《Drusus The Mighty》
Prologue: Before death
Hi my name is, I mean was Halvard. I was an immortal..... yes I died as to how i''ll explain later let me tell you a bit about myself. I don''t really know the day i was born people didn''t keep track of dates back then. Ah~ i still remember my mother her long tangled black hair, her smile that showed her crooked teeth, her hairy arms and legs, her mustache and her muscular build. Back then my mother was considered a beauty all the other males fought my father to win her favor. yes people acted like animals back then.
My father was a strong man because of this I had to be strong too. But no matter how much I ate or hunted I never showed any progress. Because of this my father banished me from our humble abode nothing really humble about it, it was a cave. I''ll never forget my father''s last words to me it was " BaaAA!," while pointing to the cave door. People back then couldn''t talk because of their undeveloped vocal cords. When I was Banished I promised myself I would get strong and come back to beat my father.
I Remember walking for weeks on end not sure when to stop. I ended at a waterfall in the middle of a forest I made it my home, yes i was caveless but that didn''t stop me. First thing I did was hunt, sure sometimes I was the the hunted but that didn''t bother me I was a fast runner. It took me some time to realize that animals that hunted me would always catch me by surprise so i started to observe them, Sure sometimes they found me out but I was good at escaping. After observing the animals I started to copy them, I started to catch more food I also learned how to make a nest but that wasn''t enuf. I started to think of a way to get stronger.
As I was thinking I got the bright idea of maybe if I ate the strong I''ll get stronger. So I started on this long and slow path. After trial and error I became the top of the food chain even the strongest animals would go the other way when they saw me. But after A while new species of beast emerged in this forest, yes I caused animals to evolve. These new species were much stronger and inside their bodies were small gem like stones.
Then i got another bright Idea if these jem''s were making them stronger then if i ate them I would get stronger as well. That wasn''t the case at all when i ate them nothing of note happened just went in one way and out the other. I started collecting them which was hard I would win some fights and lose some. I studied the gem''s I could feel energy emitting from it but that was pretty much it.
As time passed I found a way to entertain myself I would sit in my nest high up in the trees and shut my eyes and remember my mother. Her smile that showed her crooked teeth. Every time I did this i could feel energy around me flow like the waves of the waterfall it became an addiction. I got so good at getting into this state I didn''t have to think of mother''s smile anymore to start it. Then it happened I realized how much of a fool I was, This felt exactly like the energy in the gems. After connecting the dots I knew they were taking this energy and storing it in their bodys!
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After thinking how the beasts were absorbing the energy. Without even realizing it I was already absorbing it myself. The feeling I got as the energy was flowing into, me I could feel the power of this energy. Year''s pass by and I was back to being the top of the food chain. I started getting bored of this forest it had grown a lot since the first time I arrived. The strongest beast''s all perished by my hand. So i decided to go back home i just had one problem I didn''t know where home is. After leaving the forest I found other humans who looked a lot like me and nothing like my father or mother. I joined them In their adventures they taught me how to speak, read and write. But as time went by they grew older while I stayed the same.
It took me a while to learn I was immortal it caused me to go through many phases. I became a blacksmith, Librarian, Teacher, Merchant, assassin, warrior, inventor, hero, demon lord and many other occupations. I went threw I must be god phase it was embarrassing. Soon people came after me wanting to know the secrets of immortality. I tried committing suicide nothing worked. But I found the source of my immortality it was my soul power. I came to a conclusion if i could get a some people to continually suck out my soul power with empty soul stones I could finally die. I had gathered wealth so getting a couple of soul stones was nothing and hiring people to suck out my soul was nothing too.
So i hired a 10 people and gave them 10 soul stones each for a whole week they continually absorbed my soul power nothing happens. I kept hiring more and more people till I started feeling weak It took 200 people and whole year for me to pass away. Ah~ Eternal slumber here I come!
