Kal checked his status and frowned at the lack of progress.
Health:
212/450
Stamina:
146/630
Wrath:
120
His health wasn’t increasing, he had gotten one hundred and eighty-nine Wrath from killing the kuroxet reaver but over a third of it had gone to waste because of this bloody mucus. He needed to figure something out to cleanse the stuff out of him. Kal returned his perception to within and studied the substance as it moved through his body.
It was insidious, the mucus moved slowly through his body and it didn’t appear to be weakening whatsoever. Kal focused in on his vital energy and could immediately see that it was being suppressed by the substance and any that made contact with the mucus seemed to darken then disappear. Then the realization came to him. What the mucus was doing was incredibly similar to what the abyssal mana of this plane did to him on his arrival. Was this just some kind of concentrated variant of the mana he infused into his core? There was only one way to find out. Kal got as comfortable as he could and prepared himself to siphon the mucus-like he did the atmospheric mana. It took him longer than usual due to the constant painful irritation of the venom, but he eventually got to the point where he thought he could risk the attempt.
Kal concentrated on the venom moving through his body and attempted to pull it into his core. An intense pain radiated through Kal’s chest and his perception blurred for a moment as he coughed up a mouth full of blood. When his perception finally cleared he could see a large area around the portion of venom he tried to siphon was simply gone and a heavily bleeding hole was left in its place, but from what he could tell the venom was gone. He quickly activated his regeneration and could see the hole stop bleeding and slowly begin to regenerate. He checked his status again as he began to heal.
Health:
173/470
Stamina:
348/700
Wrath:
323
Kal’s eyes widened when he saw his Wrath points. He was right the venom must have been some kind of altered mana. The damage it had done was definitely risky since it clearly wasn’t intended to work as his Wrath resource. It made Kal question exactly what his Wrath resource was. It increased with every kill and was modified by the brutality of the creature’s death, so did he get it from the creature or was it generated within him somehow? With the amount of Wrath he was using right now he could feel his core flaring in time with his birthright and beside it, all his anger came and went. Ever since gaining the new resource, Kal felt like his birthright had been behaving differently. Thoughts of his fight with the swarm of kuroxet came back to him and he remembered the feeling of his Wrath flowing through him as he fought on and the resonance he felt from his birthright in those moments. There was something he was missing. What exactly that was he wasn’t sure but he would probably figure it out over the next few days.
Kal turned back to what remained of the venom within him and went about stealing the power imbued into the venom and converting it into Wrath. It was painful and he had stopped a few times to allow himself to heal from the wounds channeling the cleansing had done to him but his progress was steady. When he finally cleansed the last of the stuff from his system he sat for a few minutes longer letting the Wrathful Regeneration do its work.
Health:
470/470
Stamina:
700/700
Wrath:
21
Kal smiled when he saw that he had fully recovered, he had worried that he would be forced to rest for a day slowly recovering from his wounds. There was only so long he could do that before he would need to sleep again, and he didn’t plan on sleeping outside of the bunker again if he could help.
Seeing his new totals Kal remembered that he had six attribute points to distribute. He skipped over his strength and endurance. They were high enough for now. The last fight was a great encouragement for him to increase his agility so he threw three points into it. He threw another point into intellect, he wasn’t sure if it would actually help him but he had told himself he would so he did. For the final two points he decided to put them into his vitality, he was hoping it would help him recover more quickly in the future, and besides the speed of his Wrathful Regeneration scaled with his vitality so he didn’t see a problem with investing more into it now.
Class:
Slayer [Epic]
Level:
5
Race:
Human?
Health:
500
Stamina:
700
Wrath:
21
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Attributes
Strength:
61
Agility:
29
Endurance:
70
Vitality:
50
Intellect:
17
Perception:
31
Will:
57
Wisdom:
26
Titles
Ascendant, Core Bane, Core Smith, Defier of Dhinir, Planeswalker
Skills
Soul Forge [Corrupt], Wrathful Regeneration [Common]
Only at level five and his attributes were way above what he started with nearly two weeks ago. Kal closed his status and stood. It was time to explore this place further, find a way home, and begin leveling in earnest. He eyed the pillar of light in the distance. That would be the first point of interest he would search, but heading straight there was too risky. First, he needed to grow strong enough that these bloody kuroxet didn’t pose him any risk. Kal set off towards the nearby mountains. It was time to slay some demons.
It didn’t take him long before something caught his attention as he reached the edge of the shattered plateau. Ahead of him in an outcropping of stone much like the patch he had hidden within the first time he had seen one of the kuroxet, he could see three of the things lazing around the rocks. Literally just lying around. They clearly weren’t paying much attention since they hadn’t spotted him yet so he did his best to sneak up on them. When he got close enough he identified the three of them.
[Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 6]
[Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 7]
[Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 5]
He was confident he could kill three of them but he didn’t want to scream and attract more than he could handle. He hated the bloody things and his birthright seemed to agree with him as he felt his core begin to flare up. Kal drew his sword, and when got close enough he charged towards the resting demons. The closest was staring up into the sky its arms by its side. It didn’t get a chance to react before Kal was on top of it, burying his sword into its brain. Kal twisted the blade as he pulled it out mutilating the kuroxet.
You have slain [Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 5]
Mutilation bonus added to total.
The remaining two scrambled to their feet screeching in surprise. Gratified with the easy kill Kal couldn’t help but smile as he felt his Wrath grow and his birthright pulse with approval. The level seven looked like it was about to scream but Kal was already moving and a horizontal strike silenced the creature as its throat was sliced apart. It didn’t die immediately and the level six mistakenly thought attacking Kal’s flank was the best choice of action. Kal already knew these things were pretty stupid, they seemed to relish the pain of their prey more than the kill itself. Perhaps it gained power from it like Kal seemed to with his mutilation bonus, but in this scenario, it was a stupid risk. Kal let the wounded one live for the moment and turned, catching the attacking kuroxet with his free hand by the throat. It disgusted him to touch the thing, it reminded him of the weakness he felt when he first arrived on this plane. Urged on by his birthright he flexed his new strength and closed his fist around the demon’s throat. The kuroxet’s throat collapsed immediately, and a spray of blood and corrosive mucus splashed onto Kal’s hand and chest. It burned but not to the degree that the reavers did. Kal raised his sword pierced the demon’s heart and threw the pale corpse aside.
You have slain [Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 6] - Bonus experience award for defeating a higher leveled entity.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
He turned back to the injured Kuroxet that had gotten back on its feet and was still attempting to scream but all that came was painful, broken whimpers. Seeing the disgusting thing like that made Kal’s birthright flare dramatically. Kal walked forward staring into the demon’s eyes prepared for it to suddenly attack but for some reason it never did. It actually looked like it was going to retreat, Kal couldn’t allow that, so he stepped forward and brought the sword down on top of the demon’s raised arms. His blade sliced through its arms and dug deeply into its chest.
You have slain [Kuroxet | Abyss Spawn 7] - Bonus experience award for defeating a higher leveled entity.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Mutilation bonus added to total.
Kal breathed out evenly as he felt the rush of experience flow into his core. His birthright still pulsed rhythmically after the battle, and he felt it was difficult to pull his thoughts away from charging into the next bunch of kuroxet. He simply waited a few minutes and waited for his birthright and anger to cool. He checked his status.
Health:
455/470
Stamina:
626/700
Wrath:
271
His Wrath had increased dramatically from the fight, even now he could feel it within him. Slowly his birthright began to slow its rhythmic pulsing and Kal’s thoughts began to grow more constructive. Why was that fight so different? Kal thought to himself as he looked around the scene of the battle. His anger hadn’t spiked like it just did during his fight with the reaver. He replayed both fights over in his mind trying to find the differences. The only things that came to mind were that he was already tired when the fight with the reaver began and that his original goal during the fight was to get away. He hadn’t really planned the fight with the kuroxet. He had just confidently dealt with them but something about choosing to do so from the outset and marking them as targets definitely seemed to change something within. He felt stronger, and his movements were so much smoother that after he had calmed, and his birthright had slowed he felt like he had lost something.
Kal didn’t think it truly increased his attributes but he was definitely more effective in that state. He had experienced it a few times now, and each time the feeling came as fast as it went and the clarity of its presence faded quickly. If he were fighting people he might have been less excited about investigating the state but when he was fighting these things he needed every advantage he could get.
Opening his status Kal looked over everything in case he had missed something. His skills and titles hadn’t changed at all but then noticed something had changed.
Class:
Slayer [Epic]
Level:
5
Race:
Human?
“Why does my race have a bloody question mark next to it? “ Kal muttered, confused. How long had that been there? He frankly hadn’t looked at his race since he ascended. Well, that was concerning. Kal concentrated on the race entry and another box appeared on his status.
Race
Birthright: Slumbers
Apparently, his birthright had altered him more than he had thought. He wasn’t sure what it meant by “Slumbers” but he assumed it was because it was currently inactive. He wondered if that changed while he was in that combat state. He would have to check if he thought of it during one of his next fights. The fact that it had changed his race disturbed him. He still felt human but with the changes he had made during his ascension perhaps he now had more in common with the abyssal spawn than he would like to admit.
Kal wiped his sword off on the corpse of one of the demons and sheathed his sword. It was time to continue the hunt.