Chapter 10
It took him a week to convince Kaleb to cut his head off. Even then Landon wasn't sure whether he had actually convinced him or just annoyed him to the point where removing his head would be cathartic.
Josie and Dr. Saltzman were against the idea. Josie because she didn't believe his ability to revive was without limit along with some concerns about the state of his mental health regarding self-harm, and Dr. Saltzman because he didn't trust anything that originated from Malivore including the system.
With them arguing against him it had taken much longer than he thought it would to activate his Dullahan bloodline. Lizzie was just adamant that they not get blood stains on anything that would be hard to clean. He couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard that.
Once he managed to explain the system in more specific detail to everyone, it's perks and how it functioned as a guide and tool in using his powers not as it's own separate entity Dr. Saltzman seemed to relent on his stance that it's use should be forbidden and abandoned.
Though explaining the Reproduction Control perk to a group of people, including two exceptionally beautiful girls his age, left almost everyone it the room feeling rather awkward. The exception being Lizzie, who went on to comment on the unfairness of a virgin like him have built in birth control.
The headmaster's acceptance did not extend to Landon's desire to be decapitated. Even after explaining that he would be completely restored after and about his bloodline quests and how they functioned, Dr. Saltzman adamantly refused to allow it.
It was only after Landon stated that he would find a way to do it by himself that the headmaster agreed to let Kaleb behead him with a sword, the caveat being that it had to be down under his direct supervision. Josie was still not onboard and was making her displeasure known by glaring at him.
He would be lying if he said that he wasn't frightened, but he needed to know if it would work. This would be the first bloodline quest he willingly undertook and if the system was faulty, it was better to find out now while no one was in danger, than to count on him awakening a bloodline only to be left wanting.
Should have just asked Jed, he'd have been happy to rip my head off. Landon thought to himself as he broke through his ashen casket. After standing he reached up to ensure his head was, in fact, connected to his neck. Once satisfied that it wasn't going to roll off at the first sign of movement, he took a second to look at the forest around him. The had decided it would better to make the attempt in the forest where there was less of a chance that the other students would come across them. Dr. Saltzman, Josie, and Lizzie were standing in a group a few feet away to his right while Kaleb was standing to his left. Kaleb had his back to the tree, still holding the bloodstained sword, and casting the occasional nervous glances at Raf. Raf for his part was right next Landon, his eye however remained locked on Kaleb and his maw twisted into a snarl.
"It's alright Raf, I'm ok, see?" Landon said while gesturing at himself.
"That's all well and good, Landon, and I'm glad you're ok, but I allowed you to do this for a purpose. I need to know if it worked." Dr. Saltzman said in a voice that brokered no nonsense.
Before he could respond Josie chimed in with, "This wasn't what I meant when I said I would help you test the system." The scowl still present on her face.
"Sorry." He told Josie sheepishly. He wasn't sure what else he could say or even if there was anything too say. He then turned to the headmaster and told him, "I definitely have a prompt waiting for me to view, let me open it up and see what it says."
Quest Complete – Dullahan Bloodline Unlocked – You can now utilize the following abilities
Dullahan Physiology | Magic Resistance | Mystical Awareness | Summon Mount
"Huh." He said out loud. "Some of these are not as self-explanatory as my phoenix abilities."
"Self-explanatory…. Wait! Does that mean you never read the descriptions for your phoenix abilities?!" Josie nearly shouted at him.
He shifted his gaze to the ground, while scratching the back of his head. "I mean, I kind of innately knew how to use them thanks to my Instinct perk…" He trailed off as she walked up to him until she was inches from his face.
Her anger evident on her face she told him, "You are going to bring up the descriptions of all your bloodline abilities and read them to us verbatim, or so help me I will curse you in ways you can't even imagine!"
"Fine, fine. God, woman, you are terrifying." He told her as he shuffled backwards away from her.
He looked over at Dr. Saltzman for some help only to find him smirking at his current predicament
"Crazy, all-powerful witch family." He muttered under his breath as he mentally brought up the requested information.
Flames of the Phoenix
Resurrective Immortality- Upon death the flames of rebirth will burn the body allowing for resurrection to occur. The speed of this process is greatly affected by how often it's used. The greater the number of rebirths, the quicker the resurrection due to the increased potency of
Phoenix Fire- The ability to generate and manipulate the mythical flames of Life, Death, and Rebirth. Grants immunity to fire and heat of any origin.
Phoenix Flight- Create wings of fire. Allows for flight and complex aerial maneuvers.
Dullahan
Dullahan Physiology- Created to be the ancient world's equivalent to a super soldier a dullahan's combat prowess was artificially enhanced by magic. All physical attributes are doubled, and future points placed into the physical categories will be counted double.
