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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/arekban on 2024-06-16 23:00:02+00:00.
Synopsis: Markus is summoned from Earth by evil beings looking for a ‘weak and primitive’ creature to use as sacrificial entertainment. What they got instead was a human. Immediately after arriving, Markus awakens to an ability so rare, so powerful that it makes every god on Firellia desperate to recruit him as their new champion.
Learning to control his innate mastery over mana, Markus will devour the very essence of any monster, demon, or god that dares get in his way, determined to never lose his freedom again.
——
Markus hastily distributed points into his attributes as the cart roughly bumped the uneven surface below, the group of them being dragged along with no approximation of a destination in sight, only whatever their imaginations could conjure.
“I was right. I told you, I was right…” Daven muttered.
Another man sobbed freely. A woman whispered soothing words to another.
Markus blocked it all out. He focussed on the screen in front of him.
Thankfully, it didn’t seem to have drawn any attention. He was pretty sure the blue light the system boxes generated was something that radiated out into the world, but the screens themselves could only be viewed by him.
[Name: Markus Brown]
[Class: Otherworlder (Earth) (Tier: Novice 15)]
[Health: 294/435]
[Mana: 1803/1890]
[Strength: 22]
[Agility: 30]
[Arcana: 10]
[Constitution: 50]
[Spirit: 70]
[???: 0]
He had 19 free points and 22 regular. He’d levelled in his fight with Cyrus, and while he’d yet to spend the points, he still had two Essence Stones on his person, one partially filled with Mystic Mana but otherwise empty, the other entirely filled with whatever Blood, Life, Spirit, and Frost Mana he couldn’t keep on his person.
He kept his mana near its maximum on purpose. He wanted to be able to draw himself over his limits again quickly if he needed to, and also with limited means to store the excess he developed, Markus didn’t want to be at low mana and deal with the increased mana regeneration that afforded him.
Even still, he was planning to raise himself over his limits soon enough, and clutched an Essence Stone in his hand as he mentally spent his points, attempting to find an appropriate way to dole them out.
He put Strength up to 30. Made sense. That glaive always felt heavy when he first started using it, and while it seemed to get lighter and easier to wield the more he swung it, something to do with the malichor it was made from, he didn’t want to bank on fights going long. There was no guarantee he’d get to make five slow warmup swings, after all.
He bumped Constitution again, this time to 60, making use of his free points and increasing his mana maximum to 1910 in the process. If he could survive a little longer in combat, that boded well for him, and each point of Constitution was only making his Respite passive even better.
Hell, he could feel the effects already, the passive regeneration pumping through him as he shuddered from the sensation of his body improving once more. It was slight, but noticeable, and the improvement was most definitely tangible.
He still hadn’t gotten used to that feeling. It almost made him forget where he was, how much peril he was in.
Markus drained a small touch of mana from the stone, something to replace the bit he was now missing from his maximum being increased, still hovering under 100% purposely, ensuring he didn’t cross the boundary.
Overcharge came with a prominent blue-white glow. It was hardly inconspicuous down here in the dark, and using it invited other dangers to boot. He needed to keep a lid on his mana while he didn’t know what was gonna happen next, rather than give the game away now and start a commotion.
They were isolated here, sure, and there was a chance Markus could take both the imps and the troll together, but they were in the middle of a monster-infested cavern from the looks of things, and it sounded like the torch the imp weilded was the only thing keeping the monsters at bay. That wasn’t a situation Markus wanted to initiate combat in. Like it or not, waiting seemed best.
And so he looked over his remaining points: 9 free, 14 regular.
Bump Constitution again? Agility?
Spirit was risky here. More mana felt great in preparation, but it needed time to generate, seeing as it only increased his capacity. The other benefits of Spirit were helpful day to day, but Spirit definitely wasn’t something he wanted to dump into ahead of a combat situation, and neither was Arcana. Maybe if he had a spell or ability that was modified by either, he’d feel differently.
It was Constitution or Agility. Those were the only choices that made sense. He was leaning more towards Constitution just because of the free points he could use on it, but while he mulled over the results of each decision in haste, the cart lurched once more, and they headed over a bumpy krag towards a narrow, torchlit tunnel, angling further and further away from the dungeon above.
As they reached this point, the imps ahead seemed to relax a little, though they still spoke in clammy and rushed voices, sometimes walking in silence for long stretches.
This path definitely led somewhere. They’d be at their destination soon. Markus needed to make a decision, and fast.
He raised his Con to 70, then dumped the remaining points in Agility, bringing it to 43. His stats were looking a touch more rounded for once, and this was the first time he’d had another stat high enough that it rivalled his Spirit score. He felt confident when looking at the numbers that represented his power. Sure that while he was still learning how to properly be a warrior, he wasn’t down and out fucked here, no matter what got thrown at him.
After all, impossible situations were something he was beginning to get used to. In three days he’d seen more peril than a hangglider in a hurricane.
Markus heard another roar from ahead, and steeled his nerves as best he could. Yeah, he felt pretty prepared considering the situation. Didn’t stop it from being scary.
Especially with the wailing and yammering of the other prisoners. It wasn’t all of them, but the sounds of even two or three were enough to become distracting pretty damn quickly.
He tried to keep a positive attitude. Even the guards had stopped trying to quieten those in the cart. Maybe they didn’t care so much now that the danger from the path behind them had passed.
If that was the case, maybe Markus should attack now. Quickly, while the three of them felt relaxed and at ease.
No, it was still too risky. He was sure he’d beat them with Overcharge in this narrow space, especially with the drop on them, but then what? Press on with the prisoners? Not like going back was an option. Someone would surely spot them, assuming they didn’t get eaten in the caves, and Markus didn’t even know if that ramp they’d travelled down could be lowered from the bottom. What if these guys were too wounded to climb the long set of stairs?
Besides, he wanted to know where this led. It was the only way to determine if there was an actual way out through here, and if this path did in fact just lead to more hellspawn waiting for them on the other side, Markus very much doubted he could pass for an imp or troll, and so he refrained from attacking.
Daven insisted once again that they were all going to die as the tunnel on each side of Markus finally began to widen. He peeked his head up, finding that the exit beyond seemed to open up to an extremely large cavern, one that seemed to have been partially excavated and refashioned into a room of sorts, though he couldn’t make out much detail from here.
Further on, he could hear a loud, powerful roar, much like the one he’d heard previously when passing this place.
Beyond that, however, he could hear voices. And… music?
They were faint, and Markus didn’t have the perception to quite pick up what they were saying, but he was sure that at least several pairs of voices were chattering amongst themselves over the sounds of monsters, and perhaps even more than that. They sounded casual, conversational, perhaps a tad reserved.
They didn’t sound like guards. They weren’t rough, crass, loud, or any of the behaviours he’d come to recognise from most of the workers he’d met here. He could be wrong, but regardless, the impression he got from the voices was one of status.
Then, Markus heard from between the gaggle of voices ahead the words ‘bidding’ and ‘auction’, and his ears pricked, the hairs on his arms raising.
Maybe, just maybe, these prisoners had been told the truth. Maybe someone had come to buy them all. It seemed to almost beggar belief, but Markus knew nothing. These people could be brilliant mages or leading scientists or experts at trades. They could have a high inherent value and be worthy of a private auction, rather than the more wholesale market that seemed to operate opposite the tavern in the dungeon’s main hall.
Perhaps this wasn’t something to get so worried about after all. It was still a problem, and still something Markus would try to intervene with if given an opportunity, but it at least might be a bit less of a dangerous problem than he’d first expected.
“Ladies and gentlemen, …
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1dhjqlo/harmless_human_sacrifice_17/
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