Aster Fall, Ch 46: A Path of His Own (Patreon)

The plaza was silent as snowflakes drifted down, covering the corpses that were scattered across it. Many of them landed on Sam, layering him in white. As the snow gathered, it flowed around his body, slowly lifting him up. Before long, it was a foot deep.

Sam lay on top of it, his body covered in streaks of blood, shards of bone, and mottled ash. The white light of a healing scroll still flickered over him, slowly sealing the major wounds closed.

“Urrgghh....” The sound was muttered as he coughed, half-conscious, and spat out a dark mouthful of clotted blood. One of the strikes must have hit his lungs.

There was a stab of pain in his side from where a bone spear had got him, along with a dull, sizzling ache in his muscles. His veins felt hot and swollen. The incessant itching as he healed woke him up the rest of the way.

He fumbled a new healing scroll out of his belt pouch and activated it as he rolled onto his back, staring up at the night sky. A new surge of healing light poured through his body, along with an increasing ache that told him he’d used too much magical healing recently.

It would take a while to recover.

Time blurred as Caelus crossed the sky, heading for the western horizon. It felt like an hour, but based on the moon’s position, it was at least three before he felt strong enough to stand up. There were only a few hours until sunrise.

Whatever curses the Icebloods had used, they’d done a number on him, but the ill effects had been burned away by his aura and the healing scrolls. He had to wonder if their magic was some part of the Path of Blood, with the way they’d drawn on the energy of the dead monsters, but based on their reaction to his elemental manipulation, perhaps that path was something else entirely.

Who exactly was the Demon of Shattered Skies? Or the other two? And why had the shamans referred to her as a goddess? He shook his head, pushing the thoughts aside.

Even if they had a culture with that demon at the top, the shamans hadn’t hesitated to murder one another for gain. As far as he was concerned, they were all insane and that was the end of it. What he had to do now was clean up this area and then see where his father and the reinforcements were. It was past time to close the Flaw and clear out the ruins.

“Do you see the reinforcements in the ruins?” he asked, looking down at the Guardian Star. Perhaps it could find them with the help of the relic.

Affirmative. The star’s voice was calm, with no indication that it was worried about his condition. Perhaps it lacked sympathy or maybe it just knew he would survive.

There are three forces approaching from the east and southeast that fit the description Lenei gave. Each group has twenty to thirty members with most of them between Levels 60 and 90. Each of them is led by an individual around Level 120.

“Hopefully, that’ll be enough,” Sam muttered. He was all for leaning on the church to carry out its mission, as long as they didn’t cause him any trouble. “What do the forces at the Grand Flaw look like?”

The relic’s awareness of specific details near the Flaw is distorted. That area is very badly damaged.

“So, we don’t know how many are there,” he concluded, “but it has to be more than what was here.”

Your logic is sound.

Sam looked around the plaza, waiting for the healing scroll to finish its work as he located the corpses and chunks of monsters beneath the snow. As he did, he couldn’t hold back a building frustration.

All the auras had dissipated!

He growled as he clenched his hands into the snow, but unfortunately, there was no getting them back. With a bit better planning, he wouldn’t have passed out like that. His head was clear now that the battle had ended and he frowned as he remembered the star’s advice about his Charisma.

Perhaps he did need to add more to that...but it had been satisfying to rip the Outsiders apart with his bare hands.

An echo of battlelust passed through his body, along with a sharp ache reminding him of what it had cost, both in terms of injuries and in materials. He muttered a curse and spat toward the corpses of the Outsiders as he pushed it out of his mind.

There were always more monsters in Aster Fall.

When the scroll finished its work, he pushed himself to his feet and then began to work his way unsteadily around the area, pulling strands of experience from every chunk he could find. He wasn’t sure how the World Law determined which part of a corpse had experience and which didn’t, but there was always one piece that had it.

Usually the one with the core in it.

