B3 CHAPTER 313: SANCTUARY, PT. 1

Runeblade

**Ding! level 244 Pale Rootborer - Envenomed Parasite slain - Experience Gained! Bonus Experience for slaying a foe of Significant Strength!**

…

**Ding! Runeblade Initiate has reached level 146 170!**

**+3 Con, Str, & Int, +2 Dex, Wil, +1 Vit, Free - from Class & Racial Traits!**

Kaius stood in a field of slain worms, half dazed.

Pain oozed from a dozen rotten wounds that dotted his body. Purple ichor drenched him, matting his hair and soaking through his armour to pool in his boots. His chest burned, and his muscles ached from the speed he had been forced to cut and move.

His resources were stretched thin. Health was two thirds gone, and was still slowly dropping. The rejuvenating energy burned continuously as it beat back the necrotic venom that festered.

It was still a far sight better than he’d been even ten minutes ago when each bite had been a rotting hole twice the size.

His Stamina wasn’t much better, consumed as his enhanced physique was pushed to its limits, and to fuel his constant use of Bladerite.

Mana was worse. Other than what had been bound into his few remaining inscriptions, it was utterly empty. He’d kept his Mystic’s Rend almost constantly active, refreshing it every time its duration expired or its power had been fully expended.

Despite that, he felt strong.

During the battle it had felt like every few moments another level had burned through him — raised him to new heights. It had been the edge he needed to keep fighting. To win.

Kaius clenched his fist, feeling the simple power of the motion as his knuckles whitened.

The rootborers had struck faster than a whip cracked, and he had matched them. While he had not reached the titanic, nigh deific feats of the legendary Observed of old, he was far different from the boy who had fallen into the Depths.

It was a strange thing to think about. He’d always been big — even before he had discovered Honours, he’d been able to heft around a hundred pounds with ease. While he hadn’t exactly gone and tested it, now that he’d crossed eight-hundred Strength, he should be able to do the same with nearly two tons. Likely significantly more, thanks to the changes that had been wrought upon him by his Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus.

Right then and there, he vowed to try and pick up Porkchop — though perhaps it would be best to wait until his body stopped trying to actively dissolve.

It was a change that crept up on you: always pushing yourself to the next challenging enemy had its downsides. He had so rarely gotten the chance to stop and appreciate how far he had come. Strength was only part of it. His skin was as tough as cured leather from stats alone, and with Tempered by Dissonance it was probably closer to mundane chainmail. Hell, he’d been able to track the rootborers movement’s easily with his mind working nearly twenty times faster than it had a year ago.

Breathing heavily, Kaius tasted the air — full of the bitterness of slain worms — and smiled. They’d killed just about thirty of the damn things; their pallid and shrivelled bodies strewn and pulped across the cavern.

After the first few, he’d left killing the beasts to Kenva and Ianmus — far better he split the sudden windfall of experience with his team than be held back by a lagging backline.

Ianmus had only managed to do so occasionally at first, his attention split between healing Porkchop and refreshing the SundrenchedStrength he’d layered on Kaius. The mage’s pace had picked up towards the end — by the time Kaius had gotten halfway through the worms, he’d noticed the constant chimes from Vesryn’s Pact slowing the formation Unbroken Through Suffering had come to an uneasy equilibrium with the venom in his brother’s body.

Still, they hadn’t gotten an Honour for their efforts. A disappointment, but one that at least hinted at where to look next. Considering how much higher level the worms had been compared to them, Hordebreaker likely required larger groups of enemies if they wanted to earn the next in the chain. Something to keep in mind before they crossed the tier boundary.

“Did the venom rot your brain too?”

Porkchop’s teasing question cut off his train of thought. He looked over and saw his team clustered around the entrance to the cavern, a chorus of satisfied grins on their faces.

Kaius paused, before he looked down at himself and gasped loudly at the holes in his chest and legs — each still dripping sloughed flesh that stunk of rotten meat.

“I got bitten?! Rotten roots, I didn’t even notice!” He gave Porkchop a look of faux consternation and slapped his thighs, suppressing a cringe as the trousers underneath his cuisses squelched. “You know, it’s really inappropriate to play up your injuries like that, Porkchop. I could have really used some help out there!”

“Oh, piss off — you can give me that sort of lip after you try wrestling with one of those kolnir.”

Kaius chuckled, though it came out as more of a gurgle.

He stumbled over to his team, no longer trying to power through the weeping holes he had in his legs. Slumping against an oversized root that jutted from the wall, he withdrew a healing tonic from one of his storage rings. It was one of the better ones he had, though, even if it did restore fifteen-hundred Health, that was now only a fraction of his pool. ȓÃ₦òВΕş

**Ding! You have imbibed a Tonic (Unusual, Tier I): Restorative Waters**

Kaius sighed as cooling energy flooded his chest and his Health quickly climbed back to just over three and a half thousand. The boost was nice, though it would likely only be enough to last him until his wounds were half healed.

