《The Thousands Sons - First Cycle -》 Arc 1: To adapt is to survive. - Chapter zero: Thrown inside like a cloth in a laundry machine Well, my life suck. Oh hello reader ! (noise of a wall crumbling) "Haaaa~~" It seems like my bad luck is present as always. I mean, who will black out in a middle of a DeathCommander cup. Moreover if you''re the one who is going to snatch the first place, and the much coveted price. I feel so stupid! Just a few more seconds and it was my win ! But, I have to say, I''m not too sure if I have just passed away, because there is the feeling of space around. You know, it''s the same when you wake up in the middle of the night, and there is no light, and you sense around you that there''s something. That''s what I feel. Weeell, anyway I''m here, and I''m now sure that there space around, because my body respond somehow to my demands, as I don''t specifically move, it''s more of a hover movement in fact. How and to the f*cking blue light that destroy my peace in the dark, can you go see away if I am there ? Blue light wich, after much struggle to not become blind, is revealing to be a window. Like one of a computer program you know. In my opinion theeere is a serious mindfuck here misses and gentleman. Then, after just 5 min of interaction with the windows I have the gist of what the hell is happening. 5 fucking thousands humans have been (forcibly) taken from earth, and will have to play a battle royal to the death (I don''t asked what happens if you refuse, seemed not wise) with their own created civilisation. Nonono, i see you coming. It''s not a prank of a bored god (but there''s some of it). A super conglomerate of genetic creators will supposedly take idea of what is sorted out of our 5k minds. But back to business, I stand here before a window, and i feel frustrated. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Civilisation Name
Male Female
Strength X X
Vitality X X
Utility X X
Intelligence X X
Agility X X
Total X X
Like, really. It''s unfair. Why do we have to do a battle royal ? Why has it been introduced like it ? It cut all the politics strategy aspect... No steady alliance possible, no knowledge of the terrain beforehand and starting from the equivalent of the humanity pre historic era ! But it''s kinda difficult. It''s already the... Like the 15th time that I redo the distribution of the 300 point. For the appearance, I''ve taken a protoss like. Y''know those who seem like made of crystal in an old and long dead video game Starcraft. But I made them a little more greenish. They have a unemotional face, with no mouth, and no nose. Just 2 fenestra are apparent, barely visible due to the amber glowing eyes. The form of the head is resumed well in: crystal shard, while the rest of the body is muscular and sturdy. I''ve paid attention to the fact that the female have to be less Mr muscle mass and more slim. I validate (finally) the characteristics of the race, and named it. Wich are :
The Thousands Sons
Male Female
Strength 70 50
Vitality 70 60
Utility 45 45
Intelligence 45 45
Agility 70 100
Total 300 300
Why the Thousands Sons? Because I just thinked about the history of a well known Legion of a still ultra popular game named warhammer 40k, and liked it a lot while a was youngster, and more than that they''re basically my sons. Now that''s done, i have to pick the point to distribute to the profiency. Headaaaache comin'' for sur. I will make them nomadic, so they will not have any point in building They will have a force and honour civilisation values, wich i will call Way, so I put 6 points in warrior, and 3 in thinker, so that they will never lose their Way. For the last but not least I put the last one in trade, so that they will be able to get the best at the cheapest, somehow. By the way, to increase by one the level it needs the same amount of points needed to reach the level. So 1 for level 1, 2 for the second and3 for the third. Simple, right ? Now the screen look like that :
Civilisation Proficiency
Level Point invested
Builder 0 0
Warrior 3 6
Thinker 2 3
Farmer 0 0
Trade 1 1
Well, all in all, let''s get started ! Arc 1 chapter one : A f*cking volcano After the oppressing sensation covered my body the light color changed, from lab white to a mix of black and red. "I say, it doesn''t seem good." I''m talking alone now. Great. Just as I finished my train of thought, the force and the light both disappeared. "Ah. You''re gotta kidinn'' me there !?" Why do I exclaim, and going on a rant. Well, turn around with me. Lava plain, lava plain, and lava plain. Ah, no. There is a massive volcano North from here.
Well, this will go smooth and fast.
