Herald of death

Ethan emerges from the tear in reality to find himself in an unlit, circular stone dome. Three corridors make up the exits, opposite an altar carved into the wall. It is a modest prayer site sheltering a statuette of Kaliathra and spent candles. Ethan's steps disturb years of accumulated dust that rises around him as the portal vanishes.

Sensing the surrounding Ether touching him, Ethan realizes that it is corrupt. Strands of dark Ether mix with their neutral counterpart and infect him, causing his mind to grow cold. He could filter it out, but the technique still requires too much focus. Instead, Ethan casts a debilitating hex on himself and counters the effects with Strengthening. He finds an equilibrium and refocuses on the room he arrived in.

Russ swirls at the surface of Ethan's shadow to look at the scene. He stares at the statuette for a moment before vanishing back into the darkness.

'Who would come pray here?' Ethan asks himself. Using Predator's sight, Ethan scans his surroundings but senses nothing. He casts Galewalker to disperse the dust trying to cling to his clothes. He opens his status to review his progress and see his rewards.

Ethan Reed
Lv.16 (Harbinger) High-Human
Lv.20/20 (Arsenal)
Class change available
Free ability available

Strength: 34 Charisma: 15
Dexterity: 23 Perception: 23
Constitution: 36 Willpower: 29 (27)
Intelligence: 25

Talents
Bond unseen lineage
Oracle
Pastseer
Rapid martial growth
Shared martial skill ascension
???

Titles
Ascended
Ascended skill – Melee weapon (great sword)
Ascended skill – Melee weapon (long sword)
Ascended skill – Melee weapon (saber)
Ascended skill – Melee weapon (short sword)
Dungeon conqueror (D)
Dungeon conqueror (E)
Dungeon conqueror (F)
Conqueror of the labyrinth of death
Conqueror of the first labyrinth
First dungeon conqueror (D)
First dungeon conqueror (F)
First hunter
First monster tamer
Goblin hunter
Hobgoblin hunter
Human hunter
Kin slayer

Kobold hunter
Skeleton hunter
Slayer of the first incursion
True ascended
Warg hunter

Abilities
Anonymity (E)
Identification (F)
Inventory (F)
Insight (F)
Martial skill echo (E)
Piercing shot (E)
Predator's sight (E)
Prescience (F)
Silent steps (F)
Soulsight (C)
Spell casting (E)
Strengthening (E)
Weapon aura (F)

'Besides Echo, none of my abilities ranked up. I'm close to a hundred with several skills, but resetting now might be dangerous,' Ethan thinks. 'Well, let's see what classes I unlocked. Class change.'

A myriad of cards appear in front of him, and he begins the long process of searching them. He soon realizes that the grey and silver cards are non-ascended classes. It leaves him with a dozen gold cards and two crystalline-edged ones. He taps on them.

Ascended – Champion
Ascended from the Arsenal class, the Champion continues on their endless path to the mastery of all martial disciplines. They carve the path to new heights, and guide others on the road to perfection.

The Champion's level is capped by their highest weapon, armor, or shield skill on a five-to-one ratio.

Every two levels in the Champion class will grant you a characteristic point.

Lv.0: Combo
Lv.5: Imprint of mastery
Lv.10: Armor aura
Lv.15: Shared martial skill transcendence
Lv.20: Vast martial mastery
Lv.25: Aura of slaughter
Lv.30: Champion's legacy

Ethan reads through it. 'Ascended classes have thirty levels, meaning I need to get a skill to one-fifty. Going past a hundred felt like a wall; even with my talent, I'm not sure I can get there for a very long time. What else?'

Ascended – Primordial
High-humans hold the potential to awaken the sealed secrets of their origin. Each level in the Primordial class will break down and rebuild your body until, at level thirty, your race becomes: primordial.

'Becoming a high-human was a good buff but, there is no way sacrificing seven abilities is worth it. Without mentioning fifteen characteristic points,' Ethan thinks. He pauses for a moment. Classes are hardly balanced, but why would a rare card seem so unappealing? Could it be like Harbinger – a class seemingly less interesting but with huge potential? 'If only I had a class card. I could choose Primordial, knowing I would have a second ascended class waiting. But I already have a versatile foundation. What I need is a specialized, synergetic way of fighting.'