“Kaius, that was…incredible to watch. I’ve seen you fight a lot, but not like that.” Ianmus said, channeling mana even as he spoke. A healing spell hit Kaius in the chest a moment later, filling his pool further.

“All in a day’s work.” He smiled, “How’re the two of you holding up?”

Ianmus returned the smile with a wan one of his own. “I feel like I’ve got an icepick sticking out of the back of my head, and my mana channels ache something fierce, but nothing quite as bad as you.”

Kenva just stared at him.

“How in the hells are you still standing? Just one of those things was enough to take Porkchop out, but you must have gotten bitten more than fifteen times. Is Rapid Adaption truly so powerful?”

Kaius shrugged. “It’s part of it, although I believe it only on par with a Rare resistance skill that is specialised — most of its value is in its breadth. The rest is down to high Vitality and that Lesser Regeneration 

makes my healing much more efficient.”

“Still. You were moving so fast I could barely track your sword — with a dozen rotting holes in you, might I add.”

“High strength, high dexterity, multiple relevant Skills, and Lesser Regeneration again — most legacy recovery skills have some sort of component to power through wounds like that.”

Kaius switched his attention to his brother. The wound on his leg had shrunk — while it had initially grown to a rotten hole the size of a mixing bowl, now it was little more than a flesh wound. Albeit a red and weeping one.

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“Speaking of — you able to walk yet?”

His brother let out a grunt, pushing himself to his feet.

“Yeah — healing’s still slow, but the venom’s reduced enough that my Health regeneration has out stripped it.”

Kaius shook his head. Lucky bastard. He might have been tough to kill, but Porkchop was about as soft as an anvil. He pushed himself to his feet.

“We should get going — it shouldn’t take us long to find the safe room we felt earlier.” He flashed Ianmus a grin, “Mind giving me a few more heals? My health is half shot, and I should probably take the lead in case we run into more worms.”

Ianmus nodded, hitting him with a Ray of Tender Recovery a moment later.

“I’ve got to say, regardless of how terrifying this little misadventure has been, that jump in levels was rather…moreish. Nothing kicks quite like so many stats all at once.”

Kaius laughed, taking the lead as he pushed off his discomfort — without the venom being constantly applied, Rapid Adaptation finally had the chance it needed to start clearing out the affliction. He’d be right as rain soon, and with the jump in his capabilities he doubted any lone worms would cause him too much trouble.

“I’m glad the split worked out — I was worried you wouldn’t get any if you just healed. Did the two of you manage to keep pace? We made it to one-seventy.”

He heard Kenva grunt behind him. “Two more skills already, and halfway to the last. It’s bloody ridiculous. We did though — I'm only a couple of levels behind.”

A fair enough assessment — just because he was personally used to such oversized jumps, it didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of just how abnormal they were. Still, it put them on pace for their goals.

Unfortunately, he knew that levels and skills wouldn’t be what held them back. It was their aspects he was worried about. They were too enigmatic to force, even if their current environment was perfect to encourage their development.

He still hadn’t felt even a glimmer from his pillar Animus, and his team hadn't even gotten their second ones yet.

Finishing them was non-negotiable — they’d gotten advice from a god. Whatever benefit it brought would no doubt be far more valuable than a lone Honour. He just wanted them both, regardless of it it made him greedy.

They crossed the cavern, stopping before the split tunnels. Both were valid options, for his sense of the safe room didn’t have a bearing in the same way that he felt Champions and Guardians.

He nodded to the left — if it took them out of range, they could always double back. Two-hundred longstrides wasn’t that far.

Caution guided his advance, his blade bared and ready. Thankfully, it seemed that the rootborers had been confined to the cavern — nothing bothered them just yet.

“Any of you manage to make any headway with their aspects?” he asked while they walked.

“I did,” Ianmus responded after a moment's pause. “Corporus. I’m not sure how close I am, but I was using enough mana that a burn set in quickly — I pushed past it with my Glass Mind. Felt like I was tearing myself in half trying to channel faster and stop it from scorching my channels. I can’t remember the thought that started it — something like ‘my mana is my own’, but it resonated.”

“I did too.”

Kaius looked back at his brother in surprise. How’d he managed that? With the affliction Porkchop had endured he could understand if it was Corporus, but his brother had already ignited it.

Porkchop rolled his eyes, amusement flooding back through their bond.

“It was you, idiot. The way you reacted to blows you couldn’t even see, staying in motion and controlling the field. It made me realise I might be a little…single-minded in my focus — and that I needed to work on that if I wanted to be a better Bastion. Mentis reacted.”

He let loose a guffaw. Single minded was understating it. Porkchop’s relentless aggression was a boon most of the time, but he could definitely agree that it limited his brother when it came to commanding the battlefield as a lynch pin of their defense.

