The Vozroid quickly recovered, twisting its body and launching a hail of poison-covered spines at Alistair. Raising his hand, Alistair halted the attack, freezing the spines in midwater. He frowned slightly; he had tried to siphon the kinetic energy from the spines to fuel his telekinesis but ended up just stopping them instead. Despite his incredible affinity, manipulating and reusing kinetic energy through telekinesis was a skill he was still struggling with; he noted that he needed to solidify and strengthen his kinetic connection further to succeed.
Additionally, the beast seemed disappointingly weak for its level, with hardly any power behind its attack. The only noteworthy aspect was its rapid regeneration, as the cuts from the coral reef healed almost instantly.
"Hey, Dexter, do these creatures normally regenerate this fast?" Alistair asked telepathically.
"Nope," Dexter replied.
Alistair's expression grew grim at the implication. This beast must have killed a significant number of mermaids to gain such regenerative benefits from consuming them. Almost involuntarily, Alistair let slip his Bloodcurdling Presence, feeling the monster's fear. It had initially ignored him to snack on another victim, but now it flipped around, sending more spines as it tried to flee.
With his left hand, Alistair blocked the attack with his telekinesis, partially succeeding in absorbing the kinetic energy as a trickle reached him. He watched the spines slowly drift downward while using his telekinesis to grasp and crush the Vozroid. Using his right hand as a focal point for the skill, he dragged the beast towards him as the beast squirmed fruitlessly to escape his grasp.
He felt its spindly bones crack and try to heal themselves through the telekinetic connection. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, but he reinforced the connection, feeling the power he could exert even at this distance slowly increase. He sensed Riseth's worry, her voice reaching him over the Akashic Link.
"Alistair, you need to stop this. People are watching, and if you kill the beast this way, they'll fear you instead of celebrating you."
Taken aback, as she rarely called him by his name anymore, he released his grip, tossing the beast in front of him. He drew his poleaxe, twirling it in his hand, and deactivated his Bloodcurdling Presence. Instead, he switched to using vicious mockery, despite its reduced efficiency against beasts; it was the best way to annoy the beast and incentivize it to stay and fight rather than flee. If the people wanted a show of their hated foe being dismantled, he would give them what they asked for.
"Come here, fishy fishy," Alistair taunted, spreading his arms to give it an opening to attack.
The Vozroid took the bait, lunging at him with reckless abandon. Its large maw opened wide, revealing long, glass-like serrated teeth filled with a black liquid at their core. At the last second, Alistair teleported to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. He lashed out with his poleaxe, carving a long streak along the beast's eel-like body, ripping its fins and shattering spines along the way. The Vozroid sprawled momentarily from the impact.
"Ole," Alistair said, leaning his poleaxe casually against his shoulder plate as he approached the beast. The Vozroid twisted again, sending out spines in a diagonal arc. Alistair tilted out of the way, letting the spines miss him by a slim margin. He knew if he made it look like he was struggling more, it would make for a better show, but he still wanted to make it clear that this beast was nothing to him. Showing a bit of his overwhelming power early on might be a good thing in the future, as it would discourage any potential dissent or people presuming he wasn't even that strong. However, he suspected he didn't need to worry too much about this with these people.
"Good. Much better. Less Darth Vader and more Mr. Legendary is definitely the right call," Riseth's voice chimed in through the Akashic Link, her approval evident in her tone.
Alistair watched as the long gash along the beast's flesh visibly healed, and its spines and fin rapidly regrew.
"Man, I'm tired of fighting regenerating opponents. I wish there were a bit more variety," Alistair thought. He knew, however, that the higher in grade he climbed, the more common regeneration would become. Even without augmenting some organs to aid his own regeneration, he would eventually achieve the same at Grade 5 at the latest. His titles alone encouraged him to create such an augmented organ, but he had more pressing augmentations to get to. He didn't have the luxury to sit on his ass and stay in Grade 8 for too long if he wanted to become immortal before growing old, even with the extended life span higher grades provided.
Alistair had a massive head start and was bound to receive many records and titles for managing his clan and should reach a high grade in a reasonable amount of time. He had wondered why they didn't seem to receive any clan-specific titles, only ones related to negotiations and, in Nessyra's case, management-related titles, though they weren't denoted as bloodline-related either, as far as he knew. While continuing to put on a show fighting the beast and searching his memories through his Akashic Link skill, it finally clicked. He realized that the 10-year clause allowing them to withdraw from the clan and keeping its stage at the Establishment was likely the reason why they were being held back from receiving more specific titles. He would need to ask Nessyra to revise that portion of the contract. Alistair knew the two sisters would readily agree, and Nessyra would still receive the lion's share of the credit, especially once the colony reached a complete and self-sustaining state. This change should shower them with accumulated records.
Alistair countered the beast's third pass, impaling it with his poleaxe by thrusting its point into its wide-open jaw and robbing it of its momentum before slamming it into the sandy floor again. This time, he twirled his weapon and brought it down in an overhead swing onto its head, activating his Blazing Edge skill. Despite the gap to the water, the skill boiled the surrounding water in a stream of bubbles as the white-glowing edge came down on the beast's head, severing it and killing it instantly.
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Storing the beast's body with a wave of his hand, Alistair reached out to Nessyra and Riseth over the Akashic Link, sharing his suspicions.