Player name : Eternal Challenger
Ah. Let¡¯s find exploitable loopholes! *** After browsing through 20 pages, I now know why most people ignore the rulebook. The entire rule manual is 1000 pages thick and full of specific terms. Aaah. No matter. There''s obviously at least one loophole in the 1000 pages, right ? *** 72 hours later *** Okay. I admit. The rules don¡¯t have a single loophole. But I learned some interesting things ! First: There is an achievement system, as well as an inventory and level. Basically they mixed rpg and strategic aspects together. Second: As I grow stronger so will be the next generation of my brethren. Third: To classify the civilisation we are going to erect, they designed an era to era system, defined by the knowledge and the world rank of the civilisation. From prehistoric era to the bronze age, and so on everything is delimited. Fun fact, we get a map and a HUD like the fps back on Terra. Oh, yeah, after humanity united they renamed Earth to Terra, changing thoroughly the page of history that was written.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. As I pleased myself in browsing the display, a notification popped up to my right.
Damn. Only now did my brain register that my legs are locked in place. Will have to wait until the final countdown, then. Five minutes later, the window updated itself, as a loud bell rung all around the world.
I let out a sigh as the second window appeared, right in front of my face. Along with a ranking table, the HUD gives us a crude looking map. And glancing to it, I feel depressed as I am currently in the middle of nowhere. And I have not even a hint to find the dim-witted mes¡¯ ! Letting another sigh out, I started running north, towards the distant volcano. *** It is quite the desolate place, actually. An uneven greish plain, made of cooled lava, covered of white grey ashes, scarred by long and sinuous river of yellow red lava. I¡¯m pretty sure that looked from up in the sky it will seem like the veins of mother earth. This unsightful scenery was showing some dead trees there and here, like dark brown charred skeleton placed there as a testament of the black mountain¡¯s fury. After running for a while at a sprinting pace, the volcano that I settled as a goal wasn¡¯t anyway nearer that it was at my appearing place. Looking at my map, and using a mental ruler, my mood goes drastically down as I estimated the distance to be well in the 400 kms. It seems like I have to test my body limits that what I had planned. It¡¯s already increased my stamina and muscle power by at least tenfold. At least it¡¯s no cheat when you compare with the humans, where in the status there''s no stat higher than ten. Asserting my points over the sixties both in strength and agility, I dashed forward and ran toward the volcano at full speed, planning to continue until exhausted, and to fully use the two days immunity given to us by the System.
You have gained +1 Endurance. You have unlocked a stat ! Endurance (str /2) After one hour of running or so, I felt like my legs were going to shatter in pieces. Not willing to give up the goal that I had set up, I forced me to continue moving forward. My muscles screamed and tore apart, and I finally lose all feeling in my legs. Then my consciousness was drifting away bit by bit, and my vision gone darker and darker. At least, only the rhythm of my feet hitting the ground and the movement of my body kept me aware while everything started to spin. And, when I was supposed to fall, everything faded, clarity abruptly coming back and feeling as a bucket of cold water was dropped on me, and I darted forward once more. Only briefly glancing to the notification windows.
Heat immunity -25% Title : Madman. People now known that you don¡¯t give a shit about them. What''s matter, is your people and yourself. Achievement! Title bearer ! You''re the first of this realm to gain a title. All attributes +1 In almost two hour of non stop running, I made half the distance to the volcano, but I feel like my body is broken all over. Stopping to catch my breath on a higher point and glanced at the ¡®map¡¯. Truly this body strength is a cheat compared to the human one. Even with all the heat, the polluted atmosphere by the ashes from the the fumes emitted by the lava pits, my body is still at full capacity, only suffering mental strain, but my mind is still adapting to this new body. It¡¯s satisfying to test first hand that my creation is so well adapted to survival. Physically, we possess a shard-scaled, pure white skin for the newborn or newspawn like me. O noticed that mine is possessing a coal red hue to it. Crushing my current train of thought it pieces, I launched myself downward and started running again. Arc 1 chapter two : A communication problem It¡¯s been one week that I¡¯ve reached the volcano base. In the meantime my body changed considerably. My skin is charcoal black, highlighted by a gradation of deep red to lava red scales, and my eyes strangely kept the orichalcum green color and glow. It¡¯s seem that we have very powerful adapting bodies, as¡­ How to define us? Sons?Sonsians? Millians? Hmmmm. Millenians will do the trick. In this period of time I have stumbled upon the trace of my tribe more than once. But each and every time they slip away, and I miss them by a breath time. Once, I have managed to see two millenians hunting some sort of Ashfox. They were so much in sync¡¯, it was enticing ! Their appearance differed slightly of mine¡¯s, the skin taking a more stone grey taint and far more pale scales. Right now, I¡¯m resting sitted cross legged on an obsidian rock, meditating on what I¡¯ve gained while I was running around, searching for the tribe.
