ROTLE- Chapter 168- Life Displacement

Aiden sidestepped, dodging what would’ve been a glancing blow. The paw blurred into motion once more, aiming for his head. Fueled by his weave of speed, he dodged the blow easily, then stepped into the monster. With his blackened arm, he struck it in the chest. This was the fourth time he was doing it, striking the exact same spot. The previous attacks had done nothing evident to it. This one, however, drew blood. It spilled to the ground in rivulets, and the beast staggered back in shock.

Head cocked to the side, Aiden looked past it at the remaining two beasts. Ted kept one occupied with his summoned creatures while Fjord and Zen stepped in whenever it was safe to pepper the beast with strikes.

Like Aiden, Oncot held one back by himself, after single handedly slaying one more. He was a strong man, a powerful man who fought as if nothing alive was permitted to kill him no matter how hard it tried.

Aiden wondered if the man’s confidence came from believing he was blessed by the Blood god or cursed by it.

The monster before him, something reminiscent to a massive wolf, leapt at him once more. Aiden raised both hands, guiding the first strike to the side. He put his weight behind the action, tossing the massive paw to the side.

Claw and muscle tore out a chunk of the dirt when it hit the ground. Aiden’s feet carried him through stances that moved him to the creature’s blindside. When its tail shot at him, he let himself drop to the ground like a man who had tripped, only for his hands to pull him across the ground. Tracking a path to its back, he slammed a vicious kick into the knee of its back leg, and the creature buckled. It dropped to its knees and Aiden mounted it.

The moment he was ontop of it, it bucked chaotically, trying to throw him off. He held onto its fur, pulling himself forward. The creature howled something loud. Aiden ignored it, finding a way to pull his arm around its neck.

Unsurprised, he found that the bulk of its size was attributed to its fur. It wasn’t so thin that he wrapped his arm around it easily, but it was thin enough that he was able to find some purchase. When he did, the monster bucked and thrashed.

Then it threw itself in the air and fell on its back. Aiden braced for impact when they went up, yet when they hit the ground, the air still got knocked out of him.

He felt his rib crack and knew that his lung had been punctured from how the air left him painfully. Still, he gritted his teeth and held on to the creature’s neck, tightening as hard as he could.

His interface lit up in front of him.

[You have been dealt a powerful blow!]

[Health 62%]

Frowning, he discarded the notification. His hold growing tighter around the creature’s neck.

Just a little more, he thought as he heard a dying wail from one of the creatures nearby. He ignored it as his own tried to struggle back to its feet, blood bathing the floor beneath them crimson.

A little more.

The creature’s movements were getting slower now. Despite the taste of metal on his tongue and the smell of iron in his nose, he knew that that fall had not affected only him.

[Health 60%]

Oh. It was the only thought that came to mind as he realized that the damage he had received was not one off.

The creature pulled itself back to its feet but only barely. Out of the corner of his eye, Aiden saw Oncot standing with cleaver in hand, watching him and the beast. The man’s opponent was dead. Two monsters slain by him single handedly. He was a monster of his own, but those from his tribe were their own kinds of monsters.

Oncot was assessing him, doing nothing to help.

Aiden wasn’t complaining. He squeezed tighter, and the monster dropped back down to its knees, struggling to rise.

A little longer, he thought once more, feeling the monster’s weakness. His hold tightened. Then it became comfortable for him. It was now too tight for the beast. Aiden could bet his last gold coin that the creature wasn’t breathing anymore.

The beast fell on its stomach, dropping like a dead thing. But it wasn’t dead.

Aiden tightened his arms, squeezed harder.

Crack!

It was loud in his ear. The sound of a broken neck heralded his victory just before his interface appeared before him.

[Congratulations! You have slain Dimensional Drog Lvl 98]

…

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]

[Level 79 > 83]

[You are now Level 83]

…

[Congratulations Prisoner #234502385739!]

[You have reached level 80]

…

[You have gained stat points]

[You have gained 8 unallocated stat points]

[Your existing stats have gained additional points]

…

Stats

[Dexterity 52 > 61], [Agility 37 > 40], [Mana 53 > 62], [Speed 45 > 53], [Perception 50 > 61], [Strength 40 > 46]

…

[Congratulations Prisoner # 234502385739]

[You have reached level 80.]

