Jax stood up, ready as he could be, when the Sporeborn Prince stepped up. It was Jax’s first good look at him… and it was kind of freaky. His entire skeleton was covered in mushrooms, growing like plate armor. It was the only alive thing he had found in the dungeon so far, and the things seemed to be drawing power from the Prince’s bones. His “crown” was more like a helmet, made out of, you guessed it, a giant mushroom cap.
Honestly, in other circumstances, Jax would laugh at the comical figure, but when that comical figure was about to square up with a Sporsword, things became less funny. Jax was ready, and as soon as the skeleton raised its sword, which had mushroom vine-like bits growing along it, Jax advanced. The Prince did too, planning to meet Jax in the middle.
Jax scanned his opponent on the way, and his eyes told him nothing, but, just like with the Gloomborn Prince, Jax tried focusing on his magic sense. Faintly, he noticed a yellowish-green cloud being released from the mushrooms growing all over the Prince.
Jax grimaced, finally in melee range as well as infecting distance of the spores. He tried not to breath too deeply, but he still faltered a little when the spores invaded his lungs, immediately having a noticeable effect on his stamina. It was dropping about three times faster than normal.
Jax lashed out, chopping the skeleton with his sword. It tried to parry, but its armor made it stiff. And also rather unprotected too, as the mushrooms were mutilated, exposing the skeleton beneath. Too bad it also released a cloud of thick spores. Jax stumbled back, having taken a big hit to his stamina from that.
Stamina:448/960
Jax frowned, realizing this Prince was neither fast nor magical. He was like a berserker, but slow, as he would take a hit in exchange for a far greater blow. Jax considered how he would take the Prince down, and the only reasonable solution was to simply end it with one blow. That was a tall order, because Jax had tried to disable his foes before, taking away small parts that made a big difference in skeletons' fighting capability.
Jax kep walking circles around the Prince, while the Prince seemed content to simply pump out spores and keep generally close to him. He was an attrition fighter. Jax grimaced, seeing no way to do it but to just get aggressive and finnessey.
Jax pivoted on his toes, charging straight at the Prince, shield raised. He was more careful than he had been with the Steelborn Prince, and managed to hit the Prince head on. It sent it reeling back while Jax regained his footing, the Sporeborn Prince being heavier, probably due to the dense mushrooms covering it.
More importantly, the mushrooms hadn’t exploded with that. With that realization, Jax got to work bullying the fat kid. He ran circles around it, shoving it here and there with his shield, waiting for it to slip up with its defense so could decisively chop its head off.
It took a while, which still drained a lot of Jax’s energy, but he eventually found a moment of carelessness, slinging his sword widely, making a mushroom-clad head fall to the ground.
Jax breathed heavily after he backed away from the cloud he had escaped, feeling how low on energy he was. A quick look at his stamina bar told him what he already knew:
Stamina:189/960
If there wasn’t a break, Jax felt like he might be in trouble.
Congratulations! You have defeated the Sporeborn Prince, also known as the Spore Progenitor.
The Duskborn Prince will now face you.
Jax grimaced. The hardest fight yet would be fought while he was weak and low on stamina. He identified the Prince, who seemed to have more bones than any normal skeleton should have.
[Duskborn Prince(lvl - 19)]
He looked more… intended to be a skeleton, if that makes sense. Like, skeletons were designed to have muscles and ligaments holding it all together and keeping the joints on track, but this Prince looked more like a robot made of bones, with a lot more hinging joints, reinforced areas, and his eye-flames were bright dusky brown. In spite of only being one level higher than the Sporeborn Prince, the Duskborn Prince was a lot more intimidating, and Jax got a generally bad vibe.
But, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Jax decided to approach this the same way: advance steadily.
He walked forward, the Prince content where he was. Jax went for a chop, but was parried, the Prince countering with a slash that Jax blocked, and regretted having done it with the assumption he was stronger. Spoiler alert: he wasn’t. Jax shrugged the first one off, as the difference wasn’t too great, but Jax would need to be more careful about blocking this Prince.
The two stayed in melee, trading slashes, pokes, shoves, and feints, though Jax rarely tried them as, more often than not, they simply did nothing but risk himself needlessly. Jax kept taking light wounds, but was also chipping away at the Prince, literally.
