The two worms channeled their mana as blue blood dripped from their seemingly iridescent skin. Dots. Spikes emerged from random parts of their bodies, and both lunged with screeches towards the ant guardian. She clicked her mandibles and one of the Royal Guard ants stepped forward, its body was leaner, more streamlined than any other ant. It had an armor-like appearance on its front limbs, and when the two worms got closer its body shone in a purple hue. In an instant, the plates along its body grew in size and shifted to form transparent spikes. The ant charged forward, and the worms tried to meet head on, but like an unstoppable force it rammed into the two—ice shattered, blood splattered and the worms flew, rolled through the ground along with their ice spikes, tattered. The Royal Guard ant was not done however, it chased after them and with a nimble hop, followed by a cloud of dust, and a second of air—slammed. Spikes penetrated into the two worms as I heard a chain of notifications go off in my mind.
[You have assisted to kill: (E) Rime Worm. Lvl 21.]
[You have assisted to kill: (E) Rime Worm. Lvl 24.]
I shook my head as the ant turned towards me. I finally drew my bow—the worms were badly injured, but at the same time—a frown formed on my face. The Royal Guard too had scratches on its hard plating, and it was ever-so-slightly bleeding, but it was doing much better than the two worms. The Guardian screeched and as it was commanded, the Guard charged. With two arrows in hand, I pushed my mana onto the string and with a sliver of it on the arrow, I fired the seed loaded arrow.
It hit in front of the Guard— Bloom. I controlled my mana welling it up, commanding it to swallow— Vines broke from the arrow, thorns laced with poison erupted into a myriad of flowers, quickly consuming the Guard whole. Eating it in a knot of vines, firmly pressing it against the ground trying to pierce onto its armor, grinding, scraping as it twisted around it. The ant squirmed and the vines rubbed, threatening to break. I nocked the second arrow and pushed mana through it to grant it the power to burrow; it flew with a silent whisper and hit: nailed the ant’s head as it burrowed deep inside and once more, it was commanded—
Its head exploded into crimson flowers, flying petals along with black blood splattered across space, as it quickly stopped moving, and soon the notification came.
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 21]
Silence descended as I took a look at my mana— One-third remaining? The Guardian Empress screeched as if I had just killed its child, its mandibles furiously clicked as the remaining four Royal Guardians shifted—rushed, their bodies to quickly becoming nothing but bespoke armors of hatred. And with a final screech all four charged at me. I quickly shifted my mana onto my ring and grabbed a mana potion, it quickly materialized within my fingers, and it didn’t even take a second for me to place the tube in my mouth and drink it. I spat the vial as I grabbed three more Wisteria arrows, the vial shattered and the ants came. But I couldn’t help but frown as I slid away from them rapidly creating distance. I could barely see it, at the edge of my vision the Empress was shifting, shuffling away, its antennae constantly twitching as if she were anxious. And at that moment, it clicked.
She wants to fucking run away.
I didn’t even bother nocking my arrows, I just tossed them at the ants’ feet—three glowing sticks landed and exploded into a group of poisonous vines quickly trapping the four ants, ensnared. The Guardian Empress panicked, mana gathering on her body as crystals formed. My mind rushed for answers quickly thinking of ways to guarantee for her to die, and then at the corner of my mind a plant screamed. It was a small flower of silver color, its stems glittered in a bright red—Silver Azaleas.
I quickly pulled out two Silver Azalea arrows and one Wisteria arrow. Please— I nocked one arrow while holding the other two within my grasp, and with all my dexterity I pushed mana individually into all three—first penetrate and:
Ensnare. I shot the Wisteria arrow with the mana laced string, it streaked through the air like a beam, but the Guardian Empress saw it coming. It stomped its front leg as a wall of crystal erupted. The arrow struck and buried deep into the crystal, rapidly blooming into a beautiful vine of death wrapping around the crystal, but it did nothing more. A frown appeared as I shifted my mana.
