Magnus’ vision faded to black at first, the last vestiges of what must have been a pain induced hallucination now gone and the cruel reality came into view, the gnarled hand of the spirit still reaching for his head. The difference was that now, instead of an empty gaze devoid of hope, Magnus’ eyes held a fierce burning determination.

He would not be the one fall today.

His whole body ached as he struggled. While his health may be exhausted, his stamina was far from empty and he leveraged that, pushing [Devastating Blow] beyond his limits as his muscles tensed. He could feel the usually subtle power of [Last Stand] now roaring as a storm, activated at a level never before seen. In a fit of clarity or perhaps madness, he flooded his right arm with all the mana he could muster, not with the intent to reinforce but to enhance. The mana burned his flesh but that was nothing compared to the pain of the rot spreading throughout his body and it settled sloppily into his muscles, still buzzing restlessly. It would have to do.

Magnus swung, his body absolutely flooded with pain. The spirit, distracted by the agony it inflicted, failed to notice the mana gathering and Magnus’ punch hit it right in the in the jaw. Its jaw shattered and the spirit flew away a good few meters. Unfortunately, the spirit’s jaw wasn’t the only thing to break as Magnus could feel his arm snap in multiple places. The mana served its purpose in enhancing his strike but it revealed the price as it seared the muscles in his arm before quickly sputtering out.

Risking saturation, Magnus used [Expel] to get rid of the vile energy wriggling ever deeper into his body. The pain magnified, threating to knock him unconscious. He heard a ding inside his head but pushed the notification aside as he tried to guide the mana churning inside him to the places most affected by the rot. As his mana left his body along with a river of a black goo, he could feel something rising out from his gut. After rolling and getting on his knees he puked. The noxious taste in his mouth helped take his mind off the pain a little.

Not wanting to be caught in that position, he stood up using his one good hand. Even with [Expel] getting rid of bucketfuls of the nasty ooze, Magnus could still feel the mysterious energy eating away at his flesh. He didn’t know if he would survive after killing the spirit but he had to finish it, if not to prevent it from killing everything in the dungeon, then just for some satisfaction.

Bringing one foot in front of the other was a monumental task in the state he was in but the fire roaring in his soul overshadowed the pain gnawing at his flesh. He looked down at the spirit lying on the ground just a few meters in front of him. It was spasming on the ground, the bone of its jaw slowly regrowing. Whatever was happening to it was healing it.

Magnus would not let it.

The time when he was running away from everything was over. In a way. The person he was before he woke up in the cave was dead. He would no longer hide and run away. It was time to start anew and become what he wanted to. Who that was in the long run Magnus didn’t know. What he knew was that in this moment, with every fiber of his body, he wanted to smash the thing lying before him into dust.

The sound of the spirit’s body spasming on the ground was drowned out by the rhythmic footfalls of Magnus’ steps. Every step sounded like the beat of a drum. Each louder than the last.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Alone, they felt incomplete. Until something joined the song. A choir of sounds never heard yet familiar. The rustling of leaves, the chirping of a songbird. Magnus stopped and looked around him, the song continuing on without him. In front of him, the spirit now lay motionless, its eye filled with hate and maybe a little sprinkle of fear. He could almost hear the emotions spilling out of the twisted being, taste them on his tongue. Looking around the room, the colors felt more real, more solid. Along with the colors came the song. Every stone, every drop of water dripping down from the cave ceiling sounded a little different. The stones, a sense of weight. The drops, a feeling of flow.

Looking down, Magnus examined his breastplate and as expected, it sang too. The song more complex than of the environment around him. Something in its song appealed to Magnus very much. It reminded him of the moment he started to hear the music around him. Maybe it was defiant stand of a single tree before a storm or the need to protect that its song spoke of but before he knew it Magnus started humming, following the breastplate’s song as close as he could.

Immersed in the beauty of the song, he almost forgot his objective. He focused on the spirit again. Connected to the sounds of the universe more deeply now, he caught snippets of the spirit’s song. More complex than even his breastplate’s, the little he could catch spoke of black rot and festering disease. It was horrifying but beautiful in its own way, like the rest of the song was. Nevertheless, he would not let the beauty of its melody distract him. Magnus started walking again.

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All the other sounds fell silent as if a solo was incoming. A new melody rose, this one from deep inside of him. It was his song. And it felt hollow. Boring.

His foot hit the ground.

No more just a beat of a drum it sounded closer to a tree creaking. The melody inside of him changed, becoming a little closer to his breastplate’s.

Another step. Another change.

