《The Mundane》
1- The End
¡°Hey there bud! I know you aren¡¯t tryna walk home without paying a visit to your best friends, right?¡±
The feeble boy with olive green eyes began to shake in place as a group of four brutes approached. It was just another day at some middle class public high school and a rather common occurrence was taking place outside.
¡°Come on Jack, just let me go home, I don¡¯t have any more money for you,¡± the boy begged to Jack and his posse of other faceless bullies.
It seemed the kid¡¯s plea had fallen upon deaf ears as the biggest goon in front finally reached the boy and began leering over him. ¡°Well that¡¯s no good buddy! Why do you have to make this so difficult every day? Well, what can you do? I suppose you are going to have to pay another way, hmm?¡±
What could have been a funny joke did not emerge from the gathering crowd of onlookers.
¡°Please man! You do this everyday!¡±
The boy¡¯s voice had begun to quiver and tears began to gather in his eyes. Jack smirked in response to the boy¡¯s outburst and cocked a fist back.
--------
Ten, no, fifteen minutes pass.
Whap!
The sounds of sobbing have basically turned into background noise at this point.
Whap!
¡°Come on! Stop turtling up like a fucking loser!¡±
Whap!
At this point, Jack was the only goon left with energy.
Whap!
The crowd was all but gone as well.
Whap!
Seth sat on the nearby bench, half-watching while he fought a losing battle of his own.
¡°Auuegh¡¡± a yawn escaped his lips.
He half-heartedly bit his lip in an attempt to focus; a bad habit he picked up sometime a decade ago. Finally, his eyes re-focused on the one sided fight between two classmates he still couldn¡¯t remember the names of. It looked like the bully was starting to get tired.
¡°Seems¡ like enough¡ for today.¡± The bully, ¡°Jack,¡± huffed like an out of breath pug.
¡°Heh, count yourself lucky loser. Since we are graduating tomorrow, this means that today was your last beatdown! But don¡¯t get too cocky, if I ever hear you got a big head while I''m gone, I¡¯ll have to come find you and beat you back down to size! Hahaha!¡± Jack chortled to his friends who were getting ready to leave with an obvious look of relief on their faces.
A minute later they were gone, and the boy with the olive green eyes lay bloody and bruised in the dirt, continuing to cry, alone.
It''s like they are trying to be the most basic background characters in a game or something.
Seth cast one more sleepy glance at the pitiful kid before beginning his stroll home.
--------
¡°You are dead as fuck you little rat,¡± he whispered at the back of the oblivious Tempest.
¡°I have become death, the destroyer of scrubs.¡± Seth always loved that line, especially as he taunted on top of the remains of the game winning kill.
¡°23-8, not bad, not bad at all.¡±
He probably could have done better had he used a gun, but the fun of the BO3 melee weapons could not be denied. Also, he just liked pissing people off.
As the regular cascade of insults and slurs were passed about, Seth sat back in his old, ridged office chair. It always gave him back pains, but he just couldn¡¯t give it away because it used to be his father¡¯s.
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As he listened to the bickering, Seth couldn¡¯t help but think about tomorrow.
Dread starting creeping back up his spine as he remembered yet again what he would have to grit his teeth and bear for hours the next day. It had been four years of sitting in a class and constantly thinking about every way he wanted to kill himself at that moment.
Finally, it was all coming to a close and Seth could leave behind the brainless lectures and pointless drama that high school had brought into his life. Seth turned off his computer and lied down in his bed to stare at the ceiling, lost in thought about his upcoming liberation.
As he pondered over his wasted years, his phone lit up next to him. It was a message from his uncle.
¡°Go out and get me some Dr. Pepper.¡±
Seth sighed in annoyance as another text bloomed into existence right under the first.
¡°And it better be the fucking cream soda kind this time.¡±
He sighed yet again as he read the time: 11:42PM. He would send a text back telling him to bugger off, but he knew that Gerald Shrike has never taken no for an answer and wouldn¡¯t give a shit about the time.
So instead of wallowing in his own self-pity, Seth pulled on his favorite black bomber jacket over the Adventure Time shirt he was wearing and set off for the Circle K six blocks from his uncle¡¯s apartment.
Walking to the entrance, he passed a scratched up white door with the sounds of Mission Impossible at full blast where his uncle has no doubt already passed out in his Lazy-boy.
¡°Every damn night...¡± Seth muttered.
He could acknowledge that Tom Cruise was a ¡°tasty treat¡± as the girls at his school would claim, but he didn¡¯t see a need to watch every film he starred in on repeat.
Shaking his head, Seth continued out the door and down the stairs past the elevator that hadn¡¯t been operational for the last five years. His apartment was on the fifth floor so even though he hadn¡¯t participated in sports for several years, he was still in good shape, if not a little on the leaner side.
It¡¯s not that he wasn¡¯t interested in sports, he was six foot and muscular enough, but the time drain of practice would have gotten in the way of his favorite pastime: Sitting in his room and scrolling through Reddit.
Or at least that¡¯s what he liked to tell himself.
Living on the fifth floor is another reason Seth was constantly going out for errands, as his uncle never wanted to traverse the stairs¡ or any physical exertion for that matter. His online ¡°job¡± was really just a gambling ring between him and his other worthless buddies.
He didn¡¯t really have to worry about money ever since he got the life insurance checks from Seth¡¯s parents along with their surprisingly large savings that has lasted Gerald and Seth for the last ten years.
--------
The streets were wet with the recent storms that have been passing through.
They were happening more and more frequently in the last couple weeks but they had never really caused any damage other than a couple lightning strikes here and there. Oddly enough, there was almost no one around as Seth walked toward the Circle K. It was pretty uncommon for the roads to be bare even at this time of night. Indianapolis was a lot of things, but quiet was not one of them.
Seth strolled down a familiar alleyway that he used as a shortcut constantly on his way to school. He clicked his tongue in annoyance as the stray thought had resurfaced the memory of the event tomorrow held.
He soon arrived at the gas station and navigated his way toward the drinks wall when he spotted a lithe figure standing in front of his destination.
Seth quickly ducked into the candy isle next to him as to not be spotted by a girl he knew all too well from school.
You got to be kidding me. There''s an entire city here and it''s midnight. What are the odds I run into someone from school?
Sydney Ranks was a fellow senior who fit the description of the basic emo girl who didn¡¯t care much for school and was vocal about it. Seth could agree that school was a joke but he never cared enough to get so involved in the idea as to chastise others about it all the time. She wasn¡¯t insanely popular for obvious reasons, but she also was not an outcast.
Her curvy figure and athletic build made it impossible to be left unnoticed by all the guys, but her strong personality warded many away. And the brave few that did endeavor to try and get her attention were met with a verbal assault and a lecture of why she wouldn¡¯t be interested in them even if they were the last particle of bacteria left on Earth.
This was precisely why Seth did not want to be noticed by her and risk a glare that could lead to an unwelcome social interaction.
Sydney finally moved out of the way after grabbing a watermelon Arizona tea and he noticed she had a trail of mascara going down her cheek.
She''s... crying?
As he sat in a daze wondering what could¡¯ve caused her of all people to cry, Seth realized his mistake of spacing out when she turned around and gave him a look of surprise. The reaction was quickly masked up with her trademark glare and she sternly marched past him up to the counter and left as soon as she tossed the total of her purchase into the hands of the bewildered cashier.
¡°Well, that was dramatic.¡± Seth exclaimed as he grabbed a six pack of Dr. Pepper and walked up to the counter for himself.
The cashier was a heavyset Hispanic dude that appeared to be in his forties. ¡°Bert¡± was written on his ID in messy print. ¡°$4.56.¡± Bert stated.
Seth handed him a five, ¡°Keep the change.¡±
¡°Have a good night.¡± Bert said lazily and turned back to the soap that was on the TV behind him.
¡°Yeah, you too.¡± Seth reciprocated as he jingled the bell attached to the exit.
Bert, absorbed in his soaps, didn¡¯t even notice the crack made of white light forming right outside the entrance of the store.
2- What the Hell is a Thigsin
Seth could only stare in mute amazement as a bright white crack started breaking open right in front of his eyes.
The sound of a fork scraping against a plate began shredding through the air. The sound broke him out of the stupor and he clutched his ears while the crack seemed to completely open.
He fell on his back as he watched a large skeletal hand that looked to be made of purple taffy mixed with bone fissures slowly emerge through the crack. The misshapen hand was about half the size of Seth and as it reached about a foot away from his face, it stopped and began to jerk about.
Seth screamed in fear and scrambled back on all fours away from the abomination.
¡°It¡¯s not real, it¡¯s not real, IT¡¯S NOT REAL!¡± Seth sputtered.
Just when it seemed as if he was getting to a safe distance, the hand stopped and shifted in place to make way for something else through the crack. Seth''s gaze followed the change from the hand to the entrance of the crack. What he saw shook him to the core.
At the entrance of the crack was an eye.
So black and empty it could only be compared to the endless vacuum of space. There was a promise inside the void, telling Seth that if he moved even one more muscle, he wouldn¡¯t live long enough to see himself graduate tomorrow.
As he lie there in a half sit-up position, resembling a deer in headlights, the hand shot out and grabbed him by the face, using its monstrous strength to slam his head into the curb, surely breaking his nose and giving him a nasty concussion. Blood dripped down Seth¡¯s face, and he turned his eyes sluggishly to the six pack he bought earlier.
¡°Dammit, I grabbed the wrong kind,¡± Seth aimlessly muttered right before he drifted into the darkness.
---------
People¡¯s voices started brushing on the edge of Seth¡¯s consciousness.
¡°The new guy looks like a pile of shit,¡± a deep voice said.
¡°Looks like he was a struggler,¡± a lighter, more feminine voice observed.
Seth¡¯s crusty eyes started to pry open, and a beam of light shot into them, caused him to clamp them shut again. Slowly he squinted and opened his eyes again to adjust to the brilliant beam.
¡°Well, he is alive after all,¡± the deeper voice exclaimed in a bored tone.
The voice belonged to a bearded man standing over Seth who was apparently sprawled on the floor. As Seth looked around to collect his thoughts, he noted in surprise that he was no longer in the parking lot of the Circle K, in fact, it didn¡¯t look like anywhere he had ever been before.
The ceiling, walls, and floor were all stark white and seemed to be glowing. He also saw a number of other people littered around the room. He tried to crane his neck to observe the whole room when a lance of pain spiked through his head. Seth groaned and rested his head back on the ground.
¡°Here, swallow this,¡± the feminine voice said next to him. It belonged to a young girl kneeling over him. She offered him a green tablet that matched her eyes, to which he drunkenly accepted.
Shortly after he swallowed the tablet, a pain even worse than the previous sparked in his head and grew larger and larger until Seth screamed out in agony. He almost passed out again, but the pain was gone soon after and he realized he felt way better.
Sitting up testily, Seth felt none of the pain from before. He reached a hand up toward his previously tender nose discovered it was perfectly fine other than some dried blood.
¡°What did you give me?¡± He asked the young girl.
¡°Like I know,¡± she vocalized.
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¡°They just gave it to me and said to make you take it when you woke up.¡±
¡°Who is they?¡± Seth inquired.
¡°Like I know,¡± she repeated impatiently.
As Seth fully stood up, he glanced at the bearded man whom he noticed earlier still standing near him. ¡°So do you have something for me too?¡± Seth asked the guy.
¡°Do I look like Kriss fucking Kringle? The only reason I¡¯m here is to make sure you don¡¯t do something to my daughter.¡±
¡°Dad...¡± the girl warned.
¡°Sorry hun,¡± the man sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s get going, now we ain¡¯t gotta deal with him.¡±
¡°Alright,¡± the girl agreed.
As they walked away to converse amongst themselves, Seth was about to stop them to ask more questions, but instead turned his attention to the rest of the room. It looked to have around a couple hundred people standing about. Some were talking in small groups, others were standing in the corners or against the wall keeping to themselves. There were even a few in the fetal position crying or looking like they were about to.
The one thing they all had in common was the suspicious look in their gazes.
Seth panned his eyes over each person to see if he recognized anyone. As he inspected the crowd, he saw that there was a wide diversity amongst them. It seemed almost like someone handpicked a few people from every country and put them all in one room.
What disturbed Seth the most was the fact that any conversation he overheard while pacing the room was in the English language. He found it highly improbable that they all just happened to be from areas who spoke English, no matter how popular the language is, there was too many different races and clothing types for that.
Finally, he noticed two people huddled in one of the corners that he recognized. He was startled to see that one of them was actually Sydney. Also, the guy talking to her in a hushed tone was another one of his classmates, Will Rivera.
Will was one of the guys at school Seth could actually remember the name of. He always treated him kindly, even if he was just an acquaintance. Seth began to make his way over to them when a giant panel opened up on the wall farthest from Seth. Silence fell over the room as everyone waited in anticipation for something to emerge.
He heard a woman cry out as a figure walked out from the darkness of the panel.
The thing was humanoid in shape but it looked as if it was created out of a variety of different pieces of flesh. It had one sea green tentacle as its left arm and what looked like a glass human arm as the right. The rest of its mismatched body looked like a quilt made of hair and scales. Its legs resembled a gorillas with silver hair and black skin. It was near three times the size of anyone in the room and it had a strange looking collar on its grotesque neck.
Above the monster¡¯s collar was a purple hood that hid its head.
The panel closed behind the apocalypse creature and it stopped a couple meters from the wall. It pressed a button on its collar and a square portion of the floor rose up under it and lifted it off the ground above the heads of the crowd. Everyone gaped at the floating creature as it came to a stop in the center of the room.
When it hit its standstill, the monster let out a series of gargles and screams that caused everyone to take a step back from it. The monster stopped and reached up to click another button on its collar.
¡°Sorry about that Thigsins. I forgot to change to your barbaric language before I arrived.¡±
It panned its head over the crowd, its voice a robotic rumble.
¡°I¡¯m sure you have many questions, but I don¡¯t care. On account of my distaste for all of you and your languages, I will make this short so I can watch how all of you will inevitably perish. You are all a waste of oxygen and the nutrients it takes for you to survive. You are a reject of your disgusting world, which means no one will notice or care you are gone. But rejoice! You have been taken from your hopeless lives to participate in our renowned dimension studies! Each of you will be sent to one of our training worlds in respect to the dimension you are assigned with a few precious gifts. You will all act as experiments that further our growing understanding of creation!¡±
The creature stood with its arms raised seemingly to be waiting for applause.
¡°What the hell are you talking about?¡± A grizzled old man shouted from the back.
This began an uproar of questions and cursing from the rest of the crowd. As they started to get louder and louder, the creature looked as if it was shaking in anger.
¡°SILENCE!¡± It screeched.
Its voice shook the room and shut everyone up in an instant.
¡°How dare you...¡±
The creature extended his glass arm at the old man that started it all and everyone stared in terror as the guy seemed to turn inside out starting at his mouth. Blood poured all over the ground as his organs continued to plop on the floor and the sickly sound of the man¡¯s muffled screams were suddenly cut off as the remains of his body fell to the ground.
No one said a word as the whole room seemed frozen other than the monster who just brutalized one of them.
¡°Because of your fellow filth¡¯s disrespect, I will no longer grace your useless existences with my presence.¡±
The creature turned around as a crack in thin air formed next to it.
¡°I can¡¯t wait to see what anomalies wreak havoc amongst this round of subjects,¡± the monster murmured to itself as it stepped through the crack and disappeared.
The floor piece that held the creature floated back to its original place in the creature¡¯s absence. Everyone could only stand in their own stupor after what had just transpired. No one could fathom what that creature was or what it was talking about. After what happened to the lone old man, no one knew what to do next.
Seth was no different than the rest of the people gathered in the room. He could only stare at the corpse of the man and wonder what the hell a ¡°Thigsin¡± was.
3- Impractical Jokers Really Upped Their Game!
Less than a minute after the creature disappeared through the crack in the air, Seth noticed that there were less people in the room than there was a moment ago. As he scanned the room for any doorway that they might have escaped through, he watched as a random Indian woman fell into the ground through an orange-colored crack in the floor.
Seth sprinted over to the spot the woman fell through, only to find that there was no crack to be found. He scrambled over the smooth floor looking for a seam or something to signify a trapdoor she could have fallen through. Murmurs turned to shouts in the room as others started to disappear through multicolored cracks in the floor.
Some ran for the walls, banging on them until their fists were bloody and voice hoarse, searching desperately for an escape from the bizarre cracks.
Seth kept running to the nearest person, only to arrive a second too late as they continued to vanish through the mysterious cracks. There were fewer and fewer left in the room and Seth was feeling hopeless. He could do to change his situation and that fact was obvious to Seth. He finally stopped moving and watched the ground under him, accepting his fate. Soon enough, a void black crack opened up under Seth and a feeling of weightlessness overtook him.
As Seth fell, he flailed desperately at the pitch-black space around him that felt like syrup. This sort of freefall made time seem to stand still until Seth suddenly found himself sprawled out on some sort of red and grey sand.
¡°Thank Christ its ov-¡± he was interrupted as his body abruptly made him release everything in his stomach.
He shortly turned to his back, feeling sick after his trip through the void. Eventually his queasiness pasted, and he got up to check out the surroundings. It seems the crack spit him out in an unfamiliar landscape consisting of nothing but grey and crimson sand dunes.
The sky revealed nothing helpful either. It contained what looked like eight moons, strangely all the same size and color, except one. Seven of them resembled Earth¡¯s moon, except they looked smooth, with no craters to be found. The eighth and largest moon was the most ominous of them all. It was pitch black other than the ring of scarlet around it. It looked like a halo of red hovering in the sky. It cast a sheen of red light that caused the sky to be a very dark crimson, resembling the sand he stood on.
Seth chuckled to himself for a moment.
¡°Yep, no way I¡¯m awake,¡± he stated blandly.
¡°I know damn well I did not just get sent to another world by some patchwork blob of shit.¡±
As Seth tried to make himself wake up, he noticed a grey round stone the size of a coffee table a couple meters away. It seemed to have what looked like an Avengers lunchbox on top of it. Seth cautiously sifted his way over to the rock and thoroughly inspected the area around it for anything odd, well, odder than an Avengers lunchbox in the middle of an alien landscape.
After becoming as sure as he could there was nothing to worry about, Seth approached the lunchbox and unclasped it before he leapt backward in case it was a bomb or something.
¡°What am I doing?¡± he chastised himself, ¡°What would be the point of throwing me all the way out here if that thing was just going to blow me up?¡±
Trying to shake off the feeling, Seth moved back over to the lunchbox and opened it up. Inside was another green tablet like he saw before, but this time it had small writing on it that didn¡¯t make sense at first. Before his eyes the tablet¡¯s scribbles morphed into the words, ¡°Construct Foundation.¡± Seth didn¡¯t understand what the hell that was supposed to mean or why the words seemed to change, but for now, he put the tablet off to the side and looked at the rest of the contents.
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Next, he found what looked like some sort of onyx crystal, it was about the size of his forefinger, and it had two spikes protruding from each end. There was no special writing on it like the tablet had, it just felt kind of light for its size, like it was hollow. Putting the crystal aside, Seth dove back into the lunchbox and pulled out...
¡°A pizza Lunchable? Are you fucking serious?¡± Seth was convinced that whoever put this here was a sick bastard after all.
¡°I mean of all the Lunchables, of course I get the worst kind created, just my luck.¡±
He practically threw the pizza Lunchable over to the other items and continued sorting through the lunchbox. Next, he pulled out a eyedropper filled with some clear liquid. He opened it up and sniffed it for a second, but there was no distinct odor. Sighing, he put the stopper next to the Lunchable.
The last item in the lunchbox was a piece of plain notebook paper. It looked like there was writing on both sides, so he went to start reading from the front. Yet again, there was some indecipherable scribbles all over the paper that slowly morphed into English. Seth was too exhausted to even care about the constant letter changing anymore. He began to read the paper aloud to no one in particular,
¡°Congratulations Subject 50, you have been chosen to help us discover the secrets of an anomaly in Dimension 4297! Rejoice! For your worthless life has finally been given a purpose! You have been given a form of sustenance and hydration your weak body needs to survive for the time being. You have also been given a Foundation Stone and an Anomalous Gem. Place each in your mouth and continue to the other side of the parchment.¡±
And lower down the page, ¡°If you don¡¯t take the stone and gem in twenty-four hours, you will perish by poison...¡± Seth paused for a moment, he took a deep breath and calmed himself down as he tried to process the note.
¡°Dimension 4297? Subject 50?¡±
To Seth it seemed obvious from the contents of the note and what the monster said back in the white room that he was apparently some sort of lab rat. An experiment meant to understand the origin of creation as the creature liked to put it. Based on the note, Seth could tell he definitely was not one of the first subjects to be pulled into this, nor would he be the last.
The fact that he was apparently in Dimension 4297 meant that this had been going on for probably thousands of years, maybe even millions. Seth¡¯s head started to ache as he tried to process the ramifications of what that entailed.
The real question in Seth¡¯s mind was: ¡°What is an anomalous gem? And more importantly, what is it going to do to me?¡±
It was basically a no brainer that Seth needed to take whatever the Foundation Stone was. Logically it would be the thing to save him from the acclaimed ¡°poison,¡± because it seemed as if the Anomalous Gem was an unknown even for the things running this operation. Seth knew that he still couldn¡¯t trust the tablet but the last one he took didn¡¯t seem to have a negative effect on him, so he had a little faith in the Foundation Stone.
At least the name wasn¡¯t a blaring red flag like the ¡°Anomalous Gem.¡± Not to mention the gem was all black, and spiked, pretty much shouting out, ¡°Eat me and I will give you internal bleeding.¡± There was so many things Seth was unsure about. He was already mentally exhausted, and the terrain around him seemed to suck away his energy with its promise of desertion. Not to mention he had not slept the night before.
Seth put the items back in the lunchbox and proceeded to lie down next to the round grey stone. He was aware that it was basically impossible for him to tell time in this place due to the lack of the sun and he didn¡¯t see a clock hanging around anywhere.
Even though he knew all this, Seth still waited to fall asleep, aware that he couldn¡¯t have been here for more than an hour already, and he seriously doubted he would sleep for over twenty hours in one nap.
He lied there for a good half hour not realizing why he couldn¡¯t fall asleep. That¡¯s when the contents of the day finally hit him. Seth shivered in place as his body denied to move. Nowhere to go, no idea what to do, and as the monster said, no one to care that he is gone. Tears of frustration and desperation started to build up around his eyes and he clamped them shut to keep them in.
The horrific scene of the old man turning inside out played over and over in his mind. It was something Seth would never forget for the rest of his life. Even if that life ended tomorrow, and there was a high chance it would... Tomorrow. To think Seth¡¯s life went from finally being able to start tomorrow, to it possibly ending instead.
A tear escaped his clenched eyelids as sleep overtook him.
4- Pain is the Game
Seth gradually regained consciousness as his eyelids fought to open for more than a couple seconds at a time. A cold sweat covered him as the murky fog of sleep eventually fell away. He struggled to sit up as a wave of black hit him. His family had always been prone to low blood pressure, so Seth patiently waited for it to pass and sat up fully.
He had a pulsing ache right behind his right eyebrow that he associated to what having a hangover would be like. He never had actually experienced one, not from a lack of opportunities though.
His uncle was quite careless with where he left all his half empty beer bottles. It was just that Seth never really cared about alcohol.
The same was true about drugs, he honestly thought that the people who always felt the need to partake in that stuff used it as a crutch to get through their constant everyday cycle of pointlessness and boredom. Basically, what Seth used video games, anime, and social media for.
The terrain surrounding Seth was no different than when he first arrived. The only thing to have changed to Seth¡¯s knowledge was the fact the red halo in the sky had moved from about the position of nine to noon. Hovering directly above him, Seth knew there was no chance he had only slept three hours, and passively surmised that wherever he was either had a much larger orbit path, or he had legitimately slept for twenty-seven hours.
The latter was obviously not true, because if he did sleep that long, according to the note, he would have never woken up.
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¡°That note actually might have some merit to it,¡± Seth observed aloud. ¡°My head feels like it¡¯s about to pop.¡±
He moved over to pick up the green tablet. ¡°I guess this is really my only option huh.¡±
Seth¡¯s head was beating painfully, but he wouldn¡¯t risk taking the tablet without at least seeing what else could be around him. He gingerly stood up and grabbed the lunchbox. He then turned to where he believed North was, at least by Earth¡¯s rules, and set off. Strangely, he didn¡¯t feel hungry or thirsty even after being in the foreign dimension for as long as he had.
¡°Probably a result of the pain in my head messing with my natural instincts or something,¡± Seth surmised.
He opened the lunchbox and looked meekly at the abomination staring back at him. Not only did he not want to eat the Lunchable for obvious reasons, but it was also the only source of food he had at the moment, so he didn¡¯t want to waste it. His eyes turned over to the eyedropper. It appeared that the dropper was actually his water source.
¡°Prick,¡± Seth mumbled in annoyance.
He decided that the dropper would be of no help due to its size, so he made finding water his first priority, if he could do so before his head exploded. He continued his exploration for anything useful.
The search went on for about a half hour before Seth fell on his knees in agony.
The pain had become so unbearable Seth couldn¡¯t take one more step. It felt as if something was trying to escape from his brain, and was laying waste to his skull as a result. He shakily retrieved the green tablet from the lunchbox and looked at it in desperation.
¡°Please don¡¯t kill me,¡± he wheezed. Seth popped the tablet into his mouth and dry swallowed it whole. He felt immediately better for a moment, then the something inside his brain finally broke through his skull and Seth passed out.
5- This is Definitely Not an Isekai
Seth awoke abruptly and shot to his feet. His mind felt extremely alert, which was especially odd given how many times he had passed out and or suffered brain damage in the last twenty-four hours. The pain he was experiencing before he passed out was totally gone.
After Seth made sure there was no hole in his head, he checked out his surroundings for the umpteenth time today. Everything seemed basically the same other than what looked like a long shadow in the distance. He would have been worried had he not spent over a day in this place half- conscious and had not been attacked once.
Peaking up at the sky to try and gauge the time, Seth was surprised to see it looked as if the halo hadn¡¯t moved at all. Had he only been out for a minute or two? As he pondered over his lack of pain, Seth also realized he still wasn¡¯t hungry in the least.
¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I already know what¡¯s on the menu,¡± he groaned. As soon as he finished with his complaint, black letters miraculously appeared in front of Seth¡¯s eyes.
Main Menu:
Status-
Abilities-
Quests-
Notifications-
¡°What in the f-¡° he trailed off as he watched the Notifications tab blink steadily.
¡°Am I just supposed to click it?¡± he wondered aloud.
Seth couldn¡¯t help but feel like every clueless main character from an isekai as he experimented with the hovering menu. ¡°Well, it appeared after I said menu, so maybe its voice activated...¡± In a hushed voice, Seth whispered, ¡°Notifications.¡±
Instantly, the words morphed to form an iPhone like menu of banners. There was a number of new banners and two from eighteen hours ago. The time stamp on the older banner confirmed Seth¡¯s timeline he had been building since he arrived. His attention turned to the contents of the older messages, and he discovered by just willing with his mind, he could pull up the message.
-You have consumed a Manufactured Language Shard (Class B ). Because you have no dimensional power, the excess energy has removed your ailments and dissipated back into the environment.
-By consuming the Manufactured Language Shard, you have gained the ability to understand all languages of your local universe.
So that¡¯s why everyone seemed to be speaking English in the white room, Seth thought.
¡°It must have something to do with the morphing words as well.¡± Seth re-read the banner one more time. ¡°Wait I can actually understand any language in my universe?¡± Even though I was abducted by a patchwork flesh monster and watched a dude turn inside out, this is still a kickass ability, he thought. Finally, he scrolled to the most recent banners.
-Congratulations! By consuming the Foundation Stone, your body has been infused with enough dimensional power to construct your Foundation. With your Foundation, you now have the power to shape dimensional energy around you on an infinitesimal scale.
-Congratulations! By constructing your Foundation, you have gained the basic ability to ¡°Nurture.¡±
-Because of your nature, your ¡°Nurture¡± ability has taken the form of the ability: ¡°Menu.¡±
-Your body has reached its limit of dimensional energy, to increase your limit, achieve an evolution.
¡°An evolution?¡± Seth pondered, ¡°Does it mean like a Darwin evolution? Cause that could take a couple million years I think.¡± He waited in anticipation for another line of text to appear, but he was disappointed as nothing showed up.
¡°So much for some cosmic help desk,¡± Seth said lamely. He was about to try experimenting with the menu when the last banner caught his eye.
-The construction of your Foundation has caused the collapse of a powerful warding ability around you. You are now able to be sensed by nearby entities.
The blood froze in Seth¡¯s veins as he remembered the ominous shadow on the horizon. He could only let out a small whimper before a bloodcurdling screech more terrifying than anything he had heard before sounded off to his right. Seth was as pale as a ghost as he shakily turned toward the sound.
The scream sounded like it was at least a mile or two away. This fact further horrified Seth because if it was that loud while it was far away, it might burst his eardrums or worse when it finally reached him.
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He didn¡¯t want to risk the monster spotting him, but he had to confirm its location. Not to mention the fact it was here at all basically meant it knew he was there. Seth threw himself to the ground and army crawled to the top of the dune currently between him and the ear-splitting creature. As he approached the top, he carefully peered over the mound, only to show his eyes and a little bit of his head.
The shadow had definitely grown closer and now it roughly resembled a bird, but he still couldn¡¯t make out exactly what he was dealing with. The location of the thing was really all he cared about, so after glimpsing the figure, he promptly slid down the dune and continued to sprint in the opposite direction.
Feet pounded against the soft crimson and grey sand as Seth escaped the unknown creature. He ran with all his might, but it was becoming painfully clear that he would not be able to run away from the creature so easily.
The sand was quickly sapping his energy and his refusal to eat the pizza Lunchable seemed to be taking its toll as Seth¡¯s body had no energy to continue with. He didn¡¯t know the speed of the figure, but he guessed it would most likely be faster than him based off its alien mannerisms and the fact it lived in this unforgiving landscape.
While Seth continued his pitiful escape, a beating noise began to grow louder behind him. Another screech exponentially louder than the first erupted from Seth¡¯s rear. He threw his hands up to his ears as the sound rattled his skull. Their seemed to be another much quieter girlish screaming sound emitting from nearby, but that could have been anything...
Seth¡¯s cheap blue Nikes were tested to their absolute limit as he ran faster than he had even tried too before. It was to no avail as the pounding behind him grew louder and more frequent. It sounded like the creature had just turned to its next gear and Seth was already no match for its first so he began to despair.
¡°Please give me some bullshit accidental kill like in those shitty Manhwas!¡± Seth shrieked.
His wish was unfounded as something huge hit him in back, causing him to launch into the air in a somersaulting motion. There was a series of what Seth believed was bones snapping as he skipped on the ground like a stone on a pond.
He finally reached a stop when the arm he attempted to brace himself with folded underneath him in an unnatural position. Sand filled every orifice of his body as he lied there in quiet agony waiting for death to claim him.
An absence of sound met Seth¡¯s tortured thoughts.
He painfully opened his eyes into a squint as to not increase his body¡¯s sand to flesh ratio. What he saw made him wish he had never done so.
The creature in front of him was something he could not even have concocted in his worst nightmares. His gaze of fright was met by a pair of small beady black orbs. There was no irises or whites in the eyes. That might have disturbed Seth if not for the eyes being attached to a giant human like skull.
Its sockets were higher than usual and insanely small compared to its car sized head. Emerging from the ear holes of the skull were two ginormous filthy red wings that looked like they had been through a wood chipper. And to finish the demonic ensemble was a pair of shrimpy crimson legs covered in what looked to be some sort of chicken pox, but much larger and oozing a tar colored substance.
¡°What. The. Fuck.¡± Seth muttered without thought.
The movements of his jaw sent shocks of pain to lance through his neck. The pain finally brought him back to reality and allowed him to think again. He was struck with a stupor of confusion directly after because the creature in front of him was oddly just floating there. It flapped its blood wings at a constant beating rhythm and Seth just sat and stared at the monster while the monster just sat there and stared back.
He wondered why the thing didn¡¯t just end him already.
Its beady void eyes continued to watch Seth as he shakily got up on his surprisingly not broken legs. The movement caused him to wince as his ribs and left arm cried out in pain. His neck felt like it had a nasty crock in it as well but as long as he didn¡¯t turn his head it was bearable. He threw out his good arm in front of him to balance, to which he finally noticed the difference around him.
The crimson, grey desert that he had been accustomed to had been replaced with a new type of terrain, it was straight black, no other color to be seen. It seemed to be a landscape consisting of onyx black glass shards that littered the ground. Large pieces of them stuck up from the ground in the distance forming fang-like structures. As he glanced back at the monster, he realized there was a clear cut border between the sand and the glass that the monster was flying right above.
Seth hoped the monster was confined to the desert, and that¡¯s why it didn¡¯t pursue him. He preferred not to think to much into it because he was safe, and if he thought too much about it, the other reasons would disturb him. Seth gingerly took a step toward the spot where the creature continued to float in silence.
As he got closer, Seth discovered the human like skull he observed earlier that made up the main body of the creature, was actually covered in a thin pale sheet of skin. Black veins were visible underneath, although very thin and spider-like. Closing in on the thing, Seth became overwhelmed with an urge see if it was actually real.
Although it had appeared to hit him earlier, his situation still didn¡¯t seem real to him, so he had know. Reaching out with his healthy arm, Seth closed his eyes and felt like ¡°How to Train Your Dragon¡± as he searched with his fingers for a brief contact with the unknown being.
His peripherals lighted up when he felt an ice-cold wet stone-like surface underneath his middle finger. Seth willed his menu into being and yet again chose the Notifications button that was flashing like before.
-Congratulations! By coming into contact with an unknown organism, you have discovered the ¡°Index¡± Menu option.
-Congratulations! You have discovered a new species of Dimension 4297: Fouler.
-Open the ¡°Index¡± option to inspect the new species.
Seth promptly opened the new flashing Index tab in the menu. The tab actually had a convenient filter option to get the most recent discoveries to the top of the list. What appeared in front of him was a rough picture of the Fouler along with its name next to it. There was a small details button under the picture that Seth went to push. A new line of red appeared in front of his that read:
-Not enough information collected on ¡°Fouler¡±
¡°Well, a lot of help this thing is,¡± Seth huffed. As Seth continued to fiddle with the index, he didn¡¯t realize his finger was still in contact with the Fouler. Nor did he notice the Fouler¡¯s beady eyes shift to focus on Seth¡¯s outstretched hand. Before Seth¡¯s eyes the details button started to blink under the image of the Fouler. He wondered what had changed but eagerly pushed the button.
-When the Fouler¡¯s mighty jaw latches onto its prey, steel is not even a match for it, much less the flesh and bone of a lesser being.
Right after Seth read the last line, the Fouler finally clamped down its huge jaw that had been unhinging while Seth was reading the banner and tore Seth¡¯s right hand off in a bloody fountain. Seth released a bloodcurdling scream and fell back onto the onyx shards, further cutting his back. He continued to scream and convulse while the Fouler resumed its soundless flight on the border of sand and glass.
The Avengers lunchbox was forgotten at Seth¡¯s feet and his sudden fall knocked it open into his growing pool of blood.
6- Dead Man Walking
Blood spurted and gore littered around Seth as he started fading into darkness. The only thing Seth could think of as his consciousness slipped was how pathetic his life had been up till this point. As he finally gave up, whispers erupted in Seth¡¯s brain.
Weak. Pathetic. Worthless! IS THIS IS ALL YOU HAVE YOU USELESS LOSER!?
A familiar loathsome voice rang out through his mind. Anger surprisingly bubbled up in Seth¡¯s gut as the whispers assaulted him, reminding him again of his past.
Anger at his worthless uncle.
Anger at the world for taking his parents and leaving him alone.
And most of all, anger at himself for allowing his life to amount to nothing.
The patchwork being was right, the universe gave him one glance and rejected him. No one cared about him. The memories infuriated Seth so much they pushed him past the breaking point. He ferociously fought back his nausea with an unorthodox animalistic growl and turned a rage filled gaze onto the Fouler. It continued to watch him in its tireless flight.
¡°FUCK YOU, YOU UGLY BALL OF SHIT!¡± Seth roared as he spat blood weakly from his mouth.
His ribs were most likely broken as well as his arm that was missing a hand. He had suffered an immense amount of blood loss and he knew it would take a miracle for him to survive.
¡°A miracle...¡± he muttered as his feral eyes turned to the open lunchbox next to his deformed limb.
There were no more magic green tablets that would heal his wounds, but there was a chance at survival still there. The Anomalous Gem. Seth plucked the now crimson colored gem off the ground with his foot. If it was anything like the language shard, he was confident it would contain enough ¡°dimensional energy¡± or whatever to heal him at least a little.
The drawbacks of using the mysterious item were vastly outweighed by Seth¡¯s current situation where he would definitely be dying if he just sat there. Snapping his eyes shut, Seth brought the gem up to his mouth and set it on his tongue. Even though Seth knew he just put the gem in his mouth, there wasn¡¯t any sensation at all. It was as if the gem was just a shadow of a real object.
Seth slowly bit down on the gem, and to his surprise, the gem shattered in his mouth, finally giving a sensation, but at the same time, it was unlike anything he had felt before. Brittle shards filled his mouth, but also a sticky liquid that tasted strangely like maple syrup.
Seth attempted to swallow the liquid, when it caught in his throat. He sat up quickly and tried to dislodge the substance wad from his esophagus. Soon after, Seth let out a choked groan as he felt the shards in his mouth begin to prick his gums. The shards were burrowing into all sides of his mouth, and with that came excruciating pain.
In a panic, Seth opened the menu telepathically and strained to find out what was going on. Every menu option was blinking sporadically and the whole menu itself was flickering. Randomly, the Notifications screen appeared without him having to select anything. Through tear filled eyes, Seth stared in hopeless confusion at what was laid out in front of him.
-Congratulations! You have absorbed a @&$&#%€¡ê#!
-Warning! By absorbing the @&$&#%€¡ê#, your body has been fundamentally altered.
-??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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-???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
As an innumerable amount of random symbols started to appear on Seth¡¯s screen, a huge line in red appeared over every other message. This new message made Seth forget all the pain and confusion he been suffering through a moment earlier. Every feeling was replaced with stark fear as the line burned its contents into Seth¡¯s widened eyes. Only after he finished reading did his mind finally become overrun with darkness.
¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª
¡°Commander, come look at this,¡± the creature observing the monitor gurgled.
Its language consisted of a variety of groans and gurgling, due to its lack of a proper mouth. The creature¡¯s superior lumbered its way over on its silver haired gorilla legs. The commander laid its sea green tentacle on its subordinate¡¯s makeshift shoulder.
¡°Shilung, what is it?¡± The commander questioned. There were hundreds of screens observing the subjects for this round of experiments, and the commander didn¡¯t know which Shilung was referring to. ¡°Has there been any powerful anomalies of note?¡±
Shilung sat up straighter in excitement. ¡°Actually sir, there has been a number of quite potent anomalies absorbed so far. Eight to be exact. But of course, there has been a fair share of useless ones as well.¡± Shilung explained.
¡°What is our number on takeover anomalies?¡± The commander asked.
¡°Seventy-Eight sir. None of them will be a problem to remove though.¡±
¡°They never are,¡± the commander chuckled, ¡°these weak beings we chose for experiments this round are hilariously feeble compared to other races. And as you know, the takeover anomalies are confined to the being they control, so for these subjects, they will be impressively weak unless an evolution had taken place before the takeover.¡±
¡°I agree sir, but I actually wanted you to look at a specific subject I have been watching,¡± Shilung continued.
¡°Which subject are you referring to?¡±
¡°Subject 50, commander. Something odd is occurring to it,¡± Shilung stated.
¡°Well what is it? Is it another Cosmos Reaver?¡± It was not unheard of for one of the subjects to become one, but if not taken care of quickly, the reaver might become an actual problem.
¡°No sir, it¡¯s something I haven¡¯t seen since Trial 5333. I can¡¯t speculate on what exactly is going on due to our lack of information, but the signs are similar,¡± it presumed.
¡°I am unaware of what occurred during Trial 5333, enlighten me,¡± the commander demanded.
¡°I apologize sir, I forgot Trial 5333 was before you were appointed. It was my mistake.¡± Shilung was startled by its own ignorance, but quickly collected its thoughts and pulled up the records of the trial. ¡°If I remember correctly, the subject in Trial 5333 that resembled Subject 50 perished shortly after its absorption of its anomaly.¡±
¡°What exactly was so odd about that subject?¡± The commander interrogated.
¡°Well sir, after the anomaly was absorbed, the subject showed evidence of an unusual takeover event that ended with the subject becoming the focal point of a literal black hole. We lost a number of observation vessels, and it took years of shaping rituals to replace them. That was why we began to send fewer vessels per subject,¡± Shilung finished.
The commander growled in displeasure as it contemplated what they should do about Subject 50. ¡°Jump the vessels back here.¡± The commander decided. ¡°We can¡¯t afford to waste that kind of time on one subject. And we can¡¯t kill it either due to the circumstances.¡±
¡°Understood.¡± Shilung confirmed. ¡°I will send for them now.¡±
The commander marched back to its station and continued to work on more important tasks. Although it was inconvenient to lose the data on Dimension 4297¡¯s anomaly, it was just one. Not to mention, the commander knew how terrible that dimension was. It contained mostly tier one beings, and every planet somehow consisted of the same unlivable landscape with one tier three to control its lessors. The commander actually felt a spark of amusement at the idea of some of that dimension being eviscerated.
¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª
Shilung watched its superior go and chastised itself for its stupidity. ¡°Dammit you idiot. Why would you mention the time before the commander took charge.¡±
It knew it was a bad topic because the time before the commander got here contained extremely dangerous experiments they were now banned from pursuing. Shilung turned back to the monitor and observed the last few seconds of recording they had of Subject 50. The weak being was covered in its own filth and reaching toward the anomaly. Soon after it placed the anomaly in its mouth, the subject was looking in desperation at its transformed ¡°Nurture¡± ability.
Shilung watched in interest as the subject¡¯s face morphed into what Shilung understood to be an expression of fear. It moved to an omnidirectional view from above the subject¡¯s head while a line of scarlet text burned its existence into being. Shilung was absolutely enthralled as it devoured the bizarre text:
¡°Be afraid. Be very afraid.¡±
7- A Place Worse Than Hell
Seth howled in terror as he flew through the land of horrors.
His worst fears, horrific beings, scenes of chaos and death.
Every vision of fright imaginable formed and collapsed around Seth as he came closer and closer to insanity. Seconds shifted to eternities, directions became irrelevant, and thoughts turned to hallucinations as his trip into Gehenna progressed.
Whispers¡ whispers of voices both familiar and foreign people rose above the chaos surrounding him.
Pain erupted across Seth¡¯s head in response to the voices, but it was barely registerable compared to the nightmares terrorizing his other senses. Eventually, the pain became too much and his eyes that were previously shut in an attempt to save his mind creaked open. Trying to ignore his environment, he focused on what was causing the searing pain¡ only to find a picture that curdled his blood.
It was his hands.
They were covered in tufts of familiar golden hair and an egregious amount of crimson blood. ¡°ahhhAHHHHHH!!!¡±
A shrill scream was released from his throat, unbidden as he realized his own hands were trying to tear through his skull. In response to his unhinged shriek, a series of disgusting eye slits shot open across his arms and met Seth¡¯s terrified gaze. In an instant, the hands were upon his face and he could do nothing but scream as they dug into the cavities of his eye sockets.
--------
Long after Seth¡¯s mind had already broken, a hand of pure darkness emerged from the chaos to engulf Seth. The sudden silence brought Seth back to reality like a splash of ice-cold water. His eyes were back under his control, but he could not say the same for the rest of his extremities. Tremors racked his body as he lied in the fetal position staring into the black. Tears streamed down his face and screams echoed through the space as he relived the horror over and over in his mind.
¡°Well, aren¡¯t you a sorry sight,¡± a voice from behind Seth giggled.
Seth didn¡¯t even roll over to observe the new presence, as he didn¡¯t hear it in the first place.
¡°Ah, I forgot lesser being¡¯s minds can¡¯t handle this realm for long.¡±
A slow melody of footsteps were played as the voice strutted over to study Seth closer. A slender hand white as snow reached over to cradle his head.
In an instant, Seth was suddenly on his feet and his thoughts were finally silent. He quickly did a full turn in place, panicking at the absence of chaos that had filled his mind just a moment ago. It was as if the hell he saw earlier never even existed. Not to mention, he didn''t feel any of his previous pain either.
¡°Where am I?¡± He whispered to himself.
A voice like velvet answered from all around him, ¡°Welcome, little one. Do not panic, for you are now safe from the pests on the outside.¡±
Seth whipped his head back in forth, searching for the origin of the voice. ¡°Who are you? What do you mean outside, the outside of what? Where am I?" He demanded.
¡°Hell of course.¡± A voice whispered into his ear.
Seth fell back away from the voice in fear as he finally found its owner. A man stood in place next to where Seth stood originally. Well, ¡°man¡± was a loose description as the thing in front of him was humanoid in shape and its voice smooth and humane like a man¡¯s. Everything else about the thing was definitely not human in nature. It was around six feet tall, but it could have easily been eight if not for it being in a hunched position.
The figure was absolutely wreathed in ink black chains. The chains looked alive as multicolored ruins appeared and disappeared all over them, and they were wrapped so tightly around every part of the figure¡¯s body that no skin was visible from its neck down to its ankles. Its arms were also bound behind its back and a web of chains stretched into the void connected to the figure.
¡°Hello my little friend,¡± the figure said. ¡°I am so happy to see you.¡±
¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª
Seth stared at the dark being. In an attempt to show mock confidence, Seth went to look the creature in the eye, only to find that the whole top half of its face was also wrapped in chains. The only thing he could see of the thing itself was its stark white six toed feet and its creepy manic grin. It''s smile made Seth lose all bravado. It contained way more teeth than a normal mouth, and the grin stretched unnaturally across its face, wider than any one he had seen before. Its black lips curled menacingly around its perfectly white teeth. Worst of all, Seth watched as blood mixed with some black liquid dribbled down the creature¡¯s chin.
¡°Who are you?¡± Seth asked shakily.
¡°I am known by my captors as Folly,¡± the figure sniggered. ¡°And you are Seth Shrike, the harbinger.¡±
Seth furrowed his brow in confusion, ¡°How do you know who I am? And why are you in chains?¡±
¡°I know all who enter my domain, you are no different. As for why I am in chains, well that is because of you of course. Because you found the anomaly I created, my captors learned about my little mistake and saw fit to confine me further. But even now, I can still access my domain, for it lives purely in my mind.¡± Folly cackled.
¡°You see, every time I physically enter the mortal dimension, I unwillingly create an anomaly from the outpour of the outside realm¡¯s energy.¡±
It took a second to hold back even more laughter. ¡°I just love watching the destruction the anomalies cause.¡±
Folly finally lost his composure and laughed uncontrollably for a full minute. Seth was completely unnerved by the insane figure named Folly, but he had questions that needed to be answered.
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¡°You keep mentioning the ''outside realm.'' What is that, what was that place I saw before I got here?¡± There were many other things the figure said that didn¡¯t make sense, but Seth needed to know what the things he saw were. They would forever live in his nightmares, and Seth needed to make sure that¡¯s the only place they stayed.
¡°Those that know of its existence refer to the place you saw as ''The Other Side,'' but us residents like to call it Perdition.¡± Folly stated with a wicked grin.
¡°Residents? You mean you have to see that constantly? I could barely hang on for the weeks I was in there, I can¡¯t imagine living in that hell.¡± Seth exclaimed with a traumatic sigh.
¡°Weeks?¡± Folly broke out into a booming cackle. His mouth unhinged and a long slick black pointy tongue shot out of his mouth and spasmed around to display his manic pleasure. He finally settled enough to finish his thought.
¡°You ignoramus! You weren¡¯t in there for weeks, you were only in there for five seconds! BAHAHAHA!¡±
Folly¡¯s whole body shook with laughter and his ink black toenails scratched the ground repeatedly in response to his fit.
Seth was supremely disturbed by the fact he had only been in Perdition for five seconds. He was pretty sure that he also lost his mind during the experience, so in reality he didn¡¯t even last that long. While Folly laughed, Seth calmed his own turmoil in order to ask another question. Abruptly, Folly silenced himself and interrupted Seth¡¯s response.
¡°ENOUGH!¡± He shouted with a surprising amount of authority. His voice sounded devilish and terrifying as it forced Seth into literal submission. Seth couldn¡¯t even make a sound as it felt like his mouth had been sewn shut. Folly turned back to his original grin like nothing even happened.
¡°Sorry little one, but I need to speed this up. Although I can access my domain by will, these chains only allow me to temporarily open it. As the creator of the anomaly, I am forced to give you access to its power. But I am infinitely bored in this realm, and the only rule is I have to give you a chance to get its power. Honestly, I don¡¯t care either way, but last time I had someone absorb an anomaly I created, he turned into a black hole! BAHAHAHA! It was beyond entertainment! It would be a true waste if I just opened the anomaly to you. So, let¡¯s make it a little game, hmm?¡±
Folly swung back and forth in his chains, thinking. He stopped mid swing and screeched, ¡°I GOT IT!¡± The creature hacked in place and spat a disgusting glob of red and black fluid onto the ground in front of Seth. Ghostly purple flames sputtered to life at Seth¡¯s feet and three lines of text appeared in the flames.
-Grave Prophet: Learn the secrets of the Damned.
-Embodiment of Ruin: Leave only death and destruction in your wake.
-Presence of Doom: Wield the power of the inevitable.
¡°All bring death, yet one yields life. Now choose your curse little one.¡± Folly¡¯s grin widened, ¡°Because of the risk on your part, I will sweeten the deal... If you live, I will give you a few little presents.¡± He finished with a more sinister edge than usual.
Seth didn¡¯t even notice the change. He was too absorbed in the choices before him. For his whole life, Seth didn¡¯t care about school. It wasn¡¯t because he got bad grades or anything, in fact, Seth¡¯s worst grade at the end of the year was a B in AP US History. It was specifically because he thought the school system was outdated. There was so many useless subjects and it did nothing to prepare you for adulthood. All in all, Seth was a smart guy, so it only took him a few shorts minutes to understand the catch in Folly¡¯s choices.
¡°I have decided.¡± Seth declared in a confident tone. Folly¡¯s smile reached each ear as he listened to Seth¡¯s declaration.
¡°Oh have you now little one? Are you sure that you don¡¯t want to think it over a bit longer?¡± Seth set his jaw and trusted his gut, because even if no one believed in him on Earth, he would just have to muster enough resolve to make up for it. ¡°What is your choice little one?¡± Folly questioned expectantly.
¡°I choose the ¡°Presence of Doom,¡± He stated.
Folly¡¯s expression revealed nothing. ¡°What made you decide on the ¡°Presence of Doom¡± ability?¡±
Although Seth had seen unimaginable horrors and had experienced more pain in the last day than he had in his whole life, he could still spot a cheap riddle when he heard it.
¡°It was pretty easy to figure out after that little wordplay at the end. You left all the clues there for me, I just had to pick up on them.¡±
Seth¡¯s attention was totally focused on his own ¡°genius¡± explanation that he didn¡¯t realize Folly was shaking violently in his chains.
¡°First, the ability: ¡°Embodiment of Ruin¡± was a trick. At first glance, it sounds like a promise of incredible power, but then I remembered something you mentioned before, that the last thing to absorb one of the anomalies you created became a black hole. And that is exactly what I would have become had I chosen that ability. Embodying a force that leaves only ¡°death and destruction.¡±
The chained being continued to shake while its grin widened to unimaginable proportions and its nails raked the floor.
¡°Secondly, the ¡°Grave Prophet¡± trait was another trick. This one has no outside clue. It was a simple matter of reading between the lines. The only way to ¡°learn the secrets of the Damned¡± is to literally become one. Had I chosen that trait, I would probably have been killed instantly, huh?¡± Seth finally turned his eyes back to the figure wreathed in darkness and lost all the nerve he had gained while explaining. Upon Seth¡¯s gaze shifting back to him, Folly finally released the howl of laughter he had been desperately holding.
¡°EXCELLENT! PERFECTION!¡± He shrieked.
Folly¡¯s tongue lolled yet again outside his mouth as he convulsed in glee. ¡°That was extraordinary! The perfect entertainment to chase away my eternal boredom! Oh yes, you earned this little one.¡± Folly¡¯s jaw unhinged and a fountain of darkness erupted from his mouth.
The darkness rushed toward Seth and crashed into every hole of his face. His eyes, mouth, nose, and ears were engulfed in the black oily substance. Seth thought he would pass out from suffocation when the onslaught finally ended. He shakily arose from the knee he took unconsciously and looked back at the chained figure.
¡°Don¡¯t worry, you will definitely be feeling the changes when you wake up,¡± Folly tittered.
Seth¡¯s brow furrowed when he realized what Folly just conceded. ¡°Wait, I have been asleep this whole time?¡± He asked with confusion.
¡°Yes and no little one. For a mortal of your weak caliber to enter Perdition, you must have your soul pulled here by a being with sufficient power that exists here physically. So to say when you wake up, I truly mean when I release your soul.¡± Folly finished with his trademark manic grin.
Seth didn¡¯t like the idea of his soul being under Folly¡¯s thumb, ¡°Alright then, can you send me back now?¡±
The insane creature clicked its tongue. ¡°Did you already forget about my extra little incentive?¡± Folly asked in mock hurt. It shuddered for a second and then opened its mouth. Its black tongue unfurled to reveal three items. Seth approached the being and let it drop the items into his outstretched hand. Upon closer inspection, he identified them as a sparkling black rock, a pearl white marble, and an... eyeball?
¡°What am I supposed to do with these?¡± He questioned.
¡°Well, consume them of course.¡± The being said as if it was obvious. ¡°First, you must replace one of your eyes with the one I provided.¡± Seth looked down at the mysterious eyeball in his hand. The supposed whites of the eyes were actually void black, and the iris was a glowing purple halo in the sea of darkness. Seth couldn¡¯t lie, it was pretty fucking sick, but he didn¡¯t understand how he was just supposed to replace one of his eyes.
¡°How am I supposed to just switch out my eye for this one?¡± He asked.
¡°Just like this,¡± the chained figure replied as it shot out its spear like tongue and picked up the eyeball out of his hand and slammed it into Seth¡¯s left eye socket. A pained scream ripped from Seth¡¯s throat as he clawed at his face that was free flowing blood.
¡°FUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!!!¡± He screeched. ¡°WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOOOUUUU!?¡±
Folly was shaking in his chains from his wretched hysterics. ¡°ENCORE! ENCORE!¡± It chortled. Slowly it calmed down enough to talk again.
¡°Our time is running thin my little one. I will speed up the process of consumption so you can be sent back to the mortal realm. As Seth continued in his agony, Folly used it''s tongue to insert the orb into Seth¡¯s mouth and then lashed a cut on his crippled arm to which he shoved the sparkly black rock into. Seth was now trying to clutch both his eye and his wrist to stop the bleeding.
¡°Farewell now little one, I look forward to your next show...¡±
The last thing Seth heard before he ascended into the light, was laughter from the maddest being in all of creation.
8- Puberty Has Nothing On This
A phantom scream signaled Seth¡¯s arrival back into the mortal realm.
He went to clutch his eye, then realized that it did not hurt, then he looked to his wrist. Before he journeyed to the Other Side, a stump of flesh spurting blood was the last he saw of his arm. Now, instead of the gruesome sight from before, he saw a hand. It wasn¡¯t his hand, but something else entirely.
The new hand attached to his wrist was black as coal, and it didn¡¯t look the same. His fingernails were now a milky white, and the ¡°skin¡± of the hand looked as if it was swirling. It appeared to be some sort of liquid, yet when he touched it with his other hand, it felt just like skin. To make matters weirder, it looked as if there was black veins stretching from the hand.
They were in a bizarre pattern, like a digital print. As Seth observed the hand and its veins, he surmised that they were not moving farther up his arm, yet they were changing at a rhythmic rate. Seth¡¯s head bolted upright as he remembered the abomination that had floated in the air before he went to Perdition.
Empty space replaced the area the Fouler had once occupied.
He panned his view left and right, to which he found no sign of the creature. Seth sighed with relief and turned his attention back to the immediate area around him. Fresh gore still surrounded his body. His beloved jacket and t-shirt were both torn to shreds. His dark jeans held up surprisingly well given the circumstances, even if they were soaked in blood, and his blue Nike Pegasus¡®s were still intact by some miracle. Seth gingerly got up and shed his tattered articles.
The one good thing about his environment was the fact there was no real hot or cold temperatures plaguing him. He was also happy to discover that none of the injuries from before had caught up with him. Not only was the pain gone, but Seth actually felt... better. His limbs felt lighter and his mind contained a clarity unbeknownst to him before. As he pondered the extent of his new changes, Seth finally noticed the steady blinking at the edge of his vision.
¡°Menu,¡± he demanded aloud.
Main Menu:
Status-
Abilities-
Index-
Quests-
Notifications-
Status, Abilities, and Notifications were blinking. He didn¡¯t even know where to start, so he decided to go from the top down.
When he pulled up the Status screen, Seth was amazed at all the information the screen portrayed. There was a full body diagram in front of him, detailing his condition for each part of his anatomy. Seth scanned over the information from that section detailing his blood pressure, height, weight, etc.
¡°5¡¯11, seriously, you couldn¡¯t have just given me the even six feet?¡±
He continued past his weight which was listed at 162lbs, and settled at his personal description involving hair and eye color. Seth was confused as he read ¡°Undecided¡± under both of them. He had always had blond hair and blue eyes for as long as he could remember.
Clicking in annoyance, he decided to move on and look at the full diagram. Every section was green other than his left eye, and right hand. They were both highlighted in blue. Seth mentally selected his left eye on the diagram, and a smaller sub-screen appeared.
-There has been an alteration to your ¡°Left Eye,¡± identify the change in order to access details.
Seth cursed and moved to his right hand.
-There has been an alteration to your ¡°Right Hand,¡± identify the change in order to access details.
¡°Goddam this system is useless,¡± he muttered. Seth continued to scroll to the end of the screen. His eyebrows rose as he discovered a table displaying his ¡°Attributes.¡±
Level: Tier One
Intellect: Class F
Constitution: Class D
Might: Class F
Intuition: Class F
Resolve: Class F
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It seemed pretty obvious to Seth he was basically bottom of the barrel in everything. He was kind of pissed that ¡°Constitution¡± was only Class D after all the shit he had to suffer through in the last couple days. Every attribute was pretty self explanatory to Seth other than ¡°Resolve.¡±
It didn¡¯t make sense to him for there to be an attribute based on mentality.
¡°How would I even level that?¡±
He attempted to select the attribute, but nothing appeared to explain anything about it. Yet again, he tabled the topic, growing more frustrated and decided to move on. The last prompt on the screen also confused Seth.
Race: Fiend
¡°Will this shit ever make sense?¡± Seth roared.
He knew he wasn¡¯t the best guy but come on. He also didn¡¯t understand what it meant by race. A fiend is a type of person, not a different species. Not to mention, a fiend is only defined by how a society views good and evil. That was something Seth didn¡¯t buy into. The idea of something being ¡°good¡± or ¡°bad¡± relied only on the feeble ideals of the individual.
"That shit doesn''t matter right now moron." he lamented.
Seth decided to begin paying attention to his body from now on, to see what exactly might have changed. He desperately wished to have a mirror right now. Between the new race, and the ¡°undeclared¡± description of his eyes and hair, he was curious as to how he now looked.
Finally closing out of the ¡°Status¡± tab, Seth looked on to the next: ¡°Abilities.¡± Mentally, Seth opened the new tab and stared at the new screen.
Racial Abilities:
-Specter State (Pre-Set)
-Wicked Being (Pre-Set)
-Nightmare Adrenaline (Pre-Set)
Aligned Abilities:
-Presence of Doom (Tier One)
-Eye of Opposition (Tier One)
-Undecided
-Undecided
Acquired Abilities:
-Nurture (Menu)
-Identify (Class D)
Seth didn¡¯t even know what to say. His abilities literally sounded as if he was the Anti-Christ or something.
¡°Well, I guess that is to be expected, the crazy bastard who gave me these abilities didn¡¯t exactly seem like an angel.¡± He sighed in displeasure.
There was a mischievous glint in Seth¡¯s eye though. Supernatural powers, no matter how dreadful sounding, were still supernatural powers. He focused on his first racial ability, Specter State.
Specter State:
-When activated, Specter State erases detection from all senses, including lower rank detection abilities. (Only applies to abilities of lower power than the lowest attribute of the user)
Seth instinctively activated the ability and was surprised at the lack of change in his state. He took a couple experimental footsteps and was happy to discover that he didn¡¯t hear a thing. He had no way of seeing if the other aspects of the ability worked, but he was satisfied for now. Next, he turned his attention to the next racial ability.
¡°Wicked Being¡± was definitely third on his ¡°Scariest Ability Names¡± list. He severely hoped this one was as useful as the last, regardless of the name.
Wicked Being:
-Due to the nature of your race, your existence alone deters all other hostile beings of equal or lesser power.
¡°Wow, so I¡¯m basically revolting to everyone that sees me?¡± Seth questioned with distaste. ¡°Well now I know how skunks feel.¡± Closing out of the sub tab, Seth selected the ability that came in second on his list.
Nightmare Adrenaline:
-The specific dimensional energy now coursing through your veins has tripled your reflex reaction speed.
A low whistle escaped Seth¡¯s lips. With tripled reflexes, he basically had what he imagined was Spider- Man¡¯s sixth sense. So far, Seth was actually happy with his abilities to this point. Even with his first reaction to Wicked Being, he was quite satisfied with its effects. Hopefully, it would deter other Foulers and whatever else might be out there.
He was kind of bothered though.
What did ¡°Pre-Set¡± mean?
Perhaps it was just a factor of the kind of anomaly he absorbed. He slapped that question into his growing list of things to ask the patchwork bastard. Seth finally looked to the last two abilities he knew nothing about. He had already seen the description of Presence of Doom, yet he didn¡¯t understand what it meant. It was so vague that Seth couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of what it might do. It seemed obvious it had something to do with his new hand, yet even his natural instinct on how to activate it was nowhere to be found.
He flexed the new hand and became lost in thought as he watched the swirling black storm inside. Something in it mesmerized him. Seth became so focused on the chaos inside, that he started to notice purple sparks floating around it. The moment he saw the sparks, they vanished just as fast as they had appeared.
¡°What was that?¡± Seth murmured.
He flinched for a second as he realized what the color of the sparks were. They resembled the same color of the eye that was shoved into his head thanks to Folly. Seth quickly pulled up the ¡°Abilities¡± tab again.
Eye of Opposition:
-This artifact was created through the will of a mad man. The eye alone opposes natural law and is said to be able to manipulate reality itself.
If Seth was in a cartoon, his eyes would have leapt out of his head.
¡°The ability to manipulate reality itself,¡± he said breathlessly.
The truth dawned on him soon after and he realized that this one was vague, just like Presence of Doom. Although, Seth found that he actually DID know how to use this one. He held his hand up in front of his face and tried focusing on it as hard as he could. Purple sparks started to appear around his hand yet again, then Seth saw that they were actually everywhere.
He strained to look around when his concentration finally broke. A soft headache grew in his head and Seth finally noticed the familiar blinking at the edge of his vision. He went to Notifications and looked at the newest entry.
-Your continued shaping has exhausted your energy reservoir and inflicted: Mental Block.
Mental Block:
-Your focus is significantly impaired due to your energy exhaustion.
¡°Seriously? I either have an incredibly low amount of energy, or trying to use that ability consumes a huge amount of it.¡±
Shaking his head to try and wave the headache, Seth moved on to the other notifications. To his immense frustration, the group of Notifications left were simple banners that read:
-Data could not be found.
-Data could not be found.
-Data could not be found.
-Data could not be found.
Seth shrugged off the anger in order to gather himself. It wouldn¡¯t help to be angry in his current situation, he needed to find a way to sustainably live here until he could leave. The lunchbox at his feet drew his attention. Seth knew exactly what he had to do but was unsure if he had the strength to do it.
¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª
¡°Goddam that was awful,¡± Seth complained.
The trash of the Lunchable lay at his feet as Seth attempted to wash out the taste of it with the water dropper. To Seth¡¯s amazement, the water in the dropper continued to trickle out into his mouth for way longer than he thought was possible. After he was finally quenched, he inspected the dropper, only to find it was still full even after his consumption.
¡°Awesome,¡± he breathed.
That was one thing less he had to worry about. With a renewed sense of vigor, Seth turned to the border of obsidian and sand, and set off.
9- Bear Grylls is a Liar
Shards crunched under Seth¡¯s feet as he trudged along the border between biomes. He decided it was best to walk along the border in case he needed to escape another monster like the Fouler. He could only hope every being that lived here followed the same rules it did. Seth tilted his head back to gaze at the halo in the sky. He now had some goals in mind after he read the back of the paper that was in the lunchbox. It turns out that there was three quests listed on it.
-Locate all stabilizer poles, and destroy them. (0/3) (Reward: Manufactured Identify Tablet(Class C))
-Kill one monster (0/1) (Reoccurring) (Reward: Random Home planet Sustenance)
-Find the Tier Three monster in your area. (0/1) (Reward: Assigned Class B Armor Piece)
He should have done it earlier, but with all the shit that was going on, he had totally forgotten about it. Seth also had noticed a couple hours earlier that the seven grey smooth moons had seemingly vanished after his trip to The Other Side. He realized they were actually satellites from the things behind the experiment, but he was worried about why they left.
They either had all the information they wanted from him, or they simply didn¡¯t find him interesting. He couldn¡¯t pretend to understand their motives, so it was all just speculation. He desperately hoped they hadn¡¯t left permanently, because he didn¡¯t know where he would get a ride home if not from them.
As Seth contemplated, his eyes passed over a structure in the distance. He did a double take, and with wide eyes, stared at what looked to be a tower in the distance. It was located in the crimson and grey sand biome. It also looked to be a windowless structure that resembled a guard tower like on a wall. Seth reluctantly left the border behind to observe the tower closer.
He guessed it to be around a kilometer or two away from the border, so if need be, he thought he should be able to get back to it if a monster started coming for him.
As Seth got closer, he noted the color of the tower. It was grey like the sand, but without any trace of the crimson that it was mixed with. He couldn¡¯t imagine how long it took to take the crimson out in order to create that tower, it seemed like a waste of time.
Seth finally reached the tower and appreciated its full size. If he had to guess, it was about six floors high, and had the width of a standard water tower. He paced around the side of the tower looking for an entrance. After he made two full rounds around it. He was positive that there was no entrance, and no secret button that he could see.
¡°How does that make sense?¡± He questioned allowed.
That¡¯s when it dawned on him: the Fouler had wings. He craned his head up as far as he could and backed up to get the top of the tower in view.
¡°The pole better be in there...¡± he muttered as he looked at the task ahead of him.
Luckily, the tower was made of what appeared to be sandstone bricks, so he should be able to find or make some handholds and footholds.
He took a deep breath and then started climbing. It was incredibly harder than it looked. There was little to no holds for him, and in order to create a hole to use, he had to bash the lunchbox at the spot for a good three minutes. It was slow and grueling work, he had to stop and get down multiple times to rest as well.
After around four hours of tiresome work Seth sat his back up against the tower in exhaustion. He had only accomplished about sixty percent of the climb, and he was dreading starting up again. His stomach growled and his eyes were drooping, so he reluctantly closed his eyes and fell asleep.
¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª
Seth opened his eyes slowly and half expected a Fouler to be chewing on his leg. Fortunately there wasn¡¯t, and he was still alone. He got up and winced at the ache in his muscles. Seth stretched out and rubbed his back as he left the lunchbox and rounded the tower one more time to see if there was any shadows in the distance.
After he was sure there was nothing, he returned to his lunchbox and got ready to finish his climb. He unconsciously reached for the handhold he always used to begin his climb, only to find it was not there. His eyes widened and he desperately scrambled along the area on the tower where he believed it to be, but it was gone.
¡°No no no no no no no NO!¡± He yelled as he inspected the whole perimeter of the tower for any of his manmade holds.
Seth fell to his knees in hopelessness as he realized all his work had been for naught. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes as he sat there, but he refused to let them. He drew upon all the resolve he could muster and went to work climbing the tower once again, but without making the deep holds with the lunchbox. It was ten times as dangerous and also took twice the time to make the holds with his hands. He had to be incredibly careful as to not slip, although a lot of the time he couldn¡¯t help it and fell anyway.
Blood streaked across a side of the tower as evidence of Seth¡¯s presence. It was now eight hours after he had woken up, and he was finally nearing the top. A couple hours into the climb, he had discovered a method that better secured his grip. Using one of the obsidian-like shards from the black biome as a pick had been working surprisingly well.
The only downside was the fact it was razor sharp in some places, hence the copious amounts of blood on the wall.
Seth bit his lip in effort as he had done hundreds of times in the last eight hours. His lip was now purple and swollen around the indention of Seth¡¯s right canine. Blood spilled from it along with immense pain, but Seth didn¡¯t care. The feeling from his mouth was drawing away the pain in his shredded hands, but not by much. Minutes crawled by as Seth continued on with his exhausting work.
Finally, he reached the ledge at the top of the tower. His fingers ravenously clawed at the hard surface on the top to pull himself up. As Seth anticlimactically threw his body onto the hard surface at the top, he could do nothing but breath for a half hour. His chest rose and fell in a steady beat as his head buzzed and his muscles ached.
This is when he realized just how much he had changed. Never before would he even dream of being able to climb this tower with the proper gear. Not only did he do it, but with no gear as well.
Seth lie in mute amazement, marveling at his new capabilities. How was it even possible to have changed this much in such a short amount of time? That gem was no joke. he thought to himself. After finally gaining his composure, Seth shakily got up to his feet and inspected the roof.
¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this, but I wish I had another Pizza Lunchable.¡±
¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª
Finishing off his drink, Seth put away the dropper and moved to the center of the sandstone roof. During his inspection earlier, he had discovered what appeared to be a shiny copper pole. Upon closer observation, he found that there was actually a field of vibrating air around the pole. When he entered the field, Seth felt a heavy weight press on him. It felt like the gravity had tripled, and it was difficult for Seth to even take a step.
Regardless of the added weight, continuing forward was Seth¡¯s only option. He took three small shuffle steps until he was finally within reaching distance of the pole. Veins of blue light crept on the copper pole as Seth¡¯s hand sluggishly rose to meet it.
He was within inches of the copper surface when he collapsed to his knees. The pressure was immense, even more so the closer he got to the pole. Seth fought to keep his hand aloft as his body started to give up on him. With the last of his energy, Seth threw himself forward to the ground in order to forcibly get his body closer, while at the same time conforming to the power.
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His effort ended up throwing him further than he really needed, to which his forearm ended up hitting the pole instead of his finger. As soon as his skin made contact with the pole, it shattered as if made of ice. A heavy static shock hit his forearm and Seth turned over in place, spasming uncontrollably.
Shortly after the destruction of the pole, the tower started to shake. As Seth struggled to breath, he deftly realized the tower under him was crumbling. Still stiff from the shock, he couldn¡¯t make his muscles move enough to get up. Seth was helpless as he started to free fall with the stone turned sand around him. He did his best to brace for impact when surprisingly, a bed a sand met his body softly.
Seth was back in control after a couple minutes, to where he slowly got up. It turns out when he though the tower collapsed, in reality, it just turned back to sand and created a very sharp sand hill only about two and a half stories tall. He carefully slid down the hill and finally reached the even ground.
Huffing in relief after his day long stint, Seth observed the familiar blinking that signaled a menu change. He opened the menu and went to Quests first to confirm that was indeed a stabilizer pole.
- Locate all stabilizer poles, and destroy them. (1/3) (Reward: Manufactured Identify Tablet(Class C))
¡°So it was a stabilizer pole, thank christ,¡± Seth sighed aloud. After closing out of Quests, he moved on to the Status tab that was also blinking. Scrolling down, it took him a second to find what exactly had changed.
Level: Tier One
Intellect: Class F
Constitution: Class D
Might: Class D
Intuition: Class F
Resolve: Class D
¡°Cool I guess?¡±
Seth didn¡¯t really know how to feel about that one. An upgrade in resolve was a welcome surprise, but he was still fuzzy on what its parameters were for improvement. He was also unsure if ¡°Might¡± was a permanent change to his actual power or if it was only temporary unless he kept up with exercise. He definitely felt like he had a pretty hefty workout though, so he hoped he wouldn¡¯t have to keep climbing four story towers in order to keep his level. He ended up letting the idea go and turned back to the border he had been journeying on.
¡°The next one better be right next to a hot tub with a floating tray of sandwiches and Mtn Dew.¡±
¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª
It had not even been an hour yet when Seth found the second pole.
This time, it was literally hanging in the air. No tower, and sadly no ladder. The pole was hovering about ten meters in the air, just a couple steps into the sand biome from the border. It struck Seth as odd that these poles were all within eyeshot of the border, but in reality, he was kind of relieved that he wouldn¡¯t have to circumnavigate the whole planet to find them.
The only problem though, was how he was going to reach this pole. He thought about it for a second and then emptied out his lunchbox neatly on the sand. This was a super cheap idea, but he desperately hoped it would work, because if it didn¡¯t... well, he didn¡¯t want to think about that.
Seth closed up the lunchbox and leaned back to aim at the pole. He reared back as far as possible and threw the lunchbox at the pole with all he had. The lunchbox somersaulted through the air and missed the pole by a couple feet. Seth was about to curse when he watched the lunchbox go at least twenty more meters up before falling. As the lunchbox fell back into his hands with a painful clang, Seth¡¯s thoughts were in awe.
¡°The gravity here doesn¡¯t seem any different than Earth, so does that mean I¡¯m just that strong now?¡± He pondered.
He decided to test the limits of his strength later and readied to throw the lunchbox again. As the lunchbox left his hand this time, he knew it was right on target. His excitement grew and then abruptly extinguished as the box appeared to stop mid air right next to the pole. Seth waited for it to drop, but it did not.
He realized that the pole must be holding the air around it together just like the last pole with the tower. A new idea struck Seth. He crouched down in a squatting position, then shot up with all his might. Although an impressive try, Seth only reached about two meters up before gravity took hold and he fell to the ground face first. He spat up sand and wiped his face off before beginning to think of an actual plan on how to reach the pole.
Seth was only lost in thought for a couple minutes before a small continuous sound broke his concentration. It was like an annoying fly at first, just barely brushing against his attention. As his temper was finally pushed over the edge, he turned to the direction in which the sound was occurring from.
Seth¡¯s stomach dropped as he caught sight of the last thing he wanted to see right now. A Fouler was about fifty meters away and making its way in Seth¡¯s direction.
Repeating his first interaction with a Fouler, Seth dropped to the ground and continued to observe the Fouler. This time there was something different about the creature. He desperately tried to slow his breathing while he stared at the monster. Seth realized with relief that the creature actually hadn¡¯t spotted him yet. He silently thanked his new ability Specter State.
But there was something wrong.
Seth still couldn¡¯t breath steadily and he found that his body would not move. Panic set in and he began to sweat profusely. Seth was lost in his own nightmare as images flashed in his mind. Memories of his mangled body and bloody stump raked across his brain as he lie in the sand. He continued to spiral in his desperate fear. Seth felt like he was back in Perdition as his mind was consumed.
FOCUS!
A voice rang through his mind like a physical slap in the face. Seth was flung back into reality where he was breathing hard and sweat was pouring off his face. He quickly closed his eyes and used all of his will to rein in his feelings. Finally he was able to control himself again and opened his eyes. Seth thought back to the voice, confused. He found that he couldn¡¯t remember what the voice sounded like at all. He couldn¡¯t even guess where it might have came from. The sight of the Fouler had brought out something that Seth wasn¡¯t prepared to deal with.
A sense of powerlessness had overcame him to the point where his fear controlled him.
It was a fear he knew.
The same fear that he felt his whole life.
It was the fear that his life would amount to nothing.
Seth watched the Fouler get closer and made a promise that he would never allow himself to feel that powerless again. Seth hardened his resolve and realized with exact determination that his promise would ring true. He slowly stood up to meet the Fouler¡¯s gaze. As soon as Seth stood, the Fouler paused for a moment, then shot forward at an inhuman speed. Seth was unmoving as the Fouler closed in, mouth agape.
Right when it seemed the Fouler would bite down and end it all, Seth crouched down and shot himself into the air. The Fouler was shocked as its prey escaped out from under it and tried to wheel around to pursue Seth. Little did the Fouler know, there was something going on above it that could only be described as divine punishment.
Seth felt nothing as he reached higher and higher into the air. He didn¡¯t notice the fact he had just jumped significantly higher than his last attempt, nor did he notice his lunchbox and the pole floating lazily behind him. The only thing on Seth¡¯s mind was the flying abomination in front of him. As he watched the enemy in front of him with unfeeling eyes, Seth went with a gut feeling.
He reached his hand out above him and a miniature void formed.
The void then elongated into a five foot weapon that promised death.
On instinct, Seth clenched his fist on the weapon and winded back his arm in a throwing motion. Right when the Fouler finally turned in place, Seth released the demonic creation on a straight path for the Fouler. The Fouler could barely react as the projectile tore through the base of its right wing without mercy. The monster crashed to the ground in a wave of sand, dark blood spraying from its wound.
As Seth fell to the ground from his mighty leap, he absently summoned the armament back into his hand. His fall was cushioned by the large body of the fallen Fouler, although its head was quite hard so Seth¡¯s impact had delivered a sickening crack to its already injured self.
Seth hopped down from the creature''s head and moved to its black beady eyes. The Fouler was viscously flapping its lone wing and its dainty legs kicked at the sand uselessly. Without fear, Seth got very close to the thing¡¯s eyes and stared at them with his own emotionless gaze.
¡°Now you understand how it feels, don¡¯t you?¡± He questioned aloud at the Fouler.
¡°The only difference is, I survived, and you won¡¯t.¡±
His words were ended with a vicious downward strike that pierced through the skull and scrambled the Fouler¡¯s brain. As Seth slowly pulled his new weapon from the corpse, he thought of nothing. He watched as a fog of pure darkness wafted from the corpse as it started to crumble to nothing. Figures emerged in its murky depths trying to pull themselves free from the black prison.
The Fouler¡¯s bloodcurdling scream sounded from the mass as the fog began to stream quickly into the object in Seth¡¯s hand. A vibration shook up his hand as he looked down at the thing, finally noticing it.
Emotion finally breached the icy wall that had been Seth¡¯s mind only moments before. Realization hit him... as well as a strange sensation of euphoria as his mind claimed what he had just done. He finally really looked at the thing clenched in his fist.
¡°Beautiful...¡± Seth muttered without even realizing.
His hand was currently around the onyx shaft of the cruel armament. The shaft itself was a terrifying thing to behold. It was covered in what looked like veins of pulsing black oil. The fog from the Fouler was currently adding itself to the contents of the oil, turning it into a roiling stream of tiny figures clawing at its surface.
The vibrations coming off of the weapon were a result of the liquid seeming to drain back into the veins. As the vibrations settled down, Seth turned his gaze to the truly horrifying blade at one of the object¡¯s ends.
The look of the blade was enough to make a grown man cry just by seeing it. The shape of it unmistakably identified it as some sort of glaive. It had one edge and resembled a curved sword. He also noted the wicked point that curved from the dull edge of the weapon. The point reminded him of a devil¡¯s horn due to its cruel shape. It was the same pearly white as his new fingernails, but there was something wrong with it.
The main body of the blade was white, but as it moved to the edge, a mist of black disease spread through it. Seth struggled to take his eyes off the head of the weapon, but he was finally able to drag his eyes away from it long enough to look at the other side of the glaive.
A view rivaling the blade met Seth¡¯s eyes and he could only goggle at the sight in front of him. The shaft ended to what appeared to be a skull with its mouth agape in a corrupt grin. The eyes were covered in a black blindfold that pulsed like the rest of the veins adorning the shaft. A memory of Perdition struck Seth. His head buzzed as an imagine of the insane being named Folly flashed before his eyes. The skull reminded him heavily of the hellish figure.
The thing was, it didn¡¯t scare Seth.
One fact was certain, the weapon was undeniably Seth¡¯s.
10- The Birth of an Atrocity
As the pole finally shattered, a wave of air was flung from its location that threw the Avenger¡¯s lunchbox to the ground. After the death of the Fouler, Seth had begun to throw his new glaive at the pole, experimenting.
It only took a couple throws before the glaive sliced clean through it. During this, Seth discovered that he never actually had to retrieve the weapon. After he launched it the first time, it only took a thought to dematerialize the glaive, and have it reappear in his hand. He went to retrieve the lunchbox and continued on his journey. Seth instinctively retracted the glaive, and it disappeared back into the vortex of his hand.
¡°So that was Presence of Doom,¡± he exclaimed breathlessly.
The name definitely did the ability justice. Thinking of the ability, Seth decided to see if there was any further description of its effects due to his use of it. After the menu popped up, he got distracted because the Quests and Notifications tabs were blinking along with Status. He began with the quests because he already knew what he was going to see.
-Kill one monster (1/1) (Reoccurring) (Reward: Random Home planet Sustenance) *Claim?*
Seth mentally assented and a gray metal box dropped from the air in front of him with a popping sound. He looked down at the box, wondering if his Foundation had created the box, or if the testers somehow sent it to him. Regardless of the circumstances in which the box arrived, Seth didn¡¯t care. It had to have been close to ten or eleven hours since he ate that disgusting Lunchable. Between its small portions and the eight hour climb he endured earlier, he was absolutely starving for something else to eat. Seth crouched down and quickly opened the small box.
¡°YES!¡± he shrieked happily. Inside the box was something he had never dreamed he would eat ever again.
It was an All Star Nugget Kid Cuisine.
Seth openly cried as he devoured the small meal. He knew exactly how lame it was to get excited over the Kid Cuisine, especially to the point of tears, but he didn¡¯t care. It was his absolute favorite item to eat as a kid. The days when his parents were too exhausted from work to properly make him a meal, they would give him a Kid Cuisine. Then they would let him eat it on the couch while they all watched a movie as a family.
His parents were usually asleep within ten minutes of the movie starting, but it never bothered Seth. He was aware of how hard they tried to balance work and taking care of him. A lot of the time they would come home late as well, so Seth had learned early how to take care of himself to an extent. As his thoughts finally turned back to reality, the old happy memories extinguished and his dire surroundings replaced them. Finishing his meal, Seth got back up and returned to the border he had been trailing for the last couple days.
¡°I suppose its back to the hunt.¡±
-----------
Shilung was yet again scrolling endlessly through data on its console. It noted absently that its commander was approaching. Shilung began to sit up straighter in its seat when a feedback signal flashed before its eyes. Shilung whipped its attention back to the monitor and re read the signal over and over again while it thought to itself.
¡°SHILUNG!¡± a voice bellowed from behind the creature.
Shilung jumped in its seat as it quickly turned around in surprise. The commander was looming over Shilung and had apparently been demanding its attention over the last couple minutes.
¡°I am so very sorry commander, I was foolishly caught up with an alert over the monitor.¡±
The commander stood over Shilung for a moment, contemplating whether or not to reprimand the data analyst. ¡°Well, what exactly had captured your attention so thoroughly that you thought it was acceptable to ignore your superior?¡±
Shilung flinched down in fear and shame at its actions.
¡°I apologize with all of my being commander, I was just distracted with the specific feedback I received from one of our subjects for this round.¡±
Shilung paused, waiting to see if its commander would stop Shilung before it continued.
¡°Do you recall the subject we spoke of earlier? Specifically, the one whom you ordered for its observation drones to be recalled.¡±
The commander shifted in place as its emerald tentacle wriggled in thought. ¡°If I do recall correctly, was it not Subject 50? Wasn¡¯t there a sizable chance that Subject 50 would end up perishing as a black hole?¡±
¡°Indeed!¡± Shilung exclaimed enthusiastically. ¡°It seems although the subject showed signs of extinguishing, not only was a black hole not recorded, but it looks as if the cache for our quest rewards is also being slowly claimed by Subject 50.¡±
The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The commander grunted in surprise, a sign for Shilung that it peaked the commander¡¯s interest.
¡°Random interesting fact: it seems as if this round of subjects go by the same timeline and dates as us too! After observing them all, they all follow each other''s habits of sleeping and activity surrounding the same time zones. What are the chances of that!¡±
The commander gurgled in annoyance, realizing the data analyst was yet again going on one of its tangents. ¡°The subject Shilung, I do not care about what time they live by.¡± Shilung stopped droning on and refocused on the topic at hand.
¡°My mistake commander, back to Subject 50. Over the course of the last three weeks, Subject 50 has been completing its reoccurring quest at a constant pace. It has killed numerous monsters on the planet, far exceeding the average amongst the other subjects. It also still has not completed its first testing quest. Almost every surviving subject has already completed this quest and either perished during the final test of phase one or moved on. It is unclear as to why it hasn¡¯t due to our lack of observation drones but it seems as if the subject is refusing to continue for the time being.¡±
The commander leaned forward in mild interest. ¡°What reason could this subject possibly have for refusing to continue? It doesn¡¯t matter, change its quest and cut off its supply. Send one observation drone back to watch Subject 50.¡±
The commander turned and stomped away, calling over its shoulder, ¡°The subject will be forced to continue if it wants to live.¡±
-----------
Seth put down the trash of his most recent meal. To his immense annoyance, the food he was given for his latest kill was a literal pineapple.
As he had progressed with the last three weeks, he had gained a slew of new information and food. The food he got was completely random, so he has had anything ranging from meatloaf to a raw cabbage. Sadly, he actually had received the raw cabbage twice now, despite the odds. It didn¡¯t really bother him though; he had killed so many Foulers that he had lost count. If he had to guess, it was probably over a hundred at this point. Seth turned toward his destination and set foot back to his camp.
About three days in, Seth had found the location of the third and final pole. The pole was in a cave that Seth found in the black glass biome. The cave itself went incredibly deep and it took Seth hours before he finally found it. The reason Seth had denied to destroy it yet was simple, he was not ready for what would happen afterward.
It was clear to him that once he destroyed the last pole, there was a high chance that whatever the tier three monster was would make itself known. That''s why Seth had been stockpiling food at his makeshift camp on the surface next to the cave. He had also been relentlessly killing all the Fouler¡¯s he could find to train.
¡°Not to mention they disgust me.¡± Seth muttered.
Another thing he had gained over the last couple weeks was knowledge. After looking at his Notifications and abilities, Seth discovered that the glaive he had was actually not the ability Presence of Doom.
Unknown:
-An ability unlocked by Presence of Doom; through pure instinct, you have formed a truly devastating weapon of unknown origin and abilities. (Low DE Cost)
Anima Thief:
-An ability unlocked by Presence of Doom; you steal the anima of any mortal killed by your hand. The stolen anima can be channeled by the user. (Varying DE Cost)
Seth soon came to the conclusion that each aligned ability is basically a seed to which more specific abilities can be created. He also had no idea how to channel the ¡°anima¡± he had collected so far. As for the Eye of Opposition, Seth had minimal success. After days upon days of headaches due to Mental Block, Seth had finally received an ability from his efforts.
True Sight:
-An ability unlocked by Eye of Opposition; you can see concentrations of dimensional energy and you can see through camouflage abilities that are equal or lesser than your power level. (Moderate Ongoing DE Cost)
As Seth¡¯s camp came into view, he went to go check his attributes one more time. He had been monitoring them closely and noticed he had begun to stagnate in his growth a couple days ago.
Level: Tier One
Intellect: Class D
Constitution: Class B
Might: Class B
Intuition: Class C
Resolve: Class A
The thing that did not make sense to Seth was his Resolve attribute. He had checked, and apparently it went from D to A right after his fight with the first Fouler he killed. The more Seth tried to figure it out, the more frustrated he got. The blinking light of a notification went off in Seth¡¯s view. His brow furrowed in confusion as he opened the menu and navigated to his most recent notification.
-Quest Update: The quest: Kill one monster (0/1) (Reoccurring) (Reward: Random Home planet Sustenance) has been temporarily withdrawn by the issuer.
¡°About damn time.¡±
Seth had been expecting the testers would cut him off sooner or later. Obviously the experiment needed to continue and he was sure they wouldn¡¯t let him just sit around. This was Seth¡¯s main reason for stockpiling food all this time. If he had to guess, the pile he had accumulated would most likely last him another week if he properly rationed it. Unfortunately, a good portion of his pile was made up of food that didn¡¯t last long. He tried to eat all of the perishables first and save the processed stuff that would last for later. When Seth arrived at his camp, he loaded up the Avengers lunchbox with an apple and a cantaloupe, then set off into the mouth of the cave.
He had also been working on a project down in the cave for the last week. This allowed Seth to discover that he could actually now see in the dark. Instead of blindly walking through the endless maze and most likely dying, Seth had found that he could see the outline of every facet and detail of the tunnels. It wasn¡¯t exactly the same thing as regular sight, it was more like a live picture in purple light. After finally memorizing the path through the tunnels, Seth had begun to prep the area around the last pole.
It turned out the pole was actually fixed into a wall on the far side of a large chamber in the cave. Because of this, Seth instantly got ¡°boss room¡± vibes. What further pushed this idea was the fact that every instinct in Seth¡¯s body screamed at him to run when he entered the cave for the first time. It took a full week before he mustered the courage to brave the tunnels. Even as Seth journeyed down into its bowels for the umpteenth time, he still felt the effects of the cave at full blast.
The only reason he was no longer afraid was due to the fact he had mentally steeled himself before entering.
No matter how much the testers want him to fight the monster, it wouldn¡¯t happen until he knew damn well that he would win.
11- Ain鈥檛 no Rest for the Wicked
Seth stood in front of the last pole with his glaive in hand. It had been roughly eight days since the testers cut him off. Seth had successfully held on for a day longer than he previously guessed. He might have been able to hold on longer, but on day seven Seth had completed his preparation to the best of his ability. He also had scouted for hours and could not find any more Foulers to cut down. After his failed hunt, Seth had come back to his camp and went to sleep so that he could be at his best for the next day.
Seth took a deep breath then slowly let it out. He glanced back anxiously at the constructs that had taken up the last two weeks of his life. Seth closed his eyes and reviewed the plan one last time. He could not possibly be any more ready than at this moment. He opened his eyes and clenched his grip on the glaive, determined. A quick vertical slash was all it would take to begin whatever the hell was about to happen. He winded back, his muscles tightening, then delivered a straight blow to the pulsing object.
On contact, the pole shattered and Seth watched the wall it was attached to begin to waver. Ripples appeared on its inky surface. The previously solid surface now took on the properties of a liquid. He gaped in mute horror as the outline of a huge claw the size of a car tore across the obsidian film. Crimson liquid that looked suspiciously like blood began to ooze from the huge tear.
Seth quickly turned around and dashed behind the row of makeshift spikes he created by shaving down an egregious amount of the black glass pieces this biome was made of. This feat was only possible due to his new razor sharp glaive that cut the material like butter. The second he made it behind the line, a humongous head emerged from the tear. The filmy wall acted as black curtains that slowly revealed the nightmarish creature.
It appeared to be a monster in the shape of a wolf. Even Clifford would have been put to shame at the shear size of the thing. The room Seth occupied was about the size of a football field and the monster filled about a fifth of it. The wolf¡¯s coat was an ugly purple color. It reminded Seth of coagulated blood. The monster¡¯s head was truly a sight to behold. Ink black fangs jutted from random holes in the creatures face.
Crimson fluid dripped from each as the creature¡¯s six eyes all turned to focus on Seth. Its milky white orbs slowly became red as the thing turned feral. Its huge jaw opened up in a snarl, showing off the rows and rows of shark teeth behind the fangs.
Seth wasted no time at the horrifying sight in front of him. In a blur, he reached for the pile of glass spears next to his feet and began to hurl them with all his might. The monster was not fast enough to react and five spears reached it before it began to move forward. Three of the spears ended up harmlessly tangling in the creature¡¯s coat. One of the two left impaled itself into the front right eye of the monster. The other speared deeply into the large black snout of the thing.
The wolf cried out in pain but did not halt its approach as black oil gushed from its wounds. As it charged directly at Seth¡¯s location, it stomped right on top of his row of spikes. Seth panicked for a moment as he watched the monster not even falter after stepping on the needle-like spikes. Thankfully, Seth had made a follow up trap just in case whatever monster showed up could either tank the spikes or dodge it entirely.
Seth dove out of the way as the wolf¡¯s legs flew out from under it. He had made a pool of black sludge right behind the spikes. He had discovered the sludge during a walk in the onyx shard biome. Some of the structures were actually full of the liquid. He supposed it was probably a food source of the inhabitants of this planet.
As the creature continued to slide toward the other side of the room, Seth rushed in. When he reached the monster¡¯s back, he lashed out as many times as he could with the glaive. He was only able to get a few deep cuts before a stray paw backhanded him. Seth flew back like a ragdoll and slammed into the opposite wall. He groaned in pain as he felt multiple bones crack in his ribcage. Blood spurted from Seth¡¯s mouth as he attempted to get back up.
He noted deftly that the monster was still struggling to retain its balance. Part of him wanted to just give up and die. How the hell was he supposed to kill the thing when one hit from it could do this much damage? He gritted his teeth and raised himself up, using the glaive as a cane. He knew he couldn¡¯t quit though.
¡°At least exhaust your bag of tricks right?¡± Seth chuckled dryly.
There was one huge trap Seth had spent most of his time on. It was a pretty dumb idea, and quite overused if he had to be honest.
¡°If it ain¡¯t broke, don¡¯t fix it¡± he recited to himself.
His thoughts were interrupted as a crash sounded on the other side of the chamber. The monster was starting to get back up. Seth¡¯s eyes widened and he began to limp toward the nearest construct. Because he could not predict where he would be in the room during the fight, Seth had stashed four copies of the same construct in each corner of the room. Right before he made it to the corner, Seth twirled back to face the creature and hurled his glaive in a hail mary to suspend the creature for a couple more seconds.
At this point, the wolf had already regained its footing and was tearing a path through the center of the room to pursue Seth. Luckily, the monster didn¡¯t react to his throw and ended up paying the price. The glaive hit like a bolt of lightning, burying itself in the joint of the wolf¡¯s left front leg. The leg locked up, temporarily making the goliath stumble.
That was all Seth needed.
As his hands gripped the giant hammer-like shard, Seth roared in effort and swung downwards with all his might. His newfound strength paid off as a thick glass stake under the hammer was slammed a couple feet further into the ground. As a shower of shards peppered his body, Seth quickly re-summoned his glaive and half ran, half limped to the entrance of the chamber. The monster, so caught up in its charge, failed to correct itself to continue pursuing Seth.
It also failed to notice the considerable amount of cracks splintering their way through the wall into the ceiling. In a last ditch effort, the monster lashed out its mighty fangs toward Seth to end him once and for all.
The wolf opened its maw and snapped at Seth, barely falling short. It was not without consequence though. The incredibly sharp black fangs had clipped Seth, opening up a long gash across his back, and pitching him forward. Seth cried out in pain and tucked his body as he crashed to the ground. He rolled for several meters, further splintering his bones. As soon as he could, Seth basically threw himself back upright and bit his lip to bear the excruciating pain.
He risked a glance behind himself and instantly regretted it.
The monster¡¯s snout was only a couple of feet away from Seth, twitching in the monster¡¯s attempt to chase him. Shaking itself off, the monstrosity rose to its full height, its remaining eyes trained on the tasty morsel it was finally about to consume. The monster standing over Seth threw its head back in a terrifying howl. The sound cascaded throughout the room and brought Seth to his knees. It felt as if it drained the will from his body. Seth managed to raise his head by using all of his leftover strength. He could only hold it long enough for a glance before he was forced to bow in submission.
To any third party watching, they would see a pitiful blood covered teen on his knees, waiting to die with his head down in defeat.
---------
The long howl finally ended and the abomination turned its eyes once again on its prey, readying for the kill. Silence filled the air while its disgusting maw unhinged like a snake. Right before the wolf finally finished Seth off, a low chuckle cut through the silence. The monster paid it no heed and lunged forward. Instead of Seth¡¯s body, the creature clamped down on nothing¡ as its head had been reduced to a bloody pile of bones and brains.
Chuckling became giggling and giggling turned to cackling as Seth convulsed on the ground. A grin larger than any he had mustered before was plastered on his face.
His manic eyes were focused directly on the corpse in front of him.
