《Soul Construct》 1~ Creation Soul Construct An old man sat crouched over a desk, completely engrossed in his work, tinkering with a diminutive glowing sphere. It was not completely spherical, rather is was made of hundreds of interconnected triangles, which in turn was made of runes and glyphs formed in some kind of mana. It was a vastly complicated work, something not even he, the inspired, could create without immense effort, concentration and time. The old man sighed in frustration once more as some of the glyphs started interacting with each other and dissolve the weave around them with sparks of energy flying off of the affected triangles in a flashy display of failure. The old man was not deterred however and had started fixing the mistake as soon as it had reared its ugly head ¨C hundreds of solid mana constructs flitted around the sphere gathering the loose energy, freezing the dissolving runes and cutting off ¡®dead¡¯ parts ¨C all at once and all directed by the old man while he at the same time created new glyphs and runes and connected them onto the sphere. The damage to the construct was fixed in less than a minute but after pulling back his tools the old man /*/spotted two more hotspots forming and once again the tools around him sprung to life. His old eyes glowed with fervor and inspiration as he continued working, slowly humming to himself an old workers song from a far-off world. ¡°99 little bugs in the code ¨C take one down and patch it around ¨C 127 little bugs in the code¡­¡±
After¡­ a long time the old man finally finished his little project, the sphere no longer malfunctioned - not even during testing, rigorous testing at that. He¡¯d applied all kinds of ailments to it and then fixed it, upgraded it and then tried again until he couldn¡¯t even break it anymore. He¡¯d even had a friend, M¨®ral, come over to help him in this regard and she was both mightier and more used to well breaking things. She hadn¡¯t been able to destroy it more than two times and now ¨C 283 iterations later neither of them could harm it without calling upon powers that would leave them weakened for decades. Not something they had a need to try out right now.
An ethereal hammer of pure condensed divine power smashed down onto the sphere as a last test ¨C M¨®ral, having expended a small fraction of a percentage of her powers over the next few years tried crushing the construct again. As the hammer fell onto the orb with explosive force the orb, instead of being mashed, simply got squished under the blow and then bounced away to the side out into the grey that surrounded them. The old man directed one of his constructs to go get it while M¨®rla shook her head in disbelief.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°It sure can take a beating these days.¡± She muttered to herself. She¡¯d offered up a bit more energy than needed, just to see if she could actually still harm it, but she was pretty sure it had fixed itself right up, even before it had come to a stop again. She looked at the old man. ¡°Remember our deal ¨C I get to give it a blessing as well if you ever release it out into the mortal realm.¡± He didn¡¯t hear her, his focus solely on the orb he¡¯d just gotten back. ¡°Hey! Aphiir! Listen to me when I¡¯m talking to you.¡± She stomped on his foot, which mostly just confused him, but it did get him to look up. ¡°Huh what? Yeah, yeah if I ever do that.¡± He answered absentmindedly, his eyes already moving back to the orb. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll be worth the trouble though, Phoria will be pissed I made something without her help, it¡¯s kinda her domain.¡± ¡°Good enough for me then.¡± She smiled under her dark hood. He wouldn¡¯t be able to resist the temptation of knowing how it fared or showing off for that matter. Not for any respectable amount of time in any case, he was too selfish by nature. ¡°Anyway I¡¯ve got to go, do tell me if you ever bless the mortals with its presence though, bye!¡± she said as she fell and disappeared into the nearest shadow. Aphiir glanced at where she disappeared from with a frown. He had the distinct feeling of being manipulated somehow but as usual he didn¡¯t care much. He¡¯d do what he wanted anyway. He looked down at the pristine orb in his hand and wondered, could he make more? He knew its structure better than his own and he had the necessary magics at his disposal. He snapped his fingers once and saw the outline of another orb starting to form, then coalesce into the proper shape. I took a bit of his power, but not nearly as much as he¡¯d thought. The second orb now lay beside the first in his hand and in comparison, it seemed... Weaker? Younger? It was like the first one had a certain gravitas of its own and the second might as well be an acorn. He shrugged, it made sense he supposed ¨C he¡¯d made the first artificial soul in the universe, he¡¯d put it through more hardening than any mortal soul had any chance of surviving, so it made sense that it¡¯d grow from that. The second one on the other hand hadn¡¯t been through anything, even if it was made from the same plans. But that didn¡¯t matter ¨C he¡¯d done it, he¡¯d made an actual soul something only the god of life Phoria could boast of ¨C till now that is, even M¨®ral the deity of monsters had only twisted hers. He¡¯d made it from scratch. And he¡¯d made it better. 