Moonlight Relic, Ch 28: World Forger (Patreon)

“Down!” Lenei’s shout echoed across the group. Lesat threw himself to the side, his armor crashing against the stones as he rolled away from a dark wing that cut through where he’d been standing.

Above them, there was a dark raven with a ten-foot wingspan that was already coming around for another pass. In its wake, a streak of shadows spread like ink, vibrating with the haunting sound of a note just on the edge of hearing. It was more a mental pressure than a physical one and after ten minutes of chasing it around, the cursed thing was starting to give Sam a headache.

The raven was fast, but except for its speed and one ability, it wasn’t as strong as the other bounties. Otherwise, it would have been a significant problem. Sam Analyzed it again as he looked for a good place to intercept it.

Soulcutter Raven. Outsider. Bounty. Level 101.

[Led by a Level 220 Souleater Raven, a flock of these ravens invaded Aster Fall 120 years ago, leaving a trail of desolated villages behind them. As they fly, their wings vibrate with a dangerous resonance, turning the air around them into a weapon that can separate the spirit from the flesh. Anything that hears their flight suffers cognitive dissonance and must be careful to guard their soul, even from a distance.]

Since there was only one raven here, he doubted the flock had all been trapped near Highfold. More likely, they were somehow moved around once they were sealed or the dimensions didn’t exactly line up. The rest of the ravens might still be in the Seal somewhere, waiting for their chance to break free and cause havoc.

As he studied it, the bird curved in the air again and his temples ached more fiercely, but the attack didn’t go any further as the energy disintegrated against his skin. His father and Lenei had their defensive shields up to block it too, but Lesat wasn’t faring as well. Blood was running from his ears and nose, even as he glared at the raven and moved closer to Lenei, who was at the center of a shining white aura. Once he was there, some of the pain faded from his expression and he let out a disgruntled mutter.

If the bird had held still long enough, Sam would have shattered its aura, but it was as fast as a whip and its aura followed tightly behind it, making it difficult to catch. The shadows left in its wake were an illusion that made the area darker and let the bird blend in, and that made it even deadlier. If a flock of them was together, it would be enough to darken the sun, like an approaching wave of winged night.

From the side, Jeric’s hammers flew back to his hands and he hurled them at the raven again, one after the other. They hummed through the air like spinning boulders, radiating a golden-yellow shine as they cut through the shadows to where the raven was about to be. Unfortunately, the bird saw them coming and dipped its wings, spiraling down before it started to circle again. A new streak of shadows flowed out behind it, making the night even darker.

Sam tracked it as he continued working on the spell between his hands. On the way here, he’d learned what everyone had chosen for their latest upgrades and he recognized them now. Jeric had increased his Twin Hammers to Epic, along with his Rain of Hammers and Earthen Shield, which were his main offensive and defensive abilities. At 80, he’d received a new ability, Hammer of the Mountain, but he hadn’t upgraded it yet.

As it turned out, Twin Hammers was the core ability for his class. Raising it helped to spur along his other abilities, which were already beginning to increase. For his subclass, he’d upgraded Assess to Epic at Level 80, but the rest would have to wait until he had more time to work on them.

Lenei and Lesat had gained upgrades as well. Lesat’s Guard class was Common, but he’d upgraded his Enhanced Blow to Epic at Level 80, and for his Epic bonus upgrades, he’d raised Enhanced Block and Charge. For his Leatherworking subclass, he’d upgraded the core Model Pattern ability to Epic.

Lenei’s abilities as a Paladin of Law and Spirit Healer were more diverse. At 80, she’d raised her core abilities in Stamina Enhancement and Healing Touch to Epic, which would help encourage the rest of them to increase. For her bonus upgrades, she increased her Spiritual Infusion and Aura of Law to Epic. The first one was how she infused her weapons and shield with power, as well as the weapons of her allies. The second was an aura ability that boosted allies’ stamina and mana regeneration and helped to block negative effects from enemies. Right now, it was helping to keep the raven’s abilities from causing too much trouble for Lesat and Jeric.

Sam watched the raven as it cut back through the sky. Its abilities were unique among the Outsiders he’d seen so far and its feathers were only half of the process. Its aura and movement through the air were creating the rest of the soul attack. He would have liked to capture it to study, but unfortunately, it was a bounty and as bloodthirsty as the rest of the Outsiders.

