by Aaron Oster
Aura Sense (inherited) - You have been bestowed the gift of sight by an Omniscient. By concentrating on the natural energy within yourself, you can read the aura in the world around you. You now have True Sight and can see through any deception, be they words or abilities. You can read the statuses of others, so long as they contain weaker wills.
Aura Flare (inherited) - You have been bestowed the gift of power by an Omniscient. You can make those around you feel your power merely by focusing your intent. Your aura will now stun the weak-minded for up to ten seconds and may cause some severe physiological damage as well.
Perfect Self - The road to the Pinnacle of power is nearly at its end. Gather the required energy and find your Perfect Self.
Progress - 45%
Soul Stealer - You now have the ability to tear the cores from supers or mages, absorbing them as you would a beast core. The energy you will receive will vary based on the strength of the individual.
Suppression (inherited) - You have been granted the ability of control by Order. You can fully suppress any emotion you choose at any time. However, feelings of physical discomfort cannot be suppressed.
While he hadn’t gotten any new traits, he had improved them all, maximizing some just like his skills. His Perfect Self was approaching the halfway point, though it had been growing increasingly difficult to improve it as of late. Still, so long as he kept pushing, he would eventually find that Pinnacle of power he’d been searching for.
Extra:
Gravity storm (7th category) - Create a hurricane of severe gravity, damaging winds, lightning, and fiery hail in a targeted area. The ground quakes and splinters under the force of this storm, throwing boulders high into the air. The earth ruptures and spews forth fire and ash.
Cost - 3,200 RP
AOE - 150 Ft
Duration - 80 seconds
Cooldown - 6 hours
Starbreaker (7th category) - Create a dense ball of superheated air and compressed gas, which will explode upon impact with a selected target. The heat is so great that it will melt stone and detonate the very oxygen in the air. The ground surrounding the blast will turn to glass, trapping all in its area of effect.
Cost - 2,800 RP
AOE - 65 Ft
Cooldown - 10 hours
Collapsing Star (HyperNova) - Create a small sphere of super dense gravity that exudes the crushing force of a collapsing supergiant star. The collapsing star will then explode outward, burning all in its path with the heat of a HyperNova.
Cost - 3,600 RP
AOE - 45 Ft
Duration - 60 seconds
Cooldown - 40 hours
Shooting Star (Comet) - Cloak your body in fire hot enough to melt diamond and the power of a shooting star. Your body burns so brightly that it will blind any who look upon you.
Cost - 4,500 RP
Duration - 30 seconds
Cooldown - 120 hours
Massive Meteor (2nd category) - Tear the ground, pulling a mass of earth and stone into the sky. Then, bring it plummeting down to earth.
Cost - 5,500 RP
AOE - 100 Ft
Cooldown - 240 hours
Continental Crush - Split the ground with a massive burst of power, detonating the very earth itself. This skill has the range to demolish an entire city, so use with caution.
Cost - 7,000 RP
AOE - 25 Square Miles
Cooldown - 2 Weeks
The extra skills had been the most changed, all of them having received massive power increases. This was especially true of his newest skill, Continental Crush. This was a skill that truly signified how much he was growing. At rank 60, he’d unlocked the skill, though the cost to upgrade it was so high that he hadn’t bothered to do so yet, unlike with the other ones.
Morgan closed out the skills tab and focused on seeing how much each of his skills would cost to increase. Of course, some were at the maximum, so he’d be unable to upgrade those, but he always liked to remind himself of where he stood with any given skill. He always put some energy towards his skills and not only towards ranking up, so this aspect of his skill tab was always increasing.
Skills:
Hypersonic Flight - 3.8M/100M
Maximum Increase - N/A
Stormforge - 26.3M/100M
Earthen Shift - 1M/75M
Nature’s Wrath - 0.5M/25M
Compression - 11M/100M
Gravity Tear - 31.9M/85M
Sunblast - 15.5M/120M
Traits:
Dense Body Max. - N/A
Recovery Max. - N/A
Aura Sense (inherited) - N/A
Aura Flare (inherited) - N/A
Perfect Self - N/A
Soul Stealer - N/A
Suppression (inherited) - N/A
Extra:
Gravity Storm (7th category) - 102M/200M
Starbreaker (7th category) - 98M/240M
Collapsing Star (HyperNova) - 200M/280M
Shooting Star (Comet) - 58.7M/145M
Massive Meteor (2nd Category) - 106M/370M
Continental Crush - 0.1M/500M
Morgan closed out the upgrade tab, sighing to himself at the astronomical energy cost to raise even a single skill. Continental Crush alone would cost half a billion energy to do so, and every time Morgan funneled energy into his skills instead of his rank, he felt like he was wasting it. Still, he had to be practical, and having a high rank would mean nothing if his skills and attributes weren’t up to snuff.
He let out another sigh, wriggling back into Lumia’s warm scales. The sun was already beginning to peek over the horizon, which meant that Gold would be arriving at any minute. He wanted to take the time to savor what little peace he had left. War was coming to the Five Kingdoms, and his time as a recluse was at an end.
