Six sat down and got comfortable before accepting the prompt.
Yes.
For a moment nothing happened, then the book began to glow, cutting Six’s into silhouettes, drawing power and preparing.
Six felt a blip of trepidation as he reconsidered his action. But it was too late to waver so he committed to the course ahead, focusing on the arcane feelings he was experiencing. He could almost feel the book connect to him slowly, forcing arcane tendrils into him.
As if he himself was being enchanted.
A flash of light illuminated the broken audience chamber. The magical tome flared and Six’s mind froze under the weight of knowledge entering his mind. Compared to a minor ranked spell this was a hurricane next to a breeze.
But even in that eternal moment he resisted, his mind always pushing against and trying to control itself.
What used to take minutes took almost a half hour, the moderate rank spell book imparting far more knowledge than a minor. Ending with the glowing book fading into nothingness.
Six came out of his trance and wiped at his face. His hand came away with blood.
“Shit.”
“I was watching you,” Kali Kik said from his side.
He turned to look at her sitting next to him. Her calm gaze without judgement.
“You were fine,” she said.
“Thank you,” Six nodded at her.
“You should be more careful with magical items until you evolve. Even then you should still be careful.”
“I was fine.” Six smiled.
A quick examination of his prompts revealed a little mana poisoning and a new spell.
Spell: Bloodwell Shaping
Rank: Moderate
Cooldown: N/A, 1 hour
Range: Melee
Casting Time: 1 hour
Duration: N/A
Mana Cost: 1000
Effect: User gains the Bloodwell trait, allowing them to store a number of ancestry traits equal to (Blood Magic Level/5). Can only store the traits of slain creatures of an evolution rank equal to or lower than the user’s. User can perform a ritual to apply up to one trait to themselves or another. User can perform a ritual to remove or replace a trait granted it is currently archived.
Six wasn’t exactly sure what an ancestry trait was, but he could store two of them now. Six wasn’t exactly sure as to what those were but he figured they had something to do with how he got extra stat points and greater affinities as a human.
If he remembered his time in the starting void correctly, ancestry traits were usually a double edged sword so he might not want them at all.
But that was unlikely, he was already min-maxing in several areas and was committed to being a constitution based fighter. If the sacrifice was minimal, he would make it.
Slain creatures indicated that the creatures must be dead, or have been killed? Six wasn’t sure on how this spell worked exactly, seeming almost two parts, one part passive collection, one part active imbuement.
1000 mana to cast it was a steep price, Six wouldn’t be able to cast it by himself but with his coven skill he could. He doubted the Indigo or Kali Kik would help him with it but when he returned to Mountain’s End he would be able to use the Ley mana to cast the spell with ease.
His mindfulness went up.
Mindfulness - Initiate - Level 15
After another short rest Six gathered them up and cleared his throat before speaking.
“Alright, so we’ve fucked their shit up. Head back?”
There was a large pause as the officers looked between each other.
“Perhaps we should uuuuh… aaah… take a uh look around and see if we can find something.”
Six sniffed. “What you think you’re gonna find something that the first pillaging missed? Ah nevermind we just found something that was missed. Fine. But just this building no more. We aint going through the whole city.”
They seemed amenable to that.
It took two days to clear the top of minor creatures and monsters, finding nothing important. Day three led them to the kitchens in the basement.
The kitchens were large and judging by the size of most things, intended to cook vast quantities of food. Dark stone ovens and giant steel pots were spaced about. Empty pantries and side cellars, littered with the dried remains of unidentifiable food and shards of rotten furniture.
In the center of the kitchens was a deep hole. A large hole about two by two meters, that descended deep into blackness.
Six assumed that this was the kitchens’ organics bin, all the waste must just be tossed in the pit.
Neat.
“What do you guys think is in the pit?” Six posited.
“Bones,” Keegan said.
“Bones and cutlery,” Nar added.
“Well that doesn’t seem fair but ok,” Six shrugged.
“Well what you do think is down their, hmmmm?” Irduth asked Six sarcastically.
“Bones, Cutlery, and maybe some fungi?”
Irduth crossed his arms. “You’re stupid.”
Six brought an aggrieved arm to his chest. “Ow, rude. Anyways, I guess we’ll never know what’s down there.”
“Irduth can just fly down there and check,” offered Indigo.
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“That seems unnecessary,” Six said with pursed lips.
“Yes, by Kynairos it does,” Irduth agreed.
But the officers stared at Irduth expectantly until the priest broke.
“Oh all right. I won’t forget this though,” Irduth agreed begrudgingly, activating his belt and levitating over and down into the dark hole.
Less than five minutes later Irduth returned, a worried look on his face.
“Well?” Six asked. “What did you see?”
“There is a colony down there,” Irduth reported grimly.
Six could see from the shocked looks on the officers’ faces that this was an issue. Not surprising as Charles had explained the continent wide understanding that insect colonies were to be purged and eliminated.
Normal hive gatherings of insects were to be expected, and could be found anywhere across Zarmul.
