After an unknown time, Fenrich gasped in an exaggerated method, startling the absolute shit out of the unexpected group nearby.
Things were… different. Fenrich could feel their pulses and adrenaline spike, he could hear their pounding and anxious heartbeats. He could… taste the fear that they unknowingly and knowingly emitted. The world from what he could see, one side had colour and a clearness of that of someone with beyond perfect vision, and the other side was a lifeless gray colour.
And on the opposite lifeless gray side, Fenrich could see the inside of the group's bodies. He could see the crimson blood running through their bodies, he could see the heart beating and all the various other organs doing their work.
And it was also getting darker now, where others could only see five meters in front of them, Fenrich could see up to three hundred meters away with crystal clear clarity as if it was daytime still.
A firm voice pulled Fenrich's attention back, "Are you still with us, boss? Or are you one of them, now?" Alex asked with a new kind of steel in his voice that wasn't there before, Fenrich noted.
"Other than appearances…" Fenrich looked at his darkened skin not at all bothered, but more in fascination as he saw his own clumpy murky blood flowing through inside himself. "I feel fine. It's more like I had a… mutation of sorts. My body feels lighter than a feather, literally. My body weight is non-existent, my hearing is enhanced, I can see three hundred meters away from myself with crystal clarity. And… I can see my own, and your guys' organs and blood flow through your flesh. I can even taste the uncertain fear that you all are radiating. Not that I blame you all." Fenrich smiled light heartedly, but with his new appearance and fang like teeth, it did not convey what he wished to.
Then it clicked with him, there were only four of them instead of the 10 he arrived with. "Jena and the others…?" Fenrich questioned, letting it travel longer than necessary to let it go unassumed on his end.
Alex let out a long and exhaustive sigh, it gave Fenrich the answer without the follow up being necessary.
"They died due to an ambush from a bigger group of humans after we finished off the zombie mob, and the ones in the surrounding area that was called for by the Elite you killed. Right now, we are within 2 kilometers of the Rideau Carleton Casino. After we killed the ambushing human group, Jena remained with Marco to buy us time to escape from another zombie hoard. Jena… she called out that there was a King tier Hunter variant. She identified it as level 15, but there was no other information, stats or Skills displayed."
Fenrich digested what Alex said, but then Alex continued dropping an even bigger bombshell.
"You also died… or we at least thought you did. A woman with bat wings in over revealing clothes appeared, she used some kind of ritual magic with the dead and our blood to revive you. She told us her name was Alarune, and that you would understand why she did what she did. You would also owe her a favor for using Ancestral Blood Magic."
Fenrich audibly gulped, it was the first time Alex and the others had seen Fenrich with a serious expression, outside of his calm and collected demeanor.
"Look, guys-"
Fenrich was cut off as Alex jumped in once more.
"There is no need to say anything, boss. We know there are things you cannot share, or are unwilling to since we have just had our reality changed. When we have adjusted, I will ask you what needs to be asked then. For now, let us adjust to our new lives before you say something that would destroy our spirits. Hope is more dangerous than outright being told the inevitable."
Fenrich swallowed his words, there was indeed a lot he desperately wanted to say, but he knew better than to let the cat out of the bag yet.
Alex approached and undid Fenrich's bindings of lock and chains. "We know you are a part of us and will not put us in needless danger. The rest of us are recuperating and absorbing the attribute orbs Alarune used Soul Forging on. She didn't bother to do one for you since it would have been weaker overall, and that she deemed it unnecessary since you're already 'broken' as she described it."
Alex left to regroup with Sasha and Julia, sitting down cross-legged as an orb appeared in the middle of his hands cupped together against his chest.
Fenrich saw the hoard of notifications, canceled out all the experience and survivor coin ones and began reading the important ones.
[Ding! You have been revived with Ancestral Blood Magic, no Karma or Soul attachments have been formed.]
[Ding! You have undergone Mutation. Your race has changed from Human to ???]
[Ding! Your soul has undergone Mutation. Your Soul has become the Abyssal Void Baron Soul.]
[Ding! Your damaged Abyssal Void Baron Soul has recovered to 45/100%. You now have access to 20% of your total Mana, and can now practice Soul Cultivation. Your Intelligence stat has been unblocked.]
[Ding! You have opened the first out of 9 locks of your Abyssal Void God King Bloodline. Achieve your first Class Evolution of at least Rare rarity or higher to unlock the second lock. +30 Physique, Luck, Mana, Sense.
[Ding! All your basic attributes have gained +20% efficiency. All your advanced attributes have gained +10% efficiency.]
[Ding! All your basic attributes have gained +40. All your advanced attributes have gained +25.]
[Ding! You have awakened the advanced attribute - Sense.]
[Ding! You have successfully formed a Soul bond with the Abyssal Symbiote.]
[Ding! You have received the Passive Skill - Enhanced Regeneration.]
