VICTORY
And here I thought I met my saviors... I was a fool to have thought so. All I could hope for was to land somewhere safe. No wolves, bears, or insane purple ladies to toy with my immortality. How fast am I flying through the sky? Bizarre as it was, I had time to consider my thoughts as I flew through the air. I looked north towards the first rays of the moonsun's transition—I was going west. I began to decelerate and got ready for the rough landing.
I smashed into the steep rocky wall of a ravine, dislocated my left shoulder, and fell into the ravaging river below. I took long-needed gulps of water to quench my thirst and bits of my hunger. The current was fierce, and I was tossed about before the current let up after dropping me over a waterfall.
I ran into a rock and quickly grabbed onto it. I pulled myself up and saw that this was not a rock... rather a small broken platform leading towards an old dark wooden door. Before going any further, I took a moment to jam my arm back into place—
PAIN
Gah! Dammit!
But I made it worse. It was best to let it heal on its own, so I lay there for a few minutes until I could at least move my left hand. It allowed me time to relax, let go of any frustration, and focus on what I should do now. I stood weakly upon the platform, looked across the stream, and saw the other end of the platform and a steel double door.
The two platforms had connected at some point in history, but there was only one way to go, so I turned, opened the dark wooden door, and made my way through. I slowly entered a dark room. I held my arms in front of me to feel for anything as my eyes slowly adjusted—my foot sank onto a pressure plate, and my heart skipped a beat—I tensed up, preparing for impalement by poison arrows.
But instead, an oil metal torch at the center of the room came alive and lit much of the small stone room, revealing cave walls covered with webs. Then, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye; two baby black spotted arachnids awoke.
They bore their fangs at me as I reached down to arm myself with a bone of a dead kinan. That is what we call our race—the third most intellectual magical creature. Ents came afterward, and the dragons were the pinnacle of magic.
I clenched the bone as hard as possible—these arachnids will not get the best of me. Finally, one pounced at me, and I noticed something as I smacked it, crushing its face—they were slow and weak. Compared to the Black Forest Arachnids that tormented the forests of the Kingdom of Fire, these overgrown spiders were gravely slower.
I stomped the first one to death and made sure my bare feet avoided its fangs. The other one did not move from its spot and spewed a chunk of webs at me. It fell flat in front of me. Hmph...
It was about to die, and terrified, it backed into a corner. I squinted at it,
PAIN
You see, you damned overgrown spider... I know that feeling of sheer horror, which came to me long before my Immortality.
I approached it, continuing my soft whispers to it.
PAIN
During makeshift patrols through the forest... we were not fighters or trained mages, but we had an order from our noble to gather some arachnid silk. It was not as if he needed it for importance—instead, he just wanted to witness some silk at the cost of a few lives.
My jaws clenched as I approached the arachnid... the scream of Locness echoed in my mind. I forced the thought away and towered over the arachnid before I smashed it to death, releasing the stored-up anger from the previous weeks.
I had enough of others toying with my immortality—it was time that I fought back. I doubled back—I saw why the arachnid refused to move. Behind its crushed corpse, I saw a hideous dead overgrown rat. It was a fresh one—recently killed. My stomach growled, and I sighed.
I took the damned rat and roasted it over the oil torch using a bone jammed through its mouth. Then, after the foul stench told my nose that the critter was cooked all the way through, I bit into its belly with an eerie crunch.
It was an awful experience, but it filled my stomach—which was worth it. I avoided most of its fur... or was its hair? ...and ate through the abdomen with large reluctant bites. Moments later, I began to experience immense burning coursing through my body before I fell unconscious.
I did not know how long I was out before I awoke in a dark room. It was already night, but I was sure I was at least out for more than a day.
Passive Acquired:
Lesser Poison Resistance
Poison Resistance? The damn rat was poisoned and considerably different from the other toxins I had experienced. In hindsight, common sense should have told me the rat was poisoned, but I felt satisfied and had some energy.
I stumbled around, looking for the pressure plate before remembering my ability to cast Fire. I created a tiny ember and eyed the door I came from before heading toward another shabby wooden door leading further inside.
