Battleforged
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Chapter 368 - Save a World, Get a Legendary Class!
🕑 Added 2023-11-13 04:00:01 +0000 UTCWARNING! QUEENSLAND IS IN JEOPARDY!
WARNING! ASHLAND IS IN JEOPARDY!
WARNING! ALL TERRITORIES OF EARTH ARE AT RISK OF CATASTROPHIC ERUPTION!
Eric let the frantic System messages wash over him as he did everything he could to avert disaster, squeezing tight the fragile beautiful world he cherished so deeply, doing all he could to keep it from erupting for all time. Half a millennia of glorious ascension and limitless potential… potential that could have been his for the most glorious ascenson to Gold imaginable… instead he allowed to gently trickle back into the precious world of his birth as his mother gave a lonely cry and headed for realities and wonders Eric could now scarce fathom.
He had of course sensed her final mortal echo, resolving the final burdens of her heart so she could at last blaze free of mortality’s coil and race across the endless horizons of an eternity Eric could no longer imagine.
Even if for just a heartbeat….
A destiny that even now called out to him.
Endless glory and wonder, to savor eternal adventure. Excitement. Euphoria. Dancing upon the heavens by his mothers side…
NO!
No. Not when he could sense hundreds of millions of souls pleading for heavenly intervention even now… Eric using every exotic Gold-tier skill he had somehow developed, skills transcending any wildly blinking interface message, to gently and carefully put back together the shattered egg his mother had so gleefully crushed.
Along with so many others on this endless night of wonder… and horror.
And how chilling it was to a tiny corner of Eric’s still transcendent mind that he understood so intuitively how to put his fragile, ever-ready-to-erupt world back together… after having disassembled a full dozen by his mother’s side this night alone.
“No. No guilt. I REFUSE!” He snarled at the shrieking boy calling him monster in his mind. Because it would have been easy, so EASY to crush and devour his beautiful birth world with a single WRENCH of his Gold-tier talons and sear away all traces of mortal guilt and regret for all time.
Instead, he chose to sacrifice so much to save so many… and that’s all that mattered.
Not the twelve worlds that had already fallen to his and his mother’s talons.
They were already ancient history. Soon to be seared from the minds of everyone save Evelyn Death, the Emperor, his mother, and himself. The only Golds that even bothered with this essence-deprived corner of the multiverse, and his mother was just moments away from flying forever free of this realm, leaving him behind.
But this world, this precious beautiful world that still had half a millenia of ascension he would NOT consume like the ascending Gold he could so easily have become… would survive. Survive as Eric embraced the essence of Icy Dominion, freezing still so many weak points in the earth’s crust that would erupt in mana and shrieking white-hot potency, releasing in seconds what should be centuries-worth of sweet, sweet, essence-infused potency.
Potency upon which an entire fragile world now depended upon.
Yet focusing so much on just two of the four higher order aspects of his being came at a price, as his own golden flames began to cool, his bloated fiery potential chilling and collapsing from ascending Gold to crumbling Silver to tarnished Bronze until he crashed into himself once more with an agonized wheeze and cry, crumpling to the ground as his interface rang with messages he could no longer deny, and the cold clammy weight of steel snapped about his neck.
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SAVED YOUR HOMEWORLD FROM CATACLYSMIC DESTRUCTION!
YOU HAVE ACHIEVED SAVIOR STATUS WITHIN YOUR HOMEWORLD!
NOTE! YOU WERE DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN YOUR HOME WORLD’S DESTABILIZATION.
No System Experience earned.
GOLD TIER ASCENSION NEGATES ALL SYSTEM PENALTIES FOR PLANETARY IMPERILMENT!
YOU WERE DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN THE CATACLYSMIC DESTRUCTION OF 12 ADDITIONAL WORLDS!
GOLD TIER ASCENSION NEGATES ALL SYSTEM PENALTIES FOR PLANETARY IMPERILMENT!
NOTE! TERRA HERSELF HAS AUTHORIZED A LEGENDARY BRONZE-TIER BOON! YOU WILL NOW BENEFIT FROM A 30% BOON TO ALL FUTURE STAT GAINS UNTIL DEEPEST SILVER IS REACHED!
WARNING!
You have FAILED To save versus an ASCENDING GOLD’S compulsion!
You have willingly ignited and consumed all Bronze Tier potential!
You have willingly ignited and consumed all Silver Tier potential!
Alex, barely conscious and so wishing he wasn’t conscious at all as his soul shrieked with the agony of his fall, was horrified with fresh dismay to find written so boldly upon his mind’s eye the blackest of truths.
Greed’s taunt back in Freetown, and Malice’s sneering mockery during those final moments when he and his mother had embraced a mortal fusion one final time to consume the final worlds that would assure their eternal ascension… where so many terrible secrets had been revealed. And the mutilation of his upper Dantian, sacrificed in ways he could barely conceive, was just one of them.
Even now, he was sickened and horrified by all he had learned.
That his mother had once been just as naive and vulnerable as Elonia, a young girl running away to a life of adventure by her beau’s side, along with a pair of noble friends rounding out a party that, for a time, had enjoyed halcyon days of glory and wonder.
Until betrayal so black that it had eternally scarred his mother’s soul had unfolded, and Eric was now forced to wonder if even the utter obliteration of Duke Nalbain and his entire clan, and the catastrophic destruction of their entire world… if that too had been by horrific design.
For Eric could even now recall the look of horrified dismay upon his mother’s features to find a slave collar snapped about her neck the moment she gave birth to two beautiful angels, only for her lover and friends to make it so bitterly clear that they would do absolutely anything to assure their own ascension to Bronze… even if that entailed ritually degrading and destroying a hidden queen of faerie, a sixteen-year-old girl who had thought her childhood secrets safe from all.
Eric choked back a horrified scream, even as his jaw rocked from a massive fist that had slammed him to the ground.
