"A magic circle is a series of runes, glyphs and symbols arranged in a specific pattern to weave lucents together. The magic circle must be drawn in a suitable mana-conducting material for instance mana core, or a spell scroll. The more symbols in the magic circle, the more powerful the spell. The average magic circle for a simple spell has ten glyphs and symbols. Most spells for S-Rank skills have on average a total of 20 to 30 runes, glyphs and symbols while Divine skills have an average a total of 80 to 150 runes, glyphs and symbols. To activate the magic circle, mortals infuse every symbol in the magic circle with their mana in the proper sequence. The more symbols in the circle, the longer it takes to draw and the lower the casting speed.
A magic circle requires constant mana infusion to remain stable. If the infusion is interrupted, a backlash will be applied to the caster, severely injuring them and in the case of divine skills, may cause temporary damage to the mana core."
Langa lay on the bed, studying how to use his divine skill. There were a few problems with the skill. One, each lance required 200 Mana and at present, Langa’s maximum mana was 220. The real issue was the casting speed. He finally understood why Statia had not moved during their fight, if Langa had to guess, he would have had to redraw the magic circle or start the incantation required for his divine skill afresh if he did. Even as fast as Langa was, no one would wait for him to finish drawing the circle, infuse his mana into every rune, glyph and symbol, concentrate on his Faith to draw the power of Adtonifulmin and then drink a mana potion to finish the cast.
His fighting style was about speed, and the best way to maximise his casting speed was to either always have empty spell scrolls inscribed with the magic circle for once-off usage at the ready, have the magic circle inscribed on his mana core, or have a permanent inscription of it on his body.
When he read The Relgte of The First Pioneer of Arcane Magic as Gertina said, he found out that all three methods had their drawbacks. For the first one, empty spell scrolls were expensive and were single-use only and if unused, the magic circle expired.
He had no mana core, so he couldn’t use the second method. The Relgte did say that he could inscribe the spell onto a boss monster’s mana core compatible with his mana, but that method sucked as well since the mana core would be destroyed after using it. It would be a waste as mana cores had many other uses like crafting ingredients for mana potions and purifying natural mana cores.
The third option of permanently inscribing the magic circle on their bodies was what most people seemed to choose. However, this could only be done by someone with an actual Inscription skill. The magic circle would be inscribed on the mortal’s body like a tattoo with an Inscribing needle and a special auink. Then all the person needed to do was infuse mana into the magic circle. The inscription was permanent, but the auink needed to be renewed multiple times, depending on the skill rank of the Inscriber. As with anything else that was worthwhile, it was ridiculously expensive.
Langa sighed, divine skills were overpowered but taxing to use. Another unexpected expense for him came when he realised that, thanks to his full lightning affinity, not all mana potions were useful for him. He only gained half the mana offered by the general mana potions. The only ones fully compatible with him were lightning mana potions. Of course, they were both rare and expensive.
“Fuck me,” Langa cursed. Even to practice his divine skill he needed money to buy mana potions. He closed the Relgte, knowing he would have to devote more time to bounty hunting to earn more money.
*
In his spare time from Aria's enchantment training, his nightly spear technique training and his newest hobby of watching Celestial Clash Tournaments, Langa studied his divine skill.
When he got bored with Enchanting training and the Crafting Cave started to feel suffocating to him, he went to hunt some voidents, not wanting to be hit by his claustrophobia. Unfortunately, all the voidents around Risa's Province were G and F-rank, all ranging from Level 10 to 12. They were not worth as much as Fidser was, but silver was silver and it was stacking up in Langa's inventory. He was still a long way away from saving 100 silver or 1 gold that he needed for the teleportation wheel to the capital as he was spending money too.
He sought his bounties out himself this time, sticking mostly to the Accari Crows, but if any voident got in his way, he would make sure to defeat and arrest them with the Deiform Amulet. He took the time hunting to train himself in the use of his new Avatar of Life title. The first time he activated it, he almost fainted from all the new sensations he was privy to. It did not help that he was in a forest brimming with life.
