Chapter 95 (Patreon)

Chapter 95

Senna tried to get up on her injured leg and tripped backwards, hobbling towards the tree line to get away from the monster that’d made its presence known to the pale-faced and jittery party members not far off.

Riven was now staring at a huge, rotund cyclops.  It was nearly as tall as some of trees nearby, with a brown horn protruding above its single yellow eye.  Each of its two hands had three sausage-like fingers, its nose looked like it’d only partially grown out with large slits in place of nostrils, and its ugly, toothy grin displayed many sharpened and crooked teeth.

It didn’t wear any clothes, and was about half as wide as it was tall - with rolls of fat that jiggled with the step it took forward as it leaned in and grinned at Riven and Ethel like it’d just found its next meal.  Huge muscles rippled underneath its fat, and it’d obviously been waiting in hiding for them in order to get the drop on them.  “SNACK!”

[Cyclops]

“NEFAJIA CRECUS BLOOD NOVA!”

*SNAP-CRACK-BOOM*

Riven dropped the elf and the area of the forest around Riven exploded in all directions due to the initial shockwave, tearing up rock, dirt and tree alike in a boom of crimson power that lit up the forest in an eerie glow and could be heard for miles.  It rocked the very earth they stood upon, and the cyclops was thrown backwards from the blast going head over heels only to meet an enormous orb of condensed blood magic that expanded and tore out from Riven’s cupped hands.  The orb from Blood Nova broke the sound barrier with a sonic boom and ripped into the monster like an atomic bomb, emitting a secondary thunderclap of power that shook the very ground Riven stood on.  Fortunately the blood mana itself bypassed the bin of his loot and the members of Riven’s party on command, leaving them utterly unharmed other than wobbling slightly amidst the blast of power despite a radiating shockwave that tore through the ground underneath them.  A swarm of sharp crimson discs launched simultaneously along with a torrent of black lightning from his staff which was floating in the air behind him and acting of its own accord.  The combination blow was utterly devastating, tearing through dirt and thick foliage along its path to slam into the cyclops head on with brutal effect.

The ground was shaken and ripped from where the giant cyclops knelt and flung debris into the air; intermixing with pieces of the large cyclops body when the magic ruptured its internal organs and tore through its limbs, spine and head with deadly force in a spray of blood that looked like an enormous popping water balloon.  The effect was only heightened by each of the embedded discs as the power he’d stabilized them with erupted, sending explosive shrapnel tearing through the body and across the nearby forest like a grenade to follow up the initial torrent of overwhelming power while black lightning ripped the remnant muscles right off sets of charred bone.

[Blood Nova’s mandatory 8 hour cooldown has been triggered.]

It was certainly overkill, but Riven didn’t take any chances after seeing Azmoth so easily killed like that.  Pausing and evaluating the wreckage, pieces of the cyclops were scattered across the scorched earth for over a hundred yards.  A hand lay there, a portion of its skull further ahead, a charred femur off to his right.

But the majority of the corpse lay as a disassembled and shattered skeleton: smoking in the sunlight where the trees had been uprooted or torn away not far off.

He coughed, grimacing due to the sunlight that was now hitting him full on after the shockwave had blown his hood back.  He promptly pulled his hood back down, then made sure the others were ok.

They were in shock, but they were all fine.

A sack of coins appeared out of thin air, landing on the beast, but he didn’t pay it much attention due to the severe headache he suddenly had after expending so much mana at once.

He walked ahead, came to a stop next to the fried cyclops and kicked it once for his own satisfaction - only to notice that its yellow eye had not been entirely destroyed.  In its place, within the majority of the skull that still remained after the attack, there was a small green orb that’d been left there.

He reached over, feeling the residual heat from his attack - and grasped the orb to pull it closer for examination.

[Cyclops Eye Stone: Ingredient for various crafts.  Potential Effects: ???, ???, ???]

Huh.  Interesting.

He tossed the green eye stone over Senna, who was gaping at him in bewilderment, and it landed in the bin of loot not far off.

“Everyone ok?”

He looked around again.  Even Fay was somewhat awestruck at the display of power, and she began to smile when she more thoroughly evaluated the devastation around them.

“Wow.  You’re improving really fast.”  the succubus muttered slowly.  “The time I spent watching you from the nether realms… I thought you were a fast learner, but this?  This is an insane amount of growth in such a short time.  I didn’t even have a chance to do anything.”

Ethel, Dr. Brass, and Senna were still just open-mouthed and gawking.  It only took a second later and Athela rushed into the clearing at blinding speed, swiftly stopped in front of the destruction with chest heaving up and down frantically.  The demoness quickly caught sight of his injuries and ran over to him, inspecting his body for anything serious and laughing.  “Sorry I’m late!  Did Azmoth die?!  Damn it!  Resurrections are expensive!”