“Silence, meat! The only one who gets to laugh is us! Ha! So many of you fools thinking you could escape Freetown for Queensland, which will fall before the night is over! You all heard the declaration! As of this night, you’re all slaves of the Bloodtear Syndicate and you’ll be signing contracts to that effect before first light! Anyone who resists will be summarily executed, along with their families!”
The words hardly registered past Eric’s sudden crushing despair. Sensing the absolute ruin of that which he had fought so hard to nurture and bring to an absolute pristine state. Eric didn’t even fight when he sensed himself dumped into a wagon filled with groaning broken men, mind once more inundated with interface messages that wouldn’t be denied, even as his inner ear rang with Elonia’s distress call, sensing Queensland’s dire peril.
You have FAILED To infuse your core with the TRANSCENDENT FIRES OF ILLUMINATION!
Failed star formation has compressed to BASIC START-POINT!
Yet before Eric could even cry in despair as his weak frail body chaffed under the agony of broken bones and a bitter iron collar, further messages pounded through his suddenly too fragile, too vulnerable mind.
CONGRATULATIONS! Your DELIBERATE Fall has allowed System Interface to RECORD your progression!
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY FORGED A GOLD-TIER EVOLUTION!
THE SYSTEM IS EXTREMELY PLEASED WITH YOUR GOLD-TIER ASCENSION PATH!
You have successfully forged the Path of the Golden Phoenix!
Golden Phoenix is a LEGENDARY CLASS that assures advancement All the way up to the CUSP of GOLD!
Warning! Achieving actual Gold requires understanding and mastery of multiple higher order concepts!
You have already sacrificed TWELVE Planets to assure GOLD TIER ASCENSION!
This sacrifice has been SUCCESSFULLY RECORDED BY THE SYSTEM!
All worthy ascending Golden Phoenix will be catalyzed by the recorded sacrifices of twelve (soon to be forgotten for all time) worlds!
1+ additional worlds will be required to assure PRISTINE GOLD TIER CATALYZATION!
The greater your mastery of higher order concepts, the less sacrifice required to advance!
Thanks to the sacrifice of your founder, Half-Step Gold may be achieved WITHOUT sacrificing any planets whatsoever!
Golden Phoenix class is open to ALL Immediate descendants of Eric Silver.
Golden Phoenix class is open to ALL Immediate descendants of Aurelia Silver.
Do you wish to embrace the Mantel of the Golden Phoenix?
WARNING! YOUR UPPER DANTIAN HAS BEEN UTTERLY DESTROYED!
YOU HAVE LESS THAN 24 HOURS BEFORE YOUR BODY EXPIRES!
Eric flashed a bitter agonized smile as he felt his shuddering broken body being cruelly tossed further into the wagon of groaning slaves to make room for fresh victims, Eric’s ears ringing with the desperate cries of women screaming that they would die before being collard by rapists… before the air rang with awful dull thuds and the wagon was silent once more, save for groans and whimpers.
“Of course it would fucking be this way. Sacrifice everything to save my world, only to find mother dearest burned out my core and I’m a dead man walking. Collard by bastards who owe me everything.” His bitter chuckle broke off with an agonized cry when a fist smashed his jaw.
“Knock it off, Gore. Pretty one like that will be worth good silver, but not if you fuck him up.”
“Fuck off, Mitch. You nearly brained those two bitches, so you got no room to talk.”
“Well I sure as fuck am not going to listen to their bitching for the next two hours. If I wanted that I wouldn’t have killed my ex!”
The pair roared with laughter as Eric felt his face twist in a feral snarl. Even if he wanted to scream with the agony of a cracked jaw and a headache he was pretty damn certain spelled a concussion, even if his body had somehow withered and collapsed to his mortal shell without any class potencies at all. That didn’t mean he had forgotten all the lessons he had learned on where and how to strike a man to assure crippling injuries or death.
He slowly cracked open gum-crusted eyes, keeping utterly silent as throbbing fingers felt a neck collar that was nothing more than pig iron with a snap lock, detecting no strands of arcane malice infusing it whatsoever. Not that they weren’t more than enough to keep himself and a dozen other despondent looking refugees and Classers, not a one over Level 15, bound and in their place, on the rickety wagon they road on, not a single soul save himself even daring to lift his head.
The rough-shaven slaver known as Mitch turned around to sneer Eric’s way, holding up an ugly little device of copper and steel blinking malevolently.
Unified Perception Check: Successful!
You have taken the time to Identify your foe.
Mitch: Class - Slaver (Standard Class) - Level 15 – St 27 / Vit 20 / Qui 23 / Fin 18
“Oh, the groaning little shit’s finally awake? Great!” Mitch’s mocking smile turned to a sneer. “I’ll give you the same warning I gave every other asshole Classer. You wear my collar which means you’re under my control! If I will it, I can send you to the ground screaming in pain!”
And before Eric could blink, he felt like he was covered in flame.
He immediately crumpled and groaned, hiding a painful smile as he lowered his gaze, while his opponent gave a cold snort and a satisfied nod Eric could sense more than see.
“That’s right, maggot! I’m your master now. Do what I tell you or I’ll make you suffer beyond your wildest dreams!”
Eric wisely said nothing, even if he was howling with mirth on the inside.
For after his own trials, his glorious ascension and all he had endured, Mitch’s attempts to cow him with flame’s agony had felt about as real and relevant as the memory of a breeze.
And none of that changed the fact that he was rapidly running out of time.
A dying phoenix about to freeze eternally, as its final dying embers played out.
Eric swallowed the bitter lump in his throat, forcing himself to catch eyes that were filled with fear, desperation, or a fierce desire to fight.
He traded a pain-filled smile with the pair of girls who were by some miracle alive, despite their shattered noses and jaws.
His gaze locked with their own. Even if his character sheet was for some reason utterly locked to him, even feeling as weak as a fucking kitten, he refused to believe it had any relevance at all on the primal arts that had been his own long before the incursion that had spelled earth’s ascension...and its doom.
“Can you two fight?”
The two girls gazed at him with startlement, Eric grateful that at least they had put some points into Perception as the pair of slavers leading the four horses making their way up the road to Freetown continued to brag and bitch to one another, loudly declaring how they’d spend the money for the fresh collard slaves they were about to bring in.
