Rise of the Devourer

Noah walked towards the boar, staying below the line of shrubbery, as the group slowly moved closer, making sure not to startle the creature. The giant boar stood nearby, almost coming up to Noah’s shoulders in height, and at least eight feet in length. Noah used Identify on the creature.

[A Draconian Wildboar - lvl 172]

A second later, his bracelet gleamed and Noah saw a notification pop up in front of him.

Item [Runewoven Bracelet of Arcana] has modified your perk.

Inspect has been upgraded to Analyze.

“What the shit?” Noah exclaimed, looking down at his bracelet, as the glow of light died down within it. He glanced sideways to see Aurelia looking down similarly at her own bracelet.

“You got the same thing?” He asked.

“Yeah. Just when did Zax have the time to change the bracelet?” Aurelia asked.

Noah shrugged, checking his bracelet. He’d never paid much attention to it before, used to the conveniences it provided, but he was starting to realize just how much Zax was slowly building into the item. Using his new, Analyze perk, Noah checked the item.

[Runewoven Bracelet of Arcana (Rank D, ???)]

Durability: 8/9

Type: Accessory

A bracelet made with intricate runesand complex magics that even the Celestians would wish to study, should they get their hands on this device. This arcane bracelet allows others with similar bracelets to communicate with one another from long distances. It also gives the following abilities.

[Telepathy], [Quick Transfer], [Second Chance], [True sight] and [Analyze].

Warning: Not all abilities are currently active

Noah stared at the list of abilities in surprise, alongside the three question marks on the grade. He already knew what Telepathy and Quick Transfer did. It’s what they used to talk to each other telepathically or teleport to one another when within the range of the abilities. But the rest were all new to him. One by one, Noah selected the abilities.

[Second Chance]

This ability is passive and can only activate once before it has to be recharged. If the wearer’s health goes below 1% this ability activates and heals them back to 10%, and cures any status ailments currently present. Once used, the ability is then ability is then deactivated until recharged.

Warning: This ability is currently inactive.

Noah’s eyes widened in surprise as he read through the description. So if he’d hypothetically almost died, this bracelet would heal him back and cure any status ailments?

Broken. Needs to be nerfed.

He read the other abilities.

[True Sight]

This ability allows its user to break through any veils, illusions and other means of deception used by those around them. As a secondary effect, it also enhances the vision of those wearing it slightly.

That was quite the useful ability. He almost wished he’d had it when he was dealing with Vix and the others. He moved on to read the last ability description.

[Analyze]

This ability allows someone to gleam the true nature and value of any item or object, and gain short pieces of insights from the Astral script itself. An ability so covetous, it was hidden by the Celestians to guard their treasure of knowledge, but not entirely.

Noah whistled at that. Aurelia, similarly, looked pleased. Neither of the other two had any idea when Zax had done this, but it was certainly a nifty addition.

“Can we still talk to Zax? Or teleport out of here?” Noah asked. A second later, he tried to contact Zax but found on error message popping up on his bracelet.

“Nope. He’s clearly adjusted it at some point in preparation for this,” Aurelia said.

“Did you see the second chance ability?” Noah asked.

“Yup. It’s insane. No wonder he’d asked for my ring, he’d been trying to replicate the spell all along. I’d forgot to ask it back from him too,” Aurelia said, looking down at her wrist.

“I’m feeling a little left out,” Vion said, watching the two of them fawn over their device.

“Sorry, we got distracted,” Aurelia said, turning towards the wild boar nearby. It was still far, and hadn’t noticed their presence.

Noah used Analyze on the creature.

[Draconian Wildboar (Rare) - lvl 172]

A draconian wild boar. One of the weaker creatures found within the northern forests of Draconias, these boars are a result of the dragon blood spreading through this area from creature to creature. Its mutations give it a thicker skin, and scales in portions. It can also breathe fire. Good thing you’re resistant, isn’t it?

Huh. That’s the first time the description has directly referred to me.

Noah glanced towards Aurelia. “Did you get the same description from the creature as well?”

