The New World

And so, the monster came out. A ball of writhing limbs and human teeth, an abomination swelling out of the portal. The tentacles shot towards me, hungry and wanting. They launched like lightning and thunder. 

I ran forward, making them miss. As they darted above me, the green thing plopped out and slapped the floor with a wet thud. I smashed my fist into the monster, busting the sac of blood. From the wound, intestines flew outwards. When they touched me, they crawled under my armor, searching for my skin.

I pulled backwards, ripping them from me. The intestines launched towards me like a thousand spears. I couldn"t dodge in time. Instead, a mouth opened from my chest plate, the teeth like broken rebar. They crunched into the tentacles, spilling blood like water hoses.

The monster scrambled towards me, but I stepped back with controlled, timed steps. I jabbed out at nearby tentacles. When I boxed, I did whatever I had to do to win. This was not a monster I wanted on top of me, so I kept my distance, dealing the damage I could.

Oppression would make this a far more effective strategy, but Torix was investigating runes on a nearby wall. I doubt he"d let the residual damage slide.

Still, this would eventually kill it. I couldn"t believe how much blood this creature had, almost like there was ocean inside it. Still, It couldn"t fight like this forever. I could.

And so I kited the beast with condensed strikes. Short and sweet, just like I was coached in boxing. I even let out a few kicks here or there. Once the monster started slowing down, I packed on more and more strikes. I wouldn"t waste my chances for inflicting damage. 

Once it stopped writhing with violence, I charged into it. I swiveled on my heels, torquing with my whole body as I mauled the goopy aberration into a thin liquid. I crushed and crumbled. I ripped and roared. I punched and pummeled. Who needs screens telling me how strong it is? I just want to fight it.

By the time I finished, blood soaked between the cracks of my armor, dripping off me. I said with a smile, "Who"s next?"

Torix laughed before saying, "Hah hah! You really do feast on monsters. How about something more like you instead?"

A knight of shadow walked from the portal. With a sword of night and a cape darker than coal, the red eyes peaked out from behind its helm. I said, "There"s only room for one bada.s.s armored guy here."

It lifted its hands over its head, angling its sword downwards. I ran towards it, but he stabbed forwards when I got close. When I tried grabbing his sword, he darted back, pulling his sword with him. It would slice into my hand as he did so. 

I finally came close, but he stepped back sweeping his feet in an arc. His sword swung with him, building momentum. When it reached me, I stood there and let it him me. The blade sliced through my armor, sinking halfway through my chest. Torix shouted,

"How is that supposed to help you? Are you an idiot?"

I grabbed the swords handle before getting a hold on the knight"s hands. I smiled underneath my helm, and I swear to you, the red line of my helm smiled with me. I tore the sword from his hand. I pulled it out before stabbing the sword several feet into the ground. I pounded my fists together while walking towards the knight. 

When I punched forwards with my left hand, he ducked below it and shot a left hook right for my gut. I blocked the blow with my elbow before pulling back my jab. His blow hit my right arm, and he pulled the arm back and shot another hook towards my face with the same arm. I ducked beneath his hook, his armored hand sc.r.a.ping the top of my helm.

I charged forward and unleashed a torqued hook towards his exposed stomach. The weighted blow clapped against his armor, bending the plates. He countered with a left, punching towards my jaw. I fired a left hook right into his jaw, turning like a tornado of punches. He hit me three or four times with concise, well times blows. It didn"t matter.

One thing you learn quickly about fighting is that it isn"t a thinking man"s game. If someone rushes you, countering requires amazing finesse and skill. Doing so twice is a miracle. Three times in a row? That just doesn"t happen. This knight was well versed in fighting in a controlled manner. In order to win, I just injected a little chaos into the equation.

After a minute of charging, the knight slowed. After two, the knight let me land a blow into his side. After three, I ducked and weaved around his blows, smashing him with heavy hooks. I mauled through the metal sh.e.l.l he had. I smashed through his steel helm. I ground his teeth to powder and broke his ribs and cracked the bones in his face. 

When he fell, I stood over him, whipping my entire bodyweight into every hit. As he finally died, My gauntlet cracked against his skull. 

I turned towards Torix and said, "Who"s next?"

Torix frowned and let out a ghoul of sorts. Spectral and immaterial, I couldn"t even touch him. He unleashed bolts of lightning, streams of ice, and plumes of fire. I swooped around him, torquing and turning. After few minutes of taking damage, I walked about with around 1/3rd health.

