by Ivan Kal
55
WILL
73
WISDOM
40
CHARISMA
20
LUCK
20
Then he went through his skills and abilities, putting the points he had gotten to increase some of them. Once he was done he took a look.
ABILITIES (Main)
Power Infusion 19
Power Siphon 19
Phase Dash 27
Phase Shot 16
Phased Gravitic Stomp 22
Mass Exchange 26
Momentum Shift 12
Arcane Mark 11
Accelerated Growth 18
Iron Skin 15
Plant Prison 10
Mind Space 10
ABILITIES (Sec)
Piercing Shot 14
Scatter Shot 8
Energy Arrow 18
Exploding Arrow 15
Rain of Arrows 23
SKILLS (Main)
Elemental Alignment—Nature 30 (+one rank Guild buff)
Elemental Alignment—Metal 22 (+one rank Guild buff)
Elemental Alignment—Fire 0
Elemental Alignment—Earth 0
Elemental Alignment—Air 0
Elemental Alignment—Water 0
Hand-to-Hand Combat 16
Throwing Weapons 16
Sharpshooter 24
Grenadier 20
Energy Manipulation 40
Flight 5
Mind Fortress 16
Phase Shift 26
Body Manipulation 15
Phytokinesis 28
Gravikinesis 21
Ferrokinesis 11
Life Sense 20
Nature Seismic Sense 21
SKILLS (Crafting)
Monster Lore 12
Skinning 19
Hunting 16
Harvesting 24
Herbalism 24
Arcane Tinker 12
Alchemy 25
Arcane Horticulturist 18
SKILLS (Misc)
Language—Basic, Elvish
Inspect 20
Inventor 14
Acrobatics 15
Medicine 8
Chemistry 15
Lightning Reflexes 21
Morgan Newton LVL 60 Heart of Metamorphosis — EXP 58,350/80,000
-Legacy of the Heart of the Mountain
-Soul and Not a Body
-Forged Body: Ever-Changing Body of Klyn
-Shape and Shift
He still didn’t quite understand what having elemental alignment without a single level meant, and when tried asking Sabila, she just repeated what his trait had said. He would have to experiment with it, if he ever got a chance. With everything finished, he said his goodbye to Sabila and exited the soul space.
He found himself back in the real world, looking around at all the others. All of them had done the same.
“I hit level 60,” Ves whispered, almost disbelieving. “My class changed. I’m an Eldritch Sentinel now, and I gained a new perk. I think that it might be useful.”
“Me, too. I’m the Heart of Metamorphosis now, and I got a trait that lets me change forms more quickly.”
“Oh, I like that more than the last class name,” Ves said.
Their conversation got cut short as the Tower Master called for the group to head out.
Morgan met Ves’s eyes and felt a sense of dread envelop him. They were heading to battle beings outside of the system, enemies of his father. He only hoped that they come out it intact. He knew how much power Oxylus had, and so he had to wonder just how powerful his enemies were.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Their pace was as fast as moving stealthily allowed, as much as twelve people geared for war could be stealthy. They encountered no monsters on their way, which made Morgan nervous. Either the monsters didn’t want to attack a bigger group, or the Rzan had already gotten to them—in which case they would face them at the temple.
The plan was simple: punch their way to the temple, find their way inside, and kill anything there. The raid group and Ves’s parents would deal with the Rzan Warlocks and their monsters, while the Tower Master dealt with their leader. Morgan didn’t presume to understand half of what was happening, which wasn’t a new occurrence for him, but now that had been taken to a whole other level.
He was following one of his father’s…servants? He didn’t even know what the Tower Master was in relation to his father. But, even with his and the others ignorance on the matter, they all understood that these Rzan didn’t belong, and that they couldn’t be allowed to remain.
They made good time, and soon the massive pyramid was before them, towering over everything else. It had to be at least a kilometer tall and twice as wide at the base. It was truly a massive structure, even when compared to the towers that reached all the way up to the ceiling of the cavern.
As they neared the temple, they started seeing dozens of monsters: mostly behemoths and lammergeier, with a couple ratmen thrown in, all covered in red crystals. They stood in front of the temple, the dead corpses of ordinary monsters on their feet.
The Tower Master halted, then, and they hid behind a building.
“They are in sentry mode, protecting the entrance. Once we attack, the Rzan will know that we are here and prepare accordingly. We need to destroy them quickly and get inside before the Warlocks have a chance to set up more defenses, and they will most certainly already have some,” the Tower Master told them.
Morgan wondered if he could’ve done that himself—probably yes, and easily. But if the man didn’t want to expend any energy in preparation for his fight, it put into perspective just how much of a fight he expected inside. Maybe agreeing to help wasn’t such a good idea…
He shook the thought away. He wasn’t about to doubt that decision.
Ves’s parents, the Guardians, looked them over and presented a plan. It was actually a very good one, and they seemed familiar with what the ascended in the raid group could do. Quickly, they all had their own assignments and they sprang into motion.
