Chapter 137: Chapter 137
With a crash that shook the earth, Freddy slammed into the ground so hard he left a crater. His body was broken to the point that it was unrecognizable. His arms were reduced to bone and bits of sinew, and his legs were gone entirely. His once-handsome face was a charred mess, and not only were his golden locks gone in some places his flesh had burnt off to the point that only blackened bone could be seen. His torso was best left described in as little detail as possible, but suffice to say, everything was visible, and nothing was in the right place.
And yet, he was alive. A groan escaped his throat, hissing through the teeth that were now bare, and his body twitched. Then, he began to heal. His organs shifted back to where they belonged as new muscle and skin grew to cover it up. Fibers shot out from his arm joints, reforming the muscles as his skin grew back like a wave on the beach. New bones sprouted from the stumps of his legs, and those too were soon covered in flesh.
With another groan, he pushed himself out of the small hole his body had created, and got to his feet. He spat out a globule of blood and other matter, then swung his arms around, stretching out the newly-grown muscle before looking up to the sky at his attacker.
“It seems you’ve finally figured it out,” he said.
“Yes, yes I have,” the other replied in a deep, booming voice. “Thank you, old friend.”
“Not at all,” said Freddy as clothes appeared on his body. “I feel that I’ve learned a few things as well.”
“Wonderful!” said the other. “Then shall we head back?”
In a flash, the world around them vanished, and they returned to the sitting room from which they had departed. Freddy immediately walked to a nearby armchair and flopped into it with a deep sigh. This was not the first time he had been left on the brink of death in the past few months, and though he had grown somewhat used to it, he was still glad it was finally over.
The one he was with was a reclusive 9th tier monster whose existence was known to very few, even among those who liked gathering information like Freddy. He rarely left his home, and when he did, he almost never caused a commotion. If not for the working relationship he had with a few of the other 9th tiers, he likely would have been forgotten by the world entirely.
If he ever had a true name, it had long since been forgotten before even Freddy spawned. He was known simply as the Collector. And as for what he collected… Well, he collected everything. Almost literally.
The “sitting room” they were in was quite literal in name. It had chairs, couches, benches, stools, swings and every other kind of furniture that could be sat on in existence. He didn’t collect every single one that had ever been made, but he had representatives of every era of every country, all perfectly preserved as if they were brand new.
The room also doubled as the storage for his tables. Many of them were arranged with the same furniture that they were designed to go with, but the walls were lined with standalone tables, grouped by origin and sorted by date of creation.
This room alone was large enough to put Jelor City’s grandest ballroom to shame, and it wasn’t even among the largest rooms in the compound that the Collector called home. Collecting literally everything was too much for even the Collector, but he would frequently pick up new interests, then excavate a new room in which to store the new interest, which he would then gather along with everything else over the following centuries.
Books had been one of his earliest obsessions, and the library alone was now the size of a small town, filled with books in every language on every subject. Even a 9th tier Librarian or similar class would struggle to catalogue everything in that room in a lifetime.
And of course, his hoarding habits didn’t stop with physical objects. Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that his hoarding habits had started with non-physical things. Specifically, Skills. It could be said that Skills were the main thing he collected, and throughout the years he had made it his mission to gather every single Skill in existence.
Collecting a Skill was exactly what they had been doing within the Collector’s Domain just then. It was a combat skill, of course, and its name was simple: {Ultimate Fiery Combination}. However, its unlock method was not. The Skill was an evolution of {Fiery Combination}, which increased the power of fire spells landed in quick succession, and its upgraded version did the exact same thing but better. In order to unlock it, the user had to use {Fiery Combination} in combat and build up a 50 hit combo. There were two problems with this.
The first was the fact that {Fiery Combination} scaled very well, and nothing below high 8th tier would survive more than 20 consecutive hits from someone at the Collector’s level. The second was what the System defined as “combat.” The Collector couldn’t simply find a 9th tier with excellent defenses and ask them to stand still while he attacked them. That wasn’t combat. The target had to be fighting back.
So, finding a 9th tier who was both durable to survive the combo, and outmatched enough that the Collector could land 50 consecutive attacks, even while they were fighting back, was nearly impossible. That was where Freddy came in.