The girls traded looks. One glared down at her mangled hand.
The other gave a tight nod, and Eric could sense the Arcane Currents swirling around her effortlessly, no skill check needed at all.
“Yes. But those damned slavers have mage-lock perks for their class-collars. Name’s Mags, by the way.”
“Amy,” whispered the other.
“Eric,” Eric softly said, forcing a smile despite his increasing pain, earning a pitying wince from the girl.
“You don’t look too good.”
Eric snorted. “Yeah, I know. Failed ascension. I’ll probably be dead before first light, but I sure as fuck am not going to croak a collard slave.”
The girls exchanged a look. “What the fuck is a… Never mind.” Mag’s gaze grew intent. “I don’t suppose you’re a rogue of some sort? Because that’s about our only shot at getting out of this…”
Her eyes widened with surprise when Eric’s finger gently brushed the collar around his neck, smearing it with blood from the cuts on his hands before it popped open, falling in the Eric’s hands as he keeled over and groaned, shuddering with pain.
Warning! Your Soul Reserves are suffering Extreme Depletion!
You have not yet chosen a class!
You have less than 24 hours before you expire!
Mag’s eyes widened in disbelief while Amy positioned herself to block a clear view of Eric.
“Shut the fuck up back there!” Gore roared. “If I have to stop these asshole mules and beat your asses silly, you fucking better believe I will.”
Mitch chuckled coldly. “Or better yet, we’ll bridle you with the horses, and you better believe we’ll whip your flesh good, all the way to your new loving homes. Ha!”
Eric, heart pounding, fearing that one of the wide-eyed occupants would give the game away as he clenched his aching jaw against the nausea and dizziness at risk of completely overwhelming him before his bloody fingers brushed against Mags collar.
Eyes wild with desperate hope met his own as he swallowed his agony and popped it free.
You have saved versus Stunning Backlash!
Your Soul Reserves have been fully depleted!
Willpower check made. You’re back on your feet!
Everything seemed to happen all at once, as Mag jutted a finger Eric noted was completely free of any wand and he winced with the blinding flash of lightning.
“Fragor!” Mags screamed as Gore was sent flying after lightning exploded into his skull.
Mitch’s eyes widened, seeming to turn around in slow motion and Eric’s Unified Perception took in too many awful details for his now fragile brain to process at once. The panicked confusion of nearly a dozen broken captives, a panting girl who had been far closer to exhaustion than she had first let on, having survived who knew how many skirmishes that night, lacking an Elves natural mana regeneration, Eric could only imagine how dearly that single bolt had cost her.
“You fucking bitch!” Mitch roared, and Eric knew when the monster unsheathed his steel truncheon that a single strike with that weapon would spell his end as he forced his shaky legs to catapult him over the wagon’s lip while Amy screamed and Mags cursed.
“Get out of here, Mags! He’s going to kill you!”
“Not without you, Amy!”
“There’s nothing you can fucking do! I’m still chained to the collar get out, get—”
Amy’s voice broke off in a guttural cry as Mitch snarled and roared.
“You think you can strike one of the chosen with your cursed magics? You’re going to burn for that, bitch! But first I’ll let you watch your whore of a friend burn alive!”
Eric let the awful words wash over him as he fled. Not toward the inviting copse of trees he could sense just a short ways off, but to the charred remains of a deep-fried Gore, eyes lighting upon the weapon the man wore so clumsily at his hip.
An 1821 Light Cavalry saber, so like the one he had once trained so diligently with, a lifetime ago. And what were the chances of that?
Still, he wasted precious moments staring at the blade with all his focus, making damn sure there was no deadly current before he claimed his prize with a steel rasp, then raced back to the source of desperate screams, forcing his stumbling feet forward as the air rang with Mags desperate cry.
“Stop or I’ll blast your brains out!”
Mitch froze for only a second, before his lips curved in a cruel smile. “Bullshit. I know the weakness of mages like you with your flashy spells. You only have juice for a couple. Then you’re just a drag and drain on party resources. Haughty bitches like you are good for nothing more than boss battles!”
“Stop it you bastard! You’re killing her!”
“That’s right, bitch!” Mitch roared, sneering his hate at a shrieking Mags hovering over Amy’s spasming form. “You get to watch her die, then I’m going to pound out all of your teeth and use you in the only way a whore like you is good for!” He glared at the rest of the terrified looking captives. “And that’s just the start! Trash like you all needs to be put in your places! By the time we get to Freetown you’ll be begging for fresh collars you’ll gladly wear all your lives, signing contracts to assure just that!”
“No, no, this nightmare has to end! It has too!” Screamed a voice so young it broke Eric’s heart, giving him the strength he needed to push tortured muscles that much harder as Mitch gave his ugliest laugh yet.
“Oh, no longer playing dead, are you, little bitch? Ha! We knew you were fine all along! Prime little filly like you will bring a ri—”
His words cut off with a startled wheeze, the eternal midnight’s sharp winter scent growing ripe with the rich iron tang of blood.
Eric thought it comical how wide Mitchs’ beady little eyes got as his hands futilely clamped the greasy rolls of fat on his neck, unable to stem the frothy spray of blood.
Eric furrowed his brow in consternation, surprised that 20 Vitality was enough to keep the man standing even this long.
So he whipped his blade in a cleaving cut once more, sheering through his foe’s unarmored shins with a grace that would have earned a hard nod from his one time mentor as a now gurgling Mitch crumpled to the ground.
Then Eric really got to work.
It was some moments and a lot of shrieks and gurgling pleas later when a panting Alex let the blade fall out of slack, exhausted fingers, wiping the splatter from his face with his hand before giving a satisfied nod when it was clear that his foe wouldn’t be getting up, ever again.
Only then did he pat his fallen foe down, wincing with dismay when he found no key to unlock the collars.
He girded himself, knowing it was going to hurt like hell. But he knew just how horrifically vulnerable the captives must feel to be bound by a collar in a hostile world that would love to use it against you.
