Adrenaline Junkie [Book 2 Complete]

Archie kicked off the ground, activating Savage Charge at Oliver, his flame-wreathed, thorn-covered fists smashed into the wall of mana in front of him. Spiderweb-like cracks grew across the translucent wall before Archie's fists shattered through the wall.

Oliver's slitted eyes widened in shock at Archie's speed and power. He hastily created more walls of mana in front of him and began to cast a hex. How could he do that? I spent over a thousand mana into that wall, Oliver thought as Archie burst through his initial wall.

Activating Relentless Flurry, Archie's fists tore through the walls that stood in his way, whilst sending a surge of nature mana into one of the vines on his back to loop around the walls. But soon found out Oliver had boxed himself in a cube of mana walls, making him retract the extended vine.

Archie quickly activated Savage Charge once more, just as Oliver finished his hex and fired a vortex of dark flame toward him. He burst through the last mana wall, shattering its defenses and taking on the hex head-on.

Once the hex splashed onto Archie's body, Archie felt a sudden feeling of resistance and exhaustion fall upon him for a moment before it vanished completely. His physical might bulldozed him through the hex and made him deliver a punch that smashed into Oliver's chest, sending him flying into his tent.

Charging once more, Archie launched himself into Oliver's large tent, ignoring the tingling feeling from the back of his head as he passed through the entrance of the tent. As his body fully entered the tent, Archie found Oliver crashed into a wooden log at the far end of the tent.

All along the sides of the tent were tables filled to the brim with various vials filled with different colored liquids, with some sort of sigil-ridden large ritual circle, dyed in red. Some vials shattered around Oliver's downed form, with their contents staining the ground under him. Upon noticing the liquids on the ground, Archie also noticed the mana that flowed into Oliver's hand.

Oliver's hand, wreathed in dark mana, sent a pulse through the tent, making Archie's surroundings vanish completely and vanishing his senses.

Unlike the feeling he got whenever he activated Soul Link or Spirit Bond, the feeling of his senses felt sickly, murky, and vile.

Archie found his senses returned, once more finding himself atop the same cliff where he lost his best friend and brother, Daniel.

Daniel looked just as he did the day he lost him: purple short-sleeved shirt with the logo of their favorite band, overly baggy jeans, his stupidly long curly brown hair that he'd told him constantly to cut. But unlike when he remembered him, there was a distinct lack of blood and torn flesh.

"You okay, Archie?" Daniel asked him, his brown eyes staring at him with concern as he leaned his bike on his hip.

The feelings that he felt he'd buried surged the moment he saw his previously dead friend come to life. Feelings that he knew were destructive resurfaced; he knew this was from the curse Oliver activated.

But his previously dead friend stood in front of him, alive. Maybe he could use something like Spirit Bond or Soul Link to revive him. He had a spirit crystal; couldn't that hold his friend's soul and spirit before he died?

Chewing the inside of his lip, Archie tackled Daniel into a hug, making Daniel's bike fall to the ground. The moment his arms wrapped around his friend, Archie knew for certain that his hopes of reviving his friend were dashed.

The previously warm human flesh was replaced with solidified mana, devoid of anything that made him real. The previous air of excitement and joy that surrounded Daniel was gone, absent of anything.

"You alright, man?" Daniel asked, awkwardly patting Archie's back, taken aback by his friend's sudden actions. "If you're not feeling well, we can go back."

Archie's hands grabbed fistfuls of Daniel's shirt, his words only reaffirming his decision. Blinking away the tears that welled up, Archie chewed the inside of his lip, "I always thought of you as my brother."

"Ah…Thanks, man," Daniel awkwardly replied. "I always considered us as such, with you know…"

Archie knew he was referring to his family. Daniel, being the third of five children, was ignored by his siblings and parents and eventually completely forgotten as he grew older. He'd spent most of his time out of school at Archie's home, where they would play until sunset.