A huge slab of black glass sat on a bed of the blood and guts. The slab was three times the size of the monster¡¯s skull. It was the result of five whole days of planning and cutting, as well as a healthy dose of dumb luck. It was Seth¡¯s masterpiece, his magna carta. With a lot of guessing and TV remembering, Seth had cut out a largescale block out of the ceiling and configured it to where it would fall shortly after a good hit.
The cracks from the stake as well as the wolf¡¯s howl had sealed the monstrosity¡¯s grave. This further continued Seth¡¯s fit as he joked to himself that the thing had basically killed itself.
--------
If Shilung had a mouth, it would be wide open.
Shilung had summoned the commander to observe Subject 50¡¯s final test, but this had exceeded all expectation. The commander stood behind Shilung, lurching over the screen.
¡°Well that was interesting.¡±
Shilung whirled around, flustered. ¡°This is more than interesting commander. This is one of the few subjects to ever have passed the test this way! Every other subject this round that has passed so far was able to either escape with their lives or maim the tier three. To kill it in phase one is something else entirely!¡±
The commander gurgled in annoyance, ¡°Yes, killing a tier three as a tier one is something, but you are aware that the three¡¯s abilities were inhibited. Not to mention, the subject killed it with a shameful tactic. I admit the weapon does peak my interest though, it would take an extremely powerful tier one ability to pierce the hide of an Xtrey Hound. Whatever Umbra was attached to that anomaly had to have granted this subject a fair amount of power.¡±
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
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Shilung watched the commander go and turned back to the console. It was in turmoil. The commander wasn¡¯t seeing the big picture behind this and Shilung had made sure to argue this fact for minutes before the commander ordered him to shut up. A subject with this kind of data, as well as the absence of data they had because of the withdrawn drones¡ it thoroughly peaked Shilung¡¯s curiosity.
¡°If this subject survives, it will become something truly worth watching.¡±
---------
Seth was now on his back. He had managed to kill the beast, but at what cost. His body was broken and his blood now stained the floor. The ever familiar blinking graced Seth¡¯s peripherals. At his mental command, the menu opened before his eyes. After finally completing the quests, Seth was ready to reap the rewards. He maneuvered to the Quests tab and looked at the completed quests.
-Kill one monster (0/1) (Reoccurring) (Reward: Random Home planet Sustenance)(Reactivated)
- Locate all stabilizer poles, and destroy them. (3/3) (Reward: Manufactured Identify Tablet(Class C). *Claim?*
-Find the Tier Three monster in your area. (1/1) (Reward: Assigned Class B Armor Piece). *Claim?*
-New Quest: Pass the test (Reward: Random Class D Ability) (Achieved). *Claim?*
-Hidden Quest: Defeat the tier three monster (1/1) (Rewards: Plunder Ability, Recovery Crystal (Class C) (Extra Reward: Little David Title). *Claim?*
-New Quest: Enter the rift (Reward: New Quests).
Seth grinned despite himself. There was nothing better than completing a bunch of quests at once and getting a bunch of cool shit, he thought to himself. He assented to all the claims and was met with more new notifications. He left the Quests tab and opened the Notifications.
-Congratulations! You have received the ability: Plunder due to the completion of a quest!
- Congratulations! You have received the ability: Cache (Class D) due to the completion of a quest!
-Congratulations! You have received the Chest Plate of the Stalker (Class B ) due to the completion of a quest!
-Congratulations! You have received a Manufactured Identify Tablet (Class C) due to the completion of a quest!
-Congratulations! You have received the Title of ¡°Little David¡± due to your victory over a substantially more powerful foe!
-Congratulations! You have received a Recovery Crystal (Class C) due to the completion of a quest!
Plunder:
-They¡¯re dead, so it¡¯s not like they need it.
A red halo formed around Seth¡¯s head as he instantly used the recovery crystal. A slow burning sensation arose from his chest. ¡°Ow shit that hurts¡¡± Seth mumbled.
¡°Ow, ow, OW, OW, AHHHHHH!!!¡±
Seth writhed on the glass floor of the cavern as his bones snapped back into place and his flesh knit together. After a couple minutes, the pain faded away and Seth got back on his feet. ¡°Remind me not to take one of those things again.¡± He growled. Since he was finally on his feet, Seth took this opportunity to pat himself one the back for successfully cheesing a boss.
Throws me back to my WoW days.
Next, turned his attention back to the Cache tab he had just obtained the crystal from. For a Class D ability, it was quite useful, he thought to himself. There was thirty slots to which he could keep anything he wanted. There was also multiple currency counters and a diagram of his body where he could put on equipment. The whole thing reminded him of the Terraria inventory layout.
That was one of his favorite video games until just a couple years ago. After they stopped making updates to the game, there was really only so much he could do before it started to get dry.
¡°You shouldn¡¯t be reminiscing right now man,¡± he chastised himself.
Seth refocused on the Cache tab and realized that the armor piece he received was sitting in the first slot. He mentally dragged the chest plate to its corresponding slot on the diagram and equipped it. The air seemingly glitched around his chest and the next second there was a deep slate grey chest plate embracing his torso.
The armor covered his upper chest and appeared to have a chain-like pattern in an X across the surface. It gave off apocalypse biker vibes. Seth abruptly remembered the Identify tablet waiting for him and quickly extracted it from his inventory. He popped it into his mouth and swallowed as a light buzzing sensation rang through his head. Seth tapped the chest plate, and he was relieved to find a new detailed window open.
Chest Plate of the Stalker:
-(1/5) Of the Armor of the Stalker, grants basic protection, resistance to curses, and a slow self-repair function.
¡°One of five, eh?¡±
The armor honestly seemed kind of lame, Seth thought.
Self-Repair was cool and all but the chest plate only gave him basic protection and a mediocre resistance rather than an immunity.
¡°Better than nothing.¡± He relinquished.
Seth had been without a shirt for weeks now so the armor was welcome, not to mention quite comfortable, if he was being honest with himself. Now that he was healed and equipped with some protection, Seth moved to the giant pile of mush in front of him. There was a foul smell already emitting from the corpse. After receiving the Plunder ability, Seth had a feeling this was the right move.
He extended his hand out over the corpse and sort of pulled on the dimensional energy coming from the body. After receiving the True Sight ability, Seth had begun to develop an understanding of what exactly the ¡°shaping¡± mentioned in his Notifications was. By exerting his will toward the energy surrounding him, he had been able to minimally change its flow. After getting the Plunder ability, its instinctive activation knowledge further confirmed his theory. He repeated the shaping exercise in an attempt to activate his Plunder ability and was happy to see a few new items in his inventory.
-Recovery Potion (Class C)
-Xtrey Fang
Xtrey Fur Cloak:
-Grants cold immunity, enhanced projectile protection, enhanced slash protection, Retribution Recoil
Retribution Recoil:
-15% of damage inflicted upon the user will be reflected to the aggressor
¡°Damn! Now those are some buffs!¡± Seth gushed. He quickly moved the item over to equip it, only to be met by an alert in red.
-Access Denied. Items of a higher tier than the user cannot be equipped.
¡°You got to be fucking kidding me.¡±
No wonder the chest plate was so underwhelming, it was only a tier one then! ¡°Wait a minute, how am I supposed to tell what tier they are?¡± Seth doublechecked the description and could find no other ranking in his items other than the class. Probably takes an ability or something. From what he has seen so far, it looks as if any basic ability he could think of most likely needed to be acquired, hence the name in his status.
He turned his attention back to the wolf and reached forward to put his onyx hand on it. After a moment, the body began to stir. A huge fog of black ink arose from its depths and caused the body to crumble into dust. The figure of a giant hound took form in the fog and the familiar sight of the roiling anima began to pull into the void of Seth¡¯s hand like a river.
Claws of darkness abruptly swept out from the ink and struck out at Seth.
He fell back startled as the cloud of oil began to reel away from his hand. Panic took over Seth as he realized his blunder. The monster¡¯s anima held the power of a tier three! His ability Anima Thief was only tier one, like him. Seth couldn¡¯t let it go though, the anima was already extracted and partially within Seth. If he released control, the wolf would devour him.
Inhumane screams arose from the growing mass as it tried to escape Seth. Steeling his resolve, Seth focused on the roiling creature and urged his hand to devour the monster. Unfortunately, even all of might couldn¡¯t control the wild anima. It was slowly but steadily getting larger. Thoughts raced through Seth¡¯s head as he continued the losing battle.
Out of nowhere, pain ripped through his nerves as it felt like Seth¡¯s hand was being tugged off his arm. The pain brought forth the memory of a bloody stump and pool of gore.
He wouldn¡¯t live through that again, never again¡
A ripple went through the shadows in Seth¡¯s hand as he forced himself to get up. The screams sounded as if they were getting louder and more desperate when they saw what he was doing. As he arrived on his feet, Seth felt his eyes fill with a now familiar icy cold and dead aura. A new window opened right in front of his face.
New ability: Anima Release
Anima Release:
-An apect ability of Anima Thief; Stolen anima is channeled into existence and abides the will of the user. (Low DE cost)
The rippling on his hand erupted into a shower of void black shadows. Countless figures tore through the fountain of black as a parade of familiar shrieks assaulted Seth¡¯s ears. A couple hundred ink colored Foulers exploded from his hand and began to attack the wolf fog. Any regular mortal¡¯s ears would have been obliterated by the onslaught of sound emitting from the frenzy.
The horde of Foulers relentlessly destroyed the giant black monster in a flurry of vicious bites. The wolf lashed out at the wave of monsters, but there was simply too many. Howls filled with agony and terror echoed from each wall of the cavern as a black whirlpool swept through the air. A scene of true nightmares unfolded in front of Seth as he mutely watched as the hundreds of Foulers tear through every inch of the goliath, gruesomely pulling it back to Seth¡¯s hand.
A tornado of darkness and chaos quickly began to withdraw into Seth¡¯s outstretched extremity. Silence followed as the mass disappeared into the endless swirl of black in his palm. Seth¡¯s breathing was the only sound in the room as he stared at the alien hand.
¡°How was that even possible¡¡± he muttered in amazement.
A window blinked into existence right in front of his face.
Title: Little David
-Tier disparity does not affect your ability to overcome an opponent
He could only stare at the prompt hovering in the air. The connotations of his new title began to set in. Theoretically, that meant Seth could defeat any opponent as long as he had a good enough strategy. The monster he had just faced was already insanely powerful, but Seth wasn¡¯t na?ve enough to believe that the wolf was the strongest being around.
In reality, the creature had just been toying with him.
It only saw him as weak prey up until he got lucky and killed it. This realization really opened Seth¡¯s eyes to the universe around him. Theoretically there was infinite dimensions, with infinite universes, with beings astronomically stronger than him. Seth seriously began to assess his possible future.
¡°I have to get way more powerful in order to survive.¡±
He activated True Sight and found a concentration of energy behind the inky curtains the monster had originally emerged from. Seth made his way toward what he believed was the rift. He entered through the tear in the wall and was met by a scene of pure gore. The room was littered with corpses of what Seth assumed were Foulers. At the center of the room, a black crack hovered just above the ground like a doorway.
As he arrived at the crack, he instinctively summoned his glaive back to his hand. He felt a hum coming from the weapon and looked down at it. For some reason, it felt different¡ alive.
Seth opened his status and scrolled toward the ability that used to say Unknown. As he found the spot he was looking for, Seth discovered that the Unknown ability had been replaced with something new.
Anar:
-An ability unlocked by Presence of Doom; A weapon that bows to no other. Grants Sin of Satan, Unstoppable Edge, Anima Prison (No DE cost)
Sin of Satan:
-The injury inflicted by the user cannot be healed by any item or ability lower than one tier above the user. (Current Limit: Tier Two)
Unstoppable Edge:
-The weapon¡¯s blade cannot be stopped by any material or ability lower than one tier above the user. (Current Limit: Tier Two)
Anima Prison:
-The item can use the power of the anima it holds. (Current Inhabitant: Xtrey Hound (Tier Three))
¡°Anar, eh?¡± Seth said as he started towards the crack, ¡°I like it.¡±
12- An Endless Cycle
¡°Alright Shilung, let¡¯s hear the final month¡¯s report.¡±
The commander stood behind the station of its subordinate, waiting.
It had been six months since the beginning of this round of subjects. The commander was at the console of the lead examiner, ready to receive the last report regarding the end of their most recent experiment. So far, this round had been quite interesting. There was seventy-eight takeovers which was a slightly higher amount compared to the average of seventy-six.
As for the number of viable anomalies, after all were absorbed, there was one hundred and thirty-eight stable subjects. As for the most recent report, the commander now understood that there were only forty-two left. All of the subjects that survived absorption had perished to the weak tier ones or had failed the final phase one test.
The remaining subjects had consistently passed the last four phases and were almost all jumped back to the original holding facility.
It had been two weeks since the last subject had passed and yet again, the testers were waiting on the final subject to pass or fail. Subject 50 had been the primary source of annoyance for them. It waited until the absolute latest to complete every test and did its best to drain as much as it could from their quest cache. The only reason they didn¡¯t cut each testing deadline was because of the power the subject was displaying.
They had documented eight subjects excluding Subject 50 that showed immense promise. They had finished all five phases very quickly. One in particular, Subject 2, has completed all phases in three months.
Whatever Umbra Subject 2 had met gave it an excellent collection of abilities, the commander thought.
Finally, Shilung turned around to give its report to the commander.
¡°It is a short one today commander. Subject 50 has just completed the last test and is currently approaching the last rift.¡±
The commander hummed in approval, ¡°It is about time. Announce to the residents of the facility that I will be there tomorrow to analyze the subjects and ready them for release.¡±
--------
Seth finished absorbing the last of the inky black anima of his most recent kill. It had become significantly easier to take each tier three anima after he figured out how to use the Xtrey Hound¡¯s. His control over anima was much more refined after five months of training. Now he could channel one tier three anima or multiple tier ones. Seth had also unlocked a new aspect to his Anima Release ability.
Anima Release:
-Stolen anima is channeled into existence and abides the will of the user. (No DE cost)
-(Tier Two) The user can give more complex orders to each channeled anima.
Seth had moved up to tier two a month after he defeated the first Xtrey Hound. Upon his level up, he felt a huge wave of energy ripple through his being along with a list of notifications informing him of the new ability aspects he received. Months passed and Seth had learned that the power he got from tiering up was honestly underwhelming. His physical attributes became a little stronger after crossing the threshold, but not insanely so. They were only substantially changed now that he had trained for four months.
Level: Tier Two
Intellect: Class D
Constitution: Class C
Might: Class C
Intuition: Class D
Resolve: Class B
He also realized how much harder it was going to be to reach the next tier. It had been double the time it took for him to reach tier two, and he was still not even halfway to tier three. He had no idea how many tiers there were, but if they all rose exponentially like Seth believed they did, then there had to be some truly powerful beings out there.
For now, the highest tier Seth had seen was tier three, and they were always the ¡°bosses¡± of every planet he had been on. Each new place he had traveled after the boss fights were basically the same. It made surviving all this time relatively easy.
He had encountered five different tier one species in total. First was the Foulers, then the Clinnaks, which were basically just snakes on steroids. After that came two more species of Clinnaks. One was covered in bone spikes that gave Seth a very hard time because they could shoot them endlessly. The other was covered in scales as hard as iron. Anar cut through them easily, but just one hit from their heavy bodies could break any of his bones if he wasn¡¯t careful.
The last species he had to deal with was definitely the most troublesome. They were simply called Dashers and their name did them justice. They could run almost faster than Seth could see. Only after the first kill could Seth discover that they resembled velociraptors. They weren¡¯t very powerful, but it was impossible to hit them unless you somehow could slow them down. Luckily, Seth¡¯s improved reaction speed, thanks to Nightmare Adrenaline, allowed him to dodge any fatal blows.
As for the bosses, there was a surprising lack of variety. All five tier threes he had beaten were Xtrey Hounds. The only thing that differed amongst them were their insane abilities. Each new beast contained another ability that was added to the abilities of the previous tier three. The second Xtrey Hound was a nasty surprise for Seth. It had almost taken his head off after its claws randomly grew to twice their size.
Had he not reached tier two, Seth would have died multiple times by now. Along with his new tier two powers, Seth had discovered his True Sight allowed him to see an ability starting up. The concentration of dimensional energy would gather in the spot an ability would be triggered, so it looked like of like a storm of purple sparks. His tier two level up also lowered the ongoing dimensional energy cost so he could use it continuously in a fight.
All of these factors still didn¡¯t help Seth defeat any of the tier threes. He continued to use his trap strategy in every fight. One ability of Seth¡¯s was the main reason he was able to cheaply kill every boss.
Sin of Satan:
-The injury inflicted by the user cannot be healed by any item or ability lower than one tier above the user. (Current Limit: Tier Three)
Now that his limit affected tier three beings, Seth only had to injure the hounds then wait it out just outside the chamber. It could take hours, but eventually they would die. And along with their deaths, came Seth¡¯s favorite part: the rewards. After the first planet, his quest rewards only consisted of armor pieces for the Stalker Set and food. That¡¯s not what he got excited for though. The good stuff really lied in his Plunder ability.
Seth first claimed all the quest rewards for this planet, then activated his ability and watched the items flow into his cache. Alongside the usual recovery potion and random body part, Seth finally got another piece of equipment.
Inmate¡¯s Resilience (Class A):
-The wearer is unaffected by atmospheric changes that strongly differ from their home planet.
It was a simple looking ring; just a copper colored band. Seth slid it on his left middle finger with earnest. He felt a pressure he didn¡¯t realize was there lift off his body.
¡°Should be useful.¡± Seth grinned.
He began to make his way toward the rift and moved the last piece of the Stalker armor he had just received onto the diagram. A new bracer appeared on Seth¡¯s forearm to complete the set. He now had two bracers, a pair of armored black pants, a pair of dark colored boots, and a chest plate. Seth pulled up the details now that he had the full set.
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-(5/5) Of the Armor of the Stalker, grants basic protection, resistance to curses, and a slow self-repair function on all armor pieces. (Upgradable)
Set Bonus:
-Grants Stalker¡¯s Anthem
Stalker¡¯s Anthem:
-When activated, as the user stands still, they create a field around themselves that passively shirks attention away from the user.
Yet again Seth was disappointed with the capabilities of his armor. He had come to understand that every ability only works on opponents of the same or lesser power levels. A tier one armor set would probably only work on lesser beings like wild animals. There was a silver lining though, it appeared that the armor could be upgraded. Seth had no idea how to achieve such a thing but just knowing it was possible was good enough.
Upon arrival in front of the rift, Seth was suspicious of its new color. So far, every new crack he had traveled through was a deep black void. This one was different, for some reason, it was a stellar white color. It actually glowed so bright that it almost hurt Seth¡¯s eyes.
¡°Looks like the endgame.¡± He commented seriously.
Seth¡¯s grip tightened on Anar¡¯s shaft. His whole body assumed a combative stance as his mind sharpened to a knife¡¯s edge.
¡°No point in waiting.¡± He sighed as he entered the brilliant crack.
--------
Seth now stood in the exitless white room he remembered from what seemed like an eternity ago. He was temporarily overcome with blindness at the new wave of light from the walls, floor, and ceiling. Seth¡¯s body tensed and he quickly activated True Sight to overcome his surprise handicap. He absorbed his environment quickly and discovered multiple figures awaiting him, roughly forty. His body relaxed slightly as he realized they were people.
Seth¡¯s suspicion did not falter as he observed the figures.
Through his True Sight, Seth could tell the relative levels of power around him. All of them had some level of concentrated energy, but it was clear that a few were on another level. His regular eyesight came around but he did not deactivate his ability. There were eight individuals that felt particularly stronger than the rest.
Regardless of their power, Seth¡¯s focus was only on one of them. This one was clearly dangerous, the energy surrounding them looked like it was shaking. Seth stopped his ability and resumed his normal eyesight to see what exactly this thing was. As his eyes rested upon the individual, Seth realized that they were also glaring at him. The glare¡¯s owner was a large muscled black man.
He was dressed in heavy cargo pants and had huge chrome gauntlets on. Other than that he was barefoot and shirtless. The man looked like a Greek god. He basically consisted of pure muscles and his face was like a sculpture. A chiseled jaw graced his handsome features as well as his dark piercing eyes. He also had short corn rolls along with a large silver earring.
Seth was quickly interrupted from his stare off by a familiar voice.
¡°Wait, is that Seth?¡±
He reluctantly turned his eyes off the giant of a man to address the new presence. His eyes widened as he watched his old peer Will Rivera approach him. He was the same athletic looking guy with curly brown hair and a ruddy face. He was wearing what looked like a set of leather armor with a thick blue cloak.
¡°I can¡¯t believe it¡¯s actually you man!¡± Will exclaimed enthusiastically.
¡°I thought I saw you at the start of all this, but I didn¡¯t get the chance to talk because¡ well you know.¡±
Seth absently nodded to show his understanding. He was still surprised that he was back here and with other people to boot.
¡°Uh, yeah man. So, what exactly is going on?¡± Seth inquired.
Will looked taken aback for a second, then replied.
¡°Well, I don¡¯t really know to be honest. I got here a couple weeks ago and nothing has changed. People had been coming through here for a while now, but they stopped coming a couple days after I got here. I thought we were done after people stopped arriving but here you are! You sure took your time man!¡± Will said with a laugh.
Seth was about to reply when a booming voice overtook the room.
¡°Attention subjects. Now that all surviving subjects have arrived, the last examination will be conducted tomorrow.¡±
Everyone in the room paused at the new voice and silence filled the space.
¡°It¡¯s about damn time.¡± The large man Seth originally was worried about claimed aloud.
His glare was yet again focused on Seth as he made his way to the farthest corner of the room and sat down.
Will soon spoke up, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him man. Ty is just being an asshole because he was here first.¡±
Will got closer to Seth and spoke quietly. ¡°He has been here for over three months; I almost couldn¡¯t believe it when Syd told me.¡±
Seth was aghast. How the hell did he complete every quest that fast! Seth was aware he had dragged out his trials for maximum readiness, but he couldn¡¯t imagine beating every boss in five months, much less three! He was truly shook by the might that was hidden behind that mans stoic stature. Seth¡¯s brow furrowed for a moment as a thought crossed his troubled mind.
¡°Did you say Syd?¡±
Will turned back to Seth as his excitement returned.
¡°Oh yeah man, I forgot to mention Syd made it as well. Sydney Ranks, remember her from school?¡±
After he finished, Will started running into the group of people and shouted, ¡°Let me go get her!¡± over his shoulder.
Seth was about to protest but decided against it after he noticed how far Will had already gone. He finally realized that he still had Anar out, and a couple people around him looked to be getting nervous. Seth quickly dismissed the glaive and adjusted his armor anxiously.
¡°You are acting like your old self.¡± He sighed in annoyance.
Even after all he had been through, Seth still couldn¡¯t help reverting back as soon as he was put in a social setting.
No. I¡¯m not that loser anymore, he thought.
Seth stopped fiddling with his armor and stood up straight. Yet again he scanned the room, but this time he used an air of confidence. He still didn¡¯t wish to draw attention, but now it was for a different reason than before. Seth activated True Sight, but not to observe everyone again.
¡°Hey asshole!¡± A snide voice sounded behind him.
Seth turned around to face the newcomer. He could sense the guy behind him before he even said anything, something in his presence was like an alarm. ¡°Why the fuck did you take so long to finish? Are you really so weak that you had to make us wait two weeks?¡±
Seth¡¯s face took on an annoyed scowl. ¡°I don¡¯t even know you dude. Maybe get pissed at the things that sent us here in the first place.¡±
He went to go walk away when a hand gripped his shoulder.
¡°Ryan come on man, just leave the loser alone.¡± Someone called out from behind Seth.
¡°Shut up Greg, I have been itching to beat the dumbass that made us wait so long in this goddam place. Heh, not to mention he stinks like all hell! Hey buddy, make sure you hit the showers after I beat your ass!¡± Seth stopped in place.
His gaze casually changed to stare at the gauntlet carelessly sitting on his shoulder. This man was not one of the eight he saw with high dimensional energy.
¡°You need to move that in five seconds unless you want to lose it.¡±
The rough hand pulled on Seth¡¯s shoulder and turned him around to face the opponent. It was a gruff looking man a couple inches shorter than Seth. For someone who had just made fun of Seth¡¯s smell, this guy looked like he hadn¡¯t bathed either. He had a long-ragged beard that was poking out of his helmet weirdly and was dressed in some heavy looking armor.
¡°You got some real balls for someone who got here last.¡± Ryan growled.
He had still not removed his hand from Seth¡¯s shoulder and was attempting to intimidate Seth with his grip. He was about to continue berating Seth when he was interrupted.
¡°Zero.¡±
A gauntleted hand plopped on the ground with a shrill bang. Silence followed as Seth dismissed his glaive instantly after summoning it. He watched in disinterest as blood begin to pool on the ground. Ryan screamed in pain as his mind caught up to what had just transpired. His hand, as well as a good bit of his forearm was now twitching on the ground.
¡°My condolences, I know how it feels to lose a hand.¡±
Seth pulled one of the recovery crystals from his cache and tossed it on the ground next to the hand.
¡°Next time you think about touching me, remember that feeling.¡±
He left the pitiful man behind, slightly disappointed in himself.
He had meant to just cut off a finger.
--------
Julia stood alone in the white room full of strangers. It had been over two weeks since she arrived, and she still couldn¡¯t find the courage to talk to any of the people around her. She had spent all of this time in solitude watching everyone. Julia¡¯s abilities were more tactical than powerful. Although it took some time, she could analyze other people and test their levels of power, as well as get a feel for their types of abilities. Luckily, she had nothing BUT time due to her lack of social skills.
At this point, she basically had a relatively good idea of where everyone stood in power. There were eight people who were clearly above the rest. Not to mention the one man that almost made Julia piss her pants the first time she saw him. Ty basically radiated power in waves. When Julia tentatively inspected his energy, she found an unwavering wall.
At first, she believed that it was due to some type of ability, but she soon found that it was actually just the way his energy was. It was as immoveable as he looked and its shape reminded her of a fortress. Julia tried to shake off the thoughts of Ty and his interesting energy.
¡°You need to make friends for what is to come.¡±
She took a deep breath and did her best to steel her resolve. As she took a step toward the nearest group, a white crack formed on the other side of room and startled her. She activated her ability absently and watched with wide eyes as something emerged from the stellar rift. It had been weeks since the last arrival and everyone had been waiting in earnest for something to happen.
It was a lean man in some sort of light armor. He looked like a regular white guy with blond hair and some weird black highlights. The only thing that stood out about him was his dark weapon and even darker hand. As one of the people in the room seemed to recognize him, Julia gave up her interest and moved back to her sleeping spot. She was almost to her spot when she heard a familiar commotion occurring behind her.
¡°Here we go again.¡± Julia sighed.
Fights were commonplace as of recently. Everyone was paranoid and anxious because of the wait, so of course arguments broke out and turned physical. She sat down in her corner and watched the confrontation from afar. Julia snorted as she found out the aggressor was Ryan. The man had been in five fights already, and that was just after she arrived. He won all of them so far due to his weapon ability.
Ryan could turn his hands into different types of blades and change their shape to an extent. Not a lot of the people had offensive abilities in the room, so Ryan thrived on the fear he could instill in some of the weaker individuals. It seemed he was yet again on a power trip, looking to scare the new guy. Upon reobservation of the man, she noted he no longer had his weapon out, a definite mistake in light of Ryan¡¯s approach.
Ryan¡¯s hand was already on his shoulder so in Julia¡¯s eyes, the fight was already over. She closed her eyes and tried to drown out the sound. Nothing good would come out of fighting each other.
Julia only had her eyes closed for a couple seconds before the chatter of the room abruptly stopped. She lazily opened her eyes to see what happened and they instantly widened in disbelief at the scene in front of her. Ryan¡¯s hand was in a growing pool of gore and the new man was standing over it. Julia quickly activated her ability and tried to analyze the man. As soon as she came into contact with the guy, a horrible chill ran down her being.
He looked like a man, but his energy did not match those of the people around her. There was always a small feeling of normalcy amongst everyone she had inspected, other than the powerful eight. This guy was something else entirely. He didn¡¯t feel alien like Ty or the other seven, this man felt¡ wrong.
Julia had accidently recoiled on contact with the man, so she quickly reached back out toward him, more cautious this time. On contact, he didn¡¯t display the weird feeling from before, instead, he felt alien like Ty. The man had already begun to walk away from the dismembered hand so Julia furrowed her eyebrows and tried harder to find that odd energy she felt just a moment ago.
After a minute or two, she sighed and retracted her ability, finding nothing. A mild headache hit Julia as she realized how much she strained her ability to read the man. She wasn¡¯t able to find much out about him, but one thing was for sure; That man was dangerous.
13- End of the Experiment
¡°Uh, hey man.¡±
Seth looked up from his spot on the ground to meet the nervous gaze of Will. ¡°Are we good?¡± he asked shakily.
¡°Why wouldn¡¯t we be?¡± Seth inquired with an eyebrow raised.
Will glanced over at the spot where Ryan was nursing his freshly healed hand and staring daggers at Seth.
¡°Uh, never mind bro. That was pretty cool what you did though. That guy threatened me when I got here as well. The only difference is that I just cowered like a chump.¡±
Seth watched him inquisitively. ¡°Wait, why? Don¡¯t you have any combat abilities? How did you kill any of the monsters without any?¡±
Will relaxed a bit and sat down next to Seth.
¡°You must have had some pretty hard tests man. The only monsters I had to deal with were on the first planet, just like everyone else. Luckily they were some slow bastards and I was able to get away every time. That last big monster at the end of the first test was pretty fucking terrifying huh. I almost pissed my pants trying to run away from it.¡±
Will took a breath and resumed talking.
¡°After that scare, I just had to walk around for weeks trying to find some stupid rocks for the rest of the tests. It progressively got harder and I actually only passed after hitting tier two and getting an ability boost. My abilities are mostly detection based so it made sense.¡±
Will was about to continue when Seth interrupted him.
¡°How did you tier up without fighting?¡±
Now it was Will¡¯s turn to be confused.
¡°What do you mean? Attribute grades were a quest reward. You must have gotten them if you are a tier two.¡± Will thought for a moment then gasped.
¡°Wait did you seriously only tier up from fighting? Jesus Christ man, your tests must have been seriously fucked up.¡±
Seth looked at his black hand and recalled the visit to Perdition.
¡°Yeah, I guess so.¡±
They both were silent for a minute until Will tried to raise the mood.
¡°Well anyway man, tell me about your Umbra!¡±
He saw Seth¡¯s lost stare and kept going. ¡°Ah I forgot; some people were not told by theirs so you might not know. An Umbra is the thing that gave you all your abilities. You know, the one you met after eating the Anomalous Gem.¡±
As Will gave the description of an Umbra, Seth realized what who he was talking about and quickly turned his eyes to the ground. Will didn¡¯t pick up on Seth¡¯s mood and started to go off on a rant.
¡°My Umbra was named Rynack. He was so cool man, like Indiana Jones on steroids! After he explained that he made the anomalous gem, he gave me all my abilities and sent me off. The power radiating off the guy was incredible, I can¡¯t even fathom having all that.¡± He finished with a wistful look.
Seth watched Will closely and saw he wasn¡¯t lying.
¡°You weren¡¯t afraid?¡± he whispered.
Will turned toward Seth incredulously, about to continue his fan rant, when he saw the real fear on Seth¡¯s face. Seth¡¯s expression sent a wave of sympathy through Will. He had never seen Seth have any real emotions at school. Anytime he would say hi or notice him in class, Seth always had the same detached look.
This was the first time Seth had ever opened up in front of him, and it terrified Will.
What could have possibly scared this guy so much that he is literally shaking at the thought of it? Will reeled.
He was about to respond and try and comfort Seth when a voice interrupted him.
¡°What the fuck happened to you?¡±
Will turned around sharply to glare at the new arrival. Sydney¡¯s judging stare met his hostile gaze. ¡°What?¡± she responded, confused.
¡°Same shit, different dimension. What about you?¡± Seth replied abruptly.
Will whirled back at Seth and was disturbingly surprised to find no evidence of the horrified guy he was talking to a second ago.
--------
¡°Wow, it speaks.¡± Sydney proclaimed with mock surprise.
Seth crushed the whispers that had begun to arise during his conversation with Will and met Sydney¡¯s eyes. Ever since his fight with the first Fouler, the whispers constantly plagued him. For the millionth time he mentally told them to fuck off and turned his attention back to the problem at hand.
¡°Seems you haven¡¯t changed much.¡± He chuckled dryly.
Even without her normal makeup, Sydney was still quite pretty with her smooth black hair tied into a ponytail and her lithe body was complimented perfectly by a set of dark purple light armor.
¡°And what is that supposed to mean? Or is Mr. Emo so cool now that he thinks he can be a dick to everyone without repercussion.¡± Sydney commented as her eyes narrowed.
¡°Nothing really, just good to see a familiar face, I guess. Also, why am I Mr. Emo, last time I checked you were the one always covered in black.¡± He rebuttaled.
Her eyebrows raised at his comment.
¡°While it¡¯s incredibly weird to know that you paid attention to what I wore at school, have you checked a mirror lately? You aren¡¯t exactly one that should be talking about wearing too much black.¡±
Seth blinked and looked down at himself. He was wearing his dark grey set of armor and he was covered in crimson and black blood.
¡°Well I suppose you aren¡¯t wrong there, but its not like I am covered in this shit for fun.¡± He relinquished.
She rolled her eyes and pointed at his head.
¡°I¡¯m not talking about that crap. Look at your hair, I didn¡¯t know you had time to get highlights during the tests. And don¡¯t act like I missed that creepy ass black rash you got going on, or the fact your eye is a whole different color.¡±
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Seth absently rubbed his hair in curiosity. Huh, so that¡¯s why it said Undecided, he realized.
¡°Yeah man, I didn¡¯t want to bring it up, but you look a lot different than before.¡± Will chimed in.
Sydney clucked her tongue. ¡°Ah, race change, isn¡¯t it?¡±
Will glanced at her, worried. ¡°Come on Syd, you know people don¡¯t like talking about their new race.¡± Seth glowered for a moment before speaking up.
¡°Fiend. Whatever the fuck that is.¡±
Both Sydney and Will raised their eyebrows in surprise. Will covered his hesitation poorly and tried to continue the conversation. ¡°Er, that¡¯s cool. Mine is Nym, same as most of us here. According to some people¡¯s Umbras, that is one of the three main races for those with Foundations.¡±
Wait, in the infinite multiverse there is seriously that many beings of the same race that they have three main ones? It was now Seth''s turn to be shocked.
¡°And I am a different race as well.¡± Sydney interrupted.
¡°A Celist, one of the other three main races. The last race is apparently Goliath. You see Ty over there.¡± Sydney pointed over her shoulder.
¡°He claims to be a specific race of Goliaths called Mineral Giant.¡± She finished.
Will snorted next to Seth. ¡°She always finds a way to mention her talk with Ty. Apparently, he won¡¯t talk to anyone other than a specific seven people. Syd here seems to be cool enough to be one of them.¡±
Sydney quickly punched Will in the arm, causing him to stumble in the middle of his giggles. The slight blush on her face was not lost upon Seth.
¡°Well, I would say it is fairly obvious why he only talks to a specific few.¡±
Will and Sydney exchanged looks.
¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Will questioned.
Seth blinked and said nothing for a moment.
So, they can¡¯t sense each other¡¯s power? Even without my True Sight I can still tell just by feeling the dimensional energy around them.
¡°It¡¯s because he can tell your level of power. There are seven of you not including Ty that have an exceptional amount of dimensional energy. The difference between Ty and the rest of you, is that he has a whole different level of it.¡±
Sydney narrowed her eyes in understanding.
¡°So that¡¯s what it is.¡± She stated simply.
Will just sat there dumbfounded.
¡°Ok guys, I am lost. What do you mean he can tell our power level?¡±
Seth thought about it for a second then replied.
¡°It¡¯s kind of hard to explain. You remember the feeling of tiering up? There was a large influx of dimensional energy that your body absorbed. If you can remember how that energy felt, you can feel it coming off everyone in this room. It feels like a field of dense air around the person.¡±
The pair stood dumbfounded before Will shut his eyes and puffed out his cheeks. Sydney hid a smirk behind her hand and tried to focus on the air around herself. Seth watched them both try their best before activating True Sight. He observed as the energy around Sydney seemed to calm down while Will¡¯s became sporadic and shifted in spikes. Seth saw how both were fairing and manipulated the energy around himself to send a small pulse toward the two.
Sydney¡¯s eyes shot open as she took a sharp intake of breath.
¡°Woah,¡± she breathed.
¡°Holy shit!¡± Will practically yelled.
As people around them turned to look at the commotion, Will blushed in embarrassment before turning back to Seth. ¡°Dude whatever you did just gave me a new ability called ¡°Skeptic.¡± Now I can see what you are talking about!¡± Will¡¯s head was on a swivel as he gaped at the rest of the room.
¡°Bro I can see the energy in this room man, it¡¯s coming off the walls. I can also see some of it on people, but it¡¯s harder for some reason.¡± He squinted.
Finally, he finished looking at everyone for a moment address Seth again.
¡°Do you have an ability for this as well? It must be pretty powerful for you to be able to whatever you just did.¡±
Seth¡¯s eyes did not waver as he replied to Will.
¡°It doesn¡¯t come from an ability, I learned how to manipulate my own energy to an extent through practice, nothing more.¡±
He was not ready to disclose any of his abilities yet, especially in a room full of strangers. Seth scanned the room as quickly as possible to see if he had possibly gained unwanted attention from his energy pulse. His eyes met a large figure¡¯s from across the room.
¡°Hey, I heard there were showers here, I could really use one.¡±
Seth¡¯s eyes did not leave the figure as Will tentatively pointed out the door he was looking for, confused at Seth¡¯s random decision. He got up and made his way to the showers, never changing his gaze. As Seth left the room and closed the door, he let out a shaken breath, unnerved. The figure Seth had been watching was Ty, and Ty had been watching him.
--------
As Seth rinsed off six months of grime, he finally allowed himself to relax. After constant fighting and isolation for so long, Seth honestly didn¡¯t know what to do now. He concluded that for the moment, he could allow himself to chill, so he closed his eyes and let the hot water run down his back.
What are you doing little one?
Seth¡¯s eyes shot open as the water turned cold.
¡°Shut. Up.¡± He whispered.
Seth turned the lever off as the murmurs came back to him at full strength. Blood flowed as his lip was impaled for the millionth time. The pain drowned out the voices and Seth put his armor back on to leave the room. He emerged from wall and went to look for Will and Sydney.
¡°Hey.¡± A deep voice sounded from behind him.
I didn¡¯t feel anyone there a second ago.
Seth thought in surprise as he whirled to meet the speaker. It was Ty. Seth¡¯s whole body tensed and he had to forcefully stop himself from summoning Anar.
¡°We need to talk.¡±
Ty started walking towards his usual corner and Seth had no choice but to follow. As they both sat down, Seth had no idea how to start the conversation. Luckily, Ty didn¡¯t take long before breaking the silence.
¡°That wave you sent out earlier, tell me how you did it.¡±
Seth was dumbstruck. That¡¯s what he wanted!? If he can already feel the pulse, then how¡
¡°Uh, I am not sure what you mean.¡±
Ty¡¯s eyes continued to run over the room as he replied.
¡°Look, I showed you a trick, in turn, you explain how you did yours.¡±
Seth¡¯s eyes brightened as he realized what Ty was talking about.
¡°So that wasn¡¯t a fluke, I really didn¡¯t sense anyone there.¡±
Seth appraised Ty with a new sense of respect. As far as he knew, Seth was the only one in the room who could consciously shape dimensional energy. Now he knew that not only could Ty sense the energy, but he could also somehow shape his own to erase his presence.
¡°Before I tell you, you have to explain your trick first.¡±
Seth was weary of setting Ty off, but he had to learn how to conceal himself fully. Yet again, Ty didn¡¯t take his eyes off the crowd.
¡°It¡¯s simple. Pull your energy back towards you so far that it goes right underneath your skin, then will it to stay there.¡±
Seth quickly activated True Sight and began the process. He settled his ambient energy and pulled. It was resistant at first. Shrinking the field of energy around him was like trying to fill a balloon. He couldn¡¯t do it too fast or his body might be too stressed and ¡°pop.¡± After finally constraining his energy enough, Seth tried to think of his skin as a lock for the energy.
Soon after a couple minutes of concentration, something clicked in his head and he felt the energy settle. Seth looked down at himself and found no trace of the energy that surrounded everyone in the room. He deactivated his ability and glanced back at Ty, who had finally turned his gaze to Seth. His eyebrows raised by a microscopic margin.
¡°Hmm.¡± He grunted.
¡°That took me a couple weeks to get right.¡±
Seth didn¡¯t hear him as he gaped at the buzzing feeling coming off his body. It felt¡ good.
Finally, he changed his attention from his body to Ty.
¡°I appreciate the tip. To be honest, the pulse I did is way simpler. Focus on a small amount of your energy and instead of pull, just push.¡± Ty sat there for a second.
¡°For fucks sake, it can¡¯t be that easy.¡±
A moment passed and Seth felt a huge wave of energy roll off Ty. It was way larger than Seth¡¯s earlier pulse and the power of it frightened him. An annoyed sigh escaped Ty and he scrutinized Seth for a second.
¡°Not as useful as I thought, but thanks anyway I guess.¡±
Seth felt the strong dismissal message, but he couldn¡¯t leave yet.
¡°I want to ask you one thing.¡±
Ty¡¯s gaze narrowed as he analyzed Seth.
¡°Go on then.¡±
He steeled his resolve and continued. ¡°How do you command so much energy already? I can tell you are a tier two, but it feels like you are on the verge of hitting tier three. I¡¯m going to guess that you were the first one here, so how did you do it in such a short amount of time.¡±
Ty leaned back on the wall and closed his eyes.
¡°The answer is simple. I was blessed by my Umbra, Gaia.¡±
Sensing the end of his compliance, Seth took his leave and made his way back to Will and Sydney, both gaping at him. Upon arrival, Will spoke up first. ¡°Bro how did you get Ty to talk to you?¡± Seth looked him in the eye and took a breath.
¡°Don¡¯t show your cards unless you are sure no one is watching. I¡¯m going to take a nap, wake me up when something happens.¡±
He pivoted to the side and stalked over to a free spot on the wall to lie down. He closed his eyes and settled his thoughts. So it comes down to the damn Umbra, huh. The creature in Perdition once again emerged from the darkness of his mind and the whispers overtook his consciousness.
14- Visitors
¡°We meet again, little one.¡±
Seth¡¯s eyes shot open to a familiar black room. A jingle of metal to his right confirmed Seth¡¯s dread. He slowly got up and turned to the dark being wrapped in multiple hued chains. Seth gnawed on his lip to steady his emotions and looked up to the awful grin plastered on the creature¡¯s face.
¡°Long time no see.¡±
Folly cackled for a moment, causing crimson and black liquid to dribble from his mouth. ¡°Look how far you have come little one! To act so nonchalant in the face of one so powerful!¡± It giggled at its own observation.
¡°I am surprised at you. To ignore me for so long, only to continue with the cold shoulder even after I invite you to my domain.¡±
The being¡¯s face took on a slightly more serious expression, one that made Seth¡¯s blood run cold. A tidal wave of pure terror hit Seth and he found it impossible to breath.
¡°One with less patience might kill you where you stand.¡±
Seth attempted to answer, now truly terrified of further upsetting the monster. ¡°I-I apologize. The voices are so prevalent that I have a hard time believing anything they say.¡± He looked cautiously back up to the creature, only to find the horrible presence he felt earlier was nowhere to be found.
¡°They are quite annoying aren¡¯t they.¡± It laughed. ¡°I will allow you to get away with that excuse as long as you do not attempt to ignore me in the future.¡± Folly grinned. Seth grimaced before replying.
¡°So what exactly do you need from me?¡±
The being¡¯s chains shifted as it leaned forward, stopping mere inches from Seth¡¯s face as its unnaturally ice-cold breath caused him to shake.
¡°A favor of course.¡±
--------
¡°Wake up man!¡±
Seth erupted from his slumber, almost striking Will in the face. The meeting with Folly still had him on edge, and for a second, he hadn¡¯t registered his friend¡¯s presence.
¡°Jeez man, you have a nightmare?¡±
Seth shook off his grogginess and got up to address Will.
¡°Something like that. What¡¯s going on?¡±
The whole room had a thick tension in the air.
¡°Something is coming.¡±
Sydney¡¯s voice cut through Seth¡¯s attention as he turned to the wall she was staring at. Seth understood what she was talking about as he felt a growing wall of energy approaching. Although most in the room were not able to accurately sense dimensional energy, they could still feel something was wrong. Weapons were summoned and abilities were activated as everyone prepared for the undeniable battle that was coming their way.
Seth hesitated for a moment before activating his passive abilities and summoning Anar. He wanted to keep Specter State and Wicked Being a secret for the time being so instead, he only activated True Sight and Stalker¡¯s Anthem.
He glanced down at himself and noticed a thin blur in the air around his skin. It was the first time he had activated Stalker¡¯s Anthem and Seth found that even he couldn¡¯t look at himself for more than a couple seconds before his gaze seemed to slide off onto the floor. A rumbling took over the room and Seth tensed as the wall everyone was staring at began to slide open.
The dimensional energy radiating from the opening wall was so powerful that some in the room fell to their knees while others were barely able to hold onto their weapons. A figure finally emerged from the darkness of the wall and with it a huge wave of suffocating power. It was so immense that those who weren¡¯t already on their knees fell down to them and the ones already there looked like they were going to throw up.
Only a few people were still standing after the wave. Seth, Ty, Sydney, and a woman in fiery red armor were barely holding themselves upright. They watched as the familiar patchwork creature stepped forward and stopped at the front of the room. The creature¡¯s attention seemed to rest on the remaining individuals that were still standing.
Abruptly, a second much stronger pulse seemed to erupt from the monster and Seth as well as the rest of them were forced down. They stayed like that for a moment before the suppressive pressure slowly receded back into the figure. Everyone was finally able to catch their breath, but no one dared to rise just yet.
¡°I trust I have your attention now?¡±
---------
The robotic voice of the creature rang out amongst the crowd, but still no one moved.
¡°Rise my friends, there is nothing to fear. I apologize for the discomfort, but I had to show who exactly was in charge before some unsavory individuals might attempt to do something they regret.¡±
Everyone slowly got up and wearily looked upon the new arrival.
¡°Fear not, you have proved yourselves worthy of respect, so I will treat you accordingly. I want to first thank you all for your participation in our experiment! Your help has allowed us to make leaps and bounds in our research, so after the last round of tests, we will compensate you for your time.¡±
Seth became still as he listened to the thing¡¯s words. The creature¡¯s attitude was a total one-eighty from their last interaction. He also didn¡¯t like the sound of more tests, and neither did anyone else in the room.
Thank god no one is stupid enough to bring it up though. Seth thought to himself.
¡°Uh, what do you mean ¡®last round of tests?¡¯ Also, who are you?¡± A wavering voice said from across the room.
All eyes in the room turned to the poor stupid soul who had spoken up. Seth cringed inwardly at the sight of Ryan¡¯s oblivious face staring at the rest of them. Everyone looked back at the hooded figure, waiting in mute horror for it to respond to the idiot.
¡°Thank you brave soul, for your question. Yes, there will be one more test all of you will have to go through. Worry not, there is no pass or fail for this test, we are simply filling in the blanks of what we have accrued so far. As for your second question, you may refer to me as commander. Now if we are done with the questions, please follow me to the examination room and form a line along the wall until I call you in.¡±
The commander pivoted off its silver gorilla-like legs and walked toward the opening it came out of. After an exchange of looks between the other participants in the room, they all gradually dismissed their weapons and abilities and followed after the monster. They walked through a narrow white hallway that was identical to the room they were just at. After a couple turns, they stopped in the middle of the hall where a section of the wall evaporated.
¡°Please enter one by one after the current occupant leaves. When you are finished, please form up on the parallel wall.¡±
The commander walked into the room and the first person in line, a thin middle eastern woman, hesitantly followed it. The wait was slow going. Seth was around the middle of the line and he noticed that each person came in and out at irregular patterns. Some would be in there for five minutes, while a couple were there for almost half an hour. No one spoke while waiting, everyone was too anxious for what was to come.
Finally it became Seth¡¯s turn, Sydney had just gone in before him and did not make eye contact when she past him. He let out a breath and walked in. He was surprised at first when he noticed that the whole room perfectly resembled an investigation room. It consisted of a white table with two chairs. It even had a reflective window on the far side for someone to watch through. The commander was sitting in the chair facing away from the window. Even with its odd position in the human sized chair, the commander dominated the room with its presence.
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Seth stiffly marched to the chair across from the commander and sat down.
¡°Why hello there Subject 50.¡± The commander rumbled from under the purple hood. Seth nodded passively in response.
¡°So there is just one thing I need to ask you. What is your new race?¡±
Seth¡¯s face became a picture of confusion.
It that seriously all it needs to know?
Why have some people taken so long. He was about to answer when the commander interrupted him.
¡°You must be curious why that is all I need to know. We have collected a large amount of data on you over the last six months, and the only thing we cannot gauge from this data is your specific race.¡±
Seth was uneased by how accurate the commander guessed his thoughts.
¡°It¡¯s Fiend,¡± he claimed bluntly.
¡°I surmised as much. Did you know that the race of Fiend is actually quite rare? They are not originally from any dimension we have documented. There is a theory that states one can only evolve into a Fiend, and that it is impossible to be born one.¡±
Seth could practically hear the hunger in the commander¡¯s tone. It was a researcher through and through.
¡°That is interesting.¡± He stated blandly.
The commander leaned back in its small chair.
¡°Well, as I said, that is the only thing I needed to ask you, so now is the time to ask any questions you might have. Please do not hesitate to ask anything, this will most likely be the last time you have the chance before we release you all and my kind does not lie.¡±
Seth debated it for a minute in his head.
Why didn¡¯t he ask about my Umbra? Of all things you would think that is what they would want to know, right? He looked up at the hood enveloping the commander¡¯s face. What the hell am I even thinking about this for? I am pretty sure it can read me like a book.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you ask about my Umbra?¡± He inquired.
¡°Great question. The answer is that we are not permitted to ask about them. They are a power beyond any mortal such as you and I. A long time ago we did ask about them, but certain events took place and we learned about the power such beings contain.¡±
A short silence ensued before Seth asked the next question.
¡°What tier are you?¡±
The commander showed no sign of interest in the question.
¡°I am unsure why it is relevant, but I am a tier six.¡±
Seth was on a roll now.
¡°What race are you? How did you find me specifically for the experiment? How were our tests decided? Where are we going after you release us? How do you find Anomalous Gems? How are Anomalous Gems created and what exactly are they for?¡±
Now the commander did seem surprised.
¡°Well, that is quite the list! Congratulations subject, you have thoroughly piqued my interest! I do not believe I have ever encountered a subject that has asked such involved inquiries.¡±
The commander got up and began to pace around the room, analyzing Seth.
¡°Fine then. I am in the Automaton race. We found you through one of our AI systems because of a specific set of markers you portrayed. You had a more combat oriented series of tests due to the way you passed your first test. We will be transporting you to Dimension 101, specifically one of the main cities on the galactic plane. We find the gems through an analysis of each dimension, looking for largescale influxes of dimensional energy in concentrated areas. The Anomalous Gems are created by Umbras by unknown means and from our understanding, they are used to develop influence amongst each Umbra.¡±
Seth sat there to absorb all of what the commander said.
¡°Is there anything else you would like to know my friend?¡±
Seth looked at the commander, fear from before totally forgotten. A chuckle escaped his mouth.
¡°Well, that was a lot of really vague and uninformative information.¡± Seth grinned.
¡°What specific race in the Automatons? What markers did I portray? What is the city called and what do you mean galactic plane? What special way did I pass the tests that warranted for such harsh parameters? I can understand not knowing the reasons of an Umbra, but do you really not know how they create the gems?¡±
As Seth finished with a smirk, the commander stopped cold in the middle of pacing.
¡°Why would you ask me that specific question again after I already told you I cannot lie?¡±
Seth furrowed his eyebrow, confused at the commander¡¯s response.
¡°Aren¡¯t you going to answer my other questions?¡±
The commander stepped uncomfortably close to Seth.
¡°Were you told something about how the gems are made?¡±
Seth¡¯s fear was rising. Something was wrong.
¡°Uh no, no I was just curious because I thought it was a simple question.¡±
He had gone too far and he knew that his coverup was not good enough. A trickle of the powerful presence from before hit Seth like a train. The commander raised its glass arm and set it firmly on Seth¡¯s shoulder.
¡°Tell me what you heard.¡±
Seth knew that he had to answer the question, or the commander was going to do something horrible. The only hitch was that his Umbra had told him that information and the commander said they can¡¯t ask about it.
¡°M-my Umbra told me, you said you aren¡¯t permitted to ask.¡±
The strong grip on his shoulder began to tighten and hurt Seth.
¡°Do not tell me what I can and cannot do. Now tell me what you were told boy.¡±
Seth had no choice.
¡°I was told they were created when an Umbra enters the mortal realm.¡±
The commander¡¯s grip instantly relaxed and fell off Seth¡¯s shoulder.
¡°But why would¡¡±
it trailed off. An eerie silence followed as the commander straightened and marched back over to the chair it had originally been in.
¡°You are free to leave.¡±
The commander stated. Seth took the chance and quickly began to leave the room.
¡°Before you go, would you mind telling me your name?¡±
He froze at the doorway and glanced over his shoulder.
¡°It¡¯s Seth.¡±
The commander nodded.
¡°My given name is Lyak.¡±
Seth appraised Lyak for a moment before finally escaping into the hallway. He took his place behind Sydney in line and waited in silence. Strangely, every meeting after his did not last any longer than a couple minutes. Before they knew it, the meetings were over and the commander stepped out into the hallway with them.
¡°Thank you all for your cooperation. I am sorry to say that I will not be able to escort you to the cache warehouse due to a prior commitment. Please follow my assistant, Shilung, and he will show you where to go.¡±
The commander gestured behind the line of people where a new figure had arrived out of nowhere. It seemed to Seth that the new concealment skill he picked up from Ty was popular amongst these beings. The humanoid figure was entirely made out of a beautiful collection of colored glass. It looked like a living, breathing mosaic. On top of the rainbow shards was a surprisingly human-like head.
It had not a spot of hair on its cream-colored skin yet it also did not have a mouth. It was a genderless picture of beauty that had two diamond orbs peering at the line of people.
¡°Why hello subjects! Thank you commander for your time. Please allow me to take care of you all for the rest of your stay. We will now be going to the cache warehouse for you to pick out your reward! Follow me please.¡±
The line of people herded after Shilung while Seth watched the commander march in the other direction.
---------
¡°Welcome everyone, to the cache warehouse! Here you will choose from a catalog of our finest catalyst items for one that you believe would be a great addition to your aligned abilities! But please choose wisely my friends, whatever you choose will go forward to be a large part of what you will be able to attain in the future!¡±
Shilung gestured to a row of consoles on their left.
¡°Please step forward and pick your prize!¡±
Everyone eagerly surged forward to any free console they could find. Countless screens flickered to life in front of the participants. Seth was blown away by the sheer amount of items on the screen in front of him. Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of items were listed. There were descriptions under each individual item as well. They detailed what type of ability the user would receive upon consumption. One item caught Seth¡¯s eye and he began softly chuckling under his breath.
Fossil of the Devarger:
-The user will receive the power of the Devarger¡¯s glorious buttocks.
Seth was about to continue scrolling when he heard Will stifle a laugh next to him.
¡°I see what you are going for there champ.¡±
Seth glowered at Will. ¡°Shut it man."
Will grinned and turned back to his console. Seth had a similar grin as went back to work. Finally, he found the section full of manufactured items and promptly picked the top one. He made his way over the opposite wall, waiting for the rest of them to finish. Shilung noticed Seth almost instantly. It strolled over to him and stood against the wall right next to Seth.
¡°Forgive my forwardness, but I have been hoping to speak with you Subject 50.¡±
Seth side-eyed Shilung.
¡°What exactly did you want to speak with me about?¡±
Shilung locked its glassy eyes on Seth with an uncomfortable hunger. Seth had seen it before on the commander¡¯s face but this was on a whole different level. Seth was sure that if Shilung had the opportunity, it would dissect him right here and now.
¡°How did you come up with the plan that defeated the tier three Xtrey Hound?¡±
Seth shifted his gaze away from the humanoid.
¡°It was just a fluke. There are some stories on my planet with similar types of schemes.¡±
Shilung¡¯s eyes widened.
¡°Intriguing! Do you even realize how unlikely your plan was to succeed? It was roughly a million to one odds! Had you run any slower you would have been devoured. Had any more of the ceiling fell, you would have had a cave in! Did you even realize that? If even one of the Xtrey Hound¡¯s abilities were uninhibited, your chances would have dwarfed to one in a quintillion!¡±
Seth sat there, letting Shilung drone on.
¡°You know, outside of this facility, you will find that higher tiered individuals will not be so forgiving of rudeness.¡±
Seth faced Shilung with contempt.
¡°So why are you allowing it here?¡±
A metallic hum started emitting from Shilung and Seth realized it was laughter.
¡°Members of Origin value information and discovery over everything else. Some may be offended enough to act when a lower lifeform disrespects them, but I am not one of them. Like I mentioned, you will find those outside of our organization will not hesitate to strike you down for little more than a dirty look. Let me give you a piece of advice young subject. The only thing that is a constant in this reality is power. Without it, you will not get anywhere.¡±
Shilung finished then began to pull away.
¡°It seems your fellow participants are about done picking their item.¡±
Seth watched Shilung return to the front of the line and shortly after fell into line himself. ¡°Alright friends! I trust everyone is satisfied with their reward?¡± Everyone nodded in mute excitement at their new valuables.
¡°Wonderful!¡±
Shilung reached out a glassy hand to the space in front of him. Before their eyes a large blue crack began to fester its way into reality. As it finally opened, Shilung lowered its hand and turned back to the crowd.
¡°Now is the time friends! Walk through this crack and into your new life! On the other side there will be another member to help you all settle down. It was fun while it lasted my friends, I hope to see you again someday!¡±
One after another the crowd disappeared through the crack, into the unknown.
15- Welcome to Your Reality
¡°Damn bro this place is sick as fuck!¡±
Will was gushing while exploring his new room. The place they were put up in after going through the crack was huge. Seth, Will, and Sydney were currently walking through one of the places they were given. They all had separate ones, but they looked identical. As they were the size of a small house, each apartment had three bedrooms with their own bathrooms. They also had a huge living room with a connecting kitchen.
Interestingly enough, the level of technology in the rooms was odd.
There were no televisions or high-tech devices like at the facility they had just been in. Although, there was a console in the middle of the living room behind a set of plush couches. The building itself was even bigger than the Empire State building. Seth thought Will was going to piss his pants when he first saw it. He couldn¡¯t even fathom how long it must¡¯ve taken to build it. It did seem to be a trend in this new dimension for places to be incredibly large. It was a wonder how many beings must live here.
As the three of them sat down in the living room, a loud growl interrupted their thoughts. Will turned with wide eyes over to Sydney, about to open his mouth.
¡°Zip it, jackass.¡± Sydney demanded.
Seth hid a smile behind his black hand and glanced over to the console.
¡°Maybe they got room service here.¡± Will brightened up and strolled over to the console.
He clicked the only button on the block and a screen appeared before him. He was met with a list of arbitrary symbols until he scrolled down and found one in English. Apparently, it was some sort of language menu because afterward, a huge menu bloomed into existence.
¡°Woah guys, this thing does a lot more than room service.¡±
Sydney and Seth both got up and joined Will at the console. There were many tabs to choose from on the screen. Seth spotted the building services tab and pointed at it.
¡°We can check out all this stuff after we eat, hit the building services tab.¡±
Although he wouldn¡¯t say it aloud, Seth was incredibly hungry as well. As Will opened the tab, they were assaulted with a number of options. Will clicked ¡°Sustenance¡± and a menu of delicious looking foods popped up. As they scrolled through the meals, they found that not one of them looked familiar.
¡°I guess with infinite dimensions comes infinite cuisines.¡± Sydney commented.
¡°I¡¯m sure they are all good, I mean just look at this place.¡± Seth replied.
As they finally hit the bottom of the endless list, the three of them gasped.
¡°No. Fucking. Way.¡±
They all stared in awe at the last meal option: A burger and fries.
--------
¡°This is heaven.¡± Will groaned.
Seth grunted in agreement while Sydney said nothing; she was too busy devouring her meal. Finally, Seth sat back, his meal finished. He felt better than he had in months.
¡°Well guys, they said we got a week to chill out before they send our last package. I don¡¯t know about you but I want to head to my room so I can absorb the item I got then hit the hay on a real bed for the first time in forever.¡± Will sighed.
Sydney got up as well.
¡°Yeah, I could kill for a bath right now so I am going to head back to my room too.¡±
They both began to disperse when Seth spoke up.
¡°Hey, I don¡¯t think we should split up. There is three bedrooms in each apartment, so I don¡¯t see the reason why we can¡¯t stay in one.¡±
Sydney and Will both exchanged curious looks.
¡°Sure man, I mean it doesn¡¯t bother me.¡±
Sydney scrutinized Seth for a second.
¡°Yeah, I guess if it will make you feel better.¡±
She began to walk up the stairs toward the bedrooms.
¡°Don¡¯t even think about coming near my room or I will kill you,¡± she called over her shoulder.
Seth and Will exchanged grins before heading up to their own rooms.
-------
Seth stepped out of the shower and dried himself off. He now stood in front of the huge mirror of the bathroom and examined himself for the first time in six months. The man staring back at him was a total stranger. His once whitish blonde hair was now tainted with thick shocks of ink black. Both of his bushy brows were also now onyx and haloing over a pair of widened eyes. One was an almost greyish blue while the other was a bright purple that faintly glowed on a background of black.
His once boyish features had now hardened to compliment his crooked nose. As he looked lower, Seth found that the slightly athletic, lanky body he had been sporting before was replaced with a lean and muscular picture of health. The only outlier was the grid of black crawling up his right arm.
¡°I look¡ good.¡± He muttered.
Seth thought back to the dinner he just had with his two friends.
They both also looked much more grown than back at school.
He remembered the last thing Sydney had said before she retired to her room. A certain image flashed in Seth¡¯s head. He glanced down quickly as something else showed their new growth. Clearing his head, Seth stepped out of the sweet smelling bathroom and into his room. He walked over to the closet where he had found a set of clothes before he showered. There was only one, but it consisted of a rainbow damascus patterned t-shirt, shorts, and undergarments.
It¡¯s cool that they gave me clothes that fit but why is it all rainbow colored?
He shrugged and continued to put on the clothes. They were quite large compared to Seth¡¯s stature, but he found that after he finished, they all compressed to fit him rather snugly. Seth waddled back over to the mirror and was met with a rather detailed outline of his business against the fabric. He tried to stretch it out but right after he would stretch it enough, it would just fit back exactly how it was before.
A thought struck Seth and he activated True Sight. His suspicions were proved correct when he saw a small amount of dimensional energy radiating from the clothes. Seth pulled a thin strand of energy from beneath his skin and attempted to infuse it with his shorts. He quickly deactivated his ability and watched as the shorts began to loosen. Soon enough he had to actually remove some of the energy because it became so loose that it fell to his feet.
He finally got it to the point where it fit as well as a pair of normal Earth shorts and then he continued to loosen up his underwear to where it didn¡¯t give him a horrible wedgie. The shirt he left as is because it was quite flexible, and the material was breathable.
He turned his gaze over to the rather large bed and decided he would go check out the console in the living room. Seth wasn¡¯t yet ready for sleep because he knew who would visit him as soon as he closed his eyes. As he made his way down the stairs, Seth noticed a soft light emitting from the main room. He activated Specter State and entered the room.
The second he walked in, Seth¡¯s jaw dropped like a cartoon character.
Sydney was currently bent over the console, scrolling through the tabs. What had floored Seth was the fact that Sydney was currently dressed in a similar set of clothes as him, but she on the other hand, had seemingly not figured out how to stretch it out. Seth unconsciously saved the view of her basically naked outline to the recess of his brain.
Sydney was facing away from Seth (to his delight), so he hesitantly deactivated Specter State and coughed aloud while casting his eyes away.
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Sydney whirled around with a dangerous looking revolver in hand.
¡°Woah! Chill out, its just me!¡± Seth blurted out.
Sydney did not lower her gun.
¡°Why can¡¯t I feel your energy and why were you just standing in the dark?¡± She interrogated.
¡°It¡¯s a trick I learned from Ty, and I just got here I wasn¡¯t doing anything.¡± He said evenly.
Seth looked at her to see if she believed him. She began to relax and lower her weapon when Seth¡¯s eyes involuntarily flickered down to her generous chest. This was not lost upon Sydney as she re-raised her weapon with an icy glare.
¡°Sorry, sorry, sorry! Force of habit.¡± Seth sputtered as he painfully dragged his eyes away from her.
¡°Just so you know, if you infuse dimensional energy slightly into your clothes, they will become loose like regular clothes. Just make sure it¡¯s only a little, too much and they will fall off.¡±
He heard a grunt in return as Sydney began to loosen her clothes while keeping an eye on Seth. He heard a click but continued to stare at the wall as Sydney lowered her weapon.
¡°Alright jackass, you can look now.¡±
Seth hesitantly glanced at her before turning his full gaze. Sydney¡¯s shirt was normal now and her shorts were now loose, but they were actually quite short in length, so Seth did his best not to look anywhere but her face.
¡°So why are you down here?¡± She questioned.
Seth gestured at the console behind her.
¡°Same as you I guess, just wanted to find out more about our new reality.¡±
It had not slipped past him she was still holding the weapon after he turned around so he was relieved when he watched it disappear in motes of multicolored lights. Sydney sighed and turned back to the console. Seth took the invitation and cautiously approached the console next to her. They both silently scrolled through tabs upon tabs on the console, learning about this new place and all the species that resided here.
The only sound that occurred for the couple hours they stood there was when Sydney muffled a giggle at a particular species that resembled an Ewok. Finally, they both had just finished analyzing a local street map when Sydney paused.
¡°Your tests were combat oriented, weren¡¯t they?¡± She muttered.
Seth continued to watch the screen.
¡°What gave it away?¡± He said in mock surprise.
Her eyes turned to look at him from under her black bangs.
¡°It¡¯s your eyes. I watched how you looked at Ryan, it was like you didn¡¯t even think of him as a human being.¡±
Seth didn¡¯t meet her eyes. He didn¡¯t want to tell her the truth. Before he learned enough about his new life, Seth had to make sure he kept some allies just in case.
Slowly, he met her eyes with a steady gaze.
¡°Sorry about that, it had just been a while since I''ve seen other people. My mind was still in survival mode, so I attacked out of instinct.¡±
Sydney showed no reaction until after a moment she began to slowly nod and turn back to the console.
¡°Mine was mostly combat too.¡±
Seth continued to watch Sydney.
¡°That must¡¯ve been rough, I¡¯m not sure how yours was operated, but I understand the tole that everyday combat can take on a person.¡±
A confused look crossed Sydney¡¯s face and she quickly faced Seth. Sydney looked like she was about to say something when she abruptly stopped and turned off the console, leaving the lamp next to the couch as the only thing illuminating the room.
¡°We should probably get some sleep,¡± she said as she headed toward the stairs.
¡°I can¡¯t wait to sleep in a real bed tonight, it¡¯s like a dream come true.¡±
As Sydney promptly left the room, Seth watched her go, slightly lost.
Did I say something that upset her?
--------
Sydney sat alone in her room, staring at the floor. Had Sydney been in any other interaction, she might have been embarrassed about what happened with her clothes just minutes ago. Unfortunately, her mind was nowhere near that little situation. A shiver ran down Sydney¡¯s spine.
He was in combat every day?
She couldn¡¯t even imagine what six months of constant fighting could do to a person. Sydney had talked with almost all of the other people in the white room while they waited for the tests to end. Of everyone she talked to, Sydney had one of the most combat prevalent tests. The thing is, even at the most stressful times, she only had to fight maybe once a week. Not to mention, the tier twos she had to fight could be really difficult at times.
Even if he was only fighting tier ones constantly, what did he do on the first test to warrant having to fight every day?
The first boss monster, apparently a tier three according to the quest, had been a living nightmare. Sydney had barely escaped with her life after delaying the beast long enough to escape. Now, she would most likely be able to defeat the beast, but back then, it was an impossible task. She sighed and sprawled back onto the bed. Sydney was certain there was something almost inhuman in Seth. Just the way his eyes were on her the whole time they talked was enough to know.
His gaze on her was that of a predator watching its prey.
--------
Seth was only lying in bed for a couple seconds before the chaos ensued. Nightmares overwhelmed his senses as he saw countless visions of death and destruction. Something was off about his trip this time. Although Perdition always made Seth feel like he was there for an eternity, this time he could feel like it was longer than usual.
Finally, Seth felt a pull and he woke up in a room of black. It felt just like the first time he traveled to Perdition. His whole body wracked with shivers and he was covered in sweat. Luckily, he was still in control of his mind, so he did his best to calm down. It was to no avail though, and it took him a full ten minutes to shakily get on his feet. As he finally got his wits about him, he turned and glared at the chained figure grinning in the corner.
¡°What¡the hell¡was¡that?¡± Seth demanded in between breaths.
The foul being leaned forward, ¡°Sorry about that little one, just a little issue on my end.¡±
He, or it doesn¡¯t sound very sorry. Seth thought.
He really didn¡¯t know how to refer to the being. It had the tone and figure of a man, but Seth had no real way of knowing. Folly tilted his head to the side, his grin widening.
¡°Is my sex really what you are concerned with right now?¡±
Seth froze for a second before doubling the poison in his stare. Folly burst out laughing, his black tongue flailing about. It mocked Seth for a couple minutes with its sporadic cackle before finally settling down.
¡°Ah little one, I do enjoy your visits.¡±
Seth regained his breath and stood up straight.
¡°I did what you asked.¡±
Folly greedily leaned forward,
¡°And?¡±
Seth sighed before continuing.
¡°It¡¯s in my cache, I don¡¯t know how to get it here.¡± He motioned around.
The creature rattled in its chains.
¡°Just think about what you want to retrieve from your cache, and I will take care of the rest.¡±
Seth shrugged and closed his eyes to focus on the item. A clink on the ground caused Seth to peek.
¡°Bring it to me, little one.¡±
He curiously picked up the item from the dark floor and brought it closer to the writhing inmate. Seth himself wasn¡¯t even sure what he chose from the catalog at the facility. He just picked the first one that said ¡°manufactured¡± like he was instructed. Folly¡¯s tongue slowly emerged from his mouth to approach Seth. Cringing in slight disgust, Seth raised the item toward the slithery member.
The black tongue quickly snatched it up and disappeared back into the void of Folly¡¯s mouth. A low groan started emitting from the being as it devoured the item. As he watched the odd monster, Seth repeated the memory of his last meeting with Folly. Last time they talked, the being had told him that his reward would be an ability granting item of his own choice. Folly asked that he bring a manufactured version of this item to him, and in return, the creature would give Seth a choice of personalized abilities as well as some ¡°present¡± Folly seemed excited about.
¡°Ahhh¡ Well done, little one.¡±
The being had finally finished whatever it was doing with the item and its attention was back on Seth. It briefly gurgled before a stream of oil spurted from its mouth. Seth almost took a step back in disgust before the liquid froze in mid-air before forming a series of words. As they snaked through the air, separate groups began forming into flaming colors before finally settling in front of his face.
¡°Here you are, your reward awaits. As promised, I will not attempt to steer your choice, even if I can make you more powerful than you can imagine.¡±
Seth rolled his eyes and began reading the vast number of choices in front of him. There were too many choices to choose from. They ranged from tactical abilities, to combat abilities, all the way to certain merchant and trade abilities. Seth had no idea how they all could fit his growing skill set, so he simply kept scrolling. It took quite some time but finally, Seth decided on five abilities to choose from.
Nemesis Rider:
-Your never-ending force of will allows you to follow your foe to the ends of existence.
Nightstalker:
-The world is your playground as your presence is unknown.
Limit Breaker:
-Go beyond. PLUS EXTRA!
Insanity Eternal:
-Your adversary¡¯s worst nightmares come to life.
Myth of Light:
-Your enemies will not know the existence of the light even after their demise.
Seth had to think very hard about what he wanted his style to be like. It looked like he was already on the baseline of some sort of dark overlord type. This made obvious sense, as his abilities all stemmed from a land worse than hell. He thought about it for a while. Folly did not make a sound the whole time, and Seth unconsciously dismissed his presence.
What do I want from my new life? What do I want to be?
Memories of his past life flashed before his eyes. He had nothing in his previous life. No friends. No real family. No hobbies or real interests. Nothing to live for. This will be different. I will live this life my way. Seth grit his teeth and really focused. Instantly, he ruled out Limit Breaker, although a hilarious coincidence, even if it gave him something like One-for-all, it wouldn¡¯t work well with his current abilities.
Next, Nightstalker and Nemesis Rider were taken out of the running. He already had concealment abilities, and instead of a tactical type, he wanted something that could invoke real power. It was a choice between two vague abilities. Insanity Eternal sounded like a possible branch of mental abilities, while Myth of Light sounded truly dangerous. There was a possibility that it could just be some sort of tactical ability though.
One basically has a good chance of mental manipulation. The other is a gamble that I really don¡¯t need.
¡°Fine. I made my choice. I want Insanity Eternal.¡±
The dormant being finally moved. Chains squealed as the living phantom leaned ever forward. Suddenly, it stopped moving and Seth watched the restraints begin to shake. For the first time, he saw the runes on the shackles begin to pulse violently.
¡°Are you sure about your choice child?¡± Folly spoke with an eerily calm tone.
Even behind the dark chains, Seth felt the monster¡¯s eyes bore into him.
This is my first step.
He turned his hardened gaze to Folly¡¯s face.
¡°I am certain.¡±
Folly¡¯s grin curled as his impossibly wide mouth slowly opened. Seth did not flinch as the being¡¯s mouth unhinged far enough to swallow his skull. After a moment, red mist began wafting from its jaws. The thick cloud touched Seth¡¯s skin and a wave of intense pain rippled through his body. Despite the agony, Seth did not move from his spot. Minutes past as he absorbed the dense bloody mist. Eventually, the jaws closed and the cloud dissipated.
¡°Now little one, it is time to go.¡±
Seth¡¯s body became heavy as the weight of the mist set in.
¡°What about the present?¡± He mumbled groggily.
¡°Rest now, little one. The present is already waiting in your cache.¡±
Seth¡¯s vision came in and out as he began to lose consciousness.
¡°Until we meet again¡¡±
16- The Next Step
Seth woke with a start, covered in ice cold sweat.
¡°God dammit, I hate it every time,¡± he panted.
Despite what had just transpired, Seth felt better than ever. He rolled of the bed and headed to the bathroom. As he looked at himself, Seth tried to find anything new on his body. Although he couldn¡¯t find anything, he still felt like he was buzzing with power. It was like he was on the cusp of something, like he was almost¡ complete.
The status menu appeared at Seth¡¯s mental command.
Aligned Abilities:
-Presence of Doom (Tier Two)
-Eye of Opposition (Tier Two)
-Insanity Eternal (Tier One)
-Undecided
A new window popped up in front of the status window.
New ability: Fear Itself
Fear Itself:
-An ability unlocked by Insanity Eternal; The only thing to fear¡ (Varying Ongoing DE Cost )
A rush of energy filled his head as the instinctual knowledge of the ability was burned into Seth¡¯s brain. He clutched his head and groaned as the energy streamlined to the rest of his body. Red light crackled across his skin and blood mist began to collect in vague blobs around him. Then, as soon as it occurred, it disappeared.
¡°Holy shit,¡± he gasped.
Although the description contained no information at all, the knowledge he was given was plenty. With a flare of crimson fog, a phantom appeared next to Seth. It had soulless eyes of white surrounded by a figure of darkness. It looked exactly like Seth, but made of shadows and smoke. He watched as the thing stood there, staring blankly back at him.
Tentatively, he reached out his hand and past it straight through the shadow¡¯s chest. Red mist roiled around his hand as it hovered inside the figure. At a mental command, the shadow burst into a thick scarlet whirlwind. Various small items formed in the air. A bottle, a plain dagger, and a collection of various rocks. Finally, they dissolved into ruby smoke and retracted back into Seth¡¯s outstretched hand. An unconscious grin cracked across his face.
¡°Oh hell yeah¡¡±
--------
¡°Morning,¡± a cheerful voice rang from the kitchen.
Sydney had just stumbled out of her insanely comfortable bed and slowly made her way to the kitchen to get some water. She looked up groggily to find Seth¡¯s half naked figure hanging from the ceiling. He was covered in sweat and it took a moment for her to realize that he was doing upside down sit ups.
¡°Whaa?¡± She groaned, still out of it.
A shuffle behind her signaled Will¡¯s arrival.
¡°Dude what are you doing?¡± he sniggered.
Soon enough, Sydney joined in with his laughter.
¡°Alright Oliver Queen, you can get down now,¡± she mocked, still laughing.
She wiped a tear from her eye as Will tried to regain his breath.
¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡±
A sinister voice whispered from behind the pair. Sydney gasped and stumbled back while Will released a shrill girlish scream. They both gaped at the grinning man standing over them.
¡°SETH? WHAT THE HELL?!¡± Will yelled in realization.
Sydney¡¯s head snapped over to where Seth was just hanging from, only to find an empty space.
¡°What the fu¡¡± she muttered.
In their stupor, Seth led them to the couch while he had a laugh himself. There was an array of food he had ordered for breakfast laid out on the main table. Seth began to dig in while the other two were still sitting in confusion.
¡°Was that a-?¡±
¡°New ability? Yep. What about you guys? Didn¡¯t you get new ones too?¡± Seth finished.
Finally, they seemed to recollect themselves and Will¡¯s eyes grew wide.
¡°No way dude! That was sick! Although, my new ability is pretty cool too.¡±
Suddenly, a bronze pike formed right in Will¡¯s hand. It was a beautiful creation covered in wavy patterns that spanned the length of the long body. After a moment, electricity began to crackle throughout the weapon and the patterns glowed blue, causing small bolts of lightning to flicker across the surface.
¡°Thought it was about time I got myself an offensive ability.¡± He said with a gleeful smile.
¡°What about you Sydney?¡±
After approvingly grunting at Will¡¯s new weapon, Sydney nonchalantly leaned back on the couch.
¡°Can¡¯t show you guys here, it¡¯s really only good in a fight.¡±
Seth rolled his eyes with a smirk while Will seemed crestfallen.
¡°Let¡¯s just say you will know it when you see it,¡± she finished.
That seemed to upset Will even more, but after a moment, his hunger must have taken over because he was now fully focused on the food in front of him. In between mouthfuls of food, Will attempted to ask them their plans for the day. What came out was basically just a slew of unintelligible murmurs. Seth and Sydney looked at him inquisitively.
After a moment, he finished his bite and cleared his throat.
¡°I was trying to ask what you guys are doing today.¡±
Seth leaned back, satisfied.
¡°I¡¯m going to check out some nearby shops and stuff to see what our new situation is. I searched up some things last night and found that this place has no central interests or economy. There is legitimately something here for absolutely everything you could imagine. The only thing that stands out is the fact that power is valued heavily. Fighting tournaments are one of the most popular forms of entertainment and prestige. Also, we seem to be in a minor city called Ethin. Even though it¡¯s nowhere near the size of a major city, there are over twenty million people living here.¡±
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Will huffed after the explanation.
¡°How the hell am I supposed to do anything here then? Not everyone has combat oriented abilities, right? Plus, how do I stand out with twenty million other losers to worry about?¡±
Sydney responded to his question before Seth could.
¡°Don¡¯t be a dumbass. Like he said, there is something here for everyone. Although there is apparently some government here, according to the console, there are leaders from each area of ability. Unsurprisingly, certain Umbra¡¯s have a monopoly on the power for each area. Other than the Umbra hierarchy, from what I can tell, this place is like a utopia.¡± She finished with a mild sense of awe.
Will seemed to get visibly excited.
¡°Man now I can¡¯t wait to check this place out!¡±
Seth sat in silent doubt.
No matter how good this place sounds, I don¡¯t buy it.
¡°I wouldn¡¯t get too comfortable, there is no way a place with this many people living in it has no problems.¡±
Will turned over to him with a look of annoyance.
¡°Come on man, this place has probably been around for millions of years, it¡¯s impossible that they haven¡¯t fixed some lame ass society problems like we had back home. Look at the plus side of all of this.¡±
A mischievous grin crossed his face.
¡°How much you wanna bet they have cat girls somewhere around here.¡±
Sydney slapped the back of his head while Seth tried incredibly hard to hide his interest. He was obviously failing as Will looked at him and laughed. Seth quickly got up and headed for the door to escape Sydney¡¯s wrath.
As he grabbed the small drawstring bag he was given at the local facility, he threw back a ¡°see ya¡± and left through the door.
--------
Seth strode through the lobby and out the large door of the entrance. Yet again, he was struck with a helpless awe at the scene in front of him. There was a singular road where vehicles of all shapes and sizes zoomed to and fro.
They followed a kind of superspeed dance as they all effortlessly sped past with no trouble, always inches away from each other. After a moment, Seth pried his eyes from the road to the sidewalk he was standing on. Streams of beings from all kinds of species were weaving around him. He watched as a humanoid tentacle man walked by him, dressed up in a fancy looking suit of all colors. Then, a group of red skinned large women almost trampled him in their conversation, all strikingly beautiful.
Soon after, a furry, birdlike creature strolled by him, sniffing in his direction.
There are so many goddam species here¡ and for some reason they are all¡ attractive?
It was true.
Everyone that passed Seth had some sort of beauty to them, even a man with eyes all over his head. Strangely enough, they were all humanoid in shape yet different looking in every other way. Some had wings, others were small, a couple looked to be made of light or earth or fire. It was incredible to see the vast uniqueness of the crowd.
As if in a trance, he entered the stream of them all and made his way down the vast street. Colorful skyscrapers of all kinds surrounded him with symbols of an unknown language. He had absolutely no idea where he should go first until he remembered his bag. Quickly, he pulled out the small tablet he was given as well as the metal band. He was told after he popped out of the crack that brought them there that the tablet would bring him to the nearest general store where he could buy everything he needed with the band. Upon activation of the tablet, it disappeared, and an arrow appeared in his line of vision.
A little on the nose huh? Seth thought aimlessly as he followed where the arrow was leading him.
On his way, Seth accidently bumped a pink scaled bald woman that hissed at him. Out of nowhere, a felt an incredible pressure slam into his mind and he froze in place. It was gone as soon as it had arrived, leaving Seth breathing heavily on place. The woman hissed something he couldn¡¯t understand and left with a sympathetic look on her face.
¡°What the hell was that?!¡± he muttered to himself angrily.
Soon enough, he arrived at his destination: a huge emerald green sphere building. He walked in and noted how beautiful the architecture was. Seth couldn''t help but compare the place to what he thought the Emerald City looked like in The Wizard of Oz. For a couple minutes, he strolled around, wondering where exactly he was supposed to go now. Stuff was everywhere. The place resembled a mall on steroids. Items were strewn all around the place and he had no idea where or what he would need to start.
A tap on Seth¡¯s shoulder made him whirl around, almost summoning Anar.
¡°Calm down there friend.¡± A soft, polite voice sounded.
It belonged to a beautiful bombshell of a woman dressed in an emerald green suit. She had blond hair and bright green eyes that matched her dress. It took a moment before Seth realized she was talking to him.
¡°Uhh¡sorry,¡± was all he managed to squeak out.
A sparkle of humor flashed in the lady¡¯s eyes and the corner of her mouth pricked up.
¡°Are you new to Ethin sweetie?¡± She questioned him.
Seth¡¯s mouth hesitated for a moment before opening back up.
¡°More like new to everything.¡±
She quirked her eyebrow in confusion.
¡°Everyth- Sweetie I¡¯m not sure what you mean.¡±
Her posture turned to motherly concern as she assessed Seth.
¡°My name is Lyrica. Would you like some help?¡±
Seth stared at her helplessly, he had no idea what to ask for.
¡°Uh, well I don¡¯t really know what I am looking for.¡±
Lyrica looked at him knowingly.
¡°Ah I get it. You must be an outskirt bumpkin. Well welcome sweetie, to Ethin, the city of equality! Anyway, just show me your acquired abilities and I can help you.¡±
Seth was surprised.
What does she need that for? Also, the city of equality? Sounds familiar.
Although he had never shown anyone his abilities, Seth assumed it was pretty self-explanatory. After a moment, the ability window popped into existence in front of Lyrica¡¯s face. She began studying it, unfazed.
¡°Oh, sweetie you are missing all the basics. You have the menu variant of nurture so you should have¡ index right? You mind if I take a look?¡±
He quickly pulled it up alongside the other menu.
¡°Dimension 4297? Never seen any from there.¡± She mumbled.
Finally, she focused back on Seth.
¡°Alright, I got the gist now sweetie. Follow me please.¡±
Lyrica began walking down one of the isles, and Seth eagerly followed. He trailed her in silence as she picked item after item up, tossing them into the air where they hovered after her. Most were small metal orbs with inscriptions carved into them. After a couple minutes of weaving through aisles, they finally arrived back at the front of the store where Lyrica set all the items on a counter.
¡°Alrighty. I have gotten you an array of records for your index, including general history, monster profiles, clan lists, and a collection of maps for our city and some popular training grounds. I have also gotten you a couple basic add on abilities to your menu, as well as a couple useful ones for everyday use. Lastly, I made you a list of future items that you might want to look into, because I am unsure of your financial standing.¡±
She looked quite satisfied with herself and Seth was impressed.
¡°Um, actually I¡¯m not sure how much I have to be honest, is there anyway you can check real quick for me?¡±
Lyrica¡¯s eyebrows furrowed for a moment.
¡°Well, you should be able to check yourself. Just channel a small amount of energy into the band, same as anything else.¡± Seth chuckled nervously.
¡°Oh, yeah how could I forget.¡± He quickly did what she said and a window appeared above the band.
Common Currency Remaining: 1,000,000
¡°Well look at you sweetie!¡±
Lyrica¡¯s eyes took on a sheen of greed before disappearing right after.
¡°You were holding out on me huh? Well, if this is what you are working with, I would recommend getting the items on the list now.¡±
Her hand formed a series of complicated patterns before few random objects materialized in her hand.
¡°Well, here you are then sweetie. If you would just hand me your band, I will charge that up for you. And would you like to leave a tip?¡± She finished professionally.
Why didn¡¯t she just do that earlier to get the stuff?
Seth began to send the pile of stuff into his cache.
¡°Yeah, just put twenty percent on it.¡±
Lyrica¡¯s tongue clicked in gleeful satisfaction.
¡°Sweetie, I don¡¯t know where you are from, but you have excellent taste. Most outskirters I have serviced have no grasp on city manners and business. As a treat for being such a wonderful customer, I will throw in one of our most popular ability items: Perceive.¡±
A grateful smile crossed Seth¡¯s face.
Damn this lady is good at her job.
¡°I really appreciate all the help. One last question though. Where can I go in here to get clothes and equipment?¡±
Lyrica handed him back the band.
¡°I am not sure what career area you are working towards, but there are plenty of different stores around here for what you are looking for. One of the items I picked out for you is a language record for most of the tongues spoken here. After using it, you should have no problem reading the signs to find what you are looking for. It is cheaper than a language shard, but it takes a little while for you to consolidate all the information. I picked the record because almost everyone here already speaks most languages, so you don¡¯t really need to know it all right now.¡±
Seth plucked the language record out of his cache. It was one of the carved orbs he saw Lyrica pick up earlier. He briefly imbued his energy into the orb until it crumbled into nothingness. A rush of knowledge hit Seth like a truck. As he groaned from the headache, Lyrica stifled a giggle.
¡°I forgot to mention, you probably don¡¯t want to absorb all those here. It takes a large toll on your body and will leave you vulnerable. Anyway sweetie, you have a good day and please come again.¡±
Seth nodded a ¡°thank you¡± and stumbled away. Lyrica watched with humor as Seth drunkenly walked away.
I forgot to ask the little guy¡¯s name. She thought with a slight pout.
17- Connections
After ten minutes of sitting on the nearest bench, Seth¡¯s brain finally stopped throbbing. ¡°Christ, how many of those do I have to take?¡± Slightly defeated, he stood up and debated where to go next. There were other stores in the great emerald building, but Seth decided that he wanted to stroll around the city.
Throughout his journey through the vast city, Seth saw every kind of shop or business. While walking around, he discovered that the streets were all sorted into groups of similar studies. Seth spent almost an hour looking through all of the wares at a farmer¡¯s market. He didn¡¯t buy anything but there were so many different types of things that he couldn¡¯t help but browse. Later, he had to dodge a whole three block stretch of buildings that were on fire.
He was worried for a moment before he realized there were countless people calmly walking around inside.
It seemed like there was a place for literally everyone in the city. As he gnawed on a piece of delicious green meat he got at a food stall, he wondered how it was possible for a place to be so large. He found it incredibly hard to believe that this wasn¡¯t even a major city on the galactic plane.
¡°What the hell even is a galactic plane?¡± he mumbled in between bites.
Eventually Seth made his way to the more barren roads, signaling the end of the city. Satisfied that he was far enough, Seth finally began to really look for places to shop. As he turned a corner, Seth almost immediately found a shop to check out.
The sign was made of turquoise, smooth metal, and read ¡°Rankman¡¯s Crafts.¡± Seth eagerly entered through the polished door. The smell of woodfire instantly met his nostrils, beckoning him forward. The shop was longer than he expected, lined with rows and rows of shiny, fancy looking armor.
They¡¯re all beautiful.
Seth walked around in a trance, exploring all the collections of extraordinary armor. They were all incredibly more impressive looking than Seth¡¯s Stalker Set.
¡°Can I help you with something?¡±
A gruff voice sounded from behind him. Seth turned to find a large, ripped woman standing over him. By ripped, Seth meant ripped. She was at least six foot seven and had biceps larger than his thigh. Her skin was a light green which paired well with her brown leather apron and corresponding smithy uniform. What Seth expected to be a bearded and rough face turned out to be a strong jawed, refined woman¡¯s face.
Yet again, he was profoundly surprised with how pretty the ogre woman was. Even the tusk¡¯s coming out of her mouth and large scar across her face did nothing to distract from the natural beauty. He continued to stand there like an idiot as her angry brown eyes pierced through him.
¡°My name is Vair, I am one of the owners of the establishment. What exactly are you doing here?¡±
Seth snapped out of his stupor, (which seemed to be happening a lot lately).
Not the best salesman huh?
¡°Sorry about that, I was just looking through your impressive products. I wanted to find some new armor because my last set is a tier behind.¡±
Vair¡¯s hostile gaze did not change.
¡°So why did you come here then?¡±
Seth was at a loss for words.
Since when do salesmen play hard to get?
¡°Uh, well I thought the place looked good so I wanted to check it out.¡±
Vair was visibly unenthused even after his compliment. Her tattoo covered arms came to rest on her hips.
¡°Seems your kind ain¡¯t too smart either. We serve the great and powerful members of the Royalia clans. We do not serve the weak and insignificant, especially those of such cowardly lineage.¡±
Her fists began to glow a deep red.
¡°I don¡¯t know exactly what race you are, but your presence reeks of the dark kind. I think it would be best you leave.¡±
Vair grabbed him by the collar and carried him to the door with an impressive strength. Seth would have fought back, but an invisible force similar to the lizard woman¡¯s had him frozen. In three quick strides Vair arrived at the entrance of the shop with Seth in her hands.
In one fluid motion Seth was shoved out onto the pavement, still flustered by why she was angry with him. She stood tall at the door with a finger outstretched down the street.
¡°Go back to the eastside where the rest of you deviants reside.¡±
With that one sentence Vair turned and slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Seth free of the invisible force and thoroughly confused.
What the FUCK!
Thick, hot anger began to rampage through him.
¡°CITY OF EQUALITY MY ASS!¡±
He almost walked right back inside to fight the woman but shortly stopped himself. Seth bit his lip and instead took his anger out on the hanging sign. Anar flashed out and sliced through the thick iron chains. As the heavy sign clattered to the ground, Seth stalked away in the direction Vair pointed a moment ago.
--------
It was a long walk to the eastside. During his travels, Seth¡¯s anger diminished to a low simmer. As he stalked down the mostly barren streets, Seth pushed Wicked Being to full blast. The very few that walked by him seemed quite unimpressed with the ability. There was not one second glance from the various beings that passed him.
Am I weaker than literally everyone here?! He thought furiously.
Yet again his temper spiked and he had to flex his willpower in order to keep it under control. The sky was becoming dark as he finally reached his destination. Now the roads were totally free of people and the only thing to signify his arrival was a large, ash gray arch with the words ¡°Rip Sector¡± engraved into it. As he entered the area, he noticed the buildings were no longer of the same variety as the others he had seen.
Instead of the relative uniqueness of each area he had been so far, all the buildings in this sector were identical. They all consisted of what looked like sleek gray blocks with some random holes for dark colored windows. Although there was difference in the sizes, each one was indistinguishable than the one next to it.
¡°Oh, for fuck¡¯s sake.¡± Seth groaned.
He ran a hand down his face and then began to check out the plaque on each door.
¡°Blah blah blah tailor, blah blah blah alchemy, blah blah blah theater, blah bla- pleasure center?¡±
Seth¡¯s eighteen-year-old mind forced him to hesitate. Quickly, he shook his head and continued. After a couple minutes, he started to notice more and more people beginning to appear. Although he felt like he was in the more dangerous part of the city, the people that he pasted periodically did not seem particularly shady.
There was a young beast couple holding paws, an older looking hairless woman, and even a group of little kids running around the street. As he marveled at the simplicity of it all, Seth finally emerged into a large square full of shops and a park teeming with life. He began walking along the nearby granite sidewalk when he noticed a commotion from across the square. Most in the square seemed unaffected by the squabble. Regardless, Seth slowly crept into earshot.
¡°-will regret this for the rest of your short life. In the name of the great father, I renounce your meager establishment!¡±
A hulking purple figure bellowed. The goliath had four arms all covered in expensive looking jewelry. It was also shirtless, pants less, and had its black locks tied into a bun on the back of its head.
Altogether, the big (guy?) looked like a gladiator baby that raided a thrift store.
The babiator was currently in an argument with a rather dapper looking gentleman in a multihued tux.
¡°Mister Kragg I would advise you to halt this whining as to not further disgrace the clan of Odin.¡± The gentleman affirmed in a bored tone.
Kragg¡¯s face flushed to a deeper shade of purple and Seth was struck with a bad feeling. Seth activated True Sight just in time to watch a huge amount of purple sparks spiral around one of Kragg¡¯s hands.
¡°HEY, WATCH OUT!¡± Seth yelled.
As Kragg winded back his arm, Seth summoned Anar and hurled it with all his might.
In an instant, Kragg was holding Seth¡¯s glaive in one of his mighty hands while glowering in his direction. Seth stood there terrified and dumbstruck because he wasn¡¯t even able to see how Kragg had caught it. The goliath snapped his glaive like a toothpick, causing it to dissolve into a pool of black oil.
¡°How dare you worm, I will use your intestines as FLOSS!¡±
The already chaotic energy surrounding Kragg¡¯s fist was now facing towards Seth. He instinctively knew that if it hit him it would be his demise. Although he doubted it would do anything, Seth outstretched his roiling hand and began to channel his stored anima.
¡°URRGHH.¡±
Before he could summon anything, Kragg was already bent over with a silver spike emerging from his abdomen.
¡°I would advise you head back to your clan district and not mention what happened here. If you leave now, I will forget this happened.¡±
The silver spike in Kragg¡¯s abdomen melted into nothingness and a fresh gout of purple blood spouted from the injury. ¡°Damn you¡¡± he sputtered. Slowly, Kragg got up and stumbled off. Seth stared after the lumbering figure until he disappeared behind a corner.
¡°How is he still alive?!¡± Seth exclaimed to the empty air.
¡°It will take a lot more than that to kill him.¡±
He turned to find the older gentleman from earlier standing next to him. Upon closer inspection, the man looked a lot more dangerous than gentleman-like. His polite stature and nice suit was slightly overwhelmed by the cold intelligence in the man¡¯s golden cat eyes.