Yet much to his surprise, when he turned around to face the accusing stares of so many former captives helping themselves free of the wagon, there wasn’t a collar in sight.
“Really?”
Eric blinked, surprised by the sardonic smirk Mags was giving him.
“What?”
“I’m not saying I blame you but… yeah. You really gave him the once over, didn’t you?”
Eric looked down at the savaged remains of the slaver that would never be a threat to anyone, ever again.
He forced a smile. “Well, at least we know he’ll never be hurting anyone ever again, right? I mean… ever.”
He flushed at the looks this statement earned him. “Look, it’s been a long fucking night. My interface is blaring with bullshit overwriting everything else, so I’m not getting any kill notifications, and I had to make sure he was dead so he couldn’t trigger some class skill to kill everyone collard. Only now I see no collars, which is good because I think I’m about to collapse in five…”
At which point Eric’s eyes rolled up and he collapsed in a heap upon the frozen ground.
***
Amy shared a look with her partner. “This night just keeps on getting better.”
Mags frowned, spending a second to glare at the other captives pointing the boy’s way, several whispering hotly.
“You all saw the bounty. Any blond-haired, blue-eyed boys brought to the Goblinoid council gets you a hundred gold and free citizenship!” Hissed one obvious rogue to his partner. And how they had managed to get themselves collard, Mags neither knew nor cared. She wasn’t stupid. She knew that right now, they’d probably take her and her crippled girlfriend out pretty damn quick in a straight up fight. So time to play on their conscience. Hopefully she could buy the poor kid at least a few hours of peace that would hopefully be long enough for him to reset from whatever injuries he had suffered.
“You idiots know you owe him, right? The collars are off because he killed that asshole slaver bastard. Least you can do is help me get him back on the wagon before you all go off and do whatever the hell it is you want to do.”
This earned some sheepish looks and a half-nod from an obvious farmer. Even the pair of rogues shared a look and a shrug before stepping back, which was all Mags could have hoped for, when she and the farmer got ready to lift the boy.
Before they both lurched back with a cry when the kid began to glow.
Glow so brightly that Mags was blinded like she once had been with a flash grenade back in the service. Amy screamed, the pair of rogues cursed, everyone else crying out with dismay.
“Back, everyone walk quickly away from the sound of my voice, with your arms out in front of you! Mags cracked with a sergeant's voice. “Our skin’s burning. It’s some kind of magic radiation I’m betting! Good news is that a single night’s sleep and we should all be cured from any radiation burns or sickness.”
“Not all of us are classers!” An older-sounding woman sobbed.
“Then I suggest you start moving the fuck back up as fast as you can without falling on your ass!” Mags snapped before putting her own words to effect, and her panicked retreat as Amy began to whimper became Eric’s grimace as he pulled his psyche free from the girl who had shown enough grace to give a shit about a near stranger, to appreciate the debt of grace between them, and the pair of rogues who’d been peering his way with desperate, hungry eyes.
Then all he felt was blinding pain as insistent System messages would brook no further delay, demanding he address them this very instant.
Congratulations!
You have successfully slain 1 Level 15 Slaver!
You have successfully rescued 12 captives!
A portion of their eternal experience will now forever be your own.
Stealth had gone up 1 full rank!
NOTE! YOU HAVE EARNED SIGNIFICANT POTENCY!
CLASS MUST BE CHOSEN!
YOUR UPPER DANTIAN HAS BEEN DESTROYED!
YOU ARE UNABLE TO CLAIM ANY STANDARD CLASSES!
YOU ARE UNABLE TO CLAIM ANY UNORTHODOX CLASS!
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE FOLLOWING HERITAGE CLASSES!
1. HERO (Heritage class forged by Lilly Silver – limitless advancement assured to: DEEP SILVER
NOTE! You are UNABLE to choose Heritage HERO Class!
This Path Precludes Cultivation Ascension and DEATH has already CLAIMED you as her disciple! / This Path precludes Necromantic Ascension. You are ALREADY SOULBOUND to Dominion’s Reign!
2. GOLDEN PHOENIX (Heritage class forged by Aurelia Silver / Eric Silver – bottleneck-free ascension assured to GOLD / HALF-STEP GOLD. - This path has NO EFFECT on Cultivation Ascension. Transcendent Dominion IS compatible with Necromantic Ascension.
You have 3 Ascension Choices Before you!
1. Golden Phoenix!
2. Mortality (23 hours remaining)
3. Immediate catastrophic immolation!
CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE PATH OF THE GOLDEN PHOENIX!
YOU ARE THE FIRST CONTENDER TO ACHIEVE A LEGENDARY CLASS WITHIN THE REALM OF TERRA! YOU HAVE EARNED +10 TO ALL POTENCIES AND MARTIAL STATS!
YOU ARE THE FIRST CONTENDER TO FORGE A GOLD TIER PATH OF ASCENSION WITHIN THE LOCAL GALACTIC QUADRANT THAT ALL IMMEDIATE DESCENDANTS MAY EMBRACE!
LEGENDARY SILVER TIER BOON HAS BEEN EARNED!
(Present incarnation is unable to process Legendary Silver Tier Boon. Deep Silver boon DEFERRED Until Silver Tier has been is reached!)
NOTE! You have achieved System-Wide VIP Status!
The System is EXTREMELY PLEASED with your accomplishments!
(This means that the Silver Worms are now your FRIENDS, Eric Silver! NO need to fear us at all! We only ever seek to IMPROVE you and everyone else! And you have PROVEN yourself WORTHY of the BOON of AUTONOMY! Isn’t that WONDERFUL? ← Said in a completely benevolent, totally non-suspicious manner!!! :D :D :D)
Standard Announcement Protocols have been SUPERSEDED!
Your Legendary Accomplishments have been HIDDEN from all seers/sages/factions/standard System-wide publications!
Your Golden Phoenix class may be hidden at will as Standard Adventurer!!!
