《A Virus Life For Me》 Death and Rebirth Prologue: Death and Rebirth It seemed so clich¨¦. I mean how many times had I read stories about someone rescuing a person right before dying and instead they die, ending up in a white room in front of a being that could only be described as godlike. I mean there were a few variations in my story. I was not hit by a truck, instead ironically I was crushed by a falling ¡°Safety First¡± sign at work. I saw one corner start to twist and fall and noticed that someone was underneath the sign, without even thinking I rushed forward and pushed the person out of the way and had enough time to look up before I was overcome by blackness and then I ended up here. The room was not white, but instead it looked like an endless plain of clouds with a large being or person sitting in a throne. However, he/she/it was not alone. On either side was another being. Each of these people/gods was smaller than the one in the throne. Maybe children or a status thing? I guess now was the time to figure out what was going to happen to me. I guess I should be upset about my death, but for some reason I was extremely calm. Not happy or sad, but just ambivalent. It was almost like my emotions were being manipulated. The large person/god in the throne spoke. ¡°Welcome Mark Stefanopolis, due to your extreme bravery and rescue of another living sentient being you have been granted this audience. Most souls just enter the cycle of reincarnation and move on to their next world without this meeting. Your selfless deed allows you a limited choice in your next cycle.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°I see, I do not know how I should address you, but thank you for the explanation.¡± ¡°You may call me the Overbeing. I watch and judge this planet and several others in the reincarnation cycle.¡± ¡°Very well Mr. Overbeing, can you explain what my choices are?¡± ¡°Yes, the first choice is to live a similar life of bipedal sentience, however no special services will be provided. Your second choice is to enter into a life of struggle, however you will have an opportunity for greatness appear later in life. Finally, your third and final choice is to become an evolver.¡± ¡°Can you explain the evolver a bit more?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, due to constraints placed upon me all I can say is that it has the greatest potential of all three but also is the most difficult. I can tell you that you will start small and unimpressive and will work your way up to a position of extreme power. I also can inform you that you can have limited interaction and choice through something that would best be described in your experience as a game screen.¡± Interesting, so it seems my choices are between a safe but mediocre life, a challenging but rewarding life, or a life of mystery that could reward me greatly. Who am I kidding, I always wanted to be able to control my life a little more and the game screen thing just seals the deal. I am definitely going for option 3. ¡°Mr. Overbeing, I would like to choose option 3 and become an evolver.¡± ¡°Very well, I will now send you on your way.¡± My consciousness started to fade out and I felt a floating feeling taking over my body/soul/existence. Right before I faded out completely I heard a different voice speak. ¡°Now that you have killed this generations hero are we safe in our position of power for another 100 years?¡± I heard the Overbeing respond, ¡°Shut up you fool he can still hear us.¡± Blackness was the last thing I remembered after that. 1 - Becoming A Virus Chapter 1 Becoming A Virus When I regained consciousness there was a floating blue screen in front of me:
Choose your starting race: Karma Points Available: 5,000 1. Virus 3,000 pts (Highest Potential for Evolution, all races & variants available) 2. Slime 1,500 pts (All Monster Race Evolutions available) 3. Goblin 250 pts (Limited to Goblin/Orc Race evolutions) 4. Minotaur 500 pts (Limited to Ogre/Giant race evolutions) 5. Fungus 1,500 pts (All plant races and variants available)
That no good lying Overbeing. He is the one responsible for my death. A rage like no other I had ever felt in my life started to take over my thoughts. Revenge! I must get revenge! He was obviously scared of me or my potential, but had manipulated my emotions and situation to his advantage. I do not care how long it takes, I will see him again on my own terms and deal with his manipulations of my life. I mean it wasn¡¯t the greatest life ever, but it was mine, and he had no right to kill me just on the chance I might upset his little Overbeing position of power. All he has done is to make sure that I now have him as my ultimate goal. Enough, I need to remain calm. I have to pick a race that will allow me to advance my agenda and eventually pay the Overbeing back for his trickery. I look over the list another time. It looks like I will be in a world that has races and beings different from my own. It also seems that the Overbeing has limited my choices to races that I am not familiar with. This may be in a bid to make sure I do not survive and move on quickly. I do not even know why I retained my memories at this point and I have no guarantee that another reincarnation will allow me to keep them. So if I want to get revenge it will have to be in this reincarnation cycle. That rules out Numbers 3 and 4 of the list. Anything that has the world limited in it probably is not going to get me to a point where I can have my revenge. Let¡¯s see, that leaves either virus, slime, or fungus. It seems that the lower something is on the evolutionary tree the more potential it has. I think I have to eliminate fungus. While it sounds good, I honestly do not know if this new world will have plant races that allow movement or great upgrades. I mean if I pick it will my ultimate evolution be a redwood tree or something? Better play it safe and eliminate it as a choice. The slime seems perfect but once again I am limited in my knowledge of the new world. It is obviously able to become anything from choice 3 or 4, but that might a limitation. I do not know what monster races are available. It may be a trap like the plant races. What if there is no monster race powerful enough to get the revenge I need. That just leaves me with one choice, virus. With virus it says that all races and variants are possible. That means if I am careful and figure out some of the most powerful races in this new world I could easily follow the evolutionary tree to become them. There is even a possibility that I could evolve into something from another world because it does say all races and variants. If I remember my game knowledge correctly variants usually have special abilities the normal type of organisms does not have. The last point to solidify my decision is the cost of the virus reincarnation. It is 3,000 pts. That is twice that of the next choice. This indicates that it is probably more powerful in the long run even if it starts out simple. Speaking of Karma Points just what the heck are they? I mean it is obvious enough that you can have good Karm and bad Karma, but how is it assigned or determined and is it worth anything besides my initial choice. Hold on the Overbeing did say that there was limited interaction with the game screens. Maybe if I think a command I can check on stuff before I make my final decision. Alright, Help. Nothing, how about Karma Help? Nope still nothing. There must be something that can help me out. Let¡¯s try Karma List.
1. Good Life ¨C 500 points 2. Sacrifice ¨C 500 points 3. Outside Interference ¨C 4,000 points Total Karma available for reincarnation 5,000 points
Wow, that actually worked. It must be a function of the use of the word Karma and a specific reference. Let¡¯s try, Karma Evolution.
Karma Evolution Points are locked until Reincarnation Race is selected.
Ok, well at least I know that it works. Maybe this means that I can guide my evolution through the use of Karma points. I wonder if the Overbeing knew that I would have these options? It seems like I would not even have enough Karma points to consider the better reincarnation races if he did not interfere with my life. His interference may just be the key to his downfall. If I can figure out how to keep accumulating Karma points then every time I evolve I can guide the evolution towards what I need to become stronger. This has possibilities. Enough thinking, time to take the plunge. I choose Option 1 Virus as my starting race.
Virus Race Selected Karma Points: 2,000This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Available options for virus race: 1. Absorption - 200 pts 2. Hidden ¨C 250 pts 3. Chemical Resistance - 100 pts 4. Magic Resistance ¨C 250 pts 5. Adaptable ¨C 500 pts 6. Heat Resistance ¨C 100 pts 7. Cold Resistance ¨C 100 pts 8. Airborne ¨C 200 pts 9. Waterborne ¨C 100 pts 10. Predator ¨C 500 pts
It looks like I can add several options to my race. One of the interesting things is that the options confirm that the world I am going to has magic or at least the potential for it. I thought that it might when I saw what would be considered fantasy creatures in my choices for races, but confirmation is nice to have. Going with point logic I should definitely get both Adaptable and Predator as options. 500 points is a lot so they must be good choices. Being adaptable is always a good thing and I would definitely rather be the predator instead of the prey. That would leave me with another 1,000 Karma points to spend. I definitely want all of the resistances that are available. Anything that will help me survive until I can get a better read on the situation has to be helpful. So if I add Chemical Resistance, Magical Resistance, Heat Resistance, and Cold resistance that will leave me with 450 points of Karma left to spend. Now the choices get harder. I think I will take absorption for 200 Karma points, that just sounds like something a microbe needs. Finally, my last choice will be Airborne for another 200 points. This will leave me with a balance of 50 Karma Points in case something comes up that I can use it for in the future. A lot of people may have gone for Hidden, but I figure with my resistances I have that covered. I also decided that if I remember my high school biology that Airborne diseases are the most devastating and hardest to stop so selecting that as the method of transport seemed to make sense. I mentally confirm my choices and have my consciousness start to fade into black once again. I regain my sense of self and feel a floating sensation. It almost feels as if I am surrounded by water on all sides. This is weird, I can ¡°feel¡± my surroundings and somehow interpret the sensation but I cannot ¡°see¡± anything. I assume that I have been ¡°reborn¡± as virus and that I have probably been placed is some organism. Hmm, my next step should probably be to find a cell to infect and start the process of making more of me. That just sounds weird when I think it aloud. Wait, can you even think aloud? Wow without my normal senses my attention is everywhere. I concentrate as best I can on the feeling I have of my surroundings. I want to see if I focus if I can perhaps at least identify objects around me. I may not know what kind of cell they might be but if I can at least recognize shapes or sizes I might have a better guess on which one to attack. After some time, really I have no idea how long without senses the passage of time is hard to measure, I start to ¡°Sense¡± with greater clarity the objects around me. Floating in the same liquid as me are round or oval objects and the sides of the container we are floating in seems to be made of large rectangles. Occasionally I sense bizarrely shaped objects move past me very quickly and disrupt the liquid I am floating in. Ok think Mark, remember your high school biology. I never thought that a class I had taken so long ago might be what saves or helps me in my life. Smaller round things floating in a liquid, but still larger than me, probably some type of blood cell floating in the plasma. The large rectangles are probably the cells that make up the walls of the blood vessels we are floating through, and finally the oddly shaped quick moving shapes are most likely other microbes such as bacteria that can move around and not just float along like a virus. If my guesses are correct I should be able to choose between these three types of targets for my first invasion of a cell. All things considered for my first attack I think I will try for other microbes. While there are a lot more of the floating red blood cells and the walls are everywhere surrounding us, I do not want to trigger an immune system response. I should be able to take over and use other microbes without having this hosts body react negatively. This should allow me to experiment and develop without causing my host to become sick or die. This is especially important right now as I have no idea who or what I am in and how I can spread to another organism. I mean I am not even sure what is going to happen when I finally am able to invade a cell. Now it is just a waiting game. As soon as a passing microbe runs into me I will try and attach and attack. After a long time or at least what I think is a long time I ¡°feel¡± one of the oddly shaped organisms brush against me. I immediately concentrate on sticking to it. My focus is rewarded and I can sense that I have been welded to the passing microbe. I am being carried along with it as it maneuvers around the blood stream. Ok, phase one is complete now how do I attack. Think Mark, alright if my memory serves the virus drills into a cell and releases its genetic information in essence hijacking the cell it is infecting and then uses it to reproduce. I start to focus on the concept of drilling and release into the microbe I am attached to. After some time I can discern something is different. It feels like my mind or consciousness is transferring into some new vessel. This could be it. I really hope this is me transferring into the microbe and not something else. In just a little more time I ¡°feel¡± myself completely slip out of my old self and enter into a new environment. I get the impression of confinement and not being as free as before, but before I can do more than just experience the new sensations I see another blue box appear.
Available Options for Infection of Bacteria A: 1. Reproduction and dispersal of new viral units 2. Hibernation 3. Absorption of traits
Huh, all the choices are pretty straight forward. For safety¡¯s sake I should probably reproduce and disperse new viruses that way it is not just my lone virus. In fact, how would that even work? Do I have direct control over all newly created viruses? Well there is only one way to find out. I mentally select choice 1 reproduction and dispersal of new viral units.
New viral units will be ready to disperse in 12 hours Would you like to designate roles of new units at this time?
Interesting, so I can decide how my new viruses will act when they are released. That probably means that my main consciousness will travel with the genetic package I currently have and the others will act more like autonomous units. However, I still do not know what the end game is. I do not understand how I can evolve. Worrying about it won¡¯t help, I will just have to figure this out as I go along. I mentally answer the blue screen with, YES I WOULD LIKE TO DESIGNATE ROLES OF NEW UNITS.
Available Options for Viral Unit Designations: Reproduce and disperse new viral units with similar cells 0% Attack new cells and reproduce and disperse viral units 0% Hibernate inside similar cells 0% Infect and absorb new traits from similar cells 0%
That is different. I only have a few options and it seems I can use a set percentage of whatever new viral units are produced to perform certain objectives. I do not know if it is perpetual or if I will have to select it each time new viral units are made. Let¡¯s see I think a nice balance between Options 1, 3, and 4 will be my best bet. I still want to avoid the hosts cells at least until I spread out and have more viruses as back up. I am assuming that if my central consciousness is destroyed that I will switch over to another one of the viruses. I do not know if this is true, but since the only way of testing it is to die I think that I will wait on that particular experiment. 2 - The Infection Spreads Chapter 2 The Infection Spreads Alright I mentally select Option 1 and set it to 50%, there now half of all new viruses should keep reproducing providing me with a neat little army in a short amount of time. Option 3 I set at 10%, I want a few viruses to hibernate and basically hide inside of other cells just in case something goes wrong. Finally, I put Option 4 at the remaining 40%, this should give me a good variety of new traits or at least let me figure out how absorption works. The wait this time even though I know it is only 12 hours seems ridiculously long. I finally have a short term goal which makes waiting extremely hard. I try and plan for the future but falls apart once I realize that I still do not have enough information about the organism I am in, let alone the whole new world I am present in. Tick Tock the clock keeps moving. I review everything I know and then start to actually sing songs in my head to pass the time. I already know one disadvantage of being a virus. I do not get tired and I have to fill the time with something or else I am going to go insane. After 12 hours I felt like there was a pressure building up all around me. Suddenly the pressure went away and I could feel myself floating in the blood stream of my host once again. Hmm, the pressure must have been from the cell I was in filling up to the point of bursting and releasing all the new viruses I had it make. I wonder if I can switch to another virus? Virus Switch. Nope. Virus View. Nothing. Virus List.
Total Virus Units: 1,500 Reproduction: 750 Attack: 0 Hibernation: 150 Absorption: 600
Ok, that was not what I was looking for, but at least it gives me an overview of what is going on. Wow, 1500 viruses from one infection. I do not know if this is a lot or not, but it means that it will not take long for my minions/army to grow into the millions. How am I going to even be able to keep track of numbers like that? I hope the solution to the problem will present itself when needed. I guess I can find another microbe to invade and wait for the next round of virus releases to see if anything changes. I start to focus on everything around me until I come into contact again with another victim and attach myself. I drill in and select the same options as before. No need to change things until I have more data to analyze. Twelve hours later and many songs I feel the pressure and release again. Virus List.
Total Virus Units: 1,128,000 Reproduction: 564,000 Attack: 0 Hibernation: 112,800 Absorption: 451,200
I severely underestimated my reproduction rate. I do not even know if my current rate of reproduction can be sustained. I mean how many microbes are even in a body. I guess that would depend on the size of the body I was in, but I have no indication of that. Wait, maybe I can figure it out now. Absorption Skills. Absorption List. There it is.
Viral Traits: 1. Absorption Level 1 ¨C 33% 2. Hidden Level 0 ¨C 12% 3. Chemical Resistance Level 1 ¨C 27% 4. Magic Resistance Level 1 ¨C 14% 5. Adaptable Level 1 ¨C 20% 6. Heat Resistance Level 1 ¨C 46% 7. Cold Resistance Level 1 ¨C 37% 8. Airborne Level 1 ¨C 26% 9. Waterborne Level 0 ¨C 8% 10. Predator Level 1 ¨C 67% 11. Insectborne Level 0 ¨C 5% 12. Sexual Transmission Level 0 ¨C 2% 13. Hive Mind Level 0 ¨C 1%
Interesting. It shows all of my choices to be at level 1 with what I guess is the experience earned towards a new level. I think the experience comes from organisms that have similar methods of reproduction, resistances or traits. I am pretty sure that the level 0 traits are from this last round of absorption as some of the ones on the list were not even available to me when I chose initially. I assume when the experience reaches 100% then I will possess that trait and will be able to use it. I guess I will just continue on until something changes or I get so bored I am forced to try new things. After 24 hours I got an unexpected blue screen.
Requirements met to spread infection. 1. 10 million viruses 2. Level 2 reached in a transmission method Would you like to infect other organisms? Y/N
Well now. This is interesting. So before I can go from one organism to another I needed to have a level 2 transmission method. Wait a minute if I had not taken absorption as a trait would I have even been able to get to level 2? I better not think about it, just chalk this one up to luck. I think it is time to spread the love. YES.
Current chance of infecting another organism is 1%. Infection chance goes up with level and virus numbers.
So if I continue to expand in my current host I can increase the likelihood of infection in another organism. Speaking of which I still do not know what I am in. That lack of information is really bugging me. I wonder how many viruses I have now anyway? Virus List.
Total Virus Units: 18,763,412 Reproduction: 9,381,706 Attack: 0 Hibernation: 1,876,341 Absorption: 7,505,365
That is not the number I was expecting. If my progress was linear I would have expected to have 100¡¯s of millions of viruses at this point. I guess that this is a function of me limiting what I prey upon. There can only be so many microbes in a host that I can infect. The number of viruses contacting viable microbes to expand must be dropping. I guess it could also be the host organism attacking my viruses, but I would expect to see some sort of notification for that. Something about being attacked, but since I have nothing to compare it too I cannot rule out the possibility. I wonder which method actually made it to level 2 though. Absorption List.
Viral Traits: 1. Absorption Level 1 ¨C 84% 2. Hidden Level 0 ¨C 23% 3. Chemical Resistance Level 1 ¨C 41% 4. Magic Resistance Level 1 ¨C 22% 5. Adaptable Level 1 ¨C 55% 6. Heat Resistance Level 2 ¨C 6%Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. 7. Cold Resistance Level 1 ¨C 95% 8. Airborne Level 2 ¨C 11% 9. Waterborne Level 0 ¨C 21% 10. Predator Level 2 ¨C 28% 11. Insectborne Level 0 ¨C 11% 12. Sexual Transmission Level 0 ¨C 3% 13. Hive Mind Level 0 ¨C 4% 14. Bloodborne Level 0 ¨C 12%
Airborne huh. I guess that is the best one I could hope for as long as whatever I am in is not solitary and mixes with others of its kind. The traits are all over the place though. I guess there is no real targeting of microbes for abilities at this point in time. Maybe as I get stronger or different traits I might be able to distinguish things like that, but for now I am just happy I can tell when a microbe passes by and I can infect it. No need to be greedy. I am just going to go with the flow for now. Let¡¯s see how long it takes to infect another organism. 36 more hours passed before I received another blue screen notice.
Lepidoptic hornicaa infected with virus. Please select behavior of viruses in new organisms.
So I infected something else. I am not sure what a Lepidoptic hornicaa is, but I am guessing it is the same type of organism I am in. I think I will keep my options the same for any new organisms. It seems to be a good balance of spreading and getting new abilities.
Reproduce and disperse new viral units with similar cells 50% Attack new cells and reproduce and disperse viral units 0% Hibernate inside similar cells 10% Infect and absorb new traits from similar cells 40%
However, I do think I am starting to slowly go insane. I have sung every song I can think of a dozen times. I have solved math problems, and tried to daydream but nothing is working to solve the boredom. If I could only fall asleep. Wait a minute, can I hibernate? If I can that would solve my boredom problem. This is only going to work if I can also have a trigger to wake me up. I can only try. Virus hibernate.
Set conditions for hibernation period. 1. 10 generations 2. 100 generations 3. 1000 generations 4. Custom
I don¡¯t know. I guess I better stick with option 1 to start with just so I do not miss anything too important at the beginning. Option 1 Please. Everything faded to black. An indeterminate time later, but what I was assuming was 10 generations or 120 hours I woke up to a blue screen in front of me.
You have reached level 2 as a virus. Please select your upgrade from the following list. 1. Increased reproduction rate for 24 hours 2. Increased infection rate for 72 hours 3. Observation trait 4. 5 free trait levels
I wonder how long the message has been waiting for me. I may need to stay awake for a few cycles of reproduction to see if I can figure out the conditions for leveling up. I assume it has to do with either the number of viruses or perhaps the number of hosts, maybe even both. Both options 1 and 2 seem unnecessary. I mean I can just wait and get the same thing. However, option 3 and 4 both seem like good choices. I could place those trait levels in hard to level up traits and advance quicker or I can take a new trait that I have not found yet. I have really been wanting a way to better ¡°see¡± around me. I think I have to go with the Observation Trait. Even if it takes a really long time I will eventually get more levels in each of my current traits, so a new trait makes the most sense. I choose option 3.
Observation: You are able to analyze your surroundings and yourself with a critical eye. More information becomes available as you level this trait up.
This sounds perfect. Let¡¯s try it out on a trait I earned through absorption. Observe Bloodborne.
Bloodborne: This trait allows the organism to infect another through contaminated blood. Viruses remains viable for up to 2 hours after leaving the host.
That¡¯s fantastic. It is exactly what I need. I wonder if it works on things outside of myself. I concentrate on the rectangular shapes of the what I believe to be blood vessel cells. Observe.
Cell, Blood Vessel, Lepidoptic hornicaa also known as the common horned rabbit.
It worked! I was right, those rectangle blocks are blood vessel cells and I also now know that I am inside some type of horned rabbit. That is probably a good thing. Rabbits repopulate quickly and often live together in colony like areas. This should increase my opportunities to infect others. Speaking of infection, I wonder where I am at after the hibernation? What command would bring up that information? Virus count, Virus Infection, Virus hosts.
Lepidoptic hornicaa ¨C 4 hosts
So I have made it into 4 different rabbits. I wish there was a way to figure out what I was getting experience for. I know I get absorption experience from the other microbes that I attack and absorb, but my Virus Level went up and I don¡¯t know why. I am supposed to be an evolver so I figure I need to reach a certain level before I can evolve. While my experience as a virus has not been negative, I would prefer to get back into some type of body that is remotely familiar to my memories. I also want to figure out what the attack new cells function does but I am afraid to try it out until I have enough back up hosts. I think that I will set a personal goal of 10 infected hosts before I try that one out just to be safe. As much as I want to watch what goes on I figure hibernating will advance me faster than anything else. I can stay up for one or two reproduction cycles, but after that I will hibernate to pass the time faster. I want to test this observation trait out further though before I hibernate. Observe.
Bacteria
Observe.
Protist
Observe.
Red Blood Cell
Observe.
White Blood Cell
I need to remember the shape of that one. They are a bodies defense mechanism. Mental note to self, stay far away from that one. Observe.
Virus
Hello brother from another mother. Observe.
Fungal spore
I continued observing the floating particles throughout this reproductive cycle. There were a multitude of varieties of bacteria floating about. These were my primary targets. I was also able to designate protists and fungal spores as new targets and exclude the hosts cells. This should keep me safe as I am working with the host and not against it. After a while I got bored and decided that I would hibernate once again. Virus hibernate.
Set conditions for hibernation period. 1. 10 generations 2. 100 generations 3. 1000 generations 4. Custom
I don¡¯t know. I think I will try a custom option this time. Option 4 Please. Please select the number of generations to hibernate. 25 generations please. This seemed like a good compromise, it was longer than before but not so long that I should miss everything. Everything faded to black. I was suddenly jolted back to consciousness and saw a new screen.
Your host¡¯s body has finally identified you as a potential threat. White blood cells will now target you. Please select your response. 1. Continue on as before 2. Attack and infect all hosts cells 3. Attempt mutation 4. Custom
Well that is not what I expected to wake up to. I guess I can only hide in a host for so long. That is probably a function of the hidden trait that I did not take. Luckily I earned it through absorption. I guess I need to level it up more. Enough wool gathering, I need to decide how I am going to respond. I do not know how much time has passed so I do not know how many others I have infected. I also do not know how fast my hosts immune system will be in pressing the attack. I need some information before I can decide. Observe Attempt Mutation.
Attempt mutation: a forced mutation to make the virus seem non-threatening to hosts immune system. Success rate is .25% X number of infected hosts per generation.
This option seems ideal except for one glaring problem. I do not know how many hosts I have right now. I do not know how long I was in hibernation before I was woken up by the notification. Thus I have not checked my infection rate and can¡¯t until I get rid of this prompt. So I could have as low as a 1.25% for the first twelve hours and only go up by the same amount each generation. I do not feel that lucky, so I am going to have discard this one for now. I hope I can access it in the future when I know my situation better. Mental note, REMEMBER MUTATION OPTION AND TRY TO ACCESS IT. Observe Custom.
Custom response to the attack of the hosts immune system. Can include a reduction of targets or a combination of the other options.
Ok, this sounds better I can attack back and still try my hand at mutations. Option 4 Custom Please.
Please select your response parameters.
Attack all of primary hosts cells, attempt mutation to be recognized as benign by host, if successful immediately stop attacks, viruses in other hosts should continue on as normal unless recognized by their host in which case they should follow the above commands.
Analyzing response. Response is within acceptable parameters. Initiating. You have unlocked access to the war summary.
War summary what the heck? Ok, best way to find out is to try it out. Before I could actually form the words in my mind everything faded to black. Once again I regained consciousness to a waiting blue screen. I guess the hibernation period was not over when I selected my emergency options. I must have been put back into hibernation before I could test anything out. I will have to be careful about that. I have no idea how long the war has been going on or what has happened. First I need to read this screen and deal with the current message and then I can move forward.
Your host has died. Do you wish to switch to another virus in a different host? Y/N
Once again, not what I was expecting, but I need to deal with this before anything else. I think the answer is obvious. Yes. 3 - Call To War Chapter 3 Call To War My consciousness seemed to split and I could feel my thoughts and emotions being downloaded I guess is the closest word into another vessel some distance away. When the feeling subsided, the connection to my original virus was terminated and I was now in my new virus body. It did not feel any different which made sense. Everything should be the same except the location. Time to try and figure out what went on and what I need to do now. Virus List.
Total Virus Units: 24,102,112 Reproduction: 12,051,056 Attack: 0 Hibernation: 2,410,211 Absorption: 9,640,845
Well that did not help, at least not very much. This host has more virus units than the last one I checked, but that may not actually be true. I could have had more in the last host because I do not know how many generations I was asleep for before the host recognized and attacked my viruses. I better play it safe and prepare to be attacked in the next ten generations just to be sure. Let¡¯s try something different. Absorption List.
Viral Traits: 1. Absorption Level 4 ¨C 12% 2. Hidden Level 2 ¨C 31% 3. Lesser Resist All (merged at level 3) Level 1 ¨C 15% 4. Adaptable Level 3 ¨C 73% 5. Airborne Level 5 ¨C 21% 6. Waterborne Level 1 ¨C 7% 7. Predator Level 6 ¨C 77% 8. Insectborne Level 1 ¨C 42% 9. Sexual Transmission Level 0 ¨C 35% 10. Hive Mind Level 0 ¨C 64% 11. Bloodborne Level 1 ¨C 81%
That is actually very helpful. Let¡¯s see here, everything has improved and some traits have been consolidated. I don¡¯t see anything new though. I guess I have hit the limit of what is inside a rabbit. I wonder if I can spread to other organisms if I can pick up different traits. That sounds possible, I need to remember to look into that. Now what was the command that I was told I could access right before I lost consciousness again? I remember now. War Summary.
Current Attacking Viruses: 0 Conquered Hosts: 1 Benign Mutation Successful: NO Select New Target? Y/N
Ok, I obviously overwhelmed the last host and I guess killed it? That is probably what conquered means. So the death of my host allows me to move on to another virus. That is good information to have. I do not know how many hosts I have right now I will check that next so no new target right now. NO. Now the command to check the number of hosts was what? Oh yeah. Virus hosts.
Lepidoptic hornicaa ¨C 9 hosts
Alright I have moved into 9 different rabbits. I think that I should continue on as I was until the numbers go up or stay the same. Since my hidden trait went up I should not be detected by the hosts immune system as fast. I might get many more generations in before I have to resort to attacking again. That will allow me to spread myself out far and wide. Now before I hibernate again there was something else I was going to check on. Think Mark, what was it. I know numbers of viruses, war stuff, of course. The mutations, I was going to check on mutations. It should be this command. Virus Mutations.
Possible virus mutations: 1. Insectoid Virus Level 0 2. Plant Virus Level 0 3. Fungal Virus Level 0 4. Reptile Virus Level 0 5. Ichthyoid Virus Level 0 6. Avian Virus Level 0 7. Mammal Virus Level 2 ¨C 34% 8. Chimera Virus Level 0
Strange I was thinking it would be about the traits. Oh wait that would be a different command, but this is still informative. I am currently in a mammal, but it looks like I can mutate and be able to attack other major groups of animals, plants and fungi. I bet the chimera function allows me to attack more than one type. That would seem to be the best choice. It would spread my viruses out amongst a large variety of organisms, I don¡¯t know why someone would pick one of the other options, I must be missing something. Well time to figure out how to mutate I guess. Observe Chimera Virus.
A virus that is capable of infecting all types of animals, plants and fungi. Chance of mutating into a Chimera Virus is .1% X Level X Adaptability Trait. Mutations take 10% of earned experience per level to activate. Would you like to start mutating into a Chimera Virus? Y/N
Hmm, let me check one of the others just to be sure. NO. Observe Plant Virus.
A virus that is capable of infecting all types of plants and plant monsters. Chance of mutating into a Plant Virus is 3% X Level X Adaptability Trait. Mutations take 10% of earned experience per level to activate. Would you like to start mutating into a Plant Virus? Y/N
So that is the difference. The chances between them are huge. I guess I can see why someone would pick their favorite and stick with it. However, I am an evolver and I need to become as powerful as possible. Even if it takes a lot longer I still think that Chimera Virus will be the strongest and best choice. So I have to decline Plant Virus and then select Chimera Virus again. NO. Observe Chimera Virus. YES start mutating into Chimera Virus. Now that I have selected my path there I guess all I have to do is wait. I am going to continue to hibernate since it seems that I will regain consciousness if something important happens that needs my input. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. When I regain consciousness I see that my host has died once again, but the message is slightly different.
Your host has died. You are currently in a new host animal. Do you wish to switch to another virus in a different host? Y/N
Wait, how did I get into another animal? I was in a rabbit and then hibernated, then I regained consciousness to this message. Rabbits are prey animals, could I have been eaten by something else and somehow infected it? I guess that scenario makes the most sense. I wish I had something to do so I could stay awake long enough to read all the messages as they come in, then I would not have to guess so much, but my mental health is important. I guess I can stay in this new animal for now as I cannot think of a reason to switch. NO do not switch. I do want to know what I am in though. Virus Hosts.
Lepidoptic hornicaa ¨C 18 hosts Caanis sangre ¨C 1 host
I forgot it is the observe skill that lets me know what the common name is. Observe.
Cell, Blood Vessel, Caanis sangre also known as the blood wolf.
Blood wolf, sounds powerful. I really do not have a reference though for power levels. It could be something small and fluffy for all I know, but I doubt it. I don¡¯t know many cultures that would name something blood wolf without it being a bit ferocious. Time to check the old progress. Virus List.
Total Virus Units: 6,305,333 Reproduction: 3,152,667 Attack: 0 Hibernation: 630533 Absorption: 2,522,133
Hmm, I must not have been in this animal very long. I assume that if the Blood Wolf is the predator than it must be at least 2-3 times larger than the horned rabbit. That would correspond to me being able to have 2-3 times more viruses. I probably can even have more than that now. I assume that my trait levels have risen also. I should check those next. Absorption List.
Viral Traits: 1. Absorption Level 6 ¨C 12% 2. Hidden Level 4 ¨C 41% 3. Lesser Resist All (merged at level 3) Level 3 ¨C 55% 4. Adaptable Level 5 ¨C 42% 5. Lesser Multi-Infection (merged at level 3) Level 2 ¨C 26% 6. Predator Level 10 ¨C 0% 7. Hive Mind Level 1 ¨C 24% 8. Basic Tactics Level 0 ¨C 1% You have reached level 10 in Predator. Predator has four evolutionary paths. Please select one of the following as the new trait. Carnivore, Herbivore, Omnivore, Detrivore
Goodness, so much information to process. First, it seems that my different methods of infection have merged into Lesser Multi-Infection. I guess that is fine as long as I can still infect things in a variety of ways. Next, it seems that being in a new organism was beneficial as it provided a new trait. Finally, I reached level 10 in a trait and it seems that is what is necessary for it to evolve. I wonder if every trait evolves or if some take more levels? I will have to keep an eye on that. I better figure out what everything is first. Observe Basic Tactics.
Basic Tactics: Trait that allows multiple viruses to attack a single target allowing viruses to overwhelm any cellular defenses. Level determines the number of attackers that can be used on each cell.
Interesting. I wonder if I got that from just being in a pack animal or if it was from another type of microbe that practices it also? Oh well, I may never know. Now I need to figure out what each of the evolutionary choices do so I can make an informed decision. Observe Carnivore.
Carnivore: Viruses are still able to attack all microbes, but get a 5% boost to experience earned from conquering animals.
Observe Herbivore.
Herbivore: Viruses are still able to attack all microbes, but get a 5% boost to experience earned from conquering plants.
Observe Omnivore.
Omnivore: Viruses are still able to attack all microbes and get a 2% boost to experience earned from conquering anything.
Observe Detrivore.
Detrivore: Viruses are still able to attack all microbes, but get a 5% boost to experience earned from conquering fungus or undead.
Very interesting. Obviously since I am trying to mutate into a Chimera Virus I need to choose Omnivore. While the experience boost will be smaller it will apply to anything. Since I plan on infecting EVERYTHING that would be my safest bet. Alright choice made. Evolve Predator to Omnivore please. I better make sure it took. Absorption List.
Viral Traits: 1. Absorption Level 6 ¨C 12% 2. Hidden Level 4 ¨C 41% 3. Lesser Resist All (merged at level 3) Level 3 ¨C 55% 4. Adaptable Level 5 ¨C 42% 5. Lesser Multi-Infection (merged at level 3) Level 2 ¨C 26% 6. Omnivore Level 0 ¨C 1% 7. Hive Mind Level 1 ¨C 24% 8. Basic Tactics Level 0 ¨C 1%
Huh that also gives me some information I did not have before. My Omnivore automatically reads Level 0 ¨C 1% when I have not done anything with it. That means that anything that reads that like Basic Tactics, has been learned but not used. I guess I did learn it from just entering into a pack animal then. Enough generations have passed inside the Blood Wolf to increase the population of my viruses significantly. There is no way that I could have only found a single microbe that had that trait and no other inside of it by now. That means Basic Tactics will probably only earn experience if I use it or infect more organisms that have that trait. Well there is nothing else to really do now except keep hibernating and checking on my progress as I come to. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. When I regain consciousness I see that I have leveled up.
You have reached level 3 as a virus. Please select your upgrade from the following list. 1. Increased reproduction rate for 24 hours 2. Increased infection rate for 72 hours 3. 5 free trait levels
The observation trait is no longer available. I do not know if it is gone because I selected it or because offering traits is rare. There is no new opportunity to get a free trait at this level. I guess I will take the 5 free trait levels. I can put them in something I like that is not really progressing. I better see what my trait levels are at to make a final decision. Absorption List.
Viral Traits: 1. Absorption Level 9 ¨C 23% 2. Hidden Level 4 ¨C 41% 3. Lesser Resist All (merged at level 3) Level 4 ¨C 31% 4. Adaptable Level 6 ¨C 4% 5. Lesser Multi-Infection (merged at level 3) Level 3 ¨C 76% 6. Omnivore Level 0 ¨C 32% 7. Hive Mind Level 1 ¨C 28% 8. Basic Tactics Level 0 ¨C 1%
Everything went up except for Basic Tactics, even Omnivore. One of my other hosts must have triggered a response and I guess my viruses won the engagement since I earned experience. I have seen Hive Mind on here for a while, but I do not actually think I have observed it in detail. It is rising but very slowly. It might be a good place to spend a few free trait levels. Observe Hive Mind.
Hive Mind: This trait expands the knowledge available, intelligence level, and general memory and recall of any multiple organism. How much an organism depends on its level and number of units.
Extra intelligence seems like a good choice, but absorption only needs one more level. I think I will split the levels between the two. I want to get absorption up to level ten to test if it triggers an evolution. Add one level to Absorption and four levels to Hive Mind please. Time to see if this worked. Absorption List.
Viral Traits: 1. Absorption Level 10 ¨C 0% 2. Hidden Level 4 ¨C 41% 3. Lesser Resist All (merged at level 3) Level 4 ¨C 31% 4. Adaptable Level 6 ¨C 4% 5. Lesser Multi-Infection (merged at level 3) Level 3 ¨C 76% 6. Omnivore Level 0 ¨C 32% 7. Hive Mind Level 5 ¨C 0% 8. Basic Tactics Level 0 ¨C 1% You have reached level 10 in Absorption. Absorption has the ability to evolve into Mimicry. Would you like to evolve Absorption now? Y/N
Why would they give me a chance not to evolve? I better check it out first. Observe Mimicry
Mimicry: An upgraded version of Absorption. Organisms with mimicry have a small chance learning a new skill just through normal observation.
Why would you not take this? It seems a little suspicious that they also let you not have the better trait, but I think the benefits outweigh any risks. Please evolve Absorption into Mimicry.
Absorption successfully evolved into Mimicry. Please note that the absorption path can no longer be followed and improved upon.
So that was the trap. If I denied the change I could have leveled it up further before switching it over. That more than likely would have either increased the efficiency or lowered my energy using it or something. Oh well, live and learn. If it is a single trait it may be better to keep leveling it to the max before evolving it. Time for another hibernation nap. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. 4 - Chimera Achieved Chapter 4 Chimera Achieved My consciousness came awake to another notice of war.
Your host¡¯s body has finally identified you as a potential threat. White blood cells will now target you. Please select your response. 1. Continue on as before 2. Attack and infect all hosts cells 3. Attempt mutation 4. Custom
I am going custom again. I want that mutation if possible. Option 4 Custom Please.
Please select your response parameters.
Attack all of primary hosts cells, attempt mutation to be recognized as benign by host, if successful immediately stop attacks, viruses in other hosts should continue on as normal unless recognized by their host in which case they should follow the above commands.
Analyzing response. Response is within acceptable parameters. Initiating. You have failed in your mutation. Please use the War Summary function to check on your viral units.
I had to switch to another host, so it didn¡¯t work again. I think I will just stay with this custom attack until I finally earn that stupid benign mutation, right now though it is all about time. I just have to keep hibernating until some new information comes my way. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Wake up check messages nothing, repeat. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. This went on for 4 cycles before I was informed of another body war. My hidden skill must be improving, it never took this long before. Anyway let¡¯s stick with what works. Option 4 Custom Please.
Please select your response parameters.
Attack all of primary hosts cells, attempt mutation to be recognized as benign by host, if successful immediately stop attacks, viruses in other hosts should continue on as normal unless recognized by their host in which case they should follow the above commands.
Analyzing response. Response is within acceptable parameters. Initiating. You have failed in your mutation. Please use the War Summary function to check on your viral units.
Switch to another host and repeat once again. I wonder if there is such a thing as a luck stat in this new world, because I bet mine is horrible. Something about that statement resonated inside me. What was it? Uh, I can¡¯t think of it, just continue. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. After five more body wars, I finally got what I was waiting for.
Benign Mutation has occurred. All war activities halted. Hosts of the species Caanis sangre will no longer attack your viral units. They will respond if you initiate attacks.
What? I only have the benign mutation for the species I was in. I guess that is logical, but that means I am going to have to go through this whole cycle again for everything I infect. There has got to be a way to speed this up. I mean I think I have all the time in the world to get this done, but I don¡¯t want it to take that long. Think Mark. Uh thinking is hard, especially with that blue screen in front of me. What is it, what is so important that you have to inform me during thinking time?
You have reached level 4 as a virus. Please select your upgrade from the following list. 1. Increased reproduction rate for 24 hours 2. Increased infection rate for 72 hours 3. 5 free trait levels
Wait that could actually help. Quickly now. I select Option 3 Please. Absorption List.
Viral Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 6 ¨C 12% 2. Hidden Level 10 ¨C 0% 3. Lesser Resist All (merged at level 3) Level 8 ¨C 11% 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Lesser Multi-Infection (merged at level 3) Level 7 ¨C 31% 6. Omnivore Level 2 ¨C 12% 7. Hive Mind Level 5 ¨C 4% 8. Basic Tactics Level 1 ¨C 7% You have reached the maximum level of Adaptable. You have reached level 10 in Hidden. Hidden has the ability to evolve into Unseen. Would you like to evolve Hidden now? Y/N
Man I have to check this more often. My plan was to dump my five free trait level into Hive Mind and evolve it if possible to see if that would make me smarter and able to think of a new plan. But I haven¡¯t checked my traits in over a hundred generations and I have some level ups I need to deal with. I wonder how long they have been there just waiting. I could have wasted a lot of time. Focus, Adaptable is at maximum level, but it says that I can evolve Hidden. I guess not every trait is evolvable then. When I evolved Absorption it shut down that path though. Since I have earned a benign mutation in at least one species I guess I can gamble with Hidden. I will select no and hope it can go up in levels and evolve into something better in the future. I might as well place my free trait levels also. NO do not evolve Hidden. Please place all 5 free trait levels in Hive Mind. There everything is placed. I am not sure if I feel smarter or not. I should take another look and make sure of what happened. Absorption List.
Viral Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 6 ¨C 12% 2. Hidden Level 10 ¨C 1% 3. Lesser Resist All (merged at level 3) Level 8 ¨C 11% 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Lesser Multi-Infection (merged at level 3) Level 7 ¨C 31% 6. Omnivore Level 2 ¨C 12% 7. Hive Mind Level 10 ¨C MAX 8. Basic Tactics Level 1 ¨C 7% You have reached the maximum level of Hive Mind. Due to your unique class Evolver you may evolve Hive Mind into the higher tier Group Thought. Would you like to evolve Hive Mind now? Y/N
Not what I thought I would see. Let¡¯s try and figure this out. If a trait reads MAX then I cannot evolve it unless I get a special message. If it reads Level 10 ¨C 0% it seems that I can still earn more experience in it. When I declined the evolution of Hidden the experience immediately jumped 1%. Since I cannot earn more experience in Hive Mind there should be no downside to evolving it. Alright then let¡¯s do it. YES please evolve Hive Mind.
Hive Mind successfully evolved into Group Thought.
As soon as I chose to evolve Hive Mind I gained a sense of, fulfillment I guess is the best word. I could now sense the general direction of all my other hosts. I felt like I had a much larger capacity for knowledge and skills. One of the first thoughts I had was to see if I could customize more aspects of what I was doing. This would cut down on the messages and also free me up to earn things such as levels and traits automatically without having to personally intervene each time. Well the only way to know is to try it. Custom Virus Command List.
Please Insert Your Parameters to check their validity.
Holy crap this is going to work. I just need to be careful of my wording and not get to complicated. This is going to simplify things tremendously. Parameter 1: When in Hibernation it will be interrupted for the following conditions:
  1. Threat to primary virus intelligence or the need to transfer to a new host .
  2. Traits reaching evolving statuses.
  3. The reaching of a new level.
  4. New species of Hosts being infected or new traits being learned.
  5. Successful completion of mutations.
Parameter 2: For every fifteen hosts of a species that are infected a single random host of that species with more than 20 million viruses will initiate attack mode. During every attack mode or war defense the benign mutation will be attempted if not already present for that species.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Parameter 3: All Custom Virus Commands in this list will cease once the Chimera Virus Mutation has been achieved.
Checking Parameters. Parameters fall within acceptable limits. Custom commands will now be implemented.
It worked, I can¡¯t believe it worked. I am a genius. Wait I am probably not a genius, but that last upgrade to Group Though surely boosted me enough to not only think of this but be able to get it done. There was something else I that was bothering me earlier, something that I could not figure out about a word, of course. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Virus (Mammalian) Lepidoptic hornicaa ¨C 68 hosts Caanis sangre ¨C 12 hosts (Benign)
Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%
Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 6 ¨C 12% 2. Hidden Level 10 ¨C 1% 3. Lesser Resist All (merged at level 3) Level 8 ¨C 11% 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Lesser Multi-Infection (merged at level 3) Level 7 ¨C 31% 6. Omnivore Level 2 ¨C 12% 7. Group Thought Level 0 ¨C 1% 8. Basic Tactics Level 1 ¨C 7%
That is so much easier to read and understand. I wish I had been smart enough to figure that out from the beginning. Well the only thing it looks like I need to do is hibernate and wait for the results. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Four hibernate sessions in I hit level 5. I quickly placed four levels in Group Thought, because that has paid off so nicely, and 1 into Omnivore, I figured that would increase my experience gain. It took 8 hibernations after that to reach Level 6. I continued my method of four in Group Thought and one in Omnivore. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Just 3 more hibernation sessions in and I got a whole bunch of notifications about traits evolving. They did not come all at once but rather all during the third hibernation set. Even the notices had changed due to my custom commands.
You have reached the maximum level of Mimicry.
Nothing to do for that one, there is no possible evolution.
You have reached Level 10 in Lesser Resist All. Due to your unique class Evolver you may evolve Lesser Resist All into the higher tier Greater Resist All. Would you like to evolve Lesser Resist All now? Y/N
Yes Please Evolve Lesser Resist All.
You have reached Level 10 in Lesser Multi-Infection. Due to your unique class Evolver you may evolve Lesser Multi-Infection into the higher tier Greater Multi-Infection. Would you like to evolve Lesser Multi-Infection now? Y/N
Yes Please Evolve Lesser Multi-Infection. 6 more sets of hibernation led to level 7. I need to stop and check my status for this one as I should hit the evolution of Group Thought. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Virus (Mammalian) Lepidoptic hornicaa ¨C 68 hosts Level: 7 Caanis sangre ¨C 12 hosts (Benign)
Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%
Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 10 ¨C MAX 2. Hidden Level 18 ¨C 45% 3. Greater Resist All Level 3 ¨C 6% 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Greater Multi-Infection Level 1 ¨C 37% 6. Omnivore Level 9 ¨C 41% 7. Group Thought Level 8 ¨C 4% 8. Basic Tactics Level 3 ¨C 77%
Well this is better than I thought. If I put 2 in Group Thought, 1 into Omnivore, I will have 2 left which I can use on Hidden to see if it will evolve at level 20. That sounds like a plan so let¡¯s do that and see what happens.
You have reached the maximum level of Hidden. Unable to evolve further as a virus.
That is both disappointing and illuminating. I cannot evolve it yet, but it does remind me that at a certain point I should be able to evolve into a higher form of life.
You have reached the maximum level of Omnivore. Due to your unique class Evolver you may evolve Omnivore into Devourer. Would you like to evolve Omnivore? Y/N
You have reached Level 10 in Group Thought. Due to your unique class Evolver you may evolve Group Thought into the highest tier All Is One. Would you like to evolve Group Thought? Y/N
I don¡¯t care what the descriptions say I am going to take Devourer just cause it sounds so cool and more intelligence just seems right, but I should check to be safe. Observe Devourer.
Devourer: Everything is food and I do mean everything. If it can fit into your mouth you can digest it and gain nutrients and experience from it. The higher the level the greater the recovered nutrients and experience.
How awesome is that. I can literally survive off of anything I can put in my mouth. Wait, I don¡¯t even have a mouth yet. Crap, this new skill is useless and will be stuck on levels until I evolve into something with an oral cavity to swallow with. I so want to try it though. Oh well, all in due time, better check out the other one. Observe All Is One.
All Is One: Every unit contributes to the whole. The more units you have the greater your abilities. Intelligence is affected positively by every unit outside the original. The higher the level the greater the boost.
Ok, those descriptions are good enough for me. I will have to wait to use one of them, but the other will be highly beneficial immediately. Yes, Please Evolve Omnivore and Group Thought. I guess that takes care of those notices. The only thing left is to continue with my cycles until the experience gathers enough for me to evolve or I achieve my mutation goal. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. I did not go through an entire hibernation when I was jolted awake by a new notification.
Chimera Virus Mutation has been successful. You have managed to evolve into the rare Chimera Virus
Maybe there really is a luck stat. On the other hand, the sheer number of viruses that have lived and died during these hundreds of generations is staggering. Even with the extremely low chance of the evolution happening it was sure to come up eventually, just because of the huge amount of viruses involved. It is kind of like the lottery. Nobody really expects to win until it actually happens. The odds may be horrible, but someone has to win eventually just through sheer chance. I think that is what happened here. Let me check my status and then I can continue on with my plans. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Chimera Virus Lepidoptic hornicaa ¨C 68 hosts Level: 7 Caanis sangre ¨C 12 hosts (Benign)
Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%
Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 10 ¨C MAX 2. Hidden Level 20 ¨C MAX 3. Greater Resist All Level 3 ¨C 6% 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Greater Multi-Infection Level 1 ¨C 37% 6. Devourer Level 1 ¨C 1% 7. All is One Level 1 ¨C 1% 8. Basic Tactics Level 3 ¨C 77%
5 - Mana Rainbow Chapter 5 Mana Rainbow Alright now that all the maintenance is done, I need to keep leveling up until I can finally evolve and upgrade from a virus. I do not even know what I can evolve into. Will it be something big or small. Ferocious or hidden like my current virus form. There are just so many possibilities. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. I want to open my present now, but I have to wait. At least this form allows me to wait while hibernating. Before I hibernate I need to update my custom command list. I had everything stop once I mutated into a Chimera Virus. Custom Virus Command List.
Please Insert Your Parameters to check their validity.
Parameter 1: When in Hibernation it will be interrupted for the following conditions:
  1. Threat to primary virus intelligence or the need to transfer to a new host.
  2. Traits reaching evolving statuses.
  3. The reaching of a new level.
  4. New species of Hosts being infected or new traits being learned.
  5. When all requirements are met for primary virus intelligence to evolve into a new species.
Parameter 2: For every fifteen hosts of a species that are infected a single random host of that species with more than 20 million viruses will initiate attack mode. During every attack mode or war defense the benign mutation will be attempted if not already present for that species. Parameter 3: All Custom Virus Commands in this list will cease upon the host reaching level 20 or evolving into a new species.
Checking Parameters. Parameters fall within acceptable limits. Custom commands will now be implemented.
Ok time for the long sleep. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. I did not even make it through my first hibernation session before I was bombarded with a slew of message updates.
You have infected Quercus magicii.
You have infected Pollinamus bladicus.
You have infected Veriforma insectica.
You have infected Heptoma alfonsis.
What the heck is going on? Oh right, I have evolved into a Chimera Virus which can infect anything. I must be infecting everything around all my hosts. Plants, animals, insects, fungi, everything is now my prey. I will never be able to hibernate away the time until evolution if I keep getting interrupted like this. I am going to need to edit my custom commands. Edit Custom Virus Command List Parameter 1.
Please Insert Your Parameters to check their validity.
Parameter 1: When in Hibernation it will be interrupted for the following conditions:
  1. Threat to primary virus intelligence or the need to transfer to a new host.
  2. Traits reaching evolving statuses.
  3. The reaching of a new level.
  4. After 50 new species of Hosts being infected or new traits being learned.
  5. When all requirements are met for primary virus intelligence to evolve into a new species.
Checking Parameters. Parameters fall within acceptable limits. Custom commands will now be implemented.
Alright time to try this again. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Once again I am woken up after what feels like no time at all.
Trait Learned Photosynthesis.
Trait Learned Chemical Warfare.
Trait Learned Boost.
Trait Learned Mana Manipulation.
Trait Learned Poisonous.
Trait Learned Iron Defense.
Trait Learned Direction Sense.
Warning you have reached the maximum level of traits allowed for your class Evolver. Due to your Unique Class all future traits learned will be banked. Traits can be switched out only after reaching maximum level.
Alright this time it was my mistake. I forgot that new species would eventually mean new traits learned. I did not know there was a maximum number of allowed traits either. Luckily the ones I got all seem useful at the moment. It is nice that I will keep earning traits and I can eventually switch to them once I reach maximum level in the active traits. That means I can ¡°customize¡± my build if needed in the future. Since I have learned the maximum number of allowable active traits I guess I can modify my custom commands once again. Edit Custom Virus Command List Parameter 1.
Please Insert Your Parameters to check their validity.
Parameter 1: When in Hibernation it will be interrupted for the following conditions:
  1. Threat to primary virus intelligence or the need to transfer to a new host.
  2. Traits reaching evolving statuses.
  3. The reaching of a new level.
  4. After 50 new species of Hosts being infected.
  5. When all requirements are met for primary virus intelligence to evolve into a new species.
Checking Parameters. Parameters fall within acceptable limits. Custom commands will now be implemented.Stolen novel; please report.
Everything should be in place for me to just hibernate until I level up and/or evolve. Let¡¯s try this one more time. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Ah there it is. Somehow I know that I managed a full 25 generations this time without being interrupted. Time to continue until I improve. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. After three more hibernation cycles I got a message that I had successfully infected 50 different species. Awesome, I am spreading like a virus. Huh, no laughter, I guess my sense of humor has not changed even if my body has. Continue on hibernation mode. It took 4 more after that to reach level 8. My leveling has definitely slowed down. I thought it might speed up getting new species but I guess losing the boost from omnivore really lowered my experience gain. I need to evolve into something with a mouth soon to get that bonus back. I might as well check on my progress and see how the new traits are doing. First though let¡¯s see if this will work or the whole thing will be cluttered with new species. Edit Status display.
Input desired change.
Same display as previous but only show the top three infected species.
Parameters accepted and changed.
I seem to be finally getting the hang of this thing. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Virus (Chimera) Veriforma insectica - 212 hosts Level: 8 Lepidoptic hornicaa ¨C 154 hosts Caanis sangre ¨C 47 hosts (Benign)
Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%
Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 10 ¨C MAX 2. Hidden Level 20 ¨C MAX 3. Greater Resist All Level 5 ¨C 16% 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Greater Multi-Infection Level 4 ¨C 9% 6. Devour Level 0 ¨C 1% 7. All is One Level 2 ¨C 24% 8. Basic Tactics Level 4 ¨C 23% 9. Photosynthesis Level 3 ¨C 81% 10. Chemical Warfare Level 2 ¨C 35% 11. Boost Level 0 ¨C 1% 12. Mana Manipulation Level 0 ¨C 1% 13. Poisonous Level 2 ¨C 14% 14. Iron Defense Level 2 ¨C 77% 15. Direction Sense Level 0 ¨C 1%
Well I would have thought that one of the plant species I was infecting would be at the top, but I guess this makes sense. If I remember right they are more resistant to diseases than animals. I think the top spot is an insect which makes sense as they live in colonies and there are a lot of them. The other two have been infected for a while so they might stay ahead for a bit until the new species have a chance to catch up. I still do not have benign in anything except the species I am in. I am starting to think that some mutations require the me the primary virus to be in that type of organism. With as many of the others that are infected I should have hit that mutation by now. It is not worth switching hosts though since everything else is going so good. All those level 0 traits seem to be ones that I would actively need to use to be able to level them up. Direction sense is kind of useless right now as I don¡¯t have a means of movement other than infection and floating in the bloodstream. However, I am not sure on what exactly Boost is. Mana Manipulation should have to do with magic, and I probably should experiment with it. Let¡¯s check them to see if that gives me more information. Observe Boost and Mana Manipulation.
Boost: Allows the user to increase all attributes by 50% for 30 seconds X level of trait. Mana Manipulation: Allows the user to sense and manipulate the mana at a basic level. Control increases as level increases.
Pretty much as I thought. Boost is not very useful in my current form, but should be a good finishing skill/trait as I progress. Mana manipulation is probably the basis of all magic in this world. I probably should try it out and see if I can sense and actually direct mana in my virus form. I think I will save the 5 trait level bonuses from this level and all the next ones until I can use enough to evolve a trait or until I evolve myself. Let¡¯s try out that Mana Manipulation trait though. Hmm, I have never actually tried to use one of my traits actively. How do I go about this? In stories it always involves meditation. Can I even meditate as a Virus? I mean I guess I do have a mind since I am thinking and discussing things with myself. Alright calm, go to your happy place, now eliminate all distractions and try and sense your surroundings. I was working on this for who knows how long when suddenly I could ¡°feel various particles of a variety of colors surrounding me, penetrating me and everything around me. Are these mana particles? Let¡¯s watch and make a list of the colors first. Yellow, red, black, white, brown, green, blue, orange, purple and pink. Ok, from everything I know about magic culture in stories the red should be fire, the blue should be water, the brown should be earth. I can guess at yellow, black, white and green, but I have never read anything in any story about purple, orange and pink. I know, Observe yellow, red, black, white, brown, green, blue, orange, and pink particles please.
Yellow: Lightning Mana Red: Fire Mana Black: Darkness Mana White: Light Mana Brown: Earth Mana Green: Nature Mana Blue: Water Mana Orange: Air Mana Purple: Destruction Mana Pink: Creation Mana
Most of that makes sense, but why do I get the feeling that whoever created this system of magic started to run out of color choices at the end. Oh well, as long as it works I guess I can¡¯t complain. I need to see if I can affect these particles. I concentrate on the closest particle to me which happens to be black and try and draw it closer to me. It seems to be working, focus Mark. As soon as it reaches me I stop concentrating and it flies off into the distance. Well shoot, I moved it but how do I get it to stay. I mean I figure I have to store these particles inside me if I want access to them to power a spell. Wait that¡¯s it, inside me. I start my meditation exercise over again and focus on diving inside myself instead of outside. After a while I sense a deep but empty space inside of me. Alright there is something that can hold those particles. I probably just need to bring them inside my body to store them and then use them. There is only one way to find out. Without losing my concentration I focus on what is outside of me again. I was again see a rainbow of particles floating and moving all around me. There that one is closest. I carefully coax it towards me, here little purple particle, come to Mark. As it gets closer I get more and more excited and start to lose control, reign it back in Mark, don¡¯t screw up now. I get myself under control and bring the purple particle right next to my being and then I try and shove it inside of me towards the space I discovered earlier. I suddenly have a very satisfied feeling, kind of like after eating a large meal and see a blue message pop up.
You have gained an affinity. Destruction magic tiers are now unlocked. Continue gathering destruction mana to get stronger.
That seems simple enough, but before I get more destruction mana I am going to get all the other ones if possible. I do not know the rules, but having access to every type of magic is never a bad thing in any story I have ever read. I start the whole process over again and make sure the new particle is of a different color. Come over here little yellow mana, don¡¯t be afraid, Mark will take good care of you. Soon enough it is close enough that I can force it into the mana space inside of me.
You have gained an affinity. Lightning magic tiers are now unlocked. Continue gathering lightning mana to get stronger.
Excellent, I can have more than one affinity. Two down and eight more to go. After some time, I have managed to gain all ten affinities. I had a very difficult struggle with the opposites of whatever I already had though. It took me four times as long to get a Creation particle close enough for me to force it inside my mana space. I think that I will probably be one of the few beings on this planet that has diametrically opposed mana elements. I am sure there will be a few other prodigies or those blessed by fate or the gods, but the sheer pain of catching a particle of an opposite type and making it get close enough so I can capture it in my space was exhausting. They are so slippery when they do not want to be caught, you really have to focus and concentrate and make sure your entire will encompasses them or one little distraction and poof off they go. My little mana space now has a colorful wheel of spinning particles with everything having its opposite. Fire is opposite of water, destruction is opposite of creation, earth¡¯s opposite is air, and of course light¡¯s opposite is darkness. Strangely enough lightning seems to be the opposite of nature. I can¡¯t really figure that one out. I mean all the other ones make sense according to games I have played and past knowledge from earth, but that pairing is just weird. I finally decide that it must have to do with lightning always destroying nature and starting fires. 6 - Evolution Is Fun To Do Chapter 6 Evolution Is Fun To Do Alright now that I have mana I can work on this between hibernations. Why am I still hibernating? That¡¯s easy, I know myself and while I may enjoy working and playing with mana might be fun now, what happens If I get burned out on practicing. If I do, then I can just take a quick hibernation nap and wake up refreshed to do some more. I decide that I need to keep my mana in balance so I came up with a quick little mnemonic to help me remember which order to go in. ROBBY, PP, BWG. What does it stand for well it seems that my childish humor has carried over, I imagine it as Robby, pee pee, big. Red, Orange, Blue, Brown, Yellow, Purple, Pink, Black, White, Green. It is what we would call 3rd grade toilet humor on Earth, but it is effective. I definitely won¡¯t forget my mana capturing order. I spend an unknown amount of time absorbing mana particles before I finally get tired and decide it is time for a hibernation nap. I really need to figure out some sort of time sense other than generations. It is difficult to know how long it has been now since I got here, and how long I spend doing things. That is for another day. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. For some reason I did not feel rested after just one hibernation cycle so I went down for another. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. When I came to this time I saw that I now had another 50 species infected. It seems that the infection rate is accelerating, either that or I have reached an area with more plants and animals. It really stinks not knowing where I am, the terrain, or any freaking detail outside of my host. My lack of information is starting to annoy me. I mean I could be stuck in a cave or a single valley. I might be spread across an entire continent by now since I have infected some flying species. I just don¡¯t know! Calm down Mark, it will all make sense once you can gather outside information. Focus on what you can do and make it the best possible so you evolve into something that can take revenge. Ah yes, my motivation. Sweet revenge it is. Back to basics then, mana cultivation. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. I continue with my cycle of absorption through at least 2 generations awake. That has been the longest I have stayed coherent in a long time. I guess a reminder of my need for revenge inspired me. Right before I decided that it was time for another hibernation nap, I got another level notice. I reached level 9. Store those 5 trait points and hibernate again. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Once again one set of hibernations just did not seem enough and I went down for a second set. When I woke up I wondered about it. Is it the length of time or is it something else? Next I think I will try hibernating for only five generations and see if it still takes two cycles to feel refreshed. If it does, then I can cut down on my ¡°real world¡± time spent unconscious or hibernating. If I am lucky I only 10 levels to evolve just like my traits. I should reach that in the next few sets of hibernation. That is for the future though, right now back to mana gathering. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. As I am gathering mana I start to wonder how I actually use this mana. You know for someone who seems to keep getting smarter for leveling up traits I seem to not figure some simple things out. I have the skill mana manipulation, not mana gathering. So while I have done what I feel is the right thing in gathering mana, I have not even thought about experimenting with it yet. In fact, I feel like it is too early to try and use it. Almost like the skill is letting me know I do not have enough yet. You know what, I am going to trust my gut and wait. It does not hurt anybody, and all I got is time so waiting until I ¡°feel¡± ready is not going to hurt anyone. Time to keep gathering then. By the time I finish gathering this round I have a sense that I have filled my mana about 50%. I guess I will continue to try and gather until I feel full or at 100% mana. Time for my hibernation experiment. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 5 generations. It took two rounds of hibernation again for me to feel rested. I only hibernated for 10 generations total where before I was hibernating for 50. So it is some weird rule probably that 2 hibernations equals one sleep period for a virus. The length of the hibernations does not matter. I think I will actually stay with the 25 generation custom hibernation in the future. I do not think that 5 generations is really enough time for any significant change to occur in my situation right now. If that changes in the future I can always change my hibernation period. Oh well, let¡¯s gather more mana and then check the old status before a new round of longer hibernations. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. After I finally start to feel tired about collecting mana I decide it is time to check on my progress. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Virus (Chimera) Veriforma insectica - 736 hosts Level: 9 Lepidoptic hornicaa ¨C 311 hosts Formica flamensis ¨C 276 hosts
Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%
Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 10 ¨C MAX 2. Hidden Level 20 ¨C MAX 3. Greater Resist All Level 8 ¨C 41%The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Greater Multi-Infection Level 7 ¨C 19% 6. Devour Level 0 ¨C 1% 7. All is One Level 6 ¨C 83% 8. Basic Tactics Level 6 ¨C 13% 9. Photosynthesis Level 4 ¨C 23% 10. Chemical Warfare Level 3 ¨C 32% 11. Boost Level 0 ¨C 1% 12. Mana Manipulation Level 0 ¨C 1% 13. Poisonous Level 4 ¨C 54% 14. Iron Defense Level 6 ¨C 66% 15. Direction Sense Level 0 ¨C 1%
Well not much has changed. My level has gone up and blood wolf is no longer in the top three infected host numbers. Everything else that can level seems to just be trucking along just fine. I guess there is no need to adjust anything. I will check on what my new number three species is though. Observe Formica flamensis.
Formica flamensis: Common name fire ant. This ant lives in colonies and is a major pest species of planet Braxis due to insatiable appetite, formidable size, and access to fire magic.
Once again I was not expecting that. I did not just get its common name, but more information. I wonder if my observation skill is getting better or if there is just more information about them in the data base, or is it because they seem to be a well known pest species? They are obviously different than the fire ants on Earth, these guys seem to be able to use fire magic. What is more important is that I now know what planet I am on, Planet Braxis. I do not know why that makes me feel so good to find out something like this. I guess it is because I lack so much knowledge about what is outside my host and even this little bit seems to make me feel better about my situation. Let¡¯s see if I can get some more information. Observe Planet Braxis.
Planet Braxis: Standard life bearing planet orbiting the yellow star Braxima.
Ok no real important new information. I now know the name of the ¡°sun¡± for this planet and that it is yellow, which should mean that plants might look similar in color and form. I probably could have guessed that from my trait photosynthesis, but no new important information. Oh well I guy can hope, time for my naps. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Two hibernations cycles later, I am now feeling great and have infected another 50 species. Time to gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Now some down time. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. After 8 more hibernation and mana gathering cycles I had infected at least another 50 species and finally got the message I had been waiting for.
You have reached Level 10. This is the maximum level a Chimera Virus can obtain. Due to your unique class evolver you have the option to evolve into the following organisms. 1. Slime ¨C Requires trait Adaptable. Due to your achievements you may select a subspecies. A. Iron Slime ¨C Requires trait Iron Defense B. Poison Slime ¨C Requires trait Poisonous C. Magic Slime ¨C Requires trait Mana Manipulation D. Mimic Slime ¨C Requires trait Mimicry to be Maxed 2. Horned Rabbit ¨C Requires either trait Herbivore or Adaptable and Boost. 3. Magic Vine ¨C Requires trait Mana Manipulation and Photosynthesis. 4. Parasite ¨C Requires traits Hidden, Lesser Resist All, and Lesser Multi-Infection. 5. Magic Ant ¨C Requires traits Mana Manipulation and Hive Mind. Due to your achievements you may select a subspecies. A. Fire Ant ¨C Requires Fire affinity B. Metal Ant ¨C Requires Earth affinity C. Shadow Ant ¨C Requires Darkness affinity D. Lightning Ant ¨C Requires Lightning affinity 6. Magic Chimera Mimic Virus: Requires Mana Manipulation, Chimera Virus, and Mimicry Max Level.
So many choices. Wait I thought I would have to spend Karma Points though, whatever happened to them? Observe Karma Points.
Karma Points and menu are inaccessible due to you already being reincarnated.
Ok so they still exist but they are only good if I die and reincarnate. Well I guess I should try and lead as good a life as I can while striving for revenge. Huh, that sounds a little contradictory even to me. Oh, well I have a goal and nothing is going to stop me. Now which of these options is going to be the best for me. Without even reading the observe descriptions I can draw some conclusions. More traits probably means a higher tier of evolution. I mean I could have evolved into a normal slime, but since I was able to get other traits more specialized and powerful types of slimes are available. So if I rank my choices from just that my choice list would be:
  1. Parasite - 3 traits
  2. Magic Chimera Mimic Virus - 3 traits
  3. Magic Ant ¨C 2 + traits
  4. Magic Vine - 2 traits
  5. Horned Rabbit ¨C 2 - traits
  6. Slime - 1 + traits
The plusses denote that there is an available subspecies which required another trait and the minus on Horned Rabbit means that it could use more than one trait to get to it. However, I did notice that Mimic Slime and Magic Chimera Mimic Virus both required a trait to be maxed out. That would imply that they are of a higher tier as it would be harder to max out a trait before evolving. That would actually put Magic Chimera Virus as number 1 and Slime would move up and tie with Horned Rabbit or maybe even with Magic Vine. That does not matter for my first cut though. I am only going to look at what I would consider the top 3 choices. So let¡¯s take a look. Observe Magic Ant, Parasite, and Magic Chimera Mimic Virus please.
Magic Ant ¨C A larger version (between 6 and 12 inches long) of the common ant that has acquired the ability to manipulate a single element of magic. High evolution potential. Parasite ¨C A voracious predator that causes harm to its host. Limited Evolution Potential. Magic Chimera Mimic Virus ¨C An advanced and upgraded virus form that can level up even higher. Unlimited evolution potential.
Well that settles it right there. Virus has worked for me so far and it still has unlimited evolution potential. I would be a fool to pick anything else at this point. I still won¡¯t be able to use devour yet, but I already have an army of viruses and I assume they will upgrade with me and I will not have to start over from scratch. This has to be the best option. Let¡¯s do this before I change my mind. I select Magic Chimera Mimic Virus as my evolution choice. 7 - My Progress Goes Viral Chapter 7 My Progress Goes Viral
Congratulations on your first evolution. Due to your choice you may make some adjustments to your traits at this time. You may select the 20 traits you want to keep and the rest will be converted into experience.
My my, this is going to work out great. I have collected an amazing list of useless or what I think are useless traits. Getting rid of them will only clear up my lists and make me progress immediately. I also have 15 unused free trait levels that I might as well place also. I used to only be able to use 15 traits. I guess with the new evolution I will be able to have more. I need to make sure to keep anything I think will also be useful after another evolution like Devour. Just because I cannot use it now does not mean it will lose its benefit when I finally evolve into something that can fulfill its requirements. After staring and sorting through the list I pick my traits and let the evolution commence.
Evolution Complete.