¡°Greetings, I noticed what you attempted to do earlier. I am unsure what you were trying to achieve with such a pitiful attack, but I appreciate the effort nonetheless.¡±
The man extended a gloved hand toward Seth.
¡°I am Grayson. I own the establishment before you.¡± He gestured to an expensive looking marble building with a similar looking sign that read: The Oasis.
¡°Here you will find the best wares from the various craftsmen we sponsor. We allow all the even chance to offer their services here without any bias.¡±
Even though Seth was sure the man could probably kill him with a flick of his wrist, Seth couldn¡¯t help but laugh and shake the man¡¯s hand. Grayson looked confused with his outburst.
¡°What exactly is so humorous?¡±
Seth forced himself to stop laughing.
¡°Sorry about that, I have just been hearing a lot about the ¡®City of Equality,¡¯ yet I haven¡¯t seen any real evidence of it being so.¡±
A look of understanding crossed Grayson¡¯s face.
¡°Ah, a new arrival I assume? Yes, I absolutely understand what you are referring to. It seems you are coming to find the truth behind our wonderful city. Please do not allow this to affect your opinion over The Oasis. As the name states, my business allows its customers a reprieve of the constant politics of the outside.¡±
Seth was pleasantly surprised.
¡°Sounds nice, but I suppose I will have to be the judge of that.¡±
Grayson smirked and turned to walk back inside. Seth followed the owner¡¯s lead and entered the unique building. As soon as they walked inside, Seth was amazed at how large the place was. From outside it looked like a regular sized bank, but inside, it was like a grand hall full of activity. In one section, he observed a stall full of all kinds of bottles and potions that glimmered with energy.
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Quickly, Seth realized he was still using his ability and promptly turned it off. As they made their way down the giant hall, Grayson was stopped multiple times by various shopkeepers who needed his help with small problems. The man professionally handled all of them and created a solution almost instantaneously.
¡°As I mentioned before, here you will find all sorts of quality products ranging from weapons and armor to fashion and cooking. We even have a representative outpost from the Chrome!¡± Grayson finished with a proud smirk.
The claim landed upon deaf ears however, because Seth had no idea what ¡°the Chrome¡± was.
¡°Why is that so special?¡± he questioned with honest ignorance.
Grayson stopped abruptly and turned to look at Seth with an odd look.
¡°My, you must be from a very desolate area to not have heard of the Chrome. You also seem to be a little too weak to have singlehandedly gotten to our city if I can be so blunt. If I may, how exactly did you arrive here?¡± Seth squirmed around nervously under the intense gaze of the man.
¡°Um, would it be possible to talk about this in a more private area if you don¡¯t mind?¡±
That seemed to snap Grayson back to his professional manner from before.
¡°Ah yes, please forgive my manners, you just don¡¯t see many people like yourself around here. Please, follow me.¡±
They made their way to a nearby staircase along the wall where Grayson led him to what looked like the man¡¯s office. It was quite simple despite what the building itself looked like. Not very much d¨¦cor or expensive looking knickknacks like Seth expected. They both sat across from each other as Grayson messed with a smaller console that was fixed to the table. Out of nowhere, a man with several azure horns appeared as well as a smaller woman with elfish ears and copper skin.
They both began to pluck various foods and drinks out of thin air until the table between Seth and Grayson was assorted with a beautiful array of various finger foods and what Seth assumed was some kind of coffee or tea. With a quick bow and a nod of the head from Grayson, the two disappeared as fast as they had arrived. Seth was visibly impressed. ¡°Please enjoy our hospitality and relax,¡± Grayson offered as he reached down to grab a cracker.
¡°I¡¯m not sure I deserve all of this.¡± Seth admitted.
A chuckle escaped the older man¡¯s body.
¡°If it bothers you, just think of it as payment to hear your story.¡±
Seth shrugged and leaned forward to grab what looked like a blue cookie.
¡°Fair enough,¡± he mumbled.
He quickly finished off the cookie and grabbed another before starting. Throughout his story, Grayson betrayed nothing with his expressions. This made Seth kind of nervous especially because he had to skip a lot of parts as to not mention anything about his Umbra, abilities, or race. Finally, he finished his story up to right when he arrived at Ethin. Seth sat in earnest under the scrutinizing gaze of Grayson¡¯s cat eyes, waiting for his response.
¡°Well, I must say, I did not expect that.¡±
The man leaned forward and scratched his chin in thought. ¡°Believe it or not, you aren¡¯t the first lab rat I have met. Although, your experience seems to be quite different than his.¡± Seth¡¯s interest was peaked at the mention of this guy.
¡°Lab rat? You mean this isn¡¯t an uncommon occurrence?¡± he questioned.
Grayson sighed and rubbed his eyes.
¡°Unfortunately not. Although it is rare to meet a subject such as yourself because of the low survival rate, Origin is quite proud of their studies, as well as flaunting their experiments.¡±
¡°WHAT?!¡± Seth yelled as he shot to his feet.
¡°Are you saying that they kill of hundreds of people, brag about it, and no one does a damn thing?¡± he inquired incredulously.
The grim look on Grayson¡¯s face said all he needed to know.
¡°I apologize, but Origin does not share your definition of the word ¡®people.¡¯ They are not the only ones though. Most view those without foundations as lower lifeforms. Some even go as far as wiping out whole planets full of them simply because they are weak. You will find that most refer to these beings as-"
¡°Thigsins,¡± Seth finished with pure disgust.
¡°That¡¯s what they called us before we passed the test. Even killed one of us outright when we tried to question them.¡±
The gentleman looked like he had aged over a decade during the conversation.
¡°Rocque¡¯s sake. I cannot imagine how you were able to handle all of that in the span of six months. I¡¯m sure it is probably near impossible for you to trust anyone or anything right now, but please, if you need absolutely anything, The Oasis is here. For now, allow me to answer all the questions I am sure you have flying through your head right now.¡±
Seth turned his tired eyes onto the man¡¯s weathered face.
I want him to be telling the truth more than anything.
He had spent years watching and learning all about humans. The human race was a virus. Like a cancer, the more they grow, the more they destroy their own environment. They kill each other, isolate each other for things as simple as skin color, and exist only to serve their own interests. From what he has seen of this place, there was virtually no difference.
Although, there was something Seth had seen on Earth that stopped him from walking out of the office right now. Although ninety-nine percent of the people he observed were just copies of each other with no redeeming qualities, there was one percent of people that were true and trustworthy souls.
You are going to have to put trust into someone. At least until you are powerful enough to stand alone.
With that, Seth made his decision with a sigh.
¡°Alright Grayson. I appreciate your offer for help, and I will try my best to trust in you.¡±
The man¡¯s face became grateful as he looked at Seth with an almost fatherly expression.
¡°Well alright then my new friend. To honor your trust, allow me to be fully transparent. I wish to be someone you can trust as well as an asset to your future life here. Along with that, I have decided you will be a worthy investment. To start our new and hopefully prosperous relationship, would you mind honoring me with the knowledge of your name?¡± Grayson ended with a mocking smirk.
Seth let out a relieved and hearty laugh.
¡°Geez, how impolite can I be. My name is Seth Shrike.¡±
He reached out his hand just as Grayson had done earlier. They shared a firm handshake as Seth pondered what he wanted to ask first. The owner stopped him before he could think of anything.
¡°If I may, would you mind telling me your race before we begin? I can sense you are a fellow Rip Sector type of race, and a tier two. Trust me, do not feel embarrassed for whatever it might be, no other race can be more disliked than mine.¡±
Seth was unsure what he meant by ¡°sensing¡± his race and tier, but he knew the man deserved something to show his trust.
¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about all the race politics, but I don¡¯t know what could be worse than Fiend.¡± He claimed lamely.
For the first time in their conversation, Grayson¡¯s eyebrows rose just a bit. Based on his more stoic expressions from before, Seth could tell that the man was actually surprised.
¡°A Fiend? Well, that is quite the shock. Little is known about such a race due to the fact they are not naturally born. Even the parameters of becoming one is still an unknown after millennia of the growing civilization. If I am being honest, I do believe it is because of the lack of interest in your race that they have never discovered your origin. As far as researchers can tell, the only difference between Fiends and related Rip Sector races is that Fiends usually have an affinity for some more dangerous types of abilities.¡±
This somewhat relieved Seth. He had been worried that he might even be ostracized by races similar to his own.
¡°What do you mean an affinity for dangerous abilities? Can¡¯t anyone consume an ability granting item, even if it has nothing to do with their previous aligned abilities?¡±
Grayson nodded.
¡°Technically, yes that is true. Anyone can consume any ability item. The thing is, depending on your race and true nature, your abilities will conform to suit you the best. Most will not see how exactly this works, but as you tier, you will notice how your abilities change and grow to suit your nature and ambition.¡±
Seth was about to ask another question before Grayson continued.
¡°When I refer to your true nature, I mean a being¡¯s soul. No matter how you might want to look, grow, or act, your soul will reflect in each of them. The only thing is, if you consume a combat ability, it will still be for combat no matter how much your soul changes it. As I mentioned before, your abilities will grow to fit with your true nature, the same is for your appearances. I see you have a couple abilities that can be seen on your person, such as your left eye. Even these physical abilities will change to match your soul after you become powerful enough.¡±
After Grayson finished, Seth sat in silence for a while.
So the more power I accrue, the more I will understand myself? That sounds¡ interesting.
Then a new thought occurred to Seth.
¡°Speaking of power, you mind if I ask what your tier is? You mentioned earlier you can sense it, I thought I was concealing it correctly so I am wondering how exactly you guessed correctly.¡±
Grayson let out a low chuckle.
¡°You have a lot to learn Seth. Currently, I am about mid-way through tier six. Not even the most powerful concealment tier two abilities have a chance of fooling a tier five, much less a six.¡±
A new, chilling feeling passed through Seth as he looked upon the older man.
Holy shit. That tier three monster was insanely strong, and he is a six?!
¡°A¡ tier six,¡± he practically squeaked.
Grayson was very poorly trying to hide a smile behind a gloved hand.
¡°The strongest thing I have fought was a tier three, and it was almost impossible until I reached tier two. I can¡¯t even fathom how strong YOU are.¡±
Seth¡¯s hand was literally shaking, so he quickly bit down on his lip to make it stop.
The owner took his hand away from his mouth to hold it out in a gesture of surrender.
¡°Do not fear my friend, although a tier six, I am far from the most powerful, and I have few real combat abilities because I prefer business. If you would like, I can show you how it feels to behold one of my level.¡±
Seth almost said no.
It was already scary thinking about the difference in tiers, but to actually face one of such a high tier was something he didn¡¯t want to experience. The thing was, he had to say yes. The more he is exposed to such power, the better he would be able to handle it in the future.
Just like taking a bit of poison everyday to build up a resistance.
So with a clenched fist, Seth nodded and watched as the elder man before him turned into a monstrosity of pure energy and power. The invisible force that he had experienced multiple times that day came back stronger than ever. His breath was basically crushed from the pressure, and he almost fell to the ground. Seth was horribly shaken as he gazed into the storm of visible multihued energy that radiated from the previously normal man.
As he searched through the vortex, he froze as his eyes rested upon two radiant golden orbs peering back at him from amid the chaos. Just when Seth thought he was about to pass out, the power receded, and Grayson¡¯s normal comforting persona replaced it.
¡°Perhaps I should have told you to brace yourself,¡± Grayson noted with a hint of concern.
Seth erupted into a fit of coughing as he attempted to regain his breath. Grayson reached over to help him up when Seth abruptly shot out a hand to grab Grayson¡¯s shoulder.
¡°What¡ was that?¡± the hunched figure gasped.
Grayson was truly surprised at how he was able to speak so soon after getting his anima squashed.
¡°That, my friend, is called Anima Influence. It is one of the cornerstones of power here. For beings of such power, a physical fight outside of safe areas can be quite destructive. This is why when it comes to violence in the streets, they are mostly fought on the mental battlefield. Instead of broken roads and fallen buildings, the only downside in a fight around here is discomfort amongst its bystanders, especially when it comes to particularly powerful individuals that have a bout. Although, as you saw earlier, some still wish to fight physically, and in those cases they must be soundly beaten immediately. As for your anima, for most, it looks to be a living mass of energy,"
"It can be shaped in many ways to oppress a foe, or comfort a lover. You must understand that although it can be used for violence, our anima is a part of us, just like a hand or foot. I would recommend acquiring an ability called Perceive. It basically shapes this energy into a more refined version of one¡¯s personal energy. I hear that when mine is looked upon with Perceive, it is comparable to a kind of feline creature.¡± He finished with a smirk.
Seth was on his feet now. A couple things the man said were quite interesting to him.
So my anima ability actually steals a creature¡¯s personal energy? Cool.
¡°So what does mine look like?¡± he questioned as he released the anima from inside his body.
Grayson¡¯s eyebrows took on a look of pity.
¡°Sorry to say, but I cannot derive anything from your energy because it is too feeble to observe at this stage.¡±
Seth¡¯s cheeks flushed for a moment as he tried not to cringe at his apparent weakness. Regardless of all that, now that he had gotten most of the most itching questions answered, Seth wanted to turn over to more basic knowledge. Grayson could sense his change in mood and went for a sip of tea.
He could tell this was going to take a while.
--------
After three hours of tireless questioning, Seth finally leaned back on the soft chair, exhausted.
¡°Well, you had quite the list of inquires Seth.¡± Grayson relinquished from across the table, totally unfazed even after the onslaught.
The two had talked about an incredible number of things during their time and Seth had learned a lot. For starters, he found out why there were so many similarities in dialect, shape, and mannerisms across every species.
Apparently, they all basically fall under the same answer; there are two beings that stand above even Umbras: Lic and Null. There is little known about the two. The only source of information on them is Umbras, and even then, only some of the oldest ones know anything about the greater beings. According to Grayson, the reason we all are ¡°humanoid¡± is because there is no real ¡°humanoid¡± shape. The more dimensional energy we absorb, the closer we become to resembling the greater beings because they originally created life. So the reason we are ¡°humanoid,¡± is because they are.
Secondly, Seth discovered that the reason he already looked and acted like them was because whomever created Earth, created the life there to already resemble them.
¡°Wait so that means God is real?¡± he had sputtered, previously an atheist.
After his outburst, Grayson let out a hearty laugh, ¡°Actually my friend, it means that whoever this ¡°God¡± is, was probably just another unoriginal Umbra seeking a place where only they mattered.¡±
Seth imagined this information would probably cause quite the uproar if he ever went back to Earth, but nevertheless, it didn¡¯t matter too much to him.
Next, Grayson explained what exactly the Chrome was. According to him, it was the kind of system that everything ran through. After registration, you receive an ID mark that is used to identify you anywhere. By registering into the Chrome, you have access to join any clan, register under any career, enter tournaments, anything really. Based on your rank in the Chrome, you have varying levels of access to jobs, command, and other perks.
So it is basically just a guild on steroids. He thought.
¡°Alright, so can I register into the Chrome from here since you have an outpost?¡±
Grayson quickly assured him that he could, but it would take a little while to go through the process.
Seth then decided that he would push it off until tomorrow so he could have a chance to use all of the items he bought with Lyrica.
Finally, Grayson dove deeper into some important aspects about the Foundation. According to historical texts, the Foundation was actually not created by the two greater beings. It turns out, the Foundation has been around even longer than them. This fact was recently discovered by Origin, the same organization that stole Seth. Even though he had only been in this new reality for a day, he could tell that was an incredibly important finding. Regardless of all of that, the older man continued to detail some things that all new ¡°shapers¡± needed to know.
First of all, Grayson explained that learning to shape was not the same for everyone. Apparently, due to the fact that there were an infinite number of dimensions, there was also an infinite amount of different abilities, skills, and styles. No two abilities were exactly the same, but they could be incredibly similar. Because of this, the Chrome was constantly recording new abilities, so much so that they have information on literal trillions of them.
Configuring is what they call the stage Seth is going through. Grayson claimed that from tier one to three is the weakest a person can be, basically a stage in which their body acclimates to the influx of dimensional energy. At the end of tier three, beings go through a stage of rapid growth and transformation. Races can change, abilities can evolve, and when they finish tier four, the person becomes something¡ more.
Seth tried to pry further but the grisly owner assured him that when he reached tier four, he would understand. Either he got tired of the assault, or he was not telling Seth something on purpose, so Seth decided it was probably time to go. Eventually, the two made their way back to the entrance.
¡°I appreciate all of the help and your time. I¡¯ll be back tomorrow morning for registration if that¡¯s alright with you.¡±
Grayson gave a slight bow as Seth started to head out.
¡°I look forward to our next meeting my new friend.¡±
He watched the odd young man stroll away with a hint of mischief in his golden eyes.
I do hope he won¡¯t be a disappointment.
18- Registration
Seth laid in his bed, unable to sleep even after the harrowing last hour. After he had arrived back at the apartment, Seth had chilled out and had dinner with Sydney and Will while they went on about their spectacular days.
Apparently, the two had already registered with the Chrome, even having their ID marks to prove it.
The mark was quite uninteresting to be honest, just a simple circle crossed through the middle with a square. It kind of looked like the beginnings of a ritual circle right on their forearms. After confessing he hadn¡¯t registered yet, the two continued to berate him for his stupidity for the next couple minutes until they all agree to head to sleep. A new day of exploring was already plenty of an energy drainer, plus all three of them had gotten a number of items from the city that they needed to consume before they went to sleep.
One of such items was actually Perceive, turns out, every shop handed them out for free after one purchase.
I take back my compliment.
Seth grumbled in his head as he imagined Lyrica¡¯s supermodel-like figure laughing at him while she counted the tip he gave her.
The aftermath of the mass consumption was shown now in Seth¡¯s heavily breathing and sweaty figure. In all honesty, he had no idea the number or substance of all the items he had just consumed in the last hour. All he knew was that the information orbs gave him splitting headaches, and there were a lot of them. He saved the general ability items she had given him until the end of the orbs, thinking that they would be better.
They were not.
Each ability item including Perceive had caused Seth to feel like someone was literally carving things into his bones. Luckily there were only four of them so he only had to face excruciating torture for a short time.
¡°Lucky me,¡± he muttered after finally finishing them all up.
Next was to see what all he had exactly changed with the slew of items. Opening up the menu, he first went to Notifications and read through all the newest banners.
-Congratulations! You have consumed a Record Cache (Information Cluster 236).
-Congratulations! You have consumed a Record Cache (Information Cluster 425).
¡
-Congratulations! You have consumed a Record Cache (Information Cluster 1048).
-Congratulations! You have received the ¡°Location¡± extension of your ability: Nurture. Nurture ability: Menu. Corresponding ability¡ Map! New tab (Map) has been integrated.
-Congratulations! You have received the ¡°Detail¡± extension of your ability: Menu. All tabs have been updated¡
- Congratulations! You have received the ¡°Grade¡± extension of your ability: Menu. All tabs have been updated¡
- Congratulations! You have received the ¡°Progress¡± extension of your ability: Menu. All tabs have been updated¡
-Congratulations! You have received the ability: Perceive!
Perceive:
-Open your eyes to the universe.
Seth was pleasantly surprised at the new updates to his menu. Map was now one of the bottom tabs, and when selected, pulled up a grid with some preloaded locations due to his consumption of some map records. Satisfied, Seth went over and began going through every tab to see what had changed with the integration of the last three extensions he consumed.
He was excited to discover that now his Index tab was not only full of countless new entries, but each was filtered and had extensive information on most of the entries. He then skipped past the Quests tab because he knew there was nothing new and turned over to his Status.
Level: Tier Two (Progress: Early)
Intellect: Class D
Constitution: Class C
Might: Class C
Intuition: Class D
Resolve: Class B
Race: Fiend (Class D)
Titles: Little David
Along with the new progress display next to his level, his body diagram now had status details next to each extremity, hopefully showing how dire his injuries are after a battle so he can fix them accordingly. There was still an ¡°Undecided¡± description under his hair and eye, as well as a blank next to his hand. A new entry was also after his race, which was odd because he was under the impression that classes only had to do with abilities and items.
Shrugging off his annoyance at the still messed up diagram and the unknown of his Class D race, he moved on to the Abilities tab.
Racial Abilities:
-Specter State (Pre-Set)
-Wicked Being (Pre-Set)
-Nightmare Adrenaline (Pre-Set)
Aligned Abilities:
-Presence of Doom
-Eye of Opposition
-Insanity Eternal
-Undecided
Branch Abilities:
(Presence of Doom)- Anar; Anima Thief;
(Eye of Opposition)- True Sight;
(Insanity Eternal)- Fear Itself;
Acquired Abilities:
-Nurture (Menu)
-Plunder
Upgradable Abilities:
-Identify (Class C)
-Cache (Class D)
¡°Not a bad set of skills I¡¯ve got going.¡± He mumbled after closing the menu.
The separation of abilities was a nice add-on to his menu as well. During his talk with Grayson, Seth had found out what the significance of these groupings were. According to him, aligned abilities were the main fields a person built their ability set off of. There was no real limit on how many abilities you could gain from these four aligned ones, but apparently the more you gain, the harder it is to get more. You could buy branch abilities, but after a certain point, (Grayson said after around three or four for each aligned one), the Foundation would stop you from attaining anymore.
The seasoned man told Seth that it was important to get all four aligned abilities filled up before he reached the end of tier four, or else his skillset will be lopsided because his rapid growth would only apply to the ones he already had. The thing was, he stressed to Seth that it was incredibly important to not rush to fill up these slots, because they were yours for as long as you live, no takebacks.
¡°As if you had to tell me that you old codger.¡±
All in all, Seth was really satisfied with how the day had gone.
Although there was a substantial problem he still needed to solve.
How am I going to get stronger?
He knew that there were training grounds and tournaments around, but in the end, they weren¡¯t going to do him much good. Training grounds were just the standard way to get better, there was no urgency, no hunger in the pursuit of strength. Not to mention tournaments at his tier probably only consisted of small children, if any tournaments of that low a level were open at all. Not to mention, Seth doubted he could even beat them.
He had no technique, an uncompleted set of abilities, and no experience fighting other intelligent beings. Everything he had fought so far was just a bunch of wild monsters that he had to get beaten by multiple times before he was able to learn how to fight them. He even had the scars to prove it, although almost all of them had faded to nothing by now due to his tier up.
It seemed that by becoming more like Lic and Null, he wasn¡¯t allowed to have such impurities.
It was a shame though, in Seth¡¯s eyes. He always thought scars were kind of cool, like Green Arrow.
Seth lazily rolled out of his bed and headed to the bathroom. As he looked in the mirror, he raised part of his shirt to reveal a long white gash he received from the first Xtrey Hound that stretched from his lower spine to just below his right shoulder. For some reason, it was the only scar to have remained after his tier up, well that and the growing vertical cut running down his bottom lip.
--------
Grayson sat back on the couch and closed his eyes. It had been about four hours since his new young friend had left, and he couldn¡¯t stop his strategic old mind from wondering about the boy. His thoughts only lasted for a couple seconds before he felt the presence of his assistant. A low sigh escaped his lips as he cracked open an eye.
¡°What is it Byrus?¡±
The newly arrived younger man unconsciously scratched his blue horn, a hallmark of the despised race he and his boss shared. ¡°It¡¯s about the boy sir, why have you met him with such willing hospitality? You have met many subjects from Origin and never before have you seemed to take any interest in them.¡±
The seasoned owner leaned forward and turned his full gaze to his subordinate. It was true he never really cared about the other subjects he had met so far. In his couple centuries of life, he had come across rounds upon rounds of the lab rats, none ever peaking his interest. For some reason though, this boy seemed to draw him in. The only reason he had treated Seth in the first place was because of the weapon he watched the child summon.
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It was unlike anything he had seen before. It certainly looked interesting, but what really intrigued him was the aura that the thing radiated. It had the power of a tier three object, yet there was something even farther behind it that he couldn¡¯t put a finger on. It was like a shadow that was following right behind the boy, just out of eyesight. After that, when he thoroughly smashed the weak anima of the child, it should have literally rendered him unconscious.
A tier two unformed anima was no match for the full might of a tier six like himself, but even with that insurmountable difference, Seth seemed like it wasn¡¯t his first time. It felt like he was actually somewhat excited after being abused like that.
¡°It is the same as I told the boy, he is an investment. Something about him has peaked my curiosity, and I intend to see just how far he can go with a bit of inference from myself.¡± Grayson smirked.
As his boss closed his eyes once again, Byrus took his leave and went back to work. For someone to peak the boss¡¯s curiosity was quite the feat. For the fifty years Byrus had worked for Grayson, he had never once seen his boss meddle with any lower tiered beings. He actually kind of felt bad for the boy, he had no idea what he was in for.
--------
Seth walked down the bustling street with an excited gleam in his eye. Not being able to sleep much, he had gotten up bright and early and headed to The Oasis. Both of his friends were still asleep after he decided to set out, so it looked like today was going to be another solo endeavor, but Seth didn¡¯t mind.
On his way, he stopped by one of the cuisine blocks he passed through yesterday and got himself something that looked kind of like a donut, but tasted better than any desert he had eaten before. One thing about this new dimension that Seth had no quarrel with was the endless amounts of new foods, all more delicious than any Earth dishes.
The walk took him a couple hours, but he didn¡¯t mind that either. Between the godly pastry and the infinite number of sights to see, there was plenty to occupy his attention with until he started to reach the outskirts of the city.
As he strolled along, Seth continued to play around with his new ability. Various items appeared and disappeared before him as he experimented the limits of it''s potential. He was surprised to find out that the ability actually had quite strict limitations as far as he could tell. He was successfully able to create three clones of smoke before the blood mist no longer would leave his body.
As he tested further, he discovered that the number of items he created was not limited, but rather there was a certain amount of mist he could work with. So although he could only make three figures of himself, he could create almost thirty small daggers. The illusions he made also were dependent on how accurate Seth could imagine the creation.
For example, making anything that he had seen before was easy, but creating a new item was very difficult unless he clearly imagined it to the last minute detail. Luckily, if he was able to summon the item into being, then afterwards, summoning it concurrently was as easy as any other creation. After successfully creating an original small black needle, Seth breathed out a sigh of relief. It had actually taken him almost the whole trip just to make that little thing, so when as he finished, the RIP Sector arch was already within view.
Soon enough, he arrived at the bustling square where The Oasis was located. A light headache now plagued him because of his constant expenditure of dimensional energy, but Seth didn¡¯t mind as he practically skipped to the entrance of the building.
Upon entering the grand building, Seth was instantly met by one of the employees he saw yesterday. The man greeted Seth and told him that his name was Gin.
As they spoke, Seth was delighted to find that the owner was already over at the outpost for The Chrome, so he thanked Gin and headed in the direction the man pointed out for him. Seth past numerous shops in the grand hall until he finally spotted a multihued altar that had the banner of the familiar circle and square surrounded by a brilliant Damascus pattern of gold and silver.
Upon seeing the altar, Seth sped up in earnest, eager to register and plan his next move. He almost threw open the gilded door of the outpost as he walked into a large office. It was almost the opposite of Grayson¡¯s office, instead of plain, it was covered in all sorts of luxury looking items and art. The floor matched the banner outside in a beautiful mosaic of tiles, while the walls of the office were lined in all kinds of colored crystals, fixed in place by delicate looking chains. Both Grayson and what looked like a mound of green sludge turned toward him, looking startled. Seth paused at the entrance, realizing how disruptive he must have been.
¡°Sorry, I wasn¡¯t paying attention for a moment,¡± he fibbed with burning ears.
What sounded like a snort came from the mound while Grayson just quirked an eyebrow before motioning Seth forward.
¡°It¡¯s of no matter, come here and meet our representative from The Chrome: Mr. Alldean.¡±
Seth took the opportunity and quickly moved over to their spot at a striking marble desk.
¡°It is a pleasure to meet you sir,¡± he ventured with a small bow he remembered from one of Grayson¡¯s assistants.
Mr. Alldean roiled for a second before settling back into what looked like a bathtub encrusted with various slivers of wood. Seth threw Grayson a questioning glance before a small silver symbol appeared above the mound like a halo.
¡°Nice to meet you, Seth. Grayson tells me that my form might seem a little unorthodox for you, so I apologize for any scare I might have caused,¡± a slightly monotone voice echoed from the symbol.
Seth almost recoiled in surprise before quickly correcting himself.
¡°Please, there is no need for an apology. I am sorry for my impolite reaction, I was just a little flustered by the symbol there.¡±
The mound roiled once more as the symbol began shining again.
¡°Ah, I see. This, my new friend, is just a result of one of my communication abilities. My race doesn¡¯t leave much room for talking with other races, so I improvise. But enough of that, let us get into your registration,¡± the voice hummed.
Seth thought it might have sounded a bit excited, but it could have just been his imagination. Grayson gestured for him to stand opposite from Mr. Alldean in what looked like another small ritual circle, slightly different than the insignia of The Chrome. This one appeared to have a maze of different lines inside it, almost giving Seth a headache as he tried to follow them all. He simply couldn¡¯t take his eyes away from the now waving lines until he abruptly lit up in an azure glow right under his feet. Grayson let out a small chuckle as the mound of Mr. Alldean looked like he was heaving around in his tub.
It took Seth a moment to realize that the living pile was actually laughing too. The circle above Mr. Alldean lit up yet again during the creature¡¯s heaves.
¡°I know it might seem almost hypnotic for a newly leveled kid such as yourself, but please try to keep your eyes off the myth under you.¡±
Seth scrunched his eyebrows in confusion as a small flow of dimensional energy reached from the circle to spread over his body.
¡°Wha-what is a myth?¡± Seth inquired as the gentle flow of energy tickled his senses.
A soft grunt sounded off to his right as Grayson looked slightly regretful next to him.
¡°That was my mistake Seth, I failed to explain to you the basics under which we all shape.¡±
A moment later, a small grey tablet materialized in the older man¡¯s gloved hands as a screen flashed to life in the air. It showed a humanoid figure surrounded by a silver cloud, dimensional energy, he assumed.
¡°Those of us with Foundations find ourselves at a state of higher living to where we can not only sense the existence of dimensional energy, but also ¡®shape¡¯ it as we like to call it. In reality, we are doing nothing more than changing the state of this energy, hence the name, to suit our whims and fuel our abilities.¡±
The figure held out its hand as a new golden symbol traced into existence at the tips of its fingers. It looked like another standard ritual circle before an intricate pattern of branching lines filled the circle, similar to the one below Seth. Had he just glance at the golden symbol, Seth wouldn¡¯t have been able to see the difference between the two other than the color. But the longer he looked, the more obvious it was that the new symbol was completely different in the ways the lines formed with one another. Although the two had almost identical formations, the lines created an infinite canyon between them.
Soon enough, the silver cloud around the symbol began to change shape until they almost instantaneously formed a globe of golden liquid that shot out at a speed similar to a bullet. The symbol remained as more and more globes of liquid gold were shot out in succession.
¡°This is a myth. Think of it as a sort of blueprint that we need in order to shape any energy into something. They are used for almost every shaping mechanism or acquired ability. The only exception to this is one¡¯s own aligned abilities, and some branch abilities, as well as our race abilities due to the fact that they are apart of our very being.¡±
Seth almost forgot about the myth he was standing in as he mulled over the new information.
¡°Wait, so is it possible to make your own myths? How would you even go about doing that? What are the myths made out of if not dimensional energy?¡±
Mr. Alldean rumbled and Grayson tossed a smirk in his direction.
¡°Told you he was a sharp one.¡±
Grayson promptly turned off the tablet and stashed it in an unknown pocket before turning back to Seth.
¡°Although not impossible, it is incredibly difficult to create an original myth. In truth, they are the language of our two grand creators. Although the Foundation might have existed before the two, they were the ones to breath life into the art of shaping. They were so successful that the Foundation itself acknowledged their creation and turned it into a core aspect of its operation. So although not impossible, one would have to possess an inane amount of power as well as a transcendent harmony with the Foundation and the origins of the grand creators to make their own myth,¡± the owner finished.
Sounds like even Umbras don¡¯t have the power to make their own myths. Just how powerful were these ¡®grand creators¡¯?
Seth almost began to ask another question before the energy that flowed through him extracted itself and the myth under his feet lost its light. A new screen appeared before Mr. Alldean and the mound began sorting through it in a flash. A hum of disappointment echoed from the silver myth above the pile as he finished whatever he was doing.
¡°What is it?¡± Grayson observed while walking over to look at the screen.
The luster of the myth came back to life as the humming voice began to explain.
¡°Its nothing too important. Seth just seems to have a couple aligned abilities that haven¡¯t been documented yet, not that uncommon but it did prove to be an annoyance to do all the new data entering for them. His Umbra brand isn¡¯t very distinct either, probably due to a lack of power on the Umbra¡¯s behalf. Seth, would you mind telling me the name of the Umbra that you came into contact with?¡±
Seth opened his mouth to answer before the restrained whispers in his mind exploded into an all-out roar of overlapping screams.
Lie.
The cold voice cut through the storm of whispers, creating a brief silence that Seth had not heard in months. Sweat began rolling down the back of his neck as he struggled to mask the change in demeanor under the scrutiny of the two men in front of him. His effort was in vain though as Grayson seemed to catch on to his discomfort.
¡°What is it child? Do you not want to tell us?¡±
Seth let out a forced laugh as he speedily came to a decision.
¡°No it''s not that, I just feel a bit silly over the name I was given. My Umbra¡¯s name is¡ Bastard.¡±
The pair on the other side of the desk didn¡¯t seem to react the way Seth guessed they would. It was a truly terrible lie that Seth blurted out to spite the dark being that seemed to surface in his mind anytime it wanted to. Sadly he didn¡¯t think it over enough before claiming right in front of two high tiered beings who could probably kill him without breaking a sweat.
A high pitched laugh echoed in the back of his mind until Grayson finally answered as he cast a pitiful look to Seth.
¡°Well, I can¡¯t say I am surprised. I am sorry to say this Seth, but it is quite common for an Umbra to give a false name to a disciple it cares little for. Do not fret, although unfortunate, plenty of the newly tiered go on their own to burn a new path for themselves.¡±
Mr. Alldean seemed to agree as his myth spoke up.
¡°It is nothing to get worked up over, for now I will list you as a seeking individual. This way, if you find another Umbra that takes a liking to you, it will be possible to change over your contract. Hold out your forearm please.¡±
Seth followed his instruction and held up his left arm, a little confused as to what he was talking about. A foreign energy began coalescing on the hand, soon forming a familiar sigil of The Chrome.
¡°There you go my friend; you are now a full-fledged member of The Chrome. We have a few more bits of information we need to input though so hang tight,¡± Mr. Alldean hummed.
While screens flashed in front of the green mass, Seth spoke up to fill the silence.
¡°So what exactly did you mean by changing your contract?¡±
Grayson continued to itch his chin while watching the screen.
¡°If you strike the attention of another Umbra, it is possible for them to scrub your current brand, technically making you a free agent. Then, after the brand is gone, your new sponsor can then brand themselves on you, turning you into their disciple. To be more specific, it is not as simple as finding another Umbra, but also that Umbra needs to be interested in you enough to go through the tedious process of negotiating with your previous sponsor and getting them to release you.¡±
Now it was Seth¡¯s turn to itch his chin.
¡°So if your original Umbra doesn¡¯t want to give you up, can they just reject the new Umbra¡¯s proposition and keep you like a prisoner!?¡±
Grayson finally flicked his gaze over to Seth for a moment before shaking his head.
¡°It might sound unfair, but all in all it is not up to lower beings like us who we belong to. Keep in mind that if you are the member of an Umbra¡¯s clan, they took some amount of interest in you in the first place. It is not just some lottery where you end up in the hands of some random higher being. The universe can be cruel, but it is notoriously known for being fair when all the cards are down.¡±
Seth was about to say something else when Grayson walked over and spoke in a low voice beside him.
¡°Because of your particular situation, I am sorry to say this sentiment might not apply to you and your fellow subjects. This is why most of us find ire in the operations of Origin. The selection process is supposed to be sacred and memorable for as long as one lives. But sadly you all are exposed to a physical fragment left behind by a careless higher being. The effects of this can become something truly devastating. Most are overcome by the power of these fragments, but some are saved by the owner, turning them into a member of their clan. It is crude and a true taint upon what all Umbras are supposed to represent. Unfortunately, Origin is not only ignored by all of us shapers, but also by the rest of the higher beings.¡±
The new information really pissed Seth off, yet again reinforcing the idea in his mind that he needed to get stronger as fast as possible. His thoughts were soon interrupted as Mr. Alldean spoke up.
¡°Alright then, we have almost all the information needed, but I just need to know what career branch you are interested in being a member of. This isn¡¯t a permanent choice or anything, we just need something to list so your credentials can be validated.¡±
Seth was about to ask what choices he had when Grayson beat him to the punch.
¡°Combat-Neutral.¡±
The sludge pile instantly began inputting the information before closing the screen. Seth looked at Grayson, slightly confused, before receiving a small shrug in return.
¡°It would have just been a waste of time. It¡¯s not like it matters that much for now,¡± the old man claimed.
Seth wasn¡¯t sure what he meant by that, but he agreed that it didn¡¯t really matter that much because all he wanted to do was tier up.
¡°Alright then, now that that is all over, can I start using training grounds or take some jobs?¡± Seth inquired eagerly.
Grayson snorted next to him before gesturing around the room.
¡°Calm down there, Seth. You were just registered so you only have access to F classed combat jobs. Sorry to say, but in a city where the average citizen is a tier four, you probably wouldn¡¯t even survive a job of the lowest level.¡±
Seth¡¯s jaw was on the floor in response to Grayson¡¯s claim.
I SERIOUSLY CAN¡¯T EVEN TAKE AN F CLASS MISSION?!
¡°You must be joking right? How the hell am I supposed to do anything if I can¡¯t even take the lowest leveled jobs?¡±
Mr. Alldean began shaking in his tub and even Grayson cracked a small smirk.
¡°Well my friend, if you play your cards right and do what I say, I could give you a good opportunity that lies outside of a posted job.¡±
Greed flashed in Seth¡¯s eyes before he calmed himself down.
A special job from a tier six business man could mean some big risks¡ but also big rewards.
¡°Alright then boss, what can I do for you today,¡± he replied with a humorful grin.
Grayson nodded in satisfaction as he began to head to the door.
¡°I assign you the job of watching the final round of this year¡¯s Daemon Contest with me.¡±
19- The Daemon Contest
Before he knew what happened, Seth found himself in a small booth with Grayson, Mr. Alldean, and the blue horned assistant, (soon found to be named Byrus) he had seen the day before.
After Grayson¡¯s odd job request, Seth had climbed into a grey floating pod with the rest of the booth¡¯s inhabitants and shot off to an absurdly sized colosseum. When he said absurd, Seth meant he literally could not see the end of the place while looking through the booth window. Currently, they were placed about twenty meters off the ground of the ashy colored floor and Seth could clearly see all four corners of the combat arena.
Seth had to do a double take when he noticed his view was perfect of the arena, but he couldn¡¯t see anyone on the far side of the place. The longer he whipped his head around, the more confused he became as he found that he could not see an end in any direction. Byrus must have noticed his state because the assistant leaned next to Seth and explained that it was because of an Umbra by the name of Ragman.
¡°Lord Ragman is an Umbra who¡¯s divination path follows the pure exhilaration of battle. Therefore it is natural that he used a small portion of his power to create an arena where all that wish to bathe in the feeling can come and watch it unimpeded by distance. Although Lord Ragman¡¯s influence spreads farther than our small city, the main core of his clan resides here in Ethin, so we are blessed with his famous Endless Stadium.¡±
Seth¡¯s mouth was agape as he stared at Byrus like a crazy person.
¡°Wha- Just how strong can you be to create such a place with a ¡®small portion¡¯ of your power?!¡±
Byrus itched his horn for a moment, trying to find a way to explain the incomprehensible concept to the young lad.
¡°Just think of this place as some sort of personal pocket dimension of the lord.¡±
That does not make this any easier to understand. Seth lamented in his mind.
Rather than confessing his stupidity, Seth instead nodded dumbly like he understood the idea perfectly.
¡°Besides that, what exactly is this Daemon Contest all about?¡±
Grayson and Mr. Alldean were absorbed in their own conversation a couple feet away, seemingly discussing some gambling odds, so Seth decided to continue to pick the assistant¡¯s brain. This also seemed to excite the wiry man, so he guessed it wouldn¡¯t be too big of a deal to take some of his time.
¡°Well Mr. Shrike, the Daemon Contest is the epitome of Lord Ragman¡¯s creations. Here you will find nothing less than the absolute strongest warriors this galactic plane has to offer. Unfortunately, the warriors you see here are limited to tier six and the occasional tier five. Any beings of a higher tier are already no doubt creating their own empires or focused solely on power tiering. But do not let that sully your opinion of this contest.
The two warriors that have made it to the final round are nothing less than gods among men. Starting with almost one hundred of this dimension¡¯s most talented and peak powered geniuses, the eight rounds of the Daemon Contest not only whittle the number down to the best of the best, but they also act as a whetstone for those true demigods to hone their skills and push themselves to the brink of evolution.¡±
The man¡¯s eyes cast a look full of wonder at the arena in front of them and Seth couldn¡¯t blame him. This contest sounded like it would be beyond divine to watch, and Seth couldn¡¯t help but begin to shake in anticipation. Byrus soon turned back to Seth and lowered his voice while casting a glance at the pair sitting near them.
¡°Not only are the combatants peak powerhouses, but there is supposed to be a true monarch amongst them today. He is listed under the name Untold. His true name is a secret, which is quite normal. His handle is known by all due to the fact that he is a true Ranker. Between you and me, if I could put my whole fortune down on a bet, it would be on him, no question. Sadly, betting would be a fools erra-,¡± suddenly Byrus stopped talking and began to gape at the window.
¡°It¡¯s starting!¡± he cheered giddily.
Seth totally forgot what Byrus was talking about as he also turned to the arena with a crazy grin on his face.
All this hype has got me excited.
The somewhat muted clamor that had been droning on beforehand was totally silenced as a large red myth appeared in the center of the arena. Smoke soon appeared into existence and it began to flood the floor of the arena, creating an intense feeling of anticipation amongst the crowd. A few moments of this continued before a nightmarish sounding announcer rasped through the silence of the crowd.
¡°Welcome one and all, to the final round of our treasured Lord Ragman¡¯s Daemon Contest. Only here can you all witness the glory of two gladiators engaged in the most divine act known to man¡¡±
It was like the whole coliseum was holding in its breath awaiting the announcer¡¯s next words. Then, a deep and grating sigh spread across the crowd.
¡°War.¡±
Silence only lasted for a second before a roar from the audience drowned out any thought Seth attempted to form. Even the glass Grayson had sitting on the table in front of them began to rumble because of the uproar. A new green myth appeared on the left side of the arena and a humanoid form began forming in the center of the myth.
¡°Endless spectators, please welcome our first competitor. She is a warrior of one in a millennium talent. The only thing more terrifying than her power is the amount of lives she has extinguished. Even those on the edge of creation know of the woman called the Queen of Absolution! EVERYONE GIVE IT UP FOR OUR FIRST FINALIST AND THIRD ON THE PLANE LADDER, DOMINATIOOOOONNN!!!¡±
The wave of noise that was unleashed after the announcement of Domination easily dwarfed the previous roar and even caused Grayson¡¯s drink to fall over and crash on the ground. Even Seth could tell that the booth was heavily soundproofed for this exact reason, and the fact that the audience was this loud was a testament to the might this woman must hold. The smoke suddenly disappeared with of wave from the figure down below.
Mr. Alldean hummed next to Grayson and even Seth began to gape at the window.
The woman standing on top of the green myth was truly one that lived up to the name Domination. She was covered from neck to toe in bright green armor that was etched with countless myths. The only thing not covered by the armor was her head which was a picture of brutal determination. She had one long swamp green braid that was a streak down the middle of her otherwise bald head.
Besides her braid, Seth couldn¡¯t even tell what the color of the woman¡¯s skin was because of the dense tattoo that stretched across the surface of her face. All of these factors aside, nothing was more terrifying about her than the blood red eyes she had matched with the viscous snarl that showed off the gnarly brown tusks that replaced her canines.
Besides her personal appearance, she also held a disgusting weapon that looked to be some sort of battle axe forged from monster viscera. Seth felt as if he couldn¡¯t even move in the presence of the brutish woman in front of him. What must be her anima influence billowed out from her like an explosion. Flashes of memories began surfacing in Seth¡¯s mind. Pictures of times where his anger almost caused him to lose his sanity.
One specific memory kept resurfacing in his mind as the anima continued to wash over him.
The face of his father staring at him just days before he died.
Suddenly Seth came back to reality as he realized what was going on. The woman¡¯s anima was mixed with some sort of deeper truth that passively reminded Seth of pure anger. She was like an all-powerful berserker that cared nothing for what was in front of her. Even if God himself was standing in her way, she would charge into the battle without hesitation. Seth snapped out of his stupor as he watched Domination ready her axe as a new azure blue myth came into existence on the other side of the arena.
I can¡¯t even imagine a mortal strong enough to beat someone like her. He cast a pitiful glance at the assistant gleefully watching the arena below. Sorry Byrus, but I don¡¯t think you are right about this one. Domination is gonna wipe the floor with Untold.
As the new competitor began to materialize on top of the myth, Seth turned his remorseful gaze to watch a rather uninteresting man come into being. He wore a thin gray body suit that reminded Seth of a costume from Tron. Other than the bodysuit, the man also had no helmet so his long mane of cloud gray hair spilled past his shoulders. Opposite of Domination, Untold had no face tattoo nor any odd tusks spilling from his mouth.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He had a good amount of muscle that showed from the tightness of his suit, but yet again, it wasn¡¯t anything unique or terribly impressive. The only thing that stood out about the man was the slender blue longsword that rested in his loose grip.
It was a deep blue speckled with flickers of white that reminded Seth of the deep ocean. The same color showed from the man¡¯s eyes, which looked quite unsettling as Seth felt like the pools in his eye sockets were even deeper than the depths of space.
What was even more unsettling was the fact that the man emitted no anima that Seth could feel.
The only proof he felt that the man was actually here besides what he saw with his eyes, was the familiar smell of a thunderstorm in the air.
As Seth watched the two stare each other down, his brows furrowed.
¡°Wait, why didn¡¯t Untold get an intro?¡± he asked to no one in particular. ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡±
Byrus turned to him with a look of pure confusion.
¡°He is Untold.¡±
Both he and Seth turned back to the arena as the announcer spoke up.
¡°Here it is folks! The moment all of you have been dying for! This year¡¯s final round is upon us! It is time to find out who our newest Daemon is! Now¡ COUNT IT DOWN WITH ME!¡±
The whole audience silenced themselves in preparation for the count.
¡°FIRST COMES CONFLICT!¡± The announcer yelled.
¡°SECOND COMES BLOODLUST!¡± The audience roars.
¡°Finally¡¡± everyone breathed.
¡°WAAARRRRRRRR!!!!¡±
The arena shook visibly with the enthusiasm of the crowd and Seth instinctively activated True Sight to watch an unfathomable amount of energy gather around both competitors. In an instant, a humongous emerald myth appeared behind Domination and brought forth a beast wrought out of what looked to be splintered bone and gore. Its eyes reflected the familiar blood red orbs of its handler, Domination. Furthermore, the apocalypse beast had an infinite number of deadly teeth in all shapes and sizes that promised of carnage as well as the same berserker aura that its owner released before.
At the same time the devastating beast materialized behind Domination, azure spirits began to surround Untold and rotated around him like he was the center of a galaxy.
¡°Wow, she is going all out immediately.¡± Grayson noted next to him with a look of real surprise on his face.
Seth glanced at the suited man before focusing on the giant apocalypse beast that Domination created.
¡°How can you tell she is going all out?¡± he questioned with interest.
Grayson answered him without taking his eyes off Untold.
¡°Because that ability of hers has peak tier six power, and is imbued with an anima that contains a concept galaxy.¡±
Seth¡¯s full attention was now on Grayson.
¡°A concept galaxy? What the hell is that?¡± he inquired with an intrigued stare.
Grayson sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.
¡°It¡¯s so hard to remember that you know nothing of all of this. Just use Perceive to try and understand for now, I will try and remember to tell you about it later. Just be happy you can see this battle at all, outside of this arena, you would have certainly been in critical condition after she released her influence.¡±
Annoyance crept over Seth¡¯s expression before he turned back to the fight and activated Perceive for the first time. His vision became slightly darker as a multitude a various colors appeared in his vision. He cast a quick glance at the people sitting in the booth with him and gasped silently.
It was as if the souls of Grayson, Byrus, and Mr. Alldean were on display for Seth to see.
Looking at their animas was a surreal experience as they were all different in sensation yet still felt familiar. Byrus looked exactly like himself, yet instead he was shimmering with blue light just under his skin.
Mr. Alldean was quite surprising, as he looked totally different than the mound Seth was used to. His anima appeared to be a skinny man in a brown suit, with slicked back hair that matched his suit. If Seth was being honest, he looked to be a guy you would see on Wall Street.
But most surprising of all was Grayson.
Although he had already told Seth what his anima looked like, it was still crazy to behold. His anima was a gray furred feline creature with familiar golden eyes just like Grayson¡¯s. The creature reminded Seth heavily of the Cheshire Cat, except it wasn¡¯t smiling, but instead its whole face was wreathed in a heavy silver smoke cloud, only showing the golden pearls of its eyes. Seth tried to look around to those of the crowd as well, only to find most of them appearing the same as Byrus¡¯s anima: just a shimmering glow underneath their skin.
That must be what it looks like when you try to conceal your energy.
A sound from the arena drew Seth¡¯s attention back to the fight happening in front of him. Domination had finally made her move and the giant beast was beginning to rush Untold. Now because of Perceive, Seth could see that the oppressive anima of Domination looked identical to the corpse monster she had summoned with that huge myth.
So she actually summoned her anima into being with an ability? That¡¯s badass.
Yet again Seth felt slightly sorry for Byrus and his misplaced faith in the competitor that was currently just standing there with azure lights cycling around him. A burst of bloodlust erupted from Domination as she roared.
¡°Avatar of Desolation, destroy the enemy in front of me and leave nothing but pity behind!¡±
After her chant, she picked up her axe and began rushing Untold alongside the avatar she summoned. Just when he was sure Untold was done for, Seth finally looked at the bland man and noticed that his anima was no where to be found. Before Seth could even question where it might be, the Queen of Absolution was already upon him with a mighty swing that promised death.
Right before the swing was about to hit, the azure lights began to flare and Untold leaned into a backbend that should not have been possible for the size of the man. Clearly Domination was not prepared for the lack of contact as her heavy swing made her stumble in an effort to stop its movement. The shockwave from the swing¡¯s power was still present though and a wave of ashy sand was kicked up and obscured Untold.
This did not deter Domination though as she instantly followed up with a heavy kick in the spot she knew he was. The kick was also unsuccessful though as Untold leaned slightly to the right, avoiding the impact and delivering a glowing haymaker right into Domination¡¯s nose.
Clearly the woman was no slouch as the punch broke her nose yet she didn¡¯t even flinch from the spot she was in.
¡°DESY, END THIS!¡± she yelled.
In response to her command, the previously huge beast appeared out of the ash cloud in a much smaller and sleeker form. Without wasting a second, the beast¡¯s maw erupted into green flames as it pounced onto the seemingly unaware man. The whole crowd heaved as they watched pale blue blood spray everywhere inside of the mouth of the beast as it shook like a dog with a new toy. A snarling grin ripped across Domination¡¯s face as she was obviously certain in her victory.
Like an executioner, she raised her disgusting axe toward the sky as it began to emit the impossible weight of a planet. Green and red energy sparked all around the axe as she finally brought it down to end it a-
¡°Debt.¡±
A smooth deep voice echoed outward through the audience as all other noise was instantly silenced. Seth found he can¡¯t breath as time itself seemed to stand still.
¡°Collection.¡±
Out of nowhere, an explosion of blue energy tore through space and a wave of green gore flew outward in all directions. Seth shielded his eyes momentarily and then shot onto his feet as his eyes rested upon the scene in front of him. Untold stood unscathed in the center of the arena with a pile of green mush that used to be ¡°Desy¡± sitting pitifully at his feet. Domination was not in a much better state as Seth found her on the far side of the arena, at the center of a crater in the wall. The blue figures that swirled around Untold from before were nowhere to be found as he now stood alone, watching Domination attempt to get on her feet.
She¡¯s still alive?! Seth thought incredulously with his mouth agape.
He watched as the warrior pried herself out of the wall crater with a primal growl. Seth heard bones snap and wet pops while what looked to be green slime started to excrete from every pore on her body. His jaw further dropped when the goo finally diminished and Domination stood relatively uninjured, hefting her battle-axe.
¡°I won¡¯t allow a coward¡¯s trick like that win this fight,¡± she spat while glaring at Untold.
In a flash, the two were back in the center of the arena exchanging a flurry of hits that were basically imperceptible to Seth. Surprisingly enough, the longer he watched, the more he began to see with the power of True Sight, Perceive, and the adaptable boost from the booth. The battle dragged on for minutes as Domination continued to throw more and more powerful abilities at Untold. The only problem was, as far as Seth could tell, not one of them had caused any damage to Untold.
For some reason, the man would narrowly dodge almost every attack, and only sometimes deliver the same glowing punch counter. The fact that the man¡¯s anima was still no where to be found was also a factor that just built onto Seth¡¯s growing unease. Finally, the two broke apart and the crowd roared as they watched Untold stand unaffected, while Domination was covered in bruises and breathing heavily.
¡°IS THIS SOME JOKE TO YOU COWARD?!¡±
The crowd silenced themselves as they waited for Untold to reply. Seth¡¯s eyes widened as Untold¡¯s facial expression changed for the first time in the fight. The whole time they were fighting before, the man always seemed to have some sort of far-off glassy look. Now, it was like Untold finally focused on the competitor in front of him. Domination had been trying to kill him mercilessly the whole fight, but it appeared like he hadn¡¯t even registered her until now.
¡°Whoops, my mistake.¡±
Domination¡¯s face became gaunt at the man¡¯s short words. Seth¡¯s hand began to hum as the whispers in his mind reached a crescendo. This was a first. The terrifying berserker woman had an expression Seth didn¡¯t even know was possible for her:
Fear.
A face splitting grin plastered itself unconsciously on Seth as he realized what had caused the abrupt change in the woman. Following her gaze, Seth finally found where Untold¡¯s anima had been hiding. Peaking over the wall of the arena, was a giant azure avatar that radiated the feeling of an arcane and alien presence. The supposed eyes of the being were like a window into a different universe.
It was absolutely inexplicable, so much so that Seth felt his sanity slipping just thinking about what the being could possibly be. As his mind continued to slip, Untold reached a hand forward toward the shaking woman. The azure being mirrored this action and soon enough a ginormous otherworldly hand sat directly above Untold¡¯s head.
¡°Fate is cruel, but I am Karma. Space is infinite, but I am Time. Those who know me are unknown to all. For I am Untold.¡±
Seth tried to gasp but was found he was unable to because space itself was frozen. There was nothing for him to do but watch as cracks began appearing all over Domination¡¯s body.
¡°Cerulean Rush.¡±
At the words of Untold, the alien hand stretched forward and lightly touched Domination right on the chest. Instantly after contact, the world around Seth was engulfed in blue light and his consciousness was stolen.
20- Unexpected Outlier
¡°Well, well, little one. I was not expecting a visit from you in quite some time.¡±
Yet again, Seth found himself in the pitch-black room that was Folly¡¯s domain. I¡¯m getting too used to this, Seth complained in his mind while rubbing his eyes. The last thing he could remember was the insane fight of the Daemon Contest, then the blinding light of Untold¡¯s final attack. ¡°Goddammit, I passed out again,¡± Seth grumbled before turning to the grinning shadow on the other side of the room. His face quickly morphed into a grimace when he saw the dimly lit figure.
¡°Christ, what the hell happened to you?¡±
The normally pale being was now a grievous visage of black blood and exposed muscles. Although, the same impossibly wide grin was still ever present on his covered face, ¡°My captors thought it a good idea to take my skin as punishment for my recent tomfoolery.¡± Blood continued to pool on the ground while Seth could only sit and stare at the thing. Do I even want to know?
¡°So why exactly am I here? Also, if I am here, how come I didn¡¯t see any of that¡ stuff¡ like I usually do when you summon me?¡± he asked in an effort to change the subject.
The being teetered forward while the chains behind it continued to stretch into the abyss.
¡°BEAUUUUUUGHHH!!!¡± Folly screeched with its long black tongue flailing wildly.
Seth shrunk back in fear before the figure finally arrived a couple meters away from Seth and ceased screaming. A large trail of black blood was left behind from the trek and Seth seriously wondered how a person could lose so much and still be alive.
¡°What the shit was that all about?!¡± he gaped at the still grinning carcass.
A cackle escaped the thing¡¯s mouth and the chains binding it creaked.
¡°I must have forgotten my skin was gone, those chains can really pinch your nerves, huh?¡±
Seth just stood there dumbfounded, unable to think of a response.
¡°As for your questions, I do not know myself. It seems your feeble anima ran to me instinctively after witnessing a power beyond your understanding, bahahaha! Although, I am surprised you were even able to contact me at all on your own. Usually no peon of your caliber should have the ability to resonate with higher beings yet.¡±
Seth glared at Folly for the casual insults before trying to get more information out of him.
¡°What do you mean resonate? Are we not in your domain right now?¡±
Folly shook for a moment before giving Seth a childish pout.
And he calls me ¡®little one¡¯? What a joke.
¡°No we are not, little one. Your anima has unconsciously resonated with mine so you are able to speak with me directly. Do you think I would be displaying myself in such a state if we were in my domain you silly child?¡±
Huh? Seth thought.
If he can display himself in any state while inside his domain¡
¡°Why are you always in chai-¡± Seth was about to ask when he was rudely interrupted.
¡°It matters not, since you are here, I might as well make use of you. Tell me, little one, have you made any progress with my little gift?¡±
Seth¡¯s previous question flew out of his brain, and he just stared blankly at the skinless creature.
I totally forgot¡
¡°Uh, what gift? You never gave me one.¡±
Seth¡¯s half-baked excuse clearly did not move the bleeding figure.
¡°You mean to tell me that an omnipotent being with powers beyond your comprehension gave you a gift, and you forgot?!¡± Folly spat while a new frown was stretched across his face.
Before he could concoct another poor excuse, the figure¡¯s mouth shot open, and a familiar ink black tongue flashed toward Seth. With a disgusting pop and an explosion of pain, the tongue quickly retracted and hung just outside the confines of Folly¡¯s maw.
Seth watched with a mixed sense of pain and horror as he identified what exactly the tongue was cradling. It was a rib bone.
¡°Next time, think twice about ignoring a gift of mine, little one.¡±
With that, the room began falling apart and the creature holding one of his ribs was gone.
--------
¡°GEEEEAAAUHHHHH!!!¡±
Once again, screams signaled Seth¡¯s arrival back onto the mortal plane.
With a desperate once-over, Seth was incredibly relieved to find that he was not, in fact, missing a rib, nor bleeding out. He also found that he was no longer in the arena, but rather, in his room. He noted absently that there was a piece of paper sitting next to his bed. Seth¡¯s train of thought was all screwed up, but he quickly remembered the task at hand. On an almost comical one-eighty, he furiously began to kick the wall while cursing the stupid skinless creature and everything it had to say.
If you weren¡¯t so fucking terrifying, I would kick you right in the dick I am not totally sure you have.
In a huff, he finally calmed down while simultaneously mentally telling the flurry of whispers that erupted at the mention of Folly to ¡®fuck off.¡¯ Seth really did not want to give into the will of his Umbra, but he more so did not want to gain anymore possible PTSD from angering the thing again.
With a resigning sigh, he mentally pulled up his cache and navigated to the aforementioned ¡°gift¡± that he received a couple days ago. A small black notebook willed itself into existence in Seth¡¯s hand.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
What¡¯s this, his dream journal? He mentally identified the notebook.
Fool¡¯s Errand:
-An all powerful being gave you a gift. Be grateful.
¡°Is that name supposed to inspire confidence?¡±
Seth almost didn¡¯t even open the damn thing. Unfortunately, he knew what would happen if he failed to fulfill his task, so begrudgingly, he turned to the first page. Surprisingly, he found nothing. There were roughly fifty pages, all worn and slightly burnt on the edges, but no content resided anywhere on their surface.
¡This a Death-Note?
Right as Seth began veering down the wrong train of thought, a blink started appearing in his peripherals. With a raised brow, Seth mentally navigated to the Menu and noticed the Quest tab blinking steadily. As he opened it, a frown spread across his face.
You got to be kidding me.
New Quest: Fill each page with one liter of the recipient¡¯s blood. (Reward: Concept Treasure (Class A)).
¡°No clue how to feel about this one,¡± he claimed aloud.
On one hand, a ¡®Concept Treasure¡¯ sounds insanely valuable. I¡¯m pretty sure Grayson mentioned that Domination had something called a ¡®Concept Galaxy¡¯ so this could be a real boon. On the other hand, having to bleed myself out a fifth of my bodily liquid for however many days sounded like a real shit idea. I would say that I have already been very close to losing my mind quite a few times now, I don¡¯t know if self-mutilation is the best idea at this point.
Seth quickly thought back to his first encounter with the Fouler.
¡°Well, let¡¯s put this second on my dumbest ideas list.¡±
--------
Seth lay back in his bed, cold sweat dripping down his face as he struggled to stay awake. After using a plain knife he found in the kitchen, Seth had soon discovered that a liter of blood was way more than he thought. In his first try, Seth had ended up cutting his wrist much too deep, and promptly splattered at least a couple cups on the floor in his panic. Luckily, he had the idea to just put the notebook right on top of the wound, which allowed him to sit and wait while it soaked his gore all up.
Right when the first page evaporated, he swiftly pulled out one of his lower classed recovery crystals and observed in silent pain as the cut healed itself.
¡°I need a burger.¡± Seth sighed, tired and hungry from his experiment.
A thought poked the back of his emptying mind as he remembered the note sitting on his nightstand. Seth sluggishly reached over to grab it, groaning the whole way.
Apologies Seth, it seems I might have brought you to the contest a little prematurely. I did not think such a powerful individual would be participating to which they would be able to overcome the suppression of our viewing booth. As payment for my mistake, come by in a couple days and we can talk about your future endeavors, as well as compensation for finishing the job I assigned you.
Be Well
-Grayson
¡°What a chump, bet I was the only one to pass out.¡± Seth grumbled to himself.
A bang accompanied by rather loud voices interrupted his thoughts. He slowly got up while moaning a little more. Although the recovery crystal basically fixed his body, acting as if he was still injured provided a bit of normalcy to the oddness of being able to almost instantly fix his body. He made his way out of the room and started down the hallway. The voices in the main room grew louder as Seth approached.
¡°-are you even saying? Who gives a damn if you can ¡®find treasure,¡¯ being able to beat any monster is way better.¡±
Sydney¡¯s voice echoed out through the apartment. Seth turned the corner to find both Will and Sydney squabbling on the couch.
¡°Seth! There you are man! Come here and settle this argument. Isn¡¯t being able to find treasure way cooler than beating up some stupid mindless monst- OWWW?!¡± Will yelped as Sydney gave him a ruthless charley-horse.
Seth flinched as he watched Will hold back tears.
¡°So, which is better? Killing monsters or scavenger hunting?¡±
Sydney stared menacingly at Seth with a fist raised in a clear threat. Seth took a seat across from the two while holding his hands up in surrender.
¡°Killing monsters, no question.¡±
Sydney smirked in victory while Will continued to whine and rub his leg.
¡°Aww, you coward! Don¡¯t just agree with her like that! She¡¯ll become even more of a brat than she is now!¡±
That comment earned him yet another charley-horse, sending him sprawling on the ground in agony.
¡°Sorry man, but I actually do agree with her on this one. Finding stuff is not my cup of tea.¡±
Those poles were enough of a pain in the ass.
Will looked like he was about to throw a tantrum.
¡°Whatever, you guys just don¡¯t have the mature taste of one such as I.¡± He finished with a turned cheek.
Seth raised a humorful eyebrow while Sydney scoffed at him.
¡°What started this argument in the first place?¡± Seth questioned.
¡°We were talking about some jobs from The Chrome. This jackass is apparently some sort of ¡®rare find¡¯, so he gets jobs with a way higher payoff. It¡¯s complete bullshit.¡±
Seth was about to ask more when Will stopped him.
¡°Don¡¯t mind her, she¡¯s just pissed that anyone can bash heads, but only cool guys like me can find treasure.¡± Will claimed with a satisfied grin and mocking tone.
¡°According to The Chrome, when I hit tier four, I have the affinity for a badass class that allows me to find damn near anything.¡± Seth was taken aback for a second.
¡°Class? Like a video game?¡±
Will smirked at Seth with a high and mighty look that was likely to get him another charley-horse.
¡°Yeah man, I know all about the stuff. Maybe if you guys spent some more time asking questions than killing crap, you would be as cool as me!¡±
A glare from both Sydney and Seth soon put a damper on his attitude.
¡°Well, I call it a class, but apparently that¡¯s different for people with other types of Nuture abilities. It¡¯s exactly what you think, some title that opens pathways of growth for the person. I also know about Concepts Systems too, apparently they are very important for future growth.¡±
Concepts? Seth¡¯s interest was piqued.
¡°I heard a bit about those, what exactly are they?¡±
Sydney crossed her legs and sat back, taking the spotlight from Will.
¡°I got this one. Concept Systems are something that anyone looking to become a higher tiered being needs. My sources say that they are like some deeper truths that if one can attain, empower the person, like, a lot. For example, if two people punch each other with the exact same amount of strength, the one with a Concept Moon would not only have a stronger punch, but would probably also knock the other out.¡±
Seriously?!
¡°Wow that sounds awesome!¡± Seth gushed with enthusiasm.
Will rolled his eyes next to her.
¡°Of course you only think about their use in a fight. They have way more uses than that, jeez. But don¡¯t get too excited man, I was told that you can¡¯t just get them all whenever you want. It¡¯s supposed to be really hard to get one, and even if you do, they are that much harder to grow. Not to mention, there is also a limit to how much you can get based on who you are. Everyone has the capacity for one, which kickstarts your Concept System. After that, it reveals how much you could get. As far as I know, the majority of the population only has the capacity for one. But don¡¯t ask me how to get one man, cause if I knew I would be showing it off right now.¡± He sighed.
Sydney sighed as well, signaling that she had no idea how to get one either.
Hmmm¡ I¡¯ll have to pick Grayson¡¯s brain about that next time I see him.
The silence brought him out of his thoughts. Seth looked over to find both Will and Sydney not saying anything. Old habits began to resurface as Seth tried to stop himself from squirming in discomfort. The term ¡®comfortable silence¡¯ was something Seth was never able to share with others before. Even being thrown into a new dimension and gaining some supernatural abilities did nothing to change the awkwardness of an extended social interaction. Seth closed and opened his mouth multiple times, trying to start a conversation but failing. Thankfully, Will spoke up.
¡°Hey guys, since we checked out some stuff and registered with The Chrome, how bout we go hang out together tomorrow. I¡¯m sure there is some cool stuff to check out.¡±
Sydney shrugged at his proposal, ¡°I¡¯m game.¡±
They both glanced over to Seth who had a relieved look on his face.
¡°Sounds good to me.¡±
Will clapped his hands together and gave them his best tilted head smile.
¡°Wonderful!¡± He squealed in a cutesy voice.
Sydney¡¯s face took on a scowl while Seth cracked a grin.
¡°Never do that again.¡± She commanded.
Will started to pout and Seth began to laugh while making his way over to the console. After a little back and forth, the group decided on something to eat, and Seth ordered it up. Together they joked around while eating for the rest of the night.
This¡ isn¡¯t too bad.
21- The Calm Before the Storm
Seth was alone on a dark road.
As he looked around, Seth found that he was back home, right outside his old childhood house that he used to share with his parents. For some reason, this sight didn¡¯t comfort him.
The house was¡ off.
A gnawing feeling began to grow in Seth¡¯s gut as he felt a foreign pressure in the back of his head. The picture in front of him looked exactly that, a picture. The surroundings were all blurry, but the building was also tarnished. Inconsistencies marred the surface of his old home. The window to his dad¡¯s office was odd as well. Inside of the normal rectangle like the rest of the house, it was oblong and misshapen. Cracks stretched from the front door, oddly enough reaching towards the office as well.
As Seth¡¯s eyes continued to roam over the eerie memory, his body began to drift forward. He looked down at himself, perplexed at what met his gaze. His body also looked blurry, just like the road and landscape. The hand he had lost before was gone yet again, but there was a haze of black around his stub. Seth examined his body while he got closer and closer to the front door. When he reached the top step of the porch, something else caught eye.
His shadow was wrong.
Despite the area not having any source of light, there were two shadows at his feet. One, to his right, was the familiar, black outline that followed Seth his whole life. The other, to his left, was foreign. Its shape was identical to the other, yet it was distorted, like a TV losing signal. The part that unnerved Seth the most was how the left shadow moved.
The hallmark of a shadow was its reflective properties. As you moved, it moved the same way, at the same time. It seemed the distorted shadow never got this memo. The left shadow moved before Seth. It was like it knew every move he was going to make and executed it just a second before he did.
He was about to continue experimenting with it when he finally reached his old front door. His movement did not stop as his body phased through the door.
A new picture graced his vision as he drifted into the dark entryway of his house. Static flashed in and out while he gazed into the hallway. Someone was there. A piercing screech raked across the vision and Seth screwed his eyes shut while attempting to cover his ears. Suddenly, the sound stopped, and he tentatively opened his eyes. Light was now returned to the picture and the figure was finally visible.
It was his mother.
Old memories arose as Seth stared at his deceased mother. She looked¡ worried? It looked like she was about to say something¡
¡°Good morning Shnookums!¡±
Huh?
A cascade of darkness swept through the dream and destroyed the memory of his mother. Seth tried to halt whatever was happening, but it was to no avail as the dream faded into nothing.
--------
¡°Don¡¯t make me start tickling you!¡±
Seth¡¯s eyes opened groggily to find Will¡¯s goofy face hovering above him.
¡°Whaaa?¡± he mumbled.
Will put on a look of mock hurt.
¡°Did you seriously forget? We all agreed to hang out today man! So get up sleepy head! Time to head out!¡±
Recollection filled Seth as he rolled off his bed. He turned around to berate Will when he noticed Sydney standing behind him.
¡°Why are you both in my room?¡±
Sydney gave an uninterested shrug while Will piped up.
¡°You weren¡¯t answering the door bro, and we¡¯re hungry.¡±
Seth rubbed his eyes as he waved them off.
¡°Lemme take a shower real quick.¡±
Will shot him a thumbs up while Sydney started for the door.
¡°Need me to wash your back brotha?¡±
Seth snorted while looking at the goofy grin plastered on Will¡¯s face.
¡°Shut up and get out.¡±
Will busted out laughing as Seth herded him out of the door, the laughter drowning out the memory of his dream.
--------
¡°Well gang, where to?¡±
The three stood outside of the apartment building, deciding the next course of action.
¡°I don¡¯t know, just pick a direction and we¡¯ll go that way.¡± Sydney suggested.
Seth looked around, ¡°How about right?¡±
The three all looked at each other, agreeing.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
¡°Right it is.¡± Will confirmed.
So right is where they went.
--------
¡°Holy shit guys, look at that!¡±
For the fortieth time in the last five hours, Will was pointing at something that caught his eye, just like a toddler. This time, he was luckily not pointing at another new species he thought looked funny.
The last couple times that occurred, Will got an unhealthy dose of Anima Influence that almost knocked him out. Thankfully, it seemed he finally learned that that was a bad idea. Seth wasn¡¯t even going to look, until Sydney also spoke up.
¡°Wow.¡±
Seth turned to check out whatever had drew their interest.
¡°Oh crap.¡±
It was definitely something to behold. The three were now in awe over a ginormous shining building that towered over its neighbors. It took a moment for Seth to realize what he was looking at.
¡°Holy shit, is that the ladder?¡±
Both Will and Sydney turned to look at him with confusion as he analyzed the tower. It consisted of different tiers of pulsing glass. Take a skyscraper from Earth, mixed with a DNA strand, then multiply it by one thousand, and you would probably have something resembling the tower. The thing was, it didn¡¯t even look like it was a building you could enter.
From the distance they were, it appeared that the periodically pulsing tower had walls that could be no thicker than a glass pane. They were so thin that the words on the walls appeared to be hanging in midair around the two ¡°strands¡± that spiraled into the sky. What further confirmed Seth¡¯s suspicions was the fact that names were scrawled all over the walls. They all stretched from the lowest wall that they could see from their spot on the street, to what would¡¯ve been the atmosphere on Earth. Seth found that even though he should not have been able to see that far under any circumstances and still read legibly, he could still clearly make out each and every name.
He also found that only the top one thousand floors had numbers next to each name, and were significantly larger than the rest.
¡°DUDE!¡±
Seth¡¯s train of thought was interrupted as he realized Will was yelling at him.
¡°Huh?¡± Will looked at him incredulously.
¡°The fuck you mean ¡®huh¡¯? What is the ladder you are talking about? You mumbled that and then didn¡¯t talk for like five minutes there man.¡±
Seth waved him off apologetically, ¡°My bad, was lost in thought. I¡¯m surprised you haven¡¯t heard about the ladder, it seems pretty popular. I don¡¯t know all the details but I guess they have a ¡®galactic plane ladder¡¯ that measures people¡¯s strength I think? You guys wanna go check it out? I admit I¡¯m pretty interested in it.¡±
Sydney looked interested as well after his explanation, but Will didn¡¯t seem convinced.
¡°I guess we can go check it out, but where¡¯d you even hear about that? No one at The Chrome mentioned it to me.¡±
Seth shrugged.
¡°I just heard it mentioned at the Daemon Contest.¡±
Will¡¯s expression just became even more lost.
¡°Dude, we haven¡¯t even been here for a one week and you are already going to social events? Who are you and where did you take Seth?¡±
Seth scowled at Will and was about to deliver a killer comeback when Sydney shoved Will to the side while grabbing Seth rather painfully on the shoulder.
¡°You got to see the Daemon Contest?! I got turned away because they said I had to have been a higher rank in The Chrome?!¡±
Seth winced and tried to calm her rage.
¡°I didn¡¯t know that! I was with a dude I met recently; he owns a place on the eastside of the city!¡±
Sydney stared at him until she seemed to accept his answer and begrudgingly let him go. Seth made sure to tread lightly around her while she cooled off.
¡°How about we head over there?¡± he suggested.
Will got up and started heading the way of the ladder, smart enough not to try and get back at Sydney for the time being. Seth followed him while Sydney trailed lazily behind, looking pissed.
--------
¡°Holy shit! This thing has gotta be HUGE!¡±
The three had finally arrived at the base of the ladder, or as most apparently referred to it as: The GP Ladder.
Currently, they were checking out one of the many consoles that were lining the outside of the tower. Each one contained a list of all participants of the GP Ladder, as well as a small summary of its details and a registration tab. Will was beaming at the number of people listed on the console. Apparently, literal billions of people were participating in the competition. According to the summary, whatever your placement was, decided all kinds of things about your way of life.
For example, those nearing the top would receive all kinds of benefits, as well as opportunities to gain sponsors to fuel your power growth. Also, those in the top thousand were hailed as incredible talents and were basically guaranteed to make huge waves on the galactic plane. On the other hand, those at the bottom were basically treated like trash. In the eyes of the people, if you have enough balls to register, you should have no reason for being near the bottom.
Obviously, there were people who never even registered, but were still incredibly powerful, but it seemed like this society branded those kinds of people as fools. If you have power, what¡¯s the point of hiding it right?
I could think of a few. Seth thought.
¡°Wow this is actually pretty cool. Imagine being at the top of this thing, you would be seen as a god!¡± Sydney said with a hungry look in her eye.
¡°I¡¯m honestly more impressed by the grading system.¡± Seth blurted out, causing the other two to look at him with a weird look again.
¡°I mean, look at this thing!¡± he pointed at the console.
¡°They have all sorts of categories that they file each participant into. Other than by tier, they have raw power, best fighting style, best strategies, and even a category for each combatant type; fire, water, light, dark, summoner, pugilist, the list doesn¡¯t stop! How do they even document all of this crap?¡±
Seth delved deeper into the terms of registering.
¡°Holy shit, check this out! It says if you agree, you are documented under the watchlist of some Umbra name Centrin. That¡¯s how they gauge your power level and all that other crap.¡±
Seth turned back to his friends, about to continue ranting when he noticed the look on their faces. They both looked awestruck.
¡°Are you guys seriously buying into this?!¡± he inquired incredulously.
¡°Come on dude, you have to admit that sounds cool! And who gives a shit if some rando Umbra is watching us? Any of them can watch you at any time! Not to mention, there are BILLIONS of people on this list! It¡¯s not like millions of weirdos are watching your every move, its one dude, and he¡¯s only watching you fight it looks like.¡± Will argued while Sydney nodded in agreement.
Seth couldn¡¯t help but feel betrayed.
¡°What the hell man? I thought you didn¡¯t care about all of the fighting stuff. You said you wanted to find treasure!¡±
Will looked a bit guilty after Seth¡¯s accusation.
¡°I can still do that man, but how could I pass something like this up? It¡¯s not like it¡¯s a big deal, and the pluses outweigh the negatives. I wanna be a bigshot on the big leaderboard man! Don¡¯t lie, you want to be up there too don¡¯t cha?¡± Seth attempted to hold eye contact but couldn¡¯t.
¡°That¡¯s beside the point dude.¡±
Will slapped his wristband onto the console with a defiant look, automatically registering for the ladder.
¡°Whoops.¡±
Sydney smirked at the exasperated look on Seth¡¯s face and signed up as well.
¡°One of us¡one of us¡¡± She began chanting until Will caught on and started grinning.
¡°One of us! One of us! ONE OF US!¡± Will began yelling.
Seth sighed with embarrassment as he noticed the people around them start to look at the group, annoyed.
¡°Christ dude, shut up before you pop a lung.¡±
He hesitated before slapping his band on the console, defeated. He looked dejectedly at the console, confirming his receipt and labeling him as Anonymous #875034669.
¡°You win, but because you made me do this, I vote its time to head back. I¡¯m starting to get a headache from all your whining.¡±
Will took on another stupid grin as the group headed out, ready to turn in for the night.
They had to wake up early after all, tomorrow marked the end of the week they were given by Origin.
22- Roleplaying as Scrooge McDuck
¡°Yo!¡±
Will waved at Seth from his spot on the couch. It was the finally the last day of the week they were given by Origin. According to the liaison that met them when they arrived in Ethin, all of them should be receiving a package to signify the end of their relationship to Origin.
¡°Anything arrive yet?¡± Seth inquired while rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
Will shook his head while gesturing at the table.
¡°Nah, I wasn¡¯t sure when they were supposed to come, so I ordered some breakfast while we wait.¡±
The table had a generous spread of exotic fruits sitting around three bowls filled with some sort of grey sludge. Seth strolled over to the couch adjacent from Will and grabbed a smooth, blue, tubed shaped fruit.
¡°Sydney not up yet?¡± he questioned before taking a bite of his new find.
The taste was surprising sweet and had the soft consistency of a pear. Will smiled as he watched Seth begin to wolf down the fruit after hesitating on the initial bite.
¡°Not up yet, you know girls and their ¡®beauty sleep,¡¯¡± he joked.
They both shared a grin while Seth moved one of the bowls aside to grab another one of the tube-shaped fruits.
¡°Yo, try the stuff in the bowl, I know it doesn¡¯t look good but the dude that brought it up said if you try drinking it through one of these, its like some local delicacy.¡±
He passed a pink, hollowed out, straw shaped fruit to Seth. Seth shrugged and tried it out.
HOLY FUCK!
Seth¡¯s eyes actually rolled back just like on TV while slurping down the pseudo smoothie. Will began to laugh, and Seth didn¡¯t even try to stop him as he drained the whole bowl. If he had to describe the taste, the closest comparable thing was probably what he imagined the ambrosia of gods to taste like.
¡°My god,¡± was the only thing that he could muster out.
Will nodded in approval.
¡°No need to say anything, I absolutely understand.¡±
The two continued to pig out for awhile before a ding sounded from the console behind Will. They both looked at each other with raised brows before Will got up to check out what the dinging was.
¡°Forgot that we linked each other¡¯s consoles. Looks like Sydney got a package, think we should wake her up?¡±
Seth gave him a knowing look.
¡°Your funeral man.¡±
Will took a second to think about it before walking back over to plop himself on the couch.
¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t feel like dying today.¡±
Seth nodded in approval before continuing to feast. Will was about to dive back in as well when he noticed something.
¡°You alright man?¡±
Seth looked up from his food.
¡°Yeah, why?¡±
His friend shrugged before pointing at his eyes.
¡°You look tired or something. Have you slept much?¡±
Seth didn¡¯t really know what to say.
¡°Uh, yeah, I¡¯m getting plenty. Just been having some weird dreams I guess. Nothing out of the ordinary though.¡±
This was out of character for Will.
Don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen him this serious before. It¡¯s nice he¡¯s worried about me though.
¡°I appreciate it man, but I¡¯m good.¡±
Will didn¡¯t look convinced.
¡°Really man? Cause you have had some crazy dark circles under your eyes for the last couple days. Guess it never registered for me until now.¡±
Seth frowned at his explanation.
Hmmm¡ I guess I haven¡¯t gotten much sleep now that I think about it. I could only sleep a couple hours last night after that weird dream that I have had the last couple days. And I suppose I¡¯ve gotten sent to Perdition a couple times as well. There is no way in hell I could ever sleep another wink on the same night I was sent there.
Seth finally noticed the weight that had settled in his bones, as well as the slight headache prickling through his brain.
Shit, I am tired. How did I miss that?
It seemed like all the adrenaline of exploring the new city and his new life had finally caught back up to him.
¡°You actually might be on to something. Think I¡¯ll go get a couple more hours of ¡®beauty sleep¡¯ as well. Do me a favor, if my package gets here, just put it off to the side until I wake up.¡± Seth asked while getting up.
Will shooed at him.
¡°No problem-o brotha. Doctor Rivera is always right, go take a nap.¡±
Seth grabbed one more blue tube to munch on before heading to his room. He was nearing his destination when he heard Sydney¡¯s door slide from a little ways down the hall. Seth instinctively hurried to his door and slipped inside. A relived sigh escaped his lips as he settled back down on his bed.
Some old habits are worth keeping.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
-------
BANG!
¡°Mmmrph?¡±
BANG!
¡°Whaaaaaa?¡±
BANG!
Seth groggily sat up in his bed.
BANG!
He turned over to the clock on his nightstand and squinted in an effort to make his eyes adjust.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
¡°Motherfu- Will I told you not to wake me up man!¡±
Seth stumbled over to the door while cursing. He practically threw open the door, only to find Sydney standing there with a fist cocked back.
¡°There you are jackass! It¡¯s about damn time!¡±
Sydney¡¯s hand shot forward and grabbed Seth by the collar, a move he couldn¡¯t dodge in his sleep deprived state.
¡°What¡¯d I do?!¡± he yelled as she attempted to drag him to the main room.
After a couple moments, she let him go and gave him a pissed off look.
¡°Why the hell are you so heavy?! Whatever, just follow me jackass.¡±
Seth hid a triumphant grin and got up to follow her. He trailed behind her into the room only to find Will wearing an apologetic expression. Past him were three identical looking square boxes, seemingly made of the same glowing white material Seth remembered Origin having.
¡°Sorry man, I told her not to wake you up.¡±
Sydney gave him a deadly glare.
¡°Yeah, after he lied about my box getting here for SIX HOURS!¡± she roared angrily.
Will shrugged under her glare and Seth¡¯s disbelieving stare.
¡°I wanted to open them together, but you needed some sleep.¡±
Seth threw him a wry grin, ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m impressed you were able to fool her for so long.¡±
Will reflected his expression as Seth gave him a fist bump.
¡°Ah, it was nothing. You know, boys rule and girls drool baby!¡±
Their laughter was cut short as they realized Sydney looked like she was about to kill both of them.
¡°Erm, anyway, looks like we got our packages! How about we open those up!¡±
Will motioned to the boxes in an effort to defuse the situation. Sydney grumbled something unintelligible before stalking over to her box. The two boys followed suit and picked up their own boxes.
¡°Alright, let¡¯s see what they sent us. How much you wanna bet it¡¯s some poison brownies to finally finish us off now that they are done with us.¡± Will investigated.
¡°Don¡¯t be stupid, why would they give us all this money and a place to stay this week if they¡¯re just going to kill us?¡± Sydney snapped at him.
They really can¡¯t stop arguing for five minutes huh? Seth admonished.
The two finally settled down after a pointed look from Seth. With a shared nod, they all pushed the glowing white button on top of their respective boxes. With a small beep, the top half of each box dissolved into small motes of light. The three were left staring at the few contents sitting neatly inside. Each of them began exploring their own boxes in silence.
For Seth, it seemed like there were four items inside. There was what looked like a keycard, a small chip, an onyx ring, and a note. He grabbed the note first. It looked to be on another plain notebook paper that was reminiscent of the one that was originally in the Avengers lunchbox that now sat in his cache. He unfolded the paper and started checking it out.
Hello there Subject 50, or should I say Seth. It seems this will probably be the last time we will ever be in contact, so I would like to say thank you. Although you and your fellow subjects most likely hate me and everything Origin embodies, I would still like to express my appreciation for your contribution to our work; especially you Seth. The information you have given me will revolutionize the way we do things from now on in ways that you cannot understand. In appreciation for your help, please accept a special gift along with the other items I have left for you in this box. I wish you a joyous existence and a fresh start.
-Lyak
Seth honestly¡ didn¡¯t give a shit about the message from Lyak. Although he was surprised at his lack of anger. This patchwork bastard stole him from his life and threw him into a life-or-death experiment like he was nothing more than some piece of bacteria to toss under a microscope.
Yet¡ I kind of don¡¯t care.
So far, he had gotten to start a whole new life where the only thing limiting him was his own ambition. Granted, his Umbra was still something to worry about, and the constant whispers paired with his weird dreams weren¡¯t exactly comforting. Regardless, he was happier now than he ever was back on Earth, and his new life was just beginning.
I don¡¯t hate you, but I also don¡¯t want anything to do with you.
Seth looked at the rest of the contents of the box, unsure of how he really wanted to proceed.
Come on man, no need to throw away good shit just because of a meaningless emotional reaction.
He promptly tore up the note and stuffed it back into the box. Next he skipped the keycard and grabbed the small black chip. He began inspecting it and was about to put it back in defeat when a small vibration came from the band on his wrist. Seth quirked an eyebrow and sent a small amount of energy into it. A tiny squeak sounded from Seth¡¯s mouth as he checked the new balance.
Common Currency Remaining: 10,968,690
Looks like one of our problems is solved. Seth glanced over to find Will literally drooling and Sydney sporting a greedy sheen in her eye. Seth quickly shook his head to focus.
Well they stole six months of my life and almost got me killed quite a few times, so I suppose this ain¡¯t bad for a bit of compensation.
That¡¯s when a thought struck him. He hurriedly grabbed the keycard that was identical to his apartment key, only to find that it was now engraved with his ID from The Chrome. He turned it over where he found a receipt stuck to its rear. It looked to be a purchase confirmation for¡ A CENTURY?! Seth¡¯s head was reeling.
Just how much money do these people have?!
He still didn¡¯t really know how much money was a lot here, but a high end apartment that gives him free five star meals and ten million of the local currency seemed like a lifelong fortune.
¡°Guys, I¡¯m pretty sure we have enough money to do fuck all for the rest of our lives, and still have enough left over to buy a small island.¡±
Will and Sydney both looked at him with wide eyes and nodded silently. Wordlessly, they all turned back to their boxes, hoping to find yet another fortune sitting in their midst.
After putting the card in his cache, Seth gingerly picked up his last gift. Originally, it had been a straight black band sitting in the box, but as soon as Seth grabbed it, the ring slowly melted in his hand. Seth was worried he had somehow broken it until the black little puddle in his hand began worming its way around his left pointer finger. He watched as the thing finally seemed to find the spot it wanted and began glowing.
A slight pinching sensation was felt as the light began to dim and sink into his finger. A pain reminiscent of a tattoo rumbled from his knuckle to his fingernail. Finally, the pain subsided and Seth gazed at the new marking on his finger. It was a simple lock symbol, just a silver outline of a keyhole.
Well that was a little anti-climactic.
He poked the symbol and tried to identify it to no avail. He thought for a moment before manipulating his energy toward it. Nothing changed though, the mark just felt empty. Taking a different approach, he called up his Menu and checked the Status tab. His body diagram hadn¡¯t changed and neither had his basic information. He scrolled down to his attributes next.
Level: Tier Two (Progress: Early)
Intellect: Class D
Constitution: Class C
Might: Class C
Intuition: Class D
Resolve: Class B
Race: Fiend (Class D)
Titles: Little David, *Undecided*
Of course, another ¡®Undecided¡¯ prompt. That¡¯s really starting to piss me off. I suppose I have to do something with this mark before it¡¯ll give me a title.
What that ¡®something¡¯ consisted of was unknown to him, but the idea of getting another title sounded pretty good. He wasn¡¯t totally clear on how exactly you got titles, but he knew that they were pretty damn good. Seth finally looked up to see the other two still absorbed in whatever they got from their boxes.
¡°Alright, I¡¯m going to head out.¡±
Sydney just waved goodbye without taking her eyes off the purple thing in her hand, but Will looked up at him, confused.
¡°Got a hot date or something?¡±
Seth shook his head with a bemused look.
¡°Nah, I told a guy I would swing by today. I just wanted to get the package beforehand.¡±
Will shrugged and turned his attention back to the box in front of him.
¡°Have fun.¡±
Seth shot him a thumbs up and walked out.
¡°Since we seem to be collecting compensation today, how about I go grab some more.¡± Seth muttered to himself with a grin.
23- The Incubator
¡°Welcome back Mr. Shrike!¡±
Byrus greeted Seth at the door to The Oasis. Seth raised his hand in a wave while smiling.
¡°What¡¯s up Byrus!¡±
The horned assistant opened the door while gesturing for him to enter.
¡°You seem to be in good spirits.¡±
Seth strolled by him into the building and gave the bustling interior a good once over.
¡°Well, even though the last time we saw each other I might¡¯ve not had the best time, I¡¯m still having a pretty good day today.¡±
Byrus began guiding Seth towards Grayson¡¯s office with a smile.
¡°Well, I do hope that your good day continues.¡±
Seth didn¡¯t notice how Byrus¡¯s smile did not reach his eyes.
The two made their way to the open door of the business owner. As Seth arrived, he walked in to find Grayson sitting across from an individual he had never met before. The two appeared to be having a quiet conversation, but upon his arrival, they turned to him. Grayson¡¯s guest was a rather pale woman in a tattered black dress. Her face was kind of odd, just like her dress. It resembled a human¡¯s, but it was too smooth to be called normal. It was like a doll¡¯s, completely unchanging, as if she had never held an expression of anything other than pure indifference.
Honestly, Seth might have mistaken the woman for an actual doll if not for the horrible dark voids that were her eye sockets. Even though she had no real eyes, he could still feel her gaze on him.
I really shouldn¡¯t be judging a book by its cover, but goddam does this lady gives me the creeps.
¡°Uh, sorry for interrupting.¡± Seth stuttered out, all of the previous energy he had now drained.
Grayson chuckled softly and gave him a small wave; the pale woman not giving any reaction.
¡°It¡¯s no problem Seth, we were just talking about you.¡±
Seth became further unnerved after Grayson¡¯s out of character welcome. The man seemed weirdly delighted. Grayson gestured for him to sit on the far end of the table, between the two. He stiffly walked over to the chair and sat down.
¡°Please say hello to my friend, Rena. She is a representative from a renowned organization I was luckily able to contact. She is here to find out if you meet the requirements needed in order to partake in a certain event they¡¯re hosting in the very near future.¡±
Seth hesitantly met the woman¡¯s void eyes before giving her a small nod. Although a possibly impolite greeting, Rena didn¡¯t seem impacted at all and Seth was finding it very hard to build up the nerve to talk to her. She just radiated an uncomfortable cold that permeated the room. Grayson just smiled at the interaction like it was a funny joke. Seth slid his gaze over to Grayson with an irritated look.
¡°Is there a reason you are being incredibly vague right now?¡± he questioned.
Grayson just smiled wider and turned to Rena.
¡°So, how¡¯s he looking? Does he make the cut?¡±
The doll woman stared at Seth and the cold in the room rose slightly.
¡°He barely reaches the minimum required, but The Incubator begins tomorrow, do you really think this is wise? He has no preparation as well as no inherent knowledge of the proceedings or of those who will be participating.¡± An emotionless feminine voice emerged from the woman, yet her mouth still did not move.
Seth felt like a child left out of the conversation. If one of them turned and said: ¡°The adults are talking.¡±
He would probably throw a tantrum befitting an actual one. Grayson¡¯s smile turned into a full born grin that Seth could never have imagined the man to pull off.
¡°Wonderful! Do not worry about the preparation, I am confident I can equip him with the information needed to survive. Thank you so much for coming and I appreciate your leniency.¡±
The doll lady gave one last icy look to Seth before erupting in a burst of dust and moths. Seth would¡¯ve been confused by the appearance of insects if not for the rage burning through his chest.
¡°Survive? What the hell is that supposed to mean? I¡¯m tired of this vague and secretive schtick, tell me what¡¯s going on.¡± he demanded.
Fuck this shit, I¡¯m not being forced into some life-or-death experiment again. Never again.
Grayson¡¯s smile turned apologetic as he realized the origin of Seth¡¯s anger.
¡°Please do not feel so betrayed my friend. I promise this is not some scheme to throw you into something without your consent. You have the choice here. Unfortunately, this was a last-minute shot in the dark so I did not have enough time to brief you on its details. But now that we have confirmation of your acceptance, we can talk about the matter¡ if it interests you that is.¡±
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Seth¡¯s anger slowly cooled at his explanation. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to think.
I don¡¯t think Grayson would purposefully screw me over, at least not now. The opportunity also seems like it could be an incredible chance, just based on the name ¡®The Incubator¡¯ as well as the fact she was a part of a ¡®renowned organization¡¯, and I apparently got in at the last minute. Although something keeps bothering me¡ why does everything always start with ¡®The¡¯?
Seth slowly opened his eyes, anger finally gone.
¡°Okay, I understand the situation. But before I will even consider doing this, I need a lot more information.¡±
Grayson looked more hopeful, but his apologetic smile did not waver.
¡°I¡¯m happy you can empathize with the situation. I would love to give you more information my friend, but I cannot provide all that you wish for. This event, called ¡®The Incubator¡¯, is only known by a very select group of the highest class. It is only available for those who have not finished the Configuring stage yet. As you can probably tell, this means that those participating with you will be some of this reality¡¯s most promising young elites. Don¡¯t let this unnerve you though. Look at this as a chance to create connections with future matriarchs, while at the same time gaining strength at an incredible pace. The details regarding the methods of the organization are¡ blurry at best. That¡¯s specifically why I have yet to share the name of this group: there is none.¡±
Grayson paused to let Seth absorb his words. Seth didn¡¯t seem to need it though.
¡°How does a group with no name and no information on its operations have the trust of the most powerful beings in existence?¡±
The weathered shop owner smiled internally at the boy¡¯s lack of deterrence.
¡°Because results speak volumes my friend. Every single individual that has survived The Incubator has emerged stronger than the average shaper. Some have even gone from low tier threes to peak tier fours during their visit. It is said that the space this event is held in also has a time anomaly, which is specifically why lower beings such as yourself can leave with such a tier difference.¡±
Seth looked past all of the smoke and mirrors Grayson was throwing in front of him.
¡°You aren¡¯t telling me something. What are the survival rates? How many people are going to be there? If only high-class elites know of this place, why do you? What is the time anomaly? How long is it actually for those inside? And most importantly, what is the average entry level?¡±
Seth was tired of all the silver-tongued meaningless conversations. Too many people back on Earth were the exact same way. Telling half truths and white lies was something he himself did, but when someone else did it too Seth, it was like a slap in the face.
So I¡¯m a hypocrite, what of it?
Grayson nodded while the smile slid off his face.