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AN: This is my second go at writing a story i hope you enjoy this and support me on this journey. Also in this series I will be writing longer chapters
Chapter 1: Rebirth
" Eternal slumber at last," - Me
" Hello!," - women
" What the!,"
I open my eyes to look at a women looking down at my face. She had long light purple hair, white skin with a beautiful face and purple eyes. But I couldn''t help but think about one thing why the hell am I sharing my eternal slumber with someone else!
" Because there is no such thing as eternal slumber," - women
" Then I wasted all that time trying to die,?" - Me
" No after you die you get born again really simple. But I brought you here because you''re interesting I''ve watched your struggle to die. Hell i had a hard time bringing you here," - women
" Let me guess your god," - Me
" Yes I am a god there are a lot of us," - Goddess
" Well what now?," - Me
" Well normally you would get reborn but your soul is so strong that even if you reincarnated you''d have all your memories," - Goddess
" So like i said what now?," - Me
" I''m waiting for word from the higher ups," - Goddess
After a while of awkward silence and staring at each other a piece of paper fell down from above, It looked like normal paper nothing holy about it. The goddess was reading it while nodding then looked at me.
" Interesting, I have a question," - Goddess
" What is it?," - Me
" Do you want to become a god?," - Goddess
" Nope! No way! I had my fill of immortality!," - Me
" I was told to give you a status blessing if you refuse to become a god and send you into the next world where your reincarnation will be based on luck just hope you won''t reincarnate as a blob fish and the higher ups weakened your sould power so you won''t be immortal," - Goddess
" Is that so. Hey wait!, What about my eternal slumber! I''ll just suicide," - Me
" If you want to turn your status on just think of the word status. Also, you can have your eternal slumber next time you die and if you suicide you won''t get it," The goddess said as I my vision turned dark. Dam gods messing with my eternal rest!. Didn''t she say i''ll reincarnate why is it dark eew what''s that licking me its tongue is huge!. Was i born blind or something i''ll go with the flow for now.
Oh yeah that''s right let''s try the status blessing.
[ Status ]
[ Level ][ 1 ]
[ Health ][ 1/1 ]
[ Mana ][ 0/0 ]
[ strength ][ 0 ]
[ Dexterity ][ 0 ]
[ intelligence ][ ? ]
hmm~ I''m pretty weak and what''s up with my intelligence. Oh, what''s this my natural instincts are telling me to suck on this. Im guessing this is my mother''s milk. Still I can''t see it would suck if I was born blind. The only thing I know know is i''m not human that''s pretty much it.
According to my inner clock 8 days have passed. I have a little vision I know we''re in a noisy place I can hear a lot of humans probably in a market place from all the shouting. I think I was born as a cat but it doesn''t seem like i have any siblings so that defeats the answer I came up with. What I can make of my mother with my blurry vision, is that she has a shape of a cat and she has a silvery coat. I cat crawl now but my strength and Dexterity are still at 0. I tried using status on my mother it didn''t work looks like I have nothing to compare my stats to.
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Two weeks have passed I am now able to move around and my vision is really good. I was right about mother being a cat but the cat''s in this world seem to have evolved, my mother is twice the size of a cat from my world and she only gave birth to me. I started eating 2 days ago but i only just realized I''ve been eating food from the garbage cans. This has to be Unhealthy I think with my stats and my predatory skills I could catch a rat.
[ Status ]
[ Level ][ 1 ]
[ Health ][ 2/2 ]
[ Mana ][ 0/0 ]
[ strength ][ 1 ]
[ Dexterity ][ 2 ]
[ intelligence ][ ? ]
We live in an alleyway so it''s not to hard to find a rat but it''s rare to find one that''s too far away from a sewer drain. But im sure with my skill I can catch some. So its decided tomorrow i''m venturing out!
Next Day
Ah~why do i sleep a lot sure does feel like a nice day today. First of all I''ll set a trap with A piece of garbage food and pounce at them when their eating. After setting the trap by one of the sewer drains I took a cat nap while staying aware of my surroundings.
