His desperate idea was to forcefully fill his soul with enough aura to break into the next grade and trigger a discovery from the Aura Hunter achievement he earned after making a deal with Hafez. There was a strong chance it would kill him, on the other hand—he glanced at the wall of explosive bubbles—if he did nothing he was dead anyway. His body was stronger than when he had last tried to absorb too much aura, plus he had his Ironblood Will now.
Ten should be enough, Kai guessed based on how many crystals he’d absorbed to improve his soul so far. Five E-grade aura crystals swirled into existence in each of his open hands and he pulled the aura from all of them at once.
His drowsiness vanished into a world of white-hot pain as his soul planet spun to life, struggling to draw it all in. The extreme pain caused his hands to spasm and he crushed the crystals. Excess aura from the crystals tore open the pores of his skin attempting to reach his soul while his mind retreated to the abyssal edge of the cliff that was his consciousness. His Ironblood Willpower barely provided him with enough grip to hang onto the cliff’s edge.
His body was filling with aura faster than his soul could absorb it, which was a problem. His veins ran thick with blood and aura till they burst like broken dams. Kai screamed soundlessly in his mind while blood poured from his eyes and ears. Welts bubbled across his body like tiny volcanoes before blood ruptured from them. A torrent of red vital aura and unrefined white aura howled around him. He knew nothing but agony as he focussed his tiny speck of awareness on refining and condensing all of it with every orbit of his soul.
After what felt like eternity but was a mere second, he felt a pop as his soul expanded. While it still felt like his insides were being shredded, the majority of his pain receded. The remaining vortex of auras that had almost killed him were hungrily inhaled by his soul, and now coated his soul-planet in ten feet of stardust water. His capacity had increased tenfold.
Kai exhaled. Purple sparks flickered on his breath.
Soul: E-Purified (Early)
Affinity: Cosmic, Gravity, Hydrokinesis, Martial.
Sphere of influence: 40 feet
Details: Amount of aura, density, recovery and circulation speed.
Aura Hunter has triggered a discovery from your soul grade increasing!
Reward: Discover an aura trait.
Apex Bloodborn: Rarity upgraded by +1!
Apex Explorer: +1 choice!
Enter Mindscape: Yes / No
While his soul was more solid than ever before, it also felt hollow, hungry, his aura was thin and in need of colour. He had his work cut out for him, but his current aura reserves were massive, and his sphere of influence had increased from 9 to 40 feet.
His body violently convulsed as his conscious mind returned and fractured crystals tumbled from his shredded hands. The first thing he heard was Saurkar laughing, the first thing he saw was streams of his blood fountaining from ruptured pores across his body.
Enter mindscape, enter mindscape!
Saurkar’s laughing face and the wall of bubbles moved in slow motion as he entered his mindscape, affording him precious time to think. The sound of his single heartbeat frozen in time burned his ears. Just when he thought he had the advantage of breaking his soul into the E-grade, he realised he was going to bleed to death in seconds.
I don’t have much time. He had expected bad, but not fatal. No matter how strong his body was, without blood his heart would stop dead. It was unlikely an aura trait would save him, but he’d kill Saurkar if it was the last thing he did.
Kai’s vision was replaced with a familiar sight when he closed his eyes, a merchant stand adorned with blue crystals and aura rivers. Behind it, busy stuffing his face with custard pastry, was Hafez, who looked just as startled as Kai.
“How...why—are you in my head?” Kai said.
Hafez pushed his plate away and dabbed his chin. “I’m your merchant representative, specifically assigned to you.” Hafez scowled. “Apparently.” He then brushed a lone crumb off his opulent clothes. “How can I hel—”
Kai didn’t have time for this. He ignored Hafez despite several burning questions and focused on the two crystallised sandstone statues that encircled him.
Hovering in front of each statue was an aura trait crystal pulsing with the promise of knowledge and perhaps salvation.
He paid scarce attention to the appearance of the statues as he skimmed through the descriptions.
The first statue depicted a Vanara floating in space or something. He skimmed the engraving beneath in case it was important: ‘I love the light for it shows me the way; yet I love the darkness for it shows me the light.’ — Groursoli Brickbuckle, Nova Remnant from Hohiri.
Grievous Star (Fine): Infuse your strikes with a minuscule amount of the heat energy of a dying sun.
Cost: 200 F-grade crystals or 2 E-grade crystals.
There was a cost? His eyes bulged at the price. There was no way anyone without a sponsor would normally be able to afford that. Fortunately he had both Kura and a deal with Hafez, not that anyone had discovered his aura traits yet, apparently it wasn’t good enough.
Kai cut the rest of his thoughts short to focus on the aura trait itself. He wasn’t sure how much heat that was, but any heat from a dying star could enable his strikes to melt through armour like it was butter. Would it be suicide to cauterise my whole body with this? He was cautious about heat given the nature of his soul.
The second statue looked like a humanoid jellyfish with aqueous dreadlocks. ‘Just because the tide is out, doesn’t mean there is less water in the ocean.’ — Rhamukho Tevnei, Wavekeeper from Sinia.
Gravity Wave (Fine): With yourself as the centre, you may pull or push matter towards or away from you using waves of aura.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Cost: 200 F-grade crystals or 2 E-grade crystals.
The original probably let you control water like telekinesis, but with it fusing to his affinities it would only push or pull things to or from him, like some kind of restricted gravity-mass-kinesis?
I do have hydrokinesis listed as an aura affinity. Could I pull my blood inside with this somehow?
