Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 30 — Rank Up

The trio sat in a tavern nearby, expressions of concern, nervousness and one odd excited face reflecting around the table.

“So… we’re going into the rift then?” Aurelia asked, glancing towards Erwest.

Erwest grunted in reply.

“I’m surprised you agreed to that woman, it did not seem like a choice you would make.”

“I did not want to,” Erwest said, grimacing at the mug of ale in front of him, before he pushed it aside. Aurelia squinted at the man. Only the church of Hellion would do anything as silly as ask people not to drink, but at least they didn’t enforce the rule. Still, she was not surprised to learn that Erwest did not drink regardless of that.

Grabbing her own mug, Aurelia gulped down the cheap alcohol, barely noticing any effect from it having reached D rank.

“Do you think we can trust her?” she asked.

“No,” Erwest replied.

“Then why have we accepted her terms?” Aurelia said, before a baffling idea came to her. One that was obvious but given the person in question, she had failed to consider. Leaning in, she asked in a whisper. “Did you lie?”

Erwest shook his head. “We will go, and we will find this Shard. But as for whether we give it to her or not is an entirely different question. If the cult wants this Shard, and from all I’ve come to learn, that much is clear, then obtaining it for ourselves will only further our objective.”

“Well the guild is already advertising this whole rift business. A bunch of newly minted adventurers are coming from all over for this legendary artifact trove in the rift. Whoever has their hands on the rift gets to choose who to sell it to, or whether to keep it or not,” Aurelia said, before noticing how quiet Noah was being. She looked sideways so see him smiling to himself and jabbed his side with her elbow.

“Ouch. What?” Noah asked, looking around. “Sorry, I was thinking of something else. What’re we talking about?”

“The rift, and what we plan to do with the Shard. Assuming we can even get it in the first place.”

“I mean, we keep it? Obviously, right? Vix is bribing us to give her the Shard, offering Snow’s freedom in exchange. The guild and Lord Krios may have their own rewards, but… I need the Shard for myself. And I know for a fact that once I have it, the cult won’t be able to take it back. So we stop the cult, and I get the Shard, and then I try to figure out how to free Snow, so it’s at a minimum a win-win,” Noah said, leaning back on his chair as he balanced it on the very edge.

Aurelia glanced to look at Erwest, who let out a grunt in reply. “We need to train. How many days do we have before this rift is open completely?”

“A week or so from now. The guild is holding it closed at the moment,” Aurelia said.

Erwest got up from his chair, picking up his sword. “I’ll be out for some time.”

Aurelia nodded, watching the man go, before she turned her gaze towards Noah, who was back to laughing randomly to himself, lost in daydreams.

She shook her head, though she couldn’t really blame him all that much. She’d been a lot more excited for her first rank up. “Come on Noah, let’s get your last ability.”

***

Noah felt a bubble of excitement filling him. Though the circumstances had been a little strange, he had finally managed to get his hand on the last tome he needed. Following Aurelia, he made his way to the training chamber, where he sat on the ground, keeping the tome in his hand.

“You know the drill, use the tome and see what you get. But don’t just rush ahead after that immediately,” Aurelia instructed.

Noah gave a nod, as he placed his hand on the Tome, before sending a pulse of mana into it.

Would you like to use [Tome of the Hunter (Epic)]?

Yes/No?

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Yes.

The tome burst into light, flowing into him, as Noah felt the magic altering his aura. But there was a slight difference now, this time, the effect felt more pronounced, like everything had just clicked into place.

[Void Hunter] has unlocked [The Hunter’s Mark]

Noah felt an intuitive understanding of how the ability worked fill his mind. Reaching out to his Astral script, he opened the description of the ability in front of him.

[The Hunter’s Mark (Basic/Epic) - level 1]

Unallocated Marks: 1

You are a hunter. Find yourself capable of marking your prey by touching them, once marked you will see their location at all times. All marked prey will take additional damage from any abilities you use.

Noah read through the description, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. That was certainly an interesting ability. There seemed to be no distance whatsoever on how long or how far he could track someone.

“Got something good?” Aurelia asked him.

“Yeah, a mark. I can track people with this. Oddly enough there’s no distance limitation shown,” Noah replied.

