The Empires Rise

- Rewards Granted:

Average Level of Settlers: 3.5

Rewards:

2 X Class Experience Bag for each Settler

1 X Personal Reward Chest for each Settler

Number of Waves Completed: 15

Rewards:

3 X Building Repair Token

3 X Settlement Experience Bag

3 X Class Experience Bag for each Settler

Difficulty of Final Wave: Level 6

Rewards:

1 X Tier 2 Personal Evolution Box

1 X Tier 2 Settlement Evolution Box

Number of Enemies Slain:

Level 2: 132

Level 3: 150

Level 4: 769

Level 5: 361

Level 6: 360 + 1 Elite

Level 7: 15 Elite

Level 8: 1 Expert

For killing over 1500 Regular monsters.

Rewards:

5 X Settlement Experience Bag

3 X Building Move Order

1 X Ignore Settlement Task Order

For killing 16 Elite monsters.

Rewards:

3 X Settlement Experience Bag

1 X Building Move Order

For killing 1 Expert monster.

Rewards:

1 X Large Settlement Experience Bag

1 X Ignore Settlement Task Order

1 X Outpost Upgrade Token -

Looking at all the rewards generated from the wave, I can't help but smile. This isn't even everything; quests can still be completed.

My smile quickly fades as I turn around and spot my father still bleeding profusely. Rushing to his side, I cast my healing spells on him to stop the bleeding.

The wounds close, but he doesn't return to consciousness. Looking up at my mother, she shakes her head, but a small smile is on her face.

"What a stupid fool, but I am glad he is saved. Thank you, Drake."

I breathe out in relief, hearing he will be alright. "Why hasn't he woken up yet? His health is full."

"Like any good warrior, healing can only do so much; he must rest now and recoup his strength." Draemish approaches from behind. "We aren't expecting any more waves, correct?" She asks.

"No, I finalized the waves as soon as the Viscount was killed," I point over to where there is now a pile of purple mush.

She looks down at me and then back at the dead monster, "And what, might I ask, is with that mush?"

Seeing her eye me suspiciously, I briefly go through my notifications.

- Congratulations, you have learned the spell Corrupting Bolt Level 1. -

Going to my spells and skills, I find the spell.

- Corrupting Bolt 6 MP Leve 1 Cast a bolt of corrupted energy at a target, dealing 1 - 12 damage and inflicting a corruption debuff resulting in 1-6 damage every 5 seconds for 20 seconds. -

I explain the new spell to her.

"If I didn't know you better, Drake, I would cut you down where you stand. Corruption mana is one of the few things that can kill someone where even a necromancer can't raise them. I have seen many people go crazy when corruption eats their minds. They don't last long, usually a couple of days, but the signs of instability happen quickly."

Laxreal walks up from behind and puts his hand on her shoulder. "Draemish, no point in scaring the poor boy." I have noticed this before, but his diction is different now. It is still the dry sound from a tomb, but something feels different now that I think about it.

"Now, Drake, why don't you explain what happened with your Mana Heart? That would appease Draemish and me, and we would not have to worry about you killing everything due to that mana."

Nodding, a bit stunned at how things are progressing, I am about to start when I turn to my mother. "I think this is a conversation for you, Xelyphe, and all the commanders. Can we please gather everyone into the conference room?" I looked at Laxreal before correcting the question, "Dining room, please."

The two of them smile and nod before gathering Shadow and Vranjaya.

"Mom, let's get Dad inside and in bed," I state.

She agrees readily, and we lift him together and bring him inside. I notice tears rolling down her face. I am glad I was able to heal Dad before it was too late.

On the way back, I spot everyone sitting or lying on the grass, resting after the battles we fought today. I smile as best I can at them before focusing on not dropping my Dad.

By the time we reach the top of the stairs, I am huffing and puffing from the exertion. I need to use some of my stat points to build strength.

Xelyphe meets us at the top of the stairs. "Meet us down in the dining room, please?" I ask her, and she nods.

