Chapter 4: 4 — Cultistus Exterminatus

Noah stared at the words floating in front of him, before his sight went to the dropping HP bar. He’d lost too much blood, and he doubted he’d be alive much longer at the current rate. Closing his eyes, he found the words still present in his sight, and reached out towards them.

You’ve used an Awakening Crystal!
The awakening process has begun.

A strange energy permeated through Noah’s body, flooding a part of his being that only now did he understand was his soul. The energy swirled around somewhere in his abdomen before reaching out to the rest of his body.

New words flashed in front of his eyes.

Affinities Detected: Astral. Void.

You may pick up to three Paths.

Ignoring the words for a moment, he looked at his chest, trying to move around. Any motion sent pulses of pain arcing through his entire body, freezing him in place.

He twitched, trying to breathe through the pain, but a familiar numbness from earlier this morning began to return, and Noah felt despair filling his chest.

“You’ve… got to be kidding me,” he wheezed. “Dying… the instant I get here? What a cruel joke.”

Noah laughed, the act sending a brand new wave of pain pulsing through his body. After curling up to fight against the pain, he closed his eyes. Anger and frustration filled him when he found the words still floating in his vision. He knew it was unreasonable, but right now, as he lay dying here at the beginning of what was meant to be a brand new life, anger was all he could feel.

With nothing else to do, and scant hopes for surviving, he began to explore the options he saw. There was obviously magic in this world, perhaps he could find something that would heal him.

Selecting the menu, he began to go through the options listed.

Paths available

Abyssal Ritualist (Common)
Crusader of Helion (Uncommon)
Exsanguinator (Rare)
Astralwalker (Epic)
Void Hunter (Epic)

Noah looked at the Paths in front of him uncertainly. He already disliked the first one he saw, and was uncertain at best about the last three at best. Crusader of Helion sounded interesting, but he wasn’t too keen about joining some religious organisation. Feeling pulsing pain aching through his chest, he quickly began to select each option.

Abyssal Ritualist (Common)
Type: Summoner, Cultist, Dark magic.

Willing or unwillingly, you’ve participated in a ritual of blood. Now become capable of channelling the Astral into your being to call creatures of realms beyond.

Requirements: Participate in a blood ritual.

“Nope,” he whispered, before moving on to the next one. He wasn’t going to become one of the cultists.

Crusader of Helion (Uncommon)
Type: Divine, Clerical, Holy magic.

You have killed an Abyssal Cultist, pushing back against the encroaching Void beyond the realms. Join Helion, channelling her strength as yours in the war against the dark unending realms of hunger.

Requirements: Kill an Abyssal Cultist.

Warning: This Path will violate the Pact.

Noah read through the warning, and lamented the cool sounding path he could not get, before he moved to the next one.

Exsanguinator (Rare)
Type: Healer, Infliction, Blood magic.

You draw blood from the Astral realms, channelling it as you please. Draw life from the creatures you defeat, and channel it to heal or harm as you please.

Requirements: Ingest mana rich blood. Kill a Cultist.

While normally blood abilities were not something he’d consider selecting, the fact that he could use it to heal himself made the choice the most likely choice he had right now. Thinking it over, he moved to the last one to have a look. 

Astralwalker (Epic)
Type: Mage, Space magic, Astral magic.

Floating through the interdimensional void, you have absorbed wisps of the realms of the Astral. Find yourself connecting with the realms beyond.

Requirements: Have high astral affinity. Have absorbed a part of the interdimensional Astral rift.

Noah read through the path, thinking over what kind of abilities it might give him. Keeping the path in mind, he moved to the next one.

Void Hunter (Epic)
Type: Hunter, Melee, Void Magic.

A hunter of the Void, you draw the hunger of the unending dark channelling its infinite strength to erase anything that may come in your path.

Requirements: Have high void affinity. Have subsumed a part of the void and survived.

 

Noah read through the descriptions once more, before he made his pick.

Path of the Void Hunter selected.

Path of the Astralwalker selected.

Path of the Exsanguinator selected.

You’ve selected three out of three Paths. Would you like to finalise your selection?
Yes/No?

After taking a shaking breath, Noah mentally selected the yes option. A pressure rose from inside his abdomen as swirling energies flowed and collided, expanding outwards.

