Eric had expected a sense of exhilaration, having completely cleared an entire territory of orange tier threats. But what he felt more than anything else was exhaustion, drained to his core.

It had been a long day. A very long day, a dozen individual battles still flashing across his mind’s eye. And for all that he wanted nothing more than to pull a blanket from storage and curl up and sleep before taking on the final task that would allow him to finally claim this territory, crackling with so much wild energy, as his own… he took the moment to close his eyes and place his hand on the massive ape before him.

Breathing in, and out.

A meditative trance so like cultivation…

Yet entirely different.

For all that he felt the warm golden light upon his form as he gazed upon lush tropical jungles a world away… it was his soul that felt that warmth.

A soul that the massive ape sitting contentedly in the tree before him, devouring jackfruit by the handful, could now sense.

Eric smiled, enjoying the cacophony of colorful birds fluttering through the lush canopy overhead, darting between the shafts of green tinted light, the air alive with the scents of a countless blossoming fruit and flowers, and Eric didn’t need to ask the question to see the answer in the beasts eyes, as it looked longingly toward the memory of the tribe of apes it had been plucked from, a lifetime ago.

“May you enjoy many ripe fruit and successful hunts, brother, in this life… or the next,” Eric said softly as he slipped free of the ape’s golden dream that might, or might not have been a higher reality, or the final flickering memories of a soul soon fading to the afterlife, whatever it might hold.

Either way, the ape’s gentle gaze bid him farewell.

And Eric wiped the hot sting of something from his eyes as he came back to himself with a gasp, knowing that this was one opponent he would never bind to necromancy’s chains.

Indeed it was he and his revenants that prepared a shallow pit deep enough to honor the ape with a proper burial before Eric waved a final farewell, only then allowing exhaustion take its due. Sleeping a full 4 hours surrounded by a massive hedgehog of pikemen and bands of circling predators, making him perhaps the safest man in all of Terra, he thought, before placing the deliciously comfortable bed he had shamelessly stolen from his sister’s palace back into storage, and drinking a good quart of still fresh-tasting chilled milk while devouring the roast-beef sandwiches he had also happily pilfered from his mother’s breakfast spread.

Eric smiled with satisfaction, rubbing his belly before kitting himself fully once more. Even if it hadn’t actually been roast beef, the bread was fresh baked, and the mustard and relish made all the difference. And the milk? Freshest, tastiest milk he had ever had, and he’d pretend he didn’t have any suspicions about its nature. It was delicious and nutritious and that was all that mattered.

He then took a good long look at the messages he had deliberately put off yesterday, forced to consider both the incredible boon it offered, and just how overwhelming the rift would soon be between the elites and everyone else.

You have successfully cleansed Orange Tier Grasslands of all worthy opponents that can be raised to your service!

You have successfully raised an additional 976 Revenants with a median base level over twice your Necromancer level!

Master Necromancer is now level 29!

Master Necromancer is now Level 30!

Master Necromancer is now Level 31!

You now have one Enhanced Class Perk to pick! (Perk choice deferred)

Congratulations! You have reached 200 in Spiritual Energy!

You are the first local Contender to achieve this feat!

You are now visible in the Top 10 Player Charts!

You have taken the Number 1 Spot for Spiritual Energy in the Top 10 Player Charts for the Northeast Sector!

Potency Boon is now in effect!

Terra takes note of her champion!

All additional boons, blessings, and Potency Points invested in Spiritual Energy while you reside on Earth OR one of her many pocket realms, will receive a 20% bonus from Mother Earth herself!

On the one hand, he knew he should be ecstatic, and he was. A 20% bonus was an incredible boon that made the prospect of further enhancing that stat and seeing if there were other bonuses to unlock all the more enticing.

On the other hand, it also meant that his name had just popped up on these so-called player charts, and the last thing he wanted to do was look like a ripe prize for some enterprising or bitter Contender to take out. Because Eric had no doubt that the same player charts that would allow elite clans to show off their prized prodigies as they wheeled and dealed their way to securing Earth for themselves by whatever means necessary, would also be a great way to highlight unknown and unconnected wildcards who needed to be put out of play before the true division of Earth’s spoils could begin.

