[Alert] You have slain: Corrupted Blood Chimera x27, CB Chimera Prime x1
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Calculating Hunt Reward
Applying Strain-Modifier: -25%
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[Alert] Portion diverted to repair Lore Matrix…
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Calculations Complete.
Hunt Reward: (Level Up! Level 8 Available!)
“So the damn thing is repairing my Lore Matrix again… Has to be Grim’s doing,” I whispered.
I willed my status open and took in the beautifully even stats. Nice rounded numbers that I was about to ruin.
Can’t ever let Alice see me complain about gaining stats. She might actually bite me.
I tried to summon levity but her expression and tense tone from a moment before made it challenging.
Whatever. Just get on with it, Cain.
Name: Cain Veldman
Title: Crimson Hunter
Auxiliary Title: Nexus Guardian
Level: 8
Stats: (+5)
* STR: 20
* AGI: 20
* CON: 30
* INT: 20
* WIS: 20
* LUK: 20
Skills Unlocked:
* Summon Familiar (Freki)
Passive Skills:
* Ember Soul
* Umbral Soul
* Split Soul
* Bones of the Keeper
Realistically, disrupting the balance I had with my physical stats would be annoying. My agility and strength felt right. My muscles responded the way I needed them to when I wanted.
Thinking back to the fight inside the dead realm, there wasn’t any area I lacked, beyond having enough mana to supply my incantations. And part of that was burning my life force to fuel the emerald flames.
I snuck a glance to the pavilion where Alice continued to rest. No movement and Freki kept his muzzle atop her cheek. I turned back to the status and ran through the options.
In the end, more mana and constitution didn’t hurt. Both would provide me a benefit without any drawbacks.
Two to wisdom, another two to intelligence, and the final point I shoved into constitution.
More mana, more health. Any and all from either resource would keep me alive and help me keep Alice alive.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
After distributing the stats I filled the canteens and got into position. Whatever the hell Grim put inside me, I was determined to figure it out.
—-----
I clutched my stomach and debated about leaving to find food at the messhall. A few hours of non-stop meditation and I had to throw in the towel. My concentration was fried, and my stomach demanded sustenance.
But as I stood up, Freki shifted as Alice rolled her head. She blinked lazily and stared.
“Are you feeling any better?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied. She sat up and stretched. “How long?”
“About three hours. Not entirely certain on that, but decent guess.”
As she combed her hair into something manageable, I tossed her her canteen and took a sip of my own.
“Was about to grab some food. You hungry?”
“Starving. It’s been awhile since stat changes made it so drastic.”
As if to reinforce her words, her own stomach grumbled in irritation. I chuckled and equipped my gear. Her axe was to the side, and Freki returned to my shadow as she stood.
“So uh, did you get a notification?”
Alice stopped and slowly turned. Her eyes narrowed but then went blank as she started to scroll through invisible text.
She sighed. “Did you level?”
“Yes,” I admitted.
“I didn’t. You must have been close.”
We left the Haven room and jogged through the tunnels. As we neared the end wall she tapped her chest.
“There was a line about repairing my Lore Matrix.”
“Yeah, I’ve had that a few times. I think its whenever something in my core went awry. Like after meeting Grim, fighting the Erlking, Rock-splitter’s boon, and the change to my soul after the big fight.”
“You still have the experience penalty?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’ll catch up,” she stated before pushing through the wall.
Even from further back the bustling noise of the messhall hit like a truck. The usually empty tunnels were filled with people moving about. As Kierra pointed out, they tended to come in groups of threes or twos. Only one group having more than four individuals and they seemed in the midsts of an argument.
Each Grimm we passed would sniff the air and glance our way. A few openly stared but most continued to wherever they were heading.
As we entered I blinked in surprise. The room was packed. Nearly double the amount of tables were in place, and Volto wasn’t the only man at the cooking station.
Another Grimm, nearly as bulky as he was worked in tandem to plate and cook several pan’s worth of food.
The smell caused another rumble from my stomach and we stepped in line.
“This is strange,” Alice said.
“What do you mean?”
She gestured to the tables. “Its never been this full before. Not even celebration days conjure this large of a crowd.”
Our turn came and before I could even say hello a steaming plate was shoved into my hands. Next, a large mug filled with something fruity and a third plate piled high with hot bread.
“You’ve got your food you savage mutt! Next!” Volto nearly roared.
We stepped away and found a spot in the furthest reaches of the room. Alice slid her chair closer and tore into the stacks of meat before I could grab my utensils.
While I ate at a more even pace she devoured hers in record time and stared hungrily at my plate. I passed over the soup and some bread.
“Thanks,” she mumbled between bites.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this hungry. Its a good look on you.”
My words were met with a audible gulp of her drink as she pounded her chest.
“I ate more when I first became a pup. Devon nearly lost a finger.”
That’d I’d like to see.
With hunger sated, her mood calmed and she observed the room as I finished my meal. The meats were flavored differently something about them being more tangy than usual, but it wasn’t bad. And the drink that I thought was fruity reminded me more of the ale they had in the taverns in the villages.
“Thank you,” Alice said as I finished my drink.
“Mmm. For what?”
“Helping me. Your voice, the flames. They soothed the pain and allowed me to focus.”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
She exhaled and cupped her chin as she looked across the room. “You’re the only one that doesn’t feel beholden to do it.”
That’s weird…
“What do you mean by that?”
“Devon, Adeline, Astra, even Garret. They treat me as something special because of Elias. Especially Devon.”
“But not me?”
She turned to face me. Her eyes locking onto mine. “No. We’re partners. Teammates. Pack.”
“Then I don’t need thanks” I snorted. “You saved my life, I saved yours. Plain and simple.”
She smiled and leaned back in her chair while rubbing her stomach. For all the food she put away, it didn’t show–even if it was a veritable mountain of a meal.
The crowd of people finally ebbed and Volto and the man beside him visibly calmed as the last of the teenagers came in a pack of three. They took their meals without a word and bolted for the nearest table, leaving the two men breathing room.
You know, I still have no idea what time it is. Probably morning. Explains why it was so busy. Enough early risers of hungry, potentially unstable Grimms.
“Cain?”
I turned to Alice and cocked my head. She said my name with a level of seriousness that cut beyond her usual monotone.
“Yeah?”
“When we bury Elias. Will you take a piece of his cloak?”
My eyes widened. Astra had explained some of the rituals we held. And more than a few resonated with whatever the voice inside me constituted as instinctual knowledge. The importance of taking a piece of the cloak was pretty high up there.
It was usually reserved for kin, or the closest of blood brothers.
“Are you sure? I’m touched, but I really didn’t know him the way you did.”
Her voice was steel but soft. And her eyes remained blue and unshifted with her fingers calmly resting against the table’s edge.
“I’m sure,” she said solemnly. “You saved him in the end. Granted his enemy a fitting death. And you held him as he passed. His legacy lives on in you. He’d want you to take a piece.”
It scratched something deep, a wrong feeling. A tightness strangled its way up my neck but I swallowed and pushed the feeling aside.
“Alright. I’ll do it.”
She returned a half-hearted smile.
As the silence started to turn awkward I cleared my throat. “I never really asked, was kinda afraid to bring it up. But would you mind telling me about him? I know snippets, and bits of information from how fondly everyone talks about him. But I still don’t really know him.”
Surprisingly, instead of the wince of pain I expected, Alice’s smile turned genuine and a light entered her eyes.
“Then you should learn how it we joined the Grimms in the first place.”
I settled into my chair and listened as Alice recounted her childhood.