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  Chapter 6: First Born

  Zed did not waste time the moment he saw the quest screens. He began preparing. When Shinobi returned from finding water, Zed initiated his plan. Using as much of the Violetwood spears that he created, he attacked with Shinobi while Rook guarded Sybil who is sound asleep.

  The cliff reapers descended like living shadows.

  The alpha female led the charge, her scarred wings slicing the air as she dove straight for the cliff base. Eight more followed in a screeching storm of leathery wings and razor beaks. Zed met them head on, Violetwood spears flying from his hands like guided missiles. Shinobi blurred beside him, her blades flashing as she cut through two reapers in seconds.

  The alpha slammed into Zed first. Her talons raked across his chest. He twisted, drove a spear through her wing, but the beast spun and clamped its beak around his left arm. Bone snapped. Flesh tore. The reaper wrenched hard and ripped the entire arm off at the shoulder in a spray of blood.

  Pain exploded through Zed. He staggered. Primal Instincts screamed warnings from every direction. Another reaper dove from above and seized his right arm. The beak crushed bone and muscle. With a savage twist it tore the second arm free.

  Zed dropped to his knees, blood pouring from both shoulders. The world spun. Without arms he could not fight. The pack closed in for the kill.

  Primal Regeneration (EX) activated instantly. The stumps burned white hot. New bone pushed outward. Muscle and sinew regrew in seconds. Skin crawled over the raw ends. Both arms reformed completely, stronger than before, but the agony nearly blacked him out. He roared through gritted teeth and surged back to his feet just as the alpha lunged again.

  Shinobi saved him. She appeared in a blur, drove her blades into the alpha neck, and yanked it away. Without her he would have died right there.

  Zed grabbed fresh Violetwood spears with his newly grown arms. He fought like a demon. Spears flew. Wood Manipulation turned fallen branches into spikes that impaled reapers mid air. Shinobi danced through the pack, cutting throats and wings. Together they tore the mother pack apart.

  The alpha fell last, her body crashing into the ocean below.

  Zed stood panting, covered in blood, both arms still tingling from regeneration. He looked at the stumps that were no longer there and felt a cold truth settle in his chest. Next time he would be fully prepared for anything. He had a wife now. Soon he would have his first child. He could not afford to lose limbs again. Proper armor was no longer optional. It was survival.

  He barely won. If Shinobi had not been there he would be dead.

  A blue screen flashed.

  [Quest Completed: Defend the Pack]

  Objective: Eliminate the cliff reaper mother pack before it reaches the cliffside base.

  Reward: 369,000 base XP (×3 = 1,107,000 XP) + 1,000 System Credits + Rare Talent Stone

  The flood of experience hit like a tidal wave. Zed body glowed with power.

  [Level Up!]

  Level 27 reached.

  [Random New Skill Gained by Reaching Level!]

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Accelerate Plant Growth (EX) – Active

  Description: Touch or will plants to surge to full maturity in seconds. Transform seeds into towering trees, barren fields into bountiful harvests, or vines into living weapons. No limits. No cooldown. No cost.

  He had gained eight levels. Forty free Attribute Points waited. Zed poured thirty point into Wisdom and ten to Vitality. The number surged.

  Wisdom reached 120 (Base 40 × 3 from Primal Instincts).

  Due to gaining more than 100 Wisdom, A new skill awakened.

  Telekinesis (EX) – Active/Passive

  Description: You can manipulate any object or living being with your mind alone. Lift, throw, crush, pull, push, or control with perfect finesse and precision. No cost. No delay. No cooldown.

  Zed also used the Rare Talent Stone from the quest.

  [Talent Gained!]

  Map (EX) – Active

  Description: Open a magical map interface that records every location you have ever visited in perfect detail. View terrain, landmarks, and marked points at will. Teleport instantly to any recorded location, alone or with willing allies. Map updates automatically with new travel.

  Months had passed.

  Strongroot had become a living fortress that only those with no fear of death would ever dare attack. Zed had discovered a two-mile-diameter island just off the cliff and rebuilt everything there. The only ways onto the island were either by water or via the long stairs he had carved down the cliff face, connected to a wide floating bridge of Violetwood that he could raise or collapse with a single thought. The island itself had been transformed into an impenetrable stronghold of living Violetwood. Every tree and root had been shaped into layered defensive walls that could sprout razor-sharp spikes or entangling vines at his command. Accelerate Plant Growth had turned the entire island into a deadly maze of living barriers.

  A towering water tower rose at the center, carved directly from a single Violetwood trunk and reinforced with massive physical anchors of violetwood that Zed had grown and fused directly into the island bedrock for eternal stability. Shinobi refilled its massive internal reservoirs with fresh water every single day, carrying it up from a hidden spring she had discovered inland. The tower ensured the village would never thirst.

  Below the main platform sprawled dozens of carefully tended garden plots. Zed had created them for Sybil so she could always eat fresh vegetables and fruits. Rows of lush tomatoes, leafy greens, sweet berries, and exotic jungle fruits grew in rich soil beds he had accelerated to full maturity. The gardens bloomed year round, their colors vivid against the deep purple of the Violetwood. Sybil often walked among them with a hand on her swelling belly, picking ripe produce while the two shadow cat cubs now fully grown prowled protectively at her side.

  Golem sentries stood motionless at every approach point. Shinobi and Rook had been joined by more constructs as Zed leveled. The entire fortress could be sealed, flooded with living defenses, or evacuated in an instant via the Map skill. From the ocean below it looked like a crown of living purple thorns perched on its own island, daring the world to try and take it.

  On the night of the three moons, the air was thick with salt and the low hum of the ocean far below. Silver light bathed Strongroot in an ethereal glow, turning every leaf and branch into liquid moonlight. The wind carried the distant crash of waves against the cliff.

  A soft chime of bone fetishes announced her before she appeared.

  The shaman from Pod stepped out of the shadows at the edge of the platform. She moved with deliberate grace, her ochre spirals glowing in the moonlight, bone fetishes clattering softly at her belt like whispered prayers. In one hand she carried a small clay bowl of sacred paste; in the other, a bundle of blood red leaves. Her eyes, ancient and knowing, found Zed immediately.

  "I come to fulfill the role the gods first gave me," she said, her melodic voice carrying over the wind. "I brought you and Sybil together under the blood moon. Tonight, I will bring your child into this world. The jungle demands balance. I will see it done."

  Zed nodded once, his heart the cold, calculating thing it had become tightening with something he refused to name. He led her inside.

  Sybil lay on the wide violetwood bed, breathing steadily, sweat glistening on her skin. The two shadow cat cubs now almost fully grown and fiercely protective lay at her feet like silent guardians. The shaman knelt beside her, began chanting low and rhythmic, rubbing the sacred paste across Sybil belly in slow spirals.

  Zed waited outside on the platform, pacing under the three moons. The wind tugged at his hair. He stared out over the endless ocean, fists clenched. He had become a monster to protect them. Now that monster would become a father. The thought sent a strange mix of hunger and fear through him fear not of the jungle, but of failing the only things that mattered.

  Hours passed. The shaman chanting rose and fell like waves.

  Then a sharp cry split the night.

  A baby cry.

  Zed froze. The sound cut straight through him, raw and alive. He stepped inside.

  The shaman held up a tiny, squirming form wrapped in soft violetwood cloth. Sybil, exhausted but radiant, reached for the child with trembling hands.

  Their first child had been born.

  The monster inside Zed looked at the small life and whispered one quiet calculation.

  Odds of protecting this family forever: one hundred percent.

  He would make it so.