[RotD] 26 — A Night in the Woods

Noah felt a hand shake him, as his mind slipped away from the dark comfort of his shut eyelids. Taking a moment to blink off the sleep, Noah looked up and saw Aurelia crouching next to him.

“I’ll need to catch about an hour of sleep. Can you take over the watch?”

Noah nodded, pulling himself up before yawning and stretching out his limbs. “I love feeling refreshed in just a few hours of sleep,” he murmured, watching the fire still crackling.

“You must have a high constitution for your level,” Leon said, tossing a piece of wood into the fire they’d made for their camp. “I mostly see sleep reduction with E-rankers of higher.”

Noah nodded, stretching his limbs. “You didn’t sleep?” Noah asked.

“I took a small nap, but I doubt I could’ve slept even if I wanted to,” Leon said. Noah noticed some tools next to Leon, and scraps of shaven wood.

Leon noticed Noah’s glance and took out the little bear statue to show it off. “This little guy needed some repairs after that battle, so I figured I may as well make use of my time.”

Noah stared at the bear, realising that he could see burn marks and scars from their fight. There was a sizeable chunk of the wooden bear missing from its side.

“Can you just shrink and grow them at will? It was quite surprising when I saw the giant wooden bear come out of nowhere.”

“Some, I can. The special ones. Most others I cannot. Cub was one of the first sculptures I ever made, so he’s more special than most, and I have the most control over him.”

Noah looked at the little bear, at the remarks, feeling the gentle movements of Leon’s hands as he worked on fixing the sculpture.

“Are they alive? Like, do they feel pain and stuff?”

Leon looked at Noah before laughing. “No, they’re sculptures. They can’t feel pain, but… maybe they can be called alive. Cub definitely feels alive. Perhaps if I keep growing, maybe I’ll be able to bring them to life better.”

“It sounds like you care about your sculptures a lot,” Noah replied, watching Leon’s expression.

“I do. It’s why I got me my [Life Sculptor] Path. It’s my greatest desire to create a sculpture so perfect, it can capture the essence of life, and be indistinguishable from the real thing.”

“Do you think you can do it?” Noah asked.

“Probably not. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try,” Leon replied. “And after that encounter… I feel like I have a chance.”

Noah nodded, leaning back. The crackling of the fire let his mind begin to drift, and he reached out to his Astral Script to see if he could open it.

To his surprise, the interface popped up with only a dull throb.

Name: Noah Brown
Race: Human (Symbiont)

Rank: F

Paths:

Exsanguinator - level 22
Astralwalker - level 20
Void Hunter - level 20

Attributes:

Power: 70
Agility: 48
Constitution: 49
Mystic: 75

Attribute points: 62

Noah eyes bulged as he looked at his menu, realising that the recent battle had gained him a lot of levels. All of which he’d not gotten any notifications for. Reaching out to his system, he pulled up all relevant notifications for him to read.

You’ve survived Terror-V.
You’ve survived the presence of an Ascendant.

You’ve gained the skill [Terror Resistance]!

[Terror Resistance] has reached level 3.

[Exsanguinator] has reached level 22.
[Astralwalker] has reached level 20.
[Void Hunter] has reached level 20.

[Blink] has reached level 7.
[Obliterate] has reached level 6.
[Blood Drain] has reached level 7.
[Bleed] has reached level 8.
[Void Hunter’s Eyes] has reached level 12.

[Void Hunter’s Eyes (Basic →Intermediate)]!
[Abyssal Symbiote] has reached level 7.
[Soul Resistance] has reached level 9.

There was a lot to go through, and Noah felt surprised by just how much had changed from that single encounter. Looking at his new Skill, Noah opened Terror resistance.

[Terror Resistance (Basic) - level 3]

You have survived the depths of terror and lived to tell the tale. Find yourself resistant to Terror effects.

He read through the skill, feeling pleased by the new gain. Terror was the worst status effect he’d seen so far, and if the resistance meant he would not be as helpless against a creature like that again, then he’d love to have it on him.

Going back to his screen, Noah looked at his free stat points. He’d accumulated a lot, so it was about time to invest some of it.

Looking through his stats, Noah thought over it for a while. His reflex was attached to Agility, which was a stat he’d most likely benefit from improving. Mystic was already quite high, and Power translated to more damage by his abilities. Constitution was also an easy one to get done, with his health directly tied into it.

After a few more minutes of thought, Noah distributed his points.

Power increased to 76.
Agility increased to 75.
Constitution increased to 80.

Noah saw his health bar rapidly increase in size, as a wave of energy pulsed through him. The feeling was Euphoric, and it continued to build. The sensation took Noah by surprise as his body twitched from the rapid increase in attributes.