But the Colony classification meant they were particularly suited to consumption and expansion. Dangerous for the entire planet, and such things needed to be eliminated on sight, lest they grow out of control.
Six agreed. He regarded Irduth, “is It possible to clear it?”
“Just so, I think we could, yes.”
Six shrugged, ambivalent. “We can try, gotta hold down our ride with Copperback though.”
“By Kynairos! This is more important than our ‘ride.’ We must purge those bugs!”
Six looked around at the group and saw a grim consensus. He sighed, “fine, let's do our part.”
Irduth briefed everyone on the little he saw. Extremely large, humanoid bugs, about 5 feet at height, long arms tipped in claws capable of boring through rock and earth. They bore a pair of vestigial wings that flapped. Its head was tipped with tusk-like mandibles, and two wet, black eyes that stared our bereft of any soul.
Covered with thick chitinous plating, its eyes were its primary weak spot. As a place to strike as well in terms of senses. It seemed to have poor vision, not being able to spot Irduth.
That might change with more people and more light.
More so after Six created an earth golem for each of them. Keegan cautioned against adding a new element without proper training and against the magical constructs as they were a step away from muscle and towards magic but even he adopted a golem. Six described their intended use, sinking them within the walls and extending their limbs into the tunnels to grapple and trip the bugs.
They tied off multiple ropes for a simple escape route and lowered themselves down.
The tunnels were dark, open things, wide enough for three to walk side by side but Six was constantly dealing with the land heart shard. Keegan and Narhurin took up the front and were supported by their golems. Six conjured a Luminous Beacon to provide light for the party.
The first bug was incredibly easy, his Analyze revealed it to be only level 1 and even then was weak compared to a level 1 human but its death drew its siblings and therein lied the danger. Be it through its high pitched squeals of pain or some sort of death pheromone, a tide arrived, endless bodies pressing down the tunnel. The black orbs of the creatures prevented any sort of real humanization. There was nothing there but the indifference of nature, the commitment to the struggle.
Yet Six could see the signs of something more amongst them. His Unbound Comprehension did not bring any new languages but there was a fanaticism and emotional fervor present as the bugs threw themselves forward. Oh so willing to sacrifice themselves for the colony.
They almost reminded him of the sasquatch, intelligent and empathetic but not recognized as so for whatever barriers existed.
Six had no time to ponder it beyond these intrusive thoughts.
The hordes of bugs seemed endless but with tactical retreats and careful potion rationing they managed to crawl forward under a constant arcane bombardment from the mages and impenetrable defence from the warriors.
Six wasn’t able to contribute as much as he used to while in this injured state so he turned to his long range magic. The single Stone Wall he used worked to funnel them a bit better but they quickly tore it down. Instead, Stone Spikes erupted from the ground and straight through these giant quadrupedal insects. Cracking them easily. His mana bottomed out before he used about 200 HP for more bloodcasted spikes, leaving him nice and healthy just in case something slipped through.
He drank a health and mana potion while he unleashed a volley of blood darts from Lump who immediately began to absorb the greenish blood from the insect entrails scattered about. The high powered blood darts mostly deflected off the carapace of the creatures but some were capable of smashing and cracking the shells of these beasts.
It was almost cyclic the reloading and firing of Lump, leading to an almost sustained fire that Six was able to use to a significant effect. Improving the chances of cracking the shells of the creatures.
Save for Indigo, the party’s golem control was poor and it led to the simple tools being exposed or simply detrimental. Six called out adjustments from his position in the back, informing people when their golem needed to be moved further into the wall or hidden completely.
Over the course of the delve they refined their “micro” as Six called it and soon the tunnels were a complete death trap for anything approaching. Chains, thorns, and blood flying down past sword and glaive.
During a rest Six had the opportunity to examine a new prompt.
3/3 samples obtained, Trait obtained,
Ravznok: Racial ability, Plated Path. Gain an increase of 1 point of natural defense per point of CON and a reduction of 1 point of computation power per point of INT.
0/2 Bloodwell slots filled.
Archive trait? Yes/No?
Six understood from the transcribed knowledge of the skill that he could replace any archived trait as he encountered new ones so there was no real reason not to pick it up. He just needed to be careful as he wouldn’t be able to remove or replace any trait he archived, which shouldn’t be a problem really, not for himself anyways
Yes.
He felt something deep within in him change and knew it was the bloodwell. He lacked the mana to apply it to himself and sure enough only Bark was willing to help him with his blood magic experiments. He would perform the ritual later.
It took two days to reach the center of the nest. They killed endless swathes of bugs and progressed incrementally but they made it there. The nearer they came the more advanced bugs they saw. None of which could communicate but eventually Six’s Analyze was returning levels of 10 to 15. The variations in the creatures were interesting. All had skills and abilities. One could teleport, one could create force mandibles, one could resurrect the fallen of its kind.
Still they fell and Six and the soldiers progressed to the center of the colony.
