NOVEL FROG 12: Bloodborn Discoveries
Kai woke up coughing. He was pretty beat up. Even though he had survived, he no longer felt victorious. The glorious feeling coursing through his veins from right after the kill had evaporated. He was woozy from pain and every time he moved, different parts of his body groaned in protest.
Looking around, he noticed the crushed Magma Wyrm; its body glowed faintly like spent charcoal and the stone passage was cold and dark. How long was I out?
He took a tentative breath, expecting stabbing pain in his lungs. Instead there was a dull ache, his ribs still felt tenderised though. Surprised, he bent his leg and risked a glance at his bare feet—the blisters had already begun to shrivel and close. He was covered in cuts, bruises, and grime, yet he still drew breath to his astonishment.
His enhanced body was the only reasonable explanation he could come up with. Evolve or die, his stomach rumbled in response, reminding him that starvation was also on the menu. Kai ignored the rumbling, flinching as he peeled the hardened magma on his back and leg off, exposing raw pink muscle without hair or skin, damn that hurts!
He turned his gaze within and observed his soul, half the aura-water around my planet has been restored. He was glad his aura recovered over time, like some kind of spiritual essence, but wondered how aura crystals and ranking up his soul fit into the picture.
Too tired to think about it more, he groaned as he rested his throbbing head against the wall and turned his attention to a stream of notifications.
Young Primal; Magma Wyrm, Level 35 - slain,
Vital aura +102% (+34 level difference)
You are now level 2
You are now level 3
You are now level 4
You are now level 5
You are now level 6
You are now level 7
You are now level 8
You are now level 9
You are now level 10
You are now level 11
You are now level 12
38 stat points to assign
3 new achievements
Kai smiled tiredly; if there was one thing he was familiar with and enjoyed, it was having his pain and effort recognised, maybe this system is not so bad after all. His mind drifted through a hazy memory of practising forms along a glistening riverbank at the monastery. He desperately tried to focus on the memory but could only sigh as it washed away like a painting left in the rain, stupid system!
He looked at his 38 unassigned stat points. Considering he had 5 left from before, 33 divided by 11 — I get 3 stats per level.
Which meant his stat boosts from achievements amounted to 8 levels; without that, his aura and upgraded body, he would have been dead many times over.
If soul aura was spiritual in nature, then would that make vital aura the physical equivalent? Some kind of life force? That’s probably why it was used to enhance the body, mind, and senses.
Kai checked his new achievements as he thought about it.
Achievement: Primal Slayer
Details: Slay a primal under any conditions.
Reward: When you slay a Primal, trigger a discovery.
Rarity: Rare (87/10,000)
Achievement: Vital Hunter I
Details: Gain at least 10 levels’ worth of vital aura from a single source.
Reward: Discover a vital trait when your vitals (mind, body, senses) reach the same grade.
Rarity: Epic (141/1000)
Achievement: Apex Bloodborn
Details: Slay a primal for your first kill, both alone and unarmed.
Reward: +4% efficiency of vital aura attributes
Apex bonus: Increase rarity of all traits discovered.
Rarity: Mythic (1/100)
Slaying a primal triggers a discovery! Choose a vital trait from its heritage.
Apex Bloodborn: Rarity upgraded by +1!
Apex Explorer: +1 choice!
Select one:
Vital Trait: Thermal Sense (Flawed)
Details: Your eyes can perceive temperature variations.
Fusion: Scales with Senses
Vital Trait: Hotplates (Flawed)
Details: Your skin hardens on impact, reducing physical damage.
Fusion: Scales with Body
Kai grinned. It seemed slaying a primal would trigger a discovery, which meant a new vital trait, and Vital Hunter would trigger another discovery when all his vital aura attributes reached the same grade. On top of that Apex Bloodborn would upgrade the rarity of his discoveries which would be a huge long-term win, and paired well with Apex Explorer, which gave him two options to choose from instead of one.
“I was the first person in the world to solo kill a primal unarmed?” he mumbled, shocked. However, he was the eighty-seventh to kill a primal in general, clearly there were some monstrously strong humans — or more likely whatever was coming through the incursions, that had come prepared, the thought sent shivers down his spine.