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
[Ding! You have received the Passive Skill - Enhanced Physique.]
[Ding! You have awakened the Berserk Skill - Metamorphosis.]
[Ding! You have received the Offensive Skill - Abyssal Weapon Enhancement.]
[Ding! You have received the Offensive Skill - Abyssal Swords.]
[Ding! You have received the Offensive Skill - Abyssal Sword Assault.]
[Ding! You have received the Offensive Skill - Abyssal Sword Forge.]
[Ding! You have unlocked the Party System for being the first group to slay an Elite. When in a party, all your members will gain +200% Health, Stamina, Mana Regeneration. All party members will receive +25% Loot drop. All party members will receive +15% to all basic and advanced attributes.]
Fenrich's mouth hung open after he finished reading all of the notifications.
"Holy fucking shit. I need to die more often!" Fenrich began cackling to himself, there sure was a sadistic enjoyment to seeing his suffering and gambit pay off. Of course this time he had plot armor fuckery to save his ass. The next time… No, there wouldn't be any next time. This was a wake up call. Alarune, his past fiancé, saved him despite the huge sacrifice she made. Nobody else would give enough of a damn soon enough to do so, even if they had the required magic or spells.
Fenrich got up and then began going through the equipment and various loot Alex and the others gathered and left in a pile near him.
Thorns Chest Plate [Uncommon]
Level: 4
Durability: 225/225
Endurance: +7
Vitality: +5
Passive Effect 1: Damage reflect 2.5%
Passive effect 2: 10% of received damage is turned into Thorns Damage.
Iron Chest Plate [Common]
Level: 3
Durability: 150/150
Endurance: +3
Vitality: +1
Mana Enhancer Gloves [Bronze Artifact] [Evolvable]
Level: Adjusts to user, maximum growth level: 40.
Durability: 1,000/1,000
Strength: +3
Vitality: +3
Endurance: +3
Intelligence: +3
Agility: +3
Passive Effect 1: Deals +20% damage to Mana Barrier type Skills.
Passive Effect 2: Increases the equippers Intelligence and Mana by +10%
Passive Effect 3: Regenerates 85 Durability per hour.
Passive Effect 4: Stores a maximum of 225 backup Durability.
Active Skill 1: Mana Burst - Increases all basic and advanced attributes by 25% for 30 seconds. Enters a state of Mana exhaustion after the activation time ends. Cooldown: 1 day.
Flowing Moonlight Greaves [Uncommon]
Level: 4
Durability: 170/170
Agility: +10
Necklace Of Broken Bonds [Rare]
Level: 5
Durability: 350/350
Intelligence: +14
Mana Points: +250
Mana: +7
Passive Effect 1: Decreases Mana Point requirements of all Skills by 20%
Passive Effect 2: All magic damage done by Skills increased by 15%
Passive Effect 3: All magic based Skills gain +1 level.
Eternal Flame Cape [Silver Relic]
Level: Adjusts to user, maximum growth level: 60
Durability: 1,700/1,700
Fire Magic Storage: 7,500/7,500
Strength: +15
Intelligence: +15
Endurance: +10
Vitality: +10
Agility: +10
Passive Effect 1: Strength, Endurance Vitality gain 15% to equippers stats.
Passive Effect 2: Eternal Flame - Instantly recovers 33% of equippers maximum Health, and gains 140 Health over a period of 7 seconds. Cooldown: 2 hours.
Passive Effect 3: Restores 125 Fire Magic a hour
Passive Effect 4: Daylight Savings Time - Fire Magic Storage has 200% regeneration speed during daylight hours.
Passive Effect 5: For every 500 Mana Points invested into the Eternal Flame Cape gets converted into 100 for the Fire Magic Storage
Active Effect 1: Eternal Flame Spear - Depletes the stored Fire Magic within Eternal Flame Cape, creating a storm of Fire Spears dealing 140% area of effect damage within a 15 meter radius. Causes 450 additional burning damage over the course of 3 seconds.
[Fire Manipulation Skill Book]
[Fire Slash Skill Book]
[Chain Lightning Skill Book]
[Mana Burst Skill Book]
[Enhanced Intelligence Passive Skill Book]
[Enhanced Mana Points Passive Skill Book]
[Beginner Blacksmithing Manual]
[Beginner Alchemy Manual]
[Beginner Formation Arrays Manual]
[Beginner Mana Theory Manual (multi use)]
[Beginner Qi Theory Manual (multi use)]
[Beginner Dao Theory Manual (multi use)]
[Beginner Whetstone Blueprint]
[Beginner Health Potion Formula]
[Beginner Mana Potion Formula]
[Beginner Stamina Potion Formula]
[Long Range Communication Orb (single use)]
Fenrich let a pleasant coo escape as his eyes flashed with avarice as he read through the haul of loot they all gathered. For the first Elite slain and 2x loot increase for the 30 day period was no laughing joke.
