As I approached the odd ice sculpture, I made sure I didn’t go too close to the temple-like building. As I reached it, being about 150 paces away from the building, I realized that it was of an oliair, a type of bi-pedal creature that inhabited the galaxy. Oliair were known for their purple skin gills on the sides of their neck. They were also known as being really good at fishing, for obvious reasons. If it was a fish, an oliair could get it. They were most prolific on water planets.
I didn’t quite know how or why there was a sculpture of an oliair here, but I approached closer to investigate. I crept right up to the statue, careful to be monitoring for any signs of danger around me. At the first hint of something coming at me, I was going to use [Dead Eye’s Sight] and [Shadow Realm] in quick succession. The first so I could get an estimation of the power level in this place and the second was so I could escape, obviously.
The oliair statue was of a female, and she had the tell tale gills and catfish like whiskers that oliair females had. As I looked at her, I had the sneaking suspicion that she was a frozen person and not actually a sculpture like I first assumed due to the amount of detail. The oliair was frozen in a position reaching towards the sky with a look of stark terror on her face. Her arms were reached up and her right arm almost looked like it was trying to pull off her left hand. She was on her knees, so her hands reached just above my head, but close enough for me to reach.
She was kneeling there, frozen in the same material as the ice. Only, it was just her skin, clothes, and armor that were frozen, allowing me a view directly into her rotted organs and everything else contained in her previous flesh suit.
Most of the organs were mush and decomposed, but I did see all of her bones and, surprisingly, her heart in perfect condition. The heart was a weird bulbous cube shape, which I wasn’t sure if was natural for oliair to have. Her outer organs, such as eyeballs, nose, and lips were all perfectly preserved in the ice. In fact, if she wasn’t iced over, she would have been an extremely beautiful woman, if you didn’t mind the whiskers and gills.
Her armor and clothes appeared to be some kind of steel before they were transformed. Her sword, which was as big as her and two times as big as my small frame, was stabbed into the ice, but the ice had no cracks around it anywhere. The large blade was also turned into an ice substance, like the rest of her gear.
What exactly did this to her? I had never run across anything quite like it. Of course, there were plenty of ice users in the galaxy, but I had never seen someone so perfectly frozen that only their outer layer and about an inch in was frozen. Most ice users just did a solid freeze. On top of that, the ice was completely see through whereas the norm left a white or blue shading to it. Instead of being frozen over, it almost looked like just her outer skin and clothes were replaced with the shadow ice-which was what I had decided to call the weird ice here- entirely and she wasn’t just frozen over with magic like I had previously thought. If her outer layers were indeed just straight up replaced with shadow-ice, that meant that she was probably still alive for a long time after until either her organs froze or she dehydrated. Thankfully, she would’ve been put out of her misery since an oliair could only survive a day without water..
{Trin’trise Ysile- Oliair - Level: 572 - Deceased}
I used [Dead Man’s Sight] on the corpse. With about 1/16 of my mana being drained away, I could see information on the person. The skill didn’t work so well on the deceased and non-animate things. It still gave me the base name, but that was about it.
She was higher than 400, which was the average combat class level. Her level was terrifying since, whatever killed her could probably squash me like a bug. I almost activated [Shadow Realm] instantly upon seeing her level, but I barely restrained myself since I wasn’t in direct danger yet.
I looked at Ysile-oliair used a last name first name system-over one more time to see if I missed anything about her. Looking up at her hands, I saw a small ring on her left index finger that I missed the first time. The only reason that I noticed it was because it was not ice, like the rest of her body. In fact, the ring was a black metal-like substance with a small purple gem slotted on it. Around the perimeter of the ring were words in the same symbol language that was on the walls of the building behind me.
I grabbed a dagger out from my sheath and lightly poked at the corpse of the oliair to see if it would have a reaction to being touched. The dagger clinked off of the ice without leaving so much as a scratch, notifying me of the ice’s durability, but nothing else happened. Taking that as a green light, since she wouldn’t need it anymore, I reached towards her hand and slowly slipped the ring off while making sure not to touch the corpse directly.
My hand slipped right as it approached the finger nail, and I accidentally touched the shadow-ice skin of Ysile. Thankfully, nothing happened to me, but I was shocked to find out that the ice was as warm as a normal person, which was weird since the ice should’ve melted at that temperature.
I pulled the ring off completely and used [Dead Eye’s Sight] once again. About 1/16 of my mana was drained away again. I couldn’t exactly tell the exact number since I didn’t have a class yet and wasn’t technically supposed to have any skills that required mana yet, but going off of how my mana pool felt, I had about 10/16 of my mana left.
