Rise of the Devourer

Chapter 9: Shards of [???]

burning eyes to the dark cavern. Where was he? This didn’t look like his room. “Was I drinking… again?”

His memories returned the second he laid his eyes on the giant corpse of the monster he’d just fought. He glanced sideways and found Aurelia missing from where she’d fallen. He assumed she was alright, because if there were any other threat, he was in no shape to do anything about it. Noah noticed his clothes had been cut through and wrapped up with pieces from his robes.

Likely Aurelia’s work, if he had to guess.

Focusing on his breathing, Noah closed his eyes, engaging in Meditation.

You are Meditating. Mana regeneration increased by 100%

A sensation like cool water washed over Noah, briefly reducing his pounding headache. The sensation was soon interrupted by a sharp spiking pain spreading outward from his abdomen. He doubled over in pain, Meditation fading, remaining in his bent position till the pain became more manageable.

“What the actual fuck?” Noah said when the pain had mostly faded. Slightly concerned, he opened his menu to check. Little icons dotted the overlay of his vision, hovering just under the health and mana bar. He selected them and an array of words popped up.

You’re afflicted with [Migraine].

You’re afflicted with [Mana Poisoning - II]

You’re afflicted with [Exhaustion]

You’re afflicted with [Mana Fatigue - III]

“I guess that explains some of it,” Noah said, dismissing the notifications. Opening the Inventory, he looked at the potion he had, before deciding he didn’t want to risk it. He’d rather wait for Aurelia to return.

In the meantime, he opened his main menu, looking at the changes.

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Human

Rank: F

Paths:

Exsanguinator - level 11

Astralwalker - level 9

Void Hunter - level 9

Attributes:

Power: 26

Agility: 17

Constitution: 20

Mystic: 30

Attribute Points: 30

He’d gained a considerable number of levels with the fight, far more than the one with Viktral. Perhaps because of his greater role in killing the abomination. He looked up at his health bar, which was significantly larger compared to before.

Health: 61%

He doubted he would’ve survived without the high health.

“Oh, you’re awake?” Aurelia said, walking into the chamber.

“I wish I wasn’t,” Noah replied with a grimace. “Are you doing alright?”

“Thanks to you. It’s a miracle that either of us are alive at all. I still can’t believe you had to save my life—twice. I know I was exhausted, but I can’t believe I let myself be taken out like that…” Aurelia shook her head.

“Honestly, me neither. I thought I was a goner for sure,” Noah said.

Aurelia crouched next to Noah and put a hand on his chest. “Mana poisoning, we’ll need to take care of that.”

“Do I need to be concerned?” Noah quickly glanced at his health bar.

“Not a lot. Mana poisoning can get nasty, but it’s very rarely lethal. Thankfully, there’s an easy way to fix it,” Aurelia said, sitting next to him with her legs folded. “Close your eyes and focus on your mana. Then release as much of it as you can till you’re empty.”

“That’s it? That sounds way too easy,” Noah asked.

Aurelia just gave him an amused smile.

He followed her instructions, closing his eyes before he focused on his body. Vaguely he could tell that the mana in his body was collected somewhere between his chest and abdomen. Like an intangible swirling wisp not much larger than his fist in size. Reaching out to the wispy sensations, he began to make it travel through his body, then pushed it outward. With a deep exhale, Noah felt the mana starting to drain from his body, being released into the air around him.

The process felt natural at first, but as the mana bar continued to deplete, Noah found his chest tightening, almost as if he was suffocating. Sweat began to bead his head.

Warning. Low Mana.

The sensation intensified, and Noah had to stop multiple times to catch his breath. After nearly fifteen minutes, he finally felt the last wisps of mana leave his body.

Mana: 0%

Affliction [Mana Poisoning] has been removed.

Noah panted, feeling out of breath. Each pore on his body felt like it had been opened and was trying to pull in as much air as it could. A tingling sensation covered his skin, as Noah became oddly clear headed.

