The rich green mop that grows in every corner of the ground, the mighty heights of the towering trees gives no short of an ancient look to the environment. Bugs are crawling on the occasional logs and branches, and wild beasts roaring to assert their dominance upon their respective lands.
Something that would only be found in untouched lands, a bit hard to believe it once did not exist just a bit ago. It is a land filled with emergent powerful beasts, that wouldn’t hesitate to rip apart anything, and mystical plants that wouldn’t pale in comparison.
The leaves rustle as a woman walks around holding something wrapped in a black cloth. Her face pale, and breaths heavy as she continue to walk despite the clear lack of strength in her composure.
Suddenly, she stopped just several meters away from a particular tree. She coughed up a mouthful of blood, which turned into a red blade that then flew off towards a certain part of the tree.
Something on the tree started to reveal itself as its invisibility is cancelled. It was a dark-brown praying mantis with a gaping hole on its head which promptly fell down into the ground, its body clacking as it hits the forest floor.
She sighs in relief as she prepares to start moving again but before she can even move, something sliced at her back, nearly turning her into two as it went from her right shoulder and into the left lower abdomen.
The blood splashes into the attacker and the air as her relieved face slowly turns into horror, and a silent scream came out of her. But before the 2nd praying mantis could even be joyful at its success, the splashed blood turned into numerous red blades and riddled it with holes.
The woman falls down on her back, her face quickly filling up with anger, fear, sadness, and regret as she lays there. The death throes of the praying mantis and the roars of distant beasts ringing in the background, as her body lose more of its life.
Scarily, she started to laugh and cry. Silent and insignificant in front of the death that curses her.
“I know… I know my sins. I understand their gravity. But please, anything, anyone. As hypocritical what I am about say, please… Spare my child from my reckoning.” She whispers at the uncaring space, her voice drowned within the lush forest.
Her eyes start to turn dull, the pool of blood starts to bloom, and her heartbeat stops. But before she loses it all, she did her final act.
[Blood Sacrifice]
Her body starts to disintegrate as a red fire flares in various parts of her body, which spread to the 2 praying mantis corpses near her.
This fire did not act like a raving destroyer, but instead like the ticking clock of time as the bodies start to wither and rot into wisps of light. The energy flowing slowly into and near the thing wrapped in black cloth.
And the last embers die off, what remain is the translucent red barrier that protects the wrapped being.
=====
{Month 2, Week 1}
<System Interface>
Name: Drudsto
Race: Wood Elf(Blood)
Profession: Blood Druid
Level: 25
Skills: [Druidic Nurture], [Bloodvine Impalement], [Bloodvine Siphon], [Terraform(Blood)], [Beast Bond], [Blood Weaving]
Talent: None
<System Interface>
All the skills besides [Druidic Nurture], and [Beast Bond] seems to have gained blood as an element after the Tier-2 Class Change.
All is well I guess, I still haven’t got any messages back from the Blood Legion(Or should I call them Blood Unit?) that I sent for the Orc Extermination quest, which is a good thing since I have taught them to only contact for help when necessary.
I am still feeling nervous about how they are doing though, as their destination should be 18 kilometers away from the nearest Branch Tree, even with the allocation of some [Branch Trees] slots specifically to lessen the distance between them and I.
It is best not to be so occupied about their situation though, plenty of stuff to do for now.
Through my [Mana Detection], Drudsto, which is just a shortened version of Druid 2, is currently standing 3 meters from my main body.
He is standing upright, wearing light armor made from my wood and thin clothes with leaf patterns. He is holding a small staff made with the same wood as his armor, with the tip having thin bulb-like structure with a hollow inside.
I made the leaf clothes by melding the leaves together, thinning them, and strengthening them with evil mana. The original complete product had an uneven surface, uneven softness with some parts being brittle, and they deteriorated at a fast rate.
They have improved as I got used to making them, they are still rough but thin and flexible enough.
He has a thin stature, with the only main difference from being a human is the slightly pointed ear tips. That is if one only considers the visible difference from being a wood elf, he still has light-red skin, and crimson eyes like the others.
But he also has a pinkish-red hair, a difference from most of the Blood Humanoids as only 5 others have a peculiar hair color, which is pink. Drudsto is the only one with a pinkish-red though.
The red haired Blood Humanoids I surmise have a greater affinity with the blood affinity, but I am not completely certain as I have only 5 and they have only shown partial superiority in evil mana manipulation.
It could possibly be just a coincidence, as I don’t really know how to calculate the math with magical affinities and stuff.
Drudsto, how have your capabilities changed?
“I feel like I was gifted with the greatest of blessings, to be able to sense your gre-“
Please be more direct, and less flowery like how you usually do.
“Oh! My apologies, oh Red One, I believe I have gained greater mastery over evil mana and the corresponding druid spells with evil attunement. I also predict that I might suffer greater mental deterioration due to this.”
Oh, that is excellent but the latter information is alarming. How are your attempts at trying to make a mind calming skill or spell?
“I am sorry to disappoint, but I have only seen a small amount of progress. The spell I have developed needs a great amount of evil mana control and determined mind to cast, with little calming effect. One also needs to be able to predict when the evil mana flares up to do the mind calming spell in advance, for it to provide acceptable results.”
