IX

  Skill Tree

  Shivan’s cloak tumbled in the breeze. His spear reached underneath a particularly chunky patch of snow and poked into something soft. Angling his weapon and pushing revealed the discarded corpse of a boar.

  Beside Shivan, Black, the white striped black cat, stepped forwards and dug his snout into the pile. Black pulled away not even a second later.

  Shivan sighed. How’d he turn into a picky eater despite growing up in the Redmaw Wastes was a mystery to him.

  Boots thudded through the snow. “Whoever was here left in a hurry,” Alex said. “The fireplace was still burning.” The mounted head of a wolf he wore covered his face, but the intricate, black markings running over his arms were clearly visible as the boy didn’t wear anything but a tank top made of fur.

  “Don’t you get cold?” Shivan pursed his lips.

  “Blood keeps me warm.”

  A huff. ‘Weirdos.’ Though they were both Black Fangs, Alex was the first Accursed Shivan had ever met. They were a bit of a rarity on their home world.

  ‘As long as we don’t run into their heir.’

  Rumours said the boy killed anything in sight.

  Shivan rotated back to the patches of blood in the snow. Black told him it was a prowler as did the battle scars on the ground. So where was the corpse?

  ‘They didn’t bother to cover any of their other tracks.’

  So the chance was low they’d gone through that effort just to hide the corpse of a prowler.

  “They either have a spatial ring,” he said, “or they absorbed the body somehow.”

  “Worth to hunt them down either way,” Alex agreed.

  Shivan regarded his spirit beast, whose face was buried in the mound hiding the boar’s corpse. The beast’s tail wagged as it ripped off a chunk of meat. Shivan scoffed. Pretentious brat.

  “Black,” he said, “lead the way.”

  The cat shot him a grumpy look.

  “Don’t,” Shivan said. “You’ll get to eat some delicious meat if you’re quick. It’ll be full of essence.”

  At the terms ‘full’ and ‘essence’ the cat burst into motion.

  Disciples were his favourite.

  The cold that was the experience entering my veins didn’t compare to the frost outside. I’d freeze to death if I didn’t get moving, so I pushed myself up instead of closing my eyes, yelling as much as I needed to get it done. My new title helped me.

  Dragon’s Dogma I. Strength +5.

  Sadly, it didn’t keep me from absolutely shivering. I looked up at the sloping path…all strength seeped out of my body. The walk back up was the distance between heaven and earth.

  ‘Don’t be a bitch.’

  You want to uncover your past, don’t you? What good does dying here do you in achieving that?

  I reached into my pouch and popped a green pill. Restoration pill. Common rarity. It stopped the bleeding and partially closed the wounds. Natural regeneration would need to do the rest.

  As I got up, an object within the upper half of the prowler’s body caught the light. My shard pulsed. The branch of the cindertree crawled out of the gate and dragged the beast inside.

  ‘It’s a damned glutton.’

  Shaking my head (minutely, because it hurt), I moved on and passed the spot Ashwing had crashed to the floor. The summon had already turned to firedust. I peeked into the garden, where her feet hung from one of the branches of the cinderwing tree. There was no lower body but for a leg stump around which essence spun to reform a piece of a feather.

  ‘She’ll be out for a couple of hours.’

  The blizzard roared. Over the blaring could be heard the sounds of battle. Herbal energies seeped into my muscles. I quickened my step and burst out of the treeline.

  Flashes of whirling light made me shield my eyes. A five-foot blade cleaved the space in front of Judith. The prowler barely leapt over the blow but immediately tumbled to the floor. Both its wings had been clipped off, unsettling its balance.

  My vision whirled to find the third component of the fight. Jake lied slumped in the snow. I couldn’t tell if he was dead or not. I searched for Ashwing and quickly spotted her fiery-hide dashing through the frost.

  Blood oozed from the many wounds on the prowler trying to flee the fight. Talons sank into its neck and stopped its struggling. Though Ashwing silenced the beast, smoke rose from the gashes in her hide. The summon’s presence was growing dimmer by the second.

