Luca DR
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Edge of apocalypse 96
🕑 Added 2023-07-25 13:58:32 +0000 UTC96 – Arcane Equilibrium
Albert struggled. Even with all his skills, even with teleportation, it was hard to defend against the barrage of magic and the constant attacks of the crossbow elf. He didn’t dare activate the full power of Bullet Time, because he wasn’t sure he could end the fight before the skill went into cooldown.
Even then, the sole fact that with 5-fold time dilation he still struggled against the elves, meant that their power was much higher than he previously had extrapolated from the first part of the fight.
Defending became a losing position, while attacking was all but impossible. Albert soon found himself taking more and more hits, until his shield cracked mere moments into the fight.
The idea to use his more unstable skills became more enticing as time went on. But no. He was not that desperate yet. Eventually, Albert opted to use a different strategy and manifested his void armor.
At the same time, he took out his trusty old sword he barely even used anymore: the Blade of the Late Eiiri.
A wave of vertigo and nausea hit him. But he was used to it from his time in the void itself, and while he managed to stand upright, he noticed that the elves could not. Their connection with nature was antithetical to the kind of energies the void manifested, making them particularly vulnerable to them.
Albert too was quite vulnerable, barely coordinating his movements. But he fought back, struggling to keep his lunch as the void armor consumed his mental defenses and corrupted his flesh with its devastating energies.
Soon, however, it became too much and he had to dismiss it. With the environmental effect gone, so was his temporary and tenuous advantage. The sword too had proven to be much less effective than he would have hoped.
Perhaps it was time to use guns. He stored the sword and—
A knife plunged into his chest. He fell to the ground.
Skill level up!
[Mind] Pain Tolerance 7
· You have partial control over your pain perception.
The elves walked up to him.
“What kind of monster is he?”
“He’s just a weakling, for a human.”
“Really? Humans are that strong?”
“Not here. But there are places where they are.”
“That mana pool… and all that magic… imagine what he could have become if we let him live.”
“He lives still.”
“Is he not dead?”
A kick. He didn’t move.
The other elf spat. Albert felt the moist saliva on the back of his head.
“Not yet. He’s dying, but he’s not dead.”
“Finish him.”
One of the two, Albert didn’t know who, knelt down next to him. [Perception] allowed him to feel his movements. He was readying a crossbow bolt to stab him with.
A sudden burst of healing energies restored Albert to full health, and he jerked his body so violently that the kneeling elf was sent flying backwards.
Albert examined his torn clothes, stained with his blood. He was even wearing his enchanted military armor, but it hadn’t been enough. All it took was a single moment of distraction to almost lose his life.
All sorts of thoughts gathered. Finally, he snapped.
“You know what? I’ve had enough. If this world is fucked up, it isn’t any of my business. But I won’t stand here and take it. I have fought a dragon, and almost died, fought a teleporter, and almost died, fought dryads, and almost died, fought a psion, and almost died.”
The two elves listened, looking at him with sharp eyes. They knew they could just overpower him again when he was done talking.
“Then? As a reward I jumped into a portal, got transported to a floating island, willingly yes, but without knowing I would end up in the fucking void, suffered pain unimaginable for days, had to jump off a fucking cliff, reappeared in the wrong world, got attacked and now ambushed. Too much is too much.”
He took out a gun from his inventory. The sudden appearance of something out of thin air spooked the elves, but they didn’t attack nor defend, perhaps not knowing what a gun was. It was a high caliber pistol, enchanted to the brim just to see how far Albert could take his skill.
Without a word or warning, he shot the mage in the chest. The impact was so violent it left a gaping hole the size of a fist, and the loud crack of the gun reverberated through the forest until it echoed against far away cliffs. The forest was dead silent for several seconds afterwards, only the sound of falling leaves and of a body hitting the ground disturbing the eerie peace.
“You either heal him or you come after me, you can’t do both. Choose wisely. I won’t be this merciful a second time because trust me, my nerves are about to burst out of my skin.”
With that, Albert turned around and left.
Before he could even teleport, however, he felt movement. The other elf had made his choice, it seemed.
With one swift motion, all in Bullet Time-100, Albert turned around and planted two bullets in the jumping elf’s head. He watched them travel through the air in slow motion, pierce flesh and bone until the life slowly drained away from the elf’s eyes.
Then, without a sound, he turned his eyes to the other elf, bleeding out on the forest floor.
“Mind Read.”
***
The old balance is lost. Magic has once again been set loose upon our lands.
Hear me, brothers. Hear me! Arcane Equilibrium must once again be sought. Magic must once again be controlled.
Humanity has risen and many races rallied behind them, blinded by the promise of power and prosperity. Turning their gaze away from the atrocities and the abuses of those who hold power, and who hoard it all for themselves.
Magic should not be an instrument of power. Of division. Of inequality. Magic should be free, available to better the lives of all. Or it should be destroyed.
Here I call you all to act, in the name of the Arcane Equilibrium.
Here I call you all to action.
***
The vision that had taken over Albert’s mind following his attempt at reading the thoughts of the elf subsided. Already the face of the old, gnarly elf clad in robes standing at the top of an altar made of wood, deep inside their ancient forest, faded.
The strange words remained. Now it was finally clear what was happening in these lands.
Something was utterly wrong with this world, but he was not sure he wanted to have any part in it. He only wanted to go home.
Albert sighed. The elf had passed away, leaving the small clearing silent and heavy. The faint smell of wet dirt mixed with the smell of blood and guts coming from the bodies, slumped on the ground. They didn’t look threatening now, nor did they look peaceful like some people claimed death was.
They just conveyed the uncomfortable feeling of senseless violence.
But what was worrying was the fact that Albert didn’t feel half as guilty for killing them as he felt for killing the huntress. What if he was becoming like his mother?
He shook his head, massaging the skin between his eyebrows. This world sucked. The whole idea of adventure sucked. There’s nothing fun in being under the constant threat of violence and death. He really wanted to go home.
He approached a body with slow, heavy steps.
“Usurp.” He said under his breath. He felt dirty.
[Usurp failed.]
Damn. It was a shame.
The skill better not fail on the second elf. The situation was already quite depressing as it was, Albert didn’t really want to make it any worse. The skill failing on the second body too would make the whole thing truly utterly senseless killing. If he managed to get something out of it, at least it wouldn’t be for nothing.
The forest lived on. The silence was not the total, alienating silence of the caves of the void isle. There were birds, critters, plants and leaves swaying in the wind. Nature was alive.
It was after a few minutes of contemplation, with a calmer mind, that Albert used the skill again.
“Usurp.”
Skill level up!
[Mana] Usurp 3
· You can steal skills from incapacitated or recently deceased entities. Activating the skill will initiate a destructive scan, leaving nothing behind.
· Usurp will always steal a small amount of affinity from the target.
· Usurp will always steal a small amount of attributes from the target.
[Usurp successful! Increased nature affinity. Increased speed attribute.]
[No skills gained.]
[Your Unawakened Essence of Nature stirs…]
Attributes… yet another facet of the system Albert had never seen before. But, he wondered, how does one go and see their attributes?
New Quest: Daily Challenge – The guy wants to see Attributes.
· It’s time you actively worked towards your actual goals, instead of wasting time. Fortunately, your forest run was not totally useless. Return to the Guild Master and tell him about your findings, and about the Arcane Equilibrium guild/cult.
· Reward: Attributes will become visible in Status.
