Drake couldn’t help but feel like she was both being picked on, and shown favoritism. Why, because she was currently out in the middle of a forrest full of skeletons searching for a fruit that supposedly satiated vampirism.
She was hungry and growing wild, and instead of just giving her the fruit, Lilith felt it would be better that Drake trained while hungry. This was an attempt to expand the time it took for her unfed madness to fully bloom in her mind, but Drake just felt alienated and singled out.
It was the middle of the night, and the mobs of skeletons that infested the mountain top were absolutely everywhere. No section of the forrest was untouched by the undead, and Drake’s every scan showed her a mass majority of skeletons well into the Adept rank.
She at first tried to sneak through the area surrounding the manor, but the single altercation she was subjected too quickly turned into an all out melee. Normally she wouldn’t have a problem with this, but without Aurora signaling where enemies were constantly through their bond, the fight was made exponentially more difficult.
The energies within the manor, alongside the runes that lined the walls of Lilith’s home made it possible for the bonded pair to separate. Luckily for Drake’s sanity they were both able to communicate at what seemed to be incredible distances from one another.
They’d figured this out due to the fact that Aurora was miles deep into the library researching Matter Manipulation, while Drake was miles into the forrest that enclosed the manor. Both able to talk as easily as if they stood directly next to one another.
You seem frustrated, said Aurora,, the sound of her flipping pages in a book bigger than her own torso oddly being picked up as she spoke through their bond.
I’m allowed to be frustrated, I’m in the middle of the fucking woods by myself, while you read books and Vanish learns how to meditate better, how in the hell is that fair.
Yeah…
Not to mention all of these monsters seem stronger than normal!
Yeah…
Are you even listening to me or are you just saying yeah over and over again to try and make me feel like your paying attention?
Yeah…
Just tell me what you are learning about before I get agitated with you too.
“Yeah…
Aurora!
Yes, you don’t have to yell, what’s up?
Tell me about Matter Manipulation.
“Okay, damn, that’s all you had to say.
Drake continued her search while Aurora spoke to her through her bond. She was supposed to find a fruit in the shape of a heart, called DragonFruit, that apparently had nothing in common with the earthen fruit with the same name. It was apparently shaped like that of a human or Cultivator’s heart, and not like that of the iconified shape used by commercial industries across earth for valentines day.
As a matter manipulator, it is said that a Cultivator can create anything that they can imagine, either by breaking down physical material, repurposing it for their needs, or by using mana, void energies, cultivated life force, Ki, or even chi, explained Aurora. Drake found herself wishing she too had this ability, pushing the thought aside as she worked her way deeper into the forrest.
“You can’t have it all Drake, just be happy that you can even use magic in the first place,” muttered Drake to herself.
She was learning more about her minions capabilities the longer she fought in the forrest, and began to feel that maybe Lilith wasn’t trying to get rid of her by having her train in this way.
“The longer I’m out here, the more attribute points I’ll get, and the more experienced I will become, and leveling up my minions will only make me stronger, so maybe I should stop giving the old lady a hard time…?”
Drake sighed, wondering if being in the body of a potentially puberty ridden youngster was effecting her.
Going to have to add this to my list of reasons to become strong enough to beat down gods…!
She glanced around, and realized that she wasn’t immediately about to be attacked as she had been all night. Thus far she’d been forced into back to back encounters , so took the chance she was given to gather herself, climbing a tree close to her to take a break and discuss an idea she had with Aurora.
She focused on the group of classed skeletons in the nearby garden below her. She took ahold of her offensive brute arm in her off hand once more, taking it back from her defensive minion after the climb once she found a good spot to jump from. Just incase she needed to flee from her temporary sanctuary..
Annoyed at how hard it had been to simply climb up a tree with access to only one arm, .still unable to use her dominant right hand.
Idiot, you could have handed your weapon off to your magical minions, they are the perfect sheathe.
She didn’t feel like her position in the tree would remain safe, so decided to ask Aurora her questions as quick as possible before returning to her hunt for the DragonFruit.
