Battleforged
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Chapter 350 - Harvesting bitter fruit.
🕑 Added 2023-10-02 03:59:01 +0000 UTCTier 2 Danger Sense activated!
Quickness check made! You have successfully avoided AMBUSH STRIKE!
Eric let the screaming interface messages blare through him as a bar of blinding white light passed inches over his darting head as the faint warning tingle he had long ago learned NEVER to ignore demanded that he weave and dodge as if his life depended on it, and it clearly did as the white-gold bar of killing energy effortlessly tore through the cove of trees behind Eric and the pair of dumbstruck guards who’s eyes were just widening with surprise before they fell in perfectly severed halves, blood spurting upon the ground as their ruptured bodies spasmed in death’s violent caress.
Eric desperately weaved and darted past the casual streams of deadly plasma fired by a smirking monster wearing shimmering golden armaments radiating hideous strength that Eric knew damn well had never seen an Earth dungeon or forge.
“Look at the worm run!” Sneered the golden haired youth before him possessing perfect aquiline features and pale blue skin, radiating a Classer’s confidence as he casually levitated several feet off the ground. Quickly revealing a Bronze-tier Contender’s might as he lashed out with his killing aura, clearly hoping to crumple Eric for the precious moments needed to claim his head.
Bronze Killing Aura boosted by 1200 points in Martial and Arcane characteristics has FAILED TO SUPPRESS your own.
Radiated Aura reveals your opponent’s build!
Alexandros Crevpost - Rank 10 Bronze (Elementalist)
100 Strength / 150 Vitality / 150 Quickness / 100 Finesse / 100 Perception / 600 Arcane Reserves
You have dodged Plasma Blast!
The Bronze tier mage sneered at Eric weaving and darting past blasts of plasma so devastating that they chewed dozens of feet into the earth. No matter the edge he gained with his Quickness advantage, Eric knew damn well that a single mistake where that beam caught him in a critical area, even with his Mithril armor, he would either be crippled or dead.
And just as Eric’s racing thoughts analyzed the best maneuver forward, inhaling to belt out words of power that he suspected would take even this asshole by surprise, his screaming danger sense had him twist and leap and roll for all he was worth as a naginata the color of blood tore through the air where his neck had been, just a second before.
Eric immediately put all concerns save survival out of mind, allowing the distant boom of renewed artillery to fade into the background as he spun around to face the sneering countenance of yet another Bronze Classer who knew better than to waste time trying to project his aura when he could LUNGE forward, lips curling in a vindictive rictus as he struck.
“You think you’re clever? Good! I enjoy playing with my prey, fool!” Snarled the cold-eyed gray skin man who was a hell of a lot faster than the sneering Alexandros, now glaring at the would-be backstabber.
“I had him well with my sights, Kinlin!”
“Too slow by far, Alexandros! At least I took the time to make sure he wasn’t on the special guest list. Clearly, he’s an off-world merc of some kind, probably suppressing a Bronze Core near our own in strength. You’re lucky we’re not here in the flesh, or this little shit might actually claim your head,” Kinlin said matter-of-factly as his naginata weaved and darted, effortlessly snaking around Eric’s mithril blade, eager to taste Eric’s flesh.
Yet he hit only air as Eric effortlessly leveraged his foe’s weapon off-line just enough to miss his armored form, earning a wide-eyed look of surprise and a hot glare of frustrated disbelief.
“Impossible!” Kinlin seethed.
Alexandros snorted. “Really, Kinlin? You can’t even mark his flesh with a dream-forged blade?”
“I don’t care if he’s an off-world specialist! There’s a limit to how powerful you can be, entering a newly ascended realm, and our family’s at the limit! You know how good I am, brother. This little shit shouldn’t be able to parry my blows at all!”
Eric let their words wash over him as he poured all his desperate focus into darting under another wicked slash before twisting around Kinlin’s flank as the air lit up with yet another blinding bar of liquid plasma.
And all the while he was doing his utmost to take the faster Contender’s measure, sensing the way he led off his back foot before feinting to the right and sweeping from low to high.