Skill : Hiking
Grade : -F (passive) Skill : Powered Jump Grade : - D (active) Skill : Unending Rush Grade : - C (active) Quite a good haul if I say so myself. The Powered Jump skill give me the capacity to charge strength into my legs to do a jump far more puissant, reaching higher and further than normal. On the other hand Unending Rush is just 1 skill allowing me to rush forward at top speed, ignoring the air resistance and ending only when my stamina hit zero. The HP bar and stamina bar only appeared with my first meditation session, along with some stat point given as reward even if I''m unable to access my status screen. The other benefits of meditating, apart soothing the mind, is the ability to see my own body in a 3rd above view. ***** Soon after, my peaceful surrounding were completely shredded in pieces, as everything started to rumble. Getting down the rock, and standing up, all senses in alert, I moved around to try to feel what''s happening. My first suspicion was that the volcano was erupting, but it was quickly invalidated with the lack of ash black cloud above its mouth. The second one was some huge enough beast wandering around, but there was nothing in the visible surrounding. The last option was a beast underground, and this makes me full of of dread, as the current me is not even remotely unable to deal with an underground type beast.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. I hurriedly go back on the rock and taken a jumping stance. Soon after, the ground exploded up, soil and rocks flying up in the air. When the dust fallen down, I saw a big hole, around 10 meters radius, opening towards a cave. There, I witnessed a battle between a group of 4-5 millenians and some sort of oversized hyena. It was jumping right and left, sometimes letting out its horrible laugh like cry, when it dodged an attack. And again, the group was so much in sync that it was more of a ballet than a battle to the deth *cough* death. And they were using stone spear and¡­ Is that magic ? I saw them emitting heat waves towards the beast. It cannot be racial. Did they learned it ? But how ? Unless they already mastered fire, but it is just far too quick Anyway, I will head down and help them. So far, they seem¡­ Extremely weak. I mean, they are so slim, and with little to no muscular mass ! Jumping down the hole, and sliding on the surface made of a mix of dust, soil and ash, my body weight swiftly came into play, drastically increasing my descent. I hit the ground like a meteor, hearing my resilient joins screaming internally, as I came in contact with the ground in a ¡®cool'' and totally unhealthy position, a knee and both palms on the ground. Waiting for the dust to settle in the complete silence caused by the suddenness of my arrival, I feeled the five millenians slowly backing up and the beast letting the anger replace the curiosity, snarling and ¡®barcking'' at me. Unfortunate that the system doesn¡¯t have a music player for the background, some of the old DOOM 4 soundtrack would have nicely fitted here. Back to the beast and glancing to my arms, some strange bright red tattoo slowly pulsing and getting brighter along my heartbeat was appearing as I let myself submit to the unending rush of adrenaline, my claws like fingers straightening and my legs feeling full of explosive strength. Letting out a happy and hearty laugh, I runned toward the beast, arms open like a vulture on a prey. Strangely, the oversized hyena choose to do the same, and we collided head on. Trading blow on after another, I exchanged a claw wound on my torso for a heavy fist on the right temple of the beast. Not willing to let it recover, I side-stepped in an arc toward the left and deal a backhanded strike on the other side of the skull, thoroughly knocking it off. Losing control of its body, it fall to the side. Not willing to prolonged the fight with a being this weak, I dealt a spear hand attack right between the ribs toward th heart, ending quickly it''s life. A window rapidly confirmed the death of the beast.
