breakerofhorizons
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Chapter 44
🕑 Added 2022-03-15 05:49:10 +0000 UTCNic watched the earth surge and ripple at the movement of his hand. Each gesture caused the mud to surge, reaching up tendrils, shaping itself at his command. With a casual movement he could unseat trees from their roots.
3000…
3500…
4000…
4500…
He pushed the Shard to its limits, the ninth rank, one step from receiving another vision. With each step he found the earth easier to manipulate, flowing faster under his hand. He could make distinct shapes, hands rising from the murk, and use them to crush whole trees in his grip if he wished. The leap in strength was phenomenal…
But he kept coming back to the Tertiary Shard in his hand.
It was dark blue and imprinted with strands of gold. It shone with an odd, watery form of light, rippling across his palm.
Nic had never encountered a Tertiary Shard before.
“They’re rare.” Sofia confirmed. “And always handed out as direct rewards from the System. That’s what makes them unique. Other Shards are born from… a confluence of factors… but Tertiary Shards are made by the System’s own will.”
“Integrating it into one of your Shards will prevent you from consuming any more Secondaries. In that sense, it will be the end of the road. But it will also allow that skill to advance endlessly, without roadblocks, and grant it new strengths.”
“This particular one will form a skill into a Domain, allowing you to master the world around you. To create a zone where the air, earth, the essence of the world, works to defend and protect you. As if you were the ruler of all things.”
Nic considered.
He turned the stone over in his hands.
And then, deliberately, pressed it to his Mire-Caller Shard. Electric shudders ran through his body as it fused with the stone, the two pieces of crystal flowing together as they both dissolved into sparks of light. Two Shards joined…
And a new power was born.
As the two Shards fused, Nic felt an electrical shudder run down his fingers. He lifted his hand, and the world broke apart. A huge rift was cut in the direction of his rising hand, throwing trees to one side, cutting the landscape in two.
All his gains from enhancing Mire-Caller had redoubled.
But it was more than that…
Illusionary mangroves formed, water washing out from their roots. The earth was churned to mud. Reeds made of golden light formed like the spears of marching soldiers, shaking and rattling.
Domain.
A world shaped to his will.
Before, Mire-Caller had struggled because it required a specific environment to function. Now, it had no such weakness. And still more, he could feel the world his Domain created. He could sense the swaying of the reeds in the wind. The way the leaves drank up the sun. When a cricket chirped, he could sense the world through its eyes.
It was total control. Mastery over a zone of the world.
Nic stood up and stretched, letting the Domain collapse. The mangroves vanished into mist, the golden reeds retreating into light. He stepped onto the edge of the tower and bent his legs, drawing in strength…
There were three more Monuments left to find before he reached his self-selected goal.
With a leap, Nic took off.
---
The first Monument he found had already been claimed. An exhausted, blue-furred tiger stood on its steps, barely able to stand; it had red masking around its face and a curling, scorpion-sting tail. Nic took one look at the scarred ground surrounding the beast and surmised what had happened-
It had challenged the Trial and barely survived.
Despite it robbing him of his prey, Nic took pity. He rolled a healing fruit over across the ground.
The beast looked up with its dark amber eyes and nodded gratefully.
“Winterhome could use someone as strong as you.” Nic said, already limbering up for the next leap.
And then he was gone.
---
The sixth Monument was another gathering-array. Nic didn’t bother to challenge it himself; instead, he brought out Redjaw. The slobbering lindwurm guarded the steps while Nic simply sat and focused on using his new Domain to its fullest-
Mud seized his enemies, dragging them into the cold earth. Ghostly mangroves grew around Nic, shielding him with their vines and roots. No enemy could find any solid ground to stand on; there was nothing but sinking, seizing mud, restraining them. Nic gestured once and a hand rose from the earth, crushing a particularly troublesome foe in its fingers.
Redjaw only had to mop up the remains.
At the end of the Trial, Nic stood up, letting the mangrove Domain fade away. Redjaw bounded up and affectionately headbutted him, excited.
They shared the reward fifty fifty, leaving him with enough to raise the Mistwater Veil three times. As for Redjaw, the beast began to grow, slowly gaining in muscle mass and height as he channeled power into his Chainbreaker. Steam poured from his body as his physical strength multiplied.
If Nic had to guess, Redjaw was as strong as he was by now. One of them focused on speed while the other was built for raw power, but Nic was a Class ahead and had consumed priceless medicines to raise his strength by another Class…
The fact that Redjaw could match him was impressive. It proved the worth of the Chainbreaker Shard.
Patting his beast on the head, Nic recalled him into his tattoos. Kicking off, he launched out for the final Monument within his territory.
---
The final Trial was hunting Aberrations. Nic spent one long hour in the coils of a living wood, the trees constantly attempting to grasp at him with thorny, cruelly-hooked vines. Their trunks split open to reveal a row of teeth like an iron maiden, ready to snap shut on unsuspecting prey.
