บท 6: Stranded

Core Bloodline Acquired.

Special Inheritance Gained.

New Title- Apostle of Death

Name- Roye Valdrin

Age- 16

Title- Apostle of Death [Unknown]

Cultivation- Body Refinement [Low stage]

Skill- Deadly Intuition [Unknown]

Eternal Rebirth [Unknown]

Spells- [None]

Revenants- [0/3]

---

I had succeeded, and the ritual had been successful. And considering the [Unknown] tag after my title and skills, I had gotten everything that I was hoping for.

At least now I could stand up against the main character and those other monsters.

I slowly got up on my feet and began observing my body. Never in my life had I felt so good yet so awful. It was like my entire body had been restructured. Gone was the skinny body, the useless fat, instead replaced with muscles.

Even my face seemed to have changed, even if I couldn't see it.

"If only it didn't hurt this much."

I stepped away from the runic circle and walked over to the nearby wall. Using the spatial storage, I took out some bread and other canned supplies and dug in.

Maybe it was the entire body readjustment I had gotten, but I was starving.

After eating till I couldn't anymore I laid down on the stone ground. The pain had started to ease up a bit, I couldn't go outside in so much pain anyway. My watch was telling me that an entire day had passed, and considering the next ship was supposed to arrive in a week, it gave me enough time to rest and gather up my strength.

And try to figure out what I had experienced.

Normally, when one person consumed someone's bloodline essence, they had to try their best to subdue the remnant before it could overwhelm them.

The consequences for failing to do so were dire. Personality shifts, hallucinations, and strange mutations over the body were not uncommon, and that was the best-case scenario. In the worst case, a person's mind could be completely erased until all that remained was the remnant will. The stronger the beast, the more chances there were of that happening.

Of course, I had been prepared for that. In the novel, Soren had to go through something similar, too, but all that was written was how he had managed to subdue the residual will with his extraordinary willpower. No one had mentioned anything about those strange flashes. Were they even real? Were they some kind of memories?

Maybe, considering how that woman had been talking in ancient Khravaen. Wait, does that mean this language, The Tainted, used in rituals, was once a common language?

That could be because no one remembered why humanity had to hide underground in the first place.

And what about the battle of the wills? I hadn't been in any battle; heck, if I had been in one, then I would have severely lost.

And those words he said. "Tu'ra zhal Khaldrin." and what was that other thing he said? I swear I could remember it.

Was Khaldrin his name? I had been watching his memories, after all.

All of this was too confusing. It was like looking for a needle in a giant haystack, except the haystack didn't exist. And the needle was hiding in nothingness.

I needed more information. But for now, it could be assumed that the man's name was Khaldrin.

"I need to hit the library the moment I join the academy."

Deciding so, I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep; my body was too exhausted to do all this thinking anyway. Besides, I needed to be in top condition before I boarded that ship.

---

The week passed in the blink of an eye, considering I had slept almost the entire time.

The time I wasn't sleeping, I had spent getting used to my new strength and trying out the [Unknown] skills.

The getting used to the new body part was easy. It was as if I had been reborn, I was faster, stronger and flexible than before. I had even tried a few of those fighting techniques for Roye's memories and although I hadn't been able to pull off all those moves I had gotten real close.

Trying out the [Unknown] skills however, that's where things got tricky. I had tried everything in my power but for the life of me couldn't figure out how these things worked.

There were no description in front of the skills. I did knew they were somehow death related but that was a very large scope to figure things out from.

Sighing, I stepped out of the temple's door and into the forest. I then took out all of the clothes I had used in the ritual and proceeded to burn them.

These things had blood all over them, Khaldrin's and mine. The last thing I wanted was for it to get into someone's hand, considering all kinds of weirdos roamed this world.

After making sure they were thoroughly destroyed, I sprayed myself with the beast repellent and began my journey towards the beach.

The map didn't say the time the ship was supposed to arrive so I was going to have to wait for a while.

And that's what I did, I set up my tent under a remote cavern to hide myself from any predators and waited.

It was almost night by the time I saw the ship in the distance.

"Finally." I got up and began packing my tent and putting all of my stuff in the storage. I was only half way done when.

"ROOOOAAAR!!!"

A thunderous roar caused me to turn my head to the ocean. Under the moon's illuminance, I saw a giant, eldritch, octopus-like creature jump out of the water and latch itself onto the ship hull.

In an instant, the rock statues jumped into action, taking out their swords and other weapons and rushing toward the giant monstrosity.

Only the giant octopus was too strong. As if he was harboring deep animosity and resentment against the rock statues, it roared once again and slashed with his giant tentacle.

The entire ship shook, and several rock statues fell overboard.

In front of my eyes I saw tens of rock soldiers trying there best to climb aboard the ship. The rest of the statues on the ship trying their best to kill the giant octopus, and the octopus slashing his tentacles while using two of them to tear away at the ship.

Looking at the harrowing site, I didn't know whether to cry or be relieved for not being on that ship.

Another tentacle slammed down on the ship's center causing it to crack in the middle. Several rock statues tried to control the ship but failed as it separated into two.

As for the beast, seemingly satisfied with the destruction it had caused, it slithered one of its tentacles into the ship's interior and pulled out a shining gem.

It felt like someone had pulled the plug. The moment the gem was pulled, the rock statues froze in place.

The giant octopus stopped as well and put the shimmering gem into his mouth. By the time he was done, the ship had already almost sunk. Slamming his tentacle once more on a nearby rock statue floating in the water, the giant octopus climbed down the ship and disappeared into the water. Leaving behind a destroyed ship, dozens of floating rock statues, and a befuddled me.

My ride home had been destroyed, leaving me stranded in one of the deadliest zones in the world, with food and water that would only last me a couple of weeks.

"Seven Hells." I quietly cursed.