Magic Resistance- Created to be used against covens of enemy witches a dullahan was designed to be resistant against combat magic. Depending on your Mind attribute there is a chance that magic spells meant to damage you will fail. The higher your Mind attribute the greater the chance for spell failure.
Mystical Awareness- Lacking functioning eyes, a dullahan was bestowed with a mystical sixth sense with which they could view the world around them. Depending on your Wisdom attribute you can change the way you view the world, including being able to see the flow of magic around you. Increase your Wisdom to gain access to different modes of vision.
Summon Mount- Designate a creature or vehicle to be your permanent mount. You will be able to call and dismiss a perfect replica of the chosen mount created from shadows and magic.
A quick check of his status page showed that all his physical stats including Body were now at 20. It may have been his imagination, but he did feel somewhat sturdier, stronger, and quicker.
After informing every one of the changes in his attributes he looked at the tree nearest to him, walked up to it and threw a punch. He didn't manage to punch a hole through it but he did manage to knock off a sizeable amount it's bark with nothing but a few quickly healing scratches to show for it.
"That's straight up broken." Kaleb said once he had finished. "You just put points in stats and you can get however strong or smart you want. It's bullshit."
"You're forgetting about the part where I have to kill things to level up, and I'm without monsters to kill this is probably going to be as far as I go, besides, I'm not finished yet" Landon replied quickly to everyone's confusion. "Now that I have multiple bloodlines unlocked it's time to see what I've got in my ability menu.
Thermal Vision - Created from the interaction of the Dullahan's Mystical Awareness and the Phoenix's Phoenix Fire ability. This ability allows you to shift your sight into the infrared spectrum.
Cost: 10 Ability Points
Body of Fyre (Magic Resistance Upgrade) - Created from the interaction of the Dullahan's Magic Resistance and your self-created WytchFyre ability. When magic spells or curses that are deemed harmful are used against you a thin translucent layer of WytchFyre will automatically emit from your body burning out the magic before it has a chance to reach you.
Cost: 10 Ability Points
Summon Flame Mount (Summon Mount Upgrade) - Created from the interaction of the Dullahan's Summon Mount and the Phoenix's Phoenix Fire ability. When summoning your chosen mount a spark of the Fire of Life will be added, linking the mount to you, allowing you to mentally guide it and give it commands. After it is summoned, you may increase the amount of you Fire in the mount causing it to emit whichever Fire you charged it with.
Cost: 10 Ability Points
He could only afford one and thinking back to what Josie had said a moment ago he wasted no time in selecting Body of Fyre. He let them know which he had picked much to Josie's consternation.
Dr. Saltzman smirked at him again this time accompanying it with the words, "Smart choice."
He noticed he still had another prompt left to read. He wasn't really sure what else was left. According to the tutorial he received when he first initialized the system there really shouldn't be anything left.
"Guys I have another prompt left and I'm not sure what it's going to do you might want to step back just in case." He told them with a certain amount of apprehension.
Bringing up the prompt he was pleasantly surprised.
Due to the interaction between Genetic Memory and the Dullahan Bloodline awakening you have received the following skills. Unarmed Combat (Journeyman 9) and Whip Mastery (Master 1)
"Why wasn't it showing when you check your status earlier?" asked Josie her anger having been replaced now by curiosity.
"I think that changes to my status don't take place until I acknowledge the prompt for them." He replied in the confident tone of a man who had no idea if he was right or not.
He began to experiment with his skill points now that he had some combat related ones that would be useful in the series of mortal struggles that had become his life.
He started with Unarmed Combat. Due to it being at the rank limit he would need to spend 10 of his skill points to break the rank barrier to Master 1. After that, each level in master only cost him a single point.
He raised both skills up to Master 9 and was left with exactly 10 skill points. Deciding that Unarmed Combat was probably the safer bet he raised it's rank to Grandmaster 1 and bottoming out his skill points.
For the first time in his life, he felt like he could keep up with all the supernatural craziness that was happening around him.
"I think that's enough excitement for one day." Dr. Saltzman said, breaking him out of his reverie. "Landon, you should probably get cleaned up and we should all head back before people start to wonder where we are."
Looking down to find himself still coated in a thin layer of ash, he looked back up and nodded.
"I could definitely use a shower." He stated before starting to make his way back to his room. He quickly looked back to Raf and asked, "Are you gonna be ok without me for a bit?"
Raf's only reply was to snort and begin walking to the barn.
The following week saw Landon returning to his classes and despite the events of the past month, it was proving trivial for Landon to pass all his classes with remarkable grades. His increased intelligence had not provided him with an eidetic memory, but it was close enough. He very rarely had to hear anyone repeat themselves to register what was being said and when it came to mathematic equations, he rarely needed to use a calculator for advanced calculus.