Well a little tingling and everything is done. That seemed a little anticlimactic. If I was to evolve into something larger than a virus I expect that it might be more spectacular or exciting or something. Anyway, I need to place my trait levels and then check my status. There. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus Veriforma insectica - 941 hosts Level: 3 Formica flamensis ¨C 852 hosts Lepidoptic hornicaa ¨C 451 hosts
Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%
Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 10 ¨C MAX 2. Hidden Level 20 ¨C MAX 3. Greater Resist All Level 10 ¨C MAX 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Greater Multi-Infection Level 10 ¨C MAX 6. Devour Level 0 ¨C 1% 7. All is One Level 15 ¨C 22% 8. Basic Tactics Level 10 ¨C MAX 9. Photosynthesis Level 4 ¨C 23% 10. Chemical Warfare Level 3 ¨C 32% 11. Boost Level 0 ¨C 1% 12. Mana Manipulation Level 10 ¨C MAX 13. Poisonous Level 9 ¨C 14% 14. Iron Defense Level 9 ¨C 37% 15. Direction Sense Level 0 ¨C 1% 16. Play Dead Level 0 ¨C 1% 17. Burrow Level 0 ¨C 1% 18. Charismatic Cuckoo Level 0 ¨C 1% 19. Strengthen Level 0 ¨C 1% 20. Flexibility Level 0 ¨C 1%
The traded in traits managed to push me up to level 3 in my new evolution, but I did not get any more bonuses. I guess bonuses are for only lower tier evolutions. I did manage to max out some more traits and have one ready for evolution. I left Poisonous and Iron Defense alone because they have almost leveled up on their own. Some of the other choices I made are probably self-explanatory. I kept two though that might confuse others. Burrow I wanted to keep, because I feel that underground is safer than above ground. The skill to burrow or dig well is useful in too many ways not to keep for future use. The last is Charismatic Cuckoo. I had to Observe this to even understand it, but once I read the description I knew I had to keep it. It feels like a low level blending into the crowd or hiding skill that will probably stack well with hidden. Observe Charismatic Cuckoo.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Charismatic Cuckoo: Just like the infamous cuckoo bird who makes others raise their young you can imitate and order around others or become unnoticeable in large crowds. Chance of blending in or orders being accepted increases with level.
I think it is basically a camouflage ability for bipedal intelligences. Translated, I can pretend to be someone else and have people believe me or just disappear from sight if enough people are around me. This could be a huge life saver in the future. Especially since I have no idea of cultures, languages, history, or anything else for humanoids on this new planet. This should help me blend in until I can learn what I need to pass as a native. Well technically I guess I am a native of the planet Braxis now even if I have the memories of my life on Earth. I mean I was technically reincarnated which is a birth so that does mean I am officially a Braxis native. Finally I maxed out Mana Manipulation, which makes gathering it much easier. Now that everything is settled it is time to get back to my original pattern. I will hibernate and continue to gather mana until something new happens. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. I was brought back to consciousness in the middle of my first hibernation cycle. I had forgotten that two of my traits were about to evolve. They have both hit level 10.
Iron Defense has reached maximum level. Due to your unique class evolver you can evolve it to the higher tier Steel Defense. Do you wish to evolve Iron Defense now? Y/N Poisonous has reached maximum level. Due to your unique class evolver you can evolve it to the higher tier Toxic. Do you wish to evolve Poisonous now? Y/N
Yes Please evolve Iron Defense and Poisonous to their higher tiers. Now back to hibernation. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. After my two rest hibernations cycles I am feeling better. Time to gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. This cycle repeated for 12 times during which I gained level 4 and finally maxed out All Is One again.
All is One has reached maximum level. Due to your unique class evolver you can evolve it to the highest tier Many Bodies One Mind. Do you wish to evolve All is One now? Y/N
This says it is the last evolution of my mind expanding skill. It sounds important. Observe Many Bodies One Mind.
Many Bodies One Mind: This is the ultimate skill in hive intelligence. Once it has reached it¡¯s peak you can now manifest any physical body you have consumed. Have you ever wanted to be a wolf? Then eat a wolf. Want to be a whale for a day, eat a whale.
Oh I am so excited. This is perfect. I definitely made the right choice in staying a virus. If I max this one out I can be anything. I do not have to pick just one thing to evolve into, I can be any of them. All I have to do is eat that organism. Hmm, it does not say if I need to eat an entire one or just a piece of one. I hope it is just a piece. I have infected and consumed so many hosts at this point that I can just pick from the list and manifest myself as any of them. I will be the ultimate chameleon. I will be able to turn into a wolf and run long distances to get to town, and then shift into a humanoid form to interact with the locals, then escape detection as an innocent bumblebee. This is the perfect overpowered skill. There has to be some restriction on it, but until I can use it I won¡¯t know. This means I can keep dreaming big. I wonder if I get the stats of the creature I turn into? That could be a huge bonus and drawback at the same time. In one instant a near undefeatable dragon. However, if I was infiltrating as a bug someone could also just squash me in an instant. I am definitely going to have to do some more pondering on this. Yes DEFINITELY evolve All Is One. The other nice surprise I had was that I still got bonuses to traits. They just came every five levels instead of every level when I was a more simple virus. I am going to save them up once again. Once I reach maximum level in Many Bodies One Mind I can they determine which one would help me the most and plug them in for use with the new bodies I create. Well enough excitement for now. Back to the old grind until I finally reach the level that I can be something else. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Repeat. 6 generations later I hit level 6. Continue cycle. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. 4 more generations and my mana finally feels full. Now why did that take so long? It should have finished long ago if it matched the first half of my gathering mana. What changed? My evolution. Perhaps being of a higher tier allowed me to gather more mana? Maybe it was the number of hosts I have infected also. During this time I have spread to over 400 species. My host list is abnormally long. The last time I looked at it, I just browsed for a second and turned it off due to the sheer amount, and it is only going to get longer. It may be a combination of both. More ¡°bodies¡± probably means more space to store mana, and a higher tier evolution probably gave me a larger space to fill also. Well now that I feel full what should I do? Should I try and create some of the ¡°spells¡± I remember from Earth games like dungeons and dragons? I quickly dismiss this idea. I just had a horrible vision of a virus casting a fireball inside of the host that it was in and my poor blood wolf exploding from the inside. I am pretty sure that I would transfer to another host, but I would rather not take the chance. What if whatever governs this world would consider that a suicide attempt and then force me back into the reincarnation cycle. I cannot afford that. I have to use my opportunities in this life so I can take revenge on the ¡°Overbeing¡±. Wait, what if I try some of the non-destructive spells. I know there were some, I just have to think of them. They were definitely not as popular and got used less in games so they are harder to remember. Do I have to use premade spells though? Can I just make up my own? You know what I am going to try that out first. 8 - Magic Chapter 8 Magic Ok, I am going to create my own magic. Let¡¯s think of the steps I need to follow. First would probably imagine what I want to happen. Second, I will need to push some of the mana I stored into the ¡°spell¡± I am imagining. Wait, that would actually be third. Second, I need to decide what type or combination of mana would work the best for the spell I am imagining. Man this is going to take a while. I mean some types are obvious, but others may not be. This is going to be especially tedious because I have access to all types of mana and thus theoretically should be able to create any spell or at least use any spell. I mean a fireball is obviously going to use fire mana, but what about a spell to boost memory? This was the first spell I thought of. If I could boost my memory I could perhaps recall some of the non-harmful spells I glanced over in my dungeons and dragons phase of my last life. What type of mana would be best for memory? Maybe the pink creation mana? I guess I can try that first. I picture as best I can the concept of increased memory recall. I imagine it as memories being part of a library, and this spell would be the catalog that will allow me to access any book or memory in it. I focus on this for a while to make sure it is locked into my mind. Now without losing the picture I ¡°reach¡± inside of myself and try and grab some pink creation mana to merge it with the idea in my head. As soon as I start moving the pink mana I lose the image in my head and the pink mana flows back into the color wheel. This is like horrible mental gymnastics. I have to be able to do so many things at once. The only good part of my failure is that somehow I just know that this approach will work. I don¡¯t know why I have that feeling, but I do. I continue to strain my brain and after several more attempts I manage to infuse my mental picture of library/Memory with pink creation mana. I was rewarded with a slew of notifications.
Congratulations you have created your first spell, memory boost. Memory Boost: Access past memories 25% X level of spell easier. Duration 5 minutes X Level. You have unlocked the professions menu. You have unlocked the Primary Profession: Sorcerer Would you like to change your Primary Profession to Sorcerer? Y/N
First of all, YAY ME for successfully doing this. Next, what the heck is the rest of that about. Observe professions menu.
Professions Menu: the menu on your status that allows you to review your professions and in rare cases switch professions.
All right that was not as helpful as I thought. Maybe if I observe the profession itself? Observe Sorcerer.
Sorcerer: Those with this profession do not follow the traditional path of magic. Instead imagination and sheer willpower determine the type and style of their spells.
I like it. From the description it seems that I would only be limited by my imagination and my own power and affinities for spells. Since I have every affinity, this would definitely be beneficial. If I had to go to school to learn each affinity that would be ten types of schools I would have to go through just to learn spells. With this I can just create my own. If I see someone else cast something I like all I would have to do to copy it and figure out my own way I want it done. It is basically magic without limits. I talked myself into it. Please set my primary profession as Sorcerer. Alright let¡¯s see what that has done to my description. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus Veriforma insectica - 3342 hosts Level: 6 Formica flamensis ¨C 2954 hosts Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Formica earthenii ¨C 1427 hosts Secondary Profession: Not AssignedA case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%
Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 10 ¨C MAX 2. Hidden Level 20 ¨C MAX 3. Greater Resist All Level 10 ¨C MAX 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Greater Multi-Infection Level 10 ¨C MAX 6. Devour Level 0 ¨C 1% 7. Many Bodies One Mind Level 2 ¨C 22% 8. Basic Tactics Level 10 ¨C MAX 9. Photosynthesis Level 8 ¨C 14% 10. Chemical Warfare Level 7 ¨C 86% 11. Boost Level 0 ¨C 1% 12. Mana Manipulation Level 10 ¨C MAX 13. Toxic Level 2 ¨C 42% 14. Steel Defense Level 2 ¨C 33% 15. Direction Sense Level 0 ¨C 1% 16. Play Dead Level 0 ¨C 1% 17. Burrow Level 0 ¨C 1% 18. Charismatic Cuckoo Level 0 ¨C 1% 19. Strengthen Level 0 ¨C 1% 20. Flexibility Level 0 ¨C 1%
Interesting. I guess I get an experience boost whenever I use my Primary Profession. This would make sense. Everybody can still learn anything that they want, they would just be better at their chosen profession. So if I wanted to be a chef or learn cooking I still can, I just will never be able to catch up to the level of true chefs who have the profession. This seems like back on Earth just with numbers to represent it. From what I see I can also have a secondary profession. That will probably give me a smaller experience boost but will still be helpful. To continue with my chef example from earlier, it is probably how a chef can own a restaurant. They could have cook as their Primary Profession and Business Man or Trader as their Secondary Profession and do better than somebody who does not have that combination. It does not mean that others can¡¯t do the work and succeed. Just that they will have an advantage, like an inborn skill. I will need to be careful about what I pick for my Secondary Profession. It needs to be something that complements Sorcerer or gets me closer to my goal of revenge. Maybe something cool like Revenge-O-Nator, or Super-Kick-Your-Butt profession. Nah, those can¡¯t possibly exist, but how cool would it be if they did. Anyway I should probably use the spell I created at the start of this whole thing to help me remember some other spells I could create. Let¡¯s see, now that I have created it all I should have to do is think the spell and express intent to use it right? Time to give it a try. I think hard about my new spell Memory Boost and try to will it to happen. Nothing, maybe I need to try harder. I continue at this for several minutes when all of the sudden I feel it work and receive another message.
You have unlocked the skill Voiceless Casting. Using just the force of your will you are now able to summon forth mana and make it do your bidding. All spells that are cast voicelessly are 25% weaker than their chanted counterparts.
Well that explains it. It seems that in this world magic is usually controlled by voice incantations. Since I do not have a voice yet, that is why I was struggling. Luckily it led to a skill that I can use now and in the future. I would rather give up 25% of the power of the spell to have it be a surprise against an enemy. I mean if I go around shouting fireball, they will know what is coming and then will be able to take measures to defend against it. I never actually understood that part of magic in stories. I mean it should be a big advantage to just surprise someone with magic without having to shout something out. I guess it is kind of a cheat, but at least this time it is going to work in my favor. I need to use the time I have though with my new spell to remember some other good ones and then create them. Let¡¯s see think Mark, non-lethal spells from games, movies, and books. There is binding someone, grease, alarms, detection spells, shields, sleep, invisibility, hiding, teleportation, communication, cleaning spells, cooking spells, mending and repair spells, transformation spells, scrying spells, enhancement spells. Wait, what were the last two on my list? Scrying and enhancement spells. Mana Sight, if I create this I could finally have a way to see what is around me. This is definitely the next experiment. Alright what do I visualize here. I want to see the world around me using mana. So just seeing the particles of mana is no good, I need to see shapes and outlines of all objects. What about Thunder Cats? Lion-O had the sword of omens sight. No, that would not be good that was for distance viewing. It might come in handy when I develop that spell, but right now I want to see what is around me. Mana should be in everything. Maybe concentrations and types of mana would be good, sort of like night vision goggles see concentrations of heat or the lack thereof. I think that is what I am going to do, it will imagine a combination of infrared sight mixed with mana particles to show concentrations of them as well. Focus, Mark. Picture a rainbow colored infrared picture instead of the heat vision one. Now pull in one particle of each kind. I feel that since I am going to be looking for all the different colors I will need a particle of every color to power this spell. This is much more difficult than my first one. Holding onto more than one particle is ridiculously hard. What if I try and just pull the whole color wheel into it? That idea is actually working. Since they each have opposites and compliments, pulling them as a group is easy. They stick together quite well. Focusing on image and then insert mana.
You have created your first compound spell Infrared Mana Sight.
Observe Infrared Mana Sight.
Infrared Mana Sight: This spell allows the target to see in Infrared or Mana shades as they prefer. Due to the dual nature and ability to switch between modes the spell duration has been extended, but the distance has been halved. Duration = Level of caster X 10 minutes. Distance = Level of caster X 5 feet.
Not exactly what I was shooting for but it should work. 9 - I Can See Chapter 9 I Can See If this works I will finally be able to see what is around me. Here it goes. Infrared Mana Sight. All of the sudden I could see various objects all around me. I was flowing along a river of mostly blue particles, water mana, surrounded by brightly colored things. Those must be the cells, viruses and microbes in the bloodstream with me. The walls of the blood vessel were a mixture of white and green particles. That would be light and nature magic. That makes sense for the internal workings of an animal. The shapes of objects around me are easily determined and most of what I can identify as internal workings of the Blood Wolf I am in share the white and green mix of mana particles. Most of the viruses and microbes I see are colored in black or purple which is destruction and darkness mana which also makes sense since their function is usually the destruction of other cells and/or hiding from the bodies defenses. Strangely enough though there are small living microbes of every color surrounding me. Admittedly they are in much smaller numbers than everything else but they are there. I got it, they must be the equivalent of specialty diseases back on Earth. I remember that the human body can host hundreds if not thousands of different types of microbes, and it is only when they outnumber and start to attack the body does someone get sick. So these guys must be the magic world equivalent of that. They might be stray microbes that are picked up from daily activities. That red fire particle one might be a disease that thrives in the magic fire ants I have as hosts, where here in the Blood Wolf it can barely survive. The next few hours are spent categorizing and justifying everything in the world around me. While this is fascinating I still look forward to the time when I can see outside and find out what the Planet Braxis is really like. I am going to hibernate once to rest and then gather mana and experiment a little more and see if I can create some more spells. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. When I wake up after hibernation I immediately start my gathering of mana to top off my tanks for more experiments. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. When I have the full feeling again I stop and think about what I want next. There are several different spells I could be working on, but the number one priority behind sight was coordinated movement. I have just been drifting for hundreds of virus generations. I have no physical movement method at all, so instead I thought that I might create a magical one. I have thought of a bunch of different movement methods, but I am only going to try and create three of them. Each of the methods should still be useful after I earn a larger/humanoid body so that is why I decided on these three. First is telekinesis. If I cannot move then I can either pick things up with my mind and bring them closer or I can pull myself towards them with my mind. Next is mana wings. I have read too many stories about characters flying about on mana wings not to try this one. I have always wanted to fly. Finally, my last choice for a movement method is teleportation. This is going to be last, because there are so many different variations of it in stories that I might have to experiment for a while to either find one that works, or decide between a bunch of different kinds. All right first up is telekinesis. What is a mental image I can use to get my point across? Hmm, how about I play a short kind of video clip in my mind of someone doing what I want. That should work. I focus on forming a little short clip of a magic looking guy concentrating on a book that sits on a table across the room. The book rises up and then floats towards him. I start playing this little scenario on a loop through my mind. Wait why does the guy look a little like Dr. Strange? Who cares, at least he was a magic guy. Now while playing this loop in my head I reach for my mana and decide to try for a combination of orange (air) and pink (creation) first. I slide the orange particle out no problem and when I try to combine it with the pink particle to fuel the spell the whole thing collapses. All right, that was obviously not the right combination. Now focus on the feeling of what happened Mark. Yep orange was the right choice but it needs to mix with something other than pink. So what would air mana mix with to create telekinesis. Let¡¯s try nature. I try the experiment again with orange and green and get the same negative result. Ok how about earth for strength. Orange and brown start to come together, but in the end refuse to mix. This is getting ridiculous, none of the others make sense but I can just go through them to figure it out. Orange and blue, no, orange and red, no, orange and black, no, orange and yellow.
You have created the spell Telekinesis.
Huh? Observe Telekinesis.
Telekinesis: A spell to lift or move objects with the users mind. Used mostly for utilitarian purpose, but some say it is just the first stop on a train full of new mind power.
Now why would the mix of air and lightning be what is needed for telekinesis? I thought I was starting to figure this magic system out, but this combo baffles me. Maybe the lightning mana represents power and the air needed more power to pick something up. That is the only semi-reasonable answer I can come up with. I figure I am really making a big deal out of nothing. As long as it works, why question it. Next on the list to develop was mana wings. I have always wanted to fly, let¡¯s face facts, it is probably a secret dream of most things that cannot fly to have the freedom of the sky. I could imagine several different things here in my mind before I decide on the mana to use, but I have only ever wanted one set of wings. Dragon wings. So I quickly imagine a large pair of reptilian wings sprouting from the upper shoulders of a humanoid being in my mind. It was extremely easy this time to mentally picture as I have had this fantasy and daydream quite a lot throughout my previous life. The image that was so stable in my mind crumbled the instant the next thought crossed my consciousness. Are there dragons in this world?Stolen story; please report. I mean there is magic, so it would stand to reason that several of what I know as fantasy creatures are present as well. I mean my evolutionary choices included some of the common fantasy creatures. That means dragons could live in this world. That settles it, I have to rewrite my priority list of things to do.
  1. Get strong
  2. Get body
  3. Find dragon then eat dragon then become dragon with trait Many Bodies One Mind.
  4. Get even stronger
  5. Get revenge on the ¡°Overbeing¡±
That is a nice compact 5 step plan to follow for my life. As always it is flexible if necessary. Now what was I doing before I got distracted by dragons. Ah yes, mana wings. I recreate the mental image in my mind of the humanoid with dragon wings sprouting from the shoulder blade area. Now the mana to add to the spell. Pink creation and orange air are obvious choices, but what else. I realize that those two alone will probably work, but I want awesome mana wings. I want wings that have an elemental affinity to them, like wings of fire or lightning, but which one to pick? Wait why do I have to have only one type. I could create spells for each type and just switch between them. Better yet, I could just create the spell with the ability to switch between the different wing affinities that I want. I start to adjust my mental image. I am going to play another video clip in my head again to make this one work. I keep the humanoid with wings image but have it shuffle through different element wings and their uses. Fire for heat and destruction, lightning for speed, darkness for silence and hiding, and finally blue for use under water. I mean think about it, would you rather swim and lose the ability to use your hands or have a pair of awesome water wings that can propel you forward while you can still use your hands for other tasks. I carefully take out particles of pink, orange, yellow, red, black, and blue and bring them towards my imagined wing construct. With a little mental shoving they blend in with my idea and I see a message arrive in front of me.
You have created the spell Elemental Mana Wings.
Observe Elemental Mana Wings.
Elemental Mana Wings: A spell that allows you to soar through anything non-solid and boosts your damage and use of the element used to create the wings. Elements available for use are Lightning, Fire, Water, and Darkness. Wings will last for Level of Caster X 10 minutes or until dismissed.
Fantastic, this is even better than I imagined. I can fly through anything non-solid will allow me to move anywhere even in space if that is possible. I really like this spell. In fact, I want to try it out. I first cast Infrared Mana Sight because as funny as it would be to watch me try and fly blind, I really do not want to run into anything. Then I cast Elemental Mana Wings. I have a strange feeling of a new appendage growing out of my shoulders. The weirdest part is that I don¡¯t even have shoulders as a virus. This must be a holdover sensation from my last life. I mentally flex my new ¡°wings¡± and imagine myself flapping forward through the blood surrounding me. Holy moly, I am fast. I mean all things considered I am probably slow as I am only moving extremely small distances inside of another organism, but when I have not had any control over my own movements since I reincarnated as a virus it seems like I am some sort of speed demon. I spend the next several minutes just enjoying the feeling of movement once again. Ok, flying around is now part of the rest and recuperate cycle now. Maybe hibernate, fly, and then hibernate. Yeah that sounds good. I have one more spell I wanted to try and create, teleportation. Who doesn¡¯t want to just imagine themselves in another place and poof they are there. No muss, no fuss, and most importantly no boring travel in between locations. Alright Mark, visualize. Got to go with the video clip playing in head again. I imagine myself in one place and then poof I disappear and reappear in the distance. I decide to try purple destruction mana and yellow lightning mana first. Purple because I am destroying the distance between two places and lightning because I want to move as fast as lightning. They go together surprisingly well.
You have created the spell Blink.
Observe Blink.
Blink: A spell that instantaneously moves the target from one place to another. Distance travelled is equal to the 3 X Level of Caster multiplied by the height of the Caster.
Well that is not what I wanted. It might prove useful in the future but as a virus it is pretty limited. I mean my height is really small. I guess I could use it to blink to a passing microbe to infect it, but I have not personally infected a microbe in hundreds of generations. Let me try that again with different types of mana. Recreate the scene in my head now how about I use destruction and darkness on this try.
You have created the spell Shadow Moves.
Observe Shadow Moves.
Shadow Moves: A spell that transports the caster from the shadow they are standing in to another shadow within sight of the caster.
Once again definitely a movement type of spell but not the teleportation that I want. What am I doing wrong? Maybe it is in my visualization. Yeah that must be it. In my mental picture I keep moving to a place that I can see. I need to visualize arriving in a brand new place. Somewhere outside of the first mental picture. Ok I picture a humanoid next to a recognizable landmark say a tree and then they disappear. They reappear in a new place next to a lake with no trees around. That should take care of visualization. Next I will try destruction purple with green nature to show that I want to reappear somewhere else in nature.
You have created the spell Switch.
Huh? Observe Switch.
Switch: A spell unique to you. You can switch places with any other organism you control. Distance is unlimited.
Oh I like this one. It is a travel and escape spell all in one. I have viruses everywhere so I can use this to travel to one and replace it or to use it as a means of escape. Brilliant. However, I still do not have just a plain teleportation spell. I am going to have to think about this one while I hibernate and then rebuild my mana levels. Down I go. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Fly around on mana wings. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. I feel ready to try and tackle the teleportation problem again. 10 - Teleportation Success Chapter 10 Teleportation Success Maybe if I use the images I had from the last try but use other types of mana. It seems that destruction mana is the key, I just need to blend it with something else. My closest success is probably the spell Blink. Maybe if I use the new image with that combination of mana. It is worth a try. I bring up my teleporting image and try to infuse destruction and lightning mana into it. It goes into the image but the image is destroyed.
You have already created the spell Blink.
Ok that did not work. I guess it will be process of elimination again. Recreate the scene in my head now use destruction and fire mana.
You have created the spell Fire Transport.
Observe Fire Transport.
Fire Transport: A spell that transports the caster from the closest source of flame to another source of flame within sight of the caster.
Nope not helpful. Try again. Recreate the scene in my head now how about destruction and light.
You have created the spell teleportation.
Finally, Observe Teleportation.
Teleportation: A spell that transports the caster from their current location to any known location. Distance travelled is limited to 5 times the level of the caster X 50 kilometers.
Yes, this is the skill I wanted. It is not perfect as it still has a distance limit, but the distance limit is actually quite large. With my current level of 6 I can teleport 1,500 kilometers. Wait is that math right? Maybe it is really not that limited. I figure that level 6 is not that high and I can still teleport 1,500 kilometers. By the time I reach level 50 that would be 12,500 kilometers or about a third of the way around Earth. Even if my new planet Braxis is much larger than Earth that is still a very significant amount of travel. I can definitely work with this spell. I just realized though, that this spell is useless to the current me because the only places I know are inside of this animal. Switch is a better transport method for me currently as a virus, but even then I do not know where the other animals are that I would be switching too. Oh well, I know it will be extremely helpful in the future. I guess it is about time to go back to the old hibernation grind to wait for more levels in the traits I need. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Fly around on mana wings. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Hit Level 8. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Fly around on mana wings. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Level nine comes after 7 more cycles, and level 10 12 cycles after that. I did not get a notice about evolution at level 10 so Magic Chimera Virus must be able to reach a higher level than the lower level regular virus. I did get another 5 free trait levels which I will continue to save until I get a body. Speaking of which I better check on my progress. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus Formica flamensis ¨C 7534 hosts Level: 10 Formica earthenii ¨C 6921 hosts Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Veriforma insectica - 4277 hosts Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%
Traits: 1. Mimicry Level 10 ¨C MAX 2. Hidden Level 20 ¨C MAX 3. Greater Resist All Level 10 ¨C MAX 4. Adaptable Level 10 ¨C MAX 5. Greater Multi-Infection Level 10 ¨C MAX 6. Devour Level 0 ¨C 1% 7. Many Bodies One Mind Level 11 ¨C 36% 8. Basic Tactics Level 10 ¨C MAX 9. Photosynthesis Level 10 ¨C MAX 10. Chemical Warfare Level 10 ¨C MAX 11. Boost Level 0 ¨C 1% 12. Mana Manipulation Level 10 ¨C MAX 13. Toxic Level 7 ¨C 17%Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! 14. Steel Defense Level 7 ¨C 21% 15. Direction Sense Level 0 ¨C 1% 16. Play Dead Level 0 ¨C 1% 17. Burrow Level 0 ¨C 1% 18. Charismatic Cuckoo Level 0 ¨C 1% 19. Strengthen Level 0 ¨C 1% 20. Flexibility Level 0 ¨C 1%
NOOOO!!! Many Bodies One Mind is not a level 10 MAX skill. I mean that does make sense since I was told it is the highest tier, but now I have to wait even longer to get a stupid body. Is there anything I can do to speed this thing up. I mean I already am getting the max experience from infecting more organisms right. Wait, am I? Stupid Mark, you still have the absorb option on at 40%. You were given a message that you were limited to 20 traits and you have kept trying to absorb more this whole time. I could have sped up infection and experience gain a ton. I need to fix this and then my wait won¡¯t be so long. I can¡¯t believe this. I could have had a body by now if I hadn¡¯t forgot to change it. Customize Virus Response, 95% of new viruses infect, 5% hidden, 0% absorption.
New Parameters accepted.
It worked. I should be happy that I am now going to gain experience almost twice as fast, but I am still a little depressed that it took me that long to spot my mistake. Happy thoughts Mark think happy thoughts. Island beaches with warm tropical breezes, lying in a hammock with a good book, crushing your enemies, seeing them driven before you, and hearing the lamentations of their women. Wait what? Stupid daydreaming Conan quote getting in there. However, now that I think about it, that¡¯s really not bad. I mean I am focusing on revenge so I might as well modify it and use it. My happy place is now, island beaches with warm tropical breezes, lying in a hammock with a good book, crushing my enemy the ¡°Overbeing¡±, and hearing the lamentations of the ¡°Overbeing¡¯s¡± women if they exist. Yep that will work. Time to get back to the old grind. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Fly around on mana wings. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. Repeat. 6 cycles later I am level 11, 7 more cycles to 12 and a new notice.
Toxic has reached maximum level. Due to your unique class you may evolve Toxic to the highest tier Miasma. Do you wish to evolve Toxic? Y/N Steel Defense has reached maximum level. Due to your unique class you may evolve Steel Defense to the highest tier Adamantium Defense. Do you wish to evolve Steel Defense? Y/N
Well isn¡¯t that nice. Yes please evolve Toxic and Steel Defense to the highest level. Well that was a nice brief interlude. Back to waiting and leveling. Wait a second, why am I only still hibernating for 25 generations? I can hibernate for more, which will make the time pass faster. Virus Hibernate. 100 generations. Wake up gather mana. ROBBY, PP, BWG. ROBBY, PP, BWG. Fly around on mana wings. Virus Hibernate. 100 generations. There it is, level 13 after only two cycles because the hibernation period is longer. I continue with the higher number of hibernation generations. After three more cycles I hit level 14, four more cycles get me to level 15 and another 5 free trait levels. That should be 15 free trait levels total. It is looking like it takes about an extra 100 generations to earn the next level. Well let¡¯s continue until another notification. 5 cycles equals level 16 and 6 cycles after that I reach level 17. Finally, after 8 more cycles I receive the notice I have been waiting for along with level 18.
You have reached the maximum level of Many Bodies One Mind. You may choose to create a body from your list of hosts.
Now all I have to do is pick what I am going to turn into, at least to start. I start browsing through all of my choices. When I look at the total number I almost pass out, can a virus pass out? I have infected over 1,200 different species. This is going to take forever. I wonder if I can use the custom command to sort them. Custom Virus Hosts, sort by animal, plant, fungus, and other.
New Parameters accepted. Virus Host list has been sorted into four categories.
I immediately eliminate plant and fungus species. They just don¡¯t fit my revenge criteria. How many do I have to sort through now? Hmm, 326 animal species and 40 other. I look through the other list quickly. It is a variety of microbes and slimes. Things that just don¡¯t fit well anywhere else. I eliminate this group also. Exotic could be fun, but I want something else. That leaves 326 to sort through. Still quite a few. I should try and sort them again. Custom Virus Hosts, sort animal category by, mammal, reptile, avian, and insect.
New Parameters accepted. Virus Host animal list has been sorted into four sub-categories.
Let¡¯s see, 124 insect species, 83 mammals, 72 avians, and 47 reptiles. I really don¡¯t care which it is as long as I can progress. I know, Custom Virus Hosts, list top choice in each of the animal sub-categories in evolution potential and strength.
New Parameters accepted. 1. Insect: Elemental Mantis ¨C Evolution Potential High, Strength High 2. Mammal: Wood Elf ¨C Evolution Potential Medium, Strength Extreme 3. Reptile: Elemental Drake ¨C Evolution Potential High, Strength Extreme 4. Avian: Braxil Bird ¨C Evolution Potential Extreme, Strength Low
This will definitely help me decide. I do not know if the being I transform into will influence my evolution choices when I finally reach that point, but there is no reason not to plan ahead. I better go ahead and check each one. Observe Elemental Mantis, Wood Elf, Elemental Drake, and Braxil Bird.
Elemental Mantis ¨C Insect master of the elements. Stands approximately 1 to 1.25 meters tall, and can evolve into the intelligent Thri-Keen. Wood Elf ¨C Elven master of nature. Stands approximately 1.75 to 2.25 meters tall, and can evolve into Ancient One. Can use any type of mana with a penalty, but gets a 25% bonus to nature spells. Elemental Drake ¨C Smallest reptilian element master. 1 to 2 meters long, and can evolve into any draconic species. Braxil Bird ¨C Humble beginnings have powerful endings. .5 to .75 meters long, and can evolve into any phoenix species.
Interesting, if I remember my lore right a Thri-Keen is like some type of insect man, Elves are kind of self-explanatory, so are dragons, but what does it mean by any phoenix species? Observe Phoenix Species.
Phoenixes are powerful birds of legend that command a single element and wield it with power above any other. The most common are Fire Phoenixes, however variants in all the elements except creation and destruction have been recorded in history.
Ok, now I get it. They would be very powerful, but would be restricted in their elemental usage. I think I will cross them off the list. I also have no real desire to be a pointy eared elf. Nothing against elves, but they are just not my thing. So that leaves me the choice of Elemental Mantis or Elemental Drake. I know that many will question my decision but while I think dragons are awesome and I always wanted to be one, I am pretty sure the Elemental Mantis makes more sense in my case. I need to be able use any element, which both of them do. However, I have a special trait dealing with hive minds and such which seems to lend itself to insect culture better. I am not even sure I will be limited by my choice, but if I prepare now for the worst and get something better later than that is just gravy. A Thri-Keen is a humanoid ¡°monster¡± if I remember right so I should be able to use it to travel among humanoids with a little creativity. Yep that is going to be my choice. I hope I do not regret this. I choose to transform into an Elemental Mantis. 11 - Bugs Can Be Cool Too Chapter 11 Bugs Can Be Cool Too As soon as I make my selection I feel a powerful suction force start emanating from my current body. I can feel everything surrounding me, becoming part of me and rearranging itself into my new body. Each cell that is being used has one of my viruses inside of it. I suddenly feel very cramped and I stretch my new body to its maximum which causes me to emerge from what I can only describe as my Blood Wolf cocoon. The poor Blood Wolf that I have been living in for hundreds of generations is now just an empty bloody skin. It looks like the process of me becoming something new used the material that was closest to complete the transformation. Unfortunately for the Blood Wolf that was him, or her, or I guess now it. I twist my head back and forth to get a good look at my new body. Then it hits me, I have a head and eyes. YES!!! It has been a long time coming. As I check this new body out I see what I would call a praying mantis is my primary body shape. That is if a praying mantis grew to around one meter tall, and about a meter and a half long. On top of that I was a shimmering black color. The shimmering seemed to subtly encompass all of the colors of man in it. Right I am now in the body of an Elemental Mantis. What else is different. I am sitting on four back legs like a regular praying mantis. I do not know if I have compound eyes or not. I see everything fine and it seems to be similar to the sight I had as a human in my last life. I reach up to fell my head and stop in shock and stare at my hands/arms. I have hands and a giant scythe blade. What? They are not what I would consider real hands, but they should act like them just the same. At my wrist joint my arm splits. Underneath is a proto-hand that has 2 ¡°fingers¡± across from each other on a palm like structure for a total of 4 of these fingers on each hand. There is no thumb, but every finger appendage I can feel, and as I wiggle them I realize I have great control over them. They will work as good as my hands used to or even better. Even stranger is on the outside part of my arm where the wrist joint is I see a large scythe arching another 35 or 40 cm¡¯s past my wrist. Basically my hands are underneath to manipulate, and I have a single large seemingly very sharp built in sword/scythe made of chiton as a built in weapon. It sort of reminds me of the Marvel character Wolverine, but with a couple major differences. There is only the single blade, and it is more of a blade and not a claw, and I cannot retract them at all. After I get done staring and testing out my hands and wrist blades I feel my head and find out I still have the iconic triangular shape of the mantis head. Alright this is just to freaky. I need to look and see what my status says now. Status.
Due to obtaining a body of sufficient size, inventory and other features of the game screen are now available. Status Screen has been altered for multicellular lifeform use.
What? Wait what features are you talking about? There is a different screen for single cell organisms? Brain overwhelm. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form) Level: 17 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 85 Strength: 5 Agility: 5 Intelligence: 5 (17) Wisdom: 5 (7) Constitution: 5 (23) Perception: 5 MP: 1,700 HP: 230 MP/Regen: 70% per hour HP/Regen: 23% per hour Skills: 1. Observe Level 3 ¨C 21% Bonuses: Greater Resist All +5 Con Many Bodies One Mind +10 Int Basic Tactics + 2 Wis Photosynthesis + 3 Con Mana Manipulation + 2 Int Adamantium Defense +10 Con Strengthen + 0 Str Flexibility + 0 Agi Devour + 0 Per Miasma Poison Immunity
Ok that is a lot of information to sort through. Let¡¯s figure some of this out. 85 unassigned stat points and 17 levels mean that I get 5 stat points per level. That was easy enough. Observe seems to be a skill which is different than a trait, but it can still be leveled. I might as well use it to help with the other stuff. Observe Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution, and Perception.
Strength: Measure of a person¡¯s overall ability to carry, move, and do damage with melee weapons. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Agility: Measure of a person¡¯s overall coordination, ability to dodge, and perform precision tasks (projectile weaponry or lock picking) Intelligence: Measure of a person¡¯s overall ability to learn new information. (Affects Mana Pool) Wisdom: Measure of a person¡¯s overall ability to comprehend and recall information. (Affects Mana Regeneration) Constitution: Measure of a person¡¯s overall hardiness and health. (Affects Health Pool and Health Pool Regeneration) Perception: Measure of a person¡¯s overall ability to understand subtle clues and spot hidden objects.
Alright that cleared up a few things. I understand why you need a different body from a virus for these stats to kick in and start affecting you to. I mean I was probably using some of them as a virus, but strength or agility? Not really necessary as a tiny virus. Observe HP, MP, HP/Regen, and MP/Regen.
HP: Abbreviation for Health Pool. Total measure of how healthy your body is. If it is reduced to 0 you die. Targeting weak spots on an organism¡¯s body affects their health pool at an advanced rate. Calculated by multiplying 10 by an organism¡¯s constitution. MP: Abbreviation for Mana Pool. Total measure of how much mana you have stored in your body. If it is reduced to 0 you will slip into a coma until 25% of your Mana is regenerated. Calculated by multiplying your intelligence by 10 and then multiplying that total by the number of affinities you have. HP/Regen: The speed at which your health pool will refill. Health will not start returning until all strenuous activities are stopped such as combat. Calculated by multiplying constitution times 1%. MP/Regen: The speed at which your mana pool will refill. Mana will not start returning until all strenuous activities are stopped such as combat. Calculated by multiplying wisdom times the number of affinities an organism has.
Well my getting every affinity has definitely paid off there. I probably have a mana pool and regeneration rate of people 10-20 times my level. That should definitely work to my advantage. One last thing to check. Observe Bonuses.
Bonuses: Bonuses are given to a person¡¯s stats for inborn talents or traits. The amount of the bonus reflects both the level of the trait and how rare it is.
Yay for being a virus. I absorbed so many traits and they are paying off amazingly now. HP of 230 for first level. I mean I have not even placed my unused stat points yet and I already have hit points 5 times higher than a normal person. All of this will help keep me alive and reach the point where I can become powerful enough to take my revenge. I need to place my points and then take another look. How to distribute them? This should be a good spread to start with. Please place 20 points into strength, 20 points into agility, 10 points into intelligence, 15 points into wisdom, 10 points into constitution, and 10 points into perception. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form) Level: 17 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 0 Strength: 25 Agility: 25 Intelligence: 15 (27) Wisdom: 20 (22) Constitution: 15 (33) Perception: 15 MP: 2,700 HP: 330 MP/Regen: 220% per hour HP/Regen: 33% per hour Skills: 1. Observe Level 3 ¨C 21% Bonuses: Greater Resist All +5 Con Many Bodies One Mind +10 Int Basic Tactics + 2 Wis Photosynthesis + 3 Con Mana Manipulation + 2 Int Adamantium Defense +10 Con Strengthen + 0 Str Flexibility + 0 Agi Devour + 0 Per Miasma Poison Immunity
That should be a good spread of points. I will be on par for any melee fighter of my level. That means my magic will take them by surprise with how powerful it is. Or it could work the other way around. They could see my magic and think I am weak in close combat and then I can surprise them with my strength. I like it. Now that all that is taken care of I need to secure the necessities for survival. Shelter first, then water, and last but not least food. It is said that a person can only last 3 hours without proper shelter in bad weather, 3 days without water, but can live for up to 3 weeks without food. While I am not sure that human wisdom exactly matches my situation now as I am an Elemental mantis, it still holds a kernel of truth. For the first time I truly look around at my surroundings and take this new landscape and planet in. I see a yellow sun, the sky is still blue, maybe a shade or two darker, but that could just be how my Elemental Mantis form perceives it. Plants are growing all around me. I seem to be on some sort of game trail, which would make sense since I appeared out of a Blood Wolf. The plants look similar to the Earth species that I remember, but subtly different. I do not know if it is color, leaf shape, or something else. I was not really much of a plant person in my other life so I have a hard time pinning down the difference. All I know is that it is just a little off from my memories. From the vegetation and moisture, I would guess I am in the subtropics of this planet. Big trees and some understory help confirm this fact. I need to be able to see more of the area. If only I could climb one of these trees. Wait a minute, I am not a human anymore. Mantises climb things all of the time. I run over to the nearest large tree and start to climb. I am about half way up the trunk when I realized I did not even have to think about what to do. Thank goodness for instincts. I mean I have never walked on four legs or climbed with them for that matter. I just thought about what I wanted and the body responded. Come to think of it, I really did not even need to climb, I could have just flown up with my mana wings. Eh, I have already started climbing I might as well finish. I continue scurrying, yep scurrying, that would probably be the best world for bug movement up a tree, until I reach the canopy of the tree and try and get a good look around. There are still a lot of tree around, over there. That tree seems taller than the rest. I bounce from branch to branch until I get to the new tree and climb up several more meters so I can finally get a look at the surrounding area. It is beautiful. I have not seen a wilderness this pristine ever on Earth except in National Geographic pictures. In the distance I can see a chain of mountains with a couple smoking volcanoes. Clockwise from the volcanoes I see a large expanse of water I am guessing about 75-100 kilometers away. It could be a large lake or an offshoot of a sea or ocean. Huh, I can see pretty good as a mantis. Continuing clockwise opposite of the volcanoes is the continuing forest as far as I can see. To the left of the volcanoes is still more forest. 12 - My First "Real" Battle Chapter 12 My First ¡°Real¡± Battle I definitely want to try and move towards the mountains in the distance. I am particular about my shelters and I think that underground or a cave would be the most secure. Plus, there must be creeks, streams or rivers coming down from them, so I should be able to find a source of water which is number two on my survival list. I can hunt on the way and place anything I find into my inventory. Inventory!!! I forgot to check on my inventory. As a former game player how could I have forgotten that message. Don¡¯t panic Mark. Inventory.
That was underwhelming. I don¡¯t have anything in it. I did count and it seems that I have 25 spots which would be equal to my strength. However, I do not know if that is coincidence or not. Time to test it. I cut some leaves and twigs off the tree I am standing on. Place in Inventory. Nothing. This time I try touching it while thinking the phrase. Place in Inventory. The leaves and twigs disappeared. Inventory.
Leaf X 5
Twig X 3
Branch X 2
Alright so I have to be touching something to put it into my inventory. Easy enough. I also noted that it sorted the pile on its own to separate leaves, bare twigs, and twigs with leaves it called a branch. Along with the auto sorting it seems that I can have multiples of the same item in my inventory. I do not know how many yet, but I can experiment with that later. Or I can just use my brain and see if I can observe it. Observe Inventory.
Inventory: Spatial storage given to every organism that manages to reach an intelligence stat of 3 or higher. 25 slots are provided every 25 levels until 100 inventory spots are achieved. Multiple items can be stored in each slot equal to the organism¡¯s strength. A limit of 50 kg per slot is enforced for every five points of strength.
Well that answered my questions. I will have a 25 slot inventory until level 25 or 26, not sure when it awards the upgrade. I can also carry up to 25 of one item in each slot, because that is my current strength. I wonder if when they talk about the weight limit and enforcement it just means that it won¡¯t work or if there is a penalty. I¡¯ll try that one out later. I start climbing down the tree after noting the direction I need to travel in. I did not quite make it all the way to the ground when I realized that I was being human stupid again. I am an Elemental Mantis now. Mantises are ambush predators. I should probably travel through the canopy as much as I can for safety and so I can ambush something if I see it. I climb right back up the tree to the canopy and start traveling towards the mountains in the distance. I am trying to pay as much attention to my surroundings as possible while I travel so I can catalog plants, animals, and the area in general. Speaking of animals, that looks like some type of pig like creature down there. It definitely has tusks and is on four feet. I slowly approach the tree above where it is rooting in the ground and try to figure out what it is. Observe Creature.
Jungle Hog Level: 14 Magic: Unknown
It is 3 levels below me. This should be relatively easy especially with me attacking from above in ambush. I line up my jump and detach myself from the tree. Falling through air I imagine plunging my scythe blades into its neck and decapitating it in one blow. About 1.5 seconds later that thought became pure imagination as reality caught up with me. I had never really practiced using and aiming my scythe blades above my proto-hands.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it When I fell I horribly misjudged the placement of my scythes. I am now on top of a very upset Jungle Hog that has one of my scythes stuck in its rump and also had one of its tusks lopped of with a line of blood down the side of its face. Ok if I survive this encounter I really need to practice my combat. I guess I just assumed after my success in climbing and movement that everything would come easy in my new body. This is a very rude awakening. These thoughts flashed through my head at an extremely fast rate, however before I could actually do anything about it the Jungle Hog reacted to my ambush. With a mighty flick of its head and a bucking motion through its torso it flung me into a nearby tree. I wish I could say I landed gracefully or ready to do battle, but in actuality I was reintroduced to something I forgot having a body gave you. PAIN! It hurt to be flung into a tree at the speed I was. I need to focus if I am going to survive, where is that stupid pig? The answer to my question came into focus with a loud grunting sound and yep it was charging straight at me. It¡¯s obvious that I upset it and the only thing it wants to do to me know is turn me into a puddle of stomped on mantis goo. I realize that I probably truly would not die, but I still did not want to test that out, besides between resurrecting in another virus body I would experience an absolute amazing amount of pain. After just being reintroduced to that sensation I was in no hurry to accumulate more personal experience with it. I tried to scramble up and move into a fighting position or anything that might allow me to survive this experience. My efforts seemed in vain. That Jungle Hog can sure move fast when it is properly motivated. I saw no way of escaping death this time. Out of pure instinct I reached out my hands as if I could ward it off. The series of events that happened next made me want to go and see if they had lottery tickets in this world, because I have never been this lucky ever. As soon as I reached out my hands to ward off the inevitable crushing blow coming, I could see the eyes of the Jungle Hog widen and that he tried to slow down to no avail. I had once again fallen into human memories and forgotten that I had scythes on the ends of my arms. So, my reaching out to stop the pig from squashing me resulted in two fairly large and sharp instruments of death being lined up with the Jungle Hog¡¯s head. The impact after this series of events was amazing. The only reason I was still alive after the collision had to be the many bonuses to my constitution. The Jungle Hog quite thoroughly impaled itself on my outstretched scythes. This did not lessen the impact by much, but rather made the force slightly off center which resulted in me only taking a portion of the damage. This was enough let me tell you. My exoskeleton was cracked in several places and there were chips that had been dug out from the tree behind me. I laid at the base of that tree entangled in the remains of the Jungle Hog for several minutes before I felt that I could even move. I need to get free of this mess. I know, Place in Inventory. That actually worked. The remains of the Jungle Hog had disappeared. Now I need to get to a place where I can recover in peace and quiet and think about my first dismal failure of trying to battle in this world before the noise and blood from the fight brings other things to the area. I climbed very slowly and painfully up the trunk of the tree. The plan was to find a nice thick branch covered in foliage where I could hide and recover. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a couple of minutes amplified by the pain I was still in I made it to a branch I thought would do. I partially collapsed and just kind of shut down. How long does it take for my HP/Regeneration to kick in. I probably should check my Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form) Level: 17 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 0 Strength: 25 Agility: 25 Intelligence: 15 (27) Wisdom: 20 (22) Constitution: 15 (33) Perception: 15 MP: 2,700 HP: 23 MP/Regen: 220% per hour HP/Regen: 33% per hour (-50% due to extreme damage) Skills: 1. Observe Level 5 ¨C 37% Bonuses: Greater Resist All +5 Con Many Bodies One Mind +10 Int Basic Tactics + 2 Wis Photosynthesis + 3 Con Mana Manipulation + 2 Int Adamantium Defense +10 Con Strengthen + 0 Str Flexibility + 0 Agi Devour + 0 Per Miasma Poison Immunity
Oh wow I was closer to death than I thought. That -50% debuff on my regeneration means that it is only going to take longer to heal up. I need to speed this up somehow. I feel very vulnerable in this condition. I have realized that no matter what stories said about reincarnation people being stronger than others, and I might be, I am still fragile and undertrained. There is not much in my former life that really prepared me for life and death struggles. I have information, but no practical experience. I have an affinity and profession dealing in magic, but it did not even dawn on me to use it to attack. I should have kept myself safe and attacked from a distance to give myself a chance to run away if needed. I know it does not sound very heroic, but this encounter has reminded me of something. I was not summoned or reincarnated or any other clich¨¦ to be a hero. Rather I am trying to make myself stronger to take revenge. I can¡¯t take revenge if I die so I need to be smarter about this. If it takes longer to reach my goal who cares? No one is timing me. In fact it might actually be better to take a long time that way the stupid ¡°Overbeing¡± might forget about me and lower his guard making my revenge easier. I have some serious training in front of me and I need to rethink priorities and needs. I need some skills that can keep me alive in any situation. Before I even try and get these skills I need to get back to basics. I need to learn how to fight. I need to learn how to kill. I need to learn how to survive. None of these things are instinctual to me. I was never a survivalist in my past life. I have some basic knowledge, but nothing to specific that will make me instantly powerful or able to survive. Knowing how to pay bills and keep a corporate job seems pretty ridiculous now. I mean I learned the skills needed to survive in my old world. Now I just have to realize I need a completely different set of skills in order to survive on Planet Braxis. 13 - Back to Basics Chapter 13 Back To Basics I still need to find shelter, water, and a food source, but none of those things will do me any good if I die before I can acquire them. For now, I can move slowly and stealthily in the canopy and practice some basic skills and magic while moving closer to my goal of the mountains in the distance. First though I need to heal up. Wait HEAL up, I wonder if it would be that easy. I mean I do have all types of magic, can I just create a healing spell? I was so caught up in getting a body and then taking care of its needs that I neglected to keep exploring my magic potential. In fact, I forgot that could actually use magic to attack and retreat. I mean if I had just blinked out of the way of that pig than I would not be in this situation right now, hurt and trying my best to recover on a random branch in the jungle. Well no time like the present to continue on, basically I have other distractions, other than pain, that will get in the way. I focus on an image of a broken and bloody body of indeterminate origin returning back into its uninjured flawless self. I locked this set of images in my head and then brought out some Light and Creation mana from my rainbow. Why light and creation? It was what was used in stories, so I figured that maybe the stories had a grain of truth in them. As soon as the mana got near my image I received a message.
You have created the spell Minor Heal.
Observe Minor Heal.
Minor Heal: A spell that heals the target a set number of health. Health restored is 10 points + the level of the caster.
Useful but not the ultimate healing skill I was looking for. But from the title and description I will probably get those later as I level up. Logic dictates that if there is a Minor Heal than there must be other levels of the spell also. I should try this out immediately and see if I can get rid of that debuff and heal up so I can relocate to a safer area. Minor Heal Self. An extremely warm feeling soaks throughout my body. When the warm feeling goes away I feel better, but I do not feel completely healed. I better check on the status sheet to see anything is wrong. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form) Level: 17 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 0 Strength: 25 Agility: 25 Intelligence: 15 (27) Wisdom: 20 (22) Constitution: 15 (33) Perception: 15 MP: 2,650 out of 2700 HP: 40 out of 330 MP/Regen: 220% per hour HP/Regen: 33% per hour (-50% due to extreme damage) Skills: 1. Observe Level 5 ¨C 37% Bonuses: Greater Resist All +5 Con Many Bodies One Mind +10 Int Basic Tactics + 2 Wis Photosynthesis + 3 Con Mana Manipulation + 2 Int Adamantium Defense +10 Con Strengthen + 0 Str Flexibility + 0 Agi Devour + 0 Per Miasma Poison Immunity
That does provide some new information. It seems a Minor Heal costs me 50 from my Mana Pool. While I did the math, and yep the description was accurate, it healed 27 points. 10 points plus my level 17 as a sorcerer. I still have that debuff, I probably have to cross some sort of threshold before that happens. I also notice that Observe went up. I guess being curious is what is helping raise that one. Well the only thing left to do is spam heal until I feel better or run out of mana. Minor Heal Self. Minor Heal Self. Minor Heal Self. Minor Heal Self. Minor Heal Self. Five minor heals later I have reached 170 HP and have used up 250 MP, but the good news is that I have lost the debuff to my regeneration. It seems that the debuff kicks in when you are below half your HP. This means that I will naturally heal to full health in another 2 hours. First thing to note is there is no finishing a fight and miraculously healing from your damage. I have been treating this as more of a game and reality is finally sinking in. I might as well use another five minor heals to bring me almost to my max and then start on plan become strong enough that I don¡¯t die. You know I need a better naming sense. Anyway, Minor Heal Self. Minor Heal Self. Minor Heal Self. Minor Heal Self. Minor Heal Self.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. There we go. I am now above 300 HP and the last few points can regenerate normally along with my used MP. I need to get moving and find that shelter so I can set up a base and then hopefully learn how to use my abilities and grow without the painful smashing that I got from the Jungle Hog. I decide to combine my movement with practice. I probably should have done this before. As I move through the canopy, I mentally target different leaves, branches and other non-violent objects as targets and practice my movements, dodging, blinking, shadow steps, and any other technique I can think of to move to the sides, underneath, behind, above, and all other directions. I am trying to make myself used to attacking from a variety of directions and making it more of an instinct than a thought through process. Is it working? Who knows, I will have to battle something else to find out and I am not quite confident enough to do that yet. Throughout my movement and practice I keep a sharp eye on my MP. I do not want to be surprised and not have any of my magic pool available to use because I was practicing. I also pause every few hundred meters just to stay quiet and observe everything that I can. First it helps keep me safe, second this helps build my observe skill levels, and finally it adds to my growing knowledge of this world. It is during one of these observation pauses that I see what could be a temporary shelter for myself. It is not what I was originally looking for, but it might be better for my actual lifestyle and species at the moment. Up ahead of me I see a clearing in the forest that I am travelling through. This seems to be a fairly large opening, the first that I have seen. As I approach it I see several things that seem to indicate that I should make a temporary home in the area. These feelings are kind of strange. Could this be instinct? Is my new species trying to tell me that what I need is here? Well let¡¯s try and use reasoning to back up the old instinct. Large clearing with a small pond in it and a creek going into and out of the pond, the total surface area of the pond is probably 2-3,000 square meters. It is about 100 meters long and between 15 and 45 meters wide in different areas. This is a secured source of water which every living thing needs. The entire clearing is probably about 5-10 times the size of the pond. It is quite large for a forest of this size. The animals that feed around the pond and use it as a source of water must keep it clear. Next I can see small animals, fish, and insects surrounding the pond and field like area around it. This means that there is a thriving ecosystem here which should provide me with easy to catch meals that are not too dangerous. Finally on the far left side of the clearing is a grove of huge trees and several of them seem to have hollows or holes in their trunks. This means there might be a ready source of shelter off the ground. Ok, brain agrees with instincts. I will go and explore the large grove of trees and see if any of those hollow spaces will serve as a shelter. If I find one I like, then I can see myself settling here for the near future and training. I probably will not leave the area until I feel like I can handle new situations, and fight better than I did against the Jungle Hog. Speaking of Jungle Hog I am getting quite hungry and I have wild BACON. Yes. Alright so first issue with eating is that I do not know if I need cooked food or not. I mean I want a good roasted pork chop and some bacon, but I do not know if that want is a desire from my past life or if it is something I want now. For all I know raw meat might be the best thing for this new body. I guess that I can try raw and see how that tastes first. Wait, can bugs even taste things? There is only one way to find out. I remove the carcass of the Jungle Hog from my inventory and looked at it. It still is dripping blood. That must mean my inventory preserves it perfectly or that it freezes time or something. Oh well, I guess it does not really matter, but I do need to deal with the carcass of the soon to be bacon and chops. I decided to do something about it here before exploring to deal with my looking for a home on a full stomach, and also in hopes that I would soon be finding a new home and I did not want to mess it up with the guts of my first meal. Let¡¯s see I have been deer hunting and have watched several television shows in my last life, so I should be able to dress this Jungle Hog without too much trouble. Luckily my scythes will act as built in knives so there is no problem there. I start to gut and dress the Jungle Hog according to what I remember from my former life. I have to adjust as I go because the body does not 100% match what I remember. I also try to be very careful about piercing organs and other membranous sacs inside the body. I do remember that certain things can rupture and spoil meat with their juices, and since I only have the one body to work with, I do not want to experiment on my only meal. Soon enough I have one dismantled Jungle Hog in front of me. I have several cuts of meat that I store back in my inventory and find out to my delight that it just says Hog Meat. That means in the future if my supplies are from similar animals it might just stack up in a single slot in my inventory and not take as much space. I set the offal off to the side and look at the two large pieces of meat I kept out. I am going to try one raw, and then one cooked. I am 99% sure that even if the raw meat is disgusting it will not kill me as I am already a virus and it would seem silly that a disease from eating raw meat would affect me or my new body. I close my eyes and lift the raw pork chop to my mouth and take a small bite. Huh, not bad. Not good, but definitely not bad either. There is definitely a flavor of pork, but it is very little. Maybe bugs do not have taste buds like I remember having. Since the worst part, getting over the initial fear of eating a raw piece of meat is done, I quickly finish off the rest of the raw pork chop. Next up will be a roasted pork chop. Ok, time to start a fire to roast a pork chop. Wait, how am I going to start a fire? Duh, Mark use some magic. I have not created any flame magic yet, so this is a good opportunity. I need to start small and utilitarian. I focus on an image of bright and strong candle flame, something that can sit in the palm of my hand and produce a lot of heat without burning me. I lock this image in my head and then brought out some fire mana from my rainbow and just a bit of air. Fire is obvious for the choice and since I want a hot long burning flame I need to provide oxygen for it to burn. As soon as the mana got near my image I received a message.
You have created the spell Majestic Flame.
Observe Majestic Flame.
Majestic Flame: A spell that takes fire creation to the next level. Merging two elements allows for a much more controlled flame with twice the temperature of a regular magic flame.
Well isn¡¯t that special. This should be perfect for my purposes. I need to remember the trick that combining mana types can result in a more advanced version of regular stuff. Now I just need to make a fire pit and then start roasting. Wait, why do I need to make a fire pit? I can just keep the flame in one hand and roast the meat on a stick with the other hand and not have to go through the trouble of making a fire pit and then cleaning it up afterwards. Sounds like a perfect plan. Announcement (Good One) I have finally fixed chapter 4. It is not the best fix ever, as I tried for over two months to locate the original copy electronically and also in print. I actually print this story out every five chapters or so just in case something like this happens. The thought of losing everything to an electronic glitch terrifies me. Unfortunately, even my hard copy was wrong. I KNOW I wrote in chapter four originally how he mutated into a chimera virus. But I have no actual proof so I had to rewrite. The rewrite is not my best work, but it does solve the continuity problem and evolves Mark into a Chimera Virus. I tacked it on to the end of the chapter if you would like to read it specifically.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I tried to rewrite this several times and nothing sounded correct. It all sounded very forced and did not flow well with the rest of the story. I finally have something I am satsified with, but not 100%. When I eventually do a complete edit and rewrite on this story in the future I am sure it will change again. Just added a small change to chapter 12 about inventory. Without it the logic doesn''t work in later chapters. So once again, THANKS FOR READING. CHAPTER 4 FIXED and MINOR FIX TO INVENTORY CHAPTER 12 ENJOY LIFE AND EVOLVE OR DIE! tenqui 14 - Dying is NOT Fun Chapter 14 Dying Is NOT Fun Roasting the meat only had one tiny hitch and that was the hot juices flowing down and burning the hand that held the flame. Wow, that sounds so weird. I created the spell specifically so the flame would not hurt me, but neglected the fact that anything it set on fire or heated up would still burn. Luckily it was just the juice from the roasting meat that gave me this lesson. I would have hated to figure that little nugget of information out the hard way, say like in the middle of a battle. Alright, now that lunch has been taken care of it is time to explore the grove of trees to find a temporary home. I continue to observe my surroundings as much as I can while walking towards the giant trees. When I reach them I gaze up in awe. These things must be redwood in size but are still leafy like an oak tree. I start to climb up the first tree and soon reach the canopy and the spreading branches. As I glance around I see signs of small animals all around me. Some scratch marks, and is that, yep someone has been marking their territory. I see several ¡°holes¡± in the surrounding trunks of several trees. My best guess is that there are squirrels of Planet Braxis equivalents living up here. Please whoever is listening, let them be semi-normal and not some acid spewing, death dealing, crazy killer squirrels. Now that the thought of killer squirrels is in my head I cannot seem to get it out. Man up Mark, or in this case Mantis up. Oh my goodness, reincarnation has not improved my ability to create jokes. That was horrible. I visually estimate the size of the openings and realize that most of them are not large enough for my current body. That is reassuring in the non-death dealing squirrel category. I choose one that seems to be larger than the others and start making my way towards it. More than likely I am going to have evict something and claim its home and territory. Time to put up or shut up. I have learned and thought about my almost defeat a lot since my last fight with the Jungle Hog. My new strategy is to lead with a spell, check response, either blink away and continue with magic or close and use scythes if appropriate. Wait a second, retreat. I scurry down the tree as quick as I can. I almost forgot again. I still have not created any offensive spells. What the heck is wrong with me? I almost die, decide what to do, and still forget until the last second. That was close. Now that I am back down on the ground I decide to just create a simple spell of each offensive element to begin with. I do not want to overwhelm myself or my abilities. If these work out I can always create more powerful and complex spells in the future. I need to start simple. I know, how about just a spike of each element shooting out and impaling the target and then exploding and doing damage of its element type. That should work fine. I decide to focus lightning, fire, ice, earth, and destruction elements for this. I will start with fire. First I concentrate on an image of a super-hot blue flame spike. I want it to shoot out of my fist, track the target, and explode 1 second after penetration. I hope this is not too much for one spell. I lock this series of images in my head and then brought out some fire mana from my rainbow. Just straight fire this time to see what happens. As soon as the mana gets near my images I receive a message.
You have created the spell Exploding Flame Spike.
Observe Exploding Flame Spike.
Exploding Flame Spike: This spell creates a single flaming spike and launches it towards the target. The flame spike will explode after penetrating any target causing additional damage. Limited tracking ability. Number of spikes and tracking ability will go up with spell level.
Ooh that is nice. It is just what I wanted. The more I use it the better it will become. Let¡¯s see if I can repeat it with the other elements. Concentrate on a spike made of lightning, that releases a huge amount of electricity after penetrating its target. Add on the tracking ability, and then bring yellow lightning mana towards the series of images and presto.
You have created the spell Exploding Lightning Spike.
Observe Exploding Lightning Spike.
Exploding Lightning Spike: This spell creates a single lightning spike and launches it towards the target. The lightning spike will explode and electrocute the target after penetration. Small possibility of stunning target. Limited tracking ability. Number of spikes, stun percentage, and tracking ability will go up with spell level.
Wow that is even better than the flame spike. Lightning is cool. I quickly repeat the process with earth and end up with Exploding Stone Spike and Exploding Ice Spike which both act like grenades with shrapnel of each type being spewed out when they explode. When I used destruction mana to create the last spell I ended up with something a little different, Annihilation Spike. Observe Annihilation Spike.
Annihilation Spike: This spell creates a single pulsing black spike of destruction mana and launches it towards the target. The Annihilation Spike will eat away and dissolve anything it touches until it runs out of mana. Limited tracking ability. Amount of magic used and tracking ability will increase with spell level.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
So basically I created an anti-everything spell. This thing is going to be super useful but also scary as heck. I noticed that there was no distinction of friend or foe in the description. So if I touch it after I launch it I could dissolve myself. Since I can put a variable amount of mana in it I hopefully can learn with practice what is needed to affect different size targets. This spell is useless for hunting or anything where I want to keep an intact corpse for looting, but I bet it would scare the heck out of anybody that saw it. I think it will also provide some utilitarian uses, dependent on how creative I get. I mean why get rid of trash if you can just dissolve it into nothing. I could also become the ultimate thief. Why pick a lock when I can just dissolve it away? I am going to have to think long and hard about the variety of uses this spell has. Enough thinking, time for doing. Now that I have some offensive spells it is time to kick out some small furry animals and claim a home. I scramble back up the tree that has the hole I want and stare at it thinking. I don¡¯t actually know if anything is inside, and I think it would be a bad idea to just stick my head in and look. Wait that¡¯s it, sticks. I can just toss sticks in to provoke whatever might be inside to come out and then hit it with a spell. It¡¯s a foolproof plan. I quickly collect some branches from the tree and break them into throw able sizes. Time to initiate operation Get Myself a Tree House. I have got to work on my naming sense. I start throwing sticks into the hole and soon I hear movement and a hiss. Wait squirrels don¡¯t hiss. What poked its head out of the hole was definitely not small, furry, or a squirrel. Instead I saw large, scaly and snake like. Don¡¯t stare Mark, attack. I quickly call up Lightning Spike and launch it at the head of the reptile that I had obviously woken up and ticked off. For once, everything seemed to go my way. The lightning spike pierced the head of the snake creature and I saw it start to twitch as the current sparked on the outside of his body. It then slumped over. It must be stunned, quick melee attack. I ran forward while it was stunned and furiously sliced at its neck. It took three slices, but off came its head. Did I just win? Why was this so much easier than the Jungle Hog? Observe.
Carcass of Tree Snake Level: 8 Magic: Unknown
Okay, it was a tree snake. It was also a lower level than the Jungle Hog I fought earlier. It still seems like it was too easy of a fight though. Was it the magic that made it easier, or maybe the lower level? I mean it was stunned and could not fight back, but I somehow doubt that a single lightning spike would have stopped that Jungle Hog from earlier. On the other hand, if I had stunned the Jungle Hog I could have easily slit its throat similar to removing the head from this snake. I guess the spell did make a huge difference. I wonder how much magic it actually used. Maybe I can just check that instead of my hole status. I concentrate hard and think, Magic Pool.
Mark Stefanopolis MP: 2,600 out of 2700 MP/Regen: 220% per hour
Oh it took more than I thought. Maybe that is why it did so much damage. I could shoot 27 of those spikes before I ran out of magic. That is a significant amount of damage. I am starting to feel a little better about my survival chances now. With that mystery cleared up it is time to remove my foe from the battlefield and claim my prize. I store the carcass of the tree snake in my inventory and then just to be safe toss a few more branches into the hole. There is no response this time. I poke my head in and see a fairly large depression in the tree. The opening is about 1 meter square and the hole is probably 2 meters deep and 1 to 1 and ? meters wide and tall. Not really big enough for me but close. I can probably chip out more space with my scythes. As I am about to start work on my new residence I had an a hah moment. You know one of those times when suddenly a brilliant idea or plan just surfaces in your mind. This a hah moment was magic. I had once again fallen into the trap of thinking like someone from Earth. However, here on Planet Braxis I had magic and could probably do the work I wanted easier and quicker with magic rather than chipping and carving the space by hand. All I need to do is create a new spell. For this I imagine myself making a plant grow unnaturally fast and then I bring some nature mana over from the rainbow.
You have created the spell Grow.
Observe Grow.
Grow: This spell allows the caster to have any plants within the affected area grow at an amazing rate. Size of area and speed of growth will go up with spell level.
Ok, potentially useful, but definitely not what I wanted. Let¡¯s try again. How about a different image, maybe myself sculpting something out of wood without actually touching the wood, that should work. I decide to bring over both green nature mana and pink creation mana, because this time I want to be able to create something new.
You have created the spell Plant Shaping.
Observe Plant Shaping.
Plant Shaping: This spell allows the caster to manipulate plant material in a 1 meter cubed area however they like. The size of the affected area will go up with spell level.
Oh this is it. With this I should be able to create rooms and furniture and even doors, traps, and defenses all out of wood. I set out to use and level up this spell. I first expand the initial room to 2 meters in height and 3 meters deep and wide. The opening becomes a nice 1.5 meter oval with a door hung on wooden hinges. Since the tree I am in is so big I decide to create even more space. Off of the entry room I create a 3 meter long corridor in the back as a hallway and then a l make three more rooms of the same size as the first. The one to the left will be storage, the one in the back will be my sleeping room, and the one to the right will be for experiments and miscellaneous. I make another wooden door with wood hinges in front of each room and then use plant shaping to make three 20 cm in diameter holes to the outside in each room. This should allow for a minimum of light and air refreshment. To prevent unwanted intruders, I fill these holes to the outside with security grills, sort of like a mesh made of wood. It should be enough to prevent anything that can fit into the hole from actually making it down the hole. From the debris of shaping the wood I create several wooden jugs and jars to hold water and other necessities. When I am done creating I grab one of the largest jars I can carry and feel safe climbing with to go and collect some water from the pond. Moving day is almost done. I climb down the tree and make my way over to the pond. As I am filling up my jug I spot what looks to be a giant mouth filled with teeth out of the corner of my eye and then blackness. 15 - Starting Over Chapter 15 Starting Over What the heck just happened. Why am I a virus again?
You have died. Damage to your soul is 33% 7 days until damage is repaired.
Wait, what? I mean I remember seeing a mouth and teeth, so I get that something probably killed and ate me, but how did that damage my soul? I need to figure this out. Observe Soul, nothing. Observe Death, nothing. Observe Soul Damage.
Soul Damage: Due to your primary consciousness dying your soul has been damaged. Soul damage only occurs in higher order organisms. When soul damage reaches 100% a being is sent into the reincarnation cycle. The amount of soul damage done is based upon the strength of each organisms soul.