The swirling energy began to grow, turning warmer and warmer, before it felt like someone had stuck a glowing metal rod in Noah’s gut. The energies ripped their way through Noah’s body, coursing through him. He writhed, unable to hold back his groans that soon turned into screams of agony as every inch of his insides burned like a blazing fire, filled to the brim with something that threatened to explode him from the inside.

Noah continued to twitch in a pool of his blood for an unknown period of time, sweat drenching him, as he focused on gritting his teeth to not bite off his own tongue, and sufferedthrough the agony.

Congratulations! For selecting three different paths belonging to three different Astral realms, you have unlocked a Union Path.

Realm Devourer (Legendary)

Type: Divine, Mystic, Soul magic.

Wielding the Astral, the Abyss, and the lifeforce of creatures, you are capable of devouring souls, consuming pieces of the Astral script and the reality around you.

Requirements:

Have the Void Hunter path. Have the Astralwalker path. Have the Exsanguinator path. Have Soul resistance (Advanced). Have Void resistance (Advanced). Have survived an encounter with a world ending entity.

Would you like to accept this Union Path?

Yes/No?

With bleary eyes, Noah looked at the notifications. The name of his path made Noah concerned about just what kind he might be selected, but with his body near the edge of death he had little other options if he wanted to survive. With barely any energy left in his body, as his eyes began to drop, he selected the yes option.

You’ve selected the Union path Realm Devourer!

Void Hunter has increased the Power attribute to rank F.  
Astralwalker has increased the Agility attribute to rank F. 
Exsanguinator has increased the Constitution attribute to rank F.
Realm Devourer has increased the Mystic attribute to rank F. 

Your Rank has increased to F. 

Void Hunter has unlocked the ability [Obliterate].
Astralwalker has unlocked the ability [Blink].
Exsanguinator has unlocked the ability [Blood Drain].
Realm Devourer has unlocked the ability [Consume].  

You’ve reached level 2! 

Power increased to 2.
Constitution increased to 2.
Agility increased to 2.
Mystic increased to 2. 

Two free attribute points awarded.

Noah felt an entirely new sense open up around him. Something that he could sense at all times within his mind, and reach out towards at will to control. Moving on instinct, Noah drew on a source he felt nearby, as something thick and warm began to flow into his body. Energy spread through his body, an itching sensation rising around his chest. Words flashed in front of his eyes.

You’ve used the ability [Blood Drain].

Your health has been partially regenerated.
Health regeneration increased by 50% for 5 minutes.

Health: 62%

Pulling himself up, Noah saw the wound in his chest reduced to a mere pink scar with a coat of blood. The area was sore, and hurt to touch but there was no sign of the giant cut that’d been present moments ago.

Looking sideways, Noah saw the cultist he had killed. The man’s body was wrinkled and twisted, eyes wide in shock, as if something had drawn every ounce of life from the man’s body.

Noah’s eyes widened, nausea overwhelming him as he realized what’d just happened. He stumbled, feeling revulsion pulse through his chest as a numbness filled him at what he’d just done. But he had no time to contemplate over the moral implications or feel guilty.

He saw the Abyssal Cult chief, rushing in and dashing around with the fire magic woman he'd freed. Not a single cultist had survived the battle besides the chief, as a field of burnt up charred bodies littered the dark grounds of the underground chamber.

The strong smell of burning flesh made Noah' head spin, a strong nausea building up in him. This time, he controlled the sensation, briefly looking up at the stone ceiling to settle his mind before he returned to the fight happening in front of him.

The woman he'd freed — Aurelia, as his quest log told him — fought fiercely. Like a wild beast pushed to the edge. Golden flames followed each motion she made, every punch and kick destroying chunks off of the ground. But despite that, the Abyssal chief had no visible damage on him. Little swirling tentacles and black wisps struck Aurelia, nicking her skin through her thin white clothes, painting them red.

As if to reinforce his fears, Noah saw a new quest appear in front of him.

New Quest obtained!

Quest: Cultistus Exterminatus

You were summoned here by cultists as an eldritch monstrosity. It only seems fitting to exterminate them like one too.

Objective: Help kill Viktral Nayfar
Optional Objective: Don't Die
Difficulty: Hard

Reward: A Rare grade Ability Tome

 

Noah stared at the quest in front of him dumbly. He looked back at the fight taking place, before looking back at the quest screen.