Squeak*Squeak*squeak*
I''m so glad I have these eye''s if not for these eye''s i would be able to see the two rats in the dark. With my strength I won''t be able to catch both of them, unless I use them for training and scratch at them. I''m going with option number 2 use them for training. Their about my size so they''ll be good for training. I pounce at one of them sticking my claws and teeth into its skin making it squeak in agony. I didn''t do much damage but this will slow him down a little i''ll have a chance to some the other one from escaping. As the other one showed me it''s back at tried to make a run for it I pounced on its back dug in my claws and started biting it repeatedly a pool of blood formed. I turned my back as I watched other rat limping trying to escape but it was too late.
I dragged both rats back to the alley way by their tails which was surprisingly a workout in on itself. I could hear my mother''s cries she must of been worried i have been out all day. As my mother saw me she ran and started licking me i''m guessing this is like a hug to cats?. That night she wouldn''t stop licking me maybe it was because we got to eat a good meal. Well considering that we''ve been eating from the trash can this is a step better. One last look at my stats before I go to sleep.
[ Status ]
[ Level ][ 1 ]
[ Health ][ 1/1 ]
[ Mana ][ 0/0 ]
[ strength ][ 2 ]
[ Dexterity ][ 2 ]
[ intelligence ][ ? ]
I got stronger nice.
AN: Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed Also please don''t forget to vote this is a reader interactive story. also please~ comment I like getting feedback! good or bad just feedback
Chapter 2: Explore
I haven''t really left this alleyway I would go explore the city if i was stronger. Well it doesn''t matter i''ll go hunting for rats i''ll just take some leftover rat at put it as bait. I think I''ll take a cat nap right now while i was for sundown.
Squeak* Squeak*
Woah~ That rat''s bigger than me it almost couldn''t fit out of the sewer drain. I''m no match for that thing but if i just let him eat the other rat we''ll have to eat from the garbage!.
Mew*Mew*
That sounds like a kitten calling for it''s mother I''m sure this is mother territory. Oh he got distracted! yes go that way and leave me my meal!. No don''t drag the rat with you!. I''ll just pounce at him when he''s about to strike his target his guard will be down.
As the rat made its way to the little kitten''s cries, the rat was clearly no amature his steps went silent and his breath was slowed. As he reached his destination, there was a kitten about my size it had dark brown fur with a little light brown streaks of hair covering its body. This kitten looked starved I could see it''s ribcage, the animals rule book stats survival of the fittest.
When the rat saw the kitten it increased its speed just about when it was 5 inches away from the cat I pounced from its back. I did my usual attack duggin my claws and started biting. This rat was different, those two I killed yesterday must of been young my ri-chomp(rip-chomp) attack wasn''t doing even slowing it down. It didn''t make a sound and started to roll around trying to knock me off. My nails were slipping I fell right in front of it, I only lost my balance for a second and it''s already coming in for the attack. There''s no other choice but to attack head on. We both pounced at each other he got me on the shoulder and I got him on the throat. We stood there as if we were hugging each other i kept biting with all my might my teeth slowly sinking into its rough skin.
The rat fell I looked back at the crying kitten and started to drag the big rat home while limping. I left yesterday''s rat behind for it to eat. It was really tough making it back home with this big rat and my injury. My mother came soon after seeing me and helped me drag the rats dead body. As we were eating we could hear a dragging sound, I peeked out from behind the crates to find the weak kitten dragging yesterday''s rat here. After reaching us my mother just glanced at the little kitten paying no mind as if there was no threat. I didn''t know what to do but mother let just let the kitten stay with us. Oh yeah before i forget lets check my status.
[ Status ]
[ Level ][ 1 ]
[ Health ][ 1/2 ]
[ Mana ][ 0/0 ]
[ strength ][ 2-3 ]
[ Dexterity ][ 2-4 ]
[ intelligence ][ ? ]
That''s good i should be faster and stronger now. What should I do with this little kitten, I could use him/her to help pull the dead bodies and help me hunt. That''s a good idea but it''ll take some time for him/her to recover first i''ll have to give it a name since i don''t know its gender i''ll give it a unisex....Alexis.
