by Aaron Oster
Morgan landed on the ground next to the beast, then used gravity impact. He slammed his blade into the shell and this time the blade punched through with a loud crack. He felt the blade sink into soft flesh, and a moment later the beast stopped moving.
Morgan dismissed his blade, wiping his forehead and letting out a long breath.
That fight had been way tougher than he’d expected. Sure, the beast was a rank above him, but it still shouldn’t have been that hard.
Morgan then retrieved the core and examined it.
Name: Razor-shell Tortoise core
Rank - 20
Total available energy: 10,329/10,329
This core was taken from a razor-shell tortoise. As this core was taken from an evolved beast, the amount of available energy has been slightly increased.
Morgan pulled the core he’d taken from the lizard so he could compare the two.
Name: Electric-spine lizard Matriarch core
Rank - 24
Total available energy: 21,006/21,006
This core was taken from an electric-spine lizard. As this core was taken from a zone Matriarch, an intermediate beast, the amount of available energy has been greatly increased.
Morgan let out a low whistle when he saw that.
The lizard was only 4 rank higher than the tortoise, but the energy in its core was more than double.
He quickly absorbed both, feeling a hot flash running through his body. Then, strangely enough, a small screen flashed before his eyes.
Cores absorbed.
Energy to next rank: 31,335/89,000
Morgan blinked and the next moment, the screen vanished.
What on earth had that been? It had never happened before.
Morgan’s mind began racing as he tried to figure it out. Finally, he decided that it must have either something to do with his new ability or his new divine skill. Either way, he still needed answers. He heard a loud bellow echoing out over the sand dunes, and grinned. He did have to figure it all out, but it could wait until he’d managed to clear this zone.
It took him two more hours to make it to the Arc’s territory, by which point he’d managed to gather enough energy to rank up. He held back, though, as he no longer had the luxury of absorbing cores and gaining the maximum attributes per rank. He looked up at the massive sandstone formation towering above his head.
The Arc was in there, but he wasn’t sure if he should go in alone or not. The safe thing to do would be to leave now. He’d already collected a sufficient amount of cores, so he’d technically accomplished what he’d set out to do.
He’d gotten a pretty good understanding of his skills, and was fairly confident that he wouldn’t run into any more surprises, though the messages about his progression continued popping up whenever he absorbed a core. He still needed to figure that out.
He debated turning back for just another moment, then he let out a snort. Since when did he take the safe option?
Chuckling to himself, Morgan headed through the tunnel entrance in into the Arc’s territory. The temperature immediately dropped once he walked in, and he let out a sigh of relief to feel the baking sun finally off his back. He looked around at the oddly shaped stone as he walked, wondering just what could have formed the strange wavy patterns.
He felt a cool blast of air and turned his attention straight ahead. The tunnel opened before him, and he stared, first in confusion, then in utter shock, when he saw the massive three-headed chicken lying at the center of the cave.
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Morgan rubbed at his eyes a few times, just to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.
Nope. The oversized chicken was still there.
He once again had to wonder who in the world had designed these things. Someone had to, and whoever they were, they had a seriously twisted sense of humor.
He crouched in the tunnel, just outside the room, and took his time examining the beast. It was large, about a foot taller than him. Each one of its heads was a different color, and that color carried on down the rest of its body, giving it an odd three-toned appearance. The left head was black, the middle was a light tan and the right, a deep red.
Its feet were a bright yellow and had a set of wickedly curved claws extending outward. He could also spot a smattering of scales throughout its plumage, and they extended in a line from their crests to their beaks, providing a sort of crude armor for their heads.
Morgan focused in, and a blue aura flared around the chicken.
Name: Sonic-Cerberus Chicken Matriarch
Rank - 23
Ability type - Mage
Morgan couldn’t decide if he should laugh or take this beast as a serious threat. He still remembered those bloodsucker-chickens he’d fought in a lower rank beast zone. They were quite dangerous, and by the looks of it, this was most likely an intermediate beast.
He was tempted to just use starbreak, and fry the chicken, but the idea of fighting a three-headed beast was just too exciting an opportunity to pass up. Finally, he made up his mind. Grinning madly, he stepped into the cavern.
The chicken rose as soon as he walked in, and Morgan could see that he’d slightly underestimated its height. It stood around eight feet tall, and six pairs of eyes all locked directly onto him. It was a strange sight, seeing all the heads moving independently from one another, and Morgan wondered how this particular beast made decisions.
Did one head do all the thinking? Or did they all need to make a collective decision before acting?
Morgan then realized that he was overthinking things. It was a freaking chicken. He should be more focused on how to take it down, rather than how it would operate in everyday life. He grinned, then his shield flared to life as he charged in. He noticed almost right away that there were now two golden discs on his shoulders, in addition to the one on his chest, but the rest of his shield was still the same violet he was used to.
Was his divine energy growing? He would have to check once this battle was over.
