"Lumberling, are you okay?" Aurelya stepped quickly beside him, worry clear in her eyes.
He let out a slow breath, shook his head once, and offered her a small smile. "I'm fine."
"You crazy bastard," Aurelya said, poking his chest. "Don't do sothing that reckless again."
Lumberling chuckled lightly, then turned to Skitz. "When we go out, show where you found that coffin. I need to see it for myself."
Liraeth stepped closer. "Did you discover sothing?"
"They're called vampires," Lumberling said. "Undead creatures that drink blood. The mories matched everything I saw in the lizardman's mind." He glanced at the elves. "Do any of you know about them?"
Thessalia nodded at him. "I've read about them in an old book. Their race existed thousands of years ago. They were incredibly strong that even a single one of them could be said to have the strength of Knight three once they reach maturity through aging alone. They lived and thrived, and very few dared to challenge them. But… a great war broke out, and their entire race was wiped from the world."
"A great war? Who fought them?" Lumberling asked, frowning.
She shook her head. "I don't know. The book didn't explain it. And I never found other records about that war."
"Then that book was wrong," Lumberling said, his voice heavy. "They're not gone. And I'm sure there's more of them out there, not just the one Skitz and his group found. If they've lived for thousands of years, growing stronger all the while… then their power now could be unimaginable now."
The room fell silent. No one spoke.
Lumberling's gaze swept over them. "I have a strong feeling sothing big is coming. And this ti… the empire might not survive."
"You want to find them?" Thessalia asked quietly.
"I want to absorb their mories," Lumberling said with a nod. "See how they survived and what they're planning. It might help us understand everything that's happening."
"I'm in," Thessalia said imdiately.
Lumberling raised a hand. "Not now. We'll go soon, but we need to prepare first."
Thessalia didn't argue. Instead, she crouched beside the small container holding the vampire's ashes, studying them with careful eyes.
Before she could say anything more, Gobo2 suddenly raised his hand. "Boss!" he called out, eyes bright with excitent. "So that ans… it's safe to absorb the lizardn's essence now, right?"
"Yes," Lumberling said. "There shouldn't be any problems."
Gobo2 pumped his fist. "Good! I call dibs. I go first!"
"Yeah, yeah," Lumberling said with a small smile. "Line up, everyone."
He then called his captains and vice-captains forward, placing them in order as he prepared to guide the essence into them.
.....
Late at night, Lumberling sat alone in his room, legs crossed, breathing steady. The room was quiet, lit only by a small lamp. He slipped into the familiar rhythm of the Imperial Mindseal ditation, letting his thoughts settle one layer at a ti.
He had been practicing this technique for months, but constant battles and travel made it hard to give it the ti it needed. And now, after absorbing so many high-level essences, the mories inside his mind were starting to pile up, pressing on him like a heavy weight.
'From today on, I need to focus on this more,' he thought. 'I'll train my other skills when I have ti, but strengthening my mind has to co first.'
It was the only thod he had to strengthen his mind. He needed this focus now more than ever.
After a few minutes of calming his breathing, he opened his status window. He hadn't checked it in a long while.
….
Na: Lumberling
Race: Human
Age: 28
Level: 14
Essence Point: (25,389/51,500)
Power: 26,369 (Skills: 23,756 | Level: 2,613)
Fragnt of Divine Blessing: Qi Adaptation
Fragnt of Divine Blessing: Blessing of the Undying Fla
Fragnt of Naxxiriss' Blessing: Blessing of the Pale Dream
Cultivation Realm: Body Tempering Realm
Beginner Imperial Mindseal ditation Level 3 (933/1000)
Beginner Ironblood Tempering Scripture Level 3 (811/1000)
Beginner Stone Step Art Lv.0 (1/1000)
Knight Stage: Knight One
Active Skills
Beginner Sprint Lv3 (58/1000)
Beginner Spearheart Thrust Lv. 4 (326/1000)
Beginner Thundering Lunge Lv.2 (851/1000)
Beginner Triple Fang Lv. 2 (650/1000)
Beginner Hamr Shock Lv1 (900/1000)
Beginner Phantom Step Lv. 1 (1/1000))
Beginner Steel Tempest Lvl 1 (1/1000)
Beginner Circle of Eternity Lv.0 (842/1000)
Beginner Vortex Thrust Lvl 0 (1/1000)
Beginner Executioner's Gale Lv. 0 (1/1000)
Beginner Dominion Strike Lv. 0 (1/1000)
Beginner Stonewall Guard Lvl 0 (1/1000)
Beginner Stone Shield Lvl 0 (1/1000)
Beginner Essence Weave Lv1 (782/1000)
Passive Skills
Essence Devour
Low Level Spearheart Doctrine Lv8 (861/1000)
Low Level Shadow Glide Lv1 (158/1000)
Low Level Flowing Edge Lv1 (1/1000)
Beginner Shield Bash Lv5 (1/1000)
Beginner Dual Wielding Axe Lv4 (79/1000)
Beginner Bonecrush thod Lv4 (42/1000)
Beginner Bowmanship Lv3 (2/1000)
Beginner Dagger Fang Lv. 1 (46/1000)
Resistances
Beginner Poison Resistance Lv2 (886/1000)
Beginner Cold Resistance has been learned Lv. 0 (647/1000)
Arcane Stage: Unranked
Thunder Elent Lv.2 (985/1000)
Earth Elent Lv.0 (652/1000)
Chaos Elent Lv.0 (421/1000)
Fire Elent Lv.0 (385/1000)
Elent of Gravity. Lv. 0 (258/1000)
Einherjar Stage: Unranked
(Thor's Blessing Lv.3 (251/1000)
(Odin's Blessing Lv.2 (1/1000))
(Týr's Blessing Lv.1 (501/1000))
(Ullr's Blessing Lv.1 (251/1000))
Oracle Stage: Apprentice Lv. 0 (1/1000)
Unique Skill: Luck Analyze
Unique Skill: Fate Glimpsed
.....
Looking at his power, Lumberling let out a slow breath. At this point, his physical strength alone was already close to a Knight Three early stage. If a normal knight reached this level through years of training, he had jumped there by force, devouring essence after essence.
"I got so many active skills from the True Knights I absorbed," he muttered to himself. "But now there's too many. I can't even use most of them. Feels like a waste just letting them sit there.
He looked up in his ceiling.
"There has to be a way to make use of all of them…"
Suddenly, as if answering his thoughts, sothing stirred inside his chest.
The sprout deep within his heart suddenly pulsed. It beat once, twice, then faster, like a small living heart waking up.
"What…?"
Before he could react, his mind began to drift, slipping into darkness.
When he opened his eyes again, everything around him was pitch black. No walls, no light, no sound. Just endless darkness stretching forever.
"Hello?" he called out.
No one answered.
The place was eerily silent, but strangely, he didn't feel fear or discomfort. Instead, he felt… warm and safe. Like this darkness was sothing he belonged to, a place that was truly his own.
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