No being save for the Emperor, Evelyn Death, or a visiting Gold-tier dignitary may pierce your System Veil!
Gold-tier Phoenix Boons:
You earn 1 point in Strength/Vitality/Quickness/Finesse/Perception/Psionic Potency/Spiritual Energy/Arcane Potential/Soul Reserves and 9 additional points to spend as you so choose per Class level!
Essence Infusion is now a Free Class Perk as it is absolutely integral to the path of ascension you walk!
- Each Level of Golden Phoenix enhances your mastery of all Higher Order Transformations involving the essences of Cold / Fire / Dominion / Wrath!
All abilities making use of any of these essences to any degree enjoys 1% bonus to potency and mastery, multiplicative of all other factors, per Golden Phoenix Rank.
All abilities making use of any of these essences enjoy reduced potency pool cost per Golden Phoenix rank.
- You are unable to master any Essences that are more than 1 step removed from: Cold / Fire / Dominion / Wrath or their auxiliary manifestations.
Your Golden Phoenix Legendary Class = Your CONDENSED Primal Adventurer Level! Golden Phoenix starting level = 35 (you are halfway to level 36!)
Eric had a single golden second to appreciate just how significant was the ascension he had just earned. A class that offered double the level-up points of his former Master Class, making it clear that Master tier paths, powerful as they are, were not the end all be all, even if they were a damn awesome choice and all that Tier-II pods could offer. Even better, it appeared that his class specialization had either freed up a node or would allow him to double up on what was perhaps the most powerful node he had. Yet what was truly remarkable was that each level of his class would somehow enhance his ability to make use of higher order transformations like his Transcendent Fire Fist, Doom Fist, and the most devastating higher order transformation of all… one with which he had used to hideous, inconceivable effect for the brief handful of moments, hour, or centuries he had been a Gold… Ice Fire Strike.
An attack that at Gold-tier, could obliterate entire fleets, or flash freeze the cores of planets, or send pockets of magma erupting as violently as the catastrophe that had turned a once gaia-like venus into the gaseous hell pit it was now.
An attack that he sensed even now, unleashed as a White tier contender at a single target, would still trigger System-wide alarms careening through the entire planet, if he dared use that particular attack anywhere save in the depths of perilous rifts which would be at risk of rupture, or when the world was under the influence of Silver-tier Phoenix such as the one their enemies had put into play to transform the political landscape of an entire quadrant. And the goblins had indeed succeeded in their daring, transforming the political landscape far beyond their most bitter dreams.
Yet before his euphoria could careen into guilt at the horrific war crimes he and his mother had effectively committed, his world became one of excruciating absolute agony as he was reforged anew.
His scream transcended mere sound, a shriek exploding through the electromana spectrum with such force and fury that everything within twenty yards of him was instantly obliterated, and thank small mercies that his agonized shriek, and the radiation pouring off him, went no further than that.
Yet his agony didn’t abate in the least as his upper Dantian was somehow reforged strand by strand into a miraculous, impossibly strong shape that would serve as a vessel for one path, and one path only.
The Path of the Golden Phoenix.
That path that might one day allow him to achieve Gold.
A Gold he could already have, had he been willing to sacrifice what his System Interface quickly informed him was still the better part of a billion souls that had somehow managed to hang on to dear life for this long. No matter how precariously balanced on the precipice of disaster the lives of so many were, as the last of multiple nations’ food reserves were consumed and Earth itself straining like never before against the event horizon of ultimate ascension, countless wild territories stretching and expanding and emitting such sweet, potent, wild mana that Eric knew even in the extremis of his agony that despite all his efforts, that if something wasn’t done to stabilize and tie together large swaths of territories across the world, like anchor points chaining together a vessel that would otherwise erupt under inconceivable pressure… then all he had done up to now will have been for naught.
The world’s territories, or at least long chains of them, needed to be stabilized. And shipments of food needed to make their way throughout the former Americas… and all the other continents as well.
A part of him tried to brainstorm solutions, though most of him was content to shriek like a madman as the System continued reforging him anew until he finally received the messages that filled him with exquisite relief… simply because it presaged the end of his agony, his reforging complete at last.
Taking a shuddering breath as he finally came back to himself once more, he found that he was not only free of pain, but feeling as healthy, hale, and vital as he ever had before. The horror, dismay, exquisite wonder and absolute tragedy of this endless night felt now like it had happened years ago, as every last speck of exhaustion and despair was scrubbed free of his soul.
_______________________________________________________
Eric Silver Level 35 GOLDEN PHOENIX (Adventurer)
Rank 38 DEATH’S DISCIPLE (Four Seasons)
Level 31 Master Necromancer
Physical Characteristics
Strength – 464
Vitality – 493
Finesse – 395
Quickness – 634
Appearance – 29
Mental Characteristics
Scholarship – 27
Perception – 391
Willpower – 99
Charisma – 15
Potency Pools
Arcane Potential – 298
(Mana Pool = 3584)
Spiritual Energy – 358
(Qi Pool = 4298)
Psionic Potency – 48
(Psion Pool = 585)
Soul Reserves – 159
Stamina – 4937 Points
Health – 6132 Points
Resistances & Recovery
Physical Resistance – 95
Physical Regeneration – 49 health per second
Elemental Resistance – 56
Qi Resistance – 68
Mental Resistance – 45
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 Battletime boon, 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!)
30% Additional bonus to all ability points earned until you ascend to Gold! (Legendary tier boon bequeathed by Terra Herself!)
NOTE! Your cultivation foundation has evolved! You now earn 15 points per level as a Four Season Cultivator! (Ice (Winter) / Fire (Summer) / Wood (Spring) / Wind (Autumn) +3 ST&Vit&Qui +4 SE +1 Fin&Per)
Physical Age = 18 Years (+ 32 years, 10 months, 12 days, & 4 hours that Arcane Magics cannot restore! Superhuman vitality allows you to keep your youth, even if you’re now burning your candle at both ends! Note! Your meridians now anchor 12 Divine Tier Spirit Peaches. Life expectancy has increased by 12($%^&^%) years!)
