Savage Awakening 221. The Lake District (I) (Patreon)

Zane drank. And beads of Bloodline trickled down his throat one by one.

They slid through—scaldingly hot, startlingly dense, impossibly heavy for something so small. Something between liquid and solid. Teeming with godly power. 

It drops slowly through his mouth, his throat, his belly… landed. And made its presence known.

BOOM.

The essence unloaded into him—he felt the rush of it as it swept into his Core, that furnace inside him always churning, always grinding away. It could always use new fuel.

Level up!

Essence Level 240 -> 241

And Zane kept drinking.

 Before he'd been cautious taking Godbeast bloodline. It was dangerous stuff. But nowadays he felt his new body could take a lot more. He had put a lot of explosive stuff in his belly and been just fine. He had learned he could take a lot. 

He tipped over the vial, and let it through drop by drop.

Explosions rocked his insides, licked searing tongues up and down his belly. 

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Level up!

Level up!

Level up!

Essence Level 241 -> 244

So far he took it well enough, though. Winced a little—that was all. And meanwhile… 

Bloodline increased!

Bloodline increased!

Bloodline increased!

7 drops -> 10 drops

Nice. 

Just then—

You have hit 1% Bloodline Saturation.

1%? That meant a full Bloodline was a thousand or so drops. And he had ten. It was kind of mind-boggling.

He wondered just how strong he was meant to be when he got it all.

New power kept dropping into him.

Bloodline increased!

Bloodline increased!

10 drops -> 12 drops

He was already ready for Bone tempering. He’d unlocked that at 8 drops—nearly right away.

Sweat beaded off his forehead. He turned a little red all over. He hunkered down. He wanted to finish it off. 

At the same time, a little breeze picked up around him, fluttering his hair, cooling him off—he appreciated again just how thoughtful Reina was. He gave her a fond look. She had her eyes closed—she was absorbing too.

Right. Finish up now—make use of it after.

He kept chugging. Power kept rushing down his throat.

Level up!

Level up!

Essence Level 244 -> 246

The higher the Level, the less it felt each drop helped him, as always—especially now he was getting close to Level 250. The gains weren’t like they’d been at the start. But the Blood… He felt that deeply, right away.

Dissolving all through his body. Pooling with the rest of his powers, dispersing into his muscles, his skin, his tendons, drop by drop…

The notifications bombarded him. 

Bloodline increased!

Bloodline increased!

Bloodline increased!

Bloodline increased!

Bloodline increased!

12 drops -> 17 drops

And at last the vial was empty. Zane let out a steaming breath. Blinked. 

That went pretty good. Then—

Skill evolved!

Behemoth Muscles [Epic (E)  VIII -> Mythic (E) IV]

Skill evolved!

Indomitable Hide [Epic (E) IX -> Mythic (E) V]

Skill evolved!

Colossal Tendons [Epic (E) VI -> Mythic (E) III]

He patted his belly happily. He felt flushed all over. Bursting with new energy. 

Since he'd come into the Super dungeon, his progress had been the best it had ever been. By a big margin. He kept refining his body over and over… 

He already felt strong. Now as he flexed his hand, made a fist, even he didn’t know just how much power he could muster. Every evolution made a huge difference—and he’d just swallowed so much Bloodline he hopped a rarity realm. He was pretty sure that had never happened before. 

First, though, he needed to make sure his new body could take it.

He turned, at last, to Bone. 

It was time. 

*** 

“Returned have you?” said the Barbarian Sage. The Sage harrumphed. “Good. Then you’ve got heart, disciple. Less than one in a hundred make it to this point! Even among the strong-willed. But now it drops to one in ten thousand…” 

The Barbarian Sage waved a giant dismissive hand. 

“But you’re here. Which means such a number will not shake you. If you’re here, you have that rare concoction of bravery, ambition, stubbornness, and a little madness, which yields great things. Now is not the time to turn back, disciple—onward!” 

Zane nodded. It had not even crossed his mind. 

“Let me introduce you… the Bastion Bone!” 

*** 

A vision flared to life. It showed two Titan Rhinos standing on opposite ends of a barren craggy valley. Dark clouds lined the distance. Black mountains ringed them; forks of purple lightning cracked across the peaks.

But in this valley, it was calm. Still. 

The only tension came from the Rhinos themselves. Glaring murder at each other. Snorting and pawing. 

