Rise of the Devourer

Book 2: Chapter 42 — Training Montage

Fire burned through Noah’s body, turning his skin a darker shade. He hadn’t entirely been sure that it was possible to be burnt so badly, but the dragon was more than happy to teach him about it. The ground around him had dried up from the heat, a portion of the swamp now cracked and devoid of any water as the dragon continued to pour out flames.

He felt lifeblood working on overdrive, and even then it was not enough. Hordes of corpses were set near Noah which he kept draining blood from at a rapid rate, while Bun Bun went out to terrorize even more of the forest’s denizens, murder them and bring their corpses back for Noah to drain dry.

[Fire Resistance] has reached level 10!

[Fire Resistance] has ranked up to Intermediate!

Noah felt the resistance kick in, as immediately the damage began to lessen significantly, no longer requiring an additional source of healing for Noah to keep up. He felt a heat now contained inside his body, pulling in energy from the flames he was covered in.

[Fire Resistance (Intermediate) - level 10]

You’ve survived the fire breath of a dragon and trained under it. Your body can now withstand all kinds of flames.

Noah read the description, feeling a smile forming on his lips.

“Hmm, that took around eighteen hours. Your slow regeneration is holding us back,” the dragon grumbled, letting lightning escape its scaly mouth.

“Hey, I even dumped all my free points into Constitution. I leveled up twice. Just sitting here.”

“Bah. Your level is too low. Your healing ability needs to reach Advanced. Tell your rabbit to bring you live specimens so we can speed up the process. It’s a distasteful way to grow, often resulting in a lack of any actual skill, but given the circumstances, it’s what we need.”

“I’m not sure Bun Bun is capable of not killing prey…” Noah said, trailing off.

“This is where the discipline we mentioned comes into play. Command the rabbit. You fed it the blood of a life wyrm, so you need to be prepared to train it like one too.”

“Wait… life wyrm? What do you mean?” Noah asked, looking at the dragon in confusion.

“Your familiar. It has grown to gain Draconian nature via a life wyrm. There are very few other creatures that could produce a result like this. Though how it managed to even get close to one is a mystery. Perhaps it found a newly born child.”

Memory of the life wyrm came to Noah, and the egg it protected. He turned to look at Bun Bun, off in the forest, hunting gleefully, and a strange feeling filled his chest.

“I knew that wyrm I think. There’s no way there were multiple of them around. Now I feel awful.”

“Why? The life wyrm will simply regenerate.”

“So it didn’t die? That’s hard to imagine with Bun Bun. He’s a vicious little guy.”

The dragon snorted. “Life wyrms do not die, Noah. They simply undergo rebirths. Your little rabbit did nothing that other creatures do not. A young life wyrm is the most vulnerable creature there is, with no mother to protect, and a massive feast to gain for any beast that can resist its aura. A third of the draconians running around were formed by eating a life wyrm, it too is a part of the wyrm’s natural cycle.”

“I’m confused. So it can’t die even if it gets eaten?”

“No. The wyrm you saw was being reborn. Whatever remains of it’s life-force will simply gather anew and form a new egg for the wyrm to hatch again. They are even known to give their scales to creatures who they think will protect their reborn younger selves. In return, the creature that harbors the life wyrm obtains a draconian companion for life.”

Noah remembered the scale that the wyrm had given to the kid he’d met, Irios. Did that mean that the family had suddenly gotten a life wyrm egg on their hands now? He’d definitely need to ask about it when he got the chance.

Bun Bun jumped out of the forest, bringing along a wild boar nearly four times his size. Noah was surprised to see that the creature was still alive, like he’d asked. Swiftly, he formed claws in his hands, killing the creature as mercifully as he could, before offering his hand to Bun Bun for lifeblood for obeying his command.

The bunny gleefully jumped up, sucking on his finger till it had had its fill, before running off to the forest to find more prey.

“Let us continue Noah, we have much training to be done.”

Noah nodded, taking a deep breath, as a brand new form of magic slammed against him, tearing down his body once more.

***

A week had passed before Noah had hit his first brick wall. Water swirled around Noah, drowning him under it, all while simultaneously attacking him with high pressured beams. His level ticked over slowly, terribly so, as the water surrounded him, robbing him of oxygen and threatening to knock him unconscious.

This was the last requirement he needed to fulfill before he could consolidate his resistances, yet the water turned out to be an elusive opponent.