[You have gained a Class skill]

[You have gained Class skill Assisted Weave]

…

[Assisted Weave (Mastery 00.00%]

The weaver is his own tool. You are your engraver and your canvas. With your body you weave enchantments into being. If you have only one limb, there must be someone with a limb to spare.

Knowledge of the skill flooded Aiden. He let out a tired breath and winced in pain as he released his hold on the creature. Then he rolled off it, his one arm trapped under it.

He dismissed his interface and stared up at a cloudy afternoon sky.

Fighting so early into his hunt for Nosrath was not what he had been expecting. Alobam had really played a fast one on them. Still, he had a strong feeling that the giant had not expected him to die.

He looked at the [Dimensional Drog], specifically at his blackened arm currently trapped under its neck. If the giant had expected him to die, it would not have given him whatever enchantment it had imbued into his arm, would he?

When he returned his attention to the cloud, he found Oncot standing above him.

“Help me up?” he asked, not bothering to sign since Oncot understood the common tongue.

Oncot looked from him to the beast then back. The man shook his head, then proceeded to step away from him.

Aiden rolled his eyes, not surprised. Oncot’s people were heavy on cleaning up your own mess in battle.

Turning, Aiden placed his free hand on the body of the creature and pushed. At the same time, he pulled his blackened arm. It was not long before his arm was free and he was rising to his feet.

Looking around, all the monsters were dead. Ted was busy rubbing under the head of a massive summoned snake as if it was a dog. The familiar had its serpentine body wrapped loosely around him. Fjord was breathing heavily, sitting on the ground. No one was wounded except Zen who had a bad looking gash across his chest.

Zen followed Aiden’s gaze.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he said quickly.

Aiden would’ve believed if they hadn’t just fought of monsters with levels higher than ninety while Zen was not yet up to level thirty. How had the boy survived a blow from a level ninety monster.

“I used [Borrowed Guest],” Zen said, as if reading the question from Aiden’s expression. “The creature tore straight through it. It’s just a flesh wound, the blow just ruined my shirt.”

Aiden walked up to him, his steps careful. Each breath he took tickled his punctured lungs so he was careful with it. When he got to Zen, he looked down at the injury, using his hand to part the torn shirt.

Zen was right. The wound wasn’t dangerous, only bloody.

He met Zen’s eyes. “You were lucky. We will limit you to monsters of similar levels to yours.”

Initially, he had not intended for Zen or Fjord to join the fight. They had simply joined in to help Ted while Aiden had been preoccupied, not that Ted had needed their help. They’d probably joined him since Oncot would’ve been displeased with their presence and they were often very careful around Aiden. Ted was like the fun uncle if Aiden was to categorize his brother.

“That doesn’t seem very productive,” Zen muttered.

Aiden pressed his lips into a thin line. “And why is that?”

“Because,” Zen grinned, “this fight gave me nine levels.”

Fjord’s jaw dropped. “I only got six.”

“Congratulations,” Ted said, clapping his hands as he approached them. “Those are quite the leap.”

Aiden looked at him. “How many did you get?”

“One.” Ted shrugged. “I can’t say I’m surprised, though. The thing wasn’t that hard to kill.”

“Why’s my level gain lower than his?” Fjord asked, his voice nasal as if he was trying not to sound like he was complaining. “I dealt the killing blow.”

“Rule of Life displacement,” Aiden answered.

His answer got him nothing but confused looks. It was a moment before he remembered that it wasn’t really common knowledge.

“Mana is everything,” he explained, even though nobody asked him. “Even life force is interpreted through mana. When you fight something, they lose their life force very slowly or quickly, depending on the fight. The same thing can be said of mana.”

“Hold,” Ted said suddenly. “If you’re going to give a lecture, the least you can do is do it like you care, Aida.”

Aiden fought back a tired frown as he pulled out health potion from his pocket and tossed it to Zen.

“Drink,” he commanded.

Zen did not disobey.