Pave the way, I flooded one of the Silver Azalea arrows as I simultaneously nocked it, the other arrow remained prepared, And then move on. The vines to my side creaked as an ant freed itself with a piercing cry itself. I let go of the unstable arrow with a sudden sense of nervousness, but I couldn’t lose focus not now— I rapidly nocked the other arrow in an instant and flooded the string, firing right after. The two glowing sticks followed after each other as the ant rammed onto me with its spikes, digging into my flesh and piercing through my armor, but I saw it—
The first arrow exploded into a cloud of green and with a shrill sound, like a mirror shattering, the crystal boomed broken pieces into all directions. The second arrow passed through the smoke-screen like a lonely traveler, no—like a shooting star, a beam of pure energy zipped past the smoke and hit the Ant Guardian on its thorax. The arrow drilled into her as she screeched, the ant that was about to slam onto me once more froze and scrambled back. I felt dull pain go through my body, warmth filling my insides as surface-level blood spread. And then I heard a series of vines snapping, dying. I lost them within my senses as the other three ants rushed to aid their Empress, who was shrieking and slamming into the ground in pain. Barely holding onto the mana that was just shot, I commanded.
Bloom—
There was no visible change as it continued to move, all four ants gathered to her side as I finally stood up. I saw an opportunity as I grabbed three Lyco Puff arrows, though I felt silly—ants couldn’t really breathe for all I knew, or not the spores anyway—and yet. I simply chased after it. I overwhelmed all my arrows to turn them into Explosive Shots, and at that moment I felt a sense of doom, dread, emptiness. No more mana.
The Empress Screeched and all four ants lined up in front of her, shifting their armor into makeshift shields. If they are giving themselves up like that, then— my indecision turned into decision as I shifted a small amount of mana towards the string and pulled. My muscles tensed with dull pain, and with a small grunt, I fired the three shots. The ants screeched as if it were their last stand, and in an instant—they exploded, broken wind of green light, the entire place shook momentarily as I felt my insides shift, my throat burned and I began to cough small amounts of blood. The mana potion remained active inside my body, but I felt the drain. Somehow it was worse than the last time.
I felt the mana linger in the air, within the cloud of smoke I saw nothing, but I still felt it. Bloom—They bloomed midair, and with the second command, Explode. They billowed, engulfing everything into yet another boom, this time of poisonous spores. The green cloud loomed over the crater as I began to hear small screeches of pain. I nocked another arrow, this time one of my leftover ones from the treant quiver, and waited. My mana wasn’t ready to be used and I couldn’t see past the smoke.
Seconds passed at a crawling pace, as the smoke slowly cleared. And then I saw it—the Guardian Empress was befallen on the ground, missing about half of its limbs and the other half struggling to move. The guards were missing chunks of their flesh but still alive somehow. Confusion flooded me as I saw a thin veil of purple mist surround the Empress and the ants.
[Guardian Empress of Crystal requests assistance.]
Oh, you fucking don’t! I cursed forcing mana to exist out of my very vitality, flooding another Explosive Shot. My heart screamed and blood began to ooze from my mouth and nose, my vision turned crimson and I let go. The arrow howled forward like a comet and—
A notification came.
[You have killed: (D). Guardian Empress of Crystal. Lvl. 27]
[Level up: You have achieved level 24. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
And then more.
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 24]
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 23]
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 22]
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 21]
[Level up: You have achieved level 25. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
[New Milestone reached — Skills & Knowledge Available]
The arrow hit their corpses, exploding them into nothing but crystal. And then, it hit me—dull pain assaulted my body as I tried to push mana into the ring, only for it to get worse. Sudden nausea hit me, forcing me to kneel down and— I was unable to stop it. I emptied my insides, this time blood within, and then another notification came.
[You have cleared a nest. D ranked Super-Nest, The Nadir Of Royals.]
[Claim your rewards at the chest.]
[Feat Achieved—
No more enemies. Relief washed over me, as I actively felt like death. Through my pained grunts I couldn’t help but look to my side where Glim was floating. Actively begging—pleading to be force fed a mana potion, but it just bobbed.
[Don’t look at me that way, I cannot feed you something I don’t have access to.]
Right, I violently coughed sprawled on the ground. They were inside my ring. But… God was Glim fucking unhelpful sometimes.
