《Mastery》38
Advertisement
The battle once more fell into a stalemate, the soldiers held the wall and the dravu kept up their suicidal rush with their near endless numbers. Jace fell into a rhythm, he killed the dravu on droves. Whenever he could he created another blood shield to protect the soldiers, the soldiers on his wall currently had two shields each. He had created a total of eight-hundred shields. There were two soldiers for each meter of wall, with Jace occupying a fourty meter stretch on his his own the soldiers that should have been in his area moved to reinforce the other spots, easing the burden on their comrades.
The dravu kept storming the wall and the soldiers slowly but surely got tired. Their levels were growing rapidly, each of the dravu was around level eighty and most soldiers weren’t even level hundred yet. Despite their growth the endless battle was tiresome on the soldiers, the people in command had kept this in mind and had set a three hour window in which they would fight before being switched out with a fresh group. Any wounded would be treated and the warriors could get a quick power nap before being switched back in three hours later. When the time came for the switch, Jace connected his Blood Shields to the new arrivals and continued fighting.
He had gained four levels in the three hours of fighting and had put his points into strength. At first he had wanted to focus endurance, but with his Inexhaustible skill his points were better off when put into strength. The change was negligible but everything helped at this point. The blood snake which swirled around him had doubled in thickness and had grown to an impressive forty meters in length. A second class Dravu was trying to crawl up the wall, Jace narrowed his eyes but before he could do anything his blood snake shot forward and constricted around the creature, it sank its fangs into the monsters neck and dragged it to the ground wrestling with it.
A snap resounded on the wall and the Class 2 had its neck broken, Jace smiled then blinked when a notification popper up.
[Some of your Blood has gained sentience and has become a living creature, Crimson snake has fallen under your command. Please name your creature.]
Jace blinked and looked at the blood, it had somehow solidified into crimson scales and black eyes with red pupils, it was the same size it had been as blood but it showed intelligence and life in the gleam of its eyes. Jace grinned and looked up at the monster, “I shall name you, Carmine.”
The snake hissed in acceptance before turning back towards the dravu, it wrapped itself around one of the smaller ones while sinking its fangs into another. Jace took a step back to open the panel that became available to him upon Carmine’s birth. He looked through the information while the sounds of battle continued in the background.
[Carmine Race : Bloodborn Crimson Snake
[Level : 1 Sex : Female
[Age : 1
[Titles : Born of Bloodshed, Self Created Sentience
[Strength : 120 Agility : 180 Dexterity : 110
[Endurance : 200 Vitality : 200 Constitution : 190
[Wisdom : 30 Intelligence : 30 Charisma : 30
[Luck : 30
[Skills : None
[Mastery : None
[Loyalty : 100
Jace blinked at the surprisingly high stats and opened the titles.
[Born of Bloodshed]
[You are a rare existence born from the bloodshed of your enemies, the more blood you consume the larger and more powerful you will grow. Your life is bound to the one who created you with a powerful bloodpact. Protect them well, for while you are immortal, they are not. Should they die you will perish with them.]
Advertisement
[Self Created Sentience]
[Through sheer force of will a miracle has occurred and you have created your own sentience. You have a mind of your own and none can command you against their will. Your are immune to all mind altering effects.]
Jace smiled, it was good to know that Carmine had a mind of her own. Jace wasn’t a fan of slavery or absolute dominance even when it came to animals. He marveled at this world’s strange features, a passive skill of his had become a lifeform due to its own will. That was beyond odd, he watched Carmine kill two of the Dravu at once and saw her level increase by six. He got a quick notification that he could use the skill points as Carmine’s master but he swiftly set the option that she could make her own choices.
“Jace! Why are you zoning out! We’re in the middle of a war here!” Jace blinked and came to his senses, he looked over to see Florian looking at him with a worried look. Jace waved away his concern and stepped back into the thick of the fight, new blood started swirling around him in a much smaller semi-sentient blood snake. He wondered if a new life-form would be created if he gathered more blood. He was curious to find out, he dashed forward and sank his sword into the skull of another Dravu, one leapt at him from the side but he smashed it down with his shield. The blood snake turning into a spear and piercing its heart, Jace ducked under another leaping dravu and with a twist cut of its head.
