Rot Heart: A LitRPG of Rot Magic in an Ancient World (Book 1 completed)

Wary of the unknown person who had just entered the abandoned village, Div, Gennorina, and Lugsellos left Suce behind, and hid inside the nearest house.

"They're curious about the village," Lugsellos said. "And suspicious about the wall crumbling down."

"Sorry," Gennorina said, clasping her hands together. "I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry about it," Div said. "You couldn't have known Suce was going to do that."

Lugsellos put his finger in front of his mouth, asking his two friends to lower their voices.

"I can only sense one person," he said in a hushed tone.

On one hand, it meant they weren't going to be assaulted by a scouting party. On the other, someone traveling the Wildlands alone couldn't be weak. Especially given the current tensions.

"Anything else?" Div asked.

"A hint of wariness. Lower than it should be considering they're alone."

"So we can expect someone at the Evolved Rank," Div said.

"Or someone with no sense of self-preservation," Gennorina added.

At this point, they weren't sure if the newcomer was a threat. If possible, they'd rather avoid a confrontation.

"Div," Lug said. "Don't you have a way to spy on them?"

Div shook his head. He had located their target with the rot-attuned mana they naturally emitted. But that was all he could do.

"It's a woman," Div said. "I think. Small details about the way her rot-attuned mana circulates. She's getting close to the house we left our stuff in."

They had to confront her.

It wasn't ideal, but they couldn't afford to take the risk. What if she stole their equipment? Worse, what if she took their food?

Div, Lugsellos, and Gennorina left the house they were hiding in, and carefully walked toward the intruder. On the way, Gennorina instructed Suce to stay hidden.

The power of the earth spirit would come in handy if things devolved into a fight, but they still hoped they could avoid that.

Soon, they turned around a corner and saw her on the other side of the street. Tall, her face was hidden under a hood. She was unmistakably at the Evolved Rank, and she wore the insignias of the Opheo clan and Kheiron.

An explorer, on an official mission.

Gennorina was the first to speak up. "Who are you?"

The explorer didn't remove her hood, keeping her face hidden. Her hand slowly hovered near the spear strapped to her back.

They did the same, quickly grabbing their weapons.

"Who are you?" Div repeated, in Ameian. "What are you doing here?"

"I speak your language, barbarian," the woman said, in decent Lienien. "Don't butcher mine."

Div was startled. It was the first time he'd been called a barbarian. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. A tinge of remorse surfaced from his heart. Not that long ago, he thought the same.

His guilt was tempered by the ridiculous statement of the explorer. How was he butchering the Ameian language? It was his mother tongue…

After exchanging a puzzled look with Lug and Genno, he decided to keep quiet about his origins and addressed the woman in Lienien. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I noticed the commotion and came to see what was happening. I'd rather know what you are doing here. This village's population left yesterday."

"Let's put down our weapons before we talk," Lugsellos said, interrupting the discussion.

"Certainly not," she said calmly. "You better declare your identities before things get ugly."

In this situation, both Div and Gennorina knew to rely on Lugsellos. With his emotion-sensing skill, he was best equipped to make sure the explorer stayed calm.

Even if cooperating with a Kheironite left Div conflicted, they had accepted Tougen, they could give her a chance.

"We are from the northern village of Camboaci," Lugsellos explained. "Traveling south toward Trabine."

Div didn't need Lugsellos' skill to know she was suspicious of them. Rationally, he couldn't blame her. Traveling when the region was subjected to curse and war was not normal.

"Traveling?" The explorer scoffed.

"Yes, traveling," Lugsellos nodded. "My name is Lugsellos, and these are my friends: Gennorina and Div."

She finally relented and removed her hand from her spear. "Fine, I'm Dana Opheo. But you better tell me why you are taking this risk, and what happened to the wall of this village."

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Lugsellos looked at Gennorina who spoke up, "This is actually my fault."

The druid went on to explain the situation to Dana.

"I see," Dana said. "It's hard to believe. But, at least, the mountain barbarians won't be able to use this village as a base of operations."

"So, Dana," Div said, somewhat hesitant. "Are you here on a mission?"

Despite hailing from the same city, he didn't recognize her. It wasn't necessarily surprising as, even on the acropolis, there were too many people to know them all. The Opheo clan being specialized in exploration didn't help, with their members often being away for years at a time.

"Yes," she said, refusing to elaborate.

"What's Kheiron's stance on the mountaineers' invasion?" Lugsellos asked.

Dana looked at him, contempt in her eyes. "Why should I tell you?"

"We should be on the same side," Lugsellos said. "On this specific issue, at least."

Dana shook her head. "Look, I don't know who you're taking me for, but I'm not going to spill military secrets to complete strangers."

Div, Gennorina, and Lugsellos had nothing to answer to that. She wasn't wrong. In hindsight, they shouldn't have revealed their destination.

