Chapter 18 The Beginning - Strength (Part 2)

Just as I finally finished the first goblin the first convulsions happened. My muscles contracted but it was worse than before. It was almost overwhelming before I returned to normal if not a little breathless.

You have now Created Ability:

Death Follows

Ability was created through the use of Mana manipulation & Attribute affinity: Death

The information just flowed into my mind as I realized it was a name for the technique I’d just used.

The information appearing in my mind was a little disorienting, but if this ability is what I’ve been using until now, then just thinking about the ability should trigger it’s affect.

I have to focus, if I don’t focus something could happen to Kaden! He’s doing well but he’s never going to defeat that orc like that and just one hit from that orc is going to seriously hurt him! He never thinks about these things!

Rushing in behind the orc trying to take it by surprise I get knocked back by him as I run into him by accident. On the floor he finally notices me but it’s too late, my hand is touching his leg and I activate the new ability and I can feel all of his mana being enshrouded by my mana and my mana emanating death as his life vanishes until only death remains.

The second he falls forward I let go of him immediately. I hate how this feels! I hate how good it feels while my attribute is summoned. I feel cold and scared but in control and powerful at the same time, and every time I use this ability I can already tell I feel a little more indifferent about the life I take.

When I first used this skill by accident during the first goblin attack I didn’t know what I was doing, but now that I’m doing it on purpose… I can’t help but feel guilty.

I’ve never heard of another human having the death attribute.

Looking up at Kaden as he helps me up I can’t meet his eyes. Until I feel Daichi’s eyes on me, and noticing what he’s looking at and the way he’s looking at Kaden and I… I speak up, sooner or later I would have told them. They deserve to know. It might as well be now.

Not being able to look them in eyes while I say it, in a soft voice I mumble “I did it. It seems… I’ve developed a new Ability.”

Waiting for all the questions I know they have, I try to calm down my feelings. I can’t always be overwhelmed. I won’t be able to help Kaden when he really needs it if I don’t get myself under control!

Instead of waiting for the questions. I steady myself and taking a huge breath of air, I say everything I know and that I’ve been holding back “I have the Death attribute. I didn’t know what I’d done the first time, but I created an Ability by tying my attribute to a method of mana control or at least that’s what the window just said. Oh and I just reached level 10!”

I open my window while they’re thinking.

-Status-Name:Hannah GuresuClass:NoneLevel:10Race:HumanEvolutionary Path:???

Title(s):Lucky Survivor, Death’s HarbingerDivine Protection:NoneAttribute(s):DeathHealth:96/100Mana:478/490

Strength:5Agility:6Vitality:5Spirit:1Intelligence:39(+10)Wisdom:30Aptitude:23(+25+5)Ability:10/500

Skill(s):None

Ability:Death Follows

Inheritance:None

Thinking about whether I want to know. I know I don’t have much of a choice. I check my new *Title*

Death’s Harbinger:

Achieved by enshrouding a living being’s life with death aura resulting in it’s death.

You are living-death.

Aptitude +5

Intelligence +10

I feel a little nauseous about this ominous title… Yet it’s pretty much what I expected. It’s literally what I did.

I check my hopefully more optimistic *Title*

Lucky Survivor:

In the midst of death and chaos you remain unscathed.

As a Lucky Survivor your luck lies in your ability to evade death.

Aptitude +25

Oh? Well that’s good news, definitely compared to the rest, but I get the feeling I got that title because of my attribute, or maybe my attribute because of my title? Ugh… Confusing to think about…

Steadying myself for more news of the nauseating-variety I think about my *Ability*

Ability Name:Ability Rank:Ability Level:Active Ability:Death FollowsSpecial(Max)Mana Cost: VariesYou enshroud your opponents Mana with your own then trigger your Death attribute to cause instant death to your target. Restrictions: Must have more mana than target.

As expected, if anything this didn’t tell me something new and horrific so it’s the best news so far. Thinking about how nothing scary or incredulous popped up this time around I let out a breath of air I didn’t realize I was still keeping.

Looking at me with a big smile and wide eyes “Well that good news. Seems like it’s similar to Ava’s skill but more effective, I suppose it’s because it’s more suited to be a combat skill. If it’s instantaneous then you might end up being our trump card when our backs are against the wall. How much mana does it use?” Daichi asked.

“Uhh… It depends on how much mana my opponent has, I have to use more than hit has in general in it’s body” I reply not meeting his eyes but feeling happy he’s not looking at me like a freak or angry for having this ability.

“Well if it’s based on an opponents mana, how much do you have left from taking out, what I’m assuming was both of those Orcs?” he asked with the same excited tone of voice as before.

“Hmmm….” Checking my status window again I open my eyes wide realizing how much mana I have left!

“Ah, I only used up 12 mana. I guess orcs don’t have much mana in their bodies?” I say and risk a glance in his direction.

“INCREDIBLE!” He shouts and comes over and grabs my hands all of a sudden making me super nervous and uncomfortable. I mean i don’t hate it or anything but this is super sudden!

“Basically any non magic creature is a goner with this move! and all you have to do is get a touch in! As long as the opponent isn’t ridiculously stronger we can win, worst case scenario with our backs against the walls all of us can act like shields and hold an opponent back long enough for you to activate your skill! This is incredible Hannah!” Giving me a big hug I feel like fainting.