Throughout all this Magnus kept humming, subtly guiding his melody, shaping it into something greater, something closer in quality to the spirit’s own.

On his next step the song rose to greater heights. The mysterious energy lodged inside him filled with the spirit’s melody of decay was suppressed, no longer doing anything. Parts of it even started to break down and disappear. Unbeknownst to Magnus the space behind him started to warp, revealing something.

As he took step after step, he could feel the lingering vile energy get cleansed, as if it was candle in a rainstorm. Each step brought more and more color into the hazy image behind him and as it solidified, Magnus could feel his battered flesh knit together, his broken arm violently snapping together.

The final step. His song reached a crescendo, drowning out everything around him. If Magnus were to peer behind him, he would see a mighty oak tree drawn into reality. He, however, just stared at the spirit’s broken form. No longer healing, it looked like a fish out of water, like the environment itself seemed to reject its existence.

In a mockery of what it did to him, Magnus kneeled down and started reaching with his hand toward its face. Humming, he guided the energy of his song. It was similar to using mana with [Internal Mana Manipulation] but instead of using his conscious mind he used something that lay deeper inside him. His soul. He had no idea how he was doing what he was doing but he didn’t care in the moment. The spirit struggled, the maggots under its skin writhing as if trying to escape. It tried to sing a song of its own but each time it got close it failed, like hitting the wrong note over and over again.

Magnus’s hand came down like the axe of an executioner. Once he touched the spirit’s rotten body, it screamed out in pain. Magnus knew his song wasn’t meant to harm, it was meant to endure, and it did. The spirit’s song sought to corrupt and rot so he gave it what it wanted. Unfortunately for the spirit Magnus’ song right now felt like an ocean and its like a stream. As the energy rushed out of it and into him, he could feel the soul behind the body weaken. It didn’t stop until the soul was weak enough that it could no longer hold on to its vessel in this world and Magnus felt it leave.

With that done, he turned around as the song came to its conclusion. There he saw the oak tree standing behind him. Instinctively, Magnus knew it was his. An image derived from his song. When the song finally ended, it took the tree with it. While the song was gone and Magnus could feel it no longer, the energy it brought with it still lingered inside of him. It sat inside his core and radiated a comforting warm energy, subtly suffusing his flesh with it. Walking up to his knife, he picked it up and nicked himself with it. He watched the bleeding stop in a few seconds and the skin close after only a few minutes. Was his Vitality somehow enhanced?

Trying to open his Stat Screen proved fruitless as he couldn’t access with the row of notifications vying for his attention in his mind. Just as he was about to access them and process them, he felt the last of his energy still inside of him lurch out and travel into his breastplate. Unlike his mana the energy felt like it could run out and as it rushed out of him it soon did. But not before the breastplate underwent a change.

Just as his soul grew, the breastplate grew with him. Its changes were a little more physical though and it literally grew to cover his whole torso instead of just his chest as it used to. While the growth it size may be the most noticeable change Magnus could feel something hidden deeper. That’s why he used [Identify].

[ Living Breastplate - Rare] – Tier 0

Originally, an old but nevertheless trusty breastplate, this piece of armor has been upgraded by an Upgrade Token made by the True Ents. Infused by nature mana, this breastplate is more durable than many metals and gains the ability to regenerate when fed by mana. Infused by its owner, Magnus Callahan, this breastplate has increased capabilities and is Soulbound.

“What the hell does Soulbond mean?” Only silence answered Magnus’ question. The questions kept piling on with no answers in sight. Sighing, he let the notifications he pushed aside while fighting finally free.

[You have gained 2 Levels. You are now Level 14]

[+2 to Endurance. 4 Stat Points gained]

[Slashing Resistance is now Level 2]

[Toughen is now Level 6]

[Devastating Blow is now Level 5]

[Last Stand is now Level 6]

[Common Skill gained – Mana Strike]

Enhances your attack with Mana.

[Expel is now Level 4]

[Internal Mana Manipulation is now Level 3]

[Newborn Spirit of Decay – Final boss of the Rotten Grove has been defeated.]

[Distributing rewards. Rewards increased due to solo clear.]

A chest popped into existence in front of him as usual with no sign of it ever not being there. One more single notification still throbbed inside his head but he left it alone for now as he just sat on the ground, his whole being exhausted. He highly doubted anything dangerous would come down here and so he rested and just thought. It was yet another close brush with death in the last week. That kind of action deeply exhausts even the strongest of people and Magnus didn’t think he was one of those. As his thoughts drifted, he plunged into a dreamless sleep.