toes peeking out from the mushroom eight meters above him, and gingerly climbed up over several mushrooms while keeping an eye out for the two missing slaves so as not to be seen.
He hoisted himself up the last mushroom and crept forward, crouching, directly toward his associate. "Did you see where they went?" He whispered in a commanding tone to his comrade, then suddenly faltered as several alarm bells seemed to ring shrilly in his subconscious. He tapped the slave on the floor in front of him and rolled him around with a brief effort. "Phew... I was beginning to think you were the other guy! Why don''t you answer..." And Cesta faltered when he saw the blank look of his follower, who seemed to stare at him as the man came to rest on his back. A red trickle ran down his throat and onto the front of his linen shirt, causing Cesta to gasp as he saw the dead man in front of him.
"Oh damn!" Cesta hissed as he took a stumbling step back, suddenly bumping into something behind him. Before he could turn around in panic, he felt something warm on his forehead and noticed the hand holding his forehead from behind him on the left, abruptly jerking his head back, and a sharp cold pain on his throat, followed by a rattle from his throat and a thick liquid running down his chest.
A cold and grim voice, which reminded him of the rattling death itself, whispered in his right ear as he bled out in a steely grip, slowly drowning in agony on his own blood in his lungs. "In your next life, you''d better watch who you make your enemy..."
And with these words, his body fell forward powerlessly and several jerks went through his body while his lungs tried to breathe with blood in them, and he drowned in the thick liquid and only heard an annoyed snort from the man whom Cesta himself had actually been hunting.
"The would-be hunter became the hunted..." Came the last whisper he should ever hear in his life, and it went black around him.
2.15-Corruption
Lea, Nick and Avan were standing at the edge of the clearing and had just discussed the past situation, and Avan let out an audible sigh as he thought about the two deaths and how emotionally cold he had felt doing it.
Since waking up in this world on so much had changed in his life physically and mentally that he barely recognized himself. He was still a kind and good-hearted person, but through all the suffering, the death by his hands or others, and the loss and torture of his person, his soul had become cracked and scarred. Scars that would heal through friends, but would take time. Time, which he did not have right now and it was once again necessary for survival and nefarious behavior.
Behavior which had been necessary again this time. And even if Avan had always liked to see himself on earth as a kind of sniper or assassin in his dreams, it was something else to experience with his own eyes and hands how easy it was to knock out the light of another thinking creature. With a snap of the finger, the person was just alive and then dead, the light of life simply snapped on.
All these thoughts jumped around in Avan''s head, and even though he seemed calm on the outside and had learned to act that way more and more during the weeks on Aorus, there was still a certain turmoil inside him. He could not look at his soul and the core of his inner being at the moment, but he was very sure that there had been some cracks that he would definitely have to heal after his time as a slave.
Lea and Nick, meanwhile, while Avan stared up at the sky, discussed the next steps and the possible location of the portal.
Avan shook his head gently and concentrated again on the here and now.
I can''t change anything about the past anyway. So let''s focus on the here and now, and what''s to come.
With these final thoughts about his inner turmoil, he pushed all further thoughts about it aside and put them in one of his many inner drawers to deal with them again another time.
"So, I would say we run in larger and larger circles, starting from here in the middle, and expand the radius more and more, to do a search for the portal." Came straight from Nick. "So sometimes when we were only a few soldiers, we would search areas as well."
"Hmmm, not a bad thought. But that takes time. Do we have that much time? We won''t be short of dried food and water for the next few days, but we still don''t know how long we''ll have to spend in the dungeon, and we should get to the higher levels as soon as possible. Isn''t there any clue we can use instead of starting our search from scratch?" Lea asked back, looking thoughtfully at Nick and then letting her gaze wander to Avan, who was chewing on his lower lip and musing as well.
"I... think I might have some kind of clue. At least I noticed something when I had a clear field of vision over the mushroom forest. When we set out in this direction here, there was a strangely shaped hill a little ways to the right." Avan reflected aloud, and the other two looked at him. "And the strange thing is, that was the only landmark for miles around. No large clearings, no lakes, no mountains or other hills. Nothing. Just this strange smaller mountain. And why I call it strange is also simple.... It looked more like a big pile of boulders, and not in one piece. Or more like it was cobbled together. Artificial. Not quite natural."
The trio pondered the information and unanimously decided to start looking at this mound first and then see if they could consider Nick''s approach after all.
So the three marched off, Avan back in the treetops or rather above them, and Lea together with Nick down on the forest floor.
Fifteen minutes of hopping and weaving through the forest later, and a short rest in between to drink and eat some of the dried food, all three were standing in front of a really odd-looking hill that Avan had seen from a distance.
"Hmm, what''s that?" Avan muttered as he landed on the ground next to the other two, who were also pensive, all looking at the structure in front of them.
"That looks... more like a piece of oversized rope that a giant dropped here..." came from Lea, who, with her head tilted, eyed the thing in front of them critically.
"Yep, definitely doesn''t look natural." Avan added to the silent observation.
In front of them was a mound that looked a bit like someone had stacked an odd piece of rope in one spot. Or like a snake...
As Avan had just formed the thought, he suddenly held his breath as it dawned on him and he stared wide-eyed at the hill. "Damn it! Guys, that''s not a hill! It''s a freaking snake, for crying out loud!"
His two friends gasped and took a few steps back as well, realizing how right Avan had hit the nail on the head with his statement.
Just as they took a few steps back, the hill shook and began to move.
Behind the mound, something large suddenly emerged and two yellow slit-like eyes stared at the group, and as soon as the entire head of the cobra was visible, a cloud of white vapor puffed out of the side of the mouth, just to the right and left of the poison fangs.
The group was frozen, and even Avan didn''t dare turn his back on the creature when he saw its sheer size now completely in front of him. He knew that running away was fruitless and that the snake would lunge forward in a single bound and eat them if that was its intention.
The head of the giant cobra, which now towered over ten meters above them, came closer and closer, and it puffed out more clouds of steam as it leisurely let its yellow eyes roam over the three of them.
"Well, look at you... Did I see it right? New guests." Came a hissing but not aggressive voice as the snake opened its mouth to speak in surprise.
Leah, Nick and Avan looked at each other in surprise, and all three instinctively bowed to the giant creature, well aware that politeness would be more useful than having to fight such a monster mana-less.
"Oho, and polite too, it seems. In fact, most of the other guests in the dungeon just attack, like the mindless monkeys they often are. Paints me as pleasantly surprised."
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Avan took a slow and careful step forward. "Hmm, yes. I can guess why... But it would be pointless to fight, and running certainly wouldn''t do much good either, would it?" He explained with irony in his voice. "So the only thing left is polite conversation. And the immediate question that plagues us; can you help us find the portal to the next level?"
The snake suddenly chuckled and a forked tongue twitched briefly as it giggled. "Ahahaha, it''s been a long time since anyone was polite and direct with me! Oh, how refreshing. Interesting!"
"Mhmm, hmmm. Yes, in fact you have already passed my first test with that. Congratulations! Come closer and we can talk about it better." Hissed the cobra and pulled back with her head and unwrapped her long dark gray body, showing for the first time what was visible underneath.
The snake had wrapped itself around a stone table and with a gesture of its tail end pointed directly at this stone table with the stone chairs that the three should sit down.
Nick, Lea and Avan looked at each other silently for a moment and shrugged their shoulders in surrender, and wandered over to the stone table with its five stone chairs to sit down as they were told.
As soon as the three of them sat down, the cobra''s head lowered again and looked at the three of them insistently from the other side of the stone table. Nothing happened for a few seconds, until the snake blinked once and giggled again.
"Well, well... Normally, I would give you a mixture of riddles in a certain order, and ask some questions which would have to be answered truthfully. But..." The cobra explained and looked up wistfully, a sad expression briefly flitting across the snake''s face, even though the three humans didn''t know for sure if they had interpreted the emotion correctly.
A hissing deep sigh and more clouds of steam escaped the snake''s mouth as it turned its gaze back to the three in front of it. "However, I don''t have the time or the inclination in the current situation.... I will tell you something instead, and then ask a single question. On the basis of your answer I will weigh whether you are worth it... or die."
Lea and Nick now had visible sweat on their foreheads and looked at each other in surprise, while Avan simply tilted his head and stared thoughtfully but calmly at the cobra. And then sighed and shrugged his shoulders, which was met with a puzzled look from his two friends. "I think that won''t be a problem." He explained confidently, and now even the cobra looked mildly surprised at the little human, who seemed so confident and unafraid.
"Interesting... I actually don''t perceive any fear in you. Curious..." The snake hissed before continuing.
"But well... It''s a rather short tale. A few years ago, some strange smelling people invaded this dungeon and were able to get to the dungeon core effortlessly without any problems and with a very strange kind of magic and mana. What they did there, or how they did it, I don''t know, because I can''t see more than my own level. But when they came back out, something had changed. They had left something behind, or planted something. Something had changed in the dungeon, and I could no longer establish a telepathic connection with the dungeon core.... You have to know, this dungeon is very old and had developed a kind of consciousness over time. Sentient, not sapient. Still enough to grow beyond the mechanical commands of a normal dungeon. It allowed us dungeon creatures to communicate with our creator, the dungeon core. But when those little people left, suddenly everything was closed off. That was the first sign. And over the years it got worse. The other guardians and creatures with consciousness on the higher levels, closer to the core, I gradually could not reach either, until one day my twin on the floor above me came to me and told me something disturbing, just before I lost the connection to him as well..."
The group looked spellbound at the cobra, and Avan had a vague idea of what it would all come down to, as he made the connections with the help of the knowledge from the dungeon of akkalon.
"He had told me just before the telepathic disconnection that the monsters and even the entire planes were distorting and spreading a kind of corruption. Something twisted had nested in the dungeon core, or rather was most likely planted there. It had all started when the little humans reached the dungeon core. A kind of dark purple corruption gradually spread out from the highest level, infecting all life, level by level, creature by creature. I myself am the last level and creature that has not yet come into contact with it, but the purple light above us is the first sign of it. Less than two weeks ago it was still orange, and had slowly changed into an oppressive purple light, when the first purple veins appeared in the sky."
The three people in front of the cobra held their breath, anticipating what was to come.
"And that leaves me with no other choice.... I need your help. I would send you to the highest level, directly to the dungeon core. If you are willing to help. If not, then everything is lost for me anyway, and I can also devour you directly and give free rein to corruption, because then I am also no more..." whispered the snake regretfully at the end, and then looked at the three people sitting at the stone table one after the other.
"Sure we accept." Came abruptly the statement of Avan, and not only the huge cobra blinked several times in surprise, but also his two friends stared at him like a madman.
"What-are you crazy? What are we supposed to be able to do Avan!" Came an abrupt burst from Lea, who stared at him in disbelief. "Are you a madman?"
Nick also stared at him in amazement, but then shook his head in disbelief and giggled, which ended in a loud laugh, and all heads abruptly turned to him. "Ahahaha, I knew it. There''s something different about you-Avan! Okay, I''m in. The other choice would be to fight this thing and probably die anyway." Nick continued to chuckle, and then looked up apologetically at the cobra. "Sorry for the choice of words." He grinned, then looked back at Avan.
Lea just stared open-mouthed at Nick as if she wanted to catch flying, while the cobra continued to blink and didn''t quite seem to make sense. "Huh." Was the only thing the snake could think of to say, until an eerie grin formed on its face.
"Hah! Good answer. I''ll accept it that way, then. Come on, there''s not much time left anyway, and in a few days at the latest, I''ll be just as mindless as all the other creatures. So now it''s up to you. If we should ever meet again, I promise you one thing; no matter what it is, I owe you something big if you should manage to stop this... thing!"
Without waiting for further comments, and ignoring the gasping Lea, the mouth of the snake in front of them surprisingly opened extremely wide. As wide as only snakes with their flexible jaws were able to swallow huge prey with one swallow.
Directly behind the tongue, which lay rolled out on the floor in front of them like a red carpet, an ominous purple and almost black portal wafted, which emitted a kind of mist of the same color.
Avan had already made his own picture with the help of the information he had been told by the founder of the Order of Akkalon and suspected this dark organization, with its Blights Hands, as the cause of this corruption. The same thing that the bookworm had told about these corrupt and twisted monsters was apparently happening here. And that he, of all people, now landed here seemed to him more than just a big coincidence.
He walked around the stone table without comment and stepped in front of the open mouth of the cobra, while he turned to his two comrades with a calm look.
"Please survive." He whispered audibly and loud enough for the others to hear, causing them to look up in surprise.
Before his two friends could say anything back and before they could stop him, Avan marched into the portal and spoke one last time before disappearing. "Snake, please close the portal after me." And disappeared into the billowing darkness of the portal, leaving behind two gawking friends who showed a wide variety of emotions from bewilderment to rage on their faces in a split second, and the cobra closed its mouth again.
2.16-An old acquaintance
Avan still had the two facial expressions of his team in his mind as he stepped out again, frowning, on the other side of the black dripping portal.
Shoulders hunched and muscles tense, he immediately looked around for danger. But the only thing that greeted him was darkness and a long corridor of black masonry, with several stone doors on either side of the corridor. At the other end, it glowed ominously in a dark pulsating purple where it seemed to open into a larger room.
"Huh..." escaped from Avan''s mouth as he looked at the gloomy overall picture. "Not ominous at all. It just screams death and doom."
With a quick mental wave, his left hand glowed a bit and he held it in front of him to see better with his magical light. Carefully and extra quietly, he tiptoed to the first door on the left and pushed it open a few inches, which surprisingly swung open effortlessly without any squeaks or creaks. Inside he saw, much to his amazement, a few very human beds but nothing else of consequence, so he turned to the door on the other side next. The second stone door opened just as smoothly and behind it was a kind of dark lounge with benches, tables and chairs, partially burned torches in torch holders on the wall and nothing else.
So he looked at the next doors and found a relatively empty warehouse with open empty boxes and shelves, a kind of kitchen which seemed to be made of supernaturally smooth stone almost as if it were cast out of stone and at the end two offices.
The last door on the right, which Avan carefully pushed open just before entering the purple-lit hall behind the corridor, took Avan''s breath away for a moment. His breath caught, not out of surprise or excitement, but because what he found here brought back the worst of recent memories. The door swung open completely and Avan stood in the doorway to another torture chamber, but one that looked more like a sacrificial altar.
A gloomy stone table, or stone pedestal, stood in the center, while grooves running down from the center were integrated into the floor all around, iron soot-blackened torch holders hung on the walls, and all around the walls and in front of them hung various weapons and torture instruments.
A shiver of fear and sweat ran down Avan''s back and he inevitably wiped his forehead with the back of his right hand, while his hands trembled slightly as memories of the fat torturer were involuntarily brought back to his mind.
He swallowed significantly, and his larynx made a distinct jump as the last of the saliva ran down his dry throat. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Cursing, he stumbled backward out of the room and quickly turned his gaze upward. Shaking his head to banish the images again, he kneaded his hands in front of him and stumbled further down the corridor towards the purple light, trying to get to the dungeon core as quickly as possible.
With unsteady steps he continued the last rest of the gloomy corridor, and with an incidental subconscious command the light on his left hand also went out, since it was bright enough in the room in front of him.
Resting his right hand on the black stone to his right and still breathing a little heavily, Avan arrived at the end of the corridor and looked into the room beyond.
Now he could make out the source of the purple light and why it seemed to pulsate. At the other end of the twenty meter room, a melon-sized dark sphere was suspended in mid-air. The purple light emanated from the sphere in pulses, and Avan could briefly make out a few dark purple veins from afar with each outgoing pulse, which ran through the interior of the dungeon core.
This looks... eerily beautiful, I would almost say.
Cautiously, Avan stepped into the room and looked around for more dangers. The room itself was very unadorned and except for the four columns in the corners, which rose from the floor to the ten meter high ceiling, everything was barren and uncharitable black stone. Only the dungeon core itself radiated something that captivated Avan. He suspected that it must have something to do with the fact that he himself was a dungeon, and that he had unlocked new things in his last dungeon dive. I wonder if that''s the case here, too, if I connect to the core... somehow?
One step after another, he crept toward the dungeon core, which glowed up and down like a heartbeat, always emitting waves of purple light. I wonder... or rather, I hope that this corruption does not affect me as well...
In the middle of the room, Avan spun around again to check for hidden traps or nasty surprises, but still found nothing else or no one else. Carefully putting one foot in front of the other, he continued toward the core. Has the frequency of the pulse increased? Or am I mistaken? he suddenly asked himself, not five meters from the core, rubbing his eyes.
A few more steps later, Avan finally stood in front of the dungeon core and looked at it up close with fascination and a tilted head. The pulsing had really increased in frequency and flowed in rapid heartbeat-like waves away from the core as the center point. It was interesting to see, however, that the waves seemed to break on Avan''s body and he stood like a rock in the surf against the waves.
For a few minutes, he stared into the sphere as if hypnotized, as if he were trying to fathom the depths of this strange object. Avan''s heart pounded in his chest with its own rhythm as he slowly raised both his hands and placed his palms on the core.
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With a jolt and completely abruptly, as if glued to the dungeon core, he was mentally somewhere else.
---
Three people with robes and hoods pulled deep into their foreheads marched through the streets of a city. One of the three grunted disdainfully as he looked around. Humans, beastkin, elves, and many more were milling around the various market stalls, and the general mood was happy and cheerful.
The three marched on through side streets and soon arrived at another marketplace. This was used for more upscale goods such as silk, valuable jewelry, finely crafted weapons and armor, and magical items.
The goal of the robe bearers, however, was behind it, where a majestic white tower pierced the sparse clouds above the city and towered over all the other buildings far and wide.
A bright silver portal gleamed at the end of a passageway that led into the first floor of the tower.
The three figures paid a few pieces of silver to the guards to be admitted and, along with a small stream of other citizens and adventurers, passed through the portal.
Throughout the levels they encountered other groups, which they avoided or ignored, and worked their way up from the lower levels to the higher levels without difficulty.
Time had passed, and the three had made several stops, slept, eaten, and conferred. Now they stood before their apparent goal; a huge silver double door rose seven meters in height and three meters in width, forged in runes. The reliefs and carvings were inlaid with gold, silver and various precious stones in a wide variety of colors and decorated the door, which turned into an imposing masterpiece of art.
Above the door itself, a round perfect silver inlaid sphere adorned the door frame.
All three figures approached the door, which normally no one could open, and placed their palms on the surface.
At first nothing happened, and the group seemed to be lost in deep concentration, until suddenly a black mist rose from all six hands and became denser and denser. After another while, purple veins suddenly sprouted from under the palms of the hands and crept, first slowly and then faster and faster, over and into the double door.
A loud groan sounded from the large double doors, and suddenly a shrill sound was heard throughout the dungeon, on every level, and everyone in the dungeon held their ears while the monsters themselves stood frozen.
Chimes rang out, and the wing doors, now completely black and purple, magically opened slowly with a murmuring sound.
The three robe-bearers with their concealed faces now stood in a white room, a hovering silver sphere suspended in front of them in the midst of the air, which seemed to pulsate in panic and emit waves of light.
The smallest of the three figures, a woman in body shape, walked forward and placed both her hands on the sphere, which was now emitting irritatingly fast and irregular waves of silvery light and humming.
A woman''s voice sounded and intoned a strange language, more guttural than melodic, and purple veins flowed down her arms to her hand and into the dungeon sphere.
A crack and crash, as if glass were slowly shattering and cracking, sounded from inside the dungeon core. Where the hands rested, black and lilac cracks and veins spread and soon encased the entire surface, then penetrated deeper into the sphere.
A shrill noise echoed through the dungeon hallways and levels, and every monster trembled, and every level boss hissed and looked up angrily at their dungeon core. Everyone knew what was happening, but no one could do anything about it or rush to help in time.
The dungeon core took on an eerie purple dark color, and after a few minutes of silence, it billowed, pulsing purple light where before it was silvery.
The three shapes settled in, and the dungeon core obeyed. It changed the levels, it created spaces for the wearers of the robes, and gradually the black purple mass moved through the levels from top to bottom, converting all the other monsters as well.
---
Avan was finally able to let go of the ball, and sank to the ground in a swoon like a doll with its strings cut.
2.17-Just Bob
Do we really have to do this again?... Avan cawed inwardly, as a wave of migraine-like headaches robbed him of his sanity. Since I woke up in this world, I''ve had more severe headaches than I''ve had in my entire twenty-five years...
He kept his eyes closed and just lay there for the time being to give his head time to sort itself out and the pain to subside. A few deep breaths and minutes later, his buzzing head slowly subsided and he could concentrate on the rest of his body. Avan was sitting on a kind of chair, even though he was puzzled as to how he had gotten here, and his body felt like lead, so hard was it for him to move his limbs and muscles as he very slowly opened and closed his fists.
The blood only slowly began to circulate properly again and the numbness in his body steadily receded. When he could finally feel something more, he noticed another inconsistency that made his heartbeat pump a lot faster.
An unsubtle and repressed memory came to him from the depths of his mind and pushed itself vehemently into the foreground as it dawned on Avan more and more and the parallels became clear. He was tied to a chair, and the bonds he felt threatened to make his head explode as the memory of his last torture came back full force. Struggling and tearing at the restraints did nothing, and every second of helplessness increased Avan''s panic immeasurably as he frantically tried to somehow get his arms or legs free. The chair beneath him was massive, and he finally blinked his eyes open, only to close them again with a cry of pain as he looked directly into a source of light in front of him that sent another knife-edge of pain into his brain. All wriggling and squirming did nothing, and the chair to which Avan was tied creaked only slightly, but otherwise was totally unimpressed by his efforts to free himself. Avan''s panicked thoughts raced and whizzed through his consciousness, and for a moment he wondered how he could be so weak, with all the physical stats he was supposed to possess, no matter if the bracelet was cutting off his magic. But no matter what logical thoughts ran through his head, nothing stuck except his panicked attempts to free himself and find a solution, no matter how minimal it seemed.
He blinked several times a second and tried not to look directly at the cone of light that was shining directly at him. His heartbeat was still racing, but it had stopped rising, and Avan could finally see something in the environment he was in.
His worst fears were briefly realized when he recognized the room he was in, even though he had not seen a massive wooden chair, or rather wooden throne, in which he now found himself bound with iron handcuffs. He was, according to his memories, still on the level of the dungeon core and in the torture room, which he had discovered while searching the premises.
The chair to which he was handcuffed was made of solid, almost black wood, which weighed several hundred kilograms in terms of sheer weight and how little he had moved during Avan''s attempt. The iron handcuffs on his arms, and probably also on his legs which he could not see in his current position, shone slightly purple and Avan could swear that between some of his eyelashes black runes could be seen on the surface of the metal, connected in a pattern.
The room was exactly the same, except for the torture chair on which he found himself, and only the glowing white ball that hovered two meters in front of him and shone at him was new.
As if his mind was finally waking up, when Avan''s heartbeat slowly slowed down again, he noticed a liquid running down his head and his wet silvery hair, some of which was hanging down in loose strands at the edge of his field of vision. His face was also wet and he even tasted the liquid on his lips, which he had opened in his previous scream. It was tasteless and seemed to be simple water.
It wasn''t until another drop landed on Avan''s forehead and a sharp, breath-stealing pain exploded in his frontal lobe that he cried out again and his heartbeat instantly shot dangerously up. He wriggled again as the pain flared up between his eyes, and tilted his head to avoid another drop, which landed a few centimeters to the left on the top of his head, fortunately causing no further pain.
Minutes passed, and more drops landed in various places all over Avan''s scalp as he placed his head in ever-changing positions to avoid his forehead at all costs.
He had read about a torture method where a water source was very very slowly dripped onto the same part of a prisoner, irritating the skin so much that each additional drop became more and more painful and unbearable, not to mention mentally stressful.
This method of torture was primarily intended to deprive sleep, to cause mental and psychological stress without equal, and if on the same place, such as the scalp, to cause more and more tearing pain.
That he now found himself in and under such a torture method scared Avan significantly and his eyes widened in panic as another drop landed on his left ear. His healing by celestial mana had apparently stalled somewhat in his unconsciousness, and only now did he feel the irritated skin slowly but surely regenerating and recovering, even if the mental stress could not be healed like the physical wounds, as the next drop landed on the back of his head.
"Damn! Why?! Why me? Why again?" Avan whimpered to himself as it burst out of him like a broken dam, tears running down his cheeks. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" He cursed through tears that slowly robbed him of his vision and blurred it.
Every drop of water that landed on his head made him wince, and it happened at such irregular intervals that he couldn''t even tell when the next harmless yet disgusting drop of water was coming down.
It wasn''t until he heard the stone door to his right, which led out into the hallway, open and close with a thump that he felt better in a way, because anything was better than waiting for the next drop of water, even if he knew how insane that actually was.
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And when a sweet and slimy sounding voice spoke to him from the right, he winced again, but couldn''t suppress a relieved sigh when it too distracted him from the drops.
"Hello, sweetheart!" It spoke from the right in a voice familiar to Avan, as a flabby and chubby man slowly stepped into Avan''s field of vision from the right, which he still knew very well from his nightmares.
"It''s soooo good to finally see you again! And look at you! So refreshed, so fit, and REGENERATED! I get all wet at the thought of what we have experienced together last time, and I am already full of ecstasy and anticipation to find you so healthy and chipper. Oh, what a joy!" The fat torturer spoke with an almost supernaturally wide grin as he stepped closer to Avan and placed his fat left hand on his head to gently caress him like a lost loved one. "Think of all the good times, the hours, the DAYS we will spend together! All this pleasure, the highs and lows, every single orgasm when we bring you to the climax, always one more time higher and further beyond your previous limits! Ohhhh... I have so much planned! So much that other fragile people before you could not endure. But you? With you we can live everything! There are no limits to our imagination! And you know what''s best, AVAN?" The man continued to speak in ecstasy to an increasingly pale Avan, whose brain realized too late and wondered how the man suddenly knew his name, and slowly began to tremble uncontrollably. "We even have a motivation ready for you! Isn''t that AMAZING!!!" The torturer suddenly shouted and threw his hands up in the air euphorically and performed a horrible looking dance of joy, which was more reminiscent of a jumping slime.
"Your two companions and fellow slaves are in a side room! And every time you can no longer or refuse to participate, or suddenly no longer regenerate and die, they are in your place! Beautiful, don''t you think?" He continued, and Avan could see a dangerous glint in the man''s eyes between his tremors of horror, as he looked at him and revealed that Nick and Lea would be tortured as well, once he was no longer able.
Avan shook even more and threw himself against his restraints as his mind somehow tried to logically process what this meant for him as he cried out angrily, forgetting his terror for a split second, only to have a gigantic mental shock wave crash back down on him.
The chubby man smiled sweetly again, and with each further attempt by Avan to somehow break free and more panicked glances he threw around frantically, the torturer seemed to be more and more taken in and reveling in his ecstasy.
A few seconds or even minutes passed until the man suddenly stood by Avan''s side again, and gently, like a lover, placed both flabby hands on his head, bent forward, and suddenly kissed Avan on the head.
Under all the shock, Avan could not understand what was happening, and his heart almost jumped out of his chest, so much it raced and pumped blood and adrenaline through his body.
"Why don''t you get some more rest, okay? Enjoy the gentle rain, try to sleep a little, and in the meantime we''ll bring in your two friends as guests and spectators, okay? And whenever you can''t take it anymore, you can watch as well. That sounds fair, I think! After all, you should also have the pleasure of seeing and hearing what my masterful hands can produce in others!"
Avan was too tired at this point, and his body felt oddly powerless and almost lifeless, were it not for the racing heart in his chest that seemed to be running a marathon without stopping.
More minutes of panicked thoughts, emotions and logical sense totally left aside, went by.
Lea and Nick, both with gags in their mouths, were pushed into smaller torture chairs to Avan''s right, and the torturer sniffled and huffed as he tried to wipe away the running sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand as he pushed both wide-eyed staring slaves so that they could see Avan completely, who just winced again as another drop of water landed somewhere on his scalp.
His two friends stared at him with wide and shocked eyes, and he could read a variety of emotions in their agape faces as the fat man briefly explained what he was up to and what an extraordinary regeneration their friend Avan possessed. That it was their turn as soon as Avan was no longer able, he strangely left out, but Avan forgot this as quickly as he had noticed it for a moment.
And when the torturer finally introduced himself, as if he were a gentlemen, with his name and a slight grinning bow while holding a black centipede in his left hand, Avan''s heart stopped completely for a few seconds.
Bob, he called himself, which did not fit at all in the back of Avan''s mind and which he did not believe, but immediately forgot again when he told what exactly the creature in his hand was.
"And do you see these cute little pincers on its head? With them, the cute thing can even bite through stone! The only downside is that the exoskeleton and inner workings of this creature are so odd that he struggles to turn around. So once he''s in a hopeless situation and can''t turn around, he''ll just keep digging straight ahead until he comes out somewhere!"
"And you know, I had so many ideas! But one thing in particular interests me about our friend Avan here. How fast does his regeneration work, and does it work even when important parts of his... brain is attacked?" Bob the torturer explained mischievously, scratching the back of his short stubbly hair with his right hand, thoughtful but with anticipation on his face.
"So I thought to myself, hey, bob, what happens when that cute little thing disappears into my sweetie''s ear and can only go forward? What if it reaches the top of the skull, and the delicate brain behind it? Does our friend continue to rain, or do I have to start looking for a new toy? Questions about questions! And there''s only one way to find out!"
With renewed euphoria and a facial expression almost bordering on orgasm, the fat man stepped closer to Avan, the wriggling black centipede in his left hand, and Nick and Lea who could only watch with eyes widened in horror.
2.18-The inner demon
TRIGGER WARNING: Torture, gore.
Authors Note: If you watch animes or read mangas you will know "Tokyo Ghoul" and what happened there. I, maybe, stole some scenes and researched some more methods online. This chapter will be a really important one for Avan¡äs development, so bear with me, please :)
When the black centipede touched Avan''s auricle, he completely freaked out inside and panicked, trying to bend his head to get away from Bob the torturer and the Bug, but to no avail.
"No! Please, no!" He whispered more to himself, his voice much hoarsely by now, as he continued to try in vain to fight his handcuffs.
Avan hated everything that crawled and scurried, especially when it crawled on him. Whether it was spiders, ants, beetles, or other critters, he had never had a problem with them leaving him alone, except when they crawled on his skin and he had to scratch everywhere for hours because it itched everywhere.
So he felt an animaltastic panic rising inside him, even more than anything before, when the centipede with its little legs was lowered into his ear and noticeably pushed into the auditory canal. He only glimpsed how his two friends, eyes widened in terror and with the same fear, looked alternately at Avan''s face and then at the ear from which the torturer had gleefully taken a step back and leaned on the stone table in the center of the room to watch with the greatest interest.
It tickled and drove Avan almost crazy when he felt the crawling in his right ear and still had the image of the centipede exactly in front of his mind''s eye, and how it now penetrated his innermost being in exactly the same way. The tickling was more horror than laughter, because with every fraction of a second that passed, he didn''t know when the little creature would start digging through his skin, cartilage and flesh to the bone.
He wriggled wildly and noticed with increasing panic how the crawling in his innermost ear briefly ended, and very briefly the thought flashed through his mind of how the one-inch-thick animal had gotten so deep in the first place, when something in his right head snapped shut and he cried out hoarsely and extremely loudly.
Avan fleetingly remembered the many middle ear infections he had already experienced, and how he had cursed the pain and compared it to a needle prick or knife thrust into the deepest part of his ear. This pain now was comparable to that and was getting worse by the second, while a liquid slowly began to drip out of his right ear and Lea and Nick looked at it, frozen, with horror in their eyes.
Avan screamed like a spit, wiggling and wriggling in the few movements he had left, and after a miserably long time his voice changed to a hoarse and then silent scream as his vocal cords gradually failed, but the pain only became more and more unbearable.
He HEARD the tearing of his inner right ear, the cutting of cartilage, and the rush of blood, and nothing else in the world mattered at that moment, as the blinding white pain overloaded all his senses. His head threatened to burst and his silent scream just wouldn''t end as saliva ran down the corners of his mouth and dripped onto his linen shirt, sweat covered his body in drips and streams and he was bathed in sweat experiencing everything that was happening. Meanwhile, the Celestial Mana was already trying to repair the damage, which only prolonged Avan''s agony, as the centipede only needed longer to make progress, because the wounds were trying to heal again relatively quickly. So Avan tossed and turned and suffered longer than normal until it turned white in the face when the beast reached the top of his skull and began to work on his bones.
His neck hurt badly and his head was tossed back and forth as Avan felt the centipede tear through the bones and another liquid emerge that had nothing to do with blood.
When the brutal creature reached the first part of his brain, Avan froze and the white before his eyes was abruptly replaced by a cold black as he fell into a merciful swoon.
A cheerful whistle woke Avan from his peaceful unconsciousness and with a jerk he opened his eyes and jerked his iron handcuffs as he tried to figure out what had happened. He shook his head in fear and the last thing he remembered was when the centipede had feasted on the outermost part of his brain. His breathing was intermittent and a loud rattle sounded from his throat, which remarkably felt less raw and hoarse than before, thanks to his own healing. He coughed and spat out an indefinable lump of something disgusting while blinking and trying to focus his gaze.
Gone... It''s over...! I''m alive... What-how?
The torturer was busy doing something with his back to Avan, but turned to him with a wide and satisfied grin when he heard the sounds.
"Ohhhh, he''s awake! I knew you were something special! If you could see yourself now. Like new! The centipede surprisingly came crawling out of the same ear, probably because he had made enough room to turn around, but still! Remarkable, really remarkable..."
When Bob turned around and smiled at him with joy, Avan also realized what the fat man had been busy with in the meantime and just wanted to keep crying and screaming.
Where Nick''s left eye had once been, there was now a gaping red and dark hole, full of burnt scar tissue. While Lea''s once quite pretty face was now covered with more fresh bloody cuts and her left ear was hanging down in shreds on the side of her head.
The fat torturer had kept his word and occupied himself with the other slaves, only because Avan had fainted.
As Avan stared crying at his two mutilated friends with tons of stones in his stomach, he couldn''t believe his eyes when Nick lifted his drooping head and smiled reassuringly at him, revealing only more horror as more than half of his former teeth were missing and his mouth was full of blood. A bloody bubble of air from Nick''s mouth only added to the incredible terror Avan was feeling at that moment.
"Ohh, right!" With a clap of his two feisty hands, the torturer beamed a little more, even if one would hardly have thought it possible.
"I had to deal with other objects in the meantime, since you were unfortunately indisposed. So I took some time with these two new canvases and indulged in my art. But don''t worry, now that you are awake again, we can continue! I wouldn''t trade you or replace you for anything in the world, you know."
A sickeningly sweet and joyous laugh rang out from the obnoxious man''s throat, and the world once again felt more than a little wrong.
And so it went on for Avan. Minutes stretched into hours, and hours into days. Time lost its importance, and he had no strength left to even know how long he had been trapped in this man''s grasp.
Whenever the man himself went to sleep, or when there was the little bit of soup and water for the slaves, it was quiet in the room. Only the heavy breathing of the three tortured rattled through the room. Lea and Nick had only come in one other time, when Avan had fainted again. Bob the fat torturer had now put the millipedes several times into his orifices, sometimes individually or several at the same time.
Avan was trembling incessantly by now, and his bloody and bloodshot eyes spoke volumes as he lay there so powerless in his chair, his head on his chest and saliva running from his tongue hanging out the side.
And it wasn''t just the centipedes. His teeth had been split, leaving the nerve roots underneath open to the air, which had also resulted in extreme pain, while his healing magic had even regenerated and regrown teeth after hours.
Bob had at some point begun to mix different torture methods. For example, a centipede had feasted through Avan''s ear while some of his tooth roots lay broken, and at the same time a rat had feasted through his stomach under a heated iron bucket. The rat had tried to flee from the heat and the only way had been the tender and soft flesh on Avan''s belly, which the rat had used as an escape route in panic.
Thus, in the first hours after his first awakening from unconsciousness, Avan had already begun to erect a spiritual and mental wall in his interior, in order to shield his mind somehow as far as possible, so as not to fall prey to madness.
He continued to feel everything, screaming, shrieking, wriggling, and trying to lash out, while his mind retreated, leaving behind an apathetic and scratchless version of itself. When Avan fell into a nightmarish sleep for short minutes or even an hour, he dreamed of all the torture, the pain, and often talked to himself. With his other self, which gradually splintered off and thus protected his spirit.
Besides all the torture, there were also the typical methods Avan was subjected to, such as small stakes through different parts of his body, a kind of collar with a metal fork sticking up and down and stabbing him in the chest and throat as soon as he could no longer hold his neck upright, his tongue being cut, and many other painful things. His nails had also grown back in a few hours, and to Avan''s utter horror, his healing speed and regeneration had become many times faster over all the past torture time, making the torture with the rat and the centipedes a hundred times worse.
From a blurry point in the last few hours or days, Avan had watched first Nick die with a final smile in Avan''s direction, eyes glazed over, and later Lea, too, as she had a glowing piece of metal poked through a burned-out eye hole.
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Avan himself had only watched with a blank stare as he awoke once again from his black darkness and unconsciousness, and had not witnessed Lea''s death himself.
Guilt no longer existed, nor did almost any thoughts or emotions, except for the unspeakable pain that accompanied each day of torture.
He had found a refuge in himself, and had retreated further and further mentally. His torture had become, from an emotional point of view, more of an objective observation, which had gradually given way to cold logic. He observed himself, his reactions, his state, his mana, his body and how everything functioned together. He discussed with himself, with his second self, the self that was still somewhat lucid and possessed the emotions that he now lacked.
At one point, Avan didn''t know when it had just suddenly happened, Bob the torturer had lost interest in him. He told him that he lacked a reaction.
So the fat torturer left and left Avan to his own thoughts, or rather to his second self, for many hours.
When Bob returned many hours later, he again had a grinning expression on his face, and the torture continued.
Things didn''t change much, and Avan was sure he had experienced over a hundred different of the worst tortures in his own body, when the cowardly man suddenly stepped up beside him to whisper in his ear. Avan had just stared at him emotionlessly with a blank stare and waited.
"Do you know what I learned today?" It came with the usual sweetish tone, which Avan had hated so much at the beginning, but had meanwhile masterfully ignored.
He looked the ugly and fat man emotionlessly in the face while turning his head as best he could, ignoring the centipede in his left ear.
"... Pah!" Bob grimaced, furious with rage, when he saw the expressionless slave in front of him without reaction.
"There''s a town to the east! I was told that you were caught there! Namely, when you were not so happy about the death of the guild master. And the good news? The guild master''s daughter is still alive!" He whispered again lovingly into Avan''s right ear, whereupon he saw a brief emotion flit across the slave''s face and eyes for the first time in days.
"And the very best part? The city is being attacked by us again right now! And I was told that the daughter had fought, but then died without a peep! Wonderful, isn''t it?" He beamed at Avan, and suddenly took an instinctive step backwards, when he saw a kind of aura full of mana flicker up briefly, which seemed to radiate from a monster and predator without equal.
As quickly as it had appeared, the impression had suddenly disappeared, and Bob scratched the back of his head in shame as he looked away, admitting to himself that he had first thought that this powerful aura of a bloody killer had emanated from Avan here.
The torturer suddenly got cold feet and rummaged around in his torture instruments while he watched Avan from the corner of his eye and wanted to make sure whether he was really mistaken and had just imagined what he had experienced.
When, several minutes and many cleaned torture instruments later, there was nothing to indicate that this had really happened, he exhaled with relief and had a slightly redder tone in his face than usual. He had almost wet his pants when the intention of a mutilation and the pure hatred of this aura had blown towards him. Now, in retrospect, he scolded himself for it, since it had certainly only been the corrupted dungeon, or so he told himself.
Avan himself knew better, and even if the innermost and second self in him screamed loudly and tried to distract him with emotions, he had banished the last remnant of human emotions at the last heard, and a cold all-overpowering hatred had briefly burst out of him, only to be immediately overcome by cold and calm logic. A plan began to form.
A way to take revenge, even if Avan was currently giving a fuck about his emotions. But he wanted justice, and he wanted this man here to atone, and for no one to be exposed to him ever again.
And so a cold plan was formed, something that had crystallized more and more from the days of torture.
Avan was no longer suppressed by the mana-suppressing bracelet. His regeneration and rate of absorption of ambient mana had increased so much that he was now at least ten times as fast and strong with his magic as he was before the mana-suppressing bracelet was put on.
As the man muttered to himself as he left the torture room and Avan waited a few minutes to leave, a golden yellow ball floating in the air suddenly popped out of nowhere in front of him.
And a second one. And a third, a fourth, a fifth, and suddenly there were ten spheres floating around him, some of them wobbling slightly and not seeming to follow any fixed shape, while others seemed solid as steel, if you ignored the glow.
Avan grinned, more maliciously than ever before, only to be an emotionless statue again a second later.
He had all his dungeon skills back, and not a second later a dried fruit and some nuts popped out of his mouth, which he chewed thoughtfully. Avan still couldn''t access the system itself, but his Celestial mana was guiding him entirely instinctively, and it felt more like something was being uploaded into his mind as he was gradually flooded with more information, almost as if a threshold or achievement had been reached.
Bob still hated himself for being so anxious earlier. Now that he''d had his way with a couple of young boys and girls and his thoughts were clearer, he wanted to hit himself and laughed briefly with amusement.
I was afraid of that boy! Tied up, mana-less and broken as he is! What was wrong with me?
He was on his way to the torture room again and was just opening the black stone door when a dark shiver ran down his spine and he stopped short when the door was only two centimeters wide open.
Bob faltered briefly, scolding himself a second time as he finally entered, chest out, shoulders raised and a smug smile on his lips.
Only to stop abruptly again immediately.
The torture chair in front of him was empty. More than just empty, because the iron handcuffs lay partly splintered and broken in several pieces all over the room, while there was no trace of the inmate and his victim.
Bob gulped audibly, and for the first time since his youth and the fisticuffs towards him by other youths of his age and his several near-death experiences, beads of sweat immediately formed in front of his eyes because of the unbelievable situation.
Just as he was about to swallow again and take a step back into the door frame to escape, an incredible weight fell on his shoulders and he went down with a loud startled cry until a painful blow to his temples took his breath and his mind away.
He awoke a short time later, and realized with panic and boundless fear that his worst nightmare had come true.
Bob the torturer was bound, gagged and on his own torture chair, while he blinked and tried to orentate himself, until his gaze was stuck on a cold and emotionless face, which stared not half a meter away from him directly into his eyes.
"Hrmph!" He tried to scream, to plead, to threaten that the slave should let him go, but all in vain with a tight gag in his mouth.
A slight ominous smile on Avan''s face boded ill, and a second later it was gone as the slave pointedly turned his gaze away from Bob and slid down the body.
The torturer followed the young man''s gaze and swallowed in panic, while his breathing increased hyperventilatingly as he found all his torture instruments attached to his body in various ways.
The magical self-heating bucket was strapped to his belly button, while the metal fork was attached to the collar around his throat, and all manner of knives, scalpels, and other pointed and sharp objects stuck out all over the place so that he would stab himself and cut himself bloody if he moved too much.
Panic-stricken and with horror in his eyes, he looked pleadingly at Avan on the right and was about to turn his head back when he saw the two black centipedes shimmering in both hands of his former torture victim.
Before he knew it, the young man was standing behind him, and Bob felt the two centipedes wiggling into both of his ears. He wanted to scream, but couldn''t. He wanted to lash out, but couldn''t. And he wanted to curse and threaten and wring Avan''s throat, but he couldn''t.
Avan looked at his work, expressionless, as the metal bucket began to glow, as all the knives and sharp objects were lashed and fastened to the chair, and as the two little black animals disappeared inside the ears of his torturer.
Without further comment and without enjoying it all, Avan turned and marched out into the hallway, his bloody rags of a former linen shirt wafting behind him.
He had already tried to remove the mana bracelet with his regained and much more powerful dungeon skills, but found that it also dissolved any mana that came into contact with it from the outside.
So he had no choice but to move on to the next best thing, and the real reason he had come here. The dungeon core and the corruption had to give way, and he already had a suspicion and his new instincts were literally screaming at him what he could do now.
2.19-The leaning tower of Haipu
Avan''s hand gently and very carefully touched the almost black dungeon ball that was floating in the air in front of him. The first time he touched it, he flinched briefly and involuntarily took a step backwards when he felt a kind of electric shock. In contrast to an electric shock full of electricity, however, this one had something burning in it, which wanted to crawl from his hand like an internal ulcer through the bloodstream in the direction of his brain.
For the second and current attempt, he had simply formed one of his Akkalons shapes into the form of a wafer-thin, almost latex-like glove and was now touching the dungeon sphere in front of him without any major problems. On the contrary, where his hands, covered with celestial mana, touched the black billowing sphere, there was a hissing sound and the purple veins retreated from the same spot in a flash, almost as if Avan''s mana acted like a bane to corruption.
So now he stood there, both hands resting lightly on the side of the dungeon core, and closed his eyes to better concentrate on the feeling in front of him.
Something was raging and clamoring inside the sphere in front of him, and it was not at all happy about the foreign object named Avan, and its buddy the Celestial Mana. He could feel the corruption just beneath his palm receding like an angry but frightened animal, leaving an almost silver surface, just as the sphere had looked before in his vision.
The black-and-lilac mass inside nevertheless tried spasmodically to return again and again to the now silvery surface under Avan''s hands, but each time it hissed and bumped painfully against his golden-yellow mana.
It went on like this all the time, while Avan himself just stood there quietly, his thoughts trying to listen to this inner feeling that was trying to whisper to him what he had to do.
The feeling was nothing new anymore, because it came from the same instinctive behavior that Avan had developed over the past few days, giving him an almost frighteningly high level of sensitivity and knowledge of his dungeon skills. The same feeling, almost as if he had to know it himself already, whispered things to him inaudibly, showed him more feelings and images than words, while he tried to interpret them.
Celestial mana flowed through his pores, through his bloodstream, and over his hands into the dungeon sphere. His instincts told him so. What made Avan falter, however, were the possible scenarios that branched off in small strands. He saw a completely uncorrupted silver dungeon sphere floating in front of him, free of any foreign influence, and with light golden veins that brought permanent immunity to further corruption.
But he also saw several images and visions of a broken dungeon core, one with irreversible cracks, images of an explosion, or even implosions with a scope he could only vaguely grasp.
He simply did not know what the result of his interference would be, and what destruction of the dungeon tower would entail. From the sacrifices of the inhabitants, to the vague feelings of unbelievable destruction that would leave a large part of the city of Haipu in ashes.
And as Avan stood there, brooding, he suddenly startled as a third party knocked on his inner door, his hand. He was about to jerk his hands away when his own mana somehow made him understand that this third force felt different. Not manipulative, without corruption, and without the intention to harm.
This third strand of thought also sent him words without words, but seemed to have real consciousness, unlike Avan''s own mana, which sprang from himself. Not like the corruption only an instinct of destruction, but really a feeling of a toddler who could express himself only with difficulty.
Avan, eyes still closed, slightly furrowed his brows. First upwards, in surprise, and then drawn together as he tried to interpret the impressions. The third power felt gentle, yet powerful. Hot, but still with a breeze that promised cooling. It reminded Avan of stormy days, but without the water, but with a tension in the air.
And suddenly it dawned on him as he found a silver sphere in his mind. This force was the still struggling but long suppressed part and consciousness of the dungeon, which embodied lightning. It was trying to communicate, continuously engaged in a life struggle with the black and purple mass, and had now, for a long time, finally regained a small part of its dungeon sphere, right under the hands of Avan.
It conveyed to him gratitude, and a kind of affection, which Avan conveyed back in a little trickle of celestial mana, which came back in a pure joy of feelings.
The consciousness of the dungeon, as Avan had learned it in Akkalon''s dungeon, was like a toddler in the earliest development of itself, suddenly corrupted in the midst of it. It was not, like most other dungeons, without consciousness, but it was not yet fully awakened and developed.
Minutes passed, which quickly turned into a few hours as Avan stood there, communicating with the dungeon and using his mana to hold back the surging invading mass. He learned emphatically that the dungeon was suffering, that it wanted revenge, and whether Avan could help it. It had no instinct for self-preservation, and simply wanted to rid the world of corruption, even if it was only a small part. The dungeon wanted to take down the people who had done this to it, and at the same time release its own uncorrupted children inside it into the world and give them freedom.
It had been trying to slow down the progress of corruption all along, but was losing more and more power every day as this thing continued to spread and gain the upper hand.
Avan understood very well what was going on, and a renewed chill spread through his inner being. Calculated ideas shot through his head.
He had an idea based on the principle that the dungeon had taught him. The possible scenarios of destroying a large part of the city was no longer, because the dungeon had shown him what he could do to avenge it.
For the next part of the plan, however, he needed more, and had to prepare. Avan now knew that the spectators of the slave games could not watch all the way up into the dungeon core, but the people in charge themselves were monitoring this last level and knew that Avan had escaped his captivity and was now a danger to their venture as he stood here at the dungeon core itself.
With a quick wave of his index finger on his right hand, a celestial sphere popped out of nowhere and floated from Avan''s shoulder over to his hands. The structure billowed and a few ripples stretched across the golden-yellow surface until slowly a fist-thick strand wiggled out of the front part and attached itself to the top of the sphere, where the black and purple mass of corruption hissed and retreated angrily.
Avan himself sent a last brief thought to the consciousness inside and promised to be back soon, when the time came.
He took his hands off the dungeon core and turned, the linen shirt torn into bloody shreds fluttering around him as he walked with hurried steps back into the corridor of many rooms to put the snap idea into action.
Avan had promised himself and the consciousness to remedy the situation.
He was boiling inside when he thought back to his own inability not to have killed this guy directly. Judging from his facial expression, and also from the fearful expressions of the others who hurried beside and behind him through the streets of Haipu, his inner rage was also clearly visible on his face.
He had let himself be guided by his revenge, and had wanted to make him suffer. Never in his wildest dreams could he have known or imagined the immense trouble he would get into later. And now he hurried with his subordinates through the streets and into the entrance.
The city guards and all the other observers flinched fearfully as he hurried past them with his rat tail of people and only stopped briefly right in front of the purple wafting dungeon portal at the entrance.
Without wasting words, he placed his hand on the shiny surface of the portal, and without putting his hand through it, he gave the internal command.
The portal abruptly went black, and a gasp could be heard all around for a few seconds as the adventurers, city guards and onlookers watched the portal to the dungeon itself simply disappear, only to light up again a short time later. This time, however, a purple mist crept out of the portal''s fringes, which slowly slid to the ground and frayed there due to gravity.
Without comment and preoccupied with more important thoughts, he strode through the portal, while his subordinates immediately followed, leaving the gawking people outside speechless.
Whispers and thoughts like "Who the abyss was that?" and "Who are those people?" or "Shut up! Or do you want to die?" could be heard in all the whispering outside the entrance to the dungeon.
He didn''t care about any of that, and walked hurriedly down the dark corridor, heading straight for the bright purple light at the end of the hallway.
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He shielded his eyes momentarily with his right arm, and then blinked into the room and his jaw dropped as if by itself. Angry, confused, and even slightly panicked, he reached across his back and unsheathed the greatsword hanging there to get into a fighting stance.
It was a mystery to him how this slave, this nothing, had managed to penetrate the dungeon core, escape Bob the torturer of his organization in Haipu, and now sit calmly on a simple stone chair right next to the slightly raised platform at the end of the room right next to the dungeon sphere and look blankly at the newcomers.
"What the abyss is this supposed to be, slave!" He asked the obvious question, wincing inwardly as emotions and fears briefly overtook him as he faced this impossible situation.
Not even the fight against the guild master in Cyntha had he cursed like this, quite the opposite. He had looked forward to competing, and in the end, squeezing the life out of the old man. To demonstrate his superiority, to savor his power, and to enjoy the fear and dread of his opponents.
To find himself now in exactly the opposite position, a position of powerlessness, or rather fear of the unknown and incomprehensible, had momentarily frozen his rational thoughts and produced this stupid obvious question.
That the slave sitting there comfortably only smiled coldly and promisingly, however, quickly wiped away any reason and rationality immediately.
"You worm! Do you think you''ll get out of here alive? Do you think Bob is finished with you? Or that worse things can''t be done to you? Your loved ones, your family, your friends, your acquaintances. You''re going to watch them suffer. And you yourself are going to go through infinitely effective suffering yourself after we''re done with all your people!" He shouted angrily to the still calmly sitting man, who even after his threats raised only one of his eyebrows, as if he were more amused than frightened.
Suddenly, the man stood up calmly, still without a single word, and the greatsword in his hands trembled slightly.
The slave placed his hand on the dungeon core with a smug grin, and suddenly it took the breath away from the crowd behind the swordsman and himself. The corruption hissed and steamed, and to everyone''s amazement, retreated from the place of contact.
Just as he was about to open his mouth to hurl imprecations and further death threats, and had not taken two steps threateningly toward the man, a second surprise emerged.
A golden yellow sphere rose from behind the dungeon core, and a fistful of the same energy that the floating sphere seemed to be made of also touched the dungeon core. Under the slave''s hand and where the golden yellow beam of the other floating sphere touched the dungeon sphere, a silver surface was clearly seen glittering and shining.
Everyone was frozen and flabbergasted when they saw this inconspicuous slave with shredded clothing standing there calmly, but presenting powers that no one understood and that seemingly effortlessly could not only hold corruption in check, but even displace it.
And for the first time, the slave opened his mouth, and what he said only confused and frightened those present. "He told me to send you his greetings. The master of the house did not think it was at all proper what kind of filth you brought in here."
"Ahh, yes." Looked the slave briefly at the dungeon sphere under his left palm. "And I''m supposed to give you another message."
"Good luck!"
And with these words, and still everyone processing what was actually going on to the abyss, a storm blew through the room and nearly swept those present off their feet, while a golden glow emanated from the slave and entered the dungeon core from him in brute force.
"Stop him!" He shouted with the greatsword still in his hand and took a step forward as his greatest fears were realized and he didn''t even get to lunge or attack. A kind of bursting and tearing tore the room apart, and thousands of cracks formed on the dungeon core, glowing from within with the same golden light as the slave, and a drumhead-shattering crack like millions of panes of glass breaking echoed between the dark stone walls.
And with a single blow, the dungeon sphere disappeared into itself with a pop.
Those present stared at the place where the corrupted ball had just hovered, watching too late as the slave ran over to the left wall and a golden glow surrounded him like a second skin as he protectively put his arms over his head and ducked into a sitting position.
The last thing anyone in the room saw and heard was a rending of reality and a small silver murmur in the place where the dungeon core had been before.
*BOOM*
And the entire dungeon was seized by such an imploding force that it frayed and simply pulverized the top levels of the dungeon, while the entire dungeon tower abruptly collapsed.
Avan was pressed against the walls in his back with such force that his internal organs and blood vessels burst and slowly stopped working as suddenly everyone around and many meters around ceased to exist.
The dungeon''s desire had been to take those responsible to their deaths, while Avan had been very sure of himself to generate good enough protection with his newfound dungeon skills.
He had simply not expected that he would overreach himself and underestimate the opposing forces of corruption and his Celestial Mana. And so, right when the masonry and the walls, ceilings, floor and everything around ceased to exist in a good fifty meters around the former dungeon core, he was seized like a cannon at supersonic speed and shot out into the city. Debris and rubble followed directly behind it, and a hail of black rock flew over many blocks of buildings, raining into the houses and streets with incredible force, leaving death and chaos in its wake.
One of these apparent debris from the implosion of the former dungeon of Haipu was slightly shimmering gold, but none of the panicked and running-for-their-lives citizens of Haipu noticed.
The object flew in a southeasterly direction, as far as some other debris, and sank several meters deep, directly into the inner part of the outer wall of the city.
Avan had been screaming since he was shot out of the dungeon, but his vocal cords had also been shredded by the sheer force and speed with which he came hurtling through the air, and he could only whimper as he tried not to give up and give in to the threat of death.
His head had, incredibly enough, survived reasonably well, thanks in no small part to his shredded arms, which had absorbed most of the implosion and now hung in bloody shreds of sinew, muscle and destroyed flesh on the stone next to him inside the wall.
A piece of debris had decided to take the same trajectory directly behind him and had burrowed into his stomach area and crashed into the wall at the exact same spot directly after him.