For slaying a beast far higher leveled than you, your title grade has advanced.
Previous Grade : -F Current Grade : -D Current effect : + 3 to all attributes. The beast wasn¡¯t that hard in the end. Well, now that the immediate danger is gone, I should try to initiate the first contact with the tribe. Although created by me, they seem¡­ At best guarded. Borderline with hostile I think. Shall I try a speech then ? But I don¡¯t even know how to communicate¡­ I don''t have the connection thingy that seem to let them be so much synchronised. Anyway, gathering the ¡®power'' that I feel in me, I tried to send some wave charged with intention. ¡®interest'' ¡®kin'' ¡®watch¡¯ I truly hope they will connect the dots, but in any case I should not linger around too much, they seem to be afraid to death of me. And I need to train with the newfound power in my body. Charging my power jump, I hiked my way back to ground level, and searched some flat rock to sit on, ignoring the flashing blue window in front of me.
You have completed the first contact !
The Millenian Tribe is intrigued by you, as you have a similar appearance and you have strength surpassing their champion. By being the first to try to communicate with your kinsmen, you gain +1 to all attributes. After finding a not-so-rare flat rock, I tried to understand their reaction. And the more I think about it, the less I comprehend. Even with the linked mind, it should¡¯ve not impeded with the recognition of the born leader, the Alpha. Maybe I should suppress thoroughly their tribe, and makes them see me as a leader¡­ Arc 1 chapter three : Preparing to rule ***** We were born one week ago, crawling out of a stone cocoon. My twin and I were and still are the swiftest and closest in the whole tribe. Unfortunately, nothing comes without a price. Our physical strength was not on par with the majority of the tribesmen, making us unfavored. We were hunting a Giant Beast, successfully cornering it in a cave, with three other members of the tribe. With our abilities, it was only a matter of time until the beast was defeated. However, after a heavy blow of the beast the ceiling broke down and fell. Soon after, we sensed a resonance from above, it¡¯s something we only felt from the tribe Chief. The beast got interrupted and raised up its ears, listening closely to the approaching vibrations. Letting its guard temporarily down, until the thing triggering the resonance hit the ground with great force. A dusty cloud filled the air, blocking our vision. And as we slowly backed away, growing warier, our blood was boiling as we tried to discern the shape of the presence. As the dust dispersed, our vision finally caught a full view of its figure. With a giant pitch black body of three well built tribesmen, covered in harmonious red scale, the being stood up. It stepped forward and pounded the monster onto the ground in two punches, demonstrating its overwhelming might, lotuses tattoos glowing on its forearms, as red as lava. It killed the monster so quickly, with such ease and grace that my brothers and I doubted its mortality. Could that one of the Sky God descended upon us? Then we felt an energy wave, conveying ¡®words¡¯. It was so powerful, compared to ours¡­. Then, it took a strange stance, and disappeared¡­ Few minutes later, deciding that it was an important enough matter, we took the beast corpse and rushed back to the tribe camp site to warn the chief. ***** After climbing up to the surface, I sit up near the hole, meditating the events that just passed. First, I was not as weak as I believed. I disposed of a beast two times my size just by using my physical strength alone. Even if I seemed careless and aloof on the outside, I was quite shocked on the inside. I was even more impressed because it doesn¡¯t seem like my full strength ¡­ Unfortunately, the area is desolate and few strong beasts roam around. Noticing the Millennians moving beneath, I decided to tail them, letting them be my guide to the village. After one hour or so of travel in the cave system, I saw the cave that had been claimed by the tribe. Two crudely sculpted humanoid of stone were on each side of the entrance, standing tall. Three Millennians were barring the way inside, guarding and watching. ¡°Sentinel of sort, then¡±. I said in a whisper They are impressing me again and again, to have progressed this far without a ¡®wiser¡¯ lead. First off, the use of magic, then the art sensibility, and now their organized, although limited, society. