Rise of the Devourer

Noah sat at the counter in Lorian’s tavern, nursing a mug of ale in his hand. It was coming up to roughly a week since Noah had arrived in Layfar village, and their trip at the place was just about coming to an end. Of that period, he’d had his new arm for two days now, and Noah was finally able to gain enough control over his new limb to keep it in a relatively human shape, allowing him to go outside once again.

When at rest now, his hand looked almost like a normal once, except, seemingly made of obsidian skin that glistened under the light. He’d found the ability to harden his skin, making blades unable to cut through without magic. Noah suspected there was a lot more going on within the limb, but as of now, Tony was still asleep, and Noah would have to wait till his summon woke up to really test things out.

“How the new hand treating ya?” Lorian asked, cleaning a mug nearby as he walked over to Noah. His new arm had quickly become the talk of the village with its striking appearance, even when he kept it hidden under bandages.

“Good. Better than before, really,” Noah replied, taking another sip of his ale.

“Must be some prosthetic. I’ve heard talk of magical ones that are indistinguishable from the real thing, but it’s something else to see one in front of me.”

Noah nodded, but didn’t reply. So far, only Aurelia knew how he’d gotten his new arm, and he intended to keep it that way.

“I hear there are rumours floating around about how I got this arm?” he said, changing the topic.

“Ah, yeah. This is a fairly small village, and there isn’t much excitement to go around usually. Don’t pay too much attention to it,” Lorian said.

“Oh, I love the rumours. They’re all delightful. I had the most wonderful encounter this morning because of it.”

Earlier this morning as Noah had been out for a run, he’d seen some kids stalking him, whispering under their breath how he’d eaten the monster in the mine, and that’s how he had that arm. Their mothers had told them, he’d eat them if they didn’t behave.

Noah had done the only thing that was appropriate, and done his best impression of a terrifying baby eating monster, a respectable profession in his opinion, as he’d teleported behind the kids and screamed as loudly as he could.

The memory still brought a chuckle out.

“So, how long will you be staying here? Not that I’m trying to kick you out, but I figured you’d have better places to go to than this little village,” Lorian asked.

“We’ll be heading out in two days. Aurelia is charting a way, and making preparations for the trip,” Noah replied.

“Letting the lady take the charge, huh?”

Noah shrugged. “I don’t know this area. Like, at all. So yeah. Better than being lost and ended up dead.”

“True,” Lorian replied.

Noah took one last sip from the ale, before chugging down whatever remained in the cup. He couldn’t really turn lifeblood off with Tony in his arm and asleep, so he’d had to make do with just the taste for now.

“By the way, I have a request for you,” Noah said, glancing at Lorian.

“What is it?” the man asked, looking back at Noah curiously.

“Could you get me the items on this list?” Noah said, digging out a folded sheet of paper from his back pocket and handing it to Lorian.

Lorian grabbed the sheet of paper, taking a look at it briefly. “What in hellion’s name is this?” he said, reading through the list. “A living animal, preferably a rat or rabbit. A bottle of sand, a big pile of pebbles, at least a hundred, a vial of blood, preferably fresh…” Lorian trailed off, before looking up at Noah. “Are you trying to summon a demon or something?”

Noah laughed, but Lorian’s expression didn’t lighten whatsoever. “No, it’s just, I’ve gotten new abilities, and I want to test them out. No demon summoning, I promise,” Noah said.

“Well, I’ll see what I can do. But if you want it today, it’s gonna cost you,” Lorian said.

Noah reached out into his inventory and took out five E-grade mana stones. “Will this be enough?”

Lorian’s eyes popped out, and he grabbed three before returning two. “Adventurers,” he murmured under his breath. “You’ll have it by the end of the day.”

Noah smiled, nodding as he got up and walked out of the tavern.

He mentally put in a feel for how much his mana stones and money really were worth, though it would likely take some more time for him to gain a proper sense, but if he was right, then he was rich. Noah did not remember any point in his life back on Earth where he could ever be called rich. Rich was too far off a word for him to grasp, and for the majority of his life he was used to going job to job and living paycheck to paycheck. Even as a child, with only his mother to rely on, Noah had always felt wanting for things.

Combining all of that with now him being in a new world, he felt oddly taken back at the idea of having money for the first time ever. Perhaps... he could find a use for this at some point? Noah shrugged, tossing the two mana stones in his hand playfully before he slipped them in his inventory.

A smile remained stuck on his face as he walked back. It felt really good to be rich.

It took Lorian a few hours to get everything for him. And Noah watched the teenage boy that worked at Lorian’s inn bring everything to him on a cart. “Master couldn’t find everything, so he listed out what he could find here,” the boy said, handing Noah the paper. Noah took a look and shrugged. Most of what he wanted was here.

“Thanks,” Noah told the boy, before taking the items and carrying them one after the other. After a few minutes, Noah had a stack of a random assortment of items placed in the chamber where he had summoned Tony. This time, having taken permission before doing his tests. Leah had not been very happy at having to clean the blood and lines of mana from his last stunt. Aurelia sat in the chamber in one corner, eating a strange blue mango. Noah had tried it, and found it tasted way too sweet for his preferences.

“I’d appreciate some help,” Noah said, carrying the cage with the rabbit inside.

“I’m sure you would,” Aurelia replied, taking another bite of the mango. The woman had decided the best way to take revenge on Noah, constantly making puns with her, was to ignore him as much as she could.

Noah shrugged, carrying the last of the items into the chamber.

After keeping everything, he looked at the list in his hand to see what all Lorian had gotten him.

Live animal - Rabbit

Blood - Pig’s blood from today.

Sand - Not sure why you didn’t just get some yourself. But I got a bottle of refined sand they use in construction.

Pebbles - I didn’t count, but the guy told me there’s more than a hundred.