Everything around him emitted the breath of life. The grass beneath his feet was alive, every tree rooted deep in the ground felt alive and breathed deeply for him, overwhelming Langa. He knelt on the ground and could feel the breath of life from worms burrowed deep beneath the earth. If this was him only feeling 20% of the living world around him, how would 100% feel? He deactivated the title and dry-heaved.
He tried it again when he was no longer in the forest but on top of a dry, sandy mountain. He had been following the tracks of a pair of notorious voidents. They had killed a lot of players in this area stripping their bodies of gear before they respawned.
With his title equipped, Langa could sense the absence of the breath of life in this area, but in that absence, he found the traces of three breaths and followed their tracks. He could somehow tell these were people because of the karma left in their breaths. The trail stopped in the middle of nowhere, and when Langa concentrated on the area in front of him, he could sense something in there a void veil.
Langa sped into the pseudo-void territory inside that void veil, instantly spotting three level 10 voidents standing over two badly wounded red players of levels 13 and 14 kneeling before them. The pseudo-void territory was clearly sucking up their stamina and they were suffering from the Chaotic Mind debuff. Even if these players were much stronger than the voidents, they were powerless in the face of the powers of a Void Pearl.
In a blur, Langa threw two daggers at two of the voidents and then straight up stabbed the third with Tonare before they could even raise their weapons. At level 10, they were no match for him and had no healer with them, so it did not take him long to use the Deiform Amulet to arrest all of them and their bodies disappeared into the Guardians’ holding cell.
“Are you guys alr-” Langa started as he turned to the two wounded captives, only to quickly duck as a dagger was flying his way. It narrowly missed him. “What the fuck?”
The tigerkin he had just saved had attacked him. She was already starting to transform when Langa pivoted on his left leg and stabbed Tonare into her unprotected abdomen. Thankfully, she was weak from the voidents' debuffs so it was not a challenge.
Two mana bolts struck his back, and he Flash Stepped away as he faced the grinning red player. He was still bleeding from the wound that the voidents inflicted on his head as he readied his magic and fired more mana bolts at him. “Thanks for the save, mate, but the 25 silver on ya head is mine.”
“Ungrateful arseholes,” Langa said with an annoyed sigh, activating his attribute.
Within his slowed-down time, killing an injured fool was not hard. His companion fled and Langa let her go. In the end, he realised that he had completed the first part of his voident hunting quest.
[You have gained the title: Fledgling Voident Hunter]
[Fledgling Voident Hunter
Title Rank: Uncommon
You induce and increase fear in mortals when inside the void veil of any Void Gems. You exude an ominous aura proportional to your karma pressure when battling against mortals designated as voidents. The greater your Total Karma, the more the target’s perception of you may be altered. Target movement and casting speed may be slowed.
Fledgling: Only affects F-rank or lower voidents in the same Tier as you.]
Langa wasn't a fan of people seeing him as a monster, but he paused as a thought came to him. If he kept raising the title, would he be able to induce fear in someone as strong as Perinda? Somehow, the thought of that smug bastard terrified of him cheered Langa up.
*
He felt refreshed after his sleep last night and if only he had his divine domain, then he could sleep forever if he wanted to, without being disturbed. These days, Langa usually ate his breakfast outside in the Valley of Guardians with Aquila's team. They made for good conversation, plus he was able to ask them a lot about life in the Tower.
His breakfast companions looked a bit sullen and were more silent than usual today as they ate, and while Langa honestly didn’t care what was up with them, he hated the idea of eating breakfast in silence.
“Are you guys okay?” he asked as he watched them curiously.
“Fine, we just have our first day off in what feels like Chronos’ eternity, and then tomorrow, we're back to hunting the same old corrupted batarinets,” Aramaga said, poking her spoon into the porridge she was eating.
“I don't want to hear that from someone who failed to hold down two of those batarinets yesterday and nearly got me killed,” Aquila snapped at her.