Or maybe he was just being a cynical bastard. He just didn’t know. Though it chilled him to think about what else it implied. Despite his near meteoric ascent, there were still others who had hit 200 in Strength, Vitaliy, and Quickness before he had. Perhaps months before he had, and god only knew how powerful they were now. Come to think of it, hitting 200 in a stat that was almost worthless before his return was the farthest thing from exceptional.

For all he knew, multiple Contenders had already achieved absolutely scary numbers in the stats that mattered. He was just lucky to have locked in a strong bonus for a stat that mattered only for his Qi attacks and Runic Lore, and had very little utility for anyone else in the world.

At this point, the only path to power that was unique to himself and that he could reliably count on, the only boon that would allow him to truly make a difference so he was not quite the sitting duck for Earth’s elites that he feared he would soon be, was to continue along Oblivion’s Path just as far as he could. And right now that meant completely purging this territory of all hostiles and claiming its potential for himself.

Eric quickly brought up his Dominion Interface, happy to see that whatever laws guided his new reality, no fresh reds had entered his soon-to-be territory since last night. A territory whose potency he could almost taste, so eager to sip from the incredibly rich wild mana permeating every square inch of this place that he could hardly wait.

And how humbling it was to realize that, unlike white tier territories already claimed by one faction or another, wild territories would till be considered just that until every delve within had been claimed.

Which meant that, as he was the only Contender or adventurer to dare this territory at all, the responsibility lay squarely on his shoulders.

“Good thing there’s just one,” he said to himself, before gazing consideringly at his troops standing at stiff attention, like rocks in choppy surf, as the waist-high grass wavered in the breeze and whipped against them like waves crashing against the inevitability of their eerily still forms.

“You boys ready to clear out the one and only delve and claim this territory as our own?”

The air rang with the crash of sixteen thousand armored fists hitting bronze breastplates.

“Ave Imperator Abedimus!”

“Damn right you do,” Eric said with a cocky grin. “You all serve me til the end of time, and I love you for it! Now come on boys and girls and nameless horrors, lets get a move on!”

Eric turned and smiled at the little ball of fluff who hopped on his shoulder. “How you doing, Bunbun?”

The revenant bunny quickly saluted.

“Excellent. You up for a little monster hunting?”

The little fuzzball gave an enthusiastic nod.

Eric laughed and winked. “Somehow I think you’re stretching the rules a bit, but I won’t tell if you won’t.”

The bunny winked back.

Eric didn’t know whether to be horrified or amazed, so settled for laughter, scratching the revenant’s ears right before taking off at a sprint instantly matched by near 17,000 troops, reaching the one amber colored light blinking in his territory interface in less than five minutes.

He whistled at the crackling obsidian gate now before him, the air all around vibrating with an eerie hum, and he couldn’t deny that the rift between Terra and this pocket dungeon realm, supported as it was by a massive pair of basalt monoliths, looked so very much like the hell portals of his favorite game series of all time that it was all he could do not to crack a grin, wondering just how cued in ‘It-just-works!’ Tod had been about the true nature of reality, and if maybe he had held off on Volume 6 for so damn long because he knew there’d be no point. Or maybe this WAS volume six of the series?

Eric chuckled at the thought as he shivered with excitement, psyching himself up to plunge headfirst into a mysterious pocket realm where power and peril were both no doubt waiting for him.

But not before pulling up his character sheet, and taking a moment to appreciate just how far he had already come, already knowing where he’d be investing his points. Because as much as he appreciated Elonia’s miraculous training pod and the beautiful spells he had unlocked with his sister’s help, and the potential his slowly growing runic mastery had in terms of serving as the key to an entire magical discipline he was slowly forging into being… if he wasn’t Perceptive enough to sense threats before they did to him what inhuman speed would allow him to do to them first, then he had nothing at all.

With that grim philosophy in mind, he stuck 5 more points into Quickness, and another 4 points into Perception, happy to see that Perception and Finesse were both still above 50% of his Quickness total, allowing him to not just move quickly, but to react to his environment as if time itself slowed down when adrenaline’s hammer beat the drum of his heart and instant reaction times were all that stood between himself and oblivion.

