With a final earth-shattering crack the ceiling crumbled and the Amarok Kitsune burst through like a purple inferno as it bathed the ancient nursery in purple-red flames billowing from its maw. Kai was forced to change plans and dash away, before realising the flames weren’t hot. He could barely see through the storm of flaming lilac petals that blurred his vision. He rushed forward, turning his momentum into a spin as his two palms surged forward to deliver dual Water Slaps to the wolf’s head like a cannon to the face. His palms whistled through thin air, hitting nothing and he stumbled.

Suddenly he became hot and uncomfortable, as though he were wearing an itchy wool suit. His heartbeat pounded in his ears as strange thoughts flooded his mind. Kill… Worthless… Kill now…Kill self… Dead, worthless. Cry, alone. Die. Kill sel—

“No!” Kai roared as his Ironblood Will surged to life. His golden eyes locked onto the Amarok Kitsune to his left as it became visible. The creature’s eyes bulged in surprise. However that didn’t stop it from trying to chomp off his arm. Kai quickly retracted his arm, almost too late. The maw closed a fraction of a second too late, snapping shut on empty air. Kai spun and countered with an explosive Water Slap to the top of its head. Although the force was extreme, this was no mere Ooze hound. The primal beast’s knees buckled but it rolled away and clutched its head. Blood spurted from its eyes and snout.

Kai drew a deep breath as he watched the beast’s powerful hindquarters contract, getting ready to pounce. The Amarok roared once more, almost a strangled growl. It wanted its revenge.

Kai’s heart pounded. He raised his palms. The Amarok Kitsune closed the gap between them in an instant; he barely managed to avoid a lethal strike as two tails corkscrewed for his heart. He twisted out of the way of the first but the second pierced the edge of his torso. He coughed up a mouthful of blood. Able to ignore the searing pain thanks to Ironblood Will, he focused on the tail penetrating his gut with barely subdued panic. According to the description from primal eyes its power came from its tails, if so he’d remove them.

The Amarok, thinking victory was within reach, had let its guard down. Its tails were no longer sharp and hard like the tip of a spear, but soft and fluffy. Kai gripped the tail in his gut with both hands to prevent it from moving. With all his strength he spun and pulled the Amarok towards him. It lurched forward with a surprised yelp, opening its mangy maw enough for Kai to shove its other tail into its own mouth. He then clapped his palms together over its snout like thunder and squeezed, forcing its serrated teeth to chomp down, severing its tail in a burst of blood. The Amarok’s eyes bulged in shock and pain, a stifled howl tried to escape its red frothing mouth. The remainder of the flaming lilac motes evaporated from his vision. Injuring its tail had dispelled the illusionary haze.

Taking advantage of its shocked state, he gripped the tail that was embedded in his gut to hold it in place, then elbow smashed its head down into the ground with a crack. Kai’s heart pounded in his ears as he flooded his legs with so much aura they glowed, then repeatedly stomped down on the head of the Amarok with all his weight till it stopped thrashing.

Kai collapsed to the floor, panting for breath as blood seeped from his chest wound. He noticed his legs were also covered in lacerations from the ferocious assault of its claws lashing out while he had stomped the primal to death.

Kai withdrew a healing crystal and began circulating life aura around his wounds as pain wracked his body. It took him two hours and another healing crystal till he was well enough to move and check his rewards.

Kai scratched his back as a new tattoo appeared, unbeknownst to him. A two-tailed Amarok Kitsune swirled into existence and wrapped around the second of seven cardinal lines pointing towards an empty compass in the centre of his back.

Now that he thought about it, he recalled a similar sensation after surviving the underwater grotto and after the Magma Wyrm had died. He ran his hand over his back when he was well enough to contort his body. Though he felt nothing under his fingertips, he was sure something was happening and it unnerved him.

He parked the thought aside when he noticed he’d gained two levels from the fight, bringing him up to level 24, with 34/40 into body, two more levels to go.

At this point Kura’s polite requests to eat had turned into a barrage of mental images depicting various noisy circus animals and people beating drums – the most annoying memory she could find of his. He dragged himself over to absorb the Amarok Kitsune’s remains. Grunting from the strain of moving around, he slumped back down, after this he needed a nap.

This primals body… feel familiar, Kura thought.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“What do you mean?”

Not… sure yet, gift for you.