Kai closed his eyes and evaluated his options while he sat in the dank stone tunnel. If thermal sense let him see in the dark, he would have considered it. Hotplates was the clear winner as it offered great passive defence, which he needed. He had no idea what he’d bump into next scurrying around in the dark in his ragged clothes.
Kai didn’t relish the idea of looking like some hodge-podge abomination of parts. He touched his eyes; they seemed fine and unchanged. Hotplates did say ‘on impact.’
Getting Hotplates and not say… Water Shield as a discovery choice seemed based on either his actions or what traits the Magma Wyrm and its ancestors had. Making him suspect the system rewarded exploration and risk taking more than settling down. Kai brought up Apex Explorer while scratching the growing stubble on his chin.
Vital Trait: Apex Explorer (Flawed)
Details: Increased chance of finding or creating interesting locations.
Apex bonus: +1 Choice during discovery.
Fusion: Scales with Senses
Kai had noticed the Magma Wyrm’s scales darkened when he struck them. After claiming the vital trait, warmth spread through his skin. Without much fanfare, he punched his leg. At the moment and location of impact, a small patch of his skin briefly transformed into a protective layer of charcoal-black scales. The effect was like touching a warm stove for a split second. That looks amazing.
Kai wondered if it would be more or less effective against piercing attacks, but he couldn’t be sure. He brought up his vital traits, wondering if fusion slots implied he could evolve or fuse traits together? Guess that’s a problem for future me.
-Vital traits-
Apex Explorer (Senses, Flawed)
Primal Eyes (Senses, Flawed)
Hotplates (Body, Flawed)
3/10 vital fusions slotted
He scratched his chin in contemplation. Hotplates may get stronger as my body does, since it's linked to that attribute, though he doubted it would be a large increase, improving it beyond flawed would be more important.
His next question was how to allocate his 38 free stat points. He’d gotten a big vital aura bonus for level disparity, meaning levelling would probably be much harder now.
Body: F-Awakened (0/40 stats)
Strength, vitality, endurance, and agility of your muscles, organs, and bones.
Mind: G-Mortal (0/20 stats)
Thought speed, memory, and mental resistance.
Senses: G-Mortal (0/20 stats)
Perception, dexterity, sight, smell, hearing.
He could rank up his body again, which appealed to him, as did the memory aspect of mind. So far, the stat point cost had doubled, but he doubted the cost progression was linear. Upgrading his body further would also allow him to heal faster. However, right now he couldn’t even see where he was going and didn’t relish stumbling into a pit and falling to his death, never mind being unable to fight in the dark. He doubted other creatures he may encounter would be so helpful as to glow like the Magma Wyrm.
Kai crossed his arms and frowned as he struggled to decide. He simply wouldn’t know how impactful another vital stat was until he tried it. He settled on ranking up senses, followed by mind later to trigger a discovery. Being two stat points away from upgrading both now grated on him. He hoped the bonus for them all reaching the same rank would be exceptional, since all he really wanted to do was maximise his body.
His resolve wavered as he looked at his filthy clothes and body, remembering his last experience. His nose wrinkled in disgust; at least the grime had all hardened and baked to his skin from the heat. A random training lesson bubbled to the surface of his thoughts: ‘there are two types of pain in this world’—his master had said—‘pain that hurts you, and pain that changes you.’ The unbidden memory almost made him place points into mind instead of senses, but he restrained himself.
I need to see in the dark better first. Squinting into the darkness with a nod, he confirmed 20 stat points into senses. His eyes stung as congealed tears seeped out of his tear ducts like tree-sap. Then, much to his relief, the room brightened. Kai smiled through the pain as he wiped oozing wax out of his popping eardrums. Black blood dripped from his nose, then he smelt burnt flesh, tasted ash and nearly gagged. I do not need a reminder of how awful I reek. After several attempts and some extreme focus, he figured out how to dull his sense of smell.
Senses: F-Awakened (0/40 points)
Perception, dexterity, sight, smell, hearing.
