I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 90: Is He a Chosen One???!!!

The mist clung to the forest floor like grasping fingers, swirling around ancient tree trunks as Jack knelt beside a fallen log.

His breath came in controlled puffs, visible in the chill morning air as he accessed his status screen with practiced ease.

’System, let’s distribute some Stat Points. Sixteen to Magic, twelve to Endurance, twelve to Agility.’

[Confirm usage of 40 Stat Points.]

[YES] or [NO]

’Yes!’

[Status Update.]

Jack Kaiser: Level 18 (19,910/27,500)

Class: Arc Mage (level 1)

Strength: 28 (+30)

Stamina: 38 (+25)

Agility: 40 (+25)

Vitality: 38 (+25)

Endurance: 30 (+30)

Magic: 100 (+40)

Mana: 300

HP: 600

Skill Points: 85

Stat Points: 93

Reputation Points: 66,644

The changes flowed through his body like electricity finding new pathways. His magical reserves deepened, settling in his core like a reservoir of contained lightning.

His muscles felt more responsive, his reflexes sharper, his stamina reserves expanded.

Father Caelen stood nearby, his staff planted firmly in the soft earth as he prepared his own contributions to their battle readiness. The priest’s voice dropped to a reverent whisper as he began his invocation.

”Caelora, Lord of the Eternal Light, grant us your blessing in this dark hour. Let your radiance strengthen our bodies and steel our resolve against the creatures of shadow.”

Light gathered around Caelen’s staff like captured sunlight, growing brighter until it pulsed with warm, golden energy. The blessing flowed outward, washing over Jack and Corvin in waves of divine power that made every nerve ending sing with enhanced capability.

[Light of Caelora Activated]

[All stats increased by +50 for 900 seconds]

Jack flexed his fingers, feeling the power course through him like liquid fire.

His lightning magic thrummed in harmony with the divine enhancement, creating a resonance that made the air itself seem to crackle with potential energy.

But there was more. Jack reached out through his soul bond, feeling Corvin’s consciousness brush against his own like the touch of midnight wings.

The connection between them deepened, strengthened by weeks of shared experiences and mutual trust.

”Soul Resonance”

[Soul Resonance Activated]

[Corvin gains +20% to all stats]

Perched on a low branch above them, Corvin underwent his own transformation. The raven’s form expanded slightly, muscle definition becoming more pronounced beneath his midnight feathers.

His talons lengthened into curved daggers capable of rending flesh and bone with equal ease. When he spread his wings, they cast shadows that seemed somehow deeper and more substantial than mere absence of light.

With his preparations complete, Jack focused inward and made the crucial decision that would define this battle.

[Class Change: Lightning Mage → Arc Mage]

Jack extended his hand and watched as blue electricity coiled around his palm like a snake wrapping its body around his arms.

The energy felt different. It was sharper, more refined, infinitely more lethal.

”Ready?” he asked, rising to his feet with fluid grace.

Caelen nodded, divine energy still radiating from his form in gentle waves. ”The Light protects us.”

’System, why does Caelora sound so familiar?’

[Caelora is the Sun god of Caeloria. A god the elves worship because it is said he first brought light to Erebon.]

’Wait he worships elves? Father will not like that. Hold on.... He chanted... Does that make him a chosen one???!!!’

[Unknown...]

Corvin launched himself from his perch with a powerful beat of wings, circling overhead in a predatory pattern. He swept the forest ahead, searching for any sign of their quarry.

Above them, Corvin’s flight pattern changed abruptly. The raven wheeled in a tight circle, his cry splitting the oppressive quiet like a blade through silk.

CAAAAAWWW!

The sound echoed through the trees with urgent warning, carrying information that flowed directly into Jack’s consciousness through their soul bond.

Images flooded his mind. Shadows moving between distant trees, the glint of bone-white masks catching filtered sunlight and red eyes burning with predatory hunger.

Twenty-seven of them. Positioned in a loose semicircle, using the forest’s natural contours to approach from multiple angles simultaneously. Their coordination was flawless, each creature moving in perfect synchronization with the pack’s collective will.

”They’re here,” Jack said quietly, blue lightning beginning to dance around his fingertips in anticipation.

The Gravehowl Jackals emerged from the forest shadows like nightmares given physical form.

Each creature stood roughly the size of a dire wolf. Bone masks had fused to their skulls in grotesque displays of unnatural evolution, the yellowed calcium forming plates and ridges that protected their heads while creating hollow eye sockets through which crimson light burned with malevolent intelligence.

Their bodies rippled with dark muscle beneath coarse fur. Claws like curved daggers scraped against tree bark and stone as they moved, leaving deep gouges in their wake.

