Ethan was on his 6th day of training. He had spent the first day working out how to learn, and use [Blink] the hardest part was getting used to the sensation of the world suddenly shifting, and catching up with his senses. Once that was gone, he had moved on to mastering his Bracers. These were actually easier than he had thought. He just had to hold back the Mana he injected into his Bracers. He even learned how to ‘prime’ them, as he called it. He had learned he could form a thin flow of Mana leading to the Bracers, and let it build up, then release it, allowing for almost instantaneous shifts from normal gravity, to almost one hundredfold.
This wasn’t as extreme as you’d think. As hands only weigh on average 1 pound each. But it allowed him to accelerate his fist much, much faster. He also learned that the Bracers didn’t restrict the direction of gravity, he could with a bit of thought change the direction the gravity would pull, or push.
That is when he tried to fly with them. Thinking if he just made the Gravity pull him up, he could fly. Sadly his Mana pool was no where near where it needed to be for sustained flight… By controlled falling. And promptly fell on his face. Again.
Ethan decided [Blink] was the better option after that. Joe did let him know with an Intelligence Stat of over 100, he could fly. For short bursts, but it would take some time before he could fly with his Bracers, and that it was better to just work on the flight skill than worry about falling everywhere.
Ethan spent his nights learning [Fire Resistance]. Which consisted of starting a small fire, burning himself, and waiting for his, now enhanced, healing to heal himself. At first Ethan had just used a stick glowing hot after the fire burnt out on the end, to jab himself with it. But that quickly stopped working. By the third night he had gained [Fire Resistance], and that method no longer worked. So he was forced to use more and more drastic measures to ensure he kept getting Constitution Stat Points.
Since Ethan felt his Training was almost complete, tonight would be the final night to train [Fire Resistance], and he wanted the 5th level, bad. Between Gravity Training during the day, Cardio Training in the Afternoon, Skill Training in the Evening, and [Fire Resistance] Training at night, he could be proud of his Stats.
Name: Ethan Soxe
Age: 34
Race: Human (Sub Variant - Earth)
Level: 6
Soul: [Unique] Reforged Blasphemer
Body: [Unique] Missing Link - One Body, two Souls
Stats
Strength: 101(+25)
Constitution: 94(+20)
Dexterity: 44(+27)
Intelligence: 35
Wisdom: 32
Perception: 29(+5)
Control: 48
Charisma: 29
Magic: 10
Soul Arts: 50
Title: Master of My Own Making
Achievements: [Soul Rebirth][...]
Skills: [Myriad Tongues][Identify][Soul Connection][Missing Link][Climbing][Blink][Fire Resistance]
Talents: [Domain]
[REDACTED]
Lineage: [Locked due to title proximity limits]
Looking over his newest Skill, he knew he was close. He just needed one final push. But he knew his time was running out. He would have to move on in the morning.
[Fire Resistance]
Through repeated trial by Fire and healing yourself, your body has learned to ignore the effects of Fire. At least the burning that comes with it.
Effects:
Gain Resistance to natural and magical fires.
+4 Constitution per level
Level: 4
[Identify] had also leveled up. His daily hunting during his training had allowed him to level it, now he could get even more information on what he identified.
[Identify]
You innate nature has granted you the ability to discern more information from your surroundings.
More information is available at later levels.
Information available:
Race, Level, Estimated Danger level to [SUBJECT], habits
Level: 3
[Soul Connection] was close to leveling up as well. Joe had guided him during Meditation on how to differentiate between all the emotions he was feeling from Rebecca. It turned out, they weren’t all hers. She had somehow managed to get Haley’s and Mark’s emotions to be sent through her. He was going to ask about that as soon as he got to them.
[Missing Link] was another skill that he worked on perfecting, it had leveled up. But nothing had changed about it. He had figured out how to properly apply the resources he had to his body. It turns out he was using it the exact opposite way it was supposed to be used for resources like Stone. Instead of fusing it, or overlaying with his body, he was supposed to fuse it with his skin, and build upon it from there. When he did that, it became like a suit of armor.