Thoughts were loose, his body ached, and only thanks to Avan''s willpower was he still hanging on by a thread, even as a small but very silent part of himself whispered to him how futile his fight for survival was.
His organs were gone, his stomach had a basketball-sized stone in it, his arms and legs were more bloody, shredded mass than recognizable limbs, and even everything above his ribcage was bloody and shredded.
Finally, Avan could no longer fight the sheer loss of blood, and his eyelids fell shut heavily and with an inner coldness.
*Death is only the beginning
*The soul is the key
*The core is the gate
*Life is infinite
...
[Souls Sufficient]
[Cycle of Death and Life] was granted!
2.20-No pain no gain
Children''s screams sounded near him, and his ears twitched slightly as Avan slowly opened his eyes. From farther away, commanding cries sounded, and a smell of dust, ashes, and partial decay penetrated his nose, eliciting a noisy sneeze. He instinctively reached to his right with his hand and tried to pull himself out of the hole he was in. Shock, blurred memories and pure will to survive blocked all rational thought for the time being, and Avan simply wanted to get to safety. One death was enough for him for a very, very long time.
Of course, he had noticed the news in his messages, right in front of his face, and when he now opened his eyes in a completely recovered state without any pain, could move without problems and was in full possession of his powers, there was no doubt.
His perk [Cycle of Death and Life] had been activated, even though Avan just couldn''t understand where the hell he got a thousand souls. The fights in the arena, and the kills in the dungeon itself, had not been nearly enough to replenish his soul pool and give him a resurrection.
But all these thoughts were secondary, because he knew that he first had to get to safety before he could devote himself to his blinking interface with all the messages and updates.
Just as he was finally able to wriggle free, his left hand, while resting on the scree underneath him, brushed against a cold material that, when touched, immediately inflicted a brief painful sting and seemed to suck mana away.
One thought later, the bracelet, very familiar to Avan, disappeared directly into his celestial storage without wasting any further attention, and he scrambled further out of the hole in the wall.
The children''s screams grew louder and he had to suppress another sneeze when he finally caught a glimpse of the street, where to the right of his position three children were playing a game with some kind of leather ball, completely unimpressed by all the soot and dust above some parts of the city.
One of the three boys, unfortunately, at that very moment looked up at the large hole in the outer wall that was three meters above the ground, and spotted the silver-haired Avan also looking at the three children at that very moment.
The boy frowned and stopped abruptly, which brought him the leather ball with not a little force directly on the side of his head, which had just been thrown to him by one of the other children. A loud cry and an angry look in the direction of his playmate briefly distracted the boy, and when he looked over to the wall again, the almost naked silver-haired man had already disappeared.
Avan himself had hurried and in the short span of distraction had quickly landed with a graceful leap on the cobblestones, the three meters no hurdle, and had set off in the shadow of the setting sun near the walls of the house in the opposite direction.
Without effort and with only a brief, barely visible movement of one of his fingers, a midnight black ball plopped into the air above his right shoulder, adapting almost like a chameleon to the darkness at the request of its creator, making it even harder to see.
So Avan, with his silver hair disheveled and hanging loosely over his shoulders, his upper body free and his pants just barely in place, crept along the street until he came to one of the smaller southeastern gates of the city. He did not want, whether rationally or irrationally, to remain in the city of Haipu another unnecessary second longer, since there was a danger that he would be searched for if someone connected him to the dungeon or if one of his pursuers survived the implosion.
He watched the three guards, who were carefully walking down the street leading from the gate into the city, talking excitedly to each other, and kept noticing a recurring part of the conversation that sounded an awful lot like "monster".
Just as Avan was pondering what kind of monsters might be in the city, he heard renewed screaming from the direction of the arena and the destroyed tower, and in between loud hisses, explosions, and various magical discharges.
And with that it dawned on him, and he grabbed his head for his stupidity, as he shook his head and thought of the now freed monsters of the former dungeon, including an oversized snake which had remained in his memory with a clear image before his eyes.
Distracted, the gate guards were in any case easier for him to bypass, but it still remained the thought of how he now managed to march unseen past them out of the city.
A thoughtful sideways glance at his dark camouflaged sphere next to him brought him a brief smile, which disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared on his face. Further movements of his fingers later, four more spheres popped into reality above him, and he camouflaged them as quickly as he could, when one of the city guards at the gate thought he saw something odd out of the corner of his eye.
Avan held his breath and let the five spheres remain motionless in the shadows, while the guard suddenly glanced into the dark part of the street right at the edge of the city wall with narrowed eyebrows, much to the consternation of his interlocutor. The other city guard spoke something incomprehensible as far as Avan was concerned to the clairaudient guard, and the latter shook his head distractedly after a few seconds and turned back to his colleague, apparently satisfied that he had just imagined whatever it was.
Slowly expelling the held breath again, Avan finally went to his escape plan and with a mental command ordered his four new spheres to wrap themselves around him like a second skin and make use of the cloaking ability he had instinctively applied to his Akkalon forms.
A few minutes later, avan stood in the shadow of the street wall, as camouflaged as he could be and without being able to check his whole body, looking down with fascination at his arms, which now also seemed to merge with the background. When he moved, you could clearly see through the camouflage, but when he held his arms still, it was almost perfect.
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Another remarkable ability that immediately caught Avan''s eye was the stretchiness of the substance that enveloped him. It didn''t cost him a drop of his own mana, and the forms were simply powered by his dungeon mana, much to his pleasure and relief. He briefly wondered how far he could push the ability in terms of clothing or armor, but pushed those thoughts aside for the moment to creep slowly and crouched across the street toward the wall, which let him step out of the shadows.
He had waited for the moment when loud sounds of battle would again be heard inside the city and the guards would seem sufficiently distracted to venture quickly but cautiously to the wall.
Once there, he slowly moved into an upright position, with his back pressed against the city wall, and took gentle sideways steps toward the gate, while also keeping a sideways eye on the three distracted guards.
His nose, eyes, mouth and ears were not covered, and he knew that a telltale glint in his eyes, for example, would quickly ruin any camouflage, so he made sure that no one was looking at him as he moved slowly toward the guards.
When he was only a few meters away from the city guards, he could finally understand what they were whispering to each other, and it confirmed his suspicions about dungeon monsters and floor bosses that had emerged from the rubble of the former dungeon.
Thus distracted, Avan was able to squeeze into the three meter high archway and another step later disappeared into the shadows below, right in the back of the guards, and much to his relief when he finally arrived on the empty street outside. Merchants and travelers had probably either fled or quickly taken refuge somewhere, which is why there seemed to be nothing going on at this side gate, at least that was Avan''s assumption.
So he stood with his back leaning against the wall outside, and for the first time in weeks, he let his gaze glide over the green landscape and breathed in and out the wonderfully fresh air. Apart from the breath of ash and dust from the inside of the city.
"Let''s go then..."
"I''m telling you, we need a mage on the team!" The blonde young woman just explained to her comrades-in-arms, who were all sitting together in a corner of the adventurers'' guild on leather sofas with various drinks ranging from ale to water.
The other young woman, dressed completely in green-brown clothes with a cape, frowned. "Jen, I think you''re exaggerating. We''re supposed to be hunting damn red wolves, and the three of us alone are all just over level one hundred! From your... Guard at your side probably not to mention. The reported red wolves are in the fifties. Three of us, or four as you take it, are already a bit overkill!" The young ranger counter-argued, while casting a help-seeking glance at her friend, who followed the argument with a suppressed laugh, trying to hide the twitching corners of his mouth behind his jug of ale.
"But Dani! Come on, preparation is everything! Anything can happen out there, and Linob here will only intervene if something were to happen to me.... After all, that''s what he was sent to babysit me for..." The young woman with her white robe tried to make clear, while her mood and voice briefly changed, as she remembered the confrontation with her family, and how it had come to the accompaniment of the guard at her side.
"Come on! I''m only effective against undead, and otherwise useless in combat except for healing... And Patris has sunk almost all of his stats into vitality, which makes him a veritable wall with his shield in combat, but also deals little damage! And you alone want to do all the damage against the red wolves? That''s ridiculous, come on! You know I''m right. Just because you don''t want to split our quest reward even more..."
Dani looked around slightly embarrassed and fiddled with her greenish cloak while casting a furtive glance at her friend, who nodded barely noticeably but approvingly at the statement, while continuing to seem to hide any amusement to no avail.
A glance at the stoic man in plate armor leaning against the wall behind Jen, however, brought no further insight.
"Fine... So? If you ask like that, then you already have someone scouted out and in mind. Spit it out." She finally conceded defeat to the healer in their group and looked expectantly straight into her eyes as she lifted her now cold tea to her lips to take a sip.
Beaming with joy at having won another small verbal victory, Jen nodded to the group and looked first at Dani and then at her tank Patris. "A young man came in this morning and registered as a fresh adventurer! He caught my eye right away because he listened intently to everything and then looked at it, and his robe literally screamed MAGIC!" Nodded Jen with excitement, her blonde ponytail fidgeting up and down with equal excitement.
The ranger, however, did not look at all excited, and even the young warrior in the round now looked at the healer with equal skepticism. "Jeeeeen! Freshly registered??? We don''t want to take a beginner against level fifty wolves!" Came it directly slightly upset about the naivety of the young healers from Dani, while she stared with a scolding look at her friend opposite her at the table.
"Ahhh!" She waved both hands in the air in front of her dismissively as she noticed the two looks her teammates were giving her. "No, no! He registered fresh! But he was taken in directly as a SILVER rank! I could hear the surprise in the voice of the attendant at the counter loud and clear."
Dani, who was about to take another sip of her tea, looked over at Jen in disbelief, and a quick sideways glance showed her the equally surprised look on Patris'' face. "Please what? Why would someone who is already over level one hundred only now register as an adventurer? And what''s more, here in this backwater? Why not in Haipu directly, or in one of the other larger cities? That doesn''t make any sense!"
So the discussion went back and forth for a while, but finally it was agreed to talk to said mage that evening at the local tavern over a round of ale, and maybe a synergy with this person would result.
2.21-Aftermath
What the abyss... Avan grumbled and held his head while leaning against the facade of the adventurers'' guild in a side alley.
He had been heading south on foot for a week as he narrowly avoided soldiers and other shady characters here and there, all riding or marching east. Avan knew roughly from the map in one of the books from the Dungeon of Akkalon that there were some smaller and larger settlements and cities in the south, while down in the southern part of the continent was a completely different kingdom.
So Avan had always marched along the edge of the road to the south, avoiding any bandits or other dangers, all thanks to his regained sphere of influence. He had avoided the bandits and most of the wolves, so as not to draw attention to his whereabouts in that direction, always with the thought that if someone did come looking for him.
He had hardly needed food or something to drink, and only paused to wash at a small stream at the beginning of his journey, which his sphere of influence had easily shown him.
He also had a lot of messages to catch up on, it seemed, since the slave bracelet had suppressed his interface and mana, but it had nevertheless continued to work at full speed.
With the help of the kill notifications, he had finally figured out how to trigger his perk of rebirth. The system credited him with every direct death that accompanied the collapse of the dungeon tower, which had been clearly shown in over two thousand kill messages. Likewise in his accumulated experience.
If he hadn''t ended up in the hole in the city wall hanging on to life by sheer force of will for as long as he had, the thousand souls wouldn''t have materialized and he would have actually died, since the deaths hadn''t piled up suddenly but some had succumbed to their injuries only after a short time.
But what surprised him most during his journey was the immense and gigantic progress of his level and his skills.
Avan Leaf
Level: 188
Free Stat Points: 470
Element: Celestial
Class: [Silver] Dungeonarchitect (Human)
Subclass: [Silver] Healer of Akkalon
Stats
Strength: 75
Dexterity: 130
Vitality: 135
Intelligence: 180
Wisdom: 170
Spirit: 267
Active Skills [3/8]
[Silver] Akkalon''s Touch
[Silver] Akkalon''s Form
[Silver] Celestial Storage
Passive Skills
Pain Resistance: [Silver] 9
Steady: [Bronze] 9
Potential: [Unlocked]
Celestial Affinity: [Bronze] 9
Identify: [Bronze] 9
Celestial Sphere: [Silver] 9
First Aid: [Silver] 9
Tracking: [Bronze] 9
Meditation: [Silver] 9
Pain Expert: [Bronze] 7
Perks
Cycle of Death and Life
Primary Resources
Health: 725
Stamina: 725
Ambient Mana: 7600
Souls: 341/1000
He had broken the silver barrier when he reached level one hundred, and had pushed many of his skills up to the next maximum level. The skills, which had immediately gained levels, were in retrospect only the logical consequence of his experiences of the last weeks. So his dungeon skills had made expreme jumps, as well as everything that was related to his experienced pain.
Active Skill: Akkalons Touch
With great strength comes great responsibility and more so with each touch. Heal or destroy.
When in direct contact, you can now inflict mana-based wounds to your enemies or infuse an ally with supportive energy.
[Bronze] You can use multiple appendages to inflict or heal many at the same time.
[Silver] You can now permanently infuse your mana into objects.
Active Skill: Celestial Storage
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As an otherworldly being, you now have access to your own private celestial pocket dimension to store a small number of items.
To access or store items, you need to imagine a small portal.
[Bronze] The Capacity is significantly increased. At the same time, the portal for storing and removing larger objects can now adapt to the size up to a specific point.
[Silver] Living, but non-sentient, things can now also be stored.
Active Skill: Akkalon''s Form
By proving that you are incapable of preventing interference that is none of your business, you now gain even more opportunities to intervene. You can now summon up to any form of celestial mana that you can freely control in your sphere of influence with your will.
You can now also assign to your form the properties of the sky by day or night, be it the color, the glow, or other properties of the celestial vault.
[Bronze] The capacity of the summoned forms is increased by one. You can add twice the amount of mana to your creations.
[Silver] The limit knows (almost) no boundaries.
Passive Skill: Meditation
Through meditation, a true spirit can reach godhood through instant regeneration of health, mana, and stamina.
While not moving, you constantly regain health, mana, and stamina at a higher rate than usually possible.
[Bronze] Your very soul faced a flood of mana and not only survived the encounter but also came out of this ordeal more substantial than before.
Your body and mind are tremendously improved through mana infusion, and you now passively store mana in your cells. You are faster, stronger, and more resilient. If you wish, you can unleash small portions of stored mana through contact to corrupt your enemies.
[Silver] You have managed to create a healthy schizophrenia in your mind. Congratulations.
Allows you now to split your thoughts and concentration in meditation and to tackle different thoughts and tasks at the same time.
Passive Skill: Pain Resistance
While smacking your head face-first into obstacles, walls, and water surfaces, you don¡ät care. Your head has learned to tolerate your incompetence with handling situations with more sensitivity. You feel pain more bearable with each increasing level of this Skill.
[Bronze] Feeling pain will now replenish tiny amounts of primary resources per second.
[Silver] You can now redirect, reduce or turn off pain.
Passive Skill: First Aid
You have learned to bandage yourself in a crude but simple way.
Use clean clothes to close any wound on yourself or your allies. Does not heal any negative status effects.
[Bronze] You can now heal minor status changes such as bleeding or minor poisons.
[Silver] Your healing now can greatly reduce pain and heal most physical status changes related to the wound.
And so, at some point, he had arrived in the two-thousand-soul village of Tria, and had immediately experienced the backlash to his massive growth in such an unhealthy short time in his own body and soul.
Passive Skill: Celestial Sphere
You are a Dungeon. You are nurtured by the tremendous amount of ambient mana that encircles you. You can harness and use ambient mana in your sphere of influence at will. Your Sphere of Influence is sphere-shaped, with you as the anchor point and heart of the dungeon.
Your celestial power now radiates from your dungeon and can illuminate you surroundings with light. Only the highest beings can distinguish and sense your Dungeonheart. But always beware of your higher mana density.
[Bronze] Range is multiplied by 5. (50m)
You are now able to store various mundane materials and keep them physically stable inside your sphere of influence. You have unlocked an anchor point.
[Silver] Range is multiplied by 5. (250m)
You are now able to store advanced materials and keep them physically stable inside your sphere of influence.
His sphere of influence had increased another fivefold, resulting in two hundred and fifty meters of range in all directions. When he had taken the first steps towards the small town, all the impressions, conversations, movements and simply everything he could now perceive in this huge range had almost overwhelmed him and he lay curled up for hours at the edge of the forest to the town border, as everything hit him at once. The previous fifty meters had been kind of okay, but the range now was multiplied worse and more powerful.
After the first hour, Avan had taken refuge in his meditation, where he was thankfully able to gradually block out unimportant information. Things like motionless, non-living objects, and everything in his sphere of influence that did not want to exert an immediate influence on him. His sphere could fortunately, like a sense of danger, distinguish whether someone or something had to do with Avan or not. He also somehow had the feeling that Horn was playing a big role here and helping him, even if he still didn''t know where Horn had gone.
That was another mystery, because although he had gotten his mana back, he couldn''t hear or see Horn, but inside he knew he was still in his dungeon.
And so he had devoted himself to the long overdue plan of registering with the adventurers'' guild. Upon entering the small town, he had had to pay three coppers, and had immediately gone to the adventurer guild to register and finally get to know the next best thing to dungeons in a fantasy world; adventurers and quests!
And now, after he had registered, everything was explained to him and he had apparently collected a lot of interested looks with his high level, he stood outside again and struggled once more to filter all impressions, because his concentration had briefly slipped away.
Deep breaths in and out later, and a good portion of meditation to apply his filters again, and he felt better. Sneaking up on him was now no longer possible, and if he concentrated he could even listen to the conversations inside the houses, as well as the guild building itself, which made him briefly listen to the conversation of the small group, and he became aware of how much he must have attracted attention.
On the way to Tria, he had removed his tattered clothes, leaving only his linen underpants, which fortunately had not suffered any damage and only needed to be washed urgently.
Avan''s idea of using his forms as clothing had succeeded more and more after the first few days, so that he had now arrived in the city with a kind of billowing gauzy black and gold robe. This had also earned him a few raised eyebrows, but apparently sufficed. The mana had remained stretchy and malleable, which made it look like a magical fabric, even if it looked more noble than Avan actually wanted it to, but with the celestial mana it couldn''t quite be prevented.
Now that he had regained control of his impressions, and had received some worried or odd looks from people hurrying by, he pushed himself off the wall again and did some stretching exercises with his neck and shoulders.
With his head tilted, he considered his next steps.
What now? Go to the tavern and wait? Probably the best idea for now... And a real bed would be great. Whereas my forms as a waterbed have already worked quite well, hehe.
Hm... yes. Ale, something hearty to eat, and maybe a few hours of sleep until this adventurous group comes looking for me would be really heavenly right now...
Only two inquiries with passers-by later, he had already found the apparently only inn in the small town and was standing in front of the half-timbered house, which had two wooden jugs above the entrance as decoration, which were just bumping into each other.
Avan stood in front of it, his head bent back, his hands in his pockets, and let the building take its effect on him until, with a satisfied nod, he turned his gaze to the door and entered.
He had already known what awaited him inside, but to experience something with his own eyes and senses was still something completely different. A multitude of tobacco smells, alcohol, light soot and a lot of delicious spices of dishes penetrated him at the same time, while everything was accompanied by a cacophony of laughter and conversations.
His gaze wandered as he calmly made his way directly to the presumed tavern owner, who, in typical clich¨¦ fashion, was behind the counter drying pots with a kitchen towel.
"Welcome to Trias Rast! What can I get you?"He was greeted warmly in a bass-heavy voice as the barman smiled at him and continued to dry the next wet jug with practice.
"Um, an ale would be excellent. And something warm to eat." Avan replied back, not unkindly, whereupon the barman hung the towel over his shoulder and tapped the just-dried jug of ale, calling out something to the back of the kitchen.
With a sound of wood on wood, he set the full frothy ale jug down in front of Avan. "Today we have wolf stew. It''s in season again. With seasonal vegetables. My wife always cooks fresh every day. Ale is 5 coppers, a bowl of stew is 3."
Avan nodded back and pretended to pull the money out of his robe pocket and placed the 8 coppers on the counter, where with a single practiced wipe of the barman''s hand the coins disappeared right into his own coat pocket and he nodded to him and went back to his business.
With the ale in his hand, Avan strolled to one of the four small booths, the only one still free, and sat down on the bench with his back to the wall. The ale tasted as usual, but had a tart-sweet note that he liked very much, and he let his thoughts run free while he looked around inconspicuously and drank the ale.
He would take a room after the meal and hit the hay for a midday nap, and then, fresh and perhaps even washed again, he would talk to the group of three adventurers, with the one guard.
2.22-To be a mage or not to be
30 copper coins, a delicious soup, and a nap later, Avan was back at the same table downstairs in the inn, this time drinking hot herbal tea.
That''s right, I still have the herbs in storage. And the runes for the blacksmith in Cyntha. Cyntha... I can only hope that Elisa is okay and that the bastard wasn''t telling the truth...
Deeply immersed in his thoughts, Avan noticed almost too late that one of the other guests had gotten up from his table and was on his way to him, slightly drunk. The three others at the table looked over with amusement and interest at what their companion was trying to do, and Avan frowned, only slightly annoyed at having his peace and thoughts disturbed. But the man did not notice all this, because his group was out of his field of vision, and Avan himself had made a small modification to his self-made robe in his room. The "fabric" had previously ended at his neck, but now smoothly merged into a hood, which he had pulled into his forehead and inside consisted of a complete deep black to hide his face. Of course, this did not prevent the many curious glances he had received in the city and also in the inn, which was undoubtedly due to the expensive-looking robe.
Avan had created a robe out of his head, from what he had seen in all his online games, and the robes he had seen since his arrival on Eos. To his own pride and what he had seen in reflective surfaces, he had done exceptionally well, and his mana had instinctively corrected small mistakes, almost as if the system was coming to his aid.
So he had created a robe, and the system had even given him confirmation of his intention now, when he had apparently completed the robe with the hood into a real semi-permanent item.
[Celestial Robe of Avan Leaf]
Even though he still couldn''t identify anything more than the name of an object in his small but clean upstairs room, a comforting warmth had risen in his chest when he seemed to have created his first object of his own in this world.
And so he sat there now, indulging his thoughts, when this guy had made it his goal to disturb his peace.
With a more than unnecessarily loud noise, the bearded young man set his wooden mug with overflowing contents down loudly on his table and plopped himself down on the chair opposite Avan without asking.
He faltered only briefly when he felt the pressure of an aura and an annoyed look from the bearer of the robe at the table, but the alcohol dismissed this as a figment of his brain and he simply babbled on.
"Yo! My mates, and I, well - actually me, were thinking if you wanted to join us? I saw, earlier, so without spying or anything, believe me you just registered fresh. And we can help! And take you under our wing. It''s not because we desperately need a mage in our group, either. Absolutely not! So, how about it?" the guy just babbled on and failed to read the situation and mood of his counterpart.
A few silent seconds passed, and the drunk looked confused as he was stared at but got no response to his big speech.
Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something more convincing, at least in his head, an answer came. "No. Not interested."
And Avan took another sip of his tea, which was now sadly empty, and raised his right arm to wave to the barmaid that he wanted another tea, studiously ignoring the confused guy in front of him.
"But...!" Said the young man again, earning only another sharp annoyed look from Avan. "No means no. Besides, I''ve already found a group. Now, if I may continue to drink my tea in peace until my comrades arrive? Thank you."
With that rejection, and with relief from Avan, the man stumbled back up from his ill-gotten seat, grabbed his jug of ale, still confused, and stumbled slurping back to his comrades, who laughed at him as they saw his defeated expression.
Fortunately, he didn''t set up a scenario and took it relatively well... Would have now unwillingly caused trouble for the innkeeper.
Avan couldn''t suppress a slight chuckle as he watched the amusement of the others, who were taunting their confused comrade, who had just plopped himself back down on the vacant chair at their table.
But as quickly as the exhilaration had come, it had also disappeared again to the cold and calculating logic that had become Avan''s constant companion since his escape from Haipu.
He leaned back against the warm wooden wall at his back and looked up at the ceiling, while the warm spices and the crackling of the fireplace had a calming effect on him. Not to mention the general exhilaration, the voices of various groups, and the general good mood in the tavern. If he wanted, he could easily listen to all the conversations, up to 250 meters away by now, although he didn''t think it was necessary and still wanted to maintain a certain level of morality. Especially when he had been working on his robe in his room, and suddenly, without wanting to, had not only listened to the sexual intercourse of a man and a presumed prostitute in the neighboring room, but had also "watched" it by mistake.
He shook himself briefly at the thought of it, because the sexual preferences of the man came back to his mind, and he quickly pushed his memory of it aside, exactly at the same moment in which the tavern door opened and the cold evening air was let in uninvited.
An older gray-haired man with short hair stepped inside in full plate armor, his helmet under the crook of his left arm, and looked around the inside with a practiced look for danger, only to wave outside and gesture to the people behind him.
Directly behind him, the young woman, Jen, entered with her white and beige robe, accompanied by the young hunter Dani and her warrior friend Patris. The young healer looked searchingly around the room, while her guard remained stoically standing inside next to the door, and grinned with joy when she saw Avan sitting alone in the corner. The barmaid had just approached his table at exactly the same time as the newcomers entered and brought him a new steaming herbal tea.
To the great surprise of the three, and even the older man at Jen''s side, Avan lifted his glass teacup in their direction and took a sip of tea.
This time he listened to the reaction of the group of three, and nodded inwardly with satisfaction at his mysterious appearance and his surprise greeting, which had exactly the desired effect.
"How, I thought WE were surprising him! Haha, I kinda like that guy already." Was the first sentence that came out of Jen''s mouth, surprising even Avan back.
I just wanted to get a feel for them, huh...
"Jen, are you sure we can trust him? Did he overhear us? That doesn''t seem very confidence inspiring." Came directly the statement of the young ranger, or huntress, while the young warrior with his leather armor, the shield on his back and the sword on his belt only looked over to Avan with interest.
"Well, don''t be a doomsayer, Dani! After all, we started talking about him. It just shows how competent he is, and that he has some ability that either shows him when people are talking about him around, or even directly has a sphere of influence! We''ll take him!" the young healer bombed the other woman mercilessly and with a wide grin on her face, only to march straight over to Avan, the others defeated in tow.
Avan couldn''t quite help a brief smirk inside his hood and hidden face as he listened to the lively young woman and watched her pull her team mates along with her regardless.
Fun-loving, laughs a lot, gets what she wants in the end. Naive, but that doesn''t have to be a bad thing. Then let''s see what exactly the three want from or with me.
With the teacup still in his right hand and taking another sip, he waved with his left to the people approaching him and gestured to the free seats at his table.
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Jen sat down first, unashamedly, right next to him, while her guard glared menacingly at Avan. The other young woman sat down more hesitantly, right next to the young warrior, who had waved directly at the barmaid without comment and held two fingers in the air until he turned around again and exchanged his amused glance back and forth between Jen and Avan.
The healer clasped her two hands on the table in front of her a bit like a noblewoman and then turned her head to Avan''s right. "Soooo, you heard us in the guild already, right?" She grinned mischievously at him.
He just nodded back and replied dryly. "That wasn''t too hard, after all, as loud as you talked about me. Especially if I didn''t misunderstand the group invitation from the other guys over there." And pointed his chin over to the other table from which the drunken young man had come earlier.
Admittedly, I''m not entirely sure they even saw my chin...
"Sorry." Avan pulled down his hood, knowing that the group had already seen his face during registration.
"Ah, we get it." Waved Jen off as the group''s conversation leader with a wave away motion of her right hand.
"So, you heard we could use a mage on the team?"
Avan nodded briefly at her, but remained quiet again, continuing to drink his herbal tea.
"Good!" The young healer clapped her hands in delight, and the young warrior just chuckled again, seemingly a bundle of amusement whenever Jen did her thing, while Dani looked to the side on the floor in embarrassment and shook her head.
"We took a system assignment in the guild, silver rank. Red wolves have appeared in droves in the surrounding countryside, and we need to keep an eye on them. Dani here is our scout and hunter, while her friend Patris can taunt opponents and distract them from us. I myself heal, but can not do much damage except undead... And that''s where a mage comes in! Namely you!" She explained enthusiastically, and Avan briefly wondered how sheltered the young woman must have grown up to be such a bundle of cheerful energy. The guard at her side only further confirmed his suspicions, as she must be a noblewoman or something similar.
As if noticing his sideways glance directly, she immediately commented. "This is only Linob, the guard who was assigned to protect me. He will not fight with me, but has the order to intervene and bring me home as soon as my life is in danger. So we urgently need someone else who can deal out damage!"
"You are a mage, aren''t you? Your identification, at least, indicates you as a battle mage."
Oh, and there was my question answered, how the heck did she actually come up with that I was supposed to be a mage...? I wonder if my excessive use of my dungeon skills changed the system from battle monk to battle mage? Curious...
"Hmm, yes. I''m a mage of sorts, that''s true. However, as you have seen, I have almost no experience as an adventurer. How does that work?" Avan first stated for all involved.
He had, of course, asked a few questions when he registered as an adventurer and got the standard questions answered. Avan knew that there were two types of quests, the second of which was added to the system hundreds of years after the adventurer guilds were founded.
The first type of quest was the typical quest that people from outside the guild or even the guild itself commissioned and gave coins or items as a reward, in addition to the experience that the system gave out upon successful completion, depending on the difficulty and your own participation in the task.
The second type of quest, however, was much more interesting for Avan, because it came from the system of the world itself and provided a kind of balance in the environment of the respective adventurer guild. This type of quest existed only a few hundred years and came with a variety of extras but also disadvantages.
The disadvantages were relatively simple, since this type of quests did not give any currency. Instead, it gave you much more experience upon completion, and a different kind of currency in the form of system tokens, which you could then redeem in any adventurer guild in the world in a system store, or even trade with other adventurers.
The tokens were stored in the small name tag, which each adventurer received upon registration and which also served as proof of identification or, in the event of death, as proof of death.
Avan''s own name tag hung in a necklace and rested under his robe on his chest.
Adventurer
Name: Avan Leaf
Rank: Silver
Tokens: 0
Very simple, but all the more clear for it. This adventurer''s token also served as proof and entry to most cities on Aorus, as it came from the system and could not be forged. As soon as an adventurer was considered renegade or evil, for example, if he went murdering through the area or had carried out a number of thefts, the top part of the certificate was crossed out, thus removing the person as an adventurer, but all other characteristics remained.
A simple will and the touch of two badges to each other was enough to perform a trade in tokens.
And so the adventurers were a relatively welcome bunch, and always verifiable by the badge.
"We have been able to get hold of a system quest, and are supposed to kill the red wolves in the area, and if possible, as an optional reward, clarify the origin of the sudden appearance of the red wolves." Jen explained the quest, for which they needed Avan as an extra damage dealer. "And depending on the wolves we kill, and whether we find out the origin, we get a bunch of tokens, and maybe even extra items! System quests, you must know, are highly sought after, and bring by far the best rewards!" She beamed at him with red cheeks as she realized that catching her breath between sentences wasn''t such a bad idea.
"Ohhh, ohh. Sorry! We hadn''t introduced ourselves yet, hahaha..." She noticed only now how strange the whole thing really was, and all the others present at the table, even her guard, just shook their heads, while all of them showed different kinds of grins on their faces.
"So, my name is Jen! The scowling one over there is our slayer and her name is Dani, and her boyfriend is Patris. You can ignore my guard Linob though, hehe." At the description and introduction of the young ranger, Jen caught a nasty look, and her friend the warrior could no longer suppress a howl and laughed out loud, while he lightly spilled the already brought ale on the table, as the foam dripped over.
"Ahahaha, Jen is just always the best when it comes to entertainment!" Laughed the young man shamelessly, catching a slap from his girlfriend, which only elicited a short grunt and more laughter.
The four, not counting the stoically standing guard, continued to talk through the evening, drinking a few rounds of ale after Avan had finished his tea.
He learned that the three had joined forces in Haipu a little over a month ago, and had since been heading south while taking quests and exploring part of the continent together.
Avan himself had revealed little of himself and had dodged most questions, well in his opinion, describing his magic as a kind of manifestation. Much to the surprise of everyone else at the table, he had, without any incantation, invoked one of his forms, which, in a dark black with small golden stars, had earned some admiration.
Apparently, the invocation of any magic without any kind of formula or pronunciation was known only by master mages, since all aspiring mages actually first learned the basics and worked with the incantations. Chantless invocation of magic required a lot of skill, inner strength, and a lot of practice, as the pronunciation helped with accuracy and was supposed to guide the magic.
So the evening ended soon, and the others also retired to their rooms, since this inn was the only one in the small town, but had almost a hundred rooms on several floors.
Avan found himself on his mattress at midnight, staring at the ceiling. The past week had flown by, and if the whole dilemma with him as a slave hadn''t happened, he would have thought he was incredibly lucky. Just as he had made it to Tria without incident and had found this friendly group on the very first day.
With a sigh, he effortlessly pushed away any rising memories and locked his dark thoughts and emotions away in the back of his mind.
He closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.
2.23-ABC of killing wolves
With a jolt, Avan woke from his sleep and jerked both his arms upward, trying to free himself from the restraints as quickly as possible. Avan''s breath came in and out in jerks and quick gasps as he stared at his arms.
Powerless, he sank back into the sheets, his arms trembling slightly beside him on the mattress, and stared at the ceiling. Avan''s breaths slowed again and his heartbeat calmed down.
What a fucking fuck... This is the second time since Haipu, and I''m really sick of waking up like this. Fuck off!
He wiped his face with the back of his hand and rubbed his eyes with both hands, followed by a short exhausted wipe over his disheveled hair that stood out clearly and distinctly silver in the darkness of the room.
With a heave, he swung his legs out of the bed and let them rest briefly on the cold wooden floorboards until his thoughts and body had finally calmed down again.
Two short inconspicuous movements of his fingers later, his black robe with its golden decorations and frames appeared on his body and in his hand a small black stretchable ring. The two hands wandered practicedly along his hair, gathering the silvery strands into a bundle, and the ring was placed in quick grips around the horse''s tail like a hair elastic.
Avan took another look at the sparse room, the simple table with the plain wooden chair, the mattress probably filled with fresh straw, the linen sheets and the slightly milky glass window. An indistinct sigh escaped him as he thought of the past weeks, and something jittery spread through his chest as he thought of the near future and adventures.
I can only hope that Elisa will be okay... With my current strength, I can''t do much against the organization... Please just be alive...
The door to his room creaked slightly, and Avan stepped out into the dark hallway of the second floor. To his right, at the end of the hallway, another staircase went up to the next floor, and at the left end of the hallway, it went down to the tavern''s parlor.
Delicious smells, from savory to sweet, were already wafting up the stairs from below, and Avan had just woken up less than half an hour after sunrise, which he thought would be about 7 o''clock.
He greeted the tavern owner behind the counter, who, to his surprise, was not cleaning jugs this time, but busily helping to serve the wooden plates filled with food to the guests. Apparently the barmaid wasn''t there yet, and he had to do it himself.
Avan let his gaze wander over the already awake guests and discovered Dani and Patris already in a corner, who had a tea and a plate of bread, spreads and fruit in front of them. His sphere of influence had already told him this before, but he didn''t want to get out of the habit of seeing everything with his own eyes and senses.
Dani was the first of the two at the table to notice him, while her friend seemed to be enjoying his meal with great pleasure and was stuffing a few pieces of roasted meat into his mouth.
"Good morning you two." Avan greeted the two as he pulled a chair out from under the table and sat down with them. The young warrior with his brown stubble hair startled briefly, seemingly more than a little engrossed in his food, and sheepishly mumbled back a greeting, only to continue to grapple with his meal.
"Good morning to you, too, Avan." Came back the much more awake greeting from the slayer as she continued to sip her tea, only occasionally biting into her sandwich.
They had introduced themselves at length the previous evening, and Avan had told the others a short but mysterious story. He had grown up with his family near the elven forest, in a small unknown village, and only a year ago had moved and lived for some time in Cyntha. From there he would have gone to Haipu, but since he didn''t like big cities with all the noise and smell, he had gone further south and finally decided to continue as an adventurer. And that''s how Avan met the three of them.
His magic, he had explained, was based on a material conspiracy of his mana in solid or stretchable form, which also explained his coat, which only he could wear without the mana fraying and dissolving.
The idea of his history and the origin and nature of his magic had occurred to him in the tavern before the meeting with the three.
So he knew that there were other such mages, even if they were quite rare, and that he needed a combination of plant and fire magic to explain his robe and the weaving of it.
Plant magic consisted of the combination of water and earth, resulting in plant magic, while fire was needed to harden and stretch the fabric. At least that was Avan''s rough understanding, if he still remembered the information from Cyntha.
Even though his explanation had been met with relative astonishment, the others had accepted it once they had touched the silky and ultra soft fabric of his robe and he couldn''t help some envious looks.
The tavern owner had already seen Avan in the meantime of the greeting and after a short nod of Avan brought the same plate and again a herbal tea, which he put down with a thud in front of Avan.
So they ate the breakfast together, which consisted of two fresh slices of bread, some fried pieces of meat, fruit and a spread, while after a short time Jen also joined them with her guard in tow.
The meal flew by and apart from some jokes and laughter, everyone was busy with their meal until Avan sat patiently, tea in hand, waiting for the next steps.
"So, in case you didn''t know. Red wolves love and crave blood. Hence the name, and hence the red tones in their otherwise relatively gray fur. They can smell blood hundreds of meters away into the wind, and their victims are usually relatively bloodless, which is why they are called Vounds in the common population. Vampires and hunting dogs in one, so to speak." Dani explained first, when it was clear that everyone was finally done with breakfast, even if Patris attempted a few times to order another plate, much to the amusement of all involved when Dani hit him on the back of the head.
"So we need to stop by the marketplace and get some leather bags full of animal blood from the local butcher. But the bags must be of high quality, so that nothing of the contents leaks out and the red wolves smell the blood beforehand. At the same time, Avan, you should urgently get yourself a backpack or travel bag, and perhaps look for a wand that can guide your mana better than with your bare hand when casting spells. And while you''re at it, don''t forget to identify EVERYTHING so you can draw your skill to silver as well, so you can finally see more information!" Dani finished, giving him another annoyed look as she remembered his story from the night before, where they had gotten to know Avan and his general skills better.
To everyone''s amazement, Avan admitted that his Identify skill was still on Bronze 9 and he hadn''t thought to level it up yet.
He just nodded at her and kept the secret that he had scanned and identified everything within a 250 meter radius using his sphere of influence the night before, which had already shot his skill up to silver 9 in record time.
Passive Skill: Identify
While some are learning this skill early as infants, you managed to watch a fruit for minutes. Congrats, monkey brain.
You can now identify objects and living beings if you concentrate on them and are in range. Each level of identify increases the distance, and higher tiers could give you more info on your target.
[Bronze] You can now perceive the level of your target up to +10 above your own.
[Silver] You now get a sense of your opponent''s strength and most of the properties of identified objects are no longer hidden from you.
So he had also finally learned about item properties, which integrated magical properties into objects from enchantments with the help of runes, or that all three in his group were not only no problem for him in terms of level, but also that the guard of Jen with his level 160 was more dangerous than the level suggested.
Avan had become acquainted with countless enchantments through his mass identify, but here and there he had actually encountered unidentifiable properties, which were displayed in the form of question marks. The higher his identify had shot the night before, the more question marks he could decipher, and everything that remained hidden was simply only visible to him at level 200+.
The hunting bow, for example, which was leaning against the bench at Dani''s side, had some interesting properties.
[Hunting Bow of the Silent Hunt]
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*self-repair
*All actions and shots are completely silent
The four, or five if you counted the silent and still stoic guard, meanwhile marched through the cobbled streets of Tria and soon landed in the small but already well-attended marketplace. The small town had a blacksmith, a leather maker, an alchemist, a magic tool merchant, and a few smaller junk stores, while in the square itself traveling merchants had set up their stalls for a fee.
Jen said goodbye to the group and wanted to stop by the small church to pray again to her goddess and maybe get some temporary buffs in the form of blessings, while Dani and Patris took care of the hunting utensils and Avan went once again to the leather store for the backpack and to the mage store for a magic focus in the form of a wand or something similar.
They had agreed to meet at the end at the south gate, in about two hours, and from there to follow the first clues together, where the red wolves had been seen last.
So Avan strolled through his second marketplace on Aorus and looked around with interest to the left and right, inhaling the various smells of the spices, processed materials and scents, while he first paid a visit to the leatherman for a backpack.
Inside the store he was greeted by a variety of acid and vinegar smells, accompanied first and foremost by the typical smell of various leather, fur and fur, which hung down from the walls and ceilings near the walls everywhere. In the back of the small store, there were also some armor racks, where various harnesses, boots, gloves and headgear were displayed, while the Leatherworker himself was immersed in a piece of leather armor at his counter.
Only when Avan came to a halt just a few steps in front of him, his heavily worn sandals clacking loudly on the wooden floorboards, did the inconspicuous-looking man with his glasses look up and smile broadly at him. "Ahhh, customers! Welcome, welcome. What can I do for you?"
"Good morning. I''m looking for a backpack, a sleeping roll, and maybe some new comfortable shoes, which will have to suffice for hiking long distances." Avan listed the items he needed, although he had only just become fully aware of the shoes again, so much had he already become accustomed to them.
"Hmm... That shouldn''t be a problem. A mage, right? I think I have just the thing!" And with those words, any interest in the leather breastplate on the counter was blown away, and the man hurried into his back room, where Avan could see several workbenches, troughs, and other leatherworking tools through his sphere of influence.
The shopkeeper himself ran to a large wooden chest in the far corner of the back room, in which lay some leather bags and backpacks, and came running back a short time later with an almost black leather backpack, while under his other arm was a soft sleeping roll and in his hands dangled a pair of sturdy-looking shoes.
"Here, honored mage. My only item of black wyrm leather! It is 100% fire resistant and has a dimensional enchantment by nature. The shoes are simply made of sturdy oxhide, while the sleeping roll is made of sheepskin and the sheep''s wool all in one!" He grinned at Avan, seemingly assuming that with such a robe and getup, he should be able to afford all this without any problem.
Avan hummed appreciatively and ran his hands over the soft surface of the sleeping roll, which seemed to have been professionally sewn together from several sheepskins, while the sheep''s wool remained on the leather skin, making it a soft and warm sleeping roll.
The leather shoes were more like ankle high boots, but the inside was treated so that the leather appeared extremely soft.
When Avan came to the backpack, he looked inside with slightly raised eyebrows and realized that the description of the backpack was indeed true, even though he had not seen or held such an item before.
[Black Wyrm Backpack]
*Inside is three times the size
*100% fire resistance against normal fire
*Weight of contents remains unchanged
[Ox Leather Shoes]
[Sheep''s sleeping roll]
Other than the backpack, the other two items were really well made, but otherwise relatively normal in comparison.
"How much are these three items supposed to cost?" Came the all-important question from Avan, as he took a quick look at his assets.
Celestial Storage
[Bronze Coin]: 8
[Silver Coin]: 60
[Gold Coin]: 35
"Ohhh, the things were hard to come by, and the wyrm leather is very rare! Even the sleep roll is sewn by master hand, sir!" The man began to tell a story of the items, but was quickly interrupted by his customer. "How much?"
The leather man pretended to think, but Avan had already seen a glint in the man''s eyes.
"For you, and only for you, I would part with these magnificent and wonderful objects for only 40 gold coins. And that is already so cheap that I earn almost nothing from them!"
Avan, with his little more than 35 gold coins, sighed once.
"Dear sir, I don''t think you are being completely honest with me here. 20 gold coins."
The man looked at him in surprise, apparently not used to much haggling by rich people.
"My lord, 39! I have a wife and children!"
What the hell does everyone always have with their wife and kids? Why should I care? Came Avan''s immediate question when he heard the typical excuse for the probably much too high price.
"21."
"37 gold coins, sir! My children need something to eat between their teeth!"
"22."
"33! I can''t go much further, please don''t rob me! What will my family think..."
"25."
"Please, sir! 28, I really can''t go much further down! Think of my wife and my two children, please!"
"25." came from Avan again, and when the man was about to open his mouth and Avan saw that he didn''t want to go into the 25 gold coins, he turned around without comment and walked in slow and quiet steps towards the door.
Less than three seconds later, and just as he was about to push open the door to the outside, a brief, victorious grin crossed Avan''s lips. "Okay, 25 gold coins!"
The man was sweating and had already seen his customer run away, and finally buckled, although Avan suspected that he still earned more than enough with him as a customer at the items.
Satisfied after the successful exchange of the transaction, with new shoes on his feet, the backpack with sleeping roll inside, Avan strolled through the market stalls again and bought without further problems and without extortion from the mage merchant a simple mana-focusing walking stick.
Som stood with his back leaning against the five meter high stone city wall at the south gate and played and twirled the rooted focus staff in his hand, much to the discomfort of the two city guards who saw his somewhat practiced movements with a pole weapon.
[Oak staff of focus]
*Mana directed by this focus staff gathers 50% faster in the spell
Half an hour later, the others arrived and Avan was congratulated on his good find, and with a quick check of all their adventurer badges, they headed out into the wilderness, on the trail of the red wolves.
2.24-Vounds hunt
As the team of adventurers stepped out of the gate, Jen glanced over with a curious sideways glance for a blink at her new companion, who was looking with interest at the wheat fields of Tria and letting his gaze wander over the vast fields and farms.
Has he never seen wheat fields before? She asked herself the question, even if it seemed rather silly to her in the next moment and she shook her head. Hardly. Haha. But he has such a... certain look when he looks into the distance. Almost dreamy? Or like he''s just enjoying it. The vastness, the freedom. Maybe a little like myself? Hm...
As if he had sensed her gaze, he turned his head toward her and gazed at her briefly until, not half a second later, his gaze traveled over her head and surveyed the city wall.
Has he noticed that I''ve just been watching him? Or was it just a coincidence that he''s looking back now of all times...?
Avan''s gaze, as he had introduced himself to the group, had soon made a sweeping sight and the young adventure couple in front was already waiting with different facial expressions, from impatience on Dani''s part, to curiosity and a mischievous grin on Patris'' part, while Jen''s guard walked behind her on the left and also seemed to be eyeing the young mage.
Jen herself glanced at Linob behind her as he frowned, wondering again why her father had insisted that she not go off alone. I was so looking forward to it! And as soon as they caught me, almost as if they had been aware of all my preparations for weeks, the permission came with the premise that I would take one of the elite guards with me. And now I am finally free for the first time in my life, but still have someone with me to watch over me... Not fair!
With these slightly sour thoughts, she trudged past the young man to her two friends, at least Jen thought she could call them such, and Linob followed her like the obedient shadow he was, but not without once again casting an obvious glance at Avan.
Avan merely arched his eyebrows halfway up, and then continued to trot along behind them with his gaze wandering, much to the delight of the young huntress in their group.
There is something wrong with this guy. I can smell it miles away against the wind. Last night''s story was true, for the most part, as far as I can tell, but he''s hiding a lot more than he wants to appear! Just wait and see... And woe betide you if you even try to harm the young lady. I''m almost looking forward to it, in case you turn out to be more devious than you now admit.
Linob thought as he once again threw a direct, challenging glance at Avan as he followed behind his ward.
[Battle Mage - 188]
Especially with such a level, at such a young age? Almost got into my level range, huh? Something definitely can''t be right.
Avan chuckled inwardly as he first felt Jen''s curious but harmless gaze on him and effortlessly grasped it through his sphere of influence, and was a little more surprised at the slightly threatening manner the guard at her side gave him as they walked past him to the waiting couple.
[Swordmaster - 211]
And something is different since the silver rank of my identify skills. I swear I could only identify people 10 levels above my own level before. Why does it go so much higher now?! Doesn''t make any sense. And there is nothing new in the skill itself, is there?
[Silver] You now get a sense of your opponent''s strength and most of the properties of identified objects are no longer hidden from you.
No, definitely not... Where does that come from then? Some hidden or instinctive growth in my sphere of influence as a dungeon perhaps? I just don''t get it... But why complain. I already feel like a cheater anyway. I''ll just take that too.
I mean, I can make durable and stretchy clothes with my dungeon mana now! And as long as they stay within my huge sphere of influence as a dungeon, the shape and texture of the fabric will remain. Now if I could only master enchantments with the runes in my storage... Could I "write" more magic into the already magical fabric in the form of runes? Argh... After this adventuring chapter, I just want some time to myself and my rest, maybe with Elisa... And occupy myself with enchantments. Maybe finally learn to forge? And definitely just process the shit...
And so, in his own thoughts, Avan trotted after the others, following them without really paying attention to his steps and using only his sense as a dungeon, while his gaze continued to roam over the golden wheat fields all around.
Just outside the south gate, the group had found vast expanses of golden yellow wheat fields, which were in full bloom and stretched as far as they could see. Only in the southwest, exactly where the right path also led at the next fork, did it probably go into the nearby forest.
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The wheat fields themselves were divided into areas of a hundred by a hundred meters, where some farmers and their workers, some of them slaves with bracelets or neck rings, were already working and beginning to harvest. In between, Avan saw small and medium-sized farms and grain silos, horses, cows, and once even one of these chocs, probably a tamed chocobo.
Before he knew it, he was with the others at the edge of the nearby forest, in the deepest middle of which somewhere the red wolves, or vounds, had been sighted the last time, when a careless group of hunters on a game hunt had penetrated too deep.
Suddenly Avan was torn from his thoughts and observations. "Say, we had not clarified this before, because we assumed that you already know everything. When silver rang and so... But did you bring a tent, or at least a sleeping roll? And food rations?" Asked him out of nowhere a slightly embarrassed Dani, who was scratching the back of her head with her right hand, her cheeks red, and immediately dropped her hand and looked to the side when she noticed his gaze.
"Ahm... Ah, yes. I was able to get a sleeping roll, but unfortunately I don''t have a tent. But I don''t mind, since I like to see the stars above me..." Came the hoped-for answer from Avan, and the young ranger exhaled in relief. "And I also took some food with me, although I''ve never had any problems finding enough in nature so far.... I can cook, too, but I''m not much good as a hunter of game, I think."
Avan looked at the young woman expectantly, clasped his hands behind his lower back, and tilted his head questioningly.
"Ahhh! Ahm, yes, very good! Then you can prepare the food with Patris, and I can finally concentrate fully on the hunt! Because he can''t cook at all.... Or if he tried in the past, everyone would rather go to sleep immediately without comment." She laughed with a mischievous glint in her eyes as she smirked at her boyfriend, who just waved it off with a laugh.
"Hah! I''ll take the blows and the injuries for you, honey! Fair enough!" And turned, a smirking Dani catching up to him and whispering in his ear, while Avan deliberately respected privacy and didn''t listen even though he could easily.
Jen just grinned mischievously at the two lovebirds, a bit like two siblings she had grown fond of, and also followed them on the well-trodden path into the forest, Linob always faithfully right behind her.
As Avan walked after them again, continuing to look around, identifying everything and taking advantage of his entire 250 meter radius of influence, he inwardly slapped his hand against his forehead at that moment for his own stupidity.
"I had already learned before all this shit not to forget it anymore!" He whispered barely audibly to himself and scolded himself.
[Healer - 109]
[Ranger - 131]
[Bulwark - 129]
Avan had forgotten to identify the other people, as he had so often since arriving on Aorus. Groaning slightly at his own renewed failure and forgetting, he finally made up for it, and simply nodded inwardly as he saw the level of his three other companions before him.
Shit... I''ve never wanted to count HOW MANY I''ve actually killed with the dungeon implosion... But that must have been a hell of a lot if I''m many times higher than my companions, and can almost reach the elite swordmaster here...
Unbeknownst to the others, and since the start of his journey out of Haipu, Avan had also begun to make use of his new dungeon skills, pulling in small amounts of wood, rocks, sand, earth, and all sorts of other material here and there.
Unlike his Celestial Storage, he was able to store various materials and plants in a separate "area" that seemed to know no end, and he could access them vaguely rather than as accurately as his inventory.
Passive Skill: Celestial Sphere
[Bronze] Range is multiplied by 5. (50m)
You are now able to store various mundane materials and keep them physically stable inside your sphere of influence. You have unlocked an anchor point.
[Silver] Range is multiplied by 5. (250m)
You are now able to store advanced materials and keep them physically stable inside your sphere of influence.
He had also experimented a bit with what exactly was meant by mundane or advanced, or what an anchor point should be.
As for materials, Avan had found out that he could now "absorb" anything non-magical and store it in his dungeon without any problem, while anything magical and with foreign mana simply remained rooted to the spot, no matter how much he mentally tugged and jerked at it.
Liquids, interestingly, did not count as materials either, but that became kind of clear when Avan thought about it.
So he had taken in tons and tons of earth, various stones, whole trees, bushes, grasses and everything else he didn''t have in a certain quantity and deposited it in his dungeon.
Sadly, magical plants of any kind, that is, those that produced, generated or transformed foreign mana on their own, and thus represented alchemical ingredients of immense value, were also among the things he could not take with him.
Yet!
But the best part of it all was, and was the reason why Avan had been so diligent in collecting various materials; he could, depending on rarity, density, and many as yet unknown properties, create all these things himself with the dungeon mana after the first absorption!
However, Avan still hadn''t found out what this ominous anchor point was, and without consulting the mute horn, his faithful dungeon companion, he simply couldn''t figure it out on his own.
And so he trudged after the group, while he collected the most diverse and above all new types of materials for his dungeon in the far distance and without strangers looking.
If I can build a permanent dungeon with this anchor point in the future... Or a floating piece of land on which I can travel? With all the trees and plants!
Suddenly, Avan stumbled momentarily, but caught himself immediately before anyone else noticed and asked. And that''s when I found my first iron ore and copper ore! Yeah! Infinite copper, iron, and with more knowledge even steel!
2.25-Campfire talk
Thus suspended in his thoughts, Avan didn''t realize until almost far too late, and his sphere of influence had somehow faded out, that he almost ran into Jen.
She was standing in front of him with her head tilted, her hands clasped behind her back and her upper body slightly bent forward, looking at him questioningly.
"Aorus to Avan, are you there?" Came the question, apparently because Avan had not heard the first time she had addressed him, as he had been busy with his thoughts.
I should probably be careful not to turn off my senses, even when I''m deep in thought....
With a sigh, he ran his fingers over his silvery hair and then nodded at Jen. "Sorry, I was thinking... What did you ask me before?"
Jen looked at him curiously in the same pose for a few more moments, then stood up straight again and smoothed out her imaginary wrinkles in the healer''s robe.
"Ah, we were just talking about how we were going to want to find a place to camp soon, and we got caught up in battle tactics. You know, who has what skills, and how can everyone complement each other without stepping on each other''s toes." She giggled as she cast an amused glance behind her, naturally at Dani, who pouted and looked off to the side as if she urgently needed to quickly observe something in the surrounding forest.
Jen''s gaze wandered back to him and raised her eyebrows. "So, have you gone into the depths of your mind again?" She waved her hand in front of his face, ignoring the confusion Avan showed.
"Ahm, no? I''m just waiting for the question, to be honest?"
She giggled again. "Just kidding! I''m just pulling your leg. So, campsite. Okay with that? Then we can exchange in more detail what everyone can do."
"And maybe I''ll even learn something new!" came another shot, with an overly broad grin on her face, as she turned around again and marched forward to her two friends, while Linob watched expressionlessly at the side of the road, without comment.
"Um, okay." Avan stared into the back of the joyfully telling happy bomb of a young woman and simply didn''t know what to make of such a bundle of positive energy.
I''m barely a few weeks or months into this world, and I''ve already seen enough shit. So how can she be so overjoyed? he asked himself the obvious question and furrowed his eyebrows.
Either she grew up EXTREMELY sheltered, or she experienced something really morbid and the residual crack in her psyche is trying to deal with it that way. There can be no more possibilities!
"So be it..." He muttered to himself and put one foot in front of the other to catch up with the three people of his team who were chatting with each other.
"I think I saw a small clearing not fifty meters behind us on the side of the trail between the trees further into the forest. How about that?" Dani asked, casting an equally questioning glance over at Avan.
Jen and Patris just nodded, and Avan gladly joined the group, which also ended in a silent nod.
A short time later, with Avan''s dungeon richer by SOME herbs, ores, and entire small landscapes, the group reached a small, idyllic clearing in the middle of the forest, surrounded by numerous fir trees growing close together. How exactly Dani would have seen this clearing from the road, Avan could not understand with the best will in the world, but simply assumed that it was due to her class and her abilities.