Hopefully whatever came of the aspect would help.

“What about you, Kenva?” Porkchop asked.

“Nothing, but I’m not overly worried — I wasn’t stressed all that much physically, and none of us know what Animus related to. I’m sure my chance will come soon.”

They rounded the corner, and slowed to a halt. The root-tunnel they were following ended quickly in a curtain of thin flexible vines just up ahead. Kaius turned to his ranger, wondering if there was anything living beyond. She shook her head.

Kaius gave her a nod and stepped forward, pushing his way through the hanging vines with his blade held out — ready for another worm to erupt at any moment. The tension made his wounds ache.

Nothing came.

Instead, he was greeted with the sight of a hollowed out burl set into the side of an immense root. The same small luminescent bugs that had lit the tunnels outside of the room absolutely governed the ceiling, lighting it in a golden glow.

One wall held a small growth. A depression, filled with what seemed to be thin sap that dripped from a hole in the living wall just above. On the wall across from it, a series of branches grew — each holding dozens of bunches of small berries.

There was only one thing it could have been. A safe room.

“Oh Ellyntyr, Kaand — I thank you for this blessing.” Kaius mumbled, slumping in relief. By the gods he was tired.

Waving at his team to follow, he rushed in and slumped against the far wall, finally able to relax.

While his team made themselves comfortable, he pulled up his status — wanting to see how much he had truly grown from his culling of the rootborers.

Status:

Name: Kaius

Dynasty: Unterstern

Age: 19

Race: Human (Dynastic, Greater Beastblooded) - +1 Con, Str, Wil, and free stats per level

Layer Reached: 25

Class: Runeblade Initiate - +3 Int, +2 Con, +2 Str, +2 Dex, +1 Vit, +1 Wil per level

Level: 170

Resources:

Health - 2712/8480 (53.1/min)

Stamina - 3589/8340 (60/min)

Mana - 722/9780 (65.7/min)

Free Mana - 370/8840

Reserved Mana - 940

Stats:

Constitution - 848 (540 + 75 + 38%)

Vitality - 531 (310 + 75 + 38%)

Strength - 834 (530 + 75 + 38%)

Dexterity - 600 (360 + 75 + 38%)

Intelligence - 978 (580 + 90 + 46%)

Willpower: - 657 (360 + 90 + 46%)

Stat Points: 0

Aspects:

Pillar Corporus: The Struggler’s Madness

* Reinforcement: Titan’s Marrow

* Seed: Forged in Endless Strife

Pillar Mentis: The Veteran’s Edge

* Reinforcement: Glass Mind

* Seed: Campaigner’s Reason

Pillar Animus: N/A

Class Skills (9/10):

Latent Glyph of Drakthar (Heroic) - 154 155

Initiate’s Glyphic Bladerite (Unique) - 122 139

Latent Glyph of Aelina (Heroic) - 136

Mystic’s Rend (Heroic) - 109 128

Latent Glyph of Vyrthane (Heroic) - 25

Sigil of Vesryn’s Pact (Unique) - 15 68

Latent Glyph of Eirnith (Heroic) - 30 34

Selection Available!Selection Available!

General Skills (10/10):

Rapid Adaptation (Heroic) - 200

Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo (Heroic) - 159 183

Explorer’s Toolkit (Unusual) - 143 151

Tempered by Dissonance (Heroic) - 200

True Sight (Unique) - 139 143

Tonal Weaving (Unique) - 120

Resonance Amplification (Unique) - 117 118

Lesser Regeneration (Unusual) - 200

Uncanny Dodge (Unique) - 146 167

Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus (Heroic) - 200

Hymnbook:

Glyph of Drakthar -

Stormlash (Tier I - 120 mana)

Hateful Nail (Tier I - 100 mana)

Glyph of Aelina -

Yellia’s Slip Step (Tier I - 80 mana)

Trusant’s Expedient Shunt (Tier I - 100 mana)

Glyph of Vyrthane -

War Haven (Tier I - 1000 mana)

Glyph of Eirnith -

Zone of Discombobulation (Tier I - 300 mana)

Formationbook:

Sigil of Vesryn’s Pact -

Unbroken Through Suffering (Tier I)

Honours:

Born for Slaughter (Bonus)

Sublime Prodigy - Glyph Binding (Bonus)

Birds of a Blood Soaked Feather (Bonus)

Persistent Survivor (Minor) (Bonus)

Kingslayer (Major) (Bonus)

Ruthless Underdog (Bonus)

Ruthless Underdog II

Trailblazer II (Bonus)

Hordebreaker

Ruthless Underdog III (Bonus)

Persistent Survivor IV (Bonus)

Bound Artefacts:

A Father’s Gift - Growth Longsword (Common)

Growth Conditions-

Gain a class (1/1)

Absorb suitable materials (2/3)

Forge a link (1/1)