That had allowed him to see explosive growth in his Strength. Now, if he used [Missing Link] with his Bracers, he could bring down a thousand pounds of fist, instead of a hundred. Ethan had managed to master the downward timing. But turning off both skills, and reactivating them was still difficult. Tonight was going to be a night to test a theory, and hopefully get his 5th level of [Fire Resistance], and that theory involved [Missing Link].
Right now, he was piling logs on top of each other. He didn’t have an ax, but his fists coated in stone made a pretty good hammer, and anything is a nail to a hammer. As he finished the first pile, has started on the second. He had stacked the 2 meter long logs, in a square, 3 meters tall. He was doing the same to the second stack, 3 meters away. He had gotten this idea from a TV show he had loved back on Earth. ‘How things are made’. He remembered an episode where a company used a coil of copper to temper metal. The copper would super heat the air around it, and a worker would stick the metal in for a few seconds, it would get red hot, then they would dowse it in oil.
The idea was that if he could get the 2 fires hot enough, he could walk, more likely run, between them and tempter his stone form. There were two goals to this test. One was to see if his stone form was immune to fire. He suspected it was, but needed a confirmation. Two was to see if he could temper the stone. He didn’t know if it was possible to temper stone back on Earth. But he didn’t see why it wouldn’t be possible now that Magic was part of the equation.
He could have asked Joe, but it didn’t matter one way of the other, as the second part of the experiment, was to stand in the fire and slowly reduce the stone protection, until he felt it burn himself. Then he could control the burning. Allowing him to hopefully level up [Fire Resistance].
With both pyres built, it was time to start the fires, and toss his body in. To do that, he just rubbed to sticks together. Which was easier and faster thanks to his Bracers. He could swap the direction of gravity with a thought. Which is how he had started the first the first night. And how he had learned he could swap the direction at all.
With the fire growing steadily, he soon had to back away as the heat was already too much to comfortably stand near it. Slowly dawning his stone exosuit, which looked just like his normal body, just thicker, he inched forward. He quickly learned that at full strength the stone suit kept the heat away pretty good. Not entirely, as his insides were still flesh and bone. Ethan still inched forward, and learned something else.
The stone was immune to fire. But not heat. It worked great at heat transference. He stood 2 meters away, between the fires, and felt his insides slowly roasting. Still he remained. Unable to move closer. Unable to drop the stone pizza oven he had made for himself. He felt his Fire resist kick in, and dared to take a step closer. If his skin wasn’t part stone he’d have sweat all the moisture out of his body by now. The flames were raging, the roar drowned out all other noise. Single minded focus kept Ethan on the razors edge of his fire resist’s Maximum, his enhanced healing, and boiling his insides. The Skill would grow a bit, and he would inch forward.
Joe kept silent, Ethan thanked him internally. Afraid to speak, else he might inhale the heat rushing off the two pyres. It went on like this for over an hour. Grow, step, grow, step. As he felt the [Fire Resistance] Skill just about to top out, he bolted forward. Ethan could feel the fire reach out to him, hungry. But he didn’t care, he placed one foot in front of the other and ran. The heat ate away at his insides, and his mind. The pain screamed at him to get away, his blood boiled and he faltered.
One second he was headed straight in-between the towering infernos the next he was leaning to the right, still forcing one foot in front of the other, and then crashing directly into the second tower of flames. Barreling right through it. Sparks exploded high into the sky. Glowing embers sprayed across the open field, momentarily painting the night sky in orange and red comets. The second tower collapsed as Ethan fell forward.
His health dipping dangerously low. Pain and burning robbed him of his senses, as he desperately crawled away. Burning logs falling on him, he crawled. Finally he let out a scream, and instantly regretted it. Air ready to ignite rushed inside his lungs. Scarring his throat, and mouth, his scream faded, replaces by a raspy horsed moan.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Blacking out, his last thoughts we drowned out by the sound of a notification.
DING
----
The thing with Ethan that always bothered him, was how he woke up. Rebecca had a system in place to wake him up, if she ever had to, because frankly, Ethan was lying Bear, that should remain where it lie. When waking him up, he had a tendency to swing on anything in his vicinity.
