Chapter 9 — Primordial Spirit (VB)

A pounding pressure hammered Noah’s skull from all directions, as if squeezing his skull inwards. He grunted, opening his burning eyes to the dark cavern. Where was he? This didn’t look like his room.

Noah tried to open his mouth, but his mouth was dry. Another pulse of pain pounded through Noah’s skull, making him regret whatever choices he’d made. “Was I drinking… again?” he murmured.

His musings paused as he saw the giant abomination of stitched up flesh in front of him. Memories of the past day returned to him. Him punching Clive at work, meeting an angel, being killed by an eldritch monster, making a pact and being sent to a new world before almost dying multiple times.

“What a first day,” Noah murmured, leaning his head back against the wall. He glanced sideways, and found Aurelia missing from where she’d fallen. He assumed she was alright, because if there was any other threat, then he was in no shape to do anything about it. Noah glanced down, and noticed his clothes had been cut through, and his weapons neatly set aside near him. Likely her work as well, if he had to guess.

Focusing on his breathing, Noah closed his eyes, engaging in meditation.

You are meditating.

Mana regeneration increased by 100%

A sensation like cool water washed over Noah, reducing his pounding headache briefly. But the sensation was soon interrupted by a sharp spiking pain spreading outwards from his abdomen. He doubled over in pain, meditation fading, remaining in his bent position till the pain became more manageable.

“What the actual fuck?” Noah said, when the pain had mostly faded. Slightly concerned, he opened his menu to check. Little icons dotted the overlay of his vision, hovering just under the health and mana bar. He selected them, and found an array of words pop up.

You’re afflicted with [Migraine].

You’re afflicted with [Mana Poisoning - II]

You’re afflicted with [Exhaustion - I]

You’re afflicted with [Mana Fatigue - III]

“I guess that explains some of it,” Noah said, closing the menu. Opening the inventory, he looked at the potion he had, before deciding he did not want to risk it, and would rather wait for Aurelia to return.

In the meantime, he opened his main menu, looking at the changes.

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Human (Primordial Vessel)

Level: 17

Rank: F

Attributes:

Power (F): 19

Agility (F): 19

Constitution (F): 19

Mystic (F): 19

Attribute points: 9

[Perks]

[Titles]

[Skills]

[Abilities]

[Resistances]

[Quests]

[Items]

He’d gained a considerable number of levels with the fight, far more than the one with Viktral. Perhaps because of his greater role in killing the abomination. There was even a new menu he’d gained, which Noah selected.

Titles:

Monster Hunter - II

He selected the title, expanding the selection.

Monster Hunter - II

You’re a hunter, one who has fought and won against creatures far stronger than you. Monsters stronger than you will find it harder to use aura suppression abilities.

Noah remembered the first time he’d tried to use Blink when caught by the flesh abomination and it had failed. Throughout the entire fight as well, he’d been using a lot more mana for his abilities than he typically had to.

“That’s going to be helpful,” Noah said, already anticipating possible uses for the ability in escaping powerful creatures if he needed to. Moving back to his main menu, he opened up his abilities section.

Abilities:

Void Hunter (2/5):

- Obliterate (Basic) - lvl 2

- Hunter’s Eyes (Basic) - lvl 2

Astralwalker (2/5):

- Blink (Basic) - lvl 3

- Dimensional Pocket (Basic) - lvl 2

Exsanguinator (1/5):

- Blood Drain (Basic) - lvl 2

Realm Devourer (1/5):

- Consume (Basic) - lvl 1

Ability Point: 1

Noticing the ability point option, he selected the section, as a new pop up appeared.

A new ability can be unlocked using an ability point. Would you like to unlock an ability?

Yes/No?

Noah stared at the prompt, before closing it. He decided to take a look at the ability tome he’d gained first. Opening his inventory, Noah selected the tome. Reaching in, he pulled the book out. A leather cover bound the old parchment of the book that’d been sewed together. Flashing golden words shimmered on the cover, glowing with mana. He touched the tome’s cover, as a new prompt appeared in front of him.

[Tome of Bloodline (Blood, Legendary)]: Unlocks a bloodline ability upon use.

Would you like to use this item?

Yes/No?

“Oh, you’re awake?” Aurelia said, walking into the chamber.

Noah closed the prompt, putting the tome back as Aurelia made her way to him. “I wish I wasn’t,” he replied with a grimace.

“It’s a miracle that either of us are alive at all. I still can’t believe you had to save my life twice, or that you beat that thing,” Aurelia said, walking up to Noah.