To the side there was a third Rhino—a female one, watching on with a worried look. Zane wasn’t sure how, but he got the feeling she thought the whole thing was a bit much.  

“We are about to witness,” said the Barbarian Sage, “Two males fighting over a mate—a common occurrence in the species. Given the pride of the Titan Rhino.” 

Ah. 

“This scene shall demonstrate the power of Bastion Bone in battle. Pay attention to how their horns channel their Bloodlines!” 

Both beasts were pawing at the ground. Both beasts started lowering their horns—they looked like the prows of icebreaker ships. Proud and shiny, jutting high, thick as pillars. 

The Rhinos were getting ready to charge. 

One Rhino was the bigger, more muscular. The other was more lean, explosive, speedy—it moved in twitches. 

They started snorting at each other—and nearly at the same time, their Bloodlines began to burn.  

Their bodies seethed aura. The still air grew disturbed, started swirling as they pawed harder, bellowing. Working up to fighting form. 

Zane—naturally—was rooting for the big one. 

Meanwhile he paid close attention to how their horns took the Blood. The horns began shining with it, growing thick with it—he saw Blood racing through every last inch, filling them up. And they grew denser, and denser, and denser… 

But that wasn’t all. The Bloodline lent that metal a structure too, wove it together, changed its patterns, its shapes, at a tiny level. Made it robust—kind of like the shapes Zane would imagine you’d see if you put kevlar under a microscope. They kept weaving over each other even as the horns grew denser. Reinforcements over reinforcements…

It chained all the way down their skeletons. Until they were both musclebound fortresses. Zane had a hard time imagining either one cracking. 

The two beasts shot one last bellow at one another. And charged.

Speedy launched first—then the duel seemed over before it even began. Speedy came so fast, so explosively, Muscles could hardly even react. It crossed the field in two blasts-for-bounds. Muscles had to rear back, caught off guard, jerking its horn up just to block.

The crash rattled the world. The forces involved could’ve torn up tectonic plates on Earth, Zane was sure—but ramming against each other they just about cancelled out. Held to a near standstill. Quivering both beasts where they stood. 

Then Speedy launched again and Muscles was forced to give ground, growling… On the third go-round Muscles wasn't quick enough to block all the way. And it took a vicious wound all the way up its flank. Shining silver blood dripped over desolate ground…

Muscles’ skin tore. A few muscles did too. But those ultra-dense bones took all that force firmly. Absorbing it. Dispersing it. Hardly rattling. 

Its big horn stayed dense as ever. 

Another exchange, and another, and started taking more slashes up its sides, up its face—another massive wound crossed up its hide. To the side the female rhino started whining, concerned. Zane was getting worried too. 

But then—six or seven exchanges in—the fight started growing even. To Zane’s relief. 

Each charge, Speedy came less fiercely than the last. It could never gore Muscles all the way through. It was growing frustrated. Each block only grew firmer and firmer. Soon Muscles started crushing back. Smashing harder. Taking the front—after a particularly vicious block, it slammed Speedy hard. And the smaller rhino stumbled back, horn vibrating with the force of it…

It was all quite educational for Zane. He was pretty sure he almost had the Skill down.

Muscles kept building, descending on Speedy, landing heavier and heavier, horn striking bowling over horn, Bloodline raging against Bloodline—BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Speedy started getting thrown off-balance. Its blocks grew desperate. Until finally, horn flaring bright with blood, Muscles roared. And smashed it so hard it sent Speedy careening over its side. 

Then it stomped on the fallen beast and lowered its horn over Speedy’s face.

Speedy closed its eyes. Snorted. Zane could tell it was too prideful to admit it. But in the end, it lowered its head and yielded. In the end, the bigger one won. 

Zane nodded. Yes. This fit his worldview rather nicely.

In the meantime— 

Skill learned! 

Bastion Bone [Mythic] 

Muscles turned around, triumphant, and trotted back to the female rhino, who looked a bit over the whole thing. She looked relieved too. She nuzzled Muscles.

But it wasn’t over. 

Just then, Speedy pawed his way back up. Beady angry eyes trained on Muscle’s back. Its Bloodline started simmering at a low boil—like it was getting ready to charge. Throw a sucker-punch right at the beast’s exposed flank. Zane frowned. 

The female rhino saw all of it though—and she had had enough. She rushed straight at Speedy, snarling. Speedy looked surprised—then cringed, and whimpered. And sped away with its tails between its legs.

