"Um, well, thank you. I've just been doing my best." I stuttered, surprised to hear the rather intimidating creature complimenting me. The thing let out an amused chuckle, and I realized it could probably read my thoughts. That still didn't explain what was going on, or why I was here again.
"The reason you are here is simple. You died in reality, and so your soul was returned to us. You cannot stay here for long, however, so I digress. The Shard of Creation that you possess is only one part of a whole. There are many more such shards in the universe waiting for one such as yourself to discover them. That has changed now that you are bonded with one of that shards; The rest will respond to none other than you. Call to them, and they will respond to you.
A look of alarm passed over the rock-spider thing's nonexistent face (how I know that, I will never know), and suddenly I was ripped back into reality.
◆◆◆
"Donovan, milord! You're alive!" A voice that seemed even louder than the celestial spider's shouted into my face.
"Y-yeah, yeah I'm alive. I feel like I'd rather be dead though." I moaned through the blinding pain coursing through my head and body. It felt like I had been ripped apart and put back together again. Which, I guess, really did happen.
I sat up, blinking my eyes in a vain attempt to dispel their grainy, scratchy feel. A quick look around told me that I was back in Haven Clearing, lying just outside of one of the barracks. Two Weavers stood above me, their freakishly long, folding arms twitching erratically as they stared at me.
After sharing a concerned look with each other, the pair spoke. "You appeared here out of thin air a few minutes ago. There was so much blood we all thought the worst, until you woke up. You appear to be unharmed."
I stared at them, dumbfounded, until I realized that there were indeed dozens of people standing around me. How hadn't I noticed them? "Thank you everybody, but I'm fine. You can rest assured that the creatures that killed our fallen brothers and sisters are no more, but we have lost a dear ally in the process. Arach did not make it."
Most of the Izveir took this more or less in stride. They all knew Arach, but most of them saw him as more of an animal rather than a creature that could think and talk for itself. I knew better, of course, but I couldn't fault them for not lamenting the loss of what they thought was essentially a pet when their people had died.
Noticing they were all still staring at me, I broke up the crowd with assurances that a more detailed breakdown of what happened would come later, along with copious amounts of celebration. Kaureth caused quite the stir, but my people trusted me and they weren't really surprised that I had created a killing machine while I was away. In truth, they were just happy that their brethren were avenged and their leader was still among the living. Not much else really mattered to them.
I stood up, wincing at the soreness of my body, and waved the crowd away. As they dispersed, I headed straight for the longhouse turned tavern. If ever there was a time for a drink, this was it. Kaureth stalked silently beside me, watching the entire area like a hawk even though we were entirely safe here.
"After you disappeared, I finished the rest of the creatures. Truth be told, there were very few of them left after your attack. I followed their trail to a cave system not far from here, where I believe they came into contact with something that warped them so badly. Something with great power resides down there." The reaper said, sounding eerily nonchalant about the whole thing, as if me dying and reappearing was just a natural thing to do. Which, for someone that didn't know what powers a human had, could make sense. Before we parted ways, Kaureth marked the place on my minimap.
I mumbled something about going to check it out, but didn't put much thought into it yet. There was something much more disturbing that took charge in my thoughts. I had died twice now and come back... And I still didn't know why, other than Shard had something to do with it. Or rather, whatever power created the home or prison or whatever place Shard was when I first discovered it.
"Maybe you should die again and see how it goes. I almost wouldn't even be upset about it after referring to me as it. I am decidedly male. At least this fragment of me is, I can't speak for the others."
"Fuck you Shard, I'm not dying again. Definitely not on purpose. What happens if I don't come back? I'm not going to run around acting like I'm immortal or something." I spat, but I wasn't really angry with him. It was more friendly banter than anything, so I wasn't worried.
"But really, do you have any idea why I keep coming back?"
"No, if I did you would already know."
"Fair point."
"Perhaps, if we find another of my fragments we will get more answers. I have never told you this before, but without being whole there are gaps in my mind. Eons of memories that I have forgotten."
"Damn, Shard. I feel kind of bad for you. We'll get you back together again there Humpty, don't you worry."
After my short conversation with Shard, I went into Haven Keep to announce everything that had happened. Most of the Izveir were already there, but a few more filed in after I had taken a seat in the throne. My Advisors sat still as statues in their smaller thrones in the corner, looking deadly serious but perfectly calm at the same time. I had no idea how to pull such an expression off, so I just activated Aura of Dominance.