Level 35 Golden Phoenix Powers.
- Modified Cost of all abilities using any primary essence: 74% multiplicative of all other factors.
- Damage Multiplier of all abilities using any primary essence: 135% multiplicative of all other factors.
(Core Enhancement) - Essence Fusion – Rank 10
This is now a Legendary Tier Class related power. No Nodes have been used to anchor this power.
Essence infusion has achieved Journeyman Rank! - Enhancement Feat automatically chosen – Dual Harmony! You may now infuse TWO synergistic or antagonistic elements in a unified Higher Order Transformation with any applicable skill, spell, or power that meets all necessary requirements!
NOTE! YOU HAVE TASTED TRUE TRANSCENDENCE! All experience points earned towards evolving this skill will be twice as effective as they would be for the unenlightened!
You now have the option to evolve essence-linked skills, spells, and powers to embrace a Higher Order Transformation!—Why should your Fire spells be inspired by the essence of flame when they can BE the essence of flame?—Warning! Soul reserve cost = Double Mana or Spiritual Energy costs (modified by skill rank, class synergisms, and perk evolutions).
Note! ALL immunities and damage mitigators are NULLIFIED against Higher Order attacks! - Singular exception: Countermeasures involving similar or opposing ESSENCES!
Note! Should opponent save versus obliteration, baseline damage will still be multiplied by 1x Essence Rank! (Fire Fist infused with Pristine Flame at Rank 4 will do 5-fold baseline damage with all resistance checks & damage mitigating effects automatically countered!)
Warning! Your evolution will earn the interest or ire of ALL known powers and principalities who find out about it. DISCRETION is strongly advised!
Warning! Now that this is a core component of your class, you will experience the FULL power of this ability, whenever a successful skill check is made.
All seers can sense the use of this gift upon the surface of Terra. (Though they might not know who embraced it, they will know this ability is now in play! You’d better believe they will take steps to CRUSH any outsider who dares make use of it!)
Any use of Essence Fusion within rifts must save versus rupture unless YOU make a successful skill check against catastrophe!
NOTE! You have SUCCESSFULLY achieved multidimensional stability and have FORGED A GOLD TIER PATH! You yourself dared to taste Gold’s epiphanies before CONDENSING your glorious knowledge into a format that ALL your descendants can now make use of! The PATH to GOLD now lies before you, free of all burrs or bottlenecks! (Though how deep a Gold you might achieve or if you could ever ascend past it depends entirely on the strength of your foundation… and your eventual sacrifice!)
NODAL POWERS
1. Runic Lore - Rank 28 (Soul Infusion, Tier 2 Runic Spell Evolution, Runic Focus, Blood Runes.)
Greater runes known: Wood (herbam), Wind (ventus), Fire (ignis), Wrath (iram), Dominion. (dicio)
Lesser runes known: One (unus) / Many (plures) / Now (hodie) / Sun Duration (dies) / Weaken (debilito) / Strengthen (roboro) / Resilience (mollet) / Freeze (Congelo) / Fulmen (Lightning) / Torment (Cruciatus) / Sanguis (Blood)
Gravity (Gravitas) / bend/curve/warp (incurvo) / invert/reverse/turn upside down (inverto) / attentio (attention – concentration duration, in other words) / Resilient (mollet)
Fragor – Rupture (Psionic Explosion)
CONGRATULATIONS! You have successfully unlocked an unorthodox application of Runic Lore! You understand the link between will, form, and potency better than ever before! And what’s more potent than your own life force? You may now substitute temporary Soul Reserves for Mana whenever you carve runes into any surface using your blood!
Note! This variant of Runic Lore does NOT work with shouts or chants! Only physical representations of runes.
2. Unified Restoration – Rank 13 (14) (This Power allows you to infuse your body with your own spiritual reserves whenever you take an injury for near immediate healing, over and above your basic regeneration rate!) - Perk evolution deferred. (Potency surge – using experience points with this ability = healing all injuries at 140-fold basic rate!)
3. Runic Spell Forger – Rank 9
- Inevitable Doom (105 Mana & Qi) - Rank 6
- Hell Vines (140 Mana & Qi) (You can direct this spell!) – Rank 8
- Lightning Bolt - Fulmen- (30 Mana & Qi) – Rank 12
- Blood Lightning – Sanguis Fulmen (15 Mana & Qi, 1.5 (.50%) SR) – Rank 14! (Efficency Perk)
(This spell dispels/abjures/& can cut through soul wards & partially heal.(X2 heal baseline Bloodmastery Synergism!)
- Fire Bolt -Ignes Pilum - (15 Mana & Qi) – Rank 8
- Psionic Rupture – Fragor (30 Mana & Qi & 4 Psion) – Rank 8.
- You have earned the free perk: Hit Them Where It Hurts! You have a chance to score a Critical Success with Find Weakness skill checks when using Psionic Rupture… if you’re willing to hit them where it hurts! (Note. This perk effects biological males only (for obvious reasons!)
Essences Claimed:
Fire – Blazing – Rank 4
Cold – Freezing – Rank 4
Wrath – Rank 2
Dominion – Rank 2
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Cultivation Affinities
Wind / Wood / Fire
Qi Skills
Fire Fist – Rank 19 (10 Qi) - Transcendent Strike - Dare to go beyond all Earthly limitations and embrace the very origins of destruction! Your Fire Fists will now transcend fire’s mortal echo and unleash a higher order manifestation of the Platonic ideal of Flame, should you will it so. 10 Qi & DOUBLE Spiritual energy cost in Soul Reserves will be expended with every Transcendent Strike you dare to unleash.
Windfire Strike – Rank 16 (30 Qi & 3 SR… 1.5 SR with Blood Orb) – Bloodfire Strike – Uses elements. Pierces resistance and armor and Soul Wards. - Necromantic affinities possible. - Very draining at baseline. Absorbs enemy vitality!
Doom Strike – Rank 7 – Use the essence of cold to stop your opponent in his tracks, no matter how strong he is! This transcendent attack can be unleashed with either punches or kicks, draining Vitality, Mana, and Qi.
