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

After getting Inspect to level 3 with the help of Lug, Div and En had agreed to focus on Conceal.

It took them a few days, but they swallowed their pride and met with Theaphilia again. News of her ascension had spread through Camboaci, sparking fervor among the many Evolved Ranks sitting on the cusp of success.

So far it hadn't borne fruit, but the two Ascended Ranks of the village were confident that at least one of them would ascend.

Eventually.

Div and En wanted to see Theaphilia because they were concerned about how much they should push the Conceal. Even setting aside the difficulty of hiding their split minds, they also risked having their rot-attuned skills and bloodline discovered if they ever left Camboaci.

They wanted to stay ahead of the problem by raising Conceal as high as they could before then.

Theaphilia's answer quelled their worries. With Conceal at level 5, they should already be able to hide from most inspections. At worst, they would notice if their defenses were breached.

Few people actually raised their Inspect higher than a few levels. Evolving the skill was a rarity. While useful, it ranked low on most people's list of priorities.

Would someone evolve Inspect over, say, a magic skill?

There was no question about it, the magic skill would take precedence.

Of course, Ascended Ranks and the more gifted Evolved Ranks had the time to spare. But it didn't mean they would.

They had been diligent, and with the help of the wild aretras and Vedovessa repeatedly taking the class to the forest to train, they finished Facet of the Veil a few days before the deadline their teacher had announced.

Skill leveled up: Conceal Lv2 -> Lv3

Skill leveled up: Conceal Lv3 -> Lv4

Skill leveled up: Conceal Lv4 -> Lv5

They were far from the first to follow Lugsellos in completing their facet. Segorix, Gennorina, and about half of the students were already done. In their group, only Ambisena was lagging, much to her dismay.

Still, nobody worried about her as she was a single skill level away from completing her facet. She was simply sour about losing the race she had declared.

Div and En took the time to appreciate their fifth completed facet.

Facet of the Veil completed. You can select a new facet.

Since the rotten tree in their inner world had been split into two, the way they visualized their skills was all over the place. In the Leios clan, they had learned that a garden was the best way to work with a sun-attuned bloodline.

Now, they realized that they needed to change.

Because Inspect and Conceal were simply nowhere to be seen. Neither was the branch supposed to represent their Facet of the Veil.

The representation of their other skills had stopped growing too.

Only the Rot Heart was still changing, growing with more mana, more tendrils enrapturing the broken tree.

[We can't continue like this. There has to be a method more in line with what we are—with rot.]

(Once again, Div. I do not want to grow closer to rot.)

[If we don't figure this out, we'll never evolve.]

(That's not the point.)

[Of course, that is the point! Theaphilia even told us we needed to fix our visualization.]

As usual, when it came to rot, the two minds disagreed.

[Look, En, we agreed. You can pick our next facet, but you have to leave the rot to me. Otherwise, we'll never move forward.]

(Fine… Let's look at our options.)

Available Facets:

Facet of the Rot Mage

Facet of the Fisherman

Facet of the Explorer

Facet of the Army Breaker

Facet of the Runner

(Nothing new…)

[That's to be expected, we haven't done anything special since leaving the rift.]

(Right—I wanted to take Facet of the Explorer, but since we'll be staying in Camboaci for the time being, I don't know if it's a good idea.)

[I won't say anything, it's your choice.]

(Thank you. Well, we're not allowed to leave the village on our own, it wouldn't work. In that case, with the second dark day approaching, it has to be Facet of the Army Breaker. Right?)

Div sent En a mental shrug. When he said he wasn't going to interfere with his choice, he meant it.

(I'm asking for your opinion, Div.)

[I won't give it, I don't want you to think I should listen to you when I finally get to practice with rot-attuned mana.]

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

(You can be insufferable when you put your mind to it… Anyway, my only concern is that if winter starts before we can complete the facet, we'll have to wait for next year and the dark days to return. I don't know where we'd find another army to fight.)

En quickly considered the other options but he found himself drawn back to Facet of the Army Breaker.

Army Breaker…

It was a commanding name. It sounded powerful, not in the weird way Facets of the Self had been and not in the disgusting manner Facet of the Rot Mage was.

This facet… It seemed to En that it was the path he wanted to follow.

He made his selection.

Skill Acquired: Scornforged – Basic – Lv1

[I can tell you right now, I sense rot-attuned mana coming from the Rotten Sun into the Rot Heart.]

(I swear I'm going to lose it. Why is everything going wrong for me?)

[Calm down, En. All of our mana is rot-attuned. Our new skill isn't responsible for that. Can't you feel the difference?]

En took a deep breath and inspected the sensations coming from his body.

(I feel… Good? Energetic.)

Then he entered their inner world and tried to understand what Scornforged did.

The first thing he noticed was how vivid everything seemed. The split tree, Trap Detection's ivy, the bamboo grove… they all seemed to be bustling with life.

He looked up at the pale sun hanging in the sky, the representation of their Rotten Sun title. It was coming from there.