Jax was on a timer though. Surprisingly, he felt like he would win if they kept the battle up as it was, but that was only in a world where Jax was full of stamina. Instead, he needed to take a risk. And that risk was something he hadn’t used in two weeks, as it had done more harm than good then:
[Warrior’s Strength]: Just when they thought you had reached your limit, you surpass them. Minorly increases all physical stats for a short time. Extreme weakness will occur after skill use.
Jax used the skill, an instinctive thing, and instantly felt a lot stronger. Steam began to rise off his skin. If he had to estimate, it probably increased his stats around 10%. The effect was a lot more noticeable with more stats. Jax, emboldened, pressed hard on the Duskborn Prince. Diving in, he stabbed the right shoulder of the Prince, nearly taking a sword to the neck, narrowly twisting away. He wrenched the blade, tearing out bits of bone. Not enough to incapacitate the arm, but it was a start.
Jax was about to renew his assault when the eye-flames of the Prince flared, and Jax felt the already-dark arena turn even darker as the color of Dusk spread. Jax took a defensive approach to the surprise, not knowing what it meant.
The Duskborn Prince raised his left hand, pointing the palm towards Jax, and he saw energy gather into a ball. Jax grimaced, regretting not having asked Nikki what effects the element had. Though, based on everything he had seen so far, Jax was willing to bet a great deal on it being related to the Undead.
The blast never came. Instead, the ball released a focused stream of gaseous Dusk mana, spreading toward Jax. He held his breath, being able to do so for a while with his increased toughness, but it didn’t do anything to help him. The Dusk energy simply ignored physical obstruction and invaded his body directly.
Jax planned on giving his all in an all-or-nothing assault to decide either his or the Prince’s fate, when a System notification, combined with the Prince relaxing, made him stop.
The Duskborn Prince, also known as the Undead Father, has extended an offer to you: “Accept my legacy, Mortal. This is but an echo of me, but I have granted it the capability to extend an offer to those suitable to the arts of Undead Command. I will make you into a Skull-Lord, and you will gain great power.”
Acceptance of this divine offer will result in an immediate evolution to ([Skull Lord]: Stand beneath the Undead Father’s altar and become his favored son. Skull-Lords are feared far and wide for their power. The Undead Father personally picks each one based on criteria unknown to all but himself, but it is sure that each and every one he has ever chosen has been talented far beyond the norm. This Race will immediately evolve your class, profession, and potentially skills. (WARNING!!! Evolution to this Race will transform vital energy(HP) and internal energy(stamina) into undeath energy.)(+4int, cog, +3 other stats, +2 FP)=25)
Jax looked surprisedly at the message, then to the Prince. Divinity? Huh? Jax shook his head, though. It wasn’t even a real consideration for him: he had already given up his humanity, however the wider multiverse chose to look at it. He wouldn’t be giving up his life for unlife. Jax Denied the message, and it disappeared.
A voice appeared, and its tone was similar to the message from a second ago, “Bold choice, mortal. Though, since you are new to the multiverse, you do not yet understand the reality of a Divine’s power. I am undeterred; you will one day join my retinue of Skull-Lords because you will learn the power found upon the line between life and death. You are especially suited to my lineage, more than even my Second Coming. I will let my echo fight at full power for its level. It should help you grow.
Jax frowned, and the Prince began to shake. Jax focused on him, noticing the eye-flames turn from small embers to blazing pyres within the skull of the Prince. The flames were now visible through his nose holes, mouth, and even shooting out the bottom of the skull a little bit. The flames now also lightly covered the bones. It was hardly visible, but it was definitely scary to look at.
Just then, the energy that had invaded Jax’s body fled him, apparently being used to transport the message and that was all. It returned to the Prince, then merged with the Dusk flames. Jax wasn’t sure what this transformation meant, but he was sure it meant the Prince had just become a far greater foe. Jax cursed under his breath, regretting his choice of using the boosting skill, noticing how quickly his stamina was dropping just standing still.
Stamina:85/960
Out of time, Jax knew he had to settle this decisively. He ignored the voice that told him how impossible it was, given that it had been far-fetched before the Prince transformed. He charged forth, ready to trade blows with the Prince, given his relatively full HP.
HP:417/480
He flew into the range of the Prince, the skeleton reacting with an airy sidestep, which Jax chased with a shield-bash. The Prince leaned to the side, grabbed the shield, and used Jax’s strength against him, throwing the arm wide and unbalancing him. Before Jax could even think what to do next, the Prince hit him in the face with a palm, sending him reeling back with watery eyes and a broken nose, then he was assaulted by a sword he only saw right before it hit him, trying to flop out of the way. It partly worked, as instead of being disemboweled at the waist, he got a huge open wound on his right hip when he tried to jump.
