"Status."
The blue box appeared in front of him, and for a moment, he could see his reflection in it.
His white hair pointed in every direction, and his deep blue eyes sat on his handsome face.
Dried blood was caked to his chin from when he had coughed blood earlier.
Even with the unlocking of his divinity, he hadn't changed physically.
The moment passed as his stats loaded on the screen.
[Name: Ragnar Iverson]
[Patron: The Allfather]
[Titles: Cursebreaker(Equipped)| Aberrant | Incarnation of the Allfather]
[Core Attributes:]
- Strength: 11
- Agility: 15
- Endurance: 20
- Vitality: 7
- Willpower: 20
[Blessings: Extraction, Rend.]
[Curses: Curse of the Forsaken (PURGED)]
[Quests: None.]
His eyes roved the screen as he took it all in.
He had no idea if his attributes were high, low or normal among the rest of humanity.
And since he'd received +2 to all attributes, he would have to go back to Alfgard and test himself against the other youths.
He'd been a bit stronger than average, but now, he had no idea where he stood.
His eyes went lower to his blessings.
'I have 2 blessings!'
This was something that had never happened before.
No other Forsaken before him had ever awakened their divinity before him.
The full weight of his situation finally hit him.
The elder's words resounded in his head.
'If you had one chance, one opportunity, to break the curse on our people in one moment, will you capture it or just let it slip?'
This was it.
The chance for the Forsaken to break their chains.
The chance for him to ascend and kill the gods.
Ding!
[Main Quest Received: Kill The Gods.]
[You are now the only hope of the Forsaken. Climb the planes one after the other to the home of the gods and tear them from their thrones with your very hands. Raze their bones to dust and free your people from their eternal curse.]
[Rewards: The Freedom of The Forsaken, the mantle of the Allfather.]
[Failure: Death, the erasure of the Forsaken civilization.]
This was it.
The quest that would determine the fate of his people.
Even though quests could not be rejected, he spoke.
"I accept."
The quest window blinked out of existence, leaving behind his status screen.
He sighed, checking out the rest of his stats.
His eyes moved to his blessings.
With his focus on it, that section of his status expanded.
[Blessings:]
[Extraction]
[Rank: Divine]
[Once an enemy has been defeated, it is your right to extract ONE blessing from your enemy.]
His eyes widened.
He could extract blessings from his defeated enemies!
'Does that mean…'
His eyes went to the dead Nightshade.
He stumbled to his feet, walking towards the monster.
He knelt before it, placing his hand on its fur.
The monster's body was still warm, but the cold of the environment was rapidly freezing it.
With the authority present in his blood, he opened his mouth.
"Extract."
Golden threads burst out of his hand, sinking deep into the monster.
It wrapped around something inside it and yanked, coming out with a dark ball of energy.
In a flash, the golden threads and the ball disappeared within Ragnar.
His eyes widened as half of the energy within him burned away.
'Is that the price of using the blessing?'
[Extraction complete!]
[Blessing Awakened: Cloak of Night]
[Rank: Lesser]
[Once immobile, you can cloak yourself in darkness and blend in with the night.]
His eyes narrowed.
He could only use the blessing when he didn't move. If he moved, he wouldn't be able to cloak himself.
He decided to test it.
He activated the blessing, and darkness seeped out of his skin in wisps, covering it.
In a second, he was one with the darkness of the night.
The only reason he stood out was because he was standing alone, surrounded by the white of the snow.
He waved his hand before him, and the darkness covering his skin lagged behind for half a second, before following his movements, making his hand visible.
He could feel a drain on his energy but this time, it was almost negligible.
'So, that is what the rank of the blessing means.'
The ranks had to be the quality of the blessing.
Based on how powerful the blessing was, the energy drain would be just as significant.
Extraction had been a divine rank spell, and that was why it had drained half his energy.
He nodded in satisfaction. He had a blessing that would allow him to camouflage himself with the darkness of the night.
And it also looked cool when he moved, like darkness was struggling to keep up with him.
With that done, he moved to the blessing he'd received from the quest where he'd killed the Nightshade.
[Rend]
[Rank: Common]
[Coat your weapons in energy that makes your cuts deeper and more brutal.]
This was… useful.
With this blessing, he could turn even a rock into a cutting weapon.
This would increase his damage on his opponents greatly.
He grabbed his axe and activated the blessing.
Immediately, an almost invisible energy coated the head of the axe.
Ragnar could feel the energy drain.
It was more than when he'd used Cloak of Night, but it was nowhere near when he'd used Extraction.
That meant common blessings were stronger than lesser blessings.
He deactivated the blessing, storing his axe back on his belt.
He pulled off the canteen on the other side of his waist, drinking deeply from the water inside.
When he was done, he exhaled loudly, taking in a refreshing breath.
His gaze shifted to the mass of lights far in the distance, at the base of the mountain.
Alfgard.
Home.
He would be going back to inform them that their salvation was here.
That he would journey to the divine plane and free them from the curse.
He clenched his hands into a tight fist, his gaze moving up to the impenetrable darkness above.
"Just you wait, gods."
"I'm coming with fire in my blood."
"And I will not stop."