Singer found a hundred different thoughts running through his head at that point. The worst of which was the obvious enmity between Dwarves and the Greenskin races. It wasn't just a thing in DarQ, rather it was a universal thing across nearly all lore, movies, and games. Yet, suddenly Singer found himself in the unprecedented situation of being made a leader of a Hearth and having his first action be to make Green-skins citizens of a place where Dwarves were already citizens.
"You did that on purpose!" Singer roared as he finally made his way through the initial shock. "You could have told me there were already Dwarves living here!" Colbey's grin got bigger if that was even possible at this point.
"You could have asked." He quipped with barely held back mirth. Singer's mouth twitched in response. He realized he had kinda asked for that one, but setting Dwarves and Greenskin's together for the sake of payback was going a bit too far.
"Confound it all. First I get a sarcastic brat of an AI, now I'm stuck with a washed out drunk who thinks he's funny!" Singer's temper flared at this point. Naturally finding himself trapped in a game world had been a lot to start with. Now to make matters worse it seemed as if even this new world was trying to stack the odds against him at every turn.
"Whoa kid, I was just teasin'. I meant no harm, truly." Colbey held his hands up in a peaceful manner trying to show he meant no harm as much as he claimed the fact.
"Sorry, it's been a rough day." He sighed as he rubbed the back of his head in deep thought as he tried to think of what to do next. Singer's thought was interrupted however as Dahpu suddenly spoke up.
"Dahpu thinks third person's day is about to get a little more rough." Singer had no time to respond to Dahpu's claim as a stocky Dwarf burst into the room.
"What the bloody hell Colbey! Ya wanna explain what in Reorx Beard's name is goin' on!" The newcomers voice bellowed with as much anger as his flashy outfit expressed. He was a bald Dwarf with a shorter beard than one would normally expect from a dwarf. It was neatly cropped in the short boxed beard style, contrary to the normal Dwarven style. His clothes were various shades of brown, purple and black giving him a wayward traveler appearance. Two earrings shaped like pirate cutlasses dangled from his left ear, and a single harpoon held in his hand was waving about angrily as he burst in.
"Dagun, old buddy! My most sincerest condolences." Colbey stepped up to the dwarf called Dagun with the most fake expression of sorrow Singer had ever seen etched on his face. "You see, I had no choice but to surrender ownership to this individual here, and his first act was to invite some green-skins to be citizens of this fair town."
Singer nearly threw up blood in response. Colbey was a sleazy slime-ball! Colbey only winked at Singer as he waved in his direction for Dagun's benefit.
'The frell! He's talking like we murdered someone and made him watch!' Singer wanted to cry at this point.
"Ya mean the bloody poof?" Dagun asked gesturing at Singer.
'Oh does he know you?' BIS's voice asked in his head sarcastically eliciting a sigh from Singer.
"I'll take that as a yes." Dagun growled, misinterpreting who Singer was responding to. His face was contorted with disgust as he looked Singer up and down. It was clear he held very little regard for him. "Very well, I challenge you to combat for ownership of the Hearth." He declared as he hoisted his harpoon in the air. "Prepare yourself poof!"
"Wait can he do that?" Singer stammered in surprise, but before he could get more than a shrug in response from Colbey the dwarf was upon him.
'Bust his Head!' BIS screamed in Singer's head yet again.
'Well at least you know whose side you're on when it matters...' Singer thought.
'The hell you talking about? I was rooting for the Dwarf!'
'Screw you BIS!'
'Ask nicely!'
Singer was so distracted by BIS that he barely managed to dodge the jagged edge of the harpoon head and was instead rewarded with the wooden haft bashing him in the eye. It swelled up instantly blinding him on the right before he had a chance to react, filling his head with the sharp kiss of pain and agony.
'I didn't realize you were into having hard wooden rods shoved into your face.' BIS laughed in his head.
'Shut up BIS!' Singer growled back.
"What? I'm not judging.' Was the only response he got back before BIS began laughing again.
Singer looked around wildly praying for help. But, no one stepped in to interfere. Rather, it seemed they were all enjoying the show instead. In fact he was even fairly certain he saw Dahpu hand Kovak'g a snack which they were now munching on idly as they watched Singer get beat up.
Anger flared in Singer's eyes at that. These were supposed to be his new allies, instead they sat there enjoying... was that his own jerky they were munching on? He snapped at that moment grabbing the point of the harpoon with his bare hand as it rushed towards him again. It cut deep eliciting another yelp of pain from Singer. Somehow he managed to focus his anger to pierce through the pain fogging his brain and crystallized the blood in his fist. It stuck fast causing the Dwarf to stumble as a grin spread across Singer's face. He was no expert in combat with ancient weapons, but he had studied enough martial art over the years for a few small things to stick.
Singer twisted savagely pulling the harpoon behind him as he stepped forward onto the bridge of the Dwarf's foot sending him further off balance. Dagun lost his grip on the harpoon as he tumbled head over heels into the nearby wall. Singer absorbed the blood back into his hand as he flipped the harpoon around pointing the tip at the prone dwarf's face.
"Yield." Singer grunted as he gritted his teeth in pain. He may have been able to win due to his new blood control skill, but it didn't reduce the pain any. Ever since he had gotten stuck here pain seemed to have no limiters. In some ways it even seemed more sharp than the real world had. He swayed back and forth as his vision went dark for a moment, barely hearing the dwarf yield through more of BIS's taunts.
'If you're having performance issues you know they make a potion for that...' Singer didn't respond to BIS as he passed out from the pain.
As Singer came to a while later he was awakened by an incredible stench. He opened his eyes to find what appeared to be a fanged frog grinning just inches from his face.
"Dahpu..."