2~ blessing (?) the gnome... Many years ago, when Erlee Cogswit had started out as an engineer he¡¯d been burning with passion, always seeking ways to better himself, studying, building and learning with the best of them. He¡¯d gone to all the lectures, spent more time in his workshop and the forges than he did in his bed and his only ¡®friend¡¯ were the professors and his tools. Suffice to say his personal life had been thrown under the wagon and then been left there to bleed out. He worked hard at his craft for nearly a decade before he got offered a job as the head engineer in one of the bigger mining firms that supplied Tinkerton with raw materials. He was to make autonomous mining golems and he¡¯d gotten a team of 11 other engineers to help him do that. On paper that was a great idea, but in reality, not so much. Because Erlee Cogswit had no capacity for being a leader whatsoever. The project ran for half a year in which Erlee¡¯s apathy towards socializing turned to despair, then disgust and then¡­ when they fired him ¡®stole¡¯ his notes and his work and went on to create a sub-Erlee-standards product turned to outright hatred and mistrust towards others. Erlee left Tinkerton quickly after that to live alone in the unclaimed caverns far from the rest of civilization. He built a small hovel with a forge and a workspace and lots of mushrooms for eating and settled down. He was happy for a time too, tinkering away in the darkened cavern. He sometimes went to the nearest town to sell some of his products to trade for food and ale and even the occasional book to pass the time. The passion that had driven him before left him though. He didn¡¯t care much anymore ¨C he couldn¡¯t really craft anything awe-inspiring without the great forges of the city or the inspiration Tinkerton bought with it, so he ended up making toys or ¡®gadgets¡¯ as he kept telling himself they were. He knew better though, he didn¡¯t have money or materials to make anything greater. And so, he stagnated. He tried pushing the boundaries of what he could build, but he wasn¡¯t driven any more, he didn¡¯t find inspiration in failure or happiness in success, just bland disappointment in himself. Erlee did not like it. Not one bit. So, he turned to the gods for guidance or at least a few of them, but his pleas came from a bitter and selfish place and weren¡¯t answered for years. At this point, he prayed more out of habit than anything else, so it came as quite the surprise when he was offered a job, even from a minor god.
Aphiir, god of inspiration and invention, have heard your prayers. He offers you inspiration in exchange for a task. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Quest: Build a golem to show your worth to Aphiir. Impress him and he will bestow life upon your creation and take you as his paladin. Success: Blessed creation, inspiration, job: Paladin of Aphiir. Failure: Do not accept if you plan to fail mortal.
Erlee Cogswit hesitated for only a second before accepting.
It was years later and Erlee had just finished the basics of his latest prototype before going to bed. He¡¯d decided he would have to save up for some better materials before adding any other tools than the drill head. He¡¯d used one he had nicked from DelVare¡¯s Mining corp when he¡¯d been kicked out many years ago out of spite, not that it would matter much to the company, but it was made of an orchalium-moonsilver alloy and it had maybe cost them a few gold, so it was still something.
Aphiir hadn¡¯t been this nervous in decades, he wasn¡¯t one for hiding things, but he had to make sure the soul construct would have time to become strong enough not to die when the other gods sent their paladins ¨C and they would, it was just a matter of time he was sure. He appeared in the workshop of Erlee and took a look around. The gnome had done a marvellous job the last couple of years, trying new things and really putting in work. Problem was, the soul wasn¡¯t compatible with any of the golems he¡¯d crafted, it was yet too weak. His earlier inspection had put it at level 1 even with its insane endurance. There was a new golem body he was working on though, it was smaller, more toy sized than many of the others and most importantly it didn¡¯t have a buttload of cool gadgets that would skyrocket the energy requirements. It was a sad but necessary thing. The god picked it up and carried it over to Erl- no Paladin Cogswit and prepared his ¡®blessing¡¯. To anyone watching it would hopefully just look like another run-of-the-mill blessing, even if bigger than normal ¨C but he figured it would be hidden behind the fact that he actually took a paladin, it was a big risk for a minor god such as he and he didn¡¯t need one per say¡­ But he did need an excuse for where all his energy went. He pulled out the orb from his sleeve and inserted it into the golem body just as he blessed the gnome and the whole room was bathed in a soft silvery light without waking him. Aphiir stood there, almost waiting to be summoned to the Blooming Court, Phoria¡¯s plane of power. But no summoning took him and he decided he¡¯d best leave. But maybe the golem should too, he never wanted a nanny for it, he wanted it to succeed on its own. He disappeared from the house deeper into the caves and put down the golem gently. Then in an inspired moment he went back and broke a window, threw around some papers and opened some