"Sorry," she said defiantly. “But that wouldn't have been a problem if Ormeth had done his job and protected you properly.”
Ormeth protested. “What the feckin' gallows was I supposed to do? I aint no tank, I'm a healer! My strength enhancement has a short duration and I ran out of mana!”
“Good, so you both agree that we are still lacking. So we will continue doing the same drills until we can do them in our sleep,” Aquila concluded, looking at them sternly.
Langa took a sip from his warm, milky drink. It sounded like they were having a hard time adjusting to the death of their party member, and they had no tank. He didn't have any input to give, as his only experience in a party was with Fi Kindaro, Liv and their tutorial teammates.
“Please tell me you had a more interesting day than us yesterday. I'm dying for stories of real adventure right now,” Aramaga begged, beady eyes looking at Langa desperately.
"Sure. I was tracking some voidents at Tinika-peak. I found them holding two level 14 players captive, robbing them,” Langa said, chewing on a duck leg. “Now, being the nice guy I am, I got in, killed the bastards and bound their bodies with the Deiform Amulet, making sure they would respawn nice and cosy in the Guardian's prison.”
Ormeth and Aramaga looked at him expectantly. “You won't believe it, but when I checked if the two players that I saved were okay, upon recognising me, one of them tried to sneak attack me with a dagger while the other tried to blast me with a bolt,” he said, shaking his head. “I was fast enough to dodge, but what the fuck? I just saved your life!"
"They probably wanted the bounty that Statia had placed on you,” Ormeth guessed.
“That's scummy! Who the hell attacks somebody who just saved them? What did you do?” Aramaga asked, invested in the story.
“Killed one and sent the other running,” Langa said, tearing a large piece of meat from the bone with his bare hands.
“Serves ‘em right,” Ormeth nodded in approval. “Hope you got something good for your trouble.”
Langa snorted, “After shaking them, I can see why they wanted my bounty. They didn't have a lot on them. I only gained a few silver and some scrolls."
“Why didn't you just kill them both?” Aquila asked. He’d been eating quietly while Langa told the story.
Why indeed? The one who ran had been on her last respawn, and it had not felt right to permakill her. Killing a voident knowing they were going to respawn in the Guardians' prison, was quite different from permanently killing someone. Langa had no desire to permakill anyone unless his life or the lives of those he loved were in danger.
“It wasn't worth it. I made a report to the Federation Police. Besides, she was badly wounded, so maybe she got killed by a monster,” he shrugged.
“It’s always worth it. You would have gained some EXP, and karma,” Aquila told him, shaking his head. “What’s to stop them from gathering a bigger group next time and ambushing you? It’s always better to take care of threats before they grow.”
"Then I'll kill her then,” he said. He was not averse to killing, but he'd never permanently killed anyone in his life, at least not intentionally. The voidents he'd hunted so far had at least one respawn left. Honestly, he didn't think he would have a problem perma-killing voidents, his issue was regular mortals. He wasn't going to struggle with killing someone he hated, like Fi Kindaro. Aquila gave him a meaningful look before he turned back to his party and spent the rest of breakfast talking about red players and voidents.
After they were done eating, Langa and Aquila made their way to the Crafting Cave where Aquila was commissioning a special weapon from Instructor Rancho and Langa was continuing his enchanting training with Aria.
"How come you're still at level 9?" Langa asked. He would not be surprised if it took a while to level up from level 10 to 11, he had only managed it by clearing the Sponsorship Challenge. However, from level 9 to 10 was not too big a gap.
Aquila looked up at him and shrugged. "My team is still finding its rhythm. I haven't allowed them to venture into any zones above level 8, not until we adjust to our new team play. It'd be difficult without a tank, and I don't want to put them at risk unnecessarily."
"You're stunting your personal growth to allow the team to grow?" Langa asked in surprise. He was glad he had no one depending on him.