"I''m going to look around for a ride and scout out the area while I kill us some small game. You guys go ahead and take care of the camp and food preparations, okay?" came one last instruction from the ranger, before she disappeared with quick and almost jumping steps between the trees.
A chuckle and a laugh came first from Patris, and then from Jen, whereupon Avan looked questioningly at the two and turned his head in their direction.
"She''s always like that. Barely in the wilderness and nature, her inner scout comes out, and she immediately has to frolic in the forest! Hahahaha!" Dani''s friend explained with a loud laugh as he held his stomach, and even Jen laughed happily to herself.
Avan himself grinned as well, the joy of the others just too contagious, no matter what turmoil was going on inside him, and watched Dani effortlessly through his sphere of influence as she had just pulled herself up a tree and was happily jumping from branch to branch. The branches she had probably instinctively chosen held her weight perfectly, and Avan had a certain respect for jumping through the trees so freely and without much effort, while he thought back to his childhood and how difficult it would have been for him.
"Let''s see then..." he whispered more to himself than to the others, but apparently loud enough to get the other two thinking otherwise.
"Patris, will you gather stones for the campfire and prepare the sleeping places, while I gather dry branches with Avan? Hold it like you always do." Jen looked briefly at Patris and received a thumbs-up from him, while he was already setting his and Dani''s backpacks on the ground, which she had handed to him shortly before her exploration tour.
"Neat! On, we need a lot of dry wood." Without further comment and without asking for permission, the young healer grabbed Avan''s hand and dragged him to the edge of the forest, where she blithely explained to him what to look for, that the wood should not be green or damp because of too strong smoke development, and simply bombarded him with information he actually already knew. To be polite, Avan simply listened and nodded at the appropriate moment, while he simply enjoyed the cheerful atmosphere.
Half an hour later, under the continued watchful gaze of Linob, Avan had a really large amount of sticks and small woods on his arms, while Jen also brought some dry branches under both arms.
Both gratefully deposited their booty next to the campfire site, around which Patris had in the meantime already placed dry stones as thick as fists. Around the campfire, he had cleared the grassy ground of individual sticks and stones, where the sleeping rolls could later be rolled out.
Without comment, and under the gaze of a slightly blushing healer, Avan placed the logs in an upright position in the center of the campfire area, and dry bark underneath in the center where the tinder belonged. Jen only now realized that Avan was already very familiar with life in the forest, and pouted with red cheeks and a slightly angry look at Linob, as her explanations about collecting sticks came back to her. Linob, as Avan sensed it, only looked at the young woman with a shrug, and Avan could have sworn he saw a brief twitch of the corners of his mouth through his sphere of influence, but wasn''t sure about the stoic man.
Avan, who just smirked again, wondered how he was supposed to ignite the tinder when Jen pointed past his seated figure, and an instant later a small spark jumped from her index finger directly to the tinder, igniting it effortlessly.
"Oh, what was that?" He turned his head to the side and looked at her with interest.
It took a brief moment, and Jen looked sideways at the floor with what seemed to Avan an odd look, before looking at him. "Spark. A simple household spell that every normal person knows to light candles or the fire in the fireplace in winter. Would you like me to teach it to you?" She kneaded her hands nervously, not quite sure where to put her hands suddenly.
What the heck? Why is she suddenly acting like a girl in love? Did I do something? I am confused... With a glance around, he saw that Linob was busy with his own backpack, and Patris was preparing his and Dani''s sleeping places.
"Jen, are you okay?" No sooner had he asked her the question, more whispered than spoken aloud, than she turned even redder.
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With a loud sigh, she plopped down on the floor and, visibly embarrassed, held her hands in front of her face while she mumbled something. "No, no... Sorry!"
She peeked out from between her fingers, and immediately hid behind her hands again. "Ahhhh..."
Avan, just still confused, tilted his head and looked at her questioningly.
The campfire to the side behind him was already crackling happily, and grateful for the distraction of this odd situation, he turned and piled up some more branches while breaking other longer ones in two.
Another minute passed, and the first two of the five logs landed on the now blazing flames, until a soft clearing of a throat snapped him out of the trance of dancing flames.
"Sorry... I - am odd, I know. I don''t know what just got into me." She lightly fiddled with her robe, twirling it between her fingers.
"So, spark. Want me to teach you?"
Avan, again tilting his head and briefly wondering if he would soon get a stiff neck if he kept this up, looked at her thoughtfully. "Hmm... I already have three out of eight active skills, isn''t it counterproductive if I fill one of the active slots with something so unimportant?"
"And sorry for the perhaps obviously stupid question, but where I come from, this wasn''t common knowledge and actually it''s all self-taught..."
Jen''s eyes widened a bit when she heard that, and then she shook her head gently. "Self-taught and then such a high level? You must either be extraordinarily talented, or a true monster... Phew..." she expelled the held breath all at once. "Anyway, maybe some other time! So, about the skills; that you have a whole eight active slots is already more than most other inhabitants on Eos, or all of Aorus, will ever have! Not unique, but quite rare. Most start with two or three, and these increase by another one or two over the course of their lives. Only really rarely, or very talented ones, start with six, seven, or even eight slots."
She looked at Avan thoughtfully again, and sat down in a more comfortable position, closer to the crackling campfire next to him, as she let her gaze wander to the blazing flames. "But your concern is still unfounded. When all your slots are full and you learn another skill, you can make one of the active skills inactive and put the new skill in the same place. The skill you lose will lose all levels, but you can always replace it with one of the other skills, which will also lose levels. But that was it. So you can learn spark now, and replace it later at any time. For example, for a real fire spell, which can also help you with such a task as lighting a campfire."
She continued to stare into the fire, and Avan joined the young woman, while even Patris joined in and listened as he poked the fire with a stick and placed another log on top.
"Or, you manage to shape and develop the skill. There are many recorded cases where spark became something else, depending on the person''s use and what the person wanted to do with it in the end. A few mages who started with the skill were even able to evolve it directly into fireball, while others evolved it into some kind of flamethrower, or even flame blast or flame ray. Even the most useless skill can become something extremely powerful. That''s exactly why my teacher taught me the skill, because I''m always expected to be able to do all that..." she whispered into the fire at the end, a sad and exhausted expression on her face. Although she whispered so softly, Avan was amazed that Linob had heard her, and felt the sympathetic expression on his face at the words of his ward.
Instinctively, and because Avan had just always been that way, his right hand wandered to Jen''s shoulder and gave it one gentle squeeze. "Don''t worry about it. And honestly? Your parents probably only want the best for you, don''t they? I myself have no way of reaching my parents anymore.... Probably never again."
At his last words, her head slowly turned to him, looking at him in surprise. "Oh..." Escaped her a surprised laugh, and it remained at that as she stared back at the flames.
"Alright then, I''ll be happy to learn Spark from you if you don''t mind. How exactly is this going?" He asked her the question, mostly to get her thinking otherwise.
Her facial expression brightened noticeably right away, and she slowly nodded once, more to herself.
"It''s actually quite simple... The most talented and capable can, after study and long time and much knowledge, develop their own skills. Learning them, however, is simple, as long as you have the basic requirements. As a mage, like you, you must be able to see mana, or somehow feel it, in order to mimic the pattern of the spell and thus learn the skill."
"If you can only sense it, then you must place your hand on mine while my mana flows through my body in the appropriate pathways, and then form the pattern of spark..." She explained to him as she blushed slightly again, though Avan couldn''t quite tell, or if it was perhaps from the rising heat of the campfire.
"Or you can see it, or feel it from the distance." To which Avan nodded, much to the young woman''s obvious displeasure, which made him smile slightly.
"That is much more rarely represented... But somehow it doesn''t really surprise me now... Then watch and follow the mana stream while I cast spark. We''ll repeat this until you can mimic it yourself. Spark should only take a few hours for you to be able to cast it yourself."
And with those words, Avan sharpened his senses and focused on his immediate area of influence in close proximity while Jen cast the spell and muttered something, seemingly to guide spark''s magic in the right direction, as she had learned to do by incantation.
Avan watched in amazement, because he had never seen it before, as the mana flowed out of Jen''s inner self in a similar path to his own, through her arm, into her left outstretched hand, and there into a spark that flashed in the blink of an eye and then shot forward.
The whole thing happened so fast that not even half a second had passed, from the gathering of the mana in her soul core, to the complete shooting of the skill in the direction of the flames.
"Please, one more time..." He whispered intently, feeling more as he saw her nod and recite her incantation again.
This time, Avan tried to grasp more of what he had briefly perceived at the flash of the spark in a single moment, and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw what the mana was flowing into.
His own celestial abilities had never needed such a thing, or he had never paid attention to it and was almost oblivious to it, but what he had now seen in front of him in a split second blew his mind and revealed incredible possibilities.
"Again..."
"Once more, please..."
"Please..."
And so it went on, while Avan concentrated on the structure that hovered in front of Jen''s fingertip, only to disappear again in a fraction of a second and shoot the spark off.
The young healer herself had already changed from joyful, to focused, and now to an increasingly exhausted expression, while Avan had asked for another demonstration time and time again.
What Avan now saw more and more clearly was an infinite possibility of which he had never been aware, and he was angry that he had never observed other wizards or skills performing it.
While Jen, Patris, and even Linob simply thought he needed a little longer, Avan saw an ever clearer image emerge before his mind''s eye that, with Jen''s final groan, finally floated clearly before his inner mind.
Much to the surprise of the three, and while they all stared at him not only in surprise but with widened eyes, they clearly heard the murmured words that Avan himself whispered in awe. Each of those present had so far instinctively and simply imitated the spells, and even if there were theories in magical faculties about it, nobody had expected this statement.
"Runes...! Interwoven runes!"
And before Avan''s inner eyes, Jen''s mana flowed through a web of various mini runes, all interwoven with magical lines, creating something as simple as a spark.
2.26-Runes and Visitors
"What do you mean, runes?!" Jen asked into the silence, sliding closer to Avan as he sat. "You can even recognize the runes that weave and hold the incantation together?!"
A mixture of excitement, awe, and curiosity raced across the young healer''s face as her eyes glittered. "Even my teachers didn''t know much to say about it when I asked them holes in their bellies! And as far as I know, even the leaders at Haipu''s mage academy are researching and puzzling over exactly how magic is woven!"
More to herself, with a quick sideways glance into the flames of the soothing campfire, she murmured; "But it would make so much sense... Above all, this knowledge MUST be commonplace on the other continents... right?"
Turning the piercing gaze back to Avan''s face, she continued louder. "The general theory is that magic follows the will of the mage, and the system just makes it happen. Poof, out of nowhere, so to speak! But runes? That makes so much more sense! Even enchantments are based on runes of any kind, and there are as many runes as there are words in all languages for everything..."
"But how the bloody hell can you see the rune? On the one hand, the spell is cast in such a short time, and on the other hand, you can''t even see it with your normal eyes! So how?!"
Avan, who was visibly surprised and didn''t expect to have opened Pandora''s box with it, slid a little further to the left, and even earned a short chuckle and an understanding look from Patris, who nevertheless also looked at him with great interest.
Only Linob, Jen''s guard, continued to look grim, as if he suspected Avan of treason, and had also overheard everything, even though he was sitting a good five meters away at the edge of the small clearing.
Raising both hands in surrender, Avan tried to placate the young woman. "Stop, stop! What do you mean? Isn''t that common knowledge? I mean, runes also have various elemental effects, and all you have to do is channel mana through them, don''t you? How is that not common knowledge?!" He asked the counter-question, and was relieved to see Jen''s ears twitch amusingly for a moment, and her mouth quirked thoughtfully to the side, her gaze once again fixed on the flames.
A few seconds passed, and just as she was about to speak on the subject again, Dani stepped into the clearing, a rope with two slain rabbits over her left shoulder, while her enchanted bow hung over the other. "Heeeey, look what I brought us!"
Avan expelled the held breath with visible relief, even though he hadn''t realized he had held it. With a wave to Dani and another grin from Patris, the topic quickly changed to food preparations, and he gingerly summoned some of the herbs from Akkalon''s dungeon while pretending to pull them out of his backpack. Jen kept eyeing him thoughtfully and curiously as she talked quietly with Dani, who was working on some perfectly straight branches with a knife and making more arrows for herself, glancing over at Avan whenever the young healer gestured.
Patris herself had fished out a wooden plate and was working on the two rabbits, skinning them, removing the innards and preparing everything for Avan''s stew, which was already simmering quietly. A kind of tripod made of longer and sturdier branches stood over the campfire, with a hook-like branch at the top in the middle, where the group''s tin pot could then be hung.
Avan''s group had been visibly excited when he had tied this construction, since they themselves had apparently always placed hot stones or the pot simply directly in the embers, as could be seen more than a little on the sooty tin pot.
Also when he had pulled out the herbs and had thrown them into the boiling water, together with some salt and a spice that smelled and tasted damn like pepper, the others twitched their noses in rapture at the smell and you could see how their mouths were already watering.
When the rabbits were added to the herb broth in small bite-sized pieces, the small clearing smelled wonderful, and the rest of the conversation fell completely silent as everyone waited impatiently for the food.
Wooden bowls and something like wooden spoons stood before everyone, and when Avan, after tasting the food, gave the nod, Patris, surprisingly, snatched the bronze ladle right out of his hand and, with an apologetic look, piled some in first, which he immediately pounced on.
A "glutton" came from Dani in his direction, and he just shrugged his shoulders, while he groaned and grinned with his mouth full, giving a thumbs up in Avan''s direction, much to the smirk of all involved.
Everyone was served food in turn, and even though Avan didn''t quite like Jen''s guard, he had also offered him something, which the man had declined and nibbled on his own rations. Apparently, not only was he not involved in fighting, but he didn''t want to interfere or participate in any other way as long as Jen wasn''t in danger, which was totally fine with Avan.
Halfway through emptying his own bowl with relish, Jen suddenly turned back to him and stared at him for a few seconds while she herself handled the spoon gracefully and in a very distinguished manner. Seemingly with more important things on her mind than finishing her food, she placed the bowl and spoon in it between her legs, and thoughtfully mouthed off again.
"Say, Avan..."
He looked at her with raised eyebrows, and continued eating while waiting for her.
"Sooooo..." began Jen, stopping briefly to look at her hands in her lap. "Do you think you can render the rune? Or... much more likely, the rune structure you saw?"
Now Dani and Patris were watching with interest as well, while both took second helpings once without comment and continued munching.
"Only if it doesn''t cause any trouble, of course..." The young healer spoke hastily afterwards, and again kneaded her hands slightly nervously, only to look up in surprise when Avan replied.
"Sure. Why not."
And even more surprised when he too set down his now empty bowl further to the left and picked up the sooty stick Patris had been poking at the fire with earlier.
With his other hand, he took one of the remaining stones from the campfire and wiped a small 30-centimeter area free of grass, leaving only earth underneath.
There he concentrated on drawing the rune structure, which was still floating in front of his inner mind, but the first few times he had to smooth everything out again, because his hand could not exactly imitate what he saw so clearly and distinctly in front of him.
Doesn''t this have anything to do with Dexterity?! But I already have 130 points in it... Oh, speaking of points, I have 470 points to give out, damn it, Avan you idiot!
100 points sank directly with a mental command from his freely available pool and disappeared into his Dexterity score, which was now 230.
A shudder ran through him, his muscles loosened noticeably, but tightened at the same time, and a new kind of sensitivity and flexibility turned to his fingertips, which just made another attempt to draw the rune structure.
A brief expelled curse later, and an earth once again smoothed out, Avan tried again. This time it went much more securely by the hand and he was able to record the rune much more clearly and without major errors, but still something gnawed at the back of his head.
Something else was missing, even if it felt more like a little nudge to get him over the threshold. With a hint of a hunch, Avan took another look at his stats and the meaning behind them, following an intuition to put 50 points each into wisdom and intelligence, which still left him with a whopping 270 free stat points.
As soon as these 100 stat points were equally distributed in wisdom and intelligence, something clicked in his subconscious, and he continued drawing without having to start all over again.
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When the rune got the last stroke, and he just lifted the sooty stick, suddenly something crashed into him mentally with full force, and he toppled over backwards, almost as if someone had torn all the air out of his lungs, and as if he had been physically hit by a car, only without flying through the air for meters.
Avan''s eyes rolled into white, and he crashed with full force into a kind of unconsciousness, but still strangely aware of his surroundings thanks to his sphere of influence.
DIVINE ???
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[Origin of Runes] unlocked!
If Avan could have raised his eyebrows now, he would have. But as it was, he simply sank into a deep sleep, while the others around him looked at him in panic and tried to talk to him in gibberish, to no avail, until these noises also faded away with the sleep.
Avan stood in a void, surrounded by countless and infinite luminous celestial bodies shining from an incomprehensible distance.
Actually, he should have been afraid to float in a black void, or to stand, or to sit? He just didn''t know at the moment, and pushed the unimportant thought aside. Fragments of memory crawled through his brain, but everything was so blurry and unclear that he simply could not recognize anything except light and dark. He knew whatever he was seeing was incredibly important, but it slipped through the imaginary hands of himself every time.
Celestial bodies on the horizon, or in the infinite expanse that surrounded him like a cloak, disappeared, imploded, exploded, and in another place new ones appeared again. Poof, as if from nowhere, from afar not to see why or why not.
His head hurt, even if he didn''t know why. Or how it could be, to feel a headache in a dream, especially of this strength and kind.
Shooting stars passed in the distance, colliding here and there.
The nothingness, the darkness, was heavy, as if he could not breathe. Nevertheless, Avan had no problem breathing. Or was he breathing at all?
It was difficult to get his thoughts, sensations, and senses into an orderly measure, and every attempt simply failed.
Avan was, simply. There was no body when he looked at himself like that, just a vast expanse, like a cloud of infinite energy. Power hung by a thread, always at hand, always ready to obey his every thought.
Not simply obey. The energy begged for it, wishing Avan would give it direction. A determination to do something, to be something. To create something.
Suddenly, runes flashed before his inner eye. Although Avan had no eyes here.
Odd.
The runes danced before him, and he suddenly knew, without straining, that they would obey him as well. In this form.
In his human form? Perhaps. Partially. Minimally.
But it would be enough. Something gnawed at his consciousness, something wanted to tell him something important, but couldn''t get through.
He had forgotten, he knew that now.
But what had he forgotten? And why?
How could he recover these memories?
Questions upon questions flashed through his mind, faster than light, faster and clearer than anyone had ever thought possible, or would ever think possible.
And suddenly another feeling arose, something that had nothing to do with the here and now. Nothing to do with the blackness. With the void.
Something approached, and as if emerging from a viscous dream, his human brain cleared and he knew red wolves were approaching the clearing.
His sphere of influence showed and felt it to the smallest detail, clearer than ever before, and clearer than he could ever SEE in his mortal body.
If he had felt this clarity while awake, he would have screamed in pain and writhed on the ground. But in the void? As normal as breathing, even though he was not breathing here.
And with a mental header into the molasses of nothingness, Avan startled again and abruptly sat upright.
"Red wolves are coming!" Was the first thing Avan spouted, jolting a wild-eyed Dani, who was sitting with her back to the fire to probably better peer into the darkness.
"HOLY SHIT, AVAN!" She cried out as she jolted up and turned to face him, stiff as a board, bow ready in hand, arrow already nocked.
"No time for that! I have a sense for this, and right now ten of the red wolves are sneaking up on our camp from the north!" Was all Avan said, and Dani closed her mouth again, which had just opened to another curse.
The others were also startled and rubbed their eyes as they heard the last sentence clearly, as opposed to the first cry that had merely woken them up.
Quickly and without questioning Avan, Dani cursing because she had only just discovered the blood of the two rabbits dripping into the grass, they all gathered their things and Patris took out one of the blood bags.
Dani, without comment and still cursing quietly to herself about some foolishness, took the blood bag and ran west into the forest, while splashes of animal blood were already dripping on the ground by her side, far enough away from her, leading a trail away from the camp.
The others, meanwhile, quickly headed south, disappearing behind some trees. Patris also explained a few seconds later, whispering, that the wind was blowing from the west, and so Dani laid a false blood trail in that direction, so that the group could then fall into the wolves'' backs without them smelling them in the wind.
Avan had, as soon as his things were stowed in the backpack, also armed himself without comment and the others saw for the first time his billowing midnight-black spheres, which hovered in fives over his heads.
I must not overdo it, and five of these spheres should already raise too many questions, let alone if I would conjure up even more...
And so the three of them, Linob as the fourth quietly watching even further behind them, waited for the creeping wolves to pick up the new trail, which they did almost immediately, to Avan''s observation in his sphere of influence.
2.27-A lesson of blood
Dani sprinted through the night, throwing the empty blood bag into the bushes to the right, and ran toward a tree on her left.
A few steps up the lower tree trunk, defying gravity, and with a practiced swing upward to the lowest branch, she heaved herself up. Her breathing was fast and irregular, but with deliberate breaths she brought herself back under control, and not a second too late.
Black creatures with a glimmer of something blood-red crept through the undergrowth of the forest, following the trail of blood, and a sniffing from many snouts came from the direction from which Dani had just run.
And suddenly the alpha of the pack came out from behind a tree, and a chill ran down Dani''s back. The pack''s alpha went from the forest floor to the highest point at its ears, at least to her shoulders, while it warped its lips in anticipation at all the stench of blood. Two blood-red and forearm-long fangs stood out, and the wolf''s lips vibrated slightly as an eerie red glow passed through the two fangs, while gossamer red mist rose from the forest floor to be sucked in through its teeth as if through two straws.
Now the name Vounds makes even more sense! Shit...! Was the only thing that flashed through Dani''s mind at the terrifying sight, as the whole wolf licked its lips with pleasure and the whole fur vibrated as if the alpha was in ecstasy.
Waves went from the head to the tip of the tail swinging casually back and forth, and she could have sworn that the red hue of the fur intensified slightly as the blood-red mist was sucked up by the two fangs like vampires.
The alpha sniffed the ground as soon as the fog had lifted, and the muzzle soon bumped into the empty blood bag lying carelessly in one of the lower bushes, eliciting a deep bestial growl from the huge wolf''s deep throat.
[Alpha Red Wolf - ???]
Was all Dani could identify with her skill, and the question marks immediately scared her even more.
The other red wolves, on the other hand, had more normal levels, even though she knew exactly how little the level meant, especially when it came to such highly regenerative blood monsters.
[Red Wolf - 105]
[Red Wolf - 111]
Was the level of the weakest member of the pack and the strongest, while the weakest member seemed to be accompanied by the strongest, according to the motto of the weakest member of the chain to protect.
The alpha, meanwhile, had continued sniffing the ground and was just turning back toward the clearing, which caused Dani to slowly expel the held breath as he abruptly turned directly in her direction and growled again from deep within his throat.
The mouth twisted, almost to a black blood-red smile, as the wolf vibrated again with loud growls, but this time in anticipation of the fresh and lively prey he had spotted.
She was about to curse in panic and looked around frantically for a chance to escape, which had already been blocked for the most part by the encircling pack, when suddenly black objects flitted along between the trees, at least two of which bored into the head and the unprotected side of the alpha.
She blinked first once, and then another time, when after the first shock she suddenly realized from whom the projectiles probably came, and immediately took the chance to jump from tree to tree and run off in the direction of the southeast, from which direction the unknown objects had also flown.
Avan had long since identified the wolves since his waking and had not worried too much about the level difference, especially since the effortless penetration of his two spear-shaped forms, which had penetrated the head and vital parts of the Alpha, only to fly out again on the other side.
[Alpha Red Wolf - 145]
The alpha of the pack was by far the greatest danger, but seemed to fall just as easily as the others.
Just as Avan had already written off the quest as easy and was about to nod encouragement to his other two group members, he registered with his senses what was actually happening to the penetrated wolves.
To his own horror, he noticed how the actually dead wolves contorted unnaturally, the distributed blood flowed again in a gauzy mist through the open wounds to the injured wolves and then even the deadly wounds closed without much effort. Healthy but clearly angry red wolves remained, and even the alpha with its more than fatal head wound stirred again and howled loudly into the sky while its pack tuned in.
"Shit..." Avan cursed more to himself, but earned confused and fearful looks when Patris and Jen also noticed his feverish expression.
"What happened?" Patris whispered to him, taking the words out of Jen''s mouth, who was about to ask the same.
"I had, rather effortlessly, caught all ten red wolves, and even the alpha with a fatal head wound! And then? The beasts just get up again, the blood flows back into their bodies, and the wounds close! Fuck..." He explained as quietly as possible, while he was already frantically thinking about how to approach the problem, Dani still in his sights, who was about to arrive at their place.
"Dani will be with us in a minute, maybe she knows something! But it won''t be long before the red wolves have also picked up her scent or ours!"
His two teammates nodded at him seriously but also slightly panicked, and they followed Avan''s gaze as he turned towards Dani, who just then jumped down from the last tree and landed in front of them.
And the young ranger started right away. "Good idea, Avan! However, we need something other than sharp weapons, because we have to attack their blood, which helps them regenerate! Any ideas?" And looked first at Avan and then at the others in her group in turn, while she herself briefly looked around to the back, as if afraid the pack would come jumping out of the bushes at any moment.
"Don''t worry, I can sense them, and they''re still picking up our scent..." he whispered encouragingly, which earned him a grateful slow nod from her, and her shoulders visibly lost tension, at least for the moment.
"If only we could master a proper incantation, that would boil the blood, vaporize it, burn it. Or poisons, but that would work too slowly! Someone with water maniplutation might be able to extract the liquid from the escaping blood, which would prevent their regeneration while the blood is outside the body.... But other than that, I just can''t think of anything! Except hitting them, turning them to mush, or cutting them up so they can''t regenerate!" Jen enumerated her possibilities, which she had compiled internally, and looked up to the others in the round.
"We don''t have fire, and cutting them up might work if there weren''t so many of them!" Retorted Avan. And I only want to show how many shapes I can use and reshape at the same time in an extreme emergency! I would probably be able to handle the red wolves effortlessly, but I don''t want to wear a target on my forehead because of my abnormally strong powers! Damn...
"Avan?" Suddenly came from Jen, and he only now noticed that he had already completely drifted off again, while he had been thinking.
"We were just wondering if you thought you could summon more than one spark with the spark rune..." The young healer repeated again, and looked momentarily downcast, the memories of his sudden fainting still fresh in everyone''s mind. "So, do you think you might be able to modify the skill into real fire?"
Silence fell over the group as each of the others looked at Avan in different ways, or looked away.
"We don''t want to put you through too much, especially after what... happened..." Came Dani this time, even surprisingly, as she squeezed Patri''s hand and he nodded his approval to Avan as well.
"I think so... But I need time, which we don''t have!" Avan explained.
Dani immediately cursed the day the wolves were born, while Jen also looked concerned. Much to Avan''s surprise, however, the tank in their group looked thoughtfully into the air for the first time and had a blank stare.
"I think - I think I might have a solution...At least something that will buy us some time."
With a piercing look, very aware of the seriousness of the situation, Patris looked at him. "How much time do you need, approximately?"
Avan ignored the fact that the young warrior had always been the only one who never acted serious, and gave a rough estimate. "Ten minutes, maybe even thirty.... It depends on which of my theories fit and what I have to do for it!"
Patris thought again for a moment, and then nodded to the group. "On the way here, I saw a cluster of three thick trees, in the middle of which Dani and Jen can stand effortlessly, while I cover the front and defend with my shield. You yourself could stay completely in the background and work out the solution while we stall and hurt them as much as possible to drag the fight to maximum length."
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The ranger looked at her friend with concern, but otherwise kept her mouth shut, having enough confidence in him. Jen, on the other hand, nervously nibbled her fingernails, not at all lady-like, while Linob stared holes in her back at her behavior, but otherwise seemed unconcerned.
So there''s definitely at least one obvious solution we can create if this elite guard stays this calm... Or he just has an instant teleport option for himself and Jen, which calms him down as well...
"Okay, let''s do it this way! If we hurry, we''ll have a few extra minutes until they follow the trail and arrive at our place! Go, Patris!" Avan concluded, gesturing to the warrior to lead the way.
The group ran, and a minute later they did indeed arrive at a grove of large trees that had grown in exactly a three-way constellation, forming an almost perfect hollow between them, with only one attack path from one side.
Avan immediately sat down at the far end, back first against one of the trees, and went into deep meditation, where his thoughts could work faster and distract him less, such as preparing the other three.
Linob, in the meantime, had made himself comfortable by jumping and climbing very high up on a branch.
So, focus! I got this skill, and with it natural knowledge of how to use runes. So I know that there is a way to change the runes...
And with this first thought, he reproduced the spark rune again in front of his inner eye and finally went through the individual components piece by piece.
The runes are connected at certain points with simple mana threads, almost like visual scripting, as I know it from one of the famous game engines of that time! Instead of lines of code on code, these runes are words or queries, and the mana threads flow in and out at certain points... This place here should be the rune for heat, while the following rune should be some kind of... repel? So the first rune ignites the mana, and gives it the affinity of fire? While the second connected rune repels the fire mana forward... Would make sense. But is that true? Or does the first rune not stand for heat, but for electricity? Friction also creates sparks... Or electrical discharges. Not just the combustion process itself.
Ok, never mind... It converts the mana into the corresponding element, which here must be heat, i.e. fire. So that it ignites something. This fire is then repelled and flies super fast, through the second rune, in the direction you are pointing, so forward.
And with these thoughts, he focused on deciphering the runes and figuring out how to amplify the heat, while outside his meditation, an ever-approaching rumble and growl sounded in the forest as the red wolves approached. Patris was visibly sweating, no longer at all enthusiastic about his own plan and the trust he was giving their newest group member, while Dani nocked the first arrow and Jen, off to the side, prepared her small metal wand with the first reinforcements.
Avan was oblivious to all of this, sinking deeper and deeper into meditation.
Can I just pull the mana flow to the extreme and generate more heat, resulting in real fire? Almost as if the world knew what he wanted, it clicked and he abruptly noticed how the new skill [Origin of Runes] activated.
Fictitious mana flowed into the rune construct in his mind, and instead of the little trickle of mana, it was now a veritable flood of hundreds or even thousands of mana points.
The first thing Avan noticed when he recovered from his initial shock and surprise was something simple he could have thought of himself.
The mana threads, which were first fed and then forwarded by him, were too SMALL. Too thin, and too fragile.
With a simple mental command, he strengthened and thickened the tapered mana passages in the rune structure, and the mana flowed through faster, but faltered at the second problem; the much too small rune itself.
The mana flowed in the mental structure up to the rune, but stopped there because not enough mana could enter the rune at the same time, and the threads simply exploded with all the magical pressure. Okay, THAT doesn''t look healthy at all! Nope, I don''t want my finger, hand or even the whole arm to explode away like a stupid china firecracker.
The enlargement of the rune itself brought the desired effect, namely a massive heat that Avan thought he could feel even behind his eyes, but the process itself took many times longer than the incantation spark had actually needed before.
Suddenly, another idea came to him. Divide and rule!
He placed ten of the heat, or sparks, runes next to each other, connected each of the entrances with the same mana strand, and behind them the outgoing heat with a slightly thicker and more stable veriante of repulsion.
This structure now spewed a thick strand of its own mana, which merged into several normal-sized threads, each of which in turn fed its own heat rune. The heat thus generated flowed out the other end, into the small threads, and was combined into a thicker strand, to be catapulted out by the slightly larger rune of repulsion.
But here there was another problem, a final one; the speed at which the heat was pushed forward was too slow. A short experiment with several of the repulsion runes showed that only several sparks flew, but the heat was then again too little.
Avan pondered, and tried one or the other, but in the end could not avoid using a ten times as large repulsion rune as before, since the generated heat itself was also ten times as much as before. The speed, in contrast to the conversion of his mana into the fire attribute, was not many times slower, but just doubled the casting time of the spell.
So if I use, let''s say, 50 heat runes, then the casting time of the original half second is... just under 3 seconds! That''s quite a lot... but the red wolves regenerate even slower, and in that time the blood should be burned. The proof of the pudding is in the eating!
He opened his eyes again, and to his horror, it didn''t look good at all, and Avan felt a brief twinge of guilt through his chest, as he thought that he could have used his forms to help.
"I think I got it!" Was all he shouted, and the alpha wolf, who was gnawing away at Patris'' badly dented shield, glanced briefly at Avan and his ears twitched, almost as if he had somehow understood the intention behind the statement.
Avan himself pushed all distracting thoughts away and ordered his forms, hovering far above them, to become very sharp saw blades, only with even more sharp teeth, and cut the attacking wolves to pieces.
While his forms set to work with the new mental command, Avan himself instinctively summoned the runes before his mental eye, and this time really let his mana flow into the now much larger entity, which immediately took shape above the heads of his team in the physical world, glowing ominously orange. Orange threads came out of nowhere, starting a few inches in front of Avan, and ended in the 50 heat runes that floated in a row next to each other, and the generated heat immediately shot on toward the repelling rune, which hovered in the air the size of a fist and turned first from gray, to orange, and then to a dark red glow. The stream of mana that Avan directed into the construct did not subside, and he could guess roughly what the result would be that would shoot forth in a few moments.
Not a moment too late, just as the alpha red wolf was again suffering mortal wounds, an incredible heat came over the heads of the four and it felt like standing right next to a blast furnace.
With a *whoosh*, a jet of fire two fingers thick shot out of the outer end of the repelling rune and landed right next to the alpha red wolf on the forest floor, where it immediately ate its way deeper into the earth realm until Avan quickly mentally realigned the beam.
The alpha red wolf howled in terror as its head regenerated, but it was hit directly in the healing wound by the fire beam, and the air suddenly smelled of charred flesh.
Jen, the guarded one, was the first to vomit to the side as the smoke and smell of burnt blood and flesh that seemed slightly rotten reached the group. Avan, on the other hand, had to summon up his willpower, since he was far from finished, and tried with all his might to block out the smells, closing his eyes so as not to catch the heavy smoke. With his sphere of influence, he had no trouble directing the beam from wolf to wolf and taking the dismembered wolf parts under fire, which ended in a hiss of first boiling blood and then burning flesh.
Just as he arrived at the eighth wolf, he noticed his limbs getting heavier for the first time in forever, while a quick glance at his own mana confirmed to him that the ambient mana was not replenishing his own mana fast enough, which he was foolishly using as a source for the runes. As a result, the rune construction above his head consumed more mana than he could draw in with his nearly infinite supply of dungeon mana through his soul core.
Next time I''ll use my dungeon mana directly, I''m an idiot!
He gritted his teeth as the headache worsened, and once again hurried to get the fire ray to the last two wolves as quickly as possible. Just as he was about to cast on the tenth and final wolf, the headache took over and the runes ran out of juice as his own mana pool was momentarily drained completely, and the rune structure blinked and disappeared.
"Fuuuuuck..." Was all he could produce in pain as he went down on his knees, holding his extremely pulsating skull in both hands while his dungeon mana was already sending healing into him and another mana signature joined it, as Jen too muttered a healing in panic and even under far too little mana.
A few moments later, with the mana pool already completely replenished, Avan dropped backwards to the ground and leaned against the tree trunk with his eyes closed. A quick wave of his hand signaled to the others that all was well, and they breathed a sigh of relief as they too sank to the forest floor.
The last wolf was already running away, and approached the edge of Avan''s sphere of influence, only to disappear completely from it a short time later in the direction of the north.
The familiar chimes in the back of his mind reminded him of the battle news, which he had directly ignored in his concentration.
[Alpha Red Wolf - 145] defeated!
Experience gained.
[Red Wolf - 105] defeated!
Experience gained.
...
[Red Wolf - 111] defeated!
Experience gained.
Not really surprising for Avan was the lack of leveling up, as the wolves had simply been too low level to give him enough experience for leveling up with his level 188.
"Sooo... That was definitely a spectacle, Avan." Came the first quiet statement, from Patris of all people. Avan squinted over at the warrior with his eyes slightly open and silently gave a thumbs up, which made the man across from him grin.
"Yeppers, definitely something breathtaking. Which I can gladly do without this form in the future, if we should have the choice..." Jen added, still slightly green in the face, while Dani patted her back sympathetically.
The group sat there for some time, but no one talked about the actual working incantation that Avan had created just like that, or that the last wolf had run away.
They decided, after Linob had volunteered and looked quite proudly at Jen, to let him keep watch for a few hours, and to give themselves up to exhaustion on the spot, after Avan had of course pushed the charred wolf corpses a few meters away with his forms.
In a few hours, and after a required amount of sleep, they would set out on the trail of the last wolf, which would hopefully bring them to the origin of the red wolves.
And so, with the confidence that Linob would guard them properly, the four fell into another sleep. Meanwhile, Avan focused his sphere of influence so that he would wake up if anyone touched his things or came within half a meter of him.
2.28-Xavier鈥瞫 Blood Monument
"And how exactly did you do that?!" Jen asked the next of her many questions about the new incantation Avan had developed. "I mean, you''ve already explained that the spark is made of two runes connected together, sure, but how exactly did you come up with the idea to arrange the construct the way you did?"
The group, followed by Linob a few meters behind them, was just following Dani, who had clung to the blood and forest tracks of the last red wolf.
"First of all; how did you manage to not have anything just explode like poof?"
Avan thought about what to tell her, and decided on a middle ground of half-truths, while he just climbed over a slightly larger root weave on the forest floor, and without much thought he helped Jen with his hand as well, which instantly turned red.
Ignoring the odd amorous behavior of the young healer once again, he began his explanation. "You remember when I suffered that mental recoil and fainted a short time later?" The still slightly blushing healer nodded, but looked more sideways at the ground and not directly at Avan.
"That was apparently something that shouldn''t have been done that way. I had a few free stat points left over, and I distributed them into dexterity, wisdom, and intelligence until it just seemed to click. While completing the otherwise very inconspicuous runes, a new skill burned itself into my mind... And I''m sure I went about it the wrong way, because you should certainly learn the skill in a completely different way than I did. Considering the pain and possible death that could result from my method..."
And above all, I don''t want others to be encouraged to do this, only to also either have these glitches in the status, or find out that I''ve done something impossible!
Since waking up among the three trees, Avan had checked his skills and current status to be sure, and indeed discovered the same anomaly that came with learning [Origin of Runes].
A new section had appeared in his character interface, showing a similar broken area.
???????????????????????¦© ?????????????????????????????¦©?????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????
[Origin of Runes]
Apparently the heading of the section was somehow broken, or incorrect, while the skill itself was recognized normally.
Jen, meanwhile, tilted her head thoughtfully as she tried not to trip over any small elevations in the earth realm, stones, or branches. "But just like that...?"
She turned her head around to face him, looking at him questioningly. "That might explain how you could just shake a new spell out of the sleeves of your robe in less than twenty minutes, but not how you prevented anything from going wrong."
"Hmmm... That''s actually something that came with this rune skill. I can mentally call a rune or rune weave in front of me once I see it and then change it and even test it in front of my mind''s eye. Sort of without letting them become physical, in a sort of test environment? If that makes any sense."
Jen nodded slowly in response, and you could see the look on her face as she imagined it. "Okay, that does make sense.... And how did you get the working result so quickly?"
"Hmm... I used meditation to better block out outside influences so I could think more fluidly. Then I went through different scenarios, like just making the rune much much bigger, but that resulted in an extremely long casting time of the spell."
So Avan explained step by step, at least superficially, how he had approached the problem and how he arrived at the working incantation in the end. When asked how he got so good at it, he just shrugged and quickly fished out another lie, that there had been similar games based on logic in his home village.
Fortunately, she didn''t ask why I didn''t need an incantation for it... And could cast the spell just like that.
What Jen had asked him, though, and to which he himself had no answer, was whether he now had a new skill for the new spell, which to her mild surprise he denied, except that he had now learned spark on bronze.
Apparently, the skill [Origin of Runes] was already a higher category and did not bring any new skills, even though he had a perfect memory of what the rune construct had looked like and could immediately summon it again without thinking. The new rune skill came with an almanac or a kind of collection of all the runes and rune weaves he knew and understood.
The conversation went on a bit more, and Patris had joined the silent Linob at some point and was talking to him, while the elite guard seemed to just listen stoically, having nothing to say himself.
A raised hand that became a fist soon came from Dani, and everyone stood still while she knelt down and examined some totally irrelevant branches for Avan and the floor itself.
"Several heavier but sneaking monsters came along here... No matter how good you are at sneaking, with such a crowd, something always leaves traces sooner or later..." And stood up again while pointing in a northwestern direction.
So it went on, but this time with whispering and quieter conversations, while again all followed Dani, who now went on with the bow in her hand and much more carefully.
Patris continued to talk animatedly with the unresponsive Linob, and Jen asked Avan some more questions about runes, how they felt, how they were woven, and what kinds of things he had noticed.
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A small melancholy spread through him in between, as he thought of the inquisitive and always questioning Elisa, and once again could only hope that she was doing well. I hope you are alive...
Jen, however, managed to distract him relatively quickly, without even noticing his state of mind, and simply continued to ask, which brought Avan back to other thoughts.
Half an hour later and several detours through the forest, which the wolves had probably taken on their hunt, and suddenly they came to a small clearing, in the middle of which a large mound of earth with a two meter large hole which led into the interior of the earth gaped.
Dani again told everyone to stop, and walked on by herself, crouching slightly, while a moment later she crept up to the side of the hole and peered inside. Her shoulders were tense, and whatever was visible inside didn''t make it any better.
Avan himself already knew what the group would find inside, and let his senses probe a little further into the tunnel vault until he came upon some sort of barrier that cut off his sphere of influence. A dungeon?!
Interested, and still waiting for the ranger to return to them, he scanned the barrier, and poked some of his mana threads at it.
"Uhh... There''s a dungeon down there..." He whispered when Dani was back within earshot, much to the momentary surprise of everyone else, which quickly subsided when he reminded them of his senses, which he had even used in battle.
Trying the dungeon harder with his senses made him feel that, unlike Akkalon''s dungeon, this barrier seemed somehow lighter and more malleable.
With mental strength and nearly 2000 mana from his dungeon, he thrust one of his mana tentacles forward with a quick jerk, effortlessly pushing through the barrier that had separated his sphere of influence from the dungeon. Behind it, he could see moss-covered tunnels that went further into the depths and were equipped with various traps. However, the deeper he tried to sense the dungeon, the more difficult and blurred his senses seemed to become, until he could only perceive crude things. Could this be due to the increased influence of the dungeon core? The closer I get to it, the more it overlaps my own, since I''m in alien territory...?
"Behind the front cave, where the blood wolves must have lived, it goes deeper into the tunnels, and there the dungeon begins... I can otherwise only feel some falling, and some [blood moss], which probably provides a reddish light.... But then the dungeon itself overpowers my perception, and I can quickly make out only blurry things." He explained to the waiting group, who had already been looking at him waitingly after his first statement.
Whether his statement about being able to see so deeply with his senses was met with confusion or surprise, Avan could not tell now, since the focus of all the participants was on the problem in front of them, and not on his perhaps abnormal or unusual abilities.
Dani scratched her chin thoughtfully, while Patris hugged her from behind, and Jen seemed to look slightly envious, her gaze fixed on the ground.
"I think we should proceed very carefully and first see what we are dealing with... Check out the situation, and if it looks too dangerous, it''s still enough to complete the system quest if we report it to the adventurers guild. This dungeon is definitely the origin of the red wolves. Probably an overpopulation, which has led to an emigration of the dungeon monsters... But if this dungeon really has to do with blood, which we must assume... However, it could also have devastating consequences for the entire continent if we don''t cull the dungeon soon. Bestial vampires spreading their curse among the population, or worse!" Dani revealed, Patris still with his hands around her waist.
Even Linob, as Avan sensed, nodded almost imperceptibly at the statement, reinforcing once again the sense of urgency that this dungeon represented.
"The dungeon itself seems to be of natural origin, probably an inactive dungeon core that slowly awakened over centuries or millennia and initially attracted the natural animals of the forest, resulting in these so-called Vounds. Dungeons are, after all, sites of evolution and development." the ranger finished her explanation, and the group agreed to at least look inside first, and then decide if they wanted to explore deeper or if the danger was too great.
The entrance to the cave system looked no different than what one might imagine a wolf''s den to look like, only significantly larger. The cave inside, with what looked like a normal sized tunnel for a normal sized adult branching off in the back left, also looked quite normal and green moss covered most of the ceiling and floor.
"Seems to be a normal cave... Moss for the wolves to sleep on, and otherwise just some bones from unfortunate dead animals." Avan muttered his observation more to himself. "If they ate humans, it seems they did so on the spot in the forest itself."
The group of young adventurers cautiously and quietly walked further into the tunnel branching off from the cave, and Dani also spotted small almost inconspicuous scratch marks here and there, which definitely confirmed the wolves'' origin.
Less than two minutes later, a red glow appeared in front of them in the tunnel, eerily outshining the torchlight of patri''s torch, and the tunnel passed into another uninhabited cave, but this time overgrown with red glowing blood moss instead of the normal green.
Just as the group had crossed the threshold into the cavern, where the blood moss began to grow as if unnaturally cut off, the dungeon itself greeted them, confirming Avan''s statement once again.
You are entering the dungeon [Xavier''s Blood Monument].
Someone didn''t know beforehand what level a newly appearing dungeon was, and how strong or what monsters were inside, until adventurers report back to the guild how the dungeon was constructed and what was inside.
So the group knew only from the red wolves what level range at least some of the monsters in it were in, even if it wasn''t clear whether the wolves were the lowest enemies in the dungeon or had migrated from further down to the surface and were among the stronger ones.
Therefore, it was important to identify the first monsters and get a sense of the difficulty they were up against.
A short conversation later, they all unanimously decided to go further into the dungeon first and only after the first monsters decided whether they should report it to the guild and call it a day, or whether they could explore the dungeon deeper themselves.
Hopefully a more normal dungeon! Maybe finally like I know it from the games? Avan couldn''t quite suppress the anticipation of exploring and learning something new again.
2.29-My dear diary, my first real dungeon!
Jen was talking in a low tone to Dani, gesturing to the blood moss all around her. "Are you sure the moss isn''t poisonous or otherwise harmful to us?! After all, it seems so scary, like it''s about to open its mouth and swallow us..." And shook at her own narrative, while Avan tuned her out and just grinned briefly.
They had already reached the second chamber, which led at a slight downward angle deeper into the earth realm, and were trying to absorb as many samples of the dungeon''s surroundings as they could. Of course, out of sight or earshot of his group, and especially away from Linob, whose gaze seemed less hostile since the fight in the forest, but still pierced.
Avan still didn''t know what to do with this special dungeon inventory, which he always sensed easily and immediately somewhere in his subconscious. But it didn''t stop him from taking the various materials and samples he found on his journey. While his sphere of influence and senses dulled further and further into the deeper part of the dungeon, he was still able to act normally behind him, experimenting with pulling blood moss out of his dungeon inventory or making entirely new ones with his ambient mana, which he then stashed away as well. Surprisingly, the blood moss was simply infused with blood, and even the glowing properties were not magical in nature, but an apparent chemical reaction with fluorescent bacteria that lived on the moss. This was the only way he had been able to mine the moss at all and add it to his dungeon inventory.
A hand on his shoulder jerked him out of his attempts in the last room, and as he turned his head slightly, he saw a friendly grinning Patris just resting one of his leather gloves on his shoulder.
"Say, while we''re here already so comfortably entering a completely completely harmless dungeon, where probably no one had been before and the monsters certainly have nothing to do with creepy blood.... And the two girls also talk about their things, I wanted to get to know you better!"
Avan couldn''t help a short suppressed laugh and the young warrior''s smile got a little wider. "Hah, I knew it. Not at all as emotionless as you want to make it seem! See right through it!" And patted Avan once, then a second time firmly but playfully on the same shoulder as they followed side by side the two women deeper into the dungeon.
"So, how do you get to Tria? You said something about Haipu and that you passed it briefly? What''s the situation over in the capital? Both my parents and both my little brothers and sisters live over there and our family runs a small grocery store. Any news from the infested city?" He asked him, still grinning, and Avan was sure he didn''t really despise the city, but probably didn''t completely like it either.
"Um, not much... Oh, yes!" He stopped for a moment, then continued walking while looking thoughtfully at Patris and chewing on his lower lip. "You surely know that black ominous tower, by the kolloseum the."
"Ah yes, everyone around Haipu knows our dungeon! The pride of our city, but so full and crowded with adventurers that Dani and I wanted to look around out here, and so in Haipu we ran into Jen and Linob. And in Tria, ran into you, haha."
"Hmmm, well, the point is that I didn''t even stay an hour because apparently something had happened to that dungeon tower."
No sooner had Avan reported this than he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he felt a dangerous glare from Linob at his back, while even Patris briefly tripped over his own feet and stared at him in bewilderment as he mechanically walked on. "How - what, how do you mean? W-what happened?!" And the grip on Avan''s shoulder grew pleadingly stronger.
"From what I''ve heard from the guards, some underground organization in Haipu did something to the dungeon core, and the entire tower is.... Imploded." Before Patris could force anything out of his shocked mouth, which was opening and closing, Avan quickly followed up with something. "But it didn''t really hit the merchant district! The debris spread mostly toward the eastern city wall, some even a little beyond."
One could sense Linob''s incredulity, and a certain fear for his loved ones, friends or relatives, while Patris didn''t know what to say to that, and had finally stopped to stare at him.
A short time later, everyone was standing around Avan, and he turned a little inwardly at the attention to get more information from him about the city and its condition.
Avan himself, as often, stuck to half-truths, trying to recount the talk of the guards at the gate, and what he had seen on the outside near the city wall itself, without revealing that he had been more than just in the vicinity of the dungeon implosion.
"But, w-how?" Jen whispered, giving her guard an incredulous look that also seemed as if he couldn''t quite believe it, while a trace of hatred and deepest anger danced in his eyes as Avan came to the conclusion of the Blight''s Hand and its suspected involvement.
His three teammates asked him all sorts of questions, and Avan tried to answer them as best he could without raising more questions.
Distracted as he was, he didn''t realize until relatively late that his slightly blurred senses were transmitting to him seven winged shapes approaching them from a room ahead.
[Ghost Bat - 101]
...
[Ghost Bat - 103]
"Guys! 7 ghost bats are approaching us from the front! Level 101 to 103. Kinda make an impression of shriveled vampire skin, have two fangs, and leathery wings that are so thin you could look through them." Avan abruptly interrupted the others with a raised hand, and the others looked at him in confusion, until they realized that they had found the first dungeon monsters, and they had probably found them as well.
"Okay, blood-sucking bats, typical organs with ultrasound, seeing nothing else. Noise messes them up, and they go berserk, attacking friend and foe when hungry or injured!" Came it from Dani the walking monster lexicon as if shot out of a pistol. "We should split up and make noise from at least two sides as soon as they get near the entrance to this cave here! When the time comes, Patris runs ahead and taunts, while the rest of us first injure their wings so they can''t fly up here in the cave, or if possible, directly kill them with a well-aimed headshot right away!
With this rough plan and short concise sentences later, Avan ran to the right across the wet and slippery blood moss with Jen in tow to stand by to the right of the tunnel entrance while Patris took up position with Dani on the left.
Avan''s senses sharpened as he paid attention primarily to the approaching bats, and he gave a quick signal with a raised fist as three black spheres popped out of nowhere above him and hovered over the tunnel entrance. The bats had already picked them up with their sonar, and four split toward Avan and Jen, while the others headed toward the other two.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Just as the ghost bats emerged from the tunnel, Avan nodded to the tense Patris, and he ran forward, shouting odd curses and insults.
Huh, insults count as taunts? Ahahaha... he shook his head in disbelief at the obscene scene in front of him, as the warrior ran towards the flying monsters, cursing and insulting, and in fact attracted the attention of all 7 of them.
What the abyss? Ahahaha! Is it the skill, or do they just feel the mockery he radiates towards them?
Back to the fight, Avan! You can laugh at him later, hahaha...
The first arrow already flew, effortlessly piercing the wings of two bats, which let out a shrill and ultra high-pitched scream as they fell two meters to the ground, and a kind of red mist indicated that they were now in rage.
Patris, meanwhile, blocked an attempt by another bat to bite his head off, deflecting the creature''s ugly leathery skull and extended fangs to the side, while his sword parried the claws of yet another bat.
Jen cast her incantations again, whispering to herself as a white glow emanated from her and surrounded Patris, giving him various buffs. "In the name of the holy mother, protect, nurture and guard..."
Finally, Avan''s three forms joined the fight in spear form, effortlessly piercing one bat in the head, while a second spear slipped off the skull of one of the two monsters in a frenzy, and the third brought down another bat from flight.
One monster out, four on the ground, two more flying over!
He mentally concentrated his forms on the two still flying monsters, while Dani helped her boyfriend with arrows to avoid being caught by the bloodsuckers.
Avan himself knew that if he had been alone, he would have had no problem annihilating the monsters he had seen so far, including the red wolves. However, since he had a very good impression of his abnormal abilities, he had to try very hard and restrain himself, which resulted in only three of his forms. His attempts on the way to Tria had shown him that he could easily conjure up a little more than 30 spheres, but then it turned into an increasingly severe headache when he overdid it. The former Akkalon''s spheres, in lesser numbers, required almost no concentration to maintain, but became multiplicatively heavier and more taxing on his mind the more he summoned.
And so this time only three of his midnight-black forms whizzed through the air, bringing both still-flying bats down to earth, while he made short work of the wings and the monsters hit the ground with dozens of holes in their wings.
"Avan, here!" Came the cry of Dani, who was forced into close combat, and had no time to draw her dagger as she tried to fend off an enraged bat with her enchanted bow. At her feet lay two more dead ghost bats, and Patris tanked the last three.
At a mental command, his three black spears whizzed through the air, piercing another of the three bats fighting the warrior, and drilling into the spine and back of the monster''s head that had just snapped at Dani.
A quick gesture with his head to Jen and the healer ran over to the ranger to look at the scratch marks and any further injuries, while Avan himself let one of his forms fizzle out and the remaining two wrapped around his hands and forearms like gooey darkness as gauntlets.
Linob watched him with interest as Avan suddenly switched from mage to magical melee, grabbing the head and neck of one of the last two bats with his two gloved hands, which reached just to his shoulder, and with a yank separated the monster''s head from its shoulders with a juicy clap.
The last bat, apparently no longer quite so offended and mocked, turned at the sound, and Avan could have sworn to see something like intelligent fear flashing in its eyes, but this was immediately overcome by rage again, and he had to fend off the two claws snapping at him, which it aimed at his head and belly.
One side of the bat hung uselessly, dragging a hole sideways, while the monster nevertheless flapped both wings, allowing the two limbs with the claws to be aimed at him.
No sooner had he pushed the claws aside than the monster charged again and next drove forward with her throat to rip his throat out.
A sword bored into the monster''s spine from behind, the forgotten warrior taking advantage of the situation, and Avan was able to dodge with a side step, only to form his right hand into claws himself in the next step, and with a single swing cut the monster''s throat without resistance.
A smacking sound rang out as the last bat''s head hit the ground, and everyone gathered around Jen to check the group for wounds or venom.
None of the others found it odd when Avan switched to close combat, seemingly normal for a [battle mage] as his status indicated to others. A respectful nod from Linob also showed confirmation of his assumption, although the lack of questions or curious looks also spoke for themselves.
The group of four paused, and Avan looked at his post-combat reports, which again did not tell him of a level increase for such low-level monsters.
And so it went on for the next few hours, through many caves, against many ghost bats in the same level range, while here and there an alpha variant with level 110 was among them. Traps were only in the form of poisonous looking sharp stones, in which an inattentive adventurer could grab or stumble, and soon the group took a small break to eat and drink something, directly in front of a stone double door, which according to the stories of the others made up a boss room and separated the first level from the others.
As it is probably NORMAL in dungeons. Akkalon!
The boss of each level normally represented an extremely strong variant of the level monsters, which could end in a king bat for example, or a similar boss variant, only here with the theme of blood.
With another push and shove of his sphere of influence, which was now much more difficult, Avan could also look behind it into the boss room, and saw between hanging stalagtites and stalagmites on the ceiling of the thirty meter large cave a huge blood-red bat hanging upside down.
