Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How're you all doing?

So much for not writing anything for the weekends.

Meh, I guess I should not be surprised that I managed to do everything on time instead of lazing around.

Still, unless I write another chapter tomorrow this should be the last one for a bit...

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Around half an hour later... - The Town Of Incerum - Rhean's Point Of View...

"Sir! Sir Rhean! You forgot to ask for your reward!" The butler-guy from the Adventurer's Guild suddenly appeared out of nowhere as I was strolling around, making my way towards the gate out of my city.

Turning around to face him with a confused expression, I asked."Reward? What reward?"

He stops in front of me, bearing a pouch of gold and a strange book in his hands, as he leans down onto a nearby house wall in order to rest. Can't blame him, the old man probably ran all the way here."A-ah, you don't know?"

I just shake my head in negative... I don't remember any kind of reward being promised to me."Lord Istvan issued a bounty for clearing out the Ancient Laboratory... I assume you did so when you roused the Queen Of Darkness from her slumber, no?"

At my nod, he extends his weary hands towards me with a beaming smile."Then this book and a decent sum of ten gold is your reward for a job well done, sire!"

Quest Alert! - Success Summary - An ancient vampire, also one of your former test subjects (awkward), named Istvan, has made contact with you. He apparently seeks the return of your former power, as well as memories which he believes to be lost.

He has marked the location of one of your ancient laboratories in hopes that something there will make you remember both him and the glory of your past Empire.

Success - despite the unfortunate death of Istvan, it appears the reward you were promised still found its way into your hands. Rewards - Adventure's Bounty Payment (10 gold coins)

Transcendent Alchemy (Book) Transcendent Alchemy An ancient lexicon describing one of the great powers once held by The Azarestrian Empire.

To most, it is just a bunch of random nonsense, as the views the ancient Azarestrians held on magic differed greatly from today's standards!

However, those who are afflicted, allied to, or simply posses a good enough synchronization with Chaos itself, may find its contents... useful. Consumable Item - Gain the ability to use Alchemical Lightning.

"Ah! So that's what this was, great!" I find myself exclaiming loudly as I take the book into my inventory. Come to think of it, didn't Istvan give me a number of books before? I've somehow managed to completely forget about them... hmm, must be the work of Chaos!

The man in front of me quirks a curious eyebrow at me before saying."You know what this book is for? Hmm, strange. I personally found its contents to be utter nonsense, but I believe it has a spell hidden inside of it."

I wave my hands in front of me in disinterest."You aren't connected to Chaos in any way, shape or form, Mr Nikolai. You couldn't comprehend this book even if someone who could tried to explain it to you."

He makes a rather strangled ah sound as he mutters something about disrespectful youngsters."Is that so? Oh well, I'm sure you'll find yourself perfectly capable of handling it then. Good day, sir." And with that, he leaves as it is my turn to quirk an eyebrow at him.

Laughing at his retreating back, I say loudly enough for him to hear."I hope you realize who you're talking to, brat."

He stops dead in his tracks, paralyzed as he turns around to apologize, but I am already far far away. Finally reaching the gate, I sit down onto a bench outside the town and open the book.

Congratulations! You have gained a Dual-Category skill! Dual-Category skills are skills which may be used both as battle and crafting skills.

They are undoubtedly some of the hardest skills to master, as they require equal amounts of both to increase in level.

Such skills include: Sword-Painter, Earth-Sculptor, Fire-Dancer and the like...

"Huh? I don't remember dual-skills being in the beta? Although, there were things like fire-dancers before, they were solely battle skills." Quirking yet another eyebrow in interest, I turn my attention to the other blue screen.

You have learned Alchemical Lightning! One of the mayor pillars of the former Azarestrian Empire. This skill was wide-spread in its usage as it allows the user to completely reform nearly all physical matter to fit their will!

"Only fools take the world in front of their eyes for granted. As you spend your time learning here, you will find that reality, is nothing more than yet another falsehood!" Grand Alchemist Lautrec, an excerpt from "The Scribbles Of A Bored Shaper". This skill has two stances; one for crafting and another for battle.

Crafting - use crimson lightning to forcefully change the nature of a physical object.

You may currently use this to change normal stone into copper or iron.

Battle - disintegrating lightning bursts forth from your fingertips, dealing 50dmg/s to anyone caught in its path, but also draining 25mana/s during the channel.