The chicken then let out an angry squawk, all three beaks opening at once to deliver a stunning sonic attack. Morgan staggered back as his ears came under assault and he grimaced in pain, clutching at his head while the horrible cacophony echoed around the chamber.
He was still clutching at his head when the chicken slammed into him at full force, forming a line of cracks across his shield and sending him into the opposite wall. The air exploded from Morgan’s lungs as his back impacted with the wall, and the brittle sandstone shattered under the force.
He gasped, mind still reeling from the sonic attack and he wasn’t able to focus for even a moment. Morgan crashed to the ground and the chicken pounced on him, its three heads flashing down to peck at his shield. Luckily for Morgan, the chicken was attracted to the bright golden glow coming from the center of his shield. Otherwise, he might have been killed before his mind could recover from the attack.
He groaned as the ringing in his ears finally abated somewhat, and he was able to focus on the beast standing on top of him. He heard a loud crack and saw that a web-like pattern had formed on the golden disk and the chicken was relentlessly pecking down, widening the cracks with each strike.
Morgan used gravity impact and explosive movement at once, bucking his hips mightily and watching as the chicken was launched off him in slow motion. He quickly hopped to his feet and delivered five hard blows to the chicken’s side. He then finished the maneuver by pivoting on his back leg and swinging it up to slam into the red head closest to him.
Time abruptly sped up as his skills ran out, and Morgan leapt back, covering his ears as the chicken staggered back. The red head had been turned to a bloody pulp under the massive force exuded by Morgan’s attack, and it seemed, at least for the moment, to be completely disoriented.
Morgan took his chance, darting in and using storm blade. He formed a long, curved saber and slashed out at the chicken’s side, but grimaced when the hard scales made it merely glance off.
So blunt attacks
are the way to go, he thought.
A thought struck Morgan then, but he was forced to duck as a vicious swipe of the chicken’s claws nearly took his head off. It whirled on him and its two remaining heads lashed out, catching him in the right shoulder. He grimaced as his shield finally gave way, and shattered with a flash of purple light. Thankfully, the shield had slowed the attack enough that his armor was able to repel them, but it had been a near hit.
He leapt backward, using his flight to assist him. Landing a good forty feet away, Morgan focused in on his storm blade, trying out his earlier idea. He let out an annoyed breath when the blade refused to take the shape he wanted.
The skill did say any blade, so it made sense that a blunt weapon like the hammer he’d been trying to make, wouldn’t work.
Morgan rolled to the side as the chicken ran past him, blood streaming from the destroyed head.
He idly wondered if his skill might evolve further once he broke through into rank 29.
Would he be able to use blunt weapons then?
The chicken whirled back around and began to glow a bright blue, forcing his attention back on the fight. Morgan took a quick look at his RP, seeing that it had nearly refilled itself.
He’d had his fun, but he needed to end this before he got hurt. There was a mission he had to complete in only a few hours, and it wouldn’t be wise to be injured now.
Morgan grinned at the now two-headed chicken and used starbreak. He rose up into the air, seeing the glowing yellow-orange sphere growing in his palm. He looked down at the chicken, just in time to be hit by a wall of sound.
Morgan’s eardrums burst, and he lost control of his skill, falling out of the air and slamming hard into the ground. He lay there, stunned as the beast lumbered over to him, the two heads weaving back and forth as it did so.
No time to be in pain, he thought, forcing himself to his feet. That attack had been nasty, leaving blood running from his ears, and a splitting headache in its wake. The chicken dashed over, clucking in a rage that its quarry still wasn’t dead. It let out what Morgan assumed was another sonic attack, but seeing as he’d already been deafened, he was completely unaffected.
At least one good thing had come of it, Morgan thought, taking another quick look at his RP. He growled, seeing that it was only at about 900.
That stupid chicken had completely ruined his awesome finishing move and now he would have to wait for his RP to regenerate before he could use it.
He was forced to dodge an incoming peck, and Morgan punched out in annoyance, landing a heavy blow between the middle head’s eyes. The middle head went cross-eyed and began looking confusedly around, but its body was still functioning as usual. Even with two heads out of commission, the chicken’s foot shot up, claws raking across his chest.
The loud shrieking sound of claws on metal would likely have been extremely unpleasant, but seeing as he was still deaf, Morgan couldn’t care less. He grinned, then lashed out with a spinning hook kick, neatly catching the beast behind its knee and sending it toppling to the ground.
It went down with an angry squawk that Morgan couldn’t hear. He quickly checked his RP, and finally decided that it wouldn’t be practical to wait any longer, just to use starbreak. Morgan was a little upset, but not overly so. After all, he still had another powerful skill he could use.
He debated whether it was wise to use it in the cave, but in the end, decided that he just didn’t care.
Morgan then used his improved gravity storm. He hadn’t been sure what to expect, so when he rose into the air, and purple and gold lighting began crackling all over his body, he was quite surprised. His hands spread outward, clenching into fists, and the gravity around the chicken immediately intensified. The chicken was slammed to the ground, and judging by the small crater it was beginning to form with its body, the gravity force was extremely intense.