Kai curiously checked his spatial storage, ignoring his burgeoning stash of honey and crystals, to focus on two new items.

Umbra Hound Leggings

Rarity: Rare

Details: Crafted from the premium hide and fur of awakened Ooze hound umbras. Self repairing, with blood, grime, and honey rolling right off.

Kura, you made me pants! Their brief chat about the honey empire she was essentially creating must have paid off. Kai withdrew them, excited about new pants for the first time in his entire life. They looked tough yet the black fur was soft and smokey to the touch.

With his bare back resting against a honeycomb wall, Kai turned to face the ring on his finger.

“Uh, Kura, about these pants, it’s…”

Kai could feel the jubilant ring’s pride swelling in anticipation. She puffed her draconic chest out, tapping her claws together excitedly. He couldn’t bear to break her spirit, especially after she’d saved him. He didn’t know much about dealing with prideful rings, but he suspected it would be a poor life choice to let her know he only had two legs. These pants had eight holes, two where his legs would go, and three holes on each side of each pant leg. It would be great for an umbra stalker.

“…It’s g-great! Thank you for making something new!” he said encouragingly.

Wear wear!

“Alright alright,” Kai said smiling, pulling up the new pants after discarding his old rags.

Happy happy!

He had to admit the feeling of premium leather on his unmentionables was an infinite improvement, he made some adjustments, so breathable. Kura would figure out this crafting thing eventually, perhaps after evolving, she was still young after all.

The next item took him by surprise, due to the rarity being higher than what he assumed Kura could produce. This must have been an item the Amarok Kitsune was carrying?

Preserved Queen’s Amber Chrysalis

Rarity: Legendary (10)

Details: Created willingly during death to protect the last child of its bloodline. When used will encase and protect a living target from the ravages of time and spatial anomalies for a short period. Single use.

Unfortunately, it did not look like the queen had time to use the item and shield her young judging by everything that had happened. Maybe he could have saved the Protocosmic Honeycomb and somehow revived the hive. He was starting to realise how rare the honeycomb had truly been and although he did not regret consuming it, he did feel a keen loss for the end of a species or bloodline. He’d always had a soft spot for creatures. He dipped his head in a brief gesture of respect and hoped that avenging the queen’s young would suffice.

He grinned and turned his attention to the best notification he’d been saving for last.

Slaying a primal has triggered a discovery! Choose a vital trait from its heritage.

Apex Bloodborn: Rarity upgraded by +1!

Apex Explorer: +1 choice!

Vital Trait: Amarok Form (Flawed)

Description: Shift between your human form and an Amarok for various physical enhancements and claws.

Fusion: Scales with Body

Vital Trait: Foxfire (Flawed)

Description: Breathe out disorientating purple flames, while not hot, they obscure others’ senses.

Fusion: Scales with Body

While the Amarok Form would surely boost his combat abilities in the short term, it went against every fibre of his being to not remain human, and figuring out how to use claws instead of open palms would be a nightmare.

Foxfire seemed useful, momentarily distracting someone could be the difference between life and death; he also felt like it had the biggest room to grow and was an area of effect attack against large groups, which he lacked.

Breathing fire was the stuff of every boy’s dreams. After choosing it, he experimented. Kai’s excitement rose and his lungs tingled as he inhaled and breathed out gouts of purple flames that bathed the room in the stardust colours of his aura, watching the light reflect off the cracked amber ceiling. He chuckled between panting for breath. That was fun. Kai wafted his hand through the flames but they were no hotter than a candle. However its main purpose was to disorientate and that had been terrifying to experience. He was grateful he’d evolved Neural Regeneration into Ironblood Will — if more creatures had mind-altering skills like this… He shivered.

What he wanted to try next, was infusing it with his aura traits to see how that affected it. He exhaled a small gout of Foxfire flames applied with the decrease intent of his Weight Surge aura trait and his breath went much further. Unfortunately his Water Slap aura trait didn’t seem to change anything. He could see great opportunities down the line and drifted off to sleep thinking about the limitless possibilities for fusions and evolutions.

When he awoke, he clambered through the amber tunnel the Amarok had drilled through. After a heated debate with Kura he left the hundreds of remains in the river of amber behind; it would take months to liquify and drain it all and by then he’d have failed the trial and be dead. He promised Kura they’d come back some day.