As the bird flashed by again, he released the web of moonlight that he’d been holding. Runes for binding and seeking flickered from between the strands. It was a modified version of Moonlight Edge. He’d drawn on his bracer to support the basic structure, but it was driving home that he needed to upgrade it. It was a good artifact, but it only had four rune concepts and it wasn’t as flexible as he needed.

The other option was to get better with Rune Formation, so he could use it as quickly as a spell, but that would take time. Creating runes like this wasn’t the same as inscribing them on a scroll. He had to take into account the natural energy around him, making sure to balance the runes so that they could exist here. There was still a lot to learn.

The web shot toward the Soulcutter Raven, gleaming like a beacon fire as it sliced through the shadows. The raven squawked as it saw it and tried to dodge, dipping its wing as it dove toward the ground, but the spell flowed after it and continued to grow wider. The raven dodged against, shooting to the side as it flapped its wings and flared upward, but it wasn’t able to turn in time.

A moment later, the spell snapped closed around it. Bars of moonlight flame sizzled across its feathers and contracted, swiftly shrinking down as the gaps closed. The raven tried to flap, but its wings were pinned to its side, and then it began to fall.

It let out an ear-piercing shriek as it struck the ground that drove into Sam’s ears like a nail. His expression twisted as he covered them with his hands, but it didn’t help much since it wasn’t just sound. He didn’t want to imagine what a flock of these things would be like. A lance of crystal flame formed around his hand as he compressed the spell and he hurled it at the bird.

A spinning hammer, glowing white spear, and a stamina-charged sword all followed, heading toward the raven without delay. The raven struggled to free its wings and block the attacks, but it was too late for it. A soul-tearing note ripped through the air as it crumpled, its red eyes turning dark. A moment later, the World Law’s voice rang in Sam’s mind, bringing with it a momentous pressure that weighed down on his limbs.

Congratulations, Guardian. You have eliminated a Bounty and defended Aster Fall.

You are Acknowleged. You gain a Mark.

You receive 872,000 Class Experience and an additional 5,000,000 bonus experience.

You have exceeded the experience requirements for your Initial Path.

Class Experience: 250,000,000 / 250,000,000

General Experience: 250,000,000 / 250,000,000

There was a pause then, as the pressure around Sam continued to build and he began to see flickering stars at the edge of his vision.

Congratulations, Battlefield Reclaimer. You have met the requirements for Evolution.

You have ten minutes to finish collecting your rewards from this battle and then your Evolution will begin. While Evolving, you will be protected by the World Law.

If you wish to accept the World Core’s assistance, do so now.

There was a pause as Sam hurriedly accepted it and then the World Law continued, as if it hadn’t paused at all.

You have earned an Epic tier reward. You may choose one Ability to upgrade to Epic.

Make your choice now.

He’d already considered what to upgrade for this reward and as soon as the option was presented, he selected Essence Shield. It was only at Advanced still, lingering far behind his offensive abilities. He’d been following the policy that the best defense was a good offense and it had worked out for him, but he hadn’t gotten in as much practice with shielding as he should have.

The other two abilities he hadn’t had time to upgrade yet were Combust Aura and Crystal Focus. He was getting the feeling that Crystal Focus was the core ability for his subclass, but he wanted the shield more. When they hunted down the last bounty, he’d correct the order of things.

Silvery spikes of experience hammered their way home into his body, driving into the final cracks in his foundation and fusing it together at the same time as the ability upgrade exploded through his bones like an erupting volcano. His head tilted back as the muscles all across his body snapped taut and stood out like steel cables, and a silent scream roared in his lungs.

When the moment passed, it was replaced by a deep awareness of interlocking patterns that were as familiar to him as the back of his hand and he suddenly understood Essence Shield in a different light. Instead of dwelling on the change, he sprinted toward the raven’s corpse instead.

He only had a few minutes before Evolution and there were a couple of things he needed to do.

As soon as he was close enough, he tore the essence from the raven and pulled it toward himself in a flurry of midnight stars. They flowed through the air as they changed to sapphire blue and slammed into his body, pouring through his blood as they sought out his essence constellation. There were almost two thousand of them. As they spun into place, the final stages of the Third Layer moved to completion, finishing off the 15,000 requirement.

