Jonathan Tillman Level 35 Son of Flame
The scroll of notifications zipped by him at an enormous speed, and his mind quailed at the thought of pulling out the pertinent information while his friends were dying on the battlefield.
But he refused to rush on and leave resources on the table that he could use to help their cause. So he settled for a quick and dirty review of the high points. In a flash of inspiration, he mentally instituted a filter that combined all of his level-up notifications into one line, and after another moment’s thought, he got rid of all the notifications concerning Experience. Instead, he asked the system to display his percentage of EXP gained until the next level, saving him a headache as those numbers grew exponentially.
The changes took place immediately, the math being nothing to whatever OS governed the UI backend of his screens. The notifications Brrrr-ed together and left him with a final result.
Congratulations! You have leveled up to Level 35! You have earned 24 points in Endurance and 12 points in Dexterity.
You now have 60 unused stat points to allocate.
Tilly hurriedly pulled up his stat spread and did some math to make sure he kept [Resolute.] He added to his stats as evenly as possible, shoring up some weaknesses while keeping the insane imbalance he had committed to.
Stats:
Constitution: 23 > 29
Endurance: 145 (159.5) > 165
Dexterity: 52 (57.2)
Strength: 13 > 23
Wisdom: 28 > 34
Intelligence: 16 > 25
Despite the injuries and Debuff, the stat distribution made an immediate difference. As they hit, energy rushed through his body, easing strain, and strengthening muscles and ligaments. Tilly groaned as he sat up, and looked over to see Amelia catching her breath, lost in concentration. Concentric circles of plant growth flowed out from her body rhythmically in time with her breathing.
“Are you doing that on purpose?” Tilly asked, turning to look the way they had come and seeing their path marked by a verdant streek of wild growth through the forest.
“I am afraid not… My Pathways are overflowing with the Facet’s energy. Even in its dormant state, it is constantly pushing my Mana past 100%.” She said screwing her eyes shut as a particularly large burst of greenery surged out around her and washed the area in a riot of spontaneous growth.
Taking that as one more sign that he needed to hurry the hell up, he zipped through the rest of the notifications. Rapidly taking in just how many multipliers were involved in Kindle’s last strike. [Divine Wind] and [Origin’s Champion] had affected her final attack and he smiled in pride at how fiercely she had struck down the Prime Dirge…
Then his smile turned back downward as he reflexively reached along their bond and found nothing. He quickly shoved that worry down, promising himself he would return to it as soon as this was all done.
Finally, he found the end of his notification scroll and caught sight of two new Titles.
Congratulations! You have died and been reborn due to the intervention of a Facet of Origin connected to growth and rebirth. You have been awarded the title [Verdant Rebirth].
[Verdant Rebirth]: Power from one of the Land’s key nexus points was used to restart your nonfunctioning heart and regrow essential bodily functions damaged in your cleansing. This has fundamentally marked you. You are now a part of the Land’s deeper tapestry and will be recognized as such by its fellow denizens.
Congratulations! You have struck down an enemy over 5 times your level, emptying yourself of all internal resources to do so. You have been awarded the title [All or nothing].
[All or Nothing]: Once a day, you may choose to channel all of your Mana into a single Ability. This Title is limited by Intelligence.
After that last notification, Tilly glanced up at the other side of his HUD hopefully, before sighing in disappointment and stumbling to his feet, his body screaming in protest to match the readout at the top of his HUD.
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Health: 38%
Mana: 22%
The first Title was another nebulous one like [Scarred Heart], he wouldn’t be able to measure its effect, but judging by the events that had just unfolded he was sure his most mysterious Title must have been operating on an unseen level. He took another moment to collect himself and stumbled forward to the edge of the stream. Amelia looked over at him inquiringly, and he just smiled, completely unaware of the dirt and blood that was caked all over his face.
“I'm good… Let’s do this. Elder River, we are ready!” Tilly called, Amelia shuffled beside him, now clutching at her midriff and attempting to school her breathing.
He was about to call again, when the water began to froth, and a very different being stepped forth from its depths. Where Elder River’s features had been marked by a neatly defined beard and balanced symmetrical features, the thing that stepped out to the water was distinctly more chaotic in its visage.
It still resembled a large man, covered in scales, but it had wild spray dancing around its head as hair and churning waters flowed down from its chin. Its back was stooped and its eyes were different hues of blue and green.
“It would be my pleasure to carry you… Cousin?” he said, looking at Tilly curiously, as if trying to identify an interesting bug, “And you as well, blessed one.” He said turning to Amelia.
Before Tilly could utter a hesitant thank you, the thing struck like a snake, elongating its arms and yanking them into itself. Tilly didn't even have time to scream, as a thunderous churn of water pressed in on him from every side and caused his body to flip end over end. Water invaded his mouth and he barely kept himself from gasping in surprise as his lungs immediately began to spasm in response to the tumultuous experience.
Then as quickly as it had begun, he felt the distinct impression of being shoved from behind, and his body violently broke the surface of the water, arcing through the air, and landing with a thud on the river bank.