Carmine was off on her own killing any dravu she could reach, Jace peeked at her sheet when he had a moment's respite and noticed she was putting all her points into constitution. Unlike humanoids she did not gain stat points in class related stats but instead gained an extra distributable stat point per hundred levels. Orso he assumed when he saw that she had six points to spend per level.
All of the sudden an impulse ran through Jace, he shivered and looked at the edge of the battlements. Should he? He had gotten these impulses before, back when he was a soldier. They always led to him doing insane things but somehow they had always worked out, barely. he felt the blood speed up as it rushed through his veins, his heart pumped, his stomach a flutter. A bloodthirsty half insane grin appeared on his face. He roared a challenge charged towards the edge of the battlements and leapt off. The blood gathered around him and with an explosion all of it burst outwards from him, clearing out an area around him. he snarled and dove forward, sword cleaving through the dravu.
He bared his teeth as he smashed his shield into the skull of a dravu, with a twist he turned and cut two more of the creatures apart. The blood around him became restless and increasingly aggressive. A shadow appeared above him and Carmine landed next to him, angrily hissing at the dravu surrounding him. For a moment the dravu paused, for a brief second they stared at him in confusion. Then chaos, they all rushed towards him at once, Jace turned himself into a cyclone of cold steel and destruction as he tore through the lines of monsters. He pushed deeper into their lines, more and more blood answered his call, he ripped them apart, tore of their limbs, slashed through their necks in an violent rush.
He screamed a challenge and felt a crimson haze cover his eyes, he lost himself to the rhythm of battle, tearing through the near infinite amount of opponents. He smashed through the smaller Dravu like they were paper, his levels were increasing rapidly, Carmine was swelling in size. She was as thick an oak tree and was nearly sixty meters tall, ever swep of her tails or bite of her fangs killed dravu. Jace once more bellowed in challenge, looking for something to stimulate his thirst for blood. A class two angrily clicked it’s mandibles at him, Jace scoffed and settled into a sprinters stance, he felt energy gather into his toes. With a burst he rushed forward an angry tidal wave of blood rising behind him, he slipped under the Class 2 and with a twist of his wrist cut through the limbs on one side, he rolled out from under it and with a dash cut through its throat. He roared in victory and stared at the creatures surrounding him defiantly.
Advertisement
Once more the dravu hesitated, this time Jace didn’t wait for them and charged towards them, Carmine rose up behind him like an angry deity. He dove into the fray cutting through more of the smaller creatures, a few of them managed to land a strike but the smaller ones weren’t strong enough to get through his armour or his new skin of steel passive. His confidence bloated and he pushed ever deeper into the enemy ranks. Blood covered his body, unknown to him he was growing, the blood tying itself to him like a parasite. It started to function in place of his limbs, he grew to a height of two and a half meters and rampaged through the enemy ranks. With every kill he would grow a little, every strike he gained power.
Blood dripped down his sword, its length had grown to the size of a claymore. His shield now a huge block of crimson the size of a tower shield. Blood braided itself into his hair, his eyes an ominous red. He stepped forward a step at a time, killing the monsters in swaths. His reason lost to him, pure undultured slaughter the only thing on his mind.
------------------------------------------------- Princess Feliceuze POV----------------------------------------
The princess watched as her new guard jumped from the battlements into the throthing horde of dravu below. Her eyes widened in shock, a brief moment of silence spread over their section of the wall. The soldiers stared on in horror as the one they had come to see as their guardian leaped into the thick of swarm. She watched in quiet awe as a shockwave of blood tore the dravu to pieces as he landed. Then the dravu hesitated, she could almost sense the confusion in the creatures. It lasted for no more than a brief instant, before they rushed at him. Her heart clenched when she saw the surrounding swarm swirl around him. She had to force herself to keep a straight face when the newly born crimson snake jumped down behind him.
Then something happened that all the tutors, famous warriors and reading had not prepared her for. The strange man was tearing through the monsters with apparent ease, he ignored the smaller ones and rushed to a class 2, killing it in seconds. He roared in victory and went in search of other stronger prey. The blood around him started gathering around him, she watched with a puzzled gaze as he grew before her very eyes. His skin slowly becoming the same hue as the blood that he controlled. More and more of the dravu died around him, the assault on the walls seemed to flutter as the dravu focused on the man that had dared to jump into their midst. Suddenly from another wall section she saw a figure dive into the swarm like Jace had done.
