Day 57
When you woke up it was to a normal, good day… and then a tick went off in your mind that immediately had you fully awake and trying to find the source.
Which turned out to be your status… specifically the rune of the unborn. Apparently it was taking this Causality, as the name of the extremely potent energy you could use was, and was distributing it towards this special mutation?
… which sounded like it'd make you stronger, so you honestly didn't care… and you also saw, or well understood really, the change in your inherent understanding ability through the status too.
That was nice.
Special mutation bar: 16/30
[Inherent understanding] changed
"So, can anyone tell me where and why the repel spell was created?" Miss Seamoure asked, and you slowly raise your hand, "anyone?"
No one else raises their hand, though from Myra's aura – compared to everyone else's – you could tell that she knew the answer.
Even if she didn't want to answer it for some reason.
"Come on, you all just read this. There has to be someone else who knows the answer," there is silence as you wiggle your raised hand a bit, until eventually she just sighed, "… yes mister Votusax."
You recite what you'd learnt from the book, that the repel spell was a neutral magic spell developed by the bear demihumans in the lower Chemia region. Mostly to repel the smaller bee monsters so they can take the honey from their hives, but also to repel falling leaves that may be covered in poison.
"Correct, thank you mister Votusax… though I'm sure other people could've also answered if they'd just read what they were supposed to," that was said with her staring across the whole classroom, causing aura's to flare with fear as her eyes passed over them.
After that the class continued, with Miss Seamoure telling the class to read more while teaching about the spells they read about, also asking for people to volunteer to show the spells.
For some reason she seemed to actively ignore you when you volunteered, even when you were the only one offering. You're not sure why she did that.
You're also not sure why Myra seemed relieved when it happened.
[Neutral magic] (Plus) 3 Level's [18]
[Repel (omnidirectional) aspect added to Neutral magic]
Learnt Omnidirectional repel (lesser) spell
[Pull (minor) aspect added to Neutral magic]
Learnt Pull (lesser) spell
"Okay, so… last time may have gotten a bit out of hand," those were the first words Coach said once her arrived into the Mage knight class, "turns out, I shoulda read the report sheet, and also brought a healer just in case. My bad on that… but on the other hand we can begin the actual magic no"
"Ahem," the other lady, a scar covered woman – about three quarters the height of coach – who had also arrived at the field with him interrupted, "you're forgetting something Will."
"Huh, oh yeah!" there's a moment where confusion plays across Coach's face, before it then immediately clears as he smiles… before pulling the other lady close to him with one hand, "this is my cousin Tyra Icebrand, she wasn't here yesterday because she was on her peri oof!"
Once again the lady interrupted coach, only this time with a punch to the crotch area that made him double over… before she then calmly turned to the watching students.
For some reason, you heard half your classmates take a sharp breath in.
Once again you felt a breeze against you, like the one you'd felt in Miss Seamoure's class yesterday, as she spoke, "I'm your teaching assistant, I wasn't in yesterday because I was injured from a fight with an Srank monster. We're going to be working on physical conditioning and how you should do it today, any questions."
… you raise your hand, getting her to just look at you. Which you take as a sign to go ahead and ask her if you'd be getting a weapon like everyone else got at the end of the lesson.
"… oh right, you. Yeah, you'll be getting a weapon today, one that's rated for S (Plus) rather than the one's these guys get," you perk up as she pulls out a sword from the pouch at her waist, curious about the effects of this new, and more importantly different, sword, "in fact, come here and take these too. They'll be pretty useful."
You do just that, going forward and taking the sword and the… bands of metal? Four to be specific.
"They're the environment bands all the high rank adventurers use," Tyra said, noting your curious examination of the bands, "put one on each limb any time you're doing physical activities in this class, it'll make sure you don't kill everyone from the shockwaves and other indirect damage. Go on, test em."
The way your classmates look at you noticeably changes as she says that, though you don't look back at them immediately. Instead you put on the bands as you'd been told and immediately test them out, giving a light punch that would've sent a burst of wind a couple meters forward.
Would've, because it didn't actually do that.
Not even when you began putting more force behind the punches, only beginning to do so when you put most of your base strength into the punch.
"Good, they're working as intended. Now then, unlike what this idiot was saying," she gestures towards coach… who was still on the floor, "we won't be learning magic today. Instead we'll be doing some basic conditioning. Now g"
"Umm, miss Tyra" a particularly large student, in that he was almost up to your chest in height, spoke up.
"Just call me Tyra. I'm not that old."
"Alright. Tyra, what if we've already got the basic conditioning?"
"In that case I'll let you do your own thing and give you tips if I see you need them. Now, Anyone else?"