  I whirled back to Judith, who was still fighting. Ray limped down the hill to join her—his robe was torn near his abdomen—when he spotted me.

  I was closer, so I changed the grip on my blade and aimed.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  The prowler leapt backwards to dodge another blast light, sending it right into the path of my throw. Red fang bit deep. The prowler staggered forwards with a yelp—

  Light burst through its throat, ending its squeal.

  Judith didn’t even look at me. “Jake!” she yelled and rushed towards the fallen figure.

  After retrieving Red Fang, I clambered up the hill as well, passing the spearman on my way. He eyed the letters above my head, then gave me a respectful nod.

  We approached the other two.

  “The prowler knocked him into the ground hard enough the impact broke the floor,” Ray grunted. He tried to bend over. From his expression, his abdomen didn’t allow the movement.

  I bent and picked up one of the archer’s arms with great difficulty. “We’ll have to drag him,” I groaned. “I don’t have much strength left.”

  By the time we managed to get the archer up the hill and back into the cave, the other Ashwing had vanished too.

  ‘I’m defenceless.’

  But there was nothing to do about it now. I just had to hope I made the right call.

  “I’ll get firewood.” Judith rushed out. Heaven’s speed to her, for I sorely needed a fire.

  I’d already taken off all my clothes and was sitting in nothing but my undergarments, which were also soaked. Sniffling, I pulled back the snot trying to escape my nose. Ray was sitting opposite me, trying his hardest not to look.

  The shadows of the wakeless world weren’t far, but before I allowed them to sink their hooks into me, I consolidated my experience.

  Ashenkeeper - lvl. 2 -> Ashenkeeper - lvl. 3.

  I put three points into vitality without hesitating. It would help me recover from the stinging wound in my calves. But more importantly, it would aid in resisting the cold. The storms in this world were a goddamned death sentence.

  Vitality: 8

  Strength: 10 (15)

  Dexterity: 6

  Fortitude: 8

  Perception: 7

  Arcane: 11

  Free Points: 0

  A wave of relief washed over my body, softening the throb.

  “Congratulations on levelling.”

  Weary eyes opened to regard Ray. His bushy brows were set in a line.

  [Spearman - lvl. 4]

  His robe was torn and tattered, but no visible wound remained underneath. His healing pill must’ve been powerful.

  “You as well,” I said.

  He nodded slowly, then said: “The bodies. Did you use them to level?”

  I blinked twice.

  ‘Ah. Those bodies.’ I’d fed the cindertree the remaining two corpses of the prowlers in the meantime.

  “Not exactly. But collecting beasts is a class requirement of mine.”

  That was my suspicion, at least.

  He hummed and went quiet. Cultivators naturally kept their class specifics a secret to shield themselves from wanting eyes and foul play.

  But Ray spoke up again.

  “Does your class also let you absorb humans?”

  His tone didn’t change. Neither had his posture. Two facts I should commend, I supposed. Yet he couldn’t hide the slight clouding of his eyes.

  “Haven’t tried nor do I intend to,” I said.

  A searching moment passed.

  Ray inclined his head. “Forgive my insinuation. Many of the disciples traversing this realm are not adverse to such practises. We cannot afford to have one among us now.”

  My gaze turned to Jake, who was still unconscious.

  “He woke for a moment,” Judith said, already back with some wood. Her class was great at lumbering. “He’ll be okay.”

  Whether she said it to inform me or convince herself, I couldn’t tell.

  Some time later, I flipped the garments I’d laid out besides the campfire. The woollen shirt I wore underneath my robes was halfway to dry. My robes themselves were soaked like I’d jumped in the river a minute ago.

  “We should leave once Jake wakes up,” Ray said.

  Judith shuffled in place.

  Ray sighed. “We should give up on the inheritance, Judith. We spawned too far away.”

  ‘Inheritance…so they were after one as well.’

  “The Vire clan must have many inheritances here,” I poked.

  “Too many to count,” Ray said. “They’ve got them in all rarities. We’re only after a rare one.”

