Chapter 305: (+ shoutout!)
Chapter 305
[As a pureblooded vampire, you have finally come to embrace your predatory heritage and have fed on enough prey to expand your bloodline. For further expansions, you will need to continue feeding on mortals, and will expedite the process by increasing both the amount of blood you drain - as well as by increasing the variety of races you feed on. Please choose one of the following for the trait Bloodline Expansion 1:
Increased Regeneration
Improved Vampiric Perception
Blood Golem Creation
Enhanced Thrall Minions]
Riven wiped the sweat away from his face, and pondered which one he should choose. There weren’t any descriptions beyond the basic titles, so he couldn’t really compare well. Maybe Prince Rantali would have some insights, coming from a royal vampiric lineage in one of the other universes?
He should ask when he got back.
“Thanks baby, you did a really good job!” Fay panted next to him, scratching and massaging his bare back in a way that made his skin crawl. “That was amazing, and I have no doubt that Kara will be coming back for seconds after this - as long as Athela doesn’t get too crazy!”
“I’m surprised you went along with this.”“Why?”
“Because you were overtly jealous when it came to Athela less than a year ago.”
Fay pursed her lips in thought. “Well I was less secure in our relationship than I am now, and Athela was an entirely different case. As I’ve said before, I would have been alright with anyone else at the time - but Athela felt like a threat to my bond with you. I’m glad it worked out the way it did though!”
Riven nodded, tired from the recent physical exertion, as his attention turned to where Athela was intertwined with the bound dark elf on the island’s forest floor. Kara was currently blindfolded and screeching through a gag as Athela had her way with her - so at first glance he would say Fay was wrong. But Kara had been more than happy to reciprocate for all of them after she’d finished, and had insisted on finishing whatever Athela wanted her to do too; which may have been a bit on the crazier BDSM side given what Riven was witnessing.
He supposed it fit Athela’s personality.
Riven dismissed the notification, lovingly ruffled Fay’s hair, and stood up to get dressed. “You should join them. I’m going to head over to the camp and talk to Rantali, I have some questions regarding my vampiric bloodline expansions.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for another round?” Fay asked, but she stayed seated and leaned back to get a better view. “It’ll be fun…”
Riven chuckled at her lustful expression. “It was certainly fun, but we’ve already been here for almost an hour! You two vixens are crazy.”
Fay gave him a pouting expression with pooched lips, but began to crawl over to where the other two women were with a backwards glance. “Fine, but if you change your mind - you know where to find us!”
Riven gave her a thumbs up, finished putting on his pants, and headed out of the foliage and shrubbery towards the camp on the island’s shoreline.
It didn’t take long to get there.
“Ah-ha! The triumphant hero returns!” Prince Rantali remarked upon Riven’s entrance onto the beach. “I didn’t know you were such a lady’s man, Riven! How was the drow?”
“Her name is Kara.” Riven passed him by, and reached for a meat skewer being handed to him by Genua. “Thanks Genua, your cooking is really something else lately.”
The elf thrall beamed with delight while kneeling next to the firepit. “Thank you! That is very kind of you to say!”
Riven took a seat in a chair next to Prince Rantali and across from Retesh, noting that Azmoth was flying across the bloody sea to catch more squid monsters in the distance. “I still can’t believe this stuff is all real.”
“What stuff?” Rantali asked, taking a smoking pipe from one of his men on the other side of where he sat and inhaling deeply. He blew out a ring of smoke, and offered the pipe to Riven.
Riven refused it politely with a shake of his head. “I’m good, thanks. As for what stuff I’m referring to… it’s all this.”
Riven gestured to the pocket realm around them. Then he snapped his fingers, and a wisp of blood magic formed over his palm before disappearing entirely.
“I didn’t know magic existed back in my home world before the integration.”
Prince Rantali took in another deep inhale from his pipe, and let the smoke out long and slow in a stream. His red eyes evaluated Riven’s curious expression with interest. “No magic? What kind of barbaric world did you hail from? I’ve heard the rumors of how you, the lost prince, were found on an outer rim world. But again, my Kingdom of Garth is far removed from the politics of the bigger players in the multiverse. I know little beyond mere rumors.”
Riven leaned back in his chair and started tearing off pieces of meat from Genua’s cooked meat skewer. “The planet had legends about magic, but nothing solid. Regardless that is not why I came back early despite the other three remaining behind to have fun.”
Riven grinned in amusement. “I have questions for you about my expanded bloodline, I was hoping you could help.”
Rantali raised both eyebrows, and put the pipe down. “So that’s what the sky turned red for. Now it makes sense, though usually the first bloodline expansion happens as a very young child for vampires. So that is rather odd. I had been wondering… but your pureblood lineage is far greater than most, if not all, of what my kingdom can give showing for. I do not mean to say that I cannot give wisdom and advice on these matters, but would you not wish to ask those of the Blood Moon Requiem? It is usually left to the matters of family to discuss such private matters. Surely at the end of this floor, when we reach the final sacrificial altar, Elysium will grant you communication with them. And if not them, then who?”