Two weeks have passed Alexis and I have been avoiding big rats and hunting little ones by baiting them. I am 5 weeks old I''m assuming Alexis is the same age since she is about my size. Yes turns out Alexis is a she I saw she didn''t have ball sack. Alexis got stronger and more efficient at hunting right now i''m confident we can take a big rat down easily together. Also for some reason Alexis keeps following me everywhere. Also My status has Increased.
[ Status ]
[ Level ][ 1 ]
[ Health ][ 3/3 ]
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.[ Mana ][ 0/0 ]
[ strength ][ 4 ]
[ Dexterity ][ 5 ]
[ intelligence ][ ? ]
Im guessing small rat''s are not enough anymore. Alexis and I have gone around the city but haven''t found any other things to kill i was thinking of leaving the city and going into the woods but we wouldn''t stand a chance. If we were put in a fight with a normal human we would be dead since humans are so big compared to us. I am half the size of my mother now which is about 10 inches. I still don''t know what mana is and ki dosen''t exist in this world i tried meditating multiple times nothing would happen. But I do hear Mana stone and Mana beast a lot in the market place. So if i connected the dots they must have the same beasts in this world.
If i could train my body I would but food is scarce I don''t want to waste extra energy. What should we do? If I think back to the day''s when I was human I went into the woods and hunted for food. Ah! We should enter the sewers, But how will mother survive she''ll go back to eating garbage. Also the sewers are dark it''s true we can rely on our hearing, whiskers and sense of smell but that won''t be enough the rats will have the advantage in numbers.
Although this is a big risk but it might be worth it. There''s is only one option its to leave the city. But i won''t be able to drag mother out with me she''s too dependent on the city. Ive decided im leaving the nest. But first i''ll have to teach mother how to catch rats.
3 Weeks have passed i am now 8 weeks old I am the same size as my mother. I have taught her how to cat rats and I think she''ll be able to survive when I leave. I''ll come back and visit when I can with that said Alexis and I head out of the city at top speed.
After exiting the city we found ourselves in the middle of a grass lands. I could see what seemed to be a forest so we headed there. I took a whole day to arrive to arrive at the woods, I''m surprised Alexis is still following me I thought she would stop at the city gates. After the sun had gone down we both climbed up a tree and took a nap.
After waking up, the first order of business was securing food we hadn''t eaten since yesterday. Alexis and I walk around the forest I started to follow the tracks of what seemed to be a lone wolf. From its paw print I would say it was an adult but the thing about wolf is they are useless on their own. We kept tracking it until we ended up at a small river. A Lone wolf the size of about 37 inches was having a drink. This was our chance to attack.
Even if this was a lone wolf it could kill us with one bite. So i devised a plan. Alexis and I charged at the Wolf, Alexis was the first to attack with a ri-chomp on the wolf''s back. The wolf turned his head only to see a claw to his face causing one eye to go blind. The Wolf whimpered before trying to bite me. I kept hiding in his blind spot, the wolf was overwhelmed when every time he focused on getting Alexis off he would get attacked by me. The battle dragged on when I finally got the chance it bit his throat ending it quickly. We suffered no injuries this was a complete win and if we staid here near the river beasts will come to drink and we can have the advantage of the surprise attack. Lets check status this fight got me really exhausted so i should have leveled up.
[ Status ]
[ Level ][ 1 ]
[ Health ][ 5/5 ]
[ Mana ][ 0/0 ]
[ strength ][ 6 ]
[ Dexterity ][ 5 ]
[ intelligence ][ ? ]
I skipped 2 levels of hp and strength! this is awesome!
AN: Hope you enjoyed!
Chapter 3: Rinse and repeat
After killing the wolf I started to remove its skin making A small hole. I take out some meat and we start eating it up on the tree. after finishing our meal we quietly wait. A bear appears it''s size was about 39 inches big. We just let it eat we couldn''t do anything against a bear they have a strong jaw and a strong body. After it finished eating it left, the only thing the bear didn''t eat was the meat on the bones of the wolf.