Boulder - Miners aren’t around, and the mine is closed. Couldn’t get this one.

Magical creature - There’s a small glow-worm that has mana in a box. Couldn’t get anything else.

Large stick - Got some long branches from a lumberjack. Again, I have no idea why you didn’t just get it yourself, but I’m not going to complain.

Noah checked the items before putting the list away.

“So, what’re you planning to do with those?” Aurelia asked, finally taking some interest.

“Like I told you before, I’m planning to test out my abilities.”

“And how do you intend to do that?” Aurelia asked.

“Just watch,” Noah said, as he walked to a different corner of the chamber.

Then, one by one, he began to empty his inventory, letting the items drop down till there was nothing left.

“Alright, test one,” Noah said, walking to the items he had. Bending down, he picked a pebble up in his hand, and used Blink.

As expected, the pebble was still in his hand when he reappeared. Noah went back to the items, and this time, picked up the vial of blood and tested again. The same result applied, and Noah appeared with the vial of blood still in his hands.

“What’re you doing?” Aurelia asked, as Noah continued to go through the items.

“Trying to see what all I can teleport with,” Noah said, this time carrying the pebbles. To his surprise, it was slightly harder to teleport this time than before.

Noah tried once more, teleporting back, but with fewer pebbles this time, and the ability worked more easily.

“Huh,” he murmured. “It seems like carrying a lot of items makes my ability harder to use.”

Putting the pebbles in his inventory, he tried again, and found Blink working perfectly. So inventory items don’t affect it.

Moving on, Noah grabbed the big stick, and then teleported once more. The ability worked, as was to be expected. At the other end of the chamber, Noah let the stick fall to the ground, and put his feet on it, trying to blink.

Blue mana burned around him before he vanished, appearing on the other side. But the stick didn’t come with him.

Noah moved back to the stick again, this time sitting on the floor, with his legs crossed, and the stick on his lap, as he tried again.

Blink buzzed with mana but did not activate.

“Interesting,” Noah murmured. He tried again, this time pouring just a little more mana and found himself on the other end of the room, as the stick fell onto the ground.

So it only carries stuff I’m holding.

Noah walked out of the chamber, finding a wooden box. Slowly, he began to put various items within the box, before setting them on the ground. Then, he took off one shoe, and grabbed the box by his toes, lifting it up. Using Blink, he appeared on the other side of the room, the box still grabbed by his toes.

“Yup, that’s so weird.”

“I’m so confused right now,” Aurelia murmured.

“I can only teleport items I’m holding on to. Can’t teleport it if I’m just touching it. So even if I wanted to, I couldn’t say, teleport myself away with this building,” Noah said, pressing his hands against the wall as he tried for just a moment.

His mana faded into nothingness, and his ability did not activate.

“That… makes sense,” Aurelia said, holding her chin in thought. “The ability needs to channel your mana into the item to pull it through. It cannot do that unless you’re actively holding on to an item. I assume this is a built in restriction within the Astral scripts for the ability. Though there may be other, more powerful abilities that don’t have such restrictions.”

“Right. So, that’s one thing tested. Now’s another one,” Noah said, before walking up to the cage with the rabbit. He looked at the little rabbit inside, that sniffed when it approached, before recoiling upon noticing his new arm. Noah didn’t mind, just glad that it was staying put.

“Hopefully nothing happens to you buddy,” he said, before activating blink.

A moment later, he was standing on the other side of the room, carrying the little rabbit in his arms.

Noah looked down, making sure the rabbit was fine. The little fur ball looked confused at the sudden change in scenery, but otherwise rather unharmed.

“I can teleport living things too then,” Noah said, before opening the cage as he held the rabbit in his hand. He used Blink once more and found it working without issues. Petting the rabbit’s head, he walked back and put it back inside its cage. Taking out the glow worm, he held the box, feeling the mana coming from it. A moment later, Noah reactivated Blink. There was some resistance at first, but it soon vanished, and Noah appeared ahead, with the worm still alive.

Nodding, he put the box aside, taking a seat as he began to meditate. Mana flowed rapidly into him, and before soon, he was full.

Mana: 100%

“Final test now,” Noah said, getting up from the floor as he put his hand on Aurelia’s shoulder. “I’m going to try to teleport you alongside with me. Is that fine?”

“It is,” Aurelia said, and Noah nodded, before activating Blink.

His mana settled and moved, but nothing seemed to happen as he activated the spell. He frowned before looking at Aurelia. “Maybe this isn’t considered holding for the system. Can you give me your hand?”

Aurelia followed along, as the two held hands, and Noah tried once more.

This time, the ability activated. Mana burned in a furious frenzy, digging into his resources with rapid speeds. A bright blue flash burned, almost blinding Noah as he felt the world slip from underneath him.

Warning. Low Mana.

Blink has reached level 5!

Noah collapsed on the floor as the world spun around him. He gagged, feeling the contents of his stomach starting to rise, as the disorienting sensation overwhelmed him. Aurelia looked to have some side effects as well, she stood leaning against the wall, clutching her head.

“That was… awful,” Aurelia muttered, trying to regain her balance.

Noah nodded, wiping the drool from his mouth as she slowly pulled himself back to his feet. “I’m almost drained, and… yeah, that was awful.”

He gagged once more.

“I guess… it’s good to know that I can teleport us out in an emergency,” Noah said, trying to settle his spinning vision.

“I’m not sure if I’d want to pick that over just dying,” Aurelia said, clutching her head harder. “I feel like my brain is about to split in two.”

“Guess that’s our unofficial half-time break then,” Noah said, before one last wave of nausea hit him. His resistance finally gave up as the food rose up into his mouth and Noah ran to the nearest bathroom as he began to empty the contents of his stomach.

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