"Well that's bound to be useful somewhere... now then, what about those other books Istvan gave me?" I ask nobody in particular as I scroll around my nearly half-way full inventory.... I should probably go sell some of this stuff before I leave. Or alternatively, my manor is close-by, I could just go stuff it into a chest. Yeah, that's the better idea, considering I don't exactly need money right now.

Hehe, the very image of that pile of gold makes me drool a bit before stopping myself so I don't freak out a guard. I find the four books, each colored an equally infernal crimson with a black outline, making me smile as I feel mana reeling off of them. A kind of mana only found nearly spells containing fire, lots and lots of fire.

Indeed, dropping one of the books down onto the ground incinerates the grass below it, gathering the attention of the nearby peasantry. Laughing as I quickly douse the fire before it spreads, I pick up the book easily enough."I guess this means I can't feel heat. Well, it figures I suppose."

"Inspect." I mutter out as I focus my gaze onto the first book.

Chaos Tome - Napalm Flare A book describing a lost spell once used by the Azarestrian Crusaders to burn anyone who dared question their Emperor alive.

Using their connection to Chaos to make their bodies alchemically fabricate a strange, immensely flammable gas called "Napalm", the Crusaders cast flares of blazing fire which could stick to its opponents, causing wounds of untold severity. On use - casts an infernal flare of ignited napalm onto a single target, causing 100-300 damage depending on the state of enemy armor and applying a stack of "Disintegrated Armor".

Disintegrated Armor - deals 10/20/30/40/50 ticking damage every five seconds depending on the state of enemy armor, which suffers a temporary loss of 5% to durability for each stack applied. This ability has a cool down of four seconds, costs 200 mana and 10% Napalm to cast.

"That's.... surprisingly balanced. Then again, I have the mana necessary to cast it only twelve times maximum before having to wait for my many to regenerate, which honestly makes it worthless in a boss fight." Muttering to myself as I learn the spell, I find myself blinking in surprise as another blue screen pops up.

Ability Evolution! - Raging Fist has now been consumed by Soul Furnace Your soul is a furnace, your mind is the forge and your body is the weapon!

Your ability Raging Fist, now has two separate stances, one for casting and another for melee.

Casting - Allows the usage of Chaos oriented spells (IE Napalm Flare) which cannot be used otherwise.

Melee - Melee attacks deal elemental damage and cause bleeding if the enemy has an armor debuff. Alert! Soul Furnace has been changed by Alchemical Lightning! You have gained access to a new resource bar which will take the place of your Satiety bar - Napalm.

You currently have 0/100% Napalm. Using Napalm fueled abilities will drain your satiety! Alert! Devour has been changed by Alchemical Lightning! Every time you successfully devour an enemy, your Napalm bar will be restored by the amount your satiety would have been beforehand! Alert! Your Napalm/Satiety is low! You are now under the effects of starvation!

-50% to experience gain

-50% to all stats

+25% to critical chance

+25% to all dealt/received damage

"Uhhh..." I quickly take another look into my inventory and basically tear out the boar haunches and soup from two days ago, swallowing them without even checking them out first.

You are no longer under the effects of Starvation!

However, the food you ate has long since gone stale... You feel sick.

-5hp/s poison damage for the next two hours.

"Well now, that's gonna be a fun ball to balance around... uhh.. at least with this, I can finally start walking the path of a spell blade!" Grinning to myself as I open another book without even inspecting it first.

Congratulations! You have learned a new ability, Scorch! A basic fire spell which everyone can learn... Use to blast a target with some fire. Scorch - deal a varying amount of damage (from 5-100), depending on the location you hit.

If scorch hits bare skin, it will always critically strike, deal maximum damage depending on enemy resistances and apply a cauterized debuff on the enemy.

Cauterized - Healing received is reduced by 10%. Costs 10 mana to cast and has no cool down.

"I guess this will prove useful to balance out the four seconds I have to wait in-between Napalm's." Shrugging as I take a healing potion out of my bag, my last one might I add and down it in order to counter that annoying food poisoning.

The next book does not have a crimson cover, but a white one, an air spell. How odd... though, if my hunch is correct, then this spell will be something to use as a support for my other spells.

Congratulations! You have learned a new ability, Draw Air! A basic air spell which everyone can learn... Use to draw the air around you into your hand.

This spell is a supportive spell which can be used in multiple ways, but its primary use is to push a single enemy target away from the user. Scorch - use draw air to empower your scorch and turn it into "Channeled Flames".

