It was the same familiar hospital room, and a man was lying on life support while making a call from his cell phone, reporting his situation.
"Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done. From now on, I must live here full time, with some palliative and other experimental treatments, I can extend my life for a few more months and be comfortable, but that's all we can do…"
"I can't do that, I'm so sorry…" Said a female voice on the other end of the line.
"Honey?" The man asked, not understanding.
"I can't stay with you anymore, it's too much for me to handle, I can't go through all of this… I need to hang up…"
"Honey… Can you come over here so we can talk about this in person?"
"I won't, I've already spoken to your lawyer, he'll bring the divorce papers… Goodbye #%?&%."
The man was silent for a long time… As an orphan, he had always been used to living alone… But that had changed when he married this woman…
"Were his wedding vows all in vain? Did she never truly love him?" He thought.
She had broken all his defenses as someone who was used to loneliness, and now she simply left him at his worst moment… He no longer had the strength or reason to prolong this suffering…
At that moment, while he was sinking into dark thoughts, a doctor came in holding several documents.
"Mr. #%?&%, these are the documents for palliative care…"
"There's no need, I won't do it."
"But… Without them, you would have at most 1 more month to live…"
"Yes, I know, that's my decision."
"I understand, we will do our best to make you as comfortable as possible."
After the doctor left, his cell phone rang again, it was his lawyer.
"Good afternoon #%?&%, have you spoken to your wife?"
"You mean my ex-wife?"
"Well, that answers my question… I recorded my entire conversation with her. If you want, you can leave her with nothing. What she did is not something a wife should do…"
"You don't have to take everything from her, just let her keep the house we live in… You can donate the rest of my money and assets as per my previous instructions, of course, now, take the opportunity to include the fund I had prepared for her and also the value of my life insurance…"
"Speaking of insurance, the company's shareholders paid for all the experimental procedures necessary to prolong your life; they value you greatly as their best scientist, and they want you to live as long as you can."
"I've already refused that, I won't prolong my life any longer than necessary. Make the necessary arrangements to cancel everything…"
"As you wish, I'll visit you tomorrow so you can sign everything. See you later."
"See you later."
Alone again in the hospital room, the man struggled to reach the drawer in the dresser next to his bed and took out a book. At least his old companions from his time of solitude would still be with him at the end. It was a shame that his death would come and he would not be able to read the end of this story…
On the cover of the book was a familiar name: ASOIAF…
***
When Rafael woke up, he was lying in the same bed as last night. Still inside the Tower of Beauty, Master Venus' home…
"Why did I dream about this again? I made sure to put all those memories so deeply into my mind to ensure that I would no longer remember certain bad things from my past life… It seems that what they say is true, the stronger the soul grows, the easier it is to remember everything…"
'Ignoring the dream I had and putting on my clothes, I remembered last night, a faint smile forming on my face, I was lucky that those women didn't have any ill intentions towards me… They even left me adequate compensation.' I thought as I held the primordial item of the earth that I wanted so much.
As soon as I left the room, I met the owner of the Tower of Beauty, and my mind was shaken again…
***
"I'm sorry for reacting this way, it's the first time I've seen someone as beautiful as you, Master Venus. I understand now why you don't like to appear in public." Rafael said, making a slight reference to the world-class beauty in front of him.
"Huhu, you came out of your trance much faster than other men and women, and besides, you even apologized and didn't try to flirt with me." The beauty said, smiling with one hand over her mouth.
Even with his hand over it, Rafael almost lost his composure again after seeing the woman's seductive lips form the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. The woman had almost all the features of the Asshai'i people, except her long and beautiful purple hair, probably a unique trait of her race.
Since this was her home, she was without her magical cloak and mask, her body covered in small common clothes that further exalted her beautiful skin exposed on her arms and legs, and her many perfect curves that would make any man lose control. Rafael stopped being distracted again and finally asked the woman the questions he wanted to ask:
"Where are Silvia and Marta? Why did they poison me?"
"Oh! Did they do this to you? You know, the noises that came from there weren't from someone being poisoned… Huhu."
