The moment Talia activated [Soul Domain], she felt reality twist around her. Just like with Maleko's domain, the water began to ripple with raw power—but this time, it was her power. Dark tendrils of Blood Water spread outward from her body, creating a spherical zone of influence, perhaps a hundred feet in diameter. Within this space, she could feel every drop of water, every current, every ripple of Mana as if they were extensions of her own body.
The Titanic Shark circled the edge of her domain, its four red eyes glowing ominously in the dark. Talia could sense its hesitation—the beast had never encountered anything like this before. Neither had she, for that matter. The Skill felt both familiar and alien, like wearing someone else's clothes that somehow fit perfectly.
Unlike Maleko's version, which had manipulated fire and magma, her [Soul Domain] drew from her Blood Water.
The Titanic Shark attacked once again, entering her domain and releasing another crescent of pressurized water that could have probably sunk a massive ship. But the scariest thing happened when the Titanic Shark crossed into her [Soul Domain]. Talia had felt an inexplicable sensation—a murderous pull similar to the one she had felt from Ravenous Wounds. She gave in, not afraid of her powers anymore. And when she did, nothing changed in the large stain of blood she had created underwater. However, the attack rapidly fizzled out, its Mana dissolving into the [Soul Domain] below it.
[Soul Domain] consumed Talia's Mana at an insane pace. But as the attack had fizzled out, she felt an injection of new Mana entering her body through her Skill. The [Soul Domain] had absorbed the attack of the Titanic Shark, and it didn't stop there. As if Ravenous Wounds encompassed the whole domain, with Talia not even needing to activate the Skill, tendrils of Blood Water latched onto the one open wound of the monster. The tendrils also became sharp and pierced the Titanic Shark in multiple points, bringing it down, secured against the [Soul Domain], and immobilized.
The Titanic Shark thrashed all around, moving its gigantic body, trying to free itself. But [Soul Domain] was clearly not a common Skill. It was the strongest Skill of a Chosen, and it was now showing. More tendrils nailed the Titanic Shark down to the Blood Water, and soon a gory spectacle ensued. Ravenous Wounds, possibly Talia's most crystalline Skill, sucked out the vitality of the monster through the tendrils of Blood Water that it generated.
But the [Soul Domain], empowered by Blood Water, had become like a beast alive. In the way that Maleko's [Soul Domain], empowered by his Fire Water affinity, could burn everything and generate insane temperatures that made it hard to even breathe in it, Talia's [Soul Domain] became a gobbling mess of red, sharp claws with barbed edges. Like a cat's tongue, it started grinding down the gigantic monster, grating first its skin and then its flesh away, releasing its vitality into the [Soul Domain], which transferred it back through Talia.
And Talia, unlike with any of her other Skills, felt a rush of vitality as if there was no loss of energy during the transfer. Ravenous Wounds wasn't a perfect Skill, and neither was Blood Siphon. She would lose a lot of the energy in the process—it would just evaporate. And most importantly, she had to first damage the monster before she could fully start absorbing it. But that wasn't the case for [Soul Domain]. It felt as if every little bit of power from the monster was being poured into her.
Soon, there was nothing more of the Titanic Shark. She released the [Soul Domain], dispersing it, feeling her Mana reserves, even while empowered, starting to dwindle. She emerged over the surface and clutched a piece of driftwood, feeling notifications pouring into her head.
[You have defeated Level 41 Titanic Shark!]
[You have absorbed Lv. 41 Titanic Shark Life Force.]
[+77 to your Primary Mana Channel (313/3000 to Level Seven)]
[+15 to your Constitution (6/6 to 1 Constitution)]
[You gained 1 Constitution!]
[(9/9 to 1 Constitution)]
[You gained 1 Constitution!]
[+15 to your Wisdom (1/1 to 1 Wisdom)]
[You gained 1 Wisdom!]
[(2/2 to 1 Wisdom)]
[You gained 1 Wisdom!]
[(3/3 to 1 Wisdom)]
[You gained 1 Wisdom!]
[(6/6 to 1 Wisdom)]
[You gained 1 Wisdom!]
[(1/9 to 1 Wisdom)]
Talia widened her eyes.
She had gained two Constitution and four Wisdom Attributes from a single kill! It hadn’t been as insane as her gains from killing Maleko and his goons, but it was nothing to scoff at, considering that the Dungeons probably pullulated with such creatures.
[Lifestealer reaches Level 34!]
[You gain two Free Attributes!]
[Lifestealer reaches Level 35!]
[You gain two Free Attributes!]
[You gain one Talent Point!]
[Hemomancy reaches Level 29!]
[Hemomancy reaches Level 30!]
[You gain one Talent Point!]
[Eyes of the Abyss reaches Level 21!]
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
[Missile Swimming reaches Level 29!]
[Missile Swimming reaches Level 30!]
[You gain one Talent Point!]
[Crimson Wisdom reaches Level 17!]
[Crimson Wisdom reaches Level 18!]
[Ika Toto - Blood Tide reaches Level 19]
[Magic Funnel reaches Level 13!]
[Soul Domain reaches Level 2!]
[Soul Domain reaches Level 3!]
[Soul Domain reaches Level 4!]
[Soul Domain reaches Level 5!]
[You gain one Talent Point!]
[Soul Domain reaches Level 6!]
[Soul Domain reaches Level 7!]