I collapsed on the ground, barely staying awake as mana slowly came back to me.
◇ ◇ ◇
After some time of rest, I felt better. Though still drained and pained, there were other things on my mind. I hadn’t thought of it, but… Why did my Prophecy give Vigor and Wisdom as the main two attributes? I couldn’t help but stare at my stats. What had initially started low were now my highest. And I still had 4 more attribute points…
In the end… The number irked me. I cannot help it. I placed all 4 into Strength. And now…
Name: Blair | Level: 25
Race: ??? (E-Grade)
Feats: [Lone Survivor], [Bottomless Ambition], [Champion Of Champions], [Champion Of Illusion]
Prophecy: Scarlet Bloom (D-Grade)
Basic skills: Universal Understanding (NaN),
Universal Inquiry (NaN)
Free attribute points: 0
VIG: 65 | END: 42 |
STR: 40 | AGI: 47 |
PER: 43 | WIS: 71 |
Skills:[Proficient Archery (Uncommon Passive)], [Explosive Shot (Rare)], [Power Draw (Uncommon)], [Penumbral Instinct (Rare Passive)], [Frictionless Slide (Rare Passive)], [Burrowing Shot (Rare)]
Prophecy Skills: [Seed Manipulation (Rare Passive)], [All Dark (Uncommon Passive)]
Attunements: Dark plants (II)
Prime Currency: 100
All my stats were at least 40. I still had a lot of things to go through. First and most impressive was the Feat.
[Feat Achieved — Pest Control — You are the first to clear a Super-Nest in the Skirmish! +15% extra damage against Guardian-type monsters inside of Nests.
“A literal plague,” — Sansan to the Crimson Stretch.]
But then, there was also something else.
[You have completed — The Slayer of Guardians (Uncommon E): They must be protecting something! Reward: 3 Shards of Ambition. Condition: Kill a Guardian type monster. (1/1)]
I quickly accepted the reward as three shards formed, and then— I gathered the previous nine. Soon my hand was full of the little sparkling black crystals, all of them shifted with the light with iridescent colors, and all of them had whirling starry mana within them. And then, I inquired.
[Shard of Ambition (Rare item) — It is said that those with ambition will achieve greatness. Gather ten of these to acquire a small feat. (12/10)]
[Create Ambition?]
Yes. The crystals shifted and ten of them gathered with sparkling light, a bright flash occurred as two crystals remained within my palms. But then, a bigger crystal landed; it was matte black with nothing but sparkling stars in its transparency. I stowed away the other two crystals.
[Ambition (Epic Item) — Grants a Small Feat. Gather ten Ambitions to create a Great Ambition. (1/10)]
I shook my head as I pushed mana onto it.
[Consume Ambition? A random Small Feat will be generated based on battle records. Warning: You may only consume Ambition five times in your lifetime, extending to every variant of Ambition. Forcefully consuming a sixth will result in immediate termination.]
I felt a small shred of hesitation, but ultimately I couldn’t wait until I got ten of them to get a better reward. I agreed. And the notification came.
[Small Feat Achieved — DeathShot — Feat Generated through Ambition. 5% Chance to land a Critical Hit when shooting a weapon without aiming.
“Useless Feats are funny after all,” — Unknown.]
My heart stopped and at that moment, even though my mouth tasted of nothing but blood-metal. I wanted to break things. Rage like never before flooded me. Did I seriously waste one of five opportunities for something so useless? FU—
Another notification came.
[Feat Achieved — Five of a Kind — You are the first to acquire five Feats in the Skirmish! Number Five. The fifth! It is said that the number five is the most important one across the universe. That was until number seven came. Guidance Of The Stars is five times more effective.
“Five,” — Unknown.]
I stared with confusion, frozen. This is really good right?
Glim bobbed very slowly, trembling as if it were excited. Huh…
And then, there were a few other rewards to go through…
Level ups, the chest, and…
[Receive Unknown Reward?]
Azrie
You can read up to Chapter 108 on patreon!
Blair now has a discord server, join here!
