The interesting thing about death is that it always succeeds in bringing people together, forcing them to unite in honor of their fallen comrades. So, though death is a sad occurrence, it can also be an inspiration for unity and a provenance for strength.
Hilda Alderman.
Sector 12, The Warren.
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[Evolved Malefic Shade, Tier 5]
The shade was an ape-like creature, completely covered in black fur, and as it burst into the clearing, the formation of the villagers scattered, and someone shouted.
“Raol, It’s an aberrant.”
Instead of rushing towards the Rizzel furs as the villagers scattered in fear, the shade turned towards the only other aberrant like itself within the clearing.
With insane speed, it rushed forward, but Aodhán was already on his feet. He had been shocked at the emergence of the evolved creature, but immediately the shade turned towards him; he knew that only one of them would remain alive by the end of the day.
He had spent the past two hours honing his control over the {Create construct} skill and had managed to improve his control just enough that it was able to create the lightning spears almost as fast as the storm spears.
Now, even as the malefic shade rushed at him, the storm above boomed with thunder, and four bolts of lightning descended alongside an equal number of storm spears.
The shade disappeared, only to appear behind him. It lashed out with long black claws, aiming at his unprotected back, but Aodhán reacted instantly, and the four bolts of lightning exploded at once, throwing the shade several feet backwards even as the storm spears shot towards it.
Shadows coalesced into a large shield that blocked the spears, and the shade roared as shadow spikes jutted out of the ground and struck at him. Borrowing the shade idea, a black shield appeared around him, but it wasn’t large enough to fully protect him, and the spikes pierced into his feet.
With a shout of pain, Aodhán retaliated, summoning spears of lightning from the agitated storm cloud above him and infusing them with his will. The four spears shot forward with insane speed, and the shade only managed to defend against one of them; the other three stabbed into its chest and nailed it to the ground.
Aodhán rushed forward, but before he could finish it off, the shade disappeared, traveling through shadows to emerge behind him.
Once again, Aodhán was prepared, and he lashed out with a storm hammer infused with a large amount of willpower. The hammer struck the shade’s head, and its jaw cracked with an audible sound. It tried to escape again through the shadows, but Aodhán summoned more lightning spears that stabbed into it and exploded on contact.
The shade let out an agonized wail as it tore itself free and rushed into the shadows once more. Aodhán turned around, expecting it to emerge behind him once again, and although it did, it wasn’t exactly what Aodhán had expected.
Instead of a single shade, three shades emerged from the shadows and rushed at him. He stumbled backwards, trying to attack the three shades at once, but he couldn’t accurately divide his attention between them, and soon, wounds began to accumulate on his body.
He turned to see the council members dealing with a Tier 8 creature that had arrived immediately after the shade. It was a large bull-like creature with four horns and razor-sharp hooves that the system identified as Borager.
No one was coming to help him as the other villagers were busy defending against the persistent wave of crazed monsters, so Aodhán focused on his fight, dodging instead of attacking, and that was when he realized that he could only sense the core of the middle shade.
Aodhán immediately began to attack the shade while defending against the others. Wounds began to accumulate on their bodies as lightning spears met shadow shields and shadow blades met storm shields.
For almost half an hour, the fight remained at a stalemate, but unknown to the shade, he had been channeling energy into the storm cloud above him, hoping to recreate the skill he’d used to defeat the Rithclaw.
The storm rumbled incessantly as energy was funneled into it, and lightning flowed on its surface like a sea of serpents. The storm cloud grew more ferocious as it absorbed more of his energy, and a few minutes later, Aodhán could tell that the storm had reached its limits, so he waited for an opening in the shade’s defenses, and when he found it, he slammed a storm hammer into its chest.
The middle shade stumbled to its knees in pain as its ribs cracked, and at that moment, Aodhán called down lightning from the storm cloud and further imbued it with his will.
Lightning flowed down from the cloud like a tide and descended on the malefic shade. Light flashed, blinding him, but he recovered faster than before, and when the spots cleared from his eyes, all that was left of the shade was a headless corpse in the center of a wide area of blackened earth.
Both monsters and humans had paused as the flash of light had blinded them, but Aldric had used the opportunity to seize control of the Borager’s mind and eliminate it before it could regain itself.
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Aodhán thought Aldric’s abilities seemed very similar to telepathy, but when he’d asked, Aldric had scoffed and said his abilities were nowhere near the level of an actual telepath.
Aodhán moved towards the shade’s corpse and dug his hands into the abdomen to retrieve a glowing black core that pulsed with writhing shadow tendrils.
Immediately he touched the core, a line of text suddenly appeared before him, and his eyes widened in astonishment.
[REDIRECT ENERGY TO ADVANCE CLASS] YES/NO
Aodhán grinned, happy to have solved another mystery during this expedition. He’d been wondering if he needed to undergo another tribulation to advance his class, but now he has the answer: to advance his class, he needed to absorb the cores of other evolved monsters.
Aodhán mentally selected the yes prompt, and energy instantly flowed through him, but instead of the normal pathway, it followed a more direct path to reach his core.
Nothing happened after the core crumbled to dust in his palms, but when he reviewed his status, Aodhán immediately spotted the difference and realized that he had a very long way to go before reaching the next class of evolution.
….