[Emperor Bat - 135]
He shared his discovery with the others, and no one knew exactly what this boss had in the way of special abilities, so they rested further and then soon stood before the stone double doors to the boss room, ready to complete the first level of the dungeon.
2.30-(Un)spectacular fight
The large double stone doors swung open inward at the first touch into the room beyond, and before Avan could take a step forward, a hand held him back from the left.
"The doors close behind us a few seconds after the first person enters the room. Adventurers take the chance to look into the room from a safe distance before entering." Came the quiet explanation from Patris, who didn''t look at him at all and instead observed the boss room behind it himself.
The cave saw natural origins, even if the thirty meter diameter in average this cave was one of the larger ones, not to mention caves that Avan himself knew from documentary films from the earth. It always left him speechless, as a city dweller to see such natural rock formations and places.
Stalagmites ranged in height from a few centimeters to almost 5 meters, while stalagtites of similar size hung from the ceiling. Hanging from the largest and thickest of these rock formations hanging from the ceiling was the ugliest bat the group had probably ever seen, certainly Avan.
The boss monster made an impression of a cross between a naked mole rat, a naked cat and an oversized bat, all coupled with wrinkled and leathery skin, as if the beast was in its last years. The beast hung upside down, just as Avan had seen it before in his sphere of influence, and the two clawed grips held the whole monster still and without problem thanks to some notches in the giant stalagtite.
"What an ugly monster.... I wonder if its parents abandoned it here and that''s why it''s locked up in the boss room?" Dani quipped as she stared at the creature in disgust and with a grimace to match.
Even Linob, the usually extremely quiet type, grunted in agreement when he heard the young ranger''s statement.
"That thing has more skin wrinkles than my grandparents, and that''s saying something!" Patris added to the joke, and even Jen chuckled as Avan looked at his comrades with a slight smirk.
"Um, yeah. Ugly, tall. Let me ask you a question, because I just thought of something..." Avan said hesitantly, and the others, still with sly grins on their faces, turned to their mage.
I really forgot...
"Can you attack boss monsters from outside the doors, rather the room?"
Now Dani became serious again and nibbled her upper lip for a moment while unconsciously stroking her chin. "Yeeee... And nope. Any spells or projectiles coming from outside bounce off the magic barrier placed by the dungeon that surrounds the door frame..." She began her explanation, then stopped as she eyed Avan emotionlessly and thought of something. "...But that doesn''t apply to you, I forgot. Huh..."
A few seconds and probably some ideas and considerations discarded again, she continued. "I heard stories about it once, and I think I read something about it. Some dungeons have created failsafe measures for such intruders. For example, the monster itself instantly regenerates any wounds, the dungeon mana itself puts so much pressure on the spell that it ceases to exist.... Or the boss monster is allowed to leave the boss room... Whereby the latter would be the worst."
Avan whistled loudly, not even thinking of such possibilities, although it was so obvious that dungeons would have to develop measures against it after some time, sooner or later.
"But if I had a way to inflict massive damage on the boss, from here, in the shortest possible time. Would it be worth trying, at best, to be able to skip the boss fight?" And most importantly, I can look at how strong I''ve become in the meantime... And further down, I can''t do that from a safe distance without touching my enemies, so blurred is my sphere of influence in the deeper part of the dungeon.
A certain thoughtful silence fell over each of the small group, but no one questioned Avan''s ability to actually do what he had just indicated.
Every single one of them knew that Avan was a lot more highly leveled than they were, and from what his teammates had seen so far, there was no reason to doubt his claims about his own abilities.
Patris the loose warrior was the first to break the thoughtful silence. "Honestly? I don''t see any problem with that. Even if that ugly thing can attack us here, I can even tank better since it can''t maneuver as much as it can in the big room. And even if it can attack us from a distance, we can retreat. But if it really dies just like that, we can save our reserves and move forward fresher for the coming battles."
Linob briefly looked slightly surprised at the young warrior, as if he had to reconsider his previous prejudices about the otherwise always jolly man, while all the others more or less immediately agreed one after the other and could find nothing wrong with the logic.
"Then we should test that, yes. Let us know when you get going, Avan. Patris, up front, line up. Jen next to the door so the boss can''t attack you." And Dani herself drew her bow from her shoulder without comment and nocked an arrow, but without cocking the bow.
Avan nodded in her direction, closing his eyes so as not to occupy his other senses as he gathered a massive amount of his dungeon mana and piled it in the boss room in front of him in an increasingly visible blue cloud.
What the abyss is he doing? And HOW? Was all Jen''s thoughts could manage at that moment, as she first anxiously felt mana being drained from her surroundings, and then visibly gathering in an ever-growing blue mana cloud in the boss room before her eyes.
To drain the mana of the environment to such an extent that it even greatly reduces my own mana regeneration due to the much thinner mana in the atmosphere is just ridiculous! And to then manage such a high mana accumulation in a single location is like icing on the cake! I have only seen a SINGLE time how the otherwise completely invisible mana took a physical form, outside of the spellcasting. And that was when Father''s court wizard got so angry about something that even his face turned red! What the bloody hell is Avan doing...? And how...?
The blue cloud continued to grow and by now had reached a diameter of three meters, while it billowed and hung in the air behind the double door like a piece of fog, ready to fray again at any moment.
Dani, Patris and Linob also watched with wide eyes at such a spectacle of magical might.
Suddenly, Jen squinted her eyes slightly and rubbed her eyelids, not sure if she was seeing correctly. At the top of the cloud, a small strand of misty mana first fizzled, but then became much more visible and powerful as it drifted, first slowly and then faster and faster, toward the boss bat.
Avan himself abruptly opened his eyes again, a slight twitch of the corners of his mouth telling Jen that he was satisfied with his work and wanted to see it for himself.
The cloud of shimmering blue mana now drifted up to the monster in a whole, and soon enveloped the bat''s head, but without touching it or warning of the impending magical attack in any way.
The only indication that the attack was about to begin was the jerky clenched fist on Avan''s right hand, which Jen saw out of the corner of her eyes before the entire mana cloud wrapped itself around the boss''s head at the same time.
Contrary to the group''s expectation of suffocating the monster with it, the next moment it was also nullified, and none of the spectators knew exactly what Avan was trying to do.
The blue cloud did not sit around the head, but penetrated INTO the head!
For fuck''s sake?! If one of her parents or teachers had heard her swearing like that inside, Jen would have had to listen to a lot, but this way she could swear with all her might, and a muttered "Fuuuuuck...!" followed only a few seconds later, when all visible mana had disappeared, and the boss bat simply fell to the ground, lifeless.
[Emperor Bat- 135] defeated!
Extra experience granted for killing a much higher creature.
Boss monster of the level defeated - Extra experience granted.
[Emperor Bat- 135] defeated!
For defeating the boss with a single blow - you will receive extra experience!
And again no level up, yay... Avan was about to complain when another message came in with a mental chime.
Congratulations!
You have unlocked your first title:
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[Reign of Might]
Boss monsters or other powerful creatures are no challenge for you. You live to challenge yourself.
+100% damage for each first attack you deal to a superior or unique opponent in a fight.
Ohhh yeah! Avan reflexively avoided the feeling of having to jump for joy, so liberating it felt to finally unlock something new through the system again, and somehow he had missed the personal comments in the system messages, even if he didn''t know where they actually came from.
I should try something like this more often if it gives me cheat skills like this! A fucking title, baaam!
Distracted by his inner joy and the achievement of killing a dungeon boss with a single blow, he didn''t notice the open mouths of his teammates, who were staring at him speechlessly.
He had applied what he had learned before he became a slave, and directed his mana directly into the opponent''s head. Akkalon''s touch could heal or cause internal damage, and he had completely forgotten about this cheat skill in all that had happened. When the opportunity arose and he wondered if he could damage the ugly bat from outside the boss room, it had dawned on him again.
The fact that everyone could see the mana visually had not mattered to him in his test attempt and he just hoped that it was still within the realm of possibility and simply found as "Avan pulls his thing through again".
The first to completely catch himself and give a shit was of course Patris once again, who ran into the room with a loud laugh and an extremely wide grin on his face, completely ignoring the panicked cry of Dani, who immediately followed him.
Jen opened her mouth several times like a stranded fish out of water, not knowing what to say. A brief but otherwise neutral nod from Avan, and he too went into the room after the other two, having long since realized what Patris was heading for.
A boss loot chest! Hah, just like in the games! Awesome! He rubbed his inner greedy loot hands, and hurried not to miss opening the chest.
A wooden chest had appeared at the other end of the cave, and all three running adventures ignored the dead boss''s body for now, maneuvering around it until they came to a stop in front of the chest.
"Patris, you ass! Don''t scare me like that..." Dani muttered, but then looked at the chest with equal anticipation. "But under the circumstances, I forgive you, honey..."
The chest seemed relatively inconspicuous, were it not for the bronze decorations of flying bats attached to the wood all around, and small glowing blue runes that testified to the magical nature of this otherwise innocuous-looking chest.
Avan sat down in front of the still-closed chest and took a closer look at the decorations and runes. There was no lock, and only a small bronze handle on the front of the chest to open it.
"Hmm... interesting runes..." He spoke quietly to himself as he tried to understand the runes, but almost all of them eluded his current understanding. They were all stored in his internal rune lexicon, but he couldn''t do anything with them with the best will in the world with his current level of knowledge.
A sigh and a minute later he stood up again and knocked the non-existent dust off his robe. The robe, unlike his previous leather clothes, didn''t need dust knocking off, as nothing stuck to it unless Avan wanted it to.
He turned his head and saw that Jen, and Linob a few meters away, had also joined them. Jen herself still had an almost reverent look when she looked at him, coupled with the amorous glint that was still in her eyes, while the other two were just waiting joyfully to finally open the chest.
"After you, oh murderer of bosses and dungeons!" Teased Patris with a wink, then waved impatiently at the chest. "Go, go now! Chests are very rare, and we all want to see what the kill got us here!"
Avan chuckled slightly, and then put his hands on the bronze handle at the front of the chest, and opened the heavy-looking chest effortlessly. Nothing squeaked, and the one meter wide loot chest swung upward, revealing the contents.
Everyone looked next to Avan and over his shoulders into the chest as well.
Something round bronze and covered with runes greeted the group first, and an enchanted shield lay on top in the chest.
"Ya man! Anybody mind?!" Came the euphoric question from their tank, and when no one objected, Patris reached into the chest and heaved out the heavy-looking shield.
[Bronze shield of size]
*Shield size can be doubled or halved at will
*Extra resistant
*Self-repair
"Congratulations! Now you can replace that dented thing." Avan congratulated the warrior of their party, who held his new treasure in his arms with great joy and ran his hands over the surface with glittering eyes, all others already blanked out.
"There''s more inside." Spied Jen, who leaned on his back and peered over his right shoulder, completely forgetting any shyness in loot fever.
Avan reached into the chest again and fished out the next item, which turned out to be a pair of silk white gloves.
[Silk Gloves of the Holy Mother]
*Increases any healing done by the hands by 20%.
*Self-repair
"Oh, Jen! I guess these are for you, healer gloves!" And Avan handed both gloves to the now yet blushing Jen behind him, who finally realized how she had been so close to him.
A mumbled "thank you" and she fiddled with the gloves, while a chuckle sounded from Dani, who looked back into the chest and pulled out what seemed to be the last item.
A red piece of cloth, which turned out to be a cloak with a bronze buckle at the throat to fasten it, unfolded in her hands.
[Blood Red Cloak of Xavier]
*Doubles the might of any blood abilities
*Halves any effect time of blood abilities
*Provides moderate stealth in the night
*Self-repair
Dani looked at the coat, letting the fabric slip through her fingers as she made a pouting impression. She sighed once, then reached her hand over to Avan. "This one''s for you, Avan. After all, you killed the boss all by yourself, and it wouldn''t be fair if you were the only one to go away empty-handed."
"But, don''t you want it? Are you sure?"
"Yes, I''m sure. The others would turn my head if you went out empty. And I don''t need it either, but as an adventurer you''re just loot hungry, you know? Part of the job description and all, haha."Laughing sheepishly, Avan grabbed the blood red, almost black, cape.
"Thanks, Dani." And gave her a smile. He himself didn''t really have a problem with giving her the cape, but didn''t say no when she offered it to him like that. I am after all pretty loot hungry myself!
A short swing and jerk unfolded the cloak completely, and a short time later the cloak hung around his shoulders, fastened in front with the bronze buckle in the shape of a drop of blood.
Not very surprisingly, especially as the chest had manifested itself, the now empty reward chest disappeared and dissolved into mana.
Through all the looting itself, the spectacular unspectacular kill of the boss was forgotten, and the group sat down on the spot on the ground, while the further steps clarified with a small happen food and drink.
Avan agreed that he had no need for parts of the dead boss, and Dani set to work extracting the most important and valuable parts of the imperial bat.
At the right rear part of the boss cave itself, after the death of the monster, a roughly hewn stone staircase had opened down to the second level of the dungeon.
After some preparations and everyone with a full stomach and happy about the individual loot, Avan told the others that the next level would now contain the wolves, and his senses would dull more and more the deeper they descended.
General approval and a "thank you" here and there for the extremely important information so far thanks to his senses, and the group set off to explore the other floors.
With a natural dungeon like this one, they didn''t have to worry about monsters respawning on the way back, because the dungeon wouldn''t summon new monsters until no one was inside it anymore.
2.31-Background and more runes
The group sat comfortably and relaxed around a small campfire, over which wolf meat was roasting on several skewers. Linob, as always a little apart, was tending to his sword, sharpening and oiling it, while he kept casting attentive glances in the direction of the entrance to the cave and the stairs leading down.
"Patris, I think your meat is burning right now." Jen chuckled, and Dani paused briefly in one of her tales of a slime dungeon with various properties.
The warrior being addressed, who was twirling his new shield in his hands as if it were his precious child, suddenly jumped up and quickly grabbed the roasting meat, cursing, to save what could be saved.
"DANI! Couldn''t you have paid attention?" He grumbled in an acted indignant tone and threw his girlfriend a pout while he cut away the burnt parts with a sharp knife only to immediately bite into the rest like a barbarian.
Judging by the ranger''s sigh, she was at a loss for words about her companion''s pranks and shenanigans and just shook her head, more annoyed at being interrupted than at his childish antics.
"Well, anyway... Where was I?" She tried to pick up the thread of conversation again. "Ah, right. Those green slimes were particularly nasty, and I swear the dungeon had a perverted streak! The acid contained in the green slimes ate through everything organic, EXCEPT skin and hair! And before we knew it, we were standing in the remains of the slimes we had just killed, and our own clothes that had melted away into puddles on the floor! Naked, with 3 men and two women. And I swear to you, we could hear a low laugh as we all turned away from each other in shame and cursed!..."
The corners of Avan''s own mouth twitched slightly upward for a brief moment as he nibbled on his own skewer and mentally tuned out the others'' conversations.
They had used the break to rest and eat, and he also suspected that it would probably be night-time outside now, but was unsure due to the lack of sunlight. His own sphere of influence had become more and more contaminated, and it reached just 100 meters upwards, while it did not reach 15 meters down into the dungeon, so much did the dungeon influence overlap his own in the meantime, the deeper the group came.
The communal campfire and shared meal of dead red wolves had encouraged the group to talk more about themselves, while Avan spun some half-truths into his past, which again seemed to be enough.
Jen, on the other hand, had kept casting sidelong glances at Linob, her guard, as she told the group where she had come from and what she had done before, almost as if she had to get approval for what she was allowed to say. This peculiarity was noticed by everyone, but only left Avan with the feeling that there was more to her story than she was admitting. Similar to himself, peppered with half-truths to appear as authentic as possible.
Jen said she was the daughter of rich merchants, but had always been less interested in learning the other women''s arts, such as sewing, embroidery, dancing, manners, and so on. Instead, much to her mother''s chagrin, while her father had simply found it amusing, she wanted to learn to ride and fight. Everyday home magic or magic only for defence had not been enough for her, and so in the end she had at least been able to convince her family to learn the art of healing magic from a priest teacher of the holy mother.
Healing of this kind, in contrast to the druids who used nature magic, for example, she explained, was based on the belief in a corresponding deity who had dedicated himself to healing.
A god of war, or of thieves, could not provide healing, no matter how much he was worshipped.
And when she was finally old enough, and before her family thought of silly ideas like getting married, she had begged and pleaded to wander the kingdom of Haipu as an adventurer for some time.
At first her family had vehemently refused and she had even been grounded for it, but some incident with a rival merchant family had finally changed her mother''s mind, and Jen had been assigned the elite guard Linob. Under the condition of always being near her guard and staying only in the kingdom of Haipu, she was finally allowed out of the city with many protective magic rings and necklaces.
Meanwhile, the lives of Dani and Patris were relatively normal. The young warrior''s family owned a store in the capital, and when his family tried to persuade him, yet again, to finally take over part of the store as the oldest of the siblings, he had stormed out of the house and signed up as an adventurer.
At the time, however, there were not many newcomers, and so he had first fought alone in the dungeon tower of Haipu, which proved to be very difficult as a tank without much damage.
In one of these tricky situations, Dani, who had also been registered as a new adventurer just two days before him, had helped him, and so the two had found each other and found common ground around the campfire.
The three of them had then, upon Jen''s registration a few weeks later, found each other in the guild, and had undertaken some missions such as killing rats in cellars, until they longed for more in the surrounding countryside and had gone off.
And so, at some point, the three of them had found Aven in Tria, and were now sitting together at the end of the second level of the naturally grown dungeon, while they all ate red wolf meat from the dead alpha behind them in the room.
Apparently, the pack of the other alpha, which they had encountered outside, had found no place here, since only one alpha could be the floor boss, and thus cast out the other alpha along with the pack.
And while the other three attended to their equipment, telling stories of their adventures and laughing, Avan listened with only one ear, thinking about runes and their nature while nibbling on his own roast meat.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.He had not yet had time to try out other ideas for creating new rune formations, except for the flame ray, which he had been able to use outstandingly well here with the wolves.
A glance at his other active spells, however, following an intuition, left Avan with even more questions than answers.
His "Akkalon" spells, which occupied three of his active spell slots, did not appear to have any rune structures, at least not as far as Avan could tell. His new skill [Origin of Runes] was supposed to show him everything, but seeing these spells completely without anything made him wonder.
According to Jen''s and the others'' explanations, every spell was actually built up by such formations, even if no one had yet recognized the runes themselves with the clarity that Avan could.
So how his main ability could have no visible runes left him speechless, and he tried to find an answer to this riddle, but so far he just couldn''t think of it.
Maybe because it were... Dungeon spells? Mana formed with will? But that would mean that runes are only a cornerstone, a kind of crutch to direct mana and give it a fixed shape and goals.
My Akkalon''s forms are already developed after my debacle with the god of death, which suggests that I myself can develop these dungeon skills and reshape them according to my ideas. As with the runes also...
Can I use my mana so simply... to impose a new will to do something else?
With a thoughtful chewing on both his lips, and a pensive grimace that came mainly from moving his mouth from left to right and back again, engrossed in thought, he tried to impose a new will on part of his dungeon mana in an invisible and not so highly concentrated form.
Small threads of mana coalesced over the campfire, and Avan tried to let these bundled threads flow into the fire and amplify the flames.
All the mana did, however, was fly into the flames and deeper, through the charcoal and logs, into the ground.
He could still feel his mana, despite his weakened aura, but it didn''t seem so easy to do what he wanted.
Not at all disturbed or upset by the first failed attempt, he sat there, took another bite of the last of the roast meat, and drank a sip of the steaming tea that this time Dani had prepared with her forest herbs.
In a few minutes, and with different angles, attempts and approaches, Avan went through more possibilities, but always came to the same conclusion; he could not simply give mana a new destination without using runes.
What he could do, however, was turn his mana into celestial mana and solidify it into his forms, or access his dungeon inventory or celestial storage, which also seemed to work without any runes.
His golden-silver mana simply flowed into one place and formed the familiar sphere of pure celestial mana, while the same phenomenon occurred when he crafted familiar materials he had collected and absorbed on his journey so far.
His mana, once it affected dungeon skills, simply flowed into the construct, creating it.
With a sigh, and certainly twenty minutes later, he looked at his comrades and glanced over with amusement at the snoring warrior who was drooling on the ranger''s shoulders, much to her chagrin, even though she didn''t seem to want to wake him up.
Jen herself continued to whisper with Dani and was chuckling when Avan looked over at them, earning a friendly nod with a smile from the young Ranger when she sensed his gaze and looked over at him for just a moment.
Okay, I guess I didn''t miss much. Back to the more important topic...
He looked at the image of the fire ray forming in his mind''s eye with the massive runes and sheer number as he tried to figure out what he could do about it with only the heat and repel rune in his repertoire.
Do I know any other runes? I still have the runes carved in wood in the inventory, but do not know what they do....
Curious to see if he could get more out of the completely unfamiliar runes he''d been carrying around for what felt like ages, he reached into his Wyrm backpack and summoned the pile of 8 stones, each carved with a rune.
Leaving the backpack to his left again, he looked at the small runes in front of him, which a normal person could actually only recognize as such when looking very closely. Each of the stones was about the size of his thumb and he held 8 of them in his open palm in front of him while he stared at them.
"...Does he meditate on stones?" He heard the giggles and whispers from Jen as the two women looked over and tried to figure out exactly what he was doing with the stones in his hand and his eyes closed.
In Avan''s mind, unlike his first attempt with the spark constellation, the runes slowly appeared and took shape.
The runes for repulsion and heat were now stored as if in a dictionary, while these 8 new runes just hung bizarrely in the void of his mind and had no designation until he figured out what they did.
Avan curiously pulled the first of the runes closer to him and the others briefly to the side in the background, while he simply let mana flow into the rune again according to his first intuition. The small beam of imaginary mana flowed into it, leaving behind a blue glowing construct, but that was all; it glowed blue.
He sighed again, and turned the rune around to look at the three-dimensional thing more closely, and perhaps find out if he had to infuse mana elsewhere, but found nothing.
The other 7 runes showed exactly the same reaction, and just glowed in this beautiful blue pulsating supernatural light.
What am I doing wrong? The heat rune was glowing orange and red.... What am I missing? He thought about it and put the 8 rune stones back in his backpack to put them back in his Celestial storage.
2.32-Why the bloody hell do they sparkle?!
What the heck is wrong with it? The runes behave very differently than the heat version, but why? Hmm... mhmmm...
He kept the other 8 runes by his side, and conjured the fire ray construct in his mental sandbox one more time.
The mana flows into it, the rune activates... And then it glows red. As it should be. But why?!
He scratched his chin and tilted his head back slightly to look at the rough stone of the cave ceiling. The ceiling was the only thing on the second level of the dungeon that was rough, while the walls and floors looked polished, even though they were also made of natural stone.
When the group first found such unnaturally smoothly polished rooms, they first thought they had stumbled into a secret lair of a criminal gang or the like, but had quickly changed their minds upon encountering the first red wolves.
The boss room, in which the adventurer team now camped, still had similarities to a naturally occurring stone cave, but at the same time seemed so unnatural, as if someone had manually ground away all the grooves and protruding stones.
Avan focused again on his current problem, while he considered the uneven ceiling and wandered along it with his eyes.
Small stalagtites and grooves ran through the rock, and here and there a few cracks could be seen in the descending rock formations, as if the stalagtites would fall down sometime during the next quake or something similar.
A small crack above Avan caught his attention for some reason, and it almost looked like a splitting lightning bolt that forked and zigzagged further.
Hmm... What am I missing?
Just as he was about to avert his gaze, it clicked and he noticed it like a perfectly fitting puzzle piece.
Of course! I''m an idiot, the obvious again not considered. Simply fail... With an embarrassed shake of his head, he turned his gaze back inward.
Only with an exit for the rune does anything happen at all... Man, I''m stupid.
He placed the rune he knew behind one of the others he happened to grab and again infused imaginary mana.
The rune glowed blue, and only when Avan placed another mana strand at the other end to draw off the contents, did the color change to a bright white, which also stood out white on the mana strand ending behind it, until not even a second later the construct seemed to fray.
Hmm... ok, the first reaction!
He placed a rune behind the new construct to push off, and watched again as the rune changed from blue to white, and then moved behind it in a pulsing bright white into the next rune, to be shot out with a single whoosh.
Avan was about to give a joyful yelp with his fist extended upward, when he pulled himself together quickly enough and gave another sigh instead.
"Are you okay, Avan? You''re sighing a lot right now." Dani asked him with raised eyebrows, and by now had moved Patris to the floor so he could slobber on his own sleeping mat instead of her shoulder while she slept. Jen was rummaging around in her backpack, a delighted grin on her face as she triumphantly brought out a comb and began to tackle some of her pesky knots in her hair while humming a soft tune to herself.
A quick nod, as he didn''t want to be distracted to continue testing, and Avan had closed his eyes again.
Well, what exactly was shot down? It saw like a shock wave. So... Pressure. Or air. Or gravity? Phew... could be almost anything that might create an invisible pressure wave.
Although he trusted his comrades, he did not want to reveal that he had directly learned more runes and save himself the questions or lies on his part, so he created the rune construct on the level above them, where he could just reach with his sphere of influence.
The construct first glowed blue, and within less than the blink of an eye, created a blast wave that would have at least staggered any adult, or even had enough oomph to knock someone careless over.
Satisfied with his first test result, he immediately conjured another, and this time watched more closely to see exactly what it was that shot out and what it looked like.
It saw like... Pressure, right? Simple force directed outward. So, force? Force rune. I''ll call it that for now... But what was the rune in Akkalon''s dungeon for? Did the entrance have a defense mechanism, or is this some kind of force field?
So if I could create a shield, or a barrier in whatever form, that would be pretty awesome... Maybe there are others of the runes that are there for pure modifications? Like an exception rune or something.
Besides being happy to play around with the runes, Avan didn''t notice the others going to sleep and Linob running around placing wardstones in front of the entrances and exits of the boss room.
Avan tried the other runes, and stumbled across two more that worked, and five others that didn''t work in the same constellation as the others.
One air rune and one mana rune, the former producing a significant wind blast and the latter simply sending mana in an aggressive form of a magic pulse.
The other five runes, however, just wouldn''t work until he switched the position in the construct and put the heat rune in front, and one of the other non-functioning ones behind it. Four of them had no effect at all, except that the heat built up and exploded, of course only in his immanent rune sandbox.
But the other rune, for whatever reason, had exactly the remarkable effect that Avan had wanted before; it created a bubble around the point of origin!
The heat rune, depending on the size and amount of heat pumped into it and of course the size of the bubble rune, created a fiery shield around it. The shield, as Avan tested it on the floor above, hissingly burned the blood moss and other smaller creepy-crawlies effortlessly, but cost a tick more mana for each interaction, depending on the size and durability of the burned object or creature.
The air rune created an almost transparent shield of moving air, which shredded and was probably super against arrows or the like, so could cut things with tiny air blades or deflect them away, while the power rune itself simply created a completely invisible shield all around, but which seemed to let gases and air through, but bounced magical or physical objects off, eating more or less mana each time depending on the force.
And so Avan had discovered his first rough variant of a magic shield and even apparently developed it himself, whereby he was sure that these rune formations, as simple as they were, could certainly be found on many enchantments and items.
He put the other four runes aside for the time being, until he got to know more runes and had more variations and chain links to experiment with.
A glance at his celestial storage showed him that he had another 33 runes carved on small sticks, and with a brief inconspicuous glance around, he pulled the bundle of small sticks out of his backpack and sat down so that Linob could only see his back, all camouflaged to put his limbs in a more comfortable position.
A few minutes of staring later, 33 more runes of varying design and complexity floated around his sandbox and he went through the same tests in quick succession as before.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.With a tingle in his stomach, he was testing rune number 16, and couldn''t help a big internal grin when it turned out to be a suction rune. When he placed a heat rune behind it, he felt more as he saw the temperature in the imaginary room drop slowly at first and then faster and faster, while the heat rune didn''t light up at all at first and then changed from a yellow to a dark red, only to explode from all the pent-up energy.
I can build a magical climate system! Send heat out with mana, suck heat from the environment! Ahahahaha how awesome!
A little inner dance of joy later, and several possibilities immediately floated around in his head, especially concerning the 2678 [Small Purple Mana Crystal] and 313 [Unique Purple Mana Crystal], which he could convert to batteries through enchantments, if he could learn that too.
But since he could only test runes in the sandbox, sooner or later he would have to sacrifice some of the small mana crystals until he figured out a working concept. But all that could wait, because he still had more runes in front of him, which wanted to be tested!
He found one more rune, and it converted blue mana into celestial mana, wondering why he needed it when his sphere of influence itself was processing and converting alien mana under his watch. In the battle in the city of Cyntha, he had observed how various strands of mana from the people around him had migrated to him, only to be processed and purified by him and sent back again. Higher concentrated, and without impurities, which removed unhealthy influences from it.
The rune would perhaps make sense when he himself was not around to purify mana, as on enchantments on items or even buildings. Or maybe... to cleanse that black slimy corruption mass? Huh...
The other 31 runes, however, presented Avan with some other problems, as he could not figure out in which order they belonged and what they did exactly.
With a recurring sigh, he opened his eyes, feeling more than satisfied with his progress, and stretched his legs, bent until just now, toward the glowing remains of the campfire.
"I guess I should go to sleep, too..."
With a quick glance and nod to Linob, who must have been taking over the watch, Avan was about to lie down in his spread-out sleeping roll when he noticed the wardstones for the first time.
What...? What is that? Curious and curious, but already lying in his sleep roll with his eyes closed, he let his feelers of the sphere of influence extend and took a closer look at the small, softly blue shimmering stones.
He felt his way along the fist-sized stone, and noticed the magical nature of the stone, which turned out to be [mana stone]. On the surface of the gem, for that is what the stone appeared to be when the translucent material inside was discovered, were a few interconnected runes.
He recognized two of them immediately, the force and mana runes. The mana rune sent mana from inside the stone, which was full of shimmering and swirling mana, into the force rune, which was connected to another rune with odd strokes on the side.
Only when he had analyzed the other wardstones at both passages, he noticed a difference between the four stones. The two at the exit, in the direction of the stairs to the next level, had only a small line on the last rune, while the two wardstones to the left and right of the entrance had two lines.
That would mean... the stones are somehow - connected with each other? Do the strokes symbolize who they are supposed to connect to, to generate some kind of force field? But I don''t see a rune for a field, or a bubble or something.... Is this maybe just some kind of tripping trap? But that wouldn''t do much good would it?! Except that you can hear when someone touches the strand of force mana, because it bounces off. But what kind of poor defense is that?!
Just as he was about to curse further, he changed his view, and realized that the mana rune together with the force rune formed a billowing connection, instead of a straight tripping trap. This meant that Avan could see the mana strand alternating between the two paired mana stones directly stretched and a loose arc, completely random and without a fixed pattern.
Anyone with any kind of mana vision can see that right away! You just have to wait until the connection on the ground is briefly tense, and then step over it before it changes back into an arc. How retarded is that, please?
Shaking his head and slightly frustrated, Avan set his own sphere of influence back to maximum concentration in the immediate vicinity, so that he would be able to hear even in his sleep if anyone approached the cave or even himself.
On the one hand, somehow pleased to have seen the construction and memorized the rune of the connection, which had actually been one of the unknown runes in his lexicon, but on the other hand, frustrated at how shoddily made these wardstones seemed to be.
With these thoughts, he fell into a light sleep.
He woke up the next morning, when the others started to prepare breakfast and were just making tea, with tired eyes.
Yes, well - it was not so smart to stay awake so long and to play with the runes... But anyway!
After the group had polished off another tea and some of the dried rations, they carefully descended the stairs, which seemed more and more artificial the further they descended.
"Watch out! Whatever is down there has intelligence, can use tools or magic, and seems to have taken up residence here. Or may even be from the dungeon itself." Dani whispered her instructions as she silently motioned the group to stop at the bottom of the last stair step with a raised palm.
Before them, at the foot of the steps, the staircase opened into a two meter high archway into a square stone room, which had a single corridor at the far end, and two wall torch holders to the left and right of it.
A nod and a silent gesture in the direction of the two torch holders from Dani was probably meant to show that she was right and everyone should take it seriously, whatever was waiting for them from now on.
Avan''s sphere of influence had shrunk further, and was no longer five meters in diameter, and just as he noticed the further restriction of his perception, a premonition tingled down his spine.
Whatever he felt, it couldn''t be defined precisely and was far too blurry down here, but warned despite everything that something was wrong.
Just as he was about to open his mouth, as Dani with Patris in front skeptically surveyed the two torch holders, something from the floor illuminated the room in blinding bright red light, and everyone held their arms in front of their eyes as Avan himself took in new unknown blurry presences.
"Enemies!" was all he could exclaim as he put his arm back down and stared, mesmerized and more surprised than frightened, at the human creatures that had just disappeared with a poof, along with his comrades and Linob.
Avan turned his head just enough to stare at an equally confused creature, who in turn stared at him as the teleport magic that had abducted the others seemed to somehow slip away.
Surprised and speechless, he reacted far too slowly as the vampire hastily took a step back and also dissolved into a glowing red cloud of vapor.
It was not the appearance of the creatures themselves, or the fact that they appeared to be vampires, that had left Avan so lost for words, but rather the bright glitter that had stung his eyes when he had perceived them.
"Why the bloody hell are they glittering!" he whispered, still in shock, the image of the glittering and sparkling vampires burned into his eyes.
2.33-Interlude: Galaxies and worlds
I just watched dreamily, for the innumerable time since my creation, how a planet imploded and then in an explosive wave also completely annihilated the surrounding stars and planets in the solar system.
After a short period of time, at least for someone like me, a reverse suction was created and all matter and antimatter in this small solar system was pulled back to the origin of the first explosion with a gigantic big bang.
A small black hole arose, and grew with considerable speed always further, furiously fast and soon already larger than many other planets in the different galaxies.
The black hole sucked everything in and left a yawning void, where thousands of planets and stars had existed before, exactly at the same place where the origin and demise of the solar system had been.
A civilization had overreached itself, as so often with mortals, and played with powers far above its pay grade, costing not only its own planet and multi-billions of lives, but everything around it.
With an arm movement, which in its simplicity could bring about such destruction of entire galaxies as not even the gods of the individual worlds could imagine, I beckoned my spouse towards me.
"Akkalon, darling. A new beginning is ready."
I could have contained the destruction, but saw no need to do so, since the mortal beings had destroyed only their own planet and no other inhabited stars existed around it in the same solar system. Of course, I was the goddess of destruction, but that also meant containing the destruction and keeping it in check. Just as my husband, Akkalon, imposed rules on his creations, I also imposed laws and limits on my destruction.
Said being had done a step, and innumerable dimensions further suddenly stood directly beside me, and looked also in the direction of the now ready grown black hole.
With a gesture which was as old as he himself, he drove himself during the observation with his right hand through his long beard which reached down to his belly button, and one could see him how all the ideas for the creation chased through his mind.
"Oh, a smaller version... I wonder if it''s time again for a water culture with flying islands? What do you think, beloved?" He murmured in his grandfatherly voice, and his reverberations rattled the nearest galaxies around, and the inhabitants of some of the planets clung in panic to the next best thing they found, fearing for their lives.
He and I had gathered here in a separate dimension because the destruction of the galaxy before us was imminent, and we wanted to take care of our work of creation, destruction and reprocessing.
I pushed the mortal screams out of my consciousness and stared myself at the black nothing, which in a perfectly round suction continued to try to suck out the last bit of matter, antimatter and energy around it.
In contrast to some mortal scientists in the most different corners and angles of the worlds such a black hole did not extinguish after millions of years only because it became steadily smaller, or because these thought it would lose energy and therefore shrink.
No, not at all. A black hole, anyway of which size, was always a new beginning. An end of an old era, an old galaxy, an old star system, but also a new beginning.
A black hole shrank only because it further compressed and condensed the material trapped inside it, it pressed energy and matter of any kind to such a dense mass that a whole galaxy later was only as big as one of these human marbles.
And once such a black hole "ceased to exist," as these unsuspecting theories claimed, nothing stopped the matter and energy inside from being something new in a massive big bang.
Theories about gods creating worlds? Sure, Akkalon did that too from time to time, but differently than many thought.
To create something new out of the void took, depending on the size, thousands or millions of years, while such a compromised black hole with a huge explosion directly created new life, and complete systems of the previous size. Also with the help of my husband, but not out of nothing.
I looked at him with my black eyes, which I knew were covered with countless dancing stars in swirling nebulae, while I looked at Akkalon in his own deep eyes, which were the exact opposite of my own.
Golden-silver and with countless black dots, which also whirled around in masses and promised a maelstrom of creative creation.
"How long ago was the last time? Ten thousand years? Why not, yes..." Came back my dark promising answer, and the mortals who had already caught themselves again and with them months had passed since Akkalon''s voice had made waves, trembled as my voice swept through the worlds in a mighty magic wave.
One wave of his index and ring fingers forward, and the black hole shrank instantly, or in hundreds of mortal years, and exploded.
A wave of energy, which I never tired of, so beautiful were the indelible colors that poured out, went out in waves edgewise, vertically, sideways, diagonally and in all directions, and the former small marble of infinitely compressed matter created new worlds, and a new solar system.
The sun shimmered pale yellow, less intense than before, while the previous inhabited planet now appeared almost entirely blue, except for a few volcanoes that created smaller islands as they immediately erupted.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.Inhabitants sprang up, with gills, stone-age tribes formed, and underwater kingdoms were founded. A few settled on the volcanic islands and took on the characteristics of fire, wallowing in the lava and being the exact opposite of the others.
A nod from the man at my side showed his satisfaction with our work, and he grinned at me with his bright eyes before returning to his previous task of a completely new creation.
I myself turned around again, also more than satisfied, to the black swirling pond at my feet.
Various figures of different life forms and peoples were to be seen in a kind of pompous pantheon, and I was just listening when it was again about the newly won interest of a certain individual on this one planet, which had just become the topic of conversation.
"...tell you, stop denying it!" Spoke just a giant with veins of lava, at least for mortal standards, and pointed angrily at a young-looking woman in a black robe, on each of whose shoulders sat two night-black ravens and looked around apathetically with bright yellow eyes.
A sigh came in response, followed by a murmur. "I already told you that I don''t know where he is. After taking a closer look at the little man in the dungeon, I was no wiser than before. Why the creator is so interested in this one mortal, I don''t know. And as you know, god candidates can''t be identified and scrutinized without an immense amount of effort..."
Another figure intervened, less angry, but probably not believing a word of the young black-haired woman herself. "Then why did you give him your unique skill? You know yourself exactly how difficult it will be if he turns out to be a threat to our world! And then you give a completely new god candidate your skill of rebirth?!"
Suddenly there was laughter from the back rows behind some of the other gods whispering to each other, apparently of lower origin, since they had to sit further back than the first gods of the local world, who all occupied the front ranks.
The assembly of gods briefly looked angrily at the troublemaker, only to elicit annoyed exclamations and rolled eyes when they saw the green-haired nondescript man sitting on the rearmost tier, shamelessly placing his feet crossed on the seats in front of him, much to the chagrin of the lesser gods sitting there, who had to dodge sideways.
The fiery and angry god from before was the first to speak. "Of course, who else! God of chaos and order, my ass. You again. Can''t you just stay away, like you always do, and let us adults handle this?"
The green-haired man looked at him with only one raised eyebrow, and you could see a green and white mist swirling in a maelstrom in his eyes, which were now staring at the lava giant in its entirety.
Without warning, the man suddenly collapsed to his knees, and most of the other gods, with only a few exceptions, immediately took their distance. A green aura with white flashes in it pressed down with incredible presence and power on the previous speaker and sweat ran in streams, not at all owing to the own heat of the lava under the skin.
"The children shouldn''t talk to the firstborn like that, worm. That you have to keep trying too.... Tsk!" Came the green-haired man''s slightly annoyed reply, and then turned away in disgust, which brought a relieved sigh of relief from the other man when he was finally able to rise to some extent again but didn''t dare look in that direction or say anything again.
The head of the god of chaos and order, meanwhile, fixed on that of the goddess of death, or god of death, depending on the appearance of the deity, and said nothing for a few seconds.
Then a renewed laughter resounded, as he laughed out loud again, as if transformed, and earned confused looks from the other deities, especially from the younger ones of the pantheon, who had just risen relatively freshly as gods.
"We ALL had to step through one of the Creator''s dungeons to get here! And just because the old man paid a personal visit to the still-mortal, you might make such a fuss? Oh man. Okaaaaay, I''ll take a look at the fellow myself if you''re going to make such a fuss about him." And with a loud laugh that echoed through the white and golden stone walls of the pantheon, the god simply disappeared from one moment to the next.
The other first and oldest gods just shook their heads and some looked contrite and annoyed at the giant with the lava veins, but then turned back to other topics, much to the visible relief of the goddess of death.
With a pop and a finger in the air to fiddle with a few things in the system of the local world, the green-haired god reappeared elsewhere and immediately waved away the hurrying servants and priests who had just wanted to receive him reverently in one of his temples.
"Soooo, where is he...?" He murmured, and disappeared just as quickly as he had just appeared, leaving behind confused and partially weeping crowds of people who had wanted to pay homage to their deity just once in their lives.
2.34-The stronghold hidden underneath
"Why the bloody hell did they just look like they came out of the movie and book series Twilight?!" Was all that Avan said indignantly as he continued to stare as if out of his mind at the point where the last vampire had disappeared.
The fact that the others had been abducted somehow bothered him less than the ridiculous appearance of the creatures, and why the bloody hell they were shining.
"Whether there is a logical explanation for this? Please... Let there be a logical explanation for it!" He continued to plead, just too shocked at how ridiculous the whole thing was.
A few more seconds passed before he regained his composure, shaking his head, and wiped his forehead with his hand as he picked up his spell focus. Avan''s sphere of influence had shrunk further and was now almost only 3 meters wide, which also meant that his floating forms, which had just popped into life twenty times over, could only act within that radius.
Letting out an inevitable and unavoidable sigh, Avan looked around more closely for the first time, since the situation had escalated so quickly before that he had not even come for a precise analysis of the level and the entrance cave.
The cave was medium-sized, perhaps ten meters in diameter, and round. In many places on the floor, the cold-damp walls and the ceiling grew the blood moss that gave off this unnatural red glow and was responsible for the sparse lighting.
Since Avan could no longer rely entirely on his sphere of influence, he needed a source of light. Holding a palm up in front of him, something green and red materialized out of nowhere, directly onto his hand, and soon he was holding a fist-sized clump of blood moss.
Another mental command and the fluorescent bacteria in it multiplied several times until he held an almost unbearable red glowing mass in his hands, which reminded him strongly of the red light districts he had never visited himself but had seen in movies and series.
"Well then, let''s see..." Avan waved the moss once slowly around, while he carefully took one step after the other. The room had two branches, one tunnel directly opposite the stairs he had just come down with his group, and one to the right.
Shrugging his shoulders, and without having to think much about it, he headed straight for the opposite tunnel. He knew that it would be useless to examine both tunnels in detail and to weigh which one he should take, when both were simply tunnels and he could take less time for such nonsensical things when he was worried about the safety of the others.
The tunnel itself was even more sparsely covered with blood moss, and in some places he could swear to discover the green-gray remains of the underside of moss that had been deliberately removed. "I wonder if these vampires can see in the dark? I should not exclude that... If they are also night creatures as it was said in all those fantasy stories, then that would be more than conceivable. So, dark corridors, they know I''m here and something has prevented them from abducting me as well, probably they are also a lot more careful with me... So, ambushes, traps, everything in the dark down here. What a pleasure..." He mumbled down his observation and couldn''t help the sarcasm at the end.
With careful steps, he approached the first cave at the end of the relatively short tunnel, peeking his head around the corner before entering. This room was just like the first cave, even if it seemed a bit smaller. A single other passageway led off to the right, and there was not much else to see except for the remains of harvested blood moss.
So it went on more tunnels, always leading slightly downwards, from tunnel to tunnel, and room to room.
"They definitely harvest this moss. This is now at least the twentieth time I''ve found only the remains of old or freshly removed blood moss.... "Avan squatted on the balls of his feet and looked at the remains in front of him. So far, all the corridors and caves had been remarkably empty and uninhabited. Where he had expected to find vampires or at least monsters of some kind everywhere, he was greeted only by yawning void, except for all the moss.
No traps, no ambushes, and only vast quantities of this growth everywhere. Scratching his forehead lightly, he stood up from his crouch and looked back into the tunnel he had just entered, letting his gaze slide thoughtfully over the next corridor.
"I wonder if they''re waiting for me somewhere. Or do they live in some kind of... underground village or city maybe? Possible, right?"
He chewed on the inside of his left cheek and stretched once, arching his back and loosening his shoulders.
After he was satisfied, he just shrugged his shoulders and continued down the next corridor, a crowd of 20 floating midnight-black spheres floating behind him.
It remained at the three meters of influence so far, and had not decreased further on the level, almost as if that was the minimum to which its radius could be restricted, dungeon or not.
He summoned some fresh nuts he had made from his mana and chewed on them while pondering another discovery.
The dungeon''s mana had greatly reduced his own sphere of influence, but was so dense that Avan''s own mana pool had shrunk from 7600 to a paltry 800. At the same time, however, his mana regeneration had grown so much that it definitely felt like more mana than before, since his mana pool had shrunk so much but he almost immediately and instantly regained any mana he had used.
Where before he could cast and summon as much as he liked and was in the mood, but still sometimes hit the lower limit, now it was not even remotely possible to drop below 90% of his mana, no matter how much or how fast he used it.
With these and other thoughts, he continued to walk along the current tunnel, still careful with his steps and sounds, when he suddenly squeezed into a small alcove on the right and stiffly made himself as thin as possible with his back to the wall.
A few moments later, he heard the sounds of two pairs of boots approaching, and much to his regret and confirmation of his suspicions, without any visible light. Two vampires, talking in low, scurrying, incomprehensible tones that sounded more like a hiss than a language, walked past him.
Avan was about to swallow his mouthful of saliva when he abruptly stopped himself and even held his breath as the two guards dressed in black metal passed him.
The vampire who had passed so close to him that Avan could have touched him or even breathed on him, fortunately looked at his colleague at that very moment and spoke quietly to him. The other guard, however, only had eyes for the tunnel and didn''t look at his colleague, otherwise Avan would have been immediately exposed.
Anyway, what language these two spoke, he could not understand them, but their meaning very well guessed. Either they were after him, or they were normal patrols who were just passing through the tunnel again after a shift change. Why had he held back and disappeared so quickly into oblivion? Avan had instinctively known that these two were not to be trifled with, and as he walked past, his skill had immediately confirmed this to him.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
[Elite Red Guard - 251]
[Elite Red Guard - 250]
Both of them were even stronger than Linob, for whom Avan had some respect, even if he was sure that he would be the winner in a one-on-one fight. With two of these guards, who were also higher level? No chance, even if he would go all-out, that much he just knew on an instinctual level.
The two whispering guards soon disappeared around the next bend, and Avan released the held breath and swallowed audibly once, careful not to make any more unnecessary noises because he wasn''t sure how supernaturally good their hearing would be.
If he had known beforehand of the coming of the two vampires, and had placed effective traps, and had also perhaps found out their weak points beforehand, the possibility of defeating both would have been quite present, if the surprise had been on his side. But as it was, with an encounter without warning, Avan knew that evasion had been his best option.
He ran his slightly trembling hands over his face and hair, and took a few deep breaths in and out, still careful to remain quiet.
Not being able to change anything about the situation, he continued down the corridor even more carefully and quietly, and a short time later he was standing at the exit of this tunnel, blinking a few times as he stared at the underground valley ahead of him.
He was a good ten meters above the ground in one of many tunnel openings, which made his side of the gigantic cavern look like swiss cheese. Everywhere, similar tunnels led into the rock at different heights, and Avan himself stood in one of these many tunnels and could only gaze in amazement at the picture opening up before him.
The valley, which actually seemed to be a massive underground cavern with its own small ecosystem, was several kilometers in diameter and blue mana crystals adorned the ceiling in various sizes, while a soft blue mist emanated from them and evaporated a few meters later, but therefore bathed the whole cavern in day-bright blue light.
Directly at his feet, a ladder carved into the stone led down to the floor, and all of these caves were connected by the same notches, almost as if this side of the cave were not only a swiss cheese, but also a giant climbing wall. At the bottom, a path of trampled earth and a kind of gray gravel led to a kind of fort at the other end of the cavern, which was built right into the cavern wall.
The fortress had a large square outer wall and, in addition to the huge double gate at the front, two small watchtowers to the left and right of it, and one each at the corners where the wall bent a ninety-degree angle to the back. The wall then led on both sides to the opposite cave wall and closed seamlessly with this. The whole fort was easily several hundred meters wide from the front, and had an equally large inner courtyard, which ended in a kind of square keep, which also led into the back wall.
The dirt and gravel path led from Avan''s side directly to the fort''s entrance, while around it was a green meadow, scattered deciduous trees and a few mounds of stone and earth. Between the trees and in the meadow itself grazed some oddly bred sheep and cows, both of which had characteristics of other animals that Avan had never seen before.
The sheep had different patterns in their wool, and in addition to black, brown, and white, there was actually also the predominant red wool color here in the dungeon, which caused a frown on Avan''s forehead.
The cows looked at first glance like your normal cows from Earth, but had small stubby wings on their backs and a single horn on their foreheads, much like the white horned hares from which Horn also descended.
To the left of Avan went a ditch, where a few meters high steep scree wall offered the optimal visual protection for him to the fort, and led two-thirds of the way along the left side.
On the right side, however, the meadow and trees merged into a medium sized lake fed by a large waterfall with water flowing down from the ceiling directly above.
Even this lake and the water itself were not normal, and Avan had to look closely to figure out exactly what was going on. The water was not only reflective, not only unnaturally blue and clear, but shiny and sparkling. Almost exactly like some vampires Avan had seen.
"Like THAT''s the fucking answer now?" He whispered to himself as he grabbed the back of his neck and looked blankly at it.
"The vampires drink and bathe in it, and their skin takes this... glitter? Is it really that stupid and simple? Huh..." It continued to come out of him stunned, and he almost didn''t notice in his own stupidity how something to his right in one of the other tunnels moved and glittered momentarily.
With an abrupt step back into the shadows, he pressed himself against the inner wall and held very still. He waited a few seconds until he dared to move his head very carefully so that he could only peek around the corner with his eyes and look across to the other hole a few meters to his right on the cavern wall.
The two elite vampire guards stood there talking to each other, while one gestured with his hands and tried to communicate something to his companion, who just shook his head and visibly sighed. He turned around, and at that very moment, Avan jerked back quickly and pressed himself silently against the wall again. His heartbeat was unnaturally fast and he hoped that the guard had not seen him!
With a racing heart and adrenaline in his blood, he remained so still and tried to push his sphere of influence to the highest level so that he would be warned in good time when the two crossed over. Avan was ready to run at the slightest sign and come back later, while he waited and minutes passed.
Another minute passed, and Avan let out his breath shakily as he thought for the second time in quick succession that he was about to be caught.
Very, very slowly and with extreme caution, he peeked around the corner again, and let out his held breath when he couldn''t spot the two of them anywhere in sight.
"Fuuuuuck... That was close! Avan you fucking stupid idiot..." He cursed silently, but quickly recollected himself and suppressed such useless emotions again, while his thoughts continued to race.
He had seen in the distance, in the courtyard of the fortress, some shapes scurrying around, some tents and buildings, wooden constructions and also something that looked like cages, if you took away the cages all over the top of the battlements, in which currently only rotten or already skeletonized remains were lingering.
His best bet was to take the trench around to the left and get as close as possible to the fort first, even though the short stretch at the end of the gorge running along the wall still had a few hundred meters of nearly open space before arriving at the fort.
Once again letting his gaze wander to make sure that no one else was around or watching him, he lowered himself backwards and crept sideways along the cave wall, down into the twenty meter deep gorge.
2.35-Descendants of Xavier
''Argh!'' Avan cursed inwardly, just grateful to be able to use at least his Akkalons form as claws to climb down this loose scree slope without breaking all the bones in his body.
The descent into the left-hand gorge was anything but planned, and even with the clawed gloves and shoes he had made for himself, he kept slipping as loose stones came tumbling off the wall. His sphere of influence itself showed him which stones were supposed to hold, but even that was more a lucky guess than proven science.
So Avan hung halfway down the gorge and had covered a little more than ten meters when he wondered if he could just dare to jump down. With protection in the form of his forms, of course, but he was just tired of the slow climb.
''Would it even work?'' He thought as he looked down the remaining ten meters. The floor of the gorge was not flat and had many bumps, where you could quickly break something if you landed awkwardly after a jump. Could my balls float me down? They float as it is... Why have I never tried this before? Huh.''
He dared, hanging on the steep wall, to loosen one foot and command the boot encased in his mana to float, as did the other 18 balls above his head.
Immediately he noticed how his foot became lighter, even if it gave slightly when he shifted his weight on it, but it would inevitably cushion his fall or even help him slide down. His mana pool going down felt a jolt as he shifted his weight more onto that one boot, and it directly cost a lot more mana than if the ball would just float out on its own.
''Probably normal to assume that the magic needs more energy when it suddenly has to lift more, like an engine. Logical.''
Very carefully, and anchored much more firmly to his hands in the stones, he also released the second shoe from the wall and gave the mental command to float. The mana regeneration dropped again a bit more, but with the immense regeneration he had here in the dungeon, it didn''t even seem to matter 1%.
He bent his legs slightly, while the stones on his hands cracked threateningly, to see once again how fast he would float down with the two shoes. Much to his satisfaction, the two shoes alone slowed his presumed fall speed by 20%, if he had to express it in numbers. ''That should work... But later I''ll fall down headfirst... I should use more of my forms.''
''What about my robe?! There''s a total of 5 of my forms in there by now.'' Another thought came to his mind, and with his lips curled up in concentration, he tried to feel how the magical fabric of his robe could help him float or at least glide down.
The robe itself would tear if he didn''t do it right, Avan knew instinctively. He gave the entire robe the command to reinforce each other as soon as more strain was placed on one part, allowing for a more balanced distribution across the entire fabric. Whether it worked as he imagined it, he did not know yet, but here it was a case of try before you buy.
The command to levitate the magical material suddenly tore a much, much larger hole in his mana regeneration, which Avan noticed immediately with widened eyes as it dropped by almost 40%. ''Holy crap! Was all he thought to that as he felt the fabric strengthen each other and his body weight would cause the fabric to tear in some places, but the threads held together like steel cables, resulting in this huge mana cost. Not only did the mana fabric have to help its body weight float, it also had to spend mana to distribute the weight and strain evenly everywhere.
''I wonder if that also means that a knife thrust, sword stroke, or the like is deflected and the attack is evenly distributed? What if someone hits me with a sledgehammer?!'' The extent of this ability flashed through his mind. Shaking his head briefly, he now concentrated on the acute problem of getting to the bottom of the gorge, and put aside the other possibilities of his abilities for the time being.
The robe hugged Avan under the armpits, at the shoulders, at the hips, and everywhere it clung and bound to his body as he felt himself getting lighter and lighter. Not nearly enough to fly, but more than enough to float down like a feather.
Another command to his clawed gloves, and they too became as light as a feather. For a fraction of a second, Avan stood in the air, where he had just clawed his way into the wall, and immediately he was descending gently. Another command to his holding forms even gave him the opportunity to change direction slightly, even if it cost 10% more mana regeneration.
Giving the command to float upward, against gravity, was not a good idea, and so he left that test open for another day, when he could not fall ten meters and save anyone.
His robe flowed around him like water, almost as if he was underwater with all his clothes, and he slowly but steadily floated down. He tried something with the floating around, and could determine the strength and how fast he slid down, when he used less mana to float it went down faster, while when he used more mana it went down as slow as a snail crawling. Standing completely in the air was not possible with his current level, but he still had free stat points that he had saved up in case he wanted to invest them in something specific. Like now.
Moving his mental muscle, he gave the okay to put 100 more of his 270 free stat points into wisdom. Immediately, a backlash went through his soul and his core, his eyes widened thanks to the sudden increase in his perception, and while his mana pool grew only minimally so unpressed, Avan''s mana regeneration made another huge leap.
Where his robe had previously taken up 40% of his regeneration, it now shrank down to less than 20%, and in general the quality of his mana felt higher than before. ''I wonder if this regulates the efficiency of how well or poorly my mana is used in my spells?''
