The Empires Rise

- Congratulations, you have awakened your... [ERROR]

[ERROR UNABLE TO IDENTIFY BLOODLINE]

[BLOODLINE MERGING WITH MANA VEINS]

[PROCESSING....]

[BLOODLINE AWAKENING FAILED]

[MANA BLOODLINE AWAKENING FAILED]

[MANA BLOODLINE FIGHTING FOR....]

[BLOODLINE UNDER PRESSURE...]

[MERGING...]

[MERGING PARTIALLY SUCCESSFUL...]

[NAMING NEW BLOODLINE: BLOODLINE OF THE LIFE NURTURING, DEATH CORRUPTING DRAGON]

[BLOODLINE AWAKENED: 0.01%] -

More notifications are coming after the bloodline awakening, but I am too distracted by the skeletal hands pressed against my back.

"Who is there?" I ask.

"And to think you would have forgotten who helped you with all your mana circulation and skill improvements," a dry voice sounds from behind.

Spinning around, I find I am in my room back in the manor, and behind me stands Laxreal. Getting up, I hug him.

"Thank everything! I was hoping we could resurrect you after the event!" He gives me a look; it is hard to tell if it is a concern or something else.

"Drake, we aren't done with the event. Look outside your window."

Following his pointing finger, I look outside to find my father in a pool of blood, with my mother nearby. Xelyphe has reached Dad and is applying some first aid to him. In the distance, I see a group of dead Barons and another three fighting with a Viscount.

"What happened?" I ask.

"I don't know. I arrived just in time to stop you from fully corrupting your body and dying. I have felt my minions die but haven't had time to look at them. I was working on removing the renegade mana from your system, and there were several times that I wasn't able to. I had a feeling you were trying something dangerous..." He looks at me, knowing that I was doing something foolish. "I am just glad we didn't lose you. You must tell me what you have gotten from this mana heart, as each one I have read differs."

Agreeing with his request, I ask him, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Do you have mana to spare right now?"

I check my status for my mana and am shocked at how much mana I have.

- Status:

Name: Drake Taldrit

Health: 70/70

Mana: 240/240

Race: Human (F)

Gender: Male

Planet of Origin: Culhara

Bloodline: LIFE NURTURING, DEATH CORRUPTING DRAGON

Bloodline Awakened: 0.01%

Class: Mage

Class Level: 4

Experience 210/400

Affinity: Life, Nature, Death, Corruption

Special Class: Noble

Level: 5

Oaths of Fielty: 62/75

Profession: Enchanter

Profession Level: 1

Experience 9/25

Attributes:

Strength 1

Intelligence 13

Wisdom 12

Charisma 6

Dexterity 1

Constitution: 7

Free Points: 0 -

Figuring I need to go through my notifications with Laxreal to figure everything out, I answer his question first. "I have lots of mana, plenty to spare."

"Good, then you must get down there and kill that Viscount. I will focus on distracting it from you, but you must kill it fast. My minions won't last much longer."

Acknowledging the information he has provided, I analyze the Viscount.

- Sea Devil Viscount [Expert]

Level 8

HP: 167/500 -

Not wanting to wait for a second longer, I jump out the window. Not knowing where the courage to do such a stunt came from, I reached the ground with a hard 'thump' and felt a sharp sting in my legs.

Pushing that off, I quickly run to the enemies and cast my spells. First is my Nature's Grasp: I want the Viscount to feel pain for every movement. As I pass by my father, his chest is rising and falling, but barely. Casting a Minor Heal on him will hopefully keep him alive for a bit longer before I start my attack on the Viscount again.

With every step that it takes, damage slowly accrues to its legs.

Laxreal's minions are preventing it from moving to attack me directly. I notice it start to cast a spell in my direction; casting my shield, I watch as the water spear he casts penetrates through just enough to draw blood on my chest.

With a light sigh, I continued and cast Arcane Shot at it. The spell flares to life and shoots out of my hand, ramming hard on its shoulder, forcing it to take a step back over balancing itself.

Laxreal's minions take the chance to go forward and grab the enemy, trying to pull it down. It takes two of them to bring the enemy down on its back finally. The last of the minions hobbles forward on its damaged legs and attempts to pierce the enemy to the ground with its spear.

The sharp point of the spear going through the Viscount's stomach makes it unable to push it further into the ground.

It starts thrashing about, using its superior strength to get the minions off it. Forcing one minion to fall off, it spreads its hand toward the other and blasts it point-blank with a water spear.

It drills deep through the back left side and to the front. Not noticing the wound, the minion continues to hold down the Viscount as best it can.

Leaving the spear in the Viscount's gut, the third minion steps forward and helps to restrain it again on the ground.

Without its claws accessible, it continues to shoot spells as best it can through the minions while I attack it from a distance with my spells and deep mana pool.

It only takes a minute before one of the minions perishes from the magical onslaught of the Viscount.

With one less minion holding it down, it proceeds to try and get back up. It successfully pushes off one of the minions again but cannot stand due to the damage its legs have received.

I see the hate in its eyes, the loathing for me and my kind. Staring back at it, I continue to pump mana into my shots.

In my anger, I channel some of the corrupted mana into my spells.

A dark purple bolt flashes out of my hand and lands squarely on the head of the Viscount.

A notification appears, but I close it quickly, wanting to end the fight.

Laxreal, watching from afar, has his minions start to slash at it, wanting to bring it down quickly.

My attack stuns the Viscount, and I watch as the minions and my spells slowly whittle it down.

I cast two more spells at the Viscount before it regained its clarity from the hit, but not quickly enough, as it finally couldn't get up anymore from the damage caused to its body.

Analyzing the Viscount hopefully one last time, I am pleased with the results of our attacks.

- Sea Devil Viscount [Expert]

Level 8

HP: 13/500 -

Just a little left, but then I notice one more thing: purple veins are spreading across his body from the impacts of both of my most recent attacks.

Remembering the last notification, I hesitated to pull it up before deciding against it. We need to finish this enemy before I do anything stupid...again.

Soon, the Viscount dies under Laxreal's minions and my spells.

When it is finally killed, the notification everyone has been waiting to hear arrives.

- Fifteenth Wave Cleared

Calculating Experience...

Contribution 1 Kill. 32 Experience granted.

Your settlement has completed 15 waves. Would you like to continue? Yes/No -

Without any hesitation, I select 'No' before taking a second to sigh with relief.

Once I turned around, there was another notification.

- Tabulating Rewards based on:

Average Level of Settlers

Number of Waves Completed

Difficulty of Final Wave

Number of Enemies Slain

Please Wait... -