Tilly groaned, rolling over on some padding that was doing a terrible job cushioning the hard stone floor.
“We need to leave soon if we are going to make the meeting.” The deep base of Hiro's voice cut through the fuzziness of Tilly’s mind and he looked up from his mat to find the Samurai Lord squatting down in front of him, with a focused scrutiny. He showed no obvious injuries, but his armor was damaged in a few places. The warehouse was now populated by about a dozen lapins, moving around, cleaning up, and packing whatever valuables were left in the wreckage.
“Where is Shuji? Did he make it?” Tilly blurted, his last moments before losing consciousness coming back to him in sharp relief.
At his question, the hard cast of Hiro’s face softened and a smirk might even have peaked out from the normally cloudy expression, “He will be fine I think. He recovered shortly after I slew Apepi. He then proceeded to fuss over you much of the night. You activated an ability without the mana to sustain it… A feat very few have managed and lived to speak of. Once it was clear you would recover, he went out to gather information and ready our people to flee in secret.”
“How long was I out?” Tilly grumbled as he rubbed his temples trying to ease the phantom throbbing that cropped up at the memory of the excruciating pain he had experienced at the end of the battle.
A lapin moved up to them and offered both water flasks. Hiro nodded to him and took a deep drink and Tilly matched him, suddenly terribly thirsty and hungry. He realized that he hadn’t eaten the entire previous day, and wondered if that was due to his increased Endurance. Would he be able to forgo eating entirely at some point? Whatever the answer was, he was starving now.
“You have slept for 14 hours. My people have arrived after hearing that the premises were secure, and they are now making it ready for our departure. There will be no trace of our battle by this evening.”
At his words another lapin, this time a female lapin approached with some boxes made out of bamboo. Hiro took his, and Tilly nodded in thanks before accepting his and lifting off the top. The inside was compartmentalized with a section for rice, more of the glazed carrot mixture, and some grilled fish. Tilly grabbed the accompanying chopsticks and started eating with fervor.
Hiro joined him at a much more sedate pace, occasionally pausing to eye the human who had become so entwined with the fate of his people. Tilly allowed himself the luxury of wondering out loud some of the many questions that had accumulated over the last week in between bites.
“So I get that we were attacked by the Cult of the Serpent last night. But it seemed like you knew them. Also, aren't they supposed to be in an army moving toward this city as we speak? How did these guys get in?”
“I have met Apepi and her hunters many times in battle. I once led the empire’s mobile skirmishers. The Satyr specialize in their square formations and are very difficult to beat in the open field. Something that my people found out long ago. But war is a mobile thing and they have traditionally relied on a mix of irregulars and mercenaries to fill the mobility gap. Apepi fulfilled a similar role for the other side, specializing in assassination and marauding.”
“How did you beat her? She was like six levels above you.” Then, not being able to help himself Tilly reactivated Identify and was not surprised to note the change in Hiro’s Identifier.
Level 53 Samurai Lord
“There is much you have yet to learn about power on Nephesh. We did not always have these numbers assigned to us, and while in some ways they can be helpful, in other ways they can be very deceptive. For example, you have two weapons, yet you wield them like an infant when you are not throwing them. I have a hard time imagining you defeating anyone with skill in close combat, no matter the level.”
“I already tried to learn dual-wielding…” Tilly muttered abashed.
“I mean no offense, Jonathan Tillman. Without basic instruction and the risk of real bodily harm, you can neither advance nor learn any significant martial skills. We will rectify this shortly, your weapons and abilities were otherwise very effective against our foes, especially considering their altered state…” At this he trailed off, once again looking at Tilly expectantly, as if waiting for some explanation. A part of Tilly twinged at the memory of the throbbing that had filled him mid-battle. He tried his best to cover over his feeling of unease with a follow-up question,
“...Yeah, I would love some training with these,” he said with a gesture at the hatchets looped into his belt.
“But what about how they got in, didn't you say that the Marcellus family would be sending people after-… Uh, never mind, I figured it out on my own. The Marcellus family have some kind of alliance with the Cult of the Serpent and are working to undermine the Empire any way they can.”
If Hiro noticed Tilly’s attempt at subtly changing the subject, he didn't show it, “Yes. We have suspected something of the sort for some time. They own the Purist Party completely and have used that influence for great personal gain over the past decades. In fact, as the Emperor has declined, many have whispered in tavern corners that it is Augustus Marcellus that should next sit on the throne… They are fools, all of them if they think the Serpent ever honors his agreements with anything more than a token effort.”
“So where is the Emperor? Is he dead? Sick? Can you even get sick here?” Tilly asked, excited to finally be scratching the itch of curiosity that had plagued him at every turn.
“He has not been seen in public in over a year. The Loyalists are completely silent on this subject and no one has had success at divining their minds on the matter. I can tell you however that if he still lives, the emperor is ancient. He was old when I was born, and the stubborn goat had held on these last decades by sheer will. I know he was a just ruler once, and much of the filth we see infecting this empire is more a result of his decline without a successor than anything he has done.” Hiro finished thoughtfully.
Then another lapin approached and whispered something indistinct to Hiro. He nodded in response and smoothly got to his feet, “Shuji sends word of the location of the meeting, we will leave in a few minutes. Prepare yourself, I will meet you at the entrance.” He said before turning to leave. Then mid-turn he paused and looked back,
“Jonathan Tillman, we have declared you friend… We do not take such things lightly. I have entrusted you with many of the deep secrets of our people, if you need something, do not hesitate to ask.” Hiro said, that same focused scrutiny coloring his gaze.