But Aquila shook his head, "Not really. If we want to clear the 1st Floor, we need to clear one unclaimed dungeon solo, and none of us has experience with that. There is a group dungeon that I want us to tackle, and we have to be in our best condition for that," he said, and clenched his fist, looking down. "I can't let my carelessness lose me anyone else."
Langa had already cleared one unclaimed dungeon, so all he needed to clear the 1st Floor was to earn 10 000 Karma. He hadn't thought Aquila was much of a good leader, but maybe he was wrong. "You've learned from your mistakes," he told him.
"When The Breaker of The Soul chose me, I thought I was invincible, that I was important to him, after all, I was Chosen by a god, not a constellation. I survived the tutorial well enough, leading my teammates and growing in confidence, but the Tower knocked me on my arse," Aquila sighed, "He was very disappointed in me, and if not for his obligations in the system contract, he would have dropped me. I need to prove to him, and to the ones who choose to follow me that I am worth it," he said. "He's been looking away from me, so when he turns his face back to me, I want him to see how much I've grown."
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"Cool," Langa said sympathetically. He couldn't imagine what it would be like if he couldn't constantly feel the presence of The Lackadaisical Herald watching over him. He would probably feel both lonely and abandoned. He changed the subject. "So, do you know how to use this?”
He pulled out one of the empty spell scrolls that he had taken from the red players.
”Oh, you just pre-Inscribe the magic circle of your skill so that you don’t have to waste time drawing it in a fight,” he said.
Langa knew that much. “Does it work for divine skills, and if I inscribe a magic circle on it, how long would it remain stable?” he asked.
"Yeah, it works, but depending on your level, the circle dissipates after some time if not used,” Aquila told him. “At low Tier 1, I think it’s about an hour or so.”
So, he should only inscribe the circle if he was sure to use it within an hour.
Aquila glanced at him. “Why bother with that, anyway? Just draw the circle in your mana core. I know at Tier 1 a mana core can only store two magic circles, but it’s better than using scrolls or the invasive permanent body inscription,” he said with a shrug as they entered the Crafting Cave.
”I’m keeping my options open,” Langa lied. He couldn’t tell anyone that he didn’t have a mana core. “See you later.”
They parted ways as he went over to the enchanting table while Aquila went to the smithy area.
Langa had such a lot of remains from crushed lucent stones and crystals that it was a waste to use them all to make auink. He was still unable to enchant lucent stones or crystals directly, and Aria suspected that he needed to get the skill either to the Intermediate rank first or at least above Beginner level 5.
After disenchanting a lot of common weapons that allowed mana infusion, Langa finally obtained a new enchanting glyph. He could finally make items that could accept the mana infused into them.
[Inferior Mana Absorbtion
Type: Enchanting Glyph
Rank: Common
Effects: On successful inscription, absorbs the mana infused into an item and adds +10% chance of processing that mana into damage.
Restrictions: Can only be applied to common rank items.]
With this, he could enchant the lucent patches to store and process the mana he applied to them to detonate his bombs.
Since his enchanting skill was still too low to make actual bombs, he decided to do some fun experiments with the lucent patches and his excess lucent powder.
First, he used his latest common enchanting glyph that he'd learnt, lesser ignite. It caused the ignition of fire when infused with mana, so he thought if he could somehow ignite the lucent powder, it would become a bomb for him to use as an AOE attack. His first brilliant idea was to mix the powdered fire lucent stones with Kiribo's sweat to increase flammability. However, when he infused his mana into the mixture, it blew up in his face and took away almost half his health. He also destroyed half the contents of Aria's enchanting table.
When she kicked him out of her crafting station, her hair was red with anger. He would have to try another tactic then.
*
He had a few lightning mana cores earned from selling Psike's Corrosion mana core. Even though it hurt his soul to waste the mana cores on practice, he was unwilling to save the cores and only use his divine skill in battle. He found a field of level 10 corrupted beasts and stood on top of a hill above the creatures. He used his auink to Inscribe the magic circle for Lightning Lance on two of the mana cores. He held one in his hands and closed his eyes, concentrating on infusing all his mana into the magic circle. He used every last drop, but, it didn't light up.
