Rise of the Devourer

Chapter 20: A Handy Upgrade

Pain shot through Noah’s hand as he collapsed on his knees. The sensation had come in like a punch to the gut, except, it was more like every nerve in his hand was on fire, every muscle, bone, tendon, skin and blood vessel pulsating with a fiery hot pain of knives being stabbed through him.

You’ve been inflicted with [Abyssal Parasite]!

You’ve gained [Fever-I]!

“De-summon the creature Noah,” Aurelia said, fire blazing around her fists.

Noah raised his hand, taking a moment to reply. It took his all to focus on bearing through the pain, as he felt Tony moving inside his arm, and reconnecting everything back into place.

“I’m… fine…” he gasped, slowly rising to his feet when another wave of pain had him collapse once more.

“You don’t look fine,” Aurelia said with a concerned voice, but Noah did not have the mental capacity to reply to her.

You’ve gained the skill [Pain Tolerance]!

Noah watched the skill notification from the corner of his vision. His pain was no less worse now, but it was ever so slightly more manageable to bear through it. Sweat continued to pour down Noah’s body, and he could feel his breath rising through his lungs. He was hot, extremely hot.

Slowly, Noah tried to take off his shirt, to cool down somewhat. Finding the movement far too difficult to execute, his frustration spike, as he pulled, tearing it away. The air brushed against his body with a frigid sensation, and he panted as more and more heat began to build up.

[Fever-I → Fever-II]

After a few moments, Aurelia walked closer, crouching next to him. Lightly, she pressed her arm on his shoulder, and frowned. “You’re burning up.”

“I have a fever,” Noah said, glancing sideways. His eyes noted his health bar, dropping rapidly as Tony ate through his lifepool to heal his arm. Yet, though his health was dropping, Noah could also see the grayed out end of the bar starting to decrease. His plan was working.

“I need… health potions…” Noah said with the last of his willpower, before the pulsating pain began to much to bear. He grit his teeth, clutching his hand, as sensation began to return in a flooding wave.

Closing his eyes, he focused on the pain, trying to breathe through it.

Pain is just a feeling. Don’t let it control you. Be aware that it exists, but don’t let it take over your mind.

[Pain Tolerance] has reached level 2.

The skill increase motivated Noah to focus harder, as he began on his breath even harder. Before he knew it, Meditation triggered in, as Noah began to absorb the mana around. He focused his entire attention on his breath, letting his mind stick to the sensation of air moving in and out of his lungs.

[Meditation] has reached level 2.

[Pain Tolerance] has reached level 3.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Keep it slow. Keep it steady. Breathe from my gut, and focus on the way my chest moves. Don’t think about the arm. Don’t think about the pain. The only thing that exists right now, is the flow of my breath, and the sensation of the mana flowing in as I breathe.

Time passed by in a blur, as Noah continued to breathe. Notifications popped up in his display, coming one after the other, but he did not focus on them, simply sticking to his breathing.

Then, with a snap, almost instantaneously, Noah felt all the pain vanish.

[Meditation] has reached level 4.

[Meditation] has reached level 5.

[Pain Tolerance] has reached level 4.

[Pain Tolerance] has reached level 5.

[Pain Tolerance] has reached level 6.

[Fever-III] has been removed.

He opened his eyes, surprised at the complete lack of sensation coming from his arm. Merely moments ago, the pain had been so overwhelming that he would’ve collapsed from it, if not for his skills. Noah reached out to Tony, trying to understand what was happening, before realising Tony had noticed his pain and turned off the nerves in his arms.

“Here,” Aurelia said, putting a healing potion in his hand.

“Thanks,” Noah said, and drank the potion. The liquid felt refreshing as it poured into his body, before rapidly spreading throughout him with a cooling sensation.

“You’re good now?” Aurelia asked, glancing down at Noah’s hand.

“Yeah, the pain just vanished all of a sudden,” he said, before observing his hand as well. He tried to move his fingers, and found them twitching and responding lightly. A sensation of annoyance came from Tony and Noah stopped any further movements to let his summon work.

Little strings of dark goop pulsated at the joint where Noah’s arm was joint back to the elbow, holding everything together. Noah could feel the black goo slowly but surely assimilating with his hand as it reinforced and reattached everything where it was supposed to go.

