(SA) Chapter 8: Homunculus? (Patreon)

With a loud creaking sound, the massive doors swung upon. I checked the belt that I'd fashioned out of Homunculus tendons to make sure that Jerry was stable. Couldn't have him falling off in the middle of a fight, after all.

Tier 2 Quest: Clear the Jehkall Ritual-Cursed HallsLong have the Ritual-Cursed Halls wrought shame to the Jehkall House, a noble house once renown for their talented illusionists and powerful summoners. You have stumbled onto the Jehkall's dark secret, and have been tasked with freeing them from this generations-old regret.

Objective 1: Exterminate all Homunculus Abominations within the Ritual-Cursed Halls.

Rewards: 100% Class XP

Objective 2: Destroy all 'Ritual Form of Homunculus Summoning (Damaged)' within the Ritual-Cursed Halls.

Rewards: 50% Profession XP

Optional Objective 1 (Tier 3): Slay the beast guarding the entry to the old Jehkall House within the Ritual-Cursed Halls.

Rewards: Any 3 Items from the Jehkall Treasury

My best guess was that this building was the old Jehkall House. Hopefully, that meant there'd be a strong monster in here.

I wasn't disappointed. A tapping sound echoed through the building as something flashed down a flight of stairs.

Level XXX Homunculus ?

A relatively simple form of summon, a Homunculus is a doll-like caricature of another creature. While relatively weak, these summons are quite varied, and come in many shapes and sizes. As such, they have become a common staple for summoners everywhere.

This one has evolved beyond you. Increase your Tier to Inspect this creature.

Be wary. While these summons are rather weak for their Tier, their potential is endless.

Just before the thing's mandibles snapped around me, I saw that it was an... ant? Just an ant, no modifications. Well, no modifications other than its massive size.

It was fast. Way too fast. But, I'd been fighting nonstop for... months now? A long time. Either way, my instincts were honed to an edge. Homunculus Abominations weren't all that smart, and they tended to broadcast their attacks.

This one was no different.

I dodged out of the way, then blasted an Arcane Blood Bolt into it.

It... didn't die? Instead, a small crack appeared in its chiton.

How tough was this thing?

I started casting another Bolt, but before I could finish it, its jaw snapped out around my right arm, taking it off at the elbow. With Through The Pain at such a high level, it didn't hurt too badly, but the loss of sensation and feeling of blood loss stunned me.

Realizing that I was outmatched here, I started running, casting Arcane Rejuvenation and sprinting back down the tunnel. I was damn fast, now, but from the crash and the skittering behind me, that monster hadn't stopped following, nor had I outpaced it.

Current Health: 472/610

That attack had taken off over 100 Health in a single go.

With my Health rapidly ticking back upwards and my arm wriggling like a fish out of water as it went, I started casting another Bolt, sending it behind me without looking. I couldn't slow down more than I had to.

I ran like this for a while, with the Homunculus right behind me, blasting in its general direction and hoping my attacks hit, until I saw one of the rooms that had stored a Ritual, and had a dumb idea.

The monster was big, and the tunnels weren't. Some of them, in fact, could only barely fit me.

The hairs on the back of my neck stabbed into me, and I dove out of the side. A snapping sound, followed by a small crash and rapid tapping.

I dove into the cave, hoping that the size would be right. A second later, I heard another, louder crash. I started throwing out more Bolts, deciding not to to waste the opportunity. After tossing out bolts for a little while, as the monster's insectoid form tried to squeeze in through the gap, mandibles barely making their way in. I bet the illusion was making it even harder. I'd be aiming for the monster's eyes, if I could, but I didn't know quite where they'd be. Hopefully I was scoring some good hits against the thing.

After a short while of this routine, the beast let out a huge, enraged screech, and my bolts stopped making their popping sounds against its shell.

Shit, did it wise up? I'd known it would probably be at least a little smarter than the other things, but this... Well, I could only hope it had gone back to its territory, and wasn't just waiting for me out there...

After sitting in the cave for a while, just to try to listen and make sure it wasn't out there, I got up. Just before my head peeked out of the illusory barrier, I thought better of it and stuck my arm out instead, which prompted a massive set of jaws closed around my arm- the left one, this time- and jerked, throwing me.

Now, the cave, or Jehkall Halls, or whatever you want to call it, it was big, wide. This beast, though, had thrown me the entire distance in one go.

I impacted the opposite cave wall hard. I felt something in my back pop from the impact, and started my channel of Arcane Rejuvenation back up, which I'd ended when my right arm was back. Speaking of arms, my left one was now just a bloody stump. Thank god for Tormented Autodidact, yeah?

Trying to get up, I found that my legs wouldn't move. Hopefully Arcane Rejuvenation would handle it?

Current Health: 248/610

This thing was just way too strong. How? I knew it was Tier 3, but this was just insane.

I started throwing out more Arcane Blood Bolts, but with the distance, I wasn't hitting much. Now that I was out of the illusion, though, I could see that it had taken quite a beating. It's chiton had cracked all over, goo streaming out of them and strange organs visible within.

