∼ Day 219 ∼

[LVL: 124 - Human "Mathias Altrus Forsworn, Lord of Beasts", has been slain!]

[LVL: 108 - Human "Merilyth Caidren, Lady of the Faultless", has been slain!]

[You have been awarded 18.4m points of EXP]

[Congratulations! You've reached levels 6-8]

[You've been rewarded with 3 skill points for reaching levels 6-8]

[Siphon]

[You've consumed the blood of two Humans!]

[16.8m points of EXP have been acquired and stats have been added]

[Congratulations! You've reached level 9]

[You've been rewarded with 1 skill point for reaching level 9]

I let the impaled swordswoman slump to the ground, her life already drained from her body. The other human who had controlled the beasts was still propped on his knees, his death a gory visage as multiple spikes of blood and viscera erupted from his disfigured body.

Looking over the prompt, I guessed the gain was probably a little bit hampered simply due to the fact that I had barely contributed to the slaying of the beastmaster. This should also be why I got basically the same amount of experience from Siphon as I did from killing them this time around.

But to be honest, I had preyed on her inability to show caution and vigilance to the situation at hand. Were she someone else, with maybe a little more cunning and the resolve to play dirty, she would've been many times more deadly and dangerous. Then again, it was that fervor of hers that had fueled the power of her blade.

While her body was frail and her instincts for survival insufficient, she had wielded considerable power. I didn't doubt my ability to win against her in a head-on battle, but she would've probably been able to cut me open with ease if she were ever able to hit me with that fearsome heirloom - even with my physical resistance in the way.

Regardless, I should just be happy for the effortless kills as I had barely expended anything for them and I doubted I'd find many more of easy pickings such as these.

I had another prompt awaiting my attention, so I pulled it up to take a quick look.

[Path - The Paragon of Eldritch]

∼[Achieved 250 attribute points in Vitality and Magic Power]∼

[Path threshold - 2/3]

[Skill - Domain of Life and Death, has been added to the skill list!]

Stunned, I stared at the unexpected skill reward. I had completely forgotten that I was approaching the 250 attribute point mark, even though I had expected this to be the point where the second threshold would be. But now that I finally had, I didn't hesitate as I pulled up the skill description, eager to see what exactly this Domain of Life and Death entailed for me.

-Skill, Domain of Life and Death!-

Skill -Domain of Life and Death- In the land of life and death, where both are but two sides of the same coin, the man who embraces them as one is god ∼ Envelop your surroundings in a domain of your creation at the cost of health, stamina, and mana. Inside, all attributes are amplified and any blood spilled by foreign and enemy creatures will heal you.

A little gaudy in its description. But I didn't doubt its power for even a second as I very well knew of the power the path of The Paragon of Eldritch brought me. And I had just taken one more step down its path.

If the first threshold laid at 100 attribute points in each chosen attribute and the second threshold at 250 in each, then I didn't think it was a stretch to guess that the next threshold laid at either 500 or 1000 attribute points. I leaned towards the latter on that guess, as I was pretty sure finishing the path of The Paragon of Eldritch would be no easy feat.

I also pulled up my status to give it a once-over.

-Status!-

Status

Information Attributes

Traits, Titles, and Skills -Name- "Xavier Tal'chor" STR 70 ⇒ 74 Skills 21 ⇒ 22 -Race- Stragúl (Eldritch Avatar) VIT 296 ⇒ 302 Traits 10 -Sex- Male AGI 162 ⇒ 168 Titles 5 -Rank- C- ⇒ C DEX 71 ⇒ 75 Skill Points 8 ⇒ 12 -Level- 5/75 ⇒ 9/75 INT 75 ⇒ 77 Resistances

Health 2394/2508 CHR 64 ⇒ 65 Physical 65 ⇒ 67 Stamina 499/512 WILL 85 ⇒ 89 Magical 74 ⇒ 76 Mana 482/638 MAG 240 ⇒ 250 Mental 57 ⇒ 58

Finished, I rummaged through the two corpses, taking what was of worth.

They both had a [Greater Ring of Holding], but unfortunately, I couldn't store the rings inside each other. So after taking what was of interest from each ring, I just put them both in a pocket of my trousers and hoped I wouldn't be dropping them in a fight or some other situation.

Other than that, there were only two remaining things that were of value - and they were arguably the most important things on them.