“Honestly, me neither. I thought I was a goner for sure,” Noah replied.

“You may have a knack for this Noah. There’s very few people out there who could survive an encounter like this on their own. I don’t think anyone would believe me if I told them an F rank Awakened beat a D ranked monster the day he awakened. That’s… honestly a bit too ridiculous,” Aurelia said. Crouching next to him she put a hand on his chest. “Mana poisoning, we’ll need to take care of that.”

“Do I need to be concerned?” Noah asked. He quickly glanced at his health bar, and saw it filled about one thirds of the way.

“Not a lot. Mana poisoning can get nasty, but it’s very rarely lethal. Thankfully, there’s an easy way to fix it,” Aurelia said, sitting next to him with her legs folded. “Close your eyes, and then focus on your mana. Then release as much of it as you can till you’re empty.”

“That’s it? That sounds way too easy,” Noah asked. Aurelia gave him an amused smile, not replying.

He followed her instruction, closing his eyes before he focused on his body. Vaguely he could tell that the mana in his body was collected somewhere between his chest and abdomen. Like a vague intangible swirling wisp not much larger than his fist in size. Reaching out to the wispy sensations, he began to make it travel through his body, before pushing it outwards. With a deep exhale, Noah felt the mana starting to drain from his body, slowly but surely being released into the air around him.

The process felt natural at first, but as the mana bar continued to be depleted, Noah found his chest tightening, almost as if he was suffocating. Sweat began to bead his head, as he continued to push.

Warning. Low Mana.

The sensation began to intensify, and Noah had to stop multiple times to catch his breath. After nearly fifteen minutes, he finally felt the last wisps of mana leave his body.

Mana: 0%

Affliction [Mana Poisoning - II] has been removed.

You’ve gained the skill [Mana Expulsion].

Noah panted, feeling out of breath. Each pore on his body felt like it had been opened, and was trying to pull in as much air as it could. A tingling sensation covered his skin, as Noah sat feeling oddly clear headed.

With shaking hands, he tried to anchor himself, feeling each sensation he took in being magnified.

“It’ll feel strange for a while. Wait for your mana to naturally recover. It’ll take a day or two for your mana regeneration to return to normal. Take off that ring btw, it’s only going to make things worse,” Aurelia said.

Noah gulped, nodding at her words as he took off the Abyssal ring, putting it back into his inventory.

“Do you have any water?” he asked.

“I have a healing potion,” Aurelia replied.

“It’ll do,” Noah said.

Aurelia handed him the vial filled with a sloshing red liquid, and Noah pried the lid open gulping the bitter liquid down. A tingling sensation covered him all over his body, as he felt his headache start to slowly fade.

His gaze returned to the giant flesh horror’s corpse, sitting in the middle of the room. “What’re we gonna do about that?” Noah asked.

Aurelia glanced back, looking at the giant fleshy corpse. “I’ll burn it. With how much suffering those people have gone through, we wouldn’t want to leave it intact to be revived as an undead.”

Noah shuddered, imagining himself having to fight an undead version of the creature. Looking for a change of topic, he opened his inventory and noticed the tome he’d obtained “Right. I got a tome of bloodline. Says it can awaken a bloodline ability. You think I should use it, or will the mana poisoning cause any issues?” Noah asked, taking the tome out.

“Bloodline ability? Really? I’ve never heard of a tome doing that,” Aurelia said, looking at the tome sitting in Noah’s hands. “How many tomes do you have?”

“Two. I have the Abyssal Familiar tome, and then this bloodline tome. That and one ability point that says I can unlock an ability with it too. You think I should use them? Or is it worth waiting?” Noah asked.

“It depends on you. You’ll need all your abilities unlocked before you can progress to rank E so unlocking new abilities certainly doesn’t hurt. The abilities you unlock aren’t permanent either, you can use tomes to replace any abilities you have. The only downside is that you lose any strength you’d gained in a given ability if you do that. And you may not be able to go back to your previous ability if you have the same tome,” Aurelia said.

“I’m assuming there’s monsters and stuff outside this place? If I’m really going to be an adventurer, I probably need more abilities. The only thing I had really been able to use against the horror was blink. I would definitely be dead without it,” Noah replied. “And I have to be honest. Magic is just amazing,” he added with a grin.

“It seems you’ve made up your mind,” Aurelia said with a smile.

Nodding, Noah opened up his ability menu, selecting the single ability point he had. After a moment’s consideration, he selected Realm Devourer to unlock an ability with.

You’ve used an ability point!

Realm Devourer has unlocked [Soul Sight].