He could only hope it would be enough to let him survive a portal that, for all he knew, was geared to characters twice his level.

_____________________________________

Eric Silver Level 38 Primal Adventurer

Rank 23 Cultivator (Death’s Disciple)

Level 31 Master Necromancer (1 Perk deferred)

Physical Characteristics

Strength – 219

Vitality – 239

Finesse – 131

Quickness – 256

Appearance – 24

Mental Characteristics

Scholarship – 22

Perception – 129

Willpower – 76

Charisma – 13

Potency Pools

Arcane Potential – 144

(Mana Pool = 1728)

Spiritual Energy – 200

(Qi Pool = 2400)

Soul Reserves – 94 (86)

Stamina – 2430 Points

Health – 3219 Points.

Resistances & Recovery

Physical Resistance – 44

Physical Regeneration – 23.9 health per second

Elemental Resistance – 25

Qi Resistance – 37

Mental Resistance – 27

Physical Age = 17 Years (+ 32 years, 10 months, 12 days, & 4 hours that Arcane Magics cannot restore! Superhuman vitality allows you to keep your youth, even if you’re now burning your candle at both ends! Note! Your meridians now anchor 12 Divine Tier Spirit Peaches. Life expectancy has increased by 12($%^&^%) years!)

Primal Adventurer Powers

1. Runic Lore - Rank 24 (Soul Infusion, Tier 2 Runic Spell Evolution)

Greater runes known: Wood (herbam), Wind (ventus), Fire (ignis), Wrath (iram), Dominion (dicio)

Lesser runes known: One (unus), Many (plures), Now (hodie), Sun Duration (dies), Weaken (debilito), Strengthen (roboro) - Resilience / Freeze (Congelo)

2. Unified Restoration – Rank 5 (This Power allows you to infuse your body with your own spiritual reserves whenever you take an injury for near immediate healing, over and above your basic regeneration rate!)

3. Runic Spell Forger – Rank 6

- Inevitable Doom (105 Mana & Qi) - Rank 5

- Hell Vines (140 Mana & Qi) – Rank 5

- Lightning Bolt (30 Mana & Qi) – Rank 4

Cultivation Affinities

Wind / Wood / Fire

Qi Skills

Fire Fist – Rank 6 (10 Qi)

Windfire Strike – Rank 8 (30 Qi)

Necromancer Perks:

Basic Class Perks

All necromantic (and blood magic) skill use is modified by Master Necromancer Level.

All Summoned & Forged undead have their potency enhanced by Master Necromancer Level.

All spells conjuring forth any number of creatures have summoned total modified by Master Necromancer Level.

One additional enhanced class perk is earned every 2 Master Necromancer levels.

Enhanced Class Perks:

1. Soul Orb: Tier 1

2. Undead Legion: Tier 6 (Up to 3,200 revenants may be risen after each battlefield victory!)

3. Undead Tactical Interface map access.

4. Vampiric Restoration

5. Mixed Unit Tactics

6. Mark of Resilience

7. Call to Battle (500 mana cost to summon ½ UL max at any time on the battlefield, but never more than the number of fallen bodies still on the field.)

8. Death March

9. Undying Phalanx

10. Enhanced Legion (You can safely raise undead up to level = Adventurer + 2*Necromancer level )

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Interface Recognized Skills

Acting – Rank 6

Bardiche (Unified) – Rank 21 (Cleaving Blow, Battleforged,*Piercing Strike)

Blade and Shield – Rank 11

Boar Riding – Rank 7

Bow (All Types) – Rank 19 (True Strike)

Crossbows – Rank 16 (True Strike)

Small Blades – Rank 4

Demolitions – Rank 14 (Path of Mastery)

ESS Manipulation – Rank 10 (Arcane Resonance Mastery)

Find Weakness – Rank 23 – (Spell Cleave, Qi Perception, Additional Magus/Cultivator Bonus)

Identify – Rank 1

Gunnery – Rank 10 (Cautious Gunner)

Healer’s Aid – Rank 3

Iado (Fast-Draw) – Rank 16 (Doom Flurry)

Javelin Throwing – Rank 21 (Piercing Strike, Deferred)

Negotiation – Rank 10 (Intimidation)

Repair – Rank 1

Sling – Rank 16 (Precise Shot Adv.)