Noah felt a pressurized beam attack his body, cutting through his skin and bones, enough to cause his organs to spill out into the suspended ball of water he was floating in. Blood Drain pulled massive pools of life-force from the corpses piled nearby.

With a sign from his hand, he signaled the stop sign as the water collapsed and Noah took a deep breath in.

“You are not resisting the water, you are resisting being drowned, Noah,” the dragon said.

Noah waved away the explanation that he’d heard over and over now. “I know. I know but… it’s hard. Every instinct I have resists this.”

“Given your proficiency we had forgotten that you are, at the end, a mere human. The fact that you have had less qualms about being buried in piles of earth, being burnt alive, electrocuted till you could not move is perhaps the more worrying sign, this is likely the more natural reaction for a human.”

Noah gave a wry smile at the dragon’s words, knowing them to be true. He’d always had a fear of water, ever since he’d almost drowned as a kid in a swimming pool. It had been a nothing moment, just a slip as his foot had caught at something. Someone had dragged him out in just a minute, but the memory had lingered with him for years. He’d eventually forced himself to confront the fear and learn how to swim, coming to enjoy the process, and for the longest time he’d thought that he had overcome it, but here, he realised that had been a false assumption.

He looked at the corpse having turned to a husk. With blood drain increasing to advanced, his health increase had gone up a significant amount and Noah pulled up his ability description to look at the ability.

Noah sat on the muddy ground, watching Bun Bun played with the corpse of a deidacroc. The bunny had managed to kill a juvenile and was now tugging at its tail in a weird form of play. He used Inspect on Bun Bun.

[Draconian Jackalope (Familiar) - lvl 97]

“Will Bun Bun also have some kind of evolution at level 100?” Noah asked the dragon.

“Likely. Most creatures do. Though it is harder to tell with Draconians. They do not follow standards as closely. Dragons do not have evolutions, for example. No such thing is needed for what is already at the peak. But they do have branches they pick. Level 100 is where we picked ours.”

“Lightning?” Noah asked.

“No, we picked spell casting. We were born a lightning dragon.”

“Oh. Wait. You’re a mage?” Noah asked, baffled by the idea.

The dragon sighed. “How do you think we’ve been using all these different kinds of magic so far?”

“I just thought all dragons could do that.”

“Your thoughts fascinate us. No, they cannot. Almost all dragons are limited entirely to their own element, but we are not. Lightning is not something we had to learn, it comes naturally to us, like acid does to an Acid dragon, or fire does to the fire ones. But we learned the other magics, mastered them, and in doing so, honed our lightning to a new level as well.”

“I see. That’s fascinating. You know, I have this guild manager woman who has been helping me, well, she mostly scolds me but it’s well intentioned. Anyway, she told me my party just needed a spell caster now. So once we’re done here, do you want to join us on our journey?” Noah asked, looking up at the dragon’s eyes.

“That is… you do realize we’re a dragon right?”

“Right. The guild head is a Drailith, which feels like the humanoid dragon type, I’m sure they won’t discriminate against you,” Noah said, shrugging.

The dragon looked down at him, and then let out a rumbling laugh. “Sometimes we struggle to believe that you are serious about the things you say. But we know that you are, which makes it highly humorous.”

“I was always the funny guy in my friend group,” Noah said, grinning back at the dragon.

“Well, perhaps it will not be a terrible idea to travel alongside you. There are very few people who hold the capacity to break these chains, but with enough training, we can see you one day getting there,” the dragon said, before glancing at the castle behind him. “It has been… nearly a century since we left his place. Even for us, that is a significant amount of time. Perhaps… perhaps it is time to let go.”

“I think your friend would’ve wanted that too,” Noah replied.

“You assume to know more than you do. Ryugan had a purpose, he wished to figure out the greatest mystery of our world, of the Astral Scripts. He’d been close too, the Shard had shown him a glimpse at a hidden truth, but his enemies got to him before he could learn what they were. If he were alive, he would wish for us to complete his legacy.”

“Do you know?” Noah asked.

“We have some idea. But if we knew, we would not be here.”

“Perhaps going out will help you learn. I know for a fact that there are more Shards out there,” Noah said, hesitating for a moment, before he pointed at his chest. “I have one right here.”

The dragon paused, leaning in as he squinted at Noah before its eyes widened in surprise. “You speak the truth. It is hidden behind a spell even we cannot peer through, but once you know it is there, it’s not hard to see.”