[STATUS]
Name: Aodhán Ashoka
Title: Neophyte
Class: Evolved storm awakened: 2%
Tier: 5–2.27%
Skills: {Innate}: Storm and Lightning manipulation. Summon Lightning bolts & Storm clouds.
{Other}: Lightning Descent, Create construct.
Bloodline: Nil
….
Aodhán shook his head sadly. After absorbing the evolved core of a Tier 5 monster, his class had only advanced a single percentage. Maybe this world wasn’t so cruel after all, but it definitely wasn’t generous either.
Aodhán turned to see the battle dwindling as the number of monsters had been severely reduced. Many villagers just stood around, resting, while the others fought the monsters that were left.
He took a seat on one of the stone chairs crafted by one of the earth-attuned villagers, but just as he breathed a sigh of relief, a loud screech echoed out, and a winged lizard-like monster flew through his storm cloud and into the clearing, its sharp claws aimed at one of the hanging furs, and floating above its head was a line of text that identified it as a Tier 8 winged raptor.
Elora reacted instantly, and a cyclone of chaotic wind smashed into it, or it would have if space hadn’t rippled as the raptor teleported and reappeared on the other side of the clearing. At the sight of the conceptual monster, Aldric instantly focused on it, intent on being the ones to kill it and absorb the core.
The raptor fell an instant later, after it moved into the path of several metal javelins conjured by Carvahl, and one managed to pierce through its heart. It let out a piercing cry, but the sound was soon cut off as Aldric stabbed his spear into its throat, killing it instantly.
Aodhán sat back down, as he hadn’t even been needed, and an hour later, the battle finally came to an end.
Many of the villagers were wounded, but all of them were alive, and some were even healing. They let out a cheer of victory, and even the mayor gave a small smile in satisfaction.
“The battle is over, and the horde has been defeated.” The mayor announced. “But we are not out of the woods yet. We still need to scour this forest for anything still living that is above the 3rd tier.”
“It is unlikely that we’ll find any, but we’ll feel better if we confirm it.” Carvahl added, and the villagers agreed.
Soon, they were split into groups of six and sent off in various directions. Aldric and the earth-attuned girl were in his group, along with a trio of girls who seemed like siblings.
As they began their journey through the forest, the girl nudged Aldric and asked, “So what’s the deal between you and Councilor Elora?”
Aldric sighed as if he’d been asked that exact question a thousand times already. “There’s nothing between me and the councilor, and I know you think I’m lying, but I’m not.”
“Yay, I won. You owe me two Tier 3 cores, Tyla; I told you there was nothing.” One of the siblings said to the girl, and she groaned in frustration, but Aodhán was just happy to finally know the girl’s name.
She wasn’t particularly beautiful, but something about her called to him. He had no plans to pursue her or anything, but, well, maybe or not, whatever happens.
“When did my life become a source of entertainment?” Aldric asked mournfully. “You know, back in my day…
Aldric droned on as they scoured their designated part of the forest, but found nothing above Tier 1 and soon returned back to the clearing.
Some of the council members had remained behind to count and distribute the cores they’d gathered, and as people returned, they handed them fur pouches literally bulging with cores.
Some of the villagers had reached their limits, but it was still extremely valuable, as they could exchange it for food or other necessary needs they might have.
Aodhán watched with eager eyes as Carvahl handed him a fur pouch, and he immediately opened it to count just how many cores he’d gained from this expedition.
After a few moments of counting, he realized that he’d only gained 30 cores, but his pouch was already heavier than average, so he closed the pouch and went to stand next to a scowling Aldric.
“This has to be the least profitable expedition I’ve ever been to.” He complained as he shook the pouch angrily. “There are only 7 conceptual cores in here, but half of them are below Tier 4, and the rest aren’t any better.”
“You should be grateful.” Tyla muttered in disappointment. “You have about 30 cores in your pouch, while mine is only 22.”
Aldric wanted to complain about how the other twenty-three cores in his pouch were practically useless to him, but he shut his mouth and glared at anyone who stared in his direction.
Aodhán checked his pouch again and found out that he had five conceptual cores in his pouch, but only one was Tier 6.
He pulled Aldric to one corner of the clearing and said, “I’ve got some conceptual cores, so we can exchange.”
Aldric’s expression brightened, and a minute later, Aldric handed him six elemental cores; only one of them was at the 6th tier, while the others were between Tiers 4 and 5.
“The extra is for luck.” Aldric replied as he turned around to search for the next person he could exchange with, but Aodhán pulled him back and whispered.
“I think we should tell them about the cores.”
Aldric observed him with a neutral expression for a long time before he shook his head and replied. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” Aodhán asked as anger bubbled within him. “These people are your family, and you’re just going to watch while they absorb a ton of impurities?”
“I assure you that I’m aware of how the entire situation looks, but I can’t help you, Aodhán.” Aldric hissed, but a moment later, he sighed and said, “When I joined the academy in the sector capital, they told me they knew how to prevent the limit disease, but I had to take an oath of silence that bound my core.”
Aldric said nothing else, but Aodhán already figured out the rest of it. The oath prevented him from speaking about the limit to individuals who didn’t already know about them; still, something nags at him, and he said.
“You said you planned to tell me before you returned to the academy, were you—”
Aldric scoffed. “Obviously, I lied, Aodhán; I can’t tell anyone.”
Aodhán responded with a smile as he glanced at the councilors gathered at the center of the clearing. “Maybe you can’t tell them, but I can.”