As a demon, his physical stats were very high. The vast majority of demons had very high physical stats, and while there were exceptions, like succubi and incubi, Freddy was not among them. His main focus was contracts, and while is Charisma was quite high as well, it was really only that and his own intelligence that he needed to excel at contracts, and the rest of his stats could be safely grouped up in the physical four. And of course, as a demon who focused on contracts, his combat skills were quite rusty. Even before he became a 9th tier and ran out of foes to test his skills against, he had really only fought after preparing for long enough that his victory was more or less assured. That made him the perfect candidate to help out the Collector.
Of course, that was not how Freddy would have preferred to spend two months. Especially not during such a busy time, with not only Ostra changing, but also the fact that multiple Aetherborn had been spotted. Unfortunately, he didn’t really have a choice. The Collector was obsessive and odd, but was also likely the most knowledgeable being in the world, bar none. In order to secure his assistance in what would no doubt be a chaotic few years, Freddy had written up a contract for mutual help. Freddy would devote his time to helping the Collector unlock his new Skill, and the Collector would devote some of his own time and resources to helping Freddy when he needed. And now that the Collector had finally gotten his Skill, Freddy could finally collect on his end of the bargain.
“So,” he said, as the Collector sat down across from him. “You mentioned that there were five aetherborn?”
“Five known Aetherborn,” corrected the Collector as a bottle of amber liquid and two glasses appeared in his three right hands. “Drink?”
“Yes, please,” said Freddy, leaning forward to accept. “You believe there are more?”
“I believe it is foolish to assume there aren’t more. There have never been more than three. This is unprecedented. Why can’t it be more? I also have it on good authority that there will be one more arriving in the spring of next year.”
“What is this good authority?”
“The missing prophet of the Church of Light recently returned with a whole slew of prophecies.”
“I did hear news of that, but Ostra was only able to find the contents of two of the five, and neither of them mentioned aetherborn or anything alluding to them.”
Freddy frowned as he said this. The Church of Light had always been an unfortunate blind spot in Ostra. They excelled in sniffing out non-humanoids, so his spies there never lasted long, and the only people who knew the Church’s deeper secrets had minds too well-protected to forcibly take any information.
“Six,” corrected the Collector. “And here is the prophecy I was referring to:
“Seven years. Seven souls. Seven gods. Seven more.
“Two in the south in the lands of yore
“Two in the east on opposite shores
“Two in the center; the last is no more
“Five years have passed. The sixth stretches on.
“When the seventh arrives, there shall come a new dawn.
“Like the wrath of the gods, descending upon
“An unsuspecting world.”
“That’s…” started Freddy. “So there was another who died.”
“I believe so,” said the Collector. “And based on the timing of when the others arrived, I suspect that the seventh will arrive in spring of the coming year.”
“So who are the other aetherborn?” asked Freddy. “I am already aware of the Saintess and the Rabbit.”
“All I have are rumors.”
“In Carsas, one particular expedition led by three 8th tiers fell to a single monster. There was only one survivor, and he reported that the monster was an enormous serpent with impossible abilities.”
“I believe I heard about this…” said Freddy. “We were thinking about making an official journey there to see if the monster could be reasoned with, and if so, recruit it, but due to its apparent level, we were postponing the journey until we had enough firepower to handle if things went south. I did not hear anything about it being aetherborn. What impossible abilities did it have?”
“Portals large enough for it to travel through and stable enough that they looked like windows.”
Freddy nodded slowly as he understood the implications of what the Collector said. Portals were possible, but typically considered an inferior form of long-term transportation. They cost much more mana to use than a simple teleport, and were more difficult to create, let alone keep stable. Some high level magic-focused humanoids and monsters would sometimes use them in combat to make unpredictable projectiles, but that was the extent of their use. A portal big enough for a snake of that size to travel through without collapsing, and lacking the usual instability was indeed an impossible ability. The sheer amount of mana needed to to make something like that functional was more than any but a high level dragon could possess, and the skill required to make a portal that size stable simply didn’t exist in the world. Even the Collector couldn’t do that.
“I heard that the survivor of that incident was treated for psychological distress, and that his word was not to be trusted,” said Freddy. “Are you that confident in what he saw?”