… by the time class ended you'd gotten quite a few tips on how best to destroy your body so it builds up quickly. Coach had even gotten up halfway through the class and told you about lightly breathing fire and just… holding it in, as a way to train regeneration.
Which was nice to know if a bit pointless, what with your regeneration having reached it's max potential for now.
… Myra seemed to have enjoyed it too, seeing how much she talked to the new assistant about some 'blood mutations' thing.
[Body training] (Plus) 3 Level's (2/30)
[?] 2/?
[Damage mitigating sword] gained
[Environmental effect dampening bands] gained
You were once again sitting in a padded chair, though this time it was in a room without the tiered seating, looking over the table full of clear glasslike instruments at the front of the class.
'Welcome to alchemy 101', written on a black board, with a familiar person having written it.
"Welcome, all you prospective alchemists, to my alchemist class," the darker coloured woman, the human woman who taught you alchemy to begin with, said from the front of the class. Her eyes wandering across all the others in the class with you, stopping for a moment when they landed on you, before she continued speaking, "I'm sure that many of you recognise me, and are probably wondering what someone like me is doing teaching you?"
Sounds of agreement come from a few people, nods from a couple others. You even heard someone whispering about why the royal alchemist is teaching a firstyear class.
Some of them even sound worried for some reason.
"Now, now. No need to be worried. I am just here to teach a class filled with such… talent~" she says, looking directly at you when she said that. Well, more like looking at your waist area.
You looked down too, ignoring the stares you feel from the other humans in the class, but didn't see what she seemed so focused on.
"But anyways, let's just get on with it," and just like that she snaps her fingers, causing the black board in the front to be wiped and new words to begin appearing, "now, anyone who doesn't know the basics of alchemy just raise your hands."
No one raises their hands, though you did try before Isla just looked and you and gestured for you to lower your hand.
"Excellent, excellent, since that's the case we can start with some simple practice then," once again a finger snap, and now there are boxes on the tables in front of all the students, you included, "here are some materials provided by a rather generous donor… practice with them. That's all we'll be doing for today. I'll go around and examine the results."
… you raise your hand.
"Just do any of the four procedure you want on them."
You lower your raised hand, moving towards the box to get the materials… wait, aren't these shards of your scales?
[Alchemy] (Plus) 3 Level's [28]
Heaping the tiny pebble like eggs onto the piece of bread, loaded with stiff cream and lemon, you lift the piece of bread, balancing it to ensure none of the piled on food falls off… and then you eat it all. In one large bite.
Then, ignoring the looks you were getting from other students in the cafeteria, you chewed and savoured the flavours.
Maybe it was because of learning how to cook like humans, or maybe it was just you finding things that weren't there, but you could almost taste how some of it was made. How they added a bit of salt to the eggs—you think they called it Caviar?—when they were washed, how the bread was made on a metal—probably steel—pan.
It was all pretty interesting, if a bit bland.
Maybe you should make it yourself and add some metal dust as seasoning, that'd make it taste better.
"and she's definitely doing it on purpose as well, I just know it," Myra continued complaining, her aura shining with irritation and anger. You didn't understand why she was complaining about Isla teaching your class though, and when you'd asked she'd just told you that Isla was purposefully 'provoking' her.
You didn't get it, so you just began eating… oh hey, this doesn't taste that bland.
"and I just know she ah, what?" turning to Myra, you present the spoon filled with what you'd just eaten, a mixture of various things, and interrupt her by asking her to try it, "ooh, uh. Thank you."
And now she's red again, even as she gingerly accepts the spoon. You don't even know what you did this time… well, ignoring that, you watch as she eat it, seeing her aura explode in colours, and ask her how it tastes.
"I it's good," you nod with a smile at her strained reply, "did you put in shard of the heater into it?"
Oh, was that what the crunchy thing you got from the bottom of the soup bowl was? Looking at the table you confirm that, before smiling and nodding at her again and complementing her sense of taste to recognise it with just one bite.
"I… Thanks?" and once again, reddening.
Ignoring it again, you refocus on Myra… and see that theres some of the food around her lips that she didn't seem to notice. Well, you didn't really want to waste it…
You reach forward towards Myra's face and wipe off a bit of the food that was on her face before licking the finger clean.
Okay, why is she becoming redder again. This is just getting silly.
It took a while after lunch for Myra to stop being red when near you, long enough that you had already arrived at the cooking club.
The issue was that, once the two of you arrived, the redness was replaced with the colour of light fear in her aura. Which she also refused to elaborate on when you tried to ask.
… your mind went back to the lessons on suffering and attachments, before you shake your head and dismiss that. No, that didn't fit her reactions.
Aside from that however, you were now, once again, experimenting on creating food. This time with you being paired with that girl with the black aura, which you still didn't understand the meaning off.