Riven sighed and scratched the back of his head, looking at the bin of shit he’d now have to lug around.  “Yeah.  And now we’re going to need to wait for him to respawn so we can haul our stuff again.  Even with my increased strength, that thing is too heavy for me to carry around all over the place.  Those coins weigh a lot.”

***

They had to make camp that night in the forest at the base of the mountains.  After realizing the extent of Riven’s exhaustion from that mana expenditure, and not having fully recovered from his previous fights with the dream creatures, it’d been a no brainer.  Ethel even came to check on him once, hobbling over and clutching at her bandaged stump arm with a look of concern.

“Is he going to be alright?” the elf asked Athela and Fay, coming back from relieving herself in the forest and stepping over a log.  Meanwhile Dr. Brass and Senna talked on the other side about varieties of elvish dishes native to Senna’s home.

Athela had Riven’s head in her lap, gently brushing her fingers through Riven’s hair while he lightly let his chest rise and fall.  He was so out of it that he was even drooling into her leg.  She gave a soft smile, wiped the drool away without waking him and bent over further to adjust his shirt.  “Riven’s going to be alright.  He’s tough.”

Ethel sat herself down on a log they’d dragged over, feeling comfortable in the warmth of the night with Athela’s webs encircling their encampment for dozens of yards in any direction to alert the demoness if enemies were approaching.  In this new world there were far more monsters than her old one, and that wasn’t even counting the goblins that’d been dropped into their immediate area.

The young woman crossed her ankles and let her feet warm up next to the fire, wincing slightly when her stump on the left arm brushed a little too hard against the ground while trying to adjust her sitting position.  Her ankle still hurt from when she sprained it recently, but it could be worse.  She could be dead, being destined to become chopped liver for some disgusting goblin tribe to feed on.  “You said there wasn’t magic in Riven’s world, right Athela?”

The arshakai demoness nodded absentmindedly, still playing with Riven’s hair as he slept.  “Why?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

There was a long pause.

“Because that magic Riven demonstrated today, and back in the hospital: it was very powerful.  The leveling system is new to me, to my people, but magic is not.  I know it takes a very long time to develop that kind of power and cultivation of one’s magical prowess.”

Another long pause ensued, with Athela curiously staring the blonde, slender elf down with a cool gaze as her red eyes locked onto her.  The crackling of the fire continued to let plumes of smoke rise into the starry night sky, and Ethel adjusted uncomfortably again under the scrutiny of Riven’s demon.

“We’ve only been here since the integration.  It’s been a little over two months by my guess.”

Ethel slowly nodded, shifting her gaze away from Athela to stare at the fire where it ate away at the branches and logs they’d piled up in the middle of their camp.  She gave a glance to Fay, who was lounging lazily nearby and looking up at the stars, but the succubus made no comment even despite obviously listening in.

Ethel swallowed.  “I just wanted to hear it again.  It just doesn’t make sense to me, even with the leveling system.  Some of our more accomplished people went through tutorials or unique starter events of their own just like Riven did.  Not many, but some.  None of them came out like this… If I may ask, do you know what Riven’s affinities are?”

Athela paused the brushing of Riven’s hair and clasped her hands in front of her on Riven’s rising chest.  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Ethel’s blue-green eyes slowly shifted over to the arachnoid woman.  Still slightly nervous in the demoness’ presence, Ethel could tell that Athela likely knew exactly what she was talking.  “It must be high, and he must have at least two of them from what I’ve seen.  Blood and Unholy I think?  Pretty common for a vampire.”

A light and pure chuckle escaped Athela’s lips with a brilliantly white smile that danced on the corners of her mouth amidst the firelight.  She grabbed something to her left.  Then in her hand, she held up some of the ash that Azmoth’s body had turned into after his temporary death, and she let it flow out into the breeze when the winds picked up - carrying the ashes high up into the treetops.  “Fine.  Oh I know what they are all right.  It’s why I originally presented myself to Riven in the first place, during that odd little event he was a part of.  I’m still curious about who or what Chalgathi is, but regardless - I am glad to have hit such a jackpot of a master.”

“Agreed.” Fay stated casually, clicking her tongue and swatting the ground with her long black tail.

Athela’s smile grew wider at the looks of confusion or curiosity displayed not only on Ethel’s countenance, but also on Senna, and Dr. Brass.  “And that was even before I realized he was a pureblood vampire.”

Senna’s eyes abruptly widened.  “Pureblood?  I thought they were extinct?”