“It told me some details about the boar, yes,” Aurelia replied.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Neat, and quite helpful here. Let’s go get it. It doesn’t sound very strong, and there’s three of us.”

“Let’s not jump in without a plan. I think we should setup a trap,” Aurelia said.

“It’s a boar. Why do we need a plan to catch a boar?” Vion asked, scoffing.

Noah thought for a second.

“I’ll go teleport on top of it, and take it by surprise, using my spear to score a direct hit near its head. You two then come in and deal the finishing blow if it’s not dead immediately. How’s that for a plan?” He asked.

Aurelia looked at. Sighed. And then gave him a nod.

“Alright. We’ll do it your way.”

Noah grinned, taking out his spear. He glanced at Vion and Aurelia, the dragon woman rolled her eyes, while Aurelia gave him a nod, and the two moved closer towards their target, crouching and doing their best not to make any noise.

Noah kept his eyes on his target, waiting for the right moment. He could feel the buzz of mana swirling under his skin, moving through his runic tattoos with almost an electric buzz of thrill, waiting to be released.

Aurelia and Vion took position. The boar, unaware, continued to graze. Noah focused his attention.

Arcane Step whirred, the mana pulsing as he was gone, reappearing the next instant on top of the wild boar.

Wham!

The spear sunk into the creature’s body, as the boar let out a loud squeal. Noah cursed to himself. The monster reared up, trying to shake him off, but Noah grasped his spear, trying to pull it out for another strike. The spear buckled, but did not come out, and a horrifying realization dawned on Noah. As the creature continued to rear back, shrieking wildly in pain and trying to shake him off, wildly swinging him about, Noah noted his spear didn’t go deep enough, the creature healed fast, so fast that the skin around the wound was already back and his spear was stuck inside.

“Damn it, Noah!” Aurelia cursed, rushing out alongside Vion rushed out.

The creature continued to thrash wildly as Noah clung on desperately. It slammed, running around fast and bringing down trees within the forest from the force of its impacts. Even with all his enhanced body and power, a direct strike of that would certainly crack his bones.

Aurelia and Vion gave chase. Aurelia struck with flaming fists, while Vion slashes, transparent claws forming around her hands as she attacked. The wild boar swung, shaking its face as it tried to hurt the two women, but they were fast, deftly dodging its strikes. All it did, was knock down more trees. As the creature realized its efforts were not bearing any results, it changed focus, turning to run away instead.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Aurelia shouted, jumping forward. Fire roared all around her, and Vion joined, with her lava forming. The two combined their attacks, forming a fire and lava ball to try as the two combined their strengths to attack. The boar, sensing the fireball, turned around as fire began rising in its mouth.

At once, the two attacks rushed out, colliding. The world turned white for a few moments as heat blasted everywhere.

Noah, finally with a moment where the boar had stopped thrashing, grasped his spear firmly and then pulled it out. The creature had burns on its body, but its dragon blood was healing it, and fast. Noah had warmblood and was aware just how potent it could be. He had to kill it in one shot.

“Don’t burn it!” He shouted, before charging Void Annihilation into his spear, as the energy crackled around like black lightning. With a powerful thrust, he struck, sinking the weapon deep into the creature’s skull this time.

The boar’s eyes rolled up into its skull with one final roar, as it plopped onto the ground, dead. The notification popped up in his interface, alongside a notification showing all three of his paths had leveled up once.

Noah jumped down from the creature, pulling the blood covered in brain matter out with a squelch. The blood and gore burning away as he channeled his void abilities, and the rest was absorbed by the spear hungrily.

Aurelia looked at him standing there with a proud face, and sighed.

“Well, that wasn’t too bad,” Noah said.

Vion raised an eyebrow, looking around them.

The entire forest around them was wrecked, fires blazing through the area. Where the fire spells had struck each other, the sight looked like a meteor had struck the earth, scorching it black.

“Well, I guess we wrecked the place a little bit,” Noah said.

