Astral Hoarder: Embrace of Malevolence

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|| Kivu || Skills |

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Name: Kivu (Unknown)

Level: 4

Resonance: 99%

States:

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Health, Well-Being and Satiety: 83% ++

Energy, Stamina and Vitality: 82% ++

Mentality, Decision-Making and Focus: 98% -

Mana, Casting and Magical Power: 70% -

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Physical Stats:

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Dexterity (Agility, Flexibility) → 59

Strength (Speed, Power) → 42

Constitution (Endurance, Health) → 41

Intelligence (Memory, Reasoning) → 27

Charisma (Charm, Persuasion) → 60

Wisdom (Intuition, Adaptability) → 28

Spirit (Mental State, Character) → 32

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Magical Stats: {Hint: Basic Stats for a peak normal human are at 0s for every category}

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Mana (Magical Energy Pool) → 40

Arcane Knowledge (Magical Talent) → [Unknown]

Mystic Control (Magical Energy Control) → [Unknown]

Elemental Affinity (Connection to Elements) → Evil (S Rank), Darkness (S Rank)

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Well… Well... What did any of this even mean? Zimo looked at the stats and sighed. Those were insane. If everything was based on human strength, then did that mean this Beast was at a strength that was four times higher than a normal human and a speed that was six times higher? Did that make any real sense?

But ZImo was starting to understand something... The stats he had gained from this Beast were half of whatever stats it had. And it seemed even his Magical attributes had gotten better just because of the Beast's connection with him. But still, why did his Evil go to S Rank all of a sudden if he only inherited half the Stats potential? Well, that was a question he would have to discover in the future.

Jason thought a bit more... Did that mean if Kivu levelled up, some of those stats would come to him? Was that why Maya was so strong back then, kicking him across the room as if he were some football? It was because of her Beast... But still, thinking back to Phoebe... that Beast was really fcking weak in comparison to Kivu. It was pretty important to see something like that.

The Beast turned its gaze back to him, its expression unreadable. Zimo chuckled weakly, his laugh tinged with both relief and disbelief. For one thing, he could feel his body slowly healing him, it was slow but it was happening, and it was happening much faster than it would have. Maybe this was because of his enhanced Physical stats.

And seeing this Beast that was full of [Unknown] valued in its things, it looked like Zimo had a ton of things to discover about her. But for now, though, Zimo felt like he had a friend. It might be because of the connection through the Taming, but this Beast felt… warm.

"Well, this is new," he muttered. "Guess I'm not dying tonight after all."

The creature let out a low huff, its ears twitching as if in agreement. Zimo smirked when he saw this, wondering if he could ever understand the Beast. But he could somewhat understand its expression, ever so intuitively. Maybe this was another perk of the taming connection.

Also, what does that Resonance Stat even Mean? He had seen that it was that it was at 77% for Phoebe and now it was at 99% for him and Kivu. Was this some kind of default value? Or maybe it was something else.

Zimo tried to click into it, but he could see nothing popping up. Sighing, he could only look to the skies. This was another mystery. There were so many of them these days. He was looking to find out more about these things in the time coming forward in the future.

Turning to his body that was healing, Zimo couldn't help but smile. He was going to be fine. And now that he had such a powerful Beast... he was going to be extremely fine. Zimo couldn't help but chuckle.

But the moment of respite didn't last long. Just as he was about to check the Skills Kivu had, he heard something. Human voices, that were not groans or anything that he thought to be Deadspanw. No, they were talking among themselves, conversing and talking about things among each other. 

Zimo knew it immediately. His tormentors were coming back. And from the groans of frustration, things had not gone well for them. He had to get out of here. The reason was simple. It was because he was a dead weight that was going to weigh Kivu down. Kivu was powerful, but he as a cripple was going to ensure that they lost everything they might ever work towards.

Even if his Beast was qualitatively better, that did not matter. He was a liability. He needed to get away so that Kivu could not be slowed down.

The beast stiffened, its muscles coiling as it turned its head toward the approaching sound. There was no fear that ZImo could feel from it though. Only anger. Wow. Was it getting those feelings from him… Was this the Resonance? 

