21 Rise

I frowned, "What's with the sudden change?"

"Mana is sentient. It has a will of its own." She cracked her knuckles. "It's only fitting that having the mana inside me unleashed would create a change befiting the size of the surge. It was like half of my mind was suppressed, and now it's being given free reign. Enough talk. What kind of training are we doing?"

"A variety of different stuff. Combat will be the main thing we do, but I have other plans for getting the tree points I need. I'm going to be practicing my skill dreadnought brute. It's almost level 80 now."

Her eyes narrow, "That's a unique skill then?"

"Yes."

"That's how you beat me despite the trap I set?"

"Naw, I beat you because you rely way too much on Schema. I'm guessing you've probably never even lived without these screens in front of your face, telling you just what you need to do. I've lived and fought without them. Hell, our planet had made games about shit like this."

Black veins crawled up the sides of her face, "This is no game."

I rolled my eyes, "It's pretty damn similar. You get easy bonuses all the time. All you have to do is take some calculated risks and boom. You're super strong."

"You've never been to a world where even the most tame of forests hold creatures that move like walking mountains. Everything had become a monster, a terrifying creature that can level cities. Killing even a single creature without a family or institution helping you was nigh impossible."

She shivered. "Being born on these worlds is like being born into a war zone. So few stay there, and even fewer survive. I plan on doing so much more."

I shrugged, "Eh, I started out in a dungeon with bats at level 35. I had to face bosses 50, 60, even 90 levels above me. All while alone, without knowing what the fuck was going on. You don't see me acting all angsty about it. You just do what you have to do. Anyway, enough of all this."

I clamped my fists together, "It's time for some fun. Let's go."

I charged towards her. She met my charge before we collided like two bullets. As I pushed her shoulders, I forced her back. She hadn't opted into constitution. She was, however, stronger than me. She strained as she pushed me back, my feet dragging on the stone. She gripped on my shoulders so hard than my armor bent.

The metal squealed, "Is this all the strength this little lamb has?"

I bent down while pulling her up, forcing her off her feet. Her body weighed far less than my own, so I used her tremendous power against her. I grabbed her shoulders and slammed her into the ground. The echo exploded outwards across the cavern. Before she could recover, I picked her up once more and slammed her into the other side of the ground.

When I lifted her again, she pushed her feet against me. Her limbs overpowering my own. She shot off me before rolling back onto her feet. I stepped towards her, my footing firm like a pillar. Her eyes narrowed before she sprinted away towards a back wall.

She picked up stones before tossing them towards me. When the rocks smashed into me, they crushed into powder, like bombs of dust. The thick, brown cloud covered me. This blinded me before she darted around, fast as a speeding car.

A second later, she tackled my side, knocking me onto the ground. Her flesh tore as she shapeshifted, and she clawed at my armor with long talons. Flashes of light brimmed from the cloud of dust as the claws scraped across the metal. Like fighting in a thunder soaked cloud, she chewed through my hp with ease.

My helm ripped open with jagged teeth of armor. They clamped onto her thigh before I stabbed my hand into the stone. The tips of my gauntlets bent, but they dug several inches into the stone. With my fingernails peeled back in pain, I pulled myself sideways while jerking with my neck.

I turned her off of me before scrambling on top of her once more. I reared back my fist before hammering her face with my fist. Savage, brutal blows clapped her head against the stone floor before her legs bent backwards, the tendons within them snapping.

Like a human made of gelatin, her legs coiled around my head before she pulled me down. My head whiplashed against the ground, a hunk of her thigh within my helmet's teeth. Her spine broke backwards as she contorted, eerie and disgusting. Her eyes flashed black now as she grinned with long, sharp canines.

She slithered her arms into the slit of my helmet as she laughed. Her arms squeezed into my helmet before covering my face. All of a sudden, I couldn't breath.