“Did you… did you strengthen all your attributes at once?” Leon asked, watching Noah.

Noah found himself struggling to reply, as each muscle in his body tensed.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Leon said with a sigh. “You’re really new to this, aren’t you? Lie down and sleep. You’re going to need rest.”

“I’m… fine,” Noah replied through clenched teeth.

“You’re really not. With how rapidly your Aura is expanding, your body must be going into overdrive to keep up with the changes. If you can’t sleep then meditate. I’ll keep watch by myself for now.”

Noah didn’t argue with the man, closing his eyes as he began to meditate. Mana flowed into him as his mind sunk within his consciousness. His focus deepened entirely on his breath, as sensations began to slip away from his body.

Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out.

It was calming, and Noah could feel each breath filling his mana pool and rejuvinating his body.

Time passed by, and in a few minutes, Noah felt his body fill to the brim with Mana. The capacity had grown, from a shallow puddle to a deep bowl of water that rested within him.

Mana Regen D1 → D2.
Mana: 100%

Noah opened his eyes, finding himself feeling a lot calmer. He glanced at the skies, realising the sun was starting to rise in the distance.

“Hope you feel better?” Leon asked Noah.

“Yeah,” Noah replied.

“Good. There’s a rule of thumb we teach newly awakened for strengthening their attribute. Rank F to E, the recommended amount is no more than twenty five at a time. Above that it’s fifty, up to Rank C. Rank B can do up to seventy five. And hundred at once is what Rank As are recommended,” Leon said, glancing at Noah. “Typically this is only information Nobles and their children learn. Commoners don’t have the resources or the kind of paths that can survive encounters where they grow this rapidly.”

Noah nodded. “Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind.”

Feeling a bit better, and mostly recovered, he reached out to his system again, and noticed his notification system still being messed up. Noah frowned, as he watched the notifications, before focusing on them.

He could feel his concentration pushing against his Astral Script, as he began to move the notifications to a folder. Forming the notification box properly, Noah then began to focus on his notification and began to tag them.

Levels. Skills. Abilities. Attributes. Sub-attributes.

Each tag would have a different display priority, and he’d be able to access all of it one at a time, or all at once if he wanted.

A ping chimed in Noah’s ears as he heard a notification appear, and a single red dot on the icon appeared. Noah opened the notification, before seeing the Skill tag highlighted and saw the new skill up.

[Soul Modification] has reached level 3.

Noah smiled, happy to see his new system was working. Now he would not be spammed by random increase notifications as he was in the middle of combat, and could check them at his leisure when he wanted to.

There was more to be done, and Noah suspected there could be a lot more tweaks he could make to his Astral Script, but he didn’t want to strain his soul again, and decided to leave this be for now.

Moving through the notification folder, Noah finally reached [Void Hunter’s Eyes], and opened the ability menu.

[Void Hunter’s Eye (Intermediate) - level 12]

You can see clearer than ever, and your eyes can peer through the darkest depths. Become capable of channeling mana into your eyes to look at lifeforce.

Noah read through the description, noticing the change regarding the mana channeling. He tried the ability out, feeling void mana gathering into his eyes. Vibrant flashes of green covered his eyes, his own body being a particularly bright source.

Looking around, Noah found one particular spot blindingly bright, and he had to stop his ability to be able to see clearly. Noah blinked a few times, clearing his vision, before he saw the glow came from the scale Irios was clinging on to, as he slept next to his mother.

Noah used Identify on the scale.

[???]

The scale of an ancient being.

“How is Irios doing now?” Noah asked, turning towards Leon.

“His fever vanished almost entirely. So I’m hopeful,” Leon replied.

“You should keep the scale hidden. It’s… got potent lifeforce in it,” Noah said, glancing back towards Irios.

“I can feel it,” Leon replied. “I plan to make a necklace out of it and let Irios keep the scale. The life force will be good for him as he’s growing up,” Leon said.

Noah nodded as he glanced down, clutching his own necklace in his hands.

“I’m still not sure how Irios wasn’t effected by the Terror effect,” Noah murmured, glancing at Leon.

“He’s a child. Unawakened are typically immune from effects like that,” Leon said.

“Huh,” Noah murmured, glancing back at Irios.

The sun’s rays pierced through the forest trees, and Noah turned, watching Aurelia stir and wake up from her sleep. After taking a few moments to settle her wild hair, she turned towards the two of them. “Any problems?”

“None,” Leon replied, glancing at Noah once. “Was a rather peaceful night.”

“Good. The monsters are likely all exhausted by the Eclipse so at least we had that going for us. We should get moving, I want to get to Windrest before sunset.”