Suddenly he stood still in the air, and only his robe continued to flow around him in invisible currents as he stared enthusiastically at his hands and then looked down at himself. He was no longer three meters above the floor of the gorge, floating in place. There was no invisible platform or anything like that on which he was standing, because he could move his feet and arms as he wished, even if it cost a little more mana.
With the postponed test from before back in mind, he pumped more mana than before into his floating forms, stopping only when 90% of his mana regeneration was claimed and he himself had an approaching headache. Instead of hovering in place, he could now float in any direction at normal walking speed, and even go up, though it was hardly worth mentioning and he would be many times faster climbing. ''Nevertheless! This is a whole new way to fight! If I can launch from an elevated position, or even if I fall down somehow, I can cushion my impact and get back up much faster!''
The number of possibilities that ran through his head were enormous. From a robe that could grab, attack, and fly, it was all tied to his mana pool and mana regeneration.
However, he still didn''t know if it would be wise to invest all of his last 170 stat points in wisdom now, when he might need more strength or other stats later. Anyway, he knew that he would have to fight some battles if he wanted to free his people.
A quick glance at his stats, and a soft thud as he hit the ground, and he thought about what he wanted to invest the stats in. Avan was aware that after seeing the two elite vampire guards, he would definitely need every bit of his stats.
Avan Leaf
Level: 188
Free Stat Points: 170
Element: Celestial
Class: [Silver] Dungeonarchitect (Human)
Subclass: [Silver] Healer of Akkalon
Stats
Strength: 75
Dexterity: 230
Vitality: 135
Intelligence: 230
Wisdom: 320
Spirit: 267
???????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????
[Origin of Runes]
Primary Resources
Health: 725
Stamina: 725
Ambient Mana: 8600
Souls: 498/1000
As he looked at his stats, Avan''s gaze also briefly wandered over his skills and briefly lingered on the passives, some of which he had somewhat neglected. ''Pain Expert, Tracking, Steady and also my Celestial Affinity I should urgently level up... whereby the latter goes hand in hand with the consumption of Golden Maples, which I would like to save for now, until I can also produce magic things with my dungeon and duplicate them''.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.His mana pool had increased by much more than his wisdom should allow at 5 per one stat point, but he knew it wasn''t normal mana but rather ambient mana, which only increased the more his sphere of influence grew.
So he stood at the bottom of the canyon, thoughtfully shifting his weight from one leg to the other as he pondered how to distribute the stats.
''75 in strength, 15 in vitality, and the remaining 80 in intelligence? That would bring strength and vitality to an even 150 points, and my intelligence for more damage. Should be balanced enough...'' Nodding slowly, satisfied with his thought processes, he invested the points just so. ''That brings my life pool up to 800. Ridiculous compared to the gigantic mana pool, but what can you do.'' He chuckled briefly, but very pleased with the overall result.
Finished with this topic, he waited, standing still, as his muscles enlarged and swelled and writhed a bit creepily like living fat worms, until the muscle strands abruptly contracted and condensed. A quick flex of his muscles revealed hard mountains under his skin, with a few veins popping out here and there, but unlike a bodybuilder''s body, he had enough dexterity to still look lean but very toned.
The 80 points in intelligence, on the other hand, were less noticeable, and Avan merely imagined he had a better feel for handling and understanding his magic than before. For example, he knew how to minimally improve efficiency when it came to the extreme mana cost of levitating his robe. Where before it was a simple command to strengthen the fabric throughout and make everything float, he knew he would have to look at the fabric more closely to strengthen the areas of highest stress while the others needed less mana, which would result in less mana consumption overall.
Relieved to be as prepared as possible, he finally took a closer look at his surroundings. The floor of the gorge was littered with cracks and bumps, and if Avan hadn''t invested so much in Dexterity, he would definitely have had trouble with a normal body not falling over every second step.
''But what is that?'' It shot him through the head, when he saw further back in a few meters distance shapeless things spread all over the ground, which were in the dark but only the outlines. A few steps in the direction in which he had to go anyway, made him suddenly become more careful, because these things he had discovered were disemboweled corpses in various degrees of decomposition. ''Not that I''m surprised to find bloodless corpses in an environment populated by vampires.''
There were corpses of all sizes, including children, he realized, and Avan clenched his fists as he watched various horror scenarios play out in his head. What they all had in common, as far as he could see in his sphere of influence when he got close enough and sat down on one knee, were the various stabbings at equal distances from each other, which came from the fangs of the vampires.
While the smaller bodies showed mainly punctures on the throats and necks, some of the withered women''s bodies and even some of the men''s corpses had such punctures on several parts of the naked bodies, including dangerously close to the bottom of the hips and the inner parts of the thighs.
''Disgusting bastards, tsk.'' Avan clicked his tongue in disgust, but didn''t have much emotion in him besides disgust for these creatures as he looked so closely at the corpses. ''They''re already dead... So what am I supposed to freak out about. Any help is already too late for these poor people.''
Before he could think further about the situation and various mental images, he suddenly jumped back hastily as a dark gray shadow appeared at the spot where he had just been kneeling. His reaction time had been enough to avoid the creature, even if it had been close and he had been distracted. Cursing inwardly at this stupidity, he identified the creature that had turned to him in unnatural movements, as more of these things appeared from further back in the gorge and came to a stop, foaming at the mouth, next to the other creature.
[Ghoul - 181 - Frenzy]
[Ghoul - 195 - Descendant of Xavier]
The first ghoul in front of him the seemingly the leader, not only by level, but also by status and condition of body, when Avan looked closer. While the other ghouls grew and grew, all foaming at the mouth, making the status of the frenzy more than clear. ''Descendant of Xavier, huh? Like my cape... and not in frenzy, so more intelligent than the others. I''ll have to be real careful with that one.''
Before he could think further, or formulate a plan, the foremost ghoul raised his head into his neck, and screeched once loudly, while something resembling saliva flew out of his mouth and splattered down to Avan''s feet. Like a dam that had been broken or a leash that had been let loose, the other frenzied ghouls sprinted off.
''Fuck!''
The number of ghouls still did not stop, and by now there were far more than twenty, and the trend was upward.
Avan jumped backwards, using his cloak and mana to get as much distance as possible in that one jump, while thinking feverishly. Instinctively, he converted his 18 spheres floating above him into the golden-silver glowing variants and sent them forward in spear and sawblade forms at the horde of ghouls. Much to his dismay, his forms did much less damage than anticipated, and most of them even briefly lodged in the bodies of the creatures, which continued to run furiously toward him. Only four of the ghouls toppled over as his forms separated their heads from their shoulders at lucky angles or penetrated deep into their brains. All the other creatures stopped only briefly on impact, but then continued to run mindlessly toward their target; Avan.
Avan himself changed his tactics instantly, frozen in place, and concentrated all his brain power on annihilating the opponents in front of him instead of trying to climb up the wall behind him like a fool.
Ten of his forms became paper-thin and fused together to form a magical barrier that covered the entire three meter width at the beginning of the canyon from left to right, while the other eight forms became thinner and thinner until beads of sweat ran and dripped down Avan''s forehead from sheer mental exertion.
Celestial mana infused paper-thin wires emerged where swords and spears had floated before, and with another strained grunt from the spell caster, they began to spin and became so fast that soon 8 of these wires were hissing as they spun deadly in place.
While the ghouls had just kept running headlong, slashing and clawing at the barrier of celestial mana, the mana wires behind them reached maximum speed and with more drops of sweat came the mental command to saw into the creatures'' necks and throats, killing each of the ghouls in front of the barrier within Avan''s sphere of influence.
The ghouls didn''t know what was happening, and even as many of the ghouls simply slapped the ground, their heads severed, dead, the other creatures behind them stepped over the bodies and picked up where the one in front had left off. The barrier flickered and sucked more mana out of Avan''s mana pool by the second, and his mana regeneration barely kept up with the mana flowing into the barrier and the 8 mana wires swirling through the air in front of it, cutting off heads.
''Damn small sphere of influence!'' he mentally vomited, once again aware in the middle of the fight of how lucky he was to be able to do anything with his otherwise huge sphere of influence, and now so limited.
Minutes passed as the ghouls gradually thinned out, leaving only a sweaty Avan standing at the end, disregarding the intelligent ghoul who seemed to be looking angry and had wisely held back. The creature''s gaze wandered over the corpses at that moment, seeming to notice that Avan''s attacks had a certain range. With a glint in its eye, and a final ominous glance at Avan, the ghoul spun around and disappeared into the darkness of the canyon with a mixture of jumping and running.
''Great... Vulnerability revealed, intelligent creature escaped, and I can certainly look forward to ambushes from this bastard down here now...'' He sighed, and dropped his hands at his sides, which he had raised forward during the fight. Avan didn''t really need gestures to command his forms, but it had somehow felt right to mentally maintain the barrier with his outstretched palms.
He plopped backwards onto the floor, and just managed to suppress a pained yelp as his left butt cheek hit a slightly sharp stone.
*Chime*
You have killed a level 167 ghoul.
Experience granted.
*Chime*
You killed a level 178 ghoul.
Experience granted.
...
*Chime*
You killed a level 181 ghoul.
Experience granted.
*Chime*
You slaughtered a horde of well over 50 ghouls in just a few minutes!
You have been granted the title "Bane of the Undead"!
Title: [Bane of the Undead]
Any damage you deal to the undead is increased by 50%.
This title is not upgradeable.
*Chime*
Congratulations! You have reached level 190!
You have been granted 10 free stat points for leveling up.
2.36-Ghouls (or what鈥瞫 left of them?)
With a deep, guttural groan of relief, Avan dropped backwards onto the floor with his arms outstretched. The bumps and sharp stones under him just completely forgotten and declared null and void. His 18 spheres floated in a dome around him to protect him from all sides, while he simply caught his breath and reviewed what had just happened.
''Point one; what are ghouls doing down here? Judging by the bodies, sucked out victims of the vampires, and the ghouls are experiments gone wrong? Or does it have more to do with it being a byproduct of sucking the victims dry...?'' Avan looked up at the blue glittering ceiling of the gigantic cave complex far above him and expelled his breath loudly from his mouth as he pondered. ''Point two; what was this descendant ghoul? Clearly master of his senses, intelligence in his eyes, and not raging, which is why he could somehow command the others? Or is there more to it than that? And who is this Xavier, and if he was a former vampire, how did he become a ghoul? An ambush in his own ranks? Was he unwanted? I just don''t get it... Can I communicate with him somehow to find out more? Although he''ll probably set up a trap at the first opportunity, I''ll bet.''
"And those ghouls first of all.... Are holding out way too much. But why? Is it solely because of the higher levle? It could be. It''s not like I''ve had much experience fighting higher level ones so far. But this seems like a good opportunity!" Avan muttered softly.
''The head, like zombies, is probably the only weak point, right? Or is there some organ, or magical thing in them that is equally important? What do I know...''
''The celestial wire idea definitely worked great. My shield, on the other hand, was way too wide and cost me way too much mana. So, what if I put the shield just a few centimeters around me? That gives much less attack area, so less mana cost. But at the same time, they could then pounce on me and push down with their mass and body weight, which also costs more mana, right? Puuuuuh... So much to test all I don''t know.''
"But the paper-thin wires definitely work. Head off, ghoul dead. What if I let two of the shapes at a time form a wire ring around me, and then make it spin really fast, like a wire saw. And that then into a dome around me at different heights. Then no opponent would be able to get through. And a single paper-thin barrier of two shapes should then be enough to keep projectiles or innards and body parts away from me. Huh..." He unconsciously switched back to whispering while his hand ran over his chin.
Supporting himself with both hands on the floor, he sat up again, glad that his shoes and gloves prevented him from feeling the spikes and grooves beneath him at all.
A mental twitch and his 14 forms lined up in 7 rings around him, very delicate and barely visible in their midnight black color, except for the occasional twinkling of the stars to be seen in them, and Avan himself encased himself with four of his forms in two different barriers, a gold glowing barrier covering him from all sides, and only a few centimeters below that a midnight black one, which should act as a second protection in case of projectiles.
This way, if the first barrier was not enough, it would hopefully greatly weaken the power of the projectile, and the second would then be able to stop it. At least that was Avan''s plan.
The wiry rings around it hummed to life as they began to spin faster and faster, with Avan at the center, and soon there was only a barely audible multitude of hums to be heard. Taking a careful step forward, Avan exhaled again in relief as all his forms followed seamlessly, following him perfectly as the center point. One jump up, and he didn''t hit his head anywhere, as his barriers knew immediately from his intention that he was moving and followed smoothly.
With a satisfied grin on his face, and prepared as best he could, Avan continued on his way in leisurely steps, while his gaze glided over the left wall of the cave, occasionally looking at all the sucked out corpses that littered the floor.
''I hope Jen, Patris and Dani are doing well. Linob will be fine, right? Should hurry through here. Really need to know what''s going on.''
With careful steps and glowing a bit like a damn Christmas ball with all the paper-thin spinning celestial wires around him, he booted over and through the mounds of bodies that only increased with each step. Where before there were a few isolated withered bodies, now more and more bodies were piled on top of each other at the edge to his left and right, as if someone had cleared the center of the canyon.
Much to his surprise, it went on like this with slow steps for several minutes without any disturbances or nasty surprises, although Avan was tense enough, knowing that the special ghoul must be lying in wait somewhere. And maybe he wasn''t even the only intelligent hunter down here waiting for him.
Jagged and cracked rocks greeted him menacingly from the right side, where he walked up onto the plateau, ready at any moment to tumble down the steep slope with all the debris and bury everything here at the bottom of the gorge beneath him. Meanwhile, a fairly straight stone wall led up to his left, interrupted only by the black dark holes and tunnel entrances that might lead anywhere.
Shadows danced across the surfaces, and if Avan had still been as jumpy as he was when he was on Earth, he would have been frightened every second and his heart would have jumped out of his chest long ago. But after his experiences with death, torture and other situations, his breathing was calm and his heartbeat was steady and normal.
''Rest in peace, Lea and Nick...'' A thought that had plagued him so many times came up again as he thought of the two who had died indirectly at his hands. At least he told himself that their deaths were his own fault, and he didn''t want to wash off the blood of the two and many others that had stuck to his hands.
"Another reason to keep at it. I don''t want the same thing to happen to my current team." Avan muttered.
If his gut wasn''t deceiving him, he should be about halfway down the gorge to the other end by now, and the width here was also the widest from the left wall to the steep right wall. ''Just under 30 meters'', Avan estimated, his head slowly scanning the surroundings.
Just as he glanced back to see the distance he had covered, and as if this was the moment his pursuer had been waiting for, the piles of corpses moved all around.
The ghouls that crawled out from under the drained and bloodless corpses were anything but pretty to look at, and bore a damned resemblance to the lifeless bodies all around. The former nose showed only the two cartilaginous outgrowths, where otherwise always a nose should be, while the entire head showed only the least hair and even the eye sockets sat so deep that one could hardly recognize the light clambering red underneath. Two pointed elf-like ears on the sides made the conclusion, along with the serrated teeth in the mouth of the creatures.
The hands and feet turned into claws, as if someone had not visited his manicure and pedicure for a long time, and the entire body of the creatures was like zombies covered with wrinkled skin, whereas in some places this said skin even flaked off and showed rotten greenish flesh underneath.
The moaning and smacking of the rotten bodies rubbing against each other resulted in a cacophony of horror, but that didn''t really bother Avan either as he stood there quietly waiting for the monsters. On the contrary, he had other thoughts running through his head, such as a mental map of the great cavern and how he could best advance to the fortress once he had crawled out of here. Just as he was thinking about it, standing there so semi-bored as to whether and what he would find at the mana crystal lake, a commanding cry came from further ahead to his right, and the other ghouls became strangely silent, just looking hungrily at Avan with renewed froth at the mouth.
Whereas he had been surprised at the first encounter, not knowing what his abilities could do against the ghouls, Avan was now quite sure he would have an easier time with his opponents, especially with the yet-to-be-tested new attack capabilities of his Akkalons forms buzzing around him.
The descendant of Xavier probably also heard the buzzing in the air, now that the other ghouls were silent for a moment after his announcement, and tilted his ugly head slightly to find out what was buzzing from his prey.
In contrast to the other ghouls, he had two longer red glowing fangs peeking out of his face, which confirmed to Avan that this must be a former vampire. Even though it was not clear how ghouls were created, he couldn''t help but wonder why a vampire could become such a freak in the first place.
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The descendant of Xavier probably didn''t come up with the solution to his riddle himself, and hissed once, followed by another shrill scream, which promptly and immediately moved the other creatures to attack. Snarling, screeching, and hungry as they looked, the ghouls ran, sometimes even pushing each other, running headlong over fallen companions and dead bodies toward Avan, who still stood as still as the mountain in the surf.
It looked like a moving and wiggling mass of undead bodies, which wanted to break over Avan to bury him under and devour. In contrast to his first encounter with the creatures, there were clearly many more coming at him, if one took a look at the rotten wave of creatures. And also unlike before, the descendant of Xavier also joined his monsters and ran after them with ominously glowing red eyes, while a kind of greenish saliva flew and dripped from his mouth.
Avan marveled at the image of the onrushing creatures that would bury him from the front and sides in a few seconds if his defensive forms did not do their job.
Before he knew it, the first ghouls were already approaching, throwing and jumping at him.
Only to be torn to shreds with a howl and a crunch. Avan crossed his arms in front of his chest and watched his mana pool race up and down extremely fast, but remain steadily above 90%. His mana regeneration was also barely affected, but was becoming more and more taxed as ghoul after ghoul jumped and thrust into his sawing and cutting celestial wires.
The sounds of rotting flesh, sinew and bone sawing and slicing in all directions filled the canyon, while in Avan''s immediate vicinity even the hungry screams of the creatures were drowned out. Scraps of the creatures'' remains slapped against his inner shields from everywhere and slid down them without leaving any traces, while he himself took a few steps forward to climb the mountain of rotten remains and not soon be walled in on all sides by pieces of flesh.
The hundreds of ghouls continued to race thoughtlessly toward him, only making for a faster and faster growing pile that Avan had to climb in disgust to stay visible and not get buried.
He knew one thing for sure; he couldn''t let this particular ghoul escape again this time, or there would be a possibility that he could alert the other vampires in some way. Avan didn''t know if that was possible, but he didn''t rule it out and certainly didn''t want to take any chances. Former vampire and outcast or not, his own presence in this cave complex had to be kept under wraps as long as possible.
That''s why he blanked out all the mindless ghouls around him who just threw themselves into his blender to be ground into paste, and looked the still approaching vampire ghoul in the eye.
He growled angrily and bared his jagged teeth when he saw Avan standing there so calm and untouched. The creatures around him grew fewer with each passing second, and it seemed to dawn on the Descendant that he had to take his chance while he could.
The ghoul then lit up red, and it intensified more and more, while a reddish mist of blood came out of its pores. The more blood mist that erupted, the more the descendant of Xavier himself seemed to dissolve, until only a heavy red glistening wet mist hung in the same place, only to immediately fly even faster towards Avan.
"Damn..." Avan just cursed as his mind quickly tried to assess whether the creature could penetrate his shield, but then breathed a sigh of relief when he checked the magical fabric in a split second and nothing but pure air was let through to breathe. His arms loosened and clenched into fists at his side, Avan concentrated fully on the blood-red mist that was creeping between the wires of his mana, almost as if it were afraid to touch them.
Somewhat frantic to try something new in the heat of battle, Avan undid his robe and gloves, not yet ready to sacrifice his shoes to wade barefoot in the putrid remains at his feet, and went about another experimental plan he had spun before.
The robe and gloves of celestial mana unraveled their interwoven threads until a web of mana was floating in the air in front of Avan, just outside his barriers, and there it spun ever thinner and finer.
He first experienced the current concept in the infirmary below the arena in Haipu, and his mana siphoning formed an invisible mist. He did the same again now, but with an extremely less dense version than pure mana allowed, and the few forms he used for this were also not suitable for becoming so dense.
The former threads now floated in front of him, and only a fraction of a second, not even a heartbeat, had passed. For the naked eye invisible mist, only strengthened by the midnight-black property of his mana, hung not a meter in front of him and waited for the almost completely pushed through blood-red mist that would soon collide with his own construct.
Not allowing the vampire ghoul any time for a "fair" fight, Avan mentally gave the order and his mist, with occasional glittering stars, pushed forward into the blood-red mist and began to attack the nanometer-sized blood drops.
A shrill and painful supernatural screech was the result of his attack, and Avan grinned with relief and satisfaction as he felt his mana in his sphere of influence belong to a higher order, annihilating and eradicating the organic and magical red mass drop by drop.
The vampire knew by now that his approach had been a big mistake and, panicked by the twitching mist, tried to retreat quickly, but found himself in a quandary.
Behind him were the still inhumanly fast rotating celestial wires and in front of him, between him and Avan, this black fog, which reminded of a clear night, enveloped him faster and faster.
Pushed back and caught between the two attacks, the creature shrieked and screamed louder and louder in panic, until its voice slowly broke and became quieter, until not even a whisper remained. The once red mist fell to the ground in lifeless drops of blood and joined the other remains of the ghouls, of which only a handful were left and which were also being torn to shreds.
When the last ghoul, and probably the last of these creatures for some time down here, finally went down, Avan looked around calmly and enjoyed the sudden silence that surrounded him.
The whole "battle", or rather slaughter as Avan called it in his mind, had gone on for several minutes, and apart from the multitude of system messages waiting for him, there was finally peace again.
Hundreds of messages wanted his attention, and he knew he should take care of them before he got into the next fight.
[Ghoul - 181] defeated!
Experience received.
[Ghoul - 179] defeated!
Experience received.
....
[Ghoul - 189] Defeated!
Experience obtained.
[Ghoul - 195 - Descendant of Xavier] Defeated!
For defeating an elite opponent, you will receive extra experience.
For defeating an opponent higher than yourself, you will receive extra experience.
Reading the kill messages, Avan instinctively knew, and remembered, that his two titles had provided extra service here. The extra 50% damage against undead and the extra damage on the first strike against a boss-like opponent had also counted here in the end, though he didn''t know if just the attack on the first drop of blood counted as a "first attack" or if his own attacking mist itself counted as an entire attack.
Either way, a slightly bloodthirsty smile came across his lips, which immediately disappeared.
More system messages awaited him.
*Chime*
Congratulations! You have reached level 198!
You have been granted 40 free stat points for leveling up.
Not willing to let the opportunity pass again, Avan went straight to distributing his stat points. ''10 levels in total, not bad at all... But killing hundreds of enemies. The level difference might make a lot of difference.''
Avan Leaf
Level: 198
Free Stat Points: 50
Element: Celestial
Class: [Silver] Dungeonarchitect (Human)
Subclass: [Silver] Healer of Akkalon
Stats
Strength: 150
Dexterity: 230
Vitality: 150
Intelligence: 310
Wisdom: 320
Spirit: 267
''50 points in wisdom? Is that wise? Screw it, the main thing is more mana and mana regeneration.''
And with that, he sank all of his 50 free stat points into Wisdom, bringing his total to 370.
Satisfied with that, and not willing to waste any more of his time, he looked around again and surveyed the mountain of dismembered corpses all around him, wrinkled his nose at the smell, and trudged on through the fleshy mass towards his actual destination. ''Fortunately, my healing can "cure" even nausea, haha'' the thought flashed through his mind as he tuned out the wet squishy sound at his feet and the smells.
2.37-Blood business
''Hmmmmmmm...'' Between thumb and forefinger, Avan stroked his chin and the beard, which had grown several centimeters long by now.
After defeating the descendant of Xavier, the rest of the march through the gorge had been relatively easy, especially since there were almost no ghouls left to ambush him. The descendant had rounded up almost all the raging ghouls in his ambush, reducing the population of the beasts to almost zero.
With his newfound skills, or knowledge, Avan had had no trouble climbing out the other side to the north, crawling and sneaking through the knee-high grass thanks to the approaching "night" in the cave, which ended in a simple dimming of the glowing crystals on the ceiling.
And now stood pressed against the outer wall at the bottom of the fortress, while he tried to spot the patrols at the top of the wall along with the patrol times.
''I don''t know what level the guards are. If they are also elite guards, it looks very difficult to take them out unnoticed. If I even have to deal with just one. Even if they are normal guards - it will be noticed sooner or later if they are missing. So also a stupid idea. Sneaking through? Maybe, if possible.'' He thought hard, trying not to make any noises like he usually did. ''I simply know too little to risk discovery now. If I need more time to get the others out, or there are more prisoners, or something else happens, then surprise must still be on my side.''
He faced the problem of having too much ignorance of the situation ahead. No matter how he twisted or turned it, sneaking in was more difficult, but would bear the most fruit in the end.
Nodding slowly and agreeing with the plan, Avan slowly turned to the wall and gently placed the claws of his right glove into the masonry. Minimally and only very softly crunching as the pointed celestial claws penetrated, he began contentedly and quietly climbing upward, hand by hand, and one foot at a time.
Thinking that perhaps the vampires had very good hearing and equally excellent vision, Avan took his time, preferring to make his way carefully and as silently as possible to his destination; the battlements above him.
The twenty meter high wall took his time to climb, and as Avan hung in the last meter to just before the battlements, he stopped with bated breath as a soft clacking sounded in the distance, slowly approaching. Arms trembling slightly as holding still in the same position as muscles and tendons cramped uncomfortably, he waited until the guard approached from the left and marched on to the right, seemingly alone but on the way to a second guard waiting in the angular tower a few meters away, which Avan could see out of the corner of his eye thanks to the torchlight.
Very slowly, Avan''s breath rose in little clouds between his lips, because even the air had cooled down considerably more in the artificial "night" down here, and he ducked up between two battlements to immediately throw himself onto the floor of the walkway and listen eagerly for any alarm cries to reach his ears.
After a few seconds, when nothing unusual was shouted or any alarm bells rung, and the two guards on the watchtower to his right only talked casually to each other without looking in his direction, Avan crawled on, crouched and almost crawling in the shadow of the walls, until he stopped at a wooden railing leading down into the courtyard.
A small wooden staircase, one man wide, led down and he could see the courtyard in its entirety for the first time.
Leaning against the outer and inner walls were stone dwellings, with simple wooden blinds and wooden doors, a fountain further to the left in the courtyard between the houses, and various typically dark and gloomy stone carvings adorning the huts. The fountain itself was adorned by a statue, similar to a gargoyle, which sprayed water into the air with its open mouth and between its well-crafted jagged teeth and the water landed gently in the pool surrounding it.
''Pretty...'' It went through his head, and the same turned further to the right to examine the front part of the courtyard between the two walls and what lay further to the right of it.
Various wooden apparatuses, workbenches, forge ovens and also smaller market stalls greeted Avan in the front area, while much further to the right in the fortress the metal cages caught his eye from afar, which left only fist-sized squares free with barred metal bars all around and a locked metal door on one side.
Four such five by five meter cages stood there, and further up on the battlements inside and outside one could still see the glimmering of further one-man cages to starve out prisoners.
Out of the corner of his eye, Avan saw that the two guards in the torchlight had just finished talking, and that the other guard, who had been waiting there before, was now making his way in his direction, seemingly in constant rotation with the patrol of both guards.
Quickly, yet slowly, Avan felt his way down the wooden railing and the stairs, careful to stay as close as possible to the wall and the shadows, while carefully scanning each step to see if it would creak and squeak dangerously under his weight.
Just as he had reached the central corridor of the stairs, which made a right turn there, he quickly pressed his back against the wall and remained breathlessly in place. The guard, perhaps because they always did it or because it had heard something, had just at that moment glanced from the battlements to the stairs and let its red gaze glide over Avan with his hood up and the stairs.
Avan did not dare to make even the slightest movement while he looked straight ahead at the inner fort to show the searching guard only his side view, which, with the midnight black robe and hood, completely hid him.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.Only after he could hear the footsteps behind him on top of the wall again, and they moved away to the left, did he dare to exhale and calm his heartbeat and breath. ''Ohkaaay, that was a close one.''
Waiting a few more seconds to calm down and not accidentally making a noise that could have been avoided as the adrenaline quivered, he continued down the last set of stairs that ended directly on the hardened earth of the courtyard.
Creeping from shadow to shadow, crack to crack, and dodging the inner guards, some time later Avan had reached the right part of the fortress, and was lying flat on one of the stone dwellings, which was probably fortunately used as a store or workroom, and he would hopefully not wake anyone below him with his climbing.
The message, which he had not seen for a really long time, he pushed aside for now, nevertheless happy to see visible progress once again.
Passive ability [Sneak] obtained!
Thanks to your inflitration into a castle full of probably hostile and bloodthirsty vampires, your constant almost peeing your pants, and your courageous ambition, you have earned this ability.
Gives you the ability to get from one place to another unnoticed, as long as you keep a low profile and stay undercover.
With a grin between his cheeks, and glad to have the snarkiness of his system back, Avan refocused on the cages in front of him and let his gaze wander over the occupants.
Almost exclusively women and children of both sexes were to be seen, while armor, clothing and weapons of all kinds, presumably belonging to current or former prisoners, were stacked relatively neatly in a few piles on the right side of the wall.
The four cages were each guarded by two patrols consisting of two guards, who marched around the cages constantly but whispering to each other, every now and then making remarks or gestures in the direction of the prisoners, and chatting briefly with each other when they met. A laugh drew Avan towards the two guards who were currently marching along the wall near the looted items, and one of whom was thrusting his spear through the bars to poke a young mother and her two sons, causing a panicked and terrified scream, and the two laughingly continued on their way.
''I guess sleeping is out... poor sods.''
Shaking his head and feeling sorry for the situation, but unable to change it, Avan looked further and finally found a part of his team in the left cage, sitting in the middle of the cage in rough and simple clothes and giving evil looks to the laughing guards passing by.
But what made him frown and immediately noticed was the absence of two people; Linob and Patris! And since Avan could clearly see that there were mainly children and women, he knew immediately that the men were being held somewhere else or that something was happening to them that required immediate haste.
With quick and hasty glances, he looked around the courtyard, trying to figure out where they might have taken the men, and where he would find Linob and Patris. His sphere of influence showed him that the house below contained only wooden workbenches and odd devices that looked an awful lot like torture tables and belts, but also housed no men.
''Maybe the houses further back?'' He guessed, since the houses on the left only housed the vampire inhabitants in odd sarcophagi or often soft beds, while he had yet to explore the keep in the middle and the houses in front of him.
He waited for just the right moment when all four guards met and briefly laughed with each other, probably making fun of their antics with the prisoners, as Avan sneaked around the courtyard to the left, sending one of his midnight black spheres in sword form to the two women in the cage as he scurried past. Dani, with her enhanced ranger vision, noticed his form first, and nudged Jen, who was leaning against her, visibly exhausted, and immediately startled as well. They both glanced at Avan as the form came flying back in his direction, and he nodded to them, whereupon he could see a deep gratitude in the looks of both young women. A quick gesture with two fingers to his eyes followed in the direction of the houses further back brought him a hasty nod from his two team mates, which only reinforced his goal.
A quick thumbs up, which brought a frown to the faces of both women watching him, and Avan quickly strode on, while the guards just at that moment broke their encounter again.
As closely as possible and in as much shadow as he could, he continued to creep along the inside of the keep''s wall until he reached the first house and sent his two meter wide sphere of influence through the interior. This house was an unused one, furnished with a bed, chair, table, and some unused candles.
The next houses on this side also showed similar results, differing only in that some interiors appeared to be tidy or recently used.
Only when Avan reached the backmost stone house on the right, nestled against the inside of the outer wall, did he frown as he recognized the activity inside. Gritting his teeth and cursing inwardly, he ducked to one of the front windows and peered inside between the slits of the closed blinds. ''What else could vampires do?''
Inside, two vampires in robes similar to those worn by doctors, but in black, were drawing blood from a male occupant known to Avan with practiced posture and speed, dripping it through tubes into head-sized glass containers. Patris, visibly weakened and on the verge of his own physical breakdown from lack of blood, hung upside down on a wooden contraption while two tubes attached to either side of his neck slowly drained the viscous life fluid from him.
2.38-Lifeblood
*That looks really bad!* With a quick but silent sideways turn, Avan maneuvered himself with his back pressed against the wall of the house and looked through the window sills again.
Patris seemed unconscious, while the viscous red lifeblood slowly flowed out of his veins at the throat and, thanks to gravity, landed in the glass containers.
*Like an animal being bled at the butcher''s... And it was because of looks like that that I became a vegetarian!* Avan''s goose bumps ran down his spine as he imagined how he would feel so helpless in Patris'' place.
He could see his teammate''s life leaving him drop by drop, and Avan thought feverishly about what he could do. *Think, think Avan! What can I do? Two suspected vampires, and my sphere of influence is too small. Can I lure them out? Distract and kill them? Argh...!*
Before he couldn''t come to an agreement, Avan went with the first idea that came to his mind.
He crept away from the window and to the side of the house, where he could definitely feel and see one of the two vampires in his sphere of influence. With a wave of two of his fingers, two midnight black spheres were conjured from under one of the torture tables with tools on it, just out of sight of both bloodsuckers. Another brief mental command, and the two spheres merged together, growing thinner and longer until the barely discernible black wire rope hovered beneath the table like a small ball of wool. Exactly the same tactic Avan had used on Xavier''s descendant was now within immediate reach of the two whispering vampires, just waiting for the command to strike.
*Okay, that''s done. Next...* And with that, a bronze coin plopped out on the table, right out of Avan''s inventory, only to fall to the floor a second later with a metallic clear sound.
Both vampires turned jerkily and inhumanly fast to the bronze coin''s point of impact and bared their teeth, while a kind of guttural hiss sounded from their mouths. *Visibly heightened hearing, check.* Avan made a mental note as he looked at the reaction and twitching ears of the creature that was in his sphere of influence.
The vampire farther away and out of Avan''s range hissed something unintelligible in that guttural language to the closer vampire, who gave a short hissing reply as he looked around the room and slowly approached the bronze coin on the floor. *Oh damn it, come on you fucking bloodsucker!* Avan cursed, as the distraction was meant to lure both vampires into his sphere of influence and then kill them with the almost invisible celestial ropes under the table. The front vampire stepped closer, sniffed, twitched his ears, and then carefully bent down to pick up the bronze coin.
He looked at the coin and turned it between his left hand while his black fingernails of the other hand poked at the metal piece and made a clear sound.
With a hiss that sounded an awful lot like a laugh, the bloodsucker turned away from Avan''s position and showed the coin between his fingers to his colleague, who stomped over, frowning and angry at the laughter.
Just as the second vampire finally stepped within reach, the ball of mana unraveled from under the table and slithered unseen along the floor and into the shadows at the back of the two.
Another kind of hissing, gurgling, and wet splatter landed all around the inside of the hut in a certain radius, and sliced remains of two vampires fell on the wooden floorboards of the house.
*God damn it, that actually had something...* With a barely suppressed malicious grin on his lips, Avan crept up to the front door, took one last look around, and then opened the door a crack to slip inside.
The squeak of the door closing behind Avan was all that could be heard inside the hut, along with the shallow breathing of Patris and the quiet drips in the glass containers.
A few steps deeper into the room, while the wooden floorboards made telltale noises.
"Patris?" Came a whisper from Avan when he was finally within reach of his team mate. But there was no response to the call of the name.
*Fucking hell.* Came the next realization, just as his sphere of influence covered the entire wooden scaffold and he perceived the deadly void of blood from the man in front of him.
A few more quick steps and a reach around to the right, two turns on a crank hidden from the front, and the whole wooden scaffold turned Patris 180 degrees upright over. Avan quickly pulled the two tubes out of his friend''s throat, which were equipped with metal needles at the front, with a wet smacking sound, and golden-silver mana flowed from a two meter surrounding area in a hazy mist to the wounds and closed them in a fraction of a second.
"Patris! Wake the fuck up! Dani is going to kill me, and you right along with it, if we let you die here now!" Avan whispered urgently to the unconscious man in front of him, while mana mist continued to penetrate his pores, trying to counteract the anemia.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.A clap echoed through the hut, and Avan instinctively flinched at the overly loud sound in the silence, while a second and a third followed immediately. Red handprints appeared on Patris'' cheeks, and Avan was about to strike a fourth blow to his left side when his opponent''s eyelids began to twitch.
"Fuck my life... Wake up, you sleepyhead! Your prince is here! But I''m certainly not kissing you awake.... Dani can do that if she wants to." A confused and visibly delirious Patris opened his eyes and stared at him blinking, eyes totally unfocused.
A few seconds and blinks later, and a shake of the head followed as the cloudy eyes slowly cleared and the pupils sharpened. "What - the - bloody - hell...?" Came a groan from the young man''s throat as he saw Avan standing in front of him, grinning mischievously, standing in a room full of red blood splatters and a few pieces of flesh still hanging on the walls.
"Well? Slept in, princess?" Avan chuckled in response, grinning even more at Patris. "Now let''s get out of these blankets! You''ve got to get out of here fast, and I''ve got cleaning to do!"
Patris just had a huge question mark on his face, looking at his facial expression, and didn''t even understand how he had gotten here. Just as a panicked expression flitted across his face, Avan beat him to it again. "Yes, yes. Dani and Jen are both still in the cage, but otherwise they''re fine! But not YOU! So get off your ass." And suddenly the leather buckles on both arms and legs loosened as the mana mist ate its way through at Avan''s mental command, and an exhausted and weak warrior toppled forward into Avan''s arms.
Without waiting any longer, he hoisted the young warrior, still trembling from blood loss, into a princess carry and quickly brought him forward to the door to set him down on the floor in the only clean corner of the interior, leaning against the wall.
"Be right back. Don''t run!" Came another macabre quip from Avan, at which even he grimaced momentarily at all the cringe. But it was liberating to laugh at the situation, especially now that it was defused and stress was off Avan''s shoulders. Patris was, according to his own diagnosis and the mana mist that had healed him so far, over the hill and no longer in immediate danger of death, so Avan could now take care of eliminating the traces of the two ex-vampires.
He summoned the maximum number of his summonable forms and dispersed them all into the paper-thin mist that he could maintain in his concentration. The room filled with a shiny golden-silver haze, as if looking into a night sky that instead of being black was completely silver and dotted with millions of golden twinkling stars.
The haze spread out and had only one command; to eliminate any remains of the vampire remains and if possible to decompose them into the smallest atoms.
At first, Avan himself did not know if it worked as he imagined, when the haze settled on all the blood and remains of the former bloodsuckers and condensed there into silver-gold. But when the first of these silver heaps floated back up and flew to the next bloodstain, it didn''t leave even the slightest bit of red, let alone remnants of clothing or anything else that would indicate the vampires.
A relieved sigh escaped Avan''s throat, and he walked leisurely and slowly through the room, always making sure that his two meters of influence covered other vampire remains and could be reached by his mana mist. Little by little, more of the torn vampires disappeared, until after a few minutes there was not even a smell of blood or death in the air. Even the blood in the two glass containers had completely disappeared!
Thrilled and yet somewhat awestruck as all the unspoken possibilities flashed through his mind at the sight, Avan stood staring at the completely cleaned interior for a single heartbeat.
Shaking his head, he turned around and had to laugh softly again when he saw Patris lightly snoring on the floor next to the door, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth onto his undershirt, and making soft guttural noises as he slept.
"Good night, princess..." Avan laughed inwardly and lifted the exhausted warrior back up in his arms as he carefully slipped through the door with him, walking in the shadows of the other buildings to the back right near the outer wall. Between two houses and behind a water barrel, for whatever they had placed a water barrel here, he let Patris slide to the ground and hid him behind it so that he was not seen from the front.
With the first task and the liberation of his team mate successfully, it went on on quiet steps to the second house further in front near the wall, directly to the right of the house in which Avan had previously taken Patris out.
Inside was the second missing man of the group, or rather the guard of Jen, who was also hanging upside down from exactly the same construction as Patris before.
Something tightened Avan''s insides dangerously as he peered through the front windowsills, for Linob''s blood was dripping dangerously slowly and only very sluggishly through the two hoses, almost as if the body hanging there were already almost completely drained of blood.
2.39-Blood core
Avan held Linob''s almost cold body in his arms while he tried weakly to lift his eyelids. The blood and the past time had done the rest and demanded more blood from the man than it had been the case with Patris.
Avan regretted coming so late, but was inwardly somewhat glad that he had at least been able to save his team mate and Dani''s boyfriend. Naturally, he felt bad, but knew that it was only human to differentiate between people.
"Linob..." He whispered and put his hand on the forehead of the wet sweaty man who was visibly trying with all his might to stay alive. He had recognized Avan almost as soon as he had opened his eyes, but his body did not obey him enough, judging by the gulping in his throat, the blinking of his weak eyes, and the weak muscles in general.
"A-van..." Came a croak from Linob''s parched throat, and a trembling slightly wrinkled hand tried to grab Avan by the collar of his robe. A gasp, a rattle from inside the throat. "Promise... me..."
"Take care of... Jen!" His arm sank down again, powerless, and hit the floorboards with a low, dull sound. Linob''s breathing was intermittent and sluggish, his eyes fluttering open and closed.
With a visible last gasp of strength, it came in a whisper. "Take care of her... of the princ..."
And with these words, all movement stopped and the limbs fell powerlessly to the ground. The body in Avans went limp and the empty eyes stared at the ceiling.
With a heavy heart and guilt over the fact that Avan had just been glad that he had at least freed Patris in time, he placed his left hand over the face of the loyal elite soldier and gently closed his eyes. "Rest in peace... Linob. I''ll get Jen out of here too..."
With stiff limbs, Avan stood up and carefully placed the lifeless body on the floor in front of him while he grabbed his own temples and was overcome by a sudden sadness. The death of his slave friends, the possible death of Elisa, of Yue, and of all the atrocities that happened here on Aorus. It all burst out, and a single solitary tear ran down Avan''s right cheek as he stared at the ceiling and tussled his hair.
*I didn''t know him very well... And yet... *
It was the drop that broke the camel''s back, and even if it was only a single tear, it showed more pain than he had felt since his stay as a slave or the physical torture.
Deep breaths, in and out, echoed for a minute through the interior of the small house.
Two palms slapped Avan''s cheeks, leaving red glowing areas. Once, twice, and a third time.
"Okay, Avan. Focus again..." He muttered to himself, looking down at his feet where the deceased Linob lay. "I will not leave the body behind... Either I decompose it like I did with the vampires, or I can pack it into the celestial storage like this. So Jen can say goodbye properly..."
Just as he was extending his mana toward Linob to stow him away, his celestial mana encountered a brief resistance inside the body. "What the bloody hell?" Avan sensed some kind of foreign object inside Linob that prevented him from stowing it. There, where his own soul core, the magical center of being, sat, was a red pulsating ball that reminded Avan dangerously close to the corrupted dungeon mana core, only in red.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.He increased the mental pressure, and after only a few seconds, the strands of gold-silver mana broke through the surface of the ball, and the red within was completely transformed and purified before Avan''s mind''s eyes within a second. "What the bloody hell was that...?" He had never seen anything like it, but if it reminded him so much of the miasma of the dungeon core of haipu, then it could only have something to do with corruption, vampires, and the undead.
Back from the inner scenario, Avan once again stared at the body in front of him on the floor, and what he had just wanted to do before.
Avan had never tried it before, but his gut told him that corpses could also be stored in his inventory, and so he reached out his mental and magical feelers for Linob and all his belongings in one, and the body disappeared. A brief inner glance told him that Linob had arrived safely stored in his inventory, and only now did he have the waking thought to notice that Linob, unlike Patris, had not been stripped of his belongings. "Odd..." Avan muttered, but dropped the thought for now.
With a last glance into the room, Avan looked around once more and, following his intuition, stowed Linob''s blood in his inventory instead of leaving it for these monsters. The traces of a prisoner were completely wiped away, and Avan turned to the door and went to tell the two women in the cage, if possible.
The way back to the cages was, fortunately, uneventful and Avan only had to wait for the passing patrol of bored vampire guards to sneak in the shadows to the two women.
He told in quick sentences and under time pressure what had happened, and Dani was overjoyed about the news that he had been able to save Patris, but when it came to the story with Linob, Jen was devastated and sobbed. Unfortunately, the noise immediately drew the attention of the next guards, who turned away from their conversation with the others and made their way to the cage with the two young women inside, visibly upset by the disturbance of the two.
"Damn it!" Avan whispered to the two, regretting not being able to do more for them at this point, and quickly slipped away under cover of the cage on the other side.
From a distance and out of the darkness, he watched the two guards hiss angrily into the cage, and one of them utter curses in human language, telling the two women to shut up.
Reassured, as the two stomped off again, Avan took another look at the two and saw Dani gently take the young healer in his arms and speak softly to her.
Avan himself turned and crept back to Patris, finding him continuing to sleep behind the same barrel he had laid him behind. "That guy has nerves of steel too.... But if there''s one thing he''s good at, it''s sleeping and eating." Avan chuckled lightly, and fetched a few things from the inventory, so as not to leave the young warrior, left only in his undershirts, completely without food and weapons.
Turning back to look more closely at the inner keep, perhaps to find the boss of the dungeon and the dungeon core, Avan left a small pile of items for Patris.
A slightly used short sword and on a blanket 4 piles of dried berries and two apples.
2.40-Grand Duke
"Interesting..." muttered the green-haired man to himself, his inconspicuous but spotless white robe fluttering slightly in the wind. "Really, really, interesting..."
The God of Chaos and Order hovered over an inconspicuous spot amidst light rain clouds above a patch of forest.
"Spatial inventory, out-of-this-world observational skills, the finest mana control, a version of a domain, unknown magical adapative abilities, and to top it all off, the celestial element of Akkalon..."
The god stared down at the patch of forest and his eyes followed something unknown and visible only to him. "A new god candidate. And on top of that with abilities and a soul like I have never seen before... Even the world system doesn''t want to reveal everything to me that has never happened before.... Truly strange."
Unknown to most mortals of this world, the God of Chaos and Order was largely unknown, but nonetheless one of the most powerful deities on the planet. He was the overseer of the world system and the one responsible for the system quests that were sometimes issued in adventurer guilds.
And right now he was watching an individual who had caused quite a stir by entering the dungeon of akkalon.
Avan, who was unaware of all this observation, was sneaking along the inner keep of the vampire fortress and climbing up some windows on the side with the help of his gravity-altering skills.
"Most interesting..." Murmured the green-haired god. A small strand of gold-silver energy, celestial mana as inherent in all gods, split out of the outstretched hand and flowed down and through the earth realm, completely invisible to the human eye, as if there was no such thing as the slightest resistance.
Just as Avan arrived at a slightly slanted window on the third floor of the total of five floors and wanted to climb in carefully, the celestial strand of the god touched him.
Much to his amazement and surprise, Avan reacted quite differently than the god of chaos and order had expected, and suddenly the human looked up and seemed to be looking directly at the god floating between the clouds.
"How is this possible???" The god cringed, too surprised to be able to direct his thoughts clearly, and withdrew his mana in a flash as he felt it begin to be absorbed by an alien power. Shaken, he stared down at Avan, who wore a confused expression on his face, and after shaking his head, disappeared into the window of the third floor.
"Unbelievable... How? Did he sense me?" muttered the deity, by now recaptured and now even more curious than before, while scratching his brown chin beard. "And that in the end... Not only could he somehow sense my mana, he could dominate it! I''ve never experienced that before... Except maybe with Akkalon himself..."
Avan himself was just inside the keep behind a drawn curtain right next to the window he had just climbed through, trying to understand what had just happened.
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Had suddenly popped up in his system as something like a bucket of cold water had come over him. A familiar feeling of celestial energy of such incredible strength and purity had touched him for a fraction of a heartbeat, and suddenly the system had identified someone or something.
As quickly as it had come, it had abruptly disappeared, leaving Avan himself suddenly refreshed and confused with a shot of the purest energy.
This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.He couldn''t form a picture of what exactly had just happened, but whatever it was, something or someone had been watching or trying to sense him.
*What the bloody hell was that just...? *
And as if that were not enough, he had only now seen the second message in the system, which had been waiting for him there, flashing about a new feature.
[The will of the origin - 2/?]
Briefly the opportunity arose to you to look behind the curtain of the origin. Something in you slumbered, and an encounter awakened this something in you. Whatever It is, it is not even a fraction of the whole. It is beyond your logic, and yet you feel a warmth in it. A warmth of home, of the familiar.
Effect: Unknown
Parts yet to be integrated: Unknown
The Origin is stirring...
The fabric of existence ripples...
Avan was shocked, surprised, confused, and did not know what was happening. Something, or someone, had caused a chain reaction, and he himself was suddenly in the center and limelight, which he had never wanted!
At that very moment, something snapped him out of his startled thoughts, as he heard a metallic sound and the tread of boots on a marble floor in the immediate vicinity.
Holding his breath, with his back pressed against the cold stone wall of the keep, and hiding behind the curtain, Avan made every effort to be as quiet as possible.
A person strode past his hiding place and continued to the upper left of the balustrade, an inner corridor fenced off by a railing that allowed a view of the floor below in the middle. A kind of circular corridor, which could be reached by a heavily decorated double staircase from the center of the lower hallway. The third floor itself seemed to have no rooms and to be merely a tribune to look into the ballroom below. In the back, to the right and left of the large double staircase that led up here, two more spiral staircases went up to the fourth floor.
[Elite Vampire Suppressor - 241]
The elite guard marched on alone, one hand on a shiny red steel sword at his side and complete dark red metal armor flowing as if in one cast piece covering the body except the face. The armor itself was decorated with thorns and vines, ending in several lifelike reworked roses. The helmet appeared to be a smooth cap, except for the nose guard, which ended in a hawk-like point. The two boots in purest black had two small bat wings protruding from the outer sides.
All in all, the appearance of the elite guard, who had just marched past Avan''s hiding place and who had just quietly peered out, seemed unapproachable and a bad idea to take it on unprepared at this point in time.
Avan waited for some time until the guard stopped on the other side and was sufficiently far away, then ducked towards the spiral staircase on his side.
A quick glance down to the second floor was enough to make it clear that there was no one downstairs except a few people in maid''s uniforms cleaning up and dusting.
Unnoticed and with extreme caution, Avan reached the next floor and slowly stretched his head into the floor above from the stairs. An equally large, seemingly square, rounded-looking corridor led off from the staircase and reflected the balustrade below. On one side was the outer wall to the keep, while inside this time wooden doors carved with roses led off at varying intervals.
With careful and quiet steps, Avan crept up from the stairs into the corridor and went left along to the first door to listen with his ears and look in with his sphere of influence.
A small, cozy-looking room filled with bookshelves was behind it, and no sound came from inside. Gently, careful not to trigger a telltale squeak from the door, Avan opened it a crack and peered inside.
A heavy mahogany desk with a few writing utensils stood in the center of the office, while all around, from floor to ceiling, the entire walls were lined with full bookshelves.
Again, the sound of boots on stone could be heard from the right side of the hallway from which Avan had just come, and he quickly slipped into the room to close the door quietly behind him.
With his back leaning against the wall of bookshelves next to the door and no hiding place far and wide, since the table had only four legs and even the comfortable-looking armchair behind it didn''t offer enough space, Avan hung on and waited for the person outside to hopefully pass by without glancing into this one room.
As the person outside in the hallway came closer and closer, Avan heard a low muttered hiss of vampire language, and was able to identify the person as he strolled past the door outside. Cursing inwardly but grateful for the misfortune and encounter that was fortunately averted for the time being, Avan slowly expelled his held breath. With all the strange things he had seen lately, he was no longer surprised to be able to see this level as well.
[Grand Duke of the Xavier Bloodline - 301]
2.41-Prison break
[Grand Duke of the Xavier Bloodline - 301]
Beads of sweat manifested on Avan''s forehead, and he tried to calm his treacherous heartbeat as much as he could while inwardly cursing his situation. *Of course, the boss himself is walking the halls!*
The only ray of hope at the end of the tunnel, however, was that the Grand Duke continued on to one of the other rooms and did not stop in the small library where Avan was currently hiding with his heart racing.
*Level 301, DEFINITELY not something I can do on my own! I need the help of the others if we are to clear the dungeon.... Or we can escape directly?* If Avan would level up a bit more somewhere else, he could come back at some other time and finish the dungeon here.
With these thoughts, he paused for minutes, and even after the Grand Duke had long since ceased to be heard outside and disappeared somewhere on the other side of the building, Avan waited a few minutes longer until he finally ventured out into the hallway again.
The way back to the window on the lower floor was fortunately uneventful and except for the fact that Avan had to hide again behind a curtain from the patrolling guard, he arrived smoothly back in the courtyard outside.
"So..." Avan murmured, glancing up at the artificial night sky glittering with all its glory on the ceiling of the gigantic cavern. "Patris first. With him, we can get the two women out and take out the prisoners'' guard... Maybe among the other prisoners there are even battle-hardened women who can help us?"
Quietly creeping from one shadow to the next, he hurried between the buildings and a few minutes later found himself back in the small side alley between the houses where he had left Patris behind the water barrel. "And I need to find out what the vampires'' weaknesses and strengths are in this world..."
Avan stood next to the water barrel, slightly bent over with a smile on his face, one hand resting on the barrel, and looked down at the snoring Patris. "And the bum just keeps on sleeping.... Okay, to be fair, he has a lack of blood to use as an excuse."
On the floor where Avan had left food and the short sword before, there were only crumbs to be found, and leaning against Patris'' side directly behind the barrel, the short sword was within immediate reach. "Good..."
Avan squatted down in front of Patris, bobbing slightly on the balls of his feet, and looked at the now reasonably healthy-looking warrior. He had regained some color in his face, and a light pinkish tint was visible on both cheeks, while a fist-sized mark was clearly visible on the left. It was right next to the place where Patris supported himself with his clenched fist while he slept and probably left this imprint. "How he can sleep like that without toppling over sideways is a mystery to me..." Avan whispered while observing the odd sleeping position of his comrade.
"Well, let''s wake him up and keep watching."
With first careful and light blows with the palm of his hand on both cheeks, very gently, Avan tried to wake up the sleeping warrior. However, Patris seemed to be in a deep sleep, and only after Avan struck with a little more force did his tired eyes slowly flutter open. Slowly focusing on his surroundings, Patris blinked a few times and then looked heavily sleepy into Avan''s face, quietly muttering something to himself. "I just slept so good, buddy!"
When Patris noticed the conscious grin on Avan''s face and realized how he had been temples here, he quickly got up and leaned properly against the wall of the house behind him, rubbing his eyes sleepily and slightly ashamed. "Yes, yes. Go ahead and tease me. Like you wouldn''t sleep like a baby if they took gallons of your blood..." Came softly from Patris, followed by a hearty yawn.
Avan just kept grinning and gave a light slap on Patris'' shoulder. "I get it." And stood up to stretch himself, while he kept squinting one eye at the entrance of the small alley between the houses to be on guard. Glancing back at Patris, who was just holding his hand in front of his mouth when a second yawn had to come out, Avan cracked his neck. "There''s some news. And I need info... Well, the boss in here seems to be a Grand Duke, level 301." He began his story while waiting for his counterpart''s reaction.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.Patris looked up at Avan, and blinked. A second and a third time, until he stared up in shock with visible understanding on his face. "Are you kidding me? Fucking level 301?..." And lapsed into silence at the end, his own words and the information digesting. "Damn..."
"Well, I''d say we get the two girls out, kill the guards at the prisoners, and then escape with everyone as quickly as possible and let the adventurers guild know.... The quests are completed and we have found out more than enough info..." Avan explained further, but this time again seriously, and nodded in the direction of where the prisoners were. He continued to tell Patris how Linob had died, and what the situation was with the two young women. "And with four guards patrolling, two at a time, I need to know what exactly the weak points of vampires are. Since I''ve never fought any myself, I don''t know these creatures at all..." He finished his story, and looked at the seriously thinking Patris, who was just processing the information of his story.
Summoning some berries from behind his back, throwing them into his mouth and chewing on them, Avan watched silently, waiting for Patris'' answer.
