Chapter 46
Songs of Silence
The bounty for clearing the Tunnel was massive. Even Ethan was taken aback when he had the opportunity to glance through the stream of notifications that had flooded his peripheral. The boss dropping 3 items was already on the better end of things, but that wasn’t even the half of it. He’d quickly shot all the way up to Level 16, gaining 4 Levels in one go, unlocking two majorly useful functions: Telepathic Communication and Tunnel Dome. In addition to that, he unlocked the first ‘Core Ability’ of the Class which were usually the Class’ strongest and most defining abilities.
He unlocked 6 new Titles in addition to everything and, perhaps most ludicrously, even unlocked a Relic. Relics were… an oddity, to say the least. They were items, in a way, though very specific and, contrary to the expectations of many Awakened initially, rarely truly good. At best, they were just passive bonuses with some downside–as that was their gimmick–and at worst they were outright crippling. It was also the first thing he checked as, even in the past life, he’d only ever gotten his hands on four Relics total.
[Scar of the Sun-God – Rare Relic]
[By will, become immune to fire for 5 seconds. Otherwise, take 40% increased Fire Damage. Cannot be equipped mid-combat.]
There were definitely use cases for the Relic but, as with most, it was not something he'd have permanently equipped. The fire was one of the most common types of damage, both from the other Awakened and monsters themselves and taking permanent 40% more damage from it was simply too much just for the very niche, temporary invulnerability to that specific type of damage.
However, there were scenarios where 5 seconds of Fire Immunity would definitely be a staggering blessing, which was why he’d keep the Relic in his inventory and not sell it or give it to someone.
Items that the boss dropped were certainly a much better part, though he would only end up keeping one, with the other two going to Ronald and Elijah. He'd already decided to egg Ronald into the direction of a bruiser archetype, a persistent, relatively tanky melee fighter who thrived in fighting both large groups of enemies and, to a lesser extent, individual duels. While still nowhere near the prowess of specialised duelist Classes, they weren't pushovers either. And one of the items perfectly fits that mould.
[Sun-Scaled Spear]
Rarity: Rare
Level: 10
+6 Strength
+4 Agility
Special Effect: Increase Strength and Agility 1 for every 2 opponents in combat with you, up to 15 max. Extra stats persist 6 seconds past the number of opponents falling down.
Ethan himself had never used spears as his primary weapon. Though he was proficient enough at them as, eventually, one had to be at least minimally proficient with each weapon archetype, he much preferred bladed options. Additionally, the spear was largely an attacking weapon, difficult to manoeuvre in tight quarters, and it fits an attacking type like Ronald far more than a drain tank like Ethan. The second item, one that he reserved for Elijah, was an oddly shaped orb with several crater-like dents across its iridescent, glimmering surface.
[Sun’s Drop]
Rarity: Common
Level: 5
+2 Wisdom
+2 Intellect
Special Effect: Mana Regeneration is increased by 10%.
It was a fairly standard item, a dime-a-dozen kind that would become obsolete for the most part within a couple of years. However, for now, it was better than nothing. Though 10% to Mana Regeneration sounded nice, that 10% only applied to the Class' baseline Mana Regeneration and, being generous, for most Classes it was simply abysmal, especially in combat where it only restored 30% of the amount it did outside the combat. Still, one extra spell every few minutes? Not the worst thing in the world.
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The best item of the bunch was definitely his. However, it was one of those items that Ethan knew from the onset, ever since he chose the Blood Inheritor Class, he would have an easier time acquiring them as they were far more valuable to him than to others. It was a ring, its base coated in silver with a sun motif etched into its bulkier top.
[Elegance]
Rarity: Unique
Level: 15
+10 Vitality
+1 Strength
Special Effect: Gain 20% bonus Vitality.
Special Effect: Rapidly restore 20% of Max Health the first time you fall below 35% Health. Can only occur 3 times. Has an internal cooldown of 12 hours.
Note: The King's life is connected to his Kingdom. For one to live long, the other must too.
For most others, Vitality was almost a dead stat. While tanks did like having a decent amount of Vitality, wasting a ring slot on it was a huge no-go, especially as the good chunk of % tankiness came from ring slots in most cases. Even Ethan, in the long run, already had different rings in mind that had very little Vitality simply because they were too good not to have. However, he didn’t mind temporarily weathering the storm with a Vitality-based ring, especially with the nice effect that restored 20% of his Health.
