Rise of the Devourer

Taking a moment, Noah opened his notification inbox, letting the notifications display themselves in front of him.

[Astralkwalker] has reached level 21!

[Voidhunter] has reached level 21!

[Astralkwalker] has reached level 22!

Power increased to 78

Agility increased to 74

Mystic increased to 84

+6 free Attributes.

Movement Speed: D4 → D6

Strength: D2 → D3.

[Lifeblood] has reached level 5!

[Abyssal Symbiote] has reached level 8!

[Obliterate] has reached level 8!

[Dimensional Pocket] has reached level 3!

[Void Hunter’s Eyes] has reached level 15!

[Blink] has reached level 10!

[Blink (Basic → Intermediate)]

[Astral Resistance] has reached level 10!

[Astral Resistance (Basic → Intermediate)]

So many of his abilities had levelled up. Even against the wyrm he’d not seen this much improvement.

“From your expression, I take it the spar was beneficial?” Raesar asked.

“How could you tell?”

“Experience. People grow the most when they’re forced to push beyond their limits. And you’re just getting started. The most growth happens at this stage where your Astral Soul and body rapidly grow into the potential they’ve arisen to. But that doesn’t mean you can stop training once you’ve crossed certain level thresholds. Raw Attributes will only take you so far if you do not train your Abilities, Skills, and Sub-Attributes properly. There’re far too many over-levelled junkies out there with no foundation in them,” Raesar said, snorting.

The giant Drailith’s chest muscles twitched as a thick tail behind him moved around to curl at his feet. Raesar turned to look back down at Noah, extending his hand to him. “Now, I’d appreciate it if you could return my pants, please.”

Noah’s gaze travelled downward. Somehow, he’d forgotten the muscular man was naked all this time with how casually he’d been walking around.

Quickly reaching out to his Dimensional Pocket, he retrieved Raesar’s pants and handed them to the man.

Raesar nodded, walking away.

Noah turned to Remi. “Do all Drailith’s have that monster hanging on their lower halves?”

Remi chuckled. “Never seen a Drailith naked before?”

Noah shook his head.

“They’re not all like that. Drailiths are typically about the size of humans, the guild head is just tall. Which reflects everywhere on him I suppose,” Remi added, chuckling once more.

Noah looked at Raesar, now wearing pants again, still brimming with energy. He wondered if there was a [Big Dick] skill somewhere out there that he could try to get. And if Raesar secretly had it on him.

If that exists, the method to get it is totally a guarded secret in some vault.

“Are all guild heads as strong as him?” Noah asked Remi.

“Some are stronger, most are weaker, but it depends on where you are. Go to a larger city, or a guild around a higher grade zone and you’ll find more powerful people in the area. Someone of the guild head’s capability could easily be a guild head in Heartilia too, but Raesar inherited the place from the previous guild head who’d taught him. He refused all opportunities and offers to move somewhere else. Says a guild’s only worth is in the heart you give it, and there’s none in those damn nobles,” Remi said.

“You make him sound pretty awesome,” Noah said.

“He is pretty awesome. You’ll learn that if you stick around. Most of us do, and it’s only because of him,” Remi said. “I’ll leave you to rest now. Great match.”

“Thanks,” Noah replied.

I should’ve asked about the [Big Dick] skill too.

Putting his silly fantasies aside, Noah went back to his ability upgrades.

[Blink (Epic/Intermediate) – level 10]

The realms cannot hold you. Become capable of entering the Astral Rifts for a short period of time as you teleport around in the blink of an eye.

The short part was removed from his teleport range. Could he teleport really far now? Noah wanted to test the hypothesis, but his mana was still recovering, and it would likely not be good to randomly try and teleport around.

There was also the mention of Astral Rifts, but Noah wasn’t sure what that meant. Another thing he’d have to test to find out.

Moving on, he opened the description for Astral Resistance.

[Astral Resistance (Intermediate) – level 10]

You have started to gain a basic grasp upon the fabric of space itself, peering through the gap between the realms. Your soul has absorbed the Astral Rifts, growing ever more resilient to the magic.

Noah wasn’t sure what the grasp upon the fabric of space meant. Maybe it was something I saw inside my Dimensional Pocket.

Closing the ability menu, Noah decided to not invest his free stat points right now. Feeling his mana still quite low, he closed his eyes to Meditate. The surroundings slipped away as he focused solely on his breath, and the flow of mana making its way into him.

Time seemed to slow down as his awareness expanded. The mana within him filled to the brim. Yet, unlike before, Noah felt now that he could push. Focusing on his mana, he continued to fill more and more. The mana began to seep out of his body, but a very small amount remained.

As a dull ache told him pushing any further would cause damage, Noah stopped.

Opening his eyes, he saw new notifications had arrived.

Mana: 105%

Mana Capacity: E9 → D0.

Cognitive Speed: F4 → F5.

Somehow, the improvements hadn’t stopped yet. A wide grin began to rise on Noah’s face, a budding desire to fight Raesar growing within him.

I wonder how much stronger I need to be before I can challenge him.

Stretching his limbs and finding the familiar sense of energy that came after a good workout, Noah made his way back through the training hall.

Taking the elevator up, he reached the waiting room on the fifth floor, and started that way when he heard Nae’s voice.

“Those damn rot-infested motherfuckers.”

Noah did a double take at hearing the curse in Nae’s high-pitched and girlish voice. The words were followed by even more expressive cursing, and then Aurelia answered.

Noah entered the room, finding the two women seated with grim expressions.

“Umm, is this a bad time?” Noah asked.

