Rise of the Devourer

Chapter 46: Take off

Pain assaulted Noah’s senses all at once. The sensation was sharp, like a piercing knife directly plunged into the back of his skull, carving its way through his brain. It was as though his soul was being wrangled and torn apart under a light so bright it seared through his bones.

Noah’s vision blacked out, his senses leaving. For a moment, a long agonizing moment, there was nothing but darkness, and the pain that he suffered within it.

The sensation came and went before he’d realised it, but the aftermath was just as bad. His nerves fired at the smallest sensation, his mind automatically filtering out any and all stimuli as his heart rate rose to a rapid crescendo, a deep seated terror rising within him.

The rush of sensation was enough to drown out the voice calling out to him. Blurred by the phantom ringing in his ears, Noah heard his name being called distantly. The voice grew closer with each repetition until suddenly, Noah felt himself being shaken and opened his eyes.

Aurelia sat in front of him, grasping his shoulders as she shook his body. “Noah, snap out of it!” She yelled, and he finally blinked.

“What…” he mumbled, unable to reply properly. What happened?

“You were screaming, and refusing to respond. Just screaming. Are you okay? What happened?” Aurelia said.

Noah didn’t respond to her words, still reeling from the surprise. I was screaming? He had not even realised it.

A metallic taste filled his mouth and Noah realised there was blood coming from his gums. Touching his teeth with his finger, Noah found they had cracked in places, with marks on his tongue that were being healed rapidly. He had almost bit his tongue off.

“Noah?” Aurelia asked, leaning closer. “Is it the spear? It’s still not too late to get something else.”

“It’s not the spear,” Noah replied, as he put the spear into his inventory. “It was a bad dream.”

The lie came naturally, perhaps not entirely false, either. It had certainly felt like a bad dream.

Aurelia looked at him skeptically. She opened her mouth as if to argue, but then paused once more. “It’s alright if you don’t want to tell me, but people have limits. Our abilities do, too. Don’t forget that you’re still human.”

Noah looked up at Aurelia, before giving her a nod. “I won’t.”

Satisfied by his answer, Aurelia let the topic go. “I’ll wait outside, join me and we’ll head out to get an inn,” she said, picking up her shirt from the floor as she walked out.

Taking a breath, Noah let his body relax. That was bad. I need to be careful about using pain tolerance.

Noah felt the sweat covering his body, his limbs still shaking slightly from the intense pain he’d just felt. Makes me wonder just what caused it. Light of Judgement? Seems a bit harsh to inflict this much pain, just for having a pact. Or is it something else entirely?

Staring out into nothingness, Noah let his mind wander over his thoughts. Feeling he’d gained enough energy to move, he picked himself up, grabbing his shirt before making his way outside the chamber. Aurelia was standing nearby, watching the other adventurers go by in silence.

“You’re good now?” She asked upon noting his arrival.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.”

“Let’s go then.”

Following her, Noah made his way out of the guild. He could use some sleep right now.

***

The inn was fairly normal, and large enough that both of them could get their separate rooms without much concern. After finding a bed, Noah immediately collapsed, letting his body sink into the mattress. Yet, despite the exhaustion, no sleep graced his eyes.

Instead of wasting his time, Noah decided to spend it practicing his meditation skill. Time flew by as the steady pulse of mana moved around his body, before a chime let him know he’d gained another level in the skill.

Noah let his concentration slip at the notification, opening his eyes. He watched as the suns set, and the watcher rise into the night sky through his window, bathing the night sky in its gentle light.

“I really am in a different world,” Noah murmured to himself.

Moving to his system interface, he opened his notifications to look at the skill increases he’d not gotten the chance to check.

Paths:

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[Exsanguinator] level 42→ 43.

[Astralwalker] level 41→ 42

[Void Hunter] level 39→ 40.

Abilities:

[Obliterate] level 12 → 13.

[Void Hunter’s Eyes] level 22 → 23.

Skills:

[Pain Tolerance] level 11 → 16.

[Meditation] level 5 → 6.

[Rot Resistance] level 6 → 9.

Sub-attributes:

Strength: D3 → D6.

Endurance: D1 → D2.

Ability Damage: D5 → D6.

Attributes:

Power: 116 → 118.

Agility: 121 → 122.

Constitution: 127 → 128.

Mystic: 142 → 145.

Free Attribute Points: 70 → 76.