Riven didn’t bother mentioning that he’d only been a vampire for less than 2 years. Or at least, he’d been posing as a human by means unknown to him. Likely his parents’ work.
“I have been thinking the same thing.” Riven replied. “And if you do not know what it is that you are seeing, then I trust you to be honest enough to tell me. But if you do have knowledge on the matter, then I feel there is no reason to wait.”
Prince Rantali gradually nodded. “Then I would be honored to help if I can. Tell me what it is you have been offered.”
“Four options. Increased Regeneration, Improved Vampiric Perception, Blood Golem Creation, and Enhanced Thrall Minions. None of them give any descriptions beyond the titles. Any input?”
Prince Rantali thought about it, then whistled. “You have four good options here. Two are obviously better though. Increased Regeneration will obviously heal you faster after wounds, and Improved Vampiric Perception will simply expand your range of dark sight and hearing heart beats. But the Blood Golem Creation and Enhanced Thrall Minions expansions are quite rare. And I do feel qualified to speak to you in detail on such matters.”
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Riven waved at him to go on, and Prine Rantali continued after another period of thought.
“Blood Golem Creation obviously allows you to create blood golems. What the title does not tell you, is that you must choose between two paths if you do this. You must choose an internal or external path. Internal is self, where you can create blood golems that inherit some form of your power - though they’ll never be as strong as you. The external path is others, where you can create copies of other people if you use their blood - but again they’ll never be as powerful as the original.”
“And Enhanced Thralls?”
“Enhanced Thrall Minions will make them far tougher to kill, giving them a hefty endurance boost, while also imbuing them with regeneration properties usually only seen by vampires. You’re also able to create them slightly faster than normal. If you have a lot of thralls, or have a thrall you particularly don’t want to die, Enhanced Thrall Minions is a very good choice to take. I would recommend-”
Riven didn’t even think about it further, and clicked Enhanced Thrall Minions while looking straight at Genua. She had his kid inside her, and there was no way he’d let her come close to death again like she had when that naga had nearly assassinated her. “You aint dyin on me anytime soon, old lady!”
[You have picked Enhanced Thrall Minions. You are now able to create thralls at a 10% increased rate. All thralls under your direct control will gain 200 base stat points to Endurance, a 65% bonus to base Endurance, and regains the Vampiric Regeneration trait.]
Genua’s body stiffened as the trait took hold, and she let out a brief, surprised gasp as the bones and organs inside her became more solid. But it only lasted for a moment, and her red eyes narrowed in Riven’s direction with a scowl. “I am not OLD! Especially not for an elf. I don’t even have any wrinkles.”
Riven chuckled. “How old are you exactly?”
“42 years of age.”
“You’re ancient.”
“Hey! Athela is two centuries old! Isn’t she? And SHE says that she’s young for a demon!”
“She’s an old hag too.”
“Oh, now you’re just trying to be rude!” Genua grinned and rolled her eyes, going back to cooking and ignoring Riven’s laughter.
***
Narg still felt drunk days later, was in massive amounts of pain, and coming in and out of consciousness every couple minutes while within his nether realm.
[Evolution failed.]
[Evolution failed.]
[Evolution failed.]
Something was wrong. The insights he’d obtained must have been wrong. He didn’t understand, and frantically tried stop his body from mutating so that he could begin the cycle anew. But the energy inside him refused to be quelled, and it appeared that Elysium wouldn’t accept his attempt to stop the process.
Narg was afraid he was going to die.
[Evolution failed.]
[Evolution failed.]
[Evolution failed.]
His green skin bulged. His orange eyes popped in a gore-filled mess. His bones cracked and his organs ruptured as he continued to reheal all the damage at an ever increasing and rapid pace. He wanted to scream whenever he was awake enough to realize what was going on, but either his lungs didn’t work, he didn’t have a properly formed mouth at the time, or he was simply in too much shock due to the pain.
[Evolution failed.]
[Evolution failed.]
[Evolution Halted.]
[Malformation detected. Soul damage accrued. No other souls have access to this nether realm. Do you wish to contact your bonded master for assistance?]
Malformation? Soul damage? Narge would have groaned if he could manage it. This wasn’t unheard of, especially in his family’s lineage. They were, for lack of better words, genetically dispositioned to this particular problem. But it hadn’t happened in a few centuries, especially not at a low E-grade transition state, and he just happened to have it given his terrible luck.
He’d already been underperforming as a minion, and had been 100% useless on this new floor because he simply hadn’t been there. Not that it seemed like they even noticed, or needed his help - which stung that much more. What would Riven say if his master knew that Narg was defective? It may take decades for this kind of defect to go away in order to let him try for an evolution again. And he wouldn’t get another shot at entering the Abyssal descent.
[Soul Lattice Decay detected. No other souls have access to this nether realm. Do you wish to contact your bonded master for assistance?]
Great. Just great. Even the insights he’d acquired from the last floor were disappearing.
