Kal recovered steadily. Despite his health pool increasing, since the speed of Wrathful Regeneration scaled with his vitality, it took about the same amount of time.

He was back on his feet, and fully recovered in the better part of a day.

Kalum Lesta

Status

Class:

Slayer [Epic]

Level:

21

Race:

Human?

Health:

1430/1430

Stamina:

2370/2370

Wrath:

1600

Attributes

Strength:

210

Agility:

100

Endurance:

238

Vitality:

143

Intellect:

91

Perception:

128

Will:

227

Wisdom:

116

Titles

Ascendant, Core Bane, Core Smith, Defier of Dhinir, Planeswalker, Planar Appetite, Slayer of the Strong, Endurance Elite, Strength Elite, Will Elite, Demon Slayer

Skills

Soul Forge [Rare], Wrathful Regeneration [Common], Wrath Incarnate [Uncommon], Abyssal Consumption [Rare]

Race

Birthright: Waking

Kal had decided to lower his Wrath a bit to keep it well below his max Stamina. He still hadn’t tried out his improved evolution of Wrath Incarnate yet but he didn’t want to waste Wrath for no reason. Siphoning it from the atmosphere wasn’t very efficient and uncomfortable, but now that he thought of it he could probably just go massacre more of the weak garghounds to increase it with very little risk and effort now. Killing them now wasn’t really worth it anymore though. He doubted killing the weak ones now would give him any experience at all anymore. Besides he wasn’t interested in killing anything that weak, though he knew his Wrath would disagree.

Luckily even while he had lost control he had the wits to keep his sword nearby. Kal had found it stabbed down into the stone through the carcass of a garghound noble. He pulled it out half expecting it to be bent or chipped in some way, but of course, it was fine. It was only a common item but apparently, the people who had forged it were still very skilled. Kal couldn’t wait to get his hands on one of those actual swords. He wondered if he would be able to use it now. A huge sword like one of those would certainly be handy when had a dozen blood kuroxets after him.

Kal looked back down at the dead garghound noble and thought about if he should see about getting one of its traits. The skill said there was some kind of threshold that he would have to reach to get one of their traits. He opened his status and focused on the skill and as he expected another menu appeared.

Abyssal Consumption [Rare]

A slayer must feast and one in the midst of battle has limited options. Your past consumption of abyssal flesh has provided sustenance for now, but are you willing to take it further? Upon reaching a certain threshold of flesh consumed, gain a particular passive trait associated with the consumed creature.

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Once gained a trait can never be removed, and only one trait can be gained this way per tier.

Active Traits: Null

Progress:

Garghound 47%

He was still a fair way off until he reached the threshold, but that didn’t worry him at all. It would be easy enough to hunt down some more if he made a concerted effort. By eating every garghound he killed it wouldn’t take him long at all. What really interested Kal was the fact that it didn’t specify the difference between the normal variants and the nobles. They both clearly had differences. The normal ones had passable regeneration and heat resistance, and the nobles had monstrous regeneration and could literally light their tail on fire, suggesting that they were probably immune to fire or were at least close to that. Did the lack of specification mean that it didn’t matter what kind of garghound he ate he would get the same trait no matter what or was it based on the strongest traits of the majority of the variants he ate? God he wished the skill description were more precise. If he had to guess it would be the latter. That seemed to be how the system reacted with quests, why not skills? If that was the case should he wait to see what this Bestial Lord was before getting his first trait?

Deciding to leave it for now Kal got to his feet and started towards the center of the dome once again. His new attributes allowed him to easily run through the rough terrain, leaping over any of the more annoying patches. He was running faster than he ever had before but he still felt that he could go faster, his Stamina still at its maximum. So he decided to push it for a while and really see how fast he moved now.

He had a great time sprinting through the dome, when he finally got down to about half his stamina pool he stopped and turned back towards the closest edge. He had traveled twice as far as he had managed in the days he had been here in just a few hours. His Agility was one of his lowest stats but it was still incredible how much it had improved. Kal was sure he had far more Endurance than most would with similar Agility. It allowed him to sprint for a lot longer than he had ever thought possible before. And with his Strength as it was now, he had absolutely no trouble climbing or leaping over any rougher terrain.