I carefully peeked through the crack opening and noticed that the next room was vast and well-lit by oil torches lining the walls and the ceiling. I took notice of several dead spotted arachnid babies on the floor. Something was moving around, so I cracked the door and saw skeletons wandering around. Hmm... I thought skeletons only rose from the dead in the moonlight.
Two were gripping swords, while others were barehanded. If it were just skeletons, then I should be all right. They were slow and clunky, after all.
I waited for one of the barehanded skeletons to get close before I charged in and tackled it, doing my best to mimic Cosmo. It shattered instantly, and a skeleton Warrior hobbled over to me as I got up.
I struggled, trying to destroy it as I avoided its slow sword swings, but it was a durable bastard. Another barehanded skeleton attacked me from behind. It was weakly punching at the back of my head. The damned pile of bones—I lured the wide uncoordinated swing from the Warrior into the other skeleton, which cracked it into pieces.
But afterward, it suddenly stopped attacking and fled from me. The others followed suit, retreating into a dark hall at the far end. That was strange—I had never thought the undead fled from battle. I took my eyes off them and noticed a few personal belongings in the corner, some oil flasks and several potions. Was someone living here?
Scorching pain exploded down my left side, hurling me across the room. What is it now!? I wondered. Another annoying kinan that wanted to toy with my immortality!?
As the debris and dust cleared, I saw their eyes shining through before their pale, twisted faces and sharp fangs came into view. My mind raced, and I came to realize what creatures were attacking me. And they were far worse than kinans— shit! If they were to figure out that I was immortal, they would—
ABIGAIL
Did this piece of shit destroy two of my fucking skeletons?
The first thing I noticed was their accents. I had to be somewhere far from home, or these vampires were from another kingdom. And since I did not know their names, I named them in my head.
I also noticed they were naked, primarily revealing their pale white skins, snow-white hair, fingers ending in claws, and fangs extending from underneath their top lips. Abigail wore (Mana Aptitude) Dark Robe, Petty Mana Regeneration tied with a thin string. A Scagger +1, a scimitar-like dagger with serrated blades on its upper edge, was nestled within the string. She had no pants or shoes on, and her breasts were noticeable.
CABE
She survived my Fire. So, what do you think?
Cabe wore robes and a (Fire Aptitude) Tiara, Petty En Fire Casting upon his head. His robes were not tied, showing his bare, chiseled body and rock-hard erection.
ABIGAIL
And here I thought a more enormous arachnid was on the loose.
PROD
He isn't even worth eating.
He said, pointing at my genitals. But then he smiled seductively, revealing his rows of deadly canines.
PROD
But still cute.
Prod wore a Leather Vest +2 and a Leather Helm +1. He was armed with an Iron Short Sword +3 and wore no pants showing off his stiff erection as well. Despite my predicament, I could guess what they were doing before I stumbled here. They were vampires, after all, ageless and would never tire.
ABIGAIL
Ugh. But he stinks! I'd rather kill it with Fire.
CABE
Not my Fire. Use your own magic.
Cabe took his leave.
PROD
Have fun.
Prod followed after Cabe, and I caught a glimpse of play between them as they rushed back down. Abigail then turned around and distanced herself from where I lay.
ABIGAIL
Get up!
She bellowed, and I scrambled to my feet just to be toppled over—she was swift—closing the distance and had already swept my feet from underneath me. The blow shattered my right ankle and spun me into the air.
I locked my eyes on her while spinning and successfully blocked a straight palm strike with my forearms. Unfortunately, the impact fractured bones in my arms and set me hurling into the wall.
ABIGAIL
Damn. What the fuck are you? A runaway soldier?
How in damnation could she tell I had Basic Strong Body? To tell such a tiny difference, she must have hunted hundreds... thousands of kinans before. I was lucky my body did not regenerate fast enough for her to notice.
I forced myself to my left foot, the feeling of numbness pulsating through my right foot and ankle. The last thing I could do was give up. Instead, I glared at her twisted face contorting into a wide grin while one of her hands slid across her breasts. She proceeded to handle herself erotically.
ABIGAIL
I love it when you all fight back.
