[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 204 - Perpetual Motion War Machine

The seconds it took the rodent monster to die felt like they stretched on for years. Freddy was pleased to note the effects his anticipation was having on making him feel actually alive. But even that was put to the back of his mind as he watched the creature bleed out, his heart hammering in his chest.

Freddy’s soul construct had always been one of the unsung heroes of his tool kit. It was hard for him to imagine life without it. Essence management was notoriously annoying, and for most, it was the most important factor in deciding their long-term growth.

Having access to more essence meant more practice with one’s abilities, which also meant less need to put oneself into danger to grow. More essence meant more money, and more money meant more resources, which usually compounded into other ways to recover and develop.

But all of this applied to recovering essence outside of combat.

If the effect of the Cycle Scythe worked as he thought it would, it might let him do just a little bit more than that.

After an excruciating wait, the creature finally relaxed, releasing the air in its lungs in a quiet whisper of death.

And, as usual, Freddy recovered 1% essence for the kill. 

He took a long moment to observe his soul, but that was it. Just 1%. Nothing about it had changed, and from what he could tell, there were no other effects on his soul.

His left his ethercosm with a pang of disappointment, and then immediately noticed something that made his knees grow weak. He’d used Terror Knuckles, which had left him with a small bit of reflux essence floating around his body.

That bit of reflux essence was gone.

“Relax,” he told himself. It could have just evaporated naturally. He did have Purifying Crimson Spring, after all.

Taking a deep, slow breath to calm himself, he decided to replicate the experiment. This time, he used raw essence manipulation, utilizing all three of his affinities. While using abilities hurt like living hell, manipulation seemed to be perfectly safe. Even mildly pleasant, almost. Something to keep in mind for later. 

Once he accumulated around 10% reflux essence for every affinity, he hunted down another rodent. This time, he didn’t mess around, instead using the Cycle Scythe like a large pick and stabbing the tip straight into the creature’s brain.

Rather than paying attention to his soul, this time, he observed the effect on his body.

A shocked gasp tore itself from his throat as he watched the reflux essence of every single affinity reduce in an instant, dropping by just under 1% each. He stood frozen for a long moment. “That can’t be right.”

He hunted another rodent, a slightly bigger one this time. On kill, the reflux essence dropped even further. A third kill confirmed it—it worked. 

Freddy chuckled nervously. “Nobody can know about this.” It would have been one thing for it to let him recover a bit more essence than usual. Purging reflux essence, however? “Holy shit.” His knees gave out and he was forced to sit on the ground. 

The golden lips cackled mockingly. “What happened, big guy? Feeling a little too powerful?”

“Shut up.” He eyed the scythe nervously. “I’m serious. If I ever take you out, I expect you to remain quiet about this.”

The lips stretched into wide smiles. “Or what?”

“I—what the hell do you mean ‘or what?’ Do you want me to get hauled away to the front lines somewhere? Because if the wrong person catches wind of me being a perpetual motion war machine, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

The smiles widened. “Now wouldn’t that be something to behold.”

Freddy clicked his tongue. “What the hell do you even want, anyway? What are you, really?”

“Hey, don’t look at me,” the strange creature said. “I’m just the paving on your path. If you want to blame anyone for the things coming out my mouths, you should blame yourself.” Another mouth opened. “I’m an extension of you, after all.” Another. “A bit more honest, sure.” Another. “But I can’t say anything you aren’t thinking somewhere deep down.” Another, with the deepest, most ominous voice he’d heard so far. “And let's be honest. You hate keeping secrets.”

A higher-pitched, mocking voice shouted. “YOU WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW JUST HOW COOL YOU ARE.”

“SHALLOW!”

“PETTY!”

“SMALL!”

The deepest voice rang again, “And far, far too powerful for his own good!”

Cackling sounded all around him. 

He wanted to say something. Anything. “Did I figure out everything you can do or is there more? We’re running out of time.”

“Changing the subject, I see? Typical.”

“Just humor me.”