Eric, heart racing with both exhilaration and mortal terror he chose to call excitement, had tuned out all extraneous distractions. His mother’s infamously mercurial temper had been out in full force, overwhelming him with a crushing sense of guilt, and the sense that there was far more going on that anyone had ever bothered sharing with pawns like him and his sister, and that somehow, he held the key to unlocking it all.
A key that could soon crumble in broken flesh and blood if he didn’t focus and move NOW!
His instincts screamed of danger as he darted back from a snarling Kinlin while dodging yet another plasma blast from his flanking companion. He was both chilled by just how close his foe had come to bisecting him in the split second his attention had wavered to the violent sound of artillery in the distance and the screams of innocent elves and noncombatants at the palace presently being shelled.
And why the hell weren’t his mother’s numerous wards that had provided such strong defenses against the orcs even up? There were no barricades, defenses, or anything! None of which mattered in the heat of that desperate moment, Eric fighting not to hiss or curse as his nose was ripped open in a spray of hot, stinging blood.
“First blood is mine, fool!” Kinlin barked as Eric deliberately let his eyes telegraph fear while keeping his reflexes around the 350 mark and no faster. Just the speed of his foe who’s eyes lit up with a fierce hunger as he stepped forward and lunged in the same manner as he had before.
Only to gaze with wide-eyed disbelief when Eric’s nodachi grew an extra four feet in the form of a fiery bar of crimson-colored death.
Find Weakness Skill check made!
You have caught your opponent off balance!
Windfire Strike pierces Shadow Cloak!
Windfire Strike FAILS to pierce the farthest reaches of dream.
Eric’s eyes widened in dismay and he hissed a curse while Kinlin barked with mocking laughter, eyes crinkling with malicious glee.
“Oh, you thought to bluff and reel me in, you little shit? Fool! We’re not even here! Contenders by System Accords far beyond your pathetic abilities to grasp. No mortal attack can touch us, yet we can gift you with the consequences of your defiance! A conniving mercenary daring to go against the natural order, profane true claimance, and reach for that which you have no right to!”
Kinlin’s eyes flashed with furious hate as he charged forward once more.
Eric’s mind was reeling with dismay, finding it beyond abhorrent that the odds were now so stacked against him that not only was he fighting multiple Bronze Tier opponents, but that they were protected by absurdly powerful enchantments that assured his attacks would cause them no harm at all.
Eric’s vision narrowed to take on only the pair of foes before him, even as he sensed a third greater power intrude upon the demesne of his sister’s sanctuary, the System gracious enough to mark all three as flaring red Bronze tier Contender markers on his interface map even as he wondered just how the fuck he was supposed to survive this, let alone come out ahead.
Then he heard the screams.
He flinched in horror when Jinni’s cry cut through the air. A girl he had thought safely developing the towns around his endless delves in Ashland.
Quickness check made! Critical wound muted to Medium Wound! Your opponents are laughing at your despair.
“Oh, did you see him flinch, Alexandros? No doubt one of his cohorts is enjoying Zofira’s ministrations firsthand, and look how this fool seeks to retreat! I don’t think so, maggot” Killin roared, his naginata weaving through the air in a devastating series of moulinets that tore through the air with the scream of its passage.
Eric’s eyes widened as he weaved and dodged just as desperately as he once had when fighting revenants, back before he fully understood and appreciated the power of Blood Lightning. Yet there was another path to abjuring those shadowy creatures, one he almost felt a fool, not thinking of before.
In the blink of an eye, a brilliant crimson orb was circling his head.
Alexandros snarled. “This abomination dares to use blood magics!”
Eric’s heart hammered in an agonizing mix of excitement and dread as he dared plasma’s deadly kiss again when darting out of Kinlin’s shadow, approaching a sneering Alexandros even now spreading his arms wide for what was no doubt his best attempt at a one-shot killing spell, lest his partner steal all the credit as the air howled with the reverberations of a single whispered word from Eric’s lips.
“Repudio!”