By the time the sophomore year of high school reared its head, Daniel had effectively been living alone and working part-time to live. He'd run himself ragged, just trying to earn enough money to be able to eat anything more than cheap ramen noodles.

The moment Archie found out, he applied for a part-time job and decided that he was going to be his roommate, leaving no room for Daniel to argue. His family was against it at first, who would let their son, who was barely sixteen, leave the house and survive on their own when they were well off enough to support them.

But after hundreds of promises and a long conversation with both his Mother and Father, and another long conversation with his Father, he gained their blessings to strike out on his own.

Was it something that he initially took for granted when he used to live with his family? Yes, but with how much fun he had, spending it with his best friend and seeing him smile…it was worth every moment of suffering he went through.

The moment we became friends, we signed a contract whether or not we knew it, that we would help the other, through thick and thin.

"I'm gonna miss you," Archie croaked as he pulled himself from the hug and stared at Daniel's face, before exploding his mana from his body, destroying the mana constructs that surrounded his mind.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Whether subconsciously or not, Archie did not know, but Daniel replied, "Kick ass you Adrenaline Junkie."

Finding himself back inside Oliver's tent, Archie's eyes furrowed in anger as he stared at Oliver's now upright form. The anger and contempt that filled Oliver's eyes were massively overwhelmed by the sheer amount of bloodlust that radiated from Archie.

"You thought you could fuck with me like that?" Archie seethed as he glared at Oliver, each step resounding throughout the tent.

Oliver subconsciously took a step back in hesitation, his mana that he was able to effortlessly control failed him. His mind drew a blank at what to do as Archie approached him.

Fear flooded Oliver's mind for the first time in his life.

His control over the mana he lorded over all in the Tutorial, was faltered by the emotion of fear. He hadn't felt fear when he killed his father, nor when he killed anyone who got in his way…so why… why was he afraid of the man in front of him?

Archie blurred, his vines latching onto Oliver's right leg and yanking him off his feet before Archie flooded his fist with a surge of mana and stamina and punched downward into Oliver's horizontal form.

The blow ripped through Oliver's chest, crushing his heart, and caved the floor under Oliver's tent and sent them into the hollowed hill below.

Falling down the hollowed hill, Archie spotted the bottom, lined with cages packed with low-level F-Grades, while a heap of corpses lay arranged around an enormous ritual circle.

Landing in a crouch, a meter away from Oliver's prone form, Archie flinched back as the stench of the hollowed hill flooded his nose. This is where he hid most of the people that he kidnapped, Archie concluded as he looked at the dozens of people trapped in cages, barely alive.

He wanted to believe that the number of people in cages above were the only ones…but he was unfortunately wrong.

Making his way towards one of the cages, Archie turned his back to Oliver, intent on releasing the people Oliver held captive.

Just as Archie was about to exit the large ritual circle, Archie felt the ambient mana around him explode with both dark mana and…vital energy?

The ritual circle underneath him turned crimson red as all the F-Grades within the cages and the corpses that surrounded the circle shriveled.

Just as the flood of both dark mana and vital energy suddenly appeared, so did the words that croaked from the being behind him.

"Plead of the Consort."

As Archie's vision flooded with a bright crimson light, his adrenaline spiked as both he and Oliver disappeared from the Group Tutorial.

Blinking, Archie found himself in a lavish room that radiated luxury. Decorated with items that he was sure would make even the wealthiest of homes look like a dirt shack.

In the center of the room was a woman who made even the most beautiful woman on earth look like a dishrag. She looked…impossible. Far too perfect to be natural.

The being in front of him was a god.

And judging by the rush of adrenaline that flooded through his being, he was right. The only one who made his adrenaline act this was The Primal Tyrannous. While he wasn't leaking blood from every orifice, his adrenaline rushed through him erratically.

Lilith stared at Archie with amusement…a human… an E-Grade, completely immune to her charms, far more than her little consort Oliver. Interesting, Lilith thought as she exuded even more of her aura, pushing against the constraints of the system.