“Fine. That should be it, for the most part.” The mouth cracked a wide grin. “But isn’t there something you’re afraid to ask?”

Freddy’s lips turned into a frown as his head drooped. “Is it still possible?”

“Maybe.”

Freddy’s head raised. “What do you mean?”

“The connection with Bloodshed was a part of the ring’s power. That can’t be erased.” A second mouth opened. “But as you can probably tell, the individual effects have mutated to fit the construct’s purpose as a weapon modifier.” A third. “Believe it or not, I don’t know much more about what I can do than you do.” A fourth. “I can tell you in more detail what I’m capable of, but only after you’ve discovered the effects yourself.” A fifth. “A tie with Bloodshed still exists.” A sixth. “But I won’t know what it does until you find out.”

Freddy scowled. The connection with Bloodshed used to be pretty damned obvious. Now, he couldn’t even feel it anymore. Something about how it worked had changed, and he didn’t have the slightest clue how to actually use it, or whether it could be used to release Bloodshed at all.

A part of him wanted to believe this was for the best. After all, the ability to set the spirit loose was a disaster waiting to happen. Any time he set it free, there was a serious chance it would get killed, and if it did, there would be no coming back. Summoning it was safer.

But even with that knowledge, he didn’t exactly feel good. Admittedly, he was devastated. He loved the little blood skeleton. He wanted to spend some more proper time with it. 

“Well, we’ll find out eventually.” Freddy changed the subject, pulling his notebook out. “Now, it’s time to make a little update.” He looked at the scythe. “About those details…”

GATHERING:

Second star—READY TO ASCEND

2-star satellite

TALENT:

1% Lifesteal: Dynamic-quality healing 

TRUE SOUL CONSTRUCT: 

Cycle Scythe:

Wield Assist

Omnibleed (Moderate)

Essence Extraction

Weapon Empowerment: +37% damage, +37% durability

Blood Synergy: +79% blood weapon special ability power

Bloodshed Bond (?)

TEMPERING TECHNIQUES: 

Blood affinity:

Sea of Blood: Stage 3—0% Progress 

Crimson Mercury: Stage 3—0% Progress 

Purifying Crimson Spring: Stage 3—0% Progress 

Water affinity: 

Adaptive Water Body: Stage 1—Complete

Hundred Thousand Wet Hells: Stage 3—0% Progress 

Abyssal Depths: Stage 3—0% Progress 

Water Body: Stage 3—0% Progress 

ACTIVE ABILITIES: 

Blood affinity: 

Terror Knuckles: Stage 3—0% Progress

Blood Javelin: Stage 3—0% Progress

Absorb Blood: Stage 2—39% Progress 

Accelerate Blood Projectile: Stage 3—0% Progress

Sanguine Avenger: Stage 3—0% Progress 

Knuckle Blade: Stage 3—0% Progress 

Crimson Wing Shield: Stage 3—0% Progress

Dissipate Wave: Stage 3—0% Progress

Crimson Dragon Scales: Stage 2—26% Progress

Water affinity:

Tsunami Strike: Stage 3—0% Progress

Hydraulic Flex: Stage 3—0% Progress 

Create Water: Stage 3—0% Progress

Hydraulic Throw: Stage 3—0% Progress

Perished water affinity: 

Perished Water: Stage 0—52% Progress

Ghosts of the Drowned: Stage 0—52% Progress

CURSED ITEMS:

Ocean Medallion: -13% essence cost for water-affinity abilities.     

Ether Capture Ring: Conjures coins of pure aura

The Cycle Scythe had walked him through every effect and all the details, and…

“Holy moly.”

Wield Assist was already enough to make this thing ridiculous. Everything else was just… “Are you sure about all this?”

“You might not know what I am exactly, but I still am a type of sentient essence construct. You know I can’t lie.”

“Still…”

According to the Cycle Scythe, whatever it was could absorb up to two cursed items—one regular plus one unique. Freddy was a bit sad about losing two unique items to it, but seeing the effects… it was probably for the best.