That- That is disappointing. Hopefully the future has a better looking outcome for the development of this spell. How bad is the increase in mental deterioration though? Does it have a higher ratio compared to pre-class change?
Also, as much as I have influenced your personality to be polite and with such mannerisms, please try to avoid apologizing so much when it is unnecessary.
“If I were to perform at the same level as the pre-class change level, I believe I would have a lower risk of being overwhelmed by the mana flares. But if I perform at full power, there is a 15% increase at the rate that a mana flare appears.”
That doesn’t sound so bad of an increase, though it is best to still work in developing that mind calming spell, or possible even skill. We will need it in the future for when the blood servants gain more power, and in turn, greater evil mana influence.
Blood servants need minimal rest, can regenerate from most injuries, and have relatively good capabilities. But the requirements of maintaining these are usually with the usage of evil mana, which accumulates negative emotions deep within their bodies.
The stored negative energy when reaching a threshold will flare up, and guide the evil mana within to attack the mind. It can stop the processing power of a blood servant, incapacitating them.
The length of the weakness is determined by the amount of stored negative energy. Previous tests have shown that the flares could be suppressed, but the amount of time and risks increases too.
There have been 2 instances of blood servants being overwhelmed by the evil mana. One simply lost brain function, while the other became rapid and aggressive against everyone. But it avoided attacking me, giving some sort of semblance to fear or respect for the evil mana’s origin.
Prevention for any of these instances happening is simply letting it flare where and when it is most convenient. It is will be quite the situation if they flare up while in battle, which have proven to be devastating as one got too overwhelmed in a fight, causing an opening.
The fight didn’t end that bad though as I didn’t have to revive it from scratch, just attach an arm or 2.
“Knock knock” A chirpy voice suddenly starts coming in near one of my branch tree, which is in the general direction of southwest, but near to being just west. It is from one of the blood servants that I assigned in exploring the western parts of the border.
We might have to delay any more tests for your abilities later, Drudsto. Please don’t partake in hunting for now, just rest and observe the changes to your body.
Drudsto lightly nods, and leaves towards the northern quarters that was built for the blood servants. His steps calm and collected as he walks.
Now, where were we? Oh right, someone contacted one of my branch tree. I activate my [Mana Detection] in that particular tree, revealing a female blood servant.
But she does not look like the usual blood servant, with red skin and red eyes. Instead, she still has her former skin, a brown skin. And only has red pupils, instead of the entire eye being red in the other blood humanoids.
She is also one of the 15-20% of the talent bearers that managed to preserve the existence of their talents, and has a pink hair. Her talent, affinity, and class are what allow for her to have the closest appearance to a human.
Unfortunately, she is still level 19. Her class is one of the most useful too.
Besides that, she is standing in front of the branch tree with a beaming smile while lightly swaying as she waits. Her hands are open, seemingly holding something but there is nothing there. I feel like something is wrong.
Yes Apple? I am listening. I am assuming you have already explored and documented the some of the western parts of the border, and some land beyond it… And some stuff I don’t know about?
“I found a cursed child.” Apple smiling as she says that out loud in front of a small red tree, holding a sleeping infant wrapped in a black blanket. The branch tree being border tree near the general direction of southwest, but closer to west than the little expedition force that I sent.
What? Where did that come from? Are you holding an infant? How did you get an infant? What did you do?
“First of all, it is not an infant, it is a cursed child. I am just not sure about the specific age though Red One. Second, I just managed to make an invisibility rune while I was away. It is how I managed to make it undetectable with sight-based sensory capabilities.” Spoken like someone that did not just say she got a “cursed child”.
As much as I would like to be a bit glad about that development, you still haven’t explained how and why do you have what seems to be an infant in your hands, which seems to be wrapped in some form of blood magic.
“Uhhhhhhh. Found it lying around? I just thought that it would be bad for it to be stranded in a forest filled with beast.” She makes an attempt at showing innocence.
I don’t trust that look, you never were part of the kind ones. Please come back here and explain in detail.
“Fair” She starts walking towards the core area, her strides long and playful. Despite the careless attitude though, the red sphere and the child inside it is stable, while no beasts dared to be in her way.
=====
Wild Forest-Southern Plain Border
A person with red features is walking on the plains towards the wild forest. He has a lax posture, but his true emotions are betrayed by his determined eyes.
He enters the depths of the forest, disappearing within its dark domain.
He walks around a bit, seemingly confused but he eventually finds what he is searching for. Several red people meditating on a stone, wood, or even just the ground, some opens their eyes to look at him but just as quickly closed.
He hesitates a bit but continues to walk forward. Unbeknownst to him, 2 hidden blood servants were observing him from the tops of the trees, but let him past as they don’t think much of his slightly unusual behavior.
After walking for a bit, he finds a red person and a large dog.
The natural air of this red person was a notch above the rest, which surprisingly isn’t wearing a heavy armor like some of the bulky red persons that he saw. Instead, it only wears a light amount of armor with a wide sword on his side.
