Chapter 9 - Bloodline

Tal blinked his eyes clear. He must have hit his head coming through the portal because he found himself rising from unconsciousness. Luckily enough though, his shoulder was no longer paralysed, and not so much as the slightest ache came from his body.

He had emerged from the portal into a cylindrical metal room. The wall ran in a ring around him, shimmering with a dull metallic lustre. Occasional veins of red pulsed through the material frequently enough to produce adequate lighting for the rest of the small room. And with that lighting, Tal could make see a staircase at the back of the room leading upward to yet another room.

For now, though, Tal got to work, catching up on the past. A notification blinked in the corner of his vision. Focusing on it, Tal opened up the blue screen he had minimised as he was falling through the portal.

Mark of Null-kin [Epic]

Temporary

You have been infused with the essence of The Null. This temporary mark will allow you to develop the racial abilities of this species far easier than what would otherwise be possible.

For a temporary period of time, this mark will allow you to shrug off wounds that would otherwise afflict a corporeal being.

Uh…What?

From what Tal could make out it seemed that not only had he escaped from those shadowy creatures in one piece, but he had seemingly stolen some sort of power from them as well. He also finally had a name for them. Most excitingly though, he had earned an Epic ranked Mark! It was definitely a nice addition alongside his Unique Tower-Marked one. He still didn't know what all the different ranks were but he was sure Epic had to be something good.

This Mark was different to his Unique one in a few other ways. For one, the description was much more lengthy and much less vague. For another, this Mark had a little tag below it saying it was Temporary. How long Tal would have the benefits of the Mark for, he didn't know. He was certainly happy to receive the freebie magics though. If this world followed anything like the games he had played in the past, there would certainly be other roads to power excluding the attributes, skills and Marks he had so far encountered.

Tal couldn’t help the grin that burst forth from his lips. Not to mention the change in scenery. This room was certainly a nice change from the vast expanse of his previous landscape. And unlike before, he finally had enough lighting to rummage through his sack of items to see what he had. I should definitely have checked the contents of the sack before I headed off.

Without hesitation, Tal dove into the sack. There, he found a slew of items. Aside from the dagger, he had taken out previously, the low-grade health potion, and his food and water supplies he was pleased to find a few other notable goodies. There was an extra pair of clothes, dark grey and slim fitting. A long coil of thin wire which Tal had no idea what to make of but he knew he would find some use for it. A thick tarp which he could imagine several creative uses, not the least of which included finally giving creating a makeshift tent to sleep in. Finally, a small box of basic medical supplies and a flint and steel took up space at the very bottom of the sack. And just when he thought that was all. He spotted the small note that was clinging to the side of the bag.

Doldahr’s Note

I know our time ended all too soon, boy. I know it wasn’t what you had expected. I’m sorry. I couldn’t provide more of a rest than what you got. The truth is… there's no time for that while you’re in here. You have to grow. Get stronger. You won’t survive otherwise. This Tower is no place for untrained novices.

Beware the ‘safe havens’ of the Tower. While they might provide some temporary respite and company, the longer you stay at each, the greater the chance you’ll find your path wrought with more danger than you bargained for. The Tower does not appreciate leechers.

All that is to say, I’m sorry I couldn’t help you as much as I wish I could, son. If you do happen to make it out of here…you’ll need a guild that can keep you safe. And you should find one as soon as you can. I can’t promise you a place in mine. That is up to your skill. But I will put in a word for you. You might just have enough promise to make something of yourself…

P.s. You owe me a drink

~ You know who.

Wow. I guess he really was trying to help me. In his own way at least Tal thought. The note was actually of kind touching. Even away from Doldahr, the dwarf was still trying to feed him advice. And it looked to be good advice too. He had stayed days in the relative comfort of the taverns domain and he had thought nothing of it. For a place that seemed intent on killing him, that was just uncharacteristically generous. Another thing he could tell from the letter though was that escaping from this Tower would not be the salvation he was looking for. Whatever surrounded the Tower in the real world sounded like its own breed of danger.

Tal furrowed his eyebrow. How was he supposed to be worrying about things that far into the future when he couldn’t even help himself now. He pulled his awareness back to the unfamiliar territory. Despite the interesting walls of the room, there really was nothing else in this room. The pulsing in the walls, however, seemed to be gravitating toward the staircase at the back of the room. Well, I guess I know where I should be going for once.

Tal wasn’t as worried as he thought he should be. Maybe I’m finally getting used to all of this mess. Or maybe it’s my Determination Attribute coming back into play now that I have a clear goal of where I should be going.

Tal strode toward the staircase, each of his steps clinking loudly upon the metallic floor. The steps themselves were a mottled alloy of what looked like silver and some sort of ink black metal. Tal couldn’t be sure what sort of alloy it specifically was. That was never his forte.

Tal looked upwards. Luckily for his tired legs, he didn't has far to go to reach the top. There were only a dozen or so steps to climb.

Without further ado, Tal began moving slowly up the staircase. This time trying not to make any noise. It was a point of pride for him, then, when he silently reached the last step a few moments later.

This time, when Tal surveyed the room, his mouth dropped in awe. Taking up the grand majority of the room was an obscenely large contraption. Its design brought a much-needed break to the monotony of the room. It featured a large padded platform in the centre, inlay with various circling designs, each eclipsing the other. Around the platform, though, was the grand majority of the machine. Stretching down from the ceiling toward the platform, grew a series of machine arms. Each complete with various sizes of needles, syringes, scalpels and small blades of all kinds.