Still, it didn't stop her helping you out as you cooked.
"Here," like right now, with her handing you a pot of almost glowing liquid, smoke wafting off it. You hadn't even seen it anywhere in the ingredients cupboard, and from a quick taste test it even tastes really good!
Thanking her you accept the pot, pouring it into the pan full of minced meat, that you'd browned with a quick blast of heat, and poured it in and
Oh wait, that's eating through the pot. Uh…
Some time, and many corroded/melted pots later
Carefully, you use the large flat spoon to slide the flat disk off the kiln it was in before then slowly removing it and examining it.
The plume of iridescent smoke that comes off it melts a crater into the rood.
"It doesn't look like it melted through this time," the black aura'd girl said, also looking at the pizza, to which you nodded in agreement. This had been the third attempt, the other two having melted through the oven and open oven you'd used previously, and you didn't have another oven, well technically this was a kiln for the blacksmithing club, so it was a good thing it worked at last.
Welp, time to take this back to Mina and Myra for them to taste.
So you do just that, picking up the tray, which looked a bit warped, the pizza was on and taking it directly to the cooking club, your cooking partner right behind you.
… you're a bit annoyed that Mina vehemently refused to even take a little bite, like Myra and your partner had, but in the end that just meant there was more for you to eat.
And it was delicious.
Plus, you also saved some of the ingredients your partner had given you. They tasted great and would probably come in handy later.
[Cooking] (Plus) 2 Level's (21/30)
[Tasty "broths"] gained
With the taste of that deliceous pizza still on your lips, and the satisfaction from a day of learning, you'd say you were in a very good mood.
Thus you decided, as you left the academy and found yourself back in your den, that you might as well take advantage of the good mood and do something that's always rather painful to do.
That being going out and improving your bones through precussive training.
So, after a brief flight, which barely just dipped into the dearker part of the skies, you arived at the designated crater.
… and thus began the process of you systematically tearing out every bone in your body at least once, of you smashing, snapping, and otherwise scaring you bones. Only for them to heal and for the process to repeat on, the pain not really being all that bad at this point.
Though, part way through the whole 'mutilate bones' thing you just sor of… fell into a trance of sorts.
One that, once you awoke from it, resulted in you having an actual fully assembeled skeleton in front of you. Each bone glowing lightly, with the joints seeming almost fused together, and it seemed to almost move under your gaze…
Then you ignored it since, from a cursory glance at your status, you saw that your bones had reached the peak of thier potential!
And on that good news you cheerfully collected the bones and materials you'd dropped. Though the cheer did go down slightly with the fact that you weren't able to store the full skeleton and would instead have to carry it to your den.
[Eternal sovereign foundation] (Plus) 4 Levels (6/6)
You look at the skeleton, and consider your options on what to do with it… before just deciding to go ahead and take it back to your den. If nothing else, it could act as a way to scare unwanted people out of your den.
It did look pretty fierce, on account of it being made of your bones.
With that decided, you proceeded to do just that. Grabbing the skeleton from it's wings and quickly taking it to your den.
There were a few screams from some of the maids near the entrance, but that didn't really matter so it was fine.
But anyways, after positioning your new statue so it faced the entrance, you went on to do something else. That being going out, or rather up, until you were in the familiar, comfortable, blackness.
Where you then proceeded to indiscriminately fire at anything, and everything, that so much as moved.
It was a fulfilling experience, if not that dangerous.
Well, not that dangerous outside the few times you accidentally hit things that immediately caused all your instincts to tell you to get away as soon as possible, which you were able to easily do thanks to your wings making you really fast.
Still, a very satisfying thing to cap the day on…
It wasn't till you were back in your den, having passed a new crater that you must've made when you were putting up your new statue, that you realised you didn't feel sleepy.
You didn't feel sleepy at all.
[ (Plus) 8,142,753 xp]
[You reached level 115] (Plus) 8 Level's
[ (Plus) 40 to all stats]
[ (Plus) 40 Strength, Constitution, Spirit, & Magic]
[ (Plus) 15 agility]
[Vitae halitus] (Plus) 1 Level (2/40)
The fact that you weren't feeling sleepy in the least was a surprise, but not something you particularly minded. In fact, you rather found it pretty great all things considered, seeing as it allowed you to use that time to continue with your reading.
Speaking of which it was getting… rather intense.
How could she, after all this time. After all she sacrificed, after all you'd sacrificed?
After all she made you sacrifice?
And this is how she'd end it…
No.
NO.
You refused this travesty, this… this… absolute mockery. You would kill her before you let her ruin all that you had dedicated your existence to. No, you would remind her why she began this order to begin with, remind her of how she became a so called 'saint'.
…
You would usurp her.