She took slow steps towards me, licking her lips, and I kept my eyes on her, waiting for the moment—she vanished— shit!
ABIGAIL
But you're too weak—
She was next to me, swinging her right arm into my back.
ABIGAIL
—little boy!
She laughed playfully. It seemed as if she was patting me on the back, but for me, it was like the weight of a tree trunk slamming into me.
I tumbled forward, attempting to somersault back to my feet, but instead, I landed flat on my back as the muscles in my spine refused to work. Abigail chuckled as she approached me, lifting a foot above my face. I lurched out of the way, hearing the ground crack from the stomp.
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Abigail giggled like a girl while I once again struggled to stand.
ABIGAIL
How about this?
She lifted both hands and emitted enormous purple hieroglyph symbols. Emerging from the symbols were skeletons bathed in mana. Their hands ended in sharp claws, and their heads were almost entirely of sharp teeth.
The one on the right rushed me, but since it was drastically slower than Abigail, I pushed it back with a blast of Fire.
ABIGAIL
The little thing can use fire.
She mumbled to her other skeleton as if it could hear her.
ABIGAIL
To hell with this.
In a fraction of a second, she pounced on me, grabbed both my arms, and pinned me to the ground. She widened her eyes and gave me a curious look.
ABIGAIL
Are you really not a girl?
She whispered as her long and thin tongue slid across my mouth.
ABIGAIL
So cute… I could always use another toy.
She bared her fangs and dug into my neck, siphoning large mouthfuls of blood. My vision blurred at the sudden drain of my blood, and my fear of constantly being eaten put me in a wave of panic. I struggled vainly but couldn't move against her solid weight. I grimaced weakly at the fading of my consciousness.
A sharp hiss followed by a moan of pain forced me to wake up. Abigail leaped off me and started hissing in agony. She then jerked her head in my direction—
ABIGAIL
What the fuck is wrong with your blood!
She hissed at me some more before wincing in pain. There I saw it—patches around her mouth were melting away as her quick regeneration continued to heal her wounds in a repetitive cycle— poison!? Was my blood still poisonous from the rat?
My eyes dropped onto her right hand—she had straightened it out, forcing her claws to extend further. I scrambled backward as she rushed towards me—she was injured enough that I had enough time to grab a nearby ceramic vial and hurled it, cracking it against her head.
Shockingly, oil exploded out of it and covered her head in oil.
ABIGAIL
You bitch!
She pounced at me, and I let out a cone of fire, the oil combusted into a raging flame engulfing her entire head. She screamed and flailed to the ground in pain in a flurry of fear. My vision blurred slightly as I watched her frantic movements become slowly still, and her body crumbled into dust.
I lay there for a moment relishing the idea of killing a vampire. I was not eaten, poisoned, exploded into the air, or tortured for months. I won. It was a good feeling—better than stomping down on a few arachnids or beating brittle old skeletons.
As blood streamed down my side, I limped towards Abigail's remains and scavenged through the ashes finding (???) Dark Robes, the Scagger +1, and Spell Book: Summon Skeleton. The robes had an ominous feeling, noted by the prefix (???). The robes had been enchanted by combining pure magic into them, usually performed by an Enchanter or someone with enchanting knowledge.
Anyone with a great understanding of enchantments or a significant amount of mana could instantly understand the magic used upon the robes by looking at them. However, since the spell used to enchant this item was more complex than mine, I had to pour my mana into it to truly understand the complexity—called unsealing. I could do it from a distance, but skin contact could also start the process.
On the other hand, a prospector, typically an Infuser or Enchanter, would be able to unseal powerful enchantments allowing anyone to infuse their mana into such an item, claiming it as their own—like Infinity. Eventually, the complexity would become sealed if the item had not been used or the recent owner had died—like Abigail just recently. Such a natural law made it challenging to steal powerful, magical bound items without murdering the owner.
The greater the ominous mana, the more mana and skill are required. If I did not have enough mana, the magic within the robes would siphon all of my mana and either curse or attempt to kill me. Despite my immortality, painful deaths were better than random magical curses. Furthermore, some curses were neither easy nor cheap to get rid of. If a curse failed to kill a creature, it could doom them for the rest of their lives.
