Holding his prize in both hands, Diven made his way back to his camp. He immediately put the fish on the fire to make sure it stayed edible. He was especially worried about rot with the strange reaction the Cyclops corpse was showing. The fish was big enough to last him two days, he didn’t want to lose it.
While it was cooking, he went to see how the rotting corpse was doing. Still masked with a wet cloth to avoid the worst of it, he stepped into the woods. The smell had turned even worse. He could smell it from camp but the closer he went, the more unbearable it got. The decomposition process was well underway, but he had been too optimistic in thinking the corpse would be gone by nightfall.
He needed to move camp. Not only for comfort, but breathing decomposing Cyclops fumes couldn’t be good for his health.
The potential presence of scavengers worried him. Although, he wasn’t sure what kind of beast would eat the disgusting mess of bubbling flesh and spores the Cyclops had turned into.
While he waited for his fish to be fully cooked, he packed up his gear and formulated a plan. He decided that he would not go very far, walking for at most an hour upstream. With his experience from his first day in the area, he knew he wouldn’t get far. Still, it should be enough to get away from the rot.
Sitting by the fire, he considered other options but none appealed to him. He could walk in another direction, but where to? He could go further upstream until the river disappeared into the earth. But there was no reason to. Or he could go downstream, reaching for the sea and Kheiron. He had just been exiled from there. If he didn’t keep the river close, he could run out of water or food, losing himself in the endless forest.
No, staying in his current area was fine.
At some point, he would leave. Diven didn’t intend to live his entire life alone in the wilds. But for now, his circumstances dictated otherwise.
Furthermore, it was summer, and while the weather had been pleasant so far, Diven knew that the Wildlands were much colder than the warm shores of the Great Sea. Fall would come, then winter, he needed to be ready to face the cold.
With the spearfishing skill in his arsenal, he was less worried about food, but he still needed to stay close to the Lien for it to have any value.
He couldn’t fish without water.
The number one thing on his long list of worries was the rot. The state of the Cyclops wasn’t normal, and with his Rot Heart bloodline, the connection was too evident.
Uncle Basil was lauded for his Sun Heart bloodline. Although Diven didn’t like thinking about his own, he knew it could be as powerful. Where the Sun Heart was a very potent source of sun-attuned mana, his Rot Heart had to be similar for rot-attuned mana.
That was the issue. It was why he didn’t want to touch rot magic. He didn’t want to make it worse. If just his bloodline could have the effect he saw on the Cyclops, he could only imagine what would happen if he developed it.
He didn’t want everything to rot as soon as he approached them. For now, it didn’t seem to affect everything. But what if, someday, he could not have food close to him as it would rot too fast? What if living things started rotting?
Magic was powerful and dangerous.
Sun magic had ensured the Leios clan’s prosperity for centuries. Rot magic could very well spell its decline.
Wait, he was overestimating himself. The clans had plenty of Ascended Rank elders. A single rotten child like him would not endanger it. If he did, it wouldn’t be before reaching their level.
These were faraway concerns, but walking gave the mind room to wander.
The big question that had been on his mind since his awakening ceremony was how he had ended up with this bloodline. Bloodlines were hereditary, and while that didn’t mean one received the exact same bloodline as their parents, it was always related or linked to one's ancestors, one way or another.
His parents were not dabbling in rot magic, he was sure of that. Neither was the Leios clan at large. In fact, he had never heard of rot magic before it showed up in his bloodline and his available facet list.
Thinking of his parents left a sour taste in Diven’s mouth. He wondered what had happened to them. His conviction oscillated between the certitude they had abandoned him and the bittersweet hope they had been prevented from seeing him go. His mother, while not as bad as he was, had experienced rejection after her bloodline awakening. She wouldn’t do that to him. His father wouldn’t either.
Yet, the alternative explanation for why they hadn’t seen him off to his exile was maybe even worse. Diven was worried. Did something bad happen?
Not knowing made him anxious. However, he could not know. As distant as he was from home, it would take years for him to reach Kheiron if he started walking now. If he even made it that far.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
He preferred not to think about it.
Diven set up camp on a river beach, reheated his fish, and ate. He was happy with the taste, plus the Cyclops meat he had the night before didn’t seem to be causing issues. All things considered, he had turned his luck around, and aside from lingering pain from the bruise on his side, he was doing better than he would have thought possible just a few hours ago.
After lunch, he took a quick nap and went back to fishing. He needed to keep working hard, his one and only catch would not last him forever.
Plus, he wanted to try out his new skill.
Recalling that bait had been crucial in his earlier success, he gathered some worms and other crawling insects from under the leaves that littered the forest floor.