Despite it being an evolved creature, killing the queen was easy. Its giant mass could barely defend itself, having invested solely into a higher ability to leverage minions than even the blood tree. It was rendered somewhat immobile by the distended birthing abdomen. Truly, even as the warriors approached it, bombarding the queen with a barrage of arcane fire, it expelled battle ready enemies for its defence.
That didn’t stop Six from stabbing Stone Spike after Stone Spike into its head.
You have killed level 23 Ravznok Queen. Experience gained 1531.
It was a relatively simple addition to their adventure to these lands. The materials scavenged interested Six greatly and he overruled Indigo when it came to claiming the one most intriguing.
- One Million Egg Gland -
Rank: Superior
Rarity: Rare
Weight: 9.1 KG
Durability: 74/75
Traits: The egg producing gland of an evolved ravznok queen. Capable of fielding a vast horde of minions. Material, Reagent
He also fished out its mana core.
- Mana Core -
Rank: Enhanced
Rarity: Unusual
Defense - 100
Weight - 0.025 KG
Durability 1599/1600
Traits: Crystalized Mana, Material, Reagent, Catalyst.
The gland represented an interesting opportunity with what it represented as a reagent. Of course the transmutation process was in essence random but that was not to say you couldn’t make educated guesses.
The gland would most likely add some sort of swarm mechanic to whatever he added it to.
And the possibilities of that potential were buzzing around Six’s mind.
Six had Indigo preserve the gland before storing it in his spatial and leading the soldiers back out.
Aside from this incredibly interesting organ, after two days of consistent fighting Six had received a large amount of skill experience and an ungodly amount of mundane monster cores.
Skill increases:
Butchery - Initiate - 14
Analyze - Initiate - 14
Athletics - Initiate - 15
Elemental Magic - Initiate - 15
Blood Casting - Initiate - 13
Blood Magic - Initiate - 11
Cycle Magic - Initiate - 11
Diametric Magic - Initiate - 8
Inspect - Initiate - 9
Perception - Initiate - 12
He had also gained experience sufficient to level.
You have reached level 14, advancement options available.
Skill points: 9
Perk points: 70
Stat points: 6
First, he spent his stat points. Putting one into charisma, luck, and dexterity, then three into strength.
The three points into strength represented an increase of over ten percent and Six felt it. A raw power coursing through his muscles combined with an increased sense of health and sturdiness. Increasing his charisma and dexterity was to shore up his weak spots. The point into luck was just policy at this point.
Again, he would hold onto his skill points but this time he had enough perk points to get something good.
Six considered his many perk choices, and found himself reconsidering his previous intention of armor integration in favour of other options.
Runic Endurance: 55 perk points
The armor's runes absorb excess energy and convert it into a temporary boost to the Golemchanter's stamina, allowing for prolonged battles without fatigue.
Golemforge: 60 perk points
The armor can temporarily open a dimensional portal, summoning additional golems to reinforce the Golemchanter's forces.
Titanic Empowerment: 60 perk points
The armor temporarily imbues the wearer with increased size and strength, granting the Golemchanter an imposing presence and improved physical might.
They were all more offensively minded than,
Golem Armor Integration: 50 perk points
The user can integrate armor into their existing golems and they are capable of wearing golems as armor.
Six was feeling confident in his defense and was more interested in something offensive right now. Despite that, after this Six was hopefully turtling up for a while, so perhaps the offensive perks weren’t that important compared to the simple enchantment strength perks.
After some thought Six continued with his pick of armor integration, immediately his remaining perk points dropped to twenty.
But Six was satisfied with his purchase and even moreso when Lump melted from its shoulder perch and instead wrapped his body like a skin suit. Providing an additional layer of protection underneath that of his armor.
Neat.
Speaking of Lump, the blood golem had reached level 9 and Six had to assign its points, putting two into con and one into int and wis. His little blood bag was growing nicely.
Poh-Doh had also grown, SIx had no idea of the adventures the golem was participating in but it was accumulating exp without Six being there so, that was a win.
Poh Doh hit level ten which automatically placed one stat point into strength and con, Six assigned the two free points into strength and endurance, boosting Poh Doh’s already immense strength.
There was also an option to choose a new ability for his creation hitting level 10. He could pick one of three.
Earth Cycle:
This golem can renew itself by absorbing nearby earth. HP += 3+0.1*N per 1 kilogram of earth consumed. Current 4 HP
Stone Dart
The golem conjures a small, earth spike in their palm. Upon release, the Spike swiftly flies towards a target.
Crystal Skin
The golem adds 30+Strength to its natural defense.
Six picked crystal skin. The increase to physical durability would help Poh Doh weather the more mundane threats with far more ease now. Hopefully Six could commission some armor for Poh Doh that he could enchant against the arcane threats.
Six sighed and deliberately relaxed his body, he had been in go mode for a while now and the constant grind was taking its toll. He was growing a little bit here and there, it was a gradual process and he wished he had more empress pie to speed it along. Still, it had been a while since he had examined his stat sheet, so before they left the tsunken aelf homelands he brought it up to appreciate his gains.