I awoke in the morning to the early frost of the coming cold seasons, which meant I needed to rush to the dungeon, which was still several weeks away even riding Moonguard, who now stood ten feet at the shoulder and was more than 17 feet long thick shagged fur he had grown since it began to get cold kept both of us warm as I mounted his back onto the leather saddle that mother and I had fashioned for him he looked back with the tale sparkle of his playful mood. Before I could reprimand him, he took off like a loaded spring heading flawlessly towards the dungeon, but at such speed that I was barely holding on, he launched around trees outrunning a natural cat about his size with ease.
As we neared the first checkpoint, we saw the first potential threat of the trip a large mogdolen sat on its bloated haunches munching on the furry rump of its current meal.
The mogdolen were a subspecies of troll that was smaller but much more inclined to blood magic, able to manipulate the blood of any unsuspecting prey. Luckily, I had too much mana for this low-level beast to do such a thing. I dismounted Moonguard and drew my sword with the skill of years beyond my current life as I had learned some of the earth's best self-defense techniques in my previous life and then learned my swordsmanship from an older man through the magical sphere.
One ability they had was unique to very few people and creatures. The ability was called a perception field, allowing them to detect even things as profane as dimensionally shifted enemies so there would be no sneaking up on the enemy.
I held my sword in a guard position designed to defend against large, heavy animals and beasts. As I got within its perception field, it noticed me. It smiled gruesomely, blood and rotten gore dripping from its mouth. It carefully set down its meal before disappearing. Not even its smell remained stunned as I was. I didn't notice the air rushing toward me until it was too late. A ham-sized fist smashed me away from the ground. Before I could land again, Moonguard slammed into the beast's throat, crushing it in one fell swoop. It wobbled as Moonguard thrashed its throat. I ran up as soon as I was on my feet and slashed its gut. Its intestines slewed out, and its life left its body.
I learned a lesson in that fight against what should have been an easy kill for someone of my Level. I knew I would have died if Moonguard had not been there to help. The practice didn't replace real-world experience, and I had almost failed to realize it. My level 23 should have let me kill it quickly, yet my overconfidence nearly ended me.
Approaching the body of the now deceased mogdolen, I placed my hand on the corpse and absorbed its essence. The body began to disintegrate all its valuable body parts began to pop up in my inventory. I gained
3x troll skin
5x troll fat
2x troll blood
3x medium core
3x unknown plants
1x unknown key
1x partial map
Item(s) have been distributed
XP points earned 1,050 90% deduction for being over-leveled.
I stood up as I felt Moonguard approach through our bond his massive head bumped into my hand, demanding good boy pats for the help on the kill, and so I obliged, patting his head and tossing out the troll meat and fat. He jumped, pouncing his meal before swallowing the manhole-sized slabs of meat in big gulps.
Once Moonguard had finished and cleaned himself, I mounted his back again, and we took off towards the checkpoint, a small, secluded cave in the side of the mountain that we would be climbing to reach the dungeon, our last bastion before leaving civilized life behind.
It was several hours before we arrived. We had planned to stay in a small cave hidden in seclusion from the rest of the world and its people.
The cave wasn't bottomless and was just tall enough to let my giant friend and me through into its interior. Stalagmites hung down, protruding from the stone, each telling the story of their past. I walked to the very back of the cave and produced the dried wood and tinder that would fuel our fire. I also set up a wind ruin to blow any smoke towards the entrance of the cave to avoid asphyxiation.
With the fire blazing heat into the cave, Moonguard and I fell asleep curled into his warm fur.
Night came quickly, its darkness overtaking the world in one fell swoop, and the beasts of the night, with it their yowls and struggle for dominance, filled the night, making sleep difficult but not impossible the woods provided perfect concealing cover for all that hid within but what Alex and Moonguard didn't know was that an ancient creature that hunted anything and everything had set its sights on their trail a new beast one, not of this world walked the path. It wanted a taste of their worldly flesh.
Early morning made itself known as I woke up and stretched. Birds chirped, and the large predators of the night had gone to their burrows as the predators of the day emerged.
I slowly stood up, listening intently to my surroundings Moonguard was gone. No tracks had been left behind, and he had never left my side before for any duration of time.