Congratulations, Guardian. Your Essence Constellation has reached the Fourth Layer.

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

He could feel each star settling into the final reaches of the pattern that was spread across his soul, and then a new, far larger layer began to form above it. As this one appeared, it came with a sense of vast depth, like a grand nebula retreating into the heavens. The smaller layers below it were only a fraction of the size, a tiny pillar spiraling upward that gave birth to this one. Beyond that, he could sense an even greater depth stretching out beyond his understanding, as if it were part of the starry void itself.

Essence Constellation (Fourth Layer): 16,215 / 45,000.

Your Strength has increased by 4.

Constitution by 5.

Agility by 1.

Intelligence by 5.

Aura by 5.

He’d thought that the Path of the Elements belonged to the Demon of Shattered Skies, and perhaps it did, but now he could feel it resonating with his Astral Hunter race. Something in it had changed and it only took him a moment to find it.

The sense of bloodlust that had been part of the stars before had disappeared. There was still the battle joy singing from star to star, pushing him forward to accomplish more as it filled him with a surging need to move, and it was even stronger than before, but it also felt more natural, like it belonged in those starry skies.

Stars were not born to be cold and still.

He could also feel a tug on his blood, as if something in the stars of the constellation was drawing him upward, and he instinctively knew that the moment he completed all of the layers his race would Evolve again. It raised the question again of how closely the Astral Titans were related to the Outsiders, but it wasn’t one that he could answer.

He pushed the thoughts aside as he searched for the raven’s aura and chose to identify it. The taste of liquid night spread across his tongue, mixed with a wailing song that pulled at his heart and stabbed into his bones. It was a slow serenade for death as he walked through a graveyard, his scythe cutting through the sky as a raven sat atop his shoulder.

You have Instantly Identified an Epic Aura.

Aura of the Scythe.

Then it burned away to nothing in his hand, leaving just the haunting taste of footsteps filled with ashes. He looked around, taking in the silver glow of experience on the others as he waited for them to finish absorbing it. All of them had just jumped to Level 90, even Lesat, which meant they’d received about 25 million experience.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t take them long.

There was a pulsing silver mark at the corner of his vision that was slowly dropping, telling him exactly how long he had left until his Evolution. But then, as time drew out as he watched them and the glow of their levels was just settling in, the world around him disappeared in a wash of silver light.

---

When his vision returned, he was floating in a void. In front of him, there was a massive, arched door made from stones larger than he was tall, which seemed to have stood there since the beginning of time. Above him, distant stars speckled the sky, but they felt distinctly different from the ones in his essence constellation and in the void that was outside of Aster Fall. These were something else. It felt like each of them was a possibility.

Beneath his feet, there were stone paving blocks, set so closely together that there was barely a line. Despite that, their surfaces were uneven, as if feet had passed over them for untold years and slowly worn them away.

Do you like it? This was the image I always found the most comfortable for my Evolutions. If you’d like something else, I can change it.

The familiar voice floated directly into his mind, instantly bringing to mind the woman who had spoken to him twice before. The creator of his class. And then between one moment and the next, there was a young woman standing in front of the door. She was tiny, barely coming up to his chest, but despite that, she was perfectly proportioned and as graceful as a reed. Her hair was a strange, blue-hued silver that rippled down her back like liquid metal, and her eyes were a brilliant emerald with an Outsider’s vertical pupils.

She was otherworldly, but there was something about her that was intimately familiar. Her hands were on her hips and her head was slightly tilted as she examined him, looking him over like a painting she was working on. Her eyes were distant at first, as if she were seeing straight through him, but then she smiled and suddenly she felt more real. A breeze began to blow through the void, bringing the sweet scent of cherry blossoms in the wind.

She took a few steps forward, her movements gliding like ice, and then she was right in front of him. She picked up his arm as she ran her finger tip down the path of a meridian between his wrist to his shoulder, and then did the same in a few other places. When she finished looking at the front, she ducked around behind him and examined his back. It was so strange that he barely recognized she had been talking the entire time.

“Not bad...hmm...how interesting. Oh my, that’s going to cause quite the commotion when they see you.” When she was done, she slipped back around to the front where he could see her and she grinned at him. “What a shame. I wish I was really here to study you. I never thought one of the Astral Titans would receive the class. You’re young, so that makes some sense, and it’s certainly a feather in my cap, but how in the world were you born on Aster Fall?”

