We woke the others upon sunrise and let them eat breakfast. It was a simple fare of oatmeal and ham. I packed their sleeping bags in my DB and we made our way towards the mountain once again. Godspear was roughly thirty miles high which is about six times taller than Everest. This only increased the difficulty of not only determining how far away the mountain was, but also creating the illusion that we were not making progress.
About two hours after returning to the highway, roughly five hours into our travel time, the highway ended completely. Where there should have been roads and buildings were instead a hilly grassland with small clumps of trees scattered around.
There were the occasional buildings scattered around. What was odd was that they were not the farming homesteads one would expect. It was mostly random, some homes here and there, an office building, and even what appeared to be a hospital some miles away. That would be a good place to check out for supplies on the way back. This was not ideal as the rough terrain would tire out the humans in our group much faster than walking on flat pavement.
We, or rather our city spoiled traveling companions, strengthened their resolve and pushed forward into the wilderness. About an hour later, James ran up the last bit of a particularly rough hill, excited to go downhill for a change. My eyes widened in horror as I saw something approaching him rapidly. I quickly closed the ten-foot distance in the blink of an eye and tossed him to the side. Unfortunately, I did not have time to defend myself. I felt my flesh give way as a two-foot-long spike pierced my chest. It was shiny black and barbed.
I grimaced in pain and cried out. I glanced towards the origin of the attack and saw a monstrosity. The hill leveled out quickly and sticking out of the ground was a grotesque mockery of a scorpion tail. The ground gave way as the monster that had buried itself was revealed. It was a large feline monster with sharp claws and a long scorpion-like tail that was riddled with more of the spike that pierced me. An ugly, human-like face willed with gnarled fangs glared at us hungrily as it shook its maned head to free itself of the dirt. This had to be a Manticore.
I quickly grabbed the spike and tossed it just as it exploded. The explosion was very mild, not unlike a cheap firework you can get at Walmart, but if it explodes inside your body, it can be extremely devastating. I mumbled, "Shit, that was close." It snarled at me, deciding I was the greatest threat and launched four spikes at me. I couldn’t dodge as Maya and Eliza were directly behind me and I couldn’t catch them as there was a slight paralyzing poison coating the spikes that were meant to prevent others from doing what I just did. I couldn’t dodge and I couldn’t take them, I would be out of the fight. I didn’t even have time to cast a cantrip.
I felt my mana surge along with my desperation. It mingled with my blood reserve and bloomed outward with a burst of pressure. Blood oozed from my skin and swirled around me, solidifying into a carapace like armor. It was pitch black with blood-red and gold trim, the armor was more organic than typical metal armor and as the chitinous spikes shattered across my torso, it was also as strong if not stronger than steel as it wasn’t even dented. Claws tipped my fingers and toes and the only opening in the armor was a curved opening for my eyes. The opening was extremely slim to stop most attacks, yet it didn’t impede my vision at all. My hair draped down from the helmet giving it the appearance of a long white plume. Sharp spikes adorned my elbow, knees, and knuckles. The faint impression of a vampiric skull decorated the face of the helmet. I could tell instinctively that I could open the helmet like a mouth in order to bite my prey.
I looked down at my hands then at the manticore, its human-like face snarling in caution, now worried it had bit off more than it could chew. I smirked inside my helmet, “Asha, I think I discovered what my first innate power is.” My voice was deep and gravelly in the armor. I quickly formed a spell and slammed my fist into the ground along with an injection of blood. A tendril of blood raced underground towards the manticore roughly twenty feet away.
Being used to sensing vibrations while it hides underground, it sensed my attack and jumped to the side and shot out another trio of spikes. A spear of blood exploded from the ground as two barbs shattered against my chest as the other one missed me. Right before it would have embedded itself in Eliza’s head, I snatched it out of the air. I tossed it back at the manticore and it went deep into its shoulder. It yowled in pain. It couldn’t reach the spike and it detonated, causing a small fountain of gore to spray from its shoulder.
While the beast was distracted, I rushed it and leapt onto its back. It tried to swipe at me with its tail, but I ducked. I could smell the vinegar sour tang of its dripping venom. I put one hand on its stinger and the other on the tail proper and pulled hard. With a crack and wet shlorp, the singer was yanked free from the manticore. A glass shattering screech came from it but was sharply cut off as I slammed the stinger in its throat as I hopped down from the bucking creature. It ripped out the stinger with its paws and tried to swipe at me. I braced myself and blocked the attack with my right arm. The shock of the blow rattled my bones, and I slid a bit, digging furrows in the soil. I pushed off the paw with enough strength to stumble the monster. I formed a fire spell dove in. Trusting my armor, I drove my fist into its mouth and unleashed the spell. The equivalent of a flamethrower seared the innards of the manticore and billowed out the sides of its mouth. It gagged and struggled to dislodge me from its throat, but I willed two spikes to protrude from my gauntlet and hooked the esophagus, not unlike how its own barbs work.
The struggle quickly died down as its strength fled. Cooked from the inside out, the manticore toppled, dead. I quickly withdrew my arm, not wishing to be pulled to the ground by the beast. I took a calming breath and regretted it. The acrid scent of burning flesh and hair permeated the air. I wrinkled my nose and returned to the group. “Well, that was exciting. So Veru has Manticores as well?” I asked Asha.
She nodded slowly, a confused expression on her face, "Yes, though they are far from being myth there. That was a Lesser Hillock Manticore. As you saw, it is an ambush predator that uses a basic form of earth magic to sink in the ground and encourage plant growth to hide itself. Thankfully, they are far less dangerous than a Greater Manticore. Those are over double in size and have wings. Though it's odd that they are here in the hills so close to Godspear. They normally are native to Cyral."