It was important to note that this was apparently just the baseline, and it would keep going up with Freddy’s gathering, with large leaps whenever he went up a star.

The Cycle Scythe had taken on the properties of the items it had consumed, with mutations to accommodate for its primary purpose, which was attaching to and modifying weapons. 

Wield Assist was its core function, with Essence Extraction coming from Freddy’s soul construct. Without items, that would be all it could do.

Weapon Empowerment was from Warrior King’s Pendant, and the rest came from the Blood Ring. 

+37% to weapon damage and durability was bullshit. Just outright. And this number was a lot greater than the power Warrior King’s Pendant had reached on its own. A part of that came from all the latent, unused potential of the cursed item being consumed, and a part came from the fact that its power was now concentrated and focused on only a single item, whereas there used to be no limit to how many it could be applied to. Freddy wasn’t going to complain. These numbers were already ridiculous, and when they went up…

Omnibleed was bizarre, if simple. It could make anything bleed. For inanimate objects, this meant gradually losing durability, while good ol’ flesh and bones types would now lose more than just blood from the bleeding Freddy inflicted. 

And, finally, Blood Synergy. This came from the two major effects of the Blood Ring, which had fused into something a lot more specific. +79% power to his weapon’s special abilities was… a lot. Logically, it made sense. A big general power boost and a major discount had been reduced to just target a specific part of some of his abilities… but holy shit was that a big number.

There was also the mysterious bond with Bloodshed, but try as he may, he just couldn’t figure out what exactly it did. That was a bummer, but he was sure he’d eventually find out. 

He closed the notebook and put it away. For a moment, he glanced into his ethercosm, past all the vivid, pulsating cracks in his soul, all the way to his second star, which roiled with power, ready to birth a third one as soon as his soul damage had been taken care of.

He needed to be careful. Freddy wasn’t so naive as to think the empire would ignore his existence. They had plenty of wars to send him to, and Freddy had no interest in becoming someone’s pawn. Or killing a large number of foreigners on a battlefield somewhere. 

If he wanted to be left alone, he would need to show that he was interested in playing by their rules. There was no getting around having to prove his worth. 

What did the empire want? It wanted powerful rulers. Lords and Ladies who would grow their territory and fight for the empire’s interests. Expansion was the highest priority of the empire, and to expand, they needed those with the will and power to hold on to new territory.

A shadow crossed Freddy’s eyes as he firmed his resolve.

They would no doubt try to test his loyalty somehow. They would try to get under his skin, try to make him show his true face. 

The knuckles on his fists turned white as he got to his feet.

He would show them exactly what they wanted to see.

“You’re finished?” Georgie asked as he walked out.

“Yeah. Thanks for watching my back. Now let’s just hope I don’t faint on my way home.”

Their walk back was uneventful, thankfully. She dropped him off at his apartment, and after saying his goodbyes, he walked inside. 

As he made his way in, he slumped against the door.

The day had been exciting, which was good, but it had definitely taken it out of him. His wounded soul was fatigued from all the engagement, and he wanted nothing more than to roll into bed and turn in the night.

With a grunt of effort, he made his way toward the living room. But just as he was about to walk in, his steps slowed. Something was off. He frowned as he took a cautious peek around the wall. 

There, right in his living room, sat Emily Umbra, looking chastised and small. 

And right beside her sat a man, quietly sipping on some kind of drink. His shimmering red eyes locked on to his. “Ah. There he is.” The man slowly placed the drink down. “My dear daughter over here told me something rather interesting. I was wondering if you’d care to elaborate?”

Daughter? 

Oh fuck.

Freddy’s knees threatened to give out as he realized who was currently in his living room. He took a careful step forward, ready to leap out the window at the first sign of danger. “Suuure…” he offered tentatively, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. “What… uhm… what are you curious about?”

The man before him exploded with a bone-chilling burst of killing intent. “Is my daughter not good enough for you?”