NOVEL FROG 41: Bloodless (Day 6-7)
Kai welcomed the morning sun and smiled as the last speck of crystal dust fused with his flesh. His heart and arteries shimmered with every beat as something changed deep within him.
Thump.
Blood and aura coursed through him.
His body thrummed with energy.
Thump Thump.
He no longer had to actively concentrate on keeping all his blood from flowing out of his broken vital meridian pores — but felt he could still allow blood to flow out the pores at will, why he’d ever want to do that though, he couldn’t imagine.
Thump Thump Thump!
Congratulations, your struggle for supremacy has yielded results!
You successfully fused aura, flesh, and crystal within your heart; however you can no longer restore aura or health using crystals.
Vital Trait: Apex Vortex Heart (Fine)
Details: Your vital and aura pathways have fused, allowing the gravity vortex within your Soul to absorb and nullify a portion of hostile auras.
Apex bonus: Your Soul converts this aura into your own instead, while improving its grade.
Fusion: Scales with Body, (Unique: Soul).
Kai’s jaw went slack. He had survived and earned two fine quality traits; he focused on the first one. If he understood the vital trait correctly, his Vortex Heart meant he would take less damage from others’ auras. The apex bonus caused a feral grin to spread across his face; all of that prevented damage–that hostile aura–would instead replenish his aura reserves during combat while slowly improving his soul’s grade, greatly increasing his progression speed.
No more having to walk around absorbing crystals all day, which he could no longer do anyway. Healing crystals won’t work on me anymore? Kai sucked in his teeth. That was quite a blow and he hoped that it would not be debilitating, as healing crystals had been highly useful thus far.
He would need to be highly resistant to damage if he could not rapidly heal with the aid of a crystal, at least he could regrow his limbs outside of combat, though he was not looking forward to that experience. Kai cracked his neck; if he was honest with himself, he was pretty excited that his path to progress was essentially exploration and combat instead of sitting in some cave absorbing crystals.
He wondered if Vortex Heart would make a good fusion with Hotplates? What about with Limb Regrowth? Would it be better to evolve them before fusing? He had some ideas to mull over, but first he would look at his next accomplishment.
Congratulations, your struggle for supremacy has yielded results!
You found a way to circumvent endless exsanguination after permanently rupturing your vital meridians, however this means you can no longer upgrade your body.
You have glimpsed the Entropic Blood Reef, and understand a fraction of blood manipulation.
You have created an aura trait!
Bloodfury (Fine): Your blood becomes aura attuned (Enhances all traits) and you have limited control over your blood, and may shatter it. The less blood you have; the stronger these effects become, up to 25%.
Several thoughts exploded in his mind.
Kai narrowed his eyes. ‘You can no longer upgrade your body’. He read the line twice more in disbelief.
I can no longer upgrade my body?
The words slammed into his chest like a sledgehammer.
Okay, stay calm, breathe, I can get through this.
We can, Kura thought, as she nuzzled his legs.
Kai forced a smile, Kura was right. They had gone through far worse, plus it would be awhile before he would be high enough level to upgrade his body again. He just had to find a solution before he fought someone with a D-grade body who could obliterate him.
His heart raced, but what if I can’t fix it?
Kai shook his head free of the intrusive thought and focussed on the positives of the Bloodfury aura trait. He felt like it represented him well. Calm on the surface, a roiling whirlpool within.
If he understood it correctly Bloodfury would enhance all his traits, so if he mixed some of his blood with an aura trait it would empower the effects. Increasing with how much blood he had left. He assumed the blood would be used in the process, and he only had a finite supply of blood.
The ability to shatter his blood, was perhaps a reference to the crystal dust imbued within his heart. He tapped his chin, not really sure what that meant, but concluded it had to be special. Unfortunately if he was low on blood, that would imply he was already under extreme pressure or near death. Basically the more blood he lost, the more powerful he would become, but the closer to death he would be. He wanted to test it all out.
Another challenge would be managing his limited fusion slots. He was using seven of the ten he had, and was only at the cusp of E-grade.
-Vital traits-
Apex Explorer (Flawed, Senses)
Primal Eyes (Flawed, Senses)
Foxfire (Flawed, Body)
Hotplates (Flawed, Body)
Limb Regrowth (Flawed, Body)
Apex Ironblood Will (Fine, Mind)
Apex Vortex Heart (Fine, Body)
7/10 vital fusions slotted
One of his top priorities had to be getting his hands on more Protocosmic Fruits; perhaps a fusion variant as that would also free up slots, but that fruit was likely to be exceedingly rare.
Kai realised he needed to be careful about what he added, evolved, or fused, and that it would be best if it resonated with his cosmic, gravity, martial or hydrokinetic aura affinities. He only had three vital slots available, ideally he’d like to keep them for unique opportunities, like what had just happened, so he needed to slow down on the primal killing for a bit.
However, what Kai needed most of all was simple. Sleep. He needed sleep. Desperately. His Ironblood Will had let him ignore the pleas of his body and mind for almost eight days already, he yawned. He was way past his limits. Before he could rest without worry, he needed to check his position in the trials. His recent achievements must have been worth a ton of trial tokens, because he smiled when he no longer saw a question mark, but his actual position. 46/74,105. Kai tilted his head in thought, perhaps once you reached the top 3000, you can see your position? Kai finally allowed himself to relax and rolled his shoulders releasing the tension in them, he shuddered with relief. He had done enough to avoid failing, however, he had not reached the top and wondered if there was any way he could reach number one before the first trial ended.
Kura stirred from her draconic slumber upon a mountain of honey jars and crystals, stretching lazily.
Food? Evolve?
Not yet.
Her molten eyes glared at him.
Soon, after some sleep.
She grumbled and settled down with a yawn.
Kai yawned.
Half the camp stopped what they were doing and stared at him as he wobbled to his feet and stretched for the first time in days. The feeling of his muscles moving again was sublime. That ordeal had been a nightmare; if it wasn’t for his unique combination of traits and auras he was sure he’d have bled out and died.
Kai stumbled into a nearby random tent, apologising with a slur to the startled occupant, then collapsed into the poor man’s vacant bedroll, falling into a deep sleep.