The two worms channeled their mana as blue blood dripped from their seemingly iridescent skin. Dots. Spikes emerged from random parts of their bodies, and both lunged with screeches towards the ant guardian. She clicked her mandibles and one of the Royal Guard ants stepped forward, its body was leaner, more streamlined than any other ant. It had an armor-like appearance on its front limbs, and when the two worms got closer its body shone in a purple hue. In an instant, the plates along its body grew in size and shifted to form transparent spikes. The ant charged forward, and the worms tried to meet head on, but like an unstoppable force it rammed into the two—ice shattered, blood splattered and the worms flew, rolled through the ground along with their ice spikes, tattered. The Royal Guard ant was not done however, it chased after them and with a nimble hop, followed by a cloud of dust, and a second of air—slammed. Spikes penetrated into the two worms as I heard a chain of notifications go off in my mind.
[You have assisted to kill: (E) Rime Worm. Lvl 21.]
[You have assisted to kill: (E) Rime Worm. Lvl 24.]
I shook my head as the ant turned towards me. I finally drew my bow—the worms were badly injured, but at the same time—a frown formed on my face. The Royal Guard too had scratches on its hard plating, and it was ever-so-slightly bleeding, but it was doing much better than the two worms. The Guardian screeched and as it was commanded, the Guard charged. With two arrows in hand, I pushed my mana onto the string and with a sliver of it on the arrow, I fired the seed loaded arrow.
It hit in front of the Guard— Bloom. I controlled my mana welling it up, commanding it to swallow— Vines broke from the arrow, thorns laced with poison erupted into a myriad of flowers, quickly consuming the Guard whole. Eating it in a knot of vines, firmly pressing it against the ground trying to pierce onto its armor, grinding, scraping as it twisted around it. The ant squirmed and the vines rubbed, threatening to break. I nocked the second arrow and pushed mana through it to grant it the power to burrow; it flew with a silent whisper and hit: nailed the ant’s head as it burrowed deep inside and once more, it was commanded—
Its head exploded into crimson flowers, flying petals along with black blood splattered across space, as it quickly stopped moving, and soon the notification came.
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 21]
Silence descended as I took a look at my mana— One-third remaining? The Guardian Empress screeched as if I had just killed its child, its mandibles furiously clicked as the remaining four Royal Guardians shifted—rushed, their bodies to quickly becoming nothing but bespoke armors of hatred. And with a final screech all four charged at me. I quickly shifted my mana onto my ring and grabbed a mana potion, it quickly materialized within my fingers, and it didn’t even take a second for me to place the tube in my mouth and drink it. I spat the vial as I grabbed three more Wisteria arrows, the vial shattered and the ants came. But I couldn’t help but frown as I slid away from them rapidly creating distance. I could barely see it, at the edge of my vision the Empress was shifting, shuffling away, its antennae constantly twitching as if she were anxious. And at that moment, it clicked.
She wants to fucking run away.
I didn’t even bother nocking my arrows, I just tossed them at the ants’ feet—three glowing sticks landed and exploded into a group of poisonous vines quickly trapping the four ants, ensnared. The Guardian Empress panicked, mana gathering on her body as crystals formed. My mind rushed for answers quickly thinking of ways to guarantee for her to die, and then at the corner of my mind a plant screamed. It was a small flower of silver color, its stems glittered in a bright red—Silver Azaleas.
I quickly pulled out two Silver Azalea arrows and one Wisteria arrow. Please— I nocked one arrow while holding the other two within my grasp, and with all my dexterity I pushed mana individually into all three—first penetrate and:
Ensnare. I shot the Wisteria arrow with the mana laced string, it streaked through the air like a beam, but the Guardian Empress saw it coming. It stomped its front leg as a wall of crystal erupted. The arrow struck and buried deep into the crystal, rapidly blooming into a beautiful vine of death wrapping around the crystal, but it did nothing more. A frown appeared as I shifted my mana.