Jax screamed through gritted teeth, anger beginning to cloud what little combat rationality he had. Jax pawed himself into a run, sprinting at the Prince. Jax regretted it the moment he did it: The Prince was simply better than him in combat, matching his stats and making him look like a brain-damaged toddler swinging around a stick.
As expected, Jax hit nothing, then the Prince grabbed a handful of his hair as Jax passed, halting him painfully. He tried to swing his sword behind himself, but met steel in its path, not budging the sword because he had no leverage. He roared, thrashing, but all it earned him was a sword crossing over his shoulder then resting against his throat.
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Pure coldness ran like fluid down his spine, invading his limbs and freezing his thoughts. I’m going to die… he thought, a strange emotion overcoming him. It wasn’t like anything he’d felt before, and Jax felt the world slow down, his heart rate rising. He was out of stamina, in the single digits. He was bested, and Jax briefly wondered why a “divine being” would contact him. It felt fake.
Then Jax felt the sword begin to slide over his throat, and he looked up at the ceiling, feeling something rising from his heart. It felt like lightning, burning a line he felt from his heart to his brain. He breathed deeply, feeling an overwhelming sensation as he screamed in pain, rage, fear, and ecstasy, his mind not properly able to process everything. The last thing Jax processed clearly was a System message.
[Warrior’s Strength]---->[Adrenaline Rush]
Jax, still screaming, bucked back, feeling the skeleton become weak as putty and get knocked back. He had a cut in his throat, small but still dangerous. Jax didn’t even understand the pain he felt from the wound. He grabbed the sword and shield, feeling rationality become hazy. It was still there, but mutated. He stood, turned, and charged, ready to kill the skeleton for good. Jax swung his sword, the Prince aiming to use his strength against him again by angling his blade and deflecting, but Jax overwhelmed the deflection as his sword slid along it by stopping midway down, then pressing in.
It literally sent the skeleton flying. Jax jumped forward, at where the Prince would land before he landed, and recklessly swung his shield like a hammer, aiming for the center of mass. The Prince couldn’t do anything in the air, folding around the shield as it sent him flying again, this time farther.
Jax didn’t notice or care about the cracking sound that came from his arm when he did that, simply charging forward again. He couldn’t dash like he had done before; his foot felt like it was in liquid. Instead, Jax just kept screaming, chasing the Prince to where he landed in a heap.
Jax swung the flat of his sword at the Prince’s face. It connected with a strange metallic sound, rocking it back to smash the back of its head against the floor with a crack. Jax went down on his knees, straddling the Prince, then threw his sword aside, instead taking his shield by each side with both hands and raising it high before repeatedly smashing it against the skull.
Jax kept screaming, bashing it in spite of the weird cracking noises that came from his arms. When they stopped working, being more like ropes than arms, he dropped the shield and slammed his face into the skull. He did that two more times until he blacked out instantly.
…
The Undead Father was laughing, looking at the maniacal mortal who had rejected him. The boy was screaming, eyes bloodshot, and harming himself almost as much as he did the Father’s echo.
The Undead father winced when the Mortal jumped forward faster than any his level should be able to without a skill, breaking every bone in his lead foot in the action. He then proceeded to nearly shatter his arm with a shield bash so powerful it instantly killed the echo that went by his former name: Duskborn Prince.
The young mortal didn’t notice he had ended it, still screaming in mania as he crushed the skull. The Father ceased looking at the stream; the mortal was successful, and would live. But he would live with lessons learned: skills like the one he used were powerful, but they were even more dangerous. After all, the concept that Jax had used was one unfamiliar to the Father, which could mean only one thing: It was a new concept that had yet to be fully taken under the wing of the System.
…
Jax woke up. That was all. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, couldn’t see, and definitely couldn’t understand what had happened. Jax felt only pain. His entire body was sore, and outside of that, his left leg literally felt like jelly made of pain incarnate, while his shield arm wasn’t too much better.
It was the worst Jax had ever felt, and he imagined this was what it felt like when you jumped off a building, landing flat on your back from twenty stories, and somehow living with the consequences. Jax could still read his System messages though.
