Wuxia Mtl
WM [75] The Chaos Hydra
WM [75] The Chaos Hydra
Bjorn and Aurelius strolled side by side, their footsteps crunching softly against the rocky terrain of the mountainside as they patrolled for anomalies. The night sky was surprisingly colorful thanks to the forming mana storm aurora. Aurelius, ever the conversationalist, filled the air with animated chatter. Unlike many others who might simplify their words for a beast, he had quickly learned to treat Bjorn as an equal, speaking to him as if he were any other person.
Luckily Failsafe had completed the translation spellform the day prior during the attack they had with monsters that hid underground in volcanic soil. Apparently they were called a magma burrower. They were a tenacious pack hunter monster. He was only able to coordinate properly because Failsafe finished the translation in time so he could understand what Aurelius was telling him.
The mountain air was thick and stifling, an unusual mugginess given their altitude. Bjorn, however, relished the warmth. For once, the chill that often accompanied these high terrains was absent, and his scaled body welcomed the heat. His heads swiveled around the area for any signs of a new threat. So far at least the only living creatures he could pick up with his senses were their group. The unusually high ambient mana in the chaos lands hid the presence of most monsters so sight was the only way to be sure.
Aurelius chuckled to himself as he continued his story.“... and then he went flying. Still I can’t believe Draco, the crazy man, actually tried to ride one of the shellbound behemoths. Ma chewed him out for a week after he broke his arm! If you’d seen it, you’d have sworn he was an aerokinesis mage with how high he got launched!”
Bjorn’s heads tilted slightly, a gesture he’d come to use as an acknowledgment of interest. The shellbound behemoths were some kind of furry insectoid monster that would roll their bodies up and would look like a cow. They were apparently one of the most docile monsters when in the Chaos Lands. Getting one mad was apparently something that took talent. Over the past few weeks, he’d grown accustomed to Aurelius’ storytelling. The chaos elf had a knack for weaving vibrant tales, often centered around his adoptive family. Draco, the older human brother Aurelius spoke of, seemed to be the perennial troublemaker, always at the center of some misadventure.
Since the mana storms had grown more intense and unpredictable, Aurelius’s family had relocated to the Force Isles, a safer haven far removed from the chaos lands. He was the sole member of his family capable of navigating mana storms without issue, thanks to his unique affinity for chaotic mana. Acting as a bodyguard and escort in these treacherous lands had become his way of providing for his family which was a contribution he carried with pride.
Bjorn got the feeling there was more to his desire to come out here though he seemed to genuinely like helping people. He was a good young man with a good head on his shoulders. Bjorn couldn’t help but wonder if his Past life would have been any better starting out if Isin had someone like Aurelius on his team. Bjorn could tell from the visions that he was getting that Isin was on the cusp of something that would take him down a road he would later regret.
Bjorn gave a low, rumbling growl that might have been mistaken for a chuckle. As Aurelius continued his stories going on about another monster he saved his previous charge from a monster called a sanguine traveler. It is a type of monster that could infiltrate groups of people, altering memories and changing its appearance to look human. It will make people think it was always part of the group and lead them astray. Aurelius is immuned to the effects of that monster and Bjorn assumes it is because of his primana core.
“It is because of the sanguine seductress, enchantress and traveler that it is recommended that a party doesn’t let anyone they see out here join them especially if they are alone.” Aurelius continued. “There are some runes and spells that allow people to detect them but unless you're me, or a light mage it's better to steer clear. Unfortunately, that means that some people that get lost out here can’t get help as they are viewed with suspicion.”
Failsafe decided it was a better time than any for him to speak in Bjorn’s head. “He knows you can’t respond, right?”
“Of course he does,” Bjorn said. “But he just wants to talk, no problem in listening.”
Even now Bjorn could split his focus between his heads and listen to both Failsafe and Aurelius at the same time. During the fight with the magma burrower he realized that having multiple trains of thought happening in parallel was becoming second nature. So much so that he told Failsafe about it and he said he would look into it. Maybe having four heads unlocked some special traits for his species that allowed him to multitask better.
He couldn’t help but marvel at how natural it felt. While one head scanned the horizon, another listened intently to Aurelius’ tale. A third was mentally engaged with Failsafe, while the fourth kept a watchful eye on the trail behind them.
“You’re adapting quickly,” Failsafe remarked.
Bjorn’s tails flicked as he considered the words, but he kept his thoughts to himself. It seemed that the chaos lands had a way of forcing evolution—physically, mentally, and emotionally.
“Feels like I’ve always been this way,” Bjorn admitted. He then wanted to steer the conversation to something productive. “Have you finished analysing the Tri-core?”