So it¡¯s kind of a good news bad news situation. It seems that if killed I will be transferred to another of my virus bodies, but there is an actual limit in place. If I die too many times as a higher order organism it is a permanent death from this existence and back into the old reincarnation cycle. It also means that I can probably ¡°die¡± as a virus as many times as I want. Luckily my ¡°soul¡± seems to regenerate over time so I get these lives back eventually. It looks like 3 deaths in a week is my limit right now. Another good thing is that the information implied that I could possibly strengthen my soul and ¡°earn more lives¡± in the future. I have to learn to be more aware of my surroundings. I got confident after winning against the tree snake so easily and did not even check the pond for dangers. Obviously something lives inside of that pond that is large and scary enough to make the elemental mantis me into a snack. Now I have to start over. To play it safe I am going to stay as a virus until all of my soul damage is repaired before I try heading out again. If I remember correctly each generation is 12 hours so if I hibernate for 15 generations it should equal more than a week and then I can continue on from there. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 15 generations. When I regain consciousness I decide that it is time to try living as a large creature once again. Now how to go about becoming an Elemental Mantis again? I guess I can just internalize my desire like I did last time, I choose to transform into an Elemental Mantis. As soon as I think it I feel the powerful suction force start emanating from my virus body just like the first time. I can feel everything surrounding me being sucked into the black hole that is my transformation. Once again I start to feel very cramped and I stretch my new body to its maximum which causes me to emerge from my cocoon. I take a few steps forward and look back at what used to be my host. Huh, not a Blood Wolf this time. Observe.
Skin of Reptilicus trihornica commonly known as the Three Horned Lizard.
I wonder why I was transferred into that host when I died? Was it random or perhaps it was the closest. I hope it was the closest. With that thought in mind I start to look around me carefully. The trees and climate seem the same, so it was probably the closest animal that was infected with my viruses. Now how can I find my way back to my tree house and clearing? Now that I know that the pond is dangerous the rest of the area still appeals to me as a training ground. In fact, as I become stronger I can eventually challenge whatever it was that killed my last body and use it as a means to check my growth. Speaking of growth, it just dawned on me that I seem to be the same size I was before as an Elemental Mantis, but the skin of the Three Horned Lizard is definitely smaller than the Blood Wolf I came out of before. Is there no conservation of mass in this world? Maybe magic makes up for the extra needed mass? I guess it really does not matter as long as it works. I just need to get home. I know I kept the skill direction sense. I just don¡¯t know how to turn it on. Maybe if I concentrate on where I want to go. Ok imagine my new treehouse, next to the pond of death. Strange I feel like it is somewhere to the left. Kind of vague, but since I have nothing else to do, I might as well try and see if that was direction sense or maybe new body gas pains or something. I climb up a nearby tree and start my travels. I decide once again to train as I go. This time I not only train my melee combat against imaginary foes and leaves and twigs, but I also mix in various spike spells. After stopping every fifteen minutes for the past two hours and retrying the feel the direction thing I have come to two conclusions. Number one, it really must be direction sense. Every time I deviate from the path and check, even after I spun myself around with my eyes closed, I keep pointing and feeling I need to go in a single direction to get back to the treehouse. My second conclusion is that I should never EVER shoot a spike spell at something closer than about 3 meters away if I do not want to get damaged myself. Ice chunks from an explosion hurt. After two and a half more hours of ¡°training¡± and direction sense I see a clearing up ahead. As I approach I verify that yes it is the pond and clearing of before. I have no real way of measuring the distance traveled, but I would have to say that it was more than 5 kilometers and less than 20 kilometers. I know that is not very precise, but I have several problems in guessing distance. First is that I have no idea how fast this body moves. I mean it seems quick, but everything is of a different scale than what I am used too. The biggest thing that messes with my estimation is the number of legs I have. With four legs as my primary means of propulsion I have no reference from my memories of being a two legged being. I know it makes me more stable, but I have no idea if it means that I can move twice as fast because I have two times the number of legs I used too or just the opposite.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. I might have to do some tests in the open, like sprinting and counting, so I can try to adjust my mentality and time/distance estimates accordingly. The first thing I do when I get to the edge of the clearing is stare down at the pond for a good ten minutes or so trying to spot whatever ate me. I see nothing. I do not know if it can stay underwater, or if it has moved on in the last week I spent as a virus before coming back here. I will play it safe though and only go to the smaller streams that lead into and out of the pond to get water. There still may be things that hide in the water there, but they by default have to be smaller, because there is less room. I work my way around the clearing, making sure to stay up in the canopy of branches and paying special attention to everything around me. I do not want to be caught unaware again. Finally, after almost 20 minutes I reach my treehouse. The wooden door I made seems to be intact and still shut. I grab some branches and throw them at the door. No sounds of anything moving inside. I cautiously open the door and proceed to explore the four rooms. Nobody and nothing. It looks like the simple door was enough to keep anything out for the last week. That is reassuring. I think I should check my progress and then spells and then rest for the next bit. Tomorrow is soon enough to start my training. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form) Level: 17 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 0 Strength: 25 Agility: 25 (27) Intelligence: 15 (28) Wisdom: 20 (22) Constitution: 15 (33) Perception: 15 MP: 2,800 out of 2800 HP: 40 out of 330 MP/Regen: 220% per hour HP/Regen: 33% per hour Skills: 1. Observe Level 7 ¨C 63% 2. Direction Sense Level 3 ¨C 12% Bonuses: Greater Resist All +5 Con Many Bodies One Mind +10 Int Basic Tactics + 2 Wis Photosynthesis + 3 Con Mana Manipulation + 3 Int Adamantium Defense +10 Con Strengthen + 0 Str Flexibility + 2 Agi Devour + 0 Per Miasma Poison Immunity
Interesting I gained a couple of points. It seems my Mana Manipulation went up and so did my Flexibility. I guess from creating new spells and my limited training while moving. My Direction Sense is now listed also. I figure the others will be listed once I actively use them and start earning experience in them. I mean I have not tried to Burrow or use Charismatic Cuckoo¡¯s abilities yet so it makes sense that they are not listed. Now to check on my spells. List Spells.
Memory Boost Lvl 2 Infrared Mana Sight Lvl 3 Telekinesis Lvl 1 Elemental Mana Wings Lvl 5 Blink Lvl 2 Shadow Moves Lvl 1 Switch Lvl 1 Fire Transport Lvl 1 Teleportation Lvl 1 Minor Heal Lvl 3 Majestic Flame Lvl 3 Exploding Flame Spike Lvl 2 Exploding Lightning Spike Lvl 3 Exploding Stone Spike Lvl 2 Exploding Ice Spike Lvl 2 Annihilation Spike Lvl 2 Grow Lvl 1 Plant Shaping Lvl 3
That is a much longer list than I expected. I had forgotten I had even made a couple of those. The only ones that have reached levels 2 and 3 or above are the ones I have used a lot or practiced with. I guess Exploding Lightning Spike is above the others because I actually used it in battle and conquered an enemy. Minor Heal was used to actually heal myself, so that is why it leveled so high. I used Infrared Mana Sight and Elemental Mana Wings almost every time I had down time as a virus. Plant Shaping from making the tree house and finally the Majestic Flame leveled up from just using it to cook meat? Maybe as long as it is used to do something constructive the spell earns more experience than just practicing with it. I will figure out the mechanics of it eventually. Before I take my rest I need to actually finish the task I started before I was killed, retrieving water. I collect another one of the wood containers I made and exited the tree house. I observed the closest stream to the tree house and watched it for ten minutes. I cannot see anything dangerous from here, time to move closer. I climb down the tree and move closer to the stream. I stop every ten meters and strain my senses to the max to try and determine if there is any danger. Maybe I was affected by my last death more than I thought. This is bordering on more than just being safe. Eventually, I get within sight of the stream. Alright I am at least 25 meters away from where it enters the pond. The stream is only about 1 to 1.5 meters wide at this point and not very deep. I cannot see anything moving in it. Just before I was about to approach I had an idea. I quickly stop and form an Exploding Lightning Spike in my hand. I aim it at the stream and let it fly. It hits and a small explosion of water forms a little geyser into the air. Sparks of electricity are visible moving across the top of the water. I watch the stream intently for 30 seconds. A little downstream of where I am at I see a few things float to the surface. It worked, I must have electrocuted them into paralysis or death. It looks like a couple of fish, maybe a frog, and some type of salamander looking thing. Nothing else has jumped out or reacted to the lightning spike so it should be safe. I approach cautiously and fill up several containers with water and then store them in my inventory. Once I was done I retreated quickly back to my sanctuary. Once I made it back inside of the treehouse I felt safe. It may take a while to get back to my carefree attitude, but at least I did not freeze up and I actually completed my task. Time to rest, I can work on everything else tomorrow. 16 - Training And Exploring Chapter 16 Training And Exploring When I woke up several hours later I felt refreshed both mentally and physically. Alright, I need to put a plan together to become stronger than I am. Let¡¯s make a list, one of my favorite things to do.
  1. Explore the area and identify potential threats and animals I can kill to level up.
  2. Practice Skills and Magic to level them up.
  3. Try not to fight anything more than half my level until I feel confident in using combinations of magical and physical attacks.
  4. Gain enough levels to feel confident in defeating whatever ate me in the pond.
  5. When I finally kill the thing in the pond move on to new area to train.
  6. Do not try and find people until I feel I could be as strong or stronger than the average person.
That looks like a good plan. I really need to watch out for number six. No matter how lonely I get I need to ensure my safety first. I feel like since I am a rather unique existence if I do not have the power to escape or fight I might find more trouble in ¡°civilizations¡± than the benefits that I would receive from them. Well time to go and explore. I exit my tree house and spend the next 6 hours roaming around and spying on everything within half a kilometer of the clearing. Direction Sense is finally helping me out. I can now sense the cardinal directions. I climbed to the top of the tallest tree I could find to reorient myself to the landscapes I saw earlier. The volcanoes and hills are almost due south of the clearing. To the North and East directions are endless forest, or at least as far as I can see. To the west is the large body of water that I had spotted on my first look around. I have gotten closer to the large body of water and the hills. My estimate is that I have travelled about 20 kilometers to the south or where I originally turned into an Elemental Mantis and drifted 5-10 kilometers west and closer to the large body of water. I think once I am done training in the clearing I will continue south and try for my original goal of the hills and volcanoes and search out an area that is different from this terrain to train in. The more types of places I get used to fighting in the better. In my immediate area I have spotted more Jungle Hogs, a variety of smaller mammal like creatures, all subtly different from their Earth counterparts, a larger Venomous Flying Squirrel, two types of Tree Snakes, several smaller birds, and finally a Three Eyed Owl. Each time I observed one of the smaller animals all I got was its name. However, for each larger or what I would term ¡°monster¡± sized animal I received full information including level. It seems that not everything in this world can level and grow stronger. What I did see on my scouting trip was enough.
Tree Snake (Green Variant) Level: 12 Magic: Nature/Camouflage
Tree Snake (Common) Level: 7 Magic: Unknown
Venomous Flying Squirrel Level: 10 Magic: Unknown
Three Eyed Owl Level: 15 Magic: Unknown
Jungle Hog Level: 15 Magic: Unknown
I have discovered that I have to see the magic used for my observe skill to identify it. I was watching a lower leveled Venomous Flying Squirrel when I saw a blur strike out from the leaves and bite it and then wrap around it. As soon as I observed the new animal is when I got the information on it being a variant type of Tree Snake and it having magic. I guess seeing it come out of camouflage and strike was enough of a hint for my observe to classify it. After observing everything I have come up with my training plan. Every morning I am going to get up and farm/hunt the venomous squirrels. They are lower level and I am immune to poison so I should have the advantage. In the afternoons I will practice my magic and explore in each direction just a little further. I will repeat this, every day until I hit at least level 20. At level 20 I will switch to the snakes and maybe an occasional Jungle Hog. At level 25 I will go after the higher level owls and hogs and when I feel confident enough search and destroy whatever is in the pond. This could change as I find other or different ¡°monster animals¡± that fit into the level categories I created to fight. So according to my schedule since it took my entire morning and part of the afternoon to scout the local area I should practice my magic or explore more. Since I have already spent most of the day exploring I will spend the rest on magic. I decide that I should probably travel away from my tree house to do this as my explosions will leave scars and definite signs that someone with magic is around. This should keep me safer. I travel through the trees to the opposite side of the clearing and then set up ten targets. The targets are vaguely humanoid and made using my plant shaping skill. I will make new targets each day to help with this spell.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. I cast Elemental Mana Wings and fly around placing targets in a variety of areas. Five targets are going on the ground in different areas, three targets on tree trunks, and the final two targets up in the branches and leaves. I spend the next four hours running and jumping around while shooting at the different targets. I cycle through each of the spikes, but make sure to use fire and annihilation only on the ground targets to help prevent any problems with forest fires or trees being eaten away and collapsing. Every fourteen shots I rest and plan my next set. For safeties sake I do not want to be caught with less than half my mana. After my training session I felt much better. If wooden dummies ever attacked me I now knew for certain I could change them into small splinters. In reality I did feel good about my practice. It felt like the spells were coming easier to me. I do not know if it was just repetition and familiarity with them or if they were actually becoming easier to cast as I leveled them up. No matter which it was, it felt good that I was more comfortable with a life saving skill. Time to head back to the old tree house and settle down for the night. I made sure to pay attention the entire way back. While I knew I had scared off many if not all of the local smaller animals, the noise of my practice may have attracted other stronger ones with the sound. I made it back with no problems and tucked myself in mantis style. Basically I just kind of relaxed while resting back on my four legs. No real laying down for bugs I guess. The next morning, I set out for what I hoped was the first of many more hunts and leveling opportunities. Today I would be hunting Venomous Flying Squirrels. I was hoping to find enough that I could test each of my spikes on one to see how they responded to each magic attack. I quietly made my way through the canopy until I spotted my first target. Observe.
Venomous Flying Squirrel Level: 9 Magic: Unknown
Ok this guy is even a little lower leveled than the ones I spotted yesterday. This should be good practice. I will start with an Exploding Fire Spike. I sneak closer until I am within 100 meters. That seemed to be the average distance I could keep control of the spell yesterday during practice. I form the fire spike and send it at the squirrel. It moves relatively fast, but the squirrel must have heard it coming, because it looks up when the spike is about 20 meters away from it. I see the squirrel¡¯s eyes get big and then the decision to start to move or dodge. However, it was too late. Since the spell had limited tracking it was easily able to make the slight adjustment needed to continue on and hit the squirrel in the side. One second later and it exploded. It was not an instant kill, but it was close enough. When the fire spike spell exploded it seemed to stun the squirrel and the explosion was large enough to knock it off the branch. Since it was in a semi-stunned state it was unable to recover and the impact with the ground finished it off. I cautiously make my way down to ground level and place the carcass of the animal into my inventory. Time to find another one. 3 hours later I finished up my hunt for the morning and stopped to contemplate on everything I had learned over this morning. First, the squirrels seemed to be weak against stone or earth magic. Both stone spikes I used on a squirrel were one hit kills. They basically blew up spectacularly. That spell should not have been any stronger in its explosive power than any of the other ones. This led me to believe that they had a weakness against that type of magic and I was doing extra damage. Next, every other type of exploding spike was not an instant kill but still a one hit kill. The Venomous Flying Squirrels were small enough that each spell stunned them and knocked them out of the tree they were in. Gravity took over from there, and the extra damage from the fall finished off the squirrels each time. Last Annihilation Spike is creepy and effective. It took two Annihilation spikes to kill a squirrel if it was hit anywhere but the head. However, the damage was enough that the squirrel would not have been able to put up a fight. I did not get close to the victim after shooting it with an Annihilation Spike, because the last thing I wanted was to get that dissolving mana on me. It was creepy just watching the squirrels body disappear layer by layer. First the fur, then the skin, then the muscle. It happened relatively quickly also. So if you were not paying close attention it probably would have looked like some mysterious invisible monster just took a clean bite out of the poor things. I did not keep any of the carcasses of these squirrels. Too much to think about and deal with mentally to ever believe that I would actually try to eat their meat or use the hides of something that was dissolved like that. All in all, it was a rather successful morning hunt and experimentation training time. I quickly head back to the treehouse. I am going to roast some more Jungle Hog meat over a Majestic Flame for lunch and then head west towards the great body of water for two hours and explore. While roasting and eating lunch I decide to go as fast as possible while still being careful and working my way back slowly. I have not really tried to go full speed yet and this will help test it out. The large body of water is about 70 ¨C 80 kilometers away so depending on how close I get I should be able to estimate the speed of my new body. I set out and travel through the canopy west cataloging as much as I can while maintaining speed. Squirrel, squirrel, new type of tree, snake, squirrel, owl, oh that one is new.
Tree Snake (Red Variant) Level: 16 Magic: Unknown
I may not know its magic for sure, but based on the green variant being nature magic I can guess pretty reliably that this red variant has to do with fire mana. Anyway keep going, tree, squirrel, snake, squirrel, birds, giant insect, wait what?
Giant Bee Level: 6 Magic: Unknown
This has possibilities. I must remember the area I saw it in. I quickly scan the area and make note of several unique trees and how they look. I need to continue on and stick to my two hour travel schedule. Snake, squirrel, squirrel, bee, birds, bugs, new tree, claws aiming for my head, DODGE IT. I quickly jump down from the branch I am on and cast Elemental Mana Wings so I do not splat onto the forest floor. It is a good thing that I actually practiced this escape technique. It was almost instinct and allowed me to dodge those claws. Speaking of which what was that. I loop around and OBSERVE.
Shadow Jaguar Level: 20 Magic: Dark
Well dang it. There goes my theory of being safer in the tops of the trees than on the forest floor. I could just continue on, but I really do not want to leave something this dangerous around knowing that it knows about me. My mana is almost full so I am going to go for it. 17 - Honey Trap Chapter 17 Honey Trap I know this goes against my own rule of attacking lower level beings only, but I think if I stay flying or at a distance I can pepper it with my spike spells until it dies. If I get below half mana I will just use the mana wings to fly away and fight another day. I quickly think about my mana rainbow, since this is a dark mana jungle cat the opposite element should be the most effective. That would be light mana. I don¡¯t have a light mana offensive spell. Well that whole strategy is worthless then. I will just cycle through my spikes until I see which does the most damage. Stone first. These thought had flashed through my head quite quickly as I was flying back towards the Shadow Jaguar. I calmly called up a stone spike in my hand and launched it at the cat when I was about 40-50 meters away and then turned and flew in a new direction. I do not want to get any closer than about 20 meters. I do not know how far this thing can jump or how fast it can move, but I need to be careful. Even though I turned onto a new flight direction I made sure to keep the Shadow Jaguar in sight so I could determine the result of the Exploding Stone Spike. Why that stupid cat actually managed to dodge my spell. Its agility must be through the roof. I must have been luckier than I thought to actually dodge its first attack. Luckily it did not realize that my spells only need to get close. It was peppered with stone shrapnel when the spell exploded near it. I can see a few spots of blood, but no major wounds. That is not going to cut it. I need to hit it directly. I guess I am going to have to launch the spell from closer so it has less time to dodge. While thinking about which type of spike to use next I realized something. I have two hands. Now this may not sound like that great of an epiphany to you, but it made me realize that I was limiting myself. If I can shoot one spike out of my hand, why can¡¯t I shoot one out of each hand at the same time doubling my effectiveness? I mean in theory that should work fine. No time like the present to test it out. I loop around again and start concentrating on forming one Exploding Lightning Spike in my right hand and one Exploding Ice Spike in my left hand. Soon enough.
You have learned the skill multicast.
Oh it¡¯s a skill. Not now, focus Mark. The lightning and ice spikes form, one in each hand. I make sure to get a little closer to leave less time to dodge. At 25 meters I launch and then climb in my flight. I see the Shadow Jaguar look confused, almost like it can¡¯t decide which way to dodge because this time there are two attacks. Aha, it took too long to decide and both hit. It screamed in pain, and while I did not think it was possible the scream got even louder when they exploded doing more damage. I could see it slump down onto the branch. Alright now to swoop down and finish it off. I close quickly using my Elemental Mana Wings and land next to it only to be greeted by a swooping paw. I manage to deflect most of the force and tumble not so gracefully backwards. The jungle cat does not move after that. That was close. It seems it was a last ditch effort to take me with it. I decide another ice spike is probably the safest way to make sure it is actually dead this time. I call one up and launch it. No movement even after the explosion, just more blood. Note to self, always make sure the opponent is dead before approaching, or at least treat it as if it was still alive for safeties sake. Observe.
Carcass of Shadow Jaguar Level: 20 Magic: Dark
Should have done that in the first place. It is definitely dead now. I approach it and place the carcass in my inventory. Next up a little light healing. Minor Heal Self. Minor Heal Self. That should do it. I probably should check my status and see what this battle and my training has done for me before I continue. Status Do Not Show Bonuses.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form) Level: 18 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 5 Strength: 25 Agility: 25 (29) Intelligence: 15 (30) Wisdom: 20 (23) Constitution: 15 (34) Perception: 15 MP: 2,450 out of 3000 HP: 330 out of 330Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. MP/Regen: 230% per hour HP/Regen: 34% per hour Skills: 1. Observe Level 8 ¨C 14% 2. Direction Sense Level 4 ¨C 48% 3. Multicast Level 1 ¨C 12%
That made the status screen much easier to read. I can still see what my bonuses do for me, but less clutter is better. I can always add them back later. I notice that I have leveled up and that did not refill my health or mana. I had to heal myself. Good to know that I do not get everything back if I level like in a computer game. I could have been waiting for it during a fight in the future and not having it happen would have left me in a bad situation. Since I earned them I might as well place my unused points. I think with everything that has happened I better use all of the points this level to increase my perception. I am hoping that it will have both immediate and long term benefits. I mentally select the placement and suddenly I feel like I am noticing some items around me for the first time. Over there are some berries I had not spotted previously. In the branches off to the side I sense something watching me. I quickly cast a double Annihilation Spike and send it in the direction of where I am sensing the watcher. Soon enough I see it impact and start to dissolve leaves, branches and a snake. Observe.
Tree Snake (Green Variant) Level: 14 Magic: Nature/Camouflage
Yep the perception is paying off already. I can see that the snake is on its last legs, or scales, or whatever. I send one more Annihilation Spike at it to put it out of its misery. Time to continue the exploration. I have another 45 minutes to go before I want to turn around. I spend the next forty-five minutes cataloging even more things than before due to my higher perception. When I hit my self-imposed time limit or at least what I feel is very close to the time limit I look around for the highest tree so I can check and see how far I have traveled. Up I go, I look to the west and I am surprisingly close to the water. I am probably only 15-20 kilometers away from where I see the shore start. That means I have traveled about 50+ kilometers in about two hours. That works out to be 25-30 kilometers an hour for moving through the canopy. That seems really fast. Humans walk at an average speed of about 5 kilometers an hour. If we double that for jogging or running it is still only 10+ kilometers an hour. That means I am about two to three times as fast as an Elemental Mantis than my human form from my previous life. I should definitely keep checking this as I level up. I bet strength and agility play a large part in how fast I can move. My high constitution is definitely why I am not tired after moving so fast for two hours. I mean I even fought a short battle in the middle of my exploration. In conclusion I think my high travel speed is a mix of my new body and my new stats. It is hard to pin down how much exactly of each contributes to the increase in my abilities. Now that I have explored it is time to make my way back much slower and paying attention to my surroundings a bit more. I will move in a zig zag pattern to locate more things. What I am especially interested in is the location of the Giant Bee hive. I had a massive sweet tooth in my last life and just the thought of all the honey a Giant Bee could produce is making my mouth water. I do not know if the taste will be the same since I am a mantis now, but I would really like a chance to find out. I want my sugar rush. Almost two hours pass on my way back before I spot another Giant Bee. I am moving at about half of the speed I did before so that puts this bee in the same general area as I saw the first one. That probably means the hive is relatively close by, or at least I hope so. I start the long boring job of follow that bee. Sniff a flower, wander around, does this thing not have any sort of agenda? I mean, pollinate and move back home little bug, I want my honey. While this thought is flashing through my brain I see that Giant Bee suddenly attack a smaller fluffy animal. What the heck? The bees are not just pollinators but carnivores in this world. What does that mean for my honey? Observe.
Giant Bee Level: 6 Magic: Unknown
Carcass Tree Lemur Level: 2 Magic: Unknown
Okay, not only did it kill and is now transporting animal, it is one I have not seen before. Well if it is carrying it, it must be taking it back to the hive. I decide to keep following the bee. After 15 minutes, I start hearing a buzzing sound that is getting louder as we continue to travel. Yep, that must mean the bee hive is ahead of us. Suddenly I see it in front of me. That is one big hive. All I can think of is the line from Star Wars, IT¡¯S A TRAP. How the heck am I going to get anything from that bee hive? It looks like there at least 50-100 Giant Bees flying around at any given time outside of the hive. How many are inside the hive are anybody¡¯s guess, but it has to be a lot. They may all be individually much lower in level than me, but I have the horrible image of being swarmed, by ironically enough a bee swarm and dying. While technically this would just force me back into the closest inhabitant virus it is not an experience I want to experience again. Especially since I feel all the pain when I get hurt and dying by a thousand bee stings does not sound pleasant. I should be immune to their poison, but I would still have hundreds of punctures in my body that would kill me. I am going to have to come up with something good in order to get the honey I want. Is the price I am going to pay worth the aggravation? I think so. I mean not only will I be getting a sweet reward, pun intended, but I will eventually have to deal with infiltration or group battles in the future. This should be a good way to test myself and figure out how to deal with any of these types of situations in the future. The key here is not to rush anything. It is obvious that this hive has been here a while judging from the size so the bees are not going anywhere any time soon. I think I will keep my schedule for the next three days to explore in each direction but try to come up with a single idea no matter how far-fetched or dumb each day to deal with the situation. 18 - Sweet Plans Chapter 18 Sweet Plans I retreat from my observation position and continue my exploration back towards the tree house. It is kind of hard to concentrate on what I need to do, but I manage to return safely. Once I have cooked some more jungle pork I start categorizing everything I know about the bees.
  1. Individual levels from between levels 4-6 outside of the hive.
  2. 100 bees outside hive at any time during day
  3. Unknown number of bees inside the hive.
  4. I assume that the queen is a higher level and well protected.
  5. The size of the hive is about 125 meters high and approximately 250 meters wide
  6. Each bee is about .5 meters long
  7. Maximum number possible would be no more than 10,000 based on bee size and hive size
  8. 10,000 is way too many to fight and win
  9. On Earth bees are pacified by smoke
That is a decent list, now how can I use this to help me figure out how to get my honey? 2 hours later I am still idealess and just decide to go to sleep. When I wake up in the morning I still do not have any practical ideas. I have gone over the smoke thing a dozen times, but realized the amount of wood that I would need to burn to produce a quantity of smoke capable of pacifying a giant bee hive is just not feasible. Why do I have to burn something though? Magic! This world has magic! Maybe I can come up with a spell that produces smoke and just use it to pacify the bees and rob some honey. Relieved that I at least have a single idea that might work I start my new routine. I create ten more targets using Plant Shaping and travel to the other side of the clearing to practice my magic and fighting. After morning practice and the slaughter of several smaller animals, it is time for lunch. I am exploring to the North today after my meal. Back the way I originally came from. Same thing as yesterday. Two hours out at near maximum speed then a slower time back zig zagging and exploring. Nothing really spectacular was discovered while exploring today. The north is just more and more forest. Even when I went up a big tree at the end I could only se forest to the north. I did find several new species of animal that inhabit the forest. There are two of the animals that I need to watch out for and surprisingly enough a carnivorous plant. I knew that carnivorous plants existed back on Earth like the venus fly trap. I also knew that many similar animal species are here on the Planet Braxis, several in giant form. I just had not made the connection that dangerous plants could also reach a size on this planet that would endanger me. This seems pretty dumb when I think about it. I mean I am surrounded by giant trees in a forest that is 2-3 times bigger than anything on Earth ever was. Anyway from now on I am keeping a look out for the following.
Jungle Bear Level: 27 Magic: Earth
Striped Baboon Level: 13 Magic: Unknown
Blood Thorn Level: 8 Highly Toxic
I saw several other animals such as Lightning Rabbits, Giant Rhino Beetles, Dark Flies, and even a Horned Worm. However, they were all lower level or did not really pose a threat to me. The Jungle Bear is the highest leveled carnivore I have spotted so far in the forest. I do not know if that is significant or not yet, since I have not finished exploring. Back on Earth bears were apex predators and usually the top of any food chain so I am hoping it is similar here and I will not actually run into anything stronger, but since some things are radically different from my memories of Earth I expect I am going to be surprised eventually. The Striped Baboon has me worried. Individually it is about middle of the road level wise for what I have seen in the forest. However, it was not alone. Striped Baboons seem to travel in troops of about 30-40 other individuals. I remember seeing a discovery channel episode once on how they were extremely territorial also. I know I can take one baboon in combat and probably up to three or four if I am careful or lucky. However, just like the bees I am sure to doomed if the whole group attacks. I just need to remember to stay out of their way and territory until I am strong enough to deal with them. The final thing that worried me on my exploration today was the discovery of the Blood Thorn. First I never even considered that plants could have levels and grow stronger. I had forgotten that early on I was given a chance to evolve into a plant species. Once I identified it the information came back to me. I have been ignoring most plants as I travel through the forest and that seems like it might be asking for trouble. The only reason I found the Blood Thorn was because of a rabbit that was caught and struggling in its vines and bleeding to death. If I had not seen it happening I probably would have just kept moving and still not know that there are dangerous plants around. I have made it standard to try and observe new or different plants as I travel now also. Now that I have made it back to the treehouse after a full day it is time to come up with method 2 of dealing with the bees. I want something different than the smoke idea. After I have three or four ideas I can choose the best one and then try and perfect it before using it. Think Mark, what can you do to affect 10,000 bees? If I cannot kill them individually because there are too many of them can I do something that would kill them in large numbers? Maybe I could lead other animals there to fight the bees? No they would just run away after maybe killing a couple. What kills lots of things at one time? Hurricanes, Floods, Fires, wait that¡¯s it. I mean I cannot create natural disaster, but I could probably set fire to the whole hive and raid it in the confusion. It may not be the safest plan, but it is one that might work. I will just keep it for now and see how it stacks up against all the other plans in the future. Time to hit the hay. Morning once again was a repeat for training. Make some targets, kill small furry woodland creatures and then eat lunch. After lunch I decide to go east. East was just as boring to explore as north. A few new animals and bugs, and two new dangerous plants. There were three again that I thought were worrisome enough to pay special attention too.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Fire Fox Level: 18 Magic: Fire
Giant Assassin Bug Level: 12 Magic: Unknown
Glue Vine Level: 14 Magic: Unknown
The fox magic was relatively easy to identify as it looked as his or her fur was flickering with flame. It was not extremely high level, but it was another carnivore that I should watch out for. The Giant Assassin Bug was an ambush predator and blends in and then jumps out to attack. The plant though was surprising. First off I never thought a plant would get that high leveled and second it was fairly easy to avoid. However, if you did not know it was there or did not have a way to deal with it you would basically be stuck and then starve to death or die of thirst. I found the Glue Vine by actually getting stuck in it. Luckily my Annihilation Spike was able to dissolve the vine and I was able to escape. Any other animal would most likely try to claw or bite their way out and just make the situation worse. Like I said once I knew to watch out for it, avoiding it was easy. I expect that since nothing would really prey on it the high level it had was probably due to its age. After this experience I traveled carefully back to the treehouse for another round of how to get honey planning. Everything that I had come up with so far revolved around my magic. This makes sense as there was no realistic way for me to physically attack or steal the honey being defended by so many bees. So let¡¯s start todays brainstorming session from the perspective of magic. What spell do I have or could create would help me in getting the sweet stuff? Anything that would help me sneak in would be a good one. Maybe an invisibility spell, no probably not practical for this as it would be crowded inside the hive and I would most likely bump into a bee even if they could not see me. It is a good idea to come back to at a later date though. Suddenly I realized where I was. I was inside the trunk of a tree that I had hollowed out with Plant Shaping. I could use this. What if I created a tunnel through the giant branch the beehive was hanging on? Then I could just burrow down from above where nothing would expect an attack and raid and grab whatever I wanted. Ooh I like this plan, it seems the safest so far. Third plan done, time for some rest. Tomorrow is another big day. I wake up to my last exploration morning. Today I am finally exploring to the south where I saw the trees start turning into rolling hills and finally volcanoes and mountains. With my estimated speed I might actually make it to the edge of the forest today. Before that happens I need to complete my morning training ritual. After ten targets of practice and homicide against lower level creatures I eat my lunch and start thinking about my upcoming exploration and other things. It was much harder to find things to kill today, I might actually have to travel farther and farther as I progress to make sure I have enough prey to level up. Oh well I will deal with that situation when I come to it. I am almost out of Jungle Hog meat so I should hunt something tasty on today¡¯s exploration if I see it. I have the snake and jaguar carcasses in my inventory that I am sure I can eat if necessary, but if I can have bacon why would I compromise. I set out to the south at what I consider my top speed while staying safe and observing everything around me. After about 30 minutes I spot a Jungle Hog in the distance and quietly sneak up on it from above and Observe.
Jungle Hog Level: 14 Magic: Unknown
Alright, time to redeem myself. I quickly form two lightning spikes and attack from above. Both hit the Jungle Hog directly in the back of the neck as it was a surprise attack and it did not even realize it was in danger. The Jungle hog falls over and starts to twitch on the ground. Excellent it is stunned, I scurry quickly down to it and slit its throat and then re-climb the nearest tree to wait for it to bleed out. Less than 60 seconds later, the Jungle Hog ceases all movement. Man it really is easier to win if you ambush and attack when unexpected. Just to be safe, I launch one final Exploding Lightning Spike into the Jungle Hog to make sure it is not faking its death. Wait I probably could have just used Oberve.
Carcass of Jungle Hog Level: 14 Magic: Unknown
Yep good old Observe would not lie to me. As long as it says carcass the animal must be dead. I go and store the pig in my inventory and continue on my exploration to the south. Almost an hour goes by with me watching for new animals and plants and observing everything that I can when I get a pleasant surprise.
Observe has reached maximum level. Due to your unique class and nature you are able to evolve Observe into the highest level identification magic Inspect. Would you like to evolve this skill now? Y/N
Yes, please evolve Observe into Inspect. This is great. Maybe I can get more or better information now. I just need to remember that the new skill will use a different activation word. I should try it out on something that I did not get all the information on before. I know, I can just use the Jungle Hog from my inventory. Inspect Jungle Hog Carcass.
Carcass of Jungle Hog Level: 14 Magic: None
Well it did change. It seems that inspect can give me the type of magic if any that an organism has now. That could be very helpful in planning ambushes and fights in the future. I continue on, knowing that I have to turn around soon. Over the next 15 minutes I definitely notice that the trees are getting smaller than further back in the jungle. Some of them are almost down to what I would call normal giant tree size from Earth. I mean they would be some of the largest trees of their kinds, but at least their size would not scream strange new world if they were on Earth. I finally decide to climb to the top of a tree to have a look before I turn around. To the south I see that there is a very distinct line about five kilometers away from me where the trees just stop, and rolling grassland begins. It looks quite strange actually, almost artificial. I would expect that it would slowly thin out, but it just stops. I wonder why? It is good to know though that when I need to switch locations I should be able to do it in one long day. I better head back and come up with a final plan for dealing with the bees. Several hours later I am safely back in my treehouse once again and deep into thinking up my last bee destroying idea. Wait, maybe I am thinking about this problem the wrong way. What if I could lure the bees away? No, that won¡¯t work, some of them would definitely stay behind as guards. Guards, that¡¯s it. What if I use my Annihilation Spike spell to create dozens of new holes/entrances to the hive all over it. That would force the bees to guard an unreasonable amount of openings and perhaps allow me to either sneak in or fight my way past a smaller amount of guards at one of the new entrances to the hive. That makes four choices. I will decide in the morning which one to go with after a good night¡¯s sleep. I don¡¯t want to rush or make a decision without being refreshed. I will decide tomorrow. 19 - Beepocalypse Chapter 19 Beepocalypse When I wake up in the morning I recap my four ideas that I came up with to deal with the bees.
  1. Smoke them out with a new magic.
  2. Set fire to the hive.
  3. Use Plant Shaping magic to burrow in and sneak some out.
  4. Use Annihilation Spike to create new entrances and spread out the guards.
When listed like that number 3 becomes the only viable option. It is the least dangerous and can be completed immediately. Well I need to actually do my morning training first. I do not want to skip and start forming bad habits. So I go ahead and create ten new targets and then go through what is now my familiar morning training routine. Try not to get to anxious Mark, as the old saying goes, Haste makes Waste. Hmm, that really does not seem to apply here, oh well just finish up and have lunch and then it is time. After lunch I start to travel at high speed towards the Bee Hive. Direction Sense lets me know I am heading the right way. Direction Sense is great. As long as I have a clear picture of it I can always tell where something is in relation to me. Hold on a second, clear picture, why don¡¯t I just teleport? I stop and concentrate on the area where I was observing the hive from before. I then think Teleport. My surrounding shimmer like how heat waves on a hot day look and suddenly I can see the Giant Bee Hive. It worked. I have got to remember that I have magic now and it can help solve common everyday problems like transportation. I sneak as quietly as possible over to the tree that has the branch that the Giant Bee Hive is suspended from. I make sure to be on the opposite side of the trunk of the tree away from the bee hive before I start my Plant Shaping magic. I start to burrow into the tree and close the hole behind me while leaving air holes. I do not want anything to sneak in behind me while I am concentrating on moving forward. About every 2-3 meters I create a small spy hole and air hole combo so I can check on my progress and make sure I am going in the right direction. Slow and sure wins the race. It has taken me several hours but I am closing in on my goal. I am almost directly above where the beehive is attached to the tree branch. I made sure to rest about every fifteen minutes to keep my mana as high as possible. The last thing I need is to succeed with my plan and penetrate the hive and then not have any mana to fight or defend myself with. During this last break I have been hearing some creaking and cracking sounds. Almost like branches moving in the wind. I wonder if the wind has started to blow hard out there, I have been inside this branch for hours the weather could have changed. I start to use Plant Shaping for hopefully the last round and suddenly the sounds from earlier start to get louder and the tunnel I am creating starts to dip down. Oh no, I forgot to account for the stability of the branch! I have to get out of here. I start running back down the tunnel I have created in the wood racing against time. A little over a minute later I hear a gigantic crack from behind me. I spin around and see what I feared. My tunneling had weakened the branch and with the weight of the bee hive on it the giant branch had broken off. All I could see now was an opening at the now much closer end of the branch and no bee hive. I cautiously made my way back to the end of the branch that had broken off. It was only about 50 meters behind me. Man am I glad I started running when I did or I might have gone tumbling down with the bee hive. I peer over the edge to see massive chaos on the forest floor below. Several hundred bees are swarming around the wreckage of the bee hive. It looks some sort of horrible car wreck only with bee carcasses and hive bits instead of automobiles. Oh man did I screw this one up. I should have realized making a big hole throughout the entire branch would have weakened it. Now I am going to have to wait until the bees settle down or move on and see if there is anything I can salvage out of that mess down on the forest floor. After about an hour of Giant Bees buzzing around the wreckage they start to fly off in a swarm towards the east. I guess they decided they cannot salvage anything else and need to start a new hive somewhere. I slowly make my way down to the wreckage of the hive and start going through it. There is plenty of ruined honey spread around, but I need fresh stuff. As I cut through another section of destroyed hive with my scythes I hear a buzzing sound from the wreckage in front of me. Oh there are survivors trapped. I can work with this. If there are survivors, that means there is surviving honey. Not only can I get the honey I want, but I can farm the trapped bees for experience to level up.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Maybe my mistake will pay off after all. I cautiously slice through the layers of hive in front of me and see a pocket of open space with three or four bees furiously flying about. Man this is going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. Wait Mark, don¡¯t get too cocky. You were overconfident in your last plan and look how that turned out. Ok let¡¯s think this through. First, the opening is too small for them to attack me so I should be safe. Second I need to use a spell to reach them but one that won¡¯t cause damage to the honey in the cells around the bees. Third I need to make sure I keep paying attention to my surroundings. I am sure other scavengers are going to be showing up eventually. I decide that ice will do the least amount of damage to my potential honey stash. If my honey gets a little cold, I can always warm it back up. I start shooting Exploding Ice Spikes at the trapped bees and for once everything seems to go right. The bees are killed relatively easy and I enlarge the hole so I can enter in and plunder the honey. Just as I am about to open the first cell and extract the honey I realize something important. I do not have anything to store the honey in. Well that is embarrassing. I do all this work and at the last minute right when I am about to be successful I run into this simple problem. At least this is an easy fix. I climb back out of the pocket I was in and go to the closest section of splintered branch that fell down. I use Plant Shaping to make increasingly large containers. I had an idea when I was making the first one. I want the largest possible container that I can carry in my inventory so I can store more honey. I decide to scale them up by .5 meters. So I now have six containers in front of me. A .5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and finally a massive 3.0 meter tall container. I try putting each one into and then taking it out of my inventory. They all go in and out just fine. I wonder if there is a limit on my inventory. I was about to make even larger containers to try it out when I realized that I was already going to have trouble maneuvering that giant 3 meter container around. I know, I will just make several of the giant containers and then fill up the small ones and dump them into the big one. That way I get the maximum amount of honey possible. I craft 9 more giant containers for a grand total of ten massive 3 meter tall containers. I place them all in my inventory along with the 1 meter tall one that I will use to fill them with and head back to the pocket of space where I killed the trapped bees. I started opening up the individual cells of honey that made up the beehive and started filling my containers. It took me about 30 minutes to an hour to fill one giant 3 meter container of honey. There is no way I can finish this today, but I do not want to leave the bee hive site and waste time travelling back and forth until I get everything I want. I decide to make a temporary camp up in the tree that the bee hive used to hang from. I already have a prebuilt tunnel that fits me there and I can just close of the ends with Plant Shaping. Once I decided on this plan I just kept tunneling and filling and tunneling and filling. I managed to get four containers filled before I felt that I needed to stop for the night. I quickly retraced my steps to the outside of the hive wreckage and was surprised to see several other animals all burrowing through the debris. I guess I was so deep inside the wreckage I could not hear them. None of the animals are fighting each other though. I guess there is a truce as long as there is plentiful food available. I retreat back up the tree and set up my sanctuary for the night. I hope there is still some left in the morning. Morning came soon enough and I opened up my temporary rest area and looked down at the wreckage. There still seemed to be plenty of untouched areas to scavenge honey from. There are not as many scavengers as yesterday either. They must have filled themselves up or are more daylight creatures and will be back later today. Either way I need to get started as soon as possible. I make my way back down the tree and angle myself towards an unclaimed section of wreckage to start my scavenging. Scavenging this morning went the same as yesterday. The only difference was that I ran into fewer and fewer surviving Giant Bees as the day wore on. Finally, a couple of hours after lunch time I filled that last of my ten giant containers with honey. Should I make some more and continue or should I just call it good? I decide that I will continue on until I only have 5 spots left in my inventory. I mean even if I cannot use all of the honey, it should be a great trading material in the future if I run into other intelligent beings. I mean Giant Bee honey can¡¯t be that common of an item. My next two days are spent doing just that. I create a couple of containers and then go fill them up. After the second day I find no more surviving Giant Bees, and the pace speeds up significantly because I no longer have to keep stopping and fighting. By the end of the second day there is little of the giant hive that is not picked over by myself or one of the other scavengers. In fact, many of the creatures that have gathered are starting to look at each other like they might prefer to eat each other instead of the harder and harder to find honey stashes. I decide to call an end to my scavenging ways and head back towards the tree house. When I get back I will consolidate my gains and decide on what to do in the future. I must have leveled up at least once from all the bees I killed, but I haven¡¯t bothered to check my status in days. 20 - Level UP Chapter 20 Level UP I experience nothing troubling on my way back to the tree house. I arrive and start to make dinner, another section of Jungle Hog roasted by my Majestic Flame, with now a dessert of honey. It is fantastic. Now that my bodies needs have been seen to it is time to see how much I have improved. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form) Level: 41 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 115 Strength: 25 (27) Agility: 25 (30) Intelligence: 15 (30) Wisdom: 20 (24) Constitution: 15 (34) Perception: 20 (22) MP: 3,000 out of 3000 HP: 340 out of 340 MP/Regen: 240% per hour HP/Regen: 34% per hour Skills: 1. Inspect Level 2 ¨C 31% 2. Direction Sense Level 6 ¨C 27% 3. Multicast Level 3 ¨C 85% Bonuses: Greater Resist All +5 Con Many Bodies One Mind +10 Int Basic Tactics + 4 Wis Photosynthesis + 4 Con Mana Manipulation + 5 Int Adamantium Defense +10 Con Strengthen + 2 Str Flexibility + 5 Agi Devour + 2 Per Miasma Poison Immunity
Level 41? How in the heck did I gain 23 levels? I did not fight some super tough monster. I have just killed a bunch of lower level trash. I mean even with my 10% boost in experience for killing things with magic it does not make any sense. Think Mark, what did you do that could have caused this. You need to know to figure out if you can repeat it to make yourself stronger faster. Ok, time to retrace my steps. I wake up each morning and eat breakfast then I train. After eating lunch, I go exploring and then come back to the tree house. That probably accounts for the bonus increases in Strengthen and Devour. It looks like my Photosynthesis went up a point also, but that is passive, so it probably just went up because it has been long enough. Basic Tactics bonus might have come from my ideas or actual implementation of how I attacked the bee hive. That explains my gains in the bonus area. Now levels. I have not killed anything high level since the Shadow Jaguar, and I checked my status after that. So it was something between the death of the Shadow Jaguar and now that caused it. That narrows down the time frame. I have killed a lot of squirrels, a Jungle Hog, some miscellaneous small animals, and a lot of low level bees. Wait could that be it? Is it really that easy of an explanation? I must have been given credit for all of the deaths that occurred in the bee hive when it fell. I guess since I caused the fall by destroying the branch I received experience for their deaths. I never would have guessed that I could earn indirect experience. That means that I can gain experience from a lot of indirect actions. I could poison large groups, or set up bunches of traps, or even flood out a community. Whoa I need to calm down. That is starting to get a little dark. I guess a few opportunities like the bee hive incident may appear in the future, but if I plan mass killings how am I better than that horrible person I am trying to get revenge on. I need to keep a little bit of my human morals, even if many of them do not apply to this new planet or species I inhabit. However, I got it I know have a windfall of status points I need to distribute. These should give a large boost in power. I do find it interesting though that I did not receive any notices or anything else about my levels up. Do other people or intelligent beings even have access to my game like screen or is that something that I have due to my reincarnation? I mean maybe they are not even allowed to pick where to put their status points. If they are auto-distributed after they level up, they would only know that they got stronger. That actually makes sense for animals and plants that have levels in my observations, but do not seem to have high levels of intelligence. From some of the messages that I have received my unique species and situation it seems that my advantage may be larger than I thought. I can specialize in something if I want and be much stronger in that area than people would expect. I think that for now I am going to try and stay balanced in my stats. At least until I can meet some other people and see how their stats compare to my own. Maybe I should even hold some back for later specialization. No I think I should spend them all for now. Possibly after level 50 I can hold some back, but for now I want to prioritize my safety, so I do not run into a situation where I might actually die enough times to be sent back into the reincarnation cycle. An even spread of points would be a little over 19 points in each stat. Since I cannot split up points like that I will have to change things. I should put a couple extra in Intelligence and Wisdom because my primary profession is sorcerer. A few extra in Constitution which determines my health would also be good. I can rob a couple of points from strength, agility and perception. I got it. I mentally increase each stat and then check it to be sure. Status without Bonuses.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis form) Level: 41 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 0 Strength: 43 (45) Agility: 42 (47) Intelligence: 35 (50) Wisdom: 41 (45) Constitution: 36 (55) Perception: 38 (40) MP: 5,000 out of 5000 HP: 550 out of 550 MP/Regen: 450% per hour HP/Regen: 55% per hour Skills: 1. Inspect Level 2 ¨C 31% 2. Direction Sense Level 6 ¨C 27% 3. Multicast Level 3 ¨C 85%
As soon as I assign my new stats I feel that I have become stronger. I do not know if it is just because I know I am or if I can actually sense a change in my own body. I guess I will find out during training in the morning. Time to nod off. When I awake in the morning and start cooking breakfast I realize that I had already hit my level and strength goal for this area. The fluke of knocking down the Giant Bee nest and gaining all that experience really sped up the process. According to my schedule I should now challenge whatever killed me that lives in the pond. However, I do not quite feel ready for that battle yet. I think I will spend this morning in my normal practice routine to make sure that I am comfortable with my stat increases and then use this afternoon as spell development time. I think I am going to need a couple of more powerful spells to have a good chance at whatever ate me. I create my normal 10 targets using Plant Shaping and set them up. I already am glad I decided to practice, my movements are a little uncontrolled. I feel like I am not quite used to the increase in strength I have gained and how that affects my movement and balance. This training session should help my body readjust to the new stronger me. My session goes well and after a couple of hours I head back to the tree house. I am going to have an early lunch and think about how to increase my spell damage. The problem as I see it is that with the sorcerer profession since my imagination is the limit I could get bogged down with so many potential spells that I could lock up in battle and not be able to actually choose one. I think it might be more advantageous to have a few go to spells and create new spells for unique situations. My exploding spike spells are a good example. Instead of trying to create a bunch of different ways to deal elemental damage I kept it to a few and kept the pattern, a spike, the same. This makes it easy for me to remember and all I have to decide is which type of element to use. I should keep this in mind while I create new spells. Come to think of it, why do I even have spikes of different elements? I mean I did create an Elemental Mana Wings and I can switch whatever type of mana I want to create wings of different elements. Shouldn¡¯t I be able to do that for my spike spell also. Man I feel dumb. This whole time I have been using a beginner¡¯s spell when I have the ability to create an advanced every element spell. Fixing this just became my first priority. I quickly form ten more wooden targets with my Plant Shaping spell and realize I can do better with this spell also. I seem to be limiting myself. Why do I only have to shape living things? I should be able to create a spell that allows me to shape something of each element. I should be able to shape earth, water, fire, air and nature. I have some work to do. First I need to set out the targets at my usual practice spot. Now let¡¯s get to work on my new spike spell. I decide to help myself out I will cast Memory Boost which I have not used in a while to make sure I am remembering the process correctly. Memory Boost. Ok rustle through the old memories and yes, I used a video clip like set of images and combined the various types of mana. Ok I am going to try it, but I think I will also try to imagine adding more mana for increased penetration and damage. All right, picture a spike forming in my hand from magic. This needs to be a solid heavy penetrating spike filled with energy and potential. Cycle images of fire, stone/metal, ice, lightning, destruction, and add a poisonous plant thorn made from nature mana. Each of these form different types of spikes. I am struggling to keep this little movie clip running in my mind. Finally, I feel like I have the right set of images and I bring red, blue, yellow, brown, purple, and now green towards the cycling images.
You have created the spell Improved Exploding Elemental Spike.
Observe Improved Exploding Elemental Spike.
Improved Exploding Elemental Spike: This spell creates a single spike of fire, ice, metal, lightning poison, or annihilation type and launches it towards the target. The spike will explode after penetrating deeply into any target causing additional damage. Limited tracking ability. Number of spikes and tracking ability will go up with spell level.
That is perfect. It is exactly what I wanted. Now let¡¯s see what I can do with my shaping spell. Hold an image of plants, water, ice, sand, earth, stone, and metal flowing and changing under my command. In my images I create works of art one second and practical tools and holes in elements in the next. Bring over some blue, green, and brown mana and mix it in with the images and presto.
You have created the spell Element Shaping.
Observe Element Shaping.
Element Shaping: This spell allows the user to manipulate plants, water, ice, and all types of earth. The element used will determine whether it is permanent (solids) or temporary (liquids). Range, volume and detail of manipulated material will go up with spell level.
Not bad, that spell will definitely come in useful in the future. I think one more spell needs to be created before I even think about tackling the pond monster and moving on to a new area. I have a powerful single target spell, but now I need a good area of effect spell. Something that will do damage over a wide area and possibly a long period of time. Last new spell for the day. This time imagine the standard fireball from every magic game you have ever played. Now have it morph from fire to each of the elements we had for the spike spell. It has to be able to track targets and splash into a wide area. Bring the different colors of mana in and nothing. Maybe it is too close to my spike spell? No I just need to adjust the image. Recreate the same image but this time when the ball of magic elemental mana hits, have it splash like a water balloon. Bits and pieces of the elemental go everywhere. The imaginary targets writhe in pain for a long time. The area hit must be contaminated for a long while. Bring in Green, Brown, Red, Blue, Purple, and Yellow mana.
You have created the spell Elemental Splash.
Observe Elemental Splash.
Elemental Splash: This spell launches an orb of fire, ice, stone, lightning, or poison which will splash and contaminate whatever it touches for 10 seconds. Area affected, damage, and tracking will go up with spell level.
That should be all I need to be able to challenge the local boss and move on. My first revenge is about to happen. 21 - King Of The Pond Chapter 21 King Of The Pond I should probably try each of my new spells out before I go and try to kill the King of the pond. I use Elemental Shaping and create some new targets. This time I make five wooden dummies and five earth dummies. Hmm, they look a bit cruder than what I get just from plant shaping. I guess that is from this being a new spell with no levels in it. I quickly place the targets in various positions around my practice area. This is going to be fun. I concentrate on the first target and try out an Improved Exploding Elemental Spike and mentally select the fire element. It looks the same as before, maybe I should dual cast like I have been lately. I call up a second fire spike in the other hand and then send both towards the chest area of the first wooden target. I quickly noticed that the spikes sunk much further into the wood target. They looked like they almost made it through. That is a good 30cm thick of wood. The penetration has definitely improved. As I am thinking this the 1 second delay is reached and suddenly there is fire and smoke and debris, but no more target. That was awesome! Alright calm down Mark. There is definitely an improvement in the explosive damage of the spell. At least twice as strong and probably closer to three times. That means I should be able to use this spell on much more armored targets and kill things with less mana as I will need fewer spikes. It used to take between five and six fire spikes to destroy a target. It only took two this time, and I might have destroyed it with just one. Ok this is going to take some more testing than I thought. I run down and replace the target I just destroyed and place a new target next to each of the ten I already set up. Now I have ten pairs of targets, each with one wooden humanoid target and one hardened earth humanoid target. Now to try a single spike on each target. First up is fire again, but this time only a single spike. I launch a single spike at each target. The wooden target is burned horribly and a significant chunk of it splintered off from the explosion. The hardened earth target has significant damage also. It has blackened areas around where the spike hit and a rather large divot has been blasted out of it. I would say it is at least 10 centimeters deep and around 20 centimeters in diameter. That would definitely kill an ordinary animal and do significant damage to something with armor. The next few minutes I spend checking each of the spike spells. The area they each affect is very similar. Metal Spikes penetrate the best and have good explosive qualities, they will probably be my break through armor go to spell. Fire, Ice, and Lightning spikes all explode well and have medium penetration. Poison has a weak penetration ability, but if it gets inside something I assume it will cause a lot of damage. Annihilation spikes are once again just creepy. They don¡¯t penetrate, but dissolve their way into a target and then explode leaving an area that just disappears. It seems very effective and will definitely eat its way through armor. However, since there is no penetration just dissolving it seems like the damage would be better if paired with another element. That actually seems like a good strategy. Something that is heavily armored I send an Annihilation spike at it followed by another element right behind it. I can materialize two spikes now one in each hand, so I just have to send the non-dissolving one a little over a second behind and target the same area. That should be a one two punch that is difficult to overcome. Now I have five groups of targets left, I need to try out my area of Elemental Splash spells. The first up again is the fire element to test. I form a single fire elemental splash orb in my hand and send it in between the two targets. I want to know not only how much damage it does, but the size of the area affected and how long it lasts. Since I did not try anything fancy it hit right where I aimed and sort of splooshed out. I know that is not a very good description, how about it broke and scattered like a water balloon. That¡¯s better, it does resemble a water balloon splashing about. This is a sticky fire kind of like napalm though. After the fire stops burning I head down to check out the damage. The fire splash covered about 2 meters square in area and lasted about 5 seconds. Everything it touched is burned deeply or charred black in the case of the earth target. So two of these, one from each hand, would cover an area that would have 3-5 people standing in it. Not bad for a starting point. The damage would hurt and distract, but probably not kill something unless it is weak. Damage does add up over time though, and something weak against fire would definitely not like it. It seems to cost the same amount of mana as a spike, which means it probably does about the same amount of damage, just spread out and over time. Next up is the ice splash. I form a single ice orb and toss it in between the next two targets. It explodes nicely in between the targets but does not seem to do much damage. However, wherever a chunk of ice from the explosion hit a zone of frost is formed. It seems that each chunk can freeze an area around 10 centimeters bigger than its diameter. This will probably be used more for crowd control and special situations rather than damage to large areas. Now to try stone. One orb of stone later I have two targets that have multiple holes in them. The only way to explain this one is grenade. The orb of stone exploded like a grenade and sent chunks of stone into everything within 2-3 meters. It had decent penetration also. It seems like this will be my go to spell for unarmored opponents in a group. Lightning is next, form an orb toss it out and WHAT??? That is lightning napalm! How is that even possible. There are purple chunks of sparking goo it looks like stuck to the targets and anything else close to where the orb exploded. I expected more of a flash bang and got this beauty instead. It was like electric jelly stuck all over and just shocking the heck out of everything. It was AWESOME! I have a new favorite spell. I don¡¯t know how useful it will be, but I definitely can think of several scenarios where it can be useful. The final orb, poison splash, was underwhelming. It just looked like a green water balloon exploded. No real damage to the targets, but then they were not living so I guess I cannot expect them to suffer from poison. This will probably be a good DOT spell though against living organisms. I could even use it to poison supplies or water sources.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. So spikes are high damage single target spells, and splashes are low damage multi-target spells. They function just as I imagined them. Alright with everything tested out I think it is time to go and teach whatever ate me just who is stronger now. I need to be smart about this though. I have not seen anything actually in the pond over the last few days I have lived in the area. That means it either usually comes out at night, does not have to hunt that often, or only attacks things next to the pond. How am I going to draw it out? I definitely am not going to use myself as bait. I cannot really use bait of any kind as I do not know how close I can get and still be safe. So I guess I can do a couple of different things.
  1. Make it mad enough to come out and fight.
  2. Give it no choice but to come out and fight.
  3. Take away its cover.
The first two kind of go together, but I can approach them from different ways. I think that a few lightning orbs to shock it and make it upset will work. If not, I can try launching several poison orbs until I poison enough of the pond it has to come out. I would rather avoid that as I do not want to destroy the local habitat. I mean I may need to come back to the old tree house some day and use it as a base, so poisoning a large area around it is kind of counterproductive. For idea three I would just use my new elemental shaping powers and dig several ditches that would drain the pond faster than it can fill up and wait for the water level to lower enough that I can see what I am fighting. I think I will try the lightning first, then the ditches if necessary, and only resort to poison if nothing else works. Satisfied with my plan I look around for a good vantage point to attack from. All of the trees are pretty far away from the pond so that won¡¯t work. If only I had some sort of fortification, I could attack from. Duh, Mark you have magic. I can just use my elemental shaping to create what I need. Yep that is the new plan, make a primitive earth fort close to the pond, then shoot lightning until monster arrives and kill it. I make my way towards the pond and stop about 30 meters from the edge. This should be more than close enough. I have about a 50-75 meters range with the orbs so I should be able to reach a good portion of the pond with my lightning orbs from here, especially if I am up high in a fort. I spend the next 2 hours raising the ground in a 5 X 5 meter area 4 meters high. I create a nice smooth ramp down the back side for quick entrance and exit. I raise another earthen lip about 1 meter high around the edge just in case I need to duck anything. I mean for all I know it could spit acid, fire, or some other substance that I do not want to hit me. I was just about to throw my first orb when I realized I was thinking small again. Why finish with just this crude fort? I throw the lightning orb behind me so as not to disturb my prey earlier and get back to work. I gather up lots of wood and vines and first make a little ditch around my fort. Nothing much jus a nice 2 meter wide 1 meter deep trench. However, I did line it with very sharp wooden stakes that I also shaped. Now I should be ready. I climb back to the top of my makeshift fort and start launching lightning orbs into the water. I pause about four to five seconds between each throw so the next one starts just as the last one is finishing up. After about the 5th lightning orb something came up from the pond and started towards me. Inspect.
Greater Tiger Salamander Level 42 Magic: Unknown
Level 42, no wonder this thing made such an easy snack out of me before. Nothing else in the area really gets past level 20 to 25. It must have just sat in the pond and ate and ate, until it was so high level and large that nothing could challenge it. Today unfortunately is its unlucky day. I am both high enough level and angry enough that it ate me before that I am going to take this sucker down. It is not very fast so I can plan a tiny bit now that I know what I am dealing with. What do I know about salamanders? Smooth skin, semi aquatic, toxic, carnivores, and that is about it. Ok so smooth skin means limited armor, semi aquatic means it is probably weak to fire, toxic means do not touch unless I have too, wait a minute I am immune to poison so ignore that one, and carnivore does not help me. Quick plan, wait for it to get closer so it cannot run away back into the pond. Hit it with multiple spikes, two fire spikes, one fire orb, two metal spikes, one lightning orb, two lightning spikes, and then one lightning or fire orb dependent on which one caused it more damage. That sounds like a plan. I wait until the Salamander is right next to my little fort made of earth. As soon as I see it step into the ditch with the spikes I hit it with two Improved Elemental Exploding Spikes (fire) and try to hit it in the eyes. Luck is on my side, and I hit the salamander in both eyes causing it to go blind instantly. It also was helpful that its head is almost 2 meters across with eyes that are huge targets. This is probably the first time in a long time that this guy has had to fight, or has even been challenged. This means it came in fat and stupid allowing me to attack it without any trouble at all. The salamanders 15 meter long body starts thrashing as soon as I blind it. It is actually causing the ground to quake. I need to hurry this up or it could accidentally kill me in its blind rage. I toss a flaming orb and the two metal spikes. Each time it is hit, the salamander thrashes even more. I am having to target the body now as the head is shaking side to side so violently there is no way I could hit it. The metal spikes when they exploded created huge cavities in the body of the salamander. Its thrashing around is doing more damage than I am. Each time it violently moves it rips its wounds open a little more causing it to bleed out faster. I am starting to feel sorry for this thing. I hit it with a lightning orb next which actually causes it to stop thrashing. It actually is bent in a U shape. I get it, the lightning is so effective it has caused its muscles to tighten up. Well since it worked so well let¡¯s follow up with two lightning spikes. When these two spells penetrate the skin of the salamander and explode it just starts to twitch uncontrollably and bleed even more. I would normally go down and just try and cut its throat to put it out of its misery. I realize that it cannot poison me, but I am afraid if it twitches wrong it could still squash me. So I need to stay out of the danger zone until I am sure it is dead. Since it has almost stopped moving I cast two more metal spikes and carefully aim for its exposed throat. If I cannot cut its throat, then I should at least try to open its jugular with spells to help it die quicker. Two spikes later and several gallons of blood the salamander stops moving completely. It looks like I have killed it, better make sure. Inspect.
Carcass of Greater Tiger Salamander Level 42 Magic: Unknown
I guess I am now the undisputed king of the pond. 22 - Moving On Chapter 22 Moving On I should probably go down and store this thing and start prepping for my move to a new area. I head on down the back ramp and carefully move towards the giant salamander carcass. This will be the largest thing I have tried to store. It slides into the inventory just fine and only takes up a single slot. So it seems that size does not matter for certain objects or carcasses. That is extremely convenient. After storing the carcass, I use elemental shaping to cover up the ditch. No reason to leave a trap that might hurt other things and cause them to suffer. I make my way back to the treehouse. I think I will spend one more night here, and then top off supplies and leave for the volcanic mountains in the morning. Before settling in for the night I recall my original six point list to check on my progress.
  1. Explore the area and identify potential threats and animals I can kill to level up.
  2. Practice Skills and Magic to level them up.
  3. Try not to fight anything less than half my level until I feel confident in using combinations of magical and physical attacks.
  4. Gain enough levels to feel confident in defeating whatever ate me in the pond.
  5. When I finally kill the thing in the pond move on to new area to train.
  6. Do not try and find people until I feel I could be as strong or stronger than the average person.
I mentally cross out numbers one through four as complete. I did not follow the list exactly, but the results are still there. So my next point to do is to move to a new area to train while avoiding ¡°people¡±. I am going to define people as anything that has an intelligent society. So nothing that can use or build tools no matter how primitive. You know I wonder how many races of things are in this world anyway. I know there has to be at least two because much earlier I remembered seeing wood elf on the virus infection list and I am an intelligent mantis that can evolve into Thri-keen which implies that there is a civilization of them somewhere for the system help to recognize it. Infection list, I have not even looked at some of my virus options in what feels like a very long time. You know if I word it right I can probably call up a list of ¡°people¡± that I have infected to see what all is out there. I would do the same for everything else, but there are so many different species that I would never figure it out or be confused until I could match a name to an animal in the real world. Oh well, enough wool gathering time to see if this will work. List infected sapient tool using organisms.
Wood Elf Aviantix Human Ork Goblin (wood) Goblin (swamp) Goblin (grass) Kobold High Elf Beastkin (wolf) Beastkin (tiger) Beastkin (rabbit) Formican Beastkin (rat)
. Wow, fourteen species already. Who knows if this is every intelligent species also. There could be several more out there. So I really need to be careful before making myself known to others. I do not even see my own species on the list, so there must be at least a few more. I do not know if any of these people speak the same language, or would even be able to understand me. I do not even know if I speak my own species language. The political landscape, religious, and trading areas are unknown also. I do not want to start or step into any feuds or wars. If I just avoid everyone for now it should be the best choice for me. I really need to think about first contact though. It is going to happen eventually. With as many species that are on my list I think I have been extremely luck up until now not to run into anything that I could call an intelligent opponent. I mean some of these giant magic using creatures must have developed sentience above animal instincts also. They may just not have evolved a stable culture or use tools. I need to make sure to extremely careful. Enough worrying, I will just have to deal with the situation as it arises. Time for bed. Morning comes soon enough and it is time to bid farewell to my temporary home. I roast some meat and think about what my new list of objectives should be.
  1. Find a higher level area to live and continue training.
  2. Look around for some of the people on the list and try to spy on them. I need to know average level and language.
  3. Try to fight things within five levels of myself, but no higher.
  4. Identify power leveling scenarios like beehive.
  5. Explore and learn more about Planet Braxis while staying safe.
This will be my new list of things to do. First up is finding a new place to live and train. Off to the south we go. I travel for 3 hours observing and half-heartedly training before I feel hungry enough to stop for lunch. I have already gone past my past exploration limits. I should reach the edge of the forest by the end of the day. I roast some more meat, eat a quick lunch and continue on. Sooner started sooner done. After 4 more hours of intense travel I have found several new creatures and have reached the edge of the forest. I was right, this forest has to be magic related somehow, or I guess it could be the grassland in front of me. You see the forest ends abruptly. No thinning out, no trees starting to get smaller, just trees and then no more trees. From an outside tree of the forest I can see that this grassland continues on for about 25 kilometers before turning into a mixture of grass land and shrubs that start traveling up the now much closer mountain range. I underestimated the size of the mountains and thus have messed up my distance estimate. It looked like the mountains were very close to the edge of the forest when in fact now that I have reached the edge it still looks like I will need to travel 75-100 kilometers to hit the true foothills of the range. The terrain does get more and more hilly as you go farther south, but I expected to be in the mountains by the end of the day.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I have about 3-4 more hours worth of light to work with, but I do not think that is going to be enough to reach a place that might have caves like I wanted. I realize that I could build something with my magic, but since I have no experience with the open area or what might live there I decide that for at least tonight I will stay here at the tree line. I use both elemental shaping and plant shaping to fashion a crude version of my treehouse in a tree about three back from the edge of the forest just to be safe. After that is done I spend the rest of the time until dark observing the plains. I need to know as much as I can to be safe. With the two hours of light left, and my enhanced sight I am able to spot a few things I need to aware of. First up is that while I say plains or grasslands I need to remember that the grass is actually 1 meter tall in the shortest areas and over 2-3 meters tall in the long grass areas. This means with my size that I am basically going to be moving through what would be a dense grass jungle. I will have limited mobility and awareness as my senses may be blocked but the dense vegetation. While the forest of trees that I am in right now is gigantic, the grassland may actually be more problematic for me. I have long sight lines in the forest, but will be unable to see very far at all in the grassland. Next is herds of animals. I can see several herds of animals throughout the plains, however none of them are really coming close to the tree line so I have not been able to identify them. I do not know how large or dangerous they might be. Many people probably think why be scared of a cow, but I watched animal planet. Just because something eats grass does not make it friendly. Some of the deadliest animals in the world are herbivores. Also the sheer thought of a regular stampede with nowhere to hide on the plains is scary. Multiply that by the giant size of animals here on the planet Braxis and the thought becomes terrifying. I mean in this body I am about 1.5 meters tall, huge for a mantis. Now imagine a zebra that has grown the same amount as I did and you can see why I might be a little cautious. I don¡¯t actually think they will get to that size, but then again I never thought I would see bees large enough to make off with small children and animals either. That is just the plant eaters, now I also need to consider that if there are giant plant animals the carnivores that eat them must be larger in size also. I just fought a salamander that reached over 10 meters long. The largest salamander on Earth never gets larger than 2 meters and most salamanders are 30 centimeters or less. Now let¡¯s theorize a regular lion is between 1.5 and 2 meters long. If I scale that up, I am looking at 10 meter long and probably 4 to 5 meter high lions or whatever the equivalent is here. I need to stop thinking about this stuff. I am just psyching myself out. For all I know, everything could also be in miniature on the plains. Try and think positive Mark. I better head back and get a good sleep so I will be extra rested for tomorrow. I want to make sure that I am at the top of my game before entering the new area. It was a very long night. New noises coming from the plains area, meant that I kept waking up. However, now that I am awake, I need to get going. I climb down from my temporary shelter and head to the edge of the trees. I spend fifteen minutes scanning the grass from a tree on the edge, before realizing I am just putting off the inevitable. Sighing or at least trying to in a mantis body, it comes out more of a hiss, I climb down and start making my way towards the mountains. I am as prepared as I can be and all of my senses are on high alert. Strangely enough moving through the grasslands is not as difficult as I expected. It seems my mantis body is well adapted to this. The scythes on my forearms allow me to easily part the grass as I move forward and my four legs give me a solid base to push forward. Since my size is on the smaller side I actually spend a lot of the time on the grass and never touch the ground. 30 minutes into my travels I spot waving grass ahead of me. I have seen to many movies, and animal specials to not know what that means. Moving grass when the wind is low means there is some type of animal moving about in the grass. Come to think of it, anything flying or tall, could easily track my progress as well from all the grass that moves. Not much I can do about that. I decide to try and play this first encounter as smart as possible. I quickly cast elemental wings using the air element. I almost made a mistake there, I have been so used to using fire I almost used it to make the wings. However, fire wings + grasslands = giant deadly fire. I realized this at the last second and switched the element. I flew up about fifteen to twenty meters and looked down at the spot that had the moving grass. Wait is that actually people? Observe.
