Charging at the mountain with a team of disciples partially immune to the heat and flames of their surroundings was easier said than done despite their advantages. Finally learning how to shut off Ark mid-battle, Tunde swung aggressively at the flame wraiths that had progressed from early tier to mid-tier 3 rift creatures. Now with the actual strength of a tier 3 creature, they forced the disciples into teams just to fend them off, projection attacks flying through the air with dizzying speed. Elyria and Tunde led the front, metal blade and black axe swinging aggressively through the air, cutting them down.
The evidence of a solid foundation was evident in both of them as they moved much faster than the other disciples, Tunde’s reflexes and movements on par with the creatures if not better, his aura-coated axe easily cutting through the creatures with little resistance thanks to it being peak disciple stage. Elyria’s liquid metals floated around her, responding to her very will as they repeatedly changed shapes, first a wide shield that blocked off the worst of the attacks and then a large hammer that crushed the creatures to the ground.
She was constantly swallowing Ethra pills and elixirs to replenish her stores, Tunde simply drawing from the latent rift Ethra in the environment steadily, his movements as sharp and fluid as they had been from the moment they had entered the rift. He had given up on resonance after a while, the attack draining him just as quickly as he had implemented it, and simultaneously gathering Ethra in the air was a hassle as the very flame Ethra resisted his movements.
He resolved to brute force his way through the creatures, the stinging bite of the flames that constantly scorched his rapidly healing skin. He considered investing in some armor, perhaps a flame resistance robe?, he had heard of them, enchanters as they were called. He remembered seeing a shop or two when he had ventured to the shopping districts but hadn’t actually considered getting one for himself.
Besides, the exorbitant prices he had heard for even an initiate's enchanted robes had driven him far from them, he wondered how much a disciple’s robe would cost depending on the enchantments woven into it. Sidestepping another creature and driving Shadowfang down, decapitating it, he turned to the very peak of the mountain where a large red core sat, Ethra sight revealing the raw fire Ethra that it contained, peak tier 3. Seated in front of it though, was a large humanoid shape, holding what Tunde saw was a fire-shaped spear, motionless, as if it hadn’t deigned them as a threat to its core.
“There’s no way we can leave that core within the dungeon, it’ll just keep getting stronger, we might not even be around when the rift breaks,” Elyria said.
Their presence in the rift had stalled it from unleashing these beings of fire on the land, something Tunde realized would have been a catastrophe on its own even with elder Joran around. Tunde stared at the creature as he willed Ark to come to the forefront of his sight.
[early-tier 3 flame wraiths killed X20]
[Mid-tier 3 flame wraiths killed X5]
[rift guardian: peak tier 3 Emberlord]
“An Emberlord,” Tunde said.
“Heard of them, one touch of its flames and you’ll need a fourth-grade healing elixir to even begin healing that part,” she said grimly.
“We could all charge it” Tunde suggested.
“Not if you want to take scorched bodies back home, no, there are better ways to deal with it” she replied.
She turned to the assembled disciples who looked weary, soot and scorch marks filling their bodies, even some grievous injuries that slowly healed as they drank grade 1 and 2 healing elixirs.
“That’s the rift guardian, under no circumstance are you to get close to it when we engage, hand over all frozen petal elixirs you have with you” she ordered.
A while later, five elixirs sat in her hand as Elyria winced.
“This won’t be enough to deal with the Emberlord,” she said.
“You use it,” Tunde said.
She turned to him.
“And watch you turn to ashes?” she asked.
He gave her a soft smile.
“Trust me” he replied.
She eyed him over.
“can’t say your aura’s been protecting you from the flames seeing as it’s coating your axe, somehow you’ve developed immunity to the flames,” she said.
“I drank the frozen petal elixir you gave me,” he said.
“And that’s worn off a while back, my aura’s been my protection throughout this fight,” she said.
Tunde sighed.
“I can cycle rift Ethra” he responded.
“Are you mad?, that thing would taint your Ethra lines!” Elyria exclaimed, looking him once over.
