The man brings his book outside of his room's shade; smoke spews out of its pages, swallowing the arena. The walls melt away to reveal an endless landscape that unveils into sand dunes. A second sun rises from the horizon to meet its early morning brethren, raising the temperature to suffocating levels.
Ethan looks around to find no trace of greenery. Only brown or coal-like, thorned shrubs persist, small and rare. The threads of Ether he drew upon resorb and move away to vanish in the distance.
The man appears at Ethan's side. "Welcome to Varnokh, cradle of the Orcs. It's the world that molded their species, and many others to physical heights that rivaled Ether when the planes aligned."
"Am I to fight a horde of them without Ether?" Ethan asks. He triggers predator's sight for a split second to scan the lifeless landscape. It uses a fraction of his heart's Ether – a minuscule portion compared to when the Earth was deprived of Ether.
"You are to survive till sundown," the man corrects. He looks at the suns rising from the horizon and melts into descending smoke.
'Looking at how fast they move, it shouldn’t take much longer than on Earth,' Ethan notes. He looks back at his elongated shadow to find Russ' eyes scanning the landscape. 'I hope it's not too hot in there.'
'Inventory,' Ethan thinks to remove his thick coat. It doesn't disappear. Ethan sighs deeply and extends his hand to summon a bottle of water, but once again nothing happens. He visualizes the sigils of a Flame spell and summons an ember in his palm. 'Great, of all the abilities I could do without in a desert, it had to be the one keeping my supplies. Look at me – already so accustomed to it I didn't expect and plan for the eventuality where abilities would be taken from me.'
Ethan scans the horizon again, searching for shade; there is nothing but endless dunes. He starts walking, hoping to find shelter before midday when the already burning heat will become unbearable.
The suns' heat beats down relentlessly. Ethan's clothes stick to his sweat-drenched skin as vapor escapes him, and his throat feels like it's coated with dust.
Ethan's entire body and mind throb with heat, his heavy breathing doing little to dispel it. He summons his status and moves his finger to allow his seven characteristic points into constitution but stops himself.
Ethan Reed
Lv.16 (Harbinger) High-Human
Lv.20/20 (Arsenal)
Strength: 34 + Charisma: 15 +
Dexterity: 23 + Perception: 23 +
Constitution: 32 + Willpower: 26 (24) +
Intelligence: 25 +
Available characteristic points: 7
Talents
Bond unseen lineage
Oracle
Pastseer
Rapid martial growth
???
Titles
Ascended skill – Melee weapon (great sword)
Ascended skill – Melee weapon (long sword)
Ascended skill – Melee weapon (saber)
Ascended skill – Melee weapon (short sword)
Dungeon conqueror (D)
Dungeon conqueror (E)
Dungeon conqueror (F)
Conqueror of the labyrinth of death
Conqueror of the first labyrinth
First dungeon conqueror (D)
First dungeon conqueror (F)
First hunter
First monster tamer
Goblin hunter
Hobgoblin hunter
Human hunter
Kin slayer
Kobold hunter
Skeleton hunter
Slayer of the first incursion
Warg hunter
Abilities
Anonymity (E)
Identification (F)
Inventory (F)
Insight (F)
Martial skill echo (F)
Piercing shot (E)
Predator's sight (E)
Prescience (F)
Silent steps (F)
Soulsight (C)
Spell casting (E)
Strengthening (E)
Weapon aura (F)
Russ
Lv.20/20 (Ambush predator) Death hound
Lv.12/20 (Death hound)
Bonded: Ethan Reed (Obedience 95)
Strength: 21 Charisma: 6
Dexterity: 24 Perception: 31
Constitution: 20 Willpower: 14
Intelligence: 6
Talent
Ascendant
Abilities
Aura of dread (F)
Banshee howl (C)
Camouflage (F)
Growth (E)
Hunter's mark (F)
Poisoned natural weapons (F)
Shadow blend (F)
Shadows' embrace (F)
Silent steps (F)
Territory (F)
'This might require both strength of body and mind. Besides, it wouldn't put me at risk of being taken over by Maelor, at least for a while,' Ethan thinks. He spends all his points – four on constitution and three on willpower.
The heat becomes slightly more bearable. But it is only a matter of time before the rising suns raise it to higher levels; Ethan needs to find shelter and a source of water.
After what feels like hours, Ethan pauses, shielding his eyes from the glare of the twin suns. His vision wavers, the heat distorting the dunes into undulating shapes. For a moment, he thinks he sees something – a dark shape in the distance. He knows better than to get his hopes up in a desert; heat and the human mind tend to create promising illusions.
