Choice - 19
The mont I was forced to accept the promotion, a feeling of pulling appeared, emanating from . The blue stones that were floating around were iimdiately affected by this change. Glowing strings appeared on them and connected with , far faster than I could even attempt to dodge, but even as the glow began to flow into my body, there was no feel of wound.
I tried to stand up, but my body didn't listen to .
That was not the only energy that flowing into my body. A second later, another bolt of red energy slamd against the top side of the vehicle, but rather than corroding the tal as I had expected, it turned into a red mist, one that flooded toward . It was slower than the blue strings of energy.
But I failed to dodge it, lacking the ability to move in the first place.
I prepared myself for a disaster, one that could develop into an intense explosion of pain, one that might prove my end.
The red energy obediently entered my body.
[Archery of Destruction (3/X)]
[Archery of Destruction (4/X)]
[Archery of Destruction (5/X)]
I desperately tried to assign more points to resilience, hoping that it would give the ability to reject the call, but I wasn't even able to send ntal commands.
The world lost its color
And I found myself floating in emptiness, with nothing around including my body. I was in a soul state, a dream yet not a dream, still a sense of separation between and the world, barely enough to make rember what had just happened before.
No matter how much the whispers filled my mind wanted to forget.
I was floating, the sense of ti and space disappearing. I might have been there just an instant, or for years, with no real way of distinguishing which was the case. But soon, I realized that I wasn't alone.
A glow surrounded ; a crimson glow, whispering to to embrace it, embrace the truth, promising wealth, power, freedom, immortality Anything I wanted. I just needed to accept its touch.
I would have laughed if I actually had a mouth to show such a reaction. I might not be sure about where I was, what was going on, or even if it was a dream
But I had lived long enough to know that such lofty promises were never true. I had seen that many tis, since I was a young man, trying to carve myself a place in the rciless world. Many friends, allies, or enemies had chosen to follow the promises of the others, believing them when they were promised riches and power
Only to end up in an early grave.
And, if believing an old mafia boss about unsubstantial promises was a poor idea, what did it say about listening to the promises of an eldritch being promising eternal life
I rejected his call, even when the energy drifted closer and closer, begging for to touch, the voice getting louder and louder. However, I realized one thing. No matter how strong and loud was the voice, there was no compulsion in that tone, forcing to make a choice.
Why that was important, I was having trouble rembering, but it was important
Sohow.
I resolutely rejected its call, waiting
And waiting
And waiting
Soon, other whispers joined the first one, asking not to choose the crimson light, that there was only destruction and danger in that direction. On that, I had no problem listening to those voices.
The sa didn't apply to their other words, asking to choose them instead. With the number of whispers increasing, so did the promises.
So promised justice, shining and fair but I had lived on the edge of the law enough to know how much of a joke that idea of true justice was. It was only an excuse for the powerful to oppress the rest.
So promised knowledge, limitless and true
So promised martial power
So promised eternal ecstasy
I rejected all, waiting, even as so kind of energy filled my soul, giving a sense of potential, one that I failed to direct
I waited
And waited
[Promotion Complete
Alignnt: Unaligned
Reward: Ability (Elevated Life - Basic - Human)]
It was the first thing I had seen once I found myself in my body. A fascinating set of writing. Even more fascinating was a sense of power filling to my body. It felt similar to what I had experienced while I had been assigning stats, but it was more comprehensive.
I might have paid more attention to it, if it wasn't for another shake, reminding where I was.
Still in the sa vehicle, still falling Which confird one thing. Not much ti had passed, at least in the real world.
The ceiling was covered with that sa crimson energy, corroding the tal, leaving only rust behind, giving another reason to abandon it as soon as possible.
Especially since a glance through the open door could confirm that I was not too far away from the ultimate destination
The ground
I glanced around rapidly, trying to see sothing that I could pick. I saw a discarded sword, and nothing more, and desperately grabbed its hilt the tingling sensation showing it to be one of the magical weapons before grabbing the blanket once more.
And jumped out, hoping that I wouldn't be greeted by another crimson blast.
That turned out not to be the case, I looked as I jumped, barely five hundred feet away from the ground. I glanced up a mont, confirming the floating castle was far away enough not to target once more and it was, about to disappear into the clouds before I focused on my landing.
I focused on it, because I was experienced enough to know that five hundred feet were already far below what was recomnded for a safe landing and that was with an actual parachute, and not just a few connected blankets and I didn't have the luxury of paying attention to anything else.
Health was there to reduce the damage, so even a bad landing might not kill , but I was about to enter a wilderness, one that was very likely filled with monsters, and didn't have the luxury of wasting even one more Health point than necessary.
Especially before finding out how to replenish them. The food I had consud during the feast did so, but maybe cooking required a special ability or process another experint for a future date.
Instead, I tightened my grip on the blankets, desperately trying to control my direction as I tried to direct myself, bleeding as much montum as possible even as I checked my landing spot.
A dense forest, with no possible landing spot, but the number of branches gave an opportunity as much as danger. I tried to direct myself toward the softest-looking tree with the most branches.
Before landing, I wanted to increase my chances of a safe landing as much as possible. And, the best way to do that was to spend my unassigned stat points I didn't want to replicate my mistake when I had jumped down from the fortress.
Not to ntion, with the promotion done, I felt the barrier to blocking my leveling was gone, making saving even less of a priority.
[-30 Stat Points]
[ 5 Strength]
[ 5 Agility]
[ 5 Perception]
[ 5 Vitality]
[ 10 Resilience]
Technically, assigning so to Resilience was not the smartest move, but the voice in mind, forcing to accept the promotion was still clear. I didn't want to experience that again.
The flight was already much easier after the improvent granted by Elevated Life ability, and the additions to other stats helped it to reach a point where I could call it almost comfortable. Strength helped to grab the blankets much easier, and Agility helped to balance myself and direct, Perception allowing to see much more accurately than I ever thought it to be possible even in the darkness of the nightti.
Before I could reach the forest, an explosion happened nearby. I didn't need to turn to see that it was the flying vehicle hitting the ground, the flas already high enough to add a little brightness to the dark forest although the excessively crimson tone of that brightness was not good news, I assud.
I ignored when I was concentrating on my landing. I directed myself to the tallest tree, twisting my body near, kicking myself to bleed the montum the hit on the tree hard enough to leave a deep crack before shifting the direction, repeating it.
Without dropping the dagger or the magical sword.
On the third attempt, I twisted the blankets and turned them into a lasso, letting it wrap against a thick branch, moving still fast enough to crack it, but the damage was enough to slow down. I loosened my grip on the blanket, and safely landed on the ground
I was safe well, safeish...
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