Scornforged…

Scornforged, Scornforged, Scornforged…

Army Breaker.

[Do you understand?]

(We are empowered by the people who scorn us… Are there still so many of them that we're getting this much of a boost?)

[It seems some people in Kheiron remember us.]

(Why are all our skills so grim? I'd like something positive for a change.)

[Scornforged is a great skill. Maybe it won't be as effective against monsters as it would be against sentient enemies. But, think about it, it means we are always benefiting from the effect!]

(Still… I wanted something more upbeat.)

[Have you tried being more upbeat yourself? I'm sure the world would reciprocate.]

(Very funny…)

Div and En experimented with their new skill more and understood how powerful it was. It was fitting for the Facet of the Army Breaker. The more people had negative opinions of them, the more they would receive. Mana, endurance, resilience, strength, everything was being improved.

Naturally, it would work well when facing an army. There had to be diminishing returns—there was no way Scornforged would make them infinitely powerful if they somehow made millions of enemies.

While En was still sour about it, Div was very happy with their new skill.

[I mean, En. It's not like we have to be scorned by everyone. But some people will dislike us regardless of what we do, we might as well benefit from it.]

(I know, I'm not saying the skill is bad.)

It was just the principle of it, En wasn't thrilled about a skill that incentivized him to make enemies.

The next day, Div and En asked Vedovessa to sit out from the forest outing so that Div could study rot magic.

Over the past few days, they had noticed a sharp drop in efficiency from the wild aretras. There wasn't much point in forcing the matter. The loss was irreversible. If anything, they wanted to keep what was left in them to benefit from the flowers for the future. In case there was a need for them.

They weren't the first to ask, so Vedovessa had no issue granting their request.

En too, had accepted. He was holding his end of the bargain. However, it was mostly because he was aware that Div's work was their best bet at separating cleanly.

Div sat alone in a secluded corner of the village. Theaphilia had pointed the way to an apple orchard planted near the walls. Few people ever visited the area. The apples had already been collected a few weeks ago, no reason to go there anymore.

Even to Div, rot was still repulsive. He wasn't sure if he could ever find it in him to be comfortable with his powers. But he had chosen this path, and he would follow it.

With Scornforged powering him up, he had plenty of energy–physical and mental—to begin his studies.

Fortunately, there were a few discarded apples lying on the ground of the orchard. Some of them having already started rotting, they were perfect observation subjects

Looking at three apples in different stages of decomposition, Div reflected on what happened for them to turn from firm, crisp, sweet fruits to that.

The first apple was in decent shape. Aside from a single bruise, it had no other blemishes.

Around the bruise, the flesh had softened. It smelled sweeter—like wine sweet, not fresh.

Div brought it closer to his face. The smell intensified, adding a hint of vinegar to it. He could sense the mana held in the fruit. There wasn't much, but part of it carried the same properties as his own rot-attuned mana.

Careful not to overwhelm the delicate fruit, he started slowly pulling mana from his Rot Heart and letting it seep into the apple.

The exposed flesh near the bruise rapidly browned.

Div wasn't controlling his mana well enough, because the apple quickly turned white, then black before finally dissolving into a puddle of juice.

Div shook his head, restrained his mana, wiped his soiled hand on the grass, and picked up the second apple.

This one was not in a good shape. While he might have eaten the first, avoiding the bruised section, the second was not edible anymore.

The skin was shriveled—nothing too shocking. What really interested him was inside.

He cut the fruit in two down the middle, causing the countless little insects that were devouring its flesh to skitter in panic. It was brown and sludgy—completely spoiled.

At the spots where the rot-attuned mana was at its most intense—fuzzy, white mold had begun to grow.

Giving attention to details, Div spotted a few worms slithering inside the mush.

Once again, he tried to use his mana to speed up the process, only to end up with a black sludge again.

At least, this time, he had put the apple down on the ground before he did. So he kept relatively clean.

The final apple was in pristine condition.

Its skin was lustrous. It was solid, glowing with a red tint that would make anyone salivate. The caretakers of the orchard must have missed it because it was a perfectly edible apple.

Not a trace of rot-attuned mana emanated from the fruit.

Div immediately started pushing his mana toward the apple. He was doing his best to control his output, with little success. He made a mental note to practice his mana manipulation and kept going.

Despite the absurd amount of mana the apple was receiving, it didn't seem to have any effect.

This realization didn't make Div disappointed. Instead, it was what he was looking for.

A clue.

What was the difference between this apple and the previous ones?

Its skin was intact.

Div ran his thumb over the apple's skin, then made a small incision with his nail.

Immediately, the rot-attuned mana rushed into the breach, as if attracted by the exposed flesh.

It started browning, then mold appeared along with a few flying insects that were close enough to react.

Before Div could retract his mana, the apple had collapsed in on itself, leaving nothing but an empty, dry, leathery husk of skin.

Div stood up, a glint in his eyes.

He needed more apples.