Pave the way, I flooded one of the Silver Azalea arrows as I simultaneously nocked it, the other arrow remained prepared, And then move on. The vines to my side creaked as an ant freed itself with a piercing cry itself. I let go of the unstable arrow with a sudden sense of nervousness, but I couldn’t lose focus not now— I rapidly nocked the other arrow in an instant and flooded the string, firing right after. The two glowing sticks followed after each other as the ant rammed onto me with its spikes, digging into my flesh and piercing through my armor, but I saw it—
The first arrow exploded into a cloud of green and with a shrill sound, like a mirror shattering, the crystal boomed broken pieces into all directions. The second arrow passed through the smoke-screen like a lonely traveler, no—like a shooting star, a beam of pure energy zipped past the smoke and hit the Ant Guardian on its thorax. The arrow drilled into her as she screeched, the ant that was about to slam onto me once more froze and scrambled back. I felt dull pain go through my body, warmth filling my insides as surface-level blood spread. And then I heard a series of vines snapping, dying. I lost them within my senses as the other three ants rushed to aid their Empress, who was shrieking and slamming into the ground in pain. Barely holding onto the mana that was just shot, I commanded.
Bloom—
There was no visible change as it continued to move, all four ants gathered to her side as I finally stood up. I saw an opportunity as I grabbed three Lyco Puff arrows, though I felt silly—ants couldn’t really breathe for all I knew, or not the spores anyway—and yet. I simply chased after it. I overwhelmed all my arrows to turn them into Explosive Shots, and at that moment I felt a sense of doom, dread, emptiness. No more mana.
The Empress Screeched and all four ants lined up in front of her, shifting their armor into makeshift shields. If they are giving themselves up like that, then— my indecision turned into decision as I shifted a small amount of mana towards the string and pulled. My muscles tensed with dull pain, and with a small grunt, I fired the three shots. The ants screeched as if it were their last stand, and in an instant—they exploded, broken wind of green light, the entire place shook momentarily as I felt my insides shift, my throat burned and I began to cough small amounts of blood. The mana potion remained active inside my body, but I felt the drain. Somehow it was worse than the last time.
I felt the mana linger in the air, within the cloud of smoke I saw nothing, but I still felt it. Bloom—They bloomed midair, and with the second command, Explode. They billowed, engulfing everything into yet another boom, this time of poisonous spores. The green cloud loomed over the crater as I began to hear small screeches of pain. I nocked another arrow, this time one of my leftover ones from the treant quiver, and waited. My mana wasn’t ready to be used and I couldn’t see past the smoke.
Seconds passed at a crawling pace, as the smoke slowly cleared. And then I saw it—the Guardian Empress was befallen on the ground, missing about half of its limbs and the other half struggling to move. The guards were missing chunks of their flesh but still alive somehow. Confusion flooded me as I saw a thin veil of purple mist surround the Empress and the ants.
[Guardian Empress of Crystal requests assistance.]
Oh, you fucking don’t! I cursed forcing mana to exist out of my very vitality, flooding another Explosive Shot. My heart screamed and blood began to ooze from my mouth and nose, my vision turned crimson and I let go. The arrow howled forward like a comet and—
A notification came.
[You have killed: (D). Guardian Empress of Crystal. Lvl. 27]
[Level up: You have achieved level 24. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
And then more.
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 24]
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 23]
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 22]
[You have killed: (E). Suvia Royal Guard. Lvl. 21]
[Level up: You have achieved level 25. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
[New Milestone reached — Skills & Knowledge Available]
The arrow hit their corpses, exploding them into nothing but crystal. And then, it hit me—dull pain assaulted my body as I tried to push mana into the ring, only for it to get worse. Sudden nausea hit me, forcing me to kneel down and— I was unable to stop it. I emptied my insides, this time blood within, and then another notification came.
[You have cleared a nest. D ranked Super-Nest, The Nadir Of Royals.]
[Claim your rewards at the chest.]
[Feat Achieved—
No more enemies. Relief washed over me, as I actively felt like death. Through my pained grunts I couldn’t help but look to my side where Glim was floating. Actively begging—pleading to be force fed a mana potion, but it just bobbed.
[Don’t look at me that way, I cannot feed you something I don’t have access to.]