The unlocked golden cards seem to be classes for weapon specialists. Amongst them are Bastion, Sword Saint, Skybreaker Spearman, Lord of the Iron Fists, Commando, and more. Ethan guesses that Arsenal acts as a parent for them as if he had combined Warrior, Warden, Gunslinger, and so on. Amongst the cards lie spectral ones listing unlocking conditions.

'I'm guessing most Ascended cards are locked behind a preset pathway. But these are something else,' Ethan remarks. One of them, Anathema, only has two requirements – to be marked as an Apostle by a god and to kill a greater servant of a god. 'Fuck, I don't know who could kill someone like Decay before ascending. I bet Seraphel is the one who put a target on my back.'

Russ pops out of the shadows to sit beside Ethan. He snaps his maw at the floating cards, playing with them as Ethan moves them around to study the unlockable classes.

'These I can do.' Ethan sets aside three rare, ascended classes – Unseen One, Battlemage, and Protean. The first requires ascending three skills amongst a list and reaching level fifty in two more. Stealth, disguise, mimicry, deception, and Melee Weapon (Dagger) are amongst the options.

The second class, Battlemage, evolves from any martial or spellcasting class. But it also requires a list of abilities to reach C rank – Spellcasting, Weapon Aura, and Spellrage.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The last one, Protean, seems to be a class doubling down on versatility. It requires ascending at least five disparate skills. The illustration on it is that of a man split into five roles: a king, a warrior, a magician, a thief, and a hermit.

'Unless I wait to be able to buy a Spellrage tome through Tombstone, I would have to use my free ability. Just how long would it take to raise four more skills to a hundred? Plus, I know how to rank up Spellcasting, but not the others,' Ethan ponders.

Russ sniffs one of the phantomatic cards and taps it with his paw. Nothing happens, but it draws Ethan's attention to it.

"That's a grey un-ascended class, Russ," Ethan comments. He pauses as his gaze falls on the card; it is darker than grey. He brings it to him and finds a card edged by an obsidian-like stone – Lord of the Sea of Souls. It lists only two requirements: holding the Conqueror of the labyrinth of death title, and leveling spirituality to twenty-five. 'That's why you wanted me to train my soul. But without Alaric, I'll need months to get to twenty-five. And I won't know until I unlock it, but I still won't sign up with a goddess.'

Ethan scans all the cards one by one to not miss another black one. Not finding any, Ethan takes his time to scan even the un-ascended classes. He unlocked a slew of them, including some related to his Pastseer and Oracle talents. He closes the menu to open the next one. 'Free ability.'

A long list of abilities appears before Ethan, sorted alphabetically. Like with his classes, the list contains abilities he cannot choose and their unlocking conditions. He scrolls down to find Spellrage; it's unlocked. Having confirmed that Battlemage might be a viable option, he searches for abilities he knows and would like to have. 'Ether transmutation, Regeneration, Battle ritual, and Unyielding are all unlocked. But this isn't the entire list; it omits the abilities I could never have, like Permafrost.'

Ethan switches back to his class change menu. 'I'm only seeing the classes for which I meet at least one requirement. There might be more independent ones out there, without mentioning ones tied to unique achievements. I need more information.'

Ethan's thoughts are interrupted by a drop of liquid splashing onto the ground down one of the tunnels. He triggers Predator's sight to scan it but finds it empty. Cancelling the ability, he focuses on the Ether to extend his senses through the threads moving down the tunnel. Some of them make a curve to avoid something invisible to Ethan's other senses.

'Invite,' Ethan commands. Russ tugs on his pants, and Ethan descends into the shadows. He walks down the tunnel, peering into it as if he were walking through the stone, helped by a one-way mirror. Reaching the spot, he finds a humanoid standing in the tunnel, immobile.

The beast looks like a famished man; his muscles are atrophied and his skin bloodless. It gives him a sick, elongated look only amplified by the overgrown skin covering his eyes and nose in scarred folds. His ears are missing, replaced by gaping holes.

'Insight,' Ethan thinks.

Gavril Morvay
Lv.0/20 (Miner) Hollow
Lv.0/20 (Hollow)

Strength: 5 Charisma: 0
Dexterity: 5 Perception: 30
Constitution: 5 Willpower: 0
Intelligence: 0

Talents
Nullified presence
Hivemind

Abilities
Vein hint

Alteration
Dark ether corruption (Extreme)

'Hivemind?' Ethan ponders. With his stats, this once human may be a spotting unit left here to watch the shrine. His perception would have allowed him to hear Ethan appearing and talking. But through which means could he have sensed Ethan? His eyes and nose are gone, and his ears are too damaged to locate anything. 'I should get away before whatever he's connected to takes an interest in me.'