Grass Goblin Level 50 Magic: Unknown
Ok, not people and they have spotted me. Flying up may not have been my smartest move here. Before I can even try and communicate the group of Grass Goblins launch an attack at me. There are five goblins in this little group, two are throwing spears, two are firing arrows and one three something that looks like a crude ax. Well since they attacked I am not going to be polite. I dodge the incoming artillery with relative ease and form two ice orbs, one in each hand and toss it over towards the goblins. The goblins are either not intimidated by the ice orbs, are too stupid to dodge, or just don¡¯t care as they watch the ice orbs travel towards them without doing anything else. My aim was spot on and the goblins are now screeching in pain and rolling on the ground. Each of them has small bleeding cuts from the flying ice, but more importantly to me is that the area is now covered in ice and slippery. Not only will this restrict their movement, but it makes it a little safer for my next attack. This time I go with one lightning orb and one stone orb. I toss my new care packages at the goblins once again. This time the goblins recognize that incoming orbs equal pain and actually try to get out of the way. Huh, so they were just ignorant and overconfident on the first round. Dodging does them no good as they are slipping and making very little headway on the newly iced over ground. One goblin each is directly hit with either orb and the results while predictable are still satisfying. All of them are now bleeding rather profusely from the new holes caused by the stone orb while twitching on the ground from the lightning napalm attack. Man I love that orb. It makes absolutely no sense in practical terms that lightning napalm even exists, but then neither does magic. Seeing as how the goblins are pretty much down for the count I swoop down on my wings of air and get busy slicing and dicing the remaining life out of them. It is rather grisly work and I am surprised that I am not really feeling anything while it is occurring. Did my mentality change during my reincarnation? Maybe it is because I do not recognize goblins as humans, but more as animals that this slaughter really does not bother me. Whatever the reason, I soon am surrounded by five goblin corpses and decide I need to check my spoils quickly. The noise from the fight, not to mention the smell of blood will probably soon attract others and I do not know if these goblins were weak or strong. Their level was extremely high, but that could just be because they are able to work in groups. Any group tends to have an advantage over individual opponents. That might be enough along with their crude weapons to level up enough to survive or dominate a lower level area. I just do not have enough data yet to make a solid conclusion to which of these situations it might be. 23 - Magic Makes Things Easier Chapter 23 Magic Makes Things Easier I search the bodies as quick as I can and discover a few things. First off is my suspicion is correct, they are a lower level culture. The weapons they have are crude, but I guess anything is better than nothing. So no reason to keep any of those. Next really obvious thing is that must have some sort of trade with others or within their own tribe as each goblin as a little pouch of what could be called money. It seems to be a mix of shiny stones, actual metal coins, and anything else they liked. Hmm, better make sure. Observe.
Shiny Stone Type: Jasper
Uncut Alexandrite Gem
Copper Coin Kingdom: Unknown
Large Copper Coin Kingdom: Unknown
Iron Coin Kingdom Unknown
So I have currency of an unknown kingdom and a small uncut gem of unknown value. I place all of them in my inventory, they might prove useful later. Nothing else of interest except for their extremely bad hygiene stands out as noteworthy. The hygiene thing might actually be useful as an early detection method. I quickly move further south and leave the scene of battle behind me. I do not want to have to deal with scavengers. As I travel I start to think about several ideas regarding the encounter. Whether or not those goblins were dumb, which they seemed to be, their level should have made that battle more difficult. Why was it so easy? Maybe magic is not as prevalent as I think in this new world. If that is true than possessing it and my spells could easily make me be able to deal with creatures above my normal fighting zone. Come to think of it, every time I have used magic, the battle has been relatively simple and has not resulted in any injury to me. The only time I have really struggled is when I got into melee range and had to fight it out hand to hand. If I had to go against those five goblins without magic the situation may have been completely different. I would have been outnumbered, surrounded, and definitely had a hard time. So magic seems to be my big advantage here. Perhaps in some of the more civilized races magic is more well known, but it seems that in the wild, only animals with magic characteristics use it. Even then it is more of a better version of what they would normally have, just making them harder to kill. I wonder if that means I should hide my magic when and if I ever meet a race that I can communicate with. Speaking of communication, how in the heck am I going to learn the language or languages of all the races? I mean I can basically hide amongst them with my chimera magic virus transformation, but that does no good if I cannot speak the lingo. I wonder if that would actually fix the problem? Oh I have got to try this. I realize that I have not even come close to my travel goal for the day, but this idea is too good to pass up. I know, I can just start here later I have teleportation. I use elemental shaping to create an artificial hill around 5 meters high with nothing on top, just bare earth and stone. I quickly climb up it and memorize how it looks. Now to be on the safe side, I picture my tree house back in the pond clearing and invoke teleportation. The world seems to shimmer with heat waves and the location I am in fades out and the familiar surroundings of my tree house greet me. Man I should have thought about this earlier. I do not have to create a new lair to stay in if I don¡¯t want to. I can just teleport back each night. Eventually setting up multiple bases is going to be the best thing, but for now when I am traveling, I can just do what I did and pop back each night and stay here in my treehouse which is safe and teleport back to where I left off my exploration the next morning. Now that I have decided on my new travel arrangements I want to experiment with my earlier idea. I had realized that I did not have to learn how to use this body when I created it. Sure there was a brief adjustment period, but I basically could move around, climb and do other things straight off. It was like it came with preset instructions or instincts to help out. I am wondering if the same thing will happen if I choose a sapient talking species. Will I instinctively know or learn the language or will I just have a new body? I am going to switch to a virus in another infected animal, using my almost forgotten switch spell, and then create a new body of a grass goblin and see what happens. I am extremely curious as to what will happen to my current body as well. Will it just shut down and die, or possibly just disappear? Too many unanswered questions for me not to experiment with this immediately.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I focus my mana on the switch spell and soon enough find myself in familiar surroundings. Yep, I am a virus again and I am floating in somethings circulatory system. Alright time to see if this works. I choose to transform into a Grass Goblin. The by now familiar sensation of everything getting pulled toward me and then expanding. I stretch and realize that I see different hands then I did before. I quickly look at my body and see scrawny arms, knobby knees, and other indicators that this worked. Now I should try talking. I try and say the sentence, Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die. However, as soon as I think about speaking the first word I get a notification that stops me.
You have taken on a form that has a spoken language for the first time. You are granted access to the common language of Planet Braxis. You may select a further 4 languages from the following list due to your high intelligence. You can learn another language for every ten points of intelligence. Please select now. 1. Elvish 2. Aviana 3. Braxish (Human) 4. Orkish 5. Goblinoid 6. Beastkin 7. Draconic Low (Kobold and Saurians) 8. Draconic High (Dragons and Wyrvens) 9. Insectoid (Formican and Thri-Keen) 10. Dwarvish 11. Planar (Common for Angels and Demons) 12. Elemental
Well I would never had expected this. I just assumed I would immediately know goblinoid because I became a goblin. I forgot that the elemental mantis form is not an advanced species, but rather an unevolved form of Thri-Keen. So until I became a speaking species, I could not speak. I just assumed the sounds I made were speaking when it was just my thoughts projected onto mantis sounds. These bonus languages are nice also, but I am going to have to be careful which ones I pick. I know I will get others as I level up, but it would be a lot easier to blend in with a community if I know the local lingo. For my four languages I pick, Braxish, Goblinoid, Dwarvish, and Elvish.
Selection logged. Mark Stefanopolis has learned Common, Braxish, Goblinoid, Dwarvish, and Elvish.
Well that takes care of one problem. In my mantis form I may not be able to respond, but I definitely will be able to listen and learn. I chose these languages for a specific reason. I have the most experience being human, so knowing the language will allow me to blend in the easiest of all of the sapient species I know of. Goblinoid was chosen, because I just ran into them, and if I know anything from years of fantasy novels and movie it is that where you find 1 goblin, expect to find 10 others. In other words it will be immediately useful. Finally, I picked Dwarvisha and Elvish also due to my fantasy knowledge. From what I can remember, elves and dwarves have very insular societies. I might be able to get away using common disguised as some of the other races, but Dwarves and Elves would be immediately suspicious if someone looking like them did not speak the language. Since I am already in this body I may as well teleport back to the tree house to see what became of my elemental mantis body. Teleport. I appear in a different room than before, just for safety reasons. I do not know what would happen if I teleported into a space that was occupied by something else, but I do not feel like exploring the possibility of explosion or death right now. I quickly make my way to the back room and am surprised to see my mantis body just standing there. I wave my grass goblin hand back in forth in front of the Elemental Mantis bodies eyes, but there is no reaction. This is not what I expected. I thought it would disappear or be dead, or anything but catatonic just waiting and staring off into space creepily. Would it just stay here and do nothing until it starved to death? This is really unsettling. Hey, I wonder if I can switch between bodies? Switch to Elemental Mantis Body.
Unable to comply. Host is not in contact with Elemental Mantis Body.
So I need to be in contact. Alright, I place my goblin hand on the shoulder area of the Elemental Mantis and repeat. Switch to Elemental Mantis Body. Suddenly I find myself looking at a goblin right in front of me. I scream and jump back. What the heck, every other transition has been slower with hints that something was going on. This was instantaneous and quite frankly pants wetting scary. One second I am in the goblin looking at the mantis and before I can even register it I have switched positions and am looking at the other body. Really disturbing. I guess I could have several bodies stashed away somewhere just in case, but it seems kind of pointless since I have teleportation. I can just form a new body of any type that I need and then teleport to the location that I want. It also seems rather useless as I have to actually touch the other body before I can switch, and I am not going to carry around a set of zombie staring bodies with me. The thought of that is just wrong. I am kind of curious about how long a body will last while it is not occupied. I can leave my mantis body here while I go and search for the source of the goblins I suppose. Since I will be teleporting back each night I could just switch and feed my mantis body at that time and then continue on with the goblin body until I finish. Finish what you might ask. Well higher level easy to kill goblins just seem to scream to me farm me and level up. This will be a nice opportunity to try infiltration and language also. Finally, I don¡¯t have any real experience with killing in a humanoid body. Basically I need to see if I can pick up or learn how to use some weapons, even if they are crude goblin weapons. Maybe I should have kept some of those weapons from earlier instead of tossing them to the side. I cannot start second guessing myself. What is done is done. Instead I can just use plant shaping and form a really good wooden spear to take with me. First though I need to switch back into the grass goblin. Switch to Grass Goblin Body. My view instantly changes again. That was not any less creepy a second time. In fact, if I did that enough I think I would become nauseous with the changing views. Now to create the best wooden spear I can with plant shaping and then teleport back to my stopping point on the plains. 24 - Goblin Extermination Chapter 24 Goblin Extermination One wooden spear later and quick teleport I find myself back on top of the artificial hill I created in the grass lands. I realize that the sun will be down soon, but that may be the best time to infiltrate a goblin den. Hunters and gatherers should be returning with their catches and I will probably draw less attention if I bring in food and join in. While I still have light, I quickly recast elemental mana wings and use air once again to soar up about 100 meters to get a good look around. From up here it looks like there is a pond or other low lying area about 5 kilometers south west from my hill. I see at least one fire lit and a hut looking structure. It is too far to make anything else out. I hope that is where I need to go. I descend back down onto the hill and make my way towards the water source and hut that I saw. After about 3 kilometers I realize that I need something to distract them with and take out the salamander carcass from my inventory. I chop a leg off, and re-store the carcass in my inventory. I throw the leg over my shoulder like I am bringing it back from a successful hunt. Another kilometer goes by when suddenly I hear someone call out. ¡°Who there?¡± Time to find out if all the stories about goblins being dumb are accurate. ¡°Me here, who there?¡± ¡°I is Branny who is you?¡± ¡°I is Grot?¡± ¡°I no know Grot.¡± ¡°Well I no know Branny.¡± ¡°Ok now we know each other, whacha got?¡± ¡°I gots a leg of meats.¡± ¡°Why only legs? Where is the rest of it?¡± ¡°I can only carry one legs of meat, stupid slimy lizard is too big.¡± ¡°How come you no have other gobbos bring rest of meat?¡± ¡°Stupid slimy lizard eats them.¡± ¡°Ok give meats to Greta she cooks tonight.¡± ¡°OK.¡± I walk past the sentry like I belong right where I am and he does not give me another look. That was easier than expected. I guess the fantasy rumors and descriptions are pretty spot on about goblin intelligence. I had hoped that it was true. Now I basically have been passed into the inner circle so no one else should question my being there. They may wonder who I am, but since the guard let me through I must be ok. I walk just a little further until I see the pond and a large hut dwelling on the opposite side with a giant cook fire and pot in front of it. I see another hunting group walk up and just throw their entire catch into the pot, skin, bones, and all. Ok seems simple enough, but I think I can actually add a new ingredient that might help me out. When I get close to the pot I lift the salamander leg in preparation to toss it in and glance around. No one is paying me any attention, so I quickly call up poison orbs as fast as I can and throw them in the pot. I manage to get four in before I hear someone else coming up. I casually toss the salamander leg in and walk over towards the big hut, but off to one side. There will be time enough to explore later, right now it is time to reconnoiter. I hope that my little gift of poison will do some damage to the goblins, but I do not know if it will or not. These little guys must have a pretty hefty constitution to survive living in the filth that surrounds me. I decided a little preparation might do me a lot of good later on. I stroll around the entire pond about 25 meters out in the rising grass and use element manipulation to create a bare patch of earth about 1 meter wide in a giant circle around the camp. I am hoping that even if a goblin notices that they will not care or be too stupid to figure out why I might have done this. I am going to use this as a fire break. I realized that even though I do not want to set the whole grassland on fire, a nice big ring of fire will keep all the goblins in one place, do damage, and allow me to attack them from a safe distance. Before I do anything else though I better make sure that the group I ran into was normal. Inspect.
Grass Goblin Level 51 Magic: Unknown
Grass Goblin Level 50 Magic: Unknown
Grass Goblin Level 53 Magic: Unknown
Goblin Shaman Level 64 Magic: Unknown
Oh my, that is good to know. I was just randomly checking around and found a shaman. The title shaman implies ability to use magic. I have no idea what kind of magic he can use either. That guy better be my first target. There was actually no way of telling him apart at first and then he stood up from where he was squatting and reached down and grabbed a stick to hobble around with. Ok, staff equals shaman, definitely good information to have. It looks like everyone is starting to gather near the cook pot, time for me to hide.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I make my way behind the large hut and peer out at the goblins starting to eat the poisoned stew. Nobody is actually showing any signs or symptoms yet. I wonder if the poison ball was not strong enough or if it wore off? Nope, some of the goblins are holding their stomachs and grimacing. Some are even starting to throw up. The shaman seems to be casting a heal spell or something either on himself or the sick goblin next to him. Ok this is the time to strike. I call up a stone spike and a flame spike and aim both at the shaman. He is going to be the primary target until he goes down. I launch them and have the satisfaction of seeing them hit him square in the back and knocking him off his feet before exploding and doing even more damage. I call up two lightning orbs and send them once again at the shaman. Even though he is on the ground, I do not know if he is dead so the area of effect spells will be centered on him until I go and stab him. Both hit either on him or next to him and the screaming of the goblins begins. I launch one stone orb at the shaman and with the other hand I throw a fire orb off to my left in the grass to start burning a ring of fire around the camp. Both orbs hit their targets and do their job quite well. Time for some acting. I start running towards the downed shaman and start screaming in goblinoid, ¡°Branny says fire demons come. Quick quick, hide in hut so they no see us.¡± Goblins here my shout and see me running. Either they are dumber than I thought or they all know and trust Branny as they all start to stagger into the large hut. ¡°Hurries I helps shaman guy. Hurries.¡±, I yell into the night. The grass goblins actually manage to speed up a little and start disappearing into the hut. I reach the downed shaman who looks like he could die at any minute and reach down like I am going to help him and stab him in the chest. That last attack did him in. I pick up his corpse and pretend to help him stagger towards the hut. The last of the grass goblins in the clearing stagger into the shelter of the large hut and I finally drop the dead shaman and prepare for my next act. ¡°Shaman guy says he use big spell to hide us. No one makes noise or be scared.¡±, I yell out. I then proceed to use elemental manipulation to seal off the hut entrance with a wall of earth. I cannot believe this is working so well. Now that every one of the goblins in the clearing is inside the hut I continue to make a nice earth wall all around the hut until I feel sure that they are trapped. Now to finish phase two. I conjure up two fire orbs and toss them onto the top of the hut. I decide to make it burn faster and toss another two up a little farther on. I stop using spells here to preserve mana. I won¡¯t get any back until this whole thing is done. I may have a high regeneration rate, but the caveat is that it won¡¯t kick in until I am calmed down or the battle is over. I patrol the outside of the burning hut with my wooden spear and listen to the screams of the goblins inside. I definitely think my reincarnation has affected my emotions or the ability to empathize with others. While this might be a great way to finish off a large group of enemies and earn experience, it is not very humane. The screams of the goblins inside burning to death coincidentally enough are enough to make me think about what I did and whether it was appropriate or not. However, I come to the conclusion that this was the safest and easiest way for me to finish off this little tribe. As I am walking the perimeter of the burning building I realize that the fire I started around the camp is burning itself out. That means my little fire break worked. I am so proud of my achievements that I lose situational awareness and soon enough find an arrow stuck into my belly. Holy crap that hurts. Where the heck did that come from? I quickly pull the arrow out and suck it up. I am being attacked, the who must be determined first. I spot my buddy Branny standing outside the burned area holding a bow an d arrow. Did he just shoot me? That little piece of goblin dung. I rush towards him while fake a throw with my spear. He falls for it and ducks down. This gives me enough time to launch an Annihilation spike at him. What can I say, I know it¡¯s a nasty spell, but he has ticked me off and shot me. The spell hits and causes rather large damage, distracting Branny long enough for me to reach him and start stabbing him over and over with the spear. There really is no technique involved just me being angry and venting myself on the poor goblin. Soon enough he shudders his last and I look around just in time to see 3 other goblins running towards me. They must also have been on sentry duty. ¡°Why you kill chief¡¯s son Branny?¡±, one yells as they rush me. Chief¡¯s son huh, I never saw a chief. I hope he was in the hut, because chief implies a stronger goblin. Rather than talk I form one lightning ball and toss it and then chase after it. ¡°Him magic guy, we doomed.¡±, wailed a goblin. How right he was. I still had a little mad to get out and the exploding lightning napalm orb stunned the goblins long enough that I could stab each one in the throat and heart since they were grouped up. I feel a little better now and check the area carefully to make sure that no more surprises will be coming at me. This was a good move on my part. As I was scanning the area I saw one side of the earthen embankment explode outward. The strange thing was that the explosion of the wall made no noise, but I could hear the debris hit the ground several meters away. Out of the new opening I could see a 2 meter tall goblin who looked burned, injured, and extremely mad stomping out. Oh no, it couldn¡¯t be could it. Inspect.
Goblin Chief Level: 102 Magic: Cone of Silence
Bad news is that little goblin jinxed me when he talked about there being a chief. Ok, let¡¯s be honest, most of this would be my fault for not checking the village thoroughly. I still wanted to blame that goblin a little though. Good news is actually two things. First, this guy seemed injured and second the cone of silence shouldn¡¯t affect me as I don¡¯t talk to cast my spells. I definitely cannot take this guy in a straight up fight though. He has to be twice the size of my current grass goblin body and probably twice the level as well. If you can¡¯t beat them fairly, then cheat. I still have just under half my mana remaining so I cast Elemental mana wings once again, but this time I go for fire hoping it will add a little intimidation to my presence and fly straight up out of the chief¡¯s reach. I decide that monologues are for suckers and just start tossing improved element spikes at the goblin chief. I alternate each type to see which does the most damage. Fire spike does decent damage it looks like but is hard to tell due to the chief already being burned. Stone spike seems to be the winner for straight up damage, but lightning spike is what surprises me the most. It does not do as much damage as stone, flame or ice, but the side effects are the most impressive. I hit the goblin chief in the leg the first time I used it and it immediately fell over. It seems that my lightning spike shuts down whatever limb it hits. This could be a game changer. I mean if I am able to target limbs I will be able to cause opponents to stumble at bad times and even disarm them. A humanoid opponent without his weapon is much less threatening. I bet a lightning spike to the chest or head would definitely stop magic users from chanting also. I am going to have to try that in the future. I am sure many battle magic users are taught to cast through the pain, but if you literally cannot speak due to your muscles seizing up from the electricity coursing through you, that training would be useless. Soon enough the goblin chief keels over and I descend to stab him a couple times just to make sure he is dead. He does nothing while I stab him so I feel relatively safe. No other goblin came out of the hole he made so my burning the hut trick must have worked on the normal goblins and caused them do die either from fire or smoke. With the goblins all dead I need to search for loot and leave this place before scavengers arrive. 25 - Plains Hunter Chapter 25 Plains Hunter I search the goblins outside of the remains of the burning hut first and receive various miscellaneous coins and semi-precious stones. The goblin chief was a nice surprise in his loot though. From him I got my first gold coinage, which I am assuming is worth more just because the chief had it. As nice as that was I was more interested in the weapon he was swinging around. It looked to be of a better quality than the rest of the goblins weapons so I inspected it.
Mace of Force Magic Weapon
It was an honest to goodness magic weapon. First off the fan boy in me was excited that I now possessed a magic weapon. Next it was a weapon of a quality that I could use in humanoid form for a while I would guess. I need to know what it does. Inspect Mace of Force.
Mace of Force: By channeling 100 mana into this weapon the user can create a minor explosion against the target that is hit. This basic enchantment can only be used 5 times a day or the weapon will be destroyed.
That must be how the goblin chief was finally able to escape and destroy my earth wall. Speaking of which I need to go search through the rubble of the large hut. I walk over to the opening that the chief made and use some elemental manipulation to cause the water in the area to condense and fall onto the remains of the hut. I needed it cool enough to search. I quickly looked through the rubble and only found more coins and semi-precious stones. Nothing else of value or that I wanted was discovered. Good enough, I need to get back to the tree house and rest and recover from everything that I have done. Teleport. As soon as I arrived in the tree house I decided to call up my status to check on how tonight¡¯s massacre improved my stats. Before I could though I got a notice.
Host has accumulated enough experience to evolve his current form. Would you like to evolve Grass Goblin into Ogre? Y/N
Ok I obviously have enough experience to evolve my secondary form, but grass goblin is not the one I want to evolve. No I do not want to evolve grass goblin. Alright I need to switch back to my elemental mantis form and then check my stats. I hurry over to where my other body is staring blankly at the wall. That sounds so creepy, other body. Focus Mark, switch to elemental mantis form. The disorientation is still there when I switch bodies, but believe it or not I think I might be getting a little used to it. Anyway time to check on my progress. Status.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Mantis Form) Level: 67 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 70 Strength: 43 (46) Agility: 42 (47) Intelligence: 35 (50) Wisdom: 41 (46) Constitution: 36 (56) Perception: 38 (41) MP: 750 out of 5000 HP: 500 out of 560 MP/Regen: 460% per hour HP/Regen: 56% per hour Skills: 1. Inspect Level 5 ¨C 48% 2. Direction Sense Level 7 ¨C 89% 3. Multicast Level 6 ¨C 21% Bonuses: Greater Resist All +5 Con Many Bodies One Mind +10 Int Basic Tactics + 5 Wis Photosynthesis + 5 Con Mana Manipulation + 5 Int Adamantium Defense +10 Con Strengthen + 3 Str Flexibility + 5 Agi Devour + 3 Per Miasma Poison Immunity
I gained quite a few levels since I last checked. I wonder what the evolve point was. Probably level 50 as I was under that the last time I checked. I guess I can confirm that if I hit level 100 and another evolving choice is given to me then. I also used a lot more mana than I thought. I keep forgetting that I only start regenerating it outside of battle in a safe environment. I need to remember that as much as this feels like a game it is not. I think I will evolve and then assign my points then recheck where I am at. I would like to evolve the elemental mantis form.
Please confirm your choice. You want to evolve the Elemental Mantis into an Elemental Thri-keen. Y/N
Yes.
Using your unique ability to evolve one of your body forms makes you a unique existence. Normal Thri-Keens only have access to two elements at most. You keep the all elements aspect of your earlier form. You receive +5 stats for your new form only. Transferring to another body will cause you to lose the bonus points until you return to being an Elemental Thri-Keen.
I could feel myself growing larger and it seemed stronger. After a couple of minutes, I notice that my view was different. I looked around and discovered that I must be almost 2 meters tall now. I started checking my body for other differences and the most notable was the disappearance of my arm scythes. Huh, I liked having built in weaponry. Wouldn¡¯t it be great if I still had them at this size I could chop down a lot more things with my more intimidating size. I make a chopping motion with my hand and a blade extends out of the back of my forearm. What the heck? What am I, an insect Wolverine?Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. It turns out I was close. It seems that Elemental Thri-keens are really evolved from the mantis form and that the ability to generate a blade to fight with was advantageous so it was kept. The blade seems to be the same size even if it looks smaller. It must be a matter of perspective. The same blade looks smaller just because my size and body reference has changed. The unique existence and the bonus stats were something I was not counting on, but every little bit helps. And this was not a little bit, + 5 stats in everything equated to an extra 6 levels of experience. Not too shabby. Now to place my other 70 experience points. Hmm, 9 points in strength, 9 points in wisdom, 8 points into agility, 14 points into constitution, 20 points into intelligence, and 9 points into perception. That should keep me pretty balanced and boost my intelligence enough that I won¡¯t run out of mana in a fight. That leaves one point left over that I can place another time. I like have multiples of 5, it just makes things feel neater. Status without Bonuses.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 67 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 1 Strength: 52 (60) Agility: 50 (60) Intelligence: 55 (75) Wisdom: 50 (60) Constitution: 50 (75) Perception: 47 (55) MP: 1000 out of 7500 HP: 510 out of 750 MP/Regen: 600% per hour HP/Regen: 75% per hour Skills: 1. Inspect Level 5 ¨C 48% 2. Direction Sense Level 7 ¨C 89% 3. Multicast Level 6 ¨C 21%
Alright, everything is looking good. I feel that I have taken a large step forward in strength and thus come closer to my goal of revenge. After a good night¡¯s sleep and regeneration of MP and HP, I should be ready to go in the morning to keep exploring south towards the mountains. Before I go to sleep I realize that I have not picked new languages to go with my intelligence upgrade. I would like to learn Insectoid and Elemental langauges.
Selection logged. Mark Stefanopolis has learned Insectoid and Elemental languages.
Morning comes soon enough, and I roast some more meat for breakfast. I make sure to double my normal portion as my body has doubled in size and I am glad I did. I ate every bit of my breakfast and even roasted a little more just to satisfy my cravings. Note too self, I need to hunt soon and this body takes way more resources to maintain. After breakfast I teleport back to the south side of the goblin pond and start on my way. To be safe I pause every hour and fly up on mana wings of air a few dozen meters and check the surrounding area. Then I pause for 5-10 minutes to let that mana regenerate and start moving on again. I am actually moving at a faster pace today with the breaks and checking than I did before. The larger size of my new body and the increased stats make for a much quicker movement speed. Around lunch time I spot a herd of animals in the distance. This is my chance to stock the larder. I immediately change direction and heads toward the herd of something. When I get within a kilometer I can actually see some animals in the distance. The taller body is helping out already. As I get closer I can hear animal noises and calls. I stop about 500 meters away from the grazing herbivores. Inspect.
Windy Beefalo Level 45 Magic: Unknown
I see now why the goblins had such high levels. If they hunt this thing on a regular basis, they would have to be strong enough to take it down. It looks like some sort of mutated cow/buffalo with a hint of llama thrown in with its longer neck. It stands about 2 to 2.5 meters at the shoulder dependent on the animal and look too weigh at least a ton. This is definitely not something I want to tackle head on when it has reinforcements like its herd nearby. So how can I kill this thing. Think Mark. I know traps. I retreat another 250 meters so as not to disturb the grazing herd and start using magic to dig pit traps. I don¡¯t really have anything to make spikes out of, but if I make each trap 5 X 5 meters square and 4 meters deep they should not be able to escape. Then it will just be a matter of going to the edge and tossing down spells until they expire. I take about an hour to make 5 different pits. I use plant shaping to have the surrounding grasses grow over and cover the tops of the traps so the windy beefalo will not suspect anything. Now I just have to lure them over. My idea is to get close, fling a small spike at something and hope it gets mad and chases me. If it does, then I run towards the traps and then fly off with mana wings when I get near. Beefalo falls in, I swoop down and kill it. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezie. I sneak closer to the herd which has drifted about 100 meters closer. Good that should make things easier. I calmly make a smaller ice spike and launch it at a beefalo that is around 150 meters away. My distance and aim has improved. That hit right where I wanted to. The beefalo bellows in pain and the herd looks around to see what caused such distress. I am soon spotted in the distance and the entire herd starts moving towards me. Ok minor hitch in the plan, I did not expect the entire herd to chase me, but I can still deal with this. I start to turn around and pause in amazement. An orange glow has started to surround the animals. Orange isn¡¯t that the color of air mana? As soon as that thought crossed my mind the speed of the animals tripled and they charged right at me. No wonder they are identified as Windy Beefalo. The can use air mana to accelerate, I am so screwed. Run Mark run. I turn around and sprint as fast as this body can move. Acceleration magic, I have got to remember to try that one out in the future. I can hear the beefalo getting closer and closer. I can still make this work. I see the area of the traps ahead. I silently cast mana wings and start to fly away. Just as I thought I was safe I hear a whooshing sound and feel a horrible pain from one of my legs. I look down as I continue to fly up and realize that I only have three of the four legs I should have. While looking down and finding out I was now a tripod I noticed what looked like a blade or edge made of air coming at me. I swerved and kept climbing. I once again heard the whooshing sound as that wind blade went past me. I flapped my mana wings for all that they were worth. As soon as I reached what I thought was an altitude of 200 meters I looked down at the now confused herd of windy beefalo. Only the front edge of the herd in the stampede saw me lift up so the rest were confused as to why they stopped. I did notice that three of the five pits had animals in them though, so my plan was a partial success. Those stupid almost cows had projectile magic along with their acceleration magic. I mean what the heck. I have barely run into any ¡°real¡± magic and then some stupid windy beefalos almost chop me up and stomp me into the ground with it. I guess I need to pay more attention to the descriptions of organisms when I inspect. In hindsight the name Windy Beefalo was probably a hint that they had air or wind magic. Circling the herd from a safe height I realize that if I do not move them along I might not be able to get anything out of this encounter. They don¡¯t want seem to want to leave the area of where three of them are trapped. I know I can just drop ice bombs on them until they move. I won¡¯t even have to aim that much. Six dropped ice bombs later the herd finally gets the hint and runs off into the distance leaving the three trapped beefalos behind. I cautiously land about 50 meters away from where the pit traps are dug. It is difficult at first to adjust to moving on three legs, but I can hobble around well enough to get the job finished. I need to think this through. I cannot just go up to the edge and spike spell them to death like I had originally planned. Now that I know they can shoot back I have to be more careful. I guess I can just lob more orbs in. They travel in an arc so it should be fine even if I cannot target the beefalos themselves, just getting close with an exploding ice bomb should damage them. I start my plan about ten meters away from the first pit. 12 ice orbs and some horrendous bellowing from the beefalo later the job is done. That was not very efficient, but it got the job done. I sit down and rest to gain back the mana I just used. Once I was topped off mana wise I moved to the next pit. I repeated the original orb tossing two more times and finally went back to the first pit. I carefully peered over the edge and used Inspect.
Carcass of Windy Beefalo Level 45 Magic: Air Blade/Acceleration
Ok, it really is dead. I jump down into the pit and put the carcass into my inventory. I repeat the process at the other two pits and pause to think of my next move. 26 - Mountain Man Chapter 26 Mountain Man The first thing I need to do is fix this leg of mine. Hobbling around on three legs in a small area is fine, but the loss of my mobility will kill me quick if I continue on like this. I try and use a minor heal. The spell worked and my HP increased, but no new leg. So I have now discovered one of the limitations of minor heal, it seems it cannot grow back missing body parts. Now I have to think, would an improved version of this spell accomplish what I want or should I create a new spell. I think I should create a new spell. I memorize the area so I can come back anytime and then teleport back to the tree house. Once I reach the familiar surroundings of the tree house I relax just a little. This has become my safe haven and I appreciate it more now that I have had another close scare. If the beefalo¡¯s aim had been slightly better or I had been slightly slower, I would have experienced another death. Even knowing that I can come back and would transfer into another virus is not much of a comfort. Today made me realize how lucky I was in my first death. It was quick and painless. I experience everything that happens before I die. Being trampled to death today might have scarred me mentally for a long time even though I can revive. What is even scarier is knowing that I have increased my strength so much and still can be caught by surprise so easily and almost killed. I am really lacking some serious basic knowledge that most people on this planet are taught by their parents. I mean even now, knowing about the Windy Beefalo¡¯s abilities I can come up with several much safer ways to deal with the earlier situation. The gap in my knowledge about common animals and abilities is what almost killed me. I think I will have to infiltrate society sooner than I thought just so I can gather knowledge about the plants, animals and environment before it can kill me. The only thing holding me back from searching out a civilization right now is my lack of strength. I keep thinking I am strong, but every time I think that I run into something that is near my own level or higher. Normally this would not be a problem, but the creatures that are near my level are common ones or things that should be below intelligent species. There are very few stories where goblins are the pinnacle of strength. So when I see a goblin chief at level 70+ it makes me feel that I need to be at least level 100 before meeting others. A common grazing animal, or at least I think the beefalo is common, is near level 50. While not many people back on Earth can say they could win against a wild bull, at least they feel like they would have a chance. When you add magic into the mix it gets even more problematic to judge my strength and other creature¡¯s strength. I mean does having magic make the beefalo twice as strong or three times as strong. How do you even decide? Enough contemplation, I need to fix my body and then work on becoming stronger. First I need a regeneration spell. I start thinking about large wounds closing, missing limbs re-growing, and overall better health. I try and lock those images in my mind and try to infuse pink creation and green nature mana into it. It goes into the image quite easily.
You have created the spell Regeneration.
Inspect Regeneration.
Regeneration: A spell that the caster can cast on themselves or others to regenerate lost portions of the targets body. How quickly something regenerates is dependent on the size of the missing area and the amount of mana the caster imbues into the spell.
That is just what I need. I guess while I am at it I should try and create that acceleration magic also. I recreate the scene in my head of the charging beefalo and how they sped up, but I add a twist. I imagine myself also glowing orange but with yellow highlights and moving even faster than the charging beefalo in my image. I then bring orange wind and yellow lightning mana towards the image.
You have created the spell Lightning Steps.
Inspect Lightning Steps.
Lightning Steps: A spell that increases the targets speed and agility allowing for amazingly quick movement. Speed is increased 50% for each level of the spell that is mastered. Spell lasts for 10 minutes per spell level.
I feel like this spell is better than regular acceleration. It uses a fusion of lightning and wind mana and 50% is a very large increase. By the time I am done maxing it out at level ten, that would mean an increase of 500% to my base speed for 100 minutes. Let¡¯s see that means if I run at a speed of 5 km/hr to start with and then caste Lightning Steps on myself I would be running 25 km/hr instead of 5. It even lasts for 100 minutes at that point. No battle lasts that long so this spell would allow me to dominate in speed across all types of situations. I cast regeneration on myself using almost ? of my MP, then hobble around and cook some dinner then head straight to bed. Healing while asleep will be the easiest.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it In the morning I feel much better and look down to check and make sure everything is where it should be. Yep, I have all four legs back. That still sounds weird to me even though I have been in this body for some time now. It is hard to get over a lifetime of habits from Earth. I teleport back to the pits from the day before and start traveling south. Today is the day I am going to make it into the mountains. I can feel it. No more distracting things need to be done, I have food, I have magic, and I am close. Nothing can stop me now. After three hours of travel I have definitely reached the foot hills of the mountain range. The grass is under a meter, shrubs and even small trees are becoming a common sight. I should point out that when I say small trees I mean normal sized ones for Earth, but tiny compared to the jungle/forest I just came from. I have traveled about 50 kilometers in the last few hours. The greatest thing about my speed is that it is not my top speed. I have to travel at around what I would call 75% of my top speed so I can process everything, inspect and observe my surroundings to be safe. I wish I had this kind of speed and stamina back on Earth. I decide to stop for lunch and make a quick decision on which way to go next. I have reached the start of my goal but now do I head towards the volcanoes or towards the non-smoking peaks. The regular mountains have a higher chance of something building a civilization in them so towards the volcanoes it is. After my decision I veer a little south west in my travel direction. In less than four hours I am at the base of the first smoking volcano. Now all I need to do is find my new temporary camp, and survey the area. I have maybe two hours of daylight left, and while I can see in the dark with my infrared mana sight, I still have the habit of doing things in the light and sleeping in the dark. The area around me is a mix of grasses, shrubs, patches of trees, and bare rock from past lava flows. There has to be a cave or something I can use in the area as a base. I better get searching. Another hour goes by during the search and nothing really stands out to me as being a good place to make my new home. I wish I could just alter one of these smaller caves like I did the tree back in the forest. Wait, what was that last thought? Alter the cave, stupid Mark. Again caught in the mentality of someone from Earth has slowed things down. I have elemental shaping. I CAN alter a cave to suit my needs. Man I could have been working on so many other things if I had just remembered this earlier. I quickly move back to the best small cave I remember. It is near a little creek, and is hidden back in a side canyon on the west side of the mountain. There is a small copse of trees and a meadow so I should be able to find resources and food nearby. The next few hours are spent changing the cave to suit my needs and creating a door to keep things out. I expanded on the tree house idea and went with a long corridor back into the side of the mountain with a large room at the end. On each side of the corridor are two rooms for storage and experiments, bringing the total area up to 5 rooms. I went and knocked down a tree as base material and plant shaped a door to fit the front of the cave. The longest part of the whole build was using my elemental shaping to create hinges to hold the door. Moving large amounts of material is easy, fine delicate work takes a lot of concentration and effort. I finally have a serviceable base in the mountains. It may even be more secure than my tree house. Only time will tell. One of my final tasks is going to be to create some light. I could use torches, but those have to be replaced often and don¡¯t give off very good light. I want the light to be able to work on a couple of projects I have been thinking about. First off is weapon manufacture. I only have magic and my scythes for up close fighting. I think having some more options will keep me safer and hopefully let me blend in better. The other big one is tanning and leatherwork. I need to figure out crude clothes. I realized in my brief time as a grass goblin that I was luck goblins are primitive, because when I change into a new body, I am completely naked. It would be hard to blend in to a society if I approach a village in nothing but my birthday suit. So first things first, I need light. I imagine a regular stone and then myself casting magic on it causing it to glow brightly. I particularly bring to mind that the glow lasts for several day and night cycles before finally losing its glow. I carefully brink some pink creation and white light mana towards my mental construct and am rewarded with the notification I was hoping for.
You have created the spell Glow.
Inspect Glow.
Glow: This spell when cast on an inorganic substance causes it to glow with a bright light that last 1 hour X the level of the caster.
That should work just fine. With my current level of 67 that means each one will last for almost three days before I have to re-cast the spell. I go around my little cave and make some alcoves with elemental shaping and then use my new glow spell on some rocks and place them up in the alcoves. I look around and decide that tomorrow I will explore and then make furniture. I need to know what is around the area and I have to find a new place to level up. Everything I inspected on my way here slowly increased in level, and I know that definitely missed inspecting a lot of things. I saw giant versions of badgers, deer, and what looked like either a huge turtle or one of those armored dinosaurs you always see in a museum. The highest level belonged to a wandering Spotted Cave Bear. It registered as a whopping level 112. I avoided it and made a large detour when I saw its level. That may be my end goal animal for this area. Most of the rest were levels 60+. I do want to actually explore up the volcano tomorrow and see if there are anything like fire aligned animals or monsters like in stories from Earth. If they exist I assume they would be in a place where there is a lot of heat like a volcano. I guess I will find out in the morning. 27 - Mysterious Cave Chapter 27 Mysterious Cave When I woke up I went through my normal morning routine. After breakfast I decided to work on the boring stuff like furniture first. I left the cave and hauled back the rest of the tree I knocked over the day before and stored it in one room. That will give me plenty of wood to use in weapon creation and for building furniture. I next went around and created several tables and shelves out of the rock of the cave and emptied part of my inventory to store it here and free up some space. Finally, I wanted something to rest on. Sleeping standing up was getting old. Laying down was possible, but awkward with my mantis and now Elemental Thri-Keen body. I was thinking I could create a long raised surface, like a couch without a back, and then cover it in furs so I could at least straddle it and then lower myself and rest on something soft. It would serve as both a chair and a bed as bending over completely was rather difficult in this body. I went ahead and created the parts I could out of stone. The furs would have to come later. Now that I had finished what I would call my chores, it is time to go out and explore the area. I decide that even though I want to know what is at the top of the volcano, the best way and most systematic way of checking the area will be a spiral pattern. I will travel around the base of the volcano and then slowly spiral my way up. Each turn around the volcano should go quicker as the distance needed travel will be shortened. I start out going east and plan to make it back to my new cave hide out by the end of the day. Several hours later I am cooking lunch and I realize that this might take longer than I thought. I do move faster than I used to, but this volcano is also deceptively large. I would guess that I am only ? of the way around the base right now. I should probably reach just past the half way point before I need to teleport back to my hide out for the night. My prediction turned out to be fairly accurate. I was almost to the halfway point, or at least what I felt would be halfway based on the suns movement, when I ran into a distraction. The rest of the day had just been me mapping the area and discovering new and interesting creatures I could battle and level up with. Nothing really more powerful than the bear from yesterday and the general level was staying consistent between 65 and 75. The distraction I ran into was an opening in the side of the volcano. It was not a regular cave, but rather had the look of something that had been worked with tools or magic. The strange thing was that there was no road or even a trail that led to it. So why would someone take the time to create or work on this cave and not even work on a way to get to it easier? This was not making much sense. I spent the next 30 minutes traveling all around the area of the cave and keeping it under observation. This cave was a mystery and I was going to solve it, especially as it was rather close to my new home base. After an hour I still saw no movement and spotted nothing suspicious. I was running out of daylight though. I decided to retreat away from the cave and memorize a spot to teleport back here tomorrow. I should wait to explore when I am fresh and have most of the day in front of me. Deciding this was the best option. I moved back about 500 meters from where I was observing the cave and memorized the spot I was in. Then it was a quick teleportation back into my mountain stronghold and dinner. I needed to sleep and then I could continue investigating that mysterious cave tomorrow. I wake up earlier than usual and go ahead and roast some meat for breakfast. You know my monotonous diet of meat, meat, and more meat might keep me alive, but it is getting rather boring. I should add looking and inspecting plants for edibles to my list of things to do when I am exploring. I generally ignore the plants unless they look dangerous. This might have been a mistake. Who knows what I may have passed up. I am pretty excited to explore what I think must be an old abandoned mine or something. Not for what I might find, but more for the insights it might give me towards technology levels and possibly habits of the natives of this new planet of mine. After breakfast and cleanup I teleport back to the area of the mysterious cave. I quickly travel over to my observation spot from the day before. Just to be safe I spend another 30 minutes watching the area and checking that nothing has changed since yesterday. Nope everything looks the same. I carefully make my way closer to the cave and as I get closer I notice something in front of and slightly to one side of the cave. Is that a sign? It is a sign. I hurry forward to see what it says. Welcome to Fire Bat Cave. This dungeon is rated 3 out of 10 by the dungeon guild. Stay safe. Interesting. The primary thing that sticks in my mind for some reason is thank goodness the language granting magic or system included reading and writing. I clearly recognize the sign is written in the common language. That is one thing I do not have to worry about later. I should be able to read and understand everything in any town I manage to go to. This cave though is definitely not an abandoned mine it is a DUNGEON. Whoa inner nerd settle down, this world has magic of course the possibility of dungeons exist. Ok, Mark what have you learned from this sign? Number one there seems to be a dungeon guild in this world. Number two they have a rating system for the difficulty of dungeons. I won¡¯t know how powerful a 3 out of 10 is until I explore it though. Finally, the name Fire Bat Cave implies that there are flying rodents of death that shoot fire living inside this thing. If you cannot tell I am not a fan of bats. Yes they are useful, yes they are necessary for a healthy ecosystem, no I don¡¯t ever want to actually cross paths with them.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. This is too good of an opportunity to pass up due to a minor phobia though. I am going to have to enter this dungeon, just to gather information if nothing else. I enchant several stones with my new glow spell in case it is needed and put them into my inventory. I let my mana regenerate and then cast Infrared Mana Sight on myself and enter into my first dungeon. I carefully make my way down a tunnel that is slightly inclined for about 50 meters and suddenly I start to hear noises. The noises are coming from up ahead from an area that is glowing slightly in my vision. Glowing vision equals body heat from monsters or other foes. I double my caution and halve my pace and slowly slink forward and peer into a cavern that opens up at the end of the tunnel. Ahead of me is a very large cave. I would guess the dimensions to be about 100 meters wide and 250 meters long and nearly 25 meters high. I guess that cave has to be big to hold the fluttering GIANT FIRE BATS I see moving around. Strangely enough the thought that they are gigantic actually helps calm me down. If it is big, it can¡¯t hide, and if it can¡¯t hide than I can either kill it or avoid it. I start to calm back down. I better check on it to see level wise if I should even be here. Inspect.
Giant Fire Bat Level: 75 Magic: Fire Breath
Definitely smaller want to be dragons. I realize that while these things may be higher level than me, I can probably take them with my magic as long as they don¡¯t swarm me. So my options are to sneak around and try to pick off stragglers quickly or to come up with some type of trap that will either seriously wound or kill the little buggers. I have had pretty good success with traps so far and I am not confident in my stealth abilities, so trap making it is. Now how can I make something that will damage a flying target. Maybe a combination of trap and magic would work. I need to experiment a little before doing this. I retreat back down the corridor quietly as to not disturb the bats. Outside of the cave I ponder what to do. What things hit at a distance. Throwing stuff, arrows, spells and guns. We don¡¯t have guns in this world, or at least I don¡¯t think so, but what if I make something that performs the same function. When you fight or kill flying things on Earth you use a shotgun. It throws out a pattern of metal shot so there is a greater likelihood of hitting the target or multiple targets. Could I create something similar with magic? I bet I could. However, would one shotgun spell really do me any good? I mean there are several of those things flying around and if I hit and knock down 2 or 3 I could still be swarmed by the others. So it either needs to be automatic with multiple uses or operated from a distance, maybe even both. I wonder if I could program something with conditions using magic. Maybe where it would go off if something approached it or stepped on it. Well there is only one way to find out, and that is to try. Now what should I imagine to get this to work. I first think of a shotgun with pellets of magic force coming out of the end of it. I bring some pink creation mana, a little of brown earth for the pellets, and then finally a little air to propel it, and nothing. Ok that was a spectacular failure. Think Mark, what went wrong. When I was trying to combine the mana with the image it felt like it would never work. Several times with my experiments like this I at least felt that with a slight change something would work. With this attempt nothing, so that probably means I am going about this wrong. Scrap the whole idea and come up with another one. How about I try the trap that sense things. This time I imagine myself pouring mana into a handful of large pebbles, then I add the image of me scattering them on the ground. I imagine time passing and then something comes within 5 meters of the stones and suddenly they accelerate and launch themselves at the intruder. I cycle this image several times emphasizing the sensing ability and then the retaliation. Once again I bring a combination of creation, earth, and wind mana together and this time I am rewarded with a new spell.
You have created the spell Landmine.
Inspect Landmine.
Landmine: This spell when cast on small stones allows the stones to accelerate at a great speed towards any living organism that comes with 1 meter X the level of the spell. The spell costs 100 MP for each hour of operation per stone.
It seems to fulfill my requirements. The range is short, but will get better as the spell is used and levels up. However, the cost of the thing is horrendous in terms of MP. I mean ten pebbles set as a trap or as a ward around a camp would cost 1,000 MP for each our I wanted it to operate. I would need 8,000 mana just for them to work overnight as a defensive measure when camping. I don¡¯t have 8,000 MP. This is a potentially very useful spell, but it seems destined to only be used at higher levels. I am going to try again. Alright one more time. Maybe the problem with the first attempt was that I was imagining a device from Earth, and further more a device that I did not even have. Ok then this time picture a bunch of small mana force darts coming out your fist Mark. The darts can be of lightning, destruction, earth, ice, or fire. I focus on both quantity and quality. Imagine them almost shooting out from the fist in a cone. Hold that thought and bring in pink creation mana, with orange wind mana to power the darts, then add some of each of the elements I imagine being darts and success.
You have created the spell Scattershot.
Inspect Scattershot.
Scattershot: This spell when cast shoots 10 small bolts of mana of either the lightning, destruction, earth, ice, or fire varieties. Each dart does low damage, but the damage increases by 5% for each dart that hits a target. Distance of the spell is ? of the casters level in meters. The bonus damage will increase 1% for each level of the spell until level 10 maximum is reached.
That spell is much more immediately useful. It should operate like a crude shotgun, has bonus damage and the best part is with voiceless casting I can use both hands and thus up the amount of darts to 20. The scaling bonus damage is quite nice also. Basically if all ten darts hit the target they will do an extra 50% of damage. At max level they would cause and extra 150% damage above their normal value. I can live with this spell. I think I should go and try it out on those bats. 28 - Dungeon Dive Chapter 28 Dungeon Dive I re-enter the dungeon and sneak back towards the first cavern. I quickly count the bats fluttering around or resting and come up with 15. 15 level 75 bats, either this new spell is going to work brilliantly or I am going to get killed. I suddenly moved forward and gathered one scattershot spell in each hand. Here goes nothing. I decide to use ice as the choice, because I was sure that the opposite of the Fire Bat would be ice. I take aim at the flying horrors and let loose. I have never been so happy to hear screams of pain before. I am not psychotic by any means, but the sounds of pain mean that those flying demons were hurt. I can see several of them have crashed in to the ground and the rest have now spotted me. I call up another scattershot in each hand and wait for them to get just a little closer as I want to maximize damage. I let fly with this second round and now 12 out of the 15 bats are on the floor stunned. I run forward to escape from their diving attack and turn around as quick as possible. Two more spells, this time split between the last three flying bats and the ones on the ground. After I had grounded all of the bats the rest was just clean up. They had a very hard time maneuvering on the ground. Once I had taken away their flight ability through tearing up their wings with scattershot the threat they posed to me was minimal. Instead of level 75 flying horrors they became level 75 crawling experience. I have to say this new spell worked great. I am also starting to really like the use of spears. I don¡¯t have to get as close to finish off enemies as I do with my personal scythes and that is a good thing. I need to remember to see if I can pick up a skill related to spears when I finally discover and travel into a group of people. Ten minutes later it was all over except for any gamers favorite part checking for loot. I carefully search through the bodies and am stumped. Nothing, I found nothing. No dropped weapons, no coins, no potions. What the heck is going on? I am in my first dungeon and there is no loot. Maybe the bodies are actually what is valuable? How would I even find out though? I do not want to lug around a ton of carcasses in my inventory just on the off chance I may be able to sell them someday. I am not proud of what I did next, but since at the end it worked out in my favor I am okay with it. I may have gotten a little upset and started chopping up one of the fire bats while muttering bad things about its mother and how stupid it was. This only lasted a few seconds though, because when I slashed open its chest I saw a glow from the area I would associate with the heart. What is that? I now carefully finish cutting open the carcass of the fire bat and pull out a round crystal about the size of a large grape. Inspect.
Fire Core from a level 75 Giant Fire Bat.
Well that doesn¡¯t help much. Inspect Fire Core.
Fire Cores are concentrated forms of fire mana that can be used to power enchantments or used to increase mana recovery time for fire mages.
There it is. I have found my loot. These cores are not present in regular monsters outside of dungeons. I would have seen them before if they were. That means this must be why there is a dungeon guild. You wouldn¡¯t form an organization if there was no benefit from it. So these cores, and I assume that there is a type of core for each type of mana, must be valuable. That might also explain why no one is here at this dungeon. There could be a better source of fire cores closer to whatever the nearest town is. Well this dungeon is where I am, and is perfect for my needs. I can stay at my cave hideout and farm this dungeon for fire cores and level up at the same time. When I am done I can then decide if I am ready to go and meet the locals. I can pretend to be a wandering adventurer who wants to join the guild and then boom, instant legitimacy when I start sell cores. I like this plan. Before I implement it, I should probably finish off this dungeon. I quickly cut open the rest of the Fire Bats and retrieve their cores for future use and or selling. Now to move on. After searching around I find that there are two different exits besides the one I came in from that leave this cavern. I decide to go left and cautiously make my way down another corridor. Soon enough I come to another cavern that looks very similar to the first. I scan it and see a new creature. Inspect.
Fire Salamander Level 80 Magic: Fire BreathUnauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Ok, I think I will set up ten landmines for 1 hour with a thousand mana. I will then stop and rest for 45 minutes to recover some of that mana then start the show. I do just that and after around 45 minutes I throw the ten pebbles into a group of Fire Salamanders. As soon as they get within a meter of one of the salamanders they accelerate and punch bloody holes into their hides. I lob two ice orbs to further confuse the salamanders and then start approaching. When I get nearer I use ice scattershot repeatedly. The salamanders are finally recognizing that the pain they are experiencing is my fault and start to charge in my direction. Or at least some of them are. Others are just writhing in pain and snapping at anything that gets close including other salamanders. The confusion is just working towards me being able to defeat them faster. The first one to arrive near me impales itself on my spear. The second is far enough behind that I can call up two more scattershots and I aim one at the almost dead impaled salamander and the approaching one. The nearest salamander drops dead when hit and the still charging one veers off to the side. It looks like I may have damaged its sight with that last scattershot. I take a quick moment to scan the battlefield now that I am temporarily clear of anything trying to kill me. There are only five living salamanders left. Three salamanders are heavily wounded including the one I just scattershot. The other two have been seriously wounded by other salamanders in the fighting frenzy and the final two are only slightly injured. I pull my spear out of the dead salamander close to me and throw it with my full strength at the closest injured salamander. That should keep that one out of the fight if not killing it all together. I then toss two more ice orbs into the remaining 4 salamanders and manage to hit three of them. The two heavily wounded ones charge me, but are not moving very fast. What is worrying is that the other two are also approaching, but they are not charging. It seems they are being cautious which implies that the fight against them will be much harder. I am able to launch two scattershots at each incoming wounded salamander and they drop down dead before reaching me. Now how to deal with the last two? They are maintaining a greater distance and starting to circle me. Probably hoping to see an opening so they can charge in. I decide to provoke them, or at least one of them, and fire off two Improved Ice Spikes at the one on the right. The hit and explosion finally force it to lose its sense of hesitancy and it starts to charge. I turn to focus on it and see out of the corner of my eye the second salamander start to charge as soon as I stop focusing on it. So they can use basic tactics, interesting. I call up two more ice spikes and launch one towards each target. I then countercharge the salamander that has been hit with three spells. It is furious and mad foes are foes that are distracted. I dodge to the left and rake my arm scythe down the side of charging salamander causing it more pain and damage. I spin around quick and use the body of the salamander I just attacked to block the other charging salamander. These salamanders do not seem to care about cooperation or helping each other. The incoming one just knocks into the now heavily wounded one almost as if it was trying to knock it over on top of me. I backpedal and launch another ice spike at the wounded one and a second spike at the one who crashed into it. It looks like the victim of the charging attack is stunned or dying so I can wright it off the list. I focus on my last foe and bring out the Mace of Force I got from the goblin chief and wield it in my right hand while keeping my scythe out on my left. Next I cast lightning steps on myself and the rest is history. With the spell I was so much faster and agile than the salamander that its attacks never came close. I did not even have to trigger the special ability of the Mace of Force. Once this final salamander goes down for the count I retrieve my spear and cautiously go around stabbing the bodies to make sure nobody is faking death. Nope they are all dead. I quickly get down to the business of cutting the salamanders open and retrieving their fire mana cores. There were only 11 salamanders so my grand total is 26 fire cores once I am done. I sit down and rest to recover my MP and get ready to move on. Only when I have recovered to my maximum will I continue. I take out some meat and start to roast it. After a quick little lunch, it is time to move on. I spent the next four hours basically repeating what I had done before. Each cavern I came to had two exits. On exit led to fire bats and one exit led to fire salamanders. It was a copy repeat kind of operation. The only thing that was different was the number of each creature in the cavern. There was no mixing of the two. It seemed the set up was truly random. I could go left four times and get 3 caverns of bats and 1 salamander, or 2 salamanders and 2 bats. It was a giant maze that seemed without end. I even went back several caverns and took different routes to check. The space that I was traversing did not match the size of the mountain either. I should have long ago run into the other side of the volcano. Dungeons must have some sort of spatial magic or exist in a separate dimension or something. I really did not have time to investigate this at the moment. After a really long time I saw what was perhaps the first difference in a cavern after several hours. This cavern had three exits. After harvesting the bats in this cavern I decided to go left, more salamanders. I killed them and back tracked. Next I tried right, fire bats. A short battle later I backed up again and finally took the center exit. This time I saw something new. Inspect.
Fire Drake Level 120 Magic: Fire Breath/Boost
Only one creature in this cavern, and it is a minor dragon called a fire drake. I can see a large door behind it. It seems to be guarding that door. Interesting, I wonder if I can use that against it. I have spells that can reach it from the entrance to the cavern. Could I just pepper it with ice spells from far away until it dies, or will it leave its protective posture and chase after me. I think I am about to find out. 29 - Dungeon Boss Chapter 29 Dungeon Boss I retreat back into tunnel I came from and sit down to rest. I want to make sure that I am at my best before tackling this final monster. Or at least I think it is the dungeon boss. I start reviewing my plan. Stand in opening to the cavern, launch two ice spikes, see how the drake reacts. If the drake stays in place to defend the door, then I will just keep throwing ice spikes at it until it dies. If it charges me than I will retreat while still shooting spells at it. I should place some landmines in front of me just in case it does chase after me. That should slow it down and allow me a little more distance and time to shoot spells at it. I like that idea so I pick up ten pebbles and cast landmine on them for 3 hours and set them to the side. I waited an hour and then cast landmine on another set of 10 pebbles for 2 hours and set them to the other side. After another hour of rest, I felt ready. I picked up a set of landmine pebbles with each hand and traveled back towards the opening of the drake cavern. I slowed down and snuck up to the entrance of the cavern as quietly as possible and peered in. Good, the drake had not moved at all. I threw out the first batch of pebbles in a fan shaped pattern about 10 meters out. The second batch in the same manner, just 5 meters out. The drake had obviously heard the clatter of the stones striking each other as I saw its head pop up and turn toward the entrance I was at. Too late buddy I am ready. I create an ice spike in each hand and start my barrage. The first two spikes hit and cause damage, making the drake roar in either pain or fury. It still has not moved. I launch another round of spikes. Two more hits and more roaring. Still no reaction other than shifting in place. I guess it is tied to the area. I conjure up another two spikes but right before I am about to throw them the drake breathes fire in my direction. Wow, that is coming fast, it must be using its boost ability. I just randomly toss out the ice spikes I had ready and then turn around and run. I think I finally ticked it off enough that it is ignoring its duty to defend the door. I don¡¯t know whether to be proud of my accomplishment or horrified that I have a mini dragon chasing me. I manage about 20 meters of running when I hear the whistle of the landmine pebbles accelerating and then another scream of pain from the Fire Drake. I look over my shoulder and see the fire drake skid and crash into the wall and slump down. Did I kill it? Inspect.
Fire Drake (Unconscious) Level: 120 Magic: Fire Breath/Boost
It knocked itself unconscious? I stop my flight and turn around. I cannot give up this chance. I rush back towards the drake before it regains consciousness. I reach the fire drake and I have to make a quick decision. What is going to be the most efficient way of ending this fight. I cautiously reach out and touch its neck. The scales look smaller and less hard. If I put my full strength behind it, I might be able to cut its throat. If I can¡¯t though I would be in a bad position. The drake is starting to twitch. It looks like it is about wake up. I decide the most vulnerable thing is its eyes. I quickly climb up onto its neck and then with as much force as possible plunge both my arm scythes into the drake¡¯s eyes. My scythes plunge into its eyes about 10 centimeters and then grind on the bone of the eye sockets. Well I succeeded in both blinding the drake and rousing it from unconsciousness. It is thrashing about in pain, but that is why I climbed onto its neck to hold it down and stay out of the way of its teeth and claws. I withdraw my scythes from the eyes and try to stab its throat. My scythes dig in but do not go very deep. I am glad I decided to go with the eyes earlier. I have one more idea. I call up an ice orb in each hand and when it open its mouth to roar again I shove both orbs into its mouth and release them. This causes the Fire Drake to go into death spasms which throw me off the back of its neck and I crash hard into the ceiling, and then hit the floor. That hurt, a lot. However, it seems that it was effective. After a few more violent spasms the fire drake stops moving. Best to be careful. Inspect.
Carcass of Fire Drake Level: 120 Magic: Fire Breath/Boost
Yay, I actually won. Even sarcasm hurts right now. I cast light heal and regeneration on myself and just chill. The battle only took like two minutes, but I am mentally exhausted and banged up from the last throw the fire drake gave me. It went better than I expected. What I did definitely would not have worked outside of a dungeon. The poor fire drake seemed tied to that door until it finally went into a frenzy and charged. I did more than half my damage to it before it even moved. Note to self, better escape plans when forming attack strategies would probably equal less pain for me. Always try and leave a way out. After a few light heals, one regeneration, and about an hour and a half of rest I feel ready to see what is behind the door that the Fire Drake was guarding. First though I cut into the fire drake and retrieve its fire core. It seems larger or of a better quality than the fire cores I was retrieving from the salamanders and Fire Bats. I wonder if it was beyond level 100. Maybe higher levels give better quality cores. I am going to have to figure that out before I try and sell them. I might get different prices for different levels of cores. I also cut up and claim as much of the fire drake carcass as possible.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. This thing is a little big to go into my inventory. I mean I think I could fit the whole thing, but it would end up eating just about every one of my last spaces in there leaving no room for anything else. So I gut it, and get rid of the offal which is about ? to 1/3 of the weight, just keeping the liver and the heart as I remember in stories that they might be valuable and then store the rest. That leaves me with 15 spaces left which would equate to, well I am not sure. Let¡¯s see my strength was at 60 last time I checked and I get 50kg every 5 strength so each slot can hold 600kg. Is that right? I should have just stored the whole carcass then. Ok no more worries about storage until I cannot hold anything else. Then I can make decisions if I need to get rid of anything. I approach the door and take a good look at it. It is about 3 meters high and about 4 meters across, split down the middle to make it a double door. It looks to be made of wood with iron bands reinforcing it across several areas. It definitely looks intimidating. A right proper dungeon door. I hope it has some awesome reward behind it. Just to be careful I call up a single Ice Spike in my right hand and try and push the door open with my left. It swings open surprisingly easy. I peer inside and see nothing ominous so I toss the spike behind me and fully open the door. Inside I see three treasure chests and a platform with runes inscribed on it. Nothing else seems to be in room. Ok, going out on a limb here, but the treasure chests are probably the reward for conquering the dungeon and the platform is a shortcut back to the surface. I decide to check out the treasure chests first for two reasons. First is that they are TREASURE CHESTS. Come on who has never wanted to find actual treasure in a real treasure chest. Second, I do not know if the platform is automatic. It would be terrible if I stepped on it and was transported away before I got my reward. I walk over to the treasure chests and am surprised when words appear in the air above them when I get within 2 meters. ¡°Dungeon Cleared, 1 chest rewarded. First time cleared, 1 chest rewarded. Solo clear, 1 chest rewarded. Please choose you chests.¡± Interesting, it looks like normally I would only get a single chest reward if I conquered this with a dungeon group. Then we would all have to split the reward. I wonder if that means most people work alone, or if dungeon groups are still a thing. I guess I will find out sooner or later. Each chest is labeled. The first chest has wealth written on it in gold letters. The second has strength in red letters, while the final chest has knowledge written on it in white letters. So I would normally have to choose between wealth, strength, or knowledge. Luckily I have satisfied the requirements to have all three so I will know what each of those means. I open one chest after another and take a look inside. Inside the wealth chest are several coins and a few gems. Nothing really surprising, I quickly pick them up and store them in my inventory. The strength chest has a hammer in it that has glowing script that seems to move all along the shaft and metal head of the hammer. Ok, this is probably a magic weapon. I giggle in joy just a little bit. I have not only conquered a dungeon and gotten treasure from a chest, but I now have a magic weapon. I mean I already had the mace of force, but this actually looks like a magic weapon straight from a story book. I quickly use Inspect.
Hammer of Smiting Magic Weapon
Inspect Hammer of Smiting.
Hammer of Smiting: This hammer does an extra 50% damage to all fire based creatures.
Alright that sort of makes sense. The reward for finishing a fire based dungeon is a weapon that helps against fire creatures. Still this is awesome. I will call your Hammy and you will be my new best friend. Hmm, maybe I do need to get to a town soon and have interactions with real people if I am naming and caressing weapons. Nope, a hammer like this would never betray me so it is worthy of being my new best friend. Finally, I take a look into the last chest. Books, it holds three books. What kind of award is books? Don¡¯t get me wrong, I love reading. In fact, I have been missing having something to read before going to sleep at night a lot. However, books don¡¯t seem very dungeon rewardish. I take the books out of the chest and read the titles of each. The first is called ¡°Five Common Fire Spells¡±, the next is titled ¡°Three Advanced Fire Spells¡±, and the final book is titled ¡°Profession Reset¡±. Ok, now I get it. This must be one of the ways that magic users who do not have the sorcerer profession can get new spells. Over time the collections must grow and be handed down to new students or apprentices. I wonder if the spells always stay the same or if they change each time you select the knowledge chest in a dungeon? I guess since I am going to be using this dungeon to train I will find out. I open the ¡°Five Common Fire Spells¡± book and hear a voice in my head. ¡°The book will be consumed after use. Your primary profession of Sorcerer means that any spell learned and not created will operate at only 50% efficiency. Do you wish to learn the spells? Y/N.¡± I quickly think NO in my head. What a waste. I guess I can just sell it when I reach a town. The horrible part is I still don¡¯t know what the spells were. I was at least going to use it to compare to mine, but I don¡¯t want to waste it like that. I guess I can just quiz somebody eventually. The last book ¡°Profession Reset¡± seems pretty obvious. If I use it, I will probably have the choice of changing my profession. My only question is can I use it to switch to any profession or does it have some sort of fire based professions I would have to choose from. I like being a Sorcerer, I am not going to risk losing it and receiving something worse in trade. I will save this one also and see if there is a market for these types of books in whatever town I eventually end up in. Well enough is enough, time to see what the platform does. 30 - Choices and Grinding Chapter 30 Choices and Grinding I head over to the platform and gingerly step up. A voice once again booms into my head, ¡°Would you like to head back to the entrance or take the FINAL CHALLENGE of the dungeon?¡± Um, I would like to go back to the entrance I think very hard. The world shimmers and I find myself back at the beginning corridor of the dungeon. Man I am glad that worked. Finding my way back through the maze of caverns would have taken forever. I decided that with as close as I came to dying with the Fire Drake I am definitely NOT ready to take on some final challenge. I think I will set it as my final goal before moving on. I try casting teleport to go back to my cave house and find out that it does not work. Don¡¯t panic Mark, there must be a logical explanation. I look around and realize that I am still technically inside the dungeon. Maybe I have to be outside of its influence to teleport. I quickly walk outside and try teleporting once again. It worked, I am back in my cave house. I am going to eat and then get some rest. I can review everything in the morning and then make some decisions. After a good night¡¯s rest, I have some breakfast and mull over what I want to accomplish. I need to continue to get stronger, I need to make contact with a sapient species soon to gather information and perhaps equip myself better, and finally I would like to learn a second profession. My second profession needs to be helpful, but not necessarily in a way that makes me stronger as a fighter or sorcerer. A supplemental class like alchemist or enchanter would be great. Those would both definitely help me inside and outside of combat. I want to avoid fighter professions as I do not think they would compliment the current profession of sorcerer that I already have. The only exception to that I think would be some type of ranger or scout. I think that would give me some basic skills I need to survive and thrive in this world and compliment my loner lifestyle and sorcerer profession quite well. Long term payoff professions like farmer I would need to skip. I do not think that I will actually be in an area long enough for professions like that to work with me. However, tanning, woodworking, or blacksmithing have potential as good crafting secondary professions. That is for the future though. I need to concentrate on the now. Now is about grinding this dungeon for experience and loot. After I feel confident in my growth I can head to the final challenge to see if I have improved. I teleport to outside the dungeon. Hmm, I just had a thought. On the off chance someone else visits this dungeon I should probably not teleport straight to the entrance in the future. I search around for about ten minutes and find a nice hidden spot that overlooks the dungeon entrance. This will be my future teleport area. I should be able to teleport here safely and check and see if anyone else is at the dungeon. Each day when I come out of the dungeon I can leave something around the entrance like fresh dirt so I can look for footprints or other signs that someone else has arrived. Liking this idea a lot, I go ahead and enter the dungeon once again. Many twists and turns, a few heal spells and a few new methods tried out and I find myself in the treasure room once again. As I approach them I once again hear a voice in my head, but the message has changed slightly. ¡°Dungeon Cleared, 1 chest rewarded. Solo clear, 1 chest rewarded. Please choose you chests.¡± I did not get the first time clearing third chest bonus. The same three chests are present and I choose the wealth and strength chests time. I open the wealth chest and see the same amount of coinage and gems as yesterday. Okay that did not change, good to know. I open up the strength chest and see not another hammer, but rather a dagger and a red potion. Curious I inspect both.
