Chapter 95: (Marked for Editing)
<strong>Chapter 95</strong>
Senna tried to get up on her injured leg and tripped backwards, hobbling towards the tree line to get away from the monster that’d made its presence known to the pale-faced and jittery party members not far off.
Riven was now staring at a huge, rotund cyclops. It was nearly as tall as some of trees nearby, with a brown horn protruding above its single yellow eye. Each of its two hands had three sausage-like fingers, its nose looked like it’d only partially grown out withrge slits in ce of nostrils, and its ugly, toothy grin disyed many sharpened and crooked teeth.
It didn’t wear any clothes, and was about half as wide as it was tall - with rolls of fat that jiggled with the step it took forward as it leaned in and grinned at Riven and Ethel like it’d just found its next meal. Huge muscles rippled underneath its fat, and it’d obviously been waiting in hiding for them in order to get the drop on them. “SNACK!”
<strong>[Cyclops]</strong>
“NEFAJIA CRECUS BLOOD NOVA!”
<strong>*SNAP-CRACK-BOOM*</strong>
Riven dropped the elf and the area of the forest around Riven exploded in all directions due to the initial shockwave, tearing up rock, dirt and tree alike in a boom of crimson power that lit up the forest in an eerie glow and could be heard for miles. It rocked the very earth they stood upon, and the cyclops was thrown backwards from the st going head over heels only to meet an enormous orb of condensed blood magic that expanded and tore out from Riven’s cupped hands. The orb from Blood Nova broke the sound barrier with a sonic boom and ripped into the monster like an atomic bomb, emitting a secondary thunderp of power that shook the very ground Riven stood on. Fortunately the blood mana itself bypassed the bin of his loot and the members of Riven’s party onmand, leaving them utterly unharmed other than wobbling slightly amidst the st of power despite a radiating shockwave that tore through the ground underneath them. A swarm of sharp crimson discsunched simultaneously along with a torrent of ck lightning from his staff which was floating in the air behind him and acting of its own ord. Thebination blow was utterly devastating, tearing through dirt and thick foliage along its path to m into the cyclops head on with brutal effect.
The ground was shaken and ripped from where the giant cyclops knelt and flung debris into the air; intermixing with pieces of therge cyclops body when the magic ruptured its internal organs and tore through its limbs, spine and head with deadly force in a spray of blood that looked like an enormous popping water balloon. The effect was only heightened by each of the embedded discs as the power he’d stabilized them with erupted, sending explosive shrapnel tearing through the body and across the nearby forest like a grenade to follow up the initial torrent of overwhelming power while ck lightning ripped the remnant muscles right off sets of charred bone.<strong>[Blood Nova’s mandatory 8 hour cooldown has been triggered.]</strong>
It was certainly overkill, but Riven didn’t take any chances after seeing Azmoth so easily killed like that. Pausing and evaluating the wreckage, pieces of the cyclops were scattered across the scorched earth for over a hundred yards. A handy there, a portion of its skull further ahead, a charred femur off to his right.
But the majority of the corpsey as a disassembled and shattered skeleton: smoking in the sunlight where the trees had been uprooted or torn away not far off.
He coughed, grimacing due to the sunlight that was now hitting him full on after the shockwave had blown his hood back. He promptly pulled his hood back down, then made sure the others were ok.
They were in shock, but they were all fine.
A sack of coins appeared out of thin air,nding on the beast, but he didn’t pay it much attention due to the severe headache he suddenly had after expending so much mana at once.
He walked ahead, came to a stop next to the fried cyclops and kicked it once for his own satisfaction - only to notice that its yellow eye had not been entirely destroyed. In its ce, within the majority of the skull that still remained after the attack, there was a small green orb that’d been left there.
He reached over, feeling the residual heat from his attack - and grasped the orb to pull it closer for examination.
<strong>[Cyclops Eye Stone: Ingredient for various crafts. Potential Effects: ???, ???, ???]</strong>
Huh. Interesting.
He tossed the green eye stone over Senna, who was gaping at him in bewilderment, and itnded in the bin of loot not far off.
“Everyone ok?”
He looked around again. Even Fay was somewhat awestruck at the disy of power, and she began to smile when she more thoroughly evaluated the devastation around them.
“Wow. You’re improving really fast.” the subus muttered slowly. “The time I spent watching you from theher realms… I thought you were a fast learner, but this? This is an insane amount of growth in such a short time. I didn’t even have a chance to do anything.”
Ethel, Dr. Brass, and Senna were still just open-mouthed and gawking. It only took a secondter and Ath rushed into the clearing at blinding speed, swiftly stopped in front of the destruction with chest heaving up and down frantically. The demoness quickly caught sight of his injuries and ran over to him, inspecting his body for anything serious andughing. “Sorry I’mte! Did Azmoth die?! Damn it! Resurrections are expensive!”
