Purple blood dripped off his [Soulrend]’s blade. All the karnathis were dead, and the small piles of white powder were the only remaining evidence of their existence.
Kade initially found some thrill in getting back into the fray, but it quickly disappeared when he realized that most of these karnathis were cannon fodder. He must’ve killed over thirty, which wasn’t enough to level up anything.
His skills and his [Arcana Level] stayed stagnant.
Kade didn’t think weaklings such as these karnathis could capture him. Somebody stronger had set the trap, and this group just got lucky enough to come across his unconscious body.
Still, that they could walk into the trap without being affected hinted at these karnathis being friendly with whoever set the trap.
“Watch out. A humanoid species called Karnathi captured me. The ones that had me were weak, but I suspect stronger support is behind them.” Kade sent the message to Eliza and set to explore the settlement.
He had never ventured too far from the central fire pit since, for some reason, the karnathis had zero warriors capable of ranged attacks. They rushed towards him all at once as if that would help them overwhelm him.
They had a language from the sounds he heard from them, so perhaps it might be part of the culture. Maybe these creatures just didn’t use something like an arrow.
Kade shook his head. These were all pure guesses, but perhaps he could learn something as he explored the settlement.
He noted the stone barricades that circled the settlement, but describing it as a settlement was giving it too much credit. It was more of an outpost.
There were two watchtowers on opposite sides, but they were empty since he had seen the karnathis inside rush to him before they found themselves impaled on his [Soulrend].
Kade thought it was a shame that the fascinating armor the karnathis wore had been reduced to white powder along with their bodies. Being in the thick of battle made him forget everything but getting rid of what was in front of him.
If he found more of them in the future, he intended to rip some of that armor off to see what it could do.
Kade looked over the stone barricade and saw he was back in the grasslands. With how lush the grass was, he was nowhere near the desert.
He checked the identical buildings next. There were three of them.
Inside were bare rooms with simple cots for every karnathi in the outpost. The lack of any decorations surprised him. Even personal effects were missing, as if the only things that they possessed were what they wore and carried.
Kade frowned as he checked the most elaborate building of them all. Of course, that was relative.
The other buildings, including the watchtower, consisted mainly of blocky stone and had an obvious utilitarian purpose. Small carvings decorated the sides of the entrance of this building, which was made of wood.
Kade gripped his [Soulrend] as he felt something off about it. He expected whatever had the power to capture him, to ambush him from inside this building.
He was ready to burn everything into ashes, but he froze when he saw what was actually inside.
Skulls lined the interior walls of the building. The skulls, neatly stacked along the interior walls of the building, showed signs of blunt weapon damage on most of them and holes in a rare few.
Kade recalled what all the karnathis had carried—a club with a sharp point on the bottom of the handle. It matched with the damage he saw in the skulls.
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These must be their kills.
He didn’t enter this decorated tomb. He didn’t know if it was some sort of ritual that caused them to place the skull of their enemies in such a manner, but something was wrong. His previous wariness only increased the closer he got to the entrance of the building.
The intelligent thing to do was back away and devise a plan to deal with this. But that was too complicated.
Kade had a better idea.
He swiftly jabbed his [Soulrend] towards the building and activated [Inferno Burst] at the end.
The flames quickly burst into the building and started devouring the skulls that lined the walls. It didn’t take long for the building to catch fire and crumble under its own weight.
Kade raised his eyebrow when the uneasy feeling didn’t disappear at the destruction before him. It felt like he had unleashed something dangerous.
A smile grew as he waited to see what would happen.
He needed a monster with a higher [Arcana Level] than his to level up and restore his health. Preferably within five [Arcana Levels].
Eliza: Tall, bald things? I recommend you don’t bother trying to speak with them. It looked like they wanted to eat me, so I unfortunately had to get rid of them.
Kade possessed an odd expression as he skimmed the interface. Speaking with them was not on his list of things to do after meeting a Karnathi.
“I won’t,” he replied with a shake of his head. If he remembered, he would try to understand precisely what Eliza was doing on her side after all this was done.
Kade somehow had unbelievable patience and waited for the building to burn down completely. He kept expecting something to burst out of the burning building and challenge him to an epic fight, but nothing of the sort happened.
The last flames died with a whimper, but he didn’t pay attention to that.
In the middle of what used to be the floor, there was a large hole with a purple miasma slowly rising from it.
Kade stared for a moment before picking up a large rock and tossing it into the hole. He heard it hitting the sides for several seconds before it splashed when it hit the bottom.
It’s not too deep.
Unlike when he set the building on fire, he was much more cautious in his approach to the whole.
Kade got a waft of the purple miasma. It smelled sweet.
He didn’t sense any changes in his body and felt comfortable enough to go closer. The interface appeared.
Warning: You are experiencing mana suppression. Your [MP] is now at 20% of its standard capacity.
Kade froze and quickly rechecked his body for any other unknown effects. Thankfully, there were none. He pulled up his [MP].
MP: 4/4 (80% penalty)
He recalled how bulky the karnathis were and how they used nothing but physical attacks to strike him. Since this was in their outpost, it would make sense that their odd ritual room hid something that weakened their enemies.
Maybe it strengthens them, too. Too bad they couldn’t use it during our fight.
Kade moved closer and stuck his [Soulrend] out over the hole’s opening. The miasma did nothing to it, and neither did something jump out of the hole.
He peeked over the edge and saw the water at the bottom and a faint outline of a tunnel at the side. The purple miasma originated from there.
Kade went over the negatives of jumping headfirst, or rather, feetfirst, into this hole… there really weren’t many.
Having reduced [MP] was an annoyance, but his usual fighting style did not depend on it. However, after the eighty percent penalty, [Inferno Burst] and [Ethereal Glide] had to be ruled out.
Even if he dumped all his [Free Points], [Inferno Burst] would be impossible; however, making [Ethereal Glide] available was not out of the question.
Kade didn’t have to think about it for long.
Free Points: 4—>1.5
Wisdom: 10—>12.5
MP: 20/20—>25/25
MP Recovery: 9.6% per minute—>10% per minute
Alert: You have reached the maximum [MP Recovery] that a [Warrior] can possess!
The alert was unexpected. Unfortunately, it made some sense. He supposed that with how fast the recovery rate increased, it would be possible to have functionally infinite [MP] without a [Class] limit.
He stared down the hole and asked, “System, when will I upgrade my Class?”
Warrior will have the first upgrade at [Arcana Level 35]. Further upgrades will be individualized.
Kade perked up with information. He wasn’t that far away from the upgrade. It was also likely that he would be the first one to do so on Earth.
“Will I get another reward like the Soulrend if I am the first to get a Class upgrade?”
That is unknown at this time.
He took that as a yes. It was even more imperative for him to jump into the hole.
Kade checked the [MP] to ensure it could activate [Ethereal Glide].
MP: 5/5 (80% penalty)
It could.
Kade jumped down with zero hesitation.