Ray didn’t have an easy way of discovering who—or what—was awaiting him in the chamber beyond. Not if he wanted to scout out the situation first before walking in directly.
So, he went back to the fork and headed in the other direction. Quick pulses of Lifeblood Sense alerted him to the presence of singular Imps in his path. He made as quick a work of them as he could. Quicker than before, actually.
The improvement was definitely noticeable. He didn’t have to drag them with the ethereal slashes of Shatterclaw or find some other creative use.
All the points going into Intellect were helping. Ray still needed two casts to kill each Imp, but the procedure was simpler now. The first strike opened wounds and sent the Imps flying back. The second dug into the injuries, then ripped the monsters apart. So long as he ensured they didn’t crowd him and he could maintain his distance, he would be fine.
Three more Imps down, and Ray was able to level up again.
[Level Up!]
Reward
* +3 Intellect, +3 Spirit, +2 Vitality, +4 allocatable free stats.
* 1 Tier Point
Essence to Level 7: 260/800
He paused, making sure there were no other Imps nearby with Lifeblood Sense, before focusing on his rewards.
As he had done earlier, Ray assigned the extra points to his Intellect. Oh yes, his spells were certainly growing stronger. Especially now that he had a Tier Point to spend on ranking up one of his spells.
His assumption was proven correct. As soon as he focused on the Tier Point reward, he was immediately shown a list of all his spells. Intuitively, he understood he had to focus on whichever ability he wanted to see hit Tier 2.
The choice was easy. Ray was relying on his only main offensive spell to get him through this tutorial zone. It was a no-brainer to get Shatterclaw ranked up so it was dealing more damage. If he was lucky, Tier 2 would let him one-shot the blasted Imps. The little bastards wouldn’t know what them.
Once he saw Shatterclaw turn to Tier 2, Ray eagerly focused on it to bring up its description.
[Information Request—Shatterclaw]
Shatterclaw [Offensive] [Tier 2]
A primal spell that uses arcane energy of the omniverse to craft ethereal claws that inflict elemental damage. At Tier 2, this spell crafts five claws per cast with a maximum range of ten meters and consumes 25 Mana. Can only be cast with a Talisman.
Ray clicked his tongue. Okay, so five slashes instead of three now, plus twice the range. That was great. The sharp increase in Mana cost was not so great, but it wasn’t a huge problem. A quick look at his Status confirmed that he had 190 Mana now.
Every level up was boosting his Spirit by three points, and every point increase added another 10 Mana to his total capacity. At level two, with 70 Mana and a Tier 1 Shatterclaw, he would have had seven consecutive casts in the tank. At level 6 and 190 Mana, he still had seven, but with a bit of extra Mana left over.
But, if he could kill his foes with one blow now, then the overall Mana consumption would be significantly better. Especially since killing an Imp would refund more than he spent.
In other words, Ray really needed to test out the skill. Good thing he was coming up on just the scenario to do so.
The problem, Ray considered as he moved, was that he couldn’t tell what his real target was doing. He had been sensed long before he could get close enough to use Lifeblood Sense and suss out whatever it was out there. The unknown creature’s status was… unknown. For now.
But as he wended his way through the tunnel and continued using Lifeblood Sense, brief flickers of life registered. A life that was different from the Feathered Imps.
There was no information attached to the sensation. It was just another blot that broke the staticky field of Lifeblood Sense. But this blot was bigger than the Imps. Significantly. Hmm, maybe if he got within range, he could try out Chaos Chymify and see what that told him.
Though, he wasn’t keen on antagonizing the unknown entity unless it was necessary.
As he moved, he assigned some of his Recovery to the wounds he still had left. His increased Vitality had regenerated enough of his Recovery that he could now heal his toe fully. It was good as new.
He sighed in relief. Now he could walk normally again. Thank goodness.
Ray’s reading of the map of the cave system turned out to be true. They were indeed a jumble of massive tunnels twisting in on themselves. The second path in the fork he had taken ended up returning to the exact chamber he had retreated from, the one where the Imps had laid a trap. The one that had to hold the creature that had sensed him.
But—as he had hoped—his tunnel opened above the first one he had exited.
The chamber was much larger than the tunnels. Ray’s passage opened high up on one of the walls, spreading out to a ledge spanned by a thin bridge of stone to connect to another ledge on the other side. Another ledge, with another opening for a different passage.
Looked like the Marauder’s Caves was an absolute warren.
Ray had come to a stop at the ledge. This was in part because he was now over the Imps that had been waiting to jump down on their unsuspecting prey. He had also stopped because his ears picked up a surprising noise.
