Chapter 475

I swept the dagger down in a straight line across all three throats, the blood curling in an arc through the air and onto the closest spectators. My people cheered as our attackers' lives were reaped, but Nievtala’s blessing, whatever it was that she was promising us, had yet to descend on us all. The blood that pooled on the altar turned into a thick smoke that choked the air, skirting around me, but flowing towards every one of the audience members, whether they be Kha, Khatif, or Keel.

The bloody smoke filled the entire temple as coughing filled the air, and I saw as scarlet painted every one of my watching people. I could see the changes that took place in those closest to me, and I disregarded the System notification that flashed as pulses of pleasure thrummed like a heartbeat from the aura. Our goddesses approval was a potent drug, and with it came an obvious change. Between the scales of each of the Saharliard pulsed a bloody light, something that glowed only barely perceptibly. Their bodily makeups didn’t change as this happened, but I could hear their heartbeats growing stronger and slightly faster, the sound carried to me a hundred times over through the influence of my magic.

The three corpses were left forgotten in front of me as my people went from excited but mostly controlled to an anxious mob, ready to run out and destroy whatever they came across. The sound of drool dripping between fangs and onto the ground was just barely audible as a few of the less intelligent Saharliard were consumed with this rage.

As I observed what happened, Shraal stepped behind and pulled twice on the hem of my robes.

“May I address our people?”

I flared my frills and stepped back as he spoke.

“Feel the power of our goddess in you. The Misti Hawar had to gain a blessing like this to be able to stand against our un-enhanced ranks. Their god, the creator of the wyrms which cannot stand together as a people and are forced to resort to ambushes to attempt to harm us, gave them a blessing like this in order to attempt to do anything to our assembled might. Even with this strength that you now feel, they still couldn’t breach our walls, and now our goddess has granted her approval! We’ll be granted an even greater strength than they, and can now run towards victory!”

The words were greeted with hisses and roars or adulation, every person thrilled to agree with him as he continued his sermon. His words were powerful, impressive and drew my people in. I could feel some measure of a Skill similar to Imperial Bearing influencing the way that he spoke, but instead of instilling respect, it made it so his words affected people’s emotions more easily. It was something like Sybil, Shemira, or Farahlia’s magic, but there was something different about it. I didn’t care to learn what that difference was, and instead read the description of what’d just happened, as explained by the System.

New divine Skill bestowed on your subordinates. Skill originates from the Administrator for whom you are the designated Voice. Skill description shared with you.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Blood of the Conqueror: grants a 30% increase to constitution, strength, and agility. Grants the Pain Ignorance attribute. Grants the Victor’s Spoils Skill. Increases all evolutionary requirements by 50%. Reduces lifespan by 20%.

The Skill description lacked a lot of the flowery language that occasionally found its way into the Skills that I received, but I appreciated the directness. So far as I could tell, it was a Skill that had two positives, two negatives, and one attribute that could go either way.

Of course, the stat increase was awesome. For most of my people, they didn’t have any notable magic to use in a fight so the increase to the physical stats was the best case scenario. Even those who reached Keel didn’t necessarily get magic that they could effectively use in battle. Ytte was a perfect example of this, as she’d always had magic that let her move and shape the earth, but as she’d grown stronger, her magic was stronger, but still wasn’t fast enough to be used effectively in a fight. I suspected that a large part of this was why she had become a Kha’Tal instead of one of the other castes, but of course I wasn’t going to be getting an answer anytime soon.

This first aspect of the Skill that our goddess had granted us was an unmitigated positive, while the second listed effect wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but couldn’t be considered a good thing either. Since it wasn’t a Pain Tolerance, as I had, but Pain Ignorance. I felt pain, I just was better able to understand which parts could be addressed to later in which parts needed immediate attention. While I wasn’t familiar with Pain Ignorance, I could tell what the difference was just by reading its description.

The third part was the second unconditional, good, being the acquisition of the Victor’s Spoils Skill. I had that myself, and its effect was, if not miraculous, highly beneficial for people at war. Each time we killed something, we recovered at least somewhat, which could keep our soldiers going much longer than the Misti Hawar, especially since we already performed better in terms of longevity.

The last two parts, however, gave me no small amount of pause. Increasing all evolutionary requirements by 50% absolutely was a painful trade-off, though one that made sense, considering how much of a benefit the Skill provided. It was an immediate power boost while impeding the ability to evolve in the future. On the other hand, many of my people struggled to evolve, anyways, and may never be able to do so, so this could be a boon. To instead be able to be given a boost in strength to ensure that they could provide the greatest value possible during the siege was more than welcome, though I wondered how many would lose the ability to evolve now.

Then there was the loss of lifespan, which was a devastating blow, if nothing else. Regardless of the many benefits that had come from the establishment of my country, a Kha’s lifespan remained about ten years. We didn’t have much in the way of reliable information regarding a Khatif’s, though the people from Tala warned me that the longest they seen one live was twenty-five years. What did that mean for the lifespan of a Keel?

We didn’t know, and there were three in this room. The aura had avoided me, so Nievtala knew that there were negatives to this and knowingly kept me from experiencing them. As I thought to demand answers from her, her presence faded and I was left alone with a people who were chomping at the next opportunity to strike at our enemies, and I knew I couldn’t just leave them caged within the walls. And, with this new force who’d be tougher than any others I could field, I had just the right plan for them in the morning.