Just get used to never being safe again, its better that way, thought Drake preparing herself for combat to arise at any moment.
Hey, I know this is random, but all of my minions have cool names except my two Brute arms, would I be crazy if I named them?
What, no, absolutely not, many Cultivators name their weapons, and even more name their bonded companions, pets and especially their familiars, I’m honestly surprised that you haven’t done it already, Brute arm 1 and 2 is rather…
Lame, yeah agreed, want to brainstorm some names with me?
“Of course, what about Hammer and Thorn, asked Aurora after a moment of murmuring contemplation.
Naw, cool but not for me.
Drake grew uncomfortable with how many skeletons began to draw near to the tree, jumping down, and returning to her assault on the forrest of the dead, searching for food as her and Aurora conversed mentally.
The two didn’t find anything that Drake enjoyed for quite a while, tossing names back and forward as Drake killed skeletons, until Aurora offered names that seemed to buzz in Drake’s mind when she heard them.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
She lifted her offensive arm of the Brute, and smiled.
“How about it buddy, do you like the name, Havoc?”
To her surprise, a red notification box popped up above the upheld weapon; a stylized cursive font that read, Havoc, with a tooltip connecting itself to the weapon. She felt a thrum of pleasure radiate through her arm and her smiled deepened as she read the pop ups details. She read quickly, knowing that staying in place for too long would give her untold difficulties.
*Named Weapon Effect Unlocked* - Grasp of Havoc -
Through your loyalty to your weapon and the strength of your growing bond, a new function has been unlocked. Grasp of Havoc can now be used. With this Havoc can not only grab your opponents, but crush whatever it has managed to pull into its grip. The potential for other skills to combine with this action is possible, limits are only restricted by your experimentation.*
“Fuck yeah!”
Drake loved the necromancer bloodline, and wondered where she would be without it. Her minions were by far her best tool, and she was overjoyed at every thought she had on what she felt like was their near limitless functionality and ability to grow.
“Okay, now you buddy, what do you feel about being named Zen?”
Drake had thought that the first surge of energy was powerful when naming Havoc, but the reaction she felt rush through her body at naming her defensive Brute arm made her head spin. The pop up blinked into existence above her defensive minion, and Drake was surprised to see that this box was entirely golden with red text.
*Named weapon Effect Unlocked* - Enlightened Embrace of Zen -
The bond you share with this minion is unlike any you will ever obtain. This minion even before you understood its purpose had already devoted its life to protecting your own. Through the Enlightened Embrace of Zen, your minion now has a chance to gather Chi or Ki when defending or attacking. These energies will be converted into life force to either cleanse or improve the regenerative properties of your body. The more Zen learns of Cultivation, the more Zen will grow and eventually rank up.*
“Woah, should I just name all my fucking weapons!”
Drake tried. Yet her other weapons didn’t resinate with her name choices, and Drake gave up, returning her focus to Aurora’s unending lecture on the capabilities of Matter Manipulation, and her hunt for the DragonFruit.
“Here goes nothing…!”
…
Lilith stood in the observation deck of her home. The glass walls around her gave her a perfect view of everything that surrounded the manor, and she walked the perimeter of the large translucent pyramid as Vanish meditated in the middle of the space.
She couldn’t help but fixate on Drake as the girl traversed the forested garden in search of the fruit Lilith sent her to find. She knew exactly where the fruit was, but decided to let the girl push her survival instincts to their absolute limit.
Lilith couldn’t draw on her full power yet. Her pool of mana was absurdly far away from its maximum, but she’d still pushed the levels of the Skeletons in the surrounding areas as high as she could. She thought this would slow Drake down, hopefully breed a sense of fear into the girl, but the choice had seemingly backfired.
“I wonder how many attribute points she has at this point?”