“So,” Ted continued as Zen drank. “Life displacement and mana connections. Go.”

Aiden took out a vial of his own and drank from it. He felt it as it went down his throat and paused. It never reached his stomach. It was as if his body began absorbing it as it went down his throat so that there was nothing left by the time it was supposed to reach his stomach.

That’s a first, he thought, wondering why it had happened. He didn’t know of anyone that such a thing had happened to before.

“What’s wrong?” Ted asked.

Aiden shook his head. “Something to look into at a later time. What was I talking about?”

“Life displacement,” Fjord answered.

“Yes.” Aiden looked at the monster he had killed. “For every damage you deal to a living thing, they lose some of their life force, which is the percent of health you have and all life force is tied to their owners. However, all life force is also tied to those who deal damage to them. If you lose a percentage of your life force when you gain that percentage, that’s that life force returning to you.”

“So when I damage a creature, it’s life force comes to me?” Zen asked as Elami and Feira approached them, Valdan still unconscious in Elami’s hands.

Aiden shook his head. “Not really. When you damage an enemy, a percentage of their life force goes into the atmosphere—for lack of a better word—and it stays there, tethered to them and you who dealt the damage. If another person deals damage to them, the same thing happens—another portion is tethered to them and that person. But as long as they are alive, their life force will be tethered to them because their hold on it is stronger than yours and will always be.”

“Until they are dead,” Elami said.

“Until they are dead,” Aiden agreed. “When they die, you gain whatever percent is tethered to you due to your damage.”

“But I dealt more damage,” Fjord pointed out.

“No,” Aiden corrected, “you might’ve hit it more times, but that doesn’t mean dealing more damage. Life force is built in quality not quantity. It is not larger, it is deeper—if that makes sense.”

“The quality of a level fifty being is not the same as the quality of a level ninety being.” Elami’s jepat came to a stop beside Aiden. “It is special, stronger. More unique.”

“And if a level ten being takes one percent of a level fifty being, it is enough to upgrade their own life more than someone closer to their own level.”

“But our mana doesn’t increase,” Zen pointed out.

“Your level does,” Aiden said. “Your increased level is the quality of your life force increasing because of your body’s ability to convert the life force you have taken and assimilate with it. Your base stat points increasing every ten levels is your body upgrading based on what it has been doing best, the crop you feed the most is the crop that will grow best. What you do more is what gets better faster.”

Zen was thoughtful as Aiden spoke. He took his chance to speak when Aiden paused. “What of the active increase?” he said. “The stat points you can allocate?”

“That’s your body consciously processing life force. That is life force you can actively allocate, the leftover life force… so to speak.”

“But know this,” Elami interjected. “Just because you killed the being, it doesn’t mean that you take up all its life force. Your own life force does its best to convert as much of the life force as possible to something that can match with yours. You don’t take all of it in. Most of it is lost due to incompatibility.”

Ted frowned. “That’s why you level up faster when you kill another human being.”

“Compatible life force,” Elami confirmed with a nod. “Because your life force is the same at its core, you have the highest conversion success rate upon assimilation as compared to the life force of other species.”

“What about those that are killed from afar?” Feira asked, speaking for the first time. “There are cases of poisoning that go on for so long and still end up being attributed to somebody.”

“Mana never forgets,” Elami muttered, almost as if talking to himself.

Aiden nodded. It was something he was told in the Order once. “It is not bound by space and time the way one would think. If your health never returns to one hundred percent, that percent of life force that you haven’t gotten back, remains out there, bound to you and another. If you let go of it, it goes to who it is bound to. No matter the distance…”

“All life force is connected,” Elami finished.

“Even if you dealt more damage than Zen,” Aiden said, speaking to Fjord, “The quality of his life force isn’t stronger than yours or as strong as. If I remember correctly, your level is higher than his. He will benefit more from less than you will.”

Zen raised his hand. “I will just like to point out that I am now a proud level twenty [Time Walker].”

Feira’s lips widened, and she smiled. Aiden could feel her genuine happiness at her brother’s growth.

