Imri read and re-read the system announcement to ensure he understood it correctly.
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 99.9817%; background-color: rgba(52, 73, 94, 1)" border="1">
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">The auction was just a preview of what can be found throughout the multi-verse: artifacts created by fallen civilizations, monsters whose body parts are natural treasures, and rare materials only grown in the harshest conditions. Those are just a few things that can be found in dungeons–planar spaces that contain fortune and peril in equal measure. Planar Rifts are being opened, allowing access to dungeons, with the rifts being fully stabilized after one month. Monsters and treasure found in the dungeons will increase in level by mana density where the rift is located. Only a set number of individuals may go through the rift and into the dungeon before the rift collapses, with a new rift forming elsewhere within the dungeon. Upon the group returning, dying, or failing to return within a specified time, the dungeon will reconfigure and repopulate over some time. During the respawning, the dungeon will be unavailable. Go forth and claim the rifts, securing another strategic resource for your faction.</td>
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">A new settlement array is available</td>
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">Rift Stabilization Array: increases the rate at which dungeons respawn by 5%</td>
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Imri began to unpack the implications. The system had used the auction as a preview to show everyone who couldn’t afford the upper end of items what they could expect to find. However, he suspected it was underselling the danger; everything the system gave it extracted its payment in blood or credits. Likewise, having the rifts in a fixed location that always respawned would spark more wars and conflicts. He would need to secure more nexuses for future settlements with the new settlement array and the value of controlling the rift location. It would also pair well with a mana density array, improving the reward and challenge of the dungeon.
Another factor to consider was how hard it would be to find the dungeons. Was the rift a massive spatial distortion or a small crack within space? Fortunately, he already had an idea for this. If he could combine all his aspects, it shouldn’t be difficult to find any distortions in space-time. However, if he took it a step further, he might be able to exploit the system. To this point, he had solely used his Dimensional Tear for its offensive capabilities, but another aspect was opening a bridge between two spaces along a dimensional boundary. He technically used this every time he opened a portal, but he had yet to find a naturally occurring boundary. If he could find the boundaries, he could enter dungeons for which the system wasn’t creating rifts. Furthermore, those would probably be better than average dungeons, as he suspected the system would be stingy with its offerings.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t count on the Azala to give him time to implement this plan. He had gotten the better of them in the auction, and they were undoubtedly looking to strike out soon. It was also possible the queen would realize Imri had a way of exploiting dungeons with his abilities. Any chance of the Azala waiting was gone, and war would be upon them within a few days.
Imri sighed and took out the three elixirs he had purchased. One after another, he consumed them. The first was pleasant enough. He felt warm throughout his body as if he had drunk a stiff drink, but his mind was clear and focused like he had just consumed a shot of espresso. The second wasn’t awful, nor was it pleasant. His stomach protested loudly, and a pain began forming behind his eyes. He briefly considered stopping to wait for the potion toxicity to clear itself out. Unfortunately, he had no time to waste; he needed the extra stat points. The third elixir, Perfected Self, would also be the hardest. He convulsed as the potent reagents spread throughout his body. It was akin to a mild heritage rank up, with impurities violently purged from every orifice. When it was finally over, he felt worse than the worst hangover in his life, with every nerve screaming in protest. To distract himself, he reviewed the recent gains.
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">Title improved</td>
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<td style="width: 98.9589%">Count of New Chicago 65 (+12): 6.5% increase to all primary attributes (+1.2%)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Primary Attributes</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Strength 169 (+3)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Agility 139 (+3)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Constitution 167 (+4)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Intelligence 334 (+10)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Willpower 271 (+9)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Charisma 142 (+3)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Secondary Attributes</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">HP 414 (+17)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">FP 308 (+14)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">MP 2214 (+137)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Mana Efficiency 1643 (+97)</td>
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<td style="width: 99.9817%">Crafting Efficiency 2239 (+133)</td>
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</table>
The increase in title levels shouldn’t have been a surprise. He had transacted almost a quarter of a billion credits in sales, all taxed by the system. The resulting settlement had a small percentage going throughout the county, resulting in a level for each location. However, the majority had been concentrated downtown, causing it to level several times. There had also been several gains from everyday activity since he was last in the city.
Imri was finishing his review when he noticed General McCarthy approaching him purposefully. “General, what can I do for you?”
“Lord Padar. I have a report I’d like to discuss with you–in private.”
Imri debated blowing the man off, but something in his countenance suggested this was serious. Furthermore, he trusted the general''s judgment; if he was concerned about something, it wasn’t a mundane issue that someone else could handle.
“I have a couple of minutes, but I need to be getting back soon,” Imri said.
The general nodded and led Imri away from the crowd of auctiongoers, who were making their way back to the portal. When they had separated from potential eavesdroppers, the general spoke in a hushed tone.
“I’ve received some concerning reports. There’s been another wave of…murders. We’re still investigating, but it appears they were all asphyxiated to death,” he explained.
“Not to make light of people dying, but why is this something I need to be involved in?”Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Murder probably wasn’t the right word; massacre would be more accurate. Whoever, or whatever, is doing this has killed thousands of people,” the general explained.
“Damn it all. Why now?” Imri cursed, not expecting an answer. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“We have a general idea of where the murders are taking place based on the concentration of victims. Unfortunately, investigations not finding anything has been the most positive outcome we’ve managed.”
“What kind of area are we talking about?” Imri asked.