I squirmed and writhed, pulling her off me, but she kept forcing more and more of her arms into my helmet. Pressure built on my nose and mouth. My lungs screamed for air as my struggling turned to a frenzy. Right as I believed I was going to die, the slit of my armor chomped onto her limbs. She fell backwards, her arms severed.

Needles formed inside my armor, mincing the goopy arm she forced into my helmet. My armor drinks the blood, soaking it in. Air rushes into my lungs as I breath with a blood covered face. Leaning up, I turn towards Althea.

She laid with her head against the stone floor, her arms gone. She hissed and gasped as blood retracted back into her wounds, regenerating her with a pace even I couldn't match. Within 30 seconds, her arms returned and she stood once more. She lay there heaving for a few minutes.

"What is that armor of yours?"

I stood and shrugged, "It eats eldritch. You happen to be part eldritch, so I'm sure it decided that was close enough. Anyways, ready for another go?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Can I rest for a few more minutes?"

"You're hp's full, or near it I'm sure. You'll be fine."

She frowned as she spit, "Is this some elaborate plan for torture?"

I frowned in turn, "Oh yes, I torture you by having you choke me with your arms and scratch my face off."

"You tore my arms off."

"I never said this shit was going to be easy. Besides, I recall someone saying that they plan on doing more than surviving. Put some weight behind your words."

Her face turned hard. "Fine. Again."

I grinned. "Then onto the next round."

*****************************

We fought for several hours before our minds were so exhausted that we just ran into each other. As you can imagine, that didn't increase our skills by much. Instead, we took a several hour long break. During that time, I read some books about basic mana manipulation that Torix carried with him.

They mentioned quite a bit that I already knew, like how mana was the will and power of the mind. The interesting bits were how it compared with the eldritch energy.

You see, eldritch energy had a way of controlling the user. It infects and contorts the will of the user, more like a parasite than a fuel. The book mentioned several historical mages that advanced the field of eldritch magic. None of them survived the ordeal. They all died horrific deaths at the hands of their own experiments, often times fates worse than death. A few even became advanced level bosses with a few unbeaten to this day.

As I read these books and applied the knowledge to my own cool stream spell, I leveled several skills. Mana theory, reading comprehension, and especially arcane blood manipulation. Althea and I repeated this cycle of battle and study several times before Althea fell asleep against a wall.

Leaving her there, I walked up to Torix. "Mind talking for a minute? I'm sure a break from staring at the wall would help."

Torix sighed, "Alright then. What is it?"

"How and why are dungeon cores so valuable? I mean, there's only so many perks that I can get. I don't understand why their so heavily sought after."

Torix pursed his undead lips, "It's all a matter of circumstance. For starters, you do gain perks for every time you hit 100 with an attribute. Obviously, by the time most people reach that cusp of power, they've filled out their perks. for the most part."

Torix put his fingetips together, "Dungeon cores can be exchanged at sentinel locations for an attribute point as well. This makes them hold innate value. This is further inflated due to the presence of fringe worlds."

His eyes narrowed as he continued, "Fringe worlds are planets at the very cusp of being overwhelmed by the eldritch. They are often kept afloat by battle hungry heathens in need of a challenge. The natives of planets like this have no way of killing the creatures on their planets. This leaves them at hopelessly low levels. So low, in fact, that they can't leave the planet."

Torix leaned onto a hand, "Summoners like myself are of exceptionally high value there, as we offer lower level creatures for them to defeat. Of course, you've seen that it takes well over level 100 to fill out your perks. In most cases, it takes well over 200-300. Regular summons of that level simply aren't feasible without a great cost."

Torix grinned, "As you've seen, being level 100 doesn't make you strong by any galactic metric. Leaving your new planet is an easy way of getting yourself slaughtered."

I grimaced, "Yeah. It sucks, but it's true."

Torix nodded, "Imagine a normal person. They'd be even worse off. Dungeon cores allow these people entrenched on their world to at least fill out another few perks for leveling. This makes leaving their torn worlds far safer. The mental resistances are of particular importance."