Channeled Flames - Drains 10mana/s to release a continuous stream of fire in front of the user, dealing 20dmg/s depending on the state of the users armor.

Shares cool down with Scorch. Napalm Flare - use draw air to empower your napalm flare and turn it into "Pyrobomb".

Pyrobomb - a massive ball of infernal fire which explodes once the user finishes casting, causing 250-500 AOE damage, knocking back and stunning all caught in its blast radius, including the user.

Notice; your near immunity to heat will cause Pyrobomb to only deal 30% of its damage and allows you to ignore its stunning effect, but you will still be knocked back on use.

Additionally, using Pyrobomb will cause you to be unable to move for 5 seconds, draining a total of 500 mana and 50% Napalm for the duration of the cast which will not return should you be interrupted.

Interrupting Pyrobomb will cause it to implode prematurely. Pyrobomb's explosion creates an area of poison, as Napalm creates Carbon Monoxide.

Carbon Monoxide - deals 10dmg/s per tick to anyone within the area of effect, while also making them incapable of breathing. Lasts for 30 seconds.

Shares cool down with Napalm Flare. Costs 100 mana to cast and has a 10s cool down.

"Oh my..." I hear myself silently mutter out in wonder... I'm not used to my spells being so... balanced.

I suppose I have been somewhat on a power-trip recently, but I'm still only in the early levels so that's not so surprising considering I'm using a class meant for the hundreds.

Taking the last book into my hands, I notice that its color is purple, meaning its an Arcane Spell. I blink... I don't think I can learn this."Inspect."

Arcane Tome - Blink An advanced spell belonging to the arcane school, but also an incredibly popular one!

Use in order to instantaneously teleport yourself a short distance depending on available terrain and skill level. Alert - As you are afflicted by Chaos, you cannot learn this spell.

"Yeah, I figured as much..." You see, Chaos is forged on a basic principle of being something utterly incomprehensible to most, but to those who can understand it by talent or otherwise, its basically just magic science.

If a person who is affiliated with Chaos would, for instance, cast a fireball, they would not be creating a magical ball of fire, they would be drawing in the heat from the surrounding area or outright creating it via alchemy, compressing said heat and only then throwing it at an enemy. Scorch is the only fire spell around which is not bound by this rule as it is the starting spell of all fire mages.

So, I guess you could call mages who are connected to chaos Elemental Manipulators instead?

Meh. This is also why we get abilities like this *Napalm Flare*. I mean, in a medieval world, who even knows about Napalm? Thing is... I don't remember having any such order of NPC's or players that was named the *Azarestrian Crusaders*...

Le sigh, must be yet another bit of fake lore written by the devs. Shrugging as I stand up from the bench and throw the book aside like its worthless, I finally walk outside the borders of the town and into The Chittering Forest!

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Several minutes later... - The Chittering Forest - Rhean's Point Of View...

"Guess this is it then..." I mutter out with a rather confused glance towards the supposed waterfall only to find it feeding into a massive lake.

You've found a point of interest - Chitter Lake!

And sure enough the blue screen pops up out of nowhere as I walk closer towards it, a mass of animals, both small and large, prowl around the lake. Everything from drinking boars to sleeping deer and yet, no sigh of any wolf. Looking around with my Living Aura, I sneak up on a deer and devour it to fill my Napalm status to maximum without the rest of them even noticing him gone.

I make my way around the entirety of the lake, eventually stumbling onto what looks like a rocky, well-walked path disguised as part of the forest... not exactly something an honest merchant would use, eh? Not that I'm surprised, mind you.

Walking down the beaten path, I find myself staring at a wrecked caravan and several animal corpses that look as if they were dragged here by something huge. I walk closer to the corpse of a butchered deer and inspect it."Large bite taken out of its throat, no signs of tearing or struggle... wolf has really sharp fangs." Turning around towards its legs, I notice that the area around its femoral artery has seemingly been pushed inside, causing the poor things lower half to brutally erupt outward and explode."Hmm, no purple or even bluish skill coloring... deer died quicker than his body could respond to the damage."

A critical attack, efficient and deadly. Hey, this wolf's killing style is almost reminiscent of my own, how odd.

Anyhow, I rise up from my kneeling position and walk over to the ruptured caravan. Looking around, I find several chests containing all forms of leather, metal and other goods."Hmm, I could return this to Loris, I'm sure he'd be ecstatic at the prospect. Or I could just loot it all and sell it later..."

