Chris looked above the ash of the two wendigos—a thin layer of golden mist was swirling there. She took in the power of the golden mist into herself as she had done with the red mist. She turned towards the last surviving ordinary-level wendigo and released the power that was churning within her at it—her hands upraised. The ball of fire erupting from her hands struck it and incinerated the monster. She had expected the fire as gold was the colour of fire affinity—thankfully she wasn't wrong.
She turned, looking at Edwin, who was engaged in combat with an elementary-level wendigo. She squinted her eyes as she saw the battle between them. Something was wrong. It was just an elementary-level Wendigo. She knew Edwin's skill with his sword—why could it parry Edwin's sword so easily? She looked closer at Windigo and, to her horror; it had red markings along its black fur. It was an epic-level Wendigo.Sparks flew everywhere as Edwin Struck at the beast who blocked every one of his attacks with its metallic claws. The two of them circled each other, dancing in the music of death—each strike igniting blue and red sparks. Edwin lost a step and a single swipe of wendigo sent him flying. He crashed into a tree with a painful grunt. Blood seeped from five long gashes in his chest. He looked at Chris and mouthed a single word. "Run."Edwin wasn't a person who would throw his life so easily. She looked at Edwin for a second and, understanding his intentions, she picked up the unconscious Jimmy and ran until she reached a boulder. She hid behind it.Chris carefully placed Jimmy on the ground and peeked around the boulder—towards the unfolding fight. Edwin was on his feet and already locked in combat with it. Edwin dodged another swipe from the monster with a swift sidestep. He was clenching his jaw hard. Edwin was forcing himself to fight the thing in his condition. Chris felt like crying, however, she didn't have time for it. She had to help Edwin.Edwin slashed his sword to hack off the murderous hand of the monster. The sword stopped halfway through the flesh.The creature flailed its arms wildly, roaring, sending Edwin crashing to the boulder. With a last roar of triumph, the creature pounced at Edwin.Seeing the opportunity she was waiting for, Chris connected with her gauntlet. Connecting with her gauntlet and activating it gave her a splitting headache. Her gauntlet was an elementary-level weapon that was one level above her. Headache was the consequence of using a weapon above your realm.Chris hadn't been doing nothing either—all this time she was taking in all the red mist she could, released by the monster that was fighting with Edwin.The red mist gave her another boost of strength. It was like wearing two different sets of Spirit armour. Using all the strength in her legs, Chris shot forward. Her body glowed ethereal red, the armour glowed ethereal green; the gauntlet glowed ethereal gold. She reached Wendigo before it could reach Edwin. Chris punched the windigo's stomach with all her might, releasing the power of red mist at once. The wendigo slumped backwards, a gaping hole in its stomach. A pool of blood painted the ground red beneath the lifeless creature. The red glow behind its eye sockets flickered for a few seconds before winking out.Chris hastily deactivated her gauntlets, that was making her head throb. The headache slowly faded away as the Spirit armour healed her.Chris approached Edwin, who was groaning loudly in front of the boulder. Edwin was looking at her with disbelieving eyes. Those eyes made her want to squirm inside her own skin."You are a Dweller too?" Edwin had a disbelieving tone in his voice."No. I'm not a Dweller. I'm something else."Chris looked at Edwin's manhandled body, which looked like all the bones in his body had been reduced to dust. "If father knew what I was, he would publicly flog me, before torturing me to death. From what I can do, from what I know—I can think of only one name from the legends. I think I am a collector, Edwin."Edwin made a choking noise in his throat."Oh, put your eyes back in your sockets, Edwin. And close your mouth—you don't want to swallow a fly."The two of them stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before laughing, tears in their eyes.Edwin coughed several times. "Argh! Look what you did by making