Yoooowl, Moonguard screamed into the early morning air from somewhere in the distance, not a scream of dominance but one of pain.
I sprinted, my long braided white hair lurching into the air behind me. My perfectly fit wooden Armor didn't hinder me at all. My full sprint took me to my companion in only a few minutes, and what I saw caused my black miasmic blood to boil Moonguard was heavily injured. Standing above him was a creature from times past that had taken my father's life, a dark mana wolf Lvl 43, the only one left in this world. My sword sang its song of steel against leather as it leaped from its sheath, its radiant darkness spilling into the world, my anger feeding its power. I moved fast through the bond. I had Moonguard use the last of his strength to keep at the enemy as I initiated a full scan.
Dark mana wolf
Lvl 43 up leveled
Strength-??
Stamina-??
Intelligence-15 bestial intelligence
Dexterity-??
Constitution- 56
Wisdom-??
Charisma -??
Abilities darkness elusion you fade into the dark realm strike from that which is unseen.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Death incarnates +4 strength for every level enemy has over you.
Strength through adversity+10 base defense per enemies' Level
Its Level doubled mine, but mine and Moonguards' Level equaled his total, and with our flawless communication, we might be able to kill it.
Moonguard struck true as he leaped, grabbing the jugular of the wolf; they were equal in size, but Moonguard weighed way more than the wolf and managed to pin it. My sword came moments later, its edge cutting only a few inches into the throat, but it was enough that I hit the jugular. The wolf wasn't expecting me, and that was its downfall. It cried out for a few more seconds before it faded into the immaterial realms of darkness. I heard more than saw its approach towards my back, its fangs glistening with poisonous blood, ready to take my life. Still, before it reached me, I swung my sword around, taking advantage of its crazed rush to slice the other side of its throat. It fell to the ground. Before it could rise again, I planted my sword through its throat, pinning it to the ground. It took me stabbing it more than ten times before the life left its body.
I immediately ran to Moonguard, dropping the sword into the sheath. He was heavily injured, and his thick fur coat and hide had only saved him. He slowly sat up, limping towards me. I checked my surroundings, finding nothing. I continued my sprint before folding my arms around Moonguards neck. He had many cuts, but with his Level and regenerative abilities he seemed to have inherently, it would only take a week for him to get back on his feet, so I let go of his neck, much to his chagrin.
Once I put my hand on the corpse, my vision was flooded with messages of items received and two Levels up for Moonguard and me.
10 x pristine dark mana wolf hide (UNIQUE)
1x dark mana wolf spine plant (Legendary)
Dark mana core (Uncommon)
Enlightened mana light spine plant (Legendary)
16 gold Coins
Awarded 6,000 Silver Coins
10,000 bronze Coins
40,000 EXP earned for defeating a highly superior enemy.
Ability unlocked Level (unique) Spiritual and physical awareness (Effective rating Divine) You gain complete awareness of your surroundings in a small area allowing you to defend and detect disturbances around you. This will enable you to detect time shifts while remaining aware you can also sense teleportation techniques more easily.
One-time boost unlocked – Generational avenger – Kill the murderer of your predecessor – rewarded class upgrade (will be activated when a class is received)
Alexander andromeda Taylor
Species classification-legendary undead-Draugr
Class-(unselected)
Buy a class or enter a dungeon
Level 28
Requirements to level 29 96,000 EXP. Or find a flying companion of any size.
Magic potential unknown. Unlock your class or use a detection orb for your specific species.
Strength-23
Stamina-22
Intelligence-70 (Reincarnate)
Dexterity-33
Constitution- 42-draugrs constitution.
Wisdom-12
Charisma -39 (Good looks and smooth speech.)
ABILITY/SKILL LIST
Swordsmanship you are a master-level swordsman. There are ten levels beyond this, and work to improve through practice.
You are a 6th-level grandmaster in light armor usage. This is the max Level, but six ratings are left to achieve work to improve through practice.
You are a mid-level scavenger who work to improve through practice.
You are an initiate in combat stealth work to improve through practice.
You are a master level in stealth used for hunting prey animals. Work to improve through practice.
You're a unique one-of-a-kind race. You gain the perk draugr constitution doubling the effective listed constitution, all boosts included.
