Chapter 74 – Godmarked (Patreon)

“We would be allies then, I take it,” Luke said.

The Dragon gave him an odd look. “In the loosest of definitions. I would like to consider us… friends.”

That surprised Luke. He tried the thought on for size. “I could do with a friend,” Luke told him, extending his hand.

The Dragon looked at him, a faint tension bleeding out of his shoulders. Had he been unsure of Luke’s response? He certainly seemed more relaxed as he stuck out his own hand and gripped Luke’s forearm tightly.

Once they released, the Dragon palmed something into Luke’s hand. It was a small, incredibly heavy scale the size and shape of a guitar pick. It took all of his Strength to stop his wrist from buckling and dropping the thing.

He stared at it. Stars and nebulae whirled within the glassy scale. A window into the cosmic heavens. “This is…?”

Yind sniffed at the scale. The air rushed by, pulling at the edges of his cloak and the Dragon’s suit. It nearly toppled Luke over.

“One of my scales, yes,” the Dragon confirmed.

Luke closed his fingers over the scale. He did what now came naturally: instilling mana. The rush of otherworldly power seared his flesh and electrified his bones. It felt like an eternity as his body absorbed the Boon the Dragon had given him.

For a few moments he felt light as air, floating above the ground, then heavy as a neutron star as he collapsed painfully to his knees.

Bloodline Expanded: [Mark of the Shadow Lord]

Bloodlines form the basis of many great Guilds and Sects, even entire Empires. Even among those, yours is exceptional. A Precursor Bloodline, one not seen for eons and unable to be passed on from its original creators due to corruption. The Mark of the Shadow Lord has found its new home in you. Now granted the gravity-wielding powers of a near-extinct clan of dragons. Enhances extrasensory awareness within shadow. Grants the bloodline skill [Eyes of the Dragon]. Grants moderate control over shadows and the creation of gravity wells. Enhances reflexes and reaction times. +7% Dexterity, +7% Strength.

Bloodline skill gained: [Eyes of the Dragon (Crude)]

By infusing your eyes with Dunamis, you can temporarily take upon the gaze of an Elder Dragon. Through whose eyes you can now see the weavings of Fate and the flow of Dunamis itself. +10% Perception.

Boon gained: [Proud Bearing (Legendary)]

The Discordant Dragon, unseen from the land of the living for at least an age, has offered you a boon of unprecedented power. By sharing his power and heritage, your Destinies have become entangled, marking an end to his self-imposed exile. Grants the [Godmarked] title. The power of your skills is now enhanced by your Fate. Creatures whose levels are below your Fate cannot read your Destiny or examine you. +25 Fate, +15% Fate, +10% Arcane.

Title earned: [Godmarked]

A life of devout living and constant prayer in service to a god is one of the only ways to get a Blessing or the rarer and more powerful Boon. You, however, have done something few throughout the course of history have managed. You befriended a god. However, the Boon you receive is a double-edged sword. Many will hate you and hunt you for simply possessing a Boon. That is why those few Godmarked souls are enhanced to survive the slings and arrows of their enemies. +20 Vitality, +12% Vitality, +10 Fortitude, +6% Fortitude.

Luke’s eyes burned, and as he got to his knees and looked up at the Discordant Dragon, he was nearly blinded by the incandescent power wrapped around the humanoid figure he could just make out within.

Squinting and looking elsewhere, Luke could see rope-thick trails of sparkling Dunamis flow throughout the universe, converging on two points of incomprehensible power.

The well, stolen from time and placed where none but the Discordant Dragon could reach it, and the Dragon himself.

Just as quickly as it overcame him, the burning behind his eyes vanished and the world drained of beauty and wonder until it looked almost drab and boring.

“You’ll get used to it,” the Dragon said, looking down at him. “Though I must say, I did not expect you to get the eyes. That was not my intent.” He glanced up and down at Luke. “Then again, your Marks combined with your unnatural Fate… well, I suppose it was inevitable.”

Luke took the offered hand and got to his feet, feeling a little wobbly. The Dragon steadied him before letting go. “Be careful,” he told Luke. “I meant what I said about even my own disciples going insane. If you weren’t keeping your powers under wraps before, do it now. There are some nasty people out there that will do anything to steal bloodline powers, much less Precursor powers of any sort.”

“Duly noted, though I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to hide them. A lot of people already seem to want to kill me,” Luke said, rubbing his eyes. Though he wanted to see the world in all its beauty again, the [Eyes of the Dragon] skill used an incredible amount of Dunamis.

He needed to rank up to truly and effectively tap into the skill’s potential. Its crude-rarity sure wasn’t doing him any favors. He had a very nascent control and understanding over [Eyes of the Dragon].

“Since we’re friends,” Luke said, straining himself to speak. “I should at least know your name, yeah?”

The Discordant Dragon chuckled. “I am Du’sat.”

Yind bumped her head affectionately into Du’sat then Luke.

Luke concentrated on his breathing, taking in Dunamis to replenish his exhausted stores. As he began to feel more clearheaded, he marveled over his expanded bloodline, his new bloodline skill, his legendary boon, and the [Godmarked] title.

Altogether, they amounted to an immense rise in power all at once.