Athela shot the silver-haired elf a disdainful look.  The demoness was constantly shifting between showing the two elves kindness and disgust - an internal battle waging between how she’d been raised as a demon to despise mortals as lesser creatures, and the experiences she’d witnessed in the short time with her first and new master.  Internally willing herself to draw in the repulsion she felt for the girl across the firepit for being a fae creature of all things, she took in a deep breath and reminded herself that Riven had gone out of his way to save these pathetic women.  “Pureblooded vampires are certainly not extinct, they exist in rare quantities though.  Usually you’ll find them in ancient families of vampire royalty within the core worlds… the worlds integrated earliest into Elysium’s multiverse many millions of years ago.”

“Then what’s a pureblooded vampire doing here?  Is that why his eyes are different from the other vampires I’ve heard of?”  Senna curiously glanced at Fay when the succubus snickered.  “What’s so funny?”

The succubus didn’t answer.

Athela let out a long burp, but covered her mouth when Riven started to stir.  He didn’t wake, and her body relaxed a bit as she went back to playing with his hair.  “Anyways… regarding your question, Ethel: I don’t think it’d hurt to let you know.  It isn’t damaging information, and I suppose Riven would probably tell you on his own… but let me ask you this.  What do your people have in terms of affinities?”

“What do we have?” Ethel queried.

“Yes.  What types of magics and what do you think your average affinity would be as a percentage?  In your village, or tribe, or whatever it is you mortals call it.”

Ethel blinked, then proudly smiled and puffed her chest out.  “Our clan is known for Forest and Storm affinities.  Of course, in order to get those major sub-pillars we have a large majority of our people having affinities to the Fae Foundational Pillar.  Senna, what do you think the average affinity would be?  32 or 33 percent?”

Senna also swelled with pride.  “Yes, some people in our clan have affinities in the Forest pillar as high as 49%.”

Dr. Brass curiously raised a hand.  “Is that high?”

“Very high!” Ethel replied excitedly.  “I myself have a Forest affinity of 28%, which is pretty good!  Below average for our clan, but overall suitable for a competent ranger, beast tamer, mage or shaman.  Otherwise I have a 12% Fae pillar affinity, which isn’t great but it could land me an ability if I took a decade to study enough from our elders.  I haven’t selected my class yet, but we did have classes back in our world too.  Back then it just helped orient your studies and gave flat bonuses, with the system guiding us in how we saw the world and experienced the dao insights we happened upon.  Classes seem to be more important now though, because leveling exists now and they give stat points for every level.  Better classes means more progress for each level, therefore more power, so I’m hoping to get a better class option soon.  Otherwise I might really become an alchemist like my mother has been telling me to do for years!”

Senna snorted with amusement while picking at a piece of granola bar they’d taken from the hospital - shoving it into her mouth and chewing in contemplation.  “That’s certainly be something to see.  You’ve been a rebel all your life Ethel, I’d pay good money to see you ditch the adventuring life.”

“Well it isn’t like I’ve got the odds on my side!” Ethel snapped back irritably, waving her stump arm around before sagging her shoulders apologetically.  “Eh… Sorry, didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“It’s fine, I’d be upset too.  So Athela, you never did say what Riven’s affinities were.  Does he have pillars for all of his affinities yet?  I’ve been curious myself, it’s way too early to be that strong if he just started cultivating his magic.  ”

Athela shook her head and shared a look with the blue-skinned woman nearby, exchanging knowing smiles.  “He hasn’t collected all of his pillars, not yet.”

“Oh.  Just some of them then.  How high are they?”

Dr. Brass held up a hand to interject.  “Why does it matter and what do affinities mean?”

*CRASH*

There was a flash of green light further into the forest and the sound of splintering wood.  They all turned to look past the layers of webbing Athela had set up across the trees.  Out there, beyond the perimeter, one of Fay’s sigils had been triggered.  Out of the darkness the front paw of a warg bounced along the ground, showing just what had come a little bit too close to the camp for its own good, and causing Fay to wordlessly get up and walk out of the camp to remake the sigil that’d been undone.

Athela raised an eyebrow at the departing blue succubus - then turned to the old man, light from the fire dancing along her pitch black skin.  “Affinites directly affect the chance to receive ability cooldowns, the power output you can reach for every point of given energy spent on an ability, the speed at which you can use enact those abilities, the manipulation of abilities to do things other than the rigid outline the system sets for you, and the ability at which you learn things under the umbrella of a given pillar.  Essentially having a higher affinity for a pillar will allow you to control or learn magic, miracles or martial arts in that pillar far better than if that affinity were lower.  As for Riven’s affinities…”

Athela, being Riven’s minion, had access to his status page and scrolled down to where it described his pillar percentages.