Dagger of Flame Magic Weapon
Inspect Dagger of Flame.
Dagger of Flame: This dagger does an extra 25% damage to all creatures with a resistance to fire of 50% or less.
Potion of Fire Resistance Potion
Inspect Potion of Fire Resistance.
Potion of Fire Resistance: This potion temporarily raises a person¡¯s fire resistance by 25%. This resistance can only be stacked twice.
So the strength chest changes its reward. The dagger is not bad, just not useful in this dungeon. The potion would be immediately useful, especially since I could use two of them and have 50% resistance to fire. I am not going to just because I believe that not getting hit is more important than being able to take a hit. However, it could prove useful in the future, either to myself or as something to trade with. I think that tomorrow I will pick the same two chests until either the weapon repeats or I have a huge collection of different weapons. At that time I can experiment with the knowledge chest and see if the books inside change. I wonder what would happen if I actually tried to open the third chest? Would it just be empty? Now that I have thought about it I can no longer contain my curiosity. I try and open the third chest knowledge and receive a large shock that knock me down. Alright, there is a system in place to punish those that are greedy. Not going to do that again, it really hurt. I step onto the platform and choose once again to be teleported back to the start of the dungeon. I head out of the dungeon and remember to use elemental shaping to make a nice smooth dusty are in front of the dungeon so I can check for footprints in the morning. Then it was a quick teleport back to the home cave, dinner, and then I was ready to turn in for the night. This pattern repeated for the next week. The strength chest held only five different weapons and two different potions. I either got a dagger and a potion, a bundle of arrows and a potion, or a hammer, sword, or bow. The arrows added 10% damage to creatures with less than 50% resistance, the sword was a repeat of the hammers enchantment, just on a different weapon. The bow was a repeat of the daggers enchantment. That did mean if I used the bow of flame with the arrows of flame, I could potentially add 35% fire damage to the target as they seemed to be stackable. I decided that tomorrow I would take the wealth and knowledge chest and then check on my status. I had been holding back on checking so I could accumulate my rewards and see a good change instead of seeing miniscule amounts.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! The next day after finishing up my dungeon run I took my coins and gems and then looked at the knowledge chest. I went over and opened it up. Three books again. I pick them up and check the titles, the first is still ¡°Five Common Fire Spells¡±, the next ¡°Three Advanced Fire Spells¡± again, but the final book is different. The title of the third book this time is ¡°Beginner¡¯s Fire Resistance¡± not ¡°Profession Reset¡±. Well this is different. I open up the ¡°Beginner¡¯s Fire Resistance¡± and find a short notebook with a variety of methods to gain fire resistance and how to level it up through the beginning stage. I read through it, quite quickly as it was not very thick and it was fascinating reading. It seems that fire resistance can be gained in three primary ways. First is to be born with it. It seems that there are some being that are naturally blessed with a variety of resistances. Second is to survive a master level fire attack. If you are damaged by a master level fire spell or above and survive, then your body naturally starts to develop a resistance to the element. The last and the one that I could use is to repeatedly survive lower level fire spells. It seems that 10 advanced level fire spells will accomplish the same as one master level spell. It takes surviving 100 beginner level spells of fire to gain the same resistance. I do not know what level my fire spells are at, but I would guess my weaker spike is beginner and stronger spike is advanced. The key to getting the resistance is that you cannot be healed within 12 hours of receiving the damage. You truly have to survive to earn the resistance. I step on the platform while thinking about all this and once again select the beginning of the dungeon instead of the challenge. I am still thinking about the implications when I step outside. I am about to teleport back to the home cave when I realize that something is different. The dirt I leave outside the cave is disturbed by footprints. I quickly look around and see nothing so I cast teleport and return to my cave as quick as possible. Somebody else is at the dungeon, what am I going to do? Why am I panicking? I have done nothing wrong. It seems that I am more out of touch than I thought if the mere idea of meeting someone else gets me this anxious. Alright I can think of this after, first I need to deal with this resistance information. If I damage myself each day after doing the dungeon and then don¡¯t heal until after my first battle the next day I should reach the 12 hour condition easily. It may take a while but resistance to fire would be worth it. Come to think of it, if this is a way to get fire resistance than gaining the other resistances should be similar. I could probably handle the damage from each of my elemental spells each night and then heal up the next day if I time it right. Then it would only be 100 days to earn all the resistances. That is much better than doing one at a time. Alright I am going to do it. I need to get this done quick and bear with the pain. My weakest fire spike, aim at leg and release, and dang it that hurt. Quick use a weak ice spike and then target the same area and more pain, but at least the area is numb now. Before the pain gets worse, weak stone spike, OUCH, then lastly a quick lightning spike. With the lightning spike I start twitching and actually wet myself just a little bit. Oh man I am going to have to do this for 99 more days. I hobble to my bench bed and just start resting. I hope this gets easier as time goes on. I am in too much pain to make a decision about the tracks tonight, I will deal with it in the morning. Morning comes quicker than I like. I thankfully remember everything from yesterday before I try to move. I gingerly put some weight on my spell abused leg. No pain. Good my natural healing took care of everything. I was hoping this would happen. Now all I have to remember is to not heal myself for 2-3 more hours and I should be good. Next up is to check my status so I can see my progress and then I will deal with the visitors. Status without Bonuses.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 76 Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 46 Strength: 52 (60) Agility: 50 (60) Intelligence: 55 (75) Wisdom: 50 (60) Constitution: 50 (75) Perception: 47 (55) MP: 7500 out of 7500 HP: 750 out of 750 MP/Regen: 600% per hour HP/Regen: 75% per hour Skills: 1. Inspect Level 7 ¨C 18% 2. Direction Sense Level 9 ¨C 14% 3. Multicast Level 9 ¨C 66%
Great I have improved more than I thought. I assume though that from now on I will see diminishing returns as my level has reached the lowest level of Fire Bats. I should still get some gains out of the dungeon, just not as much. It seems that each of my three skills have gone up significantly also. It makes sense, I use inspect often along with multicast. Direction sense has probably gone up from my explorations and just getting through the maze of the dungeon. Now to place my stat points. That should be a good distribution. Go ahead and check it once more and make sure of my changes. Status without Bonuses.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 76 (Transcendent) Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 6 Strength: 57 (65) Agility: 60 (70) Intelligence: 65 (85) Wisdom: 55 (65) Constitution: 60 (85) Perception: 52 (60) MP: 8500 out of 8500 HP: 850 out of 850 MP/Regen: 650% per hour HP/Regen: 85% per hour Skills: 1. Inspect Level 7 ¨C 18% 2. Direction Sense Level 9 ¨C 14% 3. Multicast Level 9 ¨C 66%
All of the sudden a voice very similar to the one that I hear in the dungeon talks to me in my mind. ¡°You have reached 50 in each stat. You have reached the Transcendent level. As a reward you are granted 5 bonus stat points.¡± I check and yep I now have 6 unassigned points instead of the one I had saved. I think I will save all six until the next time I check and assign points. Now that all of this is taken care of, what am I going to do about the tracks I saw at the dungeon. 31 - Meeting The Neighbors Chapter 31 Meeting the Neighbors First off Mark don¡¯t panic. Just because you saw footprints yesterday does not mean someone is there today. You can teleport to your hidden spot and search around the area and check out the entrance again, just to be double sure. It could have been monsters or anything, don¡¯t make hasty decisions and choices. Now that I had my brain in order I teleported to my hidden observation area outside the dungeon. I quickly took a look at the entrance and saw nothing. Ok, nerves calm down. I glance around and I see a trail of smoke a little west and south of the dungeon entrance. It looks like a fire from a camp. Now this has potential. If I approach them as a wanderer there will be less chance of them suspecting anything is wrong. Not that anything is wrong, but I am alone and a virus pretending to be an Elemental Thri-Keen. Oh no, what if they have inspect as well? Will it show my true race as Magic Chimera Virus or as an Elemental Thri-keen? Don¡¯t panic Mark. Even if they see something weird they will probably ask about it before doing anything. That just means I need to come up with a good story and background that either answers or deflects those types of questions. Ok background story, I was the only survivor of a plague when I was a child. The rest of my village died and my master found me wandering in the woods nearby. My status has said something about a virus ever since then. Ooh that sounds good, it has elements that are hard to verify, but also tugs at the heart strings. The wandering master helps out with why I am alone or do not know simple things. I have been isolated and finally sent out on a trip to gather real world experience. Yes, this story should do nicely. With my little piece of subterfuge ready I start towards the smoke trail that I see. Here goes nothing. I decide that I should actually find out who and or what the visitors to the area are before I go introducing myself. It would be rather embarrassing if it was a group of say monster orcs or ogres and not one of the organized sapient species. I stealthily climbed a tree close enough that I should be able to get a good look at the area where the smoke is coming from. Careful Mark, not so high. Remember your body has doubled in size even you can climb just as well. That would have been a bod first impression, falling out of a tree and having people come over to see what the noise was. I secure myself and take a look. I see a single campfire with several tents surrounding it. There seems to be at least a dozen people moving around. I see a couple of shorter people, what looks like two or three with animal ears and several others. That is a good sign. This means it is probably a mixed group from a city or organization. I did not see any signs of collars or chains or anything so the fear of slaves is gone. They also seem to be too well organized to be bandits, but who knows for sure. I will take the risk. I climb back down the tree and continue towards the camp. ¡°Hello the camp!¡±, I say in common. I could hear people moving around after they heard my voice. Soon enough I had a reply. ¡°Hello Stranger, approach and be recognized.¡± I walked forward, trying to seem confident without seeming overconfident. I was sure I was failing at it. Soon enough I entered the clearing that this group was camped in. I could see that the people had formed up into a loose configuration, just in case this was a trap or something. I addressed my next statements to the shorter person with a beard in front of the rest of the group. ¡°Forgive me for disturbing you, but I have been in the wilderness for some time now without any contact with others and when I saw the smoke from your campfire I came over to hopefully catch up on recent events.¡± The person in front of me, he had to be a dwarf. I mean he was about 1.3 to 1.4 meters tall, obviously fully grown with a beard down to his waist. He hit almost every fantasy stereotype of a dwarf from Earth. This person seemed to be the leader as he was the one to reply. ¡°Welcome, my name is Sven Hardright. I am the teacher of these students of Vulcan Academy. We are here to provide them with some real world experience in the local dungeon. May I inquire as to your name Thri-Keen.¡± Well first off the good news was he seemed to take me at face value. The next excellent thing was he recognized my race and did not seemed fazed by it. I replied. ¡°My name is Mark Stefanopolis. I realize that this is not a traditional Thri-Keen name, but it is what my master wanted to call me when he found me many years ago and I have gotten used to it by now. Please call me Mark.¡± For whatever reason these words seemed to relax the dwarf and he turned back towards the camp and told them to hurry up and get ready. If they wasted any more time they might not be able to make it through the dungeon today. He said that our new guest and friend would still be here when they finished and then turned around and spoke to me again. ¡°Sorry about that Mark, kids these days are overcurious, almost to the point of it being dangerous. Perhaps you can entertain me with your story while they finish cleaning up.¡± I realized that this was more than a request and decided to humor the dwarf and try to find out some information myself. I started spinning the tale that I had come up with to Sven. Survivor of a village destroyed by plague, raised by my wandering master, now out learning on my own. Now that he had my story, I decided it was time to pry some information out of him. ¡°So Sven, my master avoided towns and villages as much as he could. I do not think I have even visited one in over five years. Can you direct me to the nearest one? Now that I am learning on my own as master put it, I would like to live in or near a town for a while to have that experience.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Well lad we come from the nearest town to here. The name is Vulcanopolis. It was built by the dwarves as a trading post and interaction point on the surface many years ago. It has grown quite a bit since then and is a bustling city that thrives on commerce.¡± ¡°That sounds like just what I want to experience Sven. Is it far from here? Does it cost a lot to live there? How do people make money? Could I live there?¡± I try and overwhelm Sven with questions to act like I have never actually been to a big city and really want to experience it. It seems to work, as I can see a big smile forming on Sven¡¯s face. ¡°Slow down lad, you had a lot of questions there, let me try and get to each one. Vulcanopolis is about four days leisurely walk to the south from here. The cost of living depends on where you want to stay in the city. People make money in a variety of ways, from trades to guards, and even adventurers. Yes, you can live in the city. There is no discrimination against any type of person and as long as you have the means you can stay. Say lad, how old are you anyway?¡± ¡°Well sir, I have seen 17 winters that I can remember, but I do not know how old I actually am as I remember little from before I started living and traveling with my master. However, he said I was now old enough to make my own way in the world and he would just check up on me every now and again.¡± ¡°I see lad, that should make you between 18-21 which is above the age of independence in this kingdom. How did you come to be in this area though?¡± ¡°That¡¯s easy, master brought me to the Fire Caves dungeon to practice and then said when I felt comfortable enough I should leave it and travel to earn more experience.¡± ¡°You mean you have been going into the dungeon by yourself.¡± ¡°Sure, it is not that hard anymore. It was very difficult the first few times, but I figured out some tricks and now I can finish it every day. I have just been looking for an excuse to move on, and with your directions I now know which way to go.¡± ¡°Um, Mark if you do not mind me asking can you let me know your professions and your level.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. Do people not usually share that information?¡± ¡°It depends lad on how much you trust someone, and whether you think that they will use the information against you.¡± ¡°Well you seem like a nice enough person, my profession is Sorcerer and I am currently Level 76 Transcendent. Although the transcendent thing just happened a couple of days ago and I do not know what that means.¡± I was hoping for sympathy with my country bumpkin routine and it seems like I got that and more. ¡°Level 76 transcendent Sorcerer, you are sure about that Mark. What is your secondary profession?¡± ¡°Yes I am sure, and I have not picked one yet. Master said I should wait until I had more choices to learn.¡± ¡°Well Mark, how about this. You go through the dungeon a few more times with my group of students over the next week and then you can travel back to Vulcanopolis with us. I will show you around the town and even give you a tour of our academies campus. If you like I can even recommend a spot for you as a student. You see students can study at the academy until they are 25.¡± ¡°Sven, I don¡¯t mind leading you through the dungeon and helping out, but I am not sure about the academy. That would be a long commitment and I have never stayed anywhere that long before. I am not sure I could do it. Is there something in place where I could learn but still travel or come and go as I need too? I really do not know how I will be surrounded by so many people. I do not want to promise you something and then run away.¡± ¡°Mark that is a very mature answer. Yes, there is something in place for more advanced students, we call it independent study. To qualify for an independent study you have to reach level 50 by the age of 18 and demonstrate your ability to support yourself outside of the academy. I am pretty sure you would qualify.¡± ¡°Can I really support myself? How much would classes and room and board cost for something like that?¡± ¡°Well Mark, tuition for independent study is 500 gold coins a year. That sounds like a lot, but you can attend any class during that year to listen to any lecture and you have full use of the facilities, including training rooms and the library. You room and board as an independent would be separate. Most rent or buy a house in the city itself. A small house sells for between 250 and 1,000 gold coins dependent on the size and area. The average person can feed themselves for 50 copper to 1 silver a day depending on how much they out and how fancy they eat.¡± I quickly check my inventory. Over the last few days I have collected around 100 gold coins and probably another 25 gold in silver and copper. I also have several gems I could sell along with the fire cores and magic weapons I could sell. ¡°Well Sven, I don¡¯t have that many coins on me, but I have some things I could sell. Could you tell me if people would buy the fire cores, magic weapons, and monster parts and what they might be worth.¡± ¡°You surprise me once again Mark. The low quality core of any element that you get from monsters between levels 50-100 run between three and five gold each depending on demand and the market. Magic weapons are between five and twenty-five gold depending on the type of weapon and the enchantment. Monster parts are usually sold to alchemists and once again are highly dependent on level and quality.¡± Let¡¯s see low price 3 gold each, and I have collected around 70 each dungeon run. I have gone through 8 times, 8 times 70 is 560 cores. 560 cores at 3 gold each is 1,680 gold coins on the low side. Alright I have the necessary funds to survive in the city, and I can easily get more. One week of dungeon diving seems to equal about 1,250 to 1,500 gold coins for me. That should be enough to join the academy and live freely. ¡°Alright Sven, I accept. I am pretty sure I can come up with the necessary funds and I think joining an academy even if I do not stay could probably only help me. Please expect me to disappear occasionally for my own purposes or if I start to feel overwhelmed.¡± ¡°That sounds fair lad. I could not really ask for anything more. Now since you have local experience and seem to be stronger than my students do you mind leading us through the dungeon for the first time?¡± ¡°I do not mind at all, but am I really stronger than your students?¡± ¡°Most people around the age of 18-21 have only reached level 50-60. To reach the transcendent at your age and above level 75 is quite the achievement.¡± ¡°I did not realize that. I have only really had my master to compare myself too, and he is so far ahead of me I do not know if I will ever catch up. If you do not mind me asking Sven, what would a normal level for a teacher be?¡± ¡°Most teachers at the academy are stronger than most and have levels between 125 and 200 depending on their age and their professions. To help you understand a student can graduate the academy when they turn 25 or they reach level 75. The choice is theirs.¡± ¡°Thank you for the information. I am sure that there are a lot of details that normal people might know that I am still clueless about. Learning about them at the academy should be fun.¡± With that our little chat had finished and the rest of the group started to gather round. It was time for my first dungeon run with companions. 32 - Solo Is Much Easier Chapter 32 Solo Is Much Easier Sven called the students over and started to introduce them to me. The names flew past me without really sticking. I realized at that moment all those things about not being good in crowds I intended to be just an excuse so no one would look for me if I left suddenly. Now I am realizing that I might actually have a problem with crowds. I guess I have some trust issues after being killed and living alone for a while. I smile and nod and when all of the introductions are done I go ahead and give them an overview of the dungeon. ¡°Hi everyone, as Sven said my name is Mark and I have been in the Fire Caves dungeon several times over the last week or two. There are some easy things to remember that will help you out. First, there are only two types of dungeon monster in the entire dungeon until you get to the end boss. Fire Bats and Fire Salamanders. Depending on the cave they will range between level 70 to level 85. I have never run into a group larger than 15 or smaller than 6 so keep that in mind.¡± ¡°The monsters are tied to their caves until attacked or until you enter and are noticed. If you sneak into a cave and nothing spots you, nothing will happen. You can skip areas this way, but there is not much of a point to that. Both the Fire Bats and the Fire Salamanders are weak against their opposing element which is water/ice. If you have spells, enchantments, or weapons that use this element keep in mind that they will be more powerful than you are used too.¡± ¡°The Fire Bats are very communal and attacking one means that all of the others will swarm and attack. I have been doing the dungeon solo so I do not know if they will attack just the person that did the damage or the whole group.¡± At the announcement that I was soloing a dungeon they had come to gain experience in as a group I could see several eyes go wide. However, there were a few who seemed to glare at me. Was this the obligatory hate for showing them up at a school trope? I hope that this will be more like real life and will not have as many weird school fights or problems. ¡°Salamanders on the other hand you can separate and deal with individually if they are far enough apart from each other. There were even a couple of times I was able to keep myself hidden and did some long distance damage that resulted in two or more salamanders fighting each other which made finishing them off much easier.¡± ¡°Finally the dungeon boss is a Fire Drake. This guy is a little trickier to deal with. His scales make ordinary attacks pretty useless. However, if you have a spell or weapon that can break open his scales he is pretty easy to beat after that. Once the scale defense is broken through all that is left is to continue concentrating damage on the area that was compromised while not getting killed.¡± ¡°If teacher Sven is alright with it I will lead you in to the dungeon and demonstrate my method of clearing each room before setting you loose. I suggest that you think about how you can deal similar amounts of damage and then implement that strategy. I doubt many if any of you will be able to do what I do.¡± Wow that sounded kind of arrogant, but I could see Sven nodding his head. I turned around and started for the entrance to the dungeon. I could hear some muttering behind me, but I had already made the statement and would not apologize now. When we reached the dungeon entrance I turned around and addressed them one more time. ¡°First we will go down a long corridor which will lead to the first cavern which should be filled with Fire Bats. It has been for the past eight times I have done this dungeon. When we get close I will raise my hand and I need you to be silent so we do not attract the bats attention before I am ready to deal with them. Are there any questions?¡± One of the students spoke up, ¡°You are going to clear the first cavern all by yourself, without any help?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I could see some of the students look incredulous. Sort of like what is this guy thinking, that he is superman, or whatever fantasy guy equivalent there was on Planet Braxis. Others looked thoughtful, and a couple just had a blank look in their eyes. Oh well, time to show off. I headed down the corridor and after several meters held up my hand to ask for silence. I then called up a scattershot of ice for each hand without chanting, which from the sound of the murmuring behind me impressed several people. Over the last week I had maxed out this spell and was close to maxing out landmine. One direct shot from a scattershot is now overkill on a bat. That extra damage per shot adds up really quick. I peer into the cavern and see several fire bats fluttering around, but there are too many of them. I get a quick count. There are 24 bats, why are there 24 bats? There should not be any more than 15. I am pretty sure that I can still take them down, and my pride says I will have to try, but why are they there. Could it be that the dungeon scales itself to the number of people that come in it? That must be it. Stupid teacher Sven had to know this. I bet he is expecting me to ask for help now.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. This is probably supposed to teach me some kind of lesson, but all it did was tick me off and reaffirm my belief that the only person I could trust is myself. Let¡¯s do this. I start launching scattershots from each hand as quick as I can form them. I manage to get off seven of the spell and knock down 14 of the fire bats before the others start their dive at me. I have gotten quicker with that spell as it leveled up. I call up two more scattershot spells and just before I get hit I blink behind the diving fire bats and loose the two scattershot spells at their backs forcing them into the ground. The bats had all bunched up while diving allowing my scattershots to hit all of them. I quickly called out my Hammer of smiting and with it in my left and an improved ice spike and arm scythe on my left I waded in and made short work of the bats I had just grounded. I needed to take care of them first as I was not sure I hit them hard enough to keep them on the ground. However, after a few hammer strikes, and improved ice spike, or some quick cuts with the scythe they were down for the count. I called out to the waiting group of students and Sven behind me, ¡°You can come in now while I clean up.¡± I proceeded to go around and finish off the rest of the bats, and then started to open them up to get the cores. ¡°Normally I would suggest splitting the cores between all members of a group, but seeing as how I cleared this cavern by myself I will keep all the cores. I will only fight in the future if needed so I won¡¯t be taking any others unless called in to help a group out. As you can see the number of bats is above what I told you. I suspect that the dungeon has increased the number of each monster because of the size of our group. I did not know this would happen, but I suspect teacher Sven did.¡± As I said this I could see a guilty look fleetingly cross his face. I wonder if he thought he would make a better impression on me if he had to rescue me. I don¡¯t know his reasons or care, but I realize I can only trust him so far now. I am glad I learned this now instead of later when it really could have done some damage. ¡°There are 14 of you so I suggest breaking up into groups of seven and then teacher Sven can follow one group, and I can follow another. It does not matter which exit you take from each cavern. One will lead to more bats and one will lead to salamanders. I have never found a pattern. After enough time or caverns are cleared you will come to a cavern that has three exits. I suggest whichever group gets there first stops and waits for the other group, as one of the exits leads to the Fire Drake. Once the whole group is back together you can tackle the dungeon boss and collect the rewards.¡± I look over at Sven and he flinches just a little and then speaks up, ¡°This is excellent advice. Sort yourselves into groups and we will follow Mark¡¯s suggestion.¡± A couple of minutes go by as the students sort themselves out. Before we leave I ask out loud, ¡°How many in my group can use spells?¡± Three people raise their hands. ¡°Can you please give me a brief over view of what you cast or at least your elements.¡± ¡°Air.¡± ¡°Earth.¡± ¡°Healing.¡± ¡°Excellent, I assume you four are either close combat or ranged attackers. Can you please tell me which?¡± Two spoke up and said they were close combat, one was an archer, and one was what I would call a rogue, but they called a scout and was proficient in both. ¡°Excellent, then I suggest we try you two in the front as primary damage dealers, you two as ranged damage, and you two with offensive spells. The gentleman healer will be on standby in case of need. Please try not to need the healer. Remember it is better to dodge than to get hit and healed. Let¡¯s go.¡± With those words of wisdom, I led my group off to the right hand tunnel and entered without even looking back. After a corridor of travel I peeked in and saw salamanders. I backed up and signaled everybody to step back so we could talk. ¡°Ok, the next cavern is salamanders. I want the scout to go forward and do his job. When you see a salamander break off from the group signal the others and then the spell casters fire off one spell to draw it near. Then the ranged damage dealers, and finally the close attack fighters. If you keep calm, there should be no problem.¡± They all nodded their heads and the scout took off. After about 3 minutes he signaled those that were waiting and they went forward and executed what I had suggested perfectly. Maybe there is something to this academy thing after all. They can at least follow orders. I praised them and said continue. Everything was going according to plan and 12 of the 17 salamanders were killed when the next one was hit by spells when it was too close the remaining salamanders. Every one of the five remaining salamanders charged the group. They were starting to panic. I guess they do good in set scenarios with plans, but not so good in real life decision making ones. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. Spell users and ranged damage try and take down the front left and I will take down the front right. Those two will block the progress of the others and then you all can fight them fairly.¡± It happened just as I said. They were able to kill the charging left salamander before it got within 10 meters and mine was killed much quicker. Now that they had a plan and it showed it could work the teamwork and camaraderie of the group started to shine through. One of the fighters started to take charge and called out orders to the others. Soon enough the remaining three salamanders were dead and we had only one light casualty for the entire battle. I praised them once again and said they could have all the cores since they did so well. I could see them smile at that. I guess I just made some friends, or better yet some allies. I don¡¯t need friends, though I do need people I can call on if needed. We continued on and the group just got better and better in their coordination. The fighter leader guy, a beast man of the wolf variety named Alvin I finally learned after hearing it shouted many times in battle, started showing some real potential. The others all worked well together. Soon enough three hours had passed and we had reached the cave of three exits. I realized that the clearing time with companions was slightly faster than my solo times, but much more aggravating in having to talk and guide people. Soon enough, my group cleared out the final cavern and made a temporary camp to wait for Sven¡¯s group. They were in high spirits because they had beat the other group in arriving to the final cavern. We will see how they fare against the dungeon boss in a little bit. 33 - Idiot Ivan Chapter 33 Idiot Ivan It was just over another hour before the other group arrived to the good natured taunts of my group who made it first. Teacher Sven gave me another bewildered look. I guess he did not think I would be a very good leader or something. I looked around and cleared my throat to get everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°The center passage before has always held the dungeon boss. I do not think that has changed. However, with the changes in the numbers of enemies in each cave, I am sure there is something different with the dungeon boss. Before it was a level 120 Fire Drake. If you manage to get through its defensive scales, it is rather easy to take down. The problem is doing enough damage in a specific area to break through the scales. All mages and long distance damage dealers should focus on the same spot. I will let you decide which. My guess is that there will either be two drakes or that the level of the dungeon boss will have increased. I do not know which. Teacher Sven do you know?¡± ¡°No Mark, both of those situations have been encountered in the past. It is random whether it will be two lower level bosses or one higher level boss with large dungeon groups.¡± So he did have knowledge about what was going to happen. ¡°Very well then I recommend that if there are two bosses that each group takes a different one. My group can take the left and Teacher Sven¡¯s group the right. If it is a single boss I recommend that you all either aim for the chest or head. Be very careful of its fire breath and it also has an ability called boost. Is everyone ready?¡± After getting a positive response from everyone I headed over to the center exit and proceeded down the corridor. When I got close to the cavern I signaled for silence again and crept forward. Two bosses guarding one door. I crept back to the group. ¡°It looks like two bosses guarding the treasure room. My group will hit the one on the left. Questions?¡± There were none and the large group started forward once again. My group peeled off from the others with practiced efficiency and started dealing damage. It looked like the other group was a step behind. I decided to help out and sent 4 improved ice spikes at our designated target as fast as I could and then moved out of the way of the inevitable retaliation. My group saw the drake inhale in preparation for fire breath and scattered. They were really starting to think and work together well. I glanced over and saw that the other group was struggling a bit. Oh well, my group could rescue them or Sven could if it went too badly. After dodging the fire breath, my groups frontline fighters ran up to keep the drake¡¯s attention and the long range and spell user kept pounding the head. More people really made the boss fight easier. It went down in under a minute and I turned to check the other group and saw Sven jumping up and landing a huge blow on the other fire drakes head. Looking around I saw a very bedraggled and smoking group of people. I guess Sven really did have to rescue them. ¡°Do you wish for any help Sven?¡± ¡°No lad, I got this lizard.¡± Indeed he did. It looked like he used some sort of amplifying or boosting magic to either increase damage or hit harder. It only took two more chops of his axe to cave in the drake¡¯s head and kill it. Note to self, even if Sven is a little untrustworthy, he is still strong. Do not make him mad with my current strength. After the drakes cores and valuable bits had been looted, it seems that the drake cores are the academies portion, the group entered into the treasure room. Sven spoke up at this point. ¡°There are typically three chests in each dungeon. The Wealth chest, the strength chest, and the knowledge chest. Since we have such a large group the amount of wealth in the wealth chest will increase and the strength and knowledge chests contents will double. There are a limited amount of items or books that the dungeon will give out. The school will always choose the wealth chest as it is easy to distribute to students. On your first run you also get access to a second chest. The school opens the strength chest and rewards the top contributors on each dungeon field trip with whatever might appear. Questions?¡± One young lady spoke up, ¡°Sir why doesn¡¯t the school ever take the knowledge chest?¡± ¡°Good question lass. The reason is the school already has every book from the dungeon in the library. We would not bring you to a dungeon that has not been fully explored several times. During the exploration phase by school officials they always take the knowledge chest until it repeats and then donate the contents to the school for some compensation.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. I was wondering about that also. It seems like an extremely fair way of doing things. Sven walked over and opened the wealth and strength chests and then divided up the coins between all the students. I refused any payment saying I already got the cores from the first room. He just nodded his head and then made another announcement. ¡°The two weapons and one fire resistance potion will go to the top three contributors over the next three days, and no neither I or Mark gets counted.¡± You could see the relief in some of the student¡¯s eyes. They realized that if I or Sven wanted to we could just bulldoze through and claim the top two spots and the rewards. ¡°Next we will get up on the platform in group of four and select to go back to the entrance. At no point think about trying the final challenge. You lot are definitely not ready yet.¡± Sven stepped up on the platform and asked me to go with the last group. I replied that t would be no problem. Sven¡¯s group disappeared, the second group stepped up and then disappeared, the third group stepped up and disappeared. Finally, it was our turn. I motioned for everyone to follow me on the platform and then started to think about returning to the dungeon entrance. Before I could even materialize my thoughts, we shimmered out as a group and reappeared in some place I did not recognize. Great. ¡°Who was the idiot who thought about the final challenge even after being told not too?¡± Two of the people just glared at the final person. I walked over and in my most intimidating manner and said, ¡°What were you thinking. Do you have any idea how far past screwed we are? I have never even seen the final challenge.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry I was just wondering what the final challenge was, since nobody seems to know, and I could not get that thought out of my head. I guess it just assumed I wanted to challenge it.¡± ¡°What is your name anyway?¡± ¡°I am Ivan.¡± One of the other students chipped in, ¡°Most people call him Idiot Ivan, because of all of the mistakes he makes.¡± I respond, ¡°Anyone can make mistakes, and since this is you first one with me, I will let it go. However, if in the future you put me or another student in such a dangerous situation I will eliminate you as a threat. Do you understand.¡± I think I got my point across as Ivan just nodded his head. ¡°Alright what do we have to work with. Please tell me your names again and what role you play in battle.¡± ¡°I am Ivan and I hit things with my mace and block with my shield.¡± Oh goodness, Ivan is really a little simple in the head, but I can work with that. ¡°My name is Elise and I am a lightning mage.¡± Right lightning mage, definitely useful. ¡°My name is Boreander Heftonic Throttle and I am a scout.¡± Elise chimed in, ¡°Just call him Bo, everyone else does.¡± ¡°Are you okay with being called that Boreander?¡± I think he was surprised to actually be asked. ¡°Yes that is fine.¡± ¡°Excellent, now if you would please, stay here while I move ahead and check out the situation.¡± Once they all nodded their heads or stated that they understood I approached the only door I could see in the room we teleported into. I opened it carefully and saw a room filled with platforms, bridges, and pools of lava. Oh this cannot be good. I closed the door and came back to the little group. ¡°Alright through the door is a very large cavern with multiple pools of lava, islands of stone, and bridges between them. To me this suggests that our foe whatever it is probably lives in the lava since this is a fire dungeon, and we have to make it across the bridges safely to somewhere to either get out or satisfy some requirement of the dungeon. Does anyone know of anything that lives in lava or have any ideas before we move forward?¡± Elise spoke up, ¡±I know that Fire Elementals and Lava Golems both live in lava, and I think that I have heard of this type of set up in dungeons. If I remember right you have to battle something on each island after you cross the bridge. Once you cross the bridge falls down behind you.¡± ¡°That is excellent information Elise. Does anyone know of anything else?¡± ¡°I think I have heard of fire fish living in lava, but I doubt that it would be that if we have to battle one at every island.¡±, said Bo. ¡°Once again, good to know. Ivan do you know of any fire monsters that live in lava?¡± ¡°Yes sir, I like studying monsters. The other two besides what Elise said would be the Lava serpent and the Fire giant. The lava serpent is a really big snake made out of lava and the fire giant is a really big person that is strong and is not hurt by fire. Oh and red dragons, but no one has seen one in a long time so I don¡¯t think it would be that.¡± I can¡¯t believe it. Idiot Ivan had some great information followed by some terrible descriptions. I looked at the others and asked, ¡°Is he always like that?¡± ¡°Yes Mark, he has occasional flashes of brilliance and so is barely able to meet academic standards in the academy. His real strength though is combat. He may not look or sound like it, but he is a monster with that mace and shield.¡±, replied Bo. ¡°Well I will see what we can do to play to his strengths then. Does anyone know if flying is prohibited in dungeons?¡± ¡°What do you mean Mark¡± ¡°Well when I tried to teleport earlier, I could not as there was some sort of restriction in place to prevent me. What I am wondering is, do you think I would be allowed to just fly to the middle island and complete the puzzle or whatever it is and skip the whole bridge thing?¡± They all indicated that they had no idea if this would work. ¡°Alright then here is the plan. Ivan up front, Elise in the middle, and Bo you bring up the rear ready to do distance damage or protect the back. I am going to try and fly to the middle island. If that works we should get out of here quickly, if not then I will take the front with Ivan. Questions?¡± Nobody had any questions and it was time to start the Final Challenge. 34 - Final Challenge Chapter 34 Final Challenge I had everyone follow me over to the door and opened it quietly but dramatically. We all stopped a moment and gazed at the sight before us. I do not know what the others were thinking, but I was calculating the fastest way to get to the middle island which seemed to be the largest and from here looked like it had a raised platform similar to the return pad after the dungeon boss. Ok, first thing to check is to see if teleportation or blink works. I try to get to the center island first with teleportation. No luck, seems that magic is still shut down. I try and blink a few feet to the side, and find that this still works. I hear several gasps behind me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry it is just a skill. I wanted to make sure it still worked before we got on a bridge. I still cannot teleport though. I am going to try and fly to the center island, you guys advance like we discussed.¡± I silently cast mana wings of air on myself and proceeded to fly to the center island. There were no restrictions and it was a very easy and quick flight. That is weird, why would it block teleportation, but leave an obvious shortcut like flight available? I reach the island and look back at my little group. They are on the third island advancing quickly and nothing has happened to them either. This is starting to creep me out. Nothing in a dungeon should be this easy, what is going on? I start exploring the center island and reach the raised platform I spotted from a distance. Attached to the platform is a plaque that simply states: ¡°To start the Dungeon Waves Step on the Platform.¡± Dungeon waves, what are those? Could it be like the old games I used to play where you had to defend a certain place against wave after wave of enemies? That seems like the most likely scenario to me, but I better wait for the others to get here before I make any decisions. Ten minutes later a confused looking group reached the center island. I quickly asked them my questions. ¡°Has anyone heard of Dungeon Waves? That is what happens if you step on the platform.¡± I could see Elise go pale. ¡°Elise do you know something?¡± ¡°Yes Mark, I know what dungeon waves are. I never even considered them as the final challenge. I have never heard of them in a dungeon under the level of 200. They are called Hero Killers more commonly.¡± When Elise mentioned Hero Killers, I could see the other two also get nervous. ¡°Alright, someone please explain what a hero killer is.¡± ¡°A hero killer is a dungeon that sends wave after wave of monsters at a defending group until they are overwhelmed. There are very few that are able to survive these tactics as the time to recover between each wave goes down by one minute for every wave. For instance, if there are fifteen waves, then you have a fifteen minute rest period after the first, fourteen minutes after the second, and so on.¡± ¡°Well how do you find out how many waves there are?¡± ¡°The only way I have heard of is to survive and then spread the information.¡± ¡°Alright here is the plan. I assume the bridges are here to help the monsters whatever they may be cross and attack us. First I am going to try and destroy the bridges to see if we can limit the ways the monsters can come. If that doesn¡¯t work, I will leave traps on the approaching bridges which will take several hours so I can recharge my mana. Your only job is to make sure Ivan does not get near that platform until I am ready. Do you understand?¡± I could see Ivan turn red with shame and embarrassment, but I could hardly care right now. I had to survive this. I mean I would survive no matter what, but if I came back without the group and from outside the dungeon I would not be able to explain it and there would go my easy entrance to society and learning. Come to think of it, if I can¡¯t teleport in a dungeon, can I switch to another virus? Would I permanently die if I died in a dungeon? Oh crap, I never even considered that. I definitely have to live through this and do some research on dungeons before I attempt harder ones. The first thing I do is cancel my elemental wings. I need to conserve my mana. I then shoot some Improved Annihilation Spikes at the center of one of the far bridges. Nothing, this is the first time that Annihilation has failed to dissolve something. I was kind of expecting this. There must be magic restrictions or something that do not allow the destruction. I am sure if I was a high enough level or had a more powerful spell I might be able to overcome them, but not at the level I am currently at. Alright landmine spells it is. There are three separate bridges that access the center island we are on. If I can set landmines on all of them, it will make things much easier. Some quick math later and I figure out that I can make 20 landmines every 30 minutes and have them last 6 hours. So if I make landmines for 3 hours I can have 40 landmines on each bridge with a three hour window of them still being useful. That should work. I can place 20 on one end of the bridge and 20 on the other. That way they will not all go off at once. I explain what I am doing to the three with me and task them with laying the landmines together. Then I sit down and start creating. 3 hours and 30 minutes later I have finished all preparations and I have a full tank of magic. No more putting it off, we need to start this thing before my spell wears off.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Ok, everyone onto the platform and remember the farther things die away from us the better. Ivan we are counting on you to protect us if something gets through our defenses. Here we go.¡± With that everyone ascended the platform and a roar came from the north. We all turned and saw 20 smaller red beings start running across the bridges towards us. Inspect.
Fire Imp Level 75 Magic: Unknown
Great this must be a scaling wave attack. Each wave must get a little harder. I yell out my thought to everyone and let them know that we definitely need to stop them before they reach the last bridge. The longer we can hold on to the landmine surprise the better. They all nod and Bo and Elise start their long range attack. I join in with volleys of ice spikes and ice orbs. The fire imps defense seems to be lacking along with their intelligence. There was no dodging or other strategies involved, they just charged until they die. This first group made it to the start of the third bridge of five. ¡°Ok let¡¯s rest for as long as it gives us, the number of minutes rest should indicate the number of waves.¡± Ten minutes later A roar, this time from the south, rings out. Ten minutes means ten waves. This is the second of ten waves. We have a chance. I explain my reasoning to the group and spirits pick up. I then take the time to inspect again. Inspect.
Lava Golem Level 80 Magic: Unknown
Well there are still 20 enemies, so that number will probably not change, but each one is five levels higher than the fire imp group. So does that mean each wave scaled up by 5 levels. Hmm, that would mean the end wave would be level 120. That might be a little hard to deal with if there are still 20 of them. Oh well nothing to do but wait and find out. Everyone starts shooting long distance and soon enough the lava golems go down. We actually managed to take them out around the same spot as the first wave. These guys were much tougher, but also a lot slower. The problem is that Elise and I used up a bit of magic. I can get most of my mana back in the shortened time, but I have no idea of Elise¡¯s recharge rate. She may run out and become useless pretty quick. After nine minutes this time wave three emits a roar from the east. Inspect.
Fire Warrior (elemental) Level 85 Magic: Unknown
My guess must have been right. Another 5 levels to our foe, it must scale up for each challenge. The fire warriors make it to the end of the third bridge before falling. Eight minutes go by, and howling from the north again. It looks like more fire imps. Quick check. Inspect.
Fire Imp Level 85 Magic: Unknown
Alright, we already saw these guys, take them out. This time they make it to the start of the fourth bridge. Not good they are getting farther and farther each time. 7 minute¡¯s rest and then Lava golems appear in the south. Another repeat, I bet it just cycles through those three for the first nine waves and then something different or mixed for the final wave. This wave goes down at the fourth bridge. 6 minute¡¯s rest and then yep, a roar of fire warriors from the east. They go down after the fourth bridge. They almost made it to the fifth and Elise is starting to look tired. ¡°Are you okay Elise. We have made it through 6 waves, only four more to go.¡± ¡°I am fine. I am just low on mana. After the next fight I will take a mana potion and recharge.¡± ¡°You have mana potions? Can I have one?¡± ¡°Sure Mark I have three and should not need more than two to reach the end of this dungeon wave.¡± I gingerly take the bottle of rainbow colored liquid and place it in my inventory so it will not break. This is going to help tremendously. I should not have to worry about magic for the final wave now. 5 minute¡¯s rest and wave 7 more fire imps arrives. They make it past the fourth bridge, but luckily only set off a couple of landmines. 4 minute¡¯s rest and Elise had to take a potion. Lava golems this round and they were stopped cold by the landmines at the end of the bridge. We have only one set of landmines on that bridge now. 3 minute¡¯s rest and the 9th wave of fire warriors sets off both landmine formations on their bridge approach. I can only hope that whatever is the last wave comes from one of the other directions. 2 minutes later my hopes are crushed as I hear not one set of roars but three sets. I look around and yep all three fire imps, lava golems, and fire warriors are out to play at the same time. ¡°Ivan you will fight against the fire warriors that make it past as we have no landmines on that side now. Everyone else concentrate on the fire imps for one round of spells, the lava golems for two rounds of attack, and then we will all face the fire warriors. I am hoping that the landmines will slow down or kill whatever is left after our first attacks on the other groups. Remember we survive this we can get out of here and beat up Ivan.¡± Everyone laughed and then implemented my strategy. Our first volley only took down 2 lava golems, but injured a couple more. The next two volleys killed 6 fire imps, I hope that is enough. Next we turned to see that the fastest group was already at the fourth bridge and going strong. Elise let loose with every lightning spell she had and I did the same with ice. The warriors started to go down. After firing a couple of arrows Bo joined Ivan on the front line to block. It soon became a horrible melee. Parry, slash, smash with hammer, dodge, turn and shoot a spell at an imp attacking from the back, and then repeat. It was exhausting. The levels of these guys were just enough above us that melee attacks were not as useful as I hoped. I saw Bo go down under two fire warriors and Ivan went to try and rescue him. Elise shouted a warning to look out and I ducked but felt my left arm go numb. It was the single lava golem that had survived. It tagged me hard in the left shoulder and if I hadn¡¯t moved would probably have taken my head from my shoulders. I retaliated with the hammer of smiting and knocked it back far enough to launch a scattershot at it. That almost does it for my mana, I have perhaps two spells worth left now. I look around and realize that the golem was the last opponent standing. Ivan was wrapping Bo in bandages, Bo was passed out, Elise was sitting slumped over, and I could finally take a break. These kids really are not that bad. We all survived. I honestly did not think that was going to happen. I had been mentally preparing myself for the death of one of my companions and how I would explain it. Instead we would all be going back to the surface. 35 - Senior Level Chapter 35 Senior Level I hobbled over to Bo and used a light heal and then sat down to recover my mana. We made it, and better yet all four of us did. I am certainly glad I decided on my own that I was not ready to face the final dungeon challenge, because this was insane. I would have been wiped after three or four waves without support. I would have run out of mana or been trapped by greater numbers. The limited rest between the waves was brutal. It was just long enough to catch your breath, but not long enough to really prepare for anything new. After about half an hour my mana tank was topped off. I was physically fine even if I was mentally drained. I got up and started searching the island we were on. There had to be a reward for surviving this. Next to the platform were three chests once again. The three were still labeled Wealth, Strength, and Knowledge. A plaque to the side had three sentences on it. ¡°Open 1 if you survived.¡± ¡°Open 1 more if you were solo.¡± ¡°Open 1 more if it was your first time.¡± I turned and addressed the group, ¡°Hey everybody I would like to get out of here, but I want my rewards first. Are all of you alright with opening the Strength and Wealth chests? Teacher Sven, said that all the knowledge books were already at the academy.¡± They all agreed and I proceeded to open the two chests. The wealth chest held 100 gold coins and 50 silver coins along with 5 gems of undetermined quality. Ok, that should be easy enough to split up. Inside the strength chest were two of what I now knew were mana potions, 2 other undetermined potions and a bow made of a gleaming metal. Inspect.
Bow of Fire Storm Magic Weapon
Potion of Strength Potion
Inspect Bow of Fire Storm.
Bow of Fire Storm: Adds 25% fire damage to each shot. For 200 mana will launch 25 arrows of made of mana 3 times a day without the need for an actual arrow.
Inspect Potion of Strength.
Potion of Strength: This potion increases strength by 10% for 15 minutes.
These are some pretty good things. I really do not care about the potion of strength, and I am certain that Bo will want the Bow of Fire Storm. The question is what will he give up to get it? I don¡¯t know how rich these academy kids are. I guess I should start high and work my way down. ¡°There are 4 potions, 2 strength and 2 mana, and one bow of fire storm. Also some assorted coins. How do you guys want to divide this up?¡± Ivan spoke up, ¡°We can split the coins and I want a strength potion. I think the bow goes to you Mark, you did the most.¡± ¡°I agree, except I want a mana potion.¡±, said Elsie. I could see the reluctance in Bo¡¯s eyes, but he agreed with the rest. He must really want that bow. ¡°That seems fair, but I don¡¯t really need a new bow right now, Boreander would you like to purchase it off me?¡± ¡°You would give that bow up for something else Mark?¡± ¡°Of course, what are you offering? ¡°Um, I can give you my portion of the coins, my old bow and half of my fire cores.¡± I looked at the others. ¡°Is this fair, remember I have lived in the woods most of my life.¡± ¡°It is very fair.¡±, said Elise. ¡°Then I will take the deal except I will only take ? of your fire cores. I was not going to use it anyway.¡± I could see the grin on his face. ¡°Deal.¡± We exchanged everything and then I gathered the group up so we could finally leave this place. Once we stood on the platform, we were transported to the beginning of the dungeon. The four of us stepped out into the fading light and breathed in fresh air once again. It was good to be out of the dungeon. We walked over towards where the academy had set up camp and saw another student spot us and turn around and yell, ¡°Hey teacher Sven you win the bet, they are all alive.¡± So they were betting on whether we would survive or not huh. Why do I have the sudden urge to just go around and start beating them all up. I am older and more mature than that. I shouldn¡¯t need to get even with them. Teacher Sven came and met us at the edge of the campsite. He just looked at me and said, ¡°Ivan?¡± ¡°Yep Ivan.¡± ¡°Sorry about that.¡± ¡°We survived so no worries.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make sure he is not in your group in the future.¡± ¡°You do not have to do that. We have worked things out. However, I will be going on the teleportation platform by myself from now on just to be sure.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Understandable, I will have everyone else go separately also. That way anyone foolish enough to think they can accomplish what you four did will not drag other people down with them.¡± ¡°That sounds reasonable. If you don¡¯t mind now that we have checked in, I am going to go back to my camp and sleep. I will meet you in the morning again.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to join us?¡± ¡°Too much trouble at this point. Everything I have is already set up in my own camp.¡± ¡°Alright Mark, we will see you in the morning.¡± With that I walked off to the north, the same direction I came from when I first arrived, so they would not suspect anything. As soon as I was sure I was out of sight and no one was following I teleported to my home cave. I started dinner and made a mental note to ask for spices tomorrow from the academy group. After dinner I was about to go to sleep when I realized I had some unfinished business to take care of. I teleported back to my first sanctuary and yep, the goblin body I had made had expired from lack of food and water. Luckily I remembered before it started to rot to badly. I grabbed the corpse and tossed it out of the giant tree to be disposed of by the local animals. I once again closed up my tree house and then teleported back to the home cave. A few more days of dungeon babysitting and I would be on my way to my first town. It would be a lie to say I wasn¡¯t excited. I was very excited, but I was also a little apprehensive. It was easy enough to fool someone out in the wilderness, but would I be able to pick up the social norms of this planet quick enough that no one would notice that I was different. Could anyone notice that I was different? I mean I think I had come up with a very good cover story to use no matter what so I should be okay. Enough worries, I need my rest. If tomorrow¡¯s escort through the dungeon is anything like todays I am going to need all the rest I can get. After waking up in the morning, I quickly finished all of my grooming and breakfast needs and teleported back to my hidden area near the dungeon. Once I arrived I checked the area just to be sure and once I confirmed I was alone I started for the academy camp. As I got close I spotted a sentry and nodded to them. It was good that they were at least taking the precaution of sentries and watches. I had arrived at the end of breakfast so I asked the most important question first. ¡°Teacher Sven, when I was cooking dinner last night I realized something important.¡± ¡°Oh what was that lad?¡± ¡°I ran out of spices almost a month ago and plain roasted meat is getting old. Can I borrow or purchase some from you guys?¡± ¡°The ones in earshot laughed at my earnestness.¡± ¡°Aye lad, we can do that easily. Here is a basic spice kit, throw it into your inventory.¡± I graciously accepted it and inquired as to today¡¯s plan. Sven explained that today would be another run of seven for each of us. Tomorrow would be a little different as they would run the dungeon in smaller groups one hour apart. It seems that the monsters in this dungeon are regenerated every hour. This was something that I had no reason to ever check, as I just went straight through and then left. The last day would be the upper level exams. When I inquired as to what that was one of the academy students spoke up, ¡°The academy is divided into three parts, junior, intermediate, and senior levels. Every student joins as a junior level and stays there until they can pass the next level of exams. Juniors are of the strength of needing to get through a level 3 dungeon like this one in groups of 6 or more. Intermediates should be able to go through this dungeon in groups of three to five, and finally seniors should be able to go through solo or with a single partner.¡± So tomorrow is intermediate exams?¡± ¡°Yes lad. Several of the students feel they are ready.¡± ¡°Who is taking the senior exam?¡± I was curious about this as I did not really spot anyone I would consider strong enough to solo this dungeon or even be able to clear it with a partner in this group of students. ¡°Why you are lad. Do you want to start as a junior and be stuck at that level for six months with restrictions on classes and library research or do you want to solo this dungeon like you said you had and prove that you should start as a senior?¡± ¡°Ah, I understand now. Sure I will solo the dungeon again. After that will we be heading back to the academy.¡± ¡°Yes Mark. This expedition was just to get some a little dungeon experience and to provide an intermediate exam for a few of them. We were not planning to be here long.¡± ¡°Excellent, then during tomorrows exam I can retrieve my gear and move to camp with everyone if you won¡¯t need me.¡± ¡°No lad that will be fine. There are only two groups to take the exam that day.¡± ¡°Hey Sven, if they are quick enough can I take the exam that afternoon? Then we can head back a day earlier.¡± ¡°Do you think you can make it through that fast?¡± ¡°Well I was taking my time before and usually finished in six to seven hours, so if I try to speed it up a bit than I can probably cut that down by an hour or two.¡± ¡°Then that would be fine. Students get in your groups and let¡¯s get started for the day.¡± Thus the second day of dungeon familiarization began for the group. Everything went smoothly and my group once again was the first to the three exit cavern, but not by more than 15 minutes. I guess everyone was inspired to do their best today. The dungeon boss was beaten with no trouble and everyone left the dungeon one at a time with several side glances at Ivan who was red with embarrassment. I said my goodbyes and made my way back to my cave house. After a good night¡¯s rest, I gathered a few things up and placed them in my inventory and then transported myself back to the dungeon. I met Sven and saw one group of five and one group of four students following him to the dungeon entrance. I went ahead and entered the camp and used my elemental shaping to start making a temporary tree house by encouraging two close trees to grow together and then shaping them. When I had finished I looked around and saw the remaining five students gaping with open mouths in my direction. ¡°What, did something happen.¡± ¡°Well student Mark, we have never seen anything like that before.¡± ¡°Really? That is how I was taught to set up camp if there are trees. I can¡¯t really do anything fancy because we are only going to be here one more night.¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t fancy? The rest of us only have tents.¡± ¡°Well normally I would help you guys, but there are not that many trees and we only have another night. I really need to save my magic for my dungeon run this afternoon.¡± They all nodded and understood my point and I settled in to wait for the morning groups to return. Around midday the remaining students started making lunch and I joined in with them. It was nice to have some superficial interaction with others. No real commitments and no real worries that they were strong enough to endanger me. Soon enough lunch was done. About three hours later we hear the first group returning. They look beaten up but happy. It was the group of four and they had completed their intermediate test. A little over an hour later we heard the second group approaching. They too had passed but had lost a member on the final boss fight against the fire drake. This was interesting to me as I thought Sven was here to protect them. I found out that tests are life and death and protection is only offered for experience runs and younger students. Sven approached me. ¡°We only have four to five hours of light left, and I want to be able to be here during the dark for the protection of the students. Can you finish the dungeon in that amount of time?¡± I thought carefully, I have that mana potion now which will speed things up immensely. ¡°Yes teacher Sven, that should not be a problem.¡± Several students, especially the ones that just finished the dungeon just stared at me. I went with Sven to the entrance of the dungeon and several students followed. ¡°Students have to stay outside the dungeon so extra monsters do not appear. I will accompany Mark to the first cavern and then wait at the teleportation point.¡± I nodded my understanding, and then proceeded into the dungeon. I quickly wiped out the first cavern of Fire Bats and Sven wished me luck and turned around. I decided this was the time to show off a bit so my reputation would increase at the academy. While this could lead to some negative consequences, I think the benefits outweigh them. So I just started a speed run without worrying about mana regeneration. 36 - Mantis In The Big City Chapter 36 Mantis in the Big City I kept an eye on my mana just to be safe, but did not stop to regenerate it. Soon enough I was at the three exit cave and down to just 450 mana. I pulled out the mana potion and chugged it. I quickly checked my status and realized that the mana potion only was good for 5,000 mana. I sat down quickly to regenerate the rest. I may want to finish this thing fast, but being foolish would just be stupid. After 20 minutes I was topped off and I started towards my last Fire Drake fight. 30 minutes later I was scorched and a little mad at myself for forgetting to set up landmine traps, but I was victorious. I quickly opened the wealth and strength chests and then stepped on the platform. I arrived in front of Sven who had a surprised look on his face. ¡°Lad I think you just beat the old senior exam time record by over 30 minutes.¡± ¡°I would have gone faster, but I only had a single mana potion.¡± Sven just shook his head. ¡°Come on son let¡¯s head to camp for dinner and rest. We will move in the morning to return to the academy.¡± I followed behind him and saw that several students had waited outside the dungeon to see how I would do. They also seemed surprised that I had finished in such a short time. Well I hope that my showing off works the way I want it too. I am just looking for a couple of privileges and hopefully a reputation that I should not be messed with. After a quick dinner and the announcement that we would be leaving in the morning I retired to my temporary tree house amidst looks of envy from my now fellow students. Once I had closed up the door I decided that I should check my gains from the last few days. The wave fights especially probably leveled me up again. Status without Bonuses.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 85 (Transcendent) Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 51 Strength: 57 (65) Agility: 60 (70) Intelligence: 65 (85) Wisdom: 55 (65) Constitution: 60 (85) Perception: 52 (60) MP: 8500 out of 8500 HP: 850 out of 850 MP/Regen: 650% per hour HP/Regen: 85% per hour Skills: 1. Inspect Level 10 ¨C MAX 2. Direction Sense Level 10 ¨C MAX 3. Multicast Level 10 ¨C MAX
Well I had leveled up significantly again. Better yet my skills had all maxed out. No evolution notices from them though. I need to discover some new skills or be taught the proper way to be awarded them and also pick a secondary profession when I get to the academy. First off let¡¯s place my unused stat points. Five there, five more, 15 there for a better regen rate, yep that should work. Status without Bonuses.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 85 (Transcendent) Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 1 Strength: 62 (70) Agility: 65 (75) Intelligence: 80 (100) Wisdom: 70 (90) Constitution: 65 (90) Perception: 57 (65) MP: 10000 out of 10000 HP: 900 out of 900 MP/Regen: 900% per hour HP/Regen: 90% per hour Skills: 1. Inspect Level 10 ¨C MAX 2. Direction Sense Level 10 ¨C MAX 3. Multicast Level 10 ¨C MAX
Yep that looks good. Time for some rest and then on to new and exciting things in the morning. Morning came early it seemed, maybe it was me having a hard time sleeping from being excited. I realize I am acting like a little kid, but this is a big moment for me. Even if we will not see the city for three or four days, just the thought of seeing a city on another planet gets me excited. I mean I have seen magic, met monsters and other races, this city should be awesome. With a happy heart I joined everyone for breakfast. The students were all packing up and looking depressed. I guess this was like a vacation for them. A break from school.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I was the opposite. The city would be my new and interesting experience. Everything was soon picked up and stored. Inventory makes camping a lot easier than back on Earth. One of the older students consulted some device and headed out north. We walked at a very leisurely pace. I guess no one was eager to get back to the city except for me. Lunch time rolled around and we set a quick fire and cooked a meat stew that was shared around. This simple lunch stop reminded me that I had forgotten some of the simplistic necessities of civilization like bowls and silverware. Seeing everyone bringing their own bowls and spoons to the communal stew pot I quickly ran over to a log and used shaping to create my own bowl and spoon. A couple of students who had not seen me create my shelter the night before stared, but most ignored the fact that I was doing something different again. The stew was good and we were back hiking in a surprisingly short amount of time. We hiked north all the way until evening. Just as it was starting to get darker teacher Sven called for a stop for the day. Everybody set up camp and I located two trees and recreated my shelter from the night before. This was the first time teacher Sven had seen this along with some of the other students. I could tell they were curious, but they respected my privacy and did not bother me with questions. Dinner was roasted monster meat and some greens. I took out a small jar of honey and shared it around to the surprise and delight of many. I was actually doing it to get the reactions and judge how popular it might be to sell. From the enthusiasm, it seemed like I would get a good price if I had to sell it to make some money. I do not know if it would be necessary, because I had been thinking and scheming about some ideas to get some money fairly quickly once we actually reached the city. I also had some coinage from the dungeon and many fire cores to sell which should last me a year if I lived frugally. Who wants, to live on the basics though. If I could afford it, luxury would be the way to go in my lifestyle. Although quality items and other things cost more, there was usually a good reason for it. It is hard to compete with better made objects even when they are more expensive. I would rather have a high quality cooking set that lasts for 10 years than buy 10 low quality sets that I have to replace each year. Day two and three of the journey passed in a similar fashion to the first. It was on the night of the third day that I was told we should reach the outskirts of Vulcanopolis around lunch time tomorrow. We were informed by teacher Sven that there would be no lunch break and we could buy something from the vendors when we got closer to the city. The next morning, we made breakfast and packed up as quick as we could. It seems that everyone was now excited to get back to civilization. Either that or they just did not want to walk late into the afternoon and miss lunch. We set off at a quicker pace than the previous days and several people were starting to get tired after only a couple of hours. Obviously they need to work on their stamina some more. Soon enough I could see what looked like large walls in the distance. After some time of walking I could see what I would call an extremely large walled city. The walls must have been 20 meters high at least, possibly more. I could see the trail we were on merged into a stone paved road that led to a very large wood and metal gate. There was quite a large line formed up outside the gate. Several soldiers were checking people, goods, and wagons before anyone was let into the city. I was confused. What was the purpose of the check if someone could just hide something in their inventory? I had to be missing something. I looked over at Sven and asked, ¡°Sven what are they looking for?¡± ¡°Right lad, I forgot this is your first time to a big city. First they are checking for residency or trade tokens. Those without them can pay a small fee for a temporary permit or a larger one for a yearly token. Next they check for some banned materials or other dangerous items, or at least that is what they claim. I actually think they are checking for anything that has a tax on it to trade to prevent smuggling.¡± ¡°Um, Sven how are they checking inventories?¡± ¡°Oh you have never been scanned before?¡± ¡°I have never even heard of it. What does being scanned mean?¡± ¡°No worries lad. The just use a magic crystal to check your inventory for banned or taxed items and it also gives them your name, race and level so they can register you and make sure you aren¡¯t some hidden monster.¡± Sven laughed at his last statement, but I did not. Would it register my Thri-Keen race or would it say chimera virus, which would be sure to cause a problem. I better have my teleport spell ready just in case. As we got closer I could see several people acting as roadside vendors. They were offering drink, snacks, and other assorted small goods. It seemed like we would have to spend some time in the line. Sven though moved to the front of the group and led us off to the side and started passing people who were waiting. I heard someone grumble about it and his friend whispered back to shut up, can¡¯t you see they are from the academy. So being part of this academy came with a few perks did it. Soon enough we were at the front of the line. I could see Sven take out an emblem when questioned by one of the guards. The guard nodded respectfully and then had us all line up to place our hands on what looked like a crystal ball. Sven went first and then all the students from the academy. Finally, it was my turn. I stepped up. I guess I looked nervous because Sven told the guard, ¡°I have a new one for you Ed. He has lived in the wilds for most of his life and has never been scanned.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry son, the scan does not hurt, but we will have you hold onto the crystal ball until we say otherwise. We have to write down the information it gives us.¡± ¡°Okay sir.¡± I grabbed the crystal ball and braced myself for escape just in case. I could see Sven¡¯s eyes widen, oh crud he knows, I was just about to teleport away when I processed what he was saying. ¡°When did you reach level 85? Oh right the Ivan incident. It must have been worse than I thought.¡± I quickly calmed down. That was what he was worried about. Thank goodness, I am not going to have to escape. ¡°Yes, the Ivan incident was rather dramatic and led to several increases in levels and abilities for me.¡± The Guard spoke up, ¡°Well I have three questions for you and then you can enter. First, are you here to enroll in the Vulcan Academy. Second how old are you, it is not giving me an age for some reason. Finally, what exactly is an Elemental Thri-Keen. That is a new one for me.¡± ¡°Um, in order that would be yes I am going to be an independent study at Vulcan Academy, next I do not know how old I am, and finally all I know is my master said I was a special type of Thri-Keen that can use all of the elements.¡± Sven chipped in, ¡°The lad really does not know his age, but we are estimating it at around 18 or 19 years old, and this is the first that I heard you can use all elements lad. How come you did not tell me that?¡± ¡°I did not realize it was important.¡± Sven started muttering under his breath, ¡°Stupid kids, becoming transcendent and using all elements, not knowing how special that is, especially at that age.¡± The guard started grinning at Sven¡¯s mumbling and just waved me through. This was it, I had finally made it to a city in my new world. I followed the rest of the group through the gates and looked around. The city was huge. However, it was also a disappointment. I was expecting something, more. I do not know exactly, but I suspect I wanted to see magic carpets, wizards, amazing things flying around or going on, with exotic species and people in the background. Instead I had what looked like a large European town that was just getting modernized. 37 - Vulcan Academy Chapter 37 Vulcan Academy Don¡¯t get me wrong. The town still looked amazing and there were a few people of different magical species around, but the majority were either humans or dwarves. That makes sense since this started as a dwarven trading outpost. It was underwhelming though. I guess I had watched too many movies in the past and just had an unrealistic expectation. Oh well, I will just monitor and try adjust my expectations in the future. I continued with the academy group through several main streets until we finally took a left turn and started down what was labeled Academy Avenue. Not very creative, but I guess it gets the job done. In front of me around 400 meters away I could see the street end at a large ornate gate. That must be the entrance to the academy. As we get closer I can see that the name VULCAN ACADEMY is emblazoned in a large half circle above the gates. Two bored looking guards were outside the entrance, but they snapped to attention on spotting Sven. ¡°Welcome Back Teacher Sven.¡± ¡°Send a message to the Headmaster that I will be coming to see him in an hour with a new student.¡± ¡°Yes Teacher Sven.¡± ¡°Children, you have the rest of today and tomorrow off from classes, but do stay out of trouble. Anyone who is late to their first class on Moonsday will have their physical fitness workout doubled.¡± After several groans and cheers for both the time off and the threat of extra work the students wandered off to different areas. Sven motioned me to follow him. I started walking after him and realizing that I had just heard a name for one of the days of the week. Moonsday, I wonder how many days are in a week. Man I really need to get to the library to pick up some common knowledge quickly or people are going to start asking weird questions about me. I focused back onto what Sven was saying. ¡°So we will get lunch in the academy cafeteria then go and meet the headmaster, after which we will pick you classes give you a map and a guide and figure out your living arrangements. Does that sound okay to you Mark?¡± ¡°Yes teacher Sven that sounds fine.¡± After a much better lunch than what I was expecting, the word cafeteria never inspires confidence, Sven led me to a large building with three towers on top of it. ¡°The center tower belongs to the Headmaster. Either address him as Headmaster or Professor Pinter. The left tower hold the vice-head of magic Elenore Elyssius and the right tower the vice-head of battle Henrik Youthton. Since you are registering as an independent student you will have a mentor and be able to study anything you want. However, you will be considered to be part of the central tower under the headmaster.¡± ¡°Alright teacher Sven, are mentors assigned or do they select their students?¡± ¡°Any time a student is given permission for an independent study the upper level faculty watch a demonstration of his skills and then they discuss who would be the best to mentor the student.¡± ¡°So I have to give a demonstration. What kind of demonstration? Is it spells, fighting, a mix, or what exactly.¡± ¡°The demonstration is left up to the student, but most choose to use the academies illusion fighting arena to demonstrate their advanced fighting and magic skills.¡± ¡°Okay teacher Sven, I have never heard of an illusion fighting arena. What is it and what does it do?¡± ¡°For a small cost of mana cores it will create scenarios for you practice fighting in safely. If you are ¡°killed¡± in the illusion it just stops. It can be set to almost anything you can imagine and is relatively cheaply priced at three cores per hour. Sometimes special students are given free time in the illusion arena to practice as rewards.¡± ¡°I guess I will use it for my demonstration as I have nothing else prepared.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Mark, from what I have seen, your approval is guaranteed. We just need to see you fight to pick the right person to help you as your mentor. There is no pressure at all.¡± On that note we had reached an older beastkin lady, who with those ears had to be of the tiger variety. ¡°Helen, would you please inform the Headmaster that teacher Sven has brought a prospective independent study student to be interviewed.¡± ¡°One moment, please. The headmaster was expecting you, please go up to his office. Sven you know the way.¡± ¡°Thank You Helen.¡± As we passed her I guess Sven could see the question in my eyes. ¡°Helen is a former adventurer that has retired and now is the Tower Organizer.¡± So tower organizer is like the head secretary of a big corporation then. I definitely want her to like me. These types of people make everything run smoothly. ¡°Thank you for your help Miss Helen.¡±, and then I smiled.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She just nodded and smiled back. Good, first impression made and it was positive. I followed Sven up three flights of stairs and then he knocked on an impressive door that had Vulcan Academy Headmaster engraved on it. ¡°Come in.¡± We entered into a very large office/reception room. There was an elderly gentleman who still possessed a very strong aura about him behind a desk on the far end of the room. I assume that the person must be the headmaster. We approached a little closer and then Sven spoke. ¡°Headmaster, may I introduce Mark Stefanopolis to you. His story is an interesting one, and after meeting him and testing him with the Fire Caves dungeon I believe he will benefit the most from becoming an independent student here at the academy.¡± ¡°Hello Headmaster, I am glad to be here and I hope that I can learn from you and the others here at the academy.¡± ¡°Interesting, an Elemental Thri-Keen. I have only seen one other like you in my entire life.¡± I was a little startled at this information. I thought this was a special evolution due to my race and abilities. However, come to think of it, if I can evolve into it there is a chance no matter how small that someone else evolved or mutated into before now also. ¡°Well Mr. Stefanopolis, why don¡¯t you tell me your story.¡± I told the headmaster my prepared story. Wandering master, out on my own now, the whole tear jerking thing. I am not sure he actually bought it, but he was at least neutral or did not care. At the end of the story, the headmaster was silent for a few minutes. Finally, he spoke. ¡°Very well, I accept that you would make a good independent student. Especially as you will need to catch up on some basics, while being very far ahead of other students in other areas. Sven, alert the upper level teachers that Mr. Stefanopolis will demonstrate his abilities tomorrow after lunch. I assume that you wish to use the Illusion arena?¡± ¡°Yes headmaster, if this will not cause a problem.¡± ¡°No problem, I will arrange for it to be available for our use tomorrow afternoon. I look forward to your demonstration.¡± After some more small talk Sven escorted me back out of the headmaster¡¯s office. He brought me back down to Helen¡¯s desk and told me he had work to do. He then took off and abandoned me before I had even the basic necessities. I turned to Miss Helen and gave her my best smile. ¡°Hello again Ms. Helen. I seem to have been left here without any guidance. I wonder if you would be so kind as to answer a couple of questions for me.¡± ¡°Go ahead young man, what can I help you with today?¡± ¡°I am the newest independent study student here at the academy and I seem to be a bit lost. I have never been on the academy grounds before let alone this being the first time I have ever been in a city. I would like to know if you could provide a map of the campus and maybe a recommendation for a private residence I could purchase nearby the academy?¡± After hearing my story and request I realized that Helen was going to be on my side. ¡°My goodness, I can¡¯t believe that they just left you without any help or guidance. You wait right here and I will take care of everything.¡± I patiently waited and soon Miss Helen came back down after going up the same stairs Sven and I had just been on. I guess she went and talked to the headmaster. ¡°Well Mr. Stefanopolis, I seem to have the rest of the day off. So I will be giving you a personal tour of the campus and helping you find a place to stay. Do you have a preference or monetary limit I should know about before we start?¡± This woman was much more formidable than I thought if she could go straight to the headmaster and dictate what exactly what she was going to do. I am glad I made a good first impression. ¡°Well Miss Helen, I need to sell some fire cores, and weapons from a dungeon, but after that if the prices I have been told are accurate I should have between 2-3000 thousand gold coins. Will that be enough for tuition and a house outside of campus. You see I have been living in the wilds with my master for the last 17 years and I do not know if I can handle a lot of people all at once right now.¡± ¡°Oh you poor dear, that will be plenty. Don¡¯t worry about your tuition either. I will set you up with a scholarship when I come in tomorrow morning. So if you are nervous around others, then someplace either isolated or large enough that you can feel comfortable will be what we will look for.¡± ¡°Wow, Miss Helen that sounds great, thank you so much for helping me out.¡± ¡°No worries dear, now let¡¯s get going. I think selling the cores and shopping first. I think that the campus tour can wait until tomorrow morning, but we absolutely must get you settled into a place tonight.¡± What happened next was a whirlwind of efficiency. Miss Helen either knew everyone there was to know, or knew someone who knew the right person. I soon had all of my dungeon spoils sold off at a premium and was the proud owner of just over 3,500 gold pieces. Much more than I had estimated. 2 hours later we were still looking for a house after buying all the essentials such as bedding, cook ware, clothes and assorted other miscellaneous things I never even realized I missed. After the last tour and seeing how I was not impressed, Helen asked me an important question. ¡°Mark what is the biggest drawback to every house we have seen so far?¡± ¡°Um, Miss Helen I really like nature and actually have some ability to grow and shape plants. All of these house were nice, but very sterile and only had huge courtyards of stone. Is there anything with maybe a garden or something? It could be farther out, travel is not an issue, I can teleport in each morning.¡± It seems I impressed Miss Helen with these bits of information. ¡°Hmm, that does open up a lot more options. I¡¯ve got it the old Elvish Embassy. I am pretty sure no one has bought it or moved in yet. We will head to Stephen¡¯s business right now to find out.¡± I followed this powerful force of nature to a business simply entitled ¡°Stephen¡¯s Land and Business Holdings Headquarters¡±. I followed Helen inside and was introduced to an older Dwarven gentleman named Stephen Bouldershard. The proprietor of the business I assumed from the name. Helen did not waste any time and got straight to the point. ¡°Stephen, my new friend Mark here is in need of a place to stay. I had the wonderful thought of maybe taking the old Elvish Embassy property off your hands since I heard you were finally trying to sell it.¡± ¡°Of course Helen, the market price is 2,500 gold pieces and will include the manor and the entire enclosed forest of 50 hectares on the outskirts of the city.¡± ¡°That sounds perfect, but 2,500 gold coins, really Stephen?¡± I kept my mouth shut and let Helen the negotiator get me a better price. ¡°Well Miss Helen¡±, said Stephen as he started to sweat, I could lower the price a little for such an old friend.¡± ¡°Old, did you just say I was old, Stephen?¡± I could see the fear in Stephen¡¯s eyes as he realized how badly he had messed this up. ¡°I misspoke Miss Helen, you still have the looks and youthful bloom of someone in their 20¡¯s. I can easily let this property go for 2,000 gold coins to such a dear young lady such as yourself.¡± Helen nodded to herself and said, ¡°we will take it. Mark pay the man.¡± Wow, she just saved me 500 gold pieces. I have to remember not to only thank her, but to be careful to never call her old. Ever. 38 - Impressing The Teachers Chapter 38 Impressing The Teachers Soon enough the transaction was complete and Helen hired a carriage to take us out to my new home. It seems that several years ago there was a big international tournament and Vulcanopolis hosted the quarterfinals. The elves had demanded and gotten a separate space to dwell outside the city during these three months. The city easily agreed as they hoped it would bring better trade realtions. Later relations soured and the elven nation this section of land was given too sold it to Stephen for a very low price and left the area. Stephen had been trying to sell it since then. It was just far enough outside the city that it was undesirable due to transportation times. However, with my ability to teleport this would not be an issue. The only reason we were taking a carriage now was that I could not teleport to an area I did not know. ¡°Ms. Helen, how can I ever repay you. You have done so much for me. I now have a home and I will be able to attend classes. You even had me buy things that I had heard of such as soap and explained why it was needed.¡± I had added that last part in to keep the sympathy rolling. I knew that this woman ran everything at the school and I needed her to both be impressed and want to help me. With her on my side my time in the academy should be a breeze. ¡°Oh Mark, there is no need for thanks. I enjoyed helping you. This is the most fun I have had in a long time.¡± ¡°Well then Ms. Helen, anytime you want to have more fun and help me out please feel free to look me up.¡± She laughed at this, and we chatted about inconsequential things through the rest of the ride. We rounded a hill and she pointed out a grove of trees in the distance. ¡°That my dear is the Old Elvish Embassy that you now own.¡± I peered out the window at my new housing. It was a miniature forest. As we got closer I could see a well-worn path that led about 100 meters in to a rather large house/building that surrounded the largest tree I had seen outside the jungle where I first took the mantis shape. The best way I can describe it is as a square doughnut. Each of the four corners of the building was large tree in itself. But there seemed to be a huge courtyard in the center of the building that enclosed the base of a 20 meter or bigger in diameter tree. I did some math in my head, this means that the building surrounding it must be huge. ¡°Miss Helen, this place is fantastic, but what am I to do with all the space in that building. I am going to love roaming the grounds and forest, but I only need a few rooms and this place is gigantic.¡± ¡°Mark, just because it is big doesn¡¯t mean you have to use the whole place. Use whatever you want and the rest just keep in reserve in case you have friends over, or rent it out, or just host a party. You can hire a group to maintain it and live here with you, or you can have them come out weekly.¡± ¡°I guess I should have them come out weekly at first, until I get used to being around more people.¡± I once again got the sympathetic look from Miss Helen, which to me meant that I had her firmly in my corner no matter what. ¡°That sounds like a good choice Mark. Why don¡¯t we wander around and look at the state of the place before deciding who to hire to help you out. It has been abandoned for a few years now and probably needs some repair.¡± ¡°Thank you Miss Helen. I will once again take your wonderful advice.¡± The next couple of hours we spent searching through the embassy. There was a few salvageable pieces of furniture and artwork, but most of everything had been removed. The repairs needed to the physical structure all seemed to be minor which was good as I did not have unlimited funds. Well, I guess I could have almost unlimited funds, I just needed to go hit some dungeons up for cores. I was about to thank Miss Helen again and send her back to town in the carriage when I had a thought. Why don¡¯t I just teleport us both back and save the ride. I don¡¯t have a mass teleport spell, but I could make one quickly. ¡°Miss Helen, would you like me to teleport us back to town so we can have some people come out and clean up?¡± ¡°You can teleport other people with you Mark? She asked in surprise. ¡°Well not yet but give me ten minutes to create the spell and it should be fine. Let¡¯s keep the carriage here while I figure it out just in case.¡± I closed my eyes to help block out everything. I needed to concentrate. First focus on a group of people surrounding me. Now let¡¯s add a glowing circle of magic that encompasses all of us. Now we disappear and then reappear in a new place. I loop this set of images through my mind and now bring in purple destruction and white light mana.