I nodded, "The orbs are pretty much 5 levels for people on those worlds."

"Precisely. As you've no doubt noticed, Schema's way of doing things can be unforgiving. Speaking of unforgiving, how much energy have you gained from your bond with Althea?"

I glanced at my menu screen, finding around a hundred thousand ambient mana absorbed. Notable, but by no means a ridiculous amount.

"So it'll take a few weeks before your armor transforms once more. That will be your goal for your obliterator tree then."

I nodded. "I'll get it done."

"Then back too it, apostle."

After leaving his side, I practiced trying to reform my armor. I sat on the edge of a staggered step of the colosseum, morphing the armor. Creating a mouth was simple. Other parts of morphing it were nigh impossible. Creating spikes on my knuckles, swords from the metal, or even just uncovering my face took unfathomable amounts of willpower. The armor snapped right back onto me the moment I diverted my attention from it. A few hours of this resulted in a skill.

Skill Gained! [Dominion of Soul(lvl 1) - You are the master of your fate. You are the captain of your soul. Soul dominion enhanced by 1%]

[Dominion of Soul(lvl 1) - You have augmented your soul into the physical realm. This allows for manipulation of this physical extension. Soul Dominion enhanced by 1%]

Alright. After a few more hours I gained a few points in the skill. It made morphing the armor much easier. I still couldn't manipulate the armor in combat, but this was my first step to making it really mine. Having the ability to manipulate my armor would evolve my style of fighting from fierce to overwhelming.

Of course, it eventually became easy enough that I multitasked by holding the armor off my eyes while reading. This well over doubled the required effort for either reading or morphing the armor. This increase in difficulty made me level both skills far faster. With my focus fine tuned, time flowed like waterfall as I studied.

It's strange how much of a trance I found myself in. With the focus skill, my high willpower and intelligence, and my hunger for power, I fell into the task with a fiery intent. Without the endurance perk, Althea needed sleep far sooner than I did. With this advantage, I worked throughout the night with Torix, who never needed sleep being a lich.

When Althea awakened, I'd read through several books about mana. Of course, I didn't understand all the words on the pages, but it gave me a few ideas for working with during my next training session. When we walked toward each other for our next practice, Althea said with her eyes sharp, "May I use my weapons from before?"

Torix raised his hand without glancing towards us. A portal appeared and dropped the harpoon gun and several traps at her feet. Torix said, "There you are. Do try not to kill him with it."

With a hungry smile, she said, "Of course."

Torix shrugged, "Eh...He'd make a good corpse anyway."

I frowned, "Thanks, it's good to know I'm useful."

Althea picked up her harpoon cannon, optimizing the setup. This time there was no surprise setup for her to land free shots. Of course, she wouldn't be aiming for immobilizing me. She'd probably try and put a hole in my forehead.

Once she was ready, we began another intense struggle. I moved with the jittery, shaking movements that threw her auto aim off. She pinned harpoons into the wall a few times before saying, "How are you doing that?"

"It aims where I am, not where I'm going. Try to lead me some maybe. You could also try using your own skill instead of Schema."

She narrowed her eyes before shooting another harpoon, ebbing another thunderous boom. The harpoon blasted into the ground in front of me, spraying rocks against my helm. I closed my eyes off reflex before another harpoon slammed straight through my throat.

The weight of the spear slung me backwards, knocking me onto the ground. Before the third spear flew through my skull, I crossed my arms over my face. A spear lodged through my arms and pinned down beside me.

Before I pulled the spears out, Althea threw the gun down and sprinted towards me. I pulled my arms from the ground, the steel scraping against stone as I yanked. Sitting up, I pulled the spear from my arms with my feet. The flesh in my arms sloshed as I ripped the spear from me.