Leon nodded, walking up to his wife and son as he woke the two of them up. Noah took the time to put out the fire in their camp. He watched Aurelia nearby, sitting next to a pool of water as she stared silently into it.

“Is everything alright?” Noah asked, walking up to Aurelia, as she snapped out of her daze.

“What? Yes, yeah, everything’s fine,” she replied, wiping at her eyes once.

“Still feeling the after effects?” Noah asked in a quieter voice, as he crouched next to her.

“I’m fine. Just a little unsettled. Back there, in front of that Wyrm, I had accepted my death. My purpose, everything I have been working towards, I lost it all. Just like that. It’s just… taking some time to move on from that.”

Noah sat in silence, before putting a hand on Aurelia’s shoulder. “But we’re alive.”

Aurelia glanced back at Noah, before nodding. “We are.”

Noah smiled, patting Aurelia’s shoulder once more as he got up. Leon and Shaya were awake, and so was Irios, who clung to his mother, with the Wyrm scale tightly grasped in his hand.

Noah looked out into the distance, seeing First Dawn light up the sky, as the suns began to peek over the horizon one after the other, and birdsong began to whistle through the brightening sky.

After checking for everything, and gathering up their camp, the party of five made their way through the forest.

***

It took roughly the entire day of walking for the five of them to exist the forest, before they were forced to make camp as the suns set. After resting through another night, they set out a few hours before the suns rose once again.

In the mean time, he’d been learning more about the eclipse that had just happened from Aurelia, and to his surprise, Shaya.

“The eclipse happens roughly twice a year. No one is sure why, but that’s how it works. The time of an eclipse can be hard to predict, with some happening as close to each other as a single month,” Shaya said.

“There’s another lunar event, called the Bloody Moon. It’s a moon that appears when The Crimson Heart awakens, but that one has not happened since the Primordial God went to sleep. The Watcher also has a Night of the Dead, but that happens every few years, and the eclipse itself lasts for an entire day. It’s a big thing, and it causes a lot of unrest when it happens. The only people who seem to know when these will happen are the Watcher’s cultists and the Crimson Cultists.”

“Wait, so all of these things are influenced by the cults and primordial gods?”

“The cultists don’t cause them, though I’ve heard some large scale rituals can. But they can predict these events. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get that information from a cultist, so there’s no real good way to tell.”

“That’s wild to me. How many cults like that are even there?” Noah asked.

“There’s many sub-branches, but all of them follow one of the three primordial gods. The Incarnation of the Void, The Watcher, or The Crimson Heart. Each of which have the Abyssal Cult, The Lunar Cult, and the Crimson Cult respectively.”

“And the gods are against them?”

“Hellion, the mother goddess of Justice fights against the Abyss in her eternal war. But all gods are against the cults, yes. Raelinah, the old goddess of War led her Valkyries against the Crimson Heart a millenia ago, putting it to sleep. Now the God of war Rutha has taken over the task. And Septah, the God of Mercy protects against the watcher. The other gods do not have any specific foe, but they all shelter us against the primordial god’s influence,” Shaya said, before pulling out a necklace on her neck.

“I see,” Noah said. “Do you follow any of them.”

“Hellion is my goddess, but my mother worshiped Septah, and so I’ve grown up with the God of Mercy’s teachings. This pendant was given to me by my mother, and though I do not worship Septah, I have met him once and his words stay close to my heart,” Shaya said.

Noah stopped, doing a double take. “Wait, hold on you met the god?!” he asked, baffled. “As in… in person?”

Shaya looked at him in confusion. “I did. It was during a festival held in Septah’s name and the god had visited our church for him, which is when I saw him.”

“So the gods… often meet their believers? In person?” Noah asked, struggling to wrap his head around the idea.

“Not often. Maybe with the high ranking clerics. But they do appear in their churches. And sometimes elsewhere too,” Shaya realised.

“Man… our gods were just… distant things. Imagine actually meeting the god you worship,” Noah said, before shaking his head.

“Well, some old deities did that, but they fell out of faith. It’s a bit hard to keep faith in a deity that does not respond,” Aurelia said.

Noah nodded, before his own thoughts churned in his mind. Of what he’d heard of Hellion, he did not have a good impression of the supposed goddess of justice, with her ruthless and merciless ways. Given how she’d asked him to sacrifice his life the moment he’d gotten here for her cause also did not fill him with good feelings about the goddess.

Letting his thoughts drift, Noah watched sunrise light up the grasslands, as the city of Windrest became visible in the distance. Tall walls and a landscape filled with windmills greeted Noah in the distance. There was a constant wind blowing around Windrest, circling the city, and the architecture reflected it.