He spent a while collecting those and ended up with 23 cores, along with the other most valuable materials, which made him feel a bit better. Elite-tier materials were useful for enchanting or selling, and this many at once was a significant gain.

The experience built up in a familiar silver aura and he felt the weight of the World Law’s attention, but he ignored it as he turned toward the far side of the plaza where the Iceblood corpses had been hurled.

They were shattered figures, their gangly bodies torn apart by the fury of the storm. His talons lashed out toward them as he called to their essence, tearing it from the pieces that remained.

A storm of pale blue and red essence stars swarmed up like fireflies, flaring against the dark as they shot towards him. As they approached, their color turned to bright, sapphire blue and sank into his veins like a balm.

Everywhere the essence passed, the swelling that was in his blood and meridians faded, replaced by a cold joy and the energy of battle. His tendons and meridians writhed, expanding in an instant as they grew stronger, and his muscles became more defined.

From the six shamans, there were over eleven hundred essence stars.

Essence Constellation (First Layer): 2,571 / 2,500.

It was just enough to push him to the Second Layer. As the stars flooded through his blood, they filled all the remaining areas in the constellation there, marking out a shining, star-flecked rune in three dimensions.

The remaining stars swirled upward, layering themselves into new positions on top of it as they began to mark out the edges of another rune. Or perhaps it was an extension of the first.

Essence Constellation (Second Layer): 2,571 / 7,500.

New strength flooded through him as the stars aligned, and then he felt the energy of the first layer condense, surging through his veins. The world around him snapped into sharp relief, with new details of the elements flaring in his mind.

Your Racial Ability: Elemental Manipulation has reached the Advanced Tier.

The World Law’s voice echoed in his mind, confirming the improvement. Then it continued, announcing the rest of what he’d just absorbed.

Attribute Gain Quantified by Aster Fall Standard.

Strength increased by 10.

Constitution increased by 12.

Agility increased by 3.

Intelligence increased by 14.

Aura increased by 14.

The surge of strength continued, boiling with a raging, hot desire for battle. For a moment, he felt his mind going blank, flowing away on that tide. Then, some sense of self pulled him back together.

At the same time, the Guardian Star’s voice rang in his mind. It wasn’t words, but rather a clear, chiming bell that brought him back to awareness.

Guardian, be aware of your Charisma. The effect of essence on your spirit is increasing.

Sam scrubbed his hand over his face as he shook himself, trying to settle his spirit as the changes continued. His horns grew a bit longer and thicker, his meridians became wider and more durable, and his skin and bones hardened under the effect of the new Constitution.

His overall build didn’t change much, only becoming more refined, but it felt like he was gliding in the air as he moved.

At that moment, the World Law’s next announcement chimed in his mind as a wave of experience flooded into him.

Congratulations, Guardian. You have used your Class skills to eliminate the enemies of Aster Fall.

You gain 15,700,000 Class experience.

You have gained three Class levels. You are now a Level 78 Battlefield Reclaimer.

Total Experience: 46,209,990 / 49,500,000

You have gained three General Levels. You are now Level 78.

Total Experience: 46,242,740 / 49,500,000

You gain +3 Intelligence, +3 Aura, and have nine free attribute points to assign.

The silvery, dancing bubbles of experience hit his blood in an entirely different way than the battlelust a moment before. These were astral music, their movements the echo of the celestial spheres.... His mind wandered, shaking under the force.

Flashes of the Nexus, his dreams, and the stars in the void beyond the skies fluttered through his mind, accompanied by the weight of the World Law’s attention and the roiling tide.

Then it settled and he staggered, falling back on the snow as battlelust and joy warred in his veins, each of them trying to claim the territory. His mind spun with dizziness as he was battered between the two forces like a wandering spirit trapped between two giant worlds.

Then it passed as the energy became his own, but his mind was still spinning.

Without hesitating, he took all nine of the new attribute points and placed them all into Charisma, pushing it to 49. As the changes took place, he felt his features itching again. The strength of his personality soared, pushing its way up between the two forces.