Taking his free Attributes, he put one Attribute at a time into Power. Eventually, he stopped when he’d added twelve. Finding himself feeling alright, he continued to add twenty in Power, twelve in Agility, and twelve in Constitution before needing to stop.

Power: 118 → 139.

Agility: 122 → 135.

Constitution: 128 → 140.

Only thirty-two free Attributes remained now, which he should be able to apply on his way to Aquaris.

Noah eyed his Lifeblood ability. It was still stuck at level 9, despite Rot Resistance having levelled thrice. Perhaps he needed to push it a bit more to get it to level 10.

Noah looked at his health bar, and pulled up his max health, checking the change.

Max Health: 90%

The Crimson Rot was still present in him, but lifeblood and his resistance kept it at bay, making sure his health did not drop any further than it had.

Closing the menu, Noah laid back on his bed, watching the time tick by in silence. Aurelia’s words filled his mind, repeating themselves.

Trying to find a distraction, Noah opened a dimensional pocket, before teleporting himself inside. His mana began to drain as he existed within his own Astral space, watching the rifts between reality mesh into a singular entity around him.

Standing in the void, Noah felt the mana draining from him, as a thought came in his mind. Taking a seat on the nothingness below him, Noah closed his eyes, reaching out to the mana around him.

There was a bit of resistance at first, before reality warped itself around him as the mana began to flow. Meditation activated, as Noah felt the mana starting to gather. A strange rhythm established itself, as mana flowed into Noah’s body, before flowing outwards into the dimensional storage.

A few minutes later, a chime played in Noah’s ears, and he opened his menu, watching a new level for his Astral magic resistance. Feeling pleased, Noah closed his eyes again, as he put all his focus into meditating.

Time flew by, chimes running as Noah felt his mana drain slow down to a trickle. Little by little, the dimensional storage drained his mana, further enhancing the push from his meditation skill.

Eventually, Noah felt his mana settle, as if reaching a strange sort of equilibrium. Opening his eyes, Noah inspected his skills, taking a look at the changes.

[Astral Magic Resistance] level 15 → 17.

[Meditation] level 5 → 10.

[Dimensional Pocket] level 6 → 8.

[Meditation] has ranked up to Intermediate!

Teleporting back out of his dimensional storage, Noah opened his Meditation skill.

[Meditation (Intermediate) - lvl 10]

Increases natural mana recovery rate by 200% during the meditation period. Increases physical recovery rate while active. You can enter a meditative state of focus while doing other tasks for a short period of time.

Noah read through the description, noting the passive mention. Would it let him learn things faster? Or perhaps it could even be applied to combat? Something he’d need to test out.

Looking outside, Noah noticed the sky starting to brighten. First dawn would arrive soon, which meant it was time to leave.

Rising from his bed, Noah stretched his body, feeling surprisingly refreshed despite not getting a wink of sleep. Looking at his arm, he adjusted the Abyssal Eye ring that now hosted Tony’s body, feeling his familiar stirring, ready to wake up at any moment.

A knock came from the door, and Noah opened to see Aurelia standing outside. “Ready?”

“As much as I’ll ever be,” Noah replied.

Aurelia nodded, and the two of them made their way out. The city was quiet, the dark of the night still kept most confined to their beds as the two adventurers traveled to the guild. Upon arrival, Noah noticed their rather massive ride eating from a giant cart set aside for it.

“Good lord, that thing is huge,” Noah exclaimed, watching the giant creature.

“Ah, you two are here. Great, I was starting to think Noah slept in or something,” Nae said, standing at the entrance.

Erwest stood next to her, looking at Noah with a displeased expression.

Noah decided to focus his attention on the Wyvern instead, using identify.

[Juvenile Wind Wyvern - ??]

“That’s a juvenile?” Noah asked in surprise.

“You thought we’d bring an adult? Please, we’re not going to war,” Nae said, scoffing.

“Anything we need to know before we head off?” Aurelia asked.

“Yes, actually. I stayed up all night making this, it’s a tracker that’ll lead you to the Iron Fists. It should help a lot with locating them,” Nae said, as she handed a strange, almost gyroscopic device with multiple golden rings that flashed with runic letters.

Aurelia accepted the device, nodding.

Erwest took the time to tie a saddle around the wyvern, before climbing up on the creature’s back. Aurelia followed, and Noah joined her, using blink to seat himself.

“Alright, go and get those abyss damned motherfuckers for me,” Nae said, grinning.

The wyvern flapped its wings, a powerful gust rising underneath it, and then, with a leap up into the air, they were off.