He glanced over the three kobolds sleeping inside the house, checking their levels and class.
Kobold Support (Level 5)
Kobold Scout (Level 5)
Kobold Mage (Level 4)
Everyone knows you kill the healer first, then I'll go for scout, then mage. He nodded his head at the decision.
Alex crept into the room, the stench hitting him like a physical wall. It took a lot of effort not to gag from the stale air in the shack, but he pushed through it, swallowing down the feeling. He inched over to where the support Kobold was sleeping. With his daggers in his hands, a reverse grip on both, he stabbed them down into the Kobold’s skull.
It died instantly.
The spasms of its death throes must have awakened the scout, its perception stat high. Jumping to its feet, the kobold withdrew its daggers from its waist. The second he saw the scout's movement, he panicked and launched himself onto it. Alex needed to bring it down before it could alert anyone else.
Having landed on top of the scout, they wrestled around the floor of the house, each trying to sink a dagger into the other. The kobold’s blades had grazed him on the leg, hip, and again on his cheek during their struggle, but none deep enough to stop him.
In return for the grazes, Alex had headbutted the kobold in an attempt to disorient him, and he had thrown his knee into its stomach, not allowing it to call out or draw in air.
But unbeknownst to Alex, their epic battle for survival had awoken the mage.
On top of the creature, he pinned it to the ground with his sheer weight. It was unable to escape his assault. Too disoriented and not able to breathe, Alex took advantage of the moment and sank his daggers into it.
The Scout died, life stolen away by the blades in its chest.
Alex quickly stood, trying to turn and see the last Kobold. He knew the fight with the scout hadn’t been silent. But his feet or legs wouldn’t turn.
He couldn’t move.
The feeling was steadily climbing up his legs, too. He looked down to see what was happening and noticed stone rising around him. It enveloped his feet, legs, and soon his waist.
It was climbing higher.
Damn is this some kind of earth or stone magic?! Shit, shit, shit. Alex cursed. He glanced behind him and saw the mage standing and channeling a spell.
WHAT DO I DO?! He thought in panic. Instinctively, he tried to throw a dagger behind him to hit the mage and interrupt the spell, but it missed.
Damnit. I don't know what else to do, and don’t want to risk my last dagger missing.
Panicked and filled with uncertainty, Alex focused on the mana trapping him. He closed his eyes and focused hard. Bringing all his mind and awareness into the mana around his legs, time seemed to stop. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed.
This earth mana was his everything.
He could feel it; it was thick with intent and willpower. Much different than the mana in the cavern, which was more natural and ambient. That mana just existed. But this mana? It was being controlled, controlled towards him. He could feel the mages' connection to it. And this connection, that's what Alex focused on.
He reached out to it, not with his physical hands, but with his mind and willpower. When he felt he was close to it, he clamped down on it with all his strength, his iron will, refusing to let it go. He wanted this mana. He needed it.
This mana was his.
“Screw you.” He said through gritted teeth. “This is mine.”
He pulled.
Holding the connection in his metaphorical hands, he heaved, pried, twisted, ripped the connection, wrenching the mana free, and breaking the hold the mage had on it. In doing so, he immediately felt the earth mana connect to him. He controlled it now.
It was his.
Just as it should be, it’s all mine.
He commanded the earth mana to release him, and it did so, instantly. The stone encasing his lower body shattered, pieces falling to the floor of the small house.
“Your turn,” Alex said coldly, with no emotion. The kobold dropped to the ground, quivering in fear. But what Alex didn't know was that the kobold wasn’t scared of the mana or of what happened with the spell.
It was Alex's eyes that scared him. In his eyes, the kobold could see everything. A universe beyond the scale of its imagining. In that moment, it had seen something no one had seen in a long, long time–
A Progenitor.
The earth mana, commanded by Alex, had begun enveloping the mage, enclosing its entire body in stone. Standing in front of it, Alex unsheathed his sword and ran it through the mage's forehead. The blade went through the stone, Kobold’s skull, and its brain with ease.