The air clapped with silent thunder as the brilliant, supersaturated colors that made the night seem so glorious and magical even as death closed in grew crisp and cold with the crystalline focus of ebony darkness and brilliant white stars as color was washed out of the world and Eric heard countless thousands of arcane threads snap, vibrating with distant screams as the pair of Bronze tier classers stumbled for just a heartbeat, Alexandros stumbling to the ground as his spell was instantaneously abjured, along with the enchantments protecting them both.
You have successfully cast Transcendant Abjuration using a Higher Order Manifestation of Dominion! Tier 2 Essence of Dominion successfully RUPTURES Silver-tier Dream-wierd! 40 Mana/ 40 Qi / 20 Soul Reserves spent!
Eric wasted no time gazing in stupefaction as a Silver-tier enchantment was shattered with his Higher Order Abjuration. All that mattered was that for a single precious heartbeat, he now had the drop on his foes, and that was an edge he refused to surrender.
Kinlin’s eyes lit up with offended fury as he lurched back from his stumble. “You would dare to tear us free of our homes and exile us to this warped pit, you abomination? You will pay for that you foul wre—”
Piercing Strike!
You have critically struck your foe!
Windfire Strike vitality drain in effect!
Your enemies are begging for quarter.
YOU GIVE THEM NONE!
Eric snarled with furious vindication when he caught the look of terror in a young master’s eyes, the arrogant Bronze clearly unable to appreciate just how quickly the tables could turn when Eric’s Strength and Quickness was momentarily heightened by a lunge that could pierce steel even back when his strength was a mere ten points. Now a Bronze-tier’s armaments, bone strengthening techniques, and ruptured wards meant absolutely nothing with a strike that could have blasted through half a foot of tungsten steel.
Even so, Eric wasn’t so foolish as to discount the virtues of whatever overpriced armaments their clan’s fat purses could have brought them. Which was why Eric had thrust instead of cut, the tip of his blade ramming through the roof of his Kinlin’s mouth before blasting out the back of the man’s skull and knocking against what was indeed an enchanted helmet that popped off like a top as opposed to cracking, no matter Eric’s boosted stats, Piercing Strike, or mithril blade. Yet regardless, the blow was enough to instantly cripple the doomed Kinlin struggling and silently screaming for all he was worth as every single protective ward and emergency teleportation device had been shorted out by Eric’s Transcendant Abjuration, which meant that all that was left were the frantic demands of a desperate foe.
Demands that didn’t mean shit after his enemies had launched an ambush with the intention of slaughtering Eric’s entire clan. So he answered in the way most fitting. With pristine bloodfire coring the blazing husk of the young master as Eric trembled and howled before the sudden onslaught of sweet, sweet power suddenly flooding through his body and soul.
Critical Hit! You have successfully SLAUGHTERED YOUR FOE!
CONGRATULATIONS! You have butchered your first TRUE Bronze-tier Contender!
Eve approves of this battle! You are now a Level 31 Cultivator!
Strength/Vitality/Quickness/Spiritual Energy have all increased by 3 points!
You have successfully claimed a portion (5%) of all of Kinlin Crevpost’s MAJOR STATS!
Strength & Vitality have increased by 10 points!
Quickness has increased by 15 Points!
Perception & Finesse have each increased by 12 points!
You have achieved Level 64 as a Primal Adventurer!
You have achieved Level 65 as a Primal Adventurer!
(All point totals have been further increased by previously earned titles and boons!)
Transcendent Abjuration is now Rank 2!
Bloodfire Strike is now Rank 14!
All potency pools and weapon feat charges have been fully restored!
Congratulations, Contender! Your Spiritual Energy now exceeds 300 points!
You are the FIRST Earth-born Classer in the Northeast Sector to achieve this feat!
All additional boons, blessings, and Potency Points invested in Spiritual Energy will receive a permanent 30% bonus from Mother Earth herself! (This replaces your earlier 20% bonus.)
You have taken the Number 1 Spot for Spiritual Energy in the Top 10 Player Charts!
An explosion of repulsive energy sent Alexandros hurtling back as the System instantly infused Eric with a full five percent of his former foe’s potency while a protective backlash washed away any would-be killing strike in the heartbeat that Eric was vulnerable.