Almost instantly, he felt his mind clearing. His perception of himself and his own desires sharpened as his sense of self became stronger. He gave it a moment to settle in, and then he glanced at his attributes, calculating what had just happened.

The gain from essence and the levels had pushed his Intelligence and Aura both to 192, which meant that for a moment his Charisma had been around 20% of his essence. With the increase to 49, it was just a hair above 25%.

He frowned. He hadn’t liked the feeling of being battered between forces. The Guardian Star’s assessment had been accurate. Even when he’d spent all of his free points on Charisma, it was still barely enough.

If he fought Outsiders constantly...it was possible for it to get out of control. Perhaps that was why Outsiders were so insane.

Maybe there were good-looking demons because they needed Charisma to try and keep their minds together...and the ugly ones were the most insane of all.

He muttered to himself as he made some plans to put more into Charisma as soon as possible. The attribute gains from essence were massively higher than his levels right now, especially as the experience requirement soared.

He was going to have to hunt a lot of monsters in the future until he balanced it out, and gave himself some buffer, since they didn’t have essence.

Despite the problem, he was still pleased with his gains from the trap. On top of that, the first layer of the ruins was clear for now, which meant it was a fallback point if needed.

He accessed the Guardian Star’s map, locating the church forces. From the look of it, there were adventurers and other groups scattered all across the ruins. Without the star to help, he would have been hard pressed to find those three teams. Only their size really made them stand out.

They were in the old twelfth layer, two below his father, as they approached from the direction of Highfold. If they were efficient, they would be able to join forces within a day, although they would have to cut around the southern slope of the mountain. Hopefully, Lenei was with them to make the meeting easy. Sam rubbed his chin as he studied the path down.

The Grand Flaw was on the seventh layer, but it was off to the south, nearly the same distance from him as his father. It was also blocking the only usable path between them, unless he jumped down from layer to layer, but there were several steep cliffs in the way.

The other flaws were scattered between the eleventh and sixth layers. He tapped his talons on his thigh as he examined them all. Three of them were on the side toward Highfold, but there were two that were on the western slopes of the mountain, including the most distant one.

They needed to close all of the lesser flaws and then push on to the Grand Flaw, which meant the easiest thing to do would be to divide their teams until they reached it. That hadn't been his initial plan, since he'd wanted to close the Flaws with the help of the reinforcements....but if he could take out the smaller flaws to the west by himself, and then meet the others at the Grand Flaw, it would save time.

If the church forces tried to get to those two, they would have to pass the Grand Flaw on the way. The only other route was for them to circle around the mountain to the north, which would take days, and time was valuable when they were trying to make sure the Outsiders didn’t escape.

His father was probably asleep right now, but once the sun rose, he’d talk to him. With the right coordination, perhaps they could surround the Grand Flaw and reach it at the same time. It just meant that he’d have to take out those two on his own.

He looked up at Caelus, marking out the remaining time until dawn, and then his hand dropped to his belt pouch as he considered how much he could get done. If nothing else, he needed to replace the core in his ring and make a few more healing scrolls.

Before long, everything on the mountain was going to be embroiled in battle.

---

The sun rose on the first layer, highlighting the doorway of the house where Sam was working. His hands were flying as he inscribed another scroll. He’d replaced the shattered core in his ring and meditated to restore his essence. Now, he was working on his fourth healing scroll.

The trap and moonlight runes were bright in his mind, the first real connection he had to the core enchantment, but they were tiny flecks within the grand design. He could feel there were other moon runes in there too.

After this battle, hopefully he’d have time to study it, along with a safe place for his family to settle down. Siwaha was probably willing to let them stay with her, but he didn’t feel like the Ice Sylph village was safe enough, even with her strength.

He wanted a place of his own.

A little while later, he put away the sixth healing scroll, which was the last he had time to make. The church forces had paused for part of the night and now were on the move again, heading to meet up with his father.