Relieved by the fact she wasn't an enemy, they had been a little too quick at considering her a friend.

"So, what now?" Div asked.

Their plan to stay in the village had been disturbed by Suce destroying the wall and Dana's appearance. The missing wall wasn't too bad. After all, it wasn't that sturdy and, with only the three of them, they couldn't defend it.

The newcomer, however, was an issue.

"I don't care what you do," Dana said. "I'll keep an eye on you until you leave."

"Why?" Gennorina asked.

"Orders," the explorer shrugged.

"You can't do that!" The druid argued.

Dana didn't bother to respond. She simply walked away.

"Dana," Div called.

Her back turned to them, she didn't react.

The Camboacian trio stared at her as she walked away. As soon as she was out of sight, Lugsellos spoke up.

"Let's just proceed as planned. I don't think she is a threat."

Div returned to his magical practice but his heart wasn't there anymore. It was something he had tried his best not to think about, but now that he met a Kheironite, he couldn't keep it out of his mind.

Since leaving Camboaci… No, since En left, thoughts about his old home had been bothering him.

He had never shared his brother's optimism about their family and the Leios clan. He didn't think they were worried about the power of his rot magic. To them, it was all about optics. His rotten bloodline could hurt their image, so they exiled him.

He mostly missed his parents. Seb, a little. But he wasn't blind to them abandoning him back then.

Now, En should have arrived in the city, and Div was going in the same direction. Granted, he planned to stop in Trabine, but wasn't that already the case with Bavacium?

If Trabine turned them away…

There was no point in overthinking it. If Trabine didn't work out, there were plenty of other places in the world to go. Even if to get there, Kheiron was a necessary stop, he would worry about that when the time was right.

Turning his attention back to the flowers he had picked earlier, Div chased the thoughts out of his mind and continued working on his food preservation spell.

If he got distracted every time they crossed paths with a Kheironite, he'd never make any real progress. Especially since, as they went south, they would encounter more and more people from his hometown.

He settled on the idea of one large protective spell that would store the entirety of their food stocks. It was the riskier option, but he wasn't experimenting on the real thing, so if it didn't work, it wouldn't starve them.

The most important attributes of a spell designed to last for a long time were stability and sustainability. Div was even willing to compromise on the efficiency of the food preservation effect if it meant ensuring the spell didn't explode in his face.

Contrary to what he had first believed when he awakened his bloodline, rot magic was extremely suitable for sustainable spells. The reason was simple: rot-attuned mana was everywhere and continuously released by living organisms.

As a result, he was able to use the very food he wanted to preserve as a source of mana for his spell. It was killing two birds with one stone. He would drain the food of rot-attuned mana—slowing its decay—while also using that same mana to fuel his spell.

Of course, having the idea and transforming it into a functioning spell were two very different things.

Pulling mana from a plant was simple when he used his Mana Manipulation. Making a spell that would do the same while sustaining itself on the same mana was beyond anything he had done with magic.

Still, Div wasn't discouraged. He experimented with various spell structures. He was keenly aware that his lack of formal knowledge about rot magic was making things more difficult for him. But he was determined to make the spell work.

Thankfully, there were a few factors working in his favor. First among them, the lifeforce drain curse blanketing the land. Rot was already slowed in the flowers he was experimenting on, making it easier for him to observe and measure the effects of his spells.

Then, there was the fact that he was trying to preserve food. Since he was draining rot-attuned mana away from the flowers, they didn't wilt and die when a spell shape failed.

It saved him the effort of finding more.

After working for the best part of the day, he felt like he was getting close to a solution. The only thing stumping him was the self-sustaining effect of the spell.

He just couldn't replicate the effect of Mana Manipulation consistently.

It was somewhat frustrating. Div was convinced he had the right idea, but he just couldn't pull it off. His plan was to start a continuous siphon so that once the rot-attuned mana started flowing out of the plant it wouldn't stop.

The worst thing was, it did work—for a few seconds. Then the mana dried up, stopping the siphon.

He was on the verge of success. So close. If only he could solve this small issue…

Div really felt like he could do it. Yet, the answer wasn't coming to him.

Since the sun was coming down, he decided to take a break and see if his friends needed help setting up for the night. Sometimes, bashing one's head against a problem wasn't the best approach. Taking a step back would yield answers.

Or so he hoped.

But, moments after he stood up, Div was accosted by Dana. As she said, she hadn't left the village.

"I know who you are," she said in Ameian, looking straight into his eyes.

Div was taken aback, but not that surprised. He had been openly practicing rot magic. There weren't a lot of people going around doing that in the region. He was the only one.

"So?" He asked. "We're not in Kheiron, I'm abiding by the terms of my exile."

Back then, he had submitted to the authority of his elders. But, today, he wasn't going to let Dana step on his dignity. He wasn't going to hide. He wasn't going to cower.

He was the rot mage, and he'd show her what it meant.