¡°There are roughly ten thousand participants per run, but as far as I am aware, only about five to six hundred emerge at the end. The whereabouts of the others are unknown, and the patrons of those missing are smart enough not to ask. As I said before, I am unsure of how long the event actually is. Those who come out never speak of what happens inside, nor do I think they are allowed too. The average entry level is usually low to mid tier three, so you will be entering under a disadvantage. As for why I know, that is something above your level for now. Perhaps you can find out if you emerge alive.¡± he finished with a small smirk.
Seth put his head in his hands.
So, I am under leveled, a no one, and only have a five to six percent chance of surviving. And to add the cherry on top, it could last a million years for all I fucking know.
He thought back to all the times he promised himself that he would do anything to get stronger. Grayson¡¯s eyes widened in real surprise when a series of small daggers began to appear and drive themselves into Seth¡¯s head. He was about to say something about it when Seth waved him off.
¡°Sorry, it just changes into how I feel sometimes.¡±
The daggers began to dissipate while Seth chewed on his lip. After a couple moments of deliberation, Seth finally looked up and held out a hand to Grayson.
¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do it. And let me guess, this was supposed to be my compensation all along?¡± Grayson chuckled and shook Seth¡¯s hand, sealing the deal.
¡°Maybe you are a little sharper than I thought.¡±
--------
It turned out, the reason for Rena¡¯s concern about the timeframe for preparation stemmed from the fact that each participant was equipped with a large number of temporary myths before arriving. It seemed that wherever the event took place at had a special environment that almost no being would be able to handle without help. Imagine Grayson¡¯s surprise when they were going through each myth needed, only to find that Seth was already equipped with all of the necessary protections.
After a small bout of confusion, Seth held up the plain ring on his finger: Inmate¡¯s Resilience. It appeared that its ability to protect Seth from atmospheric changes umbrellaed over all environmental changes as well. He wasn¡¯t fireproof or anything per say, but it seemed that if whatever planet he went to had a distinctly different environment than Earth, he would be shielded from the brunt of the effects.
After this discovery, Grayson released Seth, telling him to make sure that he was back at The Oasis before midday tomorrow, as that would be when he had to leave. He also attempted to warn Seth off from telling anyone about the event, but Seth had cut him off, claiming that ''he wasn''t that stupid''.
As he made his way back to the apartment, or rather, HIS apartment, Seth took this time to really enjoy his surroundings. Even though it had been a nice time in the city of Ethin for the most part, Seth still found that he wasn¡¯t really bothered by the idea of leaving. Although his only two friends were here, and there seems to be infinite possibilities of things to do, Seth couldn¡¯t help but feel sort of freed by the idea of leaving it behind. Will and Sydney are probably the only two people he could ever truly share the experience of this new life with, but separating from them still felt like the right thing to do.
Never before had he been given such a perfect opportunity to leave everyone whom he had ever known. Away from them, he could do anything, be anyone. Seth blew out a sigh and continued on his way. One final night with the only people he had ever considered friends. He might never come back for all he knew. A few memories from Earth tugged at the back of his mind. The skewed morals everyone agreed on, yet never lived up to. The push of ¡®peace¡¯ and ¡®togetherness¡¯ that everyone ironically fought each other to achieve.
They would probably think I was insane if I went back there now.
But Seth didn¡¯t feel insane, in fact, he felt saner now than he had ever been back there.
Well, I guess I shouldn¡¯t mention the voices.
As he finally arrived back at the ginormous apartment building, Seth pushed his thoughts onto the backburner.
For one last night, he would just try to enjoy the company of his friends.
24- Welcome to Your Reality Pt. 2
He didn¡¯t end up telling them.
It had been a nice night of hanging out and the occasional ribbing, nothing could have been better. Sydney was excited to tell them about her entrance into a local school. With her generous sum of compensation from Origin, she was able to pay tuition for one of the best combat courses Ethin had to offer. According to her, even though she was a lower tier, they were actually happy to accept someone of her age.
It seemed that it was uncommon to find a student of her age that was only tier two, so because of her built experience already, she could be trained in specific fields so that when she was done with Configuring, she would basically be a specialist in whatever form of combat she desired. Seth was quite surprised at this news; he hadn¡¯t even thought about joining any schools.
Even Will seemed to have some good news. When Seth asked him about his future plans, Will said that he was going to dive into some search jobs in order to build his reputation. After he was done with that, Will claimed that anyone with a brain would start paying him a pretty penny for the use of his skills. Seth was overjoyed with their declared paths; it looked like they weren¡¯t going to try and make him a part of some group of theirs.
They were going their own ways, just like himself.
He almost let out that he was going away when Will started talking about how they could still hang out just like right now.
¡°I mean we all still live in this place, right? We don¡¯t have to stay in the same apartment like right now, but we can still have dinner and stuff together. It¡¯s not like we gotta treat each other like strangers. We could probably even start talking with the other people that came from Origin, they are from Earth AND they live here too.¡±
Sydney nodded at his proclamation.
Probably thinking about talking to Ty again. Seth snickered in his head.
Although he was content hearing about the future plans of his friends, he remembered that he wouldn¡¯t be apart of them. He found himself actually feeling a little sad after that thought, it was surprising. Coming back from his meeting with Grayson and Rena, Seth didn¡¯t feel any regret or sadness over the idea of leaving. But now, seeing Will¡¯s hopeful smile and Sydney¡¯s thinly hidden interest in the idea of them all staying close, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a pang of guilt and longing. He wondered what it would be like to have a tight-knit group of friends he could always rely on, even if he went to live his own life.
It was unfortunate that he wouldn¡¯t be able to experience that, but he was trading that life for something more important to him right now: power. After seeing the battle with Domination and Untold, Seth couldn¡¯t think of anything else other then getting stronger. Back on Earth, before he knew of the existence of the Foundation, there was no real way to gain power.
Sure, you could hit the gym for a good couple years and gain enough strength to perhaps lift the front end of a car off the ground, but you would still die to a well-placed piece of lead.
Or maybe, you became president, or a billionaire.
It still didn¡¯t matter, that wasn¡¯t real power. Just as a nuke could wipe out millions of people, big or small, a simple virus could take down even more.
At the end of the day, everyone on Earth was still mortal, still fragile. Now, with the Foundation, you could become something fundamentally superior. Instead of lifting cars, one with enough power could decimate planets, even galaxies. A bullet wouldn¡¯t do a damn thing either, hell, a spike the size of Seth¡¯s head went through the chest of a ¡®normal¡¯ person here on Ethin and he just walked if off!
Seth wanted that kind of power, no, craved it.
As his night finally wrapped up and the trio went to their rooms, Seth made one last promise to himself. He had already vowed he would get stronger, that he needed to get stronger. But now, he promised that he would do anything to get the strength. Although he hadn¡¯t technically killed anyone as of yet, he personally didn¡¯t feel like it would differ from killing a Fouler or Clinnak.
¡°Man is just an animal that makes bargains after all.¡± Seth whispered to himself, remembering a quote from a book he read a while ago.
In a universe where lower beings are killed for fun and someone can experiment on other people for no reason other than their own curiosity, what¡¯s wrong with a guy that has a bit of ambition?
--------
Seth slept like a baby that night.
No weird dreams or visits to hell, just pure, nice, restful sleep. Upon arrival of morning, Seth was practically full of energy and quickly showered and threw on his self-cleaning damascus clothes. He didn¡¯t even bother throwing on shoes, for some reason they had started to bother him because he could never get them to fit correctly using his dimensional energy. He quickly rushed down the hallway towards the main room where he found the muffin-like pastry that he had ordered in advance last night. He didn¡¯t want to stop on his way to The Oasis because he was afraid his anxiety would grow too much to allow him to eat.
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Even though he was looking forward to the special event Grayson had gotten him into, there was still a large note of uncertainty and anxiety hanging in his gut because of the appearance of Rena and the lack of information about The Incubator.
Time to nut up man, what did we talk about last night?
To his annoyance, his inner monologue was quickly answered by a storm of voices that continued to throw out unintelligible nonsense to his rhetorical question.
¡°SHUT THE HELL UP, I¡¯M NOT TALKING TO YOU!¡± he yelled in irritation at the quieting slew of noise.
Only then did he realize that he had strolled into the main lobby of the building, where everyone had turned to look at him like he was insane. As he felt a couple animas beginning to swell in size, he hurried to walk out while bowing in embarrassment.
Geez, they might not be too far off, I do sound pretty crazy.
As Seth walked down the bustling streets toward his destination, he finally took a moment to think about the whispering voices that always sat at the back of his mind. They had originally appeared around the time he had fought his first Fouler. Until now, he had attributed them to be some stupid side effect of the anomaly he had consumed.
Hmmm¡ Folly said that he heard them too I think, but at the same time, it kind of felt like he blew it off, making a joke of it. Wait, didn¡¯t he describe the whispers as an excuse? But I was actually being serious¡
Seth stopped cold in the middle of the street, causing other pedestrians to weave around him like a current. A specific memory hit him like a train. Crimson everywhere, the vision of his bloody stump and the flying monstrosity hovering above him. A voice cutting through his agony and fueling his anger, while at the same time bringing forth a hurricane of lower voices that he hadn¡¯t really registered.
But that was before I took the anomaly¡
His blood flow slowly turned frigid as he tried to remember every time he had heard an understandable voice.
Once with the Fouler, a couple times after the first test, but staggered over the course of a few months, then in the shower, and finally in the office of Mr. Alldean.
He went over every memory that he could but still couldn¡¯t remember another instance of the original voice talking to him. All of the ones after his initial fight with the Fouler sounded exactly like Folly. The first one¡ it had sounded familiar, but no matter how much Seth strained to remember, he couldn¡¯t think of who it had sounded like. He slowly attempted to defrost himself and continued walking.
Maybe I should just put this on the back burner. I don¡¯t think I can afford being distracted when I go to The Incubator.
Seth shook his head to clear his mind and began purposefully striding forward. He filled his thoughts with all kinds of theories about the upcoming event, as well as the finger mark he still hadn¡¯t figured out yet. Unfortunately, no matter how many random things he concocted to think about, the previous matter still hung eerily at the back of his thoughts, waiting to be unraveled.
-------
¡°Welcome back yet again Seth.¡±
This time, Grayson was the one to meet him at the door. Seth gave him a nod while walking through the door of the establishment. The two wordlessly made their way back to Grayson¡¯s office. This time, the office door was closed so Seth strode forward to hold it open for Grayson. As he followed in after Grayson, Seth was unsurprised to find the doll woman yet again sitting completely still in the spot she was yesterday.
Upon their arrival, her neck turned soundlessly to grace the two newcomers with the same dead stare she had been previously giving the wall. Grayson bowed and Seth uncomfortably followed suit, the cold air of her presence already worming its way into his bones. She rose in silence and reflected the gesture.
¡°It is time for me to take the boy, the timetable has moved up.¡±
Her icy voice made Seth shiver. Grayson nodded in understanding as he turned to Seth.
¡°It seems this is where we part for the time being Seth. I have nothing but respect for your decision here. Please make sure to come back, as I would rather not have one of my investments fall through.¡± Grayson lamented with a spark of humor.
Seth held out a hand that Grayson reached to shake.
¡°I appreciate this opportunity and all your help. Trust me, I¡¯m not going to let some boujee royals outlive me.¡± Seth reciprocated with a similar glint of humor.
And with that, Seth unclasped Grayson¡¯s gloved hand and walked over to Rena. She just sat and stared at his approach, unmoving. He cast one last look back at Grayson with a grin before the cold pressure of Rena¡¯s hand grabbed his shoulder and he was enveloped in a cold darkness that smelled of rot.
-------
Grayson watched as the child turned to give him a boyish grin before disappearing in a swarm of moths. A moment after their departure, Byrus appeared next to Grayson. He looked around exasperated before turning toward his boss.
¡°Did I miss him?¡±
Grayson chuckled softly before patting Byrus on the shoulder.
¡°It seemed his time was moved up.¡±
Byrus let out a disappointed sigh before looking at the slight traces of a myth disappearing.
¡°You must be elated; I know you spent quite the fortune just to get him the chance to go.¡±
Grayson cringed inwardly at the large chunk of money that was now gone from his account.
¡°I was lucky to get their attention at all. Thank Lic for our Lady Dawn.¡±
Grayson silently worshipped Dawn, his and the rest of The Oasis¡¯s Umbra. Although a bit greedy at times, it seemed she always made the right move, and it looked like using her power to get the attention of the group behind The Incubator was one of them. Regardless of the personal cost it took him to petition the Umbra, he was totally satisfied with the results of her help. Grayson walked out of the office to tend to his normal duties.
I do hope he lives.
Byrus also began to follow him out before turning back to the spot of the now absent myth. He rubbed his horn unconsciously while closing his eyes.
¡°May Lic bless your soul and may Null protect its descent.¡±
25- Sydney Ranks; Origin
Today was no different than yesterday.
Yesterday was identical to last week.
Last week was the same as last year.
Sydney woke up to the sound of silence. She turned over to look at the time on her phone: 5:23 AM. Knowing that she would be unable to fall back asleep, she slowly got up and sat on the edge of her bed.
She had one hour and thirty-seven minutes to enjoy the silence before the other inhabitant of her small apartment arose. Sydney would spend half an hour scrolling through recent news stories before turning to Tik Tok for some mindless entertainment.
¡°Looks like there was another suicide.¡±
Sydney mumbled under her breath, aware that raising her voice even one more decibel would bring her peaceful silence to an end. The headline story she was referring to was on the front page of a few big newscasts. Recently, it seemed like bullying was at an all time high. This new story was only one of many within the last couple months. Sydney didn¡¯t really care about that though. She only cared about what a certain member of her residence might think of the new report. Ironically enough, they hated bullying more than anything.
As time dwindled down, Sydney slowly got ready for school. She went through the slow and methodical process of applying light foundation to her neck and a section of her collarbone, making sure that anywhere one might see would be free of the purplish brown splotches that graced her skin daily. After she was sure everything was covered, she began to apply dark eyeliner and mascara around the brown pools of her eyes. Next, she applied a light blush to her cheeks to draw attention away from the dark rings under her eyes that were not a part of the ensemble. Finally, she slowly dragged pastel violet lipstick across her full lips to finish.
After her makeup was done, she put on the outfit that she laid out last night.
She didn¡¯t bother swapping out the underwear she had worn to bed the night before and just put on the tight long-sleeved black top and dark bell-bottomed jeans. With a pair of socks and a light spritz of a random perfume, it was now time for Sydney¡¯s least favorite part of the morning: doing her hair. Carefully, oh so carefully, she grabbed small groups of strands and began brushing them. This in itself was almost a half hour process. It was like a continuous cycle; brush, pick out the loose hair, check for blood, brush.
Over and over again, she weaved the slim brush through her gradually shortening hair ever so gingerly. Finally, after a generous pile of blood flaked hair was set aside, Sydney tugged on her favorite beanie from some band to cover up the random bald spots and scabs.
Wow she might have made a record last night.
Sydney threw the record-breaking pile of hair into the trash next to her bed and checked the time. 6:59 AM. Here we go again. Sydney thought humorlessly to herself. She walked to the kitchen full of dirty dishes and random trash before grabbing the least mushy apple. As she sat down at the nearby birch table, she watched as the clock struck seven and the light in her mother¡¯s room turned on.
Today marked Day 1,036 since mom realized Sydney¡¯s father wasn¡¯t coming back.
-------
¡°Sydney Ranks, please report to the front office.¡±
A buzzing voice interrupted the World History lesson Sydney was currently dozing off in. Sydney snapped awake with a confused grunt before making her way down to the office.
What did I do this time?
She arrived within a couple minutes and was waved over by the secretary. Sydney stood in front of the desk while she waited for the pudgy woman to finish her phone call. ¡°Thank you honey, I will make sure to tell him.¡± Soon enough, she hung up the phone and turned to Sydney. ¡°All righty dear, I called you in here because we got a call from your mom. She told us to tell you that she will be picking you up after school today.¡± Sydney was mildly surprised at the news but mostly annoyed.
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¡°Did I really need to be called to the office for something like that? Couldn¡¯t you have sent a note or something?¡±
The fat woman just sat back in her chair and gave Sydney one of those ¡®You are just a kid, and I am the adult¡¯ looks. Sydney rolled her eyes and walked back to class.
If mom is picking me up, she must be in a good mood. Thank god.
--------
It was finally the end of Sydney¡¯s last day of school. Ironically though, this was not even on her mind as she strutted out from the building and towards the lot where her mother was parked. Sydney¡¯s tunnel vision was overpowering as she moved toward the red Prius. It was so strong that she didn¡¯t even notice the growing crowd on the far side of the lot, nor did she notice the yawning boy sitting on a bench not even ten feet away.
Soon enough, she was at the vehicle and quickly opened the door to sit in the passenger seat. Sydney muttered a greeting to her mother without ever taking her eyes off her shoes. It took almost five minutes before Sydney realized the car wasn¡¯t moving. For the first time since she got in the Prius, Sydney looked up at her mother¡¯s stern face. She found that there was a familiar yet terrifying frown plastered below her sharp nose as she looked on behind Sydney.
What¡¯s she looking at¡
Sydney¡¯s thoughts trailed off as she saw the large crowd surrounding a few guys. It looked like Jack Hynneg was yet again beating up --What was his name?¡ª Leo Reinan. This scene alone was not something very interesting to her until she figured out why her mother had that horrible frown. The woman behind her beat Sydney to the punch.
¡°They are bullying that little boy.¡±
Sydney flinched instinctively as the car started and Ms. Ranks began to pull out.
¡°And you just walked by.¡±
--------
Sydney stood in front of the transparent door, staring listlessly at the rows of drinks inside. Fresh, warm blood slowly began tickling the back of her neck. She silently went to pull up her collar when a spike of pain erupted from her rib. Sydney numbly pushed past the pain and fixed the collar before dropping her hands to her side.
She continued to stare at the contents of the gas station fridge until she realized that her face felt wet. It took a moment before she realized that she was crying. She quietly wept in the empty Circle K, alone.
-------
A soft jingle brought Sydney out of her down spiraling thoughts. She quickly wiped her eyes and refocused on why she came there in the first place. She thought for a moment before grabbing her favorite drink and turned to go to the register. A figure caught her eye and she recognized a familiar guy from school trying to hide behind a shelf.
Of course he is here, goddammit.
Sydney knew exactly who the guy was. His name was Seth Shrike. Although he didn¡¯t command any attention at school, Sydney was always aware of his presence. He didn¡¯t have friends, he wasn¡¯t incredibly smart from what she could tell, he didn¡¯t put a lot of effort into his looks, and he basically was a nobody in the eyes of the student body. The only reason Sydney knew this loser¡¯s name at all was because of a specific run in that she had with him almost ten years ago.
--------
They were in elementary school at the time.
It was a simpler existence, for Sydney especially.
Seth had arrived late in the day. The teacher had stopped class when he walked through the door. It seemed he was about to go take his seat when the teacher ¡ªMrs. Whentworth¡ªgrasped him in a tight hug against her bosom. The whole class was confused at the display until one of the kids overheard her whisper something to Seth. Of course, an outbreak of murmuring erupted afterward because they were all children and had no real idea of what kind of secrets should be kept out of respect for another person.
Soon enough, the news spread to Sydney.
¡°She said ¡®I¡¯m sorry about your parents and am here whenever you need me.¡¯¡±
¡°What the heck does that mean?¡±
¡°Did his parents die?¡±
Sydney sat amongst the whispers with a bewildered expression. She wasn¡¯t especially mature, seeing as she was only eight, but the idea of her parents dying made her incredibly sad. Mrs. Whentworth finally unclasped the boy and he made his way to the seat on Sydney¡¯s left. It was odd to her though, looking at him, it didn¡¯t feel like anything was different. His clothes were still normal and unruffled, his hair was neatly brushed, and his face was pale and uncolored; totally opposite from what she expected of an emotionally unstable and grieving child.
Regardless of his appearance, she understood that he could be in shock or something, losing a parent, much less both, was horribly traumatic for anyone. As the class hesitantly resumed their lesson, Sydney leaned over to Seth to give him her condolences.
¡°I¡¯m so sorry about your parents.¡± She whispered to him while patting his cold hand.
The boy started to turn to look at her, and where Sydney expected to see the fragile and vulnerable look of a heartbroken child, she instead found two dead, emotionless fish eyes looking back at her. It was so completely chilling and unexpected that it had stuck with her ever since. She even watched him for weeks after that, never seeing any real look other than disinterest coming from Seth.
Even now, almost ten years later in a gas station, his face, although stretched into a picture of surprise, did not look any different than that day.
--------
After that short confrontation, Sydney stomped over to the register, paid for her drink, and walked outside.
Within less than a minute of Sydney turning onto the corner of her street, a wide, brilliant, white crack ripped into existence right behind her.
26- Will Rivera; Origin
¡°It¡¯s time for you to leave boy.¡±
A thirteen-year-old Will looked up to stare in disbelief at the old man. Mr. Jellen was an elderly fellow who had been running an orphanage in Michigan all by himself for almost twenty-five years. Today was the day he was finally releasing the boy who had been in his orphanage for nearly twelve years. Tears of joy stung Mr. Jellen¡¯s eyes as he reached down to hug Little Willy.
¡°We have finally found a family that can appreciate you, my boy.¡±
Will did nothing as the man embraced him. It was legitimately unbelievable to Will. At his age, almost no one would want to adopt a child that was already nearing his teens. Will had been at this orphanage for as long as he could remember. Ever since his mother had apparently left him here, Will had grown up in the larger townhouse surrounded by other children that always came and went. None of them had ever stayed longer than a year. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Will. Families always streamed in, looking for their newest member; only to find them among the other children, leaving Will behind.
Mr. Jellen had always told him that it was just the luck of the other kids; that it wasn¡¯t his fault. As the years passed, Will became more and more hopeless. He was well aware that the older he got, the lower his chances were of getting adopted. After year ten, Will had completely lost hope. He knew that it was basically impossible for a family to want a boy his age, so instead of focusing on getting adopted, Will began to spend all of his energy on the other children. He would comfort them, play with them, and clean up after them every day. At this point, he was basically acting as an assistant for Mr. Jellen. He was always trying his absolute best to be useful.
They won¡¯t kick me out if I¡¯m more useful than useless right?
Will repeated this question to himself almost every hour of every day since his ten-year anniversary. Although Mr. Jellen was a nice man, Will knew that he was getting old, and he spent so much time taking care of the kids that his source of income was barely enough to cover the growing costs of the orphanage. Lately, donations were the only thing really keeping the place alive. To make matters even worse, Will knew that he was literally and figuratively eating up the majority of the expenses.
As a growing teen boy, he had to eat a lot and he kept outgrowing the clothes that were given to him by Mr. Jellen. Regardless of these expenses, Mr. Jellen hadn¡¯t stopped buying Will what he needed. He bought everything without complaint and always tried to act perfectly unfazed by the dwindling funds.
Despite the efforts of the old man, as well as Will¡¯s personal mantra, the costs of him living at the orphanage were just growing. He had noticed that Mr. Jellen had stopped eating with all of the children during dinner. Will had also found out that the elderly man had begun to go out during the nights to beg on the street for more donations. Finally though, it all was coming to a close. The fact that a family had adopted Will meant that a large part of the orphanage¡¯s expenditures would be gone.
Not to mention, a couple days ago, Mr. Jellen had received a call from his daughter, who sometimes dropped by the orphanage. Apparently, she would be coming to live at the orphanage soon to help out her father and the other kids. It was a huge turnaround for the old place. Will couldn¡¯t be happier for Mr. Jellen or the kids that would be receiving another great caretaker.
A part of him was confused though. As the old man continued to tearfully embrace him, Will couldn¡¯t stop thinking about the so-called family that wanted to adopt him.
I haven¡¯t had an interview in years¡ Now someone wants to adopt me out of the blue?
Will softly patted the weeping man on the back until he was finally done.
¡°Um sir? Who wants to adopt me? How do they even know about me?¡±
Mr. Jellen pulled back while wiping his snotty nose.
¡°You remember my daughter, right? She apparently made a website awhile back with the information of a couple children. It seems like a family found out about you on there and wanted to adopt you right on the spot! Isn¡¯t that wonderful, my boy! After long last, you can finally have a family of your own! They are actually coming today to finish the paperwork and pick you up! I¡¯m so happy a family has finally seen what a wonderful boy you are!¡±
The man began to break out in tears again and Will had to guide him back to his room so he could calm down.
Hours later, Will found himself all packed up and standing outside the orphanage where a young couple was waiting near a grey minivan. The young man had slick black hair and hard brown eyes. He was wearing a leather jacket and light blue jeans with a pair of polished boots. He was quite tall as well. He not only towered over Mr. Jellen, but also the woman standing next to him.
The woman had bleached blonde hair and hazel eyes that looked kind of glossed over. She wore a bright sundress and had a large pair of square sunglasses sitting on her head. Will thought the two looked quite ordinary standing next to the bland minivan; just like a family you would find in a movie. The only thing they seemed to be missing was a small joyful child.
I guess that¡¯s where I come in.
The couple put on identical smiles when they saw Will coming outside with his bag.
¡°It¡¯s so nice to meet you Will! We are so excited to have you in our family!¡±
The woman in the sundress had an annoyingly squeaky voice. According to Mr. Jellen, her name was Kate Rivera. The man next to her, Greg Rivera, gave Will a small nod. Mr. Jellen and Will approached the couple, and the adults began to exchange words, seemingly crossing some T¡¯s and dotting some I¡¯s. Will looked over at the minivan while they talked.
Looks brand new, did they just get it before adopting me?
While Will continued to study the car, Mr. Jellen suddenly grabbed him in an embrace one more time.
¡°It seems that this might be the last time we see each other Little Willy. I am so grateful for all of the time we had together. Never forget that I love you my boy.¡±
It was Will¡¯s turn to cry this time. All of the memories he had at the orphanage came crashing down, breaking the dam of tears Will had been unknowingly holding back. He tightly clung to the old man that had been his only source of care and love for the majority of his life.
¡°Look here Little Willy.¡±
The old codger lightly turned him to look back at the orphanage. Will was so overwhelmed with emotion that he didn¡¯t care that Mr. Jellen used the nickname that would usually annoy him. All of the children currently staying at the orphanage were on the front porch, crying and waving as they watched their oldest brother get ready to leave. Snot and tears began to stream faster out of Will¡¯s face as Mr. Jellen let him go to the children. Will practically sprinted over to the small crowd and threw himself into the wave of hugs and snot and tears.
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Mary the crybaby, Tommy the artist, even Claudia, the five-year-old, usually quiet girl, was now bawling in Will¡¯s arms. So many more children continued to cling onto Will and wish him tearful farewells. After a good half hour of goodbyes, Will said his final farewell and climbed into the car where his new parents were waiting. As the newest family pulled away from the only place Will had ever called home, all of the members of the orphanage continued to wave until they finally faded out of view.
This was Will¡¯s new start. Although he would desperately miss those at the orphanage, Will was finally becoming a normal boy that wouldn¡¯t have to be a burden anymore.
--------
¡°Hurry up brat.¡±
The boy now known as Will Rivera began pulling weeds even faster. It had been five months since Will had been adopted and moved to Indiana. As soon as he had crossed state lines, his so called parents finally revealed their true colors.
Greg Rivera was not some normal dad who liked to wear leather jackets and act cool.
The real Greg was a tobacco addicted, tank top wearing, lazy cunt.
He was the owner of a local strip joint called ¡°Glossy Gurls¡± that had a basement that made some sort of small brown crystals people went wild for.
Kate Rivera was not some sundress wearing minivan mom either.
In fact, she wasn¡¯t even married to Greg, and the minivan was just a rental.
In reality, Kate Rivera was just one of the employees of Greg¡¯s businesses. Will soon found out her name was actually Juicy. Juicy was currently naked and draped over Greg in the corner of the strip club basement where Will was fervently pulling small weeds that were growing out of the cracked tile floor. So far, nothing had changed in the five months Will had become the slave of Greg Rivera. He woke up, cooked and cleaned for Greg at his house across the street, then walked over to Glossy Gurls and began cleaning there.
Once Greg had approved of his work, he walked back over to the house where he would shower and then sit in his lightless attic and then eventually fall asleep waiting for the next day. He didn¡¯t talk, he didn¡¯t go anywhere else, and he never let himself upset Greg.
They won¡¯t kick me out if I¡¯m more useful than useless right?
Will¡¯s only thoughts were filled with his mantra. Time was nothing to him. Years could have passed, and Will would not have noticed. He rarely ever thought about the orphanage. All that mattered to Will was not being cast out by his new family. He was lucky to be adopted at all. He would not allow himself to fail the first family he ever had.
--------
Two months later, it was Will¡¯s birthday.
The day went by no different than any other. Will wouldn¡¯t have even realized that it was his birthday if it wasn¡¯t for Juicy. It was late in the evening when she interrupted Will right in the middle of him finishing up the top floor of Glossy Gurls.
¡°Hey Little Willyyy!¡±
She loved to call him that nickname after hearing it from Mr. Jellen.
¡°It¡¯s your birthday today right baby? How about you come watch some TV with your mommy as a little present?¡±
She grabbed Will¡¯s hand and led him to one of the backrooms where Will knew she took customers often. The room was dark and glowed pink. There was a TV hanging on the wall as well as a small fridge filled with liquor. A basket full of multicolored small packages sat on top of the fridge. She led him over to the wide couch that was across from the TV and sat him down while she turned it on. The news flashed onto the screen where silent subtitles began scrolling at the bottom.
Although not an everyday occurrence, this wasn¡¯t a particularly uncommon situation for Will. Many of Greg¡¯s employees always tried to bring Will back into these rooms. Usually, Greg would stop them and command that Will ¡°continue to work instead of fuck off.¡±
Tonight seemed different though. Greg had left early that night because of some business, so Will was helpless against Juicy.
I can see why people like coming back here.
Will had no real frame of reference for nice things. Just watching TV was already a nice treat for him, so the comfortable couch and easy lighting was also a nice addition. Will wasn¡¯t an idiot though. He had watched what the strippers did on stage every day because of the fact he was always cleaning the place. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what people usually did back here, but he knew that it involved naked women and usually a middle-aged man.
¡°Let me just go freshen up baby, then I¡¯ll come back for your Little Willy.¡±
She laughed for some reason at that, then walked back toward the showers at the back of the building. Will sat silently while watching the news. Countless stories scrolled through the feed, all of them talking about some major or minor event happening somewhere in America. A couple minutes passed, then a familiar picture showed up on the screen. Old memories began to spark as Will realized that it was his old orphanage. The headline said ¡®Breaking News¡¯ and Will¡¯s interest was finally peaked after months of never thinking of the place. Just as they were about to get into the story, Juicy came back dressed in nothing but a towel.
¡°Alright baby, time for mommy¡¯s birthday present.¡±
She strutted over to Will while swinging her wide hips just like she did on stage. Although Will was now fourteen, he was a bit of a late bloomer so Juicy and the rest of the employees appearances were never really of interest to him until just barely a month ago. Unknown feelings bubbled up in Will as he watched the woman slowly unravel the white towel that was covering up the majority of her body.
Her eyes looked just as glazed over as the day she picked him up from the orphanage.
She finally reached Will and straddled over his lap while facing him. Her soft, tan skin brushed against Will as she clasped him in her hands. Her large, perky chest began to surround Will¡¯s face as she pulled him into her.
¡°Oh baby, mommy is gonna make you feel sooo good.¡±
Will¡¯s body instinctively reacted to the strange feeling in his stomach and Juicy giggled from her perch on top of his lap.
¡°It looks like I¡¯ll finally be able to see your Little Willy, Little Willy!¡±
The naked woman began rubbing the top of Will¡¯s pants before she slowly grabbed his waistband and pulled them down. Will was helpless as he tried to protest, only to find that it just came out muffled and inaudible. Soon enough, he felt a warm and wet sensation growing as the soft woman began to move up and down. Moans erupted from Juicy as Will did nothing but sit in shock as the strange feeling worked its way through his body.
The woman soon changed into a sitting position and used one hand to press Will¡¯s head into her chest while the other went lower towards the origin of the wet sensation. Hot breath blew through Will''s scruffy hair as she continued to move rhythmically.
Soon enough, Juicy started moaning even louder and the hand that was on Will¡¯s head moved to her side where she began using it to balance. Without realizing it, when her hand came down, she unknowingly hit the remote that had been sitting next to them. A loud, strong voice filled the room.
¡°I am very sorry to report that there were no survivors. Warning to those at home, this is a truly heartbreaking scene that is not fit for younger viewers.¡±
Will¡¯s thoughts abruptly returned to the news report where he saw the picture of his old orphanage. The woman on top of him did not react to the noise and instead leaned back while continuing to moan. Suddenly, Will¡¯s blood ran cold and the previous sensation he had been feeling was totally forgotten. Sitting on the TV screen was a picture of complete horror.
The place where he used to share so many fond memories was now just a pile of ash.
Memories that Will had not thought of for months exploded back into his mind. The faces of his fellow little brothers and sisters, homely meals made by Mr. Jellen, and the memory of the tearful goodbye he shared with them all right before this hell fest with his new family. Tears came crashing down his face as the reality of the situation hit him like a truck.
The moaning woman absently heard his sobs and began to move even faster.
--------
Hours passed by as Will sat unmoving on the couch.
Sometime ago, Juicy had left, leaving him alone. Slowly, Will came back to reality and looked down at his half naked body. He numbly put his pants back on before walking out of the empty building.
He was halfway to the house when he suddenly stopped in the middle of the road.
Will felt extremely wrong.
Before, something had always driven him forward, allowing him to do the same damn thing every single day.
Now it was gone.
Burnt away just like everyone from his beloved orphanage.
Will finally realized that he lived only for his fellow orphans for so long that now that they were gone, there was no reason for him to continue on. He listlessly began to wander down the road.
What am I supposed to do?
After an unknown amount of time, Will arrived in front of a school that appeared to be very far away from where he started. He vaguely remembered one time that Mr. Jellen confessed to him that he wished he had not skipped his final years of high school. Will took one step onto the entrance platform before passing out.
--------
Not even a week later, Will had enrolled in the school and started living in a spare classroom that the principal turned into a living space.
It seemed that Will had finally stumbled upon some good luck, or at least that¡¯s what he thought until a supernova white crack appeared in his room the night before graduation.
Part One Conclusion
Hello all who have read this far!
I would like to deeply thank all of you who have read my work up until this point. Words cannot describe how awesome it feels to have other people actually enjoy a book of mine. I realize that there is an abundance of authors on this site looking for their works to explode in popularity, and I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m any different in this regard. With that said, I want all my current followers, and all my future followers to know that I appreciate each and every one of you. I don¡¯t care if I have one follower, or one million. No matter the amount, I love reading every comment or review that readers leave under my book. Every single view that adds up on my page gives me an immeasurable amount of motivation to continue writing.
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All right, enough of the emotional mumbo-jumbo, I¡¯m sure you all are probably a bit disappointed that this isn¡¯t a real chapter update.
I can totally understand your frustration but just know that I will make sure next week¡¯s chapter is beyond expectation. I am far from done, my friends! Get ready for Seth to become even more edgy, asshole-ish, and powerful! If you have read up till now, you all know that I don¡¯t fear what other people see as uncomfortable content¡ SO GET READY FOR YOUR STOMACH TO TURN AND SOME BLOOD TO FUCKING FLY, BABY!
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With that said, I hope everyone is ready for the second part of The Mundane because starting next Monday, Seth will finally enter The Incubator!
27- Terms and Conditions
Seth had never really liked insects before he was taken from Earth.
They were annoying, sometimes loud, and an all-around pest.
So having hundreds of fuzzy moths buzz around him like a hurricane was nothing short of torture.
After Rena had grabbed him, Seth found himself flying through a dark, cold, and smelly dimension full of flickering shadows; later discovered to be moths of all shapes and sizes. Thinking that the sensation would only last a couple seconds, Seth did not prepare for himself to be engulfed in all kinds of scratchy carcasses. What seemed like hours passed as Seth spasmed around before finally settling into a fetal position where he thought the insects would not be able to mercilessly assault his face.
He was wrong.
The only thing anchoring him into the present was the stiff, cold hand that had a firm grip on his shoulder still. Finally, after an undetermined amount of time, the storm abruptly ended, and a pleasant warm breeze brushed over Seth. He slowly unclasped himself and opened his eyes to find a scene that did not match the nice feeling of the wind tousling his hair. Before him was a slightly familiar illustration of his past.
Stretching as far as the eye could see was a ruined city full of black rubble. Distant figures roamed the would-be streets that now consisted of dark yellow gravel. It looked surprising like an old photo of a city in Kenya that his mother showed him awhile back.
Seth got to his feet and found that he was currently on the summit of a small mountain range. He turned to look at the other side where he found a large swamp landscape covering the ground. He attempted to look further when a sharp voice cut him off.
¡°Do not dawdle, child.¡±
Seth didn¡¯t realize Rena¡¯s hand was still on his shoulder. He turned to look at her before thinking better of it. Instead, he looked in the direction she was pointing to find a large crowd of people on a nearby summit. The sounds of crackling bones erupted from Rena right before a set of dusty brown wings spread out from her back. Seth soundlessly watched as she gracefully flew him over to the crowded area. Soon enough, Rena set him down right before yet again bursting into a cloud of moths.
He fervently swiped at the creepy crawlies, acting like a toddler because of his previous trip here. It took him a moment to realize that the people standing near him had begun to look at him pitifully. Seth stopped swiping the air and quickly righted himself.
Starting off strong I see.
As the random glances turned away from him, Seth cast his attention to the crowd surrounding him. There were quite a few different species standing around. Although, Seth wasn¡¯t really interested in that because an odd feeling was permeating his senses. He activated True Sight and saw that his instincts were right. Many of the people in the crowd were quite powerful compared to the other tier twos he met at Origin. A good chunk of them were clearly already tier threes. Some seemed even stronger than that. Seth continued to analyze the crowd until a familiar presence entered his field of vision.
Seth¡¯s mouth was agape when he saw the hulking figure of Ty standing not ten meters away from him.
Sensing his gaze, Ty¡¯s glare swept over the spot Seth was in. Luckily, right before Ty looked in his direction, Seth activated Specter State and Stalker¡¯s Anthem. He had already withdrawn his anima beforehand, so Seth was positive Ty didn¡¯t see him. He wasn¡¯t totally sure why he had wanted to hide himself, but it felt like the right thing to do.
What are the odds that he¡¯s also here?
Not only did Ty¡¯s presence surprise Seth, but his power level did as well. Back at the facility, Ty had already been a cut above everyone else, but now, looking at him after only a week¡¯s time, Ty seemed even stronger. It looked like he had already crossed over to tier three!
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How the hell is he so goddam strong!?
He finished his tests in only a couple months and ended up stronger than everyone involved in the experiments, but now in only a week he was able to reach tier three while Seth was only halfway through tier two. This knowledge just fanned the flame of Seth¡¯s ambition. If he can do that, why can¡¯t I? With narrowed eyes, Seth skulked farther away from the large man and deeper into the crowd.
Finally sure that he was far enough, Seth stopped and looked up toward the raised section of grey rock where a collection of doll people had begun to form up. As he watched, Rena appeared amongst them and found her way into the small formation. The soft buzz of voices began to die off as everyone turned their attention to the group of black-eyed beings. Everything turned silent and chanting started to emit from the dolls.
A sinking feeling began festering in Seth¡¯s gut and a large hollow myth took hold in the space in front of the raised rock. He let out a muffled grunt as a heavy pressure set upon the crowd and the hovering myth disappeared. Seth knew this feeling; it was the pressure caused by an incredibly powerful anima.
But there is no one here.
Seth still had True Sight going and so far, he didn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. But still, he knew something was here. It was impossible to forget the feeling of being so completely oppressed that you were basically sitting at the mercy of whomever the anima belonged to. In a last ditch effort, Seth activated Perceive to see if it would work while being paired with True Sight. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he strained his eyes, nothing would appear into being. The sinking feeling continued to persist though, despite his findings.
What¡¯s going on?
Seth looked around to see if anyone in the crowd had any idea what was going on, only to find that all of them were looking down at papers in their hands. He knit his eyebrows in confusion before turning his own gaze down to his hands. A sigh escaped his lips as he found an identical piece of brown paper sitting in his left hand. He would normally be upset at the lack of context that surrounded this whole event so far, but it seemed like no one else was flipping out, so Seth decided to keep quiet. After a quick glance around, he began to read the paper in his hands.
Hello random denizen of the mortal plane. You have been approved as a participant in what the mortals refer to as The Incubator. Our representatives have traveled across the known existence in search of beings such as yourself. Know that this does not make you special. You are nothing in this endless realm. Take heed, if you are discovered to be a rulebreaker, you will be extinguished. We care nothing for the politics of mortals. Break a rule, and you will cease to live. Furthermore, survivors, or ¡®winners¡¯ as mortals describe them will receive nothing more than the experience that we provide. Some see things we provide as rewards, but this is not so. You are entitled to nothing. We will provide our resources for exactly one mortal year. Whether you live, die, stay, or leave is not our concern. Stated below are the rules.
- Do not speak about what you experience here to outside sources.
- Do not ask any questions about the details of us or our resources.
- Do not attack any of our representatives.
- If you remain within The Incubator after one mortal year, you forfeit your existence to us.
- You cannot take anything found within The Incubator after one mortal year has expired unless acquired through a quest, taken from another participant, or extracted from a defeated monster.
Stated below are your instructions.
- Each participant will receive a starting position in the pocket dimension of least difficulty to survive.
- If the participant wishes to move to a higher difficulty pocket dimension, they must find the entrance between each pocket dimension.
- Participants are free to move between pocket dimensions they have been to before when in contact with an entrance between pocket dimensions.
- Various ¡®challenges¡¯ will be littered throughout each pocket dimension.
- On completion of a ¡®challenge¡¯, participants will receive a predetermined ¡®reward¡¯.
- Actions outside of the rules are unregulated.
- Infuse the myth below with energy to fulfill the contract and be sent to your starting position.
¡°What is with all this vague crap?¡±
Seth scowled at the paper in his hands as well as his past experiences with the vague descriptions of his abilities. It¡¯s like this whole thing is designed specifically with free will in mind. Instead of dwelling on the wishy-washiness of the contract, he decided to focus on the actual content of the paper.
So it¡¯s a pretty standard dungeon crawl type thing. The only difference is that it is extremely general with its ¡°challenges¡± and ¡°rewards.¡± Also, it¡¯s super open ended.
Seth stared at the contract for a few more seconds before looking up at the dwindling crowd. People were disappearing at an increasing rate. As he watched swarms of moths disperse in the air, Seth recalled a memory of multicolored portals spawning in a white room.
He heaved one last sigh before becoming engulfed in the rotting smell of the moth dimension.
28- The Insufferable Youth
¡°Blah, bleh!¡±
Seth spat out the last few remaining moths from his mouth.
If I never have to go there again, it will be too soon.
Shaking off the feeling of the countless scuttling legs, Seth began to inspect his new surroundings. It seemed like his starting position was located somewhere in the purple swamp he saw earlier. Large trees with purple leaves and grey bark loomed over Seth as he stood on one of the very few dry spots in the humid swamp. Intense smells assaulted Seth and it took all of his willpower not to gag.
They seriously couldn¡¯t have dropped me anywhere else?
With a grimace, Seth used his left hand to pinch his nose while summoning Anar with his right. Not a second later, a huge serpentine monster blasted out of the brackish water toward Seth. Thankfully, Nightmare Adrenaline was constantly running so Seth reacted instantly. A black rip tore through the air, bisecting the creature and covering Seth in violet gore. Blood dribbled down the hilt of Anar so he quickly dismissed the weapon before extending his hand toward the corpse of the large snake. As the normal black oil was drawn into the whirlwind of his hand and Plunder ran its course, Seth turned his attention to the environment, watching for any more surprise attacks. Although he was able to dispose of the creature relatively fast, he could tell that it was a lower tier two.
If the normal, wandering monsters were already tier twos, then whatever the ¡®boss¡¯ is will probably be more than I can handle alone.
Despite the estimated strength of future monsters, Seth was very happy with the situation. After hunting monsters for a full six months while totally unprepared, it was a nice change for Seth to actually be ready for once. A grin ripped across his face as he re-summoned Anar.
¡°Let¡¯s get started, baby!¡±
---------
¡°Come here you little shit!¡±
Seth sprinted as fast as possible after the near imperceptible teal beetle. It had been nearly three days since he had been dropped off at his starting position. After just one day, Seth had found his first ¡®challenge¡¯. Deep in the swamp, he had found a burrow in one of the trees that led to a large underground chamber. The chamber consisted of a metal jungle that spanned the size of a football field. It took only a minute for him to realize that the door behind him had been sealed by a series of brown myths. Shortly after that, a quest appeared.
-New Quest: Capture the Minlon (Reward: Low Quality Tempering (Choice))
It took him a full day just to see the little fucker.
Perceive and True Sight were pushed to the absolute max in Seth¡¯s pursuit of the Minlon. Unfortunately, shortly after finding the Minlon for the first time, Seth was absolutely worn out so much that he had to stop and rest. Although that exhaustion didn¡¯t stop him from continuing with Fool¡¯s Errand. A couple hours of rest and a recovery crystal later, Seth was back on the prowl. This time it only took him a few hours to track down the Minlon. Learning from his first attempt, Seth pushed Nightmare Adrenaline to the max as well. Fortunately, Seth was able to come much closer to the Minlon this time. Unfortunately, he was still nowhere near catching the thing.
No matter how much he swiped, pounced, or cussed, the Minlon would always evade his grasp. It was incredibly agile, but that wasn¡¯t even what made it so hard to get. The thing was, it was so hard to track because of the completely random pattern it followed. Unlike an actual bug, the Minlon would dart back at Seth, sometimes even crawling on him or jumping over him for no reason at all. It was impossible to try and guess where it would be.
Finally, after five more hours of chasing, Seth had an idea.
While sprinting after the critter, Seth activated Wicked Being, and put it at full blast. Even though the bug didn¡¯t act like one, Seth¡¯s racial ability would affect all living beings that were below his tier. Now even though the Minlon was faster than Seth, he was still positive that he was a higher tier than it. Within just a few minutes after using his racial ability, Seth noticed a stark difference in the beetle¡¯s behavior. Now, it never tried to come near Seth. Finally, he had become the predator in the insect¡¯s eyes. With this new development as well as four abilities running at maximum power, Seth eventually caught the Minlon after eight more hours.
¡°FINALLY, huff¡ I GOT YOU¡ huff¡ YOU LITTLE BASTARD¡bleah!¡±
Bile spewed from Seth¡¯s mouth all over the floor of the chamber. He hadn¡¯t eaten much in an effort to ration out the food Seth brought with him, so his stomach was pretty much empty, especially after throwing up. Almost an hour passed as he sat up against the metal wall. His peripherals had been blinking the whole time, certifying the completion of his quest, but Seth didn¡¯t care.
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Whoever made this ¡®challenge¡¯ can suck my dick.
Almost two full days of chasing a literal speck had thrown Seth¡¯s patience over a cliff. He tiredly cracked a recovery crystal while keeping his left hand clenched over the tiny bastard that was trying desperately to escape his grasp. As he took a new, unimpeded breath, Seth finally opened his menu and navigated to the blinking Quests.
-Capture the Minlon (Reward: Low Quality Tempering (Choice)) (Achieved) *Claim?*
He mentally assented and a new window appeared in front of his eyes with the familiar attribute layout from the Status tab.
Tempering:
-Augment an attribute dependent on quality and level of individual. (Permanent)
Level: Tier Two (Progress: Middle)
Intellect: Class C (+)
Constitution: Class C (+)
Might: Class C (+)
Intuition: Class D (+)
Resolve: Class B (+)
Small (+) signs appeared directly after each attribute on the new screen. Seth¡¯s was unsure how to feel about the reward. On one hand, he was able to level up his intellect by chasing after the Minlon, but on the other hand, it had been two days of work for almost nothing. It¡¯s not like intellect leveled from this quest alone, if Seth had to guess, it was almost seventy percent of the way to leveling up anyway, this challenge was just a good push to do it himself.
Don¡¯t look a gift horse in the mouth, I guess.
He turned his attention back to the screen in front of him. He had no real idea how much this tempering would boost his attribute, and the words ¡®low quality¡¯ didn¡¯t inspire much confidence either. Seth shrugged and picked the attribute he thought would help him most at the moment. With that, Seth chose Constitution and observed in disbelief as the attribute skyrocketed by what felt like fifty percent, quickly pushing the stat to Class B.
Holy shit! And that was supposed to be ¡®low quality¡¯?!
Seth became very giddy at the idea of pursuing more ¡®challenges¡¯ now.
If I have only been here for just about three days and already leveled up two attributes, imagine what I could do with a whole YEAR!
He swiftly got up from his spot on the ground and began to head toward the now open door. He was almost out of the chamber when a squirm in his hand reminded him of the small insect that he had captured a small while ago. Seth smirked before shoving the bug into his mouth where he promptly devoured the little shit. With a satisfactory crunch and a quick swallow, the Minlon was no more. Seth thought about the possible loot he had just squandered by not using Plunder or Anima Thief.
¡°Worth it.¡±
He grinned with an antenna sticking out from between his teeth. Time for another! Seth began trotting up the steps out of the chamber with a gleeful look when he spotted a couple figures standing at the entrance of the burrow. ¡°Heh?¡±
--------
¡°I suppose we can¡¯t work this out in a civil manner?¡±
Seth now stood across from a trio of fancily clad teenagers that were pointing golden weapons at his heart. The group consisted of two girls and one young man who looked like the picture-perfect image of spoiled brats. They had pink skin and both girls had green eyes, while the boy¡¯s were red. It was clear to Seth that they were no older than sixteen, yet they were currently hefting three deadly weapons that no teenager should have access to.
¡°Give it up boy, we know you just completed that challenge down there. Give us whatever you won and scamper off before I have to break you.¡±
The boy in the middle scoffed at Seth while poising menacingly with the golden falchion in his hand. At his demand, the two girls flanking him also prepared their weapons while glaring at him.
Wow, this is like textbook royal brat behavior. The only thing they¡¯re missing is a snotty introduction of their names and house or whatever. Also, how am I the boy?
Seth grinned internally even though he could tell that they were definitely tier threes. Maybe I should give him a chance to say it¡
¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you man, what I got can¡¯t be given away. Who do you think you are anyway, trying to take my hard-earned reward?¡±
Seth¡¯s wishes came true as he watched both the girls tense with anger while the boy waved them off and sheathed his sword.
¡°I am Rich Letmond, of the esteemed Letmond royal family that rules over the Serion sector of the Galactic Plane.¡± He turned up his chin to maximum arrogancy before gesturing at the two surrounding him. ¡°My two party members that you see here are Dia and Tia.¡± As Rich introduced them, Dia propped up her halberd while Tia smashed her mace on the ground while staring daggers at Seth¡¯s existence.
It took all of Seth¡¯s power not to grin right in their faces, which would definitely lead to his swift demise.
¡°It is a pleasure to meet you ma lord! Forgive my arrogance, for I did not realize I was in the presence of royalty!¡±
Seth bowed in mock respect while changing his voice to a falsetto. This apparently seemed to please the young lord as his chin reached even higher into the air.
¡°Ah, no matter my young friend, although I do warn you for the future; almost every participating in this event is royalty of some stature, so do make sure to act accordingly if you survive long enough to meet another group.¡±
The boy surprisingly didn¡¯t seem incredibly interested in who Seth was at all.
¡°I suppose you must have received a tempering for your reward then, yes? Count yourself lucky, I know some who would pay a small fortune to get such a definite boost in resolve.¡± Rich stated.
Seth¡¯s eyebrows knit at the prince¡¯s explanation. Why does he think I boosted resolve?
¡°Um, ma lord Dic- uh, Rich? Why do you think I received a tempering in resolve?¡±
The young lord¡¯s face became a look of absolute pity. ¡°Oh my! How horrible it must be to have such a plebian mindset that when granted a tempering, you do not choose resolve!¡±
Rich put his face in his hands before turning away from Seth in disgust.
¡°Please, make sure this imbecile cannot take any more rewards of ours! But show mercy for such a young idiot, perhaps he can at least learn on the level of cattle.¡±
Dia and Tia both snarled before rushing Seth with their weapons put aside. Seth¡¯s tripled reflexes were barely enough to register the foot and fist flashing toward his face.
¡°Oh shi-¡±
29- A Somber Discovery
Without Nightmare Adrenaline, Seth would have surely died to the initial attack from the two young amazons.
Maximizing his speed, Seth threw his body backward to escape the two-pronged attack. Despite his desperate leap, the gilded boot still grazed his right torso.
He grunted in pain as he felt a loud crack sound from his ribs. Tia, the one who threw the kick, grinned in satisfaction before pivoting on a hand to deliver a devastating follow up kick to Seth¡¯s knee. He quickly crumpled to the ground before another haymaker from Dia connected with his jaw, turning his vision into a blur.
¡°Urgh!¡± In a last ditch effort, Seth expelled most of his mist to create two clones of smoke that went to attack the two warriors.
He didn¡¯t risk summoning either his weapon, or the illusions of daggers because it might warrant them to use their own arms. In the split second it took Dia and Tia to realize the illusions were harmless, Seth re-activated Wicked Being and turned it all the way up. He soon realized his fault when both of the girl¡¯s expressions turned from angry, to disgusted and rageful. He attempted to get up and run away, but that¡¯s exactly when both his arms were pinned behind his back and he crashed to the ground yet again.
Seth rolled over to find that his hands were now bound in golden chains. Before he could cuss in response, a rain of blows descended upon his face.
Both girls took turns beating the living shit out of him on the ground while Lord Dick stood to the side and watched the scene unfold.
After a measly two hours later, the group finally got tired and Rich signaled for the two devil women to stop their onslaught.
¡°I think the boy has finally learned his lesson. Let¡¯s not waste any more time on this mongrel.¡±
As the trio finally went on their merry way, Rich looked back in satisfaction at the unconscious man lying in a pool of his own blood and a little bit of piss. Little did the trio know, the man was becoming quite accustomed to head trauma and was not as unconscious as they thought.
--------
¡°Ureghh¡¡±
Seth¡¯s beaten body slowly roused itself as he strained to move his bound hands. Whatever chain they used was much stronger than any that could be found on Earth, yet he didn¡¯t think it was an ability because of the lack of energy coming from the material. With a groan, he finally was able to splay his right hand enough to summon the blade from Anar. As the blade cut through the chains like butter, he let out a sigh of relief before pulling out another recovery crystal.
¡°FUUUCCC-¡± he growled as a pain eclipsing his most recent beating spread throughout his body.
Internal bleeding and the pain of broken bones faded away until Seth was left lying on the ground in a cold sweat. The beating continued to replay in his mind. The pain was nothing to scoff about, but it definitely wasn¡¯t the thing that bothered him.
What bothered him was the helplessness that had overcome him during the ¡®fight¡¯, if you could even call it that. He suddenly recalled sitting on a bench at school while watching a similar event unfold. I¡¯m that weak ass little kid. Anger blossomed from his chest at that thought. Seth chomped on his lip and scowled in the direction that the trio had gone.
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¡°I¡¯m going to do what that little shit should have done.¡±
Without cleaning himself off, Seth activated Specter State and Stalker¡¯s Anthem before following the path Rich and his girlfriends left behind.
--------
It took him three hours of tracking to find the group.
Even though they had only left around ten minutes before Seth starting following them, it turns out that tracking people through a swamp is a lot harder than it looks. It is especially difficult when you are teenager who has never had to track anything through the wilderness while being bombarded by monsters.
After backtracking multiple times and killing countless random tier two monsters, Seth accidently stumbled upon the trio of royals camping around a very large grey tree with crimson leaves in a small clearing. The leaves differed from the normal violet ones of the other trees in the swamp. He now sat high in a grey tree a couple hundred meters away from their camp.
The two girls were leaning on the grinning young lord while he wrapped his arms around their waists. Although younger than Seth, it seemed like Rich Letmond had gone much farther with women than him.
Must be nice you little douchebag.
Seth held up his hand in a finger-gun gesture and pointed it right at the royal bastard. What I would give to have a long-range attack or something.
Looking past the group, Seth observed a large silver door embedded into the trunk of the tree. So it¡¯s another challenge huh?
A plan started to formulate in his mind.
After setting a ping on his map, Seth cast the group one more glance before heading in the opposite direction. After six more hours of searching around, he found and pinged three more spots that looked like challenges. It was much easier for him to find them now, traveling from the trees. The altitude as well as the lack of thick purple mud allowed Seth to feel like Tarzan as he jumped from branch to branch in a feat that would¡¯ve been impossible before gaining a Foundation.
As every hour passed, Seth became more and more accustomed to the swamp. Soon enough, he got so comfortable jumping from branch to branch that he started using Fear Itself so he could try multitasking while moving.
A large amount of faceplants and scrapes later, he was finally able to passively control all three of his clones while traveling through the trees. The key was using his mirror method. Despite not being able to act just on command, the illusions didn¡¯t require constant control when Seth just thought of them mirroring him. Before he knew it, it was already nighttime.
Unaware of how much time actually passed, Seth had found a total of eight suspected challenges, two of which seemed like they had already been cleared by other participants.
Satisfied with his progress, Seth checked his map and began making his way back to the tree challenge where his targets were camping. When he arrived back at the tree, it seemed like the group had already entered the challenge. The fire they had made seemed to still be smoldering, so they must have entered fairly recently. So that¡¯s how they knew I was inside. Just above the door was an orange myth that seemed to fluctuate every second. The myth resembled a countdown in a way, although Seth had no idea how to read them, so it didn¡¯t matter.
¡°Take all the time you need.¡± He grinned. Now it was time for him to start the plan.
--------
Eight hours of work later, Seth was finished.
Standing before him was an incredibly barbaric barricade consisting of twelve thick tree trunks and a large ditch. Using Anar, he acted as an improvised lumberjack to cut down, and debranch all of the nearest trees. Then, after that backbreaking endeavor, he used his superior strength to dig a trench that would make a soldier drool. The trench spanned the whole length of the door and stretched ten meters away and was half as deep as each tree was long.
For the next step of his trap, he set each log at an angle in the trench to sit against the lower half of the indestructible doors. He even tested their metal against Anar¡¯s Unstoppable Edge, and found that it didn¡¯t even leave a scratch.
To finalize his trap, he filled the trench back in to hold the logs in place against the door. Now, even a tier three¡¯s strength and abilities should be no match for the barricaded doors.
¡°Too easy.¡±
Seth grinned with a tired smile. Confident in his construct, Seth retreated back to the trees and carved himself out a nice cubby to sleep in. He curled up inside the hole and pulled out his water dropper and a bag of jerky he bought back in Ethin.
After a couple of pieces and a nice helping of water, Seth finally settled in and instantly fell asleep.
30- The Art of Being an Asshole
After three days of slaying monsters, pinging new challenges, and guarding the doors of the tree challenge, Seth was almost certain that his trap was successful.
He strolled back into the small clearing where a large grey tree with vibrant red leaves sat unperturbed. After the first day, he had set up a bit of camouflage around the entrance in order to make sure no other participants would stumble upon the challenge and try to wait out the trio he was already hunting. Of course, it was still quite hard to camouflage a huge tree with red leaves, so in reality it was just a measure to make Seth feel better.
For the umpteenth time, he checked to make sure the glowing orange myths were no longer changing, then he crept around the perimeter of the silver tree, looking for any signs of damage or holes that might have been used for escape. He even spread out his search into the near wilderness around the clearing, just in case they might have dug a hole farther out to try and escape him. After a half hour of searching, Seth let out a satisfied sigh when he failed to find any escape routes.
Makes sense right, they¡¯re royalty, why would any of them have an ability to dig holes?
He grinned despite himself. It looked like none of the challenges were designed to have any other exit except the one they walked through. It was truly a cheap move, a coward¡¯s way out, some would say.
¡°Too bad I don¡¯t give a shit.¡± He claimed aloud.
The plan wasn¡¯t exactly full proof, but it was still brutally effective if Seth¡¯s hypothesis was correct, and the doors were the only exit. It also depended on the abilities of the trio as well as their belongings. For all Seth knew, they might have a teleportation ability, or perhaps a phasing one. Or, maybe they had some sort of powerful item at their disposal. What really mattered in the whole plan was whether or not the royal trio had planned for such a contingency. Because if not, Seth was quite sure that because most of the participants are ¡®also royals¡¯ as Lord Dick liked to put it, that means that none of them would be expecting such a lowly trap.
So in reality, this was his first test of many in order to decide just how experienced the other participants really were. The fact it was these three that had to be experimented on first was just a plus.
If I could do this to all the participants, then I would be able to do however many challenges I wanted without interruption!
The thought of all the possible tempering rewards made Seth drool.
Depending on how many challenges are in each event dimension, I might be able to hit tier three before moving to the next one!
With a renewed sense of vigor, Seth took a quick water break before heading to the nearest challenge he had scouted days before. The next challenge was in a particularly smelly section of the swamp. Although all of it was disgusting, this spot definitely took the cake. Swarms of dismembered corpses floated in a green-purple pond that formulated a sort of moat around a small island in its center. The corpses were Seth¡¯s doing, as he had found that the colored liquid of the pond was quite acidic to the touch. He had constantly brought any monsters in the area over to the pond in order to try and form a pseudo-bridge out of their surprisingly resilient hide.
He initially tried to build an actual bridge out of fallen trees, but for some reason, they would just sink while only the bodies would float. What was more odd was the fact that he had killed a rather large grey boar-like creature that was bigger than some of the trees, yet it did not sink at all. Regardless of the odd properties of the pond, he was certain that entering the liquid would be his demise, so although gruesome, he continued to build the corpse bridge diligently. Because he had been working on it for a couple days before, it only took a few more hours of hunting to complete the ugly walkway.
While attempting to shake off some of the smelly remains, Seth tested the bridge with a similarly weighted log he cut off from a nearby tree. In expert granny throw form, he lobbed the log onto one of the smaller corpses and found that the body sunk a couple centimeters before holding its position above the water line. In silent celebration, he quickly mounted the bridge and made his way to the island. The short journey ended with Seth safely landing on the island in the center, where a trapdoor made of familiar silver metal sat closed.
¡°Come to Papa,¡± he murmured before pulling eagerly on the handle.
With a satisfying groan, the trapdoor smoothly opened to reveal a ladder leading farther down into the darkness. He was just about to dive in when a horrid stench even worse than the rotting corpses outside began to assault his nostrils.
¡°Bleurgh!¡± Seth retched for a moment before taking a spare piece of tanned Xtrey Wolf hide from his cache.
He quickly wrapped it around his head a few times before securing it with a few pins he had bought back in Ethin. They were originally meant to be used to secure a curtain for a makeshift shelter he purchased on instinct, but they worked for this situation as well. With only a slit left open for his eyes, and an elementary defense against the atrocious stench, he finally began his descent into the pit.
--------
After one minute of climbing, Seth was patient and excited.
After five minutes, he was mildly curious about how deep the hole was.
After a half hour, he was ready to jump.
There was nothing very interesting about the descent. It was incredibly dark, it smelled like death, and the steel ladder was the only thing that he could see. He impatiently activated True Sight in an effort to see the bottom, but no matter how hard he tried, a black pit was the only thing that met his gaze. He huffed in annoyance before inspecting the walls around him. Or, he tried to, but darkness surrounded him on all sides.
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A full hour passed by, and he finally found the end of his patience. He quickly stopped humming ¡°I Get Around¡± by the Beach Boys and summoned Anar from his hand. Next, he let go of the ladder and began a freefall while watching under himself with True Sight. Air ripped at his makeshift mask as he continued his silent fall. Soon enough, a small purple outline started to grow beneath him.
Seth¡¯s stomach did a quick somersault before he slammed Anar into the space between two rungs on the ladder. Anar bent almost ninety degrees, while Seth¡¯s arms and shoulders screamed with pain and exertion. Luckily, his trusty weapon didn¡¯t break by the show of force, and he swiftly wrapped himself around the ladder before dismissing his glaive. His left arm hung limply at his side while his right creaked horribly in its place on a rung. With a grimace, Seth used a lower classed recovery crystal and sat in anguish while his muscles regrew and stitched themselves back together. His shoulders painfully slammed themselves back in place and the bones of his left arm cracked loudly while they were demolished and rebuilt in a few seconds.
¡°Why couldn¡¯t they make these damn things painless?¡± Seth mumbled to himself before resuming his tireless climb while drenched in sweat from the humid stench and exhaustion.
On the bright side, his fall had brought him roughly a few hundred meters from the ground, so he slid the rest of the way down while using a few pieces of snakeskin to stop the ladder from burning his hands. When he finally reached the ground, he almost went to kiss it before he noticed that it consisted of a mushy, green and purple sludge. He tested its depth and contents with his glaive and found that it was only a couple inches deep and non-caustic, so he dropped down with a sickening thwoop. Thankfully, his boots were rather high on his ankles, so the liquid didn¡¯t directly touch his skin.
Seth casually rubbed the calluses on his palms before glancing around the new area for any signs of the challenge. Within a few seconds, he saw a small purple-pink pile of something in the distance. Summoning forth Anar and a shadowy clone, he advanced on the distant mass. As he got closer, he found that the pile was actually a large monster, lying on its side like a corpse. Although the creature looked like it had been rather formidable before, now it looked like only a husk of its previous might. Pulsing blisters littered the surface of a thin pelt of fur. The dark skin underneath looked as if it was thinner than paper, showing bones and withering muscles.
The monster was as large as a semi, with six sleek limbs stretching from a broad chest. What must have been numerous clawed fingers now looked to be wet socks covered in pus and blood. A familiar green and purple sludge excreted from pores all over the beast, including the ram-like head and a spiked, long tail that mostly sat submerged under the sludge.
With a fright, Seth realized the thing was still breathing, as he saw the slight rise and fall of a diseased chest. He waded over to the creature¡¯s head and saw four milky white eyes slowly roll over to gaze at his figure. Real fear thrummed through Seth as he felt an echo of an ancient and strong power emit from the beast¡¯s sightless eyes.
In its hay day, this thing might have been a tier seven, maybe even higher!
With renewed caution, Seth slowly etched away from the dying monster. Regardless of how bad it looked, he was unsure even an incapacitated eldritch horror like this thing could be beaten by a tier two like Seth. With a shaky thought, he activated Perceive and discovered a crimson silhouette of what could only be described as a nightmare staring back at him with a clear hunger in its eyes. It was like the creature was back at its peak, standing over its own disease-ridden corpse like nothing was wrong.
Terror clawed its way up his throat as Seth froze in place while the creature¡¯s anima slowly withdrew back into the body of the dying corpse. With its milky eyes still on him, the rotting maw of the body opened to reveal a mouth full of maggots and receding gums. Slowly, its lips began to move as if it were trying to speak with Seth.
Instead of words, his ears were assaulted by a series of moans and whimpers, an unexpected sound given that the thing¡¯s anima had such a horrifying presence just seconds before.
The creature¡¯s moans did not cease as Seth stood unmoving in the disgusting bog of the creature¡¯s fluids. Unsure of what to do, he just watched with obvious ignorance as the beast continued to try an speak. Finally, the monster gave a heavy sigh that rattled through its body like sandpaper before a wave of the disgusting sludge shot toward Seth at an inconceivable speed. Regardless of his superhuman senses, Seth was unable to react before tendrils of the sludge found purchase in his nostrils and mouth, quickly overwhelming his makeshift mask and choking him out.
Muffled screams sought to find their way out as he wildly swung at the tendrils with Anar, trying to stop the ceaseless onslaught of disgusting fluid. Then, as quickly as they had arrived, they fell back lifelessly into the pool below.
Seth fell onto all fours as he pulled off the mask and loudly retched out all of the fluid that remained in his mouth and throat. Tears stung his eyes at the horrid stench that now burrowed into his nostrils and wafted through his lungs. Still hacking from the sludge, he turned and weakly pointed his glaive at the motionless beast in a poor defensive stance. Again, the creature¡¯s lips started to move and a small crimson myth began to burn weakly in the air between them.
¡°Can you understand me now brat?¡± a throaty and masculine voice asked him.
Seth stood dumbfounded while the creature seemed to sense his understanding.
¡°I thought all of you pitiful slaves had the ability to understand every tongue? Whatever, I do not care. It is time you fulfill your part of the contract; I have been here for much too long. No participants even come down here, how am I supposed to perish if none of them ever come to me? Remember me? It¡¯s Rulik! It has been over thirty thousand cycles past the limit we agreed on! Kill me NOW!¡±
The last demand seemed to overtax the creature, as he erupted into a fit of disgusting wheezes and hacks that overshadowed Seth¡¯s own. Still totally unaware of what was going on, Seth slowly responded to ¡®Rulik¡¯s¡¯ outburst. ¡°Um, I think you have me confused with someone else¡ I am one of the participants.¡± Rulik¡¯s milky eyes narrowed at his proclamation,
¡°Don¡¯t try to fib you little brat, I might not have my eyesight, but I can tell by the taste of your blood that you are a fiend. All participants are royal twits of high to divine classed races, no member of dark lineage would have access to such a prestigious event! But¡ wait a moment¡ no¡ I can barely feel your power at all. One so weak wouldn¡¯t be able to be a member of their organization. Hmmm¡ perhaps you are a participant. Either that or the organization has truly fallen so far they would need to recruit a tier two of all things.¡±
He finished with a disgusted moan. Seth sat quietly and tried not to be offended while the creature worked through its thoughts. He was becoming weirdly accustomed to accommodating temperamental ancient beings. Finally, Rulik finished thinking about whatever he was working through and turned his attention back to Seth.
¡°It matters not if you are a participant or a member, just slay me so I can be done with this suffering. I am already well past due of my contract as no one ever enters my domain for Nic knows what reason. Kill me and claim your little reward brat.¡±
Rulik coughed with clear relief in his tone. Seth honestly wanted nothing to do with whatever contract the beast was going on about, but killing a monster that wouldn¡¯t fight back and getting rewarded for it sounded like an incredibly easy challenge to him. Hefting Anar, he moved forward to strike the killing blow and fulfill the wishes of the suffering being. Right before bringing down his weapon, a rather sinister thought occurred to Seth.
What else could I get out of him?
31- Hostages
¡°Why do you hesitate brat? End my suffering!¡± The sludge underneath Seth¡¯s boots rumbled as he stood over the diseased behemoth. A smirk crawled across his face as he lowered his weapon.
¡°Oh shoot, I forgot! Man, I would SO love to help you out, but unfortunately I am only a tier two. I don¡¯t think I would be able to pierce your hide.¡± He said with a mock disappointed sigh.
Rulik growled for a moment while dust billowed from his nostrils.
¡°As much as this pains me to say brat, my body is only a shadow of its previous might. Even a relatively strong tier two attack should be enough to at least injury me. Take as many swings as needed, the agony of this curse overwhelms all.¡±
The beast closed all four of its eyes, yet again waiting for him to end its life. A few minutes passed in silence and the creature angrily opened his eyes before glaring unseeingly at Seth.
¡°WHY DO YOU WAIT? KILL ME NOW!¡±
An echo of power rippled through the air, but Seth did not waver.
¡°Sorry, but you said a strong tier two attack could hurt you. The thing is, I¡¯m just a support type of fighter. I don¡¯t have any real combat abilities.¡± He quickly gestured to the glaive in his hand. ¡°Even this thing is just a prop to scare people off, see?¡±
Seth turned over Anar in his hand before shattering it over his knee. The pieces all scattered into the sludge under them before promptly disappearing into black smoke that reformed in his hand. Rulik¡¯s eyes narrowed as he seemed to study the weapon.
¡°Hmm¡ well it does seem kind of peculiar. No matter, don¡¯t you have any combat abilities?¡±
Seth looked dubiously at Rulik while the creature¡¯s eyes seemed to look right next to him. He curiously looked over to his clone that stood on the other side of the beast before withdrawing the ability back into his body.
¡°Oh, that was just an ability of mine, it¡¯s not real.¡±
A glob of blood and sludge spat out of the monster¡¯s open maw.
¡°I¡¯m not talking about that little illusion you idiot.¡±
Rulik turned his attention back to the spot next to Seth, ¡°Don¡¯t you have a voice of your own?¡±
Yet again Seth stood dumbfounded while the beast talked to no one.
¡°Uh, there is no one there.¡±
Upon his claim, Rulik narrowed his gaze. After a moment of silent thought, the monster seemed to overcome whatever was on his mind. ¡°It seems my senses are farther gone than I thought.¡± The monster turned its milky eyes back to Seth.
¡°If what you say is true, then you will need a stronger weapon. Do you truly not have anything else to use?¡±
Seth watched as a spark of hopelessness began to grow in the ancient beast¡¯s eyes. Finally, it was time for him to strike.
¡°Well, I might have something that could help, but it was extremely expensive, and I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth a lame reward like a low-quality tempering.¡±
Realization dawned on the creature before rage replaced it.
¡°You dare to try and swindle me brat? Without this curse I WOULD SQUASH YOU LIKE A BUG!¡±
The sludge underneath Seth began to gather in a tendril but then abruptly fell limp. Anar vibrated hungrily in his hand, waiting for the next sludge tendril.
¡°Unfortunately, that¡¯s not going to work grandpa. It takes way too long for you to form one of those things.¡±
The disgusting beast began to tremble in place as fits of coughing erupted from his mouth. It took a moment for Seth to realize that the creature was crying.
¡°DAMN THIS BLASTED CURSE! HOW HAVE I BEEN REDUCED TO SUCH A SORRY STATE?!?!¡±
Pus started to flow from Rulik¡¯s eyes.
¡°Please boy¡ just kill me¡¡±
Any person with morals would probably feel bad watching an ancient beast beg for its death. Unfortunately, Seth simply did not care.
¡°Cry me a riv¡well I guess you already have. Just cough up a better reward and I¡¯ll slay you like you want.¡±
This seemed to upset the monster even more.
¡°I can¡¯t do that you little brat! That would violate the terms of my contract!¡±
A bubble of rage re-entered Rulik.
¡°Just leave my sight then brat! If you don¡¯t slay me, some other dolt will. If you think I care about waiting, you are wrong. I would rather wait another millennium then be manipulated by some peasant!¡±
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Seth walked closer to the face of the dying monarch with a cruel grin.
¡°Are you sure someone else is going to come? I thought you said no one has come for thousands of cycles? And who knows, if someone might accidently cover up your little trapdoor, then I don¡¯t think anyone would ever find this place. What a shame that would be, huh?¡±
With an almost imperceptible shudder, Seth finally saw a new emotion that began to fester into the grimace of Rulik¡¯s face: naked fear. At this new sight, an unknown sensation began to grow along his spine. It was like an ice-cold fire that started to spread along the entirety of his skin. Seth''s body slowly reacted to the feeling, causing his muscles to tense and his skin to constrict. Pores stretched open and his teeth clamped together in a strange, bared tooth grin that felt both unfamiliar and wrong.
Strangely enough, the monster beneath him seemed to react further to Seth''s new expression, creating even more pus tears to dribble down his face. In almost a trance, he stepped away from the hulking monster and headed back toward the ladder.
¡°It seems you need some time to collect yourself. I will be back at some point, and I expect you to be more agreeable by then.¡±
Reaching for the first rung, Seth started to ascend in a quick, methodical pace while the long-forgotten monster beneath him threw a torrent of insults and curses at his back. This time, the trip up the ladder was empty of boredom.
--------
As he finally reached the trapdoor that signaled the entrance to the challenge, Seth was elated to be back in the open air. Although a far cry from clean, the air surrounding the toxic pond was marginally more bearable than the stank, still fog that was inside Rulik¡¯s grave. It had been even worse after the loss of his makeshift mask that now sat somewhere in the sludge deep underneath his feet. After closing the trapdoor and making his way over to the shore, Seth painstakingly climbed back up to his comfortable perch in the trees.
Even though his whole body was screaming in exhaustion from the multi-hour long climb up the ladder, he still wasn¡¯t going to stop and rest when he technically hadn¡¯t completed a challenge today. So with a small break to reenergize himself, he ate some bread from his cache before activating the slew of abilities needed to hide himself amongst the trees.
Finally, he summoned Anar and then swiftly bolted off toward where the next known challenge was. Unfortunately, he only traveled for barely five minutes before he unknowingly ran into a fast-moving object that knocked him out of the air. The impact was surprisingly not painful, so he quickly recovered and landed gracefully. The same could not be said about the object he collided with, because he watched it flop loudly into the mud a couple meters away from him.
Although perturbed by the fact someone was able to sense him so easily while traveling amongst the trees with all his stealth abilities activated, he speedily recovered his wits and darted behind a dead tree that sat opposite from the way he thought the object had come from. Stretching his senses, he carefully casted a poor illusion of bark over his skin using Fear Itself to further cover his presence.
After a few moments of silence, a strange groan sounded off from the spot where he remembered the object had landed. Recognizing the sound to be of a living being, Seth wasted no time before rushing the suspected monster with a ruthless downward slash that would bisect anything up to tier three in durability. What he did not expect was to find a skinny boy with an arrow through his leg staring in horror and confusion in the opposite direction of Seth¡¯s silent attack. In a flash, Seth absorbed the rather shoddy equipment of the brown-haired boy as well as his lackluster muscles and large multi-hued mace that should¡¯ve been impossible for the boy to carry.
Realizing the situation, he pivoted in place to halt his attack that should¡¯ve split the boy¡¯s skull right open. His tired muscles squealed in response to the abrupt halt and Anar vibrated annoyingly at the lack of blood that met its pearly white edge. Without a second of hesitation, Seth bolted back to his previous spot next to the dead tree and rapidly assured that all of his stealth abilities were at full effect and that Wicked Being was not active. Soon enough, another arrow whizzed through the air and sparked off of the boy¡¯s mace.
¡°I won¡¯t go down that eas-¡± the boy squeaked out before another arrow appeared from a completely different direction sheathed in purple dimensional energy.
True Sight was the only thing that allowed him to see the lightning-fast projectile shoot right through the neck of the ill-prepared boy. In a split second, the boy was dead. His lifeless body dropped back into the mud while Seth held his breath, unaware of the location of the sniper. With only the power of his tier two abilities standing between him and certain death, Seth poured all of his confidence and focus into maintaining Specter State and Stalker¡¯s Anthem, while at the same time refining the illusion of wildlife surrounding his body.
After an excruciating two minutes, Seth sensed a new presence enter his line of sight. A woman dressed in a brown cloak advanced upon the fresh kill. She held a rather complex looking crossbow over her shoulder that was clearly responsible for the previous arrows that took the boy¡¯s life.
¡°Too easy. These royal children have no tact or grit at all. The only thing that stops them from dying to their own stupidity is the ridiculously expensive equipment and unique abilities their families give to them.¡±
She reached a gloved hand down to the corpse, picking up the multi-hued mace. In a flash, the mace disappeared like it had never existed in the first place.
¡°But damn, I¡¯m going to make a fortune from these little shits.¡±
Seth continued to hold his position while silently observing the woman. Because she was wearing a cloak, he couldn¡¯t see any distinct features from her, nor could he sense any energy emitting from her figure. Even with True Sight, the only defining thing on her person was the large crossbow. It had a sort of scope on the top that seemed to have multiple settings, and the body consisted of an azure stock, accompanied by a grey barrel. After a few more minutes of her scouring the body, she finally stood up and disappeared back into the wilderness.
Although she left, Seth continued to sit still with absolute concentration for another ten minutes. Eventually, he dropped the illusion when his energy started to bottom out. He released a sigh of relief before cautiously making his way over to the body of the dead boy. He stared at the glassy, open eyes of the skinny corpse before kneeling over him.
¡°Tough shit, kiddo.¡± He looked to have been probably seventeen, not even that much younger than Seth.
Better him than me.
He thought emotionlessly in his mind. He slowly got up and was about to head out back toward his initial destination when a soft feeling started pulling at his consciousness. Instinctively, Seth reached a small tendril of energy toward the dead body of the boy. As he made contact, a screen entered his vision.
-Anima cannot be stolen, the user did not kill the individual.
-The individual¡¯s cache is still intact and has not been claimed. Would you like to claim the deceased individual¡¯s cache using Plunder?
32- One Man鈥檚 Trash
-Use Plunder?
The screen pinged Seth yet again to respond to the prompt while he stood dumbfounded over the corpse. I can Plunder people¡¯s caches? Wait, if it¡¯s possible to take people¡¯s cache items, why didn¡¯t that lady in the cloak take it instead?
Alarm rang throughout Seth¡¯s head before he quickly summoned Anar and jumped several feet away from the body. His eyes darted back and forth while he sporadically moved his limbs, waiting for the arrow of death that was surely about to end his life. After several moments of his life flashing before his eyes, Seth¡¯s frenzy was only met with cold silence. No death arrow. No cloaked woman.
Honestly, he was kind of disappointed.
After doing an extra check around the perimeter just in case, he ended up back next to the corpse with a frown. ¡°Kind of a rookie move, huh?¡± He gave a look back down at the skinny corpse, as if trying to get it to understand his confusion.
¡°No traps, no ambush, and the real loot was left behind. Either she is extremely bad at her job as a bandit, or she isn¡¯t a bandit.¡±
He thought about it for only a second longer before pulling back up the screen to Plunder the unmoving body. He activated his ability and watched as his cache filled up with a slew of miscellaneous items. Unfortunately, it seemed Seth¡¯s cache was no match for all the new items, as a small pile of stuff spawned directly in front of his feet. Between the mound of random monster pieces, stuff he bought in Ethin, and some of his important items like Fool¡¯s Errand, Seth¡¯s cache had already been half full. Now, it was completely full and overflowing, as shown by the items on the ground. It seemed it was about time to finally go through his things and ditch some of the junk.
Damn, I really wish I would¡¯ve sold some of this crap while I was in Ethin.
He sifted through the pile before luckily finding a medium, blue bejeweled knapsack among the items. He threw all the stuff from the ground into the bag before taking off toward his original destination. The next challenge was near the towering mountains that bordered the swamp. He had found a rather large crack that contained a familiar silver metallic wall. Fifteen minutes passed without another person crashing into Seth. He safely arrived at the crack a couple minutes later and found that it still hadn¡¯t been completed.
Although he wasn¡¯t sure what the challenge would consist of, he was confident that whatever the case, he could handle it. Plus, entering a challenge meant that no one should be able to get in through the entrance, so he can safely look through his new loot. The only hitch would be if this challenge was like Rulik¡¯s lair, where the exit was always available.
Regardless of the risks, Seth walked up to the wall. The metal of the wall slowly peeled back at the spot in front of him, causing a sizable rectangular hole to open for him. No light shined through the hole, just leaving a sheet of hazy darkness as the only identifier that he could enter. He strolled into the hole without hesitation. Upon entering, the darkness licked at his skin and a sense of familiar weightlessness took over his being.
Just as he realized that the feeling was teleportation, colors exploded back into his vision and he found himself standing in a cube-like room. He curiously scratched his chin while he analyzed the room. It looked to be seven by seven feet, and consisted of a series of random puzzle pieces that protruded from the walls, ceiling, and floor. Honestly, it reminded him of a toddler¡¯s jigsaw puzzle.
Instead of diving into the challenge that was clearly going to take up the majority of his next couple days, Seth emptied out all of the contents of the blue knapsack, as well as the items in his cache excluding the Xtrey Cloak, his recovery crystals, and Fool''s Errand. It was time for his favorite part of this new life: checking out some new loot. With a greedy smile on his face, Seth sorted the forty or so items into groups. Soon enough, the miscellaneous items were laid into four groups: Potions, monster pieces, plants, and unknown trinkets.
First, he started looking at the monster pieces, as they seemed the least interesting and it was the largest pile. After a little while, he had used Identify to decide which monster parts were the most valuable. It seemed that most of the good items that were in that pile were just the ones he had acquired beforehand from his Plunder ability. It seemed that his ability was way better at harvesting monsters than he had previously thought.
Any pieces that were from the skinny guy¡¯s cache were pretty sloppy, so even though some were of a higher tier, they were still not worth keeping. After setting aside the monster pieces he was thinking about keeping, he swiftly moved on to a more interesting group.
Scooting over to the pile of plants, Seth started to identify them as well. It turned out that the plant group could also be separated into multiple groups of its own. There was two multihued fruits that apparently helped raise attributes, six bushels of herbs that stemmed bleeding, a small mountain of edible berries and stalks, and a large amount of something called Shoogin leaves whose description labeled them as a potent hallucinogenic drug.
Looks like homeboy was a bit of a hippie.
He shrugged with disinterest before deciding to take all of the plants with him, even the Shoogin leaves. Who knew, maybe he could find a use for them in the future, even if it''s just to trade with another hippie. He smiled at the thought while he turned to the pile of assorted bottles.
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¡°What do we got here?¡±
First, he picked up a star shaped bottle with a vicious purple liquid inside. He shook it around a bit and watched as a small storm of purple glitter begin to swirl inside. True Sight showed the potion to be of a significantly higher value than the rest of his stack. A few showed small amounts of energy as well, but this one definitely took the cake. He hesitantly set the potion aside for anticipation¡¯s sake. Seth had always liked to leave the best part of a dessert for last so its taste would linger the longest. With one last glance to the star potion, he moved on to the rest of the pile.
Not being able to contain his patience, Seth flew through the pile of uninteresting potions before arriving at the small tray of bottles that showed signs of energy. The majority of them were lower classed recovery potions as well as quite a few bottles of things called Liquid Ambrosia. According to the description, they were lower classed bottles of sustenance that were pretty much rich people field rations.
He gave one a taste and was delighted to find that they were absolutely delicious, like a gourmet milkshake. He quickly stashed them into his cache before looking back over at the recovery potions he left. Seth wasn¡¯t entirely sure how they differed from his recovery crystals, but he didn¡¯t think it mattered that much. The more, the merrier. He tossed the rest of them into his cache and moved to the bottles with traces of energy. He was super excited to Identify them as well because the bottles themselves were encircled with gold swirls and looked pretty important. His smile slowly faded as he read the description of the bottles.
Fun Yum Happy Time (Class B):
-Once ingested, the user will experience a rush of dopamine followed by an inexplainable feeling of jubilation and delight, as well as a large increase in libido.
¡°Are you fucking serious?¡±
Seth stared in absolute disdain at the gilded tray of potions.
This guy really brought Viagra here? Who the hell was he planning on using this on? I know you¡¯re a seventeen-year-old, but dude, come on! Not the time!
He begrudgingly placed the tray inside his cache, because even though he wasn¡¯t going to use it, they were still Class B items. They should fetch a pretty penny if he held onto them for long enough. Finally, it was time for Seth to move on to the potion that he had been waiting for. He snatched the star potion before giving it a dangerous look.
I swear to christ if this is more drugs, I will go back and kill him again. With a spark of mild anxiety, he activated Identify.
Elixir of the Fatigued Hero (Class S):
-Once ingested, the user¡¯s constitution will adopt a special property based on the elixir consumed. (Alert: The constitution attribute will not be affected by adopted property.) (Warning! To adopt a constitution property from an elixir, user must be at least tier five for assured survival.) (Warning! User¡¯s survival chance cannot be calculated because of conflicting title: Little David.)
Seth¡¯s eyes widened with surprise and excitement.
A Class S potion! It took me hundreds of kills just to get Inmate¡¯s Resilience and that¡¯s only Class A! Where the hell did he even find this?!
Drool began to pool inside his mouth at the thought of drinking it.
¡°Based on the description, this isn¡¯t supposed to be for people in the Configuring stage¡ But it also didn¡¯t say I would definitely die from using it.¡± Seth mused over the idea.
Gaining a power boost that is usually enjoyed only by tier fives and higher seemed like it would be almost cheating at his level. Although, there was another interesting piece of information that he was able to derive from the elixir¡¯s description. His only title, Little David, applied to more than just fighting monsters. He shrugged at the new information.
Just another plus of having a title, I guess. It¡¯s pretty cool that it applies to more than just monsters though.
He thought about it for another moment before setting the bottle aside for the second time. If he was going to die from using the elixir, he might as well check out the rest of his spoils beforehand. He finally moved on to the last group of random trinkets. The first he picked up was a copper cylinder about the size of his forearm.
Camp in a Can (Class D):
-Upon activation, creates a small camp consisting of an individual sized tent, a fire pit, and a set of stakes for perimeter patrol. (Reusable)
¡°Sweet,¡± he claimed with gratitude.
Although not really necessary, it was a welcome item to have. Plus, the perimeter stakes could definitely be useful just on their lonesome. Next, he moved on to a small green disk that had some square shaped facets carved into the material.
Camouflage Array (Woods) (Class C):
-Upon activation, creates a seven meter wide circle of varying camouflage to hide the user¡¯s location. (Reusable)
Slightly less excited, Seth also put the disk into his cache along with the Camp in a Can. It seems like the trinkets might be less interesting than he had originally thought. The trend continued as he went through the last three items. One was a portable water purifier, another was an attachment for a weapon that he had no use for, and the last was a broken pair of something that had a similar use as binoculars.
Well that was underwhelming. You really brought high classed drugs but nothing else that was worth a shit.
Seth thought back to the cloaked woman. She had spent a good few minutes looting the body as well, to the point where the guy really on had the clothes on his back left over. Maybe he had a bag of better stuff that was on his person.
That would make sense as to why he had another empty bag inside his cache.
Despite the possible loss of high-quality loot, he was still satisfied with the stuff he had gotten from not even fighting.
Finalizing his choices, Seth left most of the monster parts on the ground while he put the rest of the items into his cache. He even put the blue bag away as well, because he didn¡¯t think toting around the bag was worth it just to have some extra junk. Grabbing the last item from the ground, he held up the swirling star potion in front of his face.
¡°No better time than the present I guess,¡± he muttered.
Unstopping the bottle, he thought about all of the things that could go wrong from drinking the concoction in his hands. There was no guarantee he could safely ingest the contents.
Unfortunately for fate, Seth simply did not care.
Tipping over the bottle, he silently downed the entirety of the liquid.
33- A Change
Seth licked the last of the vanilla flavored elixir off his lips while looking appreciatively at the empty star bottle in his hands.
Damn, that was pretty good!
He tossed the bottle into the pile of leftover monster parts before assuming a stance similar to a Super-Saiyan. He waited in earnest for an influx of energy to rampage through his body. A minute passed, then two. His muscles slowly unclenched as he realized nothing was happening.
¡°Was it fake?¡± he wondered aloud.
He quickly went through his stats to see if anything changed, but nothing had.
No, it couldn¡¯t have been. There was too much energy for it to be fake.
He pondered over the bottle for a second before also ruling out poison. So far there had been no change at all, not even a negative one. With a disappointed sigh, he decided to wait and watch for any changes while he worked on the new challenge.
He thought about fulfilling his daily quota of Fool¡¯s Errand, but then thought better of it. Consuming an unknown elixir, then weakening himself purposefully, sounded like a bad idea. He turned to the nearest wall and began to scour its surface for any clue of how to proceed.
Seth pushed, pulled, scratched, plucked, and even licked almost every inch of the room for over an hour before he found small red puzzle piece that finally did something. There was nothing special looking about it, but luckily, after he gave it a twist, it turned white and sunk back into the wall. A soft click sounded behind him, and he whirled to see¡ nothing.
He hunched his shoulders in annoyance at the realization that he would most likely have to go through the whole room again to find the next piece that moved.
--------
Eight breaks, four naps, three pages of Fool¡¯s Errand, and two hundred sixty one clicks later, Seth finally started to feel something.
After hours of nothing, he had caved and decided that losing some blood wouldn¡¯t be that big of a deal. He was pretty experienced with the weakness of blood loss now, so he could feel that the new development was not a result of the book Folly had given him. He halted his search for the next piece and went to examine his hands. A tingling ache had begun to crawl through his bones.
Within only a few seconds, the mild feeling of arthritis took a turn for the worse and he watched in agony as his bones literally roiled underneath his skin.
¡°Grahhh!¡± the shifting bone condition drew up his arm just like a rash.
Seth grabbed his shoulder, as if trying to hold back the internal war. His actions were futile as the infection spilled into his chest, then to the rest of his body. He spilled onto the ground as his legs gave out on him, also turning into roiling masses.
Words could not describe the feeling Seth was going through.
Seriously, words couldn¡¯t describe it because Seth¡¯s throat was currently twisted so randomly that he couldn¡¯t speak.
His eyes bulged in their sockets as his whole body spasmed around in different directions, like a spider being crushed. Although now totally unable to utilize his physical senses, Seth felt a wave of dimensional energy seep into his being. It wormed its way through his skull at a snail¡¯s pace.
Unfortunately for him, this meant that his mind was the first to recover.
He mentally screeched for a full minute before the energy finally re-formed his mouth. Then, he promptly began to scream for real as his body continued to thrash around mindlessly.
Soon enough, his initial breath ran out and he choked yet again on the lack of oxygen. At this point, his throat had just barely recovered, so although his lungs were still gone somewhere in the mish mash of his body, he could still drag a small breath in every once in a while, when his trachea opened up.
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Seth sat in a battle of will, as the only thing he could do while the energy worked its way through his body was breathe in tiny amounts. His face moved between purple and red as veins threatened to burst from his skin from the exertion. After passing his head, the energy seemed to slow even further when reaching his chest. This painstaking process continued on for a time unknown to Seth, as the only thing he could think about was getting in his next breath.
Eventually, his chest reformed enough to where his lungs were finally back in place. He took a full, grateful breath before his mind was finally struck with the overwhelming amount of pain that was wreaking havoc through his unformed extremities. A mix of blood and spittle flew out of his mouth as he bit hard down on his lip. He squeezed his eyelids down over his bloodshot eyes in an attempt to focus. The destructive process finally passed all the way through his chest, leaving just his arms and lower half of his body.
Despite all of the horrible agony, Seth¡¯s face somehow curled up in a smile, as he realized that he would actually survive.
Before long, the pain was overcome by the excitement that erupted from him in waves. Days might have passed, but Seth was undeterred as he waited out the infection. The arms and legs took longest of all. They took over triple the time to reform than his chest had. They also hurt quite a lot more as well. The pain even managed to rival his excitement for a short while. Finally, he sat and watched as his finger and toe bones slowly stopped roiling underneath his skin.
Somehow, even his ink black hand appeared to have gone through the exact same transformation that the rest of his body experienced, even though it wasn¡¯t even flesh and bone. The storm of energy that had been previously rushing through his body dissipated into nothing and Seth went to get back up.
He shakily rose to his feet and stood up straight, only to fall forward and faceplant on the ground. More confused than annoyed, he rubbed his crooked nose before trying again. He slowly raised himself this time, making sure to keep his balance as well as possible. After using the wall for support, he eventually found the posture that allowed him to stand. His normal standing position was straight, with pressure mostly on the back of his heels. He usually had a bit of a slouch too. Now, his body weight was mostly held on the balls of his feet, and although he couldn¡¯t see himself, it felt like his slouch had slightly increased too.
Overall, he really didn¡¯t seem very different.
He performed a couple movements and stretches to familiarize himself with the new posture before looking at the rest of his body to see if anything else had changed. He checked every inch of himself, even stripping naked to try and find anything. But try as he might, he couldn¡¯t find a single thing that was different. Besides the new stance, it seemed like the elixir hadn¡¯t done anything. Seth crossed his arms in thought, and then an idea struck him. He quickly opened the body diagram in his Status, only to find that nothing had changed on the picture either.
He was about to continue scrolling through each tab, when he noticed that the colors of his left eye and right hand were no longer blue. They were now both green, just like the rest of his body parts. With a furrowed brow, he went to double check his appearance descriptions, but found that they still hadn¡¯t changed. His hair and left eye were ¡°Undecided¡±, like always.
He hesitantly closed the Menu before closing his eyes. He began nibbling on his lip as he tried to focus. For some reason, his head felt fuzzy, so much so that he didn¡¯t even realize that his peripherals had been blinking for the last couple minutes.
¡°What is that?¡± he questioned while swiping his hands in the air.
It took a moment for him to remember that it was a notification. He re-opened the Menu and went to the Notifications tab.
-Congratulations! You have received the Title of ¡°Absurd Specimen¡± due to the successful augmentation of an attribute before finishing the Configuring Stage!
Absurd Specimen:
-Effects of attributes increase by 10%.
(Only achievable with one of the following prerequisites: Titles: Little David; Defier: Unfathomable Will; Creator¡¯s Chosen )
Upon reading the notification, the cloud in Seth¡¯s mind began to dissipate.
¡°Wha- how-¡ OH FUCK YEAH!¡±
He went to jump for joy, not realizing how large a ten percent increase was, and unsurprisingly found himself shooting straight into the ceiling before flopping unceremoniously onto the ground. Instead of pain, he only felt pure ecstasy at the new taste of power. His newest title was completely unexpected, yet resulted in a huge boon nonetheless.
