Improving and Hunting

The night seemed to never end. It was permanently dark, the cloudless sky being filled with a massive moon. It glowed a soft purple, different than anything I've seen before.

We walked for hours. No changes happened. The horde would appear in front of us, and we ran away. The zombie swordsman attacked us, and I killed it.

My skills were advancing well though. I jumped over a rotten log, trudging through the same forest. It was a loud, with bugs and birds at every turn, but the sound of large land animals was completely gone.

My stats were higher as well. Considerably so, at that. And my use of my Passives are much better. In case you couldn't guess, we've been here longer than 24 hours.

The timer stopped at 1 second. It didn't go down, no matter how long we waited. My calculations were way off, and the horde seems bigger every time I see it!

The zombie swordsman is coming back stronger and faster, with better swordsmanship. The zombie necromancer is still hidden in the horde somewhere.

Oh, and we have no food. Or water. I'm surprised we even get air, but with near constant attacks, it barely feels like it!

I did find something good, believe it or not. As my stats go up, I need less food and water to survive. And the zombies can be killed, if completely destroyed.

I may have gotten a bit too angry, and used my Energy Generation to the max. And beyond. It hurt. A lot. But the zombies were completely destroyed, head to toes, nothing but a disgusting lump of rotten, burnt flesh, laying on the ground.

I wave Fein down, telling her to sit down. She practically falls over, exhaustion riddling her body. When we first met, my stats were much lower than hers, but now, they're a lot higher.

(STR 45 AGI 48 CON 51 DEX 10 INT 15 MP 50 HP 35)

My stats are going up at about the same speed as the zombie swordsman. I tried to destroy him as well, but his armor and higher CON makes the fire useless.

Moral of the story: Don't do the Challenges!

Unless the ??? reward is stupidly overpowered, this will NOT be worth it!

I am close to being able to kill the normal zombie horde. The bad part is the mental fatigue I feel after using Energy Generation. I feel like I haven't slept in days.

Oh wait. I haven't.

I force myself to stand, picking up a sleeping Fein and putting her on my back. I walk forwards, not wanting to get caught by the horde.

As I walk, I use Energy Generation constantly, making kinetic energy, and Mana Healing, which is the only reason I haven't fallen apart into a million pieces yet.

I walk for a few more hours before Fein wakes up. She gets off my back and walks beside me. She doesn't say anything, too tired and thirsty to form words.

Until we find something new.

We stumble through the graveyard for the who-knows-how-many nth time, and I trip over something. That's not the odd part, I trip all the time. The odd part is the sudden rumbling from underground, and a spiraling staircase that leads down.

Tired, hungry, thirsty, and out of options, we give each other one look before we walk down. I go first, making sure it's safe.

The stairs are empty, with nothing but evenly spaced torches on the walls. At the bottom, a short hallway leads to a door, an ominous door with matte black covering and colored depictions of red demons and golden angels in some kind of fight.

Red flag number one.

In front of the door, is a pedestal that has a human hand print on it, covered in dust and dirt, seemingly untouched for years.

Red flag number two.

I walk up and press my hand onto the pedestal, causing the area to light up, spirals spinning out across the floor, up the walls, over the ceiling, starting at the base of the pedestal.

Red flag number three.

The door lights up, and creeks open eerily. The inside is a dark room. A crystal sits in the middle of the small room. It glows black, darker than it's surroundings.

"I'll check it out. You stay here. Yell if anything happens."

Fein nods her head and sits down, thankful for a break. I enter the room, and the darkness swallows me whole. The door closes with a thud, reverberating through my body.

Too many red flags, but it's too late now.

I walk up to the crystal, which seems to call out for me. No, for someone at all. It requires a human, it's siren call enticing, with unspoken promises.

I touch the crystal. It's surface is smooth, and cool to the touch. I feel a power build up within it, different than anything I've felt before.

It's structured and purposeful, but chaotic and fast at the same time. It moves smoothly, never missing it's goal, but acts rough, with sharp turns and jagged movements.

The power wells up inside the crystal, before it all shoots towards my hand. A mangled scream is wrenched from my lips, the pain excruciating and forceful. It destroys my hand, spreading blood and flesh over the crystal.

When it finally stops, I fall to the ground, panting for breath, but with newfound energy welling up inside of me. I feel powerful, but I have no control over it.

When I leave the room, Fein stands up and makes sure I'm ok.

"Other than my hand being gone, I'm fine."

She grabs my missing hand, even more concerned, but it's not gone. Like a claw, pitch black from my wrist to finger tips, sharp and jagged at the joints, but it flows together smoothly, creating a new hand for me.

I use Energy Generation, and make a small flame. It appears black, and feels hotter than before. When I use my left hand, it's normal, a small light yellow flame.

Fein still looks concerned though. "I'm fine. I think it made me stronger. I'll tell you if anything happens with it." She still seems concerned, but just nods her head. We go up the stairs, emerging in the graveyard again.

We set off walking, looking for more zombies to fight. We find them easily, two zombies beside each other, wandering aimlessly.

I run up to them, making a black flame in my hand. The zombies see me, and dash at me as well, being unaware of the dangers.

When I'm close enough, I bend my knees lower, dodging a swipe at my head, and grab the zombie's arm.

It burns quickly, the black flames creeping up at astounding speeds. It seems weaker, not burning it as fast, but it spreads through the whole zombie, burning it quickly.

The second one rushes at me, and I try to change the fire. I make it smaller, more compact and deadly. It goes for an overhead swing, so I leap forward, stabbing my new claws into it's chest.

The fire moves quickly, burning the zombie from the inside out. I back up, and wait for it to die. It didn't work. The fire stayed the same, fast spreading but weak.

I was hoping compressing it would change that, but apparently not. I walk back over to Fein. "I think I'm ready to fight them head on."