Riven sighed and scratched the back of his head, looking at the bin of shit he’d now have to lug around. “Yeah. And now we’re going to need to wait for him to respawn so we can haul our stuff again. Even with my increased strength, that thing is too heavy for me to carry around all over the ce. Those coins weigh a lot.”
***
They had to make camp that night in the forest at the base of the mountains. After realizing the extent of Riven’s exhaustion from that mana expenditure, and not having fully recovered from his previous fights with the dream creatures, it’d been a no brainer. Ethel even came to check on him once, hobbling over and clutching at her bandaged stump arm with a look of concern.
“Is he going to be alright?” the elf asked Ath and Fay,ing back from relieving herself in the forest and stepping over a log. Meanwhile Dr. Brass and Senna talked on the other side about varieties of elvish dishes native to Senna’s home.
Ath had Riven’s head in herp, gently brushing her fingers through Riven’s hair while he lightly let his chest rise and fall. He was so out of it that he was even drooling into her leg. She gave a soft smile, wiped the drool away without waking him and bent over further to adjust his shirt. “Riven’s going to be alright. He’s tough.”
Ethel sat herself down on a log they’d dragged over, feelingfortable in the warmth of the night with Ath’s webs encircling their encampment for dozens of yards in any direction to alert the demoness if enemies were approaching. In this new world there were far more monsters than her old one, and that wasn’t even counting the goblins that’d been dropped into their immediate area.
The young woman crossed her ankles and let her feet warm up next to the fire, wincing slightly when her stump on the left arm brushed a little too hard against the ground while trying to adjust her sitting position. Her ankle still hurt from when she sprained it recently, but it could be worse. She could be dead, being destined to be chopped liver for some disgusting goblin tribe to feed on. “You said there wasn’t magic in Riven’s world, right Ath?”
The arshakai demoness nodded absentmindedly, still ying with Riven’s hair as he slept. “Why?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
There was a long pause.
“Because that magic Riven demonstrated today, and back in the hospital: it was very powerful. The leveling system is new to me, to my people, but magic is not. I know it takes a very long time to develop that kind of power and cultivation of one’s magical prowess.”
Another long pause ensued, with Ath curiously staring the blonde, slender elf down with a cool gaze as her red eyes locked onto her. The crackling of the fire continued to let plumes of smoke rise into the starry night sky, and Ethel adjusted ufortably again under the scrutiny of Riven’s demon.
“We’ve only been here since the integration. It’s been a little over two months by my guess.”
Ethel slowly nodded, shifting her gaze away from Ath to stare at the fire where it ate away at the branches and logs they’d piled up in the middle of their camp. She gave a nce to Fay, who was loungingzily nearby and looking up at the stars, but the subus made noment even despite obviously listening in.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Ethel swallowed. “I just wanted to hear it again. It just doesn’t make sense to me, even with the leveling system. Some of our more aplished people went through tutorials or unique starter events of their own just like Riven did. Not many, but some. None of them came out like this… If I may ask, do you know what Riven’s affinities are?”
Ath paused the brushing of Riven’s hair and sped her hands in front of her on Riven’s rising chest. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Ethel’s blue-green eyes slowly shifted over to the arachnoid woman. Still slightly nervous in the demoness’ presence, Ethel could tell that Ath likely knew exactly what she was talking. “It must be high, and he must have at least two of them from what I’ve seen. Blood and Unholy I think? Prettymon for a vampire.”
A light and pure chuckle escaped Ath’s lips with a brilliantly white smile that danced on the corners of her mouth amidst the firelight. She grabbed something to her left. Then in her hand, she held up some of the ash that Azmoth’s body had turned into after his temporary death, and she let it flow out into the breeze when the winds picked up - carrying the ashes high up into the treetops. “Fine. Oh I know what they are all right. It’s why I originally presented myself to Riven in the first ce, during that odd little event he was a part of. I’m still curious about who or what Chalgathi is, but regardless - I am d to have hit such a jackpot of a master.”
“Agreed.” Fay stated casually, clicking her tongue and swatting the ground with her long ck tail.
Ath’s smile grew wider at the looks of confusion or curiosity disyed not only on Ethel’s countenance, but also on Senna, and Dr. Brass. “And that was even before I realized he was a pureblood vampire.”
Senna’s eyes abruptly widened. “Pureblood? I thought they were extinct?”