You must usurp her, that is the only way to recover from this.
… but first, you must learn to sever your connection to her.
…
Blinking, you take a moment to recentre yourself, shaking off the echoes of rage that still lingered in your mind… not before you did a quick check around your den to make sure there weren't any butterflies there.
Of course there were none, which was always good, and with that conformed you instead focused on one of your claws.
Then you focused, trying to guide your… soul? something deep within you and just for a moment there was a distortion around them, strands of glittering unlight… which then promptly sputtered out.
Hmm, you may need to go over that again.
[Sever (incomplete)] (2/5)
Day 58
By the time the sun had come up outside you hadn't really made much progress with the spell, if it was even a spell. As it was, you'd barely managed to keep the distortion manifested around your claw for barely a moment.
Though that may also have to do with the fact that a certain little child had appeared around the time the sun was just cresting the horizon.
Which, quite honestly, was a welcome break since the constant failure, and subsequent echoes of rage from the book, were getting rather frustrating. As a couple of craters, from your tail whipping the ground, could attest to.
You do also note that Delilah hadn't really grown all that much since last you saw her, something your instincts found very strange.
Perhaps she hadn't been hunting…
Ah well, it's up to her if she doesn't want to hunt. Not like it affects you in any ways.
Special mutation bar: 20/30
[Inherent understanding] charge refreshed
With the distraction provided by Delilah blunting the edge of your frustration you entered the academy with a far better mood than you otherwise would have.
Which is good since it allowed you to more calmly control your magic.
"Excellent work mister Votusax," your neutral magic teacher praises, looking at the fragile orb in your hand, "it seems that you've gained a… notable, amount of control since your last lesson."
You nod, telling her you practised a bit last night.
"… yes, quite," judging by her aura though, she didn't seem pleased by that. You wonder why, "very well, since you have demonstrated enough control not to shatter Icarite when channelling magic through it, we can get you started on the next orb. Now, if you could hand me th"
She paused and stared at you. Having turned around while she talked, to pull out another orb from a pouch at her waist, to see that you had eaten the orb.
Which tasted really good, having a nice texture and full, but mellow, flavour profile..
…
Was she going to give you the other orb?
"…yes, here," you took the orb from her, channelling your magic into it with confidence.
…
The students in the class, all on the other side and behind a translucent magic barrier, made sounds of shock and surprise as the orb turned into a blast of concussive force and splinters.
… pulling out a shard of the orb that'd gotten under your eyelid, you wordlessly take the next orb offered by the teacher.
[Icarite added to creation]
[Icarite [1:0.1 (causality:volume in m3)]]
Neutral (Plus) 4 Level's [22]
By the time of your next class you had managed to only cause the new orb to crack a bit, a marked progress in your opinion.
"Alright, now flex the magic as you fully extend."
And this level of progress continued into your next class too, as you slowly sparred with the taller, in comparison to the humans of the class, man. Accepting the occasional instructions he gave as you did so.
Though, you sparring against the teacher hadn't been the case at the start of the class. It took a few students ending up on the other side of the academy for it to happen.
Good thing too, you weren't really learning anything when the sparring partner went flying every few minutes.
"Alright, that's enough you two," the voice of the teachers assistant, who'd been teaching the humans, and Myra, on the other side of the field to avoid them flying away from the shockwaves, interrupted your sparring, "class ended five minutes ago."
"Ah really," your sparring partner looked up at the sky, probably seeing how much the sun had moved, before turning to you, "ah, damn. Looks like it's over, and I was getting into it too… ah well. Put it here."
You looked at the extended hand in confusion… before your mind lightly buzzed in understanding and you followed suit, clapping your hand in his.
"Heh," which got a grin from the teacher at the shockwave, "good grip."
[Body training] (Plus) 3 Level's (5/30)
[Sword combat] (Plus) 2 Level's (8/10)
[Spear combat] (Plus) 2 Level's (8/10)
Your arrival to your next class was a tad later than usual, arriving when the class was mostly full instead of almost empty like you usually would, but you still arrived before the teacher did.
Then when she did arrive, and the whole class began learning how to more efficiently process things… when you remembered something.
Of course you asked Isla about it.
"Oh! Of course, how could I ever forget," she replied, her aura radiating happiness, with a wide smile on her face, "that absolutely would help you."
You nodded with a smile, happy that you remembered the way to learn faster that she had mentioned so long ago… then you proceeded to take off your clothes.
Which was how you learnt for the rest of the class, even feeling that you were learning faster.
Maybe that had something to do with how Isla stuck close to you and was always instructing you through out the class, or maybe it was because most of the humans in the class just seemed to be doing pretty bad for some reason.