But enough contemplating. I infused my mana into the menacing energy because I was unafraid. The seal was easy to understand—possibly because I saw it beforehand, and in a few seconds, I unsealed it to be (Mana Aptitude) Dark Robe, Petty Mana Regeneration.
I proceeded to unlock the spell book. All spell books contained a magical lock that required mana to be infused into it—skin contact had no use here. Unlike curses and unidentified enchantment, spell books would not curse those who could not open them. Many individuals would give up opening a spell book after draining half of their mana. The rationale is that the likelihood of learning the spell depends on how little mana is expended to open the lock.
After I poured my mana into the lock, the lock unbound, the book floated up, opened to a random page, and dissolved into dust. A tingling sensation rushed through my body, informing me that I had just learned something new.
Active Acquired:
Summon: Skeleton Ritual
I required bones to perform the simple ritual, and around me laid dozens of bones. I limped around to gather a pile of kinan bones into one spot.
I stood before the pile, extended my hands, and proceeded to Summon Skeleton Ritual. Casting the spell brought forth inches from my hand a purplish hieroglyphic symbol that expanded. While the expansion, the kinan bones began to rise up and take form. The task for me was daunting compared to Abigail and how she summoned skeletons in a second. Finally, after minutes of constant focus, a trembling skeleton stood before me.
Aptitude Increase:
Summon: Kinan Skeleton (25%)
I frowned at the mental note my mind echoed. An aptitude increase? Hmm... I did not know what that meant, but I assumed something positive might come from increasing that percentage to one hundred. I then glanced back at the (Mana Aptitude) Dark Robe, Petty Mana Regeneration, and realized I had never once worn or used an enchanted item. I have only seen them upon the guards and royals of the Fire Kingdom. I walked over to the dark robes, and just as I laid a finger on them—
Aptitude Acquired:
Petty Mana Regeneration
Aptitude Increase:
Petty Mana Regeneration (1%)
Fascinating...
As for my quaking skeleton... I stared at it for a while—a pitiful-looking thing. I took my eyes off it to take a better look around—two more vampires would eventually return after a while, so I must decide my next move quickly.
But as I studied the area, a burning heat engulfed my body. Were the other two vampires already back? My eyes darted around—no, I was alone. The sensation of heat converged up my body, stopping painfully on the two bite holes in my neck that were seeping blood.
I raised my hand onto the wound... and felt for it... but the wounds were gone. And just as I noticed the wounds were gone, so was the painful sensation of heat. I thought it was due to my Petty Infinite Regeneration, but my right ankle was still numb, and both arms were swollen from bone fractures.
I shrugged off the strange event—I didn't have time to dawdle and continued to look around. This area was spacious save for the few large slabs of crumbled walls. This place... I assumed it was meant for coordinated training for martial artists. There were empty weapon racks, shelves bolted to the smoothened cave walls, and the encroaching soil hid the faint traces of designs carved into the stone floor.
There were three more exits, excluding the one I used to enter. I saw a door at the end of a dark corridor from where I stood, the exit taken by the vampires, and another door to the right.
Recall Memory did not work well on the memories before becoming immortal, but I could recall some. Hmm...
When I read about vampires, I learned of different variants caused by their diets. Possibly these vampires did not have a desire for kinan blood and meat—or maybe because I genuinely stunk. I could not remember all the variants, but I knew for now that they had no desirable taste for my flesh or blood.
Now that I learned these vampires were susceptible to poison, I took the Scagger +1 over to a dead arachnid, placed the dagger near its poison glands, and stabbed into it, drenching it in its poison. Interestingly, the poison dried quickly when exposed to air, leaving a green paste on the dagger that seemed to radiate with death.
I swiftly blinked as it was scorching my eyes and handed the Scagger +1 to my skeleton.
PAIN
Since you do not have eyes.
I then ordered it into the dark corridor to hide. The +1 was a suffix that noted the quality of the weapon, but how it worked and what it did, I did not know. But I had not yet seen any weapon or armor above a +10.