{Ring of Shadow Thievery(orange) (1/100 charges left)}
I was shocked to see the rating of the ring was legendary. Something so rare was just laying around here… and now it was mine. A content feeling worked its way through me at that thought. It was kinda nice to actually own something valuable. The only problem was that I didn’t know what the ring did or if there were any negatives to wearing it. It wouldn’t be the first time that powerful gear had a curse laid onto it.
The problem would be fixed if I had a better vision skill-[Dead Eye’s Sight] seemed to only give detailed descriptions on animate creatures and not items-or an inspection gem since I could read the description of the item by using them, but those would be hard to come by hear in the Shadow Realm.
I gave the ice corpse a last look before approaching the creepy temple. Now that I was closer, the breathing sound was getting louder and louder. I almost completely lost the nerve to approach, but I told myself to keep going until I could at least see a little more inside of the building, then I would use [Shadow Realm] and flee.
I got close enough to see a little more into the building, and I was shocked at what I saw. I could see the purple-green fire that I saw from before sitting inside of a brazier, and it gave off enough light that I could see inside of the temple clearly. Around the fire on either side was a massive snake body-easily as tall as a story and about as thick- coiled up inside of the building. The scales of the gargantuan creature were a little like the shadow-ice below me, but they had more of a purple tint to them and weren’t see through.
Facing me on the opposite side of the fire, three heads, like on the statues outside the door, sat. I shuddered slightly as I looked at them. They were big enough to swallow a whale whole, let alone me.
Did I mention that I was scared of snakes? And spiders, actually, but thankfully there were none of them around here. The fear stemmed from a “vacation” that Terry took me on. That trip didn’t end very well for me. Terry ended up throwing me into a coliseum where I had to fight nothing but snakes and spiders for at least a week as “punishment” even though I didn’t do anything. It was during that time that I had a strong realization: spiders and snakes were awful. Both were typically poisonous, which was unfortunate, but they both also like to toy with their opponents. The spiders I fought would wrap them up in webbing and try to raise the amount of terror a person felt to “improve the flavor”. The snakes would do the same thing, but they had a highly hallucinogenic venom that they used instead of webs.
I pulled myself out of my thoughts and back to my situation. The serpent, thankfully, seemed to be asleep as all six of its eyes were closed. As the huge creature shifted slightly, breathing noises came from each of the heads. If it wasn’t a snake, the way it breathed would be kinda cute. Each head would take a turn breathing before the next one would breathe. That cuteness was ruined every so often because, along with the breath out, the snake would flick one of its forked tongues out and scent the air before bringing it back in with the next intake.
I quietly used [Dead Eye’s Sight] while I tried not to move in case the serpent could feel the vibrations through the ice. I didn’t even notice the drain on my mana from the skill since I was preoccupied with the huge snake.
{[Dead Eye’s Sight] overcomes [Obscuring Suspension]!}
{Ysakrix- Greater Perma-Shadow-Ice Serpent - Level: 771
Skill: [Frozen Domain 9]
Skill: [Obscuring Suspension]
Skill: [Perm-Freeze 7]
Skill: [Triple Threat 3]
Title: [Scourge of Somalspire’s Shadow Sea]}
What the hell?! No wonder Ysile seemed to died so easily. The huge serpent was nearly three fourths of the way to dietyship in levels! And it seemed like the serpent had some strong skills too! This snake could probably wipe out the planet I came from-I still didn’t know what its name was- in a month if not less.
While I was having an internal dialogue on the strength of the snake, one of the snake’s eyes snapped open silently and locked onto me with an icy glare. The rest of its eyes followed the first’s example and locked onto me quickly after. Quicker than I ever had before, I noped the hell out of there and instantly used [Shadow Realm].
I didn’t notice it before, but [Shadow Realm] actually had a cast time. While I was waiting on the skill to finish activating, Ysakrix shot all three of its heads towards me with a loud hiss. Just before the snake heads could snap onto me and tear me to shreds, I felt a sucking sensation and vertigo again right as my vision turned black.
With my heart pumping my blood a mile a minute, my vision returned to show me that I was back in my room. I collapsed onto my bed as I tried to calm my heart beat down. My thoughts were racing around about the Shadow Realm, but there were two main ones that were more prominent than the rest: the realm was extremely dangerous and there were good rewards to be found there, as evidenced by the ring I had stolen.
Almost as if to reinforce my thoughts of there being high rewards from the realm, a notification popped up as soon as my heart calmed down.
[XP Gained]
[Leveled up!(8>10(level capped)) Received 8 attribute points, 2 Charisma]
Yes! I finally hit the requirements to get a class! I opened up the first notification to get a more detailed description since I wasn’t sure why I had received it. I was still excited for the levels, especially since they put me over the requirement for my class archetype selection, but I wanted to know why I had received the levels, not just that I got them.