With shaking hands, he tried to anchor himself, each sensation magnified.

“It’ll feel strange for a while. Wait for your mana to naturally recover. It’ll take a day or two for your mana regeneration to return to normal. Take off that ring by the way, it’s only going to make things worse,” Aurelia said.

Noah gulped, nodding at her words and he took off the Abyssal ring, putting it back into his inventory.

[Ring of Abyssal Eye (Rare)] removed.

Ability levels have been reset.

“Do you have any water?” he asked.

“I have a healing potion,” Aurelia replied.

“It’ll do,” Noah said.

Aurelia handed him a vial filled with a sloshing red liquid, and Noah pried the lid open gulping the bitter liquid down. A tingling sensation covered him all over his body, and his headache started to slowly fade.

His gaze returned to the giant flesh horror’s corpse in the middle of the room. “What’re we gonna do about that?” Noah asked.

Aurelia glanced at the giant fleshy corpse. “I’ll burn it. With how much suffering those people have gone through, we wouldn’t want to leave it intact to be revived as an undead.”

Noah shuddered, imagining himself having to fight an undead version of the creature. Looking for a change of topic, he opened his Inventory and noticed the tome he’d obtained “Right. I got a Tome of Lifeblood. You think I should use it, or will the mana poisoning cause any issues?” Noah asked, taking the tome out.

“Lifeblood? I’ve never heard of it,” Aurelia said, looking at the tome sitting in Noah’s lap. “Since you’re F ranked, you’ll need all the abilities you can get. And new abilities certainly don’t hurt. But. There are some abilities that can cause permanent changes, so… well, I still think it’s worth using it. Lifeblood sounds like it would be helpful.”

“I’m assuming there’s monsters and stuff outside this place? If I’m really going to be an adventurer, I probably need more abilities. I’d almost died against the horror despite doing what I could and you having already injured it,” Noah replied.

“It seems you’ve made up your mind then,” Aurelia said with a smile.

“Alright, here we go,” Noah said, putting his palm above the tome and words popped up in front of him.

[Tome of Lifeblood (Legendary)]

Unlocks the Lifeblood ability upon use.

Would you like to use this item?

Yes/No?

A bright golden light flashed from the tome as Noah selected Yes. This time, he didn’t get a path option to pick from, as Exsanguinator automatically got selected.

Magical runes swirled around as the book faded into the bright light, before being absorbed into Noah’s body. The energy made his skin tingle, as words appeared in front of him.

Exsanguintor has unlocked the Ability [Lifeblood].

Noah selected the Ability, opening up its description.

[Lifeblood (Basic) - level 1]

Your blood is filled with a strong vital force. You can store life within your blood, utilising it to enhance your healing greatly for a small period of time. Permanently increases all healing abilities by 10%. Permanently increases health regeneration by 100%. Provides immunity from low grade poisons.

A rush of energy swept through Noah. Through a sense that he’d only just developed, he could now feel an emptiness in his mind, where he could store the extra health to provide him a burst of healing when necessary.

“That… was powerful,” he said, clutching his fists as his eyes went up to his health bar, now increasing twice as fast.

“That was a lot of energy being released. What does the Ability do?” Aurelia asked, curiosity brimming in her voice.

“I can store extra health and use it to give myself a burst of healing when needed,” Noah replied.

“I feel like you keep getting all the ridiculous Abilities, its unfair,” Aurelia said.

Noah shrugged. “You having magic in your world your entire life is unfair from my perspective.”

“Fair enough,” Aurelia replied.

Noah went through his notifications, trying to see if he’d missed something, when his eyes landed on one particular message.

[???] has unlocked.

Would you like to consume [???].

Yes/No?

Noah looked at the message for a long moment. Instead of accepting the prompt, he opened his menu and the description of the item.

[???]

[Unlocked]

A shard of infinite potential.

Noah raised his eyebrows, realising the description had subtly changed. Taking the Abyssal Ring from his Inventory, he equipped it, increasing his Identify skill capability.

[???]