She will have to grow, too, he thought. The question was if he would have to help her grow, and how. Not everybody needed to be combat focused. Growing through killing things was the fastest way to grow, but it wasn’t as if it was impossible to grow without killing. It was just close to impossible on this side of Nastild because of the quality of mana here.

On the other side, people grew twice as fast.

He cast the thought aside to focus on something else.

“Zen,” he said.

Zen perked up, seeming to stand straighter. “Yes?”

“What stat grew the most?”

Elami looked down at Aiden from his jepat with a knowing smile. “Are we going to ignore how you killed a level ninety-eight with your bare hands, Lord Lacheart?”

That drew everybody’s attention to Aiden. And just like that, Zen’s growth to level twenty was forgotten.

Aiden held back a frown. It seemed Feira was not the only one in the party now who would not allow things slide when it came to him.

He turned a frown on Elami when pain shot up his blackened arm and he gripped it. He let out a pained grunt, falling to his knees. Even going through his pain, Aiden frowned as he stared as his blackened arm that was now riddled with white veins.

[Anomalous World Enchantment Detected]

What the hell did that giant do?

…

Estabel sighed.

She ducked below a stray leaf as she walked. The grass was crunchy under her feet as she walked. It made her frown.

Crunchy in a humid weather, she noted.

A low mist clung to the forest floor, turning the afternoon humidity into a thin, silvery veil that drifted between the trees. Thought he air was warm and heavy, the grass beneath her boots cracked with each step. Wrapped in a bright yellow cloak, she moved with the quiet certainty of one of the [Mage] class, walking as if the world had no impact on her.

Her staff tapped rhythmically against the ground with each step. It was heavy to carry, letting out a muffled thud each time its butt hit the dirt beneath. It was a new staff, a replacement of her old one. Estabel had tried her best to keep it as close to resemblance to the old one as she could. Ultimately, she had ended up with a twisted thing like dried vines and an orb of red at the top.

The orb was a powerful amalgamation of mana stones and the heart of mountain raven from a volcano somewhere in the east. An alchemical combination had given it its harmonious combination. It boosted magical attacks by almost two hundred percent while minimizing mana cost by almost thirty percent. As for defensive spells, it extended their active duration by thirty percent. As for the spells she had merged into the staff and orb, there were almost twenty. Each spell could be called upon with nothing but the shrug of will—intent.

Compressing so many spells into a staff that was still new to her gave it a magical weight that made the staff almost uncomfortable to walk with. When she activated the spells imbued into it, however, the staff became light, allowing for better agility. The only spell in the staff that was not necessary was the gravitational spell with which she used to keep the orb balanced just above the staff without touching it. The specific spell was an aesthetic addition not a practical one.

“Lady Estabel,” one of her companions asked, coming to stand beside her. “How do we know when we are close.”

Estabel thought to ignore her companion, not out of arrogance but because the question was stupid when coming from one from the Mage Radiants, but thought better of it.

“We are not looking for anything to know when we are close,” she said, raising her hand to push a branch aside. “We are here to analyze the mana concentration or deconcentration to better understand why this is happening. This is an anomaly that has not happened in the known history of Nastild.”

The man frowned. Estabel understood the reason for his frown, he was one of those [Mage]s who wanted action in every situation. It was one of the main reasons that she had picked him for this specific expedition.

She could still remember when the Arch mage had called her to inform her of his decision to send her for this. He claimed that her research into mana regarding teleportation magic would benefit from it. It still left her surprised because she was not the only member that had a research into it. When she had informed him of her skepticis, he had then given her the second reason.

Aiden was present at the same time the [Crystal of Existence] respawned, she mused, coming to a stop as one of their scouts raised a hand to call them to a halt.

Knowing what she knew now about the young lord, a lot of things made sense. A few weeks ago, different monarchs, three to be specific, had announced to their kingdoms the successful summoning of heros from another world.

It was in accordance with the scriptures and the rising darkness.

King Brandis of Bandiv had been the first to make the announcement, the other monarch’s following there after. They had even revealed the pictures of the summoned, commanding by system-sanctioned law, that any and all aid be given by the citizens affiliated to their kingdoms. Aiden, it seemed, had been summoned from another world.