You have long white hair and a sharp-featured face. These are all sought-after features in dark and light races that quadruple your effective charisma when interacting with the respective races, i.e., Human succubus and other species with similar characteristics.
New ability - Ability unlocked Level (unique) Spiritual and physical awareness (Effective rating Divine) You gain complete awareness of your surroundings in a small area allowing you to defend and detect disturbances around you. This will enable you to detect time shifts while remaining aware you can also sense teleportation techniques more easily.
Summoned familiar – Moonguard
LVL 28
Abilities:
Pounce your familiar pounces an enemy's weak spot inflicting medium to heavy bleeding and or cutting off airflow.
Mounted rider- your familiar has the size and weight required to carry up to two riders at once
Soul bond If you die, your summoned familiar will enter an impenetrable indestructible stasis bubble awaiting your reincarnation. This bubble will remain where it is created. No magic physical, mental, or any other form of damage can destroy this shielding technique, no matter the Level or skill used.
The extra set of legs on your familiar allows six legs for the win doubling your familiar's speed for short but exhausting periods.
Enlargement (LOCKED REQUIRES LVL 100)
Stats:
Stealth 25
Speed-65 six legs for the win
Height 12 feet second and final stage of growth.
Length 35 feet long
Weight 1700 pounds
----
Looking through our complete stat charts, I saw our growth. The loot was nothing to sneeze at. I immediately pulled out the five plants I had gained through the reward system. The two from the wolf looked identical except in coloring, but that didn't matter. My Armor was about to get its first upgrade. The three unidentified ones were all light aligned and would also be fed to my Armor after I took some small starts off of all of them to regrow later.
Feeding the plants to the wooden Armor was easy. I just pressed them against the Armor, and it glowed bright blue. The plants disappeared into the Armor. It became transparent before morphing from its pristine white to black color with pure white engraved sigils over every inch. In the center of the chest now sat a crest, one unique to me, Moonguard. It was an engraving of Moonguard in the tree he had been in before the summoning, its branches melding into the engraved sigils, so the piece of art all became entwined.
Hardened weeping tree bark armor >>>Hardened bonded weeping bark armor.
Advanced evolutionary Armor
This Armor will evolve as it levels feed its different plants and fauna to level it. The rarer the plants, the better the results.
A.R. 15 for a complete set at level 1 + 10 per Level + 5 per rarity grade of plants used
Current Level 9 A.R. 135
Ability (Summoned sharing) your summoned companion can now summon a set of Armor with exact matching stats to yours modified to fit the summon.
Ability (Bound) This Armor is now a soul-locked item. Only beings with your soul or part of your soul may equip it. If a being shares fifty percent of your soul, they may summon their own replica of the Armor modified to fit that being.
----
As I read the notifications, a bright light encased Moonguard and his girth. When it disappeared, the same black wooden Armor with silver sigils was perfectly latched to his body with what looked like thorny vines between each of the individual plates allowing for the minimal effect on movement the Armor might have on him. He lazily eyed the Armor before limping towards me. His bloody maw looked like it might be infected with dark mana, which would be bad. It would require a healer from the light side, so we would have to sneak into the nearest city first. We would need a class; otherwise, we would be easy prey for those who might notice us. I knew I had the necklace that would hide my true nature from anyone who didn't understand except those with enlightenment abilities powerful enough to be considered lesser seers of light.
I reached out and scratched his chin. He purred as I did, so I had the decision to make risk visiting the dungeon or risk the closest city with a light healer, where the guards might try to mug me or, even worse, some knight errant who was high on a power trip who might decide to fly down from his floating castle to prey on those, he considered lower than him.
That night in the cave, the decision was made when Moonguards limp went away, but the dark mana continued to spread. I, of course, sent a magical message to Mother, who reluctantly agreed with my choice because once lost familiars couldn't ever be replaced until I died and reincarnated or other abilities allowing me to resummon him., especially since the average summons shared only one to two percent of their summoner's soul where Moonguard held precisely fifty percent of mine allowing us to always know where we were without divination magic that others required.
And so, with care, we set off towards the City of Magreeves, the closest Light city guaranteed to have a light scribe healer.