There were too many to fight, but they weren’t his goal.
Nic was tasked with hunting down symbiont creatures like humanoid insects, their bodies made out of bent, skeletal structures that resembled twigs and leaves. The system identified them as spriggans.
Deep-Gloaming Spriggan. G-Class // Aberrant. Incapable of cultivating themselves, these cruel predators tend to orchards of Blood Maiden Willows, feeding and strengthening them. They share a symbiotic bond with these trees, and can use the scent of their blood to drive them to frenzy.
Like the sand devils, they were demi-human in shape but largely unintelligent. They were also mean, quick bastards, capable of moving tremendously fast and almost vanishing when they turned suddenly still, letting their camouflage blend them into the canopy.
Without his Eight-Eyed Mantle, Nic never would have had a chance.
As it was, they were fast, and stealthy- but he had his bow. One shot after another sung from Hollowsong’s string, felling them as they fled. Nic would teleport quickly, his shot already lined up for the new angle, then fire while they were still expecting him to attack from behind.
For flushing them out of hiding, he would unleash his Primordial Mist over swathes of the forest, watching as creatures sprang away to escape the deadly fog…
It was an effective hunting strategy, and by the end of the hour, he netted another 30,000 Essence, enough to once more make his veins flood and overflow with roaring power. Settling himself down in a cleared patch, Nic closed his eyes and pushed the newfound energy down into the nodes for the Mistwater Veil…
Raising it to the fifth step.
In just one day, he’d made a week’s worth of progress. Nevermind lucking into the Tertiary Shard for his encounter in the chaotic regions, or learning the Mistwater Veil technique by studying his opponent. The sheer Essence he’d earned had vaulted him through the E-Class…
He had gone from having most of his abilities barely unlocked, to two of them being on the point of completion. The only reason he hadn’t pushed Mire-Caller or Hieroglyphs to ten was that he wanted to make the most of the visions doing so would bring.
He poured his Spiritual Essence into Clarity, looking over the gains he’d made.
In just one day…
Essence 3,483 / 27,653
+ 25.696 per Minute
(3.212 Base)
300% Local Modifier
+ 100% Dominion
+ Devoured an E-Class enemy (200%)
+ Consumed a F-Class treasure (100%)
+ Rested in toxic environment (300%)
Demonic Essence &%##!~
Titles -
Witness of the New Dao
---
Bloodline Progenitor
(You are the first of your kind. All costs related to innate abilities are halved. Title is lost if you lose your current form without furthering the bloodline.)
Ferocious Beast
(Rewards 18,500 First Wave Credits to your killer. Increase bounty by 500 with each Native you kill. Each dawn, gain credits equal to one tenth of your bounty.)
Sage-Artisan
(The Hand of Ash and Mistwater Veil techniques are recognized as your creation, and all costs related to them are halved.)
Cultivation Base (Unranked)
XIV Physical Strength (Completed)
III Mental Acuity (854/8,000)*
IV Spiritual Clarity (14,283/16,000)*
IV Gift of Life (904/15,000)
IV Mistwater Step (742/15,000)
The Old Speech (0/50,000)
Primordial Mist Shard (E)
Creates a mist that contains the weight of the ages, stealing life and weakening those who survive. An almost truly unique Shard, with few if any defenses existing to its power.
V Increase Toxicity (916/10,000)
I Add Aura Efficiency (0/5,500)
I Secondary Slot (0/100,000)
Poison Devouring (Complete)
Mist Armor (0/50,000)
Petrified Warriors (0/200,000)
Jewel of Ages (0/500,000)
Mire-Caller (Astral)
Calls to and creates binding masses of mud, sludge, or tar. A powerful Shard for binding and controlling that requires work and imagination to master. Augmented by the Ruler Tertiary Shard.
IX Base Enhancement (614/5,500)
Add Aura Efficiency (0/1,000)
I Secondary Slot (Completed)
Mire-Drowned Remnants (0/50,000)
Futile Struggle (Complete)
Mire-Dweller (Complete)
Clay Idols (0/50,000)
Totemic Hieroglyphs (E)
Creates tools of bone, rock, and leather that contain nascent divinities, able to grow and rise towards the heavens as they serve you. A high-quality magical shard.
VIII Base Enhancement (114/4,500)
I Add Essence Efficiency (346/2,000)*
II Additional Secondary Slot (0/100,000)
Summoning Limit (0/50,000)
Spirits of the Earth (Complete)
Shard-Crafting (0/100,000)
Speaker of the Lost (0/10,000)
Tributes for the Divine (0/100,000)
Techniques (30% Capacity)
Eight-Eyed Mantle (2,144/13,000)
Inner Sacrifice Cauldron Technique (1,514/6,500)
III Hand of Ash (318/3,250)
V Mistwater Veil (0/12,000)