drawers he even stole a few silver pieces lying on a table and just for good measure knocked out the armed dwarf with a wrench just as he charged into the workshop to stop what the hell was going on. 3~ Day 0 Day 0 After his masterful break-in / blessing episode Aphiir appeared back in the cave by the golem. Its body shook slightly in the dark cavern as the last of the silvery light faded into the gemstone in the middle that held the golems core and now its soul too. The core pulsed energy into the rest of the body, slowly pushing mana through the metals that made it up, carving conduits into it that would let both mana, soul and divine energies circle it. It stood there for a full minute before the pulses reached the head of the small body and lighted up the eyes with a dim silvery glow. [Hello my child] [Hello¡­ Daddy?]Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. [No. NO.] [¡­] [Sigh- I don¡¯t have time for shit like this- call me either father, Aphiir or creator, take your pick later. I haven¡¯t got much time Soul, but-] [I¡¯m ¡®Soul¡¯ then?] [Yes, you¡¯re a soul. Maybe don¡¯t tell people that though¡­ anyway I have a blessing and a quest for you] [I¡¯ll be-] [No wait, shush! ¨C now the blessing of knowledge, hold still¡­. Grant: basic world knowledge, Grant: Inspect, Grant: Survival Instinct, Grant: Evolution Instinct and lastly¡­ Grant: Pray and Grant: Pain] An intense silvery light engulfed the small golem once again, leaving it stunned. [I¡¯ve got to go child, live long and prosper.] Aphiir sent tiredly. He looked gaunt, frail even, he had used almost all his divine power to ensure that his creation would have a chance in life and was very much betting on it being a worthwhile investment. With a small smile the god disappeared into thin air. In the silent cavern the golem slowly got it¡¯s bearings while knowledge of the world flooded it and its new instincts began carving out the starts of a personality. [Bye fa-... Bye Daddy!] It sent into the empty cavern, but there was no answer. 4~ boxes and legs Day 1 I stared at the air where Daddy had disappeared from for a few seconds before refocusing myself. Something told me it would be bad to continue standing in the middle of the cavern now that he was gone so I started clumsily making my way towards one of the walls. I tripped and fell a few times but I made it without resorting to crawling! Legs it turns out are not very easy to use, but I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be worth getting the hang off. Maybe it¡¯ll be easier if I get more? No, maybe I got to get used to my current body first? Yeah. I looked down at my body, it was all weird not being spherical anymore, but I still had a spherical core so it wasn¡¯t all bad. The core was in the middle of me, making up the majority of my torso with the rest being a ¡®skeleton¡¯ made of some metal, maybe copper? I¡¯ll find out later. I had two legs and two arms ¨C one of them ending in a drill-head made of some other metal I didn¡¯t just ¡®know¡¯. But it looked sturdier at least. On the other hand, I had three digits that were pretty flexible with 4 joints each. Handy. Heh. I also had a head with two vertical slits I could see out off ¨C they gave off a soft silvery glow as well making me able to see a few feet out in the darkness, but I figured it also made me easy to spot¡­ That made me uneasy, but I couldn¡¯t do anything about it right now if I wanted to see in any case. At the edge of my vision, there was a small blue blinking dot that tried to get my attention and now that I was done with my self-inspection, I turned my attention to it which rapidly brought up multiple blue screens:
Skill gifted! World Knowledge, Basic ¨C Epic Skill (Basis Level 1/10) Gives you a basic understanding of the world, no matter where you end up. Range: Universal Cost: Passive
Skill gifted! Inspect ¨C Common Skill (Basic Level 1/10) Lets you divine information about things you focus on. Can be, detected/felt and resisted. Higher levels will let you divine magical items and higher level creatures. Scrying Range: Creatures up to ''your level + level of skill'' Cost: 1 MP
Skill gifted! Survival Instinct, Uncommon Skill (Basic Level 1/10) You have learned what to do or more commonly what not to do to survive. It has become an instinct at this point. The more you survive and the longer you live the better you get. Gives a chance for your subconscious to warn you in advance and makes you more perceptive to danger. 1% danger sense chance. +1% perception to danger. Cost: Passive
Skill gifted! Evolution Instinct, Rare Skill (Basic Level 1/10) You must grow. You must adapt. You must evolve. Reach for the pinnacle and eclipse it. Your race doesn¡¯t evolve through many generations like many other lesser lifeforms instead you adapt as needed each of you different and each of you more in control of your destiny than anyone else. 1% more control of mutations. +5% vitality effectivity when forcing adaption.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Skill gifted! Pray, Uncommon Skill (Basic Level 1/10) Many seek guidance from powers higher than them - you know how to do it right and just maybe have your prayers heard. This skill is specific to Aphiir, god of inspiration. Uses: 1/day. Cost: Variable
Oh my that''s really so-
Ability gifted! Pain
Uuuuuuh... With a series of dings, the blue boxes continued.
