It's been two weeks since Alister started his "crafting journey" as Olivia called it. It's being rigorous on Alister, both mentally and physically. He's only managed to create dormant ranked items like daggers, silver wire or charms, some even blew up in his face, literally. The only thing that had some use to him was some clothes he made out of his own essence, not even using a essences core.
To go from making one of the highest tier of awakened armor, to only being able to make low dormant items took a huge toll on Alister psyche. He didn't dare go near his nine Awakened Corrupted cores, not in this dry spell.
Maybe the [Nightshade Scales] was just a fluke, maybe it was my [Luck's Chosen] ability.
Alister thought to himself.
The only time he wasn't crafting was when he left to go kill more Dormant Corrupted for their cores. Olivia and the others go out regularly to kill Corrupted or foraging food, not as much as Alister, but enough to be respectable.
They all have grown considerably stronger considering where they started, a bunch of fresh newbie's that couldn't even form an effective defensive formation.
But Alister continued to be an anomaly, he was strong, cunning, beastly and above all else he was charismatic; a natural born leader. But the Alister right now couldn't even make a decent item to save his life.
After several minutes of frustratingly trying to craft something and failing, Alister stopped and thought to himself:
So, I thought I had it all figured out. I'd been studying essence theory for years at home, reading every tome, book or whatever I could get my hands on. I knew about the different properties essence could take on, the elements and even the best techniques for harvesting it. But, boy, was I wrong.
I thought crafting would be easy, by the gods I wish someone would've hit me upside the head. But I tried anyways, I picked these massive, glowing cores that looked like miniature suns. They were beautiful, but they were also incredibly hard to work with. Every time I tried to work with them, they'd burst into a blinding flash of white light, leaving me with singed eyebrows and a headache.
Then, there was the whole "infusion" process. I'd read about how you had to channel your own essence into the core, but I guess I didn't quite understand what that meant. My attempts to do so resulted in a lot of awkward contortions and a whole lot of nothing. The essence just wouldn't go in.
Alister let his thoughts hang in the air, then something burned in his gut. He stood up and threw the dagger in his hands.
"SON OF A BITCH!"
Alister screamed, luckily no one came to check up on him. They knew what Alister had going on, although they were worried, no one dared try to calm him down.
For a couple minutes Alister took some breaths to calm down.
"Maybe a change of scenery would help my uselessness."
Alister spoke aloud to no one in particular.
After Alister picked up all the items he threw and put them back in his system's inventory, he made his way to the opening of the hollowed tree. Once he got there, he saw everyone staring at him. Probably due to the rageful outburst he had moments before.
Gabriel was the first one to speak:
"Brother have you made any progress? Judging from the yell, I can tell that things aren't going well."
"No Gabriel, I have not."
Alister spoke with a sour tone.
Everyone refrained from speaking for a while, until Alister broke the awkward silence.
"How about you accompany me on a hunt, brother."
Gabriel eyebrows rose, this was the first time that Alister called him brother in the two weeks since he swore his fidelity to Alister, or ever in fact. Gabriel smiled at this,
"Yes, let go."
So they made their way into the Azure Forest, but when Alister looked, none of the girls were there. They left to go hunting in the opposite direction from the two boys.
This is for the better, our path leads to different places. I am alone in this.
Alister thought to himself.
At this moment Alister felt a new emotion. He felt desolated.
He knew that due to his aspect, he would be led down a path of greatness. But what he also knew was that greatness was a double edged sword; a crown that is as heavy as it is glorious. Never before has Alister felt this way.
Waking Alister from his thoughts were eight Dormant Corrupted, Gabriel made his way forward to face them, but was stopped by Alister hand on his chest. Gabirel looked into his cold, lavender eyes which held an enigmatic gaze that sent shivers down Gabriel's spine.
To this, they didn't even have to speak any words, their eyes did all the talking. Gabriel bowed slightly and backed up, Alister wanted to cut them all down by himself.
The ivory haired boy with apricot colored tips, made his way toward the eight Corrupted. He maintained his cold, enigmatic expression as he slowly walked to the Corrupted closest to him. They howled at him and sprinted towards him, to which Alister remained unfazed to them.
The closest Corrupted slashes at Alister with its large claws, Alister back stepped a couple inches so that it nearly misted him. He brought the [Iceflame Sword] down and cut off both of its front legs, then stepped on its head and channeled essence into his feet then leaped up in the air, killing the Corrupted from the impact of his foot.
[You have slain an Dormant Corrupted: Grimclaw Prowler].
While in the air, Alister spun upside down and looked at another two Corrupted. He called for two daggers from his inventory and two appeared on his left hand. He threw them at the nape of the two Corrupted's necks, it connected but it didn't kill them on impact, Alister fell down and landed on the handles of the daggers with his feet, pinning them to the ground and killing them.