After a few minutes and odd facial expressions, Patris looked back up at Avan. "With Linob, this really sucks.... Not only that I''m sorry for his death, but also because our chances with him would have been much better. But okay. About the vampires... That''s not so easy. There are noble vampires, some of which have only the weakness against the sun, but there are also normal vampires, who perish in ashes at the lesser contact with fire or sunlight. Each of the vampire bloodlines itself also possesses other abilities that can be passed on from the parents to the younger ones. While noble vampires can even, very rarely, father children, the normal vampires are a subspecies and in the eyes of the noble vampires are not worth much more than slaves. The only thing all vampires have in common is their susceptibility to holy mana. Celestial mana, to be exact. The very element you seem to be using, right?" He explained, looking at Avan expectantly at the end.
With a sigh, aware that his element was very rare and scarce, Avan looked up at the sparkling ceiling. "Yes, my element is indeed celestial.... What a coincidence, huh?" And looked down at Linob to read in his face what the young warrior thought of it. Satisfied not to find any ulterior motives or other signs of negative feelings in Patris, Avan sighed again. "Then my spells and forms should suffice.... If we can take on a few patrols at a time, four at a time, with the two girls together, that should be doable quickly.... But..." Avan thought about it briefly, as he remembered an important point of criticism that he had almost forgotten. "We have to take out the guards on the wall first! The risk is too great that they will look into the courtyard, see us, and then sound the alarm!"
With a nod and satisfied to have thought of such an important detail after all, he focused on Patris again.
"Sounds good, and reasonable.... I don''t have a shield, but my life force is massive and I can distract the vampires until you finish them off." Murmured Patris first more to himself, and then more confidently to Avan. "And once the guards on the wall are down, we''ll quietly get them out of the cage and take care of the guards! Then we''ll check on the other captured women.... Since the men all seem to have been drained of their blood immediately.... and escape as quickly as possible so that a high ranking adventurer team can take care of this breeding ground here!"
A mutual agreement reached, Avan helped Patris to his feet, and both made their way stealthily to the nearest staircase leading up to the parapet on the right side of the fort.
.
2.42-Escape with detours 1/2
Just as the second guard on the right watchtower was saying goodbye to the other and patrolling back over the battlements, Patris rose from the shadows further back on the wall and walked as quietly as possible, short sword in hand, toward the guard who had stayed behind. The guard stood in the firelight of the tower and looked after the vampire comrade, only to let his gaze wander boredly over the plain outside the fort again. A longbow on his back and a blood-red metal spear in his right hand, while the arrows for the bow were in a fixed quiver in a corner of the tower. In the center of the square watchtower was a metal structure made of sticks, in which a bonfire with large logs crackled.
*You would think that if many normal vampires have such an enormous weakness against fire and sunlight, they wouldn''t let such a big fire burn next to them, would they? At most, they are all noble vampires and give a wet shit. Hm...* Avan thought as he followed Patris in the shadows, ready to strike at the right moment. His midnight-black celestial forms floated behind him in wire-rope variations, almost opaque.
Just before Patris stepped clearly into the wide firelight, Avan heard a familiar and long unheard bell ringing in the back of his head.
*Chime
[Sneak] leveled up!
Your Passive Skill [Sneak] is now [Bronze] 1.
Passive Skill: Sneak
Thanks to your inflitration into a castle full of probably hostile and bloodthirsty vampires, your constant almost peeing your pants, and your courageous ambition, you have earned this ability.
Gives you the ability to get from one place to another unnoticed, as long as you keep a low profile and stay undercover.
[Bronze] Any surprise attacks from stealth on unsuspecting victims now do 2x damage!
*Chime*
[Steady] leveled up!
Your passive skill [Steady] is now [Silver] 1.
Passive Skill: Steady
When staggered, you have a high chance to stay steady on your feet instead of succumbing. This skill can help you cast magic without being interrupted or shooting while standing on the back of a horse or even a dragon.
[Bronze] You are now noticeably more secure on your feet and begin to perceive slight vibrations in the ground at your feet, which help you to stand even more securely or, if necessary, to better handle the coming sitaution.
[Silver] You can now ignore knockdown or knockback attacks if you actively want to.
*Hah! As if it was planned!* Avan chuckled inwardly, just as Patris stepped into the light and caught the surprised attention of the guard stationed there out of the corner of his eye. The guard wheeled around in a flash, spear at the ready and aimed at Patris, while imperiously hissing something in the vampire language that sounded very challenging.
Visibly angry and suddenly seething with rage at what the vampires here had done to humans and especially Linob, Patris took up his fighting stance. Even if it was only with a short sword, without shield and armor.
"Shut up, scum." And attacked with lightning speed.
[Vampire Guard - 201]
The vampire guard himself seemed to be shocked for a moment and needed a heartbeat to realize how this little human in front of him had so fearlessly ignored him and attacked directly. Shortly before Patris was about to strike the spear aside, the guard had already mentally regained his composure and sped sideways to strike the short sword aside with a practiced spear swing and directly follow up with a thrusting attack. Patris, who briefly lost his balance, still a little weak on his feet, almost lost his footing and could only with the last effort prevent the sword from being knocked out of his hand. A too late sideways step on the narrow passage of the wall parapet brought him out of the deadly zone of the spear thrust, but a painful hiss still escaped him when the spear tore the skin on his left shoulder. "Fucker!" He cursed angrily and jumped directly into the just-retracted spear to turn the range of the enemy weapon against the vampire. Patris was now standing so close that the length of the spear became rather obstructive and the vampire tried to retreat, which Patris immediately countered and followed.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.A strange looking exchange of blows between the short sword and the spear, in whose spear range Patris was now constantly standing, began. The vampire guard had no choice but to take the spear in both hands, block, and attack with swings, since the range for spear thrusts and other maneuvers was simply no longer possible.
Avan himself took advantage of the opportunity and crept forward as quickly as possible, now sideways in the back of the guard, so as not to drag out the fight any longer. The sound of the two weapons themselves colliding was extraordinary and unexpectedly quiet, but since vampires had very good hearing, it should still be done as quickly as possible. *Whether it is because of this blood-red metal? Whether it is hardened blood and therefore the blows sound so muffled? Strange...* The thought crossed his mind, but was immediately pushed aside when he was finally only 1 meter away.
With a mental command, the paper-thin midnight black wire ropes sprang forward, and before the vampire guard knew what was happening, it stood rooted to the spot. Patris himself looked puzzled as his sword entered the vampire''s right shoulder effortlessly and without resistance, only to look in the direction of the evil grinning Avan. An unnatural chill went down Patris''s spine at that moment, as he saw the look of a Predator who took an evil pleasure in killing his enemy.
In a split second, the body of the vampire guard collapsed, and cleanly severed pieces fell to the ground where the vampire had just been standing. The celestial wire ropes had wrapped around the guard in a flash and jerked together, cutting the vampire directly into tiny pieces.
"Holy shit..." Patris cursed softly as he looked at the pile of bloody parts in front of him, then squinted at Avan, and again stunned at the remains on the ground. "Thank God you''re on our side."
Avan himself just smirked, the evil grin already wiped away, and inwardly rejoiced like a little child at christmas when there were presents. *Sneak attack is just sick strong, holy fucking shit!* And part of his wire ropes disintegrated into mist to dissolve the vampire and any remains of him, while he added the items and objects to his dungeon inventory, since they didn''t seem to count as magic objects. Thus, in the future, with the help of his dungeon mana, he could even reproduce the bow, spear, armor, and even the arrows in the quiver in the back, one of which was also dissolved.
"Okay, neat work... but we should urgently fight the next ones with much less noise. It''s a bit of a miracle that none of the other guards down in the courtyard or on the wall noticed." Avan said to Patris, as he patted him encouragingly on the shoulder, while they both crept on without comment towards the patrolling guards in the shadows.
The young warrior cast a thoughtful glance back over his shoulders, and then looked forward again as he quietly replied. "Yes, that''s right. I''ll try to position the next one directly so you can attack right away from behind."
Avan nodded, but then felt a little stupid because he realized that Patris couldn''t see him. A sigh escaped him, because he had become so accustomed to always being able to perceive everything through his 360 degree range of influence.
The next watch actually went much faster, because Patris immediately took advantage of the moment of surprise to run past the week and hastily defended against the quickly executed spear swing. The guard naturally turned in the direction of the attacker, and Avan was able to finish everything within seconds of the start of the fight, as the guard fell to the ground lifeless and in pieces.
So they cleared away the last patrolling guard at the far right wall section, and crept down into the shadows to the two women, when any guards that could have looked down into that part of the courtyard had been removed.
2.43-Escape with detours 2/2
With careful steps and on silent soles Patris and Avan crept from one shadow to the next, always careful to use any cover and to stay out of sight of the vampire guards.
A quick gesture to Patris and an understanding nod back, and Avan crept on alone, by now almost crawling on the ground to take advantage of the cover of the prison cages. These were on a small elevation and not directly on the floor, for reasons Avan could not readily comprehend, which is why he was able to use just under thirty centimeters of height of the cages as cover.
When Avan arrived at the two women''s cage and the two guards had just passed by with their rounds, he glanced into the cage and saw them both asleep with Jen''s head on Dani''s lap and Dani herself dozing with her back against the bars.
"Dani!" Avan whispered, trying to get the exhausted young woman''s attention without attracting the vampires. But there was no response.
With a sigh, Avan looked around on the floor in front of the cell and picked up a small pebble. With a deft throw and another whisper of "Dani!", but this time a little louder, the small stone landed on the side of Dani''s thigh and she finally woke up sleepily. A confused look at the place where the pebble had hit her, and then she remembered the second thing that had woken her up. Dani looked around for the voice, and looked Avan straight in the eye, a tired smile on her lips.
A nod from her told him that she had seen him, and Avan waited.
Dani gently shook Jen awake, and she looked around sleepily and with tousled hair, uncertainly, while she ran her dirty hands over her face and rubbed her eyes. "Hmmmm...?" Came an indistinct but questioning tone, without Jen''s mouth moving. A quick nod from Dani in Avan''s direction and Jen looked around in confusion until her gaze fell on him. A smile like a brilliant sunrise blossomed on the young healer''s face and her eyes lit up as she whispered something to her friend, never once taking her eyes off Avan.
Both of them looked around for the vampire guards and then carefully, without hurting themselves on the untreated wood of the cell floor, crawled towards Avan.
They positioned themselves with their backs, both side by side, to Avan at the bars. "Well, you guys? Slept in and ready to get out of here?" Avan whispered to their backs, earning a momentary silence. If looks could kill, Avan would have dropped dead when he saw the murderous look Dani briefly gave him over her shoulder.
"Yes, you joker.... What''s the plan?" Asked the young huntress as she took two deep breaths in and out.
Avan refrained from making any more unfunny comments and explained the situation to them. When it came to the part where they both questioned how he was going to get them out of the cage without a key, Avan sent his still almost invisible celestial wire ropes hovering behind him to the lock of the cage door, and a soft hiss later there was a barely audible click and the door swung open an inch.
"Any questions?"
This time Jen glanced at him over her shoulder, but unlike Dani''s murderous look, this facial expression had only gratitude and even a few moist eyes looking at him gratefully. "Yes... let''s get rid of the guards and then check on the other prisoners.... And get out of here."
All three waited again for the next patrol''s turn, while Avan gave Patris the agreed signal and he crept on to distract the other two vampire guards at the right moment.
Avan himself squeezed into the mud just so under the cage, as the cells themselves stood on various logs, and as soon as the guards had passed the three hissing in their language, he quickly crawled out and the two women carefully opened the cell door.
[Vampire Guard - 198]
[Vampire Guard - 211]
Two more meters... and another meter until Avan was within reach of the first vampire guard, when suddenly a telltale squeak was heard behind him. The ears of the two guards twitched, and abruptly, with practiced movements, they spun around fluidly, their spears already in their hands for the attack. Just as they looked in disbelief at the two young women stepping out through the quietly squeaking and open prison door, Avan seized the last opportunity to attack from the moment of surprise.
He leapt forward to bring the two guards within his reach, and his waiting forms attacked.
One guard was instantly dismembered and killed, but the other had seen his forward movement, negating the double damage bonus for sneak attacks. One arm fell severed to the ground, but with a practiced backward movement and a brief blur, and the higher level vampire guard stood a meter away out of reach. * A movement skill!* Avan cursed inwardly.
Quickly, so as not to make unnecessary fighting noises, Avan jumped to his feet and rushed toward the vampire. The vampire, still visibly shocked, tried to understand what had just happened, and had only been able to react so quickly thanks to his combat experience.
Avan relied on Patris and the agreed-upon distraction. The warrior was to pretend that he was staggering powerlessly along the wall on the other side of the cells, while his short sword was tucked away in his waistband at the back.
With only one focused thought, namely to annihilate the enemy in front of him as quickly as possible, Avan sprinted forward toward the vampire, who stared at him with wide eyes. One step and several hisses later, and the vampire guard that had just escaped also fell to the ground in pieces, but this time with much messier cuts and a lot of strangulation. Holding his breath, Avan turned to the two women, who both looked guilty at the mistake. Avan just shrugged his shoulders, since he hadn''t thought of it either. *As always, I can only think of one thing. The plan goes off without a plan.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.The three rushed between the other cages, waking up many of the remaining female inmates, who followed the group with wide eyes.
"I don''t know! Where am I...?" They heard from some distance from Patris, who was staring at the two vampire guards with his hands up and his eyes filled with fear, his back to the wall.
The two stood with drawn spears and held the young warrior in check, while they communicated with their hissing sounds among themselves.
Abruptly, both fell silent, when suddenly another kind of hiss joined the conversation. And both fell to the ground, dismembered and neatly cut into pieces.
Patris, who had just looked like a frightened and anxious bunny, stood there with relaxed shoulders and pulled a pout. "Of course you''re having all the fun, while I have to play bait here. When we get out of here, I need to have a serious talk with you, Avan!" He said, playfully upset, until his gaze landed on his girlfriend and everything was forgotten.
The four hugged, especially Dani and Patris, while Jen buried her head in Avan''s chest and shed a few tears for Linob. Avan himself gently and soothingly ran his hand over the young healer''s head and remained silent, just being there for her.
When everyone had calmed down and Jen withdrew, slightly ashamed but grateful, the group took care of the rest of the captured women and girls. There were only female prisoners in the cells, and according to the various stories and thank-yous of the freedmen, this was common practice.
Ten women and four daughters were freed, and after some hurry and urging from Avan, after a few minutes they ran single file up the stairs to the wall, following Avan.
He himself, much to everyone''s surprise and silent outcry, simply walked out over the brush of the wall, and instead of falling down as everyone expected, he slowly floated down while quietly and insistently giving orders before disappearing. "Two at a time! Just jump, I''ll catch you at the bottom with magic!" A short yelp from Jen startled everyone, but two seconds later she also floated down the wall outside right after Avan.
"You could have at least warned me!" She complained to him down below, while holding her pounding heart with one hand and running her other hand over her hair in agitation.
Avan looked up, and then at her. "No time. We have to move fast. Sorry, Jen."
As if he had flipped a switch in her, she suddenly smiled back at him, nodding in understanding. "It''s okay... I just got scared.... But I trust you." And looked up as well, where a woman with her daughter stood trembling and uncertain at the top of the parapet, looking down.
*If the wall weren''t so high, or if I still had my entire sphere of influence at my disposal, we''d all be down there by now, I guess...*
With an encouraging wave of his hand to the two on top of the wall, Avan waited and held his Celestial Mana in a nebula form ready to defy gravity and cushion the two.
A whisper at the top of the wall, and the two finally jumped, hand in hand, while a soft yelp rang out as they stepped into the bottomless pit. For Avan, however, it was remarkable to see how bravely and otherwise silently the two completed the jump, and with some mental effort, successfully cushioned them at the bottom.
The two safely hit the ground below, and fell into each other''s arms as they stepped aside to make way for the next.
So it went on smoothly, and fortunately without the alarm being raised or anything else going wrong, and once again everyone stood relieved and grateful at the bottom in front of the wall. Many had thanked Avan again and again and had approached him, but he had only dismissed them with a nod and a slight smile.
Now, on the right side of the cave, looking into the massive cavern from the cave entrance, the path led toward the crystal lake. Fortunately, they did not have to worry about the guards on their side of the wall, since no one could see them as they had to cover a few hundred meters over open grassy terrain.
With the last steps, the fugitives climbed a small hill, and all of them stood frozen at the sight before them.
The lake in front of them, which was fed by the blue waterfall in the ceiling, lay breathtakingly beautiful in front of them and only a light spray of water hitting the surface of the lake sent waves around. The water of the lake glowed a magical fluorescent blue and was otherwise completely smooth as glass. At the shore, the grass turned into white sand, which reached deep into the lake and disappeared into the depths.
"Stunning, hum?" Avan blurted out as he stood frozen for a few seconds, along with everyone else.
Except for the rush of the waterfall, there were no sounds to be heard. Avan let his gaze wander across the lake, watching the blue glitter and glow of the water in amazement. *I wonder if the vampires drink this and that''s why they glisten so disgustingly. Whereby... They drink blood... Maybe they bathe in it? Would at least somehow logically explain why the bloody hell these vampires glitter like a decorated christmas tree.* It shot through his head.
As his gaze followed the waterfall up into the ceiling, and back down again, he suddenly noticed something out of the corner of his eye that had peeked out for a fraction of a second in the spray of the water masses crashing down below.
"Is THAT where the dungeon core is?!" He muttered in disbelief, and even Jen, Patris and Dani at his side followed his gaze and briefly spotted the same round object at the bottom of the lake, just below the crashing waterfall.
Following an intuition, but more of an instinct than knowing why, Avan took a step toward the lake. Shaking his head to clear it for a moment, he turned to his friends. "I need to take a closer look.... Please make sure everyone else is moving along safely, I''ll rejoin you in a minute, okay?"
And without waiting for a reply, Avan left his teammates standing there with their mouths slightly agape.
2.44-Something is wrong
A certain man floated above the clouds, lying sideways in the air in a slightly lazy posture, as if he were lying on a sofa or several pillows, his hand supporting his head.
The green-haired person''s gaze was directed downward, almost looking to observers as if he were just staring at the clouds below.
"What exactly is he doing now?" He spoke in a melodic voice.
Avan sat at the bottom of the lake, enveloped in a midnight-black bubble of pure celestial mana, staring at the object in front of him, not 30 centimeters away. The bubble contained air and shielded him from the masses of water around and above him, especially the thundering masses of water cascading down from the waterfall.
The dungeon core floated in front of him, a few inches above the bottom of the lake, looking inconspicuous were it not for the golden and silver lines that testified to the celestial mana inherent in all dungeon cores.
A few pulsating veins of a blood-red hue complemented the perfectly round sphere, confirming the main element of the dungeon and why it was all about blood magic.
*Should I really dare...?* Avan asked himself inwardly for the hundredth time in the last minutes since his arrival down here. He remembered very clearly the two times he had touched dungeon cores or fragments of them, like in the very first temple he had encountered on Eos and later the tower dungeon in Haipu as a slave. The former had been forced upon him by his dungeon class, and the latter had given him odd memories and a connection that shouldn''t have been there, he was more than sure.
The very fact that he was a dungeon, but so much more than that, was evidence of a flaw in the system that not even Akkalon could explain. *At least I think so...*
*If I touch this sphere here, and something happens again... what exactly does that tell me? My dungeon class itself also had a vague designation that I can get stronger by reaching other dungeon cores, but everything is so vague and unclear...*
Indecisively, he thought about the past, and about the fact that his team mates and the other former prisoners were waiting for him at the other end of the lake, and that they had not yet left the danger zone. *Get a grip, Avan... I''m here now anyway, and I was going to find out, wasn''t I?*
Before he could ponder or think about leaving without doing anything, Avan reached out and placed his hand on the incredibly flawless and smooth surface.
Nothing happened, and Avan exhaled a little relieved but also disappointed, unconsciously holding his breath because he expected to be drawn into a vision or something else again.
The hand lightly stroked the surface of the sphere, and Avan traced the veins of gold, silver, and blood-red with his fingers as he mindlessly stared at the dungeon core. Suddenly, he felt something awaken inside him. and he reacted! An ability came forward, at first unconsciously, and without Avan having activated it himself.
[Origin of Runes] pulsated in his field of vision, and unknown runes formed in his field of vision in front of him, directly above his outstretched hand! Runes that Avan had never seen before, but which seemed to trigger a familiar feeling in him. A feeling of home, and of justice. Of security, but also brimming with a deep knowledge that he could not actually have.
The runes continued to form and flow into one another, almost as if several lines of an unknown language were opening up before him, letter by letter, word by word, and sentence by sentence written out of nothing. *Are runes nothing more than a language?!* came Avan''s inner question as he reacted with fascination and for some reason not fear or surprise, just curiosity. Something inside him told him that this was right. That it belonged to him, like his limbs, and breathing to survive.
His arm remained outstretched, but his stroking of the surface of the dungeon core was stopped, for fear that if he moved it would all fizzle out and he would break or disrupt whatever was going on.
The runes now seemed to have finished what they had wanted to write down in this strange magical language, and Avan saw before him, floating above his arm, a one meter by one meter area of rune sentences, but not in two dimensions, but in three dimensions! The runes had overlapped, had continued to write between the words and letters in smaller runes, contained whole sentences in words. And not only from the front, but also when Avan turned his head slightly, the runes changed and depending on the angle of view, he could recognize other written words from runes!
Between the lines were more rune combinations, from left to right, right to left, top to bottom, and bottom to top.
How Avan knew from which directions it was written? [Origin of Runes] pulsed inside him, and he just KNEW it.
And when the last rune, the last letter in this strange yet familiar script was perfectly completed with a final stroke of caligraphy, the entire construct pulsated. It began to glow, and rapidly increased in intensity, while gradually it soon shone so brightly that Avan had to close his eyes to avoid being blinded.
And suddenly everything went black for Avan.
I was floating in a dark nothing. An endless vastness, endless, and yet finite. For me, everything was infinitely far and yet so close, because I could reach everything at any time and be where I wanted.
After all, all this was ME.
And I existed, but alone. Over countless time spans, which I had never considered important enough to count, I had simply existed and thought alone here. A thought spanned such a long period of time, was so complex and multi-layered that time flowed past me, but never touched me.
I existed IN time and not FOR time. I was not time, but I coexisted with it. It was like a constant companion for me, even if it was a silent and yet furious companion without equal.
At a certain point in time, I came back to the surface of my consciousness out of one of my countless long and so complex strands of thoughts, and I had an idea.
Wouldn''t it be exciting to do more? To develop myself further? To give structure to my being, to redefine myself?
These were my superficial thoughts, immeasurably profound and never comprehensible to anyone else.
So I got started. With my will, "things" came into being. Objects in my body. Because my body encompassed EVERYTHING.
Oddly shaped objects, tiny in my eyes. I experimented, and soon I had various, countless, these pobjects for me in the black nothing of my own floating, which all had the potential to develop independently. I had let my ideals of beauty, aesthetics and all my ideas flow into all these objects. And all tied together with potential for MORE. Potential for growth, for development.
And I was satisfied with my creations. Even... Happy! Emotions welled up in me, although I had never felt anything like that before. Whether these came from my creations and influenced me as well? Life sprouted, developed, fought for survival, and died. A cycle arose.
I observed other indefinable periods of time, what my creations did. What my objects were producing, and how life was evolving. Knowledge was passed on, and lost. Objects created by me disappeared, and emerged again, from the potential of the objects that were once torn out of existence.
Countless colors were created by themselves, and all my infinite objects flew through my existence, and I enjoyed it!
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.But something was missing when I saw many of my creations colliding with each other. A structure, set, guidelines. Laws of existence, of origin. Laws of ME.
And so I started the next project, created paths, laws according to which all matter and antimatter in my existence had to submit, had to adhere to the rules. I created further, much smaller, but also much larger, objects. I put them into certain constellations and created whole collections of these. Some glittered, some radiated and blazed, others were still and frozen.
I christened my first objects [planets], and by adding the [laws of origin], I bound them together in an incredibly elaborate principle. Into different individual areas, completely separated from each other. I added [stars], [suns] and gave meanings and instructions to all my creations. And christened these collections as one [universe] each. Several of these collections resulted in a [dimension] for me.
Satisfied with my work over the last spans of time, my only companion, I watched fascinated as everything now moved on its own and in fixed trajectories. The developments of living beings, whole peoples, came and went. An endless cycle.
After further observations over a long period of time, I noticed the next error that needed to be corrected. My planets and whole dimensions brought forth new life on their own, but when this went out, everything in it was lost.
And so I created something new. I called it [soul], and planted it in every new creature that was not lifeless. A soul would remain after the extinction of a living being and reappear in a newborn living being somewhere else. Memories and everything were lost, but I gave the soul the potential to be more. Sometimes to retain memories, sometimes to become stronger in a new birth. A [soul] also got potential, and could develop.
I kept observing, looking at all the creations that had come about indirectly or directly through my work, and how everything was evolving. I took each [soul] personally to put it into the next being. But I soon noticed more mistakes. Sometimes there were souls that could not be reborn immediately because there was no capacity. Sometimes there were no souls, and new creatures and beings came into being without them.
So I created another level. Something above and beyond the reach of all my other creations. A flow of souls. Fresh souls were automatically flushed in and lined up one after the other in this river, while those who had been there first were reborn and the other souls moved forward. But did I really feel like taking care of these permanent reincarnations myself? No!
So a system was created, a part of my consciousness that was split off, and I created a language of the highest order. The [language of origin]. I gave this system all rights and ideas to supervise the order and to carry out my wishes, and to use the language created by me for the further creation.
And so I relaxed and could watch how this part of me, this system created by me, penetrated my creations and decided for itself what was right and wrong, where it had to intervene, and what was allowed where. And it created, according to my will and desire, another set in the origin. The right to free will.
Every living being should have the right to decide for itself, as long as it wanted to do so and did not give up the right of its own accord. Of course, this did not override the other laws of any existence of my creations, but I wanted to observe and be entertained, and if I always knew what would happen, I would quickly get bored. But if every creature and every living being made decisions on its own? CHAOS and ORDER. Pure pleasure for me, because everywhere I looked, new and unexpected things happened.
And so other endless times passed, and I watched, fevered, laughed and cried, and had fun and entertainment.
But even this became boring at some point.
My creatures, which I observed at every point in their short lives, fascinated me. They fought and went through life, knowing it was final. And made the best of it.
What would it be like to lead such a life? I could not understand it. To master these challenges, to grow, to die.
Suddenly I made a decision... I wanted to know. I wanted to feel, sense and experience it for myself!
I split off a part of myself, my active consciousness. I created a soul for myself, which I could inhabit until the body died. As soon as this died, I would return, so was the plan.
But to give myself surprises and hurdles on the way, I interwove parts of my existence in these small objects, which had originated everywhere on all my planets in all dimensions, when I wanted to let living beings develop by themselves.
I tied knowledge, power, memories to these little objects, and would be able to collect them with my mortal body if I ever got around to it. A kind of journey and development, a challenge to myself to become myself again and connect with my main consciousness.
As a last task, before I could go into the adventure, I gave certain instructions to my other part, the administrative system. What it should do in the infinite different cases, if this or that occurred. What it was allowed to do and what it was supposed to do.
And then i plunged into my new soul, and let the active consciousness be born into the mortal world!
Avan took a frightened, panicked breath, holding his aching head with both hands!
He frantically scanned his body, and only when he was one hundred percent convinced that he was himself, and not this INFINITE being, which he had just seen, felt and even been himself, did his heartbeat slowly calm down again and his breathing calm down.
*Holy fucking shit! What the bloody hell and abyss of all hells was that?!* he cursed inwardly, his consciousness still trying to process everything he had just experienced. *That was not a vision! I fucking experienced it all in my own body!* he continued, cursing in disbelief.
Avan was woozy, had a massive headache, and knew that he could not process even a tiny fraction of what he had just experienced. Only the superficial part that could be described and seen, that he could feel. But the infinite part behind it? That was impossible for Avan to grasp or even think about!
So Avan lay on the bottom of the lake, legs outstretched and even lying on his back and massaging his head. The air in his created bubble soon ran out and the air was already getting thinner and harder to breathe, so he could not stay down here long to process what he had experienced. *Besides, the others are still waiting for me...*
Tired and mentally exhausted as he had never been before in his life, Avan stood up trembling and took the first step towards the shore. When he was able to walk somewhat steadily and had walked a few meters, always pushing the water away from him through his celestial bubble as he walked, he only now discovered a flashing message in his field of vision.
Sighing, and not in the least surprised, he stared at the ominous message while scratching his chin and continuing to put one foot in front of the other.
[The will of the origin - 42/?]
[Part of the origin.]
Effect: Not yet known
Avan was perplexed as he read the messages. On the one hand, he had expected that [The will of the origin] would get more parts, but that it was now sitting directly on the number 42 only added to the confusion. *As if the system had done this on purpose, and the number that was always equated as a joke with the meaning of life 42 had just been chosen at random?* Avan was quite sure, and felt it instinctively, that this was no coincidence and that the system was giving him a hint here. Something he urgently needed to think about in a quiet minute after the escape.... And the new thing, [part of the origin], was also a mystery. Avan stopped himself about the context of being a "part" of the origin, the incomprehensible being of the whole existence, which he had glimpsed in his vision.
Sighing and shaking his head, he marched on, meanwhile mentally somewhat recovered and almost no longer shaky on his feet.
2.45-Outside again at last
[The will of the origin - 42/?]
[Part of the origin.]
Effect: Not yet known
*Yes, no, it''s obvious.* Avan thought about the two messages again for the first time as he thought back to them. He stomped straight out of the lake on the other side and didn''t even notice the people in front of him, who were staring at him in surprise and with wide eyes. How he came marching out of nowhere, dry-footed, out of the lake, not carrying a drop of water. The women whispered among themselves, but the children had less trouble just saying what was on their minds. "Look mom! A wizard!"
It wasn''t until Patris laughed, next to the amused Jen with a still slightly sad look, that the ice broke and several of the women and children chuckled. This time it was Avan''s turn to look around in confusion, because his head was still busy with the things that had just happened, until he finally understood the new situation in front of him.
He scratched the back of his head apologetically and slightly ashamedly and looked at his comrades with raised eyebrows.
"Shall we get on with it then?" He asked the question in order to devote himself to the more important topic for the here and now, and quickly brought the others back down to earth.
*Whereby it seems to be good, that especially the trapped women came to other thoughts for a moment...*
Dani had just watched Avan shaking her head and now led the others again, in which she went ahead and always ran with enough cover from the fortress, which was in the meantime further away, in the direction of one of the exits.
Meanwhile, Patris joined Avan and patted him sympathetically on the shoulder, as if he knew exactly how to deal with odd or embarrassing situations in his life. "So, did you get there? Did it do anything?" Came the obvious questions directed at Avan, which he had already expected, since he had halfway enlightened Patris earlier.
Avan took a few steps and hung in silence with his thoughts for another minute before answering. "Yes, and no. I have a certain... ability that gives me strange situations when I touch dungeon cores. And I thought I might learn something from this one about the vampires, but alas, that was not the case."
A short pause, and he explained further. "Except that the dungeon definitely has the blood element and so the dungeon can be categorized with blood magic, I had seen a vision, or memory."
Now it was up to Patris to look at Avan with raised eyebrows as he walked along beside Avan.
"Don''t look at me like that, Patris. I''m serious. But I need to think about this calmly first. AFTER we''ve escaped here and reported it to the guild. And then when I find out something that''s important, I''ll share it with you. Agreed?" Avan looked at Patris urgently, and tried to tell his companion silently that he should keep what he had just heard to himself until Avan shared it with others.
The young warrior looked at him thoughtfully and seriously, and almost tripped over a stone when he did not pay attention to the ground in front of him. Cursing briefly, he then laughed once. "Don''t worry, friend. I won''t say anything until you''ve put your own thoughts in order and share it freely with the others."
Grateful for this promise from the otherwise always cheerful and slightly clumsy Patris, Avan placed his right hand on Patris'' shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze while nodding at him.
Soon Dani, followed by Jen, had reached one of the many entrances in the cavern wall that was only a few centimeters above the ground. This was in contrast to the entrance several meters above the ground that had brought Avan here.
"So, from now on, it''s all about being quiet! Patris and I will lead the way, Jen will walk with you in the middle, and Avan our mage will back us up!" The young ranger explained to the women and girls with a calm but commanding serious tone. Many of the women simply nodded, and the mothers gripped their daughters'' hands extra tightly, while some looked back skeptically, wondering why a mage was covering our backs. Normally this was strange, because mages and healers actually ran in the middle to avoid being stabbed in the back, but Avan was not a normal mage, as Dani knew.
To demonstrate briefly, Avan raised his right hand and made short and clearly visible movements with his fingers, as if he were a puppeteer whose puppets danced all around him.
He had gotten into the habit since this dungeon, and especially with the extremely high mana regeneration down here and the density of mana thanks to the dungeon he was able to incorporate, and his Akkalons forms were now permanently in an invisible fog around him, just waiting for his instructions.
His hand movements were totally superfluous, but served a successful demonstration of magical might, as suddenly all around him the mist first became visible, and then became various mana spears, swords, spheres, and visible wire ropes.
Judging by the expressions on the faces of the women, and even his team mates who were surprised at the sheer numbers, he had succeeded and they all seemed pleased and suddenly felt much safer with him at their backs.
Jen helped the women and young girls into the dark cave entrance, while Avan looked around for danger behind them, distracting himself from thinking about the meaning of the vision.
Patris, still armed only with Avan''s short sword and a small axe in his left hand, stood at the front, and Dani behind him, also armed with a new bow that Avan had taken out of his inventory. A brief explanation that he possessed a spatial artifact and his friends should please keep quiet about it, and the mysterious appearance of weapons, equipment and even food was immediately explained to everyone.
He had only had 3 iron arrows with him from the dead adventurers at the beginning of his journey on Eos, but Dani had assured him that it should be more than enough, since she had certain skills that made it harder for her arrows to break during use. The bow itself was of inferior quality to her own former bow, but would serve its purpose for now, as would the already well-used iron dagger Avan had given her in case of close combat or when the arrows were shot.
Jen had gotten the [Oak staff of focus] from Avan, which he had bought in Tria before the trip, in order to at least be able to heal smoothly, since he didn''t need anything himself to work his magic.
A few dried berries, candied fruits for the children, and an iron spear, already heavily worn by use, Avan had also distributed to the women to satisfy some hunger and to equip at least one more fighter with a weapon that would otherwise only gather dust in his celestial storage, now that he had mastered his forms so well.
When everyone finally disappeared into the dark tunnel entrance, the search continued through the partially narrow and damp corridors, while all involved marched tense and quietly through the darkness, illuminated only by two airborne spheres of Avan that hovered above him and emitted extra light.
Avan''s teammates knew about the elite vampire guards patrolling these caves and tunnels, and everyone expected a collision with them around the next bend, or that they would be pursued after their escape was noticed.
But so far, much to Avan''s amazement, everything remained quiet, and they found themselves half an hour later at a staircase that looked like it would lead up.
A short meeting of all involved and also the spear fighter among the women, who had introduced herself as Anna and served as city guard in Tria before she and her daughters had been taken away, and the group was discussing the further course of action and the possible confrontations with the wolves on the upper levels if they had already respawned. In a naturally occurring dungeon, other laws often applied, since these dungeons were still very young and no structure had formed, which resulted in a sporadic or even sometimes no respawn of monsters for a very long time.
Just as Dani was talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the monsters on the upper levels, there was a sudden hiss from one of the other tunnel entrances leading into this cavern, where the stairs and the group of refugees were located.
Avan immediately spun around and went into a fighting stance, looking for the hiss that sounded an awful lot like the language of those vampires. Sure enough, two pairs of glowing red eyes stared out at the group from the darkness, and not a second later, two evil smiling vampire guards emerged from the tunnel, spears in hand, ready to fight.
[Elite Vampire Skirmisher - 251]
[Elite Vampire Skirmisher - 248]
"Too high level! Run, I''ll back you up!" Avan shouted to the others, who immediately ran towards the stairs and up, while only Jen stayed behind and had to be pulled along by Dani with loud protests. "Avan can''t do this alone! Let me help him!" She begged her friend in vain, but she would not let go and pulled her mercilessly behind her up the stairs.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.The two vampires, the one on the left with the slightly higher level and the one on the right, hissed angrily at each other and the one on the right gestured to the stairs while pointing at Avan.
Avan himself understood very well, even without knowing the language itself, what the two were up to, and took the initiative. His two spheres, which were still hovering above him, suddenly became brightly shining drills that spun faster and faster, and without waiting for the discussion between the two to end, he tensed his feet and jumped forward. At the place where he had just been standing, slight cracks formed in the ground, due to the pressure that Avan had projected under himself during the jump, and a cracking sound in the stone unfortunately announced his attack to the two vampires.
Both sprang around, their conversation immediately forgotten, and the combat experience and it immediately became apparent why both were considered *Elite*. The left of the two dropped his spear carelessly and grabbed his two double swords hanging at his waist left and right, and repelled the celestial borher flying towards him with a loud clang! He slipped half a meter backward with the force of the spinning drill, but except for a slight scratch on the sword that had to serve as a defense, he was unharmed.
The other guard whirled around with the spear, and with a masterfully aimed and almost imperceptible to the human eye directly executed a spear thrust forward. The tip of the blood red metal crashed into the tip of the celestial drill, and both weapons exploded under the force of the opposing power colliding at the smallest point.
Splinters of the blood spear scraped across the face of the surprised vampire, who had not expected this odd drill to have such force. A blink later, a furious hiss to his comrade, and he too had his two dopel swords in his hands, the splinters of his former spear already banished from his memory.
Avan himself was also momentarily surprised, but knew from past battles that his celestial forms could be destroyed, and directly summoned the missing construct again, while his other 20 forms formed various weapons and things out of the mist.
A wire rope sped toward the weaker of the two elite vampires, but only scratched harmlessly across the surface of the blood armor that encased the entire body like a second skin. *Damn, this armor prevents me from taking them out as quickly as the other vampires!* came Avan''s briefly frantic train of thought as he had to focus on the left vampire, who jumped right at him and took advantage of the distraction.
But both swords, contrary to the attacker''s expectation, bounced back against a thin barrier that had formed in a flash thanks to a mental command from Avan.
One of the two forms needed for this shattered, and Avan immediately conjured it up again, suddenly feeling a painful burning sensation on his right shoulder. The other vampire had taken advantage of the opportunity, and unlike all the anime and posed films Avan had seen and wondered about the stupidity of the attackers not attacking together at the same time, these two did! Only a broken spear of celestial energy had softened the attack that Avan did not lose his entire arm right at the shoulder, and only caught a cut deep to the bone.
"Fucker!" He now hissed as his body began to heal, but his mana regeneration was visibly weakening as he noticed. The deeper healing of a body required multiplied mana to cast as spells, and worked together with the body''s nutrients to speed up the healing process so massively.
Infinite healing was not possible, even if the mana regeneration was sufficient, because at some point the bitterly needed nutrients in the body ran out and you could actually heal someone "to death".
Avan seethed inwardly over the stupid beginner''s mistake and knew that he must not suffer too many injuries, otherwise he would become weaker and weaker, which would result in the lack of reflexes in battle.
He jumped back, and was just thinking about how to get to the mortal flesh of his opponents under all the armor, when both vampires jumped forward at the same time and tried to attack him from the front right and left. Avan instinctively knew that purely defensive tactics would be useless here, especially against two such experienced fighters.
A thick barrier formed in front of him in a semicircle, consuming 6 of his forms, and while the two were again surprised and enraged by the barrier and would have passed through in a few seconds, the other 16 forms materialized first in thick ropes, and some of them in small pointed needles.
The ropes flew ahead, trying to immobilize the superhumanly strong vampires as much as possible, while the needles went for the known weak points of armor. The bends of the arms, the base of the neck, all the places on the body where parts of the armor normally scraped against each other or overlapped.
The ropes held for a short time, but tore very quickly in a few seconds under the sheer muscle power of the vampires. The needles themselves did not find any weak points, except for the one that Avan had aimed directly at the right vampire''s eyes. He was just able to lift one of his swords and protect the right eye, but was still caught by the other needle with a loud painful roar in the left eye.
Before the needle could penetrate deeper, however, the vampire had grabbed the form with his other hand, dropped the sword carelessly on the floor, and with a roar, angrily pulled it out and broke it.
A furious hiss to his comrade and the now one-eyed vampire threw himself at Avan in a furious rage, but this time only with a sword in his hand and the other hand ready to hand in case Avan tried something like that again.
So it went on, Avan defensively, but sometimes couldn''t react fast enough and reaped some light or even deeper cuts while trying to slow down or ward off the two vampires with barriers. At the same time, however, he frantically with new attempts how he could add injuries to the two.
Only when he came up with another idea, to use pointed crow''s feet in smallest powder form, similar to what he had seen in historical films, he had finally found a way to seriously injure the two!
His barriers remained as a defense, while the other 16 forms formed into mist, but formed the smallest pointed grains. Avan had dredged up the inspiration from somewhere in his memory, where a smaller army had defeated a much larger one by crushing all the glass they could get into small powder and then sending this glass mist flying at the enemy army with magical wind. The glass powder settled on the skin, even partially in the pores, and literally ate away at the eyes and lungs as the opponents blinked the powder deeper into their eyes and breathed it in!
The same thing now happened to Avan''s opponents, as the mist suddenly descended mercilessly upon them, being inhaled and injuring the eyes so quickly and severely that any blinking or even closing of the eyes was already too late.
Not a minute later after Avan had started with this idea, the fight was finally over. Deep cuts on his arms and shoulders were still healing, and he plopped down on the stairs, exhausted.
The weapons of the two and the armor immediately disappeared out of habit in the Celestial storage, while the Celestial fog decomposed all the blood and remains of the two vampires into the smallest atoms and the remains of the attackers disappeared completely or partially absorbed into his dungeon as materials.
When Avan''s wounds showed only slight superficial cuts a few minutes later, he stood up and slowly walked up the stairs.
His stamina was as low as it had last been in the practice fight against Eve, when she had trained and challenged him mercilessly.
Health: 465/800
Stamina: 78/725
Ambient Mana: 8600
Souls: 531/1000
His life was still only just over 50% despite almost completely healed injuries from the outside, as the body could not conjure up nutrients out of thin air and still carried the weakness after the fight despite healed injuries. For a full recovery, he needed sleep, a proper meal and rest.
His stamina itself was also so low that he could only climb the stairs slowly on slightly wobbly legs to avoid collapsing completely. Again, he knew from experience that a big fat 0 in his stamina reading would make him pass out.
The two vampires, on the other hand, had surprisingly brought in 33 souls. "I wonder if the sucked out victims of the two vampires have been absorbed in some form by the blood and that''s why 33 souls in total came about?" He muttered while observing his resources and the increased number of souls.
When he finally reached the others, who had lined up at the top of the stairs ready to fight, waiting for Avan or, in the worst case, for the vampires, they greeted him with cheers. Jen immediately attended to his injuries with extra healing, and some of the women offered him dried berries and an apple that he had just given them earlier.
Grateful for the gesture, he accepted the food to regenerate his HP a little more, and the group continued on to the surface.
This time there were no further complications, and fortunately the monsters had not respawned yet. Soon the group emerged from the hole in the ground in the small clearing, and the women and children were crying happily, while the group of four just watched them, smiling.
Outside it was just cool night, and the starry sky greeted the group with a cloudless sky.
2.46-Obscured night sky
"Yes, I certainly do! I had put the things here somewhere, Patris!" Dani complained angrily to her friend. "But where the bloody hell did they disappear to???"
Dani had just joined Patris in searching the edge of the small clearing with the mound of earth that was the entrance to the natural dungeon for her remaining camping items. Before they entered the dungeon, Linob had insisted that they leave any superfluous camping gear outside so that it would not be a hindrance to fighting and exploring the dungeon. They had enough stuff with them to be able to sleep comfortably in the dungeon, but Jen''s guard had insisted that even soldiers did not fight with heavy luggage.
And so Dani had searched for the tents and camping equipment for the wilderness, but so far in vain. They had hidden the things behind some dense bushes, so that they could not actually be found. However, everything had disappeared from the face of the earth.
Avan himself took the opportunity, since he could not find or see anything in his sphere of influence that pointed to the remaining, and took a closer look at all his stats and skills. After the fight against the two elite soldiers in particular, since he had made three whole levelups, which brought him over the threshold of silver to gold!
He had simply packed the 15 stat points into strength for the time being, as his previous distribution seemed somewhat unbalanced to him.
Avan Leaf
Level: 201
Free Stat Points: 0
Element: Celestial
Class: [Gold] Dungeonarchitect (Human)
Subclass: [Gold] Healer of Akkalon
Stats
Strength: 165
Dexterity: 230
Vitality: 150
Intelligence: 310
Wisdom: 370
Spirit: 267
???????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????????
[Origin of Runes]
[The will of the origin - 42/?]
[Part of the origin.]
Effect: Not yet known
Active Skills [3/8]
[Silver] Akkalons Touch
[Silver] Akkalon''s Form
[Silver] Celestial Storage
[Bronze] Spark
Passive Skills
Pain Resistance: [Silver] 9
Steady: [Silver] 1
Potential: [Unlocked]
Celestial Affinity: [Bronze] 9
Identify: [Silver] 9
Celestial Sphere: [Silver] 9
First Aid: [Silver] 9
Tracking: [Bronze] 9
Meditation: [Silver] 9
Pain Expert: [Bronze] 7
Sneak: [Bronze] 1
Titles
[Reign of Might]: Boss monsters or other powerful creatures are no challenge for you. You live to challenge yourself. +100% damage for each first attack you deal to a superior or unique opponent in a fight.
[Bane of the Undead]: Any damage you deal to the undead is increased by 50%. This title is not upgradeable.
Perks
Cycle of Death and Life
Primary Resources
Health: 800/800
Stamina: 725/725
Ambient Mana: 8600
Souls: 498/1000
Celestial Storage
[Bronze Coin]: 8
[Silver Coin]: 60
[Gold Coin]: 2
1 [Staff of ???]
2 [Cups of steaming unending ??? Tea]
5 [Golden Meaples]
2 [Water Flask]
3 [Mana infused Water Flask]
3 [Blanket]
1 [Tent]
3 [Small Stacks of Berries]
122 [Lymia Herbs]
3 [Cups]
113 [Hound Fangs]
9 [Small Rune Engraved Stones]*
3 [Wooden Logs]
33 [Small Rune Engraved Wooden sticks]*
2678 [Small Purple Mana Crystal]
313 [Unique Purple Mana Crystal]
1 [Slave bracelet]
8L [Human Blood]
4 [Blood steal Swords]
1 [Blood steal Spear]
2 sets of [Blood steal Skirmisher Armor]
1 [Corpse of Linob ?????]
Adventurer
Name: Avan Leaf
Rank: Silver
Tokens: 0
His skills had not yet found an opportunity to be used after reaching the threshold of gold, so they continued to sit on the silver peak. As he went through his stats and skills, he thought about what he would do next once they had made the feedback in the city.
*The first thing I should think about is the vision... Although I don''t know what exactly I saw. Or WHO. And after that... Linob''s body and belongings given to Jen.... And then? Does the group stay together? Either way, I really need to take care of runes. What I had learned on the way here was just too overwhelming to leave aside.* Avan inwardly enumerated the most important points.
*And when I recall the reactions, these runes are known and masterfully used by runesmiths for enchantments of all kinds, but what I did here with spells is apparently not known on this continent. I wonder if that is the case on the other continents here on Aorus? Or only here? If I remember correctly, from Akkalon''s dungeon and the books there, then Eos should be the second continent on this planet. And the further you advance towards the celestial dungeon in the middle, the more powerful the monsters, and the denser and richer the flora and fauna, as well as the mana available in the surrounding area. All continents are arranged in an inward spiral, while the outermost continent has almost no mana at all, and the innermost part of this world belongs to the deities or demi-gods and their retinue...-*
"-belong? Hello, Avan, are you there?" Patris interrupted him at that moment, tapping his head with the knuckle of his middle finger just above the temples.
Avan blinked briefly and put down his arm, with which he had been fiddling thoughtfully with his chin, and turned to Patris, who was looking at him curiously but also very amused.
"Oh, you were saying?" Avan asked, slightly surprised to have been so lost in thought. *Sleep deprivation, perhaps? After the fights and the stress... not surprising.*
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it."And yet I''m constantly accused of being the blockhead here, hahaha!" The young warrior shook his head and held a hand in front of his mouth while laughing.
"Dani and Jen were just talking to the women and you said something about having tents or something in your spatial storage, right?"
Avan blinked again, and finally looked at Patris fully awake again as he remembered actually talking about it while handing out his food supplies and weapons. "Yep, I did. Hold on."
He let his gaze slide over his inventory, dropping some of the likely needed things on the floor next to the two.
"2 filled water bottles, 1 medium tent, 3 blankets. But that''s about it, I''m afraid.... Sorry. But maybe that''s enough for the kids at least? Until we get to the city." Avan counted and felt kind of bad when he couldn''t help more. *I should urgently stock up after the quest in the city and maybe even... Ohhhhh!*
"Just a moment, Patris! I have an idea to at least maybe for the moment get more cover for all of us! I''ll be right back, you guys go ahead and take care of everything else." Avan explained to his teammate, who just glared at him with an oddly lopsided raised eyebrow.
Without waiting for a reply, Avan grabbed one of the three blankets and quickly scurried into the forest behind him to pursue his idea unseen and undisturbed. Jen looked after him at that very moment with a questioning look, which he no longer saw as he disappeared between the trees, only a blanket on his arm.
"Is everything okay with him...? If I didn''t know better, Avan just looked a little crazy, disappearing into the forest with a blanket in his hand and glittering eyes." Smiled Jen, as Patris had just approached her and the other women with the other items to hand out Avan''s camping stuff.
In the meantime, Avan himself had stopped out of sight of the others behind a healthy and sturdy tree and sat down on the ground with his back leaning against it without further thought. *Then let''s go!*
30 minutes later...
A slightly chuckling to himself Avan marched back to the others, while he looked at his achievement in a good mood.
[Mana creation] learned!
Congratulations! You have successfully used ambient mana to materialize objects permanently in the world.
Mana is the substance of all things. Mana is the fabric from which the world is woven. And you have taken the first step toward creation.
Allows you, according to the object to be created and the composition, to create it from mana. Works only with items and materials that you have previously broken down into mana and learned through this process.
In contrast to his own robe, which consisted only of celestial forms, in other words his skill, and could only retain its structure within his sphere of influence as a dungeon, Avan had gone the way of a real dungeon this time.
He had taken the third blanket with him to decompose and learn it, so that he could then create as many blankets as he wanted from his dungeon mana!
Jen was the first to spot Avan among the trees, and smiled at him as he came back out of the forest looking slightly mischievous. She stepped toward him. "Thanks for the stuff, Avan! Every little bit helps, especially now that our own belongings are nowhere to be found. But why did you go into the forest looking like a demented madman with another blanket? And where is that blanket now?" She asked Avan.
Jen suddenly didn''t know what to say when Avan simply put his hand on her head and lightly patted her. "I had an idea, but unfortunately I can''t say more. But; I was able to get more covers!" He explained kindly with a slight smile as he saw her standing there with a pout on her face as he lightly patted her on the head. When Avan told her that he had "gotten" more blankets, Jen''s eyes lit up briefly as she sensed a secret, but didn''t ask a question and just looked at him with a look that said, "Then let''s see it".
Avan followed the silent instruction and suddenly more exactly identical blankets fell to the floor under his right outstretched hand, soon piling higher and higher.
"That should be enough for anyone, right?" He asked the obvious question with a slight smirk on his lips as Jen looked at the more than 30 blankets. Immediately, all the blankets were handed out, and even if they weren''t made of the most comfortable fabric and were slightly scratchy, it was more than the captive women and their daughters had owned in recent times. Avan was gratefully swarmed by the smaller girls, while the older girls with the women simply thanked him repeatedly.
Since it was unfortunately getting close to dusk, Dani had built a large campfire with the help of Patris, and the tent stood in the flickering firelight further into the center of the clearing, while everyone gathered around the fire and roasted three rabbits over it, which Dani had been able to hunt with the bow Avan had provided.
The women finally had some color back in their faces, and hope filled the eyes of the freed captives as they all whispered together. Only a few lone women, all without relatives or daughters and who had probably been involved for more or longer, were quiet and simply listened as they themselves pursued their thoughts.
So the evening wore on, and Avan''s group talked about Tria, the quest that had led them to the dungeon, and how they finally came to rescue the women in the first place. In the middle of the narrative itself, Avan had to step in when his three teammates finished their side of the story. Avan described how he had searched for them after his team disappeared, how he had dodged the guards, and then, after the fight in the crevice below, had made it to the castle.
By the time he got to the story of the blood devices, many of the women who had lost sons and husbands to the vampires had begun to cry softly. The younger daughters themselves had their ears stopped at certain parts of the story, even though the tears had come from the mothers themselves.
It had long been clear to all of them that their husbands were not coming back, especially since the vampire guards had told them in detail several times while mocking them.
And so the evening slowly drew to a close, while the younger children slept together in the tent and all the others settled down on the ground with their blankets. Avan himself had offered to take over the watch, even though he was dead tired and could have slept for several days himself after so many hours on his feet. Dani, however, would not hear anything of it and insisted on taking over at least the second half of the watch, so that Avan could at least rest a little.
Just as Dani said goodbye and was about to go to sleep, it suddenly and abruptly became pitch dark, and only the crackling campfire still provided light. The moon and the twinkling stars in the sky were covered by something gigantic. A huge shadow flew across the night sky, and only a massive and mighty flapping of wings could be heard, while all those not yet asleep began to tremble as they looked up.
"Dragon!" Came a whisper from Dani, who stood frozen in a half crouch next to Avan, and the women also whispered the same word like a fear-filled prayer. "Dragon!" they all whispered in awe and fear, while no one else dared to move. *Although it''s pretty lame, if we''re going to make such an easy and obvious target with the campfire here!* Avan inwardly sarcastically thought, as he too felt the powerful aura that the creature emitted in the night sky, covering hundreds of meters in all directions with its aura. All forest sounds were silenced, and only the wind generated by the mighty leathery wing beats of the dragon could be heard.
[Dragon - ????]
Was all he could see as the dragon flew through the dome of his sphere of influence above. Suddenly, Avan broke out in a sweat of fear as he felt an ancient and slightly angry look from the creature above him, right after he identified it! " Dammit, dammit, dammit!" He muttered in a whisper, and caught a startled look from Dani next to him, who somehow also felt the monster''s gaze, but knew that she was not its target, but apparently Avan.
Despite all the scenarios that flashed through Avan''s mind, the dragon flew on and did not stop to feast on him in a midnight snack.
As the stars slowly returned, as did the moonlight, the women all whispered to each other, and Dani gave Avan a murderous look. "I hope that was at least stats worth it, you idiot. Whatever you did to get a damn dragon''s attention!" She whispered to him as she shakily marched towards her sleeping place.
Avan himself ran a hand through his surprisingly wet sweaty silvery hair, and let out a sigh. "How was I supposed to know...?"
2.47-Just a quick stroll through the night
Avan stared into the crackling campfire. The only armed woman of the former captives sat across from him, watching him as she probably went about her own thoughts.
She had insisted on this because, although she was grateful to the group for the rescue, she also wanted to do something and did not trust that a single person would suffice as a night watch. Even when Dani and Jen had tried to convince her that Avan, in particular, was more than enough and would be a small army with his magic (without betraying his abilities, of course), she had remained stubborn and wouldn''t have it any other way.
So now she sat by the fire, the spear over her lap, and stared at Avan, who in turn stared into the fire as if hypnotized and lost in thought.
Unnoticed and out of sight of the woman, midnight black and invisible ropes of mana floated all around the clearing, while these ropes themselves were once again accompanied by a black haze. Avan had stretched his forms directly around the sleeping people in the small clearing and had set up other of his forms in mist form as an addition to them. At the same time, he concentrated on controlling his headache, which became more and more oppressive and severe as his sphere of influence expanded.
Where before it had been relatively quick and fast, his sphere of influence now reached five times its previous size in the gold rank. Fortunately, the expansion had started so slowly in the dungeon that Avan hadn''t even noticed it, but now it was taking on larger and larger dimensions and his radius was growing faster and faster.
Passive Skill: Celestial Sphere
You are a Dungeon. You are nurtured by the tremendous amount of ambient mana that encircles you. You can harness and use ambient mana in your sphere of influence at will. Your Sphere of Influence is sphere-shaped, with you as the anchor point and heart of the dungeon.