“You really need to stop jumping into battles—”

Vion’s eyes sharpened, as she raised her and, signaling for them to be quiet. The two pause, noticing the sudden tension from the dragon woman. She pointed upwards for them to see. “There, one of the wyverns noticed the commotion and is coming here, we need to hide.”

“It’s just one? We could take it out,” Noah said. He’d been itching to try his soul harvest ability, and a wyvern seemed like the perfect test subject.

“It’s a scout. We don’t take out scouts, unless you want the entire hive to descend on us immediately,” Vion replied, keeping her voice low. “Hide your mana,” she added.

Noah quickly put the giant boar in his inventory and then moved along with the rest of them. The group ran from the wreckage, hiding in a nearby forest section as they watched the giant wyvern swoop down with a thud. The creature came down with a powerful wind of gust, moving much faster than a creature of that size should normally be able to. It looked around the area, sniffing with curiosity.

Noah had seen the juveniles before, back when they had travelled to catch the Iron Fist. They were fairly large, but this one was larger even still, and its body was a different color, a mix of white and a pale blue that ran through its scale like stripes, almost looking like tattoo marks.

[Juveline Sky Wyvern (Legendary) - ??]

A sky wyvern scout. These type of wyverns are built for agility, and the adults can move fast enough to break the sound barrier, causing sonic booms. It is said that an elder or ancient Sky wyvern is capable of flying to the edge of the sky and back within a few seconds. They are notoriously difficult to handle, or catch, but make for excellent mounts, for the brave souls who can tame them without losing their heads.

Noah moved back as the the wyvern turned towards their direction for a moment. It moved closer, sniffing in their direction. He could see Vion and Aurelia tensing, ready to strike back if needed.

Hey bud, need your help.

Noah said, as Tony came out from his body, flapping around. Noah teleported him using his dimensional vault, and a second later, a screeching noise came in the distance. The wyvern turned, distracted by the noise as it followed Tony who was long gone. The three of them slowly moved away, making their way out of the area.

It was only after the Wyvern took off, did they breathe easy. Noah patted Tony, as the creature returned.

“Good job bud,” he said, as Tony twirled happily, before sinking back into him.

“That was… scary,” Aurelia said.

“Yeah, and those guys are huge. Much bigger than the wyverns we had seen,” Noah said.

Vion scoffed. “Domesticated wyverns are like dogs, whereas wild ones are wolves. They’re bigger on average, and stronger. They’re Legendary grade creatures, and have the attributes to show for it. Even a juvenile is stupidly strong.”

“Even the domesticated wyverns are a force to be reckoned with. A wyvern rider squad has a lot of strength and influence, and entire kingdoms have been built on that foundation before,” Aurelia said.

Noah paused as he realized something. “Wait, so if wyverns are legendary grade, what are dragons?”

Vion froze, as if taken by surprise from that question.

Noah turned to look at her.

Aurelia looked at her as well.

The two pair of eyes bore into the dragon-woman.

“So- did you know, dragons are one of the few creatures who have both race levels and can also pick a path under certain circumstances?”

Noah realized he’d never used Identify on Vion, and a moment later, he used the new upgraded ability.

[???]

[Runewoven Bracelet of Arcana] has applied [Truesight]!

[Name: Vion]

[Race: Draconian Humanoid - lvl 72 (???)]

[Path: Magma-mancer (Rare) - lvl 114]

Noah stared at the question marks at her rarity. Vion sighed.

“It’s… called mythical. It’s a rarity above legendary.”

You’ve discovered the mythical rarity!

You will be able to identify mythical grade objects from now on.

One skill point awarded.

“Oh… I got a skill point for that,” Aurelia said.

“You’re E rank?” Noah asked, shocked.

“Mythical… I have never heard of it. And, why is it hidden? And why were you not telling us?”

A shriek interrupted their conversation as the group looked overhead to see a few more wyverns now circling up above.

“I’ll explain, but let’s get somewhere safe first,” Vion said, before pausing. “It’s… a long story.”

Noah looked at Aurelia, who returned a similar look, before the two followed Vion.

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