Their heirlooms.

One was the woman's sword, which had turned into an intricate bracelet on his right wrist upon her death. And the other, a pendant that hung around the beastmaster's neck. I wasn't actually sure what his heirloom had looked like before as it was probably hidden underneath the rag and armor he wore, but I surmised it probably had something to do with beasts and controlling them.

Picking the bracelet up, I was greeted with a prompt.

[Heirloom of Will]

-Do you wish to claim ownership and convert the heirloom?-

[WARNING - This choice is permanent]

[Heirloom will dissipate in - 4 minutes and 12 seconds]

[Yes/No]

I wasn't really shocked by the timer as I've already seen some heirlooms left behind suddenly disappear. Then again, it was probably so that people couldn't just hoard heirlooms, trade them, and keep three on them at any time so that they can just escape this trial at any point if they were to find themselves in a certain death situation.

Looking the prompt over again, I firmed my choice.

-Yes-

[Heirloom of Will - Stored]

[Heirlooms collected - 1/3]

While the swordswoman might've not been all that formidable, her heirloom sure as hell had been. But not only that, but I also suspected that the type of heirloom you collected for this trial had a big impact on the outcome of your own heirloom at the end. So if this [Heirloom of Will] was a tool that fed on will, determination, and maybe even the domination of the mind - then this would be a perfect addition.

Walking over, I also picked up the pendant, giving the prompt a brief glance.

[Heirloom of Bond]

-Do you wish to claim ownership and convert the heirloom?-

[WARNING - This choice is permanent]

[Heirloom will dissipate in - 3 minutes and 54 seconds]

[Yes/No]

-No-

Grunting as I declined the prompt, I discarded the heirloom onto the ground. It was probably of little to no use to me, and I didn't even know how the beastmaster had used it. So I didn't think it prudent to just go out on a limb and accept it.

Affairs done, I left this place for a more secluded area which didn't take long to find.

In a large alcove a bit farther away, I made sure nobody was around. I was itching to find out what this new skill of mine truly entailed, and when I did call upon the new power that resided within me, I wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

Billowing out of me like torrents of inky-black smoke, the shadows consumed the alcove. Silence from the many fights eruption all over the island drowned out as nothing but darkness and the sound of sloshing liquid moving about could be heard.

If one was not able to see in darkness, this would've been a frightening experience of the dampening of one's senses and fear of the unknown. But for those who could see in fact see in the darkness. It would be even worse.

Blotting out the sky and stars, nothing but an abyss could be spotted in any direction but down. Because flowing like turbulent waves, was a sea of blood.

I marveled at it all, standing on the blood with pure control over my very own domain. I couldn't quite figure it out, but it was almost like this domain was real and an illusion at the same time.

It was both here in the alcove physically and not.

The only thing I could feasibly describe it as was that I had not actually erected my domain, but rather linked this space to my domain instead. Like layering over two different dimensions atop one another. Though it probably wasn't a grand as that.

Nonetheless, I felt incredibly powerful here. While I felt distinctly like I had still long yet to master this domain, unable to tap into its real power, the control of my magic over blood and shadow was greatly magnified.

But what truly made this domain fearsome, were my familiars.

They lived within this space like it were their homes. Sombra soaring high above, even larger than she could be outside of the domain, and Ketsu, my blood familiar, erupting from the sea of blood like some colossal leviathan. And in here, even they could seemingly control and bend their respective aspects to their wills.

Abruptly, my domain began fading, flickering in and out of existence as I fell to my knees in the alcove.

"Fuck me..." I panted, my vision swimming.

-Status!-

Status

Information Attributes

Traits, Titles, and Skills -Name- "Xavier Tal'chor" STR 74 Skills 22 -Race- Stragúl (Eldritch Avatar) VIT 302 Traits 10 -Sex- Male AGI 168 Titles 5 -Rank- C DEX 75 Skill Points 12 -Level- 9/75 INT 77 Resistances

Health 986/2508 CHR 65 Physical 67 Stamina 61/512 WILL 89 Magical 76 Mana 4/638 MAG 250 Mental 58

Groggily, I barely registered the insane cost to my health, stamina, and mana. It had barely even been a minute, but the domain had almost drained me of everything and put an extreme mental strain put on my mind. I had severely underestimated the toll it would've taken me as I basked in the skill's power, but then again.

It was definitely all worth it.