It only took him a few tries to spear a second fish.
Satisfied, Diven put the fish on the fire to preserve it and rested. It seemed food would not be a problem in the short term. Spearfishing was crucial in him not missing the fish when he went for it. Aiming through the surface of the water was complicated. He had to account for the distortion caused by the river, the more tumultuous it was, the harder it was. But his new skill nudged him in the right direction. He was learning and pride swelled in his chest.
Now that the most pressing concern was taken care of, Diven returned to other considerations. The encounter with the Cyclops was still fresh on his mind. Not only had he almost died, but he knew for a fact Cyclops were far from the top of the food chain in the Wildlands.
There were far, far more dangerous beasts lurking in the depths of the forest.
He expected to be attacked at any moment. A feeling he didn’t enjoy in the least.
The first thing that came to mind was that his skillset wasn’t adapted to survival alone in the woods. Nothing surprising, he was still working on his first facet and while Facet of the Hoplite had been the right choice considering his options, it was not a facet tailored to fight against monsters. Nor was it made to live alone in the wilds.
It was a simple entry-level facet that most noble children of Kheiron–and many commoners–unlocked upon their awakening. It was a good facet, since it reliably gave two skills. Yet even the least motivated person in the city would go through half a dozen facets throughout their lives.
He couldn’t expect a rounded-out skillset with just one.
He had grown up listening to tales chanting the dangers of the Wildlands. Even Ascended Rank powerhouses were not completely safe in those woods. To say nothing of a normal person like him.
True power was lying in his skills, but he hadn’t unlocked it yet. Once a skill reached level 10, it went through a process of refinement, rising from the Basic Rank to the Evolved Rank. In the clan, it was the difference between a nobody and a respectable adult.
Uncle Basil was at the top of the Evolved Rank, with a high chance of taking a skill from Evolved Rank to Ascended Rank. Something a lot more impressive than the first refinement.
Each skill taken up a rank didn’t just make it more powerful, it changed it at a fundamental level. The transformation extended to the skill’s owner, strengthening them to the point of extending their lifespan.
And then was the Transcendent Rank. But Diven didn’t even dream of reaching it, for it was so far removed from his station that he might as well aspire to rule the world.
No, if Diven could evolve a single skill, he would already be proud of himself. Evolving several skills would give him the confidence to return to the clan with his head high. Ascending was out of reach, but if he could make it…
He would show them.
As of now, his skills were in a weird spot. Spear served him very well. It was instrumental in fighting wild beasts. The range it gave him was necessary and the only reason he had not been mauled to death by in encounters. Spearfishing was his only source of food and he was giddy every time he remembered he received it without having to take a facet. On the other hand, Shield had, so far, been barely usable against the weakest wolf he ever saw. Faced with a heavier weight like the Cyclops, it was simply unable to resist a single blow.
With a thought, he pulled up his status: a compilation of everything that was happening in his inner world. Unlike looking inward and focusing on each element, it wouldn’t give him insights into how his power was developing, but it was convenient to see everything organized in a list.
Name: Diven
Bloodline: Rot Heart
Titles: Rotten Sun
Current Facet: Facet of the Hoplite
Skills:

Spear – Basic – Lv4
Shield – Basic – Lv2
Spearfishing – Basic – Lv1

His Facet of the Hoplite was closing in on completion. Once it was done, he would be allowed to select another one. He knew that Rot Mage would still be an option, especially after what happened to the Cyclops' corpse. That said, he was also looking forward to seeing what new options would be available.
He really, really didn’t want this one.
More than completion, the difficult part was often to reach the appropriate threshold to be offered the facet in the first place. More often than not, people came out of their awakening with no facet in the list. It was only because the noble clans forced their children to study a field in depth that they had a facet as young as they did. For Diven, it was the Facet of the Hoplite, for Sebastian, it was the Facet of the Hunter.
The sole other possibility he knew of was exclusive to attuned bloodlines. Those always had the related mage facet available.
Life achievements dictated what facet was offered to you.
Coincidentally, Diven felt like he had lived more in the last four days than his whole life combined. He was sure a facet or two would open up after finishing the Facet of the Hoplite.
He needed to go out and hunt. Find monsters to fight on his own terms. He would complete his facet and find out what was in store for him.
Finally feeling somewhat in control of his life, Diven didn’t waste his time and prepared. He needed to decide which way he would go tomorrow. While it was still day, he would do a little scouting around his camp and maybe catch one or two extra fish in case trouble came knocking.
Bursting with energy, the boy got to work. For the first time, he was mentally ready to tackle the Wildlands.