The process was fascinating, and Noah watched his rather pale arm present in a deep black in color. His skin looked thicker now, more sturdy, and there were claws formed above where his fingers was supposed to go. Noah could see the dark wisps of void mana emanating from his clawed hand, as his muscles grew and expanded and his body morphed.

Then, with a positively delightful sensation from Tony, Noah felt the nerves kick back in, as sensation came back in all at once.

With a sudden pause, a myriad of notifications exploded in his vision.

[Abyssal Parasite] has reached level 2.

[Abyssal Parasite] has reached level 3.

…

[Abyssal Parasite] has reached level 6.

Ability evolution unlocked.

[Abyssal Parasite → Abyssal Symbiont]!

[Lifeblood] has reached level 4.

Race evolution unlocked.

Human (Modified) → Human (Symbiont)

All attributes increased by 2.

Noah watched the notifications in wonder, as he flexed his new hand. A moment later, he reached out and selected Abyssal Symbiont.

[Abyssal Symbiont - Tony (Basic)]

An Abyssal parasite, that now resides within your arm, and has become a part of it, making it a host limb. The process changed its nature, and yours, creating a symbiotic relationship. The summon shall feed on your lifeforce, and obtain a sliver of the experience you do for any foes you defeat. And in return, it will obey your command, sharpening your instincts, honing your body, and increasing your strength.

Noah read through the description, before reaching out to Tony once more. Tony did not respond, and Noah could sense that the parasite- or rather, Symbiont was sleeping, resting to allow for the changes it had undergone to properly process.

“That… is quite the hand you have now,” Aurelia said, watching Noah. “I admit, I didn’t really expect it to work.”

“To be completely honest, I wasn’t very certain it would either. But I had researched as much as I could, and made sure I had the ability to remove the parasite from the body if it didn’t work out, so I figured it was worth the shot,” Noah said, before raising his arm and forming a fist. His obsidian-black muscles pulsated as he did, rippling under his skin. As he opened his fist, sharp curves blades popped out, made of a bony like material, but with a metallic gleam on them.

Noah grinned like a child on Christmas eve. “Absolutely worth it.”

“You should keep that hidden,” Aurelia said. “It’s not unheard of for adventurers to pick monster body parts as a replacement for a limb, if the limb is compatible, but it’s still quite a rare sight. And nothing quite to the extent of… that,” Aurelia said, as Noah retracted his claws with a metallic clang. The movement was fairly instinctual, if a bit difficult to control. Noah could tell he’d have even more control when Tony was awake, but that would have to wait for now.

“This is so sick,” Noah said, moving the claws in and out around his fingers. They were like grafted above his fingers, and he could flex the muscles in and around his palms to move them at will. He could even sense a weird pressure that secreted a dark liquid. Necrotic Poison,Noah realized a moment later.

“Sick for sure. A bit disgusting as well. Your hand still looks fairly human in some ways, which makes it even more disturbing,” Aurelia said. “Oh, right. Sick means good with you. Your world must be a strange place so that sick means good.”

Noah shrugged, and found his claws pop out involuntarily. He contracted the muscles again. “I’ll need to learn how to control this,” he said, flexing his fingers. When the claws were missing, his hand looked normal, if he ignored the fact that it was pitch black in colour, and had a subtly different shape to it than a regular hand. The part that made it stand out the most was the void mana oozing from the limb.

“I would suggest keeping that hand hidden. It draws the eye, and unnecessary attention is rarely a good thing,” Aurelia said, moving closer. “Can I touch it?” she asked, pointing at his hand.

“Sure,” Noah said, and Aurelia grabbed his hand. Slowly, she pressed on his hands, and then ran her fingers under the tips where the claws were embedded. With an involuntary pop the blades came out, and Aurelia ran her finger across the edge of one.

“I will say, having an inbuilt weapon within your body can be quite an advantage. As Awakened grow, one of the concerns we have to deal with is gear at an appropriate level for us. But since this hand is still a part of your body, and thus connected to your Astral Script, it should grow alongside the rest of you.”

Noah whistled before flexing his fingers once more. “I want to test it out.”

“We should probably head out of here for that then. Wouldn’t want to break this place,” Aurelia said.