Snorting, the female rhino trotted back to Muscles’ side, who stood there blinking at her.

The scene ended there.

*** 

Huh.

This all felt strangely familiar to Zane. He couldn’t quite place why, though. 

Anyway.

He got what he came for.

He could already feel the Bloodline seeping into him—creeping past the skin, the muscles, the tendons, and moving, at last. To bone.

He got ready for the hurt. For a blissful second he thought maybe this time it wouldn’t happen.

Then he hunched over and groaned.

And promptly started turning red again. 

His whole body, every bone, flared inside him. 

It felt like his bones had been transformed to hot tongs. And were determined to melt their way out of him. The little ones stabbed like pokers. The big ones sat like hot coals. 

He had never thought about how many bones were inside his body. Until they were all howling agony at him. It was enough to make his head spin. 

And the feeling only got more intense the more Bloodline seeped into him… he was beginning to sweat. Just a few minutes in, he saw a sheen of black bile rising over his skin. The weaknesses in his bones being flushed out.

He could tell this would take a while. He hunkered down for it. This was about to be nasty. 

Then he heard a gasp. Reina rushed over, put her hands on his bare back—and a soothing current washed all over him, sweeping away the bile, the sweat… suddenly his Bloodline went in a lot smoother. His head felt a lot clearer. It blunted the worst of the pain too. 

Reina, he thought happily, and felt all warm in his chest. 

*** 

An hour later… 

Skill upgraded!

Bastion Bone I -> II

Most of the time when Zane got a big Bloodline upgrade, he felt it instantly. This time he felt a pleasant burning all through his skeleton, the vague, hard-to-place feeling that he was a lot denser—like a bunch of air pockets, little weaknesses in his skeleton, had been sealed up. But that was all. 

He tried burning a smidge of Bloodline and felt a warmth flowing through his bones, starting from the big ones. Near his Core. Felt himself sinking a little into the ground. Growing denser, bone by bone…

He would need to throw himself at something to test it out, he felt. 

Hm.

He told Reina he would be back.

He walked back to the city proper, found a statue made of high-grade Spirit Steel. Zane threw a hard punch.

It instantly folded in two. He hardly even felt it on his knuckles. Earth-grade sheet metal felt like tissue paper.

He kept going. Picked out a random temple, gave it a kick. Sent it flying roof-over-floor, crashing heavy to the middle of a square. His toes felt perfectly fine. He burned a little Bloodline, got his muscles flowing a little, gave a skyscraper a good old whack—and it was like he had taken a sledgehammer to a Lego building. The thing did not just come apart. It blasted apart—he saw chunks flying for miles, shooting into the ceiling like cannonballs.

His fist still held strong.

He hadn’t tested it at full strength. But he was pretty sure he wouldn't have to worry about breaking anytime soon. 

For a while there, it had been disturbing to him that he could break. He was so used to walking through everything. It had been a comfort.

All felt right in the world again. 

He looked around the city. Broke some more stuff, just for the fun of it. It felt like this was a whole place was made of cardboard. 

He ambled his way back satisfied. Ready. 

*** 

World Tree Temple

Heart Grove

A breathless crowd had gathered around the Heart Grove. Waiting.

It was rumored that today was the day ‘Prince of Flowers’ Val Arandor, Chosen of the World Tree Temple, was finally exiting his long seclusion—and his many admirers had lined up to see it.

Sure enough a beautiful elf-man soon emerged beneath the scarlet boughs, and the crowd went wild. It was mostly noble elf-ladies of high birth, showering adulation on him. He gave them easygoing smiles, blew soft kisses to the crowd. Petals drifted behind him as he stepped, wafting an intoxicating scent. Drawing swoon after swoon.

His servant Luthor greeted him at the end of the lane. “Congratulations, milord. You’re now the youngest Nascent Soul cultivator the World Tree Faction has seen in three millennia.” 

“Five, actually,” said Val airily, checking his nails. “But who’s counting? You look dull as ever. And how’s my Lord Father?” 

“In something of a a difficult state,” said Luthor, wincing. “That’s why I’m here, in fact. He’s summoned you. Your future—and the family’s—is at stake. He’s got plans in motion—” 

“—doesn’t he always?—” 

“—There will be quite an important role for you. It’ll play to your strengths.” 

“In cultivation?” Val winked at an elf-girl as they passed, who nearly fainted on the spot. Val smirked.

“In… other matters.”