Kal frowned as he read over the skill again.

Wrath Incarnate [Uncom//ERROR///??/?l Forged] [S//ERROR///??/?Assisted]

A Slayer’s //ERROR///??/?is as much a physical presence as it is a mental state.

//ERROR///??/?your inner self is let free, crushing all emotions it de//ERROR///??/?st of Wrath until you deactivate this skill. If your Wrath is exha//ERROR///??/?ee times more Stamina until you deactivate this skill.

P//ERROR///??/? Effect: Your very pres//ERROR///??/?sense the Wrath deep within you and will fear you. The more affected by this aura the less Wrath is consumed while using this skill's active effect.

Warning due to manual manipulati//ERROR///??/?will break and //ERROR///??/? //ERROR///??/?resource would be le//ERROR///??/?trolled.

“Well, it’s safe to say I shouldn’t try to use that skill…” Kal muttered internally. He wasn’t keen on trying any soul forging but it was worth taking a look so he dove into his core space and frowned. It was a bloody mess. Broken core fragments hung floating around his new core, each of them leaking stray bits of resources. Kal could see whatever was breaking away was quickly absorbed by his body but it still didn’t look great.

But that wasn’t the worst of what he saw by any means. Hanging apart from his new core was the remnants of Wrath Incarnate, it was barely more than a shattered globe with a long frayed channel out one side that led to nothing since the core it was attached to was destroyed.

Call moved his cloud form in for a closer look and his frown only deepened when he saw the inside of the broken containment sphere. Nearly every construct within it was damaged or destroyed altogether. Some had exploded, and others were simply now just remnant strands of will but it was clear to him immediately that he wouldn’t be able to just repair the skill.

Kal looked back on the previous iterations of the skills description and read its old description.

Wrath Incarnate [Uncommon] [Soul Forged] [System Assisted]

A Slayer’s Wrath is as much a physical presence as it is a mental state.

Active Effect: Empower your form with your Unleashed Wrath and wade through the masses unimpeded. While in this state your inner self is let free, crushing all emotions it deems as weaknesses. In addition, all attributes are increased by 40% at the cost of Wrath until you deactivate this skill. If your Wrath is exhausted it will instead use three times more Stamina until you deactivate this skill.

Passive Effect: Your very presence is unnerving to all but the strongest of will and those you choose to leave unaffected. All living things can sense the Wrath deep within you and will fear you. The more affected by this aura the less Wrath is consumed while using this skill's active effect.

Warning due to manual manipulation of core and an abnormal resource, this skill is being used as a seal for the abnormal resource. If the abnormal resource’s value ever exceeds the maximum value of your Stamina resource this skill will break and all of the abnormal resource would be left uncontrolled.

“Well, it did warn me…” Kal muttered. It looked like he would have to try to recreate the skill or craft a new variation on it at least. It would be a terrible setback if he couldn’t find a way to replicate the amplification of his attributes, a forty percent loss of attributes during combat would definitely get him killed especially if he had permanently lost the fear effect.

He wasn’t sure if all of the fear his enemies felt was because of the skills' passive effect since a few of his titles seemed to imply they had some kind of effect on his presence but he was sure it had helped.

And even worse, if there was no seal on his core to prevent his wrath from leaking out would he lose control the moment he gained a significant amount of wrath?

Looking closer at his core he didn’t believe so. Once he had upgraded his core he had suspected it wouldn’t simply leak out anymore and the fact he was in control this very moment meant his soul was fully confined. It was probably more like that Wrath Incarnate had begun to hold him back. His core broke first but it was Wrath Incarnate that imposed the limit.

The question is, What was his new limit?

Health:

208/4160

Stamina:

1246/7880

Wrath:

0

But ultimately that wasn’t important right now. First, he needed to find a way to recover from his injuries. Wherever he was now, there was no abyssal mana or mana of any kind besides the soul mana he could see moving past in the distance.

Could he use soul mana?

He had the affinity but it wasn’t wrath which didn’t really match with what he had learned. His wrath and or mana variant were not linked to any other affinity but yet he was still aligned with them. What that meant for his future he really wasn’t sure. Fyborh had said Kal originally never had an affinity at all which was the main reason he had never ascended naturally. The system had clearly threatened Fyborh when Kal had mentioned his soul possibly being responsible.

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His soul did something to the abyssal mana pouring into him, how exactly it changed it to wrath he wasn’t sure. Slayer’s Intent might give him some insight into how it worked but either way, even if he could figure out a way to use soul mana to generate wrath it wasn’t something he could risk right now. When he tried to siphon after killing the lumixet demon it had nearly killed him. No doubt if he tried again now it would just do the same.

