Kal, preferring to leave the grievous bodily harm for last figured he would do the chests first so a moment later and a flash of cascading golden light two large shining chests covered in silver filigree appeared in front of him. Both were perfect copies of each other and seemed almost too bright for a place like this.
He opened the first one and was half-blinded by a flash of white light as the lid cracked open. Inside lay a variety of items but the first that caught his eye was a large vial of red marbled green liquid.
Elixir of Physical Ascent [Rare] [Elixir]
Once consumed this elixir grants a permanent +10 bonus to a physical attribute of the consumer’s choice. Only one elixir of this rarity can be used each tier.
It was actually a little bit lame compared to the food Fyborh had given him but he couldn’t complain about ten free points. He knew immediately that he would be using it on agility. Kal downed the elixir and a simple display appeared. He chose agility and tossed the bottle into his amulet before moving on.
Next was a potion belt just like the one he was given for his first quest reward but this one was made of black leather.
Potion Belt [Rare]
A simple belt used by most adventures and soldiers wealthy enough to carry potions. This belt contains the appropriate enchantments to protect items held within it from harm. Additionally, potions stored in this belt can be activated without the need of consuming their contents manually. This function only works with resource renewal potions.
That was a lot better than he was expecting when he first saw it but annoyingly the belt had no potions already in it unlike the first one he had. Kal put it away and moved on to the last item in this chest which was covered by the belt at first.
Once he uncovered it his interest spiked and he snatched it up as he identified it.
Abyss Scale Cuirass [Rare]
Crafted from the scales of the demons of the fallen Kartha this cuirass bears similar properties to the flesh of the most powerful garghound variants. The Abyss Scale Cuirass radiates sufficient heat to burn those susceptible in retaliation to attacks. All damage to the Abyss Scale Cuirass will regenerate over the course of 1 hour if at least one scale remains intact. +40 Endurance, +50 Vitality.
“Now that’s something I need!” Kal threw the cuirass over his head and felt the boost of his attributes increasing. The retaliation effect sounded useful but honestly, Kal was just glad to have something to wear that would survive a fight. He had been disappointed when the Karthian breastplate had failed so spectacularly.
Moving on to the second chest Kal opened it and the first thing to catch his eye was a silver ring and under close inspection, he could see that it looked like a silver serpent biting its own tail.
Ring of Sacrificial Endurance [Rare]
Often used by the cults of the 323rd layer this ring allows its wearer to sacrifice a portion of their own vitality in exchange for a lesser amount of stamina. Vitality sacrificed this way will slowly return to normal but to many, the benefit is not worth the risk.
Kal frowned at the ring's description but couldn’t help but like the sound of an emergency store of stamina. This sort of thing would have been an amazing boon during his days running between the elites.
He slipped it onto his left middle finger and a display appeared.
Select an amount between [1-3870] to sacrifice and you will receive stamina equal to ¼ of the vitality sacrificed.
Amount to sacrifice: ____
Kal dismissed the display. He wasn’t about to try it out now unless he was desperate.
The next item was a large metal disc with silver and blue text engraved around its edge. When he picked it up it pulsed slightly, lighting up the engravings in a seemingly random order.
Planar Compass [Rare]
Crafted by the Mage Lord Hentrax of the 73rd this device can detect the presence of a planar tear or gate within 1,000 miles. Additionally, each of the runes will glow with the color of the atmospheric mana leaking through the detected planar anomaly.
Kal’s eyes widened but the rush of excitement faded when he remembered what Fyborh said about getting home. It wasn’t going to be that simple. For this to be helpful there needed to be a tear or gate for it to detect. Then again perhaps he could escape through the storm somehow. He needed to hurry up.
The last item was another sight for sore eyes. It was a pair of black boots. They looked pretty simple but better than any boots he'd had for a long time.
Nimble Boots of the Blood Stalker [Rare]
Often worn by the assassin clans of the 409th layer these boots prevent their wearer from slipping on uneven or slippery ground leaving no footprints on any substance or surface besides the blood of their victims. +50 Agility, +25 Perception
Kal barely read the description before slipping his bare feet into the boots. They fit perfectly and the moment he had them both on he immediately felt the properties of the boots take effect. He felt like he was standing slightly above the ground instead of directly on it.
These would be very useful. Even though stealth wasn’t really his style, all of the boots' effects were useful.
The storm overhead picked up in its speed of detonations and a lance of destruction hit the side of the dome leaving a huge scar and crack. The system had said the event wouldn’t end before he had gotten all of the rewards but he wasn’t sure if the storm cared.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Kal quickly moved on to his next reward.
Mythic Skill
Due to your anomalous class and unique resource direct system intervention is required to grant this reward. Warning grievous bodily harm is likely.