Crying.
The noise was so out of place, so human, he almost forgot where he was. No way that could be another person though. Ray’s assumption was proven correct when he crept over to the edge of the ledge to look down.
Cursing the dark, Ray squinted down. The figure was humanoid, but what little he could make out of it was nothing like any person he had ever seen before.
He got the impression of long hair, though the hair reminded him of lapis lazuli instead of thin filaments of regular keratin. Those curving growths at what appeared to be the top of the head had to be horns. The body itself was thin, gangly, curled over something like the figure was crouching.
The old researcher in Ray was already interested in potentially taking blood samples and figuring out its skeletal structure, its musculature, and the like. If it was shaped somewhat like a human, would it move like a human too?
Those thoughts slithered away to nothing as his heart thudded louder. He was now in his target’s vicinity. If it decided to do anything, well, Ray was close enough to feel it. It had sensed him earlier, but something told him it hadn’t moved from the position it had been in when it had first perceived him. There was definitely something strange going on.
But why wasn’t it doing anything? The Imps had gathered dangerously close too. The little monsters could jump on it any second now and start tearing it apart.
And if that creature was stronger than Ray, then surely it had enough power to tear the Imps apart.
It remained still, however. Sniffling ever so slightly, focused on what it had curled itself around. Even as the Imps drew near enough to spit on, the creature’s focus remained inwards.
Maybe… maybe it was just so strong that it didn’t matter. None of them mattered. Neither Ray, nor any of the Imps. Maybe they were all insignificant in the face of the entity’s power. It wasn’t unfathomable. This was a Tier 7 tutorial zone, after all, though that begged the question of what that thing was doing here in the first place.
Ray was distracted by a clacking noise. Ah, crap. One of the damned Imps had spotted him and was now climbing over.
A prickle of sweat dotted Ray’s brows. If he was attacked now, his cover would be blown. Not that it mattered. He had to remind himself that the thing beneath him could sense him. It already knew he was here.
Still. He had come here to scout things out, perhaps find a different path towards completing his Objectives, not get drawn into the mess.
Well, at least he had a willing subject to test his spells on.
As the subject of his experiment approached, Ray got to his feet and fired a quick bolt of Crucible Chymify. Mystic Knowledge told him how exactly he had to wield his Talisman while focusing on the spell.
It was pretty different from Shatterclaw. A slightly spiralling bolt of black-red energy shot out of his palm, striking the Feathered Imp right on the head.
The monster cried out and remained stunned in place for a moment. Then it continued climbing to his location. Huh. He recalled the effects of his Lifeblood Chaos on the other Imps. One of the effects had reduced an internal organ to mush. If Ray focused, could he liquify the Imp’s brain, essentially killing it in one, focused blast of magic?
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Well, it clearly hadn’t worked this time. Unless the Imps were brainless to begin with. Chaos Chymify wasn’t as strong as Shatterclaw, especially when the latter was now at Tier 2.
[Partial Soul Sorption Complete]
Feathered Imp [Monster] [Tier 6] at Level 3
Goblinoid creature that hunts for anything that shines and sparkles. Tends to reside in dark caves, where the gleam of their thefts is bright enough to blind. Feisty and tenacious but is wounded easily. Even after the Everair empire fell, the guardians of their wealth endured, safeguarding their former masters’ possessions where none would find them.
Full Soul Sorption not possible without target’s death and Lifeblood Crucible.
Oh, now it made sense why they were always coming for his face. It wasn’t that Ray was too ugly. His eyes. They just wanted to pluck his eyeballs right out of their orbits and add it to their hoard of shinies.
The information about the Everair would have intrigued him if he hadn’t been in such a life-or-death scenario. Something to ponder later.
Also, the name irked him a little. There was Lifeblood Sense, Chaos Chymify, Lifeblood Chaos… this System really had to find a better naming scheme.
By the time the monster had climbed onto the bridge, Ray was ready. It clacked at him as it charged, but all it got to take was one single step. Then it was blasted back as five ethereal slashes materialized and sent it rocketing backwards to the other ledge. It struggled for a second, and Ray’s breaths went hushed in expectation. Then it stayed down.
[Enemy Defeated—Feathered Imp]
Tier 6 Monster: Feathered Imp [Level 3] x1
Essence: +180
Mana Restored: +30
Excellent. One blow from a Tier 2 Shatterclaw had killed the Imp. He frowned. Unless…
Well, Ray could test his fears soon enough. The rest of the Imps were now making their way over to him.
“Aw, come on,” he muttered. “You have a target perfectly happy to comply down below!”
