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Chapter 161-Links

Before Kal started working his way through finding some semblance of a plan he looked at the new title he had been given from the trial reward.

Title Acquired: Disciple of Destruction [Mythic]

You have taken the first step upon the path of destruction, your will honed and tempered. Will you take the next step to oblivion?

+5 Unity.

The description was small considering the rarity. Kal supposed the unity was nice but he barely knew what it did. He was pretty sure it had something to do with his spiritbound abilities so he suspected it affected both his attributes and his soul in some way.

Fyborh hinted it was important so Kal wasn’t going to scoff at the bonus but he would have liked some more attributes.

Kalum Lesta

Status

Class:

Slayer of Fate [Epic] [Anomalous]

Level:

72

Race:

Human?

Health:

3874/4190

Stamina:

5650/7960

Wrath:

0

Attributes

Strength:

810

Agility:

502

Endurance:

796

Vitality:

419

Intellect:

561

Perception:

519

Will:

1250

Wisdom:

496

Available:

24

Titles

Ascendant, Core Bane, Core Smith, Defier of Dhinir, Planeswalker, Planar Appetite, Slayer of the Strong, Endurance Elite, Strength Elite, Will Paragon, Demon Slayer, Paragon of Man, Planar Binding I, Soul Seer, True Slayer of Demonkind, Thief of Ages, Fate Diviner, Exemplar of Defiance, Disciple of Destruction

Skills

Soul Forge [Rare], Wrathful Regeneration [Uncommon], Wrath Incarnate [Uncommon], Abyssal Consumption [Rare], Flames of Wrath[Uncommon] [Soul Forged], Slayer’s Intent [Rare] [Soul Forged], Slayer’s Apathy [Rare] [Soul Forged], Edge of Malice [Common] [Soul Forged], Flesh of Iron [Rare], Eyes of the Slayer [Mythic] [Spiritbound]

Race

Birthright: Confined

He was also surprised to see that his Planeswalker title hadn’t improved after coming to this new world. Kal wasn’t sure if it was that the title required more planes traveled for each new rarity or if this new plane wasn’t sufficiently different enough to count as another plane.

Either way, it didn’t really matter so he turned his attention to keeping Nyx and Ander safe. He couldn’t just leave them here and he didn’t think he would be able to create a larger safe area for them. Kal could remember the stones from the original Kartha that had absorbed the abyssal mana somehow but he had no idea how to replicate them. Hopefully, that was something Fyborh had shown him and he would remember eventually.

After leaving The Place Between Kal’s returning memories had practically stopped completely. He thought they would return faster now that the seal was gone but apparently, they had been artificially sped up by either the gods, The Lady of Blood, or a combination of the two.

Sadness hung at the edge of his mind at the memory of his mother lying dead beneath the bodies of his house’s staff. He had to see his family again. With Dalen apparently working with cultists to bring him back maybe it would be sooner than he thought. That dampened the sadness somewhat but a reminding burst of anger from his soul transformed it into worry.

Kal shook his head and focused on the task at hand. There was no point worrying about things he had no control over just yet.

Turning his gaze into Nyx’s body he could already see the abyssal mana working its way down her skill channels in search of her core. It wasn’t fast by any means but at least twice as fast as Ander’s degradation.

“Is your stamina still recovering?” Kal asked as he brought his gaze back to Nyx’s face.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Yes, I feel fine besides the pain of my injuries,” Nyx said watching him closely, probably trying to see what exactly he was doing.

Kal nodded. That was good, it meant that she didn’t receive any particularly bad effects until it reached her core. Now the question was whether or not he could shield her exclusively and if so whether or not he could keep up with the mental load.

With most of his will tendrils in disarray, he had more space for unbound skills or constructs but had never tried to maintain one outside of his body to that degree. His will tendrils were a mix of both at best but that also gave him an idea.

Could create a barrier around their cores but keep a channel connected between them? From what he had learned so far it might be the only he could pull it off. It was a little on the straightforward side which wasn’t a bad thing but it left it open for issues. What if the channel connecting to his core was damaged somehow? Without being specifically created to deflect strikes like his tendrils now were, he doubted the channels would survive.

It was a risk but likely a risk he would have to take. He couldn’t waste any more time here, he needed to get them somewhere safer.

Kal didn’t draw his eyes from Nyx’s dully lit core,” I’m going to try something. I don’t know if it will hurt or exactly what side effects it will have. Tell me if you notice anything strange.”

Nyx nodded,” Of course, l- Kalum.”

Kal ignored the slip-up and began the first steps of his idea. He needed three main constructs a barrier of will similar to the one around his brain, a construct to guide the abyssal mana that would try and breach it down the third construct, a channel of reinforced will.

He started with channel but this time started things a little differently. Instead of feeding a line directly from his core and out of his sternum, he weaved together a sizable bundle first. The idea was so that he could simply will it move from his chest and into the open air instead of either crafting it from the edge of his body outward or forging it completely outside of his body.