Spear – Rank 23 (Piercing Strike, Battleforged)

Stealth – Rank 15 (Hunter’s Grace)

Swordsmanship – Rank 27 (Doom Slice, Battleforged, *Piercing Strike *Cleaving Blow)

Swimming – Rank 2

Unarmed Combat – Rank 13 (Empty Fist)

Essence Related Skills:

Burst of Strength – Rank 14 (Path of Mastery)

Dominion’s Resilience – Rank 3

Dominion’s Command – Rank 6

Heat Surge – Rank 11 (Path of Mastery)

Unified Perception Rank 22 (Sense Heat, Spiritual Energy, Magic, & Qi Flow.)

Arcane Skills

Elemental Wands – Rank 10 (Perk Deferred)

Advanced Arcane Weapons (Blaster Rifle) – Rank 9

Necromancer Affinities & Skills

Blood Mastery – Rank 27 (Blood Claimance, Lesser Healing, Essence Infusion)

Spirit Mastery – Rank 30 (Tier II Path of Dominion, Forced Obeisance)

Rituals of Summoning and Binding – Rank 31 (Tier III Path of Dominion, Ritual of Greater Spirit Summoning, *Instant Transcription)

Flesh Sculptor – Rank 23 (Tier II Path of Dominion, Basic Revenant Preparation)

Blood Ward – Rank 2

Potency Binding – Rank 4

Necromancer Spells

Unorthodox Abjuration – Rank 20

Interface Enhancements

Full Neuro-Linguistic capabilities

Extradimensional Storage Space

Essences Claimed:

Fire – Blazing - (Rank 3, White Tier)

Wrath (Rank 1, White Tier)

Dominion (Rank 1, White Tier)

Path of Endless Bounty – Rank 13 (Crimson Balance, Evolution’s Crucible, Oblivion’s Mercy)

You may consume the potency of any tile you claim for a 50% bonus to baseline ST & VIT earned while granting 3 Lesser Bounties of your choice!

____________________________________-

***

“Fuck! They didn’t go through!” Eric’s hissed when teary eyes made out a world of smoke and brimstone, the air oddly invigorating for all that it smelled like horse piss and rotten eggs. No doubt it was an atmosphere rich in ammonia, oxygen, and sulfur that suited the massive pterodactyls flying overhead just fine, it seemed, as Eric found himself not in the dungeon he had expected but a vast pocket realm of dark stone, ash, and fire, presently getting soaked by an environmentalist’s worse nightmare. Highly caustic acid rain. He made out mountains of obsidian glass in the distance, reflecting the fiery lights of a massive lake of brilliant red magma that lit up the brooding black clouds rumbling overhead before a flash of lightning resulted in the most vile of downpours. Eric’s skin began to redden under the bite of caustic rain, stinging eyes widening under the unexpected weight of supernatural gravity so extreme five hundred pounds of mithril had just become a ton.

He bit back a frustrated curse, feeling a cold chill of dread at the sight of no less than a dozen pairs of fiery red eyes belonging to shadowy figures he could barely make out even with all his senses, thanks to the torrential downpour. He was pretty sure his superhuman Vitality and Unified Restoration were the only reasons why he wasn’t a screaming bag of skinless flesh howling his final moments away under the deluge, assuming he wouldn’t be crushed by the monstrous gravity first.

Willpower check made!

“Ventus. Incurvo. Dies!” Eric whispered taking a good handful of seconds to visualize each and every syllable through the pain of the stinging downpour, pouring as much of his focus into visualizing a very simple effect as he kept an eye on the band of a full dozen giant velociraptor-like predators covered in jet black scales, creatures his interface now pinged as hybrid Utahraptors. All Eric could think of was those vicious looking velociraptors in the cult classic Cretaceous-Park, eyeing him like he had just become their dinner, for all that they approached him, a complete unknown, with a predator’s caution. And perhaps their movements were a little less fluid than they would have been on Earth, burdened by many times the gravity of his home planet, but their powerful builds and effortless stride made it clear that whatever insane level they were had boosted them with strength at least sufficient to let them move as gracefully as their historic counterparts might have, over a hundred million years ago.