Besides the strong red person is a large red dog, peacefully napping under the small light that passes through the forest’s cover. It has a thick red fur that glistens like steel and bloodied maw, but most importantly, it was as long as 10 feet.
It emanates an aura that would match or even overpower the mana beasts that the Human Settlements encounter in the Wild Forest.
The red person is starting to slightly sweat under the pressure of the 2 beings in front of him, his cold eyes barely hiding the sweltering fear underneath.
Why did I have to do this again? This man thinks as he continues to impersonate the red monster they caught. He didn’t want to do this scouting mission at all, even with the necessary skills and information to comfortably trick the red monsters.
His fear just intensified when he saw most of them are perfectly human, albeit with red skin and pupils. His thought being in the zone of being turned into one of them, and he has no intention of that happening, not even one BIT!
Though they can also be some kind of invader, which is still not good.
But he can’t really stop now nor can he go back without results, that demonic mage still has his curse comfortably sitting on his head. At least Boss David has some conscience, keeping a leash on that demon’s work.
“Reporting, Commander Guava” He speaks in the same way as what the “servant” do so to this guy. The leaders suspect that he is the one that commands the rest of these monsters, with that title, but the Mind Lady thinks that “Guava” is not the highest in command.
The Mind Lady is the one that extracted the information of this guy I am impersonating, and should have been the one with the most weight in one’s word about how to deal with this situation. But the Fire Judge was equally assertive despite his lower level of information compared to the Mind Lady.
The Fire Judge believes that these monsters are from a rift that they don’t know of, with the main proposition of the rift within the depths of the forest most possible. But he also thinks that there is the possibility of some of them being converted humans from their appearances.
While the Mind Lady believes that it is similar to the Rat Nest that is plaguing their area of the Southern Plains, and dominant within that part of the Wild Forest.
A compromise between the immediate aggression that the Fire Judge proposed, and the Mind Lady’s decision to delay it till the Orc quests are finished is this infiltration mission, which was given to Boss’ jurisdiction.
Sigh
Bah! I shouldn’t be even thinking about this. It is to best to leave it to them to think about how and what these monsters are, I am just a bodyguard of that demon. The safety of the human settlements they rule is none of my concern.
By this point, he is starting to feel calm and used to the presence of the red persons, which is just right as the red people’s commander is about to reply.
“How did the scouting mission go?” A low and authoritative voice comes out of the “Commander”. Now that he looks at it more, it looks like someone in their 30s, maybe even 40?
“The mission was done with minimal results. I wasn’t able to extract any information about the nearby human forces” He systemically answers.
Most of the red persons that I saw on the way here range from their teens to late twenties, while this guy looks older than the average. Probably should just focus on impersonating this red scout, as unnerving as it is.
He can hear him hum in response, but a few moments later, the “commander” looks up to look at him directly at the eyes. He can only shiver in response as he instinctively felt the power of the thing in front of him and the cold, cold eyes of it.
This guy is definitely as strong as one of the leaders, maybe even stronger?
“How about the Orc settlement, have you obtained important information about them?” It eventually breaks silence and said something, still sounding the same but with a hint of disappointment.
“I wasn’t able to obtain a lot of information, but I did find out that besides the classless Orcs and Orc Warriors, there is also the Orc Chanters. There is also some young orcs, but I don’t believe them to possess much of threat.”
He lets out another hum. Is this guy a master of tension? It is making me nervous for no real reason. He continues after that brief pause.
“The Orcs are also condensing the bodies of beast into blood essences. They already have contained around a pond’s worth of blood essences, it is in the center of their settlement. I was only able to take a few glances at it before the Orc chanters noticed me.”
All the information given is true, but it is not complete, at least slightly. The only thing that wasn’t revealed is the presence of the Orc knights, and the fact that the young orcs have been confirmed to be from Orc procreation.
This should guarantee that even if they have doubts, any checks on the Orc settlement should show he is saying the truth.
“You can leave now” The “commander” said with a lighter tone. He guesses that he passes, and he can get that reward if he can successfully gather crucial information about them in a day’s time.
He turns around and starts walking to the nearest group of blood servants, his mind feeling a bit lighter at the thought that he managed to trick them. Well, he guesses that it is a given, even that demon praises this ability of mine.
Ha! I guess these fools are not worth my worry.
Eh? Why is he there? Why is my body headless?
The head falls down as the body collapsed, the bloody burst staining the ground and the blade of the wide sword that Guava swung. The grasses and leaves sway as the remnant energy of the cut’s shockwave lingered.
“I applaud your bravery” Guava coldly looks at the shocked expression of the decapitated head.
“I am assuming that your personality types wouldn’t argue with that, Sir Doggo?” Guava glances at Doggo as he speaks, only to hear no reply from the beastly dog.
Meanwhile, in one of the tents of the allied human camp, is a black-haired man in a lotus sitting position. He looks like he is in his 30s, with a healthy sheen to his face, in contrast with the assortments of flesh and blood in his tent.
Suddenly, he opens his eyes, its pupils red which quickly dissipated into brown ones. He has a disappointed look on his face, with a trace of anger and apprehension.
“A pity”
