Seth stood in front of the last pole with his glaive in hand. It had been roughly eight days since the testers cut him off. Seth had successfully held on for a day longer than he previously guessed. He might have been able to hold on longer, but on day seven Seth had completed his preparation to the best of his ability. He also had scouted for hours and could not find any more Foulers to cut down. After his failed hunt, Seth had come back to his camp and went to sleep so that he could be at his best for the next day.
Seth took a deep breath then slowly let it out. He glanced back anxiously at the constructs that had taken up the last two weeks of his life. Seth closed his eyes and reviewed the plan one last time. He could not possibly be any more ready than at this moment. He opened his eyes and clenched his grip on the glaive, determined. A quick vertical slash was all it would take to begin whatever the hell was about to happen. He winded back, his muscles tightening, then delivered a straight blow to the pulsing object.
On contact, the pole shattered and Seth watched the wall it was attached to begin to waver. Ripples appeared on its inky surface. The previously solid surface now took on the properties of a liquid. He gaped in mute horror as the outline of a huge claw the size of a car tore across the obsidian film. Crimson liquid that looked suspiciously like blood began to ooze from the huge tear.
Seth quickly turned around and dashed behind the row of makeshift spikes he created by shaving down an egregious amount of the black glass pieces this biome was made of. This feat was only possible due to his new razor sharp glaive that cut the material like butter. The second he made it behind the line, a humongous head emerged from the tear. The filmy wall acted as black curtains that slowly revealed the nightmarish creature.
It appeared to be a monster in the shape of a wolf. Even Clifford would have been put to shame at the shear size of the thing. The room Seth occupied was about the size of a football field and the monster filled about a fifth of it. The wolf’s coat was an ugly purple color. It reminded Seth of coagulated blood. The monster’s head was truly a sight to behold. Ink black fangs jutted from random holes in the creatures face.
Crimson fluid dripped from each as the creature’s six eyes all turned to focus on Seth. Its milky white orbs slowly became red as the thing turned feral. Its huge jaw opened up in a snarl, showing off the rows and rows of shark teeth behind the fangs.
Seth wasted no time at the horrifying sight in front of him. In a blur, he reached for the pile of glass spears next to his feet and began to hurl them with all his might. The monster was not fast enough to react and five spears reached it before it began to move forward. Three of the spears ended up harmlessly tangling in the creature’s coat. One of the two left impaled itself into the front right eye of the monster. The other speared deeply into the large black snout of the thing.
The wolf cried out in pain but did not halt its approach as black oil gushed from its wounds. As it charged directly at Seth’s location, it stomped right on top of his row of spikes. Seth panicked for a moment as he watched the monster not even falter after stepping on the needle-like spikes. Thankfully, Seth had made a follow up trap just in case whatever monster showed up could either tank the spikes or dodge it entirely.
Seth dove out of the way as the wolf’s legs flew out from under it. He had made a pool of black sludge right behind the spikes. He had discovered the sludge during a walk in the onyx shard biome. Some of the structures were actually full of the liquid. He supposed it was probably a food source of the inhabitants of this planet.
As the creature continued to slide toward the other side of the room, Seth rushed in. When he reached the monster’s back, he lashed out as many times as he could with the glaive. He was only able to get a few deep cuts before a stray paw backhanded him. Seth flew back like a ragdoll and slammed into the opposite wall. He groaned in pain as he felt multiple bones crack in his ribcage. Blood spurted from Seth’s mouth as he attempted to get back up.
He noted deftly that the monster was still struggling to retain its balance. Part of him wanted to just give up and die. How the hell was he supposed to kill the thing when one hit from it could do this much damage? He gritted his teeth and raised himself up, using the glaive as a cane. He knew he couldn’t quit though.
“At least exhaust your bag of tricks right?” Seth chuckled dryly.
There was one huge trap Seth had spent most of his time on. It was a pretty dumb idea, and quite overused if he had to be honest.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” he recited to himself.
His thoughts were interrupted as a crash sounded on the other side of the chamber. The monster was starting to get back up. Seth’s eyes widened and he began to limp toward the nearest construct. Because he could not predict where he would be in the room during the fight, Seth had stashed four copies of the same construct in each corner of the room. Right before he made it to the corner, Seth twirled back to face the creature and hurled his glaive in a hail mary to suspend the creature for a couple more seconds.
At this point, the wolf had already regained its footing and was tearing a path through the center of the room to pursue Seth. Luckily, the monster didn’t react to his throw and ended up paying the price. The glaive hit like a bolt of lightning, burying itself in the joint of the wolf’s left front leg. The leg locked up, temporarily making the goliath stumble.
That was all Seth needed.