As the last of the fire died out, the logs crumbling under their own weight, one fell right on Ethan’s face. Waking him. With a single swing he sent the log flying, exploding upon landing 20 meters away. His clothes were charred, his flesh unmarred. Hair, still gone.
“What, where… Oh yeah. What the hell happened last night? I feel like I was hit by a train.” Ethan said, his voice horse.
“f you hadn’t leveled up [Fire Resistance] you would have died. Between that, and me working all night to keep you from boiling yourself alive, you would be dead, ten times over.” Joe didn’t sound annoyed, or tired. Perks of being a Soul. You didn’t need sleep. “Also, I discovered because of the access you gave me to your soul I have a bit of control over your skills. The next time you decide to level [Fire Resistance] I suggest going with Soil and Swamp mucus.”
Checking his Internal Well, Ethan noticed most of his Soil was gone, and a good chuck of the swamp mucus.
“You turned me into a mud golem?” Ethan asked, his voice still raspy, but quickly healing.
“No, I infused your skin with Soil to slow the transfer of heat, spread the swamp mucus to your internals to reduce the heat already trapped inside of you, and did my best to heal your body as much as I could. Then I let your own natural healing do the rest.
“I guess that’s what I get for pushing myself too far. Another near death fuck up.”
“I wouldn’t say that… Check your notifications.”
Ethan raised an eye brow, unsure what Joe was getting at, until he saw it. Both of them.
[Fire Resistance]
Through repeated trial by Fire and healing yourself, your body has learned to ignore the effects of Fire. At least the burning that comes with it.
Effects:
Gain Resistance to natural and magical fires.
+4 Constitution per level
Level: 7
[Rare][Achievement][Bathed in Flame]
Self-Immolation wasn't enough for you. You decided to take a nap, in the embers of a raging inferno.
Once again you have sought the Aide of a [FALLEN] risking your life to attain a more perfect form.
Effects:
+3 levels of [Fire Resistance]
He had gotten not only his 5th level of [Fire Resistance] like he had hoped, but 3 more levels from an achievement. [Bathed in fire] sounded cool, but no way he’d want to do that again.
Standing up, he checked he stats one last time.
Name: Ethan Soxe
Age: 34
Race: Human (Sub Variant - Earth)
Level: 6
Soul: [Unique] Reforged Blasphemer
Body: [Unique] Missing Link - One Body, two Souls
Stats
Strength: 102(+25)
Constitution: 106(+20)
Dexterity: 45(+27)
Intelligence: 35
Wisdom: 32
Perception: 29(+5)
Control: 48
Charisma: 29
Magic: 10
Soul Arts: 50
Title: Master of My Own Making
Achievements: [Soul Rebirth][...]
Skills: [Myriad Tongues][Identify][Soul Connection][Missing Link][Climbing][Blink][Fire Resistance]
Talents: [Domain]
[REDACTED]
Lineage: [Locked due to title proximity limits]
Goal achieved. All his training had been worth it. Even if he felt like shit and probably needed more time to heal.
“My dad always taught me to haul out what you haul in… do I need to clean any of this up before we leave?”
“...No.”
“Got it.” Ethan took a minute to process everything. He had tried to push himself, and made a mistake. A mistake he swore he wouldn’t repeat. Then he had an idea.
He wasn’t going to be the asshole that left the forest trashed after all. And with a smile, he activated his Domain. It had expanded to almost 3 meters over the last week. Soon he felt everything around him again, and started walking the clearing. He took the top 6 inches of soil, along with all of the Ash, and burnt wood. Soon he had two new resources, and his soil was topped up.
[System Created Alabaster (Distributed)]:
+10 Constitution
[Swamp Mucus (Non-Distributable)]: Water Element, Dark Element
1. A small amount of healing over time
2. Harder to detect in low light
[Soil of the Endless Plains]:
+1 Earth Affinity
[Wood of the Endless Plains]:
+Growth of Passive Skills
[Ash]
[Unknown]
[Charcoal]
Harder to burn, brittle.
“I guess its time we moved on. Any direction in particular?”
