Spearing the Heavens

Cassius was still cautious while he fed. He wasn't sure if the beast was smart enough to play dead or not. The spike in the beast's head was a telltale sign, but he couldn't even be sure of that anymore, since even he, as a D+ Rank existence, could heal ripped off limbs.

The world of Abilities and Skills are almost entirely unknown to him. Just thinking about it caused sweat to drip off Cassius' head. Let's just eat, I can think about this later once I am out of this shithole. Cassius sighed, looking at his nub for a left arm. It felt weird.

After a few moments of drinking, his stomach was once again filled with blood mist. The mist, having a mind of its own, floated freely through his body like a rushing tide, to his left arm. Cassius split his focus from the blood in front of him to his arm. The cells rapidly regenerated outward, forming the bone and soon the muscular system of his arm. This process didn't hurt as the mist concentrated itself on the outside of the healing tissues protecting it from heat and outside forces.

Speaking of heat, he'd soon be able to absorb the Heat Resistance Skill he received from his first kill. Grinning, Cassius brought his focus back to his arm. His forearm and hand muscles were just about repaired as nerves and new blood vessels snaked their way down from his elbow. Skin soon followed as cells duplicated at an insane pace. 

And once the skin covered his fingertips, and his nails grew anew, his arm had finished regenerating completely. Cassius felt awe at his skill. It was almost as if he'd never lost his arm to begin with. Flexing his fingers, the leftover blood mist flowed its way back up his arm and down to his liver, repairing the damage he'd received from the bone he'd fallen on during his first fight. 

The damage was repaired much faster than his arm, nearly closing and stitching itself together in a matter of moments as Cassius continued to drink from the bloodhound in front of him. 

This is weird, though. How am I getting all the blood out of this thing? Is it my teeth? Cassius pondered this, feeling even better than before he was transported to this realm. Sidelining the thought he had, Cassius peered inward, watching with an inquisitive look as the blood mist in his body returned to his core before exploding outward, reaching nearly every cell in his body at once.

What followed was a sudden feeling of weightlessness before gravity enacted its will upon him once more. Did I just...? 

"Status." Cassius called out, stopping himself from feeding further.

It was as I thought. Hm... Having just ascended to the next rank at record pace, Cassius grew excited. The blood he gained from enemies wouldn't just heal him, but also help refine his body further. 

"Akashic, question. Does the rank of a beast affect body refinement?" Cassius cleared his throat and asked.

"Sovereignty? What is that?" Cassius cocked an eyebrow.

"Hah, figures. Well, blood's getting cold. I should finish up here." Shaking his head, he moved his gaze back to the hellhound.

Eyeing the corpse in front of him, Cassius delved back into his meal. A few minute later the corpse was a husk, and Cassius felt his strength improve a notch further. It's kind of weird, now that I think about it. I'm not averse to drinking a beast's blood... would that be the same for human blood as well? 

Clicking his tongue, he made his way out of the pit, making sure to not poke himself in the ass with a bone spike. At the top, he made his way over to a small pile of rocks he used as a seat while he was digging out the pit. Plopping down, Cassius did a few tests with the panel, seeing where the limits of it currently lied. Through a few of those tests, he was pleased to find that he could call up the panel mentally. Being able to keep his public image at least somewhat acceptable with not having to always be muttering to himself was great!

Akashic, absorb the Skill. Cassius mumbled internally.

<...>

Cassius screamed at the end of the countdown, tumbling off of his rock pile. This pain was almost as bad as the lotus. Fortunately, it lasted for a mere second. 

Cassius groaned, panting lightly as he curled up on the ground. "Ha... hah, damn it Akashic. That was not light..." 

At that remark, Cassius stopped breathing for a moment. Uhhhh...

"Well then, point taken Akashic." Cassius nodded, not wanting to irk the panel further.

Status 

"What does Heat Resistance do exactly, Akashic?" Cassius asked, hoping his question wasn't stupid.

"Huh, neat. Thanks, Akashic!" Cassius nodded.

Closing the panel, Cassius stood up, walking over to his bone spear and taking it out of the ground. It had acted as a makeshift shovel earlier and had done its job admirably without losing a hint of sharpness. It really made him wonder what this bone belonged to and why there was such a large pile of bones out here in the first place. He continued to examine the spear and its weirdly beautiful sheen before strapping it to his back. He had spent some time fashioning a (really shit) sheath for it out of hellhound skin.

"I'll be back to gather both of these pelts, but let's go see what that adventurer had on them first. Loot baby!" Cassius cackled maniacally as he headed off to where he first met his good buddy. His inner loot goblin had started maturing fast.

Finding the exact spot took some time, but since he had run in a straight line for most of his scrambling, it wasn't too hard finding his old tracks and following them. "Ah, here we go, this is where the portal spat me out before I met Alice. Which means... bingo, that way to the Spire."

He hummed a light tune as he found the rock formation that hid his first foe. Rounding the corner he was met with the corpse of an Elf. Portals could connect to multiple worlds at once, so it wasn't odd to find another slain party of extraterrestrials. Unfortunately, due to some weird cosmic fuckery, only one world could have a party in a dungeon at a time. Meaning, portals couldn't be used as a means of teleportation or goods trading between worlds. Cassius wasn't too educated on this subject so, shaking his head, he focused on the body before him.

Its face had been shredded off its skull, and the lower half was completely missing. The leather tunic it wore was still somehow in one piece. Near its right hand was a strap made of some unknown material. Looking around, he found a small backpack. Jackpot!

"Sorry about this, alien Elf friend. I'm struggling for my life right now. I hope you don't mind... Maybe I should give you a proper burial as well." Sighing, Cassius took the tunic off the corpse before putting it on. As if realizing it was worn once more by someone alive, the tunic shrunk, become form fitting and much more comfortable than a ratty, half ripped t-shirt he'd bought from a bargain bin like four years ago.

His pants still offered no protection. But, fortunately his undergarments were still fine. Cassius shivered at the thought of fighting a beast with his crown jewels exposed. Shaking his head, he walked over to the backpack and took out a few items one by one. 

Three vials with a mysterious liquid in them. Nope, not even going to try those. A necklace with a runic inscription. That's a maybe. Rations... weird, I'm not hungry or thirsty.

"Akashic, do I need to eat or drink anymore?" Clearing his throat, Cassius waited for an answer.

Choking on air, Cassius began to laugh. "Yeah, I'll be sure to do that. Thanks, Akashic." Bringing his attention back to the bag in front of him, he started rummaging through it again.

"Aha! A dagger! Though, I still feel my bone spear is better for some reason. Anyway, it's good to have a backup." The dagger itself was quite plain. Wood handle, straight blade, no designs, just a single runic inscription.

I have to study runes at some point. Not knowing what shit does is pissing me off. Cassius huffed, tucking the dagger into what was left of his belt. 

"Huh, what's this?" Pulling out a shard of some unknown weapon from the bag, Cassius nicked his hand, a single droplet of blood flowing gently onto the shard. 

The shard trembled, the vibrations it emanated slowly increasing, before it levitated off of Cassius' hand. Without warning, the shard shot straight into Cassius' skull, right between his eyes causing him to freak out.

His eyes rolled in the back of his head as Cassius began to slip into a dreamscape.

A lone spear piercing Heaven itself.