As his hands gripped the giant hammer-like shard, Seth roared in effort and swung downwards with all his might. His newfound strength paid off as a thick glass stake under the hammer was slammed a couple feet further into the ground. As a shower of shards peppered his body, Seth quickly re-summoned his glaive and half ran, half limped to the entrance of the chamber. The monster, so caught up in its charge, failed to correct itself to continue pursuing Seth.
It also failed to notice the considerable amount of cracks splintering their way through the wall into the ceiling. In a last ditch effort, the monster lashed out its mighty fangs toward Seth to end him once and for all.
The wolf opened its maw and snapped at Seth, barely falling short. It was not without consequence though. The incredibly sharp black fangs had clipped Seth, opening up a long gash across his back, and pitching him forward. Seth cried out in pain and tucked his body as he crashed to the ground. He rolled for several meters, further splintering his bones. As soon as he could, Seth basically threw himself back upright and bit his lip to bear the excruciating pain.
He risked a glance behind himself and instantly regretted it.
The monster’s snout was only a couple of feet away from Seth, twitching in the monster’s attempt to chase him. Shaking itself off, the monstrosity rose to its full height, its remaining eyes trained on the tasty morsel it was finally about to consume. The monster standing over Seth threw its head back in a terrifying howl. The sound cascaded throughout the room and brought Seth to his knees. It felt as if it drained the will from his body. Seth managed to raise his head by using all of his leftover strength. He could only hold it long enough for a glance before he was forced to bow in submission.
To any third party watching, they would see a pitiful blood covered teen on his knees, waiting to die with his head down in defeat.
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The long howl finally ended and the abomination turned its eyes once again on its prey, readying for the kill. Silence filled the air while its disgusting maw unhinged like a snake. Right before the wolf finally finished Seth off, a low chuckle cut through the silence. The monster paid it no heed and lunged forward. Instead of Seth’s body, the creature clamped down on nothing… as its head had been reduced to a bloody pile of bones and brains.
Chuckling became giggling and giggling turned to cackling as Seth convulsed on the ground. A grin larger than any he had mustered before was plastered on his face.
His manic eyes were focused directly on the corpse in front of him.
A huge slab of black glass sat on a bed of the blood and guts. The slab was three times the size of the monster’s skull. It was the result of five whole days of planning and cutting, as well as a healthy dose of dumb luck. It was Seth’s masterpiece, his magna carta. With a lot of guessing and TV remembering, Seth had cut out a largescale block out of the ceiling and configured it to where it would fall shortly after a good hit.
The cracks from the stake as well as the wolf’s howl had sealed the monstrosity’s grave. This further continued Seth’s fit as he joked to himself that the thing had basically killed itself.
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If Shilung had a mouth, it would be wide open.
Shilung had summoned the commander to observe Subject 50’s final test, but this had exceeded all expectation. The commander stood behind Shilung, lurching over the screen.
“Well that was interesting.”
Shilung whirled around, flustered. “This is more than interesting commander. This is one of the few subjects to ever have passed the test this way! Every other subject this round that has passed so far was able to either escape with their lives or maim the tier three. To kill it in phase one is something else entirely!”
The commander gurgled in annoyance, “Yes, killing a tier three as a tier one is something, but you are aware that the three’s abilities were inhibited. Not to mention, the subject killed it with a shameful tactic. I admit the weapon does peak my interest though, it would take an extremely powerful tier one ability to pierce the hide of an Xtrey Hound. Whatever Umbra was attached to that anomaly had to have granted this subject a fair amount of power.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
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Shilung watched the commander go and turned back to the console. It was in turmoil. The commander wasn’t seeing the big picture behind this and Shilung had made sure to argue this fact for minutes before the commander ordered him to shut up. A subject with this kind of data, as well as the absence of data they had because of the withdrawn drones… it thoroughly peaked Shilung’s curiosity.
“If this subject survives, it will become something truly worth watching.”
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Seth was now on his back. He had managed to kill the beast, but at what cost. His body was broken and his blood now stained the floor. The ever familiar blinking graced Seth’s peripherals. At his mental command, the menu opened before his eyes. After finally completing the quests, Seth was ready to reap the rewards. He maneuvered to the Quests tab and looked at the completed quests.
-Kill one monster (0/1) (Reoccurring) (Reward: Random Home planet Sustenance)(Reactivated)
- Locate all stabilizer poles, and destroy them. (3/3) (Reward: Manufactured Identify Tablet(Class C). *Claim?*
-Find the Tier Three monster in your area. (1/1) (Reward: Assigned Class B Armor Piece). *Claim?*
-New Quest: Pass the test (Reward: Random Class D Ability) (Achieved). *Claim?*
-Hidden Quest: Defeat the tier three monster (1/1) (Rewards: Plunder Ability, Recovery Crystal (Class C) (Extra Reward: Little David Title). *Claim?*
-New Quest: Enter the rift (Reward: New Quests).