Ath shot the silver-haired elf a disdainful look. The demoness was constantly shifting between showing the two elves kindness and disgust - an internal battle waging between how she’d been raised as a demon to despise mortals as lesser creatures, and the experiences she’d witnessed in the short time with her first and new master. Internally willing herself to draw in the repulsion she felt for the girl across the firepit for being a fae creature of all things, she took in a deep breath and reminded herself that Riven had gone out of his way to save these pathetic women. “Pureblooded vampires are certainly not extinct, they exist in rare quantities though. Usually you’ll find them in ancient families of vampire royalty within the core worlds… the worlds integrated earliest into Elysium’s multiverse many millions of years ago.”
“Then what’s a pureblooded vampire doing here? Is that why his eyes are different from the other vampires I’ve heard of?” Senna curiously nced at Fay when the subus snickered. “What’s so funny?”
The subus didn’t answer.
Ath let out a long burp, but covered her mouth when Riven started to stir. He didn’t wake, and her body rxed a bit as she went back to ying with his hair. “Anyways… regarding your question, Ethel: I don’t think it’d hurt to let you know. It isn’t damaging information, and I suppose Riven would probably tell you on his own… but let me ask you this. What do your people have in terms of affinities?”
“What do we have?” Ethel queried.
“Yes. What types of magics and what do you think your average affinity would be as a percentage? In your vige, or tribe, or whatever it is you mortals call it.”
Ethel blinked, then proudly smiled and puffed her chest out. “Our n is known for Forest and Storm affinities. Of course, in order to get those major sub-pirs we have arge majority of our people having affinities to the Fae Foundational Pir. Senna, what do you think the average affinity would be? 32 or 33 percent?”
Senna also swelled with pride. “Yes, some people in our n have affinities in the Forest pir as high as 49%.”
Dr. Brass curiously raised a hand. “Is that high?”
“Very high!” Ethel replied excitedly. “I myself have a Forest affinity of 28%, which is pretty good! Below average for our n, but overall suitable for apetent ranger, beast tamer, mage or shaman. Otherwise I have a 12% Fae pir affinity, which isn’t great but it couldnd me an ability if I took a decade to study enough from our elders. I haven’t selected my ss yet, but we did have sses back in our world too. Back then it just helped orient your studies and gave t bonuses, with the system guiding us in how we saw the world and experienced the dao insights we happened upon. sses seem to be more important now though, because leveling exists now and they give stat points for every level. Better sses means more progress for each level, therefore more power, so I’m hoping to get a better ss option soon. Otherwise I might really be an alchemist like my mother has been telling me to do for years!”
Senna snorted with amusement while picking at a piece of gran bar they’d taken from the hospital - shoving it into her mouth and chewing in contemtion. “That’s certainly be something to see. You’ve been a rebel all your life Ethel, I’d pay good money to see you ditch the adventuring life.”
<em>“Well it isn’t like I’ve got the odds on my side!”</em> Ethel snapped back irritably, waving her stump arm around before sagging her shoulders apologetically. “Eh… Sorry, didn’t mean to yell at you.”
“It’s fine, I’d be upset too. So Ath, you never did say what Riven’s affinities were. Does he have pirs for all of his affinities yet? I’ve been curious myself, it’s way too early to be that strong if he just started cultivating his magic. ”
Ath shook her head and shared a look with the blue-skinned woman nearby, exchanging knowing smiles. “He hasn’t collected all of his pirs, not yet.”
“Oh. Just some of them then. How high are they?”
Dr. Brass held up a hand to interject. “Why does it matter and what do affinities mean?”
<strong>*CRASH*</strong>
There was a sh of green light further into the forest and the sound of splintering wood. They all turned to look past theyers of webbing Ath had set up across the trees. Out there, beyond the perimeter, one of Fay’s sigils had been triggered. Out of the darkness the front paw of a warg bounced along the ground, showing just what hade a little bit too close to the camp for its own good, and causing Fay to wordlessly get up and walk out of the camp to remake the sigil that’d been undone.
Ath raised an eyebrow at the departing blue subus - then turned to the old man, light from the fire dancing along her pitch ck skin. “Affinites directly affect the chance to receive ability cooldowns, the power output you can reach for every point of given energy spent on an ability, the speed at which you can use enact those abilities, the maniption of abilities to do things other than the rigid outline the system sets for you, and the ability at which you learn things under the umbre of a given pir. Essentially having a higher affinity for a pir will allow you to control or learn magic, miracles or martial arts in that pir far better than if that affinity were lower. As for Riven’s affinities…”
Ath, being Riven’s minion, had ess to his status page and scrolled down to where it described his pir percentages.<ul><li><strong>100% affinity to the Blood Pir, 96% Affinity to the Shadow Pir, and 95% Affinity to the Death Pir. The Unholy Pir is unaffected by this change and remains at its original state of 80%. The Infernal Pir is unaffected by this change and remains at its original state of 82%.</strong></li></ul>
Funnily enough, the subpirs of Chaos and Depravity were not listed to tell Ath what their affinity levels were. That was alright though, perhaps he just didn’t have them, but she doubted that was the case. His affinity for the foundational Unholy pir was too high not to have them. Perhaps there was some other reason that she was missing, but in the end they’d find out regardless. Usually a status page didn’t do this at all, and someone had to get an identifier to read off a percentage for them, but for some reason Riven’s vampiric lineage actually informed them what these percentages were.