Ethan walks back to the shrine room. His movements become sluggish as the shadow realm rejects him. He tested it in the Realm of Ascension, and his limit seems to be ten minutes, with a one-to-five ratio for recovery time before he can visit again. Petting Russ' head, Ethan steps through a wall and emerges into the circular room.

Still focusing on the creature through the Ether for any reaction, Ethan steps into the opposite tunnel. The smell of rot and rust mingles in the air as the narrow tunnel ends onto a mineshaft's edge. Rotten ropes dangle platforms in the void below, held by rusted gears and man-operated wheels.

A sound rises from the depths – a faint dragging like nails over stone. Predator's sight doesn't spot the shape from which it emerges, but Ethan sees that it is hundreds of clawed hands dragging against the floor.

A fleshy mass, like dozens of corpses, collapses onto the ground on Ethan's level. Silence follows until the same dragging of claws in the dirt begins to approach Ethan. He hears it digging as the source drags itself forward, moving rocks and scraping iron tracks.

Bodies laced together crawl from the shadows like worms twisting through each other. Arms burst from torsos at wrong angles, jaws gape sideways, ribs grind against stone, and the mass heaves itself forward. It charges. The tidal mass of humans rolls and morphs as its deformed shape crashes forward.

Ethan jumps back and unleashes a torrent of fire upon the beast. Its form writhes and crashes around, curling around itself like a burning spider. The monster, or the people making it, ceases to move, instantly vanquished by Ethan's spell.

'It reminds me of the Abyssal keep,' Ethan points out to himself. He didn't have time to check, but he could bet that dark Ether corrupted the beast's inhabitants. He exhales before recalibrating his debilitating hex to ensure he doesn't succumb to corruption.

The charred amalgam's embers die off slowly. For a moment, the only sound is the crackle of dying fire. Then, silence; complete and utter silence. Ethan cannot hear his breathing or even his heart. His hair rises on his neck as hunger climbs in his throat, not his but that of a beast whose soul he senses.

The husk of the amalgam shifts. Something is pulling it. A shape flickers at the edge of the dying light. A claw, the size of a man's chest, pierces the charred mass and drags it away as easily as a child dragging a doll.

Ethan's sight strains against the void, but the thing's outline is blurred. It vanishes down the tunnel, and the sounds return. Ethan scans the tunnel with all his senses, but the thing is gone or veiled.

Hunger comes back stronger. The taste of rotten meat takes over Ethan's tongue, and he senses that another is coming. He turns as the sounds vanish again and sees a mass shifting in the darkness. Unable to perceive the creatures' hands or weapons, Ethan leaps to the dangling ropes and hurls a fireball at the creature.

The spell lights the shaft like a flare. The ropes sway under Ethan's weight as he catches one. He glances at the creature to see it in the firelight but finds a shadow, like a hole that swallows the light. Instead of the fire spreading, the creature drinks it in. The blaze folds inward and vanishes into the pit of its form. For a heartbeat before darkness returns, Ethan sees a ring of pale hands stretching outward from within.

Ethan leaps from rope to rope, platforms groaning under his landings. Below, the beast vanishes down the tunnels, but Ethan can feel the hunger closing in on him. Ethan vaults across the shaft to the opposite scaffolding. The platform he left bursts as claws smash through it.

The shaft narrows toward an opening above. The pale glow of moons' light pierces through, and Ethan leaps. His hands grip the narrowing shaft wall; he pulls himself up and shoots outside.

Night air brushes Ethan's face as he lands on the flat top of a rock. Fog stretches in every direction, coloring the ground in a smudged hush. It slides around the scattered stumps of a dead forest – trunks rotten to spears, branches fossilized into grasping fingers.

Above, the sky is obscured by a blanket of clouds barely pierced by the hues of the two moons. They paint clean circles of silver and white, giving the place its poor illumination.

Bark creaks behind Ethan, and he turns to see a tree's spiked branches curling onto him. A gaping maw of layered teeth cracks open in the trunk, wafting the putrid smell of rotten flesh.

Ethan summons his sword and severs the trunk right above the stump with Weapon Aura. He follows up with two slashes at his side to disperse the tree's limbs before looking at the slain plant. He turns back to take in the desolate sight. 'Where the fuck am I?'