“I had Enya poke around his mind,” said the Collector. “She confirmed it herself.”
“Are you certain it wasn’t a reclusive dragon?” asked Freddy.
“No, but unless it is from the pre-System era, even a dragon wouldn’t be capable of that. That leaves one possibility: Aetherborn. Additionally, I tried dreamwalking to visit it, and it shut me out.”
“I see…” said Freddy. “And the others?”
“A so-called Fated Hero has appeared in the east. I’m sure you’ve at least heard the rumors. Unlike the serpent, I was able to somewhat observe this one while dreamwalking. She’s only 8th tier, but she’s probably more difficult to put down than Rayna. I can say with almost absolute confidence that she is aetherborn.
“The last was difficult to track down, but also in the east, there was a rumor of a prisoner nearing the end of a life sentence who suddenly began aging backward two and a half years ago. He was also able to reject my dreamwalking visits.”
Freddy sipped his drink in silent contemplation. The man aging backwards was news to him, but the others, he had already heard about. He just hadn’t made the connection that they were aetherborn. Even if there was no direct evidence yet, the fact that the Collector suspected these individuals of being Aetherborn meant that they almost certainly were. The Church’s prophecy was quite damning as well. Speaking of the church's prophecy though...
"Does that mean that the last aetherborn will appear in Carsas?" asked Freddy. "The others in the prophecy are already accounted for. Assuming that 'in the south in the lands of yore' does indeed mean Carsas."
"It would seem that way," agreed the Collector. "It's also possible that they've already arrived, and that your rabbit is the 7th."
"I suppose..." said Freddy.
“So what’s your plan?” asked the Collector after a few seconds.
“I still only need the rabbit,” said Freddy. “So for now, nothing. I will simply observe. As per our deal though, should I come up with something, I will look forward to your assistance.”
“Of course, old friend. Even without the contract, I would help.”
“Thank you,” said Freddy, nodding and finishing off the last of his drink. “If nothing else, then I should get going. I’ve been away for too long. I’m certain that there are people looking for me.”
“Actually, there is one more thing,” said the Collector, standing up. “Follow me.”
The collector unfurled a pair of scaled wings and flew into the air, over the tables and chairs to the room’s exit. Freddy summoned his own wings and followed behind. For short distances, he would have just levitated, as would the Collector, but if the Collector was flying, that meant it was far.
The two travelled down a miles-long underground corridor, nearly breaking the sound barrier as they flew until they reached the part of the compound where the Collector kept his more interesting finds. The Collector landed in front of a vault-like door with six circles on it, and proceeded to place a hand on each one. Freddy sensed some kind of mana workings too complex for even him for a few seconds before the door unsealed with a hiss and swung open noiselessly.
The room inside was much smaller than most of the other rooms in the Collector’s compound, and was almost empty save for two objects in the center. Both were identical black cubes with a single indented line running around the sides near the top. Freddy reached out with both his {Mana Sense} and {Aether Sense}, but found nothing. It was like they were blocks of void.
“Do you recognize these?” asked the Collector.
“I recognize the description,” he said. “Was one of these not found in Carsas and sold at the Everspring Auction recently.”
“One was,” said the Collector. “But neither of these specific two were. I already had these.”
From anyone else, that statement would have been expected, but from the Collector, it was awe-inspiring. Not even he, with his seemingly bottomless knowledge knew what they were, yet he kept them locked up so tightly.
“Do you have any guesses?”
“A few,” said the Collector. “None good though. Whatever they are, they’re from before the System, which means long before me. I haven’t been able to find any records of them. All I know is that they’re incredibly rare, and potentially dangerous.”
“Is this related to the new one then?” asked Freddy.
“Yes. I want it. Oberon has it. Can you see if you can buy it off him for me? He refused when I asked. I’ll sign another contract if you’d like.”
“No one has ever been able to make Oberon do something he didn’t want to,” started Freddy. “But I’ll see what I can do.”
He summoned a piece of paper words appearing as it settled in his hands, and moments later, the Collector signed it with a flourish. The two of them walked out of the vault a moment later. With business taken care of, they started heading back toward the exit to the compound so that Freddy could use the teleportation circle that was housed in the aboveground living quarters. However, on the way they passed by the dining room where two others stopped them.