What’s he doing!?

My mind is going blank. Should I push him off? What do I say? Does he like me? Can he tell if I’m blushing? Oh my god, I haven’t showered properly in days! What if he thinks I smell bad or something? This is terrible!

I push him back and quickly move backwards.

“Oh! Ah! I’m sorry!” He says and bows at me.

“No no! It’s fine! it was just so sudden.” I turn to look at Kaden to see if he’s angry but he’s just standing to the side looking away from us.

Hmm… He looks so distant… I wonder what’s wrong? I told him about this skill the night after the first goblin attack. I don’t think he’d be mad at me for this. I know I can trust him, what’s bothering him?

“Okay new plan, from now on when we fight we break off into pairs. I’ll attack and hold back my opponent and Hannah can use her skill, and we’ll split kills. Ava and Kaden you two can stick together and anyone Ava can’t finish Kaden can take out in a cinch.”

The frown on Kaden’s face lessened into one of neutrality. Even now the mention of extra time with Ava still seems to calm him down. That’s a little reassuring…

With my ability being revealed to the others, we went about finding goblins or more orcs.

Without expending too much energy what we found were the corpses of various groups of goblins near the center of town. It looked like the goblins were killed by orcs due to how they were seemingly ripped to shreds. I felt strangely calm about the whole sight. Days ago this would’ve completely freaked me out and today I just feel calm. Kaden and Ava are having a rough time with the sight but Daichi looks indifferent as always. I wonder if maybe the same thing that’s happening to me is happening to him…

After walking around all the corpses we ran into a small group of goblins. Somehow even though it was my first fight with them, I didn’t panic. Although they’re ugly and their loud high pitched squeaks were unnerving, they weren’t nearly as terrifying as the creepy orc men.

We dispatched of the first group without anyone taking a single hit. I happened to kill 3 with my ability, daichi kicked them to the ground where I would simply have to touch them, and after seeing my ability they would begin to panic and Daichi would kill off the rest.

The second group of goblins we ran into was much larger. We all got a chance to fight, we used the same strategy except Kaden and Ava fought their own separate group while we took care of our own.

On our third group of goblins we ran into some problems, it seemed they were all higher level than the average at 9, and all of them had weapons, without meaning too I happened to trip mid fight and got stabbed in the shoulder. It hurt so much I thought I was going to pass out. Definitely not something I want to experience again. Luckily Daichi stepped in and kept me okay. Ava didn’t fair much better also fighting melee with a skill and took some serious damage, but seeing as how she was still carrying about some heal potions we were both back to tip top shape before the battle even ended. I was actually surprised how well I kept myself together in the middle of the fight.

After three battles, according to Daichi I had defeated 5 level 6 Goblin Scouts and 3 level 8 Goblin Warriors.

I also leveled up twice and reached level 13. Daichi said he leveled up to reach level 14 and Ava mentioned how she leveled up to 11. She actually jumped up in joy, apparently it’s been slower for her to get stronger for some reason.

It was only after the fights were over that I begun to get freaked out about how calm I was being despite killing so many living beings. Which made me think about what Kaden and Ava were saying last night…

I feel as if I’m more like Daichi and I don’t know if I want to be when it comes to this. These lives matter and I should be more bothered about killing them, even if it doesn’t change anything. I shouldn’t get rid of the mentality I had before all of this happened so quickly and easily.

After all this, we decided to call it a day and head back and get some rest in the cellar. We ate and all wanted a little space to ourselves.

Finally getting the chance to think and sort out my feelings.

I remember when our parents died. Our entire lives changed overnight, and everyone tried to make it easier. Kaden had it rough but I could tell how grateful he was to everyone that helped, It made it easier for him.

I hated it. I could tell that they weren’t really trying to help, they were trying to make themselves look better in front of everyone else, and I hated them for it. I could tell by the way they looked at us how little anyone cared about us.

The moment our parents died I lost the two people that I could count on and a little piece of me died along with them, I just didn’t know it until all of this happened.

Kaden is trying to make the best of it, but he’s struggling already. I wish this were harder on me. I wish I could relate to how he’s feeling more than I can. I wish I could help him somehow.

Instead I’ feel cold. I feel cold because until this happened I didn’t realize how mad at the world I was and how little this really changes things for us. It’s still just Kaden and me.

Even Chloe, my best friend never really knew me. After the initial shock i realized that I didn’t feel the same way or even close to how I felt when my parents died.

Opening my status window one more time, I look at the changes that happened today.

-Status-Name:Hannah GuresuClass:NoneLevel:12Race:HumanEvolutionary Path:???

Title(s):Lucky Survivor, Death’s HarbingerDivine Protection:NoneAttribute(s):DeathHealth:100/100Mana:530/530

Strength:5Agility:6Vitality:5Spirit:1Intelligence:43(+10)Wisdom:30Aptitude:23(+25+5)Ability:12/500

Skill(s):None

Ability:Death Follows

Inheritance:None

Finally getting tired and getting closer and closer to getting some rest I had one final thought before falling asleep: I’m getting used to killing and even though I don’t think I should, and even though I don’t want too, if this’ll help me protect Kaden then I’ll do whatever it takes.