Oh hey, there's Myra… and she's chasing off some human women who were coming towards you.
[Alchemy] (Plus) 4 Level's [32]
[Studying] skill learnt
"Votusax," you blink at someone calling your name, turning around to look at them, only to see nothing, "down here."
Looking down, you see a familiar red hat… oh hey, it's Lina.
"Here take this crystal," and now she's giving you a glowing crystal, one that looks like the crystal you vaguely remember Myra using to transport you to once, long ago.
Curious, you ask her what it was for.
"There is a tower surrounded by a ward that blocks anything with insufficient resistance or the key, I require your aid in showing them the truth," she explains.
You absorb that information, looking between the crystal and back at Myra, who was now arguing with the people she was chasing off.
Specifically, a small human boy… wait, what's gay and why did Myra say you weren't it?
"The tower is owned by allies of butterflies."
How do you use the crystal.
Lina smiles, before explaining how you have to put in a bit of magic into it. You immediately do so, finding yourself in a forest. Which you then start scanning immediately for any trace of butterflies.
"Follow me," Lina spoke, having appeared in front of you with a flash, "I shall show you the heart of evil."
You do so, soon ending up on a cliff overlooking a city with two towers jutting out in the very centre.
One of them had a butterfly on it.
You began charging a br
"Here use this instead. It'll cause them more pain," you paused your charging before turning to Lina… and seeing that she was pointing to a… device? Vehicle?
It looked like a couple of sticks with wings and a bunch of containers attached to it.
"It's my experimental batch of bombs. They won't kill, but the butterfly lovers will wish they did," you can feel the warm fuzzy feeling blooming deep in your chest at that.
You knew you like this small child for a reason. Now, how do you use this.
"Just hold on to this part here… this part lets you steer…" she began explaining, and a few moments later you're in position. Then, with a small push off the cliff, you are in the air, gliding straight towards the towers.
A few moments later you feel a barrier wash over you, breaking on your skin, and a few more moments later you're just about to hit the tower.
Then, with a use of the second crystal Lina had given you, you were back on the overlooking cliff.
*BOOOOM*
Just in time to see an absolutely beautiful cloud of purple explode on the tower, obliterating the whole thing, and specifically that disgusting butterfly emblem on it, from existence.
The knowledge that butterflies were suffering in there filled you with indescribable joy.
Lina too, if the clapping and laughing was anything to go by.
[Lina SL gained]
It was after a few moments more of basking that you finally decided to return to the academy, mostly so you could go and eat.
It was, after all, still lunchtime right now.
Thankfully, you didn't have to fly around to return since Lina had given you another crystal with the promise that the two of you'll do more in the future. Which you agreed with.
You will definitely be willing to murder more butterflies with her at any time.
And on that note, you used the crystal, appearing right where you'd left… in front of Myra.
Of course, as is normal with her, she immediately turned red, redder when you looked down at her and asked her if she was ready to eat now. You expected nothing less at this point.
"Wh Vo I" the not being able to speak was new though, "I… ccan you please put on some clothes, pplease."
Oh right, you'd taken them off to help you learn alchemy. Well, you'll just put them on again… now, just slowly put on this shirt, then comes the this and then this…
"Hmm, you have a very large penis," you tilt you head, still trying to put on your outer jacket, and see the black aura'd girl who was standing behind Myra… who Myra also just noticed, judging from the chaos her aura falls into and the way she jumps away, "very shapely."
You nod at her compliment, accepting it as you clothe yourself… before deciding to compliment something of hers as well. So you tell her that the colour of her eyes was pretty interesting, which it was.
It matched the colour of her emotional aura exactly.
"Thank you," she inlined her head, and then began walking away as you put on your pants.
Then, being fully clothed again, you turn to Myra… who seemed conflicted. She also seemed to be murmuring about you "definitely not being gay at least," and how at least she "didn't make the same mistake as with Aaron."
Regardless of that though, she still ate with you at lunch. Though she sat much closer than ususal.
By the time you returned to your den from the academy you were still feeling the elation, and general warm fuzzy feeling, from killing the butterflies. Which you decided to then channel into finishing up the spell you learnt from the book again.
Only to freeze as you felt a sensation in the back of your skull, instincts immediately letting you know what it was.
Your deal with Myra, that she would be able to summon you at least once a month, was being used. Meaning that she had just started summoning you, and you would appear at her location in a few short moments.
Your mind raced, decisions and choices being made in an instant, before you spring into action.
First you assumed your true form, switching your smaller core so it bolstered your defences. Then the larger core within your chest pulsed audibly, firing thrice in short succession.
First firing, and immortality flowed through your veins.
Second firing, and tyrannical redblack smoke wafted from your maw.
Last firing, and the smoke was tinged with virulent purple poison.
