Surprisingly Kal had been offered four options this time but he still started from the top of the list.

Wrathful Strike [Common]

A Slayer wields their Wrath in many forms, this is just a first step. Channel your Wrath through your weapon and cleave your enemies asunder. Increase melee attack potency by a small amount. Scales evenly with Strength and Will.

He had already been offered this one back when he first ascended. It was definitely more tempting now that he wasn’t near death and needing healing, but Kal couldn’t help but feel its description was pretty lackluster. Of course, he was sure there was more to it than the description told him, like his Wrathful Regeneration. But for now, he moved on to the next option.

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.

Kal was hoping this one would be available again. Its description hadn’t changed since he was first offered it. Kal was hoping it would have changed in some way, giving him a hint about his birthright rage. But it seemed the skill wasn’t directly related to his birthright, which Kal guessed should have been obvious. The only system-related hint that he even had a birthright was his concerning race modifier. Which also hadn’t changed after his rampage. Either way, it was definitely a contender for his final choice since its benefit was simply amazing, and if nothing else it was a way for him to burn off some of his Wrath to prevent him from losing it again.

Kal moved on to the next option.

Mage Sight [Uncommon]

See beyond the physical and begin to witness the essence of the universe in your surroundings. While this skill is active you will be able to see atmospheric mana that is sufficiently aligned with you, up to a radius of 15 feet.

Kal raised an eyebrow, “Well that one is pretty crap,” when Kal read the title he had expected an improvement upon his self-made technique, but honestly the skill was worse. Kal had been able to find the abyssal mana fairly easily, and he could also see the mana coursing through the runes at the bunker. That was also ignoring all the other forms of energy he had been able to perceive, like his vital, and physical energy. He could probably also include his Wrath amongst those too. With Kal’s recent cleansing of the poisonous energy in his stomach, he was starting to realize mana really wasn’t a singular power, but more of a general title for the concept. He had managed to merge his vital and physical energies in a way. And now that he had thought of it, this was basically the same thing he had done accidentally with the abyssal mana and his birthright during his core forging.

Ultimately Kal thought he could do better. It hadn’t really been a true focus since getting stuck in the Abyss, so the fact that he had discovered this much already pushed him away from this choice and onto the next.

Self Cleanse [Common]

Use your vital energy to cleanse toxins from your body. Effectiveness is dependent on the rarity of the toxin and this skill. Resource cost scales with Vitality.

Kal sighed, this one wasn’t that appealing either. He had already figured out how to cleanse things like that manually, and from the sounds of it, his method was more effective. The main thing this skill had going for it was that he could simply activate it with a mental command, making it usable during combat. It was a better choice than Mage Sight but really his choice had already been decided.

Kal mentally selected Wrath Incarnate and felt the rush of power rush from his core and through his body. He checked his status to see if he had enough to activate it now.

Health:

780/850

Stamina:

1070/1070

Wrath:

375

Thinking he should have enough to use it for at least a few seconds Kal activated the skill. An overwhelming rush of anger flared in his chest, his vision turning red. He heard himself growl as the skill amplified his attributes and encouraged him to fight. Kal immediately wanted to charge off and find the next pack to slaughter but he was just barely able to resist the urge. Before he failed to control himself Kal deactivated the skill and let out a breath. He felt suddenly weak as the power left him but it was only the loss of the additional attributes that he felt.

“Well,” Kal said, puffing, “that was definitely something.” Kal opened his status to see how much Wrath the skill used and his eyes widened when he saw the new value.

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Health:

780/780

Stamina:

1070/1070

Wrath:

160

It had used over two hundred Wrath for just that short amount of time. If he had left it any longer it would have seriously injured him. The skill would use three times more health if his Wrath ever ran out during its activation. Wrath Incarnate would definitely be risky to use but it would be an amazing asset when dealing with a stronger enemy as long as he had time to build up Wrath beforehand. To use this skill he would have to carefully manage his Wrath outside of battle as well.

If Kal was right about his maximum health being some kind of limit for his Wrath then he would need to stay as close to that limit without going over it and rampaging again. He sighed, maybe selecting this skill was more risky than he had originally thought.

Now that Kal had finished his level up it was time to start heading towards the center of the dome.