Even as she exuded more of her aura, Archie remained stalwart, glaring at her. He'd come to the realization of where he was.

"Welcome to my abode," Lilith said, breaking the silence between them. She had long since dismissed Oliver to one of her servants to let him recover from his nearly fatal injuries.

Oliver was blessed by a goddess, a demonic one judging by what he'd done to himself and others, and brought him to her. Why? He didn't know, probably for her to take revenge for him.

"The hell do you want?" Archie glowered at Lilith, brows furrowing as her eyes flooded with various colors before stopping at a deep red, almost crimson color, and leaning towards him.

"Become mine," Lilith spoke, her voice resonating with the mana around them.

"No," Archie replied, staring directly at her. He wasn't a tool to be commanded by anyone's beck and call. He felt disgusted by the notion of becoming a belonging to anyone. He was his own boss; that was final.

Lilith masked her surprise and joy from Archie's response as she took steps forward. Once she was face to face with Archie, she flooded the entire room with her desire and mana; "Become Mine."

Archie felt the mana try to invade his mind, but just as it was about to enter his mind, he felt the adrenaline within him boil. Releasing a guttural roar from his throat, "No!" subconsciously activating Primal Roar.

The mana that threatened to sink inside Archie's mind imploded in on itself before making his form shine golden before vanishing from Lilith's domain. The last thing he felt was a familiar pressure that descended atop his shoulders.

Looking at where Archie stood, Lilith spoke aloud, "This is the first blessed you've had in many cycles. I am very surprised you did not intervene…Normally, you refuse any god to come into contact with your blessed unless they've grown themselves to a degree."

"You've essentially kidnapped my blessed," Bralmir's voice echoed throughout Lilith's domain. "And attempted to steal him from me."

"Are you attempting to steal away my blessed?" Bralmir inquired, his bloodlust exploding throughout Lilith's domain. His voice boomed throughout her domain, the various decorations catching themselves aflame. "Or was this a practical joke?"

"I was just testing the waters," Lilith chuckled, staring at Bralmir who appeared behind her. "You've been absent for many a cycle…Forgive me for letting my curiosity get the best of me."

"But seeing as you sent one of your avatars into my domain," Lilith continued. "It seems as though I might have taken this a bit too far."

"You have," 'Bralmir' replied. "Should I do the same to your newest consort? To get even?"

"He is a golden seed of mine…as weak as he is, he holds potential," Lilith replied, her tone leveled and her eyes turned into a color reminiscent of void. "Your blessed destroyed one of his hearts. What more could you want?"

Bralmir gave no response and continued spreading his bloodlust throughout her domain, raging the flames that devoured through Lilith's domain.

"Fine," Lilith relented, sending a blast of mana to try and subdue the flames that devoured her domain, but to no avail. "…What do you want?"

Archie found himself within the hollowed hill, atop a destroyed ritual circle. Breathing a sigh of relief, Archie spat out the wad of blood in his throat before controlling his vital energy to repair his destroyed vocal cords.

Looking at where Oliver had lain previously, Archie found his body gone. But after a check of his notifications, Archie knew he'd survived from having his heart crushed. After all, it never mentioned him being slain.

For fucks sake, he's like a cockroach.

Looking at the Group Tutorial page, Archie sighed once more.

Group Tutorial
The 72nd cycle has begun; thus, a tutorial is needed to increase the survivability of the newly integrated myriad races. The Emernigan Isle is filled with various creatures from across the universe, each providing Tutorial Points upon their death to their killer. Tutorial Points can be exchanged between individuals, as a form of currency. Tutorial Points will be used to gain rewards after the full tutorial is completed.
Completion Criteria: Survive for 60 days
Number of Survivors: 541/1250
Time Remaining: 13 days & 00:01:16

He needed to get those other sigils quickly and prepare for the Final Boss, especially the empowered variant.