Morgan made his bow and started transferring mass into his dark-iron arrow as he climbed on top of a building. He waited for the signal, and when he heard it from below, he raised his bow and fired.
He hit the paved stone and sent out a shockwave that scattered the monsters, even shattering the bodies of some of the lammergeier that had been closer to the impact. Before the ground stopped shaking, Ta’elara unleashed a barrage of fireballs, and Hexna sent a pillar of dark flames falling from the sky. The monsters were decimated, but some still moved. And then Ves’s mother, Voralla Ohm, pointed her hand at the survivors. A barrage of lightning left her hand and struck each individual monster, shattering their red crystals and bursting their bodies.
“Go!” the Tower Master yelled, and everyone charged the entrance. The archway had no doors or even any barricades. They ran over the bodies of the monsters and headed into the dark corridor that led deeper inside. In less than twenty seconds, they reached the end and entered a vast chamber.
Morgan looked at it, dumbfounded. It was still a pyramid inside, but a hollow one. Up above them there shone an orb made out of white fire, illuminating the entire room that seemed even larger on than the pyramid had been on the outside. There was room here to fit a mountain the size of Mount Everest on Earth. There was so much open space in all directions that it almost boggled the mind. There had to be some kind of magic or space-bending tomfoolery going on.
Then there was what filled the room beneath them. There were stairs that led down, and then a chasm filled with darkness that stretched deep into the ground. He saw a bridge connecting the side to a massive platform that filled the center of the structure. Three more bridges connected to the platform from the remaining sides of the pyramid.
And on the pyramid, near the center, was a small army of monsters, and among them rose a massive shape. Another behemoth, only this one was completely covered in chitin with far less gaps than even
the mature variant. It had horns and an extra set of arms, and it was covered in red crystal: a dead boss, one that now fought for the Rzan. He saw the army and counted fourteen Rzan heading their way, even as the Tower Master led them down the stairs and to the bridge. But behind the Rzan, in the center of the platform was something that looked like a magic circle. A ritual of some kind?
“Occupy the army and the Rzan,” the Tower Master said. “The boss monster will not be as strong as it had been in life, and it won’t be able to use its abilities, but it will be able to endure more damage. Destroy the brain to kill them.”
And then the man disappeared, and Morgan frowned. A few moments later, something flashed in the center of the room, and he saw the Tower Master already engaged in combat. Power filled the room, shaking everything as the two started to fight, pieces of the platform shattering and shockwaves echoing throughout the space.
But they were over the bridge, and Morgan had to bring his focus on the enemies in front of him even as the two titans fought in the background.
Voralla and Rainor Ohm led them forward, but they all already knew what to do. Ves summoned her bear and jumped on its back, while Nesseya charged next to her. Morgan and switched to his Combat Form, his skin rippling and bones crackling as he grew, and wings ripped out of his back. With his new trait it took him only five seconds to change, and then he was up in the air next to Lucius and Ta’elara. His bow arm was ready and his wooden arrows already placed in his storage pocket. He transferred mass from his bracelet quickly, activating Greater Speed, and began hitting the bigger targets. He used his Mass Exchange ability to quickly transfer smaller amounts of mass, so he could fight without waiting and focusing on his skill. It made his arrows weaker, but he could fire more. With his speed, the arrows hit five smaller behemoths before those on the ground even reached the front line.
His shots blew pieces of the monsters away, every arrow aiming for the head and blowing them apart, killing them instantly. Ta’elara sent wave after wave of fire, focusing more on doing AOE damage to the front line to soften them up for the charging land group. Morgan noticed fliers, bats covered in red crystals flying at them, but Lucius was on it, his job to protect Ta’elara and Morgan.
He flew at them and spun in the air, a tornado of cutting wind and lightning that cut the flying pack to pieces. Morgan saw more coming, but put them out of his mind as Lucius engaged. Instead he focused on the ground behind the monster the Rzan had started to engage. They sent balls of fire at the raid group, and Morgan aimed his bow at them. A moment later, an arrow was sent flying with his Phase Shot. The arrow smashed against a shield that a Rzan had raised in front of it, and then its eyes found him in the air.
The Warlock put his hand in his blood pouch and then cast a spell. A bolt of red lightning flew at Morgan, but he beat his wings and used Phase Dash. His senses fell into darkness for a few moments, but then he was out and saw balls of red fire flying at him. He grimaced and flew, evading the attacks as he aimed his bow and fired back in retaliation.
Ta’elara sent a bolt of lightning at the Rzan, but their shields protected them. The raid group smashed into the monsters, and Ta’elara turned all of her focus on the Rzan in the distance. Their job was too keep them occupied while those on the ground dealt with their zombies. Keeping the Rzan on them instead of helping their monsters.