He had been right about the garghounds moving towards the center of the dome. It hadn’t taken him long to find the next pack. Kal took his time making his way through rocky terrain and slaying any pack he came across. He hadn’t really found a need to activate his new Wrath Incarnate skill yet, the fights weren’t difficult enough anymore to warrant the use of the skill. Though he had used it to manage his Wrath. Whenever it got close to his maximum health or he felt his emotions begin to be altered, he would find a quiet spot and activate the skill. It still urged him to charge into battle but it was still much easier to resist than his birthright. Kal would lower his Wrath to about half of his maximum health so that he still had some left if he needed emergency healing or if there was some surprise waiting for him amongst the packs. He needed to do it after nearly every fight to keep it at safe levels though. If the packs had more than two or three level tens it got awfully close to its limit.

It was starting to take significantly longer to level after hitting level ten. But it made sense when he was stuck killing weaker creatures now. He hadn’t managed to find a single garghound over level ten during the whole day of hunting. Kal had still been able to level up twice in that time and had split his free points between Agility, and Intellect like had decided. With the levels, both his Strength and Will had reached above one hundred. His other attributes were also coming along nicely with his Intellect still the lowest but much less painfully so.

Quest: Garghound Eradication

These demons were once a scourge to the people of Kartha. Avenge them by eradicating their most hated foes. 39/120

Rewards: Title, Additional rewards dependant on performance.

Kal checked the quest tracker and saw that he made decent progress toward completing it. He was starting to think it was too easy, now that he had nearly killed the first third. Reading it all again he realized that he may have missed something. Apparently, if he performed well he would get additional rewards, but couldn’t be talking about how many he needed to kill. He couldn’t finish the quest without slaying the full one hundred and twenty. So did that mean it was keeping track of something else? Probably, maybe it was tracking how fast he completed the quest, or possibly even the level of the garghounds he killed. It would be stupid of him to take it slow if that was the case. He should be hunting down the strongest he could find and do it quickly.

Instead of searching for packs that were still making their way towards the center. Kal decided to cut straight towards the center and see if there really were stronger demons located there. If not he could always return and clean up later. But for now, it would be good to test himself against a stronger foe and finally put his new skill to the test.

Kal jogged through the rough terrain, towards the center of the dome. He ignored any of the weaker packs along, but still kept an eye out for any signs of a small cave like the one that held the pillar. That quest was going to take a while. Kal wasn’t even sure if the other pillars would be in this dome, they could be anywhere around the mountain for all he knew. He would have liked to talk to whoever that Fyborh guy was again. He was clearly powerful but he had clearly assisted Karia against the demons. Even if he was a god, he seemed a lot better than the ones Kal had dealings with. Fyborh hadn’t even tried to smite him yet.

Kal’s Stamina allowed him to jog nearly non-stop for several hours. The packs had thinned out significantly by this point and he only found a few smaller packs consisting of only level tens. He was starting to think that getting past level ten must be very difficult for garghounds. He was still yet to see one that had broken through that point. He was thinking about turning back when came across a corpse. To Kal’s surprise, it wasn’t a garghound. It looked like a very large snake, with pitch-black scales. He tried to Identify it but the skill failed, telling him nothing.

Kal reached down and picked it up, “Gahh,” It was bloody molten hot. Kal’s hand was now a deep red and he could already feel the blisters coming. He activated his regeneration and the sensation faded, but was of course replaced with the burning pain of the skill.

While his hand healed Kal looked more closely at the snake, this time not bothering to pick it up. A portion of its scales were torn open just below its head. Kal could see a dull glow of embers emanating from a wound there. Something had clearly killed the thing but he didn’t think the garghounds would have been able to kill it if he couldn’t even touch it without losing some skin. He wondered if the snake was hotter when it was alive. He couldn’t be sure if it had died recently without knowing that. It also made him wonder how the snake was this hot in the first place, did it have some kind of organ that generated heat? What was probably more likely was that it had a unique energy type that caused it to be that way. Kal looked around to see if anything else was nearby and finding nothing he took a seat next to the corpse.

Kal activated his mana sight and tried to detect any residual mana coming from the creature. It took him a few moments of concentration to see it but at the snake's center, he could see a tiny orange sphere. He didn’t think it was the snake's core since they disappeared after the creature's death, at least at these low levels. Maybe it was some other kind of source. Kal was about to try and cut the snake open when a deep guttural growl made him pause. Thinking it was just another level ten garghound Kal turned ready to decapitate it after it dashed towards his flank like they always did. But what he saw instead made him pause and step back.

[Garghound Noble | Abyss Spawn 22]