That"s when an idea snapped into my head. Enchanted s.h.i.t was how you hit ghosts in most games, either that or magic. All I had to do was do magic. I channeled my blood into the little streams of reddish magic. My hands turned into air conditioners as I swung them. That was all it took.

They splattered the ghoul like hitting toothpaste. Torix couldn"t help but laugh his a.s.s off at my air conditioning hands. He said, "Is that truly the might of your magic?"

I smashed the ghoul against the enchanted wall. With a few more quick strikes, the ghoul splat into dead ectoplasm. I said, "It"s enough, isn"t it?"

"I suppose, but there is magic that can make you far more deadly in combat."

I shrugged as I said, "I"m a work in progress."

The lich said, "I disagree. You are more akin to a lack of progress." 

I frowned as I said, "I haven"t had a thousand years of experience, unlike some people."

"Oh trust me, that"s painfully obvious."

"Alright, you got me. That was a good one."

By the time we finished the trial, a six inch deep pool of blood had formed at the bottom of the colosseum. Even with my armor devouring the corpses, the blood still flowed like floodwaters. At one point, I even splashed it into one of the creature"s eyes. Torix applauded my creativity there.

By the time I finished, I"d gained 13 levels of experience. I found that I could stall the attribute allocation process if I kept myself in combat. This allowed me to get the attribute levels I needed for perks. In my case, that meant dexterity. I"d done my time now though.

I put ten points into dexterity then the rest into perception. That gave me just shy of enough for the level 20 perception perk. I re-opened the perk menu, checking out the benefits once more. 

[Masterful(Dexterity of 30 or more) - Your dexterity is a monument to potential. Adds extra balance, reaction time, and physical control per level. Each point in dexterity adds 5 points of health. Movement of any kind requires half as much thought and focus for their execution. Double"s stamina consumption.]

[Effortless(Dexterity of 25 or more) - Your dexterity is incredible. Adds another 1/10th of dexterity to perception. Doubles effects of physical oriented skills. Body weight and armor no longer affects balance.]

[Flexible(Dexterity of 10 or more) - Your dexterity is good. Doubles flexibility bonus.]

[Perceptive(Perception of 10 or more) - Your perception is good. Doubles sensory bonuses.]

[Discerning(Perception of 15 or more) - Your perception is excellent. Double"s comprehensive bonuses.]

Awesome. Before I can select a perk, Torix says, "Are you allocating your resources? Don"t. Let me see your choices first. I will console you."

I nodded and showed him the perk screen. He said, "You"ve already placed three leveling points into endurance, const.i.tution, and strength I presume?"

"Yes."

"Then don"t put another into dexterity. You"ve already quadrupled your stamina consumption. Any veteran will tell you about the setbacks that too many leveling perks will give you."

I frowned as I said, "I"m not worried about it. I just fought for 8 or so hours without taking a break. My stamina"s fine."

Torix shook his head and said, "For most, investing a perk point into a single leveling perk is all they can do. That is, until they unlock the endurance trees. Then some choose another leveling perk, further doubling stamina consumption. Anymore stamina consumption simply isn"t feasible."

I rolled my eyes and said, "I have a tree called determinator. It doubles my regeneration and enhances my endurance and willpower dramatically. Stamina consumption is the least of my worries."

Torix"s eyes narrowed as he said, "What does it do exactly?"

I describe the bonuses to him. His jaw drops when I mention the 50% bonus to willpower and 40% bonus to endurance. He said, "I can"t even...That"s absurd. That is the single best set of tree bonuses I"ve ever heard spoken of."

I grinned as I said, "It required a pure investment into endurance at early levels. If you think about it, who in their right mind invests purely into endurance before level 20?"

He grabbed his chin and said, "No one. Not a single soul would. In fact, it"s impossible if you go through the tutorial. The tutorial forces you to distribute 9 points into each of the different attributes after your first, and two of your perks go into fledgling and beginner. You avoided those pitfalls with how you started."

I pursed my lips as I said, "Eh, I guess you could even call me lucky, in a twisted sort of way."

"No. You were quite unfortunate. Your luck must be below 5."

"It"s three."

"That explains why you were chosen instead of your friend then. With that tree though, you"ll be able to invest in as many as three leveling perks for both the physical and mental attributes. I invested my leveling perks into willpower, intelligence and charisma. It"s an unstandard setup for a mage."