“What do you mean?” he asked automatically. He was frowning in confusion, but he didn’t feel any threat from her and he had already figured out the basics of what was going on. “You’re the creator of my class, aren’t you? The first Battlefield Reclaimer?”

“Yes and no,” she grinned up at him, not at all bothered by the height difference. “I’m not really here. This is all a construct formed from my memories at the time that I gave your class to the World Core. The Core assists with Evolution, which is one of the things it was designed for. To help with that, and because it’s not very good with conversations, it dusts off these old memories and gives them a semblance of life. I left some instructions, but it’s hard to say what this looks like to you.

“As for who I am, in my time, I was called the World Forger. I was responsible for continuing to improve the World Core and ensuring the stability of Aster Fall and the Nexus. The World Core is extremely powerful, but it’s not very flexible.” The woman grinned again. “That’s where I come in.

“Hopefully, I’m still around somewhere taking care of things. You absolutely have to find my real body and tell me about this. I won’t remember it, but just say my name, Asenya, and Battlefield Reclaimer. Here is my sigil. Show it to me when you find me and I should figure it out.”

She paused for a moment, and then a flickering rune that glowed with a soft green light flew toward Sam and sank into his arm. It felt comfortably warm and even after it disappeared, he could sense it there.

“I was not a Battlefield Reclaimer. My path was a bit different than yours, and much messier. When I created yours, I wanted to be sure you could make your own choices. I had to tinker quite a bit to get something that worked. I didn’t expect that an Astral Titan would receive it...but there’s definitely synergy there. I wish I’d thought of that, but getting them to agree would have been impossible. They wouldn’t have liked me messing with their paths.

“You’re the World Forger? You must have lived a long time ago.” Sam frowned at her. “Why did you make the class and why was it so hard to unlock for a human? Do you know the problems it caused my family?”

“Human?” Asenya looked surprised as she shook her head. “It was never designed for humans. Something must have happened, but it looks like it worked out. I can’t see everything that’s happened to you, unfortunately, but if something went wrong, you have my apologies. The class was never intended to harm you. It was intended to help me find an apprentice.

“Now, those are the basic introductions,” she added as she glanced up at the stars that were hanging above, “but we’ll have to move on. If you have other questions, you’re welcome to ask them, but we’ll have to wait until the end. I should also warn you that each answer now will cost you a certain number of Marks, as will most extra things here. We’re borrowing power from the World Core for that and it requires a price.”

Sam’s mind was spinning as he looked at the woman in front of him. She was the answer to so many things, but it looked like he wouldn’t be able to ask them all. If she was only a memory, she might not know what had happened in the First War or about the creation of the Seal. From her attitude, she had created his class when things were far more carefree. Whoever she had become later on, he had to wonder if she’d been able to keep this joyful attitude.

Of course, if her memories had been saved at the moment she finished the class, that would explain her delight as well. She was pleased with her work. Before he could ask another question, however, he stopped himself. He didn’t want to spend a Mark on it, not until he knew what his options were.

“Alright, let’s get to your Evolution,” Asenya said. “You have some choices to make, since I won’t force you to follow my path. That’s one thing I always hated. Because of that, the class I designed for you is not exactly the same as mine. The World Core tells me you’re the first to ever inherit it. Isn’t that exciting?” She grinned at him again.

“Now, your abilities as a Battlefield Reclaimer will stay with you whatever you choose, but where you go from here is up to you. As my inheritor, I will give you one option, which is the most I could create for you, but it is not the only one that will work. Whatever you choose, make sure that it can apply the core abilities of Battlefield Reclaimer or you will cripple yourself moving forward. You must make sure there is a future for your path. Some paths are dead ends and others are no better than starting over from nothing.

“Unfortunately, I cannot see all of your paths. If you don’t like any of them, try asking the World Core for advice. It develops over time and may have something new for you.” Asenya clapped her hands together as she looked up at the stars above them, drawing Sam’s eyes in the same direction.

“Are you ready to take a look at your options?” As she asked the question, the stars moved closer, until the doorway and the stone plaza were floating in the middle of them all. A thousand stars in different colors shone from every direction, pulling Sam’s attention toward them.