Title Gained! "Born for greatness (+1)" Have your first skill be of rarity rare or higher! Each tier over rare adds to bonus and range of effect. +20% (10%+10%) learning speed for ''epic'' or lower skills.
Multiple titles unlocked! Title Gained! "Bronze Spoon" Have your first skill of common rarity be gifted to you. +1 skill point Title Gained! "Silver Spoon" Have your first skill of uncommon rarity be gifted to you. +2 skill points Title Gained! "Gold Spoon" Have your first skill of rare rarity be gifted to you. +4 skill points Title Gained! "Mithril Spoon" Have your first skill of epic rarity be gifted to you. +8 skill points Title Gained! "Titled Noble" Earn 5 titles. +10% charisma when trying to impress and "Titled Noble" is equipped as your primary title.
...Finally, the blue boxes stopped. I waited a few seconds more just to be sure. When no more popped up I read them through, trying to get a hold of what I''d gotten. The skills were what I was most happy about but the rest seemed good too... Maybe not the... pain ability though, that I could''ve lived without. Whatever. I couldn¡¯t be sitting here all day, so I willed the blue boxes to go away and I was once more back in the cavern. It was still empty and I didn¡¯t know where I was, so I decided just to start walking while stabilizing myself against the wall so I didn¡¯t fall as much.
As I walked through the dark cavern, I sometimes saw things scuttle away from me as I got near. It unnerved me a bit the first time I actually got a glimpse of one of the things, a spider I knew. It had¡­ too many legs. 16 to be exact. A bit overkill maybe? I thought so, but I couldn¡¯t really know I was pretty new to the whole ¡°legs thing¡±, so maybe it was just showing off. Through my World Knowledge skill I knew that that wasn¡¯t the case, but it still felt slightly mocking to me. I glared at the spider, maybe 10 wobbly steps away and the light I emitted turned a dimmer red. It just looked back at me for a while before scuttling off. Yeah, I thought so you bastard. With that out of the way, I continued on till I found an opening in the wall, maybe a tunnel of some sort. I wonder what¡¯s on the other side? I kind of wanted to know, even though my survival instincts told me that if might be a bad idea to waltz in there. On the other hand, everything had run away from me so far, so I took the chance and stepped in. The tunnel had a slight fall to it which made it surprisingly hard to go down, but I took my time and managed to go the 20 or so meters without falling more than twice. That¡¯s a win in my book. Anyway, the tunnel opened up to a smaller cavern, maybe only 2 meters to the ceiling most places, and it was filled with stalagmites and stalactites. The place was dimly lit up by small glowing rocks that were embedded into the walls and pillars of the place. Most had a brown/grey-ish glow to them but a few had shades of green and there even were a few blue ones in some of the pillars. That was SO interesting! As I stood there and took in the prettiness of the place, I noticed I wasn¡¯t alone anymore, not at all actually. The cavern was filled with life. Small bugs hid under rocks or tittered here and there, a few mice munched on a dead spider and in the other end of the cavern was a long snakey-thing with¡­ hold up¡­ one, two, three, four¡­. Twenty... maybe 90 legs?! THAT is way too many! The centipede was curled up in a corner and eating a mouse while holding it between some of its too many legs, just to show off, and I decided, right then, that I¡¯d make it pay. Not right now though it¡¯s kinda too big for me, maybe four times longer than me and as wide as I was as well. My spindly golem body isn¡¯t that big. Well, whatever I¡¯ll be back. I slowly began to inch myself into the cave close to a small cluster of glow stones further to the left. 5~ Sticking my head to the stones. day 1.2 I ended up at the glow stones, only a dozen paces from the mice. They looked warily at me and my clunky approach but they probably decided I wasn¡¯t able to run them down and kill them even if I tried so the biggest one of them just hissed at me and then they all went back to eating. I was super okay with them ignoring me and returned the gesture thankfully, turning back to the glowing stones on the wall. I lifted my arm with the hand (that was the right one) and carefully poked a brown one with a finger. Oh, oOOooh. I could feel energy in the stone somehow. When I touched it I felt currents of chaotic energies slowly swirling one another deep in its depths and I could feel some of my own energies resonating. I hastily pulled my arm back, sending me off balance and onto my back again. I stood up rubbed the back of my core, I think I might¡¯ve chinked it because it kept giving me a stinging, annoying feeling of¡­ pain. God dammit I didn¡¯t like that ability. Not at all, no sir. Standing up and bracing myself against the