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Pondering on how to enter, I choose to do it in the more impressive and domineering way. Climbing out of sight on a cornice, I sat in a lotus position, with a clear objective, to master ¡®magic¡¯ as quick as possible. Until then, I shall not move of this spot. Entering a meditative state I thinked about what was magic, but not just ¡®magic¡¯. Mana in general, and all energy, including the one I sensed growing when I battled the giant beast. How could mana or magic exist in the same place with technology ? Or rather, why couldn''t it? In my mind, mana is just another form of energy. I remember several of them with various video-games of the past, like rage, stamina¡­ Or some in reality like light, electricity and heat. In the case where ¡®magic¡¯ is a term defining ¡®the use of the world energy¡¯ then why could one not use Ice and Fire ¡®magic'' easily as long as he know what they are and how they behave? It could maybe explain the heat wave from earlier? They sensed the ever hot mana in the air, and replicated the feeling when launching their energy outward, by pure instinct ? Then why couldn''t I use it, but perfect it with my advanced knowledge? Ice is just another state of water, as magma is an intermediate between Earth and Fire. Sinking further and further in my thoughts, I let the train pass and bring along theories, information. If the ¡®magic'' is just that, why use a system? Why couldn''t I use my own, self-created and race tailored system? Wouldn''t it brings me Honor and unsurpassed strength? With those last thought, and for the first time since we were dropped in this realm, I fell asleep. *** Waking up, I tried to feel how much time I passed asleep. Without the three stars of this realm to gauge, I cannot even estimate. I let the thought slip away, I entered again the meditative state, refocusing to how to harness ¡®magic''. To create my own spell system. What a grand idea. With the old Terra¡¯s knowledge, and the countless video-games I played, I have so much materials. First thing: to flush out the basics form and the foundations: Incantations, word of power, runes, power circles, emotions and strength of will. These are those seen the most. Transforming a spell in a definite skill was common too, but it will set the magic in stone, blocking all possible advancement. Runes and words of power have to be put aside, without a written language to be based on. Incantations are far too long for the purpose of my system for now, focused toward battle. Letting only power circles, emotion and willpower left. Emotion is out of the question, as it can backfire quite strongly. Power circles and willpower it is, then? I just have to make the circles the bridge between my will and the energy around. Not just mana, but every energy. It will make me and the Millenians more difficult to control, as I¡¯m pretty sure that manaless environment exist and mana-voiding spell will be invented. Terra is a good example of manaless environment. Now¡­ how to do it. I have to test this. Placing a marker on the horribly detailed map, I went in an unpopulated cave to do some viability test. First, taking the energy around me, purifying it as it formed the circle, and then willing it to take the shape of a three part stone block, disc shaped when assembled, with the old Terra Asian ¡®king¡¯ character graved in the middle, only visible when all the parts are together. Willing the entire dark red obsidian structure three times my width and one and a half higher behind my back. My success was confirmed by the world system,
For creating a spell, you gained access to the spellbook tab. Due to your low level, your access to the status screen and its dependent tabs is restricted. Spell details: The mark of the King. Unique spell. (only one caster possible) A one of its kind spell, showing to every being that the caster is of an emperor lineage, or an emperor himself. Despite the massive appearance of the Monument, it is weightless and will not impede the movement of the caster. A passive spell, permanently attached to the user. Use 5% of the mana capacity of the caster. The more mana is used, the grander is the mark.