I smiled, the image of absolute confidence as I relayed the events that led to Kaureth's creation, and my subsequent meeting with the strange rock spiders. Of course, I framed myself in a slightly less self destructive light than I had actually been at the time. I couldn't really have my people thinking I was unstable, now could I?
As usual, there was nothing but the cult-like admiration of my people. I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again, but their level of trust in me was disconcerting.
"Soon, we will end this threat and any other to our kind for good. Today marks the start of a new empire in this world. The empire... of Izveir!" The end of my speech was met by the overwhelming applause of my people, who had nothing but admiration for me and my trusted Advisors. If I had any control over the future, none of my people, who had so much faith in me, would be killed again by anything but natural causes.
The Izveir slowly trickled out of Haven Keep, followed by my four Advisors. Before long I was alone to ponder my thoughts with nothing but Shard to keep me company. He was silent too, for some reason. I took the time to ponder my character sheet and dump the points from my astounding 10 Level ups into Int and Wis, bringing them both up to 70. All said, I was turning out to be a pretty badass mage.
Name- Donovan Hawthorne
Level- 32 (Experience to next Level- 7,835/15,851
Health- 75/75 (2% regen every 10 seconds)
Stamina- 32/32 (2% regen every 10 seconds)
Mana- 2,536/2,536 (4.14% regen every 10 seconds)
Strength- 10
Endurance- 15
Dexterity- 10
Perception- 10
Intelligence- 70
Wisdom- 70
Luck- 10
Condition- Healthy
Humanity- 7/7 (10% regen per week. When Humanity reaches 3 points or lower, you will develop sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies. If Humanity is at 0 for a month or longer at a time, the effects are permanent and gradually worsen.)
Alignment- Neutral (Your actions to other sentient creatures and nature will affect your Alignment. Positive Alignment will generally endear you to civilians and other do-gooders. Negative Alignment will endear you to more unsavory characters. Neutrally Aligned beings do not care who they deal with.)
Inventory-
Hardened Tainted Boar Armor (Very Light, Full Set), Tainted Boar Bone Staff
Spells-
Level 33 Shard of Creation- A sentient artifact from a lost age. By channeling mana through it, you can warp and fuse materials into something else entirely. At higher Levels, mana can be used to make something out of thin air. Mana usage depends on the amount, quality, and complexity of materials used and t
he end product.
Level 26 Force Slash- Condense mana into a powerful shockwave. Damage and power of the slash is equivalent to (mana used times 5, times the Level of spell.
Empire's Burden- Seeing those that look up to you butchered time after time wears on the soul, but hardens it. Such is the burden of a leader. Humanity point max capacity dropped permanently by 2.
Empire's Retribution- There is only so much a man can take. Push him too far, and he'll run himself into the ground to exact revenge.
Passive Ability- At the cost of 50% of your Health, all attributes and skill strengths are doubled.
Active Ability- At the cost of Health and Humanity, unleash a devastating attack that will mortally wound even the strongest adversary.
My most powerful spell so far was Empire's Retribution, but it came a such a heavy cost that I would rather not have to use it again. That being said, with my enormous mana pool and Level 26 Force Slash, I could put out an astonishing almost 330,000 damage with a single attack. Of course, that would leave me entirely drained of mana and would be overkill for damn near anything I fought.
Such were the perks of having an immortal, sentient artifact literally older than time inside of you.
Seeking something other than silence, which made me think of the people I had let die, I set out in search of some Tainted beast to kill. I didn't have to wait long; since the strange creatures that attacked my people started showing up, almost half of all of the creatures I came into contact with were Tainted.
At first I was happy that I was coming across so many creatures that I could kill without remorse, instead feeling at peace that I had given them final rest, but I soon realized just how bad that the situation had gotten. In the few months it had taken me to forge Haven Clearing and fortify it, the corruption that was slowly but surely encompassing the world had only grown.
If I didn't act soon, there was no hope of me ever saving the planet. If I didn't act soon, all of my accumulated power, respect, and resources would have been all for naught.
It felt like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, only there was a lit stick of dynamite lying right at my feet... If I stayed neutral I was screwed, but I still was not strong enough to escape my predicament. If I struck out now I would probably lose and suffer the Tainted beasts' combined strength, but if I waited too long then I would miss the time window available for saving the world from corruption.