Your celestial power now radiates from your dungeon and can illuminate you surroundings with light. Only the highest beings can distinguish and sense your Dungeonheart. But be always beware of your higher mana density.
[Bronze] Range is multiplicated by 5. (50m)
You are now able to store various mundane materials and keep them physically stable inside your sphere of influence. You have unlocked an anchor point.
[Silver] Range is multiplicated by 5. (250m)
You are now able to store advanced materials and keep them physically stable inside your sphere of influence.
[Gold] Range is multiplicated by 5. (1250m)
You are now able to store magical materials and keep them stable inside your sphere of influence.
You are like a demi-god and no one can hide from you; the vast majority of methods to conceal objects or beings in your sphere of influence is negated and you sense things as they actually are.
Its growing radius was now approaching the 1 kilometer mark and would soon reach the maximum of 1250 meters. Avan''s sitting there staring into the crackling flames was only due to the fact that it calmed him down and helped him to flicker and sort out the new impressions in his gigantically grown perception. He did not want to know how many blades of grass existed, or which vermin were cavorting in the earth realm. As before, he wanted to try to adjust his senses so that everything that was "normal" and "natural" was faded out. His head and thus his body was simply not made to absorb so much information in every fraction of a second and was permanently flooded with it. So what the woman sitting skeptically opposite him interpreted as carelessness was the complete opposite. Avan simply KNEW too MUCH. He sensed, saw, felt, and knew everything that was within his sphere of influence. 1250 meters in all directions, with him in the center. And in addition, magic beasts and everything previously less perceptible now revealed themselves since he had reached the gold rank.
And all this was only intensified by the fact that he perceived a band of bandits at the edge of his 1000 meter growing range, but was so focused on blocking out impressions that he could not devote himself to them just yet, although he wanted to do it from the bottom of his heart.
The bandits were not normal, but had magical items with them, and in large quantities. Invisibility enchantments, and slave rings that Avan knew only more than well himself. Captured men, women and children were crammed into a five meter long prison wagon, while the bandits themselves drank in their silent bubble and invisibility enchantments in a small clearing off the path and roasted a large wild boar.
But what made Avan more than furious, and why he wanted to immediately run and kill them all in agony, was not only the slave rings, but also the fact that the probable leader of the bandits wore a dark blood steel sword on his hip.
The bandits were undoubtedly the suppliers of slaves and prisoners for the vampires, and made use of the slave rings to deliver the prisoners without much resistance.
Avan was seething with rage inside, but he had to hold out and get a grip on his sphere of influence before he could storm off and do something.
Except for the bandits themselves, who seemed to have stopped after the dragon''s appearance and sighting, there were normal forest dwellers in the entire area, but they were all in their dens or nests after the dragon had done its thing here.
Dragons themselves, the woman had told him earlier in a short small talk, were not so rare to see in the sky here on Eos, since they lived in the mountains in the northeast and this continent was one of the few on which they were native at all. These creatures were considered the true gods of this world and were many times older than the other deities, around whose rise and appearance many stories entwined. While some gods had simply appeared, it was rumored that they had been all mortals at one time.
In contrast, dragons were considered to be almost immortal forces of nature that existed even before any civilization on Aorus.
And so Avan also knew that when he was finished and would take care of the bandits, their camp here would get through the night without any problems, even without his presence and probably without any night watch.
Another half hour passed, and even though the headache had been so gigantic in the meantime that Avan had had the feeling his head would burst, he had finally covered the new maximum range of his sphere of influence and had gotten used to it. He was wiping sweat from his forehead with his own blanket, and it froze him briefly in the cool night as he looked over at his night-watch partner. He knew that she had been looking at him askance the whole time, and was not in the least surprised that she was still doing so.
"I found bandits on our way." Avan''s first sentence came out of his mouth, and the woman looked at him in shock for a moment. More for the reason that he suddenly spoke, and only then because he came out of nowhere with this information. "W-what?!" She stuttered, her brain not quite prepared for what he had said, as if he were describing the weather.
"Bandits. On our way. I''ll take care of it. Our camp here is safe, there are no monsters or predators for miles. I''ll be back soon." He explained again, in an equally toneless but controlled voice, as if it were a walk in the park he was describing, only short and crisp.
[Cook - 54]
The woman was about to jump up with her spear and was about to open her mouth to say something, when suddenly she heard a lot of noise around the camp. Where there had been nothing before, suddenly golden-silver glowing wire ropes materialized and a golden-silvery shining haze that looked like it contained miniature black holes that seemed to suck in any light between all the glow. The woman took a gasping breath as she saw this suddenly all around her, and her eyes became perfectly circular plates as all these things began to liquefy and fly toward Avan. It was an unearthly and heavenly sight as all the celestial mana flew towards him in luminous pure form like streams and rivers of water.
The woman''s mouth opened and closed incessantly, but no sound would come out.
And with a single leap, Avan was at the edge of the forest on one of the more stable branches, and another took him far over the treetops toward the small town of Tria.
The woman who stayed behind had an expression on her face that spoke volumes.
Avan himself leaped from tree to tree, while his robe and the now midnight black haze of his Akkalon''s forms helped him with gravity and enabled him to move so rapidly with leaps.
A few minutes later, he stared down at the bandits'' camp while looking crystal clear through the invisibility spell stretched in a half-dome over the camp. His haze flew past him and spread over the floor of the bandit camp so that no one could see an accumulation of the mist and sound the alarm.
The bandit leader, after enjoying himself with his subordinates, was having fun in the largest of the tents with a woman who, of course, also wore a slave ring around her throat.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.Snippets of conversation among the bandits around the campfire indicated that their boss was damaging the "merchandise" and that they would get fewer coins for it from their employers, but that everyone was allowed to have a go at it later and could enjoy the "merchandise" that was then already used, so no one complained about it.
When Avan heard the bandits'' flippant conversation and how they talked about raping one of the women, something inside him snapped.
But he had learned from this, and in contrast to the previous times, such as in Cyntha when he had simply stormed off, or as in the dungeon of Haipu when he had cruelly killed the torturer, now a calculating coldness spread through him.
His forms, disguised as a haze, were spread throughout the camp, ready to strike. But Avan wanted to enjoy it, and teach these scum a lesson before their demise.
Unseen by the camp''s guards, some of the mist gathered in a small cluster on the ground next to their leader''s tent, and a small pile of black wire ropes materialized at the site a few seconds later.
These flew through the seams of the tent effortlessly into the interior and Avan watched all the time with gritted teeth what was going on inside. The woman whimpered and pleaded, but the leader only laughed and grunted as he sank his stinking part into her, only to sporadically strike his victim''s naked skin with his leather belt and produce cries of pain that only further aroused him.
While he was about to lash out again with his makeshift whip, something suddenly prevented him from swinging his arm, and a split second later he was jerked backwards and away from the whimpering woman by an invisible force. Avan''s wire ropes tightened around the man, binding his arms with brute force across his back and dislocating both shoulders as the arms were simply jerked backward. Around the legs, hips, chest and neck were more wires, which had pulled the surprised man backwards away from his victim, and the leather belt fell to the ground with a soft sound.
"What the fuckin'' abyss?!" He cursed loudly, but was immediately muzzled by a piece of cloth that represented his own carelessly thrown underpants on the floor. "Mfhrfckr!" Came an upset but muffled voice from him, but none of the other bandits outside heard anything, or if they did, thought nothing of it.
The woman on the floor, on the furs that made up the bandit leader''s bed, looked up at her tormentor in tears, only to look at him in surprise and with widened eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw paper-thin wires, shining here and there, binding the man and holding him upright, while a brown piece of cloth was stuck in his mouth. Wide-eyed, she crawled backward away from the man as she tried to cover her nakedness and make sense of what was happening to this bastard.
Much to Avan''s satisfaction, the woman had so far made no sound and remained silent. Grinning wickedly and expectantly, as if he were the bloody hell himself, Avan stood on the branch just outside the camp and closed his eyes as he watched exactly what was happening.
With another command, another of his forms flew into the tent and materialized into a jagged black pair of scissors right at the eye level of the bandit leader, who was still standing. His eyes looked confused and he continued to scream incomprehensible stuff into his gag, while the woman watched silently, wide-eyed and frozen.
The jagged scissors themselves had serrations that looked like they could belong to a shark, and turned straight down with the scissor ends flying slowly toward the man''s cock, which was just subsiding.
As if he knew what was about to happen to him, the man suddenly threw himself back and forth in panic and with his eyes widened in terror, while Avan just cursed a little at the force and added two more shapes as wires that helped to keep the panicked man bound.
With eyes almost popping out of his sockets, he suddenly screamed into his gag and the white of his eyes came strikingly to the fore as he screamed with pain that one wouldn''t wish on almost any man.
The serrated scissors slowly and steadily severed the penis in the most painful way possible, and then lifted it up in a new form of a black hand between two fingers at eye level in front of the man. Blood dripped onto the floor of the tent, and the woman continued to watch with open mouth and wide eyes, but now with a look of satisfaction that gladdened Avan''s heart.
The man was mad with pain and could only see his former limb floating blurry in front of him, while he continued to scream, shriek and try to free himself almost powerlessly.
Suddenly he was pulled back against his will, and directly out of the tent entrance into the open.
The bandits on guard looked confusedly at the naked back of their leader, while even the roar around the campfire slowly died away as everyone looked at their boss one by one.
Slowly, the body of their boss turned around, and each of the people present was shocked to see the bleeding part still hovering in front of his face, and then looked down at the bloody stump between his legs.
Wild panic and fear spread among the bandits as they saw their otherwise nefarious leader standing in front of them, crying and screaming in pain into a gag, seemingly motionless, while his severed part floated in front of him by a black hand.
Only to suddenly witness something even more cruel as their boss''s screams went from muffled to loud. The gag magically came out of his mouth and the man''s crying and hoarse screaming could be heard echoing through the camp, held back only by the semi-dome of silence.
Even the other prisoners stared with fear-widened eyes at the sight of the mutilated man. The children were quickly pushed to the back of the prison wagon and the adults stared at the scene. Suddenly, the woman behind the boss stepped out of the tent, covered only by the furs she held to her body, seemingly fearless but interested to see what suffering her tormentor would now have to endure from this invisible force.
One of the guards, furious with rage, stepped toward his boss, his sword drawn. "You whore! What have you done! I''ll kill you, you wretched witch!" He shouted. But before he could take his third step toward the woman, he fell silent.
And his entire body fell to the ground in finely cut pieces of flesh.
The other bandits trembled so much at the sight that they dropped their weapons, and only one of the other two guards tried to flee toward the forest, only to meet the same fate as his comrade.
Avan grinned diabolically and had such an inner fun when the dark beast in him that had been dormant since his experience in the tower of Haipu reappeared.
The still screaming leader of the bandits sobbed and cried until he suddenly had to choke. The piece of flesh that had previously been floating in the air had flown mercilessly into his mouth and no matter how hard he tried, he could not spit it out. On the contrary, another invisible force pushed his jaw up and closed his mouth, so that he inevitably had to bite it.
The sound of retching and vomiting was heard, not only from the boss himself, but also from the bandits who wet their pants and stared again at their leader, only to witness the next horror scenario.
Escape was impossible, and they could only watch the terror before their eyes.
Some of the adult prisoners in the wagon watched enthusiastically, but the men in particular also had to gag when they saw the sight.
After a few seconds, the first of the bandits at the campfire suddenly fell headless to the ground, a clean cut having separated his head from his shoulders. As if a dam had been broken, the other bandits suddenly crawled away from the corpse and hastily tried to flee in panic, only to watch each other die as one by one they were also decapitated.
In the end, the bandit boss was the only one left standing in the camp, his eyes crazy with pain, terror, watching all the others effortlessly slaughtered before his eyes.
Suddenly, he also felt something dripping from his throat, slowly cutting into his windpipe. In contrast to the other bandits, however, much slower, inch by inch, to drag out the last seconds of his life.
Finally, his head fell to the ground, rolled a few meters, and a piece of bloody flesh peeked out of his now open mouth.
To the amazement of all the prisoners, the bars of the prison wagon suddenly lifted up and were neatly separated at the bottom of the wagon. With a squeak and a loud thud, the bars landed on the side of the wagon on the ground. The prisoners stared stunned to the side at the bars. Only the woman, who had covered herself with the skins, immediately ran and called out a name, "Nio! A small black-haired boy with a slightly dirty shirt, linen pants and leather shoes came out from behind the other still stunned adults and looked wide-eyed at the running woman, "Mama!"
The two fell into each other''s arms and the woman cried while hugging her son.
Suddenly, everyone except the woman herself spun around in the direction of another muffled sound and stared at Avan, who had landed on the ground wearing a midnight black robe. He had discarded his previous design and chosen the black version, while pulling his hood deep into his face and explaining everything to the captives.
The woman sat at the now burned down campfire, but did not want to go to the edge of the forest to look for more firewood, because she was alone on guard duty and was still subject to a trauma in the darkness, after everything she had to go through with the vampires.
Suddenly there was a rustling, and she jumped up, the spear gripped so tightly that the white of her knuckles came out, pointing in the direction of the rustling.
A few seconds later, a man stomped out of the darkness, accompanied by a single glowing magic ball floating behind him. The woman expelled her bated breath and gratefully dropped back on her butt, staring at Avan as he walked to the fire and sat down as if he had just gone for a walk.
"Problem solved..." He murmured, while something seemed to sparkle dangerously in his eyes for a moment, but was gone in the next heartbeat. The woman just stared silently at the mysterious rescuer who had freed them all from the dungeon, unable to understand what had happened, and preferring to remain silent.
2.48-Drinking with friends
"And you know how he always looked at you sooo hard? From the beginning to the ... end." Slurred Jen, taking another hearty gulp from her tankard while Avan drank his ale as well.
The group, including the freed prisoners, had reached Tria smoothly and without further incident. The women had once again thanked everyone profusely and tearfully, especially Avan directly, and soon relatives and kin of the missing women had heard of the commotion at the city gate, while even the guard and some adventurers from the guild had cheered along.
Dani and Patris had then taken on the role of auditioning at the guild, reporting on the vampire dungeon and collecting the rewards. And the system reward that had already been handed out apparently by the system!
Adventurer
Name: Avan Leaf
Rank: Silver
Tokens: 350
Avan himself didn''t know whether 350 of these tokens, which were only rewarded by system quests, was a lot or a little, but at least it was a currency that had been credited automatically and without his doing anything. As he sat there with Jen and they both drank, he thought back to the past few days, and in particular to last night''s conclusion. About the bandits and the kidnapped people he had freed.
With a slight rumble, he put his ale mug back down on the round tavern table and glanced at the already slightly drunk young healer sitting to his right, who was also slightly lost in thought.
"You know, Jen. I think basically he naturally wanted the best for you all the time. He took his job of protecting you very seriously. And when an odd mage like me joined the group, he was right to be skeptical..."
Jen looked into her now empty ale jug, which she held with both hands, and a single tear could be seen streaming down her rosy cheeks.
She didn''t answer right away, and she just nodded before looking up and glancing at the ceiling. "Yeah... He had always been like that..."
With a suddenly enthuistiastic look and glitter in her eyes, she turned and waved her empty mug at one of the barmaids, and less than a minute later was handed a new ale, filled to the brim and frothy.
A hearty draught later of the lightly sweetened brew and she raised the slightly spilling mug to Avan, toasting. "To Linowb! And the fact that we otherwise all came out in one piesh! And to youuu, de hero who made it poshible for all of us to escape in the firsht place!"
Avan lifted his ale and toasted his jug to hers with a serious nod.
Two mugs of ale and some silence later, Jen was also well drunk and slurring louder and getting louder in her stories, which brought some nasty looks from other tavern patrons or even lustful looks with ulterior motives from one or the other.
However, without her noticing it, and as soon as one of the merrymakers had taken just a few steps towards Jen to address her, some inexplicable things always happened. They suddenly stumbled without the person or their drinking buddies seeing anything responsible for it, their jug suddenly spilled over them, or sometimes a single deadly glance from Avan was enough to send an ice-cold shiver down their spine for many reasons.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it."And shou knouw what the craziesht thing ish, Ayvaaaaaan? He hash been my gard since I wash very small! And poof, now he ish gone..." She spoke with a slurred melancholy at the end, her gaze sinking deep into the jug again while her upper body swayed slightly back and forth.
"Soooo many yearsh... And he hash even a family. A wife and a ten year old boy. Over there in Haipu. And now? Linowb ish gone, jusht like that, out of the blue. Jusht becaushe he had to accompany the little princesh on her shtubborn journey out of Haipu..." She slurred, but the last sentence was much quieter and almost a whisper, which Avan could still hear as clearly as if she had shouted.
*Princess...? Don''t tell me...* He looked at her with a blank stare, as the puzzle pieces in his head slowly formed a complete picture and everything made sense somewhere. *Damn it.*
"Jen, you should be careful what you reveal about yourself when you''re as drunk as you are now..." Avan whispered to her while pretending to take another sip of ale. He observed the reactions of the others sitting nearby thanks to his sphere of influence, and actually noticed a grin from a man almost at the other end of the room, sitting alone in the corner and drinking. He had never drawn attention to himself before, but right after Jen''s last remark slipped out, his eyebrows had twitched and a satisfied brief grin had appeared as quickly as it disappeared. But all clearly enough for Avan to notice.
*Let''s see what you''re going to do...* Avan didn''t let on that he had noticed anything, and set his jug down again. "Jen, I don''t remember if I told you in the heat of the moment, with everything that had happened." He spoke to her more seriously, earning a questioning look from the red-cheeked young woman. "But I was able to take Linob''s body and possessions with me, because I thought that you and his relatives would be able to say goodbye to him better that way..."
When she heard this, her expression cleared a bit, and a grateful smile flitted across her face. Surprised and wincing for a moment because Avan was so busy keeping an eye on everyone else in the tavern, he was caught off guard when Jen suddenly jumped on him and hugged him. "Thank you for everyyyy-thing..." she whispered in his ear, while something wet ran down the back of his robe. Avan saw and felt everything, and even without his sphere of influence, he noticed the slightest touch on his robe, as it was woven from his own mana.
A little apprehensive and uncomfortable at first, Avan returned her embrace, and after some hesitation, squeezed her a little tighter and stroked her back as she wept softly, finally letting the tears run.
Later that night...
Avan climbed out from under the sheets, while he glanced at the sleeping beauty next to him, and in the moonlight of the night, her flawless skin could be seen.
He had woken up because one of his crude and first inventions had struck. Avan had created a small rune construction next to his bed, which could be triggered by his forms in the hallway and would wake him up with a small gust of wind as soon as a certain person he had been waiting for appeared.
And a few minutes later, he slipped back into bed and gently snuggled up to the sleeping person at his side.
2.49-Twisted Religion
The next morning...
When Avan and shortly followed by Jen arrived downstairs in the tavern, Patris grinned knowingly in Avan''s direction with a mouthful of ale foam and even gave him a thumbs-up as unnoticed as possible. Avan himself grinned only slightly embarrassed and scratched his head, while Jen, red as a tomato, quickly slid next to Dani at the table and held her hands in front of her face, only to devour the breakfast as soon as the barmaid put it down for the two stragglers.
Dani herself only looked skeptical and eyed Avan with a warning look that said everything there could be to say, and then slapped Patris on the back of the head with the palm of his hand. "Ouch! What was that for?" He mumbled as he stroked the back of his head and looked at his girlfriend with a pout.
"You know exactly what it was for. Idiot." Was the only answer he got, and Dani bit into her buttered bread again while taking some fruit with her other hand between each bite.
Avan himself yawned heartily with the hand in front of his mouth, and then devoted himself to his breakfast as well, while Jen gave him furtive glances and blushed every time he flashed her a smile.
The breakfast consisted of freshly baked and still farmhouse bread, a good portion of butter on the wooden plate, tomatoes and apples next to it, and a few slices of a hot roast. And in addition a shallow and almost alcohol-free much sweeter ale.
Dani, who was the first to finish breakfast, since her boyfriend had ordered a second portion and had already finished his first course, was also the first to speak. "So, how long do you think it will take for an answer from your parents to get here from Haipu, Jen?" She turned to Jen, while Avan listened intently, knowing that Jen had sent a messenger to Haipu to inform her family of the situation.
Jen herself swallowed her bite and thought about it for a moment, blushing again as she felt Avan''s attention on her. "Hmmm... Since it''s an express messenger using one of the magic-bred horses, no more than four or five days until someone is here to pick me up.... It will take the messenger three days to reach Haipu, and it won''t be a day or two before someone shows up here then."
At the numbers and dates Jen mentioned here, Avan wrinkled her head in confusion, which didn''t go unnoticed by her and she immediately explained what she meant. "As soon as the messenger arrives at my parents'' house and reports everything, they will send guards with at least one mage who specializes in fast travel to bring me to safety.... The messenger himself will take the longest, but with preparations and everything, and depending on which of the mages is available to my parents at the moment, it will probably only take them a day to get here, if not faster."
Avan looked at her somewhat dumbfounded, as he remembered his own hardships on the way from Haipu to Tria and how long it had taken him to make the journey on foot. Even with all his stats, which he had always assumed were much higher than everyone else. But when Dani and Patris had joined him at the end of the previous evening''s drinking, Avan had asked a few more things when everyone was finally a little drunker.
The information he had received about stats and how they worked on Aorus had put a damper on things, but also explained a lot. Above all, he had wondered why no one had ever told him about it before, until it occurred to him that he had simply never asked anyone about it so as not to reveal his ignorance.
According to the explanations of the others, each child started with an average of 10 points in each category, but these points could vary slightly depending on the talent and direction of the children. An adult, on the other hand, at some point in his life reached the limit of 100 in the areas in which he tried hard and which suited him best. Physical workers and fighters often had a vitality and strength of 100 as adults around the age of 20, while the other stats lagged somewhat behind. Whereas fighters and all those who actively hunted and killed monsters could balance their stats through their much higher level or even reach the 200 points at the age of 20.
And after this eye-opening explanation the night before, Avan finally knew why he felt a lot stronger with his stats, but at the same time why bandits and monsters were still so strong and had not just been defeated in the past. Every 100 points represented an adult person, so Avan''s stats were only twice as strong as others, but he could still be defeated by muscle-bound thugs and fighters if they had invested more in those stats than he had. It also explained why he was physically fit and strong, but his magic in particular, with its extremely high wisdom, intelligence and spirit stats, caused so much damage.
Avan was torn from his thoughts by the next developments when Dani heard the answer and briefly thought about it himself. "Then we only have 3 days, or 4 at the most, together, right? I''m asking because the guild here seems to be calling for a collection campaign again, which they do every few seasons. A few hours to the southeast of the city, there is a gigantic plain full of mana storms and dangerous phenomena, on which teams of adventurers are always sent out to collect mana crystals. You get paid for these crystals depending on their purity, size and element."
"And tomorrow morning, one hour after sunrise, the people who participate in it will gather again. Patris and I would go along, since it''s probably pretty good and quick money. How about you two?"
Avan listened with interest, nodding in thought as he thought back to how he had fought the crystal lizards in Akkalon''s dungeon many weeks ago and still had those pure mana crystals in his inventory. *By the way... That''s right, I can now also process magical materials!* He remembered at that moment that he had broken through the gold rank and that as a dungeon he could now also decompose magical things and rebuild them from mana.
Without hesitation, various objects disappeared from his celestial storage and were added to the knowledge for him to create as a dungeon. Among them were a [Golden Meaple], which surprisingly could now also be created by him from mana, and [Lymia Herbs], as well as the various [Purple Mana Crystals].
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.At that very moment, just as Avan finished decomposing the last crystal in his storage, Jen replied. "I - I''m not sure my parents would approve of me running around without protection.... But at the same time, I''d like to do something instead of sitting around and thinking about.... deceased people."
With a deep sigh, Jen continued. "So I''d like to come with you, if that''s okay with all of you. Provided we can be back in 3 days at the latest?"
"That shouldn''t be a problem Jen!" Dani answered her and put a friendly arm around her shoulders to pull Jen close and give her a quick cuddle. "Then we still have time to organize ourselves today, and tomorrow morning we continue. And I know it may seem fast after we just escaped from the dungeon.... And after Linob died there, Jen.... But also Patris and I need distraction, as well as you, I guess. And what better way than to just dive into the next quest, right?" Smiled the young huntress a bit sadly.
Soon everyone was done, and only Jen and Avan stayed behind, while Patris and Dani took care of their equipment, bought new and generally had to restock everything after the vampires had taken everything from them.
Jen, on the other hand, had booked the room at the inn for several weeks, surprisingly for Avan, and thus had no problems with clothes and equipment, since she fortunately had a spare in the room.
*Which is not surprising now, if she really is the princess.... Money should then be no problem to pay the room for so long in advance as a precaution.* Avan thought about it. He had also given her Linob''s body and possessions the previous evening, which she had immediately stowed away in an inconspicuous spatial ring on her finger.
He turned to Jen, who was watching him absentmindedly, and blushed slightly again when she felt his gaze on her. "What do you say we look around the market a bit, and then maybe ask around to see if there''s a local library where we can better prepare ourselves for this magical plane."
The young healer at his side kneaded her hands slightly nervously, in stark contrast to the night before when the alcohol had made her so much looser, and answered murmuring softly. " Alright!"
Avan suddenly chuckled when he saw her shy reaction, and startled her by putting his arm around her and pulling her close. He patted her lightly on the head and brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ears, and simply pulled her with him to the market.
*And I don''t even want to know what others would think if they knew the princess had spent the night with me! Argh!* A thought came to him as he reached the marketplace, nestled so close to her.
Jen herself seemed comfortable, though, and had also put her arm around him as she walked and snuggled even closer. Her cheeks glowed pink, but she looked around again, fascinated, while Avan bought all kinds of snacks and sweets for them both. Dani had divided the reward for completing the guild quest among the four of them, and there was even a huge driving bonus on top, specifically for the extra information the group had acquired and passed on.
So Avan had no worries, after he was almost 4 gold richer than before and could buy here at the market for only a few bronze coins many delicacies and eat them together with Jen.
As the two meandered through the marketplace and the stalls, they noticed a small gathering of people further ahead in the middle, where a man in a purple robe stood on a small wooden platform and spoke to the people. Avan himself had noticed this for a long time, but actively faded out, because this seemed to be just a religious fanatic who was babbling something about salvation and trying to convince others that the doom was near.
As they got closer, the expression on Jen''s face changed to disgust and revulsion, which made Avan raise his eyebrows when he noticed her looking through his sphere of influence. "Are you okay, Jen?" He whispered in her ear. And unlike the previous reaction where she would have always blushed, she was now so fixated on this man and annoyed that she showed no reaction and only answered with an annoyed voice.
"Yes, these fanatics have also been around in Haipu for a few years now, becoming more and more powerful and aggressive.... In the last year they have even slowly put pressure on the royal house, and they are said to be collaborating with a huge organization that has its foot in many or even the all continents."
"And now I see these dangerous nutcases even this far away? This is more than dangerous..." She looked up at Avan and chewed on the inside of her cheek. "They recruit people in forgiving situations and give them hope, something to believe in, something to cling to. People who have nothing to velvet then were the beginning, but by now they have grown to the point that their followers are descending on all villages and small towns like hungry locusts. And Tria is so far south that I''m surprised to see them even here now!"
"They preach of a deity who wants to conjure up a new beginning for all worlds. Something about monsters, animals and even people being afflicted by something evil, and only their deity can stop the total destruction. And the most curious thing is that there are rumors that it is this religion and the organization behind it, which in truth has its handles inside everywhere where these outbreaks of madness occurred! Living beings who have been corrupted and twisted."
Avan, listening to the preacher with one ear and Jen''s narrative with the other, frowned even more. *This all sounds far too much like the corruption that the dungeon of Haipu has gone through. Coincidence? I''m starting to not believe it... And the founder of the Order of Akkalon had said the same thing. What the bloody hell is going on?* Avan thought as he added another piece to the puzzle of miasma and corruption.
The man himself, however, repeated himself after some time and there was nothing new, except that he always spoke of redemption and the end of days.
Lost in and each with his own thoughts, the two strolled on and had soon reached a small city library, which they had found by asking around merchants and city guards.
2.50-The Arcanum
Without further ado and detours, Avan and Jen arrived in front of the city library and stood in front of the rather inconspicuous building. The library reminded Avan a bit of the western town halls, with wooden braces and built in an old half-timbered way, while all the other houses in Tria seemed quite unimposing and mostly made of brick, or the richer craft houses by mana shaped stone without any joints.
The wing doors that served as entrance doors had on each half of the doors a left and right side of an open book, while crossed over the book was a quill. Some people in robes that looked suspiciously like researchers and scholars went in and out, while the right side of the doors remained open with a wedge.
Avan and Jen soon stepped through the doors and turned to the counter at the entrance, which was located on the right side directly behind the doors and was occupied by a sullen-looking young scholar with reading glasses. This young man seemed to have had a bad day, or even got up on the wrong side of the bed, and immediately looked even grumpier when he found the two new visitors in front of him.
"What? More of you adventurers who think you can cause trouble here?! The Arcanum doesn''t take kindly to people treating our property with such disrespect! And if you don''t want to pay the entrance fee of one gold coin per person per day, you can leave again immediately!" Came the brisk and immediate from the mouth of the young scholar, as he addressed Avan and Jen without further ado. "And no, don''t even try to sneak in, use force, or make any other threats! The last group didn''t fare well when one of our masters had to go out of his way to get the garbage out!"
Jen looked at the young man indignantly and angrily, as if no one had ever dared to speak to her like that before. *Which is probably the case, if she is indeed a princess of this kingdom and that guy is a subject.* Avan smirked slightly to himself, then turned to the young man with a dangerous frown.
"Point taken." And fished out two gold coins to flick them directly at the annoyed scholar, who barely reacted in time, catching the two coins in surprise. "And another pointless threat to guests who haven''t done anything to you, and you''d better be careful not to leave the house in the dark..." Avan added a threat to intimidate the cheeky young man a bit, without actually meaning it himself, because he had no desire or time to deal with such a stranger.
Without waiting for the angry scholar to turn red, Avan walked past the counter, dragging the gobsmacked Jen behind him. Avan himself couldn''t say why he had overreacted so much, but the young man''s behavior really got on his nerves.
Jen herself had stared at Avan with wide eyes when the otherwise peaceful Avan had uttered such threats, and was simply silent and let herself be pulled behind him, slightly perplexed.
After only a few steps, the two disappeared into the hallway and were soon standing in the entrance area to the library''s interior. A circular room twenty meters in diameter opened up in front of them, and all the walls were covered with bookshelves several meters high, while only one other corridor led out at the opposite end of the room. The bookshelves were easily 5 meters high and one could reach the highest books and scrolls only with the ladders standing around, while in the center of the room were round tables with small stools where quietly murmuring and whispering scholars were absorbed in their books. A glass dome lined the ceiling, revealing a slightly cloudy sky above the heads of all present and allowing bright daylight to flood into the interior.
Around the circular room in the middle there was a circular corridor, with evenly spaced doors leading to small reading and study rooms, which could be occupied and a small wooden sign hung on the door knob to show others that the room was occupied.
Avan looked around the interior of the city library somewhat in awe, since he had never seen such a magnificent medieval library on earth, and had only visited one or two university libraries in his life. Jen, on the other hand, didn''t seem to think much of it, but didn''t look disdainful either, just as if it didn''t impress her and as if she had visited far more grandiose libraries.
"Let''s each find a few books that interest us or help us for tomorrow''s quest, and then meet in the left reading room there. What do you think?" Avan whispered softly to her, trying not to disturb the other visitors, while he already had several topics in mind that he would like to look up and find out about. Not only were there the obvious things like runes, the system of this world, magic, or other new things that he hadn''t really been able to research deeply, but Avan was also looking for information about the other continents and especially dungeons of this world after having had the vision in the last Blood Dungeon.
Jen was still a bit lost in thought, but also had a few things to look up about runes after Avan surprised the whole group with them, and she especially wanted to find out more about what kind of magic Avan actually had. However, she didn''t tell Avan about it, even if she didn''t really do it behind his back, but she just didn''t want to bother him with it and therefore wanted to educate herself. Avan''s element was celestial, that much was immediately clear to everyone when they saw the glorious and otherworldly composition of his mana manifested in this radiant gold and silver. But that he could so effortlessly command floating objects of various forms, she had not yet encountered.
So the two of them separated to gather their own books on their subjects, and then met in one of the empty reading rooms on the left side of the building.
Avan was actually the first of the two to arrive in the reading room, over a dozen books stacked in his arms. From runes, to magic for beginners, to the guilds of Aorus, and much more. He had added an overview of all the guilds when this book caught his eye. The title "Arcanum, and the other guilds of Aorus", printed thick and bold, had literally stared at him, and he had wanted to read up on what this Arcanum was that the young scholar at the entrance had mentioned so boastfully.
With a thud, he set his two stacks of books down on the round table in the reading room. The room itself was comfortably paneled in wood and, like the entire library itself, was also round in shape, while comfortably upholstered benches were located all around the table directly against the wall.
Avan left the door open so that Jen could find him immediately if she was looking for him, and started with the first book in front of him, the "Arcanum, and the other guilds of Aorus", while he noticed for the second time that this book seemed to definitely emphasize the Arcanum more than the other guilds of this world, judging by the title.
"Welcome, aspiring scholar! Before we talk with the description and the general situation, responsibilities and activities of the guilds on Aorus, it is important to know a first overview."
"On Aorus, besides our own guild Arcanum, there are many others. It is important to understand that these guilds are divided into branch guilds and thus cover different areas. This book, for example, is most likely to be found in the hands of schools, universities or bookstores. All of these professions and institutions fall under the auspices of the Arcanum, which is found on all continents and, along with the other guilds, represents the true power in magic, military, and politics."
This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon."The Arcanum deals with everything that interests our scholars and is dedicated to the purpose of science and knowledge. The Arcanum has the following branch areas:"
"Runesmiths, Enchantments, Schools and Instituions of this kind, Bookstores and Libraries, Magical Faculties, Archeologists and Researchers."
"All these and many more even smaller subordinate areas fall under the auspices of our guild, the Arcanum. With these areas, our guild covers the most areas on Aorus hab and thus has the most influence on the continents and in the Council of Guilds."
"Now let''s move on to the other guilds and subcategories."
"The Blue Rose is run by merchants of all kinds, so it covers auction houses, alchemists, blacksmiths, and of course all merchants."
"Black Corvus is a secret society of assassins and contract killers that unites bounty hunters or headhunters, as well as assassins and mercenaries."
"The last big named guild is called White Feather and is the most widely represented, thanks to its adventurer guild and its influence in all layers of society. Under the White Feather fall the aforementioned Adventurer''s Guild, an honor-focused Mercenary''s Guild, Quests of the People, and System Quests. The latter is, to date, the only recorded way in history that the mana system of the world of Aorus has actually manifested and communicated with a guild outside of any individual."
"Besides these big-name and influential guilds, there are of course countless smaller ones scattered all over the continents, but which have no combined political, military, or magical might to speak for themselves worldwide."
"The greatest caution must be exercised when encountering these smaller guilds, as there are also countless institutions among them that act without code, honor or taboos and are only out for their own good at the expense of all others. Often, such nefarious underground guilds are also supported by dark deities, or worship them with bloody and abnormally evil rituals. These underground organizations and guilds, unlike Black Corvus, the great assassin guild, are always involved in the most shady maneuvers and usually want only one thing: total chaos or even the destruction of everything as we know it!"
"Side note: In addition to the large influential guilds, there are of course also large and small religions, which also have some influence, but almost always only care about their own deities and their goals and otherwise do not get involved in other matters, if it brings them nothing themselves or no quest of their god asks them to do so."
"Now that we have created a rough overview of the powerful guilds and the general structure, we can return to the Arcanum, since this book was written by us and we naturally believe that our work of seeking knowledge serves the highest purpose and should require the most attention."
"The Arcanum has existed since the dawn of our thinking and was one of the first established guilds to be formed by the most diverse knowledge seekers of this world. We research relics of ages long past, our mages are the most powerful and wise when it comes to magic already known or to be discovered, our runesmiths have been responsible for the greatest discoveries and developments since time immemorial, and our accumulated knowledge is passed on in books, scrolls, and universities and schools to various social classes and strata. We encourage talent, and we welcome first and foremost anyone who brings a thirst for knowledge and/or talent in any of the myriad fields!"
"Our guild is a haven of knowledge and research in history, magics, technology and philosophy. So if you got hold of this book under the curiosity and inquisitiveness, do not hesitate to join us and be tested on your magical or mental talents!"
At that very moment, Avan looked up as he heard a door click shut, and looked over at Jen, who had just closed the door behind her, smiling slightly. A nod was all the two gave each other as Avan continued to rummage through the book in front of him, seeing only out of the corner of his eye that Jen herself had also brought a handful of books and sat down across from him.
The book about the guilds of Aorus now tended to digress into the description of the individual subcategories and what all they had researched or what achievements they had all made. The other guilds were only mentioned in small sections when there was an overlap of the Arcanum''s own achievements, but were otherwise not mentioned much in the rest of the book.
Smiling bitterly at this small collection of arrogance from the scholars of the Arcanum, Avan''s lips fell open, especially when he thought back to the young scholar in the entryway. *No wonder the guy talked so pompously and down to earth, when they grow up like that and always see themselves as something better...* But at the same time, Avan couldn''t quite dismiss the fact that all the realms of the Arcanum were undoubtedly among the most powerful when it came to sheer power. After all, knowledge was power, as Avan himself knew and had always believed. Through knowledge one could reach new heights, while others with inner talent and without knowledge and thirst for more eventually became lazy and stuck. No matter how much talent and ability someone possessed, without the urge for more and an inner motivation to develop further, everyone eventually fell by the wayside and became part of the normal population.
As he skipped through the remaining pages rather than actually internalizing each word, Avan soon closed the book and began reading the other books.
Runes for Beginners appealed to him the most, as well as Enchantments and other magical topics he had picked out. As he read through the rest of the books, his inner urge to become a rune master and use runes not only for casting spells, but also for enchantments, only increased. However, he also wanted to learn the art of blacksmithing, so that he could make the blanks for enchantments himself.
The interesting thing of all, however, was nevertheless some of the marginal notes in the books about runes, in which briefly and incidentally something like formations and seals were mentioned. Formations were a perfectly arranged collection of runes, much like Avan had used for his own designed spells, but permanently incorporated into objects like teleportation platforms. Sigils, on the other hand, were dimensions above all that. If runes represented individual letters of an alphabet and could be used to "write" entire sentences and pages, sigils were entire books and thick tomes filled with runes! A single sigil could describe runic formations or runes by the page, all of which were combined into a single system so complex that they made up a sigil. Sigils were more myth than actual knowledge, as there were only rumors about Sages who actually possessed the knowledge of sigils and their true power.
As Avan absorbed all this theoretical information like a sponge, he could not suppress an enthusiastic smile as he thought of all the possibilities and what could be possible with his memories of technology from Earth.
So, together with Jen, he read through all the books, each caught up and engrossed in his own topics, with only short breaks in between to take some dried fruit and water.
2.51-Collective Questing
"So sigil, huh?" Was all Avan had in mind at the end of his reading sessions. He had read the other books as well, and even added one for novice blacksmiths, but he couldn''t get his mind off the formations and the vaguely mentioned powerful sigils.
Jen just smiled as she heard Avan absentmindedly talking to himself again, and then looked straight ahead again.
In front of the two, on the central town hall square of Tria, a group of performers had set up and was in the process of performing tricks of all kinds for all the onlookers.
Something like a prankster was running around playing tricks with the other performers and some children, while two others were standing behind playing two instruments and providing a melodramatic background for the show. An already gray-haired woman played a harp while an older man played along on a pan flute in perfect harmony with her.
When Avan arrived with Jen, they both stood behind the crowd with a sweet snack on a skewer and watched the spectacle like everyone else, careful not to spill any of the dripping syrup that threatened to drip down the warm baked goods.
The prankster had just finished and a small bunch of children ran laughing back to their respective parents. As one entertainer stepped back, the next one came out, who had been waiting patiently in the background and was the only one who had not yet taken part in any activities.
And immediately it became clear to all spectators why the slenderly built middle-aged man had held back so far, as he pulled a small wand out of his sleeves and immediately formed strands of mana as he began to recite an incantation.
Almost barely visible strands of mana flowed from the tip of the wand away into the air, forming a small purple glowing fireball the size of a fist in the air relatively quickly. Only a single mana strand still connected the purple fireball to the wand, and a few muttered incantations later, the ball suddenly flew into the air in a spiral, spreading into a ring of blazing purple fire.
To the amazement of all involved, the man suddenly pulled another wand from his other sleeve and began a second simultaneous incantation, something only trained mages could do. A golden flickering flame formed with the same scheme in front of the second wand and then also flew upward in small feats, while here too another mana strand seemed to remain connected to the wand.
"Huh? What''s the mana strand for...?" Avan muttered. "...For permanent control of the spell?"
*Right... There might not be anyone else with that cheat power like me as a dungeon and a whole sphere of influence, which allows me to control all my spells around smoothly!* Then it just dawned on him when he realized that he himself never needed a steady mana strand to control his flying forms!
The mage masterfully bounced the golden fireball through the air, formed it into a bird that flew through the purple ring of fire, and then worked both spells simultaneously to send it into the air in a fabulous fireworks display with a shower of sparks as the final shot. This performance was repeated several times with loud enthusiastic exclamations from the audience with different colors, shapes and fireworks explosions at the end, and was beautiful to watch as Avan thought. Jen, too, had a childlike sparkle in her eyes as she watched the performance, seemingly reminiscing about her own memories.
Suddenly, a brief smile slid across Avan''s face when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a woman standing in the crowd with her young daughter holding her hand, while an extremely happy-looking man had his arm around her and was cuddling the woman.
Jen only noticed the reaction because she had just looked at Avan''s face herself for the umpteenth time. "What is it?" Avan looked at her briefly in surprise, then smiled again. "Nothing, just a happy reunited family apparently." Came his reply. The woman with her daughter had remarkable similarities to one of the bandit captives Avan had freed the previous night.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.When the first round of the show was brought to a climax by the older duo''s mood-setting music, and then the group ran around with their hats to collect money, Avan and Jen walked on. Jen had been about to say something when she watched, silent and satisfied, as a silver piece whizzed from Avan''s hand between the spectators and landed in the hat of a young actress, much to her surprise.
The evening went on as before, and after the group had talked about tomorrow and eaten their fill, everyone went to sleep to be ready for the first rays of sunshine the next morning.
Jen had walked past Avan in a bright red state and quickly slipped into her own room, where the two had spent the previous night together, and he himself walked past the door to his own room, smirking quietly.
Avan made the most of the evening, especially as he felt less and less tired the higher his level and progress rose, and devoted himself once again to some ideas of spells and rune constructions that he would like to try out. Being prepared and possibly having a few aces up his sleeve when it came to certain situations definitely couldn''t hurt.
The next morning was uneventful and the four of them quickly wolfed down their food and then grabbed their backpacks, which were mostly empty so they could bring back the crystals, and marched off to the southern city gate where the meeting point was.
In fact, they were one of the last participants to arrive, which was all thanks to Patris the glutton who had ordered a second portion of breakfast for himself.
A man stood in front of the 20 or so adventurers gathered, a lady helper at his side. "Good, it seems that everyone has arrived and we can start the short briefing. Anyone who doesn''t show up now is out of luck."
"Some may already know me, some may not. My name is Bertram Stenson, and I am the vice leader of the local adventurer''s guild here in Tria. I''m the designated leader and in charge of this seasonal harvest quest."
"Here are some things to keep in mind as we march off together. The seriousness of the crystals and the monsters..." He continued, and Avan listened intently as the correct way to harvest mana crystals was discussed. When Avan heard that you had to have some mana control to harvest as much as possible without breaking, he almost cried inside when he thought back to his own crude mining method in the Akkalon dungeon and how much he had wasted.
The explanations continued with the local monsters that could be found around the "Red" battlefield, as the area with the magical storms was colloquially known, where thousands of years ago something like two gods had had a final battle and where the magic in this region is still going crazy today. But this in turn led to the constantly growing mana crystals around it, which were harvested again and again. There were up to a meter high crystal lizards, smaller crystal elementals, crystal golems and sometimes harpies to find around.
It was also urgently and insistently pointed out not to venture too far into the interior of the zone, no matter how promisingly large and pure the crystals were that could be found inside, since no one had ever made it out alive.
The crystals themselves were evaluated at the end of the joint quest back here in Tria according to purity and size and paid for accordingly. The concentrated collection of crystalized mana was used for all sorts of magical purposes from everyday things like magical street lamps to rune formations or even area of effect incantations used in massive battles!
In broad summary, Avan felt that everyone should walk around in small groups, not venture too far into the zone, and at the same time beware of magical phenomena and smaller monster varieties. And after the vice leader finished his short briefing, the several hours long march towards the magic crystal zone, or the "red" battlefield, began.
2.52-Magic elements & Arrival
A large group of adventures could be seen marching straight through the first foothills and smaller crystal growths, which were arranged and dense like a normal forest.
Mages with more or less magnificent robes, often in the colors of the elements they had. Some robes were simple and plain, while others had decorations, runes, expensive threads and even different colors, a clear sign of the power of some wizards who had several elements.
Avan himself knew about this because he had read dozens of books on the subject the previous day. Only one in 10,000 people had the good fortune to awaken one element naturally, and only one in 1 million people had the phenomenal good fortune to awaken two elements. This, of course, does not include people who could afford to consume treasures in the form of crystallized elements or something like the [Golden Meaples] to forcefully awaken an element. If a person wanted to awaken a second or even a third element through such measures, one had to consume more elemental energy with each increasing element and this became exponentially more.
While a single [Golden Meaple] was enough to awaken the Celestial Element in someone who had none before, it took hundreds or even thousands of these ultra expensive and rare natural treasures to awaken it as a second element. With a third element, this number would increase into many many millions, or into such a high concentration in a few that one could buy all of Eos with it.
That mages possessed two elements was unbelievable, and they were usually fought over, because such people were called prodigies.
Also one differentiated again in the different elements, as Avan already from Akkalons Dungeon knew. Basic elements like fire, air, water and earth were the most common awakened elements. If someone was lucky enough to awaken two elements in harmony, such as air and fire, it automatically resulted in a third element, lightning, which was one of the advanced elements and considered ultra rare. Such persons were often married into royal families, as there was a chance of passing on these elements and properties to their descendants.
Among the advanced elements were the combinations of the basic elements. Fire and air resulted in lightning, fire and earth in lava, earth and water in plant, air and water in storm.
And then there were the legendary elements.... Celestial and Dimensional! That Avan had been so lucky with the Celestial element was still something he could only shake his head at, speechless, when he finally had the basics of magic and elments before his eyes.
There were also countless subcategories of each element that could be awakened through training or special circumstances. Simple things like someone with water who, with luck, could learn to master the blood element. Or with earth different metal elements. And not to mention the advanced elements like Lightning, which allowed you to master the Plasma element.
To the legendary elements one knew as good as nothing, except that celestial was the main element of the gods on Aorus, and Dimensional was needed for spatial treasures, which is why these items were so coveted that wars could be fought over them.
And here there were a handful of mages who each possessed two elements and displayed them openly by the colors on their robes. *Idiots* was the only thing Avan could think of, unless someone was wearing it just to mislead others, strategically it was just stupid to tell your opponent exactly which element you had mastered. Even the healers who possessed water or earth and could summon the power of nature and healing wore their profession openly on their robes. *This makes it very easy for any enemy to directly seek out the healers and eliminate them first.... tsk...*
And among the other adventurers, all kinds of weapons were represented, from flails, clubs, swords, daggers, crossbows and bows, while the commander of the quest and vice-leader of the Adventurer''s Guild of Tria fought with a large double-edged two-handed sword, a huge blade 2 meters long.
Avan glanced at his own group and team members and was relatively glad to have convinced Jen to put on stronger material in the form of sturdy leather, which not only accentuated her figure as a young attractive woman, but also offered much better protection than the robe she had worn before. And not to mention the strategic advantage that not every Tom, Dick and Harry knew immediately that she was the healer of the party.
Dani herself was again dressed in a dark green leather outfit, a quiver and a hunting bow on her back, and two arm-length daggers at her belt. Patris, the troop''s warrior and tank, had a new tower shield that wobbled back and forth on his back as the adventures marched through the first crystal formations, and a medium longsword at his hip that could be carried one-handed or two-handed.
Avan himself, having given Jen his old focus, had not taken anything else and was satisfied with his robe. He was walking with Jen at the end of the group, talking to her about magic on Eos and various theories about runes that they both had. Nevertheless, he was also still careful not to reveal anything of his true abilities and remained silent even with his own mind-bending theories and spells.
Avan''s experiments in the last days and nights had literally opened his eyes. His magic had progressed in leaps and bounds, and last night he even made a breakthrough when he developed new rune formations just in case.
His latest breakthrough was finally, as he knew from games and fantasy novels, the passive skill [Mana Manipulation]!
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[Mana Manipulation]
Longer than I thought, but you finally got it. What usually only fully trained mages graduating from glorious academies learn to master, you have learned to grasp faster than anyone ever before, thanks to your cheat powers as a dungeon!
This skill allows you to see mana in your surroundings and affect it with a lot of concentration.
[Bronze] No pain, no gain! Your inner instincts now guide you in influencing mana in the environment.
{Silver] You can now not only see mana, but change the properties of mana outside your body with much effort and concentration.
[Gold] A flick of your finger is all it takes for the mana around you to obey your will. In a fight with another mage with the same ability, it comes down to the sheer willpower of the two opponents as to who triumphs over the mana.
[Platinum] You have achieved something legendary. The mana in your immediate vicinity obeys your will and you have learned the passive skill [Mana Domain].
[Diamond] Any mana of your own elements is like an extension of your body. If you possess an element, you have absolute control over it in your [Mana Domain]. When you meet someone who also has a [Mana Domain], a contest of will and mana takes place to decide who wins. Stronger and rarer elements always win over weaker elements, no matter how strong the will and mana of the other is!
[Mana Domain]
A simple name for an immense power. Only the fewest Sages and Grand Mages succeed in achieving this after decades of study on Mana and its effects.
Depending on your own mana capacity and your magical strength, a sphere surrounds you on all sides with you as the center. In your own domain you have absolute control over the mana in you and around you and the rarer and stronger your own element is, the more difficult or impossible it is to wrest your control in your mana domain.
[-] This passive ability has no stages, but is automatically bundled into similar abilities and can be combined instinctively.
Not only did Avan directly learn levels of [Mana Manipulation] that were actually far above his own level, but he also received the overpowered skill [Mana Domain] at the same time!
And as if that wasn''t enough cheating, the Mana Domain had instantly combined with his sphere of influence as a dungeon and spawned something new there as well! The previous skill [Celestial Sphere] had evolved without his intervention.
[Dungeon Domain]
Not only are you a dungeon and your body the dungeon core, but you now have absolute control over any mana in the environment if you concentrate.
Through your first element, Celestial, you have absolute and unchanging control over any mana of the lower elements, no matter how powerful or strong-willed your opponent is. Basic and Advanced Elements kneel before your authority!
[Bronze] Range is multiplied by 5. (50m)
You are now able to store various mundane materials and keep them physically stable inside your Domain. You have unlocked an anchor point. This anchor point has 10 000% of your own defensive power and cannot be damaged with elements under your own authority.
[Silver] Range is multiplied by 5. (250m)
You are now able to store advanced materials and keep them physically stable inside your Domain.
[Gold] Range is multiplied by 5. (1250m)
You are now able to store magical materials and keep them stable inside your Domain.
You are like a demi-god and no one can hide from you; the vast majority of methods to conceal objects or beings in your sphere of influence is negated and you sense things as they actually are. Elements subject to your own authority have no power in your domain to hide.
Avan grinned to himself as he reread the skill descriptions of the three passive skills and had a little bounce in his step full of joy. Jen saw his behavior at her side, but left it uncommented and simply rejoiced when she saw the happy grin of her fellow competitor.
"Halt!" Came the commander who had walked in front with his assistant and just looked at the various adventurers behind him and raised a palm. "We have now arrived on the level. Here we make our camp for the next 2 days and meet again and again. Please note that you are required to check in every evening so that we know that no one is missing. If we have to send out a search party and you have merely dawdled, you will have to pay for the costs and wasted time of the participating search parties!"
With these words and a unanimous nod from the audience, everyone set up their tents in their own little groups. Some had come alone and simply had a lot of confidence in their abilities, while the vast majority had gone in at least pairs or even with a 5-man group.
Since it was just approaching noon, Avan''s group also decided to take advantage of the daylight and explore the area today, while collecting the first crystals.
The crystal forest around them was beautiful to look at and had crystals in all imaginable colors and variations of a rainbow. However, one could not simply mine these crystals in the formations to be seen as they stood there, but it was about the highly concentrated mana crystals of the respective elements that were so hotly sought after. White crystals were elementless, while all colored ones belonged to the respective elements and could be used for the most diverse purposes.
Avan himself wondered to this day which element his pink, almost lilac, crystals belonged to. *But all in good time.*
2.53-Difficulties in another place
"Did you see that guy trying to harvest those crystals by hand, despite the commander''s instructions?" Snorted one of the younger members of one of the adventurer groups, laughing as he tapped his comrade on the shoulder. "And then he just goes on and does the same to all the other crystals after that as well, while looking with a furrowed brow at the mana crystals falling to dust in front of him!" And he only laughed harder as he looked after the seal bearer, who moved on with his other three companions and was now out of sight.
"Well, but... I don''t know about that, dude. Somehow he didn''t really look upset when the mana crystals turned to dust. More like... Curious? Sure he was harvesting them and not testing something else?" Replied his colleague, who had just been tapped on the shoulder with a laugh, with a confused and questioning look while also staring in the direction.
"Who gives a shit! Help us finally harvest the crystals here you idiots!" Came a feminine and annoyed voice from behind the two, immediately followed by a thumb-sized slightly cracked crystal landing on the back of the head of the first of the two young men, bringing a yelp.
*Clonk
"Hey! What was that all about!" Shouted the young man, who had just been laughing, as he massaged the back of his head where the already worthless little mana crystal had painfully landed with no small amount of force.
Elsewhere, Avan also earned critical and confused looks, but seemed to reassure his teammates with his encouraging grin as he kept picking up and harvesting mana crystals, only to have them crumble to dust in front of everyone.
Even Jen, who was walking alongside him, raised an eyebrow in a strange way, but got no response from the mage of her group.
Meanwhile, Avan had only one thought going through his head as he made a new groundbreaking discovery of what was in all those crumbled mana crystals. *Holy fucking shit! It doesn''t work without physical contact, but I can use the stored mana in mana crystals to expand my mana veins bit by bit and circulate internally before slowly expelling it! Even if it''s only a marginal expansion, it''s finally a way to accelerate the speed and flow of mana through my body!* he triumphantly gloated inwardly, as one mana crystal disappeared into his backpack for all to see, only for the other to turn to dust in his hand.
Meanwhile, in a completely different place, hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
"Commander!" Saluted a sweaty soldier in front of her and stood bolt upright for reporting. "They''ve already started torturing the newest prisoners by their monsters in front of our eyes... again!"
You could see the hard-breathing young man, barely 20 years old, shaking inside at all the atrocities the defenders had witnessed over the weeks. Meanwhile, a deep heartfelt sigh came from the woman standing in front of him, whose life all the survivors owed to and who had united them all under her banner, even if she was not the strongest or most powerful person in the camp, but nevertheless the most astute and clever. Not to mention her background.
"All is well, soldier. I''ll be right there... Thanks for the information. You can take a short break. And have a drink..." She replied, thinking with a heavy heart about the whole situation the survivors were in right now.
It had all started so quickly, and when she had first seen the extent of the disaster with her own eyes, most of it had already passed, leaving only minor skirmishes to deal with.
The survivors, who numbered only a few thousand, had had to flee here under the earth, cruel shapes and twisted monsters of every imaginable kind right on their heels. There were only a few hours left after the attackers disappeared to save all the belongings of the townspeople, and even she had to catch herself mentally and push all emotions coldly and brutally to the back of her mind to attend to the most important things first.
Her grandfather had owned spatial rings, exactly two in number. One large, spacious and not really magically great secured, and one inconspicuous spatial ring but with the most expensive magical protections she could have ever imagined.