[Adrenaline Rush(Rare)]: Adrenaline is a double edged sword. Your body naturally imposes limits on itself so that it doesn’t harm itself with its own strength, but adrenaline is the key that unlocks it. That was before the System. What happens when you remove the limiter of stats? Increase your physical stats by ~100%, but be warned, for overzealousness in the drawing of this strength will result in death or severe soul damage.
You have defeated, and killed, the Duskborn Prince, also known as the Undead Father.
The King will now judge your performance.
Jax couldn’t even move, and the first part of the message made him fear that the King would now fight him.
Jax heard heavy footsteps from where he suspected the King came from. A raspy, echoing, and very ghost-like voice spoke, “You are young. You are inexperienced. You are unstable. You handled each and every situation differently than you should have. You should have crushed the Dawn, smothered the Flame, dulled the Steel, endured the Magic, memorized the Gloom, denied the Spore, and Banished the Dusk.” The King now stood right by Jax, and he didn’t even have the energy to try and run from what he knew to be a horrendous evaluation.
Jax felt a hand land on his chest roughly, then gripping the leather bands of his armor. Jax couldn’t even gasp or scream from the pain. The King kept speaking, “You are unfamiliar with your weapon, with your body, and are both reckless and too conserved. You are of a one-track mind, thinking only of fighting the opponents before you when you could have simply exited the arena to regain stamina.” Jax was now being held by his armor, held aloft by the King. The sheer pain made him open his eyes and blearily see the King looking up at him, the flames within the King’s eyes both white-gold and inky, oily gray. Jax felt fear.
“You are doomed to die within the Battleground if you are as you are, and stay that way.” Jax paled, but held on to the words of the King. It sounded like he wasn’t planning on killing Jax, though it felt that way as he was still held high.
“But all of those things are able to be supplemented. Should you live, you will grow older and wiser, with more experience making you stable and consistent in your approach. Training will instill within you a connection with your weapons and body. Clever tactics will come once you shake your innate fear of combat.” The King cocked its shoulder, hand pointed right at Jax’s heart, and he instantly lost confidence that the King was going to let him live.
“Your final result is… very mixed.” The King reared back, and Jax closed his eyes again. He felt a hand penetrate his chest, right where his heart was. But, instead of pain, it felt warm and ticklish. Jax opened his eyes, noticing the Dawnborn Prince behind the King, touching his elbow and transferring some white-gold energy along the arm, which seemed to get stronger and stronger the longer it traveled along the King’s arm. It went into Jax chest, where the disturbing sight of a hand impaled his chest. Jax felt it go into his heart and mix with… something. It seemed to be vital energy, based on how it pulsed, like his heart. It began to spread through his body, making everything start to feel better.
The King was still going, “Your soul is one containing dominance, independence, strength, and fury. It would be wrong to say you did badly in the evaluation due to your inexperience and freshness to this world. You felled foes that were stronger than you, though you made them look weak. The Duskborn Prince, my last son, ascended to Divinity, even though I did not, and you felled him. Even in his weakest state, that is a feat to be proud of. Your use of a novel concept was flawed, but used with almost no System assistance provided from skills, which is impressive in its own right. You nearly killed yourself, which takes marks off, but still.”
Jax heard crunching and grinding as his leg felt tingly, and so did his shield arm. He nearly giggled at the feeling, but kept his composure, listening to the last of the King’s words. “In the end, I will give you an opportunity, fitting, considering your result. Should you fail, you will die, which is fitting for a poor performance, and should you succeed, you will gain much, fitting a stellar performance. Come back after you evolve to E-grade, and a new trial will await you. I will stand in the place of my fallen son, who you killed completely.”
Jax was set back on the ground, marveling at the lack of any pain. He looked at his status.
HP:480/480
Stamina:960/960
MP:350/350
Completely full. Jax looked back at the King, considering if he should ask for what he had come for originally: the Conitidus Crown of Duskborn Outcasts. Deciding to just ask, he spoke up, “I originally came here to retrieve a crown, though I didn’t expect you all to be… alive-ish.” Jax let the question linger, and the King snorted. Spectraly, of course.
“Naturally, the spoils of the opponent you slay are yours to keep. Such is the way of life, not just the multiverse. You may take only the belongings of the Duskborn, for he is the only one you’ve slain.”