Torix raised a hand as he said, "Most mages prefer perception over charisma. I wanted to lead armies, however. Why fight with one when you may fight with many, after all. Even if they are undead, a high charisma can shake the souls from their slumber. The leveling perks for intelligence and charisma both doubled then redoubled my mana costs. I can"t afford doubling my mana costs further. No one has found a way around this."

As if it were a diehard habit from before he was a lich, he pushed up an imaginary pair of gla.s.ses before saying, "I then put my leveling perks into const.i.tution and dexterity. That layout matched my goals of becoming an immortal scholar. It"s the general accepted build for stats. You have the two regeneration stats, willpower and endurance. They gauge and control six of the other attributes, three a peice."

He spread his hands outwards, weighing each one as he said, "For willpower, it"s charisma, perception, and intelligence. For endurance, there"s strength, const.i.tution, and dexterity. Only one stat falls outside of these 8 core stats, luck. Many a scholar have tried dissecting how Schema affects such an ephemeral quality. None have succeeded."

Torix cupped his chin and said, "But you...you have the option of having leveling perks in every attribute. Amazing..."

I shrugged as I said, "Eh, it wasn"t easy getting here. I had to kite a bat for over 5 hours after I slayed the first one."

"Yes...of course...The arcane blood bypa.s.ses the limitations of mana as well. You will be unlike all the others I tried taking on as apostles. You won"t break like they did. Hah, hah, hah. You really will feast on monsters, especially with that aura of yours."

A little on the creepy side, but at least he"s here to help. I think. I grinned as I said, "Speaking of which, I"m starving."

"Here. Eat this."

He opens another portal, this one black with a green outline. He pulls out a clear pouch full of a milky liquid. He tosses it towards me before saying, "Just open it into your face mask. It will absorb through your skin."

My skin crawled at the thought, but I did as he told me too. I lifted the pouch in front of the eye slit of my helm. When I opened it, the liquid poured onto my face and disappeared into my skin as quickly as it landed. I shook my face as my hunger dissipated. I said, "What the f.u.c.k is that s.h.i.t?"

"A ration found on a desert planet I pa.s.sed by while researching water magic. Interesting places, desert worlds. You"d think you"d find the most information on water magic in worlds dominated by seas, but no. Any desert world I visited cherished water, even worshipped it. That is a story for a different time."

He closed the black and green portal as he said, "These pouches were quite helpful for keeping sated during my travels throughout numerous worlds. They are very efficient. No chewing. No swallowing. Just consumption then you continue on your way."

I nodded before squirming for a second. I said, "That"s going to take a few tries before I can adjust."

Torix said, "Then go and invest your points as you were."

I put the perk points into effortless and masterful. At once, something changed within me. In one way, my movements no longer required thought. Even difficult and complex combinations of punches didn"t require much of my mind. It was like my body was made for it, like my limbs were water. My mind commanded my body, and my body obeyed.

At the same time, I noticed the tug on my stamina now. In way, it was refreshing. Think of it like this. Imagine you were floating in s.p.a.ce for several weeks. Sure, weightlessness is novel and easy at first, but you wouldn"t want to be in s.p.a.ce forever. You would begin to miss the familiar weight of gravity. I missed being tired in much the same way.

I could still punch for several hours before facing exhaustion. The determinator tree helped me along with that. 

With all it said and done, I glanced at my attribute and character screen. I"d finally hit level 100.

Every stat increased some, though not by an enormous amount. The main change had happened outside the screens and menus. I would be testing my new limits with dexterity soon.

My mental res had capped out though, and my armor was close to changing soon. After another few hours of fighting Torix"s summons, I"d be ready for whatever my armor had in store for me. With that vigor pumping through me, I said, 

"Let"s continue the training then."

Torix brushed me off as he said, "You don"t have to pretend you"re not tired, child. I will wait for you to recover."

I shook my head and said, "I"m used to all nighters. My dad never wanted me to ever sleep too deeply."

"He sounds wiser than most."

I shrugged, replying with silence. He opened the black portal with a rim of purple, and out came the horrors. You"d think I"d want to run and hide, to slink back into normalcy where I could relax and spend time with friends or family. 

In my mind, none of that matters now. All I could do was smile. It was time to live up to my new t.i.tle, Harbinger of Cataclysm.