"What the hell?" he asked, feeling lightheaded as he drank a Mana potion.
[Error! Mana infused = 187 MP. Mana required = 200 MP. Mana core destabilising!]
His mana was 220 and he was sure he had infused as much of it as was possible. Shit, this was what the Legacy had been trying to tell him. His mana control was shit. The mana core lit up with brilliant white and started shaking in Langa's hands, making him drop it on the ground. He was lucky that happened because as soon as it landed on the ground, it cracked open and three bolts of lightning shot up from the core into the air in an explosion. Langa Flash Stepped back in surprise and landed on his arse.
"What the fucking hell?!" he said, trying to breathe.
[Multiple deities are laughing at you. They commend the Lackadaisical Herald for Choosing such an entertaining human as his Avatar]
"You know, my sister always said, if you've got nothing nice to say, shut your damn mouth," Langa snapped as he brushed dust out of his armour and stood up ignoring the gods. Well, the first try was always supposed to be a disaster.
So was the second. And the third. Only by the fourth try did he finally make progress. He was upset at the loss of three expensive lightning mana cores, but it was better to fail now than in battle. He finally understood that he was supposed to let the mana core guide him, not try to control the mana in his own way.
This time he moved his mana slowly through his nerves, like he was a plug distributing the electric along an electric cable. He felt he had more control now, as he imagined the mana core to be a light bulb that he needed to use the electricity to light up. He wasted less mana this way, and finally, the magic circle came alive. Next, he had to concentrate on his Faith. The Lackadaisical Herald had told him that he meant different things to different people. So what did he mean to Langa?
He was someone who watched over him and said he was always on his side. Someone who wanted Langa to live his life without caring what other people thought or what the future held. He was someone Langa wanted to be proud of him. He felt the presence of the Lackadaisical Herald inside him, and the connection from the divine nexus came alive and flowed into the magic circle.
A three-metre-long spear made of pure lightning materialised in the air in front of him, waiting for his command. It was unstable, with streaks of lightning protruding from its length. Langa focused on his desire for the Lance to strike the beasts below the hill. It flew down and landed on the ground. A zig-zag path of burning light tore through the beasts as multiple streaks of lightning were released from the lance. He couldn't see through the light, but none of them remained alive.
The earth shook under him and a loud cracking sound filled the air along with the scent of burning flesh before the lance dissipated, leaving burnt remains in its wake.
Langa laughed. Divine power was a drug, and his Faith was only at level 1. One day, he would be unstoppable.
*
Every morning, Langa read through many of the scrolls he'd gotten from Psike’s Grotto. He'd visited the library at Risa’s Plateau and found the translation for the language. Because of the scrolls, there was one artefact he hadn't sold from Psike’s treasure box: the pair of gauntlets. He could probably sell it for a lot of money, but he was curious about the lost race, so he held on to it.
[Hdragucjy’s Berserker Gauntlets
Rank: Uncommon
A pair of gauntlets especially designed to control the 14th Affinity from consuming the newly Attuned.
Effects: Zimu Berserker
When Zimu Berserker is used, the effects of the 14th Affinity are amplified and more control is possible. The special stat: Endurance will increase by 15% for 60 seconds.
Restrictions: May only be equipped by members of the lost race who have the special stat: Endurance.]
The scrolls mostly told the story of Psike subjugating different life-aligned races and integrating their blood with his because the corruption in his body didn't allow him to heal completely. Whenever he got hurt, he would regenerate, but the sores in his body continued to be corrupted.
Langa wasn't a scholar, but reading about old cultures and history was all he could do to remember his father because he no longer had his father's books. He'd left them on the 36th Floor, provided that his flat remained standing.
The final story was the one he had gotten from the bronze chest at Psike’s Grotto, and it was different. It was a summary of the lives of Psike and his brother, entitled: The Legacy of the Lost Race.