This reminded Fenrich, he had 1 draw for the Silver Lottery, it was in the form of a single use coupon inside his inventory space.
[Would you like to use the Silver Lottery Coupon? Y/N]
Fenrich impatiently tapped on the Yes button, and in front of his vision popped up a lottery while about the size of the one from Wheel Of Fortune. There were multiple copies and various categories such as Equipment, Skill Books, Single Use Items, Pet Eggs, Soul Weapons, Mana Weapons, Formulas, Blueprints, Legacy Items, Survivor Items and the smallest of all was of course the jackpot.
Fenrich manipulated his Mana to form a small azure blue hand, grabbed onto the handle of the wheel and spun it. All while muttering to himself, "no whammy, no whammy, no whammy, STOP!"
The wheel spun round and round, making a repetitive tick tick tick sound. After fifteen seconds it began slowing down, and in another three seconds it landed on the Survivor Item category.
[Ding! You have received the Silver Artifact Tree Of Life.]
Fenrich, like a kid who had just spent all of the summer vacation doing chores to buy Dragon Quest 8 all over again, hurriedly "loaded" up the status page of his newly acquired toy.
[Silver Artifact - Tree Of Rejuvenation.]
[Base Item. Cannot be planted outside of the territory of an A.I Smart Base.
[Passive Effect 1: Creates 10,000 liters of clean drinking water per day. Maximum storage limit of 10,000,000 liters.]
[Passive Effect 2: Creates 600 Health Potions per day. Maximum storage limit of 70,000]
[Passive Effect 3: Creates 600 Mana Potions per day. Maximum storage limit of 70,000]
[Passive Effect 4: Creates 600 Stamina Potions per day. Maximum storage limit of 70,000]
[Passive Effect 5: Creates 4 Foundation Enhancing Droplets per month.]
"FUCK YA!" Fenrich pumped his fist up into the air, then realized he probably should have controlled his excitement more. Alex, Sasha and Julia jumped up like a bunch of cats that got their tails stepped on.
Fenrich started howling as he held his stomach from laughing so far.
"I hope you get skull fucked by a zombie daddy!" Sasha, the one who could make a french sailor blush, yelled at Fenrich.
Alex looked over more out of interest than anything else.
Julia simply shrugged it off, knowing both Fenrich's and Sasha's antics. Both individuals went out of their way to scare the living daylights out of each other. Given their penchant to cause chaos to one another, especially now that zombies were around. Julia was expecting one of them to force their way into a zombie's corpse and jump scare the other.
"Sorry, sorry for the outburst. We have gotten some damn good stuff here!" Fenrich said, walking over to the group as he dropped off all the equipment, formulas and so on. The only things he kept were the Beginner Blacksmithing Manual, Beginner Formation Arrays Manual and Beginner Whetstone Blueprint.
"All of you have suffered because of a single moment of my carelessness and my own arrogance. The equipment and everything else here is yours to distribute and use, whatever you all don't use will be later distributed to the others. No questions asked, I have received enough benefits, I will not take away what can make your chances of survival higher." Fenrich said, as he waved his hand in the air. "I'm going outside to get some fresh air, when you're all done we will make our way to the Rideau Carleton Casino."
Fenrich exited the house they were all taking shelter in, easily jumping the 13 meters it took to land on top of the roof. Fenrich pulled out the Long Distance Communication Orb and activated it.
Visualizing Ren within his mind and saying his name aloud a couple of times, a prompt appeared before Fenrich's eyes, and he began entering a short but sweet to the point message. There were no filler details, just the change of plans, the events that happened, and what they planned to do next with their much lower numbers.
[Message sent. The receiver will receive the message within 10 seconds. The receiver will also be able to send back their own message.]
Not too long passed, seven minutes or so. Ren's over analytical mind had to have dissected, and formulated a dozen or so scenarios as visual aid within his mind, and a half dozen of plans to help assist them in whatever way he could.
[Ding! Return message received from Ren.]
[Do your best brother, the safety of you and the others are far more important than setting up another base. This is the interior description of the Rideau Carleton Casino, it's floor plans and sections are as such…. Your safest way to enter the building is from the emergency exit doors on top of the roof…. The key areas to look for are the Casino Managers Office….]
After reading for 20 minutes, Fenrich couldn't help but smile and be relieved Ren has not had "those" events happen yet that made him descend into madness. Thank fuck for his eidetic memory.
Due to his increase in Intelligence, even without an eidetic memory, Fenrich could remember all 38,000 words and the planned steps from step 1 through 15. There was the follow-up and also last ditch effort parts mentioned at the very bottom.
Given Ren's intelligence and what he'd seen today on his groups' exploration, there were multiple predictions but no concrete educated guesses. Ren was not the type to be fully certain until he had learned enough to guarantee all possibilities, and even the bullshit possibilities where shit hit the fan.