Stormforge (Rise To Omniscience Book 5)

by Aaron Oster

  The bear had had more power than the leader of this group, and it had been two ranks below the mage. Morgan once again berated himself for complaining, noting that he should be grateful it was such an easy fight. That couldn’t be said for everyone, and Morgan noted that the walls were now practically swarming with the monsters.

  The powerful supers and mages could only do so much at once, which left the bulk of the fighting to the regular troops, all of which seemed to be having an extremely difficult time. Knowing that the longer he stalled, the more lives would be lost, Morgan took off towards the wall, feeling both exhausted and unfulfilled.

  He wondered once more if the Pinnacle King could really be all that strong if his minions were so weak. Then he remembered the warnings given to him by Dabu about the Pinnacle King’s power. He’d warned him that even at rank 50, he’d probably lose in a one on one fight, and if Samuel had felt it necessary to remove this world’s level limit, even with Morgan getting closer to matching the Pinnacle King in rank, then the beast must be a formidable one indeed.

  Morgan dismissed those thoughts as he approached the wall, seeing twisted beasts wearing the tatters of the North Kingdom’s uniforms rampaging along the wall. It seemed that the enemy had made it up here and had managed to turn some already. He could see distant flashes of light as Katherine fought against one of the more powerful beasts. He also had a vague sense that Sarah was fighting somewhere out there, but he was sure they were both doing fine.

  For now, it seemed he was the only one free, and it was his duty to ensure none of these monsters made it into the city. Swooping down on the wall, Morgan prepared himself for yet another bloodbath, this one including some of those who’d been on their side not an hour ago. It truly pained him to do so, but Morgan knew from bitter experience that the twisted beasts that had once been soldiers no longer answered to common sense. They answered to only one master now. The Pinnacle King of Winter.

  4

  Morgan slumped back against the parapet of the wall, feeling exhaustion threatening to creep in. It was night now, a full moon standing high in the sky and illuminating the field of carnage below. The battle had finally come to an end after an exhausting nine and a half hours. Damage reports had yet to come in, but he was estimating that they lost somewhere in the twenty-five to thirty thousand range.

  Despite the efforts of all the powerful supers and mages, and a supermage to boot, this had been a resounding loss. Sure, they’d managed to drive back the enemy, costing them nearly a hundred-thousand deaths, including those of six commanders, but their forces would be easily replenished, while those of the North Kingdom continued to fall.

  Neither hide nor hair was spotted of Arnold, the one in charge of these forces. He’d been well-hidden, commanding from the rear and only calling a retreat when his losses had mounted too much for a single attack. Morgan knew they would now regroup, call for reinforcements and try again in another week or so.

  If there was one upside to being so vastly outnumbered, it was that it took a good deal of time for the enemy to be organized into an effective fighting group. Sure, they could just swarm the walls with numbers, but Morgan suspected that the Pinnacle King wanted to mitigate his losses as much as he could. Like any commander, he knew the value in keeping his troops alive — or undead, as they technically were.

  Never in all his years had Morgan imagined he’d be facing an army of the dead led by a beast bent on the destruction of their race, yet here he was, facing just such a scenario. He knew that they couldn’t last much longer like this, as their forces were now cut down to a third of what they’d been previously.

  The worst part of it all was that he knew that if the other kingdoms banded together, they could likely drive the Pinnacle King back into his hole. The beasts numbered them by nearly two million at last estimate, but with the combined militaries of all of the Five Kingdoms, they could likely match those numbers, if not outnumber them.

  His breath steamed in the air as he forced himself to his feet, feeling a weariness that had little to do with physical exhaustion. It was deep tiredness that seeped into his very bones, bowing his shoulders and leeching the will to do anything but stare listlessly out over the battlefield.

  He’d killed so many today. He’d massacred thousands upon thousands, yet he knew it had been only a tiny fraction of the Pinnacle King’s forces, and therein lay the problem. He didn’t feel like he was accomplishing anything out here. It was just one battle after the next, and though they managed to survive each one, every battle chipped away at their limited resources.