And then Morgan saw one of the Rzan who had slightly different clothes step up. He chanted as he cut his own wrist, and a red mist formed above him, before turning into a cloud of deep crimson. Morgan and Ta’elara fired at them, trying to interrupt whatever it was that he was trying to do, but the other Rzan switched to defense and maintained a massive domed shield around themselves. The barrier kept outside attack from passing through but allowed things from the inside to get out, as demonstrated when the big sphere of red cloud burst and three lines of smoke formed into spears of red crystal, then headed straight at the three of them in the air. Morgan beat his wings and soared but then saw the spear tracking after him. Lucius zoomed away, a spear following him as well.
Ta’elara tried throwing spells at it, but they didn’t even slow the spear. Just before it hit her, she blinked away. Morgan was in the same predicament as the spear gained ground against him. Then, as it was just about to impale him, he phased. Once his ability finished he looked around and saw the spear turning midair to head after him again.
Well, fuck me sideways.
Morgan cursed and his wings started to beat faster, his body burning the stored energy at an increased rate as he tried to evade the weapon, all the while thinking about how to deal with it.
INTERLUDE V
Kai Zhao Vin shadow-stepped across the platform and landed near the ritual circle. The Rzan and their raised monsters rushed to meet the ascended, and hadn’t even noticed him. In the center of the circle stood a being: short, with an elongated, lizard-like head covered by short white fur.
Vin had never met him before, which was surprising—he had, in his time, fought many of the enemy’s Heralds—but that changed little. The Herald noticed him, and the power building in the ritual ceased, which told him that the enemy was paying attention and knew about who Vin was. A moment later and Vin would’ve imploded the whole ritual.
He didn’t know this type of magic, even though he had studied magic before. He could guess what it was meant to do regardless; the energy reservoir for this floor was located beneath the platform, and the Herald was attempting to hijack the connection to the World. The connection that was feeding the energy gathered on this floor directly to Moirai, healing her, and if it succeeded, the Herald would only need to alert Chaos of his location. That would alert the Great Lord and the Guiding Force, but it wouldn’t matter by then. Not only would Chaos know the location of the experiment, but it would also have another shot at Moirai, could finish the job Order started. Vin could not allow that to happen.
The Herald turned his shifting eyes of darkness on Vin, studying him. Vin could feel the power coming off of the Herald. He was incredibly powerful, far more so than most of the other Heralds Vin had faced in the past.
“Ah,” the Herald spoke. “The fates seem to be angry with me, for they’ve sent me you, Great Hunter.”
Vin tilted his head. The Herald knew enough of him to recognize him on sight. It wasn’t a surprise, as Vin was one of two spirit artists fighting for the Heart of the Mountain instead of for the Lifebringer, and they looked very different from each other.
“The fates were angry at you from the moment you sold your immortal soul,” Vin told him.
“Ah, the famed pretension of the spirit artist survives still, I see.”
“To follow the Path and forge a Way is to be certain in your own worth. Something that a being like you, who has sold their future and potential for power, can never understand. I see your soul, Herald. It writhes in agony of what you have allowed Chaos to do to it. I pity you.”
“I don’t need your pity, apostate,” the Herald hissed. “I believe in something greater than myself. I have faith; you believe in nothing. Instead, you follow a mortal pretending to be a god. But fear not—for I will make sure to usher your soul to true life.”
Vin saw the look on the Herald’s face, the distaste and hate burning deep inside the being. “It irks you, does it not? That a mortal has risen and transcended the boundaries of this reality? That we can defy your masters, that what you believe in is not truly great?”
“You are but specks in the ocean of their existence. Troublesome now, but you will end eventually, like all other things inevitably do. Chaos and Order will endure.”
“And how is Order these days? I hear…troubling things.” Vin gave the Herald a look.
“We shall have revenge for what your master dared to do,” the Herald bit out.
Vin shrugged, boring of the conversation. There was no arguing with fanatics. He inclined his head to the Herald.
“I am Kai Zhao Vin. Tell me your name, Herald of Chaos, so that I may rem
ember who it was I’ve slain,” Vin said as six massive tendrils of shadow energy grew out of his back, and on their tips, six massive blades emerged, glowing with symbols.
The Herald flicked a wrist and his entire body became encased in armor, and two mounted turrets appearing over his shoulders. A blade extended out of his forearm, glowing with red-and-black energy. A moment later, his voice echoed out of his shell. “I am Antaris Truthspeaker, Herald of Chaos. Today marks the first step in the Chaos’s victory over your insignificant resistance.”
A moment later they moved, and the ground beneath them cracked.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Avoiding the crystallized spear proved to be much harder than Morgan thought. He flew through the air, twisting one way, then another, and still he couldn’t shake it. He tried attacking it with his Energy Arrows, but nothing seemed to be capable of damaging them. Down beneath him, the Rzan had turned their attention to the ground group since all three of them in the air were occupied.
Morgan could see the massive boss behemoth hit Nesseya’s shield and send her flying into the back line of fighters. The ground group had killed many of the monsters, but he could see that with the Rzan being able to focus their power on them, they were having issues.