Rafael felt embarrassed and avoided the subject, thinking about how to proceed, while controlling himself, trying not to be distracted by the beautiful succubus's smile again. Before he could ask again, Master Venus continued:
"They've already left. I don't know where they went, but they asked me to send the slaves they bought to a secret port on the outskirts of Sothoryos, maybe they went there?"
"Thank you, that will do. If you hear from them again, please let me know. Oh, and one more thing, a somewhat personal question… What is your relationship with them?"
Master Venus looked at me thoughtfully for a moment before saying:
"We were apprentices to the same master."
"I understand, thank you for your response and for staying, Master Venus. If you need anything, you can contact my Order's headquarters. Have a good day."
This time, Venus simply returned Rafael's good morning, and he quickly left the Tower of Beauty. Inside his carriage, heading back to the Yin Yang Tower, he looked at the primordial earth element item in his hand. Rafael had long thought about what spell he would perform if he had such an item, so he didn't wait any longer before simply placing the stone in his mouth, swallowing it, and guiding its energy to his heart. He then wrote the details of the spell into the system to ensure the full effectiveness of the effects he wanted.
After including all the details in the system and guiding the energy until it was completely absorbed by his body, Rafael felt a new power within his mind, and a familiar energy in his surroundings became tangible. He could touch, modify, and alter this energy within a 10-meter radius around him. Only then did he look at the system messages again:
[New Innate Spell Created]
[Gravity Control] (+)
[Uses the earth affinity to control all gravity in an area around the user; the force of gravity increases the closer they are to the host]
Range: 10 meters (+ 1.30) *
Daily usage time: (30 seconds) (+12) *
[The force exerted on gravity, the range, and the cooldown time are determined by the strength of the user's soul and other external factors.]
"As expected, it's a time-of-use skill. It took 1 hour to recharge a little over 1 second of use. It was a skill that could catch my enemies by surprise." Rafael thought of several ways to use this spell that appeared in his mind.
Still inside the carriage, I discovered that at the minimum range of the spell, I could even remove almost all of my weight or double the weight of the targets. If this were concentrated on just one part of someone's body, it would be lethal as well. After a few more tests inside the carriage, I decided to take out the two natural treasures I bought for myself at the auction.
Using the shadow affinity item, I learned the "Shadow Cloak" spell, thus making me eliminating the low-level artifact I was still using. And using the earth treasure, I learned the "Earth Golem." This wasn't the earth spell I had in mind, but the one I wanted to learn was already in the learning phase, so it wouldn't be worth the cost of the natural treasure and the waste of all the time I spent learning it.
Soon after, I told the system to display my status, I wanted to see all my improvements in the last 10 years, including those I had made in the last 24 hours. There was also a system alert about the completion of an important mission, and something that took me by surprise, the system had leveled up again.
[BEEP]
[After your battle against Iahssa the Soul Eater and the Val Brothers, you have been officially recognized by several Masters of Asshai as a true Master of Combat.]
[Become recognized as a Master in Asshai]
[Sub-Quest Completed!]
[Experience Gained!]
[Growth Pill Obtained!]