Eric felt like a mouse caught before a pride of cats as the rain finally let up, thanks to the swirling disk of air above his head now acting as an umbrella of sorts, locked by ties of mana and spiritual energy to protect him until the moon rose or the sun set, or perhaps until Eric crossed worlds and stepped back through the gate behind him.

A gate he could only pray was still at his rear… though he didn’t dare take his eyes off the flight of midnight raptors surrounding him even now.

Eric could all but taste their killing intent, knowing their were just about to spring for him… Now!

“Fulmen!” Eric roared, white-blue lightning crackled and tore through multiple birds that were now charging him in unison as he sprinted through the opening he had made while screaming a fresh chant he knew he would have to develop a proper spell for if he survived this madness. Yet somehow he found the moments to utter the chant, ironically finding it easier run at an absolutely insane pace with heightened gravity keeping his madly sprinting feet tight to the ground. He was grateful that the flat obsidian plane he raced across was perfect for his desperate flight, so long as he wasn’t bothered by the abrupt drop off to the lake of fire just a few feet to his right, or the massive cliff of jagged sharp volcanic glass some thirty yards to his left.

Though how a number of ash-covered trees sporting violet colored flowers and tiny yellow fruit managed to survive in this place was utterly beyond him.

But what was not beyond him was screaming out the words to the chant that just might save his life, carefully enunciating each syllable, before exhaustion caught up with him at long last. Because even if he normally found racing across lush grasslands as effortless as racing across a waking dream back on Earth, right now he felt every bit as awful as he would trying to run uphill sprints right after a track meet.

Fortunately, not even his wheeze could prevent him from saying the words that most needed to be said.

"Debilito gravitas unus dies!” Eric finally cried out, fusing together as best he could his understanding of the runes for weaken, gravity, singular target and day to encapsulate the crushing weight of gravity he was now chillingly certain was multiple times Earth normal to ease back to the baseline he knew and loved.

And the relief he felt when well over a ton of weight eased back down to what it had been justminutes ago was beyond profound. He immediately spun around to face his foe, hoping he had at least gained just a few moment’s breather with his mad dash, only to find that far from gaining half a mile or so on his prey, they were about to pounce on him…

Now!

You have successfully dodged your foe’s Disemboweling Strike!

“Windfire!” Eric roared as he unsheathed and struck in a deadly fusion of weapon feats and killing intent. Extending the reach of his blade an additional 3 feet with a white-hot plasma blade of Fire & Wind Qi that was just enough to cleave through the rear leg of the nearest Veli as the creature crashed to the ground in a flurry of screams and blood when he felt the weight of his enemy’s gaze on the back of his neck.

Quickness check made!

He didn’t waste time analyzing the sensation or second guessing himself. Instead he whipped his blade and his body around in unison, avoiding snapping teeth by mere inches while gifting his would-be killer with a windmilling strike that ripped right through obsidian scales as Eric locked gazes with his would be executioner, right before its head tumbled over in a shower of inky black blood.

As if on cue, the surviving half dozen Velociraptors sprung back and regarded Eric warily, snapping at the air and hissing as Eric brought his still fiery blade down on the back of the crippled Veli’s skull in the blink of an eye, the obsidian ground covered a heartbeat later in an explosion of blood and superheated brain.

“You assholes want more? Damn right, you do. So let’s do this! Fulmen! Fulmen! Fulmen!” Eric shouted, thinking nothing of the drain to Mana and Qi Pool as lightning bolts danced between his foes, knock three more birds off their feet and flustering the rest of the pack as Eric seized the Vor, charging his foes for all he was worth.

