Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 79: The Lifebringer

Zac was walking back through the forest toward the Camp. He had spent the last 16 days in the mines and felt the need to check up on the battle preparations. He wanted to be done with everything something like 10 days before the first horde arrived in case something went wrong, and he was now halfway to his deadline. While Ogras had proven himself quite useful he wasn’t too comfortable leaving the demon to his own devices in his camp. Besides, who knew how many crystals he was stashing away while Zac was preoccupied.

Zac sighed as he knew there was nothing much he could do about that for now, as long as it was kept within reasonable limits. He would just have to see it as a salary for the demon. As he walked he activated the [Axe Mastery] guidance system, once more following its intrepid pathways.

Two days ago as he was swinging away at the tunnel wall he actually evolved the skill. It seemed that the method to level up Axe Mastery was to learn and internalize everything the trajectories had to offer, and he had arduously kept trying to improve his form over the last two weeks. It was now at Middle Mastery, just like [Chop]. The changes weren’t as obvious as with his other skill though, only adding some techniques and strikes.

It did however also incorporate both his Dao of Heaviness and his Skill [Chop] into the mix. Just as it before had fluidly changed between various techniques and attacks, it now also incorporated those two elements in the ever-changing barrage of strikes. He had quickly realized some new usage methods for the skills, such as using [Chop] like a retractable lance, almost instantly impaling enemies as the energy edge expanded when he held the axe with the right angle. For that attack he didn’t even have to move his arm, just charge the skill as he held it stationary, making it a great surprise strike.

He also found out he used the Dao empowerment inefficiently, since he only really needed to empower the strike in the last second as it approached the enemy. Until now he charged his strike up as he did with cosmic energy, starting to infuse the Dao even before the swing started. That both gave the defender a warning and wasted too much mental energy.

Unfortunately, the improved [Axe Mastery] didn’t show any strikes where the Dao and his skill were combined, like with his final furious strikes in the battle between him and Rydel. It also didn’t provide him with a new vision like it did when he first received the skill. He had hoped that the skill would give him a new vision that would help him finally understand the Dao of Sharpness.

He felt he was actually progressing there though, and might grasp it by his own soon. He was diligently trying to improve the sense of sharpness of his strikes, cutting increasingly large gashes in the tunnel walls.

There was another reason for Zac leaving the tunnels this day. He was very close to completing the quests for both his [Loamwalker] skill and [Forester’s Constitution], and he felt it would be better to complete those skills when he was alone.

Since Alyn explained to Zac how Luck worked he was far more ready to listen to his gut. It turned out that the attribute wasn’t only good for things such as winning in card games or getting good rewards from quests. Luck was an extremely convenient attribute that greatly improved a warrior’s survivability, and cultivators across the multi-verse desperately looked for means to improve their Luck. There were actually fruits like the Fruit of Ascension that could permanently improve an attribute, and those that improved Luck were hundreds to thousands of times more expensive compared to the other ones.

It could be said that Luck gave a person a sixth sense, and the higher the luck the more pronounced it would become. At lower levels it could vaguely sense that something was wrong, causing a general sense of discomfort. As luck improved it would give the person an acute sense of danger in case his life was in peril, allowing him to survive where an unlucky person would die.

Zac thought back to some of his fights, especially the ambush in the caves. He had suddenly felt an extreme sense of danger just before an arrow slammed into his head, and it was that feeling that saved his life. Only now did he understand that it came from his extremely high Luck.

Alyn had also told him that it didn’t only work against bad things, but also for fortuitous encounters as the attribute kept increasing. She mentioned how a person with extremely high Luck could sometimes get an almost irresistible urge to walk in some random direction, and as long as he followed his gut there would be a treasure waiting at the end. But to get lucky to that point one needed hundreds of points in the attribute.

Therefore, since Zac’s gut told him he should be alone when completing the quest he didn’t hesitate to head out, using the fact he wanted to check out the camp as a convenient excuse. He once again checked the class skills.

Foresterʼs Constitution (Class): Fight in the forests, be one with nature. Reward: Foresterʼs Constitution Skill. (29/30)

Loamwalker (Class): Walk a thousand kilometers touching the earth. Reward: Loamwalker Skill. (983/1000)

After confirming the status he kept moving through the forest, westward rather than going south. He wanted to get out of the way, as there was some foot traffic through the forest that could interrupt him. Or rather jungle as it started to feel like. The path between Port Atwood and Azh’Rodum, which was the new name for the Demon Town, was getting to the point that an actual trail was getting created.

Ogras had decided to rename it since it didn’t make sense for the town to be named after the clan they abandoned. From Alyn’s explanation, Rodum simply meant capital in their native language, and the Azh-prefix was a reminder of their origin.

Apparently, there had been sort of an uprising in Azh’Rodum while Zac diligently trained in the mines. Zac learned that Ogras’ influence came from his extremely powerful grandfather, but his own reputation was less than stellar. Some demons felt that they would do a better job at running the town now that they didn’t have to fear repercussions from the clan or Ogras’ ancestor, and sought to seize control.