"When corruption overwhelmed the world of Akaros, the lost race utilised it. Corruption mutated both the land and all living creatures. The members of the lost race gifted the creatures in their world with the power to live after being consumed by corruption because they had the 14th Affinity. In the process, two trollimp brothers gained sentience because of the lost race. In gratitude, they built altars and shrines for the unknown god of the lost race and worshipped it.
Together, the two brothers conquered land and subjugated other creatures. At the peak of their power, they discovered that their corrupted bodies were now susceptible to light magic, and their wounds never healed completely. For the first time in their lives, the two brothers disagreed on which path to take. Psike wanted to take the path of life and assimilate the corruption into himself, while Gargivo wanted to take the path of death and harness the corruption.
To settle the matter, the two brothers gathered their armies and went to war against each other. The bitter blood feud fuelled the spread of corruption in their world, and in the end, Gargivo won, exiling his brother.
Alone for the first time in his life, Psike sought to build his own kingdom by subjugating life-aligned creatures and stealing their lifeblood to stave off the curse of corruption so he would constantly regenerate and never die. He roamed the cursed land with his followers, using his newfound powers to bend creatures to his will. He built a grotto of darkness, surrounded by corruption and filled with the tortured screams of his victims.
Psike crowned himself as king enslaved creatures of life and was feared by all who knew of him. As time passed, the corruption within him grew stronger, twisting him both inside and out, and filling him with a thirst for power and control. He became consumed by his own darkness, ruling his kingdom with a corroded fist and showing no mercy to those who dared to defy him.
For years Psike fought to break through the wall preventing him from leveling up higher than level 10. In doing so, he was in danger of succumbing to corruption completely. No one could help the corrupted lord, however, since this was during the subjugation of the lost race during the 12 999 999th Great Divine Corruption War.
He gathered as many of the scrolls remaining from the lost race as he could to see if there was still a chance to save himself. But all that remained of the lost race that he found was a bloody dreamcatcher that he could not unlock. He spent years in stasis until his world finally fell to corruption and his small kingdom was integrated into a Tower as a corrupted dimension dungeon."
“What the hell is the 14th affinity?" Langa wondered once he finished reading it.
The lost race had been mentioned throughout all the scrolls from Psike’s Grotto, and it had piqued his curiosity, so he checked out some books from the library into his comcer and read about them.
There wasn't a lot of information on them and he figured he would need to gain access to a bigger library first. He did learn that they were a race of mortals that were both life-aligned and death-aligned, and it was said that they were not directly created by The Creator. They were an abomination that lived for blood, and they died for blood. They were mostly wiped out during the 12 999 999th Great Divine Corruption War.
The dreamcatcher mentioned in the scroll had been inside the treasure chest along with the scroll. It was a small circular object with a net woven on it and from the net, dangled 14 beads, each with a symbol written on it. When he scanned the Dreamcatcher, it only read:
[Chausiki Dreamcatcher
Description:
Sleep, the dreamless sleep,
Accept the legacy and the secrets keep.
In the dark embrace of the tainted night,
We walk with death, in the soft moonlight.]
Langa was puzzled because that was different from the normal item descriptions, which stated the rank and effects of the item. There weren't even question marks, which would mean he wasn't authorised to view the item. He tried using his Team Player title to scan it, aware that he was pushing his luck as he was pretty sure the title only worked on living beings. When that failed, he infused his mana into the item.
To his surprise, the fourteen symbols dangling from the dreamcatcher lit up and a system notification appeared in front of him.
[Error! You only fulfil 40% of the requirements! You are not eligible to obtain the Blood Clone Legacy of The Lost Race. ]
[Requirements:
10% or higher Death Affinity
25% or higher Darkness Resistance
Full/Partial Member of The Lost Race OR Possession of the 14th Affinity
The Blessing of a high-tier god of death
The Blessing of a high-tier god of life]
Disappointingly, he saw that he only fulfilled the darkness resistance requirement and the second had to be the Blessing of a god of life, since his Avatar title was a substitute for a Blessing from Adtonifulmin. Still, he was curious about the lost race and their history, as well as how and why an entire race had been wiped out.
