Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 284

Lights swirled around him, and Max could sense things were different than he had ever felt before.

You have drawn some attention to yourself. It couldn’t be helped, and it isn’t your fault.

The voice was something he had missed, and Max blinked, getting his vision to return, and saw that next to him in the darkness he was floating in was his doppelganger.

You’re ok! I wondered what had happened!

I have tried to figure out how to remove the necklace that binds you, but it appears I may not be able to. Doing so has locked me in a state where I cannot reply or do much. Even now I am only able to talk because you are here.

Where is here?

His clone pointed around them.

We are in the system. You should be gone in a moment, but I can feel eyes upon us. Tell me you can as well.

I’m not certain who it is, but you should be safe. Until you climb the tower, you are not touchable by many. I need to—

Both of them felt pain in their heads, silence taking over, and the darkness came again.

***

His Sonar told him he was on the ground, blood pooling everywhere, and he was caked in it.

Grunting, Max stood up, his brain felt like Batrire had used it as a drum for a while.

Then he saw the notifications waiting on him.

[ Bonus Points Consumed ]

[ 20 Strength Consumed ]

[ 20 Endurance Consumed ]

[ 20 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 20 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 20 Wisdom Consumed ]

[ Stat Milestone 1 Reached ]

[ Wisdom of 250 acquired ]

[ Bonus Mana regeneration granted - 25% regeneration increase]

[ Bonus resistance to Mental effects - 20% increase to Mental Defense ]

[ 439 Demonic Souls Consumed ]

[ Consume has Consumed… System Error ]

[ 0hKakor801…. ]

[ Entity Does Not Match Current Planet Type ]

[ Skill Transference Does Not Match Entity Type ]

[ Skill Cannot Convert to Entity Type ]

[ Power Stored for Future Use ]

[ Max Hoste Has Been Marked ]

[ Potential Skill Conflicts Analysis Beginning ]

[ …… ]

[ …… ]

[ …… ]

[ 8 Skills Detected That – ]

[ Consume has Overridden Analysis ]

[ …… ]

[ …… ]

[ Analysis Complete ]

[ No Skill Changes Required ]

Max felt overwhelmed at what he was reading.

Somehow his slaying of this demonic cat had not only gained him an insane amount of stats, but it also had caused him to be marked.

What does marked mean?

Nothing came from his skill, and sighing, Max turned to the real question of the moment.

[ Simple Base Stats Check ]

*****

STR: 407

DEX: 430

CON: 395

INT: 271

WIS: 267

*****

“Goblin shite… that’s a lot of points.”

His body felt amazing. Even with his back and side covered in the blood that looked blue, Max couldn’t argue with the growth he had achieved.

“Max?!”

“I’m fine, Aimee! How are you?”

“How… how did you kill that? I saw…”

Her voice trailed off, and Max wasn’t sure whether she could see him in the darkness, so he summoned a fireball and sent it up toward the entrance of the cave.

“Stand back. I’m going to come back up.”

Moving, Max gave a small jog and jumped, grabbing on to the opening with both hands and easily pulling himself inside the cave.

Immediately he saw Aimee’s eyes widen, and she moved to where he was, trying to turn him and inspect him.

“You’re covered in blood! Are you okay?”

“It’s not mine,” Max replied. “I’m fine. Now tell me, will I need to worry about anything coming and eating that tonight?”

Unable to say anything, Aimee stood there, jaw opened and eyes still wide as she shook her head.

“So we can sleep here? Safely?”

She snorted, a speck of snot escaping, which Max deftly dodged.

Max wasn’t certain, but had he imagined her scales all turned a slightly different color for a moment?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that!”

“You’re fine,” Max replied and then stretched, letting out a yawn. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to sleep a little bit, and then we can talk a little in the morning before heading to the city.”

Aimee stood there silent as Max moved to the back of the cave, taking the pack he had dropped and using it as a pillow while he lounged.

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He could feel her watching him, not moving from where he had left her.

Opening his eyes, Max stared down the twenty feet and pointed at the fireball outside.

“I’ll need to cancel that. If you want, you can move closer inside. I promise that I won’t do anything to you.”

He could sense her swallowing, and she nodded, taking a few more steps in before curling up on the floor against a wall.

“Good night,” Max said as he let the fireball vanish.

No reply came, but Max didn’t care. He was tired, and there was too much in his head at this moment.

***

Already, the suns were rising, and the desert was starting to radiate with heat.

“You’re certain you don’t mind?”

“If you say you need to visit your home, then I don’t want to say no. You promised to help me get to the main town, Quan Ma, so I don’t see why I can’t make a small detour.”

“But the one hunting you? Can you afford it?”

Shrugging, Max gave the corpse one last glance.

He had taken a few claws, but there wasn’t much more he could do. Sure, the fangs looked nice and useful, but the truth was his bag smelled, and he had no idea how much longer it would hold together. Already, it was starting to tear, and he had removed a few items to keep the weight down.

“I’m not the kind of person to turn down helping someone. Now tell me which way to go, and we’ll head there.”

Aimee closed her eyes and turned slowly, stopping till she was pointing farther away from the wall and into the never-ending sand.

“How can you do that?”

“You can’t? Surely in your world everyone always knows which way their home is.”

Wincing, Max shook his head.

I’m not sure I even know where home is anymore… Mom… Dad… Stacy… I hope you’re alright.

He could see the look of sadness on Aimee’s face.

“I cannot imagine not always knowing which way I must go…”

“Then let’s not wait any longer,” Max replied, putting a smile on. “You’ll just have to be willing to endure being carried.”