That explained his uniqueness. How he had bested a soldier that was supposed to be better than him and had ruined her staff. Estabel’s grip tightened on her current staff just at the thought of her old staff.

It had cost her almost a fortune. Then she had started saving almost a fortune to fund her research that would gain her another promotion in as a Mage Radiant. Now she’d spent that money on her staff. It dragged her to ire.

Suddenly annoyed and impatient, she stomped her way over to the scout. There, she tapped him on the shoulder with the staff doing everything to acquaint herself with the magical weight of it.

The man turned to look at her with a frown.

“Why have we stopped?” she asked, impatient.

The man pointed forward. “Monster up ahead.”

She looked forward, annoyed that she had to focus to spot the monster through the leaves and branches.

Camoflage, she mused with a frown. It was had to distinguish between the monster, the leaves, and the general environment. It was as tall as the trees and wide, standing on four limbs.

It was really good camouflage. Her perception stat was one of her highest stat so it was annoying that the scout had spotted it so easily while she hadn’t.

He’s a scout, she reminded herself. His class is specifically designed for things like this.

The man’s perception stat was probably his highest stat.

“What are we doing with it?” she asked him.

The man shook his head slowly. “It is best to let these creatures pass by on their own.”

The six others in their party were quiet, standing unbothered by the events transpiring. Estabel was not surprised. Even though their levels were less than hers, they were proud members of the Mage Radiants. All of them were [Mage]s except Yerit who was an [Enchanter]. Despite her class, she was still an avid student of the spell classes. Her dream, if Estabel remembered correctly, was to create new enchantments, a feat that was considered impossible.

She believed that spell craft, if manipulated and dissected properly, could be the stepping stone to the recreation of new enchantments.

Most people thought it was impossible and stupid, but the Mage Radiants were known for achieving the impossible.

Estabel bit on her lower lip as she watched the creature. It didn’t look ready to move from where it was anytime soon.

She returned her attention to the man. “Is there a way to motivate the creature to move?”

“I would motivate against combat,” he said, now looking about. “In a place like this, you start a fight with a creature like that and you find yourself fighting with more creatures than that.”

“I am not talking of combat.” She almost scowled at him. “That right there is an [Aromat]. It lives through projected scents. That’s how it communicates. We start a fight and it can project its scents in any direction, calling for help that we cannot even begin to know it has called for. I am talking of sending it on its—”

Her words were cut short by a wild screech from the creature. It was loud and terrifying, filled with pain. Estabel winced as blood sprayed from its back. Talons ripped into its back as a massive winged creature tore at it the creature was as large as a man, too small to be a predator to the thing in front of them.

The scout held his arm out as if shielding them, then began stepping back. Estabel frowned but obeyed. That the man assumed they would need to be protected was interesting.

“Every day we discover new monsters out here,” he muttered, almost to himself.

Estabel shared a look with her companions. There was nothing knew about the monster that was currently trying to hunt the [Aromat]. It was a simple flying monster that liked to test itself against greater foes. But it only measured greatness with size in comparison to their own. The bigger you were than it, the stronger it assumed you were.

“We are burning time with this,” she said. Normally, she was calmer, more composed. But in the past few days she had learned more annoying things that she would like to admit. Her ire was getting the best of her.

She raised her staff and pointed it in the direction of the now fighting creatures. The camouflaged creature remained camouflaged as it fought, its skin shifting continuously to match the background with every movement.

“There are still other parties around.” She was already calling up a spell in mind, the orb of her staff beginning to gather light. “We cannot be held back by this.”

The scout reached out and grabbed the orb—not the staff. Estabel’s jaw dropped as she stared at the man in shock. Everyone knew not to hold on to a [Mage]’s staff by the orb, especially when they were casting a spell. It was greatly unsafe.

She shook his hand free. “Are you insane?!” she spat.

The scout rounded on her instantaneously. “No more insane than you are,” he bit out. “When you are in unknown territory, everyone knows that you listen to your scout. Mage Radiant or not, if I give you an instruction again and you disobey, I will abandon you out here in the middle of nowhere.”

