Examining the cage, he found that the bars were much thicker than the last one he had been in. Looking closer, Jason realised there even seemed to be faint traces of magical engravings on them. Oddly, Jason recognised them as reinforcing magic. The knowledge from the skill book was making itself known. It was an odd sensation, remembering something he had never learned. He was certain the silver spirit coin he used before wouldn’t be enough to break out, and he couldn’t reach the lock through the narrow bars to try his key ring.
After pulling out one of the gold ranked coins, he turned it over in his hand. Unlike the ones he got from looting monsters, this one was embossed with the profile of a sombre man on one side and some kind of crest on the other, along with the engraved word ‘Greenstone’. His hope was that the gold coin would be powerful enough.
He looked up at the two people standing at the edge of the platform. He couldn’t tell if they were men or women in their hooded robes, but neither were paying attention to him. Instead they were at the edge of the platform looking out. If he could escape the cage quickly enough, there was a chance to rush at least one of them right off the edge.
He took a deep breath, focusing on the coin in his hand. He placed it on his tongue. He thought the silver coin had flooded him with strength, but that had been a meagre trickle compared to the gold. It was like having a hurricane inside him and he lashed out with his feet, hoping it was enough to burst open the cage door.
Instead of opening, the door shot off its hinges like it was fired from a cannon, metal screeching as the whole front of the cage was warped. The door moved almost too fast to see, barely deflecting as it slammed into one of the cultists, sending them flipping off the edge of the platform. They didn’t even scream, dead the moment the cage door crushed the top half of their body.
You have defeated [Blood Cultist]
Startled, Jason crawled from the ruined front of the cage and to his feet. The other cultist reacted quickly, turning and rushing Jason. The coin’s power was fading quickly and Jason threw out a fist with the lingering strength of the coin behind it. To his horror, his fist buried itself in the cultist’s chest cavity. The cultist let out a gurgling sound and died, dropping off Jason’s fist as the strength from the coin left him. Jason looked in shock at his own bloody fist.
You have defeated [Blood Cultist]
It wasn’t just his newfound strength that left him as the power of the coin faded. The strain of the coin’s power left him feeling enervated, barely staying on his feet. His eyes wanted to close, his body urging him just to lay down and sleep. He was jolted back to wakefulness by a powerful, roaring voice.
“THEY’RE COMING FOR YOU!”
Jason’s head snapped up and saw multiple cultists running back down the stairs. Looking around, the pair from below were coming up as well. Peering over the edge, he spotted the door below, on the far side of the blood-red pool. He had a terrible idea.
“Magic power, you’d better work.”
As he backed up, the starlight cloak formed around his body, shrouding him in light-speckled darkness. After a steeling breath, he ran to the edge, leaping out as he urged the cloak’s power to reduce his weight. He sailed through the air, shadow cloak sweeping out behind him like a trail of stars. Floating over the bloody pool, he landed almost perfectly in front of the huge stone doors, still open.
“That went startlingly well.”
He looked up at the stairs, spotting the cultists bolting down them in pursuit. He ran through the doors and into the tunnel, then stopped.
“Just run,” he told himself. “You can’t save them, you’re terrible at everything. Just run.”
Instead of running he ducked behind one of the heavy stone doors, which the cultists had not opened fully due to their enormous weight. He pressed himself between the wall and the door and waited. The cloak dimmed, going from bright stars to melding Jason into the shadows as he admonished himself silently.
Well done, idiot. Now you’re going to be tossed into a pit of blood by cannibals and then probably eaten. Good job.
Cultists came rushing through the door, sprinting up the tunnel as fast as their bulky ceremonial robes would allow. None of them so much as glanced back at Jason’s hiding spot. Jason stayed stock still and cowered behind the door as more cultists came through.
11
Dashing Heroics
Once the footsteps had died down, Jason cautiously stuck his head around the door but didn’t see any more cultists. Even returning to the chamber he didn’t see anyone. Whoever hadn’t chased up the tunnel were most likely on the platforms above. He made his way up the stairs as quietly as he could, with still no cultists in sight as he reached the first platform.
He dismissed the cloak as he approached the lion man’s cage. It had the same heavy bars and large space as Jason’s cage, but where Jason had been able to stretch out, the lion-man barely fit.
“Sorry,” Jason said as he fished the key ring from his inventory. “I’ve been hit on the head a lot today, so I don’t remember your name.”
“Gary,” the lion man said, a low, rumbling growl to his voice. “I didn’t think you were coming back.”
“I tried to talk myself out of it, believe me.”
“Instincts of a hero,” Gary said.
“I’d probably put it down to compromised judgement,” Jason said. “I’ve been knocked out several times today.”
Jason kept trying keys.
“I’m not even sure one of these will work,” he said. “I was hoping to do this quietly but I still have some more coins… oh, there we go.”
The lock clicked open and Gary squeezed his enormous frame through the door. Inside the cage, he had looked like a professional wrestler. But now towering over Jason, he looked like he’d eaten a professional wrestler.
“Is there a key for my collar on that thing?” Gary asked. Around his neck was a thick iron choker.
“No idea,” Jason said.
“Give me a look at that.”
Jason handed over the key ring. It had an unhelpful abundance of keys and Gary started looking over them for what he needed. Despite his lion-like head, his hands were fairly human, albeit huge, and hairy. While he went through them, Jason looked around. There didn’t seem to be any cultists coming down the stairs or back in from the tunnel. What he did find was some kind of ceremonial bowl built into the top of the cage. Inside was a round crystal, very dark red in colour. He picked it up.
Item: [Awakening Stone of the Feast] (unranked, common)
An awakening stone that unlocks the power of consumption. (consumable, awakening stone).
Requirements: Unawakened essence ability.
Effect: Awakens an essence ability.
You have 3 unawakened essence abilities.
You are able to absorb [Awakening Stone of the Feast]
Absorb Y/N?
He shoved the stone into his inventory.
“None of these are for a suppression collar,” Gary said. “They got these collars especially for us, so whoever you took the keys from mustn’t have been in on it.”
“Yeah, I think he was on the outs with the family a bit,” Jason said. “He seemed to have his own thing going on. What does that collar do exactly?”
“It suppresses all essence abilities,” Gary said. “Some race powers, too, but not all of them.”
“Does it suppress you from being a huge guy who can kick the crap out of people?”
A grin Jason could only describe as predatory crossed Gary’s leonine face.
“No, it doesn’t.”
Gary took the lead as they went up the stairs towards the next platform, which they reached unchallenged. Jason’s cage was empty, the bars on the front bent outwards. The dead cultist was still laying on the platform with a hole in his chest. While Gary knelt down to examine it, Jason checked the top of his cage. There was another ceremonial bowl, but it had been dislodged. Jason looked around a bit and found another awakening stone of the feast, where it had fallen to the platform when he kicked his way out of the cage. He slipped it into his inventory.