The journey feels eternal. Every step fills his clothes with a few more grains of scraping sand. The suns climb higher, and Ethan feels his skin burning, his vision narrowing. His breaths come shallow and quick, and his head throbs with dehydration.
The dark spot grows smaller as Ethan approaches, until it is no more than ten centimeters high. His gaze falls on the shimmering reflection of sunlight on the clear surface of a puddle sheltered by an overarching rock. It holds no more water than a bottle. Nevertheless, it is a welcome sight. Suspicious, Ethan lowers himself beside the minuscule oasis to examine its contents.
A deep voice barks strange words from atop a small hill. An Orc, massive in height and stature, stands there. His gray, muscled body is covered by armor made of pelts and bones; a skull with eight eye sockets serves as his shoulder pad.
'Guess I'm not the only one without water,' Ethan thinks. Glancing over his shoulder, he notices that the suns reached their zenith. He stands back up, raising to the Orc's eye level.
The Orc scans Ethan with his yellowed eyes; his gaze moves to Ethan's waist, searching for a non-existent weapon. His right hand on the handle of his massive, sheathed blade, he draws another, shorter one. It resembles a gladius, with a dark gray blade that thins in the center before widening until the pointy tip. The Orc throws the gladius at Ethan's feet and unsheathes a long, blackened cleaver from his hip.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Chivalry? Well, I didn't expect that; my previous encounter with your kind left me with a more barbaric image," Ethan says. Walking away from the water to not pollute it with sand, he picks up the blade and examines it. The edges, otherwise sharp, are chipped in a few places, and rust invited itself where the blade meets the guard.
The Orc shifts his stance, sinking his bare feet into the sand. His yellowed eyes lock onto Ethan, and a guttural growl escapes his throat. He doesn't move with the sound; rather, it looks like a taunt Ethan cannot understand.
Ethan rolls his shoulder to loosen them. His limbs feel stiff and heavy. Spinning the blade in his hand, Ethan tests its balance and finds it lacking.
The Orc moves first, closing the distance with surprising speed compared to the ones Ethan faced before.
Ethan sidesteps, but the loose sand beneath his feet betrays him. His boot sinks, delaying his movement, and the cleaver grazes his coat. He lowers his center of gravity, adapting his moves to rely less on the shifting ground.
The Orc swings his cleaver in a wide arc, aiming to cut Ethan's chest.
Ethan ducks low and uses the glaive to deflect the attack upward. The heavy blade passes above him, opening the Orc's guard. As he straightens back up, Ethan thrusts at the Orc's chest. The blade crashes against the monster's skin without piercing.
The Orc flies backward three meters, propelled by Ethan's attack. He snarls and lunges again, his cleaver coming down in an overhead strike.
Ethan sidesteps the Orc's attack and uses a burst of Strengthening to slash at his left thigh. The blade bites into the creature's flesh, and the Orc roars in pain.
The Orc slashes blindly as he retracts his leg away from Ethan. His wide, violent attacks throw sand around, clouding their forms.
Ethan uses the opening to disengage. His lungs burn, his muscles scream, but he forces himself to stay focused on the fight.
The Orc charges again, his movements slightly slowed by his wounded leg. He leaps out of the sand cloud, holding his blade overhead for a downward slash.
Ethan times his reaction to avoid with minimal effort. He breathes in deeply, trying to regain his strength and clear his mind from the desert's heat.
The Orc's assaults turn relentless, his breaths shallow and hastened, and his attacks crude. Like Ethan, he suffers from the heat and perhaps dehydration.
'I bet you didn't expect this fight to drag on. This is a pain; I won't hold much longer either, and the suns are far from setting,' Ethan thinks as he dodges. To the best of his understanding, this place must be a recreation made by the realm of ascension. Is the goal to test his body to its limits? It would explain the choice made of denying him Ether; he must preserve the little he has.
The Orc brings his blade to his side and swings from below. The attack catches the desert's ground and propels a cone of sand towards Ethan's eyes.
Ethan ducks to the side, avoiding the blinding spray. 'Not so chivalrous.' Ethan keeps his eyes on the opponent through the sand, deciphering and avoiding a lunge that would have hit a blinded man. Capitalizing on the Orc's failed attack, Ethan swings the glaive at the beast's neck from the side.
The Orc spins his upper torso for his cleaver to meet Ethan's attack. The brutal move strikes Ethan's blade on the flat and breaks it in half.