“We’ve narrowed it down to a couple of square miles,” the general said. He proceeded to list off streets that made the boundary of the area they were searching. It was concerning that it was around the same area where the Azala had been, but that could be a coincidence.
Imri cursed. The area was too large to cover with his Manifest Domain; it would take around a dozen uses of the skill to cover it entirely unless he could be everywhere at once. Inspiration struck Imri, and a wide grin spread across his face.
“Not a problem; I’ll find your problem in a few minutes.”
“You will?” the general asked in confusion.
Imri nodded. “I just need a vantage point to see most of the search area.”
“Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. However, that damn mist seems to hang around perpetually,” General McCarthy pointed out.
“That makes things a bit harder, but not impossible,” Imri said as he thought through the problem. During his week in New Chicago after the Azala invasion, he had visited the area they were trying to search. He mentally bumped up the priority on learning a scrying spell so he wouldn’t need to worry about vision restrictions.
After assuring General McCarthy he would be right back, Imri teleported to the epicenter of the search area. The mist, which had been annoying before, was now obstructive. Despite his Omniscient Vision, he couldn’t see more than a couple of meters. Any pre-integration person wouldn’t have seen their own hands until they practically touched their face.
Imri summoned a small metallic coin from his Inner Domain. He had repeated the trick of creating objects with an anchored Dimensional Waypoint, allowing him to place temporary markers wherever he needed them. Imri nonchalantly dropped the coin and teleported several hundred meters away.
He repeated this process, dropping coins and teleporting away. When he was done, there was a four-by-three grid of Dimensional Waypoints equidistant from the nearest waypoint in the grid. It didn’t completely cover the search area, but it covered the epicenter and the area most likely to contain the culprit, according to General McCarthy. It would have to do, as Imri was running out of waypoints, and even if he had more, he wasn’t confident in handling such a large area.
With a final teleport, he returned to where the general was still waiting. The entire setup had only taken a few minutes, and only a chunk of missing mana showed that Imri had covered so much ground. Even that was only a minor inconvenience that would resolve itself in a few hours, with Imri still having plenty of mana to spare.
“Are you ready to get started now?” the general asked.
“No, I’m almost done searching the area. It will just be a few more seconds,” Imri explained to the perplexed general.
Without explaining further, a dozen pinprick-sized portals open just above Imri’s palm. It was too small to see through, but thin mist jets billowed out. Through each portal, he was now less essentially adjacent to each of the Dimensional Waypoints he had just placed. He took a deep breath and activated Manifest Domain.
With the way the portals were spread, Imri’s domain covered the entire grid. Each point within was less than two-hundred-eighty meters from Imri while traversing through the portal, which was the radius of Manifest Domain.
Information flooded into his mind. He was immediately aware of hundreds of thousands of people hiding in their homes with the meager supplies they still had. He knew every building’s layout, down to the most mundane detail: plumbing, electrical wiring, and every insect and rodent that called it home was visible and identified. Thousands of cubic meters of ground were laid bare. Imri knew what every inch of the sewer system contained. He knew the gas pipes, how much natural gas was still in the system, and what pressure it exerted. Billions of insects burrowed under the city, making narrow tunnel systems stretching for an equally massive number of miles. A far wider tunnel existed at the edge of Imri’s range, along with the creature that had made it: a colossal worm, only slightly smaller than those from dune, tore through the ground like it wasn’t there. It was only slightly lower level than he was, rivaling the rest of humanity’s elite. Unfortunately, that was a problem for another day, as the creature surely wasn’t the cause of the asphyxiation and seemed content tunneling far below the city. However, those traveling in the desert would have one more problem.
Imri’s senses covered an equally large area upward, extending above the tallest skyscrapers. He was aware of each swirl of mist as the wind buffeted against it. Conversely, he could sense a patch of mist that resisted the natural flow. Identify immediately told Imri it wasn’t just a mist but a Mist Wraith. There were several dozen of them spread throughout the city. Unfortunately, there were far more of them; hundreds glided above what had once been Lake Michigan. Each wraith was above level thirty and a tier-two creature.
Imri ended his domain and closed the miniature portals after only a few seconds. He collapsed to the ground, blood streaming from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. His head throbbed with a headache orders of magnitudes worse than the one he was recovering from. The amount of information had been overwhelming, too much for his mental attributes to comprehend. If he had tried to cover the entire area, the mental strain might have killed him. However, it was a suitable proof of concept; he just needed to iterate on the area he could cover.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to endure the excruciating pain for long as Emelia came rushing over. She didn’t look undamaged either, as the massive amount of signals going through their bond had undoubtedly been a lot to handle.
“What happened?” the general asked.
“He did something brilliant and moronic at the same time,” Emelia responded before Imri had a chance to explain.
“I found your murderers. They’re called Mist Wraiths, tier-two incorporeal monsters. They’re concentrated around the lake, but a few are within the area you suspected.”
“Is it something you can handle?” General McCarthy asked.
Imri wanted to say yes. He had seen hundreds of victims that hadn’t yet been found and seen how terrified the survivors were. Instead, he shook his head.
“I wish I could exterminate every monster that threatens humanity, but I just can’t be everywhere at once. The wraiths might kill thousands of people, but the Azala will kill everyone if they aren’t stopped,” Imri explained.
General McCarthy nodded stoicly. “Understood, we’ll find a way to deal with them; don’t worry about us.”
Imri nodded, thankful for the man’s professionalism. Unfortunately, he suspected this was only the first of many hard decisions he would have to make.