In the larger of the two rings she had been able to save any books and anything valuable in her former home - but actually almost only books. In addition, magical herbs, ingredients, potions of all kinds, and everything that had occurred to her in a hurry had disappeared in the ring. There simply hadn''t been much time to think, when the first shouts about a dark horde of thousands of monsters from the burning city wall had reached her ears.
In the smaller and magically secured ring were the most valuable things, as well as the former possessions of her grandfather.Until today, she had not found the time to mourn, and it hurt and stung in her mind, her stomach turned and she felt wobbly on her feet every time she opened this mental "drawer" even a tiny bit, in which she had locked everything away for the time being, like right now.
One or two slaps on her cheeks and her face glowed rosy. With her mind firmly back on her feet, she slid her reading glasses, which were perched on her nose, upwards into place and took one last look at all the books, scrolls and reports piled up on the round stone table in front of her.
Another sigh escaped her lips, and she turned to march through the otherwise magical locked door to see for herself the situation that had just happened again on the defenders'' front.
She marched down the stone corridor with her back straight and without any emotion, to encourage and set an example for all those who were fighting. She did not even glance at the excellently and masterfully crafted murals to the right and left, her focus entirely on the ever louder sounds of battle in front of her.
Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!Hundreds of men and women, adventurers, former city guards and soldiers, but also volunteers from the population, gathered in front of her in orderly formations and groupings. Mages, healers and archers were stationed in the back, the first thing the approaching woman saw.
Injured were placed to the right and left in the large and magically lit corridor, some without limbs, some asleep, some crying, or others in the arms of their loved ones and family. Healers and volunteers were applying bandages, brewing herbal decoctions, and rushing frantically back and forth.
The young woman marched past the injured and nodded gratefully to some familiar guards, which often earned her a pained and weary nod back.
She passed the ranged fighters and reached the command area between ranged and close combatants, the shield bearers at the front, supported by spearmen and all sorts of close combatants with their respective weapons.
An older man shouted orders and then bent over the heavy hozltisch again, on which a map and various small carved figures were located and represented important strategic information. His calloused hand shifted some red and black figures, while a distinct sigh was heard from his mouth.
"Those sons of bitches..." he muttered, then looked up, directly into the eyes of the young woman who had just approached. "Commander.... Usual procedure?" He asked the question that had been asked dozens of times now as he rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"How many times do I have to tell you...? I have a name that has been given to me and is to be used. And yes... Put them out of their misery with a quick death.... Again. "
The people rushing all around could clearly see the tired faces of the two commanders, and read the pain in their eyes as it came to "This" situation again.
"Let''s deal with it quickly, Larin..." She sighed for the umpteenth time that day. It had become a habit to walk around with a headache all the time and the sighs just didn''t end.
"If only we could prevent these bastards from exploiting every little gap and weak point to grab fighters or helpers, only to torture them in front of our eyes or... Do these THINGS to them!" Roared the other commander, Larin. "If I get my hands on any of those bastards, I swear to all the gods, I''ll rip out their fucking spines with my own two hands!" A fist crashed down on the table with force, but other than a few unused figures on the edge of the unrolled map, everything else remained intact. The figures were all pinned into the map with small pins, so even the commander''s brief frequent outbursts did no harm.
He beckoned to a waiting soldier who was taking a break. "Give the go!"
And turned to the young woman. "Where is this going to get everyone. If this goes on and we continue to lose dozens of fighters every day, we''ll soon have no one left to fight, and no one left to fight for! If only your grandfather were still with us, Elisa..." He stared into her eyes with a sad, tired look. He knew exactly how much it hurt the young archivist to think about this topic, but it had slipped out of his frustration.
Indeed, the commander of the previous inhabitants of Cyntha, appointed by everyone, was the granddaughter of the former guildmaster of the Adventurers'' Guild, Elisa Stormcloud. And the commander standing before her was the former commander of Cynthas city guard.
Arrows hissing through the air, a whole hail of arrows, interrupted the respective melancholy thoughts of the two, and they turned to the front, which was equipped with sharpened barricades of their own kind. Behind them, dozens and even thousands of monsters scurried in the walls outside the Dungeon of Akkalon.
But the most chest-thumping thing was the new way the "masters" of these twisted monsters and experiments were doing things lately. First, black-clad assassins had penetrated the defenders at the smallest gaps and slaughtered the back ranks until they themselves could be killed.
A few days later, their pattern had changed, and the first defenders had been kidnapped in various ways as soon as an opportunity arose for the attackers. Only to be tortured, cut, and dismembered in front of the defenders to demoralize them.
This, too, lasted only a few weeks, when suddenly the next macabre act happened, filling all the defenders with a rage and powerlessness that could not be imagined otherwise. The "masters" of this gigantic monster horde of twisted experiments with their purple veins had resorted to a far more brutal method - psychological warfare.
They had the prisoners, whether young or old, man or woman, in front of the eyes of all defenders and often also relatives and acquaintances - be raped. By monsters. The screams of horror and pain followed all of Cyntha''s defenders into sleep, and there was no night in which many people didn''t wake up screaming or crying into sleep because it had happened to a loved one.
And exactly such a scenario was now happening again, which is why the messenger had also informed Elisa. And why she got up from her planning and research and came to the front as well. She felt an obligation to the defenders and survivors to be there when they were doing the only thing they could do for the victims. Show mercy with a quick and largely painless death.
The gurgling and screaming in agony of the people who had just been torn apart and raped again under torture by the monsters in front of the defense for demoralization ended little by little, until only the scratching and smacking sound of the eating monsters remained, bouncing eerily off the walls.
Stunned and shaking her head, because no matter how often you had to watch it, it hurt inside, Elisa nodded to the commanding officer Larin, and went back to her other activities with long strides.
There were still the situations to check on the first level, where all the other civilians and survivors had settled. The formerly dense forest was now regularly cleared of all wolves and served as the new home of the refugees. Houses had been built from the cleared trees, the flowing river served as a source of water, and the first fields were already bearing fruit. The magical climate inside Akkalon''s dungeon had extraordinary advantages, much to the refugees'' delight, and Elisa was always inwardly grateful to the man who had made it all possible.
As she walked down the entrance to the first level, she lingered again on the one question. *Are you still alive and well, Avan?*
2.54-Destructiveness of two gods
The group of Jen, Dani, Patris, and Avan had spent the rest of the day searching the surrounding area for crystals, and even Avan''s [Black Wyrm Backpack] with its 3X size inside was now half filled with all sorts of different colored mana crystals. And this despite the fact that he had circulated every other mana crystal and rendered it useless.
They had just all eaten a hearty soup over a campfire, and everyone went about their own routine tasks for the evening. Dani looked after her equipment and made sure her ranger gear was in good condition, while Patris lay beside her, muttering to himself that he vowed to do some combat training as soon as he had finished digesting.
Jen sat near Avan, and had done a lot with Avan in the last few hours and days. The mage himself was sitting in a meditative posture, in a pose he had more or less neglected for weeks. First the journey as a slave, and then the escape and then the dungeon. This had left little room for meditative rest, except for the few times he had spent in the evening circulating his inner mana.
[Meditation] not only provided faster mana regeneration, which he himself didn''t really need due to his gigantic increased ambient mana, but also a minimal growth in the flow of mana through his own body. The more you deepened and mastered the meditation, the more you could increase your mana veins throughout your body bit by bit, multiplying your speed.
Due to the constant additional pure mana in the mana crystals themselves, which he had absorbed and used internally in the last few hours, his puny mana veins had almost doubled in size and width. Although this was of no use to him when it came to controlling his forms, for example, since they were created outside of his body, everything that healed or augmented his body itself, in other words, used his inner mana channels, was now more than twice as strong and fast.
Less than an hour after Avan sat down to meditate and breathed in and out calmly like a Zen master, the mana around him suddenly condensed.
Jen was the first to look up in shock and search for the origin of this phenomenon, only to find the starting point of it right next to her in the form of Avan! A clearly visible veil and mist of white neutral mana became visible. The closer to his body, the more visible and almost tangible became the mana that was attracted to him.
The three spectators looked at each other shaking their heads helplessly, as everyone present had read about similar incidents and breakthroughs in mana skills. No one was surprised if Avan suddenly pulled a rabbit out of the hood of his robe or made a breakthrough in meditation like a great mage.
Avan himself smiled only slightly as he clearly perceived the reactions of the others even with closed eyes, but then concentrated again on the new addition to his meditation skills.
Passive Skill: Meditation
Through meditation, a true spirit can reach godhood through instant regeneration of health, mana, and stamina.
While not moving, you constantly regain health, mana, and stamina at a higher rate than usually possible.
[Bronze] Your very soul faced a flood of mana and not only survived the encounter but also came out of this ordeal more substantial than before.
Your body and mind are tremendously improved through mana infusion, and you now passively store mana in your cells. You are faster, stronger, and more resilient. If you wish, you can unleash small portions of stored mana through contact to corrupt your enemies.
[Silver] You have managed to create a healthy schizophrenia in your mind. Congratulations.
Allows you now to split your thoughts and concentration in meditation and to tackle different thoughts and tasks at the same time.
[Gold] You can now passively regenerate mana while moving slowly. ADDITION: As a dungeon, you can now slowly but steadily restore mana within your domain, even if you are in a mana empty zone!
Avan smiled inwardly when he first read the first sentence about reaching the gold rank of the skill and was about to scoff a bit when he then read the addition and his eyes almost fell out of his skull.
*Is that Mana creation?" His head went blank. He dared not think of the sheer impossibility. *If this is mana creation, no matter how slow or little it is... Does that mean I can conjure up fucking mana out of thin air?!* This idea sent a shiver down his spine, as he couldn''t imagine in the slightest that such a thing could be possible. As far as he knew and had read, mana came from the dungeons and the world itself, but was never created out of thin air.
On Aorus, too, the same rule of ancient alchemy and the Stone of Wisdom applied; something can be transformed, but energy can never be created out of nothing.
One thing Avan knew in any case - no matter to whom or what, he was not allowed to reveal this tiny little thing to anyone! For the protection of the others, but also above all for the protection of himself. He was indeed a dungeon, so the creation of mana was also quite conceivable. But he had never thought about it, because it had never come to his attention before.
*But of course, even a dungeon has to get mana from somewhere to respawn its monsters and resources.... Or to expand. Otherwise, eventually all the mana on the planet would be sucked up and gone...* He exhaled slowly and long.
His whole inside felt like it was on fire, but without the pain, just with a certain discomfort like waking up in a slightly unknown body. A warmth flowed through his body that had been there before thanks to his mana veins, but had never been felt as clearly as it was now.
Muscles, bones and tendons tightened, only to loosen up again full of energy. Every pore breathed in mana and the soul core in his center greedily sucked up any mana that was brought in from the outside.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itWhen he opened his eyes, a slightly embarrassed and startled Jen looked him straight in the eyes. "Congratulations!" She squealed, completely caught off guard by the fact that he opened his eyes at the exact moment she wanted to see the phenomenon up close, only to be caught in the act.
"Thank you." He smiled warmly at her and made nothing more of it, since he had also seen everything even with his closed eyes.
The day ticked away and the 4 of them slept in their three tents until the next dawn to start collecting more mana crystals.
In contrast to the previous day, the 4 decided at breakfast to advance a little more into the more dangerous interior of the battlefield surrounded by crystals, since far and wide everything in the surrounding area of mana crystals had been harvested by the more than 60 adventurers yesterday.
So they set off, and it took them more than half an hour of stumbling on foot to find the first mana crystals, which promptly disappeared into their backpacks. With the exception of Avan, of course, who again let half of his collected crystals crumble to dust.
In a huge circle of over half an hour and certainly several hours around the battlefield, the other adventurers had done a great job and left no fully grown mana crystal.
The idea of going further inside soon proved to be the right one as the backpacks of the 4 slowly but steadily filled up. Among other things, this had been the reason why they had wanted to take the risk of going further into the interior, because otherwise they would have spent hours walking around the edge of the battlefield until they had even reached untouched crystal formations.
Not to mention the fact that the other 60 adventurers went to collect again today too and the distance they had to cover to reach the camp increased even further.
So the small group of adventurers with Avan slowly meandered deeper into the interior. The orders of the commander of the quest had not completely forbidden to advance further, but admonishingly advised against it.
But except for the few encounters with smaller crystal lizards and a few crystal elementals that were quickly hunted down, there were no signs of increased danger. The monsters, even here in the interior, were rather fewer, and were all only in the range around level 130.
Soon the crystal formations thinned out more and more, and while it was already afternoon again when one looked at the position of the sun in the slightly cloudy sky, the backpacks and bags that had been brought along were now slowly really full to the top.
Dani himself had again taken over the scout post and circled around the collecting group members in some distance approximately. And it was precisely this young woman who now approached the other three comrades from the front with a frowning expression on her face.
Patris was the first to approach her and put both his hands on her shoulders to look at her questioningly. Jen and Avan also stopped, although the latter had already noticed something in his domain that was most likely responsible for the ranger''s confused mood. Over a kilometer radius was simply no joke when it came to pure perception, and at the edge of his domain directly towards the center of the battlefield something strange was going on.
While Dani was reporting the same thing, Avan was pretending to listen, but concentrating more on watching what was happening on the small earthy hill in the middle of the huge battlefield.
A small group of beastmen had gathered in the center, and all of them were surrounding in a semicircle a single lion-man in the middle, who was holding a strange intertwining sphere stretched out in front of him and chanting something in a strange singsong.
*Where does this sound familiar...?* Avan looked more closely and examined the ball in the lion man''s hands. It seemed as if two spheres were inside each other, exactly fused. While one surface was spinning and whirling in a clockwise direction, the other sphere was spinning in exactly the opposite direction to the first. A slightly hypnotic way and manner could not be denied the sight, there would not be exactly what Avan''s heart briefly suspended to see.
*These purple veins! Miasma!" he cursed with wide eyes, and had been so engrossed in watching the hill that he didn''t even notice Dani''s shocked look until she snapped him out of his trance with a loud voice.
"...Listening? Don''t tell me you saw it from over here?!" She looked at him stunned, because she had seen the same as Avan, but this place was more than a kilometer further inside! His group knew a little that Avan could sense things within a certain radius, but to this extent? That was just terrifying for each of the members of the group.
Avan himself didn''t say anything else about it and didn''t inform anyone about the true extent of his abilities, but nonchalantly confirmed Dani''s own statements and even added to them in real time about what was happening.
The group had a brief crisis meeting and discussed what to do. Jen was of the opinion that it would be better to return to the camp quickly and bring in the commander, while Patris was ambivalent.
It was only when Avan interjected with more urgent information that the four of them unanimously decided to see for themselves. A reddish and strangely black mana had risen from the ground in two places on the hill and was slowly wafting towards the sphere still held in the air in a chant.
Whatever the beast people were up to, with the factor miasma it could not bode well. And since something serious was happening now, everyone wanted to be able to intervene directly before they ran back to the camp for an hour.
Another ten minutes of strenuous running later, because all the crystal formations all around and on the ground in the race to avoid was not easy, the group was at the edge of the hill and looked out stealthily behind a larger crystal formation. Avan had a brief dejavu when he thought back to the crystal plane in Akkalon''s dungeon, where he had also peered at his enemy from behind such a huge crystal structure.
Purple mana, definitely the contaminated kind, had in the meantime risen from the sphere between the paws of the lion man and was clearly trying to fight the blood-red and midnight-black mana that was still streaming out of the earth in ever more gigantic dense clouds.
The ground vibrated slightly at first, and the quake grew stronger the longer the battle between these three forms of mana dragged on.
2.55-A system quest appears
As if the ever-increasing earthquake were not enough, a message appeared directly in Avan''s field of vision that made him click his tongue in annoyance.
[System quest initalized!]
Prevent the infection of the Miasma on the continent of Eos!
A group of beastmen were seen carrying a container of unknown origin with a dangerous aura to the center of the battlefield of the true vampire and the true dragon. This container sprays a baleful mana against all natural order and is in the process of corrupting the residual energy signatures of the true vampire and the true dragon!
Prevent this at all costs, otherwise Eos will be lost as it is known today.
Reward: 1 soul level
Optional Reward: The Legacy of the True Vampire Xavier & the True Dragon Draul
- Non-shareable -
"Oh fuck you guys..." He groaned, shaking his head, as he read the cliche message to save the world, or continent, in front of him.
"What?!" Jen whispered to him from the side, while Dani and Patris also asked him the same thing almost at the same time.
Avan, who was scratching the back of his head and letting out a loud gasp, looked over at the assembled beastmen again. "I just got a system quest, not shareable, and it''s exactly about these guys up there who are doing this dangerous looking ritual right now."
[Lionman - 171]
[Lionman - 156]
[Cat Man - 154]
[Lizard Man - 148]
[Bear Woman - 148]
Of course, Avan had long since identified the five people on the hill and had ruled them out as a danger for the time being, but he didn''t know what to do with the goose bumps that came over him at the sight of the miasma-tried sphere.
*Wherever it comes from, it''s not something these people should have in the level area, that''s for sure. And the concentration of this weird mana is so huge that I''m not sure if I could trump it with celestial mana or if it would corrupt me myself afterwards.* And turning to the others. "Those five seem to be performing a ritual that could lead to the corruption of the whole continent, if not stopped. That''s basically what the system quest says." He finished his explanation with a sigh. Why exactly the appearance of this system quest bothered him so much, Avan didn''t really know how to put it. But it did leave a bad taste in his mouth when he was given the task of saving an entire continent without having a choice. And then to have to live with the failure or rejection of this quest.
"Shit!" Came from the only other male besides Avan in the group. "This is fucked up! Can we do this?! Because it doesn''t at all look like we have time to get the commander, or reinforcements in general."
And as if Patris had tempted fate, the first crystal formations on the right shattered further away from the group and a small earth fissure swallowed everything in place only a few seconds later.
The earthquake seemed to have reached its peak and the whole group, including Avan with his [Steady] skill, had to struggle to stay on their feet. Mana rushed in from the surrounding area as the blood red and midnight black mana began to fight like two consciousnesses of their own against the invasive miasma that was fighting a two front war with the other two mana signatures.
The lion man himself was already wobbling on his feet from exhaustion and had to be held down by two rushing comrades on either side of him, while the miasma-laden ball in his hands spun and vibrated faster and faster as the corruption grew in density.
"Do we have a choice?!" Jen shouted, almost screaming, as the screeching and shaking had become deafeningly loud.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit."Let''s get this over with." Avan yelled against the noise and nodded his head toward the hill. The first steps were the most uncomfortable, as the ground shook and shook so hard that it took a few meters for the [Steady] skill to slowly kick in and Avan could see a real benefit to it for the first time.
The steps became more secure with each step, and his footsteps found a better and firmer grip on the stony ground. The others also knew that there was no time to make big plans and followed Avan on wobbly legs.
Arriving at the foot of the hill, and much sooner than Avan had hoped, the first beastman noticed the troublemakers and frantically informed his comrades. The bear-woman, who had just supported the lion-man with the ball, turned around and barked something in another language to the others. They seemed to agree on something, and the bear-woman herself went into the vanguard opposite the newcomers.
"Patris! Can you take the bear?!" Avan yelled against the noise over his left shoulder, sensing more than seeing the young warrior''s nod. With tower shield in hand and still on unsteady feet, he walked past Avan and took on the tank-looking she-bear.
Jen stopped, continued to wobble from side to side, but pulled out her focus and prepared the first buffs and healing over time spell. Again, Avan noticed that the young woman was reciting an incantation and that these phrases seemed to serve as concentration to guide the spell and give the mana a purpose.
Dani herself drew an arrow and did not take long before the first arrow flew from her string and the next was drawn. A crash of claws and a sickening squeal as it scratched the metal of the tower shield briefly broke through the background noise. Patris staggered back a step, momentarily overwhelmed by the force and brute strength of the bear-woman. A war cry rang out from his throat, and one of the other swordsmen lunged at him as if out of his mind when the taunt shout began to have some effect.
Avan himself reverted to his old method and summoned 25 Akkalon forms to sic them on the enemy and finish the fight more quickly. After all, the contaminated object of the system quest was still waiting for the group on the hill itself.
But as the first forms began to take shape, something happened that Avan himself had never observed before.
Threads of mana pulled themselves out of the unstable form and turned towards the scene of the three mana signatures. And not just one thread came loose from the mana constructs, but many, and in each of the Akkalon forms!
*Because the mana of the surroundings is drawn there with such a strong pull?* was the only explanation that raced through his consciousness.
Cursing the system and the creator of this miasma, Avan also only now noticed how his own robe of the same celestial mana was fraying at the edges and was annoyed at himself for not noticing it before due to the distraction.
With the greatest possible concentration, he managed to stop the robe from completely disintegrating, but was unable to repair the mana that had already disappeared for the moment. Two time-honored battle gloves of celestial mana materialized around his hands, as it was just enough to keep his concentration without losing focus and form.
Meanwhile, the golden mana threads of his half-finished constructs continued to waft and the last remnants of the celestial mana flowed in liquid threads toward the center of the collision at the top of the hill. At the top, while Avan took on the other melee fighter and Dani shot at the opponents'' mage, his frayed mana flowed into the contact point between Miasma and the other two mana signatures.
A wave of cold sweat of fear suddenly spread through Avan, the images flashing before him in his mind''s cinema. Scenes of what had happened to Haipu''s dungeon core when he had freed it from the miasma with his Celestial mana. Not only the dungeon core itself had decided to explode, but also the apparent opposites of this plague and the celestial mana that was considered one of the two strongest mana types on Aorus. A paradox of the existence of mana and the non-existence thanks to the miasma.
And as he watched in slow motion, the vast and gigantic amounts of celestial mana flowed now directly into the clash of forces.
2.56-Cleansing
A sense of foreboding spread through Avan as he still fended off a sword strike from his opponent as if in slow motion, but watched the clash of these forces with widened eyes. He knew that he had to do something right now. But what?
He had to get the other three out of here, because it was becoming increasingly clear what would happen here sooner or later. But how?
A jump to the side just saved Avan from a sword stroke that would have sliced deep into his left arm - and in return he was grazed by the mage with a fist-sized fireball on the other shoulder that had actually been meant for Dani.
It hissed as the already battered robe was hit at the spot and the skin underneath painfully blistered thanks to the heat, but was otherwise fortunately unharmed. "Damn..." Avan muttered through clenched teeth, now also more than happy that his pain tolerance had been further reduced by his skill. On Earth itself, Avan had no recollection of ever having been really badly burned, so even this brief contact with a fireball was enough for him for the time being, and he didn''t want to imagine what such a severe burn without pain relief must feel like.
The swordsman himself was also surprised by the fireball that passed right by his face when he had wanted to chase after Avan. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Avan rolled forward over his healthy shoulder and struck the lion man in his crotch with full force.
Judging by the scream and the pressure, Avan had definitely hit something serious and the other fighting men also flinched at the brief glance they threw across.
Seizing the opportunity once again, Avan focused on the node where his Celestial mana had disappeared and noticed that the miasma had diminished marginally and lost some of its edge. The cloud of blood-red and midnight-black mana had regained some ground, but at that moment was again overcome by corruption.
He knew, especially from the magical vibrations that were being emitted more and more strongly by the impact, that disaster was not far away.
A magical explosion suddenly shook the fighters out of nowhere, and it was only when the golden-silver light subsided that Avan was seen standing in the middle, looking apologetically at his teammates. With a single strike, he had expelled half his available mana and launched a wave of force with himself as the center to at least briefly interrupt the fighting.
He took advantage of the confusion and the time it took for the opponents to get up to let his gaze wander from Jen, to Patris, and then to Dani. "I just can''t think of anything better..." Was all they heard as they were abruptly seized by a massive invisible force and hurled in the direction they had come from before.
"Sorry guys..." Avan muttered to himself, his concentration on the gravity-defying property in his domain that just enveloped the three flying people, making it easy to propel them out of the surrounding danger zone.
A few seconds later and his teammates were almost a full kilometer away, so fast and so much mana had been used by Avan to hurl them away. Beads of sweat danced on his forehead as he cushioned their impact, and only then turned his attention back to his opponents, who were now stomping toward him again, eager to attack.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.Now, finally, even without spectators, the entire mana in a radius of almost 10 meters around Avan ignited in a golden-silver glow and condensed more and more. He had to act quickly to somehow get out of the whole thing in one piece. What the others didn''t know - his celestial mana made his own survival the most likely, which is why he had to get the three of them out of here first. Through his experience and contact with the corruption in Haipu, he knew that celestial mana worked against the miasma and could be successful with enough pressure.
Before the accumulated celestial mana in dense mist form could also be sucked in again by the forming maelstrom and battle of the other mana signatures, he killed the four attackers with a short mental gesture and beads of sweat flowing down his body.
Everywhere the heads of the beastmen fell to the ground, just a small silver dissolving thread as proof of what had just happened to them.
Already, the corruption and the fight on the hill above was tearing at Avan''s accumulated mana. But instead of fighting it, Avan concentrated even more and more mana, sending it all up in wave after wave straight to the miasma sphere.
He built everything on somehow overwhelming the embattled mana signatures, and most importantly, cleansing the corruption with a single blow of his accumulated celestial mana. At first it seemed as if the two attacked mana signatures were now also fighting Avan''s mana, but suddenly they flowed around the golden silver mana and attacked only the miasma again, as if there was an intelligent consciousness of its own behind it and understood what was happening.
Avan''s mana broke in great waves on the corruption and especially on the writhing orb, instantly snatching it from the lion man''s hand, only to land on the ground with an eerie screech.
Avan had to cover his ears as the banshee-like screech whizzed overhead. The lion man himself had been hit at close range and his face was bleeding from every orifice as he himself crashed to the ground, seemingly unconscious.
While the screeching only grew stronger with each wave of Celestial Mana that hit the sphere, Avan also took a staggering step backwards from the force and pressure that was in the air and trying to force him to his knees.
The blood red and midnight black mana immediately seized the opportunity to reclaim the already corrupted piece of itself and immediately attacked the miasma sphere with concentrated power.
And suddenly an implosion tore the hill apart. Avan was just able to gather several layers of celestial mana around him to form a cocoon, while in the fraction of a second he could see a hateful grimace in a purple haze inside the implosion that was rapidly being torn apart by bloody lines and black claws in a screech.
Then he crashed with full force into the earth realm, tearing all crystal formations and mana crystals with him, until he came to a stop with hundreds of broken bones in a deep trench and covered with crystal residues.
The last thing he could see shimmering out of the corner of his eye and buried under thousands of crystals of all colors and sizes - blood-red and midnight-black strands racing directly at him and sinking into his chest with a pain that was not of this world.
2.57-The great mage of Haipu
In a classroom, in a different place, at the same time.
A person dressed in magnificent robes stood in front of a large class of teenage students. One could immediately see the splendor and luxury of the school from the masterful murals, the expensive mahogany wood tables at which each student sat, and the magical constructs and lamps that spread a warm glow throughout the classroom.
"And that is why it is extremely important that each of you constantly practice and develop your meditation skills. Because only in this way can you constantly strengthen your control when casting spells." Spoke the older, gray-haired magic teacher in front to all his students.
"Let''s move on to a broader topic, incantations and why they are important. Now look at page 537 in your applied magic textbook for the examples and explain to me what you see and what they are good for."
A rustling sound could be heard throughout the classroom as all the students immediately and without a murmur flipped through their books and searched for the specified page. Some of the elite students instantly found their way around and the gears in some of the teenagers'' heads promptly began working to comprehend what they had read.
The first of the students present seemed to have already figured out the answer, judging by the increasing number of hands in the classroom.
The elderly teacher in front of the class smiled benignly when he saw the typical youngsters who always did well, but also some who were behind in the more practical applications but more than shone in the theory.
After enough time had passed, he decided to take the first person. "Yes, Zulu?" He said with a wave and a gesture of his hand towards a young freckled girl sitting in the front right of the class, right by the windows.
The girl was one of those in whom the magic teacher saw a great future in research, because she showed an extremely quick grasp and was a true prodigy in theory so far. If she could get rid of her shyness in the future, nothing would stand in the way of a steep career.
The freckle-covered Zulu stood up and kneaded her hands in front of her, again clearly showing how uncomfortable she was with the attention of all her classmates. Nevertheless, she had volunteered because she was always inquisitive and hardworking.
"From the representations and descriptions, I assume that incantations yield quasi-channels to direct the energy and give it a form. In earlier times, the first intelligent life forms on Aorus tried to reconcile this with rituals and more in religions, which resulted in some powerful results but was also more unreliable."
She paused briefly and looked around nervously, but her gaze shifted back to the mage teacher in front of the class with a bright will, quickly overcoming her nervousness.
"So we are told that we modern mages need incantations to produce the desired effect specifically and without great risk. This means, conversely, that mages with incantations must recite the words completely without being interrupted. However, if you are interrupted while reciting the incantation, all mana invested up to that point is lost and returns to the world origin. This disadvantage is not present when casting incantation-less magic, since the magic is formed at any time and the mana is under the constant control of the caster, but at the same time any deviation, no matter how small, in the will and construct of the spell one wishes to cast can have devastating consequences."
At the end, the young woman hesitated once again and you could tell she wanted to add something, but didn''t dare.
The veteran mage had given her an encouraging nod at the end of her list and immediately saw her hesitation as well. "Go ahead, Zulu. You know that I encourage and challenge the spirit of my students. Your thought processes should be stimulated and I want you with all your heart to question, consider and look at everything critically with your own thoughts."
The freckled girl swallowed some saliva that had accumulated in her mouth and then nodded, more to herself than to anyone else. "Ahem... Then..."
"I-I''m of the opinion that incantations are meant to be more of a learning aid than actually being the ultimate goal in spellcasting. If we use incantations too long without learning from them, it becomes more of a crutch as it prevents us from deepening the true form of magic and all of its possibilities and diversity! Spell-less casting should be our primary goal, and we should learn from spells and the study of them, which paths our mana has to take and then learn them by heart to be able to cast it without a incantation. This is the only way we can adapt to any circumstances in a fight or situation and change incantations immediately as we need them..."
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!The mage in front rose in surprise at Zulu''s astute and logical conclusion and tugged at his long dark gray beard. "Indeed... However, this is possible only for the fewest and most talented mages of our time! Someone with normal talent of magic will almost always kill himself, because he simply lacks talent."
"And then there''s-" And suddenly the classroom door was ripped open and a sweaty man in horn-rimmed glasses rushed in, his gaze agitated and frantically looking for someone until he spotted the teacher under all the sweat running down his face.
"Master! The king has summoned you! It''s about the princess and a magic anomaly in the south of Haipu like none of the other mages have ever seen! It calls for your portal magic to rescue the princess from the danger zone!" Came like a shot from the man''s mouth, while the expression on the teacher''s face became more and more serious.
Without a word, the teacher rushed past the man out the door, leaving confused pupils and students with their mouths open.
Adventurers, including a delegation of soldiers with mages in tow, ran frantically back and forth. A commander yelled orders to his adventurers, while elsewhere another commanding officer assigned his soldiers to tasks, and all were gathered together, along with the mages, around a strategic table.
"But we have to...!" A mage tried again, only to be interrupted.
"We don''t have to do anything! My people are under no contract and the adventurers guild has no responsibility unless its members voluntarily agree to it!" Came the most senior adventurer angrily shouted in between.
At the other end was the third man, who thoughtfully but also visibly frustrated grabbed his temples. Annoyed, he turned to the two people in the discussion, who had already been engaged in a back-and-forth for quite a few minutes. "It is enough! Commander, if the adventurers don''t want to agree to help, then they have to go! Quite simply! And not only from here, but completely from the Kingdom of Haipu. This is about the Crown Princess, and not about anything else. If people don''t like it, there''s always the elf and dwarf territory to the east, or the kingdom of beast-people to the south where they can try their luck!" Came the commanding and authoritative voice from his mouth, his gaze fixed on the commander and spokesman of the adventurers'' guild.
A *Tsk* came with a clicked tongue from said commander and he turned to the assembled adventurers waiting for him at the edge of the crystal plane.
*Sigh* was all the officer could say, shaking his head at the stubbornness. Just as he was about to turn around to put the mage in his place, an anomaly suddenly shimmered at the edge of the gathering and grew larger bit by bit. Relieved and also reassured, because everyone knew exactly what the spectacle represented, the officer leaned back. Because after the next figure came trudging through the portal, he could finally leave this kindergarten to someone else and simply follow orders himself again instead of having to worry about pointless discussions.
And indeed, the first figure to step through the now manifested almost black portal was the court wizard and grand magician of the kingdom. Long simple robes, with only a few decorations by means of various runes on the hem of the sleeves and the collar. A dark gray chest-length beard and gentle but determined eyes, and a frown as the just-arrived mage saw the scene deep inside the crystal plane and battlefield with his own eyes.
"What the abyss...?" He muttered, placing a hand over his eyes to shield himself from the blinding light and stare in the appropriate direction.
There, where before the interior of the battlefield had been visible, a disrupted landmass scarred by incredibly powerful mage even thousands of years later, a mountain had emerged. Green meadows and a few isolated bushes and trees were visible, almost as if this sight had always been there.
Because at the place where the small hill had been before, and there where Avan had fought, there was now nothing more to be seen of these scars of the landscape and dried up ground.
On the contrary - an idyllic green area stretched over the entire kilometer wide plain, surrounded only by the crystal formations which testified that there was more here before than now.
2.58-Thalias pressure
He sat on his divan, beside him squiggly cushions, at his feet several exhausted and sleeping women who still had light sweat shining on their skin.
And the man who ruled over one of the caliphates in Thalia was also sweating - but for a completely different reason. The large gilded double doors had just closed again and the messenger had left as quickly but politely as possible.
*Clang*
it sounded through the living hall and startled the four naked women on the carpets at the feet of the caliph. With eyes widened in horror, they looked around in panic and stared up in fear at the man, who was beside himself with anger, looking at the nearest wall - also with fear in his eyes...! The thoughts of the four ladies raced as they were first startled awake from their exhaustion, only to feel mortal fear, and then to read a similar fear in the eyes of the one man who had just scared them so?
"Damn amateurs! ONE ONLY TASK! And they screw it up!!!" He cursed loudly as glass shards continued to clink on the floor in front of the wall where he had thrown his half-full wine glass in anger and powerlessness.
The four women were about to duck and make themselves as small and inconspicuous as possible when the caliph turned his head in their direction. "And you! Have seen NOTHING - is that clear?!" He stared down at all four of them one after the other, while the four women only nodded their heads obediently in panic, as if they were about to dislocate their necks.
"Then get out! And please wait for me in my dormitory - when I''m done here, I have to let off some steam..." He gave the order, whereby his voice sounded at the end rather threateningly whispering and ominously announcing.
When the four women had fled the room and even one of the guards outside glanced briefly at their caliph from the corridor, only to immediately pretend that they had seen nothing, the man sighed and dropped powerlessly back onto his divan. Both arms stretched out right and left behind him over the backrest and his feet also stretched out in front of him.
"They made it very clear that this experiment was to be carried out at any cost. And without external influences and above all... without anyone else noticing! - Fuck!"
"What now - what the bloody hell am I supposed to do? Run away? HAH. As if there''s any place in this fucking world where they won''t catch me too. Apologize to me? Like they''re just going to forgive me for that mistake!"
"What other choice do I have? Seeking help from the other gods won''t do me any good either.... Even that will only bring me to the grave just as quickly - with all that I have already done for you on this puny continent."
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
In another, much more majestic place, full of white marble, silver inlays in the carvings and sculptures.
Bright yellow particles whirred through the air, a constant companion in this place. If Avan had been there at the time, he would have immediately noticed and associated the atmosphere and the mana so concentrated - for the entire place was full of celestial mana. So thick, as if one would wade as a mortal inhabitant of Aorus through viscous honey.
But something else Avan would have noticed as well - The mana in this place didn''t feel whole. For it lacked the midnight-black twinkling little stars that one could see in a starry sky at night, and which Avan could switch back and forth from gold-silver to that midnight-black glow as needed with his celestial mana.
And as so often before, all sorts of shapes loitered and sat around a discussion podium in the center. The whole building was very reminiscent of an ancient Greek discussion podium where scholars gathered to talk about the politics and affairs of the country.
The place, because as a building it was too open so completely without roof and only with columns that surrounded the circular structure, was also just now again filled with different parties discussing with each other. Female and male gods stood everywhere and talked in loud or even in whispering tone with each other, while some of the present, however, did not care at all about what was happening around them.
One of them was a green-haired young man who was lounging on a mountain full of comfortable-looking cushions, drinking and having food brought to him by servants, while a pretty-looking young woman stood behind him, waving a palm leaf in the wind.
Almost exactly opposite this god, who would also have been familiar to Avan in some way, sat a group of inconspicuous deities whispering to each other. Only one of these gods was a higher-ranking god, while the entourage around him consisted of younger gods of both sexes.
And it almost seemed as if the green-haired god, despite his outward appearance of laziness and carelessness, had his gaze fixed precisely on this higher-ranking god.
The other noticed this after a while, and frowned in irritation. Suddenly it shimmered dark and purple through the iris of the god, as fast as a flash of lightning, and was gone again.
"Interesting... So it is you after all..." The green-haired god murmured to himself so quietly that not even the gods in his immediate vicinity could hear it, let alone the servants who served him.
Meanwhile, the counterpart had similar realizations, but of a different kind. "Not even death will save you when we are done with all this..." He whispered, which earned him a confused facial expression from a young goddess at his side.
A brief and almost inconspicuous gesture reassured the woman, and a very last glance at the green-haired man casually strolling away and at his back, and this deity too turned back to his people.
2.59-Awakening
Avan did not know where he was. Everything was blurred and unclear, a paradise at once before his eyes but at the same time intangible. He could see huge mountains and mountain ranges as well as massive valleys full of fauna, but in the next moment everything blurred again as if he had something in his eyes.
One moment the sky was brilliant blue, and the next it was abruptly midnight black with countless beautiful stars in the firmament, almost as if you could pluck these celestial bodies from the sky with just a few hand movements.
Rivers ran through the country as far as one could see, smaller streams branched off here and there and ran off into the earth or into lakes and small ponds.
A momentary train of thought flashed through Avan''s mind as he thought to notice that he could see all the materials and plants he had absorbed into his dungeon over the past days and weeks.
But before the thought could be completed, the next spectacle also knocked him off course. Red lightning flashed across a suddenly dark and black sky, and it began to rain blood.
But the very next moment golden-silver rays of light broke through the black cloud cover and it seemed almost as if gods wanted to descend and bless the ground.
When this sight also blurred, the next moment was something completely different again. If Avan had a physical body at that moment, his mouth would be open and his jaw would hit the ground. The sky was suddenly covered by a lilac and beautiful aurora, which continued to spread and soon took over the whole sky. The aurora condensed and buzzed over the horizon, until suddenly massive portals and black holes formed that wanted to absorb everything and yet at the same time not a single breath of wind blew.
And this moment also disappeared after the next blink, and after another blurred vision, Avan suddenly stared in surprise at two familiar faces. A variation of Yue was standing right next to a slightly smiling Horn in butler clothes. Horn himself nodded slightly to Avan and spoke something that Avan did not understand as if he were extremely far away and also under water. Yue, on the other hand, looked more like a toddler, very different from the way Avan had met her. She also seemed to have the urge to run towards him, but for some reason could not approach Avan, and even what she said did not reach him, although her mouth was moving excitedly.
Avan wanted to stretch out his arm and walk towards her, but again the lack of a physical body was immediately noticeable. There was no arm to be seen, and of course no hand that he could have extended.
This image slowly blurred again, but for the first time Avan finally heard something, even if it sounded almost like an illusion carried by the wind. "...Soulscape! Soon... - Get stronger!" Avan heard Horn''s voice, and his vision went black again.
For some time he drifted through a variety of auroras in different colors and color combinations. And even though it felt like a strange memory, at one point, for a split second, the vast green landscape with picturesque mountains was visible again, but in the middle of a valley was a black hole with whitish fog billowing around it, and small rainbow-colored objects flying upward. Above this swirl of black nothing and white mist, these rainbow-colored spheres swirled around each other and then were carried away in a river of white mist, slowly fading away.
And as quickly as the image appeared, it was gone again and Avan found himself once again in a void.
And so an indefinite time passed, without pain, without a sense of time, without needs, and without tangible thoughts that Avan could grasp and process.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.Everything felt like a delirium, more dream world than reality, simply unreal.
But finally, a white light flooded the entire environment, if it could be called an environment, and Avan blinked.
He blinked... And slowly his foggy mind dawned, cleared up and he understood that he finally had his eyes again! Groaning, he lay there and tried to sit upright, but had the next fright that made him panic.
Avan could not move his limbs! Except for the blinking of his eyes, not a single part of his body obeyed his will, not even a simple movement of the head to the right or left to look around worked.
Panic-stricken because his brain was still not fully awake to think clearly or to think calmly and logically, his body began to tremble. His breath quickened and he found himself mentally back in a situation similar to his own. Under torture and chained, bound, motionless. Only the eyes that could move, waiting for the next torture session.
And finally, slowly, very slowly, his mind returned and reminded him that he was in a completely different situation. That he was no longer under torture, and what was the last thing he remembered.
*Jen! Patris and Dani!* He remembered again after Avan remembered the explosion and how he had thrown his teammates away. *Hopefully they are okay...*
Finally with calmer and clearer thoughts. *How much time has passed?* he asked himself in a moment of clarity, especially as he remembered the confused dreams and visions he had had.
If he were to estimate, at least days would have passed... Or maybe more than days, he admitted to himself, somewhat fearfully.
Avan hated losing control of his life and his body, as he always had after an surgery in a hospital under general anesthesia. A feeling of powerlessness. Things that could happen to you without you ever knowing it or being able to defend yourself against them.
And now he lay here, and could only move his eyelids to blink, but nothing more.
Sighing inwardly, he looked up at the ceiling above him for the first time, and stared in amazement at the beautifully natural crystal ceiling. Avan seemed to be in a perfect circular cave of all different colors of crystals when he looked at the ceiling and the walls from the corner of his eye. Fused together, partially burned into each other, but still appearing natural, as if the crystals had grown that way.
Light refracted in the crystals in all imaginable colors, soft light that seemed to come from the inside of the crystals.
*Mana crystals...?* he thought, if possible he would now have moved his head askance sideways.
*But what am I doing here? And much more, how the cursed abyss did I survive all this at close range?* he stated in amazement.
As if his inner question had triggered something, a well-known and very familiar sound was heard. Soft chimes, followed by a neutral and quiet inner voice sounded.
Avan Leaf (Anchor, Dungeon Core)
Soul Energy: 1
Element: ???????? ???????????????????????????????????????? / Celestial / Dimensional / Blood
Race: Celestial Blood Dragon (Human form)
Class: [Essence Soul] Celestial Dungeon (g??????o?????????d???)
Subclass: [Essence Soul] Nidhogg (Blood dragon)
Dungeon Stats
Rank: F-
Range: 1250m
Elements: Celestial, Dimensional, Blood
Abilites: Runes, Spawning, Shapeshifting, Molding
Dungeon Core: The human Body of "Avan Leaf"
Core Defense: +10 000% of all defenses of the Body "Avan Leaf"
Core Offensive: Dungeon Mechanics
Level 1 Boss:
*Is that what I think it is!* was the only thing a stunned Avan could put into clear thought.
2.60-Dungeon
*By unforeseen events, the bloodlines of the progenitor of vampires and dragons were incorporated.
*Congratulations to the host for obtaining a new race!
*Congratulations to the host for obtaining new elements!
*Congratulations to the host for obtaining a new anatomy!
*Mana density and purity of the dungeon has been massively increased!
*As a Dungeon Architect, only creatures that have voluntarily submitted to you are available to you.
[Available Dungeon Monsters: Horned Rabbit, Fire Fox]
*New dungeon analyzed!
*Explanations for new dungeons with awareness will be provided by the origin and transmitted through the system....
*Congratulations, Avan Leaf! By using the Dungeon Anchor, you were able to save your body at an extremely critical time and used it as a replacement for a Dungeon Core. By making this decision, your body can heal completely and eventually be replaced by a sub-core if the host so chooses. The time required for the body to fully heal and smoothly finalize any modifications by the host and alien bloodlines is: 3 years.
*The system now next transmits the basics that each dungeon receives with awakened consciousness....
Avan stared blinking at the amount of information in his mind''s eye, as he had just stared in surprise at his dungeon stats, and was immediately bombarded with this massive information overload.
He hadn''t even had time to process what he had read, let alone read it a second time in peace, when the system came around the corner with the next sledgehammer. But there was only one disturbing thing going on in his head, and that was - his race had evolved from human to something completely different!
Of course, at first it was strange. But as someone who had grown up on Earth, there was somehow nothing cooler than mythical creatures and the magic that came with them. And when he read the word "dragon" several times in his stats, and in addition "human form", any nerd instincts in him exploded!
Any other sane person would have reacted differently in this situation and panicked, but Avan? He was just freaking out inside. Only for a completely different reason.
If Jen, Patris and Dani had seen him now, they would have undoubtedly given him one over the back of the head, because for most others this was no reason for euphoria and joy.
But the system didn''t take a backseat to Avan either, and arrived with the further, previously announced information.
*After completing the 3 years, the host can detach his body as an anchor point and install a previously created sub-core in place if he wishes to keep the dungeon. If not, simply removing the dungeon anchor is enough and the entire dungeon built up to that point will simply collapse.
*Basic tasks of a dungeon and the reason for their existence:
Dungeons were created by the system, and above it by the origin, as a necessity for evolutions and fixed dynamics of the world. Even if civilizations destroy themselves and cease to exist, even if diseases and conflicts destroy the inhabitants of this world, after a certain time, first one and then several new races will emerge through evolution and rise again through dungeons. Whether monsters, thinking creatures, flora and fauna; all life originally came from dungeons. This is the true reason for the existence of dungeons. The origin wanted a managed system that is able to autonomously repopulate a world at any time. This includes the creation, breeding and evolution of life forms, as well as the filtering of mana and the creation of a suitable environment that allows these life forms to live smoothly.
Air to breathe, nutrients, knowledge, intelligence, independent thought, free will.
*The Path as Dungeon Architect:
Unlike the vast majority of other dungeons, which instinctively choose the path to be able to create creatures, the architect is able to master the language of magic to perfection if the dungeon so chooses and works towards it.
The dungeon architect is also not dependent on his creatures for creation, crafting, or other creative tasks, and can do everything himself at any time. Any material, blueprint, magic or normal item that the dungeon architect deconstructs can be learned and created. Change and experimentation are the life''s work of an architect. There are no limits to what you can build or craft, no matter what form it takes.
However, a dungeon architect must provide a significant amount of mana to breathe life into creatures, as they come into the world with their own souls and memories, and will remember everything after respawn. Less mana is needed when a summoned entity has less intelligence and self-awareness and therefore acts more on instincts. An army of creatures will not be possible in this regard, as each summoned creature must be shaped and created by hand.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
*It is always important to note that no matter what path a dungeon takes, it grows and gains power through two things:
Creation and destruction.
Destruction is the simplest and most brutal goal, as it simply involves the total annihilation of other intelligent lifeforms or matter in order to learn from and absorb some of the experience of another lifeform.
Creation, on the other hand, means that the dungeon also learns and gains experience from helping other life forms evolve and participate in the process. Likewise, the creation of almost anything is an experiential gain and helps the dungeon grow.
While destruction means immediate growth and experience gain, this is a finite source since an annihilated life form naturally ceases to exist afterwards. In this respect, helping out lifeforms is less profitable, but can be used over and over again and brings more in the long run. The creation of new creations and items in this regard brings more, if new achievements and knowledge is obtained, while the repeated production of already learned things brings less experience with each time.
*Experience is something not entirely tangible, but usually materializes in its purest form, soul energy. Similar to mana, soul energy can be harvested and compressed in the dungeon core. When enough soul energy is accumulated, the dungeon core (in this case the dungeon anchor, which is connected to the host''s body) expands and grows, gradually unlocking new options and levels.
Even though the dungeon should have a large sphere of influence, it can only summon and manage limited rooms, levels, and creatures according to the dungeon rank. As the dungeon rises and advances, new options are unlocked and the existing ones are expanded.
The ranks are as follows, from weakest to strongest rank: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS
At the F rank, for example, the dungeon has a limited amount of space. It can either arrange them all on one level, or spread them out over several levels. Each additional rank also allows you to create more dungeon bosses and assign them to a boss room, which intruders must clear before they can advance deeper into the dungeon.
However, as a dungeon architect, unlike the other path, the dungeon cannot leave any loot other than the bodies of the creatures for the victors. To place loot as a lure in the dungeon, dungeon chests and other loot options must be developed, thought out and distributed.
And finally, the plethora of information seemed to have come to an end. Of course, Avan was glad to have all this information, since it would save him an enormous amount of work trying to figure it all out himself. But being bombarded with it was not a pleasant experience either.
*So, that may be all well and good.... But it raises a very important question for me!" He thought to himself. *How in the abyss am I supposed to accomplish all this when I''m stuck here in my body?!* He asked himself, stunned.
And as if this thought had also triggered something, his perspective abruptly shifted and he had a completely new view in front of his eyes. Whereby it could no longer be called eyes.
In front of him on the floor of this beautiful crystal cave, which surrounded him completely, he saw his body in a naturally grown coffin of transparent clear crystal. And in the middle of the chest of his body, there was a kind of one meter long gold-silver needle with a perfect circular sphere at the outer end, swirling with gold-silver, blood-red and midnight-black threads. A maelstrom, which danced in their splendor around and into each other.
At first glance, the needle seemed to have been rammed through his chest. But a closer look revealed that the needle seemed to almost dissolve and become more translucent before disappearing into the chest of his body.
*Whether the ball at the top of this needle, or probably the dungeon anchor, is the growing dungeon sub-core?* he thought as he looked at this beautiful construction in front of him, which surrounded his body.
And finally Avan let his "gaze", or rather consciousness, wander. And as before, he could immediately feel everything within a radius of 1250 meters and knew immediately what was around him.
The first and most interesting thing that caught his eye were the mana crystals in this cave. His dungeon sanctum, so to speak.
[Mana Crystal of Earth]
[Mana Crystal of Fire]
[Mana Crystal of Water]
...
[Mana Crystal of Celestial]
[Mana Crystal of Blood]
[Mana Crystal of Dimensions]
...
[Mana Crystal of ???]
...
[Mana Crystal of ???]
The first mana crystals contained the basic elements, while some others contained Avan''s own elements. But most of the crystals were seemingly rare and unfamiliar elements or subcategories that he could not yet identify because he had not yet encountered them and had no information about them.
And suddenly, Avan''s gaze lingered on a handful of crystals that radiated an eerie feeling and looked immediately familiar.
[Mana Crystal of Anti-Matter]
The crystals had that eerie purple glow and swirl in them that he knew from the miasma. Oddly enough, however, he was able to identify these crystals here without any prior knowledge, and the result confused him.
*Anti-matter? I have read and heard about this in passing, but isn''t this something that is the exact opposite of any matter? And how come this seems to be a mana element?!* Puzzled, Avan looked at this handful of strange crystals for some time, but finally let go of them for now.
After all, he now had his own dungeon to plan and build!
A/N & Important UPDATE regarding the Novel
At last we stand at a point of no return.
Perhaps that''s how I would title it, or something like it, and overdramatize things.
To my dearest, greatest and best readers in the world:
I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the journey, albeit a bumpy one, to reach this point.
You who have persevered to this moment, who have read along, who have followed my journey and Avan''s journey, and who have perhaps even shared in the excitement!
The journey, which had less to do with "healing" and "dungeons" than it first appeared, and has led some mistakenly astray. Although, in fact, that''s what it was supposed to be about when I started the story....
A story that borrowed from Azarinth Healer, but quickly took different paths. A story that should be something more than the normal dungeon novel.
And yet it took me so long to write the back story that I got caught up and lost in Avan''s actions and deeds.
We followed Avan as he partially explored the first continent, Eos, on Aorus, learning about this new world, and slowly finding himself.
And all of that, was the very first time I ever wrote more than a few pages of a story.
And the incredible thing was, it was all in English, a language I''m very good at when it comes to reading and listening, but my writing and speaking skills have been rusty for over 10 years.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.But it is not my native language. Because I am from Germany :)
And while I started, the story from the keel of my quill flowed without much preparation....
...In the process, after just around 100 chapters, I realized that I finally had to create something real. Something solid and tangible, something that has both hand and foot. A story that hopefully enchants you as much as myself. A journey with Avan, as it has not taken place before.
So now I promise the following; To all my readers who have persevered to this point and been such an awesome audience for me!
The story is NOT over!
It has just begun!
Because this, was only the prequel. A prequel on a very hilly road full of potholes and puddles, the first writing attempt of a person like everyone else out there is.
The first baby steps to get to know the world of writing.
I decided to start a separate book for the continuation of the story, with the current title "[WIP] Seed of Origin".
The story will pick up where "Healing Dungeon" ended, but will continue in a much different way.
I can only ask you all to be patient with me, and try to read the following story as if you were meeting Avan for the first time.
It will start as a dungeon novel, and will go exactly in the direction I wanted to go with "Healing Dungeon".
Maybe it will get a bit overpowered in between, a bit more hectic, a bit calmer.
But in the end...
we all return to the ORIGIN, don''t we?
...
NOT A CHAPTER - Update?
Hey all! :D
(A Poll awaits you at the end!^^)
Yes, I know. Weird, right? Silence for years, and suddenly there is a new Chapter Update popping up!
Well, to be honest with you guys, back then I had some trouble to write more because my 8 year long relationship was slowly going downwards with my Girlfriend. (Which I then broke up with at the end of the same year)
Motivation was at all time low, and I couldn¡ät drive myself to continue.
Then, in between these years until today, I still received a lot of comments. For a "dead" story by then, it was making me kinda sad and gave me some happy vibes at the same time to see people still asking about the story and if it will continue or not.
And, I think, around last week someone commented on anothers person comment and the person replied
"WHY did you bring up this 2 year old comment?! Now I see this story again I really wanted to continue reading about!" - or at least similar to that.
Please don¡ät sue me for not repeating it 100% accurately :P
It made me really happy, I can say that for sure.
So, what did I do?
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.I sat down over the days, and collected my ideas from these last years.
And I started to re-write Avan¡äs story from scratch. But I changed a lot, just Avan is the same old Person. And the big story behind stayed the same, too.
But other than that? I started a new novel, kinda. With Avan.
Now the big question is:
Would you be interested to see Avan in this rewritten Story? :)
The summary of this story would be;
Shattered Realms: The Origin¡¯s Rebirth"
When a mysterious system descends upon Earth, unleashing monsters, magic, and deadly dungeons, humanity is plunged into chaos. Entire cities are abandoned, technology crumbles, and survival becomes a brutal fight as people struggle to adapt to a world now governed by ancient forces. Amidst the turmoil, Avan awakens in a dark dungeon, only to discover that he is more than just another survivor¡ªhe is the fractured reincarnation of the Origin, the first and most powerful being in existence.
With no memory of his true past, Avan must piece together his forgotten identity as he fights his way through dungeons, absorbing ancient powers and unlocking abilities that connect him to the foundations of creation. But he is not the only one after the power of the dungeons. A dark cult, wielding forbidden rituals, seeks to control the Origin¡¯s power for themselves, twisting the system¡¯s magic to their will and setting their sights on Earth as their next prize.
As Avan ventures deeper into the heart of these shattered realms, he begins to unearth fragments of his ancient legacy. Each dungeon core he absorbs brings him closer to the truth and further away from his humanity. But can he reclaim his true power in time to stop the cult¡¯s dark ambitions? Or will the rebirth of the Origin bring about the end of all he once knew?
Re:Write released
The RE:Write is released now :)
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/97328/shattered-realms-the-origins-rebirth-a-litrpg/chapter/1879239/chapter-1-the-end
If you are interested in reading more about Avan, but from a fresh perspective (But exactly how I planned it out before) then jump over to the new story.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
2 Chatpers out now. 3rd coming soon.
More tomorrow and then daily. I will collect a big backlog for any weird case of me not being able to write.
And yes, I am kind of ashamed it took soooo long to finally continue. But life is life. Even now I am having new situations in my life I need to take care off. But how we would describe it in Germany:
"Life¡äs not a Pony farm" Haha