My mother and I take a minute to get my father onto the bed, then head downstairs.

Walking into the dining room, I noticed that everyone I had asked to be there was there.

"Ssso, Drake, you have called usss here. What do you want to tell usss?" Vranjaya asks.

"I wanted to tell you all about what happened when I was meditating," I start; seeing everyone giving me their full attention, I proceed to tell them what happened, leading to me passing out.

At one point, Shadow asks, "Why were you trying to gather external mana when you knew it had such a high death mana concentration?"

Embarrassed, I respond, "I forgot."

Everyone groans hearing that, and Laxreal puts his hand on his face.

"Yup, that's my brother..." Xelyphe says with sarcasm.

"What? It's not like I could have known what would happen," I try and defend myself.

Draemish looks at me with some steel in her eyes, "That was why we wanted you to MEDITATE, not EXPERIMENT." She emphasizes those two words with fury on the edge of her voice.

Laxreal steps forward to protect me. "Draemish, please. How could the boy not be curious when so many possibilities surround him? It's like watching a toddler play with a stray cat; he doesn't know if it will bite or claw him, but he wants to pet and play with it anyway."

He continues, though I feel hurt compared to a toddler. "I think we have something more important to discuss than why he decided to absorb such condensed death and corruption mana into his system."

Heads nod all around the room. Feeling a chance to escape from this embarrassing conversation, I grasp onto it. "So, once I passed out, there was a time where nothing was happening, and then I was in a space with motes of mana..."

I explained what happened in that space and how I managed to stabilize the situation.

Realization dawns on Laxreal, and a hint of admiration appears on Draemish and Vranjaya's faces.

"Do you know what that space is called?" Laxreal asks.

Feeling this might be a learning moment, I shake my head. "That space is mana representation of a soul space. As uninspired as it sounds, we have called it the 'Heart Space.' It is rare, as only those with a Mana Heart can access this space."

"Thank you. At least now I have a name for where my mind was. What does this do for me?" I ask.

"At the start, it doesn't do much for you, but as it grows and your control over mana increases, the space will expand, making breaking through the mana rankings easier. At least, that's what it typically does. Those with a Mana Heart usually have one or two mana affinities complimenting each other."

I raise my hand, "But mine is different for several reasons. First, it integrated with my dormant bloodline. Second, I have two sets of complimentary affinities, and those sets are opposite of each other."

I hear Draemish muttering, though, loud enough for everyone to hear: "Nature grows the land, which allows corruption to spread across it. Death consumes the corrupted, feeding the land and allowing life to sprout again. The cycle continues."

Laxreal looks at her and smiles. "It sounds like Draemish understands. So Drake, do you understand what she means by this?"

"No," I honestly answer.

"There is a saying in our world. One affinity strengthens a Lord fiefdom, two strengthen a Kingdom, three strengthen an Empire, and four strengthen a world. Someone with four affinities happens only once every hundred thousand years. We haven't experienced anyone with that sort of affinity for almost eighty-thousand years. During that person's time, they conquered the world and lived in relative peace. Then they disappeared; some say they broke through the last bottleneck and reached beyond our world, while others think they perished during the tribulation."

"So I might be the next one to break through the world?" I ask, excitement glinting in my eyes.

"I don't know," Laxreal states, bringing my mood back to earth. "They were born with a natural affinity for four elements: Fire, water, wind, and earth. While they didn't fully complement each other, they did allow for some magnificent magic. Yours are different. Life and death will fight each other, while nature and corruption have their struggles."

"But they aren't fighting each other," I state, "They are all acting in harmony according to the quadrants they are in."

"Good, this is a balance that must be kept. As you grow, you must ensure these four affinities grow in harmony." Turning to Draemish, he asks her, "Do you know what mana is most readily available in this land?"

She thinks about it and shakes her head. "How about this: do you know why this world is covered in fog?"

Again, she shakes her head.