“A spell?” Noah asked.

“Indeed. A great working of magic, no, a god. There is something powerful protecting your soul Noah. Had you gained the favour of some god?”

“Well, I definitely gained something from some gods,” Noah replied.

“Hmm. No, this is no mere blessing. This god, whoever they were, have imbued a portion of their very spirit to protect you. Just what would warrant a measure like this? Even other gods would fail to pry the Shard out of your soul unless you willingly hand it to them.”

Noah thought back to his first interaction with the Void. Was that why he’d gotten his pact, or even a conversation at all? In hindsight, the void god himself being unable to just take the Shard had always been strange.

“I don’t remember how I died. But… I remember a figure. Someone I don’t know.”

“It is likely the god who put this spell upon you. Though the only question we wonder is… why?”

Noah shrugged. “That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

“Let us return to your training then.”

Noah gave a nod as the dragon began anew, water rising all around Noah and engulfing him in a suspended ball. Noah closed his eyes on instincts, before forcing himself to open them. Waves of pressurized water attacks began to strike, as Noah activated meditation to focus on resisting them.

The water flowed around him, as Noah held his breath tight, trying to feel the water all around him, to let it soak into him and the magic of his soul.

“You are still avoiding the water, Noah. Let it fill you, allow it to reach your deepest parts,” the dragon said, its voice perfectly clear even through the water.

Noah opened his mouth as water rushed in and his instincts revolted immediately. He clamped his jaw shut tight, his brain screaming at him that he would drown.

But… I won’t. Drowning can’t kill me anymore.

Noah tried to internalize that. To really think about it. What would happened if he opened his mouth?

Well, the water would flow in, his lungs would fill up, and he will not be able to breathe.

What then? I can hold my breath for minutes now. It’ll take minutes to even notice a drop in my health.

Noah continued, repeatedly imagining it, over and over and over. Life and blood kept flowing in from the corpses, healing any injuries he took.

That’s right. I just cannot drown now.

It felt weird, like it shouldn’t be possible, but he knew it to be true. He’d grown in ways that were hard for the base human instincts inside his mind to comprehend, but he was beyond the simple limitations that had once plagued him. So what was he even afraid of?

A memory returned to Noah, the memory from his childhood. Of the helplessness as he was pulled in by the water, the way it had entered his body, robbing him of air and life. He’d been terrified back then. He couldn’t even breathe, much less scream.

But not anymore. I’m no longer helpless.

With a slow release of tension, Noah allowed his body to relax, before he inhaled. Water rushed in, flowing into filling his lungs. His mind screamed in panic at the sensation but Noah pushed through. He was stronger now. Even if his body was drowned in water, and no air was in his body, it could not harm him anymore. He was not helpless. He would not ever be helpless again.

[Water Resistance] has reached level 10!

[Water Resistance] has ranked up to Intermediate!

Skill fusion unlocked.

[Fire Resistance], [Lightning Resistance], [Ice Resistance], [Void Resistance], [Astral Resistance], [Acid Resistance], [Wind Resistance], [Earth Resistance], [Wood Resistance] and [Metal Resistance] can be combined into [Greater Elemental Resistance]

Would you like to combine these skills?

Yes/No?

Yes.

You’ve unlocked [Greater Elemental Resistance]!

[Greater Elemental Resistance (Intermediate) - lvl 10]

You’ve faced a varied amount of magical damage from all kinds of magic, often willingly, and as a result have gained a resistance to nearly all forms of magical attacks.

Noah smiled, opening his eyes as the water collapsed around him. He felt the water inside his body slowly break down into mana, being absorbed by his lungs and stomach.

“Congratulations, Noah. We’ve not said anything to needlessly excite you, but we’d been hoping you’d unlock [Greater Elemental Resistance].”

“Thanks,” Noah replied. “Did you know that I would?”

“We’d suspected you would. General resistance can be unlocked from four or five most common magic types, but greater requires more width. With the ones we trained, you combined ten, which is typically enough for the greater variant,” the dragon replied, smiling.

Noah stretched his body, feeling pleased as he rose to his feet. “Well, that sure was a lot of work. I think I want to take a day off to relax now.”

The dragon hummed in thought, which was more of a loud low rumble than a humm. “Given the current speed- well, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. What do you intend to do?”

Noah looked back towards the forest where Bun Bun was hunting. “Just gonna go test out my abilities a little, can’t let Bun Bun have all the fun.”

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