Then, finally ready, you let the pulling sensation pull you aways and appeared… on a large stonefloored clearing? With humans sitting at the rim?
"I surrender," you blinked at the familiar voice, looking down to the source.
Oh hey, it's the black aura'd girl.
Random Contestants POV
Boran Merdos knew he wasn't anything special.
The third son of a baron family, one which had a fairly mediocre bloodline, who wasn't all that high levelled. He didn't have a particularly great class, nor did he train his natural skills all that much, and he most certainly did not have the idealised setup, with personalised foods and elixirs, that the children of the higher nobles have.
But what he did have was an amulet that boosted all his physical stats by ten for ten minutes, in exchange draining all his mana.
Something he'd found in a ruin near his family home.
That was why he had any confidence in taking part in the exhibition tournament held at the start of every academy year, as a way to show the plebeians the strength of their nobles and give motivation to the participants.
Of course, even with the amulet he didn't really have any delusions of coming first.
No, all he hoped for was maybe getting into the top twenty and getting one of the new stat increasing elixirs that the Krigaian alchemists had created. Maybe top ten if he got lucky.
" and for the first fight of the day, our very own princess Myra!"
Okay, maybe he also had another reason. But can you blame him, it's not every day that you get to see someone as powerful and beautiful as princess Myra, and well… the participants get the best seats of the whole stadium.
"and on the other side we have a fellow new student, Athalia!"
He watched as the other girl, the opponent of the princess, walked past him and onto the raised platform of the arena.
Poor girl, she was going to get totally destroyed. A shame too, now that he got a closer look, she was gorgeous. Almost as gorgeous as the princess, but not quite.
"Alright, your highness, Athalea. Take your positions," he watched as they stood inside the two circles drawn near the centre of the massive arena.
"On the count of three!" the announcer… announced, yet Boran couldn't help but ignore him as, being as close to the contestants as he was, he could barely make out that the princess was speaking.
Looking around he noted that only he seemed to be able to hear them, probably from the hearing boost from his bloodline ability.
"One!"
"It looks like you're pretty strong," he heard the princess say.
"Two!"
"Very well then, I'll show you a fraction of my power," he saw her start raising her hand, magic shining in her eyes, "come forth"
"Three!"
As if that was the signal, princess Myra thrust her hands into the air, "Votusax!"
Then blinding light erupted in the arena.
It was a few moments later that Boran regained his vision, having blinked and shook the spots out of his vision, and when he did… saw a wall of gold. Then he looked up.
… and up.
… and even further up.
Oh, those are some big claws. Oh, that some scary crackling smoke leaking from a big mouth.
Oh, that's a big dragon.
He didn't know when it happened, but the next thing he knew he was on his backside, on the floor, and shuffling as far away from the arena as possible. Even when he hit the wall he just kept trying to push away, as if he'd get through the ultratough materials of the arena.
He couldn't.
"I surrender," just as his vision began to darken, the voice of the girl facing the princess rang out. Clear and without fear.
After that… well, he woke up feeling awful and being told that, due to not regaining consciousness fast enough, he'd automatically forfeited his match and was thus in the top ten.
Coming in at tenth despite not fighting.
Turns out, it was because he was the first, of the ones who fainted to wake up.
Back to Votusax POV
It took a bit for Myra to explain to you why you'd been summoned and you… weren't impressed, but in the end you just shrugged.
If she wanted to use her one summon of you to just stand there, and look scary, then that's up to her. You would've preferred an actual fight that would've provided food, but it was her choice.
So that how you spent the next bit of your time, just standing by the side of the arena and giving the occasional halfhearted growl at an opponent.
Half of them just dropped when you did… which was a thing that happened.
Still, eventually there were no more opponents, and Myra got given a nice looking sword which she gave to you for eating.
It tasted… better than anything you remembered tasting.
If that hadn't wiped any annoyance you might've felt at the interruption of your reading, then the promise from her, that she would take me to a place with some good metals to eats tomorrow, certainly would have.
So, once you got back to reading, you'd say your mood was about as good as it was from before you were called away.
Which is what allowed you to come to a last minute breakthrough when it came to the spell you were learning from the book. Specifically, on how to stabilize the spell so that it doesn't fizzle out moments after forming.
Hate.
You needed potent hate to keep it anchored to you claws.
And while you'd initially struggled with it a simple thought of those disgusting winged insects… well, looking down at the crackling sheath of distortion around your extended claw?
You'd say you got it.
[Sever (incomplete) learnt]
Sever
Sever the ties that bind. Direct HP damage negated while this spell is active.
Cost: 0?