Apparently augmenting an attribute is a bigger deal than I thought! He thought to himself, baffled.
Confusion muddled his newfound excitement as he still couldn¡¯t figure out what exactly the augmentation entailed. He navigated to his Status, yet was left confounded when he couldn¡¯t find a change anywhere on the screen. It made sense though, as far as he could tell. The description of the elixir said it gave his constitution some sort of special property, but it said it wouldn¡¯t affect his attribute itself.
Instead of sulking over the undiscovered new change, he cracked his neck and prepared himself to begin clicking puzzle pieces again. The sooner he got out, the sooner he could test his new strength, as well as find out what exactly turning into a human marshmallow had done to him.
34- Catching Up
Seth gasped in the clean, fresh air of the cave as he emerged from the glowing silver wall. The black hole closed up behind him silently, causing the barricade to lose its luster and solidify into a normal looking metal wall. Although happy to escape the puzzle room, there was a note of disappointment that accompanied the feeling. No notifications had appeared after finishing the challenge, meaning that there was no reward outside of what the room had given him upon clearing it. Seth looked down in disgust at the hexagon in his hand.
Brikin Box (Class C):
-A puzzle device created to train the Intellect attribute.
In reality, the puzzle room challenge had been a complete waste of time outside of affording him some private time. Following his initial transformation upon consuming the Elixir of the Fatigued Hero, Seth had worked for days to finish completing the challenge. He had lost count of the clicks he had needed to finish the room. It had gotten so annoying that for a second, his hatred for the clicking sound had almost eclipsed his hatred for the whispers that had become basically white noise by now.
The worst part of it all was that he barely had increased his intellect stat thirty percent out of the endeavor, not even upgrading the attribute at all. He stowed the box into his cache with a frown before bending over to grab a rock from the ground. He hurled the piece of terrain at the wall where it shattered with a satisfying BANG! ¡°That¡¯s what you get.¡± He threw the wall one last scathing glare before making his way out of the cave, the fact he had just yelled at an inanimate object like a crazy person not lost on him.
As the white light of the dimension¡¯s star met his skin, Seth hummed in approval while warmth spread across his body. He carefully checked his surroundings to make sure there wasn¡¯t anyone near before unequipping his chest piece. He looked down at what looked like a crazy tan line, but then realized that it was just over a week¡¯s worth of filth that had been surrounding his armor.
The smell of this filth had been his personal hell the last few days that he had rotted in the puzzle room. Although there had been oxygen in the room, it hadn¡¯t vented out in the least, leaving Seth in a room full of his own putrid stench to choke on.
The recent memory cause him to scrunch his nose and he quickly put the chest plate back on. He ran his fingers through his blonde-black hair while remembering why he had wanted to return so fast.
Not the time to worry about how bad I smell, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m here to get girls.
He readied himself with his normal slew of stealth abilities before summoning his glaive as well. Quick as a bullet, Seth took off back toward the swamp using his newly enhanced speed. When he arrived at the trees, he took it slow at first to acclimate to the new body and speed. He gradually increased his speed, finding that his new threshold for agility was even higher than he had expected. He began traveling as fast as he could through the trees, at one point, he believed himself to be shooting through the tree line near forty or fifty miles per hour.
Seth came to a stop shortly after that, breathing slightly heavily.
There¡¯s no way that¡¯s just a ten percent increase. It¡¯s like I¡¯m being propelled with every step.
He dropped to a nearby spot of solid ground. To increase speed, a human technique would be propelling themselves forward using the balls of one¡¯s feet. He remembered practicing this method in middle school while on the way to and from school. Although he would sometimes get odd glances, he found it fun to launch forward in small bursts, feeling the air whirl past his face. This time, his stance was already naturally on the balls of his feet, so launching forward wouldn¡¯t require much thought.
He crouched into a runner¡¯s position, then took off without trying to use his supernatural strength. To his surprise, he felt a tension build in his foot, then release like a mini explosion. Even using only his original human strength, he sped forward at a rate that would rival an Olympian sprinter.
¡°Woah, now that¡¯s cool.¡±
He hopped around in place, hyped about finally discovering a useful aspect of his new body. He took a moment to experiment with other actions and exercises. He jumped, stretched, and even shadowboxed a little bit. The tension feeling seemed to activate just about every time his foot impacted a solid surface; it didn¡¯t seem to be constrained to just running at all. It was strange because the tension didn¡¯t feel like it was inherently energy filled, but it also didn¡¯t feel like it was the work of his muscles. Seth felt like it was a combination of the two in a way.
Only a couple minutes had passed since his break, but he went to check his surroundings anyway before continuing his practice. Ending up like the guy from earlier seemed like something Seth did not want to experience. After assuring the perimeter was safe and he was truly alone, he made his way to the nearest tree.
Anar retracted back into his hand, and he readied himself into a mock fighter¡¯s stance that he saw on TV one time. Despite fighting monsters for over half a year now, he still didn¡¯t have much technique when it came to these kinds of things.
After a few kicks in the air to warm himself up, he began by throwing a sharp right kick to the lower side of the tree. Upon contact, he sensed the tension rise yet again, like the muscles were swelling, and his bones were hardening. In an instant, the tension released and his normal, superhuman kick turned into a bomb of force. Although nothing appeared different during his action, the expected, foot sized dent had instead become triple its size, causing the tree to begin to fall toward him.
Struck with excitement due to the new application of his augmented attribute, he reacted a little late to the tree, causing him to get hit with a few wild branches. A few began to weep blood, but Seth was too busy moving onto the next tree to care.
He was like a lumberjack sweeping through the swamp. Before he realized what was going on, he had executed twelve more thick grey trees. The feeling of power was all encompassing, Seth felt like he could take on anyone in The Incubator. Soon enough, the high wore down and brought Seth back to reality. Having realized his mistake, he didn¡¯t bother to look around before bolting from the scene. Wrapping himself in a distortion illusion, he escaped through the trees, making sure to weave a false trail just in case. After he was satisfied, Seth halted for a moment to get his bearings before taking off toward yet another challenge.
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Steam rolled off of Seth¡¯s skin as he finally neared his goal.
The air near this area was noticeably colder compared to the rest of the swamp. There were even patches of ice crawling across some of the trees, and rocks became more common instead of mud. A few minutes later, he arrived at a large circle of rock that was completely flat with no shrubbery or trees located anywhere on it. It spanned a couple hundred meters in circumference too. Seth crouched behind a low boulder that sat on the edge of the huge disk.
Casting a quick glance around, he was pretty sure that no one had completed this challenge either. There was a small, raised dais in the center of the disk that he assumed was some sort of button, and it didn¡¯t look to be disturbed since last time.
He began to raise himself up to get onto the disk, but a commotion to his left caused him to freeze. On the far left side of the disk, he watched as a hulking figure in heavy brown armor emerged from the wilderness. It was humanoid and appeared to have some sort of dangerous carapace covering his skin. The armor reminded him of a beetle and rhino mixed together. Upon sighting the humanoid, Seth drew all of the mist inside his body to weave together a net of illusion. To the outside gaze, he should¡¯ve looked like any other rock.
He watched with interest and surprise as the hulking figure actually started to shrink. Well, shrink was a strong word, even with the loss of mass, the final size of the person was still quite large. It actually reminded him of another guy he met close to a month ago. The armor of the suspected guy receded as well, causing it to form thick plates just over the person¡¯s forearms and chest. An unintentional gasp was released from Seth¡¯s mouth as the front plate on the person¡¯s helmet retracted to show a familiar, gruff face with cold eyes.
It was Ty.
Even though they were almost a hundred meters from each other, Seth tensed as Ty¡¯s gaze swept right over his location. Somehow, he had heard him.
The large chrome gauntlets that were previously hidden underneath his armor rose directly toward Seth. In an instant, Seth found himself five feet in the air, without any oxygen in his lungs. He gasped for a breath with bloodshot eyes as he looked beneath him. Out of nowhere, a large wall of earth had emerged from the ground, like it had been there all along.
Not even his tripled reflexes had allowed him to sense the attack coming. To make matters worse, the attack had the distinct power of a tier three behind it. Despite the abrupt blow, Seth was still no slacker, as he had taken plenty of strong hits before. Not to mention, it didn¡¯t even feel like his ribs had broken, so it hadn¡¯t been all that strong.
As the ground began to rise under him, signaling his fall, Seth quickly retracted all of his illusion mist and retrieved Anar from his void hand. Finally recovering his breath, he barely tapped the ground for more than a moment before taking off toward Ty. He was currently standing on top of a challenge, so even if he could control dirt or whatever, the rock underneath his feet should not be malleable. Finally finding his foe, Ty¡¯s armor crawled back over the entirety of his skin, yet again covering his face. Although, this time his body did not grow like Seth had seen previously.
Even if he remembers me, he doesn¡¯t seem to be the type to care.
Seth activated both his optical abilities before dismissing the one for his Stalker Armor. Unfortunately for him, it seemed like Ty had no wish to summon more dirt barriers as he charged directly at Seth. Dust seemed to trace around his figure as his speed reached close to Seth¡¯s own, even with the new elixir ability. This was not the time to hesitate though, and within less than a few seconds, the two had reached each other. Ty opened with a deadly haymaker that had a perceivable force behind it.
Understanding the danger, Seth twisted his head as far as possible while using the shaft of Anar to glance off the side of his gauntlet. Sparks flew without either side receiving a blow. There was no let up though, as both sides instantly went back to the brawl. Ty¡¯s speed seemed to be quite impressive on his way to Seth, but when it came to close combat, it seemed that the increased speed did not apply. This difference was the only thing that kept Seth alive as he was barely able to weave around each punch.
Punch after punch came raining down on him as he used his full effort to not get hit. The thing was, in a fight, both sides are trying to get a hit in. So although Seth was able to remain unharmed, he wasn¡¯t gaining any ground at all, in fact he was inevitably going to lose at this rate. Ty did not seem to lack endurance, and the strength behind his fists was also next level. This meant that each punch that Seth was able to redirect caused him to expend a huge amount of stamina. Within only a minute or two, Seth was covered in sweat and breathing hard.
Dammit! There is no way for me to win at this point! What can I try?
With a herculean effort, Seth kicked off the ground, causing him to shoot away from Ty. With the split second he afforded himself, he tried something that most sane people wouldn¡¯t do in any fight ever: He dropped his weapon. Even the hulking figure in front of him hesitated at the sight of his action, albeit only for a moment. Fortunately for Seth, this was exactly what he was hoping for. Red smoke burst forth from his pores like a lake, forming two smoky mirror images of Seth.
The last of the smoke covered Seth, making him identical to the others, and he then consecutively erased his energy by pulling it underneath his skin, just like how Ty taught him. Without thinking, he then dashed directly at Ty while switching with his clones to confuse the giant.
For a moment, he truly thought he could win, but sadly, it didn¡¯t seem to be in the cards for him.
Ty¡¯s reaction to his doubles was nothing short of brutal. Raising both his gauntlets above his head, Ty smashed them into the ground like a meteor, causing a gut wrenching earthquake that threw Seth off his feet, along with his clones that were mirroring him. The three fell directly in front of Ty, like a beggar praying for mercy. Like the grim reaper, Seth felt a huge storm of energy condense into a chrome gauntlet right over his head. He felt like he was sitting in a guillotine, waiting for his death to come falling down.
Like thunder in the sky, the fist crashed down and released a wave of power that sent Seth¡ flying back?
A cloud of dust had been released from whatever ability Ty had just used, but Seth didn¡¯t even notice it. He scrambled to check his whole body, but couldn¡¯t find a fist sized hole anywhere. His memory flashed back to the impact, and he finally realized that the thunderous punch had landed off to his right, where one of his clones had been sprawled.
HE FELL FOR MY ILLUSION!
With this realization, Seth took his only opportunity to summon Anar and rocketed forward with a malice that was palpable.
That hit could have killed me. I¡¯LL HAVE TO RETURN THE FAVOR!
Seth¡¯s forearms and biceps pulsed as he whipped his glaive toward the purple highlighted figure that was standing still in the dust cloud. The dust was abruptly waved away to leave Ty finally meeting the ravenous gaze of Seth. With only a second to react, Ty raised a fist to block his strike.
Excitement was visible on Seth¡¯s face as he watched Ty do exactly what he had wanted.
His grin sloughed off his face though as he barely saw Ty¡¯s hand actually retract from the armor that he had been so confident in just a moment before. Despite his retraction, Anar still cleaved through the shell he had left behind like butter.
After hitting his mark, Seth pulled back again to see the next move Ty had in store. He was surprised to find that Ty did not advance in the window he had given him. Instead, he was standing still while looking down at his severed armor piece. Seth narrowed his eyes until he realized that Ty wasn¡¯t going to attack. Not wanting to give up this chance, he leapt forward without hesitation, going straight for Ty¡¯s still neck. Unexpectantly, instead of a counterattack, Seth received a raised palm while Ty looked him directly in the eye.
¡°I remember you.¡±
35- Actually Catching Up
Seth stopped his attack a few steps before reaching the hulking man. Does he not want to fight anymore or something? Should I even care?
Debating whether or not to strike regardless of Ty¡¯s comment, Seth finally settled on dismissing his weapon. It seemed he had made the right decision, as Ty bent down and retrieved his armor piece, only for it to crawl back into the default plates he had seen earlier. The man¡¯s helmet peeled back all the way as well, showing the familiar glare he was used to.
¡°So, you do remember me.¡± Seth claimed with an annoyed huff. ¡°Then why the hell did you attack me in the first place?¡±
Ty¡¯s eyebrow cocked for a moment as his expression relaxed the slightest amount. ¡°Look where we are, there aren¡¯t too many reasons not to attack anyone you see.¡±
Seth¡¯s expression also softened, ¡°I guess you have a point there.¡± His face suddenly became annoyed again, ¡°So you already hit tier three. Seems fair.¡± Seth finished with a face that made it completely clear he didn¡¯t think it was fair at all.
Ty crossed his arms and turned to look at the plate at the center of the arena, totally ignoring Seth¡¯s previous statement. ¡°I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter why you¡¯re here. Were you about to do this challenge?¡± Seth felt a sense of loss as Ty blatantly didn¡¯t seem to care about him at all. He still hadn¡¯t even asked him his name, and this was the second time they had talked.
¡°Yeah, I actually was. Are you gonna let me, or are you going to fight me for it?¡± Seth¡¯s hand tensed as he prepared himself to attack at a moments notice.
Ty just shrugged without even looking at him.
¡°I would rather not kill a fellow citizen of Earth. Despite my sentiment, do not attack me again, or I won¡¯t hesitate to send you to Hell. How about we make it fair? Whoever has cleared the lower number of challenges can have this one. It¡¯s not like they are hard to find.¡± The goliath said with disinterest.
Seth couldn¡¯t help but feel like Ty was giving him charity.
¡°Whatever you say man. I have cleared three technically.¡±
Ty finally turned back to look at Seth. His eyes were finally full of something other than disdain.
It was pity.
¡°Three¡ you must be joking. We have been hear for over two weeks and that is all you have completed? Well then, I guess you can have this one. This would have been my thirteenth cleared challenge had you not shown up.¡±
Ty waved him on to go ahead.
Embarrassment burned up Seth¡¯s face at Ty¡¯s claim of completing twelve challenges already. Although Ty had already begun to walk back toward the wilderness, Seth did not go to start up the challenge yet.
¡°I had a lot of things going on man! Plus I had a puzzle challenge that took me damn near a week to finish, it was complete bullshit!¡± he yelled at the large man¡¯s back.
Ty did not turn around at his outburst, seemingly deciding to forget about him altogether.
DAMMIT! It¡¯s not fair man! He gets a huge boost because of his Umbra and he must¡¯ve gotten a bunch of super easy challenges to have done twelve already! He¡¯s not even royal either, how the hell did he get inside this event?!
Even if it wasn¡¯t really true, Seth decided to convince himself that Ty was having an easier time because of luck. To think about it too long would make him lose any remaining dignity that he had left.
As Ty disappeared into the wilderness, an errant thought tugged at Seth. Should I follow him? With only a second of hesitation, Seth dismissed the thought. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t be smart to get the big guy mad at me. It pays to know one person won¡¯t try to kill me here, even if he is kind of a dick.¡± Seth cast one more glance in the direction Ty had gone before heading toward the plate.
¡°Not to mention, I seriously need to catch up.¡±
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The last ice golem shattered into a hundred pieces due to an explosion caused by Seth¡¯s kick. The challenge had been a horde battle, where tens of tier two golems had spawned from spatial rips and rushed him. Unfortunately for them, Seth¡¯s new body was incredibly effective against the golems. The concussive blast of his hits made beating them easy as pie. To make the situation even better, Seth had received another quest at the beginning of the fight, meaning he was rewarded with yet another low-quality tempering. With barely any fatigue, Seth quickly claimed the reward and put the boost into resolve, heeding the advice of Lord Dick.
Pulling up his Status, he watched as the attribute rose to Class A, though he honestly didn¡¯t feel any different. It was unsurprising though, he never really bothered to learn what exactly resolve entailed before he left Ethin. Something told him that it was important, besides just what Rich said. The challenge itself did not come without its pitfalls though. Upon activation of the plate, a shimmering dome had encompassed the disk, locking him inside. This was yet another challenge that didn¡¯t have a one way in, one way out design. It seemed like his hopes of locking up all the other participants was not very realistic.
Welp, that kinda sucks. But I guess it isn¡¯t that big of a deal. I should focus on completing challenges to get stronger anyway. Although, that won¡¯t stop me from locking them up when I can. He thought with a smirk.
¡°Speaking of which, should I head back to the tree yet?¡± He questioned allowed.
A picture of the royal trio hopelessly banging against the silver door made Seth laugh to himself.
¡°Nah! They can suffer for a couple more weeks,¡± he decided.
Dismissing the thoughts of the trio, he finally came back to the task at hand.
I need to work through challenges more efficiently, but how can I do that?
He walked over the edge of the disk and found another place to hide for a moment. Thinking about how Ty completed twelve already felt off to Seth. He mulled over the last four challenges he had just gone through. One was a puzzle, one was a feat of intelligence, and two of them were combat challenges. The idea that he had already experienced all challenge types was certainly false, but that begged the question of how many types there actually was. Seth struggled for a moment before a light bulb sparked into existence above his head due to Fear Itself.
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Wait a minute, it doesn¡¯t matter how many types there are. The combat challenges were the fastest and easiest to complete, and it doesn¡¯t seem like there is reward scaling based off of difficulty. I mean, it took a week to do the puzzle and it didn¡¯t give me jack shit, but this ice golem horde gave me a tempering and only took a half hour. The realization dawned on Seth like a punch in the gut.
¡°I have to prioritize combat challenges! Jeez I feel like such an idiot.¡± He groaned in shame.
It would make sense for Ty to have completed so many challenges if he was only picking the easiest ones to do. But damn, he must know something I don¡¯t if he can pick out the easiest challenges to complete first. Although there were some telltale signs he could use to identify combat challenges, it seemed that Ty was a lot more efficient at doing so. It¡¯s possible he found some sort of treasure to identify them, so I might just have to use my intuition from here on.
It was a bit annoying, but this new method seemed like a much more promising path to follow. Luckily, he had originally made notes with each ping he left on the map, meaning that he had a good idea of which ones were combat oriented already. With his eyes set on a new goal, Seth took a couple more minutes in his hiding spot to have a snack and some water, as well as check on his gear. After he was satisfied, he plotted his next destination, then set off at a superhuman speed. It was time for him to push toward the third tier.
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Infected rats, shadow beings, a bus sized tick, panthers made of sludge, and even more repugnant creatures all fell to Anar¡¯s blade. Finally finding his stride, Seth was like an executioner over the course of a week and a half, barely stopping for small bouts of rest and to bleed himself out every now and then for Fool¡¯s Errand. His new strategy had gone off without a hitch, and he had been clearing challenges like a madman. Now he was finally caught back up with Ty, sitting at fifteen cleared challenges, although Ty definitely would have surpassed even that by now.
For the first two days, he had gone after anything he suspected might be a fighting challenge, but after a couple misreads and getting caught in a challenge where he had to balance a log on his nose for eight hours, Seth had decided to solely go after challenges that consisted of arena-like, open areas.
It turned out, Ty had been right, there was a stupid number of challenges to go around, and there was no shortage of the open combat types that he had been looking for. Even better was the fact that he also had not run into any more participants for the entirety of his streak. He might have thought that strange if he hadn¡¯t been caught up in exhilaration of running from challenge to challenge and racking up a slew of rewards.
Although over half of the loot he had gotten so far were just random trinkets of limited use, he had managed to acquire a couple useful items, as well as four more quests with tempering as the completion reward. Even now, Seth was hiding in a small building roughly a kilometer away from his next target challenge. His clearing adventure had brought him to the outskirts of the large city he had originally seen at the beginning of the event, which so far had only consisted of fallen buildings and the occasional Sckriz¡¯Ul, which was a particularly tricky monster that could phase in and out of reality for small periods of time.
The first time Seth had fought one, he would have lost his head if not for his enhanced reflexes and the unconstrained energy signature of the creature. On the bright side, the city was easier to traverse, and lacked the horrible stench of the swamp, so Seth was happy dealing with the occasional assassination attempts. The unfortunate part of it was that Seth himself seemed to carry enough stench to make up for the lack of swamp, for he still had not found a natural source of water anywhere, and he didn¡¯t want to waste the time it would take his eyedropper to fill up a bathtub for him to bathe in.
Seth sat on the ground of his new hideout, contently chewing on a freshly cooked piece of snake meat he had plundered a while back. A couple days ago, he had earned a little Class F black lava rock called a Magma Lens that emitted a varying amount of heat based off how much energy he fed it. Although the hellhounds he had to fight seemed like a little much for such a lame reward, Seth wasn¡¯t complaining as he now did not have to rely on his personal food stores for nourishment.
This was especially useful as Seth had been burning stamina like a lunatic while rushing from challenge to challenge, so he often had to eat on the go. But right now, he had just settled down for his every-couple-days break that he needed in order to sleep. It seemed that the stronger he got, the less he felt like he needed to sleep, but in the end, he was only a tier two, so he still had to stop often for rest. Plus, giving up a liter of blood every day had a drain of its own that wore on his energy.
Luckily, it looked like he was a little past halfway with Fool¡¯s Errand, so hopefully he would be finished within another month or so.
Seth had also worked out a bit of insight as to what exactly the item was for as well. After around his twentieth use, Seth had noticed little spots of black mixed into the crimson of his blood. He wasn¡¯t exactly comforted knowing his blood was turning black, but after thinking about it, he realized that his new race might have had something to do with the phenomenon. After ruling out poison or some curse, Seth had remembered that his hair apparently contained a few strands of black as well, meaning that his body might still be changing to accommodate the new Fiend DNA that was introduced through the anomaly.
The closest thing he could think of that made sense was the Earthly practice of bloodletting, where you would bleed out a patient to cure an illness. In this case, it looked like the illness was his old crimson blood, and the new black blood was seemingly replacing it. Whether that was a bad thing or not, Seth honestly had no clue. The key to surviving in this new reality of monsters and supernatural abilities was embracing change and adapting constantly. So far, he had not noticed anything wrong with his body from the new influx of black blood, so honestly he did not think it to be that much of an issue. Not to mention, there was plenty of other stuff to worry about, like just surviving on a day-to-day basis.
Finished with the piece of snake, Seth tossed the remains into a small, floating, blue wisp that lazily flew around his head. It was yet another reward he had acquired over the last week and a half: a Class D storage system that acted similarly to his cache. It was called a Wisp Pocket and had the ability to carry ten items, and it would follow him around hands free.
It even had a built-in illusion array that concealed the wisp in case he needed to hide. The downside was that it stole a trickle of his constant energy to hold the array, which was mildly annoying. He gave the wisp a playful swipe that it lazily danced around before checking his attributes in the Status tab.
Level: Tier Two (Progress: Late)
Intellect: Class B
Constitution: Class B
Might: Class A
Intuition: Class B
Resolve: Class A
He smiled at the respectable menu of attributes. Might had risen two grades on its own, due to the constant fighting and traveling. As for intuition and intellect, Seth had poured three of his quest rewards into the former, barely pushing it past the threshold for Class B. As for the latter, he had used his last tempering reward to make it Class B as well, mostly because it looked nice in the menu for all of his attributes to even out.
Raising his attributes was still relatively easy due to the tempering rewards, without it, he would probably not have made even half of the gains he gotten since entering The Incubator. This dimension was still nothing to scoff at, as it alone seemed to expedite his growth, allowing him to raise might twice in not even two weeks. Even he knew that his progress was incredible by normal standards, but Seth still wasn¡¯t satisfied. Tier three was probably one or two more weeks away, even with his breakneck speed of clearing challenges.
The bad thing was that everyone else was making gains of their own, and for all he knew, Ty might have already leaped to late-stage tier three. He needed to continue racking up tempering rewards, but he also needed to do his best to progress the rest of his abilities and seize any advantages he could find too. Building power wasn¡¯t just about raising attributes; Grayson had mentioned that back during one of their talks. Will had mentioned something about classes, and there was also the Concept System that he had learned about.
For now I have to sleep though. I can barely keep my eyes open.
With a yawn, Seth dismissed the screens and checked his camouflage array one last time before closing his eyes. Within seconds, he was set adrift into the world of dreams, or at least one dream in particular.
36- "Teamwork Makes the Dream Work"
Seth roused from his slumber with an unremarkable grunt.
Yet again, the hazy memory of his mother silently pleading with him had already begun to fade. Before he had even gotten to his feet, the dream had already escaped the grasp of his mind.
After taking a swig of his water vial, Seth checked the built-in menu clock that he had bought in Ethin. It seemed like only about four hours had passed this time. His sleep patterns had become even more distant and lackluster as the weeks passed. This wasn¡¯t a bad thing though. The less time Seth slept, the less time he had to deal with the foreign nagging feeling that grew from his forgotten dream.
Seth did a couple quick stretches and dusted himself off while the cascade of whispers and his own thoughts flushed out the unpleasant feeling that lingered from his sleep. After finishing his bend-and-reach, Seth made his way over to the broken window and briefly checked out the surroundings. Noticing nothing out of the ordinary, his excitement slowly began to rise.
¡°Back to the grind, baby.¡±
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Five minutes later, Seth found himself creeping through the streets, nearing the site of the next challenge. Rather than rushing straight there, he was forced to slow down to a crawl after hearing some odd sounds nearby. After running through the city for a few days now, he could tell that they were not the footsteps or groans that belonged to the Sckriz¡¯Ul.
He silently scaled to the top of the nearest erect building, where he looked down on the streets from the open access roof. The building was set right at the corner of a large intersection which allowed plenty of view down each street. He sat up there for nearly twenty minutes before he finally spotted movement from the street in the direction of the challenge.
Seth¡¯s eyes widened in interest as he watched two identical lizard men appear in the middle of the road. They both had blue scales that shimmered in the pale sunlight of the two stars that shined overhead. Seth looked on as one of the lizard men seemed to notice something nearby. It raised up it¡¯s claw in a summoning motion, and a large blue myth appeared in front of the pair. A huge stream of water shot out of the myth at an unbelievable speed and hit an invisible target down the road. Out of nowhere, a sleek Sckriz¡¯Ul fell out of the air with a large hole through its chest.
Seth would have whistled if not for him trying to stay quiet. He could tell by using True Sight that the lizardman who killed the monster had an overflowing amount of energy under its thumb, even for a tier three. It seemed to be some sort of mage type of fighter, something that Seth had not seen so far.
How does it have such a large energy reserve? Maybe its some sort of treasure that it picked up, or maybe that¡¯s an aspect of the Concept System I heard about!
Seth¡¯s interest was piqued, but he knew that regardless of how much he wanted to continue observing the mage, he still needed to get to the challenge. He had a really good feeling about this one, especially since the challenge was directly in the middle of a huge coliseum, which basically assured a fighting type challenge. Greed overwhelmed Seth¡¯s reasoning as he decided on a plan to get around the two participants.
He was unaware as to why they were guarding the road in the first place, but it didn¡¯t seem like they moving anytime soon. The other lizardman actually seemed to be setting up shop right there in the middle of street too. A series of metal objects were laid on the ground in front of them, and the non-mage popped a squat right on the ground before beginning to tinker on the collection of items. Almost an hour passed while Seth waited in earnest for the two participants to either leave or become distracted.
Fortune shined upon him only ten minutes later when he noticed a lone warrior strolling down the road toward the two stationary blue lizards. The man was quite the imposing figure, so much so that once the mage spotted him, four large pillars of water were instantly conjured above him. The new arrival seemed wholly unimpressed by the display, and even gave the lizard a toothy grin, or a snarl, Seth couldn¡¯t tell due to the lone man¡¯s predatory-like visage.
He looked like a huge lion who had somehow learned to stand up, body build, and then caught on fire. His stature was even larger than Ty¡¯s, and the tips of his sandy brown fur were actually smoldering with embers. He didn¡¯t wear any armor as well, so the only thing on him was a large black battle-axe strapped to his back, and a dark kilt that kept him civil.
Seth was left with no more time to analyze his appearance as the pillars of watery death shot toward him like a natural disaster. Seth couldn¡¯t even imagine surviving the mage¡¯s ability, so he was left incredibly dumbfounded when the lion man didn¡¯t even attempt to block the water at all. Instead, he stood his ground as the fire on his fur began to crackle in intensity. Finally, the pillars hit him head on, causing a huge plume of steam to billow throughout the roads.
As the steam began to dissipate, the two lizardmen seemed to become visibly nervous as they saw the lion warrior standing tall and unscathed. The fact he didn¡¯t seem to be hurt at all was unbelievable, but Seth wasn¡¯t paying attention to that. He was too busy mulling over the new sensation that seemed to encompass a large zone around the man. It was like a huge oven was roaring right in the middle of the street, and the air in the intersection seemed to dance from the heat waves. Seth was absolutely enthralled with the new development as he stared at the grinning figure that seemed to be the focal point of the heat.
Even though he was high above the fight, Seth still felt like his skin was almost burning due to the presence of the heat zone. The feeling was vaguely familiar to him as well, and it only took Seth a moment to realize that this was exactly how he felt while watching The Daemon Contest. Obviously the feeling was on a much smaller scale due to the fact the man was only a tier three, but that didn¡¯t stop him from identifying the concentrated sort of¡ intent that the fire exuded.
Seth had originally thought that the lizard mage had access to the Concept System due to his large energy pools, but this was on a completely different level. It wasn¡¯t just a power boost, it was like the two men were fighting with a predetermined victor from the start. Seth knew that the lizardman had no chance of winning with such a paltry and empty attack. The lion man felt like he was truly one with the heat he released, like it was full of meaning.
So that¡¯s how a concept works.
He still had no idea how to acquire one, or what it really meant to have one, but that didn¡¯t stop him from trying to pull every possible bit of insight he could from the lion man¡¯s fiery aura. Unfortunately, despite the new development, Seth¡¯s main goal was still to get to the challenge. So with bared teeth, he covered himself in a layer of blurry illusions before taking off across the rooftops, away from the fight.
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With his blistering speed, it didn¡¯t take long for him to get far enough away for him to feel safe. This was good, especially because he had heard a rather loud roar emit from behind him that could have only spelled disaster for the blue reptiles. Desperate to use their fight as a distraction, Seth continued to rush around the perimeter of their whereabouts until he finally arrived at the coliseum. It was exactly as he had remembered: half destroyed and gigantic.
It also seemed to bring about a rise in his greed too, so much so that he had almost forgotten about the dangers of the participants that were nearby. Drawing him in, the coliseum seemed to beg for his presence as he dashed through the nearest entrance with an almost crazed look on his face. As soon as he crossed the threshold for the main area, the temptation of the coliseum fell away like a splash of ice-cold water to the face. It was such an unexpected feeling that Seth almost tripped and fell right on top of some fallen gladiator equipment.
He slowly shook his head to gain his bearings, realizing that the building must have had some sort of attractive effect that had cast a haze over his rational thought. It was almost entirely opposite of his armor¡¯s ability: Stalker¡¯s Anthem, and it was definitely quite a few times stronger as well.
Finally understanding his situation, Seth abruptly jumped in place when he realized that the armor pile under him was not in fact some gladiator remains, but instead a teenage boy that had been sleeping on the ground. Still in fight or flight mode, Seth went to summon Anar in order to strike first, but was met with a lack of energy surging in his hand, as well as a screen popping up in front of his face.
-Cannot activate offensive abilities in a temporal field. Abilities will be reactivated after the space is sealed. Time remaining until space is sealed: (1:12:09:33)
Seth looked on with distaste at the hovering screen.
So it¡¯s some sort of group challenge then? And I seriously have to waste a whole day and a half sitting here?
Seth¡¯s growing annoyance abruptly dissipated upon dismissing the screen. Laid out in front of him was quite the gathering of participants who looked a lot more uncomfortable than he was. Series of camps were set up around the large coliseum area, and by the looks of it, some had been there for a while. Although not everything looked too bad. Quite a few of tents looked to be of exquisite quality, and there even seemed to be an actual storefront put up in one corner of the area. A small crowd was set in front of it, seemingly browsing the catalog.
The situation reminded him quite a bit of his time in the white room of Origin when he was trapped with a bunch of other subjects from Earth. Though, this group didn¡¯t seem to be full of random, nervous weaklings like back then. Here were some of the best and brightest the whole Galactic Plane had to offer. Seth went to try and activate True Sight, and was delighted to find that it worked without any issue.
After a moment though, he wished it hadn¡¯t.
The whole arena was full of royal talents, just like he had identified earlier, but there was also another aspect to them that he had not calculated for; nearly ninety-five percent of them were tier threes, and some were already late into the tier as well. As he was busy getting green around the gills, a few of the participants that were in a nearby group started to head his way. He watched mutely as the only other tier twos made their way across the arena towards him.
Oh, man! Even I could beat these guys, do I seriously have to team up with them?!
He whined in his head. It was pretty easy to guess why they were coming over to him. There were only three of them, which meant that Seth was the fourth tier two to enter this place. Clearly, they realized how out of their depths they were, so they were recruiting everyone in the same situation in order to build up safety in numbers. Unfortunately, Seth knew that although he might be able to beat them, he was truly at a disadvantage among the rest of the participants in the challenge.
There looked to be seventy-ish participants strewn about, and just based off of the energy they were giving off, Seth bet he could only triumph over a scant few of them outside of the tier two group. Not matter how much fighting experience he might have over monsters, people were still a relatively new type of opponent for him, so he was even less confident in his ability to overcome anyone else.
As the group finally reached him, Seth prayed one last time in his mind that the challenge wouldn¡¯t hedge participants against one another.
¡°Hello my lonesome friend! And here I thought we were the only ones foolish enough to enter this place while still in the second tier.¡±
The cheerful voice of the boy in front enveloped Seth¡¯s ears as he offered a friendly wave to the three. He couldn¡¯t say he was particularly happy to see them, but he also didn¡¯t see any reason to be cold.
¡°I guess I finally met someone else here that isn¡¯t a tier three, what a relief! My name¡¯s Seth.¡± He said in the most cheerful voice he could muster.
The trio looked to be of the same party, as they were all of the same race and wore similar gear.
Family perhaps? Eh, it doesn¡¯t matter.
They all were annoyingly attractive, just like everyone else, and they seemed to be of an unknown sub-race of Celist, as could be told by their light red skin and slightly curved ears. Their constitution had a similar energy to Sydney¡¯s, which was the only reason he could tell this much. The one girl had glimmering raven hair as well as the guy in front, while the stringy guy to their side had grey hair and eyes. And of course, they looked to be around seventeen or younger, as per usual of the participants so far.
¡°Worry no more Seth, you aren¡¯t alone now. I¡¯m Drake, this is my sister Blaire, and my buddy Licht.¡±
The main guy addressed Seth as the other two nodded his way upon their introduction.
¡°I see you¡¯re alone Seth. Did you come here by yourself, or do you have a party coming?¡±
Seth reciprocated the friendly nods, before giving Drake a wry smile. ¡°Uh, no I don¡¯t have anyone coming. It seems I might have overestimated myself a bit when given the choice to come here.¡±
For now he thought it would be smart to play the slightly ignorant lone adventurer, as he really had nothing to lose from befriending the group. The sister¡¯s expression did not change, but Licht adopted a slightly pitiful look that most definitely branded Seth as an idiot. Surprisingly, Drake let out a sincere laugh.
¡°Hey, don¡¯t sell yourself short man, you made it this far, right? I don¡¯t think you overestimated yourself at all, plus I can tell you¡¯re no slouch just by your aura.¡±
Seth inwardly raised an eyebrow at his words. For the first time in a while, a pleasant sensation spread out through his mind. Huh, he doesn¡¯t seem to be too bad a guy. Seth was so used to the idea of The Incubator being full of royal brats that he honestly didn¡¯t expect such a genuine guy to be participating. He could tell it wasn¡¯t an act either, as the guy seemed to have a warm air about him that almost made Seth activate Perceive just to see if his anima looked like a teddy bear or something.
¡°So would you be open to the idea of teaming up with us for the upcoming challenge? We won¡¯t force you to stay or anything after it¡¯s over, plus any loot you get will be your own. As you can see, we might not be the most powerful group around, but trust me when I say we are no slouches either.¡±
Seth actually thought about it for a good second, but before he could deny their request, Drake interrupted him.
¡°I can see you might not be sold on the idea, which is understandable as we just met. But don¡¯t feel the need to answer now, we have almost a day and a half to get to know each other, so why don¡¯t we show you what¡¯s going on over at the storefront? The organization that¡¯s in charge of The Incubator made it, it¡¯s actually pretty interesting!¡± The boy gushed.
Seth¡¯s rejection was put on hold at Drake¡¯s proclamation. It wasn¡¯t that he thought the extra time would help their case, but Drake¡¯s pushiness and excitable attitude were infectious. Not to mention, a store put up by the creepy doll people with abyss eyes was actually something that sounded worth checking out. Putting his thoughts to the side, Seth threw on an easygoing smile and met Drake¡¯s big red eyes.
¡°Alright man, I¡¯m sold. Let¡¯s go check it out!¡±
37- Fate Isnt So
¡°Holy crap.¡±
Seth sat in real surprise at the catalog laid out before him.
The group of tier twos had moved over to the storefront at the corner of the arena where a lifeless doll man sat waiting with a tray of tokens for all the participants. Upon taking one, Seth had infused it with his energy and in turn received a screen full of the wares offered by the doll store. Unfortunately, as he looked at the catalog full of items, he couldn¡¯t help but feel completely lost. There were plenty of different treasures available, as he could tell by how expensive they were, but it didn¡¯t help the fact he had no idea what any of them did. His attention was shortly disrupted though as Drake tapped him on the shoulder with a large grin on his face.
¡°See what I was talking about? This place has treasures that I can¡¯t even find back home in the Thousand Asura Territory! I don¡¯t even know where they would have gotten half of this stuff.¡±
Seth just looked at him with a lost expression, as he didn¡¯t even know what the stuff in the store was, much less anything about the Thousand Asura Territory. Drake soon picked up on his fickle state, as he stopped gushing for a second.
¡°Oops, maybe I should explain. It was a bit presumptuous of me to assume you know all the subsidiaries of the Radiance Court. I¡¯m from one of the main branches under their control. The Thousand Asura Territory is a really cool place on its own though, so if you ever get the chance, you should check it out.¡±
Drake waved off the information of his hometown as he turned Seth¡¯s attention back to the screen in front of him.
¡°Besides all that, I was talking about how interesting the stuff they are offering up is. Also, the fact they are only available to buy using contribution points is interesting. It makes it so no royal brat with pockets as large as their ego can buy the entire store out.¡±
He then took the liberty of scrolling down Seth¡¯s screen, completely disregarding Seth¡¯s personal bubble. Although Seth didn¡¯t really mind, as he was still stuck on the new information of some empire called the Radiance Court and how Drake came from one of their territories.
¡°See these? They even offer original Shaper Transcripts that are independent of any influence from your Umbra. Though, I don¡¯t get why anyone would want to stray from their custom-made transcript that comes directly from their Umbra while in such early tiers. Someone could really screw up any chance of future growth by using a transcript that isn¡¯t compatible with their Foundation Path.¡±
Seth was yet again struck with another bout of silence as he was forced to process the continuous new information that Drake was introducing.
Thousand Asura Territory? Radiance Court? Shaper Transcript? Geez I really need to spend some time researching more information about the whole political and geographical situation of the Galactic Plane. Also, I should look into some more aspects of the whole process of shaping and developing my Foundation.
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s pretty interesting. I¡¯m curious though, do you see anything else that looks unique or uncommon? Like for example, what are these? Forgive me if they are commonly known, it¡¯s just that I was kind of sheltered as a child, so I haven¡¯t seen too many items outside of those given to me.¡±
Seth pointed out a series of expensive items that were unknown to him while giving Drake a helpless look that he didn¡¯t have to fake. Drake was happy to help though, as he adopted a teacher-like tone even though he was younger than Seth.
¡°Well for one, it¡¯s good you pointed out this item.¡±
He gestured to a small statue that looked similar to a genderless mannequin.
¡°The price might seem really steep, but if you identify what kind of item it is, then it is actually incredibly affordable. A good eye can see that this is a spiritual talisman used for concept related breakthroughs. Unfortunately, it can¡¯t create any epiphanies, but it can put whoever uses it into a state of Zen-like meditation. Some talented shapers can put themselves into such a state, but this talisman is especially useful for those that cannot, plus it doesn¡¯t contain any outside influence, so it wouldn¡¯t have any downsides to use. But besides that, looking at the rest of the stuff you pointed out, there are quite a few treasures that are usually out of reach for any lower classed shapers. Concept treasures, affinity enhancers, natural attribute boosters, and even more.¡±
Seth watched him lean closer to the screen while congealing some energy into his eyes. He didn¡¯t mention this though, as he didn¡¯t want to give away his own optical ability.
¡°Wow, some of these must have been made by an expert alchemist. The bane levels are impressively low. I might go as far as to say that someone could clear through the entirety of a tier without reaching a dangerous toxin level by just using enough of these pellets. Of course, I still wouldn¡¯t recommend it as that would severely stunt your growth and definitely bar any chance of reaching high tiers.¡±
Drake continued to list off multiple other items and their effects while Seth listened with rapt attention. Although most of the information went over his head due to his lack of knowledge, he was still able to pick up on some key points Drake was laying down, as well as mark a handful of treasures that he wanted the most. After nearly an hour of checking out all the wares and talking to Drake, Seth had purchased a couple basic items that were available for regular currency before excusing himself.
As Drake headed back to join his group, Seth went to find himself an open spot near the edge of the arena. Next, he threw down the Camp in a Can as well as the camouflage array for privacy. Finally, he took out a new item that he had just acquired from the doll store. A hand sized crystal clear device appeared in his hand, and he couldn¡¯t help but be in awe at the seemingly bland item that was about to revolutionize his life. It looked kind of like a hair dryer, but it was made of a transparent material that was reminiscent of glass.
It had cost him a whopping 28,000 credits, but that was nothing in the face of Seth¡¯s personal fortune. Not to mention, Seth would have probably paid over 100,000 for this particular device.
Cleanse-O-Matic (Class C):
-Have you been spending too much time bathing in the blood of your enemies? Well don¡¯t worry, we are here for you! Wash away all that gore and viscera with our patented device and continue with your culling unimpeded!
Seth quickly threw up a small privacy wall he had bought as well before stripping himself down. He racked the armor and his undergarments onto a nearby pole before infusing the gun with a steady stream of energy. It softly whirred to life and a soft pink myth glowed right at the base of the handle. Within seconds, Seth was awash with a stream of gentle pink mist that covered him from head to toe. Even the whispers in his mind purred as the mist seemed to make all the grime and blood on his skin slough off like it was nothing.
After a few minutes of bliss, the mist dissipated and Seth inspected himself with wonder. All of the disgusting grime he had become accustomed to was totally gone, leaving behind his pale skin and a nice fruity scent. It felt like the mist was even more meticulous than he had thought, as every nook and cranny seemed to be completely scrubbed clean.
It was enough to push a grown man to tears, and this was especially true for Seth as he gnawed on his lip to prevent himself from full on bawling. He walked over to his gear and was delighted to find that the Cleanse-O-Matic worked just as well on his armor and clothes. As the second round of cleaning was underway, Seth wondered with bemusement over which was more powerful, the creator of the Cleanse-O-Matic, or Mr. Clean.
Maybe they¡¯re the same person.
Seth inwardly laughed at the imaginary conspiracy before putting his gear back on. He wordlessly put away the privacy wall as well as his new favorite item before making his way over to the tent. Although it wasn¡¯t too large, it suited his purposes just fine as he sat down inside and brought up his Index. Talking with Drake made Seth realize just how behind he was. He basically knew nothing about the Foundation or anything else outside of what Greyson had told him. Greyson also hadn¡¯t been a bad teacher in any way, but Seth also wasn¡¯t able to retain half of what he said due to the sheer amount of information he was given in such a short time.
Regardless of the fact he was starting a new and possibly dangerous challenge in just over a day, Seth decided that what he needed most right now was information. There were too many things he didn¡¯t know. This lack of understanding would certainly spell his death in the future if he wasn¡¯t careful. He silently thanked Lyrica for her preparedness as he opened his newly updated index that was full of all kinds of general knowledge. With a determined look, he began scrolling to the bottom of his index where he found the first entry he wanted to examine: Shaping Fundamentals; Empirical Research for The Young.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
--------
¡°Hey, uh, Seth?¡±
Seth looked up from his menu for the first time in thirty hours.
Bloodshot eyes met blurry surroundings as his exhausted pupils desperately tried to relax from the pinholes they had been reduced to after copious hours of devouring text. Seth hadn¡¯t even stopped reading while eating or relieving himself. It was like he had been thrown back in time to the familiar all-nighters from back on Earth that consisted of deep dive research on various obscure topics.
The reason for this obsession was due to a realization Seth stumbled upon while reading the first entry in his index: He had absolutely no idea what he had absolutely no idea about.
Seth had been so stupid, thinking that shaping was just a matter of getting powerful abilities, concepts, and raising attributes.
He was so wrong.
He had taken the Foundation for granted, like it was just a gateway that allowed him to build strength endlessly and without limit as long as he pushed himself. As it turned out, that was the complete opposite of the way it worked.
For one, the Foundation was not driven by something as flimsy as hard work or determination. Apparently, to reach anywhere near the heights of higher tiers, you had to have what the entries called Fate Malleability. Meaning that you had to basically be destined to become powerful or had to have a compilation of luck on a universal scale.
The entries stressed that it was technically possible to create fate, but the only real way to do that was by being nurtured with incredible treasures since the day you were born. This was not comforting to Seth in the least, given the fact that he hadn¡¯t gotten the Foundation until he was eighteen, much less basked in treasures since he was born.
To make matters worse, there was also a meta that could be worked out for individuals to be destined to at least raise a decent height in shaping. It was by creating a predetermined set of insanely powerful abilities and adopting a race that had something called Perfect Resonance. This just added another strike to Seth¡¯s list, as he had two abilities forced upon him, one of his choice, and another that was missing. He also had no idea how powerful his abilities were on a scale, nor did he have any idea if they resonated with each other or his race at all.
These discoveries alone had almost caused Seth to lie down and cry right where he sat. There was a clear theme the more he read that just ground him down even further. Every entry he had read thus far basically stated as a concrete fact that those of higher tiers were absolutely free to act as they saw fit. In short, power was the name of the game. Seth had sort of understood this from the beginning, but he hadn¡¯t realized how crazy the barrier was to get there.
That makes sense because clearly if anyone could be that strong, then everyone would. But my god is it even possible for me to reach past tier five?
¡°Are you in there Seth?¡±
He was dragged away from his pessimistic thoughts as someone called out to him again. The whispers that had been drowned out by his loud imagination began their crawl back to the forefront of his mind as his brain focused back onto reality.
¡°I¡¯m coming.¡± He responded in a deadpan voice.
As he emerged from his dark tent, he noticed Drake, Blair, and Licht standing at the edge of his camouflage array. He swiftly pocketed his camp and the array, allowing the three to see him. Drake¡¯s eyes brightened for a moment upon spotting him, but then turned to concern. It seemed Blair beat him to the punch though, as she was the first to speak up.
¡°Null¡¯s finger, did you die in there or something?¡±
It took Seth a moment to realize what she was talking about, but when he did, he had to hold back a glare.
¡°No, it¡¯s nothing. I have just been reading some rather dour texts, that¡¯s all.¡± He responded with a pitiful excuse for a smile.
A look of understanding crossed the trio¡¯s faces and Drake turned back to his bright self.
¡°Ah I see, a shaper technique then. Can¡¯t say I have heard of a method like that my friend. Well I won¡¯t pry, I just wanted to know if you would like to join us for a meal? The challenge will be starting in only a few more hours, and you have been cooped up in your camp for over a day. Forgive my crudeness, but I believe it would be in your best interest to relax and recuperate some energy. So how about it?¡±
Yet again Seth was pleasantly surprised at Drake¡¯s pushiness as well as the fact he had mistaken his activities for some sort of shaping ritual. The unfortunate news he had been stewing on was partially forgotten as a genuine smile graced his face.
¡°Well that actually doesn¡¯t sound too bad¡ as long as you don¡¯t have any pizza Lunchables that is.¡±
Seth inwardly giggled to himself as he watched Drake¡¯s face become a picture of confusion. He was about to respond but Seth swiftly cut him off with a bow.
¡°Just an inside joke, but yes I would be honored to share a meal with my young lord.¡±
This cured the younger boy¡¯s confusion as he pointed over to a rather fancy-looking camp that sat a little ways away.
¡°Come along then my friend, an evening of joyous company awaits.¡±
Drake said while mirroring Seth¡¯s joking attitude. The other two didn¡¯t think the interaction was very funny, yet Seth still found himself laughing while they headed over to the camp. As they all sat down and an array of food and drinks were set up, Seth turned over to Drake while munching on the leg of some mystery meat that tasted like olives.
¡°You know, I hope I don¡¯t sound too rude when I say that you are not like what I expected at all.¡±
Drake looked up from his food in slight surprise at his words. Licht on the other hand seemed annoyed by Seth¡¯s comment.
¡°What, did you expect us to be some snotty royals like the majority of the participants?¡± He sneered.
Seth gave him a grin while pointing at Licht with the meat leg. ¡°You? One hundred percent.¡±
Drake spit up some of his drink and began to laugh uncontrollably while even Blair who was usually the picture of stoicism started to giggle as well. Licht¡¯s face twisted up and his already red cheeks turned multiple shades darker. ¡°I- uh- that is incredibly rude to say!¡± He spouted.
His outburst just caused the other three to laugh even louder. After a few more minutes of poking fun at the skinny boy, they all settled down enough for Drake to pipe up.
¡°I believe I understand what you mean. I suppose it isn¡¯t too common for young royals to act with as much abandon as I must have shown. I realize that we have just recently met, but I feel like we will be seeing much more of each other down the line, so much so that I found it fit to skip the formalities. Also, when you told us about how you were alone, I couldn¡¯t help but compare your carefree attitude to a friend of mine back home.¡±
Understanding and gratitude shown on Seth¡¯s face as he processed the details of Drake¡¯s friendliness. He was honestly happy the formalities had been skipped, as Seth had no idea how to properly act in the face of royalty, much less in a normal conversation. The only reason he could act so personable right now was the fact Drake¡¯s presence took a large portion of the weight off his shoulders.
Gradually, the conversation picked up as Drake and him talked about various things such as their experience with the challenge so far, as well as some more personal items of discussion. Soon enough, Blair and Licht began to join in on the conversation and the previous awkwardness of the meal slowly melted away. The three were incredibly surprised to learn that he wasn¡¯t even a royal, much less a member of any prominent sect. They found it hard to believe that a lone shaper without any backing had gotten access to such an event, much less had the confidence to enter. Licht most of all, as he almost choked on his drink upon hearing Seth had only a day or so to decide if he wanted to come.
¡°You are either an ignoramus of fantastic proportions, or the bravest man in existence!¡± He had exclaimed after reclaiming his wits.
Seth had only grinned in response, basically confirming Licht¡¯s hypothesis. This went on for hours, all the way up until the timer had finally reached five minutes. As they were way past finished with their meal, Blair cleaned up the mess while Drake pocketed the furniture and surrounding items. Just like the rest of the participants, the four of them had packed up their things and were readying themselves for whatever the challenge might entail.
Seth looked around to find that a dozen or so new participants had also been suckered into the challenge while he had been reading. Ty was found among the crowd, much to Seth¡¯s disappointment.
He better not steal the reward with his stupid Umbra gifted power. Seth thought begrudgingly.
He was also unnerved to find that the lion man he had seen previously was now here as well, although the two twin lizard men were nowhere to be found.
¡°Steel your nerves.¡±
Seth looked over in surprise to find Blair watching him. Realizing that he had begun to lose his composure after sighting the lion, Seth quickly righted himself and focused. It was a bit embarrassing to be corrected by the younger girl, but he didn¡¯t show it as he watched the timer reach zero. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, Seth blinked for a split second and promptly found himself standing in a completely different place.
The crowd was now in a large hall that seemed to have multiple screens and consoles layered all over the place. There were also four large screens that hung above them, showing a chart full of names with different numbers placed next to them. It took him a moment to realize it was a ladder, as the top started at one and went in ascending order from there. Besides that, there was a zero that sat on the right of every name shown. It only took a second for the other two screens without ladders to change images. They all sat in silence as an extensive set of rules were displayed for them. After looking at it for only a glance, Seth let out a breath in relief as the details didn¡¯t make it look like a head-to-head tournament style challenge.
Group Challenge
-Earn challenge points by triumphing in coliseum type combat
-Challenge point allocation will be determined by the difficulty of each match as well as success or failure
-Difficulty will increase parallel to the number of participants in a group
-Challenge points cannot be traded, but can be stolen through duels
-Matches will consist of participant(s) against randomized opponents
-There is no limit for the number of matches that can be taken on
-Looting abilities will not be regulated
-Participants with the top six point values at the end of the duration of the challenge will participate in an exclusive bonus challenge that may yield a large amount of points upon success
-Contribution points will be earned at a 1:1 ratio to challenge points
-Fighting outside of scheduled matches will result in a severe deduction of challenge points
-Participants will, at minimum, have to compete in at least one match every 72 hours
-Participants cannot leave the sealed space until the challenge duration expires
-Reward allocation and quality will be determined by the total points of a participant at the end of the challenge
-Reward parameters are as follows: Class F Reward (10,000 CP Minimum); Class D Reward (25,000 CP Minimum); Class C Reward (50,000 CP Minimum); Class B Reward (75,000 CP Minimum); Class A Reward (100,000 CP Minimum); Class S Reward (200,000 CP Minimum); Supreme Fate-Bound Reward (500,000 CP Minimum)
-Time until challenge expires: (30:23:56:42)
¡°Christ, it¡¯s like an event inside an event.¡±
38- Tearing it Down to the Foundation
A new screen appeared in front of Seth¡¯s eyes.
-Matches are now open. Sign up at the nearest terminal to choose your parameters.
He calmly read the newest announcement, passively noticing a large number of participants move to the rows of consoles sitting nearby. Their action truly showed just how elite the members of The Incubator were. After less than a minute of reading through the rules, most had already assessed the situation and realized that the best course of action was to rack up points as quickly as possible. Within moments, the large room had become almost empty. Only a handful of participants had stayed behind, including Seth. Even Drake¡¯s trio had dived headfirst into a challenge, although, they had been nice enough to ask him if he wanted to join up before they left. He had politely declined, saying that he had something he wanted to check out first, which was true.
Without sparing a glance at the others that stayed back, Seth moved over to a console in the corner of the room. He sat down and cracked his knuckles in preparation. Before even thinking about rushing into a match, Seth decided to first check out the consoles themselves.
Booting up the terminal, Seth found a few different options to choose from. His mouth subconsciously turned up as he found a particularly interesting tab labeled: Surveillance. Investigating further, Seth found that the tab allowed him to view any and all current matches, as well as any matches that already happened, although that part was empty as no one had completed any yet.
I can seriously watch anyone¡¯s match?! This might actually be the best part of the whole challenge!
It might not seem like that big a deal, but being able to watch matches of other participants was an invaluable boon to Seth. As someone who has no distinct fighting style, almost no experience fighting people, and an overall lacking accumulation of knowledge about shaping, the opportunity to learn is what he needed most. With this new resource, Seth could finally shore up his biggest weakness. Watching matches and continuing to research his index would allow him to rapidly catch up and gain strength. Power isn¡¯t only up to physical capabilities after all.
Seth put the match feeds off to the side for now, as he still needed to look at the rest of the information the console held. He quickly flew through the rest of the programs, finding a few more points of interest. The match signup program was pretty straightforward, just choose how many people would participate, then hit enter. There was one last resource on the console that had caught his eye as well.
It was a map file that showed a whole network of places that were apparently inside the sealed space of the challenge. There were rooms for participants, places to eat, training facilities, and other places too. Seth honestly became a bit sad, knowing that it would only last a month until he was back in the wild.
Even though only a few minutes had passed during his exploration of the terminal, a low buzz swept through the room as one of the main screens on the ceiling changed. It was the ladder he had seen a little while ago. Despite only having started the match five minutes ago, it seemed like the first person had finished. The number one spot glowed red as a new name finally settled into the vacant ladder. Seth¡¯s brow furrowed as he read the first finisher¡¯s name: Ruler of the Inferno, Remus.
Christ man, I don¡¯t think I have ever cringed so hard in my life.
Seth¡¯s discomfort was apparently not the appropriate reaction, as he looked across the room to find a few of the participants that stayed behind marveling at the ladder. Is it really that cool? He thought, totally lost. Even when he played video games back on Earth, Seth had never used such a pretentious handle. Usually it was a single word that he thought up on the spot, never a name and title like this guy.
Wondering who exactly the number one seat was, Seth pulled up the most recently completed match. A quiet gasp was released as the film revealed a large lion man covered in embers standing across from what looked like a large obsidian golem.
¡°That guy?! Are you kidding me right now?!¡± he yelped aloud.
It seemed like Remus was even stronger than Seth had originally thought, as finishing first was no joke. Although, a slight weight was taken off Seth¡¯s shoulders as he watched Remus quickly take apart the monster. He was definitely strong, but this also meant that he was more than likely the limit of strength Seth had to overcome. After seeing Remus in action the first time, a part of him had been worried that people even stronger than him might be walking around in this event as well.
Even though the people in this challenge were only a sample of the entirety of the participants, it boded well that there was still a limit to their power. Though, Seth was not stupid enough to think Remus was the strongest out there. There could very easily be other outliers that could eclipse him.
Not anyone I want to meet. He confessed subconsciously.
He ran his hand through his blonde-black hair in an attempt to dismiss the thoughts and focus back onto the video. It was honestly getting kind of scary how easily he could disassociate these days. Perhaps it was just an aspect of raising his attributes, or maybe it was due to the sheer amount stressful new information that had been compiling since his introduction into the multiverse. Regardless of the cause, being able to focus without becoming overwhelmed was an invaluable skill for someone in Seth¡¯s situation. He put this talent to full use as he analyzed every second of Remus¡¯s match. Who better to learn the secrets of shaping from if not the best?
--------
Match after match was completed, and Seth watched them all.
Two whole days passed with Seth only absorbing the footage.
There was no end to the material he gained from the other participants. Most continued to go through match after match with only small breaks, while others created schedules that they adhered to, such as one match every three hours or so. It didn¡¯t matter to Seth though; he was more interested in the range of paths every participant took in the matches.
After only half a day of watching, he had decided on watching twelve participants in particular. The other matches weren¡¯t useless by any means, it¡¯s just that he felt like his basic fighting style and abilities resonated more with some of the offensive type fighters that focused on lethality. There was value in watching other battles as well, but that would only be useful if he had to fight them specifically, which wasn¡¯t the objective of the challenge.
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Hours passed while he mentally deconstructed the way he had been fighting up until this point. These videos showed people with more than technique, it showed people who were finding their path. Some had already seemed to have begun construction, while most looked to be strengthening their Foundation in order to begin building. Seth had put the cart before the horse it seems. Without paying any attention to his Foundation, he had just been throwing anything he could on top of it in order to gain some fraction of strength.
For now, he needed to find out exactly what he was lacking in his base, and from the sound of it, it seemed like Drake had given him a lead: Shaper Transcripts.
By the way he was talking about them, it seemed like they were an integral part of shaping as well as something he should have already gotten from the beginning. An image of the chained bastard flashed through Seth¡¯s mind, laughing at his ¡°little one¡± whom he never gave any help to. The familiar burn of anger simmered underneath his skin, further crystalizing his resolve.
He closed the match recordings and pulled up the store program that was also on the computer. He wasn¡¯t exactly sure what he was looking for in a shaper transcript, but regardless, it seemed like he needed to get one. After figuring out how to filter the items, Seth began seriously looking through all the transcripts offered.
It seemed there were a total of thirty-seven sitting in the shop. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t know if this was uncommon, or even which ones of them were any good. Obviously they ranged in price, but there were also differences just based on what kind of transcripts they were. Affinities were labeled next to each, and it seemed like certain affinities pitched a higher price for some reason. For example, space, dimension, time, and divine affinities were significantly more expensive than the rest. This didn¡¯t exactly bother Seth, as just glancing at them, they didn¡¯t seem like a fit for his general ability and race type.
But is that even the right way to think about it?
Seth couldn¡¯t help but second guess himself. Drake had mentioned something about a Foundation Path; that didn¡¯t sit well with Seth. Was a Foundational Path something that fit his race and abilities? Questions such as this ran through his mind. With another sigh, he put the line of thoughts on hold. He could research the matter further at a later time. Right now, he wanted to get into match, as it had been too long since he had last fought. Also, in order to buy a shaper transcript in the first place, he needed contribution points.
--------
The second he selected a solo match on the terminal, reality glitched and Seth found himself standing in the center of the original coliseum. Dust swirled in the air around his feet as the twin suns in the sky beat down on his figure. Seth¡¯s mind quickly adapted to the change in scenery, and he whirled around in place to find his enemy. Unfortunately, upon a full circle inspection, Seth couldn¡¯t identify any clear danger besides a wet patch of sand halfway across the arena.
He gave the abnormality a large berth as he circled the arena. True Sight revealed a small glow of energy originating from the dark spot. He slowly crept closer to the patch, confused as the light grew smaller the closer he got. Before he even got there, a screen popped into existence right in front of him.
-Match complete. Result: Success. Jumping back to main hall in (5) seconds
The timer began to count down in front of Seth¡¯s confused face. Despite not understanding how he won the match, Seth wasn¡¯t so stupid as to not take advantage of the situation. Banishing the screen, Seth lunged toward the puddle while centering his energy into a malleable wisp. It only took him a moment to reach the wet sand where he instantly activated Plunder.
Before knowing if it worked, Seth found himself back at the entrance of the main hall. He quickly opened his cache and was pleased to find a few new items waiting for him. Deciding to check them later, Seth waved away his cache screen and made his way back over to the nearest console. He cast a quick glance to the ladder, a habit he had picked up over the last couple days. He didn¡¯t miraculously find himself in the top placements, but he wanted to see if any large changes had been made. He soon turned his attention back to the console, as the big screen hadn¡¯t deviated from the norm. The same six names sat at the top. Sometimes they would change, but no new name ever made its way into the six.
- Ruler of the Inferno, Remus (15,650)
- Princess Caladenia, The Radiance Court (15,020)
- Galdir Ruminold, Believer in Love (14,720)
- Eminence (12,260)
- Path of the Endless (11,890)
- Angus, The Radiance Court (9,970)
Seth had no idea who the rest of them were, but Remus seemed to hold a strong spot at the top. Every now and then, he would swap spots with the woman in second, but other than that, no one touched their ranks. Seth wasn¡¯t very interested in that though. The top prize sounded beyond incredible, a ¡°Supreme Fate Bound Reward¡± would likely change his entire life. Just like he had read in the index, a change of fate was exactly what he needed in order to get the power he wanted.
The only thing was, Seth was almost certain that it would be impossible to get.
If he calculated correctly, then in order to reach 500,000 challenge points, given that each match gives 500 on average upon completion, you would have to do around thirty-three every day in order to barely make it. Now that isn¡¯t completely impossible, as it usually doesn¡¯t take too long to win a match, but it would still be pretty hard. Not to mention, the matches were not as predictable as they would have liked. The random opponent could be a monster that is untouchable, or impervious to the participant. There was a limit to the difficulty of matches based off the number of participants, but that only applied to the tier of the monsters. On the upside, you could have matches that were stupidly easy too, just like the one Seth had.
After watching the replay, he found that his opponent had actually been some sort of liquid creature that instantly died due to the hot and dry atmosphere of the arena. He would¡¯ve chuckled at the absurdity if he didn¡¯t think about the odds of getting another freebie match.
I might¡¯ve just used up all my luck for a measly 460 points.
This sobering thought was a bit of a buzzkill, but it wasn¡¯t all that bad of news. Instead of focusing on the rewards of getting high points, Seth could use this opportunity solely for growth.
I might not be the strongest here, but I can damn well try to be.
Deciding on the next course of action, he pulled up the signup program and queued himself up for ten matches. Most would think he was an idiot for doing such a thing, as if he was injured in one of the matches, he wouldn¡¯t be able to take a break between them.
Surrendering wasn¡¯t really an option either, as there was an hour time limit to do so. This prevented a participant from being stuck in the case of an opponent being impossible to defeat for that specific person. Though, if you were injured, surviving for an hour whilst being attacked would still be damn near impossible.
Despite these drawbacks, he had a legitimate reason for doing consecutive matches. Constant battle wasn¡¯t something new to Seth. His time in the experiment had taught him how to manage with pacing a drawn-out fight. It also gave him a rather odd quirk that had grown over his months alone. The continuous dance with death seemed to allow Seth to think more clearly. This quirk along with his new ideas gained from watching matches would allow him to hopefully begin building some sort of¡ something.
For a moment he thought about talking to Drake¡¯s trio before he left, but he dismissed the idea as it arrived. He had originally thought they were weaker than him, but he had taken some time to watch their matches, and it was truly something to behold. They had impeccable teamwork, but their individual power was something even Seth couldn¡¯t match. Their technique alone was a beautiful mix of fighting skills and abilities that flowed like water. Seth wanted to get there, and the only way to do so is to figure it out in battle. At least that¡¯s what he concluded.
He softly bit his lip in determination before confirming his signup.
39- A Goal in Sight
Having forgotten the method of transport, Seth found himself promptly falling onto his ass in the hot sand of the coliseum. With his ears slightly burning, he quickly got up and dusted himself off right before being sent flying into the air.
It was like a tank had run into him, causing his bones to crack, and his muscles to groan. After being sent tumbling, Seth had barely enough time to cough up some blood and sand before he noticed a large figure barreling his way again. It was a rather large sort of primate that had a frog-like, orange head and glowing, metallic knuckles.
So that¡¯s why my chest feels like a mashed potato.
Seth summoned a high classed recovery crystal from his cache as well as Anar. As the red halo of healing formed above his head, and his flesh and bones were restored, Seth used the agony of his limbs fixing themselves to focus his mind. Unfortunately, his body was not healed quickly enough, so all he could do for the next attack was throw his body to the side. The primate finally reached him and Seth couldn¡¯t help but be struck with a sense of impending doom as a red, glowing fist of steel descended towards him.
Fulling honing his tripled reflexes and knowledge of matadors, Seth dove to the side at the last possible moment, barely allowing himself to dodge the fist but buying him another mouth full of sand. Landing on his back, Seth used his good arm to shank the large monster right in it¡¯s meaty thigh. After missing its mark and getting gouged, the creature let out a shrill roar before crashing into the granite wall of the coliseum. Dust showered the area and Seth was delighted to find himself back in control of his limbs. He darted to his feet and used his tempered constitution ability to put some space between him and the monster.
Now that he was finally up and ready, the creature had no chance of winning the fight. Despite its strength and empowerment abilities, Seth could tell he was faster than the beast, especially since his glaive had already seemed to cripple one of its legs. Even with this handicap, it seemed the creature was not done just yet, as Seth watched it rise from the rubble across the arena. Finally about to actually start fighting, he began his first planned experiment. A familiar clone wreathed in smoke emerged from Seth¡¯s hand as well as an identical copy of Anar.
¡°Let¡¯s go you ugly bastard.¡±
Both he and the illusionary clone charged at the primate from two different sides. Unsurprisingly, the monster paid no heed to the clone and instead went straight for Seth. He sighed in disappointment before reaching the oncoming behemoth. Another glowing fist came crashing toward his head, but this time, he was ready. He slid underneath the blow and followed up with a horizontal slash to the creature¡¯s abdomen. It seemed this monster was not as easy as he thought to defeat though, as the blade coasted halfway through its muscles before a shockwave of energy pushed him backward and launched the weapon away.
Seth vision swam for a moment, but he didn¡¯t let up though as the second his feet touched the ground, he rocketed himself right back at the monster and resummoned Anar. Although wounded, the frog eyes shined with hatred as they refocused on the fast-approaching shaper. A scarlet red wave burst forth from underneath the skin of the monster¡¯s mighty arm and a dangerous amount of purple energy began to torrent around the appendage. Unable to stop himself now that he was in the air, Seth dismissed his useless clone and used the entirety of his Fear Itself ability to create a flurry of plain daggers that went straight for the monster¡¯s head.
Even though the creature had ignored his illusion last time, the monster couldn¡¯t entirely ignore this one.
Regardless of knowing they were illusions, the frog-like eyes couldn¡¯t help but flinch at the sharp points penetrating its eyes. Seth was delighted to find his gambit work, as he used the distraction to twist his body above the giant fist and thrust Anar down into the top of the metallic limb. His strike panned out better than expected, as his grotesque weapon slid straight through the hand and embedded itself into the ground, pinning the monster in place. It didn¡¯t come without downsides though, as the stored-up energy from the monster¡¯s ability did not dissipate after being deflected.
The frog¡¯s mouth opened up in what looked like a mask of panic and Seth shared the expression as the pinned arm began to spasm around. Rampant purple energy began to mix with an inky black stream as the creature¡¯s arm reached a breaking point. Unlike his opponent, Seth was not pinned down, so after delivering a solid punch directly into the frog¡¯s face, he used all his strength to get away from the monster.
After dashing to the farthest side of the arena, Seth watched as the energies finally lost their form and a brief moment of silence was followed by a large blast of blood and bone splinters. Seth ducked his head behind a bracer as the blast wave passed over him. A lot of sand, and a good splatter of blood hit him despite being at least a hundred meters from the blast. Finally, the dust started to settle and Seth slowly raised himself up. His mouth sat agape as his eyes found the remains of the monster.
¡°What. The. Fuck.¡±
All that was left of his opponent was a pile of mush and viscera. Before he had the chance to actually think about what happened, the countdown screen appeared just like the last match. Shit. He sprinted across the arena just in time to plunder the leftovers of the primate.
A second later, Seth glitched again and found himself in a new coliseum with a lot less blood. Although the teleporting sensation still caused him to become a little woozy, Seth was prepared this time. He quickly dismissed the notifications from completing the match and looting the monster. Although he wanted to try and figure out what exactly caused the monster to implode, he knew that doing so would hinder his ability to handle the task at hand. Not to mention, he had finally found a worthwhile path to follow for his Fear Itself ability.
--------
It wasn¡¯t until his seventh match that Seth discovered a path for his ability outside of scaring his friends.
So far, every illusion he made with Fear Itself was basically useless in combat. Sure, it would help camouflage him in the woods, but after getting discovered, it became a liability as it required his energy to sustain. The energy consumption wasn¡¯t anything crazy though, as Seth could keep True Sight and the majority of his illusionary mist active for quite a while if need be. This was a good thing when it came to endurance battles, but it¡¯s not like it really helped in them. The unintelligent monsters couldn¡¯t give a shit about his clones, which was proof enough in his first fight with the frog primate.
The fights since then have gone basically the same way, mixing between groups of high tier twos and individual tier threes. Despite the tier three monsters being much stronger than the tier twos, they still didn¡¯t seem to be any smarter. The only time he could get a reaction from them was when he threw an obviously lethal attack illusion. For example, when he cast a storm of daggers to go for the bulbous eyes of the frog primate, it had flinched just enough for him to dodge a lethal blow.
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He also had a very good experience after trying to create a smoke cloud. During his third fight, a pack of hyena-like dogs that shot light rays had surrounded him and blinded his vision temporarily. In his desperation, Seth had imagined the feeling to be like a pitch-black smokescreen where he couldn¡¯t even see his hands. The second after doing so, the blinding light had receded, and he was able to see what had become of the fight.
Covering his immediate ten-meter area was a thick blanket of black fog. Although impossible to penetrate with his normal vision, he could still see through it with True Sight. He could see the hyenas running around his smoke cloud, but for some reason they didn¡¯t seem to be able to sense him. One explanation was his racial ability, Specter State, which allowed him to be erased from all senses and ¡°lower ranked detection abilities.¡±
Whatever the hell that even means. So far, I haven¡¯t seen any ranking system for abilities other than tiers, which doesn¡¯t even really make sense.
At this point, all of his aligned abilities were up to tier two, which seemed to improve the effects of each branch ability that fell under them. The thing was, he couldn¡¯t tell how his abilities ranked against other ones. Putting aside that whole debacle, Specter State seemed to work perfectly for animals who couldn¡¯t detect energy, but when it came to monsters, they somehow had the ability to sense it. The same was for some humans like Ty. The concealing trick he had originally taught him was not as effective as he would¡¯ve liked. It was useful for being polite around others, as holding in your energy was considered normal in Ethin, but when it came to anything else, it was a completely useless trick.
It was quite disappointing for Seth to learn this, as for a moment he had thought he might¡¯ve been talented with energy manipulation when Ty showed his initial surprise.
That is why he had been so interested when the hyenas hadn¡¯t attacked him through his illusion smoke. Then it hit him: If they could sense energy then he probably looked like a giant purple cloud right now, or whatever color it normally looked like. His ability was basically pure energy, so of course they couldn¡¯t tell the difference between him and the ability.
But wait, how did the frog monster know which one was me? How did it tell the daggers were illusions?
He thought about it quickly while he sat in the smoke cloud, but then decided that it was probably up to either the type of energy, or amount.
I most likely just look like a jumble of energy while inside this, they probably can¡¯t tell if I¡¯m any different right now.
If he was right, then the new fog illusion would actually be a pretty useful trick for monsters. He used the trick a couple more times in the next rounds, finding similar results in each.
It was also a good application of Fear Itself because it didn¡¯t require a lot of imagination to make a bog of smoke and it could exist without much concentration. It was a bit embarrassing really, the fact he had only thought of making a smokescreen now. It was like the most basic dark type spell in any RPG.
After putting the black fog into his repertoire, Seth tabled the idea of brainstorming more useful illusions and instead decided to focus on fooling the senses of the monsters. When he originally made the monster in the first match flinch, Seth had felt like he had finally found a lead toward the best use for his ability. It slightly bothered him that he couldn¡¯t spend time working on his other abilities, but at the same time, what could he really do with the other ones anyway?
Anar was pretty straightforward: slice, stab, kill.
True Sight was something he used constantly used, but it really only had one use.
He had one other ability that could possibly be useful: Anima Thief. The only issue was that Seth couldn¡¯t get a handle on its aspect ability, Anima Release.
He had plenty of monster animas stocked up due to the hundreds of fights he has had over the past months, except that he didn¡¯t know how to release them on command. It had worked once when he accidentally tried to absorb an Xtrey Hound, but after that, it never activated again. Seth had spent many nights getting pissed off trying to figure the ability out. Unfortunately, it never heeded his call.
Whatever, it¡¯s a problem I can figure out later. He concluded.
His mind went back to the task at hand as he looked at the spindly orange creature sitting a little ways away. His seventh match was against a sluglike monster with multiple random appendages. It seemed to be disabled by the heat, so Seth took advantage of the situation to experiment on the thing. It was a baseline tier three, so it had a pretty good level of durability, plus, it wasn¡¯t totally defenseless as when he got close enough, all the appendages would attempt to skewer him. Also, it would periodically spit some sort of curse venom at him regardless of how far he was.
Seth easily dodged another projectile of venom as he began casting illusion after illusion. All kinds of weapons appeared and disappeared around the monster, taking turns to deliver a series of what would be lethal blows onto the monster. Before, Fear Itself could really only re-create objects that were stiff, without a lot of moving parts. With its tier up, Seth found it easier to imagine objects into life, and sometimes they would move naturally without Seth putting all his concentration into it.
For example, a fire would be incredibly hard to bring to life because it has all kinds of moving parts, but with the tier up, if he imagined a campfire, the fire would absently flicker like a real one. Seth attributed this to the ability reading his memories to an extent and replicating the movements like a short video rather than a picture. This was a welcome development, as it made the rest of his illusions more realistic, plus it didn¡¯t drain his focus as much. He used this improvement to torment the slug even further.
It seemed most illusions that were targeted at the eyes of the monster were more effective than anything, as it was quite hard not to at least squint when seeing a solid object come directly for your vision. Soon enough though, the slug seemed to overcome its involuntary reflex to a degree as its attention shifted off of the illusions and back to Seth. Although unable to move, the monster still attempted to reach Seth by stretching out its various limbs. Of course, Seth was a good ways away, so they came nowhere near him.
He sidestepped another glob of spit before changing his approach. Instead of a lot of random weapons, he began to weave illusions of different kinds of energy.
It was definitely harder, but he found that if he focused on only a few at a time, he would be able to comfortably maintain the flows and movements. Sweat began to build on his brow as he waved his hands in the air like a composer. The slug¡¯s attention was finally brought back to the illusions as a collection of water bullets began to assault the monster. It was stupid enough to react regardless of the fact that it hadn¡¯t been hurt one time by the illusions since he started. The thing slightly squirmed around as Seth created basic wounds that looked to have resulted from the water.
He continued this pattern with illusions of earth slabs, razor leaves, lightning bolts, and a variety of other basic elemental spells from video games.
Finally, just as he was getting increasingly strained and tired, he conjured a blanket of fire that settled onto the slimy hide of the slug. To his delight, the slug began writhing vigorously and moaned in fear. Despite the fire emitting no heat to burn the monster, it had reacted greatly to the illusion.
Seth grunted in surprise as he felt the illusion slip out from his grasp and inherit a life of its own. It seemed to feed on the primal fear that was pouring from the monster, empowering the ability and allowing it to exist without Seth¡¯s concentration. He watched in awe as the fire clung to the body of the monster no matter how it moved, and how it actually began creating small burn illusions on the creature¡¯s skin.
With a thought, the fire disappeared, and his body filled itself back up with the crimson mist.
Now I get it!
Excitement spread throughout his body as Seth recalled the ability¡¯s name and description. Fear Itself was not just a name, it was a hint that he had blatantly missed. The point of his aligned ability: Insanity Eternal, was to manipulate the mind of his opponent. It made obvious sense that the branch abilities¡¯ main focus was to do exactly that. Although he didn¡¯t have a way to find out the fears of his opponent just yet, Seth could use whatever information he did have to fuck with their heads big time.
Just imagine how well this could work on people.
He grinned evilly in his mind at the thought. People back on Earth were so afraid of death they would waste their lives never taking risks. It made sense to think that a good amount of people with a Foundation would have the same fear, right?
40- Lady Luck Can Suck a Dick
Seth nursed his freshly broken wrist as he waited the remaining seconds before jumping back to the main hall.
His last fight was a dangerous one. In the ninth round, Seth had faced a large armadillo made of some sort of dark rock. In a last-ditch attack, the monster had wrapped its tail around his arm in an effort to cripple him. Although that had resulted in Seth skewering the thing like a shish kebab, his wrist had gotten twisted beyond recognition due to its weight and snapped. Too caught up in the pain of his injury, Seth missed his window to loot the monster as well as heal up with a recovery crystal.
To make matters worse, his tenth and final match had been with some sort of speed-based creature. Before he even knew what was happening, a blurry assault of claws and bites began to tear through his meager armor. A feeling reminiscent of his time on a dark planet fighting Dashers overtook him as he roared against the pain and fought with an animalistic desire to survive.
Finally, his surroundings changed from a hot and sandy coliseum, to a dimly lit hall filled with countless screens. Instead of taking out a recovery crystal, Seth quickly made his way toward the residential area using his map. He was sweating bullets and covered in an egregious amount of sand and gore, but he paid it no mind as he finally found a free room to claim for himself. Seth practically threw the door closed behind him before instantly taking out a mid-class recovery crystal and falling to the ground.
He bit back a yelp as he felt his appendage slowly unravel itself while expelling any foreign matter he had gotten into the wound.
All of those video games and books really don¡¯t do any justice to real injuries. ¡°The main character got half his chest blown off but stood up and continued fighting regardless.¡± What a fucking joke.
After the pain finally subsided, Seth stood up and made his way over to the absurdly large bathroom. He had failed to notice when he first tumbled inside, but the room was more extravagant than he would¡¯ve thought possible. It actually almost hurt his eyes how bright everything in the room was. Anything that could be gold was, and anything that couldn¡¯t was platinum.
¡°A room fit for royalty I suppose.¡±
Seth had never been one for expensive things, but who in their right mind would decline taking a bath in a bejeweled tub? For the first time in what felt like forever, Seth was able to fully relax and wash away his fatigue. Scented emerald water cascaded over his body like a cleansing waterfall as he felt his muscles loosen and mind wander. He could even feel the water slowly replenishing his energy reserves as well.
He had used most of it up in his experimentation, but no where near enough to cause Mental Block like the first time he used True Sight. It worried him a little, as it felt like he wasn¡¯t using his energy correctly. Though, none of his abilities seemed to take that much out of him regardless. He willed his mind to rest, as it would be a waste to soil the bliss of his magical bath. He might love fighting monsters and getting stronger, but his passion for being clean and enjoying the finer things in life wasn¡¯t anything to scoff at either.
--------
After a couple hours of relaxing and abusing the room service, Seth finally walked out of his room toward the main hall with a goofy grin and a protruding stomach.
¡°Someone looks particularly gluttonous today.¡±
Seth didn¡¯t even turn around after hearing the foreign voice.
¡°You would seriously ignore such a remark from a stranger?¡±
The voice was smooth but held a sort of raspy edge. Seth paused to look at a piece of arbitrary art on the wall.
¡°Why would I waste my time talking to stranger who can¡¯t even introduce themselves politely?¡± He stated plainly, still not looking at the owner of the voice.
¡°Have you no pride?¡± the voice asked with a hint of disbelief and thinly veiled disgust.
Seth remained neutral, still examining the wall art. ¡°I find that ego is the root of all ignorance.¡± He could hear the person shuffle in place.
¡°Excuse me?¡±
Seth¡¯s face turned into a mask of innocent delight as he splayed his hands out in a gesture of appeasement.
¡°You are excused!¡±
Without even looking at the stranger one time, Seth turned from his station before the wall art and promptly marched away.
--------
¡°I thought I would find you out here.¡±
Seth entered the grand hall only to find a familiar trio standing in his way.
¡°Geez, did someone send out a memo to ambush me today?¡±
Drake and Licht raised a brow at his comment while Blair seemed uninterested. ¡°What?¡± Seth just gave him an impish grin before waving away the question.
¡°It¡¯s nothing, I¡¯m guessing you guys needed me for something?¡±
¡°Yes actually, we watched some of your later matches and wanted to talk to you about it.¡±
Seth¡¯s brows furrowed in genuine confusion. ¡°What about them?¡± He inquired.
Drake, for once, seemed a little squeamish. Even Licht wouldn¡¯t meet Seth¡¯s eyes.
¡°They want to know if you are evil.¡± Blair piped up.
Seth gave her an incredulous look while she just shrugged in response. Drake quickly spoke up afterward, waving his hands in a gesture of surrender.
¡°No, no, no. That¡¯s not it at all!¡± He glared at Blair to which she responded by sticking her tongue out at him. Licht took over as Drake reprimanded Blair.
¡°It¡¯s just that your weapon seems to be a bit¡ exotic, and the way you looked to practice on your opponents seemed rather¡ sinister.¡±
He took a break before continuing, looking like he swallowed a lemon.
¡°When we talked before, you said you weren¡¯t from the galactic plane, but you never actually told us where you did come from.¡±
As Licht forced the words out, Drake had been giving Seth a guilty look from the sidelines. Instead of answering, Seth just let out a laugh. Drake¡¯s face became red with embarrassment while Licht looked positively horrified.
¡°Evil? Seriously? You guys have really been worried about that?¡±
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He took a second to laugh again while throwing an arm over both of the boy¡¯s shoulders.
¡°Mate, not only am I not evil, but I haven¡¯t even known about shaping or the Foundation for an entire year yet.¡±
His claim caused even Blair¡¯s normally indifferent expression to turn into one of complete surprise. If Licht looked like he had swallowed a lemon before, now he looked like he had swallowed twelve. Not even Drake could come up with something to say as he began sputtering nonsense while trying to make sense of what he said. After a moment, Blair seemed to be the first one to calm down and meet Seth¡¯s eyes.
¡°I guess that explains why you suck at fighting so much.¡± She stated bleakly.
This finally interrupted the boys¡¯ flustering as Seth¡¯s face turned into an expression of mock hurt. A moment later the four found themselves laughing merrily before Drake and Licht regained their bearings enough to begin barraging Seth with questions. An hour later, the group found themselves sitting in a lounge, all breathless after the interrogation enacted upon Seth. Seth, of course, was the most exhausted as every question had been directed toward him. He sat back in his chair, feeling tired all over again despite his recent rest.
¡°I still can¡¯t believe you are a Mundane.¡± Licht breathed.
It turned out, people from Foundation barren worlds like Seth were so uncommon that they had been given a name: Mundanes. Blair explained that this was because with an energy starved universe like Seth¡¯s, the only way for one to attain a Foundation was for someone who already had one to provide them with it. She went on to explain that this was almost never for just reasons. The options ranged all the way from cheap war recruitment to inhumane experiments like Seth experienced.
¡°I mean seriously man, how in Null¡¯s name did you manage to survive this long, much less get into The Incubator!¡±
Seth had no answer to his question, as even he was unaware of how he had made it this far. To think, he had gone through so much, yet it felt like he hadn¡¯t even begun his shaping journey. He got the three to calm down for a moment so he could get their undivided attention. His voice became uncharacteristically serious.
¡°If you guys don¡¯t mind, I would like to keep most of this on the down low for now. I can¡¯t imagine this information would afford me any favorable experiences.¡±
The three all shared a look before Drake spoke up. ¡°We understand Seth, I hope you can trust me at my word when I say this matter won¡¯t leave the table.¡±
Seth nodded his thanks before he continued talking. ¡°Now that I understand your situation, I hope you know that I will do anything I can to help. I know I might not look like it, but I am fairly well known in my territory for my fighting technique.¡± He gestured at the other two at the table who nodded in turn. ¡°You might have been able to tell by now, but Licht here is a bit obsessive and could probably answer any questions you have about the Foundation and shaping theory. Blair on the other hand is probably the most talented of us all, she is a prodigy even amongst those here.¡±
A slender hand reached out and flicked Drake¡¯s ear. ¡°Don¡¯t brag about other people¡¯s skills like they¡¯re yours.¡± Blair said.
She turned her attention back to Seth and continued where Drake left off. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I was better than those here, but I have been told that I have a knack for shaping technique and aura control.¡± Drake rolled his eyes and mouthed ¡°she¡¯s being modest.¡± Seth smirked at his display and threw a question back to Blair.
¡°By aura control, do you mean Anima Influence? I have learned a little about it, but I haven¡¯t heard about any techniques regarding it.¡±
Blair cast an annoyed look back at Drake before answering him. ¡°You probably haven¡¯t heard much about it because it isn¡¯t the most common of practice. Though, when it comes to demonstrating your prowess, the first thing any real shaper will look for is aura control, or Anima Influence as you call it. It¡¯s a method that most mentalists try to master, but any shaper should know at least the basics in order to protect themselves from an attack. I can teach you if you want, but it¡¯s not something that can be learned in the month we are here.¡±
Seth nodded in earnest, accepting her proposal. It was disappointing that he couldn¡¯t learn it now, but the promise was enough for him. This was especially important given the nature of his Insanity Eternal aligned ability which seemed to provide some abilities that were reminiscent of the mentalist type Blair spoke of. He stood up while letting out a deep breath.
¡°Well, if you guys are convinced that I¡¯m not evil now, I should be getting back to the matches, I¡¯m not going to earn enough contribution points to get what I need if I keep dawdling.¡± He made for the exit before Drake¡¯s hand caught his shoulder.
¡°Wait up man, now that we know about you, how about you team up with us for a couple matches? It might help you get a feel for how normal shapers fight, plus you get more points for the higher difficulty matches that come with fighting in groups.¡± Seth thought it over for a moment. I guess it couldn¡¯t hurt, especially since they know I¡¯m a Mundane now. Also, I really need points. Seth grabbed the hand from his shoulder to make a handshake.
¡°Alright, I¡¯m game.¡±
--------
¡°You guys were seriously underselling how good you are.¡±
Seth sat dumfounded in front of the console as he replayed the last collection of matches he had just fought with Drake, Licht, and Blair. ¡°Fought¡± wasn¡¯t exactly accurate though, as Seth mostly just watched from the sidelines as the three tore through the opponents like tissue paper. Even packs of tier three monsters were no problem for the small squad to take care of.
Drake was the main damage dealer of the group with his twin scimitars that radiated a sort of holy power. The onslaught he enacted upon an enemy would be expertly supported by Licht¡¯s conjuration power. As Drake drew the attention of the beasts, Licht would summon shields wrought from grey scales that seemed flexible like chainmail, easily absorbing most attacks. Because Drake couldn¡¯t cover his defense on every side, Licht would create the scales with pinpoint accuracy, covering his weaknesses while at the same time throwing off the monster¡¯s tempo, allowing Drake to deliver serious blows in response. He also seemed to send out periodical buffs to his team, as Seth could see waves of energy transfer from him to the other two.
Most terrifying of all was Blair. As Drake took on the big enemies, Blair decimated all the other smaller threats with a few waves of her hand. She had some sort of ability that allowed her to draw glowing white lines directly in the air. She used this power to draw complex series of diagrams that looked like ritual circles. After they were complete, she would flick her hand, causing the circles to activate and project large myths that were unknown to Seth. Beams of destruction would rain from the myths, causing monsters to burn, freeze, get electrocuted, be thrashed by a storm of blades, and even more. No monsters got anywhere near the other two on the team the entirety of the matches he was with them. Seth himself only had to deal with a handful, but that was because he had asked her to let them go so he could practice.
Even more impressive than there teamwork was the fact that they still somehow found the time during matches to coach Seth. As he fought, Drake would yell from across the arena to advise Seth¡¯s positioning and footwork. To be honest, it made it even harder for Seth to focus during his fights because he couldn¡¯t get over how lame he was compared to the trio. It was only after a bolt from one of Blair¡¯s circles that almost hit him that caused him to really start paying attention to their lessons. They even made him watch every match after they were done to point out flaws and theorize new strategies that could make his fighting more streamlined and effective. They were currently watching the eighteenth match since Seth had joined the team.
¡°I¡¯m starting to think that you guys entered at tier two on purpose.¡± He exclaimed with a whistle.
Licht¡¯s face turned smug while Drake gave him a big grin.
¡°Well you didn¡¯t expect us to be slouches now right?¡±
Seth gave him an unconvincing look.
¡°Not all of us entered The Incubator on a whim.¡± Blair quipped.
¡°What can I say, I like to be original.¡± He laughed.
After analyzing the video for a little longer, the four of them decided that it was time for the next match. Drake swiftly prepared the next match for the team, but was dumbfounded as the screen seemed to freeze right after he signed up. ¡°Huh?¡± Drake poked the screen a few more times in confusion. Seth stepped forward to examine the screen. ¡°Try turning it off and-¡± Before he could finish, reality warped and the four were yet again in the sandy arena.
¡°-on. Oop, never mind I guess.¡±
In a flash, they all summoned their respective weapons and activated a series of passive combat abilities. Licht spotted the opponents first. ¡°Shit, to our right. This might be a problem.¡± The group all turned to look where he had indicated, only to find another group of participants staring back at them. One looked to be a spellcaster in violet robes, while the other two consisted of a paladin type warrior in golden armor and a hooded individual. A red screen appeared above the arena with a red dot that blinked steadily.
-Broadcast Initiated
-Forced dual has been rolled. Both teams will fight until one team cannot continue. Match will begin in (5) seconds
Drake wasted no time as he began commanding his team. ¡°Licht, Blair, form up. Seth, stay behind us and use that illusion ability of yours to distract their spellcaster if you can. Don¡¯t lose focus though, that hooded one is most likely an agility based stealth specialist, they usually conceal their weapons to prevent attack prediction.¡± Seth quickly did what he was told as he seated himself behind the line. Drake didn¡¯t need to say anything to the other two, as they have worked together long enough to read each other just based on movement.
Time seemed to slow down as the two teams stared at each other while the seconds counted down like molasses. Finally, the clock reached zero and the arena burst into chaos.
41- The Disparity Between Ranks
There was no signal for the start of the match other than the soft blink of the screen being erased from existence. Both teams wasted no time as various large ripples of energy rebounded through the arena.
During their match replays, Drake and his team had explained some of their strengths and weaknesses regarding their ability sets. They were very trusting of Seth so he knew most of the names and effects of their abilities to boot. This allowed him to understand some of the energy signatures that were activated upon the start of the match.
The team was engulfed in a blast of white flames as Drake activated Reign of Valor, an ability that gave him a large increase in Might as well as a smaller increase to his allies for a short duration. Licht also had an active buff ability that bestowed significantly enhanced defense upon the team at the same time as Drake.
¡°I pray to the indomitable God of Wyrms. May you grant but a fraction of this impenetrable shield to those most unworthy of thine embrace.¡±
A green coat of ethereal scales appeared around the four of them as a result of Licht¡¯s Dragon God¡¯s Embrace. The other team was unaffected by the display though. Despite being outnumbered, the other team was still comprised of tier threes, so in reality, Seth and the trio were most likely at a disadvantage. This became more apparent as the paladin activated some sort of bolster ability that caused him to grow several feet while he charged toward the opposing squad. Regardless of the walking tank heading their way, Drake erupted into a sprint, ready to meet the paladin head on.
As Licht and Blair began to support him, Seth turned his attention away from the main fight to find the hooded fighter. He was surprised to find that the fighter was not moving at all, so instead of wasting any more time, Seth started to conjure a series of illusions to distract the mage. Although it was his first time using them on people, Seth wasn¡¯t stupid enough not to have a strategy in mind. Just throwing a bunch of random objects at the spellcaster wasn¡¯t going to work.
This was the time that all those hours of YouTube deep diving and reddit horror story reading were about to show their worth.
Seth weaved a few preliminary illusions for preparation before he began the main act. As Drake and the paladin continued their clash at the center of the arena, the spellcaster seemed to be charging up an ability of their own. Using True Sight, he watched as the energy finally reached the point of activation, to which he instantly enacted his own ability. A pillar of black needles erupted from the ground beneath the spellcaster, all aimed directly toward their hands and face.
Seth knew his illusion was successful as he watched them abandon the previous storm of energy to throw up a desperate shield of prismatic crystal. It seemed his gambit had worked better than he thought, as the paladin fighting Drake dropped back for a split second, seemingly expecting support from the mage. Drake didn¡¯t allow his retreat to go unpunished, and without whatever spell the paladin had been expecting, there was nothing to stop his searing white scimitars from biting into the behemoth¡¯s golden plating. Before allowing himself to become distracted by the small victory, Seth doubled his focus over his illusions, showing the mage images of sparks flying and needles falling to the ground after hitting the shield. Shortly after, a resounding boom echoed throughout the arena, signaling Blair¡¯s contribution to the match.
The match continued like this for a short while, with Seth interrupting three more large spells from the spellcaster using different types of illusions. As the match dragged on, Seth couldn¡¯t help but feel more and more uneased. Despite him stopping multiple spells, and the three on one brawl set upon on the paladin, it still didn¡¯t seem like they were winning. Despite the disadvantage, the golden warrior had not faltered at all. Even Blair¡¯s powerful blasts only staggered the paladin for a short time. Even more worrisome was the fact that the hooded fighter still hadn¡¯t moved from their position behind the mage.
Although most of his focus was on doing the job Drake gave him, Seth was no slouch at multitasking. This skill gained from his previous life was the only thing that allowed him to discover the true danger of the opposing team. As another one of Blair¡¯s spells erupted and the following shockwave kicked up billows of sand, Seth grunted in panic when the sand went straight through the unmoving figure.