wall I swiveled my head around to get a closer look. The core, my core had a little scratch I observed. I did an advanced mental exercise I knew was called a sigh and as I somehow knew it would, it somehow made it easier to accept the small imperfection and move on. I swiveled my head back the other way and looked at the glowing stones (gems?... no just stones I guess) again and this time another one caught my eye, almost literally. It was a light grey, almost silvery, it had small specks of brown-red-ish in the core and it was bigger than the others, jutting outwards from the wall. I hadn¡¯t seen it before, mostly because my light matched and drowned out most of its own, but having it a 5th of an arm from one of my eyeholes got my attention. More than that though, what got my absolute attention, was that when I looked directly at it I could feel it. I could feel it like I had with the brown one, but in a more natural and connected way and so I naturally, reached out and grabbed it. Then I tried to pull it directly from the rock wall. I wanted it! Pulling with all my glorious might I ended up face planting the wall besides it, bounce off and then fall the ground again letting out a majestic, shrill, distressed, but short screech from my hurty head.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. I had somehow expected it to come loose or, or, or¡­ a piece of the wall doing so or something¡­ Well I had pulled myself in instead. That was fucking stupid. But I wasn¡¯t ready to give up just yet, not at all! I rose off the ground glaring at the wall and not using it to stabilize myself this time. It was time for round two I decided! And then I just stood there. What was I to do if I couldn¡¯t just take it?
M¨®ral looked over Aphiir with a smile that didn¡¯t reach her eyes at all. ¡°So, how have you been my friend?¡± She asked smiling with jagged teeth. ¡°You¡¯ve been doing anything interesting lately?¡± Aphiir looked up at her, pale and very much uncomfortable. He coughed and looked away before answering lamely ¡°No, no it¡¯s¡­ same old, same old you know. I¡¯ve just been feeling a bit off lately, probably the god-flu that¡¯s been circulating around you know¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a thing.¡± ¡°Right. It¡¯s uh.. It¡¯s must be the weather then, bad for my health and all.¡± He tried. ¡°You¡¯ve got a divine constitution and your domain doesn¡¯t have weather. It¡¯s a grey workshop that hasn¡¯t changed two bits since you created it.¡± She retorted, still smiling coldly down at him. He was sitting down in seiza with his hands in his lap, fidgeting with some puzzle, and most pointedly looking anywhere but at her. ¡°Oh yeah¡­ riiight. Yes. I forgot, old age and all you know, haha.¡± Cold sweat ran down the side of his face. ¡°I¡¯m older than you and you¡¯ve never known anything else, thus you can¡¯t just forget it.¡± She smiled wider, slowly revealing the cavernous abyss that was her mouth and the unending rows of teeth hiding therein. ¡°And on that note... We gods generally only get more powerful with age.¡± She paused and then added, with a sadistic smile that actually reached her eyes. ¡°¡­and vindictive of course.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Aphiir was now in the form of a gnomish child being sent to the principals for hotwiring the city¡¯s golems and having started another uprising, again. His eyes were big with fear, he was shaking like a leaf, but he kept a (super fake, bad) smile on his face as he forced himself to look up at her eyes again. ¡°Haha, yeaaah¡­¡± ¡°Aphiir my friend¡­¡± M¨®ral purred with malice so thick it could crush a building. ¡°¡­is there something you might have forgotten to tell me?¡± Aphiir gulped as she stared him down. Aphiir was generally not one for power games, politics, fighting or common sense, but he was suddenly reminded¡­ M¨®ral, mother of all monsters, was the last of the big 13, the 13 first of the gods. But she was still one of the 13. And one of the five most dangerous of those to boot... She just didn¡¯t show it much. She liked to hide in plain sight, like some of her more civilized childen, he remembered her telling him long ago. ¡°Haha... W-Well¡­¡± he started with nervously, averting his eyes, ¡°You know how all the big and cool gods all have Paladins?...