Tunde shrugged.
“Not for me, somehow, I can absorb it,” he said, looking down at his wrist where the relic lay dormant.
“Ah, I see,” Elyria said, understanding in her eyes.
Explaining to her that his Ethra was similar to that of rift Ethra and he could cultivate it would be too much of a hassle, perhaps later, an easier explanation was better right now in his view. She nodded, opening elixir after elixir as she winced, Tunde watching freezing chills waft off her body with surprise.
She stopped at the third bottle.
“Better to keep the last two for later,” she said with gritted teeth.
He nodded, turning to the disciples.
“Take everything you can strip off from this rift and head back out, straight for black rock, inform the elder” he ordered.
They nodded, all too eager to leave the rift, they had signed up to deal with a tier 2 rift, and that they had come this far was a testament to their strength as well as skill. Watching them go, he turned back to Elyria whose eyes were shut as if in concentration, trying to keep the chill in check.
“The sooner the better,” she said with gritted teeth.
Tunde nodded, imbuing himself as Ark kept reminding him that he had reached the threshold of strength for disciple rank. Transferring his aura to his body as well, Tunde cracked forward with raw speed, Shadowfang swinging with resonance on its blade, aiming for the burning head of the creature. Its spear was there, stopping him in his tracks as Tunde barely saw the creature move, wide eyed, he recovered quickly dodging a swipe of its spear that left a line of burning fire in the air, rolling to the ground. Resonance had exploded on the spear, shattering it but the weapon reformed just as quickly.
Elyria was there, flipping through the air as she fashioned two metal blades that were partly frozen, the chill of ice on them as she clashed with the creature. Tunde was on his feet, Ethra sight blazing as he tracked the lines of raw flame Ethra that ran throughout the creature’s body. It stamped its feet as he grabbed Elyria, throwing the both of them backward, Ark blazing.
[Emberlord has used technique: sphere of fire]
Rolling to a stop, she thanked him, Tunde hissing as the chill burnt him. She got to her feet, her liquid metal floating above her as she shaped them to needles firing them at the creature who twirled its flames spear, slapping away most even as one pierced its shoulder and it staggered without a single word. Tunde managed to gather Ethra in the air, the weight weighing on him as he fired them at the creature, it attempted to slap them away when one totally obliterated its hand, the creature staring at it in what Tunde assumed was shock.
[you have used unknown projection technique] Ark reported.
He really should name his techniques, shooting forwards as the creature knew better than to take the projection technique again head on, is slapped the butt of its spear against Tunde’s chest in a blurry move that had him rolling through the air in pain, crashing into the side of the mountain top. Already healing, he spat out a glob of blood, watching as Elyria danced in circles around the creature, her blade striking at impossible angles even as the peak tier three creature while easily parrying her, fought to catch up with the discordance of the projected needles.
It spoke to her concentration and willpower as she seemed to maintain both at the same time, her movements effortless, one metal arm as much a blade as the one she held in her arm of flesh. He was behind the creature whose head turned 180, catching him in the air as he screamed in pain, his skin cooking before he was slammed into the ground, all breath knocked out of him. Elyria was there, arm and blade crossed as she crashed to one knee, the Emberlord attempting to skewer him.
Broke bones and all, he downed another healing elixir to help his already healing body recover as he gripped Shadowfang, growling, gathering all the rift Ethra in his body into the weapon that shone, the black bands that were the signature of the technique glowing on the weapon. Grabbing Elyria, he pushed her aside, relieving her as he grabbed the spear, agony lancing through him even as he swung his axes at the creature, a line of pure resonance slamming into the creature.
[you have used unknown imbuement technique]
He couldn’t feel one half of his body as he crumbled back to his knees, the creature splitting in two before exploding in a shower of flames. A metal shield covered him though, Elyria staring at him with wide eyes as she forced his jaw open, pouring the remaining two frozen petal elixirs down his throat. He shuddered with pain, feeling his mouth open again and a healing elixir judging by its taste being forced down too.