Shaking my head in negative, I find myself saying."Nah, I don't need the money but I don't really want him to have this back either... its all most likely stolen, anyways.."

So what the hell do I do with it? I blink to myself in thought as I look around."The caravan is mostly ravaged but the transport could be repaired. Hmm... Oh, I know."

Opening up my guild chat, I say."Hey everyone! There's a ravaged caravan in the upper parts of The Chittering Forest near a really good hunting ground. I want someone to organize people to come and transport it all the way into Incerum. I'll pay those who do this 250 gold to be shared.. and if you are quick enough, there's a lot of crafting materials and such scattered around. You can help yourself to whatever you like so long as you aid in the escort. Coordinates are x78 and y92."

"Hey! Me and my friends are relatively close-by to that location.. how big is the wreckage? How many people would we need to carry it?" Good question. I take a look around. There are around thirteen different chests and one pioneer wagon. Considering how a wagon is approximately one hundred inventory slots and each chest is ten... so two hundred and thirty?

There's also a stack of five boxes next to the wagon which were left relatively untouched."Inspect."

A wooden box containing a shipment of high-quality steel.

+100 metal if delivered to city Weight - 50 inventory slots.

I could feel my eyes grow wide as I read the message. My grin is currently bigger than any I've had in days."It would take you two hundred and thirty inventory slots to carry the caravan... however, there's also a stack of five boxes carrying high quality steel. I'll pay each person who delivers one of these 10 gold each. The boxes take up 50 inventory slots each."

"Holy fuck, might as well form up a raid group then." This person, whose character name is Mike, says and I frown."If you're gonna do that, then get people solely from our guild. We can't risk this pile of loot being stolen by a mercenary or a spy."

"Got it, boss. Will do!" He replies and I close guild chat.

Smiling to myself as I turn around, I find myself paralyzed on the spot as a certain massive wolf seems to have somehow managed to sneak up on me."Grrr..." A deep, throaty growl escapes from its giant maw as the two-meter tall and at least one meter wide abomination promptly opens its mouth.

Target - Chaosborne Abomination (lvl 25 LEGENDARY) Once the alpha wolf of his pack, this rabid beast has been infused by the power of Iblis, a scythe seemingly made out of pure magma... Health: 3367/5000 Mana: 1000/1000 Stamina: NULL

Oh dear, a legendary mob. I find myself gulping down hard as its fangs come down onto me, impaling my shoulder."ARGH!"

You have been impaled!(546 damage)

You are immobile!

"Shit!" I cursed as I activated my raging fist and continuously slammed into the wolf's fist to no avail as the thing just pressed down harder.

You are suffering further impalement!(342 damage)

You are immobile!

Shaking my head out of my stupor, I switch the stances for my raging fist and shove a hand into the things mouth."Lets see how you like this, motherfucker!" And with that, I used my Napalm Flare right down its bloody gullet.

"GRHROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" Its massive bellow of pain erupted outwards, terrifying everything nearby as its fang tore out of me. Thinking quickly, I switch back to melee and charge away, my right hand dangling around as the hole in my shoulder continuously spurts out blood.

"Grh! Aw fuck, fuck, fuck!" Temporarily losing myself to panic, I manage to activate my living aura and direct my charge into a black bear."Sorry, but I'm not sorry at all!" I exclaim towards the poor, confused bear as its peaceful, harmless sleep is disturbed by a maniac who shoved a fist into its mouth before tearing its skull apart with a crimson scythe. Wasting no more time as the abomination is thundering behind me, I devour the bear and turn around just in time to see myself get charged into a tree by the wolf.

You have sustained a crushing blow! (302 damage)

You are immobile!

"F-fuck! Is this what people feel like when they fight against me?!" I yell out loud to nobody in particular as I slam my scythe through the wolfs eye."GROOOOAAAARH!" It roars again, letting me fall off the tree as I activate my Blood Healing."Yeah, how do you like that, you bitch?" My arrogance sometimes does not manage to work out in my favor.

This is one of those times as the wolf apparently has the same skills I do, activating its own blood regeneration and making my jaw drop as I watch its eye regenerate. It gives me a wolf's version of a grin before charging right at me again.