"Wow, I did notice your head wasn't fully in the fight, but that's actually impressive," Riseth said with a snicker.
"You might be right. I apologize; with everything going on, I hadn't noticed since I receive plenty of titles for what I do. Let's adjust that clause once we get back to Rathos and see if something changes," Nessyra added.
Having finished his business with the Vozroid, Alistair turned and headed back to the palace, waving at the cheering people from the nearby city as he flew past them. Dexter, looking for a different kind of distraction, headed off towards some coral reefs. It didn't take Alistair long to return, and he was greeted by Denodia and his group upon his arrival. Empress Denodia was the first to step forward.
"Good showing there. I was worried for a second," Denodia said with a smile. "But with this, you qualify to become a chosen champion of ours. All I need to do is present you with a weapon worthy of a champion."
"No big ceremony or announcements?" Alistair asked in surprise.
"Oh, If that's what you want, we can have a big official announcement, hold a large ceremony, and do endless talking and showing you off like a prized seahorse if you like," Denodia replied with a chuckle. "Or I can just toss you a weapon now and make the public announcement myself later."
"Never mind, the second option, please," Alistair backpaddled.
Denodia smirked at Alistair, throwing him occasional glances as she theatrically rummaged through her storage. After a few moments, she finally pulled out an impressive weapon—a large, curved blade seemingly crafted from ethereal metal or crystalline ice. Its golden spine curved gracefully, ending in a spiraling guard that encircled an orb. The guard extended down toward the handle, offering protection for the user's hands.
The orb contained immense amounts of water and ice-aspected mana, swirling with power. The blade's surface shifted constantly, radiating cold and water magic in a mesmerizing, fluid dance. The handle, made of black monster bone, was wrapped loosely with a navy blue sash that hung elegantly from the hilt.
"Sorry, I didn't know what kind of weapon you use. And I thought you can usually never go wrong with a sword," Denodia said, slightly embarrassed, before tossing him the weapon.
Alistair snatched it out of the air, and as soon as he did, a chime went off, informing him of a new title acquisition. He first inspected the blade with Identity and chuckled at the name of the blade.
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ITEM:
Tier: [Supreme]
Name: Forging Tides
Qualities:
[Soulbound] [Mana Storage] [Energy Conversion][Concept Conversion] [Self-Repair] [Growth]
Description: A blade awarded to Alistair Ryser for slaying a beast of renown, presented by the Mermaid Empress Denodia Naurei, signifying his status as a chosen champion of her people. Forged by the Empress herself, this weapon is crafted from high-tier water and ice-aspected treasures and monster parts. This curved blade grows alongside its user, increasing in mana capacity and power as Alistair advances through the grades. The weapon can store large amounts of mana relative to its grade and convert its stored mana into ice or water concepts with very high affinity, allowing the user to channel skills through the blade and change the concepts into ice or water-aspected ones.
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For someone smaller, this blade would have been a two-hander, but for him, it was more like a bastard sword, usable with either one or two hands. Despite his low affinity for both ice and water, the weapon did not feel uncomfortable. He was quite satisfied, as it would allow him to deploy some ice and water-aspected attacks through the weapon. He could sense the enchantments, which allowed him to store magic within the orb above the hilt. He wasn't sure exactly how it would work, as he didn't have many attack skills that could make use of this blade, but he suspected that blasts should work, and he could perhaps channel his battle spheres through the weapon. However, it would need some experimentation. While he would have preferred a poleaxe, he didn’t dare complain, as he didn’t mind switching things up every now and then. Perhaps this weapon could be improved at some point to take on different forms.
As if reading his mind again, Denodia confirmed his thoughts.
"I can eventually improve the weapon to do even more and take on different shapes as we advance in grade. That way, it will become more suitable for your needs. For now, it should serve you well as it is," she said with a confident smile.
Alistair returned the smile. He noted that he would need to pull her aside at some point and request her to use that skill of hers less, though he suspected she already knew he would bring that up eventually or already had, which didn't seem to stop her. With some curiosity, he checked the new title and its associated skill.
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TITLES:
Tier: [Epic]
Name: Mermaid's Chosen Champion
Effect:
Grants a 5% bonus to all stats. Bonus skill: [Mermaid's Ally]
Origin: Chosen by [Denoidia Naurei], Empress of a rare Mermaid enclave, to be their champion and protector. The system guards the title, preventing divulging the path to its acquisition or existence.
Warning: The title and its associated skill may be lost when betraying the trust of the Empress or her people.
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SKILLS:
Tier: [Unique]
Name: Mermaid's Ally
Description: A skill bestowed upon those allied to the rare and reclusive Mermaid race. It leaves a trace on the user's aura, notable even through their veil, which is only registered by Mermaids and those also holding the title, marking them as Allies.
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Alistair scratched his chin, feeling that the title wasn't entirely deserved, although neither the title nor the skill seemed particularly noteworthy. However, he reconsidered. His faction would be responsible for protecting this moon and its people, a commitment far beyond just disposing of a sea wyvern. The skill itself might prove useful if he ever encountered a mermaid undercover or in hiding during his travels, as they would recognize him as an ally. That recognition could be valuable in itself.
Still holding the blade, he itched to try it out, his mind racing with possibilities. However, he stored it for the moment and rejoined the ongoing conversations, eager to enjoy the local foods and take a short break before he needed to start setting up an anti-scrying array.