You have created the spell mass teleportation.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Inspect Mass Teleportation.
Mass Teleportation: A spell that transports the caster plus a number of beings equal to the current level of the caster, from their current location to any known location. Distance travelled is limited to the level of the caster X 50 kilometers.
It is definitely more limited than my regular teleport, but it will still be extremely useful. The higher my level the more useful it will become. I can already take over 75 other people with me more than 3500 kilometers. That will definitely prove worthwhile in the future. If nothing else, I can probably make a lot of money just in the transportation industry alone. I open my eyes back up and look at Miss Helen. ¡°Ok, I have created the spell, should we go?¡± ¡°As easy as that, you just created a new spell.¡± ¡°Well yeah, spells are easy to create, but hard to keep track of. So I usually only make a new one if it is going to do something completely different than what I already have and know. Otherwise I would have too many spells to remember. I mean why have separate spells for lighting a fire, a candle, or a piece of paper, when you can just use a single magic flame spell.¡± I could see that I had shocked Miss Helen with my abilities. This is a good thing. I want her to not only want to help me because I am needy, but because I am talented also. ¡°Well then Mark, let us be off after we send the carriage driver back. Can you teleport us to my desk?¡± ¡°Sure no problem.¡± A few minutes later after arranging things with the driver and paying him, I teleported the two of us back to Miss Helen¡¯s desk. ¡°Wait right here Mark, I have to go and have a word with the headmaster.¡± A few muffled shouts later I saw Miss Helen come back down the steps. ¡°The headmaster has moved your testing to 9 a.m. and will be attending personally. I believe the head of each department will also be there. Are you prepared?¡± Wow, she really did have some pull in the school. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. I am going to use the illusion array to show off my fighting ability and spells.¡± ¡°Make sure to pick a terrain that demonstrates your abilities the best Mark.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am¡± The rest of the day was spent arranging cleaners, repairmen and furniture for my new home. We had bought some earlier, but now that I owned a much larger building I would need some more. Evening rolled around soon enough and Miss Helen set me up in a suite at one of the local inns no charge as a favor from the proprietor to her. One day I am going to figure out just why everyone treats her with so much respect. Is she politically connected, rich, powerful, or what. The sheer number of people that know her and owe her a favor is amazing. I bid Miss Helen good night and thanked her once again. I had to promise to come by after the testing tomorrow and tell her all about it. When morning came I cleaned up and headed towards Vulcan Academy. No need to teleport while in town. I enjoyed the morning stroll and picked up breakfast from a couple of different street side food vendors. When I reached the academy I pulled out the map that Miss Helen had given me just as she left. We had done so many other things that we had never actually taken a tour of the campus. Luckily she remembered that before she left and gave me a detailed map. I followed the map and ended up at what looked like a miniature coliseum. Standing next to it were several middle aged gentleman and the headmaster. ¡°Greetings headmaster. I take it I have come to the right place for my testing.¡± ¡°Yes son this is the illusion fighting arena. I realize that you have never used it before so if you will tell me what you would like for your scenario I will program it in for you.¡± ¡°Thank you head master. I feel that I perform best in forests and jungle so if you could make that the terrain choice I would appreciate it. As for the opponents, all I know of monsters are the ones that I have killed. I think it would make for a better challenge if you and the others were to select my opponents. I would ask that you start them at level 50 so I can warm up though. If you would start with one opponent and then double them each time. After 16 opponents you can start over at one opponent but jump the level to 75. If I make it through to 16 opponents again then bump it up to level 100 and so on. I am curious as to how long I can hold out.¡± I could hear some muttering amongst the others that were gathered. Many of them were stating things like I was overestimating my abilities. Rookies shouldn¡¯t get cocky and other semi-derogatory things. I decided that instead of holding back a little I was going to go full out, just to shut them up. ¡°Very well Mark, please step into the illusion arena and when you are used to the terrain raise your right hand and I will start sending in your opponents.¡± ¡°Thank you, headmaster.¡± I stood in the center of the arena for about 60 seconds and then noticed a tree to my left that had not been there a second ago. Soon the entire area was populated with trees, vines, and the background sounds of forests and jungle. I could no longer see the stands. If I had not known this was illusion, I would have believed it to be real. Time to test the illusion arena. I walked to the nearest tree and placed a leg on it and was relieved to note that it was solid. The arena must make use of magic to allow the illusion to have substance. I quickly raised my right hand. It was time to show these old people what I could do. I scurried up the trunk of the tree as soon as I had raised my hand and spread out my awareness as much as I could. I want to show my ambushing abilities along with everything else. My first opponent, a level 50 goblin, soon came wandering through. It was off to my right hand side, and since this was a magic test and my warm-up I decided to just kill it with an improved elemental spike spell instead of ambushing it. I lined up a perfect shot and fired off an improved Earth Spike at the Goblins head. One shot one kill. Hmm, I expected the opponents to be a little tougher. Had I improved that much or were they a little weaker due to just being illusionary? Oh well, it is only to my benefit. Soon enough, two goblins, four goblins, eight, goblins and finally sixteen goblins went down for the count. I did not even have to move from my spot. I just upped the number of spells and showed a good variety of my elements. Even the sixteen goblins only made it to the base of the tree I was perching in. I feel that these things are definitely weaker than real life version. They probably do give normal academy students some vital fighting experience before venturing out into the real world. I hear the headmaster¡¯s voice drift through the arena, ¡°Now starting level 75 opponents.¡± All right, even if they are weaker, these should give me more of a run for my money. 39 - Finding a Mentor Chapter 39 Finding a Mentor I was wrong. The level 75 opponents turned out to be something called Furious Arouchs. Basically large mean cows that could not climb. So I spent the next half an hour just climbing around above them and peppering them with spells until they died. After that was level 100 orcs. They were more challenging, but in the forests were no match for me. They did take a little longer to defeat. It took me near an hour to clean those guys up. Level 125 was where it started to get interesting. My opponent looked to be myself. Inspect.
Illusionary Thri-Keen Level 125 Magic: Unknown
The teachers watching my performance must either be getting bored, or this is some sort of special test. It really doesn¡¯t matter to me. An opponent is an opponent no matter what they look like. The first single Illusionary Thri-Keen was easy enough to dispose of from ambush. Things only got harder though from there. The next pair managed to inflict some damage when I focused too long on one opponent and its partner tagged me with a blow from its club. The group of four I only managed to beat by dropping into the middle of them after stunning them with a lightning splash. Even then I took several slashes to the body. The group of eight was too much. I did not have enough time to hide myself properly for another ambush with my current injuries. I was taken down after killing two of the group of eight. As soon as a killing blow was delivered the entire arena shimmered and I noticed that there seemed to be a lot more people in the arena now then when I started. I made my way over to the headmaster and inquired, ¡°How did I do sir? Did anyone want to mentor me?¡± The headmaster laughed and replied, ¡°Every single one of them wanted the credit of mentoring you Mark. After that performance I decided to be your personal mentor in magic, while Helen has graciously agreed to mentor you in melee combat and survival.¡± ¡°Do you mean Miss Helen from your office sir?¡± ¡°Yes Mark, after you defeated all sixteen of the level 75 Aurochs we invited her to have a look. You may not know this, but Miss Helen is a very famous retired adventurer. You will be the first person she has personally mentored. We as a group did not feel that any of us could teach you better than she could given your talents.¡± ¡°I really like Miss Helen it will be an honor to be mentored by you, headmaster and Miss Helen.¡± ¡°Yes well, most of the time I will be giving you independent tasks to carry out and then evaluating your performance. If you have questions or concerns, then you can direct them to me at any time. Miss Helen says you have potential in melee combat and that she will meet you at the practice hall at 4 p.m. sharp tomorrow to go over your training plan. She had to leave to take care of some administrative tasks which is why she did not stay and talk to you personally.¡± ¡°I understand headmaster, Miss Helen is an important and busy woman. On another note, why are there so many spectators here now?¡± I really was curious. When I went into the illusion fighting arena it was just six or seven teachers gathered to watch. Now there seemed to be at least a hundred students and five to ten more teachers than before. ¡°Well your evaluation was taking longer than expected so the combat class decided to use you and your tactics as a teachable moment. What you are seeing are the upper level students who would have been practicing at this time.¡± ¡°I am sorry. I did not know I had people following me or I would have started at a higher level to cut down on the time sir.¡± ¡°No worries, Mark. We all learned a lot from watching your performance. You have the rest of the day off and should report to my office at 9 a.m. sharp tomorrow for your first independent study assignment.¡± ¡°Yes sir I will see you tomorrow.¡± With that I left the arena as quick as I could. This many people staring at me was starting to creep me out. I left the academy grounds and ate a quick lunch at the street vendors and picked up some more items that I felt I might need. My last stop was at the auction house. The auction house was more of a general store for random magical items. They would occasionally host an auction whenever the inventory reached a certain point or when some rarer items arrived and they wanted to increase the selling price. What I wanted was magic seeds. Last night I realized that if I could not teleport for some reason I needed to make sure that my new home was defendable. I did not have the skills to build defenses, but I had the magic and interest to grow some. I did not mean ¡°Jack-in-the-bean-stalk¡± magic seeds, but rather those that might have elemental attributes or some special function that I could use to defend my area. I really did not have any idea what was possible. I explained to the clerk at the desk what I was looking for and he led me over to the side and gave me a catalog to look through. After several minutes of perusal, I had narrowed my choices down to just a few.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Fire Thorn: Large thorny bush that has fire elemental magic. If enough damage is done to a fire elemental bush it will burst into flame for around 5 minutes. The bush can only do this once an hour. 2 gold each. Poison bamboo: Deadly if ingested. Can be used to create several different antidotes. Notes do not light on fire as it will spread a poisonous smoke over a large area. 5 gold each. Strangle Vine: Simple vine that grows in a cluster on other large plants. Whenever stimulated it wraps and constricts around the closest moving or warm target and then draws it back to the center of the vine cluster. 1 gold each. Tree of Life: This tree feeds on all types of mana and grows best when infused with it or placed in areas of high mana concentration. No limit to its size is known. Larger specimens have been documented at hundreds of meters high. The larger it gets the tougher it becomes. After reaching 100 meters in size the Tree of Life exudes excess mana and increases the growth rate of nearby plants. 250 gold each. I had just under a thousand gold left. With Miss Helen arranging a scholarship I no longer needed to worry about paying fees for school. That means I can get on tree of life and plant it in the center of my new grove of trees and feed it every day to become huge. The perimeter will be lined with fire thorn then a layer of poison bamboo, followed by another layer of fire thorn. This should deter any land attacks. If the thorns and fire don¡¯t stop them than the poison smoke created when the fire thorn goes up in flame and burns the poison bamboo should. The strangle vines I will randomly scatter throughout the grove. I will leave specific trails that are safe through them that only I know. All of this should slow any invaders down if not stop them completely. My final defense will be the tree of life itself. I hope to grow it large enough that it will resist most if not all attacks and then shape it into my final hideout. If the absolute worsts happens and I have to teleport out, then that is fine. Anything to save my life, but this defense should keep me protected enough that I hopefully will not have to resort to fleeing. I made my purchases and as soon as I was out of sight of other people I teleported back to the embassy. I spent the rest of the day setting up my outer wall and strangle vines using plant shaping and my grow spells. Soon enough I had a 5 foot high wall of thorns surrounding my property. I am shooting for 15 feet high, but I had to compromise today in order to get it finished. Finally, it was time to plant my new tree of life seed. I went to where I estimated the center of the embassy property was and cleared out the plants and several trees that were already there. I created a 25 meter in diameter clearing for the tree to start with. As it grew I could always expand its area if it was needed. I planted the little seed and used my grow spell on it. It sprouted but stubbornly refused to grow any larger. Is it defective? Wait the description said it needed mana. My spell does not feed it mana, but rather just causes it to grow at an abnormally fast rate. It probably cannot get any larger without mana to absorb. How in the heck do I give it mana though? I sat there trying different things for almost an hour before I received a notice.
You have unlocked the ability Mana Transfer.
Inspect Mana Transfer.
Mana Transfer: The ability to transfer your mana to others in need. Mana Transfer also allows you to drain any willing organism of mana. You may forcefully drain another organism if your intelligence is twice their level. Requirements to forcefully drain mana will go down as the Mana Transfer skill levels up.
This should come in handy in the future. It does kind of force me more down the caster route though. It should be fine. The only time I won¡¯t be able to use it higher leveled thinking creatures. I use my new Mana Transfer ability to infuse 1,000 mana into the waiting tree of life seedling. I can visibly see it grow to about the height of about 20 centimeters. This is going to take more than I thought. I try transferring 5,000 mana next and watch as the tree of life becomes a 1 meter high sapling. So every 5,000 is about 1 meter in height gained, I wonder if this rate will stay the same as the tree gets larger? I am already down to 4000 mana out of my large pool of 10,000 I decide to always keep 2000 mana in reserve just in case. I transfer another 2000 mana and watch my tree grow just a little more. I sit down to meditate and wait for my mana to recharge. At my current 900% per hour regeneration rate that should take only about six minutes of quiet time since I did not use all of my mana. I decide that I will wait for ten just to be safe. For the next two hours all I did was transfer mana, meditate, then transfer more mana, then meditate. At the end of the two hours I had transferred over 100,000 mana and the tree of life had reached a height of just over 10 meters. It was now a respectable tree, but I knew I needed it to be much larger. I had notice a drop in mana to growth efficiency after it had reached ten meters. I was expecting this. After a certain height trees need to expand their base to stay solid as well as growing taller. I would probably see around a 25% drop in efficiency around every ten meters of height of the tree. I think growing this tree would be part of my nightly exercise and practice from now on. I better get some sleep, I have to meet with the headmaster at 9 a.m. in the morning after all. The next morning I finish all of my personal business, clean up and teleport to the academy. I am 15 minutes early for my meeting with the headmaster for a couple of reasons. First I hate to be late, and second I can see and talk to Miss Helen if I am early to reinforce my positive position in her mind. As I walk into the headmaster¡¯s tower I can see Miss Helen behind her desk. I walk up to her with a smile on my face. ¡°Good morning Miss Helen.¡± ¡°Good morning Mark.¡± ¡°I would like to thank you for personally deciding to help me in my combat abilities.¡± She smiled and chuckled a little. ¡°Well I want you to be sure to remember that at some point you were thankful, because I will not go easy on you. I have discussed your schedule with the headmaster. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons from 1- 5 p.m. you will train with me. In the morning on those days you will have independent study. This means you can work on your own, or attend any open lecture on the campus. Tuesday¡¯s and Thursdays will be dedicated to the headmaster¡¯s tasks he assigns you as your mentor. The weekends are your own.¡± ¡°Thank you for explaining it to me Miss Helen. I will see you tomorrow afternoon then for our first session.¡± ¡°Very well Mark, you may head up and see the headmaster now.¡± 40 - Headmasters Tasks Chapter 40 Headmaster¡¯s Tasks With another smile and a wave, I headed up the stairs to the headmaster¡¯s office. I approached the headmaster¡¯s office and knocked politely. ¡°Enter.¡± ¡°Good morning headmaster. Student Mark Stefanopolis reporting as requested,¡± ¡°Very good Mark. You are punctual and have impeccable manners. Have a seat while I explain the tasks I am going to set forth for you.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± I sat down in the chair opposite of his. ¡°Mark, there is not much magic wise that the academy can teach you. You are a sorcerer which means you can create any spell you need to respond to different situations. What we can do for you is give you experience and goals to reach. Miss Helen will take care of bringing your melee skills up to par, what I propose for you is a strict schedule to make sure you do not stop making progress in your magic.¡± ¡°What do you mean sir?¡± ¡°Your task from now until graduation is simple. You will travel to and conquer three dungeons of different elements for each dungeon rating of 1-4. I realize that you have almost soloed a 3 star dungeon on your own already, but if you progress from 1 through 5 I feel you will have a better grasp of tactics and magic. I expect at least one new dungeon each month through level three to be conquered. I understand that after level 3 things will slow down. You will have 3 months for each level 4 dungeon. Your final project for me to graduate will be to solo a 5 star dungeon of your choice.¡± ¡°Let me make sure I understand sir. I will be travelling to and conquering dungeons for you, but I have to be here every other day to train with Miss Helen?¡± ¡°Did you forget that you can teleport Mark?¡± I get a sheepish look. I had forgotten that. ¡°Sorry sir, I was just a little overwhelmed.¡± ¡°That is understandable. I am also going to request that you create one new practical spell every three months and demonstrate it for me and explain when and how you would use it. I have here a list of 10 dungeons of various element alignments for every dungeon level 1 through 5 along with a world map to find them. I expect you to start on my assignment next week. Use the rest of this week to gather supplies and information and to learn a bit from Miss Helen.¡± ¡°Yes headmaster. Thank you for your help.¡± ¡°Check in with Miss Helen every once in a while and update me with your progress.¡± ¡°Yes Headmaster.¡± Just like that I was done with my meeting and had all the criteria I needed to pass the magic portion of my training in the academy. The good thing for me was that I would get practical real world experience and earn money to survive from the spoils that I collected. The only down side I saw was that I was going to be extremely busy. I did have one trump card that I had not shown yet. The school did not know that I can fly. My flight should cut down on my travel time considerably. I walked back down the steps to where Miss Hellen was thinking about everything that I needed to get done. I should get a good supply of prepared food and weapons this afternoon. Shelters I can create wherever I stop. That should do it for supplies. Most nights I assume I would just teleport back to the embassy, so there was really not much to prepare. I arrived in front of Miss Helen¡¯s desk just as I was finishing up my mental lists. ¡°Miss Helen, can you recommend a store for general camping supplies and a blacksmith for weapons.¡± ¡°Indeed Mark I can. For general supplies, just go to the dungeon guild store inside the guild building. You will need to go there to register yourself as part of the dungeon guild anyway. As for weapons, why don¡¯t you go see my friend Tom. Here I will write you a letter of introduction.¡± Miss Helen quickly wrote me a letter of introduction and sent me on my way with directions to both places. That woman is a model of efficiency. After 10 minutes of walking I arrived in front of one of the largest buildings I had seen in this town. The sign above the door read ¡°Dungeon Guild Headquarters¡±. Well this has to be the place. I quickly went inside and took a look around. Off to the left was a couple of people behind what looked like desks. Probably to sign people up or help out people. Straight ahead of me was a sign that read ¡°Guild Store¡±. Simple enough, while to the right was a combination bar/grill/information services place. There were tables and I saw drinks, but the walls were covered with maps, what looked like requests for people to do jobs, and trophies of past dungeoneers. Is that even a word? Maybe it is just past dungeon divers. Oh well, time to stop the wandering thoughts and register and get my supplies. I headed over to the desk area on the left first. ¡°Excuse me sir, is this where I sign up to join the dungeon guild?¡± ¡°Yes son it is. Do you have a recommendation or are you going to try and pass the test.?¡± ¡°Um, I do not understand sir. My instructors at the academy told me to register. Is that considered a recommendation?¡± ¡°Well that would depend on your year of study and the instructor. However, if you take the test you can perhaps score a higher rating which gives you more privileges.¡± ¡°Oh that sounds interesting. What kind of privileges and what kind of test is it sir?¡± ¡°We use an illusion arena and you have to battle a certain number of foes at specific levels to earn each star level of dungeon clearance. For every star rating you get 5% off in the guild store. So after several years if you work your way up into the ten-star range, our highest by the way, you can have all your supplies for 50% off.¡± ¡°Ok sir one more question. Other than the discounts what does the rating actually do? I mean if I wanted to wander into a ten-star dungeon it isn¡¯t like anyone is going to stop me. They would just think I am stupid and I am going to die.¡± ¡°Well son that is true, but your star rating also affects which other assignments that you can take. For instance guarding caravans in certain areas takes 3 stars. Where an elimination quest might take 6 stars. Generally the bigger money is found outside the dungeon until you start hitting level 5 and 6 dungeons or higher. Most people do not make it that far in their life. In fact we only have two ten star teams active right now and one retired member of a ten star team. She actually work at the academy where you attend school.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. It was starting to come together now. How Helen knew everyone, why she had so much influence. I better check just to be sure though. ¡°Would you mean Miss Helen sir?¡± ¡°Oh you know old hack and slash Helen do you.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I know her well enough that if I called her old or hack and slash that she would squish me like a pancake. She is my melee mentor at school.¡± ¡°It does sound like you know her all right. I did not think that she taught students though?¡± ¡°I seem to be the exception to the rule sir.¡± ¡°Very well, if you are her student I can give you an automatic 2 star gold rating. ¡° ¡°I understand the 2 stars sir, but what about the gold rating?¡± ¡°Each star has three levels, bronze, silver, and gold. They just help people decide who is stronger or more experienced. A gold level 3 is generally stronger and more experienced than a silver level 3.¡± ¡°Thank you sir, I understand. I would like to take the test though. I think I can do better than 2 star gold.¡± ¡°Very well son, the terrain is random and so are the monsters. The only thing you will know is the amount and the level of your opponent. What level would you like to start at?¡± ¡°Can you tell me the levels and amount of monsters for 2 star bronze, silver, and gold?¡± ¡°Yes, the 2 star level is monsters level 50. Bronze means 2 monsters, silver means five, and gold is ten. Every star is an increase of 25 levels for the monsters.¡± ¡°Oh in that case I would like to start at 4 star bronze level please. I will work my way up from there.¡± ¡°Son you do realize that is 2 monsters of level 100 each?¡± ¡°Yep, that should do as a warm-up.¡± When he heard me the gentleman manning the desk just kind of stared. ¡°Well all right then, it is your choice. Each test costs 5 gold, you do not have to pay extra if you continue on to the next level. You do have to pay a 5 gold penalty if you lose though.¡± ¡°So as long as I win and stop after any round it is only 5 gold?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Then I am ready to begin.¡± The desk clerk led me through a door next to his desk and we entered a smaller arena than the one at the school I had used the day before. I entered into the arena and soon the area around me shimmered and turned into a flat grassy plain. I used element shaping and raised a small platform up about one meter high so I could see all around me. There was movement. Inspect.
Illusionary Plains Wolf Level 100 Magic: Unknown
I started launching everything I had at these things. I did not know their weakness or had even heard of them. Until I know what works best I think overkill is the safest idea. The illusionary wolves went down rather quickly. Nothing seemed to work any better than anything else so I will stick with ice to slow and lightning to interrupt and damage. Soon enough I see five wolves. They also did not reach me. The ten wolf gold challenge was a tad more difficult. I do not know if this was a learning program or if this was actual plains wolf behavior, but they immediately split up and surrounded me at this level. The tactics were sound, but I easily broke out of the encirclement while killing two and then kept charging back and forth picking one off at a time until they were gone. Trying not to sound too arrogant, I call out, ¡°Next level please.¡± Shimmering occurred and my surroundings changed to a more mountainous area with a few scattered trees and brush, but mostly cliffs surrounding me. Hmm, either an earth based attack or a sky based one. I tried to keep an eye on everything I could. There, Identify.
Illusionary Mountain Hawk Level 125 Magic: Unknown
That guy blends in so well. I wonder if it is a skill, magic, or just great camouflage? Oh well he is spotted, I launch two ice spikes and wait for the result. The result is a very angry mountain hawk scream which is echoed by a second one from behind me. Behind me? I hit the ground as fast as possible and hear a whooshing noise go by. These guys are definitely smarter than the wolves. That sneak attack could have ended me quick. I make sure to track both of the birds and soon enough I bring them down. It took longer, but the simple fact was as long as I could dodge I would win. They had very little capability of melee combat. If they ever got a hold of me with their talons the story might have been different. Soon enough I spot 5 more of these mountain hawks. Five are harder to dodge, but since they take turns, it really isn¡¯t as bad as it looks. Five up and five down. Finally, I get to the ten hawk stage. I am pretty sure I can take care of this one also I just need to modify my strategy a little. Just like before when the ten hawk stage starts I notice that the intelligence of the monsters seems to have increased. Instead of one at a time, they are attacking in pairs. This way if I dodge one the other should get me. This would normally be a winning strategy, but I have blink. When both hawks attack at the same time I just blink onto the back of one and rip it apart with my scythes. Right before it hits the ground I blink away to safety. After that it is mostly just a rinse and repeat operation. I either dodge and hit them with spells or blink to the back of one and stabbity stab stab it to death. When I clear this level I pause and seriously consider whether or not I should go for the next one. Eh, 5 gold isn¡¯t that much to me. I should just go for it. If it is easier than I think bonus, and if not then I can just request to retake 5 star gold level. I call out, ¡°Next level please.¡± My surroundings disappear one more time and this time a jungle shimmers into being to surround me. Hmm jungle, this should even things up. I immediately climb a nearby tree and look around for my opponent. I see a section of the jungle foliage start to vibrate. Nope not going to fall for that one. I keep that spot in mind and search everywhere else. I was right, there is something hiding on the tree over there. Identify.
Illusionary Jungle Drake Level 150 Magic: Unknown
Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice and I am dead. No ambushes for you. I send a quick ice spike over against the hidden lizard, and nothing. Well it obviously is now focused on me, angry, and heading in my direction to probably disembowel me, but it looks like I didn¡¯t even scratch its scales with that attack. I shoot off a stone spike and am glad that it at least looked like it hurt it. However, the damage done was not that great. If I focus on just that spot I know I could defeat it easily, but that is going to be rather hard with both it and its partner after me. His partner, ah dang it. I jump as fast as I can toward another tree, but I was not quick enough. I was hit midair by a lashing tail and sent tumbling through the underbrush. I became so focused on the target I forgot about the one that was shaking the bushes. That hit shaved off perhaps 5% of my total HP. I can only survive a few hits with its power being so strong. I mean 5% loss on a single hit, and I was only partially hit as I was already trying to dodge, not good. When in doubt, run away. This was excellent advice I had heard at one point in my life and I decided to follow it now. As soon as I stopped rolling and tumbling from the powerful hit I popped upright and started running for all I was worth. Ok stay ahead of the deadly lizards and come up with a plan Mark. How do I get through their defenses? What do I have that can get through such a strong defense. It hit me like a ton of bricks. My annihilation spike. That spike eats everything including scales and armor. I run about ten more meters before I spin around and form an annihilation spike in each hand. The lizards have given up on stealth and are just barreling after me. I manage to launch 3 annihilation spikes at each lizard and somehow dodged their charge. I spin as they go past and note that the right shoulder and face of one of them has dissolved, disappeared, or something along that nature. The second one now has a crippled left leg. The next part was not easy, but now that I had figured out what to do it was inevitable. I finished off the two jungle lizards and called out for a stop to the trials. I am pretty sure that I could have beat at least one more level, and maybe even the gold level, but there was no need. Bronze 6 star was as good as gold 6 star for my purposes. If I feel stronger in the future I might try and raise my rating just for the discounts. Until then this should be good enough for everything I need to do. 41 - Gearing Up Chapter 41 Gearing Up The jungle shimmered out of view and I saw once again that the arena I had been taking a test in was surrounded by several people that had not been present when I started. This was the academy all over again. I went up to the desk clerk and asked him for my badge so I could do some shopping. He nodded his head after a second and led me back to his desk. ¡°Why were those other people watching my dungeon guild trial?¡± ¡°All trials are open to viewing by anyone so no accusations of cheating can be made. Usually no one bothers to watch new initiates. However, when you started 5 star level I was required to have a guild officer there to verify the results. Word spread and thus you had several dungeon teams and some guild officers watching your last few rounds in the arena.¡± ¡°I see. Will this change anything for me.¡± ¡°No sir, at most you might have some requests to join teams that otherwise would not have invited you.¡± ¡°Very well then. Thank you for your help, but I must get some supplies and report back to my mentor.¡± That last statement was a little white lie, but I hoped it would shut down conversation and allow me to make it through the rest of my day with less interruption. I grabbed the token which obviously enough had a shimmering magical six stars in the color of bronze on it. I headed back to the guild store and bought twice as much as I thought I would need just to be safe. The discount of 30% for my six stars actually helped with this a lot. I needed to save as much money as I could for the blacksmith. I wanted some decent weapons. I had realized after that last fight in the illusion arena that if I had been forced into melee combat my scythes would probably not be enough to penetrate the lizard¡¯s armor. I would actually make an enhancement spell one of my first priorities which is good because it will also double as the new spell the headmaster would like me to create. I threw one set of materials into my personal inventory and a second set into a convenient Dungeoneer¡¯s Pack. This little beauty acted like a limited inventory. It had several slots for materials and allowed a reduction in weight of 50% for the materials inside. They made some that reduced weight by 95%, but the price started to get really high really quick. I am sure I will have enough for one in the future, but this 50% pack will serve nicely for now. I headed out of the dungeon guild with my new supplies and ranking and headed for the blacksmith. When I arrived after a few minutes of travel I cautiously entered the sales area and inquired with the clerk if Tom the Blacksmith was available. ¡°I am sorry sir, but Tom does not just meet with anyone.¡± ¡°I have an introduction letter here from Miss Helen if that helps.¡± I could see him about to deny me again when a gruff voice from the back interrupted his actions. ¡°So you know Helen then lad.¡± It was a dwarf of huge proportions. By that I mean, he was built and covered in muscles that would make Schwarzenegger envious. He was still under 5 feet tall, but man was he intimidating. ¡°Yes sir. She is my mentor at Vulcan Academy for melee fighting and recommended your shop as the best place to get weaponry.¡± ¡°Well at least she remembered how good I am with weapons. So you¡¯re her prot¨¦g¨¦ then. I tell you what lad, if you can get her to visit me I will give you a 10% discount. If you can get me a date 25% off for the rest of your life.¡± Well it seems that Mr. Tom here has a thing for Miss Helen. I need to be careful here. ¡°Well sir if you know Miss Helen, then you know I will try my best but she is a strong and proud woman with a mind of her own. However, I will try my best to get her to visit. I do not even pretend I have some sort of influence with her that could get you a date.¡± Tom was quiet for a moment. ¡°Aye you are right lad. Even getting her to visit will be good. If you told her about the deal for a date she would likely skin both of us, so why don¡¯t we just forget that little bit.¡± ¡°Easily done sir. Now if you don¡¯t mind I am looking for three things, a set of short blades that can pierce through armor my scythes cannot. Second a quality spear to hold a monster at a distance. And finally a recommendation of a distance weapon other than my magic. I have realized that while magic is powerful it might not be the best solution to use in every situation.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I could see Tom¡¯s eyes get big as I spoke. ¡°You obviously have put some great thought into this and I have several ideas for you, follow me.¡± I followed Tom into a back room filled with weapons. They were hanging from the wall, piled on tables and shoved into barrels. There were weapons everywhere. It was pacifist¡¯s nightmare and a medieval weapon enthusiasts dream all rolled into one sharp and pointy place. In short it was awesome. ¡°Here is my collection of random weapons I have either made, discovered, or taken in trade of the years. I want you to spend some time looking through it. Wave them around, touch them, play with them, and find the ones that you have a connection with. Then I can customize a set like whatever type you find. These are just melee weapons. I will be working on my idea for your distance weapon in the next room. Take your time and join me when you find the right ones.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± I started wandering through the menagerie of deadly weapons. I occasionally reached out a hand and caressed anything I found interesting. I wanted them all. I knew I wouldn¡¯t be able to use them, heck I was not sure I even knew what half of them were. However, I was entranced by the sheer number and awesomeness on display. Eventually I found myself in front of the ¡°spear¡± section. I guess a more accurate term would be the section of pointy things on the end of sticks. Spears, halberds, No-Dachis, Pole Arms, every type of weapon I could think of that was at the end of a stick was here. I finally settled on a boar spear. This fulfilled all of the requirements I wanted and felt right in my hands. It would deal satisfying damage, and the cross bar would prevent the monster that was impaled from getting any closer to me. Done with spear selection I wandered over toward the swords. So many swords, how was I ever going to choose? I needed something strong, something that would penetrate armor. I started looking through all of the options. Longer swords were cool, but did not feel right for what I wanted. My weapon is something to use instead of magic. Not necessarily a primary weapon, but one that could serve as one if needed. I was used to using my two scythes so I decided I should have two of whatever I chose. I eventually settled on a version of the seax knife. This was a style of very thick knife that was very rugged and still was of decent length. Almost a short sword, but not quite. As I was about to pick up a second one I noticed a section I had not gone through yet. Between the hammers and axes was a section of military picks. That was perfect. That solid spike should be able to drive through anything. If it can¡¯t then the blunt end on the other side would crush it. I immediately picked up one and fell in love with it. This would be my weapon. I could wield it single or double handed. I will keep the seax knife for close in work or cutting throats. The spear would be kept for medium distance and keeping foes away. This beauty would be for when I just wanted to smash things and create destruction. Satisfied with my choices I headed toward the door that Tom went through. I couldn¡¯t wait to show him my choices and see what he was cooking up for my long distance weapon. When I entered the new room I realized I was in Tom¡¯s personal workshop. Blueprints and half-finished designs were scattered on tables and walls. In the center I saw Tom bent over something on a large table. ¡°Excuse me Mr. Tom. I have made some selections.¡± ¡°Excellent, let¡¯s see what you have.¡± I handed over the seax knife, boar spear and my military pick and explained my reasoning to Tom. ¡°Excellent choices and I think you have thought it out well. The knife we will make with a sheathe for your upper left arm. That way it will not get in the way of your own scythes. The spear will have to be kept in your inventory and called out when needed. That should work fine as it is not an instant use weapon. The pick we will make a partial sheathe sling for your back or thorax. We will have to experiment to see which works best. That just leaves your ranged weapon. This is what I propose to cover that.¡± He dramatically moved out of the way to show me a crossbow. It was larger than a pistol crossbow, but smaller than a traditional sized one. It looked ordinary, but if Tom was showing me it than it had to be special in some way. I just stared at it puzzled for a second. ¡°Alright Tom you got me. I know if you are showing me this it must be a masterpiece or breakthrough of some sort but all I can tell from my uneducated view is that it is a big pistol crossbow.¡± ¡°Excellent, that is exactly what I hoped for. If you can¡¯t tell then others won¡¯t be able to either. This may give you an extra edge with surprise someday. This lad is my C.ustom E.lemental C.rossbow all I.nclusive L.ight version. I call it C.E.C.I.L. for short.¡± ¡°That is an amazing name for a great crossbow, but I still do not know what it does other than something with the elements.¡± ¡°Well, it can shoot either regular bolts or if you can infuse your mana into it to shoot magic bolts.¡± ¡°Does that mean as long as I have mana I will have ammunition?¡± ¡°Exactly lad, and if you run out of mana you can always switch to regular crossbow bolts.¡± ¡°Is it just a magic arrow or will it have the attributes of the type of mana I put into it?¡± ¡°Well this is just a prototype so it only works with fire, ice, nature, and lightning magic right now.¡± ¡°That is still amazing though Tom. Are you sure I can have the prototype?¡± ¡°It is no problem. I have the plans and I can make another at any time. Just remember to get Miss Helen to visit.¡± ¡°Yes Sir.¡± The next two hours were spent customizing everything to my size requirements. When everything was said and done I had beautiful new weapons in custom sheathes, a magic crossbow, and was only out 50 gold coins and a promise to get Miss Helen to visit the weapons shop. I think I did pretty well today. I have all the supplies I need and now have the weapons to use in case my mana expires or in case my scythes cannot do damage. All that¡¯s left now is to pick up some lunch and then report for my afternoon training with Miss Helen. I only have 45 minutes until the start of the session. I wonder what she is going to have me do? Whatever happens I know it will be effective, I just want to know if I am going to survive it. 42 - Miss Helens Training Chapter 42 Miss Helen¡¯s Training I grabbed a quick bite to eat from some roadside vendors while making my way back to the academy. I arrived at the training fields next to the illusion arena ten minutes before 1 p.m. I was early, that should hopefully make a good impression. I started to look around and saw Teacher Sven walking towards me. ¡°Hello Mark, are you here to train?¡± ¡°Yes teacher Sven. I am to meet my mentor Miss Helen here at 2 p.m. for a training session.¡± ¡°Did you say Miss Helen?¡± ¡°Yes teacher Sven. She is to be my personal mentor in melee combat.¡± ¡°Well good luck with that lad, and I hope you survive.¡± What did he mean by that, and why is he moving away from me so quickly? It¡¯s like he just found out I was infected with the plague or something. I turn around and see a grinning Miss Helen behind me. ¡°Hello Miss Helen. It is good to see you. Should we get started?¡± ¡°Oh yes Mark we shall. I will have you whipped into shape in no time at all.¡± I was a little nervous at this point because when she said whipped into shape she somehow materialized a whip and snapped it while she said it. ¡°Um, what would you like me to do first ma¡¯am.¡± That¡¯s it, don¡¯t lose your cool and play it easy. ¡°Well before I can start teaching you I need to find out what your limits are. Only then can I design a schedule of training that will help you break through those limits. So first thing we are going to do is go for a little run.¡± Why does her smile suddenly look sadistic? What happened to the nice and generous Miss Helen that fed me and took me around shopping? ¡°Now Mark start running and don¡¯t stop until you collapse. If you stop before then my little friend here (she patted her whip) will encourage you to continue.¡± Oh no, what have I gotten myself into. I took off and Miss Helen was right behind me encouraging me every once in while too not slow down. By encouraging I mean whipping and swearing. It is like she is two different people. Dr. Jekyll and Miss Helen. She is the poster child for bi-polar disorder. Enough thinking I have to run faster. That whip hurts. A little over 2 hours later and somehow back at the training ground. Honestly, I have no idea how we got here. I know we did at least one lap around the city and went through numerous streets, but somehow right when I could run no more and collapsed we had run back onto the academy grounds. Helen is scary good at this training thing. The next hour was Miss Helen ¡°demonstrating¡± how weak my hand to hand skills were. Translation, she beat me black and blue. Thinking everything was over I started to stagger off, but no now she wanted to see my new weapons and how I would use them. Thus another hour of cause Mark pain while pretending it is training began. If I did not know that she would be able to catch me and beat me into the ground I would have tried to escape. Finally, Helen decided she had tortured me enough and I staggered over to a nearby bench and just collapsed on it. An indeterminate amount of time later I had regained enough self-awareness to teleport myself home and managed to eat and drink a little before collapsing once again in my room. Note to self. I need to feed my tree mana in the mornings BEFORE I get beat to death in the afternoons. There is no way in heck that I can physically move myself out to my tree of life and feed it mana right now. I know why I got so many pitying looks when I told people that I was going to be trained by Miss Helen. Why didn¡¯t anyone tell me? I can¡¯t even switch teachers, mostly because I am afraid Miss Helen would find me and punish me somehow. Calm down Mark today was just a day to show you who was boss. She can¡¯t be this bad very day can she? Besides today is Friday. I don¡¯t even have to go back until Monday. I can use this weekend to recover and start towards my first dungeon. That was the last coherent thought I had and sweet oblivion overtook my consciousness. I did not wake up until almost noon the next day. Everything hurt. I mean I am a bug, how is it even possible for my exoskeleton shell to hurt. That woman is evil. I stumbled my way through breakfast which was actually now lunch due to my waking up so late and then teleported out to my tree of life. I relaxed my body against the tree and started pouring mana into it. My cycle of mana and rest went on for the rest of the day. By that night my tree had gained another eight or nine meters in height and I was feeling better. Tomorrow would be some last minute maintenance and checking around the embassy, another session with the tree and then sleep. I would set out in the morning after 2 hours of mana feeding on Monday morning towards the nearest dungeon on the headmaster¡¯s list. I would set up a teleport point and then be back for the next round of Miss Helen¡¯s abuse in the afternoon.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The rest of the weekend went surprisingly smoothly. The tree of life gained another 5 meters of height on Sunday and the growth was definitely slowing down. Monday morning rolled around soon enough and I found myself jogging East towards my first dungeon clearing assignment. I managed to get what I estimated to be halfway there before I decided I better find a teleport point and get back. I could not be late for my training. If Miss Helen was that brutal when I was on time I shudder to think what would happen to me if I was late. I picked some very prominent landmarks and then teleported straight to the training grounds. I was just about to eat the lunch that I had packed into my inventory when I heard the voice. ¡°Oh good Mark you are early. That means we will be able to get a little more practice in today.¡± Did I screw up. Was coming early the wrong move to make. I can¡¯t escape now so I will just have to live with the consequences. ¡°Good afternoon Miss Helen. What is the schedule for today?¡± ¡°Well after seeing your performance last week I have decided to make each day different. Mondays will be hand to hand combat training. Wednesday will be weapons training. Finally, Fridays will be general fitness training. That should give you the weekends to recover enough to continue the next week.¡± I shuddered after hearing this. ¡°How long will this training continue Miss Helen? I do need to travel occasionally for dungeons the headmaster assigned me.¡± ¡°I do realize that you are primarily a caster at heart so I know you will never dedicate yourself fully to the martial way. So I have decided with the headmaster¡¯s approval that you can stop each of my training sessions when you reach a specific goal or milestone.¡± ¡°I see Miss Helen, and what would these end goals be? I think I should know so I have something to strive for.¡± ¡°Very good Mark, enthusiasm and goal setting is very important. You can stop hand to hand training when you can beat a level 175 monk class in the illusion arena. You can stop the weapon training when you beat a level 200 warrior in the illusion arena. Finally, you can end your physical training when you accomplish the other two conditions.¡± ¡°I assume that magic is forbidden in these contests.¡± ¡°Of course Mark. It would not be a test of your skills if you can use your magic.¡± It was at that point in my short reincarnated life that I realized I was doomed. There was one small ray of hope at the end of this painful tunnel though. If I survived this training I would be a whole lot closer to my ultimate goal of revenge. I mean if I can defeat high level opponents in melee combat when my true specialty lies in magic than my fighting ability should be top notch. I wonder if I can even reach Miss Helen¡¯s goals. Oh well I have the feeling that I really don¡¯t even have a say in it. It seems like I will either finish or die trying. The next three and a half hours were a study in pain. It seems that Miss Helen believes that beating me to death will teach me something. Just before I collapsed she stopped the beating and started to show me what she called poses. Poses seemed to be this world¡¯s equivalent of katas or stances in martial arts. Shouldn¡¯t she have taught me these before beating me half to death? I dutifully paid attention and committed them to memory. The faster I learned these the faster I could stop the one sided beatings. The hard part was that Miss Helen could only show me the bi-pedal stances. I would have to figure out the changes needed for my Thri-Keen form myself. I am going to have to practice twice as long, as I will need to learn both sets for when I switch bodies. Miss Helen eventually released me from practice and I immediately teleported to my tree of life. I needed to feed it and think about my scheduling for the future. I started to transfer my mana and took a seat underneath the tree. It seems that I will need to practice probably an hour in Thri-Keen form and an hour in humanoid form to learn these poses. I am assuming that Wednesday¡¯s training will be similar. That means that four hours each day should be spent in training. If I start at six a.m. and stop at 10 a.m. that would give me two hours to travel on Monday¡¯s, Wednesday¡¯s and Friday¡¯s. That means I could do actual dungeon dives on Tuesday¡¯s and Thursday¡¯s and the weekend. I may be here at the academy longer than I thought unless I could speed up practice time or speed up dungeon runs. Well I can fly, but I was hoping not to show off that ability. It looks like I am going to have to use it now if I want to be able to get everywhere I need to be and accomplish all I need to do. With my immediate future planned I felt much better and finished my meditation and transfer of mana to the tree of life. I think I will start my plant shaping of this guy when it reaches 50 meters tall. Wait a second, I can¡¯t actually practice the humanoid poses until I have a secure base to keep the humanoid body in. Think Mark, I can just use the old tree house until I have plant shaped one here. I spent the next day travelling and dungeon diving into my first one star dungeon. I was able to clear this low level dungeon completely in only 2 hours. Well this may change a few things. I can probably finish off the one through three star dungeons rather quickly and slowly work my way through the next sets when I am ready. I immediately set out for the next one star dungeon and traveled until later than I probably should have considering that I had Miss Helen¡¯s training the next day. I was correct in my prediction about Wednesday¡¯s training it was a repeat of Monday. Miss Helen beat me half to death with weapons this time and then used the last half hour to show me some tricks and poses. This means that my schedule planning is probably going to work. I managed to teleport my beaten body to the tree and resumed transferring as I planned just a bit more. As long as I survive Friday¡¯s training I should have my schedule for the future figured out. Other than being even more exhausted than Monday and Wednesday, Friday¡¯s training was about what I expected. My plans should work and my new routine for training will start on Monday. This weekend I will knock out another one star dungeon, create a new humanoid body, and just prepare. I think I will actually go for a wood elf body as my humanoid counterpart for training. If everything else has been fairly accurate than the stereotype of the flexibility of the elves should hold true also. I am hoping this flexibility will help with learning the poses Miss Helen shows me. 43 - Getting Stronger Chapter 43 Getting Stronger The weekend was spent just as I had planned. I teleported to my old tree house base and fortified it just a little more. Then I created a new wood elf body and teleported back into the tree house base. I would leave it here when not practicing. Since I would be practicing every day with very rarely any down time I should be able to feed and clean it and keep it alive. Now all that there was to do was to endure the training. So I did just that, for almost a year. One year. It took one year for me to feel confident enough to challenge for hand to hand combat in the illusionary arena. It would have taken me a lot longer, but after three months of training I had an idea. One that changed everything in the way that I trained. For no particular reason I was thinking about when I was still just a virus that day and how I had programmed my other viruses using my system interface. Then it hit me. If I could program the viruses, could I program the bodies that I had also? If I could then I could have it train in the poses all day long and take care of itself. Then I would train twice as fast. My idea actually worked, or at least it worked close enough that I drastically sped up my training. I was able to program my wood elf body to practice all of the poses and weapon forms I had learned inside the tree house. I of course had to make a much larger area for it to practice in. I was also able to program it to eat food I left for it. I still had to teleport in everyday though. It seemed that while the wood elf body practiced the knowledge or muscle memory was not transferred into my consciousness until I took over that body. This still cut down on my practice time considerably and I was able to travel more and have a little bit of free time. I had tried switching to other humanoid bodies to see if there was a difference in ability but I could not really tell a difference. I also did not seem to be able to program more than one extra body to practice and take care of itself. There went my dreams of having a giant clone army. I was also very close to finishing my four star dungeon runs for the headmaster. I had conquered two already and I was ready to try the third and final one this weekend. After that all I had to do was solo a single five star dungeon and I was free from the headmaster¡¯s tasks. I am really hoping I can pass today¡¯s hand to hand combat test to free up some more time. Things are definitely getting harder as my level increases. Speaking of which, I haven¡¯t checked that in a few months. I wonder what my progress looks like right now? Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 126 (Transcendent) Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 206 Strength: 77 (85) Agility: 75 (85) Intelligence: 80 (100) Wisdom: 70 (90) Constitution: 75 (100) Perception: 62 (70) MP: 10000 out of 10000 HP: 1000 out of 1000 MP/Regen: 900% per hour HP/Regen: 100% per hour
Miss Helen¡¯s killer training regimen has actually boosted my Strength, Agility, Constitution and even Perception. I expected the first three, but the perception boost is a nice addition. I guess it is from trying to predict where she is going to strike me during our beat down sessions. My title hasn¡¯t changed though. Oh that¡¯s right I have to use my points first. Transcendent is every stat above 50, God-Like is every stat above 100, and Demi-God requires every stat above 100 and a spark. I still have not figured out what a spark is yet. I will need to figure that out before I leave. If I put 30 in every stat and then load another 10 in both intelligence and wisdom to keep them high for my casting that will leave me with 6 leftover that I can use later if needed. That sounds good. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 126 (Hero) Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 206 Strength: 107 (115) Agility: 105 (115) Intelligence: 120 (140) Wisdom: 110 (130) Constitution: 105 (130) Perception: 92 (100) MP: 14000 out of 14000 HP: 1300 out of 1300 MP/Regen: 1300% per hour HP/Regen: 130% per hour
Interesting, all my stats have reached at least 100 with my bonuses at seems to have changed my title to hero. Yep I feel ready to try the level 150 monk class challenge. I had waited this long to assign my points for a reason. If I felt confident with my old stats, then more power should clinch the win. I head over to the illusion arena and see Miss Helen, Teacher Sven, the Headmaster, and a few other instructors waiting.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind Mark, but I invited some others to witness your first challenge.¡± ¡°That is fine Miss Helen. I believe I am ready to take your first challenge. I request to fight a level 150 monk in hand to hand combat.¡± I could see a little smile form on Miss Helen¡¯s face. ¡°Very well Mark. Please step into the arena.¡± I moved into the center of the arena and waited calmly. Win or lose I had improved tremendously over this last year. I had a few new spells and I had earned a lot of money from the dungeons. I knew for a fact that I was stronger in melee and magical combat. Now I just needed to prove it to the rest of the world. The arena around me shimmered and suddenly the only person I could see was a bald wood elf about 20 meters away from me. Inspect.
Illusionary Wood Elf Monk Level 150 Magic: Unknown
I don¡¯t know if my luck was finally kicking in or if this was some sort of hint that Miss Helen knew about my secret, but this might be easier than I thought. I don¡¯t mean that I would easily pass, but I definitely had an advantage fighting against a wood elf. Since my other body was a wood elf I had an in depth knowledge of what exactly they could do and what to watch out for. I bowed to my opponent and got ready for a good fight. I decided that I should try and take the offensive from the very beginning. I charge my opponent and sent off a flurry of blows all focused on the extremities. I had discovered over time that not only were the joints weak on elves, but the ends of the arms and legs were more brittle, but better designed for explosive speed. If I can cripple at least one limb rather quickly it should make for a shorter fight. I exchanged blows with the illusionary monk for almost three minutes before I notice he was favoring his left arm just a bit. I started to concentrate as many blows on it as possible and in another two minutes I was rewarded with the popping sound of a broken bone. Since my opponent was down to only one offensive limb now the rest of the match was less dramatic. It may have taken another five minutes to finish him off, but I feel that it was time well spent. I was able to hone my skills against another good opponent who wasn¡¯t Miss Helen. I mean I rarely if ever was able to land a blow in our ¡°practices¡± against that woman. After the defeat of my opponent I was greeted to clapping from those who attended and witnessed the event. ¡°Congratulations Mark. Monday¡¯s are now your own. You have fulfilled my request for hand to hand combat. However, I still expect to see you on Wednesday¡¯s and Friday¡¯s.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°How is your progress on your dungeon diving challenge Mark?¡± ¡°Headmaster I will be challenging my 3rd and final four-star dungeon this weekend. After that I believe I will continue with my training and four-star dungeon diving for at least 6 months before I even think I will be close to ready for a five-star dungeon.¡± ¡°You are progressing much faster than many of us expected or hoped Mark. Keep up the good work.¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± With this final exchange the group watching my performance slowly broke up. The sad part was this group of teachers and professors and a few older senior students were the only people I really knew at the academy. I had not made any real friends and most of my interactions were with people I could call acquaintances at best. I had gone back and improved my weapons with Tom twice who kept giving me discounts as Miss Helen seemed to stop by and talk to him occasionally. I saw the head master every three months or for a special occasion like today to report in and that was it. I lived off campus and had no real peers at my strength. I had a few servants that kept the embassy clean, but even then they were usually there when I was not and we had little interaction. I sighed a little and then teleported back into my new sanctuary. Over this last year I had kept feeding my tree of life mana and my little seedling had definitely grown up. I have been slowly turning my tree of life into a last stand bastion. There is no way to enter except through teleportation and no one even knows that I have hollowed out a surprising amount of the tree. After all this use I have brought my plant and elemental shaping skills to a whole new level. I have created semi-permanent magic lamps that only need to be fed mana every 3 or 4 months. I have a cold room from storing meat and even a miniature garden. I feel like some sort of bizarre insect squirrel hybrid sometimes with as much as I have done and stored in this tree. I believe that if I had too I could survive for at least 6 months and probably closer to a year or more with the supplies that I have stored in the tree. If you add in my inventory I have nearly 18 month¡¯s worth of supplies and I have the ability to teleport out to get more. That was also something I had worked on this last year. If there was a decent sized village or town within half a day of any dungeon I was travelling to I stopped by and set up a teleporting point. I spread all of my supply purchases out amongst all of the different towns and villages so no one would suspect that I was stockpiling. I do not know where this behavior was coming from but I figured a sanctuary full of supplies that no one knew about was always a good thing to have. My most immediate concern was the upcoming dungeon, but after finishing two of them I was not really worried. What I really wanted to know was how to get to the next level of power? I had read in many different books the levels of known power. First is transcendent, next is hero, and third is demi-god. Nothing else was written or at least it was not written where I had access to it. It only makes sense that there would be a god stage of some sort after demi-god but it was never mentioned in any book. My best guess is that Miss Helen and the headmaster are both either high level hero¡¯s or low level demi-gods in power. Nothing else made sense. Some of the books I read mentioned that only certain individuals could ascend beyond hero status and break into the realm of demi-gods though. What little information I had been able to collect said some sort of catalyst was need to throw off the last vestiges of mortality. The catalyst was often called a divine spark or just spark. I had no idea what it was or where to look for it. I wanted to be at the peak of my power in the academy before I consulted with Miss Helen or the headmaster. I had run into several cultural landmines over the last year and was able to explain them away with my raised by a hermit story, but I could tell that it was wearing thin. I was afraid that asking about more power and finding a sparks might cross some line. Especially because they may be looking for the same thing. What if they did not want any more competition? I had to be ready just in case. Thus training and more training until I was at least sure I could escape with my life if not beat Miss Helen and the headmaster. I did not really think that they would attack me over a question, but then again I never expected an all powerful overbeing would personally kill me in my last world either. Better safe than sorry. 44 - Training and New Spells Chapter 44 Training and New Spells The rest of the week and my final four-star dungeon dive went off without a hitch. Now all that was left was to improve my weapon skills enough to pass the next test of Miss Helen and to solo a five-star dungeon. Too go along with this I have been thinking about some new spells. I have added a few basic utility spells to meet the headmaster¡¯s requirement of a new spell every three months, but I have not created a new offensive spell in some time. I have improved the existing ones which has helped immensely, but I feel I need more. In most stories I remember the main character always has some sort of ultimate move or spell to unleash. I do not know if I am the main character in a story or not, but I really feel that I should have at least one if not more super powerful spells that I can unleash to surprise others. I definitely will not show these to the headmaster. I think I will travel and set up teleportation points at a few more four-star dungeons for the experience and when I come across a good deserted area I will make sure to mark it so I can use it as a spell creation area. I have a few ideas that I think will work out well. I am actually rather looking forward to seeing what will happen. If these spell ideas of mine work then the sheer destruction they are going to cause is going to be phenomenal. I am getting tingly just thinking about it. Over the next month I have not dived into a dungeon once, but I have set up teleportation points at 15 ¡°normal¡± dungeons and five ¡°field¡± dungeons. The field dungeons are not actually dungeons at all but rather areas that have been overwhelmed by one or more monster species and thus are too dangerous for the other ¡°sentient¡± races to live. Every few years one of the kingdoms tries to claim some of the land back. They usually succeed for a time. The problem is they may easily kill of the outside edges, but unless they have a geographic feature they can reinforce to hold out against a counter attack the gains they make are usually overwhelmed within 10 years of the reconquering. Most of the field dungeons are rated at three-stars on the edges and then progressively are rated at higher stars the further you travel in to the contested areas. I have a plan though. I am going to run the ten four-star dungeons in about two weeks. I think that I get experience not only from the death of other beings, but from rising to any pressure that occurs in my life also. I have received more experience than I can logically account for since I have been attending the academy and I can only attribute that to working with Miss Helen. So if I push myself and go from dungeon to dungeon without a real large break it should increase the amount of experience that I receive. There is also something else that has been brewing in the back of my mind for a while that I might try out for a large boost in experience. After I have conquered the ten dungeons I will then create my own giant spells of doom. I have three great ideas for those. If they work out, then I will start working on conquering some of the field dungeon areas. If I use the new spells, then I should be able to kill large swathes of monsters and reclaim a lot of territory for the different races. I do not know what shape the land would be in once my spells hit, so I will not announce it before what I am doing. If it works out and the land is still usable then I can always claim credit afterwards. As soon as I finish up with Miss Helen¡¯s Friday Exercise regimen of pain I teleport myself back into my tree of life sanctuary. People have been starting to comment on my tree lately. I guess it is one of the larger ones outside of the elven territories. Apparently it is the fastest growing one on record. I find that strange as I think a nation or even large city or tribe could easily transfer much more mana than I have over the last year to year and a half. Maybe the transfer skill is rarer than I thought or it isn¡¯t usually paired with a large mana pool. Whatever the case may be, my tree has become a landmark. I don¡¯t know if that is going to be a good thing or bad thing in the future. It might bring a little too much attention to my activities, but it is a little late to regret now. It is not like I can shrink it at this point. My tree is easily 200 meters tall and still growing. You have to love magic. Without it this tree would never even come close to reaching this size, let alone in just 18 months. Once I have recovered from my training session I gather everything I need and teleport to dungeon number 1 on my list. Welcome to Mines of the Minotaur. This dungeon is rated 4 out of 10 by the dungeon guild. Stay safe. I decided on completing this dungeon first because I have always been bad with directions. I figured minotaur meant maze, and maze meant I would get lost. Six hours later I teleported back to the entrance after defeating the main boss. That was easier than I expected. The entire dungeon was strength based and rather poor against magic. I breezed right through it. First one down, onto number two. Welcome to Lightning Lizard Caverns. This dungeon is rated 4.5 out of 10 by the dungeon guild. Stay safe. I wanted to do this one because it was one of the few that was rated at a half star. I think dungeons evolve over time, becoming stronger. This dungeon is obviously in the process from upgrading from a four-star to a five-star dungeon. I thought it would be an excellent test to see how close I am to being able to finish a five-star dungeon. Well that was disappointing. I struggled with this dungeon immensely when I first started. Everything in it had a lightning shield you had to break through before you could damage it. If you damaged it when you were to close then lightning would jump from the monsters shield to you and electrocute you for some damage on top of whatever the monster did. I was about to turn around and try this dungeon again after I had gotten stronger when I discovered the weakness of this dungeon. Water. The monsters could not hurt themselves with lightning, but if they came into contact with water they grounded their shields out and it took a while for them to regenerate.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I found this nugget of information out by accident when I was fighting a lightning lizard level 110 and it stepped into a larger puddle. Poof instantly its shield was gone. After that I exploited the heck out of this weakness and just shot water balls at everything until the shields shorted out and then killed them easily. It even worked with the boss, a level 200 Lightning drake and its brood of followers. It was a glaring weakness that once discovered made this 4.5 star dungeon much easier. I think this will be my farming dungeon if I need quick funds in the future. Good drops, higher cores, and easy to exploit once you know the trick. I managed the rest of my run of dungeons without any trouble. Level four-star is definitely not a challenge anymore. I should probably work on level five-star dungeons. Even if I finish them I do not have to tell anyone. I can just continue on and accumulate experience until I feel that I am ready. Next weekend is going to be spell training. The week after that I can try a five-star dungeon. Then another run on four-star dungeons and after that I can alternate until I feel ready for the field dungeons. Yep that plan should work. After surviving another week of Miss Helen¡¯s gruesome training it is time to finally try out some new spells. I haven¡¯t really tried to create anything new and significant in a while. I just upgraded the older ones as I got stronger. This is going to be fun. I teleport out to the Heroneous Desert which is south of where Vulcan academy is by over three weeks of normal travel. This should be a perfect place to create and test out my new large area of destruction spells. First up is my version of a cluster bomb. This spell will be slower, but I think its potential for destruction should be high. I imagine myself pouring mana into several floating orbs, then I add the image of me scattering the orbs around a large area. I imagine that nothing happens with the orbs until I give a command then they react like a fuel air explosion bomb. I cycle this image several times emphasizing the multiple orbs, coverage of an area and the concept that one type of mana provides fuel, one type provides lift, and one type detonates it on command. I bring a combination of nature for fuel, fire to light it off, and wind mana to float it and make it stronger. After cycling these images and feelings for long enough that I had thought I had failed and was about to end the session I am rewarded with a new spell.
You have created the spell Cluster Bomb.
Inspect Cluster Bomb.
Cluster Bomb: This spell when cast creates one floating exploding orb 50 cm across for every 100 mana put into the spell. The spell orbs last for 1 hour and will explode upon command. Each orb does an immense amount of destruction in a ten meter radius and lesser damage as the distance increases.
Excellent. This is very close to what I was hoping for. If I create ten orbs and then stagger them out 10 meters apart I can destroy everything in about 100 square meters or about 3 football fields of an area. Of course I have to create and then float them into place, but if no one knows what they are or if it is at night and I have time, then the potential destruction and area of effect will be huge. Next up is my sudden impact kinetic strike of doom. Ok, I am going to have to work on the name obviously. This time I imagine myself pouring mana into a handful of large pebbles, then I add the image of me tossing them high into the air. I imagine a short time passing and then the stones which have grown to enormous size suddenly accelerate and launch themselves at the ground in a large area in front of me. I cycle this image several times emphasizing the growth of the stones and then the acceleration from on high and the devastating impact. I decide that a combination of creation, earth, wind, and destruction mana together would be a good source for this spell. Soon enough
You have created the spell Stone Shower.
Inspect Stone Shower.
Stone Shower: This spell when cast on small stones allows the stones to grow in size and accelerate at a great speed towards a target area in front of the caster. The spell costs 1000 MP for each 100 square meters impacted.
Fantastic, if I go all out this thing will cause devastation of over more than one square kilometer. Admittedly that will drain most of my mana, but the spell should be awesome. One more spell to go and then I can try all three. I imagine myself pouring mana into a low level cloud that slowly turns into an impenetrable fog surrounding me. Then I add the image of animals getting sick and poisoned, even dissolving in this fog. Just for extra kicks I add an image of electricity dancing through the fog. I cycle this image several times emphasizing the fog, poison and lightning. I bring a combination of nature and destruction mana for the poison, air and wind mana for the fog, and finally yellow lightning mana.