• 100% affinity to the Blood Pillar, 96% Affinity to the Shadow Pillar, and 95% Affinity to the Death Pillar.  The Unholy Pillar is unaffected by this change and remains at its original state of 80%.  The Infernal Pillar is unaffected by this change and remains at its original state of 82%.

Funnily enough, the subpillars of Chaos and Depravity were not listed to tell Athela what their affinity levels were.  That was alright though, perhaps he just didn’t have them, but she doubted that was the case.  His affinity for the foundational Unholy pillar was too high not to have them.  Perhaps there was some other reason that she was missing, but in the end they’d find out regardless.  Usually a status page didn’t do this at all, and someone had to get an identifier to read off a percentage for them, but for some reason Riven’s vampiric lineage actually informed them what these percentages were.

A smug smirk crept back over Athela’s lips and she just shook her head slightly.  “Natural born vampires usually have affinities for the Unholy, Death, Blood and Shadow pillars.  It is intrinsically part of what they are.  Changed vampires though, they can oftentimes lack the Unholy foundational pillar as the vampiric transition only passes down the other three.  Kind of an enigma that one.”

“So which ones does Riven have then?  Obviously he has the Unholy pillar, everyone has at least one affinity, but does he have any of the sub-pillars?”

“He has all four of the typical vampiric affinities plus the Infernal Pillar.  I also suspect he might have the Chaos and Depravity subpillars as well, though that is not confirmed yet.”

Ethel raised her eyebrows in avid surprise.  “Oh!  Oh wow.  He seriously has five affinities?  I’ve never even heard of that happening before… I don’t think ever.  I only have Fae and Forest.”

“What are his percentages?” Senna, asked, slightly more intrigued.

“Let’s just say they’re all above 50%.”

Both elves stared blankly at Athela, then turned to look at where Riven was still exhausted and sleeping from the expenditure of mana after the fight earlier that day.  In an instant, both elves started berating Athela with questions and asking more about Riven’s origins.

“You’re telling us the truth?” Ethel questioned seriously, eyebrows furrowed and peering over half-skeptically and half in awe.  “That’s incredible!  That also explains why he’s so strong after so little time…”

“He learned how to conjure those spinning discs of razor blades within two days of study.” Athela chimed in, pride evident in the way she raised her chin.  She held up 2 fingers.  “Two days to learn his very first spell.”

Ethel narrowed her eyes.  “No, you’re lying.  That’s impossible.”

“She’s not lying, I watched it happen.” Fay’s voice called out before the succubus swayed her hips back and forth into the encampment again, coming to sit cross-legged next to Athela’s position.  She rested her head on her fists and leaned forward to better look at the fire.  “Riven is, simply put, a genius when it comes to understanding magic.  Perhaps not in other areas, but when it concerns mana he's an absolute prodigy surpassing anything I've ever seen before.  Couple that with his insanely high affinities and this is what you've got.  I’ve been watching him since the Chalgathi trials.  What Athela says is true.”

Dr. Brass scratched his chin, trying to make sense of all this new information.  Meanwhile both elves exchanged glances with one another, not sure if they should believe the two demons, but it was Athela who spoke next.

“You’re the succubus that he could have picked in his trials.”  She turned her head to meet Fay’s gaze.  “Aren’t you?”

Fay remained silent for a time, but eventually nodded her confirmation.  “They were the best Earth had to offer.”

“You would have sacrificed all of your levels to acquire one?” Athela asked curiously.

Fay nodded again.  “Obviously.  Just look at how much you've grown already, and it's been less than 3 months.”

This very much confused Ethel, and the injured elf raised her stump arm and waved it around to get their attention.  “Hey, uhm, what are you talking about?  What are these trials you’re talking about, and who are you talking about when you say they were the ‘best’ Earth had to offer?”

Fay let out a lighthearted laugh, then repositioned herself and kicked her long, sky-blue legs to the side - adjusting her clothes and brushing off dirt from her exposed abdomen.  “The unique event we talked to you about earlier concerning Earth’s integration… Well there were many unique events.  But the one that I was interested in was Chalgathi’s Trials.  They had all of the people on Earth who inherited unholy bloodlines present, and they were therefore the best candidates for acquiring new masters.  I would have lost some of my abilities and all of my acquired levels to participate, but obtaining a master with an unholy bloodline would mean my potential for growth skyrocketed.  Riven was one of the people I picked out Early as a good candidate, and back then when he chose Athela instead of me - I decided to wait.  I waited to try and get the next opening.  Then Azmoth came along and I had to wait some more, but demons have very long lives and I am patient.  The last and only master I had kept me as a plaything for over 300 years.  In that time I grew only 20 levels, but with Riven?  I expect to far surpass that number in less than half a year… as long as he survives.”

"He's going to survive." Athela stated flatly.

Fay could only smile.  "That is my intended plan as well."