Tilly almost spoke up in response before catching a lump in his throat and settling for a nod of thanks. The emotions his burden was stirring up were just too raw… He would figure it out himself without bothering the already stretched leader. He had to.
Hiro nodded back and then moved over to some of his people working through the wreckage. Swallowing down his tide of emotion, Tilly pulled up his notification log and winced at the text sitting amongst battle notifications and level-up notifiers:
You have given into Corruption's influence and have gained 7% Strength and lost 10% of your wisdom.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Corruption Seed influence now: 14%
Sure, there were other things to read. He had finally been awarded duel-wielding for his hatchets. That had probably occurred during his dismal attempt at blocking and then opportunistic follow-up strike on his attacker. He had leveled up his Axe throwing and what he had done at the end of the battle was a new ability called Blue Flame Expulsion. Yet the elation that had typically followed these notifications in the past was muted.
Corruption Seed influence now: 14%
What did this mean? How did he stop it? He figured that until he thought of something better he would dump every available point he could into wisdom to try and offset this weird debuff while still keeping his [Resolute] title. Corruption was his biggest long-term problem, but if he died in battle today it wouldn't matter much. Now that he had the insurance of negating one blow per day, he wanted to keep it. He was about to see if he could set the Corruption influence next to his mana and health on his always visible hud when he felt suddenly drawn to take a bird's eye view of his character sheet and get a good feel for where he was going.
He laid a critical eye on his new character sheet.
Jonathan Luke Tillman
Level: 12 (26,000 Exp to next level)
Display Name: Tilly
Race: Human
Class: Son of Flame
Titles: [Harbinger], [Resolute], [Origin’s Champion], [Corruption’s Host],[Trusted Gaijin].
Health: 100% (+1.2% per minute)
Mana: 100% (+.8% per minute)
Status Effects:
Stats:
Constitution: 12
Endurance: 71 (78.1)
Dexterity: 28 (30.8)
Strength: 10(10.7)
Wisdom: 13(11.7)
Intelligence: 8
Equipment
Origin’s primitive stone hatchets: +10% to Dexterity. (Legendary, growth type)
+Imbued Ability Recall.
Origin’s primitive leather armor: +10% to Endurance. (Legendary, growth type)
+Imbued Form Sun Salamander leather.
Skills:
-Forestcraft level 12
-Identify level 17
-Cooking level 12
-Beginner Hatchet level 10
-Animal Processing level 9
-Stealth level 7
-Herb Lore Level 3
-Ax Throwing Level 9
-Dual-Wielding (Hatchets) Level 1
Abilities:
-Blue Flame Strike: Channel the fire within you to strike at your opponents. Each strike leaves a smoldering ember at the point of impact and does damage over time. Ember damage is stackable. This Ability has been augmented by your mantle and does 200% more damage to Corruption.
-Blue Flame Expulsion: At the cost of 50% of your total mana, you channel the fire within you into a wave flowing from your center, impacting everything around you in a sphere. Ability scales with mana. This Ability has been augmented by your mantle and does 200% more damage to Corruption.
Titles:
[Harbinger]: One touched by Origin to bring about change, “None may interfere.” This and all other Origin-related titles, abilities, and items will be changed and seen as unremarkable by any deity or deity-aligned faction.
[Resolute]: Your endurance stat is higher than all of your other stats combined. As long as this remains true, you may completely negate one fatal blow per day.
[Origin’s Champion]: You have accepted the mantle of Champion from Origin. This will augment your skill and abilities over time to reflect your new nature.
[Corruption’s Host]: You hold within your body a Seed of Corruption. This entity's progress has been slowed by divine interference, but it will take every opportunity to grow until it has subsumed your will. Seeds influence: 14%
[Trusted Gaijin]: The highest honor that can be bestowed on a nonlapin by the ruling class. It marks you as “friend” to all Lapinkind and they will be immediately predisposed towards offering you any help they may.
Right now, his base stats added up to exactly equal to his Endurance. But he had not lost [Resolute].
'I guess, I have to actually lose the lead to lose the title.'
He also saw how he had tapped out his mana reserve so easily at the end of the fight. Blue Flame Expulsion cost a whopping 50%... That was probably a great crowd control opener, but not something to lean into deep in a battle. Unless he could get his hands on some mana potions or something! From what he had seen, these potions seemed more like luxury items than normal gear for the fighting Classes.
He reviewed his build one more time... he had a magic/physical range attack, he finally had a Skill to improve his close-quarters combat and he had just learned a crowd-control pushback. With his main stats, it looked like he was headed toward some sort of dodge tank/ berserker build with damage-over-time multipliers for the bigger enemies. Overall he felt like his Class was starting to make some sense. Add in his growth-type armor and weapons and he might stand a chance of making something of himself in this crazy world.
He set his empty box aside, took another long pull from the water flask, and got up, dusting himself off. He would soldier on, and do whatever he had to in order to save these people. That would start with finding a way to get as many people away from this insane Naga army as possible.
He spotted Hiro standing in the shadow of the entryway talking to a couple of lapins in servants' clothing and jogged over. His mana and health were both at 100% and for the first time in days, he felt pretty good... Really Good
“If I keep this up, I might actually get strong enough to kick some bad guy ass.” He quipped to himself as he moved easily through the remaining debris. He enjoyed the feeling of warmth that permeated his chest, as well as an energetic almost ticklish pleasure that was thrumming down his upper extremities from his side. Where the two sensations met in his lower ribcage, there was some slight discomfort, but that was to be expected after such a tough battle the night before.