Running amidst the towering trees, Kiera was unpleasantly reminded of the first time she made her escape in this world. But there was only a small difference between then and her current ordeal, there were over twenty more wolves than back then.
She was certainly far stronger than now, but even with her newfound strength she still couldn't suppress the icy-cold feeling she experienced when the twenty-some wolves gazed at her.
Now that the whole pack decided she was their next meal, her chances of running away were slimmer. While a single wolf was nothing much, the immense talent of these creatures when it came to hunting in packs was both fascinating and terrifying.
“But why, I haven’t seen even their shadow for nearly two days, why did these bastards suddenly decide to fucking show up?” Kiera thought in irritation, punching an Lv.3 wolf away while keeping her attention on an Lv.6 wolf, which was one of the original assailants she encountered and probably also the pack’s alpha.
“Damn it, was it because of that!?” she remembered the leopard’s roars of agony after racking her brain for answers. “Don’t tell me they fucking sensed its death and came to check it out?!”
That riverbank was probably the leopard’s territory, and with its strength and size it certainly could wipe out at least half of the pack in a fight even if it died from the wounds in the end. Considering the riverbank’s abundance of resources, the wolves probably drooled over the right to live there but were afraid to invade.
Now that she killed the only obstacle they had, they may have approached out of curiosity and deemed her weak enough to be slaughtered even if she killed the leopard. With her dead, they would get the riverbank to themselves, or at least that was what Kiera assumed they were thinking.
“Just my fucking luck…” Kiera protested in anger, “killing the big bad leopard boss only to be chased by a pack of wolves seconds later.”
The chase continued for a while before Kiera spotted a forest clearance ahead and decided to proceed to it. To her surprise, the clearance may have been empty from trees but was instead decorated with a large violet stone platform with a plethora of rubble littered on its surface.
It was quite suspicious that a man-made structure was abandoned in the middle of nowhere, nevertheless, in this situation she could only act first and ask questions later unless she wanted to die from indecisiveness.
She ran toward it, deciding to hide among the rubble. With the wolves still in tow, she jumped onto the platform and ducked below a broken boulder.
One of the faster wolves succeeded in biting her leg before her entire body entered the small makeshift cave.
"Fuck!" she swore in pain as blood flowed from her calf to the stone platform. The scarlet liquid weirdly flowing to the grout joints by itself.
Kiera was stunned to see that bright violet light suddenly lit up the already violet platform as soon as her blood touched the filled the grout joints.
Her shock grew stronger when she saw the boulder above her turning into dust. Followed by the other rubble and even the nefarious, barking pack of wolves.
All of a sudden, the floor below her disappeared, causing her to instantly fall into a dark hole. Kiera couldn't even scream before she felt her body abruptly stop.
She opened her eyes only to realize she stood in a small violet hall, illuminated by what seemed like weirdly fresh candles. The small hall only had a bed, a desk filled with books, and a large tree adorned by dozens of violet fruits.
Kiera fell on her butt, her mental strength drained completely as even her seasoned mind could barely handle the sequence of events she experienced in the less than forty-eight that passed since she arrived in this world.
Immediately tearing fabric from her dress, Kiera tightened the peace around her wound to stop the bleeding. Then, she lay on the cold stone floor and closed her eyes, forgetting all her troubles for a while. She rested for ten minutes before she decided to check out the books.
Arriving near the desk, Kiera was surprised to see the words on the covers were completely foreign to her, yet she still understood their meaning. "Translator skill…"
However, what stood to her the most was the biggest book in the center of the bunch. It had no words on its cover, but Kiera felt bizarrely drawn to it.
She opened the book, discovering it was a diary rather than a regular history or a guide book and began to read its content out loud. "My name is Tynan Koriel, the 10th inheritor of the Tyrannical Lightning Attribute. If you stumbled upon this place, it means I already perished, and the ancestral platform has reacted to your blood, deeming you as the next inheritor.”
“Not much I can tell you as I am unaware of your strength upon your discovery of this place, but I shall tell you the significance of your position. We are the ones who control Power, the attribute that rules all destructive physical contact, and Solar Lightning— one of the three strongest natural elements. As we control two of the Eight Supreme Attributes, our potential is limitless, but such are our enemies, their envy of our secrets already etched in their soul."
She flipped the page and continued reading, already unknowingly intrigued by the words. "Our destiny is filled with greatness, each of us rising to the top in the end. However, the top is filled with catastrophic dangers the lower ranks of the ladder cannot match. Shall you want to leave and remain mediocre yet relatively safe, simply relinquish the inheritance by uttering I Command: Relinquish. But shall you want to hold absolute strength and stand in the highest echelons of Grandemyr, utter I Command: Accept."
She flipped the page again, thirsty for more information, only to see the words were replaced by question marks— probably because she didn't accept the inheritance yet.
Kiera did not even hesitate before she accepted. The danger was present at every level, something she understood from the short but rich adventure she had gone through. Thus, she preferred being in danger while strong to being in danger while weak.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
[The 11th Inheritor of the Tyrannical Lightning Attribute {Keira Ashborn}'s acceptance has been confirmed. Imparting permissions.]
[Permissions Imparted.]
With the inheritance accepted, Kiera immediately checked out the book again. The question marks were replaced by words, the words she unexpectedly looked for.
