by Aaron Oster
Wisdom - 51
Skills - Expand Blows II, Body Shift+, Air Pulse, Echolocation+
Traits - Perception Field, Sharpen Mind
Extra - Wail Wall
Grace was very happy to see the boost to her attributes, all of which had become marginally stronger as a result of her super and mage abilities combining. She then took some time to familiarize herself with her new status, excitedly looking over her upgraded skills. Morgan had told her it was a toss-up of whether she’d get them or not, as the rules had changed since he’d become a supermage. But it seemed she’d gotten the upgrades, along with a couple of traits and an extra skill.
Expand Blows now allowed her to stretch her limbs up to a full foot, in addition to making them larger. Body Shift allowed for quicker speed in changing density, as well as allowing her to be a third heavier or lighter than before. Air pulse increased her range, and now allowed her to use more precise attacks by snapping her fingers, and Echolocation’s range had increased to fifty yards. All of her skills had also gotten increased durations, for which she was very grateful.
Perception Field was a trait that gave her better awareness in a one-foot radius around her body, and Sharpen Mind gave her a boost to critical thinking and reasoning as well. The most exciting skill was Wail Wall, which would cost her a whopping 350 RP and had an hour-long cooldown, the first skill she had that required a wait time to reuse. Still, the wall of damaging sound she could produce by clapping her enlarged hands sounded absolutely incredible, and she was extremely excited to try them all out the next day.
She wanted to look more, to see if she had any new skills that she could learn, but she was well and truly exhausted. After staring at her status for a few moments more, she allowed it to fade, falling back into the pillows and staring up at the darkened ceiling above. She’d been through so much in the last few weeks, and she hardly recognized the girl she’d become. She’d put on some real muscle and was sure that when she checked herself over more thoroughly in the morning, she’d find some more changes.
Morgan had told her that aside from the skill and attribute changes, her body would begin to change as well. There was still so much for her to learn, and Grace could hardly wait for morning. She owed Morgan so much and hoped that things could remain as they were, at least for a little while longer. She knew that war was coming, and she’d witnessed those creatures herself. She’d kept the most disturbing part of it all to herself — the part where Strangler had controlled a corpse to attack her.
She didn’t know why, but telling Morgan about that just made her feel uncomfortable. Maybe she’d tell him soon, but for now, she’d keep those disturbing memories to herself. Morgan didn’t need to know everything, and besides, he had enough to worry about. Grace felt herself beginning to drift off then, and knowing that she had to be up in a few hours for training, she didn’t fight it.
A lot had happened today. It was hard to believe that just this morning, she was sitting in Ivaldi’s forge while the grouchy dwarf worked on the spear. And now, they were back, safe in the North Kingdom. She really hoped her father was doing well, as she hadn’t seen him since she’d left.
Maybe Morgan will take me back for a visit if I ask.
The thought brought a small smile to her lips, and with that on her mind, Grace drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
***
Deep in the heart of the mountain, atop his fortune in gold and jewels, the massive Elder Dragon Breaker stirred for the first time in a thousand years. He’d sensed the tremors, and though they’d been easy to ignore at first, they’d grown insistent to the point where he could no longer ignore them. One massive golden eyelid cracked open, revealing a slitted black pupil and a burning red iris.
The dragon was less than pleased to be awoken, and even less so when it sensed the presence of another World Beast. The air reeked of Strangler’s presence, meaning that he was awake and scheming once more. Normally, even with all of that said, Breaker would simply have ignored this and gone back to sleep, but something kept him from doing that. He sensed a very strange presence in the air, one of a foreign predator, the likes of which he’d never smelled before.
It was a wild beast, one that was not as powerful as he or the others, but had the potential to one day destroy them all. Not only that, but there was the presence of another, a divine presence that still lingered in the air.
A long, forked tongue snaked out as Breaker tasted the air. It was barely perceptible, but he could taste it: the blood of a god. There was a massive cacophony of sound as gold and jewels cascaded down from his perch as he shifted, and his other eye cracked open. Only once before in his thousands of years had Breaker tasted the blood of a god. It had been what had pushed him so far ahead of the others of his kind.
Back then, he’d been a lowly lizard, hardly even worth anyone’s notice. But the blood of a god had given him sentience, elevating him far above his brethren. It had given him foresight and the ability to think and reason. Now, after thousands of years, the same opportunity had presented itself to him once again. It was disturbing to think that there was another with the ability to hurt the gods, walking among them once more, but Breaker didn’t focus on that.
The only thing that the Elder Dragon World Beast was thinking about right now, was the sweet taste of divine blood and the rush of power that would come along with it. He wasn’t sure if Quaker or Ripper were awake yet, but if either of them felt what he had, he was sure they’d be on their way. A convergence was on the wind, and Breaker planned to be the first to arrive. It would take him some time to dig his way out and get himself going again. But now that he was awake, it was only a matter of time.
Afterword
What’s up, Super-People?! Thank you so much for reading, and thank you to all the people who read and reviewed the last book. As I promised, this book is a full 21K words longer than the last, and since it worked so well, I figured I’d keep encouraging positive reviews. I’ll keep making the books longer, based on the number of reviews. Seeing as there will be a little more time between this book and the next, it has the opportunity to be even longer than this one!
For every review after 150, I’ll add another thousand words. Total word count will be set once I start writing the first draft, which is likely to be sometime in August or September. So, keep those reviews coming!
Thank you in advance, and I hope to see you all back for the next one!
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A special thank you goes out to my two beta readers, Josh and DJ. Keep being awesome!
Coming Next
Buryoku: Book 3 (July)
Land of the Elementals: Book 3 (August)
Series by Aaron Oster
Rise to Omniscience
Supermage: Book One
Starbreak: Book Two
Skyflare: Book Three
Solarspire: Book Four
Stormforge: Book Five
Silverspear: Book Six
Book Seven TBA
Buryoku
Power: Book One
Light: Book 2
Book 3 coming July 2020
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The Rules
Somerset: Book One
Pendrackon: Book Two
Book 3 coming September 2020
Land of the Elementals
Rampage: Book One
Emerald: Book Two
Book 3 coming August 2020
Pal-Tee Planet
Giantlands: Book One
Book 2 TBA
All dates are only an estimate and are subject to change. Please check my social media for any and all updates.