Estabel opened her mouth to retort but ended up biting it back. The scout was not wrong. Even amongst Mage Radiants this was common sense. The [Scout] and [Healer] classes were classes that you did not underappreciate when you were out on adventures in places where they were needed.

She was letting her displeasure get the best of her. She was behaving like a child when she was not. It was disgraceful. A quick glance showed that the rest of her party had turned a blind eye to what was happening. If they pretended that they did not see it, then she could save face if she decided to do nothing.

Without argument, Estabel returned her staff to a resting position, while the continued shriek of the chaos of a hunted monster continued to flood the air.

“How long do we have to wait?” she asked.

The scout looked to the east. “Not long. The [Amorat] will lose soon, then the bird will be on its way. I am more worried about our guest in the trees.”

The trees?

As if having the same thought, her companions looked to the trees, seeking out what monster the man was talking about.

The [Enchanter] Yerit was the first to spot it. Her jaw dropped, and she placed a hand over her open mouth. All eyes followed her and they found a full grown naked man sitting in the trees. He was handsome by all standards. Estabel wanted to complain at the thought of being watched by a naked man when she realized the same thing that Yerit was looking at.

From the man’s navel spread very thin lines, four in number. She trailed those lines, coming to realize that it was not in fact a man. By the time she was done tracing the lines, it was like understanding a puzzle and seeing the full picture instead of just a piece of it.

A head.

The man was merely the front facing part of a head, while the branch he sat on was a tail that had been positioned to look like a branch.

“What the hell is that?” she asked, worried.

The scout wasn’t even looking at it. “I have no idea. I’ve never seen such a thing before or even seen a record of it.” Something heavy hit the ground in a massive thud as he spoke. “All I can tell is that it’s not looking at us. And I will like to keep it that way.”

Estabel swallowed as she looked at it. A monster that was unheard of. Was it the reason for the scout’s earlier comment about new monsters?

Since the scout had assured her that they were not the creature’s concern, she returned her attention to the camouflaged creature only to find it lying dead on the ground while the flying monster tore into it with a talon-like beak.

The scout frowned a little, looked up to the trees, then pointed off in a different direction from the one that they were taking.

“This is a longer path, but we should follow it,” he said, then began walking away.

Estabel looked up at the illusion of a naked man once more. The man winked at her and her spine froze for a minute. Her grip on her staff stiffened in anticipation of an attack.

“It’s not looking at you,” the scout assured her, stopping for a moment.

“He just winked,” she explained.

“It waved at me when I first saw it. It took me a moment to realize that it was a monster and its eyes are actually focused on the [Cryad] hunting.”

By the life of her, Estabel could not see the whole picture. She couldn’t even tell where the other parts of the actual monster were, talk less of where its eyes were.

The others followed as the scout began walking, and Estabel did the same.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Yerit mused as she walked past Estabel. “I have never seen something so beautiful.”

“You can see it?” she asked, surprised.

Yerit nodded. Then she pointed. “The creature is actually the tree the man is supposed to be sitting on.”

Estabel squinted, frowned. “I don’t see it.”

“Me either,” Babial, the man that had asked her what they were looking for earlier said. “I can only see the man.”

“It’s probably a defense mechanism,” Yerit said as they finally turned their eyes away from the creature and continued walking. “It’s probably not even paying attention to you, just making gestures so that you believe it is aware of your presence.”

That was a scary thing to think about. But it was not why they were here.

Estabel had been chosen by the Mage Radiants for this expedition because she was the only known Mage Radiant with a relationship with Aiden Lacheart. Speculation had it that he may or may not have been the one who claimed the [Crystal of Existence].

It was their understanding that if he happened to be at the cave when he no longer had an affiliation with Bandiv when the crystal respawned and there was no record of him using any of the teleportation centers, then it meant that he knew about the respawn long before it respawned. That meant that he knew things no one else on Nastild knew.

As far as the head Mage was concerned, there was a high chance that he would also be in the forest. If Estabel could somehow convince him to work with the Mage Radiants, it would be beneficial for the organization.

Estabel wasn’t a fan of the idea.

Hopefully we don’t run into Nosrath, she thought as they continued on their journey.