Not to be outdone, I fuel some health into my next attack as I charge right back at it, our meeting causes both of us to be launched backwards, sending me into the water of the lake and the wolf flying into a stone. Unfortunately for me, a spear stuck in the wolfs back is further impaled inside as he struck the stone, causing what I can only figure out to be his version of my passives to go full course as the wolfs red eyes glow with unrestrained fury.

Using Chaos Rush to get myself out of the water, I begin running sideways as I focus myself onto the currently bleeding wound on the wolfs back and cast a scorch onto it.

Critical hit! (33 damage)

Your target is highly resistant to normal fire!

"Aw shit, well of course he is, dumb-ass!" Cussing at myself as I continue to blast the temporarily stunned wolf with consecutive scorch's, I manage to infuriate the thing into another charge."ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!" Its bellow shakes the ground around me and I nearly lose my footing, a massive grin forming itself upon my face as I wait for the wolf to reach me before showing another fine meal of Napalm right into its maw. The wolf tries to close its mouth but fails to do so in time, still somehow managing to hit me with its entire body mass before collapsing on top of me.

"Argh, fuck!" I hear myself curse again as I dig myself out of my situation and push the wolf's body away from me. He's still alive..."Grrr...." A weakened, strangled warning erupts from the wolf's massive jaws alongside a bunch of blood and I laugh."That was a good fight, but I'm afraid I don't have time for pleasantries."

Approaching the wolf's back, I promptly attempt to take the scythe out of him but to no avail.

The curse of Chaos is not so easily lifted... if you truly seek to free this poor being from the infection, you must take it upon yourself.

"Uhh, in case you didn't notice, I'm the bloody Archon Of Chaos. Of course I'll take the *curse* upon myself!" With that exclamation made, the scythe easily rips out of the poor things back, its charred mane turning back to an ashen grey as the wolf begins to rapidly lose size, its wounds healing as the inflated flesh constricts back upon itself.

Suddenly, I feel my own vision swimming as I watch the pup rise up with fear evident in his eyes and blaze away at the speed of light. I am.. transforming... Oh god, don't tell me.

Congratulations! You've gained a new ability, Chaos Form! Adopt the form of the Chaosborne Abomination, gaining increased stats and new abilities but also becoming unable to cast any non-chaos spells.

During your time as a the Dire Wolf, players will not be able to differ you from a normal mob by targeting you. +strength increased by 150.

+agility increased by 100.

+traveling speed outside of combat is increased by 300%.

+you cannot converse with others, but you can use guild chat and the PM function.

+Your abilities have been converted to better fit your new, albeit temporary self.

Okay then, this has the potential to be very, very useful.

You have gained a new passive, Ember Jaws! Your fangs burn hot, hot enough to melt iron and char flesh!

+melee attacks deal elemental damage

+melee attacks will always critically strike

+melee attacks shred enemy armor, reducing durability by 5% for each separate bite You have gained a new ability, Infernal Charge! Your strength and speed allow you to form an Unbreakable Charge, dealing massive damage to enemies struck and applying a stun. You have gained a new ability, Napalm Vomit! Project a vomit of Ignited Napalm onto your target, dealing damage and setting them on fire. You have gained a new passive, Avatar Of Terror! Automatically apply a fear effect of five seconds to anything below your current level (43). If you wish to turn back to your real form, simply think it. As your body is currently still unstable, the transformation has reverted the progress for your next Breakthrough... but repeated transformations will not have the same effect.

"Okay, Harold. Enough with the silent treatment, what the hell is going on here?" I say using the PM to send him the message and he replies in a somewhat disinterested voice.

"I'm balancing you out. Well, at least I'm trying to... listen, with how OP you already are, I couldn't have let you get that scythe. An artifact so early on would make Aurelius put me on even heavier chains." He says with honesty in his voice and I let out a breath of relief.

"Alright, that's fair... but what's up with the minimalist blue screens? You do make up abilities, right? They don't even say how much damage things do." I protest over the message system and I hear him snort.

"Okay then, do you want me to add TONS OF DAMAGE to every list?..." I promptly decide that is unnecessary as I close off all the blue screens and turn around.

Unable to help myself, I look downwards... and I smile. Well now, that's huge. Wonder how it will feel when I eventually stick it into a nice, tight hole, hehe. Mhmmm, maybe Tiara would like to find out how it would feel to have a massive wolf ream her asshole raw.

The Wolf in question most certainly would.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

And that is it for this chapter of EUPHORIA! I sincerely hope that you've enjoyed it!

Not much else to say here so eh...

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!