A smug smirk crept back over Ath’s lips and she just shook her head slightly. “Natural born vampires usually have affinities for the Unholy, Death, Blood and Shadow pirs. It is intrinsically part of what they are. Changed vampires though, they can oftentimesck the Unholy foundational pir as the vampiric transition only passes down the other three. Kind of an enigma that one.”
“So which ones does Riven have then? Obviously he has the Unholy pir, everyone has at least one affinity, but does he have any of the sub-pirs?”
“He has all four of the typical vampiric affinities plus the Infernal Pir. I also suspect he might have the Chaos and Depravity subpirs as well, though that is not confirmed yet.”
Ethel raised her eyebrows in avid surprise. “Oh! Oh wow. He seriously has five affinities? I’ve never even heard of that happening before… I don’t think ever. I only have Fae and Forest.”
“What are his percentages?” Senna, asked, slightly more intrigued.
“Let’s just say they’re all above 50%.”
Both elves stared nkly at Ath, then turned to look at where Riven was still exhausted and sleeping from the expenditure of mana after the fight earlier that day. In an instant, both elves started berating Ath with questions and asking more about Riven’s origins.
“You’re telling us the truth?” Ethel questioned seriously, eyebrows furrowed and peering over half-skeptically and half in awe. “That’s incredible! That also exins why he’s so strong after so little time…”
“He learned how to conjure those spinning discs of razor des within two days of study.” Ath chimed in, pride evident in the way she raised her chin. She held up 2 fingers. “Two days to learn his very first spell.”
Ethel narrowed her eyes. “No, you’re lying. That’s impossible.”
“She’s not lying, I watched it happen.” Fay’s voice called out before the subus swayed her hips back and forth into the encampment again,ing to sit cross-legged next to Ath’s position. She rested her head on her fists and leaned forward to better look at the fire. “Riven is, simply put, a genius when ites to understanding magic. Perhaps not in other areas, but when it concerns mana he''s an absolute prodigy surpassing anything I''ve ever seen before. Couple that with his insanely high affinities and this is what you''ve got. I’ve been watching him since the Chalgathi trials. What Ath says is true.”
Dr. Brass scratched his chin, trying to make sense of all this new information. Meanwhile both elves exchanged nces with one another, not sure if they should believe the two demons, but it was Ath who spoke next.
“You’re the subus that he could have picked in his trials.” She turned her head to meet Fay’s gaze. “Aren’t you?”
Fay remained silent for a time, but eventually nodded her confirmation. “They were the best Earth had to offer.”
“You would have sacrificed all of your levels to acquire one?” Ath asked curiously.
Fay nodded again. “Obviously. Just look at how much you''ve grown already, and it''s been less than 3 months.”
This very much confused Ethel, and the injured elf raised her stump arm and waved it around to get their attention. “Hey, uhm, what are you talking about? What are these trials you’re talking about, and who are you talking about when you say they were the ‘best’ Earth had to offer?”
Fay let out a lightheartedugh, then repositioned herself and kicked her long, sky-blue legs to the side - adjusting her clothes and brushing off dirt from her exposed abdomen. “The unique event we talked to you about earlier concerning Earth’s integration… Well there were many unique events. But the one that I was interested in was Chalgathi’s Trials. They had all of the people on Earth who inherited unholy bloodlines present, and they were therefore the best candidates for acquiring new masters. I would have lost some of my abilities and all of my acquired levels to participate, but obtaining a master with an unholy bloodline would mean my potential for growth skyrocketed. Riven was one of the people I picked out Early as a good candidate, and back then when he chose Ath instead of me - I decided to wait. I waited to try and get the next opening. Then Azmoth came along and I had to wait some more, but demons have very long lives and I am patient. Thest and only master I had kept me as a ything for over 300 years. In that time I grew only 20 levels, but with Riven? I expect to far surpass that number in less than half a year… as long as he survives.”
"He''s going to survive." Ath stated tly.
Fay could only smile. "That is my intended n as well."