[Causium mutation (1/10)]
[Causium8 added to creation]
[Causium8: [8:0.1 (causality:volume in m3)]]
[Special mutation bar: 25/30]
Of course, with a new spell learnt you had to test it.
Which you took as a good reason as any to go up and start hunting some weaker variants of food, making it a point to use your newly learnt spell any time you killed something with your claws and… well, the results weren't what you expected.
Not that you had many expectations to begin with, the book hadn't exactly detailed what the spell actually did in any way.
But you at least expected it to kill things with how it covered your claws and seemed sharp. However, instead of that you got a spell that just… did things when you hit living things with it.
Sometime it did as you expected and helped you kill things, other times the thing you hit just sort of… disappeared.
The most confusing one was the one where you hit a strange pulsating creature made of some black goo and the top layer of it just disappeared to reveal another piece of food. One that looked completely different.
Still, it was a satisfying, if confused, hunt.
Even if you didn't eat anything too impressive, at least not enough to not stuff into the rune of consumption in your core.
Though, you were concerned with the size you'd grown to by the end of it. Because while your den under the castle wasn't cramped just yet, it was only by the barest margin.
Another hunt would probably make it pretty cramped.
[ (Plus) 20,497,968 xp]
[You reached level 133] (Plus) 18 Level's
[ (Plus) 80 to all stats]
[ (Plus) 90 Strength, Constitution, Spirit, & Magic]
[ (Plus) 30 agility]
[ (Plus) 234 HP]
[ (Plus) 23 SP]
[ (Plus) 19 MP]
[Multiple mountains worth of meat added to consumption rune]
[Consumption rune boost available]
It took a moment after you arrived back in your den, and lay down, to remember that you no longer needed to sleep, so ingrained was the habit of sleeping at the current time.
However, it's not like you were complaining. After all, it gave you more time to do things.
Things like finally looking into that sensation you'd been feeling in your chest, or was it your stomach, that you'd been ignoring ever since it started… you don't know when it started. But you had been ignoring it in the hopes of it just getting better, or disappearing, on its own.
After all, everything else that's hindered you had always healed before.
But by now you were getting sick of it, and now seemed like a good a time as any to try and address it. So you started the process to do that very thing…
You didn't actually know how to deal with it, so you just sat down for a bit and just… focused on the sensation. Which had the immediate effect of suddenly making it so that you were no longer in your den.
Instead, looking around, you were in what appeared to be flat lands, covered in puddles of greyish waters and black moss, as far as you could see. Which wasn't as far as normal either, on account of there also being an ever present grey fog all around you.
As you were looking around in curiosity, however, a sound cut through the silence. Familiar, yet slightly… off.
Turning to look at the direction it came from, somewhere deep in the fog, you made out a vague shape becoming more and more distinct through the obscurement. As it got closer details of the form became clearer.
The shadow of four wings, a light glow of lightning crackling across scales, the tail that trailed behind…
All things you noticed before the being came crashing down in a good distance in front of you and you…
Stared at Lansseax?
She had new extensions across her body, the size was different, it looked like she'd grown slightly, and here scales were now coloured a deep black and dull yellow… but it did, undoubtedly look like Lansseax.
But something was clearly wrong.
The way she walked, the way her head almost seemed to drag with her neck… she seemed not truly present. Mentally at least. Something you could also see in her aura, which seemed to be almost detached from her body.
You… ask her if she was alright. Multiple times.
But you get no reply, with her just continuing her almost stumbling walk towards you. Only when she got close enough that you would be able to reach her with a stretch, did she start speaking.
"Godwyn… death!… can't!…"
Her voice was hoarse, distant too, and significantly deeper than you remembered. Then she tackled you, her front claws wrapping around your waist as she tried to push you.
She didn't succeed in doing so as, with a simple shift in posture, you withstood the smaller dragon's charge.
Yet it confirmed something. That she was definitely Lansseax.
She did just call you Godwyn after all, the same thing you remember Lansseax muttering when you showed her your human form for the first time.
Actually, with the closer look at her aura you currently had, thanks to holding her charge back, you could almost see the issue with her. That is, the aura that represented her emotions seemed to push away from the body in specific places, namely anywhere those small tendrillike growths were on her.
It was almost like those tendrils were… controlling… her…
…
Familiar rage burned in your chest as you, with a tilt of your pelvis and shifting feet, sent the clearly controlled dragon tumbling down into the ground. Then the burning rage in your chest was accompanied by actual burning as your core began firing.
There were few things that truly enraged you, and before you was one of them.
You were going to get rid of it.
And you begin doing so by wrangling the thrashing limbs, bunching them into one of your far larger claws, while using your tail to pin the wings. You didn't try to cause any damage, your goal was to help after all.
Help destroy those mind controlling twigs that is.