Both the Mythic Skill and Extra Class Upgrade Benefit will be integrated together.
Begin Integration: Yes/No
Kal sighed and selected yes, “Surely it won’t be that bad…”
The world froze and Kal stood staring at the space where his display had just been as even the storm of above seemed to pause in time. A new storm began to accumulate out of tiny specks of gold and silver light. The golden storm soon filled the entire dome with near-blinding light.
Despite the stillness of the world around him the finger that wore To Spit in God’s Eyes began to burn as his display appeared on its own accord as countless scrying attempts bombarded him before the display flickered and died.
Above the golden storm condensed into a sphere of pure white light that radiated deadly power causing the entire dome to shudder. Then from the edge of Kal’s hearing something spoke to him.
“Prepare yourself. Anomaly of cowardly gods…”
It was only the slightest whisper but the sound made Kal’s eyes roll to the back of his head as the shuddering of the dome became a deafening roar as the sphere descended toward him. Kal knew in his heart that if that touched him he would die but he couldn’t move, he could barely even think as the weight of the sphere drew closer.
He felt his skin begin to burn from the radiant light so by instinct he activated Wrathful Regeneration and surprisingly it worked and could feel his regeneration fighting to keep up with the damage.
It wasn’t even close.
Kal began activating everything he could to protect himself. First, he activated Flesh of Iron then Wrath Incarnate. His wrath plummeted but he didn’t care as he felt the power of the system draw closer warping the space around it just with its presence.
His skin continued to burn and his body bent under the weight of the power descending to annihilate him. Then it touched him.
All the pain he thought was unbearable before became a beloved memory as every nerve in his body burst into white-hot agony, the white sphere sunk into his chest before worming tendrils of destructive light through his body.
Kal couldn’t even cry out as his body remained frozen as the light seared his body. Was it trying to kill him? Kal focused his frayed will into threads in an attempt to clamp down on the power burning through him but every time the threads burned away like it was nothing.
The light easily breached the void between his body and core space and soon fell upon his core directly. The pain grew even worse and Kal’s perception shuddered as his mind began to fail. As the light surrounded his burning core a minuscule gray tendril emerged and moved along the surface of his core before piercing the side of his core like it wasn’t even there and entering his soul.
Then it spoke again this time from deep within his core.
The shell of a man and the soul of an ender…
May the spirit of this union break the ties that bind…
Kal’s soul flashed with white-gray light and the pattern in the tendrils suddenly cleared as the light followed a path between his soul and mind before bursting through his eyes. The pain only heightened as the path continued to burn and his eyes were charred from his skull.
The world began to move again as Kal fell to the ground writhing in agony. He choked out a gasp of pain and felt bits of charred meat fly out of his mouth. He tried to breathe in again only to find his lungs a charred mess as well.
Health:
3/3870
Stamina:
0/7240
Wrath:
0
Kal felt Wrath Incarnate drop out on its own as his body went suddenly limp as the skill drained the last of his stamina almost instantly. He was blind and couldn’t breathe with his destroyed lungs but he needed to get wrath.
He couldn’t lift himself into his normal siphoning position but he didn’t need to so he just laid there and activated his mana sight. Luckily even without eyes the ability still seemed to work and even in this state he could still siphon.
Strangely siphoning seemed easier than normal, his wrath climbed much faster than it normally did, almost like when he used the concentration array. He thought about getting it out but quickly dismissed that idea when he found the amulet completely fused to his chest from the burns.
The abyssal mana to wrath conversion was even more horrible than usual as it moved through the power-charred flesh of his body but soon he felt his body knitting itself back together. Kal couldn’t believe he just survived what he had just seen. The moment he saw it he thought he was going to die.
“You're stronger but not that much stronger…” Kal thought to himself as he took his first hesitant breath as one of his lungs finished healing.
Health:
94/3870
Stamina:
4/7240
Wrath:
387
Health:
137/3870
Stamina:
5/7240
Wrath:
0
He hadn’t expected anything like that. Apparently, direct system intervention hurt. Who would have thought… He couldn’t help but be frustrated as he waited for his body to heal. All that and he still hadn’t gotten a notification about either of the rewards and now he had to waste time healing.
His regeneration was taking longer than it normally did partially because he was using the old version to prevent organ scarring but something else also caught his internal eye as he watched its progress. Along the most severely burned channel, there was still a line of white light. Barely visible but definitely still present. It was only after the area around the channel and his eyes started regenerating that he received the notification.
Synergy Detected: Soul Forge < == > Anomalous Soul < == > Slayer of Fate
Extra Class Upgrade Benefit Integrated Successfully: Unbound Will [Spirit Bound]