“What the fuck happened?” Kal rasped but cut off quickly as he felt his throat break open filling his lungs with blood, making him choke for a moment. His regeneration was incredibly slow, his health barely increasing while his Wrath plummeted.

Kal’s thoughts were so jumbled he could barely concentrate at all while his body slowly recovered. He was lying on the edge of another small clearing he didn’t recognize, right next to one of the magma columns pouring down from the roof. Where he was now was far enough away that he didn’t think it was burning him, but with the burns he already had it was incredibly uncomfortable. He tried to move but when he tried to drag himself further away he noticed his right arm was bent at a disturbing angle. While his left was so badly lacerated that it barely functioned.

He could feel his Wrath slowly being consumed by his skill, and as it went his thought began to clear and pain became even more severe. Kal had lost control, it was like when he had fought the rogue but this time it was worse. His new resource had clearly changed how his birthright behaved. It seemed to take longer before he could feel it really affect him but in the last fight while his Wrath was high it happened much faster. It was easier to ignore the pain of his injuries, and it clearly altered his risk assessment ability.

But why was it so severe this time? He eyed the resource warily. Kal’s last clear memory was seeing it reach five hundred and nineteen. When he came back to himself it was at five hundred and ninety-nine, higher than when he started but with his new max health it was the same. Only one point below his max. If that was what caused him to lose control like that he would need to be careful. The more Kal thought about it the more it worried him. How could he prevent himself from losing control if all it took to do so was to get his Wrath to a certain height? The only way he knew how to lower his Wrath was to use it on his regeneration. It seemed all too easy for another death spiral to happen. He was lucky he wasn’t killed before he came to his senses.

Kal tried to remain calm as his body slowly burned through his remaining Wrath. Looking inwards he could see it focusing its efforts on his vitals and muscles to get him at least mostly back on his feet. He still had his remaining free points from the levels he had gained while enraged. When the thought came to him he realized that he must have killed quite a few of the garghounds to level up three times. His eyes widened when he saw the quest tracker.

Quest Received: Garghound Eradication

These demons were once a scourge to the people of Kartha. Avenge them by eradicating their most hated foes. 18/120

Rewards: Title, Additional rewards dependant on performance.

“Damn-” Kal muttered, his throat finally healed enough to take the strain. He really had gone on a rampage. He still had a long way to go, and he wasn’t sure if his current state was worth the quick start. At least the levels would help speed things along once he recovered. With the severity of his injuries, his Wrath wouldn’t be enough to fully heal him but once he was able to move he would retreat to the entrance and try to recover some more with siphoning.

To help his recovery and hopefully help him resist a future rampage Kal put ten points into Vitality, and the remaining points he split between Intellect and Agility. Who knew maybe having a higher Intellect would help him during his rampage.

His regeneration took a lot longer than usual. Either because his injuries were more severe than usual, or maybe something to do with his rampage. But with the help of his extra vitality eventually, he was able to get to his feet and start making his way to somewhere less out in the open. Kal was surprised nothing had tried to take advantage of his weakened state, he suspected he had gotten lucky and wiped out this territory's pack before his injuries finally won out. Kal panicked for a moment when he couldn’t find his sword immediately but was relieved when he found it over by the magma column. It was bloody hot when he picked it up so he wrapped a strip from his almost completely destroyed pants around its handle. He had somehow lost its sheath so for now he would have to carry it.

Before he left Kal looked over his status and progress.

Class:

Slayer [Epic]

Level:

9

Race:

Human?

Health:

253/720

Stamina:

564/970

Wrath:

0

Attributes

Strength:

86

Agility:

35

Endurance:

97

Vitality:

72

Intellect:

28

Perception:

36

Will:

75

Wisdom:

31

Titles

Ascendant, Core Bane, Core Smith, Defier of Dhinir, Planeswalker

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Skills

Soul Forge [Corrupt], Wrathful Regeneration [Common]

Race

Birthright: Slumbers

Level 6 -> 9

Statistic Comparison

Health

200

Stamina

210

Wrath

-401

Strength

19

Agility

4

Endurance

21

Vitality

20

Intellect

5

Perception

4

Will

14

Wisdom

4

Total

91

With his additional percentage bonuses, his attributes had skyrocketed. Putting the extra points into vitality felt like a good choice now that he had done it. Maybe his intellect was starting to finally help him out.

Kal’s feet were bleeding again as the partially healed burns tore open again as he hiked his way back toward the entrance. It had taken him a moment to find it again but after about twenty minutes he found one of the packs he had slain during his rampage. It was a mess. There were six of them in this pack and if they were in one piece Kal suspected they were stronger than the pack he remembered killing. None of the garghounds remained whole, each of them was at least bisected but some were clearly torn apart by hand. The scene might have disturbed him earlier but now all that came to his mind was how he could achieve such carnage without losing his mind.