  None of their fights could be called a victory, and today had been yet another failure. That, more than anything, was what was bothering him. No matter how powerful he became, no matter how many he killed, they were still losing good men and women. How many families would now be parentless, leaving children to be orphaned, much like he’d been?

  Morgan was sure Katherine would take care of them, but it would be a poor replacement for one’s loved ones.

  A light crunching of snow caused Morgan to turn his head. He saw Sarah standing there, looking just as tired as he felt. She was unhurt, though her uniform was somewhat tattered. She’d gained a new skill called Refresh, which allowed her to heal herself up to three times a day. Even if she had been injured during the battle, she was fine now.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked, declining to sit down in the half-melted snow.

  Morgan imagined he was quite the sight, covered in blood, gore, and reeking of death, so he couldn’t exactly blame her.

  “Tired,” he replied, the battle having tempered his earlier annoyance with her. “You?”

  “Same,” she answered, looking out over the battlefield with sorrow-filled eyes.

  They were silent for a few moments, both staring out over the expanse of blood-drenched snow littered with the bodies of the dead. A few figures could be seen moving about the battlefield, likely checking for survivors and collecting the corpses of their dead to burn. There was plenty of dead up here as well, though they hadn’t started on this particular section just yet, which was why he’d come here.

  “How much longer do you think we can last?” Sarah asked.

  “Six weeks, maybe eight if we’re lucky,” Morgan replied, not meeting her gaze.

  He knew why she was out here. There was a meeting going on right now between Katherine and all the other commanding officers to discuss their options and brainstorm a way out of this, but he knew it was pointless. They would simply discuss the same points over and over, and in the end, they would all leave frustrated and without any new ideas.

  “Let’s leave then,” Sarah said, finally turning to look at him. “You said it yourself,” she continued when Morgan frowned. “They’ll last another two months at the most, and then what? Are you planning on going down with them when they fall?”

  Sarah leaned down, taking one of his hands in both of hers, and he finally turned to meet her gaze.

  “Please, just come with me. Leave now and save us both the pain of seeing everyone here die. We can start over, far away from the Five Kingdoms. Somewhere warm, where we won’t face the threat of this monster. Please, just listen to me for once, and leave.”

  Morgan stared at her for a few long moments, noting how her eyes sparkled in the moonlight. The way it made her hair shine and her skin seem to glow. She was beautiful. He was tempted to lean in and kiss her, only because he knew she wouldn’t want to after what he was going to say. He resisted the urge, pulling his hand from hers and turning to look out over the field of the dead once more.

  “I can’t,” he replied simply. “If you want to go, I won’t stop you. But I have a promise to keep, and I won’t abandon an entire kingdom to ruin when I might have been able to help.”

  Sarah let out a barking laugh. It was a high-pitched, sardonic sound laced with scorn.

  “I’m not some coward to go running off on a whim, Morgan,” she said, her voice carrying the same tone as her lau
gh. “I’m realistic. I can see that this war won’t end in our favor and when you finally realize that, I’ll be here, waiting for you to take me away from this place.”

  She whirled then and stalked away, leaving the bitter resentment simmering between them to grow just a little more.

  Morgan didn’t even bother watching her go, keeping his gaze locked ahead on the field of the dead. The bodies were a sobering reminder of why he stayed here. Why he continued fighting despite the odds. He wasn’t just fighting for them, but for the sake of all the Five Kingdoms. Despite his disagreements with the West and his general dislike of the South, there were still millions of innocent people living there. They did not deserve the same fate as those now lying dead, never to see the light of day again.

  Sure, there was a time when he’d cared for no one, other than perhaps Sarah, but those days were gone. The Skyflare had given him back all his memories, emotions, and everything in between. In a way, he missed those simpler days. Back when he was at the academy, all he’d needed to worry about were bullies like Frush and Grub and keeping his ability a secret. Now he had the fate of the world and millions of lives on his shoulders.