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"Gotta love how not dying is an optional objective. Might as well name the quest Fuck you Noah," he said, looking at the battle in front of him helplessly.

Aurelia Fauster continued to fight but Noah could tell that she was starting to get exhausted. In the meantime, the Abyssal chief looked still just as enraged and energetic as he had when he'd first arrived.

Noah ran his hand through his hair. He knew he needed to do something, but all the somethings he could think of felt like terrible options that included him burning to death or being skewered to death.

"Okay, assess the information first. Find out what I can do," Noah murmured, trying to not lose himself into the panic.

He pulled up the status page from his inbuilt menu, and began to check for changes.

 

Name: Noah Brown
Race: Human (Primordial Vessel)

Level: 2
Rank: F

Attributes:

Power (F): 2
Agility (F): 2
Constitution (F): 2
Mystic (F): 2

Attribute points: 2

Noah reached out to the attribute points option, and saw the attributes light up. Thinking for a moment, he selected the Constitution attribute.

Constitution increased to 3.

Noah looked down on his body, clenching his fists to see if he could feel a difference. "Welp, that told me nothing."

Trying to spot a difference, Noah noticed that the top bar in his vision had increased by a small amount. Noah tried to zoom into the menu mentally, but found words appear in his vision instead.

Health: 74%

"Is there no way to check my HP? Just a percentage? Alright then," Noah said, closing the menu, before he returned to the attribute page once more.

Picking the other free attributes, Noah put them into Power and Agility respectively. He'd thought of putting it into Mystic, but the Attribute did not seem like something he'd understand how to use, while Power felt far more applicable and helpful in his current situation.

Power increased to 3.

Noah checked and found that the values were updated in his menu. Satisfied with the changes, he closed the display, opening up the sub option menu. A powerful shudder shook the chamber, and Noah ducked as a flaming rock shot towards his head. Glancing towards the fight, he saw dark tendrils striking chunks of flaming rocks and fire coated fists, as the two participants continued to fight.

“Uhh… maybe I should hurry,” Noah murmured, before going right back to the system messages.

[Perks]
[Skills]
[Abilities]
[Resistances]
[Quests]
[Items]

Noah selected the Abilities menu, watching as a new pop up opened up.

Void Hunter (1/5):
- Obliterate (Basic) - lvl 1

Astralwalker (1/5):
- Blink (Basic) - lvl 1

Exsanguinator (1/5):
- Blood Drain (Basic) - lvl 1

Realm Devourer (1/5):
- Consume (Basic) - lvl 1

After reading through the list, Noah tried to select the number of abilities and found a new pop up appearing in front of him.

New abilities unlock at level 10. Unlock one now with an Ability Tome?

He remembered an item like that he'd received from his quest. Unmarked Tome, if he remembered it correctly. Dismissing the menu, he opened up his inventory, selecting the item.

[Unmarked Tome (Common)]: Unlocks a random ability upon use.

Would you like to use this item?

Yes/No?

Noah gave it some thought. He had no idea what kind of ability it might awaken, and if that process would be as painful as his path awakening had been. There was too little information to be had and too much to be lost if he picked the wrong thing. “But there won’t be any time to get more information if I die here,” Noah said out loud, before accepting the prompt.

The display in his vision changed, displaying the four paths he could pick from. Noah thought over the options, before selecting the Astralwalker path.

[Unmarked Tome (Common)] consumed.

Astralwalker has unlocked the ability [Dimensional Pocket].

A strange sense of energy flowed through Noah, before settling back down in his abdomen. An insane understanding of his new ability filled his mind. He cursed, not finding Dimensional pocket useful in any way to beat the Cultist Chief.

Quickly trying the ability for himself, Noah found himself capable of pulling out a small part of the interdimensional Astral space, forming it above his hands. The pocket was barely the size of his fist, but Noah found that he could put his entire arm inside the pocket.

As he was about to pull his arm back out of the little distortion in reality, Noah felt his hand brush against something on the inside. Jerking his hand back out, he saw the letter from his inventory in his arms.

Opening the inventory in his menu, Noah found the item missing from the menu. Putting the letter back, he felt a sensation of awareness filled him at the act, as if the object was a part of him. Like something he could move.