Soul Sight (Basic)

[Passive, Mystic, Soul]

You can see that which most cannot. The ethereal energy that forms the core of life and existence.

Noah looked around, feeling the energy settle inside his body. A new sense had opened up to him, one that he could feel intrinsically. He looked down, and could vaguely perceive his own soul, encapsulating his body. Looking up, he stared at Aurelia, finding her soul to be easier to perceive, with its larger size and brighter shimmer.

“What did you get?” Aurelia asked curiously.

“I can see souls now,” Noah replied, fascinated by the flaming ball of wisps. Was that all he was? A ball of white energy filling a shell? “It’s kinda trippy,” he added, feeling himself getting sucked in, the longer he looked.

“Soul magic? That’s… probably the rarest one you have. It’s a close relative to death and undeath, but soul magic on its own is an ancient one that predates both. I know one adventurer who had it, the only person I’ve known besides you with it,” Aurelia replied.

“Huh? What kind of a guy was he?” Noah asked.

“He was odd. From what I recall, he had a gift for talking to spirits since he was a child. Decided to become a spirit caller, and eventually put his powers to use adventuring. I didn’t know him too well though,” Aurelia said.

“Darn, I was hoping it’d be something a bit cooler than that,” Noah said, before moving on to his tomes.

Taking out the tome of Abyssal Familiar, he put his hand on it, as the prompt appeared in front of his eyes.

[Tome of Abyssal Familiar (Epic)]: Unlocks a bound abyssal familiar ability upon use.

Would you like to use this item?

Yes/No?

Noah selected yes, picking Void Hunter’s Path. The book in his hand lit up with a purple light, before crumbling with the light and faded into his palm.

Void Hunter has unlocked [Abyssal Hounds].

Abyssal Hounds (Basic)

[Active/Passive, Mystic, Void]

Hounds of the abyss, predators from the realm of unending hunger. Now they listen to your commands, and heed your call.

Note: A summoning circle is required to summon the familiar.

“Abyssal hounds, which honestly sounds kinda neat. Says I need a summoning circle to summon it though,” Noah said.

“You can probably use the one at the altar, if you really want to,” Aurelia replied.

“I think I do,” Noah said, before moving on to the last tome he had.

“Alright, last one on the list. Here we go,” Noah said, putting his palm above the tome as words popped up in front of him.

[Tome of Bloodline (Blood, Legendary)]: Unlocks a bloodline ability upon use.

Would you like to use this item?

Yes/No?

A bright golden light flashed from the tome, as Noah selected yes. The Exsanguinator path appeared as the only available option, and Noah selected it.

Magical runes swirled around the tome, as the book faded into the bright light, before being absorbed into Noah’s body. The energy made his skin tingle, as words appeared in front of him.

Exsanguinator has unlocked the ability [Lifeblood].

Lifeblood (Basic)

[Passive, Constitution, Blood]

Your blood is filled with a strong vital force, unlike anything else in this realm. Increases all healing abilities.

The energy did not settle, continuing to swirl inside his body. Moment’s later, new words appeared in front of him.

Bloodline unlocked: Primordial Spirit.

Primordial Spirit (Legendary)

Your spirit is filled with the energies of the beyond, of creatures beyond realms. You contain the strength of the vast primordial energies themselves.

Gain a 10% increase to all Attributes.

Primordial Spirit has applied [Purify] on you.

Power began to course through Noah’s body, pulsing in and out. Pain began to rise from Noah’s chest, as he felt a deep nausea fill him. Unable to hold the sensation, Noah bent over, as dark thick sludge began to empty from his stomach.

With each passing moment, more and more poured forth, escaping from his body and pores, as the energy continued to pour through his body. Now on all fours, Noah continued to vomit, until his gut was completely empty, and his body was soaked in a layer of dark gooey filth.

With shivering limbs, he saw something new appear in front of his eyes.

You’ve been Purified!

All magical abilities have been enhanced.

Affliction [Migraine] has been removed.

Affliction [Mana Fatigue - I] has been removed.

Power has increased to 26

Agility has increased to 26

Constitution has increased to 26

Mystic has increased to 26

Noah tried to say something, but before he could, his limbs gave out. He collapsed into the pool of his own vomit, twitching briefly, before passing out.

Aurelia stood nearby, continuing to watch with a grimace on her face. She’d seen the process Noah was going through plenty of times during rank ups, as the body removed all toxins inside it. Yet this was the first time she’d seen so much come from a single person’s body.

“Just what kind of place was his world…?” she wondered out loud, feeling sorry for Noah.