Gasping for air in-between coughs Tilly looked back at the waters that had just spat them out and saw the crazy being's head just above the water leering at him. As soon as it noticed Tilly's gaze, it winked and sunk back down into the river. Then Tilly noticed the new growth bursting forth on the shore of the river. He looked over at Amelia in growing concern. Her breathing was labored, and her eyes were screwed shut in concentration. Tilly spotted small flowering vines poking out from the sleeves and collar of her coat.
“How much longer can you carry it?” He asked, his voice tightening.
“I don’t know, but the music is deafening, I can barely think.” She replied in a murmur.
Tilly hauled himself to his feet and moved over to help Amelia, taking in the mayhem playing out on the plains before them. The once-focused might of the Horde was now scattered over miles, consuming itself. Everywhere he looked, Tilly could see creature fighting creature in a frenzy of gore and animalistic fury.
Ahead of them, fighting in a shambling retreat were their allies. Tilly pulled Amelia's arm over his shoulder and started to shuffle forward, partially supporting her, and partially leaning into her for balance, as his own body slowly recovered from its greatest trauma yet.
Franklin voiced a distant exclamation upon spotting the pair but his words were lost in the tumult of battle. The chaos had not yet made it to the river, but Franklin's group continued to gain the attention of a steady flow of enemies looking for something to consume.
Tilly drew one hatchet as he and Amelia neared the edge of the conflict, and the ragged formation of his friends continued to retreat toward the river. A deep bestial roar drew his attention to the front line of their formation and he was surprised to see a giant, gore-soaked polar bear. It was covered in gashes and lacerations bleeding a glowing blue substance, yet its ferocity seemed undiminished.
A smile cracked Tilly’s concerned visage as he realized that Elder River had not skimped on his reward to Franklin. The honu himself seemed more or less uninjured and was helping along an uncharacteristically drunk-looking Ichiro, with blood running down from his eyes like tears. Hilbert shuffled behind them, clutching a broken arm, with the left side of his robes stained sopping red.
Gorock held the left side of their formation and was an absolute mess of wounds. While he didn’t seem to be slowed by any of them, blood puddled on the ground every time he stopped moving to block a strike with his shield or ward back an attacker with a sweep of his spear. Sir Michael held the other flank, his shield bucked into a misshapen concave bowl, and his enchanted armor covered in dents.
None of the group was missing and for that Tilly was thankful as he hobbled to meet them, trying to stay ahead of the threat of being surrounded by a growing tide of enraged enemies. Both groups would have been overwhelmed in seconds if not for the fact that most of the Horde were busy fighting itself, having broken into thousands of small conflicts of dominance.
“It is good to see you, my friends!” Franklin exclaimed tiredly, as they neared enough to be heard. “Did you do it? Do we have the Facet’s Patronage?”
Tilly winced, and Amelia answered in a tense voice, “Not yet, we have to deliver it to the Temple. Uugghhh” She followed her answer with a groan and Tilly felt power rush out of her and into the ground as a wave of explosive growth shot out in all directions.
The growth hit the other group and they momentarily stumbled over the now waist-high wild grasses, flowering with exuberant blooms. They soldiered on through it and finally met about a hundred yards from the river.
Franklin disentangled himself from Ichiro and produced the glowing conch shell, beginning to whisper over it.
Amelia likewise pulled away from Tilly and eyed the surrounding enemies threatening to press in on their group. She arduously produced her staff from one of her pockets and called, “Everyone, try not to move!” Before whipping her other hand from another pocket and throwing vine cuttings out into the crowd of enemies. She followed up the movement with a thump of her staff into the grass, and green light exploded from the crystal on its tip. The vine cuttings she scattered around their group shot into the ground, and emerged again with ropy, thorn-covered thickness, entangling the closest enemies and continuing to grow so fast that they combined to form a macabre wall of thorn-pierced enemies. The thicket continued to grow, becoming more dense at the formation’s perimeter, and fanning out deep into the milling chaos that was now the Horde.
The rest of the group looked over at Amelia in awe. Strangely enough, her face relaxed into relief as a fierce green light continued to shine from her staff, “I am carrying the Flower within me now… the power is overwhelming, to say the least.” She explained.
Tilly’s smile at her relief soured quickly as he noticed the growths emerging from under her jacket had continued. Now the vines creeping up her neckline had mingled in with her hair, dotting her dark brown locks with blooming flowers.
“It is ready,” Franklin added, lifting the conch, which was now vibrating with potential energy.
“Do it,” Tilly responded urgently, unable to take his eyes off the vines that seemed to be growing out from her body.
Franklin threw down the shell and it shattered. The reaction was far greater than Tilly had anticipated from contact with grassy soil, the enchanted object seeming to be much more fragile than its natural counterpart. The glowing script that had covered it, however, did not break along with the shell, in fact, it hung in place above the break, beginning to whirl and expand, now free to accomplish its purpose.
“Hold on!” Franklin called as the entire group was drowned in deep, blue light.