Maybe, just maybe, I could beat this thing. First, though, I'd need to get off my ass. Finding that Arcane Rejuvenation had managed to fix the issue with my spine, I took off. I was a bit slower now, but it would have to do. I started running back to the House. Hopefully, there would be something there. I could see why this objective was classified as Tier 3. It was... exciting. Scary, definitely, and I would probably die, but hey, I had a chance. Probably. Maybe. Okay, I had a very slim chance of killing this monster, but it was still a chance.

I quickly ran through the house, knowing that I had very little time before- crash! Yup, it was here.

I ran up a flight of stairs and entered what looked like a really old, half-rotten bedroom. I examined the room quickly, and found it somewhat lacking, other than a small chest in the corner, which I quickly slammed open. My attention was drawn away by a scrabbling at the stairs. I quickly grabbed the... knife? Yeah, knife. As the monstrosity slammed its way through the door and connecting wall, I chucked out an Arcane Blood Bolt and placed myself between a window and the beast. Hopefully, I could wedge this knife in somewhere. The flesh under its chiton didn't seem nearly as tough when my Bolts hit it there, and I wondered if that was because of the nature of chiton, being natural armor, or if was a skill or something.

The monster charged me, and I threw one more Bolt, aimed at its eye, before jamming my new knife into a crack in its... skull? The exoskeleton around its head. I didn't know if ants had brains in their heads, or if they were somewhere else, but hopefully hitting one there would cause big damage. Hehe, big damage.

The monster got its mandibles around me, and we both went flying out the window. Well, the wall. It broke both with my body, after all.

Mid-air, I managed to get free of its mandibles and put a blade into a big gash in the top of its head. I put myself on top of it, pressing down with all my might. We landed with a crunch, and a single notification crossed my vision before I blacked out.

Congratulations! You have slain 1 Level 32 Empowered Titant Homunculus!

Experience Reward Increased for Fighting an Enemy Above Your Tier!

Reward: 89% Class XP

Hehe. It had tit in its name.

---

When I came to, the first thing I did was ignore the notification. I knew what it would be, after all. The second thing I did, though, was check up on the shards that used to be my best friend. The third thing I did was cry my eyes out as I dug out a hole to bury him in. Arcane Blood Bolt was a lot less effective against rocks, but after a few hours, I had a nice pile of dust in the rocks.

When that was taken care of, and I had no tears left to cry, I accepted the Tier up notification.

As the Soul Space came into being around me, and the pillars grew out of the abyss, I found myself on the roof of the prison building.

Suddenly, I felt my mind relax... and realized that I'd just spent hours crying over a broken skull from a monster that I'd killed. Seriously? Honestly, the past 10 levels had just been crazy. No, I had been the crazy one. I needed out of this cave as fast as possible. What was wrong with me?

I'd take a break after all this, relax a bit. After all this chaos, I deserved it. I'd enjoy my path to the next Tier, and take my time getting there. I doubted that Tier 3 was below average, what with the power I'd wielded in Tier 2.

I looked over my options. A big stone pillar covered in ritual diagrams that had Arcane light instead of mortar, one that... wasn't actually a pillar, more like a massive cylinder full of blood and a final one that was covered in depictions involving chains and women that I just decided to outright ignore.

The first Class pillar gave me an option that I quite liked.

Arcanoccultist

The power of Arcane magic and Ritual magics have always been linked, as pure mana is well known to be the best for them. Similarly, Blood magic and Rituals are connected due to the requirements some Rituals hold for sacrifices. Rather than choosing the path of a simple Ritualist, or that of an Occultist, you have chosen to walk both, becoming an Arcanoccultist.

The Arcanoccultist implements magic both pure and tainted in rituals, and gains powers that allow them to utilize Rituals effectively during- or in preparation for- combat.

This Class grants high Vitality and extremely high Channeling, to aid them in crafting, powering, and gaining the full effect of Rituals, but Balance and Harmony fall to the wayside on their path to power, as these statistics merely hinder the Arcanoccultist's unstoppable force.

Extremely high? What did that mean? Also, not even when I'd received nothing at all in terms of Harmony had it said that it "fell to the wayside" or anything like that. Would it reduce my stats? Even with that, though, I liked this class. It spoke to me. Early on, I'd enjoyed the magic and the Rituals, but lately... maybe it was the Blood affinity that had driven me mad? Maybe my Willpower hadn't been high enough, or something?

In any case, as I examined the next pillar, I saw what looked like a tentacle reach out towards my own, but a golden, runic chain made of pure light tightened around it, causing a pained, garbled screech to echo through the canyon.

That was... terrifying.

Pure Sentinel of The Blood Titan

Long have you held within you something that you can't describe, something that the mere thought of invokes utter madness. Now, you restrict this beast to be forever contained within you, bound in Arcane Light within the bloody oceans of your Soul. Ensure that you keep it hidden within, else it consume all that makes you yourself.