"Then let me explain. After all the killing, there should have primarily been death mana in the air, but there was corruption mana. If we take a logical leap, we can discover that the corrupted mana was already here."

She looks at Laxreal with her eyes growing wide in horror, "You don't mean to tell me-"

"Yes," he says, "The only logical reason there could be so much corruption in the air is that this was a dead planet, and the corruption is remnants from years gone by. We are saved from most of the corruption because of the settlement. As the settlement grows, more land becomes available because it is healing the land we stand on."

"So what does that have to do with my four mana affinities?" I ask, a little heated from the excitement Laxreal is showing.

"What exactly did your Mana Heart do?" He asks me in return.

"It merged with my normal heart, and then my bloodline changed. I didn't know if I had a bloodline at all."

"You said that when you absorbed the mana from the environment, it burrowed into your normal heart, and it wasn't just the death mana but also the corruption mana?"

"Yes."

"Your bloodline had an affinity with those two mana types, and your mana heart had an affinity with the other two. Upon merging, your Mana Heart and Bloodline became the same. So, it expanded the scope of your bloodline to include life and nature."

"Right, but why did it become 'Life' then?"

"It was probably because the pressure from the death mana forced it to become more than it should be, elevating it to life mana. Granted, such a small change in mana affinities doesn't take much. You can go up in tiers based on understanding or naturally due to circumstances. It just so happens to be the latter in this instance."

"OK, so you're saying due to me absorbing the death and corruption mana, it led to my bloodline awakening while at the same time, my Mana Heart was developing due to my efforts, which led the two to merge, which in turn elevated my healing affinity to a life affinity."

"Yes," is the response I get.

"Alright, that is easy..." I sigh. "Well, thankfully, everything finished in time for me to heal my father before he died."

"Oh, he did die," Laxreal says.

"What do you mean?" I ask and then look at my mother in shock.

"He is right; by the time you arrived, your father had stopped breathing for a few minutes." There are tears in her eyes as she says this.

"Then how did my healing help? It shouldn't be able to do something like that." I answer, shocked.

"It's because it was elevated to life. Life can heal someone who should have died as long as the wounds aren't too serious. In the instance of your father, he died from bleeding out, so the magic was able to get his heart started again and fill in where there wasn't enough blood. It only worked because it closed some of the larger wounds. He was still bleeding by the time you were done with your fight, but the life affinity of your healing spell resurrected him." He gives me the best skeleton smile ever. This means it's just all teeth, all the time.

"Not to digress from this important topic, but should we be concerned about the corruption mana destroying his mind?" Shadow asks, trying to stay on topic.

"No," Laxreal replies, "It is in a stable state with the other three mana types to keep it in check. When I was helping him by removing death and corruption mana, I could feel him holding some of it back when it was in equilibrium. I did struggle to pull it out, but he was adamant about holding onto it. It seems to have been for the best with the results we have in front of us."

"What does that mean for your bloodline?" Xelyphe asks.

"It means he has a lot of work ahead of him; not only does he have to work on his mana concentration, but he also has to find the materials to awaken his bloodline further," Laxreal answers for me as I am still wrapping my head around the fact my father died, and I brought him back.

"How much of your bloodline is awakened?" They ask me.

"0.01%," I reply automatically.

Everyone looks at me in shock. "What do you mean 0.01%? How is it that powerful?" My mother is asking.

I shrug, my mind is working overtime currently, "I don't know, it is what it is. It's not like I have had a bloodline for long."

"True."

I clap my hands together to reset my mind and ask, "Shall we talk about anything else? Like how Laxreal is back?"

Bursting through the door, Rhenriqi storms in and tackles Laxreal to the ground.

"How about we talk in the other room? It seems those two need some alone time," Shadow says, snickering as he leaves.

With the consensus being to leave these two alone, we head out.

All I hear from the room is the barrage of questions from Rhenriqi and Laxreal, trying to escape her clutches.