He did his best to focus his terror and frenzy into pristine killing intent, Find Weakness finally sensing the rhythm of their movements and their furious predatory intent, such that when the closest one lunged forward with its beak, Eric had already weaved past it to plunge his white-hot blade up to the hilt in the breast of the Utahraptor right behind it. The surprised predator emitted a single confused squawk before crashing to its death in a spray of white-hot arterial blood as Eric spun around to cleave right through the chest of a raptor in the middle of pouncing, its vicious jaws furiously snapping towards Eric’s rapidly dodging face and clanging painfully against his mithril helm before the beast crashed to the ground in a shower of shrieks and blood, writhing and cawing as it sprayed its own entrails everywhere until Eric ended its misery with a final swing. Then it was just Eric, all too aware of his own warm blood drenching his mithril hauberk and gambeson as he faced off against the largest of the pack of predatory raptors, only then realizing that he was missing a piece of his chin

His heart was pounding with what he knew any sane man would call terror but he refused to call anything but exhilaration, flashing a fierce, manic grin as he gazed into the cold intelligent eyes the largest and nastiest looking of all the Utahraptors that had been studying him the entire time he had been tearing through its fellows.

“You and me, bitch. To the death.” Eric snarled, spitting out blood as he locked gazes with the creature taking his measure from 30 yards back. Much to his surprise, it dipped its head, as if acknowledging his words. An eyeblink later they were both charging forward in perfect unison.

Though only one survived the crossing to the other side of their imagined arena.

For all that Eric found himself falling to his knees, more than a bit bemused by the crater-like dent in his chest. A dent that would no doubt have been the sight of his torn out heart, if he hadn’t been wearing a hauberk of mithril mail.

His bemused smile quickly turned to an agonized gasp as he collapsed on the obsidian hard ground, feeling like his heart was being crushed by the pressure around his shattered ribs… before Unified Restoration kicked in and the pain eased at last.

Fatal wound reduced to Serious Wound!

Six Ribs have been shattered.

You have saved versus fatal heart arrhythmia.

Congratulations! You have successfully slain Eleven Level 48 Obsidian Utahraptors!

You have successfully slain 1 Level 62 Obsidian Utahraptor!

You have successfully defeated a powerful foe significantly higher level than yourself!

Windfire Strike is now Rank 8!

Spell Forger is now Rank 7!

Lightning Bolt is now rank 5!

Lightning Bolt is now Rank 6!

Lightning Bolt is now Rank 7!

Lightning Bolt is now Rank 8!

You have successfully achieved Rank 24 as a cultivator!

Master Adventurer is now level 39!

Master Adventurer is now level 40!

You are in a Pocket Realm! (Dungeon 0XYZ324Q) Undead Legion fails to activate!

You have successfully stored the corpses of 12 Obsidian Utahraptors in your Extradimensional Storage space.

Eric spent long moments just catching his breath, wincing as his ribs twisted back into place, fresh bone growing and reinforcing itself at supernatural speeds, forced to experience all the pain he normally would over a full week of healing, no longer muted by the desperate struggle for survival.

For the moment, he saw no other predators along the obsidian plain, sensed no threat emerging from the nearby lake of molten lava, no horrific monstrosities springing forth from the clifflike edge to his left.

But it wasn’t over yet.

Far from it.

He knew that to the depths of his soul, as exhilaration was quickly replaced by dread, that he had come damn close to dying there.

No matter the power Eve’s path promised, he courted Death every time he dared it.

However glorious and absurd his Quickness was compared to any mortal or even any adventurer his level, that boss monster had nearly killed him with a single unexpected power strike that even his combat-enhanced Perception hadn’t seen coming.

So when a flood of 18 fresh level up points caressed his soul, he put them in the only places he dared. 6 each in Quickness, Finesse, and Perception, for whatever split-second’s worth of grace that battlefield time dilation might buy him. Perhaps the desperate moments needed to avoid getting his heart torn out by creatures of a far higher level than himself.

Because despite his triumphs upon Earth’s surface, with near 17,000 soldiers at his command, here, all alone in the depths of a hellish delve, he had almost been done in by his first encounter.

He found it took him a lot longer than he really wanted to admit before he was ready to stand up once more and proceed further into the bowels of this fiery purgatory, determined to purge whatever horrors lay in wait, and finally claim this territory as his own.