Abyssal Awakening

Sitting back down at the table, Alice started to reach through A Guide to Poison Beasts. However, the book contained vocabulary that was far too difficult for her along with a myriad of other strange plants that she'd never heard of before along with different beast blood combinations.

That being said, she did get some ideas regarding her own poison.

According to the book, the Spectral Hunter poison is one of the most adaptive poisons a low tier beast could have. It could work as a base for any poison combination and work as a hallucinogenic that dulls their senses to the real poison, making it effective for even those with four or more Sigils.

The key was the secondary poison. If the secondary poison used to merge with the Spectral Hunter poison is good, it;ll create a harmonic effect that significantly boosts the potency of the poison.

'One of the best poisons to mix with the Spectral Hunter, is the Moonlight Knari, a deadly poison that grows in deep in the Abyss. Its effects are to paralyse the Hunter or beast that smells the poison and take over their body like a parasite.

When mixed with the Spectral Hunter, the effects are almost instantaneous, resulting in immediate separation of the effected body part or risk dying.' Alice read as she examined the plant in question.

The image in the book showed the petals as semi transparent with a swirl of blues and reds and small dots as though it was a galaxy. The way the petals are drawn made them look like silk as even the stalk was of the same material.

According to the notes, one can spot a Moonlight Knari easily as it glows extremely bright. Yet by the time you see the glow, you've already inhaled its poison.

Reading this, Alice couldn't help but shudder.

'Symptoms of this poison are large blisters that can burst into a similar flower, hazy vision that continuously flickers, memory loss, internal bleeding and loss of motor functions. Victims of this poison will eventually find themselves becoming a thrall to the flower, spreading its poison as far as you can before finding the highest spot nearby to die so the poison spreads further.

If spotted in a city, must be quarantined and dealt with immediately.'

Furrowing her brows, Alice flipped to the next page and widened her eyes in shock. A whole city burned to the ground with corpses littering the rooftops. Charred yet the flower is still recognisable.

Countless news articles documenting what a combination of Spectral Hunter and the Moonlight Knari could do. Many have started to destroy the flower on sight, refusing to let such a breakout happen again.

As much as Alice wanted more ways to use her poison, this was not the future she envisioned for herself. Indiscriminate slaughter.

Closing the book, Alice leaned back and sighed.

Her blood was already rather dangerous if she fights alongside anyone since it'll affect them. In a situation where she'll be on the verge of death and an ally tries to help her, it'll only result in negative consequences.

With doubts in her mind regarding how much she wanted to develop her poison, Alice flipped to the next book, A Hunter's Guide to Traps.

The book detailed how she could use a variety of wires, rope, sticks and other items she could find easily to make traps for beasts. Their lethality varied but most only had the goal of hindering the beast before either poisoning it or killing the beast in one hit.

Memorising some of the diagrams and the steps to make the trap, Alice couldn't help but think back to the first book.

The scenes of the city that was destroyed via poison was burned into her mind. If she continued her path of poison, that was something she had to deal with eventually.

'I'm not a physical fighter and I'm having doubts about poison with what it can do. Is this truly the path I want to take? Or is the first Sigil a mistake similar to what Allura experienced…'

Thinking to herself, she wondered what other avenues she could take with her Sigil yet nothing came to mind just yet.

Sighing out softly, she placed the two books down and glanced at the journal that Nalem handed to her.

'His old acquaintance must be pretty old considering the state of the journal… And Nalem says he's still alive too… I wonder how powerful he is.' Alice mused to herself while opening the journal.

'Journal of Leoric Becker, first son of the Becker family…'

The first parts of the journal documented Leoric's life before he gained a Sigil. His family were apothecaries that dealt with Abyss Blood often and as the first born son, he was taught the knowledge required to inherit such a craft.

He was taught the benefits of blood, how to tell the quality between two vials of blood and so on. His family taught him everything yet that was not what he wanted. He wanted to be a Hunter. He believed that he was not destined to live as an apothecary.