Yet the System-assisted reprieve was absolutely unnecessary as Alexandros looked on with shell-shocked dismay while Eric ripped his blazing red sword free of his former ally’s shriveled form, crumpling upon the dew-soaked grass.
“No, no! What you did was impossible!”
Eric flashed his foe a cold smile, deliberately projecting his voice to be heard, even though he knew it would sharply increase his peril. Because where he had a chance, his helpless friends had none.
“That’s right!” He roared. “You thought to ascend upon my corpse? It is I, a mere White-tier Contender, who will ascend upon yours! Kinlin was the first to go! And how I savored his soul’s screams! Now it’s your turn, Alexandros, you pathetic little wanna-be wizard! Last it will be the bitch too cowardly to face me directly, and then your clan will pay the—”
Quickness check made!
He dove for all he was worth as a wild-eyed woman with silvery-blue hair shrieked and howled, glaring Eric’s way with a berserker’s fury as her shield and straight sword both radiated a horrifically intense chill that even Eric was stunned by.
“I told you fools to wait!” The woman screamed, sobbing with horror and dismay. “You were both supposed to wait for my order! Now our brother is dead, Alexandros!”
She glared at Eric with look so filled with bitter hate that had he not been forged in constant bitter battle with his own sister’s life on the line, he would have been frozen with fear and shame in equal measure. “You will pay for what you did, you foul abomination! Mark my words! If it’s the last thing I do, I will freeze every last trace of your seed from the cosmos and consign all your family to hell! And they will have you to thank for torment unending, you goddamned monster!”
“So says the girl who came to MY world in order to slaughter MY people when I didn’t do a damn thing to you!” Eric shouted back, bitter regret instantly turning to fury. “Repudio!” He roared, already charging forward in the heartbeat that the girl before him was sent sprawling, just like her siblings, when her projection found herself trapped in this world in truth.
The girl’s eyes widened in horrified dismay and she immediately braced herself, shield radiating a cold that was beyond Alex’s comprehension or ability to easily counter.
But that was fine, Eric taking full advantage of the split second she spent frozen in horror before turtling up as he raced back to his original target while making a System choice he had had no chance to, before.
Speed Racer in effect!
Congratulations, Contender! Your Quickness now exceeds 500 points!
You are the FIRST Earth-born Classer in the Northeast Sector to achieve this feat!
Your earlier 30% bonus has been supplanted! All additional boons, blessings, and Potency Points invested in Quickness will receive a permanent 40% bonus from Mother Earth herself! (Additive with all other modifiers!)
You still maintain the Number 1 Spot for Quickness in the Top 10 Player Charts!
Your landmark achievement allows for a second Elite-tier stat evolution!
You have chosen the Elite Enhancement: Battle-time! Now, so long as Finesse and Perception together total your Quickness stat, you enjoy Maximum Battle-time dilation (as if all three stats were equal!) - Note: Battle-time will fail to activate if Finesse and Perception together total less than your Quickness Characteristic!
Eric didn’t read so much as feel the truth of those words as his perception of time slowed and his ability to think and process vast reams of information grew in the blink of any eye.
His Speed Racer technique allowed him to juke and weave about as if air resistance was passing acquaintance and inertia was his ally in all things, Eric now moving faster than either of his opponents could react. Battle-Time meant that he was in full control of his speed. As if it was the world that had slowed down, not him that had speeded up, monstrously, 25 times as fast as any gold medal Olympian fencer as he shifted his hips and positioned himself with his hands upon his re-sheathed blade in exactly the position he needed to be to embrace one of his deadliest Skill feats.
Then, so fast that his opponent couldn’t even track him, Erc was suddenly before Alexandros who, with his 150 Quickness, moved and processed information at less than a third of the rate that Eric could, assuming he had any version of Battle-time at all.
Alexandros just had time for a stunned blink, mouth seeming to open in slow motion for a desperate cry.
Eric wasn’t blind. He saw the desperate plea in the Elementalist’s gaze.