“The closest safe zone is where I would suggest heading. It is 4 days from the first. The next one after that, is at the base of the mountains you saw when you first arrived, 8 days from here. That is, if you rush there and don’t level as you go. But I would suggest putting off going to either, as you aren’t strong enough to protect your family yet. Neither are they strong enough to survive here. Remember as soon as they leave the safe zone, you are going to be hunted down.”
“Then I just need to clear all the monsters between both Safe Zone. Easy. One step at a time, right?
---
Continuing in the same direction he had before his desperately needed training, Ethan was running and training still. He would run for a bit at full speed, then activate [Missing Link] with the Stone armor active. Then deactivate a short time later. After a shirt time, he would turn it on, and then almost instantly turn it off, and back on. Training his reaction and timing with his Skill. His goal was to make the Skill second nature. He did this until he came to a darker part of the forest, where he was forced to slow down. It had been less than an hour of travel, it was hours before night nightfall, but he thought it would be a good time to rest. As he caught the sight of movement up ahead.
Something in the back of his mind told him he was on the edge of the Cervine’s territory. It had reminded him that that territory was due to be taken over any day now. He was on the edge of another monster’s territory, about to enter the unknown once again. Whatever it was, he wanted to know at least what he could expect to deal with once he crossed that line.
Crouching down behind one of the larger trees, he watched as the shadows, deeper in the forest, dance about in the light breeze blowing through the trees. He saw several small creatures the size of Boston Terriers, cat like creatures move silently about. But they actually made a noise. Something between a hiss, and a growl. Like wind escaping a gravel pit.
Then he saw them, using Identify, did not help his fears.
[Telus Narox]
Shadow beast, monsters of the deepest realms, these creatures prefer darkness.
Level: 5
These beasts use swarm tactics, you may only see one, but there are more.
Beware their tail like appendages, they hide more than you know.
“Telus Narox, huh.” Ethan said, keeping his voice low, “Level 5...”
They did look like cats, if cats where made of ink, and had three giant thick dreadlocks, the underside of them pink with rows of razor sharp teeth. Their eyes sat right about where a normal cats would, but were far too big for their small faces. Greenish yellow, with huge round pupils. Four long legs propped the creatures up, but not all the way as the knees were almost a full body length above the thorax. A thin, flat tail waved in the wind like a flag on a boat at a sea.
“Think I can take em?” Ethan asked Joe.
“Stone Skin, [Blink], Gravity fist, should do the trick. I suspect there are far more than you can see. But you should be able to kill enough for a few levels before the Alpha shows up.” Joe replied, thinking the same thing as Ethan.
Stone skin, and Gravity Fist we the nicknames Ethan had come up with during training. He still thought of his [Missing Link] Skill as turning into a golem, but Joe had made it a point to get away from that thinking, as thoughts tended to influence abilities in the long run.
Activating [Missing Link], or as Ethan called it, Stone skin, Ethan made to move. As he steppe out from behind the tree, he used [Blink] to appear right on top of the First Telus he saw. As he was free falling, he focus the stone around he hands to increase in density, thus weight, and size. The monster was on the smaller size but he wasn’t sure how resilient it was. So he decided to go big out the gate. He also reinforced his feet and shins as he was over 3 meters in the air. Aiming for the monsters head, his hands rushed towards the monster in a downward swing. Just as his fists were about to connect the monster noticed something was wrong, and looked up just as his fists connected with the monster. Its head exploded. It dropped to the ground. Dead. Before the body had fallen Ethan had blinked away to his next target. This one saw what happened to the first, and was a bit more alert. It only managed to move forward enough to make Ethan miss its head, but not its spine.
Again an explosion of inky blood, and black bones, again a [Blink] and Ethan was on to the next target. He quickly got into a rhythm, [Blink], smash, [Blink], smash. They kept coming, right before they would make contact with Ethan he would blink away and crush and kill a different one.
Gargled yelps could be heard one after the other. Until it was silent, and no more came.
Ethan paused, looking around. It was quiet, too quiet. He had killed over fifteen of the Telus Narox, and now no more came. But he still felt there was something watching him. Keeping his guard up, he made to walk deeper into the darkened forest.