Wait a minute. So the whole reason i cannot acess my status screen is due to my level being too low ? Unbelievably simple. Am I a retard? It is so evident that I didn¡¯t even think of the eventuality. And so, because of my laziness, I don¡¯t have access to vital information about me? Nor that spellbook thing? Then, the only solution is to find living test subject for my upcoming spells. Arc 1 - chapter four : Fireworks ? Magic! Standing up after waving off the spell creation system notice, I decided to try some ¡®classic'' magic from popular anime from the 21st century. Notably the ¡®Babylon¡¯s Gate¡¯ of Gilgamesh in the Fate series¡­ First, to picture the weapons. Planning to become a bladesmith once my pro-gamer career came to an end, I knew mostly how to shape and balance them. Due to the nature of the magic system I chose to use, the ¡®dimension storage¡¯ side of the spell is avoidable, saving spell-casting time and mana. Drawing the metal and fire element to serve as fuel for my spell, I materialised the circle slowly, making multiple checks on the rune it formed. With it¡¯s stability out of concern, I then exerted my will to make a medieval European sword emerge and stab the wall to my right. A sword of apparent low quality then came out of the fiery grey circle. While I interfered with the spell to take a look at the crude looking sword, as I didn¡¯t do anything to make it beautiful or overly dangerous when making the circle, it hovered around me with a buzzing sound. Letting the sword go, it positioned itself horizontally before shooting toward the wall with a screeching sound. Upon impact, the sword disappeared into a mote of light before fading away. Feeling relieved with the spell¡¯s success, I brought into being several other weapons like halberds, greatswords and such armament, leaving innumerable scar on the wall. Wanting to work on something more practical and ignoring the blue box glowing to my left with a ¡®!¡¯ on it, I concentrated again. Willing a runic circle of pure fire energy, refined and condensed to the limits, a fiery purple circle emitting dangerously high heat materialised. It¡¯s size no more than 50 centimetres of diameter. As I released the control of the magic making the runic circle, it delivered a pure white cylindrical beam, illuminating the whole cave and accompanied by a thunderous noise, before fading away in shiny particle, dancing around as they were slowly dispersing. Curious toward the impact of this unpredicted spell, I drew a breath of cold air when I seen the stone burned to the state of glass. Musing on the possibilities of the circle formed with pure energy, I prudently created a circle of pure metal energy under me, and not releasing the control of it yet, I willed it to form my dreamed armor, one wielded by a powerful General in DeathCommander. As expected, the circle became quickly intricate, forming rune after rune, developing in a three layered circle in the end. The armor gradually appeared as the circle flew upward, at a steady but slow pace, as if taking my differents size for reference. Only the inner layer of the circle reached my head, forming a half-deployed facial mask in a crowned helmet. The completion of these spell give me an additional three notification boxes, but I ignored them at the moment, more preoccupied by the sudden and overwhelming weakness that come crashing upon me like a tidal wave. Strengthless, my armor disappeared in an explosion of specks of light, and I fell on my knees, cursing my foolishness and my lack of seriousness as I realised that I have completely overlooked the strain from mana¡¯s overconsumption. Blacking out, in an unsecured zone, like a juicy fruit in the middle of a desolate land waiting to be taken. The last image coming to me, the ground approaching my face far too fast, and the sound of three heavy stone falling and breaking apart on impact were the only things sending me off toward my unconsciousness. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. *** I woke up, face in the dusty ground, snarling sound resounding all around me. Directly linking the beasts sounds to the giant hyena I crushed a few days ago, I tried to lift myself up, planning to deal with the unknown threats, only to realise my lack of strength. Using all my remaining physical strength, I forced my head to turn, racking the ground. I finally saw the beasts, in the cave entrance. Grey brown, erratic patch of fur, glaring and prominent bone-white teeths and malicious eyes. Three giant hyena, looking at me while slowly approaching. Helpless, I choose to glance over the notification boxes, stopping briefly at each one.
You have created an Emperor class spell, ''The King''s Armory : Gate'' Effect : Create a weapon based on the desire of the caster and either create one in a solid state and shoot it toward a defined target, or format weapon half tangible half ethereal for the caster to wield. Grade : Immortal Rank. Active spell. Cost : 50 mana / weapon (cost increase with the weapon complexity)
You have created a A class spell, ''Purefire Beam'' Effect : Create a circle of concentration pure fire essence, and use it to deliver a beam toward a defined target. Grade : Immortal Rank. Active spell. Cost : 25 mana / circle
You have created an Emperor class spell! ''The King''s Armory: Armor'' Effect : create an armor based on the caster desire. The armor created has all the properties of an orthodoxly crafted one. Grade : Immortal Rank. Active spell. Cost : 100 mana / armor.