Ethan jumps back, his feet grinding into the sand as he comes to a stop ten meters away. Only the lower half of the glaive remains, its blade cut to the length of a broad dagger.
"Adding the Ascended - Melee Weapon (Short Sword) skill. Based on your previous experience a level of 40 has been applied," the system announces. Ascending the skill threw it back to zero, but Ethan's ascended long sword training created a solid base for handling short swords.
The Orc straightens up and stabs his cleaver into the ground before stepping forward.
'Is he expecting us to fistfight?' Ethan ponders. He drops the broken blade and extends his open palm. His other abilities work, so why not Inventory? The element that changed from before is the absence of surrounding Ether; perhaps it is required for Inventory. Ethan lets out strands of Ether that rush away from him as if let loose in a vacuum. Nevertheless, it lets him summon Aranthor's blade in a flash of silver light.
The Orc steps back, astonishment etched on his face, and wrenches his blade out. Such a humane expression. Shared cues for their emotions and mannerisms didn't shock Ethan when he met people from the other world. Maybe it should have, but at the time it didn't seem bizarre. This sight, however – a creature so alien showing a human expression – strikes him as improbable. He grumbles undecipherable words before falling back into his stance and moving forward.
Ethan grabs Stormshard with both hands, predicting the Orc's moves and planning a counter to end the fight. He lowers himself and readies a sliver of Strengthening for an ephemeral, explosive burst of speed.
A deep rumble shatters their focus; it comes from the desert's sands. The sounds herald vibrations that quake the ground, raising a veil of sand to knee height.
The Orc's stance falters, and he turns his back to Ethan to look in the distance.
A sand cloud approaches them, and it takes little time for Ethan to notice scaled legs jutting forward in a frenzied rush. Beasts charge at the helm of the storm. They move like felines, leaping forward with each step, but their heads, slick and scaled, are that of a snake. One bares its fangs at Ethan from afar, and a stringer – its tail – stabs the air near its head.
The Orcs spins his blade to fall into a lighter stance and backs away from the monsters, approaching Ethan with his back turned. His instantaneous decision to trust Ethan makes him wonder just how strong these beasts are.
The serpentine lions close in on them; the storm they bring clouds the suns. Twenty meters away, their form seems clearer to Ethan. Spiked scales whose colors mimic sand cover their body. They are chimeras – the body and head of a snake, legs articulated like that of a feline, and a scorpion's stinger for a tail.
The first two beasts lunge, one at Ethan and the other at the Orc. They extend their paws to catch their target's chest, revealing black, curved claws that drip a clear liquid.
Ethan lowers himself and dashes forward to move below the lunging monster. In his charge, he slashes above his head, using the monster's own inertia to drive his blade along its length. The monster's halves arch away like a butterflied piece of meat whose black ichor drools over the sand.
The Orc grabs his lunging opponent by the throat and slides his blade above his hand, opening its throat. Holding the slain beast above his maw, the Orc drinks the black ichor.
Another monster comes at Ethan from the side. Its coiled neck springs, aiming to drive its two, forearm-sized fangs into Ethan's leg.
Ethan pivots on his heel, moving his leg out of the attack. He smacks the pommel of Stormshard onto the creature's skull, collapsing it with a force that craters his head into the ground.
The Orc throws his bloodskin to the side and swings his cleaver into a wide arc to catch a lunging beast. His blade digs into the scales and flesh but stops against its spine. Another chimera leaps at him, but he anticipates the attack; he throws his previous victim's corpse with a swing of his blade. The body collides with the attacker in a series of loud cracks, and both fall still to the ground.
A trio of the beasts colludes into a tight formation, their stingers flicking as they prowl towards Ethan.
A tremor grows beneath Ethan's feet. He glances over his shoulder to find the Orc staring at the ground, his blade poised towards it. Using a shard of Ether, he flickers predator's sight on and off and sees a large life form surfacing toward them.
It emerges from the sand with a rumble. The ground shatters as a two-legged serpent bursts from beneath the dunes. Its five-meter, wide-open maw swallows the three prowling chimeras, and, like a whale, it falls back into the sand. The dunes explode outward as it collides with them, propelling a sandstorm.
The Orc moves closer to Ethan, shielding his eyes from the raging tempest the thing created. He turns his back to Ethan, watching the other direction.
As the sand falls back down, a relief forms above the creature's path, circling them. Its head, covered in ochre scales and dotted by golden eyes, peers out of the sand to glare at Ethan.
Away from it, in the direction the Orc is watching, twelve more of the serpentine chimeras run towards them. They are undeterred by the stronger predator that wants their meal.