"Of course," he murmured bitterly. "They couldn't just leave me alone. They had to check if I was eaten up, maybe because of the odd movements of the Deadspawn that were leaving the scene..." Sighing, Zimo turned to the Beast, saying, "Take me away from here. But first... go grab that thing for me." He said, gesturing to the potion that was lying there on the floor, looking red and glowing with sparkles inside it.

And then in the next moment, the Beast turned to him, titling its head as if it was confused. Zimo chuckled. "Let's leave." The creature growled softly, its eyes narrowing as it turned again, but Zimo couldn't help but call out to it again. "I can't let them attack because I will hold you back in the fight. You're strong. But I'm weak, so we have to leave. You understand, right?"

And then in the next moment, when the Beast actually rolled its eyes before suddenly Zimo felt himself get picked up, he couldn't help but worry as he flew through the air. And then in the next moment when he landed on the bed of fur on the back of the Beast, he wondered where he was and how he had landed there. He could not see the Beast making any moves so what was it that carried him up?

And then when he looked over to the distance, only to see a tentacle of darkness reaching over and picking up his vial of Potion of Regeneration, his eyes widened. of course. This was magic, right? If that beast Phoebe could do it, then he could do it too, could he not?

"Haha! You're so cool, Kivu!" ZImo said, a bit too loudly, an action that seemed to have been noticed by those who were coming from the distance.

Zimo watched as the Potion landed in that bed of black fur, and then he finally noticed just how incredible this place he found himself in was. It was as dark as the night and yet it was so warm. Zmo liked that feeling. In the next moment, the creature sped away from the scene, leaving nothing there other than the Deadspawn who were still in the surroundings

As the wind began running through his hair, Zimo couldn't help but smile. Now when he looked to the darkened sky as he lay on that bed of blackness, he smiled. What was this feeling in his chest? This excitement… This zest for life. It was so intense. His wounds had healed up, forming a scab, and his life was turning into something interesting.

Was this Hope? No, there was more to it than that.

There was something darker, something that made him smirk one-sidedly as flashes of his possible future came to him. That's right... It was a chance to fight back. A chance to take revenge on the people that had done that to him.

Back at the scene that had a pool of blood on the floor, there was minimal movement for a while, and then suddenly, there were footsteps as someone came to a stop.

"Where the hell is that idiot?" said someone with a frown. The person who had spoken was Jacques, and when he got there along with Maya, they were followed by the others who had looks of death on their faces. They had gone over there to the store with the intention of destroying the Deadspawn. But the Deadspawn was moving and acting funny. They could not make it in, no matter how they tried.

"He might have gotten eaten," Maya said, narrowing her eyes. "After all, there wasn't much of him left."

Jacque chimed in at that moment, nodding. " You're right, they might have destroyed him. We spread out his limbs in other places and they worked. But they did leave bones, so that is something we have to think about..."

"Maybe he was dragged away?" said Maya nonchalantly. Everyone turned to her. Why was she saying such dark things without an ounce of weakness or disgust? Was she always like this? Or was there something going on?

They could not enter the Supermarket because there were too many zombies inside even after all the planning and execution they did, spreading out ZImo and his limbs everywhere just to get the Deadspawn to come over.

But some of those Deadspawn were just weird, not acting on instinct at all. They seemed to be standing there, just waiting as if they had been told not to move. They had been forced to leave because Phoebe could not handle them all on her own, or else she might get injured. And Maya did not like seeing her Beast getting injured.

They had come back here to see Zimo getting eaten... well, actually it was only Maya who wanted to see it. But now finding him completely gone, and seeing nothing left, they couldn't help but be taken aback. There was no way he was eaten by a Beast right? 

"Do you think he got away somehow?" said Alex turning to everyone. After he said that, everyone turned to Alex. What was this idiot saying?

"How could he get away without any arms? Huh, Alex? Please tell me?" said Maya in frustration. Phoebe turned to Alex growling dangerously, forcing him to back off in fear. This was the thing with her Beast. They were so in-sync. If anyone pissed her off, they had to deal with her Beast. So terrifying. Maya was so scary in the eyes of everyone in there.