It was a group of demons who had been stuck in the mines looking for Zac when the incursion ended, and who were still disgruntled that they couldn’t get home. Different from most of the town, the demons who were in the mines had no choice whether to go home or not and were involuntarily stranded on Earth.

The rebellion had been shortlived and extremely bloody. Ogras unleashed a level of power that dumbfounded the town, and Alyn was still shocked as she retold the events. Just as interestingly, Ogras was aided by multiple powerful demons that had been thought to be non-combat class individuals until that moment. They sprung up from nowhere and suppressed the town with their power as well. They captured the dissidents in quick order and with overwhelming power.

The rebellion did not just end with the rebels being caught. What followed caused even the stoic Alyn to be shaken. Ogras ruthlessly tortured the group of demons in front of the rest of the town, their screams echoing through Azh’Rodum for hours before they finally were allowed to die. After that Ogras had once again become an unquestioned leader. Zac didn’t believe that those methods were sustainable, ruling with fear could only take one so far. But they were strapped for time and Zac needed the demon’s to work as if their lives depended on it, because in a sense they did.

During the past two weeks Zac learned a few words and sentences so that he could at least greet the demons who didn’t possess the language skill [Book of Babel]. The name greatly confused Zac when he heard its name since it was clearly based on the biblical origin myth. But Alyn explained that the skill also translated many things into something that made sense for the listener. For example, the skill was named after an ancient Devil with a million mouths in demonic, which was based on their own mythology.

Soon he was close to the edge on the west part of the island, far away from any Demon activity. Zac marveled at the surroundings, as the forest had changed so much after only two weeks in the cave. Some trees were starting to grow impossibly large, and all sorts of plants and flowers peppered the forest floor. Many of the flowers were things that he’d never seen before, and he wondered whether they were mutations or something that had drifted over from a neighboring island.

As he walked along he killed a barghest every now and then in order to keep his quest progressing. He hadn’t been too surprised when he learned that the demons sent through hundreds of thousands of the beasts, as they were literally everywhere on the island.

When he asked why they didn’t send more demons instead Alyn explained that going through an incursion had a cost, and the more powerful a warrior the more expensive it would be. Non-combat classes like Alyn were somewhat affordable to send through, but individuals like Ogras and Rydel alone cost almost as much as the whole barghest hordes.

Suddenly Zac felt the familiar gathering of energy in his mind and his heartbeat sped up. Ogras had told him that the skill might be a seed-quest that was designed to award a Dao Seed, but Zac didn’t dare to hope for it after he’d already got a vision for the Dao of Axes.

Alyn had explained that a rare class could get two Dao Seed quests at the most, and an Epic class was needed to be able to get a third. Even getting two was considered great luck, and generally an indication that the Rare class was top-tier amongst its kind.

Zac quickly ran to a close-by tree and nimbly climbed its branches. After a thorough check for any inhabitants, he sat down on one of the wider branches and closed his eyes.

He was a small pod in the darkness. Nothing existed apart from the warmth of the surroundings, and the refreshing pearls of water that sometimes ran along his surface. Time was irrelevant, and the only thing that mattered was to keep reaching upward. Zac had no idea how long he stayed in the darkness, until one day a burst of light, or rather of life, inundated him as he struggled upward.

He had broken through the earth, a small sapling being greeted by the endless sky. The blast of light woke up Zac for a second, and he realized he was in another vision. This one was different though, as it seemed endless. Days quickly became years as Zac slowly forgot about his quest, his Town, even himself. The only thing on his mind was to keep absorbing life and growing.

Seasons came and went and beset him with an ever-changing trial by nature itself. Winds whipped his branches, trying to rip his leaves away from him. Rain pelted him relentlessly, quickly turning from a refreshing shower to a deluge threatening to drown him. The water froze and became a layer of snow and ice, freezing him and forcing him dormant, dreaming of the sun. But the trials always ended and were sooner or later replaced with the warm kiss of the sun.

Zac started to realize he was different from his brethren around him, as while their growth stopped after a few centuries, he kept growing. Soon he was towering in the sky, his kin only small dots hidden among his roots. He kept growing for millions of years, unceasingly absorbing the warmth of the sun and the sweet life in the atmosphere. Every inch of his being vibrated with vitality, every leaf glistening with life.

Small beings started to live around him, treating him with great reverence. Some even started to move up to his branches, forever denouncing the ground. Zac let them stay on, as some company was welcome in this eternity.

He kept growing upward, eventually breaking through the vault of the heavens. Sparkling dots glimmered in the darkness, as Zac started floating in the vast expanse. His old friend the sun stayed behind, but the whole cosmos was provided him with sustenance instead. He once again went dormant as he floated through the void, ever growing. Every place he passed as he slept was changed, desolate worlds rousing themselves, suddenly teeming with vitality.

He was the Lifebringer.