ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 119 Choices of The Hunter

Chapter 119

Choices of The Hunter

Thump.

The lifeless body of the dead hunter fell to the ground. The glowing light blue shine of Illusion magic having long since drained away from the corpse, and into her. It wasn’t perfect, but it was something that Alexa could feel happening. With each breath, and pulse of the hunter’s heart, her energy waned and faded away, drifting slowly into Alexa.

Having been there, so close to her target, she never felt the words of her class come back to her. She was the bacteria, the minor creature that would slowly be able to topple even the gods if given enough time. The longer she stayed, the more her skin felt like it was tingling with energy and sensation, it was like the first time she felt her muscles tense and flex with power. However, unlike the feelings of pain that most associated, Alexa once again felt alive. Even now as her muscles flexed and bulged beneath her self-created poly-weave suit, she felt joy. Her body was growing, not just physically, but mentally, and even spiritually in a way that she could not describe.

Then just when it was about to end, she felt even more energy come, a sign that the monster before her had died. There was no residual energy left behind that the dungeon would neatly condense into one nice augmentation crystal, mainly because this wasn’t a simulation, this wasn’t a training scenario. This was the real world, with a real elf. A real elf that Alexa had killed. This was an odd situation to process, on the one hand she had killed true creatures before, of course those were only dragons. Monsters so large and unhuman in appearance that slaying one was considered a blessing rather than a curse.

This was different, at least it should have been. The fact that this elf was a monster was not in any doubt, she had killed or enabled the killing of hundreds of humans. She was part of a group that would capture humans, turn them into possessed viral slaves, and then be willing to discard them to create a diversion for an attack. She was truly evil, and yet Alexa with her emotional mind now active tried to come to terms with what this meant. For the first time she was a killer, a true killer of a humanoid creature, not a construct, not a practice scenario, but a real living monster of a creature. She paused as she let that moment sink in.

Gentle breeze.

A gentle breeze blew, the only sign that life in this destroyed city was still happening, that she was still here. She was a killer, and had made her first real contribution in the war against the elven occupation of her home planet. Logically she knew this point would come, that she would eventually have to do this multiple times in order to survive, to help humanity survive as something more than occupied slaves, yet she always assumed that it would be the other Alexa that would have to deal with this, to accept her. Seeing the dead body, the look of shock forever frozen on her face, it was a lot to take in.

Tears.

Before she realized it, tears were rolling down her eyes. It took her emotionally awoken mind a minute to process why she was in fact crying. Then she realized, she wasn’t crying for the dead, she was crying because in this moment, she realized she might not be capable of being the person the world needed her to be. The killer, that cold blooded devourer of energy, that was the person the world needed, not her, she realized that now. Emotionless Alexa was a crutch, one that she desperately put all her flaws onto, the reason being was because she was always the one who could shoulder such burdens, she was always the one who would push on, doing what needed to be done. What they both needed to do in order to survive.

If she waited here, she knew that the real Alexa would take over, the one who they both needed, but that would be the cowardly way out. This right here was what she had always feared, if she truly awakened she worried that she might lose that spark, that callousness that made the rational hunter version of her so effective, the one who emotional Alexa knew would lead them all to victory.

That was why emotional Alexa took in a deep breath, and realized it was time that she too shoulder the burden of what they had done. It was no longer going to be good enough for emotionless Alexa to do all the heavy lifting, she was getting to the point where she too would have to contribute. It was with that in mind that she focused on the emotions going through her, on the power going through her. On the fear of what she had just started, shedding her first contribution in a war that had only just begun.

Turning back around, she stared coldly at the body, making sure she called upon hate at seeing the corpse of the disfigured elf. Not allowing herself to look away, she stared taking in hate filled breath after hate filled breath, all the while the surge of energy from this kill flowed through her in a way she had never experienced before.

Alexa felt wave after wave of energy washed over her, so much that she felt like it was a tidal wave threatening to drown her if she let it. This was something greater, as if washing in the river of energy that had once been owned by the elven dragon hunter. Finally, after a few moments the revulsion she felt at what she had done left her, as that emotion was replaced with the revulsion of what this monster had done, would have continued to do, and what she represented. It was in this state, where she focused on why she did what she did that the system came to her, letting her know that enough time had passed since she first killed the elven hunter.

Absorber Class Material Found: Would you like to absorb essence of Elite Elven Illusionist Hunter?

“Yes.” Alexa said, and almost instantly her mind and body began to tingle as she felt a deeper connection to this energy than she had with any other hunt before, save for the time she hunted dragons, but even then there was something off about that energy. The dragon energy seemed to have a lot of power that was discarded in the transfer to her, whereas this one seemed nearly perfect. Thinking on it, this was likely part of why this kill was having such an effect on her, the energy it was too perfect, nearly an identical match to her own. No conversion needed; just straight power taken.

This was yet another time that she noticed her understanding of power growing, first it began with the finding of magical trails that first led her to the hunter’s lair. Now it was in helping her distinguish the differences in the types of power utilized by dragons, then the filtered energy that she had grown so accustomed to from her time in dungeons, then now to the real thing. If she had to say, her ranking for the different energies would be as follows: dungeons the weakest or most diluted form, dragons as greater than dungeons but less than elves. Then finally elves, they were amazingly powerful creatures that had energy that all but screamed to her hunter senses. With that, ranking out of the way, she was able to focus on what the system was telling her, it was time for her to make a decision.

Energy gained. Do you wish to convert energy absorbed into class experience? Attributes? Or Illusionist Hunter only powers?

Seeing the new prompt for “Illusionist Hunter only powers,” Alexa made her choice easily.

You have chosen Illusionist Hunter only powers. Powers available: Night Sight, Allure, Mimicry, and Illusion Magic.