Before it became the stunned look of someone glimpsing oblivion a heartbeat later to the background screams of a girl who had just lost her closest kin.
DOOM FLURRY!
You have successfully struck your opponent 6 times with Bloodfire Strike!
Bloodfire Strike pierces resistance, armor, and Soul Wards!
Bronze tier armor partially resists killing blow!
Your foe is critically injured!
Opposing faction begs for quarter!
In the flash of an eye, Alexandros had been sent flying back, covered in rents spurting blood as Eric’s mithril blade savaged masterwork armor, the Vampiric element of his attack tearing free life force regardless of shattered wards and protective enchantments, leaving Eric crackling with vitality, juiced to the gills as his foe crumpled.
Crumpled yet lived, coughing up pink frothy blood as the mage held out one trembling hand while his other desperately clawed at a shattered sigil that Eric was pretty sure his Transcendant Abjuration had already disrupted.
“Please don’t kill him!” The girl screamed, to which Eric had only one answer he cared to give.
Piercing Strike!
You have fatally struck your foe!
You twist the blade, assuring instant DEATH as you claim a fallen Contender’s potency for you own!
“No!”
The girls desperate shriek was almost the equal of the howling surge of power ripping through Eric in yet another flash of lightning and raw potency, sending the screaming girl flying back as her sibling shriveled like a prune under the hot desert sun.
Critical Hit! You have successfully SLAUGHTERED YOUR FOE!
CONGRATULATIONS! You have butchered your second TRUE Bronze-tier Contender!
Eve approves of this battle! You are now a Level 32 Cultivator!
Strength/Vitality/Quickness/Spiritual Energy have all increased by 3 points!
You have successfully claimed a portion (5%) of all of Alexandros Crevpost's MAJOR STATS!
Strength, Finesse & Perception have increased by 5 points!
Vitality & Quickness have increased by 7 points!
Arcane Reserves have increased by 30 points!
You have achieved Level 66 as a Primal Adventurer!
(All point totals have been further increased by previously earned titles and boons!)
Transcendent Abjuration is now Rank 3!
Essence Fusion is now Rank 2!
Bloodfire Strike is now Rank 15!
Iado is now Rank 18!
Swordsmanship is now Rank 31!
All potency pools and weapon feat charges have been fully restored!
Eric spun around even as his instincts screamed of impending doom, barely parrying a blade shivering with Winter’s promise of absolute oblivion as the screaming banshee before him shield bashed him with such force that he lurched back in agonized surprise, his diaphragm nearly frozen solid as he was momentarily stunned by the blow.
The wild-eyed glare of the beautiful Valkyrie of death before him made it clear there would be no words, no quarter, no desperate tears or pleas of mercy, no attempts at all to rail the gods with how it had all came to this. No. At that moment, furious hate was all that pushed her forward, and a bitter dark part of Eric reveled in the desperate battle he now found himself in, already knowing that with the stakes against him suddenly so high, with a good portion of the entire world now eager to destroy the winnowed remnants of his sister’s people, his only option was to slaughter with such cold, pitiless ferocity that fear alone might give his would-be enemies pause. Because in a world as ruthless as theirs now truly was, power was everything, and being willing and able to use one’s power with absolute savage ferocity was the only path forward now left to any of them.
So when Eric found himself facing a girl striking with such grace, determination, and martial poise and in any other circumstances he would have been applauding her performance, his only thought now was how best to turn her strength’s against her, to exploit her berserker’s fury for his own brutal ends to entrap her weapons and destroy her as he parried and weaved past her furious assault. Unified Perception had never been sharper as he danced with death’s handmaiden, giving him the instant warning he needed to not parry but to DODGE with desperate might when a sword slash turned to a ray of cold that seemed to freeze reality itself.
The girl heaved after that shockingly powerful attack. It had clearly cost her. Yet her bitter smile made it clear that even Eric’s desperate dodge had done little more than get him off balance and vulnerable as she howled and charged forward, shield erupting with the bitter wrath of a thousand solstice blizzards.