me laugh," Edwin groaned. "I feel like a butchered chicken."'Butchered chicken? Couldn't he at least have said butchered pig?' Chris thought.With another groan, Edwin looked at her and said, "I can't believe we actually survived seven wendigos, and one of them was at Epic-Level of advancement.""I can't believe it either."Chris noticed Edwin was fidgeting slightly. If she was anyone else, she wouldn't have noticed. "What?" Chris said."Are you sure you are a collector, Chris? I mean, they were supposed to have gone extinct more than a thousand years ago.""It's the only thing that explains what I can do," Chris said.They agreed to keep her nature a secret. The legends told of how much people hated a collector. The two of them didn't want to find out if they still did. It was better safe than sorry.Chris thought about removing the armor and it removed itself from her body.***Before Edwin's eyes, the spirit armour shimmered, turning into a liquid-like state. All the liquid armour flowed out of her body and coalesced above Chris's palm. The green liquid morphed into an emerald sphere the size of a person's head. She handed the Spirit armour to him."Put this on. It will bring you back to full health."Edwin took it in his hands.A familiar sound of the system rang in his head.[Information: An ordinary-level Spirit Morphious Armor detected. Do you want to equip?]'Yes.'The green liquid flowed, covering his body, and morphed into a set of armour. The only part of the body the armour didn't cover was his head.[Information: An Epic-level Spirit Morphious Armor equipped.][Information: Your stats have been increased.]Edwin opened the info about the armour.[Name: Spirit Morphious Armour ][Class: Armor][Greater Realm: Foundation][Lesser Realm: Epic (Suppressed to the level of the user.)][Realm Stage: None][Strength: +10][Agility: +10][Stamina: +10][Drogen: +10][Heal: 0.02HP recovery per ten seconds.]So the armour was at an Epic level but suppressed to the level of the user. If that were true, wouldn't the power of the armour increase as they continued to break through? He told Chris about the armour and her eyes lit up."You stay here and recover. I'll go and help Jimmy," Chris said.She turned, walking away. It took Armour about half an hour to bring him back to full health. Once he was back to full health, he returned the armour.Linden stood in front of the mirror. A "servant boy" named Tim draped a green cloak with a symbol of golden wings over his shoulder. His coal-black hair complemented his pale complexion. He had deep red eyes and sharp jaws. Lindon wore a green and gold coat and pants of a similar color. A golden wing-shaped broach was strapped to his chest. Again, he wore a brownish-gold belt with a wings-shaped buckle. A sword hung on his hips, and a knife was strapped to the back of the belt. All in all—Lindon hated it. The clothes were ostentatious and taxing to the eyes. Whoever designed the formal attire for the Aether tribe must have done it during a fit of madness. He wished he could go back in time and murder the person. His hatred for the ceremonial clothes aside, he was ready for the ceremony. He could barely make himself stop fidgeting. "Is there anything else you need, young master?" Tim said. Everyone may think that Tim was nothing more than just a servant, but he had a bigger role to p
The crack in the air spread like a hammered mirror. The crack bulged towards Lindon. A pair of small, glowing white hands emerged from the bulging crack. The two hands tore the very fabric of reality apart. An oval-shaped hole hung in the air that led to eternal darkness. A translucent white female spirit stepped out of the hole in reality. The spirit was no bigger than Lindon's palm, but she had a human figure even though she mildly glowed with white light. Lindon let out a breath he had been holding for who knows how long. He couldn't help but tremble. A spirit had accepted his summons even though it took its blue moon. 'Thank the heavens.' The spirit wore something like a shirt and skirt, made from, it seemed—her own essence. His spirit was beautiful, even if she was slow. Why did she have to wait so long before accepting his summons? Lindon felt a tinge of anger brewing within him. He didn't want to be petulant, but he couldn't help it. He had been so scared for a minute there.
