Routine

Luke sat with his back to a wall, catching his breath from his most recent battle. Around him five husk corpses lay dead, all lying completely still face down on stone. Most of them had their heads caved in, while a few were missing the body parts all together. Rotten black gore covered most of the room, including Luke himself who was practically painted in black rotted blood.

While he often tried to wash up at the Evergarden, he would always end up covered in filth after one or two fights. That was the sound side of his chains using blunt force trauma to destroy the husks. It had taken Luke the entire first week of being stuck in the castle before he had gotten used to the smell of the creatures he'd killed. Now he was all but deaf to it, the smell of rot and stone becoming as natural to him as the smell of his uncle's dirty apartment.

Luke reflected on how quickly human nature allowed one to adapt to their circumstances, even in a place like this he'd begun finding a routine of sorts. Though he couldn't tell when it was nighttime, as the sky here never changed from its cloudy black color. He had developed a sort of internal clock when it came to sleep. When he began to feel tired, he would make his way down the upper levels of the castle where he was growing used to hunting, and head back into the evergarden. Once there he'd drink his fill of water, eat a berry if hungry, then wash, unpack his satchel and sleep.

Not needing to look at his body he saw the faded red marks from all the wounds he'd taken over the last three weeks. Each was now only faded scars, as he had quickly learned the water possessed some sort of healing effect. All he had to do was rub the water on the wound, then incredibly it would begin to heal. The only issue with the pool was that it didn't completely erase the scars, though the smaller ones seemed to disappear on their own. The larger ones, like the large scratch he'd received on his right side seemed to retain their faded white color without any sign of disappearing.

Which meant he not only had access to food, water, but also to a magical medicine. Essentially everything he needed to survive, but that left one slight issue.

Luke was lonely and bored.

In his world he'd always considered himself a loner, with most of his social interaction coming from members of Monty's gym, Monty himself, and occasionally his uncle. Which was why he'd believed himself perfectly capable of surviving in this world alone. After three weeks of being completely alone, Luke was starting to realize just how much he'd depended on those casual human interactions. Now that he'd been alone for so long, he found himself craving someone to talk to. Often, he found himself touching random objects in a room, hoping to find something to trigger a vision. Unfortunately for him, after his first three visions during the first two days he'd been in the castle there hadn't been any more. Leaving Luke completely and utterly alone.

That of course led to his boredom, but there was more to his lack of excitement than just that. The main source of his entertainment had been his love of fighting, which had only grown during his first week in the castle. The higher up the castle he went the harder fight he had found, with some rooms have five or six of the husks for him to kill. While he'd been suffering with his loneliness the thrill and adrenaline from the fights had been more than enough for him to be content with his surroundings. Well, as content as one could be when trapped in a castle surrounded by an army of the dead.

Though as his soul points continued to rise, and his strength and speed continued to improve, something about the fights changed. They grew to easy, like his fight in the library storeroom had been. Even when fighting five or six of the husks Luke had no trouble killing them all without ever truly being afraid. The fights had become… regular in his day-to-day life. In fact, Luke was sure he'd cleared out most of the top level of the castle. After weeks of going room to room and clearing the creatures out one by one, partially driven by a desire to fight, Luke had ended up visiting most if not all the room. And there were a lot of rooms on the higher levels of the castle.

More than that, with his omniscience and his ability to use his chains more accurately. He could strike and kill any husks that approached him before they ever got close enough to harm him. Which meant in most of his fights didn't even bring with them a sense of danger, even when a husk got too close one good chain-knuckle punch was enough to put the creature down.

Hint's because the thrill of battle had fled him, as had his interest in exploring the castle. He'd taken to collecting the less ruined objects he found, mostly those made of gold. Yet after a while he gave up on that pursuit, it wasn't like he had any way of selling the objects. Plus, most of the castle was just the same, ruined furniture, faded cloth, boring husks. In the end it left Luke underwhelmed as compared to his first week in the castle, when he'd still been afraid of what he might find.

Luke had almost even gone back to the dungeon area he'd woken up in, to fight that hanging beast. Yet in the end he decided it to be best to clear the top half of the castle first, to gain as much strength as possible.

Lucian Kell Infernus

Titles: Scion of the Infernus clan.

One who see all and nothing.

Race: Demon Novice

Stage: lesser

Rank: Novice

Soul tempering until next rank: [455/1000]

Bloodline: Infernus

Affinity: Chained: Since you're awakening you have been in chains, at first this was your weakness. Now you have turned it into your strength, thanks to your desperation and will to survive your magic has now taken the shape of that strength. You are now soul bound to your chains; you are theirs just as they are yours. You are now, and forever chained.

Affinity abilities:

Soul chains: You have been soul branded by the chains you were once imprisoned in. These chains have been tempered through your spilt blood, and the magic coursing inside of you. These chains reflect your strength and will grow as you do. Summon these chains at your will, for they are as much apart of you as your very soul. Novice: Your ability to control your chains grow as you rank, you are now able to imbue your chains with the aspect of your soul.