I never asked for this, ya know? I'm just a gamer kid from rural Illinois that was dragged into something way bigger than myself, but if there was no other choice then I would just have to do my best and stop, or maybe even reverse the damage already done to the world's core. Even if it cost me my life, or even my very soul.
Ow, son of a bitch!
While I was contemplating the seemingly inevitable cataclysmic event, a Level 95 tainted Orc stabbed its jagged spear at my thigh. Thankfully, it missed anything too important or I would be dead thanks to my low Health.
With a surge of anger, I blasted a condensed Force Slash into its throat. The damn thing was so strong that its head didn't even come off, but I did cut deeply enough into its throat that it would slowly die from the severing of its trachea.
Because of its high Level, that one stab brought me almost down to less than a quarter health. And now that I was actually paying attention, there were almost another dozen Tainted Orcs lying in wait for the first Orc's sneak attack to pay off.
What they didn't know is that killing the first Orc, which was almost triple my Level, instantly Leveled me up twice and put me on the brink of a third Level. Despite the obvious stat bonuses, Leveling up fully healed all of my injuries; It even went so far as to force the spear out of my leg so that it could heal properly. Realizing how close I had come to death from that single attack, I put all 10 of my new stat points into Endurance bringing my total Health to 75.
Despite my enemies' advantage in Level and number, I was obviously much stronger than them thanks to Shard. It probably wouldn't actually be that much of a challenge for me, especially if everything went according to my plan.
See, I was sick of being a glass cannon, especially after my close call with the Tainted Orc. I could condense and manipulate mana externally, so why couldn't I do so internally? Focusing on my pool of mana, I drew it from its source directly into my body and forcefully condensed it in a way that wasn't unlike the way a smith folds metal to create Damascus.
The effects were instantaneous, and I felt strength in a way I had not felt it since my days as a Dungeon Master. The Orcs, so confident in their primal charge, had no idea that they were rushing to their deaths.
In a burst of speed that left the Orcs in a surprised shock I shot forward, launching a devastating right cross into the nearest Orc's throat. A spray of blood was expelled from its throat, and the seven foot tall monster crumpled to the ground dead.
Level Up!
Level up!
This was almost too easy.
Three more Orcs fell to my onslaught before I realized the fatal flaw to my new ability... It chewed through almost four hundred mana a second. I hadn't noticed it at first because of the crazy Level ups I was getting from the Orcs, but if I didn't finish them off quickly I was in trouble.
I killed two more in as many seconds, netting me another Level and replenishing my mana. Half of them were down, but I doubted I could kill the rest of them and maintain my new power so I let it dissipate. There were multiple notifications, likely telling me about the new power and Level ups, so I ignored them.
I charged multiple Force Slashes at once, activating Hunter's Sight so I could keep track of the rapidly advancing Orcs' positions. I let loose as soon as they got in range, and was showered in gore as they exploded from the sheer force of my attack. It had taken almost 800 mana to kill the last six of them.
With the danger passed, I looked at the flashing notifications to find that I had gained 12 Levels from the battle after the initial 2 I got from the first Orc. That gave me 60 more stat points to play around with. Before that, I looked at my new spell, Inner Channeling.
Inner Channeling, Level 1- Draw the power of your mana and condense it into your body, enhancing each of your stats exponentially. For each point of mana you burn per second, all of your stats are multiplied accordingly. For example, burning 20 mana per second would multiply all of your stats by 20. This does not increase your mana pool or mana regeneration, though spell power is still enhanced. The multiplier per mana burned a second is increased by .1 per Level.
Well damn! That was way better than I could have hoped, And my effectiveness would only increase as my stats grew. That being said, would it be better to increase my physical stats or my magical ones?
If I increased my physical stats, I would be hardier even when I wasn't channeling, which I wouldn't be able to do constantly... Well, I probably could if I kept the mana per second low enough, but I would rather be able to take a hit or two on my own if I was ever too low on mana to keep Inner Channeling powered up.
I added 20 points to Endurance and 10 to Strength, bumping my Health to 140. I split my remaining points equally between Intelligence and wisdom, bringing my mana to 3812. With my current mana regeneration, I was taking in just under 16 mana a second.
So if I really wanted to, I could keep my stats at 15 times what they really were without losing any mana. In other words, I could give myself stats I wouldn't have until Level 510 or more with no side effects other than draining my mana regen to almost nothing.
I decided to keep my Channeling at 10 mana per second, but if I ever got into a situation where I had to start flinging too many spells then I would drop down to only 2 or 3 a second.
Lord of Creation Page 17