What about just linking stamina to Wrathful Regeneration? It might work but with just a cursory glance between the inner workings of Flesh of Iron and Wrathful Regeneration Kal was almost certain it wouldn’t work. In Wrathful Regeneration, his wrath was converted into vital energy directly in a construct he had no understanding of and he didn’t really want to find out what would happen if he jammed the wrong resource through a converter meant for wrath. It might do nothing, or it might explode in his chest, killing him and or rendering the skill useless.

No, he needed to find another way, “Gods… I really need a book for a th-” Kal sighed and opened his amulet. He did have a book, he just hoped he could open it. The book appeared in his remaining hand, its golden embossing reflecting the faint light of the soul mana above making the waterfall on its cover seem to flow. Kal grimaced as flakes of blackened skin came free from his fingertips from just the weight of the tome in his hand. Kal put the tome down on the ground in front of him and read its description again.

The Threads Of All [Mythic] [Bound: Kalum Lesta]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh, right. I still can’t read the damned thing.” Kal muttered but now at least he had time to try and open it.

The tome’s text remained the same. May the smith forge or the spinner weave as the Astral Falls seek a new ascendant.

Well, it seemed simple enough. It seemed to want him to forge and or weave something. Kal wondered why it differentiated between the two, he had called it both since he had learned to create threads. It was closer to weaving on a technical level but every action took a certain amount of will to put in place which felt more forceful than weaving implied. The threads were the metal and his will the hammer.

There was probably more significance than that but Kal doubted he would find it. He wasn’t excited about forging anything right now but he was pretty sure he would have to open it so Kal placed his palm on the tome.

Kal gritted his teeth expecting to have to suffer through another wave of the horrible burning but even as a small strand of will flowed from his core he felt nothing. This did bring his attention to the old channels, however. He had spread across his entire body and nearly every inch of his skin held a subcutaneous webwork of channels but now the entire array of channels was a charred ruin. Siphoning the amount of abyssal mana he was clearly too much for his rushed constructs. Not that he thought he could have done much better given time.

Kal suspected he would need to work to remove the mana-burned channels before he could fully recover but first, he wanted to try and open the book.

Five hours later Kal was grumbling to himself in frustration, “Why the fuck won’t this thing open!”

Nothing worked. First, he just tried forging a circle in the palm of his hand, he tried a few more times using varying amounts of different attributes but that failed too. Eventually, he tried breaking through and extending a construct into the book but that only made another piece of blackened flesh fall away and had no effect on the tome at all.

There had to be some trick he was either supposed to have been told or something he had otherwise missed. Annoyed Kal put the tome away before staggering to his feet and reaching into his amulet once more. His amulet flashed and three bookcases appeared in front of him covered in a vast array of different books. Lucking the fancy tome wasn’t the only book Kal had.

What Kal needed to learn to begin healing without mana was to find a way to use stamina directly for healing or a way to convert it to vital energy. Scanning his small stolen library Kal realized he had made a terrible mistake.

“You idiot! Why didn’t you grab the couch?!”

----------------------------------------

Kal’s condition was definitely not ideal for reading, or anything really but he did manage to find a couple of books that could help him with his recovery. All the books weren’t as high rarity as The Threads Of All but many were rare.

The first that caught his attention was a rough-looking leather-bound book.

Algor’s Theory on the Unity of Resources [Uncommon]

This book describes the theories of the great Professor Algor Mandafor on the similarities of vital, physical, and mystical energy.

It sounded pretty damn dry but Kal figured it would at least give him some ideas. Next was a smaller but better-conditioned book. This one was green with copper trimming.

Endurance and Vitality: The Cycle of Fortification and Renewal [Uncommon]

Contained within this tome are the words of the healer Halamon The Undying and his understanding of Endurance and Vitality.

Kal had hopes for the second book. He had wondered a few times now why both vitality and endurance affected his flesh and body but in two very distinct ways. If anyone could tell him how to use stamina for healing it was a healer, especially with a title like that.

Even though he wanted to read the second book, Kal started with the first. He figured it may have more foundational information that he sorely needed. Kal sat back down on the ground and groaned as a few cracks on his back reopened, and he grumbled to himself wishing he had remembered the gods damned coach.

But he let out a breath and had to admit that even though had a timer he liked not having to dash between demon hordes for a change. One hundred days was a long time but he would have to worry about food well before the timer really meant anything.

Kal went to open the book and begin his study but that became another immediate annoyance as he realized opening a book and turning pages with only one arm was a real pain. He also noticed that his reading speed was far, far greater than it used to be before his ascension. While at first, that improvement satisfied Kal it quickly became infuriating as he spent more time turning the damned pages than he did reading the bloody thing.

After an hour had passed and Kal had only progressed thirty pages, Kal was about to throw the damned thing over the edge into the void when the page he was trying to turn with his nose suddenly fluttered. Confused, Kal pulled his head away to find the channel he had created earlier extending from his hand and resting on the turned page.

Kal grinned, ignoring the cracks forming on his face. Now this was a skill he wanted to learn.