Drake had told her that she wasn’t leveling her minions beyond level 1, until she knew their true ceiling, wanting her minions to remain unranked and at the lowest levels for achievement hunting for as long as possible. Now that Lilith couldn’t see the level of her nor her minions however, she couldn’t believe the girl hadn’t leveled her bonds, maybe not to the next rank, but Lilith believed the capabilities of Drake’s equipped minions couldn’t be that of mere level ones.
Her perch gave her a vantage point that showed Lilith every skirmish Drake found herself in. Drake did struggle when the numbers eclipsed two undead skeletons, but not as much as Lilith believed a level one would. She knew achievement hunting as a youth came with perks unseen even by those who gathered them young. Her brothers were capable of things that she wasn’t able to reproduce until she eventually became ascended, and some of their skills and abilities were still out of her grasp even now as an Ancient rank Cultivator.
Maybe she is telling the truth, but that would mean that she is potentially even more powerful than my own siblings were at her age, and we were children of an Elder God. Could something like that even be possible?
She looked back at Vanish, watching the boy for a moment. He was sitting upright completely, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
His entire body was wrapped in a pure black void energy; the only thing holding him upright as he tried to meditate was his continued connection to his mana. A visible tremble had begun as Lilith had him there, focusing in the same position since before the artificial sunlight had left the area.
I need to use this as an opportunity to sharpen this boy, nothing will make a better wet stone than that child, thought Lilith, returning her vision to Drake.
Lilith couldn’t help but smile seeing Drake struggle to find the fruit, able to see the growing frustration on the girl’s face even at the incredible distance they now were from each other.
That temper is going to be the death of her, thought Lilith, knowing from experience how unfocused rage could lead a Cultivator to an early death.
Drake had drawn the attention of far too many foes, lashing out wildly with her hammer of a weapon, resulting in numerous mobs to surround her, blocking her in on all sides.
This should be good.
…
I guess I don’t have a choice,” said Drake to herself, summoning forth her two magical weapons. Both of the magical limbs levitated to float above her shoulders, disconnecting from her mantle to hover independently as they took aim. Drake smiled, and began to strike.
She charged forward, swinging Havoc to collide with a group of slowly approaching enemies. The weapon smashed through ribs, collar bones and even knocked free a couple skulls in the first swing. Even before those enemies died, more stepped over the undead in front of her, only to be shot by a charged bolt of lightning.
A singularity built in her other magical minions palm, drawing in all the broken bodies before they could even drop to the ground below.
Drake was then kicked in the back of her leg; the blow dropping her to a knee, and was almost struck a second time, but Zen reached completely behind her, grabbing the offender by its exposed spinal cord and yanked, snapping the bone like a twig.
Before the defeated monster’s two halves were able to fall, her storm affinity minion summoned a thunder clap, crushing the bones of the undead Zen had just killed, before a bolt of raging lightning fell from the sky obliterating the monster into bits.
The Skeletons body was also pulled into the singularity, and electricity began to flow through all of the bones gathered in the metal minions palm.
Drake jumped to her feet, turning around to strike with Havoc, knocking back a few more enemies, surprised that their bones didn’t instantly break as the majority of her foes had previously.
“This isn’t good…”
For the first time since Vanish had asked her if she was going to raise any full bodied minions, Drake truly considered if she should. She hadn’t wanted to, but if the enemies were going to be able to easily surround her as they now had, she would potentially need minions beyond Zen to cover her back.
“I wonder if Lilith killed that Steel plated Assassin we ran from?
She dismissed the thought, and tried to mix her swings with Havoc, and the martial forms of Genocide.
Crimson energy began to flow around her limbs, every strike bursting with an oppressive energy that stole the life-force from every skeleton it touched.
Still Drake wondered how these attacks would effect the living, but was forced to concentrate on the fight at hand. She charged a stomp with the flowing energies that her weapons gathered, glad that her magical weapons were both stopping enemies from an easy approach, and offensively adding to the frequency of her attacks.
It wasn’t until she was literally pulled into the air by her storm hand that she realized the minion holding the singularity wasn’t actually attacking.