Seth grinned despite himself. There was nothing better than completing a bunch of quests at once and getting a bunch of cool shit, he thought to himself. He assented to all the claims and was met with more new notifications. He left the Quests tab and opened the Notifications.
-Congratulations! You have received the ability: Plunder due to the completion of a quest!
- Congratulations! You have received the ability: Cache (Class D) due to the completion of a quest!
-Congratulations! You have received the Chest Plate of the Stalker (Class B ) due to the completion of a quest!
-Congratulations! You have received a Manufactured Identify Tablet (Class C) due to the completion of a quest!
-Congratulations! You have received the Title of “Little David” due to your victory over a substantially more powerful foe!
-Congratulations! You have received a Recovery Crystal (Class C) due to the completion of a quest!
Plunder:
-They’re dead, so it’s not like they need it.
A red halo formed around Seth’s head as he instantly used the recovery crystal. A slow burning sensation arose from his chest. “Ow shit that hurts…” Seth mumbled.
“Ow, ow, OW, OW, AHHHHHH!!!”
Seth writhed on the glass floor of the cavern as his bones snapped back into place and his flesh knit together. After a couple minutes, the pain faded away and Seth got back on his feet. “Remind me not to take one of those things again.” He growled. Since he was finally on his feet, Seth took this opportunity to pat himself one the back for successfully cheesing a boss.
Throws me back to my WoW days.
Next, turned his attention back to the Cache tab he had just obtained the crystal from. For a Class D ability, it was quite useful, he thought to himself. There was thirty slots to which he could keep anything he wanted. There was also multiple currency counters and a diagram of his body where he could put on equipment. The whole thing reminded him of the Terraria inventory layout.
That was one of his favorite video games until just a couple years ago. After they stopped making updates to the game, there was really only so much he could do before it started to get dry.
“You shouldn’t be reminiscing right now man,” he chastised himself.
Seth refocused on the Cache tab and realized that the armor piece he received was sitting in the first slot. He mentally dragged the chest plate to its corresponding slot on the diagram and equipped it. The air seemingly glitched around his chest and the next second there was a deep slate grey chest plate embracing his torso.
The armor covered his upper chest and appeared to have a chain-like pattern in an X across the surface. It gave off apocalypse biker vibes. Seth abruptly remembered the Identify tablet waiting for him and quickly extracted it from his inventory. He popped it into his mouth and swallowed as a light buzzing sensation rang through his head. Seth tapped the chest plate, and he was relieved to find a new detailed window open.
Chest Plate of the Stalker:
-(1/5) Of the Armor of the Stalker, grants basic protection, resistance to curses, and a slow self-repair function.
“One of five, eh?”
The armor honestly seemed kind of lame, Seth thought.
Self-Repair was cool and all but the chest plate only gave him basic protection and a mediocre resistance rather than an immunity.
“Better than nothing.” He relinquished.
Seth had been without a shirt for weeks now so the armor was welcome, not to mention quite comfortable, if he was being honest with himself. Now that he was healed and equipped with some protection, Seth moved to the giant pile of mush in front of him. There was a foul smell already emitting from the corpse. After receiving the Plunder ability, Seth had a feeling this was the right move.
He extended his hand out over the corpse and sort of pulled on the dimensional energy coming from the body. After receiving the True Sight ability, Seth had begun to develop an understanding of what exactly the “shaping” mentioned in his Notifications was. By exerting his will toward the energy surrounding him, he had been able to minimally change its flow. After getting the Plunder ability, its instinctive activation knowledge further confirmed his theory. He repeated the shaping exercise in an attempt to activate his Plunder ability and was happy to see a few new items in his inventory.
-Recovery Potion (Class C)
-Xtrey Fang
Xtrey Fur Cloak:
-Grants cold immunity, enhanced projectile protection, enhanced slash protection, Retribution Recoil
Retribution Recoil:
-15% of damage inflicted upon the user will be reflected to the aggressor
“Damn! Now those are some buffs!” Seth gushed. He quickly moved the item over to equip it, only to be met by an alert in red.
-Access Denied. Items of a higher tier than the user cannot be equipped.
“You got to be fucking kidding me.”
No wonder the chest plate was so underwhelming, it was only a tier one then! “Wait a minute, how am I supposed to tell what tier they are?” Seth doublechecked the description and could find no other ranking in his items other than the class. Probably takes an ability or something. From what he has seen so far, it looks as if any basic ability he could think of most likely needed to be acquired, hence the name in his status.