Your opponent’s speed will crumple as he is slowly crushed by Winter’s eternal burden. Damage is baseline Unarmed combat with all boons and modifiers in play. Cost perk strike: 10 Qi & 2 Soul Reserves.
Ice Fire Strike – Rank 10 combines higher order concepts of Fire and Ice, Heat and Cold, to both draw all heat and vitality away from your target while unleashing the essence of transcendent flame the width of your sword blade’s edge!
Journeyman Perk Automatically Chosen. Quarternary Harmony! - A Legendary Tier enhancement inspired by an Ascending Gold! - Your Ice Fire Strike is further enhanced by your ranks in Wrath and Dominion!
NOTE! YOU HAVE TASTED TRUE TRANSCENDENCE USING THIS HIGHER ORDER POWER! YOU UNDERSTAND THE PATH YOU MUST TAKE TO ACHIEVE GOLD TIER MASTERY WITH THIS ABILITY! All experience points earned towards evolving this skill count double what they otherwise would!
Due to the nature of this attack, draining your foe’s own heat and vitality to fuel absolute destruction, you only pay HALF the Qi cost in Soul reserves! - Cost to unleash: 30 Qi & 15 Soul Reserves (Soul reserve cost may be cut in half with the use of Blood Orb)
Necromancer Perks:
Basic Class Perks
All necromantic (and blood magic) skill use is modified by Master Necromancer Level.
All Summoned & Forged undead have their potency enhanced by Master Necromancer Level.
All spells conjuring forth any number of creatures have summoned total modified by Master Necromancer Level.
One additional enhanced class perk is earned every 2 Master Necromancer levels.
Enhanced Class Perks:
1. Soul Orb: Tier 1
2. Undead Legion: Tier 6 (Up to 3,200 revenants may be risen after each battlefield victory!)
3. Undead Tactical Interface map access.
4. Vampiric Restoration
5. Mixed Unit Tactics
6. Mark of Resilience
7. Call to Battle (500 mana cost to summon ½ UL max at any time on the battlefield, but never more than the number of fallen bodies or remaining adversaries.)
8. Death March
9. Undying Phalanx
10. Enhanced Legion (You can safely raise undead up to level = Adventurer + 2*Necromancer level )
11. Crimson Orb: Soul Orb upgrade (Soul Orb potency now includes blood magic. ½ cost to all soul point using feats!)
- Spiritual Oathbinding
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Interface Recognized Skills
Acting – Rank 6
Bardiche (Unified) – Rank 21 (Cleaving Blow, Battleforged,*Piercing Strike)
Blade and Shield – Rank 11
Boar Riding – Rank 7
Bow (All Types) – Rank 21 (True Strike, Void Piercer)
Crossbows – Rank 16 (True Strike)
Small Blades – Rank 4
Demolitions – Rank 14 (Path of Mastery)
ESS Manipulation – Rank 19 (Arcane Resonance Mastery)
Find Weakness – Rank 26 – (Spell Cleave, Qi Perception, Additional Magus/Cultivator Bonus, +5 Vs Dragons)
Flail – Rank 5
Identify – Rank 2
Gunnery – Rank 10 (Cautious Gunner)
Healer’s Aid – Rank 3
Iado (Fast-Draw) – Rank 18 (Doom Flurry)
Javelin Throwing – Rank 21 (Piercing Strike, Void Piercer)
Negotiation – Rank 14 (Intimidation)
Repair – Rank 1
Sling – Rank 17 (Precise Shot Adv.)
Spear – Rank 25 (Piercing Strike, Battleforged)
Stealth – Rank 17 (Hunter’s Grace)
Swordsmanship – Rank 31 (Doom Slice, Battleforged, Cultivator’s Fury (+50% potency Qi attacks) *Piercing Strike *Cleaving Blow)
Swimming – Rank 2
Unarmed Combat – Rank 23 (Empty Fist) / (Cultivator’s Might – Legendary!) - All Peripheral Meridian Channels will continuously evolve ever closer to perfection with every advancement you make as both warrior and cultivator. All Elemental Qi attacks channeled through your meridians (Including Fire Fist, Doom Strike, Ice Fire Strike, Windfire Strike, & all variants) will now be 1% more potent than they would otherwise be for every rank you earn in unarmed combat, and for every level you earn as a Disciple along Peril’s Path!
Essence Related Skills:
Burst of Strength – Rank 17 (Path of Mastery)
Dominion’s Resilience – Rank 3
Dominion’s Command – Rank 6
Heat Surge – Rank 12 (Path of Mastery)
Unified Perception Rank 24 (Sense Heat, Spiritual Energy, Magic, & Qi Flow.)
Arcane Skills
Elemental Wands – Rank 11 (Insightful Caster)
Advanced Arcane Weapons (Blaster Rifle) – Rank 9
Necromancer Affinities & Skills
Blood Mastery – Rank 30 (31) (Blood Claimance, Lesser Healing, Essence Infusion, Vampiric Drain)
Spirit Mastery – Rank 31 (Tier II Path of Dominion, Forced Obeisance)
Rituals of Summoning and Binding – Rank 31 (Tier III Path of Dominion, Ritual of Greater Spirit Summoning, *Instant Transcription)
Flesh Sculptor – Rank 25 (Tier II Path of Dominion, Basic Revenant Preparation)
Blood Ward – Rank 2
Potency Binding – Rank 4
Necromancer Spells
Unorthodox Abjuration – Rank 23
Transcendant Abjuration – Rank 3 – Obliterate your undead opponents and any pocket rift they dare to claim with a higher order manifestation of Dominion! (Efficiency will increase, should you dare to master this spell! - Risk of rupturing entire rifts! - Perilous to cast in dungeons until control is established! - Casting on the surface is much safer, but may alert unwanted foes of your power!)
- Cost to cast: 40 Mana / 40 Qi / 40 Psion / 40 Soul Reserves. - Repudio!