  “There are rarities to the inheritances?”

  “From common to arcane,” Judith said. “You can’t get anything above rare without visiting the castle as that’s where the head Custodian is.”

  A Custodian…those were a part of the Riftwardens. I didn’t know much about them, just that they were an impartial clan supervising the proceedings of the mystic realm.

  Judith studied me. “There’s a rumour going around which might interest you.”

  I listened.

  “They’re opening the Maze of Ancients this year.”

  “I’m not familiar with the name.”

  “No surprise,” Ray said. “It last opened six hundred years ago.”

  I leaned forwards.

  Judith stroked Jake’s hair. “My mother said a percentage-based title was the least of the rewards for the top disciples of the trial that time.”

  My ears jerked. A percentage-based title…it was incredibly difficult to come across meaningful titles since the system was stingy with giving them out. Even if it did, most titles were static bonuses like my own.

  The opportunity to gain a percentage-based title, especially one of your choosing, didn’t come by every day.

  ‘And the cores.’

  My class had potential, unlimited potential, maybe, since it was sacred, but to reach a shred of it I needed resources.

  I patted my clothes. My undershirt and trousers were dry—dry enough they’d do more good than harm against the cold—so I donned them.

  That allowed Ray to glance in my direction again without blushing.

  “The location?” I said.

  Judith produced a sheet of paper from a ring on her finger, tore off a piece and handed it to me. “Focus on it whenever you need direction.”

  I did so. A spot in my brain lit up which moved whenever my head did. Based on the strength of the mark…

  “It’s far,” I frowned.

  “It’s underneath a mountain range up north,” Ray said. “At least four days’ travel removed from here.”

  “The second trials starts in a week,” I muttered.

  Ray nodded. “Understand now why I want to leave right away? Four days is generous. There’s no telling what’s between us and the range.” He turned to Judith, who looked like she was chewing on lemon.

  “Our best bet is to find my niece,” she whispered.

  Ray scoffed. “Caelia wouldn’t help us if she saw us bleeding out.”

  “She’s not like that, Ray,” Judith sighed like they’d had the discussion a dozen times.

  I tuned out their debate and settled into meditation. Castle Shield definitely sounded like the place to be. Especially since it would contain the most powerful inheritances in the realm. The issue was that the Castle would attract every formidable cultivator in the realm. Mother warned me against dealing with them, and I hadn’t been capable of heeding her advice for even a few hours.

  ‘Nothing to do about it.’

  The shard pulsed so I went inside. The garden was as vibrant as ever, both the cindertree and minor cinderwing standing as silent sentinels watching the land.

  The cinderwing tree had grown. It was now three full heads taller than me and multiple of its branches carried leaves. My two Ashwings were encased in a cocoon not unlike the one at home.

  Four clumps of earth surrounded the cinderwing tree.

  ‘It’s feeding on the corpses.’

  The mix of cold and windy energy crawling under my feet was reminiscent of the prowler’s essence.

  A visible pulse travelled over the cinderwing tree. Its branches stretched and thickened while its rough bark grew smoother and darker. At the top of the tree, another crimson flower bud grew from a branch whose spiritual pressure already exceeded that of the two Ashwings.

  Cinderwing Tree upgraded!

  Cinderwing Tree - Early -> Cinderwing Tree - Middle.

  Cinderwing skill slot unlocked.

  Cinderwings learn [Cut (Common)]!

  Compatible skill [Storm Cutter (Common)] found. Would you like to extract Storm Cutter (Common) into Cinderwing’s skill tree and merge? Chance: low.

  Warning: failure to extract skill will destroy the core.

  ‘One skill slot unlocked…’

  So each stage of the tree gave one skill slot?

  I regarded the storm cutter skill. That must be from the prowler.

  Though I was inside the garden mentally, I could still sense the state of my body. My fatigue was like an anchor weighing me down.

  Getting the prowler’s skill would go a long way. Besides, the tree already levelled. Should the extraction fail, I’d only lose progress towards the next upgrade.

  I accepted.

  Beginning skill extraction.

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