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“Cyral?” Carl asked.
Asha answered, “Cyral is a country about two hundred miles east of the Godspear Mountain and normally the Gnolls would keep them out as the apex in the Hinok plains, but I suppose the jumble messed with more stuff from Veru than I thought. We'll have to be more cautious, Sanguine Lord.”
James raised an eyebrow, “Sanguine Lord?”
This was the first time since I regained my memories that Asha had referred to me as such. I coughed, “Ah, yes. It was getting a bit convoluted keeping track of my past lives and so we decided it would be simpler for me to adopt a new title. Feel free to call me Victor, of course, but I shall be introducing myself as the Sanguine Lord from now on.”
Maya said, “Don’t matter much to me whatcha call yourself, but why that and not a normal name like Jeff or something?”
Asha replied in my stead, “There are much more people on Veru than Earth and they are more likely to survive the coming days. Therefore, it is critical that my Lord takes up a mantle that will garner respect from allies and fear from enemies. It is common for leaders and important figures to gain titles in Veru such as Vemyr the Basilisk Breaker or the Duke of Vermillion Blades.”
Eliza offered, “Or Alexander the Great and Vlad the Impaler?”
I laughed, “Exactly right. We will have resources and people who others may wish to steal and abuse. I am the core of our defenses, and we need a moniker that people can easily recognize. Bandits and others with ill intent will be less likely to attack us if they risk the retribution of the Sanguine Lord as opposed to some guy named Victor.”
Carl nodded, “I suppose that makes sense. Not a lot of people know who Vlad Tepes is, but everyone knows who Dracula is.”
“Correct.” I affirmed.
Eliza then asked Asha, "So, with what you were saying before, the path is going to be more dangerous than you remember?”
“It’s possible. Gnolls, while dangerous, tend to travel as nomads so it was unlikely to come across them en masse. Maybe a small raiding party at worst. Gnolls and Manticores compete with prey so the Gnolls, having the greater intellect, pushed the Hillock Manticores to the east. However, either due to the worlds combining or something having changed in the centuries since I was on Veru, the manticores are here. As I said before, be grateful they are not Greater Manticores, which can fly and are much more deadly. Those are native to Ember Deserts far to the south, assuming general geography is similar to their original positions, of course.”
I clapped and said, “Then we shall continue with caution.” I walked over and bent down to examine the manticore, wondering what to do with it as it won't fit in the bag when I stopped and blinked in shock. I was absorbing its blood and while the blood was going to the reservoir, the mana was going somewhere else. I looked within myself and gasped at the dense crystalline sphere.
“My Lord Sanguine?” Asha asked.
“I, I just realized something. I have a core now.”
Asha blinked in surprise and stared at me before gasping, “You’re right, and it's so dense!”
“Yep, which means I can start working on my Foundation, right?"
"Yep, though we should wait until we're in the city. There are pills you can get that will help you sense the Dao. You don't want to get a Dao Foundation that doesn't suit you as well. In the meantime, you should be able to cast Dimensional Pocket. You remember how right?"
I nodded and formed the spellform. There were cantrips that were powerful enough that you needed the reserves of mana a core provides in order to cast them. One of them is Dimensional Pocket, the spell dimensional bags are enchanted with. The dense runic circle collapsed into a prismatic fractal oval that sucked up the manticore's remains.
Still grinning widely, Asha said, "Wait until you learn Soul Vault in the Pavilion stage."
I cocked my head, “Soul Vault?”
She nodded, “Yeah, it’s a highly complex and powerful spell that creates a dimensional space within your soul that even living beings can enter. However, its different from the Summit as you have no power over those that enter the Vault. It may be bound to your soul, but it isn't your soul like the Palace is. Even at the realm Lucien reached, it was only large enough for five people to stand around comfortably, but you had a lot of materials and wealth stored within. It’s where you kept your most valuable and powerful tools.
I shrugged, “Anyway, we now have plenty of storage and Maya here can keep this bag for her own needs.”
The soon to be artificer’s eyes widened, “Really? I get to keep the magic bag?”
“Well, of course. It was my plan to get your own eventually. You’ll need it for all your ingredients, learning materials, and finished products, unless you want to haul everything back to base in a cart.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a fun time. Do you really think the Dwarves will let us in, let alone take me as a student?”
I nodded, “Apprentice, and yes. You have a powerful bargaining chip.”
“I do?”
Asha answered, “Yes, you have an entire new world’s wealth of knowledge that is applicable to artificing. Even though the presence of mana changes how the laws of physics act, you still have technology and a unique perspective that the Dwarves will find fascinating at the very least.”
James asked, “What about you two? Will they let two vampires in their city?”
I thought for a moment, enjoying the chirping of birds and the pleasant cloudy day. The sky was a much more vibrant blue thanks to the blue star Xu. I then said, “Asha said there weren’t any vampires in Veru so it is unlikely that they will think of me as anything other than another native to Earth. They may assume I’m some strange half-Elvara with my ears.”
Asha laughed, “You’d be the most muscular Elvara in Midgard, I think.”
I chuckled, “Can you imagine a Celestial body builder?” With amused grins, we continued our trek to Godspear.
Eliza then asked, “By the way, you said that armor was a new power?"
I nodded, "Yep, it's called Regalia of the Blood Lord and it's my innate power. I still have to unlock Lucien's and Vlad's, but I'm pretty happy with this.
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