Jeriah clasped wrists with Tobias.

“Good to see you, brother,” Tobias said. “What took you so long?”

“Had a few scuffles with some beasts on the way here,” Jeriah said. “Had a fight outside our walls here too. Mind telling me what an army is doing on our doorstep?”

“Oh, that?” Tobias said with a laugh. “A little misunderstanding; they’re looking for Mordred.”

“But Mordred isn’t here,” Jeriah said.

“The name above yours and my head says differently,” Tobias said with a grin.

Jeriah focused on his brother, then broke out in a laugh. “They think you’re the Warlord?”

“Yeah, we caught one of their soldiers on one of their failed attempts to breach our walls. Apparently, a bunch of champions all got together to hunt him down. They didn’t even know it was the Warlord when they came hunting him, just that it was one of the champions of chaos.”

----

Bursting out of the ground, I was greeted by a blast of frigid air. The wind tore at my hair, snow flying into my face. I stepped out into the blizzard. The air was freezing, and I actually felt the chill which was odd since I was supposed to be immune to exposure. Looking down, I saw my veins glowing as they did during battle. I stopped to consider how my ability actually worked. Exposure was just the effects of adverse temperature; my blood could heat up and cool down, thus regulating my own body temperature to outside human levels letting me go into artic environments like this bare-chested.

The ability didn’t give me any frost or ice resistance; however, if something on the level of an ability made an attack against me, my immunity to exposure wouldn’t do anything. As I thought about resistances, I considered one of my newer titles. Lighting Resistance it was just lightning resistance and would reduce the damage I took from lightning by one stage. Considering I was about to fight a lightning phoenix, it was a great title; but I had my doubts that reducing the damage by one stage would matter much.

I thought that over. I knew how you raised those titles to the next stage; it wasn’t complicated; you just had to almost die. Thinking that over, I thought back to the one time I’d raised a title on purpose. Usually, it was an accident or just the result of me surviving by the skin of my teeth, but during the Event, I’d stabbed myself with several poisons in the gut, injecting myself with super toxins from various creatures I’d defeated. Then with some herbs and my previous Venom Resistance, I’d survived and gained Venom Resistance III, which, as far as I could tell, was the highest level for resistance titles.

Could I do the same for Lightning Resistance?

“System,” I said aloud as the wind whipped around me. “Bring up the notification for Lightning Resistance.”

You have completed a hidden objective and earned a title. Objective, survive a lethal amount of lightning damage for over ten seconds.

Reward: Lightning Resistance.

*Lightning Resistance: Your body is becoming increasingly resistant to Lightning the more you are subjected to it. Lightning damage deals one less damage stage against you, making it so larger lightning attacks are required to damage and kill you.

I looked over the objective for how I earned Lightning Resistance the first time. I had to survive lethal amounts of lightning damage for a certain period of time. I reached into my storage pouch and pulled out the two antlers from the storm stag. My hand burned, and the muscles in my arm spasmed when I touched them. I sat down in the snow. It melted on contact with my skin, and I was soon in a puddle. Ignoring the discomfort, I pulled out some healing potions and laid them out along with a case of Cauter fennel.

With some trepidation, I looked at the two blue crystal antlers and their razor-sharp sparking tips.

“Here goes nothing,” I said with a sigh.

I grabbed the two antlers and slammed them into my guts. My arms locked in place as the current of electricity ran through me. I would have screamed if I could have. Thoughts of Marvin grabbing the sink in Home Alone two went through my head. I activated Wrathful Meditation, but even this didn’t do much; I couldn’t feel pain, but that didn’t mean my body was free of the effects from the electricity.

I let my body spasm. Time passed, but I had no idea how long I had to survive this before learning Lightning Resistance II and Lightning Resistance III. My body started to smoke.

That’s probably a bad sign, I thought.

I live here, Karnen said. Don’t cook your own meat suit. What are you even trying to do?

Get Lightning Resistance III, I thought at him.

Well, I’m guessing you’ve got it, and if you haven’t by now, then this won’t do it, he said.

I used my Telekinesis to yank out the antlers. I dropped them and snatched up a potion. My hands were shaking, but I popped the cork and tossed the contents down. Throwing some Cauter Fennel on my wounds, and they flashed with fire closing them shut.

You have completed two hidden objectives and earned a title. Objective, survive a lethal amount of lightning damage for over one minute.

Reward: Lightning Resistance III.

*Lightning Resistance: Your body is becoming increasingly resistant to Lightning the more you are subjected to it. Lightning damage deals three less damage stages against you, making it so larger lightning attacks are required to damage and kill you.

I stood and shook myself, water dripping off my skin, armor, and pants. I felt faint from the lightning, my body still jittery, and my limbs randomly twitched of their own accord. I knew that being electrocuted was bad for you, but I figured my regeneration would handle any of the side effects.