He turned his attention back to the wolf and reached forward to put his onyx hand on it. After a moment, the body began to stir. A huge fog of black ink arose from its depths and caused the body to crumble into dust. The figure of a giant hound took form in the fog and the familiar sight of the roiling anima began to pull into the void of Seth’s hand like a river.
Claws of darkness abruptly swept out from the ink and struck out at Seth.
He fell back startled as the cloud of oil began to reel away from his hand. Panic took over Seth as he realized his blunder. The monster’s anima held the power of a tier three! His ability Anima Thief was only tier one, like him. Seth couldn’t let it go though, the anima was already extracted and partially within Seth. If he released control, the wolf would devour him.
Inhumane screams arose from the growing mass as it tried to escape Seth. Steeling his resolve, Seth focused on the roiling creature and urged his hand to devour the monster. Unfortunately, even all of might couldn’t control the wild anima. It was slowly but steadily getting larger. Thoughts raced through Seth’s head as he continued the losing battle.
Out of nowhere, pain ripped through his nerves as it felt like Seth’s hand was being tugged off his arm. The pain brought forth the memory of a bloody stump and pool of gore.
He wouldn’t live through that again, never again…
A ripple went through the shadows in Seth’s hand as he forced himself to get up. The screams sounded as if they were getting louder and more desperate when they saw what he was doing. As he arrived on his feet, Seth felt his eyes fill with a now familiar icy cold and dead aura. A new window opened right in front of his face.
New ability: Anima Release
Anima Release:
-An apect ability of Anima Thief; Stolen anima is channeled into existence and abides the will of the user. (Low DE cost)
The rippling on his hand erupted into a shower of void black shadows. Countless figures tore through the fountain of black as a parade of familiar shrieks assaulted Seth’s ears. A couple hundred ink colored Foulers exploded from his hand and began to attack the wolf fog. Any regular mortal’s ears would have been obliterated by the onslaught of sound emitting from the frenzy.
The horde of Foulers relentlessly destroyed the giant black monster in a flurry of vicious bites. The wolf lashed out at the wave of monsters, but there was simply too many. Howls filled with agony and terror echoed from each wall of the cavern as a black whirlpool swept through the air. A scene of true nightmares unfolded in front of Seth as he mutely watched as the hundreds of Foulers tear through every inch of the goliath, gruesomely pulling it back to Seth’s hand.
A tornado of darkness and chaos quickly began to withdraw into Seth’s outstretched extremity. Silence followed as the mass disappeared into the endless swirl of black in his palm. Seth’s breathing was the only sound in the room as he stared at the alien hand.
“How was that even possible…” he muttered in amazement.
A window blinked into existence right in front of his face.
Title: Little David
-Tier disparity does not affect your ability to overcome an opponent
He could only stare at the prompt hovering in the air. The connotations of his new title began to set in. Theoretically, that meant Seth could defeat any opponent as long as he had a good enough strategy. The monster he had just faced was already insanely powerful, but Seth wasn’t naïve enough to believe that the wolf was the strongest being around.
In reality, the creature had just been toying with him.
It only saw him as weak prey up until he got lucky and killed it. This realization really opened Seth’s eyes to the universe around him. Theoretically there was infinite dimensions, with infinite universes, with beings astronomically stronger than him. Seth seriously began to assess his possible future.
“I have to get way more powerful in order to survive.”
He activated True Sight and found a concentration of energy behind the inky curtains the monster had originally emerged from. Seth made his way toward what he believed was the rift. He entered through the tear in the wall and was met by a scene of pure gore. The room was littered with corpses of what Seth assumed were Foulers. At the center of the room, a black crack hovered just above the ground like a doorway.
As he arrived at the crack, he instinctively summoned his glaive back to his hand. He felt a hum coming from the weapon and looked down at it. For some reason, it felt different… alive.
Seth opened his status and scrolled toward the ability that used to say Unknown. As he found the spot he was looking for, Seth discovered that the Unknown ability had been replaced with something new.
Anar:
-An ability unlocked by Presence of Doom; A weapon that bows to no other. Grants Sin of Satan, Unstoppable Edge, Anima Prison (No DE cost)
Sin of Satan:
-The injury inflicted by the user cannot be healed by any item or ability lower than one tier above the user. (Current Limit: Tier Two)
Unstoppable Edge:
-The weapon’s blade cannot be stopped by any material or ability lower than one tier above the user. (Current Limit: Tier Two)
Anima Prison:
-The item can use the power of the anima it holds. (Current Inhabitant: Xtrey Hound (Tier Three))
“Anar, eh?” Seth said as he started towards the crack, “I like it.”