Chapter 928 Flesh And Bones
[A new monster has been discovered.]
[a.n.a.lyzing its bloodline.]
[Rearranging the database.]
[a.s.sorting genes into the known skills.]
[Testing.]
[Results:]
[Name: Thousand Spears Marcula.]
[Species: Marcula.]
[Evolution: Myth-Tier.]
[Strength: 1034]
[Agility: 659]
[Stamina: 1300]
[Perception: 519]
[Mana: 1201/1201]
[Special Skills:]
[Paralytic Scream: a sonic attack with a special frequency that stimulates the neurons in the brain, making the victim unable to move.]
[Bone Formation: the ability to form bones at will, and their strength would be the same as the user.]
[Hidden Form: the ability to use mana to transmit light through the monster, allowing it to disappear.]
[Inspecting Redeye: the ability to see the weaknesses of foes.]
[New Arms: the ability to form new limbs at will.]
[Acid saliva…]
[Summoning call…]
[Earth element…]
…
These lists of skills were long and even included buffs and resistances against some aspects like lightning and wind. Arthur was surprised to see so many, but in the end, the legacy gave him a description of the monster"s life.
However, Arthur could not read it because the Thousand Spears Marcula screamed in pain, and new limbs began to form. Arthur was not surprised and jumped backward, dodging the hands that reached out toward him.
Arthur descended to the forest"s ground as the monster squirmed and formed new limbs. After he landed, Arthur watched the head huffing and gnashing its teeth together. The ape-like face glared at him with hatred as it took the spear from its body.
"GAAAAH!"
The monster roared as its arms jumped downward, landing on the ground opposite Arthur. Its weight was several tons, which made the entire forest shake beneath them. Even as it started crawling toward him like a tank, Arthur was unfazed.
"You are still a monster, even if capable of human expressions," said Arthur as he stepped back to a.s.sume a stance. "This fight has been for long enough. Given your stats, I noticed that the only thing that could harm you is physical attacks. Let me show you what my domain could do."
Arthur curled his hand into a fist as golden mana exploded from his body, sending a shockwave that pushed everything back. A golden rune appeared atop his fist before fusing with it. Then, Arthur muttered three words.
"Creation Mana Domain," said Arthur with a low voice, as the entire domain pulsed with life. Then, rivers of mana started forming as every existence within his domain supplied him with mana.
[Mana: 578/621]
This was his current mana. As soon as the domain supplied him with mana, it rose temporarily. Arthur crouched downward as his legacy rune, Release, used the mana to amplify his physical strength.
[Mana: 603/621]
[Mana: 758/621]
[Mana: 810/621]
[Mana: 937/621]
[Mana: 1047/621]
His mana skyrocketed because of his domain. Although this temporary boost did not raise his limits, it was still one of the few bugged functions Arthur had obtained.
The monster sensed the change in mana, and it started to grow fearful, but it knew that the only way to survive was to kill Arthur before it killed him. Thus, it raised all thousand spears at him before hurling them.
A thousand white bone spears rained down on Arthur, surrounding him from every direction. He could not dodge anywhere, but he did not even try. Instead, he stomped on the ground and twisted his torso. Then, he punched with all of his strength!
[Mana: 1099/621]
[Mana: 921/621]
[Mana: 702/621]
[Mana: 591/621]
[Mana: 432/621]
His mana started decreasing as it fed his legacy rune. As his fist traveled toward the monster"s direction, a deep growling echoed as it pushed air aside. It weighed as much as a train but was just a few inches big.
Boom!
As his arm extended fully, all strength behind his attack exploded. Arthur was thrown off his feet by the recoil and sent flying backward, as whatever was in front of him got demolished. Everything disappeared as the ground turned to dust and the trees turned to sawdust.
Arthur flew away before he readjusted himself and landed on the ground. His feet dragged along the soil for tens of meters before he managed to stop and look at the destruction he had brought. It took a full minute for the dust to settle down, and Arthur stood still.