¡± 6~ This is a drill After some thinking, I reached the conclusion that I could try hitting the damn wall... just not with my head, that hurt. I looked down at my drill hand. It seemed very sturdy and I figured... if it was harder than the rock then it might just work - without me getting hurt in the process that is. I whirred the drill a bit before pulling back my arm and closing my eyes. Then I launched it at the wall with all I had! Ting! As the drill head impacted the rock wall a bit under the glowing stone it chipped the stonewall, but also sent a reverberating force up my arm - and it hurt. I didn''t scream though - I''d decided I wouldn''t let the wall have that small victory. Instead, I just let my arm fall down limply while I inspected it for damage with my other. I couldn''t find any but I could still feel a slight numbness in it and decided that just hitting the rock like that wasn''t the way to go. I bought up my arm again and inspected the drill head too and luckily it seemed totally fine, so using it somehow would probably be effective... How though? What do you do with a .... drill. Gods dammit. You drill with a drill. I hit myself on the forehead with my hand, letting out a smaller ''ting'' in the cavern while berating myself mentally. Then I faced the wall again. This time I carefully put the tip of the drill on the rocky wall a few finger-widths under the gem, just to get a feel for it, and then I started spinning it - slowly at first and then faster and faster untilI reached a comfortablespeed. I put some weight behind it and pushed into the wall and suddenly, with a loud screeching sound, I was digging! Success! Small chips of rock flew off, but most of the wall turned to dust under my spinning assault as I slowly pushed in. Haha! Take that stupid wall! For a few minutes, I just reveled in victory and made a lot of small indentations in the wall but I was rudely interrupted after a short while.
Skill learned! Drilling, Uncommon Skill (Basic Level 1/10) You''ve learned how to use a drill to the very earth you walk! Dig out the hidden treasures of the earth or dig out a world of your own! +1% dexterity when using a drill, skill adds damage penetration. Cost:depending on tools
Ah, another skill. That''s actually okay then. I choose to forgive the interruption and then close down the blue screen. What now, where was I? Right the glowing rock. I take a look around the cavern and notice I''m mostly alone now. I only spot a single reflective pair of eyes staring out of a hole in one of the walls, the rest have disappeared. Maybe it was the sound? Probably. Whatever I''ll just get my stone anyway.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. It didn''t take many minutes to drill out the piece of wall holding the glowing stone and then cut off as much extra rock as I could. It helped that I could kinda feel the form of the rock when resonating with the energies inside, so I think I cut off most of it. I then stood, my shiny in hand and marveled at it. A skittering sound behind broke me out of my reverie. I turned my head around to see what it was only to find the centipede slowly skittering up closer to me. A chilling sensation passed through my core and I took that as a good a sign as any that I could marvel more later, someplace not here. I started moving away slowly in a controlled fashion. The centipede clicked its mandibles at me. I moved faster, less controlled. It charged me. I screamed and ran as fast as I possibly could with my arms wildly flailing at my sides trying to keep me upright. The centipede was faster than me, by no small margin but it also had a lot longer to go before I could reach my exit and hopefully salvation. I reached the tunnel I''d entered from earlier and ran straight into the wall there - I hadn''t really gotten a handle on turning quickly yet, but I managed to bounce off without falling. The skittering was very very much too close at this point and I figured I had a better shot at survival while... not out in the open so I only ran a few steps in before stopping and turning my head around. The centipede came running straight at me, wildly clacking away with its mandibles and I realized that... fuck I could not fight that and live. I''d had enough trouble with a wall just before so maybe I was just doomed. Gods dammit I thought. Then I had a stroke of inspiration - maybe the gods would actually damn it. Or at least one of them; Aphiir. I knew how to pray from my pray skill and I knew it would be better if I had some kinda offering and maybe showed some deference or gave some words of praise or something, but I didn''t have more than a few seconds at most, so I just kinda screamed and held the glowy stone out towards the centipede. "Daddy help! You can have this just ge-" The stone exploded in a silvery white light and I got knocked back through the tunnel, faster than I had seen anything move before, bouncing off the sides multiple times before ending up in the cavern I came from originally. Then the pain came and I forgot everything around me for a while.
Skill learned!Pain Tolerance, Uncommon Skill (Basic Level 1/10) Pain can be overwhelming at times. You''ve been through a lot of pain without breaking and now you can handle it a little better. +1%pain resist Cost: Passive.
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SkillPain Toleranceleveled up!
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SkillPain Toleranceleveled up!
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