Right, I violently coughed sprawled on the ground. They were inside my ring. But… God was Glim fucking unhelpful sometimes.
I collapsed on the ground, barely staying awake as mana slowly came back to me.
◇ ◇ ◇
After some time of rest, I felt better. Though still drained and pained, there were other things on my mind. I hadn’t thought of it, but… Why did my Prophecy give Vigor and Wisdom as the main two attributes? I couldn’t help but stare at my stats. What had initially started low were now my highest. And I still had 4 more attribute points…
In the end… The number irked me. I cannot help it. I placed all 4 into Strength. And now…
Name: Blair | Level: 25
Race: ??? (E-Grade)
Feats: [Lone Survivor], [Bottomless Ambition], [Champion Of Champions], [Champion Of Illusion]
Prophecy: Scarlet Bloom (D-Grade)
Basic skills: Universal Understanding (NaN),
Universal Inquiry (NaN)
Free attribute points: 0
VIG: 65 | END: 42 |
STR: 40 | AGI: 47 |
PER: 43 | WIS: 71 |
Skills:[Proficient Archery (Uncommon Passive)], [Explosive Shot (Rare)], [Power Draw (Uncommon)], [Penumbral Instinct (Rare Passive)], [Frictionless Slide (Rare Passive)], [Burrowing Shot (Rare)]
Prophecy Skills: [Seed Manipulation (Rare Passive)], [All Dark (Uncommon Passive)]
Attunements: Dark plants (II)
Prime Currency: 100
All my stats were at least 40. I still had a lot of things to go through. First and most impressive was the Feat.
[Feat Achieved — Pest Control — You are the first to clear a Super-Nest in the Skirmish! +15% extra damage against Guardian-type monsters inside of Nests.
“A literal plague,” — Sansan to the Crimson Stretch.]
But then, there was also something else.
[You have completed — The Slayer of Guardians (Uncommon E): They must be protecting something! Reward: 3 Shards of Ambition. Condition: Kill a Guardian type monster. (1/1)]
I quickly accepted the reward as three shards formed, and then— I gathered the previous nine. Soon my hand was full of the little sparkling black crystals, all of them shifted with the light with iridescent colors, and all of them had whirling starry mana within them. And then, I inquired.
[Shard of Ambition (Rare item) — It is said that those with ambition will achieve greatness. Gather ten of these to acquire a small feat. (12/10)]
[Create Ambition?]
Yes. The crystals shifted and ten of them gathered with sparkling light, a bright flash occurred as two crystals remained within my palms. But then, a bigger crystal landed; it was matte black with nothing but sparkling stars in its transparency. I stowed away the other two crystals.
[Ambition (Epic Item) — Grants a Small Feat. Gather ten Ambitions to create a Great Ambition. (1/10)]
I shook my head as I pushed mana onto it.
[Consume Ambition? A random Small Feat will be generated based on battle records. Warning: You may only consume Ambition five times in your lifetime, extending to every variant of Ambition. Forcefully consuming a sixth will result in immediate termination.]
I felt a small shred of hesitation, but ultimately I couldn’t wait until I got ten of them to get a better reward. I agreed. And the notification came.
[Small Feat Achieved — DeathShot — Feat Generated through Ambition. 5% Chance to land a Critical Hit when shooting a weapon without aiming.
“Useless Feats are funny after all,” — Unknown.]
My heart stopped and at that moment, even though my mouth tasted of nothing but blood-metal. I wanted to break things. Rage like never before flooded me. Did I seriously waste one of five opportunities for something so useless? FU—
Another notification came.
[Feat Achieved — Five of a Kind — You are the first to acquire five Feats in the Skirmish! Number Five. The fifth! It is said that the number five is the most important one across the universe. That was until number seven came. Guidance Of The Stars is five times more effective.
“Five,” — Unknown.]
I stared with confusion, frozen. This is really good right?
Glim bobbed very slowly, trembling as if it were excited. Huh…
And then, there were a few other rewards to go through…
Level ups, the chest, and…
[Receive Unknown Reward?]
Azrie
You can read up to Chapter 108 on patreon!
Blair now has a discord server, join here!
