The lounge was dead silent, save for the drip, drip, drip of blood.
The Level 185 party leader was staring, white-faced, at his severed, armored fingers on the marble floor. His two companions had their hands on their weapons, but they were frozen, their faces pale with shock. They hadn't even seen the attack.
"I... I'll kill you..." the leader stammered, but the words were weak, his voice shaking.
I just stared at him, my mind on a different problem. I was 490 million credits short. This was annoying.
Then, a thought, so simple I'd forgotten it in my annoyance, struck me. "Wait." I turned to the terrified Trade Manager, who looked like he was about to faint. "I... I think I have more items to sell."
I opened my inventory. My summons had been rampaging for hours before I called them back. "System, dump all monster parts."
It wasn't a "deposit." It was an avalanche. A mountain of loot erupted from my inventory, piling up in the center of the lavish lounge. It was a 10-foot-tall hill of Ogre tusks, Chieftain axes, hundreds of Wyvern scales, thousands of Troll blood vials, and, from the Luminous Forest, glowing Stone-Troll hearts, bundles of Luminous Moss, and shards of Corrupted Crystal.
The room was filled with the overwhelming, coppery smell of monster parts.
The manager's eyes rolled back in his head. The party of Awakeners, who had been ready to fight, just... stared. "Appraise it," I said, pointing to the mountain.
The manager fumbled for his console. He wasn't appraising items; he was appraising a warehouse. He was processing the loot from thousands of kills, many from monsters far above his pay grade.
The number on his console began to climb. And climb. And climb. 100,000,000... 300,000,000... 500,000,000... The injured party leader was no longer looking at his hand. He was looking at the number. He was looking at the mountain of loot. He was looking at me. And his face, which had been pale with pain, was now ashen with pure, dawning horror. He'd just realized I wasn't a rookie's gopher. He'd just realized I was the "old monster from the capital" that had caused the city-wide Beast Tides.
The number on the console finally stopped. 947,650,000 Credits
"Looks like the summons did pretty well," I muttered.
The manager just nodded, his throat bobbing. "Y-yes, sir. N-nine hundred... and forty-seven... million. We'll add that to your... 11.8 million..." My new balance was 959,459,000 Credits.
"Kid," the party leader, who was now clutching his bleeding stump with a rag, said, "You have... you have made a mistake you might regret."
"I'll take the Origin Set," I said to the manager, ignoring the man completely.
"YES, SIR!" The manager snapped to attention, his terror of me now greater than his terror of the other party. He ran to the display case, unlocked it, and handed me the case of five glowing scrolls. [Ding! 500,000,000 Credits Deducted.]
I took the case and walked out of the lounge. The party leader didn't say another word. He just let me leave.
The moment I entered my house, I locked the door. I didn't even take off my shoes. I sat on the floor of the hallway, opened the case, and pulled out the [Origin Skill: Primal Fire] scroll. I crushed it.
My mind ignited. It wasn't a skill. It was a... a language. The fundamental, primal concept of fire.
[Ding! [Origin Skill: Primal Fire] detected!] [10x Multiplier System is analyzing... ANALYZING... A TRUE ORIGIN?!] [Ding! Merging all related skill trees...] [Merging... [Fireball (T1-T8)]... [Magma Armor (T1)]... [Homing Flame (T1)]...] [ALL SKILLS ABSORBED!] [New Skill Tree Created: [ORIGIN OF FIRE (???-Rank)]!]
The moment the merge completed, a sound like a planetary gong shook my very soul. A golden box, visible only to me, filled my vision.
[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT]
[THE LAWS OF MAGIC HAVE BEEN REDISCOVERED!] [AN ANCIENT PIONEER, ???, HAS BECOME THE FIRST TO RECLAIM AN 'ORIGIN' OF MAGIC!] [THE WORLD'S MANA IS STIRRING IN RESPONSE!]
My personal system chimed in, practically screaming.
[Ding! 10x Multiplier System has detected a fundamental world change!] [OUTRAGEOUS! HOST, YOU ARE BREAKING THE WORLD!] [New Title Acquired: [The First Origin (SSS-Rank)]!] [Effect: All 'Origin' skills cost 50% less mana. 10x Bonus applied: 'Origin' skills now cost 500% (5x) LESS mana!]
My head was splitting. The influx of information was agonizing. But I wasn't done. I grabbed the [Primal Water] scroll. I crushed it.
[Ding! [Origin Skill: Primal Water] detected!] [New Skill Tree Created: [ORIGIN OF WATER (???-Rank)]!] [GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT: A SECOND ORIGIN HAS BEEN CLAIMED BY ???!] [THE WORLD'S FOUNDATIONS TREMBLE!]
I grabbed [Primal Wind]. Crushed it.
[Ding! Merging [Gale Slicer (T1-T7)], [Void-Ripper (T1)], [Silence (T1)]...] [New Skill Tree Created: [ORIGIN OF WIND (???-Rank)]!] [GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT: A THIRD ORIGIN?! IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA?!]
I grabbed [Primal Earth]. Crushed it.
[Ding! Merging [Earthen Bastion (T1-T6)], [Stone Skin (T1)], [Impaling Spikes (T1)]...] [New Skill Tree Created: [ORIGIN OF EARTH (???-Rank)]!] [GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT: THE GODS THEMSELVES ARE WATCHING! FOUR ORIGINS ARE TAKEN!]
I was panting, sweat pouring from my face. My vision was blurring. The pain of this new knowledge was indescribable. One last scroll. [Primal Lightning]. I grabbed it. I crushed it.
[Ding! Merging [Lightning Bolt (T1)]...] [New Skill Tree Created: [ORIGIN OF LIGHTNING (???-Rank)]!]
[GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT: FIVE ORIGINS! FIVE ORIGINS HAVE BEEN CLAIMED BY A SINGLE MORTAL! A NEW GOD OF MAGIC IS BORN!]
My system shrieked one last time.
[Ding! FIVE ORIGINS UNLOCKED! HOST, WHAT ARE YOU?!] [New Title Acquired: [Elemental Sovereign (SSS-Rank)]!] [Effect: You have 100% resistance to Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Lightning. 10x Bonus applied: You now [ABSORB] all five elements, converting them to Mana.]
It was too much. My old skill trees. My new skill trees. The two SSS-Rank titles. The screaming of the world. My body, my Level 30 mind, couldn't handle the sheer volume of the upgrade. I felt a warmth in my chest, a new power settling in. And then, as I sat in my hallway, I felt myself about to lose consciousness. My vision tunneled. I fell asleep.
Here is the improved Author's Note you can use for your chapters:
A/N:
Hey everyone, thanks for reading!
If you're enjoying Luke's journey and want to support the story, please consider dropping some Powerstones! It's a huge motivation and helps the novel a lot.
BIG NEWS: To thank you all, get ready for a mass release of 6-8 chapters today!
I'm excited to share them with you. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments!