Rise of the Devourer-Chapter 1Book 4: — Great Race

Noah paced around the room with impatience. The wait for his abilities to upgrade was excruciating. It had only been a few hours since Noah had started the upgrade process for his abilities, and already he was twitching from the wait to test them out. Even the sudden notification on his system page had done little to help—although a lot of people had been confused or shocked, respectively, by it.

He didn’t really understand why, but he could tell that this was something big. He didn’t really know what a Great Race was, but it was likely something significant, seeing how everyone had been informed about it.

He pulled up the notification from his Astral System in front of him to take another look.

A new Great Race has been born.

That was it. That was all it said. No details, no information, nothing else. And yet, Noah had a suspicion that he knew exactly what this message was talking about.

He had not seen Zax anywhere, and the dragon had also not replied to any of his messages from his communication bracelet—which was exceedingly rare. That meant either he was choosing not to because he was too busy, or he was somewhere the messages could not reach him in the first place. Either way, the result was the same.

Noah held himself back from checking the time left on his ability upgrade timer for the nth time and took a deep breath. He was currently in the Royal Training Chamber, which was empty besides just him. The ground was made of a stone-polished, marble-like substance that seemed to reflect back any impact it took, making it quite sturdy.

That worked perfectly fine for Noah. He was generally more concerned about breaking things than about being injured at this point. Even without Wyrmblood active due to the upgrade, just his base Constitution was closing in on 2,000 points, with the buffed Constitution nearly touching 2,500. And he still had almost 200 stat points left to allocate, which he had gained after the battle with the wyverns.

But that was alright. Noah had time. The Trial was still a couple weeks away, and that would be more than enough time to safely allocate all his stat points and train with his upgraded abilities as well.

In the meantime, he would have the rare opportunity to focus on some of his lesser-used powers to balance his combat abilities out, and also get some much-needed training with his spear.

With an exertion of his will, Noah summoned a Specter of himself. The Specter formed in front of him with a shadow ripple as it rose from the ground. Noah knew this would not be exactly the same Specter that he had kept in his shadow, but he still found himself amused at the thought as he saw the Specter in front of him.

The personality that had been somewhat erased after he had upgraded his ability—to prevent it from going rogue again—had definitely been returned somewhat. A Soul Rune was present inside the Specter, a result of his Soul Rune ability that he had used to absorb the Shadow Specter. Noah didn’t have to speak to communicate his thoughts to the Specter in front of him. The two of them could understand each other. He could not verbally send any thoughts to his Specter, but everything that he had been thinking up till this point, the Specter would know as well, and thus, no words had to be exchanged.

His newly gained Shadow Heart beat with trepidation. Dark shadow mana flowed through his body. Noah reached into his Dimensional World and pulled out his spear. Neither he nor his Specter could use any of the abilities that had been locked away. So for the first time since he arrived in this world, Noah was going to have to fight without teleportation, without Void Annihilation, without Wyrmblood healing him—and without Tony.

Which meant he would have to rely far more on his skills with his spear. He checked his spear’s System message.

[Spear of Crimson End (Growth, Rank D)]

[Progress to next rank: 47.9%]

The wyverns had fed his spear with plenty of blood, increasing its power and the bond between the two of them. But there was still progress left to be made. And this would be a good chance to do so.

Pointing his spear forward, he waited for his Specter to manifest its own spear, using Runeforged Armaments to make a near-perfect replica of the weapon. Without a word, Noah rushed forward. For once, he had to close the distance on his feet, and he found Weapon Mastery guiding him in how to direct his footwork. He tuned his focus toward the skill, listening to its instructions as he struck the Specter.

Spear clashed with spear, the Specter deflecting his weapon before countering with a thrust of its own. Noah swiftly dodged the strike, countering with his own. The Specter turned shadow-like, the spear passing through its body harmlessly. A moment later, it collapsed into shadow entirely, sinking into the ground, and then swiftly appeared behind Noah, striking with its weapon.

Noah did not turn. Awareness allowed him to see all around him without using his eyes, and he moved his body to let the spear miss by inches. Simultaneously, he also summoned a portal into his Dimensional Vault, thrusting his spear into it. The Specter burned with Abyssal Inferno, the fire blasting the opening as Noah used Two-Strike, countering the attack.

With no time to dodge, Noah made a split-second choice—to block the attack with one arm and use the other to teleport the spear to his free hand and throw it at the Specter. The Specter dodged, turning to shadow once again, but Noah was ready this time. With the wound made from the fire, Noah let his blood seep out as dozens of small blood wyrms spawned right where the Specter reappeared, biting immediately.

Noah triggered Predator’s Mark. The notification for the debuff by the wyrms came to him, and Noah activated Wyrm’s Feast to nullify them and use them as healing as his burnt arm recovered back to normal.

He stood on the other side, the Specter also still, as they looked at each other. One for one. They’d both traded blows of equal measure and had come out even. Noah was a little pissed he’d been the one to take the attack though—but that only made the upcoming training all the more exciting.

He readied himself once more and then rushed forward.

***

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Zax stood in a deep chamber made entirely of Dragon bones. A construction like this would bankrupt entire kingdoms, but if there was one place this could exist in today, it would be this kingdom. This one sacred place that the dragons had once called home. Now Zax stood here, watching a new future forming in front of him.

But he couldn’t just sit back and enjoy the moment. The amount of spells he was working through right now was starting to reach his limits, and the shackles were beginning to annoy him somewhat. He really needed to work harder on his countermeasure strategies. He could temporarily remove them right now if he so wished to, but he didn’t want to burn that card unless he absolutely had to. And he wasn’t overwhelmed yet. No matter how hard his opponents were trying.

Zax had sent kids to play with the wyverns not just because it was good training, but because it would buy him time to do everything he needed to get this place ready. And… if for once, he allowed himself a moment of pride. He’d truly outdone himself.

There were a dozen scrying attempts and probes trying to dig into this place. They did not know what they were seeking, and Zax had truly not expected Vion’s evolution to create a new Great Race right away. He had known it would eventually happen, but he expected it would at least be her B rank evolution, if not her A rank one.

Perhaps his own intrusion had caused the process to speed up a bit. He certainly knew Noah’s involvement had pushed things further. That boy’s entanglement with fate was deeper than almost anything he had ever seen, and so almost everything he interacted with was sent veering off course unexpectedly.

Regardless, what was done, was done. And now nearly everybody out there was trying to find who this was. It would not take much. The birth of a great race was a significant deal, and there would be enough ripples through fate that even low level seers would be able to sense the disturbance and track them back to their source.

But none of them would find any success. Their attempts were being blocked by a hundred of twenty four layers of spells Zax was running, alongside his direct countermeasures to give misleading information back instead of an empty nothing to their attempts, blurring out the results even further.

Most of the attempts were handled just by his wards, but there were some in particular.

The All-Seeing’s scrying he was having to block personally, which alone would be a task, but on top of that the Ghost Flower was trying to peer as well. Old monsters who would normally not take any interest in the happenings of the world suddenly found themselves with something new to take their interest.

Zax couldn’t blame them. Though he himself wasn’t an Ascendant, partly because he hated the detachment that came from that degree of power and immortality, he was in all rights, one of said old monsters and would’ve been trying to peer as well.

Especially if his scrying was being blocked. Then he would be really curious.

Surprisingly enough, the White Bloom had not made any attempts to scry, and that made Zax more worried than if they had. He’d had a feeling that they knew far more than they should, but it was a worry for later.

Despite all of that going on simultaneously, Zax was holding on, managing the scrying spells and protective wards, all while keeping an eye on Vion.

To the ordinary person, she would look like she was merely sleeping. But Zax could see deeper, and he saw the way her soul itself shifted, the torrent of mana swirling inside as two different entities combined into something new. He’d used spells to stabilize her and speed up her growth, he couldn’t sustain his spells forever and there was no way to stop the All-Seeing, simply delay the inevitable.