18 stat points to assign
The pain was less than expected, or he was just better prepared for it. Kai’s eyes roved around the stone corridor in delight. He could see much better, maybe half as well as a cat, he guessed. He saw muted colours and shapes but his sight didn’t pierce more than 20 feet into the dark, however it was a vast improvement.
His enhanced perception drew his gaze to the ring on his finger; it was imperceptibly unhinged and facing the direction of the Magma Wyrm’s carcass. He raised his eyebrow and focussed on the ring.
Apex Mimic Ring (Young)
Rarity: Mythic (Spirit Treasure)
Traits: Voracious Pride
Evolution: 0/500 remains consumed until adolescence.
Details: Spatial storage.
It had a new line, evolution. Worry and excitement warred within him until curiosity won and he slid towards the Wyrm’s remains. The ring quivered in anticipation; on a hunch, he faced it towards the remains.
“Feed! Feed?” it burbled excitedly.
“Uh,” Kai blinked. “Yeah, s-sure?”
The Magma Wyrm’s remains disintegrated in a burst of white light before the tiny chest vacuumed it up in an instant. His tenuous mental connection with the ring solidified as it sent him a single thought, a feeling really.
Happy.
The mimic ring burrowed into his thoughts and dug up a memory of him riding a bike for the first time, flicking the little bike’s bell excitedly.
Tring tring.
Apex Mimic Ring (Young), has soulbound with you.
Apex Mimic Ring (Young), has gained pride!
Not yet done surprising him, the ring then sent Kai a mental picture that resembled a grid of nine squares. Two of which had something in them. He focussed on the items, astonishment plain on his face.
2 F-grade Crystals
Details: Crystal containing pure condensed F-grade aura.
1 E-grade Fire Resistance Crystal
Details: When absorbed increases your body’s fire resistance moderately for 10 seconds.
“You can… c-create items from remains?” Kai’s face lit up with excitement. He was starting to grasp its worth. Up to what rarity could it create and would the rarity increase after evolution? Was it okay to feed a magical ring corpses and evolve it? Possibly not the safest thing to do, but he was buried underground. So there was that.
“Are you-ou dangerous?”
No no.
His eyes thinned and strained as he examined the ring closely, even running his fingers over the smooth metal. He could barely see an interconnected network of runes and symbols. Well, nothing looks obviously demonic, not that I’m an expert. He suspected people existed who could craft items or infuse crystals with different auras or effects. However this apex spirit treasure—that had bonded to him—could do it for free. He gulped, having no idea how special or dangerous that would make it over time.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking at the ring while thinking of one of the F-grade aura crystals. Withdraw.
Insufficient pride
Kai threw his hands into the air.
Feed more feed more?
He sighed. “Uhm, soon?” So feeding gives it pride, and withdrawing and storing items or offending it—he smelled himself—costs pride.
Kai felt bad thinking of his sentient spirit treasure as just a ring, perhaps he could give it a name. He stared at the minuscule treasure chest, then grinned.
“May I call you Chester?”
Tasty? it thought at him.
“It’s a name, n-not food,” Kai said.
Yuck yuck!
“Alright.” Messed that opportunity up. Anything that wasn’t tasty was probably bad in the young mimic ring’s book, or maybe he got the gender wrong.
“How about Kura?” His ears reddened as he remembered the last time he’d seen the noodle stand goddess, I hope she’s okay. Kura also meant ‘hidden treasure’ according to his father — he remained sceptical.
Tasty?
His cheeks were hot. “Tasty tasty,” Kai replied awkwardly, the word yes seemed to be missing from the ring’s vocabulary, and he didn’t want to spend all day coming up with names.
Happy happy, Kura cooed.
Kai was pretty sure repeating a word was Kura’s way of emphasising something at this point.
He could sense her like a warm bundle of emotion in his chest; she burst with pride and a ferocious hunger. Kai was unsure if he should be delighted or concerned.
Delighted, she assured him.
“Uh huh,” Kai grunted.
Kai shook his head as he thought about his situation. He was a monk—he considered his temper and missing ninth bead—okay a failed monk, unable to recall his techniques, questioning his vow of mercy, while wearing some kind of murder-hobo ring. What could go wrong?