Chapter 68: Of the Forsaken, of the Forlorn

"To fall is to rise, we must never forget that the road ahead is paved with our past failures; you just have to make sure to get back up again."

~~~

"Yeah, yeah, I expected as such from you system; ya' dick." Suspired Imogen while canceling Undesired Power and casting the blood on her arms to the wind.

*𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Affinities, as you may remember, are how naturally gifted you are with something in a certain category. Like stat affinities, magic affinities, weapon affinities, etcetera... but what if I told you there were general affinities too. Each mortal is born with their affinities whether they beest general, or specific... you are an exception though. You, being a false human before, never was born with a magic affinity, that is why you can switch your specific ones with each evolution. Although, a general affinity is a bit different, a mortal can only ever have one; no matter how hard they try to change it... even in godhood.

*𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫: Anyways, simply put, you just binded yourself to an awfully inconvenient general affinity; it won't suck until I tell you why that's bad... so stay with me. General affinities are different as they affect how you grow in all aspects, any magic you cast, or weapon you swing will be boosted by it, hell; it can even affect your stats in a way.

*𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦'𝐬 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐧: Now onto the good part, all affinities are split into categories, Primal Lessers, Primals, Rares; and Odds. Primal Lessers are your basic water and fire kind of deal, that doesn't make them any worse though, or even the most common. Primals are the light and dark elements, the two most common elements out of them all, they are also the most controlled. Rares are of the less common and more unstable kind of affinities, almost like conjunctions between Lesser Primals and Primals... the cores to improve them are more rare and the affinities aren't anymore powerful to show for it; the only benefits are unpredictability along with more combat fit skills.

*𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦'𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡: Onto Odds, Odds are the ones that don't fit into the other categories and make too many categories to be put simply out of the category of just Odds. Having an "odd" affinity really puts you at a disadvantage, most are likely to never see another one of their affinity in their lifetime; that means they can't normally get a hold of cores to boost that affinity. Though the trade off is strangely almost worth it, Odds are almost always general affinites that give you extremely powerful skills the more cores of that variety you consume.

*𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦'𝐬 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐞: Can you guess what type of affinity your new general affinity is? I'll give you a hint, you've got two new skills waiting for you after I'm done talking

*𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫: For every powerful soul you consume, bypassing any restrictions; your maximum amount of HP is raised by ten. Powerful as in a soul that causes you a great deal of trouble to consume, final judgment will be passed by The System Conscious

*𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐈𝐦𝐛𝐮𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: You can temper your body, or blades with the excess power of a consumed soul, after enough souls have been imbued, your body and, or blade(s) will be evolved into a ghastly Forsaken - This skill has replaced your natural ability to temper your body with blood

*𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐤: Great skills right... too bad I doubt you'll get anything more out of your affinity, this was a definite loss on your part; you'll never live it up

"Yeah... keep telling yourself that bud, keep telling yourself that." Grinned Imogen as she tried to force down the giant smile beaming on her face.

"Imogen!" "Are you okay Imogen, you looked like you were in rough condition for a while there; did you really eat that man whole?!"

"What can I say, I'm a man eater, I prey on the living, it doesn't make any difference if I actually eat them, or not; does it?" Smiled Imogen while half expecting the title Man Eater to pop up.

Auden grumbled and had on a both displeased and a somewhat "expected it" face. "You're hopeless Imogen, of course there's a difference between eating a whole body and drinking some blood."

"Uhhhh... I don't quite agree, but I'm not here to argue, let's move on deeper into the tomb; hopefully the enemies in there weren't as powerful as the guy I ate."

"Fine, just ignore my helpful opinion like always, hopefully in time you'll wise up mistress; I'm counting on it." Smirked Auden as Imogen frowned and started moving towards the tomb, signaling for the rest of them to do the same.

Imogen wasn't very cautious, blades slammed down upon the nonchalant Imogen from above as she stepped into the tomb and shattered into pieces; further bolstering Imogen's confidence. The first thing she could see was four people looking hesitantly at a hallway filled with traps, they were obvious enough that even Imogen noticed them and that's saying something.

Clarence soon followed, filled Auden and the not yet named green haired woman, the green sheen almost seemed to shimmer as she walked behind Auden.

"Hey, how the hell did you people get in here without killing that darn shade blocking the entrance, whatever you did pisses me off." Snarled Imogen as the group attempted to say something before getting cut off by Imogen.

"Actually, I don't care, whatever the reason is; its probably stupid." Sneered Imogen while curling her mouth into a grin as the group's expression turned to fear as Imogen neared the trap filled hallway without hesitation.

"There's traps that way, you'll be killed if you walk any further, we've almost figured out how to disarm them; so you won't have to wait long!" Urged a man from the group, but nothing he said seemed to affect Imogen as she walked forth and felt a saw blade crumble upon hitting her leg.

Imogen simply kept walking, springing traps time and time again, arrows found no mark on her skin; and anything else just shattered from the retribution damage Imogen was dealing out.

The group stared awestruck at the unharmed Imogen standing on the other side of a graveyard of traps, metal bits, and splintered arrows laying all over. Imogen pretended to pay no mind and pranced on down deeper into the ossuary while Auden just shook his head in shame.

"Look, I'm sorry about her, she's a real ass sometimes; although she can be nice... rarely." Sighed Auden while he and the rest of the group trudged on after Imogen, leaving the confused group of four individuals behind.

"Wait up!" "We'd like to help, our village is in trouble and we need a prophesied artifact from here to help the village elder in his battle against the trolls!" Exclaimed the man from the group as he ran up to Auden with a determined look on his face.

"Well, you'll have to ask Imogen, as much as I hate to say it; that imbecile is our leader."

"Oh, I thought she looked quite experienced myself, knowing her power well enough that she could walk across that field of traps without a hint of fear." Smiled the man while Clarence made a noise that sounded like he was choking on his own salvia.

"Uh, not quite, no, definitely not." Cringed Auden as he looked over at Clarence, of which now looked like he was in pain with his hands covered over his mouth.

"Well whatever the case may be, she must be pretty powerful, no?"

"Very powerful, more than she ought to be really, the problem is she never really stops getting more powerful."

"I see, so is she a chosen of the demigods, I heard that they grant those under them more power as they complete the tasks given to them."

"No, not to my knowledge she isn't, but she never stops changing; evolving in a sense almost." Unknowingly hinted Auden while catching sight of Imogen leaning against a wall with a bored look on her face.

"Oh, you brought the dead-weights with us, how delightful; this trip is going to take ages now!" Griped Imogen as she looked at the man and his group with a disappointed look on her face.

"Come now Imogen, they'd just like to tag along, it couldn't hurt to let them do that much; would it?"

"Whatever, just make sure they don't get in my way, I already have enough on my mind as it is."

"Fine, you can count on me to ensure they don't get in your way, mistress." Groaned Auden while catching sight of a big group of skeletons heading their way.

"Good, I'll hold you to your word then, it's time to cut up a bunch of weak fodder, 'seems this tomb is going to be boring after all." Complained Imogen as she drew her halberd and ran forward to meet the first skeleton head on.