Due to overuse of your mana capable, you''ve been inflicted the ''extremely weakened'' status. All stats reduced by 75% Time left for status: 00h05min59sec
This explains that. At the beast current pace, I will be able to deal with them without hindrance. After much struggling on my part, I was standing up, my legs still stiff and feeble. The beast were only a few meter away. The snarling louder than ever. Summoning back the Mark, I used the Armory to create a plain pure white blade, with an apparent sharpness. Taking a guarding stance, I reminded me to develop my own battle style later. One more thing on the never ending to-do list, I guess. I swung my blade left and right, just to get a feel. The coldness of the white quartz like material. The grip of the simple leather handle. The whistling sound of the edge through the air. A fine blade, even without an extensive blade''s knowledge. The beast were now in guard, circling around me. Seemingly confused, the smallest one charged at me. Raising my sword, parallel to my body, a hand behind my back, I side stepped to dodge and slashed at its flank, the greyish ashen flesh toring and blood gushing out. As the beast wailed in pain and anger, I backed away a few step. In it¡¯s blind rage, it rushed again, without any care for its life. A claw surged towards my chest, swiftly followed by another. As I tried to parry the first, succeeding barely, the second hit me to the shoulder, sending me spinning and crashing into the wall. The mad beast immediately followed up, claw out for my exposed throat. Fed up with my lacking swordsmanship, I immediately incinerated the beasts with a large breath of fire, engulfing the entire cave, using pure mana manipulation. Recasting my armor, I sat down to refill my mana loss. Focusing on the notification box I just received.
Congratulations ! You leveled up! You gain access to the following : - Access to status. - HUD improvement. - +1 stat point on the following characteristics: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Intelligence. - Unlocked the wisdom stat. - Gain of a new unique title -Magic Founder-
The status screen is a lot like a standard rpg status window, and the hud too. Does the Game Master were lazy (and the author cough)? Anyway, the unique title -Magic Founder- give me the ability to create spell at 10 times efficiency and to learn how any spell of the system just by looking at his base circle. Letting an imaginary grin spread on my expressionless, coal black crystal face. I sat up again, willing two decorative azure magic circle between the Mark and my body at shoulder level. Looking at myself in a water screen, I appreciated the sight of the imposing looking me. 2 meters and a half high, one and a half broad, with the armor and Mark enhancing the vibe I gave off. Now, shall we go to the tribe, and start the real stuff of this deadly game? Arc 1 - chapter 5 : How-to be a King. Heavy step echoed in the caves, along with the clanging of metal. An azure light passingly lit up the dark corridor, casting shadows behind the edgy rocks protruding from the ground. As the light grew as bright as daylight, a figure emitting an almost tangible domineering aura appeared. The grand and pressuring feeling was enhanced even further by the pitch coal black skin of the massive figure. And in contrast, he donned a complexly crafted, pure white armor. It was giving out a surreal, otherworldly feel with many straight lines intertwining together in an untraceable maze. With a heavy gait, he moved slowly to a major cave entrance, guarded by crystal like humanoid, a strange mix between rock, human and crystal. Each of them were armed with stone spear and covered with furs of Giant Beasts. The loud footsteps had alerted and forced them to be vigilant. Forming up a jointed line, they lowered their weapon in prepare, concentrating all their attention toward the approaching unworldly creature... ***** Mwahahahaha. I¡¯m feeling so badass now. My current walk make me feel like a space marine of warhammer 40k. Arriving in sight of the village entrance, I saw six tribesmen raising their spear¡­ So they tripled the number of guards. It seem like I was expected. Unfortunately, as of now, only other Progenitors are capable to fight me to a standstill. Even with me appearing in plain sight, they would still hold their ground¡­ The values that I engraved in them are present alright. Now, let¡¯s do a little show of force, using this Aura skill.
The King¡¯s Aura You can suppress any inferior beings. As you consider yourself first under the heavens, it mean everyone. Active skill. Cost: 10% permanent stamina at the activation.