  When did everything become so complicated?

  He sighed once more, faintly picking out the sounds of people coming his way. In just a few minutes, they would be here. Soldiers who’d survived the battle and were tasked with collecting the dead. Morgan didn’t want to be around when they arrived, so he grudgingly got to his feet. He knew he should go attend the meeting now, but he just couldn’t bear to go in and face the others after their casualties today.

  Morgan knew they wouldn’t blame him, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t feel as though they did. Guilt was an ugly emotion and one that he dearly wished he’d never regained at all. There was little he could do about it now, so he didn’t allow himself to complain about it anymore, even internally.

  Floating up into the air, Morgan took one last look at the body-riddled field before heading towards the castle in the center of the city. He’d rather have stayed out here or looked for a more private and smaller house, but the city was packed with soldiers and their support, which meant room was limited. That left him with the option of sleeping in the barracks or in the palace, and while Morgan might not like his situation, he was pragmatic.

  Sleeping in a soft bed, eating good meals, and bathing regularly were things he could do in the palace. He wished that it could be available to the soldiers in their camps as well. Sure, they got plenty of food, though that wouldn’t last much longer, and got a good night’s sleep most nights, but bathing was a different story.

  Once, that might not have bothered him. Now, with his senses keen as they were, he could smell them, even a hundred and fifty feet up. The stench was a rank mixture of body odor, sweat, and blood, and even plugging his nose wouldn’t get rid of it completely. So, Morgan sped up, moving as quickly as he could toward the castle and the promise of a warm bath.

  Half an hour later, Morgan was sitting in an oversized tub in the bathroom attached to his suite. It was large and luxurious, big enough to house at least eight people, yet they’d insisted he take it for himself. Up until a couple of weeks ago, he’d been sharing the space with Sarah, but she’d since moved to another set of rooms due to all their fighting.

  For some reason, she seemed to think she was punishing him by denying him her company, which was something he still couldn’t understand. Sure, he enjoyed being with her, but if all they were going to do was fight, then it was better that they didn’t spend too much time together. At least, until they sorted out their problems or things simply ended between the two of them.

  Seeing as Morgan hadn’t really understood emotion for much of his life, he’d never gone through something like this before. He missed the times when he and Sarah had simply been friends. They’d been through so much together, and he really didn’t want to lose her. When their friendship had become something more, he’d been happy, nervous, and excited to see where it would go. However, Sarah’s constant need to have him by her side and to agree with everything she said wasn’t something he’d particularly enjoyed. He’d gone along with it all, up until she’d started talking about leaving.

  Morgan let out a long breath, forcing his thoughts away from his troubles with Sarah, and focused instead on himself. He’d managed to reach rank 51 during the battle, though he had yet to check his status or assign his AP. In truth, he was overflowing with AP. He had so much, in fact, that he could probably now afford to upgrade one of his skills.

  The cost to improve his skills had skyrocketed since his advancement, leaving him to wonder how powerful they would become. Right now, he had the time to look it over, and seeing as sitting in a bath alone continuously brought up thoughts of Sarah, he decided that it might be good to check over his progress.

  Taking a deep breath, Morgan pulled on his core, the pulsing sphere of violet, surrounded by circling beams of red, blue, and gold. This was what his core had transformed into during his last advancement and it gave him power that he’d never thought possible. Not only could his core heal minor wounds and numb pain, but it could also cloak him in a superior version of a mage shield.

  He hadn’t faced a challenge since he’d advanced and had never been forced to use it to its full extent. But Morgan had a feeling that before long, he’d be fighting for his life once again. The mixture of red, blue, gold, and purple twisted up from his core and into his eyes, showing Morgan his status.