Glancing up, I saw Althea dashing towards me like a lion leaping towards her prey. Before she reached me, I stood up and pulled the spear from my neck. I sidestepped her charge, sliding towards her right side. She lashed out her right arm, her fingers jutting long, white claws.

I ducked under the limb while pushing the spear towards her chin. The metal slid straight through the roof of her mouth. Her feet flew off the ground as mine crushed into the floor. She flew backwards before convulsing on the ground. Before she died, I walked over and pulled the spear from her head. No harm done.

Over the next few minutes, she regenerated. Once her awareness returned, she glanced around. She saw me standing beside her before slamming her fist into the stone floor. The stone snapped beneath her fingers as she said, "Fuck. No."

She glanced up towards, "Again."

A few hours of brawling passed before we went back to studying. I read in a side cavern, just within earshot of Torix's grumbling. After an hour or two of reading old tomes of knowledge, Althea walked up, "Torix. May I ask you something?"

"Of course. I don't promise you an answer."

"Fair enough. Why can't I beat that Harbinger? We've fought dozen's of times already, but I can't gain the upper hand."

A few moments passed before Torix said, "You waited until he left, I'm assuming?"

"Yes. I want your real thoughts."

"Hah, hah. Alright then. Tell me, what kind of formal training have you had for battle?"

"The professor ran simulations often. They would provide intense, difficult situations that I'd be forced to handle."

"What did you do during those simulations, gunning I assume?"

Althea replied, "Yes."

"Then why not try gunning Daniel down instead of clawing him to death? If I tried fighting Daniel with my fists, I may even lose. With magic, he would evaporate before he could even touch me."

I shivered for a second before Althea said, "I run out of ammo before I can kill him."

"Then work around your limitations. Find a way of using ammo without having to use metal rods. Stop asking idiotic questions. No wonder you're getting trounced by him."

By now, I'd peeked my head into the cave, glancing at them both. I mean come on, I know it's evesdropping, but I was curious. Althea glared at the ground before nodding, "Thank you."

Torix turned back towards the runes, "I'm more than willing to humble you when you need it. Just ask, and I'll let you know just how dreadful your failings are."

She turned before sitting down and morphing her hands. Instead of just creating claws from her fingertips, spikes of ivory gouged from her palms. They looked ruthlessly effective.

Still, this wasn't the time for focusing on her shit, so I went back towards my own studies. I'd gained many skills as we fought, like prediction and wrestling. With all these new abilities, I hoped for another unique skill. If I could fuse several low level skills into a single ability, I would gain a rush of tree points. Breakthroughs would also help quite a bit.

With that in mind, I walked over an hour later and asked Torix, "Are there any common breakthroughs I could use for gaining my skills faster?"

Torix blinked once or twice before turning to me, "Hmmmm. I suppose there are a few I know of. Is there any subject you're interested in?"

I nodded before saying, "Dominion of Soul."

Torix clapped his hands together, "Hah! You've gained dominion over your soul then?"

I nodded before he continued, "Excellent. I imagined you'd need to work your way through the texts I lent you before you could gain the skill. I suppose your armor allows for an intrinsic learning of sorts. Regardless of the cause, dominion of soul is the first step for augmentation."

"Augmentation?"

"It's to manipulate the physical representation of your soul for power. With your arcane blood, you can become a very powerful augmenter. Unfortunately, you will never become a lich. Such a shame."

"Eh, for now I'd rather keep myself human."

Torix grabbed the air in front of him, his hand forming a fist, "Once you've tasted immortality, you can never return to something as fleeting as a body that dies."

I shrugged, "Eh, I mean half of what makes a meteor shower beautiful is how you only see it once in a lifetime. I think life's the same way. You only get to see it once, so each moment counts."

Torix stared at me for a moment, "Hmm. Perhaps...Either way, we need you to achieve the next step of controlling your soul."

"What does that involve?"

With a sadistic flare, Torix grinned as he said, "A little...discomfort."