*
In the following days, Langa was so bored from trying to grind and raise his Lucent Enchanting skill that he perused the Guardians database for any voidents to hunt as an excuse to get away from Aria and the monotone crafting work. He wanted to use his divine skill in actual combat and learn to control it.
There was a notice about backup guards needed for a voi-den raid. Langa wondered what exactly that was and checked for information on the Dent. Voi-dens were the term given to voident hideouts. It seemed they combined multiple Void Gems of the same rank from different voidents to create a more powerful and hardly detectable void veil, although it did not change the properties of the pseudo-void territory. That was where the voidents could live undetected and the only place where they could perform the sacrificial rituals needed to create Void Gems.
The Guardians were always on the lookout for these places, as they were more likely to find captives being held for the sacrifices and could arrest multiple voidents at once. Langa was interested in checking out the voi-den they had found, but unfortunately, the notice said they just needed guards to wait outside the voi-den in case the voidents escaped or to act as backup if the main raid team was overwhelmed. The voi-den discovered was apparently a small one, so a party of Tier 1 Guardians had been assigned to it. The voidents were Accari Crows, so, of course, Langa signed up as a backup guard.
Raiding the Accari Crows’ voi-den was less exciting than Langa expected, mainly because when he met with the Guardians’ raid team, they were very clear that his role was to act as backup, not to come inside the den, but to wait outside and pursue any voidents that escaped. The raid team consisted of only six level 12 to 15 Guardians NPCs. Langa was the only player, even among the other two backup guards.
The voi-den was hidden within a void veil in a narrow chine. Once the raiding party disappeared inside, Langa equipped his Avatar title to practice it. He sensed the grass, and the small living beings inside it as well as the water flowing in the distance. It was over an hour into the raid that he felt something; one heavy breath of life was coming fast towards him from inside the void veil.
“Incoming!” he shouted as he saw six people running out of the void veil. He had only been able to sense one.
The other two backup guards were slow to react, but Langa drove Tonare through the heart of the first voident to emerge from the void veil, the lightning-powered strike killing him instantly.
The other five ran in different directions, in a group of two and three. “Go after those three, I’ll chase the other two,” he instructed the two Guardians, and without waiting for an answer, he chased after the two voidents.
In running from him, the voidents trapped themselves inside a level 10 hunting field full of murderous corrupted kudus. The voidents fought bravely, hell, one of them even managed to slash Langa in the arm before being skewered by a kudu's horns. He was still able to kill both of them but arrested only one because he also had to run away to avoid being overrun by the kudus. That was annoying because it meant the voident wouldn't wake up in the Guardians' prison, but would respawn normally wherever his respawn point was.
Unfortunately, his fellow backup guards had lost the other three voidents, and Langa resisted the urge to call them incompetent. By the time he went back to the voi-den, the raiding party had already burnt the voi-den to the ground with grieved expressions and anger on their faces, and it made him wonder what they had found in there. The party of Tier 1 Guardians captured seven F-rank voidents and 2 G-rank voidents from the Accari Crows' voi-den.
All of the Accari Crows’ money, weapons, and items found inside the den were confiscated. On top of the promised pay, a share of the confiscated silver was given to Langa as payment. That experience taught him that if he wanted to make 1 gold for the teleportation wheel to the capital, Langa probably needed to raid more dens instead of hunting one voident at a time.
To start with, he was planning to go after those runaway voidents before their trail went cold.
The tracks led him to a nearby large dense thicket. Since he couldn’t see anything, he closed his eyes trying to sense their breaths, but he came up short since he was still learning to use his title. He activated the Distortion skill on his jacket to make himself invisible and walked straight into the void veil that was hidden within the thicket.
Inside the void veil, there was a small campsite with one tent and a fire in the middle, whose shadow stretched over the tent.