Acting on the sensation, Noah tried to move the letter around in his inventory, and made it manifest from the dimensional pocket above his palm at will. Looking around, Noah saw the executioner’s sword lying on the altar nearby, and picked it up, placing it inside his inventory menu.

Before he could pick up anything else, a loud crash pulled Noah’s attention besides him. A large dust cloud swirled around the chamber, where he saw Aurelia collapse one knee, panting, as she bled from her many injuries. Cursing at his lack of time, Noah rushed down the stairs of the altar.

“Stop!” He screamed at the cultist chief, who glanced back at him with a look of fury. Trying to come up with anything, Noah checked the chief’s name from his quest log.

“Viktral Nayfar, this has all been a huge misunderstanding. I am an emissary of the Incarnation of Void, sent to deliver a message,” Noah said, finding his words invoking silence all around him.

Viktor’s face contorted in fury, as he regarded Noah. “Do you take me for a fool?”

“No. But trying to hurt me will be a mistake,” Noah said, trying to keep the waver out of his voice. Taking out the letter from his inventory, he raised it to the chief.

Viktral looked at the letter for a moment, before his eyes widened in shock. “That- it cannot be…” he murmured, staring blankly at Noah.

Trying to keep his racing heart still, Noah moved towards the chief, keeping the letter in front of him. Reaching close, he handed it to the man. “The void has heard your devotion, Viktral. It has heard your call, and now gives an answer,” Noah said, heart pounding in his chest at the stream of lies.

The chief grabbed the letter, reading through the contents. An expression of disbelief covered his face, and Noah glanced behind the man, towards where Aurelia lay. He dearly hoped she understood what he was trying to do.

“The incarnation of the void itself… An honor of a lifetime…” Viktral said, his voice wavering. Suddenly, he looked up at Noah, and the man’s expression distorted, his body vibrating with anger.

“And you dare lie about it?”

Noah felt his gut drop, as he jumped back but Viktral was faster. His hand grabbed onto Noah's shoulder, as a crack resounded. Noah screamed, but he could not move as Viktral held him in place. In a blind panic, Noah poured all he had into Blink, trying to move as far away as he could.

The world seemed to slow down as Blink activated, turning gray. Through an intuition he didn't know he possessed, Noah could feel the Astral realm sweep over his body, as the world around him distorted. In this long fleeting moment, he could feel his Astral abilities be free, removed from the chains that bound them. Reaching out, he grabbed the Executioner's sword from his dimensional pocket before launching it towards Viktral.

With a blink, the world shifted, as Noah reappeared at the further end of the underground cavern.

Warning. Low mana.

Mana: 4%

A painful scream tore through the chamber, and Noah saw his blade buried into Viktor’s shoulder. The Abyssal chief glared at him with a look of fury and hate.

“Aurelia!” Noah screamed with all he had.

Rushing forward, Aurelia jumped in as fire erupted all over. Her fist struck Viktral in the gut, launching the man at the other end of the chamber’s wall with a shuddering shock that sent a crack through the walls, causing rocks to collapse. Fire erupted from Aurelia's fists, as she rushed after Viktral, launching into a barrage of strikes.

Flashes of light poured through the dust cloud, a vast amount of mana swirling through the battle. Strikes and shockwaves made the entire cavern shudder.

A few moments later the shockwaves settled down, as the battle ended. Noah stood, heart racing in anticipation as he waited for the dust cloud to settle.

Suddenly, a notification appeared in his vision.

You’ve helped defeat [Abyssal Cultist - D]
Experience points obtained. 

You’ve reached level 8! 

Power increased to 9.
Agility increased to 8.
Constitution increased to 9.
Mystic increased to 8. 

Three free attribute points awarded. 

Quest: Cultistus Exterminatus complete. 

Objective: Help kill Viktral Nayfar, complete.
Optional Objective: Don’t die, complete.

Reward increased from Rare to Epic grade.  

Reward: [Tome of Abyssal Familiar (Epic)] obtained.

 

A wave of relief flooded Noah as he collapsed onto the ground. It took him a moment to notice the throbbing headache eating at his head, like a nail being hammered into his skull.

The world spun in circles around Noah, Dizziness and pain assaulting him. Distantly, he saw Aurelia make her way towards him.

“Hey,” Noah said, raising a hand as he smiled awkwardly. Aurelia did not look amused.

Folding her arms, she looked down at him. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

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