She poured some mana into her eyes to enhance her vision and zoomed in on the figure. The Xor woman, Hirki was walking through the horde with apparent ease, all creatures that tried to approach her within a ten meter radius exploded into a rain of gore and blood. Other figures started jumping down from the wall, taking the fight to the horde instead of defending the wall. She frowned, somehow the man’s crazy impulse had caused the horde to react. They focused on the people in their midst, those strong enough to be able to ignore the assault from the minor creatures. She felt her blood surge as she wanted to join the people fighting in the midst of the enemy with impudence.
She took a deep breath, an outside influence was affecting her. Somehow, she had trained her mental protections to an extremely high level. Yet somehow these emotions surged through her, she felt powerful, furious. She felt a hunger for slaughter. She stared at the man who stood inside the crimson liquid. Tearing through the horde in mindless combat. Who was he and why was what he was doing affecting her emotions the way it was. She looked over at the soldiers, the dravu had backed away from the wall and were rushing over each other to reach the warriors who had jumped of the wall. She searched carefully on their faces for and urge to do the same, all she saw from them was a mix of confusion and awe.
She looked over to Richard, “Do you feel it?”
Her childhood friend and loyal protector nodded, “It’s nearly overwriting my urge to protect you from my Loyal Guardian Knight skill. I think he somehow caused others to go berserk, what I find odd is that it somehow only seems to be affecting those who are above a certain certain strength.”
She nodded, “The soldiers don’t seem to feel it, neither do the remnants of Jace’s old team.” Feliceuze looked over to the woman who was providing her with mana. “Do you know the cause behind this?”
Weira opened her eyes and calmly stared down at her brother, “He is bound by battle. It is what my grandmother told me. She said he may have the War God’s favour.”
Feliceuze blinked, “The War God? How would your grandmother know he has earned a god’s favour.”
Weira smiled, “According to her, the War God might be the one that brought Jace to our world.”
Feliceuze frowned. “Did she tell him this, the War God is not one to throw around favors. Most who do catch his attention are crazed. It is a risky business to catch the attention of a god.”
Weira grinned, “Gran told me Jace wouldn’t care. She decided to let him figure it out himself, she even made me sign a contract to keep it silent. She rarely gets this secretive about things.”
“If you are bound to silence then how is it you are telling me now?”
Weira shrugged, “It’s been dissolved ever since he jumped off the battlements. I have no clue as to why. Strange things tend to happen around my brother, one must simply go with the flow or get left behind.”
Advertisement
Path of Blood.
In my world, there are only idiots who know nothing of the true workings of the world. They only see what is shown to them, only accepting and not questioning anything. They brag about the strength given to them yet do not know how or where that power comes from. Sick of this competition for power that is unfair to all who participate, I’m tired of being given choices that seem fine to others but don’t make any sense to me. Others are blessed with supreme talent, others are born cripple; the world is unfair and that is a fact. But what if you could see? What if the world was open to you and only you? Would your life change forever? Would you become a King amongst men? OF COURSE NOT! For the heavens are fair and they shall maintain the balance of the realm, no matter what the case. Did I ask for the knowledge I was given? NO! Did I ask for the abilities I was given? NO! So then why make me different? Why turn me into a monster who sees all yet cannot participate in the competition for power that you have arranged? WHY HAVE THE HEAVENS FORSAKEN ME? From birth I saw everything, nothing could escape my sight. However, the heavens made me a cripple, they put me in the shadows and I can’t help but yearn for the light. Why am I still of the living then? Well, Why should I give the Heavens the satisfaction of seeing me give up? I will not submit to the heavens nor will I submit to the bastards that wish to use me. All I can do now is continue to rebel against everything. All I can do is continue to battle the Heavens in my heart. I shall carve out a new path for all those like me, a path that will go against the very constitution of this world. How will I do this? I do not know. But I will! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will upload a chapter a day on Royalroad (maybe more) however if you want more of the story at a quicker pace then go to fantasy-books.live. There are currently 110+ chapters of Path of Blood there. P.S - I started Path of Blood about a year ago so the first fifteen chapters have some problems character wise however I'm currently working with an editor to remedy these to make the story a better read. Anyway, these issues don't last long and since Pob is a story that rewards the patient, only those who've read till the latest will understand how good the story really is....I designed it to get better with every ark, surprises planned at every corner and the eventual ending of Pob will definitely not dissapoint, so stick around and give it a chance. :D
8 146The Tales of Hammerfall
Raph woke up in a body that wasn't his, in a world that wasn't his own. A world where power is respected, magic is real, classes are prevalent, and monsters are normal. What he does with this opportunity is yet to be seen, but it will be recorded. These are The Tales of Hammerfall. --- Note: After writing a few chapters now, I realise how this isn't perfect. This is the first thing I have ever written and it isn't completely consistent. It may get better as I write more, please bear with me.