The pain nearly caused him to pass out as he raised his left hand, staring at the cooked flesh that stared at him back, Shadowfang on the ground where it smoked.
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“By the hegemons” she whispered.
He tried talking as a sharp pain shot through him, Elyria pausing him.
“don’t, you look as bad as you feel,” she said horrified.
Tunde gave no response, the entire mountain shuddering even as he grabbed the tier 3 core from the smoldering remains of the creature, his void ring swallowing it. Elyria held the rift core itself staring at him with wide eyes again.
“How are you healing rapidly?” she asked.
Tunde raised his hand again, visibly staring at the skin that rapidly healed before his eyes, saying nothing, he picked Shadowfang. Strapping it to his back as he stumbled towards the edge of the mountain, free-falling before slamming into the ground with a shudder, burning through Ethra as quickly as he absorbed it. Elyria floated calmly down to his side atop a blade, the two of them running towards the exit of the single fire Ethra rift. Tunde staggered a few times, breath rough as he maintained his cycling, pushing the healing elixir to heal him as quickly as possible.
The moment they were out of the rift, he took a lungful of breath as his skin stung him rapidly, his body gradually soaking wet as rain fell. The ground becoming slippery, he turned his gaze to the tents where the assembled disciples all turned to him, a cheer coming from them.
“Did it occur to you that we could have simply messaged the elder through the Ark?” Elyria said.
Tunde gave a weak chuckle, walking towards the camp where small fires burned and the disciple rushed towards them, Harun and Giselle in front.
*************************************
A few healing elixirs later with the real threat of Ethra poisoning swimming in his body, reclining on a chair, Giselle and Harun along with Elyria sat close to him, staring at the boxes of resources they had acquired from the rifts.
“The three rifts were easy to deal with in record time, barely mid-tier 2 rifts, but even that’s something,” Giselle said.
“Elemental rifts, water, earth, and mud, we almost lost a few disciples, but what we gained was worth it” Harun added.
Elyria snorted.
“Lucky you,” she said.
Tunde could feel Harun’s gaze on him as he sipped from the wine in his wooden cup, the spicy liquid warming his body better than the flames they sat around. They had been ordered by the elder to stay and watch for any other rifts just in case, with the surge shifting the weather towards a more tumultuous one, the possibilities of rifts springing up even within an area where one had appeared was more than possible.
“How was it, the tier 3 rift guardian?” he asked silently.
“Harun!” Giselle scolded.
Elyria said nothing, simply watching him.
“hot” Tunde replied as she choked on her wine, a small smile on his face.
The look of relief on both Harun and Giselle’s face spoke their mind, Tunde had looked like a monster out of nightmares even with his skin rapidly healing, now nothing more than an itch with his hair burnt out, he had resolved to shave his head completely, Elyria expertly using her blade to turn his once rough head into a smoothened scalp that shone in the flames of the fire and Tunde quite liked it.
“It was tough, it was fast, and it was terrible” he continued.
“But most of all, exciting” he added.
“To walk away from a tier three flame creature with mild burns is a miracle,” Giselle said.
“That and we’ve exhausted the frozen petal elixirs we had, those things cost five thousand lumens each” Harun said as Tunde choked on his drink, eyes wide.
“That much?” he exclaimed.
“What, you thought they grew on trees?” Elyria asked.
“No, but five thousand?” he asked again.
“The flowers aren’t even found on this continent, they belong to Ironthorn and even then, we got them for subsidized rates due to the alchemist sect keeping it at a reasonable price” Giselle replied.
"So, you’re saying we just burnt through close to a hundred thousand lumens?’ Tunde said again, a slight pain in his chest.
“Running a house isn’t easy, now you know why the competition’s this fierce” Elyria said.
“Besides, you’re literally swimming in a substantial amount of lumens from both the winnings from the bet and the reward from lord Lirien herself” Elyria explained.
Tunde reclined on the chair.
“Are you all coming to the tier 4 rift?” he asked.
“You wouldn’t catch me within a thousand miles of that place,” Harun said.