Each one granted a substantial improvement to his stats. The increase to his Vitality put Luke’s HP back on par with his MP.

He could feel the fundamental change in his stats already.

If what both Du’sat and the System said were true, Luke needed as much survivability as he could get. Neither his class nor his profession naturally provided much.

And with the [Proud Bearing] boon, Fate was more important than ever. It directly enhanced the power of all his skills and doubled down on it by adding a percentile boost to his Fate, along with granting a flat 25 points.

With the enhancement to his bloodline, what used to be just 5% Dexterity was now a 7% boost. Additionally, it granted a 7% boost to Strength as well. If he broke his bloodline down into two halves, it seemed to Luke that Dexterity was the shadow half of his bloodline, and Strength was the gravity half of it.

“I have to admit, I’m eager to try all these new abilities out,” Luke said. “Thank you, by the way.”

“Ah, is that a little gratitude, I spy? Well, wonders never cease! But just between you and me, it wasn’t entirely my own doing,” Du’sat said. “Your Marks and Fate dramatically shape what you attain.”

“It’s too bad I have little time left in the assessment test, and hardly any LP.”

Du’sat folded his arms behind his back. He looked to the side, his golden eyes narrowing at what he saw. There was nothing there but the well to Luke.

It seemed like the Dragon was looking at some faraway place. “It hasn’t been going well for the First Wave. Once you mucked everything up and then left like a guest who clogs up the toilet and leaves the party early, they’ve been struggling with the fallout of various synchronistic fated events ever since.”

Luke stared at him. “In English?”

The Dragon rolled his golden eyes. “Your appearance is an oddity and it set off certain events that, had you not been pulled into a dungeon for so long, would have been your events to deal with. Considering that you were nowhere to be found, said events precipitated without you, pulling in nearby actors–that is to say, other interns–to try to fulfill your role. Spoiler alert: it hasn’t gone well for them.”

“Break it down a bit more for me, please. What events? Is there something I can do?”

“That would be telling,” the Dragon said, wagging an admonishing finger at him. With a wave of his hand, an opulent door appeared nearby. “You only have to go through that door to be back in the assessment.” He mimed checking his wrist, which had no watch. “You have a little more than a day left by the time you reach it.”

Luke and Du’sat spoke a little longer. There wasn’t much the god could reveal to him, especially since he was intending on returning to the multiverse and would have to answer to the System for any transgressions, but he imparted what wisdom he could.

Mostly they talked about Yindferl, the best ways to take care of a shadow drake, and a subtle threat that Luke better treat her right. The conversation steered toward a bit of their pasts. Considering Luke knew so much about Du’sat’s, it seemed fair to share some of his.

And then it was time to leave.

Time worked oddly in Du’sat’s domain. It didn’t stop entirely, but it wasn’t nearly as fast as it should have been. Which gave Luke a final moment of reprieve before he and Yindferl stepped through the door and into the whistling, empty expanse of the sewers.

Luke took one step forward, away from the flat stone wall that had turned into a dungeon entrance. His heart skipped a beat. Where he expected a narrow corridor, Luke now found his foot dangling over the darkness of a 100-foot-plus drop.

Yindferl, much larger than Luke, stepped forward and, with a strangled yelp, plummeted into the darkness below.

Luke called out to her, dismissing her before she could hit the bottom and was relieved–and terrified–to see the figurine appear in the air before him.

With his enhanced Dexterity, scooping it out before gravity had a chance to pull it down was a simple affair, but it was still frightening. Balancing on his heels, Luke put the figurine away.

There was less than a foot of crumbling stone remaining of the cramped corridor that should have been there.

Observe, orient, decide, act, Luke repeated the mantra as he scanned both ways. Something had happened to this area, that much was sure. The sewers were in shambles. Either a massive earthquake or some other high-powered event shattered the stone rooms and corridors that laced this area.

Far below, Luke could just make out an actinic white glare of some sort of torch banishing the shadows. Without thinking of what he was doing, Luke leaned out and touched the wall to his side with his fingertips.

Acting entirely on autopilot, dark blue shadows formed between his fingers and the stone, adhering himself to them as firmly as if he had a solid grip on a handlebar.

There were figures scrambling far, far below. As his eyes adjusted more to the darkness, Luke saw dozens of bodies littered about on what looked like some circular platform. The brilliant white torch was positioned above a door that was nearly impossible to see.

Like trying to look past the high beams of a trucker, Luke’s considerable night vision was effectively ruined. The hole was too large for his shadow senses to penetrate all the way down.

Whatever had caused this was hopefully long gone. Luke found himself interested in meeting whatever–or whoever–was capable of such destruction.

If this was what the assessment was like on the final day, he wondered if it would be prudent to find somewhere to hole up. Luke immediately dismissed the thought as cowardly and, above all, boring. That was the way he would have thought before the assessment.

He wasn’t that pragmatic weakling anymore.

Maybe there’s something worthwhile to hunt, Luke thought with a grin.

He couldn’t see very well from his position, so he leaned over a little more. Awareness of what he was doing dawned, and his concentration was broken. His tiny tether of gravity between his fingertips and the wall dissolved, and Luke tumbled forward into the yawning abyss of darkness below.