They arranged themselves in perfect formation, creating an arc of death that encompassed nearly two hundred degrees around Jack’s position.

Their movements were synchronized with military precision, each creature knowing its role in the pack’s hunting strategy without need for visible communication.

Then they howled.

The sound that erupted from twenty-seven throats simultaneously was like nothing that should exist in the natural world.

It was the scream of souls being torn from bodies, the wail of the damned calling out from depths of despair, the very essence of terror given voice.

The howl reverberated through the forest with supernatural force, seeming to emanate from the ground itself as much as from the creatures’ throats.

Waves of primal fear crashed over the clearing. This was weaponized terror, designed to freeze prey in place while predators closed in for the kill.

The howl reached into the deepest parts of the human brain.

But the crushing weight of supernatural dread met golden light and simply... stopped.

”Blessing of Courage!”

Caelen’s blessing blazed around Jack and Corvin like armor made of concentrated light.

Jack’s grin was sharp as a blade’s edge, utterly unimpressed by the display. ”That’s all?”

His voice carried clearly across the forest, cutting through the lingering echoes of the pack’s howl with dismissive confidence.

Several of the Gravehowl Jackals seemed taken aback by his lack of reaction, their formation wavering slightly as they processed the failure of their primary weapon.

Caelen stepped forward, his staff blazing with divine energy as he raised it high above his head. ”By ash and flame, be scattered!”

The priest’s voice boomed with divine authority as he slammed his staff against the earth. Power erupted from the point of impact, boring deep into the ground before exploding upward in a column of superheated earth and sacred flame.

”PILLAR OF ASH!”

BOOM!

The explosion sent a geyser of molten rock and burning earth shooting skyward, directly beneath the pack’s front rank.

Five Gravehowl Jackals were caught in the blast radius, their bone masks cracking under the sudden temperature change while their fur singed and smoldered.

The creatures scattered with surprised yips of pain, their perfect formation disrupted as they scrambled to escape the rain of burning debris.

Jack didn’t waste the opportunity.

His right hand came up wreathed in brilliant blue electricity, arc lightning coiling around his fingers like captured starlight.

The power that flowed through him now was unlike anything he’d wielded before.

”Arc Blast!”

The bolt that erupted from his fingertips was a masterwork of controlled devastation. Blue energy lanced across the clearing with the speed of thought, striking the lead Gravehowl Jackal center-mass with devastating force.

[Damage: 1,778]

[Double-Proc Activated]

[Additional Damage: 1,778]

[Total Damage: 3,556]

The creature’s bone mask exploded into fragments as the lightning tore through its body, the electrical energy cooking its nervous system in an instant. It collapsed without even a death scream, smoke rising from the blackened hole that had been its chest.

[Congratulations, you have defeated a Gravehowl Jackal]

[+2,500 EXP]

[+1 Dread Core]

Jack had held the Arc Blast long enough that it cost double the mana, but it also caused double the damage.

But Jack was just getting started.

The arc lightning jumped from its first target to a second Gravehowl, then a third, each strike carrying the same lethal precision. Two more jackals collapsed in writhing heaps as their muscles seized and their hearts stopped, overwhelmed by the blue lightning.

Three down in the space of a heartbeat.

[Congratulations, you have defeated a Gravehowl Jackal]

[+5,000 EXP]

[+2 Dread Core]

Above the battlefield, Corvin folded his wings and dove like a midnight arrow toward a jackal that had been stunned by the Pillar of Ash. The raven’s form blurred as he activated his signature ability.

Shadow Strike.

Corvin’s body seemed to dissolve into living darkness, becoming a projectile of pure shadow that moved at tremendous speed. He struck the disoriented jackal at nearly one hundred miles per hour, his talons extended like spears.

THUMP!

The impact drove the creature to the ground with bone-breaking force. Corvin’s talons punched through the jackal’s ribcage like it was made of paper, finding the heart with predatory precision. The creature convulsed once and went still, dark blood pooling beneath its ruined form.

Corvin landed on a branch, and threw the heart into the air. Before the heart could fall, corvin swallowed it whole as it stared down at the Jackals.

The remaining twenty-three Gravehowl Jackals recoiled, their red eyes blazing with fury and something that might have been surprising.

They had expected easy prey. Terrified humans frozen by their howl, helpless targets to be torn apart at leisure. Instead, they faced opponents who not only resisted their fear effects but struck back with lethal efficiency.

Suddenly, one Jackal stepped foward. This beast was twice the size of the others.

GRUHHGGH!!

AWWOOO!!!!