Jimmy opened his eyes, feeling like he was the most useless being in the world. He saw two familiar faces of Edwin and Chris smiling at him. His sour mood turned into a happy one as soon as he saw their smile, forgetting why he was feeling sour in the first place.“Welcome back to the land of the living, Jimmy,” his brother said.“I’m glad you are okay, Jimmy,” Chris said right behind his brother.Jimmy just grinned at them. Edwin's smile suddenly faded. Jimmy knew what that meant, Edwin was going to say something to him that would make him feel very uncomfortable.“Jimmy, I know you don’t like being confronted, but I really, really need you to answer this one question truthfully.”Jimmy gulped, gritting his teeth. He clasped his hand together to prevent them from shaking. Even though he was not confident, he wanted to feign confidence in front of Edwin and Chris.“Who is Eli?” Edwin asked. “I have heard you mention that name many times before. I have always ignored it. But I no longer
The ringing and the pain in Jimmy’s head stopped. Jimmy had never felt so... he had no words to explain how he felt. He could not help but weep for what felt like an eternity before going over the new feature he had unlocked.[Information: Core Smithing is the process of breaking down a single core of a higher level into multiple cores of a lower level or vice versa.][Available Smithing process:]Jimmy did not understand half of what he read on the system screen, so he read it aloud. He even wrote some words he could not read. Once he finished, Chris and Edwin had strange looks, wide-eyed, before looking at Jimmy.“Jimmy, are you sure it’s exactly what is written on the system screen?” Edwin said.“Y-yes.” The str
“How can I be so stupid?” Edwin thought out loud as he and the party ran for their lives. Edwin jumped over a thorny plant and nearly stubbed his toe on a stone as he landed. He stumbled but did not stop running. Surviving seven wendigos had given him a big head and overconfidence. He should have known better.“We are all stupid. We should not have attacked the thing,” Chris said in a heavy breath.Jimmy did not speak at all, but the tears in his eyes spoke volumes.It had been only three days since they left the misty hills. They were currently running through a barren land and few plants lived here, most of them were thorny. They were surrounded by massive rock formations and were being chased by a monster that looked like a massive gorilla, only it was made of dried stone with cracks running over its body. A liquid like substance circulated along those cracks that looked like a molten lava.The reason they were running with tails between their legs was because when he had attacked t
Half an hour later, Chris shook her head as she watched Edwin looking at the Earth Core they had removed from the Rockilla. He did not look happy. No, if anything, he looked ready to crush the Earth Core beneath his feet. Chris looked at the core greedily. However, she quickly shook her head. Chris did not know her affinity. Every person had a single affinity and cultivating a core outside of their affinity was like drinking a poison. Since she could not risk it. She had to wait. “All that trouble and what we get is just a measly ordinary core,” Edwin mumbled. Chris had a powerful urge to snatch that hammer from Jimmy and bash that scowling face of Edwin. Here she was feeling greedy for the ordinary Earth Core. And he... how dare he feel disappointed about it? Chris snatched the Earth Core from Edwin’s hand and tucked it in one of the many hidden pockets in her clothes. “What did you do that for? I was about to cultivate it?” “No.” “What do you mean, no? Give it back.” Edwin r
Twenty-seven days after their encounter with the Rockilla, Chris leaped to the side to avoid a powerful jet of water, which was strong enough to punch a hole through her body.Chris, Edwin, and Jimmy ran in different directions, and the bloody monster pursued her.Me and my rotten luck.The monster in her pursuit looked somewhere between a turtle and a scorpion. It could shoot powerful jets of water from its sting. It was absurd. Thankfully, the Turcorpion was slow, so she somehow managed to lose the thing. Killing it was out of the question. Its exoskeleton was very sturdy. She eventually met up with others.Chris just wanted to howl at the sky. ***Thirty-four days after their encounter with Rockilla, Chris was going toe to toe with a snake monster. They were finally out of the hot, rocky environment and now were inside a thick tropical forest.The lower half of the monster she was fighting had scaled emerald green skin. The upper half of the monster was that of a human, or rather,