Victory achieved, he had fallen to his knees, exhausted beyond anything he had felt before.
Why am I so tired? And my head, it hurts like hell. Alex opened his notifications.
You have slain Kobold Support (Level 5)
Experience and SP gained
You have slain Kobold Scout (Level 5)
Experience and SP gained
Well done, Progenitor. Through sheer force of will, you have torn a spell from your enemy's grasp, taken control of it, and used it against them. You have proven yourself worthy of your race and unlocked another of your racial abilities.
Congratulations, Progenitor, you have unlocked the second of your racial abilities.
Celestial Control (Racial Ability)
This racial ability is an advanced form of mana manipulation, specific to the Progenitor race. Mana and Control are the two most important things to the Progenitors; if they don’t have it, they’ll take it; if it's not theirs, they'll control it anyway.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Congratulations, you have learned to use Earth Magic!
Earth Magic
Earth Magic allows the user to channel the power of the earth itself. Earth magic can be used in a variety of ways, whether that's raising a wall for defense, constructing a house, or launching spikes of earth at foes.
You have slain Kobold Mage (Level 4)
Experience and SP gained
“Holy giant's nuts, a new ability and a new skill,” Alex exclaimed aloud as he lay there, trying to recover. He quickly pulled up his status looking for the new skill and ability:
Alex Everett
Race: Progenitor
Level: 4
Profession: Progenitor’s Path
Class: Progenitor’s Path
Stats
Strength: 14
Agility: 14
Endurance: 9
Toughness: 11
Perception: 7
Wisdom: 9
Intelligence: 9
Willpower: 11
Free points: 0
Skills: Stealth, Earth Magic
Racial Abilities: Eyes of the Cosmos, Celestial Control
That’s amazing. Alex thought to himself as he felt his new control over mana.
My mana sensitivity has been enhanced, and it feels so much easier to control. I know this is the ambient mana, so it’ll be easier than the mages, but still. And the earth magic; I don't even know what to say about it. The earth around me feels alive. I know I can just use my willpower to command it to do anything I want.
When he felt for his [Earth Magic] skill, it sputtered out, making his headache worse. Oh, well, that explains why my head hurts… no mana left. I must have used it all without noticing when I turned the earth spell back on the mage.
Unable to test his new skill, he checked himself over instead. My wounds don’t look too bad either, just a few cuts from the scout, but manageable.
Finally resting a moment, he realized what he had been ignoring. The noises outside the shack. Shit! The fight must have woken up some of the other kobolds.
He crawled towards the door and peeked outside. Four kobolds stood out there, looking agitated. They seemed to be trying to figure out what the noise had been and where it came from.
Damn. My mana is too low to sneak away with stealth. The chances of them not checking this house are slim, but they're already starting to look into others. They’ll either find me or one of the corpses I left behind. Alex quickly thought, considering his options.
I have to fight, he decided a moment later, not seeing any other choice.
Alex waited, letting his mana regenerate a little, while he kept an eye on the kobolds. The plan's to wait and see what happens first. Either the Kobolds poke their heads in my shack, and I attack, or they find one of the corpses I left behind, in which case, I attack.
Either way, shitty options.
It turned out that luck was on his side; they came to him. But they took their time, allowing ten minutes to go by before one came. Daggers put away, Alex had his sword in his hand. He preferred its weight and reach. The larger blade just felt better to him.
When the first kobold poked its head inside, Alex poked back.
He immediately came down with a two-handed overhead strike, putting all his weight and force into it. The Kobold’s head rolled to the floor before it even saw him.
A thud sounded out when the headless body hit the ground. The noise alerted the others, and they came rushing over.
Alex stepped outside to meet them and was immediately hit by an arrow in the shoulder before he could even react. Not hesitating, he ripped the arrow out with a grunt of pain and ran towards the archer. Mid-sprint, Alex had to duck low under a sweeping blow from a warrior, almost getting down on all fours. He was lucky the warrior had aimed high. because ducking under a strike from a three foot tall creature wasn't easy.
I can’t let that scout keep his distance.