“Same here” Giselle added.
Tunde turned inquisitively to them.
“Why?, it’s the best place right now to solidify your advancements and push towards adept,” he said.
“we’re fine as disciples right now, no need to rush, not when we’ll probably be facing down the mountain sects and from rumors, powers from the Acacia clan, it’ll be easy to lose one’s life there” Harun replied.
“Besides, with the items I got from the water rift, pretty sure I could continue my cultivation here” he added.
Tunde remembered Harun cultivated water affinity, Giselle with hardening.
“Guessing the earth rift gave you quite a few resources?” he asked her.
Giselle smiled nodding.
“a force rift would have been better, tempering materials, but I’ll take what I can as a mid-tier disciple” she replied.
“What about Draven and Isolde?” Tunde suddenly asked as he remembered them.
The two disciples had suddenly withdrawn from active participation even as he was bothered about them.
“Huh, you aren’t aware?” Giselle asked.
Tunde shook his head.
“Draven has decided to become a forgesmith, his goal is to become an artificer someday I believe, Isolde’s going to be in charge of the requisition hall of the house, heard it’s going to be a big project” she explained.
“Oh, good for them” Tunde muttered into his cup, staring at the brown liquid.
“Not everyone will walk the path of a ranker Tunde” Elyria said from where she had sat quietly.
He glanced at her silver eyes, watching as she drummed her metal hand against her chair arm.
“There are other paths to cultivation than battle, various fields of work even more lucrative than putting your life on the line every time” she finished.
He nodded, accepting the fact, but it wasn’t his route, he needed power, not to relax but to actively challenge the powers of Adamath itself.
“You should get some sleep, odds are we leave early for black rock tomorrow and then the tier 4 rift,” Elyria said.
“you’re coming along?” he asked.
She raised an eyebrow.
“I’m still a member of house argent rose, of course, I’m going” she responded.
“we’ll keep watch with the rest of the disciples, nothing out here except from the occasional night critters and rarely tier 2,” Giselle said.
Tunde nodded, getting up as he made his way into a tent made up for him, once again thanking the disciples who had set it up for him before retiring inside. Dropping Shadowfang as he took oil to clean its edges, he brought up his Ark table.
Cultivator’s Table
Name: Tunde Dark Fist
Stage: Disciple [mid-tier]
Ethra Heart: disciple [peak-tier]
Tempering Art: unknown
Tempering Stage: Disciple [peak-tier]
Aura Stage: Disciple [peak-tier]
Battle Art: Flowing fists
Concept: None
Ethra Affinities:
* Rift Ethra
Attributes:
* Strength- 50
* Agility- 42
* Constitution- 50
TECHNIQUES
Imbuement: Unnamed [tier 2]
Projection: Unnamed [tier 2]
Dominion: null
Special Technique:
* Resonance [tier 2]
* Ethra sight [tier 2]
The only significant change to his table had been his agility which had risen to 42, no doubt an effect of the rift Ethra within his body. To advance further, he would need to first temper his body, breaking through to adept rank and then his heart, at least from what the cultivation books he had read had said. Sighing, he stared at the projection and imbuement techniques with the title unnamed there, both tier 2, he rubbed his face wearily, hissing as he peeled a bit of his skin.
Naming had never been his thing; he had lucked out with Ethra sight and resonance had been named by the elder. Staring at it for a while, a thought came to him as he tried it out, thinking of the person even as he sent a message.
[greetings] he said warily, unsure if it would work.
A few seconds later he got a reply.
[Tunde?] the reply said.
Tunde felt his heart constrict as he caught himself bowing, a weak laugh on his lips.
[adept Thorne] he texted back.
[peak disciple Tunde, you’ve come far] the reply said.
[it is thanks to your teachings at the start] Tunde said.
[but ruthlessness led you to this point, I'm impressed, especially with your victory against Thalas, a shame you didn’t kill him though] Thorne replied.
Tunde hesitated.
[I didn’t want to] he said.