“Yes,” Nae replied, her eyes rooted to something in her vision that Noah couldn’t see, a murderous glimmer in her eyes. “I have some Abyssal-scum who managed to slip under my watch to catch and skin.”

“I assume you were discussing Aurelia’s former party?” Noah asked.

“We were. Apparently, I was far from an isolated case,” Aurelia replied.

“There have been more and more reports of missing people, and now that I’m charting this, a lot of them are tied to Quests certain party members have taken,” Nae said, clutching her hair. “This is awful. If people lose faith in the guild, the backlash… Just how are these cultists avoiding Identify?”

Nae bit at her nails, continuing to alternatively pour over sheets of paper with naps that flipped on their own, or swiping at the air.

“Did you learn anything?” Noah asked Aurelia.

“Not much, not on the grand scale of things. But the Iron Fists are near Windrest, on some other Quest,” Aurelia said.

Noah expected to see more anger, hate, or any form of emotion to find that the party who’d betrayed her and left her to die was so close.

“I didn’t expect you to be so calm,” Noah said.

“I’m not,” Aurelia replied.

It was only then that he noted the blazing orange mana glowing in her eyes. “Most fire Paths are passionate people, loud, energetic, boisterous. They get angry when they do, and do not hesitate to show it. It fuels their magic, as much as the magic feeds into their personality. It’s a good thing too, it strengthens them. Do you know why I can live amongst those people and compete with them, when I am not at all like that?” Aurelia asked, the orange flickers in her eyes growing stronger.

“Why?”

“She’s a got a Berserker Perk is why,” Nae said. “Or something pretty damn close to it anyway. If you ever meet a Berserker, they’ll be the most calm and controlled people you’ve ever seen. They bottle their anger. And that is not metaphorical. They literally bottle it up inside their soul as mana, and then let it explode once enough has accumulated. I suspect your friend has been doing that ever since you freed her,” Nae said, glancing at Aurelia. “Or maybe longer. That’s a lot of mana.”

“What she said,” Aurelia replied. “I’d come close once or twice to using my abilities completely, but that would have left me drained for a week. It would’ve essentially meant letting those guys go. I hope you can forgive me for that,” Auerlia said, dipping her head once.

“I’m not sure what there is to forgive,” Noah said with a shrug.

“If I had used my ability, you wouldn’t have lost your arm.”

Noah glanced at his arm. A strange emotion filled him. He looked back up to meet Aurelia’s eyes.

“Would you have used it if I was about to die.”

“Yes,” Aurelia replied.

“Then I have no problems. You did what you thought was the best, despite my reckless choices, and the lost arm ended up being a good thing anyway,” Noah replied, leaning back on the sofa.

“Thanks, Noah,” Aurelia said, patting his shoulder.

“Shut it you two, I’m working,” Nae spat, hissing like an angry cat.

Papers flew in and out all around the room, letters glowing and shuffling. Noah watched the woman’s abilities in wonder, hearing words he could not understand or make out coming from her mouth.

“Mantra chains. Fate magic,” Aurelia whispered, having noticed his curiosity.

Noah nodded, trying to watch closely.

With a sudden twist, a single word began to glow with a brilliant golden light, rising from the map.

“Aquaris. They’re in Aquaris,” Nae said.

Aurelia looked back, returning a nod.

“Good. Great. Consider this an official request on behalf of the guild to track down the members of the Iron Fists and bring them to us. Keep one of them alive,” Nae said.

New Quest obtained!

Quest: The Vengeful Hunt

You’ve found the location of the traitorous members of the Party Iron Fists. Find them and bring them to justice for their crimes.

Difficulty: Hard.

Reward: Unknown.

“And Quest received,” Noah said. “By the way, can you finish the registration process to make me an adventurer?”

“Ah, right. Give me a minute, my hands are tied. I’ve got so much to track. We’ll need to vet every member in the guild with a Paladin of Hellion. You’ll likely be accompanied by one on your Quest, With the Identify veil being this good, the only reliable way to root these cultists out now is Light of Judgment, and that’s a divine skill.

“Anyway, agree to this contract and let it record your mana signature,” Nae said, handing a scroll to Noah. “You can take it to someone as well if you want to take be sure. Just don’t lose it, or I will have Raesar beat you into the ground.” Nae snorted.

“I feel like your personality did a flip while I was gone…” Noah said, putting the contract into his Dimensional Pocket.

“I’m FAR too pissed to be nice right now. If news of the fact that cultists infiltrated the guild and organized human trafficking and ritual sacrifices right under our nose on official guild Quests gets out, we could all be facing trial held by the Avera-blasted pantheon of gods,” Nae replied.

“That… sounds bad?” Noah said.

“Very, very bad. A trial of the pantheon has not been held in five decades. It’ll destroy the guild. Hellion isn’t known for her mercy,” Nae said with a sigh. “Worst case scenarios aside, make up your mind, Noah, and give me a few days to deal with this mess. We’ll arrange a paladin to accompany you and give you the details, rewards, and all of that. For now… well. Enjoy Windrest, I suppose.” Nae picked up the documents on the table. Tapping them on the table, she neatly stacked them in a row, and they disappeared in a flash of light.

“Well, we should head out then,” Aurelia said.

“Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Aurelia. I’ll make sure you get your Quest rewards, and an additional compensation from the guild for putting you in danger like that,” Nae said.

Aurelia nodded, and she and Noah entered the elevator and made their way out of the guild.

“Do you want to go the inn now?” Aurelia asked once they reached the main street.

“Are you kidding me? I’m finally in a city after like a week. And we’ve got some good money on us, which means there’s just one thing to do!” Noah said, smiling happily.

Aurelia quirked her eyebrow.

“It’s time to go shopping, baby!”

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