***** When the giant wass 5 meter away from the visibly fidgeting guards, the previously restrained aura now disrupted the air around it, exploding outward, forcing the six Millenians on their knees. As cracks ran along the wall of the stone corridor under the extreme pressure, the majestic figure simply walked past the kneeling guards, his hand slightly brushing over each of them, pushing them to sleep. *****Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Entering the cave, a magnificent scenery entered my sight. A central lake, vegetation lushing around, the roof opened above the very center of the cave, letting a massive and huge monolithic obsidian square rock piercing from of a rocky formation, creating a island under the open sky. All around, small crystals were lighting of a gentle blue the entire cave, giving a little surreal vibe. And scattered in the outer cave, which spanned all around the lake, nearly two hundred Millenians sitting on stones, training or sparring. My eyes were drawn towards the monolith, which was linked to the shore by a stone path. At its base, a throne as white as the most pure quartz was violently contrasting with the complete blackness of the monolithic stone behind. I subconsciously irked when I saw someone else sitting on it. Holding a yellowish bone staff, his back covered by a torso of a giant beast with many trophies attached to the rib and spine''s spikes. Surely impressive, but nearly not enough to reach me. Releasing my power field once again, I willed a very complex sword to fall down, cutting a steep price of half of my total mana for it. Deciding that if I¡¯m going to show off, might as well made it to make a sounds and light show. The sword descended with blinding azure light. With a screeching sound, as if it torn the air apart, it impacted the ground, a crashing sound echoing in all the caves nearby. Sensing the panic that the tribesmen were releasing on the psychic connection, and the chief stand up with wide open eyes, I start to move in a grand and imposing manner toward the throne, catching on the way the hilt of the sword and swinging it around with flashy moves. I had not passed the ten meters mark from my starting point that I found myself surrounded. Fear. Dread. Panic. Confusion. Awe. I was sensing so many emotion from them. Isolating myself from the connection, I started at the crowd before me parted as the old chief stepped in the circle, facing me. Three head taller, nearly two time more broad than him. It was really a David versus Goliath redo. I stared at him. He stared back. We engaged in a willpower duel, unfortunately, I was the designed winner. Retreating a few steps from shock, he laughed loudly while the whole bonies ornaments clicked. He hammered his chest with his closed fist, engaging in an Honor duel against me for the ruling of the tribe. Soon, the entire tribe hammered in unison, creating a thundering drum sound. Sensing the excitement pumping up, I slowly hammered my chest in rhythm with the rest, but only one with two beat in between. It reached the peak when the tribe chief let go of the beasts bone¡¯s on his back and pointed his staff at me. Taking a stance with my longsword, both hands on the handle, the blade vertical and close to my torso, I asked. ¡°Your name?¡± ¡°I am known as Khillvin, Honored Patriarch.¡± ¡°Oh, how did I became your and your tribe¡¯s Patriarch ? I do not remember to have come here before.¡± ¡°Our blood do not lie, and it tell us so. The Sage Oracle even announced so.¡± He then pointed to the King¡¯s Mark. And my armor. ¡°Those were the sign of the Patriarch, as announced by the Sage Oracle. As much as I would like to simply pass the ruling over to you, traditions are to be respected and thus, this duel is mandatory.¡± He then emitted a vibe giving off a cocky feeling, in replacement of the smile that we are unable to express. Much to my astonishment, he charged first at me, displaying speed out of my expectations for the first generation. Raising up his staff, he tried to spear my legs. I quickly parried away with the flat of the blade and pressed forward to strike. Making two step forward, keeping absolute balance. I feinted a large up-down strike, the staff lifted high up to block. I directly striked with half my strength a palm attack, pushing him all the way to the lake¡¯s water shore, which was about four meters away by now. Having beaten him by the rules, the duel concluded with my win. Getting out of the crowd, I helped the old chief to stand up, going to the throne. Sitting on it, I embedded my sword before the right armrest, and the Mark encrusted itself in the backrest. Reaching the gargantuan stone with my consciousness, the monolithic black rock created a throne as black two step down on my left, surprising me. When it finished, a throne like mine, but as black as the darkest night, was now waiting for a fit owner. Waving at him, the old chief set down on it, and I saw his magical and physical capacities break through and rise up at a high speed. Then, I gazed on the small crowd of Millenians standing before the island, not daring to thread the stone path. All of them kneeled down, one after another, effectively starting my rule as the Millenian race Patriarch.