The third kobold was still standing there, not attacking.
Why isn’t that one attacking me? He quickly thought as another arrow cut across his neck, grazing him.
Almost within range of the archer, he heard footsteps closely behind him. The warrior was gaining on him. Two yards away from the scout, it released another arrow. Alex tried to deflect with his sword, but he was only able to change its trajectory slightly. Instead of sinking into his chest, the arrow had gone through his arm.
The arrow hadn’t slowed him.
Within striking distance, he brought his sword downward in a cross-slash on the scout, cutting through its shoulder, torso, and arm. Even so, the blow wasn’t deep enough to kill it.
After wounding the scout, Alex, without hesitation, planted his feet and spun on the warrior who followed him. He lashed out with his sword in a quick thrust, arm extended out in front of him. He tried to catch the warrior off guard. However, after that arrow had pierced his left arm, he was only able to grip his sword with one hand.
The warrior quickly blocked the one-handed thrust and counter-attacked with his enormous hammer. Not able to block or dodge the hammer swing, Alex stepped inwards towards the warrior. He was now inside the warriors' guard. The shortened distance threw off the swing, his hammer being too large and unwieldy.
They stood close together.
He still took a heavy blow to the chest, but it was with the handle of the hammer, instead of its head. Alex took the blow in stride. Winded and probably with a broken rib, he smashed his sword’s pommel into the warrior’s face- once, twice, three times.
It stumbled from the heavy blows raining down on it.
When the warrior stepped back to catch its balance, Alex stabbed forward with his blade again, puncturing right through the kobold's chest.
It died instantly.
Good thing these Kobolds are small; it makes their hearts easier to hit with a sword bigger than they are.
Warrior dead, he had looked at the remaining two.
The third kobold, the one who hadn’t been attacking him, was casting a spell that was enveloping it in a golden glow.
Shit, it's a healer! He turned back towards the scout that he had left alive.
This is why you always kill the healers first! I fucked up!
The scout had already been standing back on its feet when Alex turned towards it. He could see its wounds healing right before his eyes. Luckily for Alex, though, the kobold didn't have his bow any longer, just his daggers.
“You little lizard bitch! STAY DOWN!” Alex shouted at the scout, closing the distance again. Alex felt like a berserker, bleeding from several places, full of bloodlust and anger from his stupid mistake.
He didn’t even feel the pain much. Although he assumed that was probably just from the adrenaline.
Before he got close enough to attack the scout again, he focused on his [Earth Magic] skill. He would never admit he'd forgotten he had it, because he hadn’t.
Definitely not.
He felt the connection to it immediately and imagined exactly what he wanted. The magic responded. With ten minutes having gone by before this fight, he had been able to recover a little mana.
Alex let a big smile come across his face. This is fun. Even if I was stupid as hell and didn’t kill the healer first.
Earth mana converged and condensed, forming two spikes of earth. He sensed the connection he shared with them. One floated into the air, larger than the other, and launched itself at the support kobold.
The other spike came out of the ground, directly under the scout. It pierced straight through its foot and now stuck out the top. The creature screamed.
The support didn’t even see the attack coming. The earth spike planted itself right into its chest, skewering it through, dropping the kobold to the cavern floor with a thud.
The scout howled out and hopped onto one foot. Unbalanced and in pain, the kobold didn't react fast enough to respond to Alex's assault. He brought his sword over in a diagonal slash and took off one of its arms, blade cutting partially into its chest. Using one hand, he still lacked the power to kill the Kobold in one strike.
Alex pulled his sword out and swung again. His strike aimed to cut into its neck. When the sword made contact with the kobold, he felt a sharp pain in his thigh; the little bastard had stabbed him in the leg as a farewell gift before it died.
Alex collapsed to the ground. He bled from several places and could barely use one leg or arm. Unable to move or crawl somewhere safe, he felt the adrenaline wearing off. Pain rocketed through him. Darkness closing in, he couldn’t stay conscious any longer.
Is this where I die? He wondered. No regrets if so, that was fun.
He smiled and fell unconscious.