Now that I had Lightning Resistance III, I could survive a few lightning bolts no problem. That left the issues of my dreams; in every dream I had, I ended up falling to my death. Every single time, other details in the dream changed, but it always ended with me going over the cliff. I wasn’t sure if I believed in predestination or anything like that, but I remembered my dreams before fighting the Bandit King. In all my dreams, Kaleb had killed me; when it came to the fight, he had killed me. Future seen, past lived, nothing had changed. I had dreamed of Korsis dying, and if I hadn’t intervened, he would have. I needed to alter fate again, but I wasn’t sure how to do that.

The easiest way would be to not fight the Lightning Pheonix. That wasn’t going to happen; I refused to cower from death, and one of my quests required me to defeat it. I leaned up against a tree, looking up at the swirling clouds and lightning above. I looked over my abilities, titles, and equipment and made a plan.

--

I pushed against the wind going higher and higher. It whipped against my face, shoved me in the back and chest, trying to spin me around, but I was massive due to all my attribute increases, and my weight and strength let me ignore the wind. Ahead of me, I could see the ever-present lightning that constantly flashed, providing light to the mountainside as it struck the ground or just flashed across the sky.

“Nothing to it but to go through it,” I sighed to myself, looking at the bolts of lightning. “Time to figure out if these are natural lightning or not. Maybe I won’t get hit by many of them.”

I made it fifty more yards before being struck by a bolt of lightning.

65 maximum mana gained.

You are stunned for the next five minutes, reduced by Troll Hide to 5 seconds.

I lay face-first in the snow. I was immobile, my muscles twitching as electricity coursed through me. Seconds passed, and I pushed myself to my knees to stand up. Another bolt of lightning struck me, tossing me to the side.

65 maximum mana gained.

You are stunned for the next five minutes, reduced by Troll Hide to 5 seconds.

My body tumbled through the air; I hit the ground and skidded along it like a limp fish. Another bolt of lightning hit me again as I slid along the ground. It shoved me down into the ground but at least stopped me from skidding toward the edge of the mountain.

65 maximum mana gained.

You are stunned for the next five minutes, reduced by Troll Hide to 5 seconds.

I lay there unmoving, apart from some barely perceptible twitching. Finally, I pushed myself to my knees again and managed to stagger forward ten yards before being hit by another bolt of lightning. I was tossed forward thirty yards and was hit by another two bolts of lightning. The first knocked me to the right, and I started skidding across the ground. The second made me start to spin like a frisbee.

195 maximum mana gained.

You are stunned for the next five minutes, reduced by Troll Hide to 5 seconds.

I got to my feet and charged forward. At this rate, I’d die before I even had a chance to face the Pheonix. I reduced the damage from lightning resistance by four stages thanks to my title and Storm Soul, but that was far from immunity to it. My body was smoking, and I felt aches and pains internally, even through Berserker. The fact I even felt the pain meant I had some serious internal damage going on. Even with Troll Hide repairing the damage, it couldn’t keep up with back-to-back lightning strikes.

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I dived to the left, dodging one lighting strike; I avoided it but was hit by another.

65 maximum mana gained.

You are stunned for the next five minutes, reduced by Troll Hide to 5 seconds.

I rolled to the side this time, and the blast of lightning hit where I’d been laying. The problem was that Storm Soul attracted lightning to me. I cursed my stupid past self who had chosen that ability; he was an idiot and was going to get me killed today. I teleported forward, and as soon as I reappeared, I was hit by another bolt of lightning and slammed into the dirt.

65 maximum mana gained.

You are stunned for the next five minutes, reduced by Troll Hide to 5 seconds.

Spitting out the snow and gravel, I got to my feet, teleporting forward. I would reappear for less than a second and teleport forward again. I was zooming up the mountain dodging lightning strikes as best I could. Even so, I was still struck by ten more bolts of lightning before I made it to the top.

650 maximum mana gained.

You are stunned for the next five minutes, reduced by Troll Hide to 5 seconds.

Breaking through a wall of wind, everything was suddenly still. The strikes of lightning stopped reaching for me. The wall of wind was still behind me, but I had entered the eye of the storm.

The eye of the storm had to be at least half a mile in diameter. A pillar of ice rose up at the center. The entire area was slick with ice and snow; I looked down at my boots to see the ice spikes attached to my boots. I had made some equipment to aid in my hiking and battle; hopefully, I wouldn’t get tossed off a mountain.

I didn’t see a lightning phoenix; I didn’t see any living creatures, in fact. I looked up. The eye of the storm continued all the way up, and the black of the night and the glittering stars could be seen above. I heated towards the massive pillar of ice. It rose up a few hundred feet. I teleported twice and landed on its rim. It was hollowed out like a crater, no…not a crater… a nest. I slid down the glass smooth sides to the center of the nest. I didn’t see any eggs or anything, but I could feel a powerful thrumming and energy in the air.