[You have slain an Dormant Corrupted: Grimclaw Prowler].
[You have slain an Dormant Corrupted: Grimclaw Prowler].
Once Alister landed, one of the Corrupted roared and swung its claws at him. Alister dodges left and strikes its chest with a punch from his left fist. The Corrupted jumped back and whimpered, Aliser ran at it and fell to his knees and slid under the Corrupted swing and swung his sword at its chest again and cut it in half.
[You have slain an Dormant Corrupted: Grimclaw Prowler].
Alister stared at the four remaining Corrupted, then he remembered something.
He had a remnant.
A remnant was exactly how it sounded, it was a remnant part of a soul that belonged to a Corrupted that someone killed and a person was gifted to by the system, although it was extremely, extremely rare to be able to get one.
If Alister had to guess where he got the remnant from was when he killed the [Clawstalker] from the first night. Alister was still amazed that he even survived and even more surprised that all his limbs were still intact.
Alister summoned the [Clawstaker] and sure enough it appeared. The ivory haired boy studied it for a second then gave it a command to attack, it followed suit. The [Clawstalker] charged at the four remaining Dormant Corrupted and grabbed one by the neck with its maw and another with its claws. The other two completely ignored the [Clawstalker] and charged at Alister.
Damn low intelligence creatures.
Alister mentally swore.
He spun the [Iceflame Sword] in his right hand and swung at them, sending a large coil or red flames toward the two Corrupted. It charred them instantly, leaving only a grotesque smell of burning flesh and singed hair.
[You have slain an Dormant Corrupted: Grimclaw Prowler].
[You have slain an Dormant Corrupted: Grimclaw Prowler].
A couple seconds later, the [Clawstalker] killed the other two Corrupted, in a quite brutal fashion at that.
[You have slain an Dormant Corrupted: Grimclaw Prowler].
[You have slain an Dormant Corrupted: Grimclaw Prowler].
The [Clawstaker] was indeed useful, Alister saw himself using it more in the future for hunting, as well as the various dungeons back on earth. But as of right now, it served no purpose so Alister unsummoned it. Then he started to walk to pick up the dormant essence cores, it was considered a huge "hassle" to Alister.
It is such a bloody pain to collect these everytime, I wish I could just have the system pick them up for me.
[Confirmed, turning on system essence core collection].
[Collected essence cores: thirty-five dormant essence cores].
Alister sighed in defeat.
He walked over to Gabriel and relayed the newly found information, which Gabriel opened his mouth in and said: "Oh" and flicked through his system screen and turned on the setting.
Then they continue the venture deeper into the forest.
The day grew lighter and lighter as the sun got higher and higher into the sky and thankfully the forest got brighter as well. Soon enough they were on uncharted land, a place they haven't been before.
They came upon a secluded corner of the Azure Forest, a serene creek meandering through the landscape, its crystal-clear water sparkling under the dappled sunlight. The creek is bordered by smooth, moss-covered stones and vibrant, lush greenery that sways gently in the breeze. The air is filled with the soothing sound of water as it cascades down a modest yet captivating waterfall nestled among ancient, towering trees.
The waterfall, about fifteen feet high, tumbles over a rugged cliff face of dark granite, creating a mist that adds a delicate, ethereal quality to the scene. The water falls in a series of graceful, white-veiled arcs, breaking into a frothy embrace as it plunges into the creek below. The base of the waterfall forms a shallow pool.
Around the pool, the ground is strewn with smooth pebbles and vibrant wildflowers, adding splashes of color to the tranquil setting, which was rare considering that this is the Corrupted Realm. The sunlight filters through the canopy of leaves above, casting shimmering patterns on the water's surface and creating an ever-changing dance of light and shadow. The gentle sound of the waterfall blends harmoniously with the soft rustle of leaves.
But when Alister and Gabriel focused their eyes on something that was making splashes in the water, they saw a sight that made their faces turn red with a burning blush. There were two naked girls showering. They both simultaneously turned around and started speed-walking away.
But as they were speed-walking away, they heard the sound of two female-like screams. The blushes drained from their face and dashed to the creek. There was one more of the [Grimclaw Prowler].
Alister ran at [Grimclaw Prowler], sprinting past the naked girls, still blushing. He slid down on his knees and screamed to Gabriel, who was not that far behind:
"I got the legs!"
Then he cleaved off the hind legs of the Corrupted, it shrieked like a banshee as it fell to the ground. Gabriel brought his large ax down onto its skull, killing it with a loud slam.
But now the true battle began.
They had to find a way to explain to the naked girls that they weren't peeping on them.