[Name: Talia]
[Age: 17]
[Class: Lifestealer Lv. 35]
[Rank: Adept]
[Primary Mana Channel (Water): Level 6 {Flowing}]
[Secondary Mana Channel (Blood): Level 7 {Surging}]
[Secondary Mana Channel (Dark Water): Level 3 {Awakened}]
[Core Skill #1: Blood Siphon Lv. 27]
[Core Skill #2: Hemomancy Lv. 30]
[Core Skill #3: Eyes of the Abyss Lv. 21]
[Auxiliary Skill #1: Missile Swimming Lv. 30]
[Auxiliary Skill #2: Crimson Wisdom Lv. 16]
[Auxiliary Skill #3: Blood Confluence Lv. 18]
[Auxiliary Skill #4: Tailwind Lv. 5]
[Auxiliary Skill #5: Ika Toto - Blood Tide Lv. 19]
[Auxiliary Skill #6: Magic Funnel Lv. 13]
[Auxiliary Skill #7: Soul Domain Lv. 7]
[Form Skill #1: Cursed Form Lv. 5]
[Strength: 40]
[Agility: 7]
[Constitution: 10]
[Intelligence: 13]
[Wisdom: 12]
[Charisma: 37]
[Free Attributes: 14]
[Talent Trees:
Bloodborne Warrior (1)
Carmine Thunder (1)
Sanguine Guardian (1)
Hemomantic Artisan (1)
Crimson Sage (1)
Life Thief (1)
]
[Free Talent Points: 14]
Talia looked at those numbers and, without hesitating twice, dumped all her Free Attributes into Charisma.
[NAME: TALIA]
[Age: 17]
[Class: Lifestealer Lv. 35]
[Rank: Adept]
[Primary Mana Channel (Water): Level 6 {Flowing}]
[Secondary Mana Channel (Blood): Level 7 {Surging}]
[Secondary Mana Channel (Dark Water): Level 3 {Awakened}]
[Core Skill #1: Blood Siphon Lv. 27]
[Core Skill #2: Hemomancy Lv. 30]
[Core Skill #3: Eyes of the Abyss Lv. 21]
[Auxiliary Skill #1: Missile Swimming Lv. 30]
[Auxiliary Skill #2: Crimson Wisdom Lv. 16]
[Auxiliary Skill #3: Blood Confluence Lv. 18]
[Auxiliary Skill #4: Tailwind Lv. 5]
[Auxiliary Skill #5: Ika Toto - Blood Tide Lv. 19]
[Auxiliary Skill #6: Magic Funnel Lv. 13]
[Auxiliary Skill #7: Soul Domain Lv. 7]
[Form Skill #1: Cursed Form Lv. 5]
[Strength: 40]
[Agility: 7]
[Constitution: 10]
[Intelligence: 13]
[Wisdom: 12]
[Charisma: 51]
[Free Attributes: 0]
[Talent Trees:
Bloodborne Warrior (1)
Carmine Thunder (1)
Sanguine Guardian (1)
Hemomantic Artisan (1)
Crimson Sage (1)
Life Thief (1)
]
[Free Talent Points: 14]
And so, a new notification rung in her head.
[You have unlocked a new Charisma Perk for reaching a total of 50 Charisma.]
[You have unlocked Perk - Aura]
Perk: Aura of Charisma
Unlocked when reaching 50 Charisma Attributes.
The effect of Charisma increases by a further 30% on top of your Feats of Charisma Perk.
You can now project an Aura to intimidate or beguile your enemies.
An aura exploded forth from her, pushing the driftwood away and stopping at ten feet from her. She could feel it wasn’t consuming Mana but that it was still pulling on some mysterious resource inside of her, perhaps her very Soul.
"You managed to really kill that thing," Keahi said, paddling a piece of wood close to her and extending a hand.
Talia took it and stood on the platform under the artificial sun of the dungeon, drenched from head to toe.
"It wasn't easy," Talia said.
"Maleko's Skills certainly made it easier."
"Yeah," Talia said, fascinated. "I had heard rumors that you could absorb things, but I didn't believe it. My family specializes in Blood Water, and I've never heard anything like that."
"It's probably just inheritance from killing the Kraken for good," Talia lied shamelessly.
"A level 41 monster by the entrance of this dungeon," Keahi said. "Means there might be something even more terrifying by the end. If whatever you're looking for is behind the boss, you do realize there's no way we're going to make it alive there, right?"
Talia looked around, not answering, and took a deep breath.
"What are you looking for?" Keahi asked.
"The exit," she said. "I would like to send you back. You're deadweight to me right now. No offense."
"Well, offense taken," Keahi said, and they both noticed that there was no entrance or exit, which was sort of unique for a dungeon.
"I guess you're stuck with me," Keahi replied.
Talia looked at the dark and handsome young man and, for a second, selfishly thought that there could have been worse people to be trapped in a dungeon with.
"We'll use my Skill, Blood Siphon, to keep ourselves alive," she said. "You don't really need to eat or drink or even sleep while I use it."
"Fascinating," Keahi replied. "But yes, we will need to kill the boss."
"I will need to do that. You probably just need to stay back."
"I feel very emasculated," Keahi replied with a grimace.
"Can you fight underwater monsters that are more than ten levels above you?"
The boy sighed and shook his head.
"Then I'll take care of that, and you can keep watch."
"Lovely," he replied with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice. "I feel like I'm your steward boy."
"I like that," Talia smiled. "Yes. You are. I crown you, my little steward."