He touched the amulet on his chest, reaching out for the connection to his father, as he described his idea to split up the teams. He deliberately skipped over the battle he’d just gone through, as well as how injured he’d been.

He didn’t want him to worry.

He also didn’t say much about the ruins, especially not about the Moonlight Relic. That was a secret he would share with his family soon, but only with them. He’d make sure a privacy ward was as strong as possible and that nothing could be overheard.

News about someone understanding the ruins or an ancient relic coming to life was not something to let out into the world. He didn’t want anyone coming to bother him in his new house.

“I don’t like it, Sam,” Jeric growled. It sounded like he was chewing on a stone as he considered what Sam was saying. “Let’s just wait for the church forces and then we can meet up. Lenei should be here later today, and then we can figure out a plan of attack. Dividing up isn’t smart.”

“We need to get rid of all the flaws,” Sam reminded him, “so the Outsiders can’t escape through them. Otherwise, we’ll just have trouble later.”

“I’m sure the church can figure out a plan to deal with it all,” Jeric said. Sam could hear him shaking his head. “You just sit tight and we’ll come up there and find you. You haven’t had any trouble yet, have you? It’s been clear up there on the peak?”

“Ahh, no...” Sam hesitated. “No trouble at all. Just a few small monsters.”

The silence from his father was loaded with meaning. As he pulled up the image of the temple he was in, he could see him frowning, his hand touching the amulet as he stared up toward the peak of the mountain. It looked like he was wrestling with saying something, but after a moment, he decided against it.

“Just make sure to stay safe,” he said slowly, “and don’t take unnecessary risks. Your mother and sister are depending on us to make it back. We’re here to take care of business, not out to get killed.”

Sam winced. His father’s treatment of him had changed over the past half year and it wasn’t the lecture it would have been before, but old memories die hard. Now, there was concern and a hope that he would be alright. There was frustration as well, because he couldn’t be there to help him.

In some ways, that was even worse, but there was no way he was going to tell his father about his plan to kill everything on the way down to the sixth layer or that he was still planning to take out those two flaws.

If he didn’t do that, not only would there be flaws for the Outsiders to retreat through, there would be a wave of monsters from the west that could pour down onto the Grand Flaw.

They had to clear their side and he had to clear his if they wanted a clean battle at the end. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to be as safe as his father would prefer.

“I’ll be as safe as I can,” he answered, before asking a few other questions to get up to speed on current events.

When their conversation ended, he glanced up at the rising sun. It was a bit past dawn now, and if he wanted to get down to the closest flaw at the same time as the church forces got to theirs...that gave him a day, at most.

“How many enemies are between here and the flaw on the sixth layer?” he asked the Guardian Star as he looked over the map, searching for the best path. If he wanted to eliminate possible reinforcements too, he wasn’t going to be able to take the most direct one.

There are 41 monsters, 112 beasts, and 53 citizens of Aster Fall between here and the sixth layer. However, you should attack the more distant flaw first. It is on the tenth layer, about thirty miles farther from you.

The map of the ruins sprang into Sam’s awareness as the Guardian Star highlighted two points. One was on the sixth layer and one was on the tenth. The first was 24 miles southwest and the other was 54 miles to the west.

It almost looked like the Outsiders had created the more distant one as a fallback point, since it was directly opposite Highfold on the other side of the mountain, but he wasn’t sure how much control they had over where the flaws appeared.

If you close that one, it cuts off their retreat and gives you a direct line to engage the next flaw before approaching the Grand Flaw. Coming from that direction will also conceal that you were up here.

Sam nodded as he looked at the map. The route was good. If he went another way, it would involve more backtracking. His wounds were mostly healed, although the dull ache from too much healing magic was still there.

His hand brushed across his amulet, weighing his father’s words as he grimaced. He didn’t like going against his wishes, but there were some things he had to do on his own.

He traced a line across the map, searching for the best route down. When he found it, he looked up, checking the position of the sun as he put it behind him.

“Let's get moving.”