[Blood Mage System Leveled Up]
Level 5:
-System Inventory Expanded
-New System Skill Unlocked: Subsystem(0/2)+
-Prophetic Protection (High Level)
-Memo Recording Function Improved+
-New Function Obtained: Language Translation+
-New System Skill Unlocked: Pet Storage (0/2)
-System AI Slightly Improved+
The system leveled up… The inventory space doubled once again, which would help in our new venture into the Shadowlands…
Prophetic Protection was now at its peak, there was no need to fear that kind of magic anymore… Haha! Fuck snooping Green Seers…
The system gained a new function capable of translating languages. Did this have anything to do with improving its AI? More testing would be necessary…
A Subsystem? Amazing! It seemed like I could give some weakened functions of my system to my subordinates! But since there were only two vacancies, I needed to think carefully about who would receive this benefit…
Now I could store my animals in the system, would this save me on the cost of summoning scrolls, and maybe food? I also needed more testing…
As for the improvement in the grade system, now the grades were automatically recorded even without my help, not only that, but it also recorded all the dialogues I had…
"Wait! Dialogues? That doesn't mean… Good! This will give me some answers! I'll look at it later more calmly…"
I took the opportunity to read the description of the pill I got when I completed the quest…
[A pill capable of accelerating a pet's growth by 10 years] (-)
This pill was something incredible, but I needed to save it for another animal other than my Fire Worm… All the optional quests were complete except for the last one related to a Large dungeon. It was time to look at my status window:
Bloodmage System
Name: Rafael
Age: 27
Magical Affinity: Fire and Earth
Profession: Apprentice of Magic / Merchant / Leader of the Order of the Sages
Titles: Red Sage / Master of the Order / Pirate's Terror / Combat Master
Pets:
Firewyrm
Blood Raven (Deceased)
Improvement by Alteration
-Reinforced respiratory system
-Reinforced cardiovascular system
-Enhanced senses +15%
-Enhanced muscles, joints, and lower bones
-Double ritual jewels
Energy: 100% (Back of hands)
-Vital Essence Jewel
Energy: 44% (Forehead)
Body Reinforcement:
60% + 20%
Original Rituals:
Blood Clone +
Blood Mist +
Blood Crystallization +
Spells:
-System:
Subsystem 0/2
Alteration
Synthesis
Severation
Animal Storage
-Fire:
Fireball 2/2
Fire Arrow 3/3
Summon Fire Golem
Wall of Fire
-Earth:
Stone Skin 3/3
Earth Manipulation
Earth Golem
Others:
Eternal Light(Advanced)*[1]
Holy Cleanse(Advanced)*
Sea of Flame(Advanced)*
Cloak of Shadows
Summon Lesser Undead
Shadow Substitute*
Haste*
Innate Spells:
Fire Breath
Gravity Control
Fire Totem 2/2
Earth Totem 1/1
Resistances:
Prophetic Magic Resistance (High)
Disease Resistance (Low)
Poison Resistance (Low)
Curse Resistance (Low)
Control Resistance (Extremely Low)
Fire Spell Resistance (Low)
Relics and Artifacts+
Quests -
Main Quest:
[Achieve a major achievement as a Bloodmage.]
Side Quests:
[Achieve at least 1 achievement in the Necromancy Profession.]
[Achieve at least 1 achievement in the Shadowmancer Profession.]
[Locate and kill Kalindor, the surviving Bloodmage of Valyria (Time remaining 88 years).]
Special Quest:
[Discover the main secret of the Shadowlands]
Optional Quests:
Exterminate the Faceless Men of Asshai (5/5) (Complete)
Study shadow creatures (Complete)
Study the waters of the River Ash (Complete)
Explore a Small dungeon (Complete)
Explore a Medium dungeon (Complete)
Explore a Large dungeon (In progress)
I had learned two spells of each element in the past few years using many resources and potions, and I learned 1 more of fire using a ritual I received when I became one of the vice-leaders of the Adventurer's Alliance, and one of the soul type from the item found in the Immortal Ghost dungeon for a total of 6. Now I also got one of the shadows and another of the earth after the auction. The reason I chose these spells was in preparation for the advanced level spells, mainly golem summoning...
All the optional quests were complete, with only the one to conquer a Large Dungeon remaining, which I would complete soon with the help of Yuri and Laura. Speaking of Laura, as soon as I got off the carriage and entered the Yin Yang Tower, she had a worried look on her face as she walked quickly towards me...
"Rafael, I'm glad you're back! We have a serious problem regarding the Garden of Beasts…"
***
Humans have turned into zombies, animals have turned into monsters, the weather has gone crazy, and all technology has stopped working. The worst possible apocalypse was about to overwhelm the humans of Jyera, when suddenly time rewinds to 7 days before it began, and now Rick has a system and memories of everything that will happen... But something has happened... The apocalypse is different... People other than Rick have systems, too. And a new threat now stalks the survivors of Jyera from the shadows...
Don't forget to check out my new original book: Jyera World Apocalypse! Available now here on the site.
Last week, I also released The Stygai's Necromancer!
Follow Zhang's journey as he learns Necromancy in the dangerous Stygai - The Corpse City...
****
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Leery Falcon, Parsa, Scott Robertson, and Pato Senalima!
Magical Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, Kobe Robertson, Paul Gaslac, and Niteo akuma!
Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley!
[1] (*)Relic and Artifact Spells