A shriek broke the air. I looked around at the storm wall but still couldn't see it. A shadow silhouetted against the clouds, static filled the air, and the sound of lightning intensified. I readied my clubs for battle and tossed my spearheads into the air.

A bolt of lightning struck next to me, cracking the ice as I narrowly twisted my head to the side thanks to Foresight. I’d barely survived the lethal attack, the electricity radiated outwards, but apparently, my boots didn’t conduct electricity. Good to know.

The Phoenix emerged out of the storm wall, and it was majestic. Every feather on its body shone with light making it hard to look at. I squinted at it, taking in its vibrant blue electric plumage. Its eyes were white. They were so bright, every feather surrounded by a white nimbus of light.

Umtesh, The Storm Prince- elemental-beast/storm-phoenix, Veteran, Rank: 310

Besides the Hell Dragon and the Dragon Clan Hero, this was probably the most powerful creature I’d ever faced. Lightning bolts arced around me; I couldn’t dodge them; my foresight showed the lighting would track me through the air no matter where I went. I turned incorporeal, which dulled the damage, and combined with my new Lightning Resistance III title; I’d taken minimal damage.

I teleported forward and struck at the Lightning Pheonix with my club. My blow struck, but lightning traveled up my arm; it hurt, but like when you accidentally touch the prongs when you plug something into an outlet instead of like being fried on a powerline. I didn’t activate Wrathful Meditation. The skill was useful, but feeling pain was necessary to deal with problems, even if it was unpleasant to experience.

I jumped forward and dropped my clubs, holding them midair with Telekinesis.

“Hell’s Talons,” I said.

This was one of my few abilities that required an activation word. In a millisecond, my fingernails grew and extended into long black talons wreathed in purple fire. I stabbed forward, and the phoenix let out a shriek as purple flames licked around its body as it took extreme Curse damage. It would take Mana Rot for the next five seconds, hopefully draining some of its reserves.

I opened my mouth and activated Helheim’s Scream. A sound came from me that I didn’t even think a biological creature could make. I was an unearthly, otherworldly sound like the haunting cry of a specter filled with misery and pain. I, of course, was not affected by my own ability, but just the sound of it gave me flashbacks to when I hung over the black abyss and the creatures that dwelt in it. Pushing back the memory, I attacked. I had no idea how many conditions the phoenix had resisted, but I’d make use of whatever weaknesses it was suffering from while the ability was on cooldown.

A static surge of electricity rose up from the creature and exploded outward, tossing me back. I skidded across the ice, digging my claws like ice picks into the ground and the spikes on my boots, bringing my skidding to a stop. I teleported back into the fight, moving around in a circle around the phoenix, lashing out with my talons over and over, reflecting it with my debuffs and the massive curse damage.

The phoenix had a tail like a dragon; I found that out when my Foresight warned me of the attack coming in from behind. I jumped over it, but the ground was now covered with a writhing web of electricity. I hit the ground, and my muscles spasmed; I didn’t lock up like I had before my lightning resistance taking off the worst of the effects. I dived to the right as its beak struck the ground where I had been standing.

My spearheads struck at Umtesh, but its feathers seemed to act like armor, a burst of lightning knocking away the spearheads just before they struck every time. The Pheonix retreated back into the storm, a look of panic about it, but I wasn’t ready for it to leave. I teleported up and landed on its back. Lighting scorched my body as I made contact, and my muscles spasmed, but I activated Hell’s Talons again. The ability cost fifty mana to activate every twenty seconds; it would have been a major loss, but after the hellish climb up the mountain, I could keep it up for minutes.

My talons ripped into the Phoenix’s back feathers, flew bolts of lightning ravaged my body, leaving me blackened and smoldering even with my lightning resistance. Finally, the Storm Phoenix was able to throw me. I went sailing, hitting the ground and sliding. With a shriek of rage, the phoenix rounded on me. It opened its beak, and a torrent of lightning poured forth. The storm of electricity hit me, and I went flying.

You have been stunned for 5 minutes, reduced by Troll Hide to 6 seconds.

I was going over the edge. I went higher and higher till I finally reached the apex of my launch. The stun effect ended, and I hung over the edge of the mountain.

Here goes nothing, I thought as I hung over the precipice.

I whipped out the chain and grappling hook I’d made and threw it at the ground. With the stacks of Might, I’d gained the grappling hook, struck and pierced into the ground. Unfortunately, this world, despite its magic, was subject to the laws of physics, and for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I went flying out over the forest. The chain was wrapped around my arm. It went taunt, and I swung down, slamming into the cliff face.