7
“I see you decided to throw a party while I was away,” Gold said as he appeared in the Beast Zone. “That wasn’t very nice of you.”
“Yeah,” Morgan replied dryly. “You have a tendency to ruin parties, so I thought it only prudent.”
“Ooo, I like this new side of you!” Gold replied with a wide grin. “Any other snark you’d like to throw out before we get to the serious talk?”
“Your mother was a goat, and your face would give children nightmares.”
This was delivered in Morgan’s usual deadpan, with almost no inflection or malice. In truth, he didn’t really care about insulting Gold one way or the other but figured that some payback was due now that he was on his way out.
“Ouch! Not pulling any punches, I see,” Gold snickered.
Morgan just rolled his eyes and got right down to business.
“As you can probably guess, we were attacked last night. It was carried out by an unfamiliar creature calling himself a beastman from the continent of Faeland. At this point, it’s pretty clear that the enemy has already arrived. Now, all I want to know is what you can divulge about them.”
“Well,” Gold said, rubbing at his chin. “You already know the name of their homeland, and one of the races living there, so I think I can give you a general overview without getting into any trouble.”
Morgan nudged Lumia awake at that so he wouldn’t have to repeat this all to her later. The drake was understandably grumpy, as her sleep had been disturbed last night and she’d wanted to rest just a bit longer. She made her displeasure known by blowing a gout of fire right into Gold’s face.
“Hey!” Gold exclaimed as the fire flowed harmlessly around him.
“It’s your own fault for insisting on coming before the damn chickens are even awake,” Lumia replied unapologetically.
“It’s still rude, you know,” Gold sulked.
“Can we please just get to the matter at hand. In case you’ve forgotten, we’re on a bit of a timeline.”
“Hold your horses,” Gold replied. “The barrier hasn’t fallen all the way just yet. You’ve got at least a few more weeks before that happens, but there are cracks wide enough for a few people
to slip through unnoticed.”
“I’ve noticed,” Morgan replied dryly.
Gold glared at him for interrupting once again, but Morgan’s expression remained stoic. Not getting any reaction from him, Gold let out a long huff before continuing.
“So, there are cracks in the borders that can now be exploited. This means we will likely be seeing scouts and probably assassins coming through in the following weeks. I cannot say exactly how long the barrier will hold, but I can tell you that their forces will be ready to move as soon as they fail.
“As such, we’ve been planning a counterstrike, and by we, I mean you two. Your jobs will be to fly over there, do some reconnaissance, and maybe kill some people.”
“Is there no chance we can sue for peace?” Morgan asked. “There have to be some people on that continent that don’t want an outright war.”
“Unfortunately, the agents of Chaos have already paid them a visit. And seeing as humans are the reason there’s a barrier in the first place, they won’t exactly be predisposed to listen to what you have to say.”
“Feel like telling me about that story?” Morgan asked.
Bart had referred to Morgan and his race as ‘the human scourge,’ which meant that there was some very obvious bad blood between them.
“Well, to put it very simply, the humans and races on the other continent didn’t exactly get along. The humans were the aggressors, trying to wipe them out to take their land and perceived riches. In the end, they were driven back, and the barriers were erected. All knowledge of their existence was wiped from the humans’ memories, but the others were allowed to keep theirs. They still tell stories of the human scourge until this day.”
“Great,” Morgan sighed. Nothing could ever be easy.
“Surely there are some that are still open to listening,” Lumia said. “After all this time, there have to be some that are sympathetic to our cause.”
“There are, but they are few and far between. Luckily for us, the first stop in Faeland will be at one such person’s home. They will be integral to our plans, so it’s imperative you reach them before you are discovered.”
“You mean the smith?” Morgan asked.
Gold nodded.
“As far as I know, he’s the only one still alive who can work on those gauntlets, and he’s been alive long enough to know that war isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You’ll need to have them re-forged if you’re going to take down Chaos’ agents.”
“And you’re sure there’s no other way?”
“They’re gods, Morgan,” Gold replied with a sigh. “If there were another way to kill them, don’t you think I’d tell you?”
“No,” Morgan replied plainly.
Gold thought on that for a moment before shrugging.
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Pesky rules and all. Still, this is our best chance of success, so reaching that smith is top priority right now.”
“How do you know he’ll listen?”
“Let’s just say we go way back and leave it at that,” Gold answered.
“Works for me,” Morgan replied.
It didn’t really matter to him one way or another how Gold knew this mystery smith. As long as the man agreed to work on the gauntlets, Gold could keep his secrets.
“So, what can you tell us about this Faeland?” Lumia asked.
“Well, I can give you a basic layout, directions, and tell you about the beastmen. Other than that…you’ll pretty have to discover the rest on your own.
“Faeland has a total of five races, so it’s naturally divided into five territories, much like the Five Kingdoms. In order, they are the Wilderwood, Soaring Peaks, Arcane Kingdom, Brutal Bayou, and Glimmerlands. The Wilderwood is home to the beastmen, a territory you’ll need to pass through to reach the smith in the Soaring Peaks.