Seeing the options, Alexa of course wanted “Illusion Magic,” but was worried about whether she would be able to get this new ability. In the past she had to absorb the energy of dozens of elves to get a sliver of power. Her upgrade to her class had helped her to gain more energy, but even then it still took a number of kills to generate the level of energy needed to reach even the Tier I threshold for magic schools. Yet, this time her senses that all but screamed that she had taken on more energy than previously, once again had proven to be accurate.

You currently have 43 Absorber Points available. Current purchase choice Illusion Magic X 1 Tier will cost: 7 Absorber Points. Do you wish to use the Absorber points for this?

Seeing the message, Alexa paused trying to figure out where she had gotten so many Absorber points from. The Illusionist hunter that she had killed was a level 58, so if anything, 58 points should be what she got. But then she remembered a new notation made by her recent class evolution to the Apex tier.

The amount of essence you can absorb is increased by 30%, while also increasing your link to the energies available within the essence by 75%.

Thinking about it, and doing some quick calculations she realized that 75% of 58 would be 43, well if you rounded down at least. That would explain the points, but also how they could be used. Once again, the difference of killing a real breathing creature, versus the power she gained from merely slaying a Summoned Aspect was immeasurable. Nearly ten times as much power, if not more were gained from this one kill. Logically Alexa knew that there were more, her body all but told her that this was the case as she stayed nearby and absorbed the dying essence of the hunter. Yet it was only now that the difference was calculated before her that she truly understood the difference.

Mentally she paused, as she wondered what the Mimicryability would cost.

Unfortunately there was no description of the ability, just knowing that it had something to do with impersonations, at least if the name was anything to go off of. For an Illusionary hunter such an advantage would be instrumental. Being able to first see and then Mimic any type of action observed would be extremely important, especially if trying to improve upon hunting a particular type of prey. Being able to mimic the sounds, sights and other senses that such a creature would make were all too important to such a specialized hunter.

Looking at the Cost of Mimicry, it appeared to be well within the regular price range as it was 10 Absorber points, she remembered that other perks had similar costs. Focusing on it, she spent 10 of her 43 points for Mimicry, leaving her with just 33 points. From there she used the remaining points to purchase tiers in Illusion magic four times. Leaving her with just five points, seeing as both Night Sight, and Allure were repeats for her they were marked out meaning she had to then apply the remaining five points on increasing her attributes.

With that, she gave herself one last look to see at how far she had come in seemingly so short a period of time.

Name:

Alexa Thyme

Status:

Pre-Awakened

Slotted Class:

Absorber (A)

Trials Completed:

28 of 10 (2 Remaining)

Dragon Trials Completed:

15 of 10 (5 Remaining)

Rank Bonuses

Countess: +35% All Attributes, Skills,   Psychic Powers, Magic Aptitudes, Fast Travel Times, and Title Bonuses.

Physical Attributes Rating

Strength            150 (Max)

Agility                 150 (Max)

Endurance           150 (Max)

Mental Attributes Rating

Intelligence      150 (Max)

Perception        150 (Max)

Willpower          150 (Max)

Skills unlocked

Arcana: 15%

Rune Reading: 25%

Analysis (Tier II) 1,157%

Gymnastics 17%

Rune Writing: 8%

Unarmed Combat (Tier II) 156%

Insight: 11%

Stealth: 15%

Mana Weaving (Tier IV): 487%

Medicine: 11%

Strategy: 12%

Corruption Resistance (Tier VI) 625%

Wall Walking 11%

Throwing 26%

Runic Master (Tier VI): 609%

Parkour 11%

Perfected Skills:

Dragon Tongue

Precursor Tongue

Celestial Tongue

Harbinger Tongue

Chaos Tongue

Runic Language

Elven Tongue

Orc Tongue

Gnomish Tongue

Dwarven Tongue

Beastkin Tongue

Psychic Powers (Related Attributes)

Mind Shield (Willpower)

Telekinesis (Intelligence, Perception)

Magic Disruption (Willpower)

Analytical Eye (I) (Intelligence, Perception)

Indomitable Soul (Willpower)

Rune Channeling (Intelligence, Willpower)

Magic Schools Unlocked:

Magic School  Tier Rating

Healing                X

Nature                 X

Wind                   X

Arcane                X

Creation             VI

Water                   V

Light                    III

Earth                   IV

Illusion                IV

Titles:

Dragon’s Bane (5):   All Magic abilities increased by 10% (50%). Magical effectiveness against all   dragons increased by 25% (125%).

Dragon Slayer (20):   All Magic abilities increased by 15% (300%). Magical effectiveness against   all dragons increased by 50% (1,000%).

Attribute Increase (12):   All Attributes increased by 10% (120%).

Dungeon Runner (14):   All Attributes increased by 1% (14%).

Protection of Life (12):   Death Magic Resistance +5% (60%), Necromancy Magic Resistance +5% (60%)

First Monster of Pandora:   Can call into being the words of change. Known Words: Hope, Name, Purify

First Royal Duelist: You were the first winner of a royal duel for your planet,   as such you are able to challenge anyone regardless of rank differential to a   Royal Duel. Conditions: Challenges are limited to duels conducted on   your home planet.

Stolen Powers:

Regeneration, Night Sight, Agility, Longevity, Pack Link,   Pack Bond, Eyes of the Architect, Hands of the Architect, Enchanting Voice,   Scentless Stride, Allure, Mimicry.

Seeing everything, she realized she was close, so close to her goals, and yet she still had a bit of unfinished business to deal with. Namely Ryelifa the backstabbing elven hunter, and two dragons. Only after all three threats were neutralized would Alexa feel confident going back and completing her last two stages of her Trials of Ascension. She had a long way to go, but finally it all seemed like it was just within her grasp.

But first, she had to stalk a hunter.