Kal hadn’t seen a single garghound during his run. He was pretty sure there had to be more than what the quest had required him to kill. That confirmed since he had already killed more than that. So where were they? They had all begun moving towards the center as well after he began killing them in earnest. But they weren’t that fast. Kal was at least faster than the weaker ones by now. So surely he would have come across at least one pack. Then he remembered Wrath Incarnate’s passive effect.

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.

Maybe they were around and were just hiding. “Well that’s annoying,’ Kal muttered, it might be harder than he thought to hunt the last few he needed for Abyssal Consumption. The effect said he could choose to leave creatures unaffected, but could he do that if he didn’t know where the creatures were? He might have to settle for whatever is brave enough to not run away as soon as they sensed him.

Kal continued his journey through the dome at a more steady pace from that point, wanting to make sure he had full resources in case he came across anything powerful. Another few hours passed and Kal still hadn’t seen any of the bloody things, it was starting to get frustrating. He wasn’t hungry yet but he would have to eat again eventually. They must be hiding. Otherwise he would have found at least one by now.

How far did this aura go? Or could they sense it and run before he was close enough to see them? Kal stopped his run and climbed to the top of a tall stone pillar, taking a seat with his legs dangling over the edge.

He missed having actual pants and gods did he miss his boots. His feet had hardened enough that it didn’t hurt to run without them but he missed the feeling of leather against his foot. It was definitely better than dirt and stone anyway. From his current vantage point, Kal could see far deeper into the dome than he could before. Now that he could see its floor actually seemed to dip in the middle. It slowly sloped down until it was out of his view and blocked by the terrain. He was pretty sure that the Bestial Lord would be down there, and if that is where all the other garghounds were fleeing to he would certainly have a fight on his hands.

If he was going to be running into probably his most dangerous fight yet he had to be prepared, and running in without knowing the full extent of his ability was stupid. So there were two things he wanted to do if the next fight was going to be against the Bestial Lord. First, he crossed his legs and planted his hands firmly on his knees while he got into his normal mediation position. He didn’t want any agitation to carry over to what he was about to do next.

When he was ready, he activated Wrath Incarnate. A wave of overwhelming anger exploded from his core much more potent than even what he felt during his last rampage. Kal felt his face twist into a snarl, and a powerful need to move and begin his next slaughter. But overpowering even that was an immense rush of power flowing through his body. He needed to use this power to slay his enemies, to perform his purpose, his duty, his birthright. Kal stood and scanned the terrain all around him, his vision amplified but tinged red from his undying wrath. In the distance further than his weaker self could normally see he spotted a pack of those pathetic creatures. He would have preferred a more worthy prey but they would do.

Kal glanced at his status and saw his Wrath plummeting. “Tsk,” he would not arrive in time for it to be a worthwhile test. He eyed the demons with irritation. Kal could see them flinch as they realized that they had been noticed. Before long they were scrambling to get away and ran off out of his line of sight. Kal frowned as he willed Wrath Incarnate to deactivate, but the annoyance faded as the skill’s effects faded.

He was still clearly incredibly bloodthirsty and his thoughts had become significantly darker, but throughout it all he had still felt like he could end it at any time. He would still have to be careful. Kal had a feeling that if he was in the middle of combat it may be harder to deactivate, but for now, his situation was much better. As long as he kept on top of his new skills and the condition of his core he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have any serious lapses in control.

Using Wrath Incarnate had burned a bit of his Wrath so Kal spent an hour or so siphoning to get his Wrath up to a more comfortable level. There was just one thing still bothering him about his readiness to take on such an unknown threat, his Wrathful Regeneration. Sure during his earliest levels, it was enough to keep him alive against the frankly surprisingly weak, yet annoying kuroxets. But now it was just too expensive for the amount it healed. Out of combat, it was fine since he could siphon more Wrath to keep up with the demand. Currently, it only healed about one point per four Wrath, which was pretty terrible now that he had well over one thousand Health.

Kal had learned a few things about the inner workings of his skills and vital energy since he had gained the skill. So perhaps now was time for him to attempt a similar feat with his Wrathful Regeneration. Kal was about to enter his meditation again and take a look at what he could do, but a huge crash startled him from his thoughts as a few miles ahead of him a pillar of darkness pierced the dome. Kal jumped to his feet and readied his sword, his hair standing on end as a wave of fury hit him. But this fury wasn’t his. A savage howl filled the dome, and Kal felt something's eyes land on him, and it was something powerful.

Kal was no longer the only slayer here.