“The beastmen live in small clumps called tribes, rather than in great cities or villages. They all answer to a single ruler, so they will be unified in their cause. Beastmen can come in all shapes and sizes, and are classified by two distinct characteristics — they have a tail, and their ears are on top of their heads.
“They tend to produce more supers than mages, so you’ll mainly deal with physically-inclined fighters, should you run into any. My advice is to simply use range when facing them to mitigate risk and increase your chances of victory.
“Faeland itself is much larger than the Five Kingdoms. It’s nearly three times as large, in fact. Normally, traveling vast distances, even in Faeland, would only be a matter of minutes, but unlike in the Five Kingdoms, you’ll be unable to use your Gravity Tear for long-range travel. The races of Faeland typically get along, which means their society has had more time to develop and grow as a whole.
“Wards litter their lands, and any use of a long-range teleportation-type skill would be immediately detected. Flying is still an option, as is short-range teleportation, but this will significantly increase the time you’ll need to spend behind enemy lines. Additionally, there are many outlaws, roving gangs and the like who have been ostracized by their respective races for bucking against their lasting peace.
“You’re almost guaranteed to run into one of them, so you’d best be prepared for that. The continent of Faeland is actually closer than you might think. It’s just a few thousand miles over the ocean past the East Kingdom. I would not recommend using Gravity Tear, even when flying there, but with your speed, you should be able to reach it in just a few days.”
“You call a few thousand miles close?” Lumia asked with a snort.
“With his Hypersonic Flight, Morgan can fly at 170 miles per hour. Additionally, he can increase that by 25% every 6 hours for 75 seconds. According to my calculations, he should reach Faeland in no longer than two days if he flies at those speeds.”
“That’ll mean no sleep or rest for the entire trip,” Lumia stated.
“Morgan can go for weeks without sleeping, so I doubt it’ll be an issue.”
“But I can’t,” Lumia replied.
Morgan had to agree. Beasts were strange that way, in that they needed sleep no matter how strong they became. Two days without sleep would leave Lumia sore and cranky, and no one wanted to deal with a cranky drake.
“Oh, come on,” Gold replied. “You’re telling me that you were planning to fly the whole way, and not ride on Morgan’s shoulder?”
Lumia opened her mouth to reply, then snapped it shut with a very audible click. Lumia’s second form would allow her to effectively shrink down to the size of a cat, and she was, in fact, planning on riding Morgan’s shoulder for their entire trip. She just hadn’t wanted to give Gold the satisfaction of admitting as much. Drakes were prideful creatures, and admitting fault wasn’t in their nature.
“Moving on,” Morgan said, trying to steer the conversation back. “Exactly how are we supposed to find this smith? It’s not like I know the landscape and something the beastman told me leads me to believe that I’ll be practically blind in the Aura Sensing department once we’re there.”
“On that you are correct I’m afraid,” Gold replied. “Faeland is far more saturated with the energy of the world than the Five Kingdoms. It sits in a haze over everything, so if you open your Aura Sense, you’ll probably experience the spiritual version of staring into the sun. Consequentially, their number of supermages is far greater than those of the Five Kingdoms as well.”
“Lovely,” Morgan muttered. Just what he needed. More problems. “Still doesn’t answer my question, though.”
Gold didn’t reply, merely pulling a rolled-up piece of parchment from his robes and handing it over.
“It’s not detailed, mind you, and will only show general landmarks to follow.”
‘Not detailed’ was the understatement of the century. As Morgan looked down at the nearly blank map with exactly five landmarks and a big X marking the location of the smith, he was more than a little annoyed. He made sure to hide his annoyance well, rolling up the parchment and turning his attention ba
ck to Gold.
“One last thing. The beastman mentioned some sort of Guild of Alliance races or something like that. Anything you can tell me?”
“Unfortunately not,” Gold replied. “Divulging any information about them would be giving you new information, and that would be against the rules.”
“You know, it’s hardly fair that we need to play by the rules while the enemy doesn’t,” Morgan grumped.
“Well, it’s just the way things are. If we didn’t have to follow any rules, we’d be working for Chaos. We wouldn’t want that.”
“Right,” Morgan answered with a sigh.
He stooped, lifting the small pack and retrieved the long robe that Gold had procured a couple of months back. In truth, it felt strange to be wearing anything other than pants as he hadn’t really had the need to. Still, now that he was going back into society, he’d have to comply with their customs.
Tying the belt to keep the robe from flapping, Morgan slung his pack over his shoulder, turning in the direction of the Beast Zone’s exit.
“I’m going to miss this place,” he muttered.
“We’ll come back here one day, won’t we?” Lumia asked as he rose into the air.
“I hope so,” Morgan replied. Turning to Gold, he said, “I guess we’ll be seeing you next when you have more information for us.”
Gold nodded, looking up as Morgan and Lumia rose into the sky.
“Remember what I said about thinking spherically, and don’t let someone kill you before you complete your mission!”
Morgan gave him a grim smile, one of the rare lapses in his otherwise stoic façade.
“Sarah’s counting on me, so I’m not planning on dying.”
That said, he angled himself to the southeast and took off at a relatively slow pace. Just because they had to leave didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy one last flight on the way.