Tali almost broke down the door to Lucky Snips in her haste. Reema was behind the counter and glanced up, a frown marring her soft features and a harsh word at the tip of her tongue. When the towering form of Tali cast a long shadow across the room she closed her mouth.
“Honored mother, have you heard?” Tali asked, her usually soft voice still holding an edge of violence.
Reema picked up on the tone and came around the counter, unconsciously dusting her hands off on her pants.
“Heard what? What happened!”
“Sims contacted me. The Bwaka have left the dungeon, their numbers less by one. Edan is not among them.”
Reema’s face turned white and she swayed, she reached out blindly to stabilize herself and managed to catch herself on a mannequin. Reema shook her head violently, trying to get the thoughts and worries out. She needed answers, she needed…
“Sanik!” She screamed, her voice high and full of panic.
There was the sound of crashing from above and the door behind the counter burst open, the hinges pulling free from the wall with a crack. Sanik pushed the door aside as it collided with the counter and rebounded. Moving like liquid lightening he was across the room and beside his wife, his rapier drawn and the tip pointed at Tali.
“Honey, wha-” Sanik started to ask, his eyes never leaving Tali even as he pulled Reema towards him.
“It’s Edan! He didn’t come out of the dungeon.”
“What?” Sanik looked between his wife and Tali, not understanding. His heart beat wildly in his chest and adrenaline surged through him demanding action. “What do you mean Edan didn’t come out of the dungeon?”
“Sims contacted me. The Bwaka ran into difficulties and were forced to flee. Edan did not get out.”
Sanik focused on Tali, his face turning thunderous as she explained.
“Then they go in and get him!”
“They have not,” Tali said, her voice hard.
“Why the fuck not?” Sanik spat. His sword hadn’t lowered.
“Sims and the Bwaka have been forced to report to the Academy. It does not sound like a search is their priority.”
Reema groaned, tears leaking out of the corner of her eyes. Sanik’s arm shook, his sword tip bobbing in the air.
“You took him under your wing!” Sanik said at last. “You are his…his Te'Roro Bwaka. Doesn’t that mean anything?”
Tali nodded solemnly.
“You needed to be warned. I had decided to search the dungeon myself before coming.”
Reema pulled at Saniks hand and with a defeated look he let his rapier return to his storage ring.
“We’ll come with you,” Sanik said, Reema nodding vigorously beside him.
“The Academy dungeon is off limits. I will need to seek approval before entering. Approval you will likely not receive.”
“But he’s our son!” Reema nearly shouted, wiping the tears from her eyes with the palm of her hand.
“And if you don't get approval?” Sanik challenged the large woman.
“Then I will break my oaths and go anyway.”
“So we’ll come,” Reema said.
“They will try to stop us. If not from entering, then from leaving.” Sanik advised his wife.
“Then you wait here!” She snapped, pushing Sanik away in anger. “I’m not going to sit here while someone else looks for my son.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Sanik held up his hands, his words soothing. “I just meant we will need to be prepared.”
Reema swiped at her nose, her eyes already turning puffy. Sanik looked back at Tali.
“It might not be worth asking for permission. If they say yes, that's great for you, but if they say no, it’ll just let them know you’re thinking about it and they’ll watch the dungeon closely.”
“I will ask,” Tali said, though she looked conflicted. “I will not break an oath lightly and it is the least I can do. Breaking it will affect more than just me.”
“Fine. You go ask. Reema and I will get ready and head to the dungeon. If we don't see you in the next thirty minutes we’re heading in without you. I won't leave my son alone in there any longer than I need to.”
--------------
[Endurance +1]
[Endurance +1]
[Endurance +1]
[Endurance +1]
[Endurance +1]
…
..
[Error: $#@@!%]
[Data Cap reached. Recalculating.]
[Overflow detected]
[Allocating…]
[Error: $*&&@#%]
[Body lvl 28 -> Body lvl 29]
[Constitution +1]
[Constitution +1]
[Constitution +1]
[Constitution +1]
[Constitution +1]
…
..
[Error: $#@@!%]
[Data Cap reached. Recalculating.]
[Overflow detected]
[Allocating…]
[Error: $*&&@#%]
[Body lvl 29 -> Body lvl 30]
[Error: $*&&@#%]
[Race: Human - > Race: $%(*#&$(]
[Error: $*&&@#%]
[Race: $%(*#&$( <- Race: Human]
[Body lvl 30 <- Body lvl 29]
Edan hadn’t expected death to come with so many notifications. The boxes of text lined his vision, more pouring in by the second. He tried to keep track of it all but he had trouble focusing. He tried pushing it away so he could focus on his surroundings but the stabbing pain in his head had grown worse.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
[Error: $#@@!%]
[Overflow detected]
[Allocating…]
[Error: $*&&@#%]
[Mind lvl 28 -> Mind lvl 29]
[Error: $#@@!%]
[Overflow detected]
[Allocating…]
The pain faded and Edan found himself floating in the darkness of his SoulScape. He patted his body, worried a limb had disintegrated, before realizing this wasn’t his real body. It was just the mental image he had of himself.
Edan looked around in shock.
Cracks spread across the dark fabric of his soulscape like spiderwebs. More cracks were made as he watched and he felt his head throb once more. Golden liquid, tinged fiery red, poured through the cracks like water. It pooled together beneath his core, adding to his Vitalis pool.
A pool that was closer to an ocean, now. Great waves of Vitalis crashed together throwing a fine mist into the air where it hung like a golden cloud, bits of fire and lightning passed between the drops before they drifted back down slowly. Occasionally a tongue of flame or a flicker of lightning would lance off from the cloud and scorch his core, when it happened Edan felt the heat in his chest.