¡°Shit! Watch out! The hooded guy isn¡¯t actually there!¡±
He wasn¡¯t sure if they could hear him over the clamor of the fight, but it looked like it wouldn¡¯t have mattered if they did. He looked at Licht for the first time in the entirety of the match, only to find him on the ground, clutching at his chest. Shattered pieces of grey scales were strewn around him and the hooded fighter that was previously across the arena was standing above his body. Seth cast a glance back over to the hooded fighter¡¯s double that was still standing alone. Without wasting another moment, the real one raised a boot and viciously stomped down on Licht¡¯s neck, causing him to burst into a swarm of moths.
Relief that Licht was taken before being killed gave him a brief respite before the assassin disappeared yet again. The next second, they were back by the mage, whispering something to them. Seth knew he was fucked as the assassin waved their hand through the spinning sword illusion that was currently hounding the mage. He quickly ditched the illusion with a grimace before bounding toward the mage himself. Without Licht, Seth didn¡¯t know how much longer Drake could hold his own. Even with two supporters, he still couldn¡¯t get the upper hand, meaning that with one of them gone, he was bound to lose eventually.
Seth needed to take the mage out as fast as possible so he could help the other two. After exposing the illusions to the mage, the assassin had yet again disappeared. Seth used this to his advantage as he dashed forward using his superhuman constitution. No matter how fast he might have gotten, the mage was still all the way across the arena, so there was no way he was going to reach them before they got a spell off. As they began activating another ability, Seth cursed himself for the umpteenth time because of his lack of ranged abilities. Using his most reliable trick, he hurled Anar like he had done a hundred times before.
He continued his sprint forward, hoping that it would interrupt the spellcaster one last time. Unfortunately, the odds were not in his favor as the assassin appeared in a flash and deflected his glaive with a short sword. The assassin was not a strength-based fighter though, so the projectile¡¯s force wasn¡¯t totally redirected, and the edge of Anar ended up grazing their shoulder. Shit! In his desperation, Seth used the majority of Fear Itself to conjure up an eldritch horror directly in the mage¡¯s face. But this time, they didn¡¯t allow the illusion to stop them.
A hurricane of sharp crystals tore his illusion to shreds and continued on to where Blair was standing. She raised a hand to shield herself from the spell, only to be stabbed in the back by the hooded assassin.
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¡°Dammit!¡± She grunted in pain.
Her body seemed to cease up right after the attack, allowing the crystal storm to begin ripping through her flesh unimpeded. Blair lasted for only a brief second before she too dissolved into moths. To make matters worse, the mage already had another spell ready, and Seth was still too far away to stop them. He watched the energy coalesce at their hand, and he shortly found himself face to face with a prismatic crystal the size of a car. He used his enhanced constitution and reflexes to dart out of the way, but just as he was about to continue his dash toward the mage, Seth¡¯s instincts kicked in, and he slashed behind himself. Anar met nothing but air, yet his slash was successful as the assassin fighter appeared from nowhere to dodge his attack.
This guy is seriously pissing me off. It¡¯ll be impossible to get to that mage if this guy can teleport around like that.
Regardless if the assassin could actually teleport, or was just incredibly fast with a high tiered stealth skill, Seth had no chance of beating them. Speed was one of Seth¡¯s strong suits, but the assassin was a tier three just like the rest. The tyranny of rank was truly nothing to scoff at, that¡¯s why even Drake¡¯s whole trio couldn¡¯t beat the paladin. The fight was all but over at this point, as Drake was fervently defending himself to no avail against the hulking golden warrior, and Seth was outnumbered himself.
Screw it.
A huge billow of smoke erupted from Seth, covering his immediate surroundings. Seth swiftly moved the smoke along with himself, getting closer and closer to the mage that he could still spot using True Sight. He could only move the smoke along with himself at a jogging pace, so his progress toward the mage was a lot slower than before. Even with that hindrance, Seth was much safer as the smoke made it harder for the mage to pin him down.
After a handful of ineffective attacks, the mage opted to instead shift focus to Drake, leaving the duty of taking out Seth to the assassin. It wasn¡¯t a bad decision by any means, as the assassin technically should¡¯ve had the advantage in a smoke cloud. Seth¡¯s intuition was found correct as he slashed outward into the smoke and heard a grunt of pain. Unfortunately for the other team, Seth had an optical ability that allowed him to see energy signatures, meaning that when the assassin entered his smoke cloud, Seth would instantly be able to sense him.
Since the hooded one was so good at hiding their own energy, if they walked into the smoke, it would look like a large empty pocket in a fog of purple. This single fact spelled the end for the assassin, as they were now wounded and caught in the spider¡¯s web. Seth wouldn¡¯t allow the assassin to escape, so he sacrificed a portion of the smokescreen to conjure a clone of himself and placed it in the path of the retreating pocket.
He sensed the activation of an ability inside the smoke and heard the assassin cuss in surprise. Seth hungrily leapt forward and finished the job, burying Anar deep in the back of their chest. The pocket disappeared and a swarm of moths fled out of the smoke shortly after. A victorious grin ripped across his face before he finally dismissed the smoke and continued his initial goal of taking care of the mage.
Upon emergence out of the smoke, Seth was greeted with a brick sized crystal that slammed into his stomach with the force of a truck.
His pursuit was cut short as he fell to his knees before coughing up his lunch. Another impact caught him in the side of the head, making his skull rattle and vision darken. He got one last look of a gilded boot coming toward him before he was encompassed by a familiar, but uncomfortable cold feeling followed by a million wings fluttering against his skin. He found himself back in the main hall a moment later, with his face full of notification screens. He stumbled for a moment now that his feet were back under him, but then promptly faceplanted onto the cold tile. The next second, he was out cold.
--------
Their eyes fluttered for a moment before opening to a wide window.
The scene of endless black space did nothing to calm Shilung¡¯s gem heart. Pushing itself upright, Shilung moved over to the small control panel of the escape cruiser.
It had been three days since Origin¡¯s headquarters had been destroyed.
Shilung could only assume that all of their subsidiary branches followed shortly after. An organization with roots spanning thousands of dimensions wide, obliterated in only a few minutes. It was incomprehensible, not even an Umbra could achieve such a feat alone. Not to mention, Origin¡¯s headquarters was located in a fabricated pocket dimension of their own making. It shouldn¡¯t have even been possible for anyone to know where it was. Even those in Origin were given soul brands that rendered them unable to release the information to anyone.
Shilung hummed out a sigh as they rubbed the lifeless and brittle grey crater that continued to slowly eat away at the integrity of their gem body. It was the only proof that the attack had happened at all.
Shilung¡¯s body was created from the mother gem, an experiment of Origin¡¯s that was successful in creating organisms immune to all forms of virus, sickness, and cell decay. The disease was something not of this realm. The idea of their own mortality was something Shilung had never needed to spare a thought to before, but for some reason, Shilung wasn¡¯t thinking about it¡¯s impending death at all.
Instead, their mind could only replay the horrific event that caused their life''s work to dissolve into ash.
Before the catastrophe began, Shilung had been looking into a Class S restricted file on behalf of the Commander. He hadn¡¯t given Shilung all the details, but they knew enough to put the pieces together and were able to recognize the immense danger it contained. Right as they were about to send off the information back to the Commander, an eerie silence had engulfed the entire room. It was as if Null himself had stolen all of the warmth in the compound.
That¡¯s when they started to appear.
Abominations of life oozed into existence like a plague. Beings so sinister it seemed as if the air itself couldn¡¯t stand being in their presence began to form right in front of Shilung. Despite being a tier seven, Shilung¡¯s entire existence screamed at itself to run.
In their escape, one of the things had barely grazed Shilung¡¯s side, causing the festering wound that now robbed them of their vitality.
Barely a moment after they were finally able to get to a spare vessel, they activated the jump engine and escaped through the large gate it had created. What followed was some sort of space distortion caused by the destruction of the pocket dimension¡¯s core. It threw the escape cruiser through a random tear in space, causing immense damage to the vessel and stranding Shilung in an unknown dimension. Despite being in an entirely different plane of existence than the things, Shilung couldn¡¯t get them out of it¡¯s head.
Only one word seemed fit to describe the horrible creatures that came from the other realm: Demons.
--------
Seth woke up with a quiet groan.
¡°Geez, I thought I was done getting knocked out.¡± He grumbled.
¡°It¡¯s pretty hard to stay conscious after getting kicked in the head that many times.¡±
Seth looked up to find Blair standing over him wearing a casual sweater and skirt. ¡°Although I¡¯m surprised it only took that paladin five tries with that thick skull of yours.¡±
He looked around for a moment before realizing that he was lying on the bed in a vaguely similar apartment to his own. He rubbed his aching head before sitting up to use one of the lower classed recovery potions in his cache.
¡°This your place?¡±
She gave him her trademark flat look before heading over to a tan couch sitting across the room. ¡°Licht and my brother went to talk with Regurd, he was the big guy in golden armor. Unfortunately for me, I got stuck babysitting.¡±
Seth shrugged off the insult as his migraine melted away. He glanced around for a second before pointing at the door he assumed was the bathroom.
¡°Well, if they aren¡¯t going to be back for a little while, mind if I take a shower?¡±
Blair shrugged with disinterest before crossing her legs over one another, causing her rather short skirt to ruffle against her reddish pink skin. Seth didn¡¯t even spare the movement a glance before escaping into the bathroom. Although gorgeous, Blair was a little too young for Seth¡¯s tastes. Not to mention, she didn¡¯t seem to like him at all either. Seth cast the thoughts aside as he undressed and began warming up the water.
¡°Maybe she¡¯s just a tsundere.¡±
42- A Lesson Learned
The door to the suite opened with a quiet rattle. Two muffled voices approached through the hallway to the main room where Seth was waiting.
¡°What are you doing?¡± Licht¡¯s voice echoed from the entrance.
Seth was currently sitting criss-cross applesauce in front of a shadowy clone of himself. ¡°It¡¯s a game from my home world. It¡¯s called Patty-Cake.¡±
Drake and Licht looked at each other with bewilderment before turning back to Seth.
¡°Do recovery potions heal brain damage?¡±
¡°I thought so.¡±
Seth rolled his eyes before dismissing the clone. ¡°So what happened? Blair said you went to talk to Regurd.¡± The two made themselves at home while Blair walked in from the other room. Seth grabbed a biscuit from his floating wisp and nestled in as well.
¡°Well obviously we lost. I checked with Regurd and it turns out that the winner is given the total amount of points the other team held at the time. Lucky for us, the point value is just a copy of our own, so we don¡¯t lose ours. It seems that their team rocketed up to the top ten while we gained nothing. I can¡¯t say that I am unhappy with the result though, as we were able to survive a fight against a team of tier three shapers. Who gets that kind of experience and lives to tell the tale, right?¡±
Drake¡¯s enthusiasm caused Seth to smirk and lessened the weight of the loss. He didn¡¯t have any delusions that they could have won against such a power gap, but losing still wasn¡¯t fun. The four of them continued the discussion for a while, talking about the fight. They went over the good and the bad of the fight, as well as what they could have done better. The recording was watched over and over, no detail left undiscussed. This of course resulted in the four of them watching Seth¡¯s solo fight with the assassin. The other three could barely believe what happened.
¡°It looks like I was wrong to put you on the back line!¡± Drake exclaimed.
¡°Next time you¡¯re going up front with me!¡± He finished with a grin.
Seth gave him his best version of a sheepish smile. ¡°Do you mind showing me that weapon of yours?¡± Licht asked. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you using it in our matches, but I never got a good look at it. Does it have an aspect that allows it to overcome tier disparity?¡±
Seth nodded before calling Anar from his hand. The black skin roiled for a moment, giving way to a long shaft made of black tar. The grinning face first emerged, then it continued all the way down the slightly pulsing black veins that spanned the length of the shaft. Finally, the blade emerged, and Seth used his free hand to haul the weapon the rest of the way out. He offered it to Licht, only to find him hesitating with his hands out. His fingers seemed to flinch back as his skin neared the onyx surface. Instead of grabbing it, he pulled out a series of tools from thin air and began inspecting the glaive.
¡°Wow! It really does have a tier jumping aspect! That¡¯s actually quite rare for a weapon to have. It is much more common for armor to have such an aspect, but even then, those are incredibly expensive.¡± He turned over to Drake with a smile.
¡°Forget putting him on the front line, you should just pick him up and swing him around. The faster we get him to break into tier three the better. If he gets the power to cut through tier four armor, then there really shouldn¡¯t be any reason he couldn¡¯t beat anyone here. Well, outside of skill, blessings, and the chance that someone also has a tier jumping aspect on their defense.¡±
Licht continued on, not even noticing the flat look Seth was giving him. He wasn¡¯t wrong with his deduction, but it stung nonetheless. He couldn¡¯t argue about the gap in skill, but the blessing thing wasn¡¯t something he could help. Grayson had explained Umbral Blessings briefly, enough to tell that Seth didn¡¯t have one. According to him, it was something all shapers were given by their Umbras. It fell along the lines of a free racial ability as Seth understood it. It was the reason Ty¡¯s progress bothered him so much, as he believed Gaia had given him a cheat blessing.
¡°You know man, where I¡¯m from it¡¯s pretty rude to point out someone¡¯s faults right in front of their face.¡±
Drake flicked Licht on the ear with a grin. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s true everywhere. He¡¯s not wrong though Seth, I think you should focus on tiering up. We are only one or two attribute classes away from the next tier, but what about you?¡± Seth absently opened his menu to check his stats.
Level: Tier Two (Progress: Peak)
Intellect: Class A
Constitution: Class B
Might: Class A
Intuition: Class A
Resolve: Class A
¡°Looks like I¡¯m in the same boat, only one attribute away.¡± Seth dismissed his menu and scratched the side of his head. ¡°It¡¯s kind of crazy that we were beaten so soundly by those tier threes when we are all at the peak of the second tier.¡±
Licht shrugged in response. ¡°That¡¯s just how it is, the higher you go, the bigger the gap in power between tiers. I vote we get back into matches as soon as we can and cross that threshold before we get caught in another forced duel.¡±
The other two nodded their heads in agreement, but Seth held up a hand to stop them. ¡°Actually, I need to hit the shop before we start back up again. That match just further proved that I seriously need some type of ranged attack.¡± He swiftly got up swapped his casual clothes out for his armor using his cache.
¡°Not to mention, this tier one armor isn¡¯t gonna cut it anymore. I¡¯ve been purposely hoarding all the points from my matches in order to get some decent new equipment, as this crap I¡¯m wearing now wasn¡¯t even enough to stop the sand kicked up from the shockwaves of Blair¡¯s spells.¡±
He made his way for the exit but caught a voice before the door closed. ¡°It¡¯s about time, I thought he was dressing as a hobo for fun or something.¡±
--------
Seth strolled through the halls on his way to the shopping district of the pocket dimension. He passed multiple participants who didn¡¯t even spare him a second glance as he finally arrived in the huge facility that held all the shop items that were displayed in the catalog Seth received a few days back. He was happy to discover that all the items were laid out by category in an organized manner. They were also sitting freely, which meant Seth could use identify to see their class and effects that were previously unavailable to him through the token.
Despite all of the interesting stuff sitting out, Seth went directly to the armor section first. His research through the store inventory had allowed him to ping a few sets that seemed better suited for his fighting style, as well as his personal tastes. The only thing he needed to check before picking was what type of inherit aspects or abilities each set had. Finally, he found all three sets he was looking for and plucked them off the display to compare.
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Grygh Hide Armor Set (Tier Three):
-Grants advanced protection against all physical attacks, high protection against electrical currents, moderate self-repair function, slow self-cleaning function. (Upgradeable)
Set Bonus:
-Grants Shock Negate, Auto Fit
Shock Negate:
-Passively absorbs 10% of blunt physical attack damage.
Auto Fit:
-Equipment conforms to the user.
Slick Runner Armor Set (Tier Three):
-Grants moderate protection against elemental and physical attacks, slow self-repair function, slow self-cleaning function. (Not Upgradeable)
Set Bonus:
-Grants Ricochet, Marathoner, Tough Customer, Auto Fit
Ricochet:
-Passively causes projectiles to glance off non-lethal areas of the user¡¯s body.
Marathoner:
-Upon activation, the user¡¯s stamina constantly regenerates at a rapid pace for ten minutes. (12 hour cooldown).
Tough Customer:
-Upon enemy contact, the armor¡¯s surface excretes a frictionless lubricant.
Mercenary Slacks Armor Set (Tier Three):
-Grants advanced protection against earth and physical attacks, slow self-repair function, slow self-cleaning function. (Upgradeable)
Set Bonus:
-Grants Tireless, Quick Access, Density Shift, Auto Fit
Tireless:
-Slightly improves user¡¯s stamina recovery speed.
Quick Access:
-Armor contains a small cache that can be accessed through pockets.
Density Shift:
-Armor has High Mode that exchanges mobility for protection, and Low Mode that exchanges protection for mobility.
Seth was pleasantly surprised when looking at each equipment¡¯s details. He had originally picked each one mostly for looks and name, as that was the only information that was available through the token catalog. The Grygh set was reminiscent of a Viking or barbarian type of armor. It was created from a thick set of dark brown hide along with a collection of white and grey furs that gave it a comfy feel. He had chosen it due to the high amount of protection it seemed to give, due to the strategically placed plates that didn¡¯t seem to interfere with the wearer¡¯s joints at all. The set actually seemed to have more protection than he originally thought, as the damage absorption aspect seemed incredibly useful.
The second set was definitely more modern in looks. It actually looked very similar to Untold¡¯s bodysuit, although this one was a dark grey with violet highlights. Anyone from his old world would have most likely guessed it to be a scuba suit of sorts. This set seemed to provide the most utility, as it actually had an active ability aspect that none of the other armor sets granted. It also would give him the advantage in grappling situations, as it would be hard for monsters to hold him down because of the Tough Customer aspect. Even better was the Ricochet aspect that made the less protection the armor gave basically negligible.
The last set was surprisingly familiar to Seth. It looked like a cross between a military combat uniform and a Halloween costume. The magazine carrier was covered in a series of sleek pockets rather than holsters, but the rest of the set was a normal pair of modern-day fatigues. Slightly baggy but comfortable and flexible. The color was also different, as the normal camouflage was replaced with dark grey and black secondary coloring. This one wasn¡¯t as highly protective at the Grygh armor, or as specialized as the Slick Runner set, but it had a balanced set of each. Also, its tactical benefits and rather plain style were better in his eyes than the others. The whole medieval idea of the Grygh set was not really his taste, and neither was the Tron style scuba suit of the Slick Runner set.
Looks like we got a winner.
He put the other two sets away before bringing the Mercenary Slacks armor up to the register console to purchase it. Rather than carrying it around, he wanted to put it away in his cache while he checked out the catalyst items available. Luckily, he had compiled a good amount of points so far, and tier three armor was already on the cheap because everyone else was moving toward tier four and above. This left him with a comfortable amount of points to get a relatively high quality catalyst item for one of his aligned abilities. Unfortunately it was random as to which it manifested under, but the idea was to get as specialized of an item as possible to lower the chance of getting an unwanted ability type. The rarity of the item also didn¡¯t dictate how powerful the ability would be, but that didn¡¯t bother Seth. He was a big believer in the idea of all abilities being useful in their own way.
Excitement bubbled up through Seth¡¯s stomach as he made his way toward the correct section. Despite being in the world of Foundations and shaping for over half a year, Seth still drooled at the idea of getting another supernatural power.
Don¡¯t get too excited. You can¡¯t even figure out how to use the ones you got.
His mood dropped a little at the sobering thought.
¡°How did I manage to release those stored animas in the first place?¡± He wondered aloud.
The black torrent that came out of his hand in the Xtrey Wolf¡¯s cave seemed incredibly powerful, but incredibly unwieldy. He had tried multiple times to let them loose again, but so far, he had no luck.
¡°Maybe it only works on spiritual things like animas? Or perhaps I just need to be in a life-or-death type of situation again? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how this stuff works though; real life isn¡¯t like manga.¡±
Seth continued to mutter under his breath up until he arrived at the first row of catalyst items. His thoughts were wiped away as he began browsing through the random series of items. It seemed that they were all sorted first by aligned ability catalysts, then branch abilities. Seth made his way past the aligned items and started identifying the branch items. They seemed to be sorted first by type, then by price. This made it very easy for him to narrow down all those that would mesh well with his ability type. Most of the sections didn¡¯t seem very suitable for Seth. Water, fire, mechanical, weapon types, armor types; they all didn¡¯t seem right.
Had Seth been given the choice, he would have preferred to be given some cool lighting or dark abilities like he always chose in RPGs. Unfortunately for him, his Umbra had decided to give him some sort of hodgepodge of abilities. The one similarity he could identify between them was the color black. His hair, blood, left eye, right hand, and weapon were all either turning or already black.
Maybe I should start throwing in some Chunnibiyou catchphrases to complete the look.
Finally finding the spot he was looking for, Seth started looking through the section labeled: Legacy. He had asked Drake about it during their first day meeting, to which he explained that each item was basically a physical manifestation of an ability created by some long dead shaper. His eye was one of them, so he knew they didn¡¯t differ heavily from other abilities. Browsing through the items took much longer than the armor sets, as he didn¡¯t have the chance to look through their details in the catalog beforehand. Eventually, he found something that seemed promising.
Purified Stone of Conformity (Class B):
-This artifact was extracted from the corpse of an isolated young girl. It is said to grant an ability determined solely by the user¡¯s personality.
It was a simple looking white pebble, barely even fitting in the palm of his hand. Once he picked it up, the color began to change like a mood ring. It varied between red, purple, and black before settling on a rather uninteresting gray. It was pretty expensive and would cost most of his point stockpile, but it didn¡¯t bother him. There was still plenty of time to earn more points. Besides, an ability purely derived from his personality was very interesting. On the downside, it didn¡¯t guarantee a ranged ability like he was looking for.
¡°Perhaps if I wish really hard when I use it, it might give me one.¡± Seth muttered to himself.
He thought about for a few more minutes before deciding to buy the stone. Moments later he was walking back toward the main hall where he assumed the team was waiting. On his way, a thought struck him and he plucked the stone he had just bought from his cache. Might as well use it now, I guess. He wasn¡¯t aware of any backlash that could come from using a catalyst item, as this was the first time he was using one to get a branch ability. Although, the last couple times he had received aligned abilities, the experience had been less than ideal.
Seth silently crossed his fingers before extracting a thread of energy to inject into the stone. To his disappointment, the stone just crumbled in his hand lamely. He stopped in the hall and clapped the dust off his hands with a confused expression.
¡°Is this the funny way of telling me I don¡¯t have a personality?¡±
His question was answered shortly after when a pain similar to a recovery crystal began to fester underneath his ribs. He hunched over with a grunt as the veins in his head threatened to burst through his skin. A few participants gave him odd looks as they passed, but no one stopped to see if he was alright. After a little while, the pain went away, and Seth stood upright. He continued on his way, embarrassed at the attention he had attracted. As he neared the hall, he pulled up his ability screen and briefly glanced at the new entry before closing it.
¡°That¡¯s just unfair.¡±
43- Black Mass
Drake was caught up talking with Regurd and Licht when he spotted Seth entering the hall. He quicky began waving Seth over while the others turned toward the newcomer. Drake hadn¡¯t known Seth for long, but he could tell that the easy-going smile he just threw on was accompanied by a shadow of annoyance.
¡°Something wrong?¡± He asked with a hint of concern. Seth waved him off with his onyx hand.
¡°Nah, it just seems I might be more of a drama queen than I originally thought.¡±
Drake¡¯s brow furrowed and he was about to question further when Blair interrupted him.
¡°Are you finally done screwing around? I have the next set of matches queued up, so let¡¯s get this going.¡±
She was sitting next to Licht at a console, both of them looking impatient. Drake held his hands up to calm them down. ¡°Wait up a second guys, I wanted Seth to meet Regurd.¡± The golden paladin beside him patted him on the shoulder.
¡°No worries, I understand the impatience to fight after such a harrowing loss.¡± The large man claimed while wiggling his eyebrows at them all.
Drake laughed at the joke before playfully slapping Regurd¡¯s hand away. ¡°Just you wait my friend, the next time we fight, Seth won¡¯t be the only one getting a good shot in.¡± Drake led Seth over to the console with Licht and Blair so they could sign up for the matches. Regurd pointed a gauntleted hand at Seth as he leaned over the console.
¡°It was nice to meet you outside of the battlefield Seth. Though I should warn you, Jackson wasn¡¯t very happy about getting his ass handed to him by a tier two. You might have a duel on your hands soon if you¡¯re not careful.¡±
Drake smirked as Seth¡¯s face became slightly awkward. ¡°It¡¯s not like I beat him in a one-v-one, he had my entire team to exhaust himself on before fighting me in a tricky situation.¡±
The four finished signing up for the matches while Drake waited a moment to start them up. Regurd shot him a thumbs up before walking out of the hall.
¡°Unfortunately for you, he doesn¡¯t see it that way.¡± He called over his shoulder as he disappeared around the corner. Drake held back a laugh as he heard Seth grumble something about fake stereotypes right before he started up the matches.
--------
¡°Seth swap with me. Blair, hit it with a concussive spell so he can get close.¡±
Drake¡¯s commands echoed across the coliseum as both recipients nodded in understanding before jumping into action. Blair quickly muttered out a spell that hit the large porcupine-like creature with a wave of dense air, causing the monster to rear back with a squeal as a flurry of its own spines fell to the ground. Seth wasted no time and dashed forward with his speed that eclipsed any tier two Drake had seen before. Licht covered his approach by deflecting any stray spines, and Seth used the cleared path to carve a vicious streak directly through the monster¡¯s midsection, nearly bisecting it outright.
As the monster staggered back with it¡¯s entrails beginning to spill out, Drake didn¡¯t let up and leapt over Seth to deliver the final blow. He activated the blessing given to him by the dragon slayer Umbra: Sigurd. Glorius white and gold flames crawled across his scimitars and caused the air around him to sizzle with heat. In a split second, two golden lines were drawn through the monster, causing it to fall into flaming pieces on the ground.
Drake went to call for the only one of them with a looting ability. ¡°Se-!¡± He turned around with a start to find Seth already crouching next to him. Jeez, I forgot how stealthy he can be!
Seth soon gave him a thumbs up, signaling his success. The team quickly regrouped before the coliseum reset and the next match began. The seconds counted down and Drake quickly addressed the group.
¡°Good job again guys. This next one makes the twentieth and last match of this iteration. Blair and I have already hit tier three, so we¡¯ll try and set the two of you up again this match. We¡¯re not going to help out that much this time, so both of you make sure to stay on guard.¡±
The two looked confident, so Drake left it at that. The final seconds passed and the environment shifted, giving way to a slight sense of distortion. As the next match began, Seth and Licht took charge and started toward the shadowy figure on the far side of the coliseum. Drake and Blair followed slowly behind them while bantering quietly. It seemed this match only had one monster, which was kind of odd given the circumstances.
Since Drake and Blair hit the third tier, the matches slowly began to ramp up in difficulty. Now, instead of flocks of tier twos, or one or two tier threes, the matches have turned to multiple large tier threes, or flocks of smaller ones. It seemed this match had a peak tier three monster, which Drake would suppose justified the singular enemy.
They shouldn¡¯t have any issue with the one opponent, no matter how strong it is, it¡¯s still just a tier three.
Drake watched the two finally approach the monster still too far in the shade to identify. He was about to start talking to Blair when something finally occurred to him.
Wait, the coliseum doesn¡¯t even have a ceiling, how is there any shade? OH SHI-
Drake¡¯s thoughts were interrupted as a scream ripped across the sand arena. He turned as fast as lighting only to find Licht flying through the air in a trail of scales and blood. He slammed into the sand and didn¡¯t get up afterward, but Drake breathed out in relief when he saw his chest steadily rise and fall. It seemed he had used multiple of his scale shields to soften the blow of whatever hit him. Blair cussed loudly next to him before taking off toward Licht.
¡°It¡¯s a tier four! Go help Seth!¡± She called over her shoulder.
Realization dawned on Drake and he began running toward the now visible monster. He felt the aura of the tier four wash over him, causing him to flinch. The monster was a large feline creature with a huge alligator shaped maw and bladed tentacles that whipped around it¡¯s back. Wisps of shadow clung to it¡¯s rust colored fur as it loomed over the much smaller figure standing in front of it. Drake swore at his own hesitation as he continued his dash toward Seth.
Thankfully I can¡¯t feel any conceptual aspects in the beast¡¯s aura, but Seth still can¡¯t beat a tier four alone. Damn! Why did I let them get so far ahead of us?!
Drake couldn¡¯t help but wish for Seth¡¯s speed as he watched from hundreds of meters away with helplessness. Licht was thrown pretty close to them, which showed just how strong the monster was. The fourth tier was known for being hard to scale, as it was centrally an evolution stage, but Drake guessed this one to be around the lower to mid stage of strength. This spelled trouble for Seth, as jumping tiers was difficult for a number a reasons, and this was even more true for a tier two shaper and a tier four monster. Even at the Configuring Stage, a two-rank difference was not easy to overcome, especially given the inherit resistances that the higher rank granted.
As Blair finally reached Licht, Drake continued watching in heavy panic and slight amazement as Seth barely kept up with the huge monster. Although Seth had superior speed when it came to others of his tier, this was not the case against a tier four. His previous agility that used to give him an advantage had now turned into the only thing allowing him to keep up. Finally, Drake got to a distance that would allow him to use at least one of his ranged spells.
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¡°Conjoin upon my enemy oh whispers of fire.¡±
Drake¡¯s Ablaze Environment merged with his Umbral Blessing, Holy Ignition, to create a blanket of white gold flames that clung to the entire monster¡¯s body. Although he didn¡¯t expect the spell to hurt the monster very much, Drake hoped that it would stall it for a few vital moments to allow him to join the fight. As the flames descended, the monster thrashed and roared under the coat of heat. All of its tentacles lashed out blindly, and a couple ended up striking Seth. They weren¡¯t enough to send him flying, but the sharp protrusions at the end of them ended up raking across his body, one even tearing through his cheek, causing his teeth and jaw to become exposed.
Drake couldn¡¯t tell if Seth was grinning or not, due to his grisly visage, but he thought he could see some excitement in the older boy¡¯s eyes. He was almost close enough to let loose the rest of his abilities, but suddenly, Seth held up a hand toward the still writhing monster. Drake didn¡¯t know what he was trying to do, but he was practically bleeding out where he stood.
¡°Seth get back and heal up! I got this!¡±
Unfortunately, the other boy didn¡¯t seem to be listening. Drake¡¯s fears were soon realized as the monster activated an ability, causing the hulking beast to be covered in a sea of shadows that quelled the flames and seemed to heal its wounds. The feline quickly regained its bearing then began to lunge toward Seth in a wave of darkness.
¡°Let your sins consume you.¡±
Before the monster had the chance to get any closer, a shapeless mass of black oil erupted from a new myth at the end of Seth¡¯s hand.
Within a split second of coming into being, the huge onyx bulk shot toward the monster like a homing missile. Despite the new development, the monster was completely unfazed and tried to bat the mass aside with an empowered claw. Upon contact, the mass latched onto the cat¡¯s appendage as if it were alive. Black tendrils crawled up the monster¡¯s leg like a fast-spreading disease, causing the monster to roar with pain. It quickly began to scratch at the growing mass, trying to free itself from the ability¡¯s hold.
As the monster descended into a wild frenzy, Drake couldn¡¯t help but stare at the scene. He had finally arrived next to Seth, only to discover the other boy was swaying woozily. Drake heard him mumble about something being mana hungry before he plucked a low-quality recovery potion from thin air. Seth¡¯s eyes regained some of their lucidity, allowing him to notice Drake standing next to him.
¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to be enough. Blair should hit it while it¡¯s distracted.¡± He stated.
Drake¡¯s mind kicked back into gear as he signaled for Blair to attack. It didn¡¯t take her long to get herself in range, to which she swiftly began drawing lines through the air. The monster continued to kick up sand as it bit and clawed at its own skin, only succeeding in shedding small amounts of the black sludge that relentlessly burrowed into the beast¡¯s body. It wasn¡¯t long before its roars of anger turned to yowls of pain. As Blair finished her ability, the sounds of agony were silenced as a large slash of light ended the creature.
Drake traded glances with Blair before Seth dashed for the new corpse. He began sheathing his weapons while he watched Seth go about looting the monster. Drake didn¡¯t know what exactly his ability was, but any type of looting ability was quite valuable regardless. The seconds continued to count down, but Seth hadn¡¯t gotten back up from the monster body yet. Blair walked over to where Drake was currently watching Seth inquisitively. He had his hand out in an odd manner, as if he was trying to harness something. His body was practically shaking with effort as well. The process seemed to finish just before the last seconds ran out, teleporting all of them back into the main hall. Upon arrival, Blair went about treating Licht while Drake went to go check on Seth, who was still bleeding plenty. He walked over to his crouching figure, only for Seth to turn around before he got there. His face was contorted in a large grin, marred only by the large rip in his cheek.
¡°Now that¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about!¡±
--------
Seth gazed at the new screen in front of him, having completely forgotten about his injuries.
-Shade Predator anima stolen.
-Shade Predator anima can be slotted into the sub-aspect: Anima Prison.
-Slotting a tier four anima into Anima Prison will grant a physical boost based on the highest attribute of the anima.
-Would you like to slot Shade Predator anima?
Seth mentally assented with earnest.
-Shade Predator anima has been slotted, Xtrey Hound anima deposited back into Anima Abyss
Anima Prison:
-The item can use the power of the anima it holds. (Current Inhabitant: Shade Predator (Tier Four) Current boost: Twitch Speed)
Not only had Seth been able to try out his new ability, but he also got a solid raise in reflex speed as well, not that he needed it. Unfortunately, he hadn¡¯t been able to tier up in the last fight, but the gains he did get were good enough for the time being. Not to mention, Blair and Drake had reached tier three during their matches. ¡°Hey man, you¡¯re leaking.¡± Seth looked up to find Drake pointing at the floor where a small pool of crimson black blood had been piling up. Instead of tending to his injuries, Seth nodded towards where the other two were standing.
¡°Don¡¯t worry about me. Check him out.¡±
Drake turned toward where he was gesturing to find Blair holding Licht with a surprised look on her face. He was currently glowing from the inside with a silver light. So you tiered up after all? Good on you mate. With everyone watching Licht, Seth quietly pulled a black book from his cache and placed it on the growing pool of blood.
Waste not want not.
As his blood soaked into the pages, he watched a large cloud of purple energy drain into Licht from the environment. The vacuum lasted for a few more moments before dissipating, leaving a still unconscious Licht with a new taste of power around him. Now it appeared Seth was the only one yet to hit tier three. His weaker aura now felt isolated in the room full of tier threes, somewhat dimming his excitement. A few sets of eyes focused on the unconscious Licht and the rest of the group. Drake noticed this and herded the other three away for their post-match meeting.
Before long, the three were chilling in Drake¡¯s room with a now lucid Licht. Just like before, they began going over each fight with an almost surgical precision. Now that most of the group was tier three, it was time for them to start re-analyzing their combat styles to factor in the changes of their abilities and attributes. This part of the challenge was almost his favorite, second only to actually fighting in the matches. The insight the others had was more valuable than anything he could buy in the store. They had what Seth needed most: the mindset of a shaper. As they poured over the details of the fights, Seth was gathering all the information he needed to fill in the blanks of the best shaping strategies. To sweeten the deal, the other three also gave opinions and advice on Seth¡¯s own fighting style.
¡°Before we actually go further with defining your fighting style, tell us what that new ability of yours was. I¡¯m guessing that was the new ranged attack you were talking about getting?¡± Drake asked after rewatching the match.
¡°Also, did you say something about sins?¡± Licht piped up, having been knocked out during his actual use of the ability. Seth nodded in embarrassment before briefly explaining the ability.
Black Mass:
-An ability unlocked by Presence of Doom; Deliver absolution to those that sin. Grants Sin of Satan, Sin of Astaroth, Sin of Beelzebub. (Extreme DE cost)
Sin of Satan
-The injury inflicted by the user cannot be healed by any item or ability lower than one tier above the user. (Current Limit: Tier Three)
Sin of Astaroth
-The injury inflicted by the user will continuously drain energy and transfer it to the user.
Sin of Beelzebub:
-The injury inflicted by the user will continue to fester until healed.
The ability was extremely strong and even scaled as time went on. It was a huge boon for his flexibility though, as a ranged attack that constantly distracted the enemy would allow him to deliver some huge blows while concealed by his illusions. The only downside was that the ability itself was relatively slow and cost almost all his energy. He also had a personal issue with Black Mass.
¡°Why does it mention sins so much? It makes me sound like a priest or something.¡± Seth pouted.
The other three thought about his explanation for a while. Finally, Licht spoke up. ¡°I don¡¯t think it has anything to do with actual sins or whatever you might be thinking. I believe it¡¯s just a case of your ability development manifesting in way that would seem familiar to you. I¡¯ve only read a little about it before, but it is a common case amongst Mundanes. Due to the fundamentally different way that you all perceive existence, your Foundation reflects that belief through an easy to understand medium.¡±
Seth rubbed his chin at Licht¡¯s claim while he re-read his abilities. ¡°Yeah that makes sense, I remember an acquaintance of mine mentioning that The Chrome had a huge amount of abilities documented, but they keep getting new ones all the time. If people needed familiar concepts to understand the Foundation, then new abilities would crop up everywhere.¡±
But as he thought more about it, Seth¡¯s face scrunched up again. ¡°It still doesn¡¯t make sense though. I¡¯m not religious or anything, so why didn¡¯t it appear as something else? Also, it¡¯s supposed to be familiar to me right? Why didn¡¯t it pick some other religion or mythology from my world? There are so many cooler ones to have picked from!¡± Seth grumbled to himself.
¡°It most likely wasn¡¯t random. I believe it probably based them off of your previous subconscious thoughts to some extent. For example, sins represent something evil or sinister in your culture.¡± Licht looked slightly guilty as he hypothesized.
¡°Perhaps your abilities are of that nature.¡±
44- The Nature of a Shaper
The trio all looked with trepidation at the sullen older boy across from them. Although accurate, Licht¡¯s conclusion would be like a cold slap in the face. It was the popular belief that a shaper¡¯s abilities were closely related to their personality, or soul. So, finding out your abilities are derived from the worst parts of your culture was basically telling someone they are a horrible person.
Seth¡¯s hands were held on top of his head as he stared at the floor. The room became silent for an uncomfortable amount of time as the other three didn¡¯t know what to say. Finally, Seth spoke up.
¡°Man, this sucks. They seriously could¡¯ve named my ability Tartarus or something. That sounds way cooler!¡± He complained.
¡°Haven¡¯t they read Percy Jackson?!¡± Seth jumped up and roared.
As he continued to rant, the other three couldn¡¯t help but trade confused and conflicted glances.
Does he not realize, or does he just not care? Drake thought.
Yep, this guy is a dumbass. Blair concluded.
What in Null¡¯s sake is Percy Jackson? Licht wondered.
--------
Eventually, Seth seemed to settle back down, and the others didn¡¯t bring up the topic again. They continued on with the conversation, going over Seth¡¯s role in their formation.
¡°I think it would be accurate to classify you as a blitz type damage dealer. You¡¯re speed and lethality are your strongest points, meaning that your ideal situation would be to get the drop on the enemy, and put them down hard and fast.¡± Drake surmised.
¡°That illusion ability you have increases your odds of catching them off guard, which is a definite boon. Honestly, I feel like your aligned abilities have good synergy already, so whatever one you are missing still should just improve your situation.¡±
The rest of them agreed with the analysis, as well as Seth. ¡°I¡¯ve been brainstorming some ideas on how to make that happen, but what do you think I should do when I don¡¯t have the element of surprise on my side?¡± He asked.
It had been bothering him for a little while now, but Seth couldn¡¯t think of anyone else better to ask. Drake thought about it for a moment, then traded a few words with Blair before continuing.
¡°I would say the simplest answer is never lose the advantage. Of course, any shaper should be prepared to handle any situation, even when at a disadvantage. But I believe that is something a warrior worth their salt should already be aware of. If I had to teach you that, then you would have been dead way before meeting us.¡± Drake paused before pointing a finger at Seth.
¡°What separates the best shapers is their ability to always have an advantage. Only idiots jump recklessly into fights without a plan.¡±
Seth couldn¡¯t help but nodding along. The truth was, he absolutely agreed with Drake¡¯s deduction. Be prepared for everything so much that you will never be left surprised. It was a tall ask to be honest. In a world where there were limitless things that could kill you, being prepared for all of them was pretty much impossible. Not a bad mindset to have though. Striving for the impossible shows how much resolve he has. Drake was truly a warrior and a leader, even at such a young age.
Seth wondered about the place these three came from. The Thousand Asura Territory was probably not that different from the other high class lands the other participants came from. The Incubator really is full of prodigies, isn¡¯t it? Seth leaned back and passively listened as the conversation went on.
Guess that just means I¡¯m going to have to become something even better.
--------
After their post-match meeting and a brief respite, the team began the cycle again.
Within the first ten more rounds, Seth joined the others in the third tier. This time, it was right in the middle of a fight with a slow pack of seal-shark creatures. The opponents had trouble moving in the hot sand due to their aquatic nature, so Seth had plenty of time to relish in the tier up. He closed his eyes as he felt the last attribute cross the threshold.
Unlike his tier up to level two, this one was actually noticeable.
His pores seemed to open up, and his cells vibrated in anticipation as a large storm of energy began to surround him. Seth could feel his body and soul being invigorated by the large quantity of energy flooding through him. After the cloud was finally absorbed, his cells almost seemed to wail in hunger, begging for more. Unfortunately, there was nothing more to engorge on, so his body slowly calmed down and balanced the new intake of power.
Seth didn¡¯t waste the feeling as he began rampaging through the next matches with the rest of the team. The battles gradually became more vigorous, yet the team had no trouble meeting the new challenge. They would battle for a series of matches, talk, take a break, then begin again. This routine continued for days, the team becoming more and more adapted to their new gains.
Although the four of them were making great strides together, Seth wasn¡¯t satisfied.
He watched as those at the top of the leaderboard continued to rack up points at an astounding rate. He and the trio of celists weren¡¯t anywhere near the bottom of the leaderboard, but they also weren¡¯t even in the top twenty participants. What further annoyed him was that Ty, who had been fighting alone this entire time, was in tenth place. He even went under a new name as: Son of Gaia.
All of these facts pushed Seth to create a training regiment that would push him even harder. The breaks between each round of matches with Drake¡¯s team usually lasted around four to six hours, and every couple days, they took an extra one for sleep. Seth took advantage of these brief bouts to develop his shaping training alone. So far, he had learned so much from Drake, Blair, and Licht, as well as several missives. He used all of his growing pool of knowledge to forge his own method of development.
Every break Seth was given was used primarily to fight in matches alone. He pushed his body to the limit every fight, driven by an intense desire to catch up to all the prodigies. Even after the countless matches finished, Seth wouldn¡¯t stop there. His mind was worked just as hard as his body. The previously useless gadget he got from the puzzle room weeks ago was now showing its worth. While exercising his critical processing, he also continued into his studies of shaping theory.
During the times he was with the group of other shapers, Seth would spend almost the entire time peppering Licht with questions about the uses and applications of shaping. Licht was more than happy to oblige, but Blair wasn¡¯t so forthcoming. A part of his new training was meditation to consolidate and ponder his gains. This was relatively straightforward in thought, but Seth wanted to go even further. He would ask her all kinds of questions regarding position and tactics, but she would barely offer relevant responses. Seth didn¡¯t let it quash his drive though, so he ended up pestering her even during matches. Days turned to weeks and Seth¡¯s efforts were just beginning to blossom into actual results.
--------
¡°Hey, have you guys noticed anything weird going on with Seth.¡± Drake asked one day after another one of their post-match meetings.
Seth had almost ran out of the room when Drake dismissed him, which was seemingly becoming the norm over the last two weeks. Blair lounged back on the plush ornate couch along with Licht. He was messing with a small device in his hand looking quite frustrated while she was kicking back with her feet on the table.
¡°Other than annoying the hell out of me? No, I don¡¯t think so.¡± She sighed.
Licht didn¡¯t answer while he messed with the metal thing in his hand.
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¡°Licht, stop messing with that thing. Where did you even get that?¡± Drake asked.
Licht shook the device with frustration before looking up. ¡°It¡¯s some stupid puzzle Seth loaned me. Apparently, he solved it already on the hardest difficulty, but I can¡¯t even get past the second formation! Also, he¡¯s been asking a lot of questions about basic shaping theory if you think that¡¯s weird. Personally, I¡¯m just happy someone else is interested in such an important and fundamental aspect of shaping.¡±
He finally tossed the puzzle onto the table with a depressed sigh. ¡°I guess he has been acting odd for awhile now. It seems like his mind is always on fighting or asking questions. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s told one of his stupid jokes in days.¡±
Drake mumbled in agreement at his observation.
¡°I think I actually saw him slash himself with a monster claw and let it bleed all over a notebook he pulled out of his cache. What kind of freak did you become friends with Drake?¡± Blair questioned.
The larger boy rolled his eyes at her. ¡°We¡¯re all friends Blair, you don¡¯t have to keep acting like you hate everyone. He might not be very open about his past, but you know he is a Mundane. He hasn¡¯t even been a shaper for a year, can¡¯t you empathize at all? Can you imagine jumping into something like The Incubator with no connections and at a tier disadvantage? I¡¯m surprised the guy is even functioning at all! He doesn¡¯t have shaping technique, concept theories, a fighting style, or anything that any native of the Galactic Plane would have. I mean the guy didn¡¯t even know what a shaper transcript was, much less have one! Look at how far he¡¯s gotten in just the time we have known him. He absorbs everything we tell him like a sponge, it¡¯s actually incredible if you ask me.¡± Drake claimed with determination.
Licht was unnaturally quiet while Blair looked slightly crestfallen.
¡°I¡¯ll try being nicer.¡± She mumbled.
--------
Seth continued on with his regiment, slowly building up a solid foundation for his shaping technique. All was going well in his practice. Even his meditation technique was getting better, as for some reason, within the last couple of days, Blair had started to be more open to answering his inquiries. This was sort of a breakthrough for him, as the meditation finally gave him something he had been lacking: rest.
Upon hitting tier three, Seth¡¯s need for food, water, and sleep had drastically declined. At this point, he really only needed a couple hours of sleep every few days, as well as a small meal or two. Despite these lower requirements, Seth still danced on the razor¡¯s edge as he exchanged sleep for meditation. His body was able to replenish itself during these sessions, but unfortunately the same could not be said for his mind. For the most part, Seth didn¡¯t let the slight exhaustion impede him as he continued to slaughter his way through matches. The lack of sleep also had its hidden benefits as it stopped any chance of him having any more disturbing dreams.
Eventually, Seth had to begrudgingly take a break one night, as he had almost gotten himself killed in his most recent match against a tier four tentacle monster that could explode its limbs. He had been too slow reacting to one of its swings, with had caused it to detonate one of them while being wrapped around his leg. His reaction speed was most likely his strongest aspect, so for him to be outplayed in his best attribute meant that he was more tired than he originally thought. Seth allocated the next four-hour gap that Drake gave him toward a much needed nap.
Afterwards, Seth felt rejuvenated mentally and physically, but his recurring dream had caused his spirit to waver. He quickly tried supplementing the problem with a brief meditation session.
Seth got out of the bed in his room and silently began positioning himself in the starting form of a basic meditation technique that Blair had shown him. He wasn¡¯t actually able to see her do it though, as she only lent him a book she had on the subject. He did his best with the slow and methodical movements, slowly becoming more accustomed with the bizarre dance that was meant to center his mind and soul. After moving through the positions for a short while, Seth was finally able to enter what he called his zen state, which allowed him to think clearly while also unconsciously flowing through each form. During this state, Seth pondered over his last matches as well as the new information he had gathered while researching or watching other matches. This time, he was yet again optimizing his training plans.
Maybe I should implement some weight training during my matches so I can prepare for the next tier. Seth thought.
Although he had plenty of time to consolidate his new gains from tier three, Seth wanted to start planning for the future. Since he had been constantly fighting monsters for the last few weeks, his abilities had mostly crossed over to the third tier as well. New aspects started to appear as well, increasing his capabilities. Black Mass was the only one that hadn¡¯t, as it had been too soon since he got it to catch it up with the rest.
Branch Abilities:
(Presence of Doom)- Anar (Tier Three); Anima Thief (Tier Three); Black Mass (Tier Two)
(Eye of Opposition)- True Sight (Tier Three);
(Insanity Eternal)- Fear Itself (Tier Three);
Anima Thief:
-An ability unlocked by Presence of Doom; you steal the anima of any mortal killed by your hand. The stolen anima can be channeled by the user. Grants Anima Release, Anima Leech. (Varying DE Cost)
Anima Leech:
-Upon harvesting the anima, the user also harvests a portion of the fallen¡¯s energy pool.
True Sight:
-An ability unlocked by Eye of Opposition; The user can see concentrations of dimensional energy and see through camouflage abilities that are equal or lesser than their power level.
Fear Itself:
-An ability unlocked by Insanity Eternal; The only thing to fear¡ (Varying Ongoing DE Cost )
A good amount of his abilities had undergone a change after their tier ups. Anima Thief now had the ability to drain his defeated enemies, which would help him replenish himself after a fight. Seth was used to fighting endurance battles, so this new aspect would let him fight even longer.
True Sight had also undergone a small change in description. Now, there was no counter for energy cost, so Seth could finally use the ability without stopping.
Last but not least was the new benefit to Fear Itself. It didn¡¯t have any apparent changes, but Seth could feel the difference in power. Now, his capacity for the crimson mist was higher, and the illusions would cost less to maintain. This newest enhancement was the reason for Seth¡¯s thoughts about weight training. The increase in his capacity had caused him to become unbalanced during a match. Because of the abrupt weight gain, his movements became sluggish which could cause a problem for him in the future if his ability increased mid-fight. On the bright side, now he could simultaneously keep up his full smokescreen while also creating another clone in its midst.
Seth slowed to a stop before opening his eyes. He let out a strained sigh as his back arched in a relaxed stretch. His menu screen flickered to life briefly as he checked the time. Seth soon dismissed the screen before plucking a greyish, bulbous fruit from his cache to snack on.
He still had a few minutes before he was supposed to meet with his friends, so he went to check his stats.
Level: Tier Three (Progress: Early)
Intellect: Class F
Constitution: Class C
Might: Class F
Intuition: Class D
Resolve: Class C
His almost two and a half weeks since hitting tier three had not gone to waste. Despite the increasing difficulty that was supposed to come with improving attributes in the third tier, Seth¡¯s progress did not slow.
It seemed his new constitution granted by the Class S elixir he took made his body much easier to improve with the extra energy in the atmosphere. The same could be said for his resolve attribute, although he still didn¡¯t exactly understand why it was so fast in growth. He wasn¡¯t going to complain about the free upgrades though.
Most exciting, at least in Seth¡¯s opinion, was his new equipment.
Upon hitting tier three, Seth could use one of his recent purchases, the plain but useful, Mercenary Slacks. The new outfit gave him much better protection than his crappy tier one Stalker Set, plus, they had incredible utility and comfort. Drake and the others weren¡¯t very impressed by the armor, but Seth couldn¡¯t be happier. His fighting potential was further increased as he could now hide different items on his person using the Quick Access aspect that came with the set. Now his fake storm of knives or needles could contain hidden real weapons amongst the illusions. He was still getting used to the idea, but Seth could see how promising it would be once it became muscle memory.
Furthermore, Seth was finally able to use an item that had been sitting in his cache for months.
Xtrey Fur Cloak:
-Grants cold immunity, enhanced projectile protection, enhanced slash protection, Retribution Recoil
Retribution Recoil:
-15% of damage inflicted upon the user will be reflected to the aggressor
Seth manually took out the clothes, rather than equip them instantly using the diagram in his cache. He relished in the mundane task of putting his pants on leg by leg, just like he used to. After his armor was on, he took out the rough, grey cloak. In reality, it was more of a hooded cape than a cloak, but Seth didn¡¯t mind. It looked a bit rugged and tattered, like a poorly skinned animal, but it wasn¡¯t heavy and didn¡¯t impede his maneuverability at all. He didn¡¯t have to worry about the hood either, as it seemed to clasp his head perfectly thanks to his Plunder ability.
As he got ready to leave, Seth caught his reflection in the mirror. Two mismatched eyes peered at him from under the shadow of a wolf hood. While the glassy bloodshot eyes of the hood were lifeless, the two underneath were cold, calculating, and intelligent. One would look at him now and think he looked slightly ridiculous with his head poking out from the tattered carcass of the ugly creature. Seth didn¡¯t think so though. The cloak was proof of his undying will to survive. It was a token of his resolve.
He didn¡¯t know how impressive it actually was to have defeated the first Xtrey Hound at tier one, but his paranoia told him that Ty probably throttled it with his bare hands like a boss. The constant noise in his head roared at the thought of Ty defeating his greatest enemy like it was nothing. He watched with dead eyes as his pupils constricted to pinpoints in the mirror. After an unknown amount of time, a knock sounded at his door, interrupting the silence. He finally looked away from his reflection and toward the door.
¡°Time to go.¡±
45- Race for the Finish
Three days before the challenge ended, all hell broke loose. The previously calm fa?ade of the group challenge crumbled as all of the participants began their mad race for points.
For the last three and a half weeks, there had been almost no duels other than the occasional forced one like Seth and his friends had experienced. Now, duels were not just common, but they were the only thing going on. Within the first couple hours of the day, normal matches were long forgotten and the main hall was constantly buzzing with activity. This phenomenon was not a surprise to anyone though, as the ladder told everyone all they needed to know.
- Princess Caladenia, The Radiance Court (121,050)
- Ruler of the Inferno, Remus (118,720)
- Galdir Ruminold, Believer in Love (110,110)
- Eminence (105,000)
- Path of the Endless (103,980)
- Nigel The Redeemer (98,560)
No matter how hard or impressively the top six had fought for over three weeks, none of them had even come close to getting the second best prize, much less the top reward. This last-ditch effort meant everyone was putting their points on the line to get a better prize. Even Drake and the others declared a temporary suspension of taking matches together so they could rack up points against the other participants. This meant Seth was alone in the main hall, watching all the commotion from his spot in the corner of the room. No one had approached him yet, but this wasn¡¯t a surprise as Seth had purposefully activated one of his abilities and restrained his energy underneath his skin.
Specter State:
-When activated, Specter State erases detection from all senses, including lower rank detection
abilities. (Only applies to abilities lower ranked than the lowest attribute of the user)
It didn¡¯t take much to shirk their attention, as everyone was too busy to notice him anyway.
As the minutes passed, Seth watched numerous names rise and fall from the leaderboard. People whom had sat on the bottom of the leaderboard for weeks were finally rising through the ranks seemingly at the surprise of those losing to them. Seems there were a couple snakes hiding in the basket. Seth thought humorously. It didn¡¯t come as much of a surprise to him because that had been one of his first ideas for strategy when the challenge started. He had only discarded the idea because of the fact he had wanted to fight and get stronger rather than watch and wait for the chance to steal points from others.
Even if he had ditched that plan originally, that didn¡¯t mean Seth couldn¡¯t use it now. He continued to watch the others talk and declare challenges while he simultaneously had multiple videos up of various duels going on. Using his enhanced mental capacity gained from tiering up, Seth mentally noted a variety of participants that he could safely challenge and win. His goal was to combine the information he had already gained over the course of the challenge and the new developments to make a list of those he could steal some last minute points from. His main targets were those that showed any sign of greed or desperation during the duels. Seth was well aware that those looking to make large gains at the end were also those who would be most likely to accept any duel set before them.
Seth luckily didn¡¯t have this problem, as he currently had a rather safe amount of points totaling 79,360. His regiment had allowed him to pull away from his teammates to an extent, as he was now in twenty-third place while they sat in the mid-thirties. With around seventy participants total, Seth had to guess there were around ten who had been biding their time at the bottom, while the rest were either of lower power, or non-combat types. His eyes continued to flick from the console in front of him, to the large leaderboard in the middle of the room. He noted with interest that the top six did not move in points or placement like the majority of other participants. It seemed anyone outside of the top six did not share this patience and were constantly changing just like the rest of the board.
Hours passed and yet Seth did not waver from his position. Ranks were gained and lost just as points began to pile up or drain away. Large triumphs and devastating losses became commonplace with new names appearing and disappearing within the course of a few minutes. Seth himself watched his rank drop several places one second before jumping up the next. But as time passed, it became more and more clear that names were beginning to pile up at the bottom of the leaderboard. The snakes made themselves known by taking high risk high reward challenges against foolhardy participants who only judged their opponent based off their point value. Eventually, those who lost their points acted out in desperation and dove back into normal matches, trying to gain some number of points to gamble with again.
The initial craze seemed to be dying off after only half a day. Those that were victorious in their duels reveled in their gains while those who were defeated went back to the reliable monster matches. Duels were still frequent but nowhere near as constant as they were before.
Now that Seth had a good collection of information gained from waiting, he clicked off the match replays to once more look at the rankings. First and foremost, Seth noticed that the gap between the top six and the rest of the participants had closed considerably. Beforehand, the top eight participants were relatively close, with the sixth spot changing every so often. Now, the distance of points from the eighth and nineth place ranks were less than 10,000.
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It was dangerous for those at the top, as the growing point pool for the higher ranks were threatening to take their spots for the bonus event at the end. This was mostly only true for sixth and fifth place though, as the gap in points began to scale heavily after them. This meant that the top four point earners were mostly safe unless someone in the top ten decided to fight another high ranker. This was not likely to happen though because the participants with the most points were smart enough not to risk their fortunes like that. Nothing was certain however, so Seth didn¡¯t hedge any bets.
Finally, he checked his friends rankings as well as his own.
- Son of Gaia (86,500)
.
- Undecided (79,360)
.
- Drake Lothrin (75,120)
- Blair (74,970)
.
- Licht Suzrin (66,660)
Seth was happy to find him and his friends places improve while Ty actually went down a spot. It seemed Licht didn¡¯t have the same luck as the others, but that was to be expected due to his support type role. Overall, his comrades were successful in catching up to him without losing their points, which was all that mattered. Seth was looking forward to rejoining them soon in Drake¡¯s room as they had talked about hours ago. He had a feeling none of the duels that really mattered had taken place yet, and he wanted to make sure they were aware.
As he finally got up from his console to leave, a voice stopped him in his tracks.
¡°So you¡¯re really not going to take a duel, how boring.¡±
The voice tugged at his memory slightly, so Seth couldn¡¯t help but turn around. The man standing behind him was actually not familiar at all, with his smooth coppery hair and eyes. He looked older than any of the participants he had seen so far, but that wasn¡¯t exactly hard to accomplish. Seth guessed him to be in his mid-twenties due to his matured face and sharp jawline.
¡°Do I know you?¡± He questioned with an impassive expression.
The fact the man was lounging on the wall right behind where Seth had been sitting did not miss his attention. The man¡¯s eyes shined with humor as he absently adjusted the dark suit he was wearing.
¡°It makes sense you don¡¯t recognize me. Last time we talked, you didn¡¯t even look at me, did you? It¡¯s no matter, my name is Galdir Ruminold.¡±
Seth mind finally connected the dots as he really looked at the man that he had previously dismissed a few weeks ago. His energy concealment was beyond anything Seth had seen the entirety of his time in The Incubator. No wonder I didn¡¯t sense him standing there. He was Galdir Ruminold, or the man currently in third place on the challenge point leaderboard. Seth had no idea why the man was talking to him, much less why he tried weeks ago.
¡°Doesn¡¯t ring a bell. Is there something I can help you with, or do you just want to enjoy the pleasure of my company?¡±
Galdir¡¯s easygoing smile grew. ¡°So you still enjoy teetering on the edge between a polite conversation and incoherent gibberish, I see. That¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t mean to steal much of your time. I just wanted to extend my congratulations! I have been watching your matches quite closely and can see just how far you have come since entering the group challenge.¡±
Seth gave the man an odd look before taking a step backward. ¡°Hey man, I know you believe in love and all that, but I don¡¯t swing that way.¡± Galdir¡¯s brow scrunched in confusion and he was visibly at a loss for words. ¡°Wha-¡± Seth quickly cut him off with a raise of his hand.
¡°I truly apologize for giving you the wrong impression. I just¡ I¡¯m just not ready for that kind of experimentation.¡±
He confessed with a skittish expression. Seth turned and ran from the hall, leaving behind a very lost fourth tier royal.
--------
¡°Is there a reason you are roaming the halls like a lost puppy?¡±
Galdir erased the troubled expression from his face and straightened out his suit before turning to the newcomer.
¡°Oh, it¡¯s just you Cali.¡± His posture slackened and the troubled expression returned as he recognized his friend.
Caladenia crossed her slim arms over her chest as a spark of humor danced in her stormy gray eyes. ¡°I guess that means it didn¡¯t go well with Mr. Undecided again.¡± She hypothesized.
Galir gave her a tired nod and threw his hands out to the side. ¡°I just don¡¯t get it! Why did he think I was coming onto him? I¡¯m surprised he knew that I was interested in men, but I wasn¡¯t even flirting.¡±
Caladenia twisted a strand of her silver hair between her fingers. ¡°Yet again you were caught up in what he said rather than what he meant. What did I say about understanding the difference between fiction and reality. He was clearly trying to get you off your balance to weasel out of the conversation. I thought we talked about ignoring him when he starts talking about things unrelated to the conversation.¡± She admonished him. Galdir continued to flail around his hands in exasperation.
¡°I know, I know! That¡¯s why I specifically mentioned that I am aware of such a tactic to show him that I will not allow him to fool me again.¡±
The twenty-year-old woman couldn¡¯t help cracking a smile at his outburst.
¡°You¡¯re about as socially intelligent as a plum, Galdir. Tell me again why you even want to talk to this guy? I¡¯ve watched at least one match of every person here, and the only thing interesting about that boy is his relationship with those three dragon descendants. His weapon might have a tier jumping aspect but that isn¡¯t unheard of. Everyone in The Incubator has a slew of tricks up their sleeves, one sub-par ability like that won¡¯t get him anywhere. It takes a whole set of abilities working together with a mix of technique and strategy to achieve just the basic requirement of surviving this place. I¡¯ll bet he won¡¯t even live through the next higher difficulty dimension.¡± She claimed. Galdir finally calmed down for the moment, and his hands slipped back into his pockets.
¡°You might be right Cali. He has advanced considerably since starting the group challenge, but nothing about him really seems special. I don¡¯t know though. When I tasted his aura during the beginning of the challenge, I felt something the others didn¡¯t have. Every time I feel around for that odd taste, I always find it slip out from under my grip like a svythelan eel.¡±
Caladenia¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly at his explanation and the smile faded from her lips.
¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t bet against your aura analysis, knowing your family. Perhaps I should take a stir around in his energy, it¡¯s not like he¡¯s proficient enough in energy manipulation to sense me anyway.¡± She said. Galdir noticed the slight change in her aura.
¡°Actually, I think you were correct. There isn¡¯t anything interesting about him.¡± He shortly left soon after, leaving Caladenia alone in the hall.
¡°Oh Galir, you really do need to work on your social skills. You¡¯re practically an open book.¡± She muttered with a new ember of interest burning in her eyes.
46- Free Time Fever
After a brief meeting with his friends, Seth used his free time to roam the now vacant shops and other amenities that populated the sealed space of the challenge. It was mostly a waiting game now, as he wanted the stress and desperation to build up more.
Seth had decided to wait for the last half day of the challenge, as he assumed that was when people would be at their most manic for points. He would¡¯ve liked to continue watching matches in the main hall, but he also didn¡¯t want to run the risk of running into Galdir Ruminold again. Seth was unsure why he had attracted the attention of such a big player in the first place, but he wasn¡¯t keen on finding out. The idea of a bunch of higher tier royals on his ass was not something Seth wanted to think about. He was quite aware that grudges or other negative impressions could result in ruin outside of the group challenge, as The Incubator itself didn¡¯t protect against murder unlike the sealed space he was in now.
Random items and creatures flashed in and out of existence around Seth as he absently practiced his Fear Itself ability. He found that it advanced a lot faster when used properly during his matches, but when he used it passively, it was still a good method of practicing control and continuous output. Seth was also attempting to further his control over his personal energy, as he had learned a few tricks originally, including pulsing and retracting.
After his weeks of new training though, Seth learned that his energy was more potent due to his tier up, but also harder to handle. It seemed like energy control was a skill that needed to be practiced daily, as if he continued to tier up at his current rate, then his energy might become something he was unable to wield efficiently. Moreover, if it became too powerful to conceal, then his fighting technique would suffer as well as his stealth capabilities. This was not to say that Seth was a slouch in energy control though, as he showed a talent for it during his time with Origin, and his continued practice allowed him to manipulate it on an acceptable level without heavy concentration. As he continued to mind his business in the empty halls, a new screen appeared before him.
-There are (48) hours remaining in the challenge.
-Matches will be closed in (24) hours. The remaining time has been reserved for the bonus challenge. All participants that do not qualify will be transported to a viewing area outside of the bonus challenge.
Seth studied the new screens before a wry grin spread across his face. With the newly shortened timetable, people would scramble even more desperately than before for points. This new scenario meant that Seth should have an even easier time of finding willing participants to duel with. He dismissed the screens with a wave before striking a pose in triumph. His hands were thrown out in front of him as he used Fear Itself to create an illusion of a beam of raw energy erupting from them not unlike a certain move from DBZ. No one was in the halls anyway, so his display wouldn¡¯t draw any odd looks or confrontations.
Despite his illusions not usually having any tangible effects, Seth was surprised to feel a large stream of energy run through his hands. In his left hand, the energy hit some sort of blockage and dissipated back into his body, but his right hand did not follow suit. Instead, the energy he had been practicing with sunk into the whirlpool of the onyx hand, causing the constantly changing pattern on his forearm to coalesce into a series of myths. The reaction did not stop there, and within less than a few seconds, a stream of black oil leaked from the appendage and formulated a familiar large skull with tattered wings erupting from its temple. Seth just stared at the floating black Fouler for over a minute before it evaporated into nothingness.
¡°What the fu¡¡±
--------
Within moments of the Fouler disappearing, Seth jumped back into action and began funneling energy through his arm like before.
Multiple copies of void black Foulers poured from his hand and onto the floor in front of him. Yet again, they floated ominously without action after formulation. Seth cut off the energy flowing toward his hand and stood as motionless as the monsters he had summoned. With a brief thought, he pointed at the wall in front of him, and the handful of Foulers sprung into action and lined up against it. After another thought, all of them crashed against it with a surprising lack of noise. The wall remained unscathed as was a characteristic of the entire sealed space, but the Foulers were not so lucky and quickly evaporated just like the first. Seth absently watched the particles turn to nothingness, still dumbstruck at the event.
HOLY SHIT!
Dust kicked up into a cloud behind Seth as he used his explosive speed to barrel through the halls toward his room. Finally after arriving, he quickly threw the door closed behind him and started cycling energy through his body. He felt so stupid as his onyx hand open up to the energy without issue.
¡°That was it the whole time!¡± He screamed at no one.
It seemed his energy manipulation practice had unconsciously sent his energy through his body after he struck his victory pose. Seth couldn¡¯t help but feel completely idiotic at his unimaginative use of his energy so far. So far, he had only been manipulating it outwardly into small shapes and tendrils. In reality, doing so didn¡¯t achieve anything other than satisfy his own curiosity. He hadn¡¯t even thought about streaming the energy throughout himself, even though that¡¯s exactly where the energy was produced. And now, he finally noticed that when cycling his energy throughout all his body, he found multiple focal points that absorbed his energy readily.
One was his hand, and the others were his left eye and the ethereal red mist of Fear Itself that was housed in his body. Apparently he had been instinctively imbuing each of them with his energy to activate his abilities. The only outlier had been his dark appendage, the reason being that his hand had been cut off before receiving Presence of Doom, so his body seemed not to naturally recognize the new hand. Unlike the physical representations of his abilities, the rest of Seth¡¯s body didn¡¯t absorb the energy at all. He could run energy through his muscles and veins, but they did nothing to increase his physical attributes.
¡°Was that seriously it? The only thing that stopped me this whole time was because I¡¯m a fucking idiot?¡± He admonished himself.
Once again, Seth couldn¡¯t help but be annoyed with his lack of free time. More than anything, he wanted to experiment with all aspects of the Foundation he had built so far. Right now, his abilities, race, fighting technique, and Anima Influence were all just a bundle of random crap thrown together. Seth had been working harder than ever to fix this issue by trying to understand all of them better, but he was still coming up short as new powers kept cropping up. He was happy to grow his arsenal, but he continued to find himself lacking the power to fully wield them all effectively. He was also still missing an entire aligned ability, which made his lack of control over the rest an even bigger issue.
This small breakthrough afforded him a molecule of optimism though. A minion type ability like Anima Thief would boost his combat power considerably by providing a distraction for his opponents as well as multiple other sources of damage. Seth could already see a huge synergy between the minion ability and his illusion ability. Unable to hold down his patience, Seth bolted from his room toward the crowded main hall. Although dragging the attention of multiple other participants, and even receiving some duel requests, he didn¡¯t say a word and instead made his way to the nearest console to sign up for a few matches.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
--------
Seth flung himself down onto his bed with a disgusted sigh.
¡°Ten matches and not a single useful application for Anima Thief.¡± He growled.
After summoning one of the anima he had stored, Seth had tried all kinds of ways to factor them into a fight. He tried using them as a decoy, a direct attack, a shield, and even as a method of transportation, yet none of them worked. It also didn¡¯t seem to matter what tier of anima he used either; they all were unable to affect any of the monsters, or even the physical space around themselves.
All of his efforts had afforded him nothing in return, as any attack the conjured animas made didn¡¯t bother the target monsters in the slightest. After realizing this during one of his matches, Seth had waited until the next to use multiple of them as decoys for him to attack the monster unimpeded. Imagine Seth¡¯s surprise when the high end tier three monster he had fought completely ignored all of his minions and instead used his own blind spots the anima created to deliver an iron knuckled blow that punched through his entire gut in a bloody black-red shower.
In his desperation, Seth killed the monster with a point-blank Black Mass after pinning it with Anar. Despite his apparent oncoming death, Seth¡¯s body did not share the same realization as he looked down at his grievous wound. Although there was a huge amount of blood being shed, there were no familiar organs or innards spilling out like he had expected from such an injury. Moments later, a large crimson halo rose above his head as he used the most expensive recovery potion he had stolen off the royal boy¡¯s body in the swamp.
This was how Seth discovered one of the secret changes that augmenting his constitution granted. It seemed his body no longer retained the same biology as a normal human¡¯s. His race as a Fiend seemed to change his blood and hair, but his new constitution changed his body entirely. Now it seemed what would¡¯ve been fatal before no longer applied. His body had excised itself of his normal organs, leaving only the bones, veins, muscles, and nerves from before. He still had the ability to pee, which was odd, but Seth was quite sure his bladder, lungs, kidneys, liver, and the like were no longer part of his anatomy.
All of this was all well and good, but that didn¡¯t take away from the sense of loss that came from his lackluster Anima Thief ability. The matches allowed him to discover that living beings like the monsters couldn¡¯t see or interact with the anima he summoned. This worked both ways, as the anima couldn¡¯t do anything to the monsters either.
So, what¡¯s the point of an ability that only gets more ammo to use the ability? I mean, I can use the monster anima I capture for Anar¡¯s Anima Prison, but I have hundreds of them now, so what¡¯s the point of keeping all the small fry?
Seth¡¯s pensive expression softened as he tabled the problem for the time being. It¡¯s not like it hurts to have them. Maybe I will figure some use for them later. So far, he hadn¡¯t been able to identify a limit for the amount of anima he could absorb into his hand, but continuing to devour them didn¡¯t seem to hurt him in any way, so there was no reason not to take them. Also, he could continue to build his arsenal of tier four animas, which would allow him to gain different boosts by inserting them into Anar. Regardless of the usefulness or uselessness of these new discoveries, Seth still had a job he needed to do. With a wave of his hand, a timer appeared above him.
-Time until challenge expires: (01:22:13:42)
¡°Man all this waiting is making me antsy.¡±
Seth sat upright with a grunt and ran a hand through his hair. As he twisted a strand between his fingers, he noticed how long it had grown since being thrown into Origin¡¯s experiment. Beforehand, he had a short but messy haircut with a near buzz on the sides. But after over half a year of deadly battle and less than ideal living conditions, Seth had a clean but completely unruly mop of unevenly chopped hair. He had cut it every now and then with Anar just to keep it from spilling down his neck, but that didn¡¯t mean it was pretty. Now, Seth had better control over Anar so he could form only the tip of the blade from his finger. He used this skill to clean up his hair as well as his scraggly goatee and mustache that had been growing.
Hmmm¡ Maybe I should clean up some other areas too.
After fifteen minutes of careful cutting and styling, Seth was left with a respectable head of hair. He had cut down the sides and back, leaving it short enough not to touch the back of his ears. The top was trimmed down so much that there were only a couple inches left, making the entire cut look reminiscent of a military fade. It was still longer than normal, messy, and streaked with random black swaths, but he didn¡¯t think it looked half bad.
The cleanly shaven face also showed off his tier up changes. His skin was clearer than ever, his hormonal acne nowhere to be found, and his previously sharp features had become even more so. He knew that most became better looking as they progressed through the tiers; an effect of becoming more like Licht and Null. Seth¡¯s appearance changed in small ways to follow this trend, although his appearance was individualized just like everyone else¡¯s, so while one person might get a ridged jawline and another smooth cheekbones, Seth¡¯s face seemed to become more sharp as he grew.
His crooked nose had gotten slightly smaller and more streamlined, while his jaw and chin had became more prominent without jutting out unfavorably. He ran a hand over his face, feeling out the newer features while inspecting the faded scar down his lip. Since hitting tier three, the scar had faded to nothing, but Seth had been biting away at it like normal because of his constant training, leaving a newer, fledgling scar behind.
After he was done looking himself over, Seth once again sat back on his bed, wondering what to do next. Soon enough, an idea came to him, and his face drew into a soft grin. A black notebook dropped from the air and landed in his lap. He picked up Fool¡¯s Errand and began leafing through the pages.
¡°Looks like we got three left. I might be cutting it a bit closer than I want to, but it''s going to take a good few hours to replenish this much blood. Oh well.¡±
Seth drew a plain blade from his cache and quickly sliced open two wounds on each wrist. With a pained grimace, he rested them upside down against the paper where the mostly black blood began to absorb into. It would take time for all of the blood to flow out of his body, especially since each page took one liter each. This meant that Seth would be releasing over half of his total blood at once, as humans only had four to five liters at one time. Now a normal person wouldn¡¯t survive losing that much blood at one time, but Seth was no longer normal. His experience with getting a hole punched through his gut had shown him that his body had much more to give than before, with less blowback from losing so much blood.
The process was no less disorienting and painful, especially since Seth had to continuously re-open the cuts because his body kept trying to coagulate the blood and stop the flow. Although he almost lost consciousness a couple times, he was still able to finish the job with the help of a few lower classed recovery crystals. They couldn¡¯t replenish the blood, but they could reinvigorate him enough to stay awake. Finally, the rest of the blood required was drained out and Seth swiftly used another recovery crystal. He watched with woozy eyes as the entirely black page finished absorbing his blood. Next, the book closed in his hands and melted into a stream of black oil that dripped down his lap and onto the floor where it disappeared into the shadow beneath the bed.
¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t creepy at aaalll.¡± He slurred.
Upon the book disappearing, two new screens popped into view.
- Fill each page with one liter of the recipient¡¯s blood. (Reward: Concept Treasure (Class A)) *Claim?*
Seth drunkenly nodded his consent before dismissing the screen and pulling up the next.
-Congratulations! You have received the Title of ¡°Descendant of Crona¡± due to the successful inheritance of the Ragnarok Bloodline!
Descendant of Crona:
-Grants Black Blood
(Only achievable with one of the following prerequisites: Race: Fiend; Meister)
Black Blood:
-The user¡¯s blood had been replaced with a high-density variant that increases all damage resistances.
-Grants significantly increased resistance to blunt impacts, physical curse immunity, significantly increased recovery rate.
Seth was so out of it he didn¡¯t even notice the silver light of the title taking effect. After the light finally settled, he couldn¡¯t keep himself up anymore and fell back onto the bed and began drooling on the sheets, asleep.
47- Scammer Gets Scammed
The feeling of abrupt lucidity spilled over Seth like bucket of cold water.
His eyes shifted wildly in their sockets as the fog lifted and revealed his dim surroundings. For a moment, he tried to push himself upright, only to find that he wasn¡¯t still in his room like he had previously thought.
Huh?
Seth went to reach up and rub his eyes but grunted in surprise when a pale knub rose up toward him rather than the familiar onyx fingers he had become accustomed to. He stared blankly at the knub before annoyance settled in, finally cementing the remains of his consciousness. He looked around again, finding the loathsome sight of his skewed childhood home waiting before him. It seemed dodging sleep had finally took its toll as it combined with his recent loss of blood to force him into unconsciousness.
Whatever, let¡¯s get on with it then.
His blurry figure slowly drifted forward as it had done tens of times before. Seth glanced around in habit, trying to find anything new that would signal the reason for the reoccurring dream. He inwardly sighed as everything remained in the same state of flux, glitching around in brief bouts of refracted lights before resuming their place in the twisted reality. He waited with bored patience as his ghostly form finally reached the dark oak front door. His surroundings dimmed for a brief second as he entered the foyer of his old home. After the initial bloodcurdling scream and restoration of the lights, Seth laid his eyes on the still figure of his mother.
Time froze for a moment as the foreign pressure in the back of his head made itself known once again. Before he had the chance to rub at the new headache, the picturesque scene became tainted with motion and the dream started back up again. He slowly drew closer to his still motionless mother. Her long chestnut brown hair spilled down her shoulders while her soft green eyes gazed forward in a look of worry.
Every time he had this dream, he was always bewildered to see the soft wrinkles that marred her youthful face. It was an expression he had never remembered from his childhood. As far as he could think back, his mother always had an air of calm about her, never truly getting angry at any of his mistakes and always comforting him afterward. But as he examined her now, he couldn¡¯t help but think the wrinkles looked practiced, like she had a constant worry that had aged her years past her true lifetime.
His figure finally stopped in place, signaling the end of his examination as her whole body tore through space like a buffering video. In only a second, his mother resumed her place in reality with a muted screech. Seth watched as she silently screamed at something in the doorway while gesturing wildly with her hands. His headache slowly crawled forward through more of his head before the scene gradually dimmed to nothing. As the darkness fully obscured his vision, he could finally feel his eyelids fall and his mind recede back toward reality.
--------
Seth¡¯s eyes fluttered open and stared at the white ceiling. He lay still as he felt his muscles ache; a telltale sign of a restless slumber.
His internal clock told him only a couple hours had passed, and upon checking his actual clock, he found that he had been incorrect. A little over eight hours had expired since he passed out, leaving Seth with around ten hours before the challenge would end. Despite this, he remained on the bed, unmoving. His body felt heavy. His mind felt muddled.
Not my best idea. He lamented.
It felt like he was back in his high school days. Waking up with zero energy and not enough motivation to even roll out of bed. But Seth was no longer in high school, so he fought the wave of afflictions enough to sit on the edge of the luxurious gem studded bed. He let loose the old blue collar father groan as he wrestled himself up to his feet. After a few stretches and more groaning, Seth hit the bathroom and threw on his fatigues. After splashing his face a few times to alleviate the lingering sleepiness, Seth left his room in search of some food.
Bare feet slapped loudly on the tile-like flooring of the large facility. Seth didn¡¯t bother to put on any boots, as the only ones he owned were those from his previous armor set, and he didn¡¯t really like them anyway. There wasn¡¯t any reason to wear regular shoes either because they most likely were less durable than his own feet at this point. He didn¡¯t think it was that weird of a thing to do, as he also saw other people going around barefoot every now and then.
Seth had even rolled up his pantlegs to an extent so it looked a little more natural, though he didn¡¯t know if it helped at all. He also left out his cloak for the time being, as he wasn¡¯t a fan of the weird looks it would surely get him by walking around normally. It seems his worries were unfounded though, as Seth was able to go all the way to the cafeteria area, eat his food, and walk back, without seeing a single soul.
¡°Maybe things ramped up sooner than I thought they would.¡± He mumbled to himself.
He thought about opening up the rankings on the console in his room, but then decided against it and started heading for the main hall. After a few minutes of walking, Seth¡¯s theory was confirmed as a tremor of noise began gradually increasing the closer he got. Soon enough, the noise became a roar of voices yelling as if they were at a concert. Finally, he arrived to find that the main hall was packed with all the remaining participants crowded in a circle around the middle of the room. It seemed that everyone was watching the large monitors that usually showed the top leaderboard positions.
After a brief examination, Seth¡¯s jaw dropped as he recognized the live feed of a match being streamed on all main screens. Furthermore, two well known participants were currently duking it out right in the middle. Seth watched with disbelief as Remus, the previous second rank, and Princess Caladenia, the previous first rank, clashed together in a wave of mixed energies.
¡°Hey Seth!¡±
He tore his eyes away from the screen to look around for the familiar voice. Finally, he spotted Drake pushing his way out of the crowd toward Seth. He greeted Drake with a fist bump before gesturing at the screen. ¡°Why are they dueling? If neither of them fought, both of them would¡¯ve still probably gotten into the bonus challenge.¡±
Drake gave him the telltale eyebrow wiggle that told Seth he was about to lay out a juicy piece of gossip. ¡°You should¡¯ve been here, it was crazy! Everyone was going at it with the duels, but then a couple of minutes ago, the two of them started arguing about who would win the top placement in the end. Finally, Princess Caladenia demanded that Remus should agree to a duel and solve the issue right then and there. And I¡¯ll tell you right now, Remus agreed to it so fast that I would¡¯ve been worried if I was the princess.¡±
He tapped Seth to get his attention before quietly pointing at a nearby group. The two of them watched as various bets were passed around between onlookers. ¡°The duel was apparently such a big deal that they started allowing bets with actual challenge points. You wouldn¡¯t believe how many points are on the table right now!¡±
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Greed flashed in both of the boys eyes as they thought of the ramifications. ¡°Also, I like the new look man! I¡¯m happy you aren¡¯t homeless anymore!¡± Drake grinned before heading back over to where Seth assumed Blair and Licht were staying.
Did I seriously look that bad? He thought before shaking his head.
Ah, whatever. This betting factor certainly added a little bit of chaos to the mix though. Theoretically, someone could jump near the top of the leaderboard if they find another person crazy enough to bet their entire balance on this match. Seth grinned to himself.
His own plan just kept seeming more and more attractive. Without wasting another second, he dove straight into the crowd, finding the largest groupings of participants to bet with. He didn¡¯t know how long the match would last, so he laced as many bets as he possibly could. They were deceptively easy to make too, as both participants only had to hit yes on a screen after verbally declaring the terms.
Within minutes, Seth had already bet the entirety of his challenge points with a large variety of participants. He had even tried to go further, but the screens stopped appearing after expending his stockpile. Satisfied with his work, Seth leaned against a wall while watching the remainder of the match. It had lasted almost ten minutes since he had arrived; a truly incredible amount of time. Seth had glanced at the match multiple times while laying out bets, and he knew that the two had an insane amount of endurance to last this long. Something itched at him a bit though, as it felt a little odd how long the match was lasting. It smelled of politics though, so Seth decided to keep his nose out of it and just be happy with the gains he was about to reap.
With that settled, he picked out a console an acceptable distance from all the commotion and sat down. He wanted to check the ranks as they stood beforehand to see not only how far he had fallen since last time, but also take notes on those he had marked through the entire challenge. As he scrolled through the leaderboard, Seth was unsurprised to find he had dropped nearly all the way down to 40th. His time asleep combined with the time he spent practicing with his abilities had resulted in a severe drop in placement.
The other participants were certainly meeting his expectations in their desperate struggle for last-minute points. It seemed that a point vacuum had been created in the weaker participants. Every time they lost a duel, they rushed off to scramble for more challenge points in normal matches, yet again bringing the newest ones back into the gambling pool and losing them once again. This basically rose the ranks of all those at the top with virtually no risk involved.
Bet those guys who kept losing points are kicking themselves now at the thought of the easy bag they could¡¯ve gotten in this bet.
As Seth chuckled to himself, a cheer rang out from the center of the hall. Seth looked up from his station to find two new bodies amongst the masses. Both were worn and bloodied, but only one was still upright.
A single hairy fist rose above the crowd and a wave of sweltering heat rushed throughout the crowd like a bomb. As everyone took a step backward from the display, Seth was able to catch a glimpse of Remus¡¯s glorious figure towering over a nearly collapsed young woman. Her usually glittery opal armor was now covered in an unhealthy dose of crimson blood and light brown sand. She was looking like anything but a princess with her crooked left arm and blood freely gushing from a series of wounds scattered across her torso.
Seth watched as the slick looking Galdir Ruminold and another dark haired man whom he assumed was Angus, also from The Radiance Court, began hauling Princess Caladenia away. Remus spared them no attention as he turned to revel in the cheers from his audience. Half of the crowd went ahead to congratulate him, while the other half either looked crestfallen or glared in thinly veiled anger at the retreating figure of the princess.
Looks like some aren¡¯t too happy with the results. Seth thought to himself as he giggled with a hand over his mouth.
Only a second later, a new screen appeared on the main screens of the hall.
Results of Match:
- Ruler of the Inferno, Remus +(121,050)
- Galdir Ruminold, Believer in Love +(110,110)
- Herk¡¯El +(32,500)
- Jewel of the Northern Regime, Francis +(25,250)
- Eminence +(18,000)
.
.
- Undecided +(0)
Many stared at the screen above them in bafflement of the results. Some cheered at their gains while others took attention of the individuals at the top of the results board.
Seth himself couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes at the participant who doubled his score. He had expected some parties to face a large gain, but seeing that only one participant had been privy to inside information was kind of disappointing.
I suppose we can¡¯t all be winners.
Seth didn¡¯t care much for the results though, as he had a different plan in place. Within minutes, chaos was sewn through the crowd once again as those that lost bets began up roaring against their counterparts and demanding duels. It didn¡¯t take long for some to turn their attention outward and spot Seth.
¡°Hey you! Gimme a chance to win back that five thousand you made me put up!¡±
¡°Wait your turn loser, I got a bone to pick with this guy!¡±
¡°Did you think I would let you swindle me out of half my challenge points? You are gonna regret putting that duel clause in our agreement asshole!¡±
Seth tried hard to bite back a grin as a small mob of people started to approach him with varying expressions of rage or greed. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m just as surprised as you guys! Don¡¯t worry though, I already agreed anyone I made a bet with would have express rights to a duel in the case that they lost. If you all don¡¯t mind, just decide amongst yourselves what order you want to duel in and we can start the queue up!¡± Seth exclaimed in an innocent voice tinged with fear.
He threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender as a large young man planted himself directly in front of him and leered over Seth. ¡°This isn¡¯t a debate, I¡¯m going first. The others can have whatever¡¯s left after I scrape you off my boot.¡± He proclaimed with a confident growl.
¡°Don¡¯t get ahead of yourself, I have the right to start, he made a bet with me first.¡± A woman with icy white hair declared from behind the man.
Soon enough, the growing mob began arguing amongst themselves as eight total voices tried to vie for the first seat. Seth did nothing but watch with an amused expression as he cherished the fruits of his labor. He had purposefully bet everything he had with a large amount of people in order to gain their attention in the case any of them lost their bets.
Betting large amounts of points made him their number one target for regaining their losses, as they thought if they could just beat him, the point loss wouldn¡¯t be that bad. He even made sure to add a clause within each bet that he would guarantee anyone a free duel with him in the case they lost the bet.
This allowed him to coax more points out of each deal, as every one of the participants he made a deal with were confident in their own abilities enough to think they could squeak out a win if it came to that. It wasn¡¯t a trait everyone in the entire challenge had, but Seth had paid extra attention to make larger bets with people he already marked down previously.
This obviously wasn¡¯t a full proof plan though, as he honestly had no idea who would be the victor of the main match. Luckily, Seth was able to circumvent this problem by making enough bets on either side so that whatever the result, he would still end with zero gains or losses. Unfortunately, it would severely cut down the possible gains he could get from those looking to get their points back from him, but that problem could also be fixed through persuasion.
Despite him previously always wanting to avoid confrontation, Seth had changed, for better or for worse, to the point that he was able to deal with it for long enough to get what he wanted. His new tolerance would afford him the ability to talk some people into putting a few more points on the board for each duel. Seth silently thanked the scammers of Earth for teaching him all he needed to know for the upcoming tribulations.
Finally, after ten minutes of deliberation, the queue was created in an agreed upon order, and the first challenger walked forward. It seemed the large boy who previously threatened Seth was able to bully his way into the first slot. ¡°You said I could get a free duel in the event I lost the bet.¡± The larger boy stated.
¡°Yep, that was the deal.¡± Seth affirmed.
¡°You didn¡¯t say anything about a point limit though. That means you have to accept any duel we give you regardless of how many points are on the line.¡± He demanded with a tone that left no room for argument.
¡°I suppose that is correct.¡± Seth conceded with a disgruntled look.
¡°Alright then, I bet you 15K originally, but I¡¯m not gonna be satisfied with just that. We¡¯re doubling that. I¡¯ll bet you 30K so I get my points back and take what I should¡¯ve gotten in the first place. Accept the duel and let¡¯s get this over with.¡± The young man growled.
¡°Happy to oblige.¡± Seth said with a Cheshire grin.
48- Group Challenge End
Blair¡¯s current duel opponent was a younger girl with dark brown skin and equally dark hair.
She was a fairly strong ranged fighter, mainly using different types of arrows to dull out large AOE attacks. They were only a few minutes into the fight, but Blair could see that the girl was severely lacking in any sort of defense, as she wore almost no armor and used air waves to move away from Blair any time she got close.
Blair had initially wanted to drag this match out, as she thought there would be something to learn from the younger girl¡¯s evading strategy. She had watched a few matches of her beforehand, thinking that it the girl had perhaps mastered a method of spell weaving that ran parallel to her other abilities.
Blair sighed in annoyance as her Vision of Want ability showed the air wave energy emerge through a small pit in the dark-skinned girl¡¯s chest and fire off autonomously into the space between the two of them. So it¡¯s just a blessing after all¡ so stupid. With a quick wave of her hand, Blair created a shimmering myth that stationed itself in the girl¡¯s line of fire. She then rose one hand toward the heavens as an incantation spilled from her lips.
¡°Wrought of dreams, thy flicker of Want emerge into my most lonesome reality.¡±
The other girl was in the middle of nocking another magic arrow when the space above her began bending forward.
The girl¡¯s eyes widened in a brief second of fear before the ever stretching space around her snapped back into place like a rubber band and slapped her into the ground with an earsplitting crack. The other girl offered only a small squirm in response before her body became still.
The winner screen appeared before Blair, but she waved it away before approaching the unconscious body of her opponent. She noted the blood trickling from the girl¡¯s ears before poking the unmoving body to make sure she hadn¡¯t accidently killed her. After a couple kicks, the body spasmed for a moment, certifying she hadn¡¯t pushed too far. Within seconds, Blair arrived back in the main hall, full of other participants.
As the other girl¡¯s body plopped onto the ground, Blair infused some energy into her hand to gain access to the personal cache she bought from the Chrome. A soft glow emitted from the emblem before a small vial blinked into existence directly in her grip. As she unstopped the vial and downed the contents, Blair scanned the room for any familiar faces. Even though the challenge time was nearing its last half hour, the hall was still packed with participants desperately fighting for points.
Despite the time left on the clock, Blair had decided to be done with duels following her fight with the dark-skinned girl. She strode out of the crowd with a purpose and headed for a console on the far side of the room. The clamor of noise became a muted roar as Blair activated the privacy booth option of the console. It was a rarely used function of the hall consoles, but Blair hated listening to the cries of challenge that permeated the entire room.
Shortly after, she had the leaderboard up and was satisfied to find her score had finally exceeded 100,000. She honestly didn¡¯t care about the Class A reward that came with the milestone, but she had thought that being so close and not going for it would have been a shame.
Worse case scenario, I can sell it and make a small fortune. She thought with disinterest.
For Blair, the entire group challenge had only been about tiering up and discovering new methods of spell weaving. Unfortunately, she hadn¡¯t found anything worth mentioning in that department, but the consistent matchups with random monsters had done wonders for her growth and technique. So many different types of creatures had allowed her to test her abilities against previously unavailable matchups, strengthening not only her adaptability, but also cementing her confidence in attack strategy.
Her eyes briefly glanced back to the crowd, still not finding her brother, Licht, or even the weird older boy: Seth. She blew a strand of raven black hair out of her face and turned her attention back to the leaderboard.
.
- Drake Lothrin (104,600)
- Jace Volteil (102,210)
- Blair (102,000)
.
- Licht Suzrin (72,780)
It seemed Drake was still just a bit higher than her, and by the looks of it, he was still gaining points. She was mildly annoyed to find she couldn¡¯t identify Seth¡¯s placement, as the idiot continued to go under the default ¡°Undecided¡± moniker for some reason.
On the other hand, Licht had been long knocked out of the race because of his lack of offensive power. She had met up with him a few hours earlier and found that after the big match with the top two participants, he had withdrawn himself to only doing traditional matches to continue to make a steady amount of points before the time elapsed. She remembered how giddy he looked after their conversation, no doubt having made a fair amount from the betting pools.
Blair cast aside the leaderboard and moved on to the live match streams, looking to see if her brother or Licht had retired to their rooms just yet. After a few moments of searching, she discovered that Drake was currently in a duel, but Licht was nowhere to be found. She didn¡¯t doubt he had decided to throw in the towel after seeing the rapid gain of those higher on the leaderboard. She smirked at the idea of him sulking in his room over the loss.
As she looked at the console, Blair debated whether or not to watch Drake¡¯s duel while continuing to scroll through the matches. Before she could decide, a new window caught her eye. It was another livestream of a duel, but the feed showed a fight that looked almost completely one sided. This wasn¡¯t that odd of a phenomenon, as people seemed to bite off more than they could chew when they were low on points.
But the thing was that Blair recognized the woman in the match, as she was usually only a few places behind Blair on the leaderboard, so she wasn¡¯t bad by any means. The woman in the center appeared to be around the age of twenty, with thorny green braids that were pulled back from her pale white skin. According to the leaderboard, her name was Scheal, and she was an agility type brawler as was told by her light armor paired with spiked caestus¡¯ on each hand. Blair had watched a few of her traditional matches over the course of the challenge, as she always wanted to be prepared in the event they ended up paired against each other for some reason later on.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
This is why the match had caught her eye though, as Scheal was currently not moving from her position in the center of the arena, and she was only using ranged attacks sporadically around her. She looked to be surrounded by a dark ring of smoke that spanned at least twenty meters in diameter. It hung unnaturally in place, not moving at all but seemingly stirring in place.
She watched with interest as Scheal attempted to dart outside of the ring, only to make it just a few meters before a swarm of hands emerged from the smoke, covered in rotting flesh and bones open to view. They all madly grasped at Scheal, but she swiftly danced away from their grasp and resumed her spot at the center of the ring. The hands moved no further, and instead withdrew back into the smoke. Scheal didn¡¯t let them retreat without consequence though, as several thorns shot toward the area where they originated.
The view on Blair¡¯s stream was relatively high, in order to encompass the main area of combat, which allowed her to see that the thorns shot harmlessly through the smoke and buried themselves on a far wall.
The other combatant had yet to show themselves, but she soon found that Scheal was not alone after all, as a plume of sand shot from amongst the smoke, showering Scheal, causing her to raise her guard and cover herself in some kind of defensive crust. Just when she thought the other combatant would show themselves, another plume of sand erupted from the smoke, covering her yet again in sand particles.
Scheal reacted the same way as before, assuming a defensive stance while not moving. But yet again, the aggressor didn¡¯t reveal themselves.
After a moment, she dropped her stance and seemed to prepare for another attempt at running through the smoke. Right when she seemed to lean toward an escape, yet another plume of sand kicked up into her face. This time, Scheal didn¡¯t assume her normal defensive position, but instead she remained loose and vigilant, brushing the sand from her hair and face while squirming slightly at the sand caught in her armor.
