Chương 33: [Chain Manipulation] (1)

Time lost all meaning as Rowan faded in and out of consciousness, stuck in a state of half-sleep. He wanted nothing more than to sleep, and yet, a small, fearful part of him forced him back each time he began to drift off. But no bloodspawn came. And slowly, he felt his exhaustion winning the internal battle, overwhelming his paranoia. Soon, the world slipped away as he finally let himself rest. — He woke to pure agony. Pain radiated from his abdomen and arm, his body silently screaming.

Cursing through gritted teeth, Rowan forced himself to inspect his body. He bent forward, looking down at his torso. It was bare, with just a few rags left of his shirt. Then, he looked to his stomach. What had started as a tiny nick had expanded several times over, leaving a deep gouge. It was wider too, easily a finger's length from side to side. But, to his great surprise and relief, the wound was no longer expanding.

It still looked sickly and discolored, but it seemed whatever poison resided in the fungal bloodspawn's claws had run its course. He turned his attention to his right arm. The flesh on top of his forearm had been eaten away, exposing tendons and even the tiniest hint of bone. Rowan tried to move his fingers, and a scream of agony escaped him before he could stop himself. Taking deep breath after deep breath, he calmed himself before testing his mobility once more, this time more carefully.

If he pushed himself, he could bend and extend them slightly, but the tendons responsible for that had all been withered away, at least partially. It wasn't all bad, though. Much to his relief, neither of the wounds was bleeding; he didn't want to have to bandage them with the last of his ragged clothing. Most of his pants were gone, to the point that they were practically shorts. Torn, bloody shorts, but shorts nonetheless.

He knew there wasn't anyone else down here with him, but he still felt the need to protect his dignity, and if he was forced to rip apart what remained of his clothes, he would be entirely naked. As for his left arm, it was mostly healed by now, and though it still hurt to move, he could move it. And that was a drastic improvement from a few days ago. But, of course, the moment one of his arms had recovered, the other was crippled. Rowan let out a little chuckle, trying to ignore his body's suffering.

He was almost forgetting how it felt to have two usable arms. Still, it was time for something else. Food, and more importantly, water.

Name: Rowan Crowe Race: Human Class: Chained Lord (Inheritance) Level: 9 Stats: Strength: 15 Dexterity: 11 Toughness: 22 Vitality: 16 Mana: 15 Free Points: 0 Active Skills(2/10): Chain Manipulation lvl 6 Mana Manipulation lvl 15 Passive Skills(0/10): Quests: Defeat the Guardian of the Forest or Defeat the Leviathan (Layer Quest) Defeat 30 Enemies (Complete) Reach Level 20 System Credits: 110 This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

After taking a moment to appreciate his stats, Rowan moved down to the quests, only to freeze as his eyes passed over his active skills. [Chain Manipulation]. That hadn't been there before. Thinking back, he thought he remembered a message about it during the fight, but he'd been too focused to pay attention to it. It seemed like [Bind] had evolved into something more versatile and, hopefully, better.

It was strange how the skill was already level 6, but he thought it'd probably just carried over from [Bind], which had been over level 10. The revelation that skills could evolve was both surprising and interesting, but that was about it. He only had two skills, after all, and he didn't think he would be able to evolve either of them in the near future—if he even could. If [Bind] had been a skill designed to do a specific thing, then [Chain Manipulation] was meant to do that and everything else.

He knew he was just grasping at straws, but Rowan thought that skills that were more versatile or just better would be harder to upgrade. Looking back, he could think of several possible skills [Bind] could've evolved into, but for [Mana Manipulation], he really couldn't think of much. He supposed [Advanced Mana Manipulation] might fit the bill, assuming it existed, but he had no idea how he would upgrade it like that. The name of his new skill gave him an idea.

Did it mean he could just manipulate the spectral chains that bound him, or was it talking about all chains? It would certainly be nice if it were the latter, but random lengths of chain lying around weren't that common. Or maybe they were; he hadn't seen much of the tutorial, confined to the caves as he was. Rowan shook his head. There was a lot to learn about his new skill, but testing could wait, at least for now.

Turning his attention to the completed quest near the bottom of his status screen, he focused on it. Quest: Defeat 30 Enemies (30/30, Complete) Rewards: Rations 25 System Credits Immediately, he claimed his reward. As per usual, the screen disappeared, only to be replaced by another a moment later. Quest Received: Defeat 40 Enemies (0/40) Rewards: Rations 30 System Credits When the previous quest had been at 27/30, he'd killed six enemies before claiming the reward.

But, to his great disappointment, the extra three kils didn't carry over to the new quest. It made sense, he supposed, but it was frustrating nonetheless. Then, he turned his attention away from the screen and looked at what had appeared before him. Water. Unable to contain the thirst that'd been gnawing at him for days, Rowan burst into action, grasping at the waterskins.

But at the last moment, he redirected his hand to his waist, grabbing the already mostly empty container just like the last time he'd received a set of rations. Once he'd drained every last drop of liquid goodness from the waterskin, he let it drop to the ground and returned his attention to the food. Just like every time before, he wasn't in desperate need of it. His current bag was still about a third full, with plenty of jerky and fruits remaining.

Tentatively reaching out with his mostly recovered left arm, Rowan grabbed the new bag and pulled it closer to him. Then, he grabbed his current bag as well. Opening them both, he began scooping rations from the old into the new bag, packing them in as tightly as he could. Alas, there wasn't enough room for him to add much more, and by the time the brand-new container was full to the brim, there was still quite a bit of food left in his older sack. With nothing to do, he began munching on the leftover rations.

They were old, but despite their age, even the dried fruits were still good. There were more leftovers than he'd had last time he'd completed one of the tests, since, as his stats continued increasing, his body's need for food and water dropped. Recently, he'd only been eating when he was bored or wanted the flavor, not really getting hungry. Of course, the same didn't apply to water. He still got thirsty, and quite often, given how much he'd been rationing his water.

It would've been so much easier to get by if the vine strangler he'd fought so long ago hadn't decided to go and destroy half of his supply. Still, though, he'd made it. And now, he had all the food and water he needed. Hopefully, he might even find a way to get access to the waterfall soon. Until then, though, he would remain at least somewhat cautious with his liquid consumption. Rowan sighed. He was out of commission. Again.

He'd been crippled for what seemed like days after fighting his first soldier ant, and ever since then, it was like he was constantly injured in one way or another. Now was almost as bad as when he'd nearly died to the soldier ant, because while he thought he could probably walk or even do a slow run if he completely ignored his body's protests, the wound in his stomach made it hard to bend or do any proper movements. He couldn't even fight properly, since he could barely move his dominant arm.

As for his mana, it had somewhat recovered during however long he'd been out, but it still had a long way to go. Rowan looked over at the mace resting on the cave floor. He'd managed to carry it back here with his right arm before the wound had been as bad, but it was obvious the weapon was nearing the end of its days. Half of the metal spikes adorning the head were snapped off, lost during one battle or another.

It was bent from strike after strike, and beneath the layer of dried blood covering most of the weapon, the steel was dented. He would keep using it for as long as he could, but he knew that, eventually, it would be no better than a hunk of metal. And with the current state of his body, he doubted he could properly use it anyway. But if he couldn't fight or train his body, he could still do one thing. Work on his skills. A small smile of anticipation crept onto his face.

It was time to test what he could do with his newly evolved skill.