This left him plenty of time to research Raf's condition. He bestiary had extraordinarily little information on werewolves, vampires, or witches. What was present was only regarding their association to other supernatural creatures. Nothing about the triad themselves. So, he spent most his time in the library. He read up about a pack of werewolves called the Crescent Wolf Clan that were able to control their turns, but he had no idea how to reach out to them or even where they were, let alone if they still existed.
As promised Josie spent most of her time keeping an eye on him, but whenever they found themselves in the library she would research her on her own.
Having hit something of a wall in his own research he asked her what she was working on, and she told him all about the Merge she and Lizzie would have to go through once they turned 22. On top of all there she was trying to figure out what something called an ascendant was and how it related to the Merge.
"Do you want me to take a look at it?" He asked her.
"What good would that do?" She asked distractedly, her attention on the book she was currently searching through.
"Well, my identify perk is based of all the creatures and artifact Malivore captured for over a thousand years. It's automatic and brief when I meet supernatural threats but if I try to use it actively it should give me more information. Chances are that at some point Malivore consumed something or someone that had some information on a powerful magical artifact." He replied, starting to regret offering to help if she was just going to be dismissive.
As he finished talking her head snapped up to meet his gaze. "Are you serious?!" She asked.
"No Josie, I'm kidding around because I find issues of life and death to be hysterical." He replied deadpan.
"Sorry." She said, "But do you really think it'll work?"
He thought about it for a few seconds and told her, "I mean, I've never tried it on a magical item before but in theory it should work."
"Come with me." She said, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the center of the library.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." He said as he quickened to avoid being dragged. She stopped them in front of the cylindrical magic device that was used to books in the library.
"Use Identify on that and let me know what it tells you." She told him. She was trying not to get her hopes up, but he could tell that she was failing.
He did as she asked, internally wishing he wasn't about to let her down. Me and my big mouth, I should have tested this out before I offered to help.
Luckily, his attempt succeeded.
Enchanted Codex – Used to magical search through books in an attuned room for items related to the key term used. Currently attuned room: Stefan Salvatore Memorial Library
After telling her what the prompt said he stopped moving and stood still. "There's no way that my dad would have known about this library's name. It's too recent."
"Maybe it updates using your own knowledge and discoveries." Josie replied with a bright smile before hugging him and once again beginning to pull him. "Thank you for helping. Come on, Lizzie is in our room, and she has the ascendant with her right now." She said as they made up the stairs.
Upon opening the door to her room, they came across Lizzie lying upside down on her bed, staring at a strange clockwork contraption in her hand.
She immediately tried to hide the ascendant behind her when she saw Landon enter. Turning a dour expression on her sister she asked, "What's Frodo doing here?"
"He thinks he might be able to figure out what the ascendant does, it turns out his identify perk works on magical objects, we tested it!" Josie said excitedly.
"This better not be some kind of trick." Lizzie told him acidly. Her venomous gaze turning to face him. "Just so you know, this is precious to us and if anything you do breaks it somehow, there aren't enough hills in the shire for you to hide from me."
Tired of being doubted he just held out his right hand and replied, "Just so you know in a fight between Frodo and Gollum, Frodo wins." He replied with a sigh.
Squinting her eyes at him in anger she placed the geared monstrosity in his palm.
He immediately identified it.
Ascendant – Using celestial events as an energy source this device is used to create and open a portal to a pocket dimension. These dimensions are commonly known as Prison Worlds due to often being used to trap exceedingly dangerous creatures and individuals. Current occupants are unknown
He relayed this information to the twins at which point they looked at each other confused. "What does that have to do with the Merge?" Josie asked her sister.
"I don't know, but I think it's time we had a conversation with father dearest." Lizzie replied in a deceptively playful tone before turning and walking towards the door. She stopped halfway out the door turned her head to face Landon and said, "I assume you won't have any issues seeing yourself out." Before turning her head forward and continuing to march with sparing a glance to see if Josie was following her.
Josie for her part was looking at him with a grateful expression.
"Thank you for helping us figure out what the ascendant is, and I'm sorry for how I've been acting. Everything has just been so crazy lately." She said abashedly.
"It's ok, I get it. If this Merge thing were about me and Raf, we'd probably drive ourselves crazy trying to figure out how to save each other too."
She smiled at that and took a few steps towards him. Grabbing his hands and holding them in her own she replied, "Still, thanks again for helping us, and for understanding."
Before he could process what was happening, she leaned in and gave him a quick peck on his cheek then immediately turned around and made her way out of the room with what he could have sworn was a bounce in her step.
For his part Landon was still in a stupor, and he continued in it until he somehow made his way to his room and half sat half fell onto his bed.
When the power of thought returned to him, the only one that managed to emerge was What just happened?
Author's Note: Thank you BloodRaven46 for pointing out an accidental narrative person shift.