Jax nodded, remembering the other Princes all standing behind the King. Well, the Duskborn Prince, or the Undead Father, was not there, still being a half-skeleton with a pile of bone chips for a skull. Jax walked over, and inspected both the crown and sword. Unlike the others, they were not derelict, but also not as ‘kingly’ in nature.
[Conitidus Crown of Duskborn Outcasts(unique)]: A crown once worn by the Undead Father, who went by the name of Duskborn Prince during his low-mortal years. It is now stripped of its royal privilege, making whoever wears it capable of better using undeath energy as well as having more of it.
Requirements: Undead
[Duskborn’s Sword(Rare)]: The Undead Father used this sword in his low-mortal years. It was lost inside a System Event, lost to him. It’s records have been sealed, making it capable of growing and unlocking more power as one rises in level. This sword is wielded in hatred of the living, for they were favored by the System, which made the Bane affinity. Duskborn’s Sword was made to even the playing field. Vital energy withers at the touch of this sword, as well as internal energy. Enchantments: Vital Bane, Curse of Hatred
Requirements: lvl 10+
Jax took the sword and crown, taking his leave. The King had simply sat back down on his coffin, the Princes forming their arch, with a small gap where the Duskborn Prince had been. They didn’t react to him, so he sped out the room, down the hall, and into the starting room, where a skull-bound was anxiously waiting at the unlit corner of the room. Jax walked over to him, “I got your crown.”
Nikki began to shake, “WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!!!” The skull-bound’s voice reverberated grandly, and Jax twitched.
“You’re right. I took too long to acquire this crown, who’s wearer was still alive and kicking… ish. I’ll just keep it.” Jax turned away.
Nikki groaned, “Just give it here, already. I held up my end of the bargain, so unless you’re a no-good cheat, you’ll give me that crown.”
Jax, for the first time, felt anger rise unexpectedly out of himself. “You held your end of the bargain?!” He wheeled on the skull, who recoiled at Jax’s sudden outburst. “I nearly died in there! The King and his seven Princes were undead, and I had to defeat them all or die trying. I barely succeeded, and even then, only luck pulled me through. So, Nikki, how exactly did you hold up your end of the bargain?”
“Well, I didn’t know! I can’t go down the hallway, much less scout that room! The only reason I knew the crown was in there was because of ancient texts I recently unearthed.” Nikki said, defending himself.
Jax growled, “If you didn’t know, you should have said something. That would have let me either prepare, or reject you outright. Its a moot point continuing to discuss it: the price has gone up. I can’t use the crown, but I’m sure I can find a use for it somewhere.”
Nikki showed fear, “What? No! You wouldn’t have gotten it if not for me!”
Jax stepped forward, “I also wouldn’t have nearly died, gotten my body literally crushed, and attracted the attention of some ominous “god” calling himself the Undead Father. That doesn’t sound like the good kind of attention to me.”
Nikki suddenly went still at the midpoint of the little rant. “Y…you spoke with the Undead Father?...”
Jax, sensing a very obvious shift in the skull-bound’s tone, stepped back, relaxing a little bit as he nodded. “He offered to turn me into a Skull-Lord, but I rejected because I don’t want to leave behind the last of my human features: life.”
Nikki reeled even more at the mention of Skull-Lords. “How could you have rejected?! Skull Lords are of the Father’s personal retinue! As in, you would be in a direct relationship with him, gaining massive record boosts, innumerable resources, and the entire Undead Family at your beck and call! That isn’t even to mention the power of the Race itself!”
Jax shook his head, “I like life, and I’m too ignorant to know the scope of all those benefits fully. I’m glad, too, as I wouldn’t even want to be lured to undeath. It simply isn’t attractive to me at all.”
Nikki’s eyes flared, “Fine! What do you want, then? I can only do so much, and I am not rich or anything.”
“Information. I want to know everything I can about the System, multiverse, gods, everything. And teach me magic.” Jax was tired of not knowing things, and that included magic. He was tired of running around looking at crazy magical phenomena, having absolutely no idea what was going on. It was time to make some crazy shit happen himself, outside of crazy physical feats.
Nikki just bobbed, his version of a nod. “Fine. But I’ll warn ya now, it's gonna take a while. There’s a lot to the System. And I’ll get you started on magic, but I can’t take you far, being undead and level 0.”
Jax nodded, “I knew that from the beginning. Now, lets start with the System…”
Jax took a seat in the corner, beginning a long session of Q&A with an undead skull about magic, gods, the System, and the multiverse.