He didn't hand the kids items just yet; they were neither in the right state of mind nor in want of them just yet. They would leave soon, and it would be days before they were ready to openly welcome back the memory of this place.
The six titles he received were also rather nice, though somewhat expected. While he didn’t exactly know what rewards he got, he had the rough outline of the Titles he’d get that he never had before. The bonuses, however, weren’t as mind-blowing as he expected.
[Child of Sun – Common – increases fire resistance by 5%]
[Kingslayer – Unique – increase damage done to King-titled creatures by 15%]
[Desert Wanderer – Common – decreases thirst generation by 20%]
[Challenger – Rare – decreases damage taken from monsters with at least 10 Levels higher than you by 15%]
[Near-Death – Rare – increases Health Regeneration by an extra 25% when below 30% Health]
[The Holy Guardian – Epic – all Stats increased by 35% when fighting inside Field-funnelling Tunnels. Gain a bonus of 15% when fighting the Tunnel's boss. XP gained inside Field-funnelling Tunnels increased by 40%]
The most exciting unlock of all, however, was the first Core Ability of the Blood Inheritor Class. In his previous life, his first Core Ability was Stealth–he could go invisible for up to 60 seconds while the ability was just Level 1. It was a Class-defining ability, usually, and Blood Inheritor’s one didn’t disappoint.
[Hemomancy – Core]
[Control up to 2L of blood at will. You can harden it into steel-grade weapons and armour. Controlling blood externally does not consume any of the Blood Pool. Damage and defensive grading of the weapons conjured through this ability are dependent on the mastery of the ability itself and your stats. You may use blood to temporarily increase your maximum health. Any and all Leech variables are 70% less effective with this ability. Use and explore the ability's limits to strengthen it]
It was fairly simple, but it was a cornerstone of the Class. Though he could already control blood in a small way, this ability completely unlocked that–for all intents and purposes, it was as though he was given 2 litres of rather dangerous liquid that would obey him unconditionally and that he could control through his mind. That was only 2L for now. It would definitely go beyond that as Ethan had watched Logan control literal pools worth of blood.
It was a good haul, all in all, but it was not good enough to ‘justify’ Tara’s death in any capacity. All of these things were either inevitable or temporary. While ‘The Holy Guardian’ title was nice, it wasn’t as though Ethan wanted to make it a habit to explore and clear Field-funnelling Tunnels, and the title was pretty much useless outside of them. All other titles could be acquired in another way, and items hardly screamed ‘long-staying’.
That was always the question and the wonder–what was the worth of human life in terms of rewards that they died in the process of acquiring? In fact, sometime in the future, a popular value that came to dominate the general consensus was that one person's life was worth roughly 80 stats per person. So, if a party of two lost one, but the survivor got items and titles and other rewards that, cumulatively, increased their stats by 80 or more, that death was worth it.
The value would be updated as the years went by since an Awakened’s death now, qualitatively, was worth ‘less’ than the one in the distant future. For all her potential, Tara was a Level 7 Awakened with no items, no unique Class, nothing truly that stood out. Someone like that dying was ‘worth’ 80 stats, while someone at Level 80 with a unique Class dying was seen as almost a national tragedy.
Empathy became a luxury that was difficult to come by in the future. Every life had a very specific value, and, more often than not, a single item had more value than a human life. It was a depressing reality that even Ethan didn’t want to think about too much. It was the kind of world that he wanted to prevent in the first place. While his methods would be far from holy, and while he could hardly play the ‘end justifies the means’ card, deep down in his core, he did have good intentions. He lost the human of himself a long, long, long time ago, and he may die without ever finding it again, but the least he could do was disallow Layla from growing up in a world ready to strip her of her innocence and toss her into hellfire without so much as a ‘please’.
He missed her already, terribly so, and was heartbroken at the thought of how she would react to Tara's death. The two had grown close together in the months they spent frolicking about, and for a girl that had already lost so much, losing more had a chance to break her even further. She would hide it, as she always did, and pretend she was okay for his sake. But the children should never encumber themselves with the thought of worrying those who shield them from the world. Children shouldn't hide in their tiny little armours, worried they might inconvenience others. And yet, how many do? Tara was one. As was Ethan, a long, long time ago. Thousands, millions, hundreds of millions more. All hiding pain because they were never taught better.