“Of course,” Noah said, failing to keep his grin in check as he followed behind Aurelia. After picking up a new shirt with longer sleeves to hide his new hand, the two of them had made their way bit further from Layfar village, and near a forest grove.

After finding a suitable spot, with a thick enough tree, Noah folded his left sleeve up, letting his claws pop out in their full display. Rushing in, he swiped his claws across the tree, and found they cut through the bark with ease, as they tore out a chunk of wood. He swiped once more, and then again, digging into the tree one swipe at a time. On the last swing, he let his necrotic-poison seep out, as it slashed through the tree. Within moments, the bark began to rot, the poison spreading through it as it ate through the tree. Noah grinned like a maniac, watching the poison spread.

“I feel like Wolverine, but better and with more magic,” Noah said.

“Don’t get too happy just yet. You’ll need to learn how to utilise a clawed hand. Your fighting style is suited for a fist, and you’re clumsy with your left arm,” Aurelia said, watching from a distance.

“Sure, I bet Tony could help with the clumsiness too. There’s likely going to be an adaptation period for me to get used to this arm,” Noah said, clicking his claws against one another. “I swear, I just cannot stop smiling when I look at them.”

“I don’t get you. Most people would not be pleased if they had a hand that looked like it belonged to an abomination.”

“Oh you’re so wrong. Forget the magic, just having this kind of an arm? A lot of rich people back home would pay rivers to get it. It’s just… cool.”

“Cool?”

“That means, it’s… like, awesome to look at, and fun. A way to say whether something is good or not. Although it can also be used in other contexts. If someone says ‘we cool?’ it means they’re asking ‘is our conflict sorted now?’ and trying to make peace,” Noah replied. “Man, I never thought about any of that before today.”

“Your world is weird,” Aurelia said, leaning against a tree.

“Yours is weirder. It has dragons in it.”

“Dragons are not weird,” Aurelia replied calmly.

“Says you. A massive lizard with wings that breathes fire is definitely weird where I’m from.”

“I think a Dragon will still be less weird than you, if you ever went back,” Aurelia replied.

“You bet,” Noah said with a smile.

Turning his attention to a different target of practice, he found a fairly large boulder nearby. Walking up to it, Noah extended his claws, and swiped at the boulder. His claws cut through the rock, but the imprint was shallow, and Noah felt a stinging pain when he did so.

“I guess it’s still bone,” Noah murmured, before he paused as an idea occured to him. Reaching out to obliterate, he let it coat his claws, sharpening the skill to an edge.

For a moment, the void oozed out of Noah’s control, surprising him from the intensity of it. Noah tried again, and found the magic reacting quite strongly to his left hand. Letting obliterate channel, Noah took another try, swiping at the rock once more.

There was barely any resistance as his claws cut through the boulder with ease, leaving five sharp claw marks behind as he did.

Noah gasped in joy as he watched the claw marks. “Okay, this is officially the sickest thing ever.”

“Let’s go back for now, weirdo. People might get concerned that you suddenly vanished. You can come back here later if you still want to mess around with your new arm,” Aurelia said.

“You’re a killjoy, do you know that?” Noah replied, clicking his tongue, but he knew she was right.

Retracting his claws, and letting Obliterate fade, he followed behind the woman, reaching out to his Astral script. He still had attribute points to spend.

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Human (Symbiont)

Rank: F

Paths:

Exsanguinator - level 15

Astralwalker - level 13

Void Hunter - level 13

Attributes:

Power: 57

Agility: 35

Constitution: 42

Mystic: 56

Attribute points: 24

Taking a look at his Astral script, he decided to spend his points later. He wanted to experiment a bit with them before he invested them all.

Closing the Astral script, Noah turned towards Aurelia.

“What’re you smiling about?” Aurelia asked.

“Nothing. I just thought of something funny.”

“Hmm?” Aurelia said, raising an eyebrow in question.

Noah grinned, unable to hold his smile back as he replied. “I just saw my new arm, and thought to myself. What a handy upgrade.”

Aurelia froze in place, as Noah cackled madly to himself.

The woman slung a fireball at him, and Noah blinked away before it could hit him, still cackling as he fled from her.

“I hate you,” Aurelia said, ignoring Noah as she stomped away.