“That’s… quite good. But also not what I’d expected when I saw the tome,” Aurelia replied.

“I kinda want to test how far the ability can work,” Noah said, before he reached into his Dimensional Pocket and called for Bun Bun. The rabbit appeared, sniffing at the air expectantly, as it looked at Noah.

“Bun Bun, you need to run as far away as you can. Then, when I call you, come back to me and I’ll give you a reward,” Noah said. He took out a small blade, nicking his finger as he offered a few drops of blood. The rabbit licked the blood, as Noah set the Mark onto it. He felt the Mark establish itself, and saw it appear as an icon on his mini map.

Lightning crackled around Bun Bun as he jumped into the skies, quickly racing off into the distance. Noah sat, quietly watching the icon move. A few minutes passed, and he saw the rabbit now flying out of Heartillia, into the forest of the beyond, with no change in the tracking of the marker. He decided to let his familiar run for a while, before he would check to see how far he had gone.

“Well, this should be useful. Although it’s a shame I only have one,” Noah said out loud, watching Bun Bun speeding away.

“Seems like a useful ability for sure,” Aurelia agreed. “Now, for the rank up. Take these,” Aurelia said, before tossing some crystals at Noah. He caught them, before using identify.

[Mana Stone - E]

“What’re these for?”

“You’ll use them in your rank up. Ranking up is effectively pushing the boundaries of your soul, for which you need mana. Early ranks only need mana stones, but later on you may need powerful artifacts to absorb for your rank ups,” Aurelia said, as she began to place down a few more mana stones all around Noah in a circle.

“Now, once you start the process, you cannot stop midway. This is very important, so I will say it again. Once you start, you cannot stop. If you do, you could cripple yourself permanently. This is why rank ups are almost always made with someone watching over you or in a safe space, as you will be extremely vulnerable while you are doing it.”

“Don’t stop midway. Got it,” Noah replied.

“Good, the rest is very simple. Simply start absorbing the mana from these mana stones, till you can feel yourself pushing at some sort of barrier holding you in. Keep absorbing the mana till that barrier breaks,” Aurelia said.

Noah nodded, closing his eyes. Focusing on the mana stones in his hand, he began to absorb the mana from them into himself. Very quickly, he found his own mana pool rapidly rising before he reached the limit of what he could hold.

Mana: 100%

Like a vessel filled to the brim with water. Every instinct in his body told him to stop, or he would overflow, but Noah pushed against the instinct, forcing himself to keep on drawing on the mana.

The mana began to flow in torrents, his core failing to hold it in as it overflowed outwards. It flowed from his spirit into his body. First his chest, his arms, his legs, his muscles. Noah felt Tony shudder awake at the sudden influx of mana, but he continued to draw in more and more. Every part of his body and spirit were greedily sucking in the mana he provided them, like he had been starving his body all this time. A cool sensation filled his entire body, as the mana began to fill in every gap there was to fill.

Abruptly, the flow stopped, like something had clogged the pathways. Noah drew more, but found the way being held back by something. He continued to push further, and after just a light nudge, the barrier collapsed, as a torrent of energy began to flow into him.

A flood of notifications appeared in front of Noah.

All attributes increased by 25.

Your rank has increased to E.

Processing existing experience points…

[Exsanguinator] has reached level 72.

[Astralwalker] has reached level 69.

[Void Hunter] has reached level 70.

Power: 231 → 299.

Agility: 200 → 246.

Constitution: 234 → 286.

Mystic: 271 → 359.

Free attributes: 0 → 122.

[Exsanguinator] has unlocked [Blood Debt (Unique)].

[Astralwalker] has unlocked [Astral Projection (Unique)]

[Void Hunter] has unlocked [Netherflame Burst (Unique)]

Noah opened his eyes, feeling a wave of strength trapped inside his body. Like he had eaten a bolt of lightning, and now the energy was demanding a release. His hands were shaking, begging him to let all that power he’d absorbed out into the world.

His abilities erupted all at once, magic and mana swirling around him as he let out the majority of the excess mana from his body, till he could finally feel back in control.

“Congrats Noah,” Aurelia said, smiling as she watched him slowly rise to his feet. “You’re an E ranker now.”