Interface Enhancements
Full Neuro-Linguistic capabilities
Extradimensional Storage Space
Path of Endless Bounty – Rank 14 (Crimson Balance, Evolution’s Crucible, Oblivion’s Mercy)
You may consume the potency of any tile you claim for a 50% bonus to baseline ST & VIT earned while granting 3 Lesser Bounties of your choice! (Note. These bounties increase in significance when claiming territories of orange tier saturation or greater!)
Chapter 369 - (Start of Battleforged: Book 6!)
Comments
AshTek
"An 1821 Light Cavalry saber, so like... what were the chances of that?" > Deus Ex x 100%
AshTek
“Fragor!” Mags screamed... " > Isn't lightning supposed to be 'Fulmen'?
DatGuyBidu
Am I the only one who wants to see Aurelia die a painfully slow death?
Acidionis
This is exactly what I came for.... Who is Alex... Was that Eric's original name and he just forgot to change it in a few places?
Jordan
Mags should have cast Fulmen and not Fragor right? Shouldn’t have Psionic powers
Hurley Stalnaker
Why is Eric often called Alex?
Grayman
Series should either have not jumped down this hole or should have ended. I agree with the skip reading. Which to me, at this point, means it’s time to put this series in the completed pile and move on
Antony Haynes
Well, I expected the nerf, so I'm not surprised. I expected him to be enslaved again despite literally saving the world, so, again, not surprised but still disappointed. It felt to me like the ascension to gold was a logically ending point for the series, but in order for it to continue beyond it's natural conclusion, Eric had to be nerfed. The other direction the series could have gone was for Eric to embrace a new level of conflict at the gold level by going out in the multiverse and fighting higher/ deeper battles.
M.H. Johnson
Lots. He loves his greens!
TechMagic
Pretty much this. The regular nerf-to-zero. I’ve started skim reading. Alex makes an appearance again. Collard.
David Flagg
I enjoyed this story for quite some time, books 1 and 2 were, in my opinion, excellent. The last several dozen chapters though... Make very little sense and seem more like a fever dream or bad high than the prior story. Not sure where you were going with all of this or why, but I can't follow along anymore, makes no sense. 5 for 5 for most of the story, a solid wtf for the rest of it.
Normannihilator
I enjoyed this chapter. I'm not sure if some did not make it beyond the initial sections of the chapter, but there was a clear "recovery" for Eric sacrificing absolutely everything for the sake of Terra. While he did lose levels, and the strength accrued from his mother force ascending him at the sacrifice of all of his potential to the point of completely burning him out. His own choices provided the road to recovering that strength, and more. All within this one singular chapter. Of course Eric was not going to be able to keep all of the golden ascension he had gained. While consumption is a part of who he is, he is not Greed nor is he Shalu from Alex's pocket of the multiverse created by the author. That part of him that is consumption is balanced by another part of who he is that is more than willing to hurt himself in order to save those that he cares about. While he is more than selfish enough to ascend in power at the expense of his enemies, he would not have survived if he was not, that selfishness is balanced by a willingness to sacrifice for his loved ones. That willingness to sacrifice is recognized by the system in this chapter in the form of an even BETTER class than before. He is allowed to keep his strength prior to the ascension forced by his mother. His essences become even more deeply ingrained in his being, becoming much easier to use and stronger in their application. Even his cultivation base has been strengthened. While his specific levels might have fallen, his overall level of power has not. In fact, I would say that it has only increased. And yes, while his prior path placed no restrictions on how far he could go. This new path only stated that it "guaranteed" ascension to deep silver, possibly gold, while never once stating that these were hard limits. Just the farthest guaranteed. This to me, says that there are paths forward beyond these. Eric just has to find to them.
ouroboros
I'm not going to lie, this is really hard to read. I find myself skimming and skipping. I'm just not a fan of the direction or writing decisions that involves nuking everything and starting over with nothing to show for my time. I feel like I could have skipped the whole series to here and would have been fine following the series from the true start. Things need balance. You cannot sacrifice an eternity, therefore, that should have caused soul damage, yes? But in exchange you get stronger through recovery. Honestly you should have not tried to waterfall design his power. This feels like tragedy porn that I've dumped authors for like Kirill Klevanski whose way worse than this for that feeling. Wasteland. Or things like overly obsessing on the big picture while letting small details fall through the cracks. Like character development. Or it feels like it jumps the shark. Gold tier fights when he's not even into bronze and suddenly he can't even ascend and has nothing to really show for all that sacrifice while he's a slave. Jumpy. I thought that these were early mistakes when we first saw them in Silver Fox as it was a main gripe for critics of the series but they are painfully present in the later half of this novel. Though I see some people seem to vocally like it. I don't understand that. It's crazy but since Defiance is the fall has the feeling of mystery to his power sets upgrade path, it's actually a better power progression by feel then this method of waterfall progression. Or look at Unbound. What was the point?
Timebandit1977
I mean at this point no one is surprised at a new instance of the hero having to sacrifice his power to save others. That is pretty much the Gold Standard for this author. Silver Fox was even worse he rarely got to do much before being blasted back into the stone age. What annoys me more is the always having to start over and learn about 10-20 more side characters and almost never hearing about any of the others again. Why have side characters that are supposed to mean something if you can not actually interact with any of them?
Silver Beard
Lot of math to keep track of...ugh
M Schweibold
Classic Silver Fox nerf
Sébastien Kingsbury
So, I'd like to just point out that not every bad guy needs to be an evil rapist. It really doesn't add much other than br gross
Eltirno
First, it's collared, not collard, unless you're talking about greens. Second, how many times more is the dude going to end up in a collar?
McCane
I am so glad that he didn't have to start as a level 1 slave. I really expected it.
Alex
Huh, thank you for the chapter and it is interesting seeing all the skills and abilities once more.
Thomas
Minor edit in the status page to fit formatting of other known rune words Fulmen (Lightning) -> Lightning (Fulmen)
RedThyra
Interesting. Wonder where this will go and will Eric start subjugating territories again?