But he wasn’t worried about that old monster doing anything, not for now anyway. The others were far more concerning, and Vion was simply not capable of protecting herself from those who would seek to nurture and harvest the power of a new Great Race all for themselves.

And yet, despite all of that, despite the constant thrum of magic and the torrent of power flowing through his mind as dozens of spells formed and collapsed each second, Zax still had the time to feel excitement course through his body, as Vion began to stir.

How long had it been, since he had felt an emotion like this?

He recalled feeling a similar emotion when he’d first found hope when meeting Noah and decided he would break the chains put on him.

What he’d never told Noah before was that Zax could’ve broken those chains himself had he truly wanted. It would take him longer to do it, being bound usually made it harder to apply magic on the object of binding fundamentally. But he could’ve done it. No, he’d chosen those chains, chosen to tie himself to the realm left behind by his one friend, to watch over it to the end, that had been his decision.

But in that moment, he’d entertained a different possibility for his future. The true chains broken in that moment had been of his apathy. Despite knowing better, he’d fallen into the same trap many Ascendants did. It was hard to care when you lived as long as Zax. But his meeting had broken some of those chains put upon him. And now, Zax was the furthest from that state he had ever been.

Lightning roiled in his veins, as he watched Vion’s evolution starting to conclude and felt the change on a visceral level in his old dragon soul. He felt it happening, a single moment, as her soul transformed fully, and he saw a true dragon’s soul not harboring a human body.

Zax had been born with his lightning. Dragons, much like all other monsters, did not have classes. It wasn’t even a restriction, but a fundamental problem of having too much magic in their beings. They were creatures molded from power, molded from mana, how could the system change their nature? How could it alter them, or set them onto new paths? The tie between their bodies and souls were far too strong for such a thing, and as such, dragons did not change, they simply grew stronger, older, and more powerful.

But this? This would be different.

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For the first time ever, there was a race. A race with the soul of a dragon, and the versatility of humans.

Someone who could embark upon Paths, and alter their nature, without sacrificing the essence of being a dragon.

A toothy grin rose onto Zax’s face, as he envisioned the future and found himself excited for what was to come.

***

Noah lay on the ground, breathing heavy. Nearby, a specter was dissolving into motes of mana, having been defeated. Dozens of cuts covered Noah’s body, splashes of blood spread across the chamber. He was not used to having cuts not simply vanish a moment after he got them. Pain Tolerance meant he didn’t really have to feel the sting if he didn’t want to, and it barely registered in his mind with his constitution, but he intentionally did not use his abilities to remove the sensation. It reminded him of his remnant humanity, no matter how much further he was from it now compared to before.

He looked at his skills, seeing a bunch of them having leveled up. But the biggest improvement was a rather simple one.

Weapon Mastery level 24 → 25

Weapon Mastery has increased to Advanced.

[Weapon Mastery (Advanced) – Level 25]

Your connection to weaponry has transcended skill. You no longer learn a weapon—you remember it, as though every blade, haft, or hilt carries echoes of battles long past. Find yourself with an intuitive connection with any weapon you wield, and the longer you wield a weapon the deeper your intuition grows.

Noah smiled at that. Near the end of the battle he’d felt a switch in his mind, and that one moment had been the difference that had allowed him to take the battle in his favour. As the specter resolved, its share of experience flowed into Noah as well, effectively doubling his training, and he took a moment to let the memories settle in before getting up.

“Noah!” A voice came, and Noah turned to Kaelan at the entrance to the training chamber. “Have you heard the news?” The draconian man asked.

“What news? Oh wait- the whole great race thing?” Noah asked.

“No not that, that- everyone knows about it, that’s a whole other thing. No, about the trial. They’re moving the date forward because of this whole message. I’m not sure about the details, but my father just told me, and I rushed here. I thought you’d be the first to know, but it seems it’s a good thing I came to check,” the man said.

Noah eyed the draconian man suspiciously. “So, when’s the new trial date?”

“Tomorrow. They’re starting tomorrow.”

“…What?!”