And had Eric not had the advantage of 500 Quickness, Battle-time, and Speed Racer, those howling snows might be the last thing he ever felt.
Find Weakness check successful! You have partially dodged Shield Bash!
Saving throw versus catastrophic damage made! - Non mithril armaments have been destroyed! You have lost one pound of flesh to Frigid Cold! (Good thing extreme resistances and your natural proclivities give you an edge!)
Even as Eric choked back another scream, it was with a rictus smile as he was sent spinning away upon frigid broken grass. Because even if it was agony feeling his skin tear off on absolutely frozen mithril links, the bitter cold was something he understood all too well. Even if, despite his maternal heritage, he had never felt any cold more biting that what that girl had managed to unleash. As if she could harness and manipulate not just Cold, but its inner truths as well. Its very essence. An epiphany that shook him to his core, suddenly realizing that he understood cold in all its forms far better than he ever had before.
Far better than he had ever wanted to.
For what was cold but the inverse of that which he already had such blazing affinity for?
“I will kill you!” The girl opposite him screamed so loudly that Eric heard the report of his family palace cracking and the screams of countless scores of elves who had lost their hearing even as they desperately worked to dodge the artillery fire set on destroying the last Sylvan bastion left.
Yet all Eric felt was a sweet frisson of inevitability, the juxtaposition of transcendence and oblivion. In bitter respect for the tragedy about to unfold as he faced the strikingly beautiful girl who looked so alive in her righteous fury. As if she were somehow the hero of her life tale and not the murdering monster that had sought to ambush Eric and his people. A girl that a part of him now desperately wished he could have met anywhere else but here.
He solemnly saluted his howling opponent with his blade while bracing himself. Subtly shifting his balance.
So that when next his opponent charged...
You sense your opponent’s tells!
He was ready.
You have successfully dodged Shield Bash!
Because it was honed skills and exotic battle-feats, not actual stats, that his foe truly trumped him on. And the disadvantage with a favored trump technique as she surrendered to her fury was predictability the equal of the boon gained in speed and ferocity.
Iado Skillcheck made!
DOOM FLURRY!
You have struck your opponent’s armor.
YOU HAVE FAILED TO PIERCE YOUR OPPONENT’S ARMOR!
Eric blinked in surprise even as he darted back, the girl spinning around, her blade morphing into a ten foot long nagamaki of bitter cold ice that seemed to freeze reality itself.
Eric’s eyes widened as his understanding continued to evolve.
Sensing the truth of that cold. A cold that infused her shield a bit less than her terrible blade, and her armor least of all.
Yet even a single rank of a transcendent skill was magnitudes more real than attacks that only shadowed a fundamental truth.
To freeze, to consume, until the bitter cold left only ashes in the void. The absolute collapse of a structure drained to oblivion. Those were just some of the fundamental truths he sensed regarding that bitter cold.
The girl snarled and spat. “I’m going to make you suffer like you can’t even fathom! I’ll freeze you in pristine ice, so you can watch firsthand while I destroy your entire—”
“Fragor!” Eric roared, no longer holding back any trump cards as he raced forward.
The girl lurched back with a hiss, Blood leaking from her bulging left eye as she gave vent to a guttural scream. Exactly where Eric had targeted, using his subtly enhanced ability to focus on a particular nexus, an angle of attack at the expense of any other.
Only for a split second did both eyes shut in shock and pain, the girl suddenly radiating a protective ward that made it clear that he wouldn’t get a second chance with that attack again. But it didn’t matter. Eric, heart now pounding with desperation of his own, darted forward so fast that he didn’t bother with any other spells… because there was just no time.
His sword was already flipped back into his Extradimensional Storage Space, knowing that his trusty weapon would do him no good here.
All he had to fight the pristine essence of cold and take down what he feared was a distant descendant of his mother and thus his own flesh and blood, were his own fists… now radiating the pristine ideals of radiation and ultimate consumption. A higher order transformation of Flame.
Burst of Strength in effect!
Your Strength has temporarily doubled!
Transcendent Strike!
Rank 4 Fire Essence nullifies the Essence of Cold (Rank 3).