Linden sat on the floor of the training pavilion, specifically designated for him. His eyes were closed. As always, Riot spun around him like a mosquito.“What now?” Linden said.“Ugh! Why do you even want to train more? The only thing you do day and night is train, train and train even more. You lunatic. Don’t you have a life? A girl perhaps?” Riot zipped around him faster and faster like a mosquito excited for blood. “If not, you can still go out and explore, see the world. Meet strange people and revolting creatures. I don’t want to spend the rest of my eternal life cooped up in a room watching you train and sweat. Come on, let’s go out for a minute or two?”“If I want to reach the heights never seen by the people of Eronas, I don’t have time to waste in such frivolities. Now stop lounging about and tell me what to do.”Riot stopped right in front of his face, grumbling to herself. Linden ignored many of her nasty curses. “Fine,” she said.“First, find the position you are most com
Jimmy listened to the elder, who taught them the properties of various metals. “This is Firesteel, this is Watersteel, this is Bloodsteel…” The elder got out seven metals and introduced them to the class. These were the best conductor of said Law and amplified their effect. The elder produced another seven metals and explained about each of them; Firebane, Spiritbane and Earthbane and so on. These were poor conductors of corresponding Laws—almost an insulator. These metals either diminished or nullified the effect of the corresponding Law. Jimmy learned much in his Blacksmith class. The identities of unique metals, their source, their properties—and how and what to forge with them. How to make an object of power? It was a simple process, impossible as it was to believe. First, forge a required item, take a beast core, and after that reach out with spiritual sense to the item through the core and push the power of the core to the item—the spiritual sense was the medium to such tran
Rina repeatedly tapped the table with her index finger. This was getting on her nerves. The man no older than her, who sat opposite her, inspected the inscription on the dagger she had carved, turning it round and round in his hands. Rina scoffed. As if he knew anything about the scripts. Scripting was The Most technical art of Drogen. “You have excellent calligraphy,” the man said.Rina snorted. “A fish that can’t swim is worthless.” “Point. Shall we test your handiwork? I hope they are as powerful as they are beautiful.”The scripter woman nodded. Finally! She would earn her keep and be rid of the man soon.The runes in the dagger glowed golden. The man flicked his wrist and the dagger cut through the air and struck the wall. There was little sound. Golden lines of runes flickered across the room. The dagger quivered for a second and dropped.Her pride swelled like a balloon. She had done a better job than she had believed. “To think the dagger activated the protection formation
“Why are you doing this to yourself?” Edwin asked on their way to class. “You had to visit a healer three times this week. Please tell me what is happening with you, maybe I can help.” “I am fine,” Chris said. A wave of nausea struck her. The world must hate her. Why did it have to happen now when she had just told Edwin she was fine? If the man hadn’t caught her, she would probably be bleeding from her nose right now.“Chris, can you stand by yourself?” The man looked ready to princess-carry her if need be–that she would not allow.Chris pushed herself out of Edwin’s arms and jumped up and down to show she was perfectly fine, thank you very much. She was, and anyone who said otherwise be damned. “See, I am fine.”“You weren’t, just a second ago. I think it best to go see a healer.”Chris caressed Edwin’s hand. She did her best to make her voice as soothing as possible. What she was about to say Edwin wouldn’t like. “You needn't worry about what’s happening to me. You know how we were
Only when Chris was well away from Linden and the arena did the consequences of what she had done dawn on her. What was she thinking dunking him in the water? If Linden had taken what she had done as offence and not as a joke, she would be howling in pain for who knew how long. Perhaps forever. She must have been mad. Why did she always let the anger get the best of her? She had to learn to control it better. ‘What’s done is done,’ she told herself firmly. ‘There is no point in fretting over it.’ Aside from her horrible mistake with Linden that could have ended up with her head on a pike, her days went smoothly—with only one sour note. It was, of course, Rina. Chris asked herself a thousandth time why she was sharing a room with her. The woman had no decency at all. None. Two nights a week, sometimes three nights, the woman brought a man to spend the night with. The partners she brought were sometimes young, sometimes old. The woman changed her partners like men changed their cloth