“Oh yeah, I have, and that new primana changes everything.” Failsafe said. “But wait before you look. What do you think the worst part of us being in the chaos lands is? I mean us specifically, not the group.”
“Hmm,” Bjorn thought about it. “The fact that there are mana storms happening?”
Failsafe hesitated. “Ehh… yeah, okay, fair point. But besides that.”
Bjorn took a second before answering. “The fact that aether attracts monsters so heavily. They really like it so we can’t use our breath attacks or things just target us.”
“Exactly!” Failsafe said, the excitement in his voice rising. “The magma burrowers hated us after you blanketed the area in poison. They were like, ‘Hey, free buffet!’ But here’s where primana comes in. It can change all of that. We can convert our attacks from one energy source to another, seamlessly. Instead of using aetheric energy for attacks, we can swap to mana or primana instead.”
“So, what does that mean?” Bjorn questioned.
“Well if we use Poison Cloud but change it from the current aether mana alloy to primana it’ll be weaker but it will also not attract monsters. We can use all of our abilities without being a beacon for everything in a mile radius to come eat us.”
“Oh, oh that is good. We could fight all out then.” Bjorn was now getting as excited as Failsafe. “Okay, I am going to take a look at the new chan—”
Before Bjorn could open his status a pop-up menu filled his perception. Failsafe also stopped meaning this was one he could see as well.
Follower Ascension Panel
Name: Aki’al Hashemi
Title: Sonr Orma Eilífra
Divinity: Demi True Immortal
Divine Realm: Venom
Followers: 1
Follower List:
Name: Tanisha Valkyrja Scalebound
Species: Cernunnos
Level: 44
Status: Alive
Special Status: Soul Bound (Partial)
Evolution Status: Pending
Follower Evolution(s) Status
Name: Tanisha Valkyrja Scalebound
Species: Cernunnos (Greater Wendigo < Normal Cernunnos) - Dagda (Greater Cernunnos)
Evolution Prerequisite 4 / 10
Approve Current Evolution Status Prerequisite Met:
Mana Gate Open, Blood Gate Open, Maya Meridians and Veins, Pledge of Soul
[Yes/No]
Status Not Met for Evolution: Cernunnos - Dagda
Complete Communing (2/5), Bone Gate Open, Spirit Gate Open, Mind Gate Open, Aetheric Tool Bound, Level 100
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Bjorn blinked, his attention snapping fully to the menu. “Uh, Failsafe? What is this?”
“Don’t look at me! I didn’t make it—wait,” Failsafe said. “I didn’t make this. How is this possible? Is it one of those weird menus you’ve been seeing that I can’t?”
“No, this one’s different,” Bjorn said, his tone low and cautious. “You can see it too.”
Failsafe’s voice grew wary. “Aki’al Hashemi? I thought your name was Isin.”
“It is. That’s my hydra name,” Bjorn admitted, as he stopped walking. “But that’s not important right now. What is this?”
Failsafe hummed thoughtfully. “Give me a second to process... It seems like your connection to Tanisha grew significantly. I’d bet it has something to do with how she stabilized our Tri-core. Apparently, we now have greater insight into her evolution. Can we really evolve her again? It says we could take her from a Greater Wendigo to a Greater Cernunnos.” Failsafe’s voice suddenly jumped with realization. “Wait, wait, wait! We turned Tanisha into a Cernunnos, right? If we do this, it might make the Cernunnos a completely distinct species. That would make the Cernunnos the ‘normal’ tier, and the Dagda the ‘greater’ form.”
“Is that how it works?” Bjorn asked, his heads tilting in confusion.
“I don’t know,” Failsafe practically yelped. “I’ve never created a species before. You’re the one with the divinity here. Honestly, I think you should consult your parents, if you can, before making any choices. Also we absolutely need Tanisha’s opinion. Let’s not accidentally evolve her again without her consent.”
Bjorn sighed, his many heads exhaling in unison. “Agreed. Let’s take this slow. No need to rush a decision this big. Besides, she has to be level 100 before she could evolve again anyway.”
Bjorn’s conversation with Failsafe was abruptly interrupted by Aurelius. The elf had noticed that Bjorn had stopped mid-stride, standing unnaturally still with his gaze unfocused. To Aurelius, it likely looked as though the hydra had momentarily shut down. Bjorn quickly adjusted, his perceptions snapping back into the present. Each of his heads began to move independently, yet seamlessly coordinated under his control. The experience reminded him of something he’d been meaning to test: his newfound parallel thinking. If he could refine it further, he might one day wield as many spells simultaneously as he had heads.