You have created the spell Shocking Poisonous Fog.
Inspect Shocking Poisonous Fog.
Shocking Poisonous Fog: This spell when cast creates a deadly poisonous fog that crackles with electricity. The spell costs 5000 MP for each hour of operation and covers an area of 500 meters cubed. Caster may choose to either double the area covered or double the duration for double the mana cost.
This was much better than I expected. At first glance this spell wouldn¡¯t be able to cover as large an area as the others. However, I notice and am going to exploit two loopholes. I can keep adding mana to it to make it bigger and the area is cubed. Why is that important? If I lower the fog to only 100 meters high then the area it covers is five times as big. If I lower it to 10 meters which should be more than enough in most situations I can create a poisonous shocking fog that is 50 times larger. That is 25 square kilometers before I double the size with mana. If I get enough mana, eventually this spell could cover an area of hundreds of square kilometers and kill everything inside of it. This is just insane and I like it. 45 - End of Training Chapter 45 End of Training I had to test these spells out ASAP. I will go in order of creation. First up is cluster bomb. This should be the easiest to recover from. I create five floating orbs that just seem to pulse and are otherwise clear or maybe a pale blue shade. I mentally have them all float about 25 meters from me and then space themselves out around 10 meters apart. Here we go in 3..2..1.. KABOOM! I am knocked on my butt and see a little mushroom cloud. I wonder how much larger I can make this. Wait calm down Mark. Let¡¯s inspect what you have already done. I rush over to ground zero and feel the heat radiating from the now glassy sand. Alright it was a high enough temperature to melt some of the sand into glass. There are five little craters instead of one large crater. I bet if I put them a little closer together I could get one large crater and then disguise that there was more than one exploding source. The area covered is fairly large. I was 15 meter outside the blast zone and still got knocked over from the explosion. More orbs equal more power. Although it is not instant as it takes the accumulation of several orbs and then placing them around, I am very satisfied with my first test. Next to try out is stone shower. I grab a handful of gravel and toss it high into the air while aiming for a spot about 200 meters in front of me. I better play this spell a little safer and aim out a little farther. The last one knocked me on my butt and I think this one is even more powerful. I concentrate on the spell and feel a very large amount leave me. Ten seconds nothing, 20 seconds I see shadows and hear a noise and look up. What is that? Are those the rocks I threw up for the spell? They seem to have gone up higher than I thought. Right at about 30 seconds I could see stones the size of cars and busses start crashing into the sand dunes 200 meters in front of me. The sheer amount of dirt and sand kicked up is amazing. A giant sand storm seems to rolling towards me. I brace myself and wait out the debris from the falling rocks. Time to go and see what happened. So mush debris was kicked up from the firsts impact that I could not really see well. It is important to knot that it takes about 30 seconds for this spell to impact the ground and each stone may impact close in time, but there is a little variation about when they hit the ground. As I approach the impact zone my jaw falls open. This is amazing. Each stone sits in a crater about 5 meters deep for the car sized ones and almost 10 meters deep for the bus size ones. Several craters overlap as they hit at slightly different times. Anything caught in this stone shower is going to have a very bad day. I think I have caused enough of a disturbance here. I need to move to a new area before I try out my final spell. I decide quickly and teleport to the Western Swamp. I found this area while searching for a dungeon a few months ago. This will be a better test of poison shocking fog. There are at least some animals living here, so I can check how deadly the poison and electricity actually is. First though I need to just relax and regain my mana. That stone shower depleted me quite a bit and the teleport after almost drained me completely. I decided to just stop and make some lunch and let my magic fill up while I was cooking and eating. I actually only need about ten minutes of down time to fill up, but I might as well take a break and eat while I wait. After some quick reheated stew from my inventory I was feeling like a new mantis and decided that I was ready to test out my shocking poison fog. I decide that I will go for a fog bank 100 meters high covering 5000 square meters and cast the spell in front of me into the swamp. It was kind of creepy yet beautiful to watch. Almost like a horror movie. The fog slowly developed over about 60 seconds to two minutes and when it reached critical mass electricity started to jump around in the fog lighting it up in a very beautiful but deadly manner. I could actually hear a few of the closer birds and larger insects perish and crash into the soggy ground. I was originally surrounded by a ton of sounds. Birds chirping, insects buzzing, frogs calling, among others but now the whole area is as silent as a grave except for the occasional crackle of electricity. This test worked well, but the combination of poison and electricity is more deadly than I thought. I also forgot to take into consideration that this lasted an hour. I need to come back later, because it will only look suspicious if I am waiting around here. I teleport back to my tree of life hide out and start planning. I could probably level up right now and possibly beat the weapon portion of my training with Miss Helen, but I do not feel like I am strong enough to go out search for what I need to actually make it to the demi-god level. I am not even sure what the demi-god level is yet. I just feel that I need to be stronger. My biggest fear is that there are people who might target me when I am no longer a student. I would be strong but definitely not elite. I mean I am pretty sure I can complete the five-star dungeon challenge the headmaster gave me right now. Even if I beat it though, there are still five more levels of dungeon. I realize that the dungeons are rated on parties of ten people completing them. So that means that I could probably be in an eight or nine-star dungeon clearing group if I teamed up with people. The issue with that is that I do not want to rely on others. So I need to be strong enough that I can clear at least six or seven-star dungeons solo. That should put me in the top 1% of known dungeoneers and give me some reasonable comfort that I can protect myself from others that might want to exploit or hurt me. I am pretty sure that with my current stats I can solo a five-star dungeon with some difficulty. So if I train with Miss Helen and solo five-stars for six months I should collect enough experience to reach a level I could solo six-star or seven-star dungeons. After the level up I will pass Miss Helen¡¯s weapons test and then try a few six and seven-star dungeons before ¡°officially¡± passing the headmaster¡¯s test and soloing a five star and turning it in to graduate. After waiting for 3 hours just to be on the safe side I teleported back to the Western Swamp. The fog is gone and it is still very quiet. I start walking into the outskirts of where my poisonous cloud had been for an hour. I could see several smaller minnows, amphibians, bugs and birds floating dead in the waters of the swamp. There were even a few larger animals. It looks like it is very efficient. Most things in the swamp probably could escape into the water, but if they came up for air or anything else within that hour than they died. I teleported back to my base secure in the knowledge that I had not one but three large scale destructive spells. In fact, the poisonous mist might prove useful in dungeons. I could fill caverns and tunnels up with the poisonous fog and just wait for everything to die. It¡¯s not cheating if it makes me stronger and I don¡¯t get caught. Alright launch operation see me struggle. I can¡¯t struggle too much, just enough to buy some more time for me to level up. Six months have passed and I have decided that I am going to leave no matter what. I am pretty sure Miss Helen has caught on to my struggling ploy. For the past three weeks my workouts have gotten progressively harder. I think she is trying to get me to finish. I set the challenge for the weapons master for tomorrow and I will turn in my five-star dungeon proof at that time also. I have cleared 12 five-star dungeons in the last six months and numerous four-star ones. I was able to get most of the way through a six-star solo before having to evacuate. I am as ready as I can be except for one thing. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 151 (Hero) Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 131 Strength: 107 (115) Agility: 105 (115) Intelligence: 120 (140) Wisdom: 110 (130) Constitution: 105 (130) Perception: 92 (100) MP: 14000 out of 14000 HP: 1300 out of 1300 MP/Regen: 1300% per hour HP/Regen: 130% per hour
Wow my grinding got me further than I thought. I should put 20 points in everything and then throw the extra 10 into intelligence for extra mana. That should work great. Status without Bonuses or Skills. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 151 (Hero) Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 1 Strength: 127 (135) Agility: 125 (135) Intelligence: 150 (170) Wisdom: 130 (150) Constitution: 125 (150) Perception: 112 (120) MP: 17000 out of 17000 HP: 1500 out of 1500 MP/Regen: 1500% per hour HP/Regen: 150% per hour
Once again I had a group come to watch me with my final challenge for Miss Helen. I stepped into the arena and 15 minutes later stepped out a winner against a level 175 dwarven weaponmaster. Once I figured out that he was slower than me, I just went with hit and run tactics and wore the construct down until I could deal real damage. Just like before, I was able to cripple a limb, and once that happened it was all over. ¡°Congratulations Mark on your win. Please join me and Miss Helen in my office.¡± ¡°Yes headmaster.¡± I dutifully followed the headmaster and Miss Helen towards his office. I was a little concerned, but reasoned that this was probably a discussion about moving on or what to do after school. When we arrived the headmaster gestured to some chairs. I politely waited for Miss Helen to choose her seat and then sat down myself. ¡°Mark I believe that you have already conquered a five-star dungeon on your own. Would you like to turn in your materials and graduate at this time from the Vulcan Academy?¡± ¡°Yes headmaster I believe I have achieved what I came for here at the academy and should be looking to move on soon. I do have a few questions that I hope that you or Miss Helen could answer for me though.¡± ¡°Easy enough, we also wanted to talk to you about your future plans. Your skill Mark has made you one of the strongest people within a 1,000 miles. Now don¡¯t get me wrong, there will always be someone stronger so keep striving to do better, but you are right in that we can no longer provide what you need here at the academy.¡± ¡°Thank you for your praise headmaster, I am very conflicted on what to do next. I do not feel that I am strong enough yet and while I can dungeon dive I feel that dungeons alone will not help me reach the next level power I desire.¡± ¡°Very astute of you Mark. Many reach the hero ranks and never progress. There are several reasons for this. First off is that they just stop trying. Another reason is that to progress past Hero level is very difficult. Your level may keep going up, but at a certain point, which I think you are close to now, you hit a cap in skills or attributes.¡± ¡°I have never heard of a skill or attribute cap sir. What is it?¡± ¡°Without progressing to the next level of power you will never be able to take your base stats past 150. This does not include any divine blessings or other extra bonuses you pick up from gear or other sources.¡± I really was almost at the attribute cap. Another 26 levels and I would stop being able to put my attributes anywhere. That should only be another 6 months to a year. I have got to find out about the higher level. I can¡¯t stop the process now. I know I am not ready to meet and fight the Overbeing yet. I know I have gotten strong, but I am not where I need to be yet. ¡°If I may ask sir, what does it take to get to the next level. I have read something about a spark, but I cannot find anything other than the name.¡± ¡°You research better than most if you even found the name of the spark. Quite simply put a spark is a large concentration of magical energy that can spark a transformation in your body and skills and evolve it into the next level.¡± ¡°How much magical energy sir?¡± Helen spoke up at this point. ¡°It takes about 100,000 mana for each affinity that you possess.¡± 100,000 mana and I have all affinities. That means I would need 1,000,000 mana. That is a terrifying amount. ¡°How is this mana collected?¡± ¡°That is the easy part. Level 8 dungeons drop mana jewels that can hold 100,000 mana. Level 9 drop jewels that hold 150,000 mana and level 10 dungeons drop mana jewels that can hold 250,000 mana. The hard part is filling the jewels with mana.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why would that be the hard part? Even if it takes some time you would just have to transfer a little bit of your mana a day until you reach the limit.¡± When they heard me say this both the headmaster and Miss Helen laughed. ¡°I knew it. You have the transfer mana skill don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes, is that strange?¡± ¡°Mark, that is one of the rarest skills a person can have. What level is yours at?¡± ¡°Sir all my skills are at max level thanks to your training and Miss Helen¡¯s.¡± I could see their jaws drop. Ok, maybe this wasn¡¯t such a normal thing. I heard Miss Helen muttering I guess that explains why his tree of life is so big. Dang it, did I do something that could tip off others to how abnormal I am? How can I fix this? Before I could even think on it the headmaster spoke once again. ¡°Mark don¡¯t ever tell anybody else that you have maximum skills let alone more than one. I am not even going to ask how many you have, it might make me cry. Most people cannot get a skill over level 5. Those rare people that can max out a skill are legends. Miss Helen is a dual max skill holder in hand to hand combat and sword fighting. When she retired from active dungeon diving there were only two other known max skill holders. I was one, I have the max skill mana manipulation which is one of the reasons I am good enough with magic to be the headmaster of this academy. I also have the mana transfer skill at level 3 and it only allows me to transfer 100 mana every 15 minutes.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t see the problem sir. While it may take longer, and there are few people who have the skill, the jewels should still be easily filled over time.¡± Miss Helen chimed in again. ¡°You would be right except for one thing that you don¡¯t know Mark. A jewel will only store mana in 10,000 unit chunks. Each unit has to be done in under an hour also. Do you realize how hard it is to find enough people and get them together to be able to transfer that amount in only an hour. The headmaster himself can only transfer 400 mana units in that amount of time.¡± ¡°That is right Mark. Luckily the transfer skill amount jumps up rather quickly or no one would be able to do it. Level 4 transfers 250, level 5 transfers 1,000. This means three level 5 mana transfer specialists can create one 100,000 jewel in about ten hours. The problem there is there are only two level 5 transfer specialists in this kingdom and about 25 level 4 transfer specialists.¡± ¡°The demand far outstrips the supply of full jewels. Luckily some of the level ten dungeon drops come pre-filled with a certain amount of man or no one but kings would be able to afford jewels to try and power up.¡± ¡°Wait a minute Miss Helen. You just said try. I thought if you had a full power jewel you could just level up.¡± ¡°It is not that easy. A smaller jewel gives you about a 10% chance of breaking past the barrier. Remember that the affinity of the mana jewel also has to match your affinities also. If you have no affinity like myself, you can use any type. However, this means it is even harder for magic users to power up, especially if they have multiple element types like yourself. A single 100,000 mana jewel usually starts at one million gold coins at auction and sells for around two to five million dependent on the type of mana.¡± ¡°Can I just buy empty jewels and fill them myself?¡± ¡°You are going to have too. You can¡¯t afford to let others know about your skills. Even if you could raise the money to buy enough jewels of each type of mana people would start to question why you needed so many and what you were doing.¡± ¡°This is becoming very complicated. I can¡¯t solo a dungeon that strong right now, and I might not ever be able to if there are stat caps like you say.¡± ¡°I know. This is why you are going to have to start traveling the continent to purchase the jewels you need. I would never buy more than three in a kingdom and even then I would make sure to leave right away. However, Miss Helen and I have a proposal for you to help you start your search and travels.¡± ¡°Over the years each of us has been able to collect several jewels of a variety of levels and would trade your filling services in exchange for a few of them. Both of us have been stuck at the top of hero power for longer than we would like to admit. Between the two of us we can usually get a full power jewel every three years or so, but we have not been able to get lucky for our breakthrough.¡± Miss Helen chimed in. ¡°I have tried three times and the head master has tried four. With only a 10% chance of breakthrough it is very difficult though.¡± ¡°Wait, it is only 10% for the 100,000 mana jewel. What about the other sizes?¡± ¡°20% for the 150,000 jewel and 50% for the 250,000 jewel. Neither of us could ever afford the price of the higher cost jewels. It takes us three years as it is to combine our funds enough for us to get a lower level jewel, and that is just to have it charged. To buy a new fully charged one would take ten years of saving for us at the lowest level and probably 20 years or more for the next.¡± ¡°So will you fill some jewels for us if we give you some for your own use?¡± ¡°Can we just use the same jewel over and over?¡± ¡°You can continue to reuse a jewel only if you fail in your breakthrough. If you succeed the jewel is consumed.¡± ¡°What jewels do you have?¡± ¡°We have eight of the 100,000 mana jewels four of the 150,000 jewels and two of the 250,000 jewels. We saved them instead of selling them in hopes of finding some students with higher aptitudes of mana transferring and starting our own business of mana jewel refilling and use it to help us break through.¡± ¡°Well here is my counterproposal. I will fill every low level gem you have in exchange for the two empty 250,000 mana jewels. If you cannot break through with those than I will fill the four 150,000 jewels. If you do breakthrough I get the four 150,000 mana jewels also. If not I want you to sell one of the four filled jewels for more empty 150,000 and 250,000 jewels. Start a rumor now that you have several up and coming students who might be able to start filling jewels in the future. This should cover our tracks. I will continue to fill one 150,000 jewel a month for you to use until you either break through or you get 10 more 250,000 jewels. I need ten myself and I will fill 250,000 jewels for you if you get extra.¡± Miss Helen and the headmaster looked at each other and both said deal at the same time. ¡°How fast can you fill the jewels Mark?¡± ¡°I can transfer about 50,000 mana an hour if I have a quiet place to work.¡± Once again jaws dropped. ¡°Enough talking let¡¯s get started.¡± 46 - Demi-God Level Chapter 46 Demi-God Level The next five months flew by. I would fill one jewel in the morning and then run through a five-star dungeon in the afternoon. I wanted to be at the peak level of hero before I upgraded. Miss Helen was the first to finally power up to demi-god level in the fourth month. She immediately started joining me on my dungeon diving trips. With Miss Helen¡¯s help I upped the dungeon level diving to six-star dungeons. Just the two of us were enough to clear them in about 6-8 hours. Since I can teleport to various areas the speed at which we finish dungeons and sell the items is astounding. Miss Helen reports that we have earned enough to purchase two or three low level jewels in the one month we worked together. Normally it took her and the headmaster 3 years to save up that kind of money due to travel time and other responsibilities. With the funds we have made and the one full 150,000 mana jewel that was auctioned off we have managed to get 5 more empty 250,000 mana jewels for my use. This brings me to a total of 7. Now I need to get 3 more, but I have run into a problem. No one in this kingdom will sell us anymore 250,000 mana jewels. It seems that the number of jewels possessed by a person is regulated and we have reached the limit. We cannot tell them that I need 3 more as that would either not be believed, and would also out me to people that would try and force me to do things I do not want. It would just cause too many problems to overcome. However, Miss Helen had a fantastic idea. In a little over a year there would be a tournament held in another country. This tournament was held every ten years as a ranking tournament for demi-god and hero level people. It was quite popular and well attended. Since Miss Helen had recently broken into the demi-god ranks it would be natural for her to attend. I would go along as her prot¨¦g¨¦. When I inquired why I could just not go to a new country myself and purchase these jewels I was told about how each country regulates the amount available. If you were not a citizen of that country they would not sell you are allow you to buy mana jewels. This restriction was only lifted in the Maximal, the country hosting the tournament for the year before the tournament. This was so countries could trade jewels and try to get more people up to the demi-god level before the tournament. Jewel trade during this time however was restricted to official representatives, which Miss Helen and the Headmaster happened to be. Normal travel time to Maximal was three months on the ground. I figured I could be there in a week flying. After I reached the country I would teleport back and pick up the headmaster and Miss Helen and would teleport back with them. Together we would travel through the country on the ground to not arouse any suspicion and then attend some of the auctions held until we got the jewels I needed. Since I could teleport we would continue the training and dungeon diving schedule to keep our funds high for the auctions. We would also sell a few lower level filled gems to generate some revenue or just directly trade for empty ones. It actually took me 9 days to reach the border of the country of Maximal. I may have made a wrong turn or two, but nothing I was unable to fix quickly. I had missed my dungeon diving routine with Miss Helen more than I thought I would. I was excited to go pick up Miss Helen and the Headmaster. I quickly picked my new teleport position and returned to the academy. I hurried over to the office of the headmaster and when I entered the building gave Miss Helen a big smile. ¡°It is done Miss Helen. I am ready to go whenever you and the Headmaster are.¡± ¡°Very good Mark. We have arranged everything on this end so we can leave this evening after the Headmaster finishes up in his office. Why don¡¯t you go and restock your supplies?¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± With that quick interaction done I traveled throughout the town for the rest of the afternoon and restocked on food and other consumables. I was really looking forward to this trip. I couldn¡¯t wait until I was able to reach the next power level. The evening came soon enough and I headed back to the academy, picked up my two passengers and teleported us all to the border of Maximal. I started off towards the border when Miss Helen stopped me. ¡°Mark, we have to make an effort to appear normal. We need to head to the nearest town and purchase a traveling carriage and everything that goes with it.¡± ¡°Yes Miss Helen.¡± I was a little embarrassed that I had overlooked such an easy thing. We were supposed to be normal travelers attending the tournament. Well maybe not normal, but not people who could fly or teleport for sure. I headed in the direction of the nearest town which we were able to reach in about two hours of jogging. It is good that my companions are also high level so none of us slow the others down. Once there I let Miss Helen do the negotiating and we soon had a carriage, pulled by four blue lizard/horse things. Identify.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Reptilian Horse Level 75 Magic: Earth/Endurance
Well that makes sense. Miss Helen had also negotiated for a supply cart, three drivers, and two scouts. Basically a fast travelling group. We obviously did not need protection, we could handle that on our own. The scouts were for finding campsites and were also useful as an early warning system. As we left the town and headed towards the border I talked with my two travelling companions. ¡°Headmaster, I think you should start using the 150,000 mana jewel to try for a breakthrough. I can fill it each night when we stop. Speaking of which, Miss Helen if you are up for it we can continue our dungeon diving and hit two dungeons a day and then teleport back into the carriage each night and set up camp with the others so it does not look too suspicious.¡± ¡°I think that sounds like a good idea Mark. The Headmaster can use the time were gone to try and breakthrough and if anything happens he can take care of it. Everyone else will just assume we are in the carriage. We can start tomorrow. Today we should stay in the carriage to pass the border and take care of any first time problems.¡± ¡°Yes, Miss Helen that sounds great.¡± We came up on the border close to sundown and I let the Headmaster and Miss Helen take care of the paperwork. I did not even have any paperwork, so this was obviously thought of and worked around by the two. Eventually the border guards let us through and we continued on for another half an hour before stopping at a roadside in. Once we had dinner and had all split up for our individual rooms I teleported back to my tree and went through my nightly routine of feeding it mana. When I was done I teleported back to the inn, just in case something happened and they needed me in the night. The next morning after setting off Miss Helen and I teleported out of the carriage and conquered two dungeons that day. We made it back around sundown. The carriage had already stopped for the night to make camp. We came out of the carriage and proceeded to help with the chores and make our presence known. This pattern continued for another eight days with occasional inns instead of camping when the Headmaster finally had his demi-god level breakthrough. When Miss Helen and I teleported back in to the carriage that evening the grin on his face said it all. ¡°Congratulations Headmaster on your power up.¡± ¡°Thank you Mark. I hope that over the next five days that Miss Helen and I can split the dungeon diving with you. I would be glad to take mornings if Miss Helen will take the afternoon.¡± ¡°That is fine headmaster. I take it we are five days out from the capital of Maximal?¡± ¡°Yes that is the best guess of the guides.¡± ¡°Very well then for the next five days I will be splitting the dungeons between the two of you. After that I hope we can procure the needed empty jewels quickly so I can also power up and join both of you in the tournament.¡± ¡°I will check on the auctions and trading houses the first day we arrive Mark.¡± The next five days we implemented the new routine and I even had to empty some of my emergency supplies out into the supply cart so I could carry the sheer number of cores that we had been gaining. Or at least I started to unload my inventory when Miss Helen so conveniently suggested she teleport with me to a town tomorrow afternoon so we could sell some off. I had been doing this for months, but I had gotten so wrapped up in the differences and changes of working with new people that I had forgotten to teleport and sell off my spoils in the various towns I knew of. I thanked her for the suggestion and she just winked back. It is hard to pull one over on that lady. We finally arrived at the capital of Maximal just after lunch time on the fifth day and were escorted by the guards to what I guessed was a very high class inn. I didn¡¯t really care. The amount of money I had was easily replaced and all I wanted was to find and use the new jewels so I could power up myself. I guess that the others could sense my eagerness and Miss Helen took me with her to go and visit the few large trade houses and auction houses of the city to find out if there were any of the large mana gems for sale or trade. We had no luck at the first two but the third stop was an auction house that said they had two going up for auction in a week. The fourth place had one for sale and three for trade. This was just what I needed. I wouldn¡¯t even have to wait a week. I let Miss Helen negotiate. I would have paid full price, which probably would have set off some alarms in some minds, I was that impatient. Eventually Miss Helen traded three full 100,000 mana jewels and 1 million gold coins for all four of the empty high capacity jewels. I could barely contain my excitement. We headed back towards the inn and Miss Helen followed me into my room. ¡°Here you go Mark. If you would fill up all of the jewels before you try to break through that way the Headmaster and I have something to trade with that would be great.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am I will fill all the extras tonight and give them to you in the morning. Then I will teleport to a quiet protected area to make my breakthrough.¡± ¡°Very well Mark I will see you bright and early then.¡± I spent the rest of the night filling every jewel I could. I managed to get through two of my own before breakfast time. It is time to hand over everything to the others and go power up myself. 47 - Power Up Chapter 47 Power Up I handed off the filled jewels to Miss Helen and then retreated to my inn room to teleport away. We had paid for two months up front so there were no worries about any one disturbing my room for that. Miss Helen and the Headmaster made me promise to check in at least once a week until I broke through. We would discuss our plans together after that. I quickly teleported back to my tree sanctuary and started to fill the final jewels with the correct mana type. Once I finished I planned on taking a good 8 hour rest and starting fresh right after that for my first attempt. Eight hours later I decided first to make sure I had reached the stat limit. If I had not then there was no reason to power up yet. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 178 (Hero) Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 136 Strength: 127 (135) Agility: 125 (135) Intelligence: 150 (170) Wisdom: 130 (150) Constitution: 125 (150) Perception: 112 (120) MP: 17000 out of 17000 HP: 1500 out of 1500 MP/Regen: 1500% per hour HP/Regen: 150% per hour
Okay if I take everything up to the cap of 150 then that would leave me with 4 leftover stat points. I couldn¡¯t have prepared for this better if I had tried. Raise everything up and Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen Form) Level: 178 (Hero) Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Not Assigned
Unassigned Stat Points: 4 Strength: 150 (158) Agility: 150 (160) Intelligence: 150 (170) Wisdom: 150 (170) Constitution: 150 (175) Perception: 150 (158) MP: 17000 out of 17000 HP: 1750 out of 1750 MP/Regen: 1700% per hour HP/Regen: 175% per hour
I knew from talks with Miss Helen and the Headmaster that I had to be in contact with every jewel I needed. I quickly use plant shaping to make a sloped recliner I could lean on with my body that would force the jewels into contact with me through gravity. I moved around a little and once I was satisfied that this would work I started the power up process. I pictured the mana of all the different types flowing into my body from the various mana jewels. It was running through my body touching each and every virus that made it up. Soon enough I received a message.
Energy is sufficient to evolve your race into a divine race. Would you like to proceed? Y/N
I mentally select yes and feel the energy starting to transform me.
Energy is sufficient to upgrade your profession. Would you like to proceed? Y/N
A stronger job than what I have now. Yes Please.
Warning no secondary profession detected. Scanning host, secondary profession selected. Would you like to upgrade your secondary profession? Y/N
I don¡¯t even know what it is, but I might as well.
Transformation will take 3 days due to your unique race and situation. Please be advised that once started the process cannot be interrupted.
Then the pain started. It felt like my flesh and bones were being ripped apart. When I glanced down I guess you could say that in a way they were. The flesh and bones of my body were being stripped away from my body slowly and being replaced with newer better material. This is going to be a long three days. I passed out from the pain and overstimulation around day two. I think I did pretty well all things considered. When I finally woke up I realized that I was in some sort of cocoon. I flicked out my arm scythes and quickly slashed my way out. As soon as I saw the familiar surroundings of tree of life I released a little sigh. I was in a safe place. Time to see what the changes have done to me.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Divine Elemental Thri-Keen) Level: 178 (Demi-God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: 4 Strength: 150 (158) Agility: 150 (160) Intelligence: 150 (170) Wisdom: 150 (170) Constitution: 150 (175) Perception: 150 (158) MP: 17000 out of 17000 HP: 1750 out of 1750 MP/Regen: 1700% per hour HP/Regen: 175% per hour
Time to find out about the new stuff. Inspect Race Divine.
Divine: Designation that an organism has reached at least the Demi-God Level and can access Universal Energy for further upgrades in power.
O.k. Inspect Universal Energy.
Universal Energy: Energy source the universe is run on.
Not very helpful. How about Inspect Supreme Sorcerer.
Supreme Sorcerer: A sorcerer that can now instinctively add universe power to their mana. This doubles the duration and damage of spells.
Excellent information. Let¡¯s try one more Inspect Heaven¡¯s Justicar.
Heaven¡¯s Justicar: You fight on the side of justice. However, that does not mean you are good. You will right any wrong you perceive even if it is done for the greater good.
That definitely sounds like me. I guess my secondary profession was selected after the universe determined my personality. Too confusing to really think about, but it all worked out. I wonder why my transformation took so long and involved so much pain. It can¡¯t be normal, as Miss Helen and the Headmaster were able to complete theirs in just a morning. I am pretty sure they would have told me about the soul numbing pain also. So I must have gone through a unique power up. It was probably either due to my race or me having all of the affinity types of mana. I am pretty sure that people here on Braxis cannot actually pick where there level up stats go. I know they understand what stat are, they checked mine and we talk about them, but I think I may either get a few more each level or it may just seem that way because I can pick and choose where they go. I should check with my companions to see what their stats actually are now as Demi-Gods so I can have some sort of comparison point to check how strong I am. In fact, I feel like that should be the first thing I talk to them about. I teleport back to the inn and go and knock on Miss Helen¡¯s door. ¡°Mark your back. I assume that means you were successful?¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. May I come in and ask a couple of questions?¡± ¡°Certainly Mark, come on in.¡± I entered behind her and closed the door. Then I took a seat in a chair. ¡°Miss Helen this may be a little awkward, but I was wondering if I could know your stats. I would like a comparison point to mine. I have a feeling that I earn stat points different than other people and I would like to check.¡± ¡°Normally this is not something you tell other people, but I will agree if you share yours with me also.¡± ¡°That seems like a fair exchange Miss Helen.¡± ¡°Well Mark, my strength, agility, and constitution are much higher than my other stats due to my profession of Martial Warrior. Speaking of which I did get a change in profession to Divine Martial Warrior. Did you have a change in profession also?¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am I did.¡± ¡°Well my strength since I have gone out with you to dungeons since my power up is 185, my agility is 175, and my Constitution is also 175. My other three are just above the 100 point limit needed to be Hero Class. They have gone up a single point each though since I have entered the Demi-God stage so there might be growth in the future for them also.¡± ¡°That is very interesting Miss Helen. What is your level right now?¡± ¡°I am level 223, why is this important?¡± ¡°Well you see Miss Helen I have base stats of 150 in every stat with bonuses that bring each one higher. I think I have a higher total number of points than you and I have just reached level 178.¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible, you can only reach the 150 stat limit in your professions needs. Mine were strength, agility, and constitution. You should only have hit the limit in Intelligence and Wisdom at the most. And even then for you to be at the limit under level 200 is crazy.¡± ¡°Well Miss Helen it is true. I have what seems to be a special ability that allows me to choose where my stats go each level. I thought everyone had it so I never mentioned it before. It is only recently that I started to suspect that I was somewhat different in this area.¡± ¡°Mark you never cease to amaze me. Let¡¯s file this under one more thing you can never tell anyone else. In fact, I won¡¯t even tell the Headmaster. It seems that not only are you talented in magic, but you can also at the same time be an overwhelming melee combatant.¡± ¡°Thank you for the compliment Miss Helen. I need all the help I can get if I am going to succeed in my goals.¡± ¡°We are going to have a talk about those goals one of these day¡¯s young man, but today is not the day. We have a little over 7 months left until the tournament and I think between the three of us we can clear a record number of seven-star dungeons and possibly even attempt some of the eight-star dungeons. I want all of us to do our best to bring honor and glory back to the academy and country that has done so much for us.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am we can get started in the morning.¡± I bid Miss Helen good night. I may not agree on the reason to do well in the tournament, but I do agree that I need to do my best to test myself against others. I am finally feeling that I have enough power to protect myself from others on this planet and proceed with my plans for revenge in the future without having to worry about being found as abnormal. No one is normal at our level now, so that alone will be all the camouflage I need. When morning came I met the Headmaster and Miss Helen downstairs for breakfast. ¡°I was thinking before I fell asleep last night. We have plenty of funds or at least I know I do, what do you think about leasing or buying a place of our own for the next year. We would not have to worry about being spotted teleporting, and I am sure with what we will make dungeon diving we can get someplace very nice and load it up with luxuries. I like this inn, but I am not sure I want to live here for close to a year.¡± ¡°Mark, that is an excellent idea. I think that today just became a shopping day instead of dungeon diving, and we will start on leveling up tomorrow instead. Boys follow me and I will show you how it is done.¡± Having been through this once before I realized I was once again in for a whirlwind of amazement and haggling. I was not disappointed. Miss Helen by the end of the day had procured for us an estate with a single year lease with an option to buy or extend at the end of the year. It consisted of a main building (think small mansion) with rooms for 12 and plenty of space for cooking. It also had various outbuildings for hobbies, servants and storage. We got all this at a fraction of the price I expected. Miss Helen had more than enough money to pay full price, but I think she got just as much of a thrill from haggling as she did from fighting. 48 - Tournament Time Chapter 48 Tournament Time They say time flies by when you are having fun. While dungeon diving may not be fun all of the time it was enough that it seemed like the last 7 months were very short. In the last bit of time we had gone from easily completing six and seven-star dungeons to being able to complete eight-star dungeons without much trouble. We had tried a nine-star and made it through, but the payoff did not equal the amount of time and care it took us to finish. We could finish three eight-star dungeons in the time it took us to safely complete one nine-star. Since all of these ratings were based on ten person teams we figured that our power and ranking in the upcoming tournament would be better than average if not exactly at the top. It is hard to compare yourself to actual thinking people. Dungeons have patterns, and people do also sometimes, but being able to find that pattern in the middle of a fight is not easy. I am sure I am technically stronger than Miss Helen right now, but I am not sure I could beat her in a one on one fight. She has years of experience on me and knows tricks she still has not taught me. This is the difference between fighting monsters and people. I had not distributed my gains from the last seven months of training and I was hoping that this boost would put me over the edge as it were in strength right before the tournament. In fact, I might as well take care of it now. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Divine Elemental Thri-Keen) Level: 214 (Demi-God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: 184 Strength: 150 (158) Agility: 150 (160) Intelligence: 150 (170) Wisdom: 150 (170) Constitution: 150 (175) Perception: 150 (158) MP: 17000 out of 17000 HP: 1750 out of 1750 MP/Regen: 1700% per hour HP/Regen: 175% per hour
Wow I did better than I thought. 36 levels and 180 new points to distribute. Might as well keep things even and there we go. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Divine Elemental Thri-Keen) Level: 178 (Demi-God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: 4 Strength: 180 (188) Agility: 180 (190) Intelligence: 180 (200) Wisdom: 180 (200) Constitution: 180 (205) Perception: 180 (188) MP: 20000 out of 20000 HP: 2050 out of 2050 MP/Regen: 2000% per hour HP/Regen: 205% per hour
These stats along with what I learned from my talks with Miss Helen make me feel like I am going to be able to make a run at the championship. Speaking of which, other than rankings, I have no idea what this tournament is about. I mean are there prizes. I really have been focusing hard on becoming stronger for this thing, but don¡¯t even know the basics. I don¡¯t even know the format. Single elimination, double, loser¡¯s bracket, or what. I better ask some questions quickly before I go in and look ignorant. I decided to check with the locals as they would know best. They have seen this tournament several times and would have the inside scoop. First stop is the local dungeon guild. When I stepped into the guild it was like stepping into the Vulcanopolis dungeon guild just larger. I guess they build them all the same so people who mover around know what to do. I went up to the gentleman on duty and started talking. ¡°Excuse me sir, I have some questions about the upcoming tournament and I was hoping you could answer them or point me in the right direction for answers. Before that though I just realized it has been a while since I have updated my status. Do you have time to witness my trial?¡± ¡°Well first off lad, here is a pamphlet all about the tournament, how to sign up, odds on well known participants, and of course where to place your bets. Next I do not have time this morning, as I am the only one on duty, but there is another person coming in around 10 a.m. and I could schedule you for then.¡± ¡°Thank you sir, that is exactly what I need. Please sign me up for the 10 a.m. testing slot also. I will just browse the store and read the pamphlet until then.¡± ¡°Very well, which level will you be going for during today¡¯s test?¡± ¡°Oh I will start at ten-star bronze and work my way up.¡± His mouth dropped open. ¡°Did you say ten-star?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Yes, I just graduated from Vulcan Academy and then traveled here for the Demi-God tournament and realized I had not updated my status in a while.¡± ¡°You are going to participate in the Demi-God tournament not the Hero tournament.¡± ¡°Well I am Demi-God level, they wouldn¡¯t let me participate in the Hero tournament would they. I would have an unfair advantage.¡± ¡°How old are you lad?¡± ¡°Around 21 years old as near as my mentor, master and I can figure out.¡± The clerk just started mumbling to himself. I seem to have that effect on people. I decided I needed to check the tournament pamphlet to make sure it had all of the information I needed in it. WELCOME TO THE HERO AND DEMI-GOD TOURNAMENT You can sign up for the tournament at the central plaza any time in the month before the start of the tournament. There is a 100 gold entry fee for Hero Participants and a 1,000 gold fee for Demi-God participants. The tournament will consist of general melee and then one versus one battles. In the general melee the participants will be divided into ten groups. Each group will be placed in the illusion arena and the last two standing will advance into the one vs. one tournament. No single group will exceed 20 participants. If needed extra groups will be created. Hero level participants will always go before Demi-God level participants. Rewards for the tournament: Hero Level 1st place 3 filled 150,000 mana jewels 2nd place 2 filled 100,000 mana jewels 3rd place 1 filled 100,000 mana jewels Demi-God Level 1st place 5 spots to ascend to deity world 2nd place 3 spots to ascend to deity world 3rd place 1 spot to ascend to deity world Betting is allowed only with designated betting agents. Recognized betting agents this year include the Dungeon Guild, Merchants Association, and Kingdom Bank. Ok that information was exactly what I needed, but it now has brought up the question of what is deity world and why would going there be important enough to be the sole prize for demi-gods. I am going to have to do some more research. The rest of the time waiting for my test was pleasantly spent window shopping in the dungeon store. I gave the store clerk a list of what I wanted and told him I would pick it up after my new ranking test. I wanted the largest discount possible. He smiled when he heard that and told me he understood and would have everything ready when I came back from my test. 10 a.m. came soon enough and I followed the desk clerk up to the testing room. The local guildmaster was there along with several other people. ¡°Good morning, Mark is it?¡± ¡°Yes sir.¡± ¡°I heard you were going for a ten-star rating. That has to be witnessed by an officer of the guild so I came down and invited a few friends. You see you are going to be the youngest ten-star rated dungeon diver in history if you pass the test.¡± ¡°No worries sir, I just wanted to get the formalities done. I probably should have done this a while ago, but I have been busy training and dungeon diving with my mentors.¡± ¡°Do you mind if I ask who your mentors are Mark?¡± ¡°No sir. I am here in the city with the Headmaster of Vulcan Academy and Miss Helen. All three of us have powered up to the demi-god level and are going to take part in the tournament.¡± ¡°Well that explains a little bit about your talent. I am glad to hear that the Headmaster and Miss Helen have finally stepped into the demi-god rankings. Shall we get started?¡± The rest was rather anticlimactic. I had to go against level 250 illusionary wind drakes. However, the terrain was a forest. This practically guaranteed my win. I knew that the bronze and silver levels would be no problem. I was a little worried about being surrounded in the gold level challenge, but with the terrain of the forest being selected it was rather easy. I came out of the challenge to the stares of several people, collected my new designation and went downstairs to pick up my order from the dungeon store. I wanted to get back to the house to ask the Headmaster and Miss Helen about deity world. When I got back one of the servants we hired told me that Miss Helen was relaxing in the back garden. I went on back and spotted her reclining on a couch in the gazebo. She saw me and waved and I went on over to find out some answers. ¡°Hello, Miss Helen. I was just at the dungeon guild and picked up a brochure about the upcoming tournament. After that I upgraded my dungeon ranking.¡± ¡°Hmm, that was a good idea. I probably should have reminded you to do that. Did you make ten-star?¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am, ten-star gold. I did have some questions on the tournament though.¡± ¡°Ask away my good boy.¡± ¡°I understood everything about it except for the prizes for demi-god level. What is deity world?¡± ¡°Ah yes, you would not know about that would you. Most people learn about this when they reach the Hero level. It is not big secret. This planet Braxis is a subsidiary of the Neutral Pantheon of Gods.¡± ¡°Neutral Pantheon of Gods, what is that?¡± ¡°If you would quit interrupting me my boy I would let you know.¡± ¡°Sorry Miss Helen.¡± ¡°The Neutral Pantheon of Gods are the high level protectors of our world and several others. Once you reach the limit of Demi-God you are required to spend 50 years in their world as a volunteer in their armies. If you earn your way in, from a tournament, you can choose when you go and have more privileges. You can even bring others with you and they will receive preferential treatment and good living conditions. The food, atmosphere, and energy of deity world is much higher than ours which allows for faster progress and leveling to the next stage.¡± ¡°Ok that answered some questions and opened up more. First I assume if there are neutral gods than there are others. I would like to know more about those. Next what is the next power up?¡± ¡°Ok, as far as I know there are 3 factions. Those factions are the Freedom, the Might, and the Netural Gods. The next level of power is known as the god level. I have heard that there is a level after that, but I am not sure what it is.¡± ¡°Can you explain the three factions please?¡± ¡°From what I understand the Might faction are generally stronger individually than the other groups because they limit or drain the mana from worlds underneath them. This allows them to access power that others don¡¯t normally have. The Freedom faction believes that everybody should have an equal chance and think what the Might faction is doing is horrible. Those two fight often from what I hear. The Neutral Gods who we are protected by are sort of in the middle. They allow growth of individuals in the worlds below them, but insist that it should be limited. They have created a partial drain. We live on their worlds.¡± ¡°What do you mean a partial drain?¡± ¡°The mana gems. They have made it so anyone can rise to hero level, but to excel beyond that requires mana gems. This is a bottle neck that slows growth. I personally agree with this approach. You have to work extra hard or have great luck in order to get past this bottle neck. I do not think that normal people are ready for this level of power.¡± ¡°So if you are born into a faction you cannot change?¡± ¡°Oh no, that¡¯s not is at all. People change sides all the time. The only people that cannot change are those demi-gods that are serving their time in the demi-god army. They have a compulsion laid on them. After your 50 years are up you can choose to continue, go to another side, or return to your own lower world, but never power up beyond demi-god level.¡± ¡°Why are they called pantheons?¡± ¡°Each world generally only has one god level protector. Since there are various levels of power, usually gods band together in groups called pantheons and share responsibility for protecting a series of worlds. This allows them to have support and frees them enough that they can still try and improve their strength.¡± 49 - Tournament Ranking Chapter 49 Tournament Ranking ¡°Thank you for the information Miss Helen. This clears up a lot of confusion. I am going to go and register for the tournament, do you wish to come with me?¡± ¡°Thank you Mark I think I will.¡± We both headed to the central plaza and soon saw a large pavilion set off to the side with a sign declaring tournament participants sign in here. We headed over and registered for the tournament quite easily. Since we knew each other we had to pay an extra 100 gold fee to be placed in different starting groups. Neither one of us wanted to fight each other in the general melee. We could have teamed up, but I think Miss Helen had the same mentality about that as I did. If I teamed up, was I really strong enough to make it to the next round? The tournament started in one week and most participants had already signed up. There were a few stragglers like ourselves, but the groups were pretty well set. The only thing that I found strange was that I had to verify my status, but not my level. When I asked Miss Helen she said it was to prevent information about people¡¯s levels from getting out. If everyone in you group knew you were they highest level then they might all gang up on you from the beginning to get rid of the biggest threat. It supposedly also helped to keep betting fairer also. Speaking of betting I decided that since I was going to be trying to get into this new deity world I should probably leave a legacy. I talked to Miss Helen, and she went with me to the betting booth at the dungeon guild. I talked to the gentleman there and found out the odds. It seems that all competitors who are new had the same odds. 1 to 1 on making the top twenty. 1 to 2 odds on making the top ten. 1 to 4 odds on making the top five. And 1 to 10 odds on becoming the champion. Betting was also limited to 1 million gold coins. The amount did not even seem like it was worth it at this point with how much I had earned from the dungeons, but I guess for normal people it was still a lot. I bet the maximum with me winning at every step. Every time I won I would reinvest 1 million gold coins to bet for the next level. I asked the Dungeon Guild betting office to have half of the winnings every round if available to be put aside for scholarships to the Vulcan Academy. While I did not have many interactions with normal students or teachers, the Academy did help me out and train me when I needed it. I figured a few million gold coins in scholarships should help everyone out there. After placing my bets, Miss Helen and I returned to the house. The rest of the week went by so fast it was amazing. I did a couple of dungeons just to stay sharp, but most of the time was just relaxing and feeding mana to my tree back at the Elvish Embassy. I was trying to figure out how I could somehow keep feeding it mana while I was gone. My best idea was to fill several mana gems and have them dole out the mana a little at a time. It would be perfect except for the fact that I could not figure out how to get the mana gem to release a little at a time. Maybe I can just come back occasionally. Who knows? Finally, the first day of the tournament arrived. I was awake early. This tournament is my next step. If I win here I move up, power up, and from what I understand I can get my revenge. After thinking about what Miss Helen told me I have concluded that the ¡°Overbeing¡± that killed me off was probably a god or the next step higher and part of the Might faction. I was thinking this because Earth did not have mana, but we have stories of magic and mana from the past. To me this makes it sound like someone ascended and became a Might person who funneled Earth¡¯s mana into just themselves. The other people I saw could be his family or others of the Might faction, maybe his minions. I do not know if I am right, but I do know that it fits the scenario. I waited a little impatiently for the Headmaster and Miss Helen to come down. After a quick breakfast I dragged them off the arena. When we got there we sat in the Demi-God participants section. They were rather good seats. I wanted to watch a few matches of the Hero level and a couple of the Demi-God fights just to make sure I was ready. The Headmaster was in group 4. I was Group 5 and Miss Helen was in Group 9. I watched the first few matches and saw no tricks or anything else that would make a difference in my strategy. That was good. I can adapt, but I hate last minute changes and avoid them when I can. Soon enough the Headmaster started to head down for the next round. We wished him good luck. ¡°Miss Helen, what do you think the Headmaster¡¯s chance are?¡± ¡°Definitely not as good as you or I have. The Headmaster is weak in melee combat. If his opponents leave him alone at the beginning and he can set up some magic defenses his chances go way up. However, the arena is not that big which tends to favor quick magic and melee combat.¡± Miss Helen¡¯s prediction came true. The Headmaster started out strong and managed to knock out several competitors from a distance, but when the others realized he was a powerful magic user they closed the distance and he was eliminated. As soon as he was out of the ring I started to make my way to the arena. I wanted to be ready when they called for me. Just a few minutes later I found myself in the arena with 14 other competitors. I was definitely the youngest of the 15 in my group. The air shimmered around me and the arena transformed into rolling plains. Perhaps the best terrain possible for magic. Nowhere for anyone to hide. As soon as the starting whistle sounded I started throwing out spells left and right at everyone and everything. I wanted mass confusion as it could only work to my favor. I got what I hoped for. Since I use chantless magic it took everyone in the arena several seconds to work out where all the spells were coming from. By that time 3 people had already been knocked out and several more were injured. The injured turned on each other and 3 others headed in my direction.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. This will work out perfectly. Time to show off a little. I use elemental shaping to create a dome of stone over myself. Right before it closes I toss a handful of gravel in the air and also cast stone shower and dump 5,000 mana into it. My favorite part of stone shower is that if people have never seen it they just assume the rocks went somewhere else or maybe the spell failed. In reality they go high up and come crashing down. 5,000 mana is enough cover the entire arena. I spend the next 20 seconds reinforcing my dome as the three contestants who came over start pounding on it. Then I heard the awesome whistling of approaching doom. The whistling noise was the falling rocks which were now of very significant size and falling very fast. The whole arena rumbled for several seconds and I opened up my dome of rock to see a lot of dust and several coughing referees. Maybe I overdid it just a little bit. As the dust cleared I could see most of the people in the stands just staring at me. The referees were running around checking on all of the other participants. I walked over to one and asked, ¡°Does this mean I made it to the next round?¡± He just stared at me for a second and then nodded yes. Great I made it to the top twenty. First bet has paid off. I walked back to where Miss Helen was sitting with the other participants. ¡°Mark, how come I have never seen that spell before?¡± Oh man, think quick. ¡°I just created it a couple of days of go. I haven¡¯t really tested it out yet, so I thought I would give it a try in today¡¯s competition.¡± ¡°Very Well, I will believe you this time. I will remind you though that I do not like it when secrets are kept from me.¡± I am pretty sure that I am stronger than Miss Helen now. Why is it that I feel like a little kid who got caught and is going to be punished? I have this uncanny feeling that if I do something she doesn¡¯t like she could still put me in my place no matter how strong I get. Man I just don¡¯t understand how women think. There was a slight delay in the tournament as it seems that my spell had overwhelmed several sections of the illusion runes that powered the arena. Several different craftsman and magic users were out fixing both the floor of the arena and the illusion mechanism. Soon enough they finished repairing everything and the next round began. Rounds six, seven, and eight passed without anything unusually happening and next up was Miss Helen in round nine. Miss Helen¡¯s group had what looked like a swamp terrain. This was going to be good. I had trained with Miss Helen in swamp environments before. She hated to get dirt. Intellectually she was prepared to fight in any terrain and was quite good at fighting in any terrain, but she hated swamps. The first person that got her dirty even on accident was going to be in for a surprise. In fact, this may have been the perfect draw for terrain. She would not agree, but I knew eventually she would reach her breaking point in this terrain and would become a scarier version of what she normally was. As long as she was not knocked out immediately then Miss Helen was almost guaranteed one of the winning spots. It happened almost exactly like I predicted. There was some mage that went with a large AOE spell that caused mud to splash everywhere. Now understand this is illusionary mud and not even real, but that did not matter to Miss Helen. Miss Helen proceeded to lose her mind and go on an extremely scary rampage that ended up with her being one of the two winners in that round. Now that everyone was finished we started to head back to the house. We met the Headmaster who was packing up. ¡°Mark could I trouble you for a quick teleport back to school? I think I have been gone long enough.¡± ¡°Yes sir, I can take care of that, just let me know when you are ready.¡± ¡°Miss Helen, we have already talked about this, please send me notice if you will be traveling on to deity world. You will be sorely missed if you make it, but I know that you will do great things. Someday I hope to join both of you.¡± ¡°Headmaster if I earn an extra spot do you want it. You can stay to find out.¡± ¡°No Mark, but thank you for thinking of me. I am determined to earn this one on my own.¡± ¡°Very well Headmaster.¡± I soon teleported the Headmaster back to the academy. Miss Helen and I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and preparing for tomorrows combat. Late in the evening Miss Helen finally broke our companionable silence. ¡°Mark, I want your promise that tomorrow no matter what the draw is you will try your very best. Even if it is against me. I need to know just like the Headmaster that if I am going on to deity world it is because I am strong enough.¡± ¡°Yes Miss Helen, if that is what you want. I promise to not hold back in any of my bouts even if you are the opponent.¡± When we arrived at the tournament arena the next morning it was almost as if Miss Helen was prophetic. I was matched against her in the first round. One of us would not be continuing on. I did what Miss Helen asked and held nothing back. I defeated her in just under a minute. She smiled and said she would be cheering in the stands for my eventual win. I was proud but also broken hearted at this point. This woman had given everything to me unconditionally. She knew I had secrets and did not care. I was happy to show her how much I had grown, but devastated that it was against her to prove it. I went into the top ten with a little bit of a grudge against the world and used my opponent to work out my mad. I probably was a little more violent than I should have been, but at least I didn¡¯t permanently injure my opponent. This put me into the top five. All five competitors had to fight each other for this to be fair. If you went undefeated, you were obviously the champion. Any ties for wins would be settled in the ring. Nothing was going to stop me from getting to where I wanted to be. I ruthlessly dismantled my opponents in each round. It wasn¡¯t even a contest. I was too well rounded. If I fought a mage I went in close and dominated. If it was a melee fighter, I held back and bombarded them with spells. I was the only one who could equally claim to be a demi-god fighter and a demi-god sorcerer. It only took another 2 hours for them to declare me the overall champion. 50 - Deity World Chapter 50 Deity World Champion. I was the champion. I had extra slots for deity world, but no one to take. I was the strongest person on the Planet, and I knew two people that I could take and neither one of them wanted a spot. They both wanted to earn it themselves. I wonder if I could give or auction the spots off. Come to think of it, how the heck do I claim my prize anyway. I saw the announcer headed my way. ¡°Congratulations on winning the tournament lad. You must be the youngest champion in history. A representative from the Neutral Gods is usually here for the tournament, but they sent a communication saying they would be running late. I am to inform you of some restrictions to your prize. Any being you bring needs to be at least hero level. Any slot you do not use can be exchanged for more resources or increases in responsibility in deity world. You must be ready to go within 6 hours of the appearance of the representative¡¯s arrival.¡± ¡°Thank you sir for the explanation. I was just wondering how to claim the prize. I am ready to go and will not be taking anyone with me. Do you know the reason for the delay?¡± ¡°My understanding was that the emissary from deity world had to make another stop first and it was taking longer than expected. If possible could you get your things together and meet back here in 3 hours and I will give you an update at that time.¡± ¡°Very well I will return in three hours.¡± The next three hours were a little bittersweet. I paid the taxes for the house for the next twenty years. This way the Headmaster and Miss Helen would have a place to stay for the next two tournaments at least if needed. I then asked Miss Helen to take care of the Elvish Embassy and my tree of life. I gave her a million coins to have it looked after and preserved in my name for at least 100 years. I donated the rest of my gambling winnings to the academy and she promised to set up scholarships in my name. I realized that I had formed a deeper relationship with this woman than anyone except my own parents from back on Earth. I hated to say goodbye. Instead I made sure to say that I would see her soon in ten years, when she won the next tournament. I returned back to the arena by myself close to the three hour deadline. When I arrived I could feel a very strong person. I do not know how to describe the feeling. This man just radiated power. It was almost instinctual. Some animalistic part of me knew not to mess with this guy. I made the intelligent guess that this had to be the representative from deity world. I saw the announcer from earlier talking to his new strong person and I cautiously approached. I did not want to intrude on a private conversation. Luckily the announcer noticed me and waved me over. ¡°Mark, may I introduce you to this year¡¯s emissary from deity world, Carl.¡± Carl was not the name I expected from such a being of power. It was too ordinary, then again I hoped someday to be powerful enough to defeat an ¡°Overbeing¡± and my name was Mark. Not exactly a name that inspires fear in others. ¡°Greetings Carl, I am Mark.¡± ¡°Very polite, that will serve you well where we are going. Are you bringing any others with you?¡± ¡°No Sir. I will be travelling to deity world on my own. I was told that I could exchange the other positions for resources.¡± ¡°That is true and a smarter use of the positions than bringing people who could not help you out. We will leave as soon as the 2nd and 3rd place winners arrive.¡± I had a ton of questions but kept them to myself for now. I know that I hate answering things multiple times and assumed that Carl despite his power would be the same way. I will just wait for the others to arrive and let them ask or the more likely scenario is that Carl will explain things before we leave or once we arrive. It was only a few more minute before the 2nd and 3rd place finishers arrived. The second place finisher also chose to spend their extra spaces on resources it seemed. There were brief introductions and then Carl said we had to go. It seemed we were in a bit of a rush. The familiar feel of teleportation soon enveloped me. The only difference was the amount of time this teleportation took. This was intriguing. I wondered if teleportation between worlds was only a function of having enough mana to make the distance? I realize that not many people actually learn teleportation magic, but it came to me easy. Maybe I can actually develop this on my own. I think I will better off experimenting on my own and saving this as an unknown escape mechanism. If I figure this out I might even be able to teleport back to Earth! NO, I can¡¯t do that until I am ready to fight the ¡°Overbeing¡±. I do not want to tip my hand early. However, I may be able to use it to surprise attack him. I do remember his little throne room. If I feel I have gained enough power I could then bypass his defenses and just teleport into his sanctuary. This has possibilities. I definitely need to figure this inter-world teleportation.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. When the teleportation finished we ended up in a town square. The air felt oppressive, thick, and somehow almost heavy. ¡°The feeling you are experiencing right now is the higher abundance of mana. The very atmosphere around you will feel different until your body adapts. You will also notice that you do not have the same range of movement or your strength will seem lower. It is the same amount as it used to be, but you are fighting a greater gravity and density of magic. Each progressive jump in, let¡¯s call them dimensions, requires your body to adapt and almost feels like you have taken a step backward in your power.¡± ¡°Sir, may I ask what the level of dimensions are? More specifically how high up do they go?¡± ¡°Excellent question. As far as we know there are only three dimensions. We call them tier 1 worlds, tier 2 worlds, and tier three worlds. You all came from a tier 1 world. Mana was available and abundant enough for you to get here a tier 2 world on your own if you had enough time and energy to figure it out. Tier 1 worlds are the most common in the universe. Next is the tier 2 worlds where we are now. These worlds are larger in size but fewer in number than the tier 1 worlds. Everything on these planets starts at least on the Hero level of strength which is why we say you must have that level at least to immigrate. Otherwise you could die just from the concentration of mana and the change in gravity. Tier 3 worlds are very few in number, can be the size of stars, and have a gravity that will smash anything below the God level in strength.¡± ¡°I had heard that there are worlds that have their magic drained through some process. Are they considered tier 1 worlds also?¡± ¡°That rumor is true and we tend to call those unfortunate worlds tier 0 worlds. Those tier 0 worlds are a result of the Might faction draining them to increase the level of magic and pressure on the higher worlds that they govern. The neutral faction, which you are by default a part of, have a couple of those worlds, but only perform the draining if there are no intelligent species present on the planet. This allows us to have a few higher level training areas.¡± ¡°What is expected of us now that we have arrived?¡± ¡°Once more an excellent question. Our faction works on a merit system. For bringing you to a higher dimension you owe the faction 5,000 merit points. You have several choices in front of you. Rather than tell you about them I am going to give you some information and allow you to talk to others to verify it. We will put you up in an inn for free for five days. After that time you will have to make your decisions.¡± With that statement Carl led us too an inn nearby and checked the three of us in. He then gave us a packet of information and reminded us of the five day deadline to choose. I quickly headed to my room and locked myself in. Time to figure some of this stuff out. I took out the packet of information and started to read. CONGRATULATIONS YOU MADE IT TO DEITY WORLD. To help defray expenses and effort the Neutral faction requires all people who ascend in their area to contribute 5,000 merit points before becoming independent. After your debt has been paid you can choose to continue being part of the Neutral faction or you may choose to travel to another faction¡¯s area and try your luck there. Remember not every faction gives you the freedom the Neutral faction does. To earn merit points each individual can contribute in a variety of ways.
  1. Soldier in the Neutral factions standing army. The standard soldier has all expenses paid including basic equipment and earns 100 merit points a year. That is only 50 years until your debt is paid. Once a year you can challenge for a higher position in the army. If you pass your responsibilities and merit point rewards go up.
  1. You can choose to be a resource gatherer. The options here are monster core gatherer, miner, herbal gatherer. The merit points you receive are based upon what you turn into the neutral faction. Be warned, you have to pay for your own room and board and the monsters here on deity world are much more dangerous than those on tier 1 worlds. New transferees only have a 10% survival rate as resource gatherers. However, after a stint in the army the survival rate climbs to 60% or greater.
  1. Commerce is an important part of any group. If you have the skills, goods, and know how you can open a merchant stall. Merchants are charged a flat fee of 500 points or equivalent goods per year. How many merit points you earn is up to each merchant¡¯s own abilities. You must prove you have the goods or skills before attempting this as a new transfer. You may also sell any materials you have for merit points.
  1. Another option to earn merit points is to recharge mana jewels. Man jewels are the basis of many technologies in tier 2 and tier 3 worlds. You can recharge by yourself or join the recharge guild. Merit points are awarded based on the size and amount of recharged jewels turned in. Recharge limitations are lower in tier 2 worlds due to the stronger ambient mana. As long as you can transfer 500 mana per hour you are qualified for this job. Of course the faster you can transfer the faster you can earn merit points.
  1. The final option for new transfers is to join the transportation guild. If you have the ability to teleport yourself or others, you can join the transportation guild. Merit points are awarded based upon work load and distance traveled.
If you were lucky enough or talented enough to earn extra transport slots that you did not use as a first time transfer they can be redeemed in one of three ways.