He was wondering what would happen next when there was a massive rumbling crack. The next moment, the cave ceiling exploded and a cyclone of whirling wind slammed into the ground. Morgan’s arms shot out and the cracking power that had been dancing over his body connected with the cyclone of air.
He watched in morbid fascination as the gravity storm raged on, barely noticing when his feet touched the ground. He just stood and watched, marveling at the storm’s terrifying power. After 45 seconds, the storm finally petered out, sending bits of stone and grains of sand raining back to the ground.
Morgan squinted as bright sunlight poured in from the massive hole his attack had left in the cave ceiling. He felt a grin spread across his face, as the last of the rubble showered down around him. Looking toward the center of the attack, he spotted the smoldering, blackened husk that had once been a monster chicken.
He blew out a long breath, then abruptly burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation. The mighty evolved supermage, being forced to use one of his most devastating attacks to kill a chicken! He was just glad that Sarah hadn’t been here to witness it.
He swallowed once, and his hearing abruptly came back in a rush.
That was surprising, he thought, feeling at his ears. His fingers came away, sticky with congealing blood. He was sure he’d been deafened and would need a healer to fix him. Apparently not.
“That was quite the spectacle. I’m glad I made the trip to come watch you.”
Morgan whirled on the spot, fists raised as he readied an attack. He pulled up short when he saw who it was.
“Dabu? How the hell did you get in here?”
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Dabu let out a loud booming laugh, his mirth echoing off the walls of the sandstone cavern as Morgan stared at him in confusion. This only made the man laugh harder, which in turn only, confused him more.
Morgan was beginning to wonder if the man would be okay, when he finally began to calm down.
“Apologies for my rudeness, young supermage,” Dabu said, wiping at his eyes. “Your reaction was not one I had been expecting.”
Morgan shrugged.
He didn’t care either way, but he was glad that Dabu was here. He found it suspicious that he just happened to turn up when he’d been hoping to see him, but Dabu hadn’t led him astray yet.
“Yeah,” Morgan said slowly, trying to find the best way to broach the subject.
Finally, he just shrugged to himself. If anyone could give him answers, it would be an omniscient supermage.
“Something happened during my last rank up,” Morgan said, prompting the smile to fade from Dabu’s face.
His eyes narrowed for a moment, then widened in the biggest display of shocked amazement he’d ever seen from the man.
Morgan was about to ask him what he saw, when he remembered that Dabu had the aura sense skill and that his was far more advanced than his own.
“What do you see?” Morgan finally asked as the silence stretched onward.
Dabu started as if only realizing that Morgan was still there.
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Dabu said, his voice trailing off.
There was a sense of awe in his voice that made Morgan feel slightly uncomfortable.
“What’s happening to me?” Morgan finally asked, after another minute of silence.
“You have, for lack of a better term, evolved!” Dabu exclaimed. “In all the time I’ve been alive, I have never once seen an evolved supermage. I had hoped that you might one day advance, but even I didn’t think it would be this soon.”
Morgan’s mind reeled.
He’d evolved? Like a beast?!
“Can you please explain? Ever since my last rank up, nothing has felt quite the same. At first, I thought it might just be the increase in my attributes, but Sarah ranked up as well and the changes aren’t nearly as extreme.”
Dabu finally seemed to come to himself then, and his usual smile spread across his face.
“Of course. Apologies for being so rude, please.”
He motioned with his hand and Morgan blinked in surprise.
A s
mall table with two chairs now stood on one side of the room. A pitcher of pale blue colored liquid sat in the center, and two glass cups stood next to it. There was also a large loaf of bread, with a log of butter sitting on the side.
Morgan finally grinned back at the man. He hadn’t realized how hungry he’d been until he’d seen the food.
Quickly making his way over to the table, he tore a chunk off the bread. It was warm to the touch and crackled wonderfully as he slathered it with butter. Dabu sat down across from him as he took his first bite, washing it down with the sweet pale blue drink.
“What is this?” he asked, taking another sip.
“Ah, that is a cider made from paleberries. They don’t grow in this realm, so it’s not a surprise that you haven’t tasted it before.”
“You’ve hinted at other realms before,” Morgan said, latching onto what the god had just said. “Can you tell me about them?”
Dabu shook his head and Morgan sighed.
“I’m sorry that I can’t tell you. That would be breaking the rules, and as I’ve said before, it would not go well for either of us.”
Seeing Morgan’s disappointed look, he was quick to continue.
“I can, however, answer all your questions regarding your new ability.”
Morgan perked up at this and took another huge bite from his bread.
“Now where to begin?” Dabu said, tapping lighting at his chin. After a few moments, he snapped his fingers and began speaking.
“While it is not very well known, people can evolve in a similar manner to beasts, should they meet the correct prerequisites. There are several supers and mages out there that have evolved, and even some that have managed to get to the intermediate level.”
“Wait,” Morgan cut in. “So what you’re saying, is that two supers of equal rank can face each other and one will be able to completely annihilate the other?”