Unarmed Combat skill check successful!
You have successfully yanked your opponent’s shield off line!
Your opponent is now off balance!
Quickness check made!
You have successfully dodged Bitter Ice Strike and weaved around your opponent!
Rear Hip Throw sends your opponent crashing to the ground!
You are now pounding the back of your opponent with Transcendent Strikes!
The air rang with the desperate screams of a dying girl as a roaring Eric furiously pounded her crumpling armor that began to sizzle and melt like ice, not the priceless artifact it once had been as fists filled with the pristine essence of flame cratered her armor, tore into her flesh, and filled her ruptured chest with transcendent FIRE!
After seven furious strikes her desperate shrieks died off with an awful choking gurgle, sword dropped as charred fingers clawed at her own shriveled throat, blackened skin only hinting at the utter and complete damage that had been wrought within.
Eric had to choke back his own screams to see a face that he just knew in any other time and place would have made his heart skip a beat, filled with such striking vitality and charisma, hope, joy, and vibrant life. Had she caught his eye at any other time and place, had they shared a smile, a drink, a simple conversation… a tormented part of him sensed so many strands of possibility severed by sharpest tragedy. Yet even now…
What the fuck was he thinking? The trio had come her under the banner of war.
He had ruthlessly slaughtered both of her brothers after they had tried to kill him.
There was no going back now.
Not for any of them.
“Please.”
A coldly glaring Eric didn’t even understand how she could sense him, let alone speak, with her throat nonexistent, her eyes pits, her brain more charred meat than not.
But there was only one answer he could give a Bronze tier monster who, however pretty, had sworn to kill his child just minutes ago. A monster so powerful that she had survived not one but seven transcendent strikes. Because sure as shit, unlike her brothers, she wasn’t simply a Rank 10 Bronze. She was a woman who controlled a Transcendent art that was Fire’s opposite. An art that his daughter had no defense against at all.
“No, Please, mercy!” She somehow silently pled as he he coolly took off the shockingly powerful artifact she wore on her head. “I will make any oath you demand. Anything! I will serve you for life, in all the ways you could desire! All I ask is that you let me collect my brothers’—”
FIRE FIST!
You have critically struck your opponent in the right temple!
Critical Strike!
Your opponents skull has SHATTERED!
You have successfully SLAUGHTERED YOUR FOE!
CONGRATULATIONS! You have butchered your third TRUE Bronze-tier Contender!
You have slaughtered your first ESSENCE-WIELDING CONTENDER!
Your contender had infused herself with a higher order understanding of Ice and Cold!
Eve approves of this battle! Even with the use of Transcendent Strikes, your opponent was capable of much the same!
You are now a Level 33 Cultivator.
Strength/Vitality/Quickness/Spiritual Energy have all increased by 3 points!
You have successfully claimed a portion (5%) of all of Zofira Crevpost's MAJOR STATS!
Strength, Finesse & Perception have increased by 10 points!
Vitality & Quickness have increased by 15 points!
Arcane Reserves have increased by 20 points!
Soul Reserves have increased by 10 points!
You have achieved Level 67 as a Primal Adventurer!
You have achieved Level 68 as a Primal Adventurer!
(All point totals have been further increased by previously earned titles and boons!)
Psionic Rupture is now Rank 8!
Unarmed Combat is now Rank 21!
Fire Fist is now Rank 17!
Essence Fusion is now Rank 3!
You have achieved enlightenment in that which you have always feared to face.
You are now on the cusp of achieving Multidimensional Stability!
You are now suffering from Soul Reserve depletion.
All potency pools and weapon feat charges have been fully restored!
Eric shuddered as he was struck by an epiphany so profound that it shook him to his core.
For just a heartbeat, Eric thought he understood the bitter cold he could now feel all around him on a transcendent level. Sensing the pristine essence of cold itself. It was both the inverse of the brilliant blazing inferno nestled so comfortably in his soul, and yet, simultaneously, so much more.