“You okay, Bjorn? Did you see something?” Aurelius asked, concern laced in his voice.
Bjorn shook his heads, one after another, and resumed walking. Aurelius followed close behind as they approached a precarious stretch of the patrol route. The narrow path hugged the mountainside, leaving only a few feet between them and a sheer drop that plunged hundreds of feet.
Midway across, the ground trembled violently. Both of them immediately dropped low, bracing against the shaking path. Bjorn’s heads turned sharply toward the cliffside, each one scanning for the source of the disturbance. He didn’t need to search for long.
Something monstrous was clawing its way up the rock face. It resembled a grotesque hybrid of a goat and a crab, with eight spindly, armored legs that ended in massive, serrated claws. Its mouth was a gnashing nightmare of razor-sharp teeth, and the sheer size of the creature made the mountain seem fragile beneath it. Each strike of its claws tore into the rock with thunderous force.
“That’s not good,” Aurelius muttered grimly, peering over the edge. “And where there’s one of those, there’s usually more. Don’t use your breath attacks—it’ll just attract the others.”
Bjorn mentally reached out to Failsafe. “Failsafe, how do I switch the energy type of my breath attacks?”
“Good news on that front,” Failsafe replied cheerfully. “It’s still animal magic, so you can just will the change. Easy peasy.”
“When it comes to magic, animals have it so easy” Bjorn muttered to himself.
His rightmost head opened its mouth, releasing a steady stream of thick, rolling thunderclouds. The black vapor spiraled downward, crackling faintly with energy as it engulfed the climbing monster. It continued its ascent for a few more claw-strikes, but its movements slowed as the cloud began to sap its strength. Realizing it was in danger, the creature tried to retreat. Its limbs flailed in desperation, unable to find purchase, before it lost its grip entirely and plummeted down the mountainside, crashing into the depths below.
“Is… is that chaos magic?” Aurelius asked, his voice hushed with awe. His wide eyes stayed fixed on the dissipating storm cloud.
Bjorn inspected the results. The primana-infused attack had worked—albeit with less raw power than its aetheric counterpart. Power wasn’t what Bjorn saw as its greatest strength, it was what happened after the attack. Unlike aether, which radiated energy and drew attention like a beacon, primana simply turned into the corrupted ambient mana around it, blending seamlessly into the environment. Satisfied, Bjorn let a few of his heads nod in confirmation.
“It is?” Aurelius stammered, his composure shaken. “H-how? What? I—I’ve never met anyone else who could use chaos magic. How is this possible?”
“You boys alright?” Fuyumi’s voice called out.
The yuki-onna was standing at the end of the narrow path. She had Tanisha on her back but she appeared to be asleep again. The group convened on the other side of the narrow path. Aurelius was quick to point out the new discovery of Bjorn’s apparent acquisition of chaos magic. He didn’t mind as he would tell them if he could talk or if they could read his writing. Fuyumi listened intently and examined Bjorn thoroughly.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
“Huh, what an interesting creature you are, Bjorn.” Fuyumi said with an unreadable expression. “That definitely opens up many new possibilities for us while traveling. As for Tanisha, she completed the Blood Gate. We should make our way down so when she wakes we can move in earnest. We will stop four hours from sunrise so Bjorn can rest.”
“Sounds fine to me.” Aurelius agreed.
Status Menu
Name: Bjorn Isin Scalebound
Species: Lernaean Hydra
Level: 44
Vitality: 175 / 195
Restoration: 270 / 270
Constitution: 140 / 140
Strength: 90 / 130
Dexterity: 80/ 100
Stamina: 90/ 115
+ Primana: 70 / 70 < 100
+ Primana Regeneration: 100 / 100 (+150 from bond)
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Skills Analysis
Reincarnation Failsafe
An incomplete reincarnation magic and your best friend who has your back no matter what!
Error: Eyes of the Queen
The Queen of a Thousand Heads is watching you. Be sure to eat well and don't talk to strangers from Higher Planes!
Venomous Bite
Primana Cost: 0
You have a neurotoxic venom which can be injected through a bite with your fangs. Your venom becomes infectious and will spread to nearby targets within five feet of the injected target. Allies are unaffected by your venom.
Poison Cloud
Primana Cost: 5
With your right head you can mix venom into the air using magic, creating a large area of poisonous gas. This gas will rapidly reduce the health of those inside. Allies within your Poison Cloud are unaffected. Gain control over the spread and density of the Poison Cloud.