Linden stopped laughing, gave her a lopsided glance, and struck. Chris brought her sword before it to intercept the attack. At the last second, Linden twisted his sword, and it landed on her wrist. She almost lost her grip on her sword. Still, she powered through the pain and kept her hold of it. Chris was just glad she hadn’t yelped in pain and had just winced. That would be beyond embarrassing. They exchanged dozens of blows, and with each blow, her anger spiked up a notch. Linden had thwacked her left and right—blows that would bruise. Yet, for the life of her, she couldn’t land a single hit. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t. Why should she be bruised and in pain, while the other man was grinning like a fool? She knew he wasn’t using vital technique or any form of Drogen. That would have left behind a residue that she would have undoubtedly seen, being a collector as she was. So, what was it he was doing? There had to be something. He can’t really see the future, can he? No, that w
Chris watched as the heir strode towards them. The bare-chested man walked like any heir should, back straight, one hand resting on his sword hilt as if he were assuming a sword stance. He could have made any girl’s neck turn in his direction and made their heart flutter. Not hers. Her heart fluttered for someone else. Someone next to her, no less regal than the heir himself, standing there, hand poised on his sword hilt, ready to draw at a moment’s notice. The man she suspected to be Linden’s bodyguard. Tim, was it? He could do with an earful. Holding a sword at her throat like that. When her eyes shifted back to the bodyguard, her mouth went dry. Sweat glistened along his abs. She gulped. Her knees wanted to buckle. She wanted… ‘Heavens above, what am I thinking?’ She wanted to get into good graces with the heir. Not canoodle with his bodyguard. She wouldn’t mind doing it, though. It could be warming. Gods, she had always prided herself on having great control over her thoughts.
[PRESENT TIME] Chris Scoured through the sect library searching for information on collectors. She had hoped to find some record to understand her powers. Useless, there was nothing she didn’t already know. All that knowledge in here and they were all deadwood to her. Unless she broke into the restricted section of the library, there was nothing new she could learn. That meant she would have to learn everything by experiment. The thought of experimenting with her powers sent a shiver down her spine. Playing with something she didn’t understand didn’t sound healthy to her. All her classes went well, better than well actually. She was one of the best in her class—aside from a few mishaps like that one time when she had turned into a giant; it was one of the most embarrassing things that had ever happened to her. What surprised her most as she navigated through her powers was the fact that her abilities were incredibly similar to that of a Dweller and, at the same time, quite differen
Chris stood next to her brother as she watched him paint on a massive canvas. The strange amalgamation of colours slowly began to gain cohesion and shape. Slowly, the paintings began to gain more shapes and details. She saw villagers washing clothes in the rivers. Children playing near them. Why couldn’t her life be so peaceful as well? Why couldn’t she be as happy as that? Children playing in the river. This was the first time her brother’s paintings had made her feel more pain than soothing her.However, she did not blame her brother for her mood. She knew something like this could happen. She had been lucky that it hadn’t happened before. And her brother had never drawn a painting with people before.When her brother finished his art. She asked him a question. “What will you call this painting, brother? I always like it when you name your paintings. It is the most enjoyable part of all this.”“I will call this one A Vain Dream.”“Why do you want to name something so beautiful? Somet
Five Years Ago. It had been about five years since her mother died. Killed was more accurate. A band of people made from Dwellers and Vampires had killed her mother. And even after five years, Chris still wept herself to sleep. She had abandoned her in her time of need. They punished the murderers of her mother for their actions. They were flogged and tortured publicly before being killed. And yet Chris still could not feel at peace for the death of her mother—like everyone told her to do. Even though they had already received their punishment. Even though they were already dead, she still hated them for taking her mother away from her. How could they do such a thing? How could they have no regard for human life? That question always haunted her. Their death wasn’t enough. Someone else deserved punishment—it was her.A part of Chris wanted to forget about her mother. So that she did not have to hurt, so that she did not have to cry so much, so that her father would not have changed