Alright, I was too optimistic about handling the orc’s swings with the low, low attributes that I had. Its first strike shattered my wrist and dislocated both my shoulders, shredding my back muscles apart like they were paper. The next attack spelled the end of my life.
Our sheer difference in strength was laughable, really. I jerked as I woke up in the midst of the foggy scene, then resumed the agony of fending off the Orc’s assault, with each additional attempt instilled the pain of losing your bones after each swing, and yet, each death filled me with a sick twist of purpose and life.
I’d prefer not to go through things this way, but I didn’t have much choice if I wanted a fast track of earning additional points for my physical attributes. I had half a mind of using magic to pelt the orc before it sensed my presence—which I did, but the growth paled in comparison to my physical stats.
With each passing, I felt the burden on my wrist lessening. With each passing, I felt my shoulders were able to handle its attacks better, hell, it even reached a point where they stopped dislocating after a horizontal swing, which prompted a tired grin from my face before my head was chopped off once more.
These deaths came like droplets of rain; It wasn’t the slow slog between me and the lizard before. No, each death happened within less than a few seconds; Which ballooned the total number of deaths I’d accrued from the measly 12 or 15 before, to more than a hundred in one and a half hours. I lost count after 50, and it didn’t take long before my soul just couldn’t take it anymore.
As I lay on the ground, drained, drenched in my pool of sweat and vomit, I raised my trembling arms and let go of the shield. The crystal was floating off nearby while I took out the box that was given to me prior.
I didn’t know what I was expecting. The blue metallic box glinted from its own light, quivering the air as it floated, and tinier than I imagined. it hummed with eerie vibrations, and when my hand made contact with it, it produced a high-pitched sound, ringing like a small bell.
Ting.
A blue screen popped up. It was quite unlike the screens I’d seen prior; the edges of the screen were bordered with a thick golden lining, almost regal-like in appearance, with circular twirls at the corners, snaking their way back into the screen.
[You opened the Sapphire box.]
[As a reward for achieving the second spot on the leaderboards, the sanctum would like to bestow you a reward.]
“What rewards?”
My delirious brain had been dulled by the recent wave of constant demise, and I blared the words that I was thinking out loud. Thank god I am alone here.
[A passive aura is rewarded.]
“Huh?”
Okay, I meant to say that. But… what is a passive aura? I mean, I knew what it meant, but this was the first time I’d heard of it. Were the other top scorers rewarded with this, too? That would make the most sense…
Another regular screen opened after, revealing the Aura that I’d gotten.
Summoner’s embrace - Aura
Rarity: Rare | Affinity: - | Tier : 0 - upgradeable.
Buffs your conjured summons with your own attributes. Every summon will gain an extra 20% of each your total attributes, stacking additionally with their own skills or passives. Activates when any of your summon is alive.
Spell requirement : Any summoning related spell.
Cost : -
% of attribute shared : 20 %
Wow… Now, with this aura, my summons should be more powerful the stronger I got by default. Although, this skill — wait, is this even a skill? — meant close to nothing with the dearth of attributes I carried, reduced even further since only 20% of my attributes were shared. But further down the line, as I got stronger and stronger, this skill would be the bread and butter of my summons, and I found that the best usage of this aura would be increasing the relative longevity of the apparitions I’d conjured.
Personally, I’d love to have something that could be useful right away, but this wasn’t bad at all. Hell, I could see myself obsessing over this aura later on.
“Phew…” I blew a happy sigh, hopeful about the future that would come. This gain caused another surge of motivation to surge inside me, urging me to resume the chains of death that I had just gone through. It turned out, my suffering just wasn’t enough, yet.
And so, the empty, quiet fields were disrupted by the cries of the orc, and the wails of the poor soul it would love to cut up into pieces.
When I regained my sanity, I was already back in the nexus. My eyes scanned the nexus for any familiar faces, but those lingered were the ones cast with a doubtful, almost fearful look; a clear indicator that they hadn’t entered their first mission yet. A shame, I thought, since ignoring the lizardmen’s mission spelled their end either way.
I wanted to speak out and warn them about that mission, but my words clung to my gullet, refusing to budge. It wasn’t like me to scream about their doom and gloom, and honestly…
Ah, fuck it.
“DO THE LIZARDMEN MISSION! YOU’LL DIE TOMORROW IF YOU DON’T!” My shout emanated throughout the nexus. Whatever happened later was their choice, at least, I did what I could.
They craned their heads toward me with wide-eye looks, yet, none cared and resumed their business. I shook my head and focused on my next move. One of them was my status page, and the growth I had just earned. Turning away, I opened my status page, whistling when I noted the progress I’d made.
STATUS
HEALTH
49/49
MANA
34/34
RANK
-
Level
0
POINTS
510
RACE
HUMAN - 1
ACTIVE CLASS
Death’s conscript (1)
SUB CLASS
none
FREE ATTR. PTS
10
ATTRIBUTES - BODY
ATTRIBUTES
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Class Bonuses
Total Attr.
STRENGTH (67%)
5 (+1)
2
8
SPEED (12%)
2
-
2
TOUGHNESS (16%)
6 (+3)
2
11
VITALITY (89%)
5 (+3)
1
9
RESISTANCE (0%)
0
-
0
ATTRIBUTES - MIND
ATTRIBUTES
Class Bonuses
Total Attr.