Xen reached up, clasping hands with the storm hand, lifting Drake off the ground mid swing. She yelped not knowing what was happening, only to look over and see a roiling mass of dark matter and twisting bones, the previously skeletal frames now nothing more than shrapnel tinged with crimson electricity.
“Holy—“
The singularity was driven downward as her metallic minion plummeted from the sky, driving its palm into the ground. An explosion of bones and lightning was sent out in a halo of destruction; a wave of gathered bones shotgunning through the masses. Clearing the area for at least a yard around herself.
Drake’s eyes went wide at the sight, but she then smirked as her storm hand dropped Zen, allowing her to fall back to the ground below.
Her magical hands once again began to orbit her, and Drake prepared for the next wave of monsters to step forward.
She found herself wanting to put on her new mask and try out its selection of skills as she saw multiple scans pop into her vision with enemies almost in the fourth rank. However an unrecognizable fear at the back of her mind told her not too. She was still disturbed by the missing warning on the armaments scan, and the fact it had entered the Adept rank without her actually being prompted to level the minion up.
No excuses Drake, its do or die!
“Come on guys, we got this,” said Drake, looking between her minions one by one, smirking as she spun slowly to face all the incoming enemies.
Zen began to draw in power from all the bones use in the last attack, drawing in the remnants of life-force left in the scattered materials. She had no idea what the minion had planned, but the longer she fought with the weapons she’d constructed, the more she grew to depend on their growing ability to act independently.
Drake tightened her grip on Havoc and prepared for the worst, seeing more skeletons in the area than she’d ever seen before. She took a deep breath and once more began the fight for her life.
“Come on!”
…
Lilith watched in amazement. The girl she so wanted to be rid of was growing before her eyes. She was quickly being overwhelmed, trading blows with coordinated squads of enemies, doing her best not to be overrun.
Lilith watched as the group of skeletons that vastly out leveled her punched, kicked, Choked and even cut Drake at every chance they were given. Drake was smashed into trees, struck with boulders, and struggled to stay upright as her ribs were broken by a particularly devastating body slam.
Yet Drake continued to get up, no matter how many times she was knocked down. No matter how many times she was swarmed, even when the number of ranged magic users grew, striking Drake from unseen angles, Drake gritted her teeth and continued to fight.
“Just don’t give up child, the sunlight will come soon,” Lilith found herself saying as the light of day began to stretch across the sky.
Make up your mind Lilith, are you going to care for this monster or not…, thought Lilith, struggling with her want to aid the child that she saw so much of herself in.
She looked over to see Vanish had fallen asleep; Lilith completely unaware of when the occurrence had taken place. She would have been angry to see this, but instead of being sprawled out and unconscious, Vanish still sat legs cross, back straight, and completely enveloped in void energies from head to toe.
Impressive… I guess this Drake isn’t the only one with an astronomical potential.
Lilith waved her hand, summoning a mirror to the side of the room. An image filled the mirror, and she was able to see Aurora standing within the library, holding a book. She nearly dismissed the mirror, seeing nothing of substance happening, until Aurora spoke.
“Come on, come on,” said Aurora, turning her head away from the book, and shifting her gaze toward her upturned palm. Flickers of light began to flash, forming the shape of a blade. Mana could be seen being drawn from the air around her, surging toward her palm, and for the fraction of an instant, a gleaming blade as long as the girl’s arm could be seen slowly spinning above her fingertips.
“Yes,” roared Aurora in surprise. Lilith blinked in amazement, reevaluating her problems.
She knew this to be true intimately, simply because a matter manipulator was far more dangerous than anything the realms of Cultivation had ever produced. As it was the very same person that had given her this manor, and taught her everything she knew before ascending to godhood, that was also a legend that began after learning this very same skill.
The very same talent that resulted in her teacher’s ascension beyond the realm known as heaven. Her teacher only able to rise above the limits of godhood after achieving the same Mythical skill that Aurora was now learning to produce.
Dark father save me…