The buildings were tall, peeking above the walls further into the city, as the central and higher layers of windrest rose up above the landscape. Many bridges connected the tall buildings, and Noah spotted more than a couple people jumping off from the top with wing like gliders attached to this arms as they flew around the landscape.

“What’re those things? That they’re using to fly?” Noah asked, pointing at the group of people jumping off the walls of the city.

“Ah, those are feather-gliders. They have wind mana stones embedded in them, and let you para glide for a long distance,” Aurelia replied.

“Windrest is famous for those, but you see them in other places as well. They’re not good outside of very specific terrain but here, you’ll see almost everyone using them to travel,” Leon added.

“I loved flying with those as a kid,” Aurelia said. “I’ll show you how it works when we get in.”

“Actually, about getting in. I don’t see any gates? Are we on the wrong side?” Noah asked, looking at the city in the distance. No matter how he tried to look, he couldn’t find any entrance to enter the city with.

“Like that,” Aurelia said, pointing.

Noah looked where she way pointing, and saw a giant platform build at the walls. With a sudden burst of wind, a tornado manifested beneath the platform, carrying the large group of wagons and people up the walls.

“Oh shit, an elevator,” Noah said, watching the platform move up steadily before coming to a stop at the top.

“Yup. A wind based one. There’s eight of those in all directions of the city. We’ll be entering from the South West gate,” Aurelia said.

Noah watched the elevators and the flying gliders and people with fascination, as they made their way through the grassland.

As the suns rose above the walls, the party of five had reached the base of the gate, waiting their turn to board. Noah felt like a child, stepping on an escalator for a first time as he walked on the giant stone floor.

With a jerk, he felt the entire platform start to move up, the four chains on all sides clanging as they held them stable. Powerful gusts of wind blew all around as they rose high into the sky, before coming to a stop at the very top of the walls.

“I always liked the view from this city,” Aurelia said.

“It is quite a sight,” Leon agreed.

Noah watched the path they had taken to come here, the forest standing in the distance, with a wide lay of grassland all around the city.

“Can’t deny the sight,” Noah added.

“Let’s head in. I don’t have my adventuring plate, so we’ll have to go through security,” Aurelia said, and Noah nodded.

Following the woman, he waited in line, watching as people walked by the guards. He saw the security ask everyone to place their hand on a stone, before asking them the same three questions.

Noah walked up to the man, as the guard looked at him with an uninterested look. “Place your hand on the stone.”

Noah followed the instructions, placing his hand on the stone.

“Name and age,” the guard asked.

“Noah Brown, twenty four.”

The stone lit up with a white light.

“Are you a member of any of the three cults?”

“No.”

The stone lit up again.

“Do you have a criminal record?”

“No.”

The stone lit up once more, and the guard nodded.

“Pass through.”

Noah walked through the entrance, before waiting for the rest of his companions to follow behind him.

After a few minutes, they were all through.

“We’re here. I cannot thank the two of you enough for helping us,” Leon said.

“We’ll be in debt to the two of you,” Shaya added, bowing her head.

“I know this isn’t nearly enough, but please take this as my thanks for taking us through the pass. Irios looks well now, but we will still take him to a healer, just to be sure. We would not have been able to get here without the two of you helping us,” Leon said, digging into his pocket. A moment later, he put two brightly glowing stones in Noah’s hands, and two in Aurelia’s. Noah used inspect.

[Mana Stone - C]

An aspectless C grade mana stone.

“This… this is a lot,” Aurelia said, looking up at Leon.

“Please, don’t refuse. I truly, genuinely cannot thank you two enough. And I was hoping to give some compensation to you not just for accepting the quest, but also for the Wyrm scale,” Leon added.

Aurelia looked back at the scale in Irios’ hand, before she nodded. “Very well.”

Leon turned towards Noah, extending his hand. “It was great to meet you Noah, and you Aurelia. We’ll be in Windrest for a while, but even after we leave, don’t hesitate to ever reach out if you ever need anything.”

Noah nodded. “It was a pleasure for me as well.”

“May Hellion’s guidance watch over you two,” Shaya added, dipping her head once, and Noah returned a nod.

“We’ll take our leave now. Till fate brings us together again. Till then, I hope you come to enjoy our world Noah,” Leon said with a wink, as he turned away.

Noah stared in surprise at the man, before laughing. A moment later, the notification for his quest completion chimed.

Quest: Escort Mission completed!

Quest: City of Winds completed!

Noah watched the notifications, before looking out towards the new city in front of him. It was time for him to finally register as an adventurer.