ARCANE (16%)
0 (+10)
2
12
ARCANE. POW (13%)
0 (+6)
2
8
ARCANE. DEF (10%)
0 (+2)
1
3
WILLPOWER (10%)
1
-
1
AFFINITIES
SOUL INTEGRATION
Equipped soul
Orc Mage.
Skill
-
Attribute bonuses
Arcane + 5, Arcane. Power + 5, Arcane. Defense +2
CLASS
Name :
Death’s conscript
Level
1
Attribute bonuses :
+2 Strength, Toughness, + 1 Vitality | +2 Arcane, Arcane. Power, +1 Arcane.Defense
??? - unlocked after clearing the trial
I gained about twice the base attributes compared to the first combat training session I had, which was… underwhelming if I took into account the sheer number of deaths piled up inside that one tiny field. But hey, progress is progress, and I’d be foolish to complain about it. I still had 10 free attributes left, which I chose to save until it was crucial to allocate those points; To be honest, the next missions today should be easy enough for me to take care of without 10 more attribute points.
I spent the next hour clearing both free missions; The goblins, which I cleared with relative ease, then the lizardmen who proved to be a challenge because of the commotion I made during the fight with the first one, which drew the attention of the other, their combined forces turning the fight into a chaotic mess.
I was able to defeat those two in the end, but not without a few close calls. Mistakes that would be fatal if I faced anything stronger than those lizardmen. I was disappointed that my Aura didn’t appear to do much of anything; in fact, the orcs felt the same as how they’d always been, although, I admit that my expectations were too high for the Aura to do much this early.
Mistakes aside, Those quick victories earned me enough points to earn another spell book. I half-predicted that I’d somehow be given another copy of the same book, but it shook me when I was given another death-related spell, aptly called Death’s Armor.
Death’s armor
Rarity: Uncommon | Affinity: Death | Tier : 0 - upgradeable.
Encase your target with a layer of death-attuned armor. The armor’s durability is affected by your arcane power and arcane defense, and it will block damage equal to the of amount mana that was given to the spell (max. 30)
Reflects death damage back against enemies with every strike within 1 meter(s).
Cost : Minimum - 10, maximum - 30
At a glance, it read like the exact spell Sarah used on Phillip when we fought together. Well, it was the same spell, with a twist on the affinity difference, and I think the reflecting damage part was different. There were no instances of that happening before, so this could be the distinctive part of my magic.
The added defenses were great, but the mana cost was—well, I couldn’t put it any other way—it was awful. I was mana starved as-is, with my death bolts and Death’s soldiers, so I might have to forget about using this spell until I got those problems fixed. I’d say that this would be useful if I was about to take fatal damage; But… if I was already in that position in the first place, surviving one extra attack wouldn’t make much of a difference.
Cases like these made me want to put all my free attribute points straight into Arcane. But as tempting as that felt, that decision felt hasty. Neglecting Arcane. Power and Defense would cause my spells to be less effective, prompting me to spend more mana to compensate. At this moment, Arcane would be the least useful attribute to share with my summons, since most of them couldn’t even use magic.
I opened the missions list.
Available Missions ( Solo ) - Day 1.
You will earn 3x mission passes per day.
Combat training(1)
Select arsenals of your choosing to train with your chosen weapon. This mission can be repeated once a day. You will not carry any weapons upon entry.
Requirements : -
No rewards.
Hunt goblins
Defeat 10 goblins.
Requirements : 1 Mission pass.
Reward : 100 points.
Reward(2) : 1x minor health potion.
Hunt a Lizardman
Defeat 2 Lizardman
Requirements : 1 Mission pass.
Reward : 200 points.
Reward(2) : 1x day 2 pass
Snake’s looming shadow
???
Requirements : 1 Mission pass.
Reward : ???
Reward (2) : ???
To no one’s surprise, the secret mission disappeared from the list. What replaced it though, was noteworthy. It was called the Snake’s looming shadow, and it carried the same description.
The snake naming of it led my mind to the paralysis and darkness. Maybe… this is where I can use the armor? The individual snake bites themselves weren’t that big of a deal, and I believed with my summons and my new spell that clearing this mission wouldn’t be the same annoying and painful affair as how it used to be. The summoned orcs should have more than enough toughness on their own to survive a simple snake bite, and their weapons would be lethal against mere snakes.
I savored the complete darkness upon entering the mission. The same tactics I used before remained effective; the primed spell gave out light, and now, I had additional summons to cover my flanks. On top of that, I had another layer of protection on top of my basic white suit this time in the form of the death armor, and…
Well, as much as I would love to see how it looked, I couldn’t. It was way too dark to make out any specific details, even if there was a source of light beside my body. It felt cool, though, so there was that.
Hiss…
Here they come. I believed the first wave was-
Hiss…
Wait. What the hell is that?
What waited for us ahead was another snake, sure, but I didn’t remember it being the size of a giant truck. Its scales, each one of them the size of my chest, glimmered, and on their edges, an ambient, green light emanated, creating a pattern around its entire body. And that was when I was able to grasp its true size, and…
A truck was an understatement, no, it was sheer ignorance. A train would be best suited to picture its size, with its tail so far behind where I was I couldn’t see it properly, even when it was lit with its scales. Its eyes scowled at where we stood, freezing me in my steps. Sweat dripped from the pores all over my body, my lips trembling, and so were my summons, they were all stuck in their respective place, unable to move.
[Lvl. ??? Prime Death Cobra]