After leaving the slave traders, Helgahvall's group went around eating their fill and visiting the different shops to see what was new. The previous night everyone had profited from Rahz's fights and had a little money in their pockets. They were balling and it was a good feeling, even if the odds were not as good as the day before the group had full confidence that Rahz would not lose and they could earn a lot more.
Rhaen bought some spirit medicine for Rahz at the adventurer market where everyone was allowed to buy and sell their items. The spirit herbs were the ones necessary to craft a constitution elixir that would help Rahz remove more impurities from his muscle cells permanently improving his strength.
The second set of herbs created a potion to expand the mind creating an epiphany mental state that help in the understanding of skills and it was very important when mastering weapons.
The versions of this two potions that the alchemist in Willowdale was able to concoct were of the lowest level due to the techniques and equipment being used in the process but at the end of the day beggars can't be choosers.
Despite the low quality potions, the alchemist in the town was highly respected and even high level warriors needed to ask politely. The herbs plus fees cost Rhaen 50 gold setting him back to a little over 210 gold which was not enough to buy the dark elf; however, with some luck the second round of betting could go as well as the day before.
Until Rahz level up there was no sense in buying an Elixir of Ancient knowledge to boost the energy his rune could extract from his enemies so increasing Rahz's strength and mastery over his skill was the best choice.
Rhaen went back to their room and Rahz took the the constitution potion immediately. Rahz was sitting with his legs cross and his hand resting on them while waiting for the elixir to take effect when little by little black sweat full of impurities started oozing out of his skin for a few of minutes. Since the quality was pretty low the process didn't take that long but the increased was quite significant.
Rahz lifted his Axe and swung it around the room and the difference in weight required Rahz to practice his skills to familiarize himself once again with his weapon.
Rhaen observed the results of the previous elixir were already showing and suggested to Rahz the use of the mental potion while practicing his skills and the results were amazing. Rahz not only manage to sync once again with the weapon but he went a step further and manage a breakthrough into advanced apprentice with a 2 handed Axe and unlock the skill Axe counter. Axe counter allowed Rahz to dash forward after a successful Axe block and knock down his opponents within 5m.
Rhaen was sure that the opponents Rahz was going to face today were going to be a lot tougher than the nights before. The Arena lost quite a bit of gold last time and if they wanted to earn it back they need it Rahz to fall. The first fight was key and probably the toughest encounter but the rewards would be massive.
The advertising the Arena did for the new rising star the Kobold Man was a success, the arena was packed to the brim but the announcer was sure to reserve seats for the 9 Barbarians right beside the glass.
The first fight was meant to be a juicy one as Rahz opponent was a very experienced guardian that was 6-0 in his career in the underground arena. He was not a regular but the offered couldn't be refused as it would allowed him to retired extremely comfortably in the future.
The underground arena invested pretty heavily on their first fighter and so the odds were an amazing 6 to 1 in favor of guardian. Rhaen smile and place 210 gold on Rahz and call for a drink. They were now in the VIP seats and good alcohol was being serve for the price of 'on the house!!'.
If it was the day before the fight could have lasted a little longer but this was a new Rahz with increased strength and a new Combat Art. The Guardian moved in first with a shield bash followed by a slash that was block by the Axe after Rahz successfully evaded the bash by sliding to the right.
The Axe block activated his new skill that caught the guardian by surprise and knocked him on his ass. The Axe counter allowed Rahz to use Leaping Strike to impale the guardian to the ground. The Guardian managed to prevent the Axe spike from hitting his neck but it hit his right shoulder instead.
The trauma to the shoulder was so severed that it made the warrior released his sword, a sword that Rahz immediately picked up and used to cut the warriors neck as he was pin to the ground.
One minute was all it took for Rahz to crush the Underground Arena plans and now they truly had the money to do whatever they wanted. The rest of the matches were not even worth mentioning as Rahz collected heads one after the other until he achieved his goal.
After six matches, the rune that was carved with the energy of 10 evolution fighters was finally completed it and the pain coming from it was unbearable. Through gritted teeth he manage to tell the announcer that he was done for the night and that he need it help walking off the arena.
The announcer called a couple of assistants and didn't think anything of it as there have been many in the same situation. Rahz had fought 6 times in a row and probably exhausted the majority of his energy.
Rhaen and the others took Rahz back to the hotel with worried faces but they were reassure that it was nothing dangerous.
The moment Rahz got back to his room, he felt the need to take his fur coat off and his father was able to see a massive rune on Rahz's back blinking in an out of existence. The light illuminated the room with a Dark Red light and the sound of bones cracking followed by a period of silence was in sync with the periods of illumination of the room.
Rhaen had a guess of what was happening but he still sent one of the trainers to get the person in charged of the communication ceremony as they were pretty knowledgeable about all things 'Gods' and could shine some light on the situation.
When the priest got to the room the periods of pain had decreased considerably, Rhaen managed to actually move his son to a part of the room that was relatively clean as in the first stages of the event Rahz was puking none stop from the pain as well as from whatever was happening inside his body. A pool of black blood was laying on the floor and Rahz body was completely encased in the dry blood that was oozing out from time to time.
The moment the priest came into the room he was nauseated by the stench that wave out. The situation in the room brought a single thought to mind and that was, evil alignment follower.
The truth was that Fadall, the God of War was neither evil nor good. He had allies in both camps; however, some of his doctrines in which he did not care for the weak cause many to associate him towards the evil camp a bit more. Only the lesser beings that felt the need to label everything
award him the Evil God alignment but in the eyes of the other gods he was a high tier god with the divinity of war.
Rhaen walked up to the priest and said, " Thank you for coming!!!, His pains started the moment he finished the evolution task for the God of War and until now he had been suffering a lot. The rune on his back seems to be the caused of everything"
The priest look at Rhaen and replied with a question of his own " What was his task?"
"To kill 10 evolution warriors without help of another person"
The moment the words came out the priest sucked in a cold breath, not only was the task pretty harsh but the fact that the young man in front of him had succeeded was too remarkable. The priest proceeded to take a look at the rune on Rahz's back and when he saw that it was drawn by exactly 10 struck he had a pretty good idea of what was happening.
"Congratulations Sir!!! what it is happening to your son is part or the reward for completing his task. The rune was created by the God of War and it is being fueled by the energy experience of the 10 evolution fighters he killed during his task. The rune is changing his body so that it can cope with the new power he will obtain after he reaches Level 10".
"I am not quite sure what rune is it but I can ask my superiors about it. For now there is nothing for me to do to help him as even though it is very painful it is a blessing".
Rahz continued his metamorphosis for another 10 hours before falling sleep for another 5. In the meantime, the priest from the previous night came back around with an extremely excite it face and beside him there was and older man that radiated a holy aura similar to Etta. Rhaen didn't neglect the old man as he realized who he was, the elder in charge of ceremonies for the Willowdale temple.
The elder showed Rhaen his due respect as part of the strong and asked if he could inspect the rune in Rahz back. Rhaen didn't see a problem with it as any information he could obtain about the incident would be highly beneficial to his son.
Rhaen led the two individuals into the room and saw his now sleeping son showing no signs of discomfort. The stench however was now more pronounce than before but they were concern about alerting other people of what was happening inside so they kept the door shut.
The elder was warned before hand so he was prepared and didn't make a fuzz about it. Once he saw the Dark Red Rune on Rahz's back, a light of wisdom flashed through his eyes and he couldn't help to whisper " It's the Chaos Rune"