“Cough! Cough! Cough!” he loudly groaned lying in the rubble as the dust started to slowly settle around him. He breathed deeply to catch his breath. His whole body was bloody and in pain. At least the parts he could feel were in pain. At first, he had thought that miraculously his legs survived without any damage, belatedly realizing that he couldn’t feel his legs at all.
It had been a surreal experience. At first, it had started slanting and everyone tried to maintain their balance as the sliding wall began gaining downward momentum. The siege engine had destroyed the Mid-section of the wall they had been standing on. The top half began falling forward like a tree with its trunk cut by an axe. One second they were trying to balance themselves on the tilted ground, the next they found themselves freefalling to their deaths.
The wind rushing past their ears did little to muffle the screams of the men when suddenly its direction changed. Right before they fell the grand mage of the kingdom slowed the whole thing down using wind magic. It was only for a moment but they had been around 30 feet off the ground. Then the mage gave out and they fell. Despite looking grim, a lot of soldiers survived. Since most had been at the top of the wall as it fell forward the rubble did not fell on top of them directly.
The other side wasn’t all that well wither. The falling debris had crushed a lot of beasts and soldiers near the wall, one would guess that it was also their first time using this machine in real war considering they had neglected to pull their forces back. Yet instead of stopping, as soon as the dust settled the horde charged in to finish off the stumbling soldiers. It was in this chaos that Max found himself flung with a broken and bloody body, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
From his awkward position face down, Max saw a giant green man with a huge mace who had tusks growing as long as Max’s blade. He was followed by a lot of weird greyish goblin-like creatures that were snarling like hunting dogs, which Max assumed were the beasts. This was also the point where Max realized that whoever named these guys ‘shorties’, was being sarcastic. The good thing was, that those guys were more focused on the men who could stand rather than the ones who couldn’t. And so they just charged right past Max who looked more dead than alive.
I mean I know it was not a blessing I guess, but, you know I’m trying to find a silver lining here.
Max groaned under his breath and tried to assess the damage. He didn’t bother summoning up the Status window for he didn’t wanna find out how near to death he was. As the retreat was sounded and he lay there trying to move he came to terms with a simple fact, He had probably broken his back or something. Because his legs looked fine but he couldn’t feel them. When he saw the shorties and their hunting parties nearing he had braced for an impact that never came. He couldn’t turn around to see but he had heard a man scrambling to get away. And on instinct, he had closed his eyes and played dead.
That had been two hours ago.
The Orcs were passing by now in a rhythmic march. They had cleared a few paths to go through. Thankfully none were near him. In the adrenaline-packed rollercoaster ride that had been his life in the past 3 days he realized, this was the first time he had to properly think without any distractions. There was always something or the other like being on the lookout with rebels, or marching with the soldiers, or shooting with the archers, but now, all he had was his shallow breaths and faraway grunts that he was more than happy to ignore.
He knew he was finished. Logically, even if he wasn’t found out or didn’t die from his injuries he would still be dead in due time. He couldn’t move. Each passing minute brought one minute closer to failing the quest and death. Even if the devil system didn’t kill him he would parch and starve out here. He knew it was over. But still, as he looked up to the sky, he couldn’t help but hope for a miracle.
And when that didn’t show up, he chose to be his own.
He knew the only way to get out of this mess was to figure out how to level up. For God’s sake, he was in a world of magic and mayhem now and so it has to count for something right. Maybe he’ll have healing once he levels up like there is in a lot of games and stuff.
He was getting lightheaded, and dark spots danced in his vision. He silently peaked at his HP to see the damage. He couldn’t avoid it forever, right? In his blurry vision, he could only see it alone and a notification that covered half the screen.
HP - 2/20
Critical hit! You are bleeding! Your HP will fall with time.
He closed his eyes and breathed, Gathering right? I can do this!
He breathed, I just have to figure out how?
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Accumulation right? So does that mean he needs to create some kind of store inside of himself?
Then why’s the body getting heavier?
Has mana accumulated somehow? Then what is all that XP? Are these two interchangeable? The heaviness feels somewhat different than Mana though.
He could feel his consciousness slipping away. He felt extremely drowsy.
But if it is already inside what does consolidation mean? Isn’t the first step gathering?
Like we accumulate money to start a business.
No, actually no, the first step isn’t gathering, it is awakening.
The transition of going from someone who has never even felt mana, to someone who can feel and utilize it. After all, only once you can handle it are you able to store it right. You first learn how to do business before jumping into starting one by accumulating capital.
He could feel his heartbeat and breathing slowing.
Pathways! He needs to create pathways. But how? He can’t exactly feel it. Even if he did and molded a bit of mana to a pathway form won’t it be like water flowing on ice? Is that sustainable in the long term?