[Unlocked]

A shard of *** ******** filled with infinite potential. Can be consumed to gain an Aspect and unlock the seal.

Words were missing from the text, distorting and twisting with glitchy fluctuations. A headache assailed Noah, growing stronger the more he tried to look at the missing words.

“Can Appraisal or Identify spells just show up with missing words sometimes?” Noah asked.

“If there’s a seal or a lock, or the skill and or spell isn’t strong enough, then yes. Although sometimes, the item itself can be broken, which may also cause this,” Aurelia replied.

Noah took off his Abyssal Eye ring, not wanting to overstrain his mana so quickly. Thinking over the description, Noah opened the prompt.The sourc𝗲 of this content nov(𝒆l)bi((n))

Would you like to consume [???].

Yes/No?

Whatever the Incarnation of Void had so desperately wanted, had been inside of this. His missing memories, the gaps in his mind, and how he had died—the answers were all likely tied to this thing.

After closing his eyes, Noah mentally reached out to the prompt. He hadn’t gotten here by hesitating.

You’ve consumed [???].

Noah’s world exploded in a cacophony of noises.

Initiating bonding seque—ERROR.

Illogical bonding. No trace of Divinity found in soul signatures.

Deviating from standard protocols. Processing fate.

Modifying genetic code.

“What? What do you mean by modifying genetic code?” Noah blurted, but the machine continued undeterred.

Processing…

Prevented chances of genetic defects in offspring.

Removed the possibility of cancer.

Increased immune system response.

…

Reduced ageing factors.

He stared blankly as a long list of conditions and problems rapidly flew past Noah. A warmth filled his gut, like someone had lit a fire inside his stomach.

Gene code modified. Adapting Soul signature.

Choose your Aspect, Ascendan—

Error. Target has insufficient soul capacity.

Modifying.

Adapting.

Aspect cannot be selected. None apply.

Creating a new Aspect…

Aspect of the [Devourer] generated.

[Devourer (Unique/Growth)]

You are the Devourer. A primal hun—

Noah barely got the chance to read before the words were interrupted.

New Quest obtained!

Quest: Shards of [???]

Through strange and unknown circumstances, you’ve come to possess a shard of [???]. But it is far from the only one that exists. Memories remain hidden in these pieces that’ve been scattered across Erandir. It’d do you well to start searching.

Objective: Find all the Shards of [???]

Difficulty: Unknown

Reward: Unknown

Noah watched the system beep madly.

Transformation… Incomplete…

With the cold declaration, Noah felt his soul awareness hit him all at once, like the feeling of falling at the edge of sleep and jerking awake.

His body tensed, muscles tightening, as a hot flood of energy filled him.

[Devourer] has applied [Purify] on you!

“Purify…?” Noah got out before the hot pouring wave of energy flooded him once more. Through the pain, he saw Aurelia step away from him in horror.

Unable to hold back the nausea, Noah bent over, and dark thick sludge began to empty from his stomach.

With each passing moment, more and more leeched forth, escaping from his body and pores, as the energy continued to pour through him. Now on all fours, Noah continued to vomit, until his gut was completely empty, and his body was soaked in a layer of dark gooey filth.

With shivering limbs, he saw something new appear in front of his eyes.

You’ve been Purified!

All magical abilities have been enhanced.

Affliction [Migraine] has been removed.

Affliction [Mana Fatigue] has been removed.

All Attributes increased by 5.

Noah tried to say something, but before he could, his limbs gave out. He collapsed into the pool of his own vomit, twitching briefly, then passed out.

***

Aurelia stood nearby, continuing to watch with a grimace on her face. Noah froze up, with energy flaring around him. She suspected some kind of rank up process was happening and stayed away to not interrupt.

She’d seen the process Noah was going through plenty of times during rank ups, as the body removed all toxins inside it. Yet this was the first time she’d seen so much come from a single person’s body.

“Just what kind of toxic place was his world…?” she wondered aloud, feeling sorry for Noah.