Half of the forest was gone, and what remained of the monster was nothing but a pool of blood and bones. A circular form of destruction tore through the trees, following his fist. Most of the remaining Marculas died with that attack.
"Am I this strong now?" muttered Arthur with confusion as the breeze carried the scent of blood. The number of lives he has reaped was in the hundreds; nothing remained of them but scattered flesh and bone.
Arthur saw the golden sphere flicker and disappear as his navel began to ache. He tried to resummon his domain, but he could not. This ability to use mana in his domain seemed taxing for his mana essence since it received more mana than it could handle.
[You have leveled up!]
Arthur received this notification after the earlier attack. He walked toward the monster"s corpse, which was nothing but a pile of flesh and bone, and used his absorb rune.
[+3 Strength]
[+3 Agility]
[+3 Mana]
[+3 Stamina]
[+3 Perception]
[Lightning Resistance skill has been obtained. Do you want to convert it into a rune or a Skill Book?]
"Skill Book?" muttered Arthur with confusion at the new term but received no answer. Although his knowledge about resistance runes was minimal, even though Gaia explained them, he wanted to see what the alternative was.
After Arthur chose to turn it into a skill book, the monster started to glow before the light gathered to form an item. Arthur could also feel his legacy activating to create a leather book with runic engravings. As he flipped it open, blinding light exploded in his face. After it died down, Arthur received a notification.
[Skill Lightning Resistance has been obtained.]
Arthur was confused by the notification and expected the book to disappear. However, the leather still hugged his palms with its cold surface as the runes inside the book dimmed. Arthur then closed it and opened it again, but nothing happened.
"What is this thing?" muttered Arthur with confusion. He tried to reactivate the book, but it did not change. Then, Arthur infused it with mana.
[Warning: forceful activation of the skill book will cause it to disintegrate, and it will not be reusable.]
It was then that Arthur understood what this skill book thing was. It was a permanent skill core that gave skills to whoever opened it and would be reusable after a certain period of time. Arthur held the book to see how much it would take to reactivate it.
[––––––––––– Legacy]
[Level: 52 (43%)]
[Legacy Points: 28]
[Stats Points: 121]
[Strength: 632]
[Agility: 655]
[Stamina: 622]
[Perception: 618]
[Mana: 310/621]
[Abilities: Runesmith (10%), Reality Manipulation]
[Skills: Mana Breathing Skill (E – 98%), Goblins Lord (Unique – 13%), Lightning Resistance (A- 0%)]
[Arts: The Art of Creation –– Part Three, Basic Dagger Art (100%), Dagger Mastery (100%), Art of Creator –– Submission. Art of Creator –– Domain.]
His stats did not match his growth. If compared to other normal awakeners, Arthur was not unique based on his stats alone. However, his unique mana allowed him to amplify those stats beyond their normal limits.
Furthermore, his evolution and art are different. Even the monster he fought earlier had stats in the realm of Myth-Tier, but some were even at the True-tier. Most awakeners were the same since they could evolve after maxing out a single stat.
The more stats the awakener maxed out before his evolution, the more powerful and balanced his body would be. There was something called scaling, which meant that mana could increase strength and agility could increase perception.
If the five stats were placed in a circular fashion, their interactions with each other would be similar to a star. Stamina was affected by strength, while strength was affected by mana, and mana was affected by stamina. These interactions with each other meant that the stats were not separate ent.i.ties from each other.
As for his Legacy Points, Arthur used all of them in the last battle to purchase the Art of Creation –– Part Three. His current 28 points came from his leveling up from 47 to 52 in this last battle.
"The next art is the last one available in the legacy," muttered Arthur with a frown. "Furthermore, it is a whooping two hundred points to get there. That means I need to level up twenty-nine times before I get those points."
His levels also signified how much he could control the mana of creation and his runes. If he keeps leveling up, he might even overcome the backlash of using the Creation Mana Domain art. That would become his trump card against stronger opponents.
Arthur sighed with emotion as he felt like the stronger that he became, the stronger opponents appeared. If Miko and Echoless said the truth, more empyreans would be chasing him down soon.