They didn’t listen. Instead, they clacked and cried as they climbed to the bridge, ready to avenge their fallen comrade and tear Ray apart. The sheer audacity.
Strong as his new and improved Shatterclaw might have been, Ray had no intention of letting them crowd him. So, just to be sure, he angled his next uses of the spell a little. Enough to send the monsters flying off the bridge to crash down at least twenty-five feet to hit the ground hard.
There were quite a few of them, but their deaths kept refunding his Mana. Perfect. By the time Ray had flung every single Imp that had tried to climb his bridge, he had levelled up again.
[Level Up!]
Reward
* +3 Intellect, +3 Spirit, +2 Vitality, +4 allocatable free stats.
* New Spell: Spirit Warren [Passive] [Tier 1]
* Spirit Warren has been converted to Lifeblood Crucible by Path of Lifeblood Chaos. Conversion has removed one significant restriction on spell usage.
* Synergy discovered: Crucible Chymify + Lifeblood Crucible.
Essence to Level 8: 360/1,200
After checking to ensure that his quarry was still sniffling down below, Ray plugged in his free stats in the same manner as before and checked out the new spell.
[Information Request—Lifeblood Crucible]
Lifeblood Crucible [Passive] [Tier 1]
A passive primal spell that creates a simulacra of the Primordial Crucible of Chaos within the caster’s soul. This crucible holds all the primal forces of life in its virulent mixture. Careful control allows the caster to channel the aspect of any soul stored within the caster’s spirit. At Tier 1, caster can store a single Soul Aspect using Chaos Chymify, regardless of target’s Tier [Tier restriction removed]. However, manifested Soul Aspect will always be at the spell’s Tier.
Alright, wow. That was a lot to take in. Ray read over the description a couple of times. So he had some sort of soul storage within him now, and to store these souls, he would need to use Crucible Chymify on his enemies. That was likely the synergy the System was talking about.
Well, not souls themselves. Aspects of souls. Hmm. Ray peeked over the edge of the bridge, seeing if there were any more test subjects still alive.
No Feathered Imps still alive—and he was pretty certain the process wasn’t going to work on dead bodies—but there was a small surprise awaiting him. The strange creature who had been crying was now slowly getting to its feet. Ray blinked, as intrigued as he was anxious. His hearts stuttered, but so did his mind.
Had that thing been afraid of the Imps? Was that why it was standing up now?
“Ah, I see you’ve finally de—dealt with the Imps, new Denizen.”
Ray shouldn’t have been surprised the creature could talk. It certainly appeared intelligent enough. What did surprise him was the voice itself. It was difficult to even categorize it as a proper voice. If someone snuck a message into the pattern a windchime sang, like a weird, audible morse code that Ray somehow learned to decipher, that was what this felt like.
But it also sounded like someone forcing themselves to act normal, to talk normal, despite still wanting to cry. The smallest of sobs hidden within the pauses between each syllable.
“Will you remain there?” It was looking up at him now. “I suppose it is cleaner on top.”
Ray looked down at the creature. Its face was strange. Long and sharp, slanted eyes, a nose that was almost flat like the nostrils of a snake. All that besides the horns crowning its forehead. Still humanlike, much as the rest of its body, with the placement of the two eyes, the nose, the mouth, and so on.
He was clutching something in his hand. Probably whatever he was crouching over earlier.
“I’ve got no reason to trust you,” Ray said.
“Then why did you assist me?”
“I didn’t. The Imps attacked me.” Ray crossed his arms. Just because the alien was acting polite, acting human, didn’t mean he was going to be taken in so easily. His toe still itched where it had been bitten off by that first Imp. He was not letting himself get that close to dying again. “Why didn’t you kill them yourself?”
“I was…” Its voice grew small. “Distracted by something I found. I would have dealt with them, if they were foolish enough to disturb me. But they went after you instead.”
Because I’m the weaker one. “Glad I could be of service. But since you’re now no longer in any danger that was never a danger to begin with it, thanks to yours truly, I figure you now owe me one.”
“Owe you one?” The creature looked confused for a moment. Then it blinked. Ray suppressed a shiver. Its eyelids closed sideways instead of vertically like a human’s. “Ah yes, you mean I am now in your debt. The System’s translations are sometimes a little faulty.” He began sniffling a little again. “You would truly exact a favour from me at this time?”
Ray stared. “If that’s your attempt at manipulating me with grief… it’s kind of pathetic.”
The creature blinked at him again. “Ah. The System informed me that your kind are normally quite sensitive to the emotions of others, so I thought I would make it clear I was experiencing distress.” It sniffled, just to add to the effect. “I suppose, since you must be a rare breed for being here, you may have evolved beyond that disability.”