"Hey, hey, I was just wondering… It might be possible that someone saved him too," said Phil

"We've been wandering around this whole time, and we haven't seen anything or anyone this entire time. Listen to yourself. Maybe he was saved by someone. Does that make any sense? There is nobody here other than the Deadspawn!" Jacques said in anger, staring down the man, who shied away.

"Shh!! We can't be making too much noise guys," said another woman, who was carrying some of the cakes and pastries from the shop, but Maya got even angrier, about to ask this woman why she dared to want to shut her up.

Just as she was about to say something to her, Felix spoke up. "Maybe he tamed a Beast and got it to carry him away."

Everyone heard this and the scene became quiet… Damn… was such luck even possible? Wait, but Maya had been lucky too. She had not only rediscovered her lost cat, but her lost cat had become a Beast and it had an affinity with her too, allowing her to Tame it with no issues.

"No way," Jacques said in disbelief, turning to Felix, and grabbing his shoulder in the form of a mentor. "You're telling me that this man was dying and right at that moment, he managed to contract a Beast? Like, are you hearing yourself?"

"Yeah. And we've been wandering around but we haven't seen any other Beasts," said Alex half-heartedly.

"I mean it's pretty dark. We can't see much other than a few meters ahead of us," said someone else.

"I can't wait until I tame one," said someone else, chiming in.

Felix looked around, seeing the marks on the floor, and said, "I think there was a Beast here. I dont know why. But the Deadspawn didn't get close, did they? Otherwise, would there be footsteps here? This tells me that there might have been a Beast. Or something dangerous."

When everyone heard that, they couldn't help but draw in a breath of air. That was... If it was true, then what did that mean for them, especially after everything that happened to Zimo?

Maya was still unconvinced though, "There's no way, Zimo must have gotten saved by some passerby. Either that, or he got swallowed by one of those things, and he could finally manage to get the ideas he wanted."

Maya said this, and everyone nodded. They had been wandering and searching and they couldn't find a Beast, but Zimo was crippled and dying, and he had a Beast come to save him?? How did that even make sense?

But Jacques stood there, with a frown on his face. Felix's idea was the best one. He trusted Felix. And this bitch, Maya… Well, she was useful. He would stick to them. And to do that, he had to make sure that he could control them appropriately.

"Either way, Zimo is gone. We couldn't access the Store, but we have all these pastries." Jacques began. "Let's go back and share them with those greedy fuckers. And then we go out again, levelling up by killing a Deadspawn and then searching for Beasts. And when we get the Beasts we will make sure to move with purpose, getting to the store after levelling the Beasts up, and then thereafter we will manage to get everything we have ever needed."

After receiving nods from everyone, and even a reluctant nod from Maya, everyone began walking off, but that was also the moment Jacques was stopped by Maya, who pulled him back as everyone moved ahead behind them, with Phoebe clearing the way forward, all the while grabbing some crystals on her way.

Jacques turned back and just as he was about to ask what was going on, all he got was a searing look of disgust. "Don't talk to me like that ever again. You hear me?"

Jacques looked at Maya incredulously, shaking his head and then he sighed, nodding. "I'm sorry if I disrespected you. I'll let you take the lead from now on. But I hope you will listen to my suggestions more often."

Maya narrowed her eyes, upon hearing these last words. "I'll think about it... Just making sure you understand who the real Leader is here. You're good for advice, but don't order me around, especially not in front of all those people over there."

And then in the next moment, when Jacques began walking away, she looked at his back, feeling a frightening power within her. She was stronger, smarter and better than ever before. And as long as Phoebe killed the Deadspawn and ate those crystals, she would get stronger still.

In all this time, she was beginning to understand something... There was a raw, bestial nature she could not understand or comprehend that was coming out of her. Or maybe it was coming into her?

All she knew was that she did not need all these idiots to lead her, especially if they were weak. She was going to be a lone wolf if necessary. But since they were around to do things for her, then she would use them to carry her things and do things for her. After all, they were useless in all other ways.

Anyway, she was not worried about Zimo. He was a cripple and a bastard who had probably been scarred for life by her. He was going to die before, and no matter how things went now, he was going to die again if he ever came back alive. No matter who or what he came with.

Smirking after thinking that far, she walked away, her skirt swaying in liveliness as she took in the air in this new world.