Tal crept closer, silently observing the behemoth of a machine. Soon he found one of the machine arms wasn’t so much of an arm at all. From this appendage, a large blue screen presented itself. It flashed rhythmically with a dark red light, placed upon a blue background. And from where he was, he could only just make out the outline of what looked to be another human!

Tal crept closer. A little more carelessly now. It has been way too long since I’ve had some sort of proper company around here. Specifically, someone from Earth. This might be my chance to finally meet someone else. Tal wouldn’t admit it out loud of course, but he was yearning for the company, even the warmth, of another person. He was getting painfully lonely.

He looked sideways around the room. It didn’t look occupied but who knows. Maybe one of these walls could fold up or down and reveal something. As he got closer to the screen, however, he got a better look. The outline was far too similar to his own to be anything but that. He had gotten himself way too excited - for nothing.

His disappointment was quickly replaced by shock when he caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the screen. The stubble was by no means surprising, he could already feel that. The rest of what he could see though was enough to take his breath away.

Since when had his cheekbones been that sharp. And was that a hint of muscle building around his shoulders. Surely his neck had never been that thick?

They were all welcome changes that surely must have come from his boosted Attributes. That brought a pang of panic though. It was clear the power of this world was shaping him in appearance. He had never considered himself vain, though it was a wake-up call to see the changes clear as day in front of him. He could only hope he would continue to change in ways he would appreciate. I swear to god If I grow a horn, or something else from the top of my head…or worse - a tail! Tal shook his head in consternation.

He dismissed the thoughts for another time and found the digital display on one of the machine's appendages awaiting him. The display looked similar to tech back home. There were no external buttons but the interface looked easy enough to understand. It was split into a left and right panel. What caught his eye, stopped his heart in its tracks. In the top left corner of the screen, the words “Tal Cael” stood stark. Now, how the shit does this thing know my name. Tal looked at the rightmost panel. I can understand being able to come up with a model of myself. X-rays and such would do much the same. This though…I don't know what machine can instantly figure out someone's name.

Tal supposed he shouldn't have been as shocked as he was, given all the crazy things he had encountered since coming to this world, but he was. It was other-worldly, seeing a digital screen filled with all sorts of information on him without him even knowing about it. Having the blue screens from The System in his head was quite similar, though he felt that was more of a personal affair. Not every ‘old joe’ could see those.

The right-hand side of the screen featured a few other bits and pieces about him. Species, gender and a few other tidbits. One of which included a button with the word “Bloodline”, complete with small flashing text just next to it “Click here to reveal available bloodlines”.

Then, what the machine was fell into place. It was clearly some convoluted medical device that could probably perform everything someone would need to fix themselves up. That would explain all the information and instruments dangling from each of the machine's arms, anyway. From games, Tal knew that when the screen said bloodline, it wasn't referring to his blood type or anything so mundane. Coming from his own origins though, he was sure there couldn’t be anything so special about his blood.

Despite this, Tal yearned to get stronger, and so nothing could stop his finger from moving toward the button to reveal what options were in stock for him.

His finger met the screen and a popup appeared to confirm his selection. Tal did so, and then the screen faded to black. For a moment nothing happened. Suddenly, a whizzing started from behind his ear. Tal whirled around just in time. Moving steadily toward the gap between his head and neck was a thin, spinning blade. Accompanying the blade was another machine arm, this one carrying a large hollow needle. The rest of the lifeless arms hung limp. For now.

A mechanical voice spoke up then, “Warning. Movement Detected. Kindly stay still for the period of the operation or you will be restrained”

Tal froze. He did not like the sound of that. Since when had I consented to an operation? What the hell. How hard is it to take a measure of someone's blood? If you have all that information on your fancy little screen what is the need for stabbing me with all the big scary things. Mad. I’ve gone mad.

It was time to get out of here before things got out of hand. Surely there must be an exit somewhere. He had, in his rush to see the contents of the screen, not actually full cleared the rest of the room. Tal moved to exit the podium. There was no rush, the movement of the spinning blade was quite slow.

Or so he thought. One of the limp machine arms snapped toward Tal, blocking his path. Then the rest of the arms came to life. Hidden compartments in each of them cracked back to reveal some sort of propulsion device. The arms encircled Tal before he could even register their movement. From each of the hidden compartments, burst forth a thick cloudy gas.

Status Effect

You have been doused in a paralytic gas. Resistance check failed!

Your limbs have been immobilized.

Tal’s heart lept. It had all happened too quick. And now he was stuck. Unable to move. Worse still. The spinning blade had resumed its advance toward a spot just under the back of his head. But there was nothing he could do. Worse, the paralytic gas had never mentioned anything about numbing any of the pain. This was going to hurt.

Sharp arcs of agony flew through his body. Each originating at the height of his neck. Tal moved to close his eyes, but even those would not shut.

The needle spiked deep into him. Instantly, Tal could feel the rapid loss of blood. Shit shit shit. Lightheadedness began to kick in, though the paralytic gas held Tal's body in place as the needle pushed yet deeper into his body.

The edges of his vision began to go dark. So this is it, huh. Definitely not how I expected it to end… some morbid part of his conscious thought.

The pain had begun to recede now. Tal didn’t know if that was because he was passing out or because the ‘operation’ was finishing up. The mechanical voice that spoke up from somewhere in the ceiling revealed the reason to be the latter.

“Multiple Bloodline Options Available”