His core was black with soot and scorch marks. The once-green surface was long since damaged beyond recognition. Edan felt a sense of hopelessness envelop him as he looked at the devastation around him. His SoulScape was destroyed. Even if he did survive this, he could never cultivate again. He couldn’t even see the spark within his core to light it.
Edan hesitated pulling up his stat sheet. He was scared to see his health and what had become of his stats.
And not looking will totally fix your problems he thought before checking his stat sheet.
Edan Mawe
Race
Human
Level
29
Health
15/2697
Stamina
4/2581
Stats
Modifiers
Stat Cap
Body
29
Strength
87
3
87
Constitution
93
3
87
Endurance
89
3
87
Dexterity
87
3
87
Mind
29
Wisdom
87
3
84
Intelligence
87
3
84
Perception
87
3
84
Soul
29
Charisma
37
2
58
Spirit
59
2
58
Willpower
67
2
58
“Of course, I cap all my stats and finally reach level 29 just before I die…” Edan joked to himself, skipping over his health as he laughed. His words trailed off though as he saw his stats. “What the fuck…”
Edan hadn’t known it was possible to push your stats past the cap. Theoretically, you could, but the stat cap was there to prevent you from damaging your body, mind, or soul before you could birth your system and become graded.
His willpower was almost over by 10!
It looked like he was getting pushed further and further past his body's limit as it drowned in raw energy and for some reason his body refused to die. Unbidden, his eyes drifted to his health. It ticked down to 14.
Not long now. Edan thought sadly.
It ticked up to 15.
Maybe a little longer now.
It ticked down to 14.
This is it Edan realised, taking an unsteady breath which was funny because he didn’t actually breathe.
It ticked up to 15.
Uhhhhh…
It ticked down to 14.
Goodbye cruel world.
It ticked up to 15.
“Fuck this!” Edan growled, tired of the back and forth. “How do I get back to Kiba? Was that even real or was I hallucinating all of that?”
Part of him hoped he had. If he had hallucinated it then that meant he might not be dying and the Four Star Heavenly Sect wasn’t going to eventually eat his world.
Maybe he had landed on solid ground and his constitution was helping him stay alive? Healing him as quickly as he was bleeding out?
But then his stats…
He needed to know.
Edan allowed himself to drift away from his SoulScape. He drifted through the darkness. Light, cast by Vitalis as it leaked through him, cast beams through the darkness, like rays from the sun breaking through clouds.
Consciousness returned to his body and Edan screamed as pain, raw, unfiltered, uncontrollable, all-consuming pain tore through him. He thrashed in the thick liquid that surrounded him. It poured down his throat, choking him and burning the skin on the inside of his mouth. He felt his throat blister and close. His eyes itched and burned.
------------
“Damn, Kid, I thought you’d died,” Kiba said.
Edan lay sprawled on a cloud, his breathing coming in great gasps as he clutched the fluffy comfort beneath him.
“That was horrible!” he croaked, the cloud muffling his words.
“I felt your body jerk and realized you were conscious. I pulled you back here as quickly as I could.” Kiba scratched his cheek before squatting down next to Edan’s prone form and patting his back. “What happened?”
Sitting up slowly, Edan took his time adjusting to the sudden absence of pain. Eventually, he had collected himself enough to explain everything to Kiba. The other man settled down on the ground next to Edan and listened.
“...yeah, so that's it,” Edan said, getting to the part where he regained consciousness. “I seem to be in a constant state of dying and….aliving.”
“Aliving?” Kiba asked with a raised brow.
“Give me a break. I’ve had a long day.”
Kiba threw his head back and laughed. Stopping suddenly he looked surprised before smiling and laughing again, this time at a more moderate volume.
“I needed that,” he said with a contented tone. “You have no idea how boring it gets here.”
“Am I stuck here as well?” Edan asked the question he had been wondering for the last minute.
“I doubt it, kid. When I couldn’t get rid of the poison in my system I released all of my life-attuned treasures and melted them down. I suck at alchemy, but that much life Vitalis had to do something right?” Kiba’s brushed a strand of red hair out of his face. “It didn’t. So I tried burning the poison out, and that didn’t work either. Eventually, I settled on mutual destruction.”
“That sounds…tough.”
“I’m vindictive, kid.” Kiba’s mouth twisted into a vicious smile. “The poison was going to kill me eventually. I figured I’d kill it too. Burnt it, and myself, up. What was left of me merged with the liquid Vitalis. That's the spicy tang you taste.”
“Spicy tang? You mean the fire that keeps burning my core?”
“That's the one. Don’t ask me about the lightning though, that's got nothing to do with me. What I am trying to say though is that your body, or Path, seems very attuned to life and it's giving the life-attuned Vitalis an edge over the Fire.”
“So….?”
“Eventually one of those two will win.”
“Life is the stronger aspect, right? Paths based around it are rare, I remember that!” Edan asked hopefully.
“Not really. You can't compare Paths with each other. Life just happens to be abstract enough that few look to focus on it. Don't forget, I was called The First Light for a reason, kid. My flames were what gave light to the dark.”
“You’re a…”
“Primordial.” Kiba acknowledged with a nod.
“...a dick! You're a dick! Can’t you give me a little hope, here? I’m dying!”
Kiba laughed again before he stood up and offered a hand to Edan. Edan begrudgingly took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.
“I’ve got an idea. I won’t lie, kid, it's not great, but it may just let you live.”
“What!” Edan almost jumped for joy. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier!”
“Because I thought you were going to die earlier!” Kiba retorted, flicking Edan’s forehead. “...and also because if you agree, the idea could kill us both.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Edan asked excitedly, already prepared to accept.
“Then you live, I get out of here, and you make a promise to get me off world. Well...My soul, at least.”
Edan looked confused.
“We’re going to birth your system, kid.”