A blood curdling scream followed by a rattling was heard behind him. Turning he saw a much larger monster, almost identical to the Telus Narox, quickly using [Identify] he found out it was different. This one was called a Telus Faroos. The older, bigger brother of the little ones ad painted the forest with, and it was pissed.
Without notice the creature launched three barbed needles from the tips of its mouthed dreadlocks. Ethan quickly raised his arms covered in stone to block the needles. But they penetrated the stone, and released a weak poison that set his nerves on fire, and numbed his forearms. Using gravity he kept his arms up to block anymore needles. None came, as the Faroos disappeared into its own shadow.
“Fuck, that’s terrifying. What’s the deal with this poison, am I going to die?”
“No, it just numbs the limbs, rendering them useless, and causes pain to disorientate the victim. I can see your body is already healing, and canceling its effects. Though with enough of it it could kill you.” Joe said as he went to work from Ethan’s soul attempting to keep the poison from spreading.
“Got it, don’t get more poisoned, and don’t stand in shadows.”
Turning around looking for his new foe Ethan quickly moved to an area with the least amount of shadows. He wasn’t sure if the creature could come out of his own shadow, but he didn’t want to be under one he could, and he knew the Faroos could enter his own shadow. He assumed it would use a hit and run tactic, so he had to keep moving.
“Alright Joe, Shoot, move and communicate. I am going to start knocking down trees, forcing the light to come down and create a barrier, hopefully forcing ol’ Faroos to have to come topside, you let me know if you sense him or whatever you can see.”
Ethan’s arms were still numb, but he could feel his fingers now.
Looks like it is fast acting, and a short half life, this Faroos is testing me. It is seeing how I react. Let’s give it a show.
Ethan activated the Gravity around his fists, and start swinging on the nearest tree. Two punches later, the tree fell. Sunlight streamed in, creating a 2 meter circle of light around him. But he didn’t stop there, he moved on to the next tree, and the one after that. With each tree cut down, the circle of light got bigger, and brighter. The feeling completely returned to his arms, Ethan took a second to remove the needles. As he removed the last one and threw it away, three more came flying out of the forest in front of him. This time he was prepared and raised his arms as he had done before. But he activated Gravity once more and the needles curved up and away.
Ethan charged forward, but the Faroos was gone, sunk back into the shadows. Again three more needles flew at him.
“Behind you” Joe said, almost screaming.
This time the Faroos aimed at Ethan’s head. He simply dropped and the needles shot past his head. Again Ethan sprung forward. The Faroos was playing with Ethan, and he knew it. But Ethan had a plan to bait him out. When the next volley of needles came Ethan dodged to the right, a little too close to the new tree line he had created. The monster dove into the shadows, and reappeared right next to Ethan. Spinning to block with his Left, three needles pierced his forearm, instantly causing his nerves to ignite, and his forearm to drop. Choosing not to active Gravity, Ethan wanted the Faroos to attack him. And attack it did.
Right as his left arm dropped, he made eye contact with the beast, he saw anger and rage. Then the three dreadlock mouths opened up as they shot forward to bite Ethan. But his right hand came around faster than it should, propelled by Gravity, quickly reaching terminal velocity, his hand made contact with the closest dreadlock. Closing, he changed the direction of Gravity once more, yanking the Faroos off its feet and into the center of the circle of light. It tried to dive into its shadow and get away, but Ethan quickly learned it couldn’t move its shadow.
The Faroos hid in its shadow. Unable to move from the center of the circle of light.
“Honestly, I thought the sunlight would hurt it, or at the very least make it unable to go into its shadow…” Ethan said to himself as he picked himself up from where he had fallen mid twist.
If its a magical beast… I wonder.
Walking over to the frozen shadow, he pushed [Missing Link] though his Domain, consuming the shadow. Checking his Internal Well, he noticed some of his Swamp Mucus had refilled. Not a lot, but enough to feel a difference.
“Darkness… I think I have a way to beat these things, I just need to lure the Alpha out.” Ethan spoke aloud. “Or go in deeper.”