Why had Lillith of all people picked him? What had she seen in him that made her decide it was a good idea to put the weight of his entire clan’s pride and hopes on his shoulders? Gluttony was certain to gobble him right up when the Great Maw saw this. There was no way Narg was coming out of this alive. Even if he did, it would be in extreme shame, not only to himself - but for his family.
He was, just as he’d always been, a failure.
Regret and depression washed over him. He wanted to be great, he wanted to be useful, he wanted to help. But what could he, a defective, small, runt-of-the-litter beholder demon do for people like Riven? For the three other ARCH-demons in his retinue? He didn’t hold a candle to them. Not to a single one.
Perhaps… Perhaps it was time to give up. To do the right thing, save as much face as he could, and let Gluttony’s Reincarnation know that a better demon should be selected for this spot.
“What the system calls a malformation, was left there intentionally.” A deep, thundering voice called out to him from behind.
Unfortunately, Narg was too damaged to move even here in his own Nether realm. Instead he remained slug-like, limp, and by all appearances - dead. However that didn’t stop the surprise from welling up inside him. How had someone come into this place without his permission? That was absolutely impossible to do. And there hadn’t been a notification requesting access, so how?
Was Narg actually going insane?
“I am speaking directly into your mind.” The voice said once again. This time, the visage of Gluttony flashed through Narg’s thoughts, with a deep burst of hunger that left Narg paralyzed. Except, he was already paralyzed. Now, he was doubly so.
The voice laughed at his thoughts. “I apologize for startling you, little one. Please do not think that I would throw you away over a birth defect. But once again, this is not actually a defect. It is not a malformation. It was left there intentionally by your ancestors, intentionally. You just don’t see it for what it is.”
To this, Narg remained silent and stumped. But his curiosity was piqued, and his shock at being addressed directly by the Great Maw was only dwarfed by his reverence towards the spiritual entity. If he and his bloodline didn’t have a malformation running through the heritages, then what was it? Why would Elysium call it that? Why was it left there intentionally?
“I will preserve your soul lattice while you figure it out, but the answer remains inside you - little one.” Gluttony said, as Narg felt the insights he’d gained with his soul lattice and soul expansion not only reinforce themselves - but double, and then triple.
His one good working eye widened in amazement as he felt the original sin’s malignant energy running through him in tidal waves that washed away his pain and suffering, but did not entirely heal him either.
“Look inwards, deep in your soul, where what Elysium deems to be a malformation is birthed.” Gluttony said, as his deep voice began to fade away. “There you will find your answer, if you only take the time to unravel what it is. Do not panic, know that I will not cast you aside, and stay the path. We will be seeing you soon.”
It was like a great weight had been lifted, and Narg wanted to laugh in delight and cry at the same time. But he was still in slug mode and didn’t budge. Instead, he just let himself relax and rejoice in feeling the Great Maw’s presence, and rejoiced in the new knowledge that he was not cursed to shame his family after all.
Regaining his mental fortitude, he did just what Gluttony said - and soared into his spiritual world where he tried to unfurl the mysteries of what his ancestors had apparently left there on purpose. It may take him some time, and he may not get it all right at once, but he would not disappoint the Great Maw. He would come out victorious, and finally be of some use after what could only be seen as an embarrassing show so far.
***
“This will go down in the history books as the easiest floor descent in the history of my kingdom!” Prince Narzkal Rantali guffawed while making his way onto the yacht made of blood ice and dragging along the bald slave he used as a lunchbox for fresh blood. “Ridiculous!”
“Truly.” One of his knights agreed, walking up the ramp. “This has actually been rather enjoyable. It’s a shame we have to part ways after this.”
Riven gave the man a polite smile, and helped Genua up the ramp to make sure she didn’t fall. She gave him a pleased nod of thanks and settled down on one of the seats, before Azmoth flew onto the deck next.
“Narg is having some issues with his insights and evolution, he won’t be back for a bit.” Riven said to the rest as they one by one came on board. Retesh was rather bored, Athela was absolutely giddy, Fay looked satisfied, and Kara had a deep blush that didn’t seem to want to go away.
Though she did intentionally brush by Riven on the way to her seat, and was brave enough to hold eye contact for a solid few seconds before sitting down next to Athela at the front. It was obvious she was still nervous and unsure of herself, though after her tango with the rest of them - she certainly wasn’t trying to hide in the background like she’d been after Allie’s rant.
“Are the bone wyrms good to go?” Riven asked.
Retesh gave the affirmative. “They’re in formation.”
“Anyone else have anything to say before we get going?” Riven asked the rest.
Surprisingly enough, it was Kara who raised her hand to speak. “Do you mind if I speak to you in private on the way to the last altar?”
Riven cleared his throat and gave her a friendly smile. “Sure. Not a problem at all. But if that’s everything, let’s get moving. Kara, you can sit in the front with me so we can talk while I steer. We should get there within the hour since we already scouted it out, and as long as there aren’t any monster swarms of other teams trying to get in our way - we should be smooth sailing through the rest of the descent’s floor.”