"In case this page is visible to you, it means you truly are the inheritor and decided to accept the inheritance. Now, I shall teach you how to receive the Tyrannical Lightning Attribute. There is a tree of violet fruits in the hall; eat exactly only one fruit. The pain would be tremendous, unlikely comparable to anything you felt before… But I am doubtless about your success, as you are the chosen inheritor."
Kiera went to the tree and picked up a fruit. Taking a deep breath, she murmured. "Do or die, I guess."
The moment she finished her words, she ate the small fruit wholly and chewed. Instantly, horrifying pain assaulted her, accompanied by violet lightning-shaped lines that squirmed under her skin.
She screamed in pain, vividly feeling her nerves, muscles, bones, and other body parts turning into dust and reconstructing again.
A blood pool slowly expanded under her writhing body, the loud screams of anguish causing the red liquid to tremble.
Eternity, or at least what seemed like an eternity to her, slowly passed under the effects of the torturous pain— and as soon as the pain subsided, Kiera passed off.
She woke up an unknown period of time later, surprised at the fact no soreness was present in her body.
Many screens appeared around her, different notifications written on them. However, they were all momentarily ignored when the assassin noticed her once lustrous black hair turned into a gleaming violet.
She caressed her hair a few times to confirm nothing was wrong, she didn’t care much about her appearance, and she anyway had to admit her current hair seemed more exquisite than before.
[Supreme Attribute {Solar Lightning} acquired.]
[Supreme Attribute {Power} acquired.]
[Supreme Attribute {Power} fused with Supreme Attribute {Solar Lightning}, creating the Absolute Attribute {Tyrannical
Lightning}.]
[Due to changes made by Absolute Attribute {Tyrannical Lightning} all battle stats receive +20.]
[Active attribute skill {Tyrant Regeneration} acquired.]
[Passive attribute skill {Tyrannical Lightning Body} acquired.]
[Passive skill {Lightning Resistance} acquired.]
[Skill Upgrade! {Lightning Resistance Lv.1} advanced into {Lightning Resistance Lv.4}]
[Passive skill {Physical Resistance} acquired.]
[Skill Upgrade! {Physical Resistance Lv.1} advanced into {Physical Resistance Lv.4}]
[Passive skill {Pain Resistance} acquired.]
[Skill Upgrade! {Pain Resistance Lv.1} advanced into {Pain Resistance Lv.4}]
Kiera smiled brightly at the harvests granted by the pain; the rewards were comparable to the suffering.
"Open Status Window!" she said excitedly.
[Name: Kiera Ashborn
Race: Human (Dimension Crosser)
Gender: Female
Age: 0 (physical age: 10)
Magician Rank: None (Mortal Lv.7)
Attribute: Tyrannical Lightning
Titles: {Voidborne} (command ‘Voidborne’ to show details)
General Stats:
Health: 3,120/3,120
Stamina: 3,240/3,240
Mana: N/A
Battle Stats:
Strength: 52
Dexterity: 53
Agility: 54
Wisdom: 52
Skills:
Active:
General-
{Identify Lv.1}
Attribute Skills-
{Tyrant Regeneration Lv.1}
Passive:
General-
{Crafting Lv.1} {Lightning Resistance Lv.4} {Physical Resistance Lv.4} {Pain Resistance Lv.4}
Attribute Skills-
{Tyrannical Lightning Body Lv.1}]
"I wonder if I am physically stronger than that leopard now… Would’ve solved me a lot of inconveniences if I had that strength before. Oh, but then again, if I had it I wouldn’t have stumbled upon this place," she spoke to herself before flipping to the next page.
"If you are able to see this page, it means you successfully obtained the Tyrannical Lightning Attribute, becoming the complete inheritor. This book holds the secrets of the Tyrannical Lightning Lineage, including some of its history and core skills developed by the former inheritors and myself. If you are not already a magician, please proceed to the next page. If you are, do as you seem fit."
Kiera’s eyes lit up, relieved to finally find what she sought after. She quickly turned the page and scanned the content. “Magicians are individuals who could harness mana in order to use magic. The mana they used came from the surrounding world but was stored in a special organ inside the magician’s body called Mana Core. An individual with a freshly completed Mana Core was called a Normal Apprentice Magician. Mana Cores could be formed by slowly drawing mana into one’s body or by an item holding a large amount of pure mana as a medium.”
“Inheritors who are yet to form their Mana Core can use the Ancestral Fruit to construct their own mana core while not being of the level required to do so. In such a case, the resulted Mana Core would be far higher in quality than a normal Mana Core. Additionally, inheritors who are already magicians could temper their existent Mana Core and raise its quality significantly.”
“The former need to eat the fruit and utter I Command: Shape Core, while the latter need to utter I Command: Temper Core.”
She did exactly as the book said, eating the fruit and commanding no one in particular to shape her core. A warm feeling budded in her stomach as she felt unfamiliar energy penetrating her body. Her simple dress fluttered under the disturbance of what she assumed was the world’s mana.
The lightning-shaped tattoos resurfaced again, glowing blindingly in the violet that seemed to already be an irreplaceable part of her being. Kiera could even sense her core gradually forming as the fruit’s power was consumed by her body.
The process took a while before a notification popped up in her sight.
[Mana Core construction completed. +10 to all battle stats.]
Kiera grinned widely as she felt the mana coursing through her body, an unknown itch to meet some wolves shaping within her.