I tried to grab something, but the cliff face was smooth with no handholds. I activated Hell’s Talons again and stabbed my nails into the cliffside, stopping my erratic swinging. I started climbing up the chain. I heard a shriek and looked up. The lightning phoenix’s head was cocked, and I looked into one blue eye seeing a deadly calculating intelligence.

Its beak stabbed down on the chain. I started swinging and heard a snap. I began to fall again, but as soon as the chain broke, I teleported again. Appearing on the phoenix’s head, I stabbed my claws through its left eye. It reared back, shrieking bolts of lightning flying in all directions. I stumbled back, and I racked its face, and stabbed into its skull over and over with my right hand while my left was locked in place around a handful of feathers.

The pheonix collapsed back, but I was lost in my bloodlust, everything a shade of red as I ripped into the phoenix. It wasn’t until the notifications were flashing in my vision that I finally fell back, exhausted and twitching as lightning continued to lite my body up, striking again and again.

115 Rank Points gained.

Blood and Souls (Repeatable): Kill 10,240 monsters or humanoids. Current Progress 236 out of 10,240. When you complete this quest, you will gain 2,048 Rank Points, and the next quest will require double the amount to be completed but will award double the rank points.

Conquer (Repeatable): You have been tasked with conquering your first region. Take control of the Forest of the Ancients by defeating the eight powers of the region and preventing any other faction from forming a presence in the region.

Current progress:

2-8.

Reward: One rank IV Artifact of your choice or creation

I smiled at the notification and rose from where I’d been bent over. Something round flew out of the phoenix’s chest and struck me in the head, knocking me back down.

You have absorbed a Storm-orb, which has bonded to your Mind Attribute and will fuel and guide your mind’s mutation when you pass Veteran rank.

Congratulations! Ability gained, Chain Lightning: (Rank 1); As a spoken command, you cast a bolt of lightning at a target within 15ft that jumps to 2 other targets within 15ft of the first target. Deals a major amount of lightning damage to the target, stunning them if they fail an Endurance check based on the damage the target receives.

Cost: 15 mana per cast.

Upgrade this ability to increase the range and number of maximum targets. Each upgrade increases your Mind attribute by 1.

I spat out some blood and stood, the lightning fading from the phoenix’s body and stopping striking me in all directions. I gave a bloody grin at the notification and raised my hand.

“I’m a fucking Sith Lord now!” I crowed in exuberance. Pointing my fingers out, I used the abilities utterance. “Chain Lightning,” I said.

Blue bolts of electricity shot from my fingertips and hit the interior of my gauntlets.

“Son of a bitch!” I said, shaking my hand and my smoking gauntlet.

Apparently, the lightning would need free access to the air to be usable. It was a problem I’d have to solve when I preferably wasn’t on the top of a slippery mountain.

----

Arthur stepped in front of a knight deflecting the ballista bolt with Excalibur. All around him, knights charged the towering walls of the castle. Siege mages worked in the background sending boulders the size of a warhorse at the walls or conjuring creatures the size of elephants to charge and ram the gate before vanishing back into the ether.

Arthur, Kay, and Lancelot led the strike team to take the walls. Arthur took off running, his armor clanking as the knights’ feet hit the ground in a rhythmic thunder. With a mighty leap, they struck the runic circle they’d set up. Each knight has launched hundreds of feet into the air. Arthur fell, and his feet cracked the stone of the courtyard when he hit. The fall protection crystal around his neck shattered, but the temporary enchantment had served its purpose.

“To the keep!” Arthur shouted, and he and the strike force of forty knights ran towards the inner keeps open doors.

Men tried to block their path, but Arthur and his knights ripped through as if they weren’t even there. Kicking the doors of the keep shut and barring them behind them, they spread out, breaking into groups of five men. They began scouring the rooms of the castle, locking servants in their quarters and butchering the castle guard and soldiers garrisoned there. Men banged on the keep’s gate, but they had to choose between defending from the army outside or retaking the inner keep.

Arthur smashed in the doors of the throne room and held his sword to the neck of a middle-aged woman.

“Where is your husband, Duchess Rose?” he asked.

“He is at the capital with the king,” Duchess Rose answered cooly. “I suppose I must surrender to you.”

“That would be wise,” Arthur said. “Order your men to stand down, and they will be spared today.”

“Very well,” Duchess Rose said.

Orders were given, and the battle was put to an end.

“That move with jumping over the wall was a work of genius,” Lancelot said, clasping arms with Arthur later.

“Thanks, but I stole it from the Warlord Ares; I remember him using a similar method to take a city once,” Arthur said. “We probably won’t be able to use it again when words of our victory gets out today.”

“Maybe not, but we barely lost anyone in the battle, thanks to you,” Kay said. “In a week, we’ll be at the capital, and this war will be over.”