I killed a titan.

The thought was absurd, yet the evidence was in front of me. The beast that had held me captive for the past several days was dead.

Much of the front of the monster’s body was severely charred. Its head and much of its serpentine neck were missing, with only a blackened stump in its place.

I stared at the corpse in dumbfounded astonishment. Even with the corpse directly in front of me, I still couldn’t believe it.

I killed a titan.

The doorway to the town hall had drastically changed. The opening had grown larger, as the stone itself had been melted or blasted away. The edges of the now almost circular opening were blackened and warped. A black trench extended to the top of the stairs. Looking at the direction the trench was headed, I saw a large blackened mark running through the upper floor of the building across the way from the town hall. The roof had crumbled into a large pile of rubble, but it looked like the blast may have carried through the entire building. I was going to have to investigate that later.

Considering the damage inflicted to the solid stone walls, it was unlikely anything could have survived being caught directly in the blast. Not even a twisted abomination like Valgrix the Devourer would have been able to withstand a direct hit.

I somehow killed a shade-cursed titan.

The absurdity of my actions was finally sinking in. Without the power of the system, there was absolutely no way that I would have been able to unleash such outlandish power. Not only did it provide me with the abilities to craft my array, but it also acted as the most potent fuel I could have possibly asked for.

I was about to look at my boons when I realized just how painfully hungry I was. It had been at least two days since I had last eaten, and I didn’t know how long I had been unconscious after my escape.

I needed food badly, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take to find some. I briefly considered carving into the fallen monster in front of me, but quickly dismissed it as a terrible idea. Between the twisted flesh and the aura of death that had surrounded the creature, I highly doubted it would have been edible.

Perhaps if I got truly desperate.

Instead, I decided to start integrating my next boon before finding something to eat.

Physical enhancement: improved concentration

Strengthens the user’s mental concentration. Physical enhancement level: 5

Physical enhancement: improved information processing

Strengthens the user’s mental processing capabilities. Physical enhancement level: 5

Physical enhancement: improved mana production

Increases the rate at which the user can replenish their mana pool: Physical enhancement level: 5

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

Codex: Mana form implementation

Enables the system to automatically craft simple mana forms when prompted by the user.

Codex expansion

Increases the maximum amount of information that can be stored in the codex.

Minor boon

Minor boons available:

Physical enhancement: Improved mana control

Physical enhancement: improved mana perception

Mana pool expansion

Once again, I had two new boons to pick from. I had only filled about a quarter of my codex, so the expansion wasn’t terribly appealing yet. I would likely want it eventually, but that was still a long way off.

That left me with a minor boon, the mana form implementation, a pair of frankly terrifying mental enhancements, or the improved mana generation. I still wasn’t sure how much use I would get from the mana form implementation, so I didn’t take long to make a choice.

I was certainly not going to complain about having more mana to work with over time. Selecting the boon, I took a look at my interface. Looking through, I made a few small modifications to the layout.

Name: Kyo —-----

Class: Novice Mage

(4/10, 0%)

Mana Pool: 150/150

Codex: 72.46%

MR:243

TPEL:30

Boons:

System Initiate: 10

Novice Mage: 4

Emergency augmentations: 2

Environmental Conditions:

Mana level: High

Danger present

Limited resources

System Messages:

None

On a whim, I also turned the grey background of the interface purple before I closed my interface and went looking for a badly needed meal.

----------------------------------------

It took me several marks of trying, but I eventually managed to bring down a pair of large parrots with my improved fire bolt.

Unseasoned poultry had never tasted so good. The meat was exactly what I needed and I felt reinvigorated.

With much lighter steps, I explored the village to find a good place to spend the night. Some of the houses were still in good enough condition that they would make for excellent shelter.

Selecting a house almost at random, I gathered many of the softer plants around to make a more comfortable bed. Pulling out my jar of sigil paint, I paused. It was entirely possible that I would be able to craft a rune of concealment.

Thinking back to the hole in the ground where I had first encountered the system, I realized that I had already encountered such a rune. A quick search of my codex yielded exactly the rune I wanted.

It was almost exactly like the sigil of concealment. The two differences were the anchoring mana form, and one additional component. Similar to some of the control forms I had seen before, this mana form seemed to exclude certain creatures from the effects of the rune.

That probably explained how I was able to find the hole without any problems, yet no beasts had disturbed the ancient corpse inside.

Trying my hand at the new rune, I slowly carved out a few of the marks in the dirt around the house. After my ordeal in the town hall, I was very ready for a good night’s rest.