Plague Fire Breath
Primana Cost: 8
With your left head you can breathe a plume of superheated toxin, which will ignite enemies and infect them with your neurotoxin. Flames retain toxicity until you release the spell. Plague Fire will spread like normal fire.
Aetheric Disruption Breath
Primana Cost: Variable
(I) Low cost, 10 Primana. Release aetheric energies that boost allies and poisons enemy active spellforms. Boosted attack spells gain a poison; weakened spells become unstable and harder to control, spreading instability to future castings. All effects last for five minutes. (II) Medium cost, 15 Primana. Expand the breath’s range, affecting multiple spells. Poisoned spells are even harder to control, while boosted spells deal stronger poison damage. All effects last seven minutes. (III) High cost, 20 Primana. Target spells to cause backfire, turning magic against its caster. Boosted spells gain potent venom, and poisoned spells spread instability to future castings. Effects persist for ten minutes.
Poison Claws
Primana Cost: 2
You can infuse your claws with neurotoxic venom, making even small scratches fatal. Venom has resistance to cleansing effects. Allies are unaffected by your venom.
Delta Familiar Contract
Primana Cost: -150
You are a bonded delta-class familiar. You gain +150 to Primana regeneration. Your bond has grown, allowing you to convey emotions through your bond. Your bond is more resistant to outside influences and can not be forcibly severed by outside parties.
King of the Reptiles
Passive Skill
Dragons, lizards and amphibians all show hesitation and fear around you, going so far as to run away. More study needed.
Intimidation Roar
Primana Cost: 1
Infuse Primana into your roar to paralyze anyone that hears it. Your roar can paralyze humanoid magic constructs as long as they are connected to a magic caster. Paralysis duration depends on distance and level disparity between you and the target. Those bound to you are immune to this effect.
Hydra Regeneration
Primana Cost: 15
Enhance the natural regeneration of your body giving you an unparalleled healing factor. Increases the body's natural healing rate by 4x regeneration statistic plus 20% constitution statistic. (Head regeneration is still unknown. More information required.)
Shadow Concealment
Primana Cost: Variable
(I) Cloak yourself in shadow magic, blending into dim or dark environments to hide your presence. Movement is undetectable to non-magical senses. (II) Deepen the shadow cloak, concealing even magical traces of your presence and blending with shadows in moderate light. Shadows will also muffle the sound around you making you harder to detect. (III) Unknown.
Air Claws
You have felt the aerokinetic energies of your Follower’s mastery and you have gained insight into the working of magic. Focusing this power into your claws increases the range of slashing attacks. Cause blades of aerokinetic magic to cut your enemies down. As this is a shared natural ability you can not level this ability by any means but through communing with your master. This ability is tied to your Follower, should your Follower die or reject your bond you must reclaim her soul or you will lose this ability.
+ Chaos Scales Armor
+ You have felt the power of your Follower’s aura and mantle and embraced the influence of the chain breaker. The power you experienced now resides within you, reshaped by the chaos of primana. Call forth this chaotic energy to fortify yourself, hardening your scales with its unpredictable touch. Each activation grants a random additional resistance, reflecting the chaotic nature of the energy. As this is a shared natural ability, it cannot be leveled by any means other than communing with your Follower. This ability remains bound to your Follower; should your master die or reject your bond, you must reclaim her soul or this power will be lost.
Hydromancy
Commune with your Follower to unlock.
Water Light
Commune with your Follower to unlock.
Hydro-breath
Commune with your Follower to unlock.
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Twin-Soul Core Analysis
+ Error: Tri-Core
+ You possess a partial soul tether to the Sage of Seiðr, a bond that persists even through death unless deliberately severed by you or the Sage. Without a complete and permanent union of your souls, communion with the Sage of Seiðr is required to fully unlock the core's potential. This advanced core retains all functions of the Twin-Soul Core while granting additional abilities. It now allows you to monitor your followers, gauging their strength and potential. Furthermore, the core enables you to catalyze the evolution of your followers, though this process demands immense power; insufficient energy risks the follower's death.
Permanently fuse your souls and complete bond [No/No] (NOTE from P̵̫̗͗o̸̖͛̂i̴͔͐s̷͍̈o̵̯̗̓ǹ̸̘̌: Don’t you even think about it, Aki’al!)
Chaos Nature Discipline
Specialties:
Venefikinesis - Creation and control of toxins, venoms and poisons.
Chaos Elemental Discipline
Specialties:
Aerokinesis - Control over air currents and atmosphere.
Hydrokinesis - Creation of and control over water.
Pyrokinesis - Creation of and control over heat, fire and thermal temperature.
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