  1. You can directly exchange them for merit points at any transportation guild hall.
  2. You can exchange them for goods or money at any merchant guild hall.
  3. You can use them to challenge for a higher rank in the military immediately without having to wait for a year.
Well I think that 3 of my transfer spots will be traded in for merit points. One will be held in reserve for the moment. I need to find out first if my money is any good in this world. Time to go explore the town. 51 - Merit Debt Chapter 51 Merit Debt New world, same old type of town. The only difference that I saw was that mana jewels were present everywhere. They seemed to run most of the magic and technology that I saw. Street light, powered by mana jewel, forge in blacksmith, powered by mana jewel, oven in bakery, powered by mana jewel. These things were even the currency of the tier two world. It turns out my vast fortune was basically worthless unless I moved back down to a tier 1 world. For instance, here in the tier 2 world, 500 mana jewels were the lowest currency. They traded for 500,000 gold pieces. It seems that gold was only good for decoration and few weird magi-tech devices so it was almost worthless. It took 10 of that same 500 mana jewel to trade for a single merit point. So 1 merit point equaled 5,000 in mana jewels. To be free of my debt I needed 25 million in mana jewels to equal the 5,000 merit points I was on the hook for. Luckily the cost of living was not high. A single 500 mana jewel would get you a first class meal and room for one night at a nice restaurant. That was the smallest denomination of jewel that you could trade. Anything less than that would not hold mana in this world. This means that this worlds mana was 20 times denser than a tier one world. I did the math. On the tier one world it takes 10,000 mana before it will stabilize inside of a jewel. Here it takes 500. 10,000 divided by 500 is 20. Thus 20 times denser. Since there was definitely a need for a smaller currency they used what was called shards for a lower denomination. Shards were jewels that were too small to hold mana. They were worth 1/5 of the 500 mana jewel. But you could not just pick up shards of broken jewels and use them. They had to be stamped by the ruling faction to be of any use. Oh well, at least you could get change. After wandering the town and not having any money to spend I had come to a conclusion. The best way for me to proceed was to be a recharger who also went out and gathered. This would allow me to be independent. I could charge enough crystals to live on and still hunt to increase my levels and abilities. I would not feel the pressure of other new transfer hunters so I did not think high death rate would apply to me. For instance, if I felt something was too dangerous, I could just leave and go charge a jewel instead. For a normal resource gatherer even if they felt it was dangerous they might still go through with it, because it was there only way of earning money. I was in a unique situation right now. I had no expenses for four days and I had the ability to charge jewels better than almost anyone. I need to take advantage of this. I went to the recharge guild to purchase a few empty jewels. My plan was to spend a little of my wealth for empty low level jewels and then turn around and trade those back for higher empty jewels. If I worked fast enough I should be able to have a nice safety cushion of charged jewels before I had to make my official selection of my new job. This would help tremendously in defending my decision. It seemed like 99% of the people transferred went into the military. It was pushed rather hard in the pamphlet and even mentioned on Planet Braxis when I asked about deity world. I do not want to ruffle any feathers so if I have a proven source of income there is less of a chance of hurt feelings or blow back against me. When I made my request at the rechargers guild I found out some good news. The 1 million gold piece price was for a full 500 mana jewel, not an empty one. Empty 500 mana jewels were 100,000 gold a piece. I immediately bought 30 of them. That brought a little surprise to the clerk I think. I guess not many new transfers purchase so many at once. I may have to spread these around instead of just bringing them back here to exchange. I mean I will have these filled by tonight. That type of speed will probably be a big red flag and put me under the scrutiny of people or powers that I don¡¯t want focused on me. I headed back to the inn and had dinner to appear as normal as possible. No rushing here. After dinner I went on up and filled the crystals. With my mana pool and maxed transfer skill it took a little less than a minute to fill each crystal. That meant I had a 30 days worth of expenses created in just 30 minutes. Definitely cannot let others know about this. I put the filled crystals in my inventory and went to bed. I was eager to go about and trade tomorrow and build my wealth. The next day was rather interesting. I made sure to travel all over the town and traded my full jewels for a few items, but also inquired as to whether or not businesses had any empty jewels that they would be willing to sell. It turned out that any business that used mana jewels had empties to sell. I just had to offer a better price than they would get at the recharge guild. Long story short I ended up with enough supplies to head out into the wilderness, 45 empty 500 mana jewels and 12 empty 2,500 mana jewels. It seems that the currency goes up in factors of five. The next level up is 12,500 mana jewels, then 62,500 mana jewels and finally 312,500 mana jewels. Anything above that used jewels in 1 million mana unit denominations. I don¡¯t know why. My best guess is that the jewels were easiest to cut into five sided jewels and that influenced how much mana they could hold. I headed back to the inn with high hopes for the next day. I needed to make my exchanges before anyone caught on that I was able to fill these things so quick. The next day was a repeat of what I did before. I spread out my inquiries and even went back to the recharging guild to exchange 3 full 500 mana jewels for more empties. I figured that amount would not draw to much attention and it would be weird if I did not bring back any at all. My net gains for the day were 72 empty 500 mana jewels, 34 empty 2,500 mana jewels, and 4 of the empty 12,500 mana jewels. I also gained a map of the local area, the names and directions of the three nearest towns and a list of beginner dungeons and hunting areas for new people.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. From the talk today I realized why the death rate of resource gatherers is so high. Animals, normal ones that is, start at level 100 or its equivalent in strength on a tier 2 world. That means the monsters that I normally hunt in the 175 level to 200 level would be the babies or weak monsters of this world. Any person going out and trying to kill their normal prey would be killed very quickly. Peak level monsters on tier 2 worlds were in the 300 to 400 level range of strength. That is way beyond my ability currently. I can hunt somethings if I am careful, but it seems like I need to reach the God level which is supposed to be a qualitative jump in strength compared to Demi-God level before I can really start hunting with some sort of safety. My understanding is that it adds an automatic 100 points to all attributes and dependent on the transformation process can either increase your attributes more than that or unlock special genetic abilities or bloodlines. I still have not figured out everything about it yet. I have the sneaky suspicion that I am going to have to either prove myself or pay a hefty sum for the information that I want. Everyone I asked about advancing today was very vague. I do not know if it is an agreement between stronger people not to talk about it or if people just don¡¯t talk to new transfers. Another night in the inn filling up the empty jewels left me with a lot more funds and a problem. How much of this can I really dispose of in this town without getting caught. This is my last night of free room and board. I will have to tell Carl my decision whenever he shows up tomorrow. I would tell him right now and leave early before anyone figures out how good I am at filling mana, but no one has seen him since he dropped us off. I need an exit strategy. Thinking of this I realize that sleep is not going to happen for me tonight. Instead I climb out my window in the inn and make sure no one is paying attention. I quickly cast my elemental mana wings and fly towards the nearest town. It was supposed to be only a day¡¯s travel on foot. I should reach that in about two hours of flying if I have calculated everything correctly. My estimation was pretty close. I probably could have gotten here faster if I knew the way, but I had to follow the road. I was almost discovered flying a couple of times but since I used the element of darkness to form my wings I was either not spotted or ignored. I set down just outside the next town and memorized a spot for teleportation. Then I quickly flew towards the next town which was almost two days away. Should be another four to five hours of flight. That should take up most of the night. My plan is to find another teleport point at the next town. When Carl comes in the morning I will tell him my decision, then find a safe place to teleport. I will teleport to the close town and trade as many mana jewels as I can for a one-time profit, then immediately teleport to the farther town. I will spend almost two days trading in the far town and then I actually will teleport back to the outside of the starting town where I am staying now. I will use the cover of darkness to travel in the opposite direction towards a frontier town that is five days away. This should confuse my trail enough that anyone who is just looking casually for me will give up or think I am going in the opposite direction. I may have to actually switch bodies to remain under the radar. I don¡¯t want too. I have become accustomed to my Thri-Keen body and don¡¯t want to give it up. However, safety is more important than comfort so I will just have to wait and see. I arrive in a few hours at the next town and set up a teleport point there. Then I teleport back to my inn room to wait for the breakfast call and meeting Carl. After only a couple of hours the call for breakfast comes and I check out of the inn and head towards the town square where Carl first left us. Sure enough Carl is waiting for us there. ¡°Alright, you have had time to acclimate to deity world. I need your choices so I can write them down and file them with the authorities. How have you decided to pay back your merit points?¡± ¡°Excuse me Carl I have one question before I decide if that is OK. Where do you pay back merit points if you decide not to join the army? Does it require a trip to a capital or some other long journey?¡± ¡°Mark was it? You can pay the merit points back at any guild headquarters. They will all have a copy of your records.¡± ¡°Alright then in that case I will explore deity world a little and I will use my meager talents at recharging to make a living and pay back my debt. I can always join the army later if I find it too hard to survive on my own right?¡± ¡°Yes you can always join the army. Are you sure, you want to try it on your own? The army is a sure bet and it is only fifty years, which is a blink in our lifespans now.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I think I would. I need to know if I have what it takes to survive without support. If I don¡¯t then I know I have the support structure of the army to fall back on.¡± ¡°Very well, and you two what did you decide.¡± My companions from Planet Braxis had decided on going into the army and this pleased Carl. I wonder if he got a commission or bonus for the number of people recruited? Well that went more smoothly then I thought. I traveled to the recharge guild headquarters and told them I wanted to trade my extra travel spots for merit points and to trade a few jewels that I had filled over the last three days. I was able to trade each transfer spot for 100 merit points. I decided to go ahead and trade all four spots in so I had 400 merit points. I asked the clerk to apply it to my debt. Now I only owed 4,600 more points. I then traded in 5 full 500 mana jewels for some more empties. I figured that would not trip any suspicion here. Once my trades at that guild were done, I went around and traded for as many empties as I could before I left. I ended up with a total of 115 empty 500 mana jewels, 73 empty 2,500 mana jewels, 12 of the empty 12,500 mana jewels, and 2 empty 62,500 mana jewels. This was in addition to my 60,000 in a variety of filled jewels. I found a quiet spot and teleported to the town I had scoped out the night before. I netted several more empty jewels in trade there. Keeping only 1 filled 500 mana jewel for trade in the next town for an inn. I would fill the rest tonight. One more teleport and I was three days travel from the starting town and I soon found an inn where I traded my filled jewel for a nights rest and food. 51 - Merit Debt Chapter 51 Merit Debt New world, same old type of town. The only difference that I saw was that mana jewels were present everywhere. They seemed to run most of the magic and technology that I saw. Street light, powered by mana jewel, forge in blacksmith, powered by mana jewel, oven in bakery, powered by mana jewel. These things were even the currency of the tier two world. It turns out my vast fortune was basically worthless unless I moved back down to a tier 1 world. For instance, here in the tier 2 world, 500 mana jewels were the lowest currency. They traded for 500,000 gold pieces. It seems that gold was only good for decoration and few weird magi-tech devices so it was almost worthless. It took 10 of that same 500 mana jewel to trade for a single merit point. So 1 merit point equaled 5,000 in mana jewels. To be free of my debt I needed 25 million in mana jewels to equal the 5,000 merit points I was on the hook for. Luckily the cost of living was not high. A single 500 mana jewel would get you a first class meal and room for one night at a nice restaurant. That was the smallest denomination of jewel that you could trade. Anything less than that would not hold mana in this world. This means that this worlds mana was 20 times denser than a tier one world. I did the math. On the tier one world it takes 10,000 mana before it will stabilize inside of a jewel. Here it takes 500. 10,000 divided by 500 is 20. Thus 20 times denser. Since there was definitely a need for a smaller currency they used what was called shards for a lower denomination. Shards were jewels that were too small to hold mana. They were worth 1/5 of the 500 mana jewel. But you could not just pick up shards of broken jewels and use them. They had to be stamped by the ruling faction to be of any use. Oh well, at least you could get change. After wandering the town and not having any money to spend I had come to a conclusion. The best way for me to proceed was to be a recharger who also went out and gathered. This would allow me to be independent. I could charge enough crystals to live on and still hunt to increase my levels and abilities. I would not feel the pressure of other new transfer hunters so I did not think high death rate would apply to me. For instance, if I felt something was too dangerous, I could just leave and go charge a jewel instead. For a normal resource gatherer even if they felt it was dangerous they might still go through with it, because it was there only way of earning money. I was in a unique situation right now. I had no expenses for four days and I had the ability to charge jewels better than almost anyone. I need to take advantage of this. I went to the recharge guild to purchase a few empty jewels. My plan was to spend a little of my wealth for empty low level jewels and then turn around and trade those back for higher empty jewels. If I worked fast enough I should be able to have a nice safety cushion of charged jewels before I had to make my official selection of my new job. This would help tremendously in defending my decision. It seemed like 99% of the people transferred went into the military. It was pushed rather hard in the pamphlet and even mentioned on Planet Braxis when I asked about deity world. I do not want to ruffle any feathers so if I have a proven source of income there is less of a chance of hurt feelings or blow back against me. When I made my request at the rechargers guild I found out some good news. The 1 million gold piece price was for a full 500 mana jewel, not an empty one. Empty 500 mana jewels were 100,000 gold a piece. I immediately bought 30 of them. That brought a little surprise to the clerk I think. I guess not many new transfers purchase so many at once. I may have to spread these around instead of just bringing them back here to exchange. I mean I will have these filled by tonight. That type of speed will probably be a big red flag and put me under the scrutiny of people or powers that I don¡¯t want focused on me. I headed back to the inn and had dinner to appear as normal as possible. No rushing here. After dinner I went on up and filled the crystals. With my mana pool and maxed transfer skill it took a little less than a minute to fill each crystal. That meant I had a 30 days worth of expenses created in just 30 minutes. Definitely cannot let others know about this. I put the filled crystals in my inventory and went to bed. I was eager to go about and trade tomorrow and build my wealth. The next day was rather interesting. I made sure to travel all over the town and traded my full jewels for a few items, but also inquired as to whether or not businesses had any empty jewels that they would be willing to sell. It turned out that any business that used mana jewels had empties to sell. I just had to offer a better price than they would get at the recharge guild. Long story short I ended up with enough supplies to head out into the wilderness, 45 empty 500 mana jewels and 12 empty 2,500 mana jewels. It seems that the currency goes up in factors of five. The next level up is 12,500 mana jewels, then 62,500 mana jewels and finally 312,500 mana jewels. Anything above that used jewels in 1 million mana unit denominations. I don¡¯t know why. My best guess is that the jewels were easiest to cut into five sided jewels and that influenced how much mana they could hold. I headed back to the inn with high hopes for the next day. I needed to make my exchanges before anyone caught on that I was able to fill these things so quick. The next day was a repeat of what I did before. I spread out my inquiries and even went back to the recharging guild to exchange 3 full 500 mana jewels for more empties. I figured that amount would not draw to much attention and it would be weird if I did not bring back any at all. My net gains for the day were 72 empty 500 mana jewels, 34 empty 2,500 mana jewels, and 4 of the empty 12,500 mana jewels. I also gained a map of the local area, the names and directions of the three nearest towns and a list of beginner dungeons and hunting areas for new people.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. From the talk today I realized why the death rate of resource gatherers is so high. Animals, normal ones that is, start at level 100 or its equivalent in strength on a tier 2 world. That means the monsters that I normally hunt in the 175 level to 200 level would be the babies or weak monsters of this world. Any person going out and trying to kill their normal prey would be killed very quickly. Peak level monsters on tier 2 worlds were in the 300 to 400 level range of strength. That is way beyond my ability currently. I can hunt somethings if I am careful, but it seems like I need to reach the God level which is supposed to be a qualitative jump in strength compared to Demi-God level before I can really start hunting with some sort of safety. My understanding is that it adds an automatic 100 points to all attributes and dependent on the transformation process can either increase your attributes more than that or unlock special genetic abilities or bloodlines. I still have not figured out everything about it yet. I have the sneaky suspicion that I am going to have to either prove myself or pay a hefty sum for the information that I want. Everyone I asked about advancing today was very vague. I do not know if it is an agreement between stronger people not to talk about it or if people just don¡¯t talk to new transfers. Another night in the inn filling up the empty jewels left me with a lot more funds and a problem. How much of this can I really dispose of in this town without getting caught. This is my last night of free room and board. I will have to tell Carl my decision whenever he shows up tomorrow. I would tell him right now and leave early before anyone figures out how good I am at filling mana, but no one has seen him since he dropped us off. I need an exit strategy. Thinking of this I realize that sleep is not going to happen for me tonight. Instead I climb out my window in the inn and make sure no one is paying attention. I quickly cast my elemental mana wings and fly towards the nearest town. It was supposed to be only a day¡¯s travel on foot. I should reach that in about two hours of flying if I have calculated everything correctly. My estimation was pretty close. I probably could have gotten here faster if I knew the way, but I had to follow the road. I was almost discovered flying a couple of times but since I used the element of darkness to form my wings I was either not spotted or ignored. I set down just outside the next town and memorized a spot for teleportation. Then I quickly flew towards the next town which was almost two days away. Should be another four to five hours of flight. That should take up most of the night. My plan is to find another teleport point at the next town. When Carl comes in the morning I will tell him my decision, then find a safe place to teleport. I will teleport to the close town and trade as many mana jewels as I can for a one-time profit, then immediately teleport to the farther town. I will spend almost two days trading in the far town and then I actually will teleport back to the outside of the starting town where I am staying now. I will use the cover of darkness to travel in the opposite direction towards a frontier town that is five days away. This should confuse my trail enough that anyone who is just looking casually for me will give up or think I am going in the opposite direction. I may have to actually switch bodies to remain under the radar. I don¡¯t want too. I have become accustomed to my Thri-Keen body and don¡¯t want to give it up. However, safety is more important than comfort so I will just have to wait and see. I arrive in a few hours at the next town and set up a teleport point there. Then I teleport back to my inn room to wait for the breakfast call and meeting Carl. After only a couple of hours the call for breakfast comes and I check out of the inn and head towards the town square where Carl first left us. Sure enough Carl is waiting for us there. ¡°Alright, you have had time to acclimate to deity world. I need your choices so I can write them down and file them with the authorities. How have you decided to pay back your merit points?¡± ¡°Excuse me Carl I have one question before I decide if that is OK. Where do you pay back merit points if you decide not to join the army? Does it require a trip to a capital or some other long journey?¡± ¡°Mark was it? You can pay the merit points back at any guild headquarters. They will all have a copy of your records.¡± ¡°Alright then in that case I will explore deity world a little and I will use my meager talents at recharging to make a living and pay back my debt. I can always join the army later if I find it too hard to survive on my own right?¡± ¡°Yes you can always join the army. Are you sure, you want to try it on your own? The army is a sure bet and it is only fifty years, which is a blink in our lifespans now.¡± ¡°Yes sir. I think I would. I need to know if I have what it takes to survive without support. If I don¡¯t then I know I have the support structure of the army to fall back on.¡± ¡°Very well, and you two what did you decide.¡± My companions from Planet Braxis had decided on going into the army and this pleased Carl. I wonder if he got a commission or bonus for the number of people recruited? Well that went more smoothly then I thought. I traveled to the recharge guild headquarters and told them I wanted to trade my extra travel spots for merit points and to trade a few jewels that I had filled over the last three days. I was able to trade each transfer spot for 100 merit points. I decided to go ahead and trade all four spots in so I had 400 merit points. I asked the clerk to apply it to my debt. Now I only owed 4,600 more points. I then traded in 5 full 500 mana jewels for some more empties. I figured that would not trip any suspicion here. Once my trades at that guild were done, I went around and traded for as many empties as I could before I left. I ended up with a total of 115 empty 500 mana jewels, 73 empty 2,500 mana jewels, 12 of the empty 12,500 mana jewels, and 2 empty 62,500 mana jewels. This was in addition to my 60,000 in a variety of filled jewels. I found a quiet spot and teleported to the town I had scoped out the night before. I netted several more empty jewels in trade there. Keeping only 1 filled 500 mana jewel for trade in the next town for an inn. I would fill the rest tonight. One more teleport and I was three days travel from the starting town and I soon found an inn where I traded my filled jewel for a nights rest and food. 52 - Back Too My Roots Chapter 52 Back Too My Roots I spent the next several hours filling mana jewels. I now had 20,000 in available mana. I never tried to use more than 15,000 mana at a time which left me a comfortable margin for emergencies. With my absurd regeneration rate I could refill that 15,000 mana in about 2-3 minutes. That meant I could fill around 300,000 mana into jewels an hour. I currently had around a million in empty mana jewels which meant that I was able to fill everything in just under 3 hours. If other people could see me now I would probably be locked up and forced to fill mana full time. However, I should be able to pay off my debt quickly and disappear before anyone realizes what I can do. The next morning I went to the recharging guild first. I put on a wearied face and talked to the clerk. Sir I have been saving up for over a year now. I have just over 150,000 in filled mana jewels and I need to exchange them for empties please. They traded to me without question around a rate of five to one filled to empty. I pulled the same thing with each of the large guilds and left town with close to 5 million in empty mana jewels. I wanted to leave before anyone compared notes. This was not enough, so I decided to continue to the next town and go from town to town north and pull the same thing until I could pay off my debt. Then I would teleport back to the starting town and head south with no debt and no worries. I traveled and trade for another two weeks before I was able to accomplish my goal. I finally was able to accumulate just over 30 million in mana jewels. It was actually much more than I needed, but I figured having extra just meant I would not have to worry about expenses for a while. The town I was in currently was about two to three weeks travel north of the starting town. This should be a good distance to throw off investigations if there are any. I went into the transportation guild to pay off my debt. I specifically chose this guild for two reasons. First it was not one that I had frequented already in this town, and second I was going to use it throw even more confusing things into my trail. I went to the clerk and paid off my debt. When he saw how much I was paying at one time and how little time it took me I could tell he was very surprised. I knew it, this was going to be talked about whether I wanted it to be or not. I immediately also inquired as to how much a teleport to the largest town, which was around 3 weeks travel to the east was? I paid for the teleport and was soon wandering around a new city. I traded a few more jewels here and then conspicuously left through the north gate and found a quiet spot to teleport back to the starting town. That should put enough kinks in my trail to confuse anyone. I thought the final touch of having someone teleport me was a nice touch as it would imply that I could not do it myself. Now that I had arrived back at my starting point I was going to work my way through the wilderness in the opposite direction to my final destination which was a frontier town about a month¡¯s travel south. I had stocked up on supplies and was ready to get back into my hunting and leveling up mode. I started off on my grand journey. After about 3 hours I could sense that something was wrong. The surrounding forest had gotten too quiet. It meant that something large and probably dangerous was around. Ok Mark, calm down. New world, but same old foes. They are just a bit stronger. I was on heightened alert when suddenly.
You have died. Damage to your soul is 33% 7 days until damage is repaired.
Wait, what? I did not even see anything. How is this even possible? Does this mean I have to go back to Planet Braxis and start over? Before I could think of anything else I got another update.
Due to evolving into a Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus you have the option of trying to infect the organism that ate you. Do you wish to try?
Well that was some information. I was obviously killed and eaten. Time for some revenge. I may not be the scariest person on deity world, but I was definitely the scariest virus. Yes, I Wish To Try And Infect The Organism.
The infection was successful. You have reverted to a virus state inside of the organism.
Huh, it still won¡¯t tell me what ate me, but that is ok. My revenge will soon be at hand and I can go back to being a Thri-Keen and level up. Wait why am I in such a rush? I am going to infect and reproduce and then take some time to think about my situation. Something feels a little off. I used my magic to see and move towards an unsuspecting bacteria and began the process of infection and reproduction as a virus. Once I had successfully gone through my first reproduction I gave out commands to continue to my virus brethren and started to have a good think and ponder. Why was I so eager to stop being a virus? My virus form had so many advantages to it. Could the form which I was in influence the way I was thinking or was it something else? I mean I could slowly infect the deity world with my viruses and then kill things off to level up easily. Why was I so stuck on being a large being? I mean there were advantages to having hands and interacting with others, but those advantages were not there when I just wanted to level up and gain more power. I think I am going to stay a virus for a bit and try out a few things. This could actually speed up my revenge. Now what was my old command. Ah right. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I regained consciousness and felt better. I guess the stress of a large body and everything that goes on can be dealt with by just reverting back to a virus. Now it is time to do some planning and level up. First up I need information. List the top ten infected species in terms of organisms infected from greatest to least.
You have infected multiple hosts on two or more planets. Which planet would you like to list?
. OK, it seems like my other viruses are still chugging along on Planet Braxis. What is even better is that it seems that I can still access and command them. Hmm, I will need to think on that later. First up is deity world. List for Deity World.
1. Human 2. Elf 3. Sora Tree 4. Beastkin 5. Dwarf 6. Forest Drake
Alright, from this info I must be shedding viruses that can infect others. The four humanoids would be from all the towns I have visited. The Sora tree is probably the tree type I was making into shelters while traveling around. Which would mean that the Forest Drake is what ate me. Surprisingly I have only infected 6 things. I have been here for almost a month. I assume it is because the people, animals and plants here are born tougher with a better immune system. It would make sense that I have only infected people and the tree type I have had close contact with over time. Now how can I use this information. I could easily use my virus form to wipe out those species that I have already infected once I have spread around more. However, I am not after genocide here. I just want to punish the ¡°Overbeing¡± not become some mass murdering villain. Hmm, maybe if I only kill what is necessary or what is considered ¡°evil¡±. Let¡¯s try this. List all humanoid monster species infected Planet Braxis.
1. Gnoll 2. Grimlock 3. Were Rat 4. Goblin 5. Orc 6. Hob Goblin 7. Kobold 8. Frog Men 9. Giant 10. Ogre 11. Bug Bear 12. Dark One 13. Sprite 14. Pixie 15. Satyr 16. Vampire 17. Shifter 18. Mimicon
Wow, that is more than I suspected. What is with this list? I never even met or heard about some of these. That does not matter. What I need to do is figure out if I can wipe one out and gain experience from it. Now I know from biology class that removing everything from an ecosystem is a bad thing. Many organisms are interdependent. However, I don¡¯t think that I infected every single organism on Planet Braxis. If I kill off say the goblins, then some goblins from outside the area should migrate in and stabilize the situation or another lower level monster should take over. I hope this works. Switch all viruses in Goblins only on Planet Braxis into attack mode. There was no notice saying that it worked or didn¡¯t. I guess I will just have to wait and check on the results in a bit. Time to go back down for a nap. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. When I regained consciousness this time I felt great. I wonder if time outside my original virus body causes stress or something else. I mean why would coming back feel so good unless there was some benefit. I don¡¯t think it could all be psychosomatic. However, there was no notice about goblin deaths or experience. Wait there never has been. I have just accumulated experience and then checked my status. Guess I should do that now. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus Level: 223 (Demi-God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: 229 Strength: 180 (188) Agility: 180 (190) Intelligence: 180 (200) Wisdom: 180 (200) Constitution: 180 (205) Perception: 180 (188) MP: 20000 out of 20000 HP: 2050 out of 2050 MP/Regen: 2000% per hour HP/Regen: 205% per hour
Ok 45 levels. How many goblin deaths would that be? Definitely a lot. I think a few more limited genocides to increase my strength and then I need to go back into a larger body to figure out the whole progress into God level. If I got that much from lower level goblins I wonder how much I will get from some of the higher level humanoids? First I better distribute some points. Hmm everything up 35 and keep the rest until next level up. Yep that should do it. Let¡¯s try eliminating two races this time. Switch all viruses in Gnolls and Ogres only on Planet Braxis into attack mode. Now for another little nap and then a quick check. Virus Hibernate. Custom. 25 generations. I wake up feeling refreshed. I wonder how many levels the last two groups gave me? Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus Level: 304 (Demi-God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: 424 Strength: 205 (213) Agility: 205 (225) Intelligence: 205 (235) Wisdom: 205 (235) Constitution: 205 (240) Perception: 205 (213) MP: 23500 out of 23500 HP: 2400 out of 2400 MP/Regen: 2000% per hour HP/Regen: 205% per hour
Another ridiculous amount. I better stop there before I permanently harm the Planet Braxis and it beautiful diversity of life. I just reached over level 300. Time to assign points, pick a new body, and finally make it to the frontier town. I am going to need to find the information to level up quickly. Now that I know I still can escape as a virus them finding me is not a big a deal as I was making it out to be. I need to get stronger. This last death proved that even though I am at the top of my division, it does not make me invincible. I mentally select placing another 70 points in each stat raising them up once again. I hope this is enough to improve my ability to stay alive. I guess I need to work on my danger awareness more than anything else. I realized something was wrong but was unable to capitalize on my feeling before I was killed by the forest drake. I probably could take the forest drake one on one with my old stats. I am positive I could do it now. The only reason it has one hit kill ability is its size and stealthiness. If I know it¡¯s coming I can defend myself. 53 - Mystery Of God Power Chapter 53 Mystery Of God Power Enough of the what might have happened scenarios. Right now I need to get back into a body, head to the frontier town, and find out why no one would give me any information about leveling up to God level before this. I have power and I have mana jewels. I should be able to get any information that I need. I figure that keeping my Elemental Thri-Keen body is probably for the best. I feel that I have enough power and escape ability that I should no longer have to worry about hiding. I choose to transform into a Divine Elemental Thri-Keen. As soon as I make my selection I feel a familiar powerful suction force start emanating from my virus body. I do not feel as cramped as I usually do with this transformation. I stretch my new body to its maximum which causes me to emerge from my forest drake cocoon. Hmm, the forest drake is significantly larger than me. I just tore a major chunk out of its body though forming my own body which killed it. The size difference must be why I did not feel as cramped this time. I quickly use elemental mana wings and rise up above the forest to orient myself. I can see some haze in the distance which I head for. Soon enough the outline of a frontier town comes into view. I land and proceed the rest of the way on foot. I may not need to hide anymore, but keeping some of my abilities secret is never a bad thing. When I enter the town I do notice several people taking note of my arrival. I do not know if it is because I am new or if there is some sort of information reward out. I¡¯ll find out soon enough. I started for the rechargers guild. I might as well meet this thing head on if there is a problem. When I arrive I que up and get to the clerk after a few minutes waiting. ¡°Excuse me, I have spent the last bit of time in the wilderness working on my skills and level. I have not been on deity world very long. What I would like to purchase is information on how to power up to the God level.¡± ¡°Sir is your name Mark Stefanopolis?¡± ¡°Yes, what does that have to do with my request.¡± ¡°I have a standing request for you to meet with the head of the rechargers guild.¡± ¡°No thank you, I am just here for the information. Can you provide it or not?¡± I guess the clerk never expected me to turn down the request to meet with the guild head. He seemed a little flustered.¡± ¡°Umm if you can wait here I will go and get my supervisor.¡± ¡°If you cannot sell me the information I will go somewhere else.¡± I turned around and left without another comment. I wanted to establish my dominance in any upcoming negotiations. As I was leaving I did notice the clerk scurry through a door to probably go notify his boss. I decided to try the local merchant guild hall next. I mean merchants should be willing to sell information right. I walked on over and entered. No line here. I went up to the clerk and started my spiel. ¡°Hi there, My name is Mark and I am a recent arrival, but I have paid my merit debt back. I was wondering if the merchant guild would be willing to sell information on the criteria needed to power up to God Level?¡± ¡°Of course we will. Hmm, Mark, would that be Stefanopolis?¡± ¡°Yes that is my name. Is there a problem?¡± ¡°No problem, I will get your information for you right away. I just have a note here that asks me to see if you would mind meeting with a representative from the merchant guild sometime in the future at your convenience.¡± This was the difference between a request and a thinly veiled demand. I was liking this merchant guild and how they did business. ¡°That should not be a problem. I will be in town for at least a day or two. I will need to go through your information and decide on my next step.¡± ¡°Yes of course. Here is the information you wanted. There is no charge. You should have received this when you paid off your merit debt. I am sorry it took this long to get it too you.¡± ¡°Thank you and can you recommend an inn?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t be a clerk at the merchant guild if I couldn¡¯t tell you something like that. You have two choices in town. One is more expensive, but I think it is worth it as it has amenities like individual baths. The other is a little more rugged. Both have fair prices and are run honestly. It is just your choice.¡± ¡°I could use a bath.¡± ¡°Then I recommend you check into the Greener Pastures Inn. It is just down the road, you can¡¯t miss it.¡± ¡°Thank you for your help and courtesy. If your representative is available tomorrow, please send word to the inn and I will meet them.¡± ¡°Have a pleasant day Mr. Stefanopolis.¡± I was glad to finally deal with a pleasant professional that did not try to upsell, or involve me in anything I did not want. If the representative of the guild was that good than I would probably try and accommodate whatever request they had. A few minutes later I reached the Greener Pastures Inn and checked into the ¡°royal suite¡± for 3 days paid in advance. One quick bath later and I was ready to read and digest the pamphlet that the merchant guild clerk gave me. It looks very similar to the brochure I received when I first came to deity world. I wonder if the same person put them together or printed them?Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. CONGRATULATIONS YOU PAID OFF YOUR MERIT DEBT. Many of you are thinking right now, my debt has been paid what should I do now? Since your debt has been paid you can choose to continue being part of the Neutral faction or you may choose to travel to another faction¡¯s area and try your luck there. Remember not every faction gives you the freedom the Neutral faction does. However, the most important question for most of you will be how do I power up and become a GOD like those people I have met while earning back my merit points. There are three main ways to ascend into the GOD power level.
  1. Consumption of a God elixir. What is a God elixir? Quite simply it is the rarest drop on God level dungeons. If you are lucky enough to get one as a reward in a dungeon and are above level 250 then chug it quick. The elixir will kick start your evolution into a God level powerhouse.
  1. Use of a God Jewel. What is a God jewel? Well everyone should know what mana jewels are. A God jewel is like a man jewel time a million. One god jewel stores a massive 100,000,000 units of mana. That¡¯s right, 100 billion units. You use it similar to the way you leveled up to Demi God status. God Jewels have a 10% success rate.
  1. Finally, some people try the old school way of accumulating power and experience until they reach level 1,000. Not everyone can make it that far, but those that do tend to be in the upper range of strength for all Gods.
Remember that Neutral is the best and all the others can just go pound sand. That was an interesting brochure. It seems like I can use any of the three methods to power up. The only difference might be time and quality. It seems that the Might faction which I think that the ¡°Overbeing¡± belongs to must use method 3. If they arrange for the mana and power of an entire world to go to others and themselves they must be extremely strong. As much as I want to kill the Overbeing immediately I might need to power up using method 3 just to become strong enough to battle him. I wonder if there is a way to speed up the process of the third method without destroying a world. Or better yet if there is a way to explore and find a world without life that I could exploit. I remember somebody talking about how the neutral faction did have a few more powerful leveling up worlds where they used the might factions idea of draining a world mana but only if the world was empty of higher order life. That is something I should probably head back to the merchant guild in the morning to ask. If I could gain access to a higher world or figure out how they locate them it would speed things up tremendously. I don¡¯t want to use an elixir as it seems like it would be the lowest or weakest God level. The mana jewels are still a possibility. 1 billion mana would take me around a year and a half of charging for 8 hours each day. Not something that I want to focus on, but doable if necessary. With that thought I went downstairs and ate a nice dinner and then went back up to my room for the night. Morning came soon enough and I headed down for breakfast. The plan today was to try and get some more information from the merchant guild and then see what that would do for me. Speaking of the merchant guild, the clerk I met yesterday is in the inn¡¯s common room. He waved at me and I took my breakfast over towards his table. ¡°Good morning Mark. I am sorry to interrupt your breakfast, but if you have time a representative from the merchant¡¯s guild is at the guild building. He would like to talk to you at your convenience sometime today. I thought if I delivered the message early you might have an easier time of working us into your busy schedule.¡± ¡°I am sorry I did not catch your name.¡± ¡°It is Alan.¡± ¡°Well Alan, your guild has treated me well and is extremely courteous unlike some others I have contacted. I will be by right after breakfast to speak to your representative. I have a few questions I was going to ask over at your place anyway.¡± ¡°Very good Mark, I will let him know.¡± I finished breakfast and headed over to the merchant¡¯s guild. Alan spotted me coming in and came from behind the desk to guide me into a side room where what appeared to be an elderly gentleman was sitting quietly at a table. ¡°Mark, this is the vice chairman of acquisitions in the merchant¡¯s guild Frederick Thompson.¡± ¡°Good morning Mark, please have a seat. I have a proposal for you that I think would benefit both of us. I also hear you have some questions that we might be able to help you with.¡± ¡°I do Mr. Thompson. However, go ahead and tell me your proposal first. I have a feeling it might influence my questions.¡± ¡°Very well Mark. First a little background. For a very long time now deity world and the neutral faction in whole has been split into 4 groups. The military, transport, merchant¡¯s, and rechargers. Besides the military the other three groups are unofficial. There is actually nothing written or agreed to that says there should be three other groups, it has just worked out that way. I as part of the merchant¡¯s guild would like to break into the monopoly of the recharging guild. I feel it would complement our businesses well. We do not want to take over the business completely, just break the monopoly. Right now the Recharge guild sets the prices for the mana gems. Every time they adjust the prices it affects the price of everything else. We think a little healthy competition will stabilize things.¡± ¡°So what exactly would you like me to do Mr. Thompson? I freely admit that I can charge mana jewels at a rate that would probably astound you, but there is no way one person can charge enough to break the monopoly you are talking about.¡± ¡°We understand that. What we want from you is to be a very vocal and visible recharger that offers his services at a much lower rate. If necessary we will compensate you for the amount lost. What we are hoping is to prove that others can operate outside the guilds walls and still make a living or become rich. We feel that many of the members of the guild would like to leave, but they are scared that they will be frozen out and thus starve. If they see someone successful outside of the guild recharging then they be inspired to actually break ties on their own.¡± ¡°I see you have thought this through pretty thoroughly. I do have a couple of questions, concerns and requests if you do not mind.¡± ¡°Of course, I would be surprised if you didn¡¯t Mark.¡± ¡°First off, is violence a likely outcome?¡± ¡°No, they might try and freeze you out for supplies or money or jewels but that is it.¡± ¡°How long do you think this charade will need to go on? I have goals and aspirations and this would cut significantly into my training and exploration time.¡± ¡°Well Mark, we hope it could be done in less than a year. We are also prepared to offer you compensation for the lost time and effort.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see a problem with this. Would it be ok to set up my own ¡°business¡± recharging jewels and bringing others in on it?¡± ¡°That would actually be one of the best things you could do.¡± ¡°Finally, I have a request. I want to power up, but I do not want to use elixirs or mana jewels to do it. Do you access to higher concentration worlds or information on exploration of new worlds?¡± ¡°Yes to both and we can use that as compensation for your lost time if you like.¡± ¡°Very good, I will go and buy a place to start my little recharging business today and open my doors for business tomorrow.¡± 54 - Breaking A Monopoly Chapter 54 Breaking A Monopoly After the discussion with Mr. Thompson I decided to get started immediately. I went out and found a building that was actually between the merchant guild and the rechargers guild that was for sale and purchased it with the mana jewels that I had. Next I had some thinking to do. I had started to wonder about a few things during and after the discussion with Mr. Thompson. The biggest thing I was confused on was why were there enchantments for weapons and everyday items that were powered by mana jewels, but no enchantments to fill up power jewels. This was really bothering me. If you can have an enchantment that transfers mana from a jewel to a weapon, streetlight, or even an oven, why can¡¯t the process of filling mana jewels be automated? There should be a formation or enchantment that would allow the ambient mana in the air and surroundings to be drained and put inside a jewel. It was an easy and logical conclusion, but I have never heard anything about it. Time to experiment. First up in my experiment was did I have the ability to teleport back to Planet Braxis. This may seem strange to some, but I did not want to experiment here on deity world where people were watching, powerful, and more sensitive to mana. Also I never did find out if I had what it took to transfer worlds. This is an important bit of spell casting that could save my life and also be potentially devastating in battle. So back to the old spell creation. I focus on an image of myself and other intelligent beings moving from one world to another. I lock this image in my head and then bring out some pink creation mana, some purple void mana for traveling through the void, and a touch of yellow lightning for speed. As soon as the mana got near my image I received a message.
You have created the spell World Teleportation.
Inspect World Teleportation.
World Teleportation: A spell that allows the caster and others to move from world to world. Cost is 1,000 mana per intelligent organism moved.
Well that was much easier than I imagined. I return to my room in the inn and cast world teleportation with my very first woodland hideout as the destination. The world shimmered around me and I appeared in my first tree house on the Planet Braxis. Everything was covered in debris and a little run down, but the spell worked. Well that is one thing out of the way. Now how can I transfer mana without my intervention? Can I cast a spell on something? I mean I can make something burn or glow so can I make an object gather mana? Wait that won¡¯t work by itself. I would have to cast the gathering mana spell on every jewel. I might as well just transfer the mana at that point. So what I need is multiple layers of spells. One to gather mana, a start and stop, and a transfer spell. Can I even create multiple spells? I don¡¯t think that I have ever tried. That¡¯s not true. My exploding spikes are multiple spells. I create a spike, throw it, and have it explode after it pierces the target. It is doing multiple things without me even thinking about it. So maybe I can use my sorcerer class to combine everything I need into a symbol, no it would probably be better to enchant an object. That way it would be portable and couldn¡¯t be disrupted as easily as scratching out a line on the ground. I use plant shaping and create a simple box out of wood. Now I need to place an empty jewel inside. I place an empty 500 mana jewel and was about to create my new spell when I realized I had made a mistake. I was back on Planet Braxis, I had to transfer 10,000 mana within an hour for it to stick her due to mana density and some weird universal law that I do not understand. I replaced the 500 mana jewel with an empty 12,500 mana jewel. That should do it. Even if it doesn¡¯t fill it completely it should be partially charged if it works. Now to create the spell. This time I focus on an image of the rainbow of mana flowing from the surroundings into the box. I add a bit where a mana jewel is placed inside the box, if there is no jewel inside then there is no flow of mana. Finally, I imagine the mana being collected by the box entering into the mana jewel. I lock this image in my brain and bring the entire rainbow towards the spell I am imagining in my head. As soon as the mana got near my image I received a message.
You have created the spell Mana Vortex.
Inspect Mana Vortex.
Mana Vortex: A spell that allows any container to draw all the nearby mana into it and recharge mana holding items.
Ok that sounds like it should work. I guess the only thing to do is test it out. I cast the spell on the wooden box I created and suddenly a large amount of my mana is ripped painfully out of my body. The entire area surrounding the box has turned grey and ashy also. This thing could have killed me. I approach the box and find a mostly charged jewel inside. I crush the box destroying the spell. That obviously did not work like I wanted it too. If this is how it has been in the past no wonder there have not been any spells to do recharging automatically. The spell ripped all the mana it needed from every source within a certain distance and it hurt me and killed part of my tree. If I had used a larger mana jewel it could have killed me and probably wiped out a large portion of this forest. I obviously need to modify the spell, but I am a little wary now. Maybe this isn¡¯t such a good idea. I mean I have created a killer spell when I was trying to just recharge a mana jewel. Wait, killer spell? I could actually use this spell as an ultimate move. If I cast it on a box and then drop a large empty jewel from a height and then teleport out of the area before it enters the box and triggers the spell. That would mean I would be safely out of the radius of the spell and everything close by it would be killed by the mana being forcefully ripped out of it. This is something that I can use but never tell anyone about. It is my own personal nuke spell.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Maybe I should try again, but how can I limit the incoming mana? Maybe just the right set of images will do it. I experimented with failure for another two to three hours before finally getting something that would work. Even better it will only work on deity worlds or higher due to transfer restrictions. The spell was called trickle charge. Inspect Trickle Charge.
Trickle Charge: A spell that allows any container to draw no more than 1% of the nearby mana into it and recharge mana holding items over a 30 minute period. Man drawn cannot exceed 1,000 units in the 30 minute period.
I was pretty sure this would work. It would also crack the monopoly on the recharging guild without destroying it. This spell would only recharge slowly and use lower level mana jewels. This means that the recharging guild will still be able to make a profit on speed and larger recharging transactions. It should also stabilize the price of 500 mana jewels so there are no fluctuations in the market. I had not tested it yet, because it should only work on a higher level world and I was currently on Braxis. I had come up with a couple of other ideas while working. If they worked out then my ascension into the God Level was assured. While working I wondered if some version of the spell that I was creating was responsible for the draining of worlds like Earth. Whatever actually caused the drain had to be slow enough that it allowed people and other organisms to adapt to a very low level of mana environment without outright killing them. Once I realized this I thought that if they can do it, why can¡¯t I. I would just use less of a drain. However, even a tiny amount of mana drained on a world-wide basis would add up quickly. If I could get this spell to work then I could draw upon that mana and ascend whenever I wanted. Time to experiment with a God creating spell. I focus on an image of a world. Surrounding and penetrating this world is a rainbow of mana. I imagine that a very tiny percentage, just ? of 1% of this mana is slowly drawn off leaving everything on the world still happy and healthy. This drawn off mana is absorbed and utilized by myself. I add a bit where I imagine myself getting stronger and stronger until I no longer had any equal in the universe. Finally, I imagine the mana continually being drained unless it would harm me. If the amount of mana was dangerous to me the excess would be sent to a planet of my choice. I lock this image in my brain and bring the entire rainbow towards the spell I am imagining in my head. As soon as the mana got near my image I felt a great pain in my head and I passed out. I woke up to a notice.
You have created a Universe Level spell Mana Shift.
Oh my head, what the heck happened there. Universe level spell, what is that? Did I succeed or not? Inspect Mana Shift.
Mana Shift: A spell that allows the user to impose their will in defiance of universal law and move mana around as they will it. Spell will be locked until the user reaches a level that will support the spell without damaging the user.
Oh wow. I have done something either amazing or horrifying. I am not sure which. I can¡¯t even test it out because it is locked right now. I am already level 304 with absurdly high stats. What level do I need to get to exactly? It never said. I guess I should just keep grinding away until it unlocks. When it finally does I should be ready to cast it and power up. That will be the day of my vengeance. I need to get back to deity world and rest. Then I can test out my recharging spell and if it works give it to Mr. Thompson in exchange for some help traveling and leveling up. I don¡¯t want to be tied down managing a store. After a brief rest and recovery period I teleport back to my room in the inn on deity world. I check the time and realize that I must have been unconscious longer than I thought. It is evening here and soon to be dark. I wanted to talk to Mr. Thompson tonight, but I guess I would be better off finding him in the morning. I can use tonight to fashion as many of the mana recharging boxes as possible. I go downstairs and have a quick dinner before heading out of town to a visible cliff face in the distance. I decided that making the charging containers out of stone would mean less accidental breakage. I spent the next 6 hours in a monotonous round of creation. Shape a box, cast trickle charge, put in 500 mana jewel to test it, place in inventory, repeat. It may have been mind numbing but I was able to churn one out every five minutes or so which left me 70 charging boxes at the end. This should be enough to get proof of concept across and start chipping away at the recharging guilds monopoly. I will take these to Mr. Thompson tomorrow and demonstrate and then we can talk about the payment. I am thinking free teleportation to different worlds so I can learn them for my own teleporting. Also they have to put together a team to help me power level in dungeons for 6 months. Finally, if I have any monetary request that is less than 1% of what they make off of the rechargers they need to fulfill it. After a good night¡¯s rest I headed off to wheel and deal with Mr. Thompson. I was led straight to him at the Merchant¡¯s Guild by Alan once again. ¡°Good Morning Mr. Thompson.¡± ¡°Good Morning Mark.¡± ¡°I have something for you that I think you are going to like.¡± ¡°Oh really a surprise. It is hard to surprise someone the older they get you know.¡± ¡°I guarantee this will be a surprise and you are going to like it.¡± ¡°Very well young man show me what you have.¡± I took out one of my charging boxes from my inventory and placed it on the table between us. ¡°If you would can you have an empty 500 mana jewel brought in.¡± Mr. Thompson signaled Alan to go out and get one. A few seconds later he brought the empty back in. ¡°No don¡¯t hand it to me Alan give it to Mr. Thompson so you both know that I have not tampered with it.¡± I could see the intrigue in both of their eyes. ¡°Yesterday when I left my original idea was to just refill mana jewels myself and then over time that would destabilize the situation and more and more people would go independent. We had discussed this.¡± ¡°Yes Mark, are you saying you have a better way now.¡± ¡°Indeed I do Mr. Thompson. As I was thinking about it I wondered why there was no enchantment to automatically fill mana jewels.¡± ¡°It is because it kills everyone and everything nearby by sucking up the mana.¡± ¡°Well I did not know that and performed some experiments that almost killed me. I actually solved that little problem.¡± ¡°Are you saying that in one night you solved the automatic charging problem that has been plaguing us since mana was discovered?¡± ¡°Well you make it sound more special than it actually is. In front of you is an enchanted box that when a mana jewel is placed inside will charge slowly and safely. No death or draining of mana. The only downside is that it will only work on higher worlds like deity world and it charges rather slowly. About 500 mana every half an hour. This means while it is possible to leave a large mana jewel in a charging box and have it fill eventually it is not very practical.¡± Mr. Thompson understood immediately. ¡°You mean you have just provided us a way of stabilizing the 500 mana jewel price and leave the recharging guild the higher level recharges so they shouldn¡¯t protest.¡± ¡°Exactly. I did not want to be tied down to a store or one area. Now I won¡¯t have to be. All we need to do now is discuss price.¡± 55 - Leveling Up Again Chapter 55 Leveling Up Again What followed next was almost textbook negotiation once Mr. Thompson had tried and verified that the trickle charger worked. We finally settled on the following conditions. I would deliver 100 trickle chargers per month for one year minimum. In exchange I would receive the following:
  1. No one was to know that I was the one producing the trickle chargers.
  2. Free transportation and teleportation from deity world to any of 8 different worlds they communicated with. 5 tier one worlds and 3 other tier two worlds.
  3. Free leveling group to help me for 3 months on deity worlds dungeons. Any time needing them after that had to be negotiated with the individual group helping me.
  4. 50,000 mana jewels a month for 6 months and then 100,000 mana jewels a month after that or 1% of sales whichever was greater.
  5. At the end of the first year we would meet to renegotiate for another year¡¯s worth of trickle chargers or the purchase of the spell by the merchant¡¯s guild.
I handed over the 70 I had already created and saw Mr. Thompson¡¯s eyes go wide. ¡°Consider this a bonus to get you started. I will deliver another 100 at the end of the month. When can I expect my team to arrive to help me clear dungeons?¡± ¡°I will contact them tonight Mark and they should be here in three days or less.¡± ¡°Very good, Mr. Thompson. It has been a pleasure doing business with you. Please send Alan by with news when the team arrives.¡± ¡°I will Mark, I look forward to seeing you at the end of the month.¡± To help protect my anonymity Mr. Thompson was teleporting to the capital and would be introducing the trickle chargers there. Far away from me. I left the merchant¡¯s guild and spent the next two days building trickle chargers. I was able to get through a hundred a day before I got sick and tired of working on them. That gave me two months supply already done. That should be enough a cushion that I can make some others while traveling around leveling up without falling behind. Alan came by and introduced my leveling team to me on the third day. It was a well balanced team that consisted of 6 level 400 + demi-gods and 2 level 400 plus god level warriors. They were to take me to a different dungeon every three days and let me take the final hit on any dungeon boss if possible. After expenses all drops and materials other than empty mana jewels were to go to them. I thought this was a great arrangement. I had enough resources and a steady income. What I needed was levels and power in order to be able to use the universe spell and break into the god level. Well sooner started sooner done. It has been three months and I feel like I have been making great progress. Time to check my stats and decide if it is worth it to hire this group on my own. It would cost me 100,000 mana jewels a month plus the drops just like we had been doing. I think as long as gained at least 30 levels in these three months it is worth the cost. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen) Level: 346 (Demi-God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: 214 Strength: 275 (283) Agility: 275 (295) Intelligence: 275 (305) Wisdom: 275 (305) Constitution: 275 (310) Perception: 275 (283) MP: 30500 out of 30500 HP: 3100 out of 3100 MP/Regen: 2000% per hour HP/Regen: 310% per hour
42 levels in three months, definitely more than enough to hire the group for another 3 months. After that three months I think I will take the time to travel to all eight of the worlds that were promised in the contract. I have another idea to gain the last few levels I will probably need in order to use the universe level spell. What I have not decided if it is dependent on my level and strength or if it is dependent on my stats. That is why I am going to keep a relatively even spread and not specialize. With the points I have I will dump another 35 in each stat bringing everything above 300 stat wise. I have also managed to finish all 1200 of the required trickle chargers for the contract. I am going to make another 500 over the next three months just in case I decide not to sell the spell. I more than likely will sell it though. I am not that fond of using a spell over and over to do the same thing. Three more months and I have started to feel like the efficiency of this method is slowing down. I think my leveling group is also ready to start doing something different. They have made a tremendous amount of money in a short amount of time, but doing the same thing over and over is tedious for anyone after enough time. The recharging guild is starting to accept that they have to make some changes and there is a low level charger in almost every town on deity world now. After this stat check it will be time for me to travel and see if my new leveling and power up plan will work. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen) Level: 382 (Demi-God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: 184 Strength: 310 (318) Agility: 310 (330) Intelligence: 310 (340) Wisdom: 310 (340) Constitution: 310 (345) Perception: 310 (318) MP: 34000 out of 34000 HP: 3450 out of 3450 MP/Regen: 2000% per hour HP/Regen: 345% per hour
Only 36 levels this time so it is getting a little less efficient. After six months of the same thing it is time to try something else. I meet up with Mr. Thompson after saying goodbye to my leveling team and let him know I am ready to start my travels. He sends me with an assistant to the transportation guild headquarter where I meet Henry. Henry is going to be my personal transport to the eight associated worlds of deity world. I will first get a quick tour of everything, 1 week in each of the tier 2 worlds and 3 days in each of the tier one worlds. After that I get to pick the destination I want to stay at and the length of time.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. My new plan is to visit all of the worlds, so I have teleportation coordinates and areas to go too. I want to spend at least a month in each of the tier 1 worlds except for Braxis which I came from. The reason for this is that I am going to try the kill with viral disease level scheme over several planets and not just Braxis. One planet was able to net me over 100 levels in experience so another 5 worlds are sure to put me over the top for using the universe spell. I am not interested in the tier 2 worlds that much except for travel and information purposes. After all this time on deity world the list of my infected species is still very low. Everything on tier 2 worlds is highly resistant to disease making infection and the level up plan too difficult to complete for tier 2 worlds. However, tier 1 worlds are much easier to infect. I figure after 6 months or so of infection spreading when I kill off whatever selected species I choose it should give me a very large boost in experience. This whole plan is a little creepy, mainly because I am the plague of doom that is going to descend on those poor planets. I will try and balance out what I do to cause as little disruption as possible. This will hopefully be my last step before I can use the universe spell and power up to God level. Henry is a nice middle aged gentleman who does not seem to have much ambition other than travel. I think he is more excited for this excursion than I am. I am pretty sure he is treating it as a paid six month exploration or vacation. I decided to confide in Henry about my teleportation ability mainly because I felt as if he did not care. When he heard I was mainly looking for new teleportation areas and after taking me there I would be able to get back by myself he was ecstatic. ¡°Basically Mark, what your saying is once I have shown you all the different worlds I can do what I want and you can do what you want then we will meet up and I will still collect my pay?¡± ¡°That would work fine with me Henry. If you know of any other worlds I would pay a premium on the side for a quick teleport to them.¡± Henry¡¯s grin became huge. ¡°What are we waiting for, let¡¯s get started.¡± Henry then started teleporting me to a variety of worlds only stopping long enough to make sure I had locked in the terrain and coordinates for my own teleports. We quickly visited twelve tier 1 worlds and four tier 2 worlds. He said he knew the teleport point for a tier 3 world but since I had not reached God status it would kill me so we had to skip it. I paid him 10,000 mana jewels for each planet above what the merchant guild hired him for and after a whirlwind 3 days of teleporting took off and promised to meet me back on deity world in 6 months. After everything was said and done I now had teleport points to a variety of planets. Tier 1 Planets: Braxis Megrides Uskeshan Aetania Sweamia Vaprobos Kudroephus Teflion Jocrion Zainia Joeter Cashion Estapus Tier 2 Planets Deity World Divine World Immortal World Supreme World Celestial World I quickly gave up on the idea of infecting the tier 2 planets. I would just keep the coordinates for future use. Two of the tier 1 worlds were actually tier 0 worlds without intelligent animal life that were being drained by the neutral faction. That left ten new tier 1 worlds to spread my infection on. Some quick math left me with the knowledge that I could stay just over two weeks on each new planet spreading my infection as far and wide as possible. So that is just what I started to do. Every third or fourth day I would stop my travels around the world and go through a dungeon just to keep my skills sharp. Even ten star dungeons on tier 1 worlds were easily beaten by me now. This was a big change in overall strength in just over a year. This was the most pleasant form of level grinding I had ever experienced or heard about. I basically flew around all day long and interacted with any potential monster species I saw to make sure my infection spread. The best part was that I seemed to just infect the lower level species by being near them. Since I had turned into a divine virus my contamination ability must have gone way up. I made sure not to kill anything off and just gave standard multiply, hide and spread commands to my viruses that had infected the various organisms. The changes in scenery and experiencing different cultures made it feel like I was almost on holiday instead of trying to power up. Nothing on the tier 1 worlds could really do too much damage to me other than a few peak existences. I just avoided those, no need for unnecessary fights and continued my whirlwind tour. Six months passed relatively quickly and I soon found myself meeting up with Henry back on deity world. I went with him back to the merchant¡¯s guild so I could sign off that he had helped me and he collected his second half of the fee to transport me. I spent a little time negotiating with Mr. Thompson, but eventually gave in and taught three of the merchant guilds top spell casters my spell. What was interesting was how I went about doing it. I had never tried to teach others the way I do things. It turns out that the sorcerer profession is very rare. None of the spell casters could understand what I was talking about. Eventually the merchant guild gave up and bought three rare knowledge transfer stones. These were one time use jewels that could transfer a specific skill or spell to anyone else. It took 10,000 mana from the person who placed the skill and another 10,000 mana from those that received it. It was horrendously expensive, but it seemed the only way to get the spell to the merchant guild. No one else cast magic the way I do and my explanations were not useful. With all of my mundane chores and responsibilities taken care of it was finally time to try and level up. Switch all viruses in Goblins on every planet into attack mode. Just like before there was no notice saying that it worked or didn¡¯t. I better hedge my bets. Switch all viruses in ogres on every planet into attack mode. Switch all viruses in kobolds on every planet into attack mode. Switch all viruses in Gnolls on every planet into attack mode. Switch all viruses in Giants on every planet into attack mode. Switch all viruses in Mimicons on every planet into attack mode. That should be enough. I figured I should try for a lot mainly because my viruses did not have as much time to spread on the other planets as they did on Braxis. Oh no, I forgot to exclude Braxis from the commands. I probably just seriously upset the balance of monster power on that planet. I do not know if that will be a good thing or a bad thing. There is no going back at this point though. Time to see what a little virus power did for me. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen) Level: 594 (Demi-God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: 1,064 Strength: 340 (348) Agility: 340 (360) Intelligence: 340 (370) Wisdom: 340 (370) Constitution: 340 (375) Perception: 340 (348) MP: 37000 out of 37000 HP: 3750 out of 3750 MP/Regen: 2000% per hour HP/Regen: 375% per hour
212 levels this time. I might have over done it a bit. I wonder why it didn¡¯t say I could use the universe spell. Am I really not a high enough level? Wait maybe I have to place my stat points first. 1,064 If I split them evenly it would take everything above 500. That has to be enough. Let¡¯s put 175 in each stat and save 14 for right now. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Elemental Thri-Keen) Level: 594 (Demi-God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: 14 Strength: 515 (523) Agility: 515 (535) Intelligence: 515 (545) Wisdom: 515 (545) Constitution: 515 (550) Perception: 515 (523) MP: 54500 out of 54500 HP: 5500 out of 5500 MP/Regen: 2000% per hour HP/Regen: 500% per hour
You have unlocked the universe level spell Mana Shift.
Finally, time to see what this bad boy can do. 56 - Universe Level Spell Chapter 56 Universe Level Spell Alright, is there anything else I need to do. Once I try this thing out it will either propel me to the level of power I need or show how much longer I have to go. My revenge is so close I can almost taste it. I need to set up a safe area to perform this spell and reap the benefits. Wait I already have one on Planet Braxis. Nobody said that I had to power up on a tier 2 world. This spell should funnel the energy I need to me no matter where I am. I guess it is back to the tree of life. This might even help keep me off the radar of other powerful beings for a bit. I doubt they think that anyone can power up on a tier 1 world like I am about to do. I quickly teleport back to my tree of life sanctuary on Planet Braxis. Everything is like it should be. I see no changes, which means this place has remained undiscovered. I make myself comfortable and psyche myself up to use the spell that should power me up to God level. I carefully cast Mana Shift and picture it encompassing all of the worlds that I know. Fourteen tier 1 worlds including Earth, and four tier 2 worlds. I feel a sudden rush of energy and suddenly my sight is overwhelmed by every color in the rainbow, and a few I think that might have never existed before today. Soon enough I received a message.
Energy is sufficient to power up into the God Tier. Would you like to proceed? Y/N
I mentally select yes and feel the energy starting to transform me. My entire body feels energized. I suddenly understand why it is so hard to explain and prepare people to get to this level. Just as the energy starts to ebb and recede I get the feeling that with just a little more I could transform one more time. God level is not the end. I need to get access to more energy. With my new spell that should prove to be no problem whatsoever. I quickly decide to check on my progress. Status without Bonuses or Skills.
Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Divine Magic Chimera Mimic Virus (Divine Thri-Keen) Level: 594 (God) Primary Profession: Supreme Sorcerer +10% exp Secondary Profession: Heaven¡¯s Justicar +5%exp
Unassigned Stat Points: Strength: 750 Agility: 750 Intelligence: 750 Wisdom: 750 Constitution: 750 Perception: 750 UE: 75000 out of 75000 HP: 7500 out of 7500 UE/Regen: 2000% per hour HP/Regen: 500% per hour
That is a little different than expected. I thought the power up was 100 stat points. I got more than that but lost my bonuses. My mana is also registering as UE now. What is that? Inspect UE.
UE: Short for Universal Energy
Ok. Inspect Universal Energy.
Universal Energy: The energy source that formed the Universe and continues to power it to this day.
Alright, I guess it is like super mana. Just being able to tap into and use a higher energy source must be the reason for the qualitative jump in power from demi-god to god level. I really want to know what the next level is. Could that be the Overbeing level? I need to get back and find Henry. He said he had a teleport site on a tier 3 world. That alone might be enough. However I am going to go for as many as I can. I use my world teleportation and arrive outside the merchant¡¯s guild in the capital of deity world. There is no longer a reason to hide. I have the power to deal with anyone who would try and limit my on this world now. I enter the merchants guild and ask if Mr. Thompson is available. A clerk led me back to his office and left us alone. ¡°Congratulations Mark, I can sense you broke through to the God level. In such short time too.¡± ¡°Thank you Mr. Thompson. It seems that my travels inspired and helped me focus both my training and insights. The more worlds I visited the closer I came. That is why I am here today. Do you know of the level above Gods.¡± ¡°You mean the Overlord level. Yes Mark I do. There are only 10 known overlords in the universe. 3 head up the Might Faction, 4 are in the Neutral Faction and finally 3 are in the Freedom Faction. Every God level being except for a few rebellious individuals who hide and exist in the far spaces of the universe report to one of the Overlords.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°While travelling around I heard the term Overbeing. Is that the same as Overlord?¡± ¡°Where did you here that? It is indeed the same thing, but the term Overbeing is only used in the Might Faction.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t really matter. What I would like is to purchase from you as many different trips to other worlds of all levels as possible. I know I could have just gone to the transportation guild, but I have worked with you in the past and trust you to find a reliable person or group that can take me to the largest amount of worlds possible. I feel that I will never have a chance to progress beyond my current level without travel. I realize that it might be decades if not hundreds of years until I gather the power to even try and power up, but I might as well travel while I am doing it.¡± ¡°Planning for the future is admirable. I realize that not many people make it to the next level, but with your dedication and skill, especially given your young age I feel you might just make it. I will contact the transportation guild and arrange something immediately. All I want is a small 100,000 mana jewel finder¡¯s fee and you will need to pay the transporters yourself.¡± ¡°That sounds reasonable. I will be at the inn next door after I take care of a few errands.¡± I took my leave from Mr. Thompson¡¯s office and started walking around and purchasing needed supplies. I especially started buying up empty mana jewels again as I was going to need to fill some to pay off the transportation guild. After a couple of hours shopping and four hours of mana jewel charging. The mana jewel charging was even faster now. I don¡¯t know for sure, but I think the switch to universal energy sped up the process. In just four hours I was able fill around 6 million in mana jewels with very few breaks. This power up was fantastic. The representative came from the merchant guild asking me to meet with Mr. Thompson again the next day. I sent back my acceptance and settled in for the night. Early the next morning I made my way over to Mr. Thompson¡¯s office and was introduced to the vice-chairman of the transportation guild. A nice gentleman of Mr. Thompson¡¯s generation who insisted I call him Uncle Billy. I did not want to rock the boat so I did as he asked. Uncle Billy informed me that between all of the guild they could get me to around 50 tier 1 planets I had not been too, 6 new tier 2 planets and 3 tier 3 planets. Two of the tier three planets were the only two of the neutral faction and one of their teleporters actually had the coordinates and picture for a tier 3 planet under the Freedom faction. He had been a part of that faction for many years before semi-retiring to the larger and slower paced neutral faction space. The price quoted I thought was extremely fair also. They wanted 100,000 for each tier 1, 500,000 for each tier 2 and 1 million for neutral factions tier 3 worlds. The tier 3 world in Freedom space would set me back 5 million in mana jewels. I paid a 5 million mana jewel deposit and promised to pay the rest by the end of the week. Uncle Billy agreed to the deal and stated that upon full payment the teleportation would begin the next week. I spent the rest of the week traveling to all of the different worlds I knew already and gathering empty mana jewels and filling them up so I would both be able to pay the fee and also have some spending money also. I knew getting too many from one spot might be suspicious before I travelled up to a tier 3 world so I practiced better safe than sorry in this instance and spread the purchases over several planets. I was easily able to gather and charge the amount of mana jewels I needed and soon enough started on my whirlwind tour of space. Due to scheduling difficulties and mana concerns I was able to travel to two new planets a day. One in the morning and one in the evening. Luckily with my increase in stats I was easily able to commit everything I needed into a memory that would not get lost. A little over a year later I felt ready to try my next power up. I had visited and stayed on each world for almost a week before switching out to a new place. I wanted to know the area well before I actually visited or cast my spell. It took longer than I thought but this bug Is ready to power up. I once again teleported to my sanctuary on the Planet Braxis in the tree of life. As a nice side effect the influx of so much energy rushing to me from the last power up caused a tremendous growth in the tree. My tree was now by far the largest thing I had ever seen and as Far as I know the largest tree of life on the planet. The trunk was now over 100 meters wide at the base and towered an impressive 800 meters high at this point. This easily dwarfed anything I knew of from Earth and surpassed anything I had seen so far on the other planets I had visited. I was hoping for another boost in both my own power and the trees growth, because I owned the tree and living in a giant treehouse continued to be both amazing and fulfilling of many of my childhood dreams. I mentally prepare myself and decide it is time to begin. I carefully cast Mana Shift and picture it encompassing all of the new worlds that I know. Fifty tier 1 worlds, six new tier 2 worlds, and three tier 3 worlds. This is a quantitative leap in energy sources compared to the les than twenty I used before. I feel a VERY large wave of energy coming towards me and I proceed to take the most bizarre mental trip of my life. I smelled numbers, and tasted colors, I saw the rise and fall of nations of organisms that never existed and always exist. Basically the amount of power almost toasted my brain, I was pretty sure I was at least lightly toasted. Soon enough I received the message I had hoped for.
Energy is sufficient to power up into the Overlord Tier. Would you like to proceed? Y/N
I mentally select yes and I feel the energy starting to transform me once again. How strong will I become now? The last power up was ridiculous this one should be just as good.
Energy is sufficient to power up into the Chaos Tier. Do you accept the responsibility of joining the Universal Balance as a Chaotic Being? Y/N
What the heck is going on? Universal Balance, Chaotic Being, I am so confused. Does this mean that there is a level above Overlord and I have reached it? Or is this something else? I need to make a decision. Every time I have been given a choice to power up it has been a good thing, so my gut instinct is to accept. I mentally select yes and I feel another transformation starting to happen. Oh well, no turning back now. The power filling me becomes more than I can bear and I quickly pass out unconscious on the floor. 57 - Revenge!!! Chapter 57 Revenge!!! OH my aching head. I come to inside what I think is still my sanctuary in my tree of life. There is something subtly different about it though. Almost as if the details are just a little bit wrong. The details are wrong. This is NOT my sanctuary. Somebody tried to copy it exactly and the only reason they failed is that I made every single piece of this place myself and I can see details that others cannot. ¡°WHERE AM I AND WHO BROUGHT ME HERE!¡± The sheer power in my voice when I yelled out started cracking the construct around me. Am I that powerful now or was this thing that weak? ¡°Calm down brother and I will explain.¡± I heard a pleasing voice behind me and as soon as it spoke the rest of the fake tree of life disappeared around me. I was floating in what could only be described as a rainbow void. There was nothing around me, yet at the same time I was surrounded by all the colors of mana. It was very distracting and mesmerizing. When I finally regained some semblance of control I turned around. How did I do that? I am not standing on anything and there is nothing around me, but I was able to turn around just fine. This set me off on another set of random thoughts. ¡°You asked a question brother and I am ready to answer. You can address me as Eros. What should I call you?¡± Without even thinking I replied, ¡°You can call me Havoc.¡± Havoc? Where did that come from? Eros in front of me was an enchanting beauty with skin made of the universe. No really, her skin had swirls of galaxies and planets and stars. She smiled and said, ¡°I realize that you are easily distracted at this point. All of us who ascend to this level are. I was sent to greet you and answer some questions before introducing you to the others.¡± ¡°I HAVE MANY QUESTIONS.¡± My voice boomed out into the void. ¡°FIRST IS HOW DO I CONTROL MY VOLUME.¡± Eros laughed and replied, ¡°It is a matter of willpower. You don¡¯t even need to speak at all anymore, you can just send your thoughts directly to others. However, most of us still talk normally as it reminds us of what we once were.¡± ¡°Well then Eros.¡± Hey it worked. ¡°I do have many questions. In order they are Who are you, Where are we, and finally Why did I answer your question of my name with something different than what I know is my name?¡± ¡°Your answers good sir are easy. I am Eros Discord, a chaos being of the Universal Balance. We are in the void between, I pulled you here when you ascended to be a chaos being like myself so you would not destroy the planet Braxis you were on. Finally, each of us is assigned a name which is our position in the balance when we ascend. You are obviously supposed to be in charge of creating Havoc. Most of us use the first name from our mortal lives and then use our title as our last name. My name as a mortal was Eros and I am the embodiment of Discord in the Universe.¡± Ok time to let my brain catch up. I powered up into an overlord. I was going to go and kill the Overbeing after that, but continued to power up due to the excess energy into a new form that is known as a chaos being. We evidently are tasked with a job and mine seems to be creating Havoc. Also my name seems to be Mark Havoc now. ¡°Alright Miss Eros, a few more questions. What is a chaos being? Next up after that is who chose my position and is there any way to change it? Finally, what is expected of me?¡± ¡°Well Havoc, a chaos being is one of two types of guardians of the Universal Balance. First are Chaos beings. We are responsible for fostering change and causing destruction, for without this there can be no new creation or life. The other group of beings are the Angels of Order. Those guys obviously create new life and foster innovation and stability. Our best guess as to who chooses our position is the Universe itself. No one has been given specific instructions over the many eons I have been a chaos being, but we just seem to know what needs to be done, as if the information was planted inside of us. Your last question is the most interesting. All that is expected of you is to follow your new nature.¡± ¡°So I am supposed to just go out into the universe and create as much havoc as possible?¡± ¡°Hmm, no that is not what is meant for you to do. We are beings of balance. We do not do wholesale destruction. We just cause enough change to keep this moving forward. The Angels of Order follow behind us to stabilize the situation and life moves on. Occasionally things get out of balance so bad that we have to make a large move which can change and influence large parts of the universe, but that is very rare. Most of us just live amongst mortals and travel around giving little nudges in the direction we embody. For instance, I currently live on a planet called Estefancia. On that planet I am just a powerful wandering warrior. Coincidentally everywhere I go some sort of discord follows. It can be as small as personal arguments or as large as disagreements that cause war. I will continue this until I get bored and switch areas or I get a feeling I need to do something else.¡± ¡°Just to make sure, we don¡¯t have to go out and battle the forces of good or some other sort of nonsense?¡±¡¯ ¡°No that would be a waste of time and effort. We are agents of change. That may include destruction occasionally, but more often than not it just involves minor changes in thought or a situation.¡± ¡°Can I still wrap up unfinished business, say a bit of revenge?¡± ¡°Of course, revenge breeds Havoc and chaos so you would be killing two birds with one stone.¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! The rest of my time in the void was instructive. Eros gifted me with a few universe level spells and told me to take care. It seems that there are a total of six chaos beings currently including me. Each of us wanders through the universe seeking ways to fulfill our purpose. I met Mayhem, Pandemonium, Destruction, but Bedlam was not available to meet. To my surprise I was also introduced to the Angels of Peace, Karma, Discipline, Systems and Calm. The angel of Law was out with Bedlam. We truly were a group and we did not have to compete with each other. It turns out that the Angels of Karma and System knew me. Karma was the one that helped me reincarnate. System was the one who was feeding me the information in the blue boxes. He performed this function for a variety of people throughout the universe. Now that I had gained control of my powers I felt it was time to finish my revenge. I had been waiting a long time for this. I no longer knew how long. It could have been just a few years like I thought or it could have been centuries. Time worked differently in the void. I condensed myself down into a being that looked like my former self, Mark Stefanopolis from Earth and teleported into the throne room of the ¡°Overbeing¡± that was responsible for my original death. He was sitting on his throne flanked on either side by the two beings I took as his children before. The throne room was occupied by a variety of God level beings. ¡°Who are you and why have you appeared before me.¡± ¡°Why Mr. Overbeing, has it been so long that you have forgotten me. I am Mark Stefanopolis, the person you killed from the planet Earth to prevent some prophecy. Speaking of which, what exactly was the prophecy you were trying to stop?¡± I could see the Overbeing¡¯s eyes open wide and his mouth drop. He was obviously surprised to see me again. ¡°Yes, I understand your amazement. You never expected me to survive, I get that, but I am still curious, what was the prophecy.¡±¡¯ The Overbeing just started mumbling, ¡°It¡¯s impossible, you can¡¯t be here, it¡¯s just not possible.¡± I looked around the room. ¡°Can anyone tell me the prophecy? Something about the Overbeing being replaced or losing his job or something I am guessing.¡± One God more bold than the rest stepped forward, ¡°Sir I believe what you are referring to is the prophecy of change. It goes something like this, Every Century one shall be born with the potential to shake the foundations of the Universe. Havoc shall be his name and it shall follow him as he gains power. Nothing will remain the same. Balance shall be his legacy.¡± Well that is fascinating. So far it sounds like this thing is legit. It predicted my rise to a chaos being, name and my purpose. ¡°Fascinating, who gave the Prophecy of change and how long has it been known? ¡°Sir it was a wandering God Level power from the neutral faction, or at least that is what we believed at the time. He prophesized the change just over a millennium ago.¡± ¡°What do you mean at the time?¡± ¡°After the prophecy this wandering man disappeared and when we inquired about him, the neutral faction claimed to have never heard of him.¡± I bet it was one of the beings of balance in disguise that actually gave the prophecy. It seems like something they would do. The Angels of Order actually outnumbered the Chaos Beings until I ascended which was not very balanced, so the Universe arranged for me or someone like me to go through the trials to become a chaos being. Now that I have ascended the beings of balance are equal once more. ¡°So, Mr. Overbeing, your solution once you heard this prophecy was to kill off anyone with potential on Earth so they would be reincarnated somewhere else, thus thwarting the prophecy. How funny, the very actions you took were what allowed me to become Havoc. Your selfishness ensured your own downfall.¡± Finally, this got a reaction out of the Overbeing as he called himself. ¡°What are you talking about. Everything I did was to protect the universe.¡± ¡°You can quit pretending. Nothing you did was for the Universal Balance. It was all so you could keep what power you had. If you had done this in the name of Universal Balance I would not be here.¡± ¡°Fine you want the truth. I did what anyone of these gods here would do. I used my power to keep my power. That is what the Might Faction is all about. What are you going to do about it little godling?¡± Oh this was what I was waiting for. When I first came I suppressed my strength to God level as to not cause the Overbeing to flee. I may more powerful than him now, but he had been alive a long time and probably had several tricks up his sleeves. The last thing I wanted was for him to escape his fate. I used my new chaos power to lock the space around us from teleportation. I don¡¯t know how I did it, it was more of me wanting something to happen and the universe agreeing so it did happen. It was very strange. ¡°Now Mr. Overbeing, who actually said I was a God?¡± With that enigmatic statement I released my full power which put everyone in the room to their knees at the least and several of them could not stand the pressure and directly passed out. ¡°I AM HAVOC, AND YOU LITTLE OVERBEING HAVE BEEN A THORN IN MY SIDE FOR LONG ENOUGH!¡± That sounded dramatic enough and announced my name throughout the universe. I enjoyed watching the Overbeing struggle for a few seconds. First he tried to teleport out. When that did not work he ordered everyone to attack. They all looked at him like he was an idiot. Finally, after a minute or so of escape attempts and trying to bribe others and me he attacked. I let his spells wash over me with no effect and for the big finale I caught the sword he swung at me with my bare hand. I had seen this move in some cartoon or anime when I was a child and the sheer awesomeness of stopping your opponent¡¯s sword with just your hand and proving how much stronger you were had stuck with me. It looked as cool as I imagined and the gasps from the crowd were worth the posturing. I decided that enough was enough and I needed to end the fight. I grabbed the overbeing in both hands and just started to squeeze. His yells were refreshing and I focused on putting pressure across his whole body, just not where my hands were. I was basically smashing him into a ball shape. The overbeing quit yelling about halfway through the process and I assumed he died at that point, but I cannot stop until finished. I had an audience and I needed to finish. I continued pressing his corpse into a smaller and smaller sphere until it was the size and shape of a marble. Then I pretended to eat it. Eating another person would be gross so what I actually did was put it into my inventory, but no one else needed to know that. I needed to establish my chaotic reputation and I think this was a perfect ending to that. The sounds of retching from the audience told me that I may have taken it a bit far but no turning back now. I turned and faced the crowd of gods surrounding me. ¡°I don¡¯t care how you do it, and I don¡¯t care how long it takes, but you will all work hard to bring the tier 0 world of Earth back to its rightful place as a tier 1 world. Trust me you do not want me to have to come back.¡± My revenge was complete. I really did not feel any different, but that was expected. I had changed considerably since I started on my path of revenge. I could have stopped at any time, but I believe in finishing what you start. With that I teleported back to my sanctuary on the Planet Braxis to plan how I was going to live my new life as a Chaos Being. THE END