Kai also noted that both traits were of Fine quality, one step higher than Flawed, yet they still seemed restricted in that they could only be used in specific ways. What quality or rarity would he need to reach in order for his aura to fully embody his affinities without limitations, and what would that mean.
For now this was a huge upgrade, he made his selection and paid the cost. The system plunged knowledge into his mind as the aura trait fused with his soul. He smelled salt as he glimpsed the Wavekeeper skimming over choppy seas. He ignored the scene and opened his eyes to slits, the wall of bubbles inching closer to him slowly. He had precious extra seconds while the mindscape ended to formulate a plan.
***
Saurkar was mixing gases with the practised ease of a poison master or chemical warfare expert when a bunch of aura crystals appeared in Kai’s hands. Followed by a swirling vortex of pure aura as they shattered. The surprise on her face was soon replaced with raucous laughter as she watched thin streams of his blood fountain skyward from hundreds of microscopic pores across his body.
…Did the softskin just rupture every vital aura meridian running parallel to his aura pathways? He clearly wanted to increase the grade of his aura mid battle. She spat out a chunk of coagulated blood while she watched in amusement. Even if the softskin did it, he would bleed out in seconds. Still, part of her admired his ability to jump into intense pain like that. It required immense resolve and a lifetime of struggle. He would have made a good disciple. She would have been nervous, if he hadn’t just cut short his growth potential and killed himself.
Then, something changed. The blood started flowing towards his body, sloshing around on his skin. Most of it seemed to drain back into his body. Unbridled rage consumed her. She had to attain grand order support then wait years to start in the first incursion of a new world for unique advantages and traits. What kind of primordial-level bullshit power had this native savage somehow earned? Some legendary undying trait? It usually took ages to figure out the right combination required to unlock those types of traits during new integrations.
Her tail slammed into the ground while she clenched her teeth. “Why. Aren’t. You. Dead!”
***
Kai grew woozy as his blood pressure plummeted, his precious life-force spraying out of him. Frayed nerves caused him to fumble his aura manipulation for a precious second before he pulled his blood towards himself with his new aura trait. He suspected his soul’s hydrokinetic affinity gave him an edge at manipulating blood, since it was mostly water. Disorientated, he then visualised corks of pure aura plugging the ruptures in his skin. He applied a small and consistent pull on them. Each cork strained against his skin, threatening to pop out with each beat of his heart.
Kai’s eyes demanded justice as they met Saurkar across the battlefield. Images of his parents, Matt, discarded humans, dead Rakin and his inability to protect them flashed through his mind like fresh scars.
“You thought you could come here and treat us like cattle?”
Kai pushed a shockwave of stardust aura outwards like an explosive sonar pulse. Bubbles inches from his face were flung skyward as if struck by gale force winds, and Saurkar stumbled back.
Not enough power… I need to pour more aura into it to increase the strength of the pulse. Kai lambasted himself, then hardened his resolve.
His muscles screamed in protest as he struggled and rose from his knees. His body was damaged beyond recognition. Beyond repair. But he refused to die yet. Running around wasn’t an option if he wanted to stay conscious. He stumbled towards a nearby stack of sharp palisade wall logs that had yet to be erected, and collapsed to his knees, completely unable to control his legs any longer and barely able to restrain the pressure on the aura corks keeping his blood in.
Kai grit his teeth as he grabbed logs, reduced their weight to aim, soaked them with Water Pierces Rock, then hurled them with all his might towards her. He noticed his improved soul enabled his aura to soak things faster and increased the effects of his aura traits substantially more than before. I just need one of these to hit. Kai hurled the sharp palisades towards Saurkar, faster and faster.
The physical exertion worsened his wounds even more, and he puked out a mouthful of blood with chunks of something else as he kept going, harnessing every shred of willpower he could. From his kneeling position he brushed aside the occasional bubble she had time to fire with a small push as he continued his relentless barrage of attacks.
Saurkar was able to dodge them all. Her senses must be higher than mine. After a dozen more throws his backup plan was ready. Kai tapped into the vast depths of his new aura reserves and increased his weight to the maximum. The air thrummed and the ground quaked. Kai grit his teeth as pain rippled through his body. For a moment he thought about just giving in to the pain, letting the darkness consume him completely.
Legends. Never. Die.
Kai flooded his sphere of influence with aura so thick it appeared as if he was inside a dome of stardust water. Blood leaked into it from his pores as he maximised the weight of it all.
If gravity is my ocean, then I am its shark.
“If you want my blood so badly, you can have it!” Kai roared as he pushed a tidal wave of aura mixed with blood towards Saurkar. The wave that crashed into her was dozens of times stronger and faster than the previous one. Based on his weight and the amount of aura he’d infused, it should be several tons of force.
Saurkar coated herself in a bubble as the tidal wave slammed into her and sent her spiraling towards the spikes he had prepared behind her. After realising he could not hit her directly he had started herding her with each barrage so that the mountain was behind her. Then he peppered it with the wooden palisades. Her attention had been firmly in front of her as she bombarded him with deadly bubbles. An exhausted grin spread across Kai’s face as he watched the tidal wave slam her into a wooden palisade. She screamed in shock as blood gushed from her impaled leg.
Saurkar desperately tried to extricate herself, eyes darting towards Kai as he hurled and pushed a final heavy palisade towards her torso. She grabbed it with both hands but the force was undeniable and the aura-imbued wood grated past her hands when she caught it and tore into her hardened body, pulverising her ribcage and heart. The fact that it didn’t pierce clean through was a testament to her strength.
She looked at Kai with utter contempt as she spasmed and her life left her eyes. A dark ring on her finger shattered.