Waiting another hour there were 3 foxes all looked to be adults all about 25 inches. That''s strange foxes in my world hunted alone I think we can take them on. I look back at Alexis who is just cleaning her........self. I signal my attack which is basically me in a pouncing position and my tail lightly thumping the tree branch. Alexis just see''s me and stops and get''s ready. the wolfs and eating the left over''s the bear left.
I first attack the one that seems to be leading them. Sticking my nails on its back and biting it''s lower neck hoping I''d hit a vital spot. Alexis dose the same she learns quite fast. The fox''s skin doesn''t have much resistance so the fox fell still struggling for life I look back and see the third one is trying to escape while Alexis is still biting the the already half fox she attacked. I run behind him and do the same attack i usually do ending its life.
We dragged the dead bodies back to the river and hop back on the tree. I check my status nothing has changed we might need to kill stronger animals to level up. As we wait for another another few hours the sun went down and the moon was already up. It was a full moon so it wasn''t too difficult to see. Another bear appeared this time it was 52-54 inches big. If I didn''t push myself i won''t get stronger. So i decided to attack I look back at the now sleeping Alexis I didn''t want to drag her into this fight because i''m not sure I can deflate it, and it''ll be harder to escape if Alexis is with me.
I wait for the bear to drop its guard and I pounced on its back and used ri-chomp biting the side of its neck. The bear Rolled over trying to squish me with its weight. I jumped off its back and seeing his neck wide open I use another ri-chomp on the side of its neck going a little deeper this time. The attack didn''t pierce too deep into its skin there was too much muscle. The Bear swings its paws at full force only missing me by a hair. It then gets back on its feet and roared at me while charging. I check my surrounding and see a tree I run towards it with the bear in full pursuit of me. I jump to the tree using it to do a backflip and landing on the bear''s back I use another ri-chomp on the same exact spot as before, My nails teeth went deeper this time I could feel blood dripping. The bear roll''s over again I dodge then pounced and bit the side of its neck blood started gushing out. I backed off of it waiting for it to pass away. The bear slowly stopped its struggling and it''s breathing stopped.
At this moment I asked myself why did I want to get stronger was It just because of my past life. I look back at the tree we''ve been sleeping in remembering me of my past life. I bit the bear and started pulling it to the pile of dead animals using its dead body for a workout, Can''t say i didn''t do worse things in my past life. I understood nature''s law because I once lived in the wild. After the struggle of pulling the bear I was too worn out and curled up next to the now awake Alexis and slept for the night.
Ah~ That was a nice nap no animals seem''ed to come after the bear. After last night''s workout i''m sure I''ve gotten stronger. Ill check.
[ Status ]
[ Level ][ 2 ]
[ Health ][ 5/5 ]
[ Mana ][ 0/0 ]
[ strength ][ 8 ]
[ Dexterity ][ 7 ]
[ intelligence ][ ? ]
Oh! Im level 2 now. I have a theory of how it works, after adding my health, strength and dexterity they add up to 20. Right now I''m pretty sure I can kill a human. My claws are stronger and i''m a lot faster than before. It''s just been two day in just the outskirts of the forest. After reaching level 2 I could feel myself become stronger I''m pretty sure I can kill a bear with 2 bites to the neck. I''ve been over estimating the bear''s, but if it were a more intelligent animal with the bear strength I don''t think I could handle it, if it wasn''t for my intelligence and experience i''d still be eating out of the garbage.
Speaking of which here comes a pack of wolves, 3 adult wolves and two small ones. I''ll attack the adult wolves and leave the young ones to Alexis. Oh wait! she''s just a cat she wouldn''t understand and I can use this as an opportunity to train her. All she does is use ri-chomp she need experience. So i''ll kill off the pups and and one of the adults, and let her fight the two others i''ll let her get some injuries but save her when she needs it. The wolf''s seemed really intelligent 2 adults were walking in the front scouting, the pups were in the center and an adult behind them. The scouts and the pups started eating while the other wolf stayed on guard. So we won''t be able to catch them off guard, doesn''t matter i''ll just have to finish him off before he can sigle that there is danger.