He wanted to howl to the heavens in bitterness and triumph, overwhelmed by the shocking transformation that he knew his body had undergone after consuming not just one but three Contenders. He wanted to contemplate for himself the revelations he was on the cusp of.
But as the distant boom of cannons echoed through the forests and fields, he knew there was just no time for anything besides claiming all three bodies and whatever prizes they possessed and shoving it all into his ES Space, then racing for the brilliant flashes of gunpowder and orchestrated death, less than half a mile away.
Even the fresh pair of titles he had earned on his condensed character sheet was scarce comfort when he sensed just how great the peril to his people truly was… and just how devious and multifaceted Greed’s ploys had been in his efforts to assure their extinction at all costs, long before he had ever signed the first joke of a mutual accord, Eric was damned sure.
Congratulations, Contender! Your Finesse now exceeds 300 points!
You are the FIRST Earth-born Classer in the Northeast Sector to achieve this feat!
All additional boons, blessings, and Potency Points invested in Spiritual Energy will receive a permanent 30% bonus from Mother Earth herself!
You have taken the Number 1 Spot for Finesse in the Top 10 Player Charts!
Congratulations, Contender! Your Perception now exceeds 300 points!
You are the FIRST Earth-born Classer in the Northeast Sector to achieve this feat!
All additional boons, blessings, and Potency Points invested in Vitality will receive a permanent 30% bonus from Mother Earth herself!
You have taken the Number 1 Spot for Perception in the Top 10 Player Charts!
_______________________________________________________
Eric Silver Level 68 Primal Adventurer
Rank 33 Cultivator (Death’s Disciple)
Level 31 Master Necromancer
Physical Characteristics
Strength – 409
Vitality – 430
Finesse – 345
Quickness – 573
Appearance – 29
Mental Characteristics
Scholarship – 27
Perception – 336
Willpower – 93
Charisma – 15
Potency Pools
Arcane Potential – 265
(Mana Pool = 3188)
Spiritual Energy – 319
(Qi Pool =3836)
Psionic Potency – 21
(Psion Pool = 261)
Soul Reserves – 126
Stamina – 4307 Points
Health – 5666 Points
Resistances & Recovery
Physical Resistance – 83
Physical Regeneration – 43 health per second
Elemental Resistance – 50
Qi Resistance – 60
Mental Resistance – 37
30% Bonus to all Strength points above 300
30% Bonus to all Vitality points above 300
30% Bonus to all Finesse points above 300
40% Bonus to all Quickness points above 500. (Speed Racer. Full Battle-Time if Finesse+Perception together at least = Quickness!)
30% Bonus to all Perception points above 300
30% Bonus to all Spiritual Energy points above 300.
10% Additional bonus to all ability points earned! (Additive with all other modifiers: Bronze Duelist.)
10% Additional bonus to all ability points earned (Additive with all other modifiers: Interplanetary Contender!)
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Chapter 351 - A father's eternal regret.
Comments
Christopher J Drake
Well, I'm out. This has just gotten silly. Is "Surprise! You have been fooled AGAIN" the only plot twist you are capable of in telling this tale? You waste literally hundreds of pages explaining your system rules to just hand wave them away later as a "plot twist". Lazy storytelling that never evolves or builds on the foundation of earlier books/chapters. Do better.
M J
“To freeze, to consume, until the bitter cold left only ashes in the void.” Cold and Ice never leaves ashes guy, find a better description please.
Charlottef
I have a suspicion that he is holding on to his sister's additional essences. If I remember correctly he got 5 back from the pod. One of which was half his fire essece.
Goldfish2
Can Eric take the essence of the cold! I bet that’s what his mom will demand of him for the sake of his sister he will give for? I wonder what his mom think of her descendant? Was she abandoned or not even acknowledge and forged herself? Is she owned by or owe the goblins this here? Or is this vengeance against her cold mother?
Silver Beard
At this point it wouldn't hurt to add some points to his neglected stats. Pretty sure he's got the basics covered and growing. Surprised though that killing the Mage didn't improve his Scholarship at all.
M Schweibold
Thanks
Warior1411
Good stuff, thanks for the chapter