I gathered several torches and placed them at the corridor entrance. This should hamper a vampire's Night Vision into the corridor. I took some vials of oil and emptied a few on the ground. I took one of the vials with me and hid under the fallen slab of wall and debris.
Now, it was time for me to wait. I remembered one of the vampires mentioning the use of his Fire —he must be a mage... damn, I was going to die—well, lose. It would have been perfect if just one of them had come up to check. But, if both of them returned, the chances of my trap succeeding dwindled.
Half an hour had passed, and the mana from summoning a skeleton had almost replenished. Unfortunately, the skeleton drained my mana while active and slowed my mana regeneration. Another thirty minutes passed before the two vampires returned—my mana had replenished completely, and my injuries from Abigail had healed enough to cease my discomfort. Unfortunately, the regeneration left me hungry.
When the two vampires reappeared, the first thing they noticed was Abigail's ashes,
CABE
That piece of shit killed her!
Through a tiny opening, I saw Cabe kneel at her ashes before he punched the ground in a fit of rage. The impact left a deep fist-sized crater, causing my heart to pound at the sight of his brute strength.
CABE
I'm going to kill that—
Prod calmed him and pointed in my direction. Cabe lowered his voice into a whisper,
CABE
Fucker thinks he can hide... I'll turn that bastard into dust.
Prod guided Cabe's attention toward the ground.
PROD
Calm down. I'll knock him out, and then you can play with him. He's probably a fighter. The only way he was able to put her down. I'd like to see how good he is first, if you don't mind.
Yes, that was actually what I wanted. Come on, come closer, you damned perverted vampire. I felt Prod's approach by memorizing his movements and the timing of each step. He stopped at some point because he was preparing to surprise me.
As he appeared, he lunged his sword at me. I ate the blade with my right rib cage, thrust the vial of oil towards his face, and lit it on fire all at once. The vial exploded in a raging torrent. Prod screamed in horror, and I reached out to finish the job, covering myself in exploded ashes... unbelievable. A vampire's weakness against fire... I did not expect it to be this incredible and fast acting. This was good—just one more.
Cabe's scream of rage shook the entire chamber, and I clasped my ears—that was not good. In his anger, Lightning emitted as streams of powerful bolts from his hands that pummeled the slabs protecting me. Of course, he would have more than one type of magic, and not only that, his aim was precise so that not a single bolt ignited the oils upon the ground.
I gave the order for my skeleton to launch the surprise attack from behind him, but when it came into the light, Cabe instinctively turned and combusted it with fire—blowing it to pieces.
Aptitude Increase:
Summon: Kinan Skeleton (50%)
He laughed a high-pitched squeal,
CABE
Was that your trump card?
He stepped back from the oil.
CABE
I am going to blow this entire place—
I saw it through the crumbling slab. Pure dumb luck saved me once again—the skeleton's arm carrying the dagger fell from the sky and thrust into Cabe's collarbone. He was stunned and confused. For reasons beyond me, the wound ignited into a green flame. It was useless to stay seated—I rushed in as fast as possible, ignoring the pain in my back and left ankle. He blasted a bolt at me, but I ducked and slid forward on the oil.
PAIN
Aiming with a knife stuck in your neck must be pretty difficult.
I mumbled, sliding my hands along the oil before I could lunge at him, and with all of my mana, I exploded fire from the entirety of my hands. It ignited with the oil and created a majestic cone of flame that engulfed Cabe. Both he and I cried out in pain. However, his scream was cut short when he burst into ashes.
My hands were burned up to my wrists, and I groaned in agony. I could only cast fire from my palms, my mana zones, to be precise. Almost all mages can only cast magic from their palms or entire hands—hand magic or eyes—sight magic without using a medium.
Forcefully increasing the area would cause mana burn; when my scrambled mana touches my skin, and burns me. Mana burns were distinctly different from fire burns; the former could scar a creature's skin for months and cause pain and itchiness.
I stood triumphally and prepared to shout a victorious yell but quickly snapped my jaw shut. A shiver of fear ran down my spine as I felt something else lurking within these ruins... something deadly.