Chapter 333

As the years have passed, we are asked if what we do is necessary. We are told that our efforts are in vain. We are ridiculed, disparaged, and neglected. All this is in service to our goals, so do not fret. The Blackened Sanctuary's purpose is to the benefit of all those living, but it is not for the understanding of the limited mortal mind. Is what we do necessary? Absolutely. Are our efforts in vain? Perhaps. The possibility of evading the Tower's notice is worth the derision, hatred, and misunderstanding. If the Tower is to descend entirely, there would remain no people to insult us. Have faith, and continue your efforts to maintain our lives.

-Address given to all initiated at the first decade within the Blackened Sanctuary

Though I wanted an exciting hunt, or something that would boost my stats quite a bit, instead, we found two prey animals. Each was interesting for its own reasons, but neither brought the excitement to our travels that I needed. The first was a large lizard that, for a short time, we wondered if it was at all related to keelish. It was about the same size as a small, unimpressive keelish, so about four feet long nose to tail, but it walked on all fours and its crest ran all the way down its spine. Their lack of notable teeth and that they didn't stand on their hind legs made me comfortable enough to begin the hunt.

There'd been a dozen or so of the things basking in the morning's light, but as soon as we made ourselves known, they all fled in disparate directions. I flared [Adversary]'s influence and slowed most of the creatures enough for myself and a couple others to kill one. The one I killed served as enough of a meal for me to get through the day, though the scales and bones were annoying in my teeth. My [Status] let me know that it was called a Shandise Iguana, and I couldn't imagine it'd give me much in the way of additional stats.

The second animal we found was a large goatlike creature. I hadn't seen one like it before, though we'd seen plenty of goats in our travels. This one's fur was long, straight, and thick, making their silhouette look like one solid mass instead of a body held up by four legs. Of more note were their horns. Instead of curling back to protect their heads, they stood straight up in a "V" formation from the top of the creatures' heads. Additionally, their horns corkscrewed up, the form interestingly different.

When we happened across this herd, we waited while I evaluated which was the strongest among them. It was quickly apparent that their leader was a massive individual that stood nearly a foot taller than the rest, his horns standing proud and tall. As soon as the rest of the pack was in position, I rushed towards him specifically, ready to use whatever [Skill] and ability necessary to chase him down. 

To my surprise, the goat bleated a combative cry and rushed towards me. As we drew closer, I saw it was an impressively large goat, though nothing compared to the size of a keel. It stood over four feet tall at the shoulder, and under its thick fur, developed muscles rippled as it charged. It screamed its challenge. It was immediately cut short into gurgling pain, when I ripped out its throat without using any [Skill]. It tumbled to the ground, bleeding out, and its herd scattered to the surrounding mountains. Three more were killed in that hunt, the rest left to live another day. 

I didn't take my time to eat my fill, but once I was done and we'd resumed walking to the north, I pulled up my [Status]. 

[Status:

Name: Ashlani

Race: Sonic Keel Zak'Tal

Titles: Voice of Nievtala

Killer of Redael

Fahvalo of the Moonchildren

Keel Progenitor

Current quests: 

-Hunt 6 new species. Reward will vary depending on the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. CURRENT PROGRESS: White-hooved Deer, Long-haired Elk, Stoneskin, Starred Bear, Highland Markhor Patriarch, Shandise Iguana. QUEST COMPLETE. NEW QUEST: Hunt 6 new species. Reward will vary depending on the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8.

-Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty.

- Establish a temple to Nievtala. Base requirements: Sanctum, Altar, Priesthood, Divine Representation. Rewards will vary according to effort, quality of materials, and quality of final product.

- Create a city that can house, provide for, and protect 10,000 inhabitants. Rewards will vary according to the quality of the final product.

- Lead a force of 1,000 to victory in battle. Rewards: Constitution +10, Strength, Agility, Magic +12, Intelligence +18.

Stats:

-Constitution: 235+8+2+4+2+5+4+1=261

-Strength: 269+8+2+4+2+5+4+2=296

-Agility: 243+8+3+2+1+2+3+1=263

-Intelligence: 239+8+1+1+1+2+2+1=255

-Magic: 263+8+0+0+3+0+0+0=274

Skills:

Absolute Dominance: 0/1

Combatant's Bloodlust: 3/4 (Imperial Bearing, Nemesis, Absolute Dominance)

Conqueror's Rebuke: 1/5

Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve)

Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve)

Fanatic's Fortitude: Unqualified

Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve)

Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve)

Nemesis: 0/5

Pack Tactics: 7/10

Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve)

Perpetual Sonilphon: (Cannot Evolve)

-Murderous Melody: (Cannot Evolve)

-Disastrous Discourse: (Cannot Evolve)

-Innervating Address: 0/1

-Nurturing Enunciation: 22/50

-Destructive Wave (Cannot Evolve)

Raptor's Eyes (Cannot Evolve)

Spear of the Many (Cannot Evolve)

Tremorsense (Cannot Evolve)

Victor's Spoils (Cannot Evolve)

Voice of the Divine (Cannot Evolve)

Evolutionary Possibilities

Evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.]

As expected, the new [Quest] was the same one I always had, and it was merely reaffirmed to me that the [System] saw me and my people as instruments of slaughter and violence. I couldn't say that I could disagree with the idea, given our lifestyles, proclivities, and attitudes. Even so, I wondered how the other [Quests] would be presented to a keelish, khatif, or even Keel that was born into my Empire as it was now. Would they need to become the Zaaktif to be assigned to create these same things, or would they instead be assigned to create a city? It wasn't information that truly mattered to me, so I instead shook the thought from my mind and focused on all my [Skills] that could evolve that I hadn't progressed on.

For [Absolute Dominance], I needed to overthrow an established country's ruler. That wasn't going to happen any time soon, given that I didn't know where there could be a country's ruler that I could currently risk to confront.

Then, [Combatant's Bloodlust] needed [Pack Tactics] to evolve, and it drove me crazy that this most basic of [Skills] still hadn't evolved. Three more fights with 50 of my subordinates under my command, and it couldn't be a hunt. 

[Conqueror's Rebuke] was much the same as [Pack Tactics], just with more of my people under my command at the same time. 

The last of my non magical [Skills] was [Nemesis], and its requirement was to kill tribal leaders in combat before their subordinates was sure to be something I needed to do at some point, I just wasn't willing to get into that before I was sure that my New Empire could survive the backlash that came from it, whatever that reprisal may be.

[Innervating Address]'s inability to evolve would be somewhat humorous if it wasn't so frustrating. The assignment was to use the [Skill] to "significantly raise morale of a force of at least 200 while in battle." The problem was that, due to so many of my other [Skills], my people never struggled with low morale. Perhaps I'd need to scheme something to finally get the damned evolution.

On the other hand, [Nurturing Enunciation] was just a question of time, as, now that New Nievtra had been established, there would be plenty of eggs, hatchlings, and children to bless with my presence.

I sighed, having gone through my [Skills] and being generally unimpressed with the gains from my [Quest]'s completion, but even so, the journey continued. We walked north and crossed the mountain range until, another 12 days later, I saw the glimmering of the sea to the north.