The foundation of this Class is that of Blood, Arcane, Light, and Madness. The Pure Sentinel of The Blood Titan gains highly powerful containment-based abilities, as well as a few calamity-scale attack abilities. Beware, however, as these special Skills and Features all come with exceedingly large downsides.

This Class grants high Vitality, Wisdom, and Balance, so that The Blood Titan may forever be secured, contained, and protected.

Well that was a shit-ton of edge. It sounded cool and strong, sure, but just... so much edge. Also, I wasn't certain that I wanted whatever that tentacled monster was inside my Soul Space.

With that in mind, and having already dismissed the other option because I was sure it would be something gross or just make me a really shitty dude, I picked Arcanoccultist. I was honestly kinda happy to see my previous pillar go. I wasn't at all proud of it. That said, as the pillars fell into the abyss, the Pure Sentinel of The Blood Titan just... splashed. Like if a container of water just stopped existing, leaving all the water there. If you've ever seen someone pop a water balloon in slow motion, you'll know what I'm talking about.

As the red water fell into the fog below, I caught a hateful, vengeful glare from a massive glowing red eye.

Oh well, hopefully that wouldn't come back to bite me.

The platform of Arcanoccultist was just one massive ritual diagram. I couldn't understand it at all, though, my best guess was that Arcaniac didn't work in here, or something. The wisps and auroras had been replaced by floating rituals, though these didn't seem too alive. They were just... there. But at least they weren't eating viscera, like the blood wisps had.

First, a tree grew from the ground. Red, shiny apples grew along its branches, looking perfect to eat. Then, a tower sprouted, as if it had been beneath the ground the whole time, and was merely pushing itself up out of the ground. Finally... another church built itself from nothing.

Deciding to go in order and ignore the church until the very end, because yes, I am a petty child, I walked to the apple tree. As I got closer and inspected it further, however, I found that there were bodies splayed out in the branches. Weird.

Red Arborist

Some people who grow and take care of trees will tell you that it's a long process. They'll also say that they're good for shade, fruits, and give off oxygen that's healthy for the environment. They also ponder aloud as to why you're doing this, and tell you that they have families. Unimportant information, really. All you need to know is that they'll make great fertilizer.

The Red Arborist grows trees with extremely high Blood attunement, using blood in place of water, and flesh in place of minerals. This tree and its fruits can then be used for many different types of crafting which the Red Arborist is given access to.

This Profession grants high Vitality, Channeling, and Harmony, to best nurture the Red Yggdrasil.

Okay, it was about growing a tree. A Red Yggdrasil. That was cool, but I wanted to explore, not grow a tree. Especially not one that might get so big that it could contain entire worlds, and definitely not one that needed to eat meat and drink blood. Sorry, but getting eaten by a tree that I took the time to nurture and grow wasn't really on my shopping list.

Next up was the tower, which I climbed to the top of. Up there, I found a bunch of books, a small bed, some Rituals drawn out on scraps of paper, and so on. Honestly, it looked quite cozy. Maybe once I was done exploring, I could get my hands on a place like this?

Ritualistic Scholar

Other people just don't get why you spend all day studying alone, but those people also don't know how awesome magic is, or that you're so isolated all the time because the magic you use could explode in your face and kill everyone around you. You stay up in that tower doing your kick-ass magic, practitioner!

The Ritualistic Scholar gains Skills and Features to help them resist the effects of long-term loneliness and survive the backlash of a ritual exploding, as well as study and experiment better.

This Profession grants high Wisdom, Nerves, and Intellect, because who needs anything other than magic?

Rather simple, but... why couldn't I have gotten this one last Tier, huh System? Stupid, stupid... Well, I didn't need this one nearly as much, now that I was almost out of the cave. Still, it was cool, and I might end up taking it, even if some parts of it weren't that great for me in particular.

I made my way over to the dirty church. Well, it wasn't dirty, just... whatever. The windows were made of stained glass, and arranged in depictions of what looked like sacrificial practices. Not always on humans. Actually, most looked like they were on various types of monster. A chimera here, a basilisk there... and at the very back of the chapel, behind the podium, was one that looked like a dragon splayed across a massive altar by a man crackling with red lightning. Honestly, they were all very well made. Was this Profession about stained glass? Well, probably not, but still.

Bishop of Blood

Blood... Rituals... Power. You have proven that you are worthy. You walk one of the bloodiest yet most varied paths contained within the System, and have accepted a challenge to become more. More than yourself. More than those around you. More than the Gods themselves.

The Bishop of Blood gains bonuses to performing sacrificial Rituals and working with Blood. To obtain this Profession, one must have high Favor with Gods of the Blood Domain. Sacrifice Souls for great rewards, and know that you are Chosen.

This Profession grants Vitality and extremely high Channeling, to help the Bishop work with Blood and receive Blessings.

...Okay. So, here's the thing. I knew this would be strong. Very strong, probably. I wasn't even against sacrificing monster souls to Gods for Blessings, or whatever. Sure, I can be the Chosen one. But like... ugh. Gods. They'd probably all be stuck up bastards, wouldn't they?

Fiiiine, I'll take it. But I won't be happy about it.