[Awarded for:
+Stealing loot from a high leveled enemy with at least a 750 level gap
+Successful escape with loot
-Enemy was far away from the loot and asleep upon theft
-Escape by teleportation
-No blows were exchanged]
That makes sense. I did escape from something that was at a way higher level than me, which would have been normally extremely difficult. On top of escaping, I also apparently stole the [Ring of Shadow Thievery] from the creature. The system took into consideration the circumstances and reduced the amount of XP I received, which was fair. The reason that the system took the circumstances into consideration was to prevent powerleveling, or the forceful leveling of a lower leveled person by a higher leveled person.
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[Kali Vexia- Wolfkin - Level: 10(Pick!)
Titles:
[Rescuer]
Strength- 20
Intelligence- 12
Dexterity- 20 (+45)
Endurance- 20
Charisma- 27
( () = gear boosts)
Unique:
[Gambler]
Racial:
[Luna], [Shift]
Charisma:
[Animal Handling 1], [Overload 1], [Fleet Foot], [Toughen Up 1], [Abnormal Status Resistance], [Shadow Realm], [Dead Eye’s Sight]
Other:
[Falsification 1]
Time- 2 years]
I took a look at my status, and decided I wouldn’t spend the eight free attribute points that I had received quite yet. I would first select my class before I spent them so that I could maximize my power strength. I mentally selected (Pick!) next to my level.
To my immediate confusion. I was prompted by the Records again instead of giving my class options. It took a minute to remember that I could also evolve.
[Pick Evolution(Current:Dire Wolf Pup(Alpha))]
[Pick Class(Current: None)]
Seeing the prompt cleared up some things for me. The main thing cleared was why I was able to evolve and pick a class. It seemed like the Records were confusing my wolf form and my humanoid form as two separate entities when they were actually one and the same. Since the wolf form was an animal, it was given the option to evolve while my humanoid form was given the option for a class, but since both forms were still me, I was given both options.
I tapped on the Evolution selection first since I was curious to see what it would be like.
[Pick One:
Alpha Dire Wolf
Hunter Dire Wolf
Alpha Wolf
Guardian Spirit
Shadow Dire Wolf
Shadow Wolf]
I expanded the prompts to give me a more detailed explanation on what each evolution was. I also instantly eliminated Alpha Wolf and Shadow Wolf as options since they were downgrades from other races in my list.
[Pick One:
Alpha Dire Wolf
-The leaders of their pack, Alpha Dire Wolf are well known as being a tough foe to conquer. As an Alpha Dire Wolf, you will be able to lead your own pack of wolves. The Alpha Dire Wolf is also typically stronger, faster, and smarter than its brethren, allowing it to remain the undisputed ruler of its pack
-Cause:
-Race is a Dire Wolf Pup(Alpha)
Hunter Dire Wolf
-The head predators of the dire wolves, Hunter Dire Wolves are well known as being the most ferocious hunter in a dire wolf pack. They have the increased ability to track and stalk any prey until they find just the right moment to strike. The Hunter Dire Wolf is a dangerous foe that no one would want chasing them.
-Cause:
-Race is a Dire Wolf
-Has a hunter’s skill([Dead Eye’s Sight])
-Has solo hunted and killed at least ten deer
Guardian Spirit
-The cheerful spiritual being, Guardian Spirits are well known for being helpful to those that enter their favour. While they don’t have a physical body, Guardian Spirits have extremely powerful supportive magic. They are best at helping those that need helping but never actually being in danger themselves since they are spiritual entities. The Guardian Spirit is a friendly ally and friend as long as you are on their good side.
-Cause:
-Race is an animal
-Has a supportive title([Rescuer])
Shadow Dire Wolf
-The lonesome predator, Shadow Dire Wolves are not very well known as there are very few that escape from the Shadow Realm Alive. If they were to be known for anything, however, it would be their affinity for shadow magic and their ability to stalk while undetected. Shadow Dire Wolves, unlike the other lupine creatures, are solitary creatures. Like the other creatures of the Shadow Realm, they typically hold a deep loathing towards creatures not of their realm. The Shadow Dire Wolf is one stealthy killer that no one would see coming.
-Cause:
-Race is a Dire Wolf
-Been to the Shadow Realm
-Has a Shadow Realm skill([Shadow Realm])
]
Hmmm.... There were quite a few good options that I could choose from.... Well, I can only choose one, so I may as well work through a process of elimination.
Guardian Spirit is out. There would be no way that I would pick that race since they are spiritual beings. As in they don’t have a physical body. If I didn’t have a physical body, how could I eat? Or affect the world around me? I needed a physical body, and I wouldn’t pick an option where I wouldn’t have one.
That just leaves the three… Alpha Dire Wolf is out. It seems to be more focused towards being apart of a pack and leading, which was something that I didn’t want to do. I wanted to be able to be by myself and not rely on other people. I was sick and tired of not being able to do anything without another person.