They were the Collector’s “children,” or two of them at least. An eight-tailed kitsune and a dulluhan. Well, a dulluhan’s head. Its body was nowhere to be seen. The two were playing cards on the table, each trying to out-cheat the other. When Freddy and the Collector walked by though, the kitsune leapt to her feet and approached them while the dullahan used the opportunity to peek at her cards.
“Daddy!” she said jumping into the Collector’s arms.
“Erin!” said the Collector, returning his embrace. “It’s been a while! How have you been?”
“Did you visit the aetherborn?”
“Actually, I needed to talk to you about that,” she said, pulling away.
“I went to visit her, but there was a dragon there too. She said her name was Irylax, and that she wanted to meet you.”
“Ah,” said the Collector, his face falling. “Well, I’ll have to make some time then. Let me see Freddy off first, and we can talk more.”
“Okay!” she said. Googlᴇ search NoveI-Fire.ɴet
“Let’s go,” said the Collector.
The other monster’s mood had clearly soured, and Freddy couldn’t really blame him. Irylax wasn’t exactly an enemy, but she was often somewhat difficult to handle. Stubborn, even by dragon standards, and powerful enough that she couldn’t be ignored. Still, he didn’t let that seep into his hospitality and saw Freddy off with all the grace and friendliness as he normally had.
As Freddy reappeared in his office under Jelor City, he smiled. He had finally finished his long and tedious journey, it sounded like Irylax would be the Collector’s problem for a little while, and Elise now lived no more than a few miles away from him. Life was good, and best of all, he had made it back in time for the upcoming Ostra meeting.
Walter was a lone wolf. He didn’t need companions, lovers, family, subordinates, followers, or slaves. That was why he found his current situation so confusing.
It was day, so he was sleeping in a cave, and at his side were a dozen small canines, each with elongated bodies and dozens of legs. He didn’t want them to be there. But they followed him anyway, and he couldn’t bring himself to kill them. He didn’t want to admit it, but Freddy’s lesson was working.
When he met the first one, he fully intended on killing it. He didn’t want any more annoying little critters following him around. Then, before he could use his Skill, four more appeared, and before he knew it, they were crowding around his ankles and sniffing and licking him wherever they could reach. He was just going to leave them alone after that, but then a monstrous bird had shown up, and without thinking, he killed it, likely saving the strange dogs.
Ever since then, they followed him around, their noses too strong for him to fully shake them off. Weeks had passed, and somehow, he found himself protecting them over and over. They were long past the city where he had found them, but they were still with him. Most of them had even evolved from his inadvertent guidance.
Maybe I can make them into a strong pack, he thought.
Yes, a pack would be good. It would be much easier to kill Ostra if he had backup. They were nowhere near ready… but he could get them ready. There were plenty of monsters in this… wherever they were. Walter still had yet to find out where he was, but at least there were plenty of monsters around.
Between protecting the smaller dogs, and his own personal hunting trips he started making after training them to properly stay in one place, he had leveled up quite a few more times. In fact, he was rapidly approaching his Tier 7 evolution, which he was very excited for. He didn’t like the System Assistant, but according to it, he would get much stronger once he reached tier 7. Maybe even strong enough to kill Freddy!
Well, the System Assistant hadn’t said that, but Walter could dream.
On this particular night, he was gearing up to go out on another hunting trip. Most of his pack had reached tier 3 at least, so they weren’t as helpless as before, and he had sensed the presence of some powerful monsters in the valley nearby.
He slowly stood up, careful not to disturb any of his pack, then crept away until he was out of earshot. He had already thoroughly marked his territory, so no monsters were likely to approach, but for some reason, he still felt a bit nervous about leaving them behind. One of them had died a couple weeks ago, and he didn’t like the way that felt. He didn’t want that to happen again. However, it was necessary if he wanted to get stronger, so he took one final glance at the sleeping puppy pile and walked away.
As he got closer to the valley, his {Mana Sense} picked up on changes in the air, and his nose caught multiple interesting scents. There were definitely powerful monsters here. Powerful enough that the hunt would be difficult. That got Walter excited. Difficult hunts were the most fun.
Maybe I reach Tier 7 tonight!