"Yes Sir Singer?" Dahpu responded almost instantly cutting the words out from under Singer.
"As my first ruling as Hearth Master I have two rules, that are imperative."
"Yes Master singer! Dahpu will pass on Master Singer's rules with great diligence!" Dahpu's hot breath smothered Singer's face nearly causing Singer to pass out again as Dahpu jumped up and down excitedly.
"Rule one: no one must call me sir or master anymore. It sounds pretentious. Besides I hate standing on ceremony like that."
"Yes mas... uh Singer. What is your other rule." Dahpu's stench got worse as he leaned in closer.
"You will take a bath every day and brush your blasted teeth!" Singer roared as he picked the goblin up by the scruff and shoved him under a waterfall just outside his new window. A loud laugh bellowed from the doorway as Dagun and Kovak'g shoved each other aside in their hurry to get in first. They weren't killing each other which was progress, but they clearly had no love for each other.
As the goblin's struggling suddenly ceased Singer pulled him back in through the window to have a few stomach-fulls worth of water sputter in his face from the water logged goblin. His saving grace however was the fact the stench had finally dissipated.
"I suppose I asked for that one." Singer groaned. But frell the splitting headache on top of the goblins stench had been an unbearable thing to awaken to. As to why he had passed out in the first place he had few answers as to why that had happened. He pulled his interface up as he set Dahpu back on the ground, who promptly shook off the water like a dog before scampering off. With an exasperated sigh Singer brought his attention back to his latest notifications.
-50 HP Skill Creation Cost
Blood Crystallization Skill Created
Congratulations, you have created your first skill. Through multiple intentional unique uses of an existing skill you have created a new skill.
Blood Crystallization cost is now equal to normal Blood Control Cost.
Blood Control has reached Rank 3
Congratulations! You can now bleed on your enemies faster!
Singer's eyes widened in shock as he looked over what had happened. He had created a new unique skill on his own. Pulling up his Blood Control he checked to find a small + sign below the description. Mentally focusing on it he saw the cost had been two blood points per one blood drop manipulated per second. Unique applications would cost double. However, now the new ability was listed underneath it as a sub-skill costing nothing extra. That answered a few questions, as against the rat he had only manipulated his blood a split second to crystallize, additionally Dahpu had healed him right after. In his fight with Dagun he had been using the ability for the whole second half of the fight draining his blood pool swiftly and had additionally lost fifty health just in the creation of a new skill. Drawing his crystallized blood back in had simply been the last straw draining his health too far. If Dagun had've waited even a second longer to yield Singer would have lost the fight.
As far as the Dwarf went he was currently crumpled on the floor with Kovak'g. They were both nursing fresh lumps on their heads as Colbey stood above them.
"Hey, kid. Good to see you're awake." Colbey rasped as he stepped over the orc and dwarf. "I had them set you up in the Hearth Master's quarters after you passed out to rest. It's not much as of yet but it will grow as the town does."
He smiled as he looked about the room. It was brighter than most of the cavern with the very walls putting off a gentle light. They appeared to be made of wood, and were on inspection in fact part of the spirit tree. There was also more than plenty of windows, and surprisingly comfortable furniture growing out of the ground and walls.
"Was your previous room not the Hearth Master's quarters?" Singer asked as he helped Kovak'g untangle himself from Dagun.
"That was a prison cell actually. If I had tried to leave or fully transformed the whole root structure would have contracted instantly crushing everything inside to be turned into nutrients for the tree." Singer blanched at that, recalling how much time he had spent in there, as well as how close Colbey had likely been to turning.
"Why... or rather how I suppose?"
Colbey smiled a sad smile in response as he replied. "It's a bit of a story actually. To make things short, when Prime Mountain opened up news of it was rather hushed. No one had ever been able to pierce its outer shell before. Not to mention the openings were so high that even among the few who knew or even believed in it opening most couldn't make the trek." His smile seemed to turn sadder as his voice became more somber for the next part.
"I didn't have much choice tho. My family was murdered in the backlash of a coup between two rival sect Saijin in Sca'arin. After the winner took all he went after the rest of our Saijin's followers, myself included. I fled here in hopes of finding an ancient tome that would give us the strength we needed to fight back. Regrettably I fell prey to one of the Chaos Parasites, and ended up unable to return home. I received a message a few weeks ago that the rest of my friends had fallen. Not long after the Dwarves arrived and I let them stay in exchange for some rum to ease my passing. I then holed up in the prison cell after that, intending to let the tree end me after the transformation took over."
The other's had all gotten quiet by this point, and the mood had dropped as everyone could see the loss etched on Colbey's face. Singer scowled slightly before speaking up.
"Well in that case, we'll be your new family and avenge your old one once we have gotten strong enough to do so."
You have Initiated the formation of a Ka'andan.
Do You wish to continue?
Yes No
Before he selected his choice Singer pulled up the information window as the others in the room stared wide eyed.
Ka'andan: A blood oath in which a group of individuals become brothers in arms. Considered to be closer than friends or family. The members will grow as one. Should any leave the Ka'andan without the full blessing of the others, their strength will be set back to what it was before the formation of the Ka'andan.
Singer's eyes went as wide as the others before selecting the yes option. This was incredible. It was a shared exp option that was deeper than a simple party. As he read further it didn't even seem to have any restrictions on distance and even seemed to boost their strength and gains the closer they were together.
The others only hesitated a moment before also accepting. They had heard of such a thing but never expected to ever meet someone who could form one. It was supposed to be something only blood priests of Sca'arin could do. It cost a fortune to have done, and was sought after by many but obtained by even fewer. All three of his new allies looked at Singer with a shared expression of respect and fear as Colbey spoke five words.
"Who the hell are you..."