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I take a look back at Alexis who is licking her...... Cleaning herself. didn''t signal an attack so she''s just relaxing. I jump from the tree using it as my cover so the wolf that is garding won''t see me. I get closer to him using the shrubs to hide me I move silently not even the grass beneath my feet making a sound. I jump up at the guard wolf biting into his throat, he just went limp and fell to his death. But the two adult wolves smelled the scent of blood. As the two adults turned their heads to look at the dead adult wolf I pass them and finish the two pups. They turn their heads back to me before Alexis jumps on one of the wolves backs biting into the side of its neck. The other wolf ignored me and went to attack Alexis I got ready to pounce if needed. Alexis surprisingly let go of the wolf she was bitting into and rammed into the other wolf then she proceeded to bite its neck killing it. The other wolf was losing blood from its neck but it wasn''t going down without a fight, it charged at Alexis but Alexis wasn''t paying attention to her surrounding I pounced at the wolf killing it half an inch away from Alexis hoping she would learn from this. Alexis looks back at me and starts licking my face like my mother would is this praise?. We dragged the wolves I say we but I made Alexis do it as punishment.
After a while of thinking I came up with a training regiment it consisted of running, jumping and attacking animals and trees. It might sound simple but I don''t think cat''s can do push ups or any other form of training. I jump off the tree and Alexis just follows behind me I swear this cat is so loyal it''s scary, cats in my world were just lazy and slept all day and ate garbage just like mother. I take another look at Alexis before I start running I kept going faster and faster trying to see if she could keep up with me. I''ve been using Alexis as a cushion for my head so I can''t just leave her behind.
While we run I jump on a tree and I look back to check on Alexis who is following behind. Now we start the jumping training I jump from tree to tree while Alexis just followed silently. I was getting pretty exhausted I could see Alexis slowing down so we stopped for a rest. After catching our breaths we drank some water from the river we made our way back the same way we came. After a short nap on our tree I felt refreshed and checked on my status.
[ Status ]
[ Level ][ 2 ]
[ Health ][ 5/5 ]
[ Mana ][ 0/0 ]
[ strength ][ 8 ]
[ Dexterity ][ 8 ]
[ intelligence ][ ? ]
So just my dexterity changed I need to find a way to do strength training If I don''t this corpse pile will keep increasing. After pondering on it for a while i came up with an Idea. It was dark out Alexis was awake I nudge her and hop down from the tree and start running in the direction of the city. She follows behind when we made it out of the forest I could see the city It was round and quite big I think from my view it was big. We ran on the flat grass lands till we reached the city. we reached quite early I didn''t want to come in at night so the we would stick out for the guards to shoo us. It really felt weird worry about something like that. So I just took a cat nap on the grass outside the city gates, this was one of the things I like about being a cat I could sleep whenever I wanted.
When the sun came up I saw a fancy carriage making it''s way in I smack the sleeping Alexis and run towards the wagon. I got under the the carriage using it as cover to get into the city Alexis just follows as usual. We got into the city first thing i did was go to the alleyway I lived in to check on mother.
I got to the alleyway I couldn''t find mother. Her scent was gone but there i checked all the sewers, she wasn''t there either. She must of left to another area of the city. Ill give up on the search for now and continue on with the plan.
Alexis and I walked till we got to the adventurer''s guild. Yes i''m gonna become an adventurer, the adventurers guild was made of stone like much of the city buildings, It was two stories high and had big open doors. I stroll into the building with Alexis walking behind me, the guards looking at us from the corners of their eyes not knowing if they should shoo us. The inside of the guild there was a bar with wooden tables and chairs. There were stairs going up but i wasn''t interested in that I put my eyes on the teller.
I walked to the teller and jumped on the table, It was a woman who looked to be in her 20''s she had white skin and light brown hair. When she saw us from behind the glass window her head tilted in confusion.
AN: This took me so long to write please comment and tell me your thoughts :)