Rubbing her stomach, Aimee nodded.

“I can’t say it's pleasant, but I doubt many have ever moved as fast as you do.”

Smiling, Max grabbed his bag and bent down, holding out an arm.

“Let’s get you a little more comfortable.”

***

Hours passed, and Max stopped a few times, giving a tiny chip of ice to Aimee, letting her cool off from the water and sending more down her head as it melted from the sun.

A pair of red snakes had appeared while they were resting, each about forty feet in length, and Max was about to attack them when Aimee told him not to.

“Watch!”

She began to thrum, holding out her hands and making a trilling and thrumming noise from her throat.

Soon the pair turned toward them, slithering across the sand with ease.

Max stood behind Aimee, wondering if this was a good idea, but when both came and stopped about ten yards away, his companion bowed, motioning Max to join her.

Bending at his waist, he could feel the snakes respond, a presence they had been exuding vanishing, and their armored skin took on a deeper red color.

“We can now touch them. Can you summon another piece of ice for each?”

Max nodded, slowly creating a shard and a spear, handing one to Aimee who moved to the snake on the left.

He could hear her speaking in a clicking and other sound, yet none of it translated.

The snake opened its mouth, and she put the ice inside, crunching coming for a moment before a trill like the one Aimee had made earlier was made.

“It's your turn. Just stand there. I’ll do the talking.”

Max nodded and moved slowly to where the one on the left was.

Once more Aimee made the same noises as she came near him, and Max put the tiny spear of ice into the snake's mouth when it opened.

It crunched the ice and then made a similar trilling noise.

“You can touch them. Scratch the side right outside their jaws.”

Max had to admit as the pair of white eyes stared at him and a forked tongue flicked out from the snake, he wasn’t certain rubbing a random snake in the wild was on his to-do list.

Still he followed Aimee’s lead and heard another trill coming from the creature before a sound came from the south.

Both snakes slowly slithered and moved back.

A hissing sound came, and Aimee replied, it appeared.

“What is it?”

“We need to go. A sandstorm has been reported, and they are relaying the message across the land.”

As she spoke the pair rose up and sent out a high-pitched sound that reverberated in his chest.

“How bad is this storm?”

Each snake turned and began to burrow into the ground.

“Bad. You’ll need to run fast or we… well, I’ll have the hide stripped from my skin if we get caught in it. I think we’re close enough to my village to reach it in time.”

Max nodded, moved to get his pack and then let Aimee get into position.

“We’re closer. I can feel it.”

Preparing to run, Max turned in the direction the snakes had been relaying from and saw that the sky was dark out there.

Without waiting he took off, leaving a trail of dust and sand behind him.

***

Loud crashes of lightning and thunder came as the wall of sand behind them grew.

Cursing, Max knew that the storm was already ahead of them and he needed to find this village Aimee had said was near, or they would need to turn and run somewhere else.

“Keep going! We’re very close!”

All he could see was the sand, and the stinging of the wind didn’t bother him, but he could smell and sense the blood that had started to eat at the hide of his companion.

She didn’t cry out, and yet he could feel her wincing as gusts of wind sent sand that tore at them.

His eyes were closed, using Sonar to keep him from tripping, and even then the storm was causing problems.

“How much more!” Max shouted.

“Fi–five minutes at your pace?”

The wind wailed loudly, and Max knew she wasn’t going to make five more minutes as each second tore at her.

Coming to a halt, he dropped his bag and set her down before him, using his body to shield whatever he could.

“What?! Why have you stopped?!”

Her words seemed so quiet even though he knew she was shouting, each word being swept away by the wind.

Dumping the stomach out, Max covered her with it, making sure to use the side that faced out.

“Forgive me!”

Grabbing Aimee, he picked her up, leaving a small hole near the top where she could breathe, and carried her like a child.

“Which way!”

A hand popped out from inside the bag, pointing in the direction they needed to go.

[ Haste ]

Once more, she screamed, not because of the pain of the sand but because of how he had forgotten to build up speed.

There wasn’t time, and as much as Max hated losing all the stuff he had collected, it was worthless if she lost her life.

It had been hard running in the sand, each step sinking from the fresh deposit that came from the storm, but now he barely touched it at all.

“Two… no one… no… SLOW DOWN!”

Max immediately began to slow down, and saw shapes beginning to form as he cracked his eyes.

There before them a wall came into view.

Is that glass?

Dark colored glass surrounded a city, and Max didn’t hesitate, seeing that it was only twenty five feet high. He leaped upward, using a single wall of air to adjust himself in the blowing wind, and came down on the other side.

Aimee’s head wiggled free from the bag as they touched down on the sand inside the walls, the assault of the storm not yet having made an impact in the village.

Each building was a dark, almost black form of glass, unable to be peered through.

“There! Go that way! My home is there!”

Max nodded, and they ran through the empty streets of a small village, no one else around.

Soon, they stood before a small house, smaller than the rest.

Max set her down, and Aimee pounded on the door the moment she was free of the sack.

“Mom! It’s me, Mom! It’s One Who is Angry!”

Unable to help himself, Max chuckled at the translation that came through, wondering what her name really was.

The sound of things moving behind the door could be felt by Max as the vibrations of things being shifted.

The black glass door opened, and a lizard woman with multiple scars on her face and scales that looked to have been ripped off opened the door, eyes filled with tears.

Aimee rushed forward, almost tackling the woman.

Hating that he wasn’t invited, Max could feel the sand picking up as it came over the walls and moved inside, shutting the door behind him as a pair of eyes that were milky white stared at nothing.

“Who is with you? Why does he smell like death?”

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