This pattern continued for six more sand showers, each one equally pitiful and non-dangerous. Blair could see the growing annoyance on Scheal¡¯s face as she wiped the sand from her eyes over and over.
Finally, the stalemate came to an end as the brawler began methodically shooting her own attacks into the smoke, trying to weed out the other participant while they continued to berate her with sand. Unfortunately, it seemed her efforts were for nought, as the thorns continued to sail harmlessly through the smoke time and time again. Blair couldn¡¯t help but keep watching, now too invested in the odd fight to stop watching.
She glanced at the names of the two duelers, unsurprised to find the opponent had another anonymous ¡°Undecided¡± name, a rather common occurrence as over a third of the participants hadn¡¯t bothered inputting names for the leaderboard.
As she pondered who the other opponent might be, the previous status quo was abruptly broken as a plume of sand shot directly into Scheal¡¯s face from one side, and a dark figure dashed out from the opposite side of the smoke. Scheal didn¡¯t notice at first, as she only squinted in response to the new sand shower, but her senses finally kicked in not a moment later, and she whirled to meet the new arrival. Her reaction was just a split second too late though, as the figure was astoundingly fast and already on top of her barely a second after emerging from the smoke.
Before she knew it, a black blade speckled with white was already embedded in her forearm. Scheal grunted in pain and surprise, but quickly schooled herself and countered. Quick as lightning, she used a speed enhancement ability to slow the area around herself as well as the cloaked man. Then, instead of seizing the weapon, her free hand, now covered in wicked spines, shot toward the slowed man like a rocket.
Scheal smirked in victory as the punch continued unimpeded directly into the man¡¯s face, but then it was replaced by surprise and fear as her fist went directly through the man. A moment later, the weapon in her forearm disappeared, and the man before her blinked out of existence. It seemed she finally realized her mistake as another spray of sand slapped her in the face and another blade was lodged into the meat of her calf, causing her to stumble to her knee.
She turned just in time to see the weapon disappear, and before she could even think about her next move, another big gust of sand stung her eyes.
She roared in anger at the constant harassment and desperately turned her watering gaze to the smoke around her.
¡°FIGHT ME COWARD!¡± She screamed to the unmoving wall of darkness, affording her nothing more than a mouthful of sand as the cloaked man continued to shower her from the safety of the ring.
Blair watched in rapt attention as the onslaught continued, shaving down Scheal¡¯s will to fight as well as her body. After multiple continued lacerations from a hidden source, Blair finally caught sight of the cloaked man as he stepped out of the smoke without preamble. He was shoeless and wearing nothing more than a plain combative outfit and some sort of ugly fur cloak that reached just above his thigh.
The cloak was hooded, so her angle was too far above the fight to see the man¡¯s face. Blair quickly adjusted the spectator viewpoint, and was completely baffled to find that she recognized the mismatched eyes and crooked grin underneath the snout of the dog-like hood.
She watched with confusion as Seth slowly closed the gap between the two with a skip in his step. When he arrived at the center of the ring along with the near collapsed Scheal, he pulled back his hood, and the entire ring of smoke fell away with it.
Blair¡¯s jaw unconsciously dropped and she had to take a moment to school herself before inspecting closer. Up until this point she had only seen him with a mop of uneven blond and black hair, as well as a stringy and unappealing goatee. Now, his sharp features and crooked nose were on full display as his face was cleanly shaven. Furthermore, his hair was now short on the sides and a couple inches longer on the top.
She truly wanted to make fun of it, but Blair couldn¡¯t help but find the new haircut appealing. His previously irregular strands of black hair were now revealed to be oriented in a stylish pattern along only the sides and back of his head. The top was left completely untouched, creating a favorable and unique combination. Besides his physical alternations, Blair was more surprised with his overall strategy and gear choice.
Almost the entirety of the time they had fought together during the group matches, Seth had played an elusive frontliner, right next to Drake. His incredible speed and generally strong physical attributes had made him an effective decoy the duration of their fights. As far as she knew, he had only just recently gotten his first ranged ability, but for some reason he hadn¡¯t even used it on Scheal. So for him to display such an stark change in technique was a huge shock even to her.
She continued to watch as he leered over Scheal¡¯s bleeding figure with one of the biggest shit-eating grins she had ever seen in her life. Blair squirmed with discomfort as she also noticed his eyes were dilated to the size of dimes, making his irises almost impossible to see. He leaned forward and looked to ask Scheal a question that the microphone didn¡¯t pick up. Whatever her response, Seth nodded before delivering a savage heel directly to her nose, sending a spray of crimson to stain the sand, knocking her out and cementing his victory.
Blair sat in silence as the livestream ended, leaving her staring blankly at the results screen. Just like any match, after it was finished the new rankings of each participant were displayed on the console, certifying any changes in placement. Blair glanced up for a moment, noticing that Seth was leaving through the main entrance with the same big grin from before. It seemed that he was done with duels, just like herself. Her eyes lingered on entryway for a few seconds before they resumed their spot on the still glowing screen in front of her.
Previously, Blair didn¡¯t know or care why Seth hadn¡¯t been very sociable over the last couple weeks, but now she couldn¡¯t help but wonder what the hell he had been up to.
Results of Match:
Undecided: New Balance (124,360)
Scheal Lovit: New Balance (85,850)
49- An Alignment of Fate
Seth marched through the halls like a lunatic, the corners of his mouth reaching dangerously toward his ears. The ecstasy of his string of victories continued to roar through his body like a drug, unfading just like his grin.
His plan had resulted in a payoff even greater than he could¡¯ve imagined. Seth had won eight consecutive duels, all resulting in hefty point gains. His net winnings had totaled over 40,000, a sum that had took him two weeks to gain previously. In the span of one hour, he had raised his stockpile almost sixty percent, a feat even some of the best day traders on Earth couldn¡¯t achieve.
¡°These royal brats are even more egotistical than I thought!¡± He yelped in delight.
Even after beating them one by one, not a single person who came to him for a duel had even thought about researching him beforehand. Seth had truly done his homework, and the efforts paid off handsomely. It seems that even growing up with all the money and power of a galaxy wide empire, you still can¡¯t teach maturity or temper hubris. Seth slowed down for a moment.
¡°Geez, how am I eighteen years old and feel like the most mature person in this entire place.¡± His smile faltered slightly in thought.
¡°Wait, I guess I¡¯m actually nineteen now, aren¡¯t I?¡±
He let out a laugh before resuming his meaningful stride. ¡°Not like it matters anyway, I¡¯m pretty sure that every tier I go up, I¡¯ll live an extra hundred years or something.¡±
A couple more minutes of self-gratification later, Seth arrived at his destination. He was aware that the duel aspect of the challenge would be ending in a little less than a half hour, so Seth decided that he would take one last visit to the warehouse sized store that housed all kinds of powerful knickknacks. As he strolled through the aisles of random artifacts, picking up items he had scouted beforehand, Seth lightly wondered why no one else was there too.
It wasn¡¯t an impossibility that the store could still be available during the bonus challenge, but he wanted to be safe rather than sorry. It seemed ridiculous that no one else seemed to have that worry, but then again, what was the random crap in here compared to a bunch of dynasty treasures, right? Seth continued to hurry through the aisles, trying to acquire all of the items he thought would be most relevant to him.
Finally, as the time winded down to it¡¯s last five minutes, Seth sat with his back up against the wall at the entrance of the store, reviling in the pile of treasure he had gathered. He still had a couple hundred points left over, but the meager amount couldn¡¯t buy him anything of use, so he decided to leave them be. Also, he had already virtually filled both his personal cache as well as the little blue wisp that followed him soundlessly.
Seth scrolled through his haul for a little while, wondering if he should use some of the spoils right now. Along with the Class A Concept Treasure he had gotten from Folly¡¯s quest, Seth had amassed a handful of other items that he thought to be important for his future growth.
-Slothful Token
-Red Ogre¡¯s Tears
-Wendigo Femur (Tainted)
-Jeganti¡¯s Lost Blade
Most of his finds weren¡¯t anything that would result in an immediate gain, but Seth was confident they would pay off when used along with the item from Folly.
Essence of the Unending Soul:
-The last product of a forgotten practice.
The item was a small, smoky gray vial. Inside was a clear, viscous liquid, not unlike water. Even using True Sight didn¡¯t reveal any extra hints at the contents, as no purple energy wafted off the item like it had with the Elixir of the Fatigued Hero. Seth wasn¡¯t sure what to make of the vial, but something told him that concepts didn¡¯t exactly relate to the energy that fueled his abilities.
The other four items he had bought also related to attaining a concept, as the token allowed him to attain a heightened state of spirituality, while the other three were supposed to fuel his discovery. His research had told him that each of the items held some sort of mark, or imprint from the concepts that were previously used by the item¡¯s owners. They were supposed to act as a sort of steering agent that would allow him to hone his vision to a specific type of concept.
Seth didn¡¯t know what exactly any of that meant in practice, but he was certain that when it came to attaining a concept; the more treasures, the better.
Seth lifted his head off the wall for a moment, as he began to hear a clicking sound. After a few seconds, he identified the sound as quick footsteps, heading toward the entrance of the warehouse.
Seems a little late to be heading this way. He thought.
As the footsteps drew near, Seth pulled himself upright, curious to see who the newcomer was. As the person finally turned the corner, Seth was surprised to find a wide eyed and slightly sweaty Licht run through the entrance. It took him a moment to spot Seth in the corner, but he quickly rushed forward, grabbing Seth by the shoulders.
¡°I¡¯ve been looking everywhere for you!¡± He huffed.
¡°Why? What¡¯s wrong?¡± Seth asked bewilderedly. Licht looked at him like he was a complete idiot.
¡°What¡¯s wrong?! Are you serious? You¡¯re in the top six!¡± He exclaimed.
Seth¡¯s eyes widened to match Licht¡¯s, and his mouth hung open.
¡°Oh my gosh! No way!¡±
He yelped with girlish enthusiasm. He quickly schooled his impression with a impish smirk.
¡°Nice one man, next you¡¯re going to tell me I¡¯m Bill Gate¡¯s long-lost nephew.¡± He laughed.
Licht¡¯s face reddened and a vein popped out of his forehead. ¡°This isn¡¯t the time for your crap! YOU ARE IN THE TOP SIX!¡± He practically screamed.
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Seth¡¯s laughter died and his smirk lessened slightly. Uncertainty marred his face before realization dawned on him.
¡°What happened to the others?¡±
Licht¡¯s face softened slightly. ¡°The princess goaded them. Not long after you left the main hall, she started arguing with the rest of the top six. She called them all cowards for not challenging anyone of higher ranks. I swear that woman has some persuasion ability because afterward it was like a mosh pit. Less than ten minutes later, the top six folded in like a point vacuum. Now the top three has near double the points of those under them. Because of your weird duel party, you were already sitting in eighth. But after the move from her, you sprung into sixth.¡± He finished breathlessly.
Seth¡¯s face was fully stricken with shock. ¡°W-what about last minute duels? Someone must be close enough to me to catch up, even with only a couple minutes left.¡± He sputtered, already knowing the answer.
Licht shook his head as his impatience drained away. ¡°You were too far ahead from your recent gains. The next highest participant is more than seven thousand points behind you.¡±
Seth was about to continue when a screen appeared before both of the boys.
-One minute left before the Bonus Challenge begins. Duels will be closed upon start of Bonus Challenge.
-Congratulations. You have been locked in as a participant in the Bonus Challenge. The Bonus Challenge area is in a specified temporal field. All physical offensive abilities cannot be used in the temporal field.
The two boys looked up from their differing screens. ¡°So much for someone catching up.¡± Seth muttered.
It was almost unbelievable. He had known he basically stole his fair share of challenge points from the unwitting participants, but he couldn¡¯t believe his greed had brought him that far up in the rankings. Being in the bonus round was something he hadn¡¯t even thought was an option. Now, he would have a huge opportunity to raise his reward into a possible fate chosen treasure. It wasn¡¯t all fun times and flowers though, as participating in the challenge would bring more attention than he had ever wanted. Seth dismissed the screen and turned his attention back to Licht.
¡°Who¡¯s the other five?¡± He asked seriously.
Licht scratched his slightly pointed ear for a second before replying. ¡°It¡¯s Remus, Eminence, Nigel, the Son of Gaia, you said his name was Ty, right? And finally, Princess Caladenia. She ended up swapping places with Galdir in the end.¡±
Upon hearing the list of participants, Seth became quiet and sullen. Licht continued to talk, but Seth wasn¡¯t listening.
Ty¡¯s gonna be there huh.
The seconds trickled by until finally, a new screen appeared before Seth.
-The Bonus Challenge has begun. Jumping you to the starting area now.
--------
Will stared at the buried palace with open awe.
A large black furred minotaur patted him on the back.
¡°Goddamn kid, I didn¡¯t think you had it in you!¡± He praised with deep roar.
Will released a satisfied sigh before his bronze pike collapsed into itself and disappeared.
¡°What did I tell you Bruno! I could find this place in my sleep!¡± He exclaimed before striking a victorious pose.
In reality, Will couldn¡¯t even believe he found the place himself. After registering with the Chrome, Will had been recruited by the famous Royalia clan. Apparently, Rynack, Will¡¯s Umbra, was even more legendary than he had previously thought.
According to the members of Royalia, Rynack was one of the most ancient and well known artifact seekers in history. It was very rare for him to make any new members of his clan. This made Will a popular knew asset to sponsor, as well as a great addition to any treasure seeking team. All of this resulted in Will being recruited onto an artifact hunt for someplace called the Palace of Oxuvoz.
He wasn¡¯t sure of all the details, but the way the others had talked about it, the place was a legend among legends. Will would¡¯ve asked more, but he was mostly just happy to be getting so much attention and praise. After finally being dispatched, Will and a large team of high tiered shapers had left through the city through the Jump Junction, which transported them to a town in the far east. After that, they rented a few vehicles equipped for the desert and took off.
After a few days, Will finally got a hold of a unique trail of energy. Two days of trial and error later, the team finally arrived at an indiscriminate spot in the middle of nowhere. With the help of a few talented sand shapers, the team found themselves in an huge underground cavern where they stood now. Will shivered at the large presence he felt permeating the entire cavern and palace. He could feel the presence practically wafting from the ruined emerald palace like a looming fist.
Whatever artifact is in there is crazy powerful. It feels almost as strong as Rynack.
--------
Sydney smacked her dry lips and used the remainder of her extra stamina to uncramp her leg.
Her perch on the stone cross was one that invited no comfort and no rest. Her arms were completely outstretched, barely reaching the small wooden pegs that only rose two inches from the stone. The foot pegs were no better and so high up she had to basically hold a constant splits to reach them. To make the situation worse, both wooden pegs were horribly splintery and the stone was uneven and sharp in places.
¡°Your resolve is truly something to behold little girl, but I already told you I have no want to share my practices or my treasure.¡± A raspy voice creaked from above her.
Sydney turned her drooping and bloodshot eyes up slightly, revealing an old hag with purple, saggy skin looming over her. Her balding scalp was scabby and full of knots, just like the disgusting calloused feet that rested less than a foot above Sydney¡¯s face.
Sydney wanted to tell the ugly bitch to shut up, or to eat glass, but instead she just lulled her head back into the resting position on her shoulder. It had been five days straight of holding herself on the pegs with no food or water. She smelled like a corpse and had soiled herself more than once, but she had yet to drop from the pegs.
Sydney wasn¡¯t doing this for fun though.
The grueling task was a mission given by her elusive Umbra. She still didn¡¯t even know the woman¡¯s name, and this was only the second time she ever spoke to Sydney.
¡°Seek out Uglecia or be doomed to mediocrity.¡±
It was message that surfaced for only a moment and disappeared without a trace afterward. She almost thought it had been her imagination, but the melodic voice was something that couldn¡¯t be fabricated. For two weeks after, she had dove into research over any mention of someone named Uglecia. Finally, after a trip to a rickety old bookstore that she had stumbled upon by accident, Sydney had found a story about a mighty sorceress that was rumored to live in the Thousand Asura Territory, a subsidiary of the well-known Radiance Court. Sydney learned that the Radiance Court was ruled by several individuals in the eighth tier, a truly unimaginable peak for her.
The book had given her some relatively specific directions of where she might find the sorceress, as well as some advice on how to win her favor. So with the small fortune that was left to her by Origin, Sydney traveled to the far off territory and found leering cliff that Uglecia inhabited.
According to the text, Uglecia didn¡¯t value any material offering, and instead would respond well with a show of resolve. Hence why Sydney had been basically torturing herself for five days. Sydney¡¯s thoughts of simmering rage were abruptly halted as she felt a slimy toe poke her on the head.
¡°Are you still alive down there little girl? Say something before I remove you from my property permanently.¡±
Sydney roused her energy and let out a growl before shaking the disgusting toe off her head. The old hag did this constantly. She would come and hound her for hours at a time, then leave for over a day, leaving Sydney wondering if she would ever come back. This time was no different, as the hag continued to berate Sydney for two hours straight. She even began showering her with what Sydney guessed to be her ancient and all powerful piss.
Despite all this, Sydney wouldn¡¯t drop from the pegs, nor retaliate.
At this point it was honestly more of a challenge to rein in her anger than hang from the stone.
She couldn¡¯t even tell what tier the hag was at either, but the fact Sydney couldn¡¯t sense her at all spoke volumes.
Finally, as her stench began stinging her tired eyes and her body shook with exhaustion, she felt a soft pat on her head.
¡°That will be enough child.¡±
Sydney felt weightless for a brief moment before tumbling onto a bed of soft grass. Her muscles all screamed for rest, but she resisted the pull of sleep and angled her head toward the hag standing before her.
¡°I, Uglecia, the forgotten Witch of Wrath and keeper of the Vlene Eye, promise to aid Sydney Ranks and pass down the art of my heritage.¡±
Sydney grinned in tired victory before her eyes rolled back and she became still.
50- He Who is Chosen by God (Part One)
Seth stood in a glass box that showed only a long dark path ahead. To his left stood five other glass boxes, each holding the other top participants of the group challenge. As he began checking out the new scene, a pair of hard, brown eyes met Seth¡¯s from the nearest box. Ty¡¯s mouth opened slightly upon sighting him, but his expression quickly calmed before he gave Seth a small nod and turned his attention elsewhere.
It seemed all of the participants were equally measuring each other up from the narrow boxes. Anxious glances were passed around as they all waited on edge for something to change. Then, as if on queue, a series of spotlights blazed to life, lighting up the surroundings to reveal six individual glass roads leading as far as the eye could see. Empty space consumed the rest of the surroundings, as if the entire area was hovering just above the Void.
Finally, a large screen appeared above the entire challenge area, displaying the names of the six participants, as well as an empty value slot next to their name that was held for the individual¡¯s ranking. Another screen followed consecutively after the first, but this time appearing before the participants themselves. In Seth¡¯s case, two screens had appeared.
Welcome to the Bonus Challenge
-All of the top six participant¡¯s challenge points have been revoked.
-Physical offensive abilities cannot be used.
-Physical contact between participants is forbidden.
-Changing lanes is forbidden.
-Dimensional Storage will be unavailable during the race.
-Participants will race along the allotted path attached to their starting position.
-The participant that reaches the finish before the other participants will be the winner.
-If no participant reaches the finish before the end of (24) hours, the participant closest to the finish will be the winner.
-The winner will receive the entirety of the challenge points that have been revoked.
-The current total that will be awarded to the winner is (892,240)
-Bonus challenge cannot begin until a name is chosen. (Current Slot: Undecided)
Seth sputtered for a moment before breaking into a fit of coughs.
The rules had literally and figuratively knocked the wind out of him, and by the sound of muted groans and shouts, the other participants felt the same way.
They ¡°revoked¡± our points?! And only the winner gets any?!
Seth almost felt sick. If he didn¡¯t win, he wouldn¡¯t just lose the chance to get the fate treasure, but also the chance to get any reward at all. Sure, he had made a lot of personal progress throughout the group challenge that couldn¡¯t be taken away, but the idea of losing a guaranteed Class A treasure was a huge loss! After a few more seconds of moaning, Seth chomped on his lip to focus his mind.
Nah¡ This might not be as bad as it¡¯s made out to be. I might not be a gambling man, but the idea of increasing my total points by over 800% isn¡¯t something I can say no to. I¡¯m already faster than the average tier three due to my titles and augmented constitution, so if I can pull out a win here, I¡¯ll get a fate treasure and more if the challenge points spill over for the minimum reward requirements.
A warm fire began growing in his body, burning away his anxiety and building his confidence. As he glanced around at the others, he could tell they were beginning to gather themselves as well. Remus even sported one of his textbook predatory grins, as if he was already sure of his victory. Seth didn¡¯t want the rest of them to have enough time to get too confident though, so he turned his attention back to the second screen while shaking off the odd feeling of not being able to draw Anar.
Do they seriously need a name for the leaderboard? Seems kind of redundant if you ask me.
Seth ran a hand through his shortened hair. He had used a variety of handles during his time online, but picking out one in particular was a difficult task. It¡¯s not like he really cared what it was, but he was also aware that whatever he chose now would probably follow him through the rest of his time at The Incubator, perhaps even after. He thought about the names he had already seen throughout the leaderboard. Most had been a combination of actual names as well as factions they belonged to. Others had been titles such as the boy named Eminence, or Ty¡¯s handle: Son of Gaia.
Well, I don¡¯t have any faction, and I¡¯d rather not put my actual name on the board.
He reasoned. ¡°Ah, I think I got one.¡± Seth muttered. He silently entered the name onto the main screen, causing the far off board to change as well.
Ruler of the Inferno, Remus ---
Princess Caladenia, The Radiance Court ---
Eminence ---
Nigel The Redeemer ---
Son of Gaia ---
Still ---
Still was a handle he used for most of his single player games. It was one that warranted no extra attention, nor admiration.
He had originally thought of the name after going to his parent¡¯s funeral, as the thing he always remembered more than anything was how still and lifeless they had been. After using it once during a particularly emotional phase following their deaths, he hadn¡¯t ever had an issue with choosing another name after that, so Seth continued to utilize the plain name for most games. He would change it up for usernames on websites, social media platforms, and multiplayer games, but other than that, it didn¡¯t change.
Finally, after entering his name, a large countdown appeared under the main screen, counting down from ten. After one more sidelong glance at the others, Seth readied himself inside the box, waiting for the race to begin.
--------
¡°Are you sure we should just walk in?¡± Will asked with a hint of worry.
Bruno¡¯s large hand hovered above the ornate handle of the large entryway, hesitating a bit.
¡°What do you think Egora? You¡¯re the expert about Oxuvoz, do you think it¡¯s safe?¡±
A short dwarven woman stepped forward and inspected the door. ¡°I¡¯m certain of nothing in this place, but given the extensive distractor myths and the unique circumstances surrounding our discovery of the palace, I would say more power was oriented around never finding this place rather than preventing entry upon discovery.¡±
She said with a sly glance at Will. I still don¡¯t understand how a mere infant such as this boy was able to find this place before anyone else. The Royalia clan spent a small fortune raising him to tier four, but even then, I¡¯ve never met anyone in the Configuring Stage that could outperform several experienced tier sixes! Watching him walk straight through a distractor myth meant to ward off tier sevens just about made me hack up a lung!
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Bruno let out a low roar before beating his chest once. ¡°That¡¯s good enough for me!¡±
He wrapped his meaty hand around the knob while the rest of the party readied themselves for anything. Will ran to the back of the group, before hunkering down behind one of the vehicles they had brought with them. He screwed his eyes shut and covered his ears, expecting the worst. After a moment, he heard a muted crash and felt a slight shudder in the ground before everything became quiet once again.
Curiosity overcoming him, Will opened his eyes and cautiously stood up to peer over the hull of the large truck he had cowered behind. He glanced around and noticed a crumpled door lying a little ways away. It seemed that Bruno had decided to rip the door clean off its hinges, which was where the crash originated from. Nothing else was amiss though, as the group had already begun moving into the palace. Will soon followed, only to discover that most of the team had already fanned out through the multitude of fancy hallways that led away from the large scale main hall.
Bruno waved him over to where he and Egora stood, only twenty or so meters deeper into the main hall. Will scampered over to them, all the while fawning over the beautiful interior of the emerald palace. He also noted that the presence he had felt outside was no longer present. This change didn¡¯t help with his growing anxiety, so he was happy to arrive back under the care of the hulking Bruno, the group¡¯s strongest fighter and the closest to the seventh tier.
¡°Alright kid, according to Egora, the artifact we are looking for is straight ahead.¡±
He threw a large furry arm around Will¡¯s shoulders and pointed at a small, plain looking iron chair that sat at the end of the hall. Sitting atop the chair was a similarly plain looking emerald circlet.
¡°If our intel is right, we just grab that little beauty and head home where a huge paycheck is waiting!¡± Bruno laughed with fervor.
Will couldn¡¯t help but crack a smile at Bruno¡¯s enthusiasm. At the end of the day, like Bruno, Will was a treasure hunter, so the prospect of a parade of praise and money waiting for him back in Ethin was tantalizing at worst. Plus, the fact Bruno didn¡¯t seem too worried about the palace or possible traps that might be around helped Will relax, even if it was just a smidgen.
¡°If it¡¯s right there, why did everyone else leave?¡± He asked.
Bruno gave him a soft flick to the forehead. ¡°Rule number one of treasure hunting: If it¡¯s there, it¡¯s yours. Are you really going to leave a palace that hasn¡¯t been touched in eons after picking up a measly one artifact?¡±
Will rubbed his forehead with a pained grunt, then refocused his attention on the emerald circlet sitting unassumingly across the room.
Seems a bit greedy to me, but I guess he¡¯s right. After all, they¡¯ve been doing this a lot longer than I have.
¡°So, do we just go get it, or what?¡± Will inquired.
Egora hacked out a ball of spit onto the polished tile floor before taking out a complex looking device. It looked to be some sort of supped up magnifying glass with a series of myths inscribed into the multi-layered looking glass. Upon taking out the item, the short woman started drawing out three different ritual circles, each with their own set of myths. Will didn¡¯t know what any of them were for, but he assumed the best course was to stay quiet and observe. After a few minutes, Egora finished her drawings and stood up.
¡°I¡¯m going to check out the room now, I would recommend leaving for a minute or two, as I have only drawn up protections for myself. When I have a proper read on the situation, I¡¯ll call you both back inside.¡±
Bruno gave her a nod and quickly herded Will outside of the palace. Only a few minutes later, they were called back inside by a now tired and sweaty looking Egora. Will rushed over to check on her, while Bruno brandished a cruel looking axe.
¡°What happened? Is there something else here?¡± He investigated.
Egora held out a hand to Will and took a deep breath before straightening herself out. ¡°It¡¯s nothing that an axe will be able to help. It seems the artifact is being guarded by a Jhin.¡± She heaved.
Bruno let out a growl and threw his axe to the ground, burying it deep in the floor.
¡°For Null¡¯s sake, of course it is. What rank?¡±
Egroa gave him a bone-weary look.
¡°It¡¯s an unleashed familiar, my best guess is a tier seven at the very least. On the bright side, I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll attack as long as we don¡¯t get near the crown. It said that we were free to loot the palace, but the second any of us try for the artifact, it would kill everyone.¡±
Will looked taken aback by the information, but Bruno just let out a heavy sigh.
¡°That¡¯s what that strong presence was, a Jhin? Is that some sort of monster or spirit?¡± The minotaur shook his head. ¡°A Jhin is a conjured soul, not a real being but also not imaginary. They were brutally efficient at soul attacks, a technique that was incredibly hard to defend against unless you were relatively high tiered. I¡¯m on the high end of tier six, and I still have difficulties protecting myself from even basic soul attacks.¡±
Egora nodded at his explanation before giving Will a cautious look.
¡°What Bruno says is true, although, I am surprised to hear you felt a presence from outside the palace. Jhin¡¯s are not known for projecting themselves unless threatened. Perhaps you felt it due to your ability to find this place.¡±
She continued to explain, but was interrupted as the three felt a powerful presence permeate the room, just like it had for Will outside the palace.
Will watched in fear as a ghostly man dressed in long gold robes formed in front of them, exuding a vast suppressive force. He looked to be of Asian descent, with green hair and no pupils. Will felt like an anvil was sitting on his chest, and he could barely manage to take in tiny, quick breaths to continue moving. He turned his strained eyes over to Egora and Bruno, who seemed to be holding up well despite the pressure. Egora even seemed to be getting prepared to address the hovering man.
To all of their surprise though, the Jhin turned to face Will instead of the other two.
¡°So, it was you who found this place child. Step forth and open your soul to me.¡±
The room itself seemed to fold and Will found himself directly in front of the Jhin¡¯s outstretched hand. Will looked behind him in panic, only to find Egora and Bruno vanish after a wave from the Asian man.
¡°Don¡¯t mind them child, look at me.¡±
Will turned his attention back to the Jhin, his body trembling in fear. The ghostly hand of the Jhin reached forward and rested upon Will¡¯s chest, surprisingly relieving the immense weight he had felt before. He opened his mouth to speak, but found his voice unable to emerge still. He wanted to apologize, to beg for his life, to beg for his friend¡¯s lives, but couldn¡¯t get himself to say a word.
¡°Calm your mind child, I cannot read your soul with all this noise.¡±
In an instant, Will¡¯s thoughts were stricken from his head, leaving behind an uncomfortable void of silence. Then, to make things even worse, Will began to feel a pressure all over his body, completely unlike the one from before. It was like a spiritual violation of privacy, disgusting and invasive. The pressure coated his body and infested his head, making it impossible to form a single thought while also giving him a splitting headache.
Just as he thought he couldn¡¯t take it anymore, the pressure withdrew and exited his body, leaving him covered in cold sweat and wheezing for air. The Jhin¡¯s hand retracted from Will¡¯s chest and he quickly crumpled to the floor. The man rubbed his fingers together, inspecting his hand.
After a moment, he seemed satisfied and withdrew back towards the iron chair. Will watched with tearful eyes as the Jhin muttered something next to the circlet. Nothing seemed different, but the Jhin then turned around and returned to Will.
¡°My master¡¯s crown has sat unclaimed for eons. Even after he passed on, I have been here to guard his most prized treasure. I acknowledge you have proven yourself by finding this place, and I was only tasked with watching over this treasure until someone such as yourself found it¡ but after all these years, I cannot part with my duty so easily. My master was kind enough to release me so that I wouldn¡¯t follow him to the grave, but yet here I remain, keeping his legacy alive. What right do you have to end a tradition that started millions of years before your creation?¡±
Will couldn¡¯t reply, as the Jhin grasping his soul had truly shaken him to the core. The experience was traumatic in a way that an injury from some beast could never be. Although no damage had been done, Will couldn¡¯t help but feel as if he were a helpless child once more, having been violated not in his body, but his entire being. The Jhin leered over his prone figure, an almost pitiful look marring his ghostly visage.
¡°To think, such a helpless child has the right to take your dearest treasure, master? Is this the type of creature whom you imagined would become your successor? His soul might be Just, but is it not the power of his blessing that showed him the way? Would that not make him unfit for your prize?¡±
The Jhin moved closer and waved a hand over Will¡¯s chest. It looked only for a moment before letting out a gasp.
¡°What is this sensation? Master? Could it truly be¡ of course!¡±
The Jhin backed away from Will, it¡¯s pupilless eyes darting around violently while it fervently adjusted it¡¯s robes over and over.
¡°Is that right? I might be right. I think I¡¯m right! Who else but my master could have gifted you such an ability?! If that is true, then this is finally a message from my dear master!¡±
Ghostly tears seemed to leak from the Jhin¡¯s white eyes.
¡°I am sorry child, who am I to question our master.¡±
The Jhin hurried over to the iron chair and gently retrieved the emerald circlet. It held the crown above it¡¯s head, like an offering to the gods. Drifting slowly, it returned to Will¡¯s side where he was finally beginning to compose himself and rise from the ground.
¡°Yes, rise my friend! Accept the heritage left behind by our master!¡±
The Jhin continued to urge him on as Will sluggishly rose to his feet. Finally, after he was able to brace his feet under himself, the Jhin lowered the crown onto Will¡¯s head, letting it sit right above his brow. The circlet needed no adjustment, and the second the Jhin released his hold on the artifact, the emerald surface slowly corroded away. A fierce blue began to take the place of the faded green, creating a new and glowing crown of sapphire.
Will felt like he had been hit by a lightning strike, his whole body jerking erect, all trace of his previous weariness gone. Blue light been shining from his body, wrapping around him like a motherly embrace. Every cell in his body thrummed with power and comfort, showing Will something he had never felt before.
The Jhin watched from the back, it¡¯s ghostly hands wrapped around it¡¯s mouth in a look of complete awe as tears streamed down it¡¯s face.
¡°A natural transfiguration of fate?! Master, could you have truly predicted that something like this might happen?¡±
51- He Who is Chosen by God (Part Two)
Sydney awoke with the feeling of a warm liquid trickling down her face.
¡°Gah!¡± She yelled before shielding her face, suddenly very aware her mouth had been hanging open.
The liquid continued to flow, and it took a moment for Sydney¡¯s eyes to adjust to the dim light of wherever she was.
¡°Stop squirming Sydney, your body needs to recharge.¡± A raspy voice said from beside her.
Her eyes gradually adjusted, revealing the ugly hag standing next to her in a surprisingly modern looking home.
¡°Where am I?¡± She croaked, her throat still raw from the lack of water.
¡°This is my house, well technically this is my bathroom.¡± The hag explained.
Sydney smacked her dry lips and examined the Victorian style bathroom. It looked identical to an old house listing she saw a couple years ago, complete with a curvy, porcelain bathtub that Sydney was currently submerged in. Only then did she notice that her clothes were gone, and she was completely naked in a tub of opaque red liquid. She attempted to lift herself out, but only managed to cause a small ripple. She cast a glare at the witch.
¡°Why am I naked, and why the hell does your house look like it came straight off a retail commercial?¡±
Uglecia glanced around with an interested expression. ¡°My house doesn¡¯t look the same for everyone, but I can¡¯t lie, this configuration is quite acceptable. As for why you¡¯re naked, what else was I supposed to do? You smelled like a corpse.¡±
¡°Yeah and who¡¯s fault is that?¡± Sydney grumbled.
The hag just shrugged in response before giving her a toothless grin. ¡°I might be old, but even I enjoy a harmless prank from time to time.¡±
That got Sydney¡¯s attention. She growled in disbelief and tried to wrench herself from the tub again, still achieving nothing. ¡°The hell do you mean a prank? I sat out there for days!¡± She shouted.
Uglecia cackled at her outburst before patting her on the head.
¡°Calm down Sydney, I was just joking. Who knew kids these days were so sensitive?¡±
She chuckled to herself again and then dipped her hand into the red liquid. Soon after, the contents began to roil with energy. ¡°Just rest for now, the enchanted blood will make you even better than before, plus it will prepare you for what comes next.¡± She explained.
Sydney began to suspiciously eye the tub she lied in, worried that she might contract some sort of ancient disease from the disgusting liquid.
¡°I wouldn¡¯t be worried about the blood young lady, that¡¯s supposed to help you deal with the pain. I would be more concerned about what else I¡¯m going to put in the tub.¡± The hag giggled.
Fear crossed Sydney¡¯s expression before she quickly schooled it. This bitch has a screw loose. She thought.
¡°Do your worst, if I can deal with being a treated like a lab rat for months, or being pissed on by some old cow for a couple days, then I can deal with a crappy bath.¡±
Cruel humor entered the hag¡¯s filmy eyes as she began pulling a series of items from her robes.
¡°We¡¯ll see missy.¡±
--------
Uglecia watched as the girl¡¯s body continued to convulse despite her having passed out hours beforehand.
Sydney had been able to stomach the pain for the first few ingredients, but after the fourth acid sac of a tier six monster, she hadn¡¯t been able to hold on. The hag had been forced to put a gag into Sydney¡¯s mouth to stop her from biting her tongue too.
Finally, Uglecia went to grab the last ingredient for the now dark orange solution: Class S tears of a spirit beast. She reached a wrinkled purple hand into the pocket of her ratty dress, drawing out a small clear vial. She had collected the tears a few days ago, after she had cried laughing at Sydney¡¯s ashamed face from soiling herself. She smirked at the memory and emptied the vial into the tub, causing the entire solution to turn a pale yellow.
Sydney¡¯s convulsions began to slow shortly after, and before long, she roused from her state of unconsciousness. Her mouth opened and shut slowly while her eyes lulled around, unseeing. Uglecia clicked her tongue knowingly.
¡°Well, I must say I am impressed Sydney! To think you were able to keep enough of your wits to wake up after all! I must say, I honestly thought you would just become apart of my famous gumbo after not waking up.¡±
She leaned forward, inspecting the girl¡¯s expressionless face. ¡°Maybe I spoke too soon¡ Perhaps I can make a vegetable stew?¡±
The hag laughed at her own joke before fishing one of the girl¡¯s hands out of the tub. She inched it toward her open mouth, only to find an overwhelming urge to stop right before it touched her lips. Uglecia grunted in mild disappointment before returning the hand to its owner.
¡°Well I suppose that means the covenant is still in effect. I guess it¡¯s not like she has to be fully conscious to touch the eye anyway.¡±
The hag closed her eyes and muttered a spell. Next, she reached out blindly, pawing through the air. After a few swipes, her hand landed on a pocket of solid air, invisible to the naked eye. Finally, she reached inside the pocket and retrieved a fist sized, multifaceted crystal. The light bounced off it from various angles, causing rainbow glares to permeate the room.
Had Seth looked upon the crystal with True Sight, he would have been resoundingly disappointed to find absolutely zero energy emanating from the crystal. But to someone like Uglecia, a being of natural spirit energy, the crystal was completely blinding.
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The Vlene Eye was an artifact created long before Uglecia was born, and she was sure it would persist long after she was gone. The raw power coming off of the crystal was wrought of more than just simple dimensional energy. Instead, it was the source of a different kind of energy, one that was so rare that there was no known title for it. Uglecia knew this, so she decided to define the power as Lic Spirit.
The Vlene Eye had so much of the Lic Spirit, that Uglecia herself had reached heights unknown to most shapers. She had attained much from the crystal, but it all came at a certain price, the likes of which she was repaying right now by allowing Sydney to bathe with the eye.
The hag blindly made her way back to the tub, assuring with her free hand that she was facing the correct way. ¡°Alright missy, let¡¯s see if you have what it takes.¡± She mumbled to herself before submerging the crystal into the pale solution.
After she retracted her hands from the tub, Uglecia cracked her eyes open, weary of the blinding light. She was satisfied to find the light greatly diminished, most of it diffusing through the thick, opaque liquid. The hag watched with bated breath as the Lic Spirit mixed through Uglecia¡¯s home brew, coating Syndey¡¯s entire body in rainbow energy.
The witch carefully pushed Sydney¡¯s head under the solution, making sure not to touch the liquid directly. After she was fully submerged, Uglecia stepped back, aware of what would happen next. With a large scale rush of dimensional energy also being drawn into the tub, the hag rubbed her hands together with glee as she watched the forced fate transfiguration occur.
--------
Seth would not stop running.
No matter how ragged his breathing, or how much his legs and body begged him to rest, Seth would not allow himself to stop. The bonus challenge had been much more complicated than any of the participants could have imagined. After the glass boxes fell away and the race started, it had been a bloodbath, with all participants throwing every non-offensive ability at each other nonstop.
Creativity had become a staple of the race, making the entire challenge a contest of ¡°How can I make this defensive ability lethal?¡±
Seth didn¡¯t realize how effective shields were as projectiles until he was slapped into the pavement by a conjured version of a platinum kite shield. Not only did he receive a huge loss of brain cells by the attack, but he was almost flung off the narrow lane before the real race even started.
Luckily, Seth hadn¡¯t been hit with anything more serious since then, but the attacks hadn¡¯t ceased. Seth was still dodging stray projectiles, and the thick earthen walls Ty put up every few seconds made the race progress slowly. As time passed and the initial storm of attacks ceased, everyone had finally started gaining ground against each other, allowing the true race to begin.
It all started when Remus, the one he thought would have the hardest time because of the target placed on him in first, had blown Seth out of the water after getting down on all fours and wreathing himself in flame.
¡°How wonderful! A challenge that brings me back to my time as a little cub, racing through the woods on a glorious hunt!¡± He roared aloud before launching himself forward with the force of a rocket.
After seeing him go, every other participant including Seth had instantly stopped fighting and begun chasing after him. It was good in a way, because it meant less obstacles and attacks would come for Seth, but also bad, because Seth didn¡¯t think he would be able to match the lion¡¯s pace.
So while everyone else was distracted with Remus, Seth took it upon himself to create his own advantage. Quick as lightning, he released some of the red mist from his body and coated himself in a thin veil of illusions. It wasn¡¯t his best work, but he also didn¡¯t have the time to weave a complete camouflage for himself. As the illusion formed, Seth also activated Specter State, as his plan was to maximize all of his stealth abilities in order to focus on speed.
Although it only took a matter of seconds to weave the illusion and activate his ability, Seth noticed that he was not the only one setting up an advantage. In less than a second, his eyes flicked to each participant multiple times, absorbing the numerous bursts of energy that started to emerge from each of them. As Remus began to gain ground ahead of the pack, every participant also let loose, gaining all sorts of random powerups.
A pair of angelic wings burst from the princess¡¯s back, causing her to fly forward at a speed comparable to Remus.
Eminence, a short Asian man dressed in black light armor, seemed to be stringing together large swaths of shadows, building something larger than himself.
Nigel, a boy covered in what looked like mercury, had also already begun chasing after Remus and the princess, moving surprisingly fast despite the liquid he was engulfed in.
Ty was hanging back like Eminence, a slight gold glow beginning to grow across his body.
Something told Seth that the two in the back would have no problems catching up, so instead of lingering any longer, he took off at a full sprint, his augmented body launching himself forward like a bullet.
Unbeknownst to Seth and the others, the secret challenge of the race was about to begin.
--------
As hours passed and participants began to fade from view, the lanes had branched off, causing Seth to be left alone with only the lane in front of him to accompany his thoughts.
He would have been happy for this change, as it allowed him to drop his illusion and conserve his energy, but instead something else had become apparent: The race was beginning to feel like much more than twenty four hours.
Seth didn¡¯t have access to his menu any longer, causing him to quickly lose track of time, and even worse, the leaderboard had disappeared the moment the lanes branched. Originally, he had decided to just push through the unease, as the race had a limited amount of time, so it wasn¡¯t impossible that the race was actually a matter of how far he could get on the track. This train of thought was also supported by one of the rules of the challenge, which detailed that the participant to get the farthest would be the winner in the case no one reached the finish.
This was all well and good, but as Seth¡¯s legs pumped and his breathing quickened, he slowly began to worry. Although he had decided to just run it out and get as far as he could, Seth couldn¡¯t help but wonder if he was actually going anywhere.
The feeling of unease continued to gnaw at him, making him second guess himself and the challenge.
What if there¡¯s a catch?
Was I supposed to do something in particular?
Should I even be running this way, or should I double back?
What if the others already figured it out?
Am I just wasting energy?
Am I in last?
These thoughts and more plagued him for what felt like hours. It didn¡¯t take long before his throat became so parched that each labored breath itched painfully and despite his superhuman endurance, exhaustion had begun to claw at his limbs as well.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Seth¡¯s body could no longer take the constant exertion, and he collapsed onto the rough, shadowy lane. Sweat coated his entire body, having already soaked completely through his fatigues. He would¡¯ve already put them away, but without access to his cache, he was left with no choice but to wear them. His body was racked with fatigue, and he couldn¡¯t help but choke because of his constricted throat.
He sluggishly moved onto all fours, his body dry heaving instinctively. Seth knew he had to keep running, but his body was completely wrung of energy. He quickly decided to rest for just a few minutes and let his body be reinvigorated by the ambient dimensional energy. He wanted to do more, perhaps calm his mind and meditate to provide an extra release, but the thirst and hunger was all encompassing.
It had gotten so bad that the whispers that usually plagued him were nowhere to be found. The break lasted what he estimated to be five minutes, and afterward, his energy was restored to around halfway. It was truly a wonder how fast his augmented body recovered.
Unfortunately, running at full speed costed more energy than even his body could restore consistently.
Because of this difference in expenditure, Seth had to stop thirteen more times before the leaderboard finally emerged from the darkness, along with the other lanes.
52- He Who is Chosen by God (Part Three)
Ruler of the Inferno, Remus 1st
Princess Caladenia, The Radiance Court 2nd
Son of Gaia 3rd
Still 4th
Eminence 5th
Nigel The Redeemer 6th
As the bright light of the leaderboard finally showed itself, Seth felt like a primal beast, soaking in the beautiful rays like a full moon on a clear night. Not only did he feel like a beast , but he also looked like one, his eyes as red as blood and his clothes completely soiled. Even his gait had become that of animal, as he was leaned forward precariously and had to use his hands every now and then to keep balance.
FINALLY! He screamed mentally.
It was the first coherent thought he had in what felt like weeks. He had long stopped trying to calculate the time after he had counted to thirty hours without halt. Luckily, being a tier three had come with its own benefits, as Seth was almost certain that he would have died from dehydration or starvation multiple times now. There was also a large chance that he had only survived so long because his augmented body could sustain itself just off of dimensional energy alone.
It¡¯s not like any of that mattered to him now though. Seth¡¯s thoughts had already been consumed by one thing: finishing the race. That¡¯s why he hadn¡¯t even glanced at the other lanes, as his main objective was the only thing ruling his actions. Before long, Seth caught a glimpse of something in the distance. A spark of hope erupted inside him, fueling his legs and pushing himself farther.
That hope was instantly crushed the second it arrived, as Seth finally approached the thing only to find it was another one of Ty¡¯s walls. It seemed he had blocked every lane other than his own, creating a cruel obstacle for the already bone weary racers. Even after sighting the obstacle, Seth did not slow. Instead, the hope that had been extinguished quickly burned hotter, turning into a raging bonfire of pure anger.
With a guttural cry, Seth threw his fist into the earth, using the combined force of his momentum along with the explosive power of his constitution to blow through the barrier like a cannon. Only then did he realize that there was more than one wall. It seemed his first punch had been enough to blow through three of them, but Seth was horribly frustrated to find that there were even more beyond that.
Even though he was aware that climbing over them was a possibility, he also knew that doing so would most likely take just as much time as breaking through them. But as it stood, Seth was still overcome with a fit of rage, so even if he couldn¡¯t break through them with one punch like last time, he didn¡¯t care and began barraging each new wall with a flurry of blows. Nothing could have been more satisfying for Seth than when he finally broke through the tenth wall, revealing the path ahead as well as a small glint in the distance.
Now with a small bit of his sanity restored after having something to take his rage out on, Seth realized that Ty must¡¯ve put up the walls upon sighting whatever was in the distance. In spite of his recent expenditure of energy, Seth roused himself once more to reach the new destination. His relief was visible, and his body shared the feeling as it gradually gave out on him.
Even his eyelids couldn¡¯t keep themselves open, so when he eventually collapsed to the ground, the smooth, cool glass on his cheek was the only thing that signaled he had arrived. His consciousness tried to slip away too, but Seth wouldn¡¯t allow it. After a brief battle of wills, his eyelids crept open enough to recognize a new screen.
-Welcome to the Bonus Challenge checkpoint. The lane to the finish will open in (00:01:42:05)
Seth very nearly began crying in relief. So far, he had only been taking five minute breaks, so almost two hours was a god send. He didn¡¯t dismiss the screen immediately, and instead fought himself to stay awake while he stared at the timer.
I knew it! He tiredly bragged.
After watching the timer for multiple minutes while counting himself, he discovered that only a few seconds on the timer had expired for each minute. That meant, based off his very tired mental math, one second on the timer equated to around eighteen to nineteen real time seconds. Because of this fact, he could now estimate roughly how long he had been running beforehand:
Seventeen days.
After another quick calculation, Seth determined that in reality, he had a little over a day before the lane opened up. This time, he did cry in relief, although no tears emerged from his eyes due to his sore lack of water.
Using some of his recovered energy, he shakily pushed himself into a sitting position, with his back against the glass. Seth sat there with his entire body slackened, allowing his reserves to be replenished while also showing him the other lanes and boxes. His eyes rolled over the scene of other participants, all waiting in identical glass cubes. Eminence and Nigel were no where to be found, leaving Seth, Ty, Remus, and the princess as the only present racers.
As he looked upon the others, his face quickly screwed into an expression of jealousy. Seth thought the race up to this point had been completely exhausting, and even now he was still ravenous with hunger. But looking at the others, he couldn¡¯t help but notice how healthy they all looked. All of them were sitting in a variety of meditative poses, appearing remarkably content and calm despite the circumstances.
To make matters even worse, Ty, in the booth next to him, looked larger and even more muscular than normal. Seth guessed he would¡¯ve been one or two feet taller than before, had he been standing. Also, him and the others were clean and well kept too.
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What, is there a goddamn spa around here or something?!
His eyes raked across the transparent glass surface of his box, searching for any sign of a button or lever that would magically activate a shower. That¡¯s when it dawned on him. Trying to hold back any smidgen of hope, Seth mentally called for his cache. And to his immense surprise and delight, a glowing screen full of his belongings sparked into being. Any energy that he had recovered by sitting down was instantly expended as Seth began ripped large quantities of food and water from the cache, afraid that any second the cache would be closed off from him again.
Minutes later, Seth leaned back with a satisfied groan, having devoured multiple pounds of random monster meat that had been stacking up in his storage. His old teardrop vial provided by Origin sat in the corner of his mouth, providing a slow but constant stream of refreshing hydration. Finally sated, he pushed all of the remains of the food back into his cache before retrieving another one of his favorite belongings from the dimensional space.
The Cleanse-O-Matic softly whirred to life, causing a stream of pink light to engulf Seth. All of the dried blood and sweat built up over the course of the race was scrubbed away, causing Seth to moan loudly and without shame. Even his clothes were cleaned, leaving him feeling like a new man.
¡°Would you mind refraining from pleasing yourself so loudly? Some of us are trying to cultivate or utilize our transcripts.¡± A smooth, feminine voice cut through his euphoria.
Seth¡¯s attention instantly snapped to the voice, unaware that the boxes were not soundproof. A slight wave of embarrassment overtook him, but then faded as quickly as it had arrived. He had to twist around Ty a little bit, but it didn¡¯t take long before his eyes met with the grinning woman a handful of boxes away. Her stormy gray eyes danced with humor as she tied her silver hair up into a ponytail.
¡°I¡¯m honestly surprised you¡¯re even here. I would¡¯ve expected your little friend with the golden fire if anything. I guess he must¡¯ve not wanted it enough.¡±
Seth stared blankly back at the slightly older woman. ¡°Cultivating? Is that a slang term for meditating?¡± He asked, letting the insult roll off his back.
The princess¡¯s grin turned into a smirk and her eyebrows scrunched into a show of pity.
¡°Perhaps they call it something else where you are from? Cultivating, concept growing, truth seeking, what else could I be referring to? I¡¯m nurturing my moons, as I¡¯m sure the others are in preparation for the final stretch. What else would you use this convenient break for?¡±
Did she just say ¡®moons,¡¯ as in plural? Wait, I¡¯m the only one who hasn¡¯t started their concept system?
In a different situation, Seth might have played off the woman¡¯s claim that she and the others had concept moons. But after not sleeping one time in the last two and a half weeks, Seth was mentally checked out, and could only manage a blank disbelieving stare in response to her claim. The princess saw this, and her eyes narrowed for a moment before her expression changed, and she started laughing aloud.
¡°Oh my! Could you seriously have made it this far without even one epiphany?¡±
She broke into another fit of laughter, tears beginning to brim on the edges of her almond shaped eyes.
¡°Perhaps my efforts had been a bit too thorough! I didn¡¯t think anyone like you would have claimed the last spot. You really wormed yourself in there, huh?¡± She joked between laughs.
As he watched her break down in hilarity, Seth contemplated the situation with a cold feeling of clarity.
¡°There¡¯s a good chance that when these doors open up, the finish line will be in view. Everyone that¡¯s here has at least one concept moon. They all also have Umbral Blessings. What can I do to win?¡± He mumbled.
His sleep deprived mind combed through the circumstances, searching for any possible way to catch up to the others. Finally, he came to the conclusion that there was only one option. Perhaps if Seth had a couple more hours of rest, he might have been able to think of something else, but right now, he was in no condition do to so. So with barely more than a thought, he reached into his cache, and pulled out the four items he had bought from the challenge store.
As he readied himself for what he was about to do, the laughter that had been coming from the princess¡¯s box stopped abruptly.
¡°What are you mumbling about? Hey, what are you doing? What is that?¡± She investigated with a hint of interest.
Then, as Seth began infusing energy into all the items, her tone seemed to change.
¡°Are you crazy? You¡¯re doing that right here?¡±
Lastly, Seth retrieved the small vial holding the Essence of the Unending Soul.
¡°What the-¡± A gasp sounded as it seemed the woman recognized what he was holding.
It made Seth hesitate for a split second, causing him to glance towards her. He was no longer in the position to see her though, so instead, he glanced up to find Ty watching him from the corner of his eye. It seemed the commotion between him and the princess had interrupted his cultivating session. After seeing Ty looking at him, Seth broke away from his hesitation and knocked back the contents of the vial.
Immediately, he fully connected his energy with all of the laid out items, causing multiple streams of foreign energy to enter his system. As he felt his mind begin to slip away, he gave the streams one last pull, manipulating the cocktail of foreign energy towards his head. The moment after they began to enter his brain, everything went black.
--------
The young girl woke up from her spot on the dark green grass.
She gently raised herself from the ground, rubbing her drowsy eyes with slightly dirt-caked fingers.
As she looked around, the girl noticed how serene the bright forest was. With a small, innocent smile, the girl began to trot through the woods, her bare feet unbothered by the thick moss-covered floor.
The deeper she got into the wilderness, the more the trees became identical, and the surroundings repetitive. The little girl was unfazed by the labyrinth of timber, and her pace never slowed as she made her way through the woods on impulse alone.
She was aware that she didn¡¯t belong in the grand forest, but it was also the only thing she had ever known.
Despite this, the girl was never sad.
Every night she was able to find a comfortable spot to sleep, just like everyday she had no problem finding fresh water and delicious fruit to eat at her leisure.
When she needed to bathe, there was always a stream or spring nearby, and when she was bored, there was always something new to busy herself with. So when she finally noticed a tear in her light blue skirt, the girl did not fret, and instead continued her way through the forest, humming a soft tune.
Before long, she emerged into a beautiful meadow, full of all kinds of exotic and colorful flowers.
With a big smile, she ran into the field of flowers, delighted with the presence of fat honeybees and the smell of pollen. Gathering the prettiest ones, the little girl built herself an exquisite boutique of all colors. Eventually, she had gathered so much that they stopped fitting into her arrangement, so the little girl used the extra ones for her hair.
Crouching onto a soft bed of dandelions, the young girl began weaving lilies into her auburn hair, removing the ones she had found just the day before. When she finally finished her long, colorful braid, the girl got up and dusted herself off.
As she patted off her legs, a sight caught her eye from across the meadow. With a renewed sense of wonder, she dashed through the flowers, curious to see what it was.
After she arrived, the little girl jumped with joy as she discovered an adorable pink dress hanging from a tall sunflower. She immediately switched her current dress out for the new one without a care.
It fit perfectly.
She gave herself a little twirl, gleefully giggling at the dazzling pink dress. After she calmed down, the young girl gave the meadow a little wave before skipping back into the woods, looking for a new adventure.
53- He Who is Chosen by God (Part Four)
Seth woke up gasping for air.
His hands instinctively clawed at his throat, as his whole body felt like it had been deprived of all oxygen. Coughing fits erupted from his figure and his back arched in panic as the lack of air mixed with the overwhelming memories from his vision.
Fortunately, Seth was able to gradually control himself, and his lungs finally filled with air. He lied on the ground gasping for air for multiple minutes, slowly consolidating the rush of information and understanding gained from the extraordinary experience.
Blinking at the edge of his vision signaled that he had notifications to address, but Seth ignored them while he tried to focus on composing himself. His onyx hand shakily ran through his hair and he forcibly bit his lip to prevent his teeth from chattering. One look from the ground revealed that the items he had used beforehand were now just piles of dust, their energy completely exhausted.
Soon enough, he was able to push himself up, and was panicked to find the other box¡¯s occupants were standing as well.
¡°I don¡¯t think I have ever seen a miracle wasted on someone so stupid.¡± A familiar female voice said.
¡°Ah, it looks like our sleeping cub had finally woken up!¡± A hearty, male voice roared.
Seth balanced himself out, quickly regaining his strength before casting an annoyed look toward the two farthest glass boxes. He also noted with surprise and concern that the box in the third lane was filled with darkness.
¡°He got here a few hours ago.¡± A deep voice stated from the box next to Seth¡¯s.
Ty shrugged at the darkened box, where Seth assumed Eminence was recovering.
¡°You really took your time with that epiphany, they all thought you wouldn¡¯t wake in time.¡± The large man claimed.
After focusing on Ty, Seth noticed with interest that his hulking figure was no longer as big as it had been before he passed out.
Does he have some sort of scaling ability that cooled off while he was in here?
He had seen a similar image the one time he had fought Ty in the earlier stage of The Incubator. Back then, when he had emerged from the woods at a sprint, Ty had been a hulking goliath, but the longer Seth had watched him slow down and examine his surroundings, the man seemed to shrink back into his normal size.
Is the scaling ability movement based? Maybe gradually making him bigger and stronger the longer he runs?
Seth¡¯s eyes widened with understanding as he realized how broken that would be.
He¡¯d be like a walking siege weapon?! How is that fair?!
As Ty returned his attention back to the oncoming final race. Seth silently cursed him.
You¡¯re in for a rude awakening buddy. I¡¯m going to win this race and stall you¡¯re progression out for as long as I can. Then, after I have that fate treasure, I¡¯m going to leave you in the dust.
Seth was aware that he and Ty¡¯s odds of even getting in second were quite low given the skill and talent of the other participants, but he wouldn¡¯t let that get to him. Seth knew that he would find a way, and he was positive that the answer to his victory lied in his newest gains. He pulled up the timer for the first time since waking up.
-Welcome to the Bonus Challenge checkpoint. The lane to the finish will open in (00:00:01:10)
After a quick bout of mental math, Seth was disappointed to discover that he only had slightly less than twenty minutes before the last stretch of the race would begin. Although the epiphany took way longer than he had wanted, he was still happy that there was still some time on the clock.
Luckily, it hadn¡¯t been the worst case scenario, where he woke up only to find the doors already open and that he was in last. Not wasting any more time, Seth pulled up his menu and navigated to the long awaited notifications.
-Congratulations! You have awoken your Concept System!
-Concept System tab has been added to the menu.
-Analyzing concept data¡
-Congratulations! You have awoken the Concept Moon of Resonance! Your understanding of reality has risen above the level of mortals!
Seth felt a rush of energy and something else cram into a spot right above the center of his collar bone, right below his throat. It didn¡¯t feel physically constraining though, as the energy seemed to operate on something like his spiritual body, rather than his physical one. Then, as the feeling settled, Seth could feel the connection between the vision and the foreign node.
He could tell instantly what the node was: his Concept of Resonance.
On instinct alone, he drew from the node, spreading the power of resonance throughout his body. It was a surreal feeling, as he now finally understood what the vision of the little girl showed him.
It was a vision of what complete resonance with the world looked like. The girl was unconsciously using the power of resonance to manipulate reality to her will. No, it was more than that. The girl wasn¡¯t manipulating reality.
She was resonating with it.
This resonance allowed her to almost read the flow of reality, and then, in turn flow with it. This application of the Concept of Resonance was huge. If Seth was able to reach that level of power, he could feasibly alter his own fate at will!
Seth flexed his fingers, filled with the Concept of Resonance. Although he couldn¡¯t do much more than spread it through his body, Seth could feel a sizable difference in his power.
It was like his entire being was now on the same page. All of his cells were working in tandem, reducing any sort of unneeded expenditure of energy while at the same time getting the absolute most out of the reduced energy pool. Seth was almost certain that if he started the race with this concept, he would have only had to take a fraction of the breaks he needed to beforehand.
Also, he could feel that all of his movements were optimized for performance, with no unneeded movement taking place. His hands were steady and unshaking, while his body did not twitch at all. He even tried to stand completely still, and found that his body was able to halt itself in a way that put any statue to shame.
His application of resonance was a sad joke compared to the little girl¡¯s, but the gains he had now because of it were still incredibly strong.
Now Seth understood why the others had used the break to cultivate; it was intoxicating. He was almost certain that given the time, Seth could spend days at a time just pondering the concept. The possibility of being able to infuse the concept with his abilities was another idea that almost made him salivate.
As the new ideas continued to emerge from his mind, Seth had to forcibly cut off his train of thought in order to focus back on the task at hand. Using the new concept, he began performing a series of exercises and stretches, trying to understand as much as he could about how the Concept of Resonance would affect each action.
He glanced at the others from time to time as he went through each move, seeing how each of them prepared for the last rush.
Ty¡¯s box had become like Eminence¡¯s, his whole box filled with dirt. Remus was stretching on all fours like a house cat, and the princess was pulling out different objects, inspecting them, and then putting them away. Nigel was still nowhere to be found, and a glance at his lane showed none of Ty¡¯s walls had been disturbed either.
As the timer moved down to one more real life minute, the tension became palpable, and nerves began to eat away at the participants.
¡°Well cubs, I must say I have had a lot of fun in this little challenge! Unfortunately for all of you though, you were paired against me, so the victor was already determined from the start.¡± The lion man said, his voice full of genuine pity.
¡°Oh shut up, you overgrowth pussy cat. This will be a battle of speed, not endurance. I will leave you in the dust!¡± Caladenia shouted with an annoyed glare.
Remus laughed with mirth, obviously not taking the insult seriously. Seth stayed quiet, not including himself in the trash talk. Eminence and Ty stayed quiet as well, their silhouettes still completely hidden in the opaque boxes. Soon enough, the banter died down and everyone readied themselves to race once again.
This time though, Seth readied himself in a different way than before. He continued cycling the node¡¯s power throughout his body, but he also began weaving templates together for his Fear Itself ability.
5¡
4¡
3¡
2¡
1¡
GO!
The glass boxes flung open, revealing a prismatic flag only a few hundred meters away.
With a monstrous blast of energy, the five participants exploded from their respective positions, causing a massive clap of thunderous sound. The occupants of the opaque cells emerged from their starting positions, revealing an enlarged Ty, and a sleek vehicle made from shadows, assumingly with Eminence inside.
Unlike them, Seth, Remus, and Caladenia shot out with no apparent abilities in use. During the beginning of the race, the crowded lanes had become a maelstrom of projectiles and obstacles, but this time, absolutely no attacks were passed around. It seemed all of the remaining racers had unanimously agreed to focus solely on reaching the flag, or so it seemed at first.
Shattering the silent agreement, Seth released his pent up illusions, causing a parade of madness to replace the shadowy environment of the race. Immediately after his act, Pandora¡¯s Box was fully opened, and the entire race was thrown into chaos.
A number of Ty¡¯s earthen barriers erupted from the ground in every lane, and random orbs of light ignited in the air, causing a discombobulating strobe effect to cover the raceway. As the environment changed into a night club¡¯s obstacle course, Princess Caladenia quickly took advantage of the situation and grabbed a dark object brimming with energy from her breast pocket.
Surprisingly, her arm snaked to the left and blasted the object toward Remus, who was currently a few paces ahead of her. Despite the craziness that took over his surroundings just a moment before, the lion man was still able to sense the object coming, and a clawed hand reflexively batted the object away while Remus roared with fury.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The movement didn¡¯t even cause him to break stride, and he continued to mercilessly eat up the ground between him and the flag. The next moment, Seth¡¯s eyes widened a fraction as he saw the lion man abruptly crash to the ground, covered in some sort of fleshy tendrils.
His hope soaring, Seth continued towards the flag as a hair raising roar of fury faded away behind him. Sensing the opportunity, the rest of the participants surged forward. As they all neared the oncoming walls, Seth moved into the next part of his plan, retrieving a small pouch of metal beads from his pocket, while also erecting a new, two-dimensional illusion between him and the rest of the racers.
Next, a number of walls in front of him vanished, leaving only a few real ones left. Seth had known Ty would use his signature move in the last leg, creating a simple strategy to hinder the rest of the racers and allow him to pull ahead. So Seth had planned to get two steps ahead of the goliath, and create a supporting strategy that would further slow the rest of the participants while allowing him to get ahead as well.
Seth knew that even if Ty had a scaling movement ability, it would take time to gain ground, meaning that he could exploit Ty early in the race, and find a way to get in front of him.
His hand dove into the pouch, taking out a large handful of dense beads. He chucked them towards the wall, causing the beads to grow to the size of softballs and blast through the dirt barrier. His recent buy from the challenge store mowed down each wall, allowing Seth to advance through the obstacles without slow.
The other participants were not so lucky, and Seth glanced back to find Caladenia running with a large, pearly white mace. It seemed she had prepared for the same situation, and with a heavy swing ahead of her, the mace hurdled towards the first barrier.
A smirk crossed Seth¡¯s face as he continued forward, and he heard a surprised grunt sound off from the woman¡¯s lane as her mace passed harmlessly through one of Seth¡¯s illusionary walls, causing her to stumble off balance and slow down.
Eminence saw this from his lane, and instead of dismounting his vehicle in order to clear the path, he seemed to go even faster, not wanting to be caught with the same trick. He sped easily through the first fake wall, and a confident look marred his features as he progressed ahead of the princess.
Unfortunately for him, the Asian man had expected them all to be illusions, so when the next wall was made of actual matter, Eminence crashed into the barrier with a loud crack, his vehicle disappearing into a smatter of darkness.
It seemed the vehicle had taken the brunt of the impact, but the man was still heavily delayed after he smashed into the ground. Ty was the only one to continue forward without issue, his enlarged body dashing through his unimpeded path, free of any obstacles.
Not far behind, Seth emerged from the final wall, having cleared all of the obstacles in record time because of his previously concocted plan. Ty did not address his presence or throw any new walls in his way though. This was because of Seth¡¯s previous illusion that ran down the majority of his lane.
The two-dimensional illusion was currently showing the rest of the participants a video of him struggling to break through the previous walls. It was something that he truly did not think of until after he had gotten his concept moon of resonance.
After he had used the new node, the Concept of Resonance had been spread throughout his body, allowing his mind to reach a level of calm concentration that had been previously unreachable for him. He used this new focus during the race to weave a constantly moving picture that portrayed the third dimension, but didn¡¯t actually have it.
Now, Seth was up in the front with Ty, but he kept the advantage of stealth. This was doubly useful, as Seth¡¯s top speed was currently faster than Ty¡¯s so Seth was actually gaining ground on the dark skinned giant.
With a quick glance backward, he discovered that Caladenia had cleared the walls as well. The shiny wings on her back telling him that she had sacrificed her fast ground movement in order to save time by flying over the walls. Remus and Eminence were soon left in the dust, and the three final participants made their last rushes for the finish line.
With a thought, Seth dismissed his long standing illusion, instead swapping it out for a smaller, more energy efficient screen that still blocked him from vision of the other two participants. His legs pounded into the ground with effort never seen before, he pushed his body as hard as he possibly could, trying to keep his lead on Ty.
It soon became apparent that Caladenia was just too far behind because of her earlier mistake, and eventually, the race just came down to Ty and Seth.
Although the last leg of the race had only begun just one minute beforehand, both of the racer¡¯s had used an egregious amount of energy. Between the numerous lights, fake walls, and the video illusion, Seth¡¯s energy was running on empty.
Come on¡ come on¡ COME ON!
He barely had enough energy to keep up the small screen, but despite his efforts, even that flickered out of existence before long. Because of this, he was revealed just a few paces in front of Ty.
Seth heard a muffled grunt from behind him, as it seemed like Seth had actually surprised the giant. Heavy footsteps began falling even faster than before, but it was no use. Even better for Seth, the man¡¯s dimensional energy was also exhausted for the time being, so no new walls cropped up either.
GO, GO, GO, GO, GOOO!!!
Seth used every ounce of power in his body to go even faster. The flag was only ten or so meters away now, flapping beautifully above a simple, white line.
You might be favored by your Umbra, Ty. You might even be chosen by fate. But even if you were chosen by Lic himself¡ I STILL WOULDN¡¯T LET YOU WIN THIS!!!!
Time seemed to actually slow for a moment as Seth reached the last few meters of the race. His entire being seemed to urn for the finish, knowing that it rightfully deserved to beat everyone.
Then all of the sudden he could feel it. He could feel the all of the cards falling into place in front of him. His specialty of speed, his personally chosen illusion ability, the fact he awakened with the Concept of Resonance right before the start of the race.
Is this it? Is this what it feels like to be fated?
Suddenly, all of the text he had read made sense.
This is it! How could anyone possibly be able to beat someone with this kind of power? Fate transcends all of it¡
AND I HAVE IT!!!
Just then, while only a couple of paces away from the finish and completely sure of his victory¡ Seth fell. Something underneath his foot gave way, causing him to crash to the ground.
As his body gave up on him, so did the previous overwhelming feeling of victory. He could almost physically feel as the fate he had been enamored with fled his body. Seth desperately tried to get up, to chase the fleeting power, but it was too late.
A large figure barreled past him, then, only a moment later, a horn sounded, signaling the end of the race. Ty had won.
**********
Seth could do nothing.
His body sat motionless in a kneeling position, all of the energy that had been coursing through him moments earlier was long gone. His eyes stared blankly at the ground, unseeing.
Most of the other racers had already arrived at the finish line, displaying a series of mixed reactions that Seth didn¡¯t even notice, but above all, they were watching the fate altering event happening right before their eyes.
¡°It doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯s that powerful of a fate treasure, but any fate treasure is still enough to blow any Class S item out of the water.¡±
¡°I suppose that makes sense. If The Incubator had any items that bestowed fate transfigurations, then I would eat my pants. Still though, what a waste!¡±
Bits and pieces of conversation behind Seth entered his mind, but were then forgotten as fast as they had arrived. Ty continued to glow brighter, and Seth could feel waves of the intoxicating feeling he had experienced earlier flow directly into Ty.
Suddenly, gasps sounded off from the group of racers behind Seth. Then, as if it had been there the entire time, a heavy presence descended upon the raceway.
Seth¡¯s breath was slightly taken away, and he turned wide eyes up to meet the newcomer.
A young woman now stood in front of the currently glowing Ty. One look told Seth that she was no mortal; he was currently looking upon an Umbra.
Her aura was something completely different than he had experienced to this point. It was endless, a source of true and unbridled power. The Anima Influences he had experienced at The Daemon Contest was nothing like what was currently permeating the pocket dimension.
Her aura felt like the world itself had somehow become conscious. Smells of freshly tilled dirt, morning dew, rain clouds, tulips, pollen, fall, spring, summer, winter, and millions of other things poured into his nose and mouth as if her very presence contained them all.
There was benevolence, love, and life, but also law, cycles, and death. Her existence represented an innumerable amount of concepts and experiences.
The extensive aura alone was enough to drive the rest of the participants to their knees. She hadn¡¯t even needed to threaten them or anything, and her influence was still benevolent and warm. It was just the simple fact she was there that drove everyone into submission.
The young woman did not pay them any mind, her attention focused on the hulking mass in front of her. She pushed back a strand of her golden hair to reveal a pair of stunning blue eyes, as dark and deep as the ocean.
Her beauty was completely transcendent, something that Seth had never experienced in his entire life. Her features looked ageless and perfectly sculpted to portray the picture of youth and life. Reaching a hand forward, she settled her palm on the shining chest of Ty.
Her hand looked tiny compared to the giant of a man, but the sheer amount of energy her figure gave off made Ty seem like an insect.
¡°My child, look how you are growing. You truly deserve this, I could not be more proud of your progress.¡± She said gently, a maternal smile playing at her soft, pink lips.
The racers looked on as Ty began to grow brighter and brighter, a huge sum of the ethereal energy Seth had felt before rushing into the man.
¡°She¡¯s giving him a fate transfiguration!¡±
¡°Is that Gaia?!¡±
¡°How is that even possible?! I¡¯ve never even heard of an Umbra materializing into the mortal world without an avatar?!¡±
¡°The Mother of Demigods really came here in person to bless one of her followers?!¡±
Hushed murmurs began to spread among the remaining racers, any quarrel from before totally forgotten. Seth did not join in though.
What the hell is going on here¡
He sat in silence, his whole body trembling. Black blood began to trickle down his chin as Seth bit into his lip to restrain himself.
how¡
Nails dug into the flesh of his neck as his fingers seemed to adopt a mind of their own.
how?
Veins started to bulge from his temple.
How?
The edges of his vision darkened as his pupils constricted to pinpoints.
HOW?
His mind kept replaying the memory over and over.
It doesn¡¯t make any sense. I didn¡¯t slip one time that entire race¡
Bile filled Seth¡¯s mouth as he held himself back from screaming, his fury reaching a level previously unknown to him.
HOW DID I LOSE?
This single thought rang out through Seth¡¯s entire being, overcoming even the Umbra Gaia¡¯s omnipresence.
In an instant, all of Seth¡¯s rage disappeared. No, it wasn¡¯t just his rage, but everything around him. It was like the entire world around him became silent, leaving him sitting alone on the ground.
Something else grew inside of Seth.
It wasn¡¯t an emotion, but rather an all-encompassing Want.
His spine shivered slightly, and he could feel goosebumps gradually crawling up his entire frame. His ears perked forward, and his nasal passages opened up wider than ever before. His eyes widened a little, while his pupils continued to shrink onto the glowing figure of Ty. He could feel as his forearm muscles seemed to constrict, causing his fingers to tense up and become sensitive. Next, his hair stood on end, and his mouth hung open a bit.
¡°A real shaper will do anything to get ahead. High tiers will destroy civilizations, single handedly cause the extinction of an entire species, use worlds as mining resources, and even more.¡±
Seth had read numerous texts over shaping theory, but this quote had always stood out. Every single one of them had said something similar, it was a true law of shaping. A memory of the dead boy in the swamp flashed in his mind. From the boy¡¯s death came one of Seth¡¯s most powerful finds, and this would be the same.
It''s time. Do it.
A familiar yet totally foreign voice echoed through Seth¡¯s mind.
He knew what it was. It was the voice from back then¡ the one he heard when he met his first Fouler.
He hadn¡¯t been able to remember what the voice sounded like back then, but now, he knew exactly who it was.
It was him.
The pressure he thought to only exist in his dreams descended upon him once again, spreading from the back of his head, all the way to his right hand.
Seth¡¯s breath came in hot and heavy, his attention completely consumed by the task at hand. Slowly, his dark hand raised towards Ty.
¡°I can end it right here.¡± He mumbled to no one.
Although Anima Thief had not been able to affect anything in the physical world when he had tried it before, something told Seth that this time would be different.
With a wicked grin, Seth began pouring every single molecule of energy he had left directly into his onyx limb. Soon, his hand started to tremble with the sheer amount of power streaming in it. The black void of his palm roiled, showing faces of hidden monsters hiding just underneath the surface.
¡°This competition between us stops now.¡±
With a strained grunt, Seth unclasped his fist and released every single anima currently at his disposal.
Just as he closed his eyes to brace himself for the recoil of the herculean attack, Seth felt a soft hand intertwine itself with his. Eyes shooting open, he was surprised to find himself staring into a pair of twinkling sapphire eyes.
Surprise quickly turned to fear, and Seth could feel every ounce of his previous resolve drain from his body as he froze solid.
¡°There will be none of that, little imp.¡± Gaia whispered with a hint of disgust dancing upon her lightly freckled face.
¡°I know your heritage, and I can see the taint of madness on your soul. You must be truly unfated to have met me today, as I can not forgive such an attempt on my child¡¯s life.¡±
The soft white hand of the maiden slowly began to close around Seth¡¯s black appendage, displaying a strength that exceeded that of anyone present.
¡°Even with my power restrained I can still feel your bloodlust¡ such a dark and sickening sight, almost as horrible as your kin¡¯s.¡±
She continued to whisper, her grip becoming even stronger.
¡°But how could I destroy such a creature from my own child¡¯s home world? I have seen what he thinks of you and the other survivors. He believes that there is kinship amongst you simply because of where you were born. How truly loyal of him.¡±
Gaia wiped a single tear from her long, golden lashes.
¡°I do not wish to crush his innocence, nor cause even a sliver of sadness that your death would possibly bring.¡±
Her eyes sharpened, replacing the softness they had displayed just moments before.
¡°Rejoice little imp, I will spare you today. But I will leave you with a reminder of our meeting.¡±
A soft light began to emit from the maiden¡¯s fingers. Then, Seth¡¯s hand began to burn as if he had stuck it directly into a raging furnace.
Due to the paralysis, he could only offer a silent scream as the young woman closed her fist, tearing through the black oil of his limb all the way down to his wrist.
Gaia pulled her hand away from him, leaving barely a remnant of the dark substance on his exposed stub. With a flick of her wrist, his black limb was sent spiraling into the abyss, never to be seen again.
Satisfied with her work, the maiden rose from the ground and looked down her nose at the kneeling figure of Seth.
¡°Also, I heard what you said.¡± She claimed from above him, just barely speaking loud enough for him to hear.
¡°I want you to know, my child has never once thought of you as his competition. You were nothing more than a small reminder of his home.¡±
Then, just like that, Gaia was gone.
----END OF BOOK ONE----
Authors Notes for Book One
What a lovely time this has been dear readers!
I am truly thankful for all of you for reading this far, and supporting me throughout this whole process. :)
FUTURE STEPS
First, I would like to say that I unironically have no idea where this book will go. Well to be more specific I''m talking about the physical book, not the story, I still have a lot of plot points I would like to hit, and I also feel like I''m so far away from reaching any of them just yet. Rest easy my friends, this book series still has a long and bright future (or dark future depending on how you look at it lol).
What I mean is that I am currently looking into the idea of publishing this book somewhere, like officially. Though I will admit I have no idea how that whole thing goes, I am in the process of editing the entire book in preparation for the day I figure it out.
Unfortunately this means I will be taking a small break from writing any new chapters, but don''t worry mate, the editing will only take a few days, as it is purely surface level.
I would like to point out that I am very grateful and happy for the community I have now, but of course, I am still hoping to grow even larger. This is why I am taking the time to edit! I feel like the quality of my chapters have gotten better as time passed, and I feel like my skill as an author has as well. Hence why I am going back over all of my older chapters, as I wish to bring them up to the level of my current writing to an extent.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
This doesn''t mean I''ll be changing the story really, I''m mostly just going to format them to match the newest chapters, and perhaps merge a few of the shorter ones.
Next, I''ve been thinking about how to advertise more, you know, get my book out to the masses. This stems from one of my regrets of not putting enough effort into networking, as I feel like my book could have gotten out there a lot more had I just reached out to some newer authors like myself for review swaps.
Anyway, I''m trying to remedy this for the future, so I am debating whether or not to create an advertisement for Royal Road, as I know a lot of other authors do the same. Maybe even make a Patreon in the future if I can get enough readers.
Besides all that, another thing I want to do is engage with my readers more! I feel like I haven''t done the best job of communicating with you guys, as I really only talk at you guys through the notes, rather than with you all.
THAT IS WHY I AM DOING A Q&A RIGHT NOW!!!
I realize that I don''t have a very big community, but this is an open invitation for you guys to ask any questions you want in the comments, and I will answer them in either the comment section, or the post-chapter author notes.
Furthermore, I am thinking about attaching more polls in the future, as a way to boost engagement.
Alright ladies and gentlemen, that is all I really wanted to say for right now. Perhaps I will add to this in the future once I think of something, but for now I will just end it with this:
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR READING THE FIRST BOOK OF MY SERIES AND I HOPE THAT YOU ALL WILL LEAVE A REVIEW SO THAT I CAN IMPROVE FOR THE FUTURE!!!!!
[BOOK TWO START] 54- Failure
¡°I still can¡¯t believe he made it to the bonus challenge.¡± Blair claimed from her perch on a long, soft leather couch.
¡°I can. We already went through his old matches, you know how hard he worked for this.¡± Drake affirmed from his similar couch across from her.
¡°I would have to agree with Drake. I know it¡¯s kind of crazy, but he did some insane legwork outside of our normal matches. It might have been weird seeing him act so different in the solo fights, but he definitely is a lot stronger than when we met him at the beginning of all this.¡± Licht hummed from nearby, still scrolling through some of Seth¡¯s more recent matches.
After the bonus challenge had begun, the three of them had been surprised and delighted to find themselves in some sort of VIP viewing suite. All of the participants had been moved there after the notification detailing the end of the group challenge. For days now, they had been kicking back and relaxing in a large viewing booth full of all kinds of premium amenities.
Currently, the three were chilling inside one of the private rooms that were equipped with multiple consoles and large monitors to watch the race. Matches were completely unavailable, leaving the participants with an impressive amount of time to do nothing but observe the race and enjoy themselves.
Originally, the three had been satisfied with the free time to cultivate in a luxury environment, but now, they couldn¡¯t help but feel somewhat bad for the racers. After they had realized the twenty-four hour race was actually under the influence of a time stretching effect, Blair had come up with the idea to investigate the circumstances under which Seth had been able to reach the top six.
Drake had been especially shaken after watching a specific match in which Seth had strangled a humanoid monster to the ground, using it later as a guinea pig for a series of experimental attacks. Licht had been more interested in the use of the illusionary ability Seth seemed to have, while Blair hadn¡¯t been as effected, having seen his last duel firsthand.
There was much to talk about afterwards, where the three attempted to speculate over their so called friend¡¯s actions. Theories were passed around, but the general consensus was a mild distrust in Seth.
How could they really say they knew the boy after seeing all of the wild an unorthodox behavior that was displayed in his matches? It was truly like watching a whole different person.
Despite their discoveries, they had slowly begun to understand more about Seth as the days elapsed.
Drake turned his attention back to the large monitor, showing Seth taking a short break. The boy¡¯s body looked completely wracked with exhaustion, his lips cracked and bleeding while his eyes were glazed over and red. By all definitions, Seth was the picture of pitiful.
Drake¡¯s red irises slightly became hidden as his eyes narrowed. He watched with growing interest and slight discomfort as Seth¡¯s fingernails trailed over his scalp repetitively. His dry mouth opened and closed continuously in different shapes, telling Drake the boy was talking to himself even with the severe lack of breath.
¡°I never knew he was like this. I feel like such a failure for not noticing after fighting alongside him for weeks.¡± Drake murmured, more to himself than the others.
More than anything, Drake finally saw the pure resolve and determination that Seth had buried underneath layers of acting and jokes. At this point, over two weeks had expired in the race, yet Seth had not stopped for longer than a few minutes at a time. Drake knew by watching the other racers that no tier three could make it through this race on physical strength alone. Even right now, the other racers were using a variety of abilities to continue the tireless race.
But not Seth.
The Mundane had not been a Shaper for even a year now, so not only was he lacking in resources, but also a full array of abilities. Most, if not all of the other participants in The Incubator had all of their aligned abilities and at least two different branch abilities for each aligned one. But Drake was fairly sure that Seth didn¡¯t even have half of that.
He had only seen him use a handful of abilities, such as his glaive, illusions, and whatever buff ability gave him his unbelievable speed. He had also acquired a devastating ranged ability during his time in the group challenge, and Blair had apparently seen him using a type of stealth skill as well. Outside of those though, Drake had not seen a single other significant power.
That meant that Seth was running on nothing but the stamina in his body, as well as some sort of concept, as Drake was aware Seth seemed to recover too fast for any normal tier three, and the other racers were utilizing concepts as well.
Still, there is no way that should be enough.
Finally, Drake and the others could now see what Seth had been hiding. At his core, he was a Mundane, someone that had been thrown into the world of shaping without any choice. Seth was no more than a survivor. Having to absorb and adapt to his environment constantly had made Seth a creature of pure caution. It was no wonder that he didn¡¯t show this type of behavior and resolve before. He hadn¡¯t trusted any of them from the very beginning!
It was such an obvious fact that Drake felt like a complete idiot for not seeing it beforehand. Seth had told them a little about his past, but he had put on such a cool face afterwards that Drake hadn¡¯t even thought about how that might affect him now.
¡°Seth, I promise that I will be a better friend from now on.¡± Drake whispered.
He glanced around for a moment, noticing Blair staring at him, her crimson eyes softer than normal. His cheeks colored slightly as he realized she had heard him, but luckily, she didn¡¯t speak up.
¡°Hey, check it out!¡± Licht suddenly spoke up.
The siblings both turned back to the screen, showing Seth finally emerging from the lone straight. There was visible relief on the boy¡¯s haggard face as the other lanes finally conjoined again. A few of the other racers had already reached this point, so the three cringed as they realized what was coming up for their friend.
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Seth¡¯s slightly relaxed expression quickly turned sour as he spotted the tall obstacles sitting in his way. With an angry shout, the boy went to work, constantly throwing his tired fists into the solid dirt of Ty¡¯s walls.
¡°To be honest, I might¡¯ve just quit right then and there.¡± Licht confessed.
¡°It was just cruel to put those up right before the checkpoint, after two weeks of running, it¡¯s like an insult.¡±
Blair shrugged at his confession.
¡°If they¡¯re racing for a fate artifact, I would say anything is fair game.¡± She countered.
Licht gave her an annoyed look.
¡°You¡¯re just saying that because you aren¡¯t competing. I bet you would¡¯ve stopped running after barely a week.¡± He said.
She glared at him with a huff, but didn¡¯t disagree.
After that, they stayed silent for a while, just watching how each participant progressed. Eminence was slower than the rest of the participants, but his vehicle didn¡¯t need breaks, so his trek was a constant, sure burn. Remus and Caladenia had arrived at the checkpoint almost a full day ahead of Seth, while Ty had erected the barriers and reached the same just a matter of hours behind them.
Nigel didn¡¯t seem to be making any progress, as he had stopped cold only a few days into the race. Still, weeks after that event, the younger boy hadn¡¯t moved a muscle. He was completely enveloped in a silver looking film, as if inside of a cocoon. It was summarily agreed that even with the remaining timeline, there was no way Nigel would reach the checkpoint.
Outside of that, the participants that weren¡¯t involved in the race were currently in a unregulated challenge of their own. Large scale bets were being passed around, as it seemed gambling had become the main focus for all the viewers. Challenge points were no longer on the table, so real life currency was being put on the line for the sake of entertainment. Drake, Blair, and Licht had decided not to participate, but they still found interest in the activities. Most humorous of all was when Nigel had stopped racing completely, leaving an uproar amongst all those who bet on him.
¡°Well it looks like just about everyone is at the checkpoint. The last stretch won¡¯t be open for another day, so do you guys want to take a break for now?¡± Drake asked the other two as he got up and straightened out his shirt.
Blair nodded, also rising from her spot. Licht gave a him a thumbs up but didn¡¯t move from the console he was sitting at.
¡°I¡¯m going to watch a few more recordings, then I¡¯ll meet up with you all later.¡± He stated.
¡°Suit yourself.¡± Blair said before leaving the booth.
¡°We¡¯ll be over in the cultivating area.¡± Drake said, hanging back for a moment before following his sister.
Licht threw a wave over his shoulder without looking up from the console. He continued to watch the videos before him, showing six different matches, one for each of the racers.
¡°If I had to guess, Remus has the Concept of Ignition, and some sort of fire related concept. Princess Caladenia has at least two as well, but most of them are combat oriented I think. Son of Gaia er-, Ty rather, has one of the rare umbrella concepts. It¡¯s unmistakably the Concept of Terra.¡± Licht rubbed his earlobe between two fingers.
¡°I¡¯m confident Eminence will reach the checkpoint too, and I think he has the shade and shadow concepts.¡±
He focused back onto the main screen where Seth was nearing the line of glass boxes. Licht used every bit of knowledge and experience over shaping theory to analyze the blond boy, but he truly couldn¡¯t identify what type of concept he had.
¡°I thought it was a physical manifestation type, but I haven¡¯t seen any evidence to support that. Hmmm¡ Maybe a recovery-based concept? No, I¡¯ve seen him using empowered attacks in his previous matches, and his concept couldn¡¯t be developed enough to use offensively and defensively just yet.¡± He muttered.
Licht would have thought Seth had multiple concepts because of the seemingly dual edged body modifications, but he knew that wasn¡¯t possible. During their time fighting with him, Seth hadn¡¯t exuded any specific feeling or hint that was common of concept infused actions. Licht had also factored out any actual abilities, as no expenditure of energy occurred when Seth released a maxed out punch. Also, Seth would constantly be drained if it was an ability, as it seemed that his enhanced recovery was active at all times.
¡°Man, I just can¡¯t figure it out. I know higher tiers allow a Shaper to temper some attributes with certain properties, but that¡¯s impossible for someone at his level.¡± Licht grumbled as he continued to run through and discard every possible option.
What else could a tier three get their hands on? He wondered.
Suddenly, Licht heard a murmur of voices coming from the main screen. With an eyebrow raised, he went to turn up the volume in order to hear the conversation.
Are they talking trash or something?
¡°Oh my! Could you seriously have made it this far without even one epiphany?¡±
The princess was currently laughing at a lost looking Seth.
¡°What are you mumbling about? Hey, what are you doing? What is that?¡±
¡°Are you crazy? You¡¯re doing that right here?¡±
Licht shot up from his chair, eyes wide and unbelieving as Seth started to forcefully kickstart an epiphany right in the middle of the bonus challenge.
The livestream didn¡¯t show Licht everything that the boy was pulling out, but he could blatantly see Seth down a vial full of clear liquid. Licht didn¡¯t have any special visual abilities like Blair, but he was able to make up for that fault with a powerful artifact that acted like contacts, sitting on the surface of his eyes. With this artifact, Licht was able to clearly see the monstrous amount of ethereal haze wafting from the vial that was certainly some manner of concept treasure. It wasn¡¯t dimensional energy, nor was it any type of specific energy that sometimes radiated from natural treasures.
¡°Where the hell did he get such a pure concept treasure from?!¡± Licht yelled in astonishment.
Previously, Licht had been certain Seth had some sort of concept, but based on what Caladenia just said and his current actions, it had been all but confirmed that he had been running the entire race without any such asset.
Furthermore, it was common knowledge that concept treasures were a rarity, as they allowed Shapers to achieve forced epiphanies. A Class C treasure would be enough to grant a concept, even if the user didn¡¯t have any actual headway on the concept themselves. Of course, there was a limit to this, as everyone¡¯s Concept System was constrained in certain ways. So in cases where Shapers already had all of their concepts, the treasure would just open the avenue for higher understanding rather than new epiphanies.
Licht only had a moment to observe the power of the concept treasure Seth used, but he was almost certain it was at least Class B. Translating to the normal ranking system of other treasures, a Class B Concept Treasure would be equivalent to a Class A artifact.
¡°Null¡¯s Sake, I have to go get Blair, she knows more about this stuff!¡± He claimed before dashing out of the room.
Minutes later, Drake, Blair and Licht were back inside the booth. In the livestream, Seth was now passed out on the glass floor of his box, unresponsive. Crossing over to the console controlling the main screen, Licht pulled up the recording from when Seth arrived at the checkpoint.
¡°See! Watch this and tell me what you think.¡± He commanded to Blair.
She gave him an annoyed look but said nothing and instead began watching the screen. Drake sat down beside her, also watching with a note of curiosity.
After the recording was finished, Licht enjoyed the flabbergasted look on both of the siblings faces. Eventually though, his curiosity overwhelmed him, so he sat forward to get their attention.
¡°So Blair, I would say you¡¯re the expert when it comes to concepts. What exactly happened right there? Were you able to tell what kind of concept treasure that was?¡± He questioned.
Blair¡¯s face was still in an expression of disbelief, but she attempted to focus on Licht¡¯s question.
¡°I couldn¡¯t tell you what type of concept treasure that was. But I am sure of one thing: That vial was Class A easily, meaning he just downed a Class S artifact right before the finish.¡±
As Drake and Licht¡¯s mouths sat open in shock, Blair also let the ramifications of what she saw settle in.
¡°If he can get a handle on whatever concept comes from that thing, I think there is a legitimate chance of him winning this thing.¡± She murmured, surprising even herself.
55- A Cold Realization
Seth was alone.
For the first time in what felt like forever, the whispers in his mind were gone, leaving him in a horrible silence.
After the race was finished and Gaia had stripped Seth of his hand as well as his dignity, the group challenge had summarily ended.
But Seth did not notice any of it.
He didn¡¯t notice the series of screens that bloomed into existence. He didn¡¯t notice when he had been teleported to a large luxurious viewing booth. He didn¡¯t notice his friends attempt to console him. And he didn¡¯t notice when he had been transported back into the woods of The Incubator.
He didn¡¯t notice anything anymore.
The world had come crashing down in a way Seth had never thought possible.
Even when he had been thrown into Origin¡¯s experiments, completely ignorant and left for dead. Even when he had been mentally tortured by his Umbra. Even all the way back when his parents had moved on without him, Seth still had something going for him. It might not have been much, but even faced with a totally new and deadly reality, there was one thing that he could count on:
Fairness.
Beyond everything, fairness was the absolute law of the universe. Grayson himself had told him as much. The entire archive of information Seth had in his Index affirmed the same. The influence of Fate upon Shapers was insurmountable in importance, but at the end of the day, every single one of them still had the opportunity to acquire it with enough luck.
Hard work and determination be damned, everyone still had the lone advantage of knowing that at the very least, it wasn¡¯t completely impossible.
Until now.
Not only had Seth been robbed of his chance at becoming Fated, but Ty of all people had taken it from him. Not to mention, according to the conversations that had occurred after the race, Gaia was never supposed to have been there in the first place.
Absolutely nothing about what had happened was fair.
It wasn¡¯t natural.
The sensation of the fate leaving him as soon as his foot slipped ran through his mind on repeat. He had felt it. Seth knew at that moment that the fate was his. Losing the fate was like a literal part of Seth had been exorcised. The loss was immeasurable, completely different than when he had lost his hand. Even now, Seth¡¯s fresh stub was inconsequential compared to the other missing piece.
That¡¯s why his accident made no sense.
He had not slipped one time the two and a half weeks he had been running. The lanes were also smooth, with no loose material or slick patches. His memory also had perfect clarity, meaning that he knew for a fact no abilities had been activated. True Sight would have seen the energy gathering. Also, Seth hadn¡¯t felt any pain from a supposed injury, nor were any of his tendons or muscles in disrepair.
What was it.
Every single possibility that his mind could comprehend streamed in and out of his thoughts. Eventually, the sole possibility outside of Fate itself hating him came to mind. It must¡¯ve been her. It must have been Gaia.
Seth didn¡¯t know how, and he didn¡¯t know why, but Gaia had cheated.
For the first time since the end of the race, Seth¡¯s body stirred. His fingers once again reached for his neck, scratching away with fervent abandon. His stub achieved nothing, as he still hadn¡¯t totally recognized its loss, but his left hand tore into his skin, causing beads of blood to rouse from his flesh.
Much quicker than before, Seth¡¯s body was overcome by an all-encompassing sense of Want. Gaia had mentioned the feeling, saying that she could sense its horrible presence. It was bloodlust, pure and unadulterated.
With his focus sharpened, Seth¡¯s object of hate had come into perfect clarity. Gaia cheated. She cheated.
A being of unimaginable power had descended upon the mortal realm, breaking whatever cosmic rules that the other racers had been aware of.
It had broken natural law just so it could fuck with him.
A divine act made only to ruin the life of a tier three insect.
To Seth, Gaia had truly committed the ultimate insult. It didn¡¯t matter whether or not she had done it in service of Ty. Nor did it matter what she might have sacrificed just to aid her follower.
Ty was nothing to him, just another symbol of Gaia¡¯s sin.
What Gaia had done was more than an insult. It was the act of a mortal. To involve such an insurmountable power for such little gain was wrong. To make matters worse, she had inflicted a crippling blow on a bystander, stealing their fate and injuring them for nothing more than her own pettiness. She had insulted his heritage, his entire existence, just for taking a chance that any true Shaper would have. Being cutthroat was part of the job. Doing anything for the sake of progressing was a virtue of shaping.
But Gaia was no Shaper. She was just an all powerful toddler, a bully.
Bloodlust poured into the void of Seth¡¯s lost fate. His vision slowly began to crystallize, showing Seth a muddy forest floor, as well as a growing pool of black liquid. His muscles came back under his control, allowing Seth to push himself into a seated position. His eyes lulled from side to side, taking in the surroundings with mute comprehension. Tracing the pool, Seth noticed a writhing figure sitting next to his leg.