XP! Maybe XP is truly different. He started trying to feel for XP. Before he had been trying to feel the kind of energy he had felt in the brief moments with the mages, or the one he felt due to the healing magic. And surprisingly, Eureka!
Now if he could just use it to form the pathways before sleep took him. He had seen enough movies and documentaries to know that if he slept now, he would never wake up.
He could feel something, that felt a bit more intrinsic to the soul than mana. It was spread through his body. He shaped his will like a hand and tried to grab it with his mind. It passed right through his imaginary hand. He tried again and failed. It was as if it was there but not there. So he chose to add something of his that was also there and not there. He tried to connect to his very ethereal soul, he was winging it and didn’t understand any real mysteries of life, but the primal forces within him that create and sustain life answered. He felt the hand becoming an amalgamation of his will and soulforce, and this time when he grabbed it, A warm jelly-like substance was grabbed by him.
He was not sure if all of this happening was real or active imagination of his dying mind. But as he began handling this substance, which he called spirit now, a tiny warmth grew from his heart. He was still fumbling when the warmth mixed up with his incorporeal will and began guiding it all to form pathways in his body. Reaching from his heart to connect with his hands and feet and brain with very special attention to the path that connected to his lungs. He could feel strange tubules gathering that protruded into his lungs that picked up a spec of something that he had felt before- Mana.
As if it instinctively knew where it needed to go, Mana followed the pathways and began pooling in areas with the most critical injuries.
He lay there for hours as his body underwent changes. His legs were obstructed physically but spiritually they were still connected. As the basic net of paths covered snaked his way through his body a small hot feeling gathered in his lower back. It heated and ached and then there was a sound of a little snap followed by a spike of extreme pain. A mechanical ding sounded in his ears and then, he could feel his legs again. Or maybe it was all a dream, for he blacked out right after that
-----
STATUS
Name : Maximus Callahan
Race : Human(X)
Class : None
Origin : The Progenitor(Unascended)
Rank : Seedling(None)
Grade : Seedling(None)
Titles : - Defiant(Initiate)
Chaos Seed : —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nodes : 8,534,432,532(Effective - 10,000,000,000)
Level : 2
EXP : 1980/20,000,000,000
HP : 6/30
MP : 2/10
STR : 9
INT : 10
VIT : 7
Def : 8
Note - Stats suppressed due to ongoing special Origin Trial Limitations.
Skills : None
So not full healing but his mana could heal him a little. Due to the level-up, All his basic stats had been increased by 1. His HP increased by 10 and MP by 5. He could now feel the mana in his body and in the air if he concentrated. But most importantly, he could walk again. He couldn’t wait to level up again but the ridiculous XP demand that had doubled demoralized him again. Was there even a point in counting it when only an event like an instant level-up could actually help him?
He decided to check the notifications.
Congratulations on taking your first steps on the path of power! You are the first of your world to figure out the basic principles of spirit and the first step of ascension. You are hereby bestowed the title of Pioneer!
Pioneer : God helps those who help themselves, and so does the system. You have proven yourself worthy of holding the lamp on the way of your world. All stats +10.
System note: You have chosen the path of the progenitor. This is not an achievement but a requirement. Your origin has devoured the title ‘Pioneer’. Call Value increased.
What the hell? His precious stats! What the hell is Call Value? He checked his status window again but there was nothing called ‘Call Value’ there. But he found that he wasn’t highly disappointed. He half expected that damn demon to pull something like this. The face of a demon really suited the damn interface
Congratulations! Your title Defiant has reached the realm of Initiates!
Defiant : Teasing the reaper are we? Not sure if you have drawn the Tower to find Death so close or the wheel to find it yet so far. But your will is acknowledged.
It felt good to see his efforts recognized but it would have been better if this Defiant thing had stats. Maybe it will turn out to be something good later on. At least, he hoped that to be the case.
Moving on, Max decided to assess his situation in the quest. It was night now.
Time Left : 54 Hours 07 minutes 26 seconds
E - Mission 000 : Kill 10 soldiers personally.(1/10)
D - Mission 001 : Kill 5 variants personally. (0/5)
C - Mission 002 : Kill 200 beasts personally. (188/200)
B - Mission 003 : Kill the Forward Enemy Commander. (0/1)
A - Mission 004 : Identify and kill the traitor before he destroys the wall. (0/1)
S - Mission 005 : Hold the defense line for more than 48 hours. (0/1)
X- Mission 006 : Kill Imhotep(0/1)
It felt confusing to see that he had not failed by losing the wall. Or maybe he had but it was just a matter of time that he wasn’t killed on the spot. In any case, he knew what he had to do. He may or may not win, But he was sure as hell gonna try. Now it was time for action.