Suddenly, he felt the sharp sting of pain on his neck, and he Flash Stepped away from it, bleeding. He had just been stabbed!
[Critical Hit -101 HP]
What the actual fuck?! It hurt like hell. His invisibility wore off, and it reminded him that the skill only made him hard to see, and if he wasn't quiet, someone with a high perception could detect him.
Langa dove to the ground as a dagger whizzed past his head. A female voident with sly eyes emerged from the shadows, and four daggers danced in the air in front of her as she regarded him. If not for his armour, which provided 120 defence, it would have been an instant kill.
"You picked the wrong campsite to stumble upon, player," she sneered, drawing another dagger from her belt.
Langa tensed, readying his spear as the rogue lunged towards him with surprising speed. She was still slower than him, and he easily sidestepped her attack. Her other daggers flew towards him, each glowing silver, and he took on his spearmanship's defensive stance and started spinning Tonare to generate enough force and speed to block the daggers. But just as Langa thought he had the upper hand, she muttered an incantation, and his foot suddenly sank, and the ground beneath him gave way, nearly sending him tumbling into a pit filled with sharp spikes. Thankfully, his reflexes were excellent, and he was able to jump away before falling, finding his balance.
The rogue laughed triumphantly, expecting to see Langa struggling to free himself from the trap, his clothes torn and bloodied. What she saw instead, were stars as Langa Flash Stepped behind her and drove Tonare into her shoulder. Her poor armour was like butter to the glaive and if he didn't hold back, she would be dead.
Defeated, the rogue fell to her knees, holding her uninjured hand up in surrender. "I'm sorry. Please don't kill me."
“That first strike fucking hurt,” he said, pushing Tonare deeper into the voident’s shoulder. She screamed and dropped the Void Pearl in her hand. He couldn't allow her to awaken it, so he instantly used his Deiform Ring to destroy the Void Gem.
"Please let me go!" She said, panting heavily, her wound showing no signs of healing as Langa had not removed Tonare from her body. "Where are your colleagues?"
She coughed in pain. "They ditched me. I don't know where they went!"
Was she lying, or was that why Langa could not sense their breaths anymore? There was no way he could know if she was telling the truth or not. For now, he had another pressing question.
“Where’s the nearest Accari Crows voi-den? If you tell me, I’ll arrest you quickly, and you'll get treatment at the holding cell,” he said taking out his Deiform Amulet.
“Go to the 13th hell,” she spat. Blood poured from the wound, and the voident moaned in pain.
“I’m guessing that’s the worst one,” he muttered. “Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to do. Maybe if it works, you will be more inclined to talk."
Langa unequipped his Avatar title and equipped his Fledgeling Voident Hunter title. He was a little sorry to this girl that she was his guinea pig to test the title. He looked inward, into everything that made him, him. His soul, his existence, his total karma. That energy was the essence of his being, and he released it as karma pressure.
The pressure combined with the fear-inducing effects of his title, made the voident scream, her body shaking in terror, eyes wide and scared. “Heilliege’s George. Please I just…” she stammered, her voice broken.
"Huh?" he said absentmindedly, revelling in this feeling of power in his body.
“The voi-den! It's hidden inside Heilliege's Gorge!” the rogue screamed, trembling.
He blinked and pulled back his karma pressure. He hadn't known that it would be this strong. "Ah, thanks,” Langa said and clasped the amulet around her wrist. After a few seconds, she disappeared, leaving behind a bounty tile. He wasn't sure if her information was credible. He would do his own investigation. He could not trust that he hadn't been lied to.
Heilliege’s Gorge was where Perinda had told him to go if he wanted to join his guild. He was going to scout the area and see if the voident was telling the truth. For now, he had other things to do. He could not tell where the tracks of the other two voidents went, and he also knew that while the voidents were hiding, he would be the perfect bait for them to make money with the bounty that Statia had placed on him. But first, he was going to use his divine skill in actual combat.