8 225Chronicles of Athionia
Betrayed and left for dead. Perfect setup for a revenge saga. Especially when the betrayal is committed by someone who meant everything to you. Scott Degen was no exception. However, instead of taking revenge after the fact, he decided to go back in time and nip the betrayer in the bud. I know, pretty crazy. He did pull it off though. However, things didn’t go according to his plan. Then again, they rarely do. Hrax: “I’ll grant you your wish. You’ll be reincarnated and have a chance to exact revenge. Do you accept?” Scott: “Oh god … thank you! Thank you so much! I accept, you bet I accept.” Hrax: “Perfect. How good is your gaming skills? Played RPGS before?” […Silence…] Scott: “Huh?” Hrax: “Do you prefer a system that’ll grant you new abilities as you grow stronger?” Scott: “Sys…system? Hey…what’s going on?! I didn’t ask for a…” Hrax: “Great, let’s go with that! Brace yourself, Athionia awaits your adventure!” [Epic portal music. Portal opens. Scott starts getting sucked into Portal] Scott: “AthioWHATNOW? HEY! WHERE ARE YOU SENDING ME?! THIS IS NOT WHAT I….” […]
8 153No One Knows Me But You
When Gus Reed moves to Larkwood, a small town with too much money, nobody wants to be friends with him for a multitude of reasons, the most important one being that he doesn't have any. Money, that is. It's a tale as old as time, except apparently for Haley Sinclair, the richest kid in town... who is not who he seems. Then again, neither is Gus.(Standalone)Written Feb 2022 - now
8 137The Samsara Dirge: Adventures in Post-Apocalyptic Broadcasting
It was not the apocalypse anyone expected. They called it the Changes. (Which might sound boring, though it was no such thing!) During this time, reality itself was suspended. Anything could happen, and often did. Who could have anticipated flying turtles, lighter than air futons, the appearance of the color slurkle, or the eradication of differential calculus? After a year and a half of such wonders, it all stopped. The world was not the same, nor the people in it. Why had it happened and how did it end? Would it return? No one knew. Silverio Moreno, irrepressibly optimistic host of one of the most popular post-apocalyptic gameshows, wants answers. And the truth might just bring in his highest ratings yet!
8 499INFERNO: Destruction [Completed]
Дэлхий ертөнц урьдын тайван байхаа больжээ. Гэнэтхэн энд тэндгүй хүчтэй газар хөдөлж, олон хот тосгод сүйрч, хүмүүс сая саяаараа үхэж үрэгдэв. Гэвч дан ганц энэ аюул дэлхийд нүүрлээгүй байв. Тун удалгүй дэлхий даяар хүн рүү дайрч, тэднийг тасчиж, өөртэйгөө ижил болон хувиргадаг үхдлүүд тархсан юм. Гэвч эдгээр аймшигт сүйрэл болоод үхдлүүдийн цаана маш том нууц, далд зорилго агуулагдаж байв.Ким Жисү их сургуулийн ангийнхантайгаа зугаалж байхуй эхний сүйрэл нүүрлэж, тэр зугтаж явсаар, нэгэн айлын зооринд орж амь гарах ч, дээрээс нь нуранги дарж, дээш гарч үл чадан олон хоног өнгөрөөнө. Ертөнцөд тэр эргэж ирвэл шууд үхдлүүд таарч, түүнийг болоод хамт байсан гэр бүлийг нь тасчин идэж, хөнөөж орхисноор үйл явдал эхлэх билээ.
8 91