Eyes: Crimson

Abilities:

Unholy observation: Your eyes are the symbols of your bloodline, and your connection to those that have fallen. They are sightless, and yet they see more of the world than any regular eyes could.

Bloodline powers:

Noble Demon blood: As a high demon of one of the most powerful bloodlines, you now have the physical aspects to stand at the top of your lines. These aspects will only grow with your rank.

Flames of the Infernus clan: Hellfire is of the height of the true elements, and one of the most dangerous. As a scion of the Infernus clan the essence of these flames course through your very blood, no lesser heat may harm you.

Sightless: Your eyes are far more powerful than your body can withstand, for what they perceive you cannot. Until you reach the strength to withstand your eyesight, you will be cursed to see nothing in the way normal eyes might. Do not fear this sightlessness, for you have been gifted with the ability to truly see.

Omniscience: [Error! System Break] All seeing eyes: Your Omniscience [Error! System Break!] transcends time. [Error! Error! Error!]

Master: None

Unknown affinity: your magic has no shape, no form and therefore no use. Until your soul shapes the magic that has bonded with it, you will not be able to use your magic. The magic is one with you and will find its form in your moment you need it most.

Luke glanced at his stat sheet with a sigh. His progress had slowed during the third week, having only been able to find three fights, with his having killed a total of three normal husks and five adepts. He noted he'd yet to find a novice or awakened husk, but he supposed that didn't matter much.

After almost reaching the half-way point to one thousand soul points, he'd grown tremendously in strength. None of his abilities had grown stronger, but his use of moving his magic and using his chains had significantly improved. To the point to where even if he found an un-rusted sword he likely wouldn't use it in combat. Though he would likely add it too his collection, considering the childish side of him still found swords to be cool.

Once he checked his stats, he got to his feet and left the small room he'd been in. It was a room at the top of a tower, one filled with a couple of desks and crates filled with nothing but ruined papers.

When he stepped out of the room, he quickly descended the tower and came upon a long hallway filled with doors. All of which he'd already explored thoroughly, only to find a lack of anything of interest.

Luke had started to note that while many of the rooms had different furniture, they were all basically the same. Stone rooms filled with broken wood and the occasional old fireplace. All things he had seen already, and considering how many times he'd seen them, he found himself entirely uninterested.

Having already decided he would clear the castle of as many husks as he could, find that way he could be as strong as possible when it came time to leave. He was finding that he was quickly starting to regret that decision even if it made sense in the long run.

Luke decided to waste no time in opening any of the few doors he was used to. Even if he wasn't tired, he was restless for something new. Following the path back down the castle he quickly found himself in front of the ruined door that led to the Evergarden.

Not hungry, Luke left the place and headed into the council room and then into the room he'd been unable to explore before receiving his blindfold. Once he'd been able to see into the room, he'd quickly recognized it as some sort of throne room.

Based on how close it was to the dungeon, he guessed that this was where the king would hold his court.

It was a long, tall room with a wide-open floor and several ruined chairs at the back of the room. The throne itself was the most interesting part of the room, having been completely shattered along with part of the back wall in some sort of impact. The few steps that led up to the throne had been shattered in their middles, leaving the head of the room a mess of rubble.

Luke didn't activate his blindfold to view this sight however, he'd already seen it more than dozen times. In fact, he had a different location in mind. One he felt he'd put off to long and filled in with just a spark of excitement.

Heading back to the far end of the room where he remembered the door being, Luke stepped through the door and made his way to the dungeon. It was time for him to kill the hanging beast.

***

Luke expected to feel an ounce of fear as he stepped through the last door and back into the old hallway filled with cells he'd been in before. Though as he entered the space he felt nothing, perhaps because of arrogance created by his success, or perhaps because he had already been in this place.

It wasn't a long walk before he found the shattered hole in the wall where he'd first found the creature. Yet as he approached the space, he was dismayed to find the hanging beast no longer where it was. Of course, it had been three weeks since he'd last seen it, so it made since the creature had moved.

Without any hesitation, Luke stepped through the opening and into the room. To his surprise, and happiness he found the space wasn't a room at all. In fact, it was a massive hallway leading far past his range of omniscience. More than that there were several doors along the walls, filling him with a sense of wonder.

'I should have come down here sooner', he thought, cursing himself for his decision to clear the top half of the castle.

Still, he couldn't deny the satisfaction he now felt knowing he'd already satiated all his curiosity regarding the higher floors of the castle.

As Luke studied the inside of the hallway, he heard the consistent thudding of feet and boots on stone in the distance. Smiling, Luke turned in the direction of the thudding and began to approach. Hoping the beasts to be stronger than the average husks on the upper levels of the castle.