  5

  Name: Morgan

  Advanced Supermage: Rank - 51

  Energy to next rank - 14,008/4,000,000

  Ability Advancement - 11,660/15,000,000

  Total Available AP: 2,251

  Ability - Natural Disaster

  RP - 4,580/4,580 (Regen - 46 per second)

  Strength - 484

  Agility - 629

  Constitution - 467

  Intelligence - 458

  Wisdom - 460

  Skills - Supersonic flight, Concussive Burst, Stormforger, Rupture, Nature’s wrath, Maximum Might

  Traits - Dense body +, Recovery +, Aura sense (inherited), Aura flare (inherited), Perfect Self, Soul Stealer

  Extra - Gravity storm (4th category), Starbreaker (3rd category), Collapsing star (Nova), Shooting star

  The first thing Morgan did when he increased in rank was add the maximum 4 AP to each attribute, increasing his overall strength just a little more. At this point, the additional few points were barely noticeable. Over time, they would begin to show their value, especially seeing as he had so many AP at this point. It would be a waste not to use them with each rank up.

  He knew that moving up in rank from here would be extremely difficult, seeing as each successive rank cost him an additional five-hundred-thousand energy on top of the last rank’s cost. By the time he reached the next threshold of 59, he’d be paying twice as much as he was now, and that was not to mention the massive cost to advance his ability. Seeing as there were additional requirements to reach the Pinnacle, he wasn’t too worried about it now.

  Moving down to his skills list, he began to review them, trying to decide which most needed an upgrade.

  Skills:

  Supersonic flight - Manipulate gravity and air to reduce your weight and move through the skies. You can now reach your maximum speed instantaneously. There is no longer a weight limit. For an additional cost, you can briefly increase your speed to supersonic levels.

  Cost - 25 RP per second

  Max. height - 225 Ft

  Max. speed - 140 Ft per second

  Supersonic Speed Cost - 1,600 RP

  Duration - 12 Seconds

  Cooldown - 48 hours

  Concussive Burst - Manipulate gravity and air to massively increase your speed and power. (Currently: Agility & Strength X3). You can activate Flurry Burst, which will redouble your strength and speed, at the cost of a longer cooldown.

  Cost - 400 RP

  Duration - 17 seconds

&
nbsp; Cooldown - 20 seconds

  Flurry Burst Cost - 1,600 RP

  Duration - 5.5 seconds

  Cooldown - 3 hours

  Stormforger - Manipulate gravity and air to forge solid whirling constructs in the shape of your choice. You can change the shape of your constructs without dismissing them. For an additional cost, you can charge your weapon constructs with electricity.

  Cost - 475 RP per construct

  Duration - Until dismissed

  Charge cost - 175 RP

  Duration - 5 Strikes

  Rupture - Shape the earth as you see fit and control it in its many forms. You can now use elements in the ground to your advantage. Finesse increased by 30%.

  Cost - 85 RP per second

  Nature’s wrath - Infuse your body with the energy of the world and harness the power of nature from your surroundings. This skill has no time limit but will cause significant strain on the body. It will also drain reiki in ever-increasing amounts the longer it is used.

  Cost - 5 RP per second; cost doubles every six seconds

  Cooldown - 1 hour

  Maximum Might - For a short period of time, you may draw out the full potential of your inner self. This will give you a massive +20% boost to all your attributes. (This effect can be stacked with other skills)

  Cost - 1,750 RP

  Duration - 60 seconds

  Cooldown - 6 hours

  Morgan mused over his options for a few moments. His flight skill had always come in handy, but it seemed to be serving him just fine at the moment. In all honesty, he didn’t really feel the need to increase any of his skills, though the thought of improving still excited him. Instead of making his decision, he decided to look over his traits and extra skills first.

  Traits:

  Dense body + - Your body has undergone an evolution and has become denser and more compact. All physical attacks are now 40% less damaging, and all skill-based attacks have a 2% chance of failing to damage you at all.