He remembered the skill he was offered when he first ascended. While he walked he checked his logs to see if he could find its description. So much had happened since he had ascended that it took a moment to find it but eventually he did.

Wrath Incarnate [Common]

A Slayer’s Wrath is as much a physical presence as it is a mental state. Empower your form with your Wrath and wade through the masses unimpeded. Increases all attributes by 20% for a short time at the cost of Wrath. If your Wrath is exhausted it will instead use three times more Health. Cost scales downward with Will.

The description seemed eerily similar to what Kal experienced though there were definitely differences. Kal obviously couldn’t really tell if he had gotten stronger during his rage, but it was possible. What confused Kal was that the skill used Wrath just like Wrathful Regeneration, but whatever happened to him apparently didn’t. Was it because his birthright was the cause of his rage earlier? Did it even need a resource if that was the case? “I wish I had those books right now,” Kal sighed. He needed to learn more about his birthright. Kal understood that they were unique and very rare, but besides that, he knew almost nothing. He only needed to gain one level before he would get his next skill choice. Maybe choosing Wrath Incarnate would give him some hints about using his birthright.

It took Kal nearly an hour to make it back to the entrance. Most of the terrain was new to him, so he mainly followed the blood. Evidence of his rampage was pretty easy to find. It looked like he had taken bits of the slain garghounds with him leaving trails of blood and bits of flesh all over the place. Soon enough though he recognized the clearing where he had killed the first pack. Kal wasn’t sure how long it had been since he lost control but he had guessed it was at least a half day. Especially considering how long it took to regenerate enough to move. The corpses in the clearing were undisturbed which confused Kal. Surely one of the other packs would have moved in to take the territory by now. Maybe he had already killed the nearby packs, it would make sense since it seemed like he had moved on to the next closest pack judging by his seemingly random hunting path. Maybe I don’t need to head back to the entrance. If he had cleared enough of the garghounds from the area he could probably just stay here to recover. Kal was confident he could take another pack if it came to it, even in his less-than-ideal condition. So he looked around for a spot to start his siphoning.

Now that he had the clearing to himself and wasn’t mid-rampage he was able to have a better look around, and after a few minutes, he spotted something he had missed earlier. Behind where he saw the garghounds fighting with each other he noticed a small opening at the base of the cliff. The opening was pretty small but he could fit if he crawled, so he got down on hands and knees and squeezed through the gap. His injured arms and burned legs stung as he crawled through but after about ten feet the space opened up into a small cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites of a dark reddish stone. But Kal’s eyes skipped over it all to rest on something in the center of the cavern. A pillar of black crystal stood reaching up to just shy of the roof at roughly ten feet. The pillar pulsed slightly with a blood-red glow every few seconds, lighting up the cavern briefly.

Intrigued Kal used Identify.

Pillar of the Forgotten One [Epic]

Much has been lost due to the actions of the fate-binders. But before you, stands a relic from the days before the betrayal. Do you dare step upon the path?

“Well that’s ominous,” Kal muttered. This pillar must be related to the quest he had received on his way up the mountain. He opened his quest log and checked the quest’s description again.

Quest Received: The Forgotten One

Uncover the mystery of the Mountains of Revenge.

Rewards: Uncommon Chest, Title

The quest’s description was slightly less ominous but much more vague. He closed the description and inspected the pillar more closely.

It appeared to be perfectly smooth, but Kal could just barely make out some kind of text every time the pillar pulsed. He couldn’t read it but he didn’t think it would have made a difference. It took Kal a moment to realize it, but each time the pillar pulsed the text changed. He would have to be an incredibly fast reader to get anything useful out of the thing anyway. So with nothing to gain from looking at it, the next question was should he touch it? Kal was proud that he hadn’t touched it the moment he saw it. He wanted to but had resisted the urge. Maybe my mental attributes are working…

“Ok, Kal. No point rushing into this,” he said as he took a seat on the smooth cavern floor. At least in here, he was unlikely to get ambushed by anything. Kal spent the next few hours doing what he could to recover. His ability to siphon had improved by a significant amount, likely thanks to his increased mental stats. It still wasn’t amazingly fast but he was able to remain concentrated on the task for longer with breaking focus due to the pain. He was pretty sure he could probably start doing it while regenerating soon. He was sure it would suck. No doubt the pain of regeneration would be amplified when siphoning at the same time, but he was sure it would be incredibly useful in a pinch. Kal’s increased health pool didn’t seem to drastically increase his recovery time like he originally thought. He suspected it was due to how his regeneration scaled. The amount healed per Wrath spent didn’t actually increase but it seemed to spend it faster, allowing him to spend more time siphoning. After about six hours he checked his status.

Health:

720/720

Stamina:

970/970

Wrath:

53

He had fully recovered. It was honestly hard to tell how much he had left to heal during his siphoning session. The burning pain made it difficult to feel any difference, but the moment he stopped he felt completely healed. Kal stood and looked towards the pillar. It was time to investigate this pillar more thoroughly.