It was certainly quicker to create this way so he took that as a plus either way. Going with that same mindset that doing anything beyond his body was possible but still much harder even with his spiritbound abilities, he moved on to forging the majority of the barrier within him. Like his latest core, he added a construct to trigger and close the barrier at his command. It would take focus to do since it would be powered by wrath but it should work well enough.

Why he didn’t want to use wrath to power the barrier or constructs within it was mainly due to the fact he was pretty sure it would do the same thing the abyssal mana was doing and probably even at a faster rate. His wrath was straight-up corrosive to even his own will let alone another person’s body. Flames of Wrath was practically just dumping the stuff on his enemies and they caught on fire.

The final construct to guide the abyssal mana down the channel was easy enough. It was using the messy “wish really hard” tactic to lock it down to only abyssal mana but since he could see it so easily with his mana sight and already knew how to draw it into himself he was pretty confident it would work.

“Ok, I’m ready to try and apply it. Make sure you speak up,” Kal said.

Nyx didn’t say anything but nodded and kept her gaze locked on him. Ander sat on the ground next to her and stared at Kal’s eyes with his mouth wide open.

Was he being scary again?

Kal put the thoughts out of his mind and focused on moving the hopefully fully functioning and non-lethal barrier around Nyx’s core. Surprisingly moving the construct through the barrier at the edge of his body was easier than he had expected. It slid through the same space as a will tendril easily and Kal wondered if once the space was overcome by another channel or thread it somehow lowered the threshold.

Moving it through the air was another story. This construct was easily the most complex he had created to use on the outside and it definitely had an effect on how much he could manipulate it. It moved through the air slowly. Both Nyx and Ander showed no sign of being able to see it but when it reached Nyx’s chest she shivered.

She didn’t speak up so Kal continued pushing deeper. It was hard, really hard. Every inch felt like an eternity as Kal’s head throbbed with the pressure. Time dragged on but eventually, he managed to get the barrier in place. Now all he had to do was trigger the closure.

Moving the barrier into her body was nothing compared to the effort it took to activate the trigger. It was like trying to bend steel with just his thoughts. He concentrated everything he had into the effort and he felt his hands begin to shake but he held his knees firm to hide the fact from Nyx and Ander.

Sweat poured from his brow but eventually, he felt the trigger activate and the barrier snapped closed around Nyx’s core. Kal loosened his white-knuckled grip and inspected his work.

Nyx’s core was now practically invisible to Kal now, the already obfuscated orb was now completely covered in a pearlescent sphere of will. Kal had finished just in time to see the first traces of abyssal mana reach her core and thankfully it worked as intended.

The abyssal mana wormed its way to her core and the moment it made contact with the barrier it was absorbed, darkening the sphere slightly before it moved along the channel and into his core. Once there he felt the normal conversion process take place. It wasn't a pleasant feeling but it worked. Not only did it work, but after several minutes of inspection Kal saw no degradation of the barrier.

Kal stood up and stretched a bit and for the first time in nearly an hour looked at both Nyx and Ander’s faces. Both of them looked tired but Nyx looked more in awe than tired.

“How did you do that?! I could see the shield you made a move through my body and wrap around my core,” Nyx asked her excitedly overriding her obvious fatigue.

Kal probably should have figured she would be able to detect what he was doing. He wasn’t overly keen on sharing his Soul Forging skill with her just yet so he just shrugged,” It’s just a skill. More importantly, how do you feel? I haven’t done work like that on anyone else.”

Nyx smiled,” Better. I could feel the demonic mana starting to affect me again but the moment the shield was in place the feeling vanished. Though I’m still not recovering mana.”

“You likely won’t at all in this place. Only affinities based on abyssal mana can be found here from what I can tell,” Kal replied,” The barrier should redirect the abyssal mana to me and protect you outside of the array.”

Nyx nodded but then Ander spoke up with concern on his tired face, ” Won’t it hurt you if all the bad mana goes to you instead?”

Kal shook his head, “I have ways to deal with it. This is nothing compared to the amount I was channeling on Fyborh’s path.”

Ander still looked concerned but nodded before turning back to watch Nyx.

Kal turned to Nyx, “When you're ready step out of the circle and we can see if it works. I will be ready in case something happens.”

Nyx barely waited for him to finish before she nodded and stepped out of the circle. Nothing obvious happened to the naked eye but Kal’s mana and Eyes of the Slayer showed him the drastic jump in the abyssal mana attempting to bore into her core.

However even with the increased flow the barrier continued to work as intended. Kal opened his status to watch the speed of his wrath generation.

Health:

3874/4190

Stamina:

7960/7960

Wrath:

15

Health:

3874/4190

Stamina:

7960/7960

Wrath:

16

Health:

3874/4190

Stamina:

7960/7960

Wrath:

17

Health:

3874/4190

Stamina:

7960/7960

Wrath:

18

The wrath growth was not fast by any means but it was constant. Every second it increased by about one to two wrath. In an hour he would be at over three-thousand-six-hundred and using the same method with Ander as well would only mean it would grow fast.

It was definitely a problem but one he could solve. Nyx smiled when nothing happened and Kal nodded,” Good. Now I need to do the same thing for Ander. Keep a lookout while I work.”