Hunter Dire Wolf was a good option, but I didn’t think I would pick it. The race seemed like it was more geared to, well, hunting. There was nothing wrong with that per say, but I wanted to fight and be in combat, which was different from hunting. If I picked Hunter Dire Wolf, I would most likely be restrained behind having to hunt and not fight.
So that just left Shadow Dire Wolf. It sounded really good, but I had a few problems with it. Namely that it was a race from the Shadow Realm, the place I just barely escaped from alive less than ten minutes ago, and the description says “Typically hold a deep loathing for creatures not of their realm”. This could be nothing, but there was a small chance it would drive me mad. Small chance, but still a chance.
I thought a lot longer about whether or not I wanted to commit to the race before finally coming to a consensus. I would pick Shadow Dire Wolf. While there was a chance that I could gain mental issues, the Shadow Dire Wolf seemed to be a powerful option, and power was something that I needed if I wanted to fight on the same terms as the gods in five years. I picked Shadow Dire Wolf.
At first, nothing happened, but then pain started to race through my body like the first time I used shift. Only this time, the pain was much, much worse. Whereas my bones felt like the were being smashed by a sledgehammer previously, they now felt like they were being pulverized by a hundred of the galaxy's strongest people. A worming sensation started to rise up in my stomach, making me feel like puking. As quickly as I could, I made my way to the window on the opposite side of my room from the door and held my head out. I just barely made it before blood started pouring out of my mouth in waves.
I continued to hold over the edge of the window as my entire body felt like the definition of agony. My skin, like last time, was being torn to shreds. This time, however, it was due to shattered bone shards forcing their way out all over my body instead of fur. My skin and muscles were ripped to shreds and I was bleeding everywhere, but somehow I was still alive.
My hair started to fall out into the ocean water below me as I continued to throw up blood and chunks of what I thought were half liquified organs, but I was in too much pain to tell. I continued to bleed profusely as my body went through agonizing changes one after the other, all ending in blood and chunks of my body falling out the window or onto the floor. It was a cruel torture to stay alive and consicious while my entire body was destroyed.
At least an hour later, I was curled up into a ball by the window as the last wave of excruciating changes wracked my body. I coughed up a little bit more of black blood before I slumped to the floor, utterly exhausted. During the entire evolution process, I was forced to stay awake by the system, so I felt every single unbearably painful change.
I didn’t know what exactly physically had changed, but I knew there must’ve been huge changes. I knew mainly due to the fact that I was still alive. I swear over the course of the hour, at least two gallons of blood came out of me. On top of the blood loss, all of my bones felt like they were shattered and rejected out of my body. As if that wasn’t worse enough, I must’ve thrown up at least half of my organs at one point! Even my tail and ears weren’t spared and almost felt like they fell off of my body!
I shakily stood up and looked around me. Pieces of bone, blood, and skin were all around me, but they were slowly shrinking. As I watched, the old pieces of my body faded to nothingness around me. At that point, I noticed a string of notifications from the Records.
[Evolution Complete! New Race: Wolfkin(Shadow Dire Wolf)]
[Racial Skill Obtained: [Shadow Manipulation 1]]
[Racial Skill Obtained: [Rage of the Abyss]]
I only managed to read the first one before I was overcome by an intense wrath for everyone and everything around me. I couldn’t explain it, but I just felt like everything around me should just die with as much pain as possible. They should feel what I felt during my evolution. Only then would I be satisfied with the waste of space's deaths! Wait! No, that’s not how I felt-Their death’s would bring me such anguish happiness. I know! I could start with that elf! That idiot would let me get close enough to sink my fangs into her without any hassle…
Saliva started to drop out of my mouth as I stood up and made my way to the door in anticipation of what was what to come. Almost as if she sensed my intentions, my friend the dumb elf knocked onto my door and entered into it.
She gasped when she saw me for some reason, but I was too busy trying to control myself plotting her demise to really pay much attention to what she was thinking about me. I would hate to hurt her enjoy her screams immensely.
I took a step forward before my head felt like it started to explode. It was like forty bombs went off all at once. My thoughts of killing Illway were driven out by the pain. Thankfully, the pain didn’t hurt nearly as bad as when I evolved, but it still hurt! As if hearing my complaints, the pain abruptly ended and a notification came through.
[Skill: Abnormal Status Resistance: [Rage of the Abyss] has had its effectiveness cut by 90%]
As I saw that notification, all the tiredness and weariness from the evolution hit me all at once like the notification was some kind of catalyst. I collapsed back onto the ground barely a few steps away from where I had felt the worst pain in my life. The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me was Princess Illway running over to me with a worried look on her face as she called out, “Kila! Kila, are you okay? Stay with me…”