Ray stared. Did that thing just call experiencing empathy a disability? He shook his head. “Alright look. I’ve got no clue who you are, so do you mind explaining who you are and why you’re here? Also, why do you keep referencing the System like it’s telling you information about—”
He cursed. Of course. Ray should have figured that there was some sort of System shenanigans going on here.
An alien creature wasn’t speaking to him in English. That windchime like sound. That had to be what it was actually saying. He could just somehow understand it, the noise automatically filtering into his ears as words in the language he was most familiar with, thanks to the System.
If the System could act that integrally, why wouldn’t it also be capable of providing aliens with information about humans? That was a bit unfair, though. Where was Ray’s helpful little guidebook about elfin humanoid creatures who talked like they had little bells for a larynx?
“I am, in your language, Kredevel,” the alien said. It—he?—had recovered enough that he no longer sounded weepy, but his very next words were accompanied by fresh tears. “I came here looking for my lord’s lost hound. I was told there would be no new Denizens here, as this is a high Tier zone, but it seems my information was wrong.”
“Are you… crying for the lost pet?”
The alien looked down briefly. When he looked back up again, his eyes were positively swimming. “The hound and I have cherished each other for ages. I have known it since it was a mere pup. And now, it’s gone.”
Ray felt himself softening. Poor guy really did sound heartbroken. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Ah, so the System was right. You are unable to contain your empathy.”
“It’s an emotion, it’s not something you control.” He just had to control how much his emotion affected his judgement and actions. “These Feathered Imps are vicious. I’m afraid your lost puppy might not have survived.”
That really wasn’t the right thing to say to someone who was grieving their beloved little animal companion, but it was the truth. Plus, it might throw off the alien from constantly trying to evaluate Ray and his empathy.
“I fear as much,” Kredevel said.
He sniffled, then wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Ray wasn’t sure why, but the alien felt like a guy to him, though he was curious if whatever race Kredevel belonged to even subscribed to the idea of genders.
“Regardless of the situation,” he said. “I am to locate it, dead or alive. That is my lord’s will. However, your presence complicates matters. The only reason I was sent here was because no humans—”
“Are supposed to be in a Tier 7 tutorial zone, I get it. Let me guess, you’re not supposed to be interacting with humans like me. So now you’re stuck. You’re in trouble if you’re seen meeting a human, but you’re also in trouble if you don’t return with this puppy of yours.”
Kredevel buried his face in his hands. “That’s quite the apt summary.”
“How about we make a deal? I’ll find your puppy for you, and in return, you can tell me a few things I’d like to know.”
Kredevel looked up again. His eyes were glimmering and… greenshot? Was that a word? “I don’t know… I’m not supposed to be talking to new Denizens. In fact, it would be easier if you just died here, and I could pretend I came across your corpse.”
Ray licked the inside of his mouth, clutching his Talisman tighter. “Well, isn’t that a delightful line of thinking. No deal, then?”
Kredevel made a fluttering noise that Ray instinctively understood was a sigh. “I will go look for my poor, lost hound. But if you come across him, please do let me know. I miss him dearly.”
He started walking away, still sniffling a little. Ray blinked. His whole body was still tense from that second last comment from the alien.
Kredevel didn’t act like some big, tough alien butcher, but the warnings from the System and his sheer nonchalance regarding any danger within a Tier 7 zone were strong enough indicators for Ray to remain wary until he was gone.
[New Denizen Tutorial]
Hidden Objective has been discovered.
Objective 1: Defeat 20 Feathered Imps [14/20]
Objective 2: Earn a Map Fragment [1/1]
Objective 3: Exit the Marauders’ Caves [0/1]
Hidden Objective 1: Defeat the Feathered Fiend [0/1]
Hidden Objective 2: Find the lost Brighthorn [0/1]
Personal Objective 1: Obtain a Talisman [1/1]
That Brighthorn had to be the hound Kredevel was talking about. And oh, nice. He was over halfway done with the first objective.
Ray got moving. Since Kredevel had continued on the lower path, he decided to keep going across the bridge and take the passage on the other side. A quick look at the pretzel of a cave system on the Map Fragment that it wasn’t the last he had seen of the al—
The cave rumbled.
[Warning!]
Mystic Knowledge indicates a wide area-of-effect ability has been activated. The effects of Tectonic Theft [Tier 4] are devastating at your level. Please take shelter.
Shelter? Shelter? All Ray could do was scream and dive as the bridge under him collapsed.