Echoterra: Rise of the Verdant King

Chapter 39: {Bonus Chapter} Hunter in the ruined city [1]

[I wrote this bonus Chapter for GoodMornin2U2, you really made my day with that review. But I came back only to see a Dragon gift from Sauron_0405. Wow, I’m so grateful man. Thanks, this is for you too.]

...

Thud!

The first wolf dropped with a loud sound.

Clayton’s spear, now fully extended and wrapped in creeping thorns, burst through its charred underbelly. The creature didn’t’ even whimper. Just shuddered once, then collapsed into the cracked asphalt, its flesh sizzling with residual heat.

DING!

~----~

[Target Eliminated: Initiate Ember Forest Wolf]

[Genesis Embers Acquired: 2]

[Crown Type: Ash Crown]

~----~

He spun mid-motion.

The second and third wolves came at him together, one from a burned-out sedan, the other leaping across a ruined storefront.

They were larger than normal canines, far smaller than the van-sized centipede though. Their bodies were armored with ridged magma-scale and ember-spitting veins; each pawprint left a scorched crater in its wake.

Clayton didn’t retreat.

He advanced.

A snap-trigger of vines shot from his Regalia, skewering the airborne wolf through the ribs mid-pounce and hurling it sideways into a crumbling building.

The other met him fang-first.

In response, Clayton dropped low, letting it overextend and then he retaliated, sending a brutal upward thrust through its throat.

~----~

[Target Eliminated: Initiate Ember Wolf]

[Genesis Embers Acquired: 3]

[Crown Type: Ash Crown]

~----~

The last one tried to run.

Too late.

’Thorncall’.

The street answered.

From ruptured cracks in the ground, jagged vines surged, moving with serpentine precision. They caught the fleeing wolf, coiled around its limbs, and crushed with terrifying power.

The wolf didn’t survive.

~----~

[Target Eliminated: Initiate Ember Wolf]

[Genesis Embers Acquired: 5]

[Crown Type: Ash Crown]

~----~

Clayton stood still in the silence that followed, breathing slow and steady.

No drama. No tension. Just clean, lethal efficiency.

It had been three days.

Three days of stalking burned streets and shattered plazas; of observing the ruins not with fear, but with hunger. A tactician’s hunger.

The city was no longer an alien graveyard. It was his hunting ground.

He’d mapped it. Claimed it. Bled into it.

He knew which zones had high Ember density. After a few days of observation and hunting, Clayton finally understood a few terms that the system used, and the Ember or Genesis Embers was one of them.

Genesis Embers, if he had a simple definition for it, he would call it the fuel of Ascension.

It was the unique energy of Echoterra that had now infiltrated Earth, triggering a mutation of the planet. Maybe it was the trigger of the apocalypse, this apocalypse that Clayton now lived in.

He also guessed that Genesis Embers are the base for his aspect and aspect abilities. But there are different types of the energy, the Embers that reside in the atmosphere around the world, and the one inside an Awakened or monster. Or Behemorph, that’s what the system call them.

Using his aspect and aspect abilities drain his innate Genesis Embers, but he could replenish it with time by absolving the Embers in the atmosphere.

As for innate Genesis Embers, it was what he absolved from every Behemorph that he killed.

Clayton guessed that it was the key to getting stronger and rising to a new rank, increasing his innate Genesis Embers.

In 3 days, he’d done a lot.

Apart from knowing which zones had high Ember density, he also identified which craters in the city still birthed Behemorphs. He identified which wrecked overpasses hid dormant Artifacts. And more importantly, he had learned what not to touch.

Initiate-class threats? Manageable.

Even the Ember Behemorphs; hulking, molten brutes the size of vans could be baited and bled, if you were smart. If you knew their wind-up frames and heat discharge patterns.

But Luminous Seed-tier monsters?

That was where instinct said turn around. Even now.

In 3 days, he learned the Genesis rank classification of the system. The weakest Behemorphs at his level were at the Initiate Ember rank, but the next rank of Behemorphs are Luminous Seed rank Behemorphs.

He was yet to meet a Behemorph stronger than the Luminous Seed rank, but Clayton highly doubted if he could even survive such an encounter.

The Luminous Seed Behemorphs; those weren’t beasts. They were sentient, radiating pulses that bent terrain, heat and sometimes even thought. One had spotted him once from a rooftop five blocks away, and the air buzzed with pressure.

He left.

Quickly.

Knowledge came with survival.

After some time, he’d found a buried Atlas Node inside a collapsed museum. Broken, yes, but enough to feed him data. Not just archived footage. Definitions.

With them, he understood the world better.

[Genesis Embers – These are fragments of cosmic code seeded into the soul by the Genesis Protocols. Each Ember reveals a portion of one’s true nature, forming the base for their Aspect and Aspect abilities.]

[Awakened gain Genesis Embers through 4 ways; slaying Behemorphs, Genesis Baptisms or Trial Completion, Absorption via Domain Influence, and Artifact Resonance.]

>Slaying Behemorphs: When an awakened slays a monster, their Genesis Embers are extracted in part by the system and refined into Ember Threads, which then infuse into the victor’s soul.

*Stronger monsters = more refined and potent Embers.

*The closer the match in power or affinity, the richer the quality of the Embers.

*Killing lower-ranked monsters gives diminishing returns.

>Genesis Baptisms (Trial Completion): Completing a major Genesis Protocol trial rewards the victor with a Genesis Baptism, a concentrated infusion of pure Embers that elevate not just strength, but unlock new Aspect Abilities, stat boosts, and even mutations in the soul core.

>Absorption via Domain Influence: This is unique to classes. When an awakened establishes dominance over a territory, he can passively absorb ambient Genesis Embers through special system effects. It’s slower, but constant.

>Artifact Resonance: Certain powerful Mythprint Artifacts or above are capable of absorbing the Genesis Embers of defeated foes and transmuting them into custom upgrades or unique charges usable by the wielder.

...

[Aspects – The Aspect is the crystallized form of one’s dominant truth, manifestations of existential force. It is discovered at the moment of Awakening, through trial or naturally. Aspects shape all powers and growth paths.]

*A person’s aspect defines their powers, appearance, strengths, and combat affinity.

*No two Aspects are identical, each is a reflection of a core identity, tied to emotion, trauma, desire, or memory.

...

[Awakened – The term for any human or being whose Aspect had been fully brought to the surface. Most couldn’t survive the process.]

...

[Aspect Abilities – Manifestations of a person’s Genesis affinity, granted after major breakthroughs or trial completions. Singular, unpredictable, and often tied to identity or trauma.]

[Tier Structure:]

*Initial Awakening – Gain Aspect Core (the first passive trait).

*After Trial 1 – Unlock Aspect Ability 1.

*After Trial 2 – Gain Aspect Surge (A transformation/empowerment technique).

*After Trial 3 – Second Aspect awakens, revealing duality or evolution.

*After Trial 4...

...

[Behemorphs – Monstrous abominations born when creatures or entities saturated by Genesis matter mutate beyond identity. Some retained purpose. Most didn’t.]

[Behemorphs do not have Aspects but instead develop Crowns:]

*Spore Crown – Mycelium-based biomass control.

*Thorn Crown – Kinetic weapons and aggressive evolution.

*Ash Crown – Fire, ruin, and decay.

*Howl Crown – Sonic resonance, pack control.

*Null Crown – Rare; suppresses Genesis Embers around them.

[Each Crown can develop Greater Crowns, akin to elite monsters and bosses with intelligence, hierarchy, and personal domains.]

...

[Artifacts – Echoes of the old world or new constructs born from Genesis logic. Sometimes machine, sometimes weapon, sometimes neither.]