Finally, he discovered the source. There was a large python wrapped around his right leg, its teeth seemingly finding purchase just above his knee. Black blood wept from the wound; Slower than its crimson counterpart because of the difference in density.
Paralysis had taken hold of his limb, as it seemed the monster had poison in it¡¯s fangs. Seth numbly reached forward, grabbing the diamond shaped head of the large snake with his good hand. With a quick jerk, Seth ripped the head out of his leg, crushing the skull in the process. He patiently unraveled the monster before tossing it¡¯s tier one corpse to the side.
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With a soft grunt, he rose himself from the ground, teetering due to his savaged right leg. He didn¡¯t bother to use a recovery crystal though, as he wanted to put the enhanced recovery Black Blood granted him to the test. He silently limped in a circle, taking in the old swamp that he had traversed what felt like years ago. It seemed that after the group challenge, the remaining participants had been moved away from each other.
Soft light continued to blink on the edge of his vision, telling of notifications left unchecked. Without a sound, a screen appeared before him.
-Congratulations! You have absorbed a Wisp of Fate!
-Warning! Absorption of Wisp of Fate has been interrupted!
-Warning! ?????????
-Anomaly detected! You have failed to absorb the Wisp of Fate!
Seth¡¯s brow creased with silent rage as his suspicions were proven correct. His bloodlust rose in volume, seemingly causing the air around him to waver. Steadying his hand, Seth scrolled further down to where he assumed Gaia arrived.
-Warning! Your anima has been placed under Gaia¡¯s Grace. You cannot move!
-Warning! Your aligned ability: Presence of Doom, has been damaged! Branch abilities have been affected!
-The branch ability: Anar, has been altered! Physical manifestation of Anar has become limited due to the alteration!
-The branch ability: Anima Thief, has been altered! The aspect ability: Anima Release, has been destroyed due to the alteration!
-Warning! Due to the damage to Presence of Doom, the inherit properties have been affected!
-The inherit property: Anima Abyss, has been destroyed! Calculating suitable replacement properties¡
-Anima Abyss has been replaced! Deep Anima has replaced Anima Abyss! Anima Reservoir has replaced Anima Abyss!
Seth looked down at his stub. Instead of the black appendage that usually resided there, only a small chunk of swirling void remained. It was less than half the size of his previous hand, as if a portion of his palm was the only thing left. The previous pattern that lined his forearm was also mostly absent, leaving only a few crooked lines that ran up his wrist.
Seth ran a stream of energy into the black lump, but the energy was summarily denied, causing him to chomp on his lip with anger.
I don¡¯t know what the hell inherit properties are, but I¡¯m damn sure nobody should have the power to screw with them.
Seth knew that the damage to his hand was not normal. The Umbra had affected him on a level no regular affliction should be able to. Previously Seth had hurt his black hand multiple times, sometimes even losing fingers due to some monsters. Every time though, a recovery crystal had been enough to heal him, never affecting his abilities.
This time, not only was his injury unfixable, but his abilities had been negatively affected as well. Seth had seen Anima Abyss mentioned in his notifications a couple times before, so he knew that the ability or property or whatever it was, was actually the housing unit for all his animas taken by Anima Thief.
Now though, with Anima Release and Anima Abyss destroyed, it seemed like he had been completely shut out from using animas as minions. Although he hadn¡¯t found a way to use them as an attack, the ability was still really useful in harnessing higher tier animas. Also, Anima Abyss was used to house the spare animas needed for Anima Prison, meaning that Seth no longer had the option to freely swap out boosts for Anar¡¯s aspect ability.
To make matters worse, there were still unidentified changes to Anar, as well as two new properties that he had no idea how to access. Seth stiffened for a moment, then his eyes shifted toward the snake corpse at his feet. Raising his stump, Seth went ahead and activated Anima Thief as well as Plunder. As the snake crumbled to dust, Seth went to check his notifications. There were still a few left unread, but he scrolled past them to the newest entries.
-You have received Lython Skin.
-You have received Lython Venom.
-Lython anima has been stolen.
-Lython anima has been stored in Anima Reservoir. (Current Capacity: 1/3)
Seth¡¯s face contorted into a mask of rage.
The capacity is only three?! Before this, I had hundreds of them!
As far as Seth knew, Anima Abyss didn¡¯t have a limit to the amount of monsters he could store. With enough time, he could¡¯ve had a library full of powerful boosts available for Anar¡¯s Anima Prison. Now though, he only had three options to swap out with the holder boost. The scale of what he had lost with the destruction of Anima Abyss settled on Seth like a hundred pound weight, further straining his calm demeanor.
He tried to rein in the anger while inspecting the changes to Anar. After a moment, Seth became ever more frustrated as his old and most reliable ability did not activate. In a fit of desperation, Seth clawed at the black lump, willing it to turn into his familiar companion. Despite his efforts, the black glaive he was so fond of never emerged from the void. Instead, all his efforts only resulted in misshaping the lump slightly. He was about to slip into another fit when something grabbed his attention.
Wait, I changed its shape?
Seth knew for a fact that his hand had never been malleable before. It had felt and acted exactly like the flesh of his normal hand. Seth pulled at the black flesh once again, this time with more focus. After a few minutes of straining, he let out a gasp as a small lump of darkness actually tore off from the swirling mass after he tried imbuing his fingers with energy. Because of his surprise, he lost focus, causing the pebble of black to lose it¡¯s shape and stick to the tip of his finger. He attempted to pull the piece off of his finger, only to find it was cemented to his skin.
What the-
Seth continued to experiment with the mass, finding that it only bended to his will after applying energy to its surface. The energy still wouldn¡¯t enter the mass, but it seemed to be receptive to his surface level manipulation. After returning the misshapen piece to the main lump, Seth took a small piece of the darkness and rolled it into a pointy spike that he attached to the end of his finger. After withdrawing the energy from the piece, Seth watched as the black spike became solidified once more.
His eyebrows scrunched as he attempted to poke himself, only to find the end was too soft to do more than leave a small indent. Seth didn¡¯t give up on the idea though, and after a few more minutes of practice, he was finally able to compact the piece enough to draw a bead of blood. The spike still wasn¡¯t sharp enough though, as he had to put a significant amount of force into his finger just to prick himself.
He didn¡¯t let the lack of progress bother him, and instead continued his experimentation with a renewed fervor. With a shudder, he reached for the seemingly unending pool of bloodlust that festered in every cell of his body. Once again, the powerful wave of Want poured over him, sharpening his mind and stilling his hand. Shortly after, a new thought occurred to him.
Instead of using his fingers infused with energy, Seth started to pull at the material with energy alone. Due to the change, the swirling void of the lump became volatile and a tar black blade shortly emerged from his finger about an inch out. Seth almost let out a whoop of joy, but quickly schooled himself. After returning the small piece back to the lump, he repeated the process, causing an obsidian dagger to rise from the main mass.
So that¡¯s what it meant! He thought with relief.
It seemed that he was still able to summon a version of Anar, but this one was much smaller than his previous glaive. In fact, he doubted the dagger was even a fifth of the size of his previous weapon. He swiped it through the air a couple times, testing its range and suitability.
It wasn¡¯t ideal, but Seth was more than happy to discover that he wasn¡¯t completely unarmed. He would have to change his method of attack to a certain extent, as he had become relatively skilled with the glaive, and the short weapon was much different. He tested it further, trying to recognize the advantages of the new weapon. Abruptly, his arm fell and the dagger retracted back into his wrist.
Am I seriously getting excited over this?
Rage began to boil in his gut as he admonished himself.
After all that¡ I¡¯M GETTING ALL GIDDY BECAUSE I HAVE SOME DINKY ASS DAGGER?!
Seth lashed out with his good hand, blasting his fist through a nearby trunk. With a groan, the tree swayed but stayed upright.
No, fuck this!
Seth reached for the lump once again. He chewed on his lip to halt another outburst, and instead began tearing chunks off the black mass on his wrist. The Concept of Resonance began racing through his entire body, mixing with the never-ending ocean of bloodlust that raged through his veins.
Tainted, imp, dark, sickening¡ YOU HAVE NO IDEA YOU STUPID BITCH.
Remembering every word Gaia had used to insult him, Seth went to work.
¡°I¡¯ll show you a monster.¡±
56- What It Means To Kill
¡°I can¡¯t believe someone already cleared the Source Boss.¡±
¡°I can. We were held in that stupid group challenge for a whole month! A third of The Incubator has already passed!¡±
¡°Don¡¯t exaggerate Mika, its been two weeks since we got out, so barely three months have passed in total. We still have plenty of time left, and now we don¡¯t even have to worry about the first boss. I¡¯m sure there will be even better stuff in the next dimension, and now we have a free ticket.¡±
Mika rolled her eyes before crossing her arms over a thick breastplate.
¡°Yeah I guess¡ But are you sure we¡¯re even going the right way Jas? We¡¯ll never get to the next dimension if we can¡¯t find the jump point.¡±
Jas tucked a strand of brown hair behind her caramel colored ear. She pulled a small book from her waistband and threw a glance around the dark woods they were currently traversing.
¡°I¡¯m pretty sure we are. That fat guy I talked to seemed to think it was the truth.¡± She said with a note of certainty.
Mika blew out a heavy sigh and shifted in her heavy, dark armor.
¡°Just say you tortured him! Why do you always have to make it sound all uninteresting and lame? I suppose you¡¯re going to say you also gave him a nice little pat on the head too? You practically popped his head like a zit!¡± She animatedly explained.
Jas just gave her a shrug and clicked her tongue.
¡°I¡¯m allowed to call it whatever I want. He¡¯s dead I¡¯m alive. The living get to tell the story.¡± She boldly claimed.
¡°You always say that too! Every single time I bring it up! Just say you killed him like any self-respecting shaper wou-¡±
Jas¡¯s hand shot in front of her sister¡¯s face, cutting her off. Mika was about to complain further, but the other girl quickly pointed at something on a nearby tree. She reached for the broadsword strapped to her back, but the shorter sister waved her off, moving toward the abnormality. Mika followed, soon discovering why Jas had stopped her.
The giant trunk of the tree was covered in what looked like animal scratches.
The phenomenon wasn¡¯t too uncommon, as many monsters roamed the woods, hunting. The weird thing about these marks were that they seemed more deliberate than random. Deep grooves were carved into the trunk in a foreign pattern. As Jas inspected the grooves, she identified that it was some sort of language, but as to which one was unknown to her.
She silently signaled to her sister, telling her to stay quiet and follow her. The two sisters trekked further into the woods, finding a series of other marked trees, as well as some stumps that were clearly cleaved through purposefully. Minutes passed, but they still couldn¡¯t find any source of the marks, nor any clues to where the fallen trees had gone.
Finally, the two approached the wood line where the dim light of the evening streamed through the thinning trees. They halted on the edge, not yet emerging from the forest.
¡°Is that the jump point?¡± Mika mouthed.
¡°I think so.¡± Jas replied.
They were both looking at a large cliff face that had been hidden from view due to the thick canopy. There was a rather small entrance just sitting indiscriminately at the side of the small clearing, barely protruding from the rocky surface.
The entrance was indistinguishable from other challenges, so the two sisters were still unsure if they had reached the right spot. After another moment of inspecting the surroundings, the two shapers shared a nod, readying their weapons before leaving the tree line.
Mika activated one of her search abilities, only to find that there was no life forms hiding in the area.
¡°Alright, its clear.¡± She said while visibly relaxing.
Jas relaxed slightly as well, but didn¡¯t lose her vigilance. Her sister¡¯s detection ability had reached tier four recently, so she had a good level of trust in her findings.
¡°You think someone marked the trees like that to point people in the way of the jump point?¡± Mika asked after seeing Jas relax.
¡°Not sure. I don¡¯t get why someone would do that, but I¡¯m pretty sure this is the spot. The dead guy said the jump point was inside a cave.¡± Jas stated.
The two did not instantly head towards the entrance though, as the whole reason they had lasted so long in The Incubator was because of their caution and communication. So instead, they begun examining the area, checking for any clues or possible traps.
Although they had only placed in the top twenty of the group challenge, the two were no slouches when it came to combat either. The main reason they fell behind in the end was because duels could only be taken one on one. The sisters were five times more efficient when they were paired together, so the volatile change in placement at the end came down to a matter of a challenge that didn¡¯t correlate to their strengths.
As they finally reached a point of measurable safety, the two met back up in front of the entrance. By now the evening light was all but gone, so the two sisters ignited a lamp that one of them had taken from their caches.
¡°I think we¡¯re in the clear. Challenge areas can¡¯t be screwed with on the inside, and I don¡¯t see anything out here.¡± Jas confirmed.
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The marks and missing trees still bothered her to an extent, but at this point, anything that happened in the woods was not their concern unless they decided to return to the first dimension for some reason in the future. Just to be one hundred percent safe though, Jas told her sister to stay put while she scouted the cave. Mika grumbled impatiently but didn¡¯t say anything.
Withdrawing another lamp from her cache, Jas left the other with Mika and skulked into the cave. After only a few minutes of walking, the cavern expanded to reveal a large metal platform sitting under a ceiling of sparkling pink and green crystals. As she made her way over to the platform, she gazed at the pretty ceiling that reminded her of the glorious jewel fields from her home.
Mika¡¯s going to like this. She thought absently.
The only issue was the smell. It seemed that whatever boss had been in the cavern beforehand had truly called the cave home, as there was large piles of excrement and foul smelling puddles around the rocky floor.
Eventually, she reached the platform, but was puzzled to find an absence of the familiar shimmer of a portal. The platform itself was completely smooth, save a square area in the center that was wrought of thick logs.
Wait a minute.
Jas crouched over the logs, focusing her senses toward the mismatched area. Soon enough, she let out a sigh of annoyance as she realized what had happened.
¡°Null¡¯s sake, this is just ridiculous.¡± She muttered.
It turned out that the platform was some kind of chute, and the jump point was most likely waiting at the bottom, beneath the large pile of timber. Who or whatever had been carving up trees in the woods seemed to have filled up the chute in an effort to stop others from using the jump point.
¡°What a waste of energy.¡± Jas criticized.
Mika can smash this to bits, I¡¯ll just let her handle this. She thought before turning on her heel, away from the pit.
She was sure there were no other surprises, as the timber was unperturbed and she didn¡¯t sense any traces of energy left on them. Her confidence swelling, Jas made her way back to the cave entrance, thinking about what to expect in the next dimension.
¡°Hey Mika! It looks like some dumbass blocked the entrance! Come here and help me out!¡± She hollered.
She waited a few moments, but heard no answer.
Ugh, what the hell is that girl doing?
Jas turned the corner to where Mika was supposed to be stationed, only to find a hunched over figure.
¡°Dammit Mika, are you seriously slacking off right now?¡± Jas questioned with annoyance.
It was too dark to see her sister, and the lamp she left behind was no where to be found, so Jas hefted her own and shone it toward the figure.
In the place her sister was supposed to be resting, there instead sat a dirty animal, covered in splatters of black goo and dirt. The creature seemed to be crouched over something, although Jas still couldn¡¯t see what because of its position in front of her line of sight.
That¡¯s when the smell hit her. The air reeked with the scent of fresh blood.
Suddenly, as the light hit the figure, it twisted around to face Jas. The color drained from Jas¡¯s face as she finally got a good look at the thing sitting beneath the animal.
It was Mika.
Her sister¡¯s body was totally ravaged, with huge holes laced throughout her chest. A lump of darkness festered on her thigh, the entire leg below it completely missing. Her eyes had also been gouged out, leaving behind nothing but a look of frozen horror on Mika¡¯s face.
¡°No¡¡± She muttered, tears threatening to burst from her eyes.
How? The only monsters around here are tiers twos and the occasional tier three!
Jas instinctively drew her staff and fought through the tears to analyze the creature that seemed to have murdered her sister. It looked to be some sort of hound, as she could finally see that the creature had caked silver fur, and pointy ears. It¡¯s fangs were also crude and twisted, and to add to its grisly visage, the eyes were bloodshot and glazed as if the creature were already dead.
¡°Repulsive creature!¡± She couldn¡¯t help but shout in disgust.
She began to chant, determined to destroy the horrible monster that sat before her.
¡°Secrets of all that is pure and holy, rain down upon this most repugnant ge-¡±
¡°That was easier than I thought.¡±
Jas¡¯s chant was cut short as a low voice cut through the air like a knife.
¡°You know, in books they really make the main character¡¯s first kill a huge event.¡±
Jas took an involuntary step backward, her previous rage stolen away.
The monster can talk! She shrieked in fear. No¡ That¡¯s not a monster.
The figure raised itself off the ground, standing on two legs with a slight slouch in its posture. Finally, Jas could see that the fur she had seen before was nothing more than some sort of hooded cloak, and below the snout was the face of man that looked slightly younger than herself. His sharp features were speckled in crimson blood, further skewed by the wicked grin that stretched across his face. The young shaper seemed to be talking to himself, his hidden eyes not even focused on the remaining sister.
¡°Where¡¯s the wave of remorse? Or the cold reflection upon my old world¡¯s morals?¡±
As the man continued to mutter to himself, Jas finally regained some of her wits. Flicking her eyes towards an item on her belt, she slowly began reaching for a grey cylinder that quite possibly held her salvation. She didn¡¯t know how powerful the newcomer was, but the fact he had been able to beat Mika told Jas he must be a tier four. As long as he was a tier four though, she was confident that the item she had would surely kill him.
As her fingers brushed against the cool steel of the treasure, Jas glanced back up at the man, only to find that he was gone.
She let out a terrified gasp and spun around in circles, searching the dark for her sister¡¯s murderer. Her fear felt almost paralyzing, so much so that Jas couldn¡¯t even formulate a proper defensive strategy or activate any of her abilities. Death loomed over her like a godly fist, leaving her feeling completely exposed and vulnerable.
Then, as if a shotgun had been shoved against her stomach, Jas¡¯s innards exploded outward, showering the cavern in gore. The attack had been so abrupt that her mind couldn¡¯t even catch up with the horrible agony that ripped through her body.
Her eyes bulged outward as the blood vessels burst, filling the milk white of her sclera with crimson red. Her body shuddered, and she looked down to find a clawed hand protruding from her abdomen. In itself, it was not a fatal blow, but the shock of the attack overruled any counter that Jas might have been able to offer. She watched in mute horror as the void black claws tipped with white withdrew from her body, leaving a similarly sized hole that Mika¡¯s body was riddled with.
Jas¡¯s body involuntarily released a gasp, but it instead came out as a strange gurgle. Her hand shakily rose toward her throat, discovering a thin, black blade sticking out from just above her collarbone. She hadn¡¯t even felt the ruthless stab to the neck, but she knew it was no illusion, as she could feel the life draining from her body.
Shortly after, a strong hand grabbed her by the hair. She screamed internally, her survival instincts finally kicking in. Random abilities were thrown around, blasting holes in the side of the cavern. Jas squirmed around under the grip of the unknown assailant, attempting to find any way to make him release her. Finally, she remembered the cylinder on her hip, and with renewed hope, she fumbled around with her belt, trying to feel for the item.
But her efforts were for naught, as the mumbling man yanked her head forward, ripping out the black blade and burying it into the back of her head. Jas¡¯s weight drooped forward, her body going slack. The clawed hand released her hair, causing her body to slap against the cavern floor in a wet mess.
¡°Still nothing, huh? I guess I¡¯m just not the remorseful type.¡±
57- Continuous Change
Seth stood outside of the mouth of the cave, breathing in the fresh air of the night. After using Plunder the two mutilated corpses, the scent of blood was so thick that he had to take a break outside before taking care of the bodies.
He let out a satisfied sigh, his breath pluming through the air as a telltale sign of a cold night. Seth of course couldn¡¯t really feel the frosty temperature though, as his body had overcome such discomforts. He watched the steam dissipate, thinking about how different his body had become in the last year.
At this point, Seth wasn¡¯t even sure if the flesh he wore now was the same from back then. Between the installation of his Foundation, the augmentation of his constitution, and the anomaly that started it all, Seth¡¯s entire being had changed on a fundamental level. Part of him wondered if he was still the same Seth that used to sit through history class, fantasizing about nothing at all. For all he knew, that Seth could be dead. He could just be a formation of energy that held some old memories of a long forgotten mortal.
Isn¡¯t there something else you should be worried about?
A stray thought ran through his mind, stilling his thoughts. He turned back to the mouth of the cave, letting the scene of gore truly settle in. Minutes past, yet Seth continued to wait. His eyes squinted, then widened, then closed for short bursts. He rubbed them and blinked repeatedly to focus his vision.
Still nothing, huh?
He couldn¡¯t help but feel as if something should be happening. He had thought the wave of guilt would hit him immediately after killing the first girl. Then, thinking that it was just a matter of adrenaline, Seth had rushed into killing the next girl, under the impression that the second kill would definitely speed up the process. But even now, almost ten minutes after the double homicide, Seth still felt perfectly calm.
He rose his arms up high, gazing at how the dim moonlight glistened off the dried blood covering his fingers and wrist.
These things are even better than I thought.
The black void covering his fingernails slowly morphed into a set of ink black claws tipped with white. His stump changed as well, turning into a paper-thin blade that stretched six inches from his wrist. It seemed his idea of a new weapon had turned out to be incredibly effective, leaving his most wild expectations in the dust.
The explosive impact of his augmented body mixed with the new damage output of his fingers seemed to create a powerful piercing effect that eclipsed Unstoppable Edge. Unfortunately this same power didn¡¯t work for his wrist for some reason, once again showing the disadvantages of his missing limb. The lacking amount of Presence of Doom also played a role in the disadvantage. If he still had the full whirlpool of his black hand, then Seth could¡¯ve made blades in all kinds of different places, increasing his lethality tenfold. It wasn¡¯t all bad though, as the amount he did have allowed for him to include a couple tactical blades in places that were hidden from view.
Seth absently brought up his Attribute menu, checking to see if the fight had finally caused any of his abilities to spill over into the next class.
Level: Tier Three (Progress: Late)
Intellect: Class B
Constitution: Class A
Might: Class A
Intuition: Class B
Resolve: Class A
It looked like his constitution had crossed into the next class, most likely due to the savage cleave he had been forced to eat from the first girl¡¯s broadsword. He hadn¡¯t expected her to regain her bearings so quick after a direct hit from Black Mass, but the girl clearly could take a hit.
The rest of the encounter couldn¡¯t really be called a fight since the girl had been hobbled from the start, but the crazy resilience of the armored girl¡¯s skin had made the fight drag out for almost too long. Seth could tell by the lack of infused energy that the skin was a product of an Umbral Blessing. Instead of aiding her, this fact drove the nails into her coffin as Seth¡¯s distaste for such abilities shined through, causing him to take on a more ruthless stratagem.
Finally letting the matter lie, Seth cast once more glance around to assure the area was clear before heading back into the cave.
It was time to see if Anima Thief worked on shapers.
********
Seth crouched over the remains of the armored girl. He had decided not to strip her of her gear, as the armor had been mostly torn to shreds after his attacks. He had initially followed the girls from the time they had reached the border of the wood line, as he had actually just stumbled across them on his way back to the cave.
He should¡¯ve noticed their tracks earlier, but Seth had been thinking about his preparation for the next dimension so much that he didn¡¯t notice them until True Sight caught onto one of their search abilities. Luckily, Specter State had been active and the search ability seemed to be of low rank, so his presence had not been discovered.
Specter State:
-When activated, Specter State erases detection from all senses, including lower rank detection
abilities. (Only applies to abilities lower ranked than the lowest attribute of the user)
After that, it was only a matter of time before the two split up and Seth exposed their vulnerable state.
Lying his black wrist onto the corpse¡¯s chest, Seth called forward his ability. Similarly to all of the monsters before, the body began to crumble into dust as a murky black cloud of oil rose from the corpse. Soon enough, the entire anima had been extracted from the body, leaving a vague black humanoid to hover in silence.
Seth watched with interest as the cloud continued to congeal, more so than any other anima he had extracted before. It seemed like the anima of a tier four shaper was nearly solid, almost to the point that Seth had thought he had rose the dead for a moment.
But after a short inspection, the anima proved just as ethereal as the rest, as Seth was able to wave a stick through its body without issue. Raising his wrist once again, he reached for the idle anima despite being slightly put off by its passive state. Almost all the monster animas had reacted near instantaneously to his extraction, striking out at him and such. It wasn¡¯t especially bad that the anima wasn¡¯t attacking him, and Seth wasn¡¯t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he continued to reach for the ink black figure.
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Upon contact with the anima, Seth was baffled as the shadowy girl finally moved, flinching back from his touch.
Huh?
He was about to reach for her again, but suddenly the girl¡¯s eyelids peeled back to show a pair of glassy black orbs. After sighting him, the anima¡¯s face transformed into a mask of naked fear, and a bloodcurdling shriek was let loose from the dead girl¡¯s spirit.
Seth took an unconscious step away from the girl, covering his ears to block out the disturbing noise. As the scream continued, he regained enough of his wits to lunge toward the wailing anima, eager to stop the grating sound.
Unfortunately, the girl circumvented his attempts once again. Twisting her body to get away from his wrist, Mika¡¯s anima let loose one last shriek before evaporating into a flash of golden light.
Seth was alone once again.
¡°What the hell was that about?¡± He asked in genuine confusion.
********
After a second attempt at extracting an anima from the other sister, Seth was disappointed to find that both girl¡¯s animas were unable to be stolen. Just as the armored one, the shorter sister¡¯s anima had shied away from his hand and summarily disappeared in a flash of light after no more than a few seconds.
Is it because of my Anima Thief ability? He wondered with a hint of desperation.
He left the cave as it was, only to return a few minutes later with a new corpse of a local tier two monster. Seth tossed the body next to the dust piles, then proceeded to activate his ability.
Just like hundreds of times before, the monster¡¯s corpse turned to dust as a cloud of darkness entered Seth¡¯s wrist without a fuss.
His eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he tried running through the possible reasons Anima Thief hadn¡¯t worked on the girls¡¯ bodies.
I haven¡¯t had any issue retrieving tier four animas before this. Maybe it¡¯s a shaper specific phenomenon? He brainstormed.
No matter what solution he could think of, his attention kept shifting back to the light that appeared when the darkened figures evaporated. It was the first time he had seen such a reaction, although he couldn¡¯t divine what had caused the change.
As he thought about what the light could have been, Seth began physically looting the left over equipment set before him. He had already pocketed the larger girl¡¯s broadsword and the smaller girl¡¯s staff, but he hadn¡¯t searched their actually bodies for leftover items.
Minutes later, he stepped back to inspect the meager gains covered in the dust that was formerly known as Mika and Jas. After a moment, he decided to take out whatever he had gotten from Plunder as well, leaving a much more sizable pile of loot on the stone floor of the cave.
After a few minutes of using Identify, Seth had sorted the items into those that he wanted to keep, and those that would just be taking up space. It seemed that most of the items were a variety of women¡¯s clothing and equipment that Seth couldn¡¯t even use if he wanted to, so those were an easy pass.
What caught his attention was some of the other items that had been extracted from the girls.
- (7x) Recovery Potion (Class C)
- (12x) Liquid Ambrosia
- (2x) Communication Suture
- Adamantine Broadsword
-Adamantine Staff
- (2x) Bejeweled Charm Bracelet
- De-Limiter (Class B ) (Orientation: Energy Output) (Uses: 2/3)
- Treated Blood Fletcher Core (Class B )
-Travel Cache (Class C)
-Enchanted Bandolier
-Transcript of the Slumbering Bear (Upgradeable)
It seemed headhunting was quite the profitable business.
Two kills had resulted in more loot than he had gained from the entirety of The Incubator thus far. He had acquired a full refreshment of recovery potions and the delicious vial rations that was common amongst the higher class. Even better, he had gotten an assortment of expensive looking weapons, jewelry, and some high classed items that he still had yet to fully identify.
Adamantine Broadsword:
-Grants significantly enhanced durability, advanced energy conductivity
Adamantine Staff:
-Grants significantly enhanced durability, advanced energy conductivity
Communication Suture:
-A basic means of communication that is connected to any linked sutures.
Bejeweled Charm Bracelet:
-A plain bracelet comprised of various gemstones.
Enchanted Bandolier:
-Grants enhanced durability to the contents held.
The spread of basic items didn¡¯t seem too interesting, but Seth was more than happy with the collection. He strapped the bandolier across his chest, as even though the pockets of his Mercenary Slacks provided the aspect Quick Access, there was still a limit to the size of items he could fit inside of their small entrances. Secondly, he threw the bracelet and sutures into his cache, as he had no immediate use for either.
As he inspected the broadsword and staff, Seth had a sudden idea and swiftly struck at the items with his Anar claws. Instead of slicing clean through the light red metal, his claws rebounded with a large clang. Despite the painful reverberation that echoed through his fingers, Seth grinned as he realized the worth of the equipment.
Unstoppable Edge:
-The weapon¡¯s blade cannot be stopped by any material or ability lower than one tier above the user. (Current Limit: Tier Four)
Unstoppable Edge was designed to cleave through any material that was anything less than one tier above his own ability. That meant that the adamantine the staff and broadsword were made of was at least a tier five material.
¡°These have to be worth a pretty penny.¡± He said with a heavy glint of greed in his eye.
Stashing the weapons into his cache, Seth finally moved on to the most interesting items.
De-Limiter (Class B):
- Allows the user to temporarily overcome tier limitations. (Orientation: Energy Output (Tier Five)) (Uses: 2/3)
Treated Blood Fletcher Core (Class B):
- A highly volatile monster core that contains hints of the Concept of Explosion
Travel Cache (Class C):
- A portable cache that contains fifty slots
Transcript of the Slumbering Bear (Upgradeable)
- A shaper transcript tailored to certain concept and Umbral affinities.
Seth almost drooled over the treasures. Killing the two shapers would have been worthwhile enough with just the De-Limiter, but with the Travel Cache and the monster core, Seth was truly pleased. He stored the glowing monster core into his cache before checking out the other two items. The De-Limiter looked like some sort of EpiPen while the Travel Cache was a simple metal canister. He slipped the syringe-like item into one of his armor pockets, and was about to holster the canister into his bandolier when a notification caused flashing at the edge of his vision.
Geez, I¡¯m really getting behind on all these. He thought absently.
It was true, Seth hadn¡¯t looked at the rest of the notifications that had come from the end of the group challenge, much less any of the ones that might have sprung up within the last couple of weeks. It seemed his mind had been more preoccupied than he had previously thought.
Main Menu:
Status-
Abilities-
Index-
Quests-
Notifications-
Concept System-
¡°Oh shoot.¡± Seth gasped.
On his way to the Notifications tab, a new entry on the menu caught his attention. It seemed he had forgotten about more than just his notifications, as a completely unexplored tab labeled Concept System now sat at the bottom of his Nuture ability.
Instead of going straight for his notifications, Seth opened up the mysterious new screen.
Concept System: Identity
Ego: (Undecided)
Id: (Undecided)
Superego: Concept of Resonance (Moon: Early)
He gaped at the screen, completely thrown by the descriptions. Seth didn¡¯t know much about concept systems or what they entailed, but he was certain about one thing after checking the new tab:
He had the capacity to learn three different concepts.
A large part of Seth was ecstatic at the news, as he knew how useful the concept he had already was, so the idea of two other ones equal in strength pleased him greatly.
Unfortunately, there was a small part of Seth that still wished to be like the main characters in the old light novels he used to read, always pushing forward into uncharted territories. But the newfound limit to his capabilities was a factor that somewhat quashed his dreams of becoming a standalone hero with limitless potential.
¡°Sorry Jinwoo, looks like I won¡¯t be catching up to you anytime soon.¡± He sighed.
He cast a glance down the winding cavern, thinking about the jump point that was only a few hundred feet away. But just as the thought to advance occurred to him, he dismissed the idea.
There is still business to settle here.
After sweeping his attention over the entrance once more, Seth swigged one of the expensive ration vials briefly before striding back out to the small field.
¡°Even if I don¡¯t have infinite levels to gain¡¡± He muttered.
¡°There are other ways to attain power.¡±
58- An Old Friend
Seth made sure to re-activate Specter State before making his way back into the woods. He took it slow at first, finding his way amongst the marked trees, looking for a certain sign. Over the last couple weeks, Seth had not been lax in his efforts. Every tree that was marked was proof of a challenge he had either found or completed.
Any challenge that had been completed by him or another participant had an X marked beneath each original symbol he had carved into the bark. The symbols he had made were comprised of a small description he drew in English, as well as a basic drawing of the challenge site.
Seth¡¯s memory and cognitive functions were vastly improved from his original human self, but the sheer amount of challenges in the first dimension was enough to warrant him to create a record of each. Many were already cleared, as the thousands of participants that roamed the area were quick to run through each, but there were still some remaining.
At this point, he wasn¡¯t interested in the remaining challenges, as the gains resulting from each were negligible for his rank as a tier three. Even the occasional tempering reward only netted him a paltry ten percent gain in the single attribute he chose to improve. The symbols were still useful though, as there were a couple locations he needed to remember for the future, and they acted as a sort of ward for other participants that were still looking for the jump point.
Eventually, Seth found the tree he was looking for. It was marked with a long ladder and three wavy lines that symbolized a stench.
Bingo.
Seth quickly reminded himself of the location of Rulik¡¯s lair before heading out. It was the last stop he was taking before entering the second dimension. Most participants had already made their way to the jump point, so it left Seth with a pretty uneventful trip to the caustic pond where Rulik lied.
The sounds of creaking trees and the occasional monster were the only things to fill the newfound silence in Seth¡¯s mind.
Despite it having been weeks since the whispers in his head have ceased, Seth still wasn¡¯t used to change. He didn¡¯t exactly miss the incessant voices, but their sudden absence was almost as discomforting as the previous cacophony of sound.
After a half hour of launching through the trees, he finally caught a whiff of rotting death, causing him to adjust his path slightly. A few minutes later, Seth arrived at the shore of the green and purple cesspool.
Once again, he tried not to retch as he started pulling out monster hides to build another bridge. Seth had sunken the last one, as he didn¡¯t want any other participants coming near Rulik¡¯s pit. It seemed to have worked too because he noticed that the density of monsters was relatively the same as when he had first came here. This meant that the local area was less hunted than the rest of the dimension.
Also, it helped that the acidic pond was a significant distance away from the jump point, so no other participants would have a reason to stumble upon the smelly area.
With his work finished, Seth quickly made his way across the makeshift bridge, his weight causing the hide to bob slightly underfoot. When he reached the shore of the small island, Seth glanced back at the path for a moment before deciding to leave it be.
Someone would more likely melt or fall to their death before reaching me. He thought smugly.
Approaching the silver trapdoor set into the ground, Seth smoothly retrieved a basic face mask that he had crafted during his time in the group challenge.
Unfortunately, even with the dense material of the mask covering his nose and mouth, there was nothing that could stop the horrid smell of rigor mortis that emerged from the trapdoor. Silently retching once more, Seth withheld the vomit that was attempting to claw up his throat.
He dangled his legs over the entrance of the pit and gazed down into the infinite void lying beneath him. With nothing more than another disgusted sigh, Seth pushed himself forward and began his freefall into the humid pit.
********
Seth¡¯s arrival at the bottom of the pit was signaled by a large, resounding splash. Thick green and purple sludge was thrown about as his body crashed feet-first into the foot deep fluid.
Seth let out a pained groan as he rose from the ground, now covered in the disgusting mucus. He had not meant to let himself fall that hard, but it was difficult to measure the depth of the pit, and he had been taking short freefalls in order to descend faster.
Luckily though, it seemed his Black Blood was showing its benefits, as he had dropped a hundred feet or so only to feel slightly shaken.
Stripping off his face mask, he let out a disgusted hack as he examined the now drenched piece of fabric.
What a waste. He annoyingly thought before letting it fall into the putrid liquid.
¡°Who is that? Has a new participant come to my pitiful ditch?¡±
A scratchy rumble sounded off from further into the darkness. Upon hearing the hopeful growl, Seth¡¯s face twisted into a grin, the stench hanging in the air mostly forgotten.
¡°Ooooh honey! I¡¯m home!¡± He called toward the far off mound.
He could feel the sludge underneath him recede slightly. Seth took this as a good sign and began slopping his way toward the diseased monster that he knew to be gaping in surprise.
¡°Wha¡ªwho? Do you dare to mock me you insignificant bug?¡± The beast rasped with obvious bewilderment.
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As Seth finally approached the behemoth, True Sight allowed him to watch as the dying monster¡¯s eyes rolled back and forth, searching the darkness. Specter State was still active, although he was surprised it was enough to mask his presence from the high tiered creature, no matter how degraded it¡¯s senses might be.
Taking a page out of Folly¡¯s book, Seth crept forward with his pearly whites on display, not bothering to circumvent the beast¡¯s line of sight. He crossed his fingers over his eyelids too, pulling them back to show off his mix colored sclera.
¡°Hey hey now! Have your eyes failed you in the short time I was away?¡± He taunted with an edge of humor.
¡°Don¡¯t tell me you forgot about the only guy to have visited you in centuries?¡± Seth mocked.
Finally, Rulik¡¯s eyes screwed onto his position, causing waves to rip through the thick sludge. It looked as if the monster¡¯s body was attempting to function, to rise from its permanent spot in the noxious underground coffin.
But despite its efforts, the hulking body did not move so much as an inch.
¡°You.¡± The dying monarch seethed.
¡°Me.¡± Seth agreed with a wizened nod of the head.
A mix of emotions seemed to battle across Rulik¡¯s visage as he accepted Seth¡¯s presence.
¡°I still have nothing more to offer you scum. Either slay me or leave for eternity.¡± He rasped before hacking up a goblet of blood and pus.
Seth¡¯s face transformed into a pout.
¡°Oh, don¡¯t be like that!¡± He chastised.
¡°There¡¯s more to do than making a deal. How about you tell me your favorite color and we can get to know each other a bit more. Who knows, maybe you can talk me into killing you without any stipulations!¡±
The beast seemed to shudder after his statement, the six milky eyes of the creature never leaving his face.
¡°Have you truly changed so much in such a short amount of time? I find it hard to believe that an infant shaper such as yourself could become such a vile and indifferent creature in the slight recess that has occurred since your last visit.¡±
Rulik took a moment to heave a wet cough that led into a series of dry hacks.
¡°I will not say it again. Leave now and never return. You might think yourself so invulnerable just like all the young and stupid do, but there are things that even I in my depressing state could do to end your little story here and now.¡±
The beast¡¯s eyes seemed to harden and an echo of power escaped from it¡¯s body, once again reminding Seth of it¡¯s high tiered nature.
Even with the roil of ancient power cascading over him, Seth did not waver in the face of Rulik¡¯s threat.
¡°Your power means nothing here. You are nothing but the pitiful remains of an ancient and unknown beast that will neither be remembered nor cared about.¡± He mocked.
Rather than upset the hulking mound, Seth¡¯s statement seemed to cause it to slump further.
¡°Have my kind truly been forgotten?¡± Rulik muttered with almost a hint of sorrow.
¡°Tell me fiend, does the name: Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter, mean anything to you?¡±
Seth did not allow his face to betray any confusion. The name was one that he had never heard of, but the idea that the monster was truly in disbelief about his ignorance seemed interesting.
¡°Nope.¡± He stated simply.
Rulik paused briefly, seeming to search Seth¡¯s face for the truth.
¡°I see¡¡±
¡°What about the Forty-Two Disciples?¡± He questioned with a note of confidence.
Seth¡¯s blank face was enough to answer that one. Upon seeing his obvious lack of recognition, Rulik erupted into another fit of coughs and hacks. Instead of waiting for him to finish, Seth interrupted the diseased episode.
¡°Well, as lovely as it was to reminisce over your little pet name or whatever, my patience has run dry.¡±
Seth crouched down next to the beast¡¯s snout and cocked his head.
¡°I really thought I would be able to keep up with this playful taunting, but your stale personality has exhausted me. Cough up some information about something I would care about or I¡¯m going back to my original plan.¡± He commanded.
Upon his curt response, Rulik¡¯s hacking ceased. The monster¡¯s head seemed to tremble as it seemed he was forcing his body to stay still.
¡°I offer information that any shaper would find priceless, yet you insult me and demand more?!¡± He growled in rage filled disbelief, causing small waves of sludge to lap against Seth¡¯s ankles.
He was about to respond when a tendril of green-purple fluid rushed him from behind. If it was the last time he had visited Rulik, the tendril would have surely connected with his skin, most likely putting him into another strangled position just like before.
But this time, Seth¡¯s new and improved peak tier three speed combined with Nightmare Adrenaline and his augmented body allowed him to swiftly dance around the tendril. After ducking under a jab from a new pillar of sludge, Seth lashed out with his claws, chopping both of them to bits.
Tens of more liquid appendages rose from the caustic lake and began pursuing Seth. Without so much as a glance at Rulik, Seth weaved through the new forest of adversaries. Despite not being able to see the sludge attacks last time, this time he was easily maneuvering around each flailing whip.
Now that he could see each attack coming, Seth could tell how lazy and unskilled each swing was. It seemed that the old beast was barely able to keep the fluid together long enough to throw it at him, meaning that the attacks were not a result of any actual ability.
Seth was interested in finding out how the monarch was manipulating physical matter without moving, but he also knew now was not the time to ask. After a few more minutes of dancing around the tendrils, he grew bored of trying to figure out how the attacks were formed and instead reached into his cache to retrieve a handful of items he had gotten from a previous challenge.
Sweeping his hand in large arc, Seth let loose an array of tundra monster cores, causing the ground around him to freeze in a wide area. With that, the sludge barrage was stopped in its tracks, leaving none of the fluid unfrozen around himself and Rulik.
He reapproached the mound only to realize that the beast¡¯s chest seemed to be heaving faster, and its rotting maw was wide open. It seemed that manipulating the sludge was quite stressful on the beast, although it¡¯s anger did not seem to cool down even with the exhausted energy.
¡°Alright mate, that wasn¡¯t cool.¡± Seth said with a mock annoyed expression.
Instead of standing over Rulik¡¯s head like before, Seth made his way to the opposite side of the beast¡¯s body. Although most of the lengthy tail was underneath the frozen surface, he could still see the faint energy signatures that emitted from the monster¡¯s flesh.
Crunching over the iced ground, Seth finally reached the end of the scaly tail where he began hammering through the dense cryo-sludge.
¡°Do you mean torture me, fiend? Ha! What a quant little idea. I¡¯m afraid your efforts are for naught though, as no pain can penetrate this eternal agony caused by the curse that plagues me.¡± Rulik cackled.
Seth said nothing and continued to shatter the ice beneath him. With one last empowered punch, the sludge gave way, revealing a partially rotted bruise colored tail. Grabbing the scaly appendage with his only hand, Seth used the explosive power of his augmented body to launch himself off the ground. As he rocketed upwards, the tail he was holding followed him, causing more of the limb to emerge from the stiff ice.
Now that most of the beast¡¯s body met the humid air, Seth set about sawing off a large portion of the scaled limb. Using the dagger sized blade on his wrist, he took multiple minutes to slice through the thick layers of muscle and bone.
Once again, Seth was reminded of the high tier of the beast before him as it took most of his strength combined with Unstoppable Edge to finally sever a piece of the monster. Furthermore, even after he wrenched the piece from the main body, the wound cauterized at a visible pace. Within a couple minutes, Seth was sure that more scales would have already covered the severed area.
Satisfied with his work on the first piece, Seth shoved the couple foot long tail tip into his cache and began working on the next.
59- Chat is This Real?
Tens of minutes later, Seth had whittled the tail all the way down to its base. As he neared the end, he had begun to portion out each segment, as the tail had become too wide to cut straight through before the beast¡¯s regeneration kicked into gear.
Throughout the entire time he had been excavating the monster, Rulik had continued to drone on with taunting encouragement.
¡°Yes, yes. Take it as slow as you need too fiend.¡±
¡°I already told you, torture is nothing to me.¡±
¡°Keep going, why stop at my tail?¡±
The fits of growls and moans were incessant. It was almost enough to replace the old storm of whispers that used to rack his brain. But to Rulik¡¯s dismay, after Seth finished up with the tail, he made his way back over to the monster¡¯s head.
¡°I¡¯ve still got plenty of space in my cache. Perhaps I can take a few of your claws or maybe even your balls?¡± Seth claimed with an impish grin.
Rulik closed his two sets of eyes in a gesture of relaxation.
¡°Do what you must, but I do not have such reproductive organs, as I have no need for them.¡±
Seth¡¯s smile did not falter at the beast¡¯s proclamation, and he gladly moved to the nearest claw and began tearing it apart.
This process repeated over and over. Seth would enact minor surgery on the hulking beast, pause to taunt the ancient monster, then start up on another limb. Time passed, and Seth started to improve his method of chopping through the tough hide. Hours rolled by, and eventually there was nothing left to chop off. At one point, Seth had even stepped directly on Rulik¡¯s face to saw through the various horns that protruded from his head.
Marching back up the head once again, Seth inwardly laughed at the state the creature was in. At this point, the monarch had been reduced to a rotting bean shaped mound of smelly flesh.
¡°I think I finally get the joke now! A cow with no legs is ground beef because its just a sack of meat lying in the dirt!¡± He cackled.
¡°Is that meant to offend me?¡± Rulik moaned sluggishly. It seemed that removing almost half of his body had rendered the beast somewhat disoriented.
¡°Nope, but this is.¡± Seth stated as he plunged his hand into his cache.
Two items were removed, and Seth held one of them above his head while the other was placed in his mouth.
¡°Did you see that chat?!¡± He called out with a falsetto tone.
¡°Rulik, Disciple of Slobber, oops, I mean Slaughter, has been turned into nothing more than a lump of shit!¡±
Seth turned to look at the recording crystal that sat atop his palm. ¡°He even smells like it!¡±
A hacking gasp sounded off from behind Seth, confirming that he now had the monster¡¯s attention.
¡°Is that a-¡±
¡°Video cache? Yes sir!¡± He finished for the now worried monster.
¡°Best one money could buy! And man, let me just say I cannot wait to see how good this footage is going to look on all the big screens in Ethin!¡± Seth gushed.
Before the monster could react further, Seth opened his mouth wide and stuck out his tongue at the camera. Hanging from his maw was a small strip of blackish meat.
¡°And nowb, is time for za taste tezt!¡±
Seth made sure to chew loudly and with an open mouth, for both the camera and Rulik, who was too busy gaping in horror to react.
¡°Oh man, that was rancid!¡± He groaned shortly after swallowing the raw flesh. ¡°It looks like he tastes like shit as well, folks!¡±
Seth made sure to theatrically retch and sputter directly toward the video cache. After he was done with that, he brought the device closer to Rulik, pointing the recording side of the crystal right into the creature¡¯s face.
¡°Let¡¯s switch over to our guest for a moment. Do you have anything you would like to add to this broadcast?¡± He said in a deep, news anchor tone.
Rulik began stuttering over words, then let out another pus filled hack.
¡°You- you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing here fiend. Attempt to show anyone this footage and you will face consequences that will surely le-lead to your death!¡± The monster claimed with an obvious air of desperation.
Clearly, the young shaper was not deterred by his weak threat, as his grin only grew wider. Rulik noticed this and continued on with an attempted mask of danger.
¡°My comrades will not let this stand. Delete that footage now and save yourself from a long, slow death! The Forty-Two Disciples have slaughtered hundreds of millions, you will not be able to escape their wrath!¡± He rasped.
Even with the extensive threats, Seth¡¯s face did not even twitch. The news about his organizations supposed ¡®hundreds of millions¡¯ of victims was slightly wild, but he never planned on releasing the footage anyway, so the threat fell on deaf ears.
¡°Wow, you a truly such a disappointment. A tier eight like yourself falling back on such lame tactics is so unbecoming.¡± He said while turning the video cache back toward himself.
¡°I suppose that¡¯s it folks! Tune in next week for our cooking episode where I show you all how to turn this: ¡± He pulled out another piece of the rotten meat. ¡°Into a gourmet meal!¡±
********
As the light of the recording crystal faded away, so too did Seth¡¯s grin.
Without a word, he navigated to his Notifications tab and scrolled to the most recent ones.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
-Warning! You have consumed an object containing the tier nine Curse of Blight, and transcendent tier Curse of Null.
-Curse of Blight does not take effect due to Black Blood!
-Curse of Null does not take effect due to Black Blood!
With an inward sigh of relief, Seth closed one of the screens. He had gotten a little ahead of himself during the performance, letting out a side of himself that was surprisingly unfamiliar. His actions could have very well cost him his life, but luckily his immunity to curses had come in clutch. He tabled the topic inside his mind and turned back to the task at hand.
Pocketing the video cache, he crouched down next to Rulik.
¡°The moment I get out of The Incubator, that video will spread as far as I like. Anything you have been withholding better come out in the next five minutes or I am leaving you as is, sealing off the entrance, and sending the recording to all of your old friends.¡± He deadpanned; every flicker of humor gone from his face.
He turned the screen in front of him so it would face Rulik. ¡°Any chance you have left of killing me or exacting revenge is gone. I am immune to the curses that riddle you. Your centuries of waiting will either end with me or continue until your body finally dies off itself.¡±
Seth watched as any spark of defiance the rotting beast had was completely extinguished after checking the hovering screen. Rulik¡¯s pus filled eyes closed entirely, and a hopeless and defeated sigh hissed from his phlegm filled throat.
¡°Fine¡ You win.¡± The diseased mound muttered with no hint of life. Shortly after, a few new screens appeared before Seth.
-Congratulations! The shaper known as Rulik has surrendered to your mighty will!
-Rulik has surrendered all items in his cache.
-Rulik has surrendered a variety of Map entries.
-Rulik is now incapable of harming you!
-Congratulations! You have received the Title of ¡°Born of Misery¡± due to torturing another shaper into submission!
-Congratulations! Your Title: ¡°Little David,¡± has evolved into ¡°Goliath Hunter¡± due to your physical and mental victory over a substantially more powerful foe!
Seth¡¯s face couldn¡¯t help but twitch with surprise as he read the new notifications. But before he could investigate further, the beast under him interrupted his thoughts.
¡°There. I, Rulik, disgraced member of the Forty-Two Disciples, leave my life and existence in the hands of the shaper before me.¡±
At his statement, Seth could almost physically feel a sort of lock falling into place between himself and the dying monster.
¡°I have little on person due to the regulations of the organization in charge of this event, but I have a personal trove of valuables at the location I sent to you. I¡¯m sure you will find the items more than to your liking.¡± Rulik¡¯s rasping had become more of a whine now, and pus-filled tears leaked profusely from the beast¡¯s four eyes.
¡°I have now given you all I have to offer, my treasure, my reputation, and my meager life. Please¡ kill me now and end this misery.¡± The monster practically sobbed.
Almost as if his body was being moved on its own, Seth stomped over to the beast¡¯s neck. The short blade on his wrist formed momentarily, and with it, he plunged his entire arm up to his elbow directly into the rotting flesh of Rulik¡¯s throat.
¡°Let your sins consume you.¡±
Most of the energy coursing through Seth was drained into his submerged wrist, and with it, a huge black tumor began to grow inside the beast¡¯s body. He didn¡¯t stop there though, and Seth quickly absorbed one of his higher classed recovery crystals to replenish his energy stores. Then, once again, he cast Black Mass.
Seth had to recast his ability two more times before he finally felt the monster die. And only after the entire body had been consumed by Black Mass did his thoughts surface back into reality.
I don¡¯t know what that was all about to be honest. He admitted to himself.
It seemed the end of his encounter with Rulik had resulted in a variety of functions that Seth had no clue were even a thing. The monster had somehow surrendered to him, but even weirder than that, the notifications had labeled him as a shaper.
¡°I guess it¡¯s not impossible that he could¡¯ve been one.¡± Seth mused.
He hadn¡¯t thought of the idea of shapers becoming monsters, or monsters becoming shapers, but he supposed the idea wasn¡¯t something that seemed that out of the ordinary of things to expect in light of the Foundation.
What was more interesting to Seth though was the things that came after his discovery.
Looking back to the notification screen that he had not closed before finishing Rulik, Seth began inspecting the new entries, including the ones that had just shown up after taking care of the monster¡¯s body.
-Black Mass has automatically triggered Plunder.
-The shaper¡¯s cache has already been claimed, Plunder will only work on the remains of the shaper.
-You have successfully used Plunder, all items have been transferred to the user¡¯s cache.
The news about his successful looting were welcome, but Seth was more interested in the titles he had received from the experience. Closing the Notifications tab, Seth was awash in silver light as his titles took effect. Not even waiting for them to finish, he quickly opened up his menu again and went to the Status tab to read the new descriptions.
Level: Tier Four (Progress: Early)
Intellect: Class F
Constitution: Class F
Might: Class F
Intuition: Class F
Resolve: Class C
Race: Fiend (Class D)
Titles: Goliath Hunter, Absurd Specimen, Descendant of Crona, Born of Misery, *Undecided*
¡°Wait wha-?¡±
Before he could finish his sentence or check his titles, a new storm of energy began entering his body. It seemed that dealing with Rulik had pushed him into the realm of tier four, despite Seth not having done much.
He squeezed his eyes shut as the tempest of energy continued to pick up, causing more and more to push its way into his cells. Seth couldn¡¯t help but groan with effort as he attempted to stay on his feet throughout the process. It almost felt like he was at the center of a whirlpool, as if all the energy in the spot around Seth had been abruptly stolen, causing the surrounding waves of power to collapse in on his location.
Finally, after a few more seconds of absorption, his cells seemed sated, and the energy ceased entering his body. But even with the new absence, Seth felt like he was practically humming with power. Instinctively, he called upon the node above his collar bone, and the Concept of Resonance spread through his spirit, calming the new energy as well as allowing Seth to tune his body to the new reach of power at his fingertips.
He stayed in this state of meditation for multiple minutes, as he did not want any of the feeling to go to waste. Then, when his body felt normal again, Seth opened his eyes.
Man, this concept is already coming in handy. He thought to himself with satisfaction.
His concept moon had allowed him to balance his new attributes as well as the larger pool of energy that he now had access to almost instantaneously. Once again, Seth wished he could spend more time cultivating, as he could feel that the use of his concept was an avenue he had barely scratched the surface of.
One step at a time. Remember, this was supposed to be the easy part. He reminded himself.
With his attention now back in the present, Seth finally checked his newest titles.
Born of Misery:
- Your actions have declared you a true fiend that has no empathy for his enemies. Others will be able to divine this ruthlessness upon inspection.
(Only achievable with one of the following prerequisites: Race: Fiend)
Goliath Hunter:
- Tier disparity does not affect your ability to overcome an opponent.
(Only achievable with one of the following prerequisites: Title: Little David)
Overall, it seemed his titles were worth no more than cosmetics in a video game. They provided no material benefits as far as Seth could tell, and weirder still, the new Goliath Hunter title had the exact same description that Little David did.
Although the gains were a little lackluster on the surface, Seth held out hope that they would provide some worthwhile effects in the future. After all, he knew that titles themselves were supposed to be pretty important in some aspect, so his hopes weren¡¯t quashed.
Changing to a more excited note, Seth rubbed his hands together with a grin as he opened up his cache.
It was time to see what kind of loot a tier eight monarch had on him.
60- A Voluntary Trip to Hell
Before Seth could open his cache, he found himself back in a familiar dark room.
Glancing downward, he confirmed his surroundings had truly changed, as he was no longer standing atop the frozen sludge surface of Rulik¡¯s lair. Seth didn¡¯t bother looking around, and instead he let out a sigh of slight relief.
¡°You don¡¯t waste time.¡± He called out to the seemingly empty room.
A snigger from his left confirmed Seth¡¯s suspicions.
¡°You don¡¯t seem surprised to see me.¡± A shrill voice said with obvious disappointment.
The young shaper turned around to address the floating white smile that was suspended in midair. It seemed that in a blink, Seth had truly been transported back to Folly¡¯s domain. He wasn¡¯t afraid though, as Seth had been waiting for this exact scenario. Without hesitation, he began striding over to stand in front of the chained figure.
¡°I guess you can still kidnap me while I¡¯m awake then.¡± He said.
The impossibly wide grin parted for a moment to let a spear like black tongue slide across its stark white teeth.
¡°Not usually, but I just couldn¡¯t wait to have a chat with you.¡± Folly paused for a moment before its head cocked slightly to the right. ¡°So you really did lose your hand again. Such a waste! You¡¯d think you would have learned the first time not to put your hand in a monster¡¯s mouth!¡±
The chains rattled as the Umbra shook with laughter, causing Seth to frown. He could tell the figure was attempting to annoy him by pointing out the lost appendage, but he didn¡¯t want to waste the time he had talking about something Folly already knew.
¡°What¡¯s the point in acting like it was a monster? You know damn well Gaia did this, so let¡¯s get to business rather than beating a dead horse.¡± He commanded. Seth had been waiting until after killing Rulik to talk to Folly, so he had planned what to discuss with his Umbra weeks ago. Therefore he wanted to circumvent any useless chatter like the chained being was attempting to start now.
¡°Don¡¯t jest little one, your sense of humor is dry indeed. What? Did Lic himself also drop by for lunch?¡± The pale creature cackled with mirth.
Unfortunately, it seemed Folly was not going to let the topic drop just yet.
¡°Don¡¯t act like you aren¡¯t aware of the entire encounter. I know you are as respectful to privacy as she is to rules. Let us move on.¡± Seth said more forcefully this time.
It¡¯s going to be quickly exhausting if he keeps acting so oblivious. The whole reason I wanted to speak with him is to gain some sort of retribution in the face of Gaia¡¯s gross overstep.
Seth was about to continue on given Folly¡¯s silence, but instead he clammed up as he watched the figure¡¯s grin turn into a deep frown.
¡°What did I just say about jesting? I do not like being openly lied too especially when done so poorly. Do you not remember our last meeting? Or would you rather I expand on your lesson?¡± He grunted with growing anger.
Seth instinctively placed a hand over his lower ribs with a wince. What is his problem? Why is he acting like I¡¯m lying? He was about to offer a retort but bit back his words. Finally, realization dawned on him like a blow to the head and Seth sucked in a gasp.
¡°I¡¯m not lying.¡± He slowly stated while reaching his arms up in a gesture of surrender. His hand pointed toward Folly and then back at his own head.
¡°I thought you could read my mind, see for yourself.¡± Seth offered cautiously.
For a moment, it seemed like Folly was about to act out again, but after seemingly inspecting the shaper¡¯s face, the figure stayed silent. Seth took this as a good sign and also closed his mouth, waiting for the Umbra to finish combing his mind. Minutes passed, but he continued to stay quiet.
Finally, Seth watched the figure shift in his chains signaling that he was finished. Suddenly though, a bout of vertigo hit him like a truck, leaving Seth reeling. But just as it had appeared, the feeling passed and he was back to normal.
What the hell was that? He thought as his eyes adjusted back to reality.
Seth attempted to turn his attention back to the chained figure, only to find an empty space in his wake. Something twinged at the end of his vision though, and Seth whirled around to find a completely different scene then the normal swath of black chains and white grin.
Before him was a dark glass table, and sitting languidly on the other side was Folly, although now his body was free of chains and instead wrapped in what looked like an opal white suit. His face was still mostly imperceptible though, as if Seth¡¯s vision worked everywhere but directly above the jet black lips of the Umbra.
¡°I think it¡¯s about time we had a talk.¡±
********
Suddenly finding himself seated across from his now unrestrained Umbra, Seth¡¯s face was the picture of confusion.
¡°I see now why you were expecting a visit, and I can¡¯t blame you. Why, if I were in your shoes, and was forced to observe as an Umbra not only stole what was rightfully mine, but also punished me for finding ire in the act¡ Well let¡¯s just say my revenge would be neither swift nor merciful.¡± Folly stated diplomatically and without any hint of humor.
Seth was thrown by the new demeanor of his Umbra. The previous animalistic and downright mad behavior of the pale being seemed to be completely absent. But even with his surprise, he wasn¡¯t about to let this opportunity go to waste.
¡°So you see now why I need your assistance? Gaia broke the rules, she directly aided her follower, and she attacked me! I researched some of the laws that Umbra¡¯s must abide by, and I know for a fact that they are not allowed to put forth such a show of power to change events like that! Why didn¡¯t the Foundation punish her? Or to that extent, why didn¡¯t it help me?¡± He asked incredulously.
This was just a taste of the thoughts and questions Seth had been struggling with over the last couple weeks after the group challenge race. Now that he finally had someone pointing out the error that had been torturing him nonstop, Seth couldn¡¯t help but let his rage surface. He ranted for multiple minutes while Folly sat with an undiscernible expression, just listening to his tirade.
Eventually, the Umbra held a pale six fingered hand up to silence Seth. And begrudgingly, he did.
¡°I have already said that I would have reacted in a similar fashion to yourself if I had been in your place. Despite this, I must also recognize that the situation as it stands is beyond my power to fix.¡± He claimed bluntly.
Seth¡¯s mouth gaped open and closed like a fish, finding Folly¡¯s statement completely unexpected given his previous description to how he felt about the event. Seeing Seth¡¯s disbelief and anger growing rapidly, the pale man cast a hand downward to halt any response he might offer.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
¡°You are correct that Umbras are bound by certain rules, but these laws are much more complex than one would imagine. This is especially true in the circumstances you find yourself in right now.¡± He paused before continuing.
¡°The Incubator as you call it is held within an area that is¡ unavailable to Umbras under normal rules. But if an Umbra has a strong enough link to their followers, then they can use them as a sort of entrance. As far as I am aware, this is an ability that is rarely if ever used because to take such a direct act in the mortal realm is to almost certainly break the law. But, it seems that given the elements at play, there was just enough wiggle room in the law for her to act. In truth, she only aided her follower using a Wisp of Fate that he had already acquired, therefore allowing her to strengthen the power in a way that staying within the boundaries of the rules.¡±
Seth was about to jut in, as Gaia had done a lot more than boost a preexisting fate treasure during her visit. But one finger held up by Folly stopped him from spitting out more curses about the woman.
¡°As for her actions against you, that was permissible, might I add incredibly loosely, as revenge for acting against her direct will. I would guess that if you were in a public dimension under the eyes of other Umbras, she would never have done such a thing. Unfortunately for you, not only is there no one there to witness her actions, but all of you lowly shapers will also have your memories erased per the contract you agreed to, so there will be no evidence of her debatable overstep.¡±
¡°But what about the people running The Incubator? They saw it. Why don¡¯t they report it? Or better yet, why didn¡¯t they stop her?¡± Seth sputtered, fearful of where the conversation was going.
¡°That information will do you no good, as it all will be erased as I said before. Just think of them as a neutral organization that doesn¡¯t intertwine themselves with Umbral issues. Furthermore, because of their disposition, they will not act against Gaia nor will they aid you in any way as to not draw her ire. They have a mutually beneficial relationship with Umbras, and they will not throw that away for one nameless shaper.¡± Folly admonished.
Seth¡¯s blank stare was the only thing he could offer back to Folly¡¯s explanation. There were hundreds of other arguments he wanted to throw at the emotionless being in front of him, but in the end, he knew it would be for nothing. With his fears realized, Seth slumped back in his chair with a hopeless sigh.
¡°So that¡¯s it. I just have to take that shit with a grin and move on is what you are saying.¡± He mumbled.
Silence followed, and Seth closed his eyes and the bloodlust that had been streaming through his veins for the last couple weeks drained away as he realized that there was truly no one that could contest an Umbra¡¯s will.
Only seconds later, his pouting was interrupted by a series of muffled sniggers. He cracked an eye open to find Folly sitting across from him with both of his pale hands covering the impossibly wide grin that marred his face once more.
¡°Something funny, asshole?¡± He growled, any fear that he harbored about his Umbra completely gone along with his patience.
Folly did not answer, and instead, the figure began shaking in its fit of apparent mirth. Seth¡¯s anger sparked back up, but before he could throttle the creature that seemed to find so much humor in his helplessness, a loud crackling interrupted his thoughts. Looking down, it seemed that the glass table they sat at was slowly being wrought with a web of cracks.
As rage gave rise to tired confusion, Seth watched as Folly tore one of his hands away to motion for him to wait. Then, after banging the table beneath his fist a couple of times, Folly was able to restrain his tantrum to an extent without breaking the glass. In fact, it almost looked to Seth like the web had receded somewhat.
¡°Don¡¯t get all pouty like that. I never said I wouldn¡¯t help you, little one.¡± The suited being claimed after regaining his breath. As Folly folded his hands back onto the table, Seth couldn¡¯t help but notice the thin stream of red-black liquid that dribbled from his mouth. He also noticed that the businesslike demeanor Folly had been displaying was showing slight cracks, just like the table.
¡°So does that mean you will fix the damage she did to my abilities?¡± He asked, perking up ever so slightly.
¡°No. I can¡¯t do anything about that.¡±
¡°Then can you give me an Umbral Blessing to make up for it?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°What about a shaper transcript that works without an Umbral Blessing?¡±
¡°No, but those exist already, you can buy your own.¡±
This was especially annoying for Seth, as he had learned a week ago that he couldn''t use shaper transcripts without Umbral Blessings. It was a definite setback for him as he had bought a fairly expensive one during the group challenge and was less than delighted to find that it was useless. Hearing that others without the Umbral Blessing prerequisite were a thing was nice, but it did little to douse Seth''s rage at the wasted challenge points as well as the blatant willful neglect of his Umbra.
¡°Well then what the hell can you do?!¡± He growled.
¡°You know how this works. Open up your cache so I can see what I¡¯m working with.¡± Folly grinned. Seth glared at him with suspicion but wordlessly commanded his cache to open in his mind.
¡°If you can¡¯t give me any of the stuff I just said, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re going to make that would help me.¡± He seethed while Folly began sorting through his rather extensive amount of loot.
¡°Well for one, I can do this.¡±
The suited being grabbed a fistful of Rulik¡¯s flesh that Seth had harvested, and quickly shoved them into his mouth. Then after a few chews, Folly opened his mouth once again and extracted a fresh lump of pale flesh, free of any sores or decay that used to mar the surface. Then, he played around with the lump, and moments later, a familiar looking right hand was placed on the table before him.
¡°Go ahead.¡± Folly shrugged before sifting anew through some of the other items.
Seth reached forward with wide eyes, snatching the hand off of the table. After a short inspection, he found that it looked identical to his old hand that he hadn¡¯t seen in almost a year. It was even the same color and texture as his left hand.
Did he seriously just make me a new hand that easily? Why didn¡¯t he do this the first time I lost it? Seth wondered.
Instead of dwelling on it any longer, Seth quickly tried to attach the new hand by placing it on his exposed wrist. Unfortunately, after a couple attempts, the hand just bumped against his skin, doing nothing. After his third try though, Seth realized with a groan that the reattachment was probably not supposed to be so painless.
When is anything painless with this asshole? Seth grumbled with an annoyed glance at the suited being still messing with his loot.
Biting his lip, Seth moved the black substance down his forearm to expose the pale stub at the end of his wrist. With a loud exhale through his nose, Seth turned his nails into the razor sharp claws of Anar before bringing his hand down in a quick chopping motion. He only winced briefly before grabbing the new hand and bringing it carefully toward his wrist, making sure it is positioned correctly.
Without preamble, the hand instantly latched onto Seth¡¯s now bloodied stump. With a sigh, he watched as the flesh molded back into his wrist, finishing the transplant with little to no effort on Seth¡¯s part. Pins and needles started to settle into the new hand, and he could feel as the blood in his arm began circulating through his new appendage. Seconds later, Seth was moving the hand around without issue, leaving both of his arms finally identical once more.
He could barely contain his excitement and relief at finally having his hand back. But before he addressed Folly again, Seth quickly brought the black tar up his arm and configured it to rest on his fingernails just as his left hand had it. There was still a small surplus of the black substance left over, but for the time being, he ignored it and left it covering the surface of his wrist like a bracelet.
¡°Satisfied?¡± Folly said with his trademark disturbing grin.
Seth still couldn¡¯t see the rest of his face, but he could tell the Umbra¡¯s eyes were probably gloating. ¡°I might be able to properly wring that bitch¡¯s neck now, but one extra hand isn¡¯t going to be enough to make up for her actions.¡±
¡°I¡¯m happy to hear that. One should have the greed to reap every benefit out of a fallen enemy¡ But I don¡¯t have to tell you that, do I?¡± He said with a knowing tone.
Next, Folly grabbed Seth¡¯s travel cache that he had picked off of one of the girl¡¯s in the cave. In a flash of purple fire, the cache disappeared, and a new screen appeared before Seth.
-Congratulations! Your Cache (Class D) ability has evolved into Cache (Class C). Your cache has increased by fifty slots!
Seth welcomed the new increase in slots with a grin big enough to match Folly¡¯s. Lately, he had been worried about his fast filling storage space, so the extra fifty slots would be incredibly useful, especially now since he didn¡¯t have to carry the large cylinder of the Travel Cache.
¡°Now with those out of the way, lets move on to a few other matters.¡± Folly said while setting aside a few other piles of loot, making it clear he was not done with them just yet.
¡°It seems you attained the Concept of Resonance after you used the reward I gave you for fulfilling Fool¡¯s Errand, right? Before we do anything else, I need you to know that you must find a way to infuse your concept with the abilities that come from your left eye. Do not bother with your other abilities for the time being, make it your priority to work with the Eye of Opposition first. Do you understand?¡± He questioned along with the familiar dangerous edge that was commonly used when Seth didn¡¯t have a choice.
As he nodded in quiet acceptance, Folly continued by grabbing another item off the table. It seemed to be a disk-shaped tablet with the small emblem of a wickedly curved claw along with a featureless woman¡¯s face. Seth wasn¡¯t familiar with the item, so he assumed it was one of the pieces of loot gained from using Plunder on Rulik.
¡°Are you aware of what this is?¡± Folly asked lackadaisically.
¡°It¡¯s what we in the game like to call an Umbral Heritage. And I¡¯m almost positive someone at your level shouldn¡¯t have it.¡±
61- Unlikely Assistance
¡°I¡¯m sure this term means nothing to you, as there are plenty of things that are shielded from the attention of shapers in the Configuring Stage. Honestly, I doubt most shapers in the next sta- I mean higher tiers would know anything about this either.¡± The pale being paused for a moment and shook his finger, silently telling Seth not to ask.
¡°What I can tell you is that under normal circumstances, this is not an item you would be able to use for quite a while. I¡¯m talking a few centuries at the very least, and even then, I would say it still wouldn¡¯t be a good idea.¡± He claimed while folding his hands over each other and leaning back.
¡°But¡¡± Seth probed excitedly.
¡°But what? I just said you couldn¡¯t use it.¡± Folly rebuffed.
¡°You just said I couldn¡¯t use it under normal circumstances. So, I thought you were hinting at a way that I actually could use it under special conditions?¡± He questioned incredulously, annoyed at the obvious ignorance of the Umbra.
¡°I suppose I did say that didn¡¯t I?¡± He stated blandly.
Seth once again waiting for him to elaborate, but after a few seconds of silence, it was clear the pale man was not going to offer any more information on the subject. The young man was about to start complaining about his Umbra¡¯s lacking efforts, but then a slight tremor in the table shushed him. Looking down, he noticed that the table was once again showing signs of distress. The cracking was slower this time, but it was clear that whatever balance it had found before was failing.
Finally, a hypothesis sprung about in Seth¡¯s brain, and he turned his attention back to the Umbra who was now strangely erect in his seat and not showing any signs of life. It was almost like Folly had turned to a statue as not even a twitch marred his features for over a minute, making Seth connect the dots as to why Folly had yet to continue. He was clearly attempting to restrain himself, but Seth could tell that doing so was worsening the condition of the table, or should he say, Folly¡¯s control.
If he had to guess, it seemed that whatever state Folly was in now, aka his fully sane and business casual appearance, was no more than a temporary farse that was being used to actually negotiate with Seth for once. The earlier slip up was proof enough for his hypothesis. As it seemed like holding himself in such a state was taxing to some amount, hence the trickle of blood that was now dried up on his chin. Furthermore, perhaps the laws over Umbras they had just discussed also had a role to play in his unresponsiveness over the current topic. He still didn¡¯t fully understand why the Umbra couldn¡¯t act so normally every time they conversed, though. In the end, it didn¡¯t really matter that much to him, as he just needed his Umbra to stay reasonable for a little while longer to answer his questions.
Now, back to the issue at hand: Why are the circumstances at hand not ¡®normal¡¯.
Seth sat in silence as he mulled over all the tumultuous variables that surrounded his presence in Folly¡¯s domain. Minutes passed, and Seth could only think of a very short list of reasons as to why Folly believed there was a loophole for Seth to use the Umbral Heritage.
It has to be something related to those odd notifications I got at the end of the fight with Rulik¡ Wait, maybe it¡¯s because I somehow made him surrender himself to me!
But as soon as that thought entered Seth¡¯s mind, he noticed an audible crunch as a wave of new cracks ran over the surface of the table. He glanced back up to Folly, but didn¡¯t notice anything different.
¡°Well, I know it¡¯s not because Rulik surrendered to me.¡± He wondered aloud. Almost immediately, his bait seemed to work, as the cracks receded a few inches but didn¡¯t vanish altogether.
Ahah! So I¡¯m going to have to hot and cold this a bit. He affirmed with a new sense of confidence.
¡°It must be because I¡¯m more compatible with the Umbral Heritage than normal.¡±
Crack.
¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I don¡¯t have an Umbral Blessing yet, so the Umbral Heritage would fit in that slot.¡±
Crack.
¡°Nah, it probably has nothing to do with the Umbra.¡±
Seth sat for a moment in silence as no new crack appeared. Think I¡¯m getting warmer. Though he did note with a level of concern at the fact that half of the table was now fractured.
¡°Perhaps it has something to do with my race.¡±
Crack.
¡°Actually, it¡¯s probably because it doesn¡¯t have to do with what tier I am.¡±
Crack.
Seth stopped for a moment as he noticed this time the crack was a lot smaller than the previous ones.
A little bit of right and wrong then? He wondered.
He asked a couple more questions unrelated to his tier, but all of them received cracks in response. Now, nearly three-fourths of the table was shattered. He had a bad feeling about what would happen if the whole table broke, so instead of offering more theories, Seth took a break to think further about what the heritage would have to do with his tier.
Folly said that I wouldn¡¯t be able to use it for a long time under normal conditions. I¡¯m guessing he is referring to me being a higher tier by then. Hmm¡ that would also matchup as to why he let it slip that I shouldn¡¯t even know about them until way down the line. So, am I supposed to have some reason as to why I could use it now rather than at a higher tier? He pondered, still lost.
Finally, after almost half an hour of deliberation, a thought occurred to him.
¡°It¡¯s because I have a title that might let me use the Umbral Heritage.¡± He stated with certainty.
Silence was the only thing that met his claim, affirming his theory. Folly still hadn¡¯t moved yet though, so he assumed that there was still something else he needed to confirm.
¡°My newly evolved Goliath Hunter title might let me use the heritage.¡±
Then, as if time itself rewound, the table¡¯s cracks receded to about a third of the surface, and Folly twitched back into action.
¡°That seems like a novel idea, you must truly be a prodigy of the ages to have come up with such an interesting theory.¡± Folly congratulated with faux astonishment as he slid the disk across the table.
¡°It must have just been some sort of epiphany of mine.¡± Seth stated flatly as he reached for the tablet.
I guess I was right, it must have been against the rules to tell me anything more than that. But damn, isn¡¯t signaling with the table cheating?
He swiftly examined the imprinted disk, using Identify for the first time on the item.
-?????
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Figures. He inwardly sighed.
¡°I wonder if my theory should be tested now or later?¡± He wondered aloud.
¡°Well, as a humble bystander, I would say this experiment of yours would be better suited for a setting where your next tier is imminent.¡± Folly sagely added.
Nodding with understanding, Seth smoothly deposited the tablet back into his cache where it would most likely wait until the end of The Incubator when he would have the ability to enter the fifth tier. He still wasn¡¯t totally sure how that would work just yet but based on what he had been told by Drake and the others, The Incubator had a way of holding off your progress to the fifth tier until the duration of the event expired.
Also, if he abstained from using the heritage until then, he might be able to evolve his title once again, increasing his chance of success, though he still didn¡¯t even know his odds as of now because of the hidden description the Foundation provided upon inspection of the tablet. If he had to guess, they were probably abysmal.
¡°Well then, let¡¯s move on to more pressing matters.¡± The suited man said after watching Seth put away the item.
Fiddling with the items on the table once more, the albino hands of the Umbra sorted three piles out and placed them in front of the Seth. With a snap of his fingers, familiar purple fire enveloped the various items, and Seth was left with three new screens hovering in front of him.
¡°I can only provide one more item for you before my actions are counted as excessive. Choose one of these and be on your way, but remember what I told you about your concept, lest I be a bit firmer with my instructions in the future.¡± The Umbra said with no spark of humor.
Seth temporarily ignored the screens, as he could tell that upon choosing one of them, he would be sent back to reality. This was not something he wanted just yet, as even though all the information and stuff Folly gave him so far would be incredibly helpful, (especially his hand), Seth had only completed half of his objective for coming here.
¡°I still have things I wanted to talk to you about.¡± He stated firmly, as he knew this was the part of the meeting that would be the hardest to navigate.
Folly slumped back into his chair with a loud sigh followed by a muffled giggle as he regarded Seth.
¡°I give you so much and yet you always want more! Tell me little one, does that sound fair at all? I¡¯ll have you know that this isn¡¯t easy for me. Don¡¯t you remember when I told you about my captors? Do you truly wish for me to be battered and bruised due to your greed?¡± He groused with a hint of annoyance.
Seth was quiet for a moment as he focused his thoughts. Folly clearly didn¡¯t care for the oncoming flurry of questions, but just the fact he didn¡¯t deny him outright was enough for Seth.
¡°What is a Fiend?¡± He asked.
¡°Seriously? That¡¯s what you want to know? Null¡¯s sake you baby shapers are so oblivious! I don¡¯t understand why it matters, but a Fiend is a race purely derived from mortals, it has no true origin.¡± The suited man answered with a bored tone.
Seth thought about Folly¡¯s response for a moment. I guess that aligns somewhat with the explanation of that commander-what¡¯s-his-name.
¡°You say it comes directly from mortals, right? What makes someone turn into a Fiend?¡± He questioned further.
¡°It can be a variety of things. Generally, it¡¯s anything that caused a significant change to one¡¯s soul. Now that doesn¡¯t mean everyone who experiences soul trauma will become a Fiend. It takes some specific criteria of events that surrounded the soul trauma to happen in order for a Fiend to be born. Also, even if one has the specific criteria and soul trauma, there is a chance that they will not become a Fiend either. The only thing that this event does is provide the option to evolve into a Fiend, so even if you have the Fiend race marker, you could still go your entire existence without becoming one.¡± He drawled on.
¡°But what is the specific criteria that causes someone to become a Fiend? And what makes someone evolve into one after they attain the marker?¡± Seth investigated with exasperation. It almost felt like the Umbra was purposefully edging around the important details to piss him off.
¡°Eh, it¡¯s impossible to say, it could be a number of things, no two cases are the same. For example, one person could murder their entire bloodline and not attain the marker, but another could do the same with only a few relatives and they still somehow become a Fiend. I know another shaper like yourself that became a Fiend after sacrificing their best friend¡¯s newborn. Like I said, it¡¯s impossible to say. If I had to give a loose theory, I would say it stems from a soul trauma where the person destroys the thing most im- ARGH!!!¡± Folly suddenly stopped his explanation as a loud crack shook the black room.
Seth stood up in fright as the table in front of him almost completely shattered right in the middle of Folly¡¯s explanation. The Umbra himself was looking no better, as black and crimson blood began dribbling from not only his mouth, but also from the pores all along his body, staining his opal suit a dark shade of brown. Despite the horrific looking state of the Umbra, Folly didn¡¯t seem very surprised and put on a joking frown as he shook his fist at the ceiling.
¡°Well fuck you too! Fine! I won¡¯t talk about it anymore! Now go bother some orphan child or something since you like to kick those while they¡¯re down you witless tyrant!¡± He roared in empty rage.
The blood-covered Umbra gave one last obscene gesture to the air before sitting back down and regarding Seth with a glint of annoyance in his smirk.
¡°Well, it looks like our meeting will be cut short. Thanks for stopping by, little one, but I find myself in dire need of some rest. Make your last choice quickly so I can send you back to the mortal realm.¡± He sighed with a tired wave of his six fingered hand.
Seth could only sputter in response as the three screens he had put aside beforehand now took up his entire vision. He still wanted Folly to finish what he was talking about earlier, and he also still had a handful of other questions that needed answered. Unfortunately, it looked like fate was not on his side yet again, and he was resigned to just examining the descriptions in front of him.
Catalyst for Amalgamation of Fears:
-Grants Amalgamation of Fears (Requirements: Aligned Ability (Insanity Eternal) )
Amalgamation of Fears:
-Let your victim¡¯s mind be their own undoing. Allows the user to delve into the memories of their opponent to a small extent through physical contact.
Catalyst for Grim Encumbrance:
-Grants Grim Encumbrance (Requirements: Aligned Ability (Presence of Doom) )
Grim Encumbrance:
-Instill the inevitability of Doom into your enemies. Allows the user to inflict Terrify, Impending Doom, and Vitality Leech.
Catalyst for Opposing Force:
-Grants Opposing Force (Requirements: Aligned Ability (Eye of Opposition) )
Opposing Force
-Let no mongrel tread upon you. Massively increases the user¡¯s resistance to suppression effects.
Despite Seth¡¯s surprise in the face of the apparent divine punishment that reigned down on Folly from an unknown source, he was still able to rationally analyze the new options in front of him. It seemed all the items that were offered were ability items, though he wasn¡¯t complaining. Also, it seemed that they were somewhat of lower quality than Anar or Fear Itself, as their descriptions were a lot clearer and didn¡¯t boast any game breaking effects.
As he went through the three, he immediately ruled out Grim Encumbrance. Seth didn¡¯t doubt that debuffs would be useful, but honestly he didn¡¯t think it would fit his fighting style, especially since his abilities seemed to be all leaning toward melee strengths.
Secondly, after a few moments of thinking, he also ruled out Opposing Force. It would be nice to finally have another branch ability for Eye of Opposiition, but he didn¡¯t think this one was the best fit. Also, he was fairly sure Folly¡¯s words earlier were hinting at the possibility of him discovering his own branch ability for it anyway.
Opposing Force was a new kind of ability for him, but he also didn¡¯t think he needed suppression resistance either, as he knew how Anima Influence felt, and he knew that anyone on his level wouldn¡¯t be able to negatively affect him enough for it to be worth it. If someone of higher tier thought to pick a fight with him, Seth might be in trouble, but he also wasn¡¯t looking for any fights with high tiered shapers in the first place.
Also, let¡¯s be honest, Amalgamation of Fears sounded like the exact ability he needed to get everything out of his Fear Itself ability. To this day, Seth had only been using his illusion ability to create distractions and trickery, but that wasn¡¯t even the main power of his ability. He had discovered during the group challenge that accosting his enemies with something they were afraid of was way more effective and even boosted his ability upon use. For example, when fighting the weird slug monster in a match, Seth had experimented with a fire illusion that ended up attaining a will of its own as it made the monster writhe in fear.
Seth hadn¡¯t been able to replicate that effect on many monsters, much less any shapers. So with this new ability that offered him an avenue into his opponent¡¯s mind, let¡¯s just say Seth was more than excited to test it out. Finalizing his choice, the other two descriptions disappeared and a plain grey pearl was deposited directly into Seth¡¯s cache, waiting for him to use it in the real world.
Pushing aside his anticipation for the catalyst item, Seth tried to hastily ask Folly one more question before he was kicked out of his domain. But with a single finger held up by his Umbra, Seth found himself unable to speak.
¡°I don¡¯t have enough patience for any more of your questions, so I will leave you with a bit of advice you best take to heart. Number one: You are a Fiend due to your actions, not mine. And number two: I don¡¯t care about other Umbras slighting shapers in their free time, that is not why I helped you.¡± Folly scraped away a smear of dried blood, revealing an unsettling frown that caused Seth¡¯s whole body to shiver.
¡°Remember this, Seth Shrike.¡±
¡°I hate when others mess with my plans.¡±
62- New Discoveries
Seth¡¯s head rocked back as his consciousness returned to the mortal realm. Dim outlines of his surroundings were lit by the purple tinted vision of True Sight. For a moment, he had forgotten he was still in Rulik¡¯s pit, so the wave of stench that once again assaulted his nostrils caused him to retch anew.
Christ, I need to get out of here. He grumbled before pinching his nose.
But before he could leave, there was one thing still on Seth¡¯s agenda. After tying a new rag across his face, Seth turned to the leftover remains of the old monarch that he has slain. ¡®Remains¡¯ was a generous term, as after he had used Plunder, there was nothing more than a shriveled husk left over. The corpse¡¯s abuse was not yet finished though, as Seth could still sense the faint aura of Rulik¡¯s anima still waiting to be claimed.
He didn¡¯t immediately go to use Anima Thief though, as there were some hiccups that he was worried about. For one, Rulik had been a tier eight beast, meaning that his anima was on a level that Seth wasn¡¯t sure he even dared to meddle with. He remembered the first time he had tried to steal the anima of an Xtrey Hound while still at tier one. It had ended favorably, but it had been a feat only achievable through the endless mass of Fouler animas he had stored up beforehand.
Unfortunately for Seth, not only did he not have an army as backup, but the anima was four tiers above him. Also, the anima was one not in the Configuring Stage like himself, so Seth had no idea what to expect. To make matters worse, Rulik had apparently been a shaper, and the last two times Seth had attempted to steal a shaper¡¯s anima, he had failed.
Something did feel different about this time though, so Seth did have a spark of confidence in the endeavor, even if it was miniscule. As he approached the corpse once more, Seth felt a palpable pressure surrounding the husk. Before he could even wonder what had caused the change, he was hit with what felt like a mental wave full of contempt. Finally, Seth realized that the anima sitting before him was actually the vestiges of Rulik¡¯s being, meaning that the anima still had some amount of sentience left over despite Rulik being dead.
The weird thing was¡ Seth didn¡¯t really feel threatened despite the obvious rebellion of the leftover monster. Reaching a hand forward, he felt more and more waves of rage, bloodlust, and desperation roll over him like a hurricane. Seth could feel it though. He knew that the anima was still bound by the actions of its owner. This meant that no matter how much it wanted to fight Seth, to fight it¡¯s fate, it had no way of opposing the little tier four shaper even with the insurmountable gap in power.
His confidence swelling, Seth grinned as he activated Anima Thief, causing the rest of the body to dissipate into dust. Like a floodgate opening up, a torrent of black oil erupted from the dust, bigger and more volatile than any he had ever seen before. As the mass began formulating into a most terrifying version of Rulik¡¯s prime, Seth noticed that the anima was almost completely corporeal. To him, it felt like the monarch¡¯s anima was only a small step away from being truly tangible, something that felt like it held some sort of weight in the grand scheme of things.
A few moments later, the roiling storm of onyx energy formed into a huge nightmare of a monster that towered over Seth. The previously milky white eyes and blank features became a mask of razor sharp teeth and cold red eyes. It was like Rulik had been revived and rewound in time, leaving only a being of terror and incomprehensible might.
Suddenly, the beast let out a mighty roar before charging him. Seth instinctively raised his hands in defense only to be left in surprise as the hulking figure disappeared in a storm of darkness that was drained into the various spots of black vortex on Seth¡¯s person.
The young shaper grimaced in pain as the pieces of Presence of Doom began heating up to a boil. Bracing himself, Seth decided to wait it out as the searing sensation started to level off, leaving him covered in sweat. Reaching his fingers up to brush his nose, he pulled his hand away only to find a large smear of black blood dripping down his palm. A brief checked showed that his ears and eyes had also bled generously during the induction of Rulik¡¯s hefty anima.
Regardless of the uncomfortable experience of absorbing the high tiered anima, Seth couldn¡¯t help but feel elated as he felt a new surge of power run through his entire being. It was so strong that even though the pain was gone, Seth felt cramped as his body could barely constrain the influx of the monarch¡¯s energy.
With a thought, the node below his throat opened up to pour the Concept of Resonance through his cells, allowing his body to resonate with the power and adapt to it at an astounding rate.
********
Seth finally opened his eyes after what felt like an eternity. Although the process wasn¡¯t near instantaneous like when he used it to handle a tier up, Seth still felt like the concept flowing through him was saving days, possibly weeks in meditation that he would¡¯ve had to do to consolidate all of the unrestrained power of the tier eight monster.
Now he felt like a new man, though his limbs were a bit stiff; proof that he had been standing still resonating with the energy for a long time. He noticed there were of course some new notifications waiting for him, but he ignored them and instead checked the time. He let out a sigh of relief as the clock only showed he had been in the pit for two days, meaning that he hadn¡¯t lost any significant amount of time that could¡¯ve been better spent in the next dimension.
Well, honestly I don¡¯t think there could¡¯ve been any better way to spend my time. He thought with a stupid grin on his face as he excitedly opened up his notifications and ability screens. He could feel Rulik¡¯s anima inside his Anima Reservoir; the new, much less effective version of Anima Abyss, so Seth was anxious to find out what kind of boost the ancient monster would provide.
-Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter anima stolen.
-Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter anima can be slotted into the sub-aspect: Anima Prison.
-Slotting a tier eight anima into Anima Prison will permanently alter the aspect ability: Anima Prison.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
-Would you like to slot Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter anima?
Seth went to immediately approve the prompt, but stopped as he realized the language was different than the last time he had tried to slot animas into his weapon. The only reason he hesitated was because of the word ¡®alter¡¯. The last time any of his abilities had been altered was when Gaia had fucked with him, although this one was only on an aspect ability while she had changed his actual aligned ability, Presence of Doom. He couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of dread at the use of that specific language.
Seth suddenly let out a scoff as he smacked himself in head with disgust and annoyance. I¡¯m seriously going to let a bit of vocabulary stop me from getting stronger? Don¡¯t be a fucking pussy man!
Biting his lip, he mentally assented with forced concentration.
- Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter anima has been slotted, Shade Predator anima deposited back into Anima Reservoir.
-The aspect ability: Anima Prison has been altered! Anima Prison can now also use abilities that the anima¡¯s previous owner used due to the alteration!
Anima Prison:
-The item can use the power of the anima it holds. (Current Inhabitant: Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter (Tier Eight), Current Ability: Slaughter Sense)
Once more, Seth was beset by a huge wave of agony as his abilities were altered. An itching sensation also burrowed into his ears, nose, eyes, and skin. But as quickly as the pain came, it was gone just as fast. Seth inhaled deeply, only to regret it as a new, more distinct wave of stench invaded his nostrils.
With his eyes watering, Seth fought back the putrid scent, noticing with interest and a bit of annoyance that his sense of smell was sharper than before. Not only that, but through his tears he could also see through the heavy darkness that was constant throughout the deep pit. Beforehand, he had navigated around using the purple outlines provided by True Sight, but now, his gaze seemed to better sense the sparse lighting in the lair, giving him a dim but visible layout of his surroundings.
Sensing a trend, Seth also snapped his fingers next to his ears, causing a slightly painful ring of noise to echo through his brain. It seemed that his newest ability gained from Rulik¡¯s anima naturally heightened all of his senses. Well duh, it¡¯s called ¡®Slaughter Sense¡¯. He thought.
He thought about taking another couple minutes to cycle his Concept Moon of Resonance, but decided against it, as he REALLY wanted to get out of the horrid smelling pit. Ten or so minutes later, Seth found himself back above ground, a few hundreds meters away from the caustic pond and horrible smell.
After a moment of thought, Seth decided to settle into his old meditation technique that Blair showed him. Slowly moving through the forms allowed him to still his mind; a much needed action in the face of his recent confrontations with not one but two ancient beings. The meditation was also required for him to attain some aspect of rest.
For he had not slept one single time since the end of the group challenge.
********
The Sckriz¡¯Ul dashed through the dark swamp, eager to find it¡¯s next victim. It¡¯s thin body ignored most trees as it simply phased through them using it¡¯s racial ability. Since all the powerful beasts that spoke in strange tongues left, the Schriz¡¯Ul had been undefeated in the entire city that it previously resided in. This was why the monster was currently venturing deep into the swamp that had bordered their city for so long, as it could no longer find any worthy prey back in it¡¯s own territory.
So far, the prey had been laughably weak and too reliant on their own bestial instincts to beat the Sckriz¡¯Ul¡¯s superior phasing ability. There had been a couple so far that left the monster in a partially injured state, but now it was completely healed and of course victorious over the clearly inferior beings. This was especially true after it had successfully killed a snake-like monster with a particularly weird aura that made the Sckriz¡¯Ul feel instinctively afraid. It was on the border of the swamp though, so of course the monster used it¡¯s all-powerful abilities to slay the snake, resulting in the Sckriz¡¯Ul gaining a significant boost in power.
It could feel that it now exuded a similar aura to the snake it had killed, but the Sckriz¡¯Ul couldn¡¯t figure out the incredibly complex cosmic truth that connected it¡¯s gain in power to the new aura. The Sckriz¡¯Ul did not understand what had caused the abrupt gain in strength, but it was not complaining as it tore through the rest of the area, killing everything in it¡¯s path to try and gain another spontaneous rise in power.
This trend continued on for a couple days with the monster finding no beast strong enough to face it. The Sckriz¡¯Ul traversed deeper into the swamp, entering a section that seemed to reek of death. Finally, a new strand of aura was found, and it seemed to belong to a creature the Sckriz¡¯Ul had not came across before. The monster let out a grating shriek that was obviously an expression of happiness at finding a new victim to stalk. The Sckriz¡¯Ul shot through the swamp, using it¡¯s phasing ability freely in an effort to find it¡¯s prey as soon as possible.
Within moments, the strand turned into a thick haze, and the monster¡¯s razor sharp claws clanged together with anticipation. Finally, the monster caught sight of it¡¯s prey, but suddenly the creature stopped in place. An instinctual fear wracked through it¡¯s body, causing it to freeze in place and halt it¡¯s advance. The feeling was different than when the Sckriz¡¯Ul had first seen the snake at the beginning of the swamp, but it was no less overpowering.
The monster could tell that this new creature¡¯s aura was within the same strength level as itself, but the taste of it¡¯s presence was something that still warranted some amount of caution. Instead of going the normal method of rushing prey, the Sckriz¡¯Ul felt a strange urge to use it¡¯s best technique: Phase Stealth. It was a skill that the monster almost felt sorry to use, as the creature was just sitting still on a branch, seemingly ignorant and unalert. It¡¯s eyes even seemed to be glassy and bland, making the monster question why the creature had such an unnerving presence.
Despite it¡¯s observations, the Sckriz¡¯Ul still followed it¡¯s bestial instincts, approaching the resting prey with a slow but undetectable march. Even if it usually phased through trees with abandon, that didn¡¯t mean the monster was unable to climb up the large tree that it¡¯s prey resided on, as it¡¯s lengthy claws were easily able to penetrate the bark, allowing it to slither up the tree in silence. It didn¡¯t take long before the Sckriz¡¯Ul was directly behind the semi-furry creature with the blank eyes.
After one final check to see if any other beasts were in the area, the monster fully extended it¡¯s claws and even activated it¡¯s most powerful combat ability that caused the tips of it¡¯s bodily weapon to be tainted with darkness. Unable to control itself any more, the Sckriz¡¯Ul pounced, it¡¯s claws aimed directly for the prey¡¯s open back.
********
¡°So that¡¯s how it works.¡± A surprised voice said as a blast of crimson blood showered all over the purple bark of the large tree.
The corpse that used to be a Sckriz¡¯Ul was now spread out all over the floor of the swamp, as well as splattered on a multitude of trees. It seemed that the monster had thought it could sneak up on him, though he didn¡¯t know why it had even tried given the fact that the tree he was on creaked loudly every time the long nails of the monster was pulled from the bark.
Even without that handicap, the Sckriz¡¯Ul truly had no chance of beating Seth, as he had discovered a small aspect of his new Slaughter Sense ability. It seemed that other than the enhanced senses the ability gave him, he also had some passive sense of life around him. Even with the stealth skills of the Sckriz¡¯Ul, it had been for naught as he had clearly felt it¡¯s presence the second it had come within twenty or so meters of him.
¡°I mean that is a pretty cool aspect, but is that it?¡± He sighed with a note of disappointment.
Piercing the stealth ability of a tier four monster was a pretty good passive skill provided by the old power of Rulik¡¯s, but Seth had expected more of a tier eight¡¯s ability.
Maybe it¡¯s about time I start up a little experiment.