[and yet, you now have one enemy waiting to stab you in the back] Thorne responded.
[how is he?] Tunde asked.
[you think I know things from my cell deep underground?] Thorne asked.
Tunde could hear his sarcastic tone as he smiled.
[my apologies, I was simply bothered I did any lasting damage to him] he said.
[you did that and that crazy female lord would have relieved you of your head] Thorne said as a chill went through him.
[I’ll be watchful of him] Tunde replied.
[see that you do, now, I don’t think you got across to me simply to check up on me] Thorne said.
Tunde took a deep breath.
[I’m sorry I didn’t do anything to help get you out of there] Tunde said.
[since when did a sheep have a say in the games of Wolves?] Thorne asked.
Tunde frowned.
[despite what you think, you’re among enemies, no matter what title they call you or how they praise you] Thorne continued.
[and the fact that you fought revenants at the mines simply delayed their decision on you, that and you siding with an outer elder] Thorne said.
[outer elder?] Tunde asked.
[Joran doesn’t belong to the clan, his usefulness is reaching a limit and you as well, you’d be foolish to relax like I said earlier] Thorne said.
[what do I do then?] Tunde asked.
[trust no one, maybe Elyria, for some reason that Silvershade girl has a soft spot for your wellbeing, use that to your advantage, especially as you go for the surge and that tier 4 rift I keep hearing about] Thorne said.
[we don’t take advantage of each other] Tunde wrote back hurriedly, teeth gritted.
Thorne’s reply came a few seconds later.
[then you’re a fool to think she wouldn’t throw you away the moment it suited her] he replied.
Tunde sighed.
[look, I got in touch because I need your help] Tunde said.
[with what?] Thorne replied.
[naming my techniques] he said.
[I see, perhaps you realized my usefulness and decided you don’t know everything?, wise] Thorne wrote back.
Tunde gave a soft smile.
[indeed, I would plead of the knowledge of my superiors, currently] Tunde said.
[oh?, is the sheep becoming a wolf?] Thorne asked.
Tunde smiled.
[be that as it may, describe the techniques to me] Thorne requested.
Tunde did, first with the projection technique he had formed within the training chambers, the gathering of Ethra in the air and then firing.
[that’s an odd projection technique, almost like those mages of the Ironthorn continent] Thorne replied.
Tunde grew curious.
[in what way?] he asked.
[most cultivators prefer shaping their projection techniques into rudimentary shapes, sharp blades, needles, shields, attack, and defense if you understand] Thorne wrote back.
[what you just described is a method used by those snobbish keepers of Astradriel, a method where their Ethra is always in a fluid state, allowing them to manipulate it with devastating effect, they are mostly mages there, somehow breaking down runes to limited techniques they call spells, quite strange cultivators] Thorne explained.
So the female mage had been from the Ironthorn continent, that faraway place that was nothing but a distant thought, Tunde idly wondered how the Verdan clan had found one to help with the training chamber.
[anyways, Ethra sphere sounds appropriate, it’s made of Ethra and it’s a sphere] Thorne replied.
Tunde snorted.
[you’re bad at this than I am] he said.
[I could say the same for your techniques, who throws a ball of Ethra at people and calls it a technique?] Thorne retorted.
Tunde chuckled.
[Ethra sphere it is] he said and then he explained his weapon imbuement technique.
[Ethra strike] Thorne replied almost immediately.
Tunde groaned
[really?] Tunde asked.
[Do you have a better idea?] Thorne asked.
Tunde sighed.
[no, Ethra strike it is then] Tunde replied.
[will that be all?, I need to go back to staring at the walls of my cell, the molds are quite fascinating you see] Thorne said.
Tunde shook his head.
[that will be all adept Thorne, thank you, for everything] Tunde replied.
[thank me by staying alive, can’t afford to have all my efforts wasted] Thorne replied.
[Thorne?, one last thing] Tunde called.
[I’ve always been a wolf, and I have fangs now] he sent.
A reply came back a few seconds later.
[prove it].