Then came the day he was to get his first Sigil. He had approached the Shaman in hopes of getting a bounty worthy of being a Hunter. Unfortunately, he was only given two choices. The first, a weak combat Sigil but excelled in distinguishing the effects of blood and being able to manipulate it to some degree. A Sigil that will help his path as an apothecary.

The second, the Spectral Hunter. An ambush beast with a deadly poison.

In that moment, he had to choose. He had to choose the path he wanted to follow and thus, he chose to hunt the spider that many would avoid.

With his extensive knowledge of Abyss Blood, he was able to gather a variety of blood to counter the Hunter's abilities and his first Sigil was obtained.

The ability he gained was to turn his blood into a poison that could disorientate most foes. But as his only ability, claiming the second Sigil was going to prove to be difficult yet he did not despair.

In this journal he documented a few of his experiments but as a passive ability, this Sigil was limited when it came to hunting beasts. So he sought for something more deadly for his second Sigil.

He understood that the time between Sigils can change the options that the Abyss grants you. If you show more affinity with poisons, the chances of a poison beast being your bounty increases.

Armed with that knowledge, he eventually got his wish. The bounty of a beast called the Black Lotus Wasp. It was a beast that injected a bone melting poison into your body and around the area where it stung, a pattern of a black lotus will slowly emerge. Once the pattern fully manifests, the victim dies.

With his combination between the Spectral Hunter and the Black Lotus Wasp, everyone that breathes his poison will slowly have their bones melted from the inside out. Naturally, the intensity of this effect varies based on how his victim comes in contact with his poison but it was a good start.

Not only that, he found a way to produce an antidote as well. He had to mix is own blood with the blood of a beast called the Mirror Escalda. It was a small beast prized for the properties of its blood and usually used to produce shields.

After all, the blood of a Mirror Escalda when used, allows the user to gain an adaptive counter to whatever element they face for a short period of time. Blacksmiths would coat this blood over the surface of their shields to make it a great defensive option against beasts that utilize the elements.

For Leoric however, when mixed with his bone melting poison blood, it became an antidote that helped heal the body if he ever mistakenly injures his future allies or perhaps he could use it to blackmail any enemies he wishes to profit from.

The blood of a Mirror Escalda was expensive but it was worth it to carry a vial or two of antidote on his body just in case.

His third Sigil…

Fourth…

Fifth…

As Alice continued to read the progression of Leoric, she couldn't help but sweat at the effects of his blood. He had turned his entire body into a crucible of poison. The moment anyone harms him, if they don't have the proper preparations, they will start to melt from the inside out along with a myriad of other effects that rendered them defenseless.

Yet through all of this, he never once wondered about the chaos he could potentially cause should someone get their hands on his blood after a battle and spread it through a city.

Reading through the journal, it seemed as though Leoric stopped writing about his Sigils after the sixth one. He documented how difficult it was to prepare for the seventh Sigil yet in this time, he came to know Nalem.

With his interest in knowledge and books, the two enjoyed each other's company and journeyed around the Abyss seeking ways of getting stronger.

Even though Leoric didn't write in depth about their adventures, Alice could see that the two looked out for one another.

Nalem studied Leoric's poisons and the two worked together to make medicines. After his sixth Sigil, Nalem was able to control the composition of his poison, making it so that it could fight against the poisons that Hunters suffer when fighting poison beasts.

And thus, the two provided antidotes to any Hunter that wished to purchase one.

As she turned to the last few pages, she furrowed her brows seeing that they had been torn out.

'Did Leoric tear it out himself? Or did Nalem do it? Considering this book is in Nalem's possession it might've been him. But why?'

However, despite the missing pages, Alice understood one thing. The path of Leoric was not one she wanted to take. He wanted to capitalize on the poison in his blood but the end result was far from what she had desired.

Even though Leoric could control the composition of his poison, he could not control whether or not it damaged friend or foe.

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