And as the different ideas and plans flitting through your mind finally settled into a single, solid, plan, you began doing just that. With your single free claw, glowing with any spell you thought would get these things out, you grabbed whatever branches you could.
Then, with a shower of black fluid, you ripped them straight out.
The thrashing only got stronger after that, as you ripped more and more of the branches out, with you needing to lean your head back to avoid some of the more annoying swipes the disgusting branches were making Lansseax do.
But still, more and more branches were ripped out. The black fluid leaking holes left behind being healed by a blast of your healing flames.
You ripped and ripped, even pulling out your morphing staff to dig out the smaller branches that that tried to escape your grasp by digging further in… and you may have accidentally blasted Lansseax with a fiery breath when she managed to give you a particularly harsh kick to the head.
You healed away the damage from the blast of course, you didn't blame Lansseax for what these branches were clearly forcing her to do.
It was obvious that the blow you'd delivered between her hind legs, in your attempt to pull out a branch near there, had provoked these things. Which is why you make sure to focus on the abdomen area from that point onwards.
But after that little hitch, it was business as usual once again.
For a little bit at least, because soon the thrashing began to get stronger and stronger, with kicks having more force and swipes from her claws actually making small furrows in your scales. It even got to the point where you began needing to use your wings, morphed into pseudoclaws, to help you restrain her as you ripped out more and more of the, now wriggling, offshoots.
"hgh… no!" once again sound, other than incoherent screeching, left the controlled dragon's mouth, "I refuse to stop!"
All of a sudden the struggle massively escalated in intensity, enough so for you to begin getting frustrated.
Because while you ripped and tore out countless branches, while you pulled out that massive one growing from the eye socket, there just never seemed to be an end. If that wasn't done then the struggle itself was getting stronger too, with it taking more and more of your effort to maintain your hold.
"Hrrgaah!" another roar, followed by a kick to your left leg that almost made you let go before you regained your footing.
Alright, this can't go on. You need to finish this.
Taking a moment, you raise your head a bit, away from any swiping limbs, and take a moment to carefully look over the smaller form.
You examine the face, the branch that you'd ripped out from the eye socket already regrowing. You trace it down.
You examine the wings, and the way the offshoots seemed to weave into the stony scales. You trace it down.
Then finally, having traced all major visible infections to what seemed like the source, you examine the centre of the torso. A bit to the left of the dead centre of the lower half of the chest, slight below where the left lung would be. You saw the way the scales subtly rippled, the yellow pulsing, as new branches replaced the ones you ripped out.
You plunged your free claw in there, and suddenly there was silence.
The first thing you note is that it felt slippery, feeling like it'd slide right out of your grip. The second thing you noticed, once you slowly began to pull it out of the hole you'd made, was the way that the branches growing out from the body of your… patient, were slowly retracting in as you pulled more of it out.
You took that last bit as a sign that you were on the right path, continuing to slowly pull the writhing mass out despite strands of it trying to pull it back in. Until, finally, with a final careful pull, it was done.
The entire atmosphere stilled as you stared down at the black amorphous mass, the fleshy tendrils that extended from it trying to dig into the claw you were holding it with… and then you bathed that claw in an incandescent white beam that scoured it from this existence. Like all it, and all its mind controlling ilk, should be.
… you regret that you didn't make it suffer.
Maybe you shouldn't have killed it immediately… you scoff.
No, letting it live longer just caused your stomach to turn in disgust… maybe you should have used a more painful method of death?
"…Godwyn?" you blinked, your pondering interrupted as you turn to the source of the sound.
Ah, that's right. You're not alone… and wait, were there always this many shadows around you. Wait, are they coming right at you?
They were. A veritable tide of pitch black darkness, a wave of viscous black fluid, was seeping out of the ground and all coming at you. Coalescing midair into larger and larger droplets, until there was a giant stream coming right at you and you…
You instinctively opened your maw and tried to eat the rapidly approaching mass.
Which… worked. In a way.
Because apparently, seeing an opening, the fluid just went into your open maw without hesitation. With all the new fluid seeping from the ground joining the stream being devoured by you.
It was great.
For the first couple of moments.
Then that moment began to drag out, your throat beginning to burn as the fluid became more painful to drink. Your maw stretched more and more, your chest cracking as it expanded, as the volume of incoming fluid kept increasing.
Yet through it all, through the increasing pain, the most obvious sensation was that of power coursing through your body as you kept drinking.
Your claws felt sharper, your tail heavier. You felt like your entire body was as light as air, with brandnew instincts, outlining how you could now temporarily boost your power massively, appearing in your mind.
No sooner had the instincts settled in your mind that, all of a sudden, it all just stopped and you were left standing back in your den.
The sensation in the back of your mind was gone.
